BELLA

I awoke in a yellow bedroom. It looked like Sam and Emily's guest bedroom. I was in a bed. As I looked more closely, I realized it was definitely Sam and Emily's guest room. I've stayed here overnight before. I was shaking and in a cold sweat. I didn't feel blood running down my neck or head anymore but my head and leg were in pain, but it wasn't too extreme. My hand trembled as I felt my head. I felt staples around my scalp. I was in pain, but not as much as earlier.

I rolled my head to the side. An IV was beside my bed, connected to my arm. It must be filled with liquids so I wouldn't dehydrate or pain meds. Paul and Jacob were sitting in two chairs on my right. I looked over at Paul and I studied his face. His beautiful brown eyes, his smooth skin, his messy hair. He wasn't hurt. No cuts, no missing limbs. He was okay. He survived the battle.

On the other hand, he was dirty as fuck. His hair seemed to have some mud in it. His hands, arms and chest were caked in dirt and blood. He was talking quietly to Jacob, who sat in a chair on his side. I couldn't make out what they were saying but it seemed serious. "Hey, Paul. Hey, Jake." I croaked out.

They both stared at me with pain in their eyes. "Hey Bells. We're glad you're okay." Jake said solemnly. "Are you in pain Bells?" Asked Jake. "Yeah, a little," I responded. "My leg and my head. I can't believe I managed to get injured in two places." I faked a giggle trying to lighten the mood. Jake grabbed a bottle of pharmaceuticals from the bedside table with my name on it and a cup of water and handed them to me. "Percocet, for the pain." He said.

I swallowed two of the pills. My head was in agony. "Is anyone hurt?" I stuttered out quietly. "Bella." Paul breathed out. He took two long strides over to me and knelt beside my bed. He gently took my shaking hands and put them in his. I smiled faintly. "You were the only one who got hurt." He said quietly, with pain observant in his eyes.

I looked over at Jake and he nodded in confirmation. We all sat there quietly for a moment. The weight of the silence was sobering. Jake quietly got up from his chair and said "I'm going to let you guys talk. I'll come back later Bells." And he walked out of the room, leaving me and Paul to ourselves.

Paul was rubbing circles into my hand with his thumbs. It felt like his eyes were avoiding mine as he kept rubbing my hand. He looked up at me. "I'm so sorry you got hurt, Bella. Seth was ordered to do anything he could to get you out of there once Victoria and the other leech got near you. And then Seth slowed down before getting you off of his back because that would cause the least amount of damage. But you still got hurt." Paul said sadly, his brows furrowed as he spoke.

"He couldn't fight with you on his back if he needed to protect you, the leeches were gaining on you guys and he didn't have enough time to phase back and let you know that. Seth didn't want to hurt you. We all tried to give Seth the best advice that we could, but– you still got hurt. And I'm so sorry." He said morosely.

"Paul it wasn't your–" I tried to let him know that it wasn't his fault, that none of it was. He had tried his best, but he interrupted me. "No Bella, listen, you put your trust in us, in me and– you still got hurt. I'm so sorry. I just care about you so much, and you were in so much pain and I'm so sorry you had to go through that." He said. "No one should have to go through what you went through."

"But Vcitoria's gone right?" I asked skeptically. "Yes," he responded. "She's gone for good. She'll never target you again. Life can go back to normal– or our normal anyways." He smiled slyly.

I let out a sigh of relief. Victoria was gone. And everyone was safe. I could finally breathe.

"How bad am I hurt?" I asked. "What's the damage?" I was in slight pain but I was able to move all of my limbs. I was no longer bleeding. But I felt sore all over. I probably had bruises from falling off of Seth. I didn't have a single cast on and the afternoon light peeking through the windows had no effect on my eyes or head. So at least I was concussion-free.

"You cut the back of your head open, falling on some rocks and there was a cut in your leg. Your head needed stapled, but you probably remember that. Once we got back here, we let Dr.Fang onto the reservation so he could stitch up your leg. And he injected you with some pain meds. You've got some bruises too." He said quietly, with an edge of sadness.

Paul was blaming himself of course, but it wasn't his fault. I was alive. The pack was fine. And Victoria was gone. I couldn't be happier.

"I want to get up," I whined. "Go for a walk and see the pack." "Sure, the whole pack is eating right now, they want to see, you, make sure you're okay." He said. "Do you feel up for food?" He asked. "Yeah, I can eat," I said. Paul helped me into a sitting position on the bed and then helped me drape my legs over the side of the bed.

Paul helped me get off the bed, and I leaned against him, letting him baby me. For once, I was too exhausted to care about being looked after. I limped to the kitchen slowly, leaning on Paul's side for support.

