Author's Note:Thank you for the nice comments, I'm working hard at getting the new chapters posted as quickly as possible. Life just doesn't seem to be giving me much chance to slow down often to write. I know that I was a bit slow getting it started, I mean geez... who takes 4 chapters to set the stage... Oh, guess that would be me, oops... Hope you all enjoy... *MUAH* ~Rebecca

Jess sat there stunned at Jill’s statement, her mind filled with question after question. Michelle had told her that for everything to work out, that Belle would need her family as well as her friends, both Kelly and Ben’s support through the next year. She had to find out what had changed so drastically, with all the questions running through her mind she was only able to ask, “Why?”

Jill wiped the tears that were beginning to form and tried to sniff them away. She thought for a moment and then said, “I think it would best to show you…” She then reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet, upon opening it Jess noticed it was full of pictures. After a brief search through the pictures she found the one she was looking for, she handed it to Jess and said softly, “This is MY Belle… Before she changed…”

Jess took the picture and looked at it, she immediate recognized the picture, or at least the one from Steven’s reality. It showed three young teens with their arms on each other’s shoulders. The picture she remembered was of two boys and a girl, in this one it was two girls with one boy. The brunette was on one end, the boy on the other, with Belle in the middle. Had it not been for the girl’s long hair and light makeup, they could have been mistaken for three boys. The thing that stood out the most was the joy that was clearly written on their face. She couldn’t help but smile at the happiness depicted in that picture, she then looked up and asked, “What happened?”

Jill sighed long and hard, and said, “I guess you could say puberty happened…”

Confused, Jess asked, “But everyone goes through that, why’d that change everything?”

Jill shook her head, “It shouldn’t have… As early as Belle’s hit her though… She started getting attention that she wasn’t used to, I guess it was intoxicating for her… She started developing so much sooner than the rest of the girls in her class… At first, we were just amazed at how beautiful our daughter was becoming, we didn’t notice the other ways she was changing…”

Frowning now, Jess prodded, “Other ways? What other ways?”

Jill pondered for a moment before answering, “With her starting 7th grade while looking like she should be a senior in high school, she started becoming popular. She started getting invites from ‘new’ friends for things like sleepovers, and getting invited to becoming a cheerleader… She didn’t even have to try out, she had the ‘look’ the cheer squad wanted… The more popular she became… The more she mistreated her old friends… And us…” Jill then pulled another photo out of her wallet, and glanced at it sadly for a quick moment and then handed it over to Jess, and told her, “This is the Belle that was in that accident… Not the girl you know upstairs…”

Jess took the picture and as she looked at it, she barely could recognize Belle in it. It was a picture of five girls at a school dance, and since only one of them was a blonde, it was easy to pick her out. That was the only indicator though, with the heavy makeup and skimpy dress she was wearing, she looked nothing like the poor girl Jess had been treating. Unlike the other photograph of the three friends, the looks on the girl’s faces were not of happiness, there was no feeling of joy in this picture. All five of the girls had this look of disdain and contempt, they all seemed to radiate a sense of superiority. Realizing how wrong everything had become, a feeling of dread started seeping into her psyche.

Jill told her, “Those are her ‘new and improved’ friends… They are not nice girls at all, they corrupted my daughter… I’m willing to bet that you haven’t seen any of them come visit her, not one single time… They couldn’t be bothered to come here.”

Jess, holding up the first picture, asked, “What about them? Do they know she was in the accident?”

Jill nodded, and sniffed trying to hold back anymore tears, “I tried to call them to let them know… Hoping that they would come and help… I hoped that with her amnesia that they could help me save her from the path she had been on… Neither of their parents would let me talk to them… They blamed me for the things Belle had done and said… She had turned on her friends, trying to gain acceptance from… Those people…”

“What kind of things?”, Jess asked desperately. She was beyond shocked that the sweet girl upstairs, and the female version of Steven, could have turned out to be like that.

