CBWR? Chapter 24

Well, how's that for a quick update? :) Gotta get back to UC for a bit now, but chapter 25 is pretty close as well. If I get UC off to beta tonight and it's not my bedtime yet, I'll see if I can't get one more out tonight. No promises though! Don't wait up! I still have at least a couple hours worth of UC work to do and a game of Connect Four to play with the kiddo. :)

Thanks again for everyone's comments and reviews, especially those on the forum, who always keep me entertained. :)

June twentieth.

My birthday.

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Chapter 24

It was a good thing I hadn't had any breakfast yet, because I pretty sure I would have lost it.

"Your mom?" I squeaked.

"When they took me, they took her, too." Bella said. She was back to staring at her hands.

"Took you?"

"We were coming out of a movie," Bella said with a shrug. "We always go to the late night movie every Friday. Mom doesn't like crowds, and the later ones are usually not as full. It's kind of a tradition."

"What happened?" I asked. I didn't want to know – I knew I didn't want to know, but I also needed to know. I didn't want to need to know, and I knew that, too.

Fuck.

"We went out the back," she said, "through the alley. I guess they were waiting for us."

She stopped and took a deep breath before she went on.

"Master Aro said if I wasn't good enough for you, he would kill her, too." She turned suddenly and raised herself up on her knees. Her arms went around my neck and she held on tightly. "Please, Edward – if you can really do that…if you can really kill him…please, please! You have to help my mom, too!"

I shook my head to clear it as I tried to comprehend everything she had just told me. They were waiting for her. Had they been stalking her for weeks before they grabbed her, or was she just a random victim with the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? How long had they watched her beforehand? How long had she been with them?

My stomach churned.

"When?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"When what?"

"When did they…um…take you? How long ago?"

"I don't know exactly how long it's been," she admitted. "But I think it was June twentieth when we were at the movie."

June twentieth.

My birthday.

Four days after I filled out the application with Aro.

I disentangled myself from her grip and ran to the bathroom. Breakfast or not, whatever was there wasn't going to be staying in my stomach. I couldn't pretend anymore that this was just Aro's doing. I was completely at fault. He didn't just pull her from a batch of girls he had hidden away somewhere, but had chosen her off the street to meet my requests.

And it wasn't just her.

I dry heaved over and over again until my stomach cramped up and my knees gave out. It was hard to breathe, and I could feel myself hyperventilating. No wonder she was willing to do anything and everything asked of her. No wonder she was even willing to throw herself between me and a gun-toting assassin. No wonder she was so scared out of her mind. She wasn't just worried about her own life and what I might do to her, she was protecting her mother.

A mother who took her to movies and probably taught her how to cook and other shit like that. An actual mother – the way they were supposed to be.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth again. The minty toothpaste wasn't doing anything for the nausea, though. I swallowed a couple times before dragging myself back out to the bedroom on shaky legs. Bella was in the same spot on the bed, with tears running down her face. I tried to speak, but all I managed to do was make a sound like a frog in heat.

"You don't have to," Bella whispered through her tears. "I shouldn't have said anything…"

"Fuck! No!" I yelled, then immediately felt like a total ass when she jumped half out of her skin. I took the couple of steps to the edge of the bed and dropped down next to her. I reached up and took her face in my hands and stared into her deep, brown eyes. "I will find her, too. I swear to God, I'll find her, too."

I wiped her cheeks with the pads of my thumbs, and the realization hit me again and again, like there was a heavy-weight champ taking pot-shots at my chest. Wham! Wham! Wham! You did it! You did it! You did it! Your fault! Your fault! Your fault!

"This is all my fault, Bella." I had to swallow hard again to keep speaking. "All of it. I can't…I can't take it back now, but I swear to you – if it is the last thing I do – I swear I am going to find her and I'm going to kill every fucker who laid a hand on either of you."

I loosened my grip on her, and she fell against my chest with her arms around my shoulders. Did she realize it was all because of what I asked for? Did she know she was chosen and beaten into what I wanted her to be? I didn't actually hold the fucking taser, but I might as well have.

"I swear to God every one of them is going to pay."

I could at least make it better, right?

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Chapter End Notes:

Ah, but every one of them includes you, too, doesn't it Doofusward?

How's them apples?