4:14:17

Esme watched as Jasper sat on the edge of the sofa, his pale hands almost reddening at the strength he used to make fists. 

No one else in the room was any better. Rosalie paced by the descending stairwell on the second floor of the home, Emmett in tow and watching her in worry. Alice stood behind the marble family table, her face uncharacteristically neutral and her body tense without any motion. 

The smell of the oxidizing blood in the two cups on the kitchen counter made Carlilse's nose scrunch, the smell of it calling to him and disgusting him all at once. 

"We made a choice, and that was to protect her," Rosalie began, her index finger tingling as she gently ran it over a sharpened tooth, her feet moving against the carpet in a repetitive, restless motion. "We had to kill them. There was no other option. If we were anything more than ten seconds later, Emery's neck would have been snapped, and she would be the one dead." Ignoring the flinch from Alice at her sharp words, she continued. "We can't be the one's at fault. We can't be the ones that she's afraid of."

Emmett gently placed a hand against his mate's shoulder as her voice began to crack and sound tearful, before delicately tugging her back into his arms.

"This isn't the end." Carlisle rang out from behind Esme, his forearm gently caressing the middle of her back as he took in the distressed look on her face. Although the vampire hadn't spent much time with the older Swan, she felt an instant, familiar and maternal connection to her. 

"If Bella was able to come around and accept Edward, she should hopefully be able to do the same," raising his hand to stop Jasper from speaking up in protest, he continued. "The circumstances may be incredibly different, but we did save her. We all have to sit back and look at things from her perspective. This town, and us, are still relatively new to her. She spent a majority of her childhood and early teenage years in a hospital, battling cancer, to which she still is today. She knows nothing about the supernatural, except for the few strange occurrences she's had on her own, and from the attack a few days ago. She is not like us, and she is not like her sister, Bella. We have to take this one step at a time. We have to give her space, and we have to keep some distance."

Alice's face crumpled as her father spoke, her eyes burning with the tears she was unable to physically shed. Glancing at her mate, her chest tightened painfully as she took in his exhausted and disheveled state. The last few days have not been easy for them. For any of them. Even Edward began to come home, himself looking guilty and saddened by his family's and mate's turmoil. 

Although Edward wasn't close to Emery, and at times, disliked her and did not favor her for reasons that his family and mate are unknown to, he still felt bad and sympathized for her. 

Speaking up for the first time in hours, Jasper graveled out, "So, what do we do now?" His voice so dry and painful sounding, causing his father to cringe at the sound. 

Glancing over at the kitchen counter, Emmett raised an eyebrow and grimaced at the stale sight.

"You feed."

Shaking her head, Alice fully stood up and began to walk away from the second living room, but paused as a cold hand encircled around her elbow. 

Looking up into her mother's eyes, she slowly forced herself to relax at the sight of her mother looking at her, silently pleading. "You can't do this to yourself, baby. One of you is already sick, it shouldn't have to be all three of you." Esme looked over to her husband and gently nodded towards the cupped blood, before looking over to her son. "I know this is an incredibly tough time for you two, but we shouldn't make anything worse. There were two unknown vampire's miles away from our home, which means that there might be more within the area. The more strength we can build, the more we can keep not only ourselves, but our loved one's safe too. So feed not only for yourself, but so you can protect Emery, and the rest of us too. She'll come around. She has to. She was made for you two. She's your soulmate."

Staring down at the carpet, Jasper allowed himself to feel. He allowed himself to feel his own emotions. Not the dread of his mate, who was terrified of losing Emery just like himself, but the own heaviness in his chest. The hollow and empty feeling that weighed him down whenever he was unable to be around her. The feeling of helplessness that evaded his entire being, constantly reminding him that one of his own kind was the reason his soulmate has to once again heal. The still heart in his chest, pulsating and tugging painfully as he had to walk away from her hospital room.

"Don't blame yourselves." Carlilse murmured softly, returning back to his wife's side, his hands now full. "Any of you. This was out of our control. The best that we can do now is to be more aware, and to begin again."

Unclenching his fists and nodding to himself, Jasper slowly raised from where he sat, his throat burning and his stomach uncomfortably shifting at the smell emanating from a few feet away.

Stepping forward, Carlisle raises the two cups, hiding his grimace at the sight of the cells sticking to each side of the now stained glasses. 

"Bottoms up." He muses, gesturing for Alice to come closer. Alice swallows thickly and begins to walk forward shakily, before glancing over at Jasper. Holding his hand out, Jasper firmly grasps onto his mate's hand, before taking a deep breath and reaching out with an unsteady hand. Holding back a wince, Jasper carefully clasps the now cold and thickening cup of blood in his free hand, before repositioning to face Alice and sending her a small, comforting smile, along with a nod. Taking a deep breath, he lifts the heavy cup to his mouth. And following his lead, she closes her eyes and lifts the cup to her pale lips, only two words repeating in both of their minds in synchronicity. 

'For Emery.'

✾

Charlie shifts at the sound of footsteps coming closer to him, before slowly opening his eyes and wincing at the bright light.

