I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of my story.
Author's Note at the end.
Bella sits in a chair by the bed Cece is laying in. She could pass off for someone dead, if not for the constant beeping of the machines, and that is what scares her the most. She watches her daughter in silence, afraid that if she looks away something will happen to her. All it toke was for her to go and get desserts. She won't make the same mistake twice.
She moves the hair away from Cece's face and looks at her. She looks like a china doll; very beautiful, but too fragile with the hospital bed swallowing her up. This isn't a place she ever thought they will return to. She thought that Cece in a hospital bed is a sight she will never be exposed to again, but wanting something more than anything else or anyone else doesn't mean it will happen. She should know that more than anyone else.
No one wanted Edward more than her, but when his actions, life, fate, and other people got in the way, she learned the hard way that he wasn't her's to have. Now look where she is today: in a hospital because his girlfriend almost killed her daughter to make a point. Forget about her life having teaching moments in it, her entire life is a teaching moment.
It's almost like God is testing her. Every time she gets attached to something, he reminds her that she shouldn't count on keeping it. First, it was her mum. Second, it was her Edward. Third, there is no third. She hasn't lost her daughter. She is still here, but she has had too many coincidences and close calls for her to not assume that God is trying to make a point.
She isn't a religious person, but whoever is above- be it God or the devil- is trying to send her a message with all of this, and she needs to figure out its codes as soon as possible.
She needs to leave. That has became glaringly obvious. She has nothing left here to stay for. She told Marco so. He wasn't happy with her demand, but if she can't have what she wants in life then neither should he.
She has given up.
Raised the white flag.
She is no longer interested in getting revenge. All she needs is to keep her daughter alive.
A tap on the door alerts her to someone, "Come in," she mutters loud enough for the person knocking on the door to hear.
The doorknob twists open and then she hears Marco entering the hospital room. It's strange what living with someone will do to you. You will learn if it's them by the rhythm of their steps, the thud their boots make, and the heaviness of their steps. He injured his left foot in the past. Due to that, the pressure he puts on both of his feet isn't equal. It's a useful skill to have when you are constantly worried that someone will try to hunt you in your sleep.
It's also useful when you wake in the dead of the night from a nightmare and someone is pacing their room because they can't sleep. At times when crickets can be heard over humans, unless you want to spend the next 5 minutes holding your breath while searching the house for an intruder, you need to be able to identify their steps on command.
"I talked to Charlie. He agrees with me. We should stick this out and finish what we are here for," he tells her. She hears the creak the bed makes when he sits on its edge and sees his hand reaching to Cece's face.
"Don't," she snares as she slaps his hand away.
"Bella,", "Don't Bella me. Don't stab me in the back then try and wrap a pretty bow around the knife," she cut him off glaring at him.
He laughs a bit at her but his face gets serious once he notices the glare she is giving him. He runs his hands nervously through his hair and then folds his arms against his chest.
"You know that I would never put Cece in harm's way,", "Liar," she cuts off. She is tired. Since they started this, she has been following his cues. The first time she asks to do something, he refuses. Sure it's a huge thing, but she wouldn't ask it if she had any other choice.
"I watched as my friend's life drained from him, as the blood left his body drop by drop. I watched as his eyes turned from a vibrant green to a murky one. Do you think I want that to happen to Cece? Do you have this little faith in me?"
She looks at him as she holds Cece's hands and answers him truthfully, "You are the person I have the most faith in."
"Then why can't you listen to me this time around," he replies as he takes one of her hands in his and then kisses it.
"When your friend died, Eleazar was calling the shots. Eleazar is calculated. He operates within a system. We can predict his moves, but this time it's Tanya. She is unpredictable and unhinged. She decided to poison Cece 'cause she thinks I had an affair with her dad for heaven's sake," she ends her statement with a laugh that isn't joyous.
"We will take the extra measurement to make sure she doesn't reach her. What happened today won't have a repeat."
"How? You can't," she replies dropping his hand.
"We will say you decided to keep her home after what happened. I will be keeping an eye on her at all times. She won't be able to get to her another time," Jacob promises.
"The fact that she got to her once, is one too many times in my book. You don't understand. If anything happened to Cece, I would die," Bella tells him pleading with him to understand her, to leave and let her go as she sweeps away her tears
He takes her hand in his again and says, "She might not be my daughter. I can't pretend to know how scared you were when it all went down, but I have known her for forever. Don't I at the very least get the honorary father title? You know how much Cece means to me. Please at least think of my suggestion."
