BPOV
I saw the light behind my eyes first, I knew I was in heaven, I'd seen the gun fire. I couldn't have survived, I'd felt the pain in my chest. I slowly opened my eyes wondering what would await me.
I saw the white of the walls, tubes where sticking out of my arms, and I was in pain, so I wasn't in heaven. I looked around, noticing that their where several chairs occupied, one had a blond haired man sleeping in it, the other had a bronze haired man, he was staring at me, his jaw slightly slack, like it had dropped.
"Edward," I croaked out. He grabbed some water and gently lifted it to my lips, I took a small sip, noticing how dry my mouth was and how foreign the water tasted.
"Bella, my beautiful Bella," Edward talked to me, he looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days. I raised my hand to try and lay it gently on his cheek, but I could barely lift it. "Honey, how do you feel?"
"Tired," I wanted to say more, but I couldn't, talking felt foreign to me as well, like I hadn't done it in a long time.
"Honey, it's been three months, you've been in a coma for three months." I blinked, I was alive, right, that was a good thing.
Carlisle walked in at that moment.
"Bella, your awake, good."
"Dom?" I was more worried about my friends.
"Honey, he's right there, asleep, waiting for you to wake up. Ric is fine to, they never even got into the library."
"How many died?"
"Twelve, excluding Erin, you shot at her first, you didn't miss, but Hunter sent the fatal bullet into her heart just as he was hit. I'm sorry, honey, Hunter didn't make it."
I nodded, noticing how weak I felt. Edward gripped my hand as Carlisle checked my charts.
"Carlisle," I whispered.
"Yes, dear."
"When did you move here?"
"Bella," Edward said. "Keller moved you to Forks, honey we're home."
I was in Forks, you'd think I'd remember getting here, but I must have really been in a coma. I looked out the window and saw the brown of the winter. White snow dusted the ground.
"I love you," I told Edward, he smiled and placed a light kiss on my lips. It felt weird, but so right. I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. I felt is smile in the kiss, but he didn't deepen the kiss, in fear of hurting me, which I was in some pain, I think it was just pain from being inactive for so long.
"Dad?"
"Comes around everyday, your friends too. Keller even flew out Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper. They are still here, the choose to take the semester off. Finals last semester where canceled. I think you passed all your classes, but I don't have the resources to check. They wouldn't believe me when I said I was your husband."
Carlisle coughed at that. Edward looked at him and shrugged.
"Forgot to tell him," I asked. Edward nodded. "Carlisle, it was what needed to be done, it was right. We want to have a big wedding after all this shit is over."
"Sure, should I run a pregnancy test?"
"No, I've been in a coma for three months," I started to panic.
"Bella, I was joking, trying to get you to laugh, I'll leave, looks like Dom is coming around. Please try to not get shot again in the next two years."
That did make me laugh, but I stopped when I started hurting.
"It's great to hear you laugh, kid."
"Hi, Dom, I've missed you," I said, he came over and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled up at him as he engulfed me in a hug. I hugged him back.
"So, what happened in the library?"
"Erin was Tori's step sister, she was insane, she said she loved Tori, and I don't mean like a sibling love." I looked at Edward.
"A love like you two, like Ric and I," Dom said, understanding what I wasn't saying. "So why did she blow up the Theta house, which didn't hurt anybody, since you got everybody out. Smart thinking, Bella."
"Well, when I heard who it was, I didn't know about Tori at the time. I figured she was ticked about getting kicked out of the Theta's, and I'd found a page about how to build a bomb after she'd moved out, it clicked and I knew what was going to happen, she was hoping that she could keep everybody busy at the library and they wouldn't think about the house. I did and I knew what to do. Why not the Omega house, well because Edward lived there, she loved Edward like she loved Tori."
"Well, she's gone, so I'm just going to step out and call Keller, he's been staying here until something happened."
Dom left and I looked at Edward.
"I want to leave the bureau."
"Baby, you can't it's what you are amazing at. I don't want you to give up on your dreams."
"Dreams change, now, I want to settle down, finish college, not at Dartmouth, maybe in Seattle, then move back here and enjoy my life with you. After you graduate from Dartmouth."
"Bella, I don't care where I graduate from, be it Dartmouth or Seattle, I'm stuck with you until forever, I'll move with you wherever you want to be, if that means moving back to Forks and having to commute everyday to Seattle than so be it. Dartmouth was fun, but it holds some bad memories now."
"What happened to the trial?"
"No trial, they managed to get Tori to plead guilty by insanity. I don't know the full details, but she's in prison for at least this life time."
Justice had come to Victoria at the cost of many lives, Keller had said. After Tori had heard what Erin had done, she'd pleaded guilty to the murders and claimed insanity, not a hard thing to believe since she went crazy in the cell she was at. She'd almost killed herself in her rage. Turns out she'd loved Erin too.
It saddened me that so many people had to die because of Tori and Erin. I couldn't even count how many had. Frieda Tanis and Hunter MacDonald came to mind, then my friend from history class, Kari Connors.
A month after I woke up, I was released from the hospital, Edward was taking off until the fall to help me get better. I had somethings to do, somethings that Edward couldn't help me with, so I asked Dom.
We drove the lonely road in Arlington Cemetery in D.C. to the final resting places of many brave men and women. Dom stopped not to far from where my friend was buried. I grabbed the flowers and got out.
"Hi, Frieda, sorry it took me so long to get here to say goodbye. I just want to thank you for watching after me all those years ago. I was a handful, and I'm sorry that I never got to say thanks for the information you gave me."
I placed the flowers on the grave and wiped the tears away before getting back the truck and Dom drove to the other grave site. I grabbed the second batch of flowers and went to find my friend.
"Hunter, thank you so much, you will forever be remembered by my family," I cried, I sunk to my knees and cried on his grave. "I promise that your memory will live on at Dartmouth, you saved hundreds of lives. The official count of injured was high, in the twenties, but had you not found me as soon as you did, Erin would have killed me and she would have blown the house up and continued her rampage. You are a true hero in every aspect. Thank you."
I sat there for a moment, laying the flowers on the grave.
"Thanks," I said as I slid back into Dom's truck. "Two very extraordinary people had to die so young."
"We all know the risk when we get into this line of work, Bella, our loves have to learn the hard way that sometimes our assignments don't go according to plan. This is our normal," Dom said, and hugged me.
We set there for some time crying. I knew that I didn't want to retire from the FBI, but I wanted different things now, I wanted a family with Edward, I wanted to be by my family in Forks, and I wanted to write about my ordeals, I wanted my story and the stories of so many people who had touched my life to be told, so they would never be forgotten.
That's it folks, well, okay, I lied, there is one more chapter and I already have another sequel in mind, depending on the reaction I get from this one once I put it in the complete folder. I'd like to thank my loyal readers of the Normal Series, you guys have keep me moving even when I felt like I couldn't move any more. To each and every person who's reviewed, this also goes out to you. Thank you so much! I hope you've enjoyed this story.