Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ Bette Noir ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Bette Noir
*~*~Chapter 1~*~*
She didn't bother to grab her coat or lock the door as she fled the house, her cell phone clutched in her hand. Freezing rain pelted down in heavy sheets, stinging her eyes and skin and soaking through her clothes as she ran to her truck, slipping twice on patches of ice along the way. A breathy, pained groan sounded over the phone - the call on speaker - and the girl felt her panic increase to a maddening level.
“Stay with me, mom,” she said, her trembling voice alternating between emotionally detached and uncontrolled panic. “Just keep talking to me. Stay with me!
She didn't register the loud metallic bang when she slammed her truck door shut, nor did she notice the wet ice on the seat beneath her - a product of the driver's side window being left slightly open during the rain. Ignoring her seatbelt completely, she jammed the key into the ignition and jerked hard twice, pumping the clutch madly just to get the ancient truck started.
“Are you sure you don't want to come along, Bella?” Charlie asked, checking the Styrofoam container of worms before sealing it away in the small cooler. “It'll be fun!”
Bella laughed as Charlie finished packing his fishing gear in the trunk of the cruiser and slammed the lid shut. Jogging back up the porch steps he gratefully accepted the brown lunch bag of munchies she had prepared for his road trip.
“No thanks, dad,” Bella chuckled, her eyes widening as he donned a fishing vest and hat. “You're actually going to wear that? I thought it was just for show?” she shook her head at his bemused grin. “I'll be fine, dad,” she told him as she walked out the front door after him. “Besides, sitting around for a week while you and Billy are out fishing on the lake - and who knows where else - is not my idea of a good way to spend Spring Break. No offense.”
“None taken,” Charlie said with a half-smile as he climbed behind the wheel and revved the engine. “See you next week, Bells.”
“Bye, dad. Have fun!”
The tires squealed and slipped on the wet ground, unable to find any kind of lasting traction, the roads covered in a thin layer of ice. Her truck - on a good day - topped out at fifty if she was lucky, and here on the ice and in the freezing rain she was pushing it well past its limitations. Her hands trembled as she gripped the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles turned as white as Edward's skin. The truck shook beneath her, the frame and motor protesting the abuse she was putting it under.
“Mom, talk to me!” she yelled at the open phone that was sliding around on the bench seat next to her. “What is the last street sign - the last landmark you can remember seeing?”
Her voice was choked by emotions too powerful to be controlled, her vision blurred by the ice and rain covering her windshield. A hissing voice that tried to form words sounded from the silver device next to her, and once more she begged her mother to speak to her. A gurgled moan was the only response she was given, followed after a long moment by a pained, exhausted whimper.
No, mom! Don't go to sleep! Stay. Awake!”
She turned the corner hard, the gears grinding and protesting as she pushed the truck to go faster. The back tires spun, losing their grip on the icy road and causing the vehicle to fishtail wildly out of control. Tears of rage and desperation fell from her eyes as she fought for - and regained - control of the truck. She was panting, hyperventilating, as she struggled for control over the rising panic that threatened to drown her alive.
“Bella, tell me you're not keeping yourself all cooped up and alone in that house while Charlie's away on one of his famous, week-long fishing trips?”
Bella snorted and laughed at her mother's concern as she put the call on speaker and set the open phone on top of the basket of dirty laundry she had gathered.
“I'm fine, mom,” she laughed and carried the basket down the stairs and into the washroom. “I've got more than enough here to keep me occupied while he's gone.”
“Bella! It's your Spring Break! Your senior Spring Break! You have to have fun! Do something wild and crazy to acknowledge the passing of your last year of high school.” Renee paused and Bella could hear the moment inspiration took hold. “How's that boyfriend of yours?”
“Edward?” Bella said shaking her head at how fast her mother could change gears in a conversation. “He's fine. I think he and his brothers have a camping trip planned. He hasn't really said if he's going yet.”
“Bella,” Renee began casually - too casually - and the girl's eyebrow rose in suspicion. “I thought I'd come see you while you're on break from school.”
“I thought you hated Forks?” the girl replied as she filled and turned on the washing machine.
