Sorry I haven't updated for a bit. Trying to work on other stuff. Does anyone have ideas for a Kick-Ass story featuring Hit-Girl pairing? Any way, in this chapter things get turned upside down in this chapter. Who is really the crazy one here? Please review!

Bella awoke feeling groggy, she wasn't sure how long she slept for. Maybe she slept through the rest of the day and night. The first thing she noticed scared her. Her bedroom door remained shut, Esme didn't bother to come check up on her like usual. Her desk chair was back. She got up and walked to the kitchen, she could hear some movement.

"You're awake!", Esme smiled. Bella looked her over, she looked normal, not the crazy woman that tied her up hours ago. She was covered up too, nothing revealing on and she was tending to the oven.

"What's going on?"

"I'm cooking you dinner, hon." She touched Bella's forehead, "Looks like your fever came down."

"What?"

"I was worried about you. You didn't seem like yourself", she planted a kiss on her forehead.

Bella didn't know what to think, she was confused, did Esme have a split personality or bipolar? "I remember a lot of…strange stuff…"

Esme had her attention to what she was cooking in a pot, "I bet! You probably had some weird dreams."

"Did we talk about anything?"

She turned around to face her, her smile not as strong as it was previously, "Yes. None of that was a dream, Bella…we talk more about it after we eat if you want."

"Am I still grounded?"

Esme looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language all new to her, "Grounded? What on Earth for?", she chuckled.

"You found weed…"

Esme couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Oh, Bella!", she wrapped her arms around her, Bella's head pushed up on her shoulder. Her arms, down by her hips were being crushed by Esme's super strength, along with her ribs. Esme's fragrance smelled of vanilla, "I would never ground you. Even if I did find drugs on you, I would talk to you about it. I understand, I was your age once."

Bella didn't know how to ask her if the whole thing with her tying her up and announcing her love to her was all just a dream. "There's something else…"

"Oh? I think I know what it is."

"You do?"

She released her, allowing the girl to breathe and looked down at her, "Even though I'm not your real mother and you're not my real daughter, I'll always love you."

Bella couldn't help but smile at that, she almost didn't care if she tied her up for real or not. They ate and talked like it was old times. Bella found out a lot about her parents. Esme agreed to look for the family album, maybe that would help her remember them. What struck her was that her parents used to live in this old town, that's why Esme chose it, a perfect place to get away from the public.

"So…what do I call you?"

"You can call me whatever you like."

"Miss? Ma'am?", Bella laughed.

"Madame maybe. But seriously, if you just want to call me Esme, that's fine."

Bella wasn't sure what this was. Esme pretending nothing happened? Maybe she was the crazy one. Esme was completely normal and Bella imagined everything. Which means…what? She was secretly in love with her mother figure? her subconscious was definitely telling her something. "I made you a cake."

"Oh, you didn't have to."

"You're likely full, but we could eat it later", she leaned into her, she cringed thinking it was going to be a kiss but instead she wiped a bit of food from her cheek. Bella still didn't have her phone which Esme still had, which didn't support the whole crazy Bella theory but then she felt in her jean side pocket just that. Which meant her texts to Alice must still exist unless Esme deleted them.

She went back up to her bedroom. Wait! Didn't Bobby make a surprise visit last night? Could that have been part of the 'fever dream?' and Alice came to the house didn't she? Alice's last text was: "Where are you?" Bella wrote in response: "Family drama. I'm being punished for something I didn't do. Won't be able to see you guys tomorrow. Tell everyone." Then Esme did set her up with the weed and Alice must have come by to check on her and Esme told her to leave while she was tied and gagged.

Bobby's last text was: "Hey, babe, where you b?", "I want to give you your birthday present." Bella knew exactly what that had to be. She called his phone.

"H-hello?", it sounded like he just woke up.

"Bobby!"

"Bella, what's up?"

"Did you come by earlier?"

"What? No…I don't think so."

"Are you drunk?"

"I was…Did you want me to come over?"

"Something really weird is happening, I think Esme is messing with my head."

"Come see later."

"Okay…I lov…"

He hung up. Bella sighed and lied back on her bed. She was going to need so much therapy after this.

Bobby was confused and hungover. he put his phone back on his nightstand. "Who was that?" asked Alice, a sheet wrapped around her naked body.

"Bella."

"What did she want?"

"She sounded upset."

"You're not going over are you?"

"I told her to come see me later. We'll just talk, swear."

"I know. Bella's too much of a nice girl to want to do anything else." she kissed Bobby and the two lied back in bed, Alice curled up to his side.

More soon! Please review!