Act III
Chapter 27 ━━ Defending Jacob

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A wave of agony takes over Shelley as she slowly opens her eyes trying to adjust her vision to the light. All she sees is blur images. 

"I'll call Dr. Cullen." Someone talks. It sounds like it's Charlie. The door opens and closes, signalling he left. 

"Baby." She hears Renee's soft voice near her. 

"Mom." She groans with pain, trying to speak through her dry throat. "Water." 

The blurry images begin to clear, revealing Renee's worried eyes looking down at her. 

Bella quickly gets off the bed and fetches some water for her. The brunette holds the glass to the blonde's mouth as she takes small sips of water, which brings some relief to her body. 

"More?" Bella asks and she shakes her head. The elder twin nods and places the glass back on the table. 

The door opens. Charlie and Carlisle slide through the door one after the other. 

"Hello, Shelley. How are you feeling?" 

"Pain." She whispers, exhausted. "A lot of it." 

He nods, checking in the monitor and continues to talk. "The bruises are deep and fresh. You have to be careful with the stitches. And bed resting would help a lot." 

"Don't tell me that it's permanent." She states, carefully running her good hand over the large bandage covering her right shoulder and her chest. "The scars." 

Carlisle and Charlie share a look before the blond doctor continues to speak sadly. "I'm afraid they would, Shelley." 

Shelley lets out a sob as tears urge to burst out. "No-No. That can't happen." 

"You survive just from injuries, baby. That's the most important thing here." Charlie assures her. But it's not enough for her. 

"There must be a way to make them go away." She begins to cry, referring to the scars. "I don't want to live bearing horrible scars on me." 

"Shell, you're beautiful, with or without scars." Bella squeezes her sister's good hand with a comforting smile. "No matter what, you're the better twin, remember?" 

"See your friends send these things to you." Renee shows a bunch of get well cards and bags full of chocolate and flowers on the dresser, trying to cheer up her younger daughter.

"What happened?" Shelley asks her sister, wanting to fill herself with the backup story. 

"You don't remember?" Renee questions. 

"You left with Jake after school to hang out and when he left you in the living room to have a shower, you wandered in the woods without him and got attacked by a bear." 

"Oh. I remember now." 

"I'm gonna hunt those bears." Charlie says gravely. 

"Dad, it's okay. They won't hurt us unless they feel danger from us." She reasons. 

"And you're hurt here." Charlie declares. 

"It was my fault actually. I sneaked into the woods just to see those bears. I thought about petting it which pissed it off. I should have kept my distance and just watched from afar." The blonde lies through her tongue, not wanting this issue to go any further. 

"You went to pet them?" Charlie gives her a disappointing look. "Shells, those wild animals are dangerous. Look what happened." 

"You're still in the process of healing. If you can give the promise of bed resting for at least a week, then I'll consider your request." Carlisle states. 

"It should be a full week?" The blonde grimaces, imagining a whole week doing nothing but resting on her bed. She hates being sick and this is going to be worse. 

"A full week." Carlisle confirms. 

It is better than staying here for a week. She lets out a sigh. "Fine. I'll promise." 

"You'll have to face two more tests and you can go home the day after tomorrow." Carlisle announces with a smile. "And I expect you to hold onto the promise." 

"Don't worry, Dr. Cullen. She'll be under my supervision." Charlie states and the blonde frowns. 

"Okay. I'm leaving you to rest. If you want me, I'm in my office." Carlisle says to the blonde twin, grabbing his files. 

"I'll walk with you. I still have half of the paperwork remaining." Charlie says to him and they leave together. 

"Do you mind if I grab a coffee?" Renee asks. She looks tired but she manages to cover it with a sweet smile. 

"Yeah. I'll stay with her." Bella says to her. 

"Anything you two want?" Renee asks, grabbing her purse. 

"Nah, I'm good." Bella says and Renee looks at me. 

"Donut with more sprinkles on it." 

