Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XX. Alice

Knock, knock.

"Hey, Mel," a soft voice called from behind the closed door. "It's Alice."

"Come in," Mel answered. She sat up and pushed her pillows against the headboard to lean back on. "Hi."

Alice held several bags in her arms. "Hi, feeling any better?" She set the bags down on the bed by Mel's feet.

"Yeah, a little." Mel shrugged. "So what have you been up to?"

"Shopping, mostly," Alice admitted with a 100-watt smile. "I brought you some get-well gifts to keep you busy."

"Alice, you didn't have to. The flowers were amazing enough. Thank you for those."

"They match your blue hair," Alice said proudly. She started pulling things out of the bags.

"That's what Carlisle said." Mel smiled. Her green-grey eyes widened at all of the gifts.

"Alice--" she started to protest.

"Shh. I wanted to. I guessed your size, so hopefully these clothes fit. I figured you'd want to change out of the gown as soon as possible." Alice handed Mel a stack of clothes of all colors. She looked through them and was pleasantly surprised by the options. She thanked Alice profusely.

"I'm not done yet!" The doctor's daughter placed a small box on her lap next to the pile of clothes. "Esme, my mother, made them, but it's from both of us." Mel opened the lid to find a variety of homemade cookies. "There's chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and s'mores."

Melaina leaned forward suddenly to hug Alice. She ignored the pain her ribs shot through her body. Alice embraced her back in her cold arms. "Thank you so much," she said again.

"You're welcome. This last one is from Carlisle." Alice pulled out a hardcover book from the last bag. "We weren't sure exactly what you like to read, but since you're in my French class..." she trailed off, and Mel took the book gingerly from Alice's outstretched hand. It was a cultural book about France in the native language but with English translations. Mel hugged it to her chest. "I love it."

Alice and Mel spent hours talking before Mel started to doze off. "Nap time?" Alice teased.

"No, sorry. I just don't sleep very well here. I want to be in my own bed again."

"I understand, Mel. I can come back tomorrow, if that's okay. I'll bring ice cream." Mel's sleepy eyes lit up, and Alice laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

Alice left after another hug, and Mel shifted her gifts over to lie down. She adjusted her pillows and fell asleep to the sound of the ticking clock over the door.

~*~

She woke up from her nap in tears. Instead of the burning dream, she had been cold, so cold. Her mother's corpse had been there in the freezing dream and the image burned her eyelids. Mel's blanket had slid onto the floor in her sleep and the vent was blowing frosty air on her toes, so she blamed the dream on that.

Mel wiped her face and reached down to grab the fallen blanket. The door opened and she looked up.

Carlisle noticed her tear-stained cheeks the moment he stepped into the small white room. He rushed to her side. "Melaina, you've been crying. Are you in pain? Why didn't you press the button for a nurse?"

Mel shook her head. The pain that she was in couldn't be fixed by a doctor. "I'm fine." She absentmindedly rubbed her bandaged arm against her body to relieve the ever-itchy skin.

"On a scale of one to ten, what level of pain are you on?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a four, physically."

"What hurts?"

"My ribs mostly," Mel admitted. Carlisle gave her a pain relief pill and a cup of water to wash it down. Her hand hit something hard when she set it down on the bed. "Oh, thanks for the book, by the way. I can't wait to read it." She smiled shyly at him.

"It was my pleasure."

~*~

Alice waited for her father by his Mercedes in the Forks Hospital parking lot. She didn't wait to greet him before she blurted out, "We need to save her. Melaina."

Carlisle gave Alice a look as they got into his car. The doors clicked shut. "I know that you're fond of her, but we're not human. Decisions like that cannot be made lightly." He started the car and drove towards their home.

"Carlisle, I know that. And you're going to agree, so do we have to discuss this?" Alice groaned in impatience. "Just call the family meeting. That's all I'm asking."

"Alice, you know what you're asking of us."

"I've seen it. She needs us. Carlisle, we have to take her in. Please."

He took an unneeded breath of air as he made his decision. "Let them know we're on our way home. I can't make any promises though."

Alice squealed and hugged Carlisle from the side as he tried to drive. She whipped out her phone and called a family meeting.