/Sunday/
I carefully stood up from the chair, a bit shakily at first and headed to go pee, something I'd done frequently before falling asleep. The IV that was in my arm took it's toll on my bladder but now that it had been removed, things seemed to be slowing down a bit.
I headed to the kitchen and carefully filled a pot with water. First turning the water on with my good hand, always seeming to have a good hand and a bad hand. Next I lifted the pot and filled it up and placed it on the stove. I turned around to turn off the tap but I heard the water stop before I could. Leah.
"Hey. Things will get easier." She said, grabbing two mugs from the cabinet beside the fridge and placing them on the counter. "Tea or coffee this morning?"
I was confused at first since I had filled the pot but then remembered that they only had instant coffee and no coffee maker.
"Tea. You?"
"I'm due for a coffee, I just got back from patrol. Sam changed up the schedule while Jake's out, since we have more wolves and less vamps running around. He doesn't want to do away with patrols just yet though, not without the Alpha's approval."
"So what's the schedule look like now?"
We sat down and Leah poured us both some cereal. Lucky Charms, yum, and she explained how patrol was going.
"Until Jake gets back in the game, the three youngest only patrol on weekends, which means that Collin and Brady will be out today learning the ropes, along with the other new wolves. We had a few more phase but I didn't know at first because of the confusion surrounding the battle."
Leah kept her night shift but with shorter hours, Sam would patrol during school hours, Paul would hopefully be good enough to return on Monday but wouldn't be back to patrolling until later in the week at the earliest. Jared had the last class free at school which normally was spent with Kim, but he headed in early. Then Angela took over after she finished her school work. Quil came in after her, then Embry.
Their shifts were shorter which gave them more sleep but considering the fight with the newborns, everyone was probably exhausted.
The rest of the new wolves would only help out during the weekend until they got used to things. They had seven more join the pack.
Harry's siblings, Michael had a 15 year old daughter named Vanessa and Elizabeth's oldest son, a 16 year old named Joseph both phased during the battle.
Sue's brother Lucas had a 18 year old son named Lucas who phased, and Sam had a cousin named Mark who was 14.
Two more of Billy's sisters had kids phase. Nora's son Sky who was 18 and Jennie's son Drew who was 15.
Then there was Jane, Jake's mom's sister. She had an 18 year old son named Ryan.
In total there were 18 members of the Quileute wolf pack.
It was a lot to take in, and when Jake woke up, he'd have a lot of people looking to him as their leader.
After breakfast I decided to take a shower, though I wasn't exactly sure how. It was awkward but I asked Leah if she would help me. She already knew what I looked like naked more than likely, since she and Jake patrolled at the same time. She agreed to help, which was no surprise for me, and we talked to try and make it less awkward.
Leah talked about Sam's proposal just before the bonfire which we hadn't had a chance to discuss yet. He took her to their favorite spot from before Emily. It was a small clearing in the trees behind their school. They would meet there every day. It was where he first asked her out, where she first told him she loved him, and where they talked about their future together, dreaming about the possibilities.
He brought her there, and when she wasn't looking he knelt down on one knee, pulled out the ring and waited for her to turn around.
"You make me happier than I ever knew possible, make me happier still and become my wife, he said." Leah repeated to me, her eyes tearing up. She held out her hand to show me the elegant ring. It matched perfectly to the necklace he'd already bought her, the one Emily used to steal his love away.
"Is it a set?"
"It is. He said he bought the entire set all at once, but when everything happened with Emily, he set it somewhere safe, unable to go through with getting rid of it." Leah showed me her other arm with a matching bracelet and tucked her hair behind her ear to show the set had matching earrings as well.
"Wow, they're so beautiful."
"Thank you." Leah spun the ring and bit her bottom lip. "Bella, can you keep us in your thoughts? After we get married, I want to quit phasing. It's paused my reproductive cycle and I fear that it means I would never be able to have children. It's always been my dream to have a large family. I'm just worried that maybe things won't go back to normal when I stop. What if I never regain my period? What if I never get to have children?"
