Chapter Eleven

"…Mum?"

The word came out crackly as if I hadn't used my voice for a long time and I suppose in that respect I really hadn't. It was all just a dream of mine, coma girl. None of it was real.

I'm not stupid but some part of me felt it was real. It had certainly seemed so. Alice, Carlisle, Edward, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper…Spencer…I was never going to see them again. They were all in my head.

"Sadie, are you crying?" My mum asked me and I quickly wiped my cheeks with my palms, shaking my head as I did so.

"Of course not mum." I wiped my damp palms on the bedspread; this hospital wasn't at all friendly like the one I'd been in Forks, only I hadn't really been there at all. I blinked furiously as I tried to stem the moisture that threatened to spill over.

It was ridiculous really. I'd been searching for a way back but even so I'd wanted to say goodbye first. Even if they weren't real it would have been nice to say goodbye.

I glanced up and noticed my mother looking down at her watch, a faint crease in her forehead.

"Is something wrong?" I asked shifting as I sat up ignoring the doctor making notes on his clipboard beside the bed.

Mum jumped and looked a little…embarrassed, was that embarrassment I could see on her face?

"Oh no it's nothing Sadie," She waved a hand airily for one moment before she leaned in closer, "Well it's just that its your brother's last football match of the season, your father's already there and I was supposed to be there too."

I'm so terribly sorry that my coming out of a freaking comaruined your plans mother!

This is what I thought but instead I gave her a smile,

"You should go, I'll be fine. I'm awake now and I've got the doc to keep me company. You can all come visit me afterwards."

Mum looked shifty and uncomfortable under my gaze,

"We would it's just that your father and I promised to buy the team all pizza if they won and if what your father said when he rang was true it looks like they will win."

I stayed silent, staring at my mother until she cleared her throat and continued,

"It's just that it's not really fair that we should go back on our promise. It's not like it's just the three of us is it? It's the whole team plus the coach and some of the other parents."

And just like that with her words I knew how she really saw it. It would always be the three of them. I was left out of things again, like I had been every time before.

This horrible realisation that my family didn't really want me around would have overwhelmed me if it hadn't been for the fact that just as I was about to break down, cry or quite possible yell I heard a voice as clear as day in my ear.

"Sadie…please wake up."

"Alice?" I responded automatically looking around as if I expected her to be standing beside me, all spiky black hair and immaculate clothes. Of course she wasn't but I had heard her in my head, calling to me.

"Alice?" My mother questioned in the middle of standing up to leave, "Who are you talking about Sadie?"

"Oh, I just thought I…Ouch!" My whole body jerked as pain shot through me as my leg caught on the bedspread underneath. My mother didn't notice, she was too busy checking her watch.

"Come on Sadie, sleeping is for losers."

And that was…Emmett?

I shook my head as if to shake away the voice but it came again, different this time, softer than Emmett's booming voice but still masculine.

"Sadie? Sadie you have to wake up."

Jasper?

What was going on? My delusions had been lovely but the fact they seemed to be crossing over into reality was more than a little worrying.

"Please Sadie. Come back to us."

Rosalie?

"Sadie, are you alright?" My mother asked, her coat over one arm, "You look very pale." She commented.

"I'm always pale, I don't have another shade." I replied automatically. I had said exactly the same thing to Carlisle. Thinking of him made my head hurt and I pressed my palms into my forehead as I felt the throbs that indicated the beginning of a headache.

"Her vitals seem to be increasing. I think she's coming back." Carlisle's voice was comforting in my ears and again without thinking I spoke out.

"Carlisle?" I tilted my head right as if expecting to see Carlisle writing on my charts wearing his lovely bright white coat, the corners of his amber eyes crinkling as he smiled gently at his patients putting them at ease in an instant. But it wasn't Carlisle. This doctor wasn't even in the same league as Carlisle. He didn't radiate safety like Carlisle did. And when this new doctor smiled down at me, his eyes a muddy dyke coloured hazel, I didn't feel reassured at all.

"This is Dr Boyne. He's been helping you while you've been unconscious." My mother said slipping on her coat and zipping it up.

She bent forwards to kiss my clammy forehead, my hands now clenched together in my lap and I smelt her perfume; lavender.

