ISFNE Chapter 18

A/N: Hello again friends! Don't worry I am working ahead quite a ways and as soon as I work out some further important story developments I will have more chapters coming your way :) Hope you guys are enjoying this, again I promise that this weird side road that the story is taking HAS A VERY IMPORTANT REASON so I hope you stick around long enough for that to come around. I love you guys! (pssst, reviews make my day. I crave feedback!) Okay enjoy!

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Simon POV

"So let me get this straight," Chloe said leaning forward on her knees and clasping her hands together. "The story you're going with is that there's a girl who's been working at the bookstore and living with Grams, who you have so conveniently never mentioned, who also happens to be pregnant, and she went into labor and had twins last night almost dying in the process," she finished.

I merely nodded.

"THAT'S the best you can come up with?" Kyle asked in disbelief.

"You think I could make this sort of thing up?" I retorted.

"It's completely implausible, Si!" Chloe interjected.

"How? How is it flawed, I would so love to know," I said baiting her as I paced around the room, completely tired of the entire subject and only wanting to go to bed at this point.

Chloe was taking it, "You can't hide a person in your life from your best friends for MONTHS like that. Besides we always come by the bookstore and we have dinners at Grams' and-"

"She's not 'in my life' Chloe, she's just living at the bookstore. And how long has it been since we had dinner at the bookstore?" I interrupted. "Let me answer that for you, months. I cancelled the last one and haven't brought up any suggestion of it, and you guys forgot. When did you last come by the bookstore? Last week? She was sick, she stayed upstairs the entire day. Before that? Right around closing time and we went for drinks afterwards. She only worked until around two or three in the afternoon, you wouldn't have seen her. Anything else you'd like to suggest?" I asked, truly starting to become irritated.

It was silent.

"Why'd you do it?" Grant finally piped up.

"Look, I apologized, but I had to be there, she wasn't doing well, she…she almost died, and I was just scared to death and I had to go, I'm sorry I didn't explain, I'm sorry I ditched, I will apologize to Clara-" I began listing.

"No, why didn't you tell us from the get-go?" He asked pointedly.

I sat in silence, trying to process, "I don't really know. At first, it was just going to be a funny story that I'd tell you guys later, but then it became more permanent and then it became kind of personal and she's been through a lot and, no slight to you guys, you're a lot to handle. I don't want to overwhelm her, especially with how things are right now. And then it just persisted because I didn't want to be faced with this situation right here."

"What's wrong with this situation? We're just curious," Kate stated.

I snorted, "Yeah, and so was the Spanish Inquisition."

Chloe rolled her eyes, "Simon, that's completely unfair. Now you're going to tell us what's so damn special about this girl."

"What? Nothing! I never said she was special," I said defensively.

"Yeah, okay, I also ditch a perfectly fine date to check on a fellow employee, come on, Simon, we're not stupid," Kate said with a strong dose of sarcasm.

"What are you guys talking about?" I was completely baffled by their behavior.

"Really? You're going to make us do this?" Kyle asked.

"Do what? I don't know what you guys are getting at."

"Keeping a secret from your four best friends about a girl, who you're very obstinate about giving details on, that you leave the middle of a perfectly good blind date for, and that you've been moody and bothered about for weeks." Chloe listed off dutifully.

I stared at her blankly.

"You're in love with her, you fool!" she exclaimed with aggravation.

"No, I'm not!" I immediately denied, they all just gave me a knowing look, "no, it's not like that!"

"Uh, huh," Kyle said with a smile, unconvinced. "Honestly answer the next three questions."

"Fine, hit me with it," I challenged him.

"Do you have an inside joke, or something you tease her about?"

The 'name game' immediately came to mind. "Yes," I answered begrudgingly.

"Does she do anything that drives you absolutely insane?"

I thought of how she would refuse to call me by name, how she sometimes looked at me with fear in her eyes for no discernable reason, how she pulled away from even the most innocuous contact. "So many things," I answered.

"Do you hate her for them?"

