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This chapter begins in Jasper's POV.
I flew down the stairs, slipping on the tiles as I went through the kitchen and out the back door. I fumbled for my cell, only to have it ring as soon as I had it in the palm of my hand.
"Carlisle."
"I need you to do something for me."
"What did you do to her?" I asked, startled a little by how pained I sounded. It was true – we needed to get some answers from The Girl but I thought it had been made clear by the third time we'd questioned her that she knew nothing at all. We knew more than she did. And to go that far... to try and beat the secrets out of her... it was too much.
"She wouldn't comply, Jasper. It went a little too far, I realise that. I lost my temper with her."
"Dr. Cullen it looks like you've tenderised her with a mallet!" I ran my hand over my face and tried to get the images out of my head. She was completely battered, the poor thing. Clueless, confused and battered.
And Alice...
"That's why I need you to keep her out of view until she heals. You'll be in charge of that, I don't need you here that much I can do the tests myself and when you hear from the Swans just call me."
"Carlisle, I think..." I trailed off, not knowing how to tell him that they all already knew. I wanted to call him a moron for thinking Edward wouldn't be in there straight away to check on her. Evidently he was. How could Carlisle have thought otherwise? They were joined at the hip. They couldn't breathe without one another. It was clear from her behaviour and some of her other test results – particularly the answers we'd gained while she was under that hypnosis-like state Carlisle had managed to put her in once – that she was hopelessly in love with him. Even if he didn't go to her, she would have gone to him – frightened or not.
"Yes?"
"I think Edward knows," I amended. I needed him to know part of the truth. Edward, over any of the others, wouldn't be able to restrain his anger. The others, if I could get them to listen, would keep quiet for the time being. And I would need to tell the Swans about this. It was all going to fall to pieces. This was all a huge mistake from the very beginning.
"He can be taken care of. Call the Swans and get back to me."
***
The hospital looked foreign to me. In truth I hadn't been here at all. Not once. All those days Carlisle and I pretended to be coming here were a lie. My entire life since Bella had come around had just turned into one gigantic lie. I've put off college to live a life based around secrets and lies. All for what? I know the money is good. The money is fantastic. But at what real cost am I doing this? She doesn't know anything. She has no clue about her past and if she did it would have come out while she was being clobbered by Carlisle. Couldn't he see that? Or was he just going to keep on like this?
I couldn't let him.
"Carlisle?" I poked my head into his office and saw that he was on his computer, glasses on, concentrating on a report of some sort.
"Jasper. Did you call them, son?"
"Yes. They want us to discontinue," I lied. The beauty of it was that the Swans didn't even trust Carlisle enough for their contact information. There was no way he could catch me out on this.
"Did they say why?" he asked, looking both disappointed and sceptical.
"Because she doesn't know anything."
"She's hiding it," he insisted. "Look at her test results. Her IQ is phenomenal! She's capable of so much more than she's letting on! She's strong and flexible-"
"And emotional, Carlisle."
It was the snag we always seemed to hit. No matter what he thought or anyone else thought about Bella and what she was, she was still emotional and that threw everything else out the window.
"That could be calculated," he reasoned.
"She's in love with Edward," I argued, pretending to play Devil's Advocate like always.
"A ploy."
"To what? Make you sympathetic? It clearly isn't working, Carlisle."
"Well that's why she's playing harder at her little games. I think we should continue. I want you to go home and make sure she's fed. By now Jacob Black will probably know all about the little incident. Thankfully everyone else is working today so it'll be their word against ours. Think something up, will you?" he said dismissively, turning back to him computer and continuing with his report.
***
EPOV
It was amazing to me how Bella could just forget her problems – her pain – and just get on with her day.
Sitting in the lounge room, all purple and sore, she was engaged in conversation with Emmett, whom Rosalie had called home from cleaning and restocking the bar. Esme was on the phone to the hospital in the kitchen and I went to her – her expression was alarming.
"Well I am his wife and I need to speak with him this very instant, rounds or no rounds. Page him. Get him on the phone to me right now," she snapped at the poor receptionist on the other end of the phone. I reached over and rubbed her shoulder and she turned away from me, subtly wiping a tear from her cheek. "Carlisle," she began after a minute or so of waiting. "I checked on Bella this morning, to see if she was too upset to have breakfast."
Silence. She was waiting for him to answer, but apparently he said nothing.
"Don't come home tonight, Carlisle. In fact, don't consider this your home. You are welcome however, when Bella is asleep safe and sound in her bed, to come and gather some of your belongings- I don't care where you go, Carlisle!" she spat, having been interrupted. "You can go to the other side of the earth for all I care! She walked into a door, did she? Did the door have hands that beat her? Because she sure looks like she was punched and slapped and god knows what else by your hands! You're lucky I can't tell the authorities about her. And I want a divorce."
