Chapter 11: Revelations

-x-x-x-

"Let these words, be the first,

To find your ears.

The world is brighter than the sun,

Now that you're here."

Sleeping At Last – Light

-x-x-x-

The school had thankfully given Lexi a few days off to spend with her family due to her brother waking up from his coma.

It had taken a few hours for their mother to get there so that Adam could enlighten his family about what he had been through out there, what he thought had happened that made him fall down that cliffside.

Overall, Alexis found it difficult to fully look at him most of the time, a scar spread across the side of his face from where it had potentially scratched against a sharp rock. He had just been standing at the edge, enjoying the view, when he felt a strong wind at his back and suddenly he was tumbling down and couldn't stop.

He told them about how he could remember certain dreams while he had been unconscious, but couldn't think about when they'd happened. He didn't explain what had changed for him but he somehow knew that he wasn't just asleep, it was the most aware he'd ever been that he wasn't awake.

"I don't know what to tell you." He said, fidgeting with the cushion he'd picked up from the couch "I wanted to wake up, I wanted to understand what was happening. I don't know how I finally managed."

"The only thing that matters is that you're home now, dear." their mother reassured, grasping hold of his hand. "I'm so happy that you're safe."

Smiling back at her, he seemed to finally relax, his story told. "Everything would have been okay if I had just listened to you before I left. I shouldn't have gone on my own, not when I'm so new to the area."

Lex had been sat next to Adam on the couch throughout the story, refusing to leave his side. "At least they got you were found quickly, who knows what could have happened if you'd been out their hurt for much longer than you were."

"You're not wrong." He responded with a sigh, wrapping an arm around her. "But then I wouldn't have been able to wake up and see just how much you love me, would I, Lexi Bear?"

Lex beamed. He had called her Lexi Bear throughout their childhood, referring to the fact she'd had a small stuffed bear she'd been obsessed with as a baby. It wasn't exactly a flattering nickname, but it was just nice being able to hear it again after fearing she'd never hear him speak again.

He quickly pulled her into a hug as he noticed tears threatening to appear in her eyes once more. "It's alright, I'm okay."

Sniffling, she nodded into his t-shirt. "You are. You're okay."

-x-x-x-

That weekend, the whole family all seemed less emotional.

Adam wanted them all to try and forget that it had ever happened, to focus on the fact that he was alright and that he was going to be staying home and away from the hiking trails unless accompanied by somebody.

Their father pointed out that he should get back into hiking soon just in case he ended up too afraid of it to enjoy his favourite pastime again.

So, they were hiking.

"I was thinking about it when I came out here before, but you picked the perfect place for nature, guys." Adam smiled towards their parents. "It's amazing here."

"Well I wasn't about to move your mother to another big city was I, son?" Their dad laughed, eyes glowing as he looked towards his wife. "I think if she had to paint one more modern day building she was going to stab me with a paintbrush."

Maeve chimed a laugh, linking her arm with her husband. "I would have been tempted."

"Why did the first thing you suggest have to involve so much walking?" Lex sighed, wishing her father had chosen to do this activity alone with Adam. "We could have done the beach first, you know?"

"Have you gotten lazy since I fell, Lex?" Adam smirked, ruffling his sister's hair as she batted his hand away. "Do you not do your morning runs anymore?"

Shrugging, she looked around the clearing they had come across. "My friend Tyler joins me for them, but you thankfully weren't asleep for long."

"Tyler?" He scoffed, his attention now flickering between her and their father. "A boy? You're friends with boys? You let her be friends with boys?"

"Let me?" The redhead scoffed, whacking him on the arm. "What are you talking about? Let me?"

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he looked her in the eyes, his tone mockingly dramatic. "Boys only want one thing, I'm going to have to beat the hell out of him."

"Shut up!" Lex laughed, batting him away from her and carrying on towards her parents. "Tyler is a good guy. Anyway, it's dad you should be talking to, he invited a boy to come round to our house one day."

"What!?" He yelled, his pitch high. "You're meant to be the one to chase the guys away."

Rolling his eyes, their father set up a small camp for them all to sit for a while. "That boy saved her life, Adam. I believe we owe him more than a movie night."

"I still can't believe you tried to jump in front of a car." He scoffed, flicking his sister's ear.

"Ow." She stressed, rubbing the side of my face. "It was for Bella, it wasn't like I was just doing it for kicks."

"Not good enough." He shook his head, setting his bag down and looking over to a gap in the tree line. "I wonder what's through there."

