Bella had gone straight to the hospital, but had been stymied by multiple levels of bureaucracy, finally being told that her file had been sent to the police, and that she would have to take it up with them.

She played telephone tag with the investigators assigned to her case for the next day. When someone did phone her back, it was an administrative assistant, telling her the officer in question had gone on holiday, and that she'd have to wait a few days before a temporary case manager could be assigned.

Jun had gone completely silent on the communication front. He hadn't responded to her phone calls, email, or texts, all of them telling him she was trying to have the complaint—that she hadn't made—retracted.

By the time she physically arrived at his place, she was wet and shivering from her walk in the rain.

"Oh, hey," Leo said, opening the door to her knock. He didn't invite her in.

"Is Jun here?" she asked, arms curled around herself, shivering.

"No. Hasn't been here for a while. Left a note saying he'd gone home early for the break."

Fear snaked up Bella's heart.

Edward had promised. Promised.

"Can I see it?" she asked.

Dave had arrived by this point with a friendlier greeting, looking sideways at his roommate, wondering why he was keeping her outside. "Come on in, Bella."

"Thanks," she murmured, grateful to feel a reduction in the shiver.

"Here," Dave said, fishing it out from under a pile of paper on the table.

She looked at it. Stared, really.

"That's not his writing."

Leo peered over her shoulder. "How can you tell?"

"He doesn't make loops like that with his letters." She knew who did. She put the paper back down on the table.

"Car's gone. He packed some stuff." Dave shrugged, as if this was explanation enough.

"Do you have his parents' contact info?"

"Yeah," Leo said, tapping the fridge.

Bella copied it down, sticking the paper back in her bag. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Dunno," Dave said, looking at Leo.

"Tuesday morning?"

Four days ago.

"What're you, studying to be a cop?" Leo snorted.

Bella said nothing, seeing her thin welcome here was worn through. "Thanks," she mumbled, making her way out the door.

She called at the bus stop, trying not to alarm Jun's mother with her questions. It was awkward, and she could feel the woman's wariness. When she hung up, she knew that Jun wasn't home, and he hadn't called since a few days before, asking for help in getting a lawyer.

Then she took the next bus downtown, heading for the main police station.

The receptionist gestured for her to follow her to a small interview room, leaving her to wait.

A gravelly voice preceded the thick form moving into the room.

"Hi," the balding officer said, "Isabella Swan?"

"Bella," she said, standing to greet him. He didn't reach to take her hand.

She put her hand down, sitting again.

"You're reporting a missing person?"

"Yes."

"Jun Kim?"

"Yes."

"Who's...he?" he asked, looking up from the paperwork.

"Um, a friend."

"A friend?"

"Sort of a boyfriend, I guess."

"Oh?" he said, squinting at the ambiguity, narrowing his eyes at her.

Bella was trying to place him. He seemed familiar.

As he moved through his routine questions, the recognition clicked. He was the officer Marie had provoked.

The recognition, unfortunately, was mutual.

"Alright," he said, having collected the basic information. "Anything else I need to know?"

"No," Bella said.

He came back a few minutes later, slapping a new file onto the table.

"Sure there's nothing else you want to add?" he asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

"No," Bella said, squeezing her eyebrows together, confused by his tone.

"You like wasting police time?"

She was pretty sure this was a question that he didn't mean for her to answer.

"Any other fake complaints you feel like making?"

"This isn't fake."

"Then maybe this one is." He opened the folder. "Or maybe he dumped you, and you're just getting him good?"

"No!" Bella protested. "He's missing. This isn't like him—"

"You regularly go making missing persons claim on your sexual assailants?"

She blushed ferociously, saying quietly, trying to stay calm, "he didn't. They asked me to file a complaint at the hospital—"

"Which you signed. That's why the police pressed charges—"

"I didn't sign it." She said this louder, clearer than anything else. "I don't know who did. I've been trying to get in touch with the case officers—"

"So you knew it was signed?"

"Yes," she said in exasperation, "he told me when he came to see me—"

"And things blew up?"

"Yes, but—"

He swirled the file around for her to read, "that your signature?"

She stared at it. A perfect imitation of her writing, down to the slanted vowels and messy consonants.

"It looks like it," she admitted.

"Kid, let me give you some advice," the man growled, impatient, and annoyed, "we're not the way you play your games, and right now, you're playing some seriously stupid ones by wasting my time. I'm going to suggest you retract this complaint, and withdraw your missing persons paperwork."

"I didn't make that complaint, so I can't retract it, and he is missing."

The officer slapped the file closed. "You're a college kid, right?" he asked, eyebrows up.

"Yes," she said, wondering where this was going.

"Understand what a mischief charge is?"

"Yes."

"Good. You're about to have one laid against you. Want to change your mind?"

"I'd like to speak with your supervising officer." She knew he was on thin ice.

"My supervising officer?" He smiled, rolling his eyes. "Admits to making a false complaint—"

"I did not—"

He went on, unphased, "files a spurious missing persons report, participates in an illegal protest—"

"The complaint is legitimate, and that protest was legal!"

"Assaulting an officer is not legal!" he yelled at her, smacking the table. "And verbal assault counts kid!"

"I did not assault you, and being in the company of someone who does isn't a crime!"

He stood abruptly. "Stand up," he said.

There was a clench of panic in Bella's chest. He wasn't kidding, so she did.

"Turn around."

She swallowed, but stood her ground. "I want to speak with your supervising officer."