"Okay we'll be back later to see you so you do what the doctor tells you too alright?" My mother instructed placing a light kiss on my forehead before pulling back slightly so she could look at me, her eyes narrowed as she looked at my neck, "And what happened to your necklace? I'll make a complaint about that, robbing a comatose victim of their jewellery."

Instantly my hands went to my throat where it was bare, no necklace, not his, not even mine. I grabbed hold of my mother's hand as she turned to leave.

"Mum how long have I been out?" I asked keeping my grip tight on her.

She looked down at our hands before answering,

"Just over a month I think."

'I think'.

Those two words cut deep. My own mother didn't even know how long her own daughter had been in a coma.

"Come back to us sweetheart."

For one moment I thought it was my mother talking to me, calling me sweetheart like she had when I was a child but then I noticed her lips hadn't moved. She hadn't tried to comfort me with words…but another mother had.

"I love you mum," I said bring her hand to my face and kissing it softly, just once, "I'll always love you."

"Of course," My mum said clearly not paying attention, her eyes on the double doors at the end of the ward, "Sadie I've already missed ten minutes of the match, I really have to go."

I let her hand go, my own dropping to the bedspread as she shouldered her bag,

"I know." I said softly, my voice no more than a whisper. Somewhere deep down my mother did love me, I truly believe that, but I was never going to be enough to keep her interest.

"Give my love to dad." I told her as she shook hands with the doctor who put down his clipboard and left the cubicle to give us some alone time. He really didn't know the Prince family at all.

"I will. See you later Sadie," My mum pulled curtain back so she could leave, "I wonder if I cut across Park Avenue I can get there quicker." She muttered to herself as she left the ward not looking back once.

I know it might seem strange that my mother was like this but I was used to it. While in Forks I could only think of how to get back but now that I was I realised it wasn't where I was supposed to be. I didn't belong here anymore…maybe I never had.

I was alone in the cubicle. I probably only had a few minutes before the doctor returned but that would be long enough. Leaning forward I picked up the heavy clipboard pulling the paper out of the clip and turning it over so I could write on it with the pen that was attached. I wrote quickly my handwriting readable but nowhere near neat. I'd never been the world's greatest speller and there were a few mistakes that I made in my haste but finally I was done. I signed my name at the bottom and threw the chart to the end of the bed. I could do no more for them now.

Then I reached to the tubes hanging beside my bed, clicking the button twice, almost instantly feeling sleepy.

I knew it was coming, I could feel it. I'd felt it when Alice had spoken in my head. My headache was getting worse, a sure sign that everything would soon fade to black. I closed my eyes and waited for the darkness to overwhelm me.

All I could think was that finally I was going home.

-X-

I felt like I was floating again, like I was in one of those isolation tanks, all my senses locked off except for the ability to hear my own mind. Man that was going to get boring quickly, listening to only myself.

Then I felt a sharp prick on my arm and I could feel my arm, wiggling my fingers as I started to feel my other arm and then my legs.

It took me a little while (or it could have been days it's hard to tell time in the dark okay) to realise that I was keeping my eyes close. Taking a deep breath I forced them open, closing them straight away as the light burned my corneas.

"Holy crap." I cursed pressing my hands against my eyes as they started to stream.

"Esme, the curtains." Just those three words from Carlisle's mouth made me relax, it was like he was the morphine I'd used on myself.

"Carlisle?" I called only it came out more like "Gargile" instead. There was a soft chuckle and I cautiously opened my eyes squinting so I could let light in without permanently blinding myself.

"That's right," I muttered my mouth feeling dry, I desperately wanted to brush my teeth or at least suck on a mint, "Laugh at the injured girl."

I opened my eyes properly then unable to keep from smiling as I saw Carlisle and Esme standing over me, smiles on their own faces.

"Welcome back." Carlisle said his stethoscope hanging around his neck. He'd obviously been doing tests on me making sure I was still alive.

"It's good to be back." I replied trying to sit up on the bed I was lying in. I didn't recognise the room so it must have been either Carlisle and Esme's or Rosalie and Emmett's. My guess was on Carlisle and Esme though since there wasn't nearly enough clothes in the room for it to be Rosalie's.

Carlisle and Esme immediately flanked either side of me, helping to prop me up against the handsome wooden headboard.

"Ouch," I yelped as my foot caught on the bedding pulling on it and making a pain shoot all the way up my leg, "It's okay." I said as both Esme and Carlisle bent forwards to help me. The irony that someone else's family had reacted and tried to soothe me when my own mother hadn't even noticed was not lost on me.

