A/N:

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the plot and characters of Twilight, not to mention all the money it makes. I make nothing but fanfiction.

More answers, incoming this chapter.

As per usual, thanks to the awesome readership both here and on Twi'd.

Be sure to stop and read the AN at the end!

Chapter 12 – "The Morning"

I woke up slowly, my eyes heavy and my muscles sore. Good sore. Realizing why they felt that way I smiled lazily to myself. As my brain woke up I realized the lack of warmth in my arms. Where was Bella? I opened heavy eyes and blinked. The bed was empty.

I shot up into a sitting position and gripped my head. Headrush. Horror. Panic. "Bella?"

I stumbled out of the bed, tripping again in the sheets and checked the bathroom. It was empty. I stood in the doorway and looked at my room. Her clothes were gone. The window was slightly open. The room was freezing.

"Bella?"

The silence that answered me was deafening. Grabbing the first thing I could find from my closet, I got dressed and raced down the stairs. Edith Piaf still sang from the west wing. The kitchen was empty. The living room and the library and the rec room and all of it, empty and hollow and mocking. I ran back up to my room, picked up my keys and my phone and raced back to the garage. I would go to her house.

As I started the car I dialed her number. Out of service. I swore and dialed again—out of service, out of service, out of service—until I reached her house, and her truck was gone. But the cruiser was parked outside. Rashness became bravery, and I was banging on the front door before I even realized. Chief Swan answered, looking pained and confused. He looked at me with some surprise. "Edward. What can I do for you?"

"I'm sorry to bother you Chief Swan, but is Bella here?" She wasn't; I already knew she wasn't.

Even before Chief Swan's face broke into an anguished expression and he dropped his gaze to his feet. He shook his head, and met my eyes again, and they were brown like Bella's. Sad. Angry. Afraid. "No, she's not here. Sorry, son."

I swallowed. "Where is she?"

His eyes flashed anger, then more sadness. "I-" He shook his head and wouldn't meet my eyes. "I don't know."

I groaned, and he looked at me with her eyes. "If you find her…" He swallowed and looked away. "If you find her, tell her to please come home."

I nodded, mute and too choked up to speak without embarrassing myself, before racing back to my car. I realized where I was going a few minutes later. La Push. She had to be there. She went there to get away from the world. She had been sad the night before, so that would be where she'd go, right? It had to be.

I stopped at a little grocery store just inside the reservation and asked for directions to the Black house. A kindly young boy drew me a map, and every second it took him had me increasingly certain I was on the cusp of a major heart attack. Somehow, through the roaring of my blood in my ears, I found the little red house and saw her truck. It had been just a week since I'd seen it outside her house. Just a week since we'd gone cliff-diving. A week since I'd lost her. I parked next to it already breathing a sigh of relief. I found her. I just had to talk to her.

I was knocking on the door before I realized what I was doing again, loudly and rudely. "Bella!" She had to talk to me. I wouldn't leave without talking to her.

Jacob Black answered the door, his face murder. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Where's Bella? I need to talk to her." My eyes flickered around him, trying to catch a glimpse of her.

His tall frame moved to block my sight, and I growled at him. "She's not here."

"Bullshit, that's her fucking truck."

He growled back at me. "She took her bike last night after dinner and left."

I blinked dumbly. "She left?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yeah, she left. After making a huge scene and embarrassing me. Listen, Cullen, I don't know what kind of game you set her up for, but it ends now. Since you waltzed into her life she's been nothing but lip and bad attitude, so why don't you-"

"Where did she fucking go?" I had him by the collar suddenly, even though he was taller than me, and his eyes were wide disbelieving saucers. I thought about him with his hands all over her, with his tongue on her skin, the disgusting way he looked at her like she belonged to him. I thought about the bruises I'd seen on her, about how she'd come to me right after embarrassing him, and I lost my mind to a murderous rage. He must have seen it in my eyes, because his expression went from shock, to anger, to fear. I snarled, pulling my fist back and he gasped.

"She didn't tell me! She said she was going to see you, but that's all she said!" I let him go with another snarl, and he cleared his throat and gulped nervously.

"Where would she go if she wasn't going to you?" I was barely back under control, though the adrenaline was making my head spin.

Jacob shrugged. "Ask one of her little friends. She probably ran off to them. The bastards never liked her coming over here anyway."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, shaking my head as I turned to walk back to my car. I was shocked I was walking away without physically hurting the buffoon.

"Typical Bella if you ask me," he hissed, and my eyes snapped to his face in disbelief. He was actually smirking. "She fucks 'em and dumps 'em. Strings them along and breaks their hearts. If she doesn't owe you it's wham, bam, thanks man." His gaze flickered over me. "Don't feel bad, dude. It's not you. She's just like that, the crazy bitch."

I'm not sure what possessed me, but the crack of cartilage and bone was the highlight of that hideous morning, and Jacob Black's cries of agony, his blood on my knuckles, were the most satisfying catalysts to his spewed bullshit. "You need to leave Bella alone. You touch her, you come near her again, you even think about her the wrong way, I'll come after you, and I'll rip every last one of your teeth out with my bare hands, you got me?"

