Charlie's new hospital room had a terrible view. You had to crane your neck to see a wedge of sky and trees, and if you didn't, it was just a big, brown dumpster in front of a beige stucco wall. But at least in this room, her grandpa looked a little more like himself – a little less frail and tiny, at least compared to before.

Eliza had gone ahead of her mother and Jacob, who had stopped at the gift shop to pick up some playing cards for him and slipped into the room. She thought he was sleeping and watched him for a moment, trying not to notice how old he really looked. She could swear that he'd aged ten years in the last week; he'd seemed indestructible before that. He could hike through the woods, pushing Billy's chair over rough paths and insisting on carrying her gear as well as theirs; he chased bad guys and solved crimes; he'd even built a utility shed by himself over one weekend that summer. He turned his head toward her.

"Hey, kiddo," he said with a weak smile and weaker voice, and he tried to sit up straighter. Eliza rushed over and pulled a chair up beside the bed.

"It's just me, Grandpa. You can stay down." She gave him a smile she hoped was reassuring, but he shook his head.

"I don't wanna lie down. I want to get the hell out of this place," he shot back, almost annoyed. She tried to remember that it wasn't personal – he'd just been through a lot – but it still stung, and it must have shown on her face. Charlie pressed his lips into a straight line and sighed. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm just–" he let his voice trail off as she grabbed his hand, being careful around his IV port.

They sat for a minute without saying anything until she yawned.

"I told you to go to bed early, miss," he said with an unconvincing sternness, and they both smiled. "Hope you weren't up all night on that phone. Texting boys, watching YouTubes, and all that."

She shook her head. "Nope. I'd let it be a surprise, but you know," she looked around at all the monitors and lines. "Mom's flight got in last night."

Charlie smiled, and a moment later, they heard erratic footsteps, and the door to the room opened.

"Speak of the devil," Eliza grinned.

Bella came in carrying a big, fuzzy red and black buffalo check blanket still wrapped in a paper label, with a set of playing cards and a travel Yahtzee game balancing on top. Jacob followed, trying in vain to take anything at all out of her arms – until she caught sight of Charlie, shoved her things at him, and sped over to the bed. Eliza got up, and Bella took over her chair, dragging it even closer and hugging her father. For all her usual clumsiness, she was shockingly graceful in navigating around the medical equipment.

She watched Jacob set the blanket down at the end of the bed, place the games on the tray table, and carry Bella's discarded purse and hat over to a hook on the wall, and then she turned her attention back to her mother and grandfather. They were so similar, content just to hold one another without a word. Even their expressions mirrored each other – eyes closed, brows furrowed, lips scrunched into a line.

Eventually, they let go, and Bella just stared at Charlie. He was the first to speak.

"Glad you came, Bells." Bella simply nodded, and he nodded back.

Jacob had taken over another chair in the room, closer to the window, and she heard him snort.

"Jake, Sue tells me I've got you to thank for saving me from a concussion," Charlie said to him. "Appreciate it, son."

"No worries. Between running over there and listening to your deputy backseat grill for another minute, it was a pretty easy choice," he quipped.

Charlie and Eliza both chuckled, but she noticed that Bella didn't. When she saw her mother sit up straight and cross her arms, she knew very well what was coming next—she'd been on the receiving end more than once—and settled herself into the third chair to finally watch someone else get it.

But it didn't happen. Instead, she watched Bella freeze, take a deep breath, and relax, taking Charlie's hand again and resting her forehead on it. Well, that certainly wasn't fair.

Jacob stood up and looked at Eliza. "Hey, why don't you show me where to get some coffee around here, kid?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but Charlie looked down at her mother and gave Eliza a little nod. Popping up from her chair, she smiled at him, placed her hand on her mom's back for a moment, and then gave her grandfather a half-hug.

Out in the hall, she started walking toward the cafeteria, and Jacob caught up quickly.

"Hey, I know you wanted to stay, but they needed some one-on-one time," he said.

"I get it," she replied. "Man, I thought Mom was going to rip into you for a second there. She can be pretty intense when she wants to be."

