After following the ambulance to the hospital, Liv and I sat in the waiting room for several hours while Bella was being looked at. I peered into the room at Bella who was laying in the hospital bed, with bandages across her forehead and chin. Her father was sobbing beside her, hugging and kissing her, their words drowned out by the sound of machines.

I gazed out the window at the sky, which was very slowly transitioning from a deep purple to a sun-streaked blue. At this point, it was around 6:30 AM, and I was exhausted, nearly falling asleep while waiting.

"I'm worried about her," Liv told me quietly, as she stared into the room beside me.

"I am, too," I admitted.

"It was overkill, James," Liv whispered, "she stabbed him probably about thirty times."

"Well, it was self-defense too, I mean, look at her," I told her, "he really hurt her. I think she should be fine."

"I hope you're right."

"I still can't believe she did that," I shook my head in disbelief.

"It's kind of impressive," Liv said, a small smile on her lips. "She's a strong girl. I hope she'll be all right mentally."

Her father walked out of the room and stopped to look at Liv and me. His cheeks were soaked and his eyes were bloodshot - he appeared stressed, and rightfully so.

"I have to go to work," he told us. "I'm coming back right after. Can you keep her company for a little while? I'm worried about her being alone."

"Of course," Liv gave him a smile, and he thanked us before walking down the hallway.

We started towards the room, but I stopped when I heard commotion at the desk down the hallway. I craned my neck to find Cole standing in front of the desk, arguing with the woman who was standing at it. I started walking towards them, and Cole was running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Please," he begged.

"I told you that only family can see her at this moment," I heard the woman telling him. "Unless you are a member of her immediate family, you can not see her."

"Well, I'm- I'm her brother, please," he pleaded, but she shook her head. "Please let me see her."

"I apologize, but you can not see her at this moment," the woman repeated again just as I reached the desk. "We have a very strict visitation policy especially for her case."

"It's okay, he's with me," I told the woman, and Cole stared at me, sighing in relief.

"And who are you?" the woman said, narrowing her eyes at me.

I pulled out my badge.

"Oh, all right then, she's in room two-twenty-two," the woman said with a smile before Cole followed me down the hallway.

"How did you know?" I asked him as we walked, and he kept his eyes trained on the floor.

"What?" he asked.

"How'd you know Bella would be at Rose's house?" I asked him.

He was silent for a few seconds, before he shrugged his shoulders. "I - I don't know, I just... I felt like that's where she would go if she ran away," he said as we reached Bella's room. "She has a weird fascination with it."

When he entered the room, I followed behind him, and I watched as Bella's eyes lit up at the sight of him.

"God, Bella," Cole said, walking over to her.

Bella sat up in her bed and tossed her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder and crying into him. She sobbed loudly into his shirt, her fingers gripping onto him as she pulled him closer.

"What did he do to you?" Cole asked, his voice shaking as he pulled away and stared at the bandages on her face.

"He hit me a few times, but I killed him, Cole," Bella said with a smile through her tears. "We can be left alone now. We can live our lives."

"Are... are you okay?" Cole asked timidly, and Bella nodded. I could tell he was concerned about how casual she was acting, because I was too.

"I'm fine this time. I feel so relieved," she whispered. "I can't believe I did it."

He made eye contact with me before he looked back at her. "Bella, why would you do that? You could have been killed by him."

"I couldn't take it anymore," she said, sniffling. "I couldn't take it! He was stalking me, Cole. He put a bunch of pictures in my mailbox one day, Cole, pictures of you and... and Rose that I couldn't h-handle looking at," she said, her voice trembling as she reached up to wipe her eyes.

"You... you saw the pictures?" Cole whispered, his cheeks flushing. When she nodded, his eyes locked on mine, and I took a deep breath. That poor kid.

"Cole, she hurt you so bad. She hurt us so badly. I mean, I- I didn't even know that stuff was happening to you. I could've stopped it. I would have done anything in my power to stop it if you would have just told me what was going on!" she cried, and I stepped closer.

