Bella's POV

The first thing I registered when I came to was that I was lying on a hospital bed. I could feel the rough texture and coolness of it beneath me without needing to open my eyes. I didn't want to open my eyes. I was afraid of what I knew I would see. I imagined Edward, sitting on a bench in the corner of the room, waiting patiently for me to get up.
It vaguely reminded me of the week I spent in a hospital in Phoenix after James had attacked me.
I shivered involuntarily.

"Bella?" I heard his velvet voice, thick with worry, from beside me. "Bella can you hear me? Are you awake?"

And right then, from that instant, I knew I was dreaming. The real Edward wouldn't be concerned about me. He wouldn't even care about me.

"No," I answered, my eyes fluttering open.

I felt a cool finger on my cheek and flinched away from it.

My eyes were fully opened now, and as the seconds passed they narrowed.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, scrambling into a sitting position.

Edward leaned back and his brow furrowed. "I brought you to the hospital."

"WHY?!"

He stood up, looking shocked. "Bella, your arm . . . ,"

I looked down and noticed the large, thick bandage wrapped around my arm. Then I remembered everything that had actually occurred.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Just a few hours," he said, sounding pleased that the conversation hadn't erupted into a fight. "It's about six o'clock now."

The fight was still coming. I got up and started walking to the door. Edward wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me.

"Get your fucking hand off me! Never touch me!" I turned around to face him as I would if anyone else had attempted what he had.

Nobody was allowed to touch me.

"Bella, you have to stay here until Carlisle comes back to assess you-"

"The hell I do!" I yelled. "I'm blowing this shit hole."

I needed to smoke. Now. I needed to get out. Just then, Carlisle walked through the door swiftly, not even pausing when he saw me standing and ready to walk out.

"Now, Bella, maybe you should take a seat," he suggested gently, gesturing to the bed.

"Maybe you should keep your opinions to yourself," I grumbled, but I did as I was told, not wanting Charlie to have to get involved. "You haven't spoken to Charlie yet, have you?"

"No, we haven't." I grimaced when he used the plural.

"Good. Don't. And I'll cooperate."

He nodded ad started shuffling around in some file full of papers.

"Can we speed this up?" I asked, irritated.

He frowned and approached me as Edward moved to stand quietly by the door.

"Well, Bella, I'm very disappointed in you," Carlisle said with a sigh.

"Here's the thing," I started, rolling my eyes, "I don't care."

He grimaced and lifted my bandaged arm gently. "Now this was quite extreme. Above all the other . . . self-inflicted injuries."

He struggled to get the words passed his lips. It made me scowl. "Was there anything else you wanted to say?"

"I want you to keep this bandage on, to prevent the risk of infection-"

"No dice," I interrupted, jumping off the bed. "Bye."

"Bella," Carlisle begged.

"No. You don't get to say my name." I walked to the door and flung it open, ignoring Edward completely.

As I walked through the dreary hospital, I could feel Edward tailing behind me. I kept on walking, making my way outside and I gasped in pleasure when the icy air of the evening hit my face. I hadn't even realized I'd been sweating.

"What do you want?" I screamed, turning around to face him.

"I want you to talk to me about this!" he said, a little softer, waving his hand up and down my body.

I growled. "That's none of your damn business. You have some nerve!"

Suddenly, a car horn sounded from behind me and I turned around to see Ethan, Rayne and Daniel getting out of their black car and walking up to me.

"This ass bothering you, Bella?" Rayne asked, standing on my right side.

"We would just love to deal with this," Ethan said, flanking at my left.

Daniel stayed quiet and just stood in the background. Though he didn't say much, usually his facial expressions and body language say it all for him. And at that moment, I had never seen him look so threatening. I looked at each of my friends and smirked, turning back to Edward.
It didn't seem to bother him that I had back-up. Why would it? He could kill all of us in under a minute if he wanted to. It was just the principle of the thing.

"Now why don't we all just calm down?" I heard a high soprano voice like bells say from the door of the hospital.

