PRAYERS ANSWERED

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, 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.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

R. J. reached out to take his hand and laid a gentle kiss upon his cheek and then led him before a group of glowing individuals. But, just before she left him to face the group alone. She turned to him once more giving a gentle, loving smile and said, "Thank you. Thanks for giving peace to all of us by correcting a great wrong." Then she faded out of sight.

CHAPTER 38: REGROUPING, CORRECTIONS MADE FOR GOING HOME

Felix turned to face the group that had been patiently waiting to gain his complete attention. He was beginning to fear what might be coming out of their mouths as to what his fate might be; he was realistic enough to recognize that they would be handing down that decision. And, it was then that he made the decision to make a request of them first; he wanted to know what had happened to Demetri. So, he acted upon that choice, he asked, "Before you deal with my fate would you please let me know what happened to my friend Demetri?"

The five individuals looked at each other as if collectively considering his question and how best to answer it. Then finally, the one that seemed to be in charge turned to Felix and motioned for Felix to look downwards and then the thought flashed into his mind 'to observe'. Felix followed through with that thought and did look down to see that Demetri was in surgery. "Why was he being operated on?" he wondered to himself.

The group looked at each other and back at Felix and the entire actions of what had led up to the current circumstances replayed before Felix's eyes. He saw the whole thing and watched as he was declared DOA and as Demetri was rushed to surgery.

Demetri needed to have his broken jaw wired into place for it to heal, pieces of glass from the windshield had to be removed from his head, the damage done by the bullet had to be repaired. It had entered Demetri's body by an upward position moving from the top portion of his stomach, only nicking an artery while barely missing the heart, but, exited out the top of his shoulder at the beginning of the neck.

While Felix was observing Demetri the scene suddenly changed. He could see the Carlson's gathered along with his parents in the waiting room of the hospital. His mother was sobbing uncontrollably and for the first time he could ever remember, he saw tears in his father's eyes. He had always thought that his father didn't give a damn about him, but, he now realized that he had been wrong. Wrong about so many things now that it was too late to do anything about it.

Suddenly, a voice that hadn't been heard in a long while spoke next to him. "I can answer your questions, Felix." The sound of that voice caused an extremely nervous reaction from Felix. The fear he had been feeling earlier only multiplied tenfold now.

XXXXXX

Before Delight and Carlson ever got halfway home his cell phone started ringing. He answered it and then his wife saw him jerk from a relaxed position to one of rigid attention. Then she saw him looking around before whipping the car into a parking lot and doing a complete turnaround.

"What's going on? Why have you changed directions?" Delight questioned, but, received no response from her husband. He just continued driving to an unknown destination until Delight saw that they had entered the parking area near the emergency room of the hospital. "Why are we here?" She asked with fear, even panic, starting to sound in her voice.

Her husband could hear the panic and fear and he reached out to take her hand before saying, "The call I got earlier was from a friend of mine on the police force. It seems there was an accident which involved Demetri's vehicle and another one.

"The other driver ran a red light and hit Demetri. Demetri has received some serious injuries, but, Felix died on the way to the hospital. However, it seems that he gave a full confession to the police as he was being loaded into the ambulance before he expired.

"The police are notifying all of the families, but, I think under the circumstances that we should talk further with the police. We need to make sure of what facts his confession contained before we do anything else. But, my first action is going to be checking on our son and finding out exactly what his condition might be. Next, I think we need to talk with the James's and see what we can do for them since Felix was close to our Demetri."

XXXXXX

As the whole family was waiting for Edward to be able to see him, to tell him that he's loved and to say a farewell, the only sound that could be heard was that of the weeping coming from the three women, Esme, Rosalie and Alice. The men felt the heavy sense of loss the same as the women, but, knew they needed to keep it together for the sake of the women. But, the silence was suddenly broken by the jarring ringing of a phone located on the wall near the guard that was in the room with everyone else.

