{As always, forgive me for any mistakes when it comes to hospital procedures. I'm not a professional and know little to nothing about this topic in reality. Feel free to correct me if I've made any mistakes and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Weclome back!}

When Nelly hears that there isn't anything wrong with her kidneys, she nearly bursts into tears. She's beyond happy to know that her kidneys are still fully functional, however, her spine is a completely different story. Since she's been in the hospital, Nelly has been having pain in her back. It's gotten so bad that Nelly has trouble sleeping now and has some problems going to the bathroom. She can still go but at a great cost. Dr. Bishop prescribed her a steroid called dexamethasone and she takes it twice a day every day, morning and night, to alleviate the pain. However, Dr. Bishop says that it might be a good idea for Nelly to consider getting radiotherapy for the cancer cells in her spine.

Nelly has been in the hospital for two and a half weeks. She has to have a nurse with her every time she goes pee and cries all the time because of it. She asks Dr. Bishop about radiotherapy and he steps out for a moment and returns with a radiation oncologist. His name is Dr. Cogman and he explains what radiotherapy entails. Upon hearing that it doesn't require being put under, Nelly immediately agrees.

"The biggest problem," Dr. Cogman tells her and her dad, "is that you might find it hard to stay still for the treatment. You'll be completely alone in the room with the radiographers in the next room. They can hear you so if you need to move they can pause the machine."

Nelly looks at her dad. "That doesn't sound so bad," she says quietly. Currently, Nelly is lying flat on her bed. It's the comfiest she's been in the past three days and she really doesn't want to move from this position. She'll have to, however, if they decide to do the radiotherapy. Nelly will need to have a planning CT scan so that the radiographers can see the cancer and the structures around it.

"It's up to you, Nells," Billy says, grabbing Nelly's hand and giving it a squeeze. Nelly watches as Dr. Cogman leaves the room without another word. He had looked bored while he explained things and Nelly can't help but think good riddance.

"Does our insurance cover it?" Nelly asks. She's very aware of how much this must be costing her dad and she doesn't want to cause him any more worry. He has enough to deal with already, going into debt shouldn't be one of them.

"Cornelia," Billy scolds. "Don't worry about that. I've got it under control, I promise. Answer me, yes or no?"

Nelly bites her lip. Eventually, she decides that the pros outweigh the cons and nods her head. She can't deal with this pain anymore and needs to go home. She's tired of lying in this bed and not being able to do anything besides going to the bathroom.

"Are you sure?" Dr. Bishop asks.

"Yes," Nelly says. "I am. Let's do it."

"Great." He smiles. "I'll tell the radiographers that they should be expecting a new patient later today. We'll need to get you in for a CT scan right away and then send you on down." He rises and gently touches Nelly's arm. "You got this, Nelly. I'll be back in a bit to bring you in for the scan." He leaves her with another smile and Nelly sighs.

"Can you call Paul for me, please?" She asks her dad. "He was supposed to spend the day with me so he should know I'm going to be indisposed for the next few hours."

"Course," Billy says. He takes Nelly's phone from the table and goes out into the hall. Nelly knows that they're going to talk about her cancer and get sad and depressed and while she's thankful that they do it out of earshot, Nelly still doesn't like that they do it at all. It's hard on them, she knows, because they're the ones watching as she slowly falls apart, but the atmosphere they bring when they're around her and thinking about the fact that she's dying is like suffocating.

Billy comes back fifteen minutes later and then together, the two of them sit and wait for the procedure to start. They're only waiting five minutes before Dr. Bishop comes back with another man in blue scrubs pushing a wheelchair. They help Nelly into the chair and explain that Billy will have to wait here while they do this. Nelly is going in alone.

She's brought down to the lower level of the hospital for her CT scan and is pushed into a large, white room that houses a very big, very intimidating machine that almost looks camera-like with a giant hole in the centre.

"This is the machine you will be in," Dr. Bishop says. The man in scrubs leaves with a smile directed at Nelly, but right after he leaves enters a woman in a lab coat and scrubs. She has dark hair pulled up in a bun, olive skin, and a bright smile.

"Nelly?" The woman asks. Nelly nods and takes the hand offered to her to shake. "I'm Christine, I'll be performing your CT scan today. Doctor Bishop says this is for your spine?"

"Yes," Nelly says. It looks like Christine is waiting for more, but Nelly has nothing left to say. She just wants to get this over with.

