I do not own Twilight or any of its' characters

BPOV

Chapter 17

Under The Knife

Topaz's surgery day had arrived, Charlie had been discharged from the hospital the day before and the three of us had been staying together. Charlie really liked Topaz; I was surprised since I had never really had a pet when I was growing up. I wondered now if that was more Renee's doing than Charlie's, I could definitely see him with a pet. I had fasted the cat the night before, as was I told, not like he had been eating much all weekend to begin with. I was glad we were going through with the surgery; he seemed to be getting worse. He wasn't to the point where things were dire, but he was miserable. He should have been acting like a kitten, playing and getting into trouble and eating everything in sight, but instead he was lethargic and had very little appetite, his spirits were okay, but things were really starting to take a toll on our poor little monster.

He slept by my side all weekend, purring and kneading at my shirt, it seemed like the only time he was comfortable was when he was snuggling with Edward or me. Saturday night was really bad, he wouldn't eat anything and we had to hand feed him some kind of rich food the doctor had given us. Edward was very patient with him, he would spend up to an hour with Topaz, mixing the food with warm water and drawing it up into a syringe and squirting it into his tiny little mouth. He was much better at it than me; I usually ended up spraying food everywhere and getting more on Topaz's face and chest than in his stomach. Alice was even better than Edward, but of course, she did work at a vet's office, in fact, she was the one who came up with the idea of using the syringe to feed Topaz.

It was the morning of the surgery; I woke up earlier than I needed to because I wanted to be able to spend some time with Topaz before we had to leave. My alarm went off at five o'clock and I practically knocked it off the nightstand shutting it off. It was still dark outside, so I turned on the lamp. There was Topaz, curled up on the pillow above my head; his paw kneaded my face a little bit. I rolled over on my side to look at him and his little yellow eyes slowly opened and gazed sleepily at me.

"Hey little man," I whispered, scratching his head. He sat up and stretched and let out a little noise. At the end of his stretch, he stepped toward me and banged his head into mine. "Good morning to you too," I giggled with a yawn. I sat up a little straighter against my pillow and called him over to me. He walked over my shoulder and onto my chest, circling several times and then collapsing against me, purring. His breathing seemed a little more labored this morning I thought. Was that possible? It seemed awfully soon for his condition to affect him this way. Waves of anxiety swept over me and I put my arm around him, he kicked his feet against my arm and curled up closer to my neck. I sat with Topaz wrapped around my neck for an hour or more, just petting him and listening to him breathe, I worried about how the surgery would go, but Alice said he was going to be okay, and she was going to monitor him and…I heard Edward's soft knock at the front door.

"I'm upstairs." I said loud enough so I knew he would be able to hear me. Within moments he had silently appeared in my doorway.

I can't imagine he could even see my face with Topaz curled around me like a mink stole, "good morning," he said in a husky tone, it sounded like he had a cold.

"Are you losing your voice? Is that possible?" I asked, confused.

He chuckled hoarsely, "we had an arm wrestling tournament at home last night. I may have gotten a little carried away and it is affecting my voice this morning." He sounded like an android when he spoke sometimes. I felt a smirk make its' way across my face.

"What?" He asked with a grin, "what's so funny?"

"Nothing, I've never heard your voice sound like that before. It's very sexy." I teased.

He rolled his eyes at me, "how did he do last night?" He asked gesturing at Topaz.

"He had a good night. I didn't need to hand feed him, he ate on his own, but he sounds like he's having some trouble breathing this morning." I answered, my light tone becoming slightly anxious.

"It's a good thing he's having the surgery today."

I nodded at Edward in agreement, "I think so too." I said sadly.

Edward climbed into the bed next to me putting his back against the other pillow. He reached over slowly and lifted Topaz off of me without disturbing him in the slightest and set him down in his lap. He looked at our tiny, sickly pet and started to rub his thumb in a circle over his pink nose, Topaz sighed, "he likes to have that spot between his eyes rubbed. It makes him fall asleep." He quietly explained to me.

