Chapter 19:

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"I've got a little bit longer…I've got a ways to go…" I woke up from my nap to the ringtone of the doctor's office; Ways To Go (What? It's ironic). My head snapped off of the comfortable pillow I had been using with a start.

I blinked my eyes, coming into focus as I heard the TV and saw two figures on the ground in front of me. I furrowed my brow until I realized I was at the Denali's house still. I must have fallen asleep, and apparently my pillow was actually Tanya's lap.

The said blonde raised her brow at me, her hand hovering over the side of my head where she had been moving her fingers through my hair. I sat up, rubbing my eyes to wake up as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I swiped the screen to answer and placed it to my ear, "Hello?"

"Hello there, ma'am. I'm Mary at Dr. Ford's office. Is this Bella Swan I am speaking to?" a woman asked. Kate and Irina stopped and paused their game to look at me concerned. Tanya just focused her attention on me, making sure it was okay.

I nodded, rolling my neck around to stretch out my stiff muscles. "Yes, this is she," I replied, waving the three sisters off as a sign nothing was wrong. "Are you calling about a schedule change or double checking on my information?"

Kate and Irina slowly returned to their game, but Tanya continued to watch me making sure I was fine. Mary laughed. "You must have had these calls before, huh?" she asked.

I nodded. "More than once," I said. "Especially when the nurses are confused when my starting weight is ninety-eight pounds and then my current weight is two hundred."

She laughed again. "That probably was a mess?"

"Yeah, but we got it all figured out in the end."

She hummed through the line. "I'm glad to hear that." She cleared her throat and then went to the reason she was calling. "Alright, Bella, the reason I am calling is because we couldn't reach you or your father at your house and we have a shortly timed schedule here."

I nodded. "Alright. What do you need to let us know?" I asked.

"Well," she said, "I'm afraid to inform you that there was a scheduling mistake. We were overloaded when we scheduled you and accidently put your time the same as someone else's."

"Oh."

I pictured her nodding as she moved through the files I could hear in the background. "Yes, so we were wondering if maybe we could move yours to another date? The only day I have available is this coming Monday at noon. Now I know it is a difficult time and day, and if you can't come that's alright. We'll just figure something else out."

I nodded. "I could move, but I don't know exactly if that will work. My dad—as pathetic as that sounds—organizes most of the scheduling. I'll have to ask him before I can give you an answer," I explained.

"Ah, I see," she said. "I am willing to wait to see if you can work anything out. How about you call your father and then call back when you know for sure if you can come in?"

I nodded. "Yes, I believe that will work."

"Wonderful! Contact me when you have the information."

"I will, and I won't say goodbye since I will most likely be calling back I ten minutes," I said.

She laughed through the line. "How about we hang up on each other instead, then?"

"I agree with that," I said. I pulled the phone from my ear and ended the call. I began to scroll through my call list to find Charlie's name. He wouldn't be pleased in changing the schedule—who was?—and it was possible he couldn't with his job.

I gave a small huff when Kate suddenly asked, "They said this Monday at noon, right?"

I looked at the blonde on the ground playing her video game as she glanced at me sideways over her shoulder. I nodded slowly. "Yes, why?" I asked.

"We could take you," Irina offeree. She glanced at me over her shoulder. "We're completely free since we…Well, we have no real obligations. If you want, we can take you to the appointment and then you and Charlie don't have to stress over it."

I blinked. "I don't—"

"Bella," Tanya said from next to me on the couch, "we told you that we want to be involved in this. Charlie has been doing this with you for two years, and now I think that it's our turn to help you. We can take you to the appointment."

I sighed. "You really want to?" I asked.

"Of course," Carmen said as she came into the room from the kitchen with Eleazer by her side. "It really is something that we want to help support you in. And, taking the weight off of your shoulders by getting you to appointments and giving Charlie some lean way is something we are happy to do."

I looked at the five Denalis around the room, seeing that they were dead serious and would not be moved on the matter. So, I nodded. "Alright," I said. "I'll call Charlie and tell him."

I got a few satisfied smiles from around the room as I clicked on his name and put the phone to my ear again. I leaned against the couch while I waited for him to pick up, but I only had to wait until the second ring. "Yellow?"

"Orange."

