PREVIOUSLY-
"Quil, tell me what happened?" She demanded as I pulled her out the door.
"They got her." I replied. I could feel her relief then immediate worry.
"What else?" She knew I hadn't told her everything.
I took a deep breath. "Em got hurt. They're taking him to Sam's."
"What?! Embry's hurt? Is he going to be okay?" She asked me frantically.
"Jared said it's not life-threatening but his arms are scratched up pretty bad." I told her honestly.
"Then let's go." She replied with absolution, climbing into the truck.
BELLA POV-
Once we were on our way, I finally asked Quil what he'd done to warrant getting injured and he told me everything. We made it to Sam's in near record time. I jumped out of the truck and ran inside as fast as I could, immediately seeing where they had Embry laid out on the couch on top of towels.
I could see the horrific looking cuts on the tops of both his arms, no longer bleeding but still tore open almost like claw marks.
Emily ran back down the stairs carrying a first aid kit and I kneeled beside the couch with Quil directly behind me.
"He's going to be okay, Bella." Sam told me, reaching down to place his hand on my shoulder. "He's already starting to heal. They will be scars though."
I grabbed the first aid kit from Emily and reached for some alcohol wipes. I knew I couldn't do anything more for him other than clean the dried blood that had ran all the way down his arms and chest but I felt the need to do it.
"Let's give them some room." Sam told the others.
Embry's eyes began to flutter open as I worked to clean the blood away.
"Bella?" He asked upon seeing me tending to him.
"What were you thinking, Embry? When I told you there needed to be a distraction, I didn't mean you!" I scolded him. He knew I was angry.
"We got her, didn't we?" He replied.
"She could've killed you so easily! You go and get angry with me, telling me not to be the sacrificial lamb and then go and do it yourself! Do you realize what it would do to me if you'd died?" I nearly broke down next to him.
"You still would've had Quil…" He murmured to me.
My outrage tripled at his statement. I stood up and turned to Quil.
"I need some air. Can you finish cleaning him up?" I asked him and he nodded.
I walked outside and sat on the porch fuming with anger at my imprint.
QUIL POV-
I leaned down and grabbed the supplies Bella had started using to clean Embry and looked at him shaking my head.
"That was not the right thing to say, Em. She's pissed big time." I told him.
"It was the truth." He replied to me having no clue how much I wanted to hit him in that moment.
"You think she would've been okay with me alone? She needs both of us, even I'm not stupid enough not to realize that. Hell, she needs you more than she needs me. I can't give her what you can. Obviously the spirits knew that otherwise we wouldn't have both imprinted on her. You're an idiot if you think anything different." I growled at him.
"I did it to protect her. It was the only way." He responded in clear pain.
I knew then that I would've done the same thing if I were in his position if it meant protecting Bella.
"I can't blame you for doing it, but did you really have to go and tell Bella that she would've still had me if you didn't make it? It would've destroyed both of us and don't tell me that you didn't know that." I told him angrily.
"I'm sorry. What else can I say? I'm alive, I didn't die so there's no reason to make such a big deal out of it. It was just a hypothetical situation that didn't actually play out." He attempted.
"It was the thought of it, bro. I don't think a 'sorry' is going to cut it with how angry she is right now. You made her think of what she would do without you and it's hurting her bad. I know you can feel it too." I said as I finished up. "You're going to have to grovel after that shit."
"Of course I can feel it. I get that I should've probably went about it a different way but it's too late now. You should go make sure she's okay. Tell her I'm sorry for what I said." He told me.
"I'm going to check on her but your ass is going to tell her sorry yourself." I said to him as I stood up.
He swallowed nervously. "I have a feeling she's not going to want to talk to me right now."
"That's on you, Em." I told him quietly before walking out the door to see Bella crying on the edge of the porch.
I went and sat next to her, putting my arm around her and pulling her close to me. It killed me to see her crying like this.
"How could he say that?" She sobbed into my chest.
"He's not thinking straight, babe. He knows you wouldn't have been alright without him, even with me here. I think he just reverted back to his mindset from the month after he imprinted on you, thinking that you didn't need him because you would've had me. We both know how self-sacrificing he's willing to be." I told her as I held her.
"Just the thought of it feels like it's ripping me apart. I almost want to slap him in the face and tell him how stupid he was." She mumbled to me.
"Now that would be a sight, but I think he's in enough pain right now as it is. He agrees that he shouldn't have said that to you, that he should've just told you it needed to be done and left it at that." I replied.
"It's not the fact that he said it, it's the fact that he thought it, Quil. The thing that kills me the most about this situation is that I was in his position before. I made the same choice and I realize now that this is exactly how I made everyone else feel. I mean it worked the same way with Victoria in the other timeline, but it was a gamble with my life that I realize now was a mistake. It's not worth the pain it puts other people through. He chastised me about it this morning and then he went and did the same thing." She explained.
