They spent the next week hanging out with the pack and hearing all of the stories. They never had a moment to rest, which would explain why Kali was so tired all the time. She would often drift off in the middle of a story told by one of the wolves and be jolted awake by their sudden shot of enthusiasm. Every night she would pass out the moment her head hit the pillow until she was awoken from the streaming light in Jacob's room.
They also spent a good deal of time with the Cullens. Kali found them very interesting. Most of all Carlisle. She knew he was probably sick of her never-ending stream of questions but he never let on that he wanted her to stop. She also spent a lot of time talking to Bella. Kali knew that Jacob was once in love with this girl and she wanted to be on good terms with her. Kali had never been the jealous type but something about the way Jacob would look at Bella she couldn't help but think how different her life would be if Jacob had never left this small town and wound up on the other side of the country. She would quickly push the thought out of her head and be thankful for what she had now and not worry about the "what-if's" in life.
The night before Christmas, Kali and Jacob were sitting on the beach bundled up in blankets, not that it was necessary for Jacob but he kept the blankets warm with his skin for Kali. They sat in silence, Kali in-between Jacob's legs on the cold sand, he had his arms wrapped around her torso and his head on her shoulder.
"I love you." Kali said breaking the quite. She could feel him smile as he brushed his lips across her ear.
"I love you more." She sighed and turned to face him meeting his lips with her. When they broke away she smiled.
"Not possible." She replied and kissed him again. "This truly has been the best week of my life and I don't want to rip you away from your family. Your father is so happy you're home. Everyone says so. Jake, I want you to stay here. Don't leave your home for me. And when I graduate I'll move here with you." Jacob was shocked by this sudden confession that he almost didn't respond.
"Kali, you are the sweetest girl I have ever met. But I don't know if I could survive the next four to five months without you! And it's crazy to ask you to come all the way to La Push for the weekend. I don't mind staying in Georgia, I love the beach- especially when it's warm." He squeezed her referring to how cold it is. "And my father will understand. He knows how imprinting works, they all do."
Kali looked down at her hands intertwined with his. "I don't want you to give up anything you don't want to just for me. I don't want to be the kind of girlfriend that makes you change your whole life."
"Trust me, it'd be worse for me to move back here. I want to be near you, and Washington is just too far for my liking. But if you still want to move to La Push when you graduate we can talk about that option. But that would mean leaving your family. And I know how much they mean to you. We have time, there's no need to worry about it now. I'm not going anywhere. I'l follow you anywhere." He kissed her forehead. "Come on, it's almost Christmas."
They stood up and walked back to the house hand in hand, Kali still had all the blankets wrapped around her shoulders. When they reached the house Kali went straight to Jacob's bedroom and laid down on the bed.
"You're not going to stay up and wait?" He asked sounding a lot like a five-year-old.
"No, I'm tired." She said with her eyes still closed.
"You've been tired a lot recently. Have you noticed that?" He asked amused but she detected a hint of concern in his voice as well. She opened her eyes to see Jake kneeling next to the bed. He placed a hand on her head and began running his fingers through her hair.
"Well, we've been non-stop all week. I guess I'm just wiped out. No big deal." She closed her eyes again loving the way his hand felt in her hair.
"Okay, well we'll take a break after tomorrow, just enjoy the rest of the visit." He said sliding into the bed next to her and pulled her into his chest. She was already asleep.
The next morning Kali woke up to lips on her neck. She stirred and rolled into Jacob.
"Good morning." He greeted kissing her lips softly.
"Mm, good morning." She replied. She turned her head to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was only seven in the morning.
"Why are you up so early?" She questioned and pulled the covers over her head.
"Because it's Christmas! Aren't you excited?" He asked ripping the covers off her.
"Hey!" She whined trying to tear it from his hands. No such luck.
"Come on, I bet Dad's awake and waiting for us." He jumped up and stood in front of the bed looking down at her. She groaned and slowly rose staring at the warm bed longingly.
