No reviews for the previous chapter! So sad… but here's another one, just because

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"Are you sure she's ready?" I hovered anxiously at Jasper's office door. Bella lay on the leather futon. She still looked terrified, even though the car ride hadn't been that horrible this time. She was looking around anxiously, her slender hands gripping the cushions.

I realized then that the anxiety stemmed from the fact that she had woken up as Isabella for the first time in here. The rush of memories was fucking stressing her.

"Edward, she'll be fine," Alice piped up from the corner. She was there as a translator again. Unfortunately, my Spanish was not sufficiently developed to take Alice's place—although much improved. Considering it had been nonexistent a week ago.

"Yeah, probably, but Alice, look at her," I urged. We all glanced at Bella again. After the mind-blowing revelation of my feelings for her, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about or referring to the girl as anything but Bella. No one had really commented on it yet.

Bella was squeezing her eyes hut, her breathing heavy. It sounded strangely arousing. Stop it, you asshole, I chided myself. I ran through disgusting images in my head to stop my pulse form racing, and keep things soft. Jasper and Alice were looking at me strangely. I fucking flushed when they noticed my agitation.

"Edward, it's natural for her to be nervous," Jasper said. "I foresaw that—she's had half a Xanax. What I don't get is you—"

"Shut up, you dick," I huffed. Bella finally opened her eyes, and fixed them on me. I managed a small smile for her, which she returned gently. Fucking luminous.

"Well, Edward, if you're done fretting, maybe we could get this session underway." Jasper turned in his swivel chair. I picked Alice's corner, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Bella's eyes still lingered on my face. I cast mine down so she could focus her attention on Jazz.

"Listen to your breathing. Now as you listen to my voice, it takes you down… deeper…" I swear I could feel myself nodding off. A few minutes spun out in silence. I opened my mouth to mention it, but Alice clapped her tiny hand over my mouth. I considered biting her or licking her like we were fucking five, but then I saw what Alice saw.

She was staring intently at Bella as her head lolled on the futon. Her chest rose and fell slowly. She looked completely at ease, with a calm I wished would pervade me…She was under. Bella had been successfully induced into the suggestive state. Whether she'd be able to regress awaited to be seen.

Jasper called her name. Bella's hands twitched. "Who are you?" he asked. Alice translated: Quién eres?

"Soy Isabella Cisneros…"Alice looked at me and finally withdrew her hand from my mouth. Bella was still the Spanish persona.

"Where are you?" Jasper pressed. Bella took a deep breath, before responding to Alice's words.

"En el reino de la Nueva España." I remembered the name from our research.

"What do you see?" Jasper asked, before Alice spoke again. "Qué ves?"

"Pluma, tinta y papel. Estoy escribiendo una carta a mi prometido, Eduardo Caellén."

"She says she has a pen, ink, and paper, because she's writing a letter to her fiancé, Eduardo," Alice said softly. I felt an irrational stab of jealousy at the mention of Bella's fiancé. Well, Isabella's fiancé.

Through Alice, Bella described her surroundings and her clothes. She told us about her family again, and how her betrothal to this Eduardo Caellén guy would join the two families into a dynasty of sorts. There was lots of money and status involved. She spoke that it was the way of things, and that she understood it was her duty as a woman of rank to marry well. Despite the fact that they had met only once before she set out for the Americas (as she called them too), she cared for him. They kept in touch through sporadic letters.

" A pesar de la distancia… lo amo," she breathed.

"She loves him," Alice matched the tone to hers. "In spite of the distance between them."

I swallowed hard. "Is she supposed to wake up… you know, the same? Or as she was before this fuck up?" I whispered to Alice.

"Jasper hopes she can come back as her true self. He can't understand why she couldn't regress those other times he tried right after she woke up like this." Alice ran her fingers through her spiky hair, slightly frustrated.

Bella had been silent for a little while, and Jasper took a deep breath. "Bella, listen to my voice. I will count back from five, and when I ask you to wake up, you will open your eyes." He looked to Alice for the Spanish version. She handed him a slip of paper with the translated countdown so Jasper could do it himself. It was too important to fuck it up in another language.

"Cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno… despierta."

Bella opened her eyes. We all held our breath, waiting to see if this was actually Bella or Isabella. She blinked against the light, hard, and tears filled her eyes. Her mouth trembled and she bit her lip.

"Bella?" Jasper asked tentatively.

"Mi nombre es Isabella."

--

I want to go home. That's all Bella kept repeating on the ride back to the house and as Alice helped her get ready for bed. She kept up a stream of steady tears that trailed down her face. Bella looked so small and fragile lying on the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin.

Alice sat next to the bed, stroking her hair softly. She murmured in Spanish to Bella for awhile, and she just nodded and sniffed until her eyes grew heavy and closed. Alice stood and motioned me out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"I can't believe we were so close," I muttered, yanking at my hair.

"Jazz is taking it really hard, too," Alice said worriedly. "We were banking on the regression working this time."

"Where is he now?"

"On the phone to Carlisle. He was able to contact some people at the University of Barcelona library with access to archives and documents."

"What kind of shit are we looking for this time?" It didn't faze her that I was now very much invested in Bella's fate.

"Old records, birth certificates, histories… anything colonial. Carlisle said they'd scan whatever they found and e-mail Jasper."

"Well, how long will that take?"

"I don't know. A couple of days. Dad pulled a few strings. Edward, what if it's all a lie? If there's no Isabella Cisneros?" Alice sighed. "Are we prepared to deal with the fact that this girl might just be randomly psychotic?"

Was I prepared to deal with the facts if it were true?