Alternate ending to The Lost Heir (Not Canon)

Ok so i was asked to write an alternate ending to The Lost Heir where Lexa found out. I thought over this for a little while because, so long as our Cullens were around her, nothing bad would have happened to her and i couldnt justify them telling her without reason. And so i sort of made a situation where by they HAD to tell her or she just overheard something that they couldnt explain away. And so this little extra was born.

I do want to just reiterate though, i dont plan on Lexa finding out about the supernatural. I kind of like the idea that a human Cullen got to experience our beloved protagonists without any of the dangers or drama that comes with it and that the Cullens got to experience a little pocket of peace with one of their human descendants in normality.

This is an alternate ending where she finds out in Edwards POV so i could get all the thoughts of everyone around at the time. Technically its based after 'The Meaning of Immortality' just after they returned to Chicago for Clara (which is coming out next week).

It also gives a huge insight into Finns mind and why he did what he did. I might try to get this conversation into a canon story eventually if i decide to revisit the Volturi Heir idea.

I hope you enjoy anon :) i tried to keep it in character whilst also giving you what you wanted.

(if any generations confuse you or you cant remember how each of the Cullen's links to Lexa and Finn, you can find a mini cheat sheet on my wiki here. Even i had to check this to be reminded as i wrote this. Remove a 'great' for each couples relationship to Finn)

__________

Edward Cullen

2220

I saw Lexa's name appear on my phone but answered it to a very panicked Finn.

“Edward, I need help… I need… its Lexa… She... I need” Finn was sobbing, he wasn’t getting any words out I could make sense of.

“Finn, calm down. Tell me what’s wrong. What’s wrong with Lexa?” I asked him suddenly worried. Bella’s eyes fell on me instantly. Before we even said a word to each other we were standing and walking to Carlisle and Esme’s house. It was where the Cullen’s congregated to avoid being in the Volturi Mansion. It was where I already knew Carlisle, Esme, Micah, Rose, Emmett and Esther were.

“There was an incident” he managed to finally say after a few deep breaths. “I need the life and death twins. I can’t lose her. I can’t go through this again.” He said, his grief turning to anger.

I was through the door and face to face with Esther, her eyes locked with mine as she scanned my mind over the conversation I was having.

Everyone in the room could hear Finn’s panic on the other end but had no clue what was going on yet.

“which hospital?” Esther asked instantly. I realised where she was going with the question and panic rose in my throat.

“are you in a Cullen hospital Finn?” I asked fast, my eyes locking with Carlisle.

“um, yes. Yes, its Cullen” he answered quickly but I heard nurses and machines bleeping, I heard them fussing over something and then a ‘get her to an OR’ and commotion on the other end of the phone.

“Finn, which one? Which hospital? where are you?” I asked trying to get as much information as I could. If we weren’t quick the same thing would happen to Lexa as happened to her mother. If she died, without a cover. We couldn’t save her. No matter how much we’d want to. Not unless we saved her to turn her and even then she’d lose her life. She’d lose who she was.

“Manhatten. Central I think.” Finn said but I heard the door swing open and the bed being wheeled out.

“Finn?” I asked him. He wasn’t answering now.

“damn it, Finn, listen to me!” I yelled. Panic was rising in my chest. My heart felt like it was being crushed under the weight of a rock. We were going to lose her. If she didn’t survive that surgery. It would be too late.

I looked to Carlisle for an answer.

Amelia Parker. She’s the ambassador in that hospital. She’ll deal with it. He thought in his mind. I nodded, now we just had to get Finn to pay attention long enough to go and find her.

Certain Cullen hospitals had an ‘ambassador’ for the supernatural as Carlisle called them. He couldn’t put them in every hospital, but some had them. She knew about our world; she knew Carlisle’s true nature and could stop the doctors from witnessing Lexa’s death so that she could be brought back by the twins. But she had to know Lexa was there first.

“Finn, I need you to find Dr Amelia Parker. She’s the head of general surgery in that hospital. You need to tell her you’re a Cullen, that Lexa is a Cullen. Finn. Do you understand me? Forget about the surgery. If you don’t find Amelia, Lexa is going to have the same fate as her mother. You need to get Amelia.” I coaxed down the phone. It seemed to be enough. Something I said must have enough to make him understand.

