Sorry. I've been really sick. Been in and out of the hospital for weeks.
Luke's POV
----*----
I hated watching Elle's abdomen grow. Like with Bella, the ultrasound did no good. She slept most of the time. I only left her side to hunt. The Cullens seemed to know what they were doing. I was confident in their abilities.
Elle wasn't so convinced.
----*----
"I can't do this," she whispered one morning. "Luke, this is too much. Way too much." Her voice wasn't very loud, it was just a whimper.
"Elle," I helped her sit up. "You're the strongest human I know."
"How many humans do you know, Lucas?" she replied, tartly. "Are there enough for comparison?"
"Elle."
"I mean it Luke! Stop trying to make me feel better!" She tried to push me away but couldn't. "I'm going to die!"
"You are not, not you or this baby."
"Of course the baby's not going to die," she replied crying. "I won't let her. I love her too much."
----*----
"She can't love herself can she?" I muttered, once I thought I was out of Elle's ear shot. "She's trying to make up for something."
"Edric," Alice said softly. "She gave him to Tom. She had to. The adoptive parents backed out."
"Tom," Elle coughed, her voice louder than it had been over the past month, "has a job and an apartment. I don't." She started crying again.
I was instantly by her side. "Elle, you did what you had to do."
"Did I?"