ONE MONTH LATER.

THE ROOM WAS SILENT apart from the occasional sniffle or shuffling. For one day only, the Cullen Clan and the Quileute Tribe put their differences aside and threw away the laws of the treaty, allowing the wolves to pass into their territory for this event.

Bella curled into Edwards arms, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Her hands shook and she avoided everyone's eyes. She blamed herself.

Alice sat next to the two, her hands shaking in Jasper's. The two vampires were paler than usual, and frowns adorned their faces. Alice's eyes would be teary if she could cry.

Sam and Emily sat next to each other, grasping onto one another's arms for some form of solace. Their eyes were red, and Sam's tough exterior had been let down. Emily held a tub of cookies in her shaking hands—Lena's favourites.

Next to them, Jared stared at nothing as Kim stared at him worriedly. He sniffled every once in a while, using his sleeve to wipe his face. In his hands, a photo he'd printed off not too long ago. In the photo, he stood smiling next to Lena. He couldn't look at it without crying. He folded and unfolded it continuously.

Quil's hands were in fists, and his jaw was set. He was holding in his tears, unlike Embry, who let his fall silently. The sound of them dripping onto the floor echoed in the silence. His throat constricted as he attempted to hold in his sobs.

Leah's eyes were closed, but her face was red and stricken with grief. Next to her, her brother Seth sat. Usually, the hyperactive boy struggled to sit still in his seat, but now he hardly moved. His eyes were glazed over and a frown was set on his face. There were tear tracks on both siblings' cheeks.

Jake stood stiffly next to Bella and Edward, his jaw clenched.

Far from the rest of them sat Paul. His face was pale, tears rolling down that he wiped away quickly. In his hands, a bouquet of flowers. Roses and sunflowers, Lena's favourite. His hair was untamed and his clothes were wrinkled. His dad sat beside him, frowning at the floor.

Theodore Parkinson stood stiffly, a flower of his own in his hand. In his other, another hand gripped it, a tall man with dark curly hair. He looked tough, but his smile showed you he was a teddy bear. Although he wasn't smiling now.

The rest of the Cullens, Charlie Swan and Rebecca Masters were all there too. Each of them showing their own signs of sadness and grief.

Suddenly, a door opened and all heads snapped to it. Carlisle Cullen stood in the doorway, clipboard in hand, doctors coat draped over his arm. His eyes moved to that of Theodore, and he smiled slightly.

"She's awake."

A collective sigh ran through the room, and all of a sudden, multiple people were on their feet and ready to head in. The older vampire held up a hand, "Only Theodore may go in at the moment. Afterward, anyone Lena allows can visit her."

Teddy nodded with a smile and quickly pushed past Carlisle, closing the door behind him. He stood frozen for a moment, looking down at the hospital bed his niece lay in. She was pale, and she was connected up to a bunch of different machines.

"Teddy?" Her voice was hoarse, but she was smiling nonetheless.

The man stepped forward, "Lena.."

"Hey, man." She smirked, but then her face fell. Memories from the battle flooded back to her, the vampire, the scratch, Paul finding her and then...nothing. "What happened?" She asked.

Teddy stepped forward, sitting on the chair beside her bed and holding her hand, "You passed out from the blood loss. The boys carried you all the way here but you kept burning through the morphine. You slipped into a coma."

"How long..."

"A month." He winced, "Carlisle didn't think you'd be able to handle waking up, but time was running out. Today, he did it. We thought you might not make it but...you powered through."

She cracked a smile, "Damn right I did."

The man chuckled, tucking the flower he'd brought behind her ear. "I'd stay but...they're waiting to see you."

"Who is?"

He smiled, "Everyone is."

It was Bella who she asked for first, and the girl burst in quickly. All Lena saw was a flash of brown hair before Bella collapsed into her arms.

"Nice to see you too, Bells." She chuckled as she wrapped her arms around the girl.

"You're crushing her."

Bella pulled away sheepishly, and Lena grinned at Edward, who stood by the door, "Hey, Ed."

His face scrunched up at the name, but there was a small smile on his face.

"Lena, we thought that you'd..." Bella started, but her eyes went glassy and she stopped, "It was my fault."

"No it wasn't." Lena insisted, gripping Bella's hand, "You didn't do anything to deserve anything that you've gone through."

The girl smiled, although it was weak, "I'm just glad you're alive, Lena."

"I'm glad you're alive." She rebutted, "Last I heard, you had some undead visitors up on your campsite."

Bella's brows scrunched, "How'd you know that?"

"Seth's thoughts." She shrugged, then her eyes blew wide, "Oh my god, Seth."

"He's in pieces about you, Lena." Bella stressed, "He's been crying all month."

The girl frowned, saddened at the thought of the young boy being upset. "You'll have to send him in after."

"Of course." Bella said, then smiled, "I have to ask you something first, though."

"What is it?"

The human looked back at her boyfriend, then back at her friend with a smile, "Lena, will you be my maid of honour?"

It took her a second, but eventually the girls eyes blew wide, and she sat up in a hurry. She ignored the pain in her back and put her hands on Bella's shoulders, "Really?"

"Of course." Bella nodded, "You saved me, Lena."

The girls hugged tightly, and Edward sent the wolf a smile over Bella's shoulder. Once they separated, they promised to talk later and then Bella was being ushered out of the room with a job to collect a certain Freshman.

Seth Clearwater entered the room slowly, his eyes peeking through the crack in the door. Lena frowned at the look on his face, tear tracks on his skin, and opened up her arms, "Come on."

He wasted no time, running up to the girl and throwing his arms around her. He was careful not to be too harsh on her back, but still tucked his head into her neck and cried softly.

"Oh Seth." She ran a hand over his head, "It's okay."

