A/N: Hello lovelies. I know it's been a while since I've uploaded. This isn't because I was discouraged or because I gave up on the story. Your support of this story truly touches me. I was just immersing myself in some good reading. Every so often I need to read some good writing just to focus myself...if that makes any sense. The next few chapters were and will be pretty hard on me, having to relive similar events that's happened to me. But surprisingly these chapters came to mind so easily it almost wrote itself. These aren't my characters I just superimpose them onto myself and my situations and set them free. Okay here you go. All mistakes are mine.
The rest of the barbecue went by in a blur. I found myself really laughing for the first time in a long time. As the temperature dropped quite dramatically with an unexpected evening shower we went inside the Cullen house. The adults sat and drank wine and beer and then gradually started hitting the harder stuff. I could hear the twins mom's high pitched laughter all the way across the house, she never could hold her liquor, I remember many a night when she was glossy eyed after two glasses of wine.
With the parents on their way to drunkenness the younger crowd got more comfortable, a few of them grabbing a drink or two themselves. Full and happy and boisterous we made some of the best memories. The images running through my mind now, bringing a smile to my face.
I was so happy to have reconnected with Rose and Alice. I hadn't thought I'd ever be brave enough to see them again. I know I hadn't been in the past when I'd avoided them at all costs. So stupid of me. I've been such a horrible friend to them and they've welcomed me back as if it were nothing. Having Alice sit in my lap and Rosalie intricately braid my hair I knew I couldn't live without them in my life, not anymore.
I don't know if he noticed but Edward had been paying particular attention to me that night. He would always choose the seat next to my, if the girls weren't surrounding me, laying his arm across the back of my seat; absent mindedly playing with the end of my braid or gently rubbing where my shoulder met my neck. Or placing a hand on my arm when he was speaking directly to me, or giving me small smiles that held secrets. He still had the habit of including me in the conversations if he thought I was retreating into myself which happened more and more as the night wore on. I had felt weird, off. And every time I tried to pinpoint what exactly I was feeling I got distracted. Alice would jump on my lap and start asking about my schedule so we could make plans to hang out, of course, and calling Angela so she could talk to us on her breaks. Or Rosalie would ask penetrating questions while gazing steadily at me gauging my responses. Or they would end up bickering with Emmett who was on his way to being pretty toasted with all the beer he was sneaking, drawing Edward into their familial squabbles.
I loved watching them, never having a big family and the closest thing to this I had was Michael. I couldn't imagine keeping up an argument as long as they could and having to deal with the person causing me so much ire 24/7. I couldn't imagine having a support system this large. I had been so solitary, especially these last few months all this camaraderie was getting to my head making me feel light.
That was until I started feeling very…dense, like literally dense. Moving my limbs felt physically painful as if I had extra gravity pinning me down. My breathing became labored and short. It took all of my will power not to pant out loud. I had to shift Alice off of my lap and I tried to be inconspicuous about my pain. I couldn't think straight. I was up and using the bathroom almost every half hour. But it wasn't until the salty pooling of saliva filled my mouth my throat constricting and my stomach rolling that I finally figured out what was wrong.
I hadn't taken insulin today. Not with the ice cream Edward bought me earlier, not with the barbecue and the countless sweet tea I'd consumed. Not with the dessert Alice heedlessly fed me as she argued with her siblings.
Unceremoniously I jumped out of my chair, my muscles straining and pulling uncomfortably under my skin searching the living room for my bag. I had meant to look to see if I'd brought my insulin with me. Frantic now I dumped the contents of my bag onto Esme's recently vacuumed floor. Receipts, makeup, my wallet, loose change, a fleet of bobby pins and hair ties, some mail I've yet to open but nothing I need in this moment. Not my sugar monitor and not my insulin.
In this moment I'm so terrified. I shouldn't have come here I thought. I had a plan. I was going to go out, get my nails done and be home for an early dinner. I was not going to have to bring my insulin with me. I was going to be fine. If I feel fine then I am not sick. But I do not feel fine. I feel very, very sick.
I am sitting on the comfy carpet of the Cullen house with my bag and its contents in between my bent knees my feet a dead weight behind me when I hear Edwards calming voice.
"Bella, you okay?" But his voice doesn't calm me. His eyes take me in alarm freezing his movement. I stand on unsteady legs haphazardly throwing my meager belongings back into my purse leaving some of the smaller pieces on the floor not having the energy to pick them up. I stand quickly and my stomach rolls uncomfortably. My saliva pooling in my mouth again, but I don't swallow. I know it will only make me feel worse, my stomach won't be able to handle anything else, not even a small swallow.
I shake my head charging for the front door. My movements are clumsy. I know I'm bumping into end tables and other furnishings but I have to get out of this house. Its too beautiful and I think that if I'm here much longer I will mar it's beauty.
