50. Dynamics And Confrontations

EPOV

“Can we talk about something else?” she asked, looking up at me from her seated position on the tire swing.


I furrowed my brow and silently conceded with a nod. “…what do you want to talk about?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…just something. Anything. Isabella and Marie have been the topic of discussion between us for the past two weeks now. The girls this, the girls that…” she muttered softly.

I used my fingertip to curl a soft lock behind her ear. “Well, love, that’s because the subject of them practically dominates everything else around here, recently-” I offered as way of explanation before she cut me off.


Again.


She nodded. “I know. But…it seems like every time I turn around, I have another therapy session to attend. My past, my abuse…it’s all I ever get to talk about now. I’m lucky if we can somehow fit a quick grope session in between the therapy sessions. I just…” she sighed, cutting herself off.


“Bella, what’s wrong?” I asked, wiping another wayward tear from her rosy cheek.


She sniffled, looking up at me through watery eyes. “Edward, it’s going to be like this for a while. A long while. I mean, if you haven’t noticed, this may be my body, but I’m not exactly in control of it. Isabella and Marie control my awareness. And I never have any inner-peace. Even right now, as I speak to you, if I look down at the grass, or off to the side and focus on a tree, or the house, or even the fucking trampoline, Isabella screams at me to look at you…only you. And nothing else. She wants to continually stare at you through my mind’s eye. They are infatuated…enthralled, and obsessed with you…” she trailed off in explanation, then quickly scoffed with a little sniffle. “And we are still talking about them.”


I sighed, knowing how upset she was at the moment. I understood her feelings, and I sympathized with her because even though I enjoyed my time with Isabella and Marie, I still missed my Bella. Incredibly so. She was right, and Marie had made a good point the other day when she had said, “Bella got the short end of the stick in this shitty deal”. My sweet Bella has been fading into the back round while her alternates come forth to explore their new world and surroundings.


She subtly shrugged and used the back of her hand to wipe the last of her tears away. Her body slowly came towards mine with the swing’s slight motion as she spoke again in a quiet, subdued voice. “I just wish that things were normal again, you know? Like before you left and everything got so fucked up. My mind was silent then. Marie wasn’t around and Isabella was dormant. I had no terrible memories flooding my mind at every single turn. Now…because of those memories and because of the abandonment, I need my alternates. Wishing them away right now would be suicide for me. I need them…” she trailed off before she added in a low whisper, “I love them…”


“I love them, too,” I assured her, keeping my hands on the rope above her head.


She nodded and remained silent for a minute while I stood in front of her and controlled the tire swing’s slow movement. She had asked me to keep up the constant motion and it reminded me a bit of Isabella…needing to be rocked in my arms when she’s upset.


I started to try and think of ways to make my Bella feel better. Cheer her up.


Hmmm…maybe we could go out?


Yeah, that’s a great idea. Get her out of the house and go into the city…maybe take her to dinner and a movie, and then maybe I could show her that new bookstore that all the commercials keep raving about. Books-A-Million.


I’m a fucking genius.


“Bella, how about I take you out? We can go to our restaurant, and then maybe-”


“But that’s just it, Edward - don’t you get it?” she snapped, cutting me off with her sudden sharp tone. She sighed before continuing, “We could go out…to a romantic dinner, or whatever else you have in mind, but there’s no guarantee that I’m the one you’ll be taking out,” she clarified.


I nodded in understanding.


Well, damn. I really should have thought of that.


Dumbass.


She softened her gaze and leaned back a little, always keeping her focus on me. “Edward, I miss you. And it’s not for the same reasons that you miss me. When I’m not around, I don’t notice it, but you do, so I get why you miss me.”


I nodded. “I do miss you, Bella…” I whispered my assurance, then leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her upturned forehead as the tire swing brought her body close to mine.


She nodded. “I know…but honey, I miss you for other reasons. Because all I’ve done since I’ve moved in with you is therapy. I see your dad, and that’s it. It’s not fair, and it’s not right…but the girls totally disagree. They see it as this being their time to get to know you, since apparently, I already know you so well, and since I insist on cooperating with this therapy crap, then I should be the one to endure it. They haven’t agreed to it - in fact, they continue to protest it, so they will not be participating anytime soon.”


I sighed. “Well, baby…I think all we can do for now is make the most of our time together,” I told her as I stopped the swing’s motion and squatted down so that I was eye level with the most beautiful girl in the whole world. I watched as the soft breeze played in her hair, and reached forward to tuck that same stray lock behind her ear again. “Sweetheart, I know it’s hard. But I’m here…I’ll always be here, and we’ll get through this together. And yes, it’s unfair that all you’ve done is therapy. But there’s not much we can do about that, love. Did you know that it was going to be like this?” I asked.


She subtly nodded. “Yes…” she whispered, keeping eye contact with me.


I nodded. “I thought so…” I murmured and sighed. “Well my love, we just have to wait it out and see if the girls will become more comfortable with the concept of therapy anytime soon.”


“I know…” she mumbled quietly before biting that plump pink lip.


I placed both my hands on her legs and soothingly rubbed the pad of my thumbs over her bare little kneecaps. “So, I know you miss me. And I miss you. That’s why you and I are going to spend as much time together as we can, while we still can.”


Her gaze flicked down to the ground before quickly coming back to mine. “Edward, I-” she started, but I cut her off, needing to reassure her of my commitment again before this conversation went any further. I hated that my mate was so sad and insecure about this.


I raised my brow slightly and placed a gentle fingertip to her warm lips, silencing her. “And I can continue like this as long as you need me to, baby. If I only get to see you once a week, then that’s okay. If I get to see you three or four times a day, then that’s okay, too. Bella, I will take you however I can get you, any way I can get you,” I told her, letting my finger slowly fall away and start to lightly glide along her bare arm. “I know that you’re worrying about me and how I’m handling things, but I don’t want you to worry about that. Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. I’m fine, love. I’m more than fine,” I promised her with a small smile.


Her features remained relaxed, but she didn’t smile back, and she stared at me for eighteen seconds before she spoke again. “Edward, I’m mad…” she whispered.


I raised my brow in question. “…Mad?”


She subtly nodded. “Mm-hmm…” she trailed off before she answered my unspoken question in a calm voice. “At you. At your family.”


Why?


I subtly nodded. “Okay…” I softly muttered, sitting back on my heels.


She sat still on the swing and kept her intent gaze locked with mine as she leaned her head against the rope to her side. “I don’t want to be…” she assured me in the same soft voice.


I cocked my head to the side a bit. “Will you talk to me, love…tell me why?” I asked, trying desperately to keep my tone light even though I could feel the anxiety building.


Why is she mad at me?


She furrowed her brow and gave me a slight look of disbelief while I tried my best to concentrate on her sweet scent and how the sun reflected the highlights in her long flowing hair.


We had been out here for almost an hour now. After therapy, my Bella had stuck around, which was completely unexpected, but I enjoyed nonetheless. She was surprised, to say the least, that she was still dressed in her pajamas, so after she dressed in some faded light blue jeans with holes in the knees, and a plain white tee, she came outside to the backyard, stating that she wanted some fresh air, since it was beautiful outside today; a rarity here in Forks.


After walking around the backyard a bit, just holding hands and talking, we ended up over here by my little girl’s swing. My Bella had yet to ride it, so with a smile on my face, I lifted her up and placed her on the rubber surface, then controlled the slow motions of it while we talked. We talked about a lot of things, but mostly about the girls, hence her desire to change the subject about ten minutes ago.


