Bella's POV:
"Jasper!" I shrieked frantically as I slid across the wet linoleum. It appeared as though a pot of soup had been knocked over at some point and I tried to keep my balance to get to my husband who I could see was bleeding profusely.
He was unconscious and as I got closer I realized that it was a bullet hole in his shoulder. I hadn't seen something like this since my practicum in one of Denver's emergency rooms and I tried to remember what to do.
I grabbed tea towels from a drawer beside the stove and pressed as hard as I could against the wound.
His normally tanned complexion was pale and I was terrified that he'd lost too much blood already. The whole left side of his shirt was drenched in blood and my hands were already covered.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the sirens getting closer and I knew that Rose had called emergency services.
At the same time I realized that Charlotte and Peter hadn't made a peep and I hadn't seen them since I walked in and I was filled with guilt that I hadn't noticed that sooner.
It felt like I had been in the house for hours but it had probably only been about five or six minutes in reality.
Thankfully the paramedics burst into the room asking a million questions a second only a few seconds later and I leapt from my place near Jasper's side.
"He's been shot," I explained "He's lost a lot of blood. I have to find our daughter and nephew. They were here."
They didn't say anything further to me just nodded and got to work. It was a great relief that Jasper was in someone else's capable hands.
I was starting up the stairs when a couple of police officers I recognized walked in "Mrs. Whitlock what's going on?" They asked and I noted that they each had their hands on their guns.
"I don't know," I said frantically, eager to search for Charlotte and Peter "My sister and I were at the gym with the babies I got a phone call. There was a loud bang and a scream and the line went dead and we rushed home. Jasper's shot and I don't know where Charlotte or Peter is?"
"We'll help you look while the paramedics take care of Jasper." One nodded "We'll start from the bottom." Without another word they headed down to the basement and I was glad for the help. The more people looking the faster we'd find them.
I took the stairs two steps at a time.
"Peter?" I called "It's Aunty Bella. Char? It's mommy." I walked slowly into Charlotte's pink princess room and knelt on my knees and looked under the bed.
I repeated myself as I looked into the closet and then headed to the next room. I repeated the process through my room, the linen closet, the nursery and the guest room.
Nothing. Not a single freaking thing. I did notice however that my bedroom had been practically torn to shreds as had the nursery.
The family portrait I had recently hung in the hall way had been smashed.
I took the stairs down two at a time as well and ran smack into Paul who wrapped his arms around me to steady me.
"Is she downstairs? Please tell me they found them?" I begged tears running down my face uncontrollably.
He simply shook his head and I tore myself from his grasp. I sobbed loudly as I watched them take Jasper out the front door on a stretcher.
I tried to run over everything I had seen since I had entered the house and suddenly remembered that the back door had been open.
"The back yard!" I shouted and turned on my heel shoving past Paul and his buddies and racing through the house.
I started shouting again the instant I ran through the back door "Charlotte? Peter? You guys can come out now. It's safe I promise."
I stood in the middle of the yard and spun around trying to figure out where two preschoolers could hide.
The greenhouse that was just visible over my fence in Emmett and Rose's backyard suddenly caught my eye. There was a loose board in the fence that Charlotte and Peter had found weeks ago and the duo had been using it as a go between ever since.
I didn't bother going around the yard instead I scaled the fence and landed roughly on the ground. "Charlotte? Peter?" I called out again loudly.
I carefully opened the door to the greenhouse and gazed around.
I walked to the back of it slowly and just about hit the roof when I heard a small clatter from underneath the table I was walking past.
I knelt quickly and was immensely relieved to see both Peter and Charlotte. Peter was holding onto Charlotte tightly and had one of his tiny hands over her mouth until he realized it was me and then they both lunged forward knocking me onto my ass.
"Aunty Bella!" Peter screamed "I knew you'd find us. I didn't want that bad man to hurt Char."
Char didn't say anything just sobbed loudly and buried her face into my shoulder.
"Char are you okay?" I was worried about the strain the stress would put on her heart and I put my fingers against her neck to take her pulse. Unsurprisingly her heart was racing.
She nodded and finally spoke softly "Daddy?"
I didn't want to lie to her but I didn't want her to freak out even more. "Daddy's being taken care of by nice doctor's" I said gently "The bad man is gone."
I lifted both of them up carefully and took them outside. With both of them latched onto me I made my way to the front yard of my sister's house.
It was as I was handing them both to paramedics to get looked over that I realized that my hands were still covered in blood, in Jasper's blood as was the front of my shirt.
