PAUL

Sam watched as Bella stirred, guilt eating at him. Paul sat in one of the chairs next to Paul, glaring at Bella's back with his arms crossed looking the picture of annoyed.

"Maybe you should go and tell Charlie and the doctor she's awake?" he suggested to him, thinking it might be a good idea to put some distance between Paul and Bella.

"No way, you've practically been here every second of every day since you found her. You go tell them and then go home to Emily." Paul relaxed some in his seat, slouching forward as he looked up at Sam, stubbornness burning in his eyes. But Sam was stubborn too, and filled with self loathing.

Paul was already tired and aggravated, and this entire situation was depressing enough without Sam moping around the scene. It was true, Sam had barely been home since they had found Bella, constantly running shift along the Rez and then coming to the Hospital to watch over Bella, taking shifts with the Paul and Jared just like their runs. Honestly, Paul would rather do anything else with his time, but alpha orders are orders. Looking at Sam closely now, standing to put a hand on his shoulder in some form of comfort, he noticed that his leader had faint trails of dried tears going down his cheeks.

Damn it all to hell.

"Tell them, and go home to Emily. Eat, sleep, you need both. Just get the fuck out of here." Paul begged him, running a hand through his short hair and then down his face, letting out an aggravated groan. "Please."

Sam gave him an unsure look and Paul sighed, even without being phases he knew what he was thinking. He didn't like Bella and his temper was the worst out of the three members of their pack.

"I'll be good, I promise." he smirked, his hazel eyes twinkling a little before he took his seat again. "I doubt there is anything in this hospital that can piss me off that much other than you right now."

"I don't know if I want to take that chance, Paul." he said, looking back at Bella.

"Fuck, Sam, have a little faith in me! I might not like the little Leech Lover, but even I think she's been through enough pain." he said gripping his knees tight until his knuckles turned white, his eyes blazing with what Sam thought to be hurt.

"Are you sure you can handle it, otherwise I'll get Jared." he asked, his body feeling heavy and lagged from lack of a good sleep, his stomach starting to naw at him for proper nutrients other than the crappy hospital food and vending machine snacks.

"Yes, oh mighty Alpha, I can handle it." Paul rolled his eyes, his grip on his knees relaxing until he was laying his palms flat against his jean clad thighs. They couldn't exactly where cut off shorts and no shirts in the hospital. It felt weird, to wear so much clothing now that he was so used to wearing nearly nothing all the time.

Sam finally seemed to give in, rubbing at one of his shoulders and rolling his neck while letting out a giant yawn. He looked like absolute shit, he had been so overwhelmed with guilt for not finding Bella sooner, that it kept him up. Mostly, Paul just thought it was because he kept thinking about what he had done to Emily, he already had enough reminder at home seeing her face, now Bella was just one more scarred woman. But unlike Emily, Sam hadn't been the one to hurt Bella, it was some wild animal and the fault of those leeches for stringing her along. Paul just wished Sam would realize that and throw away this pointless guilt and obligation he was feeling toward Bella.

"Will you call me, if anything changes, if the doctor tells them something new or-" he started to say before leaving and Paul held up a hand to stop him.

"I will, if that's what you want but I'm telling you now it won't do you any good to know. We did everything we could Sam, you saved her life, that's enough. The leeches are gone and Bella's not your responsibility to protect anymore."

Sam wanted to follow his words, stop thinking, stop worrying about everything, but he couldn't and he would always feel somehow at fault for Bella's condition. Probably some complex he had taken on after hurting Emily. He knew Paul meant well, but wasn't sure exactly how to express his gratitude for the other worrying about him. In the end he only managed a smile and a manly pat on the back before he left the room to find Charlie and maybe the Doctor if he was lucky.

Paul thought about the Chief of Police, of the destroyed man he had witnessed after they found Bella. That was not the same man he had met all those times when he was a kid, that stern but kind made who would give him lecture after lecture every time he picked him up and had to throw him in the back of the cruiser. Of course that was before Paul had phased and he was told to get his shit together and be a productive member of society and the pack. What really kept him out of trouble now was that because of their unnatural body temperatures and fast metabolism, he couldn't get drunk anymore and most of the stupid shit he used to do was when he was under the influence. It took away all the fun

They had rushed Bella right away to the emergency room for operation to stop the bleeding from her neck and fix her lungs and leg. Charlie had barely spoken at all, they thought he was having some type of episode, he kept pulling at his hair and rocking back and forth sobbing madly until he could barely breath. Even Billy Black couldn't get through to him, all he did was sit there waiting for some news from the surgeons about Bella.

