Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Authors note: I want to thank each and every one of you for sending in your opinions and suggestions as to what needed to be done with Sam. I have really struggled with this and I hope you think solution I chose is fitting. Part of it carries over to another chapter but, well . . . you'll see. TwilightFanInIllinois came up with one of the best solutions, and I am quoting one of her phrases later in the chapter! Thank you so so much for all the thoughtfulness and concern!

Chapter 86 Consequences

I had no idea how I would survive without him if that was what had been decided . . .

and doubted that I would want to.

I could only hope that Sam had the ability to change . . . for both our sakes.

Emily POV

The four of us walked out of the hospital and towards the truck; Sue having said bye to Charlie and told him where she was going and Edward having gone back into Bree's room to be with Bella. It was as though ice ran through my veins, because there was no feeling . . . none. My limbs moved, enabling me to blindly follow Jake, but there was nothing there - no sense of me.

I had no idea what it was I was supposed to be doing, or what was about to happen. My life was about to irrevocably change and it seemed as though I had absolutely no control.

Sam was behaving outrageously, anger and rage clouding his senses. It didn't even seem to be about the legends and histories . . . just about hatred and vengeance. I understood that he saw it as an outrage that Bella was with Edward, let alone creating a child with her. It had been difficult for Sue, as well, to accept them as a couple. I sighed, knowing that I understood it far better than either of them. I was with Sam and sometimes, Sam was not human at all . . . Sam was a wolf.

The ride in the truck was silent, Carlisle noticing my jacket was not fastened and my hat still in the truck as we walked toward the path that would take us up the mountain Sue grabbed the hat and made sure I was tucked into my coat with my mittens on; my body numb as my mind raced through the different scenarios. They could simply reprimand Sam, or disgrace him by banning him from the tribal grounds . . . or they could decide that his life was forfeit. Whatever they chose, my life would never be the same. Jacob ran into the woods to phase, surely to check and see if Sam was here yet. He returned shortly . . . and he was frowning.

"Sam's at the top waiting, mad as hell because Carlisle is here. I'm going to take Emily on ahead, Carlisle, if you'll help Sue. Just follow the path. The evergreens are so thick you won't need to carry her till the last bit above treeline. I'll meet you there. I'm going to give them some time alone," Jacob said quietly. Carlisle acknowledged the plan and I turned to Sue.

"It'll be alright," Sue whispered to me as she hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek, "We'll make him see that he was wrong, he just has to admit it and things will go in a completely different direction, Emily. Just make him see." I nodded, tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew that Sue was trying to help, trying to give me a clue, something to work with . . . but I also knew Sam.

Jacob put me down once we got to a sort of level area; it looked as though the top of a fence was showing along the edge of what appeared to be a cliff, and we were above it on some rocks. He hugged me, then gestured towards where Sam was approaching and left us alone. I ran into my husbands arms, tears streaming down my face and onto his bare chest as I clung to him.

"Are you alright, baby? They haven't hurt you have they?" he asked, placing his hands on my shoulders and pushing me away from him so that he could see my face.

"No, no of course not, Sam. They are my friends," I shifted my eyes from his face and looked at his chest as my hands held his waist, "They would be your friends, too, if you would let them." He looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Emily, we can not be friends with our tribes enemies!" he scolded, in disbelief that I had said such a thing. I looked sternly at him, he had to grasp this, his very life might depend on it.

"The Cullens are not and have never been our enemies, yours, mine or the tribes. You need to understand that!" I nearly yelled, willing him to hear me.

"They have fooled you, just like Jacob and Sue. They are the enemy, Emily. They are not human. Hell, they are not even alive!" he yelled back, his face red and the tendons in his neck and blood vessels in his face standing out in his apparent rage.

"You are the one that is delusional, Sam. I can't believe you attacked Edward. Edward, of all people, Sam! He took care of me when I was hurt, he was the one in the most pain with Bella's kidnapping. How could you?" I said speaking very quietly. He knew me, he knew I was dead serious.

"In pain? Em, he fucked her and got her pregnant with his spawn! He plans to kill her, Em, to turn her into what he is," he insisted cupping my face in his hands and forcing me to look at him, "and you have no proof that he did anything for you or checked you at all after the redhead hit you."

God, he was so stupid and so suspicious and just so, so full of hate. Any hopes I had of making him see the truth were quickly fading before my eyes, erased by the set of his jaw and the hate in his eyes. His body was infected with it, it oozed from every pore. He had never been like this before, at least I had never seen it. Maybe that was it, maybe I had just never let myself see it. His anger had overcome him once before in my presence, my face bore the scars from that day.

