Chapter two

Carlisle

Vampires couldn't cry. In that moment, that was one of our biggest regrets. Maybe, if we could just elaborate the pain, it would be easier to accept the losses in our family. Instead we just had to live, and endure, until the pain would fade. If it would fade.

Coming back hadn't been a great idea, but we all felt the need to go back where everything started. Facing the past was the only way to put it under our backs; the only way to move on. It was incredible how many memories that house had awakened in me. I could see Edward playing at his piano, Alice moving gracefully across the room. The first time Edward invited Bella in this house was clear in my head like it had happened the day before. We weren't sure leaving her was the better choice, but Edward was unable to be convinced. He was afraid to hurt her, but he ended up hurting himself. He had stopped living long before the Volturi killed him. And now I could see the same signs in Jasper. Alice had been a gift for him; now he didn't know what to live for anymore…

I heard the door opening violently, and I immediately ran to see what happened. Esme ran down the stairs as well, along with Emmett and Rosalie. We all stared in shock at Jasper, at the frantic look in his face, and most of all at the barely conscious girl he was carrying in his arms.

"Carlisle, she needs your help. I found her unconscious, half covered in snow... she can't stay awake."

I immediately checked the girl's pulse and felt the icy-cold skin beneath my fingers. The girl chose that moment to turn her head slightly, and I couldn't help to widen my eyes.

"My God… She's…"

"I know. Can you help her?"

I nodded. "Take her to Edward's room. Esme, she will need other clothes…"

Esme nodded, and ran again up the stairs, following Jasper. I asked Emmett to take my medical bag and Rosalie to look for everything that might help to warm that little girl up, and then I ran upstairs as well. Esme had already changed the brown-haired girl into more comfortable clothes and put her in the bed Alice got for Bella, twenty years earlier. Jasper didn't let her out of her sight; he was holding her hand and speaking to her in a soothing voice, stroking her hair and probably using his gift on her. Rosalie walked past me with a bunch of blankets in her arms and I silently thanked God for Esme and her obsession with details when it came to make our houses look real, filling them with everything a normal human family could need. Esme and Rosalie draped the blankets all over that tiny, shaking figure and then they moved back to let me come closer. Emmett was the last to enter, and the last to see the girl's face. Like us, he was puzzled and surprised. She was exactly like Bella, except for those piercing blue eyes I noticed downstairs. I took my bag from Emmett's hands, and I sat on her bed, ready to visit my new patient.

Bella

I couldn't stop shivering. My teeth rattled so strongly that I was afraid they would break. And my blood had to have turned into ice. Frozen, like my body… That couldn't be heaven. Hell, maybe? My father, my brother… Were they right to blame me for my mother's death?

In the middle of this, I clearly felt someone trying to take the clothes off me. I fought against the unknown hands, trying to keep them off me. "No... Please, no…"

"Don't be afraid, sweetheart… we just want to help you. You'll get warm sooner without this wet clothes."

Another voice I didn't recognize. Who was she? She started stroking gently my hair, trying to calm me down, but not even her kind, soothing voice could shake off the horrible idea that I was still in hell and nothing good would happen if I stopped fighting.

"Please, let Esme help you. We don't want to hurt you. I promise," said the voice of my angel. Angels couldn't be in hell… Right? I opened slightly my eyes, and I could see my angel looking down at me, worried. I suddenly realized I 

wasn't dead. I was in a huge bed decorated with lots of sculpted metal roses. My blonde angel took my hand and asked me again to calm down. I did it instantly. Whatever he asked of me, I would do it…

I let the woman, Esme, undress me. She changed my clothes at a supernatural speed. I almost didn't notice. When she finished, she put a thick blanket around me and began again to stroke my hair. At least I think it was her. I didn't dare hope it was my blonde angel. I was still shaking, though. My body seemed to have forgotten what it was like to feel warm.

I closed my eyes for an instant, and suddenly I felt more blankets over me. Their weight was comforting. Now I could sense more people in the room beside Esme and my savior. Unfortunately, everything became blurry and I slipped into unconsciousness. But I wasn't scared. Anyone else might feel menaced to be in the hands of strangers, too weak to defend themselves… but I felt strangely safe in that place. It was like I was supposed to be there. Like I belonged with them, or something…

Jasper

I watched Carlisle visit 'Bella', as I had started to call her in my head. Even if unconscious, she was still holding my hand, and I didn't try to free myself from her grip. I was afraid she might get upset again. That made Carlisle's work a little more complicated, but he managed to listen to her heartbeat and lungs, and take her temperature. She was slowly regaining some color on her face, and the shaking had almost stopped. I couldn't help but smile. She would make it.

"We have to let her rest now," said Carlisle, after injecting her with some medicine. "You found her just in time, Jasper. A little more time in the woods…"

"I didn't find her in the woods," I replied. "I found her… I found her at the cemetery. She was near Bella's grave."

Emmett gave me a confused look. "You mean that girl might be…?"

"She looks too much like her. It could be possible."

"My God," exclaimed Rosalie. "Do you really think she's Bella's daughter?"

"Alice said something about her dying during childbirth," I whispered, giving the girl a last sad look before removing my hand from hers.

"Poor child," said Esme. "Poor Bella."

'Bella' started moving and moaning in her sleep, and in an instant Carlisle was already at her bedside, touching her face.