"Relax, Bella," I warned her. The last thing we needed was for her to get all worked up.

"I needed to do something," Bella continued to cry. "I felt so powerless. Look at you, Cole, you're in pain and I needed to do something. I needed to kill him. I needed to."

"Bella, lower your voice," I said through my teeth, looking out the door at the people passing by the room.

"You could have fucking died, Bella," Cole said, his voice hoarse as he shook his head and closed his eyes. "Do you even realize that?"

"You're not the only one who's allowed to sacrifice yourself, Cole," Bella told him, her eyes dripping with tears. "When we were in the house, you sacrificed your life so much. It was my turn. I did it for me, you and Elliot. We need to be left alone."

Cole sighed heavily, moving to kneel beside Bella. His light eyes were focused on her as she stared up at him.

"I'm so sorry that she did that to you," she whispered to him. "I wish I could have stopped it. I wish I could bring your brother back. Seeing those pictures made me feel a type of anger I've never felt before."

"Bella, I'm not the only one that was hurt by her, you need to think about yourself too," he told her. "And stop worrying about me."

"I was too stupid to notice," she continued to cry. I was about to step in, but Cole shushed her.

"What could you have done, Bella?" he asked, shaking his head. "There's no reason to blame yourself now."

Bella's eyes were filled with tears. "You- you... do you think I'm crazy?" she whispered so low that I could hardly hear it.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Of course not, Bella," he assured her calmly. "Of course not."

Bella was hysterical, she clearly couldn't stop. I almost felt compelled to remove Cole, as she couldn't seem to collect herself around him. Every time she would pause, she would instantly begin sobbing again.

"Stop crying," Cole told her while reaching up
to pull her matted hair off of her face.

"We can live in peace now," Bella said, her eyes sparkling against the fluorescent white lighting of the hospital room. "It's all over."

"Maybe we should let them talk alone," I whispered to Liv, but she shook her head.

"We aren't supposed to leave them alone together," she reminded me, and I sighed and looked back at Cole and Bella.

Her fingers traced a few scars on his arms as he stared down at the bed. "Bella, I'm moving tomorrow," he told her suddenly.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Liv, who was also very confused. Bella's smile dropped as she stared into Cole's eyes.

"Where?" Bella whispered.

"Uh," Cole stood up and took a deep breath. "Italy, with my grandparents."

I was just as shocked as Bella was. Cole appeared nervous as tears welled up in Bella's eyes again.

"Why?" she asked him.

"My... my parents don't think it's a good idea if I stay with them," he said, swallowing hard. "They think that I cause too many problems being here."

Liv and I just watched him, my eyes filled with sympathy. I wished that his parents understood the severity of the situation he was in.

"What... so, so you're just running away like a coward? I just told you that we will be fine now!" Bella cried out, and Cole took a step away from her. "Tell your parents no!"

"I don't have the power to tell my parents no," Cole tried to explain, but Bella just shook her head.

"You just want to forget about us, to forget that everything happened?" Bella asked him, and Cole took a deep breath. I could tell he was trying not to yell at her.

"Honestly, yes, Bella, I need to forget about this. They're right, I'm nothing but trouble being here. I need to leave," he told her. "Non capisci niente," he mumbled under his breath, and Bella rolled her eyes.

"There he goes, talking in Italian like always! Maybe you do belong in Italy," she said angrily, and I stepped closer to both of them.

"Guys, stop fighting. You both need to cool off, this is a stressful time for both of you," I said, turning to look for Liv who I didn't even realize had left the room.

When I looked back at Bella and Cole, Bella was hugging him again. She moved her fingers through his hair as she stared at him, her breath heavy from sobbing. Cole seemed just as confused as I was, but it appeared that they always fought and then made up within seconds.

"I'm sorry, I'm just going to miss you so much," Bella said to him, her fingers sliding down to his arms. "I don't want you to leave, Cole."

I leaned against the wall, wishing that I was able to give them privacy. I pretended that I wasn't listening or looking as I stared at the floor.

