He was just about to unpack the last box for his room when the doorbell rang. He looks around at the remnants of his 13th birthday party, that only his grandma attended and begrudgingly moves towards the door. Everything about him is dull, lifeless. His body is still healing from Kevin's abuse, yellow bruises coating his skin like wildflowers in an open field.
Hale stands on his toes to look out of the door's peep hole. No one stands in the hall, but he opens the door anyway. It was probably just some of those dumb teenagers he saw when they first got here. Gran tried to make him talk to them.
He looks down the hall, both ways and finds nothing but empty space. Just as he is about to swing the door shut again, a soft cooing draws his attention down to a baby carrier. He takes a step back, eyeing the happy baby.
"Gran, did you have a baby delivered?" He calls behind him, knowing she's asleep, and definitely won't hear him.
At his raised voice, the baby begins to sniffle. Hale's eyes widen in horror as the baby begins to cry. "Shh, shh, you're alright." He tries to calm, but panic creeps into his voice.
Nervously, he grabs the handle of the carrier and brings the crying baby in. Once the door is closed and locked behind him, he hurries over to the couch, setting the car seat on the coffee table. As he is about to grab the wailing child he notices a note tucked in next to the baby. He grabs the crumpled up piece of paper and frowns.
I'm sorry, I'm going to try and get my life together. Until then, please take care of Mia because I can't.
Emily
He crumples up the note, anger coursing through his veins at the thought of his sister. And now she's dumped her problems on him. She hasn't talked to him or mom in years, and next thing he knows, she's dropping her daughter off for them to take care of. Typical Emily, always running away from responsibility. She's always done that, since they were kids. Responsibility was never her thing. And if one were to ask him if he was surprised this was happening now, he would be truthful and answer no. He always expected this from her.
"Shh, Mia." He soothes, leaning over to pick her up. He slides a hand under her diapered butt and the other under her head to support it. She sniffles, staring up at him as he cradles her in his arms.
"Well aren't you just a beauty." He mumbles, tucking her head into the crook of his elbow as he holds a finger out to her. She grips it, wrapping her tiny fingers around his.
In that moment, everything felt okay again. Almost as if the clouds had parted ways and opened his life up to sunny days. He knew then that Mia would be his saving grace. He fell in love with his niece, vowing to protect her. And never let anyone hurt her.
"Hale, calm down. I think I saw Kyle grab her. He probably just took her somewhere safe." Bella's voice barely breaks his panic, and what normally calms him only makes him worse.
"Breathe." She tries to reassure, her panicked face turning away from him.
"Leroy, where is Kyle?" She asks, her voices raising to a high pitch. "What do you mean you can't reach him?"
"Well try again! He can't just have disappeared." She orders, running her hands through her hair.
Hale's phone buzzes in his pocket and he snatches it out. He stares at the screen for a second, expecting Kyle's number. Instead, the wind is knocked out of him.
Unknown
I told you to watch out. Now I have something you want, and you have something I want. Follow my instructions carefully, and no one gets hurt.
Bring your mother to this location, come alone. And if you even so much as give off the impression that you've contacted the police, I will kill the little girl. Do not test me, Nathan.
Bella watches as a variety of emotions play out over Hale's face. Anger. Fear. Panic. Determination. Then, as if he hit a switch, his face is blank again. Bella does a double take, as if Hale had just slammed a door in her face. She's got whiplash from how quickly his mood changed from panicked to eerie calm.
He slides his phone back into his pocket. "Leroy, could you give Bella a ride home?" He completely ignored her as she stares at him.
Leroy nods, "Yes, sir."
Bella crosses her arms. "I'm not going home until we find Mia."
Hale takes a deep breath before turning to Bella, his face still blank, but his eyes hard and stormy. She's thrown back into the beginning of the year, when Hale was an untouchable being. "There is no 'we', Bella. Go home."
For a tense moment, they glare at each other. A pain spreads in her chest, a strong one that makes breathing hard. Her eyes sting, but she refuses to cry in front of him.
"That's how it's going to be?" She asks, knowing the answer anyway. He stares back at her with nothing in his eyes. The affection and tenderness that they held mere minutes ago is gone.
She grits her teeth, she wanted to blow up at him. She wanted to slap him for saying that to her. There is no 'we', repeats in here head like a mantra. Did he blame her for losing Mia? Why was he so calm all of a sudden? She takes his silence as the final straw and pivots on her heels. She waves off Leroy, snapping a quick 'leave me alone'. She whips out her phone, pulling up the first person she can think of as she presses the phone to her ear.
Jason picks up on the fifth ring. She evens her breathing. "Can you come pick me up?"
Even though she's composed herself, Jason can tell something in wrong. He doesn't question anything. "Where?"
👶
Jason pulls up in front of the building twenty minutes later, and Bella doesn't question how he drove forty five minutes in twenty. But by then she's too emotionally drained to care. Not only was she worried for Mia, but her gut was telling her there is something wrong. And whatever it is, it's bad enough he doesn't want her involved. And she can't think of anything other than Kevin. Either that or Kyle is holding Mia for ransom. But there's something going on.
