Chapter Info

Title: Unexpected Visitors

Number: 4/?

Warnings: Angst

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Comments are love!

-January 2007-
-Abigail-

It was easier than expected to get her nursing position moved from Seattle General Hospital to Forks Community Hospital. Apparently Forks was understaffed in the ER department and Abigail had a lot of experience there, so they hired her on the spot and gave her a raise from what she had been making in Seattle. There was no question that she would take it, especially as she woke up the day after the wedding with a hangover and a headache like Charlie suspected, but also the clearest decision: she was going to stay in Forks. She invited Beth to stay rent-free (considering she didn't need to pay a mortgage on the house) and just pay half the utilities and groceries. It was a steal and her friend jumped on it, deciding she liked the small town after spending a week there with Abigail.

After five months of being there, Abigail had her routine down like an easy rhythm. Wake up at eight, shower and eat breakfast, out the door by eight forty-five, work until seven, back home for dinner and either a book or a movie, and then back to bed. It was easy and simple and just what she needed. The weekends were spent with Beth and Charlie, fixing up and renovating the house as there were some spots in dire need of some TLC and she had the money to work on it. She and Beth had started to do it themselves, but as soon as Charlie figured out what they were doing, he insisted on helping. Sue and Seth would come over to help and sometimes even Billy would even though he couldn't stand up, so they gave him some other jobs to do. It was so much fun and Abigail loved it, though she couldn't shake the sense that something was missing. She didn't even know what it was, even though subconsciously she was thinking Cullen. She knew that was silly, though. She didn't even know them, no matter what Alice had said after the wedding. People said stuff like that all the time just to be polite and so she chalked it up to that, even though she was disappointed. But she knew there were people with bigger problems, like Charlie who was worried about Bella when she didn't come home from her honeymoon on time because of an illness. She wished she could do something to help, but even Dr. Cullen—who she found out was the man she caught a glimpse of at the wedding, and Edward's father, a doctor at Forks Community—wasn't at work for her to ask. Apparently he had taken a sabbatical right after the wedding and she wondered why, but she couldn't dwell on it, even though she was sort of convinced the topaz eyes that saved her in her nightmares were his.

That's silly, you don't even know him, she complained to herself one day when she caught herself thinking of him. You saw him one time from a distance through a crowd of people. This isn't some old romance where lovers eyes "met across a crowded room," this is reality and you're being ridiculous. Love doesn't exist, much less love at first sight. So she forced herself to stop thinking about him.

It wasn't until midway through January that she thought about any of them again, at least consciously, and it was only because she was forced to. Beth took an extra shift in the maternity ward and so she was home alone, dozing in her dad's chair watching the old Dracula movie. It was one of her favorites, but she was just exhausted for some reason and had found herself half listening and half asleep. It wasn't the movie, but a gentle rapping at the door that has her waking up, eyes blurry, but body alert to the fact she was no longer alone. She yawned and stretched slightly before rubbing at her eyes. She paused the movie on a close up of Bela Lugosi before heading to the door, eyes narrowing as she glanced through the window and didn't recognize the bright yellow car in the driveway.

Unless Beth happened to get a huge raise without telling me... She shook herself and gingerly pulled open the door, peaking around it, her eyebrows lifting in shock. Alice Cullen stood there with four people behind her: Jasper Hale, Bella Sw—Cullen, she corrected—Edward Cullen, and Carlisle Cullen. Truthfully she had never met Carlisle in person or seen him up close and an embarrassing hard thump of her heart had her swallowing as if that would drown out the sound she was sure they heard, it was that loud. Still, it was barely a couple seconds before she smiled softly, even though she was still a bit surprised, and stood back to let them in.

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting company. Please, come in." The four hadn't said a word, but Alice and Bella smiled gratefully and took the lead in entering. The house almost seemed too small with so many people in it and she quickly moved to shut off the television and then gestured to the seating. Her dad's old recliner was the only living room furniture she kept, the rest was donated to Goodwill. There was a new love seat and couch taking up the space with an antique coffee table in the middle that matched the entertainment stand in front of it, though Charlie had to help her reconstruct it a little to fit her wide flat screen television rather than the old boxy ones it was meant for. He and Billy also helped her build some shelves that held her DVD collection. There was a tall bookshelf to the side with most of her book collection other than those that were incredibly special that she kept up in her room. She had taken her parents room and Beth was happy with her childhood bedroom; the house wasn't huge, but it was a good size for the two of them, and the bedrooms matched that. Neither needed a humongous space. Like the Cullen manor, she thought wryly.

She took the recliner, pushing down the foot rest and tossing the blanket she had over the back. Bella and Edward took the love seat while Alice, Jasper, and Carlisle took the couch. Bella and Alice were all smiles, Jasper and Edward looked apologetic, and Carlisle's face was completely unreadable and almost blank. But she still smiled kindly at all of them, arranging her hands in her lap.

