A/N: PLEASE READ! So, I'm assuming I'm in the dog house with you all because I'm three months late and for that I am deeply sorry, but as I'm sure most of you have experienced, the end of the school year can be a very stressful time with exams and such. But now, the year is over and the "Summer of Updates" is here! I can assure you that this will not be like the last one, which featured only one update. I have nothing planned for the summer and am locking myself up to focus on my writing and refine it so I can put out the best possible materiel for you all! Now, that being said, thank you all for the continued support you have shown me, you are all my favorite people on the planet and I love you very very much! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight, I wouldn't need to write fanfiction. All these wonderful characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Embry POV: There was not a moment where I had stopped crying after the doctor left me in the waiting room. After my sobs had subsided, the tears just continued to cascade from my eyelids. Both my mother and Joshua seemed at a loss for how to comfort me. How could I blame them? Neither of them had ever experienced the love of their life dying with nothing they could do to help them.

The pack wasn't much help, either. Each of them came to offer their condolences as did Billy. It made me want to slam my head into a wall, because they were acting as if she had already died, as if this monster had already robbed her of her life. As far as we knew, the girl we knew and loved was still just beyond those doors fighting for her life. She was not dead.

When Billy had arrived after being retrieved from the house by Jacob, I had fallen to my knees before him, begging my true father, the one that had been there every step of the way in my life, for some sort of indicator, a piece of knowledge that provided me with the comfort that Bella could be saved.

He had simply given me a grave stare and shook his head. "Son," he'd said earnestly. "You know that I love Bella like I do my own daughters, and you know I would do anything to save her, but unfortunately there is no deep magic that is written in our books, at least not that I am aware of or could possibly find in time to salvage her life. I am so sorry, Embry."

All I could do was nod my head yes very slowly, almost robotically as I felt the tattered remains of my soul crumble to dust. "Unless," he murmured.

My head snapped up almost immediately as I went to grip him by the shoulders. "Unless?" I demanded, shaking him slightly. "Billy, what is it?"

"Go speak to your father," he ordered me. "I believe there is something that may work, but you'd have to ask him to be completely sure."

I sat stoically for a moment. Talk to my father, to Joshua. How could he help me when he barely even knew me? What would he know about love anyway, with the way he abandoned my mother and Allison?

"Embry," there was a soft, but firm hand rested on my shoulder. I turned to see no one other than my father staring down at me sympathetically. "Maybe we should go talk outside, son."

Saying nothing, I got up and walked right through the automatic doors to the front of the hospital; a moment later he was standing before me once again. He opened his mouth to say something.

"Look," I cut him off before he could get the words out. "I know you're trying to help in your own twisted way, and I appreciate it, but I don't need it. You've already damaged my life beyond repair by not being around when I needed you all the other times. Don't think that just by being here now you can undo all of that. It changes nothing."

"I know that kiddo," he replied evenly, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. "And I am not trying to make up for that by any means, I know I can't do that, not now. But that doesn't mean that I can't be here now. Bella is a lovely girl, son, and I want to help you save her."

"How can you?"

"Well… it's a long shot, but it may work."

"I will do anything," I assured him.

"The Spirit Link shared between the two of you… it healed you when you were so severely injured that you were on the edge of death. Granted, Bella is far worse than you were after you faced Edward, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to save her. Your presence will not be enough, though. You were with her just an hour or so before she was taken into surgery, correct?"

I nodded.

"You must do more than just sit there," he told me. "You must take both her hands in yours as she sleeps and bare your very soul. Tell her how you felt the moment you saw her, what led you to fall in love. She may already know the story, but it will affirm to the spirits that your love is true, and they will preserve her for you."

"That doesn't sound too hard," I breathed, suddenly relaxing my now constantly tense muscles.

"The only catch is that she has to make it out of surgery alive," he reminded me gently. "If not, the magic will not take effect."

"She'll make it," I told him firmly, not sure if I was trying to convince him or myself. "She has to."

He grinned and patted me on the shoulder. "You're just like your mother," he said fondly, his eyes glowing. "Ever the optimist; definitely not something you got from me. Though I do wish I was more like the two of you."

"She taught me well," I agreed with him, giving a slight smile. Then something occurred to me. "Can I… ask you a question?"

"Anything."

"Do you really love her? Mom? Is that why you came back?"

My dad's smile turned sad then. "Of course it is. I've never loved anyone as much as your mom, buddy. There was no other woman like her, no one else ever had the nerve to call me on my bullshit except for her. Life with her was never boring, I'll tell you that. And when we discovered you came along… I was so happy, kid. But I had that dream and I got scared. The last thing I wanted to do was endanger you or your mother, and just recently came the time I had been waiting for. The time I could return to you both. Your mother, and you and Sam. Be a better husband and a better father. Guess I blew it, huh?"

"No," I told him, shaking my head. "Yes, it's going to take a while for me to get used to, and this doesn't mean I will ever forget what you've done. But that doesn't mean I can't forgive you," I told him. "I've been a real jerk, dad, and that hasn't been fair to you. I just… my whole life I've imagined what it would be like for you to walk through the door and come offer to toss around a baseball or a football or work on a car with me. And when the moment finally came I guess… it all just crashed down on me. I kept asking myself 'why now?' what would have made you choose now to bombard us again? Mom and I… we're closer than most mothers and sons are at this point in my life, meaning I've seen what your absence did to her, and the one thing that doesn't stand for me is when someone hurts my mother. I couldn't help but think that you would do it again. That's the reason I've been acting like such a pain in the ass. I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "I'm the one that should be sorry, son. You have every reason to hate me. I should have done more; I should have been more of a man, done what our forefathers would have done; stayed to protect my wife and children. Either way, the inevitable would have happened; you would have phased. Fathers are supposed to be there for their children, and I have been a terrible one, thus far. I got here so late for the both of you, and I can never forgive myself. I ruined one marriage, and I damaged a whole relationship with your mother. It may be too late already, but I will never know unless I try to fix it. Will you let me?"

