Disclaimer: I own nothing. These characters and this love story belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

English is my second language! Have that in mind...

Two things troubled me.

One was less serious, only annoying.

The dog never leaved.

The other was decisive. She turned for the worst. She could hardly move anymore. Carlisle had to hook her up to monitors. No food would go down. She vomited at the faintest smell. She was more than pallid. Her heart was weak, beating irregularly. Carlisle had predicted from the start that the heart would take damage from fast increase of body fluids. Ironic, since she was severely dehydrated and had been walking that path for days. I guess the heart was failing from everything now.

I was numb. I hardly noticed the pain anymore. It was always there. It was a part of me now. I saw the end of the tunnel. Every time our eyes met it felt like a farewell. But she never said goodbye.

She repetitively patted the huge, blue and eggplant, bulge of hers.

I was disgusted.

The bulge was disgusting.

I am disgusting.

Carlisle spoke with Jacob, being close to depression himself. "Everything about her condition is accelerated. I'm watching her—and not just her, but the fetus as well—starve to death by the hour. I can't stop it and I can't slow it down. I can't figure out what it wants."

The tension and anger rose in Jacob day by day. Isn't it enough for the monster to beat her from the inside out. No it has to starve her too. It is probably looking for something to sink his teeth into—a throat to suck dry.

The monster did not need a throat; it would suck her dry right on the spot. It already had. That wasn't my Bella anymore. The girl in the final stages with a death wish was someone else. Fighting for the survival of a monster with a smile on her face. She was still looking forward to the birth of the child.

If it was a child.

Those fast heartbeats I felt might as well have belonged to an animal, a human, an anchorman, a serial killer or a truck driver—anyone—I couldn't care less about it. Only one heart kept my body sentient. As the fragile heartbeats became more irregular, the weaker I was too. Without her heart I had nothing left.

And the monster I had created took that heart away from me. I had killed her myself. The greatest moment of my life created the worst possible moment of my life. And the worst possible moment got worse every minute.

It was a bloodsucker like I was. Couldn't it have inherited my passion for music, my hair color, my birth mothers freckles, my—

Blood. Sucker.

Could it be as simple as that?

I got Carlisle, Jacob and Rosalie to the other room. Leaving Bella with Esme, I didn't want to disgust Bella with what I was about to say. That I was excited. It was like finding the last hair on a balled man's head.

"Jacob had an interesting idea of that the fetus wants."

According to Jacob's thoughts he did not know what I meant about it. Me? What did I say? Or have you been going through my head again?

I moved on. "Her body is accepting food about as well as one of ours would… Perhaps we should address the needs of the fetus first?"

"I'm not following you, Edward," Carlisle put his curious face on. The fetus lives through her, and if she's not strong enough—

"Think about it, Carlisle. If that creature is more vampire than human, can you get what it craves—what it's not getting? Jacob did."

Carlisle stopped breathing. Oh… you think. He gathered the words. "You think it's… thirsty?" I wonder how we best should try that theory. A blood transfusion—

"Of course, we have all that type O negative blood laid aside," Rosalie was suddenly excited instead of protective. I'll get the blood right now!

Carlisle watched her. "Sure, what would be the best way to administer…?" He reflected. Blood transfusions in that amount won't be good for her…

"The traditional way!?" Rosalie was eager with a fanatical smile on her face.

The proposal was a lot to take in for everybody. Jacob made a strained face.

"Monstrous?" I asked. "Repulsive?"

"Pretty much."

"But what if it helps her?" I congregated the string of hope and my love for Bella and watched him with intent.

He couldn't object to that one.

This was a shot for life.

Bella could barely reach for the cup in Carlisle's hand. She was too weak to lift her head from the bed.

"We could try another method," Carlisle tried. She looks terrified…

"No." Bella whispered. "We don't have time…"

A first attempt at health.

All of us were paralyzed when she deliberately sniffed the end of the straw. She flinched and her face made the most active expression so far today.

I suffered with her.

This was my fault. My actions made her drink that. The blood in the cup made my throat grasp but I knew it caused queasiness for her.

"Bella, sweetheart, we can find an easier way." I tried to take the cup away. I hoped that Carlisle had feeding tubes available.

We had to figure this out.

"No. that's not it…" She seemed astounded now. "It's just that it—it smells good."

Good?

My chin dropped.

This girl sure was one of a kind. First, she could seize the scent of blood, and now—she thought it smelled good. Second, I was unable to read her mind. She could impossible be human. There is something else about her. She was a peculiar creature. A very admirable one.

Her lips surrounded the straw; she closed her eyes and creased her face. She would walk through fire for this child. I heard the sound of her sucking the blood from the cup, then her moan.

Disgust.

I took two quick steps forward. "Bella, love—"

"I'm okay," she whispered. She opened her eyes and met mine. She seemed surprised, thoughtful… remorseful. "It… tastes good too."

She was illimitable.

She was everything.

I carefully held her worn face and looked into her eyes. It was still my Bella in there. No one else could astonish me like she could. And she didn't even know.

She frenetically tried to empty the cup.

"Excellent." Rosalie beamed.

Yes.

It felt like my heart started beating—or was it Bella's that became stronger and more regular? I felt a rush of serenity. Her heart was beating in a normal pace. I exchanged glances with Carlisle who also noticed.

He smiled briefly. It sure has an effect on her… You hear the heart?

I nodded.

Maybe…

Jacob was irritable about the fact that she liked the blood and chose to pick on me to relieve his discontent. Picking on me for being a bad liar, persuading himself that our primal wish right now was to rip the cup away from her and finally he convinced himself that I would have annoyed the crap out of her if I was able to read her mind.

His frustration was as substantial as his atrocious reek.

Amusement.

I chuckled.

Bella stopped drinking instantly and looked at my smiling face. Her face was suddenly happy too. And I felt our strong bond push itself towards love instead of survival. She was glowing.

"Something funny?"

"Jacob." It felt like my eyes told her a thousand words and my mouth a single one.

"Jake's a crack-up," she smiled at him briefly.

Sort of.

I wonder why I liked him since I felt dislike to. Maybe that was jealousy. Right now, I was glad he screwed the lid off my jar. Releasing an ounce of more pain—second time now. I realized it was a quality of his. He probably didn't know about it himself. That he was the kind of person who sheered someone up by being himself.

I experienced it now.

Bella had experienced that.

Their relationship grew strong then. Ours grew strong now.

Well, we'd always discussed the fact of acquiring a family pet.

Fetch Jake! Good boy.

The smile lingered behind my face as I saw Bella's skin shift in pink, she was moving normally in the bed. As she got the second cup she was sitting up on her own.

We were all captivated by the sight of her quick recovery.

This was working.

The next chapter is... amazing. One of my favorite parts of the whole Twilight saga.