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Jasper slammed the newspaper on the table before he grabbed his cell phone, finding Garrett's number and sending him a furiously, angry text: The fuck, Cap? They're giving him a deal? Why the fuck did you not tell me? I'll be there in fifteen. She had better have a Goddamn explanation!
"Guessing you saw the paper this morning."
Closing his eyes for a minute, he blew out a heavy breath before he looked at the doorway to the kitchen, where he found his wife, the love of his life, standing with her arms wrapped around herself.
"Yep."
His phone started ringing, Garrett's name and number coming up, but Jasper denied the call, knowing that he would just try to talk him out of coming in and ripping all of them a new asshole. How could they even consider giving Eric Yorke a deal? He'd ignored evidence that would have saved Bella Swan from years of abuse, years of pain, and years of trauma.
"I know I said I was taking some time off, Al, but —"
"But you're going in," Alice finished for him.
"Al . . ." Jasper shook his head, shifting in his chair and reaching for her. Alice walked over, letting him pull her onto his lap. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go in. I've got to go see what the hell they were thinking, I mean, it doesn't make any sense, does it? Giving him a fucking deal?"
"It doesn't," she agreed.
"You're mad."
"I'm not mad," she disagreed, though the darkness in her eyes told him otherwise. "I just got used to you being here more, and I know that once you step foot back inside the station, you'll be back at work. I miss you."
Jasper's phone rang again, and again he denied the call from Garrett.
"I love you, Jay." Alice leaned in, pressing her lips against his. "Don't forget how much I love you."
"I love you, too, Al. Thank you for . . . for being you."
She smiled, but rolled her eyes when his phone rang again. "You'd better go before he comes here. I might really tell him what I think about him if he does, so . . ."
Jasper laughed, but denied Garrett's call for a third time as Alice hurried out of the kitchen. Placing his coffee cup in the sink, he muted his phone, shoved it in his back pocket, and hurried out to his truck. By the time he pulled into the back parking lot of the station, Garrett and Kate had both called him a dozen times each, sent him no less than ten texts telling him not to come in, and were now standing next to the backdoor, their arms folded in front of them, irritation on their faces, which matched his, he was sure.
Jasper pressed his lips together before he climbed out, slamming the door behind him. "Just tell me why."
"You shouldn't be here, Cullen," Garrett argued, cocking an eyebrow when Jasper scoffed. "You need some time off."
"And I've had some time," he said. "A week, and now I want to know why the fuck you gave that motherfucking, son-of-a-bitch a deal. And not just any deal, a deal that gives him ten years' probation instead of prison time! What the fuck, Kate?"
Kate tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing at him. "First of all, don't speak to me with that tone, detective. Second of all, I didn't make any such deal with Eric Yorke. Biers did. You know, my boss. I fought against it. I fought for him to spend the next decade in prison being someone's little bitch, but Biers feels that his testimony, along with Ephraim Blacks, Collin Littlesea, and Brady Fuller will help convict Embry Call, Paul Lahote, Quil Ateara, and especially Sam Uley, and if giving a slim ball like Eric Yorke a crappy deal means we lock four pedophiles away, then that's something I'm willing to do, Cullen, because believe it or not, I want them to burn for what they did to those little girls, and little girls like them that don't have a name."
Jasper shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I'm sorry. Kate, I'm sorry. I just . . ." He sighed, shaking his head. "Hell, I don't know what to do anymore. Everything's so . . . so fucked up."
"Understatement of the year, Cullen," Garrett scoffed. "How's Bella?"
He frowned. "I don't know. She's . . . she's pulling away from everyone. Except Edward, of course. Marcus said it's to be expected, considering everything she's had to face over the last couple months, but . . . I don't know, Cap. With the trial starting tomorrow, I worry about her. I just . . . I worry about her, about Edward."
"Can't say we don't worry, too," Kate admitted, placing her hands on her hips. "Maybe asking her to testify was too much, but she's the only witness we have to her parents murders, to Gianna Romans' murder."
Jasper inhaled a sharp breath. "You got DNA confirmation?"
"We did," Garrett said. "Gianna Romans is our Jane Doe. I informed her parents yesterday, who I don't think really believed that she was Gianna. Felt like I took their little girl away from them all over again."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Jasper asked, and when Garrett rolled his eyes, he added, "You should have told me, Cap!"
"Maybe," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "But maybe I wanted you to enjoy one more day of peace before we find ourselves fighting for those little girls again, Cullen."
"Have we done enough?" Jasper asked. "Have we done enough to stop Sam Uley? Stop the Tribal Council? Have we, Cap?"
"I don't know," Garrett admitted. "I just . . . I don't know, Cullen. I hope so. I really hope so, because it not, Sam Uley won't rest until that little girl pays for betraying him."
—SfH—
Marcus stood in the doorway leading to the backyard, watching Bella and Edward, who were laying in a hammock together. He had his laptop on his stomach, while she laid her head on his chest. Initially, he had his concerns about their relationship, the way they tended to rely on each other. It wasn't healthy, any good and decent therapist would agree, but the more time he spent with them, even just observing, the more he saw how much one needed the other; the way Edward could calm Bella down with just a simple hand on the cheek, or the way Bella made him smile, laugh. They were soul mates, who were healing each other.
"They still out there? They haven't runaway, have they?"
Marcus snorted and looked over his shoulder, finding Maggie leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms wrapped around herself. The fiery redhead was beautiful and snarky, passionate and brilliant.
He cleared his throat. "Not yet."
She smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "She wants to give up. On Hope, I mean. She wants to give up on ever getting Hope back. A part of me thinks it's the right decision, but I just . . ." Maggie trailed off, shaking her head. "I see how much she's lost: her parents, years with her sister and uncle, her innocence, and the thought of her never getting her daughter back, losing even more time with her, just . . . it's not right."
Marcus simply stared at her, amazing at how much she cared about Bella.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing. Just never knew a lawyer to care so much about her client the way you do," he said, smiling. "I thought all lawyers cared about was how much money they made. It's refreshing."
"Well, most of the time, all I would care about was how much money I made per client, but she's different, isn't she?"
"She does have a way of affecting those who come into contact with her in the most peculiar way," he laughed. "When I saw her on the news, I knew it would only be a matter of a time before I got the call. Helping little girls like her is what I do. When Peter finally reached out, when I sat down with him and listened to him tell me about her, I wondered how one little girl could affect him the way she did. He spoke of her like . . . like she was his own, and it worried me, but it also intrigued me."
"It was the same for me, when Jasper came to me," Maggie confessed.
"What did you see? When you met her, what did you see?" he asked.
Maggie smiled again. "I saw this fragile girl, who had real pain, real trauma behind her eyes, Marcus, but when I talked about Hope, her eyes . . . they light up. She lived every day of the last two years for her, for Hope, and I knew I had to help her, even though I had concerns."
"She's not ready to be Hope's mother."
Maggie frowned. "No, she's not, but she shouldn't have to give up on being a part of her life, either."
"She won't," Marcus said, turning and looking back out the back door. "She's scared and overwhelmed right now. It's easy to forget that she's a child herself, with everything she's been through. In some ways, she's mature beyond her years, and in other ways, she's naïve and underdeveloped. She's not educated, yet wise beyond her years. And she's about to fight the hardest battle she's ever had to fight, Maggie."
"The trial?"
Marcus nodded and looked back at her. "The eight years she spent with Sam Uley were horrific. It's amazing that she's able to function at all considering what we know she's been through. She's kept a lot to herself, I'm sure, but facing him inside a courtroom, having to tell a jury of strangers, the majority of whom will most likely be men, what Sam Uley did to her, in great, horrific detail, will be the hardest moment of her life, Maggie. She's going to need all of us to support her, to hold her together. Her and Edward."
"Ah yes, young Edward," Maggie sighed as she walked over and stood next to Marcus. "He loves her."
"He does. And she . . . she loves him," he whispered, causing her to look up at him. Marcus shifted his eyes from hers to her lips and back. "Maggie."
"I know," she murmured, turning and placing her hand on his chest. "Me too."
And letting her hand slid across his chest, she walked out of the kitchen, leaving him to watch Edward and Bella, and hope that together, they would strong enough to survive the battle ahead.
—SfH—
She stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself. She didn't recognize the girl looking back at her. The girl who had gained a little weight, gotten a little tanner, showered almost every day. The girl who didn't have to dig through the trash for food, or hide in the dark, hoping to be quiet, to be not be noticed. One night, one desperate move, and her entire world changed. For the better, she thought, or hoped.
"Hey," Rosie said, causing her to tense and look over her shoulder at her. "You okay, honey?"
She shook her head, smoothing her hand down the front of the royal blue dress Alice had bought her for the trial. "I, um, I don't like the dress."
"Okay." Rosie walked over to the closet. "Is it the color? Or the style?"
She sighed, looking back at the mirror. "It's a dress. I don't . . . I don't like wearing it."
"You don't have to wear a dress, Bella. We're going to court, not a wedding or anything."
She bit the inside of her lip as she turned and looked back at her. "I don't want to go at all," she whimpered, pulling away when Rosie reached for her. "Don't touch me."
"Okay," Rosie said, putting her hand up. "I don't really want to go, either. I don't . . . I don't want to be in the same room with that monster, with any of them, honey. It makes me physically sick to my stomach to have to listen to them make . . . make excuses for what they've done to you, but we have to, because if we don't stop him, stop all of them, then they might go after all some other little girl."
"I know," she whispered, sitting on the side of the bed.
"It's not fair, though," she added, slowly walking over and sitting on the bed next to her. "Putting all of this on you. I wish I could have protected you more."
"Me too," she cried, wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't know if I can see him again, Rosie. He'll . . . he'll come after me."
"No, he won't, because I won't let him," Rosie whimpered, slowly reaching out and covering her hands with her own. "And Emmett won't let him, or Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Marcus, Garrett." She paused. "And especially not Edward."
She bit her lip to stop from smiling at the sound of his name.
"You love him, don't you?" Rosie asked, bringing one of her hands up to her face. "He makes you smile, Bella."
"I, um," She paused, shaking her head. "I do. I mean, I think I do, but . . . I don't know. He . . . he's amazing and kind and smart," she whimpered. "So much smarter than me, but he makes me feel safe and comfortable. Like from the minute I saw him, he just . . . he just made me feel safe, and I'm scared that one day he's going to realize he can do better than me, and I'll lose him like I lost Mom and Dad and you."
"You haven't lost me, Bella," Rosie disagreed. "And you'll never lose Edward, because men like him, they love forever."
"I want a real life with him, Rosie," she whispered. "Like you have with Emmett, or Carlisle and Esme and Jasper and Alice. I want . . . I don't want to be the girl who was lost and then found, I don't want to be . . ." She took a deep breath. "I want to be Bella Swan, and not a nobody or a nothing anymore."
"You already are, honey." Rosie leaned over and kissed the side of her head. "You are Bella Swan. You are someone amazing and beautiful, and Sam Uley, honey, he doesn't get to take that away from you again. Never again."
"Promise?" she whimpered. "Do you promise, Rosie?"
"I promise, Bella. I promise."
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