"Alright!" Christine looks up at Dr. Bishop and nods. "Let's get you onto this couch." The two of them help maneuver Nelly from the wheelchair to the bed attached to the machine. They settle Nelly down and then start covering her legs with a heavy blanket that Nelly assumes is used to protect her from the rays of the machine. They also use a small, red rubber thing that goes under Nelly's knees and another that goes under her head.

"Okay, Nelly," Dr. Bishop says, "A nurse will be here in about ten minutes to bring you up to your room. You're in good hands and I'll see you when you're finished." He touches Nelly's hand for a moment and then leaves Nelly alone with Christine.

"Did he explain what's going to happen in here?" Christine asks. Nelly shakes her head no. "So what I'm going to do is once I'm behind the screen, I'll lift the couch into the machine and then the scan will start. You have to lie very still so the measurements taken are accurate. I'm also going to place some markers on your skin so that when you go in for radiotherapy the radiographers know what position you have to be in. It won't take very long, five minutes at the most." She stops and smiles down at Nelly. "You ready?"

Nelly nods. She takes in a deep breath and stares up at the ceiling as Christine puts a few marks on Nelly's sides and then leaves to start the machine. A loud whirring noise starts up and then the bed starts to move, sliding Nelly into the machine. She does her best to hold still and holds her breath whenever Christine asks her to. Nelly's eyes are closed the entire time and only when the bed starts to slide out does Nelly reopen them. She realizes how tense her body is and forces herself to relax, putting a smile on her face when Christine comes into view.

"There, that wasn't so bad, right?" Nelly nods and shifts on the bed, the pain in her back becoming way more persistent than it was before. Christine looks ready to lift Nelly from the bed, but Nelly isn't ready to move. If she moves, the pain will increase tenfold and she doesn't want that.

"Wait," Nelly mutters, biting her lip. She clenches her fists and breathes through the pain coursing through her, doing her best to not think about it. She won't have to deal with it much longer, though, if the radiotherapy actually works. It's that thought that pushes Nelly forward. She pushes herself into a sitting position and slowly swings one leg at a time off the table. She grips Christine's hand tightly and walks the short two steps to her wheelchair.

A nurse is waiting outside the room for Nelly. She's passed off from Christine and they head back up to Nelly's room to wait once more. Nelly waits only ten minutes, sitting quietly in the wheelchair and staring at the floor before another nurse walks in and brings down to the radiotherapy department. There are two radiographers in the room Nelly is brought to and when Nelly is wheeled into the room where the machine is, she immediately wants her dad.

The machine is big and white with a gray table underneath that will soon be holding her. The machine itself reminds Nelly of a sewing machine and she starts picturing a giant needle coming down from the top and piercing her over and over to rid her body of the cancer cells in her spine. The radiographers are completely ignorant to Nelly's fears and help her onto the table without a second thought.

"Nelly, my name is Doctor Cogman and I am your radiotherapy doctor," the same from earlier wearing a white lab coat says. His voice is very monotone and apathetic and Nelly still does not appreciate it. He doesn't even look at her, he's too busy looking at his clipboard. He grabs another one of those red things and slides it under her knees and another under her head and neck.

"Please stay very still while this machine is working," he says, finally looking at her. Nelly isn't glaring at him, but she isn't giving him the nicest of looks either. "You will be alone in here while you receive treatment, but we'll be in the next room and will be able to hear you. If you need us to stop for any reason, please tell us and we will. You'll hear some beeping and whirring noises while the machine works and that is completely normal. This will take about ten minutes so you won't be in here long.

"However, Dr. Bishop has told me that we should do this the rest of the week so you will be coming back for more treatment. Are you ready?"

"Sure," Nelly sighs, turning to look at the ceiling. A radiographer comes over as the lights shut off and the machine starts whirring. She stands at Nelly's head and tugs, pulling the table out to where these green lines match up with the marks made on her body. Nelly can hear a radio underneath the loudness of the machine but she doesn't listen to anything it's saying. The table rises and rises and rises until Nelly is just below shoulder height of the lady standing with her. And then she moves away and the machine starts moving.

During the procedure, Nelly only has them stop twice; once to scratch her nose and the other because staying still become too hard. But once she's done, the radiographers help Nelly back into her wheelchair and then they wheel her back to her room. A nurse is waiting in the room to help Nelly back into the bed, but Nelly feels that she has to pee. Her back is already in a load of pain and Nelly is exhausted from moving around and just wants to nap. However, the nurse thinks it's a good idea to try anyway.

