Chapter 24

Dr. Carlisle Cullen was worried about Bella. He couldn't understand why she hadn't woken up from the coma already. She'd been unresponsive for over three weeks now. There was no medical explanation for why she was still in a coma. Her injuries weren't that serious, not to underestimate her suffering, but he was starting to think that it had something to do with Edward's venom. That it was the cause, she hadn't woken up. But if it was the venom, it wasn't showing in her blood; it was clear. He'd analyzed it many times.

Carlisle sighed and leaned back on his chair pinching the bridge of his nose. He had to get her back, but he simply didn't know how to do it. He's been practicing medicine for over 300 years, and he'd only twice been in a situation where he had tried to save a human with a vampire bite, but in both of those cases, the venom had spread too far and to suck it out would have meant draining the poor humans. It was the time before the blood transfusion, the end of the 1700s. In Bella's case, the venom had just started to move forward, and he had thought that getting the venom out of the blood system would have been enough. But now it seemed it wasn't.

He had done all the imaginable tests and examinations, and he hadn't found any reason why she hadn't woken up. Her brain functions were normal, she could breathe independently, and her heartbeat was strong and steady. She got all the fluids and nutrition she needed, and Paul kept her muscles active. She needed to be moved so her muscles wouldn't lose too much of their mass, and Paul had volunteered to do that.

He didn't let anybody else touch her unnecessarily and had asked nurses to teach him how to help her. Carlisle understood the wolf's need to touch his mate and take care of her, so he let him have it. He had also encouraged him to talk to her like he was having an actual conversation with her. Bella needed help to come back. At least, that would be the case with a regular coma patient.

Nurses and other doctors were baffled at first, but Carlisle had explained that it helped the patient that her boyfriend was there with her doing the physiotherapy. Well, Paul was practically living in the hospital with Bella. He had paid for a new MRI scanning system for the children's ward and helped upgrade a few older ones, so no one asked questions about what was going on. Money had that effect on people. But Carlisle knew that this couldn't go on much longer. The beds and rooms were in high demand in every hospital, this one included.

And having a handsome young male in the ward had caused some stir amongst the female employees. After a few days, very annoyed Paul had asked Carlisle to tell everybody to stop coming to the room any more than it was strictly necessary. Carlisle did what he asked; although he couldn't blame the women, Paul was an impressive sight.

He'd been that even before he'd become an alpha, but the change had made him truly remarkable. Yes, he'd seen the power switch between the two wolves, and it had been both a humbling and fascinating thing to witness. Something so ancient and untouched by the time happening in front of your own eyes had left him in awe. Even he'd been on this planet for over 300 years.

There was no question about who the true alpha was. Sam had been a good leader, he presumed, but he had lacked the charisma and sheer power oozing from Paul. Emmett was lucky to be alive; if Paul had wanted to kill him, he would have been able to do that easily. There was hardly anything more lethal than an alpha shapeshifter whose mate had been attacked by its mortal enemy.

New alpha had made quite an impression on him. It had been amazing to look at how that lethal wolf tenderly cared and loved his mate. Even though he was the one who had killed Edward, he could not hold it against him; Edward had deserved what had happened to him, as much as it had hurt to lose him.

Esme was devastated, and she had demanded them kill Paul and the other wolves; in her opinion, they'd broken the treaty. She refused to believe Edward had done anything wrong. It was the grief talking. Carlisle knew that because he was grieving too, but he knew what Edward had done, he'd seen it, and it was something that would haunt him for the rest of his existence. To have seen Edward red-eyed and so un-human had broken his un-beating heart.

He could not stop to think how it all could have been prevented. Rosalie was probably right, Edward's abstinence hadn't been healthy, and it had caused him to lose his mind. Maybe if they had encouraged him to live more instead of waiting to start living, he wouldn't have lost his way. Maybe.

Carlisle glanced at the clock; it was time to go for his round. He didn't know if Bella's mother would be visiting today, so he would see Bella the last and let the poor boy get out for a while. Paul refused to leave Bella alone for more than a few minutes at the time, which was enough for him to use the toilet and go to get a bit of fresh air but for nothing else. Sam had stayed with Bella a few times so Paul could go to the forest behind the hospital and phase. Or that was what he thought was the reason for Sam coming to stay with Bella.

Mrs. Swan came most days, and Bella's uncle Patrick Swan visited a few days a week. On the days they didn't, Carlisle offered to stay with Bella so Paul could get out of the room for a longer time. But he refused, and he could understand why: his wolf didn't allow a vampire to be alone with his mate.

Carlisle was just leaving his office when he saw Renée and her little boy Benjamin. He was munching an apple while holding a tattered purple elephant he always carried against his chest.

"Hello, Renée and Benjamin," he said and went to meet them.

Renée smiled and nodded.

"You smell weird," the little boy said and twitched his little nose.

"Ben!" his mother hissed, "that is rude."

What was it with this boy and his enchanted smell? No other human had ever complained about his scent, which came with being a vampire. They usually smelled good to humans. It was their way to allure humans.

"That's quite alright. My wife uses odd-smelling softener, and when it mixes with the smells of the hospital, it gets a bit strange," Carlisle said, crouching in front of the child. He found people with Down syndrome utterly fascinating and delightful to be around, and this little boy was no exception.

