Disclaimer

Twilight and all affiliated characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I do not own any of the aforementioned characters except Beth and the plot of this story (that is, should it stray from the original Twilight). This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official storyline. I am not in any way, shape, or form benefiting financially from the publishing of this story on this site and am very grateful for Mrs. Meyer's creation. Besides, if I did own Twilight, I'd have given Ashley Greene a big ass hug.

As the quiet night blended into the early morning, the grey of the clouds lightened to an almost white before they opened up and let loose a torrent of rain, further cooling Beth from her perch beside the big window. The window seat was rather comfortable, her upper body coated in one of the many sweaters she made before the trip from Phoenix. The orange glow from Beth's bedside lamp created a soft air that encapsulated her feeling as the sun, she guaranteed, rose behind the cloud cover. She breathed in deeply, feeling more at peace than she has since she died. It was moments like this that made her believe that death wouldn't have been as peaceful as she thought and hoped. Regardless, her life was real, the alarm clock that was bound to go off at any second now was real, the cool glass that her covered arm was squished against was real, the pages beneath her fingers were real. All of it was real. And that was what she had to accept. She had to try to find peace in what was.

Movement below caught her eye, it was her dad just shrugging on his outer layer as he opened the cruiser. He paused just at the door and caught her staring. Beth smiled, hand waving slightly so he could see. Charlie waved back, shivering slightly from the cold and rain. The cruiser was out of view within seconds.

Sighing, Beth reluctantly rose from her spot, the cool hardwood under her feet only bothering her just slightly as she walked over to unplug her alarm before it could destroy the stillness of the morning. Stretching, she bookmarked her spot and gave the book a kiss before placing it on her bedside, resolving to come home later and finish the book once and for all. She didn't dare bring it out into the rain again. Yesterday was an exception, today would be pushing it. Besides, it wasn't even hers, to begin with.

In fact, the owner of said book still laid sleeping in her own room. She was, in fact, sleeping when Beth went to open her door. She smiled at the chaotic visage her twin appeared to be. The rats' nests of her brown locks were everywhere, it seemed, and one arm hung off the bed while her legs spread starfish from bedside to bedside.

Sitting quietly, Elizabeth carefully removed Bella's hair from her face, tucking it behind one ear as gently as she could. Now, her sister looked at peace, the same kind of peace that Beth had just exited, but still, contentment remained. From this spot, Elizabeth was reminded of another face from another life, one life that was taken too soon. Phantom pain flashed across the woman's face briefly, before she forced the thought away. She wasn't Genevieve anymore. She was Elizabeth Swan. And this wasn't who she thought it was. It was her twin, Isabella Swan.

"Bella," She called out softly, the back of her hand brushing against her cheek. "Wake up, Bells."

"Mom," Bella shifted, and Elizabeth's chest tightened.

"Come on, Bella." She shifted her twin a bit more urgently, but still gently. Bella groaned, before ever so slowly inching her way up onto her elbows.

"What time is it?"

Elizabeth rolled her brown irises backward with fondness, "time to get up, sleepy."

Her twin groaned, flopping back down face first and burying her head into her pillows. Beth shook her head, before getting up, "I'll come back when I'm out of the shower again, Bella! You better be up!"

Another groan was all she got in response before Bella's bedroom door swung closed of its own accord.

A feeling, quite similar to yesterday, pestering and unrelenting down her back arises when she is having a shower. It does not go away, destroying every shred of contentment that her morning brought her just before. It stays with her when she jumps out of the shower and remains when she has to wake Bella up once more. It doesn't go away when she and Bella go downstairs to eat breakfast or when they're in the truck going to school. In fact, it gets worse. It puts Beth into an admittedly sour mood, but Bella makes no mention of the change as they drive in. Of course, this could also be because of her own contempt for the ice, just like yesterday, that had formed from the unforgiving weather and persistent rainfall.

Regardless, it is silent between the two as Bella gets out of the truck, one hand steadying her as she moves toward the cream Sedan where Angela, Jessica & Ben are standing against, waiting for her or them, it seemed. From across the lot, Bella catches a glimpse of Eric and Mike joking around by his car and throws a look back to her twin who is still exiting the truck.