Jill shook her head and mutter, “At first she just quit spending as much time with them. The more and more popular she got… She started harassing them with the group, like she had been harassed by them before… It didn’t take long before she started being the instigator… Being friends with them for so long, nobody questioned the rumors that she started…”

Shocked, Jess said softly, “That isn’t supposed to be Belle…” Jill looked at her questioningly, so Jess continued, “Well that isn’t the girl that is resting upstairs.”

Jill sadly said, “No it isn’t… That is the daughter that I remember upstairs… She was such a good girl… By the time we got a call from Benji’s parents it was too late, she was no longer the daughter we had known… It continued to get worse…”

Jess asked, “Why did his parents call you?”

“She started a rumor that ended up getting poor Benji beaten up, simply so she could rise up in the social hierarchy.” Jill paused as she quietly wiped more tears from her cheek before she continued, “The alcohol and the other drugs we didn’t find out about until a few months ago, when her grades started slipping. We didn’t even know about the pregnancy until after the accident… Do you understand why I don’t want her to remember?”

Jess nodded, “Well maybe this can be her second chance… It could be a second chance for all of you…”

Jill smiled through her tears and said, “That’s what I’ve been hoping… When I found out that they had to revive her at the accident scene, I’d been hoping that it would scare her enough to straighten up knowing she had died… Now that she doesn’t remember… Am I a horrible mother to wish that she wouldn’t remember?”

Shaking her head, Jess whispered, “No, you’re not horrible… You’re only wishing the best for her… Even if she doesn’t remember, you’re going to have to tell her how she had been… She needs to have a warning of what kind of friends she had surrounded herself with, so she doesn’t fall in with that group again… One question though, you said she died?”

Jill nodded, “You didn’t know?” Jess shook her head no, so Jill continued, “One of the EMT’s that was there told us a few days afterwards… He said that she died while they were pulling her out of the car… He said he was able to revive her less than a minute later, and they kept her heart beating until they got her to the ER…”

Jess was at a loss for words, she could feel the despair that had filled the poor mother but could also feel the hope within her as well. She had really grown fond of the woman, and desperately wanted to help her, Unfortunately, in the way she was getting her information was causing the hope she felt from her start to stall. Jess hoped she had heard enough, so she gently let go of Jill’s hand, so she could pick up her coffee cup.

Jill sat there dazed for a few quick seconds before she quickly shook her head to try to clear the fog in her thoughts. Looking up at Jess and seeing the concerned expression on her face caused her to smile sadly. She apologized, “I’m sorry I told you all that… I hope I didn’t make you think less of her… I guess I just needed to get it off my chest.”

Jess told her, “It’s okay… Talking about it might help Jill… Don’t worry though, I adore your daughter. If you need anything let me know. I want to help her and to help you as well.”

“Thank you for that… Also, thank you for the coffee.”, Jill told her, then she checked her watch and as she stood she said, “I’ve been down here for too long, I need to get up there in case she wakes up.”

Smiling at her, Jess replied, “Okay, I’ll be up in a minute. Remember what I said though, if you need anything, just ask.” Jill nodded and turned to leave the cafeteria. Jess sat there for a short while trying to think of how to tell Michelle the news. Things were so far off from the original plan that had been shared with her, that she was clueless on how they can salvage things. She was about to get up when she felt a familiar presence, as she looked up she saw Michelle, once again in a nurse’s uniform, as she sat down.

Michelle sadly stated, “I heard… That explains a lot of things that we didn’t understand though.”

With frustration clearly written all over her face, Jess blurted out, “How does this explain anything? You had told me that when you shifted Steven that Belle would have been at home in bed asleep when the merge was to happen?”