"Oh, Leah, I can't imagine… I believe that things will work out though."
/Monday/
My dad let me stay with Jake, knowing I would never be able to concentrate on school work if I was away from him. Angela promised that she would go to my classes and get the work for me and bring back whatever work I managed to do. Luckily my right wrist healed before I used my left arm as a cutting board so I wasn't completely incapable of getting things done. My biggest issue was my ribs.
Jake was still unconscious and nobody knew when he would recover, if he ever did. We all assumed he would though, he was the alpha and we all needed him.
Jake was loved by so many. Word got out about our camping trip and I could see Billy through Jake's open door move toward the front door. He grabbed his old cane for show and made it appear as though he didn't fully have his strength back in his legs when he opened the front door.
"Billy! It is so good to see you up and moving. How's your son doing?" a kind elderly lady and I assumed her husband asked from the porch. She was holding a large casserole dish and her husband had a grocery bag in his hand.
"He'll get there. Doctor Cullen has allowed him to stay at home since he is stable and improving. He knew that getting up to the hospital would be difficult for me and I have his girlfriend Bella Swan here to help out."
"That's good that he's able to be here. It means his injuries aren't severe. I brought you some food. I'm sure it isn't easy trying to take care of things and we heard the girl's arm got hurt."
"Thank you so much, Elaine, Greg." The couple walked into the kitchen and sorted the groceries into the proper places and set the casserole dish in the fridge.
"You just need to turn the stove on to 350 and cook for 30 minutes." Elaine hugged Billy, and Greg shook his hand.
As they walked away to leave, they glanced in Jake's room and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Thank you." I said, loud enough so they could hear.
/Tuesday/
I spent my morning working on Monday's school work. This late in the year wasn't so much about learning new things and more about reviewing things that were previously done and applying them in new ways. Fairly simple, but time consuming.
Jake seemed to be improving. The morphine actually seemed to be working on his healing injuries. Originally the pain was too great for anything to comfort him, though I noticed when I held his hand, he seemed the most at peace. So as I sat there reading through my school work, I held his hand.
/Wednesday/
"Has there been any improvement aside from pain relief?" Billy impatiently asked Carlisle.
"His newest scans show that his bones have knit themselves back together, his organs are healing and Edward says there's still trauma to his brain. It does seem to be improved but not nearly as much as everything else." Carlisle said, placing the x-rays he took down on the table.
I finished making my tea but didn't want to walk away and miss anything important.
"I have a theory about that though," Carlisle continued. "It's possible that due to the severity of his injuries, Jake's brain is healing slower to keep him in a self-sedated state to protect him from waking up too soon and feeling everything that is going on. His bones healing as fast as they are is excruciating.
"Edward has a strange view into his brain at the moment. He said that there are no thoughts currently which is unusual, but because of that he's able to get a view of the brain, something that has never happened before, and said there is something going on, but he can't tell what. I'll make sure to keep bringing him with me and tell you if anything changes."
"Do you have any guess when he might wake up?" I asked, my voice felt small, like a child interrupting her parents.
"Bella, at this point, given the injuries he's trying to heal from, I'm just staying hopeful that he will at all."
I knew he was going to say that. I had no idea why I was torturing myself with his response. I felt in every inch of me that he would wake.
/Thursday/
Leah and Sam came over for dinner. They brought the food and just cooked it here. Neither I nor Billy had any intention of slaving over a stove at the moment. Jake's injuries were getting better, but he still wasn't waking up. We spent the afternoon chatting like normal but my hand never left Jake's unless I had to get up. I was growing weary.
/Friday/
Edward stopped by and said that the brain is a miraculous thing. That this tiny lump of cells can completely make or break you, that it defines who you are as a person.
Edward told me that things were looking good in his brain, something he never even thought he could envision. I practiced my shield and when I moved it away, he practiced his new ability on me, seeing if he could tap into that part of my brain behind my conscious and subconscious layers.
He smiled at something then laughed. The sound was music to my ears in a room that had been devoid of any positive emotion for what felt like forever.
