A/N: Alright, everyone. Sorry that this update took so long to come out, but I thought that it would be necessary to focus my attention on Forbidden Romance and bring that to an end. Well, it is indeed finished now so that means I'll have lots more time to update this and begin other stories. Once again, I know that there is some confusion because I haven't clearly stated anything yet, but I promise that it will all be answered in the story.

FAQ: What is wrong with Edward?

Hopefully, this chapter will clear up your doubts about Edward. And if not, then don't hesitate to send me a PM or leave a review asking for more clarification.

Anyway, here's the next chapter. It's called Non believer by La Rocca. It's a very powerful song, I and strongly suggest listening to it. Also, be sure to leave me a review when you're finished. I update much sooner when there is praise and criticism involved. Thanks so much.

Chapter 5- Non believer

Do you take the non-believers? Cause I'm a non-believer.
She belongs somewhere else, where pain isn't hope
And lives get every chance, not part of every plan
I believe the faithful fell, didn't know their way back
So far away from home, but brother we're not alone

Thirteen Years Back

Esme's POV

Carlisle was contacted about an hour ago, taking him away from the appointments he may have had with other patients. I had one of the women at the front desk page him, letting him know that it was an emergency. Since he already worked in the hospital, all Carlisle had to do was walk up a few floors to the wing of the hospital were the kids and I were located. I'd officially been there for approximately three hours, and with every passing minute, it got more difficult to deceive myself into believing that Dr. Andrews made a mistake.

Emmett was sleeping comfortably in a plastic chair while Alice cuddled into her father's chest, resting easily. Edward, on the other hand, had undergone another traumatic blood draw, and a chest X-ray, because I mentioned the fact that Edward had a cold. The doctor's reassured us that we shouldn't make any types of assumptions until the results were in. Honestly, all of that bull shit was easier said than done. I was going insane.

"Four months," Carlisle said carefully to the resident sitting in front of him with a clipboard. Then he looked over at me, his eyes questioning. "Isn't that how old Edward was when he first rolled over?"

I nodded. "I think so." By that time, the doctors had asked us everything from what we were wearing the night Edward was conceived to when he first mastered holding a spoon. These questions confused me, but Carlisle kept answering so I assumed it was what the procedure involved.

"His first word?" he asked.

I allowed a small smile to etch over my face. "Dada."

"I meant when."

"Oh," I said, feeling slightly idiotic. "I'm pretty sure he was ten months old." I watched the doctor scribble that down. His handwriting was...beautiful. Every T was crossed and every I was dotted. There were no mistakes. "Excuse me," I interrupted. "Can you please tell me why any of this is important?" I asked.

Carlisle was about to answer, but he snapped his mouth shut when the resident looked up from his paper and smiled. "It's just medical history, Mrs. Cullen. We want to know everything we can about your son, so that we can understand what could be wrong with him."

I nodded slowly, waiting for the next question when suddenly I heard a soft voice. "Mr. and Mrs. Cullen?" A young woman with long black hair approached, wearing a lab coat. "I'm a phlebotomist. Dr. Hammond wants me to do a coag panel on Edward." The woman said the words as if I were supposed to know what all of it meant.

At the sound of his name being spoken, Edward blinked up from my lap. He took one look at the lady's white coat and slid his arms inside the sleeves of his own shirt. It was clear that Edward had had enough of all this shot business. And to be competely honest, so had I.

"Can't you just do a finger stick?" I pleaded.

She smiled sympathetically but shook her head. "No, this is the easiest way." She took a deep breath and added, "I'm sorry."

I'm not sure what it was, but something inside of me snapped. "Do you think that's what I want to hear?" I practically yelled. "That when you go down to the cafeteria and ask for a coffee, would you like it if someone gave you a tea, because it's easier to reach? When you go to pay by credit card, would you like it if you were told that it's too much of a hassle, so you'd better break out your cash?" I challenged.

"Esme." Carlisle's voice tried to calm me, but I ignored it.

My head shook back and forth, letting Carlisle know that I wasn't quite finished. "Do you think that it's easy for me to be sitting here with my son and not have any idea what's going on or why the hell you're doing all these tests? Do you think it's easy for him? He's only three! And since when does anyone get the option to do what's easiest or more convenient?" I thundered.

