A/N Twilight and all characters belong to SM. More details are revealed in this chapter.

Chapter 5

Bella

Hopefully, Tim, the physical therapist, didn't notice my disappointment when he came inside my room to do a new therapy evaluation. Speech and occupational therapy finished new assessments and set goals for my recovery. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I looked forward to talking to Jacob more. My thoughts felt sorted out, finally. Tim informed me that Jake was an assistant therapist and couldn't do these re-evaluations, but I'd be on his schedule tomorrow. I look forward to our next session, since I'm more normal.

When I first woke up from the coma, I struggled to say the right things in the correct sequence. It was so frustrating, and I sounded stupid. Dad calmed me down several times with his encouraging words, while Mom had the opposite effect. She was all over the place. One minute, she fussed over me like I was an invalid. A meltdown would follow that something was right with me, and I should be better after this many days. Then she'd fight with Charlie that I needed to go to a big city hospital. Renee cried at my bedside a few times, but mostly she laughed about how silly I sounded when I spoke of my dream life. I don't remember her being so irrational. However, I can no longer trust my memories. Mom called it a dream life. It might be, but not how she meant it. My existence with Edward was the perfect fantasy fulfilled. I still believed all the things I remembered truly happened. Whatever I was experiencing now was just a glitch. Jacob was the key to my mystery because he was the same. Maybe. Except he and I weren't best friends. Jacob acted familiar, but after barely getting through my first therapy session with him, I sensed his comfort level comes from a medical perspective and it wasn't personal.

Jake and I were so close within my deep memories. It wasn't even that long ago. Thinking back to my pregnancy, I only thrived against his warmth. Again, the idea of my daughter caused conflicting emotions. Renesmee was a beautiful child, and I missed her. That's how a mother should feel, but at the same time imagining that she wasn't real gave me a sense of relief, which just made me experience overwhelming guilt. If Edward read these contradictory thoughts, I would crush him. We went through so much together to keep Renesmee and ensure her survival.

Again, my thoughts reminded me that my husband was nowhere near me. Tim snapped me out of my latest stupor. "Come on, Bella. I need you to give me just a few more minutes. Hold the bar and pull. You can do it."

He predicted I could pull myself up with an overhead bar by myself by the end of the week. Sitting up drained me of all my strength. Thinking back to my immortal self, I couldn't believe this meager accomplishment would be so fulfilling. But it was. I made it upright with barely an assist.

My favorite nurse, Kip, clapped. "Way to go, Bella!"

Tim congratulated me, too, "Great job. It's up to you if you want to try one more thing, but I'll help a lot more to get you to standing with the walker."

My body protested. I wasn't sure I had any strength left, but I needed to prove something to myself and maybe to Jacob. He barely saw me do more than flop on the bed after he did all the work to get me sitting up. Every muscle in my body quaked while Tim and Kip supported me at the walker, but I had made it to my own two feet. I accepted it might be only five percent me and ninety-five percent them, but those few seconds felt so empowering.

It wasn't until the therapist left when I snuggled under the covers again that I reminisced about my first hunt. In my mind, the hunt had been the most exhilarating moment of my existence. Clumsy Bella was a stealth and powerful predator. The Cullens celebrated with me then, but it wasn't the same as today.

I'd taken a life when I killed the mountain lion, but learning to stand again, I regained a sense of my humanity. Becoming a vampire alongside Edward was my rebirth, but was it possible a human could also make transformations that were just as significant while still staying alive? The back-and-forth of my past life compared to my current state gave me too much to consider. My head and body both ached from mental and physical exhaustion. Surely, the glitch I'd entered was only temporary. I don't know why I'm experiencing this new life, but I was determined to make the most of my situation. I wanted to get stronger so I could leave this rehabilitation hospital. According to everyone, I'm twenty-one now. Bella Cullen stopped aging at eighteen.

Maybe my alternate existence is a unique gift. I get to see what a changed reality would be like. I'm going to try my hardest to learn from this experience. When I get back to where I'm supposed to be, hopefully, I will be better somehow.