They walked into the living room where, just as Jake said, Billy was sitting next to the large Christmas tree. Kali was surprised to see a good amount of presents underneath.
"Good morning, I trust you got a good nights sleep?" Billy asked with a knowing tone. Jacob chuckled beside her while leading her towards the floor next to the pile of gifts.
"Can we start, Dad?" He asked reminding Kali very much of a child. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face.
"Go ahead. I was going to try and wait for your sis-" Kali didn't hear the rest of his answer as Jacob snatched the first present with his name on it and tore the paper to shreds.
"Awesome!" Jacob exclaimed as he took out a pair of new running shoes that Kali had got him. "Thanks, baby." He said placing a quick kiss on her cheek.
"You're welcome." He smiled and handed her a small box with her name on the tag. It was wrapped in red and white striped paper. The gift tag said it was from Sam and Emily. Kali instantly felt bad for not getting them something as well. Jacob must have read her expression because bumped her gently to get her attention.
"Don't worry I signed your name on their gift." She smiled at that. "Come on, open it!"
She did, a little to slowly for Jacob's liking. It was a small wooden jewelry box with hand carved wolfs on the side. The lid had her initials carved in swirly letters.
"Wow. This is amazing! Sam did this?" She asked looked at Jacob with astonishment.
"Yeah, a lot of us were taught by are parents when we were younger. A hidden talent of ours." He chuckled gently taking the box from her hands and looking over the design.
"You can do stuff like this too?"
"Yeah, of course." He said nonchalant. Kali was in amazement and continued to stare at Jake in a daze. "My turn!" He shouted snapping her out of it.
They finished unwrapping presents one at a time, they were half way through when Jacob's sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Paul, who was also in the pack, showed up. They joined the circle and the mayhem commenced. When the destruction was over and all the presents had been opened Rebecca and Kali began bagging up all the wrapping paper while the boys went outside to start the girl. Apparently they didn't eat turkey and ham like Kali did with her family. They had a BBQ. But she figured, when in Rome.
While Kali and Rebecca cleaned they chatted over the boys and each other's plans after college. Kali really got along with Rebecca, which made her happy. She had always wanted a sister to help balance her house full of testosterone. By the time they were done more people had arrived. Kali hadn't been told it would be a party but she was glad to see everyone together and happy.
By mid-day everyone besides Billy, Jake, and Kali had left to see other friends and family and they were finally left to the quite. Jacob and Kali were curled up on the couch while Billy watched the football game. Jake and Billy were it the middle of some big debate over which receiver was best when the phone rang. Jacob reached over to pick up the cordless phone on the coffee table.
"Hello?" He answered. Kali couldn't hear who was on the other end. She relaxed against his warm skin and zone back out.
"Okay, we'll see you then." He hung up and Kali looked up from his lap. He resumed running his fingers through her long auburn hair and tuned back into the game. She cleared her throat and got no reaction.
"Jacob." He glanced down at her questioningly before looking at the television again.
"Yeah, babe?"
"Who was that?"
"Oh, it was Carlisle." She waited for more information to no avail.
"How is his?" She pushed.
"Good, good. He wants us to come over for dinner. Well, not really dinner. But dinner time." He answered.
"Ah, I thought we could just relax for the rest of the day. Since I've been so tired and all." Kali hinted, she really was exhausted from all the visiting and running around she'd been doing all week. She was hoping he would change his mind and visit the Cullens another night.
"Oh, yeah. We'll have all day tomorrow to rest. Today's Christmas, and Carlisle said he had a really great gift for you." This peaked Kali's interest. What could Carlisle possibly gotten for her?
"Okay, well let me shower and get ready. Do you want to eat before we head over there, who knows how long this visit will last." She rose from the couch and paused in front of Jacob's view of the television to ensure she had his attention.
"Sure, sure." He peered his head around her causing a sigh to escape her lips. She headed towards the bathroom to take a long hot shower leaving Billy and Jake to the game.
"I wouldn't start that if I were you." Billy remarked.
"Huh?" Jacob asked looking away from the screen while it was on commercials.