"Esme." It was only when I felt Carlisle's hand fall onto my shoulder that I realized how hard I was shaking. The next moment, I watched the woman storm away without a single word, her clogs striking the tile floor. "Esme," Carlisle said. "What's the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with me? I don't know, Carlisle, because no one is coming to tell us what's wrong with-"

He wrapped me in his arms, Edward caught between us like a gasp. "Ssh," he said. "Everything is going to be alright." I let his soothing voice calm me, and the stroke of his hand rubbing the back of my head was enough to help me relax just a bit.

Suddenly, Dr. Hammond, whom we hadn't seen for hours, cmae into the room. "I heard there was a little problem with the coagulopathy panel." She pulled up a chair in front of us. I watched her reach for the glasses she had wrapped around her neck, pulling them up toward her eyes. "Edward's complete blood count has some abnormal results. His white blood cell count is very low-1.3 to be exact. His hemoglobin is 7.5 , his hematocrit is 18.4, his platelets are 81,000, and his neutrophils are 0.6. Numbers like these sometimes indicate an autoimmune disease. But Edward's also presenting with twelve percent promyelocytes, and five precent blasts." The woman stopped for a moment, sighing. "That suggests a leukemic syndrome."

I swallowed thickly due to the fact that my throat suddenly felt as if it were going to close up. The word felt runny and slippery, like the white of an egg. It didn't match anything that I had in mind, or anything that I was expecting the doctor to say for that matter.

Dr. Hammond cleared her throat once. "Leukemia is a blood cancer."

I was one hundred percent positive that Carlisle knew and understood exactly what Dr. Hammond was telling us, but I was as lost as could be. All I did was stare at her, my eyes fixed. "Well, what does that mean?" I asked, my voice cracking several times.

"Think of bone marrow as a childcare center for developing cells. Healthy bodies make the blood cells that stay in the marrow until they're mature enough to go out an fight diseases or clot or carry oxygen or whatever it is they're supposed to do. In a person with leukemia, the childcare center doors are opened too early. Immature blood cells wind up circulating, unable to do their job." She stopped to look at both Carlisle and I, then at Edward. "I'll need to do a bone marrow aspiration to confirm this, but it seems that Edward has acute promyelocytic leukemia."

Present Time

Bella's POV

Edward's room wasn't that far from the waiting room; approximately fifty-four steps if you were speed walking. I took a deep breath before walking inside of the white hospital room, prepping myself for anything that was to come. "Edward's awake," I told myself. "So that means he's fine."

With those words said, I turned into the bright space, allowing my body to be seen. Edward was staring at the ceiling, his hands folded neatly on his chest. My eyes zoned in on the machines they had him hooked up to and the wires that led from his body back toward some medical contraptions. The beeping noise in the room was steady, going one right after another.

I cleared my throat once, letting my presence be known. "Hey," I said, trying to force myself not to break down in front of him. Edward looked away from the ceiling toward me, catching my eyes. He smiled widely, allowing his pearly white teeth to be visible. I swallowed hard, attempting to ignore the lump in my throat. Seeing him like this was hard for me, especially since he collapsed a couple of hours ago. My legs still shook just thinking of seeing him on the ground, unsure if he was going to get up or not.

For a long moment, I just stared at him in the white hospital gown. He seemed to turn annoyed with me so he sat up higher and cocked his head to the side. "Well, aren't you going to come over here and kiss me?" he asked, as if nothing had even happened in the first place.

I smiled, rushing toward his side, bending my head so that my lips could capture his. The kiss was no different from any of our previous ones. It still held the same amount of passion and want as the others, except maybe this one had a little more. This one was filled with unspoken thanks for allowing Edward to be okay. I pulled back unwillingly. "You really scared me, you know that?"

He grinned. "Sorry," he apologized, reaching up to push my hair out of my face.

"It's okay," I whispered. "You're okay now so it doesn't matter anymore."

Edward nodded. "I know."

