**** Disclaimer: I do NOT own the recognizable events, characters, or places in this story. Characters and events, as well as the Twiverse, belong to Stephanie Meyer. Forks, Port Angeles, and other real places belong to themselves, their own entities. ****
"Bella?" A female voice that she could just barely place was calling to her. Bella knew she needed to answer that voice, but her throat was so dry it felt like she was trying to breathe through a bag of sand. "Bella, honey?"
Shaking the last bit of weariness off, Bella reached a shaking hand up to rub the confusion from her face- her eyes hurt from the light. After gently wiping away a little bit of moisture from around her eyes, Bella's vision began to clear and solidify.
She found herself looking into the familiar, motherly, face of Sue Clearwater. The older woman was giving her a severe look that was broken only by the soft smile that graced her lips. It widened as Bella made a motion with her hands to indicate that she needed a drink.
"You can have a little water, dear, but not too much." Sue said quietly as she handed Bella a glass with liquid in it. "Please don't try to drink too fast either, we don't need you choking now."
Bella raised the cup to her lips and very gingerly look one of the tiniest sips of her life. Relishing the lukewarm liquid as it ran down her throat she took a few more. A soft but indistinguishable noise of contentment left her lips as she handed the glass back to Sue.
"Where am I, Sue?" Bella's voice was cracked and strangled sounding- she was barely even aware that it was hers from all of the damage to is. "I don't remember much… but I know I was in the woods."
Bella was lying- she remembered everything that had happened. Edward, the cuts, the venom… the pain. What she couldn't remember was how she got here. The last thing she could solidly remember was Edward and his torture. There were… fragments of other things but they seemed so outlandish that they must have been some form of fever dream.
"You're in the clinic here on the reservation, Bella." Sue was talking slowly, carefully. Bella noticed but assumed that Sue was just trying to make sure Bella took things well. "You were found out in the woods last night, and you were closer to here than anywhere else; so you were brought here by the men that found you."
"Who were they?" Bella asked pleasantly. "I would like to be able to thank them, someday."
"Oh, um, well." Sue took a large deep breath. "I'm sure they would like that. Their names are Sam Uley, Jared Cameron, and Paul Lahote. They were part of the team that Billy sent to help your father after you didn't come home last night, he had waited because you had left him a note."
That surprised Bella- she had left no note for her father. It must have been Edward. Bella noted the names to her memory, the name Paul sticking out in her fevered dreams for some reason. It was familiar, but why?
"Thank you, Sue. Um, not that I don't enjoy seeing you but… when can I go home? I'm sure Charlie is worried sick, and probably hasn't eaten." Sue smiled brightly at Bella's worry for her father, the gesture garnering a bare minimum smile from the young woman.
"Charlie will be called soon; we have some tests to run to ensure that you're fully ready but you should be able to go home today." Sue replied with a small laugh- she knew just how much Bella hated hospitals. Bella nodded and reached out for the cup of water again, taking it in silence and sipping from it.
The typical physical tests had been pretty standard. The was just as clumsy as ever, tripping over her own feet repeatedly. Dr. Whitehawk had been unsure if that was normal until Sue told him that it was. Bella had fake-laughed her way through the blundering that was her trying to act like a normal human being.
Her father arrived shortly after all of the blood tests and physical tests were finished and after managing to talk him into letting her out of his sight Bella had walked outside to sit on one of the tables and benches that were outside the clinic. From the burns on them she figured that these used to be where people would smoke once upon a time.
She was wrapped in her own little world when she felt a sudden heat crawl up her spine and into her chest. It reminded her of the same feelings in her dreams, which startled her. She shot her head up and found herself looking at a native boy; he was obviously young, looked like he hadn't fully grown into the body he had been given- couldn't be more than maybe 15 or 16. His boyish face gave him away even if his overly sculpted chest and abs made him look older.
He had cuts all over his chest, she realized, but they looked raw and older. There wasn't any blood- so they weren't new for sure.
"You've got some cuts, kid." Bella couldn't look away from his dark eyes for long. She'd already looked the kid up and down, but his kind eyes kept drawing her in. His hair was unkempt and hung down to his shoulders. The waves in it told her that he usually kept it braided. "The doctor is in talking to my dad, but Sue Clearwater may still be here. I don't know- she got a pretty frantic call a bit ago."
"Um… I'm okay, they've been cleaned and seen before. I was just here to see why the Chief of Police in Forks was here… saw his cruiser and wanted to make sure there wasn't trouble…" The nameless teen reached a hand out as he took a breath in finally. "I'm Embry, Embry Call."
Bella didn't want to touch him, though he seemed safe enough. She didn't really want to be touched or to touch anyone really. Her body still remembered Edwards assault on it. "Bella Swan. My dad is inside talking to Dr. Whitehawk because I managed to get myself in some trouble last night."
"Oh, so you're the famous Bella? Jake talks about you…" There was a rather pregnant pause, the silence fell for a few seconds between the two quiet people. "Um, not that it wasn't nice to meet you but I've gotta go. Um… I'm gonna be in enough trouble as it is."
With that Embry began to back away quickly, almost at a run. He waved at her once- which she returned gently- before turning away from her to jog off down the road. Bella found herself smiling slightly, something she hadn't done since she had awoken, as she watched the kid leave. He had felt warm, talking to him had seemed normal. She didn't know why, but she wanted to see him again- just under better circumstances.
