Hello Sister, Goodbye Life
Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight saga. All recognisable characters, contents or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Note: Weeellll so, here's Chapter eighteen. Motherfucker, this was hard to right, I kid you not. Um, I'm hoping y'all read the overview in the previous posting of this chappy, because I ceebs rewriting it. Let's just say Bella's maternal grandparents filed for custody over Maddie the same day Victoria filed for custody over Eva and Anthony and so Bella and Edward have chosen to take them to court. But I just wanted to say that I've changed their representatives to James, previously mentioned in maybe Chapter 12, but I don't really remember.
I hope you enjoy this rewrite, because I'm putting off my History assignment for this bitch. Sigh. Something tells me I'm going to regret doing so later. :/
Some things to address. One, I'm sorry for the incredibly shitty quality of last chapter, but Microsoft Word's formatting was being a little turd and my laptop has a firewall that won't let me edit my chapters online from this computer, and I'm too much of a lazy shit to change computers, considering this is my main one.
The second thing is my lack of updating. As you know from the crappy chapter I removed, severe writers block has struck me like a freight train and well, I'm kind of a lot desperate at the moment. I'm hoping I haven't lost readers for my really dodgy actions, but if I have, then I'm sorry. Aside from WB, real life has taken it's toll on me. Badly. I'm talking schoolwork overload, medical and familial issues. That and I've recently acquired a far better social life, though I'm still trying not to kill a twenty one year old guy for "tuning me", the motherfucking cradle snatcher.
Three is the reviews. Thank you all so much for reviewing, even though some of them were a little unsavoury. Most of them had constructive criticism and I've had "your story sucks chicken balls" yet, so I suppose that's all good. It's kind of flattering, you know, to have people so indignant that I was going to finish this off, but no, I won't make a habit of it.
And, lastly, I want to let you know that I'm Australian and have no idea how the American legal system works, thus I'm basing the next few chapters on the Australian family court system, though I've only a vague understanding of the Australian family court, given that we haven't covered that in Legal yet. Thus, don't flame me for that.
So, apparently Wuthering Heights is by Emily Bronte and not Jane Austen. My bad. I'm sorry – I'm not one for the classics and, so, yeah, classical literature retardation. The only classiv I've read is Romeo and Juliet, for school, though I did try Pride and Prejudiced – I didn't get very far. Anyway, I'm rambling. Please, read on.
Chapter Eighteen
Ryan was a junkie. I knew that, Rose knew that, everyone who knew Ryan Hale knew that. What not everyone who knew Ryan Hale knew, was what Ryan Hale before the drugs was like.
Ryan, before the drugs, was a soft spoken guy with a big heart and who didn't take well to pressure. He made sure never to judge anyone before knowing them, he made sure to punch anyone who fucked with Rosalie, Regina or I in the face and he was the best (sudo) big brother a girl could ask for.
He was a whiz at mechanical engineering, far better than Rose, which was saying something, and could do long division quicker than anyone else I knew.
Ryan was the same age as Jasper, three years older than Rosalie and I, and could pull off the southern cowboy act better than anyone who had actually grown up in the south.
But when the Hale parental units began to stack on the pressure in Ryan's eleventh grade – "You'd better get a good grade point average if you want to run the Hale House, boy" or "You'll study business, I'm sure" – he freaked out. He met a girl, Zafrina, and she introduced him to cocaine and heroin, though he refused the latter due to the needle shit. At least he used his brain for that much.
He became a pro at snorting cocaine and smoking weed and began to rebel. When he graduated from Seattle Boys Grammar School, he walked out. No one had heard from him for months until, one day, during my and Rosalie's lunch break in the first semester of the tenth grade, he called up Rosalie. "I'm fine." It had been all he needed to say for Rosalie to burst into tears. He had told her that he wouldn't be coming back, that he couldn't put up with their parents' bullshit and then he hung up, making a habit to call Rosalie or Regina every week to let them know that he was okay.
He showed up for Rosalie and I's graduation, stoned and a complete mess. He was wearing too-large jeans and an old and frayed t-shirt. He'd lost a lot of weight and his skin was so pale it reached the point of being sallow. His eyes were bloodshot and lined with purple, his nose was red and his hair was filthy. He had that smile on his face, though, that one that he only gave his sisters, that one that told us all we needed to know – Ryan was okay.
