Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Note: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope you enjoy this chapter, seems you've been wanting to know what was happening to Bella . . .

Chapter 70 Despair

Riley POV

"Damn, I'm good!" I said aloud as the SUV crashed into and damned near rolled on top of hid car. Before it had even settled to it's final resting place and the sounds of glass breaking and metal crunching had subsided, Victoria had tossed the girl into the back seat and we were passing the wreck, heading out of town.

"Hell yes! We nabbed the little bitch!" Victoria squealed gleefully as we passed, watching him running back into the store that Victoria had just taken the girl from.

Thank God! Now maybe we could leave this God forsaken town and get on with doing something exciting, going somewhere new. I knew that she intended to take her time with this one, kill her slowly, and I knew she had the video camera out. I guessed she was going to film it and deliver the tape as a present to her widower. Ha! It didn't matter to me, as long as we finished with anything to do with the damned Cullens.

I was looking forward to the snack that we had waiting in the downstairs at home, the girl I had taken two days ago. Victoria wanted me to practice my control, practice not killing her. Feeding this morning had helped my control, and that was what it would take most days. I guess it made sense though, if I lost it, I could drain the mousy little one and leave the other for her.

All of her plans just made no sense, why all the preparation for this one, why not just snap her neck when she saw her back at the shop? Was it really necessary to do anything other than just end her? Whatever, I thought. It didn't matter to me what the hell she did to her, as long as she did it and we could leave this place. I swear, if I had to walk the streets and alleys of this town one more time I would rip something apart!

"Well it worked!" I said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, you did well. That SUV rolled to its side almost on top of his car, did you see that! It got them all out of the shop, if only for an instant. The timing was perfect, the little bitch was right next to the rear door and none of them were with her, just another human!" Victoria told me.

"Did you kill her?" I asked.

"No. I smiled at her, before I knocked her out. I want her to be able to describe me to them, as if my scent alone wouldn't tell them. I want him to know that I have her, beyond a shadow of a doubt. I may have drug her by the arm a little too hard though. I think I popped her shoulder out of the socket, not that I care. It won't bleed or anything, it'll just hurt like hell," she said as she started laughing.

My girl was so gorgeous when she laughed, her head thrown back and her porcelain throat exposed to me. I couldn't wait to get to the house and toss the bitch in back downstairs so that I could fuck her silly . . . then let her laugh . . .

"Keep up the speed, pet. We want to get the car off the road and into the garage before they have time to track anything by satellite. They have every capability at their disposal, I'm sure. The house is just far enough away that we can get there before they can get a bead on us and far enough that it will take them too long to single out every house looking for her," she said with an evil sneer, "Plenty of time for me to do what I need to do and leave a scene for him to find that he'll never forget. I hate to waste all that blood, but it will be worth it. I just wish I could see his face when he finds her. We'll be long gone, pet. Out of the country entirely."

We pulled up to the house and I opened the garage using the remote, waiting till the door was firmly closed behind us before I ever opened the door to the car and stepped out. We didn't want any of her scent outside, none at all if it could be helped. Victoria grabbed her and I opened the door, moving to unlock the door to the downstairs so that she could toss the bitch down the stairs.

She surprised the hell out of me when she carried her down and laid her in one of the bedrooms. "Why the hell are you being careful with her?" I asked from the top of the stairs, not wanting to get any closer to the humans than I had to. I had damaged the other one when I grabbed her the other night and she had blood coming from her head. The smell pervaded the downstairs and it was best for me not to go there.

I had taken the items that Victoria had bought at the store and put the bags on the table down there earlier, telling the girl that the food was for her, to put it in the refrigerator that was in the downstairs kitchen, or wherever the hell she wanted to put it. I laughed, I hadn't understood why Victoria had bothered to get food for the humans, but then again, farmers feed their cattle to fatten them up, don't they?

Once she was back upstairs, I took her in my arms and gave her the kiss I had been wanting to share with her since we had sex earlier in the day. I locked the basement door and grabbed her butt, lifting her to me and headed off to the room we had been using upstairs.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

I fell to my knees. I knew I had to be strong, I had to hold on to the hope that we would find her, that we could save her. For this one single moment, I gave in to my despair. In this one blink of an eye, I knew that I would not continue without her. I smiled as I remembered her comments and mine about Romeo and Juliet as we watched the movie time and time again.