"I thought you died." His voice was muffled, and when he pulled away, his tears were back, "You're not allowed to die."

"I know, that's why I didn't." She said, smiling. "I'm okay now."

He nodded, and then a new set of arms were around her neck. Lena chuckled, "Hey, Leah."

Leah pulled away and sent a soft smack to the girl's head, "Don't ever do that again, dipshit."

Lena giggled, "I won't."

"We better go." Seth spoke up, "There's a lot of people waiting outside for you."

Lena clicked her tongue, "Of course. Go on, I'll talk to you later. Love you guys."

"Love you." The siblings chorused before they were gone. It was about a minute before the door opened again, and Rebecca was in front of her, arms crossed.

"When you said, 'if I don't call, then I'm dead', I didn't think you were being literal!" The blonde exclaimed.

The wolf winced, "Right. Sorry about that."

Rebecca went to talk, but just sighed defeatedly and hugged her best friend tightly. They pulled apart, and she sent her a sharp look, "Wanna tell me why Paul Lahote looks like he's two steps away from suicide out there?"

"Bex, really?" Lena said, although her heart leaped in her chest at the mention of the boy. "He's probably regretting all those times he wished I was dead."

"Uh huh." Rebecca didn't look convinced.

"Hey." A voice spoke up from the doorway, "My turn."

The blonde stood and promised Lena they'd talk later, and then Jared was hugging her so tight she thought she might explode.

"Hey, Jared." She squeezed out. He let her go, but kept his hands on her shoulders as he spoke.

"I thought you could handle border control!" He exclaimed.

Lena smirked and shook her head, "I hate you, Cameron."

The boy smiled, "Whatever. At least you aren't actually dead."

"Yeah, whatever." She mocked, rolling her eyes with a smile, "Do me a favour and send someone in here who will actually appreciate me, huh? I wanna see Embry Call please."

"Okay, bossy." Jared lifted his hands in surrender and backed out of the room, not before grinning and saying, "Seriously, though. I love you."

"Love you too."

Then Embry was in the room, and Lena could almost cry at the look on his face. He took tentative steps, as if he thought his mere presence might kill her. Lena simply smiled and opened her arms, and the two hugged for a long time.

"Don't tell Quil." He said, once they'd pulled apart, "But I'm pretty sure you're my best friend."

"Don't tell Rebecca." Lena replied, "But I'm pretty sure you're mine, too."

They smiled at each other. No words were said, but none were needed. They had one another, that's all that mattered.

Jacob walked into the room the same way Embry did. But mainly because he didn't know whether she was going to strangle him or not. Lena looked up at him suspiciously, "Jacob."

"Lena." He said, "Look, I'm sorry about the bruises on your arms. And for being a dick to you about Bella. It's not your fault."

"Hm." She said, then nodded, "Apology accepted. I guess."

Jake smiled and the two shared a fist pump. It seemed as though the line to visit her was long, because soon enough the next person was barrelling through the door.

Sam and Emily gave her hugs, and Emily handed her a box of cookies that she was advised not to share with the boys, because they were hers only. Alice and Jasper came in after, and Jasper thanked her for her perfect border control, despite nearly being killed because of it. Alice said she never doubted for a second that she would die, but hugged her in relief anyway. Quil followed, and received a huge hug from Lena when he told her that Claire was officially his girlfriend. Kim came in and told Lena that Jared cried really hard when he found out she might die, and Lena promised to hang it over the boy's head for life. Emmett and Rosalie said they were glad to see her up and kicking, and Rose gave her a kiss on the cheek that left her a blubbering mess. Even Charlie Swan had come in to let her know he was happy she was okay. She'd already spoken to Carlisle, who'd been her first sight since when she opened her eyes, and after that...

There was nobody else.

Lena frowned when Teddy came back in after seemingly everyone had said their hello's. He caught her frown and sent her a questioning look.

"What's wrong, Lee?" He spoke softly, sitting beside her.

She didn't want to tell him what was really wrong, so instead she shrugged and said, "Just bummed that I have to spend so long in this damn hospital."

"Well, it'd be longer if you were human." He smiled, "Although you did burn through quite a bit of morphine. Doctors thought you might get addicted."

She scoffed, "To morphine? I'm a wolf, I don't need a pain killer."

"That's not—" He gave up, sighing, "Alright. Well, it won't be long before you're up and at 'em again, don't you worry."

"Of course." She nodded, "I have a wedding to plan, after all."

"I thought you were letting Alice do the planning?"

Lena waved a dismissive hand, "Yeah, the boring, stressful stuff."

Teddy laughed, and she joined in. The pair giggled to themselves in the room, all too unaware of the teenage boy with a bouquet in his hands lingering outside the door.

"Paul, come on, man." Jared spoke from where he'd been leaning against the doorway, "Don't back out now. What happened to 'She almost died, and it made me realise that I can't afford to be a dick again?'"

Paul sighed and turned glumly, "She's been through enough. She doesn't need me clogging up her life yet."

"Dude!" His friend exclaimed, brows raised, "Really?"

He took a moment, before nodding and leaving the flowers on the chair outside the door to Lena's room, "Yeah, really. I'm gonna wait."

Jared rolled his eyes joining Paul as he walked down the hospital corridor, "How long?"

The Lahote boy shrugged, "However long it takes."

"Real sentimental, Paul." Jared quipped sarcastically, eyes rolling, "I'm crying. That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Whatever, man."

-mills speaks!!

HA you thought i'd kill off my favourite oc? yeah right. i hope i gave you a good scare, tho.

but no paulena just yet. sorry guys you'll have to wait a bit longer.

btw, this isn't the end, i just named the chapter that to scare you all.

hope u enjoyed, vote and comment!!!!