Chapter 16 (Court)
OMG! I'm sorry if I was supposed to put a bandage or a cast on her leg. I've never been shot (Sorry to disappoint you with my non-existing life) so I don't know what to do. Let's say the bullet hit Bella's bone. ; P
I had 'Zombieegirl' Beta this chapter! She is so nice and pleas thank her for being my beta. I'm so happy that I had people who wanted to. I wanted a beta that wouldn't find correcting my stuff a burden and I get blessed with her!
E.P.O.V
I sat on the seats in the front of the courtroom waiting for the judge to come in. Everyone was in the courtroom. Bella and Ms. Stacy were in the front row and then my family and myself on the second. The whole school were in the following seats along with a news reporter. We had told the school about Bella's father 3 days ago and told them that they would have to come in case they where called up to answer questions. And Bella had been absent for those 3 days of school. On the other side of the courtroom were Charlie and his Lawyer in the front row, followed by his family and relatives. After that he had the Blacks and the doctor that had helped deliver Bella as a baby.
"May the court rise to honor Judge Wilson?" A voice said, and we did as a rather plump looking man with dark skin and short black hair sat down on the high chair in front of us.
"You may be seated." The judge said, and once again, we did as we were told.
"Defendant Ms. Stacy shall start." The judge called. Ms. Stacy got up and ruffled some papers before speaking.
"I would like to call Dr. Carlisle Cullen to the stand." Carlisle went up and stood next to the chair on the left of the judge.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god?" Someone asked, holding up a bible. Carlisle placed his hand on it and said very firmly:
"I do."
"Now Carlisle. You and your family have been here a total of 2 weeks and a half?"
"Correct."
"What did you first notice about Bella, and what happened when you first met her?"
"Edward had taken her to my house because she had hurt herself in lunch and wanted to see if anything was wrong. I noticed above all that she had numerous bruises and scars across her body."
"Your honor I have pictures taken by Carlisle on that day of many, if not all, the cuts and bruises that she had that day." And with that Ms. Stacy set some pictures on Mr. Wilson's booth, witch he took and looked through.
"You're honor; may I ask Dr. Cullen a few questions?" Charlie's Lawyer asked getting up.
"If Ms. Stacy is finished with her questions." The judge said and Ms. Stacy nodded before sitting back into her previous spot and letting Mr. Brown (Charlie's Lawyer) pace back and forth.
"Mr. Cullen, how often had Bella been at your house during the time that Charlie was at his friends, the Black's?"
"She has been sleeping over and been spending a lot of time with my younger children, Alice and Edward." He said and that made the Lawyers eyes sparkle.
"And has she had any other injuries?" The lawyer asked. Bella was far to ashamed of the way she had acted to want to bring up that night when she ran away so Carlisle and Emmett fixed up her mothers tomb, so that it was as good as new and not going to cave in again. After that it had been decided that we would keep that night a secret.
"None, but the broken leg by Charlie." Carlisle said very firmly.
"Really? Bella, may you come here?" The lawyer asked and Bella stood rather slowly before walking over to the lawyer. She felt like he was going to kill her.
"May you remove you're shirt?" The lawyer asked and Bella looked taken aback.
"Excuse me?" She asked a little shook up.
"Mr. Brown I do not believe that is suitable-"
"Just to see her right arm your honor." He cut in and the judge nodded. Bella slowly removed her small white jacket to reveal a short sleeve shirt. But that's not what took all the attention. It was the big bruise that covered her right arm.
"How did she get this?" He asked tracing the bruise and making her flinch.
"An accident down the stairs. I'm sorry. I forgot about that."
"Did you? Or did you do it yourself? How do we not know that you are hurting Bella? It seems odd for a new family to just move to a rainy town. You could murder innocent girls like her and go from town to town without anyone any wiser." He said, and Carlisle looked very pissed off. At least he had better control then Esme who actually got up.
"How dare you! I would never hurt my daughter like that and if you ever even think like that again I'll-" She was going to say 'eat you' but the judge cut her off just in time.
"Mrs. Cullen, Please sit down and Mr. Brown, refrain yourself from accusing." He said firmly. Esme sat down angrily and Jasper put a hand on her to calm her down. However, it did not go unnoticed that she didn't take back the things she said.
"I'm sorry your honor." Mr. Brown said and went to sit down.
"No further questions." He said finally and took a glass of water. Ms. Stacy got up and looked at her papers again.
"I would like to call Mike Newton to the stand." She said, watching as he got up surprised and did his vows.
"So Mike, you have been in the same school as Bella since kindergarten?"
"Yes."
"What have you observed in Bella?"
