Something Worth Fighting For

Chapter 20. Band-Aids and Bandages
Bella Swan

A/N: Yes, I know. I suck...

You've been waiting patienetly long enough, so here it is(:

Somewhere between midnight and three in the morning, I had fallen asleep. It wasn't a restful slumber. I wasn't even tired when Alice had begged me to lie down with her but I had done it to make Ali feel better. Before long, I found myself drifting. Sleep felt like a better option then having to bare the awful thoughts of Edward out there angry and alone that were running through my mind on a constant basis. I don't know why I woke up but when I did, I saw Ali's eyes wide open and brimmed with tears. Our hands were locked between us, each of us facing each other. Her tiny hand was gripping onto mine with such force that for a minute I thought that that may have been what had woken me up but when I heard her soft little whimpers penetrating the silent air of Edward's and my bedroom.

"Ali?" I whispered gently. "Ali, you okay?"

Alice didn't reply. She simply stared at me with those large, green eyes filled with tears. Soon I noticed that she wasn't even staring at me. She was staring right through me.

I tightened my grip on her hand ever so slightly, trying my best to let her know that I was still here. To let her know that I loved her with everything I had in me. I had never had siblings but Alice seemed to be better than what my own siblings would have been like and I hated seeing her in pain.

"I'm here, Ali. Talk to me, sweetheart. I'm right here."

I reached out to touch her chopped locks, only for her to scoot forward so quickly I didn't even realize. Her tiny arm wrapped around my waist so tightly, the other still gripping onto my hand. Her head tucked into my shoulder and I wrapped my free arm around her.

"I'm sorry, Bella," she whimpered.

I kissed the top of her head gently, smoothing out her frayed locks.

"Shh, Ali," I soothed. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

She shook her head before looking up at me with sad eyes.

"I was so mean to you. I didn't mean what I said. I was just so upset. I thought…" she hesitated, letting her thought drift.

"You thought what, Ali?"

She shook her head.

"I thought now that you were here…Edward would have a new family. I thought he would forget all about me."

My heart stopped for a minute, my breath catching in my throat.

"Ali," I whispered. "How could you ever think that?"

She shrugged, only glancing up at me every now and then.

"Oh, Ali," I whispered, holding her tighter to me. "Don't ever think that. Edward and I love you so much and no matter what, Edward will always be your brother before he is my boyfriend. No matter what you want, Alice, you're brother will fight tooth and nail to get it. He will never abandon you and will always love you. Always. Do you understand me?"

Alice stared up at me, nodding her small head. She squeezed my hand gently.

"Do you love him, Bella?" she asked with gentle seriousness. "My brother."

I smiled, gently chuckling.

"You know I do."

"I want you to say it."

I stared at Alice for a moment, shocked slightly at her serious tone and almost cold eyes. I took in a tiny breath, one she wouldn't hear even with our proximity and spoke.

"I love your brother more than anything. He's a good man, he loves his family and would die for you or me if he had to. Your brother is everything I could have ever asked for and more."

Alice's tiny hand gripped mine one more time, her beautiful eyes glancing at our intertwined hands carefully.

"He loves you too, you know," she whispered.

I nodded.

"I know," I agreed. "But he loves you more. He always will."

"No," she shook her head. "He loves us equally…just in different ways."

I gaped at her, never knowing this little girl could have ever been so wise. I swallowed, taking in her words when she gave me a tiny smile, let go of my hand and turned her back to me so she could fall back asleep. At first, I thought I would never make myself fall back into slumber but eventually, with Ali's words lingering in my mind, I did.

…

"Stop moving!" I smacked Alice's hands away from the masterpiece Leah was creating with Alice's now incredibly short locks.

Leah was not only a dance instructor at the downtown studio but when she had the spare time, she worked at her mom's shop a few blocks away form the studio cutting hair. She was usually the only person I trusted to touch my hair and she never ceased to amaze me with her skilled hands.

"I'm sorry!" Alice whined. "It's just itchy!"

Leah examined the last bits of Alice's hair that she had yet to cut. We had covered all mirror in the bathroom we were working in so that Alice wouldn't freak out too bad yet. She hadn't seen how badly they had hacked up her hair or her body and face. I was lucky enough to get Leah on an off day and get her over here before Alice was awake.

"What did they do to your poor hair, girly?" Leah whispered sympathetically.

Alice shot me a wide eyed glance, touching a stray lock that had now been mangled into oblivion. I crouched down slightly and reached out for her hand as Leah continued to work. I patted her hand gently, giving her the most reassuring smile I could.

"It'll be okay, Ali," I nodded. "Leah will make it look awesome. I swear."

After Alice calmed down a bit, Leah finished up and it looked awesome. Alice's hair was shorter than a bob but not exactly short enough to look like a boy's haircut. One side was shorter than the other, one side hanging slightly above her chin while she other had hardly any hair hanging at all. Leah made Alice's bangs sweep across her forehead almost artfully and she looked better then she ever had with long hair.

Alice stared at our wonder filled faces, touching her bare neck where it met her hairline. I reached over to tug the towel I had placed over the mirror, watching Alice's face. At first she showed no hint of joy or gratitude but after a quick glance my way then towards Leah she started to brighten up.

She ran her fingers through it, checking every angle she could. Her eyes grew brighter with every glance. She looked up to Leah and I, a smile wide on her beautiful little face. "I love it," she whispered.

"Great!" Leah beamed. "I knew you would. Now, girls, I have a dance class to teach in half an hour. I'll see you later Bells?" she asked, leaning in for a quick hug.

I squeezed her tight before nodding.

"Yeah. I'll text you later to see if we can get together sometime."

"Maybe you can come to a class every once and a while?" she winked.

"Definitely."

"Thank you, Leah," Alice chirped up. "I really do love it."

