My chest still hurts, but in a different way when I finally open my eyes. I'm in a hospital room, and there's sun coming in through the window. I find Emmett beside me and Carlisle and Esme on the couch. I'm not surprised by them, but the form in the corner has me blinking to make sure I'm awake.

"Wh-What …" I clear my throat as everyone's eyes are instantly on me.

Emmett squeezes my hand and leans down, minding the wires coming from me. "Thank God," he says into my hair, hugging me. He kisses my forehead. "You scared the hell out of me, Bells. How do you feel?"

I swallow thickly. "Hurts," I mumble.

He nods. "You went into A-Fib. You had to be shocked, kid. I'm just so glad Carlisle and Edward were there. I should have been."

I've only seen Emmett cry once. It was when he had to tell me we were alone in the world. The scene was similar. I was in a hospital bed, Carlisle and Esme were in the room, and my body felt just as broken.

I still remember his words and how tears formed in his eyes. And then he held me. I slept in his arms every night while I was in the hospital. We'd talk about our parents and what things would be like. He told me how I'd live with Carlisle and Esme until he could finish school. He hated doing it, but he said he had to make sure he could take care of me, and following his dream would do that.

I miss our parents more than I can ever put into words, but at least I had him. He's taken care of me since then.

I shake my head, wiping his tears. "Not your fault," I say in a whisper. "It's okay now, right?"

"You need an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator," Edward says, walking closer. He's just in a T-shirt and jeans but has a stethoscope around his neck. I may feel like warmed over death, but I can still appreciate how good he looks. "This could easily happen again—and likely will, so we need to put in a device that keeps track of your heartbeat and can correct it if necessary. I need to do it today. It's going to be similar to a heart cath."

"There's not really a choice," Emmett says. "I hope you don't mind, but I already gave consent."

I shake my head. "No, of course not. When can we get it over with?"

The idea terrifies me, but Emmett's right. As long as this stops whatever happened last night from happening again, I can deal with it.

"In about an hour," Edward says, and then explains the procedure. I'll be awake, he'll feed wires into my heart, make a few incisions, and then test it to make sure it works.

It sounds like a total blast.

"Try to rest until it's time, okay?" he asks and I nod. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

After he leaves, Carlisle and Esme come closer. I quickly thank him for helping save my life, but he just holds me for a minute instead of responding. When he pulls back, he wipes a tear from my cheek and tells me that I'm going to be okay.

I hope he's right.


Thanks to May, Nole, Fran, Brier, and Meg for prereading and Sally for Beta'ing.