I have some of the most wonderful readers in the fandom, so thank you all for your kind words and heartbreaking stories. Fuck Cancer, right? I'm sorry to say that the sadness will continue for a little bit, but there's a glimmer of hope. After all, there's only 6 chapters after this one.

Location: Port Angeles, Washington

Prompt: Gymnasium

Port Angeles Middle School was the last place Edward wanted to be on this cloudy mid August day. The school year was set to begin in two weeks and all the teachers were currently huddled in the gymnasium for orientation, and it seemed Edward wasn't the only new teacher this year.

Principal Greene took the first part of the session to make everyone introduce themselves and after Edward recounted his education and how happy he is to be there, a woman named Maggie O'Leary, the new librarian has her turn. The moment she began to speak, Edward realized why she seemed so familiar to her.

"I'm Maggie O'Leary. Born and raised in Forks, Washington and I went to the University of Illinois for Library and Information Studies. I moved home because I loved it here, even with the rain, and I wanted to be around my family." Everyone welcomed Maggie and she returned to her seat. It wasn't until the break that Edward was able to approach her.

"Mags?" he asked softly as she turned around and smiled happily at him.

"I was worried you wouldn't recognize me." Maggie had been correct in her assumption, because though Edward thought she looked familiar, he couldn't place her. Maggie's hair was considerably shorter and darker than it had been in high school, and Edward figured she had probably lost at least 50 pounds.

"I didn't recognize you actually," Edward admitted sheepishly. "You have to admit, you've changed a bit since you got back to town."

"For the better, I hope."

"Yeah, definitely for the better." Edward and Maggie had an awkward hug and spent the next fifteen minutes of their break catching up before they were forced to follow Principal Greene on a tour of the school with the other new teacher, Mrs. Side, who would be teaching kindergarten.

During lunch, Edward and Maggie sat together in the staff room and discussed their respective moves back to Forks. "So what made you come back to Forks?"

"My sister, mainly," Maggie admitted as she took a small bite of her salad. "Siobhan's a single mom now that her lousy, two timing husband up and left her for his twenty year old secretary. Her son, Liam, is five and will be going to school here actually." Edward didn't remember much of Siobhan, because she was a few years older than he was, but he was glad that Maggie still had some family left in town. "I'm living with them in Forks right now until I find my own place. Siobhan's a nurse at Forks General and she can use all the help she can get with Liam."

"My dad is still working there."

"Ah yes, Dr. Cullen... all the girls certainly loved seeing him when we were younger." Edward looked at Siobhan completely floored at her comment about his dad. "Oh come on, Edward. Your dad is an attractive looking man. Hell, he still is. All the girls in high school really wanted you to grow up as nice as he did."

"Yeah, but none of them liked me back then."

"You'll show them now, though," Maggie laughed. "I bet you twenty bucks you will get hit on by one of the teachers here before the end of the day." Edward choked on his soda as Maggie patted his back roughly.

"So... why are you still single?"

"I actually left someone special behind in Illinois. We were together for two years when I suddenly realized I just wasn't in love anymore, if I ever was." Edward understood exactly what Maggie was talking about, since he was beginning to second guess how he had felt about Bella during their trip together. The more he thought about it, the more he began to believe that he fell so quickly, and so hard, for Bella simply because of the circumstances they were thrown into.

When Edward looked at Maggie once more, he was suddenly hit with a great idea. Something to help both of them move on. "Well, if you ever want to... maybe go out... on a date, let me know."

Maggie gave Edward a sympathetic smile as his heart fell into his gut. "As sweet as the offer is, you don't exactly have the right parts for me." Edward cocked his head to the side slightly and looked at Maggie with utter confusion on his face. "I'm gay, Edward. So, unless you have a vagina inside those Dockers of yours, you are shit out of luck. Now... did you say you drove from New York City all the way back to Forks?"

Edward took a sip of his drink and used the moment to compose himself. He had tried to open himself up, albeit briefly, to Maggie and was taken by surprise. Thankfully, she seemed like a very forgiving and patient woman, one he would be friends with for a long time to come. "Yeah, I drove because I didn't really want to have to sell my car. It was an easy enough drive and I stopped for sleep every night. Plus..." Edward hesitated, but decided to just get it out in the open. "I had company."

"Oh really?"

"I picked up a hitchhiker in Rochester."

"And they didn't try to farm your kidney and leave you for dead in a bathtub of ice cubes?" Maggie asked with a laugh.

"It was Chief Swan's daughter." Maggie dropped her fork with a thud and her face turned pale as Edward gave her a tiny smile. "She was a good enough driving companion and the Chief was in some sort of rush to get her home."

"Yeah, I can imagine."

"What does that mean?" Once again, Edward was confused by his conversation with Maggie. It was clear that she knew something about the Chief that Edward wasn't privy to and his curiosity was piqued.

"Siobhan is a nurse at the cancer ward of Forks General. She has been Renee Swan's nurse for the past few weeks. If Chief Swan was in a rush to get his daughter home, it's probably because Renee only has a few days left to live."