Nelly doesn't look at her dad as she walks to the bathroom with the nurse. She doesn't want to see that look of pain on his face anymore. The bathroom door slides shut and she pulls up her hospital gown. Nelly slowly lowers herself onto the toilet and hisses at the burst of pain in her back. She immediately straightens up, but it does nothing to alleviate the pain. Nelly grips the silver bar to her left and concentrates on peeing. She thinks about water, she thinks about lakes, rivers, waterfalls, the sound of waves crashing down on La Push beach.

She thinks of the day she spent with Paul and the pack.

She thinks of Seth and his bright, infectious smile. Of Emily and her bubbly happiness. Of Paul and his never-ending support.

She thinks of Jacob and how he isn't around anymore but how he shows up when he's needed the most.

A trickle of pee manages to come out. Nelly sighs in relief, her bladder feeling slightly better for the first time in days. The nurse with her is smiling encouragingly and waits another minute for anything more before helping Nelly back up. Nelly knows better than to think that it was the radiotherapy that helped because those kinds of things take a few days before any progress is ever seen, but she still feels hopeful that maybe this is when things finally start getting better.

**

Paul and her dad like to rotate in shifts. One day Paul is there with her, visiting hours start to finish, and the next it's her dad. It's been like this since Nelly first arrived for chemo and it hasn't changed. Sometimes they're with her at the same time, but usually, it's one at a time. But Nelly's dad seems to have a cough. Nelly first noticed it the day after her first round of radiotherapy. The nurses are wary of it, too, she's noticed. They give him the side-eye whenever he coughs. With Nelly's weakened condition, being around people who are sick is not good for her health and everyone knows this.

Which means only one thing.

"I won't be there for the rest of the week," Billy says to her over the phone. Jacob is sitting with her, taking an out-of-character break from spending his entire life at the Cullens' house. "Jacob is going to be there for me until I'm better and-" He stops talking for a round of coughing. When he starts speaking again, his voice is rough. "Sue will be there later, she's told me. Seth might pop in, she doesn't know yet."

Nelly sighs. "Okay, Daddy," she mutters. "Get better soon, alright? I miss you."

"I miss you too, sweetheart. See you soon. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye." Nelly hits the red button and drops her phone in her lap. Jacob is busy looking at his phone and he ignores Nelly the first three times she sighs until she leans over and does it right by his ear. He slowly raises his head and stares at her with a bored expression.

"What," he says.

"I'm bored," she tells him.

"We can't do anything," he says. "You haven't gone in for radiation yet."

"What about afterwards?" She asks. "I'm so bored in here, Jacob. There is nothing to do and it's worse when your back hurts so much that you're practically bed ridden. Oh!" Nelly perks up and grins at her twin. "But guess what!"

"What?" He's looking back down at his phone.

"I had a full pee today!"

"Congrats."

Nelly huffs and leans over as much as she can without hurting her back and punches his shoulder. "Be happy for me, I've only had tiny trickles for a few days now."

"I am happy for you," he says, "but it's still weird hearing your sister talk about her urination patterns." Nelly hums and leans back against the bed. She's so proud of herself and can't actually believe how much better her back has been feeling since she started radiation. It's amazing and Nelly feels great.

"Can you go buy a board game or something?" Nelly rolls her head to the side to look at Jacob again. "For when I get back."

"They don't sell board games in hospitals," he mutters, his brows furrowing as his thumbs move fast across the screen. Nelly peeks at his phone and rolls her eyes when she sees that he's playing some tapping game.

"What about cards? Or charades! Don't they have an app for that?" Nelly insists.

"Sure, fine, whatever." His thumbs keep moving.

Five minutes later, Nelly goes down for radiotherapy. She's worked herself into excitement because finally, she gets to have some fun in this bloody place. But when she's wheeled back into her room, Jacob hasn't moved from his spot and there is no sign of a deck of cards anywhere. The nurse leaves and Nelly is still in the wheelchair, her arms crossed as she stares at her brother.

When he looks up, he looks lost. "What?" He says. "Do I have something on my face?"

"You were supposed to go buy a deck of cards," Nelly says pointedly.

"No, I wasn't?" He looks confused.

"You were. You said you would. Go get them."

"I don't have any money, how am I supposed to buy them?"

"Steal some."

"Nelly."

"Jacob."

They hold each other's gazes for a long time, neither one backing down, until Jacob gives in with a groan. He throws his head back and tosses his phone on Nelly's bed, rubbing his head before standing up. "Ness left her iPad in my truck yesterday, I'll go get it and we can do something on there." Nelly waits for him to leave before she cheers.

When he comes back, Nelly makes grabby hands for the iPad and immediately goes for the app store to download charades. She sets it up and then glances up at her brother. He's back on his phone, completely ignoring Nelly once again.

