Disclaimer: I own nothing but some shirtless pics of Alex Meraz that clog up the memory on my phone. SM owns all.

Chapter 23

Paul POV
I left Bella's house Sunday night with a new bounce in my step. Dinner with Charlie had gone much better than I would have ever expected. He was acting more like my old friend Charlie than Chief Swan. Bella held my hand in front of her family, even if she did still blush each time I caught her looking at me.

I still couldn't believe she actually wanted me. Not only wanted me—she loved me! I have no idea what the fuck I did to deserve that. When I stopped by Sam's house on my way back to see her, he had a different theory.

He said he thinks I was acting out all those years because deep inside I was missing Bella. He thought if she had grown up here and I saw her every day, at school and shit, that we would have naturally grounded each other and she would have given me a direction I was clearly lacking before. I wouldn't tell Bella that though—knowing her, she would feel guilty.

Sam was glad we had cleared the air between us and that she had accepted me—wolf, imprint, and all. I couldn't even get mad when he laughed about the handcuffs and said he made Bella promise to give him a copy of the pictures. I had my girl—nothing could touch me.

For the first time in months, I slept in my own bed straight through the night. I woke refreshed, my wolf still settled calm deep inside me. I missed Bella, but I promised Sam I would stay for at least some of my classes before I cut out and headed to Forks.

I got to school early and startled my first period teacher by taking a seat in the nearly-empty classroom. He looked at me warily, like he was afraid to turn his back to me, so I laid my head down on my arm and started drawing in my notebook.

The room filled slowly around me as Bella's name took shape in striking block letters, a hazy outline of her face peeking out above the "e." I wouldn't paint it anywhere, but it felt good to get it out in some physical way, creatively.

Just as the first bell rang, my pencil dragged heavily across the paper as my muscles locked up tensely. Bella's face was the only thing I could see as a sharp pain washed through me, filling me with fear and a sense of urgency. Bella was in trouble.

I left my books on my desk and darted out of the room, ignoring the teacher's startled cry behind me. My entire focus was on the door at the end of the hallway. The door that led to my freedom and my mate.

Sam was surprised when I phased in, but he understood the mindless worry washing through me. I ran as fast as I could through the trees on a direct path to my Bella. She needed me, and I was terrified of what I might find when I reached her.

The first thing I saw at her school was the ambulance sitting close to her big ass truck. Her big ass truck that had a big ugly van crashed into it. Fuck! I nearly ran out into the open and the only thing that stopped me was the sight of Charlie holding her as she cried on his shoulder. She was alive. She was okay.

I stayed in the trees until she climbed into the ambulance. I heard them talking about Embry's temperature being high, but there was no way he was close to phasing—I just saw him the night before. Sure, he'd been an ass most of the night, but he did see me kissing his sister so I figured it was understandable. What if it was more?

Follow them, Paul. We need to know if he's close or not. Sam shocked me into action and I ran toward the hospital, making a quick detour by a hollow tree where I kept a supply of shorts for when I needed to run into town. I was glad I still had some there since I'd phased right out of my clothes by the school.

Bella and Embry were already inside when I finally made it to the hospital, but I snuck in the side entrance and followed their scents to the right area. My wolf surged up again as we picked up the scent of the leech doctor, but Bella's sharp response to his greeting made me puff up with pride.

I darted inside and put myself between them, staking my claim with both my body and my words. He shocked me when he offered to shake my hand, but we both were caught off guard when Charlie and Tiffany came rushing in.

"Let me handle this so we can check on your friend, if you don't mind." He spoke below the range that the humans could hear, and I only hesitated a moment before giving him a quick nod.

I used his distraction to pull Bella back further away from the leech, keeping my eye on him as he spoke to them in a low, hypnotic tone that had my wolf trying to claw his way out. "Mr. and Mrs. Swan, if you would be so kind as to step outside here, my nurse will escort you to the waiting area. I need to run further tests on your son, and you will wait for me to come and find you. Do not worry, all will be well."

I shivered as Charlie and Tiff both nodded like robots and turned to follow some nurse down the hallway. "You better not make a habit of that—Charlie is Billy Black's best friend," I warned him as he closed the curtain.

Once Bella made her little reveal, the doctor made some comment about this changing everything. "What the hell does that mean? What's my mate got to do with anything."

My voice seemed to be the one thing that woke Embry up again. "What the hell is he doing here?" Sounds like my new potential pack mate hasn't warmed up to me at all…

"Embry? I'm Doctor Cullen. Would you mind if I examine your leg?" I watched Embry's face closely as I sat on the bed across from him with Bella in between my legs. He definitely scrunched his nose when Cullen got close enough to smell, and he jumped when the bloodsucker's dead hands touched his skin. Still, he didn't tremble and shake the way he would if he was ready to phase. Embry might need just a bit more motivation.

No one spoke as he poked and prodded Embry, though I couldn't hold back a laugh when he pulled out the stethoscope to hear his heartbeat. Bella poked my side and I managed to bring it down to a cough. However, when he stood and turned to my mate, I lost all sense of humor.

"You put one dead finger on her and I'll bite it off," I warned him lowly. Bella gasped and went to slap my shoulder, but I caught her hand before she could hurt herself.

