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Chapter 5

Demons.

Imagine Dragons.

EPOV

"Shit, hold that thought. We'll get back to this, okay?" I hopped up and pressed my lips to Bella's temple at the sound of pounding on our door. "I'm going to go get the door. Stay put, though, I guess you don't have a real choice?"

Bella just rolled her brown eyes at me as I walked out of the room. I could feel them on my back as I neared the staircase. It was a nice feeling.

The moment that I saw Bella Swan, I knew that it was all over for me. I was going to fall in love with her. I was going to lose my job. But just the idea of being near a girl as beautiful as Bella made it all worth it. That first night, when I heard her crying across the hall, I knew that my single days were just over. Gone. Not that it bothered me in the slightest – nothing seemed to compare to Bella Marie Swan.

I could tell, after watching her little fit with her mom, that her problems ran deeper than a closed mouth. That was when it became clear to me that I needed to bring back whoever she was. I needed to hear her beautiful voice again. I had half succeeded when she told me not to leave her earlier that day, but that wasn't enough for me. I wasn't satisfied with a 'half happy' girl. I wanted Bella Swan to never cry another tear in her life.

She was way too young for that nonsense.

When I got down their huge staircase, I quickly jogged over to the door in the foyer. Whoever was behind it hadn't stopped to take a breather as they were still pounding incessantly. I glanced out the window on the side and saw a blonde girl. She looked a little older than I, and her face was all red looking. I cocked my head to the side, trying to decide if this was the infamous Rosalie McCarty, Bella's sister.

Instead of calling out, or doing something stupid, I ran to the living room. I remembered seeing pictures of her all over the place. Glancing around the room, my eyes locked on the one from graduation. She was younger in the photo, as it had been ten years, but it was definitely the woman on the steps. I sat it back in it's place and frowned when I realized that they had no photos of Bella up. Nothing after she had grown into the school age.

Maybe I'll have mom bring her camera. I thought to myself as I went back to the door.

"Edward! I know you're in there! Let me in, it's Rosalie!" She was yelling now and I cringed. She sure had her mother's voice. The back of my mind began wondering if Bella sounded anything like that.

But then it contradicted itself. I remembered her single word earlier. All of the cries, and hums. Bella had her own voice. It was soft, and warm. Completely loving. It wasn't shrill, or sharp. I was already in love with it, although I was being kept from it. Yet another reason why I was fighting to get the beautiful girl talking to me.

"Edward!" Rosalie practically screeched and I yanked the door open. She stumbled in, right past me, and to the floor. I couldn't help but snigger at how distraught she looked.

"I had to make sure it was you." I scratched the back of my neck, attempting to hide the guffaws that wanted to make themselves present.

"You could have been a bit gentler! Given me a warning!" She hissed and I rolled my eyes.

"You could have tried to not break the door in." I snipped back at her and her brown eyes turned to slits. They were much different than Bella's, but all the same.

"I'm sorry, okay? God. Mom and dad haven't changed a damn thing." She walked in and looked around, not bothering to acknowledge the luggage that she had left strewn across the floor. She walked into the living room and I watched as her shoulder's stumped. "Where the fuck are the pictures of Isabella?"

"Maybe you should be asking your slightly neglectful parents." I all but barked in response. She acted so shocked! As if her parents weren't spoiling her and giving Bella whatever was left of the short end of the stick while she lived there.

"They weren't that bad. Besides, I assumed that with me moving out, that they would focus their obsessiveness on Isabella." She crossed her arms as she scanned the room, trying to find something that belonged to the girl that was waiting for us upstairs. I decided to tell her about Bella instead.

"Bella." I coughed, referring to how Rosalie kept calling her Isabella.

"Bella?" She looked at me questioningly.

"She goes by Bella."

"I don't even know what she looks like." She sighed after muttering something about Bella's name. I didn't catch it, and I was sure that I didn't want to catch it. "Can I go see her?"

"If you promise that you'll treat her right." I crossed arms, standing up a little straighter. I wanted her to understand how serious I was over the phone. I wanted her to understand that she wasn't just going to show up and leave whenever she felt like playing big sister. That was far from fair for Bella. She would always deserve better than that bullshit.

"Absolutely...I do." She nodded frantically and I motioned for her to follow me up the stairs.

We got up to Bella's door and I knocked before slowly opening it and sticking my head in. I knew that I had already seen her practically naked, but I knew better than to intrude. She smiled and waived me on in with her good hand, her eyes soft as they looked at me. My lips couldn't help but turn up in a sheepish smile at the sight of her.

"Rose is here...she wants to see you." I offered and she nodded, this time not so happily.

