Chapter Seventeen: Beside the Ocean

Bella's POV

"Carlisle, please don't." I begged as I paced my office. I didn't want him to say what we all knew was true because then...everything would come crashing down. Kayleigh was Edward's best friend and to think of her being abused was just...sickening.

"Bella, we have to go to the police." He told me again. "Or...something much worse than a bruised arm could happen."

"Yeah, let's..." But, before I could finish there was a knock on my door by the girl who's office was next to mine. Unfortunately, I couldn't drop everything to go with him and I gave him the task of reporting this. I prayed that it wasn't really true and she had just fallen or ran into something. But, there was also a very big chance he was right and for once, I prayed he wasn't.

It was hard to pay attention in my meeting. Every time someone was talking, my mind just went to the beautiful little girl and how it broke my heart to even think someone was hitting her. As the daughter of the police chief, I heard my dad telling my mother about these kinds of situations, but I'd never actually known someone who was being abused.

I just prayed for Edward's sake nothing was going to happen to her. I prayed no one would come take her away to California or be put into foster care only to be bounced from one house to another. He'd been through too much already, I didn't want his best friend being taken from him.

Once the meeting was over, I spent my lunch break with Carlisle while we ate in silence. Since running into her, no one had seen Kayleigh and therefore, the police had no proof she was bruised other than Carlisle's word. They told him they were sending a search party out of her and they'd call as soon as she was found.

That call didn't come while I was sitting with him.

The rest of the day dragged on and I had never been so thankful for five o'clock to arrive. I bolted out of the office and tried beating traffic. That didn't work, but I was able to get home quicker than normal, but to an empty house. Carlisle left a note saying he was going to look for her and I spent the night pacing.

Finally, at eight o'clock, the house phone rang and I raced to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked, praying it was an officer saying they'd found her.

"Mrs. Cullen?" He asked.

"No, this is the fiancee." I explained. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Officer Lowe, I spoke to your fiancee earlier about finding the little girl." He explained. "Well, I'm happy to say we found her."

"Thank god," I whispered. "Where was she?"

"Hiding out in the tunnel at a nearby park." He laughed. "Anyway, she's happy and healthy and her parents are on their way."

"Her parents?" I asked. "Haven't you seen her arm? Carlisle said that it was badly bruised."

"We did look, and she told us the same story as Mr. Cullen." He sighed. "Unless she tells us she's being abused, we can't do anything."

"Why not?"

"Because, we don't have any proof that it didn't happen playing soccer." He explained. "I'm sorry, Miss. There isn't anything I can do at this point." He told me and I hung up the phone in rage. Edward bragged about how good she was at soccer and how much it took for her to bruise.

After letting Carlisle know about the call, I cleaned the entire house by the time he got home an hour later. He didn't look right and he wasn't walking straight and I only prayed he'd taken a cab home.

"Carlisle?" I asked gently as I walked over to him.

"I'm fine, baby." He told me and I smell the liquor on his breath. "Just wanted a drink."

"Are you sure it wasn't a few drinks?" I asked as I walked him over to the couch to sit down.

"I'm pissed, Bella." He told me bluntly. "I'm pissed and I wanted to forget about what was happening because if I think about it, I know I'm just going to do something stupid."

"And did it make you forget?" I asked.

"For a while." He shrugged. "But then, the picture of her bruised arm came back into my mind and I sat on the curb of the bar...crying for twenty minutes before someone finally called me a cab and put me into it. What are we gonna do?"

"I...I dont' know." I sighed as he laid his head down in my lap. "I really don't."

"I wanna believe her." He sighed. "I want to believe that she fell during soccer and that she isn't being abused. I want our little perfect world to exist all the time...I want everything to be okay." He cried. "But, everything isn't okay and the world is far from perfect and that little girl is in trouble."

"We'll figure something out." I tried telling him, but even I wasn't sure. "I'm sure someone else will see the bruises and report it."

"Yeah, and she's going to say the same thing she did today." He argued. "That she fell and nothing is happening at home."

"Yeah, well right now...we have to hope that she'll come clean to everyone."

After that day, Kayleigh and Edward spent a lot of time at our house or at the practice field. Carlisle and I didn't say anything to Edward about what we saw, all we told him was we felt more comfortable with them hanging around with us rather than her house. She seemed to understand because she was always asking to be over our house.

