Seattle General - Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but I'm grateful to Stephenie Meyer for her dream. Please don't steal my original work.

Alice POV

I still had my eyes closed as I could feel my handsome husband stirring next to me in bed. It was the beginning of another year – a year of promise when we would welcome our first child. We were both incredibly excited about it. Jasper never failed to kiss my belly every morning and say “good morning” to our growing baby – even though I wasn’t showing yet. It was incredibly sweet and brought tears to my eyes every time he did it.

I could feel his hands moving down my arms next and rubbing gently over my stomach. He was always so gentle with me. “Good morning, my love, and happy new year,” he crooned. I opened one eye and looked at him. I leaned over to kiss him. Our kiss deepened just as his cell phone rang. “Damn,” he growled. He looked at his phone. “It’s Edward,” he said.

As Jasper took the call from his best friend, I got out of bed and dressed in some yoga pants and a tank top. I needed to make breakfast before we decided what to do today. Jasper seemed to be doing a lot of listening, only interjecting intermittently with a few “yes” and “uh huh” responses. Then he ended the call with, “Edward, we will find out everything we can and get back with you as soon as possible.”

As I went about making French toast and bacon, Jasper joined me in the kitchen. “Honey,” he started, “we need to help Edward.”

“OK, with what?” I wondered aloud.

Jasper explained, “Here’s the deal. Apparently some woman showed up last night to the ER, claiming she was the mother of Edward’s child. She, her boyfriend, and the little girl were involved in some horrific car crash and she’s not doing well. The little girl is fine. The boyfriend has a broken arm, I think.”

I gasped in shock. Then Jasper came to hold me. “There’s more. Bella was at the hospital when all this went down. Edward brought her with him as he thought if someone was around to take care of any kids involved, that would keep them out of the doctors’ way. She found out about the daughter and she left. Edward can’t get ahold of her. Her phone goes straight to voice mail. He’s still at the hospital and is freaking out about Bella and about the daughter.”

Tears were freely flowing down my cheeks then as Jasper rushed to brush them away. I choked out, “We have to help them, Jazz. They were meant to be together.”

“I know,” he said soothingly as he held me. “That’s why, after breakfast, I’d like you to go to Bella’s apartment and see if she’s there and just not answering the phone or what the deal is. I’m going to go to the hospital and see about Edward. I’m also going to insist on some DNA testing in case this is just some crazy woman trying to get him to pay for her daughter.”

We finished breakfast and went our separate ways. I drove immediately to Bella’s apartment. She had given me an extra key when she first moved in, in case of emergency, since she was a single girl. Nothing appeared to be out of order, although it looked as though she had taken a small suitcase and some clothes. She’d likely run to Charlie’s. I was praying that’s what she did. I dialed his number on my cell phone.

Charlie picked up on the third ring and said roughly, “Hello?”

I said, “Hi Charlie. It’s Alice.”

“Oh, hi Alice,” he said, suddenly wary.

“I’m just calling to check on Bella. She probably doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”

He said, “Yes, she’s here, but she’s asleep. Do you want me to tell her you called?”

I thought about that a moment. “No, that’s all right. I just wanted to make sure she was ok. I hope you have a nice new year, Charlie.”

“You too, Alice. Always a pleasure,” he said as he hung up the phone.

I called Jasper right away and let him know Bella was indeed at Charlie’s. He asked me to come to the hospital then. I said I’d be there right away.

As I was getting ready to walk out the door of Bella’s apartment, something caught my eye on her kitchen counter. I walked over to see it more closely. It was her engagement ring. There was an immediate pang in my heart. Bella must be so hurt. I picked up her ring and put it in my wallet for safekeeping. It would not do for Edward to come to her apartment to pick up something of his and find her ring here. It would absolutely crush him. Whenever I talked to Bella, I’d let her know I had it.

When I arrived at the hospital, I texted Jasper. He called me back and asked me to come to Carlisle’s office. As I stepped in the door, my lovely husband had his arm around a red-eyed Edward. The poor soul looked like he’d had a very restless or sleepless night and had been crying.

I went to him immediately and sat beside him. I took his hand in mine. He just kept mumbling over and over, “She’s gone, she’s gone. My whole life is gone.” I was going to have to get a grip on myself to keep it together or I’d be crying right along with him.

