The Flower Moon

Year Eight, Chapter Thirty-One

Aftermath

Renesmee's Point of View

For a fraction of a second I panicked when Janet's screaming stopped. So did David, but when I looked at Janet I saw her eyes flutter.

She was alive! I think. Yes! I could still hear her heartbeat.

What color were her eyes? I couldn't see. David had moved over her and was blocking my view.

He hadn't phased yet so I assumed that they were not red. Which meant Janet probably wasn't a newborn. But then why had she been so cold to the touch?

I wish my grandfather was here, now.

"David," I heard Janet's weak voice creak out. I still couldn't see her, but wasn't going to tolerate that anymore. Leaning around my son I finally got a look.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that she was still human. Her eyes were still brown, her heart was beating, and her skin was paler than it had been, but that was understandable considering all she'd been through. She looked horrible. Strangely enough that was a good thing; for my son at least, since enhanced beauty would have been a sign she'd changed.

Yet some things still pointed to that. Her skin was cold, but not as cold as my family's, and her scent was off. Maybe it was just traces of Stefan's venom in her system. But it didn't smell like venom. It was sweeter. Not as sugary sweet as my family, more of a subdued floral mixed with baby powder. It was nice but knowing how my son had a problem with my family's aroma it made me worried. Glancing over at David now, if he was bothered by it, he wasn't showing it. That or he was so overwhelmed that she'd woken up that he hadn't noticed yet.

"Here drink this," my daughter said as she handed Janet a glass of water that she must have just dashed and gotten from the bathroom.

Janet starter to take a sip. Her hands shook as she held the glass, but David was right there and steadied it for her with his own. She finished half of it and then the tears came. And for once they weren't solely from David. Janet's screams were now replaced with uncontrollable crying. This was way too much for a fourteen year old to handle. And she justifiable broke down. Now that there was something else to think of other than the immense pain she was in she couldn't handle it anymore.

But that was why we were here. David never left her side as she cried and shook, convulsed, and dry–heaved. She probably would have thrown-up if there had been any food in her system.

Felicity and I stayed for moral support for the first couple of hours until Jake, my mother and father, and Carlisle, eventually made their way upstairs. I guess that meant the cop situation had been handled. Hopefully they were gone. I hadn't heard any yelling, growling, grunting, or barking in awhile. Though they tried to hide it they all seemed to be acting strange. Something must have happened down there - I'll ask Jake about it later. Hopefully they didn't find out one of the family's many secrets. We didn't need more issues to deal with right now.

Quil, who had been with Claire, comforting her and keeping her safe at her home, was called and he arrived forty-seven minutes later with Claire. Just seeing her sister seemed to help calm Janet down and I think the same was true of Claire.

As soon as she entered the bedroom she ran to Janet and they hugged for what seemed like forever, but was really just eight and a half minutes.

They stayed for over an hour. Quil had called Claire's parents, letting them know that he would bring her home soon. He knew the sisters needed some time together but it was already 7pm and we didn't need their parents thinking that they had two missing daughters.

Carlisle mentioned that he wanted to give Janet a thorough examination, but after all that she'd been though I didn't think she was in any shape mentally for that. David was doing the best he could to calm her down and reassure her that it was all over and that she would be okay. Of course until Carlisle examined her there was no way for him to be certain of that.

"Here, Janet," my mother said re-entering the room with a tray of food. "Why don't you try eating something and then maybe you'll feel more up to letting Dr. Cullen look at you."

My mom was so smart. Calling my grandfather "Dr. Cullen" would probably make a teenage girl much more likely to let Carlisle examine her. And the soup and crackers she brought was just what Janet needed right now. She hadn't eaten solid food in two weeks. She must be starving. Carlisle had done what he could, adding vitamins and nutrients to the saline he'd given her, but beyond that he hadn't had much success.

A half hour later he returned and tried again. This time he was successful. Janet didn't feel comfortable being in the room alone with him though. Quil had to take Claire home awhile ago, and even though Dave had Imprinted on her, and it hurt him to be away from her, he understood her need for some privacy.

"Thanks, for staying," she sighed to me. "I have never been to a doctor that was a man." I was surprised she'd asked me to stay with her but readily agreed.

"Of course, darling. And don't worry. My grandfather is my doctor too. He's completely professional, and he's the best in the world." Literally.

"Alright, shall we get started?" Carlisle asked, still standing in the doorway, until Janet nodded her approval. "Wonderful, why don't we start by taking your temperature," he said while slowly (human speed) walking across the room and placing a thermometer in Janet's mouth after she nodded again in agreement.

A few seconds later it beeped and he removed it. I doubted he actually needed the instrument but was doing things the human way, all in an effort to put her at ease.

"Hmmm, ninety-six point two degrees. Well we're moving in the right direction. How do you feel Janet? Are you still cold?" For the first time in days she wasn't shivering anymore.

"Yeah, I'm kinda chilly. Can I've a jacket or sweater or something."

"Of course. I'll get you one when we're through here," he replied.

