Chapter 17: Pain

Nessie's POV

I could hear voices but they sounded very far away. It felt as though I were dreaming. My head was pounding and I couldn't find the strength to move. So I remained still. I tried to think back to what happened last night but the memories were a little hazy. I remembered seeing headlights coming right toward me and that was it.

"Are you sure nothing will happen?" I heard someone who sounded an awful lot like Bella ask.

"Don't worry Bella. The other driver was so scared by the almost collision that it was impossible for him to think straight. He didn't see Nessie and he didn't even think to check her license plate or follow the car. Ness won't suffer any legal repercussions from her actions," it sounded like Edward who was talking now.

"and you're sure he didn't see us pull Nessie's car out of the way?" Bella asked.

"I'm positive. No

"Thank God,"

"Thank God for Alice's vision. If she hadn't of had that vision. If we hadn't gotten there in time and yanked Nessie's car out of the way she-" Edward's voice broke. "I don't know how many more of these near death experiences I can take.

"It doesn't matter now. Ness will be fine. Nothing bad happened," Bella sounded exasperated.

"For now," I heard Edward say.

My head pounded even more as I tried to make sense of what they were saying.

"What do you mean for now?" Bella asked "I know she's sick but she'll be fine. If chemo and surgery doesn't work then we will just change her. What else can happen?"

"Something else happened yesterday. I didn't get a chance to tell you about Alice's other vision because we were so worried about Ness but-"

I was sure that I was dreaming now. Nothing they were saying was making any sense. This must be an after effect of all the drinking I'd done yesterday.

"But what?" It sounded like Bella was hissing.

"Ness and Justin had sex yesterday. I didn't have enough time to stop them this time. Alice saw the result of their actions. Ness doesn't know it yet but she's pregnant with twin boys. Doing chemotherapy would put the babies at risk and changing her wouldn't be an option either,"

I could've sworn I heard Bella gasp. "But she can just have an abortion,"

There was a pause. The pain in my head was compounded by inability to understand what I was hearing.

"She won't want one. She's way too much like you apparently. She'll refuse an abortion even if it means sacrificing her own life,"

"Do Jacob and Leah know?" Bella asked.

"No. Not yet,"

"Can't we just force Ness to have an abo-"

I groaned out loud as the pain in my head worsened. "She's awake. I didn't realize she was awake,"

"Did she overhear us?"

"She's too confused and hungover to make much sense of anything right now,"

I felt very nauseated as I opened my eyes. "Ness are you alright?" Bella's face came into clear focus as she spoke. The immense concern was evident on her face.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I sprang out of bed and made a beeline for the bathroom. I made it to the toilet just in time. One strange thought occurred to me as I was puking my guts out. How did I get back last night? Last thing I remember I was headed straight into another car. I was about to crash.

"How are you feeling?" Bella asked as I flushed the toilet.

"Like total crap,"

"Well that's what happens when you drink so much!" Edward yelled. "Maybe next time you'll think before you do anything so stupid again!" I flinched at his words but I had bo rebuttal. He was right after all.

I shuddered. How'd they even find me? I had so many questions.

"Here. Take some Advil and drink a lot of water. It should help. Also you should eat something. In fact I think Esme is making breakfast for you downstairs as we speak,"

"Thanks," I took the medication from him and drank the cup of water in just a few gulps. I didn't realize how thirsty I was. I felt parched. I smelled the eggs as soon as I entered the kitchen. Although I didn't feel the slightest bit hungry I knew it was a good idea to get some food in my system quickly. This wasn't the first time I'd woken up with a hangover before.

Again the Cullens didn't eat anything. It struck me as very strange that they never ate anything. I'd asked them about it before and they'd always say that they were on a special diet. What kind of diet didn't involve eating something? They didn't look as if they were starving either. I was mulling over those questions in my head when Carlisle entered.

"Ness how are you feeling?" he looked upset.

"I've been better,"

"When you're done eating breakfast will you join me in my office? I need to speak with you,"

"Um sure," he seemed very upset about something and honestly I was a little scared right now.

He walked out without saying another word. I deliberately ate my breakfast slowly. I spent more time than necessary chewing each piece of egg. Soon though I was finished and I couldn't put off my conversation anymore.

I hesitated outside of Carlisle's office. Then I knocked. "Come in," I heard him say.