But now, here we sit…her on the swing, and me on the ground by her bare feet.


“You left me…” she whispered brokenly.


I felt my features morph into one of pain and remorse as that familiar pain gripped tightly at my chest. “I’m sorry,” I promised, my voice strained with the weight of our topic.


She subtly nodded, her expression remaining calm. “I know,” she assured me in a soft voice. “And I forgive you…that hasn’t changed, Edward. I just…don’t know how long it’s going to take for this hurt to go away,” she told me, placing a small hand over her heart.


I nodded in understanding and brought my hands back to her thighs, lightly massaging them. I knew of the pain that she was talking about. It was a horrible, burning kind of pain, the kind that left you feeling panicked, hollow, and broken, all at the same time. It was the pain of the greatest loss in the entire world…the pain of losing your mate.


“I’m here now, baby…” I assured softly, lightly tracing an old scar on her knee with my cool fingertip. “I know we’re still working on healing our relationship, Bella. And that’s what it’s doing right now…it’s healing. We both still feel some of that pain, but we get comfort in each other’s presence, right?”


She nodded.


I cocked my head to the side a bit. “See, my beautiful girl? I love you so much…” my voice softly lilted, giving her a small smile before I straightened my features and held her gaze captive with my own. “You are mine, Isabella Marie Swan. I’m never letting you go. Never,” I assured her, my tone ringing with finality now.


We stared into each other’s eyes for seven seconds before she spoke again. “Edward?”


“Yes, love?”


“I know…I know that I’m yours, and after knowing what it’s like to live without each other, neither one of us wants to go through that hell again,” she told me, biting her lip. “I want to make it clear though, that I’m not so much worried about it happening again, as I am still just getting over it. It’s all still very new…and fresh. I just got you back Edward, and just because the latest topic around here has been about Isabella and Marie, and about what happened to me as a child, don’t you think for one minute, that I forgot about that fact, Edward. It has only been two weeks since Italy, and my heart still hurts…very much.”


I nodded. “I know, baby…mine does too,” I whispered.


She nodded and sniffled, the unshed tears gathering in her beautiful eyes again. I hated the sight of it. “And I’ve heard a million apologies from your lips, Edward…I don’t need your apologies anymore. I know that you’re sorry, and you know that I forgive you. We are past that stage, okay? I just need you…that’s all. Just you. I’m sure that things between us will get better as time goes on. I’m not worried about that,” she told me, successfully blinking her tears away. “But I can’t help but still feel a little heartbroken and insecure, you know?” she asked, her breath hitching.


No, don’t cry…


I nodded and stood, quickly hooking my hands under her shoulders, and held her to me. “I know, love,” I told her, enveloping her small form in my arms. I concentrated on the incredible warmth of her body and her beating pulse against my cold, hard skin as I cradled her to my chest.


“And I’m so mad at your family,” she whispered in my ear then, tightening her own hold on me.


I nodded and turned towards the house, thinking that it would be more comfortable for her to talk while we cuddled up in bed. I gently caressed her back and kissed her neck, just below her ear. “Do you wanna go inside?” I murmured against her soft flesh, noticing my mark slowly fading away. I would have to put another one there…soon.


She should always be marked as mine.


She subtly shook her head, letting it rest on my shoulder now. “No,” she murmured. “I don’t want to see them.”


I registered the hurt thoughts of my coven members in the mansion, then nodded to the angel in my arms. “Alright…” I muttered after a minute, then sat down in the spot she had occupied a minute ago. I positioned us on the tire swing so that she was straddling my lap, and we were facing each other, our legs dangling on opposite sides. I kissed away the worry wrinkle that had formed on her forehead, then smoothed it out with my thumb. “Tell me what’s wrong, sweetheart. Why are you mad at the family?” I gently prodded, letting my hand fall away and land on her hip. I absently traced small circles on her hip bone with my thumb while she searched for the words to say.


After a minute, she finally came up with, “They left me, too.”


“Mm-hmm…” I nodded in understanding, using my body‘s weight to lean back, then forward a bit, causing the swing to start a soothing, subtle movement.


“And it really hurt, Edward. I mean, I was beginning to think of them as the family I never had, you know? Finally…there were people I could rely on. People who cared about me. And then one day, it was just…gone. All of it. You, your family…my feelings of relief at finally being whole and feeling like I belonged. The illusion of my safety,” she explained with a small shrug, before continuing on, “I mean, it was all just so sudden. The first man who had ever acted like a real father to me, the woman that I was starting to love and trust enough to call ’mom’, the best friend and sister I never had…my soul mate…” she trailed off in a small voice with a little sniffle, “One day, you guys just weren’t there anymore, and I realized how temporary those feelings of security actually were. They didn’t even last a year. Six months. That’s all I got. Six months of the best days of my life, and it all ended too quickly.”


I nodded and brought her warm little hand up to my lips, placing a cool kiss to her palm. “It did…” I murmured in agreement.


She nodded and cleared her throat. “And what you said…when you said goodbye? It may have been shitty, and it may have hurt like hell, but at least you said goodbye. I never got anything from them! I needed my best friend, Edward. I needed her advice, and Esme’s comforting embrace…Carlisle’s kind words. But they weren’t fucking there. They all just went away, without a goodbye, and why? What for? Because you said so?! What the hell!” she exclaimed with furrowed brows, completely exasperated.


I kissed her rosy cheek, shushing her. “I know, love…shhh…”


She sniffled. “It’s not right, it’s not fair,” she whimpered.


I nodded. “I know it‘s not, baby,” I assured her, withdrawing my lips from her silky soft skin and choosing to run my fingers through her wayward tresses instead. The wind kept blowing them around, and I decided to try and keep the stray strands out of her eyes from now on. “Do you want me to explain that to you, love?” I asked, smoothing some hair behind her ear.


She sniffled again, then gave me a slightly confused look. “Explain what?”


“Why they did that…left without saying goodbye,” I clarified, keeping my voice soft.


She nodded and bit her lip. “Please,” she pleaded in a quiet voice that cracked.


I nodded and sighed. “Okay…” I breathed out, trying to decide how to explain this particular facet of being in a vampire coven. I gave my beautiful mate a small smile and lightly kissed her lips before drawing back and making sure the swing kept up it’s slow movements. I kept my fingers in the very tips of her hair and occasionally smoothed away a wayward strand or two while I talked. “Basically, you are right, Bella. They did it because I told them to. It all goes along with being in a coven…but sweetheart, I need you to understand some things first. We are not a family, Bella. That’s all apart of the human façade we have to keep up in order to live among the humans. Even now, when I call Alice my sister, or Esme my mom, it’s all for your benefit, baby, because you are human and that’s the only thing you understand…‘family‘. You are not familiar with vampire coven dynamics. First of all, the only thing that would make us a ‘family’ is the fact that we are all bonded by the venom of our Sire. Carlisle is my Sire, not my father, Bella. He is my creator, as well as Esme’s, Rosalie’s, and Emmett’s. Jasper and Alice do not have the bond, but they are apart of this coven, regardless. Now, Esme’s situation is unique because her Sire is also her mate. You will have that in common with her, love, because I will be the one to change you. Carlisle won’t have anything to do with it. It will be my venom that will flow through your veins. You will be mine, in every sense of the word. I will be your Sire, Bella, which means that I will be responsible for you. It will be up to me to make sure you are fed properly and that you follow the rules so as to not draw the attention of the Volturi,” I explained in a soft voice.


