AN: Sorry, another trigger warning folks. Small reference to opiate use and violence. But I don't go into any detail. Let me know your thoughts on the update, I know this Bella is not completely canon, but I am trying to keep it believable. In the next couple of chapters we will learn more about how she got herself into this situation!
Carlisle's POV
"I mean this in the kindest way possible, dear, but you look terrible."
Esme's worried voice greeted me as I closed the front door behind me. She stepped forward and slid the coat from my shoulders, one of her hands briefly resting on my cheek as she looked at me with concern.
"Is it that obvious?"
Giving a small smile she nodded, "Difficult night?"
I paused, having still not decided whether or not I would keep Bella's secret from her, "You might say it was, yes." The sadness that had settled in my chest upon seeing Bella the previous night had not dissipated, and I struggled to mask it.
In our early years together, I had often refrained from going into detail about my work when talking with Esme. I had been afraid of making her uncomfortable when her control over her thirst was still shaky at best. It had taken more than a decade before she was at ease with stories from the hospital. That being said, her main interest when it came to my work was not so much the medical or technical side of things, but rather the humans themselves. Their stories, their pain, their prognoses. And of course the effect that each case had on me.
So it was not surprising that she did not press for questions about what kinds of medical crises had kept me at the hospital longer than usual. However, it was clear that hiding my distress from her would be next to impossible.
"Do you wish to talk about it?" Her voice was quiet, her eyes looking up into mine as she waited patiently for me to open up. If my heart could beat I knew it would be racing, giving away my anxiety. Our minds were capable of balancing multiple threads of thought at once, of recalling crystal clear memories from centuries past, but my discovery of Bella and her current situation still felt like too much for me. I desperately wanted to open up and share what had happened. I knew Esme would not resent me if I asked her to share the burden with me. But what if Bella truly refused to ever see us again, as she said in the hospital? It felt cruel to get Esme's hopes up only to have them be crushed when she realized Bella wanted nothing to do with us. Not to mention it would break her heart to know what had become of her. No. It was best that I kept things to myself. For now, anyway.
I shook my head and tried to give a warm smile, "Not to worry, love. The patient survived, and that is what matters."
She said nothing but watched me for a few more seconds, her eyes skeptical. In a poor attempt at lightening the mood I switched topics, "Alice and Jasper are on their way home, I'd imagine they'll be here by-"
"Nightfall! Yes, she called me just before you arrived. I've been preparing their room." Esme turned and pulled me from the room, my hand clutched firmly in hers as though she was tethering me to the Earth. I was grateful for the strength that surged through her grasp. It was her way of reminding me that she knew something was wrong, and that even if I wasn't ready to share my burden with her she was still going to support me. I gave a small squeeze back and watched the corner of her lips twitch towards a smile.
She went on to explain how she had plans to continue work on the second floor bedrooms now that some of the family was returning home. The last time we had heard from Edward he was in South America, while Emmett and Rosalie had been traveling for much of the last couple of years through Europe and Asia. I knew the family's time scattered as it currently was would not last, but knowing that did not make the situation any easier on Esme. I suspected that it was for that reason that she had not jumped into her usual renovation projects upon our purchase of the Eugene house.
Grateful for the change in topic, I jumped at the chance for a distraction. "Will you share some more of your ideas with me?" She gave me an indulgent smile, well aware that I was steering us away from the topic of work, but she happily led me to the study to pull out her latest sketches. I grinned upon seeing them. Alice had attempted to convince Esme more than once of the merits of using a computer to create 3D models of her renovation projects. But Esme remained resolute, nothing was better than putting pencil to paper. As I watched her fingers move across the paper I allowed my thoughts to flit across the various planes in my mind. Bella. Alice's Vision. Crown molding. Bella. Alice's Vision. Reclaimed hardwood floors. Bella. Alice's Vision.
And more specifically, why had Alice not been able to see Bella?
Bella's POV
Carlisle had given me more money than I had asked for, which was a blessing and a curse. I knew once I had paid Will I would have enough to support me for at least a week or two. It could buy me some time. The tightly-wound bundle of cash currently clenched in my fist could be my chance to break the vicious cycle I had fallen into. Shoving my hands in the pockets of my coat, I told myself it wasn't too late, I was not too far gone. And yet, if I was honest with myself, the thought of dragging myself up from the bottom sounded exhausting. And for what? To keep trudging through life with that painful gap in my chest? You could hardly call that a life.