"For a while there I thought we were loosing you." Esme admitted sitting on bed beside me and smoothing down my hair which probably looked terrible since I'd been asleep or back in the real world or whatever for god knows how long.

Esme's strong arms wrapped around my shoulder holding me against her chest and I closed my eyes, breathing in her scent. She didn't need a perfume to smell wonderful.

"For a while there, you almost did." I admitted not even noticing if her skin was cold or not, it felt so nice to be comforted by someone who actually liked having me around and I didn't want it to ever end.

"Well wherever you went we're glad you're back." Carlisle said reaching out a hand and touching my shoulder tenderly, his contact comforting.

"So I am." I whispered falling asleep in Esme's embrace.

-X-

I half expected to wake up in the hospital when I, well woke up again so it was with overwhelming happiness that when I did wake up again I was still in Esme and Carlisle's bed, the curtains open letting in what felt like early afternoon light.

The happy feeling only lasted a short second though, long enough for me to see the spectacular view through Esme and Carlisle's windows before the door was flung open and a black blur flew in squealing.

"Ow." I cried out clamping my hands down over my ears and the blur stopped beside the bed for a millisecond before climbing on it to hug me, still squealing delightedly.

"Alice, stop squealing or I will personally kick you out of this bed." I warned her unable to not smile as she nodded enthusiastically before leaping on me to hug me again.

Behind her in the door stood Jasper, tall and leonine leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey." He said raising a hand in greeting. He seemed casual but he was smiling, his golden eyes twinkling as he watched his wife squeezing the life out of me with her hugs.

"Hey back at you," I said talking to him over Alice's shoulder…literally, "How are you?"

Jasper smiled, his white glittering teeth just showing,

"Better than you it would seem," He sounded amused, "Though black suits you." He pointed to my face and gingerly I reached up to touch my eye wincing as my fingers made contact.

"Great, now I look like a panda." I muttered earning a chuckle from Jasper.

"More like half a panda." I heard Emmett's booming voice before I saw him appear behind Jasper. He grinned at me and the sight of Alice practically smothering me.

"Hey Emmett." I smiled at him as Alice finally stopped hugging me but she didn't seem to want to let go completely so she took one of my hands in hers. I couldn't even tell they were cold anymore.

"Don't crowd her," Rosalie said as she scooted between her husband and Jasper to get into the room, "Alice and I can clear up that black eye in no time." She promised coming forward and I gave her a one armed hug since Alice refused to relinquish my hand.

"It's good to see you again Rosalie," I said unable to stop smiling like a moron, funny thing was though that I didn't care, not one tiny bit, "Actually it's good to see everyone. I've missed you." I admitted.

"I think you can see that we missed you too." Rosalie said smoothing my hair as Esme had done earlier.

"Some are being more obvious about it than others." Emmett muttered under his breath and he and Jasper laughed. Alice just stuck her tongue out at them before returning to smiling at me.

"Where's Edward?" I asked conversationally. Beside me Rosalie tensed up and I realised they were putting all their energy into welcoming me back so that they didn't have to worry about something else.

"Guys?" I questioned when no-one said anything though I could feel the waves of serenity flowing of Alice. It explained why Jasper looked so happy, being in Alice's company you can't help but feel cheerful.

"Edward's away…with her." Rosalie said, her distaste clear and it didn't take a genius to work out who 'her' was.

"What date is it?" I asked running my free hand from my dark slightly greasy locks. I was loosing track of when I was let alone where I was.

"The 12th," Alice said happily shifting her position on the bed so she was on her stomach, "Of March." She added as if unsure that I knew the month.

"Saturday right?" I asked.

"Yep, the night of the big dance," Alice moved again until she was almost curled up against me, "Not that we're going." She added somewhat bitterly.

"Unless you want to go?" Rosalie added slyly and I quickly shook my head.

"No, no, no, no, I'm good thanks. Besides won't it draw attention to the fact that I was gone suddenly from school and then I'm back again?" I questioned reaching behind Rosalie for the glass of water Esme had left on the bedside table for me, gulping half of it down thirstily.

"No one asked you huh?" Emmett joked from across the room. I laughed with him.

"Yeah something like that." I admitted trying not to spill the water as I set it back on the table.

