Ch. 24 Headache

"So you're really...not...Bella Swan?" Very good, Jared. Now let's talk about how the grass is green too. He was speaking at an exaggeratedly slow pace as he processed. This is going to be a loooonnnggg conversation.

"No, for the seventh time. I'm Iris McGee." I sighed. We had literally been through this seven times. I explained the highlights of the story to them, aside from Bella being changed and birthing a hybrid baby. That seemed a little...intimate...but the wolves now knew everything else practically. I explained about James and Victoria, warned them about Laurent, and even mentioned the Newborn army though I didn't understand how that could happen now or why...I mean, I get it, it's shocking to find out you're a pretend person in another world, but come on. This isn't rocket science...just interplanetary time travel. No biggie. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm a fictional person here. I tried to search for myself, I don't exist." I shrugged as I plucked a blade of grass from next to where I sat on the ground. Alice, Jasper, Edward, Sam, and Jared had been here with me for over two hours. Can you say BORED?

"Are you alright, love?" Edward brushed a stray hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled up at where he crouched over me. He was so perfect. I could just—

Jared interrupted our exchange. "So tell me one more time. How did you get here then? This doesn't make sense."

Arrrgh! "I don't know how I got here. I went to work...something...happened..." Edward quirked his brow and exchanged a look with both Alice and Jasper, not missing my omission. I hadn't exactly mentioned any of the memories I'd been having to anyone. Let's just say, what I was recalling wasn't...pretty. "...and I woke up in Bella's room. Enough about me though. Aren't you even the least bit curious about who's suppose to phase next?"

"What do you know?" Sam's voice was short, to the point. All business and no play certainly made Sam a dull wolf.

"Paul is next. Then Embry and Jacob...but it's not supposed to happen for awhile, another year maybe...it might not happen at all without so many predatory vampires close by, but then again if the Cullens don't leave like they did in cannon, I'm not sure what having seven vampires permanently living by La Push for an extended amount of time would do. In the series, Carlisle thought it was the proximity to so many vampires that may have triggered the gene." Then I thought about what else would happen a year from now if the timeline stayed anywhere close to what it was supposed to. "By the way...tell Harry Clearwater to go for his annual check-up..." I trailed off.

"What? What happens to Harry?!" Jared asked.

"I'm not sure I should say..." I glanced at Alice who shook her head. I guess she couldn't see with the wolves so close on the reservation. "Just tell him to go see a doctor please, and lay off the saturated fat and salt." Suddenly pain shot through my mind.

•PTaT•

"Cut it out with the salt already! Now off to the cath lab for you." I chastised the sweet old man with a smile, but he knew I was serious. This was his third heart attack. He wouldn't survive another one.

"Code Blue!" A female voice called from one bay over, and I ran away from George without a word.

"Eighteen-twenty-eight..." Dr. Powell called the woman's time of death.

"Please...please...please..." The crying man with the chain link ring was begging me. I needed to save her. There was so much pain in his eyes...She was his everything, and I didn't save her.

The water. I needed to get him a towel...

"Don't bother. It's all shit." The man grumbled and walked away.

"So sad..." I heard Sandy say.

•PTaT•

"Iris?" I heard Edward calling me, but it sounded far away. "Iris?!" My body was moving, shaking. No, someone was shaking me. "Iris!"

"Huh?" A sigh of relief escaped Edward, before the worry replaced the expression again as he held my shoulders and looked at me.

"Where did you go?" He looked back and forth between my eyes.

"What do you mean?" I wasn't feeling too good, suddenly exhausted.

"One minute you were talking about Harry Clearwater and the next, it was like you had checked out. Your face was totally void of emotion." He was still trying to read me, and when I didn't immediately respond, he continued. "I think we should go see Carlisle." Edward's voice was thick with stress and concern.

"Not before she finishes telling us what she knows." Sam grabbed Edward's arm to which he looked down at Sam's hand with murder in his eyes.

"Let go of me, pup, or I'll make you let go. I suppose you like having all your digits present and accounted for?"

"Try me, leech." Sam spoke gruffly, and Jared snickered behind him. Oh not this bullshit again. A feeling of sluggishness and calm flowed throughout me, and I saw the others relax slightly. Good going, Jasper...

"Sam, let go of Edward. You have my number, text me your questions, and I'll get back to you. I'm not feeling very..." I squeezed my eyes closed tightly as the beginning of a migraine began to show itself. He frowned but released Edward's arm.

"Love? What is it?" Edward sounded alarmed again.

"Just a headache. I think I need a nap..."

"See ya later boys!" Alice was more than happy to steer me away. She clearly hated being without her visions.

Once we were in the Volvo, Edward drove to my house, and he called Carlisle at the hospital to ask him to meet us there. When we pulled into the drive, Charlie's cruiser wasn't there yet, but he would be home soon.

"Carlisle." Edward greeted his father as he opened the door for me and carried me to the sofa. Carlisle looked to Edward meaningfully, clearly having one of their silent conversations. My guess was confirmed when Edward shook and then nodded his head in affirmation to him. Then Carlisle turned his focus to me.

