Chapter 11- Complications.

Jacob wordlessly took in the sight of Bella's swollen belly, and his mind saw the truth of the situation. I was watching his face, saw the horror and revulsion that crossed it, and the flame of rage that burned in his dark eyes as he looked from Bella towards Edward. Edward, showing more animation than I had seen from him in days, rose to his feet and towered over Jacob, glaring at him with flat, black eyes.

"Outside, Jacob," he snarled.

Jacob rose fluidly to his feet and faced Edward. "Let's do this," he said flatly.

I felt, rather than heard, the menacing growl that rumbled through Emmett as he stood beside Edward. At the same time Jasper came up behind him, and the three of them faced down the wolf.

"No," Bella gasped. She stumbled towards Edward and I moved with her, supporting her weight so she wouldn't fall as she clutched at his arm.

"I just need to talk to him, Bella," Edward said softly. He stroked Bella's face lovingly, and for a moment I thought Jacob Black would tear in to him right there in the living room. But he flared his nostrils and set his jaw and did nothing as Edward and Bella stared into each other's eyes. "Don't strain yourself. Please rest. We'll both be back in just a few minutes."

Reluctantly Bella let me lower her carefully onto the cushion, wincing as her sore rib moved and the baby kicked against her bruised skin. "Behave," she whispered to Jacob, her voice as stern as she could make it. "And then come back."

Almost imperceptibly Edward shook his head as Jasper and Emmett made to follow him, and they grudgingly dropped back, standing in the window with their arms folded and staring out.

"Damn," Emmett muttered. "They've gone so far I can't hear them."

Bella gagged and threw up into the basin again. Esme whisked the bowl away and I brushed Bella's hair away from her sweaty face and tucked the blanket more comfortably around her. "Don't get upset," I said to her quietly. "You know it makes you worse. Edward isn't going to do anything stupid." I hope. Although I can't say the same about your dog. "What are they doing?" I asked Emmett.

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the distant pair. "Talking… oh shit. They're shaking hands?" He looked back at the rest of the family, bewildered and slightly suspicious. "Don't know if that's a good thing, but they're coming back."

Edward's face was expressionless as he re-entered the room. Jacob was on his heels, but he hesitated in the doorway, looking at the rest of us gathered around Bella. "We're going to let Jacob and Bella speak privately," Edward said tonelessly.

"Over my pile of ashes," I hissed. Jacob Black was like Edward- he had proved before that he would do anything to keep Bella human and his.

Edward ignored me, speaking directly to Bella. "Jacob wants to talk to you. Are you afraid to be alone with him?"

Bella looked confused for a moment, and then looked at me with determination. "Rose, it's fine. Jake's not going to hurt us. Go with Edward."

How could she be so trusting? Edward had said he would do anything…what made Bella think he wouldn't use Jacob Black to further his ends if it meant keeping Bella alive? "It might be a trick," I said cautiously, wanting her to think.

She shook her head. "I don't see how."

"Carlisle and I will always be in your sight, Rosalie," Edward said, anger cracking through the emotionlessness voice. "We're the ones she's afraid of."

Bella's eyes filled with tears. "No Edward, I'm not…"

Edward tried to smile. "I didn't mean it that way Bella. I'm fine. Don't worry about me." He looked at the rest of us. "Everyone…please." He motioned towards the door and the others moved out. I paused in the middle of the room, glancing from Edward in the doorway back to where Bella sat on the sofa, clutching the blanket with Jacob looking down on her.

"Rose," Bella said softly. "I want you to go."

Fine then. I gestured for Edward to go ahead of me. Not even for Bella's sake this time…he was so angry with me there was no way I was turning my back to him.

"If he hurts her…" I snarled to Edward's back, and then pressed my lips together as Emmett caught my eye and shook his head.

We circled the house and went back inside through the kitchen, taking up much the same positions as we had been in earlier. It was not my intention to listen, I don't think any of us meant that, but I wasn't the only one who felt uneasy about Bella being alone in Jacob's company. So we went into the kitchen, and we heard Bella and Jacob talking about Edward's offer…

"You would give her to him?" I hissed, appalled. "You think she would kill this baby, your baby, and replace him with Jacob Black's baby?"

The look Edward gave me was glacial. "I will do anything to ensure that Bella lives," he said dispassionately. "Anything at all…even that."

"You disgust me," I said coldly, and my words seemed to echo in the silent room. "Instead of spending so much time trying to find a way to bend her will to yours, why don't you spend some time trying to understand her?"

No one moved after that until we heard the slam of the front door and the scent of wolf lessened slightly, and then I turned on my heel and went back to Bella. She was crying, but in a lethargic, dejected way…she didn't even have the strength for sobbing.

Moved by an unfamiliar feeling of pity I crouched down by her head, taking up a tissue and gently wiping her eyes, which met mine hopelessly. "Why do I hurt them so much?" she whispered brokenly. "All the people I love- Edward, Jacob, my dad…all I've done is hurt them. And for what? I know I'm dying Rosalie, I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this, and then…" She closed her eyes.

Oh Bella. You should never have known anything about this world. It should have just been you and Jacob and no complications…not this.

"You're not going to die," I said, low and steady. "You're strong Bella, you know that- look at how well you've done so far, and it's got to only just be a little longer. You can do that!"

"You'll take care of him for me, won't you?" Bella's eyes opened and burned into mine with hypnotic fervour. "My baby…you'll make sure he's okay. You'll love him for me…you'll be everything I can't be for him."

