Disclaimer: I do not own nor profit from Twilight.
Rating: Mature (sexual content, violence, and language)
Beta: Jessipooks
Pre-readers:Mist and LuvinJ
A/N: Hope you guys are still reading this story. It won't be long and everything will be set in motion for a big showdown. xoxo August
Chapter 10: You Can't Save Them All...
"Well hello to you Sue. I was hoping to find you here today. My ankle has been killing me again and I was hoping you had some of that magical ointment of yours." Charlie watched her closely.
"Oh. Sure. Come on in." Sue nearly yanked him into the clinic and dragged him to the back where she kept her medicines stocked.
"You seem slow today. Looks like everyone must be in good health." Charlie commented.
The waiting room wasbare and her two patient room doors were wide open.
"Yes, lucky me." Sue chuckled nervously while she scanned the cabinet for ointment.
"So what's up with you and Billy? You both have been giving me the cold shoulder. Did I do something to offend either of you?" Charlie asked.
"What?" Sue looked shocked by his question.
"You usually invite me over for Sunday lunch and for the past month, I haven't even received a call from you. When I call Billy he is really short with me." Charlie answered.
"I haven't a clue about Billy. I've been busy with work and taking care of stuff at home. I'm sorry if we have unintentionally made you feel like we didn't care." Sue located the ointment and handed it to him.
"I'm not trying to make either of you feel badly. I just wondered if I ….well...what's going on here?" Charlie stammered before his frustration got the better of him and he just blurted out what was really bothering him.
"What do you mean?" Sue tried to pretend she was confused about his line of questioning.
"Something is going on here and I know it. You guys are acting all odd and whenever I mention wanting to visit Billy he is real damn adamant about me not coming out here." Charlie replied.
"I honestly don't know what is going on with Billy." Sue hated lying to him but she had too. Jake was back and as far as the council was concerned, he was the chief and Alpha. If he didn't want Charlie to know about their return then they weren't allowed to divulge it.
"Okay then what's going on with you? Why are acting like we are mere acquaintances?" Charlie looked at her with such pain that it broke her heart.
Charlie and Sue had started seeing each other on a weekly basis and if she was honest with herself he was like her best friend. She missed their conversations and their love for gardening. She had uncovered his green thumb when she started a herb garden in his backyard. She told Charlie it helped her on the bad days when she missed Harry. Charlie gave it a shot and before either of them knew it, his garden had grown and flourished.
"I'm so sorry Charlie. I guess I just got caught up in my own world and didn't' mean to leave you out." Sue patted his shoulder.
"What's going on in your world?" Charlie sensed the truth in her words but he still didn't understand why she was withholding information about it. They had grown close over the past few years and he shared everything with her.
"Leah isn't coming home for the holidays. It breaks my heart. I want to see her so much. She seems happy enough but I still can sense her pain and anger over her father's death." Sue wasn't entirely lying to him. Leah was still pretty distraught over all the changes in their life after Harry's death.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Charlie felt badly for pushing her so hard.
"It's okay so here is that ointment you need. How about I come over tomorrow and fix you a big dinner? I could use some of those herbs so they don't go to waste." Sue offered.
"Sounds good." Charlie followed her out of the room and back to the waiting room when the phone rang.
"I need to get that." Sue smiled politely before racing off to her office.
Charlie looked around the room and saw nothing out of the usual about it. Leaning against the front counter he saw a clipboard on her receptionists desk through the glass window.
He knew it was rude to be noisy but he couldn't stop himself. Looking closely he saw a few familiar names and when he got midway down the list of patients Sue had seen this week, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. His chest tighten up and the room began to spin. Holding his chest, he struggled to breathe and all at once he felt himself growing weak. Was he having a heart attack he wondered right before he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
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"He knows that Bella is alive and he knows that Jake is a shapeshifter. He hasn't decided yet if he wants to keep Jake alive or eliminate his entire race. He has plans to kill Bella but I fear when he learns she is pregnant he will use the babies to get Jake to come to him." Alice informed her family.
Everyone sat around the table looking troubled.