He glared at me, the inner corners of his eyes bloodshot where the force of my punch burst arteries. But his glare was impotent, and I knew that in the meantime, I had won. Without another word I was running back to my car. Inside, I dialed Rosalie's number, running out of options. Rosalie had to know. Rosalie had to help me.

Her voice was groggy when she answered. "Rosalie, I can't find Bella." I heard the anguish in my voice and barely recognized it as my own.

"What?" She was still groggy. Didn't she realize this was important? She needed to get up!

"I can't find Bella. She's gone!"

She mumbled to herself. "Relax, Edward. She's probably staying down at La Push for a while."

"She's not! Jacob said she took her bike and left!"

"You talked to Jacob?" She was definitely awake now.

"Where is she, Rosalie?"

I heard more fidgeting and another soft curse. "If she's not at home, and she's not with Jacob, then she's gone to see Victoria. Fuck. This is bad, Edward."

My mind raced, and I pulled over to the side of the road. I was hyperventilating. I didn't know who this Victoria was, I didn't know why it was bad, but Rosalie said it was bad and I believed her. What if she was hurt? Scared? All because of me? Because instead of being rational and talking to her, I had jumped all over the chance to sleep with her. Because I was a fucking idiot.

"Edward, come pick me up in ten minutes. Make sure you have a full tank of gas, it's going to be a long drive."

I choked out an affirmative, shaking my head to clear it. Tossing my phone in the passenger seat I took deep breaths, starting my car again and telling myself to focus. I had a direction. I was going to go help Bella. I was about eight hours too late, but hopefully, that wouldn't have detrimental consequences. Hopefully, wherever she was and whatever she was doing with this Victoria, it wasn't irreversible. It wasn't too late.

***

Emmett was pulling up to the house just as I knocked on the door, and Rosalie flew out and took me by the arm. She looked like hell. I realized her morning routine of beautification was probably foregone today, and my heart moved with gratitude I couldn't speak yet. At least she wasn't wasting time. At least she cared.

"What's going on, Rose?" Emmett looked from me to Rosalie and back again, his eyes narrowing.

"Bella," Rosalie blurted, standing in front of him. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Couldn't they talk in the car? "I think she went to see Victoria."

The color drained from Emmett's face, and he looked at me again. Fuck. I was going to start hyperventilating all over again. "Come on." He took my keys, and my fingers were too numb to stop him. "I'll drive." Probably a good idea.

I nodded and went to the passenger side of my car, waiting impatiently for everyone to get in. When we started moving, Emmett glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

Rosalie's voice was quiet but firm from the backseat. "Is there anything we should know about, Edward? Maybe a possible reason why Bella would leave like this suddenly?"

I swallowed. I hadn't even showered yet. She was all over me, her smell and her hair and her skin. It was too soon for it all to be taken from me and subjected to Rosalie and Emmett's opinions. "She came to my room last night." My voice was hoarse. "She seemed upset, but wouldn't talk about it. This morning she was just gone."

Emmett was so shocked he forgot to watch the road. Rosalie hissed from the backseat. "Fuck. It's been building up to this. We should have seen it coming."

Emmett swallowed. "Should we… tell Jasper?"

"No!" Rosalie's voice rose sharply. "You know how he gets, Em. Especially when it comes to Bella. Christ, what do you think would happen if we got there and she wasn't alone?"

"Where is she?" I hadn't realized I'd spoken until Emmett looked at me again.

"Seattle." Rosalie sighed. "If she went to see Victoria, then that's where she'll be." She was quiet for a moment, and I heard her shift in her seat. "I'm surprised you don't know this already if you've talked to Jacob."

"You talked to Jacob?" Emmett was looking at me with an almost comically awed expression on his face. I nodded, clenching my jaw and asked the next question.

"Who is this Victoria?"

"Victoria is a small time dealer and part time hooker."

I spun in my seat to look at Rosalie. Her face was serious. Flat. There was fear in her eyes.

"She recruits girls, sometimes. Juices them up for her line of work."

"Why would Bella go there?"

"Christ, Edward," Emmett snorted. "Why do you think she'd go there? She's getting wasted."

No. No no no no. My mind refused to accept it. Bella was not going to some shady prostitute in Seattle to get high. No way. She wasn't like that.

"She isn't like that," Rosalie's voice cracked, and I realized numbly that I'd spoken out loud and she was responding. "She isn't like that at all. She just… doesn't know what to do with herself sometimes."

My heart hammered in my chest. It started to hurt, and I placed my hand over it to keep it down. To try to make it stop. The ache. Bella. My perfect, beautiful Bella. I'd failed her. I was a fuck up of the worst sort.

"Rosie, maybe you should tell Edward the story."

I stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror, at her panicked face and distant eyes.

