Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't care.
A/M: Heyy! This chapter's dedicated to my most freakin' awesome fan and best friend for LIFE (and beyond, because we're vampires and cool like that) CHRISTINAAAAA!! So, yah…:D Maine's nice by the way, you should visit!
Chapter Six
Jacob had been invited to stay for dinner at Sam and Emily's house but he had politely declined, he was now saying goodbye to the family.
"Bye Katy," Katy was doing yoga with the TV and Jacob got a foot wave in response. "Megimoo, if I can still call you that." She nodded.
"See ya, Jake." She said.
"Sam, Emily," He said, they nodded and Emily gave the faintest 'goodbye'.
He pulled Anna out onto the porch with him, closing the door behind him, Anna looked a little bitter. "Why won't you stay?" she asked.
"I just gotta get home, Anna," He said tiredly. "I'm driving you tomorrow, right?" She nodded. "Then I'll see you tomorrow." She gave a half-hearted smile and Jacob tilted her chin so that she was looking in his eyes then he was gone in a blur, running down the road to his house.
When he walked through the door he didn't care who was there he just pounded up the stairs to his room and pulled out the piece of paper he had nicked from Anna.
"Jake, is that you?" Billy called up the stairs. "I would have thought you'd be staying at Emily and Sam's for dinner." Besides that first day, Billy had been rather accepting of the fact that Jacob had imprinted.
"I didn't want to be burden!" Jacob called back down the stairs. He kenw he wouldn't have been but he thought about how happy Emily would be having to cook for a normal amount of people.
"That was nice of you, well I'll order pizza then, is that okay?" Billy called.
"Sure, extra cheese and pepperoni too, please!" Jacob asked.
"Got it."
Jacob turned from the door and closed it behind him as he entered his room. He began to uncrumple the paper when Quil appeared at his window. Jacob had a window above his desk under which there was a trelace that made it easy for pack members to climb up to his room.
"Hey brother from another mother!" said Quil happily.
"Hey idiot!" Jacob greeted him back, re-stuffing the paper in his pocket.
"How's Anna?" He asked. Quil was one of the only pack members that was actually interested in their relationship. Quil had always liked being a werewolf and had always found it interesting, he wanted to understand imprints more than anyone else.
"We kissed." Quil almost fell out the window.
They talked until the pizza came and ate until they were full, then they played video games until Jacob forgot all about the paper in his pocket.
0.o.0.
Jacob awoke and was disturbed by something poking his thigh. He reached into his pocket sleepily and pulled out a piece of crumpled paper. He sat up swiftly, recognizing it at once, and hit his head on the slanted ceiling of his bedroom.
Rubbing his head he sat up slouching with the ceiling and opened the balled up paper. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and proceeded to read.
I'm Ready To Die by Anna Call
We went to the doctor
Something was wrong
A tumor
It had been there all along
You packed me some bags
And you shipped me away
Saying it would be too hard
If I were to stay
I'm ready to die
I've tied up loose ends
Like finalized strings
The chemo surges through me
You're probably happy
You don't have to see me
In pain, like I am
I'm ready to die
I have been for a while
I was born ready
Cancer's like:
Involved children
Growing
Bigger
Never better
I'm going to die
I'm not so ashamed
That you left me here
Miles from home
I don't know why.
But I do know the reason,
You said it when I boarded the plane
When you said goodbye.
I'm ready to die.
The poem was a mess, some stanzas rhymed others did not. They were uneven in length. But they all meant the same thing.
Anna had given up hope.
Jacob rushed down the stairs, almost running over Billy in the process, he grabbed his coat on the way out, in the background of his wild thoughts on which was the fastest route to Emily and Sam's house he heard Billy saying, "Jake, I was just about to wake you up! Are you driving Anna down to Seattle today? Because if not I'd like to get down to Charlie's at some point and – Jake?"
Seattle. The hospital. Anna's chemo.
"Damnit!" Jacob growled. "Sorry, Billy, Sue or someone else will have to drive you." And he was out the door and into the rain. He ran to his car and started it up not bothering to turn on the heat. He was his own heater.
He arrived at the Uley's house in a matter of minutes and the car had barely pulled to a halt before he had, turned it off and jumped out. He bounded up the porch steps to their house and rang the bell.
Emily appeared at the door and hugged Jacob. "Jake! I'm pregnant!" She said.
"Emily! I'm not!" I said, hugging her back. "But good luck with Meg on that one, she'll probably be freaking out, you know it's hard for a sexually active teen to have sexually active parents? There's a huge ick-factor thing there."
"Are you saying my daughter is sexually active?" Emily asked, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Because that makes me naseous."
"Dearest Emily," Jacob teased. "That's mourning sickness."
Emily grunted but let him in the house, Sam was sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands and a mug of coffee in front of him. "Congrats, Sam." He turned back to Emily. "I never meant to imply that Megan is sexually active, but she probably knows people who are, I know people who are younger than I am and it's a huge ick-factor!" Emily growled and I smiled. "Where's Anna?"
"Here." Anna said entering the kitchen. "Good job, Em," She said. "Remember, keep thinking boy." Emily laughed, but nodded.
"I got mangos." She said and picked on up out of the fruit bowl, Anna held up her hand and Anna threw her one.
"Yum." Anna exclaimed and bit into the fruit.
Jacob turned to Anna and remembered why he had been in such a rush, "Anna, can I talk to you, outside maybe?" Anna nodded, unaware of what the conversation would entail.