She nodded, absorbing all of this new information. “Okay…” she trailed off, silently telling me to continue.


“So, it is that bond, Bella. That bond between me and my coven members that compelled them to do as I asked when it came to you. I came home the night of your birthday party, and pleaded in absolute desperation for them to do this, so that you could be safe and have a chance at a normal, human life,” I told her, placing a kiss to her forehead, then going to back to drawing little circles on her hip with my thumb. “Baby, none of them wanted to do it…” I admitted in a soft voice. “I could read the reluctance in their thoughts and hear their protests screaming in my head,” I assured her.


She nodded a bit reluctantly, so I continued on. “But they did it anyway…because they didn’t have a choice. You are my mate, Bella…you have to understand that I am the Male and I decide what is best for you. My coven members just had to go along with it because they didn’t have a say in the matter. They never have and they never will, because you are not their’s…you are mine.”


She furrowed her brow. “So it really was just because you said so…” she inquired.


I nodded. “Yes.”


She shook her head. “That’s not good enough,” she decided. “My best friend leaves me without so much as a fucking postcard for seven months, and she thinks that she can just get off the hook because then she can blame the decision on you? The whole family thinks that?! Fuck that! Fuck them!” she yelled in my face, angry all of a sudden.


I sighed. I knew that she wouldn’t understand the coven dynamics, being as she is not a vampire yet, but I still wanted to explain the basics to her. “The whole coven thinks that,” I corrected.


She subtly shook her head. “No! They have minds of their own, Edward. What - they don’t know how to say ‘no’? That’s bullshit!” she insisted.


I used my left hand to gently scoop some hair behind her shoulder so that it would all flow down her back and not fly in her face anymore. “That may be, baby, but it’s still the way things work around here. You’re going to have to learn to accept that if you ever want to be like us,” I told her pointedly.


She crossed her arms over chest and screamed in the back of her throat, apparently unable to contain her anger on the matter.


I stopped my movements and squinted my eyes at her.


Really, Bella? A temper tantrum?


I quickly removed my right hand from her hip and swatted her ass. “Don’t you start…” I trailed off in warning.


It cut her scream short and she furrowed her brow, scowling at me.


“Bella, I put up with teenage fits and toddler tantrums all day long. I won’t hesitate to test out these new parenting skills on you as well,” I told her, raising an eyebrow at her in challenge.


After a minute of silently staring at each other and rocking in the breeze, she exhaled a shaky breath then smirked at me, a glint of anger remaining in her expressive eyes. She leaned forward and placed her flushed cheek against mine, then lightly kissed the shell of my ear before whispering into it, “I’m only gonna say this once, Edward, so listen closely…” Marie trailed off, gripping the collar of my shirt with her small fist. “No. Hitting. My pretty Bell.” She leaned back to look into my eyes, and when they made contact, she raised her thin brow questioningly. “Got it?” she asked, her tone no longer a soft whisper, but a harsh, clipped one.


I set my jaw into a hard line, but didn’t bother answering her. She would not interfere with this, and if she wanted to protest it, then I’d bust her ass too, as soon as I was done doing the same to my Bella.


Her inquisitive eyes flicked between the two of mine for nineteen seconds before she blinked twice and muttered through pursed lips, “It’s not right, Edward. They left me, they don‘t just get to get away with it like that, and expect me to be okay with it. I‘m still mad.” She hesitated and looked off to the side before she added, “Well, no, that’s not true…I’m hurt. Marie is mad,” she corrected with a little nod.


I nodded, glad that my Bella was back and picked up a long strand of her hair, twirling it in between my fingers. She appeared to be oblivious to the minute exchange between me and Marie, and I was just fine with that. “I know it’s not fair, Bella…but what they did was right, because that’s what our coven dynamic called for. I don’t expect you to understand, sweetheart. I just felt that you deserved an explanation,” I supplied.


Her head slowly turned back in my direction as a little giggle escaped through her slightly parted lips. “Edward?”


I gave her a small smile. “Hmm?” I hummed, leaning back a bit to start the swing’s subtle movements again.


“We’re swingin, huh?” Isabella asked with an adorable smile.


“Yes we are, baby girl,” I confirmed, then leaned forward, simultaneously encouraging the swing’s movement and placing a kiss to my little girl’s soft rosy cheek.


She hugged me. “I get to hold onto you, ’stead of the ropes, huh…”


I chuckled and put my hand to the small of her back, then kissed the top of her head. “Yes, angel, hold onto me. I’ll keep you safe…” I assured her softly.


She tightened her hold around my neck and nuzzled her face into the soft cotton of my shirt. We swung from the tree like that for eleven minutes before my baby broke the silence. “Edward?”


“Yes?”


“I gotta potty.”


I nodded and reached my feet towards the ground to stop the swinging motion. “What did I tell you about asking, angel?” I gently prodded.


She shrugged. “Dunno, but I gotta go…” she told me while unwrapping her arms from around my neck.


She started to try and scoot herself off my lap then, but I was quick to press my palm to the small of her back and hold her in place. “Isabella, stop. You need to wait until the swing stops moving to get off of it,” I reminded her.


She looked up at me with furrowed brows. “But Marie said we could jump off…” she muttered with a confused gaze.


My eyebrows shot up at this declaration, and I felt my eyes narrow into a glare as the tire swing came to a full stop. “Oh, really…?”


She nodded quickly.


“Well, Marie is going to get a spankin if I ever catch her trying to jump off this thing, and you will too, Isabella.” She gasped at this information, but I continued on, wanting to make this new rule crystal fucking clear. “Do not jump off the swing. Do you understand?”


She nodded her assent with a slight frown. “Mm-hmm…”


I placed a quick kiss to her forehead and tucked that same stray lock behind her delicate little ear. “And you don’t have to ask to use the bathroom, Isabella,” I reminded her.


“Kay,” she muttered as I stood from the swing.


My girl was bare foot, as usual, and even though I knew there was nothing on the ground that would hurt her, or puncture her skin, I still didn’t want to risk it, so I kept her held to me and carried her all the way to the patio. As soon as we were on pavement, I set her down and softly patted her bottom, so she turned and quickly took off upstairs, intent on our bathroom, no doubt.


While I listened to Isabella’s hurried footfalls along the steps, I noticed the time and figured that I could stay in the kitchen and try to come up with something to make for lunch, so I opened up the fridge and started to quickly scan it’s contents. Just as I came to the decision to heat up an angus beef hotdog for my little girl, I heard the familiar sounds of her cries coming from upstairs.


I glanced up towards the ceiling the same time that I closed the fridge door, then took off at my natural speed up the steps leading to our bedroom. When I came upon our bedroom door, it was open and Isabella wasn’t inside, though. Instead, she was behind the closed bathroom door.


I flared my nostrils and pulled her scent deeply into my lungs to make sure that all traces of blood were absent, dead or otherwise. I wasn’t sure why she was crying like that, but I knew that she wasn’t due for another menstrual cycle for about three weeks, so I doubted it had anything to do with that, but you can never be too sure. Some cycles are erratic for some women, and I am sooo glad that my Bella isn’t one of those women right now. Then of course, there is the possibility that she hurt herself, but I was quickly assured that that wasn’t the case either, when my senses didn’t detect an open wound.


I shook my head from it’s thoughts and chose to just lightly knock on the door. “Isabella, baby…?”