"Do you know for a fact that Bella will die?" Esme spoke up first.
"No. I just keep seeing her fading away when I look past the birth of her children." Alice answered honestly.
"Fading?" Carlisle frowned.
"I can't see her future after that point."
"Oh so there is a chance she could survive?" Carlisle gave Edward a hopeful smile.
"It is a possibility." Alice nodded her head.
"But what are you not telling us?" Nessie's voice was firm but everyone heard the fear none the less.
"Aro will get Jake. One way or another. I see him surrounded by them." Alice sighed heavily.
The room grew awful quiet.
"If it is inevitable for Jake to be captured then we need to do whatever it takes to assure Bella and her children safety. They must survive at any cost." Carlisle stated severely.
"Why?" Edward's voice was barely a whisper but they all had keen hearing.
"Excuse me?" Alice gave Edward a disconcerting look.
"Why must WE be the ones to save them?" Edward asked.
"If my memory serves me right, you were the one who managed to get her involved with the Volturi." Rose snapped.
"Uh?" Nessie looked between them with a perplexed expression.
"Your father tried to get himself killed and went to the Volturi to do the job. When your mother arrived to prove she wasn't dead , the Volturi discovered that a mortal knew about our existence. That was why it was important to change your mother."Emmett gave her the short version of the story.
"Your father wanted to make sure your mother understood the consequences of becoming one of us and so he kept putting it off. You came about before they could make the change happen." Rose finished.
"So if Dad hadn't acted out the part of Romeo then they might not have ever learned about her or how she knew about us." Nessie gave her father a cross look.
"Yep." Emmett chuckled.
"So your rash actions started this all. How ironic. Haha. You're a real ass dad. You are the reason they are both in danger and yet you don't want to lift a finger to help them." Nessie said with sarcasm.
"Fine." Edward threw his arms up angrily. "I will help save her and those children but if it comes down to saving you or them, I will choose you."
Edward stormed out of the room.
"Well, that went smoothly." Jasper said with a heavy southern accent.
"Why the sarcasm?" Emmett asked curiously."We all knew he wasn't going to volunteer to help her."
"I know but I'm really growing tired of him trying to act angry all the time. He needs to just let it go and move on with his life."
"Could you? If Alice suddenly no longer wanted you and instead found someone else who made her all dreamy eyed could you just go out and look for someone new?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "But I sure as hell wouldn't let her die if I had a chance to help her."
"We need to pack up. Alice's visions are coming on stronger and that's usually a sign that the danger is approaching quickly." Carlisle reminded them that the situation would soon be more than just talk around the table.
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Bella had felt awful all morning. She was less than a month away from her due date and she was starting to wonder if she would ever purposely put her body through this ordeal again.
Laughter blared in her head as she knew the answer to that question already. She would do it again and again.
Jake's eagerness of their babies arrival was starting to grow on her. Sue surprised her with a baby shower last week. The pack when not on patrol helped her finish fixing things around the house and the baby's room was ready for its future occupants. Now she had to just sit back, relax and wait for the big day.
She was having a difficult time trying to keep herself occupied now that Sue had her officially on bed rest. Jake brought up some books and her laptop to try and help ease her boredom. A few guests had made appearances throughout the day.
"Honey are you in here?" Jake opened the door wearing a big, goofy grin.
"Where else would I be?" Bella chuckled before throwing a pillow at him.
"I'm glad to see your following Sue's orders. I feared I would come home and find you jogging up and down the stairs to try and get these kiddos out sooner." Jake crawled up on the bed and planted a big kiss on her cheek.
"Shoot, I can't even walk to the bathroom without falling on my face. I'm either consumed with unspent energy or exhausted." Bella replied.
"It won't be much longer. Sue feels they will come before your due date and assured me that is normal with twins." Jake pushed a loose piece of hair away from her face before getting comfortable next to her.
"I just can't wait to hold them both in my arms."
"I know what you mean." Jake agreed.
