*Disclaimer I own nothing recognizable, all those rights go to Stephenie Meyer. As all Song Rights go to the listed artist. I only own any original characters.

A/N: With no wait, here is the answer to how Bella's life turned out in her foster home. Also in this chapter there will be a time skip to progress the story along.

Shattered

Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding

Fall into your sunlight

The future's open wide beyond believing

To know why hope dies

Losing what was found, a world so hollow

Suspended in a compromise

The silence of this sound is soon to follow

Somehow sundown

Song-

Shattered

By: Trading Yesterday

Four Month Time Skip From the Last Chapter, Bringing us to Christmas Eve.

Bella sat among the shadows of the Coliseum watching the bustle of those around her who either didn't notice her or just chose to ignore her. Not like she wanted their looks or attention; no she just wanted to survive and exist. It was now all she could hope for.

The sight of a girl jumping with excitement as she pulled at a boy's arm whose face held a wry smile as they made their way forward made her heart clench, and for her mind to go to a place she didn't want it to - to memories of Sam.

Last year at this time she remembered being with him and heading into that exact building to watch a game. To her it was truly magical; it was what she believed to be Christmas magic. But she knew now all those things, like wishes, magic, fairy tales, happy ever after were nothing but lies. She was living proof of that. Slowly and stiffly she stood, making her way to her feet as her stomach growled in anger at the lack of food causing her face to wince in pain.

Slowly as if she was a mouse creeping its way before a sleeping cat, Bella made her way in the shadows of the twinkling Christmas lights to the back of the complex. She learned to become a ghost as it was essential for life on the streets. She needed to avoid the police and other homeless people. You would think she'd be safe among her own kind; but no, she had seen that life on the streets was a fight for nothing more than survival and she had come to learn real quick the brutal nature of it. She watched others being beaten for what little they did have, and how women on the streets were the biggest targets. They were beaten and used in ways she was told a long time ago wasn't right. After seeing such an assault of a young woman, Bella knew she needed to make changes. She needed to live in the shadows of this harsh world of the streets; she needed to stay away from camps, she needed to go to dumpsters away from heavy traffic areas, she needed to keep away from soup kitchens and shelters, but most importantly she learned she needed to cover up her true nature.

Knowing what she had to do, Bella slipped into a shop and slipped out with a hat and scissors before wandering to a salvation army drop off box and digging out any and all baggy clothing she could find before dumping her colorful, brighter clothing down in its place. She wasted no time and took herself into the bus station where she stood in front of a mirror and sheared off her newly growing locks, before stripping her clothes and replacing them with her newly rummaged wardrobe; she left her last bit of clothing showing her feminine side behind in the trash bin. She walked in looking like a girl but left looking like a boy.

Bella slowly crept up along side a large can; carefully she looked around for any unwanted attention before ripping at the black plastic. Not wanting to risk the time to forage, Bella always took the first thing she found that was eatable. As the tear became a bit wider, there laid a half-eaten hamburger. Not taking another second she stuffed her prize into her jacket before pulling it taunt across her torso and quickly darted back into the shadows of the twinkling Christmas lights. As she charged forward with her head down, the sight of red and blue flashing lights made her stumble a bit and her heartbeat to increase; but she didn't stop. As she gazed out of the corner of her eye she could see the lights came from a parked cruiser, whose usual occupant was out directing the heavy traffic.

Everyone on the streets did their best to avoid the police because they spent their life either having to beg, steal, or rummage through trash to survive; but for Bella it was more than that. She had witnessed things and they would want her, blame her, and worst of all they would put her back into what she barely escaped. The wind whipped at her as a misty rain started to fall onto her. She barreled through the empty streets but no matter how fast she walked she couldn't out run the memories that were overcoming her, causing her to stifle a sniffle as they played out.