I nodded. "Of course," I said. "And if you take Sam aside and tell him everything you just told me, I'm sure he'll give you the same chance that I have."

Joshua smiled. "I'll do that as soon as this whole ordeal is settled. "You're one amazing boy, Embry."

"Thank you," I whispered, sudden relief flooding through me. All these years I had been searching for my father's approval, and now that I was finally letting him in, that's what I had. We hugged it out for a good minute before he broke the silence. "Um son, I know that it's probably a terrible time to bring this up, but I figured that we could all do with some light at the end of the tunnel, and I wanted to ask your permission before I did this."

"Sure, what is it?" I wondered. What could he possibly have to ask me?

"Well, it only feels right to ask how you feel about this, but I want to ask your mother to marry me; we'd officially be a family that way. It's something I never got to experience with her and something I've always wanted to."

There was a moment of dead silence. My mother… married. It wouldn't be just me and her anymore; it would be the three of us. There would be another guy in the house. Our family would be whole for the first time ever. A part of me was hesitant, I didn't like the idea of it not just being me and mom against the world anymore, it was what I was used to, what I was comfortable with.

Then it occurred to me that it wouldn't be like that for too much longer. Bella was just about to go off to college, and I was two years away. Soon enough, I'd move out of my childhood home and start a life with the girl I loved… if she made it out of this. Either way, the main question was: Didn't my mother deserve to be happy too after all she had sacrificed for me?

Yes. The answer would always be yes. "Well it's a lot to take in," I told him. "But I can get used to it. Can you just do me one favor?"

"Of course, Embry. What is it?"

"Wait until Bella's out of the hospital before you propose. I want her to be well enough to celebrate with us."

He grinned, delighted. "Absolutely."

After a few more minutes we headed back inside towards where my family was seated awaiting news regarding Bella's fate. The first person I saw was my mom, and despite the tiredness present on her face, she was grinning ear to ear. She had no doubt seen our hug from the window.

Then my eyes landed on Sam. He was staring at us, more at Joshua then me, but I could clearly see the bitterness written on his face. I knew that Sam thought what his father had done was unforgivable, but I could see the small part of him that wished it was him instead of me standing next to our father in that moment.

I looked at Joshua then, who was staring uncomfortably at the floor, no doubt aware of what his elder son was thinking. Clapping him on the shoulder I nodded, pushing him towards Sam. Two minutes later he and Sam were standing in the same spot I had been just moments before.

My mother walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Thank you sweetie," she told me.

"For what?"

"For forgiving your father," she said. "For giving him another chance. I know that he deserves some of what you've thrown back at him, but after you open your heart and listen, he really is a good man."

I nodded. "Do you love him mom? Do you think about having a life with him someday?"

She looked taken aback for a moment but smiled. "Yes. Being with him again has caused me to rediscover how much a wished for it in the first place."

"Then I stand behind it one hundred percent," I told her honestly. "After all you've done for me, all the hardships you've endured to give me a better life, you deserve to be happy mom."

Mom craned her neck to look at me then, tears filling her eyes. "You really are the best son on the face of the earth you know that, don't you?"

"I try," I chuckled, kissing my mother's head. Then I turned serious. "Mom… do you think Bella will be okay?"

When she didn't say anything, I looked down at her. "Mom?"

She sighed. "I really don't know honey," her face was apologetic. "Her mother just arrived not two minutes ago, and the first thing she did after introducing herself to me was run to talk to the nurse. She's been there for a while now so… let's hope that means good news."

"Renee's here already?" I was shocked. "I thought her plane didn't land for another hour."

"She got here early and instead of calling Charlie she hopped on the first available cab. She's really anxious to meet you though honey, in spite of everything."

I chuckled nervously. "To be perfectly honest I didn't picture the first time I met my girlfriend's mother to be when she was in the hospital on the edge of death."

"Well that's not how I pictured meeting my daughter's boyfriend either," came an amused voice from behind me. I turned to see a woman with Bella's height and hair color, and with a slightly more heart shaped face.

"You must be Mrs. Dwyer," I said sheepishly to Bella's mom as I reached out to give her hand a shake.

She took it with a smile but shuddered. "Mrs. Dwyer is my mother-in-law, sweetie. You can call me Renee."

"Renee," I repeated with a smile. "I'm Embry Call."

"I know," she smiled. "Bella talks about you all the time. I can see why she loves you so much."

"And I love her," I smiled. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do to get her out of this place right now."

Renee's eyes softened. "Me too. Unfortunately though, the odds of that seem very bleak right now. She's not doing very well."

Don't worry, I told myself to keep from panicking. As long as she makes it out of surgery alive there's still a chance you can save her. She will make it out alive.

I was about to reply when I noticed Bella's doctor coming towards us with a grave look on his face. Something within me began to catch fire, something was wrong with my Bella. I could feel it.

"Mrs. Dwyer," he said when he reached us, his voice grave. "Your daughter was too weak to make it through the surgery. Right at the end, she flat-lined. We did all that we could, shock treatment and CPR for several minutes, but there was nothing we could do. I am so very sorry."

And then my world exploded.

A/N: OKAY YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HATE ME! THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. I REPEAT: LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! What do you guys think will happen next? Will the doctor let Embry in to see Bella one more time? What's going to happen when he does? I'll be back very soon as I'm already writing the next chapter. Love you all! Don't hate me! I want predictions!

Thanks for Reading!

-thewolfgurlgleek :)