Stupid mistakes . . . so many stupid mistakes.

We were operating on sheer will now, pipe dreams and hopes. Days that would never be realized, never lived . . .

Jasper arrived, anxious to search the outlying streets that ran off of the highway. Apparently he and Emmett had worked with Esme and Alice and were now confident that the car, and Bella were not on those three sides of town. That left only this road.

Damn it. If I had only ran here first. I was the fastest, I could have gotten here. If they got away because of my poor decision not to cover this road myself I would . . .

There was no point in going there. There would be no anything without her . . . nothing . . .

I dutifully watched the road, looking at each and every car that passed and examining its contents . . . heartbeats, scents, everything. It was wise of Jasper to assign me to just the one task. It involved no thought, no decisions. She was either in the car that passed, or she wasn't. I could do this. Carlisle and Jasper kept coming back to where I was on the road and getting me to move closer to town with each street that they had searched, each possibility that they eliminated. I watched the road. I listened and examined the cars. I waited. Time passed.

. . . one hour . . .sixty minutes . . . three thousand six hundred seconds . . . my entire life . . .

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

I noticed the chill of the wind, the sound of the dry cold branches crackling against each other, the small bits of asphalt tumbling down the road in the breeze. I heard the distant owl hooting, a herd of deer a mile or so down in the valley coming out to feed and a fox walking stealthily through the forest. There was the sound of a stereo playing 70's music in one house, a woman dancing quietly alone there, people having conversations in their homes and children playing, still on their break from school, the New Year just starting.

I was capable of hearing all these things easily and clearly, yet the one thing that mattered most to me, the only thing I lived for I had not heard. I did not hear the inevitable increase in her heart rate when she saw Victoria. I didn't notice the change in her breathing. I had not heard her heartbeat fade from me in the distance as she was taken, my baby still safe within her . . . for the moment . . .

The baby . . .my son Masen. My son. Bella would reincarnate herself from ashes and come back to torment me if I let something happen to that baby, she loved him so . . .

Bella. I smiled reflexively just thinking her name.

If I had been the one taken, she would never stop looking for me . . . she would never give up. My wife was small in stature but she was brave and fearless when she needed to be.

I promised her that I would never leave her. Ever. It was a promise that I would keep. I would find her, I would hold her in my arms again . . . one way or another, we would be together forever just like we had planned.

Jasper and Carlisle ran up, pulling me from my musings as I listened to yet another car pass by on the highway.

"I need to get my laptop. If Alice says she saw them in a silver Volvo, I can find out where every silver Volvo anywhere near here is registered and if any have been reported stolen. We can go and check their garages and see each car. Check each and every one. They either stole it, or it belongs to the owner of the house they are staying in. One or the other," Jasper explained, his mind kicking into overdrive in an effort to think of everything that we could possibly do to find her.

"I can also get a satellite feed and we can watch the surrounding roads for movement of any car like that. I just need the laptop," he insisted.

"Jasper, you keep searching the side roads and houses, but moving away from town. Edward can watch the road and move along the highway as you cover more and more streets. I'll go get the laptop. I want to check on Emily, just to be sure and Sue says that Sam has picked them up and they are at Edward's house," Carlisle decided.

"Emily's contusion was to the right parental, Carlisle, along the coronal suture. She should be awake and recovering by now but checking on her is a good idea. We don't need anyone else in danger because we didn't keep a close enough watch," I added coldly.

"Don't start, Edward. I won't tolerate it. I feel badly enough that I didn't get the phone and get to the road in time and it looks like they escaped because of it. I will not have you berating yourself as well, do you understand? We all need to control our emotions and clear our heads so that we can think clearly . . . lives depend on it. Our family depends on it," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

His thoughts told me that he knew. He knew that I would not survive if she didn't . . . and he wasn't about to let that happen if he had an ounce of strength left in his body to fight with. He was gone like a flash, leaving Jasper and I to continue the search. Rosalie had run past a few minutes before, going further out the highway from town to see if she got another whiff of the car we believed them to be using.

Ninety minutes.

