4:20:19

"Any new or persisting symptoms of your cancer? New rashes occurring on the skin surrounding your spinal cord? More weakness and fatigue? Easy bruising and excessive nosebleeds? Shortness of breath, followed with the urgency to cough?" The EMT rattled off as she stared down at the bracelet the Swan wore, the tips of her fingers causing Emery to jump and flinch painfully as they grazed over her covered, sore skin. Shakily breathing in, Emery looked up at her father, who stared back at her with a grimace. 

"Should you tell her or should I? Since all you did was fall, right?" Charlie spoke out into the small confines of the ambulance, skepticism thick in his tone as he took in his daughter's weakened state. Lying in the gurney was his eldest daughter, looking more terrified and exhausted than he has ever seen her. Bruises wrapped their way down her neck and around her shoulders, indentations of fingernails that dug into her skin still present from the attack that happened just hours ago. 

"I didn't just fall, dad." Emery whispered out, her dampened eyes straining against the bright lights. 

"I was attacked."

✾

Coming home to the quiet and dark home was nothing new to Charlie, but he knew that something was wrong when Bella's door was left open and Emery's was closed shut. He can remember the way his youngest stuttered as he asked why she was still awake and how her sister was feeling, dread filling his veins as Bella pleaded him to not bother Emery and to let her sleep. Charlie should have known something was wrong when Emery didn't greet him on the sofa like she usually did, with her small body curled up against the plaid quilt she and him made together the summer she stayed back with him, while Bella traveled with their mother.

Emery and Charlie always made sure to say goodnight to each other before going to bed. It started all the way back to when she was three, and continued throughout the hospital visits and the inevitable distance that came with him and Renee being divorced. 

All thoughts and incessant worries left his mind when opened her bedroom door, and saw his daughter lying unnervingly still in bed, her shoulders shaking in effort to breathe in through the waves of pain that ran through her body. 

"What the hell happened?" He barked out, his stomach churning as Emery jolted in bed, causing the blanket to roll off her shoulder and expose the bruises that began to darken and pulsate. Bella stumbled into the bedroom to stop their father from getting any closer, but it was too late. Charlie gasped and clutched onto the bedding as he made his way over to the other side. 

"Dad, please. All she did was fall." Bella insisted, her hand failing to reach out and grasp onto her father's shoulder as Charlie fell forward, letting out a choked breath of air as he took in Emery's battered state. Charlie couldn't even detect where the bruises began and where they ended, her skin beet red from the shower and from when she fell onto the concrete and scraped the majority of her upper body. 

Tears sprung to his eyes as he landed on the edge of the bed and gently lifted her head, his breath halting to a stop as Emery cried out with her eyes closed in agony. Charlie took a deep breath and delicately lifted her head onto his lap, his shaking hands trying to find home on his daughter's tremoring body. 

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Emery strained out, her breathing becoming erratic as her father moved her closer into his embrace. Raising her gauzed hand, Emery gently held her father's hand that held the side of her neck in an urgency to find a steady pulse. "I'm still here, I'm still breathing." Emery forced out in a whisper, a pained smile stretching her scraped lip open as she tried to calm him down. Bella shut her eyes tightly as her father hunched over and held her sister as gently as he could, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. 

Quietly, Bella made her way to the living room and picked up her father's phone, calling an ambulance as Charlie's cries echoed throughout the home.

✾

"I don't remember much," Emery lied, causing her father to close his mouth and pause, mid-question. "I don't remember what they looked like and how I got away. All I know is that Bella got me home safe. She just didn't want you to worry. Don't blame her. I got home okay, and I'm here now." Swallowing thickly, she blinked back tears as the screams of her attackers rang in her ears. 

"Let's just take it one step at a time. Everything will be alright." Charlie looked down at his beaten daughter with disbelief. "So you expect me to just go along and pretend like there aren't men out there getting away with hurting my daughter? There aren't dangerous people that tried to come after you? It's my job to protect, and I couldn't protect you. Do you know how horrible that makes me feel?" Reaching down and grasping her open palm, Charlie wiped away the stray tears that made their way down his daughter's face from his words.

"There is not one single thing that will ever come before you or Bella, do you understand me? So, sure, we can take this one step at a time. We'll make sure that you'll heal up nicely, and with as much time as we have left together, everything will be alright. I can agree and I can promise to that. But, please. Just for one moment, allow me to be upset at the fact that I almost could have just lost my daughter, that I know I am already going to lose." 

"Dad-" Emery pleaded, but was cut off by Charlie bending down and placing a gentle kiss to her temple to settle her.

"I'm not upset at your decision to end things your way. If I were in your position, I would do the same thing. Do not ever think that I would have you, or even place the thought of me, wanting you to fight through a cancer battle I know you aren't going to win, and suffer through the last few months of your life being pumped with medications that make you nothing less than sick and miserable. It's your life and your choice. And I am grateful that you are strong enough to get to the point where you are now. So, just like you said, let's just take it one step at a time. Let's enjoy the rest of the time we have together. Let's get you healed up and back at home, right where you belong."

Weakly smiling up at her dad, Emery teasingly whispered out, "Everything will be okay?"

Puckering his lips, that turns into a tired grin as it punches a short and frail laugh out of his daughter, Charlie replies with certainty.

"Everything will be okay. Get some rest."

✾ 

Emery wakes up to a cold and quiet room. Eyes feeling too heavy to open on their own due to medication, the Swan tries to will herself back to sleep, fighting off the images that flow behind her closed eye lids. 

