Disclaimer:My license still says Misty so I guess you all know what that means.
A big thanks to Twilightobsessed09 who made this pretty for me.
Link to the banner made by christag_banner on my profile.
An even bigger thanks to ceara1888 who has allowed me to adopt this story from her. I read it while she wrote it and hated to see her give it up. I only hope I don't disappoint with the way I go with it.
Still have the facebook group for my stories as well as the blog. Link for the group is on my profile. There is also a link for a new Twilight Non-Canon group. If you want to join click on the link and request entry. Remember though it is strictly for NON-CANON discussions and stories.
Chapters left including epilogue-at least 12, but likely more. Need to look over my outline and will have a more definite answer next time.
So sorry this took so long. It was a very hard chapter to write.
WARNING: More than likely you will need a tissue. Bella broke my heart.
-O-
Bella
I groaned and turned my head to the side. The pounding was worse than it had ever been and it was almost enough to make me sick to my stomach. Squeezing my eyes closed tighter and fighting the urge to throw up, I took in a deep breath. The pain that ripped through me from that move caused me to whimper and my eyes to fly open.
It took a few minutes for anything to penetrate the fog that was clouding my brain. When it did, I registered everything at lightening speed. There was something on my nose that I could see out of the corner of my eye, my hand felt heavy and hot, every breath I took hurt, and the most important thing was that I wasn't at home.
I swallowed hard and let my eyes roam over the machines around my head and the wires that had me hooked to them. No, No, No. I couldn't be here. People would know and they couldn't KNOW. Dad would kill me for this. I needed to leave and hopefully make it home before he did.
My breathing started to come quicker as I started pulling off the wires hooked to me and then I reached for the I.V.
Before I could get my hand on it, someone else's covered my own. "You can't do that, Bella."
Lifting my eyes I found Dr. Cullen standing over me and tears immediately filled my eyes. "I need to go home. I'm okay. I just fell down the stairs. I...please...just let me go home...please."
"Bella..." He sighed. "You can't go home, sweetheart."
"Why? I just fell. Please, Dr. Cullen."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but before he could say anything else the door opened. My eyes widened when I saw Chief Swan and Jasper walk in. They couldn't be here.
I started shaking my head and reiterating over and over again that I just fell.
It took a minute before I realized Dr. Cullen was speaking to me, but when I made out his words I lost all steam. "Bella, we know everything."
I slumped down in the bed and felt the pain again as my body relaxed, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut and let out a small whimper.
"How bad is the pain on a scale of 1 to 10?" Dr. Cullen asked as he fixed whatever I'd just pulled off.
"Eight," I whispered, trying to keep from crying.
"I'll get you something for it and then we can talk, all right?"
I shrugged my shoulders in response because it wasn't like I had a choice in the matter.
I lay, staring at the wall as I heard movement around me. The door opened and closed twice before Dr. Cullen appeared in front of me and I watched as he pushed a needle full of stuff into my I.V. He then pulled a chair closer. Chief Swan did the same and sat down beside him.
I looked behind me to make sure Jasper wasn't there. I didn't want him to know anything, granted he probably already did.
"All right, Bella," Dr. Cullen said and I brought my eyes back to him. "We just need to ask you a few questions and then we need to tell you a few things." He watched me for a few minutes before he continued, "The first thing you need to know is that Phil can never hurt you again. You are safe now. Okay?"
I shrugged my shoulders again. He couldn't promise that.
"When did the physical abuse start?" He asked.
I almost answered just this one time, thought about it, but he had said they knew everything so lying would just make them stay in here longer.
"Thirteen." I whispered.
"Was your mom still living with you at the time?" Dr. Cullen asked.
"No."
"How long after she'd left did he start?" Chief Swan asked this time and continued with a few more questions after that.
"Two days."
"Did he ever hit your mom?" Chief Swan asked.
"No."
"Did they ever argue?"
"Sometimes." I answered.
He and Dr. Cullen shared a look, but I didn't know what it meant. Before I could figure it out Chief Swan asked, "How often did they argue?"
I shrugged, not really sure.
"Do you know what they fought about?"
"Me."
"When she left did she leave anything behind?"
"Me," I whispered out as I closed my eyes. I didn't want to talk about this anymore.
I tried to fight back the tears, but I could feel them start to slide down my cheeks.
I heard Dr. Cullen sigh before he said, "We're just about done, Bella. When did the s-"
"Fif..teen," I said, my voice catching as I cut him off and sobs took over my body.
Chief Swan clenched his fists and stood abruptly, causing his chair to bang loudly against the floor and causing me to flinch back. A loud noise outside my door had me curling into a ball as my body shook.
"I'll be right back," Dr. Cullen said, quickly. I heard the door open and close a second later.
"I'm sorry," Chief Swan said quietly, his voice pained. He took a few deep breaths and sat back down. I opened my eyes and nodded, but still slid back a little further in my bed. He gave me a sad smile when he saw me move and said, "I'm never going to hurt you, Bella."
I nodded again. What else could I do? My dad hadn't hurt me for 13 years, but what he did to me for the last four showed that things can change.
Chief Swan didn't say anything else and I didn't offer up anything as we waited for Dr. Cullen to come back. When he returned, he and Chief Swan shared another silent look as he sat back down.
Dr. Cullen looked over at me and gave me a sad smile. "Sorry about the noise, Bella. It won't happen again. We just have one more question and then we'll move on to your injuries and the other things we need to tell you, all right?"