She hung up then, and when I went to hug her she pulled away and disappeared out the door. Sighing, I turned to head back to Bella and I saw Rose standing in the archway.
"She'll be alright," she assured me. I wasn't so sure. It must've shown on my face. "I'll go talk to her," she amended with a gentle smile, catching my hand and giving it a squeeze as she passed me.
"And then... picture this..."
Emmett's face was bright and full of wonder as I sat beside Bella, who was listening with a look of awe on her face. Alice looked slightly worried and Jake's mouth was twitching, trying to hold back hysterical laughter.
"There's dirt all over the stage, see, and then we know he's not dead because this hand – this gloved hand comes out from under the dirt!" he went on, illustrating with his own hand.
"Yes!" Bella nodded, enthusiastically.
"So Michael Jackson is pretending to be dead because he wants to do an awesome piece in his new concert?" Alice asked, rolling her eyes.
"It makes perfect sense!" Emmett cried.
"Yes, it does!" Bella agreed, nodding with even more vigour than before.
"Right? And then Thriller starts playing and all these other fake zombies come out and they do the dance like-" Emmett got up and started performing for us and all of a sudden Bella was on her feet begging him to teach her. "Okay it goes like this..."
"Watch, Edward!" Bella commanded. I obeyed, just for a minute... then I checked my phone to see what the time was. "Watch!" she yelled.
"I'm watching!" I argued.
"You were not! You missed my awesome hip movements!"
"He'll catch up on that later, Bella," Jacob winked. I slapped him hard upside the head while Bella stood looking both confused and irritated.
"Just watch me dance!"
"Okay! I'm sorry."
She continued to learn the dance and perform it badly, and I decided to shoot a text to Jasper, asking him if he was going to be here for dinner. I pretended that Bella wanted to cook so we'd have to know how many people there were going to be. Just to get the fucker over here. So I could beat the living shit out of him, like he did to my Bella.
"You. Are. Not. Watching."
I looked up to find Bella's face just inches away from mine, scowling. She snatched my phone away before skipping back over to Emmett and finishing the dance. When she was done, Esme joined us and suggested that Bella take a bath.
"But I already had a shower," she frowned and I was reminded of small children who detested bath time. Bella loved the water, though, so she was probably just confused. And rightfully so – she had no need to get clean. Even I was a little confused by the suggestion.
"Please Bella, don't argue with me," she sighed, sounding exhausted. "Alice will keep you company."
"I don't want company, I'll be naked!"
"Okay then don't have any company just go up and take a long bath."
"Why?"
"Because I said so, Bella."
"But why do you say so?"
"Bella, please..."
"Okay!" Bella whined before trudging upstairs, muttering something about pushy parents ruining her fun all the time. When she was out of hearing range, Esme turned her attention to all of us.
"Carlisle is on his way."
"Fantastic. Best news all day," Jacob grinned, balling up a fist. Esme held up a hand.
"No fighting, please."
"Fair's fair, mom."
"Emmett, I said no."
"Just one kick in the groin?"
"Alice!"
"You're right, I'll save it for Jasper."
"No violence! Period!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot for further emphasis. "I will not have any more violence in this house! He is coming to pick up some clothes, that's all. Edward, go upstairs."
"What did I do?" I asked, bewildered by her sudden aggression towards me.
"Nothing yet, but I know you."
"I won't fucking hit the stupid prick," I mumbled.
"Upstairs, Edward. Wait for Bella in her room. If Carlisle sets foot in there you have my permission to kick him out."
"Literally?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow and eliciting several chuckles from around the room. We all heard the car pull up and Esme began pushing me out. Rosalie took Emmett to their room and once I was safely headed up the stairwell Esme took Alice's hand. Jacob stood behind them, arms folded over his chest. He looked like a bodyguard. He glanced over his shoulder at me and I mouthed thanks to him. He smirked, praying Carlisle would start something.
With a gust of air from my lungs, I landed on my back on Bella's bed. My jaw clenched hard and my fists baled up angrily as I heard the dickhead walk past to get to his room. He had paused at the door and when he did I stared at the doorknob, willing it to twist so I could beat the fuck out of him. When he walked away, I held solace in the fact that he'd have to walk back past here to get out of the house.
In the ensuite, I could hear Bella splashing about and singing softly to herself. The sound of it sent a wave of calm through me and I felt myself getting up off the bed and walking to the door. I sat on the floor there and to my amusement I discovered that she was humming the Scooby Doo theme-song as she washed. I couldn't help but grin as she just kept humming that same song over and over, splashing in time with the rhythm of the song. I could just picture the little smile on her face. Maybe today she was covered in bubbles.