"What is it?" I asked, careful to keep the shield away from my brain, which meant lowering it onto my body. It was easier than pushing it away.
"I can hear your memories. Were you thinking about anything? A time in Phoenix when your mom took you swimming and you tried to dive in but slipped and did a cannonball instead?"
"I wasn't. I haven't thought about that day since I went cliff diving."
"That's fascinating. I've never been able to tap in to a person's memories before. Of course my mind reading has always been automatic so I guess I never really tried."
"Wait, if you're hearing my memories when trying to reach that spot you're at for Jake, does, oh God… does he have amnesia?"
"I… I never even thought that was a possibility but, I think you might be right. Of course we won't know for sure until he wakes up, and by then, his brain could be fully healed."
"Yeah. I guess you're right. We just have to wait. How's Bree?"
"She's good. I never thought I'd find someone that makes me more happy than you did but I realised now that the biggest thing was my inability to hear your thoughts. You were a mystery to me. Something I'd never experienced before and that drew me in, along with your blood of course.
"Having never been in love before, I mistook it for something it wasn't. I apologize for that. Things probably should have remained platonic between us, but knowing that, I don't regret anything. With Bree, it's love. Maybe you were vital to that though, in showing me that it's okay to love someone who is human. I never would have felt this connection with Bree if it weren't for you."
"I'm glad that you're happy Edward." I leaned my head on his shoulder, placing my shield back where it belonged. I didn't realise I fell asleep until I woke up, nestled into Jake's side.
/Saturday/
It had been a week since the battle, my truck had been towed to Jake's garage at some point, awaiting him. Nobody touched it but Jake. That was the way I preferred it and everyone knew that. Emmett had looked it over though and purchased some parts which sat on the seat. A plastic bag was carefully taped over the broken window to keep rain out and the glass had been vacuumed away.
I hopped inside, looking over the parts that would need Jake to install, and started to cry. I didn't realise how much I had repressed for the past week but it all came out. Every tear, every sob, every word I was afraid to say and some words which were foreign to my lips but felt so good to scream into the empty truck.
Swearing wasn't something I generally did but given the situation, they easily came to my lips.
"God Damnit Jake! Wake up! Please just wake up." Those weren't the worst of the words I cursed into my truck, not even close, and with each word I felt a little more anger slip away until I was just sadness. Sad that Jake was going through this because of me. Sad that everyone was lost without their alpha, sad that Jake didn't get to see his dad standing for the first time in years, sad that Billy was trying to figure out what might happen long term if Jake never woke.
"Please, if there is a God up there, or many God's or spirits from the past wolves, please. We need your strength. Your alpha needs you." I begged to anyone or thing that would listen.
"Bella!" I heard my dad scream from the doorway to the house. I wiped my tears and hopped out of the truck, my emotions completely spent. When I looked at my dad though, he was smiling. "He's waking up!"
Did my prayers work? We're the spirits listening or was it something more divine?
I ran as fast as my legs could take me straight into Jake's room. He was stirring. Carlisle and Edward stood off to the side as Billy and I stood over Jake. Carlisle had already removed the tube that was used for feeding him. I glanced at Edward who appeared to be concentrating.
"Anything?" We hadn't told Billy about our guess, hoping it wouldn't be necessary and his memories would show themselves before or when he woke, but the look on Edwards face made me realise that we should have prepared Billy instead for the possibility that it was true.
"Nothing." Edward shook his head then looked down toward his feet.
A small sob left my mouth but I didn't cry. He was waking up and that was more important than anything else in that moment.
"Jake?" I asked, holding his hand tightly.
"Mmm." He groaned, his eyes fluttering.
"Water. Somebody get him some water." I said. And Edward left the room to fill up a cup.
"Ughh." Jake groaned again and his eyes opened up. His beautiful eyes that I missed so much were now staring at Billy. "Where… what's going on?" he started to look around but closed his eyes, starting to rub his temple.
Edward walked back in and placed a glass on Jake's nightstand. I looked over at him and once again he shook his head. I pursed my lips to keep the sob from coming out. My Qahla was gone, and I had no idea if he'd ever come back.