She cried some more, but didn’t answer me, so I took a chance and lightly pushed open the wooden door.


At this point, I was fully prepared to see her sitting on that potty, doing…human…things, because my anxiety at her distress always causes me to just throw caution to the wind, so to speak, and right now, I just need to see for myself what’s wrong, so that I can do what needs to be done to make whatever that hell it is, better. That is my job after all…as her mate, it is my responsibility to always make it better.


What I saw when I entered the bathroom though, had me furrowing my brow in confusion. Isabella was standing by the toilet, bawling her fucking chocolatey eyes out…and that’s it. Nothing was amiss. There were no new owwies…she hadn’t fallen down, or anything.


“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.


I kept my stance by the door and watched as she brought a tiny fist up to her rosy right cheek and wiped some tears away. She sniffled then, and looked up at me with fearful eyes. “I peepee’d my pantieeees, Edwaaard…” she cried.


My eyes shot down to the lower half of her body then, and sure enough…the inside creases to both her pant legs were wet…along with the crotch area. And there was a tiny little yellow puddle on the floor by her bare feet.


Fuck my life.


“Isabella,” I admonished in a low voice as I brought my gaze back to her flushed, tear-stained face, and noticed the slight twinge of ammonia in the room now.


She whimpered out another pitiful cry. “I’m s-sorrry…” she promised.


I sighed. “Stay there,” I instructed while I went and got our dirty clothes hamper out of the closet.


I noticed when I grabbed it that it was already half full, so it would make sense to go ahead an do a load of laundry tonight anyway. I held the hamper to my hip, then walked with it back into the bathroom.


When I was standing in front of my little girl again, I pointed suggestively to her faded blue jeans. “Take ‘em off, angel,” I gently instructed.


She sniffled and squeaked out a small, “Kay,” then continued to cry as she went about the task of unbuttoning her jeans and slipping them off.


When she handed them to me, I put them in the hamper and nodded towards her wet purple cotton panties, as well. “Those too, baby girl,” I told her, keeping my face impassive.


She quickly pulled off her panties and handed them to me in a small, outstretched fist.


I tossed them in the hamper, then turned back to my little mate. “Isabella, what…why did this happen?” I asked, perplexed because she had never wet herself before.


I had to mentally take a step back and realize that this was actually a common, if not normal, occurrence with a lot of five year olds.


Her voiced cracked at the end of a particular sob, then she gasped in a breath and explained, “I had to go really, really baaad…”


I squinted my eyes at her. “Young lady, I told you that from now on you didn’t have to ask to go to the bathroom. I let you know that yesterday, so why did you wait, today, until you had to ‘go really really bad’, to still ask for my permission? Why didn‘t you just go?”


She shrugged, looking so small in only her white t-shirt, while she continued to stand before me and cry.


“You are a big girl, Isabella. You can go all by yourself, you don’t need permission,” I reiterated.


She sniffled before repeating herself, “I’m sorrrrry…”


I subtly shook my head and pointed towards her bare feet, where the tiny puddle of urine lay. “This happened because you didn’t listen, baby girl. Do you understand that?”


She whimpered and slowly nodded her head. “Yeah…”


I raised my eyebrows. “And what is your rule about listening?” I pressed.


She wiped away a few more tears with a clenched fist. “That I’m s-sposta…” she trailed off in a shaky voice, trying to quiet her cries now.


I nodded, then quickly reached around her small form and swatted her bare ass, which started the barely tamed cries up all over again. “Follow your rules and listen, Isabella,” I scolded.


“K-kay…” she sobbed out.


I pointed to the toilet beside her. “You sit right there while I clean this up,” I instructed.


She sniffled and sat down. “But I don’t gotta potty, Edwaaard…” she insisted as I knelt down and started ripping some toilet paper off it‘s roll.


I paused my movements to slowly look up at her. “I know,” I muttered dryly.


She let out another cry and sniffled, then took to sucking on her pretty pink lips. I handed her some toilet paper and told her to wipe her face and blow her nose. She took it from me with a nod, and did as she was told while I used some more toilet paper to wipe up the little yellow puddle that was smaller than the palm of my hand.


I tossed the soiled tissue into the toilet in between her legs, then quickly reached behind her to hit the flush button. Isabella followed suit with her own soiled tissue and continued to try and quiet her cries and calm herself by sucking on those little lips. I walked over to the counter and grabbed the small bottle of Clorox bathroom spray from the cabinet underneath the sink, then spritzed the area where that puddle had been. After I wiped the cleaning solution up with some more toilet paper, I flushed that as well, then swung the shower curtain open and held my hand out to help Isabella stand from the toilet.


“Go stand in the tub, sweetheart.”


She nodded, no longer crying now. When she stepped over the ledge of the tub, she reached down towards her belly button, where the hem of her shirt lay, but I quickly shook my head.


“No, Isabella…shirt stays on,” I told her.


“Why?” she asked in a small voice.


I bent over and started the tub‘s faucet. “Because only your bottom and legs need to be cleaned.”


“Kay,” she said, then sat down, getting ready to take a bath, apparently.


I shook my head again. “No, Isabella. Stand up. I didn’t tell you to sit down.”


She furrowed her brow. “But-” She cut herself off when she saw me reaching for the detachable shower head. “Nooo…” she whined, the salt of some new tears starting to mix with her scent.


I gave her a stern look. “Isabella, listen to me,” I told her. She nodded, so I softened my features and continued on. “This water won’t hurt you, I promise. I won’t let it. It has different controlled settings, baby girl, and I’m going to twist it until it’s on the Gentle Rain setting, okay? It won’t pound on your skin and sting you,” I assured her. “Alright?”


She looked hesitant, eyeing the harmless white showerhead cautiously, before reluctantly nodding in my direction.


I breathed a sigh of relief and hit the button to turn the shower spray on, but I made sure to keep it pointed away from my baby girl’s sensitive skin. Isabella watched with wide eyes as I twisted the faceplate of the showerhead three times, and noticed how the water came through the tiny holes at a different pace with each setting. Once it was on the desired setting, I let her feel the water’s pressure with her hand and waited until she nodded her assent to point it towards her smooth, bare legs.


“Turn around, baby love,” I instructed once the front of her was all wet with the gentle warm spray.


She twirled for me, so I let the water run over her bare ass for a minute. I noticed a faint pink hand print on her right cheek from when I’d spanked her for this whole episode a few minutes ago. I still couldn’t believe she actually waited that long…until she had to go ‘really really bad’, to do anything about it. Not only was it against the rules, because she didn’t listen, but it’s also not healthy. She could get a bladder infection from holding it for so long.


I subtly shook my head, then told her to get the body wash down, along with my Bella’s scrubby.


“Edward?”


I turned the spray away from her so she could to softly scrub her bare skin all clean. “Hmm?”


“My scrubby is all blue and shimmery…” she told me with a small smile.


I nodded. “Mm-hmm, I know it…”


“S’pretty…” she trailed off as she leaned up against the tiled wall and slightly lifted her leg to run the scrubby along the sole of her foot.


“Yes, it is,” I agreed.


“I’m scrubbin my twinkle toes, too, Edward,” she told me with raised eyebrows while she scrubbed said twinkle toes.


“Good girl,” I commented.


She smiled, then switched feet. When she was done with that, and her legs were all soapy, she gently ran the suds’d up blue scrubby along her bare sex. “All done,” she proclaimed then.