"Ignoring you're girlfriend like that. She came all the way out to Washington instead of spending the holidays with her own family. You might want to show a little gratitude and do whatever her little heart desires." He advised a mischievous grin on his face.
"I know, I know. Sometimes I forget she can walk away so easily. It's not really a balanced relationship, imprinting." Jacob reminded himself.
Billy nodded. "That's true. But I don't think she would walk away that easily." He smiled before he looked back at the game. The spent the rest of time in silence before Kali came back out.
Her hair was straight hanging lose down to her mid-back, she had little make-up on and wore jeans with a red wool sweater. Jacob smiled up at her before throwing on his boots and grabbing her jacket.
"Where's yours?" Kali asked while pulling hers on.
"Don't need one..." He trailed off and raised an eyebrow.
She grinned, "Right, I keep forgetting about that." He rolled his eyes before they said their goodbyes to Billy and walk out into the frigid late afternoon air. Kali shivered before Jacob wrapped her in his arms, instantly surrounding her in his warmth.
"Kali, before we go anywhere I want to apologize. I'm so thankful you came up here to meet my family when you could have just as easily stayed home. I don't want you to feel like I don't appreciate everything you do for me. Especially after I told you about what I am and my pack and-"
She silenced him with a quick kiss. "Jacob, I'm happy to be here, really." She paused as they stood frozen to each other. "Come on, before the Cullen's start to worry."
The piled into the old white Chevrolet pick-up truck and headed down the road towards the Cullen's. They held hands the whole way there and talked about Kali's last semester of school. She was excited to graduate in May but she was also worried about being completely self-reliant for the rest of her life. She tried not to dwell on that last though too much. She had Jacob after all.
Jacob turned into a long driveway that lasted a little over a mile before they could see the mansion before them. Christmas lights and decoration covered the front of the house and trees around the entrance all very tastefully done. Kali assumed this was all Alice's doing. The curtains were pulled away from the window so you could see the enormous pine tree, covered in ornaments and lights as well.
Jacob must of saw Kali's awed expression because he scoffed and said, "Typical Alice." Before stepping out of the car and walking around to open Kali's door for her. He helped her down onto her feet and headed towards the house. Carlisle met them on the front porch with Esme at his side. Carlisle wore a dark green sweater with a light blue button down underneath, you could just see the collar that was laying flat over top of the sweater, and black dress pants. Esme was adorned a red 50's styled dress that went to just below her knees.
"Jacob, Kali. I'm so glad you could make it. Please come in." Carlisle welcomed them, giving Kali a hug as she walked by and shaking Jake's hand. Esme also leaned down to hug Kali. She tried to resist the shiver that overtook her from their cold skin. Esme looked apologetic but Kali cut her off before she could say anything.
"Don't worry about it. I'm so used to Jacob's hot body," she cringed when she said that seeing his smirk out of the corner of her eyes, "er, skin I mean. That even human's feel cold to me." Esme chuckled lightly and nodded her head.
Once inside Carlisle offered to take her jacket and put it in the coat closet for her. The rest of the family was waiting in the living room, they all looked to beautiful for words. Of course the inside was decorated stunningly with Christmas music playing softly in the background.
Alice was the first to step up and welcome them with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, for Kali anyways. She only lightly tapped Jacob on the arm, which amused Kali greatly. Jasper nodded from where he was to both of them. Emmett wasted no time picking Kali up in a tight bear hug that almost knocked the breath out of her. Jacob stepped up as though to break them up before Emmett put her on her feet gently.
"Calm down, wolf. I wasn't hurting her, was I?" That last part was directed towards Kali, which she quickly shook her head but also grabbed Jacob's hand to reassure him. Rosalie waved from her spot next to Jasper and sent Kali a soft smile, Kali replied with a smile of her own. Lastly Edward and Bella walked up to Kali.