The creaking of steps in the darkness was what cut Bella's whimpers and cries short; she knew not to cry in front of those who hit her. She learned it only ever made them angrier; so she forced a stop to her tears and quickly began to wipe away at her face and nose with her shirt. She felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder causing her to jump; she turned her head slowly to acknowledge the gesture and she couldn't be more shocked to see the small crooked smile of the little blonde haired girl, who waved at Bella to follow her. Slowly Bella peeled herself from her cot and walked behind coming to a stop as they reached the older boy who sat amongst the dirt floor at the base of the stone wall, just under the opposite window to allow themselves some light.

"I'm Kristy," a soft voice whispered, "And this is Tim."

Bella nodded in acknowledgment, watching as Kristy sat and Tim pulled a shiny silver like object from behind him that he sat on the dusty ground and slowly started to unravel what seemed to be an assortment of foods mixed together. She could see in the moonlight there was half eaten bread slices with the bite marks still visible and soaked in some sort of brown liquid, mixed with chunks of other things. She watched silently as Tim and Kristy attacked the contents.

"Sit, Isabella, and eat," Kristy whispered again. "I know it's not the best but I guess you can consider it kind of like a stew. We get to eat whatever they don't every night so it's like a mix of breakfast, lunch and dinner," she explained softly between bites.

Bella nodded in understanding. She never had any problem with eating what was found; she had eaten from the trash before, but for some reason this just seemed strange. Or maybe it was just the months she took for granted in the hospital that she had come to forget how to be grateful for what she got. As she looked at the two who sat happily eating what they were given, Bella found herself shamed at her bit of judgment and that she should be grateful for something to eat. She didn't need to steal it like Sam had done on many occasions, and that her new found uncomfort came from the fact of her forgetting how to be grateful.

Slowly Bella sat amongst her new kin. Looking up she saw Tim holding out a sloppy half eaten piece of bread for her; Bella smiled slightly as she took the offering and began to eat.

"So, Isabella-"

"Just Bella, please."

Bella saw Kristy smile and nod, "So, Bella, how old are you?"

"Seven."

"Me too. My brother is ten."

Hearing the word brother caused Bella's stomach to knot and for her eyes to well again. Right here in front of her a brother had stayed with his sister; he didn't leave her for a better life and he didn't tell her lies. He was still here protecting her.

Bella quickly placed her bread back into the mix, no longer being able to eat. Kristy went to say something but saw her brother nod not to, causing the three to sit in silence for what seemed forever. Finally after the food had been cleared from the foil, Kristy found her voice.

"Bella, I'm sorry for whatever is hurting you but I have to let you know the rules like I was told," Bella stiffly nodded ready to listen. "Okay, we only get to eat once a day, which like I said, is at night and it being a mix of what is left over from previous meals. We have chores, they change from day to day depending on what needs done but some things are the same. If we are able to cook, we have to prepare the meal and then serve it. Besides possibly cooking and the serving, we need to set the table, clear the table and wash the dishes. We also do all the house cleaning and yard work. We aren't allowed upstairs unless we are doing chores, so any other time we spend down here, unless the inspection people or sometimes the Walker's friends come. Then we are dressed nice and we serve them food and drinks; but when that is done we get to play upstairs and outside until they go home. BUT we can never get dirty and we cannot talk to anyone unless spoken to; but you knew that. OH! And if you are talked to you can't say anything about living down here or anything bad at all about our foster parents. As for bathroom and washing, we get a bucket down here that we have to empty every morning; also we get a wash bucket and washcloth we have to share. We start school next week and the same goes there. We get a nice set of clothes but don't get them dirty and say nothing bad and always hide your bruises. Other than that, just do as they say and do it quickly and never hesitate. It only ends up with getting yourself hit."

Bella for a minute thought of the book that Rose had read her called 'Cinderella', where the girl was abused by a mother who wasn't hers and made into a servant. But Bella knew there was never going to be a big party or glass slipper to save her now. Her heart clenched again at thinking of Rose and the would be family she thought they could have been. But like her brother, they lied and played with her. Bella looked at Kristy and nodded her understanding before she stood to make her way to her cot. Not even halfway there she felt arms encircle her waist.