"Isa...Bella." Rosalie sighed, walking in. Bella pursed her lips and looked down at her hands immediately. I walked around Rosalie, and sat down beside Bella. She shot me a shy, self-conscious grin but kept her eyes on her hands. My lungs let out an annoyed sigh.

I was never annoyed with Bella. I was annoyed that she had to feel the way she did, thanks to an upbringing that she didn't deserve.

"Bella...how are you feeling?" Rosalie asked, her voice shooting up an unsure octave.

Bella shot her a look that said, I feel like shit, I was hit by a car. And don't expect me to suddenly want to talk to you either. I chuckled and she tried to give me the same scowl. It appeared as more of a grimace and made me chuckle. She sighed and shook her head at me before looking at her older sister again.

"Sorry." Rosalie shifted on her feet, looking unsure as to what she was supposed to do.

"So, Rose, are you a doctor?" I asked her and her eyes snapped to me. Bella's eyes were suddenly full of curiosity as she looked at her older sister. I was ashamed of Rosalie for leaving Bella behind. Bella adored the girl like no other, and Rosalie merely left her like a bag of shit that she didn't need.

"I am...I'm an obstetrician...I take care of babies and new moms..." She pointed out and Bella nodded, urging Rosalie to continue. "I went to Yale, actually. Try not to tell mom and dad."

Yale. I scoffed. Boy, we have a badass over here!

"I'm married." Rosalie whispered and Bella's eyes widened. Rosalie nodded. "His name is Emmett. He's a cop...we live in Chicago, by the way. I don't know what else to say, Bella. I don't know what you want to hear. I know nothing about you."

"Learn." I muttered.

"She doesn't talk!" Rosalie complained and I raised my eyebrows, mentally challenging her to say that again. Rosalie let out a huff and gave me a serious look. "You act as if you know everything about her. She doesn't talk."

"I know that her name is Isabella Marie Swan, but she likes Bella, because her parents called her Isabella. I know that Bella prefers to wear her hair up, but she still has a little fun when she does it down for people. I know that Bella loves literature. She loves to read and imagine things. I know that Bella wants to talk. I know that Bella is all there, that she knows things. I know that Bella likes Disney movies, because happy endings are the best kind. I know that Bella isn't one to fret about the artificial things, like her hair, weight, and nails. I know that Bella loves anyone who is willing to get to know her, and probably more people than that.

"I know that some of the people at school haven't even tried, and that they're missing out on one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. I know all of these things about Bella and she has only said the word no around me. She only said it once. Tonight. I know all of these things about this beautiful girl, and I've known her for all of five days! You should have known her for the last eighteen years. This should be old news for you!"

"I didn't mean..." Rosalie looked like a coward as she glanced between Bella and I.

"On top of that, could you please not talk about her like she isn't here? Just because she's not shooting her mouth off doesn't mean that she isn't here!" I fumed and I knew that I had overreacted. My anger had taken over everything else. I couldn't believe the way that she was acting. She had promised me that she was going to treat Bella like the normal girl that she was.

"I'm sorry." Rosalie practically whimpered, her lips pursed. "Bella, I'm so sorry. I just...can I get a drink?"

"No alcohol on the premises." I shot her a look as I stood up. I placed my hand on Bella's shin, mostly missing the contact. She looked up at me, her eyes full of unsaid curiosity. "I'm going to go get us something to drink? Do you want anything?"

Bella nodded.

"I'm just getting water. Tap your nose twice if that's what you want, tap it once if you want tea." I smiled at her as her lips formed into a smile. She tapped her nose once and I couldn't hold back a chuckle. She made everything cute. Even the cheesiest shit was cute with Bella.

I followed Rosalie into the hall after placing a secret kiss on Bella's cheek. It was warm with a fresh blush as I did so, causing me to shoot a wink her way. Rosalie didn't look back once as I did all of this, completely occupied with her own thoughts. When I got out into the hallway, she was already halfway down the stairs. It didn't take long for my much longer legs to catch up. She was exactly Bella's height, and they both barely reached my shoulders. I shook my head as I caught up with her, and we reached the fridge.

"I really didn't meant to be such a...such a bitch, Edward." Rosalie muttered as she opened the stainless steel monster of a fridge.

"You still were. You promised you would treat her like a normal person. She is one." I reminded her sarcastically.

"I know...and you're right. I just freaked out. You're such a natural with her. And man, do you know how to stand up for a girl. If I weren't already married..." She hinted playfully and I rolled my eyes.

I wouldn't even. Not with the girl that I had upstairs.

