Chapter 2:
Bella woke alone. The world around her was hazy, confusing, and painful. The hot sheets gripped her tightly and her mouth was full of cotton balls, the tang of vein injected medicine tangible in the back of her throat. Her bones felt compressed; they throbbed in time with her heart. The bruises forming across her battered body grew darker as her heartbeat picked up, pushing blood through her hurriedly. The throbbing grew to rapid pace, becoming a drawn out note of agony. She wanted to scream, to shout, but all she could manage was a quiet whimper, though it was enough to alert the others in the house to her struggle. She twisted herself halfway out from the sheets, tangling her abdomen and knees in the fabric before it was suddenly ripped away, letting her overheated body still and allowing the air to swirl around it.
Soft murmurs filled the room and cold hands wiped the sweat off of her forehead, instantly reminding Bella of him, but at the same time not. These hands, where his had been rough with her, were gentle. They stroked her temples with long piano fingers, cooling her fevered skin. Another set of hands caressed her shoulder, tracing over each scar and freckle lovingly. These hands were larger; they swallowed her left hand after trailing quickly over her arm, pausing briefly over each bruise they found there. They kneaded the tense muscles, carefully avoiding her broken finger. And the last pair of hands, which Bella found to feel the most weathered and worked, rested on top of her bent knees. Fingers extended further down her thighs, meeting the fabric of her shorts there. Thumbs smoothed over mottled skin and tender bones. All of these hands comforted instead of harmed, soothed instead of attacked. This realization squelched the panic that had begun to rise within Bella. She did not know why, but she trusted these hands, felt a small, but growing, connection to them.
Pain broke through as more hands prodded her ribs. But these hands were not familiar or trusted. Bella cried out and shied away into the comfort of the hands on her left. One large hand covered the offended area gently, the icy temperature instantly dulling the pain. Growls filled the room, followed by an exasperated sigh. "Boys, I need to give her a thorough examination now that she has begun to wake. It would be better if there were still some light sedatives and pain medication in her system while I did. It would spare Bella pain and energy if there were." From what Bella could understand, she got the impression that these words were said for her benefit more than the others.
Bella winced as her eyes cracked open slightly. The lights were dimmed quickly, allowing her to see more. The bed she was in was placed in the center of the room, allowing her to be surrounded. But oddly, and to her chagrin, she didn't feel threatened here. Not by these golden eyed men who, now that she wasn't running and full of adrenaline, offered her a sense of safety she couldn't remember feeling before. The oddest sensation filled Bella when her eyes met theirs; it was like string had been tied around her heart and attached to each of these men. She felt like crying when she found emotions she didn't recognize but could still understand within their eyes.
"Hi." She whispered to the one who was still rubbing her temples with his long piano fingers. Bella's voice was thick and cracked uncomfortably, but it didn't stop him from smiling.
"Hi." His voice was soft and honeyed. It soothed Bella's frayed nerves. "I'm Edward." The lines of his face held a confused puzzlement and concentration. She didn't really notice when his gaze moved from hers to concentrate on her forehead, as if he had found the world's biggest mystery there.
"Edward." She repeated finally and quietly. The name was soft on her tongue.
"Hey, stop hogging her." A deep, bass voice teased. Bella turned towards the source and felt a small trickle of fear when she remembered that they knew her name and she had never told them. It was quickly fought off, by herself and, unknowingly to Bella, Jasper's ability, but the thought still stood in the back of her mind, waiting to be answered.
"I'm Emmett." His face did not match the rest of him. It was more rounded where the rest of him was hard, and reminded her of a time before she was taken. "And the creeper down by your feet is Jasper." The man that Emmett had so graciously introduced took a spare moment to glare at him, but flicked his eyes back to Bella. His eyes, though so similar to the others', held more history, a greater story to tell. It was surprising; his eyes had never held a story. They had only held maliciousness and lust, and sometimes a hunger that Bella could never begin to understand.
"Thank you so much for that introduction Emmett. And it wasn't me who was sitting outside of the room for the past twelve hours refusing to move or let Carlilse in."
"Oh we all know you were just down the hall waiting for her to wake up." Emmett moved away from her and leaned playfully towards Jasper, trying to place Bella at ease.