I closed the door behind me as I walked in. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes. Come closer,"

I hesitated for a second and then did as he told me to. "Is everything alright? You seem upset about something,"

His eyes flashed toward me instantly. "Upset? Upset? No I'm way beyond upset. I'm furious!"

My heart skipped several beats. "Um I don't understand," I was confused.

"You don't understand? You don't understand? Tell me Nessie and I mean really think about this for a second. You do not understand why I am so far beyond angry right now?"

"Nno," I stuttered in fear.

"Can you not think of exactly what you did last night that is making me so enraged right now?"

I gulped. "The alcohol,"

"It goes far beyond that Nessie. First you disappear without telling anyone where you're going! Then you don't return any of our phone calls or text messages! Then on top of that you not only drank but you decided to get behind the wheel while you were heavily intoxicated! Can you please explain why you made so many poor decisions yesterday!"

I took a step back. "I realized how late it was and I knew you'd all be worried so-"

"So instead of picking up the phone and calling us you decided to drive while being inebriated! Poor decision after poor decision!"

I fought back the tears because I knew he was right and I deserved whatever was coming my way.

"and did I not tell you that the drinking needed to stop! You're fighting for your life here yet you decide to disregard my advice!"

"I'm sorry,"

"I'm furious because of how reckless you were. Your decisions last night could have gotten you and/or some innocent person killed last night! You very nearly did crash last night! You're so lucky that-" he stopped himself from saying whatever he was going to say. "You're so lucky because things could have been so much worse! You're lucky the other driver didn't call the police last night!"

"I'm sssorry," I couldn't stop myself from crying anymore. "I'm stupid. I'm so stupid. I'm so damn stupid!"

"Renesmee come here,"

I walked closer to him. I was surprised when he hugged me. "You are not stupid," he said more softly now. "You are a very intelligent young lady who got into every Ivy league school you applied to. What you did was stupid and highly irresponsible and dangerous. But you as a person are not stupid. You are very smart and I never want to hear you put yourself down like that again. Do you understand?"

"But I-"

"Just made very poor choices that could have had ended badly. I hope you learn from them and you never repeat them again,"

"I won't and I'm sorry for the distress that I caused,"

"You're forgiven Ness. I'm just so happy that you're okay. We all are,"

I took a deep breath.

"Now can you tell me exactly what happened yesterday that led to you becoming intoxocated,"

Uh oh. "Um I can't tell you that,"

"Yes you can and you will,"

"I don't want to get anyone in trouble," I said. Carlisle just folded his arms across his chest and made it very clear that he wasn't going to let me leave without me telling him my story first. "Fine I'll tell you but can you at least keep my name anonymous? I don't want my friends to know that I'm the one that told,"

"Don't worry Ness. I'll keep your name out of this. I promise,"

"After I left the house yesterday I met up with Justin for lunch. I got a text message from one of my friends that we had a baseball game later on. So I spent the next few hours with Justin until it was time to get ready for the game. After the game my teammates and I headed over to a friend's house for a celebratory party as we always do-"

"As you always do? So this is not the first time you've driven drunk?"

"No it was. Usually I stay the night at my friend's house. Most of us do. Anyway we got to my friend's house where his parents began serving us food and alcohol-"

"Wait your friend's parents knowingly served alcohol to underage children?" Oh yeah if he wasn't reporting them before he definitely was now. "What is your friend's name?"

"Royce King VI,"

He clearly wasn't expecting me to say that name. "I didn't know there was anyone with that last name here,"

"They moved here from Rochester, New York,"

He was definitely not expecting me to say that either. "I thought that name died in the early 1930s,"

Huh? Why would he think that. "No their family name almost came into an end in 1933 when Royce King II suddenly turned up dead a few months after his first fiancee disappeared. I know the whole story. He was engaged to a woman who suddenly disappeared a week before their wedding date in April 1933. After her disappearance he met another woman whom he quickly married. He and his new wife unknowingly conceived a baby boy a few days before he suddenly turned up dead,"

"and do you know the name of his first fiancee?" Carlisle was oddly curious.

"Yup. Rosalie Hale I believe it was,"

I heard a loud noise from somewhere in the house. It sounded like glass shattering as it hit the wall. Then I heard more glass breaking. Then I heard the sound of a door slamming so hard that I could have sworn I heard it beeak.

"What was that?" I asked feeling a little scared.

"I'm sorry about that," Carlisle apologized. "That's my Rosalie. To say she's furious right now would be putting it extremely mildly,"

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