"Sam, please," I said throwing my arms around his neck, "Please, I'm begging you. Please see that they aren't a threat! Please let go of this, this hatred you have for the Cullens. Sam, I need you to trust me and believe in me and my judgement and instincts."

"I do trust you, Em, and I have always believed in you. You know the bond I have to you is unbreakable . . . I love you," he declared emphatically just before he kissed me.

"Then trust me about this, Sam. Trust in me and in my judgement on this. I want you to accept that the Cullens mean you, our tribe, and humans no harm. They pose no threat to us, Sam."

"Em, I . . ."

He tensed, frozen in his tracks mid sentence. I turned in the direction of his glare and saw Jacob, Sue, and Carlisle approaching. My husbands body went rigid and started to tremble and then to shake. I knew first hand what that meant and started to back up.

"No, Sam! Please no! Please calm down," I screamed, my hands covering my face as I realized that there was nothing I could do. I just kept screaming, "Sam, please . . . I love you! I can't loose you, Sam. I love you! Please, please . . ."

I felt wind in my face and all of a sudden I realized that I was standing behind Carlisle, a good ten yards away from Sam. I stared at the two wolves in front of me, their teeth bared at each other. Sue watched from below, further down the rocks, a horror stricken look on her face.

Their roars were deafening as they started to circle each other. My Sam used to be easily recognizable in wolf form, not only because he was solid black, but because he was the largest wolf in the pack. That was no longer true. Jake towered over him, dark russet colored fur standing on end, his body tensed and crouched to attack. This was it. It would be the end of one of them, and though I could never bear Sam's loss, I didn't want Jake hurt either.

"NO!" I screamed as I feared they were going to start something that one of them would not survive. I screamed and tears ran down my face, my hands in fists at my sides as my entire body tensed under the weight of what might happen. I sensed something, something that told me Sam was going to attack and I lunged for him, crossing the distance between us in no time. I was right. It was at that instant that Sam leaped at Jake, his body flying through the air, teeth bared . . .

There was no way he could have known, or prevented what happened - short of not acting like an ass and being filled with hatred for the Cullens in the first place. His shoulder hit me like a wall as I ran into what had been the vacant spot between them, knocking me backwards, head over heals. I felt an intense pain in my chest and shoulder as I slid across the ice crusted rocks, and I drew in a ragged breath that I used to scream . . . as I fell over the side of the cliff.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, really. I saw Sue's face as well as the expressions on the faces of the wolves as I slid backwards, my fingers desperate to find purchase. I knew the cliff was behind me and I saw the fear in their eyes. I had seen picturesque photos of this cliff . . . the highest vertical drop that you could repel on the East coast. I knew. Carlisle's face, his hand holding my glove that he had just grabbed as he dove for me were the last things I saw before I felt the air in my face and saw the serene beauty of the snow covered mountain landscape as I fell.

~oooOooo~

Sam POV

"Emily!" I heard myself scream as I saw what was happening. I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't going to reach her in time. The leech blurred he moved so fast in her direction, but as I reached the edge, he stood there with her glove in his hand, looking down. I phased back without bothering to find the cover of the woods, sliding my shorts on instinctively as they fell from the band on my leg. I was on my stomach leaning over the edge before Sue had managed to run to where we were. Jake stood between me and the bloodsucker as we all focused on where my Emily lay, fifty feet or so down the ledge on a small outcropping where her body had caught, draped over a tree above the five hundred foot drop to the ground below.

"Emily! Emily!" I called to her, dropping to my knees and looking for a way to get to her.

"Quiet!" Jake demanded, "Carlisle, can you hear her?"

Sue held her breath as did Jake for what seemed like forever, the only noise to my ear was the wind.

"She's alive, though not conscious. I don't know if she hit her head or just has the wind knocked out of her, but her breathing is extremely labored and I hear fluid gurgling in her lungs," the leech told Jake, "Probably broke a rib and it punctured a lung from the impact of her body hitting the tree."

"Shit, that's serious, right?" Jake asked.

"Yes, it's serious. She won't be getting enough air," he told him.

I turned backwards, kneeling down and putting a foot off the edge as I started down the rock face.

"Stop Sam," Jake demanded as he grabbed my shoulder, "That tree won't hold your weight too, even if your ass could get down to it. She falls the rest of the way and its all over."

I knew he was right. There was no way I could make it down the rocky face of that cliff. No one could without climbing gear. I looked on, completely helpless to do anything to save my wife. Sue had her phone out to call 911, but of course the service was sketchy at best and it would take them forever to get here and rig something to rescue her. She didn't have forever. My ears might not be as sensitive as the fucking bloodsuckers, but the sounds of the tree starting to crack could probably be heard even by a human here on the still mountain.

