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Welcome to the RPCC Contest!

This is a collaboration contest in which members of The Original Twilight Role Play! have teamed up to give the fandom a taste of the fun and skills gained from role playing through one shots.

Entry #09.

Title: What To Not Tell Your Mother

Summary: What she doesn't know might kill her.

Rating: T

Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Family

Characters: Jordan McCarty, EJ Cullen

Authors: TheBloodyWhiteWolfxoxo and Hardrock Im Not Okay

ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐღღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ

*EJ*

I was sitting on the couch in my parents' house contemplating about how to tell them the news. No, I didn't get my girlfriend pregnant, get in a car accident, or kill someone. I would rather have done all three again then face telling my parents that I have cancer.

My father - Emmett Cullen - would have a predictable reaction. I knew he would laugh and play with the emotions, not taking me seriously. My mommy though...I was cut off from my thinking as I heard her walk in.

I looked up, smiling, my hands clasped, and sat up with perfect posture. I spoke in a voice that was a bit too high to be my own.

"Mommyyy!" My voice mocked one of an excited child. Even when I had bad news, I still loved to see my mother.

She flashed a smile as she passed by, making her usual rounds through the house. From down the hall, I heard her answer me smoothly. "Hey, buddy."

I smiled, waiting for her to make her way back into the living room before I told her about my week, "So, this has been my week," I said in a sing-song voice. "I made Eli cry by telling him I have cancer, and I got my ass kicked by a leech or two..."

I really hoped she missed the part about cancer, but I knew she wouldn't. I sat there watching, waiting for her reaction. She froze, her dark eyes shining over, her fingers slowly curling into her rough palms. A stream of blood ran down over her russet skin, staining it red as her nails pierced her skin.

Crap.

*Jordan*

Jordan stood stiffly in the middle of the room, her feet braced against the hard wooden floor beneath her. This was the house her and her husband had occupied for years - it was familiar, wall by wall, room by room, splinter by splinter of damage done and prepared by the same hands.

Yet as the words left her son's mouth, the room around her was shot through with a wind of ice, becoming one of a stranger's: exposed, foreign, and suffocating.

She didn't hear anything else. She was deaf to her surroundings, oblivious to EJ's remark about his rough-housing with his brother that would have otherwise earned him a playful scolding. Only three words blasted straight through her eardrums, hitting her like a stake through her skull.

I have cancer.

Jordan's expression morphed and twisted, becoming nearly unrecognizable. She could feel the hot pang in her palms, but the sensation quickly faded as her body was washed with a sea of heat. The world was going black, spinning and crushing her simultaneously as her mind struggled to wrap around news she had heard before.

News that had led another young life to a grave dug by two pairs of hands, one flaming with fury and the other an icy antidote.

Footsteps padded over the floor. They were coming close. Too close. Jordan's lips peeled back suddenly, revealing her teeth in warning. A strange sound, one of fierce, animalistic nature, spat off of her tongue. Hot breath huffed choppily out her mouth, almost covering the sound of EJ's scurrying retreat and stumbling rush up the stairs.

Jordan's blind eyes followed the movement before she whirled around, letting her rage fly out of her and into the defenseless wall around her.

*EJ*

EJ leapt onto his bed, huddling deep in the blankets. Shatters, shouts, and slams echoed from downstairs. Even though the walls muffled the sounds, EJ's senses were heightened by the fifty percent vampire DNA that ran through his veins, and his ears picked up on every sound. He wrapped his heavy blanket over his shoulders in an attempt to block out the sounds.

Minutes rolled by. The sounds of the destruction didn't lessen. EJ lifted his head slightly, staring at the door. Was his father there too?

"Mom?" he called hesitantly.

Suddenly, there was an eerie silence. Heartbeats later, Jordan appeared in the doorway, her black hair flat against her head and her clothes torn and ripped by a series of sharp movements. She stood in the doorway, motionless. Her eyes were black coals burning in her skull, locked on EJ.

EJ lifted his head to look up at her. "Sorry I got sick..."

At first, the silence hovered. EJ started to think she still hadn't gathered herself, but then the quiet was broken by his mother's smooth voice.

"Don't you dare think like that, buddy."

EJ dropped his gaze, staring at the solid colors of his blanket. He thought of pressing her with another question, but he held it back. "Okay, Mommy."

Jordan shook her head, clearing the distance in a few long strides. She gently smoothed EJ's blankets over him, tucking him in just the way he liked to be - pillow propped, sheets smooth, blanket covering his body. EJ stared at the hardness in her expression, unable to swallow down the question that was bubbling up inside of him.

"Mom?"

Standing straight, Jordan pulled in a slow breath, resting her gaze on her son. "Yes."

"Can we have Mommy and EJ snuggle time?"

EJ was snuggling into her comforting warmth and falling into an untroubled slumber within seconds.

*Jordan*

Jordan held her son in her arms, her legs curled to avoid dangling over the edge. Her gaze reflected the images shining in the windows, although her eyes barely saw any of it. There wasn't anything she could do to hold herself in now - even through years of Emmett's healing love and companionship, the monster still lurked and she herself wasn't restored.

It was the monster that fueled the endless ocean of anger burned deep inside of her.

And it was the monster that had long since forced her brain to forget how to form the tears that should spill over her dry, empty eyes as she smelled the faint, looming scent of sickness on his body.

The monster wasn't in control like it used to be, though. Her wolf didn't hold both ropes of the reins. Jordan still had her determination in her, burning just as hot as anything else.

Jordan and Emmett weren't going to dig another grave. She wasn't going to let Emmett or Emmett Junior down - she refused to fail. Jordan would do what she had to do to keep her husband grinning and her son alive.

To hell with the rest.