"Would you guys like anything? Tea, coffee...?"

"No, thank you." It was Edward who spoke and her surprised eyes turned in his direction. "But Jasper and I would like to apologize. We understand our behavior was... Well, we were very rude at the reception. You just...you remind us a lot of someone we once knew, and it surprised us. But we know you're not her, so we apologize for our behavior."

For a moment Abigail was stunned; she honestly hadn't expected an apology and was never one to demand one. She would rather just forget, that was how she forgave. "Out of mind, out of sight," as her dad had always said. She let out a little breath and then smiled, shaking her head causing wisps of glossy brown hair to float around her face.

"You don't have to apologize, but thank you."

"So you forgive us?" This was Jasper and her eyes flickered to him and she chuckled, ducking her eyes for a moment before nodding.

"Yes, I forgive you." She smiled at him as well. "Well, to what do I owe the pleasure? I haven't seen you since the wedding so I thought you had forgotten about me."

"Never!" Alice said it so suddenly and so passionately that her mind went blank for a moment as a blush crept to her cheeks. She wasn't sure why Alice looked so alarmed at the thought of Abigail's words, but she couldn't help but admit that the action warmed her a little.

"Well, regardless, I'm glad you're here." She smiled again.

"We were out of town," Alice said as a simple explanation and Abigail didn't require anymore so she nodded.

"Understood."

"How have you been?" Alice wondered.

Abigail nodded. "Busy. Beth and I worked to remodel the house and renovate some stuff I'm pretty sure hadn't been touched since like 1955." She chuckled and the girls laughed. Edward and Jasper exchanged uneasy looks and a small, forced smile. Carlisle still hadn't said a word, hadn't expressed anything on his beautiful—Yeah, that's definitely beautiful, she thought breathlessly—face, but his eyes hadn't left hers and blood reached her cheeks again as she turned to Alice to continue. "Charlie and Billy helped with stuff we couldn't, like heavy lifting and tall stuff." She rolled her eyes, sure Alice could understand and the other girl laughed along with her.

"Where's Beth?"

"The hospital." She paused. "I mean she's a nurse." She chuckled. "She's there in the maternity ward. I'm in the ER."

This seemed to bring Carlisle out of whatever daze he was in and he actually blanched, looking almost ill and pained, his ochre eyes finally moving away from her. Abigail frowned and was about to ask what was wrong when Alice's voice drew her away from his reaction to her words.

"So you're a nurse, too, then?"

Abigail nodded and leaned back in the chair, pulling her denim-clad legs under her. "That's why I originally moved to Seattle, to go to med school there. But I decided I liked nursing better so I switched to that program, and just decided to stay."

"Until now." Abigail nodded. "Why's that?"

Abigail frowned and glanced down at her suddenly anxious hands, not noticing a small exchange between her guests as her heart gave a painful squeeze.

"My parents died. They left me this house. That's how I know Charlie and Billy and everyone. My dad had been friends with them since he was five. But a drunk driver decided that his and my mom's lives didn't matter anymore, so he took them away from me." She quickly scrubbed at her eyes before the threatening tears ever fell. It was silent for a moment and suddenly a wave of calm washed over her making her frown again in confusion, but she clung to it before she got too deep in her depression. She glanced up again and gave Alice a small smile. "It took me awhile to come back. Bella's wedding was my excuse; everything was still here as it was. It was free, so why pay for a hotel? My original thought was to sell it, but I decided I couldn't do that. And I love Forks. I missed all my friends; I had only Beth in Seattle. So here I am."

"No regrets?"

"I never do anything I'll regret later." She shrugged. "Though I suppose that's why I only have one friend." She laughed softly. "But life is too short to sorry about that kind of thing. I don't want to be eighty on my death bed worrying about what I did in my twenties."

Alice nodded along, a smile on her face that Abigail couldn't read, but she wasn't really good at reading people anyway. "That's a good motto. But don't sit back and do nothing and worry about later regrets. If you enjoy it today, that's what counts. 'Never regret something that once made you smile.'"

My dad used to say that, she thought sadly, and could only laugh softly at Alice's words.

.x.x.x.x.

-Carlisle-

I should not have come here. The thoughts were to himself even though he knew Edward could hear them. He wasn't even sure how they talked him into it, promises of less pain after it happened, but it was clear that that wasn't about to happen anytime soon. As soon as this girl, this Abigail, had opened the door, a red-hot poker of pain twisted at his insides and it was all he could do not to double over. The glimpse he had back in August was nothing compared to seeing the girl up close. Even her eyes are the same, he agonized. While the others never met her as a human, he had, and he remembered every second of it like it was yesterday.

