If You Only Knew- Choices 2- Alternate Ending.
Hey Everyone! Sorry for the Delay! I've just moved into a new house with WiFi, so now I can update my stories more easier! Thanks to everyone for hanging around to see the final ending. I have a third ending, but it will probably be a beginning to a sequel. I have no idea if I'm going to post it though.
Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine. Winter is.
If You Only Knew- Alternate Ending...
I couldn't believe what Carlisle was telling me. His words echoed around and around in my head as the reality of his words started sinking in.
I gazed up at my surrogate father figure from my position on the brown leather couch that was in his office.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." He responded, slowly crossing the room and took a seat next to me. "From the tests that I've done, it seems to me that every time you faint…it takes a part of your life away. That could explain why you feel so weak when you wake up."
It wasn't until he continued that the full force of his words hit me and I began to tear up, trying to keep my composure.
"You're dying, Winter."
No matter how many times I had heard it, I still didn't want to accept it…but I had to know.
"How long do I have left?" My teary gaze landed on his flawless face, and I could tell that he didn't want to tell me.
"Winter… I-" He started to object.
I felt a cool tear fall from my eye making a trail across my flushed skin. "Please Carlisle. I need to know."
He stared into my eyes, debating within himself for a moment before taking a deep breath, " I don't know. What I do know is that the next time you faint…You might not wake up."
I nodded as I realized that my time was almost up, and it felt like I suddenly had a knife hanging over me ready to take my life away at any given moment. I had no idea when it would be that I would get a fainting spell and I would die. And that terrified me. They came so suddenly that there was nothing I could do but sit and wait for the next one.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" I suddenly cried my voice somewhere between begging and anger. By the look on Carlisle's perfect face, he had not anticipated my sudden outburst, and as soon as he recovered, his face turned into a perfect mask.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing that I can do."
My heart broke at his words and the tears began to flow freely. I didn't want to die. My sobs increased as I felt a set of cool arms wrap around my fragile body, and I buried my face into Carlisle's chest. His voice echoed in my ear as he rocked me back and forth trying to soothe me. As soon as my sobs subsided, Carlisle insisted that I get some rest to make me feel better and soon I was fast asleep on the leather couch, surrounded by a warm velvety blanket.
(Carlisle's POV)
I gazed at Winter's sleeping form and it hurt me to see her so broken. Even asleep, I could tell that some of the walls that she had built up to protect herself had crumbled. I didn't need Jasper's ability to tell me that my confession had crushed her.
'She wanted to know.' I continued to tell myself, trying to convince myself that I had done the right thing by telling her that she was dying. Even though I knew that I had done the right thing, (if it had been me in that situation…I would've wanted to know too), I still couldn't erase the guilt I felt for lying to her. I knew that there was still one option that would save her from death, but I couldn't do that to her. I had already damned Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett to this life. I would not be the cause of her death too.
It was not only that, that I had to worry about. Since the wolves had agreed to the treaty that we had arranged so many years ago, I couldn't turn her…even if I wanted to. One bite from any of us and the treaty would be broken and a war would be started…I would not be the cause of that either.
Sighing, I took one last look at the sleeping girl, and exited my office, closing the door quietly behind me.
(Winter's POV)
It wasn't until the following day when I realized that I had another option other than waiting for my next fainting spell, so I could die. I was walking through the trees surrounding the house when I'd come to this conclusion.
I entered the house and asked Carlisle if I could borrow his car to go to the store. He agreed and instead of going to the store, I headed to La Push. I needed to talk to the wolves about my situation. I knew what I wanted, but without their approval… I didn't want to even think of the consequences. I drove carefully through the rain, changing the radio station to an upbeat channel. I'd change it back when I got back.
I sung along to some random song that came on as I carefully made my way to Sam and Emily's house, the headlights bathing the little cottage in light as I parked. Taking the keys out of the ignition, I took a deep breath preparing myself for the falling rain, and as quick as I could manage, bolted for the small overhang on the porch.
