Beta'd by stitchcat and preread by HammerHips.
Slow Burn 6: The Verdict
Then, she had waited in ice for answers. Now, she basked in an inferno awaiting her revenge.
Yes. This was all just a game she never wanted to play.
Upstairs, she collapsed on the first soft surface she saw through the first doorway she stumbled into. Her waning energy was tapped and there was no resisting the allure of sleep. Her human weaknesses only seemed magnified at a time she wished for nothing more than strength. Strength of body. Strength of mind. Strength for her breaking heart…
Her dreams held none of her hopes or the visions of the future she wanted, no. Instead, monsters she knew from her visit to Italy, and some she didn't recognize, flitted in the shadows. A black line advanced on her in their billowing robes. Their red eyes shining in anticipation and their lips pulled back in cruel, cold smiles. She clutched the bundle hidden in the palest blue baby blankets to her chest and ran. She stumbled, but – for once - didn't fall. She cried, but the babe in her arms stayed silent until she rounded a corner into a narrow alley and stopped to catch her breath.
The stitch in her side was painful, but the panting passed and the pain would as well. She slowly lowered the babe in her arms so that she could see his precious curls, but as she undid the blankets with shaky hands, the bundle she had been carrying fell flat. Empty.
She kept pulling blanket after blanket but there was no baby.
"Bella! Wake up!" Rose shook her gently. She inhaled to scream but it sounded only in her mind as she woke face-to-face with the standard of all beauty. "Bad dream?"
Bella just nodded, hoping the images – the feelings – would fade as sweet dreams always did after waking. Rosalie scooted back and Bella sat up to hear the verdict as her panting stopped. Her breathing stopped altogether.
"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Rose said haughtily, but the slow, creeping smile making its way across her lips contradicted her tone.
"We're safe?" Bella asked, shocked. Too shocked to be truly relieved…
"Well, I wouldn't say we're out of the woods yet, but no-one is going to try to take your baby. Carlisle has always upheld family votes. And I'll be right here by your side until the end to ensure he continues that practice."
"Rose, who…" She started to ask who had voted against them, but she changed her mind just as quick. "No, don't tell me. It doesn't matter. We're safe." Tears that shone in her eyes seconds before fell in rivers as she sobbed, cradling her nudger the only way she could for now. She, once again, found herself in the cool embrace of Rosalie.
The worst is over, she thought. Now she'd have plenty of time to help Edward and any other nay-sayers see the light. She was…overwhelmed.
Everything had happened so fast after she realized she was pregnant. Processing had been shoved back in the light of threat and the effort to merely survive. Too much regarding her future was up in the air. She was ill and exhausted and scared and excited and so many, many other things in many degrees tangled and entwined together…
Overwhelmed summed it up nicely.
After she calmed down, she dislodged herself from her own personal guardian angel and began to wonder for the first time, "Where's Edward?"
"He went out for a bite," Rose said smoothing her hair back, but not looking Bella in the eyes.
"Rose?"
"He just needed to go off and commune with nature." Seeing Bella wasn't buying what she was peddling, Rose continued, "Look. He'll go pout in a tree, find a mountain lion who's a really good listener to whine to, and finish his wellness sabbatical with a nice, brooding soak in the first puddle of water he finds. Then, he'll be back."
"I hope so." Bella rubbed her chest. The hole – the one that always hurt when he was gone - wasn't as bad as it normally was, but it was still there. A reminder of how much she needed him, of how she wanted him…
"I know so. He just needs some space to re-inflate his massive ego and sense of self-importance. Speaking of space, we'd better get you to your room. You could use the rest and I'm sure Jasper is ready to sound the retreat from Alice and her endless shrieking," Rose winced slightly. Bella wiped her face in her hands, which did little good since they were just as wet and slick with snot as her face was, and she listened. Over the gunfire of one of Em's video games, she heard what sounded like a peacock mating downstairs. She looked to Rose, confused.
"Alice doesn't like it when she doesn't get her way, and honestly, it doesn't happen very often. Don't worry. She'll get over it. As Carlisle says, 'Times of trial are prime opportunity for great personal growth'," Rosalie imitated with eerie accuracy, rolled her eyes and helped Bella to her feet. Bella looked around and noticed the room for the first time.
The walls, where visible, were midnight blue as were the curtains hanging over the single, large window hidden behind thick, wooden blinds. Bookshelves made of walnut lined the walls and were full of more books than Bella had ever seen outside of a library or Carlisle's office. The furniture was simple brown leather, just a loveseat and two chairs with an old trunk between them serving as a coffee table with a few outdated copies of Vogue and Teen magazine resting on top. There were two end tables where more books were stacked and propped in the corner, stood an old six string.
"This is Alice and Jasper's room?" Bella asked skeptically. There wasn't one bit of frill or extravagance here. Aside from the magazines, the room didn't feel like anywhere Alice would be. No massive closets. No shopping bags in the corners. No pink anything. No diamond-studded frames with posed pictures of elaborate weddings, just a simple wooden frame on the round end table with a black and white snapshot of Alice, smiling peacefully with her eyes closed, on what looked like a gingham picnic blanket by the edge of a sparkling lake somewhere.
"No, this is Jay's study," Rose continued in a whisper, like this was hot gossip - though they were both well aware everyone would hear her every breath regardless. "Esme started making him his own space in the early eighties. Alice has a 'big personality' and Esme felt that this would give Jasper a way not to lose himself in her. Of course, Em calls it his indoor doghouse, but whatever. The point is Jasper is going to need it tonight."
Bella had a feeling his trouble with Alice – whatever it was – was her fault. She only had a chance to feel it for a second before she felt the guilt siphoned out of her and replaced by a strong sense of giddiness. Suddenly, Bella erupted in a fit of giggles and doubled over. She tasted the acid on her tongue and felt the pull of her sore stomach muscles. She was going to toss her crackers any second now, but she couldn't stop laughing.
In a flash, she was scooped up and leaning over a pristine pot, spewing stomach acid and the meager munchies she'd managed to keep down.
"I'm sorry, Bella. God! I was just tryin' to stop your guilt." Jasper winced with every heave and reached beneath the vanity to pull out a rag. He ran it under the water and passed it to Rosalie who was holding back Bella's listless hair with only a small look of disgust. Rose gently wiped the sweat from Bella's neck and ran the cloth along her forehead and cheeks while the heaving slowed, scowling at Jasper who was watching timidly through squinted eyes from just over the threshold.
"S'okay, Jasper," Bella rasped, closing her eyes and lying her head on the seat in front of her. A second later, she was floating in the muscular arms of another. She couldn't open her eyes, and sleep beckoned her once again. She felt so good in her post-puke euphoria that she didn't even want to fight it.
"To the guestroom right next door, Jasper," Bella thought she heard Rose murmur from somewhere…
"You'll be-" She'd never noticed how soothing his voice was before…
"Of course. She won't leave my sight." And with that, she succumbed to the deep slumber her body and mind both needed.
"That's my girl," a voice she wanted to go toward murmured. "Remember." A strong hand gripped hers and she cried out.
She didn't want to do this anymore.
No more burning. No more pain. No more remembering...
A/N: By some strange fluke, I've been nom'd in the Twilight Walk of Fame Awards that the Twinklings blog is hosting. Oh! And The Quiet Room too! Voting starts today, so... By the way, there are tons of fab authors and stories nom'd: Lifelesslyndsey, HammerHips, the author formaly known as Vampish Vixen, and IdreamofEddy just to name a few. If you're a noncanon reader, go vote for you faves!
Ummm, but first, review please...
