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Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter 9: Hope

EPOV

Carlisle came up to see me around noon. My position had not changed - I was still on the bed next to Bella, with my legs curled up to my chest, staring at the wall. The pained expression on my face said it all - I looked defeated.

"Edward, are you all right?" Carlisle asked, concerned.

I hesitated. "What have I done? What if she just stays in this state forever? Should I have let her die instead? At least she would be at peace now. Instead, she's stuck somewhere between life and death, and as far as I know, there's no way to help her."

Carlisle sighed. "Edward, we know that what you did was fairly risky, but would you honestly rather have let her die and not take this chance? Besides, there is still time. Just be patient, and keep hoping. It's only been four days, and she went through some very traumatic things before slipping into unconsciousness. Time will tell," he said softly. Before leaving the room, he squeezed my arm reassuringly, glancing at Bella once more. He wasn't completely fooling me by hiding his thoughts - there was concern in his eyes when he looked at her.

I was in the same position that I had been in when Carlisle left my room, when, somewhere around three o'clock, soft footsteps crept toward my room. My door slowly creaked open. It was Alice, but her mind was still quiet. She slowly entered, carefully looking at Bella.

"Alice?" I said warily. She turned her face toward mine, and her eyes seemed calmer, softer.

"Bella will be awake soon, Edward," Alice whispered.

Shock and elation rocked through my system as I sat up straight, desperately grasping the edge of the bed. "When? How much longer?"

"I see her eyelids starting to flutter in about ten to fifteen minutes," she said softly.

"Alice? Are you alright?" I asked, concerned, my gaze flickering between my sister and Bella, watching for any signs of movement from my love.

She half smiled at me. "I will be."

My focus returned fully to Bella. I was incredibly anxious, knowing she would be opening her eyes soon. It felt as though my heart would explode, if it were possible. Esme, Carlisle, and Rosalie appeared then, having heard Alice's announcement.

"Is it true? She's going to wake soon?" Esme whispered, looking almost as frantic as I felt.

"Yes, it won't be long now," Alice replied.

Carlisle stepped forward cautiously. "Alice, are you all right now? What happened to you?"

Fierce sadness crossed Alice's features. "When I saw the first vision of Bella being bit, I was horrified. I thought we'd be too late. She was so weak...Then, after you left, Edward, I had another vision, this one of Charlie. First, it was of him deciding to stop at home to pick up some paperwork he'd left behind - he had been patrolling near his house. Then I saw Victoria hurting Bella, breaking her arm, when suddenly it changed again... Charlie thought someone was trying to rob their house, and he assumed that in the process of the robbery they had run into Bella. He thought they were going to kill her so there wouldn't be any witnesses to the robbery. Then Victoria decided she could torment Bella even more by killing her father in front of her, slowly. I saw what Victoria did to him, and Bella was right there, lying on the ground, forced to watch every unimaginable second of it. And Charlie...poor Charlie..." her expression revealed the burden she had been carrying, and the terrible loss that she felt.

As the walls once blocking me from her mind were let down, the horror that Alice had seen flashed through my mind. I saw everything that she saw, and everything that Bella had gone through, including what had happened to Charlie. My head spun, and I felt sick from the onslaught of emotions.

Alice continued, "I could see the tremendous pain Bella was in, both physical and emotional. Seeing it all happen...I felt such horrible guilt. Guilt for not being able to see any of this in time to stop it. It felt like I was to blame. She was so close to death... I saw her crawl away, into the forest, and I knew Edward would find her. Then I saw Edward bite her, but she became completely still after that. I was afraid she was going to die - and I knew that if she did, Edward, you would never make it. You wouldn't want to live without her, and you would find a way to end your existence.

"I would lose a brother and a sister, all because I couldn't see these things happening early enough to prevent them. I knew that if Bella didn't die and managed to change, she would very likely blame and resent me for not being able to stop this - for not being able to save Charlie. I realize that may still happen, but knowing that she will live, I will find a way to deal with it. I just couldn't deal with losing one of you, not to mention both."

Alice paused, thoughtful. "Ever since that last vision of Edward biting Bella, I haven't been able to see anything more about her future up until a few minutes ago, when I saw her begin to awaken. Not being able to see Bella's future had me fearful that she would stay in this state forever. Then after having that vision of what happened to Renee and Phil...once again, I had been outsmarted, and I felt racked with guilt - I had let Bella down yet again. I felt so responsible...I still do. What Bella's going to have to go through..." she trailed off, delicately shuddering.

"Now that I know she's going to survive, I can accept whatever comes with that, whether she hates me or not. I just wanted her to live," Alice explained softly. She glanced up at Carlisle. "Why do you think I stopped seeing her until now? Why couldn't I see her waking up before this?" she asked quietly, distressed.

"I'm not sure, Alice...there are a lot of things that are unusual about this...The only rational explanation I can come up with is that her body did not recognize what was happening to her until it was complete. A sort of denial, perhaps. There are countless possibilities, as we know that your visions are rather enigmatic," Carlisle explained, uncertain.

"Alice, dear, Bella could never hate you. It will be hard for her to understand everything, but we will all work that out together, as a family. You know she loves you," Esme murmured, reaching out, embracing Alice.

Nine minutes had gone by. I was counting in my head, listening to Alice, and focusing on Bella. This had to be the longest nine minutes any one had ever endured.

"Edward, do you want us to leave? If you want to be alone with her when she wakes up, we will understand," Esme said.

After thinking through the options for a moment, I decided. "I don't mind if you stay, we've all gone through this together. However, if you don't want to stay, you don't have to." My family had been waiting for this too - it would be too selfish to ask them to leave.

No one left, but they all backed up a little, giving me more space. Alice crept behind everyone else, mostly hiding herself. She wanted to stay, but was afraid of upsetting Bella. Everyone's thoughts swam through my head, offering encouragement and support while we waited.

Eleven minutes. I was watching her face closely for any movement when I saw it happen. Those beautiful eyelids started fluttering softly; I held my breath.