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7/9/16

-= Bella =-

Emmett made his way to my side. As soon as the door had shut, his cool facade had faded and an expression of concern and fear swirled his eyes.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked as he took a seat where Edward was sitting.

"I'm fine," I said. His brows furrowed so I decided to rephrase. "I'm not dead."

"Yeah, thank God for that. I thought Edward was going to lose it. If you hadn't made it we would have to lock him up in a padded cell."

I forced a small smile at his half-hearted joke, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, and by the way, I was really worried about Edward, so I might have called-"

Before Emmett could finish his statement, the doors burst open and Alice ran in, followed by who I remembered as Jasper - I hadn't met him many times, but I had recently found out by Emmett that Jasper was Edward's brother - and Rosalie and Edward trailed behind them.

Alice rushed over to me and began crying over me, and Jasper tried to soothe her.

"How did you find out?" Rosalie asked, stunned. "Bella I swear I didn't know-"

"It was Emmett," I said. "He called Jasper."

"How does Emmett know Jasper?" Rosalie asked confused.

Suddenly I remembered I hadn't told Rosalie what Emmett had told me. I cringed as Edward turned to Emmett and I, frowning deeply.

"They were high school friends," I said, and at the same time Emmett said, "We met at band camp."

Alice sniffled before turning to Jasper, confused.

"I thought you told me you and Edward were brothers and Emmett was Edward's long time friend,"

"Alice," we all whined, as Rosalie's eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"We are." Jasper assured her.

"Jasper!" we whined again.

"Wait, what?" Rosalie asked.

"Edward and Jasper are brothers," I admitted after a moment of silence, "and Emmett was worried about Edward, so he called Jasper."

"All of you knew this except me?" Rosalie pouted. At least she wasn't angry at me for lying.

"Yeah, I only found out the other day. Emmett told me."

"Why didn't you tell me, Emmett?" she asked.

"It didn't have anything to do with you, babe," he replied.

"But I'm your girlfriend,"

"Exactly, not Edward's, and it was Edward's business. So why would I tell you something that didn't matter to you?"

"Well... uh... Bella isn't his girlfriend either! So what makes her worthy of knowing?" she said, grasping at straws to make a good argument.

"Bella is friends with Edward, and they obviously like each other."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said as Edward said, "What?"

"Shut up you two, it's so obvious. Anyway, we both know I'm going to win this argument. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Rosie, but it wasn't important to you. You know I tell you everything about me, isn't that enough?"

Everyone could see the defeat on Rose's face as she realized he was right. She sighed before responding.

"Yeah," she said glumly.

--=+=+=--

Hours passed and we all sat, talking and laughing. It was just like old times with me, Rose, and Alice hanging out, but it was fun having more company with us as well.

Edward took his spot by my side, Alice and Jasper sat on a small padded bench that was up against the wall that they moved closer to the bed, and Rose sat on Emmett's lap on the rolling doctor's chair.

Edward and Jasper kept an uncomfortable distance. I noticed that Jasper would try to include Edward in the conversation, but every time he tried to speak directly to him, Edward shifted uncomfortably in his seat before asking someone else a question.

Even I didn't have that bad of a relationship with Alice. Sure, she kind of ditched us for Jasper, but she didn't drop us out of her life completely. And when we did hang out, we made it worthwhile.

But Edward was acting like Jasper was a total stranger to him. I felt like there was more to the backstory than Emmett told me.

"No, no, no, no, no! It wasn't like that!" Alice blushed as we all laughed at the comment she made.

We had been talking about how Jasper and Alice met, and she explained how they had met at a bar.

Everyone immediately teased her that he was a one night stand gone wrong, or that they got together because they were both extremely desperate.

"Guys, lay off Alice," Emmett said, smiling. "She doesn't remember what happened. She was probably drunk as hell. Hey, Alice, is that supposed 'niece' you have really your niece? Or are you hiding the fact you have a daughter?"

Everyone started laughing again, and Alice frowned.

"Relax Alli. They're just joking around." Jasper said softly to her, kissing her head.

She sighed before smiling at us, letting out a small giggle. The blush still clear on her cheeks. "I know."

--=+=+=--

"Bella, you've got to get better," Edward told me a few hours later after everyone went home.

"I will," I replied, slightly confused as to why he was worried I wouldn't.

"Bella, you have to get better soon, though."

"Why?"

"We start shooting in two weeks,"

I froze. "When did he say I could get out of the hospital?"

"Three days," he paused, "if your burns heal like they're supposed to. Enough for you to be able to leave."

I sighed and leaned back in the hospital bed, my head plopping back onto the pillow.

Suddenly, Edward's phone rang, and he fished in his pocket to pull it out.

"Do you mind?" he asked me after looking at the caller ID.

I shook my head no before letting him answer his phone.

"Hello?" he said. A little time passed before his hand gripped the bedside railing. "Do you know who started the fire?"

More time passed, and his knuckles turned white from gripping the railing. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as he thanked the person on the phone in a strangled voice and hung up.

He turned to me, rage and sadness swirling in his eyes.

"They found out how the fire started." he growled.

"How?" I asked, my voice in a weak whisper.

"It was Tanya."