"A few years ago, Bella went to her mom's wedding. Shit didn't go so well and she kind of disappeared. She called me a few days later, said she needed my help. That I should bring all my money with me because she was in trouble. She was… in debt. I went over there and found out that Victoria's boss, James, had told her that if she couldn't cough up the money he'd expect a different kind of payment. This guy was just so creepy, Edward. All the money I had with me wasn't enough. Bella wouldn't call Jasper. Their relationship was already shit, and she couldn't call her dad, either. She was too embarrassed. Poor Charlie walks on eggshells around her. He's so scared she'll run off and really get herself hurt, and he doesn't know how to talk to her about anything that matters. It ended up being Jacob. He brought a huge chunk of cash with him and got us out of there. He took me home, and then Bella was gone for a few days. Later she told me he took her home with him, and they talked and came to an understanding, so she was there all week. I don't know what they did or talked about, but… She and Jasper were already dead in every other sense, and when Jasper called her a cheating whore, well it really fucking ended. Even far less would have been too much for them at that point, and it worked out for the best because Alice and Jasper are perfect together. Regardless, none of us really trust Jacob Black."

Rosalie's voice cracked, and Emmett had a throbbing vein in his forehead.

She gave him directions, and I sat back and silently tried to absorb everything I'd just heard. I couldn't come to terms with it, and I was so furious with Jacob Black that I half wanted to turn the car around and punch him some more. We arrived before I knew it, my hand still covering my chest. It hurt too much. The building wasn't an elaborate affair, but there were no broken windows or shady characters on street corners, either. In fact, I wouldn't have picked it out as anything special among an entire row of buildings. The normalcy of the setting just made everything that much harder to believe. Was I really here? Was Bella really here?

Emmett put his arm around Rosalie's waist, and I saw the tension in the back of his neck and his shoulders as I walked behind them. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want Rosalie to be here. All I could think about was how much I didn't want Bella to be here. I wanted her back in my bed, where I could make things better. Where I could listen to her and make her tell me why she was so sad. Why she was so scared.

We rode up the elevator in silence, and Rosalie looked over her shoulder at me and bit her lip. Emmett spoke then, surprising us both. "I know you this isn't easy or fun for you, Rose. I promised I'd never let it happen again, but... just… let's get this over with."

The strain in his voice was unmistakable. Rosalie dropped her head, but nodded. I swallowed.

We stopped on the eighth floor, and Rosalie walked quickly down the hall. She stopped outside a door that was no different than the others, and with a deep breath, Emmett knocked loudly. The sound of music, loud and blaring, was clear through the heavy wood of the door. Someone turned it down, then there was a shuffling sound and a high-pitched voice. "Yeah?"

"Victoria." Rosalie's voice was so ashamed I could hardly believe it was really her.

The sound of a chain being unlatched, then a series of locks. The woman in the door could have been a waitress, a secretary or a salesclerk. She had bright red hair that framed her face, sharp and pointy. All of her features were sharp and pointy. Her nose, her eyes, her lips. It was almost cat-like. She didn't look like a shady prostitute. She looked like anybody else, and I hated her for it. "Well well. If it isn't Little Rosie. Not so little anymore, huh?"

"I'm just here to get Bella." I'd never heard Rosalie sound so small.

Victoria snorted, leaning against the doorframe. "What makes you think Bella is here? And what makes you think she's ready to go if she is?" She smiled a feral smile at Rosalie, showing her pointy white teeth. "You know Bella. She never could afford what she came for."

I growled, unable to take it anymore, and pushed her aside. She said something, but I couldn't make it out. "Bella?" I walked into an empty living room, littered with beer bottles and take out bags. The kitchen was in similar shape, but it, too, was empty. "Bella!" I was in a hallway, opening doors and finding nothing but empty rooms when suddenly, I flung open a door, nondescript and ordinary, and found her. My heart stopped. The pain was unbearable.

She was sprawled sideways across a bed, in nothing but her panties and an oversized t-shirt that wasn't hers. It wasn't mine. Her face looked drawn, her eyes slightly open though only the bottoms of her pupils were visible. Her lips were parted, and her hair was a tangled mess in the hands of a stranger. She wasn't alone. A man sat on the bed, too, leaning against the headboard with his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles. He had her head in his lap, his fingers running through her hair. His blond ponytail was messy, and he was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers. He wore a smirk.

"I'm going to have to ask you to keep your voice down. My Bella needs her rest." He chuckled. "She's had a busy morning."

AN/

Ok! These chapters got harder and harder to write, and now they're getting harder and harder to submit. Unfortunately, the story will end soon, and I don't see a sequel for it in my crystal ball.

But I have other projects in mind.

For one thing I've been thinking about doing a side-story with certain outtakes, backgrounds and alternate POVs. Things like Bella and Jasper's break up, or Alice's POV in certain chapters. This I may start working on before the end of this story.

For another, I have a rough idea for a new story, very different from this one, all in BellaPOV (just as a change of pace for me to write). This would come after this story was all bundled and done.

Truthfully I wouldn't have considered either except for the overwhelming amount of reviewers that were dismayed at the impending finale. I'm touched and beyond flattered at this point by the sentiment, but I think a good story should know where to end, and I can't drag it on further than it goes naturally - if that's even a grammatically sound sentence.

If readers would like to see either or both of these ideas, let me know and I'll get right on it so diligently I'll practically ensure unemployment.

To wrap up the epic-ness that is this AN, thanks again and wait for the epic-ness that is the next chapter!