CHOICES MADE

Disclaimer: The Cullens, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

"If Uncle Charlie had a speed healing it would lead to too many questions that couldn't be answered properly or explained reasonably. But, he is beginning to stabilize enough that we are going to have to keep a close watch for the right moment to halt the working of the potion. And, with this procedure we are well within the guidelines of the laws. If we don't catch the right moment it can lead to greatly adverse affects that we don't want.

"Once Uncle Charlie is able to declare what he wants on his own then you Ankarra and Margarite can hear it from him and question him as you please. However, until that moment you will have to be patient.

"And, Edward, please, quite hovering over Izzy like she is about to break. She is a lot stronger than you are giving her credit." With that being said and before any further discussion could be offered Dr. Jameson came into the room to tell them the outcome of his examination and to explain that Charlie was showing signs of awaking, but, hadn't done so as yet. With that he left and the two cousins went back into Charlie's room.

They took up the vigil once again never exiting to see what was happening with Asia and Jason. Instead of Lee and Edward or others of the family meeting her at the entrance, Billy sent Jacob and Sam to do so. And, poor Jacob was still having a problem with a lesson that was set forth for him a few days ago. He just hadn't gotten a clue as yet and Billy along with others was greatly enjoying themselves at his expense.

Suddenly Charlie's eyes popped open which signaled for the two witches to begin the stoppage of the potion with the administering of another and the proper chant that went with it. That set forth another vigil that would cause everyone to keep a watchful eye, but, it was one that the rest of the family could help while Bella and Ria got some rest to prepare for another battle that was coming on a day not too far into the future.

CHAPTER 25: CLOUDY SKIES ARE COMING

As soon as Bella and Ria had finished with administering the second potion and their adjoining chant they Ria stepped out to as the nurse to alert the doctor that her uncle was awake. Everyone in the waiting room had heard the news and breathed a sigh of relief. Now, the full story could become known from Charlie himself instead of trying to gather the information from Charlie's mind and memories.

Ria stepped back inside of Charlie's room as the nurse wasted no time in getting a hold of the doctor. He was still in the hospital making his rounds, but, also, just as quickly as she had reentered the room she opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway. "Carlisle, would you come in here please?" she requested.

Not hesitating Carlisle stepped from the waiting room to cross the hall into the hospital room. As soon as he closed the door Ria and Bella, both, explained what would need to be the next procedure and that would require for Carlisle to oversee everything and maintain control of it. He slowed the two women down long enough to ask them to give him a complete rundown of all they had down and the reasoning.

Ria explained that what she had told them before in the waiting room was correct. White witches cannot administer anything to themselves or family members that will enhance healing of any kind, but, under strict guidelines they could administer potions that would help to stabilize conditions once all other treatment had been done. So, they had given a certain potion to Charlie that would help stabilize him if it was medically possible. Once that had occurred and he awoke then a second potion had to be given immediately to halt any further effects so the healing could take place on its own at a regular pace for the species involved. So, with all of that explained she continued with, "Since you are listed as the family doctor it would be expected for you to start taking control of his case and all others following your directions. It is going to take about forty eight hours for all traces of the potions to be out of his system so it won't show up in any lab work."

"Okay, I see where you are going with this. Don't have any more concerns. It will be taken care of and time allowed for all traces to disperse from any sort of detection." He reassured both women while discretely looking over each one with a professional eye of a physician making sure his patients were holding up as well as could be expected under the circumstances that they have faced in the last several days. From all that he could observe they both seemed to be holding up very well.

But, before he could say anything else the room door opened for Dr. Jameson followed by the nurse on duty to enter the room. "The nurse tells me that Chief Swan has awoken and is fully conscious." And with those words spoken he glances towards to bed as if to verify what he had been told. Charlie was laying there with his eyes closed, but, raised his hand to indicate that he was aware of every word said.

Then he opened his eyes to look and watch all of the occupants of the room before saying, "I am awake and ready to know what the hell is going on. What happened, the damage and what is happening now?" he grimaced a little as he moved slightly, but, it was enough to release the stunned present of the doctor and nurse.

Quickly moving over to the bed Jameson told everyone to leave the room. Ria and Bella told him that all medical decisions would be cleared through Dr. Cullen since he was the family doctor. Jameson nodded, but, still told both women they needed to leave while an examination was done. Looking over at Carlisle who gave a small nod that would have been missed if you weren't paying attention agreed for the two to leave that he had everything under control. So, without any further discussion both Ria and Bella left to step across the hall to the waiting room where the rest of family and friends are gathered including Asia Charles and Jason.

As soon as his mother and aunt step into sight and Jason sees them he tears across the room to launch himself at them both. But, before full contact could be made Lee had caught his son thus preventing any harm befalling both ladies; Ria bent down asking him if he had seen his little sister as yet. He told her no, so, Lee took him down the hall to Ria's room for him to see Ariabella. While they were gone Ria looked over at Asia, "Okay, now tells us what was going on between here and Port Angeles. Leave nothing out." She instructs her.

