Young and Beautiful

Sixteen.

Wilmer didn't say anything as he switched places with Demi and held Isabella in his arms just like he had been doing for the past fourteen years. For fourteen years he had thought that he had done a pretty good job of protecting her from all of the evils of the world, but here she was in the middle of a park in Paris right in front of the Eiffel Tower, crying her little heart out because the woman that was supposed to be her mother had broken it. And Wilmer didn't know how to fix this one. He didn't know what to say to fix this one. All he could do was hold her and rub her back and kiss her forehead as she cried and cried and cried with no signs of stopping.

He hated Rosalie. He loathed Rosalie. Wilmer had never hated someone so much in his entire life but he really did hate her. He always looked at her as the woman who gave him the greatest gift that he could ever receive but it had never been a gift to her. It had been a burden that she had carried for nine months and then carelessly tossed his way when she decided that she didn't feel like dealing with it anymore. There was a pit of rage inside of his stomach that bubbled up just at the thought of her. And now that precious gift was almost on his lap crying like there was no tomorrow because Rosalie had carelessly broken her heart.

"No matter what I'm always gonna be here for you. I'm always gonna protect you and I'll never leave you. And right now, I know it doesn't seem like enough, but I promise that you can always lean on me, Isa. I love you so much," he whispered into her ear as she began to calm down. Her shoulders weren't shaking and her breathing was slowing down a little bit so he wasn't as freaked out about her having an asthma attack. She didn't say anything back to him and she didn't need to. As long as she heard him, everything would be okay.

"I don't want you to get sick because you have that ballet class tomorrow, remember? So let's head back to the hotel." When Demi had first found out about the Rosalie situation and had realized the effect that it was having on Isabella, she scheduled a special two day ballet camp for her with one of Paris's greatest instructors. She knew it wasn't much but she just wanted to cheer her up and knowing how much she liked to dance, she figured that it would. Wilmer would have to remember to thank her for that...and a lot of other things.

Wilmer stood up first and then helped Isabella up, wrapping his arm around her and bringing her close to his body as she clung onto his coat and they began to walk back towards where they had parked. Even though Demi had left, she was nice enough to send Max back for them and he was grateful for that because international cabs were expensive.

Once back at the hotel, Wilmer made sure that Isabella got showered and ate something and was warm enough before she crawled into bed and immediately fell asleep. Poor girl was exhausted from everything that had been happening and he didn't blame her. With a kiss on the head and a little note left on the hotel stationery, Wilmer left the room to go up and talk to Demi.

He knocked a few times and then waited for her to answer. She had once went on a rant about how impatient people were in today's society, even though she really wasn't one to talk. He didn't want to bother her so he waited a few minutes before he knocked again and then took a tiny step away from the door. He heard shuffling and then the door was pulled open a little bit and Demi's right side was revealed. She must've taken her makeup off because he could see deep purple bags underneath her eyes, and even though she had glasses on it was clear that her eyes were red. Deeply red. Like crying for days without stopping red and he wondered what had happened.

"Demi, let me in." She shook her head a little bit and went to close the door but he was faster and his foot kept it from closing.

"I'm worried about you. Let me in. What happened?" Her bottom lip began to tremble as she slowly pulled open the door until her whole body was revealed. At first he didn't see it; how could he? Her head was down. But then she craned her neck a little bit when she turned to walk away from him and he saw the long jagged scar that was practically glowing red, going from the bottom of the left side of her jaw all the way to the upper part of her nose. What the hell had happened to her?