Gripping onto the long sleeves of her jacket, Bella slows to a stop, before sighing and leaning against the nearest and vacant seat, her eyes fluttering around the nurses in her sister's room.

"More dialysis?" Bella asks out loud, her back tensing up at the coldness of the hard plastic seeping through the thick fabric. Shaking his head, Charlie lifts his hand to rub at his reddened and bagged eyes. "New dose of medicine, this time through iv. The Acalabrutinib was able to help her to a certain extent, but now they're trying out something more inviolable since her cancer's permanent."

Watching as the nurses insert a plastic extender into her sister's active intravenous therapy, Bella frowns as her sister shifts uncomfortably in her sleep. "What's the side effects this time?"

"Nosebleeds, collection of blood under the skin, coughing up blood, prolonged bleeding from cuts, temporary paralysis, difficulty in breathing and swallowing, and itching, pain, redness, or swelling at the injection shot and the skin surrounding." A sweet and familiar voice recited, causing the Swan's to glance up. "Medicine burns when it reaches the vein like potassium, but it's minimal, hence how she didn't fully wake up when we dosed her." Sending them a placating smile, she nods in greeting, before sitting opposite of them.

"I'm nurse Clearwater, but you can call me-"

"Sue. It's good to see you again." Charlie spoke up, a tone of fondness seeping into his words, causing Bella to glance in between them with confusion. "I thought you stuck to your own neck of the woods?"

Fighting back a playful grin, sue responded, "Doctor Cullen is out for the day, so I was allowed to come over. Family reasons." Bella shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the nurse's eyes shifted over to her momentarily, before finding her way back to Charlie and tightening her grasp on the folder in her hands. "Although she's healing remarkably fast and her vitals are beginning to stable, we'd like to keep her for another night or two. Like I stated earlier, the new medication has quite a long list of side effects, and we'd like to evaluate and keep a close eye on her in case her body begins to reject or fight off the change in medication and the higher dosage we see fit for her." 

Noticing the look of worry on her father's face, Bella awkwardly placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her with surprise, before slowly beginning to relax.

"So far, so good. We just gave her the second dose. She was able to sleep through the first, no sign of the side effects we usually see with such a strong medicine. I know it doesn't mean much, coming from me, but I think she'll be alright." Sending them a small grin, she begins to stand and readjusts the stethoscope around her neck. "She should wake soon. I'm sure seeing you both with make her day."

Sending her a nod, Charlie rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat, before calling out for her to tell Harry he says hi, only to begin to crack a smile as he's playfully waved off.

Placing her hand back into her pocket, Bella glances over at her sleeping sister and repositions in her chair. "Did anything change while I was gone?" She asks, eyes intent on the discomfort on her sister's face.

"Since the last time we were here yesterday, she's healed almost all of her bruises, and her deeper lacerations were able to begin to scab. Doctors are saying it's a miracle, but you know how I feel about those. I'm just glad she's found enough strength within herself to heal." Biting back the guilt she feels about holding back the information about the woman, Bella nods and stands up with her father. 

Walking in behind the Chief, the youngest Swan watches in shock as the necklace on her sister's neck shines a ray of a design on the wall. In an almost golden hue, a small wolf appears on the wall to the side of her, it's mouth opening in a way that made it look as if it were trying to howl. Warmth began to burn at her fingertips, and the sudden urge to touch the pendant caused her body to almost jerk forward. But before she could take a step, her sister's eyes opened. 

The sun shifted and a steady roll of clouds rolled in, causing the hue of the wolf to disappear without a trace.

"Hey, bug." Their father voiced out softly, causing Bella to snap out of her stupor and focus on the sight in front of her. Charlie sat on the edge of the bed, careful of her wires and machines, his hand closest to her wrapped around one of her own, and a fragile smile adorning his lips. 

Looking down at his eldest daughter, Charlie fought the urge to feel upset or sad. He forced himself to be grateful that his daughter was still here with him. He knew that she wouldn't want him to hyper fixate on her impending mortality, so he forced himself to relax.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her, huffing out a small laugh as she scrunched her nose and flicked her tongue out to try and moisturize her dry lips, before reaching out for her cup of water nearby. Bella reaches out and grasps the cup her instead, leaning down and maneuvering the straw to her lips. Emery sends her a small smile, before slowly beginning to drink. Leaning back after a few sips, Emery froze as her nose began to burn, and a steady stream of thick fluid began to run down her cupid's bow.

"I'm sorry." She cries out in a rasp, her free hand raising up to her nose, before stopping entirely. Rubbing her thumb and index finger, she realizes that her blood is cold, and fully oxidized, as if it had been sitting out. 

"It's cold." She announces shakily, causing her father to furrow his brows and gently raise his hand to dab at her nose. Shaking his head, he confusingly says, "bug, your blood is warm and fresh. Too warm actually, I think you might be running a fever." Tugging the napkin away, she looks down and sees fresh blood there instead. Taking a deep breath, she tries to calm herself down, before her spine stands up straight forcibly on it's own, and her eyes begin to daze.

