A/N: Hello! Hopefully I haven't left you hanging for too long. I had a little bit of writer's block trying to come up with this chapter but I worked through it and I think it turned out all right. As always, please forgive any editing errors, I'm only human. Thank you so much for the previous reviews and I hope you like the chapter!

Disclaimer: Seriously out of ideas of cleverness.

CHAPTER 36:

JACKSON'S POINT OF VIEW:

It was my first day working at the new hospital, and I was scared out of my mind. I'd been hired without being given a tour of the place and was expected to jump right in. The military had given me plenty of training on how to remain calm in an intense situation, but not so much in the area of how not to get lost in a new place. They'd covered the basics on that, but I was the most directionally challenged guy in the world. My palms were sweating as they clenched onto the steering wheel as I drove to the hospital. I was to arrive a half hour before my shift to get my coat and badge and be shown to my office. I arrived and pulled into a parking spot and forced myself to just go right in instead of overthinking it.

Miraculously I managed to find my way to the administrator's office. She gave me my things and led me down the hall to an office that was now mine. She wished me good luck before leaving. She didn't give me so much as a map of the place. I didn't even know how to get down to the ER from my office, which is where I'll be working. I decided to make my way down, which took about ten minutes. Good thing my pager hadn't gone off otherwise the patient would be dead for sure by the time I got there.

"Dr. Hunt, we've been eagerly awaiting your arrival. We've been short on staff for a few weeks now and everyone's just swamped," a female doctor said, coming to my side as I walked.

"I'm glad I'm able to help. You can call me Jackson, and you are?" I asked.

"Amelia Brooks," she said.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Brooks. I'm glad to have met at least one attending. To be honest, I have no idea where the heck I'm going. My pager hasn't gone off yet, but I think I could do something more than pace the halls," I said.

She blushed. "I'm actually just a second year resident, but I do know the layout of this place like the back of my hand. I'd be happy to give you a tour?"

"I would greatly appreciate that," I said.

"Dr. Hunt," a man's voice spoke from behind me. I turned around to see none other than the infamous Dr. Carlisle Cullen.

"Well hello, Dr. Cullen. I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you're a surgeon up in Cardio?" I said politely.

"I am, but I spend a fair amount of time down here too. We'll have plenty of opportunities to work together," he said, obviously trying to intimidate me. It was working. Amelia had disappeared, off to do whatever was needed of her.

"Excellent," I said, doing my best not to sound anxious.

Dr. Cullen smiled a wicked smile. "Just a tip, you might want to turn your pager on." He walked away.

I grabbed the little device out of my pocket and fumbled with the damn thing till it turned on. Sure enough, I'd already missed a page. I ran to the room and saw Dr. Cullen was with my patient. While I was grateful he'd spared me the guilt of a person's death, I couldn't help but be a bit furious with him. He was doing everything he could to make me look bad, just because I was engaged to his daughter. I swear the guy wouldn't be happy with anyone who ever came into Ella's life.

I didn't have much time to fume over the situation because my pager beeped with a trauma I was determined to handle without Dr. Feelgood swooping in to save the day. I ran to the trauma bay and saw that my first case wouldn't be an easy one. It was a young woman who had a knife stabbed straight into her heart. The knife had not yet been removed. This was clearly a case for a cardiothoracic surgeon, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to do everything on my part before the swooping of Dr. Warbucks.

"What are her vitals?" I asked, keeping my tone as calm as I could.

The nurse rattled them off to me. They were surprising stable for the current situation. I was about to talk to the patient when suddenly a monitor started blaring. She was having difficulty breathing.

"The knife must have hit her lung, it's filling with fluid," I said. "Get me supplies for a thoracentesis!"

Within seconds a scalpel was in my hand. I made an incision in between the patient's ribs and inserted the needle until I heard a quiet pop then I quickly replaced the needle with a catheter and sighed in relief when I saw the fluid exist her body. Her vitals stabilized but we didn't have much time.

"We need to get that knife out. Have you paged Cardio yet?" I asked.

"Yes, but no one's responded yet. And an operating room won't be ready for five more minutes," a nurse informed me.

"She doesn't have five minutes," I said. "I'm not waiting. Make sure she is knocked out on drugs because this knife is coming out. Right here, right now."