I remembered the time she completely covered herself in bubbles. It was the second time we'd ever put her in a bath, and the first time she did it alone. Esme left her in the bath to continue cooking dinner and a couple of minutes later a completely thrilled and bubble-covered Bella came bouncing into the kitchen. We'd all turned away from her, because under the bubbles she was naked and that's just what people do when there's a naked person in the kitchen, and Esme escorted her back up to the bathroom explaining that we don't leave the bath until we're nice and clean and we don't leave the bathroom until we're dressed or covered in a towel. In my reminiscence, I had once again lost track of the time and before I knew it Bella was opening the door and nearly tripping over me.
"Were you spying on me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You were singing so nicely," I teased, getting up off the floor. She didn't understand the teasing and took it as a compliment.
"Thank you, Edward!" she blushed, looking at her feet. "I was gonna go get Alice... I need some help."
"With what?"
"I'm very sore and I need help getting dressed," she mumbled, sighing a little.
"I'll go get Alice."
"Its okay, you can help me," Bella said, taking my hand and pulling me into the bathroom.
"This is not a good idea..."
"Why not?"
"Because you're naked, Bella."
"I'm wearing a towel, silly!" she laughed, bopping my nose lightly. "Besides, you helped me in the shower before." She didn't even wait for me to protest this time because she was already out of her towel. "Esme let you so we're not gonna be in trouble. I need your help, Edward," she pleaded, holding a pair of panties out to me. Shutting my eyes, I turned around. Panties were just too much. Bella wearing lace panties? Did she always wear those? Even though my eyes were shut, those lacy blue fucking panties were still swimming in my mind's eye. They were taunting me and then my mind completely fucked me over by putting them on Bella and there she was, in panties, and it just wasn't what I needed to be thinking about because lace panties really just did it for me and I needed to keep those kinds of feelings far, far away from Bella. But my mind was completely betraying me with those images.
"How about we just put your robe on for now and then Alice can help you with the rest of your clothes later. We did that before, didn't we?" I choked.
"I had my underwear on under the robe, Edward, I need my undies! Help me!" she whined, trying to turn me around and huffing in frustration.
"Just the robe," I repeated, and I swear to god I would have gotten down on my knees and begged to the heavens if it wouldn't have scared her to see me so insane.
"You are so weird lately!" she muttered, relenting and fetching her robe. Turning back around, I helped her into it, then tied her hair back for her. "Thanks," she smiled, stepping closer and wrapping her arms around me.
"You're welcome," I sighed, melting like the pussy I was when it came to her. We stilled there, just holding onto each other and swaying slightly, like in a dance. "Scooby Dooby Doo..." I sang, teasing again.
"Where are you? We've got some work to do now," she continued, and I could feel her smiling on my shoulder. I laughed and kissed her forehead. And that there was my mistake. Because she pressed her lips to my collarbone in response right as my eyes found those goddamn motherfucking panties. A wave of electricity coursed through me and hit me in a place that had never ever reacted to Bella before.
I prayed she didn't notice.
She noticed.
There is no God.
"What's that?" she asked, looking up at me with her curious puppy expression. I jumped back and turned my back on her.
"Nothing," I replied, thinking about maths and history and science and no, not science because biology means sex and... Okay, back to history. Socrates. Socrates is a very unsexy fellow. Socrates and algebra. Pythagoras and Hitler. Very, very unsexy.
"That was your-" I whirled around and covered her mouth just in time to completely muffle the end of her surprised outburst.
"No it wasn't," I lied.
"Then what was it?"
"My phone," I replied, pulling it out of my pocket and waving it in front of her.
"Edward?"
"What?"
"I feel weird without any panties on."
I sighed and was about to give in to seeing her in those gorgeous little blue panties when Alice knocked at the door, asking to come in.
So maybe there is a God.
"We're all decent!"
"Oh, you're dressed already! Good!" she smiled, brushing past me and fixing my job on Bella's hair. She bit her lip in concentration as she roped those brown spirals into a plait to smooth it all out and Bella just stood patiently, the both of them yammering away like it was any other normal day. I've found that Alice and Bella are similar that way... the world can be going into complete chaos around them and they'll just keep going on as though it weren't. It's deliciously calming. "Why are you holding your underwear?"
"Edward wouldn't help me with it."
Alice turned and frowned at me, questioning with her eyes.
"She's naked!"
"Never bothered you before."
"Well it always bothered everyone else."
"You never cared about what anyone else had to say about it."
I threw my hands in the air. "So I do, for once, what people want me to do and I get treated like I'm doing something wrong!"
"Not wrong just... weird.
"He is weird today," Bella agreed. I shot a look at her and she smiled apologetically.