My closed fist pounded on the wooden door, and I waited surveying the porch. To the left of me stood a white wicker couch with a small table in front of it, a potted plant hung from the overhang, near the edge catching some of the falling rain that managed to drip into it. To my right, various trinkets and odds and ends accumulated against the house into a pile roughly two feet wide, and about three feet high. It was odd seeing the pile. I'd always imagined Emily to be extremely tidy, not so much so as to be particularly obsessive about clean, but always neat. But I suppose living with a pack of unpredictable wolves would manage to create some mess around the house.
My attention was pulled from the pile as the door swung open, Sam himself looking at me quite confused.
"Winter? What are you doing here?" He questioned. It was odd. Although Sam and the others disliked the Cullens,(and myself at first) Since the battle, the two groups had somehow bonded over the adventure, and although they still had some concerns, for the most part…they were friends.
Behind him, I could hear a loud commotion, and banter and guessed that they must have been having a get together.
"I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?" I didn't want to sound rude…I really should have called him first.
"It's fine." He assured, before questioning me. " Is everything alright?"
"Not really." I sighed. "I'd really like to talk to you and Jake about something… if I could."
"Of course."
Sam moved aside and allowed me to enter his wonderful home where I was greeted by most of the pack that were sitting in a living area gathering to watch a movie.
"Do you have somewhere that we could talk in private?" I queried, turning my attention to Sam and was led into a small office type room, Jake following in behind me and closing the door. I knew that the pack would most likely hear the entire conversation, because their hearing was just as good as the Vampires, but I felt better knowing that this would stay between the three of us.
"Alright. So what did you want to talk to us about?" Sam pressed, sitting in a chair casually in front of me. I took a seat on a small couch that was leaning up against the wall, while Jacob stood leaning up casually against the wall by the door.
"I have a situation, and I believe that the two of you are the only ones that could be able to help me." I started, my eyes darting between the two of them. "Let me explain."
I took a deep breath and began my tale.
"After the battle with the newborns, Carlisle told all of you to leave and you did. After you left, a group showed up known as the Volturi. The Volturi are like royalty in the vampire world. The lawmakers, if you will. There is one law that stands above all others. Humans must not be made aware of the existence of vampires. For those humans that DO know about the existence of vampires, there are only two options."
"The first option is death. The second is to be turned into a vampire."
"Okay. So what does this have to do with you?" Sam questioned, clearly confused as was Jake.
"It's come to the attention of the Volturi that I know too much, and therefore for the Cullen's to save my life that day, they agreed to turn me into a vampire. However… With the treaty in place, clearly you can see my problem."
"No way. I'm not going to let you die." Jake mumbled, shaking his head in disagreement. Ignoring him, I continued.
" You might change your mind, when you know all the facts, Jake." I shot back. "Keep that in mind as I tell you this next part. Now, you probably don't know this, but for the past few months, I've been having these weird fainting spells. They weren't bad at first, but now they're really bad. Carlisle has been running tests to try and determine the cause of my fainting, and unfortunately he hasn't been able to come up with any logical diagnoses. The one thing he DOES know is that whatever IT is, it's killing me."
"That's interesting." Sam commented.
"Yeah. Carlisle has concluded that the next time that I faint… I won't wake up." I finished. " No matter how you look at it, Sam, I'm dying."
I looked back up at Sam, to see pain hidden underneath his hard shell.
" I guess what I'm asking is for you to allow the Cullens to change me, without breaking the treaty." I continued when he didn't answer. "I know that you have a responsibility as protectors of the tribe, that you're suppose to protect lives. To SAVE lives, right? So help save MY life by allowing them to change me."
I got up from my seat and knelt in front of Sam.
"This is my only option, Sam. Please." I begged. "I don't want to die."
It was a full minute before he spoke.
"Alright." Sam agreed, before tacking on a warning. "I will agree that the treaty will remain intact, and no harm shall come to the Cullen's as a result of changing you into a vampire. However, The treaty, stating that none of the Cullen's may bite a human, will also apply to you as well after the change has taken place. Do you understand?"
I nodded.
