Universal Displacement

The Final Countdown

A few days passed and Sutton worked on recovering. Except, even after a few days her muscles still felt as weak as before and there were still worrying flares of chest pains. Attempts to sleep weren't much better. Every time she closed her eyes she could only see the vast emptiness of space. Worse was when she saw Khan's stern face, that darkly amused gleam in his eye, and a planet burning while the inhabitants cursed her name.

Even Carlisle looked at her with some measure of concern. Sutton brushed aside any voiced worries. She already knew. She didn't want to think about it. The Doctor had warned her; McCoy had confirmed it. She had a feeling there'd be nothing they could do for her worn out, failing heart. And she didn't really want a countdown clock haunting whatever time she had left. No, in this case ignorance would be bliss. Or, as blissful as dying could be.

Instead she observed as the people around her started to settle into normal daily life. Or, normal for vampires, she supposed.

She didn't have much of a chance to leave the Cullen house on her own and would have drawn quite a few stares with her injuries if she had. According to the Cullens, not everyone was aware of their universe being previously unstable. It seemed that awareness only extended to those that the book had considered main characters. Perhaps it was due to all the fans focusing on a chosen few, maybe it has something to do with Sutton herself; it wasn't clear. But it didn't truly matter in the end. Sutton wasn't up for much travelling around in the first place.

The house cleared out during the day as people went back to school and work. It eventually ended up being just Sutton and Esme loitering around the house until later in the afternoons. Esme didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed happy to cook for Sutton, make sure she was comfortable when resting, and was especially content with being a conversational companion. Sutton didn't mind that either. Esme was kind and mothering and gentle. It was an aloe on a bad burn.

The burn was still there, but at least you felt a little better after treating it.

Diffused light fought its way through the clouds and windows to settle on the cool wood floors. It created an almost blue tint to the space and made the room feel like it should be chillier than it actually was. Sutton found herself bundled up under a cashmere blanket with a stack of books and an empty plate on the floor within arms reach. She hummed quietly in the back of her throat when she noticed rain start to fall outside the large glass panes in the living room.

She remembered this.

Esme was sitting in an armchair nearby and she smiled softly at Sutton after looking up from her laptop.

"You said you were originally from this area," Esme prompted as Sutton gazed up at the looming gray clouds that were rolling in.

"Sort of. A few hours away, but I've been up here before. It feels weird being so close."

"We could visit your hometown," she suggested. She perked up at the idea and Sutton shook her head quickly.

"Thank you, but, it's just not the same. I was able to pop back awhile ago and, it's just-" She struggled to find the right word to describe a world without her family in it. All descriptors seemed lacking.

"It's just empty."
Esme nodded in understanding and settled back into her chair.

"I understand," she said. "Because of what we are, we really don't get to call one place home. Instead, we've had to make family our home."

Sutton nodded silently while wishing she'd gotten the chance to make one for herself.

A few days into her stay in this universe, when everyone had returned from school and work, they decided to finally journey out to Forks just to let Sutton get some fresh air. Forks wasn't a town she had frequently visited or knew well, so she didn't object. They helped her into one of their cars and Sutton, personally, thought they could have carpooled a bit more efficiently than they chose to.