Slowly, I leaned down and kissed the side of his mouth, letting my lips linger there for a moment. "Congratulations, by the way," I told him. He looked at me slightly confused. "You beat Jacob Black, and you guys are going on to the next round of finals. I'm so proud of you."

I wasn't sure why, but Edward's response to my congratulatory statment wasn't one that I'd expected. And that was shocking. You see, I've known him for practically my entire life, and for me to not know what his next move would be was definitely an odd thing. All he did was smile slightly, just an upturn on the corner of his lips. There was no gleam in his eyes or little dimples forming on his cheeks. It didn't have the same spark as it should have.

The fire that normally would have ignited in his emerald orbs was no longer there. It was as if someone had placed water on top of what was supposed to be labeled as happiness. "Hey," I said, trying to get his attention. My fingers gripped the bottom of his jaw lightly, turning his face toward mine. "You're okay, now. Everything's fine." The words were said to him, but I wasn't sure who it was meant to reassure. Him or me?

He nodded his head. "I know. I'm just tired, that's all."

"Do you want me to leave so you can rest? Maybe-"

Immediately, he interrupted, cutting off my next sentence. "No, no. That's the last thing I want. I just..." His mouth opened and closed, searching for words. He looked sort of like a guppy, the way his lips shut and then forced and 'O' shape. He pursed his lips once before shifting his body closer to the right side of the bed. Before I knew what he was doing, Edward grabbed my hand and pulled me into his hospital bed, pressing my frame against his. "I just want to hold you for a few minutes."

I nodded, shuffling closer to him. We rested on the sheets, not saying a word. The only sound was the steady beeping of the machine, letting me know that Edward was alive and well. He placed his chin on the top of my head, breathing in my scent. I felt his pink lips press against my forehead, and I was content. The simple gesture had the same meaning as the three words that we'd said so many times before. I love you. And he did. And so did I. I loved him more than anyone in the entire world, and nothing or no one could ever change that.

* * * * *

Everyone was given their chance to talk with Edward while he was awake. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew that everyone else would want to see that he was okay. But as soon as everyone had finished visiting him, I'd crawled back into his bed and ran my fingers through his tousled locks.

He was asleep now, and occasionally, I found myself putting my finger beneath his nose just to make sure he was still breathing. I knew that it was silly, but I couldn't push the knot in my stomach that kept telling me the other shoe was going to drop. It kept nagging me and saying that Edward had gotten off too easily, and there was no way things could be that simple.

I placed my head on Edward's heart, listening to it beat steadily. I loved the thumping noise of his blood pumping through the arteries of his body. The sound was...beautiful to me. Every part of him was perfect, and I could have never imagined that I would meet someone as amazing as him.

The quiet moment Edward and I were sharing was interrupted by a fierce scream, almost as if someone was in agony. I knew for a fact that I would recognize the voice anywhere. I became so used to hearing it. Esme. I heard her crying so hard and shreiking as if someone were hurting her.

Quickly, I leaned down and kissed Edward's forehead. "I'll be right back," I whispered in his ear, moving slowly so I wouldn't wake him.

In a hurry, I rushed out of the room and headed in the direction of the scream. "Esme?" I called as I increased the speed that I was walking at. "Esme!" I said again when I found her wrapped up in Carlisle's arms, practically holding on for dear life.

Her face was buried in his chest while he rubbed the back of her head. She was sobbing so hard that tremors began to run throughout her enitre form. I took a slow step toward them and touched Carlisle's shoulder. He turned his head, glancing down at me. It was only then that I noticed there were tears glistening in his eyes as well. I could tell that Carlisle was trying to hold them back, but he was failing miserably as a few escaped and trickled down his pale cheeks.

Esme was still unaware of my presence. She must not have heard me. "Why, Carlisle? Why?" she asked. "He...he...he's too young. They said it was gone, they said it was...over," Esme managed to get out in between her gasps for oxygen and fierce screams.

"Ssh," he whispered to Esme. "Everything's going to be okay. Just relax."

Suddenly, something inside of Esme must have snapped because before I knew it, she shoved Carlisle's chest so hard that he nearly tripped as he staggered backward. "Shut up!" she yelled. "Just shut up! You're a doctor! How come you didn't see that it was coming back? How come you didn't know that my son would be stuck with this again?"