“ok” he mumbled, and I heard a door swinging.

“I can’t go. I can’t show my face. Micah it will have to be you” Carlisle said facing his son. Micah nodded. 

The Cullen hospitals had officially been handed to Micah now. Carlisle was past the age technology could hide. Micah was the current ‘face’ of the hospitals, even if Carlisle still helped him a lot with the work and pressure of an empire.

Micah, Esther, Bella, Rose, Emmett and I headed for the private jet on the other side of the Volturi estate.

“we’re on our way. We’re coming, I promise. Just find Amelia. Ill call you when we land within the hour” I said and hung up.

“do you think he’s lucid enough to find her?” Bella asked concern coating her voice, her body language was anxious, and she kept stroking her thumb on mine.

“I hope so” I mumbled as we reached the jet.

Anelie and Lidiya were there waiting for us. Esther had already informed them to meet us there.

We piled onto the jet and I stayed in sync with Esther’s mind. She was trying to track his mind, to find out what he was thinking. But she hadnt seen Finn in over thirty years and she had never met Lexa. So, she was metaphorically trying to find a needle in a haystack. A needle she had no idea what it looked like. I watched and Rose and Bella spoke in hushed voices. There was no point in telling Rose or Em to stay behind. They were as close to Lexa as Bella and me. They’d want to be there, to help explain. Because there was no way in hell, we were getting away with keeping our secret now. Not if Lexa died.

We landed in New York and took the helicopter into Manhattan, landing on the hospital itself.

“thank you, Roger,” Micah thanked the pilot as we all piled out, rushing as humanly slow as we could to the elevator down.

I was going to dial Finn but quickly decided against it. Either he had done it, or he hadn’t. We’d soon find out. We made it to the first reception desk we could find. Heads were turning around us. 

“is that? Are they?” I heard whispers around us.

“I am Micah Cullen; my niece is in this hospital. She’s just been taking into surgery about an hour ago. Her name is Alexa Cullen.” Micah said to the receptionist. She stared at him in awe.

“Hannah!” He almost yelled, reading her name tag.

“yes, um, I’m sorry Dr Cullen. Yes. One moment” she said looking through the computer.

“she is assigned to room thirty-four, floor seventeen. But she’s still in surgery. O.R.7.” the girl said reading from the screen.

“thank you for your help Hannah” Micah said, and we were already walking down the hall towards the elevator. Heads were turning, mutters were spreading. Nurses were paging other nurses. 

It would take all of about thirty seconds until the entire hospital knew that Dr Micah Cullen was in the building.

“this is going to be interesting” I muttered looking at my brother.

“its been a few years since I was here. I showed my face after our father handed me the reins, but I haven’t been here since. This is one of the hospitals that runs so smoothly. It rarely needs to be checked up on.”

“you’re like a celebrity to them.” I told him straight.

“you are a celebrity to them” Esther corrected me as the elevator doors opened on the right floor. People were waiting staring at us as we exited the elevator.

“back to work! All of you!” a young doctor yelled as she made her way towards us. The nurses and doctors on the floor scurried at the sound of the female. She headed straight for Micah, extending her hand.

“Dr Cullen, its an honour. I assume you’re here for Alexa Cullen?” the woman asked.

“Dr Parker?” he asked for clarification as he shook her hand. She didn’t flinch at the cold.

“indeed” she nodded with a smile looking the other faces.

“you will have to introduce me to your family, after we save your great niece.” She said leading us towards the operating rooms.

“should we all be charging to the OR like we own the place?” Emmett asked sceptically.

“we do own the place Em” I smirked at him.

“you know what I mean. We’re drawing a lot of looks right now” he muttered, clearly uncomfortable with the show we were putting on.

“maybe, Em, Rose and I should go find Finn. We’re of no use in there. We don’t know the slightest thing when it comes to medicine” Bella countered as we reached the operating room.

“that’s a good idea” Esther agreed with a nod.

“I’ll come with you. There is little use for me” I said turning to my brother and Dr Parker. “she’s still alive but barely. You need to get Lidiya in there fast” I said to Micah.

“I’ve got this brother. She’ll be okay” he said his hand coming to my shoulder for a moment before the five of them swung open the OR doors and walked in. I turned and took Bella’s hand. Leading her and my siblings to the room where Finn was waiting.