"And that if you or any other Cullen bites a human, the action will therefore break the treaty and we as protectors, will then be forced to take action against those that broke the treaty, the penalty of which includes death. Agreed?"
"Yes, sir." I agreed, pushing myself up off the floor. "Thank you, Sam. You have no idea how much this means to me."
After a few moments, and a few heartfelt 'goodbyes', I was quickly ushered out of the door, and I sprinted to Carlisle's Mercedes and took off into the furiously falling rain.
I was relieved that Sam had agreed to the truce so easily. I was expecting a much bigger fight from them, but perhaps he knew that I had no other alternative. Now all I had to do was convince the Cullens to change me.
Sighing, I stepped on the gas, driving slowly through the falling rain. The rain fell so hard that it was hard to see through the rain soaked windshield, and I debated on stopping and waiting for the rain to lessen. Against my better judgement, I continued.
I turned the radio down so I could concentrate on the road, and as I did so, I heard music coming from the middle console. Feeling around the console, my fingers grasped the source of the music. Pulling it to me, I looked at the small black cell phone still ringing in my hand and from the caller ID it read Alice. I picked it up without a second thought.
"Winter!" Alice sighed with relief. "Thank god you're alright. Your future disappeared and I got worried."
"I'm fine." I assured while squinting through the rain. "I just had to go talk to the wolves."
"You did what?" She nearly screamed, and I had to pull the phone away from my ear for a second at the sudden increase of volume.
"I had to talk to them about something." I assured her again.
It was so hard to see through the rain that I hadn't noticed the car drifting into oncoming traffic and swerved to avoid a collision. The phone dropped from my ear as I over corrected causing the car to lurch into a ditch. My head connected with the drivers side window as the car began to roll before coming to rest upright against a tree. My body slammed into the steering column at the sudden stop, causing the air to be knocked out of my chest.
"Winter!" I could hear softly coming through the phone's speaker, although I had no idea where the phone actually was.
I moaned as I pushed myself carefully away from the steering wheel, bringing my hand up to my pounding head, feeling warm liquid under my fingertips.
"Winter!" I heard Alice's voice again, and my eyes spotted the phone lying on the passenger seat next to me. I reached out for it carefully as my muscles screamed in protest before I managed to grab it and brought the tiny device to my ear.
"Alice…" I slurred.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I don't know." I responded truthfully, tears welling in my eyes. "I hit my head…against the glass…there's so much blood…" I cried glancing down at my now blood stained shirt.
"It's going to be alright." She assured. "I'm sending Carlisle and Emmett to come get you. Just hold on and try not to move. Okay?"
"Okay. I'm so sorry…" I cried into the phone as tears flowed down my face like waterfalls.
"It's alright. Just hold on." I heard her say as I placed the phone into my lap and laid back against the steering wheel, trying not to move as tears flew freely down my cheeks.
Before I knew it, the car was bathed in light, and I heard two voices coming closer. I heard the car door open and Carlisle's voice in my ear.
"Winter, Are you alright? Can you move?" I felt his cool touch on the back of my neck. Tears streamed down my face as I turned to look at him.
"I'm so sorry…" I cried before adding. "I hit my head." And I brought a hand up to where the blood was flowing, wincing at the pain.
"I'm going to get you out of here, alright." Carlisle assured me, gently removing my seatbelt and pulled me towards him.
"I feel dizzy." I mumbled, as conciousness was slipping away from me.
"It's alright." He assured, shouting something at Emmett. My body relaxed as I lost my battle to stay awake, knowing that Carlisle would take good care of me as I was extracted from the metal that used to be Carlisle's Mercedes.
Beep…. Beep…. Beep…. Beep…
I heard the incessant beeping before I realized what it was, and slowly opened my eyes to my surroundings. It was bright and I blinked a few times trying to adjust to the brightness. Once my eyes were adjusted, I immediately regretted the decision to open my eyes. My head felt like it was going to split in two, and I moaned at my discovery, shutting my eyes once again.
With my eyes firmly shut again, I could hear those same voices that I had heard before, although they were clear as a bell this time.
