Chapter Fourteen

I woke up to a hard smack to the face. I slowly opened my eyes, shocked by this particular wake up call. I mean, she had slapped me before in the face due to a nightmare, another strange things humans did at this particular time; however, I had the feeling that this wasn't because of a nightmare.

"Wake up, Edward," Bella snapped. "Wake up now."

I opened my eyes, first looking into her furious face, then looking over at the clock. It was still too late in the night for either one of us to be awake now.

"What's wrong, Bella?" I asked her, placing my hand on her back and wrapping my tail around her tucked ankle.

"I—I… ugh!" She groaned; she pressed her fists against her eyes as she thought. This was new. Her vocabulary and her mastery of controlling her emotions had excelled in the passed few weeks, since my mother is now awake.

Of course, with my mother being awake and somewhat taking over Bella's education, she's been pushing Bella far more than Alice had. And surprisingly, Bella didn't attack my mother for some of the things she did, which was amazing.

I should've known she'd wake up at some point tonight, frustrated with my mother because she pushed her into a big social situation and Bella was not happy one bit when she crawled into bed. I'm pretty sure she never slept.

"What's wrong Bella?" I asked again.

"I'm angry," She said slowly. "I'm angry at mama. She…ugh…bad!"

I smiled softly, "I know today was hard for you, but you did such a good job. And you might have made some new friends."

"No!" She snapped. "I do not want those friends. I want Edward, Alice. Emmett and Rosalie. Not mama. Not Jasper. Not anymore friends."

I chuckled. "You can never have enough friends."

"Not anymore friends!" She nearly screeched. "Mama and Jasper not anymore friends!"

"Oh," I said when I finally understood. "You don't want to be friends with mama or Jasper?"

"Yes. I don't want to be friends with mama or Jasper."

I rubbed her arm gently. "Bella, mama is doing what is best for you. You have to get used to people. Outerrians are very close. We're all family and within a walking distance of one another."

She sighed sharply and shook her head. "I not Outerrian."

My eyebrows raised. "You're an honorary Outerrian. And you're a part of the family now."

"No, family is bad." She said, shoving her pointed finger at my face.

"Family is not bad," I said, grabbing her pointed finger. "Outerrian family is not bad. James' family is bad. James' family is not family, it is a bad group."

She sighed again. "I do not have family."

"Bella that is not true," I scolded gently. "I'm your family. Alice and Jasper are your family. Mama and father are your family. Emmett and Rosalie are your family. You have a large family who loves you."

She sneered her nose at the word. She shook her head. "No love."

I sighed and rubbed her arms. "Bella you are safe now. You are not with James' bad group."

Since Bella was coming to understand more things and getting out of the survival mindset, she was beginning to remember the trauma she suffered with her previous 'family.' My mother and Alice had been working hard with her to overcome the trauma; however, it was still very hard on her.

"Would you like to read?" I asked.

"No." She sighed. "I do not want distractions."

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Your speaking skills are getting so much better Bella. I'm proud of you. I love you."

She rolled her eyes, but when she did, her tears leaked down her face. The once black tears now clear like diamonds and glistening on her cheeks. I gently stroked the tears away with my thumbs.

"Why are you crying Bella?"

"Everything is hard," She said softly. "Very hard."

"Yeah I know, and you've been doing so amazing at everything."

She shook her head slowly. "I miss mother."

"I know." I said. "Things are really different for you now. But you are doing such a wonderful job at handling all of it, which is great. I know you miss your mother and I know all of this is so hard for you, but things will get better. I swear."

"I am afraid."

"What are you afraid of?"

She started counting on her fingers, then twisted to stare at her backside. I knew what she was looking for, but I didn't say anything. Those marks on Bella's back had begun fading and when she discovered this in the bath one day, she panicked.

It took myself, my mother, and Alice a long time to calm her panic. It wasn't an angry panic but a scared one. That day was absolutely horrible. She cowered in the corner for a long while, shaking and begging. When she soiled herself, that's when I called my mother and sister for help to calm her, but it didn't work. After the crying ceased, she went into a silent, catatonic state that was horrifying.

It was a couple days after the discovery of the healing marks did we uncover the trauma behind them and the knowledge of that was even more sickening than imaginable. The thought of it made my stomach twist and I had seen some pretty horrible things in the midst of planet conquering.

"Bella, I know you're afraid, but you never ever have to go through that again. I am not remarking you."

She shuddered and closed her eyes. "Memories are… hard. Bad."

"I know," I whispered, wiping more of her tears away. "It's okay Bella."

She sucked in a shaky breath. "I do not understand… why the commander must seek other humans. The others are bad."

I stroked her hair out of her face. "The little girls and the other women should not keep suffering. Isn't that right Bella? You don't want them hurt like you've been."