He hadn't called Rosalie in a while, but she received weekly texts from Regina informing Rose that he'd call her. Nothing more. Other than those weekly texts, Rosalie never spoke to Regina or viceversa.
It was why I was surprised to see Ryan on top of my fence that night. It was why, on my lunch break, while I was chatting with Esme, I was surprised to see her enter the café, her face glowing, her hair long, on the arm of a tall dark haired man and round with a child.
"Regina?" I asked incredulously.
She looked at me and smiled. "Bella, just who we were looking for."
"I'm sorry, Esme, I'll just be a moment."
She smiled understandingly and waved me off. "Go on, sweetheart, no worries. I've got to return to the office, anyway"
I moved over to where the man was helping Regina into a seat and gave the younger woman a hug. She wasn't as tall as Rosalie or I, standing at 5'4" inches, though she was curvaceous and pregnancy suited her.
"My, you look amazing, Geen."
"Thank you," she replied, gesturing to the man beside her. "This is my boyfriend, Andre."
"Pleasure," I greeted, before turning back to Rosalie's younger sister. "Does Rosalie know?"
"No," she replied truthfully, a sad smile on her face, "I don't know how to tell her."
"She misses you, you know," I commented, "She doesn't say it, but I can see it in her eyes. When Ryan… stopped by and Rosalie came to get him, though she acted pissed off, I could see that she was stoaked."
"You mean you don't live together anymore?"
"Nope," I replied, "She's living with Emmett-"
"Who's Emmett?"
"I'll let her explain that," I replied, "And I'm living with my boyfriend."
"Ooo, who is it?"
I laughed, grinning at the familiarity of it all – Regina was always gossip hungry. "His name is Edward Cullen."s
"Wow, that's great, Bella; I'm happy for you."
"So, why were you looking for me?"
"Ryan called me last night," she replied truthfully, "He told me what happened the night he stopped by at yours."
"Ah," I sighed, "Stupid big mouth."
"I was worried for you," she explained, "And Andre and I just wanted to offer our assistance anyway we can."
I smiled, patting Regina's hand. "Don't worry, Geen, I've got it all under control."
"Well," she sighed, "The offer is always open, Bella, it always has been. For you and Rose, always."
I smiled, touched at her sincerity. "Geeney, call up Rose, talk to her. I think it will do you both good." I stood and gave her another hug. "And as for the offer? It goes both ways; if you ever need me, you or Andre, you've got my cell."
Regina, like Ryan, had left the moment she graduated from Seattle Girls Grammar. She got a job and moved in with her flatmate, paying her own way through college and was now interning at the District Attorney's office, though she was about to go on maternity leave, for obvious reasons.
I shook Andre's hand and left the café, headed back to my office. Leah was still on leave with a baby girl named Claire and wouldn't be back for a couple of months yet, so Billy says. Until then, I got the pleasure of bossing around Tanya Denali. Oh, sometimes I really loved my life.
Of course, my good mood was drained the moment I sat in my chair and stared down at the two files in front of me. One was titled "Swan vs Dwyer" and the other was titled "Cullen vs Lionel". Both were painfully – literally – thick, full of records of all sorts. Account records I'd found in my mom's study from when they cut her off, a letter telling Renee never to contact them again as she was a disgrace to the Dwyer name, so forth and so forth. Victoria's was far, far more impressive. A criminal record for drug traffic-ing and possession, theft, assault and black market prostitution. Jeez, I wondered if she was even who the hell she said she was.
The only offence Edward had was speeding, in his senior year of high school. I knew Victoria didn't stand a chance but I wanted this case against her solid as stone.
Because I didn't have a crook record, thank you, daddy, for drilling it into my head never to break the law, my case against the Dwyer's (I refused to refer to them as grandparents) was rather solid as well. I came from a good family, with loving parents and paternal grandparents, I was in a steady relationship with a man with two children of his own around Maddie's age, a very good support system with Edward's family all to willing to chip in if ever needed.
With that, and the fact that my grandparents were nearly sixty, I was positive I'd win both of them.
