It's late for me, and I'm updating. So, any mistakes are mine. Also, there is an event that happens in this chapter that actually happened to a friend when she went in for her chemo, so the last half of this chapter is very real to me.

Thank you to Kyla713 for looking this over, and to my girls, packeh and Heather for reading it and putting up with me.

I'll let you guys get to it. I do have a message for you guys at the bottom.

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Chapter 17-

Bella slowly felt more and more comfortable at the lake house. She relaxed and smiled more. Allowed herself focus on the now, rather than everything else that was waiting when we met back up to reality of the apartment, doctors appointments and chemo. I loved seeing her with my dad, laughing and smiling. She brought something out in my dad that I didn't recall ever seeing before. His eyes seemed brighter and he laughed more, too. They were becoming partners in crime as well. Poor Charlie received the brunt of a majority of their pranks, and most of the time, the poor guy ended up soaked. Somehow, Dad and Bella found my old stash of super soakers and none of us were safe.

The upcoming chemo and the removal of her staples from the surgery wasn't even brought up. Not once, and Bella didn't even ask about it. At least, not out loud. There were many times I found her writing in a journal, her brow furrowed in concentration, her eyes watery. I wanted badly to know just what she was writing, but I wouldn't breach the trust she had given me. She had her own way of giving me her words, and I'd patiently wait forever for anything from her.

Bella also grew closer to my mom while at the lake house. Many times I caught them whispering and laughing, most of the time, photo albums and books were in their laps as happiness radiated from them. I didn't even care that my mom was most likely showing her my naked baby pictures, pictures of me growing up, even my dorkiness in high school. As long as Bella smiled, I was okay with anything and everything.

Charlie, the more we got to know him, the more he seemed like he fit with us. He kept up with my dad's sarcastic remarks and sports knowledge. He even joked that my mom should come back to Forks with him. He'd miss her cooking. I noticed that when he would bring up the fact he had to go home soon, Bella grew sad, though she tried not to show it. One night, after she had went up to our room to sleep, I pulled Charlie aside and told him that my mom, dad and I all wanted to donate our air miles to him, so that he could easily fly back and forth easily whenever his work allowed. Sadly, he was due to fly back to Seattle the day after Bella's doctor's appointment to have her check up and schedule upcoming chemo. He was crushed that he wouldn't be there for her first round of chemo, but we promised to keep him up to date, and to call him during her initial dose so that he could talk to her.

The last day at lake house, our reality came crashing down around us when Bella's doctor's office called to confirm her appointment the next day. Bella shut down on us after she hung up the phone, and went out to the dock. My dad, Charlie and I all wanted to follow after her, to make sure she was okay, but my mom put a stop to that.

"All three of you let that girl be. She just needs a few moments. I know you all want to protect her from everything, but this is one of those times where she just needs to be with herself. Everything is happening so fast for her. Let her have some quiet," my mom told us as she tried to look stern, but you could easily see the worry in her eyes. "She'll be fine." her voice shook as she finished before she walked away.

I paced the front room as my dad and Charlie kept their eyes on Bella. I hated not being able to make everything better for her. I wanted to take her worries away, bring that smile back to her face. Eventually, we started to pack up our cars and close up the house while Bella still sat out on the dock, looking out at the lake.

Once everything was loaded, I quietly made my way out to Bella and sat down next to her. My arms quickly found their way around her shoulders as I pulled her closer to me. "We have everything packed, and if we want to beat the crazy traffic, we better get a move on," I told her as she nodded against my shoulder. "Mom and Dad both said that you're welcome out here anytime you want to come back. We will gladly bring you. We'll be back, Bella. I promise." I kissed the top of her head and stood up, holding out my hand to help her up.

The ride back to the apartment was quiet; she didn't say much. We were about three quarters of the way home when my cell pinged with an incoming text. I had Bella check it for me, and she told me it was my dad saying he'd meet us at the apartment after he picked up some dinner on the way from Zizi's Cafe. I had a feeling she'd told him that she wanted their kebab's, and I bet some Baklava.

I looked over to Bella just as we pulled into the garage of our apartment building and noticed a small smile. My hand reached out for hers and I tangled our fingers together and squeezed gently. "What do you say to another Harry Potter marathon? I won't even give you crap about going all googly eyed over the dude that plays Cedric."

She laughed and shook her head before leaning in to kiss me. "You only say that because you have a thing for Tonks."

I gasped. "I so do not!" I exclaimed, before opening my door and running around to her side. "I thought you knew I had a thing for Mrs. Weasley?" I winked as I helped her out.

"Then what are you doing dating a much younger woman, Cullen, when you could have a cougar?" Bella's eyes were shining with happiness, her lips pulled into a wide smile.

"Well, she's a bit old for me. I prefer my girlfriends to be Bella's." Leaning in, I kissed her slowly, taking my time on deepening the kiss. She let out a sigh when I pulled away.