He laughed through the phone. "Don't you ever get tired of saying that, Bella?" he asked.

"No."

He hummed. "What are you calling for, kiddo? Do you need me to bring something home?" he asked.

I shook my head, and then realized he couldn't see it. "No, I don't need you to pick up anything," I said. "Dr. Ford's office called me since they couldn't reach us at home. There was a scheduling mistake and they were wondering if we could move my appointment to this Monday at noon."

Charlie hummed through the phone, and I could picture him scratching at the stubble on his face. "I don't know, Bella," he said. "I have to go out of town this Monday and I may not be back until two."

I nodded. "I guessed as much," I said. "However, Tanya and her family have offered to take me."

"…Are they absolutely sure they want to do that?"

"Yeah…I wasn't very sure they knew what they were getting themselves into either," I said. Tanya gave me a small smack that I shrugged to. "Anyway, they said it will be no problem, so if it's fine with you, that'll be the plan."

Charlie paused for a bit on the other side of the phone, considering the proposal carefully before I heard a small hum. "Alright," he said, "if they are okay with doing it, then it's fine with me."

I nodded. "I'll tell the office, then."

"Alright, and make sure they know I'm not going to be with you. There may be paperwork that is needed to fill out and we need to make sure they are prepared for my absence."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, Dad," I said.

"I know, I just like to give you a hard time."

"Bye, Dad." I hung up before he could reply and I was greeted with the satisfied grins of the Denalis. I raised a brow at them. "Happy?"

Kate smirked. "Very."

"Oh my god, we have been sitting here for over an hour," Kate groaned, the back of her head banged against the gray wall as she sat in her plastic chair between me and Eleazer. "How much longer is it going to take for them to come get you?"

I shrugged, patiently waiting unlike the five vampires around me. "I don't know," I said. "It could be a while." I flipped the page of my book and began to skim the words.

Tanya shifted next to me. "How long is 'a while'?"

I shrugged again, silently enjoying myself as the well-kept vampires continued to fidget in their chairs. "It could be thirty minutes, an hour, two hours…I don't know for sure. It just depends on the day," I said.

We had arrived at the office around 11:45 and had been sitting here for almost an hour and a half. I had told the Denalis that we would have to wait a while because Dr. Ford spent as much time with his patient's as he needed to. Of course, they thought that meant twenty or so minutes and not over an hour.

It was entertaining as I was seasoned in this experience and had to hear the several comments they made during the past hour and a half. I had been reading my book mostly, just enjoying the story and the action going on around me.

Carmen leaned around Eleazer. "Your appointment was at noon. Shouldn't we go tell the desk or something?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Doing that kind of labels you as a jerk here," I said. I lifted my head to look at the Hispanic couple. "You'll get what I mean when we get in for my appointment and you'll see that the wait is worth the while."

Irina scowled from the other side of Tanya. "We better," she said. She looked around and then leaned towards me, "I still can't believe you didn't give us more of a warning as to what was going to go on here."

I chuckled. "Well, I won't lie and say it wasn't for my own personal amusement," I admitted. I received five pairs of glares. "Also, if you can't stand this, I don't know how you will stand chemo."

Kate raised her brow. "Is chemo worse than this?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It kind of depends on the mood that day," I said. "Everyone who comes in is generally nice, and all of the staff is nice as well, but the sitting is the worst part. That's why Charlie and I have our races. It helps make time fly and distracts us when we run out of things to say for a while."

"So what are we going to do?" Irina asked.

"We?" I asked, peering towards her.

She nodded. "Yes, we," she said, motioning up and down to the six of us seated against the wall. "I thought we decided that we would also take you to your next chemo?"

"Did you tell Charlie?"

"Yes."

"Did he agree?"

"Yes."

I shrugged. "Then we'll just wing it. It'll be your first time there, so the staff will be curious about you—they're usually well mannered, though, so it won't be in a bad way—and we have Frank. He'll come by at some point and talk to us for a bit before he does his rounds with the others. Besides that, it's story time and just sitting in chairs for about five hours as we wait for several bags to drain."

"Seriously?" Tanya asked. "I never knew chemo was that…bland."

I took in a breath with a nod. "Yeah…You get used to it after a while, though," I said. I closed my book and placed it back into my bag.