I subtly shook my head. “Wash your bottom too, pretty girl,” I advised.


She nodded and muttered, “Kay,” then quickly ran the soapy sponge along the delicate curve of her ass. “All done,” she repeated.


I nodded. “Alright, hold out your scrubby and I’ll rinse it off before I rinse your skin.”


She did as she was told, and after the soap was all washed away from my Bella’s bath sponge, she hung it from it’s plastic hook on tiled wall, then stood still while I ran the gentle spray along the bare skin of her bottom, legs and feet.


I shut the water off, then grabbed the white fluffy towel from the rack and wrapped it around Isabella’s waist, covering her delectable little bottom from my view. “Alright angel, dry off and I’ll go get you a fresh pair of panties and some shorts,” I suggested as her stomach subtly growled at me.


“Kay,” mumbled into the quiet of the room.


I turned and left the bathroom, taking the hamper of dirty clothes with me. While I rummaged through the drawers for a pair of baby pink cotton panties and some faded blue jean shorts, I listened to Carlisle’s phone call downstairs. He was on the phone with Charlie, and it sounded like he was encouraging him to come over for a visit to discuss some things. What, I don’t know, as he kept his thoughts hidden from me, but I guess I would find out soon enough if Bella’s father chose to except the invitation.


I took the small articles of clothing back to my little girl and handed them to her. “Come downstairs to the kitchen after you get dressed, sweetheart. I’ll be down there making your lunch,” I informed her, then kissed her smooth forehead.


She nodded. “Kay,” she muttered, beginning to undo the towel’s wrap from around her small waist.


I took the hamper downstairs, and was glad to find Esme already in the laundry room, waiting for me.


I smiled at her. “Thanks.”


That weird ‘red sock rule’ came unbidden in my mind then, and I found myself breathing a sigh of relief because I didn’t want to have to do the load of laundry myself and risk messing something up.


She nodded. “Happy to do it,” she assured me while starting up the large washing machine.


I gave her a single parting nod before going into the kitchen and getting back on the task of preparing food for my mate. As I was placing the single hotdog inside a bun and heating up a small bowl of EasyMac in the microwave, my little girl came skipping into the kitchen, all dressed in her new outfit.


“Edward?”


I smiled. “Yes?”


“I’m a good girl, huh? I got dressed just like you told me to…” she pointed out with an adorably smug smirk.


I nodded, placing the ketchup bottle back inside the cabinet above the counter. “Yes, baby, you’re a good girl,” I murmured before reaching for her and wrapping her in my arms for a reassuring hug. She softly giggled as I kissed the top of her head. “No more accidents, okay angel? You don’t ask to use the bathroom, you just go,” I reminded her as I hooked my hands underneath her shoulder and lifted her to my chest.


She nodded and silently pointed towards the counter, so I sat her down on it, then placed the small plate of food on her lap. While she happily chewed on her hotdog, I retrieved a cold juice box from the fridge and put the tiny straw in the silver hole before setting it down beside her bare leg.


“Mmm-mmm-mmm,” Isabella smiled and hummed as she chewed.


I smiled as I watched my mate consume her food, but I couldn’t help my mind’s distraction at the moment.


What did Carlisle want to discuss with Charlie that couldn’t be discussed over the phone, and more importantly…why the fuck is he blocking his thoughts from me?

**********

We all sat in my bedroom…me, Charlie, Carlisle, and last, but certainly not least, my Bella. She had come back around to see me halfway through her lunch, and that was about two hours ago. Her father showed up about forty minutes later, and Carlisle was quick to fill him in on certain details. Apparently, my Bella never signed a client/patient privilege agreement, and as her therapy with my Sire is not official and completely off the record, he feels that her parents need to be informed of certain things.


Things like the fact that dissociative identity disorder, or multiple personality disorder, does not take place in the human mind after the age of three. So, in order for my mate’s mind to split in the way that it has, something had to have happened before Jim. Before her mother’s neglect. Before Charlie’s divorce from Renee.


“I don’t know, Carlisle…” Bella’s voice quietly muttered from her spot on the bed. “And no matter how many times I repeat myself, that’s not going to change.”


Carlisle nodded from where he stood by the large window pane, while I stayed in my spot beside the wall next to the nightstand. It was taking all of my practiced control not to annihilate the man before me…Bella’s father.


Not only does he have an extremely neglectful nature, but he didn’t do a damn thing to step in and help my Bella when she needed him to. Not just when she was a small girl, but after that too; throughout her entire life. His mind remains completely clueless to the depth of depravity that has happened to my angel. He knows nothing of her hospitalization, nothing of her abuse, and nothing of her alternates. He relied on what his mother told him about his daughter while she was growing up.


He barely knew her as a child.


“Bella, I understand that you don’t remember, and that’s quite normal, dear. Memories before the age of three are usually non-existent, or they can be quite fuzzy. That’s partly why I asked Charlie over here today…” he trailed off in explanation, nodding to where Charlie sat in the large recliner.


“Charlie, you and Renee split when Bella was just three years and four months old, is that correct?” Carlisle inquired politely with slightly raised eyebrows.


Charlie cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the reason for his visit and the topic at hand. “Yes, it was the following January after her third birthday,” he confirmed with a nod.


My Bella continued to look somber and subdued as she kept her gaze focused on her hands in her lap. She wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone, and I knew that this discussion was making her uncomfortable as well.


“And you don’t remember anything that might have happened? No clue?” Carlisle pressed.


Charlie subtly shook his head.


“There were no babysitters, public outings, daycare facilities…” Carlisle trailed off, grasping at straws. “Everyday a child is hurt by a care giver, and it’s not uncommon for them to be lured away by strangers, as I’m sure you already know,” Carlisle added as an afterthought.


Something Carlisle said must have triggered something in his memory then, because at that moment, he remembered a particular outing that he and Renee had taken Bella on.


She was two…


“Um, well…I don’t know if you can make anything of this, Carlisle, but when Bella was two years old, her mother and I took her to the fair for the first time. I remember that day, because it was the first time she had ever tried cotton candy. She instantly loved it, and by the end of the day, had convinced me to buy a total of three sticks for her. She was so hyper and would not lay down to go to sleep until 3am that next morning,” he recalled with a small smile on his face before it fell and he continued on, more serious now. “But…Bella had also gotten lost that day. Her mother and I…and five security guards at the park, were searching for her. They sent out announcements of my missing baby girl over the park’s intercom speaker system. Um, she was missing for a total of fifty seven minutes. We found her over by a park bench, sitting by herself. She was just silently sitting there…waiting for us to come find her. She wasn’t crying, and she didn’t make a big fuss about it. In fact, as soon as she saw us, she got a big smile on her face and asked if she could go on ‘the big fairy wheel’ now. No matter how many times I tried to correct her, she always called it ‘the fairy wheel’…” he trailed off at the end of his trip down memory lane. “So, uh…I don’t know if anything happened then, because she appeared to be fine, and she never mentioned anything about a stranger, or being hurt,” he finished, a bit brusquely.


Carlisle nodded and I glared at Charlie.


Neglectful asshole.


My Bella remained silent.


“It’s possible…anything is possible,” Carlisle assured in a light tone. “Thank you for sharing that with us, Charlie. It will help me figure some of this out, and it might trigger some memories for Bella. I’ve been confused during these last few sessions with your daughter because I remember that piece of information from medical school; the fact that the abuse has to start before the age of three, for the person to become a multiple, and things just didn’t add up because her current child alternate is a five years old,” he explained.


