Hey guys, I am hoping to get this done by December. I am currently working on the last 7 chapters, give or take. I'll be writing every day as much as I can until Wednesday next week. So, * fingers crossed *

Did you know that my fic As Leaves Fall is up for fic of the month over on twifanfictionrecs? If you'd like to take a minute to vote. Thank you to everyone who has. Also, I am thinking on a sequel to that fic. I don't know when it will post, but I want to get a few of my wips out of the way first.

Should I put a tissue warning? You might need them from here on out. Just remember, HEA always.

I'll just leave you to it.

Chapter 23-

Waiting seemed to be a theme lately. It had been all we'd known over the last few months. Between waiting on doctors, treatments, and tests, the biggest one we faced was for three little words that held a huge impact. That Bella was cured. I wanted nothing more, and prayed that would be the news her doctor would give us.

The longer I stared at the white walls that held pictures of far off places and listened to the clock tick minutes away, the more the possibility of Bella being told she was cured seemed farther away.

If I was handling the wait badly, I was sure it was far worse for Bella. I couldn't imagine—though, I would gladly trade places with her, if I could. I wasn't at all confident in my ability to keep a hold on my emotions for her. The last thing I wanted was to put more stress on her, so I had to keep it together and be strong. The negative feelings that were swirling around inside of me were almost too much for me to handle.

A million things swam through my head. My shoulders bore the weight of the hope of good news, the results we desperately needed, and my impending return back to work. For so long, I had lived in the bubble that was Bella. My concern for her, taking care of her and making sure she was okay had become my reason for existing. I wasn't ready to return to work and leave Bella. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to, but life and responsibilities would demand it.

Instead of a nurse calling for Bella to come back, it was the doctor. I wanted to take that as a positive sign, but my heart knew otherwise. Whenever bad news needed to be delivered to a patient or family member, as a doctor, I always made sure it was me who delivered it.

Bella let out a sigh as she stood up, her hand searching for mine. I looked over to my parents; their eyes held the same fear that I was feeling.

The doctor led Bella back into his office with me following quickly behind and motioned for us to sit down as he lowered into his chair. The papers he was holding in his hands fell to his desk with a whoosh, taking my stomach with it. I tried to search his eyes to see if they held hope, but I found nothing that soothed my worry.

Quickly, I texted my dad that he might want to call Charlie—that I had a feeling that we were going to be given bad news. His reply was quick. Done. We'll be waiting for our girl. Sending all the good thoughts we can.

Shit, he knew.

Bella was the first to speak, of the three of us. "I know you don't have good news, so can we please just get this over with? Just rip it off like a band aid?" Her voice was shaky, so I grabbed her hand to offer some semblance of comfort. Her hand was shaking so hard in mine, I tried to contain it, to no avail. Soon, both of our hands were trembling as we waited for the doctor to reply.

The doctor closes his eyes and shook his head, as if he was trying to steel himself.

"I wish more than anything that today was the day I could say that you're cured, but sadly, today is not that day. I am so very sorry, Bella." He sighed, and then pulled out the copy of the blood work and her latest scans.

"Your numbers have fluctuated a little. They do look a bit better thanks to the chemo, but still not at all where I want them to be. Your scans though..." He trailed off as he handed me the scans to look at. I saw it right away, and my heart splintered apart. My eyes quickly cut to Bella, and a million words seemed to rush to my brain, but none came out. So instead, I just squeezed her hand tighter.

I was numb.

We've got this. She will beat this. We will get married. We will have a future, was the non-stop mantra that was repeating itself in my head.

"I'm guessing it spread?" Bella asked, her hand came up to her face to brush a tear away.

The doctor sat straighter. "No, we got lucky in that regard. If it had spread, your numbers would be way worse than what we are seeing right now. Remember that mass we saw on your liver and hoped the chemo would at least shrink it?" Bella nodded her head, imploring the doctor to continue. "Instead of shrinking like we'd hoped, it has grown by a few more centimeters. Now, we have two very good options here. We could continue with chemo and hope it eradicates the mass completely with higher doses, and then wait and see how it goes. Or we schedule surgery, remove it, then back to chemo at a higher dosage to complete this cycle, to completely eliminate of any remaining cancer cells, hopefully."

I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to say schedule the surgery that day, worry about the chemo later, but it wasn't my choice to make.

I turned to Bella; she was staring ahead, looking vacant.

"Bella?" I prodded, my fingers now on her face, turning her towards me. "What are you thinking?"

Her mouth moved like a fish that was gasping for air. Words were failing her.

"You don't have to make a choice today, but I do hope you make one quickly. You could go on to your chemo appointment today and I will call ahead and order up the higher dosage," her doctor told her. He then came around his desk, got down on his knees in front of Bella and took her hands in his own.