I knew that we were doing everything possible, every member of my family had rallied around me and was helping in every way possible. Rosalie had taken Jasper's place on the road with me, searching for scents and eliminating houses while Jasper was back at the house doing what Jasper did best. He had set up several computer terminals in what was apparently becoming a command center. He was tracking highway movements on one, cell phone usage on another and a third was being used to locate all silver Volvos in a two hundred mile range, especially ones registered to people that also owned vacation homes as well as any reports of stolen vehicles. Apparently he had J. Jenks working on it as well. I could only hope that Jenks was better at this than he had been at finding Bella for us.

Two Hours.

It had been too long. Five minutes with a vampire could result in the death of hundreds of people, what chance did Bella have with two of them. I remembered with crystal clarity what James had done to her, and how he had taped it to show me. I wondered if Victoria was doing the same thing . . . wanting me to suffer everything they inflicted on my wife, minute by minute.

It had been too long. The chances of finding her alive were rapidly decreasing, if they had existed at all and I knew it . . . I knew . . . I just wasn't willing to face it.

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

The problem was that I had no control of this situation, the possibilities were narrowing to one, very dire probability and I was not together. We were not together, she and I.

I would find her . . . or what they had left . . . regardless, I would find her and we would be together . . .

Carlisle arrived back with me, about the same time Jake got back from making a loop. Esme, Emmett and Alice were still watching the other roads while Jasper worked from a surveillance standpoint, trying to isolate the car, or the source of the car. Apparently the news media had gotten the story and Carlisle had been handling them and setting up rewards for information on Bella. Great, We had been unable to keep it under the radar . . . but Carlisle seemed confident that he had it handled, so I put it out of my mind. Rosalie was going to go relieve Alice so that she could work with Jasper. Hopefully something would jar a vision and we would get some sort of a break. Jasper had already compiled quite a list of autos and she could help eliminate some of it.

Carlisle was going to stay with me, and Jacob would keep running loops, just to make sure that there was no scent and no escape from town.

"Jacob, please run a loop further out the highway and circle the town of Cashiers for me. We need to expand the area, just to make sure we check everything possible," I told him. Jacob's thoughts were all over the place, but mostly he just wanted to assure me that we would find Bella and that she and Masen would be alright. He was also determined to be the one to tear Victoria limb from limb, and I couldn't fault him for that. Especially since she had been the one to kill his father.

I still stood watch on the road and Carlisle took over checking more houses and side roads as we methodically moved out from town, house by house, searching . . .

Three hours.

It was almost Twilight in the mountains, a time of day that I had learned to love since Bella had come into my life, the renewing of yet another night and day with her . . . wherever she was . . .

~oooOooo~

BPOV

"Emily, want to come and help me?" I asked, forced once again by my little pixie sister to be trying on more clothing. More clothes, like I needed any more of these huge pants to cover my distended belly. I rubbed my hand over my belly, talking softly to Masen, as I had started to do once Edward had explained to me that the baby could indeed understand me.

"It's alright, handsome baby, after you're born your Mommy will protect you from your Aunt Alice. I won't let her take you shopping all the time," I told him, eliciting a frown from his Aunt Alice as she added a sweater to the pants that she already wanted me to try on.

"Alice, pink?" I said, holding the thing out from me with two fingers as though it had leprosy.

"Just try it on, Bella," she insisted. Emily took the offending top from my hand and immediately cuddled it to her face, rubbing her hands together with it in between them.

"Bella, this is really soft. Really soft. It may be light pink, but just feel the thing!" Emily exclaimed, "I would wear this just for the softness of it, even if I'm not pregnant!" She was laughing at Alice for fuming at me about the shirt, and at me for being revolted by the color. In all honesty, it was a really pretty sweater, soft and fluffy and the most delicate shade of pink. Pink. That was the only problem, I just had never done . . . pink.

"Oh well, Masen, if your Aunt wants you to get used to pink, I guess your Dad will as well. Pink could be the new family color!" I said as Edward came over and put his arms around me, his chin resting on my shoulder as he looked at the shirt I held in my hand.

"I'm not wearing that," Edward stated flatly. He was so sweet, he nuzzled his face into my neck as he stood behind me and whispered in my ear, ". . . unless you want me to."

"I could make it worth your while," I teased back at him, capturing his lips with mine.

