Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Chapter 3 Billy
SAM POV
Paul, Rachael, Emily and I pulled in to park at the Black's house.
"I won't be but a minute," Rachel called as she got out of the car, "I just need to get a sweater, they keep it so cold in the theaters!"
We had had a great day at the beach. The days were always good lately, and hanging out with Rachael and Paul was entertaining. I saw Paul all the time, of course, since he lived in La Push and was a member of the pack. We rarely got to just relax, though, but now that the Cullen's had been gone for a few months, things seemed to be calming down. Good. I could use a little calm. Too much responsibility having to be on alert and in charge.
"Dad!"
We heard her scream, no sooner than the front screen had slammed shut. We were out of the car in a flash and thru the door into the Black's small front room. Rachael was talking to 911 on her cell as she stroked Billy's hair. I instinctively reached down and touched my hand to his throat - there was a pulse, he was breathing, and I saw no obvious bleeding. We would just have to wait for the emergency personnel to arrive with the ambulance. The room was a wreck! His wheelchair was upside down in the far corner of the room next to the tv, which was on the floor. Billy was laying in a strangely contorted heap near the back wall of the room, as though . . . as though he had landed there from being dropped! Billy's house was not new, it had been around forever, and the walls were constructed of wood plank, no sheet rock like houses built more recently. The wall behind him was pushed in - like you slid a heavy piece of furniture into it with a lot of force. Then it hit me. The scent.
Vampire.
I was brought from my thoughts as the ambulance arrived. Three of them rushed in to asses Billy's condition. A few minutes later, they had him immobilized on a plank with a neck brace, IV inserted, and were hauling him out to the waiting ambulance. Rachel jumped into the ambulance with him and the rest of us ran to my car for the ride to the hospital. Paul was on the phone letting Billy's friends in LaPush know what had happened. Most of them had no cell phones and I knew they would just go to Billy's house to find out the details. We asked Sue Clearwater to go over there and stay to keep people updated.
We arrived at the hospital, entered the emergency room door . . . and waited. That's all you can do. Just wait.
Jacob spied me in the waiting room and rushed over. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.
I didn't know what to tell him. I had my suspicions, of course, but I couldn't tell Jacob that. He was not a pack member . . . yet. I had been watching him closely these last few months, waiting for signs of the change that was surely to come. The presence of vampires triggered the change, and since the Cullens had moved away, it looked like his change might be delayed. He had grown, of course. He was older looking, much larger than a kid of 17 should have been, and he had gained a lot of strength, but he had yet to make the change.
"Your sister ran in to get a sweater before we went out, she found him on the floor. We don't know anything except he was breathing and there was no sign of anything bleeding."
"She is in the office, over there," I pointed, " filling out the paperwork."
~oooOooo~
Charlie POV
"Harry, Charlie, get in here . . . its Billy!" Sue yelled from the front door.
Jacob and Bella heard as well from the shed where they had been headed with the motorcycles and we all converged on the house. Sue told us that there had been an accident and that Billy had been taken to the hospital. I rushed the kids along with Harry and I into my patrol car and turned on the siren. I didn't like to drive fast or use my authority as Chief of Police, but now was not time to quibble over details. I starred into the rear view mirror at my daughters face - she knew I had seen the bikes, or she guessed, but I said nothing. No one said anything as we hurried to the hospital to check on Billy.
Jacob spied Sam in the waiting room and spoke to him, continuing on to find Rachael and hopefully get some news on Billy. It was times like this that I wished Dr. Cullen had not left town. He was an amazing doctor and I trusted him, even if he was that jackass Edward's father. Harry walked over to talk with Paul and Emily and I turned to Bella.
"What the hell were you doing?"
"What?" said my daughter, her hands in her back pockets and fidgeting nervously.
"You know very well what, young lady!"
"Dad, the bikes are just a kind of a hobby with Jake and I, it's nothing, really!" she said.
"Bella, I was out trying to find tracks from those wolves you said you saw and I was up on the cliff at First Beach. I saw you jump."
She froze, just starring at me. Just then, Jacob and Rachel walked out from the back, kind of blank looks on their faces, and walked toward us. Sam and the rest of the group, Harry as well saw their approach and headed over to join us to see what was going on.
"He's gone. Dad's gone," said Jacob as Rachel wrapped her arms around Paul, tears flowing down her face.
"But what happened? There was no blood! Did he have a heart attack or what?" Sam questioned.