Charlie looked over at Bella with slightly raised eyebrows. “She’s got a kid one, too?”


I rolled my eyes.


Her name is Isabella, asshole, and she’s mine.


Carlisle simply nodded. “Yes…yes, she does. That particular alternate is the one who created those drawing I showed you earlier…as well as the automatic writing.”


Charlie nodded, but my Bella’s sudden loud gasp drew everyone attention to her.


“You showed him?” she whispered accusingly to Carlisle. Her breathing was becoming shaky and her tired eyes were quickly beginning to water. “Y-you…you showed him?!” she yelled a second later.


Carlisle’s eyes widened a bit at her sudden change in demeanor, and I really don’t know why…I mean, you’d figure he'd be used to it by now. “Bella-” he started, but she cut him off, no longer talking to him, but to Charlie now.


“Dad, it’s not true…” she told him, her voice back to a pleading whisper as a tear fell down her rosy cheek. She quickly shook her head, suddenly desperate for him to believe her. “I-I’m not crazy, I swear,” she promised him, her voice cracking as she gave into her sudden change in emotions.


He subtly shook his head and stared into his daughter’s eyes. “No one ever said that you were crazy, Bella,” he told her.


She remained quiet and sniffled as he got up from the recliner and walked over to the foot of the bed, where he proceeded to stare her down. “I do need to talk to you, though, Bella. And I need you to be truthful with me,” he said with a serious gaze.


She sniffled again and nodded, looking up at her father and giving him a patient look.


“Two weeks ago, I got a call down at the station from the Port Angeles Police Department and they gave me some very interesting news. They found a man in an alley way beside the local health food store…he was dead, Bella. They found traces of saliva on the collar of his shirt and his neck. They ran the DNA, and it came back to you…your saliva, Bella.”


She gave a slight gasp at this information and I narrowed my eyes at him.


“What did you do?” he asked a second later.


She quickly shook her head. “I didn’t do anything, I swear,” she vehemently promised.


He sat down on the bed, just inches away from her now. “Don’t lie to me, young lady…” he warned.


What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do about it?


I could feel a low growl erupt in my chest then, and Carlisle shot me a warning glance, before going back to watching this scene play out before him.


She exhaled a shaky breath and shook her head, tears coursing down her rosy cheeks now. “I’m not…” she choked out.


He huffed at her blatant lie, but what he didn’t know was that my Bella wasn’t lying. She did not kill that man, Marie did. And she spit on him when she was done. I had watched her beat that man to death, and I was damn proud of my girl, too. He would not make her feel bad about this.


“Alright, you need to leave,” I told him, speaking for the first time since this discussion began an hour ago.


Carlisle was quick to interrupt Charlie’s intended response. “Son, come here…” he spoke in a calm voice, but I heard the undercurrent of the authority he was using in his tone.


I glared at him, angry that he was taking advantage of his position as my Sire at the moment. I walked the few steps over to him and he spoke in our frequency while I kept my intent stare trained on my mate.


“Edward, nothing is going to happen. Let their interaction play out. Charlie needs to find out for himself what happens when Bella gets upset…” he trailed off suggestively.


I nodded curtly. “I know, but just knowing that he’s making her cry right now makes me want to snap his fucking spine,” I hissed out.


“Just calm down…” he advised after a minute.


I ignored him and turned my attention back the conversation going on between my mate and her father. He seemed to have put any paternal feelings he felt for her off to the side as he let himself go into full cop mode.


“Don’t you give me that shit, Isabella - you did it, didn’t you? You little liar, you killed him, didn’t you?” he accused her with a glare.


She gave him an incredulous look, the tears blurring her eyes as she shook her head again. “No! Goddamn it, I s-said no, Charlie!” she exclaimed, her voice strained.


“I don’t believe you. That is bullshit! DNA doesn‘t lie, Bella!”


She looked back down at her lap then, and let her little hands cover her face as a small sob escaped her lips.


Motherfucker.


I growled low in my chest and stepped forward, glaring at the back of Charlie’s head.


Carlisle’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, becoming a vice, and restraining me to him. I turned my head to focus my scathing glare on him instead.


Let me go.


“Let me go,” I snarled in our frequency.


“No.”


“Who the fuck are you?” my baby’s voice rang out in the large room then.


“Who the fuck are you?” Charlie’s confused voice muttered right back.


Both Carlisle and I turned our heads to focus back on the scene playing out before us.


My girl leaned forward then, and put her hands to his chest, roughly shoving him off the bed and onto the floor. She stood up and stared him down. “This is my room, prick - who the fuck are you?” Isabella insisted right back.


Charlie quickly stood and took two steps back, steps that Isabella quickly followed with her own.


Charlie shot a nervous look towards Carlisle then, before focusing back on his daughter. His was remembering when she had become hostile with him and busted his nose the day before she moved out, and he didn’t want that happening again. He mentally resolved to not get violent with Bella, by any means, but he would not hesitate to put his training to use and restrain her if need be.


I didn’t want him touching her at all, though, and I found myself growling again. I just couldn’t seem to help myself around this man. I didn’t want him around my mate, regardless of if she was his daughter, or not. She was mine. He wasn’t worthy to be in her presence.


“I know you…” her child-like voice lilted then, as she cocked her head to the side a bit, still staring him down. “You’re Charlie, huh?”


He nodded.


“Yah-huh, I heard about you. You‘re Bella’s father. The dirty kike. Are you a nigger lover, too? Or just a filthy Jew…” her soft voice trailed off.


His eyes widened a bit in shock. “What?” he breathed, ignoring the racial slurs and instantly recognizing the voice coming out of her mouth as being that of a very young Bella. He was remembering phone calls he made to her on holidays when she was a child.


“Well, lookey here, Charlie, you sure fucked this one up. Where the hell were you, with your fancy uniform and shiny badge, when Bella needed you back in the day? Were you scared of my Daddy? Hmm? Is that it?” she asked with raised eyebrows before she smirked at him. “I bet you were, you filthy kike…he would‘a made you his bitch in ten seconds flat.”


He cleared his throat, and slowly inched away from the thin girl before him, but Isabella kept countering his steps, slowly walking forward, and following him wherever he went. He kept repeatedly shooting both me and Carlisle nervous glances. His thoughts were jumbled; he clearly didn’t know how to handle my hostile baby.


Mine and Carlisle’s gazes remained impassive, but inside, I was smiling.


Karma’s a bitch, Charlie.


This is what happens when your abused child inadvertently comes back and confronts you on your inexcusable neglect.


Charlie‘s nervous eyes locked with his daughter‘s and he muttered quietly, “Where is Bella?”


Isabella’s eyes flashed with anger as she shoved him against the wall that they were standing by now. “Bella’s off in a corner crying somewhere, you scared her off! You’re gonna have to deal with me now,” she told him, gripping onto the collar of his uniform.


Charlie tried to slap her hand away from his shirt, but she swatted his right back and tightened her grip on his collared neck. “Look at me,” she demanded.


He sighed and gazed at Isabella, but said nothing and didn’t fight against her hold on his clothes anymore.


She poked a small finger at his chest and kept her cold glare on his face as she began scolding him. “If you ever come in here, and try pullin that tough-guy shit on Bella again, I will kick your fuckin ass to grave, do you understand me?!” she warned, sounding like a little mini-drill sergeant.