Jasper reported that Victoria, Edward’s supposed daughter, had gone home with Mike Newton, Jessica Stanley’s boyfriend, for the remainder of the night since there was not a place they could stay at the hospital. They should be coming back in soon with the legal paperwork showing that Edward had right-of-survivorship custody. Jasper was going to perform surgery on Jessica to see if he could repair any of the internal damage from the car accident and save her life. Edward wanted to delay the surgery until Victoria got back so she could see her mother again – in case anything happened during surgery.

Presently, a blond-haired man entered the office with a beautiful bronze-haired little girl. Edward brightened marginally at the sight of the girl. “Alice and Jasper,” he said, “this is my daughter, Victoria, and this is Jessica’s boyfriend, Mike Newton.” I greeted them as Victoria came to stand next to Edward. She looked exactly like him, only in diminutive feminine form.

Victoria looked confused and asked, “Where’s Bella?”

Edward looked pained and said, “I don’t know. Let’s take you up to see your mother.” With that, they left the office with Jasper. The blonde-haired man and I were left alone.

“Hello,” I started, “I’m Alice Whitlock. Jasper is my husband.”

The man said, “Hi. I’m Mike Newton. I’m Jessica’s boyfriend. We’ve been living together for about six months. I’m not really the fatherly type. Don’t get me wrong – I like Victoria. But I’m not her father. If Jess makes it through this surgery, I think Victoria needs to have a relationship with her father.”

“I totally agree,” I said. We followed the group to the ICU so Mike could see Jessica. I didn’t go in the room as I wasn’t family. I stayed out in the waiting room and thumbed nervously through some magazines. I really wanted to call Bella, but I wanted to give her some space to figure out what she wanted to do.

Jasper came out soon enough and kissed me. He said as he thrust a foil-wrapped tablet into my hand, “I’m going to prep for surgery. Take Edward home and give him this tablet to make sure he sleeps. You can decide what to do with Victoria. If you want to take her to the mall or something to entertain her, that’s fine. We can’t have her sitting in the hospital all day, worrying about her mother. Mike’s going to go back home as well. I’ll do what I can for Jessica, but things don’t look very good.”

I gave him a comforting hug as Edward came to stand with us. I told Edward we would drop him off at his house, then I’d take Victoria to the mall for some diversion. The drive to Edward’s apartment was quiet after Mike installed her car seat into the back seat of my car. We both took him up to his apartment.

I made Edward take the tablet Jasper had given me earlier, knowing it would at least make him sleep. I also knew it wouldn’t do anything to lessen the ache in his heart. He picked Victoria up and gave her a little hug and told her he’d see her later. He picked me up in a hug as well and said, “Alice, please – convince her to come back home. She’s my life. I need her like I need air to breathe.” I whispered in his ear that I would do what I could and we left Edward’s.

Victoria and I hit the mall after that and had a very good time. She was very easy to get to know. She told me her mother had always told her about her father and that someday she’d meet him and get to know him. I told her I was going to have a baby and she was very excited about that. She decided if she got to spend more time with her daddy, she wanted to spend more time with me as well and the new baby. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

I tried not to go too crazy, but I did buy her a couple of outfits. I couldn’t resist! Victoria was an absolute doll! I snapped some pictures of her modeling her new outfits with the camera on my cell phone.

Victoria and I were eating lunch at McDonald’s at the mall when my cell phone rang. It was Jasper. His voice was full of pain. “I wasn’t able to save her, honey. I tried my damndest. I just got off the phone with Mike and he’s on his way. Would you like to bring Victoria back to the hospital and I’ll try to explain things to her?”

“Yes,” I replied, “we’ll be there in a bit.” Then I ended the call.

Victoria’s eyes were immediately on mine. “Was that the nice doctor?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied quietly.

“Did something bad happen to my mommy?”

There was no point in lying to her, even if Jasper was going to explain everything once we arrived at the hospital. “Yes,” I said again.

Big tears filled her eyes and she began crying. I came over to her side of the table and scooped her up to sit her in my lap. Her arms went around my neck. She choked out a small, “I’ll miss her.”

I patted her back and said, “I know you will, sweetie.” I let her continue to cry until her tears stopped.

Soon, she looked up at me and said, “Alice, I’m ready to go now.” I looked down at her, gave her a hug, took her hand, and we left the mall to drive back to the hospital.