"Carlisle informed the school that you'd had an accident which is true and you had to go out of town for treatment," Jasper informed me answering my question, "He's a doctor, no-one questioned it."

Thinking of the fact that I'd missed the last week and a bit I realised I'd missed the La Push trip and the chance to meet Jacob pre wolf. Mike was going to hate me. First I turned him down for the dance and then I blow him off on the trip he wanted me to go on.

Ah well, he'll get over it.

Then I remembered that the reason I'd asked about the date was to find out if today was the day I thought it was, the meadow day. And it was.

Smiling I moved to get out of bed when everyone jerked suddenly.

"What are you doing?" Alice demanded, the smile gone from her pale face, "You need rest."

"Alice," I said taking her face in my free hand, "I need to pee."

"Oh." Alice smiled again and she and Rosalie helped me up as the boys laughed in the doorway.

"Watch it," I whispered as I passed them, "I've got a mean left hook."

Alice reluctantly let go of my hand as I reached the bathroom that belonged to Carlisle and Esme, the entrance next to the door to the hallway where Jasper and Emmett stood.

After I'd answered the call of nature I took a quick shower. I didn't have any clothes to put on except the ones I'd had my accident in…the fall accident not any other type of accident. Wrapping a fluffy white towel around my body I wrung out my wet hair in the sink before I re-entered the bedroom walking on the balls of my feet so I didn't get the wood to wet.

"Boys out." Rosalie demanded and she and Alice surged on them almost throwing them out the door before they closed it leaving themselves in the room with me. Alice's face was practically glowing in excitement as she saw what I was going to offer her.

Sighing I smiled at Rosalie before I turned back to Alice,

"Go ahead then, I'm your guinea-pig Barbie…actually I guess I'm more a Sindy than a Barbie." I chuckled at my own joke but both Rosalie and Alice looked confused.

"You know because Sindy was…never mind, it's not that funny anyway," I sighed before turning back to Alice, "I'm your blank canvas, do with me what you will."

Alice hugged me unable to speak before she turned and ran out of the room closing the door behind her so the boys couldn't get in, shouting about needing her tools.

"I'll give you all the money in the world if you can keep Alice's enthusiasm reigned in." I whispered to Rosalie as she reached into the pocket of her jeans fishing out a silver necklace…my silver necklace, well Spencer's if you want to get technical but he did give it to me so that does make it mine…sort of.

"I thought you should have this back, I took it off you for safe keeping. I know you like it and I didn't want it to get ruined or damaged or anything." Rosalie said undoing the clasp and slipping it around my neck.

As soon as she'd secured it I hugged her, feeling her tense and then relax as she hugged me back.

"Thank you for taking care of it for me." I whispered touched that she'd noticed it meant something to me.

I let her go and she stepped back and again I was glad I wasn't smelling like a meal to vampires, I wouldn't have been able to be so close to them if I did smell good and that would have been a real shame.

"I took it for me too," Rosalie admitted and I think that if she could have still blushed she would have been right then, "I wanted something to remember you by if…well anything happened. Something to prove you existed."

Irony thy name is Sadie Prince.

"I think you have that backwards." I muttered as we heard Alice approaching, humming a happy tune as she made her way back to us.

"By the way," Rosalie whispered to me as Alice came inside and started setting up on Esme's vanity counter, "There's no force in the world that can keep Alice reigned in."

I sighed heavily as Alice disappeared again this time muttering about clothes.

"Well I've give you fifty dollars if you can at least sort out my panda look."

"Done." Rosalie replied as Alice re-entered the room too busy with trying to get everything perfect to concentrate on mine and Rosalie's conversation.

She was carrying a pile of clothes bigger than my entire wardrobe back in my old house.

"I'm glad you're back." Rosalie said as she helped me to the seat in front of the mirror while Alice left the room to bemoan at Esme for the lack of light in her room.

I smiled at Rosalie in the mirror as she started to comb out my damp hair,

"Me too," I said looking at my reflection, one thing was for sure Jasper was a liar, a black eye looked good on no-one but I still couldn't stop smiling as I glanced past myself to where I could see Rosalie working on my hair, "It's good to be home."

Author's Notes:

Wow two chapters in two days. I wrote this in one sitting. Hope you like it.

I know it sounds like the end but it isn't. Sadie does have a reason to be in Forks and there's much more that has yet to happen.

Hope you enjoy this chapter as I loved writing it.