I had a direct link with Esther so I could see everything going on in the operating room. They were currently clearing it out of the staff working on Lexa as Micah 'scrubbed in' to remain sterile whilst operating on her.

“but sir, if we stop now. The patient is very likely going to die.” I heard the surgeon questioning Micah.

“Dr Kane, this is Dr Cullen. He knows what he’s doing. He can save her. Now get out” Dr Parker commanded. The surgeon nodded, dropping his instruments, and frowning as the display began to beep. Micah immediately picked up and carried on where the surgeon left off as the room cleared of personnel. The second they left; Micah stopped. Dropping the façade and moving out of the way for Lidiya to have access to Lexa open on the table.

“its so much harder work when they’re already open” she muttered with a frown as I watched her hands place on the bloody open abdomen of my great great granddaughter.

“Edward! Bella! Thank god!” Finn gasped as he saw us.

“she’s going to be fine. The twins are with her now. it will all be okay” Bella said reaching to hug her great grandson. He accepted the comfort for a moment, but he wasn’t comfortable in the hug. He pulled away as the doors opened.

Esther and the twins walked in first, followed by Micah pushing the bed with Lexa still asleep in it.

“Esther” Finn said, his head bowing. Out of respect or shame I wasn’t even quite sure. His mind was a mess. He was barely thinking straight. He was still very hostile towards us in his head, he couldn’t stop the thoughts he had. But he was also grateful. Infinitely grateful for his family. 

“my nipote” she said with adoration. ‘Nipote’ was an Italian word meaning grandchild, nephew, niece, with no gender attached to it. Esther began using it a few decades ago for any member of our family directly related to her. It was a term of endearment reserved for only a few. Finn only met Esther when he was a child, and I wasn’t even sure he remembered the term. That was until his mind faltered. 

He saw Esther in his mind, when he was a child and he remembered being in awe of her. As many are when they first meet her.

Esther was his Great-Great-Grandmother, I knew to Esther, it didn’t matter how many greats were in front of the term grandchild for her, but Finn definitely didn’t feel the same attachment. He hadn’t experienced the greatness or the love of Esther. He had separated her from grandparent to the ‘legend’ of her. The fear crept into him as if she was a stranger to him, as if they didn’t share the same blood.

“you are my grandson. You have nothing to fear from me. Stories, whispers, myths and legends don’t change the blood that runs in your veins.” Esther told him softly, her hand reaching his face. He looked down at her, only an inch or so smaller than himself but at least twenty years younger than him physically.

“I am grateful you came, all of you” he said swallowing the lump in his throat. “but I really need you to leave now, leave my daughters life and never return” he said specifically eying the life and death twins, I could see it in his mind. He didn’t even know who was who, he didn’t know his own great-grandmothers face apart from her twins. Rose noticed too; I saw her anger flare in her mind.

 

“she saved your daughters life!” Rose erupted in response to his brashness.

“rose” Em whispered to his wife.

“no, no this is ridiculous. You cut us out, you don’t even recognise your own grandmother. Lidiya just saved your daughters life and you wont even let her meet her own great great grandchild. You choose when you want to be a part of this family without any thought for the consequences or the feelings for the immortals that still love you no matter what. Esther is the most powerful creature on the planet, and she would do anything for you, and you don’t even care. She called you her grandson, after everything! After cutting her out of your life and you have the audacity to throw her out. Very few have disrespected Esther and lived to tell the tale.” Rose was angry. I didn’t blame her, but at the same time, I could see Finn’s mind. It was coated in grief. The sight of the three most powerful women on the planet, the women that should have saved his wife was too much for him. He almost lost his child, the child he did so much to protect. He wasn’t a rational man. He was a broken one.

“Rose stop” Bella said when her head whipped around to Lexa who was awake.

“what do you mean grandmother?” she asked eying the twins by Esther who was still face to face with Finn.

“Lexa” Finn span to rush to his daughter’s side ignoring the vampire stares in his back.

“daddy what happened?” she asked frowning as she sat up. Her hand went to her stomach.

“you were in an accident” he said softly taking her hand.