That one caught me by surprise. Did I hate her for these things? My first instinct was a resounding yes. I hated that she'd refuse to use my name, I hated when she gave me that haunting look full of fear that I didn't deserve, I hated that she wouldn't let me reach out to her in even the simplest ways. But did it make me hate her? "No," I said softly, suddenly realizing I'd said it aloud.

Grant shook his head with a smile, "Boy you got it baaaaad," he teased.

Kate suddenly yawned loudly, shattering the moment and reminding us all of the time. "Guys," she whined, "I'm going to bed, and I'm staying over cuz there's no way I'm going home at 4:15 am."

They all responded similarly, but Chloe needed the last word, "Okay, but this isn't done, Simon. We're getting all the deets asap."

Allison POV

I woke up disoriented and confused in the hospital. I slowly put together everything that had happened up that point and found my memory of the entire delivery extremely fuzzy. All I knew is that Simon had shown up when I needed support and Eric had not betrayed me in my hour of need, in fact, he was the only reason I was alive. I pondered that a bit further. I'd completely opened the bond to him and he'd made no move to take advantage of it, something I would never have thought him capable of. What was his play? Why wouldn't he have done anything? Or maybe he had and I just didn't know it?

"Ah! You're awake, so glad to see so," a nurse said, coming through on rounds, interrupting my thought spiral. "Your babies are hungry if you're up for it," she said gently.

"Oh, yes please, I want to see them," I said with a smile. "Where are they?"

"They were put in the nursery since you were in such bad shape, you're recovering very well though so far," she said with a smile, "I'll get them brought in here for the remainder of your stay."

"Thank you."

"Oh, also, your boyfriend, was just in a few hours ago checking in on you, he told me to call when you woke up and I said I'd have to ask you. Do you want to see him at all?"

My what? I decided to not to flip, giving her a second chance, maybe she had the wrong person. "My boyfriend…was here?" I tried to state the whole sentence as a question but it came out with the question clearly being on the word "boyfriend". She frowned slightly, "yes, are you feeling okay? How much do you remember?"

I shook my head and laughed, "I'm sorry, you know what? I totally blanked there. Of course, please, call him," I said trying to play off my questioning as a stupid mistake and getting the feeling my performance wouldn't be nominated for an Oscar anytime soon.

The nurse just gave me a slightly strange look and left to get the twins while I sat somewhat worried about the newest development. Boyfriend? It would have been stupid to ask for a name, I knew who it had to be, Simon was the only male I'd truly even come into contact with since escaping. Of course, there was always the chance it wasn't Simon which only left me with one other option: Eric. He couldn't have found me though, right? He hadn't done anything while I'd connected with him to locate me, it couldn't be him. I quickly rationalized it away with the final comfort being that if indeed it were Eric, he wouldn't have settled for the title boyfriend. He would have gone for husband or at least fiancé. I calmed down considerably at this revelation but still felt on edge. Had they merely assumed Simon was my boyfriend? Had it been intentional on his part? If so that was a whole new can of anxiety to open. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I wasn't going to waste anymore time worrying about it. Simon would be here soon to explain himself I was sure.

Eric POV

"You can't give me anything better than a general two-hour span?" Maxwell said crossly with obvious disbelief.

I rubbed my temples and growled under my breath as I lay in the office, "I didn't very well have much control in the whole situation. I let her draw when she needed to and since it happened so sporadically and so forcefully each time I couldn't very well tell when she actually had the child."

Maxwell looked very put out but also piped down, remembering who he was speaking to, "You can't narrow it a little more than that? Please say you can."

"Why, Max? What's wrong?" Marissa butted in. "He's obviously, trying here, he did kind of pass out as well if you hadn't noticed," she added sharply.

Maxwell frowned with a bit of annoyance and turned back to his computer, "Well doing the rough math there's almost 11,000 babies born daily in the US which means roughly four hundred and fifty every hour, not taking into account what birthdays are more popular. So by giving me a vague two hours-"

"I've may have handed you upwards of nine hundred cases to sift through," I said with grim understanding, "fucking hell," I muttered, rubbing my temples.

"I'll say," Maxwell responded. "Come on, give me something to whittle this down. Was it during her normal waking hours?"