The nurse knocked on the door and walked in to check the machines that were attached to Bella, so I took the opportunity to pull Cole over out of Bella's earshot.

"Cole, I want you to know that what happened to you isn't your fault," I told him.

"I know," he said, but I didn't trust that he believed that.

"Your parents don't understand what happened to you," I said. "I'm just letting you know that you... you can stay with me if you need to. If you don't want to go to Italy. You're more than welcome to stay for as long as you need."

Cole looked at me, before he shook his head.

"Thanks, but I think that I need to leave,"
he said with a deep breath. "These guys in my neighbourhood torment me every day still, I can't stand it. I'm known as the foreign guy that got kidnapped by a woman... you know? I get why they do it. I think it's healthier if I just get out of here for a little bit."

"Cole," I said, my heart breaking. I just couldn't understand why these kids couldn't be left alone no matter what. "Please just get help."

Cole took a breath, and I expected him to tell me he didn't need it, but much to my surprise, he didn't.

"I will," he told me.

"And... I'm very sorry about being so rough with you before. I just get frustrated because I don't want you to get hurt again," I told him, still feeling awful about how I treated him when I shoved him against my car.

"Well, I'm sorry about what I said before about your kid. I really don't know why he doesn't talk to you. You're really... you're a really good guy," he said, and my heart warmed from his words.

"Thank you, Cole," I said, "I really appreciate that." And I did, more than the kid could ever understand.

"Um, I sometimes don't really feel like myself," he also admitted quietly. "I say things I don't mean."

I took a deep breath and put my hand on his shoulder. Again, he flinched at first, which made my chest ache.

"That's normal. You will get better with help," I assured him.

"Can you make sure Bella gets help too?" Cole asked. "She's clearly not okay."

I nodded. "Of course." I agreed with him - she was acting very odd and too calm about the situation. She was obviously in some form of shock.

"Thank you," he spoke timidly, his light eyes locking on mine. "You've done a lot for us."

I smiled at him, warmth branching through my chest.

Once the nurse left the room, Bella started talking to Cole again. I noticed that they were getting along again, so I tuned out their conversation and thought about what really happened with Steven and Bella. I felt relieved that she seemed fairly normal after what had happened, nothing like the last time.

A knock at the door startled me out of my thoughts, and I turned to find Jasmine and Elliot standing at the doorway with Liv behind them.

"Cole!" Elliot yelled out, practically running to him as he threw his arms around him. Cole laughed and wrapped his arms around the small kid.

"Elliot, settle down," Jasmine said, laughing a little. "Sorry, he really wanted to see them. Officer Liv told us we could come in," she told me.

I smiled at her and nodded, watching as Elliot looked at Bella.

"What happened to you, Bella?" Elliot asked her, before he gasped. "Did the mean lady come back?" Elliot asked with large eyes as he looked up at Cole.

"No, no, she didn't," Cole said, and Cole and Bella looked up at me for help.

"Elliot, Sweetheart," Liv said, kneeling beside him. "Let's just focus on spending some time with Bella instead."

Elliot sat on the bed beside Bella, his eyes wide as he took a deep breath.

"But I want to know what happened," Elliot said with furrowed eyebrows.

"It was a bad guy, but he's gone now," Bella told Elliot.

"A bad guy?" Elliot asked her in amazement.

Bella smiled at him, though her eyes appeared sad as she nodded.

"The mean lady and the bad man are gone now," Elliot said with a smile. "We will not be hurt anymore!"

"You're right," Bella said, her voice soft.

"I'm not scared of you anymore, you defeated the bad guy!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That is so cool!"

Bella's eyes widened in surprise when Elliot threw his arms around her. Bella's hand gently stroked Elliot's back, before she grabbed Cole's hand and pulled him down to hug the both of them.

Jasmine, Liv and I watched in comfortable silence as they hugged. It was such a relief that they were safe now. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

"It's all over now," Bella whispered, her words muffled into Cole's shirt. "It's finally all over."