Hey guys! Thank you all so much for your reviews! Here is the second chapter... it went in a slightly different direction than originally planned but I like where it is now, and I've got a much clearer vision of where this is going now.

I just want to clarify that Bella IS NOT the fifth element, Emmett just thinks she is because he watches too many movies LOL. Please keep reading and please keep reviewing, because I really value your input.


The room steamed up around me as I stared at the walls. The sound of my foot rhythmically tapping in annoyance reverberated off the tiles, my scowl increasing by the second.

"I really do not see the point of this," I argued for the umpteenth time.

"She's getting naked, Edward!" Alice reiterated, as if that made all the fucking difference in the world. I let out a frustrated huff and pressed my forehead against the wall, hoping the cool stone would calm me down a little.

Alice had come bounding into Bella's life with a squeal and a hug – effectively scaring the crap out of her – just about an hour prior to this little exchange. She actually seemed excited that we had found this unknown young woman. Maybe she felt like she could relate somehow – Alice had been mute herself when Carlisle had adopted her. Emmett had been frightened of everything when he'd been adopted. I had completely lacked in social skills when I'd been adopted. She was like all three of us put together.

"Alice, she was naked when I found her!" I growled through my teeth, my jaw locked tightly in frustration. She ignored me and kept doing whatever it was she was doing with Bella, who was completely silent and docile, probably just letting Alice position her like a marionette. She had taken quickly to all three of the girls, after an awkward moment where she'd gone into a defensive crouch and outright growled at them. I'd never seen anything like it. Esme, Alice and Rosalie rushed into the bathroom after they'd received phone-calls from their respective partners and Bella had leapt into that defensive position instantly, prompting them to halt and stay staring warily from the doorway.

Esme moved first, slowly raising her hands into the common pose of surrender and shuffled towards Bella, speaking in soothing tones. Surprisingly, Bella looked up at me as though for approval and I did the only thing I could think of at the time – I stepped forward and enveloped Esme in a hug, flashing Bella a reassuring grin when I moved back again. From then on (aside from the squeal/hug incident), she was happy to be with any one of them without the screeching that ensued when either Emmett or Jasper were left alone with her.

Finally, I heard the shower curtain being drawn shut and I turned around, now glaring at Alice.

"Oh relax, Edward, she's fine," Alice sighed, sitting down on the toilet lid and smiling serenely over at the shower as if she could actually see the girl in it. "Where do you think she came from?" she asked. I shrugged, hoping I might be able to have a definitive answer to that question soon. Carlisle would be able to find out exactly what had happened to Bella and where she had come from, and I was thanking my lucky stars every goddamn second that Jasper had managed to talk him into keeping her with us and away from authorities until we knew more about her. It had perplexed Carlisle that she had been covered in blood yet utterly unscathed and whatever Jasper had spoken to him and Esme about had them convinced that being with us was the best thing for her at this point. I hated to admit it, but I had to agree.

"I'm still not sure that this is a good idea." My head snapped around as Rosalie swept past me and sat against the wall, drawing one knee up to her chest and resting her chin on it. I cursed her silently both for fuelling the doubts I had about my Bella and for reminding me of her while she did it.

"But if she's-"

"Emmett, for the thousandth time she is not the fifth element!" Rosalie cried, throwing her hands in the air and letting them fall to her sides with a loud slapping sound.

"You don't know that!"

"I'm sorry but it just doesn't make any sense at all. It's not logical and it's just not possible!"

I let those two argue and went over to check on Bella – I could hear little splashing noises but she was silent as ever and it made me curious. What are you doing in there? I pushed the shower curtain back just enough that I could peer in slightly. She was crouched in the middle of the shower, up on the balls of her feet, her heels digging into her butt – the balance of the position almost amazed me as much as the way she was just gazing down at the water with innocent wonder. Her palms made the little splashing noises I'd heard as they patted the small film of water on the tiles beneath her.

"What are you doing?" I asked softly, causing her to look up at me. The pure glee in her eyes was nothing short of mind-blowing. Her entire face was lit up like she had just gotten a cute little puppy dog for Christmas. I laughed softly as she continued to pat the water, then moved on to tracing the tracks the drops made on the frosted glass. "That's water," I told her, eliciting yet another mind-blowing grin. "Yeah it's pretty cool," I chuckled, patting the floor right next to her. I hadn't thought it possible, but her grin grew wider. She patted twice, and then looked up at me expectantly. I patted right back, smiling at the absurdity of the little game we had going and not even caring that my hair was getting wet. She let out a happy little noise and patted twice more. I mimicked her actions again. She giggled this time, and it was the happiest sound that had ever graced my ears – it bubbled and chimed, like a breeze and a stream. Without thinking, I reached over and stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. She leaned into my touch for a fraction of a second, then took my hand and traced some patterns on the glass with it. "Water," I repeated, just before the curtain was drawn all the way open.