Looking over to where he was, it looked to Lexi like there would be an opening just after. "We should go look."

As they made our way over, they heard their mother call over for them to be careful and stick together. It almost felt like when they were younger, when Adam and Lex would run off to find anything and everything that they could possibly use to get into trouble. Although there was an extra hint of seriousness about it now, knowing what they'd all just been through.

Walking through the opening, they were greeted by the most beautiful scenery that Lexi thinks she'd ever seen in her life.

It was a cliff edge, underneath them just rocks and rubble descending down to the bottom. But in front of them, there was a waterfall, surrounded by greenery and flowers. You could see deer walking around at the bottom, drinking from where the water fell. The rushing water drowned out all other sounds except for the birds chirping as they flew through the air.

"Wow…"

Looking between his sister and the waterfall a few times, Lex heard her brother sigh. But it wasn't a content sigh, it was a sigh that meant he was away to tell her something, something he didn't want to talk about but felt like he had to.

"It was you." He said, not looking at her.

"What was me?" She asked, confused as to what he could possibly mean.

Eyes not leaving the waterfall, he continued. "The reason why I realised that I wasn't awake, that I wasn't just asleep, that I wasn't okay. It was you." He explained, throat tight as he tried to get the words out. "I don't know why, but… I saw you in one of my dreams. You were standing there, crying, telling me how you couldn't make it without me."

Lexi could feel her eyes widening ever so slightly as he continued, her mind racing back to the first few nights after she'd found out that he had been found and brought into the hospital.

"All I could do was promise you that I would make it home to you. I hugged you and for a second you even seemed real. If it wasn't for the situation that I was in, I would have honestly believed that you were standing there right in front of me." He sighed, finally looking towards her, his eyes filled with tears. "I couldn't stand the thought of failing you, Lex. I couldn't leave you."

Wrapping her arms around him tightly, she fought off her own tears at the very thought of that. "You could never fail me. I don't care what you do from now on, you could never fail me. I'm just glad that you're here."

He held his sister back tightly, as though he didn't want to let her go again. As though if he did, he would never be able to hug her again and she would disappear just like she had when he'd been asleep.

"We should get back to mum." Lex sniffled, pulling away and glancing back to where they'd come from. "If we don't she'll get worried. It's been a rough week for her."

-x-x-x-

After the hike, it felt nice for them all to have a family movie night again.

It almost felt as though nothing had happened, as though he had been at home this entire time. He seemed to mould into life again flawlessly, as though he'd never even left. Pepper had even taken to lying on his lap every possible second of the day, which Lex would have been offended by if she hadn't been so inclined to cling to him herself since he got out of hospital.

"I refuse to watch some lovey dovey movie." Adam scoffed as their mother held up a few rom-coms as options.

Laughing, Lex sat down next to him and leant her head on his shoulder. "He's right. You should know by now that you're the only one who likes those sorts of movies."

"Just put a zombie film in and be done with it, dear." Their father chuckled from his chair. "We all know they'll get their way eventually, stubborn as they can be."

Sighing, their mum picked out 28 Days Later from the small bookcase with their little collection. "One of these days you're going to have to let me have one of my movies. I don't care for these at all, we watch this and then we're watching one of my movies."

As she put the DVD in, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Lex smiled, making her way to the front of the house.

"If it's Bella, tell her that I'm offended it's taken her this long to say hi to me!" Adam called through, humour laced through his tone.

The laugh caught in Lexi's throat as she opened the front door.

"Jasper?"

"Hello." He said, almost awkwardly, looking ever so slightly into the house before his eyes returned to her. "I didn't want to intrude, but Carlisle asked me to come and check on you, make sure you were alright after the accident."

"Oh, right." She smiled, shaking her head as she remembered she wasn't the only one with a thoughtful doctor as a father. "I'm fine, looks like you did a great job at saving my life."

Jasper's awkward smile stretched into a fuller grin, as he looked down to the floor. "How truly thankful I am. How is your brother?" He asked, his eyes returning to hers.

"He's alright. He's just happy to be home, I think. He wants to move past it, forget that it happened; he doesn't want us to fuss over him and make him feel like a delicate toddler."

"Who is it, Lex?" Adam asked, coming to stand next to his sister.

"This is Jasper Hale." She introduced, noticing the tense jaw and suspicious eyes of her brother. "We go to school together."

Their father must have overheard the small conversation, suddenly appearing into the hallway beside his children. "Jasper? What are you doing outside? Come on in." He said, grinning widely as he gestured towards the living room.

