A/N: Ooooh boy. Okay. Deep breaths, babes. Here we go. OH. Thank you for not killing me!
Bella gave herself the night to think through her choices.
She thought of breaking the mirror - but he would doubtlessly hear that and be prepared when he opened the door.
The only reasonable weapon she had at her disposal was the back cover of the toilet, but in the little bathroom, the way the door opened, she wouldn't have much room to swing. Even if she did manage to connect, here was no guarantee he would fall, and he would be in the doorway. What was she going to do? Leap over him? Around him?
Nothing she thought of ended well.
She spent the night curled on the bathroom floor, shivering as she tried to get a little sleep. Whatever the day would bring, she would need her rest.
In her dreams, when she woke, it was to soft kisses to her cheek and gentle fingers stroking her neck. She was warm and happy, safe in Edward's arms. He loved her, and they would have a beautiful life together with a daughter they both cherished.
It made it all the harder to wake to the chill of the morning on the cold floor of a little bathroom. Her body ached terribly, not just from the beating she'd endured the day before, but from being huddled in on herself.
The reflection in the mirror looked worse. The bruises along her skin were a darker shade of purple, her hair was an utter wreck, and she looked like she hadn't slept in a week.
She debated on whether it was best to make herself look as pretty as possible under the circumstances, and quickly felt ill.
For Riley, she thought, breathing in and out slowly. To get back to Edward.
Blowing out a slow breath, Bella rinsed her mouth out, wishing for toothpaste. At least he'd given her a little dinner, a simple sandwich. Looking up in the mirror, she settled for running her fingers through her hair, undoing the worst of the snarls.
Holding her hands in fists at her side, Bella pounded on the door, calling Alec's name. She was pleased when her voice didn't waver.
When he pushed open the door, Alec had his gun trained on her. He stared at her steadily. "What do you want?"
Unnerved by the gun pointed straight at her head, Bella had to search for her voice. "C-can you put the g-g-gun down?" she stuttered, already shaking. "You're scaring me."
He snorted lightly. "You think I trust you? Show me your hands."
She held her shaking hands out palm up.
Alec looked at her suspiciously but lowered the weapon. "So what do you want?"
"I just want to talk." Bella ducked her head, hoping she looked and sounded contrite. "You were right about so many things."
"Right." He chuffed, but he lowered the gun, letting it dangle at his side while he reached out, grabbing her arm and pulling her from the bathroom. Everything in Bella had to fight not to wrench her arm away from his touch.
As he passed a little hall table, Alec set the gun down, before he propelled her just a short distance away to the kitchen. There, he pushed Bella back against the wall, caging her in, leaning over her. If he was trying to intimidate her, it was working.
"I'm warning you," he began, his voice low and threatening. "You try something. Anything. You're going to regret it. The doors to this lovely little rental have tricky locks, and I will catch you before your stupid, fat ass can get very far. If I catch you, it will be very bad for you. Understand?"
Bella could only nod.
He backed off then, but only by an inch or so. Swallowing sporadically, Bella forced herself to continue with her plan. "Do you have some groceries? I can cook you breakfast. Anything you want."
Again, he snorted. "Right, because I'm going to give you a hot pan. Anyway, like I said, this is a rental. No fridge." He made a face. "Renee didn't give me a lot of advance notice. Didn't have much time to find a place with all the amenities. Sorry, Princess. You'll just have to make do.
"I'll go get something later. But you said you wanted to talk. So are you going to talk or what?" he demanded.
Bella knew she was out of time and out of options. Mentally steeling herself, she slowly reached up, looking down so she wouldn't have to see him as she cupped his face in her hands. "I just need you to know how very sorry I am." She hoped with everything in her that she sounded sincere. "I know what I put you through, and it was wrong of me."
His eyes were hard as he studied her. Quick as a flash, his hand came up, and he gripped a handful of her hair tight. Bella gasped as he yanked her head back slightly. "After last time, you think I'm going to believe anything you say?" he growled.
"I know," she said hurriedly, pressing her palms flat against the wall to try to keep her fight or flight reflex from dictating her actions. She had to keep her panic at bay. "I know, I don't deserve your trust. Baby -" how foul that endearment tasted in her mouth, "- I'm so sorry. I-I-I know I acted like such a brat. I don't know why I treated you like that."
Again, his eyes searched hers. His grip on her hair relaxed, though he didn't let her go. "I swear to God, Bella, if you're playing some game with me..."
"No game." She swallowed down bile as she surreptitiously wiped her palms on her pants before she slowly reached up, cupping his neck, stroking with her fingers. "I'm just young, baby, that's all. You were so right to do what you did last night. I deserved it."