"I'll have to remember that." I whispered back.

"Why don't you go do your human stuff and I'll stay here with him. We're going to have to get going soon." He suggested hoarsely.

"Sure." I said agreeably, starting to gather up my things. We had plenty of time, but I had a feeling Edward wanted to spend some time with Topaz just as I had. I wondered if our little man knew just how much Edward and I had grown to love him.

You would have thought we were waiting for one of our parents or one of Edward's siblings to come out of a coma, or have a baby, or go through open heart surgery the way we behaved all day after we had dropped Topaz off for his surgery. We decided that it would be best if we went our separate ways for the day, thinking that our anxiety would cause widespread panic between the two of us all day. Besides, we were home on break; it would be nice to spend it with other people that we didn't see all of the time. Edward went hunting with Jasper, Emmet, and Carlisle and I went to La Push to see Jacob, I figured if anyone could distract me with a laugh, it'd be him.

I got the phone call at two o'clock, Topaz was fine, his surgery went on without a hitch and we could pick him up at six. Alice said that she would have offered to bring him home with her when her shift finished, but she figured that we'd want to speak to the doctor.

I left Jacob at four, which gave me enough time to get home, do a load of laundry and make dinner for me and Charlie. Charlie had actually gone to work today, Carlisle advised that he could as long as he stayed at the desk. Charlie jumped at the thought of going back, four days of doing nothing was starting to make him go stir crazy.

Edward came to pick me up at five thirty, he looked considerably refreshed and to my slight disappointment, his husky voice had gone back to normal. We drove to the animal hospital and Alice was just finishing up her shift. We had a very informal meeting with Dr. Juno, she had retaken x-rays and was going over those, she talked about the pain medication she put Topaz on and showed us his incision, he stared up at us bleary eyed and exhausted and let out a sigh. His incision was a precise, clean line with a very small amount of sutures, she said that the surgery had only taken about an hour and he had maintained beautifully the entire time. I guess he wasn't as sickly and weak as I thought he was. Edward would always refer to him as a cat who thought he was a tiger. I guess it was true.

During the appointment, I watched Dr. Juno and Edward interacting, it was almost impossible to detect, but there was some type of electricity between them. It wasn't attraction; I knew that, I think it was more like fascination, like they were trying to figure each other out. I think she sensed that she was going to be more to us than just a veterinarian and was trying to figure out how and I think Edward was trying to explain to her.

We started toward the door behind Alice when suddenly, Edward stopped.

"Alice," he called, she turned and I could see them murmuring something rapidly between the two of them. Then I saw Alice take the carrier with Topaz in it and head for her car.

"Come with me." Edward said taking my hand and leading me back to the exam room. The receptionist didn't seem to notice. Each exam room had two doors one at the front of the room and one at the back; I assumed the back door led further into the hospital where clients were not allowed. Edward opened the back door and pulled me along with him. We were in a hallway, on the left side was a small laboratory area and in front of us was a row of computers with a wall of shelving full of prescription drugs. He looked to the right where the hallway continued and we headed that way, we found her in her office.

"Dr. Juno, I need to speak to you," Edward said evenly.

She sat very composed at her desk, stacks of files in front of her; still wearing her lilac colored scrubs. Her body straightened as she folded her hands on the desk and gave him a penetrating stare. "Yes Mr. Cullen?" She inflected tightly.

He shook his head at her, "please, call me Edward." He requested politely.

"As you wish," She replied coolly. "What can I do for you Edward?" she asked placing hard emphasis on his name.

I stiffened at the sound of her voice, her compassion seemed ceaseless with animals, her demeanor reflected her name; Patience. Even when we had first met her the other day, and the way she interacted with Alice, she had been very pleasant, but now, she was cold and disembodied. I wondered if she knew what Edward's intentions were.

Edward was getting annoyed with her, I could see it in his face, he thought she was rude. "I know who you are." He said curtly.

She cocked her head to one side and said "I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at." Her tone was condescending.