I hadn't known she'd done the same thing in the other time. She must've told Embry which is where he would've gotten the idea.
"We're definitely going to have a discussion about what self-sacrificing things you did in the other timeline later, "I mumbled. "but I see where you're coming from. I won't lie, Bella. I would've done the same thing in his position if it meant you were safe. He wasn't thinking about what would have happened afterwards, just making sure you were alive for it to happen." I said, trying to make some sense out of it for her. "It's how our minds are hardwired. We'd do anything to make sure you were safe and happy, but safe is our absolute first priority, even if it means happiness falls behind. You would have nothing to be happy about if you weren't here to feel it."
She sat there processing it for a few minutes while I rubbed her back. I hoped that she'd understood how I broke it down for her.
"I – I think I can see your point, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. You're both an equal part of me. I love you both the exact same. So if something happened to one of you, I'd be missing a critical part of myself. I'm one third of an equation and two thirds can't miraculously turn into two halves, if that even makes any sense." She finally responded, which I immediately understood, though the part that had me focused on was the part where she said she loved us.
"You love us?" I whispered to her in question, causing her to look up at me with pink-tinged cheeks.
"Yeah… I really do." She said with a smile as if she'd just realized what she'd said and had been surprised about it too.
"I love you too. I'm sure Embry feels the same but I can't speak for him." I replied to her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "And I understand what you said. Yes, you'd still have me but neither of us would be the same and there would always be that one third missing."
She smiled at me and reached up to kiss me sweetly before pulling away and resting her head against me again. "We need to make him realize that. He doesn't give himself enough credit."
"He can hear everything you've said, babe. He knows." It was clear that she'd momentarily forgotten about our heightened hearing capabilities because she paled before looking back at the door.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you yet, Embry." She said, now knowing he could hear her.
"Tell her I said I know." I heard Embry say from inside in a sad voice.
"He wants me to tell you that he knows." I repeated to her.
She walked back inside and determined that I didn't clean him off enough, so she continued despite still being angry with him. She just didn't speak. After he was adequately bandaged, she let him be.
Once Embry fell asleep, Bella asked me if I would take her to my mom's store for work seeing as it was nearing 4pm.
I didn't want her to go though. I felt like I needed her close after everything that had happened.
"Can you stay with me? I can call Mom—"
"I can't let your mom down like that, Quil. It's a job." She replied. I could still feel the residual anger from before.
"Mom will understand." I told her, hoping she'd understand.
"But I—"
"Bella, please? I just – I need you close right now." I knew I sounded pathetic but it was the truth.
She gulped and nodded. "Go call your mom. I'm going to talk to Sam and see if we can move Embry back to your house."
I did as she asked. Just as I'd thought, Mom was more than understanding. She'd even asked if she should close the store early and come home to help with Embry but I reassured her that he would be okay with just me and Bella.
When I walked back inside, Embry was frustrated.
"I can walk just fine. My legs aren't injured, just let me walk!" I knew he'd be in a bad mood considering we could both feel the echo of Bella's bad mood and he was injured on top of it.
"Your body is weak right now, Embry." Sam tried to reason with him.
"I'm just fine. My arms are already stitching themselves back together. I think I can walk to the truck on my own." He grumbled.
"She nearly took your arms off. It'll take more than a couple hours for them to heal, but if you're so insistent then go ahead." Sam told him, knowing that he wasn't going to get a different outcome from the situation.
Embry stood up and looked fine for a split second before he started swaying. I caught him by his back before he could fall over, careful of his arms.
"I got him, Sam." I told him, maneuvering around to where I could pick up Embry by myself, cradling him in front of me making sure not to mess with his arms.
He wasn't light by any means but I could still lift him with no problems. I carried him out to the truck and Bella opened the door for me. I sat him inside and closed the door. Bella climbed in through the driver's side and into the middle seat while I drove us back to my house.
She stayed with us until it was technically time for her to get off work when Charlie would be expecting her home.
"I have to go home, Quil. I can't spend the night and Embry needs to stay here with you. I'll be fine for one night alone. The threat to me has been taken care of." She told me as she walked out to her truck.
I didn't like that idea at all. I knew that Em wouldn't be able to make it up there with her tonight and that I needed to keep an eye on him, but that didn't mean my wolf wasn't freaking out that she would be on her own.
"I don't like it." I muttered to her.
"I've had a long day and I have school tomorrow. Charlie will be home so I'll be fine. I'm a big girl." She replied. "I love you. Take care of my other imprint for me."
She leaned up and kissed me. "I love you too. Paul will be patrolling tonight so if you need anything—"
"I know. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I swallowed nervously and nodded as she climbed into the truck and drove off.
A/N- I know it's been a while since I posted but I just haven't been in the Twilight state of mind until today. I don't like to force myself to write because then it truly sounds forced and it kills the flow of the story.
Anyways, I hope that you enjoy even though it was kind of a sad chapter.