The guard did answer the phone and then looked over to the Cullen family. After a pause in the conversation, he laid the phone down and walked over to Carlisle to let him know that the call was for him. Without hesitation Carlisle walks over to find who is calling at this moment. But, it didn't take long for him to find out. While still listening on the phone, his glance quickly swung to his wife and daughters and they could see that his defeated posture was rapidly changing, but, had no understanding, as yet, as to the cause.

As he hung up, Carlisle rushed over to his family to explain, "I don't fully understand what is happening, but, I've been told that Edward is wanting to see me and that he would explain everything to me at that time."

"But, who called you?" Esme asked.

"Edward's attorney. It seems that he is with Edward at the moment as well as the warden which explains why he isn't here with us." He saw that everyone had more questions, but, he just told them, "Look, I can't answer any of your questions until I know the answers myself." And, with that said he kissed Esme on the forehead then he turned to the guard that had entered and was waiting to escort Dr. Cullen to his son's cell.

Carlisle could tell that his word did nothing to really reassure his family, but, it seemed to increase the dread of what this all could possibly mean. Did Edward do something to himself? Did he kill himself so he wouldn't have to face the coming event? These were just two of the questions that he was sure was running through all of their minds because it sure in the hell was his.

With great reluctance and fear of what he would encounter at the end of this walk, Carlisle followed the guard with trepidation. But, he became even more confused when he neared his son's cell and heard Edward's excited voice talking with the Warden and his attorney. So, it was an even greater surprise when Edward rushed over to him as Carlisle entered his cell.

"Would someone please explain what is going on?" He asked with the confusion very evident in his voice.

The Warden answered, "Dr. Cullen, your son has received a stay of execution. It seems that new evidence has been revealed and is at the current time being investigated. So, at this time we are waiting for further details to let us know what the next moves are going to be." After saying that he and the guards left to leave prisoner, attorney and father alone.

Edward's attorney began to fill everyone in on the new discoveries and as he finished speaking Carlisle had a million and one questions that he wanted answered all at once. It was at that moment that both attorney and parent noticed for the first time that Edward hadn't really taken part in the discussion, or, shown any sort of excitement over the developments other than a very relaxed attitude. They also noticed a sort of secret smile on Edward's face almost as if he knew more than what he was saying.

However, before anything could be asked as to why Edward wasn't more excited than he appeared to be, Edward addressed his father, "Dad, you need to get a hold of Chief Swan and his wife Renee."

"Why?" Was all Carlisle could think of as a response.

"Because if you will go to this address you will find their missing daughter, Isabella." Edward told him as he rushed over to the built-in table he had been using as a desk and wrote down an address then he turned and gave it to Carlisle.

Carlisle looked down at the piece of paper Edward had handed to him then he glanced back up at his son. And, for the first time Carlisle noticed that his son had an air of mystery about him; he also noticed the change in his son's attitude. It was something that was hard to define, but, anyone that knew Edward well would be able to pick up on the change, even, if they couldn't exactly say what the change was. "Edward, how did you come by this information? The Swans have been looking for their child for many years and now you suddenly know where she is? Please explain all of this to me? Too many things are happening all at one time that I'm having an extremely hard time keeping up."

"Dad, if I truly told you then you would believe me insane. Let it suffice to say that I had Devine Intervention that has brought all of this about."

"But….but, ugh….I seem to be at a loss for words. As soon as my emotions and my mind are completely able to catch up to everything that I've been told in the last few moments, you can bet that I'll have a lot of questions that will need answers." He said as he looked at Edward then over to the attorney, then back to his son before looking down at his hand that was holding the address. "Edward, how sure are you that this is the person the Swans have been searching for?"

"Dad, go see for yourself and if you want do a DNA test, but, I'm positive that she is the daughter of Charlie and Renee Swan that had been kidnapped years ago."

"Okay." Was all Carlisle said before turning to look at Edward's attorney and then he asked, "What is the procedure that we need to follow? What are we waiting for before my son will be completely cleared of this and then released?"