"Dr. Hunt, sir, I think you should wait until someone from Cardio gets here," the nurse cautioned gently.

"She'll be dead by then. Now hand me a scalpel so I can see exactly how this knife went in," I said.

She immediately obeyed, and everyone starting getting everything I would need. This wasn't the ideal place, but I'd done this in a warzone, I could do it here. I cut around the knife and saw that somehow it managed to go through the bone and be directly positioned in the middle of the heart. I needed to see more clearly, so I placed a tube to drain the excess blood while having the nurses hook her up for transfusion. I called for a chest saw and took a deep breath before sawing the bone open. With sutures ready in my other hand, I carefully pulled out the knife and began to stitch her still beating heart. Normally a patient would be on bypass for this, which made suturing easier since the heart wouldn't be moving, but there wasn't time for that. I managed to stitch her up and close her chest with no complications. I finished just in time for Dr. Incredible to run in here and yell at me.

"Dr. Hunt, tell me you did not just perform open heart surgery on a patient without the consultation of a cardio surgeon in a trauma room!"

"Get her to recovery, I'll be there soon. Thank you everyone for your help," I said, pulling off my gloves as they all cleared out.

"Dr. Hunt!"

"Yes, Dr. Cullen, that is exactly what I did. And had I not taken that initiative, the patient would be dead. I waited as long as I could, but I wasn't about to let her die because you couldn't get your ass in here fast enough," I said angrily.

"Excuse me?" he said, clearly appalled. Great, I'd just disrespected the best doctor in this hospital on my first day.

"Carlisle you don't have to like me. You don't have to like that I'm marrying your daughter and you don't have to like me as a fellow surgeon. But you do have to stay out of my way and let me do my job without being questioned on every decision I make. It's clear you are doing everything you can to make me squirm, but let me tell you I've been in situations much more intimidating than you, so it's not going to work. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a patient to check on."

The woman, whose name I learned is Megan Schreiner, was well on her way to recovery. She was high on painkillers but she was awake and talking and everything seemed to be functioning properly. She kept thanking me for saving her life and I told her I had only supplied the weapons and that she was the fighter.

"Let one of the nurses know when you feel up to talking to the police about your incident. They'll track down the person who did this to you," I assured her before leaving her to rest.

My pager was quiet, and there didn't seem to be any pressing traumas so I went to the desk to grab a chart. After that stressful rush, I was grateful that all this case would require was a few stitches and a prescription for pain medicine. I was about to see the patient when Dr. Cullen stopped me.

"Jackson, may I have a moment?" he asked. His expression was unreadable.

"Sure," I said.

"I'll take care of this one for you, Dr. Hunt," Amelia said, coming out of nowhere and grabbing the chart from me and disappearing just as fast as she'd appeared.

Dr. Cullen led me to an empty trauma room. "Jackson, I need to apologize to you for my behavior. It was extremely childish and rude of me to treat you the way I did. I was letting my personal issues get in the way of my professionalism, and I am sorry for that. You did an excellent job in taking care of that woman, exactly what I would have done had I been in that situation. You are a skilled doctor, Jackson. Pride yourself on that."

I could tell it took a lot for Carlisle to swallow his pride and apologize to me, but I'm glad he did. I didn't want to be on bad terms with my lover's father. His praise meant a lot to me as well. Dr. Cullen is the best doctor in the country, and I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work with him.

ELLA'S POINT OF VIEW:

Weeks passed, and now it was the morning of May twenty-second: my wedding day. I'd spent last night at the big house with my family so that Jackson could have the apartment to himself. Carlie was going to be the flower girl, of course. We weren't doing the groomsmen and bridesmaids thing because neither of us had friends here really, and I'd rather have my sisters watch us get married. Speaking of which, Alice had woken me up way too early for my liking to start getting me ready. She, Mom, and Rosalie were fussing over me while Bella leaned against the bathroom counter laughing at my misery. She had been in my exact position not too long ago. I do like to be pampered and get all glammed up, but this was a little too much for even me.

"Alice this eyeshadow is ridiculous," I complained, trying to smudge it with my finger.

"If you touch my masterpiece I will break all your fingers. Well, all of them except your left ring finger because then the wedding would have to be postponed," she threatened.

"Ella darling, have I done your nails to your liking?" Mom asked.