He lightly held up in palms in a sign of surrender. “I understand you,” he mumbled, wanting to placate her now, in hopes that he would be able to leave as soon as possible.


She continued to glare at him in silence for four more seconds, before she added, “Watch your ass Charlie, b’cuz I might decide to fuck it, too,” she threatened in a quiet voice.


He bit is lip and turned his gaze to Carlisle, his clouded thoughts screaming at how inappropriate this particular personality was being, and wanting him to intervene as her doctor to alleviate the situation.


“Son…” Carlisle called out to me in the quiet of the room, even though I was standing right beside him.


I quickly looked at him in acknowledgement.


He nodded pointedly towards my mate. Calm her down he thought at me.


I slowly walked over to where Isabella had Charlie pinned up against the wall. “Isabella…” I called out softly.


She turned her head to look at me, but didn’t loosen her grip on the uniformed police officer.


I came up by her side and wrapped my arm around her waist. “C’mere, baby…let him go…” I gently coaxed, murmuring in her ear, and using my other hand to gently pry her little fingers from his shirt’s collar.


She gave in to my cool touch, smiling at me and not bothering to put up a fight, much like I knew Marie would have done.


I took her small hand in my own and led her back over to the bed. She sat down on the edge and I squatted down in front of her, quickly wiping away the remains of my Bella’s residual tears on her rosy cheeks, then gave her a small smile.


She giggled softly and smiled back, then ran the warm tip of her index finger down my left cheek. “My Edward….”


I subtly nodded. “Yes. I’m your’s, baby. Now…do you want me to make him leave,” I asked, nodding pointedly to where Charlie still stood by the wall, “or do you want to talk?”


She sucked on her bottom lip and subtly kicked her legs out in a relaxed, care-free manner. “Talk,” she decided after a minute.


I nodded and stood from my position on the floor. “Okay, baby…you can talk. But no more violence,” I told her.


“Kay.”


I walked back over to stand by Carlisle then, and wondered how this particular conversation was going to play out. Carlisle was excited at what information he could get out of this entire visit. He had already gotten so much, but still, he wanted more.


Greedy bastard.


Isabella slowly turned her head and focused on Charlie, who still stood by the wall, staring kind of wide-eyed at my girl. He was reluctant to ‘make friends’ with her, due to her profound hostility and very recent threat to sodomize him, but it was obvious that Isabella wasn’t going to let him walk out of here unscathed. She wanted explanations, and she wanted them now.


And I would make sure he gave them to her.


After a minute, and a reassuring nod from Carlisle, Charlie walked over to stand in front of Isabella. When he locked gazes with a pair of chocolate eyes that matched his own, he asked in a calm voice, “Do you know why Bella’s DNA ended up on that dead man in the alley way? Was it you?”


She subtly shook her head as she slid off the edge of the bed to stand before him once again, squinting her eyes back into that same, familiar glare. “You watch your fuckin mouth, mister, before you go accusing people of shit they didn’t do. I didn’t kill anyone…” she trailed off before cocking her head to the side a bit and adding, “at least, not this time. And Bella couldn’t kill anyone, even if she wanted to. It was Marie, Charlie…it was Marie,” Isabella revealed.


He nodded, sighing in relief now that he had some answers. “Marie,” he muttered under his breath.


“That mean man tried to rape Bella. He deserved it.”


Charlie nodded, and they kept eye contact as he slowly walked around her small form to sit on the bed, so that now Isabella was standing over him. He thought that it would make her feel less intimidated if he sat down. “So…you’re name is Isabella?” he asked conversationally, remembering when I had called out to her with that name.


She nodded curtly, her expressive eyes narrowing with suspicion as she continued to stare him down.


He sighed, figuring that he could get some more answers while he was here. Answers to questions like why she existed in the first place…what happened to his daughter at the age of five…what type of childhood she had…what her mother was like. “Isabella…?” he trailed off in question.


She furrowed her thin brow. “Hm?”


“Tell me about Mommy,” he requested.


She scrunched up in her button nose in the most adorable way. “Mommy…?” she asked lowly, her voice dripping with disdain.


He nodded. “Yeah, Mommy.”


Her eyes flicked over towards the wall, before landing on his again, a look of complete disbelief coming over her features. “Who the fuck cares about Mommy?”


He subtly shrugged. “Well, I do…I care about Mommy,” he offered, his tone conversational and light. He figured he would have to keep it light for him to get any sort of information out of her.


Isabella rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Lemme tell you something - everybody had a piece of her, know what I’m sayin? Mommy’s a whore,” she told him. “She let Daddy hurt me and Bella so she could go out every night and flash her cuntie to every nigger with a half-limp dick willing to fuck her with it.” When the room fell silent, she stepped forward until they were practically nose to nose, then added, “She sent me away. She’s a bitch.” When Charlie’s only response was a subtle nod, she subtly shook her head and whispered, “No one gives a fuck about Mommy.”


He nodded. “Okay…I get it. You don’t like Mommy…um, we can change the subject if you’d like,” he suggested.


She slowly backed away from him until they were about two feet apart, but her eyes never relaxed out of their narrowed suspicious glare.


“Uh…I hear you like to draw. I saw some of your-” he started, but she cut him off, cocking her head to the side and pursing her pink lips.


“You saw the pictures…” she muttered quietly. Accusingly.


She took a step forward and hardened her glare on him when he didn’t answer her immediately. Her narrowed eyes flicked over to Carlisle before she focused back on her biological father and quickly swung a clenched fist, landing it square on his jaw.


Holy shit.


Charlie groaned in pain, the force of the blow causing him to lean to the side a bit and cup his face.


I saw in Carlisle’s mind his intention to step forward and grab Isabella, but I shot my arm out and held him back. “No,” was all I said.


Don’t you touch her, she is mine.


I would step in and put an end to this if things got too out of hand.


“Answer me, you dirty kike,” Isabella demanded, leaning her body slightly to the side, so that she could keep eye contact with him. She gritted her teeth and grew impatient when he didn’t straighten up right away, so she reached forward and grabbed a hold of the collar on his shirt again, fisting it with both of her hands now. When he was sitting up straight, she shook him a bit. “Do you think I’m playin witchyou?” she asked incredulously through a delicately clenched jaw. “I will break your fuckin neck,” she growled out.


Damn, my baby’s angry.


Charlie’s breathing became labored, since he was trying to hold himself back and breathe through the pain. He held up one hand in surrender to Isabella just like he had done before, but kept his left hand on his sore jaw. His thoughts were both incredulous, and somewhat proud. This was the second time that his daughter had hit him, and both times she had done it very well; hence, he taught her well.


“I’m gonna ask you again, have you seen those pictures?” she asked, nose to nose with him once more.


He nodded. “Yes…yes, I saw the pictures,” he breathed out.


“Goddamn it, goddamn it…” she muttered, shoving her fists against his collarbone and letting go of his shirt.


She turned away from Charlie then, choosing to confront Carlisle now. “Why did you show him?!” she screamed, her face blushing furiously with her anger as she walked up to Carlisle. She put her little palms to his chest and shoved him, but he was still as stone, refusing to budge. His expression remained blank under my little girl’s intended assault. “That shit is none of his business - it’s private, you asshole! Don‘t you show ‘em to another goddamn person, do you hear me?!” she ranted, screaming and yelling in my father‘s face.