"As I explained a little earlier, Dr. Cullen, we have to wait for the police to conduct their investigation that will confirm the facts that Felix James confessed just before his death due to an automobile accident." That last bit of information caused both Edward and Carlisle to look at the attorney in surprise. The fact that Felix had confessed just before his death was a surprise to both father and son. That information hadn't been mentioned earlier.

Then the attorney continued, "As soon as I receive word that all has been verified then I'll be going to the judge to get the sentence reversed and Edward will then be free to walk out of this prison to resume his life as a free man. We could be looking at a matter of hours before the confirmation, but, it will take a day or two before the judge will hear the petition for the reversal."

"I see." Was all Carlisle commented for the moment, then he unexpected turned to Edward, gathered his son into a bear hug; a hug that carried all of the emotion that he was feeling, but, just didn't have the words that would express all of the pain for the last several months he had felt, the fear that has weighed heavy on his heart for failing to rescue his son and now the joy that all was nearly over. Carlisle had tears of joy threatening to fall as the facts that the ordeal for his son and family was drawing to a close and that Edward would soon be home with his family once again.

Now, all he had to do was figure out a way to tell the rest of the family and to have enough strength to deal with their reactions to the news. So, with trying to think how best to break the news to his family, Carlisle gave his son one final hug, a hand shake and teary smile of extreme joy, as he said goodbye.

The guard that had led Carlisle through the hall mazes of the prison to where Edward was being housed was the same one that led him back to the viewing room of the execution area.

Once he entered the room, Carlisle was swamped by the sudden rush of his family wanting to know what was happening. It did take a few moments for Carlisle to feel he had enough control of his own emotions and to get everyone to be quieted down enough for him to be heard and that was when the only thing he was able to say at first was, "There has been a stay of execution."

That one statement shocked everyone into a motionless silence. But, it didn't take long before Esme shook the shock off and asked, "What did you say?"

So, once Carlisle could get everyone to resume their seats he quickly explained what was happening, but, before he could say anything about the unusual fact that Edward had given him the address that was where the Swans kidnapped daughter was supposed to be, Esme interrupted him by saying tearfully, "My boy is coming home."

And, while breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Carlisle answered, "Yes, love, our son is coming home very, very soon."

XXXXXX

Delight and her husband walked over to the James's to offer condolences and whatever comfort they could. The two families never had been close, but, their boys had been and it was because of this that the Carlson's shared the same sense of loss, to a certain extent in spite of the truth of Felix being the murderer of their daughter, as did the James's.

The Carlson's weren't sure what the police had thus far told Felix's parents about what their son had confessed to doing. That was going to make this situation even harder for the James's to bear once they were made aware of those facts that their son was a murderer.

But, regardless, the Carlson's made an unconscious decision to do all they could to help the James's get through the pain of loss since they knew what it was like to lose a child.

XXXXXX

Looking off to his side, Felix saw a glowing being that sounded like Edward, but, wasn't Edward. "Who are you?" he asked in a somewhat shaky voice.

"My name is Michael and I've been assigned as Edward's guardian angel, but, it's my duty to make sure that you are escorted to the one place that you will never cause harm to anyone again."

"And where would that be?" Felix asked in a bit of a flippant attitude.

"That isn't his place to answer, but, it is ours, and, you, young man, will begin immediately to reap the benefits that you have sown.

"If at any time you had chosen to repent and do the right thing by all those you have harmed, you might have been offered a chance for redemption, but, you didn't do that.

"It took outside sources to force you to confess your wrongs, so, the process of reversing the situations could begin. But, just once, if you had even consciously thought to confess you might have had a chance.

"So, you must begin to do penance for what you have done."

And, with that said, the five faded from sight and Michael grabbed a hold of Felix for them to begin their journey to a place of souls crying out in agony.

A/N: Felix is gone, but, Demetri had a bit of damage done to his body by the accident and the bullet that entered. What will be his fate? Will he live, or, be lost due to the injuries? How long before Edward will be with his family and then begin the seeking out Bella?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your thoughts and reviews.