"Chief Swan? There you are! I didn't know where you wandered off to. Come on now, we'll go to the waiting room and Dr. Cullen will let us know when he has finished with his exam."

The nurse from earlier was right outside the curtain. Which meant Charlie was right outside the curtain. Bella looked up at me with wide eyes full of fear. Had he heard?

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Charlie POV
My head felt foggy and I wasn't sure what exactly I was doing there. I heard Bella's voice and the scene at the parking lot came rushing back to me, making my eyes fill up with tears. I was glad no one was around me just then.

My kids were hurt—Embry had been hurt badly after getting Bella out of the way. I had pushed those thoughts away and focused on getting my wife up here… where was my wife? Where was Tiffany?

"Quil Ateara…"

"You're Quileute?"

Hmm, Bella must be telling Dr. Cullen about Embry's father for some reason—medical history maybe? I hadn't thought of Big Quil lately, that no good lying cheating bastard…

"Chief Swan?" The nurse startled me out of my thoughts and I realized I must have been standing there for a while. Wasn't I supposed to be somewhere? Someone told me to go somewhere…

"We'll go to the waiting room…" That's right! The waiting room. Tiffany! I followed the nurse back through the maze of curtains and hallways to see my wife curled up in a chair with Sue Clearwater sitting next to her.

"There you go, Chief Swan. Dr. Cullen will be out to get you just as soon as he finishes up in there." The nurse bustled off and left me there to try and calm my wife.

I didn't miss the way Sue's eyes narrowed as she watched the nurse walk away, but I cut her off before she could voice her disapproval. "Hush, Sue. I don't want to hear it. Those are my kids in there, not yours. Cullen is the best doctor in this place, and I for one am grateful that he's taking care of them."

Sue stood and huffed a bit. "Well, if you don't need me here, I need to get back to work. Tiffany, call me if Embry needs anything once he gets back home. I will run over any time, day or night."

Tiff nodded, then rested her head back against my chest. I pulled her closer and ran my hands through her silky hair. "He'll be okay, baby. He's a good kid, a strong boy, and he'll be just fine."

We sat there for what seemed like forever, worrying together as she cried into my shirt. My mind seemed to clear the longer we sat, and I kept coming back to one strange thought. I could have sworn I saw Paul Lahote sitting with Bella in that room. But that couldn't be right…

"Chief? Mrs. Swan? If you'd like to come back I can tell you how Bella and Embry are doing." I jerked in surprise, standing quickly to shake Carlisle's hand as I helped Tiffany to her feet.

He glanced back as he led us to the curtained-off area where we were before, talking as he went. "Your children were both very lucky. From what they tell me, Embry's quick actions saved both of them from the brunt of the crash. Tyler Crowley was not as lucky, and will be staying with us for several days."

Good. That little punk deserves to rot in jail, but my deputies only charged him with reckless driving. I'll be keeping his license suspended indefinitely.

"Here we are." He pulled back the curtain to reveal my kids piled up on the same narrow hospital bed, looking much better than they did in the school parking lot. They gave us matching looks of relief and love, and my breath caught for a moment at how similar their expressions were. Their eyes looked nearly identical…

"As you can see, we decided not to suture Miss Swan's facial laceration, choosing to use surgical adhesive instead. This will help minimize the scar, not that it will be very noticeable this close to her hairline anyway." The blood had been cleaned from Bella's face, and the thin cut looked shiny. The cuts on her hands had been cleaned and bandaged as well.

"Now, Mr. Call is not quite as lucky. I'm fairly certain he only has a deep tissue bruise on his leg, but I can't rule out the possibility that a hairline fracture may make itself known in the next few days. I have put a temporary brace on his leg, and I would like for him to come in one week from now for another x-ray to be certain. Until then, he needs to keep his weight off that leg. The two of them are free to go now."

Carlisle stepped back toward the door, carrying charts with him as he went. I kept my arm around Bella as I walked toward him, holding my hand out to him once more. Bella stiffened slightly as we stepped closer, but her arm went around my waist so I just assumed she still upset by the accident.

"Thank you, Carlisle. I can't thank you enough for looking after my kids here."

He just nodded and looked down at Bells. "That's my job, Charlie. That's what I'm here to do."

Once he left, I looked over at Embry. He had a long brace on his leg that went from the top of his knee down almost to his ankle. It kept his leg locked out straight, and a pair of crutches were propped next to him. I realized we might have a problem.

"Uh, Tiff? I think we may have to make two trips home. I don't think we can all fit in the cruiser with Embry's leg like that."

Bella looked up at me and bit her lip like she was embarrassed. "Um, Dad? I kind of already called Paul and he's on his way over to give me a ride home. I hope that's okay."

Paul. That was what I was trying to remember earlier. I still couldn't figure out why my head felt so foggy then. "Wasn't he up here when I first came? I could have sworn I saw him…"

Bella's eyes widened almost comically as she shook her head. "Uh, no! He wasn't here. Why would he be here? How could he have possibly gotten here so fast? I mean, uh… no. You must have been mistaken."

Weird. Wonder what has her so nervous. Oh well, time to take my family home and thank my lucky stars they're all okay. This day could have been so much worse.