AN: Obviously I don't own twilight, or any of the characters, plots, or anything associated with it.

I'm going to write this in chapters divided up by past and present tense, to better tell the story. Let me know if you like this or not, and I hope to be answering some of your questions regarding the plot in later chapters.

*Past*

I hadn't always been sick growing up, in fact I couldn't really remember ever being a sick child. I had the occasional scrapes and bruises, the scratches and marks of childhood. I was never much of a tomboy nor did I ever really enjoy getting dirty. One thing I did love was the beach. Everything about the beach.

The sounds of waves hitting the beach, the feeling of hot sand under my feet, walking alongside Jacob until we found a spot to sit and relax.

It was at the beach that everything happened. It was here that I learned about the pack and who they really were. It was here that Jacob finally told me about the imprint. And it was here that I would start getting sick.

It was a strange thing that happened, normally whenever I had a cut or a scrape it healed quickly and never bothered me again.

Jacob and I were walking along the water; it was close to sunset but still warm enough that neither of us really wanted to go home. Our hands intertwined, we were talking about the wedding plans, as we had been for the past few weeks. Jake had just recently proposed to me only two months prior, it wasn't really much of a surprise, because he had insisted on asking for my permission before he asked for the blessing of my parents.

It was chivalrous albeit unorthodox, but it made me love him even more than I ever thought possible.

I stole a glance at him as he was mid-sentence, talking about something to do with what we should serve at the wedding. Typical Jacob Black, no matter the circumstance or occasion he was thinking about food.

He stopped talking and looked at me, a crooked smile on his face "what?"

I grinned at him like an idiot. "You're perfect, have I ever told you that?"

He stopped walking and faced me, grabbing my other hand in his, "Well you know I try, it truly is hard being this wonderful all the time, but I'm really glad I'm finally getting the recognition I deserve." He laughed at himself and then dodged my hand breaking free from his to try and slap him.

"That's not what I meant you idiot." But I wrapped my arms around him anyways, laughing into his chest. This was the moment I wanted to live in forever: Jacob and I here on this beach, arms around one another, laughing, enjoying whatever plans we thought that we had together.

"I love you." He whispered, and although it wasn't the first time we had exchanged those three little words, it still caught my breath in my chest.

"I love you more" I mumbled into his chest, while simultaneously getting a mouthful of his t-shirt.

"Oh see now, Nessie. This is why I don't wear shirts, you drooled on me as a baby and your drooling on me now." He pulled away and grabbed at his shirt, fanning it to make a show of trying to dry it off.

"Jaaaaaake" I whined, "just let me hug you." I pouted. Jake always had to make a joke just as I was getting comfortable.

He smirked "If you can catch me." He got really close to my face, and paused to press a small kiss to my nose before taking off running through the water.

I frowned, "That's not fair Jake," I started jogging after him "You've got longer legs than me." I was stomping through the water completely lacking any kind of grace in my running.

He stopped, only to taunt me "I'll just wait here until you actually start running."

I groaned, he was only about fifteen feet away, and I willed myself to prove it to him that I could actually chase him. I knew I couldn't, but the determination should really count for something. If only the water wasn't so… watery? I picked my feet up more and ran through the sloshing waves, which seemed to be getting worse and worse. I couldn't have been the only one to notice that.

And maybe it was just bad luck, or fate planned it or some other spiritual nonsense that I really didn't believe in. But I fell. Some freakish rogue wave knocked me down and under. I wasn't prepared so of course I fell down with my mouth wide open, sucking in a mouth full of salty sea water and who knows what else. I landed on something sharp: a shell, a piece of broken glass, anything. I felt it tear my leg open, and started to scream, breathing in more water until my limbs started to flail.

Then Jacob was there, picking me up like a ragdoll and carrying me to the sand. He wasn't panicking, there wasn't any fear in his eyes as he started pounding on my chest, forcing me to cough up the majority of the water in my lungs.

My eyes burned, my chest was on fire, and my leg. Oh my gods, my leg. I started screaming as soon as I could breathe again.

"Oh Ness." His shirt was off in seconds, and he was wrapping it around my leg, tight as he could right above the gash in my leg.

I moved to sit up, only to have him push me back down. "Don't look. You'll be okay." It became a chant of his as he picked me up again and got me into his car, and sped to my house. I don't know if he kept saying it to prove to himself that it would be okay, or to me? Maybe he just thought he had to fill the void created by my screams and whimpers.

My family already knew. Dad was outside as soon as we pulled up, and he and Grandpa Carlisle were the ones to pull me out of the car and into Grandpa's office.

"I wanna see Jake." I whispered to my mother as Grandpa was injecting something into my leg. My body was so cold, colder than I remember it. Or maybe it was just my mother's cool hand against my forehead. Then my leg went numb, and I was so tired.

"You will baby. It's just best if he stays outside for now." My mother cooed into my ear. She was holding my hands in one of hers, as the other stroked wet hair out of my face.

"S'er not mad adem are ya?" I stumbled through my words.

"Edward, she's losing too much blood." My mother snapped at my father across the room.

"I know Bella, Alice and Jacob are out, they'll be back as soon as possible." My father was at my side now, pressing his cool lips to my cheek. "Be strong for me darling, please."

I remember nodding, or maybe I was shaking. I felt like I was being moved, quickly, violently, and then I was asleep.