"I'm gathering that," he chuckled. "She's just looking out for people."

They reached the end of this stretch of hallway and made the turn toward the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I know. I can't count how many times I've heard it, though." She slipped into a higher voice, "'Eliza Charlotte, don't you dare pretend you're anything less than amazing!' The funny thing is that she truly thinks it's intimidating."

They shared a laugh over that, but then Jacob stopped. "You have a really good mom."

"Oh, I know. She's great. I just like giving her grief sometimes," she smiled.

But his face was serious – though not hard. "I had a good mom, too, and I didn't always appreciate how lucky I was before she was gone." Eliza dropped her head, trying to remember the last time she'd actually told her mother how much she noticed all she did. He continued, his voice a bit lighter. "I'm not trying to guilt trip you; I just hope you know what you have."

She looked up at him again and nodded. He smiled.

"Don't worry; I say the same thing to my boys all the time. In one ear and out the other, but one day it'll stick."

They started walking again and reached the cafeteria, where they both picked up large coffees, and Jacob bought hard-boiled eggs, two sandwiches, and half a dozen Danishes. When they sat down at a table, Eliza gestured toward the food.

"Is this part of the thing? You know, the whole," she put her hands up like paws, "thing?"

Jacob slowly set down the sandwich he'd been bringing up to his mouth. "Rude."

Eliza cringed, but she hadn't thought of another way to say "wolf thing" without just saying it outright, and she didn't know who could hear them.

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to sound as apologetic as she was feeling.

But he laughed. "Just giving you shit, kid." She scowled and sipped her coffee. "But yeah, it is. Wasn't a problem for a long time, but now that it's happening again, I'm hungrier than I was when I was a teenager."

"So, you stopped for a while?" She hadn't even considered that werewolves could just…not. But if they could phase back and forth at will, as she'd learned the previous night, she supposed it made sense that they could eventually stop altogether.

"Yep," he nodded. "Started a family, and I couldn't be running out all night."

"Does your wife know about it, too?" she asked, and his face seemed to twitch a little.

"Nah, she didn't know about any of it," he said quickly. He took a bite.

"Mr. Lahote," she started. "I think he still does, though, right? Me, Bri, and some friends were out one night, and when we got back to her place, he was waiting outside, all intense, and he knew where we'd been planning to go. I mean, I didn't even know where we were going, but he seemed to, and he," she dropped her voice lower. "He didn't have a shirt on. It was weird. That seems to me like he's still, you know?"

"He does sometimes, yeah. When he's needed. But it's different for them."

"Oh, my God. Don't tell me Mrs. Lahote, too. Is Bri? Has she been hiding this from me?"

Jacob laughed. "No, Rachel's not. Or Brianne. Paul and Rach just have a different marriage than we did."

She nodded and took another sip, turning her head slightly to look out the window and into the trees. If Mrs. Lahote knew that her husband was a werewolf, did Bri know, too? She thought about the night they went out with everyone and the way she brushed off how weird her dad was being. Was it because she understood the reason, or was it like herself with Bella's icy scar – something that she should have realized made no sense, but it had always been like that, so it'd never registered as odd.

Mrs. Lahote was Jacob's sister, and from what they'd told her last night, Uncle Billy knew everything, so maybe that's how she'd known. Now that she thought about it, it was nice that they'd found each other; Mr. Lahote could just be himself and do his thing without any worry or sneaking around, and she would never wonder why her husband was taking off in the middle of the night.

It must be hard for Jacob not to have that with his wife, she thought. She wondered what he'd told her about what he was doing last night – and today. Mrs. Black was pretty cool, as far as she knew her, which wasn't much. There was no way she could be so cool that her husband could just not come home for a day, and she wouldn't be blowing up his phone, though. Eliza had only had one serious boyfriend; they hadn't lived together, but she would have been seriously pissed if she hadn't heard from him all night and into the next day with no good explanation.