"That's true," a familiar voice spoke up, "you either get used to it or you're done for." Dr. Ford appeared in front of us with a small smile with his head cocked

I smiled and stood up. "I swear, you get better at eavesdropping on other people's conversations every time we come," I snickered. The Denalis stood up with me incredibly relieved at being able to move for the first time in an hour and a half.

He tapped his ears. "I'm just a good listener," he said. He looked at the Denalis. "You didn't get rid of poor Charlie, did you?"

I shook my head with a chuckle. "No," I said. I took Tanya's hand. "This is my girlfriend Tanya and her family. They wanted to get involved with my recovery."

He nodded and smiled. He held out his hand. "I'm always glad to hear about new supporters," he said. He then winked at me. "Especially if they are dating my patients."

I rolled my eyes at him as Tanya took his hand with a smile. "Well, my family and I wouldn't enjoy watching Bella go through this without giving anything to help her."

He nodded. "Good answer," he said and dropped her hand. He moved to Irina who took his hand. "As you've probably guessed I'm Dr. Ford, Bella's Angel."

I rolled my eyes at him again as Kate sniggered with Irina. "Irina," she replied. "Bella's Hopeful Sister-To-Be."

He nodded and moved down the line, hearing each name with their own unique introduction. Kate's was, "Kate, the Kissing Expert That Bella Has Experience With". I then had to explain what she meant by that.

Dr. Ford nodded to them. "Nice to meet you all," he said. He then jerked his head. "Let's head back to the office to get the check-up going, huh?" He turned and began walking down the hall.

Tanya held my hand tightly, giving it an affectionate squeeze as we followed him down the hall. The Denalis, of course, drew attention to themselves naturally, but no one was making any comment that I could hear or visibly see. Then again, those senses were limited since I was surrounded by the Denalis and Dr. Ford.

Said doctor looked over his shoulder to me. "Did you have any 'doozy' days this time, Bella, or was that just last time?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I threw up a few times, but that's kind of usual."

He nodded. "Any memory problems?"

"Memory problems?" Eleazer asked surprised. "You never told us that you had memory issues."

My eyes widened. "That's the one I forgot!" I exclaimed. I snapped my fingers. "I knew there was another one, but I couldn't remember what I was forgetting."

Dr. Ford chuckled. "Hence the term short-term memory loss, Bella."

I shrugged. "Meh."

The Denalis shook their heads as we walked down the hall until Dr. Ford stopped at the door to his office and motioned us inside. I went straight for the seat in front of his desk as I always did, crossing my legs while I waited patiently for the session to start.

The Denalis—sans Tanya who opted to sitting in the other chair—spread out amongst the room. They didn't seem to mind standing, really, after sitting for so long. I supposed it had to have been more of a mental need to stand instead of physical with their lack of need to do such a thing.

Dr. Ford seated himself at the desk after he shut the door. He grabbed my file and opened it and grabbed a pencil to write notes on. He looked at me. "What were the symptoms this time, Bella? Any new ones besides the usual or no?"

I shook my head negatively. "I was mostly nauseas this time, however, I was easily exhausted and my eating was pretty much the same."

He nodded, scribbling down the notes. "Did you exert yourself too much after this most recent chemo?" he asked. He glanced up to me with a look that did not need words.

I rolled my eyes. "No, Dr. Ford, Tanya and I have not had sex since my chemo treatment," I said. Kate snorted behind me and Tanya chuckled lightly next to me.

He raised his hands with a small smile. "Hey, I have to ask. You'd be surprised with what I hear about people trying, and then realizing it hurts too much," he said.

I raised my hand knowing full well. "I don't really want to hear it."

He nodded and tilted his head to the side curiously. "How about dizziness? Confusion? Any trouble sleeping at night recently?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, I've been pretty good for this one—besides the vomiting, of course."

He nodded as wrote down the notes. He paused after a moment and looked up to me. "You still take your nausea medicine, don't you, Bella?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, but it doesn't always stop it—like I said before."

He nodded, frowning. "If it happens again next round, I think we may put you on another medication. It's pointless to give you a drug that does nothing to help. You may even find that your energy levels are up if you aren't vomiting."

I nodded. "I would enjoy that very much."

