The overwhelming feeling of worry flooded through Safina's body. Her eyes darted everywhere in the room except for the statuesque doctor's face. Though his presence was inviting, Safina had never felt more like an outsider. She knew Carlisle, her worry was in no way correlated to his vampire status. The young girl worried that Jasper - or worse, her father - might find out about her doctor's visit.
"You complained of chest pains and nausea?" Dr. Cullen's golden eyes lingered on the teen as she nodded slowly. "Would your medical history have anything to do with this?" he already knew the answer but encouraged his patients' participation in order to create a welcoming environment.
"I, um," her brown eyes welled with tears but she continued, "I have a congenital heart defect, more specifically, an atrial septal defect: a hole in my heart." She attempted to laugh but more tears came instead. "I had surgery for it when I was like 12 or something. They told me I shouldn't have anymore problems but I've been really nauseous and my chest pains are back and-" A calming voice cut off her concerned rambling.
"Safina," she looked at him for the first time that day, "we'll do some tests, figure out what's wrong, and determine if you need another surgery." He appeared to be asking permission and she indulged, nodding her head slowly once more. "But for today, I need you to tell your parents because you've checked your phone every time you've said something and I'm willing to bet you're expecting a message asking where you're at. Right?"
"I thought Edward was the one who could read minds," Carlisle smiled at her and gestured to the door with a gentle nod. "You won't - you won't tell Jasper, right?" She gulped and looked at the blonde immortal.
"Tell him what? I never saw you today," He smiled at her and she grabbed her jacket to leave.
She smiled one last time before walking to the parking lot where her brother sat in his car, his head pressed against the glass of the window. The warmth of the car was a huge contrast to the cold October air and Safina definitely took notice, embracing the heat while trying to ignore the sharp pains in her chest.
Gabriel didn't ask about what happened at her appointment, his thoughts still scattered from finding out he was a shapeshifter. Safina didn't tell her dad that night. She promised herself - swore to herself - she would tell him sometime that week. She also promised herself that she would tell Jasper, it didn't sit well with her that she had lied to him for two days about her chest pains.
The next morning, Safina felt so sick, she considered asking to stay home. Though, she knew it would cause her father to ask questions and she wasn't ready to tell him quite yet. Her car ride to school was horrible and Gabriel tried to drive as carefully as he knew how to. Once she got to school, Jasper immediately enveloped her in a large hug.
"I missed you," he whispered into her ear, causing her to smile widely. "Are you feeling better?" he asked and Safina tried not to feel guilty.
"Yeah, much," she quickly grinned and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the school. When they passed his family, Safina could have sworn Alice winked at her. She figured Alice would know without Carlisle telling her, the precognitive ability she possessed letting her know the situation.
When the human girl looked back for her brother, she saw that his hoodie covered his lowered head. Jasper searched for what his girlfriend was looking at and noticed Gabriel, his sadness coming off in large waves, affecting Jasper greatly. When Safina noticed Jasper's crestfallen face, she immediately attempted to push happiness towards him. Her efforts were not unnoticed and he smiled lovingly at her.
"He's been upset since he found out he wouldn't be able to go to Harvard," Safina explained to Jasper as they walked to class.
"He couldn't work something out with Jacob?" the vampire questioned.
"I don't think he's talked to any pack members that much. He goes for training and patrol, comes home, and goes straight to his room. He barely responded when I asked him to take me to the do-" she forced herself to pause, mentally kicking herself, before trying to cover up, "the Dollar General." Jasper looked confused but the bell rang, ending their conversation. He kissed her forehead, his coldness causing her to shiver. A chuckle escaped him as he waved to her.
Safina rolled her eyes at herself for her stupidity for the four hours before she would see her boyfriend. She knew another slip up wouldn't be able to occur without raising suspicion. When she finally got to see Jasper, she felt extremely nauseous; she knew she had to tell her father that night. Dreading the lecture she knew was bound to come about knowing when to take a break, Safina decided to get out of her head and try to pay attention to the lesson. That proved to be difficult considering Jasper thought it appropriate to keep a cold hand firmly on her knee the whole class.