Beth grunts as she slips on the footstep of the door of the truck, backpack hooking onto the door latch which is surprisingly sharp. Beth doesn't notice, however, eyes catching Penny boy's from across the lot, standing by his family who look particularly grim, but that isn't very different from how they usually look.

The feeling deepens, and Beth finds herself breaking eye contact far quicker than her pride would normally allow, as she adjusts the bag strap that had slid down her shoulder. She shrugs it on roughly, but the strap is hooked and when she can't see what is holding it back, she tugs on it with more force and almost smiles with relief when she feels it give. But the sound that stops her from doing so is the sharp sound of fabric tearing.

"Fuck." She curses quietly, looking back to see that her bag is indeed torn by the strap and the contents of her bag are now exposed to the rain dripping from the top of the cab. She turns, carefully peeling the ruined bag from her shoulder, she rests it on the broken vinyl seat as she assesses the damage. Her back is turned to the rest of the parking lot, so she doesn't see Tyler Crowly turning into the school with speed. And she definitely didn't see the way his tires caught the ice but she most assuredly heard the almighty screech as the brakes are pressed harshly. She barely turns, surprise and confusion plain on her face before she is quite literally tackled to the side from something extremely...HARD.

Her head cracks against the concrete painfully and that is all she registers in her shock as her body is suddenly on the ground and squished between the truck and something else that she doesn't know. The sounds grow louder and there is a resounding bang as what she assumes was a car finally comes to a stop at where she thinks the tail end of her truck is. She breathes heavily, head aching from the concrete before her eyes are opening again and a bright, paleness of a neck greets her eyes. Her brown eyes travel along the neck, over the chiseled jawline, the lips of her classmate-! Edward Cullen looks down at her with barely concealed concern, the most prevalent emotion being relief? On his stupid face. Dear God, her head hurt! His lips moved, but strangely no sound was heard by Beth, her eyes getting blurry as the tears from the stinging sensation on her left temple increased as though someone was touching it or prodding at it.

"What-?" She asked dazedly, finally seeing Tyler's familiar blue mini-van just to her left. Edward and she are squished together, the truck, her truck just behind him. The small crack of light that she registers is soon filled with faces that she recognizes as people from school. She blacks out from the pain for a moment, darkness blissful as her neck slackens in the hold of the one and only Penny boy. She briefly remembers the panicked look on his face that almost makes her laugh in her delirium. Next, she sees Bella, red-faced and crocodile tears streaming down her face faster than the rain falling and then the lights from an Ambulance finally turning into school.

That is all she remembers before she wakes up, neck aching uncomfortably and nearly panicking when she can't inhale fully. Her fingers grab onto the thing, the itchy thing around her neck- a neck brace she deduces, for trauma and ER patients, she remembers. Irritated and frantic, beeping on her right side from where she is lying down increases to a worrying speed as her fingers finally pry the itchy velcro away from her neck. And there, she throws the offending thing as far away as she can, her other hand catching onto the same itchy fabric she knew all too well. For a moment, she was in that moment, seventeen years ago just before she died.

"Oh! You're awake." A voice from her left says before an arm reaches overhead (god that hurt!) to press a button. "I'll just be a moment, Ms. Swan." Oh, she was Elizabeth. Right.

Elizabeth barely registers the person, the nurse, she assumes, leaves the room before her shaking hands come to cover her face as she tries to process- tries to remember just how she got here. She got to school. Her bag tore. Tyler's Van crashed into her and someone- who was it? Pulled her away. Her mind screamed the name of her lab partner, Edward! It was Penny that popped up in her mind's eye when she thought of the person that had saved her. Pushed her out of the way But that couldn't be right. He had been across the lot, hadn't he? Her nose was itching.

Easing herself up, she registered the different aches she felt. Particularly in her shoulders, head, and pretty much the entire right side of her body hurt so bad. She knew she'd feel that later.