"Night, Bella" the girl whispered.

"Night," Bella managed to mumble out as she wiggled free from Kristy's embrace and made her way to her cot. As she laid herself down onto the creaking bed, Bella caught Tim tucking Kristy tightly in with a green itchy like blanket, before kissing her on top of her head and telling her that he loved her.

Bella couldn't look anymore; quickly she turned her back to the siblings and her eyes stared into the moonlight from the window above. 'How could you leave me, Sam?' raced through her mind with each tear that slid down her small cheeks.

After that night, Bella began her life as a servant girl. Bella learned her duties from either Tim or Kristy and what exactly was expected of her from each task. She also learned that if she messed up, not only was she hit but so were her foster siblings and the same applied if they messed up as well. Just like her father had, her foster parents kept their strikes to where nobody would see. Bella also learned her new parents weren't above other forms of punishment. Like telling them to strip then pouring scolding hot water down their skin, to handcuffing them to a pillar before lashing at their flesh with a riding crop, depriving food, and if they truly messed up like ruining their dress clothes, they were locked into an animal cage while being told, 'If you want to act like an animal and get dirty like one, then you will be treated like an animal'.

Bella knew her father wasn't much better but never in his beatings did he humiliate her or make her feel less human; he just made her feel guilty for what she had done. After each punishment she received, Bella always found herself feeling guilty at how for some reason she managed to heal at a faster rate than her foster siblings. She didn't understand it and she wished sometimes she could offer them the same gift so they wouldn't have to suffer as long.

Soon it was September and it was time for school to start. Bella was terrified to go, she had never been to a school but in the long run it got her away from the house for a few hours and that right there was enough to make school seem like a blessing. She and her new siblings would walk the two blocks to the school, where they were separated into their classes. Bella knew Tim would be in another class because like Sam, he was older. Bella really believed she would at least be with Kristy. But she couldn't be more wrong, she was separated and put into what they called special classes, due to her lack of reading skills. Bella remembered her foster mother being there talking to the teachers on the first day, soaking up the praise and good will gestures for taking in a troubled child, like Bella; and all the while people would tell Bella how lucky she was to have Mr. and Mrs. Walker take in a child, like her and that she should be so grateful for such wonderful people. It made Bella sick to hear that, she often found herself biting her tongue from lashing out and showing her quickly healing abuse or her foster siblings' abuse. But after so much deception from adults, Bella didn't see the point in saying a thing. Nobody was going to help and nothing was going to change. Bella found herself quickly hating school. Not only was she teased by the other students but her foster siblings never stood up for her. Granted they never joined in but somehow that didn't make it hurt any less.

Then there was Bella's frustration at learning; apparently to the teachers she wasn't doing it fast enough. It wasn't that Bella didn't understand the work, it was more like she just didn't care enough. Most of all after the teasing from teachers and students, plus she was constantly tired from the constant chores and from the now added care of Kristy as she seemed to becoming sicker by the day with her coughing and wheezing. Bella's lack of progress resulted in notes being sent home about her lack of participation or lack of trying, which then resulted in more beatings for an already worn out and exhausted Bella. She had been with this family a month and had lost the majority of the weight she had gained not to long ago. Yet even as she became frail and her skin and hair again started to lose its luster, the teachers and the Walker's friends said nothing.

In all her turmoil Bella never forgot Sam. How could she when she saw Tim and Kristy together; it made her constantly wonder about his life now and if he truly found his happiness, and if he would ever write her. Granted she knew she probably couldn't read a lot of it but it would be the gesture that meant more than anything.

But she knew that a letter wasn't ever going to come. She did find comfort though in Kristy and Tim because some nights after their pot luck stew, they would sit in the moonlight and play tic-tac-toe in the dirt or draw pictures using their fingers in the dirt to play a game Tim called Charades. They would smile and giggle quietly those nights and somehow find that it could give them relief from the torment they lived.

