Sam, Emily, Leah, Seth and Charlie had stood, shocked into silence, watching Bella leave in Edward's arms.
Emily had put her hand to her mouth, the events of the afternoon and the day before acquiring a quality so ugly, it nauseated her.
Charlie was staring at the ground, as if hoping it would supply something different in the way of explanation.
The doctor had raised his eyebrows, turning and looking at the nurse beside him, and then walked away, looking back when she didn't follow. She was trying to find a way to catch Charlie's eye.
"You said," Charlie finally managed, looking up at Sam, "that she and Jake—you said—" he couldn't even finish it now.
"He did," Sam said, voice grim. Looking at Emily, he asked her, "did she say anything to you?"
"No," she said, "just the same thing Charlie'd said she'd say. I thought—"
"We all did," Sam said, blowing out a breath. Then he collected himself. "We need to go. I need to talk to Jacob."
"No," Charlie said, wanting to speak with Jacob himself. He needed answers. "I've—"
"Done enough," Sam said. It wasn't meant unkindly, but he might as well have slapped Charlie, who blanched, knowing the truth when he heard it.
"We'll deal with this Charlie," Sam said. "We'll find out what happened."
Charlie looked at him, face curving in with horrified understanding. "No," he said, "you can't go off—"
"All half cocked, making accusations?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised.
Charlie held his tongue. What was there to say?
"You got no grounds on the res, Charlie. And even if you did, no one's filed an official complaint. We'll find out what happened. Understand?"
Charlie decided he probably didn't want to know. "I need to…" he didn't know what he needed to do. Probably go home. His statement dangled.
"I'll call you as soon as I know something," Sam promised.
Charlie nodded mutely, the full bloom of horror bleeding out from his centre.
Sam gave a curt nod in farewell, and then left, Emily's small hand in his, the others following.
"Chief Swan?" The nurse asked. They'd met a few times at the hospital in the course of their respective work. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Another time," he mumbled, going to move away.
"It's about your daughter," she said, stopping Charlie midstep.
He pivoted, coming back to her, eying her intently. He didn't say anything, but looked at her, eyes narrow, and demanding.
"I can't say much," the nurse said, a little nervously, "but I saw her when she came in. The guy who brought her," she said, "big kid."
"Jacob," Charlie muttered.
"Sure," she said, "she was scared of him."
Charlie nodded, face softening a little, wanting to encourage her to continue.
Very quietly, she said, looking around to make sure they were alone, "I filed a suspected domestic abuse form. Didn't you see it?"
He had. Had dismissed it entirely, thinking the doctor was simply seeing the result of her natural clumsiness. Her legs were always bruised from running into things.
But the bruises he'd seen. He could barely, still, wrap his head around...Jacob...hurting her.
Not just hurting her, the little, and now spurious voice in his mind spat.
"I did," he said, "gave it to a deputy to follow up with." He sighed, "we get a lot of those reports—"
"You didn't ask her yourself?" the nurse asked, trying to keep the incredulity out of her voice.
"I did," he said again, just, he thought, I jumped to assumptions. Didn't listen. Thought she was in denial.
The nurse's face was twisting sympathetically, "it's hard," she said, "when it's someone we love. To see beyond what we expect. I get it, I just...thought you should know." She turned, walking away.
He sat down on one of the chairs in the lobby, his thoughts swim together, trying to step back into the logic of his work. Piecing things together.
Only Seth spoke in the car. He hadn't believed that Edward had hurt Bella, and it made no sense to him that Jacob had either. He'd imagined some third threatening third party lurking somewhere. His youth and inexperience allowed him to entertain the sweet notion that the people who loved you, couldn't possibly hurt you. Not that way.
"You don't think, that maybe," he started, "maybe it was someone else, like—"
Leah's hand rested briefly on his arm. "Don't," she said. Her voice was pained. She knew exactly how well the people who loved you could hurt you. Intent was immaterial.
When they pulled up to Sam's place, Leah and Sam shifted, and summoned the remainder of the pack.
Sam phoned Jacob, giving a curt "pack meeting, my place," and then hanging up.
They were waiting for him, all but Sam phased.
"Come on," Sam said, jutting his chin towards the other wolves, "you're late," when Jacob stepped out of his car.
"Uh," Jacob said, "I think I'm s'posed to wait a few more days."
Sam rolled his eyes. "You've been playing hockey with that crutch for the better part of a week. Change. Now."
The command in his voice was unmistakable.
As soon as he'd shifted, his pack mates circled him.
Um, hey, Jacob thought. What's up with the ring around the rosy?
Sam wasted no time in skipping directly to his central question. What happened with Bella? The way he phrased it left not room to wonder to the subject of the 'what'.
That's kinda private, Jacob thought nervously.
Sam had ordered the pack's silence, and it made Jacob's unease with this line of questioning stand out even more.
She said you raped her, Jacob. And she went running to the Cullens like a bat out of Hell at the hospital. What happened?
A flicker of images of a battle between the Cullens and the wolves erupted in Sam's mind, explaining much of his reasoning.
In response, the images in Jacob's mind were beginning to leak. He'd tried to stuff them away, wanting to keep their time private, just theirs, but the accusation stung, and he couldn't help but recall what he'd experienced. Her response to him, the way her hair curled against her shoulders, the way he'd touched her.
The wave of revulsion that rippled through the pack was visceral.
Jacob couldn't understand it. What? He asked defensively, thinking they were alarmed by the invasion of his and Bella's privacy. Not like you all keep your shit private.
Seth couldn't help himself. You held her down?! He was traumatized by what he'd seen. She was crying. She asked you to stop. How could you—?
Quiet! Sam ordered, and the growing babble of thoughts, simmering under his order, stopped abruptly.
I did not hold her down! Jacob protested.
Sam replayed, in his mind, for all but Jacob to cringe at, what he'd shown them in his memory.
This is bullshit, Jacob said. You, he thought at Seth, are so freaking in love with the Cullens, you can't even see what they did to her. Charlie—
ENOUGH! Sam said, his voice shaking with the effort of controlling Jacob.
Charlie, Sam finished for Jacob, trusted you, and us...and what you've done has—
Where is she? Jacob asked.
You've—
WHERE IS SHE?
SILENCE! Sam roared.
The entire pack dropped, heads down, whimpering.
All except for Jacob. He was fighting it, struggling under the weight of the order.
You are to stay in your home, Jacob Black. You are not to leave, not use the phone, not attempt to contact her, or Charlie, or the Cullens. You're to leave her alone, until the council has met to decide what to do with you.
The play of possible consequences were flickering in the background of Sam's mind, along with the horrific weight of guilt, at having literally put Bella in Jacob's hands.
No, Jacob thought, and he was standing, mind full of his need to find Bella. To keep her safe from the ultimate end the Cullens intended for her.
There was another eruptive babble from the pack's mind, at this revelation.
DOWN, Jacob! Sam said, using all the force of his silent voice.
But Jacob was still rising, and then he was gone. His form had bounded over the circle of still prone wolves, his voice as absent in the pack's mind as his bodily presence.
What the hell? Leah thought.
Go! Sam ordered, and they were after him. He had the lead though, and the chase took them far East of Forks, and then north, the towns growing smaller, and sparser, the further they went. Sam called halt near the border, knowing they wouldn't catch him, not wanting to leave the tribe so unprotected.
Shit, Leah thought, as they retraced their steps.
The rest of them retained an uneasy silence, thoughts subdued and anxious.
Go home, Sam said, mentally sighing, I need to call Billy. And Charlie.
And the Cullens.