We found Jasper and Mike soon enough. Mike picked Victoria up and cuddled her as he worked through his own grief. Jasper explained things in simple enough terms to Victoria. When he was finished, she looked at him and said, “So, does this mean I’m going to live with my daddy now?”

Jasper said, looking at Mike, “Well, Mike – what is your feeling on this?”

Mike looked down at Victoria and said, “You know I like you, Victoria. But you should be with your father.”

Victoria said in a small voice, “I know. It will be ok.” Then she reached out and patted Mike’s hand. This beautiful 5-year-old was comforting the adult!

Mike gave his cell phone number to Jasper so that we could coordinate the moving of Victoria’s things to Edward’s apartment later. Mike left to go deal with some final arrangements for Jessica. I stood there with Jasper. “What happens now?” I asked.

“We’ll give Edward a couple more hours to sleep, then we’ll go by and help him reorganize his apartment to accommodate his lovely daughter,” Jasper said, as he smiled down at Victoria.

* * *

It had been a very rushed few days. We helped Edward move Victoria’s things from Mike and Jessica’s apartment to Edward’s. He moved his office out into his living room to make room for her. They didn’t let me lift anything, but they did let me organize things. Sheesh – I’m glad they could find the good sense God gave a goat! She didn’t have a ton of things, but with her bed, a dresser, and a lot of toys, her room was definitely very girly – which brought a different look to a room of Edward’s apartment.

Edward tried not to show how devastated he was that Bella wasn’t around, but I knew him too well. He wanted her to be here, sharing all this with him. I hugged him as often as I could, but I knew it wasn’t the same for him.

Edward decided to keep Victoria enrolled in the same kindergarten she was already enrolled in. It was a little bit out of the way, but she already had friends there. It would be easier to move her to a different school district once she entered first grade.

Watching Edward and Victoria interact truly warmed my heart. They were precious together. He may not know everything about being a father, but he was learning. Victoria wasn’t shy about telling him what she liked for breakfast (cereal or French toast or pancakes) or baths (lots of bubbles!), so they were getting along pretty well. Mike had given us two shoeboxes full of photos of Victoria growing up. I put those safely in Edward’s closet. I knew Bella would scrapbook those later. And that was my next course of action.

* * *

By Wednesday morning, I hadn’t heard a peep from Bella. I decided I’d had enough. I told Jasper where I was going, but I didn’t tell Edward. If I failed at my task, I didn’t want him to know. It was Forks or bust for me.

As I pulled up outside Charlie and Sue’s house, Bella came running out the door, headed straight for me. “Alice!” she exclaimed.

I looked at her before I put my arms around her to hug her. She looked exactly like Edward had – that same red-eyed haunted look – like she’d lost her reason for living. I may be small and pregnant, but I wasn’t above kicking her ass if I needed to. “Bella! What the hell?” I said, not so subtly.

“Oh Alice,” Bella wailed, “I’ve been an absolute fool. I ran out of that hospital room like a total idiot. I totally freaked out.”

“I’ll say,” I agreed.

Bella ushered me into the house where we sat on the couch. She looked at me, uncertain. “So, how is he?”

“How do you think he is?” I snapped.

“I know how I am and I’m miserable,” she confessed.

“Bella,” I said, “you know I love you. But this isn’t about you. This is about being there for Edward and his daughter. You’re his whole life. The man can barely function. He’s beyond miserable.”

Bella began crying, like I suspected she’d been doing a lot of. “I’ve let him down so much. Will he ever let me back in his life?”

I went over to hug her and said, “I think Edward will definitely forgive you, sweetie. You just need to ask.” I opened my wallet then and handed her the engagement ring back. That brought on a fresh round of crying, although she did put it back on her finger quickly, right where it belonged.

I spent the rest of the day and the night with Bella, Charlie and Sue. We had a nice time catching up. It had been a long while since I’d been to Forks, so it was good to see them.

BPOV

Before going to sleep for the night next to Alice, I thought about the last time I spent the night in my old bed with someone else – with Edward. I missed him so much. I pulled out my cell phone and sent a text:

I miss you. – B

Not more than two minutes passed before I received a reply:

I miss you too baby. I love you. Please come back to me. – E

This set off another bout of tears and it was impossible for me to respond. As I set my cell phone on my nightstand and snuggled in next to Alice, I knew what I had to do.