I lifted my hand to investigate my newly manicured hand. "I love it Mom, thank you. No one can do French tips better than you."

She smiled at the praise and began to work on my toenails. I didn't understand why those needed to be done as my shoes are closed toe, but Alice made a big stink about it. Rosalie had just finished prepping my hair for the bridal updo, and she and Alice were paging through Pinterest boards in effort to find the perfect hairstyle. I briefly wondered how Jackson was doing, but Alice had taken my phone last night in order to ensure I would have no contact with him until I met up with him at the altar. All these wedding formalities and technicalities were really starting to get on my nerves. All I wanted was to be with Jackson, the man I'd fallen so deeply in love with.

"Everyone out for a few minutes! I would like a little time alone with Ella to speak privately," my mother said to my sisters.

"Keep the conversation light. I just finished her makeup," Alice said.

They all left and I turned to my mother with a confused expression. "What's going on?"

"I just want to take a moment to check in. I feel like we haven't had a mother-daughter talk in quite a while. How are you doing?" she asked.

"With the wedding? Great! Mom I'm so excited to marry Jackson, I love him. No second thoughts whatsoever," I assured her.

"Not about the wedding, I know everything's good there. I'm referring to the Carlie situation," she explained.

"Oh," I said, sucking in a breath. "Honestly I've been blocking it out for the past few weeks. I haven't let myself think about it much because it upsets me. I don't want to be sad when there's something good like this in my life."

"It needs to be addressed Sweetie, sooner rather than later," Mom said.

"Mom I don't want to talk about it right now. You heard Alice; no crying and ruining her masterpiece," I said.

"Don't worry about that, there's plenty of time to fix it," Mom dismissed. "Alec will be coming to take Carlie next weekend."

"I'm aware of that, Mother," I said through gritted teeth.

"Why did you give up so easily?" she asked curiously.

"I thought I said this already; I don't want Carlie in the middle of all the drama anymore. She also deserves to have her father in her life. They haven't seen each other in almost three years; it's only fair that he gets her for a while. This way we avoid all the legal complications too. It'll be tough for a while, but I'll get through it," I said.

"You also haven't seen Alec in almost three years. How do you think that's gonna go?" she asked.

I really did not want to talk about this. It was my wedding day, for crying out loud.

"I know it's gonna hurt but I've moved on. I'll be married and he'll be nothing more than an old flame that abandoned me and our child," I said.

"Ella I'm not trying to upset you, I just really want you to think about these things before it's too late," she said.

"Mom it already is too late. I don't want to fight anymore. Obviously I'll miss Carlie like hell but it will be nice for Jackson and me to have time together. We'll be able to go on a longer honeymoon and just focus on our marriage without any interruptions from a little girl. I can only hope that Alec will call once in a while with updates and let me talk to her. I can ask that much of him. Who knows maybe Alec has moved on too and Carlie will have a stepmother to fill in for me," I said.

My mom studied me carefully. She could clearly tell I was breaking apart at the seams. What could I do though? I didn't have any more fight left in me. I didn't want to worry about my sister's jealousy hurting our family anymore. Carlie would never have to deal with the family secret. This is the hardest thing I will ever have to do, but it will benefit my daughter in the end.

"Ella I have to be honest with you about something. I've been keeping it to myself for weeks now, and this is the worst possible time to bring it up, but it's also the last chance I have to say it," my mother said, her voice becoming thick with emotion and tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mom what is it?" I asked concernedly.

Mom shook her head as the tears rolled down her cheeks and she gave me the saddest, most regretful expression. "I don't think you should marry Jackson."

I swear my heart stopped. "What?"

"I'm not trying to ruin your happy ending, but I don't think he's the one for you," she said.

"I thought you liked him."

"I do, he's a great man, but I just don't see the two of you lasting," she told me.

"Mom why would you wait so long to tell me that?" I asked.

"Because I wanted to ignore my gut feeling. I see how happy he makes you but it doesn't seem genuine to me. Ella to be completely honest I think you're rushing into it. I thought you would have wanted to wait at least until the situation with Carlie came to a close. I think you are so desperate to do away with your past that you are going to extreme measures to make it appear that way to everyone else. They may not see it, but I do Ella. You're tricking yourself into loving him and that's not fair," she said.

Angry tears dripped from my face. "Get out."

