A/N: I completely understand the frustration of the Cullen's seemingly gullible front at the moment, especially considering they are vampires and Carlisle's vast medical history, alongside some of their human pasts. However, there wouldn't be much of a story if they were to solve all of Bella's problems straight away. Also, abuse victims can be very good at hiding things from those around them, and we all know CPS can be particularly bad when looking into cases of abuse also. In Bella's case, the Cullen's haven't been in town long to know her well enough to know what is normal or not, and some of Bella's symptoms such as low weight and anxiety could pass to outsiders as mental health issues rather than abuse initially. Strategically, Bella is going to hide injuries with clothing etc. I also wanted to remind everyone that Alice's visions don't work on Bella in this story, much the same as Edward's gift, so she can't see anything that is happening with Bella, obviously adding to their lack of knowledge on what is going on. I need everything this way in order to run the story the way I am imagining. Don't worry, they will figure it out eventually! ;)

Happy reading, and thanks again for all the favorites, reviews and follows.

Charlie was quiet when he got home from work. He sat at the table as soon as he got in, waiting for Bella to serve up the dinner.

She set his food down in front of him, setting a small bowl down in front of her chair in the hopes of trying to maintain, or increase, her weight.

Charlie looked at it, just for a second, before indicating for Bella to sit. "How was your appointment today?" He asked her.

Bella stiffened before moving to pick up her fork. "It was...okay. Dr. Cullen just wanted to do a follow up."

"Did he ask you about your eye?" Charlie wasn't looking at her now. He was swirling the food around his plate and Bella knew this wasn't a good sign.

"Ah yes." She tried not to sound nervous, but she was terrified. "I told him I fell down the stairs, and that my rib was hurting. That was all."

"Mmm." Charlie hummed. "He called."

"He did?" Bella felt too sick to eat anymore. Why had Carlisle called her father?

"He asked me what happened to your eye. I told him you were always clumsy, and that you'd probably fallen, but I was at work a lot so couldn't be exactly sure. I told him you'd recently had a stomach bug." Charlie started eating again. "I also had a phone call from CPS."

Bella tried not to vomit the food that was sitting at the tip of her stomach. Her heartrate rose as she waited for Charlie to continue. She had tried to be careful. The injuries on her face were hard to hide, but Carlisle hadn't seen anything else. Why had he called CPS?

"They are worried about your mental health, your weight." Charlie gestured towards Bella with his fork. "They will be visiting tomorrow. You need to remind them you fell down the stairs because you were disorientated with the flu. You need to work with them regarding your weight – tell them you've been busy with school so haven't been eating well, or you've been ill a lot so haven't felt like eating. Make sure you eat something when they visit. Do you understand me?"

All Bella could do was nod. She wasn't sure if Charlie was going to have an outburst. "Will you be here?"

"Yes." Charlie didn't seem very pleased about that. "They would like to speak to me too. It's important the visit goes well, or there will be consequences."

Bella didn't respond, and the rest of dinner passed in silence. She waited for Charlie to explode all night but he didn't. Bella wondered if he had more control over the outbursts than she had initially thought, considering he seemed to be suppressing them because CPS were going to make a visit.

She was grateful regardless, and sunk into her bed in preparation for tomorrow.

Bella woke early the next morning to make sure the house was clean. Charlie told her CPS were coming around 11am, and she wanted to make sure she was ready for the visit.

She used the same make-up as she had previously to cover her eye. Although Carlisle had noted the injury, the make-up still helped to hide the extent of it. She carefully got herself dressed, being mindful of her rib, and made sure she choose an appropriate outfit that would hide her true weight loss, and any injuries. She put on two pairs of leggings underneath her heavy jeans, and then opted for a short-sleeve t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt and her baggy hoody.

She made sure the door to the kitchen was kept closed, because of the dents in some of the cabinets, and was just finishing sorting the pillows on the couch when a car pulled up outside the house.

She moved to sit on the couch, pulling some chips and a dip towards her as Charlie moved to the front door.

Two women stood there and Charlie gestured for them to come in. The one on the left was tall and slender, curly red hair falling to her shoulders, a lanyard around her neck. The one next to her was shorter and fuller, dark hair in a bob cut. They moved into the front room after Charlie greeted them and sat down on the couch opposite Bella. Charlie lingered at the doorway.

"Hello, are you Bella?" The tall one asked her, offering a smile. "My name is Meg. I'm a social worker."

Bella nodded. "Yes, hi."

"Do you know why we're here?" The other woman asked. "My name is Lucy."