"Iris, I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Could you tell me about what happened before the headache came on? Edward seems to think you may have suffered from some form of stroke which wouldn't be altogether impossible since you have injured your head on multiple occasions recently. Though he does tend to think in extremes where you're concerned." He smiled, obviously trying to make a joke, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Edward had disappeared and returned with some ibuprofen. I didn't think that was going to cut it, but it was better than nothing. "No, it wasn't that. I didn't want to say anything before because of the wolves...I should've told you guys before now, but I didn't know what to think...I've been having flashbacks, memories, from before I came here. At first they seemed really random, but now..." I couldn't finish my sentence. Shit. I might have died. Not might have. I had to have died. I had accepted that this was my new life, and I even welcomed it. It was just a lot to think about when I realized the true finality of it. A tear escaped, trailing down my cheek.

Edward quickly came around the couch to sit beside me. He took my hands in his. "What is it?" His eyes were like deep oceans of molten golden lava.

"Iris, what do you remember?" Carlisle spoke slowly.

"What's the last thing you can recall?" Jasper probed. Alice leaned slightly forward toward me.

Shit. I forgot who I'm speaking to...These vamps are like human lie detectors. Was I ready to tell them everything? I wasn't sure...ok, no lying, but also, no telling the full truth. "I know one hundred percent that I was at work before I woke up here." There. That was accurate enough...but didn't I make a pact with myself to be honest? No more lies—even by omission—no secrets...? Fuck it. "And then..." Edward tensed.

I smiled slightly at him, trying to lessen the blow, and he held his hand to my cheek, where I rested my head, closing my eyes. "I'm dead." I waited for a reaction, and I wasn't disappointed.

"What? You're not. I hear your heartbeat now. Carlisle tell her." Edward's voice shot up two octaves and he spoke faster than normal.

"Iris, what do you mean that you're dead?" There was something about Carlisle's voice that led me to believe that he wasn't so concerned about my physical well-being as much as my mental health right now.

"I was shot three times to the abdomen by a man at the hospital where I worked." I heard Alice gasp. Edward froze and was squeezing my hands so tightly that I thought he might have forgotten he was holding them. There would probably be a bruise there later...but I continued. If I didn't say this now, it would only be that much harder later. "I went to the break room to clock in, and he was there already. He shouldn't have been there. He wasn't an employee...someone let him in with their badge or maybe he followed them through the door before it closed. I don't know..." I stared at the front door, memorizing the pattern of the wood grain. The room was dead silent as they waited for me to continue, but some of the details were still blurry.

"Charlie's coming." Edward finally spoke up. His voice cracked, an imperfect sound that I never would have thought possible to come from him.

I heard the cruiser pull into the driveway, and Alice looked to Edward without speaking, at least not out loud, and he nodded, disappearing upstairs. "What—"

"Edward will be in your room. I didn't think Charlie knew about you two yet, so I figured it would probably be best if just Carlisle and I were here. We'll take the Volvo now and Edward can run home later." She explained.

"Oh ok..."

The front door swung open, and I looked up to see Charlie pulling his coat off. "Hi Bells—what's wrong?" He seemed to just notice Carlisle standing beside the couch. "Dr. Cullen?"

"Chief Swan. Alice was here after school visiting when she noticed that Bella wasn't feeling too well. I was just coming by to pick Alice up, and she asked me to come in and look at her. I think she just needs some rest."

"Oh ok. Bells?" Charlie looked confused but relieved at Carlisle's explanation at least.

"I'm fine. It's just a migraine. Would it be ok if I skipped dinner tonight?" I almost forgot that we had made plans to watch the game. It was March Madness time, which apparently was a big deal. I could have made tons of money when making our brackets if I had paid any attention to sports growing up. I guess I could still ask Alice...

"Uh sure, honey. Just go on upstairs and lie down."

"Thanks dad. Thanks Dr. Cullen...see you later Alice." She winked at me, but turned to Charlie.

"Chief, would it be ok if Bella stayed with me this weekend? The guys are going hiking, and I'm just all hiked out. I thought it might be nice to have a girls weekend." Her face was the epitome of innocence, the little pixie.

"Yeah. That'll be good. I worry about her sitting here alone all the time." Yes, I'm a social pariah. We've established that...I loved how no one seemed to care that I was standing here when they talked about me.

"Yay! I'll see you tomorrow night then, Bella. Pick you up at five-thirty, sundown." She winked again. Yes, sun down would probably be best.

"Oh, you don't want to go to the beach and work on a tan for prom?" I asked innocently, and she glared at me.

"I don't like to expose my delicate skin to the harsh rays of the sun."

"Oh, ok then." I said in jest, but it didn't come out right as I held back a yelp as another pain shot through me.

Charlie looked at me with his fatherly concern, but I shook my head, waving goodbye to Alice and made my way upstairs.

I got to the very top step, mere feet away from my bedroom door when the pain became unbearable. I bit back a scream, but couldn't control the gasp that escaped. Edward heard of course and retrieved me, taking me to my bed before Charlie noticed him. He only left me for a moment to close the door softly before coming right back to my side.

"Iris? What happened?" But I couldn't answer as my mind was pulled back to the past.

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