Michelle snapped, “She was supposed to be, at least that’s where she was the last time I was here!” Michelle took a deep calming breath and continued, “Someone was here and changed things. She started developing before she was supposed to, before had fully embraced her identity… The bullying had stopped, and she was getting attention… Something all children crave…”

Nodding as she thought about it, she thought how Belle would have welcomed the attention at first. Her and her two friends had been bullied for a long time. She could also see how that attention would have been addictive for her, and how she would have craved it even more… Moving on to the next worry, she asked, “Her dying in the accident… That would be why she has Steven’s memories. The merge never happened…”

Michelle nodded, “That’s the best I can come up with… The shift was supposed to happen while she slept… She was going to need Belle’s compassion, and the strength that Steven had learned so she would be able to survive and do what needed to be done… The merge would have taken a few hours to complete, that’s why I tried to time it, so she should have been asleep when it happened… Instead of hours, the merge only had maybe fifteen minutes… We won’t know how much actually merged if she doesn’t regain her memories, but it looks like when she was resuscitated it was mostly Steven that came back…”

“Mostly…”, Jess mused, “That’s why she isn’t upset out about being a girl? She seems to know something is different… That doesn’t explain the memory loss. I’ve healed her mind from the injury she sustained… She should be remembering.”

“I have a feeling that the memory loss wasn’t from any physical trauma. I pulled Steven from a traumatic moment, and with Belle’s passing, he’s been thrust right into another major trauma… His, now her, mind is trying to connect with this new life, and its rejecting what its seeing. It hasn’t connected that Steven is now Belle…”

“Can’t we go back and change things back to the way it was?”, Jess hopefully asked.

“Have you tried to look forward from here?”, Michelle asked her.

Frowning, Jess replied, “No I haven’t. I’ve been focusing everything on Belle and trying to find out what happened. What have you seen?”

Michelle said, “Too many things have been modified here in this time… The path ahead is too vague to see, nothing is clear. Too many rifts have formed, until they heal themselves it’s just too dangerous. We could completely unravel everything.”

“It could take years for just one single rift to close… How long do you think it will take for the rifts to close?”, Jess asked.

Michelle just shook her head and said, “I don’t know… I highly doubt it will be in Belle’s lifetime…”

Jess just bowed her head, “Then it was all done in vain… We’ve lost…”

Michelle gently squeezed her hand and told her, “Don’t give up hope okay, it’s not over. Belle is alive, and remember how strong Steven was… All is not lost…”

Looking up at her friend, “If we can’t alter things back, how is she supposed to save her friends? They won’t even talk to her anymore… I don’t see her ‘new’ friends helping her, but only hurting her more… What are we supposed to do?”

Michelle agreed, “You’re right that we can’t alter things… We aren’t helpless though… Belle is going to need friends… You’ve gained her trust as her doctor, and the trust of her mother… She’s just going to need someone to be a friend when she gets back to school next semester.”

Jess countered, “But you said we couldn’t change anything.”

Michelle answered, “I did, but I never said we couldn’t still help her.”

Jess asked, “What do you have in mind?”

Michelle smiled, “How do you feel about becoming an aunt?”

When Jill reentered the room, she found that Belle had already been awake, she was hoping that she would have felt better after her long nap. The expression that was on her face made it obvious that that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, she looked almost as upset as she did earlier. Softly she spoke, “Baby are you feeling any better?”

She had been in such deep thought she had been oblivious to her mother coming in the room, so she jumped slightly. Forcing a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes she said, “I guess so… Maybe…”

Jill tried her best to console her, “Sweetie, don’t worry about earlier… It’s understandable that you’re dealing with a lot right now…”

Belle shook her head, “It’s not just that… Earlier when I was waking up I was still lying here with my eyes closed… Then one of the doctors came in doing his rounds… He was telling the people with him my situation… I guess he thought I was still asleep…” Finally looking up at her mother she said earnestly, “Mom I’m sorry… For everything…”

Concerned Jill asked, “What did you hear?”

Wiping her eyes, Belle said, “He told them that when I was admitted that I was over twice the limit for drinking… He also mentioned there were a lot of drugs in my system…and that… that I lost the baby… He said that I had died…” She then covered her face to try and hide behind her hands.