Now that I'd mastered a few basic human milestones again, I decided to ask my parents for a phone. Remembering that I received the latest cellular device on the market just before my wedding, I assumed even more advanced technology existed a few years into the future. Just because I accept getting stuck here for the time being didn't mean I won't research every possible way out. Perhaps I could locate the family I married into and call them. Mom and Charlie didn't get my preoccupation with the Cullens, since I'd only gone to school with them for a short time. The only information my father gave me was that Carlisle moved the family out of state for a better job opportunity. He seemed uncomfortable discussing Edward with me at all since I'd blurted out that he's my husband. Given what I know about my current reality, the declaration causes recurring embarrassment. My face flushes each time I remember telling my parents about my dreams.

My parents are still my parents, of course, in any reality, but I keep thinking they've held vital information from me. Mom changes the subject each time I ask about Phil. Dad appears way older than I recollect, and three years should not make such a difference. My long-term coma caused stress. I still feel isolated from the world outside, and I wasn't sure why we didn't discuss how everything in my parents' life was going.

Dad came into my room dressed in his uniform for the first time. He congratulated me on my current posture. "Wow, Bells. You're sitting up so well. The nurse gave me an earful about your progress in all your therapy sessions over the past couple of days. Has Jake been by already?"

Answering, I recognized my authentic voice and that I no longer stammered over forgotten words. "No, it was Tim, the PT director. Jacob will be here next time to go over our new routine." Pointing to his attire, I said, "I'm so happy to see you wearing the badge. I was worried you'd quit for me."

Dad cleared his throat and grimaced. "Nope, no chance of that. I've still got to pay the bills. Um, I even do a little security work on the side for extra money when I can."

"Really? Why?" I asked, but immediately worried that was most definitely because of me. Medical bills were expensive. My poor father. He never lived extravagantly. I could have sworn he told me his house was fully paid off when I got to Forks. The police work in a small town wasn't dangerous, but the force was so small, my father was on call constantly. He didn't have time for a part-time job on top of his regular job. Then there was the fact he was always here checking on me. My nurses admitted he was the most dedicated parent they'd ever witnessed. He didn't just start stopping by because I woke up.

"Don't worry about it, honey. You save all your energy for your recovery. I'm doing okay," he assured me. I stretched my arm out to motion for Dad to come closer. He approached my bed, and I grasped his hand. I squeezed, and he smiled. "Getting a lot stronger. It's all worth it to see these improvements in such a short time, Bells."

"Is it the medical bills?" I asked.

"No, so don't you start feeling guilty. It never made sense to me, but the facility's business department claims some charitable grant covers all your bills. That's one of the reasons why I've always insisted to your mother that this is where you need to be."

Realizing that my father didn't have to pay for my care was a relief, but confusing. It was an odd addition to my growing list of mysterious occurrences. "Why do you work so much, then?"

Charlie was honest. "Well, to tell you the truth, it's your mother. She hasn't wanted me to say anything yet, but she's on her own again. She has been almost since the start of all this."

"What about Phil?" I asked.

He frowned. "I think she found out about six weeks after your first surgery when you were still in Seattle that Phil had a girlfriend."

"Oh no. What a lowlife. I can't believe Phil. I trusted him, and he made Mom so happy." Her personality change hadn't been my imagination.

"Yes, we all did. Renee was already fragile because of you, but she fell apart after the truth came out. He filed for divorce. Your mom got little in the divorce settlement. It was then she admitted Phil had her sign a solid prenup. His family had money, which was another thing Renee had kept to herself. She had a mental breakdown soon after. She hasn't been able to work anymore. I helped her get some government benefits, so she has something, but I help her financially. It's important that she lives close to you. That's why extra money is necessary. Plus, I never knew when you might get to come home, and I thought a downstairs bedroom would be more ideal. I took out a home improvement loan and did some essential remodeling. It's all going to work out fine, Bells. Like I said, witnessing you wake up, and on your way to good health, is all that matters."