"Jacob, pick between blockbusters and Disney characters," Nelly tells him.

"Blockbusters," he says without looking up.

"Okay." Nelly taps on that category and stares at the screen as it counts down. The first movie is Rocky. "He runs up all those stairs."

"What?" Jacob looks up at her.

"Wrong, next." Nelly passes. Jaws. "The shark movie that goes du-nuh, du-nuh."

"Nelly, what the hell?"

"You aren't good at this game," Nelly tuts, passing on the movie. Avatar is the next one. "OH! These are the blue native creatures and they live on Pandora and white people suck and try to kill them to mine their planet but it doesn't work and the natives win over the dumb white people."

"Avatar," Jacob says, looking put out. Nelly doesn't care. She is going to make Jacob play this with her if it's the last thing she ever does.

"Yes!" Nelly tilts the iPad up and gets the next movie. They go through Jacob's round and when Nelly tries passing the iPad over to him, he looks annoyed.

"Nelly, leave me alone!" Jacob snaps. "I don't want to play this with you! I'm busy, okay? I don't have time to play games like this when I'm dealing with new pack members!"

Nelly looks at her brother dejectedly and then sags in the wheelchair. She deletes the charades app and downloads a game of solitaire and plays that for a while, completely ignoring her brother. She knows that he's taking peeks at her, obviously trying to see what her reaction is, but Nelly doesn't react. Jacob probably has better things to do than sitting here with her, she knows this, and it bothers her that she's taking him away from those things. But at the same time, Nelly is also very thankful that he's here instead of doing something else. He doesn't have to be. In fact, it kind of looks like being here is completely screwing up his day. Nelly doesn't want to be a bother.

She opens her mouth to tell him this, but then Seth walks in. Nelly is surprised to see him but grins and welcomes the hug he offers her. "Nelly!" Seth says. "How's it going?"

"Good!" She looks behind him for his mother, but Sue is nowhere to be seen. "Where's your mom?"

"Oh, she's with your dad helping out," he explains. "She said I should come keep you company since your dad isn't here. But I had already planned on doing that today so." He shrugs.

"Thanks, Seth," Nelly says. "That means a lot." She looks over at her brother who barely even reacted to Seth's interest. "Jacob, you can leave now."

"What?" He looks up, startled. "I'm not going anywhere."

"But you don't want to be here?" Nelly is confused.

"Yes, I do!"

"You don't, Jacob," Nelly insists. "I can see it in your eyes—you'd rather be anywhere else right now."

"Nells, I swear-"

"Jacob!" Nelly cuts him off. She smiles reassuringly at him. "It's fine, okay? I know you have better things to do than to sit with me doing nothing all day. Trust me, if I had a choice between coming here and being anywhere else, I'd choose anywhere else. Being in the hospital is not fun and it's even less so when you aren't doing anything. You can go, Seth is here. He'll keep me company until visiting hours are over."

"Nelly, I-" Jacob stutters before sighing. "Nells, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was being such a... A..."

"A dick?" Nelly offers.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I do want to be here. I was just angry because this kid kept asking me questions that he easily could have asked Sam and I took it out on you. You don't deserve that and I'm sorry that I said I had more important things to do than playing a game. I don't, I really don't." Jacob walks over to Nelly and helps her stand up. "Could you forgive me?"

Nelly laughs, "There is nothing to forgive," and hugs Jacob.

"So," he says once they've pulled away, "how about charades?"

**

Nelly leaves the hospital the following Tuesday after having a conversation with Dr. Bishop about how the radiotherapy was working for her. It was working great and she could go to the bathroom easily now. She still had bursts of pain that made it difficult for her to walk so she'd have to keep coming in for the rest of the week for treatment, but Dr. Bishop believes that she should be fine after that as the tumor in her back wasn't very large.

Her dad is still sick so Paul is the one to drive her home. But he doesn't take her home. He turns the wrong way when leaving the hospital and actually seems to be heading towards the Cullens' house. Nelly looks over at him in confusion.

"Where are we going?" She asks.

"Your dad is still sick so it's best for you to not be there right now," Paul says, tightening his grip on the wheel.

"Okay," Nelly draws out the 'ay', "so why are we heading to the Cullens'?"

"Because it's the only place when can safely assure that you won't get sick." His face is pinched when he says this and Nelly is confused. She could easily stay with Paul and not get sick.

She tells him this. "Why can't I just stay with you?"

"Because Jordan and Quil wanted some alone time on the weekend and I offered up my place," he explains, "and now Jordan has the stomach flu and is puking everywhere and I don't know what they touched while they were there so." He shrugs. "I have to disinfect everything. You can't go there right now."