The car ride is tense. Jason hasn't talked to her in weeks. She hasn't talked to him. But if anything, they are siblings, and he will always be on her side. And she will always have his back.
"I'm sorry, Jason." Bella mumbles, rubbing her watering eyes. It seemed like the right time to apologize to him, since they have a forty five minute long drive home.
"I never meant to be the one you had to live up to." She sniffles, trying to hold her tears in. "I was always trying to be just like you. That's why I took up playing the guitar, that's why I wanted to play basketball. That's why I started listening to rock music. I didn't mean to be better than you, or whatever you think I was doing."
She wipes her tears away, wanting to curl up and cry her eyes out. For Hale, for Mia, because Jason hates her. "You're my big brother, all I've ever wanted was to be like you."
Jason bites his lip. She is making him feel like an asshole. So instead of replying to her, he just reaches over and presses play on his car's stereo. The CD inside begins to play after a long moment of silence. He cranks up the volume, wincing when his voice plays through the speakers. Bella sits up a little straighter. She looks over at Jason, but his eyes are glued to the road. His voice is raspy, soft and soothing. She doesn't pay much attention to the lyrics, but let's his voice wash over her. And she is shocked by the talent. His control over his voice is unreal.
As the song finishes, she wonders how in the world he could ever think she's better than him with a voice like that. She can see him writing love songs and having women swoon for him. Though, she doesn't ever want to be around when that happens. But that's the vibe his voice gives off. With the right people hearing this, she has no doubt he could be the next big hit.
"Why are we stopping?" Bella questions, looking at the building in front of her.
"You're stomach sounds like a dying whale and I have someone I want you to meet." Jason tells her, leaving it open as he parks and gets out. She quickly follows him into the restaurant, immediately feeling her stomach cramp as the aroma of food envelopes her.
"Jason!" A high pitched noise sounds throughout the small room, before a white blur flies into Jason's arms. All Bella sees for a second as he spins her around is a mess of red curls.
She smiles, waiting patiently as they catch up. After a moment, Jason stops them, smiling down at the girl in his arms. Then she turns around to greet Bella. "Ohmygosh, it's really you."
She looks back at Jason excitedly, "I thought you were joking."
"We have the same last name, Meredith." Jason teases, his blue eyes twinkling.
"You lie like a rug, too." She counters, turning back to Bella. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Jason has told me so much about you. I feel like I already know you."
As Meredith drags Bella towards a booth, she looks over her shoulder at Jason, with an eyebrow raised. He just smiles and follows.
👶
Turns out Meredith is a talker. Which goes well with Jason's silence. Bella is still in awe that Jason has been hiding a girlfriend from their family. But she has come to terms with her brother's private life being just that, private. She almost envies him for that. He still has that luxury, and she can't blame him for exhausting that privilege.
But Meredith was perky and upbeat. She lightened Bella's mood by cracking jokes and sharing embarrassing stories about Jason. Apparently he was a very nervous boyfriend. On their first date he managed to spill soda and popcorn on her while in the theater. Then he hit her with a car door outside. Bella made a mental note to use that against him later. They have also been dating four years now. She also learned a lot about Meredith, because the girl didn't have a filter. At all.
She owns the restuarant, an old Irish diner that she inherited from her grandparents. And she loves to cook. She wants to open up a chain of these diners around the state, but she doesn't want anything too big. She wants to have three kids, two girls and a boy. She has five brothers and sisters and she's the youngest. The others live in Ireland with her parents, but she decided to stay here when her parents moved back.
Listening to her talk, Bella could tell why Jason liked her. She was a little ray of sunshine. And that's what Jason needed for his cloudy days. Bella is happy for him, she thought he would be alone forever. But it turns out, her 'slacker' brother is an entirely different person that what she thought. She was surprised and hurt that she was only just now seeing this part of him, but at least she was gifted this much.
Her phone buzzes on the table, drawing her attention from her food. She picks it up, quickly, thinking maybe it's Hale with an update on Mia. But it's an unsaved number. She almost debated not answering. But something tells her to answer it. And she is pleasantly surprised when she hears Emily's voice on the other side.
"Bella?" She questions, her voice stressed and cracking.
"Emily?"
There's a sigh of relief on the other side. "Thank god, I got this number from Hale's phone, just in case of an emergency." There's a pause and shuffling in the background. "He has Mia."
"Who? Hale found her?" For a moment the pressure on Bella's chest lightened. Then it was gone.
"No, Kevin and he's holding her hostage." Emily rushes out, "He wants our mom. Hale left with my mom to get her, but I'm worried, this seems too easy. But Hale didn't want to risk calling the police." Then she's sobbing, and Bella can't breathe. "Before he," Emily gasps for air. "Before he left, he told me you would know what to do."
Bella's mind races. But she draws a blank. Why would he think she would know what to do? "I don't know why he would---" Then it clicks in her head.