Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Alright, here's the next chapter. I'm going to try one chapter a day, and see how that goes, let me know what you think. I also wanted to say thanks for all the lovely comments and support.

Before you read, let's all take a deep breathe, mentally prepare ourselves, and then enjoy!

BPOV

The next morning, I took my 'human' minutes, and when I came back Charlie was in the room with Edward. Edward gently guided me back to the bed, being careful not to pull on the IV. Charlie was intently watching our interaction.

"'Morning, Dad."

"Morning, Bells." He came over and embraced me, kissing the top of my head. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," I answered honestly. To be honest, everything still hurt, and in comparison to before I had lost so much strength, but I tried not to think in comparison to all those weeks ago. I had to constantly remind myself that it wasn't a fair comparison anymore. I, instead, compared myself to when I initially woke up, and with that in mind I was doing much better. It was still easier said than done.

"Good, I wanted to see you, make sure you were okay." Charlie's voice was even more gruff with emotion and exhaustion. "Your mother is trying to fly down here, but you know how she can be, plus I told her you were being taken care of," he said watching Edward, who took my hand and kissed the back of it. I did know how my mother could be, so I tried not to hold it against her. I just wanted to see her one last time.

"You let him read that?" Charlie laughed while eyeing the journal next that was next to Edward.

"It took a lot of convincing on my part," Edward laughed. I chuckled and smiled at him.

"And now you know all of my darkest secrets," I teased.

Then Carlisle walked in.

He carried the look of a doctor about to deliver terrible news. Only this time I knew what the news was going to be delivered, I wouldn't survive this, at least as a human. And I hated myself for it, but the smallest part of me was glad I wouldn't have to continue this vicious cycle, all of the agony of this seemingly endless treatment and revolving door of doctors would be over. It wouldn't hurt to breath anymore, my bones wouldn't ache, it would all be over one way or another.

"Good morning, Bella, Edward, oh and Charlie. I didn't know you would be here," Carlisle lied. If I didn't know that Carlisle knew Charlie was here, I would have completely believed him. "I'd like to discuss your recent results, is that okay?"

I nodded, my eyebrows furrowing. Even though I knew what he was going to say, I still felt dread flood my system.

"The pneumonia took a massive toll on your lungs and respiratory system," he explained. He sighed and the continued, "There's nothing more we can do to repair or reverse that damage, Bella. I'm so sorry, we can make you comfortable here, if you'd like-."

I swallowed the knot that was forming in my throat, "No, I want to go home, if I can?" I looked to Carlisle. He nodded solemnly.

"Wait, can't she get a lung transplant or something? Isn't there anything else?" Charlie asked in desperation.

"Unfortunately, Bella wouldn't be considered a good candidate for a lung transplant." Carlisle said, his mouth pressed in a thin line. I understood what he meant, no use wasting a good pair of lungs on a terminal case.

"Dad, it's okay." I grabbed his hand, squeezing it then letting it go. "We knew this was going to happen."

"No, Bella it's sure as hell not okay," his voice was raised in frustration. "Carlisle, isn't there anything else? Please," Charlie pleaded. Edward was holding my hand, his head hung, leg shaking. I knew it was just a part of his human charade, but in that moment everything felt too real.

"Charlie, we've exhausted every option, her respiratory system is shutting down. Her body is exhausted, anything else we do is just exhausting her further. I'm sorry, Charlie," Carlisle said gently, placing a comforting hand on Charlie's shoulder.

For a minute everyone was silent, the only sound was the monitor beating in the background.

"I need a minute, I'm going to call your mother," Charlie said, his voice breaking, and then he walked out.

"I'll go check on him," Carlisle said, walking out behind him. I closed my eyes to keep the tears from falling. I had put them through years of suffering and now it would be over, in the most finite way.

"Come here," I said, pulling on Edward's arm. He placed his head on my shoulder, arms wrapping around me. I let a few silent tears fall down my face, wiping them away before anyone could see them. We stayed like that until Charlie and Carlisle returned, minutes later. Charlie's eyes were glassy like he'd been crying in the hall, he took a deep breath, and cleared his throat. "Renee is still trying to get a flight out, but she won't be here for a few days."

Apparently, I wouldn't be seeing my mother one last time, and it felt like I couldn't be crushed any further. This was it, the next few days would be the most difficult days of my life, and there were no wise words or amount of counseling that could lessen the blow. The only thing that gave me the slightest comfort was that this would truly be the last time, I would hurt Charlie and Renee in the most painful way, but after that I wouldn't be able to hurt them ever again. My only hope was that time would heal the scars I left behind.