“Edward, Bella? Rose Em? What are you doing here?” she asked looking around the room at the faces. Lidiya, Anelie, Esther and Micah had stepped back as everyone else in the room fell to Lexa’s side. It was instinct. We knew her, we loved her. The others knew Lexa had no clue who they were. If they rushed to her side as we did, she'd be overwhelmed.

“I called them” Finn answered before we could.

“where’s Aron?” Lexa asked suddenly in a panic.

“he’s okay. He didn’t come out as badly injured as you” Finn answered quick. “he was sent home to rest. I told him id call him with news.”

“I… I was shot” she said her hand going back to her abdomen. “it wasn’t an accident” she frowned.

“you were caught in the crossfire of a robbery. Do you remember?” I asked and for the first time Lexa looked to me. She smiled at my face and I could see how happy she was to see me, after the months we’d spent apart. 

“yes. Why don’t I feel pain? How did I heal so fast?” she asked. I smiled at her intelligence. It was never going to get past this girl. She wouldnt take a simple blase explanation. Her mind was too brilliant.

“you were healed supernaturally” Finn answered bowing his head in defeat. He knew the only answer Lexa would accept would be the truth. He felt defeated.

“supernaturally?” Lexa asked raising her eyebrows at her father.

“The people in this room, aren’t your cousins Lexa. They’re your ancestors. Grandparents.” He clarified. Lexa’s eyes met mine again and I could see in her head she wanted to laugh, but something in the back of her mind was stopping her. She had known. All this time that we were family. Some part of her, her biology, told her we were her family. She had accepted the answer ‘cousins’ but this time. She accepted ‘grandparents’ just as easily and she wasn’t even sure how it was possible yet.

“The reason I kept you from our family, wasn’t because I hated them, or ashamed of them. But because they’re part of a world that you aren’t. They’re vampires.” He explained slowly.

“we’re good vamps though kid, I promise. We only feed on animals. We’d never hurt you. I promise” Emmett weighed in quickly. I watched my brother as he leant over the shoulder of his wife to make sure he could reassure his grandchild before her mind made the leap to ‘bloodsucking murderers’.

Finn turned to glare at Emmett for interrupting, but he turned back to his daughter quickly to continue.

“I wanted to protect you from their world. from the ancestors that have more power than you can ever imagine. Their power brings dangers. It brings a weight of the world. Being a Cullen in their world is being royalty. I wanted to raise you human, raise you normal so you could see the world as its meant to be.” He explained. I could see Rosalie bite her tongue before she argued how wrong he was. She didn’t want to get Finn any angrier or scare Lexa.

“So, I’m a princess and you didn’t even tell me?” she joked with her father. He managed a small smile.

“you are. You’re a direct heir to the Volturi. The leading force of the supernatural world. You are my son’s great grandchild” Lidiya said stepping forward towards my side. Lexa turned to look at Lidiya.

“you weren’t raised in that world. you are not their heir. youre just human.” Finn countered ignoring his grandmother.

“Why don’t we leave the decisions and choices to the girl that is now old enough to make them?” Lexa asked her father turning her head to him. “not only have you kept me from a family bigger than I could ever imagine. You have kept a secret from me that could change my life. There is no reason someone can’t live between worlds. Right?” she asked turning to me at the end. I nodded in confirmation. Many generations did it. Clara did it with ease. 

“Lexa.” Finn sighed.

“How many grandparents do I have? How many aunts and uncles and cousins? How many have you kept from me?” she frowned, tears welling in her eyes at the lost time she mourned.

“These people are the reason your mother is dead.” Finn declared in anger, giving a death glare to Lidiya and Anelie. I saw in his mind then he blamed Lidiya. The reason he could not look at her, the reason he feared Esther was because he hated her daughter. 

The emotions in the room changed instantly. Micah eyed Bella, telling her that they should leave. Bella grabbed Roses hand and muttered ‘lets give them some space before this gets ugly’. Bella, Emmett, Rose and Micah left the room. Anelie followed, knowing this wasn’t something for her to get involved in. Leaving Esther, Lidiya and myself with Finn and Lexa. I would have left myself, to give Finn and Lexa a chance to talk things out but Lexa had reached for my hand and was holding onto it with all her strength.

“I don’t believe that!” she almost screamed back.

