Chapter 4: Reckoning
Emmett POV
I had to hand it to Bella. She might have been little and human, but she definitely meant business. Edward looked like he'd gotten a good hold on Kate and she'd shocked his ass off or something, and Bella was not backing down.
"Bella, love. Try to be reasonable. You are in terrible, terrible danger. If you don't allow us to take care of this situation, you will die."
Edward was looking down at Bella with this patronizing kind of face, and I have to admit, I was a little curious to see how she was going to react. She started pushing herself up, like she wanted to stand up and just couldn't get her footing, so I put her on her feet and held her steady until I knew she wasn't gonna keel over or something...Then I just sat back to watch the show.
Let me tell ya, Bella Cullen did not disappoint. Maybe it was the pregnancy thing, or hormones; I don't know. She sure wasn't acting like the meek Bella that I knew, that usually bent to Eddie's demands and let him make the decisions. She was turning red and shaking; tearing up, too. But she didn't look like she was gearing up for another cry, more like she was just so pissed off it made her eyes water or something.
"Stop speaking to me like I'm a child! You always treat me like I'm too young or too stupid to know what's going on! Of course I'm in danger! When have I not been in danger since I moved to Forks? Back off, Edward!"
She sort of flopped back on the couch then, with her head in her hands like she didn't know what to do. Esme was rubbing her back and looking at Edward like he was an ass. Which he was, you know, so I wasn't arguing with her on it. I just sort of shrugged, and picked up the remote. I figured, the best thing I could do was to find a ballgame and act as normal as possible in the interest of holding on to what little bit of a poker face I had left, you feel me? My thoughts were all over the place, and I was starting to struggle with keeping it under Douchebag's radar. I needed a nice tree-smashing grizzly-hunting session, but I didn't think it was a good idea to leave Bella. I mean, I knew she had Esme there, and Carlisle; I knew they wouldn't let anything happen to her. But I knew that Edward was pretty fucking determined to get that baby out somehow or another, and I wasn't sure where Alice and Jasper were standing on the issue. If they were on his side, then my leaving would give Team Fuckwad the advantage. So I just stayed put, watching some ESPN highlights and keeping my mouth shut.
Edward didn't seem to have the same idea about keeping a shut trap. He was pacing around the house, bitching about how we were all helping Bella with her suicide mission (he kept calling it that, too. Maybe he thought that saying the word "suicide" to a bunch of immortals would make it stand out more or something) and how we should consider her safety a higher priority than humoring a biological urge. At that point, it got pretty easy to keep him out of my head, because I just kept thinking, blah blah blah. I mean, really. Who needs to hear all of that shit?
Bella POV
After Edward insisted that Carlisle step aside while he performed the abortion, everything was a blur. I started screaming, then Emmett was standing there between us. I couldn't even see around him to Edward's face, but I could hear the hurt and the betrayal in his voice. It made me sick with guilt to know that I was driving a wedge between my husband and his favorite brother, but I truly had not expected to have Emmett's help at all. To know that he was on my side was a heady thing, not something to be easily discounted. As selfish as it was, I was just too grateful to have his support to question it.
After a one-sided conversation with Esme, in which she did all of the "talking," Edward was gone. I could hear the faint sound of the door slamming below us, and I knew that he had left the house. I didn't know where he was going or when he would return, and the knowledge that he had left me again was crushing. I couldn't hold back the panic that was choking me; I just screamed and cried it out, hoping that he would come back soon with a clearer head and less determined to kill our child. I vaguely registered the fact that I was in someone's arms, flying down the stairs. Since those arms felt like tree trunks wrapped around me, I knew that it was Emmett.
I'm safe with Emmett he won't let anything hurt me but I have to calm down can't be good for the baby got to get it together... My thoughts were a mostly-incoherent jumble, but I knew that I had stumbled over a little bit of truth. I did have to get it together; this sort of violent emotion had to be dangerous during pregnancy. I was marveling at the handkerchief in my hand, wondering where I got it and trying to take deep breaths when I heard Edward's voice.
"Please take your hands off of my wife, brother."
I didn't like the way that he emphasized "brother," like Emmett was betraying him by defending us. Apparently, Esme didn't approve either, because she was chastising him before I could even catch my breath.
"Edward! Apologize to your brother, and to your wife. You've frightened her nearly to death with your talk of forcing her to have an abortion, and Emmett is only trying to comfort her. Look at how she's shaking! Look at the fear in her eyes!"
The look on Edward's face when she pointed out how badly he was scaring me was enough to remind me of how foolish we were both being. This was my husband, my Edward. Surely we could figure this out, if I stopped screaming and he stopped trying to strap me to examination tables.
"Esme, no... I'm not afraid of Edward." As I spoke, I realized that I was still leaning on Emmett's gargantuan torso, and his weight on the other side of the cushion we were sharing made the end I was sitting on rise to a precarious point. Struggling to get myself upright, I felt something hit my back just a bit more abruptly than was comfortable, and I was suddenly half a foot away from where I'd started, sitting up straight. The sudden movement made me dizzy, and the dizziness made me recall the nausea that was sure to follow, so I swallowed hard and shook my head. While making my way through my speech, I started remembering all of the times that Edward had made a decision for me, without consulting me. Every time that he took the choice completely out of my hands, or outright forbade me to do something. I knew that my voice was rising with each successive word, but I couldn't help myself.
When I finished, every thought I'd had about maintaining civility and trying to have a calm discussion flew right out the window. He was giving me that condescending look; the one that meant that I didn't know what I was talking about and needed to be protected from my own idiocy and poor judgment. In that moment, I couldn't understand for the life of me why he didn't want to have a child. Obviously, he relished the father-figure role.
