Disclaimer: Invisible people can't own Twilight.
Chapter Twelve
Getting Bella's location was like pulling teeth.
Edward almost beat up his best friend just to find the girl.
It would have been worth it.
He doesn't even change out of his wrestling clothes when he thunders out of the gym, ignoring Riley's calls and Coach's protests; he detours through the locker room, grabbing his gym bag and car keys.
His first stop is Bella's house.
As Riley's best friend, he knew the Chief's schedule like clockwork and knew where the spare key was.
Breaking in is easy.
What's not easy is the dread filling his stomach as he looks through the house with new eyes. Had there always been that many pictures of Riley and Bree? Where are Bella's pictures?
He imagines he's a lot like Bella's astral body as he passes through all the rooms upstairs, carefully examining them; Bree and Bella's room doesn't hold any essence of Bella in it, it's too pink, too frilly, too fussy. Not Bella's style. It becomes glaringly obvious that Bella doesn't sleep in any of the rooms upstairs. The living room is next and, again, a lack of Bella pictures.
Edward's eyes pause on an older frame, taking in a slightly familiar face, absorbing the toffee eyes and mocha colored hair, the milky skin. It was an older, more pregnant version of Bella with a small version of Riley on her lap.
Their mother.
The resemblance was uncanny.
Edward moves on, turmoil replacing dread in his stomach.
He moves into the kitchen, sharp eyes detecting an off-colored splash on the tiles, a dot of blood on the bright cabinets. Edward sinks to his knees, fingers grazing the surface, bile rising in his throat.
Riley knows who did it – the Chief. Charlie. Bella's father.
Edward rises quickly, throwing up in the sink until he dry heaves.
He doesn't even bother to clean it up.
He can't even think past the sickening feeling in his gut, the shiver in his spine – how long did Bella suffer while saving other people? How could we all be so fucking blind?
It was more than obvious now.
Edward remembers stilted interactions between Bella and Charlie, at the time thinking it was just regular family fighting.
It was so much worse than that.
And so much more confusing.
Why only Bella?
Edward shakes his head. Not important right now. He was on a mission – get in and get out. Figure out some evidence, if any. He had to be here, right now, for his fledgling plan to work.
Edward moves to the basement door, the only room left in the house. He'd been told in the past that it was used for storage.
He opens the door, flicks on the light, ventures down stairs.
He wants to throw up again.
Sharp grey eyes assess the piles of clothes, the lone tiny mattress, the stack of books, the little coffee machine in the corner. Edward takes out his cell phone, snapping pictures quickly, saving them, and turns on his heel before he gets sick again.
In the car, driving too fast on back roads, Edward hits speed-dial on his phone, calling a number that he only contacted on the holidays.
"Edward?"
The teenager takes a deep breath. "Dad. I need your help."
Several minutes later, Edward hangs up.
His dad is on his way to the hospital Riley told him about, his best lawyers in tow. A sense of ease fills Edward's chest very fleetingly.
It's your turn to be saved, Bella, he promises silently, clenching the wheel, speeding the car faster.
Edward uses the connections afforded to him by his father to see the county hospital's only Jane Doe. He can prove her identity, having snooped in the office of the Chief's house to find her birth certificate and a copy of her state I.D.
Jane Doe is no more.
Edward demands that she be moved to a private suite, one that was guarded by hospital security – he throws his father's name around to make it happen.
Only when she is secure does Edward take his first look at her.
His knees are weak.
She looks so much worse in person, in real life, than she did in the flickers he could see. The bandage around her head explains so much.
Edward sits beside her, her tiny hand clasped between his much larger ones; he takes comfort in the sound of her heart monitor as he looks over her chart.
Being the son of a famous doctor had more than one perk.
Eight hours after his call to his father, he receives one in return, alerting him that Charlie has been taken into custody, especially given the evidence that had been uncovered from the home, Seattle's best CSI team sweeping over Charlie's house while he was gone.
Hopefully, the ex-Chief wouldn't be seeing the light of day – and if he did, Edward would take car of the bastard himself.
Eventually, Edward's dad comes to the hospital himself to assess Bella. "She'll be okay, son," he whispers, placing a soothingly cool hand on Edward's shoulder.
Edward decides that love is a funny thing after his father leaves, his eyes intent on Bella's healing face.
It changed him in a day, though it had probably always been there for this girl. He didn't care if she ever returned his affections.
Her safety was enough.
Some days later, the weekend, Edward supposes, Bree and Riley shuffle into Bella's hospital room, bearing sweet smelling lilies and a photo album.
Bree sits beside Edward, placing the album in his lap, tears in her eyes. "This is Bella," she tells him softly, flipping it open.
It is Bella.
Every single shot was captured without Bella's knowledge, pictures of her profile, pictures of her frowning. Offering a rare smile. Cooking. Terribly captured pictures of a smaller Bella, dirt smudged but happy, taken by inexperienced hands.
She was a beautiful child.
Edward's heart clenches painfully. "She doesn't know about this?"
Bree shakes her head. "No," she whispers, wiping her eyes. "Edward, we did try. We did what we could."
Edward looks up at Riley. "I know."
Riley offers a cracked smile as he stands protectively by Bella's side. "Thanks for finishing it."
Edward's eyes grace over Bella's fading bruises. "It was my pleasure. But why her?"
Riley shrugs. "I've wondered that my entire life."
"Our mother died during childbirth," Bree says softly, standing to stroke hair off Bella's face. "I was born first but the labor was hard and Mom was already sick. But the umbilical cord was wrapped around Bella's neck and it was either Mom's life…or Bella's. Mom chose Bella. I guess Charlie blamed Bella for it."
"It wasn't Bella's fault," Riley says with certainty. "I remember Mom was sick a lot before she got pregnant with the twins. She still chose to carry to term. It didn't help matters that Bella looks exactly like Renee."
"The hair and the eyes," Edward whispers.
Bree offers a small smile. "Bella's like a carbon copy."
The explanation was the only one available, as Charlie was talking any time soon.
After Bree and Riley left, having only been allowed one hour from foster care, Edward's anger simmered down, his fingers carefully tracing Bella's features.
Bella woke up the next day, bleary, confused, wincing with every breath.
"Bella?"
"Edward," she breathes, toffee eyes widening in recognition. "Where am I? What happened-Oh. Oh." Bella's fingers grasp the sheets beneath her. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"
"No," Edward murmurs. "It was very real."
Bella looks away. "Why are you here?"
"A lot of things have changed since you've been asleep, babe," he mutters, leaning towards her.
Her eyes widen at the endearment, a weak flush forcing itself onto her cheeks.
"Your father's in jail, Riley and Bree have been stuck at the Weber's and you've been emancipated."
"Emancipated?"
"My dad's lawyers," Edward offers as an explanation.
"So, I'm…"
"Free," he says, his voice low. "And staying with me until graduation."
"With you?" Bella demands, her voice high, wincing after she jostles one of her broken ribs.
"Careful, sweetheart," Edward soothes. "You're pretty banged up, won't be getting out of here for a while. And yeah, with me. No reason to transfer with only a year to go until graduation."
Bella eyes him carefully. "You're different," she says suddenly, quietly. "Not so…brash."
"What can I say?" Edward asks rhetorically, sitting back with a wry grin on his face. "Some invisible girl barged into my life and changed me."
Bella's smile is sparkling and the first of many.
A/N: KEEP READING! GO GO GO!
~cupcakeriot