CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼
i. mother, mother !
— DANIEL EVANS HAD NEVER OFFICIALLY MET ISABELLA SWAN. He'd heard about her from Tony, and seen pictures of her, but they had never actually spoken.
But her strikingly pale face, and dark hair was oddly familiar to Danny. After living in a room with the girl's brother for so long, he could pick out all the similarities in Bella's face.
He wished he didn't say anything, as soon as he did.
"What about Bella?" Anthony had sat up on the bed, a rush in his tone and quick movements as he set his box of take out on the table and ripped off the towel that had hung loosely around his neck.
"Tony, be careful." Reyes warned with a mouthful of food.
Danny stepped back into the room and leaned against the wall, pulling out his phone and dialling a number at lightening speed.
"Bella?" Tony leaned forward and out into the hall, ignoring the pain in his chest and the fact that he hadn't been hooked up to an oxygen tank all day.
Anthony didn't get to see Bella, as she got taken into another room, but he saw Carlisle's head of blond hair and he knew that everything hadn't gone according to plan.
"Carlisle!" Anthony called, weaving between a few rushing nurses.
The Cullen seemed to look down in disappointment before turning to face Tony with a guilty expression.
He didn't want to talk with Anthony, and have to face the boy's distress and his own guilt at the idea that they couldn't protect Bella to the best of their abilities like they had promised.
But when Tony got closer, Carlisle was intensely surprised when the boy wrapped his arms around the vampire's waist in a tight hug.
"Is everyone okay?" Tony asked.
It took a moment for him to respond as Carlisle's own arms wound around the boy's shoulders.
"We will be." Carlisle smiled bittersweetly, laying his chin against the top of Anthony's head.
— BELLA SWAN'S INJURIES WERE LESS THAN WHAT ANTHONY HAD EXPECTED. Especially after he'd heard the whole story.
How his sister survived getting thrown across a room.
How his sister survived a vicious attack.
How his sister survived the bite.
He admired her for being able to handle all that with only a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises.
As expected, when Charlie called Renée to tell her that her daughter was in the hospital, the woman dropped everything and drove there.
A shining slap of reality for Tony.
How many times had Charlie called Renée about Tony being in the hospital?
How many times had she actually shown up to care?
It hurt, Tony would admit. It hurt that his own mother was just waiting for a phone call from the hospital to say 'hey you should start planning a funeral'.
It hurt that he'd been hurt so much that his mother was just expecting it now.
But, then again, Anthony knew the people that really mattered, would never leave his side.
Bella hadn't woken up yet, and Tony's brain was fuzzy from waiting.
He'd had to stay in his own room the whole time, to insure his own safety.
Charlie had started living in the hospital too, since most of the vampire attacks had stopped there wasn't a lot for him to be doing. He felt more responsible to be there for his kids, than out at the station anyway.
It was moments like these Tony could see the real unity in his friends. The people that cared most for him.
Danny would talk with Charlie, trying to reassure him. Liv would bring him coffees, just the way Charlie liked them. Reyes told Charlie that he would be there to look after his kids if they ever needed it. Their own personal nurse.
They were really trying to make it easier on everyone, and Tony could not have appreciated it more.
He still wasn't allowed to see Jasper, but the talked on the phone every couple hours and Alice had given him back the camera that she'd had.
Looking through it gave him something to do.
So one night, exhausted and drunk on boredom, he turned on the little device and clicked from picture to picture.
At the beginning, there were blurry photos of a little brunette girl, with tinier fingers over the lens.
A real amateur shot.
Tony could practically remember the day he took it, despite it being so long ago.
"Bewa you have to sit still!"
"I am! I promise!"
He remembered when little Bella's name was apparently too difficult for his mouth to comprehend and he remembered the way she stood and stretched her short, chubby little arms over her head, then lost her balance and fell back on the pillows giggling.
"You're not sitting still!" His own giggles echoed around his mind as he clicked through more photos.
Slightly older now, a male and female brunette sat on a park bench in muddy clothes next to a short tan boy with an equally messy ensemble. They made faces and put up peace signs and-
"Ew you got mud on me!"
"Jake, you're covered in mud."
Another few in, there was a picture taken in the diner, with Tony sat on Charlie's lap and Bella munching on a chicken finger in the background.
"Thanks for taking the picture, Cora."
"No problem, Chief."
More photos in, it was a picture of Charlie's house.
"Kids, we're leaving, grab your things."
"But Mom, what about Dad?"
Later in the photos, there was a picture taken of a much older Tony, in his teen years. He was sat on the edge of a hospital bed, pale and sweating buckets but with a big smile for the person behind the camera. He looked like hell, with someone to protect.
"Bella look, they put a needle in my arm!"
"Ewwww, Tony!"
Then later, in his old hospital room, it was a picture of Liv Marigold, angrily yelling at the tv.
"No! Meredith, that's not how you call a code blue! God damn it, Grey!"
Then another of Daniel Evans, with an oxygen mask over his mouth and a thumbs up.
"You're gonna get through this, Danny. I promise."
Clicking through, there were more and more of Liv and Danny, a few of Tony thrown in, pictures of take out, board games, Eric the nurse scolding Liv for smoking.
Then he clicked to a picture of Alice, hiding her face behind some uno cards.
"You're trying to cheat!"
"I'm not cheating, I'm taking a picture!"
Click again, a picture of Anthony using the cards as a fan.
"How fancy."
"Now who's cheating!"
Then an uno card tower, mid fall.
"You touched it!"
"I didn't, I swear."
Click, click, click.
There were just more and more pictures, a bunch of plants from that one biology field trip.