“Oh, I do,” her mother agreed emphatically and giggled. “But with Phil being in a cast and all, and you being on break, it's the perfect time for a visit. Besides, a few days won't kill me.”
Racing around another dark corner, a blind curve already due to the thick foliage, the headlights of the truck flashed across the twisted and smoking remnants of a two-car crash. It was clear to anyone that the vehicles had hit head on, her mother's car so crushed it was barely recognizable. She pumped her foot furiously against the non-responsive break pedal and choked back a scream when she jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid hitting the cars and lost control. Wet rubber screeched against icy-wet asphalt and a terrified, panicked scream sounded from the girl as she raised her arms up to cover her face.
The powerful `boom' of her truck colliding with the massive, unforgiving tree reverberated through the body of the vehicle like an earthquake, shattering the windshield and driver's side window. Her own pained, fearful cry sounded in her ears as she was thrown hard into the steering wheel, the force of the hit knocking her breath out of her and smacking her head against the side of the doorframe. Glass from the windshield had embedded itself deeply into her upper arms, and created superficial cuts along her brow and left cheek. Shaking so badly, she was afraid she would become ill; the girl did what she could to steady her breath.
Biting her lips against the pain in her head and body, she gripped the door release and pushed furiously against the truck's door, jammed from the impact. Without her seatbelt to hold her back, the girl fell hard to the icy-wet ground when the door flew open, her left wrist collapsing beneath her body with a soft crunching sound and her head knocking against the road's surface when she fell. The force of the impact knocked her unconscious.
“So, Renee's coming to Forks, is she?” Edward said, startling Bella and smirking when she spun around to face him, her cell phone still in her hand.
She hissed at him much like a wet cat and he laughed as he plucked the phone from her hand, taking great delight in tucking it into her front jeans pocket. Chuckling when Bella pushed against him to no avail, he caught her around the waist and pulled her close. Rubbing his nose against the skin of her neck, just below her ear, he took in a deep breath and marveled at her scent. Perhaps he was the cat, and she his catnip.
“It's just another idea of hers,” Bella mused, tucking herself against his cold marble chest and reveling in the sweet scent that still pulled her in like a moth to a flame. “She said the same thing when the winter holidays came around.”
“Yes,” he agreed, taking in another deep, greedy breath and lifting his face to look into her eyes. “But this winter we were trapped under three feet of ice and snow. Which reminds me…Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and I are all going hunting this week. We leave tonight and should be back in four or five days. Do me a favor and don't try to kill yourself while I'm gone,” he requested with a pointed stare and raised brow.
Bella snorted in amusement at his request and then thought over his statement, her brow furrowing in confusion. “Isn't Emmett going too?” Bella asked, sitting on her bed while Edward thumbed through her meager CD collection and grimaced at the ancient desktop. “Don't even think about it Edward - a new computer is too much.”
He raised a brow at her and sighed his displeasure at her refusal to accept `new' gifts. “Emmett and Rose are in the midst of one of their famous fights. Alice warned him not to pull the engine alone, but he didn't listen. What about another hand-me-down?” he asked changing the subject.
She groaned, her eyes blinking open slowly and taking too long to focus, the world around her blurred and unsteady. She found herself to be lying on her side, pain lancing up her left side when she moved her leg, the ground beneath her frozen. Movement was painful. But as she struggled to a sitting position and choked on air thick with smoke, she found breathing to be excruciating. Resting against the side of her truck, she fought against the darkness that beckoned her and the nausea that twisted her stomach into nearly unbearable knots. Looking to her right, she saw the mangled mess that was left of the two cars twisted together and knew that she had to get to her mother.
The noxious scents of burning rubber, engine smoke, and blood choked and nauseated her. Bracing her right hand on the truck's front tire she tried to pull herself to her feet. Her hand slipped on the wet rubber, her feet unable to find purchase on the wet ice and she cried out as she fell to the ground, cutting and scraping the skin of her cheekbone on the road's unforgiving surface. Tiny pebbles and glass fragments embedded themselves into the heels of her hands as she struggled for purchase and once again tried to rise.