"I like that idea," a deeper, more bass-like voice followed.

It was too dark and we were too far away to see who it was but I didn't have to see them to know that it was none other than Alice and Emmett themselves. They wouldn't be coming to even up the numbers; they knew that Edward could take us all down alone. Probably to enforce the idea of fear, wanting to show my crew that Edward had backup too. I rolled my eyes and I listened out for them, waiting for them to approach us.

I had almost forgotten how silent they moved. I didn't even notice that they were approaching us until they came into view. Emmett was the first to be seen as he sauntered out of the blanket of darkness that had surrounded them. Rayne and Ethan blanched at his enormous muscles and threatening smirk. I couldn't help but flinch away ever so slightly to. I had forgotten exactly how big he was. Daniel's face didn't change. I was glad about that.

But I noticed my friend's faces relax when tiny little Alice came gliding into our meeting swinging her arms like a child. I guess I never realized how extremely small she was. If she was human I definitely could take her. So could Rayne. And if Edward were human, Ethan could definitely have a shot. And I would never totally eliminate the possibility of Daniel standing a chance against Emmett. But they weren't human.

"Why don't we all just take a deep breath?" Alice suggested lightly.

Rayne chuckled darkly. "Or what? You'll take me shopping?" Alice grimaced. "Princess, please, don't test me. You're barely the size of one of my legs."

Rayne spoke with confidence, but it wasn't enough to make Alice docile. In fact, it had the opposite affect. Alice growled, low in her throat. A sound that you wouldn't be able to even pick up if you didn't know what you were listening out for.

"We don't want trouble," Emmett said, holding his hands up.

"I couldn't care less about what you want," Ethan spat out, leaning forward.

"Bella is coming home with us," Alice said, reining in her distaste. "We've spoken to her father."

"Like hell she is!" Ethan hissed. "Babe you can sleep at my house if your dad doesn't want you at home." He was looking intently at me now. Something about the way he cocked his head gave me the impression that he was asking me to choose. I shook my head against everything I was thinking.

"If you don't come with us," Alice went on, as if Ethan had never spoken. "Then we will tell Charlie about your most recent hospital visit. Carlisle is required to by law, you know. We're doing you a favor." There was evident threat in her tone. I narrowed my eyes. Nobody ever threatened me. "Besides, Charlie left for night duty and he has the house key. And they're never afraid to do a strip search on police premises, even on the chief's daughter."

My mind went to the drugs and knives in my bag-pack and the lighter in my pocket. That wouldn't sit well with the officials. I rolled my eyes and groaned.

"Fine," I said, walking towards them.

"Excuse me?" Rayne shouted. "Have you lost your mind?"

"What the fuck, man?" Daniel said, speaking for the first time.

"I'll just lay down the law for them when we're alone. They need to know their places. I wouldn't be doing this if I had another choice but I cant afford Charlie to be on my fucking case again this month."

Nobody could deny the logic in my reasoning.

"Fine." Rayne handed me my bag that she'd been carrying. Then she turned to Alice. "I bet you guys had one hell of a cleanup when you saw your house!"

Alice hissed softly and I knew they would never be friends.

"You did that?" Edward asked us, though he was looking directly at me.

"You got what was coming to you," Daniel replied.

Emmett shook his head and glared at him. I smiled. They hated each other. Lovely.

I walked up to Alice and stopped in front of her.

"All your things are at our place, Bella," she said, cheerily.

I nodded once and waited for them to back away to their car.

"Arent you going to say goodbye to your clonies?" Emmett asked, teasingly.

Ethan moved in for a punch and had to be restrained by Daniel. His cussing drowned out Emmett's soft laughter.
I wasn't about to put up with that.

"Don't you know the first rule in hunting, Emmett?" I asked, looking him directly in the eye. "Never turn your back on your enemy."

He frowned and actually looked devastated for a moment, before he composed himself.

This was going to be a long night.