Next he checked her heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. He looked in her eyes, ears, and mouth, and checked her reflexes. He drew some blood and ended by asking her for a urine sample.

When she returned, I thought he would be done but Carlisle asked if he could run a few more tests, which she again agreed to only if I stayed, which I of course did.

Carlisle gave her a full body set of x-rays and ultrasound her entire body. I wasn't sure what he hoped to see but he probably would have given her an MRI or CAT scan if he had the equipment in the house.

"Well my dear, I still need to check your blood and urine samples but you should feel much better in a day or two. I'm going to go check these now," he said holding up the blood filled test tubes and urine cup. "Would you like me to inform everyone of the results or shall I leave that to you?" he asked Janet.

"Ummmm -" she seemed lost.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of telling everyone," I cut in. "Can I talk to you first about something first?" I asked him, trying to sound casual.

All the while Carlisle was examining Janet his face appeared a little worried. Not that any normal person, especially not Janet, would be able to tell. But I had known him my entire life and he couldn't hide anything from me. Something was definitely wrong with her, beyond a dip in her normal temperature and the other things I'd observed.

"Of course, after you," he replied, opening the door for me. I grabbed Jake, who had been waiting in the hall just outside the room, while David rushed back to Janet's side, carrying one of my sweaters to give to her, and we headed to Carlisle's office.

I wanted us to talk to him, in private, to go over what was exactly going on with my sons Imprint. I needed to know if we need to prepare ourselves for their demise again, or not.

"Carlisle, what's wrong with her? Just get it over with and tell us." He started running his tests on the samples he took from Janet as I spoke.

"I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you, Renesmee. It's almost like she's caught halfway in between staying human and turning into a Vampire."

"What do you mean? Is she... half, like me, now?" I question a little unbelievably.

"I'm not exactly sure what has happened to her to tell you the truth. Your temperature is higher than a normal human's; hers is lower. Your skin is hard like marble just like the rest of ours, hers is not. I was easily able to get a needle into her arm to draw some blood. Her eyes are not red, but then again, neither are yours.

"But there are other differences as well. Your heartbeat is quicker than humans, just like Jacob, or any of the other Wolves, yet hers, it's almost imperceptibly slower than it had been. And then there is the change in her smell."

"Yeah, I noticed. But what does this mean? David doesn't seem to be upset by the changes, so maybe it isn't so bad."

"He hasn't noticed, not all of them at least, but when he does -" Jake winced. He didn't need to finish his sentence. We both knew it wouldn't be good.

"I need to run more tests to find out exactly what I'm dealing with," Carlisle cut in. "Which means doing more extensive blood tests, to begin with, but that requires more blood than I already took. I'm afraid that in her condition, taking anymore, without replacing it, would be detrimental to her already fragile health. And unfortunately I ran out of what I'd acquired from my hospital contact."

"Should I call Embry and ask him to come back here to donate some more?" Jake asked. "I'm sure he would. Even if his Wolf blood didn't help before, at least it could replace whatever you take."

"Actually, it did help. I believe that his blood was the push that finally woke her out of the state she was in, even if it was hours after first being administered. There was so much venom and anti-venom in her blood stream that, if my theory is correct, it just took a little while for it to work through her system."

"But I thought she was getting better before you even gave her Embry's blood."

"Given recent events, I now doubt that was true. It's is more likely that the reason she'd stopped screaming and thrashing around as much as before was actually due to exhaustion, not the anti-venom. It was merely halting the venom from completing her transformation. These newest tests," he said while looking at the readout from the machine he'd run her blood through, "now lead me to believe that it was Embry's blood that was the key factor that brought her back."

"So then could more of his blood completely fix her?" Jake's eyes brightened for the first time in awhile. I could see the hope in them now.

"Jacob, Wolf blood is not a cure all. But I don't see any harm in using it again."

"But you're not certain of that, are you Doc? If it worked once it could work again." Jake seemed a little frantic. I know he needed Janet to be alright for David, but I just hoped he wasn't putting too much hope, or faith, or whatever in Wolf blood being some sort of miracle fix.

"I don't want you to get your hopes up. But no, I'm not one hundred percent certain. There is always the possibility -"

"Sure, sure. Thanks Doc. I'll go call Embry." Jake dashed out of Carlisle's office to retrieve his phone.

"All right, well then I need to check on Janet and then we still need to deal with the... um, situation downstairs," Carlisle spoke again, before going back to attend to Janet, with David, while I went downstairs to see what this situation was.

I guess I was wrong when I thought everything had been taken care of.

"What happened to them?" I asked, spotting the five sleeping cops zonked out on the living room couches, and the dogs doing the same by their feet. At least I hoped they were sleeping. The rise and fall of their chests and steady heartbeats assured me they were. Not that I really thought my family would result to murder, but you never know.

"Well... we had to do something, and I saw that nothing we said would work so -" Alice began to explain.

"So what? You thought replacing one kidnapping, drugging, and holding captive charge wasn't enough, you wanted to add to it by five, and with police officers, no less?" I'd been through too much today. This was too much.