As the time passed, I noticed how close Edward was getting with her and I was so happy he'd found someone to depend on. There was a special bond you had with that first 'opposite sex best friend' that couldn't be broken and Kayleigh was the sweetest thing ever. She didn't let what was happening at home show and she always had a smile on her face.

I knew how much he really liked her by the amount of time he spent playing her the piano. His music wasn't as obvious to the rest of the school as his sports ability was and I saw how he liked showing off for her. And, she never complained. Even when they were in the piano room for hours, she never complained once.

She was even a big help when it came to making small decisions about the wedding. She reminded me nothing with a red sauce because that had danger written all over it, and she even helped me pick out the color of the wedding.

"Teal," I told Carlisle as he came home from a run after Kayleigh and Edward disappeared to the park again.

"Teal?" He asked as he took a big gulp of water.

"For the wedding." I explained. "Teal and grey."

"Sounds nice." He smiled, coming over and pecking me on the lips. "But, what about purple?"

"You aren't a huge fan." I shrugged. "I want you to like the way your wedding looks, Carlisle."

"That was very considerate." He whispered. "But...why teal?"

"Well, we wanna have a late summer wedding and teal is just a good summer color." I explained. "It's happy and reminds me of the ocean and it apparently looks great against my complexion."

"You've been hanging around Kayleigh too much." He laughed as he headed upstairs. While he was showering, I logged onto Pintrest again and began searching weddings again. If I was becoming addicted, I blamed that cute little girl Edward kept bringing around. Just as I was logging off to get dinner started, the front door opened.

"Hey, bud!" I called through the house. "We're having salmon tonight so, what do you think we should have with it?"

"Bella?" He whispered, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. When I turned around, he was holding Kayleigh up and blood was gushing from her nose, her eye was swelling shut and she had bruises forming all over her body. "Help."

"Oh my god," I cried, rushing over to her and putting a towel over her nose. "Carlisle!" I yelled as Edward got an icepack from the freezer. Carlisle appeared in the doorway and his face turned white. But, he gained his composure enough and came over and picker her up.

"We gotta get her to the hospital." He carried her out to the car and Edward stayed where he was, his face white as a ghost, looking absolutely terrified.

"What happened?" I asked, kneeling beside him, giving him a glass of water. He was barely able to get it to his mouth he was shaking so bad.

"I was walking her home because my ankle was starting to hurt." He explained. "And, once she got inside, I heard yelling and I didn't want to leave her alone, so I knocked on the door and no one answered and I went over to look in the window and someone had her on the ground, throwing punches." He said, beginning to cry. "And I tried to get inside, but no one would come to the door and it was locked tightly."

"I hate to say this, but I'm glad you couldn't get inside." I said, tightly hugging him.

"She came out and tried running, but she fell to the cement immediately." He cried. "I didn't know what to do, so I just helped her stand and...and I didn't know where to go so I thought this place would be best."

"You did good, Edward." I assured him as I heard the front door slam.

"Bells, we gotta go." Carlisle urged and both of us made a run for the car. I sat in the backseat with Kayleigh and Carlisle kept Edward in front with him so he didn't have to look at her bleeding terribly. Once we got to the hospital, Carlisle carried her inside and she was rushed back to a room immediately, and we weren't able to go back with her.

I sat and bounced my leg, Carlisle paced the waiting room, and Edward stood by the doors leading back to the ER where she was. No one said anything and I'm pretty sure everyone was afraid to say anything. Finally, after an hour, a doctor came out from behind the door asking for whoever brought Kayleigh in.

"That's us." Carlisle said as we rushed over.

"Are you her parents?" He asked.

"No, my son is really close with her." He explained. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She has a broken nose and a concussion, but other than that, she looks like she's going to be fine." He explained. "Kayleigh has been in here a few times, but with much lesser injuries."

"Then...how come you didn't know we weren't her parents?" I asked.

"She's never had anyone with her." He shrugged. "She's always alone and she somehow has all of their medical insurance cards with her."

"And you've never called the police?" Edward barked.

"We have...every single times." He sighed. "But, she's always said she fell during soccer or something like that."

"Can we see her?" I asked. He nodded and led us back into a single room and she looked like she was barely able to keep her eyes open.

"We gave her some pain medication, so she's pretty drowsy." He explained as Edward went and sat next to her, grabbing her hand. "Would you like to call the police or should we?"

"You can," Carlisle sighed. "And, my son saw them beating her...we have more than just what she says this time." The doctor nodded and left the room, leaving us alone with Kayleigh. Since she was tired from the medication, she didn't say anything but I could tell she was happy Edward was there with her.