"So still no news of any impending danger looming over our heads?" Bella tried to make light of their situation. Since their arrival they hadn't seen any vampires that appeared directly connected to the Volturi and that gave them some peace of mind.
"Nope. The guys are starting to think I made it all up. I'm keeping them on tight patrol." Jake understood how the pack might question his decision to keep them in a state of tension but he couldn't afford for even one of them to slack offon their duty. It could ultimately cost them their life and he wasn't willing to take that risk, even if they were.
"Sorry. I know how you like to be the nice guy in the pack." Bella nudged his arm playfully with her own.
"It's still Embry's pack but I have a little more say so than the rest of them." Jake winked at her.
"I bet."
"So what are our plans for this afternoon? Uno or TV?" Jake chuckled.
He had brought up the television and some movies to keep her entertained before he left for the day.
"I think television would be a good change." Bella yawned.
"Me too." Jake got up and turned on the television when his phone began to ring.
Jake pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered "Hello".
Jake wondered why Sue was calling him from the clinic.
"Hey Jake, it's me Emily." Jake turned his back toward Bella. His instincts were on high when he heard the nervous tempo in her voice.
"Hey, what's up?" He didn't want to cause Bella any unnecessary alarm.
"I'm at the clinic with Sue. It's Charlie, Jake. He's here." Emily paused.
"And?"
"He had a possible heart attack. Sue has him in a room and islooking him over. She said he came by for some foot cream and then he began to question why he hasn't been invited to the rez. She said she walked out of the room for a moment and when she returned he was passed out on the floor holding his chest."
"Is he okay?" Jake felt his chest tighten up while his heart raced at full speed.
He had grew up loving Charlie like his own old man. He knew that if anything happened to Charlie now it would send Bella into hysterics. She was already eaten up with guilt for being this close to her father and not coming clean to him about her past. She wanted so desperately to tell him about the babies but they had agreed until they knew more, he was safer knowing nothing at all.
"She has him on a monitor. She said his vitals are looking good." Emily replied.
"Okay. Good."
"But Jake, Sue is worried he might have seensomething on the receptionist desk that could have triggered it." Emily braced herself for Jake's reaction for what she was about to tell him next.
"What was it?"
"Bella's name was on the register and Sue had a copy of her folder up front in case something happened and she needed to grab it in a hurry."
"Oh shit! Has he said anything yet?" Jake turned halfway and found Bella looking at him with curious eyes.
"No."
"Okay. Call me if he does."
"Sure."
Jake hung up the phone and took a few deep breathes before turning around to give Bella a pleasant smile.
"What's wrong?"
Jake debated if he should tell her the truth or come up with a quick cover story until they knew more. He knew he had no choice but to tell her the truth. They had never lied to one another before now and he wasn't going to start today.
"It's your dad." Jake got back on the bed and took both of her hands in his and he looked deeply into her eyes.
"What about my dad?"
"He's at the clinic. He came by to see Sue and began to ask a lot of questions. We think he might have saw your name on a folder. Sue is checking him over and his vital signs look good." Jake paused, letting what he told her sink in before he gave her the worst news.
"She thinks he might have suffered from a heart attack." Jake finished.
Bella's hands tighten around his.
"What?" Bella gasped.
"They will call me when they have more news." Jake saw the tears fill up in her eyes and slowly stream down both cheeks.
"Did she call an ambulance for him?" Bella hated to think they were keeping him contained in the clinic when his life was on the line.
"No. Emily just said that Sue was in the room with him and that his vitals looked good."
"I have to go to him. I can't let him die thinking that I'm dead." Bella cried out.
"Honey, you can't go anywhere. Not right now. You know if you get up and move around you could go into labor." Jake reminded her.
"Oh God! I ...we...call them. I need to know more Jake." Bella pleaded.
"Shhh...honey. Calm down. If his life was on the line I imagine Sue would have called an ambulance." Jake hoped to reassure her again that Sue was medically trained to handle any situation.
"This...it's...I can't imagine him dying now." Bella began to sob. Jake pulled her into his arms and held her in his arms and hoped that soon they would receive a call that would ease her worries.
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