"Thank you for coming, Kali. It means a lot to us." Edward said before picking her hand up to place a light kiss on. Kali felt her heart flutter, it would be impossible to deny how attractive Edward was and, unlike anyone else in the room, she was human. He shook Jacob's hand and they smiled at each other. Bella seemed a little distant but hugged Kali nonetheless and smile lightly. She threw her arms around Jacob, though, and held him for a few seconds. Kali could tell she was whispering something to him, but she talked so quick and so soft that Kali couldn't make out what she was saying. They separated soon afterward and Kali felt an awkward tension between everyone.
"So sorry, we made a dinner for you and Jacob if you're hungry." Esme stated gesturing towards the dinning room where Kali could see a table full of food. Her stomach growled involuntarily and she heard Jacob chuckle next to her. She cut her eyes towards him and nudged him in the ribs, which she assumed he didn't even feel.
"Thank you, we were supposed to eat before coming over, since I know you don't eat...um...well, human-" Carlisle interrupted Kali's blabbing.
"No trouble at all. Please eat, the chef on the television said it was delicious." Kali smiled at the thought of someone like Carlisle needed help from some celebrity chef to cook.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Jake said excitedly as they all gathered around the huge dinning room table. Jacob wasted no time fixing his plate of turkey, ham, potatoes, collard greens, corn, and many other side dishes. Kali made her plate as well and began eating.
"Have you had a good Christmas so far?" Esme asked kindly.
"I have! It's definitely been an interesting Christmas for me." Kali answered as Jake was too busy chewing. "Have y'all?" Kali asked taking another bite of the most perfectly cooked turkey she had ever had.
"It was a lovely Christmas. But we have a couple more presents to exchange." Carlisle replied with a mischievous smile.
"You really didn't need to get me anything!" Kali exclaimed feeling guilty for not being able to return anything.
"Of course we did! Jacob means a lot to us, therefore, you mean a lot to us as your lives are now bound together." Carlisle explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
After Kali and Jacob had stuffed themselves to the brim for the second time that day they all gathered around the large Christmas tree with just two presents left underneath. Jacob opened his first, inside of the small box were two plane tickets back to La Push with open dates.
"Wow, this is amazing. Thank you, really." Jacob said with emotion in his voice. Kali's heat broke a little, knowing she was the reason Jake would ever need these tickets.
"You are more than welcome. We want to see more of you, both of you. So come whenever you want." Esme said as Jacob walked over and gave them both a hug.
"You're next," Esme said as she reached under the tree gracefully to pick up the rectangular box wrapped in gold and silver paper and handed it to Kali.
"Thank you," She said as she carefully tore open the thick paper. She opened the box to revel a purple stethoscope with her initials engraved into the chestpiece. She read the brand name on the side and saw it was one of the highest quality. She felt a tear well up in her eyes. "I-I don't even know what to say. It's beautiful. Thank you so much. This means a lot to me."
"You are more than welcome. I know you're finishing up nursing school soon and, while my stethoscope is just for looks," he smiled at that, "I've heard this is a really good one for your human ears." Kali jumped up to give him a hug but the moment she stood up she felt lightheaded and quickly her eyelids flutter before they closed completely as she collapsed. Jacob swiftly caught her before she could hit the ground and looked alarmed over at Carlisle. Everyone was on their feet and circled around Kali as Jake gently laid her down on the couch.
Carlisle kneeled beside the couch and took her pulse, it was faint but there.
"We need to take her to a hospital so I can run some test. Edward, go pull the car around, I'll meet you up front." With that Edward disappeared, running into the garage.
"What's wrong with her?" Jacob questioned as Carlisle pulled Kali into his arms, and began walking toward the door.
"I don't know, but I promise I will find out." The determination in his voice did nothing to soothe Jake. They all walked outside where Edward had already pulled a black Suburban around to the front steps. He hopped out and opened the door where Carlisle placed Kali in the back seat. Jacob rolled her shoulders up enough that he could take a seat before placing her head softly in his lap. Carlisle was already in the front seat and beginning to pull out of the driveway. Jacob stroked Kali's silky black hair away from her face and felt how cold her skin was. He placed both hands on either side of her faced to try and keep her warm.