Before I realized what was happening, Carlisle had removed his shoes and socks and was over the cliff, moving kind of like fucking spider man down the cliff face towards my wife. I froze, unsure as to whether to try and knock him off the cliff with a boulder or to thank him . . . fucking bloodsucker. What the hell? He was . . . he was going to save her. The tree that had stopped her from falling to her death cracked under the strain and the bloodsucker grabbed her just as it gave way. The sound of the impact when the tree hit the ground below filled the otherwise silent afternoon as I watched in amazement as he draped her limp body over the arm that held him to the icy rock face of the cliff. He had apparently crumbled rock with his bare hands and toes to gain a stable position while he adjusted her so that he could maneuver his way back up to us. He brought his other arm under her as well and, using his head to hold her in place, slowly climbed back up the cliff . . .

. . . Climbed back up, carrying her like she was nothing, no weight at all against his arms grabbing the cliff with her body resting on the tops of them.

I could only watch, unable to help and completely dependent on the leech for my wife's very survival. The irony was not lost on me . . . I had attempted to kill this leeches' son, yet he was saving my wife.

As he neared the top we reached for her, Jake grabbed her legs as I moved to hold onto her arms, hoping I didn't pull anything or make anything worse. We moved her away from the edge and Carlisle was beside her in an instant, her jacket undone, listening and fingering one side of her rib cage and chest as though to move or feel something very carefully. I stroked her hair, her hat long since having fallen off. I was terrified. She was an ash grey color and blood trickled from her nose and mouth as she lay there on the icy mountain top.

He told us to carry her down to the truck, saying that was no time to wait for emergency personnel, even if we could reach them, something about getting her to surgery. I held her in my arms and Jake grabbed Sue to run with her as we headed down towards the truck as quickly as possible. We left Carlisle putting on his shoes, yet he stood by the truck with it running and warm inside by the time we got there.

He had me lay Emily on the backseat and ordered the rest of us into the front, climbing into the floorboard and kneeling over her. I hesitated, meeting his stare as I slammed the back door and jumped into the front seat of the cab facing backwards so that I could stroke her hair and talk to her as he worked.

"Em, don't you leave me, you hear me! I need you Emily, I love you. Don't you leave me."

I heard myself repeat the words over and over as Jake sped along the winding mountain roads towards the hospital. Carlisle tried his phone, reaching the hospital and barking orders before he dialed Esme and told her what happened.

They were waiting for us at the door to emergency as we pulled up. Several orderlies and men in lab coats surrounded her as they ran with the gurney into the hospital, disappearing through those ominous doors that say authorized personnel only. Carlisle accompanied her, still barking orders. I stood facing the closed doors with one palm flat against it, still able to hear him directing them to take her to OR one and get x-rays STAT.

Oh my God . . . what had I done? This was my fault. Mine. My unwillingness to listen to her had brought us here, my hatred led us to this. If I had been willing to bend, to accept that there were exceptions to all things, even to vampires . . . we wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be here.

The bloodsucker saved her, scaling the cliff when I couldn't . . . hell I didn't even know that he could. I would never have known if he hadn't acted, if he had said nothing. He could easily have let her fall to her death, it would have made no difference to his life. It would have been my fault and mine alone . . . yet he didn't. He acted completely on his own with no prompting, hell Jake hadn't even asked him . . . if he had even known he was capable. The fucking leech had just acted to save my wife because he apparently cared for her, valued human life.

Well shit. Emily had been right about them all along, and now it was too late for me. I saw Esme, Alice, Charlie and Edward get off the elevator and approach us, Bella protectively shielded behind them, their bodies tense as they approached Sue, Jake and me. Time stood still for me and I realized that Jake would demand that the pack end me, even if Carlisle and Edward did not claim it as their right under the treaty. It's what I would do if I were in his shoes. I didn't care. I just hoped they would let me live long enough to know that Emily would survive.

"How is she?" Charlie asked, looking at me. I could do nothing but stand there and stare at him like a lame ass.

"We don't know anything yet," Jake answered for me, "Carlisle ran in with her."

"She's already in surgery, Carlisle is operating," Edward told us.

"How the hell do you know that?" Jake asked, frowning.

"I can read Carlisle's thoughts from a distance, you know that, Jacob," Edward answered, chiding me.

"Oh yea, yea. I guess I did. It's just hard to get used to," Jake told him.

"So . . . give us a play by play, son. Keep us in the loop here," Charlie requested of Edward. So, he knew as well. Seemed like they all did, and they liked them anyway. Guess I would need to jump on the fucking bloodsucker loving bandwagon . . . maybe.