"Okay let's take a look." Carlisle wriggled his way into position next to me and took a good long sweeping look at Bella. "Still not a single sign of injury. No grazes, no cuts, no abrasions. You're sure she was covered in blood?" he inquired. I rolled my eyes.

"You saw it for yourself," I reminded him, and he sighed.

"I know... it just doesn't make any sense. She's not even showing any signs of internal injury. She's not in any pain... She likes you," he smiled as Bella growled when my hand retreated and she pulled it back to trace more water tracks.

"Yeah I think it's like a baby duck thing. I fed her first so she's attached or whatever."

"Don't you like her, Edward?" Carlisle's brow furrowed and he studied my face, watching for any sign of a lie when I answered him.

"I like her, sure. I'm just not entirely sold on us taking care of her. I don't know if we're the right people to do it." Carlisle seemed to weigh up his response carefully, his eyes boring into mine for some time before he spoke.

"Well if she is like a baby duck and has grown attached to you then I don't think there is any other group more fitted to taking care of her. She likes the girls. She likes you. She seems comfortable enough with me," he reasoned, and I knew all of this was true, but I couldn't stop the nagging in the back of my mind.

"Emmett and Jasper..." I trailed off, shaking my head. If they were going to be a problem...

"I'm sure she'll grow to be comfortable with them as well." Carlisle patted me on the back before standing and retreating to his office, no doubt making notes and doing research, labelling the samples he'd taken with fake names and addresses so we could find out more about Bella and if she had anything wrong with her.

"She'll be okay," I sighed to no one in particular, shaking my head fondly as Bella continued to pat the floor and run our fingers along the wall, not washing at all and not paying any attention to the water falling into her eyes.

***

Night fell quickly and having Bella around began to prove itself both challenging and a little gross. I'm glad I wasn't present for the incident where she soiled the bathroom floor and had to have another shower – I was picking out some of Alice's pyjamas to give to Bella at the time – but Esme didn't even complain as she cleaned it up. Carlisle tried to explain toilet rules to her and about an hour later she proved her understanding by suddenly sprinting up two flights of stairs to the very same bathroom.

We spent the next hour discussing just how much we thought she could understand, and how to find out. Trial and error seemed to be the only reasonable method of teaching her anything considering the fact that she had no means of communication with us aside from grunts, growls and giggles. While we discussed her, she remained seemingly oblivious of the conversation, looking around and observing her surroundings at the same time as warily watching Emmett and Jasper. I didn't know what it was about them that made her uneasy, but Carlisle's theory was that her only experience with them had been in tense situations, so she wasn't confident about them. Rosalie watched her with the same wariness as she watched the boys, still unsure and still not sold on the idea of keeping her. She made her feelings clear several times during the discussion, expressing that she believed Bella would end up being a danger to us – we didn't know anything about her let alone what she was capable of. She made her sound like a spy who was refusing to talk rather than a lost girl who couldn't.

By the end of the discussion, Rosalie was a little less hesitant due to Jasper's gift of the gab – he could talk someone into believing the sky was red instead of blue. He convinced her that at this particular point in time, Bella was completely harmless and assured her that the minute she posed any real threat to us we would give her up. Beside me, I heard Bella's stomach rumble and the next thing I knew; she was searching my hand again. Esme, Carlisle and the girls watched in awe as Bella turned my hand about and even dove into my pockets. She pulled out my wallet and promptly proceeded to shove a dollar bill into her mouth.

"No!" I cried, lurching towards her and prying her mouth open to retrieve my dollar bill. She protested, leaning over and trying to pluck the money from my hand with a grunt and a scowl.

"No, Bella," Carlisle scolded firmly, crouching down in front of her and pointing a finger. She shrunk back into her seat looking defeated and pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding again. Straight away, Esme started organising dinner, putting everyone to work while I tried to salvage my dollar. A minute passed while I straightened it out and blew on it to dry it before I heard Bella sniffle. I looked over at her and my heart broke – she was crying silently in her robe, holding her stomach. The poor girl was starving. I reached over and pushed her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ears.

"It's okay," I soothed, wiping her tears away. She tried to hide behind her knees. "It's coming soon. There's food coming really soon." I knew she couldn't understand me – or at least I suspected as much – but I continued to reassure her and wipe away her tears. She shifted her gaze to my wallet, her expression turning to longing and I couldn't help but chuckle. I pulled out the dollar and her eyes lit up at the site of it, her expression shifting to greed this time, and for a second I thought she was going to attack me. "This," I began, pointing at the dollar. "Is not," I shook my head. "Food," I rubbed my stomach. "Not food," I repeated, shaking my head and rubbing my stomach. "It's gross," I added, making a face at it. She giggled her bubbly giggle and I just shook my head. "You don't understand a word I'm saying," I sighed, and she just kept smiling at me, mimicking the face I'd made at the dollar bill and giggling again.