"Winter? Can you hear me?" A man's voice asked me.
"What happened?" I mumbled, my voice barely above a whisper from non-use.
"You were in a car accident." The man spoke again. "Do you remember anything?"
I slowly opened my eyes again, trying to ignore the pain that came with the action, and stared at the spiky blonde haired kid in front of me. He was well built like Emmett, and just as tall, his bright blue eyes studying my movements. One look at his nametag revealed his name was Nick.
"Miss Parker, Is everything alright?" He questioned.
"Yeah. Sorry. I don't really remember much." I confessed a moment later, feeling somewhat disappointed that I hadn't remembered anything.
"That's to be expected. Especially for someone who has been in a coma for as long as you have." He stated, as he moved around the room checking different machines.
'Wait! COMA? I wasn't in a coma.' I thought.
"A coma?" I questioned, my blue eyes watching as he flitted from one machine to the next. "How long?"
"Six months." Nick replied nonchalantly. "Just get some rest. We'll call your family and let them know you've woken up."
I watched as he slipped out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
'That CAN'T be right. That just CAN'T!' My mind screamed. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I failed to realize that my door to my room had opened, until a sudden weight was dropped on me. Looking down, my eyes landed on the cutest blue eyed, sandy blonde haired, six year old girl, I had ever seen.
"Sarah!" I cried, hugging her the best that I could among all the tubes attached to me. When I released her, my eyes landed on my strawberry blonde mother, and light brown haired father, and I nearly cried seeing them.
'They're alive! My family is ALIVE!' My mind screamed, tears flowing down my face freely as I embraced my mom, Tanya, and my dad, Charlie.
"Oh, Winter. I'm so glad you've finally woken up." My mother insisted, her arms wrapping around me.
"I missed you guys." I choked out, wiping away my tears. "I thought you were dead."
"We weren't dead, honey." Charlie assured, gently touching my arm. "We were just knocked unconscious. The doctors didn't know if you would even make it. We almost lost you a couple times."
"The doctor thought that if we talked to you, it might help. So your father and I used to sit up all night and talk to you. Your doctor said you kept drifting in and out of consciousness." My mother Tanya interjected, taking a seat next to my legs.
Suddenly it all made sense, and my mind flashed back to all the times that I had heard voices when I had fainted realizing that he was right.
I was hearing the voices of my family whenever I had fainted…And whenever I had fainted, I was somewhat conscious during my coma. And when I had been around the Cullen's , I was really just unconscious. I couldn't believe that I had never made the connection to the voices and the fact that it was all a dream. Until now.
"How long until I get to go home?" My voice was weak, but I wanted to know.
"In just a few days, we'll take you home." My father answered, before a nurse ushered my family out the door insisting that I rested. Waving a final goodbye, I closed my tired eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep.
It's been two weeks since I've woken up from my coma, and the doctors have decided that I am well enough to go home. Having come to grips with the fact that the Cullens and the Twilight world was just a dream, I sighed. A part of me felt that I had lost my family when I'd woken up and my ordeal wouldn't be forgotten. It had been the best and worst six months of my life.
"Are you ready to go?"
I turned, seeing my father standing in the doorway, and smiled.
"Yep." I replied with a grin, grasping the large plastic bag that contained what few belongings I had aquired and placed the bag at my feet before reaching for my faded tennis shoes. By the time I had tied my shoelaces, a darker skinned woman roughly forty years old appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair ready to escort me through the hospital to my parents car.
