Chapter 2: Further Instructions

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love you all. Also, in response to a review, the men are grieving, just not like their wives. They're trying to keep a cool composure to keep their wives calm. On the inside, however, they're breaking down.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except any OCs.

EmPOV

I looked over at my wife, sitting on the edge of our bed. She hadn't said anything since we had left Alice and Jasper's place. Even there, she had only said a few words. I was beginning to get worried.

"Baby?" I asked tentatively, sitting next to her. I put my arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into me. I felt her body shake as she started sobbing. "Baby, it's okay! Everything's going to be okay!"

"How c-can you s-say that?" she said in between sobs. "Y-you saw Gigi's bear! S-she never goes anywhere with—without it! I'm—I'm really worried, Em. What if they're already—already—"

"—already dead," I said quietly. She collapsed into louder sobs. I rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. It didn't help.

"How can you say everything's going to be okay when we don't know where our kids are? What kind of mother am I if I let this happen?"

"Hey," I said, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at me. "This is not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong, so don't you dare blame yourself!"

"But I'm their mother! I should have done something to stop this!" She leaned against my shoulder as another round of tears came on.

"Rosie, it's no one's fault. We could never have imagined something like this would happen." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. "Let's go to sleep. Maybe we'll get more information in the morning."

I walked into the bathroom and changed out of my suit into a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. I walked back into our room, but Rosalie was right where I had left her—sitting on the edge of the bed, still in her bridesmaid dress and stilettos.

"Rose, you need to go to sleep," I said, kneeling in front of her.

"I don't want to close my eyes," she whispered. "When I do, I see terrible things. I see Lola and Gigi, their eyes empty. I'm so terrified it's too late—that they're already dead."

"Rosalie, don't talk like that! You have to keep up hope that we can find them. We will, we will find them! I promise!" I stood up and scooped her into my arms. I laid her on the bed, then climbed next to her. I put my arm around her and pressed my lips to her head.

She kept sobbing into my shirt, and I let her. I rubbed up and down her back as her body shook with her sobs. At some point, her tears ran out and she just kept repeating Charlotte and Gisele's names. Around three in the morning she fell asleep. Shortly after that, I closed my eyes and was soon asleep.

********

When I woke up the next morning (actually, it was later that morning,) Rosalie wasn't in bed. I looked around the room and on the patio outside our bedroom, but she wasn't there. I walked down the hall to the girls' rooms, but she wasn't there either. Confused, I walked downstairs. I found her in the kitchen, staring at the refrigerator.

"Baby, what are you doing?" I asked her softly. She didn't look at me or even acknowledge my presence. She just kept staring at the refrigerator door.

"Rosie, what's wrong?" I asked, walking up behind her and placing my hands on either side of her waist.

"Did you know Charlotte and Gisele drew this for me last Mother's Day?" she asked in an empty voice, staring at a picture tacked to the fridge door. It was hand-drawn and showed a blonde woman, a black-haired man, and two little blonde girls with curly hair. I realized it was our family. On the top, it said, "We love you Mommy! You're the best mommy in the world. Love, Lola and Gigi."

"Rose," I started.

"It was while you were on a trip for business. We ended up going out for brunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel and then went shopping on Rodeo Drive. I bought the three of us matching necklaces. I haven't taken mine off since that day." She reached around her neck and showed me a gold heart that had R, C, and G engraved on it. "I never thought I would never be able to protect them."

"Baby, you need to stop this. If you keep thinking about what happened and not about what we can do, we'll never find them. You do want to find them, don't you?"

"Fuck. You," she said, flipping me off.

"There's the Rose I know and love." She looked like she was going to say something, but the phone cut her off. I walked over and looked at the caller ID. Cullen.

"Hello?"

"Em, it's Bella."

"Hey Bells. What do I owe this early morning phone call to?"

"We got a note with instructions. Can you and Rose come over now?"

"Can't you just tell us what it says?" I asked. I looked over and saw Rosalie was shooting me daggers.

"You'll want to be here for this," she said, her voice shaking.

"Alright, we'll be there in a few."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and went over to Rosalie. She was still glaring at me—I must have really offended her.

"Baby, we need to get dressed so we can go over to Edward and Bella's. They got another note."

The anger faded from her face and was replaced with worry. She nodded and we both went upstairs. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Rosalie walked out of the bathroom, wearing jeans and one of my old jerseys. She had just thrown her hair back in a ponytail and wasn't wearing any makeup.

"Okay, let's go."

********

BPOV

Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table, ignoring the muffins I had set out. Everyone had the same grim expression on their face, like they were expecting the worst. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and faced everyone.

"So, I know you all must be confused," I said. No one said anything. Rosalie was leaning against Emmett, Alice was seated on Jasper's lap, Mike and Leah were holding hands, and Seth had his arm around Cynthia. I looked down at Edward and he gave me an encouraging smile. I continued. "Today, someone stuck an envelope under our door. In it, there was a letter. And a picture."

I reached in front of me and picked up the envelope. I pulled out the note and set it to the side. I reached in and grabbed the picture, passing it to Edward without looking at it. I couldn't see my daughters like that anymore.

Edward passed it to Alice, and I heard her gasp loudly.

"This—this—it can't be! No, it has to be some kind of joke!" she sobbed, leaning her head on Jasper's shoulder. I understood—I collapsed into Edward the first time I looked at the photo. As the photo was passed around, everyone looked at it with shock before breaking down into tears. Finally, Seth handed the picture back to Edward while comforting Cynthia.

"Bella, how can we be sure their still alive?" Emmett asked in a strained voice.

"We have to have faith," I said, squeezing Edward's hand. "Without that, we have nothing."

"But Bella," Alice said, looking up, "You saw the picture. How can we possibly believe the kids are alive when they send us something like that?"

"We just—"

"Bella, they're fucking bound and gagged!" Rosalie screamed at me. "If you want me to believe these people have no intention of harming my daughters when they tied them to a chair and covered their eyes and mouth with duct tape, you're fighting a losing battle."

"I know it looks bad," I stared before being cut off by Leah.

"Bad? It's awful. We don't know where they are and then these people are sending us pictures of our kids. If we don't hurry, we're going to be receiving body parts in the mail."

"Don't talk like that!" Alice screeched, putting her hands over her ears. "I don't want to think of David like that!"

"I agree with Bella," Jasper said softly. Everyone looked at him. "If we don't have faith that we will find them, what else do we have?"

"I guess," Alice admitted. "I just don't have any faith left after seeing the picture."

"That photo wasn't the only thing that came," Edward said, standing up. "There was a note too."

"With further instructions," I added, picking up the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Mike asked.

"There are only three lines," I said, looking at the almost-blank piece of paper."

"Well?" Cynthia asked, looking at me.

I held up the piece of paper for everyone to see:

Joanne Armstrong
The old Windsor Church.
Wednesday, 3pm.

No one said anything. It was the most confusing note any of us had ever gotten. After a few minutes of silence, Rosalie said something.

"Who the fuck is Joanne Armstrong?"

Yeah so this chapter kind of sucks and everything, but it's going to get a lot better starting with the next chapter, I promise! Oh, and please review