4:17:21

"You have got to eat, bug." Charlie insisted gently, a frown resting upon his features as he watched his daughter stare down at her food filled tray. Clutching at her sky blue grown, Emery weakly shook her head as her stomach shifted at the sight of the food. Willing to take a small drink of water, the Swan grimaced as her throat painfully constricts at the action. 

"I know I haven't been to high school in quite a while, but this has got to be better than the cafeteria food." Twisting her head to face her father, Emery forced a small grin to placate her worrying father, her socked foot gently nudging the rolling table away from her bed. 

"Maybe later, dad. Dialysis and the new medications have me a bit sleepy." She rasped out, her heart feeling heavy as she took in her father's exhausted appearance. 

The last few days were torture for the both of them. In between the forced sponge baths, the constant cleaning of her wounds and the hourly check ins from the nurses and staff, Emery barely got any rest. A part of her was restless and bothered, but another part of her was relieved. Relieved because every time she would close her eyes, she saw red staring back at her. Red eyes and twisted grins, strong hands clamping down and bruising her skin, creating scars that were only visible to her. 

Her father was no better off. During the rarity of him not being by her side, he was overwhelmed with the increase of animal attacks and deaths in the nearby towns. He feared for his children's safety, the fear encapsulating him every time he looked over and saw his eldest daughter in the hospital bed. 

Furrowing his eyebrows, Charlie goes to protest, but pauses as he catches sight of his younger daughter. Emery follows his movement and tenses in bed, her eyes widening at the sight of the vampires surrounding her in the waiting room.

"Don't let them in, dad." She whispered out, her hands gripping the arms of the bed. Forcing himself to not ask questions, her father merely nodded and made his way to the door.

"Hey, Bells." He called out, trying to make his voice sound normal, as his hand hidden behind the curtain grips onto the addition of his belt. "I think it's time you come on in and visit your sister." 

Freezing at the sight of her father's hard eyes, Bella nods and begins to make her way over, comforted as Edward follows behind her. The Swan pauses as her father walks out of the small opening of the door and leans forward, his hand circling around her arm and gently tugging her forward. 

"Dad," Bella began to protest, twisting her hand out of his grasp and pausing to look back at Edward. Before she could protest any further, Carlisle stepped forward, his stature hostile. 

"Family only."

✾

Carlisle glared as his children stood up from their chairs, their postures rigid and eyes staring ahead at the closing door.

"Carlisle, I have to be with her." Edward insisted, clenching his teeth in frustration as he was shot a short glance. "Where she needs to be is with her family. Have you no idea how all of this will look? The daughter of the chief, no less, surrounded by a family who were the last to be around the victim of a mysterious and violent accident, surrounding the terrified girl in her hospital room? Think. Put your needs and feelings aside and just think. This isn't about you, any of you. This is about a teenage girl getting harassed and attacked, by fledglings, because we were ignorant enough to think she would be safe on her own. Ignorant enough to think that we should have prioritized one's safety over the other."

Edward looked away from the pointed gaze, before slowly nodding and turning around. Rosalie sighed and moved forward to follow her brother out, before pausing as he sat back down, pointedly staring out the window, instead of the door and his family members.

Emmett hummed and raised an eyebrow, before nudging his mate back to his side. His amusement quickly came to an end as he realized how much emptier the waiting room had gotten. Pausing, he glanced around the waiting room, before sending a worried look towards his father.

"Where are Alice and Jasper?" He asked out loud, watching as Rosalie froze and Edward fell still. Placing his files onto the chair nearest to him, Carlisle sat down next to his children, looking forward as the chief forcibly closed the curtain to create another barrier.

"I sent them home. They haven't been feeding."

"What do you mean they haven't been feeding?" Rosalie demanded, her voice raising with worry.

"They are refusing to feed until they know she'll be okay."

✾

"What is their entire family doing here?" Charlie asked before Bella could fully sit down, causing her to pause and then sigh.

"They were worried for her wellbeing, we all know each other." Bella replied with hostility, her hands clasped tightly together and her leg jumping.

