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Chapter 2 – Survive
I don't know how long I was unconscious but the next time I tried to open my eyes I saw some light through the small slits of my eyelids. The beeping was coming from some sort of machine I was hooked up to and I realized I was in a hospital. My mouth was so dry that I tried to swallow and instead I let out a moan.
"Call the nurse. Looks like she is waking up." The voice was my father Charlie's. At that moment I felt safe.
I heard someone's footsteps run out of the room before I felt my father touch my hand. "Bella honey?" I could hear the pleading in his voice and my heart was breaking that once again he had to worry about my safety.
I couldn't speak or move to communicate with Charlie. I could hardly see out of my swollen eyes to look in his face to let him know I was going to be all right. I began to panic and the beeping machine began to quicken its pulsing tones. I moaned again to let him know I could hear him. He didn't deserve to be going through all this again with me.
"Thank God. Bella honey everything is going to be okay." I could hear the panic in his voice. I wished I could see him as I began to cry from my frustration. "The doctor is here to see you baby." He let go of my hand as I felt someone lean near the edge of my bed.
"Miss Swan, this is Dr. Gerandy, you had a terrible accident last night, it's going to take some time for you to recover. You're going to be okay. Your eyes and face are severely swollen and that's why you're having a hard time seeing and we have you immobilized due to so many fractures. You have several broken limbs including your ribs so you are going to be in a lot of pain and we are doing our best to keep you comfortable." The doctor's voice sounded similar to Carlisle's, Edward's father, and I found comfort in its tone.
I knew I couldn't speak because that bitch had tried to strangle me. I wonder what they thought happened to me and how I got here? I was in need of some water.
The doctor explained more to my father and I lost track of the conversation most likely because of all the pain medication I was on. I wasn't a stranger to the hospital or to the pain a vampire can bring. I slipped back into a dreamless sleep.
Several days had passed before I felt strong enough to stay awake and see something through my broken blood vessel eyes. When I woke up I could see someone asleep in the chair at the foot of my bed.
"Dad?" I managed to croak my first words from my parched lips and sore throat.
The dark shape shifted awake from my voice and slowly stood up to a massive height. I didn't recognize who he was until he got closer to the side of the bed and bent his head toward my face. It took me a moment to realize that it was Jacob Black, he had transformed into a very tall handsome muscular man. His black hair was cut short and he looked older than his 19 years.
"Jake?" I could only manage a whisper as he looked down on me concerned.
"Yeah, it's me Jake. How are you feeling?" He tried to smile down at me but I could see the pain and concern he had in his big black eyes.
"Better. It's been a long time. Why are you here?" Not that I wasn't grateful someone wanted to visit me but why was he holding vigil? I hadn't seen or spoken to him in years. I was feeling the effects of the medication I was on and was grateful I was in no immediate pain.
"What do you remember?" He pulled up the chair to sit down next to the bed so it was easier for him to be near my face to speak to me.
Jacob knew about the vampires when I first moved to Forks years ago. Along with me he had experiences with Edward and the Cullen family so I could speak freely to him about Victoria. "Victoria was trying to kill me." My one hand was free from a previous I.V. so I was able to motion towards the pitcher of water in hopes he would realize I needed a drink.
Jake got my hint and poured me a cup of water, placed a bendy straw in and held it to my lips. I was thankful I had the energy to suck in the desperately needed water and it felt strange flowing down my bruised throat. I slowly drew in every last drop.
"Thanks." I tried to smile but my face still felt swollen and unbendable. I was afraid to think what I might look like.
Jake nodded to acknowledge my gratitude. "They think you were injured by a hit and run driver." The look on his face told me that there was more to the story. "I was the one who called 911 to get you here."
"You?" I was confused. I couldn't understand why Jake would be any where near Forks since he lived in La Push and had his life there.
"I got to you just in time. We nearly lost you last night." It was hard for him to say that out loud and turned his face away from me to hide what he was feeling.
"Victoria?" I was confused and still limited with my speech. My brain was fogged with drugs.
"She's dead." Jacob looked to the floor and he placed his large hands on the top of his thighs.
"Dead? How?" It isn't easy to kill a vampire and if you do manage to dismember them you need to burn their body or their parts would continue to survive. How would Jacob manage to kill a vampire?
"I promise to tell you everything when you're stronger. Just know that you're safe now and you need to focus on getting well." He gently took my hand into his and his skin was hot against my weak fingers. It felt good to feel the warmth against my skin. He was so concerned about me and it touched my heart. "You need to get your rest."