"You're originally from Alaska; you disappeared from there a very long time ago,"

"Am I supposed to be surprised by this statement, Mr. Cullen?" she asked, her semblance of tranquility not faltering.

"You're a healer." He said lowly, losing his gumption.

Her mask of calm started to break down slightly, "what does that matter?" She asked, her voice trembling a little.

The defensiveness of Edward's demeanor melted away completely, "I need your help." He whispered.

"Why would you need my help? Certainly you are able to heal yourself, you're a vampire." She scoffed as she casually waved her hand at him.

He didn't say a word, he just stared at her sadly as if she had just answered her own question, and then she understood.

Her eyes widened as the realization of what he needed from her hit her. A look of contempt crossed her face, "No." She said.

He shut his eyes and defeat overcame his entire being, and I knew that he wasn't going to argue with her. He was going to back off, I could see it, he was starting to turn his body to leave, I couldn't let this happen, no without a fight, not when it meant so much to him. She saw that he was going to leave as well and looked back down to her paperwork, it was about to end, I felt like this was our only chance, I had to say something.

"Wait!" I shouted, the two of them stopped what they were doing and stared at me. "Wait! Why not? Why can't you help him?" I walked toward her desk accusingly.

"Excuse me?" She growled, placing down her pen slowly.

"Bella, please…" Edward interceded taking a step toward me.

"Why, can't, you, help, him, Dr. Juno?" I said angrily taking another step toward her. I locked my eyes on her and straightened my posture; I wanted to rip her head off. She rose slowly from her desk, towering over my small frame. She looked like she wanted to rip my head off. The only difference between us was that she very easily could; she could and I didn't care.

"Bella, stop this," Edward took my hand and I ripped it away from him.

"No!" I shouted without looking at him, "I want to know why the all mighty and powerful Dr. Patience Juno the healer cannot spare a moment of her precious time to explain to you why she's being such a bitch." My eyes burned through her, I was enraged.

The good doctor looked like that had done it, I suddenly felt fearful, a look crossed her face that was purely animal, her beautiful ebony eyes grew darker, her delicately manicured eyebrows furrowed and her lip curled slightly. I started to back up when abruptly, Edward was crouched in front of me, and I heard a low growl rumble from him.

"If you so much as touch a hair on her I swear on my soul that I will kill you." He hissed rapidly to her.

Juno backed off slightly and composed herself, but her guard was up now. Edward eased up slightly as well and threw me a glance, he was so angry that his voice shook slightly, "Bella, please go sit down," he said through his clenched teeth. I listened to him this time.

"Quite the little bodyguard you have there." Juno said coldly as she settled back into her chair, adjusting her scrub top.

"We want no quarrel with you." Edward said sternly.

"I disagree, I think Miss Swan does."

"Bella is very, protective of those she loves." He explained as he started to relax a little.

"She must really love you then, if that were another of our kind she could have gotten herself killed." She said glaring at me.

"There are very few things that Bella is afraid of, I've come to realize." He explained.

"Is she the reason that you are trying to go through with something like this?" Juno asked smoothing her hair.

"She is the only reason for anything that I do." He said calmly.

"I can't help you Edward. I don't know where you came up with such a notion that I could." She said in an uninterested tone.

"Alice." I interrupted, "Alice saw it, she saw him becoming human."

Juno looked at Edward with question, "How could she know?"

"Alice has visions, subjective visions of what may be coming," he described. "One night, the three of us were sitting around and she had a vision of me becoming human somehow. She didn't know how it was possible or when or who, so we filled in the rest for ourselves. She and I, we spoke with our father, Carlisle…"

"Your father?" she asked, confused

"Carlisle is my adopted father."

"Did he create you?"

"Yes, he created me and my sister Rosalie and my mother, Esme. Alice and her partner Jasper joined our family and Rosalie created her partner, Emmet. Carlisle adopted all of us."

"You have a family." Juno stated hoarsely.

"Yes. We also have another side of our family, we call them our cousins, they live in Alaska, I spoke to them as well and found out about you."

