My many thanks to Beachcomberlc and IpsitaC77 for their strength and support.

Chapter 28

Bella ignored Edward calling her name as she walked away from him. She scrambled over the rocks with ease and within moments was back on her own beach, feeling free. The sun was just above the horizon, sitting on the water like an overfilled beachball. Bella didn't feel like having dinner with everyone or a noisy movie night. Eleazar had long since stopped calling every day to check on her. She knew there would be plenty to go around if she did show up unannounced, but her day with Edward had worn her out both physically and emotionally. Next time she had to meet with the bastard, Bella swore to take Emmett with her as a buffer.

A new voice called her name and Bella turned towards the source. Rosalie was standing under the shade of Bella's pilapa,with hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face.

"Hey Rose," Bella called and waved at her friend. Rose didn't return the greeting, but continued to scowl as Bella climbed the steps.

"Where the hell have you been all day?"

"Getting answers." Bella started to feel a bit defensive. She didn't like the tone Rose was taking with her.

"Did you get them?"

"Not entirely, no. But I have a lot more information than I did before."

"I don't like the idea of you being anywhere near him."

Bella slid into her favourite chair and waited for Rose to sit as well, gathering her thoughts.

"He doesn't scare me anymore, Rose. What more could he do to me now that he hasn't already done? Something has changed in him; he's not the same jackass he was when he was my boss. Maybe he was affected by all of this more than you think. Either way, it's my choice to seek out the answers I need. I'd hope you'd respect my judgement."

"You don't get how dangerous he is, Bella. You're falling for the façade he's showing, the pretty sad guy, but that's not him. He's a cold, calculating bastard."

"I agree that he was, but something's different now. I can't put my finger on it, but I know."

Rose jumped to her feet, slamming her chair back. The wind whipped her hair as an angry red flush took over her face. She tried to control the anger in her voice, but it was a losing battle.

"That's how it starts. You begin to feel bad for him, you befriend him and think you're becoming close. You open up to him and he finds a way to use it against you. Do you think I would've taken this job, been involved with this crime if I didn't have to; if he didn't have something dangling over my head? Do you think I'd go against everything in the Code of Ethics for a whim?"

"I assumed, at first, you did it for the money. I never questioned your motives, Rose, and I never asked because it didn't matter to me. You took care of me when I needed you. You seemed almost as shocked by what he did to me as I was, so I knew you had no hand in planning my torture. Your motives were not my concern. I'd thought we were building a friendship outside of our circumstances, but now you have me wondering if we're even going to have that in the end." Bella's tone turned frosty, sitting on the edge of her chair, poised to stand if necessary.

"The money. Yes, I did it for the money, and for the chance for Emmett and I to start over. Becoming your friend was a bonus I never expected. I didn't know at first what was going on. You changed everything, my care-plan, my attitude and my purpose. I thought in the end I'd be free, but he's getting his hooks in you now and that makes it worse somehow."

"Edward Cullen does not have his hooks in me. I have the power here and he knows it. All the paperwork, all those legal documents are bullshit. I know it and he knows it. He doesn't scare me and I'm not going to let you bully me into being afraid, Rose. I'm a big girl." Bella stood to look Rose dead in the eye.

"You're a big girl minus a kidney, taken in the dead of night. Just remember that." Bella was shocked by Rose's cruelty, lashing out at her like a viper. Bella grabbed Rose by the shoulders, her voice low and menacing.

"And I have the scar to prove it. Do you have anything to back you up? You keep alluding to blackmail and his evil plans, but do you have any proof? What does he have over you?"

"I killed a man!" Rose shouted, then covered her mouth with her hands in surprise. "Oh, my God. I never meant to tell you. I swear it was an accident."

Bella flinched back from Rose like she'd been shocked.

"An accident that you told me or an accident that you killed someone?" Bella crossed one arm over her chest and laid her other hand just below her throat; the skin there was cold and her hand felt comforting nearer to her heart. She took a step back from Rose, not thinking, just reacting.

Rose sank back into the chair behind her. She leaned forward, holding her head in her hands and staring at the wood floor of the pilapa.

