Ch. 72 Mistaken Identity

Edward?! What the hell was Edward doing here? If we were both here—in the twenty-first century—Where was our baby?! What the fuck was I doing here?! What the fucking hell was happening?!

"Edward, help! I have to save her. She can't...I can't..." I was gasping in unnecessary breaths. It was Bella. It was me. I was the drunk driver who killed Bella Swan. I continued the pumping of her now broken chest...two breaths...30 compressions...two breaths...where was Edward?! Why wasn't he doing anything?!

Then there was one beat...followed by a second...and a third...Bella's heart was beating. I paused doing compressions long enough to ensure that her heart was strong enough to continue...yes, she's changing.

I looked around frantically, but Edward was nowhere to be seen. I glanced back over to where I had left Jacob, but he was gone too. Shit. Edward. Jacob. I had to find them. I jumped up, looking down to Bella who was still lying there silently. Her heartbeat was stronger. She was going to be fine...she had to be fine. Shit. She didn't want this...she couldn't have wanted this. Did she even know about vampires in this reality? Again, how the hell did I even end up here? And what about Edward?! And Thea?! Who had my baby?! Oh God. What do I do? What the fuck do I do?!

Was Bella really going to be fine? Why was she so still and so quiet? Was she doing her masochist "suffer in silence" type thing while she changed or did something go wrong?! Oh shit shit shit...

Then the screaming started. I didn't want her to suffer, but the sound brought me the teeny tiniest amount of peace that she wasn't dead. She was feeling the venom, and that meant that she was changing.

"Bella? I know you don't know me, and I'm so sorry for everything...so sorry..." I couldn't seem to finish my sentence through my dry tears. "...but...you're going to be fine. I'm going to...help you...I'm so sorry..." I pulled her into my lap, and rocked her even as she screamed. Fuck. This was all my fault...

"It wasn't. It was me...it's all my fault. Her scent...She caught me off guard...Iris, you saved her." Edward suddenly reappeared and his expression wasn't hard to identify. He was mortified.

"What are you talking about?! Where's Thea? How could this be your fault? How did we get here?" What the fuck is going on?!

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?! Shhh...Bella, it's ok...it's ok...shhhh..." This was horrible and so fucking confusing. Then, I looked around and remembered that we were still outside, exposed to anyone who might drive by. "Edward, we need to move. We'll take Bella with us—And where's Thea?!"

"She's with—" He began, but was cut off by a deafening roar.

"PUT HER DOWN NOW!" Jacob Black ran totally nude out of the line of trees to my left, shaking violently as he tried not to phase. His hair hung down his back, and he was a little bit smaller than I remembered him being before. Was that his first time to phase?!

"Jacob, you need to stand back from Bella. You're not in control. You might phase and hurt her more." I tried to control my voice, but it was still on the brink of failing me as well. Could things get any worse right now?! Don't say that, Iris. They can always get worse.

"ME?! You need to get the hell away from her! I don't know what the hell is going on, or what the hell you two are, but you can't have her! I...WON'T...LET...YOU!" He phased right then again, and I laid over the still-screeching Bella to keep her safe from his claws.

"Iris!" Alice?!

"Oh no you don't! Not to my sister!" Emmett?! What the fucking hell?!

There was a muffled yelp of pain, and I chanced sitting up slightly to see Emmett muzzling Jacob in his wolf form again. Then Esme, Carlisle, and Jasper showed up at the same time. Ok I give. Things can always get worse...or better...? What the—no, I don't even have the energy for this anymore.

"Where the fuck is my baby?!"

"She's with Rose, Love."

Suddenly Rosalie appeared, holding Thea. And no, I don't mean appeared in the vampire-running-so-fast-that-it's-almost-a-blur kind of way. She quite literally appeared out of thin air, clutching Thea to her chest and crouching low in a defensive position when she saw Jacob.

Thank God. But seriously! What the fuck was happening?!

"Go to the Forks house now! Reconvene there, and we'll figure this all out." Carlisle spoke in his authoritative, coven leader voice that he reserved for times of chaos. Times like now...

"Love, let's go. Bring Bella." Edward's voice was strained. He looked so ashamed, like he did the night I found him in the alleyway...only worse if that were possible.

"What about Jacob?" He continued to whine, most likely either not able or not willing to phase back yet.

"Emmett and Jasper are bringing him too." Edward looked toward the wolf in pity.

"What? Are we taking prisoners now? What the hell happened?!" I don't understand any of this. I was trying to drift back to my body from the neutral plane and then all this happened...

"No. He's not a prisoner...he...I'll explain later. Let's go. It's not safe here for us." His voice was exhausted. He sounded his literal age.

I stood slowly for a vampire, and gently cradled Bella to my chest. This poor girl was never destined for a happy, human life. No matter how I changed the story, she suffered. Maybe I was fighting fate. Maybe the story could only be changed so much before it got back on track someway...I thought that I had replaced Bella in a way in this book world, but maybe there was no replacement for destiny. This did not bode well for us...there were several points in the plot which I skipped around with my drifting...

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