Then one of Jasper and Tony, walking through an empty isle of flowers and green leaves, Tony had a tight grip on Jasper's arm with on hand and the other was wheeling his oxygen tank behind him.
"Do you realize how comfortable you are?"
"I'm afraid I don't."
More and more pictures just bled into moments of Tony's life, joined by friends and family, items of importance. Minutes passed with each click, hours, days.
Pieces of a life Tony once believed wasn't worth the time. But each moment was hope, smiles, and childish innocence.
It warmed him, in a way. His chest still felt like it was on fire, as it normally did, but the fire was warm.
And he smiled.
Click click click, he watched as Emmett made faces at the camera. Click click click, he saw Charlie sipping coffee. Click click click, Alice's selfies with the Cullen's. Click click-
And he smiled even more.
They must not have noticed her at the time, but one picture was taken from Alice's perspective, standing just outside Jasper's room.
But the distance wasn't doing anything to mask the reason for the picture.
Sitting on the floor, Jasper had his arm covered in dark paint, blatantly noticeable against his pale skin. Anthony had a paintbrush in one hand, but he wasn't focused on the painting.
The two boys were kissing.
"Were you trying to kiss me?" Echoed around the room as Anthony examined the picture.
"Uh... Maybe?"
He couldn't believe Alice had actually captured that moment in particular. A first kiss.
"You two are cute." Anthony's head shot up at the voice. Danny.
"Yeah I guess we are." Tony smiled, looking back down at the picture as Daniel last down on the edge of his bed.
"You look happy with him." Danny pointed out, looking at the camera.
Tony nodded, "I am."
"And he treats you well?"
"Like a prince, Dad." Tony said, not realizing quite what had come out of his mouth.
Danny's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Did you just call me Dad?"
"No."
"Yes you did, you called me Dad." Danny laughed.
"No, I called you Dan." The Swan boy tried to cover his face with his hands, letting the camera sit in his lap.
"Uh-huh, this just proves that it IS my Dan talk."
Anthony groaned and ran a hand through his hair with a small, amused smile.
"Yeah, okay." He agreed.
Another voice broke the tender moment.
"Bella! Oh my god, Bella!" Came from just outside the room.
Anthony groaned again.
"Crap... Mom's here." He sighed, setting his camera next to him and tossing his blankets away from his lower half as Danny stood up with a slight chuckle.
Tony hesitated actually following Danny's example and getting up.
Did he really want to see Renée? The woman who'd never really cared about anyone's feelings but hers?
Anthony looked down at the camera again, realizing that almost none of the pictures had Renée in them.
It was like his life was splayed out in photographs, but she wasn't a part of it. Like background noise to the chorus of a song.
Then he saw the machines sitting next to the bed, most of which he didn't know the names of.
Maybe, for a moment, Renée should be a part of this wonderful life... before it was gone.
Anthony was felt so warm in that second, like letting his mother in would be the right decision. Maybe they could change, while they still had the chance.
It was a fool proof plan, he knew, he needed a mother and the only real person he had right now was Renée.
"I'm gonna talk to her, I'll be right back." Anthony stated, getting up.
His brain had gone fuzzy and a small smile was on his face.
He was walking in a trance.
One step, two step. He could practically see his mother through the doorway of Bella's hospital room.
Esme, Alice and Emmett were sitting in some chairs just outside her room, one of the only places to sit unless they wanted to go to the cafeteria with everyone else.
Three step, four step. It just became a blur until he was at Bella's doorway.
"Hey, Mom." His voice flowed softly, calmly.
It was a moment. Another one of those moments in his life, that bled into all the others.
And he was really hoping it would be a good one. A great one. One that would warrant taking another picture.
But just like that bad luck,
"Anthony Swan, what the hell were you thinking!"
One step back.
"Mom- I-"
"How could you let her just leave like that?"
Two steps back. His mother was on a roll with no intent of stopping, a fire in her voice that somehow hurt more than the one in his chest.
It wasn't warm anymore, it was burning.
"How could you get into a fight with a drunk- what the hell is wrong with you!"
"I'm sorry-"
Three steps back.
"You're sorry? You're supposed to be looking out for her, not getting yourself killed! Now look what's happened!"
"I didn't mean to-"
"Just- get out. I can't even look at you right now." Renée put a hand to her head and sighed.
Tony looked down at his sister, looking so small in such a big hospital bed. He hadn't seen it before, but god she was tiny.
"But Bella," He started.
"Get. Out."
And he did. He ran and ran into the first supply closet he could find and just tried to keep it together. He didn't realize he was followed.
"Tony, sweetheart?" A knock came on the door, despite it being unlocked.
"I'm fine, Esme." He his voice broke when he spoke through his sleeve as he wiped it over his dampened eyes.
"Oh, honey." The door opened and he was wrapped in a hug.
He was right. He did need a mother.
But that mother wasn't Renée.
author's note
Yeesh apparently the mood today was angst and fluff that I literally had plans for but I wasn't expecting to hate renée so much
Anthony Swan collects parental figures like antiques and I'm super here for it, idk about you guys
So yeah, we're literally so close to the final, Bella waking up, Danny moving to Britain, Reyes' sister might move in idk, and the prom- after prom thing that I have set out eee
Hope you liked the chapter, I might include a bit more with the camera later because remember: he didn't go through all the pictures and Alice had it the day Bella got attacked 😬🧐
(I don't actually have plans for that, just a few interesting ideas so idk)
Also sorry that the update is so late in the day (or whatever time it is for you) I have school again tomorrow and I don't wanna forget to post it in the morning so it's going up at night 😬♥️
(Didn't edit this chapter, it might be really bad but I'm too tired to look over it right now so please call me out if you find anything.)