A scream cut through the silence inside the cabin a few minutes after Edward went outside to meet her mother. His breakdown had been terrifying and, if she was honest, kind of sad, but when he'd yelled at her to get upstairs, she wasn't going to argue. She might not always be the smartest person in the room, but she wasn't dumb either. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

But that scream. The sound was haunting, bone-chilling, and undeniably human, especially after the chorus of wolves' howls began. She had never heard her mother scream like that before, but she was the only person it could be.

Before she had a chance to hesitate, Eliza flew down the stairs and burst out the door. The cold, damp air sharpened every sight and sound as it hit her face. She was not prepared for this.

Her mother lay half-propped up in the mud with a blonde Cold One hovering over her. Her face had gone white, too, and her eyes rolled back as she bobbed her head around. For a moment, they made eye contact, and she felt like Bella was calling for help. There was a bloody, disgusting lump of something in her hand.

Holy shit – that is her hand! Eliza stumbled, her stomach churning.

The pack was supposed to protect them, right? So why was a vampire still hovering over her mother, his face so close to her and her blood all over him? She looked around for help from anywhere, but three of the wolves were around Edward, who was thrashing in the grip of two other Cold Ones. She wasn't sure how many wolves had come.

She felt a firm, warm grip on her shoulders and spun around, grabbing back tightly as she recognized who was there.

"Mr. Lahote!" she yelped, "I'm okay, but please, go help my mom – get that thing away from her!"

He gave her a gentle squeeze.

"I don't like it, either, but that one's a doctor. He's helping her, OK?" He sounded sick himself, but he was firm and fatherly. She nodded. Mr. Lahote was probably one of the least chill people she had ever met in her life, so if he said it was alright, it was probably alright.

A screech rang out through the air, impossibly high-pitched, and Eliza looked around her friend's father to see the tiny vampire from her school running toward the group of wolves and vampires around Edward.

"You can't just kill him! Jasper, you can feel his guilt, right? He's sorry – for everything!"

There was discussion she couldn't hear, and from behind, she heard more horrific moaning and tried to turn around, but Mr. Lahote held her firmly in place.

"Nah, I got her, man. You go ahead with them; we'll tidy up here and meet you," he called out over her head. She tried to see who he was talking to, but she couldn't. Then he turned his attention back to Eliza. "Jake and the doctor are taking your mom to the hospital. She's going to be alright."

"I need to go with her!" she protested, but he shook his head.

"It's not pretty, Lize."

She pulled away, and he let her. Her jaw clenched, and she could feel something coursing through her body, but she wasn't sure what to call it.

"I'm going."

He nodded stiffly. "Well, if you're going, run. They need to leave now."

She took off toward Bella without another word.

Jacob was lifting her mother while the blond vampire – the doctor one – stabilized her neck and head. They had wrapped her hand up and made some sort of sling out of what looked like a shirt. Another vampire, a woman with light brown hair and a concerned expression, was holding the back door of a red SUV open.

"I'll sit in the back with her!" Eliza called out as she ran. "I can keep her head still."

Jacob was focused entirely on her mother, but the vampire doctor nodded, and she heard him speak for the first time.

"That will do perfectly, thank you. Get in and move all the way to the other side." His voice was so normal that it was almost weird.

When she got to the vehicle, the lady vampire helped her in and told her to buckle up. Like a mother, she thought. She wondered for a moment if these two were the parents of the others. Did vampires have parents? The woman removed her coat, folded it into a puffy square, and handed it to Eliza.

"Put that on your lap, dear, for Bella's head." She definitely sounded like a mom. "Don't be scared; she's in very capable hands. Just focus on keeping her head still and being with your mother."

All Eliza could do was nod. The front passenger seat had already been pulled forward and folded down. Soon, her door opened, and the doctor leaned over her to help position Bella as Jacob loaded her into the backseat. She was moaning, muddy, covered in blood, and clammy, but when they locked eyes again, she finally felt a little less terrified. She stroked her mother's cheek and tried to smile.

She hadn't noticed the others getting in or the car starting until the doctor spoke from the front.

"The road is rough, and there are turns coming up. Try to keep her head as stable as possible. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I can do that," she answered with more confidence in her voice than she truly had.

Jacob turned around in his seat as the car began to move, watching her. She stooped a little to curl her arm around her mother's head and used the one on her cheek to stabilize. He gave her a quick nod of approval and shifted his gaze to Bella.

"You with me, Bells?" he asked, and Eliza heard his voice clearly for the first time that day. He sounded more scared than he had the day of her grandpa's heart attack, and she didn't like what that could mean.

"Jake?" Bella moaned. She tried to turn her head, but Eliza held it in place.

"Mom, you hurt your head. You gotta stay still." It felt strange telling her what to do.

"Sweetie," she mumbled. "You got away from him. I knew you could."