"I'm glad, Ali." Leah smiled.

Leah gave Alice a quick hug before waving goodbye and heading out of the apartment.

The rest of the day was spent in silence. I made Alice and I lunch but we hardly ate. Worry had sunk in after the fifty calls each of us had sent Edward's way. When his phone finally just went straight to voicemail, we gave up. Alice fluttered around the apartment anxiously, searching for things to do while I remained curled up on the couch in front of the television watching nothing particular.

"Hey," Alice's small voice startled me. "Bella, wake up!"

I hadn't noticed I had fallen asleep until she had woken me up, someone knocking at the door. The look of panic on Alice's face made me jump up from the couch so fast my head spun. The knocking grew louder and I shoved Alice behind me.

Once at the door, Alice still clinging to the back of my shirt in shock, I took one look in the peep hole before ripping the door open.

Edward stood before me, head down but I could the cuts and bruises all over. His knuckles were wrapped in healing gauze while a cut on his eyebrow and bruised cheekbone showed he had gone at whoever he had attacked head on. I'd seen the scrapes and bruises on my cousins, healing and patching them up too many times not to know exactly what they were from.

His hair was still wet from a shower and he had new clothes on. His eyes shifted up to me slowly, his green eyes full of fear. Fear of my reaction, probably but mostly fear of what had happened to Alice. I knew him well enough to see that.

"Who is it, Bella?" Alice peeked out from behind me. "Edward?"

Edward looked shocked, seeing the scraped and black eye Alice had but mostly stunned by her new hair cut. It wasn't that it looked bad, it was just very different from what it used to be. She looked like an adult now instead of a school girl. She wasn't his baby sister anymore.

"Hey, Ali," he smiled sadly at all the things they had put her though, the evidence on her skin.

"Edward!" she lurched herself at him wrapping her arms around his massive neck.

"Oh, Alice," he kissed her temple. "I'm sorry I bailed I just-"

"Don't worry about it," his sister shook her head. "It's fine. Bella took care of me. I feel much better."

"But they-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Edward," Alice shook her head. "Please?"

"Okay, Ali," he kissed her head. "Whatever you say."

I didn't say anything. Just stood there, glaring. I was beyond pissed. Alice felt the tension, as did her brother, and took it as her cue to leave. The moment her bedroom door was closed, Edward smiled my way, only infuriating me more.

"Hey, bab-" he came at me with open arms.

I stopped him easily, hitching my leg between his, hooking it around and elbowing him between the shoulder blades as he began to fall. When I caught him by the collar, his face completely in shock, I flung him against the door he had come in through. He stood there, panting and ready to protect himself this time. We probably both looked like feral animals just let out of their cages.

"How dare you," I hissed. "How fucking dare you!"

"What the hell was that about?" he coughed since I had knocked the air out of him.

"You left her here!" I screamed. "You left me to deal with your little sister! I love Alice like she's my blood but she's not! She needed her big brother, not his girlfriend and you just abandoned her. For what, Edward? To beat the shit out of some gu who doesn't even stand a fucking chance?"

"You don't understand," he grit his teeth. "You don't know what this guy could have done to her."

"But he didn't do what he could have did he?" I screeched, my eyes only seeing red. "You are her only family! That's it! She needed you and you just shut down!"

"You think I don't know what I did?" he screamed back. "You think I don't know I let her down again? I know what I did!"

"Then why the fuck did you do it?"

He sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It didn't work, ending with his fist breaking a large hole through the wall. I didn't flinch. Being around men all my life, holes in wall were just apart of the scenery. Edward let out heavy, shaky pants, his hand looking perfectly fine.

"You don't know what I come from," Edward whispered. "You don't know what it's like. I grew up raising my sister all on my own and as soon as I came into a little bit of money, I took it and ran. I still have that fucking mind set!"

"What mind set?"

His eyes went cold, zoning off towards the wall in front of him as he spoke under his breath.

"Fight or die."

I shook my head, trying to hold back the tears of anger and sadness I felt begin to bubble over. Picturing an adolescent, thin, sickly looking Edward trying to hide a tiny defenseless little Alice from the cruel world surrounding them broke my heart. But the anger of Alice's hero had only hurt her more. Edward couldn't go out and beat the shit out of everyone in the world any time he got pissed.

The man had hurt his only family, I understood that. If anyone had ever hurt Marcus, Caius or Damion, I would have been out for blood as well but at the same time, as an adult you learn to pick and choose your battles. You take care of your own before you deal with anything else. Family comes first and no matter what Edward thought, he hadn't put Alice first. He had put his own rage first and that's what pissed me off.

"This is too much," I whispered. "I have to go."

I gathered up a jacket and pulled on some shoes as fast as I could, unable to look at Edward anymore. I loved him but I just couldn't think straight. As I headed for the door, Edward's bitter voice called after me.

"Are you gunna do this every fucking time we fight, baby?" he yelled after me. "Run away to cry to your cousins every time we start a yelling match? You accuse me of not being brave? Not standing up for Alice? Try standing up for yourself! Not hiding behind your fucking-"

He didn't even have the chance to get the last bit out before I slugged him across the jaw, making him tumble to the ground.

"Oh baby, you have no idea how well I can stand up for myself," I spat, livid.

He groaned, grabbing his jaw as I started towards the door again.

"Take care of Alice." was the last thing I said before slamming the front door to his apartment behind me and sprinting all the way to Marcus's gym.

I never wanted to speak to Edward Masen ever again.

Oh Edward, when will you learn to control that temper of yours? sigh...

Well, thanks for being so patient guys. I'm sorry i'm all over the place. RL sucks sometimes. New baby plus a toddler, a husband and work all take up your time.:/

I'll try and get another chptr up soon!(:

Lots of love,

-fighter