"Alright, alright. You two can go at it like rabbits later, just try on the damned shirt already so we can leave. I want to get back to the house and hang these frames in the nursery," Rosalie fussed.

I cut my eyes to Alice, who was smirking as I took the shirt and Emily and I walked back to the dressing room.

"He really is adorable with you," Emily said.

"Edward?" I asked.

"Who else is a he that's in this store. Bella, he's the only male I know that would step foot in a maternity sore, much less be smiling about it!" she told me.

"He is really really sweet, and he's always like that, Emily. I love him so much, I just don't like being away from him for even a few minutes," I laughed, "I guess I'm kind of addicted to Edward."

"Well, that may be true," she said as she closed the dressing room door, "But he is just as addicted to you, if not more?" We both laughed, shaking our heads. She was right, and I knew it. He was indeed mine to keep forever.

She waited for me to put my purse down and take off my shoes so that I could try on the damned jeans that Alice was so intent on. They were tight across Masen . . . too tight, that was for sure. These pants would have to wait till he was born, then they might just tide me over till my belly was firm again . . .

Unfortunately the sweater was perfect. Perfect. It was so soft that neither Emily nor I could stop rubbing a hand up and down my arm after I had it on, and it looked really cute on me.

I turned to take the clothes off, but as I did the dressing room door swung open, the latch ripped off its hinge . . . Victoria. She had found me.

Emily turned towards her and Victoria smiled before knocking her to the ground. It was the last thing I remembered before everything went black . . . her red eyes, and her smile . . .

. . . something was cold on my face. Edward, it was probably Edward . . . but it didn't feel like him, it wasn't soft and smooth velvet over granite . . .

I opened my eyes to see a young girl gently wiping a cold rag over my forehead. She looked to be about my age and stature with long brown hair. Her face was marred by a bruise, and what appeared to be a cut over her eye. There was no covering on the cut, and it continued to leak somewhat, looking like it needed stitches to close properly.

"Where am I?" I asked, trying to sit up. The girl gently pushed on my shoulder with the palm of her hand, insisting that I lie back down.

"I don't know where we are," she said, "At least, I don't know the address or city or any of that. We are in the basement of what I think is one of those vacation homes that they have up here in the mountains, you know, the ones that are never really used. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room with a kitchen, but there are no windows. The no windows is why I think it's a basement."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Bree. I am an undergrad at Clemson University in South Carolina, though I don't know if we are near there still," she said wistfully.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, insisting on sitting up.

"Two days. It's Monday afternoon, and that guy grabbed me Saturday. I was heading to a practice session of my boyfriend's band and it was a pretty day, so I thought I would walk. It wasn't that far off campus . . . but I guess walking was a bad idea," she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

"How long have I been here?" I asked, gently rubbing the lump on my head with one arm, and trying to figure out why the other arm wouldn't move.

"A few hours. She brought you down here, the red head, and told me to tend to you. There is food in the kitchen if you want it . . . I can even make you some tea if you think it would help," she offered.

"Masen!" I gasped, my hand going to my belly. He wiggled in response, letting me know that he was alright. Thank God!

"You know the baby is a boy?" Bree asked.

"Yes, his name is Masen, it's my husband's family name," I told her as I realized just how much my shoulder was hurting.

"Are you alright? Have they hurt you?" I asked her.

"No. The guy, Riley, he is bad news. I don't know what he wants from me but he gets really riled up if he comes down here. The red head . . .," she continued, but I interrupted her.

"Victoria," I added. She looked at me like she wondered how the hell I knew, but she continued, "Victoria checks on me a couple of times a day. He brought groceries down here and she insists that I eat. They seemed to be waiting for you, they kept talking about when they got the girl . . . but they never said much after that. It seemed like I was here to test the basement, maybe? To make sure it wasn't possible to get away? I don't really know, it's just an idea that I have," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, is it possible to get out?" I asked.

"No. No way. There is only the one door at the top of the stairs, and they keep it locked," she said, disheartened.

"I have actually been following the news reports of my disappearance. They had my parents on there pleading for me to be returned . . . it nearly kills me to watch it. We should see if they reported your disappearance," she said as she left the room, moving to wherever the TV was located.