"She's hot. I think she might be developing a fever, if not something worse."

"Do you think we should take her to the hospital?"

"N-No…" she whispered. "I don't want to go…"

"Easy, easy… Can you tell me your name?" asked Carlisle.

"B-Bella…"

We all exchanged a look when we heard that name.

"Bella, can you tell me where your parents are? They must be worried sick for you."

"No… please, don't call my father… please…" she said, starting to breathe heavily. I immediately touched her again, and I let a wave of quiet wash over her. Her breath slowed down, and she opened her eyes to look at me.

"I don't want to see him, please… "

She was desperate. Scared. Whoever her father was, he made her suffer. I didn't know why, but these feelings made me desire to hurt him as much he had hurt that girl.

"Ok, Bella. No one will call him. You're safe here."

I smiled, and she smiled faintly at me.

"What's your name?"

"Jasper. And these are Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett."

"Thank you, Jasper…" she said, and she drifted back into sleep. A few hours later, the fever rose and she started talking in her delirium.

Rosalie

I couldn't stop watching Bella. What a strange twist of fate… If I didn't know that Bella, the one I knew and never got a chance to appreciate, was dead and buried, I'd say it was her. Except for those eyes… Bella had been nice, but her daughter's eyes were beautiful. I felt slightly jealous of all the attention she was receiving, though. Everyone seemed like mesmerized by that child. I accepted to stay with her when Esme finished her turn to give her a closer look. Since we didn't sleep, we would take turns at her bedside until the fever wouldn't go down.

Bella never stopped talking for a second. Sometimes she muttered intelligible things, but most of the time she was calling for her mother. I couldn't even imagine how growing up without a mother could be. My parents put me on a pedestal; they loved me. I was a little spoiled princess…

"Why Dad doesn't love me, Mom?"

That phrase snapped me out of my reverie and made me feel sorry for her. From what I gathered, she felt rejected and unloved for most of her young life. I was feeling the burning desire to kill that father. A child had no faults. Never.

Jasper knocked lightly on the door, and I got up from the couch to reach him.

"How is she?"

"Still talking nonsense. Except when she's talking about her parents. Do you think she has run away from her house?"

"She looks like she's old enough to take care of herself."

"She looks a kid to me."

"Rose, your time's up. Go to Emmett and tell him she's fine. I'll stay with her."

It was strange. Jasper never showed any interest in females since Alice had died. Tanya and Irina did their best to convince him to find another mate, but he was adamant to stay alone… and now he was dazzled by that young human girl?

History had really strange ways of repeating itself. I shook my head and left the room.

Jasper Hale

I sat where my sister was just a few minutes earlier, and I watched Bella's face. She was burning with fever. It was incredible that just a few hours before, she was close to freezing to death. I wet the cloth Esme had put on her forehead during her watch, and wiped away the sweat from her brow.

"You should try to rest," I whispered. "Rest, Bella. Let it go…"

I didn't mean to wake her up; I felt sorry when I saw her opening her eyes.

"I'm thirsty…"

I took the glass of water from the nightstand and I helped her to sit and drink some water. She drank too quickly and she started coughing.

"Easy, easy…" I said, helping her to lie down again.

"Thank you, Jasper," she whispered.

"Do you remember my name?"

"I remember everything."

"You did a stupid thing tonight. Well, last night. It's six in the morning now."

"I'm sorry… You shouldn't have stayed awake for me. Really."

"I was worried. We all were."

"You shouldn't have."

"Bella, what happened last night?"

She lowered her eyes. "I turned eighteen. I moved out of my house. I got depressed and I went crying over my mother's grave."

"Did you try to kill yourself?"

I was dead serious; I didn't expect her to chuckle.

"According to my grandfather, I have inherited from my mother the uncanny ability to harm myself without even trying. I wasn't trying to kill myself…"

I laughed softly, remembering Bella's mother. Edward defined her a danger magnet… Seemed like the apple hadn't fallen too far from the tree.

"… at least, I wasn't last night."

Bella

I could see the shock on Jasper's face. Damn fever. I was feeling well enough to talk but not well enough to keep my thoughts under control… That was why I hated being sick. Fever was better than a truth serum in my case. Thank God Dave and Kim were good and trustworthy listeners.

"No one actually believed I tried to kill myself. All the kids in La Push went cliff diving at First Beach every now and then. And then, once I was in the water … I understood how stupid I was. I didn't want to die. I wanted to fight, to 

prove everyone what I was capable of… When they rescued me they assumed I was being just… well, myself. No one ever suspected a thing… no one."

Jasper listened carefully to every word I said, without speaking. I was feeling too dizzy to actually try and read his face. My head felt so heavy… maybe I would give sleep another try. I yawned, and Jasper interpreted that as a signal to leave.

"No…" I said, catching his cold hand. Icy, actually. Or maybe that was just me. "Stay? Until I fall asleep? Please?"

Jasper smiled to me, and sat on my bed.

"Anything you want, Bella."

I was close to tears. I wasn't used to be the object of such attention and care. One tear actually escaped my eyes and left a wet trail on my cheek. I was so embarrassed… but he seemed not to notice. Jasper wiped away my the stray tear with the back of his hand, and I enjoyed once again the coolness of his skin against mine. Maybe too much. I closed my eyes and sighed happily.

The last thing I felt was the wet cloth on my forehead again. I smiled, and felt asleep.