✾

Jasper and Alice grimace as the blood sticks to their tongues. Emmett holds back a gag dramatically, and fake winces as Rosalie roughly taps him on his shoulder. Jerking the cup upwards to finish the cup of blood in haste, Alice pushes her head back in shock as the blood swishes up and runs along her upper lip, stopping at the edge of her nostril and beginning to steadily run down. 

"Messy eater." Esme muses out, her tone still hesitant due to the heavy conversation before. Pausing before slowly lowering the cup down, Alice begins to choke up as the blood digesting begins to feel unbearably hot. 

"What's wrong?" Carlilse insists, taking the glass out of her hands and guiding her to sit down. Blinking rapidly, Alice's eyes flit around as they begin to haze.

Unsteadily kneeling down beside his mate, Jasper clasps onto her hand and closes his eyes, beginning to feel overwhelmed himself. 

Alice forces her eyes to reopen, and gasps out loud as she sees a bright, white room. Looking around, she stills as she sees the shocked form of their mate, as well as her mate's sister and father frozen in place near her side. 

"Can you see me?" Alice asks shakily, causing Emery to spin her head towards her and begin to tremor. Seeing her fear begin to overwhelm her and seeing this as his only chance to speak to her, Jasper quickly steps up.

"We aren't here to hurt you," Jasper began, from Alice's side. "We don't know what this is, but please, listen to me. While we have this chance. We aren't going to hurt you. The idea of you hurting in any way, it hurts us more than you can imagine. Just think about it. These past two months, the way we have treated you, loved- cared and welcomed you. The way we protected and invited you, protected your sister." 

Alice carefully begins to make her way towards the hospital bed, careful not to brush against her mate's family. "We never wanted you to find out this way. We wanted to tell you ourselves. But then we found out you were ill, and we didn't want to put you in any harm's way, even though that ended up being inevitable." Emery had to looked away, her eyes filling with tears at the brokenhearted look in Alice's eyes. "In these two months, you have ended up meaning so much more to us than we thought was even possible. I can't see myself being here without you, neither or us. So, take as much time as you can. But please, don't leave us. Don't push us away."

Gasping at the feeling of frost, Emery stared down at her hand. Jasper held on to her tremoring hand hesitantly, but sighed out in content as Emery slowly began to reciprocate the touch.

"We will explain everything to you. Just, please give us the chance. I promise you won't regret it, won't regret meeting up with us. Allowing us to explain." Alice pleaded. Opening her mouth to answer, Emery pauses as she feels herself being tugged back into place and warm hands fluttering around her instead.

✾

"Em, are you there? Do we need to call a nurse?" Bella rushes out, her hand grasping onto the remote attached to the wall in panic.

Blinking rapidly and shaking her head, Emery places her hand over her sister's hand and gently pushes her hand away. 

"I'm- I'm okay. It was just a head rush from the new medication." Emery stammers out, ignoring the worrisome glance her father sends her way. Charlie pauses and acknowledges her odd behavior, before standing up and clutching onto the napkin.

"I'm going to check and see if nurse Sue is available," he begins, leaning down and placing a kiss on his eldest daughter's forehead. "I know you've had plenty of them before, but I just want to be cautious. Bells, stay with your sister, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Bella nodded and leaned forward as their father paced quickly out of the room, haphazardly closing the sliding door behind him.

Resting her head in the middle of her palms, Bella looked at her sister inquisitively. "You saw them, didn't you?" Looking back at her in shock, Emery goes to question her, but stops as Bella sends her a tired grin. 

"It's called a soulbond. Something happens where an item or a situation in both places happens at the same time, and it causes a mental lapse in those who are connected. It's temporary. It must have started once you started to bleed and they began to feed. But I don't understand how you were attached. Edward can sometimes see into my dreams, but he isn't able to interact with me, especially when I'm awake. And you have to be supernatural for it to fully work." Bella pauses, before realization begins to set in. 

The strange woman. Her abnormal healing, the constant feeling of being watched. The woman speaking about her sister, as if she were one of two. The repetitive mention of werewolves being brought up. Jacob. Paul. Her sister being used as a portal for Edward to be able to speak to the other side after her first accident. Her usage of unknown powers when they were cornered by the werewolves. The two unknown and dead vampires being the only ones who could smell her scent. Her eyes changing colors. Her being able to revive flowers and gain back strength from them. 

Her sister wasn't fully human after all.

 Fear begins to settle in, and Bella slowly glances up to look up at her sister's neck.

There lies the pendant of the wolf. That called for her, that tried to get her to touch. That may have taken energy from them as they walked into the room. 

Leaning back in her chair, Bella stretches her arm out for the room's phone and frantically dials a number.

"Who are you calling?" Emery asks, her hands clutching onto the white blanket. Looking at her sister's frightened state, Bella began to shake her leg as the phone began to ring. She needs to figure out what was going on, and she has to figure out fast.

Before it's too late.