Motorcycle, a twilight fanfic

Disclaimer: While the attempt has been made to be medically accurate, some artistic license has been taken, and statements made by Carlisle and other medical personnel are not to be regarded as authoritative.

Do not post without permission. Do not copy/print without including the above disclaimer in its entirety.

A/N: The date of this story is correct for my alternate history, as described in my profile. Barbie

Summer 2009

Nessie four A/E twelve

Jacob

I knew a split second too late that I had taken the curve too sharp; too fast.

"Jump, Ness!" I shouted. Twisting around, I threw her clear just before the bike crashed to the ground.

oOo

I must have blacked out for a second; the next thing I knew was the sound of Nessie's anxious voice. "Jake? Jacob!" She pulled the motorcycle off me, and I sat up slowly. "I'm…all right, Ness. Nothing's broken; just give me a minute." I could feel the skin growing back over my many deep scratches; for a moment they itched like crazy. "Shut the bike off, will you?"

She obeyed and looked at me with tears glistening in her eyes. "I thought —" She bit her lip and didn't finish.

I stood and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Nessie, I'm fine; good as new. What about you; you didn't get hurt, did you?"

She shook her head, still not trusting herself to speak. I knelt and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm all right, Nessie," I repeated. Reaching for her hand, I pressed it to my face.

I snorted at the images that flashed through my mind. "Aw, come on, Ness. I may not be as indestructible as a vampire, but I'm not that fragile."

"I know," she whispered. She rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. "I'm okay now."

I squeezed her gently and stood, lifting the seat of the motorcycle to get the clothes I kept in the compartment beneath. I hadn't phased on the fly in years, but I still liked to have some spare clothes handy, just in case.

"Stay here with the bike, Ness," I told her. I went a little way into the woods to change out of the torn, bloody clothes I had been wearing.

"Listen, Ness," I said as I stuffed them into the compartment; I would find a way to dispose of them later. "You'd better block your thoughts when we get back, if you can. If your father finds out we crashed, he'll never let me take you riding again."

She frowned; she was strangely naïve about how the leech felt about me. "But you saved me, Jake. You could have gotten clear yourself if you hadn't thrown me out of the way."

I shook my head. "You know your father, Ness. One hint of danger, and that's it." That much, she could understand.

"I wasn't in danger," she insisted.

"Neither was I," I pointed out…not quite truthfully. "Didn't stop your imagination from running away with you. He finds out, he'll imagine you like that."

"Oh."

I grinned at her. "Come on. Let's see if the bike still works."

"Okay."

She hopped on behind me, and we roared off down the road. Nessie was pretty good at blocking her thoughts; I was sure there was no reason for Edward ever to find out what had happened.

oOo

Two nights later, I woke to a throbbing pain in my right leg.

I reached groggily to switch the light on beside my bed and pulled up the leg of my pajamas to see what was wrong. The side of my shin was red and swollen, hot to the touch even for my skin.

Great. It was gonna be embarrassing, crawling to the bloodsucker doctor for help. But I had sense enough to know I was looking for trouble if I didn't get this taken care of. Guess I was lucky I did have a doctor I could go to; sure couldn't walk into your average emergency room.

I felt lightheaded as I stood and pulled on the nearest shirt, not bothering to fasten the buttons. I began limping slowly across the yard from what blondie called "the doghouse."

I jumped as Bree appeared out of nowhere. "Hi, Jake."

"Oh…hey, Bree. Say, you know if Dr Fang's in?"

She giggled as she stepped up on the porch with me. "He's with Mother…but I could get him for you."

"No, thanks." I crossed the room and dropped onto the sofa. "I'll just wait here."

She frowned and put a hand on my forehead. "You're feverish."

I forced a smile. "I'm always feverish."

She shook her head. "Even for you. Do you want a drink, Jake?"

"Yeah…sure."

She disappeared, to return a few moments later with a tall glass of cool water. I drank it and passed the glass back. "Thanks, kid," I murmured, letting my eyes fall closed. I seemed to be in a feverish half doze; the next thing I knew was the touch of a cool hand on my forehead. "Jacob?"

I blinked up into the doc's concerned eyes. "I told Bree she didn't have to call you."

"No…I'm glad she did; you're running a temperature of one eleven."

"That's not that bad, is it?"

"With a normal temperature of one oh seven, no," he admitted, "but a rise of four degrees certainly has a cause. Bree tells me you were limping; what seems to be the problem?"

"I took a spill on the bike a couple days ago." I didn't mention Nessie; I was trying to remember the incident as if I had been alone when it happened. "Took a couple layers of skin off my leg. It healed right over, but now it hurts…bad."

"Let's take a look, then." He gently pulled up the leg of my pajamas to expose the injury. For the first time, a vamp's cold hands actually felt good as he moved them lightly over the wound. "Did you clean this out at all, Jake?"

"Nah. I mean, there's never been any point — or any time."

"True. But I think this time —" He broke off, and I followed his gaze to the top of the stairs. Esme stood there, holding a robe wrapped around herself.

"Jacob?" she said anxiously. "Carlisle, is he all right?"