What bothered me was that Victoria Lionel hadn't faced any jailtime for any of what she'd done – theft, assault, drug possession and traffic-ing, it was a lot not to land herself at least seven years jail time. Given that she came from old money, I figured her parents paid off a judge. Which was what I was extraordinarily worried about. If they made sure that they had a questionable judge take our trial and then pay him off; they were bound to win. I considered going to ask Billy about it, but then figured that he was really only familiar with criminal court judges.
With my folders in my briefcase, I locked all of my filing cabinets and the drawers at my desk before I left the office, locking that door as well. I'd worked overtime, again, and, once again, Tanya had so accidentally forgotten to inform me. Thank God Edward was doing nights these days – it meant he could pick up the kids. After locking the office door and pocketing my keys, I began the walk to my car.
A quarter of the way home, I realised I was being followed. When I looked to see who it was, my blood ran cold. James. James Manod, who'd recently deferred from business law to family law. James Manod, who was representing my mother's parents as well as Victoria Lionel. James Manod, my ex-boyfriend who, once upon a time, was a nice guy, but was now a scary son of a bitch.
We'd dated my first year of law school, before we'd chosen our desired law paths and found that they were taking us in different directions. In that first year, in mooting sessions, we'd both been incredibly passionate in what we were representing, we always strived to be the best. We were both ruthless, quick witted motherfuckers who wanted to win. We had to be the best. That passion in mooting led to a very heated romance that ended when he had to move to Portland to continue his law schooling. Somewhere between then and now, he'd become this stone cold machine, still driven to win, but with no emotion behind it.
Swallowing hard, I first checked if the combination lock on my briefcase was still locked before I reached into my bag and pulled out my Blackberry. I called up Edward.
"Hello, love, is everything okay?"
"Would you mind taking the children to your parents' tonight? I'm sorry I'm not home yet but I worked late and, well, I can't actually come to the house right now. I'm currently being followed."
"Someone is following you?" He asked, concerned.
"It's okay; I'm going to spend the night at my old flat. Lots of security there."
"I really think you should call the police," Edward murmured.
"Hey, it's fine; he's just trying to intimidate me. I know his games, love." The truth was, I really didn't. This James Manod was so completely different to the one I had left behind years ago. Edward sighed, resigned. "Be safe, love."
"I know. I love you."
"I love you too."
We hung up and I changed direction, headed for my old flat. After I went into the underground parking lot, accessible only by keycode, I parked and took the elevator up to my floor. Shelly, the college grad student who lived across from me, was just unlocking her door to go inside when I exited the lift.
"Bella?"
"Hey Shelly," I greeted, walking towards my flat, "What's up?"
"What the hell are you doing here? You haven't been here in yonks."
I laughed as she reached out for a hug. Hugging her, I replied, "Some stuff has come up involving a creepy ex-boyfriend so I thought it was better to stay here rather then endanger my sister." I didn't mention Edward or Tony and Eva, just in case James came aknocking, just for precautions' sake. I'd definitely watched too many episodes of Law and Order I decided after saying bye to Shelly and entering my flat.
Switching on the light, I looked around with a sigh. Sheets covered all of the furniture and the air was stuffy, though everything was in place. Eerily so. Yep – far too many crime shows. As a lawyer, I really shouldn't enjoy them, given that they were completely off kilter when it came to laws and what not, but god, those shows were obsessive.
Huffing, I walked through the living room and around the dividing wall, setting my briefcase and handbag on the kitchen counter there. After texting Edward an 'Arrived safely, have a good shift xoxo', I opened up the window to let in some fresh air and yanked off the sheets covering the TV and sofa.
Flicking on the TV that I'd disconnected from cable, I flicked on HBO and watched whatever it was. When A Stranger Calls. How fucking nice. Getting comfortable, I braced myself for what was sure to be a long, long night.
Author's Note: I've somehow managed to whip writing mojo out of my ass because no way in hell I could come up with this shit yesterday. Hope you like like?
Please review! And now it's time for me to do my assignments :/ Happy easter, everyone! Don't eat too much chocolate and don't get too drunk oh, and for the sake of all our lives, think of Jesus Christ, if only for a moment. Apocolupse or not, these natural disasters are fucking scary. xx