With that encouragement Asia began to explain what happened and what her instincts told her. It was as if something was trying to stop the car, but, never made an effort to touch the vehicle. They were fast as only a vampire, but, never slowed enough for her to be able to clearly see who or what it was. "The first time they appeared and started racing by the car acting as if they were trying to veer us off the road into the foliage was when I called you, Ria. I wanted you to be aware of what was happening in case the worst did take place and we were taken."

"I can understand that, but, we do need to find out what this was. They didn't register in Izzy's prophecy sight or in Alice's vision gift to my knowledge. So, this leads me to believe that either Jason was exercising his gift or it was something we haven't encountered before." Ria started saying but, quickly moved off into musing quietly to herself seeking answers in her mind.

As a phone rang and was answered by Margarite, Ria's attention was jarred back to the present as Lee brought Jason back into the room. She was speaking quietly making it very hard for a normal human to hear the conversation. But, for vampiric hearing or animalistic shape shifters it wasn't difficult to follow the conversation, at least, from Margarite's side of the call. It was more difficult to pick up the caller's side since it was being forwarded from Margarite's staff from another caller. That was the conversation that wasn't available for anyone's hearing.

The changing facial expressions that were witnessed watching Margarite during the whole conversation was enough to alert many to the fact that she wasn't happy with what she was hearing.

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Francesca did two things after hearing from Jane, one of the crossover twins, that her plans were now being put into action. The move was being made to secure the capture of the prophecy twins and their progeny. A group had already been dispatched moments before the call to deal with the taking, securing, transporting and delivering all of them unharmed back to the crossover twins.

She wasn't happy with the idea of true bloods being held by another species for their own gain, let alone a lesser species at that. A common, run of the mill witch had no busy laying hands upon their better, especially the royals. The whole idea wasn't condone by her than and even less now that it had begun.

Francesca had notified Margarite of such a possible move some ago and swore then that she would prevent it. And that is what she was going to do. There had to be a way to warn the prophecy twins of the danger and then notify Margarite of the happenings without giving away too much of her plans or alerting the scum that they didn't have her loyalty. She had her own plans to finalize and get in place for launching while all of the attention was being drawn upon the crossover twins and their faulty attempt to take over domination. Not in this lifetime even if she had to fight with the white witches to prevent it.

Placing a call to the Valley of the Whispering Winds Francesca knew that another would answer and not the one she wished to speak with. Information would have to be relayed to Margarite for the phone connection to be made. That was fine because it would give her time to do what she needed to do to get the attention of the twins and progeny so they could seek a safe place to defend themselves.

The herbs, plants and other necessities were gathered and prepared to be combined after she begins the process of getting a hold of the White Witch queen. All things needed to be done in a certain order to be able to achieve success.

"I need to speak with Queen Margarite immediately. Tell her Francesca is calling and that the matter is urgent. I will call back very shortly and you will need to have her available for our discussion. Lives depend upon your actions being swift and immediate."

After hanging up Francesca begins mixing ingredients slowly and methodically while uttering a chant full of invocation and directions as she prepared to cast forth her spell. It didn't take long and then the white mist was casted. It traveled out the window and into the air being born on the breeze and carried by the wind currents seeking what it had been commanded to find. Once it had found its target, the mist formed into a more solid looking mass to create the illusion of attacking. Then its purpose being fulfilled it dispersed as quickly as it had formed.

It was about an hour after the supposed attack that Francesca and Margarite had their phone conversation and Margarite had been enlightened as to the coming events.

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Carlisle and Dr. Jameson finally exited Charlie's hospital room to step across the hallway into the waiting room to speak with Bella and Ria. Jameson informed them that he was impressed that Chief Swan had indeed stabilized, his condition was still shaky, but, he believed that he would recover in due course. And, Carlisle added his concurrence to that. "All things are as they should be for an individual recovering naturally from such injuries."

Jameson left them to resume his rounds while the rest of the family and friends breathed a sigh of relief and made plans to have time with Charlie. Both Bella and Ria agreed that such arrangements would be in Carlisle's hands since he was Charlie's doctor of record. They themselves were going to rest and get ready for some down time with family. But, what they all weren't saying was that they wanted to enjoy the quiet time they had before the coming of the next battle.

A/N: Charlie is starting to recover and can now have visitors. The potions given by Bella and Ria worked to get him in a more stable condition so he could recover on his own at his own speed. How soon are Jane's and Alec's vampires going to be making a move to get a hold of Ria and children along with Bella? Will all of this stress send Bella into premature labor after all? Will they even be able to spend time together as a family before the next event starts screwing things up?

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