Carlisle's voice was still echoing in my ears as I drove. "We were wrong, it seems."

I took the next corner quickly and startled a deer in the road. To human eyes it would have looked like I nearly hit it, but I didn't. I thought about it thirstily as I sped on toward the hospital, but there would be time for hunting later. I closed my eyes and tried to relax my grip, or the steering in Alice's newest car would be ruined. There was always time.

Edward wouldn't approve. I didn't need Carlisle or any of the rest of them to tell me that. He would've tried to put a stop to this and maybe he would've succeeded, maybe not. I could be very stubborn when I wanted to be but the bottom line was that he wasn't here.

No, the bottom line was that I had to do this.

I slowed down as I neared the hospital and let out a low whistle. Not too shabby for a small town. I hadn't been here yet to see for myself, but it seemed that someone had known what to do with the substantial anonymous donations that Carlisle's old place of employment had been receiving over the last ninety years. I parked and stayed in the car for a few moments, gathering my wits and my courage. This was going to be difficult. The last link always was.

Edward wouldn't approve for a lot of reasons. The first being that it was dangerous. Maybe I was forgotten, and if not, maybe no one would believe. There was a possibility though, and that was enough for him. I rolled my eyes at myself for feeling like I needed justification. As though being able to say that I thought it through ahead of time would be enough to satisfy him if he came back angry. He might not be angry though, just… exasperated. I could accept exasperation from someone who didn't quite understand, but not anger. If he was angry I would be too. If he was only annoyed, well, he would get over it.

He was the voice in my head and always had been. I could hear him now, "Why do you need to? What difference does it make?" The honest answer was none. It would make no difference. But I could remember the girl in English yesterday morning very clearly, her voice shaking as she spoke to her friend who sat behind me. "Not today Ephney, alright? Grandma's getting worse. They think… they think it will be soon." And then the way she threw her honey colored hair over her shoulder as she walked back to her own seat.. I'd liked her from the first day, though we'd never spoken. They learned quickly, even the slow ones, to let us be. Still, there was something familiar…

I'd asked Carlisle to check for me. He had easy access to the entire town's medical histories. I was fairly certain that's where he would find what I was looking for; in history. There had been a possibility though, and I had to know for sure.

"We were wrong, it seems." It had only been minutes ago and the words were still fresh in my mind. "Not all of our old acquaintances have passed."

The rest of his words, and whatever the others had said in reply had been lost in the hum of this car's engine. Had I wanted to hear them, I could have, but I was more interested in getting away before anyone could stop me.. I was more interested in getting here before it was too late.

~>*<~

I had to wait a few minutes while the nurses were with her, but then they let me go in. Her granddaughter, my class-mate, looked up at me in surprise when I entered the tiny room.

"Who is it Annie?" Angela's feeble twisted fingers grasped the girls hand and her face, with its sight-less eyes, turned toward me.

I held up my own hand before the girl could speak and answered for her. "It's a friend Angela," I replied, ignoring the wide stare of the young girl, "it's a very old friend."

I was surprised to see the realization dawn on her withered face so quickly. I lowered my voice. After years of practice I had mastered the skill of making it sound more human, more familiar for my mother, though it was a skill I hadn't needed for almost fifty years, I was pleased to know that I was still capable.

"Bella, isn't it." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "It's Bella Swan."

"No Grandma, it's not." Annie Cheney shook her head and continued to frown at me in confusion. "Her name is Bella Cullen, she's---"

Angela smiled and interrupted, to my relief, "Oh that's right. I was at the wedding, I should have remembered." Then she chuckled weakly to herself, "my memory anymore…"

The expression on Annie's face had now gone from confusion, to worry, to suspicion as she eyed me.

"Can I talk to your Grandmother alone?" I walked forward as I made the request, trying to imitate Edward's skill of manipulation, which I had once thought of as dazzling.

"Yes, Annie," Angela agreed. "You've been here for hours, go home and rest. Mrs. Cullen and I have some catching up to do."