As I rode the bus out towards the west side of town, I began to prepare myself for seeing Will. I told myself that he couldn't have known the pills he gave me had been fentanyl. After all, people get deceived all the time by dealers.
"Then again…" a small voice in the back of my head began.
I shook it away before my thoughts could go down that road. Will had always given me a place to crash when I needed it over these last couple of months. And I didn't have any other good options. I just needed to be a little more careful. I could put up with his dubious actions and unpredictable temper a little while longer.
After the bus dropped me off at the corner of his street, I turned and walked toward the alleyway that ran behind the row of houses to my left. When I reached the chain link fence I ran my fingers over the wad of hundred dollar bills in my pocket. Carefully flipping through five of the bills, I pulled them out and clenched them in my fist, leaving the others stuffed safely in the bottom of the pocket. Will didn't need to know about those.
The back door swung open and his deceivingly chipper voice rang out across the dingy yard.
"There she is!"
I took a deep breath and pushed open the gate. Stepping onto the chipped walkway I heard the gate slam shut behind me. For a split second I wished I was back in my hospital room with Carlisle. Damnit. No, Bella. You've got this.
"I'm back!" I plastered a poor attempt at an enthusiastic smile on my face and made my way towards the door. My feet managed to drag me up the two back steps and then Will wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Had a neighbor been looking they would have seen two friends happy to be reunited. But they would not have been able to feel the pressure of his arm sitting heavily across my shoulders. And they certainly would not have heard his threatening whisper when he leaned in towards my ear.
"So, your first trip to the friendly neighborhood E.R. I suppose they had to ask you all sorts of questions…though I'm sure you didn't say anything about your old friend Will, right?"
Carlisle's POV
Two weeks had passed with no news from Bella. I tried to tell myself that it was a good thing, that if she had come to me it would have been because there was a problem, and her absence must signify that she was doing alright. But with what little information I had gleaned from her, and the circumstances under which we had met two weeks prior, I could not help the feeling of dread that overcame me whenever I began to wonder about her whereabouts.
I had tried to find out more information about how she ended up in Eugene, but I was far from being the most experienced of hackers in the family. And I still had not shared the news with the others. So it wasn't as though I could ask Jasper for his assistance. The only thing that I found was a handful of attempts by Charlie to declare her as a runaway. But at eighteen she was no longer considered a minor, and a simple missing persons alert had been the only thing issued. Though even that had surprised me. For after all, Eugene was not all that far from Washington, and it was not impossible that someone in town would recognize her if they'd come across her photo. That is unless she was doing her best not to be found. But why?
Alice had not spoken about her vision since her arrival. But I knew that she had not forgotten it. Every once in a while I caught her gaze on me, her eyes focused as she tried to catch a glimpse of something similar in my future. I did not say anything. Perhaps part of me hoped she might see Bella and succeed in setting in motion the reunion I had failed to initiate.
The bigger issue since her and Jasper's arrival had been keeping my emotions regulated. More than once when I had been thinking about Bella, I caught Jasper looking my way, a concerned expression on his face. The first couple of times I had brushed aside his worries with excuses about work. Another difficult case. A patient I was anxious to check up on. A particularly gruesome accident. Working in the ER left me with an endless list of possible cases that could explain my dread-filled emotions. But I could tell he was becoming less and less willing to accept my cover-ups.
I was due to work another overnight shift, and I felt almost relieved to have an excuse to leave the house and the scrutiny from my family. Under the pretext of wanting to get some paperwork done, I arrived at the hospital an hour early. The sun had slid far enough down the horizon that I was able to make my way inside without trouble. As I made my way down the hallway towards my office, the triage nurse flagged me down.
"Oh good, you're here early, Dr. Platt." Before she continued, she turned halfway around, in the direction of the emergency room waiting area. "She arrived an hour ago. She refused to be seen, asking only when you would be here. She said she knew you. I felt bad, so I allowed her to stay. I hope that's alright."
I craned my neck to try and see around the corner into the waiting area, even though I already knew who was probably there. "Thank you, Charlotte, I will go talk to her before my shift begins."
I steeled myself for whatever state I may find Bella in, though I was reassured that it must not have been grave enough for her to be admitted right away.