Her voice was attracting the attention of other patients and visitors around us. I was so confused by what was happening. All I could do was stand there speechless while Esme continued to lash out on her husband. Carlisle tried to reach for her and calm her down, but she'd pushed him away. "Don't touch me!" she screamed. "I don't want anything to do with you. This is your fault!"

I watched the tears continue to stream down her cheeks, and it pained me to see her this way. Especially since I never had. Esme was always a quiet, comfortable woman who was kind to anyone and everyone. She treated people with respect and was definitely not the type of person to shove the blame of an incident man or woman onto them.

But watching her this way forced me to see her in an entirely different way.

"Excuse me, Dr. Cullen?" Both Carlisle and I turned toward a nurse in a light blue uniform. She had dark, square glasses and eyes that seemed slightly annoyed. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to get your wife under control. A couple of the patients are complaining while others are attempting to get rest."

He nodded once. "Yes, I'm sorry. She's just...a little overwhelmed right now, that's all. She'll try to keep her emotions in check," Carlisle responded.

The nurse nodded and turned back toward the front desk, her sneakers making a squeaking sound against the shiny floor. I glanced over at Esme who was now leaning against the wall with her head tilted backward. "Why him?" she whispered to no one in particular. "Why my baby?"

Carlisle didn't dare try to touch her again, fearing that she would have another tantrum. He kept a close distance but not to the point where it would have been considered hovering over her. "I'm going to get us some coffee. Will you be okay by yourself?" he asked, his voice quiet and low.

Esme nodded. "I'm not alone," she replied. "Bella's with me." Her tear-filled eyes met mine, and almost immediately, I was submerged with the sadness that had enveloped the normally cheerful woman. Seeing her like this squeezed at my heart.

Carlisle looked over at me, pleading mentally for me to stay with her. I nodded once, letting him know that I wasn't going anywhere.

I listened to Carlisle's footsteps as they striked the floor until they were merely a faint tapping noise. I watched as Esme slid down the wall and hugged her knees to her chest while rocking back and forth. Cautiously, my feet moved forward, leading me over to her. I kneeled down to her and immediately placed my hand on her left knee. "Esme," I whispered, surprised that my voice had even come out. She met my eyes again and waited. "Esme, what's going on?" I asked.

She tore her orbs away and shook her head. I instantly regretted asking her because more tears began to fall from her eyes. But I needed to understand what was happening even if whatever it was, was painful for her to say.

"Please, Esme," I pressed. "You're scaring me."

Esme refused to meet my gaze when she began speaking. "It wasn't supposed to be this way," she said, her tone monotonous. "But then again, when does life ever turn out the way it's meant to?" I watched as another tear trickled down her cheek, but she ignored it and let it fall. "Edward was just a baby when all of this began. He didn't even know you, yet. It happened when we lived in Alaska..."

Thirteen Years Back

Esme's POV

Edward had acute promyelocytic leukemia.

APL for short.

My tongue was pinned down by the weight of the question that was dying to escape my throat, but with some strength, I managed to force out the words that needed to be asked. "Is he...is he going to die?" The words didn't feel right. They're something that you ask about your sick, eighty year old father, not your healthy, happy, toddler.

"APL is a very rare subgroup of myeloid leukemia. Only about twelve hundred people a year are diagnosed with it. The rate of survival for APL patients is twenty to thirty percent, if treatment starts immediately," Dr. Hammond told us. Carlisle knew all this but was managing to keep his expression empty.

I pushed the numbers out of my head and instead sank my teeth into the rest of her sentence. "There's a treatment," I repeated.

Dr. Hammond nodded slowly. "Yes. With agressive treatment, myeloid leukemias carry a survival prognosis of nine months to three years." I watched Dr. Hammond pull out a notepad and write down words that had no meaning to me. "We'll need to do that bone marrow aspiration. We'll sedate him with a light general anesthetic. And we can draw the coag panel while he's asleep."

"Okay," Carlisle said. He clapped his hands together as if gearing up for a football game. "Okay."