"Your eyes have funny color," he stated.

Carlisle chuckled.

"Yes. They are like gold. Yours are like chocolate, aren't they?"

"Mommy, are my eyes chocolate?" the boy asked, looking at his mother.

"They are a beautiful color of chocolate," Renée said.

"How is my daughter today?" Renée asked him.

"The same. Unfortunately, no change."

Paul yawned and stretched his body. He walked to the window and looked outside. The same depressing view of Forks General Hospital parking space greeted him. Another grey July day.

Renée and Ben had just left the room, and he saw them walking over the parking lot to Renée's car. Paul glanced at the Lego structure on Bella's bedside table and smiled. Today Ben had brought more trees. Every time he visited, he brought something to add to the house. He hoped to God it wouldn't get much bigger.

He rubbed his face and went back to sit by Bella's bed. He took her hand and kissed the knuckles.

"Please, baby, wake up," he murmured for the millionth time.

He skimmed her arm as the nurses had advised him to do. Every touch meant, and he was all for touching. Her bruises were all gone, and her skin was back to its beautiful creamy color. It was so soft. Damn, how he longed her to open her eyes. He missed her like crazy, and he was afraid, fucking terrified; what if she didn't wake up. Who knew what that fucking venom had done to her. When thinking about her staying like this, he wanted to tear the place down.

He'd been sleeping by Bella's bed for three weeks at the hospital. The doc had bent all the rules and let him stay with her. He probably opened his thick wallet as well. He had his bed, but he curled around Bella's frail body in her bed most nights. The bed wasn't big enough for them both, but he couldn't stand any gap between them, and his wolf didn't let him sleep in a different bed. He wouldn't settle into sleep otherwise; having some skin contact with her more, the better. It was restless sleep filled with worry and fear, but at least he got some sleep.

He knew he wouldn't be able to stay here much longer. His pack – he grimaced at the word 'his' – needed him, they needed to reconnect, and his wolf needed to step up to his place on the tribal land, but he needed to be close to his mate and not leave her was still stronger. The wolf couldn't trust the leech doctor even though he knew the doc wouldn't hurt her. It was an instinctual thing more than anything; not trusting your mortal enemy, and Paul couldn't do anything about it even if he wanted to, which he didn't.

He and the doc had already discussed how they could transfer Bella to La Push. There was an adequate clinic where she could be monitored and her basic needs taken care of, or the doc could even arrange all the stuff needed to his place. The thing was how to explain the transfer to her mother. It wasn't possible without her approval for Renée being Bella's next of kin, and of course, she needed the reason, and it couldn't be the truth.

Fuck. Paul really hadn't asked to become an alpha. To say that he was fucking depressed to end up being one was a vast underestimation. Who the fuck in their right mind wanted to be a leader to a bunch of mystical creatures whose spare time fun was trying to catch their tails, even though he was one of those himself.

And he couldn't stand the imprints. If something was sure, things would change under his command. His house wouldn't be a clubhouse for those idiots, and if they thought he and Bella would start hosting big dinner parties for them, they were gravely mistaken. If Sam wanted to continue to have the pack over, he was all welcome to do that, but he had a hunch Sam and Emily were ecstatic to be able to get rid of the lot. The first thing to do was find someplace other than anybody's home to hold the meetings.

But he had to admit that week ago, when Sam and Harry had come to the hospital and confirmed his suspicions about what took place in the mountains after he shredded that motherfucker into pieces, certain peace had filled him. He had always felt something was missing when he interacted with the pack. Not just the disagreement about the imprinting. Well, now he knew: he was the fucking alpha.

"How is she?"

A male voice dragged Paul out of his brooding, and he glanced behind his back and saw Patrick. He came inside holding some papers in his hand.

"No change," Paul answered.

Patrick sighed. "What is holding her down there? Do you think music could help her?"

Paul shrugged. He didn't fucking know. He would fly up to the sky and catch the moon if it would help to get her back.

"Talking about music, do you know what this is? Has she made this?" Patrick asked and showed Paul the papers that were Bella's notes.

He recognized them; it was the wolf melody, as she called it herself.

"Yes, it is her stuff."

"I thought so. It's an amazing piece. I remember Bella playing me something when she was like 13 or 14, but it was just short friction of this piece."

"You've been at her place?"

Patrick nodded.

"I went to water her plants and found the papers on the table. I can't believe I didn't know she could create something like this," Patrick said in awe.

"She didn't want to play it to anyone yet," Paul said.

"Have you heard it?"

Paul remembered the time he had caught her playing the melody, how she'd played him... He was almost knocked down by the cocktail of emotions that particular memory inflicted; love, lust, want, need, awe, fear, terror, hope... He needed to shake his head to organize his thoughts.

"Some parts," he said, clearing his throat.

"Hmm," Patrick hummed and watched the notes. "I played it myself. I mean, I had to try..."

Paul's phone buzzed. It was Harry.

"What's up, Harry?" Paul asked.

"I know how to help Bella. But we need her to be on the reservation. Do you think you can arrange that?"

AN:

I was planning to write more to this chapter but then it would have taken much longer me to get it out. Not sure how to do the next bit yet. So, there's a little cliffy for you. What do you think?

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