She nods her head. When she meet Jacob, both of them were a shell of who they are. Cece blew life into him the same way she put a balm to her wounds. She can't pretend that Cece doesn't mean anything to Marco.
He claps his hands together. A smile back on his face then says, "okay I will leave you to it and go and get you some tea. I will leave my phone with you. Charlie said he will call me back to talk to you. That said, don't go around snooping in my phone, okay?" he asks her getting up and pulling on his jacket.
"What? Afraid I will find your porn stash," she replies jokingly.
"Nope, those are on the computer. I don't want you to find the virtual shrine I have made of you, or else you will think I am some obsessed fan," he replies cheekily.
"Well obsess away," she replies raising her nose in the air and striking a pose. He snaps a picture of her which makes her laugh causing him to snap the camera again.
"Took more pics to add to my shrine," he is cut off by the phone ringing, "talk about the devil," he says handing her the phone. She looks at the screen and finds her dad's number.
"Hello," she answers as she watches Marco leave the room.
"Hey dear. How is everything going? Marco told me what happened. What did the doctor say?" she hears her dad's gruff voice in her ear.
"She is safe, but I am not allowing this to happen again," she replies firmly.
"Of course sweetie, we will try to take all the safety measurements to make sure nothing happens to Cece again."
"The safety measurements aren't enough dad," she replies having had enough of the bull crap.
He is silent for a minute before he replies, "what do you suggest?"
"I leave," she replies simply.
"You know that isn't possible," he replies.
"You will have to make it possible because I am not going to endanger my daughter," she replies.
"So what? You have given up? You don't want revenge?" her dad demands baiting her.
"And for what dad? At this point I have lost everything. Getting back at him won't give me my life back. I am not even sure if I want it back at this stage," she mutters which is true. Looking back, the life she lost isn't worth fighting for.
"What about all of the people that he has hurt? What about all of the people he will hurt if we don't stop him?" her dad argues trying to sway her to his side.
"Why me? Why does it have to be me? I am no vigilante. I am not built for it, not the way you are. You want me to go after him when I can hardly hold myself together," she replies rubbing her face in frustration. She is exhausted. The whole the only way out of it is through it is a load of bullshit. She has been going through it for years. She has yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel and would rather take the next exit and sit this out. She is no longer interested in being stronger. She is fine with being weak.
"Okay, you don't want to get revenge on him and are okay with him doing all of that crap to you, fine. What about Tanya?"
"What about her dad?" she asks confused.
"You will let her get away with what she did to Cece? You are fine with what she did?" he asks pulling the big guns. He isn't planning to end the phone call without getting her to go along with his plan. Too bad, stubbornness runs in the family.
"Of course not," she exclaims.
"Then do this to get back at her," he tells her.
"For what? I win nothing," she mutters in frustration and then goes to sit on the chair, "We both know people like her will get back at their feet. People like me will be crushed. I have everything to lose. She has nothing to lose," she replies pleading with him to understand. He used to tell her don't let your ego decide if you want to continue a war, get off the battlefield as soon as you need to. He should understand where she is coming from more than anyone.
"She could lose her social standing for one. She could lose Edward for another," her father replies playing the devil's advocate because at this point no angel would still try to get her to stay.
"Edward is no prize to win. He isn't Rapunzel. This man has had many chances to do right by me, and he has consistently done me dirty. So regardless of what happens with them, that won't change our relationship."
"Listen sweetie, no one wants Cece to get in harm's way. Marco and I have,", "with all due respect, I am her mother. At the end of the day both of you are nothing to her. You and Marco will never care about my daughter as much as I do. Unless of course, you are starting to believe that Marco is her dad too."
A loud thud echoes in by the doorway. She looks up and finds Edward standing in front of her with wide eyes.
"You choose to bring your daughter with you. I offered to keep her, and you refused. This isn't a game. Too much has been invested for you now to pull out. You are here to catch a criminal, don't forget that agent Swan." She watches as the expression on Edward's face morphed from disbelief to match the tone of the voice in her ear.
Hello lovely people, don't shoot me for giving you a double cliffhanger. I didn't come up with the chapter ending, it practically played itself in my mind and frankly, I can't imagine coming up with a more fantastic thing than this.
I hope you had fun reading this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it myself. Tell me your thoughts in the review section. I can't wait to read them. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Until my next update,
Stay Safe.