Climbing into the wheelchair, I placed my things in my lap and was slowly wheeled out of my room down the hallway. As we neared the Emergency Area of the hospital, Emily (The nurse), pulled the chair as close to the wall as she could, stopping momentarily for a group of EMT's to pass us.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, every second feeling like a lifetime as I watched the group pass. A familiar voice pulled my attention to the main operator that was pushing a fifteen year old girl with black hair that was strapped to the gurney. He had jet black hair and… wait… gold eyes? It couldn't be…
I locked gazes with him, my breath seeming to catch in my throat as I could have sworn I saw him smile and wink at me. Emmett? Bree? Before I had a chance to react, my attention was pulled once again to an lanky individual walking a step behind the group. Studying his face as he passed, he smirked, nodding his head in my direction, locking his gaze with mine. Edward? I must be crazy…
As soon as the group had disappeared down the hallway, we continued on our journey, stopping at one of the nurses stations on the floor, where a young girl with chocolate colored hair handed a clipboard to Emily, who turned to Charlie providing him a sheet of paper to fill out before I was released. Her eyes shot to mine, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"Bella?" I questioned, shocked.
"Hello, Winter." She responded, smiling, before waving slightly to me as my wheelchair began to move once again. What the hell is going on? I watched up ahead as three figures emerged from a corridor and began walking away from me, the first figure, a nurse, escorting the other two women to a room and disappeared inside. The other two figures hesitated in the hallway, their attention turned to me and I gasped.
This can not be happening!
The light brown haired woman smiled and waved, whereas the blonde haired woman just smiled as she disappeared into the room, followed by the dark haired woman as I was pushed around a corner, the hallway disappearing from my view. Confused, I tried to reason why my 'surrogate' mother, Esme, and sister, Rosalie were at the hospital, and the only logical conclusion was they were here to see Carlisle.
But this was a dream….This can't be real… Right?
I was so distracted by my thoughts that I hadn't realized that I was now seated near the wall in the waiting room, where I would soon be brought to the car, as I noticed that along with Emily, the nurse, my dad Charlie had also disappeared as well. I scanned my surroundings, while I waited, watching the people around me scattering around in the flurry of chaos that the room was now in as doctors and nurses flitted from patient to patient.
It didn't take me long to notice the couple that stood leant up against the nurses station that was situated to my right about 100 feet. The couple's golden eyes were on me, the man's golden locks falling haphazardly into his face as he smirked, unfazed by the chaos surrounding him. The dark haired woman, much smaller than me, smiled brightly as she waved knowingly, and I couldn't help but gasp.
A loud laugh caused me to tear my eyes away from the beautiful couple. Realizing it was a large man who had laughed at something on the television screen in the waiting room, I glanced back to Alice and Jasper just in time to see them disappear from my eyesight, moving so quickly I hardly saw them.
Having almost convinced myself that I had gone insane, for I knew that the Cullen's didn't actually exist, I was proven wrong once again when a blonde figure knelt down in front of me, his voice and touch pulling me from my thoughts.
"Winter?"
"Carlisle?" I gasped, my eyes focusing on his face. " This is a dream, right?" Having no response at my question, I spoke again. "Am I dead?"
He chuckled. "I just wanted to say goodbye, Winter."
"Goodbye? You can't say goodbye, Carlisle…Please." My eyes began to tear up, my voice began to break. Having feared the worst, and in an act of desperation, I blurted out, "Will I ever see you again?"
As if he knew we would not meet again, he sighed, not answering either of my questions. Meeting my teary gaze, he smiled weakly. "Goodbye, Winter."
My heart felt it would break, as the overhead loudspeaker distracted me for just a moment.
"Dr. Cullen to OR 3. Dr. Cullen to OR 3."
I felt my chair begin to move, simultaneously wiping a tear that had escaped my eye, as I was wheeled out of the hospital, the doors obstructing my view just moments after I watched Carlisle disappear down the hallway.
THE END!
Or is it?
A/N: Thanks to everyone that has followed this story or alerted this story. I may be posting another alternate ending that I had just thought of, but I don't know if I will or not.
Carlisle's conversation was not originally in the ending that I wrote. She's supposed to see him disappear down the hallway, but she wasn't supposed to have conversations with any of the Cullen's that she sees (Including the interaction that she has with Bella.). In this version of the ending, it would appear as if she's seeing ghosts, or figments of her imagination, having seen them one moment and they'd be gone the next.
Once again, Thanks to everyone! I hope you enjoyed it! If you are confused about anything, message me and I can explain. Thanks!
PEACE!
~ Shorty ~