***

Dinner was served and Bella dove into her food with her hands after carefully watching me pop a spear of broccoli into my mouth. Carlisle was going to scold her again, but Esme urged him to just let it go this once – she had been ravenous by the time it came out and we would have time to teach her table manners in the future, it wasn't as essential as toilet training or explaining the different between edible and inedible. When she was finished, she lifted her plate, evidently searching for more food. She spotted a piece of chicken on Emmett's plate, and began growling at him.

"What is she growling at me for?" he asked incredulously, holding his hands up and backing up in his chair. Jasper broke into a grin.

"Are you scared of her?" His voice was dripping with amusement, and everyone else stifled their laughter.

"Baby I think she wants some of your dinner," Rosalie laughed, looking between then two of them and thankfully not feeling like Bella would do him any harm. Emmett pulled his plate closer to him, narrowing his eyes slightly and eliciting louder growl from Bella.

"No," Emmett protested. Bella leaned forwards. "No!" Her eyes darted to his food. "Mine!" he cried, pulling his plate even closer. "This. Is. Emmett's. Food."

"Just give her some of it, Em," I laughed, reaching over to pluck a baby carrot off his plate. He opened his mouth to argue but laughed instead when Bella took the carrot, munching on it and gurgling happily.

"I wish all women were this easy to please," he joked, nudging Rosalie. Alice launched a dinner roll at his head and an argument ensued. I wasn't paying much attention because I had offered Bella gummi bears again and was far too occupied by watching her eat but the basic gist of it was Alice screeching that the boys weren't allowed to teach her anything sexist and Emmett growling that Alice wasn't allowed to teach her to be a 'Regina George' or whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

"You like those?" I asked Bella, who responded by holding a handful of gummi bears out to me. "Thanks," I smiled, taking a couple and popping them in my mouth. "Yellow are my favourite," I told her, fingering a yellow one. She fingered it as well, looking it over before eating it.

"Jasper agrees with me!" Emmett suddenly boomed, breaking us out of our little world as he rose from the table angrily. Bella let out a startled squeak, her eyes wide with fear. "We found her! We wanted to keep her and we have been taking care of her and will continue to do so! I don't care what you feel you're entitled to! The only reason you're involved in this is because you live in this house too! She's ours!"

"She doesn't belong to anyone! She's her own person!"

"Alice..." Jasper pleaded, placing a hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her.

"No! He doesn't understand! There are things that he can't teach her! There are things he couldn't even begin to understand-"

"Esme can take care of all that female stuff! You are not getting your claws into her! You can dress her or something, but don't go putting ideas into her head!"

Everyone began yelling at once, myself included. Bella's head kept reeling around so that she could look at whoever was the loudest at any given point in time, until she let out a wail so loud we all stopped in our tracks. The argument had driven her to tears. She looked up at me pleadingly, but I didn't know how to make her feel better. I just stared back with the same pleading look in my eyes – pleading her to tell me how I could fix her; how I could stop her tears.

"I'm sorry, Bella," I whispered, scooping her up and holding her close. She sniffled and buried her head into my shoulder. "I'm sorry..." she frowned and pointed an accusing finger at Emmett.

"What did I do?"

"She doesn't understand you, she just hears that you're loud, Em," Esme told him sympathetically. He sighed and grumbled something about being tired. Rose followed him upstairs, glancing apologetically at all of us and cringing slightly as we all heard his door slam.

***

Bella bounced lightly on the couch, the springs rusty and squeaky underneath her. I sat opposite and Jasper sat beside her with Alice on the floor between his legs – he was playing with her new shortly cropped hair.

"I like it like this, Al," he was telling her, Bella's ever curious eyes on them. "It suits you. Though I'll definitely miss our braiding lessons." Alice pouted slightly, probably because she hadn't considered the loss of their lessons when making the decision to cut her previously waist-length hair.

"You braided her hair?" I asked mockingly, raising an eyebrow at Jasper. He rolled his eyes.

"I was bragging one day that I used to braid Rosalie's hair. Alice called my bluff. My punishment was learning how to braid for real... and it was kind of fun," he shrugged.

"Gay," was all I said in response, smirking.

"Hey you can braid Bella's hair!" Alice chirped, standing up to clear the way for her.