"At least I was discrete about it." Jasper punched Emmett lightly in the shoulder, making Bella wince internally. Their bickering, though strange to Bella, was a welcome distraction from herself.
"Do you want to sit up, Bella?" Edward asked quietly while his two brothers continued to argue in the background. As she nodded her agreement and Edward helped her sit up, the movement brought her injuries back to the forefront of her mind. Nausea swirled in her stomach when her legs were swung over the side of the small bed, causing her to double over; her ribs screamed in protest at the movement. Something was shoved into her hands and she emptied whatever was left in her stomach into it. Someone held her hair back while another whispered soft words into her ear, words that she didn't care about but appreciated nothing less.
"Sorry. I'm sorry." Bella whispered when the bucket was whisked away. She held her arms up against the sides of her head, waiting, just waiting for a punishment. The room was silent except for her labored breaths. Cool, brisk hands gripped her upper arms loosely. This is it. This is it. I knew that this was too good to be true. She thought about ways to keep her body from further damage when she was yanked to the floor, to keep her head protected against a well placed kick. As her mates looked at her, they could hear each others' hearts break.
But instead, her arms were brought gently to her sides and fatherly fingers wiped away her tears. Though they were somewhat unwelcome, Bella couldn't find it in herself to pull away. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Bella. If anything, your sickness is to be expected. So please don't apologize." When Bella found it in herself to look up, she was met with the gaze of a kind looking man. His eyes held sunshine and a caring that could be applied to all of his loved ones. His tousled blond hair lent him a somewhat tired disposition, but there was nothing else to indicate that he could feel that way. His face was unlined and his under eyes free of dark circles. But Bella could sense it; this man was tired and worried. But happy. She could sense that within him too.
"I'm Carlisle. The head of this... family." The look on his face when he used the word family amused Bella. "I'm a doctor. I work at the local hospital. I was hoping that you would let me examine you. Your body has gone through quote a lot. It would just be a basic check over." Bella was confused at the choice presented to her. He had never given her choices, only basic commands and instructions.
Apparently, Emmett mistook her hesitance for fear. "You don't have to Bella. Nothing will happen if you don't want it to." He made a movement to stand in front of her before Edward halted him.
"Emmett is right, Bella, but it would be... pertinent for Carlilse to assess your injuries." Shame flashed through Bella when she didn't know what he was trying to say.
"Bella, it isn't your fault what happened to you, if that's what you're thinking." Jasper assured her.
Bella shook her head, not knowing how to explain. "Maybe Bella needs some space. How about you three go help Esme with the garden." Bella's eyes flicked to the doorway, finding a tiny, pixie-like person barely filling it. "But only if that's okay with you, Bella."
Bella nodded her head quickly, not wanting these three strange familiar men in the room while a doctor poked and prodded at her. Guilt formed in her chest when she saw the sad look on the big one's-Emmett's, she reminded herself-face.
"Of course. Bella, don't worry about anything. We'll be happy to give you space if that's what you want." Edward said, murmuring something to Emmett that Bella didn't catch. The three of them vacated the room while the little one traipsed into it, plopping herself down on the bed next to Bella.
"Hi, Bella. I'm Alice. We're going to be the best of friends." Her voice was high and musical, but with no beat. Bella searched for something to compare it to, but couldn't come up with the word. Alice giggled. "Do you like wind chimes, Bella?" She shrugged; even if Bella did, she didn't know what Alice was talking about. "I'll be right back." She whispered conspiratorially. When she was halfway across the room, she called back. "Carlisle would like to come with me, I think."
"What Alice wants, Alice gets." Was all that he offered before Bella was left alone.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Emmett hissed at Alice while she danced down the stairs. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett had been waiting worriedly at the kitchen table for Carlisle to finish examining Bella, only to be confused as Alice stole the doctor away.
"Oh, she's fine for the moment." Her eyes flashed and her face grew sad. "He was always careful to never damage her too much. Only enough to hurt, never enough to kill." Edward placed his face in his hands, Emmett made a dent in the table, and Jasper gripped his hair almost to the point of pulling it out. "You're going to scare her if you do that." Alice said moments before Emmett would've overturned the table. "Not to mention make Esme angry. Now, we're off to find some wind-chimes." She tugged Carlisle to the porch at human speed. "She needs this. Give her at least fifteen minutes." Was all the boys heard before there was the click and purr of an engine starting and pulling out of the driveway.