Edward, who was placed in my lap, pulled his head away from my shirt. His cheeks were flushed, his expression wary. He was so young. He was my baby. This had to be a mistake. It was someone else's unfortunate vial of blood that the doctor had analyzed. I looked at my child. He didn't have the face of someone who was dying by degrees.

He was only three, for heaven's sake.

* * * * *

They rolled up the sheet and tucked it under Edward's belly. They taped him down to the examination table, two long strips. One nurse stroked Edward's hand even after the anesthesia has kicked in, and he's asleep. His lower back is bared for the long needle that will go into his lilac crest to extract marrow.

* * * * *

Present Time

Bella's POV

"No," was all I said to her. "No, Esme...You...you're wrong. Edward, he's...he's perfect. He doesn't have leukemia." The word felt like a ball of fire in my mouth, burning my throat every time it rolled off my lips. "No," I repeated. "He just fell. He's okay. They're wrong," I said firmly, refusing to believe this lie.

Esme shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip while her tears continued to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry."

I shook my head fiercely. "No. This isn't right. I've known Edward almost forever, and nothing like this ever happened before!" Now, my voice was rising. I was angry at the doctors for making such a false interpretation. They didn't know how to do their jobs correctly, and someone needed to know this. My hands started to flag in the air. "They diagnosed him wrong, Esme. They made a mistake. We need...we need to...to tell someone so they can fix it" My eyes darted around the hospital halls, searching for a doctor.

"Bella, Bella, honey, look at me," Esme said, forcing my arms down at my sides.

But I couldn't. I needed to scream at the doctor that said this about Edward, that made his family worried for nothing. I had to set things right and make everything go back to normal, the way it was supposed to be. Tonight, Edward would sneak into my room and lay with me. Tomorrow, we would drive to school together, and he'd kiss me before I entered my classes. We would even make love again because I was his, and he was mine.

"Excuse me!" I called. "We need-"

My words were cut off by Esme who pulled my face to her. "Bella, I need you to listen to me, okay?" Her voice was stern and demanding but still laced with sadness. I turned my head away back toward the front desk where the nurse that had requested that Carlisle calm Esme down was now looking at me as if I were the obnoxious one. But little did she know, we were having a problem with one of the careless doctors that obviously needed to be fired.

"Bella, look at me!" Esme demanded for the second time.

And this time I was given no choice but to obey. She gripped my cheeks and forced my eyes at hers. I stared directly into her glistening orbs that were releasing salty streaks down the side of her face. "Listen to me," she said, her voice cracking. "There is no mistake. The doctors are right." She paused a moment, trying to get a handle on her emotions. "Edward has APL."

Just like that, I felt my whole body go limp. If I wasn't already kneeling, I would have fallen to the floor.

Edward, the man that I loved, the one who I was going to marry and have a family with.

Edward, my best friend who taught me the most valuable lessons throughout my life.

Edward, the only person who showed me that love is the most important detail to a perfect world.

Edward, my boyfriend, had acute promyelocytic leukemia.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Esme whispered. "He's been in remission for the past twelve years, and the doctors were so sure that it was gone. They said that they had never seen anything quite like it. So, they ran a few tests and came to the conclusion that Edward had fought cancer and won." Her voice quivered and shook with her words. "But he's relapsed, and it's back."

My eyes began to hold excess moisture while my stomach felt sick. It felt like my whole world came crashing down in a matter of moments. This couldn't be right. But...it was. She'd said so herself. There was no mistake. And that was enough to cause me to lose my cool. I collapsed into Esme's arms and sobbed into her shoulder while she cried into mine. "But I love him," I whispered as if that should be enough. "He...he can't...he can't leave me."

"I know, honey, I know," she said, her nails digging into my back while she clutched onto me.

A/N: So, this chapter was really emotional, and I found myself tearing up at a lot of parts. It also took a while to update this because I've been doing a lot of research on APL to try to help the story. I didn't want there to be any errors so hopefully there isn't. I'm majoring in aviation not oncology just so everyone knows. LOL.

Anyway, let me know what you thought by leaving a nice review for me to get back to. Thanks so much!