Shaking his head of the memory, he looked up at the shifting Bella. Yeah, it was best he was the one to stay. Jared had been as pale as they could get after seeing Bella. There had just been so much damn blood, none of them even though a girl as small as Bella could have that much blood. They had been sure she would die.

The red of her blood still stained his vision, and every time he closed her eyes he could hear her screams of pain as Sam did all he could to keep her awake, afraid if she closed her eyes she wouldn't open them again. He did his best to push those thoughts back, if he didn't his anger would overtake him and he would phase.

Leaning back he stretched out his long legs in front of him, watching Bella's slowly come to. But then she started to choke on the tube down her throat and he jumped up, switching to sit behind her on the bed, the thin mattress sinking under his weight.

"Shh, you can't cry or try to talk, it'll cause you to choke around the tube. You have to calm down." He leaned down close, his lips hovering over her ear as he spoke softly to her, a hand awkwardly smoothing her hair back from her face. He watched as her eyes danced around wildly, and her rubbed ran his thumb in a soothing motion along her scald, hushing her as he tried to get her to relax.

Then she glanced at him in her peripheral, their eyes meeting and suddenly Paul could feel everything else in the world fall away and a steel cable shot from his chest and tied the other end around her. He was overcome by a sickeningly strong affection for Bella, a feeling so powerful he could only call it love. He had imprinted on Bella.

His shot from the bed, hands detangling from her hair as she stepped back away from her until his back was hitting the wall. No, this couldn't be happening. Why her, why now, why did it have to happen at all. He had been content with his life, he was okay being single and alone, his only ties with the rez and the pack. It was all he had needed for now, he didn't want more and he especially didn't want this. He had seen what it had done to Sam and he didn't want none of that. It was all hearts and kisses for the imprinted once it happened, that for sure. He felt his skin crawl at the thought that his soul was now tied to hers for the rest of his life, forced to love her and obey her and be whatever she wanted and be whatever she wanted him to be.

This could not be happening to him he thought again, followed by the bloodthirsty desire-more so than he ever felt before-to rip Edward Cullen and his family to shreds and burn the pieces. Once every few seconds he would steal a glance at her, the image of her bandaged on the bed fuel for the fire within him as he began to shake.

Where the hell was Sam? He couldn't stay here. But because of orders he had no choice but to do just that until Sam returned with Charlie and Renee. Ten painstaking minutes passed before Charlie and Renee came walking into the room, and as they bee-lined for their daughter, Paul did the same for the door.

He gave a nod in Charlie's direction to acknowledge them and ran from the room as quick as he could after, stopping when he found Jared at one of the vending machines, coming back from his patrol.

"I'm sorry, dude, but can you stay and watch over things, I got to go." he asked the other.

"Yeah, sure." he agreed, furrowing his brows in concern. "Something wrong?"

Paul shook his head. He would be back after a quick run to cool his head, he had promised Sam after all, and he didn't want to bother him. He would do a quick patrol, around Forks and some of the rez before coming back to take over for Jared so the guy could get some sleep. He just needed to be alone right now, to sort out these new feelings and what he was going to do with them.

"Thanks, Man." he clapped his shoulder and continued out of the hospital. He cut across the visitor parking lot and dived into the forest, stripping as he ran, leaving his clothes on the ground before phasing mid jump over a log.

It was worse after he phased, all he could think of, all he could see was her, her sleeping face all the times he had visited her why she was in her medically induced coma, of the terrible sounds she had made when she finally woke up and the hurt and confusion in her brown eyes when he had looked into them for the first time. His head swam with affection and worry for her, a girl he didn't know beyond the tattered body that Sam had brought back to them.

He could see the future with her, spending hours in bed, naked and sweaty, laughing and talking. He could see and feel himself holding her in his arms, kissing her. He let out a terrible pained howl.