"And mom, I want a chocolate milkshake too." The blonde adds. 

"I'll bring them, baby." Renee kisses her forehead and walks out, leaving the twins.

"You and your chocolate obsession." Bella chuckles, shaking her head. 

"What? I love chocolate." She grins. 

"Ezra is outside if you want me to call him." Bella tells and there's a troubling look on her face. "He's kind of out of control." 

"Out of control? Did they fight?" She is worried about both Jacob and Esdras. 

"It was more like an argument. But it was about to turn into a fight. According to what Edward said to me, Ezra literally planned to rip his head off and Jacob just stood there waiting for him to do it." Bella explains. "Ezra was pissed at Jake. If it wasn't for Edward and Emmett to stop him, Jake would've lost his head for real." 

"Where's Jake? Is he okay?" The blonde asks. 

"Sam asked him to leave after the argument. Jared and Embry left with him. He seems pained about what happened. I've never seen him cry before, but he did this time after he saw you, in this way." Bella replies and makes a serious face. "I want to tell you something. Listen to me carefully, okay?" 

She nods. "Ok." 

"You're my sister. No one is more important to me when it comes to you, not even Edward. And if someone is hurting you in any way, I will stand for you and fight them-" 

A smile cracks on the blonde's face. A genuine one. It's nice to hear Bella confessing something like that. "Thank you. I love you." 

"You're welcome and I love you too. But I'm not done yet." Bella says and the blonde nods at her to continue. "I know that Jake's my best friend and I know that you love him. I also know that he shares you back the affection as well. But if he truly loves you, he won't hurt you like this. I know that your clueless head can't get the point. So here it is straight. I'm trying to tell you that he's not the one for you." 

Shelley blinks. Once, twice and thrice. She's comparing her perfect relationship with Edward with hers and Jacob's. "You can't compare your relationship with mine, Bella. It's different in a whole new way." 

"Yeah. I know that he imprinted on you." Bella says. 

Of course, Edward read his mind. The blonde sighs and looks at her. "It's not his fault. It was me. He said that he imprinted on me. And me being the bitch, I said stuff and pushed him off the edge." 

"One: You're not a bitch. Two: Ed and Bella are mates which is something very similar to that dog's bond with you. Three: You're still trying to defend him after everything." A familiar voice speaks, gaining our attention. Esdras is directly staring at her, leaning into the door with crossed arms. 

She raises an eyebrow. When did he come in? Vampire abilities are always shocking to her. "I missed you too, Ezra. And I'm not trying to defend anyone. It simply isn't his fault." 

He rolls his eyes with a scoff. 

"Heard you tried to rip his head off." Shelley remarks, expecting a proper reason for him to act like a huge jackass and Bella excuses herself out, not wanting to join the conversation. 

Esdras moves from his spot and walks further into the room and looks through the 'get well soon' cards, very calmly. "He promised me his head if he failed to keep you safe." 

"You're not a killer, Esdras!" She yells at him. 

He shrugs. "I can be. For you." 

She shoots him a death glare, knowing it's hard to win this conversation with him. 

Esdras sighs this time and takes a seat on the chair next to her bed. "Look, I know that you're reckless and careless. But he took your responsibility. And failed. You paid the price." 

Shelley stares at him blankly and it makes him shoot a glare at her this time. 

"Don't you see it at least now? Those wolves are dangerous. I warned you before, Shelley. I'm doing it again and again if I have to. You should keep your distance with those bloody dogs. Or I'll make sure your dogs run around without heads." 

"If you're done threatening me, tell Sam that I want to talk to Emily." She tells him. "She's the only one who can understand me in this situation." 

"What is she? A personal wolf assistant?" Esdras chuckles non humorously. 

She rolls her eyes. "No. She's futuristic." 

"Whatever." He scoffs and rises from his chair to head to the door. 

"Come back when you calm down. I want to talk to my best friend." She says and he halts to a second. But he continues to walk without saying anything or looking back.