"She was always alone and never talked much. She would wear the same outfit multiple times and her clothes always seemed bleached. Not only that but I realized that all her close where long sleeved and she never wore any shorts or short sleeved shirts. When she was in her 7th year at school, she started wearing clothes that were really big on her. When we asked her why she wore them she would say her dad gave it to her and it was more comfortable then it looked." Mike finished, still looking down.
"That is all." She said and looked to Mr. Brown.
"No questions." He said, and Mike went back to his seat.
"I would like to call defendant Alice Cullen to the stand." Ms. Stacy said and Alice gradually skipped to the stand with grace and elegance that had most women in a wishing trance. She did her vows and sat down again with matching elegance and Ms. Stacy began her questioning.
"Within that week with Bella, what where the events that happened?" Ms. Stacy asked and Alice explained with the most innocent voice she could, which was incredible even for a vampire. She was always such an amazing actress.
"Bella had come over for her head to get checked when she had fallen over. Then when we found out her dad was at the Black's, so she stayed at our house. We went to the mall and had fun and then Bella got sick, but she's better now." Alice said and skipped the part where we gave her a new room. It was totally unbelievable, even with Alice's voice.
"Did you find out Bella was abused or did she tell you?" Ms. Stacy asked.
"A little bit of both. Bella talks in her sleep and we confronted her when we found out." Alice said and gave a look that made everybody want to cry.
"I don't want my best friend to go though that. I want to stop it." Alice said and made a sobbing noise, bending her head in between her knees to make it look like she was holding her face in her hands to stop herself from crying. When she came back up, tears where starting to come down her face and I could tell by everyone's thoughts that no one wanted to see her cry.
Ha, ha, ha, the fake tears never fail. Alice thought, and I had to hold in a laugh.
"No more questions." Ms. Stacy said Mr. Brown got up.
"Alice, you have known Bella for no more then 2 weeks, correct?" Mr. Brown said with a firm voice that made Alice's sweet face oh so more innocent.
"Yes."
"And in Alaska, did you have friends?" He asked and Alice took a little time deciding what to say to that.
"No, I always liked to stay with my brothers and sisters."
"And someone who dose not wish to make one sure fell in love with a small talker like Bella pretty fast, would you not agree?"
"She just kind of clicked like a puzzle piece. What are you implying?"
"That again it is very odd for someone to want to be so nice to a girl they barely know."
"Is it a crime to be nice?"
"No, but odd and strange, and it is sometimes not best." He said and took Alice's hand, pulling her roughly up.
"Let me check your pockets." Mr. Brown said, and Alice had no choice but to let him go though her jacket pockets. He pulled out the fake teardrops for everyone to see.
I thought her eyes didn't look very red. He thought as he set the fake tears on the Judges desk.
"No further questions." Ms. Stacy took that as her turn and got up.
"I call my last defendant, Isabella Swan." She said and Bella limped up in a cast. She had to lean one of the crutches on the desk to put a hand on the bible but soon enough she was sitting in the seat and fidgeting nervously.
"Isabella, how long has your dad been hurting you?"
"When I was a baby he put up with it but once I learned how to walk he started hitting me. It was just here and there but the older I got the worse it became."
"Why did you open up to the Cullen's more then anyone?"
"I've never felt so safe with anyone before. They cared."
"How did you get that cast on your leg?"
"When- when Charlie got home he found out I'd told someone and shot me." Tears were streaming down her face at this point.
"How do we know that's the truth?! The Cullen's could have told her to say that!" Mr. Brown cried.
"Over ruled!" The Judge called.
"I have here the bullet used to pierce her your honor! You will find it had Bella's blood on it." Ms. Stacy took a small bag that had inside it a small bullet. She set it on the judge's desk and continued.
"Bella, if you could pick what family to go to, which one would it be?"
"The Cullen's!" She said in a heartbeat. I knew Jasper could feel how happy and proud we were and was refraining himself from getting up and giving Bella a hug right there and then.
"Very well. No further questions. Your honor." She said and sat down.
"Bella, is it?" Mr. Brown asked getting up.
"Isabella, to you." She said and he looked slightly taken a back.
"Very well. Isabella. Can you tell me why you have never reported your 'abusive' father before now?"
"He told me it was my fault. My fault she was dead. I had to give him myself for her place. A life for a life." Bella said, the tears coming down harder and slightly distorting the way she talked.
"There is no document of your father buying so much alcohol as you said he did. Why is that?"
"I'm not sure…" (The Black's own a wine store and Billy doesn't keep a document of the alcohol he buys. The Black's didn't know Bella was abused and don't believe it.
They're with Charlie but Jacob is having second thoughts. Billy's not because he thinks the rumors of the Cullen's are true and believes they're going to eat Bella.
Just throwing that out there. I'm a huge Jacob hater but I will respect him and only make him evil when necessary)
"And even though, you are at the hospital more then an average person. In the past years you didn't go to the hospital as often as you're making it sound. I have a record of 3 times this year so far."