"You are so cheesy, Edward, but I love you anyway."

Why was it those three simple words that made my belly flop in the most delicious of ways? I would never tire of them. Now, I just needed to work on bringing it down to two simple words in the near future.

"I love you, too, sweet girl. Now, Dad should be pulling up with Mom and Charlie. I'm sure they won't mind being subjected to an HP marathon."

"I don't know... he asks too many questions and annoys me."

I laughed loudly before unlocking our door. My parents were sitting on our couch, setting out the food as Charlie channel-surfed.

"Looks like they beat us," Bella said, before walking over and joining her dad, giving him a hug.

We sat around and talked while enjoying our meal. Dad waited until right before we were going to put the movies on to hand Bella her dish full of Baklava with a twinkle in his eye. Charlie shook his head and laughed. "That girl has yet to have a cavity, but if you keep it up, she will soon, Carlisle."

"Don't knock the sweets he gives me, Dad. You are just jealous."

My parents stayed on through to the fifth movie. Dad was almost worse than Charlie with all of his questions.

"I don't get the purpose of a patronus. What's the big deal?" my dad asked, stealing a bite of Bella's Baklava.

"Even I know the answer to that, Carlisle," Charlie said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and it only took you watching it like five times before you quit asking me, Dad."

"Yeah... well...hmmf." We all laughed at Charlie's expense. It was a good night; one filled with lots of laughter and fun.

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"I'm really starting to hate doctor's offices," Bella grumbled as she sat down in the chair while we waited for Dr. Doukas to come back.

"I know. I'm sorry, sweet girl. And you're even dating a doctor. I bet you'll be tired of me soon, too."

"Nope, now shut it."

A knock at the door alerted us to the doctor entering. Dr. Doukas came in, set her file on the counter and sat down in front of her. "How are you, Bella?" he asked, his eyes assessing her.

"I'm okay. Ready for these staples and stitches to come out. The itching is driving me crazy."

"I bet. Why don't you go ahead and lay down, pull your shirt up and unbutton your pants, so that I can look at the surgery site and make sure we are healing up good. I also want to get a good look at your port, if you don't mind."

I watched as Bella laid down, her breathing coming fast due to her being nervous.

"Calm down, Bella. I'm just going to check you over and removing them will barely hurt, I promise." He washed his hands and then put on a pair of gloves before gently running his fingers along the incision sites. "You healed up really well. This is excellant. No redness, and I think you will have very minimal scarring," he told us before gently pulling the top of Bella's shirt down so he that he could probe around the port site, which was on the upper right side of her chest. "This looks great as well. Any complaints about the port? Keeping it dry?"

Bella spoke, her head turning toward the doctor. "No complaints. It doesn't bother me as much as it did when I first got it. Now, I barely notice it there."

"Good, I'm glad. Now, what do you say we remove the stitches and staples? All you should really feel is just a tiny bit of pressure and it may even tickle. I'll be as gentle as I can," he said as he looked down at Bella. She nodded and closed her eyes, her hand reaching out for mine, which I gladly grabbed, hoping to give her a small bit of comfort.

"All done. And now you can safely take a bath, just as long as you don't get the port wet." He sat back down and wrote in her chart. "Now, onto the not-so-nice stuff. Your first chemo appointment."

Bella sighed and fiddled with her shirt as she sat up. "If we must."

"We must. I want to get you in for this friday. I think Taxol and Carboplatin will be the best choice to go with for you. It's a very common route with ovarian cancer. Before we inject your chemo, I have you down to receive pre-meds, which are essentially Dexamethasone, Benadryl, and Zofran. Hopefully, you will feel no side effects, such as the horrible nausea that accompanies chemo. From that appointment, we will move forward,," he explained to us as he handed me papers for the referral to the clinic and information on meds. "In fact, Edward, your buddy, Emmett, insisted we send her to this cancer treatment center. His wife is a nurse there, so Bella will be in good hands. Any questions?"

Bella shook her head no, her hands shaking as she stood up.

Dr. Doukas shook both of our hands. "You'll be fine, Bella. If you do think of any questions, worries you have, anything at all, I want you to call me straight away, okay? Also, make an appointment for the tuesday after your first chemo. I want to check up on you."

We made our way out, made the appointment and met back with my parents and Charlie, quickly filling them in. Unfortunately, we were also due at the airport to drop Charlie off shortly after lunch. It was obvious that he really didn't want to go, but he had to. He'd missed a lot of work already, and being the Chief, that wasn't easy. Bella clung to her dad the whole way to O'hare. Every time I looked back at them, they were whispering and hugging. Charlie looked close to losing it.

"Promise me you'll take care of her, Edward. You call me, keep me up to date. I want to know everything. I feel like the world's worst father for not being there for her when she receives chemo."