He pressed forward, his body swallowing some of the space between them. "You betrayed me." His words were a snarl.
"I know. I regretted it. B-but I was scared of him. I married him because I was mad at you." She went on in a rush. "It was so stupid and immature. I just didn't think about it. And then I was scared. He's powerful, Alec. You don't know how much power he has. He kept such a close eye on me."
Now, Alec did growl, the sound predatory. "You were stupid, Bella. You're such a fucking idiot. I wanted to take care of you." His fist tightened in her hair. "Why couldn't you just accept you're mine?"
Her eyes were watering both because of the pain in her scalp and her complete terror. Her voice was shaky when she spoke again. "I'm so sorry." Closing her eyes, she pushed up on her tiptoes a bit and began pressing tiny kisses against his jaw, whispering how sorry she was with each one.
Alec was breathing hard through his nose, like he was on the verge of rage.
All at once he struck, closing the little bit of space left between them. He kissed her roughly, his hands holding her face in a grip that was anything but tender. It was feral and possessive - dominating.
Though it hurt so much - her face so battered from his slaps the night before - Bella bit back a whimper of pain. She forced herself to kiss him back, let her mouth open when his lips demanded it. She kept her eyes screwed tightly shut so she wouldn't have to see him, and thought of Riley, of Edward, to keep her body from revoluting.
Alec broke the kiss, switching his grip back to her hair so he could pull her hair back. "You're mine," he said into her ear, the words loud and raw.
"Yours," Bella echoed. She was trembling hard, but he didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't care.
His lips went to her neck then and he sucked. Hard. His teeth cut into her skin. Bella couldn't help the squeal of a scream that escaped her lips.
He was marking her.
Again, Alec growled, abruptly stepping a few pace back. His fingers curled around her shoulder in a punishing hold, his other hand going to her belly. He shuddered as if revolted, returning his other hand to her shoulder. "It's disgusting to feel this against me, you know that? When this thing is out of you, we're going to leave it by the side of a road and get the hell out of here." He shouted the last word.
"Alec," she tried to start, her voice frantic, but then gasped as he whirled her around, shoving her a few steps forward all the way into the kitchen. His hand on her back, he forced her face first to bend over the counter.
His hands were at her waist then, his body leaned over hers. He swept her hair off one shoulder, tugging on her shirt. Bella cried out, the sound clipped and short with her panicked breaths, as the fabric tore a little. Her voice was strangled in her throat.
"You're mine," he said again before he attacked her shoulder with his teeth. His hands were roaming up her sides, cupping her breasts roughly as he bit down against her skin savagely.
She needed to stop this. She needed to get away from him before he could take her like this. She could tell he had no intention of being slow or gentle. This needed to stop. But how, without making him angrier?
"Alec," she pleaded breathlessly. "Please. You're being too rough. Honey, please. Please listen to me." She tried to push back.
He was quick to pin her head down on the cold countertop. "This isn't about you. You have a lot to make up for. A lot."
"You're going to hurt the baby," she yelled, frantic now.
His movements froze for a heartbeat before his fingers on her head and cupped right under her breast, began to dig into her skin.
Before she could cry out again, his weight was off her. He spun her around, getting right in her face. "What the fuck do you think I care about that, huh? Are you under some delusion I'm going to let you keep that thing? Some other prick's kid? Well you can fucking forget it, Bella. You're lucky I don't rip the thing out of you right now."
"It's not his," she said, though it was the last thing she wanted to admit. She hated, hated, that her sweet, innocent baby had anything to do with the maniac in front of her. "It's yours, Alec. Your baby. I'm 33 weeks. Do the math. That's when you and I were together. I didn't even know him. " She knew she was babbling, but she was frantic to make him understand.
One look in his eyes, and Bella knew she'd made a wrong move. His glare was so utterly livid, it was enough to stop her heart for a beat and send chills through her bloodstream. She was shaking, intimidated and frightened almost out of her wits. "I-I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know, and I didn't think-"
"You. Fucking. Bitch." His words rose in volume until the last one was a roar. "You completely. Fucked up. Whore."
He gripped the front of her shirt, pulling her up against him, shaking her so hard it felt like her brain was slamming against her skull. "How fucking dare you do this to me? My kid? And you let him inside you while you were carrying my kid? You fucking tainted him! You disgusting slut!"
He threw her away from him then. Bella went flying backward, striking her side hard against the edge of the wall.
She hardly felt it. Adrenaline raced through her when she realized she was free and she had one chance, exactly one chance to save her life, to save Riley's life. Alec was out of control and insane. He was going to end up killing one of them.
Bella wasn't about to let it happen.