Placing her aching head in her hands, the shaking had barely stopped. It was almost a vibration at that point. Swallowing, she took three deep breaths, and slowly, it eased.

Then the door busted open and the Copper-haired teen that she was just thinking about walked into the room as though he owned it. There was a sickeningly perfect smirk on his face that crooked just right. It was the same smile that made her feel... weird.

Her mouth, against her wishes, fell open. "Is this a fever dream?"

His mouth turned upwards into a real smile for a moment, before he answered, "No, though I'm flattered you do dream of me. I've come to spring you!"

Elizabeth blinked, fully convinced that she wasn't entirely awake.

And then in walked this other pale person, with blonde hair, and while they didn't look like one another past the eyes and the pale skin, they sort of didn't..? She had no idea, in her increasingly anxious and panicked state, how to explain it. She leaned back, eyes blown wide in confusion as this ..doctor? Walked up to her and pulled out a clipboard from thin air.

"Ms. Swan, I'm Doctor Cullen and I'll be assisting you today."

"Doctor Cullen.." She repeated under her breath, then looked between the two in her room, finally connecting the dots. Edward was his son..?

"Yes, that's right." he assured, before plucking a small light that she could have sworn was a pen clipped to his coat just a second ago, "Are you feeling any dizziness or nausea? You had quite a nasty spill at school today. Can you remember any of it?"

"Uh," her eyebrows furrowed as her thoughts began to formulate more readily, the drowsiness from her half-awake state finally abating. "No to the dizziness and nausea. Yes to the last."

"Can you tell me what happened?" The light was in her eyes now, and she was being instructed to watch his pale ass finger.

"Tyler's van crashed into my truck? Someone pulled me out of the way... I think? Am I dead?"

The doctor laughed, "No, Ms. Swan. I can assure you, you are not dead." Elizabeth's hand subconsciously reached up and winced once it touched the side of her head.

"Oh." Then her eyes flew open again, "Um, my family?"

"They went to get your Grandmother who was somehow misinformed that both her granddaughters were in an accident and one lost a limb. She had to be assured by the source. But they should be ..." Doctor Cullen's head tilted then, and then less than a second later, her dad, Bella, and a frantic Grandma Helen came bursting through the double doors. Weird how that happened.

But all thoughts of weirdness aside, she welcomed the embrace from her grandmother and father while Bella watched with wide eyes as though in disbelief that she was even alive. And just over her grandmother's shoulder, she caught sight of the golden-eyed teen leaning against a wall near the doors, unseen in all the excitement, watching her with very distinct but thinly veiled relief.

"Oh, my baby!" Grandma Helen fussed, tears leaking out of her eyes as she pulled away from the embrace to bestow a great number of kisses on her forehead. Beth hissed once Grandma Helen kissed the exact place she had hit, "Oh!" She was in a right state.

Even Charlie, with distinct mistiness in his eyes, stood off to the side after hugging his daughter very tightly, talking with Doctor Cullen about her condition.

"She should be fine after today. There's just some light bruising that should develop over the next few days. With a bit of Tylenol, she should be right as rain for school tomorrow, granted she doesn't feel any dizziness or nausea. There's no sign of concussion or any cracks on her skull. She is in perfect health, otherwise." The blonde-haired doctor assured them.

And Bella, who had finally come over, removed her arms that she crossed over her chest and pulled her twin into a tight hug, before murmuring, "I'm just glad you're okay." She breathed shakily into her shoulder, and Elizabeth's eyes closed, hugging her sister back just as tightly and with just as much relief.

"You'll have to call Renee." Her dad muttered from his spot, sniffling and he texted away at his phone. Texted? Was Doctor Cullen sure she wasn't dead?

Either way, the itchy hospital bed sheets were real. The pain in her head was real. The teary-eyed people surrounding her were indeed real. The creepy teen standing off in the corner was real. And so was Doctor Cullen. Bella was real. And she'd just have to make peace with the fact that death wasn't as peaceful as she thought and take more peace in the fact that she was alive. And would be for the next couple of decades. She would make sure of it.