Charlie came out of the clinic moments later with Dr. Whitehawk, the two men talking animatedly about making sure that Bella came back for a couple visits with Sue to talk if needed, and to remind the Chief that he and his daughter were always welcome on the reservation. The Chief had long since earned respect here and his daughter had always been helpful and caring during her visits both when she was younger and now.
"We'll be seeing you, I'll make sure Bella comes back to talk to Sue when she's feeling up to it." Charlie said as he walked towards his daughter, he wondered why she was looking into the distance with a soft smile- but he would take the smile either way. He was worried that it would be a long time coming before he saw a real smile on her face again. "Bella, you ready?"
Bella turned to face her father slowly, the look on his face told her that he was waiting to see if she was going to be okay right now. Charlie had been acting like she was going to fall apart at any moment. Which, to be honest, she did feel like she could.
"Yeah, dad. Let's go home." Bella gave a small wave to Dr. Whitehawk and accompanied it with the tiniest of half smiles. "Thank you so much, Doctor. I don't know what I would have done without you and the men who found me. Is there any way I can repay you all?"
"I can tell you that Sam, Jared, and Paul all love baked goods." Dr. Whitehawk gave a hearty laugh and pat his own stomach. "Come to think of it, so do I!"
Bella nodded. "Thank you for the idea." With that she walked off towards the cruiser. She wanted to get home, she wanted to rebuild, she needed her room and her space. She truly felt in danger of falling apart at the seams.
Charlie turned and gave the doctor a final goodbye before following Bella to the car. She looked to be holding up- but he was sure the fallout was coming. He'd been a cop long enough to know that the fallout always came, and sometimes it was just as horrific as whatever caused the trauma in the first place. He would just have to be ready.
Embry had been pulled rather forcefully through the woods by Paul, who wasn't letting the younger man go come hell or high water apparently. A couple times he had attempted to wrench his arms free from Paul's grasp only to be greeted by growling from his captor and a clenching of already locked tight hands. Embry was completely sure that he was going to have bruises.
Add that onto his already weird day and he had the cherry on top of the sundae. What was going on?!
Finally, after what felt like hours but in reality had been maybe fifteen minutes, the group of men walked into the clearing that led to the Uley/Young household. Emily was standing on the porch again, a tray of what looked like muffins of some kind in her hands. On the porch there stood Joshua Uley, Harry Clearwater, and Billy Black; Embry wondered what part of the council was doing here.
"What is the meaning of this, Sam?" Joshua asked his son, the younger Uley ignored his father completely for a moment and moved to take a muffin off the tray and give Emily a large hug accompanied by a light kiss. "Sam, what are you doing with young Call? Why were we summoned here right now?"
"That would be my doing, Joshua." Billy interrupted in his usual council voice- he was projecting power and leadership all while trying to keep the situation as calm as he possibly could. "It seems, against all odds and without showing the usual changes… Well it seems that our pack has gained a new member." Billy gestured to Paul who let Embry go, the younger male immediately deciding to rub his arms where Paul had been trying to cut off his circulation. "Come here, son."
Embry walked up to the porch as slowly as he possibly could. He didn't really want to know what was coming next- but between Paul's growling at his back and Billy's calm waiting before him there was no going back now. He wasn't even sure if this was really happening, his mind had made itself up that he must be dreaming.
"Embry Call, your mother is of Makah descent and this has been proven. By the grace of the council she and yourself have lived on Quileute lands, and both of you have been credits to your ancestors through your sacrifices to the land on which you are tied." Billy began calmly, taking a deep breath before he continued. "However, we must now ask something of you that you never should have had to experience. Through your acceptance of the Spirit Wolf it has become obvious that your father must have been of Quileute heritage- though that is not what we must ask from you."
"What is it, then?" Embry asked in a quiet voice. He wasn't necessarily nervous, but he'd always been kind of a quiet guy. "What have I to give that the council wants of me?"
"You have the gift of the Wolves, Embry Call." Billy's eyes were sad in a way that Embry did not understand. "Through the blood of your father you have inherited the great gift of the Spirits that was bestowed on the Quileute nation. And as a Spirit Wolf the council must ask you to cast aside your childhood and take up the mantle of a Protector. We must ask, humbly, that you give of yourself to protect the tribe and the land, until your death should it come to that."
Embry was confused and his expression made that very clear to Billy. The young man seemed to think about things for a moment, silence fell between the group of natives. Only the sound of Jared eating what looked like an entire armful of muffins broke the silence, but it was an ignorable sound- white noise compared to anything else.
"I can cast aside my childhood for my home, Billy." Embry began, holding a hand up to stop the older man from talking and interrupting him. "But, I would like to know just what I'm protecting it from."
A/N: Yes I am changing the timeline about Embry and his change. This will also be the last chapter, for a while, that focuses on the wolves in such a way. There really isn't anything to continue here (aside from the legends but those come in later and I didn't want to bore my lovely readers by doing it twice).
To answer a question I was posed in a private message: Yes I am writing this story in a narrative way with character specific viewpoints. Meaning that while it doesn't read as 'I felt this' but instead 'Bella felt this' it does follow the ideas, characteristics, and personality of the main character of the chapter. So when Bella is the main it should read more like it is from her, when Embry it should read as if him, and so on.
Thank all of my readers and reviewers! I really didn't think this story was going to appeal to so many, especially with the way I opened it, and it has been such a boon to me to see people liking the writing and the work involved. So I extend all my gratitude to you, the comments and love has made this completely worth the anxiety involved with putting it out there!