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She pulled herself out of Edward's arms, and stood up, feeling everyone watching her. Always watching her, waiting for her to break apart. Edward scrambled to his feet and reached for her, but she pulled away, shaking her head as she looked directly at her pancake man, whose eyes were sad and full of broken promises.
"You lied," she said, softly, though everyone heard her. She knew they did because she could feel them watching her, always watching her. "You promised to bring me Hope, but you're a liar, just like him. He said if I was good I could have kept her, but I wasn't good, or gentle. Just bad. All the time, and he took her away from me." She turned and walked over to the stairs, pausing before she looked back at him, and said, "I don't like you anymore."
She turned and hurried upstairs, bypassing Beth's room and hurried into the room they'd been letting her stay in. She rushed into the closet, and grabbed two bags of clothes. She wouldn't take everything they'd given her, but she'd take enough to get her by. For now, at least. She felt her shoulders tense when she heard the door open and when she walked out of the closet, she found Rosie standing there. Her eyes shifted from her to the bags in her hands and back up to her face.
"Where are you going?" Rosie asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Away."
"You can come stay with me," she suggested. "Me and Emmett. We have an extra bedroom."
"It's safe there?" she asked.
Rosie smiled and nodded. "Very safe."
She bit the inside of her lip. "Do you have pancakes?"
"Of course we do," she laughed, stretching her hand out to her. "And we can always go buy more, too."
She nodded. "Okay."
Rosie reached behind her and pulled open the door, and when they stepped into the hallway, she froze when she found Edward leaning against the wall. There was a look of devastation his face that she didn't understand, and when he looked at her, she felt tears burning her eyes.
"Hey," he murmured, his eyes shifting from her face to the bags in her hands. "You don't have to leave."
She nodded. "He lied to me."
Edward turned toward her, reaching for her hand. She shifted the bags into one hand before wrapping her fingers around his. "But you still don't have to leave. You can stay, you know, with me."
"He lied to me," she whispered again.
Edward sighed and pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "Will you do me a favor?"
"Depends on what it is?"
He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes as he held out the paper to her. She took it and opened it, finding a phone number. "When she gets you a phone, you can call me, or text me. You know, if you want."
"You still want to be my friend?" she asked.
And while his eyes darkened for a minute, he nodded and said, "I'll take any part of you I can get." Edward placed his other hand on the side of her face. "I love you, Bella. Don't forget that, okay? Don't ever forget that I . . . I love you."
"I won't," she whispered, leaning into his touch.
Edward leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead before releasing her and turning and walking into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. She wanted to follow him, to beg him to forgive her for leaving, beg him to understand why she couldn't stay, not after he lied to her, but before she could take a breath, she heard Claire De Lune playing, and she knew he was done talking to her.
"Come on, Bella," Rosie said, placing her hand on her elbow, drawing her attention away from the beautiful music.
She nodded, and followed Rosie downstairs, where everyone was seating in awkward, uncomfortable silence. Carlisle shifted his eyes from Rosie to her, down the plastic bags in her hands, and back up to her face, a look of panic filling his features, just like the night she jumped in front of his car.
"Where are you going?"
She shrugged.
"She's going to come stay with me and Emmett," Rosie said, and when Carlisle looked toward his brother, she added, "She needs a few days away, Carlisle. She doesn't trust you right now."
His face crumbled in pain, yet he nodded and looked back at her. "I'm not giving up, you know. On bringing Hope back to you. I'm not giving up."
Again, she shrugged her shoulders. She didn't believe him. He said he would find her and bring her back, but he had found her and he hadn't brought her back. That made him a liar, and she was tired of liars.
"We should be going," Rosie said, giving Emmett a look.
"Yeah, okay," he said, clearing his throat and turning toward Carlisle. "I'll, um, call you in the morning, okay?"
Carlisle sighed and nodded before looking back at her. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Bella. I really am."
She nodded, but didn't respond. What was she supposed to say? It's okay? It wasn't. He'd promised to bring Hope back, and he hadn't. It really was that simple.
"Come on, Bella," Rosie said, placing her hand on Bella's elbow and tugging her toward the door.
She shifted her eyes between Carlisle to Esme to Alice and Jasper, to Peter and back to Carlisle before she nodded and followed her sister out of the house and out onto the porch, feeling like she was leaving a piece of her behind. She liked being with her nice people, but how could she trust them when he lied to her? Has anything they said been the truth? Did they really think of her as family? They said they did, but they also said they'd find Hope and bring her back, but they left her with them. She was Hope's mother, that's what Edward had said, wasn't it?
She sat curled up in the backseat of Rosie's car. Every once in a while one, or both, of them would turn and look at her. It made her feel uncomfortable, though she didn't know why. She was her sister, and he was one of the nice people. He didn't lie to her, hadn't promised to bring Hope back only to leave her with strangers.
Rosie pulled her car into a large apartment complex, driving around to the back before parking in a tight space. They climbed out and she looked around, unsure she'd made the right decision to leave with Rosie, yet she found herself following her and Emmett into the building, down the hallway to a door at the end of the hall. There was a large plant next to the door, which she thought was weird seeing as there wasn't any sunshine, but didn't say anything. Emmett unlocked the apartment door and motioned for them to go first. She waited until Rosie was inside before she followed, knowing Rosie wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. Right?
"So, um, it's not much," Rosie said, gesturing to the small living room, dining room, and kitchen area. "Mine and Emmett's room is here," she said, gesturing toward the right hand side of the small hallway. "Bathroom is there, and this is your room," she added, grabbing the doorknob for the room on the left, across from their room.