My mother stood up and opened her mouth to apologize but I cut her off with another sharp, "Get out."

Not long after Mom left my sisters came bursting through the door.

"Is everything all right?" Alice asked.

"Yes. Please just fix my makeup and finish getting me ready. I'm walking down the aisle in a couple hours whether Mom thinks it's right or not," I declared firmly.

CARLISLE'S POINT OF VIEW:

Esme came running into our bedroom where I had just finished getting dressed for my baby girl's wedding. She was the most upset I've ever seen her and immediately I became very alarmed.

"Love what's wrong?" I asked my wife as she slammed into me, seeking consolation.

She looked up at me with the most miserable expression. "I just hurt Ella in the worst way possible."

"Esme what happened?" I asked, becoming extremely worried. Hurt her how? I didn't smell any blood.

"I told her I don't think she should marry Jackson," my wife cried. "On her wedding day!"

This I had not expected. I was the last person in the world who wanted my daughter with a guy, but I thought Jackson was pretty good man, a gentleman. Esme seemed supportive of their relationship up until now, so hearing this was sincerely a surprise to me.

"You seemed to tolerate him; you even worked on me to get on board. What changed your mind?" I asked.

"It's not Jackson necessarily; it's Ella. She doesn't look at him for who he is. It's like when she looks at him she's trying to pretend he's Alec. I brought this up to her and she got so angry with me, as if she was being defensive because she knows I'm right. I prodded her on Alec a little bit and she just got even more upset. She's trying so hard to convince herself she doesn't love him anymore. Jackson has absolutely no idea, and it isn't fair to him that Ella is doing this. She just won't admit it! Not even to herself! I know what true love looks like Carlisle, and what they have isn't it," Esme explained.

I began to worry about my wife's mental health but then I realized I needed to trust her instincts. If there was one thing Esme knew how to be, it was a mother. She would never do anything to put a stop to her daughter's wedding unless she knew for a fact that it was completely wrong. I had done my best to block out the memories of Ella and Alec since I disliked the boy so much, but I do remember that Ella had truly been in love with him. Ella knew how bad he was for her, simply toxic, but that didn't enable her to control her heart. It was all making sense now. She was trying so hard to let go of their past, trying so hard not to love him anymore, but she was failing – miserably. He would be in town in only a week's time. Did Ella really think she would be able to cope with that without flying off the handle again? Was she getting married just so she could have a solid reason not to go back with him?

"Darling what now?" I asked.

She shook her head. "There's nothing I can do about it. I can't stop their wedding, I would never do that to her. I guess we'll just have to let her make her own mistakes."

My arms were wrapped tightly around my wife. She seemed to calm down a little, but she was really upset. I wish she would've talked to Ella at an earlier period, but I understood her reason for waiting. She wanted to be absolutely sure it was wrong. The thing was at this point in time there was nothing we could do to stop it. Ella was to be married to the wrong man in just a few hours, but we couldn't stop her. I suppose I can't save Ella from everything.

Ella wouldn't be able to spend the rest of her life with Jackson if she didn't truly love him, so she was just going to end up hurting even more when it all comes to an end. There was only one question left to ask. How long would this illusion last?

ELLA'S POINT OF VIEW:

"It's almost time!" Alice squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Already?" I asked, looking at the clock. She was right; I'd be walking down the aisle in half an hour.

"You never did tell me exactly what you guys are doing for vows," Rosalie said.

"We decided just to do the traditional wedding vows. Jackson isn't much of a writer, and I'm not either, so it's just easier," I explained.

"Are you going to sing him a song?" she asked.

"I couldn't write one for some reason. You would think an event like this would give me so much inspiration, but I just hit a wall every time I try to write a song about him," I said.

"Time for the dress!" Alice announced grabbing the gown I had picked out a week ago out of the closet.

My sisters helped me get into my gorgeous white gown and made sure nothing got messed up in the process. I put on the pair of sky-high heels and turned around to take a final look in the mirror. Tears came to my eyes; I was absolutely stunning. My mother and sisters had done a great job of making me look beautiful, and their efforts showed. I felt like a princess. I just stood there and stared at my reflection for about ten minutes. It was the first time in a long time that I loved what I saw.

"Mommy!" a little voice cheered, breaking me out of my reverie.

