MPOV

"So what do you say? May I stay?" Paul asked. I know what I wanted. I wanted to be with him. I felt this bond thing he was talking about. I felt a pull towards him. I don't know if what I feel is this imprint pull he's telling me about. I know that I want to be with him, but our situation is a little more complicated than even Jacob and this Renesmee's. I was dying. I didn't have either the time or the choice of being with someone. Because when I left, I'm going to hurt him. From what I've gathered from the information Paul's given me about the imprint, my death ain't just going to hurt him; it's going to destroy him.

"I want you to stay. I don't know if you're going to want to stay. No, let me finish. Please." He reluctantly nodded his consent. I sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to meet someone because I couldn't get too close to someone. Then here you come in and screw up my plan.

"I don't know if you can stay. I don't know if you want to stay. Sure you say that you want to stay and be with me now, but that's goin' to change. It has to. From what you've told me, a werewolf will love his imprint forever. I ain't able to promise you forever. God, I ain't even able to promise you tomorrow. Whatever did you do to screw up your karma so bad as to have me –of all people – as your imprint?" I laughed without humor.

"You don't think I realized that while I was talking to you? You don't think I realized that you can't promise me forever when I found out about your condition from that leech? I did. I have. I know that. Regardless of all the bad things that you've faced – that you are facing – I still want to be with you. I need to be with you." He seemed so sure of his course.

"No you don't. That's just the imprint talkin'. That's the only way anyone would want to be with me, with or without the leukemia. They would have to be forced," I said sadly.

"No. An imprint bond doesn't force anyone to be together. You know how it takes some people their whole lives to find the one they're meant to be with?" I nodded. "All an imprint does is just speeding the process up. Eventually, all the imprints would have wound up together even if they didn't share a bond. I'm not forced to love you. I want to love you. I do love you. With that in mind, I want you to know that I want to stay here, with you. So . . . do you want me to stay?"

"You're goin' to regret this. I'm goin' to regret this, but yes. I do. I want you to stay with me." With that statement I sealed his fate.

I couldn't properly describe his expression even if I wanted to. It was pure joy. He looked as if he were a paralyzed man who just took his first steps. It was as if he were a blind man looking into the sun for the first time in his life. Paul, my Paul, looked so happy. But it was wrong of me to think of him as mine. It was wrong of me to want him to stay. This whole thing was wrong. Because no matter what my mother deluded herself into believing, I wasn't going to be here for long, and I don't just mean here in Forks.

"I'm warnin' you. This ain't goin' to end well. My life ain't some fairytale, and you're not a prince who can just ride up with his white horse and save me. You just can't. I don't have long here, Paul. It's goin' to kill you when I die. I will die soon, Paul. It's inevitable. Dr. Cullen may be a vampire, a mythological creature, but he ain't a miracle worker. He can't save me," I said.

"Then I'm going to treasure any and all moments I can share with you. I love you."

"I just met you. This is crazy. In less than twenty four hours, I've found out vampires and werewolves exist. Don't worry; I won't tell anyone. Who do I have to tell anyways? This whole thing is just happenin' way too fast. I'm fallin' in love with you way too fast. That's just it. I shouldn't love you. But I do. I love you, Paul."

"Who the hell is Paul?!" My mother screeched from the doorway. "You can't love anyone, baby. Why would you want to put this poor boy through it? He won't want you to put him through it." Paul glared at her and started to say something but my mother cut him off. "Oh, sure. You may think that you want it now, but you just want, sweetie. It's going to be too much for you. You're only a teenager. Why would you want to subject yourself to the responsibility of Madison? Go. Leave. Live your life while you still have one."

"No. I love her. I know that it's fast. I realize that. I also know that Madison does bring responsibility, but I can handle it. I've had to grow up fast, too. Granted, not as fast as she had to but faster than most guys my age. I don't care about that. Any life that I could live without Madison is no life to live at all," Paul stated. I couldn't believe it. What did I do to deserve this guy? Apparently my mother agreed with me.

"You don't know what you're saying, child. Madison is not capable of loving someone. She is not capable of being loved by someone. She doesn't need you or your love." After that cruel but true statement, she turned to address me. "Madison, honey, what you need is your family. You need me. You need to focus on getting better. You need Dr. Cullen. He's going to be the one to fix all of our problems. He's going to fix you. I can feel it. Forget about this clueless boy. He obviously does not know what's good for you. Nor does he know what's good for himself. He needs to leave. He needs to leave you with me and Dr. Cullen to be fixed."

It was now that I saw the severity of my mother's unhealthy obsession. "No. Stop. I love him. I want him to stay here. He's not the problem, Mama; you are. You're the one who needs to stop. You need to stop obsessing about this nonexistent cure for me. You've driven yourself crazy tryin' to find something that doesn't exist. It's time, Mama. It's time. Just let me go. Let me enjoy my time here because goodness knows that it's limited. Please. You know that what I'm sayin' is true. You can feel it. I can feel it. I'm not goin' to be walkin' out of Forks alive. I've only hung on this long for you, and now it's time to stop. It's time to accept the unacceptable. It's time. Please just let me go," I begged.

At my words, my mother had an emotion transformation. It was as if I had killed a part of her with my speech. Her eyes that had developed a crazy expression seemed to go dead, opaque. A part of her died that day. Who could blame the poor woman? Her husband walked out on her. She lost contact with the rest of her family when she drove them away while dragging me all over the place looking for this cure. A part of her died that day because that was the day she accepted her only daughter, the only thing she had left, was going to die.