"The x-rays showed multiple broken ribs, clavicle, and arm. According to Carlisle, she had to have been hit by something before she fell and forced the rib into the lung when she hit the tree. They aren't bothering with the clavicle or the broken arm right now, just trying to inflate the lung and stop the bleeding," Edward told us, but you could see from his face that there was more.

Jake stared at him as Edward moved to stand beside Bella and comfort her, his arms around her. He finally looked over to Sue, explaining, "It's touch and go, the rib broke free of the sternum and it's dangerously near the heart. It wasn't a clean break and there are fragments to deal with."

I sat down, my elbows on my knees and my hands covering my face. Edward made a point of keeping distance and himself between me and Bella, as did Charlie. Charlie. What the fuck was with Charlie? He kept placing himself between me and Edward, obviously glaring at me and knowing Charlie as well as I did, he was obviously seething. My wife being in surgery and our being in a public place was undoubtedly saving me from the tongue lashing, if not the attempted ass whipping of my life.

Sue sat beside me, her arm around my shoulders. "It was an accident, Sam. You would never intentionally hurt her, she knows that," she said, trying to comfort me. I sat for a long moment, remembering the seconds before she fell. She had flung herself between Jake and I. I hadn't even noticed then, I had been so filled with rage and intent on claiming what I thought was mine. I hit her, knocked into her, really. It was me . . . my body had sent her flying over the cliff. I caused this, me and me alone. If I lost her, if she . . . I couldn't even think it. I had hurt her before because of my anger, left horrible scars across her beautiful face, and she had forgiven me. Now my hatred and anger might have cost her her life. I remembered her words to me just before the accident . . .

Trust me about this, Sam. Trust in me and in my judgement on this.

I want you to accept that the Cullens mean you, our tribe, and humans no harm.

They pose no threat to us .

It ended here.

If I never gave her anything else, if I lost her, I would still give her this.

I got up and walked towards where everyone else was sitting . . . past Esme and Alice and Jake. I ignored the prying eyes of the receptionist, only now realizing that I was walking around in only shorts in the middle of winter. I walked to the far end of the room where Charlie, Bella and Edward sat, Edward and Charlie rising to stand protectively in front of Bella. Jake quickly put himself there as well.

"Sam, you need to go back and sit your ass down," Jake told me, his voice nearly a snarl. I ignored him. Alpha commands only worked in wolf form, and on me while I was a wolf.

I knew Edward could read my thoughts, in fact I counted on it. I stood before him the same distance away that I would any man I was talking to, and began.

"Bloodsu . . . ," I looked down for an instant, needing to correct myself. "Edward." I saw the tension in his neck and chest ease somewhat, my intentions clear to him. I looked him straight in the eyes as I said clearly, "Edward, I want to apologize for attacking you. I was wrong."

Charlies face eased up somewhat, but Edward's did not.

I made sure I was serious and contrite, genuinely wanting him to know that I regretted my decisions and was ashamed of my hatred for him in light of what his family had done for me, my wife and Jake. I finally understood what Sue had been telling me all along, well, ever since she got to know Edward. He was different . . . they were different.

"I regret my actions, Edward, and I'm truly sorry that I turned on you. Though you are vampires," I spoke so softly there was no chance of our being overheard, "you are not the cold ones our legends speak of and I'm sorry I treated you as though you were."

Nothing was said, in fact no one moved after I spoke until Charlie chimed in, "Sam Uley, what are you trying to pull? How can you expect any of us to ever trust you again after you intended to kill my grandson's father?"

He was right. I knew he was right. Bella stood and pushed her way past Edward, though he gave little resistance. "Dad. I am, as or more upset than any of you that he attempted to kill my husband . . . but everyone deserves a second chance and if Edward accepts his apology, believe me, it will be because it's genuine," Bella explained. Edward stood stone still, not even appearing to breath as he stared at me, unblinking.

"Alright, alright, enough," Jake said, putting a hand on my chest to push me away from Edward, "You've had your say. Back off . . . now." No one spoke, no one moved, and Jake started to insist.

"No. It's alright," Edward said, his hand outstretched towards me, "I accept your apology."

Jake and Charlie looked stunned.

I looked at Edwards outstretched hand, pausing a moment before I reached out and shook it.

"Thank you," I told him as we stared intently at each other. Then I turned and moved to the far side of the room to sit and wait. My fate was yet undecided, but not knowing if my wife would survive or not, I could not bring myself to care what punishment the council, the pack or the Cullen's had in store for me.

~oooOooo~