Once we entered the kitchen, I was approached by everyone. The pack immediately left their plates and stood up to watch me enter the room. Some of their faces were filled with pity that I got hurt, others looked ecstatic that I was up and okay.

Sam approached me first. He walked up to me, put his hands on my shoulders, gave me a kiss on my temple and said "I'm glad you're okay Bella." Then he gave me some space so I could keep walking through.

Emily came up to me and gave me a hug and wished me a smooth recovery with tears in her eyes. Kim came up and approached me with Jared at her side, and they both said that they were glad I'd be okay.

Embry, Quil, Leah, Brady, and Colin, all came up and touched me in some way, a hand on my shoulder, a kiss on the cheek and they all said a kind word or tried to lighten the mood with a funny quip.

Seth came up to me last, with red eyes. Tears were falling down his cheek as he came up and apologized to me. Unlike the others, who gave me a hug, I chose to give Seth a hug. He looked like he needed it. "It's okay Seth, you did your best, and I'm going to be okay. Victoria's gone. We should celebrate." I smiled sluggishly into his chest.

And the whole room erupted in cheers.

I ignored the ache in my head, and joined in, cheering and laughing at the chaos.

.

.

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Four months after Victoria was killed.

It was a late afternoon one day when me and the pack were standing on the cliffs in LaPush. It was summer and we were all about to jump. We left a cooler of food back on the beach so once we jumped and swam to shore we'd have a picnic. The other girls and I planned a beach day, and it was fun. Three new girls were imprinted on, Aria, Tallulah and Claire. Seth imprinted on Aria and Brady imprinted on Tallulah. Aria was sixteen. Tallulah was twelve. And Claire was two years old.

I was in a black string bikini with Paul's arm draped around my shoulders. Embry and Jake jumped first, hollering as they went down. Sam jumped next, in a hurry to get back to Emily. Emily was lounging on the beach with Aria. Emily was pregnant so she wasn't jumping off cliffs anytime soon, and Aria was keeping her company.

Leah jumped next, taking a running start as she leapt over the edge. Quil and Seth bounded off next, whooping as they jumped. Brady was carrying Tallulah on his back, piggyback style. They jumped off in tandem. Kim and Jared jumped right after them.

Then I reached out for Paul's hand and he removed his arm from around my shoulders. "Let's take a running start!" I giggled loudly with my hair blowing in the wind. "Okay, Chica," Paul said. We took a few steps back. And then Paul and I started running towards the cliffs edge.

Paul ran at my speed and then moved his arm around my waist, pulling me further forward as we leapt off the edge. It felt like I was flying. My hair swirled around me as we fell. The wind pushed me in a downward motion. Paul's arm was gently holding my body as we fell. I felt free. A smile was glued to my face, and then I closed my mouth just as we reached the water.

As we plummeted into the ocean, the water rushed around me and bubbles popped up in every direction. Paul swam up, pulling me along with him, as I held my breath. It was exhilarating.

When we reached the surface, I gulped for air and then smiled at Paul. "Are you all right?" He asked. "Never been better I replied!" I replied and then proceeded to cough. He kept his arm around my waist as we swam to shore. The water was wavy and I kept getting sloshed by every wave that rolled over us. It was so funny.

By the time we reached the beach, I was laughing so hard at our wavy journey that I was out of breath. And my legs were exhausted from kicking. Paul was chuckling too as we reached shore and laid down on the beach for a few moments as I caught my breath. My face was in the sand as I smiled at Paul, who had looked like he barely built a sweat from the swim.

Then Paul and I walked over to my towel. His body heat had already dried him up while we were lying in the sand. He picked up my towel and wrapped it around me and then helped dry me off. Then he picked up my green quarter zip hoodie and pulled it over my head, and tied my towel around my waist.

We walked over to the picnic on the beach, that Emily and Aria had set up. Paul sat down first and I sat in his lap absorbing his body heat as I relaxed into his chest. I reached for the cooler next to us and grabbed some cold-cut sandwiches. I grabbed five, handed four to Paul and kept one for myself.

Paul thanked me and then proceeded to garble down his food, as I slowly ate my ham sandwich. Then the two of us joined in on the chorus of conversations going on around us, while Paul played and twisted with my hair.

Sam walked into our picnic, lugging a small barbeque with one hand, and carrying a cooler that I assumed was filled with meat in the other hand. He set them down around the circle we had created, pulled out hot dogs and started grilling. Emily stood up wobbling, and then Embry jumped up to help steady her as she stood up from the sand to wrap her arms around the back of Sam as he grilled.

Everyone was sitting in a circle, as we all ate, talked and laughed. The happiness in the air was tangible. I felt amazing.