Wow, this chapter is short.

First of all, thanks must go to Nykie, for what I must consider to be the best review yet. It pointed out flaws in my writing (expect to see small rewrites done soon), as well as praised me. Yes! And it was also a long PM.

Take the advice, folks. If you want to say more, or don't want others to read what you say when it's not a flame, then PM me. I welcome them.

This chapter is mostly filler, explaining what Bella does now. It also reconciles Bella with someone (not who you would expect :D) and reveals some of her murky background.


After a few days, I discovered that it would be harder to take care of her than I had though. She required constant care. She could walk around, but if none of us moved her, then she would sit there, unmoving, until her muscles cramped. Then she would sit there in agony until someone moved her again.

Every day, I would sit with her in the morning, and feed her breakfast- fruit again. This girl was strange; I made a mental note to ask Carlisle exactly why she only ate fruit. Then I would take her in, and one of the nurses would wash her, dry her, and clothe her. Only in suits she had made herself, in the hope that familiar things would help bring her out of her coma.

Then I would take her out for a jog, keeping her in at least some level of fitness. We would run for around half an hour, then come back in and watched some T.V shows that the nurses said she liked for an hour. For lunch, she had more fruit. Supposedly, she liked the pool, so from there, we would go down to the pool, and I would encourage her to swim. This was perhaps the hardest thing I had to convince her to do. We would swim laps for another half an hour, then go back to her room.

There, we would read books that Carlisle said she often borrowed from him. Or more correctly, I would read them to her, encouraging her to read them. Nurses would come in, take her away. I had no idea what they did with her then. I just assumed it was simple things, like showering her again, and taking her to the toilet. When she came back, she would always be clean. Dinner would arrive shortly after that- more fruit.

For the next few hours, we would sit around, doing random activities- usually, I would talk to her, just random snippets of my previous life, back in Phoenix. All my old friends, the first fencing lessons I had taken, the fights I used to have with Charlie.
The first time there was any sign of improvement, it was exactly four weeks after she had slipped into her Alice-coma. I had been reading her one of her favourite books, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We had just reached one of the more exciting scenes, the love-potion scene, and she had smiled. Not usually something to get excited about, but she had worn a vacant expression for weeks.

Today, however, I had to go home. Every single scrap of clothing I had been wearing was torn, usually from swimming with Alice. The thing that worried me was Charlie. I hadn't seen him for six weeks, hadn't told him where I was or anything. He knew I was with Alice, but that was it.

The car, a small Ford, was waiting out the front of the hospital. It was an apology gift from Rosalie. I hadn't wanted to accept it, but it would help Alice get better, and how could I refuse anything that would do that?

I remembered when Rosalie had come to visit Alice for the first time. It was over a week after Alice had left her mind. Rosalie had no idea that I was there; I had hidden in the bathroom when she came, fearing to see her just yet. I would wait until I had finished with Alice, and had some will power left.

"I paid your hospital fees." Rosalie's voice was low, low enough that I had trouble hearing her. "You're going to be here for a while, I think. Someone had to pay them, and I don't think B-Bella will be able to."

I stood very quietly, listening to her.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you." Her voice became much more passionate now. "I never meant for you to be hurt, I swear. It's just, you and Bella were the first people who ever spoke to me without caring about my money. You had no interest in me, but I needed someone who did, and didn't care about my money."

Of course, Alice didn't move. I could understand why she did what she did now, but I still couldn't forgive her. That was beyond me at the moment.

It was nice, knowing that she still wanted to help Alice. It made me a little let hateful about her.

The Ford purred to life beneath me. I changed gears and drove out of the parking lot, preparing for the inevitable confrontation with Charlie when I eventually walked in. He wouldn't be able to forgive me, from what I knew of him.

It took me the usual five minutes to drive home. I parked the car out the front, and hopped out, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself. The knock sounded extra loud in face of my nervousness.

Charlie answered, red-eyed and sounding very tired. "Bella?" he asked, sounding surprised to see me. "What are you doing here? I though you were living with your girlfriend now."

"I'm not living with my girlfriend," I said evenly. "My friend-" I emphasized the word friend- "is in hospital. I've been in there with her, trying to help her get better."

"This isn't anything like Sarah, is it?" he asked. I was extremely surprised to hear some genuine concern in his voice.

He caught my look of surprise. "I know you don't think I care about you, Bella," he said, sounding serious now, and not at all sleepy. "But I do. You used to scream at me, because you thought I didn't support you. I do support you, Bella. It's just, I don't want you to get hurt again."

Now I was the one staring at him, trying to ascertain if he was real. "What do you mean?" I asked, shocked.

"I know what happened between you and Sarah," he said quietly.

Her name felt like I was being stabbed with hot needles.

Sarah, the first love of my life. She was the girl who had helped me realize why I wasn't attracted to any boys.

"I remember the fight you two had," he continued.

I had caught Sarah kissing another girl, behind the Maths classroom. I had confronted her about it when she had turned up at my house later.

"You screamed that you didn't love her anymore," he reminisced.

She had told me that she had feelings for this girl, but still wanted to be with me. She had confided in me how confused she was, what she was feeling. Torn by the revelation that she loved another girl, I had told her that I didn't love her anymore.

"She cried and left."

Sarah had broken down into tears, turning away fro me. She had ran to her car and drove off. I had never learned where she had gone.

"The next day, you got a call from the hospital."

The hospital had called, asking me if I was a close friend of Sarah. I had affirmed that, and they had given me the most terrible news in my life to date; my girlfriend was dead.

"You came crying to me, shrieking that she had committed suicide."

Indeed she had. Just to make sure she died, she had apparently overdosed on pills, slit her wrists then hung herself. If two failed to kill her, then the third had surely done it.

"I said the wrong things."

He had said that he was glad she was dead. I had punched him as hard as I could.

"I didn't mean that," he said earnestly, staring at me with eyes I had to believe. "Please believe that. What I had meant was that I was glad that you weren't dead."

My face felt like a frozen mask. I couldn't move anything on it.

"I have to admit, I was glad that the girl who had hurt my daughter was gone. But it hurt to know she was dead, anyway."

I finally unfroze. "Charlie!" I yelled, throwing my arms around his neck.

"There, there," he said gruffly, patting my back. "It's okay."

My arms flew away from his neck. I pulled away uncertainly, climbing upstairs to get my clothes. I had just finished re-zipping my bag- I had over twelve new pairs in there; it was nearly bursting- when I heard Charlie's cry of pain.

"Dad!" I yelled. Slinging the bag over my shoulders as I ran downstairs, stumbling once, I arrived at his side.

He lay with his eyes closed, unconscious, but still breathing. There was blood streaming from the side of his head, and blood on the corner of the bench. Looking around, I saw a small puddle of water that he might have tripped over.

My fingers found the now-familiar buttons, dialing the hospital's number. "Carlisle?" I asked, after hearing his voice. "Send an ambulance. It's my dad, he's hurt."

He promised the ambulance would be there in five minutes. I held a tea-towel over his head, hoping that he would be okay. I didn't want him to die just when I had reconciled with him.

When the ambulance arrived, loaded Charlie, and left, there was a Ford following it. My Ford.


Did you like what I put in this chapter? Rosalie is less of a bitch now, and Charlie is actually decent and understanding (unlike in my other story).

Not much of a cliffie, but it will hang over you for a day. Until I update next.

Things will get more exciting next week. If Alice is responding now, then why shouldn't she do more next time?

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