"Relax Renesmee. The officers have only been temporarily rendered unconscious thanks to a few different drugs Carlisle obtained from the hospital. While they were ineffective in helping lesson Janet's discomfort then worked perfectly on them," Rose assured me.

"I put it into their drinks, while the others distracted them," Emmett chuckled. "One of the pills knocked them out, and another will make them forget ever even coming here. You might have heard of a street drug similar to it – Rohypnol. What they got does the same thing, but is much safer, and Carlisle said that it's routinely given to surgical patients. The cops are perfectly safe."

"Jasper is on the phone with Mr. Jenks right now. Everything is being set up and will be taken care of. They," Alice said pointing to the cops, "are going to wake up at a... err, strip club in Seattle. The normal staff has been compensated and if asked, though I don't know who would, but if anyone does, they will swear that these gentlemen have been there all day for a private party before the club opened.

"And Charlie is on his way. He's going to help us destroy any notes Office Dan, or the others made, and return the police dogs. He's not happy about it but Bella got him to go along with it anyway.

"Thanks to the spiked drinks they will have no memory of coming here. Office Dan is the only one we need to be concerned about. But the, um... strippers should be very convincing. And now that Janet has made her recovery and will be home soon, collaborating our side of the story and denying that she was ever here, all should be fine."

"But how did you get a bunch of strippers to go along with this?" How much money did they have to pay them?

"Actually we are having Jenks rent out the strip club, not the staff. The strippers will actually be Tanya, Kate, and Carmen. Eleazar and Garrett should make some pretty convincing bouncers," Emmett chuckled.

"Normally we wouldn't bother with all of this Nessie, but we have Charlie to think of. It will work, trust me, I've seen it," Alice chuckled.

I guess now wasn't the time to bet against my aunt, I just wished she could have come up with something a little less depraved.

Jacob's Point of View

Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... "Hello, you've reached Embry Call's phone. I'm unable to –"

I hit the "END" button on my phones screen. Damn-it Embry! Pick up your phone.

Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... "Hello, you've reached Embry –"

I slammed my finger on the "END" button again. Argh! Now what? Maybe he was a Wolf.

I quickly went outside to phase. Unfortunately Embry wasn't in his Wolf form. Nor was Leah. That was it of my Pack. Now what?

I quickly shifted into my Spirit Form and found that Quil was currently a Wolf.

He must have finished dropping off Claire at her parents' house and was running home.

Quil, can you hear me?

Hey, Jake. What's up?

Sorry to bother you, I'm sure you have your hands full with Claire, but I need you to go find Embry for me.

Sure, I just have...

No Quil, I need you to find him and have him call me – right now!

Oh... um, okay. Is everything alright?

No... Yeah... It will be. I just need to talk to him. Just GO... I was sure Quil could hear the stress and building anger in my voice. I needed to calm down. Yelling at Quil wasn't going to help Janet, or David right now. Can you PLEASE just go find him, NOW. Okay maybe a little more yelling. I couldn't help it.

Alright, Alright. I'm going, he said before taking off. I returned to my Wolf body and phased back to human to wait for Embry's call.

Twenty-two minutes later my phone finally rang. I thought it would be Embry calling me back, but it was actually Quil again.

"Quil, what happened. Couldn't you find him?"

"No, um... I found him. But he's... um... busy. Maybe tomorrow -"

"WHAT? What's he too busy doing that he can't pick up the phone?"

I was enraged, but a twinge of guilt hit me as I said that, thinking back to when I was in Forks last. How I'd been too busy, watching David, to call Nessie. And that was an entire month. Quil just said Embry would call tomorrow. No wait, actually he said maybe tomorrow. Was there some new emergency he was taking care of?

I heard Charlie's police cruiser pull up, but made no move to go over there. The dogs were still knocked out so he won't need help getting them into the truck, the Cullens could carry them. I had other, more important things that needed my attention.

"Colleen is in labor, Jake," Embry explained. "The baby's coming; he's with her at the hospital. Whatever it is you need to talk to him about I'm sure it can wait, dude."

"I don't care -"

Carlisle took the phone out of my hand. "Thank you, Quil. I assume she went to the one in Forks?"

Quil confirmed the hospital and then the Doc ended the call before turning to talk to me.

Great. Was I in for some sort of lecture? I know I lost it there, but I was worried, and stressed. I know I shouldn't have taken it out on Quil, but... Argh.

"Jacob, please calm down." Here it comes. "Why don't you stay here, with David and Janet while I run to the hospital? I may still have some pull there," he smirked to me. "I'm sure I can quickly get what we need and Embry will never even have to leave Colleen's side."

Oh, no lecture? And he was going to get Embry's blood. Damn, now I felt even worse for my behavior. "Sure, sure. Thanks... and sorry."

"Of course, but I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

No, duh! But I didn't say that. I just sighed as I watched him turn and go. I would call Quil and apologize later.

A.N. Thanks for reading and please review. Also if you haven't already can you please add me to your favorites list so others can see. I would love to get some more people to read this story.

Please let me know what you think about the story so far. If you read the first version (Sunrise) do you think this edited version is better? Worse?