"Both. No, that's not true. I planned to tell you eventually, but not like this, not now."

"Well, you've told me now." Bella turned her back on her friend and looked out at the water. She thought if she was the one confessing to murder, she'd rather not have someone watching her while she did.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I knew you were going to hate me when you found out." Rose's voice caught with a sob, but she swallowed it away.

"Rose, I'm not going to hate you. I'm confused and concerned, but I don't hate you. You said it was an accident and I believe you."

"There was an accident. I was only in my second year of nursing school and in the emergency room on rotation to observe, help with minor procedures and restock. We got the call about car accident victims coming in and students were warned to pay attention, but stay out of the way. We watched from the windows as an ambulance pulled up and a gurney was unloaded. I paid more attention to the paramedics giving the vitals to the doctors than I did the patient. A second ambulance arrived and then a third. Two kids were helped out of the third, both walking wounded with cuts and the eldest had a splinted arm. I desperately wanted to help out and didn't wait to be called into action. I turned from the window as the fourth and final ambulance arrived and met the gurney in the entryway. I recognized my best friend by her hair, even though it was matted with blood. All my training left my mind and one of the nurses had to hold me back from grabbing Vera; that was her name. We'd been friends from grade five until the last year of high school, when we got into a huge fight over a guy and she stopped talking to me.

Royce was a shithead and he hit her when he drank, and he drank a lot. He wasn't supposed to drink at all, but he did anyway. And he was mean. I tried to get Vera to stop seeing him, but she thought she could change him. She thought he loved her because he bought her pretty, expensive things after he hit her. Vera accused me of being jealous because I didn't date in high school and always studied while she partied.

The RCMP brought Royce in after Vera. He had a gash on his head, but was walking. He recognized me and shouted my name. The cops dumped him onto a bed and cuffed him to it. Even sitting, I could see him swaying and I knew, I just knew he was drunk and this was all his fault. Those kids, their parents, Vera - it was all his fault. I wanted to hit him. One of the cops went to get coffee, shouting his intention to the other cop waiting at the main desk. Royce called my name again and beckoned me over. I looked over at the room where they were working on Vera. They were cutting off her clothes, hooking her to machines and drawing blood." Rose paused for a long time. Bella glanced over her shoulder, but didn't turn. Rose seemed lost in her memories, the pain clear on her face. Drawing a deep breath, she took up her story again.

"I walked over to the rat bastard and glared at him. I snapped on some gloves and peeked under the bandage to check his cut. I was disappointed to find it was so superficial, it probably wouldn't even scar. Royce could barely focus his eyes on me. He asked if Vera was okay, and I just snarled at him. He smelled awful; his breath was like fermented JuicyFruit gum with hints of beer. He grabbed my arm and kept saying he was sorry. The cop noticed and asked if I was okay. I broke Royce's grip easily and walked away from him. I walked over to the desk and stood with the cop. "That guy is really drunk," I told the officer. Then I chatted with him for a while, flirting as best I could. I kept some of my attention on Vera and some on Royce as I talked with the cop. He told me the accident was clearly Royce's fault and they would be charging him as soon as he'd slept it off. They were waiting to see how bad the injuries were for the family Royce had hit. He apologized for being kind of gruesome, but that was the nature of the job when it came to car accidents. The officer told me chances were that Vera wouldn't be implicated unless she was the one who provided him the alcohol.

I knew Vera had tried to stop Royce from drinking in the past, but he never listened to her or anyone else.

I saw Royce slump over to one side and took my opportunity to get a closer look at Vera. The other officer came back with two coffees in her hand, giving one to the cop I was talking with, distracting him for me. From the doorway to the exam room I could see Vera was doing better, but she was still unconscious. One eye was swollen shut and there were tubes coming from under the thin sheet that covered her. A small blood pool on the floor and tray of bloodied gauze scared me. Her Foley bag was tinged pink and she had a bag of blood as well as a bag of saline hanging over her head. Her heartbeat was steady and her pulse ox normal; those were the only reassuring things I could see from my vantage point. I wanted to know more, but I knew not to go into the room. I was too close to her and would only get in the way. Plus, with Royce, I didn't want to get too involved.