Carlisle excused himself after a few minutes into the silence.

"Dad, I want you to promise me something." Charlie just nodded. "Promise me that you and Mom won't let this destroy you, I got 17 wonderful years, I met the love of my life, I lived a good life, so don't let this stop your life, you'll all keep going, be happy, without me."

"Bella," Charlie sighed, we were never very good at being emotional like this.

"Just promise me, Dad. You'll go on to live a full, happy life," I insisted.

"I promise," he nodded, once again taking me hand and squeezing it.

"Good," I cleared my throat. "I didn't want to come back as a ghost or something."

Charlie just laughed half-heartedly, "As long as you're a friendly ghost, I don't mind."

Charlie didn't leave my side until visiting hours were over. I was still in and out of it, so I didn't get to spend that much time with him.

I fell asleep again after Charlie left.

The next morning, I woke to Carlisle and Edward having a discussion in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly. They both turned to me, and stopped whatever discussion they were having.

"Nothing, love, but Carlisle says you're okay to go home, and just in time for your birthday." I had almost forgotten, I was eighteen today. I both physically and mentally felt much older.

"It's today?" I groaned.

"Yes, happy birthday, my love." He leaned down and kissed me gently.

"Thanks," I muttered.

Edward had taken care of all of the discharge paperwork before I had awoken, so it didn't take us long to start making our way to the Cullen's house.

"We're spending the day with our family, Alice planned something," Edward laughed as I cringed, "and then we're having dinner with Charlie."

I nodded, slightly relieved. I knew a dinner with Charlie would be a more quiet affair.

"Why do we have to celebrate?" I whined. I never enjoyed my birthday, it was like celebrating another year of pain and suffering that I had put Renee and Charlie through.

"Your being born definitely calls for a celebration, Bella."

I barely contained my scoff.

"We can just go home, spend a quiet day together," I bargained. "I mean, who knows what Alice has planned?"

"I would take you up on that very tempting offer," he stroked my face leading down to my neck, and tracing my collarbone. My heart started fluttering at Edward's cool touch.

"But Alice would hunt us down, and you've never seen Alice truly upset. And I'll protect you from everything except from my angry sister," he laughed as we pulled up to the main house.

Edward was helping out of the car, and putting my backpack on the ground when Alice appeared in front of me. I jolted violently as Alice seemingly materialized in front of me. Edward was glaring at her for startling me.

"Bella!" She embraced me tightly, ignoring Edward's glare. It was then I saw the gift box she was holding. "Happy birthday, Bella!"

At first, I thought her excitement was contagious, but then I saw Jasper in the doorway.

"No fair with the mood control, Jasper."

"Sorry, Bella. Happy- never mind," Jasper trailed off, I'm sure he could feel how unexcited I was for my birthday. I was also pretty sure he could feel the aching and exhaustion I felt. I must have been containing it well, because neither he nor Edward said anything. Maybe they knew I was just humoring them on the last human birthday I would ever have.

"Here," Alice said, handing me the gift box. "And before you say anything, I've seen you open it, you love it."

Edward was suppressing a laugh beside me.

"Go home, get dressed and be back here in an hour. And I'll see if you two decide to ditch us, you won't get far!" Alice warned.

"Okay," I sighed in defeat.

"Alright, Alice," Edward laughed, I liked seeing his expression so light, everything had been weighing so heavily on him lately, it was a massive change from the Edward I had seen at the hospital.

"Alright here's your warning." He slung me on his back, taking my bag from me, and only seconds after closing my eyes we were at our little cottage. I had missed our little sanctuary so much.

"Thank you," I said as he gently put me down. "I'm going to try to get the hospital smell off of me."

"You smell fine to me," Edward said, leaning down and kissing my neck.

"Stop, everyone's waiting for us," I giggled as his fingers trailed my collarbone again.

He groaned and pulled away, "I suppose we'll have to wait."

"Soon I won't need sleep, don't worry," I laughed, "Come on, let's go inside."

It didn't take long for me to shower and open the box that Alice had given me. It was a beautiful dark green dress, Alice was right I loved it, I suppose that was one of the perks of having a psychic sister-in-law.

When we returned to the house, Alice was waiting at the front door.

"It's about time," Alice said impatiently.