"He hits, nothing extreme with weapons all the time. Sometimes it adds up and I get seriously hurt. Charlie is a police chief and knows when a person needs medical attention or will die." She spoke firmly, almost confidently.
"Do you deny being clumsy?" Mr. Brown asked, now strengthening what he had left.
"No. But-"
"You're Honor. I have here pictures of Charlie's house the week before when it was being searched by the Children's Aid Society, and I think you will find the house very nice, especially Bella's room." Mr. Brown had a sly smile on his face that I wanted desperately to wipe off.
"No more questions, your honor." He said and sat back down. That sly smile was still there.
"I would like to call Charlie Swan to the stand." Ms. Stacy said and Charlie walked a little too fast up to the stand so that Bella still didn't have time to get out.
"Bells, let me help you." He said in a sticky sweet voice and Bella flinched away.
"Don't touch me." She warned in a menacing voice and Charlie had a good pretend face of hurt, but under it there was something else… enjoyment? Fury? I couldn't tell as he sat down and his expression became sad.
"What happened to your wife the night Bella was born?" Ms. Stacy asked in a harder tone then she used before.
"She died. She was too weak and her heart gave out." Charlie spoke as a tear fell. This was real sadness. He had loved Renée and he was not hiding it.
"In her medical records it said her heart was fine throughout the whole birth."
"It gave out after." Charlie stuck with that. He was getting annoyed.
"It said in your paperwork that you where very aggressive as a child."
"Kids used to gang up on me. I was defending myself."
"Can it be that you hurt her when you were drunk and couldn't think straight?"
"I don't drink very often and certainly not as much as they're making out I do."
"Do you know why Bella would want to go to the Cullen family, regardless?"
"I think they are the ones threatening her. As you saw before she has a bruise that's too big to have happened before I had gone on vacation to the Black's." Charlie had thought his story through.
"Can you explain the gun shot and the bloody bullet?"
"That one was a complete accident. I thought I had put the safety on and when I went to put it up when I came home from work, it went off at Bella, who was greeting me by the door." Oh yes, he had really thought this through.
"No more questions." Ms. Stacy said, looking very angry with herself and even more so with Charlie.
"Do you have any defendants that have not been called Mr. Brown?" The judge asked and he nodded.
"I call Dr. Koutras to the stand." Mr. Brown called and he got up, shaking and scared.
"You were there when Bella was born?"
"Correct."
"And what where the expressions when Renée and Charlie saw their child?"
"During the birth Charlie was very worried for Renée, and loved that she was so happy. Charlie…-" Dr. Koutras's eyes came into contact with Charlie's and he glared at him before Koutas stuttered out.
"Loved his child just as much." He finished quickly and he looked like he was going to break down.
"No more questions." He said and the doctor practically ran off to his seat, even falling on the one step. It wasn't hard to know that Charlie had threatened him, but the judge just thought it was stage fright.
"I call Billy Black to the stand." Mr. Brown said and he rolled up with Jacob pushing him. It was hard to get him up the step but he did it and the vows.
"Billy, you have been Charlie's friend since kindergarten. Correct?"
"No, Charlie was always shy as a child. He was scared at me 'till he saw me looking at a fishing catalog in grade one and we've been best friends ever since." He said and laughed as Charlie blushed.
"Was Charlie violent as a kid?"
"He was always reasonable but he did have to defend himself."
"Have you seen Charlie disrespectful?"
"Never."
"No more questions or defendants you're honor." He said and they both sat down. There was a good minutes silence when he judge finally made up his mind and I gasped.
"I leave Isabella Marie Swan in custody of her father, Charlie Swan, but he will go through 9 months of Police training." And he hit the desk to end the session.
Gaaa!! Don't kill me! I couldn't resist! And it was unfair trial because Judges think it's better if kids stay with their parents and they ALWAYS side with cops! So don't go yelling at me saying. "Why didn't Bella win!? I'm going to kill your ass!"
BETA LEAVES NOTE HERE - I agree, they don't often see past the truth. At least not from all the films and such that I've watched. Great chapter, I loved it, and it was really well described/written. )
Go back and make a list of the facts that help Charlie and the other facts and see witch piles bigger! Come on!
-Half Bella's body is bruised and Carlisle 'forgot' to mention it.
-Alice's caught with fake tears.
-They say Charlie's been drinking but there's no proof.
Its how my stories unfolding. Speaking of which! We are almost at a close to 'The white house sanctuary' so please vote on my poll so I know what story to write next!
I was very moved with a lot of the reviews and that's why I posted early! I love you guys! Keep reviewing and I'll post early again!
I HOPE THE CHAPTER WASEN'T TOO BORING!!