He smiled. "I thought so," he said. He sat forward again. "Kristen should be in here soon. She'll do the usual routine with you, and as fair warning, if you aren't one hundred and five, she might just make a pact with you."

I chuckled. "We'll, let's hope I'm close to it at least."

He smiled and Irina spoke up from the wall confused next to Kate confused. "Who's Kristen?"

Dr. Ford turned his attention to her. "She assists me by taking physicals of my patients," he explained.

"She treats kids a lot," I added, "so she has a lot of puns, jokes and lines that are really made for kids, but just kind of slip out."

"And they work," Kristen said as she stepped into the room wearing blue scrubs with pink elephants. "I do wish you two would stop downplaying my success with them. I get a kid to let me give him a shot with those things."

"I'm sure you do, Kristen," Dr. Ford assured her. He motioned to the vampires around the room. "Kristen, this Tanya and her family." She nodded, going from Tanya to the other Denalis in the room. "They are going to be stepping in some for Charlie in Bella's recovery, if I am assuming correctly?"

Carmen nodded in affirmative with a bright smile in my direction. "Oh yes," she confirmed. "We will most definitely make sure we help as much as we can."

Kristen nodded to her with a small smile. "Nice to meet you," she said.

"You as well," Eleazer returned from Carmen's side, his arm was lazily wrapped around her waist, holding her against his side.

Kristen smiled and then turned to me as she readied her clip-board. "Alright, up, up, Bella. You know the drill," she said, moving to the other side of the room.

I nodded, standing from the chair to join her. I felt the vampires watch for a moment, curious of the process when Dr. Ford began to engage them in conversation to turn their attentions to him and away from me—something I appreciated even more now.

With Charlie, this wasn't anything huge. He had seen the process many times over and was my dad who had taken care of me for the past two years with this. Now, however, I didn't have Charlie.

I had my girlfriend and her family in the room with me instead. This was their first time as well, making them incredibly curious about everything. Having their devoted attention on me now would make my check-up almost embarrassing with my weight count and my heart would likely be beating pretty hard.

Their distraction helped keep me calm.

I kicked off my shoes and Kristen motioned to the scale. I stepped onto the metal plate and the machine began to calculate. "How are you today, Bella?" she asked, watching the scale.

I shrugged my shoulder. "Pretty good," I said. "I feel pretty good today, and that's really what counts, I suppose. This last one wasn't really a doozy or anything."

She nodded with a bright smile. "That's good," she said. "I always like to hear that from a patient. It's always good to have both good and bad days, you know."

I nodded in agreement. "I suppose." The scale beeped in signal and we both looked down to the screen and I almost did a fist-pump in triumph when I saw the number.

104.6 lbs.

Kristen grinned. "Woo!" she called, gaining Ford's attention along with the vampires'. "Barely under one-o'-five, now that is progress right there." She held up her hand. "Give me some, girl!"

I didn't hesitate to give her a high-five with my grin as she wrote down the weight. Dr. Ford raised his brow. "What's the scale read?" he asked.

"One hundred and four point six," she read off, looking up at him over the edge of her clipboard with her pen still in hand.

He smiled and clapped his two index fingers together. "You, Miss Swan, have earned the Index Clap," he grinned, before he dropped his hands back to the table. I was a little confused, but from Kristen's agreement I assumed it was a big deal around here.

The Denalis gave me proud smiles and nods. Tanya's eyes were glistening with a kind of happiness I had never seen before. For a moment, I considered that it was because she saw a chance of hope for me getting better. A chance that allowed us to have more time. Or, maybe it was because she saw the progress I had made—even if she didn't know exactly—and was proud.

I didn't know which one I preferred.

I stepped off the scale and pulled my shoes back on as Kristen readied herself to take my pulse. She held my arm in her hand carefully and rested her two fingers on my wrist and began to look at the watch on her own wrist counting.

We stood there silently for a moment, just letting my heartbeat flow over until she nodded and let go. She grabbed her pen. "Fifty-nine beats per minute," she recorded.

I took my wrist away as I prepared myself for the next test. I held out my arm, letting her place the stethoscope in her ears before she placed the flat, metal part to my chest when she began to listen. She gently held onto my upper arm. "Breathe in."

Inhale.

Hold.

"Breathe out."

Exhale.

Hold.

"Deep breath in."