He hated it, he wanted to hate her, after all she had associated with those blood suckers, she had to know what they were and still she seemed to have no disgust at all towards them. That wasn't normal, there had to be something wrong with her and he had been happy to let her get what was coming to her. Mostly because he wanted an excuse to tear into those Cullens, but not this, he didn't want her to suffer like this for it all.

He remembered the first time he had met her, she was ten and he was thirteen, there had just been a terrible summer storm that had caused flash flood that killed his parents and little brother. It was only days after the storm, Charlie had come by to help with cleanup and anything else he could do. Bella was on the debris covered beach, hunched over a tide pool, staring into the shallow depths with clear boredom. He had been so mad, and there she was unaware of the devastation when so many had lost homes and loved ones. He had pushed her into the tidepool, her knee scraping against a sharp wet rock, the salt water stinging at her new cut. She had cried, and he had brought him a sick satisfaction, he ran away when the Chief heard her cries and started over to them.

Even then, he had never liked her and now he was being told that she was his soulmate. What bullshit.

It was a good few hours before he was done with his patrol and he felt a little calmer. When he got back to the Hospital to relieve Jared, Bella was asleep again, Charlie was still with Bella but it looked like Renee had gone back to her hotel for the night. The Chief was beside Bella, hunched over in the chair, his face pressed to the mattress as he lightly snored. Jared was in the corned, about to nod off. Being quiet, Jared and Paul switched. There wasn't too much point being around when everyone was asleep, but Sam had made his orders clear that there was always to be a member of the back with the Swans, in case they needed anything.

The days following his imprinting all went by mostly the same, Bella was showing little reaction to others, but she responded to commands such as lifting her arms, or blinking. She was aware and awake, multiple test showed her brain was properly functioning, so that wasn't the problem. The doctors put her zombie like behavior and blank stare as psychological, trauma from her attack and abandonment by Edward Cullen. She had all

He made sure never to be alone with her, if Charlie or someone else left the room he would step into the hall until they got back, hovering near the door just incase Bella needed anything. A week had passed since he imprinted on her, Bella still had the tube down her throat, they switched it out to feed her which was hard to watch. Now that she was awake they couldn't keep her on just an IV drip alone to give her the nutrients she needed. It wasn't a pretty thing to watch, but it would be another few weeks until her throat was healed enough for them to take it out.

It was another day, he was coming to relieve Sam this time around, and as he got close to Bella's room he could hear the arguing going on inside. Charlie and Renee were fighting again. Blaming each other for what had happened to Bella. This always happened when the two were alone together for too long. Renee blamed Charlie for not keeping her away from Edward, and Charlie blamed her for encouraging her to date. But today seemed to be the end of it all.

"I have to get back to Phil," Paul heard Renee say to Charlie.

"You're leaving?!" clearly Charlie was surprised by this turn of events. "This is our daughter, she needs you."

"You mean you need me?" she turned it on him, almost sounding smug that he was still hung up on her.

"No, I mean Bella." he corrected her, ice in his voice.

"This isn't about me, this hasn't ever been about me for a very long time." he listened to Charlie tell his ex. Truthfully, Paul wasn't the biggest fan of Renee.

"I've tried everything to help her Charlie, I don't want to give up on her but-" Renee gave a long sigh, and he heard the shifting as she pulled her purse over her shoulder.

"Give up?" Charlie asked.

"She's not dying, Renee, she's getting better. Don't you want to be here for that?" his voice was a low disapointed noise.

"She practically catatonic, Charlie, just look at her eyes. There so blank, there's nothing behind them!" she raised her voice, finding all of this too much for her.
"I know her better than anyone, Charlie, I know the fight she capable of giving and it's not there anymore. I don't know if it was the lion, or something that boy did to her, but this is not my daughter anymore. It's just an empty shell of her." there was a sobb, from Renee, her heart breaking as she made her choice.

Paul couldn't help himself and peaked in.

"I have a life back in Florida, a husband I love, I can't stay here just waiting-"

"I should never have gave you custody," Charlie shook his head, taking the seat in front of Bella and holding her hand.

"This girl has given you her entire life, looked after you since she was practically still a toddler. because we both know you aren't capable of doing anything for yourself." his voice was a venomous spit of disgust, and Renee gasped in shock at this turn of personality.