I tried to stand, but it was nearly impossible for me to get up by myself, especially without the use of one arm. Damn it my shoulder hurt . . . and I couldn't feel my arm! These pants had to go as well, they were way too tight across my belly and Masen kept squirming. I was sure it was making him uncomfortable as well.

"Hold on, Masen. Mommy will get the tight feeling away from you," I said as I pulled the pants down below my belly. I couldn't wear them that way, but i wasn't having them hurt Masen. He had a small enough area to be in as it was.

I managed to get up and I opened the closet . . . nothing. nothing in the dresser, either. I walked out into the hall. Whoever's house this was, it was absolutely beautiful. Expensive furniture, designer linens and a huge flat screen that Bree was sitting on the sofa watching. She seemed to be almost resigned to being here, like it was just her little apartment. It was probably just her form of coping . . . I would talk to her about it later, after I made my baby more comfortable and checked for possible escape routes. I was not staying here. Bree was oblivious to what Riley and Victoria were . . . but I wasn't.

I wandered into the other bedroom and opened the drawers to the dresser, finding what I wanted. Sweat pants. Size didn't matter, I just needed room for the baby. These happened to be grey, and it took me forever with one arm to get the too tight jeans off and pull the sweats on. Luckily Bree heard me fussing and came to my rescue, holding the sweats while I put my feet in the leg holes and pulling them up for me after she helped me stand.

"See, Masen, much better now isn't it? Without those tight pants on my belly squishing you. A mean lady has stolen Mommy away from Daddy, but don't you worry. Just be patient, your Daddy will come for us. He will find us, handsome boy," I told him as I rubbed my belly to sooth him. I had taken to talking out loud to him ever since Edward had explained that he really could understand me, and I loved knowing that he heard me.

The six o'clock news was coming on, apparently we were not far from Highlands as the distraction that allowed me to be taken was being shown on the screen. There was a view of Edward's Volvo, crushed by what looked like a black SUV of some type. The Volvo was sitting next to Esme's car in the parking spots where we had left them and a crowd had gathered. That explained it. My family's attention had momentarily been diverted to the crash, allowing Victoria time to run in and snatch me. They were interviewing the Police Chief of Highlands. A photo of me flashed on the screen along with a description.

Isabella Cullen, 19, wife of Edward Cullen and daughter in law of Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Chief of Staff of Highlands/Cashiers hospital was abducted today from a shop in downtown Highlands.

An All Points Bulletin has been issued.

Substantial reward for any information leading to her recovery.

Mrs. Cullen is expecting and the baby is currently due.

It is imperative that she have medical care to deliver the infant.

The reporter went on to give phone numbers and places to secretly give tips.

Oh My God!

Edward must be beside himself. He would be so worried, so filled with guilt over not having been with me . . . I needed to get to him, I had to make sure he was alright. He would be searching for me and there had to be a way to get a signal to him . . . some way before Victoria had her revenge.

Before anything else, I had to explain something to Masen.

He had to live through this, he had to . . .

I rubbed my belly and spoke very quietly, only to him.

"My handsome boy, the mean lady that I told you about that took me away from Daddy, well . . . she wants to hurt Mommy. Masen, I need you to do something for me. Listen very closely, son. Do you hear my heart beat, listen to it, its the thud thud thud that is just above you. Masen, if you stop hearing it . . . if it stops beating and you stop being able to get what you need, Mommy wants you to use your teeth and get out of Mommy. I know that Daddy told you to never ever bite me but if my heart stops beating, if you don't hear that noise anymore and you can't breath, Mommy wants you to get yourself out. Daddy won't be mad, I promise", I told him as tears flowed down my cheeks.

"I love you, Masen. Always remember that Mommy loves you and Daddy. Don't give up. Mommy is trying to stop the lady from hurting us. She has us locked in a room and I am going to try and find a way to get us out of here and let Daddy know where we are. Try and help Mommy. Be a good boy and don't bite me till after you no longer hear a heartbeat, remember to wait till then, baby," I whispered.

I had to tell him, I had to let him know that I wanted him to get himself out if he needed to. I had to find a way to save him, my son had to survive this. If something happened to me, Masen would be the only thing that would keep Edward alive, and Edward had to live . . .

I started walking by every wall in the place, every cabinet. There had to be a way to at least signal him, something . . . I had to do something to help . . .