"Okay," I said quietly, cutting my eyes over to Chief Swan before moving them back to Dr. Cullen.
"The bracelet you were wearing, was there a specific reason for it?" Dr. Cullen asked.
"It was some kind of GPS." I said before I asked, "Are we done now?"
"With the questions, yes. There are some things we need to talk about with you though. If you'll just bear with us, we'll be as quick as we can and then let you rest." Dr. Cullen said before he continued.
He told me about how I'd been found, that dad was missing, and that I'd actually been out of it for a few days, instead of just a few hours like I'd thought. He told me about the injuries I'd received. Those were nothing new, I'd had all but the broken nose before. The one thing he didn't tell me was what was going to happen when I was able to leave the hospital. I, honestly didn't care at the moment though. I just wanted them done and gone, so I didn't ask.
When my injuries had been laid out, Dr. Cullen stopped talking and looked to Chief Swan again.
"Do you want to tell her or would you like me to?" He asked.
"You do it," Chief Swan said.
Dr. Cullen nodded, turned his head back to me, and slid forward in his chair a little bit. "Bella, there isn't an easy way to tell someone what I'm about to tell you, but you need to know. When we were typing your blood, in case you needed surgery, something didn't seem quite right. I took a look at your parents' blood types and they showed what I had started to suspect. And after other things were brought to light, more tests were ran and it confirmed everything. What I'm trying to say, Bella, is that while Renee was your mother, Phil is not your father. However, we do know who your father is."
"Who?" I asked, even though I already knew. He wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't him.
"I am," Chief Swan whispered.
-O-
Carlisle
I knew the moment the words registered. Her eye's went blank and she got paler than she already was as she curled into herself.
"Bella..." Charlie whispered, but she was done. He wasn't going to get anything from her until she processed what we'd told her.
"Charlie, let's let her rest for a little while," I said, glancing over at him.
He looked up at me and I knew he wanted to argue, but he finally nodded and stood up slowly.
I looked back down at Bella and said, "I'll have a nurse bring you something to eat in a little bit. If you start to feel any pain, press your call button and we'll get you something."
She made no acknowledgment that she'd heard me, but I wasn't expecting her to. She was inside her head now and until she worked through everything, we wouldn't hear anything. We couldn't force her to talk because that would just make things worse. All we could do was show her that she was safe now and that when she was ready, we would listen and be there for her.
Charlie hesitated and while I knew it was hard for him to leave her, Bella needed some time. I walked to the door and he eventually followed. As we stepped out into the hallway, my eyes immediately went to the opposite wall and the hole in it, made by the chair Jasper had thrown against it earlier.
He was now sitting in the floor with his head in his hands and didn't glance up until the door was pulled shut behind us.
"I'm not leaving, Carlisle," he said.
"I didn't expect you would, but you need to stay out here. I know it is hard to not be right there beside her, but until she's ready you're going to have to stay on the edge of things. She won't understand why you're around. And she really can't find out about us right now. It would be way too much information and I think it would just hurt her healing process."
"I'll stay out here," he said. I knew Jasper would do anything to protect her from anymore hurt, even if it meant taking a small step back.
"All right, we're going to head home then. We will see you in the morning."
"I'm not leaving either, Carlisle." Charlie said moving over to slide down the wall and onto the floor beside Jasper.
I grabbed his arm before he got too far and hauled him back beside me. "Yes, you are. Unlike us, you need to eat and sleep or you won't do Bella any good. You also need to make a place for her. She will be able to be released in a few days and you need to make the necessary arrangements."
"Shit," he said. "I hadn't even thought about that, but you're right. Do you think Esme will help me get a room set up for her?"
"I think she would love that. Why don't you come back to the house with me and we can talk more about things? I'm also thinking you'll want her last name changed and we have someone that can do that."
"Yes," he growled, quite impressively. "I want nothing of that bastard associated with her anymore."
I nodded and the two of us left Jasper sitting in the hallway. I made a quick stop at the nurse's station, to order Bella something to eat. It wouldn't be a lot, since I didn't want her to get sick, but she needed something in her stomach, now that she was awake, with the medicine we were giving her.
Once I was finished there, I stopped off in my office for my things and then Charlie and I headed over to the house. As soon as we walked in, Esme went straight for the kitchen and started cooking. We said a quick hello to Emmett and Rose, who were in the living room, before following behind her. When Charlie asked if she would help, she immediately gave him a yes and I could tell she was already thinking of ideas.
Charlie and I sat at the table, talking, while Esme worked in the kitchen. I made a call to Jenks to start him on getting Bella's name changed. When Charlie's food was ready, Esme set a plate in front of him and then settled in the seat on my other side.
"How is she?" Esme asked after Charlie started eating.
"As well as can be expected," I sighed. "She closed off when we told her about Charlie, but I think it's just going to be her way of protecting herself."
Esme nodded and we fell silent as Charlie finished his first plate. When he finished his second, Esme showed him up to the guest room and left him to get some sleep. I stayed at the table and when she came back I took her hand in mine.
"She's going to be okay, right?"
"Yes, my love. She'll be okay. She just needs time and to know that she's safe and loved."
Esme smiled sadly and we fell into silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. It was going to be a long hard road for both Bella and Charlie, but they would heal. And they were family now, so we would be there for them every step of the way.
-O-
Okay, how was it? I'm really nervous about this chapter. So please let me know what you think.
Up next: Bella is released from the hospital.