"No, the doctors said there were massive internal injuries and bleeding. They said he had broken bones and injuries like he had been hit by a Mac truck, but there were no external signs, except some bruising on his back," said Jacob, "All I could tell them is that he must have fallen out of his wheelchair but they looked at me like I was nuts."
Rachael filled out some paperwork, since she was the oldest of Billy's children and I left to take Bella home. Harry and Jacob were riding back to La Push with Sam. We didn't talk much on the way home. Billy's death had overshadowed any thought of the motorcycles or the cliff . . . for now. I needed to drop her off at home and get to Billy's to see if there was anything I could do. It was late, and I just needed to know Bella was home and safe. I was going to get Jacob to rest as soon as I got to his house, it was late and tomorrow would be a very full, hard day.
~oooOooo~
Jacob POV
I walked to the car with Rachael and Paul, unable to believe what had just happened. It was beyond me. How could he get hurt so badly in our own house? He was a little clumsy, yes, and headstrong - always thinking he could do whatever and not ask for help. He had been that way since the accident that put him in the wheelchair several years ago, when mom had died. This was bringing the memory of that accident flooding back and though I was younger then, I still remembered the day I lost my mom. I shook my head as if to clear it . . . to escape even the fringe of that memory.
We arrived home to find Sue and some of the other tribe members at the house. Quill and Embry were waiting for me, though it seemed as though they were always hanging around Sam these days, part of his little pack that thought they ran things on the reservation. Billy was the chief of our tribe and he was the one that technically ran things, he and the council of elders. They were at the house as well, old Quillitera sat on the sofa waiting as we walked in. He and Sam exchanged some sort of glance at each other and Quill and Embry went to the sofa to talk with them. Figured. Paul was trying to comfort Rachael who was still crying a river. I just went to my room. Between riding bikes all morning, pulling Bella out of the surf and the stress at the hospital, I felt really tired for the first time in a long time. I was done for the night.
Morning dawned as always, only it was a different morning without my dad. I had thought it such a pain in the ass to help the old man with things he couldn't do or reach, now I only wished he were there to need the help. The elders came over and discussed with me and my sisters the tribal customs and things that should be done for the burial. Billy would be afforded all the traditions and honors that were due a chief of our tribe. The burial would be here, on the reservation burial grounds and the elders would attend to the body, as tradition dictated. It was ok with me. They knew what he would consider an honor better than I would anyway. I would have only a small part in the ceremony. The wake had already begun, some activities to occur tonight and tomorrow night with the burial the next day.
The funeral itself was uneventful, just the expected pomp and circumstance. All the traditions were kept and respects were paid, and all of it didn't matter anyway because as sorry as everyone was and as many times as they asked if there was anything I need or anything they could do, it changed nothing. My dad was gone. I had no one . . . no one, and no reason to stay here. I didn't want to be chief, others could do a better job of it anyway. I had to get away. I stepped into my room and loaded my backpack with clothes, not that that took long. I was never big on having lots of clothes and reading was not something I thought was fun so there were few books in my room. I stuffed the photo of my family, me, my two sisters and my mom and dad, into the bag and pulled the zipper closed. I headed to the shed. I knew that Bella had bought the bikes and paid for all the parts, but I didn't think she would mind if I escaped on one. She had said the black one was mine for doing the work on both of them. Anyway, I would leave her a note.
I was just finishing checking the oil and the bike chain when Bella waked into the shed. No need for a note now, anyway.
She took one look at me and said, "Jacob, what are you doing?"
"Obviously, Bella, I'm leaving. There is nothing to tie me to this place now, I have to go."
I stepped over to her, hugging her to me as she started to cry, "Jacob, I'm coming with you. I can't loose you, you are my best friend!"
"You would do that, Bella, run away with me?"
"I'd do it. I'd do it for you, Jacob. Lets stop by my house so I can get some clothes. I've already graduated from school, I am 18 and a legal adult and there is nothing keeping me here. I'll leave Charlie a note."
We rode out of the shed, careful not to attract too much attention from the mass amounts of people milling around in and outside the house and rode toward Forks. Bella didn't take long. She grabbed a backpack, like me, and stuffed it full of clothes and a quilt that she insisted she could not do without, even though it was so bulky it required its own backpack! Go figure, girls. Anyway, she left a note telling Charlie not to worry that she would call him in a week or so, and we were on our bikes and gone.
~oooOooo~