Prologue
"Emmy, I'm tired," the young girl whined, swatting away the various bug that buzzed around her face. "Are we almost done?"
"Why'd you ask to go hiking with me if you were just going to complain the whole time?" Emmett replied with a chuckle, slowing down to match his younger sister's sluggish pace.
"I'm not complaining! This is just taking too long and I'm tired and-" Her drawn out whines were quickly replaced by a squeal of glee as Emmett snatched her off the dirt path and plopped her right on top of his beefy shoulders.
"Well I guess if you're so tired we should just head back," he teased, adding a bounce to his step to invoke even more giggles from the girl perched on his shoulders. "We're so close to reaching the waterfall, but I guess I'm just going to have to carry you back home since you're so tired and everything…"
"No! I can make it, I promise!" She insists, her tiny body shaking with the effort to sound serious despite the laughter threatening to burst through. "But you better keep me up here, just to make sure that I don't get too tired," she quickly adds.
Bellowing a hearty laugh, Emmett adheres to his sister's request as he continues on the well worn path through the Olympic Peninsula. Pointing out all the various plants and animals along the way, his heart lifts every time he hears the soft chuckle from his younger sister. He was hoping that today's activities would help bring the light back to her eyes, the carefree innocence that every six year-old should have, the light that all but disappeared from her the year prior. His grip subconsciously tightened on Bella's legs as his mind wandered back to the fateful day where he nearly lost her.
He fights off a shiver as he remembers being pulled out of his senior year literature class by his nervous-looking principal, being led down the harshly lit fluorescent hallway to meet his father in the dark office. His memory of the following minutes gets murky, his mind only conjuring up phrases of apology from the secretarial staff of his school. The picture skips forward to another meeting, this time with a doctor in the lobby of the local hospital. The doctor's words in Emmett's mind were uninterpretable, but her grim expression and eyes directed towards the floor spoke more than any explanation could.
From there, his memory turns towards one of violence, his recollection tinted red as he turns his anger out on the wall. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, Emmett whips around, ready to redirect his violent energy on whatever innocent soul dared to interrupt him from his rage. However, his fury starts to mute as the kind-faced doctor points her hand towards his seemingly catatonic father, extremely pale and slumped across the floor. She leads him out of the hallway, ensuring that Charlie would be well looked after by the other staff.
The doctor leads a distraught Emmett into a small room and starts to examine his hand, swollen and bloody from his assault on the wall. Finding no serious damage to have been done, she simply hands him an ice pack and motions for him to sit in the chair. In the same sympathetic voice that she used just minutes before to officially break the news, she tells Emmett that he has to be strong, and that a broken hand would do nothing to help piece back together a broken family. While his father, Charlie, should be the one to help bear the emotional overload, no one had been able to break through his catatonic state to relay any new information.
Silently leading him to another room, the kind doctor stops in front and turns to look at the distraught young man in front of her. She subtly shakes her head, feeling intense sorrow for this barely-eighteen year-old who was now tasked with holding his family together in a time of tragedy. She opens the door and slightly winces when she hears Emmett's sharp intake of breath. She quietly catalogues the list of injuries that resulted from the careless actions of the local drunk running a red light a few hours prior, and then squeezes his shoulder before exiting the room, giving the boy the privacy he deserves.
Emmett solemnly walks over to the bed and settles himself in the flimsy plastic char. His eyes rake over the broken body in front of him, and he gingerly reaches out to grasp the tiny hand in his own. And in the privacy of the cramped hospital room, he finally allows himself to completely break down. Hunched over the small sleeping girl on the bed, he allows the sobs to completely overtake his body. With his eyes still blurry from tears, he reaches out to push the hair off of Isabella's face, and bends down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. In that moment, he finds comfort in her unconsciousness, knowing that her fragile mind is at least momentarily protected from the pain all around them. He looks at his dear sister's face, so terribly bruised yet serene in her slumber, and dreads the moment when she will eventually wake up. For he knows that when she wakes up, he will be the one to relay the tale of the crash that not only nearly took her own life, but unfortunately took the life of their mother.
As the months went on, the Swan family slowly started to heal. Crutches were discarded and bandages were removed as Bella worked her way back up to her physical peak. Emotionally, Emmett stood by her side and helped her cope as well as any five year-old could with the death of a mother. As Charlie threw himself into his work as a means of distraction from the loss of his beloved wife, Emmett became more and more like a father figure to his younger sister. Helping her through her physical pains and holding her when her emotions were too much to handle, the two of them quickly formed an impenetrable bond that they believed could help them get through almost anything.
A sharp squeal brought Emmett out of his musings as he saw a butterfly land on Bella's arm. "Look Emmy! He landed one me!" She squeaked out through her fit of giggles.
"You think that's cool? Well look up, Bells, we finally made it."
Emmett set his sister down and followed as she ran towards the waterfall, reaching her hands out so she could touch the cold rushing water. He smiled contently, happy that he found the perfect place to tell her his plans for the next year. Instead of leaving straight for college, he decided to take some classes at the local community college so that he could stay back for an additional year and make sure that she was settled in school before he headed out full-time. He knew how much anxiety the thought of him leaving has been causing the young girl, and he was eager to see her face once he spilled the news.
Opening his mouth to begin telling her, he was quickly cut off by Bella's piercing scream. Quickly glancing over her to see that there was no physical damage done, he slowly turned around to examine his surroundings. He almost immediately noticed a small bear club, and exhaled a sigh of relief. Seeing the sole cub, he knew that he could just take Bella and they could easily leave before any damage was done, but that gleeful thought was cut short when he heard the deep growl on his other side. Turning his head, he swept his sister behind him as he made eye contact with the large bear just yards away from where they stood.
"Bella, I need you to turn around and run home. Take my phone on the ground and call Dad. Don't step a foot off the path, it'll lead you straight to the backyard. I'll meet you there."
"But-" she started to complain, but her whimpers were cut off by another growl, as the bear started to lurch towards them.
Emmett knew that if he approached the bear, then Bella would get home safe. With a soft push, he nudged Bella back into the woods, desperate to have her leave before the bear lunged at them. "Please, Bells. Go get Dad. I'll meet you there, I promise."
Not breaking eye contact with the bear, Emmett smiled as he hear the soft patter of his sister's feet recede into the trees, safe on the path back home. Staying as still as possible, he knew that he had to keep the bear there until Bella was safe.
As the minutes passed, Emmett slowly took a step back, hoping that he could quietly disappear into the woods without much fanfare. Unfortunately, the bear had other ideas.
Still running through the woods, the crunch of the leaves beneath her feet drowned out by the cries to her father over the phone, Bella fell to her knees as she heard the undeniable scream off her dear brother somewhere off in the distance.
Hey guys! I've had this idea running around my head for a while, so I decided to take a shot and try writing it out for all of you. Please review and let me know how you like it!