She'd hardly hit the floor before she skittered back to her feet, stumbling blindly forward with one goal in mind. She ran for the hallway, not too many steps away, and the end table where Alex had left his gun.
Charlie taught her how to shoot on her thirteenth birthday. She hadn't held a gun since then, but some part of her must have remembered how to shoot because she knew how to cock the gun.
And she knew how to pull the trigger.
~0~
Edward had never truly understood the idea of being at the end of a rapidly fraying rope until that particular moment in his life. He saw it now, how his sanity was made up of pieces of string, wound together into a thick braid of rope. Throughout the night, he could feel each individual strand slowly unwind, get pulled taut, and finally tear away, taking a strip of his soul with him.
When Eleazar explained he had no useful contacts that could help him immediately, a string snapped.
When he called the phone company to activate her GPS only to be told if the phone was off, it wouldn't work - and it didn't - several strands came apart.
The private investigator in Forks drew the line at breaking into a police officer's home, so no one was searching Alec's place for clues. More strings unravelled.
Slowly, so achingly slowly, the blackest part of night had lightened into morning.
Between phone calls to anyone and everyone who might be able to help, when he wasn't trying to get the contact information of employees at the shops - anyone who might have seen her - Edward's worst fears crept to the surface. He imagined all the ways Alec might be hurting Bella while he was trapped helpless, constantly returning to the suite they'd shared, because what if she came back?
As had become his habit, he checked his phone, staring at the strength of the signal. He freaked out each and every time it dropped, fearing that he might miss a call, a text... anything that would let him know she was alive and well.
With the worry and his imagination playing out what she might be going through, Edward felt his sanity hanging by a single, sad looking thread.
"Sweetheart, you should sleep," his mother urged, her hand soft on his back.
"No." The word was a growl. If he'd had any room to feel anything but complete terror for his wife, he would be ashamed at himself for speaking to his mother that way. As it was, though, he was entirely consumed. "In three more hours, I'm going to the police station." In three and a half more hours, Bella would have been missing for an entire day.
Esme pursed her lips and looked about ready to argue - gently - when the ring tone of his cell phone startled them both. He'd turned the volume all the way up, just in case, and the noise was frighteningly loud, especially in the relative quiet of the room.
Edward glanced at the thing, his eyebrows furrowing as he registered a completely unfamiliar number.
"Hello?" he answered uncertainly. His eyes went wide as he heard too-quick breaths on the other end of the line. "Bella?" he cried frantically.
"E... E," she gasped. It sounded like she was hyperventilating.
"Oh, God. Sweetheart, listen to me. Listen. You have to breathe, okay? Listen to me."
He found he was shaking so hard that when he rose to his feet, he automatically sunk down to the floor, his knees too weak to hold him. He was shaking with relief but reeling in fear because my God. In all the times she'd woken panicked, she'd never gasped for breath like this. Was she asphyxiating?
She made a strained sounding noise - a whine of exertion and fear - but he thought her breaths seemed to be slightly slower.
"That's it, baby. Just listen to me breathe. Try to match it."
He was vaguely aware that his family was gathered around him again. He could see their feet, feel his mother's hand on his back. If he concentrated, he thought he might be able to hear what they were saying - likely asking him what was going on. The only real thing in the world was the woman on the other end of the phone line. He needed to get to her, but he needed her to calm down first.
Her safety was everything to him. Everything.
"Bella," he whispered. "Is that really you?"
The strangled little whines that had been getting steadily louder, more drawn out as she drew more air into her lungs turned to cries. "E-E-E-d-" she tried to say his name again. She was gasping now like a child who'd cried herself into complete hysteria.
"Shh, sweetheart. It's okay. It's going to be okay." He clamped a hand over his free ear because his family was talking all around him, their voices becoming increasingly louder. He couldn't pay attention to them, and he couldn't let their noise drown out anything Bella tried to say. "Where are you, Bella? Please tell me. I'll get to you. It doesn't matter where you are, I'll get to you."
She dragged in a breath so raw it made his throat hurt. "He's dead. Oh, God." She dissolved into tears again, babbling those same words over and over nonsensically.
"Bella! Bella, come back to me. Baby, please. Please." His voice was trembling. When he started crying, he had no idea, but he didn't care. He was terrified. His entire body was tensed because he didn't know what was going on, and she wouldn't calm down long enough to tell him.
For the longest minute of his life, there was silence except for her gasps.
"Edward?" she finally said in a tiny voice, sniffling.
"Yes. Bella, please. Tell me where you are."
"I... I don't know. I don't know." Her voice was high pitched. She hadn't stopped crying. "I killed him, Edward. He's dead. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Who's dead? Sweetheart, you're not making any sense."
"Alec. He tried... And I... I..."