"Aww," Nelly coos, grinning at Paul. "You helped them have sex. Did you give them the safe-sex talk, too?"

"Gross," Paul hisses, sending Nelly a look of disgust. "NO. But, I did leave condoms and lube out for them to use. I came back and all of the condoms were gone." He shudders.

"At least they're practicing safe sex," Nelly hums. He turns off the road and pulls into the long, winding driveway that leads to the beautiful home of the vampires. Nelly waves her hand when she sees Jacob waiting for her outside with Nessie. Paul slides out and runs around to help Nelly down. He links their arms together as he walks over to Jacob, smiling politely down at the child at Jacob's hip.

"Hi Nelly," Nessie says in her calm voice. "Jacob says that you're going to stay with us until your dad gets better."

"I am," Nelly replies. "It isn't safe for me to be around sick people because my body is too weak to fight off any illness. Where's Carlisle and Esme? I'd like to thank them for letting me stay here."

"They're in the kitchen making dinner," Nessie says. "Here, I'll take you to them." She holds her hand out for Nelly's and after a second of deliberation, Nelly takes it and allows the child to lead her into the house. Nelly slowly climbs the stairs and feels the sting in her lower back gradually getting worse and worse. She's thankful when they reach the second floor and takes a quick breather before continuing her way to the kitchen.

Esme and Carlisle are there, along with Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper. Rosalie is buttering toast and Alice is frying something on the stove. Jasper is chopping vegetables and Carlisle and Esme are simply sitting at the island talking to each other. Everyone turns to smile at Nelly when she walks into the room, though.

"Nelly," Carlisle greets. He walks over to her and clasps her hand in his ice cold one. "How've you been?"

"Good," Nelly says. "Glad to finally be out of the hospital, that's for sure." She looks behind him at the food everyone is cooking and asks, "What are you making?"

"Jacob told us that you love breakfast for dinner," Esme jumps in. "So we're making bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, omelettes, and homefries."

"Ooooo," Nelly says, excited. "That sounds delicious. Hospital food sucks so I am starving." Nelly is passed from Nessie to Carlisle and he helps her over to the island to the seat he just vacated. He sits on the other side of Esme and asks about her time in the hospital. Nelly gives him the brief rundown of things and has to stop when a plate of delicious-looking food slides in front of her.

"Oh my god," Nelly mutters. She grabs the fork and digs in, shovelling eggs and bacon into her mouth like it's the last meal she'll ever have. She compliments everyone that helped cook on their work with her mouth stuffed full and doesn't slow down until she reaches the sausages, which are the second last items on her plate. She has one piece of toast left, but Nelly doesn't think that she'll be able to finish it.

"Full?" Esme asks with a smile.

"Yes," Nelly groans. "Thank you all so much."

"No problem!" Alice grins. "Here, come with me. I'll show you where you'll be staying." Nelly pushes herself out of the chair and ignores Alice's offer of help. Nelly can do this. She sucks in a deep breath and starts walking, albeit slowly, and follows Alice down the hall to where the staircase is. Nelly stares at it for a second, wishing that she could trust her back to be able to make it up, but she can feel the pinch already and knows that it'll be easier with Alice's help.

Together they walk up the stairs and then pause when they get to the top. Nelly's back is pinching so hard that it hurts to take one step. She's breathing harshly through her teeth, eyes clenched shut with her hand gripping Alice's as tight as she can go.

"I need to sit down," Nelly manages. Alice nods and helps Nelly over to an ottoman in the hall. Nelly sits all the way to the back to help ease the pain. They're only sitting for a minute before Nelly feels better and they finish their journey at a fairly large, white room with a gorgeous four-poster bed. The white duvet on the bed is a stark contrast against the dark wood of the bed frame, along with the rest of the room. Everything in the room is pure white, even the pictures on the walls.

"It's pretty," Nelly says to Alice.

"This room is yours for the time being," Alice tells her, walking back to the door. "Feel free to decorate it any way you like." She sends one final smile to Nelly and then leaves. Nelly lets out a deep breath and situates herself on the bed, trying to find a way to get comfy around all of the feather pillows. She eventually throws them all on the ground and finds that she's better off without them.

Nelly sighs, staring up at the ceiling. She can't wait to go home.

{I apologize if this isn't as good as it could be, but I'm getting back into the swing of things so hopefully you won't be waiting two months for another chapter. The extra thing that I promised doesn't fit into the story yet so in maybe a few more chapters, I will have it posted. Thanks for your continued patience, it means a lot!}