Disclaimer: I own nada but the storyline.

This isn't going to be a happy go lucky, love saves the day and cures all kind of story because let's face it...how often does that really happen in life?

Enjoy!

"Please stop crying," I said, my voice barely audible above the beeping of the machines, "Everything happens for a reason, right?" I felt Charlie grasp my hand, his large fingers completely closing around my dainty ones. My strong, Chief of Police father that never showed any emotion had broken down in front of me and I wasn't sure what to do. It had been my father and I against the world for as long as I could remember, and in all the years that I lived with Charlie I had never seen him like this. I'm sure he had been distraught when Renee, my egg donor, left us but I had only been 2 so it wasn't as though I would remember that.

"I'm sorry Bells," he whispered, looking up at me with sorrow filled eyes, "I'm so sorry." With my free hand I pushed my hair out of my face, and looked out the window. I had been stuck here for two weeks, with absolutely no idea what was wrong with me. I had shown up at my doctor's office for the results of my blood work after I had some strange bruising and joint pain, and she had sent me to the hospital in Seattle for further testing. She had mentioned something about anemia, and it had seemed simple enough.

I hadn't expected to be here this long.

"I just want to go home." I had moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington three years ago, but right now…I wanted to go home. To Forks. I had always promised myself that I would get out of Forks, that it wouldn't hold me back like it did so many others my age. I guess that was the only thing I got from Renee.

My former high school friends hadn't gone off to college, except my best friend Angela Weber. She was attending UoW with me. She wanted to be a teacher and she was going to be fantastic at it, I just knew it. I had been taking classes towards a degree in psychology. I had always been fascinated by the way the mind works. I sighed heavily and leaned back into the uncomfortable pillows that had always accompanied the uncomfortable hospital beds.

"Do I have to tell people? I don't want anything to change, at least not yet."

"No, honey, you don't have to tell anyone that you don't want to and not until you're ready." I nodded my head and looked at my dad. "Bella," he said, clearing his throat, "I know that you don't care too much for her, but she does care about you in her own way and I-"

"No, dad, absolutely not. We're not calling Renee." I rolled my eyes at the thought. She hadn't wanted to be a mother to me, she had made that much clear. From the stories that I had heard about my mother she hadn't meant to get pregnant with me, and she hadn't really wanted to marry my dad. We held her back from where she wanted to be in life. She had come from a wealthy family and from what I knew, her parents had passed away shortly before my 2nd birthday, leaving her a lot of money. Their passing gave her the opportunity to do what she had always wanted. Travel the world. Forks and my dad and I had always held her in one place, and she despised us for it. I knew a part of her loved us, but it wasn't enough. "She gave us up, and I'm glad she did. A phone call here, and a postcard there does not a mother make."

I heard my dad sigh, and I knew he was going to drop it. He never pushed me when it came to her, and I was thankful that he didn't. A silence fell between us, and I closed my eyes while we waited. Silence was something we were good at.

"Isabella Swan?"

Looking towards the door I saw a nurse standing there, my chart in her hands and her eyes trained on me. "Yes?" I said, shifting in the bed, "Do I get to leave now?" I chewed on my bottom lip nervously, and looked towards Charlie. He had straightened up in his chair, and glanced in my direction.

"I'm sorry Ms. Swan," she said, shaking her head, "Not just yet. We're trying to reach a doctor at your local hospital to go over the plan with them before we release you. We left a message and the nursing staff said he's pretty quick about returning pages, so hopefully within the next few hours. I came to see if there was anything that I could get you and your father?"

"No, thank you," I said, "I'm fine, but my dad would probably kill for a good burger right about now. Could you point him towards the cafeteria?" My dad looked at me suspiciously, and I gave him a knowing look. The burger wasn't really for him. They had me on this awful diet that consisted of the blandest foods possible, and I was sick of it! He shook his head softly, and cleared his throat before getting up and getting pointed in the right direction by the nurse.

The doctor that had been on my case since I got here came in my room right as Charlie left, and sat in the chair he had just vacated. "How are you holding up Ms. Swan?" I snorted when he asked that. Was he for real? I sat up straighter in the hospital bed, and set my hands gently into my lap.

"You can call me Bella, Dr. Grant," I said, laughing. I felt the familiar sting of tears in my eyes as I looked at him, wondering how he was able to stay so composed all the time. "How do you do it? How do you look someone in the eye and give them bad news all the time? Doesn't it start to wear on you?"

"Every day," he said, smiling softly at me. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and when I looked deeper, there was a sadness there. "Especially in cases where I deal with children, and young adults with so much life ahead of them." I looked down at my hands, the tears threatening to fall and I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth. He sat there with me for a moment, neither of us speaking. He knew I what I wanted to ask, I could feel it, but he wasn't going to give me the answer without the question first.

Taking a deep breath, I looked up, "How long?"

"We don't know for sure," he said, holding my gaze, "but we estimate a little over a year if you choose to get treatment, six months if you refuse."

"So," I said, clearing my throat and wiping away the damn tears, "Either way, I'm going to die?"

"I'm afraid so, Bella."

Don't be afraid to share your opinions with me, I don't bite...hard.

Tata til next time!