Steeling herself against the burning, stabbing pain in her left wrist and forearm and the throbbing ache in her left knee and hip, she pushed herself to her hands and knees. Her entire body trembled violently with the effort it took to simply stay crouched on all fours. Blinking quickly as she fought once more against the darkness, and bit back the bile rising to burn the back of her throat, she looked up only to be blinded by the too bright headlights of the cars in front of her.
“Mom,” she choked out weakly, not noticing when tears began streaming down her cheeks, mixing with the still falling rain.
She was dizzy - so dizzy that it took her four tries, with as many painful falls, to stand up and stay on her feet. Stumbling away from her truck, and fighting against the icy, wet road beneath her, she clenched her jaw against the pain that every move - every breath - brought and swallowed back the rising nausea. Shaking her head against the throbbing headache and vertigo that threatened to steal away her consciousness and blurred her vision, she made her way slowly, unsteadily to the twisted metal of the two cars in front of her.
The one closest to her, facing away from her, was a larger SUV - its shape and color vaguely familiar. So twisted was the front end of the SUV with the front end of her mother's car that she couldn't tell where one car ended and the other began. It looked as though the SUV had tried to devour the front end of her mother's small sedan - and succeeded. She narrowed her eyes against the fires burning in both exposed engines, the light too bright against the nearly blinding darkness of the moonless, starless night. The freezing rain still fell around her, doing nothing to ease the fires fed by engine grease and fluids.
Stumbling to the driver's side window of her mother's car, the glass of the window shattered from the crash, she looked inside. Phil sat in the passenger seat - dead from the impact, his face crushed and lifeless, blood covering the dash in front of him. Looking down at her mother, Bella choked back a horrified sob. The woman's body, from the waist down was crushed beneath the collapsed steering column and dash, the steering wheel forced so low that it was clear the bones of both the woman's thighs were broken. Body trembling with pain and emotions - too many and too strong to control - Bella reached through the window and felt for her mother's pulse and breath…Nothing. The woman was dead.
“No,” Bella sobbed, tears flowing faster even as a strange calm began to settle over her.
Stumbling over to the other car, needing to know who had done this to her family, she peered in through the half-broken window and froze. Mrs. Newton sat in the driver's seat, her seatbelt the only thing supporting her slumped body. Shaking her head, her eyes wide with disbelief, she found this woman to be dead as well. Pulling her hand out of the broken window, she didn't notice when her arm scraped along an exposed shard of glass, a deep gash forming, as it embedded deeply into her flesh, her blood spilling.
There was no pain. No emotion. There was nothing. She couldn't even feel the freezing rain that soaked through her clothes and tinted her skin blue from the cold. Her mind shut down as all thought stopped and became as silent as the death surrounding her. All she knew was that she needed them. They meant safety. They had become her home - her refuge. Turning away from the crash, she walked away, her steps stiff and unsteady as she slipped on the ice and rain covered road.
* * *
He couldn't feel the rain that fell upon him, his fur too long and thick. He never felt the cold anymore. But he could feel the wind. Oh, how he loved the wind! The feel of it whipping through his fur and pulling at his long face as he ran was heaven to him. His muzzle was split in a wide, teeth-showing grin, his tongue hanging out of the side of his jaw and flapping in the wind. The fact that he was a werewolf, running - in wolf form - on a moonless night was always a source of amusement for him and his pack. All those old stories about men possessed by the demon spirit of wolves, to turn into giant monsters only on the night of the full moon were a never ending joke among them all.
Racing down through the thick forests that connected the towns of La Push and Forks, Jacob Black thought he would run a circuit around Bella's house to be certain she was safe. Sure, they had taken care of those newborn vampires and the one behind their creation weeks ago, but with a girl like Bella, one could never be too careful. Lifting his nose to the wind, Jacob was caught off guard by the scent of blood. Familiar blood. Bella's blood. Slamming full body into a tree in his haste to follow the scent, Jacob skidded and rolled down a slippery-wet embankment, before gaining purchase and running full boar at the trail in front of him.
It didn't take him long at all to come across the scene of the accident. Phasing back into his human form, he stepped out of the trees barefoot and clad only in a pair of black sweatpants. Her blood was smeared on the front, top corner of the driver's side door frame, and then again on the top of the front tire covered by the wheel well. From the looks of it her truck was totaled. But Bella was nowhere in sight. Snatching up the cell phone that lay open and precariously balanced on the edge of the passenger's seat, Jacob called authorities to the scene before moving to check on the occupants of the other cars.