A nurse came into my room and started to check my vitals and Jacob slipped away before I could thank him for saving my life.
OoOoOo
I was in the hospital for two weeks. I had two black eyes with broken blood vessels, severe road rash along the one side of my face and body, my throat was purple and green from the bruising caused by Victoria's hands wrapped around my neck, two broken ribs, and a cast on my left wrist and my right leg. Cuts and bruises covered what wasn't bandaged or in a cast. It did look like a car hit me.
Renee and Phil came to visit me for a few days. My mom wanted to make sure that Charlie was up to the challenge of my recuperation. As much as I love my mom she can be too clingy and I didn't want her hovering over me. I needed to stay in Forks longer than we had planned and, luckily I was still on my dad's insurance. New York would still be there when I was well enough to move on.
During my hospital stay Mike and Jessica came to visit me and brought a large floral arrangement wishing me well from Newton's Outfitters. Mike told me they would be keeping my job open until I was ready to come back. Angela who had once been my close friend, heard about my injuries and stopped in to see me and promised we would have lunch when I was well. The visits helped to pass the time as I healed
When I was finally discharged, Charlie arrived at the hospital with the police cruiser to take me home. He had visited me everyday and wasn't holding up well, spending all his free time staying with me at the hospital. He wasn't eating properly and he needed sleep. I was looking forward to being home with him again. The nurse pushed me in the wheelchair to the exit where my dad was waiting for me with the car door opened. I slid over onto the car seat the best I could. I had no idea how I was going to manage to get up the stairs into my house, but I was determined to crawl if I had to. I couldn't spend one more day in the hospital.
When we pulled up to the house I noticed a black Volkswagen Rabbit parked in front. As Charlie made his way into the driveway, Jacob Black exited the Rabbit. I didn't know how he managed to fit behind the wheel of that little car. He was way over 6 feet tall and his muscle mass was amazing.
"Welcome home." Jacob was dressed in track pants and a tight t-shirt. He opened up the door to the cruiser and held his hand out for me to take.
"Jake. Good to see you again." I smiled up into his black eyes and took hold of his hot hand. "How are we gonna do this?" I had no idea how I was going to lean on him and get up the front steps into the house.
"I'm going to pick you up. Let me know if I hurt you." His strong arms slipped under my thighs and I wrapped my right arm around his neck. He lifted me like I weighed nothing.
Charlie held the door open while Jake brought me into the living room. Harry Clearwater's wife Sue was standing in the kitchen. She had been coming over to help Charlie around the house while I was in the hospital. Sue had prepared the couch with sheets and pillows making it my recovery spot until I was able to get up the stairs. I had a walker to help me get to the bathroom and that was going to be my limit for at least another week before my ribs were closer to healing.
"Jake, you can put me down over there." I was laughing at the situation I had gotten into. I must have looked silly draped over Jake's arms like a rag doll. My body was pressed against his hard body and I could feel his body heat through his clothes.
Jacob slowly placed me in the middle of the sofa and it didn't hurt one bit.
"Looks like you're stuck here for awhile." He surprised me by kissing the top of my head as he walked away into the kitchen. "Want anything?"
"Diet soda would be great. Dad, do you want to order a pizza? I'm starving." I was hoping Sue and Jake would stay with us awhile. I wanted to talk to Jake some more and I needed the company. "Thanks Sue for the great set up." She thought of everything I might need at my fingertips.
"It's nice to have you home. You had us worried there for awhile." Sue is a sweet beautiful woman and it was nice to offer up her spare time to help us out around here.
"You want a pizza princess? How about you two stay and have lunch with us." Charlie invited them to stay as he reached for the phone book to get the number to Pacific Pizza. "Sausage and Mushroom okay with everyone?"
"Charlie can you make it an extra large?" Jake looked like he would consume a lot of calories. I tried not to stare at the extraordinary body he now inhabited.
"I can make it two. Today is a day to celebrate!" Charlie dialed the phone in the kitchen and placed the pizza order.
Jake returned to the living room and sat on the far end of the couch from me. "You can sit closer because I'm already broken." I was trying to make a joke and to get Jake to relax a little more around me.
Jake slid a little closer to me and looked nervously towards the kitchen. I reached for his hand. "They can't hear us. We need to find some time to talk."
"I know that I promised to tell you everything but I don't think now is the time." Jake's jaw clenched and he looked down at the floor.
"Charlie works the night shift tonight. Why don't you came back over after 6 and we'll be alone?" I tried to catch his eyes as he continued to avoid mine. I knew it was hard to look into my messed up face, I had not looked into a mirror in days so I can only imagine what it looked like now.
