People Talk
AN: Thanks so much to everyone reading this and a special thanks to those who reviewed and left a comment, they really make my day and encourage my writing process. You guys are awesome! This is the one where things start to get interesting. You'll get more of an insight to Charlie, and Bella's relationship with her parents. Oh and I guess in the last chapter I wrote *lap partner instead of lab partner chalk it up to a Freudian slip lol this story is unbeta'd btw.
Bella winces as her shoes squelch through the slushy ice that covered the ground as she made her way across the parking lot toward her friends. She doesn't glance over to where the Cullens usually park, even if she wants to. She's stubborn, so is Rosalie, and the two have been giving each other the cold shoulder since Tuesday, it was now Friday and neither showed signs of cracking. Bella knew it was a bit ridiculous, of course it was, but Rosalie had started it and Bella promised herself that she wouldn't be the first to speak up. In her mind, that would mean that Rosalie had won, won what, she didn't know.
Really there was no reason for their little fight, if you could even call it a fight, all Bella had done was reject a dinner invitation. Was that really the cause for the cold shoulder? Bella didn't think so. Honestly, the more the week dragged on, the more Bella thought that maybe Rosalie and her weren't friends, they'd hardly spent any time together, or talked, so to her it made sense. Maybe, Bella thought, maybe this was just how Rosalie was with strangers. Maybe the whole house visit was really just because Mrs. Cullen was concerned about Rosalie's classmate. Maybe now that Bella had declined to hangout further, Rosalie felt like she'd been let off the hook. Maybe Rosalie really had just been being nice to protect her grade in the class and Rosalie's mother was just seeing a friendship where none was.
All of it was very confusing for Bella, and the more she chewed it over the more her anger had dissipated into a moppy acceptance that this was just how things are. Bella had genuinely liked being around Rosalie, there were times when they worked on an assignment, or talked about class, and the world would literally melt away until the only thing that existed was the two of them and whatever they worked on. It reminded Bella of reading her favorite book, nothing existed, the pressure she put on herself to do well in school so she could escape this shitty town, her poor excuse of a father, the abandonment from her mother, all of it just stopped and Bella felt like she could breathe again. Rosalie made her feel light, and it was something Bella had started to come to expect, to enjoy. Really she only had herself to blame.
"Bella!"
Her head snapped up, eyes automatically connecting with the horrified gaze of Rosalie. Bella frowned, confused, and then she felt the impact.
Carlisle frowned down at his patients' records as they appeared upon the screen. His frown deepened when he came to the emergency contact portion, it was blank, completely blank.
"What's wrong!? I thought you said it was just a minor break and a concussion!" Rosalie hissed the words too low for any human to hear, though the words reverberated inside Carlielse's head as he looked at his daughter calmly.
"She is fine, Rosalie, which you would know if you only went to check on your-" He stopped at the icy glare he received, but then continued. "-your friend." He took the tablet, still frowning at it as he made his way down the hall and toward Bella's room.
"Well then what were you looking at?" Rosalie asked, suspicion heavy in her tone. Carlisle sighed as her eyes lost the last bit of golden hue and settled into pitch blackness. He'd tell her to go hunt, but he figures she'd just ignore him.
"You are correct, Carlisle." Edythe's amused tone reached them before they turned the corner, finding her leaned against the wall opposite Bella's door. Carlisle hummed, more preoccupied with Bella's records than he was in listening to Rosalie hiss at Edythe, honestly the two fought more than a married couple.
"What do you mean she has no emergency contact?" Edythe frowned as she listened to Carlise's thoughts. "She only turned eighteen in September...maybe it's not there because everyone knows how to get ahold of her father, he is the police chief." Edythe reasoned out loud.
Rosalie growled, ready to throw an insult at her sister, when Alice skipped into the hall holding a hot plate of food. "What is everyone coming here?" Rosalie glared, knowing the food had to have been from Esme.
Alice shook her head at Rosalie in a disappointed kind of way. "No, they didn't want to overwhelm Bella, plus Jasper was having a little trouble with all the emotions flying around right now." Alice gave Rosalie a pointed look, but Rosalie just looked away with a scoff. "Back to the conversation at hand though, I think you'll get your answers if you just ask her Carlisle...or Rosalie can always go and ask Bella herself." Another glare was sent at Alice. "Right, that's what I thought...I'd do it in private and don't make any guesses, just flat out ask. I've seen Bella reacting badly otherwise."
Carlisle nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, as always, Alice." He smiled gently and then went to walk into the room, though he stopped as footsteps echoed behind him. "You're not coming with me, Rosalie." A low, dangerous growl sounded from deep within Rosalie's throat, and Carlisle sighed. "No, Rosalie." Rosalie bared her teeth, not moving an inch. Carlisle frowned at her, "That's exactly why you can't come in, you need to get a hold of yourself."