Bella was frozen for the first two minutes of silence, all of the panic rushing back now that she was alone. She waited for them to come back up and laugh at her, to call her crazy for ever thinking that she was free, that her waking nightmare could be over. She thought that maybe this was a dream, and he was just waiting for her to wake up. Or that he had hired them to catch her after he gave her the opportunity to escape. They could be worse than him. They had cold hands like him, and hard skin like him. And there were so many. They could do the same things to her and with all of them watching her, she would never be able to leave like she had with him.
All of the possibilities ran through her head, making it ache and pound worse that her ribs. She tripped slightly when she stepped off the bed, her ankle groaning beneath her. She steadied her weight on her left foot while she braced her hands on the bed. The flash of metal caught her eye at the end of the bed. Bella was surprised to find there what she had used to get around after she broke her leg when she was nine. "Crutches." She was startled to speak out loud. It had been so long since she formed real words besides the occasional "Hello" when he demanded it of her.
They wouldn't leave her crutches if they wanted to keep her locked up, would they?
No. Bella decided. No, they would not.
She hopped over to them slowly, still waiting for people to pop out and laugh at her. It was hard at first, maneuvering around on the slightly too tall crutches. Bella did a couple of laps around the room, learning how to be steady. It was slow and ever-painful, but she had learned how to push pain to the back of her mind out of necessity, so it didn't take her long to build up the courage to stumble over to the doorway.
Thick white carpet covered all of what she could see of the upstairs. The outer wall was floor to ceiling windows, revealing the dreary weather outside. All the better to watch me even when I'm outside. She said to herself before she shook the thought. They would probably never let her outside anyway.
Her heart beat rapidly when she reached the stairs, filling the house with her scent. The boys sitting at the table grew tense. Not out of blood lust, but out of worry of whether or not the girl that was theirs would further injure herself by trying to be independent.
But Alice said she needed this. Edward thought to himself. Her mind had been confusing; he didn't know whether to be angry or just mildly annoyed that Alice was trying to throw him off of Bella's future. But if she didn't want him to know then it couldn't be that bad, right?
"I can't just fucking sit here." Emmett said angrily while he stood and let the chair fall back against the floor.
"Alice said that she needed this!" Jasper said, racing to block his path to Bella.
"She never specified just what Bella needed, did she?" Emmett shoved at Jasper's shoulders. Tense anger flooded the room, reaching Bella, now halfway down the stairs, and causing Jasper to taste her confusion and small spark of panic. "And why the fuck don't you two want to help? We've loved her for so long and now she's finally here!" His deep voice, previously at a volume only Edward and Jasper could hear, finally reached Bella, though the words were jumbled and too fast for her ears.
"You don't think all I want to do is dig a fucking tunnel and hide her in it until she's changed! Or build a steel house where nobody can find her and just stay there? I can feel everything, Emmett! She's scared and confused and in pain. You don't think that hurts me too? I want to rip my heart out so I don't have to care anymore." Jasper, feeling Bella's panic at the emotions that weren't hers took hold of her body, finally reigned himself in. "I love her." He whispered, just for their ears. "Just as much as you."
"Hey." Both turned to look at Edward, thinking he was calling to them. But instead found him staring at a small, bruised, determined girl leaning heavily on her crutches. They stared at her for a moment, with Bella staring straight back.
A/N: Well hello all. First, I want to say thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favorited, and followed Breathe Me. I was so excited every time my phone showed new emails. All of you authors reading this know what I'm talking about. Second, I want to let you know that all updates are going to take about the same time that this one did. I'm in school and have a really heavy schedule right now. A week to ten days is going to be my update time, maybe with some occasional faster updates on breaks. I'm sorry that it will take that long, but my education comes first! Third, I know this chapter may seem a little filler-y to some people, but I thought it was important because it begins to establish some character personalities and introduces Bella to the Three Musketeers AKA her big, dorky, overprotective vampire mates! Okay, that's all I wanted to say, and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please drop me a review, they keep me going and honestly make me write faster. Until next time!
~Lunatastic