"We're only a few minutes late, Alice," Edward dismissed.

"Come on, Bella." Alice took my hand from Edward, and led me to the dining room. The last time I had been in this room was for our little wedding. The antique table was gone. The room was lit with candles, there were carefully hung streamers, and all of the Cullens were in the room.

Esme was the first to approach me.

"Welcome home, Bella," Esme said, embracing me.

"Thank you, Esme."

Emmett was the next one to welcome me.

"Welcome back, Bella," he gave me one of his big bear hugs, only this time he was much more gentle. "Next time, if you need attention, just ask, okay? No need for the dramatics."

"Yes, we all know how much she loves attention, Emmett." Edward's voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Oh, and happy birthday," Emmett snickered.

"My bad, Emmett, I thought I had to get pneumonia, pfft...silly me. I'll try to remember that," I chuckled sarcastically.

Emmett turned to Edward, "Married to an older woman, nice."

"I'm over a hundred years old, Emmett," Edward rolled his eyes and pushed Emmett away.

I was surprised when Rosalie came up to me next. "Welcome back, Bella," she actually sounded sincere. I was sure the shock on my face was visible. I looked around and everyone wore a similar expression.

"What? I can be nice," Rosalie snapped.

"Yeah, very nice, Rose," Edward mocked sarcastically.

"Look, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, it's difficult to watch you choose this, but I can see how happy you make, Edward. I suppose I can understand doing whatever possible to stay with each other, despite my vehement objections."

"Thank you, Rosalie," I said quietly.

"Family calls me Rose, Bella," she corrected. I wasn't exactly sure what had caused this dramatic pivot, but I wasn't about to call that into question.

"That was very touching, but it's present time!" Alice's excitement bursting through the tender moment.

Carlisle and Esme had told me that Edward was keeping their gift a surprise for me for after.

Rose gave me a set of earrings and a matching necklace.

Edward also said he had a surprise for me, but he said he would explain later.

We were on our way to Charlie's when Edward decided to explain. "So, I suppose I should first tell you that your truck, unfortunately, died."

"Died? Or did you kill it?" I demanded playfully. Both Edward and Emmett took every opportunity to disparage my truck.

"I did no such thing, it was probably from sitting idle for too long. Rose looked at it, but there was nothing that she could do," Edward explained.

"I don't believe you, but continue."

He laughed and continued, "Well, and don't get upset, but I got you a car."

"What? Edward, really? You know how I feel about extravagant gifts, it's too much," I rasped, my voice slightly raised.

"Well it's your 'after' car, I'm not taking it back, and I'll feel terrible if you don't accept it," Edward sighed dramatically. He knew I wouldn't be able to say no to him.

"Okay, fine," I groaned in exasperation, "You need to learn how to fight fair."

"Most people would be happy getting a car, Bella," Edward retorted playfully.

We made it to Charlie's house, and he thought the diner was a good place. I was happy for some normalcy. We kept the conversation light during dinner, Edward was cutting up his food and pushing it around to make it look like he was eating.

When we got back to Charlie's house, he had a gift wrapped on the table.

"You're mother and I coordinated, well she coordinated me," Charlie said, handing me the gift. I opened it to find a scrapbook, from birth until now, including pictures of me with Renee or Charlie, and even though there were few and far in between, some of the three of us. It looked like one of those photo books people got custom made.

"Thank you, Dad. I love it." I reached out and hugged him. He didn't know just how perfect this gift was. I would carry this piece of them for the rest of eternity.

We stayed for a while until I couldn't hide the exhaustion.

"Go home, you should get some rest, Bells."

I nodded, willing the emotions back down, knowing this was probably the last time I would ever see Charlie.

"Yeah, I guess we should go," I nodded again, but made no move to get up. Edward laced his fingers with mine gently pulling me up.

"Happy birthday, Bella. I love you." Charlie smiled, I tried to memorize his face, commit it to memory.

"I love you too, Dad. Never forget that," I said, my voice miraculously didn't crack. I hugged him for as long as I could without being suspicious.

It wasn't until we reached Edward's car that the tears began to fall.

"Are you okay, love?" Edward's voice was gentle and soothing.

"Yes, that was just really hard, knowing I won't be able to see him anymore." I tried swallowing the knot that was forming in my throat. Edward raised our intertwined hands and kissed the back of my hand.

I heard my phone start ringing, it was my mother. I took a deep breath and answered.

