Unmoving
~EPOV~
In the middle of our living room, I held her tightly. Unmoving and silent.
Nothing but her and me, Though I knew that wouldn't last long.
She'd turned towards the woods herself. Away from the over-occupied home and back to the quiet space we called home.
Back in the room where they took her from me.
Maybe that was why she kept her face buried against my chest. Maybe she couldn't bear the sight of it. Maybe she wanted to hide her eyes from me, delaying the inevitable question that would soon be asked.
What have they done to you?
She clung to me tighter, pressing her head against me harder. Trying to bury herself there, bind herself to me. How much I wish that were possible. To know for certain we would never be separated.
They burst into the room but then stood frozen at the sight of her. Alice, Rose and Jacob.
They wanted to know if she was okay.
If the Volturi were coming.
"It's alright, she's fine." I told them, resting my cheek against her hair. She wouldn't even look at them. And there were a million reasons why.
Shame, guilt. Pain. Fear.
Devastation.
"Do you need anything?" Rosalie asked, not knowing what else she could offer.
I shook my head slightly.
She was the first to leave. Deciding that she wouldn't feel comfortable until she searched the area herself. I knew she would find nothing. But I didn't stop her. She needed to feel useful.
Alice silently told me that she would find Carlisle and get him to come home. Then, she left.
All that was left was Jacob. His eyes caught on what little he could see of her.
"She's okay." He confirmed once more. Needing that reassurance.
"She will be." I promised him.
Because it was true, life was long. Eventually she would heal. I just didn't know how long it would take for those wounds to close up.
He shook his head slightly, pushing away the panic he felt at the sight of her. His mind racing with a hundred different possibilities about what could have happened to her.
Like Rose, he needed to do something. He needed to fix something. As though she were like this house; that he could put the pieces back together and she would be whole again.
"I can wake Renesmee. I can bring her-"
Suddenly, Bella's head snapped up.
"Don't. Don't bring her here." She yelled, her voice breaking more and more with each word.
Jacob's mouth opened and his brow raised, taking in the sight of her blood-red eyes. Knowing what it would mean: knowing that they had taken a piece of her away; knowing that we too had lost that piece of her; knowing that our lives would be dimmer because of it.
I couldn't see any judgment in his expression. No anger or disgust. But she hid from him anyway. Back into the confines of my arms. Unmoving even when we were alone again.