For a moment I saw it, a glittering vision of possibility, all that I'd ever wanted…Emmett and I and the baby, Bella's baby- but she was dead and he was mine…the monster within me roared in victory and god help me, but I wanted it to be true…everything I have ever wanted, almost within reach…

I pushed it all away, shut my heart to the very idea of it and shook my head at her. "NO!" I snarled, and for the first time since she'd run into my arms at the airport Bella cringed away from me. I swallowed hard and fought to control myself.

"Don't talk like that," I said at last, and my voice was smooth and gentle and under my golden gaze and honeyed voice Bella relaxed. "You don't need to. You're strong and this is going to work Bella- you'll get your baby and the venom will take care of the rest. Keep your heart beating, that's all…it worked for the rest of us and it will work for you too."

Bella sighed, and nodded. "Right," she said, almost inaudibly. "Keep my heart beating…I can do that." She shivered. "I'm so cold Rose."

"I'll turn up the heat," I said, rising to my feet and going to the control panel discreetly located on the wall. "Or would you like a hot bath? Although- well, my tub is temporarily out of order…we might have to use Alice's bathroom."

I don't know if it was the stress of Jacob's visit or just a coincidence, but Bella's condition deteriorated badly over the next several hours. We kept the iv dripping steadily into her veins as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and Carlisle began listening to her heart with increasing frequency and solemnity.

"I want her on a heart monitor," he said, early in the evening. He looked from Edward to me and back again. "We're reaching a critical point here- I want to bring down the hospital bed and equipment and be ready to act on a moment's notice." He gently stroked Bella's white cheek. "Bella? Bella? Can you listen to me for a moment?"

Bella opened bleary eyes and mumbled something.

Carlisle spoke to her gently. "Bella, you're not doing well. I want you to consider allowing us to deliver the baby now- I'm not sure how much longer your body can hold out. Because you're not able to eat your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs, and your organs are all under incredible stress."

Bella's fingers fluttered feebly until I gave her my hand, and then her delicate fingers closed around mine. "Too soon," she rasped. "He's not ready."

Edward made a muffled noise of agony. "Bella…" he breathed.

Bella's eyes met mine, and I nodded at her reassuringly before I turned to Carlisle. "We'll let you put the monitors on," I said quietly. "We'll let you bring the hospital bed down and have everything set up ready for an emergency. She's got the iv in and anaesthesia can be administered in seconds if it comes to that, but we're not delivering the baby yet. Bella wants to wait." I met his eyes and he read the challenge there as I said slowly, "We're trusting you not to do anything against Bella's wishes…Edward too."

Carlisle took a deep breath, but said nothing further to me as he gave some terse directions to the others. Moments later the living room furniture was shoved out of the way and the room itself took on the air of a hospital, the railed bed in the middle of the space, other medical equipment laid out ready on the table.

I lifted Bella solicitously from the sofa and laid her on the bed, watching carefully for signs of pain. She winced as I settled her onto the air mattress, but then sighed and relaxed. "Okay?" I asked her.

Bella looked uneasily at the monitors as Carlisle wheeled them over. "Is this really necessary?" She curved her hand protectively over her belly, and then exhaled noisily as the baby kicked. I could see the movement of the baby thrusting up against the sweatshirt, and I winced in sympathy. That would have hurt.

"It's really just a precaution," I said to her. "It will keep a record, and give us early warning if things start to get worse."

I sounded confident but inside I felt sick. Carlisle was right to be concerned- nothing we had done had seemed to make the slightest bit of difference. The baby's growing strength was painful but not, at this point, life threatening. The problem was that Bella's body was rejecting every form of nutrition we had tried. She could keep down no food and even the nutrients dripping steadily directly into her bloodstream seemed to be having no affect. She was starving to death before our eyes.

I attached the monitors to her chest, which felt little more than skeletal now, plugging in the leads and replacing the bag on her iv. Bella watched me with dull eyes, and I briefly touched her hand. "You're sure?" I said in a low voice. "We can deliver the baby any time and I'll do what I can for him." Not that that would be much. Without medical equipment designed and sized for neonates there would be very little I could do for a dangerously premature infant in crisis.

Bella squeezed my hand. "Not yet Rose. He needs more time." Her hand on her belly moved as the baby moved inside her, and her eyes drifted closed again. "More time…" she mumbled.

More time…would we have more time? Would we have enough time? Bella's stomach looked enormous, but in reality it was her extreme thinness that made her look so completely out of proportion. Her uterus, and therefore the baby, was not yet at a size approximate to that of a full term human pregnancy.

There was little movement in the living room after that. While Bella slept Edward stood at the bedside, never taking his eyes off her still, pale, face. I sat on the sofa, watching the heart monitor and listening to Bella's laboured breathing. Emmett lay with his head in my lap, staring up at the ceiling, as I combed my fingers rhythmically through his curly hair. Alice sat on the floor, leaning against Jasper's legs as he sat in the armchair.

"Rose," Carlisle said quietly, appearing at my shoulder. "Esme and I are going to go out on a very quick hunting trip." He glanced uneasily at the motionless figure in the hospital bed. "Bella seems stable for the moment, and I think it would be wise for me to take care of my own needs now so that I needn't leave her again. We won't be long, and I'll keep my phone with me in case you should need me."

Edward didn't move as Carlisle and Esme spoke to him briefly and then left the house, vanishing into the dark forest outside. He simply stood and stared at Bella as time ticked by, and I thought I had never seen him look so wretched.

Then, without warning, it all changed.

I heard nothing, but Edward's whole aspect changed as his head raised and every muscle in his body went taut. In one movement Emmett was off my lap and on his feet by Edward, all his senses alert, Jasper joining them in a blur of speed.

"What is it?" I whispered, still mindful of Bella sleeping in between us.

Edward's face was blank, but his eyes were burning. "Jacob Black," he said flatly. "He's on his way here…it seems the wolves are not finished with us yet."