I was just inches away from where they both stood and went to grab her arm. “Isabella-”


“No!” she yelled, yanking her thin arm out of my grasp to point an accusing finger at Carlisle as her eyes began to water. “Edward, he showed Charlie my pictures!” she informed me, then shook her head a bit as she continued on, “Not the pretty ones, the ones with my owwies on ‘em!”


I nodded. I knew which pictures Carlisle had shown her father. It was the perfect sketches she had done the night before her first day of therapy. There was a picture of the purity knife, a ball gag, a sewing needle with black thread, and a few other very disturbing and graphic ones she had drawn at a later date that I had found and handed over to Carlisle…just to name a few.


I reached for her again and this time she didn’t recoil with my touch, so I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and protectively tucked her into my side. I began rubbing soothing circles onto her bicep with my thumb as I put my mouth to the shell of her ear and softly murmured, “I know, baby. The doctor is very sorry, but you need to calm down, alright? I told you no more violence, but you went and punched Charlie anyway. You screamed in the doctor’s face. You are forgetting your rules, Isabella; do you want a spanking?”


She quickly shook her head as a small sob escaped her lips. “Nooo…Edward, I’m mad,” she cried, stomping her bare foot. She pointed her accusing finger to Charlie next. “Edward, I want him to leave. Make him go away. I don’t like him,” she said, glaring at her father.


Charlie stood from his spot on the bed, always holding that hand up in surrender to his daughter. “No worries, kiddo…I’m leavin,” he told her.


“Good riddance,” she spat at him.


He subtly shook his head. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered incredulously under his breath as he walked past her to walk out the door. Her angry eyes followed him all the way out, until he disappeared into the hallway.


Carlisle chose to follow him out, wanting to give me and my mate some much needed privacy, and he wanted to make sure Charlie’s jaw was fine.


From what I understand, from the thoughts of both Charlie, and that pervert in the alley way, my girl packs quite a punch.


I heard their hushed conversation as they walked down the stairs together. As soon as I heard Carlisle reiterate the fact that Marie acted out of self-defense to Charlie, I tuned them both out and focused my attention back on my little girl.


I engulfed her little hand in my own, and after a quick examination of her knuckles, I hooked my hands underneath her shoulders and lifted her to my chest. “Shhh, my baby love…calm down,” I gently coaxed while lightly caressing her back.


Her blood pressure had spiked from her anger, and I didn’t like the rhythm that it was causing her heart to beat in. I needed her to calm down so that her precious vital signs could slow and the soothing thump-thump sound could, in turn, calm me down.


I was stressed out too. Not only did I have to deal with the scent of my mate’s tears in the bedroom, but I also had to control my anger. Not at Isabella, but at Charlie. He deserved that punch she gave him, and that’s why I didn’t stop her.


Isabella deserves answers. She deserves revenge.


She deserves privacy.


She has every right to be angry with Carlisle right now, too. Without a second thought, he had shown her private pictures to the one person in the world she might actually hate more than Jim. I wouldn’t blame her if she never trusted my Sire with another one of her creations again.


Isabella sniffled into my neck, but she wasn’t crying anymore…the slight flow of angry tears had stopped. Her breathing had evened out and her heart rate was slowing. I could feel how her pouty lips remained pursed against my skin, though. She was scowling.


“Baby, do you want to talk about it?” I asked in a soft voice.


“No,” she stated petulantly. “Bella’s father is stupid and your Daddy is stupid, and I never wanna ever see ‘em ever again.”


I sighed and started pacing the floor while Isabella tightened her hold around my neck. As much as I wanted to forget about this afternoon’s events and act like they never happened, I still had to be the responsible one and deal with my baby‘s bad behavior. “You know you broke some rules back there, baby girl…what should we do about that?” I asked conversationally.


She shrugged, but otherwise remained silent.


“Hmm…well, you didn’t listen when I told you no more violence. You hit someone. And you used those naughty words,” I pointed out, then placed a gentle kiss to her shoulder. “You have to follow your rules angel, and face the consequences when you break them.”


“Edward?” she mumbled into my neck.


I turned to walk in the opposite direction. “Yes?”


“I’m mad,” her high-pitched voice informed me.


I started rubbing little circles in between her shoulder blades and tightened my hold on her, hugging her to me. “I know, sweetie…but you don‘t act like that when you‘re mad. You don‘t scream, or yell in people‘s faces. You don‘t punch them in the jaw. That‘s naughty, baby girl…you have to learn different ways to deal with your anger.”


“How?” she muttered curiously.


“You use your words, not your fists, angel. You use nice words, not mean ones,” I explained.


“Actions speak louder than words, Edward,” she countered.


I fought a small smile.


Yes, they do.


“Well, how about this…when someone makes you mad, you come tell me; I’ll take care of it. And if you ever wanna hit someone, you don’t…instead, you go into the room next door, and you punch and hit and kick that big red bag hanging from the ceiling,” I advised.


I felt her nod against my shoulder.


We were coming up on the desk now, so I reached behind my neck to loosen Isabella’s tight hold. When I set her down on her feet, she looked up at me, giving me a questioning look.


I just nodded pointedly towards the familiar corner. “You need to be in time out right now, Isabella. You’re in trouble.”


She gasped, then furrowed her brow at me and stomped her foot.


My ‘stern face’ fell into place immediately. “Do you want a spanking, as well?”


She gritted her teeth. “No…” she told me in what I recognized to be her controlled, angry voice.


That’s right, baby love. Control that anger. Good girl.


“Face the wall,” I instructed.


She gave me a slight glare, but did as she was told anyway.


As I was backing away from her still form, I said, “When you’re done, we’ll go next door and I’ll show you how to take your anger out on that punching bag.”


She didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect her to; she was supposed to remain quiet while she was in time out.


While Isabella served her three hundred seconds in silence, I decided to go next door and set everything up. I had to get the boxing gloves out, and check the weight distribution of the punching bag where it hung from the ceiling.


I figured Isabella could spend five minutes beating the shit out of this thing, if not longer. But it would have to be at least five minutes - I don’t care if she gets worn out, or not. She can take her afternoon nap afterwards. She needs to learn that violence is not the answer…even if I am a hypocrite and don’t actually agree with that asinine phrase.


My baby girl was justified in hitting Charlie.


I couldn’t let her know that, though. I had to set a good example…be a good ‘parent’, annoying as it was.


As my mind ticked off second #257, I walked back into the bedroom so that I could let my little girl out of the corner in forty three seconds.


She wasn’t where she was supposed to be, though. My eyes quickly scanned the room, and when I found that she wasn’t in plain sight, I quickly walked around the king size bed, and found her down on her knees by her baby doll basinet with that thumb in her mouth.


I gritted my teeth, angry that I couldn’t trust her to be a big girl and serve her time out without me watching her like a hawk all the goddamn time.


“Isabella,” I admonished in a low voice.


She didn’t respond, just softly patted the doll’s head where it lay in her lap, then reached forward to gently stroke the fur of her stuffed bear where it remained in the plastic basinet.


I strolled over to where she sat and leaned down, reaching for her small wrist and gently pulling that thumb out of her mouth. “Baby girl, what did I tell you about your thumb and bedtime?” I asked her, getting fed up now.


Naughty girl.


Maybe she really does need a spanking. Maybe some quiet corner time wasn’t enough.


“Wanna play with me?”


I froze at those soft, quiet words, my hand still gently gripping her wrist. My eyes widened in shock as I slowly turned my gaze to look directly into my mate’s expressive chocolate eyes.


That wasn’t Isabella voice.