Another wave of relief swept over him - relief and awe. Of course he was dead. Of course his diminutive, 21 year old wife had somehow killed her assailant. Jesus Christ.
Of course, that meant she was alone - or so he hoped - somewhere with a dead body.
No wonder she was freaking out.
"Listen to me. You did the right thing. Of course you did the right thing. Okay? Just take deep breaths. Calm down for me."
"I need you. Oh, God. Edward. Please. I need you," she whispered, whimpering.
He had to bite back a sob. She'd never sounded so utterly broken. The ache, the need to hold her, to comfort her, to shield her from anything - everything - else that would ever hurt her was so strong, he wanted to weep with his helplessness. He still didn't know where she was.
"I'm coming to you. I am. You just need to help me, sweetheart. I don't know where you are."
More quiet crying, but she was taking deeper breaths, slower. Another long minute went by.
"I don't know where I am. I never saw. It's a rental house. There's nothing in here. It's so bare. Only a couple of random pieces of furniture."
She was coming back to her senses slowly. He could tell by the sound of her voice.
"Okay," he said encouragingly. "Can you walk? Can you walk outside and look set the address? Or see if there's a neighbor?"
She sniffled and there was a shuffle. "Fuck! There's a padlock on the door."
"Okay. Um. He must have some keys on him." Fear and a rush of fury went right down his spine. "Are you sure he's dead?"
There was a strangely maniacal laugh. "I shot him in the head."
Holy fuck.
He swallowed hard. "Check his pockets for keys," he prompted.
There was more noise as she did so, and his heart broke when he heard her whimper again. How ugly it must have felt to dig through the pockets of a dead man. "I'm here, sweetheart. I'm going to see you really soon," he soothed, trying to keep her focused.
Jasper knelt in front of him, and Edward focused for a minute. "I have 9-1-1 on the line," his brother said.
"Bella? As soon as we get an address, we're sending police and an ambulance, okay?"
"Oh! Oh! Edward! There's an address. There's an address on the keychain."
Of course. It was a rental house.
She rattled it off and he repeated it back to Jasper who repeated it to the 9-1-1 operator. "Ambulance is two minutes away," Jasper informed him.
"Hear that? Help is on the way."
Carlisle was beckoning to him, keys to the rental car in his hand.
"I'm coming for you, Bella. Okay?" He got to his feet and was abruptly running after his father.
"Edward?" There was an edge to her voice.
"I'm right here."
"It's the baby. I think something's wrong. My stomach hurts. It hurts."
Edward sucked in a breath. Please, not now, he begged the powers that be.
"Just keep breathing. You're going to be just fine. Riley's going to be fine."
"It's too soon. She's too little."
He talked softly to her, keeping her calm, trying to keep himself tethered with her.
It happened quickly after they came. There was a commotion and the sound of many feet. Voices.
She screamed, as if in terrible pain.
And then she was gone.
Terror-stricken, Edward let out a panicked noise. "Drive fast, Dad. Please."
"I'm going as fast as I can," Carlisle assured as they sped along.
It took twenty five agonizing minutes for them to get to the hospital.
Edward was out of the car even before it stopped, racing toward the hospital doors like his life depended on it.
His life did depend on it.
His heart beat seemed to stutter out first Bella's name, then his daughter's.
They had to be alright.
"My wife," he said when he got to the security station. He was gasping and breathless from running. "My wife. She was brought in here. Please. Bella Cullen."
A nurse came over. "We just need to see your I.D., Sir."
"I'm Edward Cullen. I'm her husband. Please. Just tell me. Is she okay?" His hands shook badly as he took his wallet out. So badly that the security guard took pity on him and took the thing from him, taking it upon himself to fish his driver's license out.
The nurse put her hand on his arm as they put a bracelet around his wrist. "Come with me."
He followed. He would do anything they asked. "My wife-"
"She's in surgery still, but stable. She came in with an abruption, which means they had to deliver via emergency c-section."
Edward felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "C-section? You mean.."
The nurse put her hand on his arm again with a slight smile. "Your wife delivered a baby girl about fifteen minutes ago. Four pounds, six ounces. She's breathing on her own and stable in the NICU. Congratulations, Daddy."
A/N: Breathing? Yes?
Thank you to jfka06 for betaing and making my docs a HILARIOUS place to be. She and Barburella tried to turn this chapter into an incestuous orgy. Uh. Okay.
And thanks to GinnyW for letting me pester her constantly about all things pregnancy. ANd thanks to Shug for being Shug.
And thanks to YOU! For not killing me and for tipping me over 4k reviews. That's seriously so awesome, guys. Really. It means a lot to me. A lot, a lot.
See you soon, and we'll get to meet Riley next chapter.