His breath hissed in sharply when he recognized the familial scent and knew the woman in the sedan to be Bella's mother. The dead man next to her must be her new husband, Phil. Moving to the larger vehicle, he again found the scent of Bella's blood to be overwhelming and saw the blood covering the broken glass of the driver's shattered window. The scene was grizzly enough for anyone to come across, but for the person to have been Bella? He shook his head and moved away from the cars searching for Bella's scent as he tried to find her. Cursing the rain that had washed away any trail, he closed his eyes and fought for control over the raging waves of fear and worry and he felt for Bella. Dark eyes snapped open in the night as Jacob raced for the cover of the trees and once again phased into his wolf form. There was only one place Bella would go to for safety and comfort. Growling as he snatched the phone in his canine jaw and was careful not to snap the device in pieces, he raced through the woods, a blur of dark russet fur and white fang.
* * *
“You realize, of course, that Ramirez is going to win the match, Emmett,” Carlisle said confidently as he hung his scarf and dark wool coat in the hall closet, setting his medical bag on the floor inside.
“Connelly's got some mad skills though,” Emmett replied just as confident in the Irish fighter, not looking away from the free-style boxing match he was watching. “He's good at reading his opponent's moves.”
“Perhaps,” Carlisle agreed, joining Emmett on the couch as he too watched the feather-weight match that was promised to be the fight of the year. “But Connelly's not nearly fast enough to avoid Ramirez's blows. Esme?”
“In the basement searching for something she wanted to give Bella before the wedding. Wouldn't tell me what it was,” Emmett said with an almost pout and the gentle chime of Esme's laughter could be heard from the direction of the laundry room.
“That's because you can't keep a secret to save your life!” Esme laughed, her voice carrying on the wind like a bird's song.
Carlisle chuckled and stood. “She's right,” he mused before disappearing through the house.
Emmett groaned and cursed Carlisle for being right when Ramirez landed a knock-out blow on Connelly, effectively ending the match. He heard Carlisle laugh at him as he turned off the television and stood, tossing the remote on the low table in front of the couch. Walking through the front rooms of the house, Emmett came to stand beside the glass paneled front door and looked outside into the falling rain. The side of his mouth pulled up in a half-smile as he hoped that wherever Rosalie was, the rain was with her as well, perhaps it would cool her temper down.
Staring into the darkness, his eyes narrowed as a familiar scent caught his attention and he opened the door to step outside. The scent was dulled, diluted by the rain, but impossible to ignore. His jaw fell open, his eyes widening in abject horror as a figure - hidden by shadows and drenched from the rain - came stumbling around the curve of the long road leading up to his house. Slipping in the rain and ice, the figure moved stiffly and unsteadily, much like the zombies in all those bad horror movies Jasper loved to watch and laugh at. Standing just under the overhang of the front porch, Emmett closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.
“God, no,” he whispered horrified. “Carlisle!” he called out desperately as he raced toward the figure, moving so fast he was unseen.
She was shaking, trembling violently as she walked, her steps slowing. Blood mixed with the sill-falling rain and dripped down her arm and face to the frozen road below as her teeth chattered in the cold she couldn't feel. The darkness surrounding her, pulling at her brain, beckoned to her once more and this time she could no longer resist. Emmett caught Bella's limp body in his arms as she fell weightless to the frozen ground. Swinging her up to cradle her body against his chest, Emmett fought back the mix of anger and helplessness he felt at the injuries he could both see and feel on Bella's slight frame. Turning when he felt Carlisle's hand on his shoulder, he looked at his adoptive vampire father desperately.
“What could have done this to her? Why didn't Alice see this coming?”
“I don't know, Emmett.”
Carlisle clenched his jaw against the almost insane need to take the girl from Emmett's arms and hold her in his own. In such a short time Bella had become part of the family: a daughter to he and Esme, a sister to the one holding her and the others away hunting, and a soon-to-be wife to Edward. They both watched as Bella's eyes opened, but no life could be seen held within. Emmett called her name, hoping to get any kind of response from the girl in his arms, but nothing came of it.
“What's wrong with her?” he asked desperately of Carlisle.
“She's in shock. Whatever caused her injuries has left her traumatized. Come, Emmett, we need to get her out of the rain.”
Refusing to release his hold on the girl he loved as a sister, Emmett sped to the house, both he and Carlisle invisible in their speed. Esme stood in the open front door, her eyes impossibly wide when she caught sight and smell of Bella, tears filling her eyes when the girl failed to respond to the sound of her name. Trembling as she looked to her husband for any kind of answer, Esme fought not to cry.
“Gather blankets and towels, as many as you can find,” Carlisle ordered his wife, drawing her into a quick, tight hug, before kissing her brow and releasing her. “She'll be alright, Esme. Go,” he told her, watching as she disappeared in a blur.
Moving to the hall closet and retrieving his medical bag, Carlisle stepped into the kitchen to find that Emmett still had not relinquished his hold on the girl cradled in his arms. Laying his hand on the younger vampire's shoulder, he looked into eyes that were an odd mix of black and gold.
“She'll be alright, Emmett,” he assured him.
“Look at her, Carlisle,” Emmett said, his voice hoarse with strained emotion. “She doesn't even recognize us. How can you say she'll be ok?”
“She will be,” he said once more, taking a dark red fleece blanket from his wife and spreading it out across the kitchen table's large, oval surface. “Lay her down, Emmett. Esme, help me get these wet clothes off of her.”
Esme nodded and handed Emmett a towel. She carefully began undoing the buttons of Bella's shirt, biting her lip to keep from sobbing aloud when she saw that the three middle buttons were cracked and broken. Standing by her head, Emmett carefully wrapped the terry-cloth towel in his hands around Bella's long hair and gently squeezed the water from it, drying the locks slowly. Growls sounded from all three vampires when they were startled by the sudden loud, and almost angry pounding at the front door.
“I'll get it,” Emmett hissed, bending down to kiss Bella's forehead before moving away.
“Emmett.” Carlisle warned the younger vampire to keep his temper.
“What could have done this?” Esme asked, her fingers barely gracing Bella's icy skin as she traced the angry red half-circle bruise that covered most of her torso.
Emmett reappeared seconds later with Jacob Black by his side, the teen clad only in a pair of black sweatpants. Stepping up to the table slowly, he moved cautiously around the vampires he knew would be far more fierce in their protection of Bella now that she was lying injured on their kitchen table. The girl was nude, save the two towels: one covering her chest, and one covering her hips. Her eyes were open and unseeing, her skin tinted blue from being out too long in the freezing rain. Waiting to move until Carlisle nodded his consent, Jacob gently cupped her icy cheek in his fever-warm palm.
“Carlisle and Emmett found her outside a few moments ago,” Esme said, her voice trembling, tears glistening in her eyes. “We don't know what happened to her.”
“She ran her truck into a tree.” Jacob's factual statement had all three vampires focused on him with undivided attention. “I don't know if she knew where she was going, or if she just happened upon it,” he said and described to them the scene of the crash.
“Bella,” Esme cried the girl's name, her hands flying up to cover her open mouth as she shook her head, her eyes wide.
“She's so cold,” Jacob said his voice a whisper. “I can't imagine how long it took her to get here. The crash was over four miles from here. In her condition…she must have been walking for more than an hour.”
With a single nod of his blond head, Carlisle directed Emmett and Jacob to move away as he opened his medical bag and began taking out the needed instruments. Esme stood watching, tears glistening in her eyes, as her husband took up a set of shining silver tweezers and began extracting automotive glass from Bella's face, her palms, and then worst - her arms. The small soup bowl that Esme had set next to the girl's hip was nearly filled with shards of blood-covered glass. Some of the pieces were so small that she doubted a human doctor would have seen them, yet other pieces were so large and jagged - especially from Bella's right arm - that it hurt to watch Carlisle remove them.