"What?" Adam asked, his tone higher than normal. "You're just going to invite some guy into the house? You're meant to be the father, scare him off."

"Jasper is the boy who stopped Lex from stepping out in front of that van, the least we can do is invite him in for the movie." Their father scolded him, walking back into the living room.

Adam swiftly went after him, muttering about how she was meant to be grounded and banned from having a boyfriend until she was 30.

"You don't have to come in if you don't want to." Lex told Jasper, shifting awkwardly, knowing that she hoped he would stay. "But you should know that my dad will just keep offering until you finally accept, I said this already. And you technically already agreed to it so…"

He gave a soft chuckle as he entered the house, lips slightly upturned as he grazed past her. "I would love to join your movie night."

As she felt him move past her into the house, she suddenly felt nervous. She couldn't be sure as to why, just that she felt extremely shy at the thought of spending the evening watching movies alongside Jasper and her family. But as the redhead looked up at her classmate, she was instantly calmed by the look in his eyes. He seemed so at peace with the current plan, even if it meant being grilled by her brother about anything and everything.

"What are we watching?" he asked.

Shrugging her shoulders, Lexi started to lead the way to the living room. "28 Days Later and then we'll be forced into a cheesy romance film by my mother."

The following smile that appeared on his face was almost dazzling, raising her heartbeat ever so slightly. "I'll be sure to come up with a believable excuse to leave."

"If you could break me out with you it'd be appreciated." She whispered as they walked into the room together, in awe at the breathy laugh that let out before turning his attention to her father.

"Honey, I'd like you to meet Jasper Hale, Dr Cullen's son." He beamed, introducing Jasper to her mother.

But as Maeve turned around with the bright smile that she welcomed everyone with, her smile dropped along with the bowl of popcorn in her hands. She looked terrified, as though her worst nightmare had just entered their home.

"Mum?" Lex asked, looking between the two of them, noticing how Jasper was suddenly tense, his jaw locked as he held eye contact with the older woman in the room.

She finally let out a breath of what Lex could have sworn was relief, a small embarrassed smile gracing her features.

"My apologies, I don't know what came over me." Maeve said, reaching out a hand in greeting towards the newcomer.

"Are you alright, mum?" Lexi questioned, watching as the pair shook hands.

"Hm?" She mumbled, barely seeming to register what was happening around her. "Sorry, love, just ignore me. Everything is fine, I just had a weird moment there for some reason… I think it's just that kind of week."

Alexis didn't believe her for a second, her mother had the same look in her eyes that she had whenever she thought she'd seen something that wasn't there. The same look Lex had when she was sure she'd seen red eyes, the look she had in her eyes when she looked at herself in the mirror as the gaping wound disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"If you're sure…" Lex trailed off, already deciding that she would question her mother about it later that night.

-x-x-x-

For the duration of the movie, Lex noticed her mother seemed to cheer up a little bit every minute that passed. By the end of the movie she could already tell that Jasper had both of her parent's approval; something she could tell as they kept making hints towards a date or relationship between the two students.

Lex's brother on the other hand, couldn't stop glaring, but she knew it was just because he was being her older brother. They had even seemed to bond over certain things, but Adam refused to budge on being angry that Jasper had been invited into the house.

"I mostly just spend my free time reading." Jasper answered her father's question.

"Reading?" Oliver perked up, edging closer to the end of his seat. "You should see the library that Lex has upstairs, I'm sure she'd let you borrow a few, she has all the classics."

Jasper turned to the redhead next to him with a small smile. "You enjoy old stories?"

"They're more dignified, I find." She answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "He's right though, you can borrow anything you want."

"Why don't you show him, Lex?" Her dad offered, gesturing towards the stairs.

Adam stood up swiftly, looking at their father as though he had completely lost his mind. "You're asking him to take your teenage daughter up to her bedroom."

"Adam." Lex hissed, stressed about what could come out of his mouth next, as though the evening wasn't embarrassing enough with her parents throwing Jasper at her. She understood that she'd been a bit of a recluse throughout her life in Phoenix and all they ever talked about was if future grandchildren were ever possible, but damn.

"I'm sure Lex will follow the open-door rule that you did when you had female friends over, won't you Lex, dear?" Their mother smirked from behind her coffee cup.

Honestly, Lexi would do anything to get out of the situation she'd been put in, so she stood up and motioned for Jasper to follow her to her room, hearing Adam protesting to their parents with every step she took away from the living room.