I felt bad for Mom and now her behavior made a little more sense. She had always been scatterbrained, but she seemed more irrational to me now. I thought it was my hazy brain causing me problems understanding her, but it is more than that. Maybe I could stop being so annoyed with her and try to help. She left Dad a long time ago, and it wasn't his responsibility to take care of her. I'm still relieved Charlie Swan is such a good man. We didn't deserve him.

After this enlightening conversation, I decided it was not fair to ask Charlie for a cell phone. Information on Edward would have to wait. Maybe if I kept getting better, I could visit a library. That would be a free resource to look up information on the Cullens and possibly my predicament of being thrown off my genuine life's course. I needed to figure out what to call my situation exactly because I still wasn't sure. There wasn't a supernatural handbook, which would come in handy.

I'm ninety-nine percent certain that I still have one supernatural contact nearby. I asked my father a few more questions about Jacob Black. "My memories are still foggy, but Jacob is younger than me. How did he get so far in life at such a young age?"

"I'm not sure, Bells, but that kid has the best work ethic I've ever witnessed. I worry about him sometimes. He never stops. You wouldn't believe how much he's accomplished in the past few years. Billy even has him involved in tribal leadership roles. I've told him many times, he needs to take a day off, ask a pretty girl out, and enjoy his youth for once."

An uncomfortable twinge ran up my spine when Dad mentioned encouraging Jacob to date. Maybe I'd been sitting upright too long and needed to rest. Hearing about the tribal role further convinced me there was a pack and if that was true then vampires were indeed still real in this reality. That meant I could find Edward and he could fix all this for us.

I wanted to understand more about Jacob's job and things that would prove he's linked to the supernatural, but my limited rational brain forced me to ask an embarrassing question. "So, Jacob is single?"

Charlie's smile widened and his mustache twitched. "Come on, Bells. Not you too?"

"Me too, what?" An added emphasis on what wasn't my intention.

"All the female staff has a crush on Jacob, which is what makes his confirmed bachelor status so unbelievable. I used to accept his passion for finishing the dual credits and then the college courses as an excuse, but he's been taking a break from school for months after obtaining his associate degree. If I'm being honest, Billy and I used to joke about doing some matchmaking when you both were old enough. But everything happened to you, and Jake was still a teen then. You're both grown up now. So much has changed while you've been frozen in time. Anyway, I'm just rambling. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Let's get you fully healed first and discharged, but I'm confident Jacob will be a friend throughout the entire process. He's put a lot of care into your passive exercises, and he takes his job seriously. Not everyone puts so much heart into their career like he does."

What he said finally clicked inside my feeble brain. I argued, "Dad, I'm not trying to date Jacob Black. He works here, and he's too young for me. I'm already ma… I mean, I need to focus on my health." Married had been on the tip of my tongue, but I wouldn't blurt that out again until I was back with Edward.

Dad stretched his neck a few times, either from obvious fatigue or to release tension over this strange conversation. "Of course, Bells. I told you I was just thinking out loud. It's just when you asked about Jake, your eyes brightened, and you seem happier. When you first woke up, we were ecstatic, but you looked so sad. I was worried it would take a lot more than consciousness to bring back the Bella we all know and love."

Remembering those first few days, I sighed. Chatting with my father like old times was sweet nostalgia, but I still missed Edward terribly. If my heart stopped beating so many months ago, why does it feel so conflicted now? Humans suffered too many frailties, and I'd been so happy to rid myself of them.

This deep ache inside my chest reminded me exactly how human I am, despite my memories. My curiosity piqued as well. As much as I wanted to return to Edward, that undertaking could wait. It wasn't like he was going anywhere since he's immortal. I had to get to know Jacob Black all over again. Something or someone created this mysterious portal, and it certainly wasn't my choice. But now it's my mission to figure out the intentions behind it. I also had to help my parents because they were each in a different type of turmoil. That must be it. People's lives are out of balance, and I might be able to help. After all, I'd existed in two unique realities.

~Thanks for reading.

This pacing is sort of slow in the beginning, but I tried to imagine how confusing this situation would be for Bella. Obviously, the revelations and understanding would take some time to sink in on top all the limitations her body is undergoing. Jacob is back in the next chapter!