I sighed heavily, "I have no idea it's been so long since she slept normally. What did we have down before? I'll compare it and try to get something more concrete. Right now, I really need to go hunting," I said, slowly standing up, "Care to join, Marissa?"

"I'm okay for now," she said with a weak smile, "I'll go later."

"You're a hero, Marissa. You truly saved her. I won't be forgetting that anytime soon," I said solemnly.

"I won't let you don't worry," she assured me with a confiding wink, back to her sassy self now that she knew I was okay.

I rolled my eyes and changed into my bat form, leaving to go hunting.

Simon POV

I got up somewhat early the next morning hoping to avoid my roommates and sneak out of the apartment. Luck was on my side this time as I quickly grabbed a granola bar and dashed out before the others heard. If my luck held out, they might not be up until noon to notice my disappearance. I was going to disappear for a little longer than the day though, I'd stay the night at the bookstore to avoid a repeat of the Inquisition tonight. If they were going to stay up waiting for me, they'd be up a long time. I'd take it as a small retaliation for what they'd done last night.

As I drove to the hospital I couldn't help but continue to mull over last night's revelations. Had I really fallen for Allison? There were so many things I had to excuse it. I rationalized it away easily, it was just concern, any person would be concerned. This wasn't anything special. I would have done it for anyone really. Besides, she didn't trust me any further than she could throw me. No, I couldn't be falling for Allison, it was a bad idea all around.

I quickly checked with the desk to see how she was doing. She was still sleeping but they would see about calling when she woke up. I left my number and left to get food.

I got a call almost two hours later. I'd gone to get food but had let myself sidetrack into other errands I needed to run. The moment I found out she was awake though, I left for the hospital. I had to see how she was recovering. I went to her room with a quick pointer from the front desk and entered to find her sitting with the twins in her arms and adjusting her hospital gown obviously having just finished feeding them.

"Simon," she said with a small smile, and a blush at what I'd almost walked in on, "could you help me out for a moment?" she asked tentatively.

"I'm at your service, Tessa," I said, trying to put her at ease with my usual teasing.

She shook her head ever so slightly with the same small smile and waved me over, "I need an extra set of hands, they need to be burped."

"I really should have brought Grams over, I don't know anything about babies," I said with a little bit of doubt.

"And you think just because I have two I'm suddenly a leading expert?" she quipped back, "Just pat and rub their back and make sure you have a cloth over your shoulder if they spit up at all," she said, picking up Solomon, who'd begun to fuss and cry.

I carefully picked up Eleanor who was taking the cue from her brother and grabbed a cloth from Allison's bedside to throw over my shoulder as I sat down in the chair next to the bed.

We sat in silence for a while, save a few cries from the twins, until I finally spoke up. "So do you know when you'll be coming back?"

"The doctor seems to think I'll be okay to go back tomorrow as long as I lay low for a while. I was going to call Grams about it but now that you're here I'm sure you can pass the message along." She said and then smiled broadly at Solomon as he finally burped. "Well weren't you just a hungry little mister," she cooed as she wiped at his mouth.

Eleanor quickly followed suit and I carefully laid her down in my lap. I looked her over carefully trying to guess what traits of Allison's would show up in her. For now, her eyes were a bright blue and the small amount of hair she had was dark. Solomon was the same though his eyes were a darker blue that hinted at become very much like his mother's eyes. As I continued to study Eleanor I wondered at what traits I wouldn't recognize from her father. I was surprised when her little hand suddenly closed around one of my fingers as she looked blankly up at me.

"Aw she likes you," Allison said in the background.

I looked up at her with a small smile. "I like her too, she's beautiful, Alice. I think she's going to have your hair," I said.

She hummed an agreement and carefully sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Solomon still cradled in her arms. Her feet and legs were completely bare and she seemed to still only be clothed in a hospital gown. I picked up Eleanor and went to sit next to her on the bed, pretending not to notice the way Allison discreetly shifted further away from me. "So, if everything checks out I guess I'll be back to pick you and the twins up. Grams already got the cribs and the nursery all set up for you."