"Sure Jake." She agreed, they went outside onto the porch. Jake gestured to the swing and they pulled the cushion off it and at down. "What's up?" she asked.
"What is this?" Jacob took out her poem and thrust it in her face. She blinked and took it in her hands, reading it over.
"Where did you get this?" She demanded. "You stole it, didn't you?" She accused, he nodded guiltily. "Jake! How could you do this?" She cried.
"How could you?"
"What?" She asked exasperated. "What did I do? I didn't steal a poem did I?"
Jacob took her face in his hands, "How could you possibly give up?" her eyes widened. "How could you do that, to yourself, to Embry, how could you do that to me?"
"I wrote that a long time ago, Jake. I'm not proud about loosing hope but hope is so hard to have a surplus of."
"Take mine, take my hope," He grasped her hands in his, she shook her head, tears beginning to form, her voice was already choking up. "No, Anna, it's okay to take my hope because it's already all for you." He kissed her hands, each of her fingers individually and then her knuckles. He pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead, once, twice, three times. He pressed his forehead to hers and said, "Promise me that you will never be ready to die."
She nodded, tears streaking down her face. "I promise Jake," She said finding her voice. "I promise that I won't loose hope, and that I'll never be ready to die."
The car ride down to Seattle Hospital was quiet as Anna's iPod played old music that they would every now and then sing to or scoff. When Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne came on Jacob literally laughed out loud. "I remember the year this song came out! Claire knew the words at one point and that was hilarious! I think we still have that video of her singing it." He had exclaimed. But mostly the car ride was quiet. He held one of her hands while the other drove.
They went through the check-in routine and Anna was put in a bed with an IV tube. She and Jacob were talking about whether or not Pringles were a potato chip when Bella entered.
"I swear to you – Bella, aren't Pringles not potato chips?" Jacob said.
"Random," Bella stated. "But yes, there was a whole examination in 2008 about how they lacked some necessary qualifications to reside under the description of potato chip."
"Told you!" Jacob stuck his tongue out at Anna and Bella whapped him on the back of the head.
"Oi! No being mean to the cancer patient!" She said scolding him. He smiled guiltily at her.
As the chemo treatment went on, Anna drifted to a light sleep, during which Bella came in to check on her. "Bella," Jacob whispered. "Can I talk to you about Anna?" She nodded and gestured for him to follow her down the hallway.
A random, frantic-looking doctor "Bella, have you seen Edward? He's supposed to be in a meeting with the Fields family." She said.
"Check Carlisle's office, his office and I'll check mine. He hangs out there sometimes." The doctor nodded and ran off down the hall. Bella chuckled. "I love when they think that just because I'm married to him I know where he is all the time." Jacob gave an uncertain laugh as he continued to follow her down the hallway.
They stopped outside a door that said Dr. Bella Cullen. She looked at Jacob and gave a wink, "Like the name?" she teased. He didn't say anything but gave a small smile so Bella opened the door and entered.
He trapsed in behind her, a little shocked to see another vampire in the room. The always 17-year-old with bronze hair and golden eyes was Edward Cullen and – in short – Bella's husband. Bella was standing in front of him expectantly, he was grinning up at her with a half-smile that she normally seemed to love. Now, however, she was tapping her foot on the carpeted floor waiting for a response.
"Am I missing something here?" He finally asked then looked around Bella to Jacob. "Hello, Jacob, how are you today?"
"Doing okay, Cullen, yourself?" Jacob responded, he didn't know how he suddenly became more polite towards the bloodsucker. Probably when I imprinted, he reasoned with himself.
"I was wondering the same thing," Edward said, Jacob snarled lightly but nothing more. "I'm doing just fine though, thank you for asking. I heard that you imprinted." Jacob nodded. "Dearest, what's the matter?" he asked Bella who was still tapping her foot impatiently.
"Christina Fields? Her checkup?" She reminded him, his golden eyes went wide and he up and sprinted out the door, he was back before too long though.
"Nice seeing you again, Jacob." He said before again dashing off to see to Christina.
Bella sat down behind a large desk and motioned for Jacob to sit in one of the three, less comfortable looking seats across the way. He sat himself down in the one that looked the most cushioned and began to speak at once, "How is she?" he asked, Bella looked confused for a moment. "How is she, really?" Jacob asked.
Bella's mouth formed an 'o' and she sighed, "Jake, I'm so sorry, but the chances that she'll come out of this in remission are so slim."
He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. "But you are doing everything you can, right?" He asked.
"Of course, Jake, of course we are." Bella assured him.
"Then what do we have to do? What can I do? Bella, I don't think you understand what will happen if she dies." Jacob was beginning to cry, he hadn't wanted to, it wasn't part of the plan. He didn't want to cry in front of Bella. "I'll die, Bella. I'll just have nowhere to go, I'll be helplessly lost and confused…Bella, I'll die!" He stood up and lunged toward her desk angrily he leaned over it. "I lost you Bella, I can't loose Anna too!"
Bella stood up and moved to the other side of the desk and put a hand on his, he recoiled at this touch but let his tears fall, feeling stupid. "God Damnit!" He cried, he pushed away from the desk and walked to the window, he watched outside as the rain began to fall again. "Bella, I need her. More than you need Edward." He sighed. "I need her more than life."
A/M: Woah…intense much? 20th Reviewer gets a mention, kinda like the one Christina got. 50th gets a long term role – Embry's Imprint (or if you're a guy, Leah's Imprint, unless you want to be Embry's Imprint…that's cool too!) Or if I like you well enough you might get a part regardless.