"Well get out then, weirdo, so I can help her."
"I need to talk to you about something when she's dressed."
"What should I do?" Bella asked, pouting at the idea of me leaving her. That was the only way to tell that she was affected by what had happened to her – she didn't want to be away from me unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Jacob and Emmett are waiting for you downstairs, Bells," Alice smiled, guiding me out of the room and closing the door. "Jacob wants to see you do the Thriller dance again," she went on, voice muffled through the door.
"Can we make pizzas for dinner?"
"Sure, just ask Esme."
"Pizza is Edward's favourite. Ham, pineapple, pepperoni and lots of cheese and chilli flakes."
"That's gross," Alice chuckled, opening the door again. "Where do you wanna talk?" she asked as Bella clung to me one more time before slinking out of the room.
"Here's fine," I replied, plopping down onto the stool by Bella's vanity. Alice stood waiting. "Uh... you're in charge of Bella's clothes, right?"
Alice's patient curiosity transformed into confusion.
"Right," she replied slowly, dragging the word out as she nodded her head. I didn't even know how to continue with my questioning. I mean, the questions were all there buzzing my head – the main one being why in the hell she was buying Bella lace panties – but I couldn't think of a way to word them without seeming like a control freak.
"You know what? Never mind," I sighed, getting to my feet.
"Are you serious?" Alice asked, her tone irritated. I turned to face her, confused, and she let out a bark of laughter that sounded more annoyed than amused. "Here I was thinking you were going to ask me how I was feeling and you ask me some inane question and then don't bother to elaborate. You really are brother of the year, Edward."
"I'm sorry, Alice," I replied sincerely, pulling her into a hug. She sighed into my shoulder and slapped me playfully. "I've had heaps of other shit on my brain as well as all of this, you know... It's been a really tough day for all of us, not that it's an excuse-"
"Yeah I know... it's just a reason. By the way, I buy them for her because she thinks they're pretty," she smirked, bumping my hip as she linked arms with me and walked us down the stairs. "Besides it's either that or granny panties."
"I'd prefer she wore granny panties," I confessed, laughing. It would make my life just so much easier if I knew she was wearing granny panties under her jeans every day.
"No problem. I'd organise a chastity belt as well, Father Edward," she joked, rolling her eyes and taking a seat with Rose. Bella wasn't anywhere to be seen in the living room, but I quickly found her in the kitchen, chopping up red peppers with Emmett and Jacob flanked on either side chopping other various pizza ingredients. Esme was bent over the oven, adjusting the temperature.
Right then, my phone beeped. It was a text from Jasper.
B there 8. Pls let me tell u the whole truth. I can explain.
"Jasper is coming in half an hour," I called out, wanting everyone to hear. I looked to Bella, to gauge her reaction to the news in case I needed to tell him not to bother. If she was frightened, he wouldn't be coming anywhere near our house. She just nodded and continued chopping, scraping the seeds into her palm and emptying them into the sink.
"What does he want?" Rosalie asked from the other room.
"To explain."
"There isn't any excuse," Esme muttered, shaking her head and sighing. "We have to let him tell his side of the story. He used to be such a gentle soul," she sighed. Emmett nodded along with her, and I knew he was thinking of the time we first met.
It was at school, and there were some kids who were giving me a hard time. Pale-skinned, thin and awkward, I was a textbook loser and the bullies in the schoolyard had no problem telling me so – an adopted loser whose parents didn't want him, who wasn't smart or good at sports either. They didn't even know that I never knew my father he didn't know I existed. They certainly didn't know that my mother had died of cancer a couple of years earlier. But they were right in a way because the rest of my family didn't want me. Living in England, my mother's sister and her family refused to take me in, preferring to sign me over to be a ward of the state.
While I was being carted from foster home to foster home, I fell sick with pneumonia. That was when Carlisle found me. I was his patient.
Anyway, I was being picked on and I was about to go into what Esme used to call "Hulk Mode" – where I would shake with anger until I finally exploded and started laying into the idiots – when Jasper walked right into the middle of the conflict and just dispersed it. I don't know what he did or what he said, but he stood in front of me – all curly hair and hazelnut eyes – and the boys went away. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and asked if I was okay – and for the first time in years I did feel okay. We were best friends from then on.
"Yeah well gentle souls change, clearly," Jacob retorted, glaring in the direction of the driveway. Bella gently removed the knife from his hand.
We continued to wait, designing our pizzas and putting them in the oven. Jacob and Bella got into a floor fight, Esme surprising us all by egging Bella on instead of discouraging her. The door flung open as the oven timer beeped, but when we turned – Bella and Jacob sweeping flour off each other's shoulder – it wasn't Jasper that we saw.
It was Leah.