Then came the day that changed it all. Kristy was unable to get out of the bed and her breathing was shallow and she wheezed something horrible. That morning Mrs. Walker snapped in rage as she beat up on the small girl who couldn't get out of bed, insisting that she was just faking so she wouldn't have to go to school or do her chores. Through it all, Bella and Tim could do nothing but sit back and watch the abuse, before they were forced to leave to play their role at school and in society. However, when they got home, Kristy looked worse than before. Bella took the wash bucket and cleaned up the bloody, sweat soaked girl while Tim paced and worried, before being called upon to iron some clothes so their foster parents could go out that night. By the time Tim had returned to the basement, Bella had cleaned and changed her foster sister and now took to sitting by her side trying to comfort the girl as Tim took to the other side.

Hours ticked by and the house laid silent other than the wheezing from the small frail girl in the bed. Tim finally had enough and darted up the stairs and through the door. Bella didn't know what he was doing, and as much as she wanted to follow, she stayed put. Tim hadn't been upstairs more than a few minutes when Bella heard the front door being unlocked and stumbling and giggling could be heard entering the home. Bella knew that sound. Their foster parents were not only home but they were drunk causing Bella to tremble as her heart raced in fear knowing that Tim was upstairs without permission and they were drunk. Meaning they would be even more irrational than normal. It didn't take long before the screaming started, causing Bella to flinch when she heard something that shocked her. Tim screaming back at them. Bella's hands started to shake as she stroked at Kristy's cooling face.

Suddenly there were loud bangs from all parts of the home, screams, sounds of glass shattering, and then a unbelievably heavy thud after thud coming down the stairs, causing Bella to jump and turn before a scream echoed and bile from her stomach to empty onto the dirt floor at the sight that laid at the bottom of the stairs. There at the base of the wooden steps in the dirt and blood was Tim; his neck bent at a strange angle. Bella dropped to her knees as tears flooded her eyes as she forced herself to crawl over to her foster brother. As she met his side she could see his fingers were tightly wrapped around a bottle of purple liquid, a bottle of cold medicine. With a shaky hand she went to reach out and touch him but as she was about to put her hand to his face, she stopped cold before bringing her trembling hand back to her side. She didn't know much about life and death but she knew as she stared down at the broken body, with eyes wide open, and neck bent oddly, and with no rise and fall of his chest he was dead. Sobs started to rack her body as she realized they had pushed him down the steps and killed him because he took cold medication to help his sister.

'Get your things, darling, and run,' the voice caused Bella to jump and stumble back from the body. Bella hadn't heard that voice in so long, not since she laid in the darkness of her own despair.

"But I can't. I'm not supposed to leave, and what about-", Bella didn't know why she was even talking to this voice; but in that moment it didn't matter as Bella turned her gaze to the wheezing girl on the bed.

'Yes you can. Look up,' the voice cooed, causing Bella to look up above her bed and for shock to fill her. The barred window and glass now laid open. Bella wondered when and how that could have happened. 'Go now,' the voice was getting more forceful.

She didn't know what made her listen but quickly jumping to her feet, Bella ran over to the milk crate they were given for a seat and threw it onto her cot, before grabbing her pink bag that was always stashed under her cot and threw her arms through the straps. As Bella started to climb onto her make shift ladder, a loud scream of utter pain from upstairs caused her to stumble and almost fall.

Bella knew she needed to get out of here or she'd be like Tim; they would do that to her as well, and then Kristy. The thought of Kristy had her pausing again as she balanced on the crate and cot. Slowly Bella turned taking in the scene below her.

'They are both gone, darling. There is nothing you can do for them. They have found peace, but you must leave now!' the voice reassured but yet was still forceful.