"Okay, I can do that. Billy has a meeting with the tribe tonight so I won't have to explain anything to him." He finally lifted his face and looked into mine. I could see slight images of the 15-year-old face I remembered. Jacob's skin was deep brown and his teeth were brilliantly white when he smiled at me and I was happy to have him here.
The pizza's arrived and everyone huddled around the coffee table in the living room to sit with me while we ate. Everything tasted amazing and I couldn't stop myself from over eating because I hadn't had anything edible in the hospital and I was starving.
Sue and Jake left shortly after we consumed the pizza to allow me to get some rest and for Charlie to get ready for his shift. I exhausted easily from all the excitement of coming home and I set my cell phone to alarm to wake me up an hour before Jake's return later tonight. It felt so good to be home in front of a T.V. with 90 channels. I drifted off to sleep comfortably on the couch.
The next thing I knew my cell phone alarm went off as programmed. It was 5:00 and Charlie had already left for work. I reached for the walker the hospital provided me to help me up from the couch to get into the bathroom. I had no idea what I looked like anymore. I needed to freshen up the best I could without a shower. It was painful and awkward to pull myself up but I was determined to get across the room.
I limped towards the small downstairs bathroom. I faced the mirror and I couldn't believe what was staring back at me. There was nothing I could do to conceal the monstrous face in the mirror. I sat down on the edge of the tub in shock and sobbed. I had been brave and in control of my emotions for years, even more since the attack and at this moment everything came flooding out of me.
I lost track of time while I cried uncontrollably alone in the tiny bathroom. Everything that I have been holding in all these years was pouring out of me and re-opening of the gapping hole in my heart to the bruised skin that was throbbing. I heard a quick knock at the front door and someone walking into the house. It had to be Jacob. There was no way I could hide that I was an emotional train wreck.
"Bella? Are you alright?" I heard Jake's heavy steps coming down the hallway toward the bathroom. He stopped in the doorway and he was shocked at what he found. Jake bent down on one knee and grabbed my hand. "Are you in pain?" He looked frightened.
"No." I sobbed some more. "I'm so broken." I could hardly catch my breath. I wasn't just talking about my appearance, but I was also living with a broken heart. How was I going to survive?
"Are you kidding me? You're beautiful, Bella, you always have been beautiful." Jake placed his arm around my shoulder and tried to help me to stand. "Let me help you back to the couch." As soon as I stood up he scooped me up into his arms and whisked me back to the pillowed spot on the couch. He stepped into the kitchen and got me a soda out of the refrigerator and he helped himself to one of Charlie's beers even though he wasn't quite old enough to drink yet. He sat closely next to me when he returned.
I reached for the cold soda and rubbed the can across my cheeks before I opened it. "Thank you." I whimpered and leaned into his strong shoulder.
"What's happening with you?" Jake placed a finger under my chin so that he could look into my face. He was a little freaked out looking at me and he pushed the box of tissues closer towards me.
"I have been holding everything in for so long that I finally burst." I wasn't lying I just wasn't telling him everything I was feeling. Jake didn't notice the huge hole in the center of my chest.
"You've been through a hell of a lot and no one expects you to be strong." He took a sip of his beer before he took my hand again in his.
I was beginning to like my hand against his hot skin. "What happened? I don't remember anything after Victoria attacked me." I needed to get the whole story if I was going to continue to heal.
"That night I was out with the other Quileutes. We were making our usual sweep of the area." He gulped more beer.
"Quileutes? Sweep?" I was completely out of the loop and had no idea what Jake was talking about.
Jake took in a deep breath. "I know I can trust you with the information I'm about to tell you. I'm not supposed to share this with anyone outside of the tribe." His one knee started to bounce as he prepared what he was about to tell me.
"Of course, you know that you could trust me. Think about all the secrets we still share." Jake was the only human that knew all about what I experienced with the vampires. I held his hand tighter to let him know I was ready to hear everything.
He proceeded to tell me about the winter after the Cullen's had left Forks and the legend of the Quileutes who were descendents from wolves – wolves that turned into men. This proved to be true when Sam Uley, one of the older boys, had gone through an unexplained transformation phase into a wolf. Shortly after Sam's experience, Paul, Jared, Embry and Jacob had undergone the same shape-shifting transformation. The wolf shifting was triggered by any vampire threat to the human life in the area.