Emery sat back in her bed quietly, closing her eyes and forcing herself to be calm as her heart began to speed up and beep loudly on her monitor. "They felt guilty because they were the last ones to see her before the attack and just wanted to make sure she was okay." Bella continued before pausing, her leg freezing in place as she finally allowed herself to look over at her sister. 

Bella's eye filled with tears as she took in her sister's battered appearance. The last time she had seen her, she was wet from her shower and covered in clothes, her wounds hidden. But in this hospital room, she could see everything. The red, angry scratches littered against her legs from the concrete, the bump protruding from her thinning hair in the back of her head. The two, large bruises from the pairs of hands that suffocated her as she fought to escape.

But the worst thing to see, was her sister's eyes. Bright red and constantly wide, filled with the images of the attack replaying over and over again.

Guilt filled her as she watched her sister tense up in bed and coach herself to breathe, clench and relax her hands from her hospital gown, her cheeks reddening from the overexertion. "How long has she been like this?" She whispered out, her chest hollowing as her sister looked over at her with flighted eyes.

"Since the attack, three days ago. The last time you visited." Charlie replied, before moving his chair forward and holding onto his eldest daughter's hand. Shaking her head, Bella began to protest. "No, no dad. I've been here. I've been here with them. I've been waiting." 

"No, you were with them. The only thing you were waiting for was for her to be fixed. Or, at the very least, okay enough for you to feel secure enough to come in and visit." Charlie stopped himself as Emery squeezed his hand in warning, her glossy eyes looking over at him and weakly shaking her head.

"It's been a lot for all of us." Emery spoke up, her hand haphazardly readjusting the tubes feeding her oxygen. "I don't want to argue anymore. I don't want us to fight. I just want to be with my family. That's what I came back for." Inhaling painfully, Emery pleaded. "They weren't involved and everything is okay. I don't know who attacked me or where they came from, who or what they were. But I'm still here, so please let's just focus on this."

"Let's just focus on what we have, while we still have it. Before everything changes." 

✾

Hastily pulling herself up straight into her chair, Bella chewed on her lip as she stared out of the dark set of windows. "Why did you lie? You know that they are involved. You could have died the other night. Why are you protecting them?"

Emery glanced at her father's disappearing figure down the hall, before rolling her head to the other side of the pillow. Meeting her sister's eyes, she tiredly raised an eyebrow. "Why are you in love with one of them?" Bella's eye widened as she sputtered out, "I am not in love."

"You chose to be out there, with him, them, instead of being in here with me." Emery rose a hand to stop her sister from interrupting. "I was hurt, and I was upset. But I get it. You love one of them, you wanted to be with him. You chose him."

Bella sporadically shook her head, before shuffling forward and kneeling near the bed. "No, you don't understand. After I called the ambulance, I followed behind with Edward and his siblings. Alice and Jasper were terrified, and almost fled, thinking it was their fault for your accident. I tried to get Edward to continue to follow, but Emmett told him to turn around. They found the original scent of the attackers and followed their trail. And all it led them to was the trail of other attacks, the one's that dad has been going after for months."

Emery shook her head. "The men that they killed, that tried to kill me."

"They were murderers, Em. You weren't their first victim, and you weren't going to be their last. The Cullen's killed them to protect us, to protect everyone else they would have gone after. They aren't going to hurt us. Alice and Jasper won't hurt you. None of them will." Bella reached up and held onto her sister's hand. "No matter how alone you've felt in here, we were protecting you. We were staying here to keep guard in case they had a coven, and we had to go to our classes to make it seem like everything was normal. I know I should have come in to visit you and not just stay back for my own benefit. I was selfish and cowardly, and I am so sorry." Using her free hand to flick away the stray tear, Bella sent her sister a watery smile. "I know that when I was younger, I did the same. I chose to pretend like you weren't dying, like everything was fine and I went on with my own life. But I never stopped worrying about you. It was just, every time I would look at you, you were either at home and withering away to the point to where you had to go back to the hospital, or you got stable to the point of you coming back home, just to go back. It was terrifying for me, terrifying for me to the point to blind me from how you were feeling. I never allowed myself to realize that you were the one that was the most terrified. Because you're the one that's dying."