"I'm sorry about them and everything they've been saying." She apologised as they walked into her bedroom, watching as his eyes scanned the multiple bookshelves. "To be honest, I'd love to have a bigger collection but… Money and space, you know?"

The look he gave her was one of contemplation, although what he was contemplating she hadn't the slightest idea.

"I'm certain I have a good few old books that I never read, you'd be welcome to have them if you wish?" He offered, fingers grazing the spines on the bookshelf next to him.

Slowly lowering herself down to sit on the bed, she shook her head with a laugh. "You don't have to do that, it would be too much. I would love to borrow some though, if you have ones that I don't, that is."

"I think I can arrange that." He smiled, sitting down next to her and glancing towards the door. "Your brother seems quite protective of you."

Placing her head in her hands with a groan, she couldn't believe how Adam had been so openly against her being anywhere near a boy. "I'm so sorry. Honestly, he's never been like that before, I have no idea what has gotten into him."

"So other guys have gotten an easy ride round here? He must sense something more threatening about me." He smirked, as though he knew something more than he was letting on.

Feeling her cheeks heat up, Lex couldn't bring herself to look at the beautiful boy beside her. "To be fair, there haven't really been any other guys before… Nobody has ever really caught my interest, I guess."

After a few moments of silence, she finally managed to meet his gaze. It was one of wonder and curiosity; a look that she'd never seen before, a stare that she couldn't bring herself to look away from. And suddenly a whole new feeling overwhelmed her, the same feeling that she remembered from when her and Jasper had had lunch together a few days prior. He looked perfect to her in this moment, his jawline was sharp, his eyes were like molten gold and she almost thought that he might see her in the same way; perfect.

But the moment they shared was broken as her bedroom door swung wide open.

"Open-door rule." Adam said, glaring at the honey blonde boy sitting on the bed.

"The door was open!" Lex challenged with narrowed eyes at her ridiculous brother. "I was following the rule just like mum said."

His glare turned to his little sister as he deadpanned "It was only ajar."

Scoffing, she threw one of her many pillows at him. "Get out of here!"

He sent one final glare in Jasper's direction as he headed towards his own room, leaving his own door open slightly so he could hear what was happening upstairs.

Sighing, Lex stood up from the bed, feeling it was safer for Jasper to leave before she could be embarrassed any further. "Feel free to borrow any of the books you see before you go, I think I should probably get some sleep soon."

"Of course." Jasper said quickly, clearing his throat as he rose up from the bed himself. "Carlisle will be wondering where I am soon and I left my phone at home."

"Right."

He picked up one of the books on the shelf, before turning to look at her awkwardly, finding it hard to find the words he wanted to say. "About Edward… I wanted to know if you're alright, if he's ever offended you in any way or… Freaked you out with how he's acted."

"Trust me," Lex sighed, fiddling with her fingers. "I've had to deal with a lot of weird things recently, he's nothing."

Jasper looked as though he wanted to ask her more questions but obviously thought better of it, silently nodding at her with a polite smile instead as they made their way to the front door to say goodbye.

-x-x-x-

"Mum?" Alexis asked in a hushed tone later that night as she entered the living room. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course, you can, love. What's the matter?" She replied, placing the book she'd been reading on the table next to her, eyes filled with curiosity as if she knew what was coming.

The young girl figured now would be the best time to ask her about what had been plaguing her mind since they'd arrived in Forks, Washington not that long ago. If she kept it to herself much longer then she didn't know how she'd turn out, how her mind would handle the constant questions she was asking herself.

"Do you ever..?" Lex trailed off, wondering if asking her about this was a smart decision, or if it was going to be the final nail in the coffin that she had lost her mind. "Do you ever see things that aren't really there?"

A spark of recognition was clear in her mother's eyes as she shifted in what appeared to be excitement; not exactly the reaction Lexi had been expecting.

Leaning in closer to her daughter, Maeve whispered her question. "What kind of things do you mean, love?"

"I don't know…" the younger redhead sighed, watching her fingers as she fidgeted with the pillow in her lap. "Small things, like, a person suddenly having different coloured eyes to what they usually have or… Or marks on you that aren't actually there."

Her mother gave a quick cautionary glance over her shoulder to check if the coast was clear before turning back to her, her voice still a whisper. "Meet me in your bedroom in 10 minutes, I think it's finally time that you and I have a conversation."

-x-x-x-

A/N: Swear to God I'm going to get through these chapters that I've been rewriting and keep up to date with this damn fic if it kills me.

Thanks for reading!

~fawningfantasy x