"He has a pretty serious infection, love, but nothing we can't take care of." He turned back to me. "It seems you had quite a bit of road dirt ground into the flesh, and the new skin grew right over it. Now the particles are acting as irritants, and any contamination on them is causing the infection. What I'm going to do is take you up to the office and get this cleaned out a little."

"Sure," I murmured. He offered me a hand to get up, but I ignored it and pushed myself to my feet, fighting off a wave of dizziness. Dr Fang stayed close behind me as I made my way slowly up the stairs, but he didn't offer help again.

"Can I get you anything?" Esme questioned, stepping back to let us pass as we reached the top of the stairs.

"A cool cloth," the doc replied; "he's a bit feverish. But better wait until I finish with his leg."

Aw, come on; surely the doc didn't think as little of her control as that. No, I never trusted any of them around blood — not even Doc, really — but I'd'a thought he would. "Give 'er a little credit, why doncha?" I murmured.

"What was that, Jake?" he questioned, accompanying me into his study.

I shook my head. "Nuthin'."

"Just lie back here, Jake."

I lay back willingly enough; I hated showing weakness, but I honestly wasn't sure how much longer I could have stayed on my feet.

I felt the prick of the needle as he injected the anesthesia into my leg. "Let me know if that wears off," he said quietly. "I'm not certain of the dosage for werewolves."

I snorted softly. Right. That was me, Jake the guinea pig.

"Shouldn't you be wearing gloves?" I realized suddenly, watching as he set out his supplies.

He chuckled softly. "No, it's not necessary. The trace venom in my skin keeps my hands more sterile than most medical-grade gloves; I only wear them for show around humans. That and to keep them from feeling the chill."

He had begun work as he spoke, making an incision, then quickly removing the foreign object and putting on antiseptic before the cut had time to close. Some of the pieces he removed were nearly microscopic; even working at his speed it was over an hour before he finished.

"I'd really like an x-ray," he murmured, running his hand over the area, "but I think I got all of it."

"Princess and the pea," I murmured, thinking of one of the fairy tales I had read to Nessie when she was little.

He chuckled. "Something like," he admitted. "We'll just have to watch and see if there's any sign any irritants are still there." He turned aside to shake a pill out of each of two bottles. "Esme," he called, "bring up a glass of water, love."

She appeared seconds later, her eyes full of motherly concern. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine, love. Thank you." He took the glass from her and handed it to me with the pills. "Swallow these, Jake."

"Sure you got the dosage right?" I grumbled.

He laughed out loud at that one. "They're just a precaution," he admitted. "Now that we've taken care of the cause, I don't think your body would have any trouble fighting off the infection on its own. Do you want to sleep in here, Jake, or take the bed in the guest room?"

Guess I wasn't going back to the doghouse. "I'll just stay put here, if you don't mind, Doc."

"Not at all. Call me if you need to. Esme, don't baby him too much." With a last smile, he turned and left the room.

Esme fussed over me for a few minutes, spreading a blanket over me and putting a cool cloth on my forehead. "Do you need anything else, Jake?"

"Nah." All her fussing would have been embarrassing, if I hadn't been too near sleep to really care. "I'm fine…go back and play with the doc."

She laughed a bit self-consciously; bet she'd'a been blushing if she hadn't been a vamp. "Call if you need anything.

"Yeah, sure, sure." Just to be left alone to sleep, thanks. "'Night, Esme."

She pulled the blanket up a little higher and brushed a hand across my face before stepping out of the room after her husband.

oOo

I didn't notice anything when I first woke up; their scent was all through this house. But then I realized with a start that Edward was standing against the desk, as still as if he had turned to stone, his hard eyes boring into me.

"Both of you are blocking your thoughts, mutt," he growled. No "how are you feeling?" or even "good morning." Not that he needed to ask, and good morning was probably about the last thing he wanted to wish me. "She was with you when you crashed, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," I admitted sullenly. "How do you think I got hurt, leech?" I let the image of throwing Nessie out of the way flash through my mind.

He was uncomfortably silent for a moment. Both of us knew that my instinctive protection hadn't been strictly necessary; she might not be as indestructible as full vampire, but a little ol' motorcycle wasn't gonna hurt her. And he could see in my memory of the event that I hadn't been trying to stay in his good graces — stay. Right, Jake. As if I'd ever got into them in the first place.

When I felt the bike going over, my first and only thought had been for Nessie's safety; let the leech fault me for that.

"No more stunt riding," he ordered finally. It was apology and forgiveness in one — or at least, as close as I was gonna get. "Carlisle wants to come check on you, so I'll be going." He paused at the door. "Oh, and by the way…Carlisle does trust Esme's control; he just doesn't like her to be tortured with thirst." He shook his head. "Though I can't imagine why he thinks the smell of your blood would be a problem."

Huh. Strange how insulting it seemed to be told the vamps thought I was unappetizing. And I honestly didn't know if the leech intended it that way, or if he had only been defending the doc.

All in all, though, he let me off easier than I expected. For Nessie's sake, probably, but still… Thanks, leech.

THE END

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!

Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. If you have questions regarding my Twilight alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie