17. Criminal Charges

BPOV

I woke up just as we were pulling into the garage. As soon as I opened my eyes, Edward told me that my father was here and that he needed to talk to me.


“But what about all of this stuff?” I asked, pointing in the general direction of the backseat and yawned.

Edward smiled, “I’ll take care of it. My brothers and I are going to put together the trampoline and basketball hoop out back, so you can have some privacy with your dad.”


“Yeah, okay…” I agreed, then got out of the SUV but immediately turned to open the back door.


“I’ll get it, Bella,” Edward reminded me, but I grabbed some of the bags anyway.


He came around to my side of the car and saw the five bags I had gathered in one of my hands. He went to reach for them, but I stuck them behind my back.

“I can still help,” I told him, then gave him a quick kiss before walking by him into the house.


When I was in the hallway, I checked the contents of the bags so I would know where to put them. After I looked down, I saw that they were full of candy, crackers, peanut butter & jelly and some other stuff, so I headed towards the kitchen.


When I got to the kitchen, I put the bags on the counter and started to unpack them, intent on putting the various items away, but Esme came into the kitchen to stop me.


“Hello, dear…did you have a nice time?” she asked and put a hand on my shoulder.


“Yes I did, how was your day?” I asked, making polite conversation with my favorite mom.


“It was fine,” she informed me, then started reaching for the items that I had taken out of the bags. “Your dad is here. Go talk to him, we will take care of putting everything away,” she assured me as she was putting some macaroni and cheese boxes in the cabinet.


I nodded, resigned to the fact that nobody was going to let me help even though all of this stuff was for me, and went to the dining room where I knew my father would be seated at the table. I casually strolled out of the kitchen and into the next room, spotting the back of my father’s head.


“Hey Dad,” I greeted as I slipped into the chair at the head of the table to his left.


He jumped a bit, startled by my sudden presence and I had to fight a smile at the fact that he was feeling a little anxious and creeped out. He was in a freakin vampire lair, after all.


“Oh, hey Bells,” he greeted and nodded at me a bit.


I put my elbows on the table and got comfortable in my chair. “What’s up?”


“Um…” he hesitated, “How are you doing?” he hedged.


I nodded slowly, wondering why he cared all of a sudden. “Fine…” I replied lamely. “We just got back from a day of shopping in Port Angeles,” I informed him as an after thought.


“That’s great…sounds fun,” he replied a little too enthusiastically.


I rested my chin on my right hand and narrowed my eyes a little in suspicion. “What’s up, Dad? I mean, really…”


He sighed, clearly having been caught trying to stall, and rubbed the back of his neck nervously before he finally just spit it out. “The judge added an additional fine to your charges,” he stated, then finally made eye contact with me.


I tensed and was silent for a minute, feeling myself grow irritated all over again at the fucked up situation that Marie had put me in over the last six weeks. I had come back into awareness one day, only to find myself in a fucking holding cell at the police station where my father works.


Marie had taken over for three whole days, and in that amount of time, I had shoplifted from a Walmart and assaulted one of their security officers…all while having a small baggy of marijuana in my back pocket. You can imagine what happened when the cops showed up shortly after that, my dad being one of the attending officers.


I had already been in the holding cell for an entire twenty-five hours before my awareness came back, and I spent two more days in there before my father finally let up, figuring that I had learned my lesson, then let me go home. But I still had criminal charges on my record and had to go to court. I was sentenced to a $300 fine and assigned forty-five hours of community service that was to be completed by a certain time. The deadline was twelve days ago, actually.


Well, I paid the damn fine and I did the grueling tasks of various community service assignments that the county had handed down to me. So this should not be a problem anymore. It should have been done and over with…


So what the fuck is the problem?


“Why…?” I asked slowly, confused because I hadn’t done anything wrong.


“You skipped out on the last day of your community service,” he informed me.


I shook my head. “No, I didn’t,” I immediately denied.


“Bella, don’t lie to me. I have the court reports and all of your hours were logged into the system and signed off on,” he said before accusing me again, “You skipped out on your last day.”


Suddenly angry, I yelled, “I told you to call those bastards and get the day reassigned! I was sick, puking my guts out and laying on the fucking bathroom floor for two days.”


He furrowed his brow at my sharp tone and I took a second to calm down. I didn’t want this visit to be tainted with fighting.


After a minute, I spoke calmer. “You know this,” I reminded him.


“Well, Bella…obviously I forgot since I’ve been swamped at work lately-”


“Fuckin your whore lately…” I said lightly.


He shot me a glare and I glared right back as he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You shouldn’t have committed those crimes that got you into this mess in the first place, so you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. And that includes the consequences of skipping out on the responsibility of your punishment,” he informed me.


I covered my face with my hands. I was suddenly angry again.

“I didn’t skip out!” I yelled into my palms before looking up at my father.

He was giving me a hard look that showed no leniency or sympathy.


Fucking hell.


Well this sucks Marie said out of nowhere.


You think so? Does it? I said sarcastically before mentally yelling at her. This is all your fault! Goddamn it Marie! I still can’t believe you tried to walk out of the fucking Walmart with a stereo and then you really just couldn’t help yourself when it came to the security officer, huh. You just had to break his nose and nut sack. God…you are so fucking unbelievable I grumbled angrily at her.


Hey! That motherfucker grabbed me, he was practically begging me for a nut cracker. And I said I was fucking sorry! So SHUT UP! Stop yelling at me.


If I could smack you, I swear I would.


Go ahead doll, smack me, and then tell me how our pretty face feels when you’re done she said cheekily.


Ugh, just shut up. I need to think…

I sighed and let my hands flop back down on the table, defeated. “What do I do? How much is the additional fine?”

He nodded, glad that I was now giving into the circumstances and not putting up a fight anymore. “I talked to the judge and he let me know that you have a choice. You can pay the additional fine, which would be another $300, or you can go do two days of community service. It’s your choice, but I need to know in two days. By Friday,” he informed me.


I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, a habit I had picked up from Edward. After a few minutes of thought, I said, “I’ll come up with the money…”


“How?” he asked, being nosy.


“Don’t worry about it,” I shot back.


“You shouldn’t go asking Edward for the money, Isabella,” he said seriously. “It’s not right, and this is your responsibility, not his.”

I slapped my hand down on the table. “That’s not how I’m getting the money,” I said angrily, mad again that he had automatically assumed that.


He stared into my eyes for a minute, seeming to search for the truth of my statement, before he nodded and said, “Right, well…I’d better get going.”


He started to stand from his chair and I was suddenly disappointed that this was the only reason he had come to see me. To inform me of an additional charge on my record, not to actually talk to see how I was doing, or to spend time with me. And then I was mad that I was disappointed in the first place…I should have expected this from the beginning.

He had always been a neglectful father.


I shot up out of my chair. “Yeah, well don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out,” I said before I walked by him, shoulder-checking him as I did.


I walked through the living room and noticed the only person in the house was Esme. Everyone, no doubt, had heard that entire conversation, but I was thankful that they didn’t intrude. They were all out back, helping with the trampoline or basketball hoop.


Esme had a concerned look on her face as I passed by her. “I put all the groceries up and I’ll see your father out, sweetheart,” she informed me.


I nodded and smiled at her to let her know that I was alright, but didn’t speak as I headed up the stairs to my room. When I got up there, I saw the several shopping bags full of toys on the floor by the bed. I immediately occupied myself with putting those things away.


I took the soap crayons, bubble bath solution and Ariel water doll into the bathroom. I decided to just stick them in the cabinet under the sink. They would be waiting there for Isabella and her bath times…I remember playing in the tub a lot when I was a kid, so Isabella should have fun with her little bath toys.


I got Marie’s box and her beading kits and put them on top of the dresser. I wasn’t sure where she wanted them, and I wasn’t going to ask her, so I just left them there, waiting for placement later. I grabbed all of the coloring utensils, drawing pad and all eight coloring books, and placed them down on the small desk in the corner of the room.


I noticed that it was deadly silent in the room and it was making me antsy, so I decided to put on a movie for backround noise while I finished putting the girls’ stuff away. I went over to the flat screen and pressed the power button, turning it on, before I picked out ‘She’s The Man’, to watch. After sticking it in the dvd player and hitting PLAY, I turned back to the shopping bags on the floor.


Next were the baby doll and accessories. I took the doll basinet out of it’s box and set it on the floor in the corner of the room, between the bed and the closet. Once I had the doll out of it’s packaging, I laid it down on the play bed and started to rip open the packaging for it’s accessories. After I had everything unwrapped, I put all the play bottles, play diapers, and baby doll clothes in the little diaper bag that went with everything. After the bag was packed, I set it down beside the basinet and turned back to the shopping bags.


I got the micro plush ‘Little Angel’ blanket out of the bag and unrolled it out of it’s packaging, taking it over to the hamper to be washed with our clothes. I grabbed the small hamper and the bucket of sidewalk chalk then made my way downstairs.


I was holding the hamper to my hip and carrying the bucket in my other hand, when I entered the living room. I was greeted with the whole family, just sitting there…watching me walk down the steps. Like, they found me interesting or something.

I rolled my eyes as I made my way off the last step. “Look, guys…I know I have people living in my head and all, but if you could not look at me like I’m here for your entertainment, that would be awesome,” I told the room.


Alice giggled and Edward rolled his eyes. Rosalie scowled, as usual, and Emmett grinned at me. Esme and Carlisle just watched me adoringly, their unconditional love for me shining through their golden eyes.


“We were just waiting to see who was coming down to greet us,” Carlisle said after a few seconds.


I smiled, understanding their constant dilemma. “Yeah, well it’s me. The one and only,” I said, nodding and continued to make my way towards the laundry room.


Esme stood. “Let me get that for you dear,” she said, then reached for the hamper at my side.


“Thanks,” I said as I handed it over.


“That’s an awesome trampoline you chose, Bella,” Emmett exclaimed.


“Oh, yeah? I didn’t choose it, Isabella did, but I did get a look at the picture on the box and I think I need to agree with your assessment of it’s awesomeness,” I said with a smile.


“What that in your hand, Bella?” Jasper asked curiously.


I held it up for his viewing pleasure as Esme returned to the room. “Sidewalk chalk…you know, to draw stuff…on the sidewalk…outside,” I replied lamely. I mean, I thought it would be pretty self-explanatory.


“Who is it for?” he asked, standing up and coming closer to where I was standing in the living room.


“Isabella,” I informed everyone. “Yeah…I think you guys will find that she’s quite the artist,” I said with a nod.


Carlisle raised his eyebrows, intrigued. “Really?”


I nodded and bit my lip, before explaining, “Yep, that’s her talent. Marie likes to sing and Isabella likes to draw.”


After some thought, I said, “ You know, it’s almost sadistic how much Marie actually enjoys the physical aspect of a fight and Isabella is…physical too, just in the sense that she’s very flexible. She will climb on anything, so keep an eye on her…umm, furniture, counters, ladders, trees, umm…really any random hanging thing that she can get a hold of,” I informed them.


When I saw that I had everyone‘s rapt attention, I decided to continue on.


Every little piece of information helps, right?


Whatever, it’s not like we come with fucking warning labels, or anything.


Right.


“She’s quite the little escape artist,” I said before adding, “survival instincts, you know,” I supplied.

They nodded.


“Marie can be outgoing and hyper…Isabella is shy and quiet. They both can be affectionate, but they both also have a very bad temper. And foul language. And emotional baggage. So, um…yeah, enjoy that,” I said pointedly, with a smile. “Well, I’m gonna go put this in the garage, so…yeah,” I offered before walking off with the bucket of sidewalk chalk. I knew it was rude, but they were just all staring at me and I hate being the center of attention.


When I got out to the garage, I saw my new bike leaning up against the wall with the helmet hanging from one of the handle bars. I couldn’t wait to ride it.


It’s mine Marie notified me.


You can share it I shot back before saying, Shut up, I’m mad at you.


My mind was silent then , so I put the sidewalk chalk on the bench beside where my new bike was. When I turned to go back inside, I saw Edward standing there behind me. I jumped and exhaled sharply. He scared the crap out of me.


“You scared the crap outta me!” I told him.


“We need to talk,” he told me, his face revealing nothing.

“Kay…” I mumbled warily while looking up into his blank stare.


He grabbed my hand then, and lead me back into the room still full of my vampire family.


“What…are we having a family meeting now, or something?” I asked lightly as I took a seat on the couch between Emmett and Edward.


Carlisle started. “Bella, it’s not a problem for us to give you the $300 that you ne-”


“No,” I interrupted him sharply. I sighed, realizing that I was being rude and then looked into his gaze. “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your money, on top of everything else…well, more of your money,” I corrected after remembering my afternoon of shopping.


“Won’t you please let us help?” Esme asked sweetly.


I shook my head, slightly exasperated. “You guys are helping me. Believe me, ok Esme? You guys have been wonderful and accepting of the crazy girl that you came home to. That’s more than enough, really,” I stressed.


“Of course we accept you,” Edward and Alice exclaimed at the same time.


“Jinx!” Emmett yelled out, to which I smiled and rolled my eyes, then Rosalie smacked him upside his head.

“Quiet,” she admonished him.


She’s mean…she hit him I heard Isabella say.


It’s alright, don’t worry about it I told her, but she didn’t respond so I turned my attention back to the current conversation.


“And you’re not crazy,” Edward added.


See? I fucking told you so Marie gloated.


Shut up.


I just nodded at him. “Look, guys…” I called out, getting the attention of the room again. “My life without you here was really messed up. I’ve been in a lot of trouble because of Marie and I’ve had a lot of ugly experiences and have done a lot of things that I regret,” I revealed to them. “But none of this is your concern, alright? I can handle it myself. I‘ve been handling it for a while,” I insisted.


The room was silent, the vampires were stewing over what I had just said. After a minute, they all got looks of concern or regret on their faces and soon, Edward’s velvety voice broke the silence.


“How will you get the money, then?” Edward asked, concerned.


“Don’t worry about it,” I repeated what I had told my father.


“But-” he spoke up and I interrupted him.


God, I have to get out of the habit of interrupting people. It’s fucking rude.


Yeah it is Marie agreed.


Nobody asked you.


“I know people, alright?” I said. “Or…Marie knows people,” I corrected after a second.


“What people?” Edward asked almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth.


“I’ve got pretty tight connections through Jacob. Or, shit…Marie does. But Jacob knows it’s Marie who associates with these people, and not me…he can tell the difference between the two of us really well because, apparently, it’s not subtle,” I explained.


“No, it’s not,” Edward agreed. “Wait…” he said after a minute. “Jacob knows about Marie?” he asked with an unfathomable look on his face…hurt?


“Well, yeah,” I said as if it should be obvious. “She’s been around for six months now. The last three have pretty much been spent with him.”


“I guess that makes sense..." Edward said off to the side.


I rolled my eyes, knowing that he was jealous of my friendship with Jake. He needed to get over that, and it’s his own damn fault that he wasn’t around six months ago to meet Marie, and Jacob was.

That thought suddenly pissed me off, so I pushed it to the back of my mind and went back to the subject at hand.


“Besides, this is all Marie’s mess. I’ve dealt with it for the last six weeks and I am through. Done. She’s got connections with people, she can deal with this. Get herself out of trouble for once because I’m sick of it. She always does something stupid that always gets her in trouble, but then she leaves me to handle it. I’m sick of cleaning up after her,” I vented, and stood up. “She can ‘handle it’ this time,” I told them, then walked out of the room, heading up the stairs. I still had stuff to put away.


When I got up to the third floor, I raced over to the bathroom because I had to pee really bad. My speed would have made a marathon runner proud, I was seriously fixing to burst. When I was through and washed my hands, I opened the door to find Edward sitting on our bed, waiting for me. ‘She’s The Man’ was still playing on our TV in the backround and he had been watching that while waiting for me to come out of the bathroom.

I smiled at him and went over to the bag with all of the kid dvds. I grabbed some of the movies and Edward grabbed the rest, then we went over to the movie shelf together and started to put them in their place, according to the shelf’s already alphabetized order.


“What did Marie do?” he asked me, placing Over the Hedge on the shelf.


I stuck Peter Pan in it’s spot as I thought of how to explain the situation. “Do you remember how I told you I was out of it for three whole days…and how it was disorienting, not to mention upsetting?”


He nodded. “Yeah,” he said and placed Cars on the shelf.


I stuck both Toy Story dvds in their spot and continued. “Well, in those three days, Marie had managed to land me with a criminal record. I have three charges against me: Larceny, Assault and Possession of an illegal substance.”


Edward’s looked shocked and angry at this, but I continued on, placing The Little Mermaid and Lady and the Tramp on the shelf next. “She tried to steal a stereo from a Walmart. And when their security guard tried to stop her, she assaulted him. You know, because he grabbed her, or whatever. She broke his nose and kicked him in the nuts. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, when the cops showed up, there was a small baggy of marijuana in her back pocket. Oh yeah, and since we’re in Forks and just because I’m that lucky, my dad was one of the attending officers on the scene,” I informed him.


He put Shrek on the shelf and asked, “What happened then?”


“Well, it’s needless to say that he was pretty pissed,” I said, and put Sleeping Beauty away. “So, I get arrested and all that jazz, and they stick me in a holding cell down at the station where my dad works. When I came back into awareness, I was so freaked out. I didn’t know why I was locked up or why my dad was being so cold with me. After a while though, Marie showed me what had happened, so then I understood, but I was furious at the same time. My dad didn’t let me out to go home until two days later. I had already been there for twenty-five hours, so they kept me in there for three days total,” I said and put Monsters Inc on the shelf.


“So if you stayed in jail, then why do you have fines and stuff?” he asked, confused, then put Robin Hood and Sword in the Stone on the shelf.


I stuck The Emperor’s New Groove up there and answered, “ Because keeping me in there wasn’t the county’s punishment, it was my dad’s. The county sentenced me with a $300 fine and forty-five hours community service that had to be done by a certain time…twelve days ago, actually. But I’m in this funk now because I missed the last day of my community service because I was sick and my dad forgot to reschedule it for me. So now, I either pay another $300, or do two additional days of community service.”


“Yeah, I heard that part, baby,” he let me know as he put away The Lion King, Hocus Pocus and Casper.

I put up Hercules before I continued on. “So Marie knows some people through Jake…and from what I understand, this is a sure fire way to make some money. Apparently, she has done it in the past when we’ve been in some binds. She owed this guy some money one time, but didn’t have the money to pay him back. After getting in a fight in the streets with his girlfriend for the third time, the girl finally got a hit in, and I ended up with a black eye. Well, Jake saw it when I went to visit him the next day and that’s when he ‘helped her out’…I’m not really sure how, but he did. And I know it’s safe, because I didn’t get hurt or anything. He said if she every needed help again, to just give him a call and I trust Jake. He wouldn’t hurt me or let me get hurt, so I’m going to let Marie call him. She keeps sending me this vibe, like that’s the solution to this problem and that I should just call Jacob as soon as possible. Almost, like the solution is so easy and simple, that I shouldn’t be worrying as much as I am right now.”


You shouldn’t be fucking worrying at all. I’ll take care of us, doll.


He had a look of concerned apprehension on his face by the time I was done with my explanation. After he put Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Incredibles on the shelf, he asked, “How did the boy help?”

I could hear the jealousy lace through his tone, but ignored it. “I don’t know, honey. The boy…Jacob won’t tell me, saying that it’s better if I don’t know, and Marie just flat out won’t show me. At all. I don’t know…it’s almost like it’s their little secret,” I said, then shrugged. “I don’t really care how…as long as I don’t get hurt, and I get the money, I want to do it. Whatever it is. I don’t want to ask you or your family for the money for this. You guys have already done so much and it’s not your problem,” I explained.


Edward turned away from the movies to face me then. He looked kind of mad. His hard voice confirmed my theory a second later.

“Bella, anything that concerns you, concerns me,” he said with conviction.

Oh…so, now he cares?


Returning his anger, I turned to face him and just said what was on my mind. “Yeah, that sentiment would have been great seven months ago,“ I told him sarcastically before shaking my head and continuing on, seriously now. “Just…don’t give me that bullshit Edward, because if that was true, then you would have never left, meaning that you would have been here when Marie started coming around, and you would have witnessed all of her little antics for yourself, six months ago. She got me into this mess, and I got us out of it. Jacob has helped us with money before, and he will help us again,” I stated with finality.


His eyes widened a bit at my statement, “Bella-”


But I held up my hands to stop him. “No, Edward. I don’t want to fight. I didn’t say that to upset you. I was just stating a simple fact, and I really think that you need to voice your honest thoughts, just like I did mine,” I told him forcefully. “I know that you are hiding behind your ‘concerned façade’ to prevent the truth from coming out.”


He scoffed. “What truth?”


“That you are jealous!” I exclaimed, as if it should be obvious. “You are upset because Jacob has been there in my time of need, and Jacob has been my friend, and Jacob has saved my life. But you know what?”


“What?” he spat at me, clearly angry that I was calling him on his true emotions.


“You don’t need to be! Damn it, Edward…all of those times that I needed help with something or in some way, or I just needed a friend or someone to talk to, I wasn’t thinking about Jacob. He was just there, but I didn’t need him, I needed you! It is your own fault that you weren’t here to fullfill my need for you in my life, and you know that.”


We were silent for a minute, Edward looking hurt, worried and angry all at the same time. I’m sure that my features mirrored his own.


“Bella, I am here now, and I’m not going anywhere,” he reminded me in a harsh whisper. I think he was whispering to keep himself from raising his voice to me. “I can help you with this now, you don’t need the boy to help with the money, you don’t even know what he’s got you doing to earn it,” he said, exasperated.


“I already told you that you aren’t paying the damn fine, Edward. And it’s not safe, or smart for me to go do community service now, not when the girls are coming around all the time now, just…randomly. I can’t risk being out by the highway picking up trash, and all of a sudden Isabella comes out. That wouldn’t be good,” I explained.


He sighed and nodded. “I know.”


My vision started to blur as the dull ache in my head began. I knew that one of the girls were trying to come out, but I wasn’t sure which one, since they were staying eerily quiet.

I was suddenly tired of this argument that I was having with Edward, so I decided that while I was still around, I would try to let him know that I wasn’t really angry with him. I was just worried about this new dilemma and still very hurt from his abandonment.

I heard him say my name before I opened my droopy eyes and sighed out, “love you, Edward’, before everything went black.