She shook her head slowly, trying to understand this.

In Bella's world, there wasn't such a thing as sympathy or mercy. She had watched some pretty horrific things happen, especially to the women she was surrounded by. She had to learn not to be sympathetic because the men in her life took that as weakness.

"It's not okay," I said slowly. "No one should suffer as you did." I placed my hand on her lower back. "Right? What happened was horrible and not right."

She finally let out a soft sigh. "I want sleep now."

She laid down against my chest, nuzzling her nose against my neck and inhaling softly. Her breathing settled after a moment, and I thought she had drifted off, but another moment passed, she let out a sigh.

"Bella, go to sleep," I whispered gently. "Try not to think about today. Think of happy things."

"Happy things." She said softly.

I chuckled, "Yes, like food. You love food."

"Yes," Bella said. "Love Edward. And penis."

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily. "Yes. And penis."

When we uncovered Bella's past, we discovered that her relationship with the male anatomy needed to be fixed. So in order to build a better relationship, my mother and sister thoroughly explained how penises are meant to bring women great pleasure and show love in a physical form. If a penis hurt you, then it was a bad penis. And now Bella, even though her only experience with penis's had been bad, is now obsessed with them for some reason. Particularly my penis.

And after that conversation, they also explained how penises are a choice and Bella gets to choose when she wants a penis. Which ran us into another issue where she'd wanted to do nothing but touch and fondle my penis. Then we had to explain boundaries to her.

"Edward's penis," She said again as she closed her eyes. "Your penis."

"Is that the happy thought you're going to fall asleep to?" I asked.

"Yes. Edward's penis is happy."

"Well, thank you," I sighed with a slight shaking of my head. At least she was going to sleep.

"James is bad penis," She mumbled in her sleep.

I rubbed her back soothingly. She was asleep, but I was awake, and I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I gently wrapped her in a blanket, so she'd still feel secure before leaving our little nest. I knew she wouldn't wake up again and if she did, I knew she wouldn't panic, she'd just be very upset with me when I got back.

I walked slowly to the control room. It was very quiet, which had now become unusual since the women had been woken up. Families had been brought together and even though meals were being rationed, somehow, the women made the food plentiful enough to have meals at different times in the day. It was truly spectacular.

"Hey," Jasper said when I entered the room. My brows furrowed.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked.

"Just sitting here, thinking," He said as he stared out at the land through the large, one-way wall.

"Hmm, be careful, you might hurt yourself." I chuckled.

"Mm," He said, barely acknowledging my joke.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am fine," He said, letting out a little sigh.

"No you're not," I chuckled.

He rolled his eyes, "Alice and I spoke tonight about procreation. She does not want children. She believes they are a waste a time and she'd rather spend her time helping Bella and the other females, when we find them."

"Huh," I said. "I thought she'd want at least one child. I'm surprised. But I understand I guess. It's not really important for either one of you to have children. Your bloodline isn't important enough to have to procreate. And I will have to procreate regardless so Alice's bloodline will continue."

He gave me a look. "Well, I did want a child. I wanted a son. Someone I could pass my knowledge onto and to teach. I want a child."

"Well, I'm sorry for your misfortune. But truly it is Alice's choice in the matter. She holds the eggs."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's not like your little female who has no say in the matter of breeding."

"I will not be impregnating Bella anytime soon. Bella needs many years to heal. And while her communication skills and her understanding have grown tremendously, she still needs plenty of time. And perhaps Alice does to. You and she are still very young."

He sighed heavily. "You do not understand. I could wait years if I knew she wanted children in the—," He paused, squinting. "Did you see that?"

I turned my head, seeing nothing. "Are you trying to change the subject?"

"No I… there," He said, now pointing. "Right there. Something is moving."

I squinted in the direction he pointed. A moment passed before I finally spotted the movement. It was quick, more like a blur, but I was able to spot it easily.

"Get your armor on," I said, "And go wake Emmett."

"Of course Commander." Jasper was quick to follow my command. Within moments, the three of us were outside of the safety of the ship and moving towards the danger.

We formed a triangle formation, the only sounds to be heard were the soft chirps and clicks from within our throats, mimicking the nightly noises of this planet with only a slight change in pitch as to not alert any potential danger.

I paused on the rock formation, completely hidden in the darkness by my armor, and cooed out to Emmett in a soft, deep tone. I heard his response in the form of seven steady clicks. I squinted in the darkness, looking for the movement, but there was nothing.

I prayed to the goddess that it wasn't one of those scaly reptiles that I've encountered before. I didn't want to put Jasper or Emmett at risk of that.

I heard a soft gurgle, my ears flexed several times, searching for the direction of the gurgle. I crawled across the rock formation and found something… disturbing.