"I don't understand. She was fine a few minutes ago. What happened?"
"There are a million things that could be going on, we'll just have to wait until I can run some test. It might be something simple. I don't want you to worry just yet, Jake."
They raced off the to the hospital, but it felt like hours until they arrived. Carlisle ran inside, at a normal human speed, and grabbed a stretcher as well as a few more medical professionals. They got Kali on the stretcher and began hooking her up to all kinds of machines as they took her inside the emergency room. They were all talking so fast, throwing out numbers and acronyms that meant nothing to Jacob. He could hear the beating of her heat and the soft breaths that left her lungs but nothing else. He needed to know what was happening. All of a sudden the machine started beeping erratically and the nurses yelled out "code blue" as they surrounded her static body. Carlisle called for the paddles and they cut open her wool sweater to reveal her white lacy bra. The placed rubber pads on her chest and side while Carlisle held the paddles, he yelled something at them and placed the paddles on her body checking to make sure no one was still touching her and sent a shockwave through her body. The machine was still flat lining and Jacob felt his heart drop into his stomach. They shocked her again, still nothing. Carlisle called out for them to push some kind of medication and a higher number for the defibrillator before shocking her again. A few seconds later Jacob heard her heart start beating louder with more force and the nurse confirmed that her blood pressure was returning to a normal level and her oxygen level was increasing. Jacob felt himself relax, only a minuscule amount. Everyone else seemed to move at a slightly slower speed as they continued to hook her up to more machines and take blood. Carlisle looked over at Jacob who still had a horrified look on his face. He walked over calmly and grasped Jake's shoulders.
"She's stable right now, I'm gonna have her blood sent over to the lab to see what's going on. I'm also going to have a head CT done to let me know if that was the cause of her losing consciousness and having such a weak heart beat and low blood pressure. Okay? Do you have any questions?" Jake shook his head numbly even though he had a million questions. It was a strange site to see Carlisle in such a professional matter. He nodded before writing something down on Kali's chart before walking out of the small trauma room they had brought her too. Jacob walked up to Kali's side taking her hand that had tubes coming out of it. She felt just as cold as she did in the car and her normal tan skin was pale white and damp. She couldn't die, they had so much life to live together. It was too soon.
Two more nurses came in and told Jacob that they were taking her to get her head CT and directed him to go wait in the waiting room out front. He wanted to fight to stay with her, but knew that it wouldn't work. He watched as they wheeled her bed away with all the machines leaving an empty room. Jacob walked dazed to the waiting room he was told to go to. It felt like he waited for an eternity before Carlisle came back out. Jacob jumped up and raced over to him expectantly.
"She's awake. Come with me." Was all he said before turning on his heel and leading him back to Kali. She was in a privet room, still connect to a bunch of machines but now in a hospital gown. The bed was arranged in an upright sitting position. Jacob walked swiftly to her side and took her hand putting his head down so they were on eye level.
"Don't you ever do that to me again. You're heart stopped beating. It just stopped." Jacob said through a tight throat as his eyes began to water. She still looked so weak but grimaced at the thought of her heart stopping and the pain that must've caused Jake.
"Sorry," she said feebly. He couldn't help but to smile at the sound of her beautiful voice. They both turned their attention to Carlisle who looked grim.
"Kali I'm afraid I don't have good news. The results from your scans show a mass here," He placed the CT scan on the lighted board to reveal the image of her brain and pointed to a rather large white spot, "As you can see this tumor is quite big and in a difficult position. I have sent these scans to the best oncology surgeon in the country to look at it as we speak, but I'm not sure surgery is even an option right now. I recommend we treat this as aggressively as possible with chemotherapy and radiation." He finished looking even drearier than when he started.
Kali felt her heart begin to race again. Cancer? I have cancer? In my brain? She thought to herself. She couldn't believe it, she had tried so hard to be healthy her entire life. Taking exercise very seriously and eating as healthy as a broke college student could. Why was this happening to her?