She pushed open the door, and they walked in. It was smaller than the room at her pancake man's, darker too. There were heavy, thick curtains on the window, and the lighting was dull. She dropped her bags on the bed before turning and sitting down. It was still too soft.
"I, um, put this in here yesterday," Rosie said, sitting next to her and reaching over for a picture frame that sat on the table next to the bed. She held it between them. "Do you remember when we took this?"
She bit her lip as she stared down at the picture of the two of them standing in front a large red oak. "Not really," she admitted.
Rosie frowned. "Oh."
"Tell me about it," she murmured, scooting back on the bed and pulling her knees in front of her. "Please."
Rosie smiled. "Um it was the summer before you turned eight, and you were obsessed with red oaks, after learning about them in school. You begged Daddy to take us there for months, and, um, he kept saying no, he was too busy. Work was too demanding, but then one morning, he and Momma dragged us out of bed at like three in the morning, said we were going on an adventure. We loaded into the car and drive for hours before they stopped in front of this tree." She smiled, though her eyes were filled with tears. "You were so excited, Bella. So excited, and in awe. And we spent the whole day there. You examined every tree like it was the most important tree you'd ever seen."
She frowned. "I wish I remembered more of them."
Rosie wrapped her arm around her, before leaning over and kissing the side of her head. "Me too, but I'll tell you about them anytime you want, okay?"
"Rosie," she whispered. "Will I ever get Hope back?"
"I don't know," she replied, tightening her hold. "I hope so, but I . . . I just don't know, honey."
"She's my Hope," she cried, falling against her sister as her tears seeped down her face. "Mine, Rosie!"
—SfH—
Carlisle could feel everyone watching him as Emmett lead Rosalie and Bella out of the house. He sat back on the couch, grabbing his head with both hands and trying very hard not to scream. He had known better than to make promises that he couldn't keep, and now she didn't trust him, or like him. She thought of him a liar, just like him.
Bile crept up his throat at the comparison. Her words stung, but he understood. He had made a promise and he hadn't been able to fulfil it. Yet. He wasn't giving up, but just knowing that he had hurt her was enough to break his heart.
"Well, that was clusterfuck," Jasper groused, sitting on the opposite couch.
"No shit, Jay," Carlisle snarled, tilting his head backward and looking at him. "What do we do now?"
"We call Maggie," he said, plainly.
Carlisle's eyes widened. "Do you think she'd take her case?"
"Oh, yeah," Jasper said, nodding.
"I'm sorry, but are you sure?" Esme asked. Maggie is . . . cutthroat."
"She is," he admitted. "But that girl needs someone cutthroat to handle this for her."
"Handle what exactly?" Alice asked.
"Maggie can fight for Bella to get Hope back," Jasper said, sadly. "Look, I don't want to hurt the people who adopted her, but Bella deserves a chance to raise her daughter."
"She does," Peter agreed, pulling everyone's attention to him. "But she's going to need more than just Maggie." Peter shoved his hands into his pockets. "I think we should call Marcus, too."
Carlisle's eyes widened.
"I know, Carlisle, I know," Peter said, putting up a hand. "But I can't help her. She doesn't trust me, I can see it in her eyes, and I won't . . . I won't hurt that girl just so I can try to help her. Marcus will be able to, he had tools and resources available that I don't."
"Who's Marcus?" Esme asked.
Carlisle pressed his lips together before he turned to his wife. "Marcus is trauma therapist, who only handles the most extreme cases. Like hers. He's . . . he's intense."
"Intense how?" At the sound of Edward's voice, everyone turned and found him sitting on the base of the stairs with Beth in his arms. "She woke up. Figured she needed a bottle, so . . ."
Esme hurried over and relieved him of the baby girl and carried her into the kitchen. Carlisle, however, kept staring at his brother as he said, "Marcus has experience with girls like . . . like Bella. Girls who have been through extreme physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse like she had. I was hoping to avoid calling him, because his methods are . . . controversial, and I'm worried that she's not strong enough to survive."
Edward's eyes widened.
"But if we don't call him, get her help, she's . . . she's never get Hope back, or be able to live a somewhat, normal life."
Edward stood up. "So not only does she have to face this asshole in court, but now she has to fight to get her daughter, who was kidnapped from her, back by proving that she's not the dangerous one. You're just victimizing her all over again."
Edward turned and hurried upstairs and a moment later, they head the sound of his bedroom door slam shut.
"He's right, but what other choice do we have," Alice said, sliding her hand around Jasper's arms. "Come on, Jay. Let's go home."
Jasper nodded and stood up with Alice next to him. He shifted his eyes from Carlisle to Peter and back. "I'll call Maggie in the morning, and let you know what she says."
Nodding, Carlisle stood up and headed upstairs, pausing outside of Edward's bedroom. He placed his hand on the door, wanting to make him feel better, needing to help someone, but he couldn't. Edward was hurting because she'd left, she was hurting because he broke his promise, and it was all his fault. All he'd wanted was to help her, instead he broke her heart, broke Edward's heart.
Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews. I am beyond shocked (in a good way) by the reaction to the last chapter. A lot of heated emotions and I appreciate all of it. We have a long way to go, but know that I am very passionate about this story and making sure that I give it the justice that it deserves. Like our Bella, it's very delicate and fragile. Thank you again for all the support and conversation.