Of course, he'd just used the past tense when answering those last questions. Eliza hadn't seen her at Sue's with everyone else, and, now that she was thinking about it, Mrs. Black hadn't been at Uncle Billy's when they went over for dinner this last Christmas – or Will and Jared, either. But Jacob had definitely been there. Alone. Click.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she finally heard. She shook her head.

"Just processing. I thought I had it all down last night, but things are still clicking into place, I think."

"Yeah, it's a lot, especially when you've already got Charlie in this place," he waved a finger around. "You guys are handling it better than I'd have guessed."

Eliza had more questions again and wanted to get somewhere with fewer people, and noticed that Jacob had eaten his food and was dipping into the pastries.

"Can we do a loop outside before we go back to Grandpa's room? I have some things to ask."

They stayed at the hospital with Charlie for an hour or so and left when he started to pretend he didn't need a nap. Eliza was in the back seat, behind her mother, because Jacob had pushed the passenger seat so far back that she would have had to curl up in a ball to fit behind it. They'd just left the Food Mart and were heading back to Charlie's when Jacob answered his phone.

"Today?" she heard him say. "No, no, don't stress out…don't be sorry…the whole thing? Jesus…yeah, yeah…No, I'm in town, anyway. It's fine." He turned to Bella in the driver's seat. "Hey, can you turn left onto South Forks and find a spot? I gotta run into the office for a sec."

She saw Bella nod and heard the blinker, and soon, they were pulling up to the curb.

"See you in a minute," he said into his phone and hung up. "Are you guys OK coming in with me for a bit? I have a huge issue at work, and I've gotta get it under control, but I don't want to leave you two out here."

Her mother nodded and then looked back at her. "You're OK with that?"

"I mean, we're kind of sitting ducks, right?" Eliza shrugged and unbuckled, and they all got out.

"If it goes too long, I can get someone to come grab you guys, and you can head down to La Push or something. Get some sightseeing in?" Jacob offered as they waited to cross the road.

It would be nice to hang out with Bri if she wasn't working after school, and something told her Mr. Lahote was keeping her on an even tighter leash than normal.

They entered through a door marked "Olympic Technology Solutions" and followed Jacob past an empty reception desk and through a secure door. A guy around Eliza's age was hunched over some equipment, and he looked up when they passed but went right back to whatever he was doing. They ended up in a break room with two grey tables, a sad-looking click couch facing a large TV that had some gaming system connected but was on CNN, a kitchenette with a large fridge, and two giant shelving units with banker's boxes and bins full of wires, computer accessories, and electronics components. It smelled sort of like dust, coffee, and something else she couldn't quite place.

"Sorry again, guys. We maintain the school board servers and there's a problem with the student records access, and – this is boring you. You can hang out here while I go figure out what's going on," Jacob said, sounding resigned and slightly annoyed. "Wi-Fi password's on the fridge – use the guest network – TV's free. If you get hungry, there's cereal and milk, pop tarts, and instant oatmeal. Just don't take anything labeled or in a bag. Bathrooms are through the door and to the right. You guys'll be OK for a bit?" He raised his eyebrows as he asked.

Eliza and Bella both nodded, and she thought he'd turn around, but he stood there. Her mother and Jacob were just sort of looking at each other like there was something else they wanted to say or do. It was honestly starting to feel a bit awkward just watching them.

Then Jacob cleared his throat. "Uh, people might come in and out, but they shouldn't bother you too much."

He nodded again, and he was gone; the door closed behind him.

Bella went to the couch and brushed off a few crumbs she found before sitting down and patting the spot beside her, and Eliza followed. When she sat, she realized just how old this couch probably was. The seat sunk lower than she was ready for, and she felt a bump where the spring was. She felt her mother slowly rolling toward her and laughed.

"OK, so it's not a great couch," Bella chuckled and scooted to the opposite end, tucking her foot up under her leg. That seemed to work a little better, and Eliza crossed her legs and settled in. She looked around and noticed a couple of framed items on the wall.

"Hey, look," she pointed at the one above the TV. "'Indigenous-Owned Business of the Year 2019'. Good for him."