Emery interlaced her fingers with Bella's, gently tugging on her to signal her to stand. Before Bella could even get her footing, Emery pushed an arm of the bed down and patted an empty spot for her to sit. "You weren't the only one in the wrong," She began, as her younger sister sat down carefully. "I was selfish too. I blamed you and mom and was upset at you two, for not visiting me enough. For acting as if I was frail and a burden. I never really allowed myself to accept the fact that I was truly as weak and as sick as I was, as I am."

Bella let out a sobbed laugh as her sister called herself weak, before glancing down at her with a trembling smile. "If you can go through years of chemotherapy, countless blood transfusions, bone marrow tests and horrible attacks and still consider yourself weak, then what the hell does that make me?"

"A Swan." Emery grinned out. "A flighty Swan with horrible emotional management issues." Sluggishly moving away from a gentle smack of a hand, Emery relaxed back into the bed with the first genuine smile on her face in days.

Bella relaxed against her sister, going to rest her eyes, before her sister tiredly called out her name. Humming out, the youngest Swan turns to face her sister.

"I know I'm the one dying, and I should be more worried about myself. But, when I'm gone, can you promise me that everyone else will be alright? Dad, you, mom. Angela, the Cullen's? I can't die knowing that I'll leave and things won't be okay." Bella tensed and went to sit up, but surrendered when her sister held onto her shoulder to keep in her place.

"I don't mean to make you worry, everything aside. But my time is coming up. And the last thing I wish for, is for everyone to be okay after I die. Because then, I will be." Pursing her lips to hold in her tears, Bella quietly nodded and firmly grasped onto the hand resting on her shoulder, closing her eyes momentarily.

Holding onto her hand until she falls asleep, the younger Swan gently placed her hand onto her other for replacement, and pulled the white blanket up to her shivering sister's chin. Bella looked at her sister curled up to herself, peaceful in her sleep, and wished that she could always look the way she did right now.

Walking out, Bella looked around in confusion. The room that was once bright, was now losing light, and the nurses station was now closing on the floor. The silence that was once calming is now frightening, as loud footsteps become closer. Looking around in panic, Bella begins to walk backwards as the footsteps get louder and more insistent.

Stopping as her back hits something solid, Bella lets out a sigh as the lights begin to flicker back on. 

"It's quite frightening when you mess with something as natural as electricity, isn't it?" A voice from behind her asked. Jumping back from the solidity, Bella gasps out as the woman fully forms in front of her eyes. 

"Who are you? What are you doing here? I'm just here to give her back her necklace. I mean no harm. Probably less than you do." She mused out with a small grin on her tinted lips, before letting out an amused hum and sliding into Emery's room. "Wait, don't wake her." Bella pleaded, making the woman pause and send her a quirk of an eyebrow.

"The only one who would be waking her up would be you." She responded, before taking out a familiar necklace and placing it on her sister's neck. "Can you make sure that the next time she gets attacked, the least she could do is keep her necklace on? It's her stone for a reason."

Bella flinches back at the woman's exasperated tone, before watching in amazement as her sister's skin begins to gain color and her heartbeat steadies. "How did you?"

"I did nothing. But she did plenty." Before Bella could ask any more questions, the woman paused and then sent her a smirk over the shoulder. "Plenty of fangs coming your way."

And before Bella could blink, the woman was gone, and she was opening her eyes.

✾ 

"You still falling asleep anywhere you can?" A warm and familiar voice called out, causing Bella to open her eyes in a panic. Looking around, Bella notices her father resting against the doorway with a coffee in hand. 

"What?" Bella asked in confusion, her eyes widening as she looked down and saw the necklace tucked securely under her sister's neckline. "How long was I asleep for?"

Charlie raised a shoulder in a shrug, before narrowing his eyes in question. "I've only been gone for an hour. Is everything okay?" Nodding her head quickly to stop any more questioning, Bella jolts up and tells her father a quick goodnight. 

Barging out of the door, Bella gasps out a breath of air as the surroundings are back to normal and the Cullen's are still alert.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, jumping up at the sight of his panic stricken mate. 

Bella went to open her mouth, but then paused as she turned around and saw her sister. Healthier skin complexion and the bruises on her legs starting to fade. Taking a deep breath, she forced a grin on her lips and shook her head. 

"Nothing. Nothing at all. How are Jasper and Alice?"