"She's...hurt…" Rosalie managed to rasp out.
Edythe laughed from her spot still leaning casually against the wall. Rosalie snapped her head in Edythe's direction, and Edythe just smiled crookedly while tapping her head, indicating that she had heard perfectly well, and exactly, what Rosalie had just been thinking. "Just a friend huh?"
Carlies pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "All right, that's it, Edythe, stop riling up your sister. You know Rosalie is having a rough time right now."
"That's her own fault." Alice piped up, trying to be helpful. Carlisle frowned at the three of them, if he wasn't undead then he'd surely have a headache right now.
"Enough." He spoke calmly, but sternly, in a way only a father, or coven leader, could. The girls straightened up before him, though Edythe was still grinning and Rosalie was still growling way too low for the humans to hear. Alice...Alice just stood by his side, unperturbed, and waiting expectantly for her turn to enter the room to deliver the food Esme had tasked her with delivering. "Rosalie, you need to go hunt. Edythe, go with her, and Alice-" He looked down to where Alice had been standing and then groaned as he heard Alice excitedly telling Bella all about the food Esme had made, of course Alice's patience had run out. "You two, go hunt."
"I'm not leaving." Edythe said, confusing and shocking both Carlisle and Rosalie. "Alice is almost done." Sure enough they could hear Alice ending the conversation inside the room. "Emmett is waiting in the parking lot, they can take Rosalie, but I'm staying." Carlisle frowned, but waited as Rosalie and Edythe seemed to have a serious conversation through looks and thoughts. Finally, Rosalie's shoulders slumped and she took a few steps so that she could envelope Edythe in a rare hug. Carlisle eyebrows shot up to his hairline at the scene. "I owe you." Edythe whispers as the two finally part.
Understanding and pride blooms in Carlisle's chest as he finally connects the dots. He smiled softly as Alice wordlessly exited the room, looped her arm through Rosalie's and tugged his upset daughter toward the exit. Carlisle waited until they were out of earshot, then he turned back to his eldest, laid his hand on her shoulder and kissed her forehead. "You're a good sister, Edythe."
Edythe smiled at him and squeezed his hand on her shoulder. "I owe her everything, you know that, Carlisle...I can't even imagine what my life would look like had she not saved Emmett…" Edythe frowned at the thought. Carlisle frowned, thinking, if only Rosalie was as sure with her mate as she had been in saving the boy in the forest who turned out to be her sister's mate. Edythe nodded along, agreeing with his thoughts. Carlisle smiled, squeezed her shoulder once more and watched as Edythe retook her post, eyes ever watchful on Bella's door. Then, Carlisle entered the hospital room, not for the first time thinking just how blessed he was to have such a loving family.
Carlisle smiled gently as Bella's head jerked to the side at his entrance, the girl immediately winced as the suddenness of the action no doubt caused some discomfort. "I see Esme's been busy." Carlisle grinned as he stood by Bella's bedside, looking at the meal his wife had sent over. Bella blushed, the fingers of her uncasted arm picking at the sheet covering her body. She opened her mouth and then promptly shut it again, her eyes traced over the food on the table before her. Carlisle frowned as her eyes became glassy and he would have chalked it up to the morphine, but then he could smell the salt. It seemed Bella was trying not to cry.
Bella clears her throat, takes a heavy breath and when she looks back up at Carlisle there's no sign that she had been so close to tears. "She'll make me fat." Her voice broke near the end, making Carlisle think that maybe this simple act from Esme meant a whole lot more to Bella than the girl was willing to show. Carlisle frowned again, thinking of the emergency forms once more.
"Do you mind if we talk for a moment, Bella?" He asks, waiting until she nods before continuing. "I went looking for your emergency contact, to arrange for your father to pick you up and to discuss aftercare with him concerning your arm and concussion, but it was blank. I was wondering why that was?" He explained, but was direct as Alice had advised him to be. He studied Bella's face as a flurry of emotions passed through her eyes and Carlisle wished Jasper had stuck around or that Edythe had access to her thoughts so that he had some clue as to how to help her.
Bella let loose a shaky sigh, her shoulders slumping forward as she seemed to curl in on herself. "Charlie, he um he took me in after Renee took off with some baseball player when I was sixteen, but uh-" Bella stopped, took another breath and looked Carlisle dead in the eyes. "They never wanted kids, never wanted to get married."
They never wanted you, Carlisle could hear the hidden message in Bella's tone.