I watched the senior nurses work on her, checking her stats and levels as doctors rushed from room to room. The kids were fine, superficial wounds and a sprain. The mother had a very good prognosis; soft tissue injury and a mild concussion. The father had a diaphragmatic tear and internal bleeding and was rushed to surgery. He was expected to make a full recovery. I glanced over at Royce to see him still slumped in his chair, his arm pulling at the handcuffs that kept him in place.

Vera opened her eyes and spoke with a nurse. I was so happy to hear her voice, but I left the room as fast as I could. I didn't want her to know I was there. I ran down to supply to get something to carry around to make it look like I was busy. I thought this could finally be Vera's chance to be free of him. She could finally wake up and leave him. I'd help her, of course, any way I could.

When I got back, both officers and several nurses were surrounding Royce. They were struggling to get the handcuffs off his wrist. An orderly rushed over with a gurney, and when they finally freed him, they shoved him on the bed and ran to an exam room with him. As I stood in the hall, a social worker came by looking for the kids. I took him to their room and listened in for a bit. Their grandparents were on their way from Kamloops to look after them as the parents recuperated. I offered to get snacks and drinks for the kids, giving myself another opportunity to escape. I wasn't gone more than fifteen minutes, but it was long enough.

Royce died a few hours later. Vera screamed and cried when she heard the news. I held her hand and tried to comfort her, but it didn't help. The father from the accident sailed through surgery perfectly and the mother was discharged the next day. Vera was cleared of wrongdoing and the accident was ruled to be all Royce's fault. His blood alcohol level was over the legal limit and he'd been driving too fast.

Vera left the hospital and disappeared. She started to shoot-up and I tried to get her help, but she wouldn't accept it. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I walked away. Vera survived the accident, but she was never the same. She od'ed a few months later." Rose sighed and sat back in the chair.

Bella turned back to face her friend. Although she had limited medical knowledge, save for watching dramas on TV, the picture Rose painted with her words was clear. Bella could imagine the hustle and bustle of the emergency room, the confusion and terror.

"I don't understand. Nothing you said about the accident was your fault." Bella spoke, still facing the water, giving Rose her privacy and freedom from Bella's stare. Bella knew by the sound of her friend's voice that she must be crying and she wanted to comfort her but now wasn't the time.

"If I'd spoken up, he might not have died and then Vera would still be alive, too. I killed him by not saying anything. I knew he was diabetic and I didn't say anything. He wasn't that drunk, but by his breath, I knew he was in ketoacidosis. I killed him by letting him die and that killed Vera, too." Rose stood and started to leave when Bella stopped her.

"I fail to see how any of what you just said was your fault, Rose."

"I failed to speak up. They died, he died because I didn't say anything."

"Were you under obligation to say anything? You were a student nurse, observing and not involved. If anything, you're guilty of neglect, but I wouldn't call that murder."

Rose swiped at the tears that were forming in her eyes.

"That's what Emmett said when I confessed to him. It ate at me and I was a wreck. He told me I was being dumb worrying about it. But then he told Edward a few years later. Edward said he'd look into it to see if I was guilty and if I could be charged. He knew I was thinking of leaving the hospital and offered me this job. The amount he offered was ludicrous and I knew he was trying to blackmail me somehow about Royce. He offered Emmett way too much money too, like he was holding it over us or something. I know he's going to use this against us in the future, but we both signed a contract with him. I'm sorry, Bella. I understand if you don't want me to come around or be friends with me anymore."

Bella let Rose leave and watched as she walked away. She needed time to process everything she'd learned that day. Her head hurt and her entire body felt sore.

AN: Without the help and advice of Edwardsfirstkiss and Divyvicki, this chapter would never have been finished.

This story is still on hiatus for now, with the plan to be back to it in the new year if all goes well.

Thank you to everyone who donated to receive the second Babies at the Border compilation. Together we raised over $7000 for the ACLU and Raices. This compilation would not have been possible without the tireless work of JeaBoo1 and her helpers.

Thank you for reading.