She fell asleep a little bit later and as much as we hated doing it, we had to leave...we had no choice. So, we dragged Edward out of the hospital and inside the house...even though no one slept all night. We spent the night at the kitchen table with drinks that were untouched, and nothing be said. It was the first time since meeting him that Carlisle had a blank look on his face.

The second the clock turned to nine o'clock, Edward was dragging us to the car to drive to the hospital. Kayleigh had been let out of the ER and was in another recovery room upstairs and once we got there, there were two police officers in her room. She was saying no one had done this to her and that she fell, but they didn't look like the believed her at all.

"Don't believe her." Edward said as we walked in. "She's lying."

"Edward, don't!" Kayleigh begged.

"Kay, you're in the hospital with a broken nose and a concussion..." He reminded her. "What do they have to do for you to punish them?"

"Just, let me handle this." She sighed with tears in her eyes. "Please."

"Kayleigh, you're going to get yourself killed." He cried, going over to her and grabbing her hand. "I don't want them to hurt you anymore...please tell them what happened."

"I can't." She cried.

"Why not, Kayleigh?" I asked, going over and knealing beside her.

"They said they'd...kill me if I told on them." She cried and I saw Edward's face go white again. "Please, just leave me alone. I can handle this."

"Kayleigh, if we arrest them, they can't hurt you." One of the officers reminded her. "We won't let them touch you, but you have to tell us what really happened." She looked over at Edward who gave her a small nod and she took a deep breath.

"I didn't fall playing soccer." She whispered. The cops kicked Carlisle and I out while they asked the two questions about what happened. We paced the hall for what seemed like an hour before the door opened and they steps outside.

"So?" I asked.

"Your boys witnessing this is enough to go and arrest both of them." One of them explained. "They'll both have to testify, but the broken nose is enough to get them put away, even if for a short time."

"And, the hospital told us this isn't the first time she's been here with similar injuries, so they really shouldn't be getting out anytime soon." The other told us before walking towards the elevator. We walked inside and the two of them were laughing about something.

"What's so funny?" I asked, glad that they could still laugh at a time like this.

"Edward just told me the joke that always makes me laugh." She smiled. "No matter what's going on."

"Kayleigh, you're welcome to stay with us until everything gets settled." Carlisle told her. "Do you have family in the area?"

"My aunt and uncle live in a different part of town." She sighed, and I knew she was going to end up switching schools. "In GreenTree."

"Well, do you want us to call them for you?" I asked.

"No...not yet." She sighed. "They don't even know I exist."

"Then, how do you know about them?" Edward asked.

"I was told about them...they were never told about me." She shrugged. "I wanna...stay with you guys."

"We'd love to have you." I smiled. Edward and Carlisle stayed with her while I went to the store to get some things for her. A pink bedspread, some new clothes until we could get to her place, and just other girly things to make her feel at home while she was with us.

Kayleigh was discharged the next day and Edward was over the moon that she was staying with us..even if the situation wasn't a good one. He set her up on the couch with lots of pillows and snacks, and he was constantly looking in on her...almost scared she'd disappeared.

He was a perfect gentleman the entire day. He tended to her every need, helped her stand and walk to the bathroom, and he even insisted I make her favorite meals for her. He read her The Golden Compass and made sure she was up-to-date on her soccer knowledge.

"You know, he's going to make a great big brother." I whispered to Carlisle as I watching him sit with her after dinner.

"Yeah, he will." He smiled, rubbing my back. He grabbed my hand and pulled me outside onto the back porch and we just stood there, holding each other. He was really shaken by what had happened, especially since it was someone so close to Edward and I was glad I could just be there for him.

"Thanks for being here, Bells." He whispered as we sat down. "And, I don't mean about just these last few days."

"I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else." I whispered, stroking his arm.

"You're so good to him...to both of them." He told me. "I don't know what I'd do without you...and I don't wanna think about what would happen if you weren't here. And again, not just for these last few days. You've always been so good with Edward...so calm and understanding.

"After he lost Esme, I didn't think he'd actually able to function in society...but you made that possible for him. After we got back together...he really started doing much better in school and started getting close to people again." He told me and I was almost in tears. "He loves you more than I do I think."

"I love him too." I sighed. "You two...you're my whole life."

"I'm so glad he has you."

"I'm glad I have him." I told him, turning around and brushing my lips against his.