As Dreams Are Made On

Chapter 11: Mending

Alice stood up straight, staring at me. "Cassandra. It's your name. You remember, don't you? Where you came from? Cass, you remember where you came from, right?"

"I...I don't..." The smile faded from my lips as I searched my memory. "I remember I'm not from...here. I'm from a world where this is all fiction. I have another life. I have two cats, one of them is just a kitten. I have other parents...I can't...I can't remember their faces. Alice, I can't remember them. My name there was Cassandra? I don't – that doesn't feel – what's happening to me!"

Panic rose in my gut, and Alice quickly wrapped her other hand around mine, squeezing gently. "It's okay. It's all right," she insisted, gently but firmly. "Carlisle's going to figure this out. We're all going to figure this out together."

"It's not okay! This is – this is what happened to my mom, and I can't even remember what she looked like, Alice!" I fired back, staring at her with wide, frantic eyes. "Even my name, even the way you say my name doesn't feel familiar."

"Then I'll call you Bella until we fix this," Alice returned, leaning in, her face close to mine. "Do you still feel like Bella's right?"

"Not...right, exactly...it'll work," I said, nodding slowly. Tears were dripping down my cheeks. "I'm scared, Alice. I can't lose myself. What happened with my mother was so terrible. I can't go through that, I can't put you through that."

"You won't. You just can't use your power. Okay? No matter what, you can't use it," Alice told me. She leaned closer still, her hard, cold lips brushing my forehead. "I love you. I'm going to stay with you no matter what, Bella. My sweet, precious, beautiful Bella. It's going to be all right, because we're going to find a way to make it all right. Okay?"

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat, my mind still racing. There was a way to fix this, of course, to make sure it never happened again. A way for me to use my power safely. But before I could frame the question, Charlie came back in.

"Dr. Cullen's on his...oh. Uh." He took in Alice leaning over my bed and his face reddened.

"Sorry, Chief Swan, I was just consoling Bella," Alice told him, moving back into a standing position and giving him a gentle smile.

I tried to give him a wan smile through my tears, reaching up to wipe at my face. "Yeah, dad. I'm just kind of freaked out."

"Of course. Of course," Charlie said, running a hand through his hair. "Look, girls, is there something you want to tell me?"

I glanced at Alice, who was staring back at me, ready to follow my lead. Squeezing her hand, I looked back at Charlie and smiled, a little more genuinely this time. "Alice and I are dating, dad. Or...we have our first official date this Friday. Assuming..."

I let my voice trail off, my smile faltering. Charlie looked back at me, then away, letting out a long breath. Then he walked back to my bedside, putting his hand on my arm. "Yeah. I know, kid," he said gruffly. "Assuming. We're going to have to talk about some ground rules, though."

His gaze flicked to Alice, who smiled weakly. "Of course, Chief."

Dr. Cullen arrived then, knocking on the door frame as he stepped in. He was smiling kindly, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, which were as full of concern as Alice's or Charlie's. "Hello, Bella. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got knocked into a coma and came out feeling kind of numb – how long was I out for, anyway?" I asked, glancing at Charlie and Alice.

Charlie gave me a grim frown. "Five hours, Bells. It's nine o'clock."