I tried to look reassuring as I nodded. "I'll stay with her a while."

Annie didn't look reassured, but she complied. Easing out of the plastic chair and picking up her purse. "You're sure Grandma? Shall I bring you anything when I come back?"

Angela's face turned toward her granddaughter's voice, but here eyes never looked directly at her. "No dear, I'll be fine."

Annie kissed Angela's wasted cheek and left us alone.

"How are you?" I looked at her monitors and knew the answer before she spoke.

"I'm dying, I'm afraid." Then she smiled and for a moment I recognized the girl I'd befriended eighty-four years ago. "You must be in some kind of shape Bella, to come here by yourself. No one has let me out on my own for almost thirty years!" She laughed then, a familiar laugh that brought flashes of my human life to the forefront of her memory.

"Well, I escaped, to be honest." And I was. "I'm on the run."

Angela laughed again, but this time it was airy and feeble. She clutched at her chest and took a couple of gasping breaths before settling back again. She was still smiling though and she spoke between gasps. "I'd like to speak to whomever came up with that line, 'Laughter is the best medicine.' I'd like to tell them that they're wrong. It hurts."

I reached for her hand which was almost as cold as mine, but not cold enough for her not to notice. "Oh Bella! Your hands are like ice! It's a terrible burden, getting old, isn't it?"

"It is." I agreed and watched the readings on the monitors fluctuate. Changing back and forth but steadily getting worse. It would be soon.

"When you're young, you look at time so differently. It's a far off concept, a simple thing that changes today into tomorrow and you don't have to look much farther than that. Time is something that passes slowly, revolves around you and holds you. " She had her eyes closed now, her face relaxed. Only her mouth moved, and there was little left in her features of the sweet girl I knew before. But her voice and her smile were the same. I was glad I was there.

"And then you get old," she continued. "Time speeds up and drags on. It changes eighty years into ninety, and you're afraid to look much farther than that. But time makes you, it takes you there. You're a hostage to time. And you realize that it has nothing to do with you, it doesn't revolve around you, or hold you, it can't pass you by. It simply is. And you simply are." She inhaled deeply and shakily, "And eventually you won't be, but time will go on. There will always be time." She was mumbling a little, and then her mouth slackened and I knew she was asleep.

~>*<~

I watched the monitors, listened to the beeps slow and held on to her hand. After a couple of hours I began to fear that she wouldn't wake up. I wondered if I should get someone, but then her blind eyes fluttered open.

"Ben's face was the last thing I saw with these eyes." She knew I was still with her. "It's a comfort." I could hear the fluid in her lungs and the slowing heavy thump of her heart. "It won't be long now, and I'll see him again." Her voice became thick with longing. "I haven't talked to him for such a long time."

"Should I get them to call your family?" I hadn't let go of her hand.

"No Bella," she shook her head and a tear ran down the ripples on her wrinkled face. "I don't want them to see this. If you'll stay, if you're here old friend, it will be enough. I don't want to die alone."

"Of course I'll stay." I told her.

We were quiet then, for a long time. None of them came for me, so I knew that Alice hadn't seen anything bad would come of this.

Her breathing became very low, and I thought maybe she had fallen asleep again, when she whispered, "Tell me about your life, Bella."

I told her everything. It wouldn't matter now, and I'd always wanted her to know.

She didn't seem upset or disgusted when I told her about Nessie. Instead, we talked about pregnancy, it's joys and pains, and raising babies, we talked about husbands, their joys and pains. I remembered the day that I had helped her with her graduation invitations, how grateful I had been to have a normal conversation with a human girl. I felt the same way now. For a moment, my human life seemed very near.

"I wish I could see you." She barely breathed the words now, but I caught them. "I'm sure you're beautiful… I always thought there was something strange about those Cullens."

I smiled and squeezed her hand. "You were my best friend you know."

"I'm glad you came back," she whispered, "I'm glad you told me."

"So am I."

A few hours later she took her last breath, and with it, my last link to humanity.