“The reason you’re alive right now is because our “family” have powers. Abilities you couldn’t even dream of, they can control life and death and atoms and matter. They can read minds and see the future and create protection shields from their own bodies. They can find anyone in the world and have the power to wipe entire existences off the face of this planet. Their powers are infinite and failed to protect her! They failed to keep your mother here. With us. With me” he said, his voice breaking and tears matching his daughters fell onto his cheeks.

“they sound wonderful” Lexa said softly, looking to me at her side. She was already reasoning it out in her head. She knew us. She had lived the last year of her life with us. She loved us and she knew we loved her. Her mind couldn’t accept that we were evil, that we were dangerous.

You would have saved her if you could, wouldn’t you? She asked me.

I nodded in response.

“how did you know I could read your mind?” I asked her with a smirk.

I put two and two together. She thought remembering several times over the past year that I had known things the others didn’t. The times I sat with her studying or just talking, and I had responded to things without realising. She had labelled it as intuition but now she knew better.

She turned back to her emotional father who was barely holding it together. She moved on the bed, dropping my hand and moving to face him. She reached and wrapped her arms around him.

“its ok daddy. I know how much you loved her. I miss her too. I can’t imagine living with the thought that she could have been saved but you have me. I’m still here. I’m alive. And I’m not going anywhere” she said, and he held her tighter to him for a moment.

“tell me what happened, who are you for my father to blame you for my mothers death?” she said turning to Lidiya across the room.

“I can control Death. My twin sister can control Life. The night you were born, your mother went into a very early, quick and complicated labour. She was across the country from Chicago where my sister and I reside. Your parents planned to have you in the Cullen hospital in Chicago, but they took a last-minute vacation to Florida a few months before you were expected to arrive. You were born prematurely and your mother died. She was surrounded by human doctors that had seen her die, doctors that had declared her dead and already moved her to the morgue before your father even called us. It was too late. There was nothing we could do without exposing who we were. Had she died in a Cullen hospital we might have been able to cover it up, but it all happened too fast.” Lidiya explained. Finn had pulled away from his daughter and watched Lidiya retell the story. He couldn’t believe how accurately she knew the events. It surprised him.

“I’ve saved lives and I’ve taken them. But none of them haunt me as much as that one. I saw what it did to your father, I saw what it did to my daughter in law, Lexi and my son, Ben. If I could have changed it. I would have. You grew up without a mother because of me. I will never forgive myself for that.” Lidiya said softly. There was a pause in the room. Lexa was about to say something when Finn spoke out first.

“it wasn’t your fault” Finn said suddenly. Surprising everyone in the room. We all turned to look at him, Lexa included. He took a deep breath, finally looking into the eyes of his grandmother. The one he spent the last twenty years hating because he blamed her. He was shocked at the emotion on Lidiya’s face as she told the story. He realised he had run out of anger and grief. He didn’t stop to think about how Lidiya felt having failed to keep her promise. That she didn’t mean to let his wife die. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. After twenty years, he had been blinded by grief. It was easier to blame Death herself than his own decisions to go on that vacation.

“I’ve blamed you. For so long. And I’m sorry.” He said. Lidiya swallowed the emotion threatening to escape.“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’ve held onto that hatred, that blame for so many years. I… it wasn’t your fault.” He said shaking his head. I saw in his mind. It was like a veil was being lifted. He finally saw the events for what they were. Bad luck.

“I grew up, knowing about you. Hearing stories and feeling immortal. Even though I knew I wasn’t, even though the vampire in me is too diluted for true immortality. I still felt immortal. I felt invincible. Like nothing bad would ever happen to me. As a child I grew up believing in superheroes because my grandparents were the superheroes. You were.” He said then looking up at Esther.

“I was a fool to think that the heroes can save everyone. That just because I knew you, I was one too.” He said before turning to his daughter. “I’m sorry I kept you from them. I’m sorry.” He said.

“I forgive you” she said reaching to hug her father again. She stepped off the bed and walked over to Lidiya who had barely moved. "thank you for saving my life" she said sincerely.

"you're welcome isnt the right response in this situation. a thank you isnt even necessary." lidiya answered her.

"well im going to say it anyway" Lexa smiled and reached to hug Lidiya. It took her a moment to get over the shock before she melted into the hug of her long lost granddaughter she'd never met.