Bella shrugged. "My dad said you would be calling in. That you may be concerned about my mental health?"

Lucky nodded. "Yes, we had a call with some concerns. We just wanted to check everything was okay."

Bella complied with all the questions they asked her, making sure to eat most of the chips and the dip as they spoke to her. She told them how she had fallen down the stairs, causing her eye and rib injury. She told them she'd had a stomach bug. She explained she had recently moved to Forks and that she was worried she would fall behind with her school work and so hadn't been making food much of a priority, but now that she was aware of that, she would be more mindful. She also explained she had some colds and general illnesses lately that had affected her appetite.

They then spoke to Charlie for a little bit, who told them all the same things that Bella had. He promised them that he would be more aware of her eating habits, and that he would make sure to remind her to eat if she was busy with school. He also said he would speak to the principal at school to keep an eye on Bella's food intake there.

Meg was beginning to stand so Bella zoned back in on her, finishing off the last few chips at the bottom of the bag. "Alright, thank you for today. I'm satisfied with what we've heard, but I'd like to request that Bella speak to someone at Seattle Children's - just initially as a one off, regarding the weight. It will just be a phone appointment, is that okay Bella?"

Bella was nodding as she took a card from Meg's outstretched hand. It had a name and contact number of a specialist on it from their Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department. "Of course."

"They will ring you in the next few days to book the appointment in. Thanks again." Meg and Lucy followed Charlie as he led them to the door.

"Thank you so much." Charlie smiled at them, offering a wave as they moved to their car. "That went well." He said when he had closed the door. "Get your stuff, and then head off to school." He told Bella.

Bella wasted no time moving to the stairs, grateful that that was over. The relief washed over her as she climbed in her truck, thankful that CPS had left. A small part of her wanted them to come back so she could tell them about all the horrible stuff that happened at home, but Bella reminded herself that Charlie was likely unwell and it wasn't his fault that these outbursts were taking over. He was her dad, and sometimes he was nice, and he was quiet, and kept himself to himself. He had no one else but her.

Lunch period had just started when she pulled into the parking lot of the school. She made her way to the cafeteria and spotted Alice waving excitedly at her before she fully got through the door.

Bella moved over to them, smiling at Alice's excitement. She was bouncing in her seat.

"Bella!" Alice was loud but tried to lower her voice. "Are you okay? Where have you been?"

"Sorry," Bella slid into a seat next to Edward. "We just had some visitors to the house this morning. It's all good, nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" Edward looked at her, concern swirling in his eyes.

She gave him a reassuringly smile, feeling much less anxious than she had been over the last couple of days. "Yes of course. How has this morning been?"

As the Cullens fell into a conversation about their morning lessons, Bella was grateful that Edward had pushed his tray in-between them so they could share the food. There wasn't much food at home that Bella could bring with her to school, and she didn't have much money to buy a lot of food at school. She made sure to eat most of the half Edward offered her.

Rosalie was watching her quite intently with the food, and Bella really was trying to reassure them that she didn't have an eating disorder. Rosalie had been at the hospital appointment however, and was probably harder to convince because of that. She slid a perfectly wrapped parcel over to Bella with a small smile. "Esme wanted you to have these."

Bella opened the napkin carefully, smiling at the homemade cookies. "That's very kind of her." She couldn't help but take one and sighed in delight at the taste of the first bite. She quickly put the rest away into her bag, hoping she could make them last a few more days.

Edward was smiling in amusement. "There are plenty more where those came from. Esme would be delighted to try some recipes out on someone new, so any requests we will pass on."

Bella felt whole sitting there with the Cullens but worried it wouldn't be able to last. It would be hard for her to get close to people when she needed to hide what was going on at home. She hadn't known the Cullens long and Carlisle had already phoned CPS for a wellbeing check. She really did have to be more careful. There was just something about the Cullens that had her captivated. She wanted to know Edward so badly. She could feel herself falling in love with him, and she was excited but terrified about that possibility. She didn't know if he felt the same.

She also longed for a relationship with Alice and Rosalie. She hadn't had many friends growing up, and although she wasn't girly, she longed for that sort of friendship with some girls her age. She had always taken care of her mother, and she just wanted to feel like a teenager, hanging around with her friends for once.

Even Jasper and Emmett pulled Bella in. She didn't have anyone around growing up, and always imagined a big brother there to protect her, or to play video games with.

Her heart longed to get to know the beautiful people in front of her, but her brain screamed that it was too dangerous, too risky for them to know.