"I may not have been the best father, and I blame myself for not trying to spend more time with her growing up. I should have called more, visited you, instead I waited an entire year just to spend a summer with her." he bowed his head and let out a shaky breath.

"But at least, I let her be a kid when she was with me. She had no responsibilities, she didn't have to worry about anything. Those summers, in California, in disney, they were the best because she got be a kid, she was carefree." Charlie could still remember his little girl's smile, the amazement in her eyes when she saw Mickey Mouse, and when they went on the Small World Ride.

"And now my baby is lying in this bed, hurting and in need and you want to leave her after all she's done for you." he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You have no right to call yourself her mother anymore."

"Charlie!"

"If you go, don't you ever come she gets better and she wants to call you, or visit you, I will pay all the expenses. But don't you ever step foot in my town again." he gave her the coldest look he could muster and Renee broke out in tears, apologizing before running out, right past Paul who she didn't even give a second glance at.

"I'm sorry, Kid," he told her, kissing her forehead. "I'm still here though and I'll never leave you."

Paul hoped Bella hadn't been awake for all of that.

He stayed outside in the hall, giving Charlie his privacy with his daughter. He still couldn't believe what he has just witnessed, that was some serious shit that just went down. Damn.

"Visiting Bella again?" looking up he saw Jessica Stanley, one of Bella's school friends. He recognized her from the many times she had come to see Bella, and a few times he had seen her on first beach surfing. She was cute and a pretty chill girl, he had no real problems with her. She was cool enough of a friend to visit Bella so that won her a mark in his book.

"Yeah," he said, his arms crossed over his chest.

She glanced at Bella's room.

"Her dad in there with her?" she asked, he nodded.

"Hmm," she took a seat next to him.

"So, how exactly do you guys know Bella. I see you and the other two here all the time?" she said, shifting her purse in her lap. A few notebooks were sticking out. It was one of those big ones that you could never find anything in. He never understood girls, they either carried tiny purses that could barely their keys or giant ones that you couldn't even find your keys in.

Paul wasn't exactly sure how to answer the question. He could just tell the truth and say that Sam was the one that found her, but it wouldn't really follow with them visiting all the time.

"We know Chief Swan," which was true, they did.

"Oh, ok." by her tone it was clear she hadn't actually cared how he knew Bella, that she had really only been trying to make polite small talk.

And then she let loose on what she was really feeling and Paul gave a long sigh.

"When I first met Bella, I only befriended her because I wanted to share in the attention she was getting from all the boys at school. I thought she was boring and stupid, and I was mad that the one guy I really wanted to like me chose her, that the only reason he asked me out was because she told him that I liked him." she leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, aware that Paul might not even be listening to her.

"So what, you come here so no one knows that you're actually a bitch who doesn't like her?" he asked, unable to stop himself.

"I come here because I'm her friend." she said, her eyes a cool glare as she glanced at him. "I grew out of that bitch face some time after I started dating Mike and realized how petty and bratty I was being."

"Uh huh, sure." he rolled his eyes, not buying the bullshit she was trying to sell. People didn't just change their opinion of someone else like that just because they finally get what they want.

"You don't have to believe me, I couldn't give two cents about a stranger's opinion of me." she flipped her hair.

For some reason he doubted that.

"But I see how you look at her, when you think no ones is looking. I don't know how you really know her, but it's clear you have some deep feelings for her." she smirked, happy with her little deduction.

"You don't know shit, girlie!" he growled at her, practically snapping his teeth.

"Maybe, but Bella cared enough about my happiness once to help me. Now it's my turn to make sure she gets with the right guy this time around." she explained, her smirk turning into a hard line.

" I might have thought Edward was hot, but those Cullen's always creeped me. I should have said something to her about it." it looked like everyone had some form of regret towards Bella, but that was because Jessica had just been a shitty person before hand, thinking badly about Bella behind her back. At least she realized it now.

"So, what I'm saying it you best watch yourself around her," Jessica then stood up and walked away, deciding to visit another day and leaving Paul to think about what the introduction of this new person meant.