When he began to rub small circles with his finger on her kneecap, Safina thought she would fall out of her chair. She softly asked him to continue that, but on her arm. He obliged and Safina couldn't understand a single word the teacher was saying. She decided then that Jasper Hale was dangerous, but she liked it.
At lunch, Gabriel was nowhere to be found. Safina didn't even realize because her spinning head couldn't barely focus on walking straight. She blinked a few times in an attempt to get a grasp on her standing position. Obviously, Jasper took notice and immediately called Carlisle. Dr. Cullen instructed his adopted son that she was fine and it was probably the flu. Of course, he was lying. The blonde doctor called Safina's father right away and explained the situation Safina had postponed. Elliot cussed into the phone and hung up abruptly.
Gabe did not answer his phone the first time his father tried to contact him. Only the third time his phone rang loudly, vibrating in his pocket, did the shapeshifter decide to pick up and greet his father with, "What do you want?"
"Your sister's sick. I need you to take her to the hospital. Dr. Cullen's waiting in the emergency room." Gabriel decided the day their mother died that he would do anything to protect his sister. He knew he had been doing a shitty job the past week, otherwise he would have noticed the obvious signs that something was wrong. Gabe had seen the signs when he was fourteen when Safina had gotten sick the first time.
Gabriel ran to the cafeteria where he saw Safina sitting with the Cullens. She had lost most of her color and couldn't seem to focus on a particular spot. Luckily, no one seemed to notice that his sister was about to pass out. He quickly ran to her, picked her up, and began to run outside. Jasper made no attempt to stop him as he had no idea how without revealing himself.
When the siblings reached the hospital, their parents had yet to arrive. Carlisle was waiting near the emergency room doors, gesturing for Gabriel to hurry up. Safina barely felt her brother pick her up. She hadn't even noticed she had left the cafeteria. They reached the doors just as Cherie and Elliot pulled into the parking lot. Gabriel was led to a room where he was promptly instructed to set his sister down and leave. He wanted to protest, but decided it was better to let them do their job.
Once Carlisle led him back to the waiting room, Elliot and Cherie were quick to ask how their daughter was doing.
"Honestly, Elliot, I don't know. We'll have to do lots of tests before we can be completely certain what's happening. Even then, we still have to decide if she's a good candidate for surgery. I can push for it but I'm not sure," Carlisle explained. Disappointment was evident on the trio's faces as Elliot shook the doctor's hand and thanked him.
Hours later, Carlisle emerged into the waiting room where the Cullen children now sat with the Wells family. "We finally stabilized her," he began, "it appears that the hole in her heart that the doctors in Vermont fixed has returned."
Elliot knew what a great doctor Carlisle was but still felt the need to ask, "Are you sure? How do you know?"
"We did a chest X-ray and a CT scan. We're sure," Carlisle explained. With the experience he had, Carlisle felt horrible to have to tell a friend the following news. "Now," he started, "the hole is too big for a cardiac catheterization. We'll have to perform open-heart surgery."
"So she is a candidate?" Gabriel clarified.
"Her condition is much too bad to send her home in hopes that the hole closes on its own. It's either surgery or send a sixteen year old home to die; none of the doctors could live with that." While the family rejoiced at the news that Safina would get life-saving surgery from arguably one of the best doctors in the world, to hear that it was because of her bad condition broke their hearts all the more.
Cherie and Elliot were the first to visit her. "I've told you a million times, babygirl, if you feel bad, you need to say something," Elliot said softly as he stroked his daughter's curly hair.
"Elliot, please, just tell her how much you love her," Cherie's soft voice called to her husband.
Gabriel and Nessie were next in line to visit. Gabriel apologized for being a bad brother while Safina assured him he wasn't. Nessie shakily told her friend that she loved her very much and that if she died, Nessie would kill her.
Jasper visited his girlfriend alone. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?" he asked.
"I didn't want you to worry," she told him heavily. He screwed his golden eyes shut for a minute before opening them again.
"So you lied to me? You never told me you had surgery," he accused. Safina furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"Honestly, I didn't think it was your business,"she huffed at him. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her breathing was heavy.
"I can't lose you," he admitted. She reached for his hand and looked into his eyes, tears filling her own.
'So you won't. Please don't throw things in my face because you're upset. I won't take that," she pled. He nodded and kissed her on the forehead. He laughed as she shivered.