"You did it, Mom; I got away because of you. And now we're getting you to the hospital." Looking down at her mother, feeling the sway of the car, the adrenaline surge was starting to come down, and Eliza felt a lump forming in her throat. She didn't know exactly what happened or how bad it was, and for the first time, the thought that she might lose her hit hard. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart started to beat heavily.

"Eliza, hey," Jacob got her attention. He was still turned around, with his hand on Bella's leg, rubbing her knee. "Remember to breathe. She needs you right now."

"Mmhmm," Eliza mumbled as she nodded. She tried to breathe.

"In; two, three, four," he counted slowly. "Out; two, three, four. Good. You remember how she's been there for you, and you do the same. You got this."

She closed her eyes and counted her breaths until she finally felt everything becoming steadier, calmer, clearer. Taking his advice, she tried to bring up one clear memory, but instead, she was hit with a deluge of disconnected images: skinned knees on the sidewalk, panicking before her third-grade talent show, coming home sobbing the day Ethan broke up with her before first period and was already eating with Madelyn Hartley by lunchtime, and more. The common thread, though, was always her mother's touch, soft but firm on her arm or her back, staying with her through all the pain and anxiety. Bella never had to say much, but she never left her alone. Eliza took another breath; she would do the same.

Bella moaned as they went around a bend in the road, and Eliza looked down at her again and rubbed her thumb against her cheek. Her eyes were still closed.

"I'm here, Mommy," she whispered.

As they drove toward Port Angeles, Jacob and the doctor discussed the story they would tell the staff and other information, including the name he was using now: Dr. Carl Platt. After a drive that felt both too short and too long, somehow, they pulled up in front of the Emergency Room doors.

Waiting to hear how her mom was doing left Eliza too much time to think. If she hadn't insisted on going back to school before they knew what the vampire wanted, he wouldn't have been able to get to her, and Bella would still be safe and sound on the reservation right now. Hell, if she'd just gone to school in Florida like she'd always planned, none of this would have happened at all. Maybe even her grandpa's heart attack would not have happened if she hadn't moved in and given him someone to worry about all the time. She chewed her thumbnail and stared at the chipped corner of a linoleum tile, trying to stop the thoughts. What was done was done.

The smell of the drying blood on her shirt and pants overpowered the sterile smell of the hospital. She'd scrubbed her hands and arms clean once she had the chance, and a nurse had been kind enough to bring her a blanket to cover up, but she was still uncomfortable. She glanced over at Jacob, who was sitting across from her, his hands covering his mouth and chin, his knee bouncing up and down in a rhythmic, almost hypnotic motion. He was also stained with her mother's blood.

Unlike her last time in a hospital waiting room, however, she actually heard Leah's footsteps as she approached.

"Oh, God, there's two of you," she huffed before plopping down beside Eliza, who turned and hugged her hard. Leah suppressed a smile, but her voice stayed gruff as she awkwardly returned the hug. "Alright, already."

Eliza let go and shifted to sit on her foot, then leaned against Leah's shoulder.

"Dude, you're shaking the whole floor," Leah said to Jacob. His leg stopped, and he looked up at her, letting his hands drop. "How's she doing?"

"We don't know yet," Eliza answered before he could, and she immediately felt embarrassed for jumping in. "Um, sorry, they've just – the only thing they've talked to us about is insurance and stuff."

"This one had everything on her phone. Really smart," Jacob finally spoke. His voice was hoarse but not impatient or angry, and she was relieved that, even if he blamed her too, he wasn't showing it.

"Mom's idea." Eliza smiled, and then it hit her again how little she knew about what was going on with her now, and she grimaced. "I just want to know what's happening. I need to see her again. I wish they'd just let me go in. I have a strong stomach; it'd be fine."

Leah snorted gently. "You know that's not how it works."

"I know; I just don't like it. The vam– Doctor, uh – the doctor," she couldn't remember the name he'd said when they arrived, but it wasn't Cullen, "he went in with her. You think he'd update us, at least."

"He's probably busy," she reminded her, lifting the backpack at her feet; Eliza hadn't noticed it. "I swung by the house and brought you a change of clothes. Jacob, too."

Jacob cocked his head to the side with a questioning look.

"Seth forgot a couple of things last time he was up. They'll be snug, but they should work. And they'll be less," she cringed, "covered in blood and stuff."

Thanking Leah, Eliza went to change first and cleaned up a little more with hospital hand soap and scratchy brown paper towels. She noticed some blood had made it into her hair but had to content herself with just rinsing it for now. When she claimed the shower later that night, she thought – or whenever she managed to make it home – she would stay in there as long as the water ran. Her ruined clothes went straight into the trash.

She reached the waiting area again and broke into a run when she noticed one of the doctors was there, speaking with Jacob and Leah. They were all standing.

"Hey!" she called out. "What's happening? Is Mom OK now? Can I see her?"