It wasn't a surprise that other friends of Bella's from school came to visit occasionally, and her room was always filled with get well balloons and bouquets of flowers that came with cards with some superficial card and a few genuine ones.

Angela Weber came every Friday with homework and assignments from teachers. Strangely enough it was one of the few things Bella partook in on her own. Paul learned from Charlie that Bella was naturally intellectual, finding school easy in most subjects. Maybe it helped distract her from other things, but it was the only sign of improvement psychologically so far and so they encouraged it as much as they could.

The Doctors had switched Bella's tubing for a thinner one as her neck punctures healed, and in doing so allowed her more movement. Now she spent a lot of her time sitting up, reading over text books and writing essays with the help of Angela with her laptop at her bedside. On Sundays Angela would come back to collect the work to bring into the teachers on Monday depending on the due date.

On Saturdays Jessica came back with Mike, her on and off boyfriend. She would talk about the latest gossip at school and how her campaign for valedictorian was going. Sometimes she would paint Bella's nails or braid her hair. While Mike sat in the chair next to her bed, flicking through the channels of the tv, one hand on top of hers in hope it would bring her some comfort. Jessica noticed, but she never said anything and always went back to what she was saying or doing. They left after a few hours, leaving to go home for dinner.

Paul started to notice how her eyes would shift around the room, before finding him somehow his presence igniting something in her that brought her eyes back to life for just a little while before her grief consumed her again.

It was after Mike and Jessica left that Jacob Black would make a visit.

"How she doin', Charlie?" Jacob asked one day while visiting, Billy holding a fresh bouquet of flowers, that Jacob was sure to have picked out for Bella that week,to switch in with the old ones at her bedside.

"Sometimes it seems like she getting better, then other days she just lays there without a twitch, staring at the ceiling with this blank look on her face." Charlie of made a noise frustration and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, putting his face in his hands.

Rolling himself next to his best friend, Billy did his best to comfort Charlie.

"I know you just want her to get better, to be the girl she was before all this. But that boy hurt her bad and it is not your fault, in time she will get better but right now she needs to know you won't give up on her." he wished he had such a chance with his wife, to fight with her and get her better. But her death was instant, and his grief had been a maddening thing.

"How long have you been here, Charlie?" Billy asked with clear concern.

"You need to get some rest, it won't do any good to end up in a hospital bed right next to your kid because you haven't been taking care of yourself." Billy was right, Charlie knew that but he was scared. Scared of leaving Bella.

"She'll be fine without you for a day. We'll stay with her, but you need to go home for a little while. Get some grub in you, a good night's sleep and a shower. Once your freshened up from a good rest then come back in the morning."Billy told him with a pat on the back.

Charlie gave another heavy sigh as he sat back in his chair, dragging a hand down his face as he thought for a bit before making a decision.

"Ya, I guess you're right. Maybe I can even bring back some of Bella's things, the stuff she likes, a book or something?" he mused as he got to his feet. Putting his arms over his head and stretching his sore and tired muscles before grabbing his jacket to go.

"I think she might like that. Now get going, we got it covered here and I'll call you if anything changes with her." Billy told him, watching as Charlie bent at the waist to give a kiss to Bella's forehead as she stared at the ceiling again.

"Love you, Bells." he told her before heading for the door.

"You promise to call me-" Rolling his eyes at his friends stalling, Billy started biting at his heals with the wheels of his chairs to get him to move.

"Alright, I'm going, no need to run me over. Just take care of my girl, Billy." Billy nodded an assurance before watching his friend disappear around the turn of the doorway and into the hallway.

"He looked like crap, Dad." Jacob told him as he changed the flowers and refilled the vase with clean water and put them down on Bella's bedside table.

"I know, son, that's why I sent him home." Rolling up to Bella's bed Billy took her hand in both of his.

"Come on, hun, you gotta' pull through for your old man. I don't know how much longer he can last seeing you like this." Billy told her knowing it very well might not make a difference. She didn't even blink.

Out in the hall, his back to the wall and his eyes closed, Paul wondered what to do to make this right.

It's a long one, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll start working on the next chapter shortly. My work schedule is going to be a little busier for the next three days, but hopefully I will be able to get some work done around and between those hours. I'll do my best, so make sure to let me know that it's all worth it in the reviews.