"I'm charging you with mischief, and making a false report." Then he went on to inform her of her rights. At the end of it, he said, "last time I ask nice. Turn around."

She was half-way through repeating her own request, when she found herself cheek first into the wall, broken hand yanked painfully up her back, as she felt handcuffs tightened around her wrists.

Then he sat her down again, starting to rummage through her bag, clearly looking for something more incriminating.

Rifling through the meager contents of her wallet, he set her driver's license aside, and then sifted through the other cards and bits of paper. He read Edward's note. "Two boyfriends, huh?" he mumbled, watching her blush, snorting.

Then he found her fake ID.

She wanted to close her eyes, put her head down on the table, and moan, but she made herself stare straight ahead, hoping to look as innocent as possible.

"And I think we can add a misdemeanour to your list of charges too." Then he peered at the licence again, and at her. "Where'd you get this?"

She said nothing, not wanting to make trouble for Jasper.

"And obstruction of justice, too." He was shaking his head, but he looked far too happy about this discovery for it to seem genuine.

The female police officer who processed her through the pictures and fingerprinting appeared bored, and Bella kept her emotions in check, right until she found herself alone in a cell.

Her tears were silent.

When a new officer arrived, he had a clipboard. "Swan?"

"Yes," she said, almost a whisper.

"You can make a phone call." He too seemed bored with this task, and yawned, explaining that one phone call meant just that—one. Even if no one picked up.

He produced her cell phone, asking her which number she wanted to look up.

The idea of phoning the Cullens, again, made her stomach churn.

She refused to even think of phoning Charlie.

Yet.

She muttered out Sam's name, hoping she'd pick up.

And hoping in vain.

She left a message explaining what had happened, and then, resigning herself to at least a night in jail, hung up the phone.

This officer was at least human enough to see her distress.

"First time in jail?"

It wasn't, not at least the first time she'd been in one, but it was the first time she'd been arrested.

"Yes."

He looked at the paperwork in front of him. "You'll have a court appearance in the morning, and then you'll likely be released to appear, unless you're a flight risk. You will need to post a bond though."

Money. That she didn't have much of, most of it already squared away for tuition.

"How much, usually?"

"Not much—maybe two grand for these charges?"

Two-thousand dollars.

"And if I can't afford it?"

He shrugged. "You stay until your appearance—a few days, or a week, maybe more. Come on," he said, gesturing for her to move ahead of him, back to the cell.

The space was cold, and bright, and noisy, and slipping her good hand onto the metal of the bench frame, she tried to keep herself calm, thinking about what she would do if Marie didn't come through. The coldness of the place only reminded her of Edward, and she curled inwards, grateful for the escape of sleep when it came.

At least, she told herself, as she was marched in a line towards the adjacent courthouse, she wasn't wearing a jumpsuit. Small mercies. And no one she knew would be here to witness her humiliation.

She held onto this little consolation until her name was called.

A harried public defender made his way over to her, muttering through the charges, saying, "alright, Isabella Swan? You're going to plead guilty, and they'll release you without bond, OK?"

A portly man tapped the lawyer on the shoulder. "Scuse me," his deep voice intoned, "that's my client."

The young man's eyes widened, seeing who it was. "Yours?"

The superior suit rustled expensively, as its owner nodded.

"Sure," he said, handing over the file.

"I'm Marlon Bisnar," he said, holding out his hand, which Bella shook awkwardly. "Mr. Cullen sent me," and here he gestured with his chin, directing Bella's gaze to the gallery, where Jasper was standing, and moving to the front row.

Bella closed her eyes, feeling a horrified shame sweep up her cheeks.

"I can't afford you," she whispered.

"No," he said, "I quite expect you can't. Mr. Cullen can. You can take it up with him."

"And I can't afford bail."

"Same answer," the lawyer said. "These charges…" and he raised his eyebrows, eyeing the name on the page. "Officer Bellaney. Not a surprise. You're pleading not guilty to all of them, except for the misdemeanour," and he looked at Jasper, eyebrows raised. Jasper shrugged.

Bella tried to pay attention during the proceedings, which were quick, but too fast for her to catch the substance of what had happened. The date, just a over a month later, was the only thing meaningful to her.

"Here's my card," Marlon said, "my office will be in touch to prepare you for the next court date, alright?"

Bella nodded, still too preoccupied to speak.

"No problem," Jasper said for her.

As soon as Marlon left, she made herself face him, swallowing her fear. Jasper still intimidated her, despite his many apologies, and attempts to put her at ease the prior Spring.

"How did you know?" she asked him.

"Your friend phoned Emmett, quite distraught. He assured her he would see you safe. So here I am."

She nodded, working up to her next question. "Did someone—what happened to Jun?" she blurted out.

Jasper looked at her, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"He's missing," she said, "hasn't been here since Tuesday. His roommates said he'd gone home, that he left a note, but the writing wasn't his." She made herself stare, trying to be unphased by Jasper's piercing look, and bright amber eyes.

"Not us," he said, "we would never do that to you Bella."

"Edward—"

"Would never hurt someone you cared about. Ever."

It was said with such conviction, she couldn't doubt his own belief in this.

Her own beliefs were another thing.

They were still smarting from the fall before.

She didn't bother asking about the complaint that someone had forged her name on. She couldn't stand the idea of being lied to by Jasper.

Or any of the other Cullens.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded, still trying to understand what was happening, and followed him out of the court house.