"Bella!" I don't slow down. I burst out of the front door trying for my truck. If I can just make it to my truck I can go home and take my insulin and everything will be fine, just fine. It'll take a few hours and I'll have to stay in bed but I'll be okay. It's always easier not to throw up when I'm laying down. I've been in worst situations with my diabetes. I just have to get to my truck. Get home.
But all this movement has irritated my stomach too much. The gagging comes first, it is the only warning I will get. I find the least beautiful bush I can and I throw up. I throw it all up. The beautiful food Carlisle and Esme created. The sweet tea the sweets all the way back to that ice cream and cone I had earlier in the day.
It is still raining slightly and the cool precipitation feels wonderful on my burning skin. I crawl away from the mess I've made of the beautiful landscaping and collapse onto the wet grass. I luxuriate in the puddle I've fallen into. I'll just cool down, make sure my stomach is satisfied now that it's empty and I'll go home, take some insulin and sleep the rest of the day away. I am oh so tired. I just want to sleep. Nothing seems coherent anymore.
I feel a cool sturdy hand on my forehead and a soft warm voice swear.
"Edward, what happened?" The panicked voice of the stranger is still very soothing. Even though I can tell it sounds a bit panicked.
"I…I don't know. She just jumped up and started rifling with her bag. Then she rushed out and threw up. She wouldn't answer me when I asked what was wrong." Somewhere in the distance I heard a feminine voice having a one sided conversation. She sounded worried as well. I couldn't hear what she was saying. But I think at one point she dictated the Cullen's address.
"Bella, can you hear me, what's wrong dear?" My vision was blurry. I couldn't make out who was talking to me. I saw light hair, it must have been Carlisle. His hands going to my wrist and looking at his watch checking my blood pressure and trying to get my attention.
"I have to go home. I…need…medication." I didn't have the presence to be embarrassed to be the center of attention. "I just need to drive home so I can get it. I'll be fine if I…"
It was becoming hard to hold this conversation. My throat was raw from the vomit and I needed water my mouth thick and dry. I slumped farther into Carlisle and into the grass my eyes drooping. I didn't want to be here anymore.
"What medicine?" When I didn't respond he asked his son, "What medication does she take Edward?!"
"I don't know Dad! I didn't know she took anything." I had long since lost interest but I tried to reanimate myself so that I could help. It was really the panic in Edward's voice that grabbed my attention. I hated that he sounded like that, as if this was somehow his fault. I hated that I made the most carefree, kind person I've ever met sound so devastatingly distraught. My eyes sluggishly opened to see the Hale family rush out of the house. Alice was in hysterics the moment she saw me on the grass, her parents trying to console her and ushering her shuddering form in the house when their efforts proved futile..
"She's diabetic! She needs her insulin shot." Rosalie rushed over to Carlisle and kneeled beside him in the grass, her nice denim jeans darkening with raid and mud. "That's what's going on right Bella?" I managed a nod and Carlisle swore.
"Esme, ETA on that ambulance!"
"They should be here any minute." She was right. We heard the wailing of the sirens off in the distance, it wouldn't be long now. I tried to protest the ambulance but Carlisle shushed me.
Red and white lights flashed across my already compromised vision, squinting through my eyes I saw the paramedics rush towards me. And Carlisle took charge.
"Her name is Bella Swan. She's diabetic and hasn't taken her insulin in some time. I'm assuming she's has ketoacidosis. Her blood pressure is pretty high I didn't have my cuff with me and I wasn't in the best state of mind. She hasn't been keeping up with conversation very well and she's thrown up quite a bit as well."
By the time I was secure in the back of the ambulance I was having a tough time even realizing what was going on. They took me to the hospital in Port Angles and I was rushed into the ER. Three nurses tried to set me up with an IV before they finally found a vein and I was so relieved, they were talking about sticking my neck or foot and I've never needed that before but it didn't sound pleasant. I was dehydrated but they wouldn't let me have any water.
"You won't be able to keep the liquid down sweetheart." One nurse with pretty blue eyes told me, "You'll feel better when we set up your IV. We'll have to hydrate you that way."
I couldn't hear what they were saying. I heard bits and pieces, snippets and what I did catch scared me. I was moaning out, loudly, crying, demanding they let me know what was going on. But they didn't and eventually the nurses shushed me, informing me I was scaring the children in the surrounding rooms. Then I began to quiet but only because the room was beginning to dim. And everything faded to black.
A/N: We all pretty much knew she was going to end up in the hospital, and now she has. Yes this happened to me except I was at home with my little brother when I finally admitted defeat and called an ambulance to pick me up. He had to come with me and I remember thinking I was so proud of him for being so brave when I was so sick. I gave him instructions and he followed them to the letter. And I felt so sad I put him through that but so proud that he took it in stride and was the strength I needed when I didn't have any. Anyway tell me how you like it. The next chapter will post as soon as I finish it. Love ya!