"Hi Baby Doll! Wow, you are the prettiest child I have ever seen!" I exclaimed. The flower girl dress Alice picked out for her was perfect.

"No, you pretty," Carlie argued.

"Awe, thank you Sweetie. Go with your aunties now. I have to get ready to walk down the aisle with Grandpa," I told her, acknowledging my father who had just entered the room.

Everyone left and now it was just me and Dad. He looked handsome as ever in his Armani suit with his hair neatly slicked back with gel. He handed me a bouquet of flowers and graced me with a comforting smile.

"So this is really happening," I said.

"I guess so. Now all of my daughters will be married," he said.

"I suppose you have some practice walking girls down the aisle?" I asked.

"Oh yes. I've had the honor twice."

"Third time's the charm?" I teased.

"Ella, my baby, I want you to know that even though you will have a new man in your life, I will always be here for you. You are my pride and joy. It seems as though it was yesterday that you were just a little girl. I'm not going to lie Honey, I miss those days a lot. I love you," Dad said.

"I miss those days too, and I love you more," I said, hugging my father tightly.

"I think it's time we head downstairs. Everything's set up out back, the guests are seated. All we're waiting on is you," he said.

"Who did Alice even invite? I expected it would just be our family and the Denali clan," I asked curiously.

"She invited some of your high school friends and the Irish and Egyptian covens came as well. There's a decent crowd," Dad said.

"I guess we shouldn't be late then."

Dad helped me down the stairs and escorted me to the back door. I stood out of the way so Jackson couldn't see me and watched Carlie walk down the aisle, dropping rose petals as she went. I waited until she was sitting in Mom's lap and then the music changed, signaling it was my turn. I put my hand around Dad's arm and began to walk forward. Everyone stood up and turned to face me. Instantly I blushed at the attention. My eyes were only focuses on Jackson though, he was my goal. His face lit up and he looked utterly awestruck. I beamed at him and resisted the urge to sprint down the aisle. If I tried I would just end up falling flat on my face anyway in these heels. The aisle wasn't too long, but it felt like miles because all I wanted to do was get to Jackson. I did my best to walk to the rhythm of the music and finally we reached the altar. Dad placed my hand in Jackson's and stood dutifully at my side. I looked into Jackson's eyes and suddenly everything felt all right.

"We are gathered here on this magnificent day to celebrate the union of Jackson William Hunt and Gabriella Dixie Cullen," the minister began.

I zoned out for the duration of his speech. I was too distracted by the amazing man standing in front of me. In just a few minutes I would never have to worry about being alone ever again. Jackson and I would be together forever.

"It's time to exchange vows. Who would like to go first?" the pastor asked.

"I'll go first," Jackson said excitedly. I expected him to pull out a piece of paper, but he didn't. Instead he looked straight into my eyes and began to speak.

"Ella, we met in the most unlikely of places, and we were both at our worst. We both had a negative mindset about being there, but the moment you walked into my life things immediately began to brighten up. My addiction cravings lessened, my nightmares disappeared, and you made each day tolerable. I remember not wanting to leave you at night, and then eventually I just quit leaving you. My point is you saved me Ella. I can't promise you a lot of money, and I can't promise you an easy life. But I can promise to love you every second of every day. You're the last thing I think about before I fall asleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up. I promise to be a faithful husband to you forever," Jackson said.

Happy tears had started running down my face in the middle of his speech. How did I get so lucky?

"Ella," the preacher prompted.

"Jackson, I've been through a lot in my life, and I know there will be more challenges but I'm okay with that because I know we'll face them together. I was utterly broken when we met, but you didn't let that stop you from getting to know the real me. You forgave my past and decided to move forward with me. I promise to cherish and respect you, to love and forgive you, and do my best to be a good wife. I will love you forever," I vowed.

"Jackson William Hunt, do you take Gabriella Cullen to be your wife?" the minister asked.

"I do," my love said.

"Place the wedding ring on her finger."

He slid the beautiful wedding band onto my finger. The size was a little off, but that didn't matter.

"Gabriella Dixie Cullen, do you take Jackson Hunt to be your husband?"

I beamed at Jackson and opened my mouth to respond but someone else in the room spoke.

"Wait."

A/N: It's me, I had to leave you hanging a little. Who do you think said "wait" ? Let me know along with any additional comments in a review and thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful day!