"Eleazar," she stated.

"Yes, do you know him?"

"No, but I know of him, he is friendly with my tri," she hesitated, "the Eskimo tribes in Alaska. They told of a being that required human blood to live, but turned to animals instead. He is greatly respected for that, I adapted my way of life so that I could do the same."

"My family and I practice the same code." He said softly. All tension between them had dissipated and now they were trying to gain a better understanding of one another. "Alice and I pieced all of the information from Eleazar and Carlisle together along with the legends of the Eskimos and came up with our theory. Please understand that I did not come here to seek you out or put you in an awkward position. I had no idea that you were here, but the first day that I met you, I heard your thoughts and I found out who you were."

"You can hear my thoughts?" She asked, her guard had completely dropped now and she was dumbfounded.

"I can hear everyone's thoughts, apart from Bella's."

"This is very interesting, but how, may I ask does Miss Swan play into all of this?" I scowled at her.

"It doesn't matter where she came from, I love her." He said very seriously.

"Why don't you just turn her into one of us? It sounds like that is what the rest of your family has done."

I saw a flash of anger cross his face for a moment, "I want more for her. She doesn't deserve me, not, like this." He gestured at himself in disgust.

"And how do you feel about all of this, Mis…" she stopped and rubbed her forehead wearily, "Bella."

"I want whatever makes Edward happy." I said honestly.

Juno's face grew very sad as she watched Edward and I exchange glances. "I've never seen anything like this, except once and it ended very badly." She shook her head. "I can't help you."

"I won't ask you again." Edward said politely, standing to leave.

"Patience," I said, she threw a surprised look at me, she didn't expect me to call her by her first name. "Please, please consider this, if you can't do it, we won't trouble you any longer, but please, just take one night and consider it." I pleaded, "you have a very long lifetime ahead of you, I don't think one night would be significant to you, but it would be to us, to Edward, please, he's too good, he's too…" tears stood in my eyes, a look of pain crossed his face as he watched me, "if you only knew what he has done for me, for my family, he's…" I looked at him helplessly, I couldn't go on.

Edward was by my side instantly, "Bella, it's alright." He murmured, slipping his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek, "let's just go."

We turned to walk out, when Juno spoke, "wait," her voice struggled a little, like she would choke, "I can't promise you anything, but I will take the night to consider your request, but please don't get your hopes up."

"Thank you." Edward said quietly, she nodded at him and we left.

I marched down the hallway, I was angry again; I forcefully wiped the tears out of my eyes with my fist. Edward was close behind, we cut through an empty exam room and went to the car. I shut the door and pulled the sleeves of my shirt over my hands, made a fist and pressed it against my chin. The tears I was trying to fight back stung my eyes. I waited for Edward to start the car.

He sat with his hands resting on the wheel for a moment. I watched him as his mouth slowly curved into a smirk of disbelief. He turned and looked at me in astonishment. "You didn't have to do that."

"I had to try." I answered quietly, staring out the window, as it started to rain.

"You never cease to amaze me."

"That could hardly be called amazing." I said miserably, I didn't see what the big deal was, it's not like my plea had accomplished anything anyways.

"You really shouldn't be doing that you know."

"Doing what?" I asked completely confused.

"Throwing yourself under the knife like that for me." He said, his astonishment beginning to turn into amusement.

"Just call me 'lambchop'," I said sarcastically.

"Isabella Swan, sacrificial lamb for the vampires," he teased. I smiled at his feeble attempt at humor. He leaned in toward me and kissed me deeply on the lips, staying there for only a moment. Something was going to happen, I could feel it, something was going to happen to us that would change our lives forever. I felt like we were being tested, it was one thing to have supernatural catastrophe like James and the Volturi occurring around us. Most couples can deal with bizarre stuff like that and it shows no reflection of who they truly are, but when everyday things happen; a sick pet, a family member in need, something as simple as standing up for one another, that's when your bond is truly tested. I felt like these were all tests for us, and so far we were passing every one of them.