"Right." My eyes rolled up to the ceiling again, only this time, Rosalie had caught it.

"Really, Edward. You're good for her." She shrugged as she handed me the pitcher of tea. "For Bella," she said and then grabbed the pitcher of water. "And us."

"The girl loves her sweets." I chuckled and Rosalie smiled.

"I did too. I've just gotten so many diabetic mothers that I have to cut back. I couldn't do that to a child." She shook her head. "Being pregnant was hard enough. I can't imagine getting sick on top of that!"

"You were pregnant?" I asked her and her face turned a familiar red.

"Yes." She whispered, her eyes casting downward. My head cocked to the side in curiosity. She hadn't mentioned being a mother. She hadn't mentioned being married until she had arrived and I had forced it out of her.

"You never mentioned being a mom...does Bella know?" I asked her, pushing a little bit harder. Her eyes shot up to mine and shook her head.

"How old do you think I am?" She whispered and I felt as if I were being trapped, tricked into a trick question. She seemed to catch onto my face, as she began talking again, "seriously. How old do you think I am?"

"Aren't you ten years older than Bella? You were eighteen, graduating, when she was eight?" I recalled her claiming that as the last time that she had seen her sister.

"I didn't graduate when I was eighteen, Edward. I graduated when I was twenty-three." She closed her eyes, her face turning paler and paler by the second. She was twenty-three?

If Rosalie was twenty-three when she graduated, and Bella was eight, that meant that she was already fifteen when Bella was born. Girls did have babies that young. Some moron had actually went and made some glorifying TV show out of it. I felt my heart stop when my brain finally came to its final conclusion.

"No...no fucking way!" I hissed and she nodded, her eyes still anywhere but on me.

"I couldn't have a kid! I was a kid myself! Imagine Bella, with a three-year-old hanging off of her right now! I just...my parents pressured me, and school was rough enough as it was. I turned custody over to Renee and Charlie as soon as she was born. I couldn't even look at her, not knowing what I was doing to her." Rosalie shook her head tears now flowing freely. She wasn't even shy by that point. "And then they still treated me as if she didn't happen. They treated her as if she didn't happen. I was so sure...I was so sure that if I disappeared that they would focus on her. That she would grow up in a good home, with two parents who were fully grown, and not have to go through the shit that other kids born out of wedlock went to."

"Rosalie..." I whispered, my throat thick with emotion.

"Let me finish!" She cried openly and shook her head. "And I remember the very day she stopped talking. She was six, I was only twenty-one and posing as a seventeen-year-old in high school. I was homeschooling and I couldn't stop fighting with mom and dad. Everything was a fight back then. I remember I was in the living room. She was playing something, and she asked me for something...I told her to go ask mom. So, she did, and when she came running back through the room, right past me and to her room, I had just assumed that she was going to do whatever it was that she had asked for.

"She didn't speak at all at dinner. I asked her about her day, what she had played, and she just looked at me. I didn't understand. Mom muttered something about little kids and their stupid games. Something about the phases that I went through myself. But it wasn't a phase. It went on for the next two years.

"I never thought I would miss her jibber-jabber. I thought it was one of the most annoying things ever sometimes. Usually I appreciated her. I was never mean to her...I just...I couldn't get attached. I had to keep my distance. And when you called, and said she still wasn't talking and that mom and dad had just dumped her here...I couldn't even wait the week that I had asked for. I was almost fired! I needed to see her. I needed to just...I missed her."

"You're her mother!" I shook my head. "Rosalie...you need to talk to her! She has spent all of this time with Charlie and Renee...thinking that the only parents that she had didn't even like her. And here you are...someone who loved her. That's ridiculous, Rosalie!"

My lungs released a gush of air that I didn't know I had been holding. I slouched a bit and glanced around, trying to come up with a better reaction. My mind was all over the place, trying to understand the screwed up situation in some way. It was hard. Just when my eyes drifted to my left, towards the stairs, I was shocked to see Bella at the top of the steps.

I nearly flinched at the sight of her. She was broken, obviously, physically. She was attempting to lean off of both of her casts, and my my instantly pictured her falling. I wanted to run up and stop her from being there. The other part of my mind stopped me as it took in how emotionally broken she looked. Her eyes weren't on me though – they were on Rosalie. Red-rimmed, tears falling from them, and I knew that she had heard everything.

I didn't have time to react before she turned and trudged off, crying.

A/N: Sorry it took so long! I'm easily distracted by my little sisters, and my older one. Way too easily. I cut this one in half again, just so I can put more into the next one without feeling rushed.

Anyway, review for the next chapter! I love hearing from everyone!

- Elizabeth.