"Mom?"

"Oh, Bella! Happy birthday. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner, you know how forgetful I can be," she chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it."

"Are you feeling better? Your father said you got to go home! And just in time for your birthday, that's some good timing right there." I could always count on her to see some silver lining, even when it seemed impossible, she always managed to find some obscure blessing-in-disguise.

Edward snickered at Renee's comment. Even though she knew I didn't like to celebrate my birthday, she always tried to make it fun for me, it was just another way I would remember her.

"Yes, great timing," I said sarcastically.

"Oh hush, you're an adult now, that's very exciting. Although you've always been pretty middle-aged, you're now officially all grown up."

I laughed.

"I have to go now, but I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Mom. Always," I promised before the line went dead.

"It's remarkable how different the two of you are," Edward quipped.

"We always balanced each other out. I'm going to miss her," I admitted quietly.

He just rubbed circles in the back of my hand until we got back to the main house. Tomorrow was going to be my last day as a human. With that realization, I wasn't as tired anymore. I wanted to take in my last day as a human.

Everyone was in the living room, they looked like they were all laughing and joking around. It felt good to see them like that, Edward had told me that they had all been so worried about me.

"Come on," Edward took my hand and lead me into the main house.

We walked in and everyone greeted us in the same exuberant fervor. We joined them on the couch, even Rose was taking place in the playful conversation. I was relieved that I was finally making progress with her.

Everyone was just talking and laughing when the nausea hit me like a truck, it overwhelmed me as my vision started to get fuzzy. It started happening so fast that I couldn't even process what was happening. I didn't even have a chance to fight it back.

Jasper snapped his head towards me, and not even a second later Edward did the same.

"Bella? Are you alright?" I had heard this tone from Edward before, and last time it almost it didn't end well.

I was so focused on trying to will my vision to stay put, to not let the black spots that had formed in my vision take over that I almost didn't answer. It felt like everything was spinning, which didn't help the nauseous feeling that kept building.

"I don't feel so good," I feebly answered, not even a second after I spoke the words, I felt the familiar feeling of vomit rising through my esophagus. I tried to stand to go to the bathroom, but the room felt off balance. I didn't even make it a step before the vomit made it's way out.

But it wasn't vomit, I smelled and tasted the rust and salt of the blood coming out of my mouth. Edward's grip was the only thing keeping me upright.

Out of the corner of my eye, Emmett suddenly grabbed Jasper, who was now poised to lunge at me. Alice was next to him trying to take his focus off of me. I felt the irrational twinge of betrayal, I felt like I was friends with Jasper, now he was fighting the urge to kill me. I pushed the feeling away, it wasn't Jasper's fault. I knew he struggled with the bloodlust, but it lasted long enough that Jasper noticed. He looked at me and he no longer looked lost in his murderous daze.

I couldn't even focus on what was happening with him.

Carlisle was next to me in an instant.

The black spots were getting bigger, I wasn't sure what to focus on, the blood coming out of my mouth, the black spots and my vision fading in and out, the embarrassment that I felt just having thrown up, or the fact I was throwing up blood in front of a bunch of vampires.

I felt myself fading in and out, darkness would wash over me just for a new scene to reappear again. There were seconds just gone from this chaotic timeline.

I was in Edward's arms.

I was lying on a table in Carlisle's office.

"We need to do it tonight, Edward. It could be anything, she may not make it to the hospital, Edward."

It was at that moment, that I started throwing up again. I turned my head so I didn't choke on the blood.

"It needs to be now, Edward," even Carlisle couldn't hide the urgency in his voice.

"Bella, I need you to focus on me okay? Edward will inject you with the morphine and then with his venom," Carlisle said, trying to hold my attention. I nodded, trying to will myself not to fade out again.

"Look at me, Bella. You come back to me, okay?" Edward's voice was panicked. I tried to focus on him, but I couldn't.

"It'll be okay, Edward," I whispered. We had been in this position before, I had done this to Edward before, I would always fight my way back to him. This time I was fully aware that it might not be up to me to return to Edward.

Edward injected me with morphine, slowly I felt my eyelids getting heavier, whether it was the morphine or not I couldn't say.

"I'll come back to you, always. I love you." My words were slurred, but I hoped he understood. I tried to fight off the darkness, but it was enveloping me faster than I could fight it off.

"I love you, Bella, so much."

Those were the last words I heard before everything went dark.