"I don't think she'll let me..." Jasper replied sceptically, looking over at Bella, who bounced a little more vigorously and grinned widely when he caught her eye. "Come on Bella," he coaxed, his tone as though he were calling a puppy over. "Come on and sit with Jasper..." he patted the space between his legs and Bella made her way over. She sat in the space facing him and he tried to get her to turn around. His attempts lasted five hilarious minutes as she kept twirling in a complete circle when he made spinning gestures with his hands. I finally caught her mid-spin and held her still when she was facing the right way and she just smiled as though we were playing a game of hide and seek and I'd just found her. "Fuck you're adorable..." Jasper cooed as he began braiding.

"Language," Esme scolded as her and Carlisle returned from setting up a bed for Bella. They eased onto the loveseat and watched with Alice and me in amusement as Jasper tried and failed to braid Bella's hair. She kept trying to turn her head and watch what he was doing, which frustrated both of them to the point where all that could be heard were annoyed grunts from Jasper and Bella and laughter from the rest of us. "Okay that's enough, Jasper," Esme chuckled, standing and indicating that it was time for bed.

I lead Bella up to her room and Alice met us there with some of her pyjamas. She insisted again that I turn around while she helped Bella change and I begrudgingly obliged, turning my attention to the crappy painting Carlisle had bought four years ago at some charity auction. Such a waste of money, regardless of the cause... ugly piece of shit...

"There we go! She's all yours, Edward!" Alice hugged Bella goodnight, who just stood stiffly and frowned in confusion as Alice left. I made my way over and pulled the blankets down for her, gesturing awkwardly.

"Uh... in you get!" I announced, knowing the accompanying smile would be unconvincing. Bella just looked at the bed, then at me, and then sat on the floor. "Bella..." I sighed, sidling up to her and running my hands over my face wearily. "Bella, I am so fucking tired.... I really want to sleep now and you need to sleep too and this is your bed and you don't understand a word I'm saying to you so just follow me, okay?" I hopped into the bed and patted the spot next to me, hoping to god or whoever was up there that she would just fucking.... get in. "Come on..." I urged gently and my prayers were answered – she jumped up and into the bed cheerfully, bouncing her legs before I stopped her and shushed her. I reached over and switched off the lamp, slipping out of the bed and turning to leave. She growled and yanked on my arm. "I'm too tired for this," I mumbled, pulling my arm away and pushing her back down onto the mattress. I got to the door before she spoke her first word.

"No!" she scolded, her voice holding the same tone as Emmett's had when she was going to take his food. She was actually trying to tell me off! I flipped the light switch and stared, open-mouthed at her.

"What did you say?" I breathed, edging closer. She smiled as I came towards her, and I realised she thought her plan was working even though she still didn't comprehend everything. I backed up and stepped out of the room.

"No!" she cried, her voice more desperate this time; her throat sounding tighter. I stepped inside again and saw that tears were welling up in her eyes. I wanted to test my theory once more, so I switched off the light and left, shutting the door but staying right behind it. "NO!" her scream was ear-splitting and I flung the door open just in time for her to crash into me, all tears and hysteria. Carlisle was by my side in an instant, worry and excitement battling for dominance on his face.

"Was that her?" he asked frantically.

"Who else could it have been?" I retorted, stroking Bella's hair as she wept into my neck.

"So she knows! She knows how to talk!"

"She knows one word, Carlisle."

"But that means she can be taught! She learned one word, she can be taught!" He sounded as though he'd just discovered Atlantis or some shit, he was that excited now. "Oh I have so much research to do... I have so much to teach her... of course she has to sleep now but tomorrow..." he took off in the direction of his office, talking to himself.

"Come on, Bella, back to bed..." I tried to steer Bella back into her room but she wouldn't let me. Stubborn as a mule, she planted her feet firmly on the ground and screeched in protest every time I tried to get her closer to the doorway. Eventually I took her hand and lead her to my room, sitting her down on the lounge. "Stay," I warned her, walking over to my bookshelf and picking out an old childhood storybook that I'd kept just to fill the last shelf. I began reading the works of Hans Christian Andersen to her and pointing out the pictures as I went along, she rested her head on my shoulder and watched blankly, the colours of the pages and my varying tones keeping her entertained. She was asleep within minutes, completely unaware that when she woke she would begin a series of lessons that would change her forever. I found myself hoping she didn't change too much – the world looked different and more fascinating through her eyes. Everything took on a new light and a fresh perspective. It was both liberating and frightening to think that she could have such an effect on me in less than twenty-four hours, but I wouldn't change it. Not for anything. "Goodnight, my Bella..." Tomorrow is going to be very interesting...

Okay so again I'm going to urge you guys to check out punkfarie's fic Stripped and also vote for her in the Indie Twific awards. If you're looking for some other goodness I highly recommend The Blessing And The Curse, which is also nominated in the Indie Twific awards!

Love to you all! You're all awesome!