Her mother looked at it and nodded, "Yeah." She sighed. "It should be surprising that he can handle it all, but it's not, you know?"

Eliza shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. He's a pretty capable sort of guy." They sat for a bit before she spoke up again. "You and Grandpa have a nice time together?"

"It was good to see him," she answered, a hint of frustration and hesitation in her voice. She continued, "He's doing better than he has any right to be, and he's not taking it seriously enough. I think I'm going to have to stay for a while to keep him in line, or it's just going to happen again."

"He is really stubborn," Eliza added. "Maybe that's good, though? The will to live and all that."

Her mom sighed. "No, he's not that sort of stubborn. He's 'I don't need pills' stubborn."

"Maybe he won't?" She shrugged. She'd read up a bit on heart attacks in the last few days, but she didn't know much.

"He'll definitely need pills. And rest. And a healthy diet. He won't want to do any of it without a fight."

"Yeah, he'll give you a pretty hard time, I think," she laughed.

Bella shook her head, "Did he tell you what they found?"

"No?"

"They think he's had at least three previous heart attacks and just ignored them!" She threw her hands up. Eliza thought back to any time she'd seen problems, but she couldn't come up with anything. "He knows the signs. It's part of his job. Plus, after Harry Clearwater died, I went over it all again with him, and I'm sure Sue has, too. That man will grit his teeth and keep going right into an early grave without a single thought about who he's leaving behind!" Bella let out a hard breath.

Eliza took it all in. Normally, her mother would soften it for her, but maybe she needed the hard truth as much as Grandpa did – and maybe her mom needed a turn to vent for once. And that would be good, honestly. Bella might be more responsible about her health than Charlie, but she watched her grin and bear a lot on her own over the years, just like he did. Simple things like taking the garbage down alone at night to the dumpster behind their apartment when she was little – she wouldn't wait until morning because she didn't want Eliza living around garbage, but she also wouldn't ask for help or even just someone to go down with her. They weren't in the worst part of town, sure, but it was still quite unsafe, looking back.

And the story she'd shared last night about taking off on her own to sacrifice herself to a vampire? Yeah, she was young, dumb, and in love and all, but if things hadn't worked out exactly as they did, she would have been gone. Eliza wouldn't exist. Grandpa Charlie, Grammy Renee, Gumpy Phil, even Uncle Billy, plus everyone else she knew – they'd have been devastated. Some of them might not have ever recovered from that.

"We won't lose him, Mom," she said with finality. "Yeah, he's stubborn, but it got concentrated when it passed down to you and me."

She gave her mom a smile, and Bella chuckled.

"Let's hope so."

Leah and Steph came down that Saturday to visit with Charlie and bring Eliza back up to Port Angeles. She had to leave Old Faithful in Forks, feigning transmission problems to explain why she couldn't drive herself, and it bothered her more than it should have to lie about her like that. She was a majestic old thing, and it just felt wrong to pretend she was failing. She never got a chance to see Bri before she'd be leaving, either, and she wasn't sure how often she'd be back now that she was under surveillance and without a vehicle.

At least there would be a big dinner at Charlie's before they left. Bella offered to cook up a bunch of stuff that would be off-limits for him now, and she needed to clear out the fridge since she'd be staying with Sue until he was discharged. Jacob's week with his kids started Friday after school, so he wouldn't be able to be her personal bodyguard like he was at first, and they all decided that staying on the reservation would be safest for her.

So, it would be a pretty big crowd tonight: herself and her mother; Jacob and his boys; Seth, his wife, and their daughter; Sue; Leah and Steph. Maybe some stray cats and Mormon missionaries if they dropped by, too, she thought, rolling her eyes. She was down in the dark, damp basement, looking for the extra leaves for the kitchen table and any folding chairs that might be down there. Her phone buzzed, and she stopped to answer the message.

