*crawls slowly out of hiding, looking around sheepishly at the angry mob of people standing before me* So, we are all gathered here today to mourn... Wait, that's not right. We are all gathered here today to read, YES read more of this story and see if SMMiskimen is going to continue to torture us with another evil, angsty cliffy. Will she? Won't she? Read and find out! My ninja beta turtle preciousfairymom80/Donatello worked her magic on this. Oh, and fyi, she cried when she beta'd yesterday's chapter. And I only own the plot!
Hear Me Chapter 25
When Carlisle left Bella's room, he asked the rest of the family to exit the house in case something did go wrong with Bella. He had a feeling that she might be giving up, as it was nearing the one year mark of her accident, and a third were known to have passed by that point.
She had shown no signs of recovery, hence the insurance's denial of more long-term hospital care. Carlisle had hoped that he would have more time to work with her before anything like this happened, but it seemed as if his hopes were going to be crushed.
Esme took his hand gently in hers as Emmett, Rose, Alice, and Jasper left the house, and pulled Carlisle into the expansive back yard, slowly walking with him at a normal pace toward the Sol Duc River.
Carlisle was lost in his mind with the thought of losing a patient, especially in his own home. How would he explain this to her father? How would Edward cope with the loss of his mate, whether he accepted that fact or not?
"We'll help him through it," Esme said, answering the unspoken question that had just crossed Carlisle's mind.
He smiled down at his beautiful wife and mate, grateful he had found her, changed her. He tried to imagine losing her and nearly collapsed under the mere thought of it.
"Edward is strong, he'll survive this. I know he will," Esme said, as Carlisle hugged her to him, kissing the top of her head as they swayed back and forth.
"I just…I can't imagine what he's going to go through, what he will feel. Just thinking about losing you…" Carlisle trailed off when Esme placed her fingers over his mouth.
"No matter, we will help him through. We will keep him going. His life will forever be altered from the loss, as will ours, but together, we can do whatever Edward needs of us. We're his family."
"I can't imagine existing without you by my side. Thank you, for everything," Carlisle told Esme before kissing her deeply, letting all of his emotions out as he battled with the despair that threatened to overtake him.
The loss of Bella would be greater than the sum of all his other patients, ever. But he hoped that she held on long enough for Charlie's arrival later that evening so he could say his last goodbyes to her. Carlisle hoped that Charlie wouldn't blame him for her death, but knew it was a possibility and was ready to deal with that.
As he began to get his emotions under control, his cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, noting Alice's name and number on the display.
"Yes, Alice?" he said as he answered the call.
"Get back to the house…now!"
I know, I'm evil for leaving it there. But because it's the weekend and you all have to wait until Monday to get more, I'll give you a teaser of the next chapter.
"Edward, I need you for CPR, can you help me?" Carlisle asked in a strained voice.