"Okay," she said quietly, she was giving me a bit of a strange look, as if waiting for me to bring something up.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

She looked slightly startled and then flushed, "N-no, nothing, sorry," she said, suddenly sounding flustered.

"That's very convincing," I said sarcastically.

"Well! I just-" she stuttered and then stopped short, "never mind," she said, her face still red.

"Hey, no, you can't do that, Diane, I have to know now," I said with a grin.

"Ugh, no, never mind it's too embarrassing," she said, immediately focusing all her attention on Solomon.

I looked down at little Eleanor in my arms, "Your mother is very frustrating, you know that? Of course you don't, you're two days old, but I'm sure you'll be frustrating enough to get back at her for me," I said, continuing to tease Allison indirectly. "She knows she can ask or tell me anything," I said finally looking up at Alice. The last part had become much more serious than I'd first intended but it was true. I was going to continue offering the olive branch and reminding her it was there for the taking.

She rolled her eyes at me slightly, "You're impossible sometimes, you know that?"

I grinned back at her teasingly and got up to put Eleanor in one of the bassinets on the other side of the bed. As I turned back around I saw her about to attempt the same with Solomon, something I quickly stopped.

"Woah, no, stay down for now," I started.

"I just want to stand up," she said, warily, continuing to rise.

I reacted quickly to gently, but firmly, push her back against the tilted bed, knowing she would likely faint if she got to her feet. "You're staying right here," I said somewhat sternly, my hands still holding onto her shoulders as her eyes locked with mine, "You shouldn't exert yourself."

I expected a bit of backlash or petty complaining but instead saw a wave of absolute fear wash over Allison's features. She visibly paled and I even detected a small tremor running through her. It was concerning to say the least. "Allison are you okay?"

"Please, let me go," she barely whispered, clutching Solomon to her chest, her gaze not leaving mine, but looking at me in a way that made me question if it was really me she was seeing. I carefully let go of her and moved to take Solomon to the bassinet but the moment I got close she flinched away. Something was very wrong.

"Alice, are you alright? What's wrong? Where did you go?" I asked carefully.

Allison POV

I completely shut down as the déjà vu played out like a living nightmare. Suddenly, Simon and Eric had merged, saying and doing uncannily similar things. Thankfully, he'd let go of me at my request, something that I hadn't gotten last time, but I was still wary as he reached for Solomon and I knew I flinched away. The lines of reality were suddenly so blurred I felt I couldn't trust what I was seeing, and though I was seeing Simon in the physical sense, I was suddenly seeing Eric superimposed over him and I couldn't shake it. But the moment the name 'Alice' came from Simon, I was startled from the strange twilight zone I'd entered. My vision cleared and I saw Simon standing before me, offering to carry Solomon over to the bassinet. Caring and kind Simon who was most definitely not Eric, and who I'd probably confused immensely with my show of utter distrust.

"Simon?" I questioned carefully.

"Yes?" he answered, a concerned frown on his face.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," I said weakly, holding out Solomon to him.

"Intrusion most likely," he said, the frown still present as he accepted Solomon and walked to put him in the other bassinet.

"What?"

"Intrusion," he said, coming back to sit on the edge of the bed. "It's a symptom of PTSD. You have distressed reactions to things resembling traumatic events. I'm sorry to have set it into motion," he said carefully folding his hands over mine. "What part was it?"

I withdrew my hand carefully and drew a deep breath, "I-I'm not sure, it was probably just a bad case of déjà vu. I'm fine really."

"You're not fine, Allison," he stated calmly. "And you only prove it every moment you spend with me."

The nurse came back in at this point and saw the two of us, "So glad to see you with visitors, you've truly made an incredible recovery," she said. "I'll have the doctor come by to double check that you're all good to be discharged tomorrow. And these two," she said coming over the bassinets to look at the twins, "Have just been little angels," she said fondly, "You two are very lucky," she finished with a smile.

I involuntarily made a strange strangled noise in the back of my throat at that comment but managed to force a smile, though I could feel my face flushing. I carefully stole a peek at Simon and was amazed to see his face almost a perfect match to mine.