Forty Seven Mila

I always heard people say that Paris was an amazing place to be. I had seen movies, read books about it, and even did some research on the plane. But being here…that was something totally different. It had been three days and these had been the best three days of my life. Caleb was making sure that I had a good time and I did. The food was amazing! I was so glad that I hadn't gotten the complete change. I was still able to enjoy the nice things in life; like food. Nessie, Jake, and I had been to the best restaurants that Paris had to offer. I had made a list while on the plane flying over. How the other vampires did it, always around food but never able to eat, was something I would never be able to understand.

"I'm about to die," Caleb moaned as he flopped down on the small chair next to me. I started laughing for obvious reasons.

"You're already dead."

"You know what I mean. We've been in this store for three hours. Come on we have to get out of here," Caleb said grabbing my hand and pulling me up. I didn't have much choice as he dragged me out of the small boutique we had been in. Alice and Nessie had been shopping for the past three hours. Caleb was right, I needed a break. As soon as we stepped outside, Caleb flipped his hood up and made our way through the streets. The sun was high so we had to be careful.

I was thankful that I didn't have to be extra careful when it came to walking around the public. Caleb slipped his hand into mine and we started moving through the crowds. Before I knew it, we were standing at the entrance of a small alley. Caleb looked around quickly before pulling me in the alley behind him.

"Caleb where are we going?" I asked him.

"It's a surprise," he said before stopping in front of a door. He pulled his hood off and knocked. The door opened and a tall man stood in front of us. Caleb reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. After inspecting it, the man stepped back and let us in inside. The door slammed shut behind me. There were a few tables scattered around the space. Caleb led us over to a small table and pulled the chair out for me. I was about to ask him where we were again, when the lights all went down. A huge spotlight came on and then I noticed there was a small stage. A woman came from the back and the crowd started to go crazy. She smiled and held her hands up, getting everyone to be quiet.

"Hello and welcome to this month's story slam competition! We have some amazing talent here tonight." She said smiling. I leaned over and gave Caleb a kiss on the cheek. This was something we had always done before, back in Michigan. A story slam was like a poetry slam but with stories. The hostess quickly introduced the first story teller.

Four stories later, I couldn't hold it anymore. "Caleb I'm going to the bathroom," I whispered before standing up. I made my way towards the bathroom and was kind of sad when I saw there was line. I let out a sigh and took my place.

"Funny running into you here," a voice said from behind me. I wasn't expecting it and jumped a little as I turned around. When I saw who was talking to me, I backed up even father. There was Ava, standing and smiling at me. But this didn't make sense. She was gone. I knew she was gone. I slowly stepped up.

"Ava?" I whispered softly. Ava didn't say anything. She stepped up and pulled me into a hug. As my arms went around her, I started to cry. She felt warm…safe…she felt like love. I hadn't felt like this since the last time I had been in Embry's arms. Ava kissed my head and started to rub my back.

"You've been here to long Mila," she whispered. I lifted my head up and looked at her. I was about to say something when she put her finger over my mouth. "You've been here too long."

"What do you mean? It's only been three days."

"You've been away from Embry for a lot longer than three days."

"That's not my fault! Embry made his choice. I don't want to talk about him," I said before stepping away from Ava. I wrapped my arms around my body and shook my head.

"Mila, it's time to for you to go home. You've been here too long. It's time to wake up."

I shook my head no. Ava wasn't making any sense. I was about to ask her what she meant when the room started to get brighter. Ava was fading away from me. I reached out to grab her but felt nothing. Suddenly the entire room went white.

My eyes snapped open and I gasped in a deep breath.

"Mila?" I heard a voice say. I turned my head in the direction of the voice and gasped again. There was my mother. She stood in the doorway, her hand over her mouth, staring at me.

"Mila, you're awake," she said slowly walking into the room.

"Where am I?" I asked her.

"In the hospital," she was at my bedside by now "You were in a really bad car accident. You don't remember?"

As soon as she said it, everything came rushing back to me. My heart started to speed up which made the monitors go crazy. A doctor rushed into the room. He moved past my mother and grabbed a small flashlight from his pocket. He clicked it on and started flashing my eyes. I took a deep breath and got my heart to calm down.

"What is going on?" I asked him.

"You've been in a coma for two weeks."

"A coma?" I asked confused. If I was in a coma then that meant I had to be dreaming everything that happened. And if I was dreaming everything then that meant…I sat up and looked at my mother.

"Where is Embry?"

"Who?" she asked me.

"Embry! I want Embry!" I yelled at them. My mother smiled and stepped over to me. She grabbed my hand.

"You just woke up sweetie. You need to relax."

I quickly snatched my hand from her. How dare she just stand there, holding my hand, like she had been there all my life? When my dad died, she was nowhere around. And now she was here at the hospital, like she had always been a mother to me. Which made me wonder just how the hell did she get here? "What are you doing here anyway Lira?"

"I'm your mother."

"My mother? Where were you when dad died? Where have you been for the past fifteen years? You're not my mother. You haven't been a mother."

"Mila, sweetie, there are things that you don't understand. Things that your father was supposed to tell you but never did. I didn't leave you because I wanted to. I left you because I had to. I wasn't in the right head space. Your father made sure I got the help that I needed. I was gonna come back but by the time I was all better, you and your father had your own life. I didn't want to interrupt it. But I'm here now. I'm here and we can be the family that you always wanted. I've got my own place and it's big enough for the two of us. Wouldn't you like that?" she asked me. She grabbed my hand and put one hand on my head.

I looked down at her hand on mine and then back up to her. She sounded so sincere and I had to be honest, a part of me wanted to be with her. She was my mom and I had always wanted something from her. But what did she mean she wasn't in the right head space?

"I'll get our plane tickets as soon as you get the ok to leave. How long will that take doctor?"

"Well we want to run a few tests first. Just to make sure that everything is ok. If everything is ok you guys could be out of here by tomorrow…the day after the latest."

"That's sounds great," Lira said. "We can be a family again Mila. Your father would have wanted this don't you think so? "

I responded with a small smile. But even as I said it, I was sad. If I went back with her, I couldn't be with Embry. I was so sure of everything that had happened. But it was all a dream. And since it was a dream, that meant he was still my imprint. Could I really leave him? I couldn't ask him to leave La Push. He had too much here. I needed to see him…and to say goodbye to everyone

"Maybe," I said looking down at the bed "But I need time to say goodbye before I leave."

"You're leaving?" a voice said from the doorway. Lira turned and looked towards the door letting me see. There he was. Embry stood there, looking at me. His hair had grown out and it looked like he hadn't shaved in forever. He didn't move from the door but I could see the tears in his eyes from where I sat.

"Embry," I called out to him. He shook his head no and walked out the room. This isn't how things were supposed to be happening. I needed to see him. I grabbed the tubes in my arm. Lira stopped me.

"I need to get out of here," I told her.

"You'll be out of here soon. We need to make sure you're ok."