Miracle

Prologue

Charlie's POV

I sat in the chair as I waited for my doctor to come back. I had no idea why I was coughing up blood. I tried to stay optimistic, but when you always see the down side, it was hard.

I had been divorced for twenty years, had a beautiful girlfriend, and my twenty-seven year old daughter. If there was anyone I would want here with me, it would be my daughter, my Bells.

Bella was the most important part of my life and I hated the way she led her life. She lived alone in a small apartment in a bad part of our small town, didn't have many friends, and wasn't exactly a happy-go-lucky child. She was one of those kids who focused on her studies, reading Shakespearian novels and such.

I sat up in the hospital bed as the doctor walked in, shock filling me.

I knew the doctor. My best friend was his father. Billy Black had gone to high school with me and was my best man at my wedding. We had been going fishing every weekend since before Bella was even an idea.

"Jacob?" He gave me a look of surprise and walked over, his signature grin on his face and shaking my hand.

"Charlie, it's been too long." I chuckled gently. The last time I saw him was when he was graduating high school and now he was a doctor. Damn, I was getting too old.

"How are you, son? I haven't seen you since you left for college." He chuckled loudly and shook his head.

"Well, I am fine. I just finished my residency in Port Angeles and transferred home to be with my father." I nodded. I always knew that Jacob was the responsible of Billy's three children. The other two ran off as soon as they could, but not Jacob. He took a year off of school to take care of his dad and get him ready for when he did have to go.

Jacob had always had a strong will and ambition. I knew he would go far in life, but I never thought it would be as a doctor!

"Your father didn't even tell me that you went to medical school." He chuckled gently, patting my shoulder.

"Well, old man, let's get down to business." I nodded as he pulled his stool up to the bed, sitting on it with his arms crossed. "First, I am going to need to ask you a few simple questions to narrow down the cause or causes of bleeding, if that is alright?" I nodded and he seemed thoughtful. "Have you been sick lately?" I nodded gently.

"I had little cold about a month and half ago." He shook his head, a stern look on his face. It was obvious that he took his job very seriously.

"I mean, within the past week or so?" I shook my head and he continued. "No cough? No sneezing? No sore throat? No head ache? Anything at all?" I shook my head, laughing to myself.

"I'm as healthy as a horse." That got him back to himself for a moment so he could laugh.

"Sure, sure. If that were true, we wouldn't be talking right now." I nodded so he continued. "Have you picked up smoking?" I scoffed and shook my head. "Anything at all? Cigarettes? Cigars? Hookah?" I shook my head and he nodded.

"Any history of asthma in the family? Lung problems?" I shook my head and he looked thoughtful. "Does the bleeding start anytime or only when you cough?" I sighed.

"Only when I cough." He nodded and sat my chart in his lap.

"Well, Charlie, I'm going to need to run a few tests. I suspect its coming from your lungs, but I can't just jump to that conclusion. It could be coming from your stomach, throat, lungs, mouth, etc. I help with all the fields, but my specialty is oncology-" I instantly stopped him.

"What is that?" He gently bit the side of his lip as he spoke.

"I'm a cancer doctor. Given that, it is in my nature, of course, to go down that route if nothing comes up. We need to find out where the bleeding is coming from to be able to stop it. Does it hurt anywhere when you cough?" I nodded and pointed to a certain spot on my chest, underneath my rib cage. He pulled off his stethoscope and put the ear pieces in his ears, placing the metal part to my chest. "Charlie, can you cough for me?" I did a few coughs, feeling the sting. He pulled back off the stethoscope.

"Okay, Charlie. I can't be sure without an x-ray of your chest, but it sounds like you may have some fluid building up in your lung. It could be the blood. I'm not sure, but I am going to schedule you an x-ray so we can see for sure. There are many things that it could be so you don't need to worry. It could be Tuberculosis, which is very treatable now, bronchitis, etc." Then a nurse slightly opened the door.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but is the patient allowed visitors right now? His daughter just arrived." He nodded gently.

"Of course he is. Bring her in." She left and Jacob chuckled. "I'm sorry. I completely forgot that you had a daughter." A proud smile stretched across my face as I thought of my Bells.

""Yep. She moved back here right after you left for college. She decided to escape her mother and never left." He nodded as Bella walked in, obviously worried. Jacob's eyes were glued to her and I knew that look. I knew Bella was easy on the eyes. She had chocolate brown eyes, clear ivory skin, dark auburn brown hair that extended down her back, and of course that cute little button nose.

She caught a lot of guys attention and normally it bothered me, but not with Jacob. He was a good boy, always had been. He was the kind of guy that stood when a girl excused herself from the table, opened the door for a girl, made sure to be respectful of his elders, took care of his family, and not to mention, he had a big career ahead of him. He was just as much of a catch as Bella was. Jacob was probably the only guy that I knew for sure would always treat the love in his life right.

They would be perfect for each other.

"Dad, are you okay?" She looked frantic and horrified. I knew that it had to do with the hospital part of it all. She had never liked them too much and they usually made her nervous.

"I'm fine, kiddo. How did you find out I was here?" She rolled her eyes and stood on the opposite side of me that Jacob was.

"It's a small town, Dad. Everyone in Forks knows you are in the hospital. What happened? Did you have a car wreck or something?" I waved her off, shaking my head.

"No, nothing like that. I'm fine, honey." She sighed in relief and then looked confused.

"Then why are you in the hospital?" Jacob decided to save me from having to say anything, directing Bella's attention to him.

"It is probably nothing, but we should get started on our tests. Your father is just having some minor bleeding in his lungs." She looked horrified and looked back at me.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me? Or Sue? She is worried sick about you!" I shook my head, sitting up more.

"Because it is no big deal. Just calm your horses." She narrowed her eyes, but stayed silenced. This is what I loved about Bella. She was always so worried about me and knew when to shut up. I looked at Jacob, patting his shoulder. His eyes were trained on Bella and I knew that looked very well. I had that same look the first time I laid my eyes on her mother. They both shared the same natural beauty that shined and brightened up the room.

I didn't blame Jacob for having his eyes on her. It made me slightly uncomfortable with that look in his eyes, but like I said before, they would be perfect for each other.

"Bells, this is Billy's son, Jacob." She finally actually looked at him, a blush covering her face. I rolled my eyes as they shook hands momentarily. I really wanted to laugh. It was sad that this was the first time they had ever met before.

Bella had lived with her mother till she was eighteen. I would always fly down to see her at least five times a year since Renee wouldn't let her come to Washington. She arrived a week after Jacob left.

"Hi." She was usually shy around anyone that wasn't her family or my friends. Jacob gave her one of his normal smiles.

"Hey." He shook off his daze caused by my daughter and got back to business. "As I was saying, Charlie, first we are going to start with an x-ray and if the x-ray is clear then we will go to other possible things to find out why you are bleeding. Does that sound good?" I nodded and patted his shoulder again.

"Bring it on, Doc." He chuckled gently and stood up, giving Bella one last glance before leaving the room. I caught out of the corner of my eye my daughter, biting her lip as she watched him leave the room.

Oh, God. Please let this torture be over with as soon as possible.

A/N: Hello, everyone! I actually started writing this a few months ago with my little sister who is also a member on here, but never got around to publishing it. I got up the nerve to post it and here it is. Please, be gentle. I love reviews and so please love me with them. I will update as soon as I can. I am working on other things right now so wait at most a week for chapter one to come out. Thanks. Love you all *kiss*

This co-written by EEB.