Rose tore across the yard from where she'd been leaning against the SUV talking to police, probably explaining my actions and the phone call and grabbed me tightly in a hug.
"They don't want anyone going back into the house until they've finished investigating," She explained "Emmett is en route to the hospital right now. How about we leave all the kids with Paul and Embry and we go to my place so you can wash up? There's nothing you can do for Jasper right now and you wouldn't want him to see you like this."
"She can go and wash up after we take some pictures," A detective interrupted us and I simply nodded suddenly exhausted.
They let me sit on Rose's front steps and they took pictures of my hands and of my clothes and then they left without a word.
Rose unlocked the house and let me in first and gently led me up the stairs.
She started the shower and carefully started undressing me and I was grateful for her mothering nature because I didn't think I could even see straight at this point. It was too much, too much to take in all at once.
Once I was down to my bra and panties she helped me into the shower and supported me carefully as the hot water cascaded down over my shoulders.
We didn't speak and we didn't need to, just knowing she was taking care of me was enough to get me through until I could find out if Jasper was going to be okay or if I was going to lose him forever.
Rose carefully lowered me so I was sitting in the tub and she took my hands in hers and started scrubbing at them furiously. She scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed again until the water ran clear around me and then she washed my hair out slowly.
She turned off the shower and wrapped a huge fluffy towel around my shoulders.
"Bells? I'm going to go and get you something to wear." She said softly "Paul said he'd have one of the officers bring over changes of clothes for you and the kids and he'd grab Peter's suitcase."
I nodded and pulled my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth unconsciously.
She returned within moments and lifted me out of the tub as if I was a child and sat me down on her bed.
I let her get me dressed and I was no help whatsoever too overcome by the shock of the day's events. She was running a brush through my hair when she spoke.
"Charlotte and Peter are fine; the paramedics looked them over and gave them the all clear." She spoke in such a quiet, soothing tone I felt instantly calmer "Paul and I didn't think you would want the kids at the hospital so Seth and Leah are picking them all up so that Emmett and I can be at the hospital with you. Leah called Sue and Charlie and told Paul that they are coming up from Forks and should be here by this evening."
"Thank you," I murmured so low I wouldn't have been surprised if she missed it.
"I told Leah to bring the kids all up here so we can say goodbye and that we'll see them later," She continued "She said she'd bring them up shortly. Emmett called from the hospital they are taking Jasper in for surgery and they have no idea how long they'll be in there. We couldn't get a hold of Carlisle or Esme though."
She stopped brushing my hair and pulled me into her arms hugging me tightly as I broke down and clung to her, my best friend, my life line.
After probably ten minutes of crying I heard the sounds of all the children racing up the stairs and I sat up quickly and wiped at my face.
Leah poked her head in first and gave me a terse smile "The kids want to say goodbye before we go you okay to see them?" I nodded and she let Peter and Charlotte race in. She picked up Brooke and Cole and handed them both to Rose who buried her face against Brooke inhaling deeply.
"Mommy!" Char scrambled into my lap and Peter watched from the side of the bed kind of shyly until I patted the bed beside me and gave him a small smile.
"We get to sleep at Aunty Leah's!" Charlotte said excitedly and I was glad she wasn't dwelling on Jasper.
"Aunty Bell?" Peter asked quietly "Is Uncle Jazzy okay? He was really hurt but he told me to take Charlotte and run. Why did he say that?"
"Jasper is going to be okay," I said cautiously "He is hurt but the doctors are taking good care of him. He told you to run because who hurt him was a very bad man and he didn't want you guys to get hurt." I hugged Peter to my side. It was because of him that Charlotte wasn't in the hospital hurt too. "You did the right thing, you protected Charlotte and yourself until I got there and you did really well."
"Can I talk to my mommy and daddy?" He asked shyly and I felt bad when I had to say no, not right now.
Leah piped up thankfully "Peter your mommy and daddy are on a big plane right now and can't have a phone but as soon as we can get a hold of them I promise you can talk as long as you'd like with them."
That made him smile and I was suddenly worried that while Charlotte might not have a hard time getting over the shooting I had a sneaking suspicion that Peter was going to carry this with him for a long time.
"Any idea who did this?" Leah asked as she leaned forward to hug me goodbye.
I nodded, of course I knew who did this, there was only two people in the world who I knew for certain would ever pull a stunt like this- Edward and Alice.
I was going to make them regret it for the rest of their sorry lives.