"I know this wasn't the news you or your family wanted. I also know that none of us even thought it would grow with how much chemo we were pushing into you. We were so focused on your primary diagnoses with the ovarian cancer, that we hoped the chemo would do a one-two punch, and also take care of the mass on your liver. My regret is that when you had your first surgery, we should have just taken it out then, but your body was already being put through so much trauma with the surgery to begin with. I feel as if I failed you. But please, have hope. We have to have hope. It is incredibly small, and based on your blood work, it hasn't affected your liver functions too much yet."

Bella remained quiet for a few more minutes, her hand holding mine held tighter.

"If I say let's go ahead and do the surgery, then what?" She looked so strong and fragile at the same time.

"We finish out this chemo cycle at a higher dose, which carries with it much harsher side effects. You will finish it in the hospital, since the liver surgery requires stricter recuperation, constant blood work and monitoring. If you choose this route, after you leave the office, I will be calling Dr. Emmett McCarthy's office and scheduling your surgery for as soon as we can. You will be in good hands. He works with Edward and is one of the best."

"If I say yes, do we continue the current chemo regimen I am on until the surgery?" Bella's voice came out raspy, due to all the tears she'd shed.

I so badly wanted to hold her.

"No, we will cancel today's dose and any future chemo until the surgery since I want you in as soon as possible."

Bella finally wiped her eyes with her free hand. "Another surgery is the last thing I wanted, but let's get this done. I just want it over with. I just want to be done with all of this." A sob escaped her at her admission.

"Okay, Bella. Why don't you and Edward go home, try and relax? I will cancel today's chemo and get a call into McCarthy. I'll call you guys as soon as I can. You will hear from me tonight, maybe sooner."

My parents were waiting out in the waiting room. The minute my eyes searched them out, I saw my dad holding his arms out wide for Bella. She dropped my hand and rushed towards my dad, colliding into him. He wrapped his arms around her gently and rocked her slowly as she cried in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and murmured hushed words to try and soothe her.

My mom looked at me with tears in her eyes, and all I could do was grab her into my arms as well. I looked over to my dad and Bella, and said, "Surgery. Chemo canceled," as a sob ripped away from me. What little control of my emotions that I had was gone. I was a mess as we walked out of the doctor's office and to the car. I knew we had to tell them more, and we would; I just couldn't right now.

My dad let me know that he called Charlie, that he was working on a way of getting back out there to Bella. He said for us not to worry; that he'd call Charlie again and let him know what was going on once he knew what to tell him.

The rest of the car ride was silent. No one knew what to say, but I held Bella the whole way home. It was the only thing I knew to do. My mind was blank otherwise.

That night, after my girl was finally settled, her doctor called to tell me he had talked to Emmett and that it was all settled, but Emmett wanted to be the one to talk to us about it. Five minutes later, he called.

"Hello," I rasped out, the emotions of the day having long taken my voice, but I also didn't want to wake Bella.

"Hey, man. Long time, no speak. And I really didn't want it to be with this phone call. I'm sorry, I've been so busy that I haven't been able to check in on you guys," he replied.

"No worries. We know you're busy. So, I guess you know the news, obviously."

He sighed into the phone. "Yup. Breaks my heart. But I have made her a priority. I've rescheduled and moved around some elective surgeries. I got her in for the day after tomorrow, which is Wednesday at eight in the morning. Can you swing that?"

I found myself so incredibly thankful for his friendship and pulling strings to get her in sooner. "Yeah. We can do that. I can't thank you enough, Em."

"It is the least I could do for you guys. I am just glad to be able to help in this way, at least. Rosalie says not to worry about food or anything while she's in the hospital. We know you have your parents, but she wants you guys to not worry about anything, so she's stocking up and cooking away."

I rubbed my hand across the back of my neck, and looked down at Bella as a strong urge to kiss her overtook me. "Again, thank you. Both of you."

"You know I'd do anything. Now, I need her in my office tomorrow to go over pre-surgery protocol, blood work, and the after effects of surgery. You know the surgery she's looking at is about five hours, give or take. Normally, she'd be looking at about two weeks in the hospital, but because of the chemo, she's gonna be there a lot longer. I've talked the department head into extending your leave of absence from the hospital. You have a meeting with him on Friday."

"You are going way above and beyond, Em. I can't thank you enough."

"Don't worry about it. Just worry about getting Bella through this. I'm gonna go over her scans tonight. Hopefully, we won't have to remove much. Come in any time tomorrow before noon, okay?"

"Okay. See you then."

"Bye, Edward. Give your girl a hug from me."

Once he hung up, I placed my phone down on the bedside table and bent to kiss Bella's head softly, scrunching my eyes closed as I did so.

Before my eyes closed and I allowed myself to fall asleep, I pleaded my case to God. I begged him to allow Bella to make it through this surgery, the rougher chemo, and to be able to stay with me.

I hoped with everything in me, he'd answer my prayer.