At first all Jill could say was, “Oh…” That was the absolute last way she was wanting Belle to find out. She had been thinking since she had woken up how to broach that topic. Seeing Belle, at least the sweet innocent one that she used to be, dealing with that new information pulled hard on her emotions. Gently she put her arms around her daughter, “I’m so sorry that you found out that way…”

Pushing back so she could look at her mother in disbelief, “You knew?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Trying to remain calm, Jill gently grabbed Belle’s shoulders to keep her from pulling further away, and looked her directly in the eyes, “Do you remember anything about that night?” Belle slowly shook her head, so Jill continued, “Do you remember who the father was?” Belle shook her head again, so she went on, “Then what good would it have done to tell you that so soon after you woke up?”

“I don’t know.”, Bell cried. “I don’t know who I was with… I don’t remember anything from before I woke up except you… I need to know… something!”

Jill was stunned, because Belle had remembered her, she thought that her memory had only affected things related to Belle. Softly she asked, “Do you remember your Dad? Or Megan?”

At Megan’s name Belle perked up, “I remember Megan’s name… But I can’t picture her… Dad either…”

Jill reached into her purse and pulled the pictures she had in her wallet. She selected two specific pictures and showed the first one to Belle. She asked, “Do you remember now?”

As soon as Belle saw the picture she immediately recognized her Dad, her younger sister Megan, and her mother. No sooner did she recognize them several memories came to here perfectly clear. “I remember them… This was when Megan was in 7th grade… It was right before she got her braces removed…”

Surprised, Jill exclaimed, “You remember getting the picture?”

Belle softly responded, “No… I don’t… As soon as I saw Dad and Megan, I remembered them… Like I had remembered you when I woke up… This girl in the picture though I don’t remember anything about…”

Seeing that Belle was pointing at herself in the picture, Jill softly caressed her hand. Not knowing what else she could say, she mumbled, “It’s going to be okay…”

Now that she remembered her Dad and sister, Belle realized something else, “Why hasn’t Megan or Dad come to see me? They are ashamed of me, aren’t they?”

“No baby… It’s just… You and your sister hadn’t gotten along the last few years… You’re Dad… He’s just been busy with his job…”, Jill tried to alleviate any worry Belle might have, but she couldn’t hide her expression of disgust at her husband and youngers daughter’s actions.

Hanging her head down, Belle stated, “They are ashamed of me… I can imagine how it looks for an assistant minister’s daughter to end up drunk and pregnant… I remember enough to know that Dad is all about image… I don’t know what changed between me and Megan though… For some reason I remember being close with her, more like friends…” After a brief pause she looked up into her mother’s eyes and asked, “Mom who was I for all this to happen? I need to know what kind of person I was.”

Jill was hesitant about answering her, but from the expression on her daughter’s face, she realized that she couldn’t lie to her. She spent the next several minutes telling her a slightly watered-down version of what she had told Jess. She informed her that she had fallen in with an unpleasant group of girls, who had led her to make bad choices. How she had abandoned her other friends… She couldn’t tell her just how bad her behavior had become but told her enough. When she was finished they sat there silent for a long while, while Belle contemplated everything she had just been told.

Finally, she said, “I don’t blame them for not checking on me… I don’t sound like I was someone I would want to hang around either… Mom… I don’t want to be that person ever again…”

Rubbing her daughters back, Jill told her softly, “You don’t have to be baby. You can decide on who you want to be… Think of all this as you are getting a second chance to right your wrongs, even if you can’t remember them.”

Nodding with a bit more resolve, Belle said, “Okay… I need to get started on it though, it sounds like I have a lot of wrongs to straighten out… I can’t do that here though.”

Jill tilted her head quizzically and asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Belle smiled, “It means I’m ready to get started… I’m ready to go home.”

 
 
To be continued.