"Now I know why the Cullen's are so invested in you two. Such clean smelling souls. It is going to be such a pity when by the time I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but a heap on the floor for me to step over."

As soon as the Cullen's name slipped out of the unknown mans mouth, Emery jolted up straight, her weak and drained body filling with a fight that was powered with the feeling of protection. Seeing this, the man let out a breathy laugh.

"Still willing to fight for those that allowed you to leave so easily? So naïve you are. But then again, why should I be surprised? You're only human." His voice began to sharpen at the last word, his movements beginning to seem more calculated and motivated, as he made his way to only a few feet away from his next victim.

"But, tell me this." He hummed out, gently tangling his fingers into his blood soaked shirt, grinning widely as Emery's eyes closed in fear and defeat. "How come you and your sister couldn't figure out that you two are constantly surrounded by vampires?"

Emery's body slumped forward as hand shoved her forward, a gasp leaving her as her skin connected with cold, hard skin. Digging her nails into the mans skin to enforce pain and to regain her balance, Emery let go as soon as a hard hand gripped onto the skin of her back and lifted her feet off of the ground.

Shaking her head to get rid of the memory, Emery wills herself to relax, before the feeling of being watched begins to put her on edge.

A cold hand gently presses onto her shoulder with familiarity, causing Emery to open her eyes with a startled gasp. 

"No sudden movements." Carlisle voices out monotonously, his eyes staring straight ahead as he checks her vitals. Freezing up in panic, the Swan gasps out her father's name, her fear becoming stronger as she realizes they are alone.

Sighing out, Carlisle resigns his duty of checking her vitals and rests his hands at his sides, taking a step back to give her reassurance. "Your father is outside in the waiting room. Due to your loss of blood and your cancer, you are more at risk for infections. Therefore, he cannot be in the room with you." 

Emery looked around the room, her eyes pausing on the blood bags and the dialysis. 

"I said no to the dialysis, it makes me sick." Emery murmured out, her stomach twisting as she inhales spurts of the artificial air from the tubes in her nose. Carlisle pauses as he looks down at her frightened face, guilt being the emotion he decides to show. 

"We had no choice. You caught an infection, due to the scraping you faced when you were attacked. It entered your bloodstream and we have to purify. The blood bags are stabilizing you. Would you like some more fluids?" Emery shook her head as she stared at the pale man in front of her.

"Did your children tell you what happened?" She asks in a quiet tone, causing the Cullen to pause as he looks down at her file he already had memorized. "When I was attacked? Did they tell you what they did? That they killed two men? Right in front of me."

"They killed those men because they were no good, and they did what they had to do to protect you." Carlisle said in a rush of a reply, growing worried as her heartbeat began to stagger and rise. 

"They are the way they are, because I made them that way. I decided that it was in their best interest to turn. So then they wouldn't have to suffer, die in such a way. Many of them didn't have a chance. Some were dying from plagues, some were dying from being attacked. Luckily, they got to you in time. We are dangerous to be involved with. But our kind isn't. We don't harm. And I'm sorry that you were." Emery hesitated as Carlisle moved forward once again to check on her wounds. 

"Is she with them? With Edward? After what happened to me?" Emery asked, her heart feeling heavy as the doctor in front of her nodded without a word. 

"Her being with them, is the reason why she isn't here with me." 

"She feels guilty, like it was her fault for you being attacked the way you were. If she could be here, she would be. I hope you know she loves you." Carlisle started, but Emery shakes her head and just raises a weak hand. 

"Is that why she said I just fell? Because she loves me, or because she loves him?" Emery asked bluntly, her shoulder resting against the side of the bed. "She seemed more afraid of you guys being found out about than my own health. I thought we were getting closer, that we would be sister's again."

Carlisle looked down at the Swan and expected her to look upset. But, instead, she looked reserved. Like she expected the way things were panning out. 

"Within the last year, she had gotten extremely close with Edward. If I could explain to you how far they have connected with their bond, you would understand-" Emery just sent him a quirk of an eyebrow and closed her eyes. Pursing his lips and willing himself to walk away from the unfinished conversation, he pauses by the doorway.

"I know I shouldn't get involved, but I thought you should know. Alice and Jasper never wanted you to get involved in all of this. They tried their hardest to stay away and to create boundaries. But over time, they began to truly care for you. Both of them, the same way Edward feels for Bella. I hope that in due time, you come to be a part of the family. I know this is a stressful and harmful situation. But just because the situation is harmful, does not mean that the people involved are willing to harm, themselves. I hope you are willing to give them another chance. From what I have seen and what I have been told, it seems like you were willing and open to feel the same way for them. I just hope you get the chance to love and feel love in a way you have not, before it's too late." 

Emery opened her eyes and looked at him in silent shock, before looking towards the window, her chest feeling hollow.

"When you were attacked, they had to be dragged away from your home. They refused to leave. I know this is overwhelming for you, but try and look at it from their perspective. They thought they lost someone they began to deeply care for, soon after realizing you were already going to be dying from a terminal cancer. What you went through was not easy by any means. But I hope you are willing to see that you weren't the only one who got hurt. Take it from someone who has many regrets, helping and saving those I consider to be my family, isn't one of them." 

Sending her a gentle and secretive smile, Carlisle opened her door fully before closing her curtain for full privacy. Peeking his head in once more, he nudges his head towards the hallway.

"And once you're no longer at danger of contracting any more infections, you have some unwanted visitors that would love to make sure you're okay."