Alice POV
I sat on my bed with my head in Jasper's lap. As he stroked my hair, I closed my eyes and looked for Bella.
It wasn't that I couldn't find her, it was just that I couldn't see her clearly. She was flickering and jumping in and out of focus like the flame of a candle in a breeze. Guttering, fading, but never quite going out. I had to strain to keep her in my line of "sight," and it made my head ache with the tension.
"What are you thinking, darlin'?" Jasper's sweet, southern-gentleman charm had never faded, perhaps because he knew how it melted my heart. The occasional dropped "G" and his faint slur were comforting reminders that some things were permanent, even if my best friend's tenuous hold on her life was not.
"I don't know," I said. "Obviously, we can't stand by and let her die, but my conscience won't allow me to agree with Edward. The only path that I can see clearly is the one that follows Edward's determination, and that vision is terrifying, Jazz. She hates us. She hates me for standing by without defending her choices, she hates Edward for controlling them...I can't stand the thought of her hating me."
"But you can't see what will happen if she manages to keep Edward from forcing her hand?" His voice was calm, but I could see the fear in his eyes as well. He kept his distance from Bella physically, still unsure of himself and wracked with guilt after the papercut incident, but I knew that he loved her, too. Much like Emmett, he found her very human reactions to things amusing, and admired her bravery and spunk. "Moxie," he would have called it.
"No."
"Do you have any idea why you aren't seeing her future?" His concern was too much for him to hide then, and I nestled closer to him as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on Bella again.
"I think it's the fetus, Jazz. I can see her in a few minutes, downstairs with everyone else. She's arguing with Edward, and she's angry. She's clear around the edges, but her center is distorted. I think that the fetus has the same defense mechanism as the wolves, maybe. I can't see it's future, and Bella's future is too dependent on it. The distortion is growing; I can see it getting bigger, taking up more of the clear space inside Bella. I wonder how fast this is actually progressing..." I mused.
Emmett POV
When Edward finally got done ranting, Carlisle was the first one to say anything.
"Edward, my son. You know that there is little I would not do for you, but I can not allow you to speak to Esme or your wife the way that you are. This is no longer up for discussion. I'm sorry if that hurts you, but I have the welfare of the whole of my family to think about. Rosalie has chosen to depart us, and that wounds me in a way that you are well aware of. I beg of you, son. Please look at the damage that you are doing. You made a promise to support your wife, and you are not keeping it."
Well, shit. I guessed that meant that Carlisle had already figured out that Rose was on her way up to Tanya's place. I knew he hadn't had time to talk to Alice, so he didn't know just how fucked things were, but I was reasonably sure he had a decent idea. Carlisle's pretty quick.
"Carlisle, you will not make decisions for me, or for my wife. I will keep her safe! Bella, please come with me. We'll find another way. We'll adopt, as you said before. Or you can have a human child. Please, don't do this to me, love. You know how I react to your tendency to put yourself in harm's way, and that I can not live in a world where you don't exist. I can not watch you die."
That was a fucking low blow, and he knew it. Bella was never able to hold her own against him when he played the please-don't-hurt-me card. I guess she thought it was a low blow too, because her head snapped up and she made this choking noise that scared the shit out of me, until I realized it was a new pissed-off Bella sound that I hadn't heard yet. About that time, I guess he realized that he'd screwed the pooch, because he made his move. He ran towards her, and he must have been so preoccupied that he wasn't listening for my thoughts, because I was able to stop him before he got to her. The noise of our bodies slamming into one another was loud as hell, and I knew that Alice and Jasper would be there soon to see what all the fuss was. I had just enough time to hope that they were on our side when I heard Jazz snarling at my back.
"Edward! You will not put your hands on her!" Jasper had turned on his menacing, dangerous demeanor. Thank God.
I could hear Alice in the kitchen, saying soothing, nonsense things to Bella. Damn. I'd just gotten her calmed down, and now she was all in a tizzy again because Fuckwad couldn't keep it together. This big wave of calm went out, and I knew that Jazz was at work. Edward slumped onto the couch since it was directed at him, but I was having to work to keep my game face on, myself.
"Dude, you've got to get it together. You're fucking everything up here. She's got her mind made up, don't you realize that? You can't change her mind, and she's going to seriously hate you if you keep trying. Do you understand that you could have killed her just now? What if you'd managed to get your hands on her, moving that fast? You would have broken her fucking neck!" I was working myself up into a good lather, when I heard Alice's dainty little footsteps behind me.
"Emmett's right, Edward. I've seen it. Look at what the path that you're on is going to lead to." Alice narrowed her eyes and let him have it. I don't know what "it" was, but he looked terrible. Almost as bad as he did when he came home from leaving Bella in the woods that day.
From the kitchen, I could hear Esme's light footfalls and some heavier ones that could only be the most clumsy human in the world. When I looked up, Esme was helping Bella into a chair. Edward stood up really quickly, like he was going to try to comfort her or something, but Jasper and I weren't taking any chances. I kind of slid in front of her, and Jazz pushed his shoulder right up against mine.
"Emmett, Jasper, I swear to you that I will not touch her. Please, move aside just a bit so I can see her." He looked pretty sincere, so I stepped over and back a little, so that I was standing right next to Bella's chair. Jasper took her other flank; I guess we didn't need any mind-reading to get into formation.
I watched her looking up at him, trying to figure out why that expression on her face was so familiar. She looked shocked, angry, and kinda put off all at the same time, and I had sure as hell never seen Bella look at Edward that way. All of a sudden, it clicked into place. It was like I was watching some kind of fault line crack in her eyes. She was looking at Edward the way I must have looked at Rosalie the day we got the news.
Oh. Fuck.
"Edward," her rough, scratchy little voice said, very calmly. "I want you to leave."