Vampires are the only enemy of the Quileute tribe. The Cullen coven had made a treaty with Jacob's great-grandfather to promise not to hunt humans and to stay off their lands. 4 years ago the Quileute's were made aware of nomad vampires that came to town causing trouble and Victoria's threat to kill me. Since that time they hade been hunting her as she continued to return to the area.
That Friday night of my attack the pack had been tracking Victoria's scent in the area and had no idea that I was working at Newton's. When they came upon the scene they found Victoria attacking me, they transformed into wolves and killed her. Victoria didn't have a chance when it was five against one. After they ripped her body into pieces Paul and Jared quickly burned her in the woods nearby.
Sam and Jacob stayed with me to call for an ambulance and reported that they found my body in the middle of the road while cruising Forks and that it must have been a hit and run as the cover story.
I sat and listened to the details of Jacob's story quietly. I was amazed at the fact that he was now a werewolf but not shocked as most ordinary people might have reacted. I have come to expect the unexpected.
"You don't seem to be reacting to anything I'm telling you." Jake's black eyes were sharp and curiously searching for my reaction to his revelations. " I just told you that I'm a werewolf."
"Hell, you saved my life, Jake, you're my friend and being a werewolf is who you are and I accept that." I was sad that the only human friend I could completely confide in was now gone but I had no problem understanding what he was telling me. "If there are vampires in the world why would it be so hard to accept a werewolf?"
Jake pulled me into a hug that was unfortunately too tight so it hurt me a little. "Careful, I am still bruised." I tried to smile as Jake pulled away unknowing the complete power of his strength.
"I can't tell you how relieved I am that you aren't afraid of what I am." I reached my hand to the side of Jake's face and held it to show that nothing had changed between us. His eyes closed and he tilted his face to rest into my palm. For a moment I wished that I could kiss him. I haven't felt a touch of someone's lips against mine in a very long time and Jake's warmth drew me into him.
I brought my mind back to the conversation because I still had a hundred questions unanswered. "How did the vampire venom get removed from my body?" If that venom stayed in my body I would have turned into a newborn vampire without anyone to guide me.
"Sam told me how to extract the venom from your system. Werewolf saliva has antibiotic and quick healing properties. Anytime we get injured it only takes about an hour for a wound to heal completely." It seemed like a simple explanation, but I was still trying to figure it all out and some of it was a little overwhelming for me. He stood up and went to the kitchen for another beer.
"What about the full moon? Is that the only time you can become a werewolf?" I didn't really know what to expect from my newly transformed friend.
I could see Jake smile at me with his bright white teeth as he bent down and reached in the refrigerator. "That's only in the movies. We can shift into a wolf pretty much any time we want to. It's pretty cool once you get used to it." I could see his muscles ripple in his arms as he thought about it.
"Is that why you skin is so hot?" It seemed no matter where we were his touch was scorching.
"High metabolism." He was making his way back into the living room again.
"Now that all the vampires are gone, will you go back to normal?" With Victoria dead and the Cullens gone forever there would be no more vampires living in the area anymore and there wouldn't be any need for the tribe protection.
"There is a possibility. Since there's no one alive in our tribe from the last time we shifted we don't really know what to expect." Jake returned to his spot on the couch next to me while putting his long legs up on the coffee table so he could recline. He was beginning to relax around me since he told me of his secret. I could see his face become calmer and he wasn't looking as fierce as he was earlier.
"Amazing." I began to laugh. "Can you believe what we're talking about? I'm sitting here on the couch with a werewolf talking about vampires and how lucky I am that I was saved from changing into one myself or being dead." This was ridiculous and I found it extremely funny at the moment. "Can you imagine trying to explain all this to Charlie?"
Jake was able to see the humor in the moment and we both found ourselves leaning on each other laughing. Just for a moment I felt content.
"I should get you something to eat. You haven't had anything since lunch have you?" Jake wasn't ready to leave me yet and I didn't want him to leave so soon either.
"There should be some casseroles people dropped off for Charlie when I was in the hospital in the there somewhere. Do you think you could figure out how to put one of them in the oven?"
Jake placed his beer down on the coffee table and turned to look at me with a smile. "Miss Bella, I certainly think I am able to figure out how to heat up a casserole. You do know Billy and I have survived a long time without a woman around." Jake's mother had died in a car accident when he was a little boy and Billy had raised him alone all these years.
"Okay then, pick one out and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees. Maybe we could watch a movie too. Charlie has a stack of DVD's over there in the bookcase." Jake started to prepare dinner and picked out a movie that both of us could watch together. I still avoided anything romantic so when he held up "Gran Torino" and I gave him a thumb's up.
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