Inhale.

Hold.

"Breathe out."

Exhale.

Hold.

"Breathe in one more time for me please."

Inhale.

Hold.

"And out one more time."

Exhale.

Hold.

Kristen nodded and removed the scope, placing down her report on the notes on her clipboard. "Still working like it should," she said. She looked up at me. "And it still goes tic-toc-tic-toc, if you were wondering."

I rolled my eyes, but gave her a small smile. "I was wondering."

"I knew you were," she smiled, and guided us back towards the desk. I swiftly seated myself in front of the desk again, and Tanya took my hand giving me a small, affectionate smile.

I smiled in return and squeezed her hand as Kristen handed the notes to Dr. Ford, allowing him to slip them into the file. "Excelled as always," she told him with a small smirk in my direction.

He nodded, looking over the papers. "Good," he said, "good." He set the papers into the file and looked up at me. "And you are sure that there aren't any new symptoms?"

Does becoming sappy count?

I shook my head and smiled. "None at all," I replied. "Just the usual." I motioned around the room. "I have witnesses to attest to that."

He chuckled a little. "As I can see," he replied. He righted the file on his desk and he leaned forward. "However, before you go, I want to discuss something with you."

I nodded. "What is that?"

"A MRI," he said. "You have taken three rounds here, and I would like to see after this round if our treatment is working, or if we need to make it more aggressive. I realize that it is something you will want to discuss with Charlie, so I would like you to discuss it with him, and then tell us at your next check-up."

I slowly nodded. I had done MRIs a few times, and quite frankly I didn't like them. They were loud and you had to sit completely still. I hated the scanning and it made me…kind of uncomfortable to be honest.

I was not going to look forward to this.

"I will," I promised.

"And," Irina suddenly spoke up from behind me next to Kate, "if they can't fit it to their schedule, I'm sure we can fit it to ours. We wouldn't mind taking her."

He nodded. "That will help a lot I'm sure," he said. He looked at me again. "Just make sure Charlie understands that it's a routine thing."

I nodded standing up to pull Tanya with me. "I will. He's used to the whole routine check-up ordeal," I said.

Dr. Ford nodded and stood from behind his desk. "Good," he nodded. He held his hand out to Tanya. "It was nice to meet you."

Tanya took his hand with a nod and gave it a firm shake. "You as well," she said. She smiled. "I think I can understand why so many of your patients like you."

He smiled. "I'm just doing my job," he replied as they dropped hands to let him shake the other's hands. When he dropped Eleazer's, he motioned. "Kristen will take you to the front desk to make an appointment."

We nodded and Kristen opened the door, motioning for us to go out. Tanya laced our fingers together as we began to move, leaning in to bump our shoulders playfully. I turned and gave her a smile, squeezing her hand in acknowledgement while we walked out of the door with the rest of her family following.

Kristen led the way, grinning. She angled her head to look at Tanya and me. "So," she said, "you two, huh?"

I felt a slight blush cover my cheeks from her grin and Tanya nodded with a grin of her own. "Yes," she confirmed as she gave my hand a small squeeze. "Bella and I are together."

Kristen nodded. "How long?"

Kate snorted behind us. "They've been beating around the bush ever since they first met. Only a few days ago did Tanya woman up and ask Bella out on a date," she said.

Tanya glared over her shoulder at her sister as Kristen chuckled. Irina nodded. "Yeah, and then after that we couldn't get out of hearing about Bella. She was terrible after they met, but after that date…Phew, I'm surprised I didn't combust from all the…" She suddenly made her voice higher as she clapped her hands together and sighed dreamily. "…Bella is so beautiful. Did you notice? I noticed."

Tanya ducked her head as Kate carried on, "I wish Bella would call."

"Maybe I should call Bella."

"Bella—"

"Okay," Tanya growled, glaring over her shoulder at the two sniggering blondes behind us. "We get the point and you can shut up now."

I ducked my head, blushing intensely as Kristen grinned. She seemed to be enjoying the small show we were displaying on the way back to the front desk to schedule. I briefly wondered if she would give me crap about it the next time I saw her too.

"Well," Kristen said, "either way I'm glad you guys are good and happy together in your happily-ever-after."

"Did you treat a kid before me?"

"Shut up, Bella."