She was sitting in one of the chairs on the far side of the room, her eyes closed, head leaning back against the wall. As I approached, I discreetly scanned her form, looking for any injuries or apparent problems. Her breathing was regular. Her skin was pale but no more so than usual. She was wearing a long sleeve shirt but I still got a glimpse of a bruise near her wrist. There were dark circles under her eyes. When I was a couple of feet away I allowed my shoes to squeak against the linoleum floors.
Her eyes opened immediately and she sluggishly pulled herself up a little straighter.
"You're here." Her expression was unreadable, her voice suggesting neither relief nor malice at my appearance. The only emotion I could detect was perhaps a twinge of surprise. Had she thought I might ignore her?
"Of course, Bella. Is everything alright?" Shifting in her seat she adjusted her scarf and then ran her fingers nervously through her hair. Now that I was closer I could see the hint of another bruise near her collarbone.
She glanced around us. "Yeah, um, do you have an office here or something?"
"I do. Would you feel more comfortable speaking there?"
She nodded and stood up to follow me. Before we left she reached down and grabbed her bag. It was the same backpack from the other day, and while it was still looking rather ragged and worse for wear, it did look to be fuller. Had she used the money I gave her to stock up on things she had needed? I hoped so. As she slung it up onto her shoulder I could not help but notice the faint smell of marijuana that stirred the air. I kept my thoughts in check, refusing to jump to conclusions.
We made the short walk in silence. It was obvious she had something on her mind but I would wait until we were behind closed doors to broach the subject. A couple of emergency room staff glanced our way as we passed, most likely curious about who Bella was and why she had insisted on waiting for me to arrive. Perhaps Laura would have recognized her from two weeks prior and told the others what I had told her, about Bella being an old family friend.
Once I had opened the door to my small office and beckoned her inside, I closed the door gently behind us.
"Is everything alright, Bella? Are you hurt?" I didn't move to examine her any closer, but I couldn't help but notice how upon hearing my question she seemed to subconsciously pull her sleeve down lower over the bruise I had noticed earlier. This simple movement was enough to confirm what I had already suspected, someone else had caused the darkening marks. My body responded before I could even work through this new knowledge with any degree of rationality. I could feel my mouth begin to fill with venom. I quickly swallowed it back and pulled myself together. If someone had hurt Bella then I needed to focus on providing her safety and care, not on seeking out some kind of animalistic vengeance. Had there been any doubt about the link between Bella and my family, my visceral reaction to her apparent suffering spoke volumes. I would have reacted the same way should it have been Alice or Rosalie.
"I'm fine," she shrugged and shook her head in dismissal.
"May I?" I asked, extending my hand tentatively towards her wrist. I doubted she was injured beyond the small contusions I had seen, if she had broken a bone she would not have been able to mask the pain so convincingly. But I could not help myself from asking anyway.
She hesitated, brown eyes flicking back and forth between my own ochre ones and my hand that still hung in the air between us. But then she slowly raised her arm and turned it, exposing her wrist to me. I gently slid her sleeve back a couple of inches, the touch of my cold skin not even causing her to flinch. In perfect formation, all five spots the same shade of blue, was an unmistakable trace of fingerprints. Fingerprints from whoever had squeezed hard enough to leave such a violent mark. I ran my thumb across each bruise, being careful not to apply an ounce of pressure.
"Can I ask who did this to you, Bella?" My words came out sounding much more calm than I felt inside.
"You can ask," she paused, "but I won't tell you."
I sighed, having anticipated her answer. "Okay. Are you injured elsewhere? I should tell you I already spotted the nearly identical marks near your collarbone. Is it fair to assume they were caused by the same person?"
She simply stared back at me, her eyebrows knit together in an almost contemptuous look.
"Alright, I'll say no more on the subject. But please, know that if you are in danger, or someone is hurting you, then you always have a safe place with us. Or…or if not with us, then I can help you find someplace else." Could she hear the slight twinge of defeat in my voice when I tacked on the second part? It was becoming more and more painful to reckon with the realization that she no longer trusted me. But all that mattered was her safety, whether it be with us or with somebody else.
She simply nodded.
"So, what can I do for you, then?"
With a final glance towards the closed door behind me, Bella inhaled deeply before rushing out, "I need a fake ID. False papers. A passport. I want a different name, a new identity. And if anyone is able to do that for me it's the vampire that can up and disappear with his family without a trace in the night."