Searching for any kind of distraction from the scene in front of her, Esme listened as Jacob and Emmett discussed the scene of the crash in low voices. Esme found herself thankful that she and Emmett seemed to be immune to the nearly hypnotic pull of the girl's blood, wondering just how much more would be spilled before all the glass was extracted. Carlisle looked up at his wife and knew that if she were able, she would be awash in her own tears. Bella was their newest daughter, and though she had yet to become a vampire, she was already an intricate and irreplaceable member of the Cullen family.
“She'll be alright, Esme,” Carlisle assured his wife, looking into her wide eyes. “For the most part, it looks worse than it is.” Nodding to the area of her chest that the towel didn't cover, Carlisle's eyes looked upon the visible part of the darkening half-circle bruise. “She's badly bruised from her impact with the steering wheel, but none of her ribs or her sternum are broken.”
“There's so much glass,” Esme said, her voice a horrified whisper. “What she found…her mother and Phil…what Jacob described…Carlisle,” her voice broke off on a whimper as she shook her head, mourning for what the girl had been through. “Where's Charlie?”
“Week long fishing trip with Billy Black up in La Push,” Emmett said as he came back to the table and looked down at Bella and then over at Jacob, as the werewolf moved closer to the table slowly. “I went with him a few days ago to get a new hunting knife and fishing line for his trip. He wanted my take on how committed Edward was to Bella…He made me promise to take care of Bella while he was gone.” Emmett's voice was full of grief as he blamed himself for failing to protect his newest sister.
“No one could have known this would happen, Emmett,” Carlisle said as he gently cleaned and stitched the long gash on the inside of Bella's right arm. “Not even Alice knew.”
Needing something to do to keep herself calm, Esme gathered up the soaked towels and Bella's soaked and torn clothing and put them in the washing machine. Bracing her hands against the top of the front-loading machine, she absently turned it on, a sob breaking from deep in her throat. It hurt her so badly to see Bella lying still as death on the kitchen table. Of course she could hear the girl's heartbeat, weak though it was, but the sound wasn't nearly enough to assure her that everything would be alright. Disappearing up the back staircase, she returned seconds later with a pillow and gently tucked it under Bella's head.
Brushing his hand against her exposed shoulder, Emmett stepped up to stand behind Bella's head and bent down low. Resting his forehead - upside down - against hers, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply of her scent. It was a meager, pathetic substitute for the hug he wished he could give her, but for now it would have to do. Straightening up, he walked into the front room, retrieving his vibrating cell phone from his pocket and answering the call, Jacob following close behind when he heard Alice's voice.
Even moving with his enhanced speed and abilities, it had taken Carlisle nearly an hour to extract all of the shards of glass and stitch up her open wounds. Once all of her cuts and scrapes had been cleaned and bandaged, he had Esme lift Bella while he changed out the blood covered blanket beneath her for a new one. Touching his cheek to his wife's, Carlisle once again assured her that Bella would be all right. Gathering up every bit of blood soaked fabric, gauze and cotton, Carlisle walked to the fire Emmett had lit in the stone fireplace and threw the items into the flames. Returning to Bella, he found Jacob to be standing by her side, seemingly frozen in place as he looked down upon her still form - his bronze face taught with concern.
“She'll be alright,” Carlisle assured the teen. “Be very careful,” he warned as he took Jacob's wrist and guided him to lay his open palm on Bella's chest just below the curve of her collarbone. “Do what you can to focus your body heat into her. Until I have all of her injuries assessed and tended to, I can't put her in a bath.”
Jacob nodded and placed his other hand on her abdomen, cringing at the feel of her ice cold skin. A sudden thought occurred to the wolf and his brow furrowed in concentration as he sniffed at her. Cursing his ability for not being enough, he looked up at the doctor only to find him staring back curiously.
“She isn't?” Jacob asked quickly, his eyes flicking between Bella's abdomen and Carlisle.
“No,” Carlisle assured him, understanding the unfinished question. “I checked for internal bleeding first.”
Jacob nodded and looked back down at Bella. His breath came in sharp pants, his nostrils flaring, as he felt the sudden and uncontrolled need to rip something apart. Shaking his head at Carlisle's unvoiced question, he stepped away from the table quickly and fled the room for fear of hurting Bella unintentionally. He could feel the vibrations and currents of energy spiraling up his spine and tingling around his arms, making him feel as if he were coming undone. If he didn't get himself under control soon, he would end up phasing into his wolf form inside the Cullen manor.
