Despite Abigail's protests that she was fine, nobody would let her leave that night, especially Alice. Luckily she was set up with a bath and a pair of pajamas—These things are worth more than my house, she thought wryly—so she could relax. She actually wound up falling asleep there and woke up coughing and sputtering out soapy water which made her much more alert to her surroundings and she finished up quickly after that, making sure to wash her hair and every inch of her body to get the hospital smell out. She dried off with a far-too-fluffy-to-be-real towel and pulled on the pajamas she was given. Admittedly, they were incredibly soft and silky and felt perfect against her skin, though she was afraid to sleep in them and wrinkle them.
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Alice met her outside the bathroom with an exhausted expression. "Seriously, I thought Bella was prone to life-threatening idiocy, but she never did it twice in one night." She must've heard the almost drowning, she realized and blushed, muttering out an apology. Alice simply sighed and shook her head, showing her to a bedroom. She texted Beth quickly telling her not to worry if she wasn't there in the morning, she was with Alice—though she would have to go back pretty early because she needed a clean set of scrubs—and would be home the next night and they should do dinner because it had been awhile. But she didn't wait for a reply, she laid down as soon as it sent and was out like a light a moment later.
.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
-Carlisle-
"She's remembering."
Those were not the words he expected from Edward as soon as they all heard Abigail fall asleep in the guest room. All eyes turned to him immediately, Carlisle's in particular. While he had been blank and emotionless the whole night, that brought a round of panic and dread to him that had Jasper looking at him wearily, but Carlisle waved him away as he took a step up to Edward.
"What do you mean?" he asked, voice weary and quieter than normal just in case she woke up for any reason. The last thing they needed was her to hear their conversation.
"She's having dreams...nightmares. She thought about it for a second earlier when she was looking at you, Carlisle."
He blanched. "Me?" he asked, suddenly very tired, almost feeling ill. "She's having nightmares about me?"
Edward shook his head. "Not exactly. It looks like she had nightmares that changed after she met you. They used to be her alone in an alley with a big man with glowing red eyes. He reached for her and ripped her head off, and then she felt like she was burning." Carlisle closed his eyes in agony as his own ever-present memories of that night threatened to pull him back into that thirty-year black hole, but he fought them back so they only lingered enough for the pain. "But when they changed," he continued, his voice thick as he read Carlisle's memories, "she wasn't alone. Carlisle, you were there and pulled her away. The man with the red eyes erupted into flame and you told her nothing would happen to her."