"Charlie, you know we will constantly call you. And you've done so much, but let us help you carry some of the burden. She has us now, too. I will call you the minute they hook her up to the meds."

"Okay. Thanks, Edward. And tell your parents thank you, and that I will see them soon."

I nodded and walked away to allow father and daughter a moment to themselves. They hugged, and I could hear Bella's sobs right when Charlie needed to go. I walked back over to her and held her in my arms as we watched Charlie walk away. I whispered to her that we'd call him constantly, teach him Skype, whatever made her happy.

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The time between her visit to Dr. Doukas and her chemo appointment seemed to drag. We did everything we could think of to keep Bella's mind occupied and busy. We watched a lot of movies, binge watched Supernatural, and now were both hooked. I suspected she had a thing for the guy who played Dean. We barely slept; maybe three to five hours a night. Bella was too restless. On the morning we were due to go for her chemo, I had to drag her out of bed. She clung to the bedding like a toddler throwing a tantrum. I could understand her reluctance and fear of the unknown. But it had to be done in order for her to get better, even if I hated the idea of her even having to go through it to begin with.

My parents came along and sat with us in the waiting room as we waited. I kept watching my dad sneak Bella watermelon jolly ranchers and her popping them in her mouth. Seeing her and my dad like that was a adorable. They'd become quite the team.

Bella's name was called and we all jumped, our nerves shot. She looked over to my dad and grabbed his hand. "You're coming back with me, too, right?" In that moment, she looked so much like a lost child, I just wanted to grab her up in my arms and shield her from what she was about to go through.

"Of course, sweetheart." He walked with her toward the nurse and never let go of her hand. I couldn't even bring myself to be mad that she chose him. She needed a dad right then, not a boyfriend.

They had her sit down and hooked her up to machines to monitor her vitals. My dad stood next to her, still holding her free hand as he tried to soothe her.

Rosalie, Bella's nurse, was mixing the pre-meds, getting them ready to push them through her port before the chemo. I looked over at Bella, who I could tell was trying her hardest be calm, but her face gave her away. She was biting her lip and wringing her hands, her eyes held fear of the unknown. If only I could hold her and reassure her that everything would be all right, but I couldn't. The nurse was already glaring at me and shaking her head no, as if she had read my mind.

I remembered I was supposed to call Charlie, so I pulled out my phone and brought up his number. My mom quickly snatched it from me, talking to Charlie instead and keeping him in the loop.

They cleaned her port line, and then began injecting her pre-meds. I watched Bella's face for any change, or twinge of pain, but nothing came. Everything was off to a great start. My eyes shifted over to the nurse next to Rosalie, who was prepping the chemo meds and IV line. My eyes followed her nurse as she hung the bag on the IV pole and prepped the machine for dosage time. They hooked the IV up to the port line, and Bella grabbed for my hand, squeezing.

"You ready?" I asked, bringing her hand up to my lips to kiss it.

"N-no," she whimpered as she squeezed my hand even harder, just as the nurse pushed the first dose of chemo through the IV lines.

Bella's voice came through my cloudy thoughts, I was so focused on what was going around us that I kind of zoned out. "I really don't feel good. I don't.. I feel wrong. I'm gonna throw up."

In that instant, it all changed. Bella's heart rate dipped low, blood pressure dropping fast, and when I looked down at her, I noticed Bella's lips were turning blue.

It was rare, extremely rare, but allergic reactions were known to happen with chemo. Now we had another set back on our hands, and I wasn't sure how Bella and my family would take it.

I quickly bent down, grabbing her, holding her as the doctor rushed in to administer counter meds, bringing her heart rate and blood pressure back up. He immediately whirled around and faced Rosalie, a mask of anger covering his face.

"You did administer the proper pre-meds, right?"

"Yes, doctor. I-I can assure I did," she told him, handing off the chart.

The nurses grabbed the crash cart, handing off the epinephrine to the doctor, who then stopped all meds that were going into her port. Once he replaced it with epinephrine, which then quickly brought her vitals back up to normal.

I felt as if my heart stopped as I continued to hold her as my dad kept checking her vitals, keeping track of them himself. Dr. Doukas bent down, stethoscope in hand to listen to her heart.

"We have other options, Bella. Don't give up. We have another med that shouldn't give you problems."

All I could focus on was her, not at all wanting to let go. They insisted that I move so they could put her back up into the chair and let her relax while she came back to normal before going home. I couldn't even bring myself to care about what my mom was telling Charlie. That morning's events were too close of a call, and I wasn't at all prepared for that. That knowledge scared the crap out of me. I could have easily lost her, simply due to an adverse reaction.

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So, how are we all? Thoughts?

If any of you are interested, I do have a group on FB where I've started posting teasers for all my fics. You can find it under Fanfiction by myonlyheroin, if you're interested.

Thank you for reading and reviewing. Truly means a lot to me.