Carlisle was gentle and meticulous as he probed Bella, searching for unseen breaks or fractures. It seemed to him that her left side had taken most of the damage, and he winced when he felt her swollen left wrist. The wrist bones felt almost crushed, the tops of her ulna and radial bones, where they connected to her wrist bones, felt cracked with hairline fractures. Retrieving a hard brace from his medical bag, he carefully wrapped the wrist, setting the break temporarily. He knew he would have to take her into the hospital for a series of X-rays to be able to fully assess the damage done.
Moving down to carefully probe her swelling and bruised hip, he found that thankfully nothing had been broken or dislocated. She must have fallen out of her truck to do this much damage, Carlisle thought as he looked down at the knee of the same leg. It, as well, was badly bruised and showing signs of swelling, but didn't appear to be seriously injured. Securing her knee in a brace to be on the safe side, he moved down to her feet. He shook his head sadly. Both ankles were swollen and, from the feel of them, only sprained. Wrapping them carefully in ACE bandages, he made a mental note to pick up a few ice packs from the corner store.
The scent of salt caught Carlisle's attention and his focus was immediately on Bella's face. Her eyes were tightly closed; her lips and chin trembling as she fought to control the tears that streamed from the corners of her eyes. Stepping up to her side, he cupped her right - mostly uninjured - cheek in his palm and chaffed the skin of her cheekbone with feather-light brushes of his thumb.
“You're safe, Bella,” Carlisle assured her, his voice gentle and soothing. “You made it home to us, honey.”
A choked sob sounded from her, her body trembling. He knew the movement must have been agonizing for her, but he gladly accepted Bella in his arms when she opened her eyes and launched herself at him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and he kissed her damp hair. Cupping the back of her head in one hand, he wrapped his other arm carefully around her bare back, holding her to him as she clung to him. She kept her face pressed into the soft, knitted fabric of his sweater as she sobbed uncontrollably, the feel and sound of her tears breaking his heart.
Esme was at his side instantly, her voice low and gentle as she whispered soothing bits of nonsense to the girl that she loved as one of her own. Refusing to relinquish her hold on Carlisle, Bella leaned just enough to the side to rest the side of her head against Esme as she felt the woman stroke her hair and rub her lower back in slow circles. Seconds later she felt a thick fleece blanket surround her as Emmett carefully wrapped her in its copious folds and hugged her from behind. He spoke to Carlisle, too fast and too low to be understood by anyone other than Esme, relaying the conversation he'd had with Alice.
“I'm here, kiddo,” Emmett assured Bella when he heard his name, broken and muffled by sobs, come from the girl.
Jacob looked on them from the open entryway that led into the front room, feeling as though he were spying on an intimate moment. His heart twisted and ached painfully, jealousy and the too-powerful sense of loss impaling his spirit. He had always hoped that some way - some how - Bella would choose him over Edward. But now as he stood watching the three vampires that were wrapped around Bella, listened as they soothed and comforted the girl in her darkest hour, he could understand why she had always insisted that there was no choice to be made.
Bella may love him, but she loved all of the Cullens so much more. In such a short time, she had somehow become a member of their family. Vampire or not, the Cullens loved Bella unconditionally and would protect and care for her - no questions asked - until the very end. It was in that very moment that he knew, no matter what, Bella would never - could never - choose him.
Jacob felt the hollow fissure in his heart tear deep and bleed unchecked within him. The spacious house had suddenly become suffocating and the need to get out - to run as a wolf and howl his misery - was more than he could bear. Nearly colliding with Jasper on his way out the front door, Jacob phased into his wolf form before his feet had even touched the house's drive, his sweatpants shredding behind him.
Walking through the house, Jasper was taken back by the intensity of Bella's pain, both physical and emotional. Stepping up to the table, he eased the others away from her and scooped Bella up into his arms, blanket and all. Cradling the sobbing, blanket-wrapped girl to his chest, he carried her into the front room and sat down on the couch with her in his lap. Tucking her face, wet with tears that couldn't be stopped, into the curve of his neck, he rocked her slowly.