Abigail, his Abigail, had been a nurse during the American Revolution in 1776. He was in control of his thirst and his urges by then, and was always working to make it so he was immune, so he figured the battlefield was a good place to start. The war was already in full swing and he found himself in Virginia, working either under the cover of a tent or the darkness of night so nobody would know his secret. After a month there, the army brought in a brigade of new nurses to help the doctors with the ever-growing number of sick and wounded soldiers that came through.

That's when he first met her, his Abigail, when she was introduced to him by the general as his assistant. He never needed one, always declined as he worked better and faster without one, but the moment he laid eyes on the enchanting beauty, he accepted immediately. The wariness on the man's face told him that he was expecting an argument from him, but Carlisle wouldn't dream of sending this enchantress somewhere else. He actually got dizzy for the first time in over a hundred years when she smiled at him, so shy and brilliant and he was in love. Of course, that was the mating call that had been pulling him for that month he had been there, as if he were waiting for something, anticipating the arrival of something that would change his life, and she had the moment he set his gaze on her emerald eyes.

Over the course of two weeks, he got to know her. She had been shy and reluctant to tell him of her story at first, but soon he found out that she came from Delaware and her father had been a doctor there, so she was used to the hustle and bustle of this life. But he was a cold, strict man who was disappointed in his daughter's lack of a husband, so when a man named Howard Drake came along—a good twenty years her senior and richer than even her physician father—and saw the splendidness of her beauty, he haggled with her father for the right price to make her his wife. Of course Abigail didn't want to marry a man so much older than her and out for only her body and her money, so she fled in the dead of night and hopped aboard a boat taking nurses down to the war zone in Virginia. She knew she would either have to go back to this life and marry Mr. Drake, or live her life as a spinster peasant with no chance at love or marriage.

Her story broke Carlisle's heart and though he knew he couldn't give her the right kind of life—after all, who would willingly marry a monster?—he knew he could love her every moment of her existence. He had vowed to be with her until she died of old age, but then the British invaded the camp. While most of the time Carlisle kept her close to his side, knowing the beast in him always woke up when his mate wasn't with him, right before this battle she excused herself to clean up and take a short break for a nap and some food. As soon as he heard the guns, Carlisle left the soldier he was plucking ammunition out of and ran to find her. When he did, she was drowning in her own blood as a well-placed bullet tore through the right side of her chest and lung, collapsing the organ. Her heart raced to keep her alive, but Carlisle knew that nothing would save her.

She was the first human he turned, keeping her with him in an old cabin he found five miles into the woods from the camp, as she went through the change. He expected her anger, but instead got her forgiveness and acceptance and love. They married just a couple months later, and he gave her everything she ever dreamed of, worshipping her like the queen and goddess she was.

So when she was taken from him almost two hundred years later, it was no surprise to anyone, even himself, that he collapsed. He had every intention to follow her in death, but he felt that it would be too easy. The better punishment was to live, to force himself through life without his mate and true love by his side, his punishment for failing her and watching her die even though he promised her back in 1776 that nothing would ever harm her. Never once did he forget her; those years he spent silent and still he thought only of her, of every moment they spent together in their one hundred and seventy-nine years. The love they made, the house and life they built, the children they gained. It was them and their need for him that eventually brought him out of his state in 1984, forcing himself to be the father they needed and deserved, the man that his Abigail would be proud of.

None of them ever forgot her and they all missed her, longed for her to still be with them even fifty years later. But none of them expected this, to be sitting in this small cozy house in Forks with a woman who looked, sounded, breathed like their late wife and mother. Bella was a newborn, too young to understand the feelings that this woman's presence brought to them, but he was sure Edward would explain everything if he hadn't already.

But it's why he knew he shouldn't have come, because it was too hard, too agonizingly painful to be so close to this woman, to look at her and hear her speak, as if she were a ghost of his long-dead mate come back to haunt him for his failures. She even smells the same, he thought, his desperation nearly choking him as he gazed at Edward who was trying very hard to look neutral and not wince at this woman's presence, but also his father's thoughts as well.

"So when's your birthday?" Alice was asking, bringing Carlisle out of his thoughts and he held his breath for a moment, gaze flickering back to Abigail who was lightly rocking in her spot.

"Next month, actually," she replied softly. "Valentine's Day, February fourteenth."

Oh my god, he choked. That was his Abigail's birthday, too. It was too much, too much similarities, too much pain...

Quickly he stood, surprising even his family along with Abigail, and his gaze couldn't quite meet hers as his breath sawed in between his teeth. "My apologies, I believe I'm late for an appointment. Please excuse me." He didn't wait for a response, just quickly made his way out the door, making sure he was in the trees before beginning to run, his legs carrying him away from the woman who likely could break his heart with just a look.