With a shake of her head, Bella jumped up and wrapped her fingers around the outer window ledge, wincing as she felt the broken glass breaking her skin. But she wouldn't let go; she didn't want to be killed like Tim. Using all her strength and her feet against the wall, she pulled herself up and out the small broken window, wincing with each piece of glass that lodged itself in her flesh. With a final push from the wall, she managed to pull herself from the dungeon she called home, and onto the green slick grass of the outside world, just as her body went limp from exhaustion causing her to lay there face down as she took in deep breaths trying to calm her breathing; instead a sickly sweet stench that seemed to linger on the grass below her caused her to cough and gag as it started to suffocate her. It was like the days she had spent cooped up with Cullen family when the window wasn't able to be opened. She couldn't understand how that smell had gotten here. For a moment she wondered if it was the fertilizer Tim had put down yesterday when tending to the lawn. She wondered if the Cullen family's smell had come from a gardening hobby.

Quickly those trivial thoughts and questions left her mind as the blaring of sirens in the distance caused her to jump to her feet, grab her bag and run. She wouldn't let the police take her again. They would blame her for not helping with Kristy and for not telling; and they would blame her for not helping Tim. They would do like last time, get her better then send her back into another nightmare. No, she wouldn't do it again. 'RUN,' her mind screamed in fear. Bella ran blindly through allies and streets, only stopping when she found a playground and jungle gym. Quickly she crawled up a ladder and into a tunnel that connected to a slide. Only when she was safe and out of sight and encased in the round walls did she collapse and let the tears and sobs escape her. She didn't know where to go. Does she try to find her daddy and go home to him? 'No!' she sternly chastised herself; he would send her back into that mess like the police. As she wiped away at her tears, she remembered Sam saying once at the food shelter when she asked why people pushed those big carts full of things, he told her some people lived on the street, going place to place because they had no other place to go. In that moment as she laid her head on her bag which made a make shift pillow, Bella knew that was the only safe option for her.

As her body gave into the exhaustion, Bella could feel as if someone was laying with her and wrapping her in their arms. 'I'm so sorry for all this; but I'm here, Baby Girl. I'm always here,' filtered into her ear as her mind shutdown and she succumbed to the darkness of her exhaustion.

Bella was so deep into her memories she stumbled into the door of her temporary shelter. Sighing and shaking her mind to clear it of the memories she never wanted to see, she made her way up the five flights of stairs and to the back of the old abandoned warehouse to the perch she had set her blankets and belongings on. Quickly Bella removed her wet coat, knit hat and shoes, careful to not drop her dinner, before she crawled up onto her perch filled with blankets. As she bit into her cold soggy meal, she couldn't help but feel at least somewhat grateful that Sam had taught her some tricks to survive. Granted it wasn't a lot but it was enough for her to build and learn on, like scavenging for food and what dangers to look out for. All those things helped her survive over these months on her own.

The neighboring church's bell started striking to signal the start of Christmas, causing Bella to jump before she turned her gaze out the cracked window and onto the city's lights. Bella knew this Christmas wouldn't be like last, and she was alone now. There would be no pity gifts and no pity trip. The best she could hope for was someone tomorrow night throwing out a part of their Christmas dinner. At least she could eat and maybe in some way take part of the holiday herself.

As Bella counted the twelfth chime, "Merry Christmas, Sam," whispered off her dry chapped lips into the chilly night as she laid back and covered herself. She couldn't help but wonder what Christmas was going to be like for him - a tree, gifts, a big meal, but most importantly with family and friends. As her eyes began to close, she felt as if soft lips were pressed to her forehead as a hand stroked down her cheek before, 'Merry Christmas, Baby Girl,' was whispered into her ear.

Again I know not the happiest way to end a chapter, but I wanted Bella to have time on her own to prove to herself that she can take care of herself, also I wanted her to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder (even if she doesn't fully realize its there). Those things will play a huge role later on in the story.

That being said, I don't want to beat a dead horse but just a reminder that this is the LAST drama/trauma filled chapter Bella will face in her very young life. The next time we see Bella her luck will be changing into a more positive light. However before we get to that... we need to check in with Billy and see how he pays for his lies and deceit.

Please review as they are appreciated, however flames are not.