Soothing ribbons of safety and comfort began weaving through the madness of the uncontrollable grief and fear she felt, calming the raging tide of her emotions to a more manageable level. Her arms escaped the blanket only to twine around his neck and shoulder as she cried, clinging to him desperately. Jasper cupped her head and stroked her hair as he slowly infused a gentle calm into her, knowing that if he were to act too quickly, he could send her into shock. She was nearly asleep in his arms when he looked up at the others, careful to shield Bella from the overwhelming concern he felt for her.
“What happened?” Jasper asked Carlisle, adjusting Bella to cradle her in the crook of his shoulder as the patriarch of their family gave the girl a dose of morphine. “Alice just suddenly sent me away, saying that Bella needed me and that I had to hurry. She never mentioned anything about Bella being hurt like this,” he flicked his eyes over her body, hidden within the blanket.
Carlisle brushed the backs of his fingers down Bella's cheek, careful to avoid the cuts on her skin - hot from her tears - as he watched sleep finally claim the girl. Without looking up from Bella, Carlisle relayed all that Jacob had told them, as well as how he and Emmett had found her wondering outside, nearly catatonic, in the rain. Jasper unconsciously held the girl in his arms closer, his jaw tightening as he wondered just which cruel fates had decided to tag team on his newest sister and why.
“She's still cold,” Jasper said. “I can feel her shivering.”
“I'll draw her a hot bath,” Esme said, moving away from the group at her husband's nod of approval.
“Do you think Jacob will tell Charlie what's happened?” Emmett asked as he looked down on Bella's sleeping face.
“With the emotions that I felt coming from him when he ran out of here, I doubt it,” Jasper said. “I bet it'll be a few days before he even phases back to his human form.”
Bella whimpered in her sleep, calling out brokenly for her mother and Jasper held her closer, using his talent to wrap her in a cocoon of calm and comfort. Esme reappeared a short moment later and looked down on Bella with the concern of a mother for her beloved child. Gently taking her from Jasper, Esme carried Bella up the stairs and into the waiting bath. Closing his eyes as he followed Bella with his talent, Jasper felt the first stirrings of her fear reappearing. Shaking his head sadly, Jasper disappeared up the stairs in a blur of motion and color.
“Come in,” Esme bid her adoptive son quietly, Bella trembling in the bathwater, covered by a well placed hand towel.
“Bella?” Jasper spoke her name, opening the door only an inch or two. “Can I come in?”
Nodding her head, Bella suddenly remembered he couldn't see her and whimpered out a trembling `yes'.
“She woke when I lowered her into the water,” Esme said, too low for Bella to hear.
Jasper nodded and moved to the side of the tub kneeling down next to the girl inside. Her hands came out of the water, dripping onto his clothes as she desperately grabbed onto his hand. Moving close enough to kiss her temple, Jasper turned to Esme. Sure, he knew how to manipulate emotions: calm an angry crowd, enliven the subdued; but he had very little experience with someone grieving as much and as deeply as Bella. He wasn't sure what the right move was. Did he calm her emotions for her? Or was he suppose to let her feel the grief and move past it on her own?
His answer was made for him when Bella suddenly grabbed tightly onto his shoulders and - had he been human - would've pulled him into the water with her. She was trembling violently, uncontrollably, the water forming small waves from her movement.
“Shh,” he whispered to her, petting her hair.
“I - I c-can't - please!
“I'm right here, Bella,” Jasper promised her and took control of her emotions, soothing her back to sleep. “I'm right here.”
“Once she's warmed up a bit,” Esme said as she felt the water's temperature, “I'll dry her off and put her to bed. Stay with her until Edward gets back. She's going to need you - and your talent - a lot in the coming days. Don't be surprised to be fighting off her nightmares; I'm sure there will be plenty.”
Jasper nodded and breathed deeply before releasing Bella into Esme's careful hands.
“I'll be outside.” Damn you. Whatever god, or fate or spirit that you are - why Bella? What has she ever done to deserve this kind of pain? Leaning his back against the wall outside the bathroom door, Jasper closed his eyes and slid down to sit on the floor.