"They never hit me." Bella stresses abruptly, and if Carlisle hadn't had centuries of playing human under his belt, he was sure the growl stuck in his chest would have reverberated around the room and given away his family's biggest secret. "I was under no delusions about our relationship when I moved in. I'm welcome to stay until I graduate from high school, and then his parental obligations are done. At least he's doing that much...I mean Renee couldn't even bother to tell me about her leaving until she dropped me off at the airport with a bag of my things." Bella let out a wet laugh, and Carlisle's unbeaten heart seemed to squeeze painfully in his chest. "Anyways, I'm eighteen now, so really I don't need him to be around for any medical purposes. You can just go over what you need to with me."
Bella waited, trying not to hold her breath as she watched Dr. Cullen processed everything she had said. She knew that legally there'd be no ramifications against Charlie because there was nothing illegal being done, so she felt safe enough to admit that much. What she hadn't admitted to was just how horrible of a mother Renee had been, that she'd pretty much always been on her own when it came to things like this. She had practically raised herself before Charlie, though at least Renee always paid the bills on time and made sure there was food in the house, not that she really cared, but doing so made it that much easier for Bella to not need anything from her. Charlie was too drunk most of the time to remember things like that, not that he was ever at the house much in the first place, he mostly used that house like a crash pad on the nights when he did make it home.
She had been telling the truth about there being no physical abuse, but mentally she knew she was a wreck after growing up knowing just how unwanted she was. She could remember month-long stretches where her parents hadn't said more than two words to her. Bella had learned to live with it, and she had learned to take care of her own needs. She had some sort of job ever since she was thirteen, and the only reason she hadn't been working lately was because of the small inheritance her late grandfather had left her for when she turned eighteen, something neither Charlie nor Renee had known about, and Charlie was so out of it these days that he had failed to notice, for all he knew Bella still worked and bought most of her meals.
Bella often thought about the day the lawyer approached her during her shift at Newton's outdoor supply store. She had been shocked, of course, Renee had only mentioned him once before. Bella had overheard Renee telling a friend that Charlie's father had been the reason they had stayed pregnant and gotten married in the first place, and that Grandpa Swan had been the one to care for Bella up until his passing when Bella was three. After he died, Renee had promptly filed for divorce and fled the state. Bella didn't know how she had ended up going with Renee but she had always suspected that it was because Charlie flat out refused to keep her, and that the child support Charlie paid had more to do with it than any kind of want to have Bella there. Bella had often wondered what it would have been like if Geoffrey Swan had lived long enough to raise her completely.
"I understand."
Carlisle's voice broke her from her thoughts, almost having forgotten he had been there with her. Bella took a deep breath, so beyond grateful that Dr. Cullen wasn't pushing or wanting to make a big deal of things. He sighed, and Bella found herself shocked when he took a seat on her bed, resting a cold hand upon her uncasted one. "Your arm only had a small break, barely more than a fracture so the cast will likely be removed in three months' time, so long as it's healing correctly. The concussion is mild, though you should still avoid too much light or noise, and limit your screen time for the next twenty-four hours. Normally I'd release you to the care of a relative and advise them to monitor you for signs that it's worsening. I can release you, however it's my opinion that you should stay here for the night so that I can monitor you." Carlisle finished, squeezing Bella's hand and then awaited her response.
Bella contemplated her options, but her head was killing her and she really didn't feel like making the trek across town to home. "I'll stay." Bella consented quietly and blushed when Dr. Cullen smiled at her with something like pride in his eyes.
He squeezed her hand again, "Good, good. Now," He paused, releasing her hand and standing from the bed. "Any other questions?"
Bella thought for a moment, before realizing one very important thing. "Rosalie...is she around?" Bella didn't like the way he smiled at her, it was almost like the way Edythe smiled at her, like they knew something she didn't.
"She was here earlier, I'm sure she'll be back in a few hours when you can have visitors and you've settled into your room upstairs." Bella nodded, mumbling a low thanks, and Dr. Cullen made to leave the room. He paused, looking back at her and grinning something mischievous. "She was quite distraught, you know? I heard a little rumor that the boy who had run into you and knocked you down had an unfortunate reaction to some choice words Rosalie had said to him...something about needing a new pair of pants I believe."
Bella grinned down at her hands, that lightness she got when around Rosalie blooming something fierce in her chest at the thought of Rosalie defending her, even if it had all been just an accident. "A rumor huh?" She looked back up at him, her eyebrows raising in disbelief.
Dr. Cullen chuckled and shrugged. "People talk."
Bella laughed quietly at his retreating form, laying back into her bed and closing her eyes, the smile staying firmly upon her lips. She could only imagine the rumors she'd come back to on Monday at school. There was no way that word of Bella's accident wouldn't get around or that a certain Cullen, or rather Hale, came to her rescue and verbally assaulted the boy until he pissed himself. Bella chuckled again, burying her face into her pillow, trying in vain to hide what she was feeling from the rest of the world.