Chapter 8: Found

Bella's POV

It was nothing short of a miracle that I hadn't completely lost my mind yet. As the weeks went by without any sign of my daughter I could feel myself slowly beginning to lose it. It was a constant fight not to let myself fall to pieces.

The only thing helping me keep it together was knowing that my daughter was out there somewhere and that she needed me. Wherever she was she needed me! My baby girl was out there somewhere and I was going to find her and bring her home safely.

Edward was trying really hard to keep it together for my sake but I could tell that it was killing him to. He loved his little girl just as much as I did.

Jacob wasn't doing any better than we were either. After his car accident in which he suffered wounds and fractures that needed to be re-broken he had been forced to catch up on some much needed rest and food. I had been happy when Carlisle lectured him about his irresponsibility. At least Jacob became one less worry for me.

The truth is that no one in the family had been the same since Nessie's disappearance. She had irrevocably changed the family forever and we couldn't live without her. With each passing day we all grew more and more worried about her.

Than one day we got a phone call from Tanya Denali. We'd already told them about Nessie and her disappearance and that if they got any information to let us know immediately.

In this phone call she had shared with us a story that she'd heard from a vampire that happened to pass through their area. That a half vampire child named Nessie was being held against her will by another half vampire in Kentucky.

I was suddenly filled with unimaginable rage. This other hybrid kidnapped my daughter and was holding her against her will.

It took Jacob a split second to wolf out in his anger. Jacob was ready to kill in that moment. If it hadn't been for the other wolves Jacob would've taken off to God only knows where since we had no idea where Kentucky was.

Carlisle, being the most rationale and reasonable of all of us, thought it best if he went alone to find out if the story was true and she was being held captive. I could see the simmering anger underneath his eyes but he was still the calmest out of all of us. He promised that once he landed in Lexington, Kentucky he'd look for her and be back in less then 24 hours.

Once 24 hours had come and we heard no sign from him we began to worry. Once another day had gone by we'd gone from 'worried' to 'nervous wrecks' which was still putting it mildly. Esme was the most inconsolable out of all of us. I understood her completely. If Edward had vanished like that I'd be just as worried as she was about her husband.

At about the two and a half day mark Jacob decided he couldn't take it anymore. He actually looked up directions on how to get to Kentucky and memorized them in 30 minutes. After that he phased and he never returned.

It wasn't long after that that we couldn't take it anymore either. Our worry about Carlisle and Nessie has reached new heights and we needed to see for ourselves what was happening. We purchased our plane tickets right away.

Once we landed the following morning we began our search. It didn't take us long to find Nessie's scent and Carlisle's scent as well.

We found Nessie quickly. She was with another girl. I immediately grabbed my daughter and took her away leaving my husband to deal with the degenerate creature.

"Momma!" Nessie cried as I hugged her tightly. She had aged noticeably over the weeks but I didn't care.

"Baby," I hugged her and gave her a million kisses. "Nessie baby. We've found you. Finally we found you. Are you okay? What did she do to you? How badly are you hurt? Oh my god I'm so sorry this happened to you! I promise we will get you away from here and we will deal with that monster-"

"Momma what are you talking about?" she said through sniffles.

"That girl will never be able to hurt you again," I vowed. I was suddenly regretting the decision to let Edward deal with her. I wanted to kill that girl myself!

"No momma she didn't do anything to me! She helped me! She's nice and I love her!"

What my daughter said completely derailed and unnerved me. "What?"

"Momma you can't hurt her!" Nessie was getting hysterical now.

"Honey she kidnapped you-"

"No she didn't! She's been helping me and taking care of me! Look I'll show you," Nessie presses her palm against my cheek and showed me everything that happened in the last few weeks.

The girl, Hailey as I found out her name was, has found my daughter in a horse stable. She immediately recognized Nessie as a hybrid like herself and took her in. She took care of my daughter. She made sure that she was fed and had a place to sleep. She defended her from strangers. She took her shopping. She taught her. She promised her that she'd do everything she could to reunite her with us. Nessie has grown to love her for everything she did.

I had to stop my husband from killing her. I raced over there and skidded to a halt when I saw Rosalie immobile on the ground. Hailey and Edward looked like they were about to kill each other.

"What's going on?!"

"She bit Rosalie and now I have no idea what's wrong with her!"

"I only bit her because she attacked me!"

"This has to stop immediately!" I roared just as everyone else got there. Emmett immediately ran over to his wife when he saw her on the ground.

"What did you do to her?!" he spat.

"She attacked me and I bit her in self defense and now she's turning human,"

We were all stunned into silence.

"That's impossible," Esme said. "It's impossible to turn human again,"

"I have a special ability. My venom can do both. I did it to Carlisle when he attacked me and now I did it to her because she attacked me. Self defense,"

It was so quiet that even a human would be able to hear a pin drop. That was not at all what we were expecting.

"Look," she continued. Taking advantage of our stunned silence. "I understand why you're all upset. I would be to if the situation were reversed. I swear the story you heard about me and Nessie is not true and if you give me the chance-"

"Like hell we're going to give you a chance after everything you've done!" Edward roared.

"Wait!" I screamed just as my husband was about to attack. "She's telling the truth," everyone looked at me like I had gone completely bananas. "Nessie showed me everything that has happened these last few weeks and we got it completely wrong. Hailey is not the enemy here. She's been taking care of Nessie this whole time,"

"It's true," Jacob said as he appeared. "Every word of it. "Nessie showed Carlisle and I what happened as well. We got it completely wrong,"

"It's true," we heard Nessie say as she arrived. There were tears in her eyes. Edward went to her right away and grabbed her into a tight embrace. She pressed her hand against his cheek and presumably showed him everything. Leaving him stunned.

I watched as my daughter went to show the rest of my family the truth as well. Meanwhile I found myself walking toward Hailey without even realizing that I was doing it.

I heard the girl's heart rate quicken as I approached.

"Hailey I just want to say that I'm sorry," she immediately relaxed. "I'm very sorry for everything that we've accused you of. I also want to thank you for taking such good care of my daughter while I wasn't able to. You gave her the care and love she needed and I will never be able to repay you for that,"

She took a deep breath. "It's okay Bella. I understand why you were upset. If I had a missing kid I believed was kidnapped I probably would've reacted the same way,"

"We could've killed you over this misunderstanding. Do you realize that?"

"I know that,"

"I cannot apologize enough or thank you enough for that matter,"

She smiled. "It was nothing. Nessie is an incredible little girl,"

"It was not and will never be 'nothing'," I said. "If it weren't for you God only knows what would've happened to her. Don't ever forget that,"

I couldn't believe that I had misjudged Hailey so badly. That we all did.

I couldn't help but stand back and watch as Edward apologized to her. I also couldn't help but notice that Rosalie was still immobile as Emmett lifted her up and carried her so easily.

It was then that I remembered what she'd said about being able to turn vampires human. What could this mean for us? Ever since I had Nessie there was a part of me that wanted to have another baby. I'd never told Edward out of fear of making him feel guilty for not being able to give me what I wanted. It wasn't something I'd ever planned on telling him. Now it was different. I'd actually have another chance at having a baby if I wanted to. I wondered what Esme and Alice thought of that possibility? Or had the idea not even crossed their minds yet? I knew that was the first thing Rosalie would think about when she found out what happened to her.

It was a lot to think about on our walk back to Hailey's house. As soon as we were within hearing distance I heard two distinct heartbeats. One I recognized as Jacob's. The other I assumed was Carlisle's.

That's when it hit me. We were about to meet human Carlisle for the first time.

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