As if Carlisle could read her mind, "Cancer doesn't discriminate. Sometimes there's just nothing you could do to prevent it." She nodded slowly.
"Okay, so what now?" She asked trying to think back to her oncology clinical rotation.
"Let's wait to see what Dr. Campbell thinks before we go any further. I'm not an oncologist, so I'd rather listen to him before we decide anything. For now, just try to relax and be patient." He walked over to her and placed a cold hand on her arm. "We're going to take care of you, I promise." With that he walked out of the room, leaving Jacob and her alone.
She began to let it all out, as she had no more strength to hold back the tears. They fell freely as if a dam had just been burst through. She felt Jacobs strong arms wrap around her shoulders as she convulsed in sobs. He didn't speak, just let her cry into the crook of his neck. He tried as hard as he could to stay calm but before too long he felt the tears begin to leak down his face as well. He couldn't live without this woman, he didn't know what he would do if she was gone.
They stayed like that for an immeasurable amount of time before the tears slowly stopped coming and their breathes fell into a more natural rhythm. Jacob had worked his way to where he was laying on his side next to her, careful not to pull on any of the tubes and cords connected to Kali, and she had her head resting on his chest as he embraced her.
"You're going to be okay, do you hear me? I don't care how many doctors we have to see, or how far we have to travel. We're gonna figure this out. I promise you." He finally broke the silence pulling her even tighter. She nodded mutely. She couldn't find any words to explain how she felt in that moment.
A couple of hours later Carlisle came back in with another doctor. He was a short man with balding brown hair. His glasses looked like they were from the 80s and were resting on the brim of his nose. He wore black dress slacks with a light blue button up and a blue and white-stripped tie along with his white lab coat.
"Kali, this is Dr. Weldmen. He is the chief of oncology here and wanted to talk to you about any questions you had.
Kali bombarded him with any and every question she could think of, with Jacob quipping in every now and then. She asked about treatment options, success rates, prognosis, and symptoms. There wasn't a single topic left un-discussed. I'm sure Dr. Weldmen wasn't prepared for a nursing student to be his patient today. When Kali had finally run out of questions, Dr. Weldmen gave her his contact information and left the room.
"How are you feeling Kali?" Carlisle asked tentatively.
"I'm doing as good as I think I can be. I do need to have a conversation with my father. Am I safe to travel home in a couple of days? I would rather tell my parents in person rather than over the phone."
"Well I would prefer to keep you here to monitor you. We'll talk about air travel tomorrow. For now, just get some rest. I'll be back in a few hours to check on you. Jacob, can I talk to you?" He nodded and followed Carlisle out of the room, out of earshot of Kali.
"Tell it to me straight Carlisle." Jacob confronted.
"It's not good. Dr. Campbell looked over her scans. He doesn't have much hope for her. It's in a very dangerous place that prevents surgery. And while we can try and treat it with medicine..." He trailed off, not wanted to deliver the news he knew he had to.
"What? What is it?" Jacob pressed, he felt his throat get tight again.
"She probably only has a few more weeks, if that. She's going to start deteriorating rapidly, especially if we put her through all of the chemo and radiation."
"So what are you saying? We let her die? We don't even try? How could you say something-"
"I'm saying, there's another option. But not one you're going to like..." Carlisle trailed off with a pointed look. It took a few seconds before Jake put it together.
"No! We are not changing her! That's the same thing as killing her! Absolutely not. Find another way." Jacob stormed back into the room trying to calm himself. Kali had already fallen back to sleep, for which Jake was grateful. She looked so peaceful, like nothing was wrong- if he could ignore the gown and tubes coming out of her.
He paced back and forth, thinking about what Carlisle had suggested. He couldn't do that to her. Becoming a vampire was nothing to take lightly. Her whole world would be flipped upside down. She could never move back home with her parents where it stayed sunny most of the year. She could never have children, which he knew she wanted desperately. They would never grow old together. She would be frozen as she was now. Never changing. Never growing. No, he wouldn't let that happen to her. He was going to find a way, a human way, to save the woman he loved.