A FLASHY YELLOW Porsche screeches to a stop in front of Jordyn, one that reminds her so much of the day she first arrived in Volterra, her heart aches.
The window rolls down and Alice yells for her to get it, snapping Jordyn out of her quick second of remembrance.
Jordyn scrambles into the car, throwing her bag into the cramped, leather lined back seat.
The car takes off, zooming away from the small airport, the back of Jordyns head crashes into the headrest.
Jordyn remembers the whiplash she was given the first time she rode in a car with Alice, she remembers the feeling too well.
"Did you steal this one too?" Jordyn asks about the car. She won't be surprised if Alice had, in fact, stolen it.
Alice shakes her head, "Edward got it for me." Her voice sounds weak and tired, a drastic change.
Jordyn turns her head to study Alice, her eyes are a deep onyx color, the purple circles under her eyes are far more prominent, and her skin is even paler and chalkier than normal.
"Are you okay, Alice? You look... dead." Jordyn raises an eyebrow.
"I am dead." Alice sighs, "It's exhausting helping Bella. She can't eat anything, she always either cold or hot, she's too uncomfortable to sleep..." Alice complains. "She's miserable."
"So, how'd this happen?" Jordyn asks.
"When a man and a woman-"
Jordyn groans, "I know how it happened, I mean, I thought it wasn't possible?"
"We all thought it wasn't. We really don't know how, we can't find anything about stuff like this." Alice explains, lifting one hand off of the steering wheel to push it through her choppy, black hair.
Jordyn slowly nods, "How's Bella, besides the whole being miserable thing?"
Alice squeezes the steering wheel tightly, "Not good, she acts like she's okay, of course, but it's obvious that deep down, she's giving up."
Jordyn frowns, "Oh."
"She's hoping to get changed after the... baby," she sneers, struggling to spit the word out, "is born, but Carlisle doesn't think it'll work, so she's coming to terms with leaving Edward behind..."
Jordyn nibbles on her bottom lip and watches out the window as the greenery passes by.
Her sister, her rock, her best friend is on the verge of death, and Jordyn can do nothing to save her. Tears swell in her eyes and her bottom lip begins to tremble.
"It'll all work out, Jordyn. Don't worry." Alice tries to reassure her.
Jordyn sends her a little smile that doesn't reach her tearful eyes.
***
THE CAR COMES to a stop in the Cullens garage, quite abruptly, to Jordyns demise.
Jordyn opens the door and steps out of the fancy car, the door closes with an echo behind her.
Alice leads her inside, the two walk up a flight of stairs that lead up into a large living room.
The whole family is scattered around it.
Rosalie and Edward are sitting protectively on a couch, Esme is watching them from a matching chair, Emmett and Jasper watch a football game, and Carlisle is writing something down on a pad of paper.
They all look up as Alice and Jordyn walk further into the room.
Carlisle smiles weakly at Jordyn, "Welcome, Jordyn."
Jordyn smiles back, "Thanks."
"Jordyn?" A weak version of Bella's voice calls out from behind Rosalie.
Jordyn moves her gaze from Carlisle to Rosalie, raising an eyebrow.
"Rose, is she here?" Bella asks again.
Rosalie looks back at her then steps out of the way.
Jordyn gasps at Bella's appearance.
Her hair is thin and brittle, her pale and sickly skin stretches over her cheekbones, nearly piercing through, she looks deathly skinny, except for her bulging stomach. She's looks so fragile that Jordyn fears even the slightest touch would break one of her bones.
Bella's chapped lips turn down into a frown at her sisters reaction, "I know, I look terrible."
Jordyn hurries to Bella's side, ignoring the protests from Rosalie.
"Bells, you're like eight months pregnant." Jordyn points to her stomach.
"The fetus grows at a very fast rate." Carlisle informs.
"Baby." Rosalie corrects angrily.
Jordyn looks between the two then back at Bella, "How long have you been back for?"
"About a week." Rosalie answers for Bella, Bella just nods along.
"Told you to use protection." Jordyn raises her eyebrows.
Bella smiles then airily laughs, Emmett lightly snickers.
"Yeah, guess we should have." Bella says barely above a whisper.
Jordyn then yawns, the jet lag starting to settle in.
"You should sleep, Jord. They have multiple guest rooms." Bella suggests.
"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you-"
Rosalie interrupts her, "She'll be fine. There's a room up the stairs to the left."
Jordyn looks up at Rosalie and nods, "Okay, I'll be up in a few hours."
She stands up from the couch and heads for the stairs, slowly going up them.
She takes a left at the top and finds a room at the end of a hallway, she turns the handle and opens the door, stepping into the room.
It's mostly white with a glass wall, it's simple and modern, yet so expensive looking.
Jordyn kicks her shoes off and flops onto the bed, not bothering to cover up.
She is pulled into unconsciousness only a few moments after.
edited: 10/28/22