"Miss Swan, hello," she answered warmly. She reminded Eliza a lot of the lady vampire, who she'd learned was Dr. Cullen's wife. "I was just telling your father that she's doing very well. We've done some initial imaging and tests. She's had a concussion, and the injury to her hand is quite severe. Right now, we're prepping her for surgery to save as much hand function as possible and monitoring her head injury."

The doctor smiled reassuringly at Eliza while Leah pulled her into a close side hug. A small part of her wanted to correct the doctor, to let her know that Jacob was not her father, but the bigger part realized it wasn't something worth worrying about right now.

"So, how long will that be? Can I see her first?" She knew that probably wouldn't happen, but she had to try. The doctor shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, but your mother is in great hands, especially with Dr. Platt's help. She is extremely lucky that he was in the area. We're looking at around two hours in surgery, then perhaps another hour and a half or so for initial recovery and getting her settled into the ICU. I promise we will let you all know just as soon as she's able to see you, OK?"

Eliza chewed the inside of her cheek and nodded. She wanted so badly just to see for herself, but she wasn't going to keep anyone waiting over it.

"Thank you, Dr. Farber," Jacob said and shook the doctor's hand.

Within a few seconds, she had left, and they were standing around waiting again.

"Do you want to come home and take a shower?" Leah asked. Eliza shook her head. She didn't want to leave the hospital until she saw her mom, awake and alive and herself.

"Why don't you guys go, though? I can stay here in case anything happens."

Jacob also looked like he was about to decline, but Leah clapped him on the shoulder.

"I think that's a good call. You stay all bloody and sweaty like this, and you'll scare Bella to death the moment you walk in."

Eliza watched as the two had a silent conversation composed of eyebrow movements and lip pursing and thought of Bri. They'd had their share of those before, but over things like Kenzie being weird and accidentally kind of racist or the cute guy in the corner, not this. She wished her friend could be here with her.

"Will you be alright?" Jacob asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it'll give me some time to think. It's been kind of a day, you know?"

Hours later, after Jacob and Leah had returned, she finally got to go in and see her mother. It had been upsetting to see her grandpa all hooked up and recovering, but there was still something more normal about it. An older man having a heart attack was terrible and scary, but it was a thing that happened to a lot of people. Her mom, though, was younger and healthy and always the one she could count on when things went awry – it felt so wrong to see her hurt and alone and vulnerable.

Bella was asleep or sedated – Eliza wasn't sure which – when she went into her room alone. The doctors were only allowing one person in at a time, for just a few minutes, and had instructed her to stay calm and quiet and allow her mother to rest. She understood why they reminded her, but it wasn't like she was going to go in and jump in her lap or something. She'd kept her calm and still on the way, after all.

She made her way to Bella's bedside, pulling a heavy, brown chair as close as she could without disturbing anything. Her right arm was bandaged up, and it looked like something stiff was keeping it still, but her left was free, other than the IV. Eliza tucked her hand under her mother's palm and gave three light squeezes: I. Love. You. It had always been their "secret message" for as long as she could remember. Bella groaned lightly, and Eliza could see her eyes move a bit, though she hadn't opened them. Then, she started to mumble.

"You too, baby girl." Eliza was sure that's what she said.

As she sat there, she tried to focus on her mother – just her mother – but she couldn't help but think about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She reminded herself that it could have gone much worse. Edward had barely laid a finger on her and had clearly not planned the abduction; she knew how lucky he was that his desperation made him conflicted and guilty instead of homicidal. He still hurt her mom, though; he could have killed her if nobody had been around. Maybe even worse.

The thought of her mother becoming a Cold One made her shudder. Would it be better or worse than losing her completely? She wasn't sure. One thing she did know was that Edward had no idea who her mom had become; if she'd changed into the same creature he was, the first thing she would have done would be to kill him, not run off into the sunset hand in hand. To her surprise, she found herself smiling at the image of her gentle, kind mother turning on him, bloodthirsty and full of rage, as he begged her to love him.

If there were any vampire Eliza might consider trusting one day, it would be Bella. She was happy not to have to figure that out, though. Even the doctor and his wife, who seemed like the best ones, made her uneasy. They might act like humans and even do some good in the world, but one wrong move, one bad day, and they could annihilate a whole town if they felt like it. She understood the urge to use a long life to help others, but she thought it was completely irresponsible to involve themselves with society so much when they were so dangerous.

After a few minutes, she was called out of the room, and Jacob went in after her. Eliza waited with Leah in the hall, struggling to keep her eyes open. The exhaustion hit her all at once, the day's adrenaline fading – had it really been just one day? Not even a full day, actually. Before she fell asleep where she stood, Jacob came back out of her mother's room. He, too, looked exhausted and overcome with the day's stress, but she swore for a moment, she saw him smirk to himself.

He headed back toward the hospital entrance, and Eliza followed with Leah beside her.