Of course, Brianne was telling her how atrocious she was for leaving her all alone again. She rolled her eyes and asked how Roger was doing. Bri deflected: 'Aiden asked how you're doing. Said to say sorry about your gramps.' Eliza was typing back when the next message came in. 'Guess he wants to wear your skin suit ;) '

She shoved her phone back into her pocket without replying. That was the very last thing she had time or energy for right now, even if he'd intrigued her a little. Or a lot. School, sick grandparents, vampires, and werewolves – not a great time to add long-distance boys to the mix, no matter how perfect the curve of their lips was. Settle down, holy! she scolded herself, but somehow, it was Bri's voice in her head.

The bulb didn't give off much light, so it was hard to find things. A couple of times, she thought she found the leaves, but it was just scrap wood. She'd come across a card table, though, and three folding chairs, which she'd placed at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe Charlie had taken them out to the shed? Probably not. She was about to holler up to her mother that it was a lost cause, when she heard a creak on the stairs – and then her mother's footsteps in the kitchen, right above her. She took a deep breath and decided to turn around in just another moment.

"The perfect specimen for my collection."

Fucking Brianne! She shook her head, chuckling, and spun around to see her friend with her head thrown back and her tongue poking out from her teeth as she laughed.

They gave each other a hug. "I didn't know you guys were coming!"

"I totally got you, dude."

She scoffed, "Did not."

"You think I was a pervy old vampire watching you from the shadows?" Bri's tone was off a little, and they stared at each other for a moment. Eliza raised an eyebrow. Brianne raised an eyebrow, too. Eliza seized up. "'Cause Uncle Jake chased off the only one I've heard about."

She let out a huge breath and half-collapsed, catching herself on a workbench. Bri grabbed her arm, guiding her to the stairs, where they sat down. They slumped against each other.

"Stay in one piece, fuck. They'll kill me if I'm the one that breaks you," Bri said.

"How long have you known?"

"Like, two days? It's been killing me not having anyone to talk to about it." She gave Eliza a light shove. "Assholes didn't tell me you knew 'til this morning."

"This is so fucked up, right?" Eliza asked, dropping her head onto Bri's shoulder.

"My dad's a wolf, Lize." She sighed again and then burst out laughing. "My dad is a fucking wolf."

Eliza couldn't help but laugh with her. This was really the most absurd thing that had ever happened to either of them, and everything had been so serious – because it was serious. She knew it was. But it was also so bizarre and silly. To protect against vampires, they didn't just get super strength or become superheroes or something; they exploded into giant wolves? It was insane, but it was true.

"Your dad's a fucking wolf, and your mom's fucking a wolf." She cackled, and Brianne feigned offense.

"Pshhh, laugh now." It looked like she was about to say something else, but the door at the top of the stairs opened, and Mr. Lahote looked down at them.

"You're on the clock, girls. Gossip on your own time," he said, trying to look intimidating but with an obvious glint in his eye. They rolled their eyes but got up, grabbed the chairs and card table, and headed up the stairs.

When Leah pulled the car into the driveway, it was dark and quiet. Steph had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, and Eliza was almost there. Nobody was out on the street, and even the neighbor's dog—who thought a light breeze was a declaration of war—seemed to be asleep.

She unbuckled, then grabbed her backpack from the seat beside her and stuffed her book and phone into the front pocket. Leah shut off the engine, and the radio turned off. She was reaching toward Steph to wake her up, and Eliza opened her door and stood up. A cool breeze wafted across her face, giving her the perfect little bit of energy she'd need to get in and ready for bed.

That's when she heard Leah jumping out of the car behind her.

"Get back in and lock the doors," she ordered, her voice low and deadly serious.

Eliza obeyed, and, from inside the car, watched as Leah approached the house, hunched and looking around in every direction. It looked like she was sniffing. Steph began to stir, and Eliza begged the universe or God or whoever that she would not wake up right now. Leah stopped and looked up, and Eliza caught a flash of something streaking across the top of the house. Before she could stop herself, she gasped. Steph stirred again, and fully woke up, giving Eliza a strange look.

"Are we home?" she asked, groggy and still slurring a little, but Eliza didn't answer.

Steph followed her gaze, and they both watched Leah jump up and explode in a puff of fur and fabric shreds.