Disclaimer: Characters are SM's

A/N: Thank you to all those who read & reviewed. This was a hard chapter to write,only because I'm no doctor. I try to keep as close to the medical facts as possible, but like i said I'm no doctor, so i hope no one flames me for my errors here.

Summary: Jasper is finally done with his 2nd round of consolidation and spends the last night with Edward.

Chapter 18: Something Wicked This Way Comes

July 9

JPOV

Jane was off today. In her stead, I had a new nurse attend to my needs for the day. I wasn't very happy with this. She must have been new, either that or she had some serious issues up her alley because she nearly murdered my back when she dressed my still recovering biopsy wound. What a bitch. It made me feel so grateful that I had Jane as my nurse. I pitied the other patients who had her as theirs.

Whatever, I was going home tomorrow. I felt pretty tip top considering.

I thought of Alice. Her last words to me before she hung up on Monday was that she "loved" the fact that I meant what I said about calling her mine. What a tease. She couldn't just let me live in peace could she? Very clever tactic. I couldn't stop mulling over what she had said since. And I couldn't wait to hear from her again. She was probably swamped with work and had pre-warned me about the possibility of not being able to speak to me from the weekend onwards. I seriously hoped she wasn't going to leave me hanging for the entire week, not after what she had hinted at me. That girl has got me dreaming of her every night. Not that I was complaining, between dreaming of her and the bad dreams I had been having, I'd have her any night.

" What you smiling about Jas?" Edward's voice broke my reverie.

" Nothing.." I grinned. He chuckled and rolled his eyes at me.

" God, you're such a horrible liar.." he intoned flatly.

Ahh what the hell.

" Alice.. I think ..I think Alice likes me.." I beamed. The smile on his face told me he was happy to hear this news.

"Well, 'bout bloody time she realized it.." he snorted teasingly. If I didn't think my grin could get any wider, it did. My face was starting to hurt from it.

*****************

July 10, early morning

I jolted awake in the early hours of the morning. The clock on the wall facing my bed flashed 3:00 am in bright red fonts, giving an eerie gleam to the semi darkened room Edward and I were currently sharing. Redrum flashed in my mind for a brief second.

Did I just have another bad dream?

I could feel my heart racing inside me and I was breathing a little hard as well. Like I had just run the 100 meter dash. Perhaps I had been chased by the dark demons this time. I couldn't remember. My mind was muddled somehow, and my head felt like stuffed cotton wool.

I got up. I needed the gents. As I limped towards the bathroom, I saw Edward spread out uncomfortably on the long couch. His one leg was dangling over the head rest, and the other half lying over the seat and the floor. The couch was obviously too short to take his height, or mine or Emmett's for that matter. He had flown up yesterday to spend the day with me. I was grateful, mom and dad could use a little time off from the center. They went home yesterday afternoon and would come back today to pick us up. I told him he should book into a hotel for the night, but he opted to crash here. No reasons given. Edward was stubborn like that. I didn't ask. I had a feeling Bella would have told him about my dreams. I supposed he wanted to be there as Bella had been if any of my dreams happened to taunt me again. I grinned. If that was his intention he wasn't doing a good job at it. I chuckled quietly as I thought of what Bella might say if I told her this.

I returned to my bed a short while later, feeling a little winded from the short trip to the bathroom and back. Absently I wondered if I was coming down with something. I threw caution to the wind. I'd sleep it off.

I was going home tomorrow. End of discussion.

How wrong I was.

When I woke up again, I felt as though I'd been hit by a three ton truck. Everything. Hurt. I looked up at the clock again. It was almost 6. The couch was empty. I wondered where Edward was.

I could already feel my mood turning sour because I knew my plan to go home was already out the window. I made to throw the blanket off me but found to my surprise I didn't even have the strength to yank it away. I ended up pushing it off to my side instead. I felt clammy, and I could already feel the heat emanating from my skin.

Damnit.

Maybe if I washed my face, I thought idly then. Perhaps I'd feel a little better.

I got up and trundled to the bathroom.

I barely made three steps before it hit me, a freezing cold shooting from the tips of my limbs through my veins, fanning out like wild fire across my body. I shook from the sudden assault and my back curled inwards violently as the same freezing cold shot up along the length of my spine and exploded in my head. I gasped from the onslaught just as the floor came up to meet me.

*************

July 10, morning

Edward POV

I woke up groggily just long before 6 with a serious kink in my neck.

Damn the couch was a torture machine.

After yawning and stretching my limbs out, I went to get cleaned up in the bathroom quickly. Jane would be making her rounds soon and it wouldn't do if she caught me in the bathroom naked. Bella would tan my hide.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a soft thud outside. Was she here already? I scrambled back into my jeans in record time and hastily put my worn shirt back on. I would have to shower at home, I grumbled silently. I peeled the bathroom door open expecting to see her kind face looking at me.

"Hey Jan.." I started,

Instead of her I saw Jasper on the floor, curled into a ball, hyperventilating. I practically jumped to his side.

"Jasper," I called to him as I peeled him off the floor and bundled him up in my arms, half carrying him to the bed. I could feel heat radiating from his skin.

When did he catch a fever?

"Som...wrong..Ed.." he mumbled a little incoherently to me, as his face creased in pain. His shallow breathing was scaring me.

I pressed the button once for help and returned to him. He started shaking and sweating.

"Dad..col..d.." he mumbled through clenched teeth. Dad? I frowned at his rapid mental decline. Was it possible? Shakily I pressed my two fingers on his neck just under his jaw. A new fear flared inside me when I found it racing. Way too fast.

Rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, fever, chills, disorientation...

The signs were making themselves known to me even as I took in Jasper's countenance in front of me. I pressed the button again.

Where's the fucking help when you need them?!!

"Jas, I need you to stay with me okay..…can you look at me? Jas?" I said to him as I peered into his eyes, my hands rubbing up his arms and torso, trying to keep him alert; trying to keep what I knew was sweeping through him from overcoming him. He was sweating profusely now and getting clammy cold in my hands despite the heat emanating from him earlier.

Panic set in when I saw the color on his face drain, and his eyes started glazing before my own.

He was fading right before my eyes. I pulled him up in my arms and started shaking him, rubbing his back. Anything to keep him awake.

"Dad?" he mumbled to me weakly once before his head started lolling backwards.

"Jasper!" I yelled.

He was unresponsive.

….

I hope I was wrong with this. I hope I was bloody wrong!

**********

"Help!" I begged-cried when I saw Jane step into the room finally. By then Jasper was already going limp in my arms. She ran to me instantly and took charge, paging Dr R at the same time.

"What happened?" she asked me as she took his stats quickly. I saw something flash in her face as she took his BP.

"I saw him on the floor, he was burning up..and then... he just started fading before my eyes.." I relayed to her worriedly. The look on her face seemed to get worse and worse as she took in more vitals.

"What?" I prompted her.

"His BP's too low Edward….It's plummeting, " She said alarmingly, confirming my earlier prognosis when he started becoming disorientated in front of me.

She started peeling the materials off of him, looking for signs of infections. Clues that would help them treat him later.

We saw the rash on his back. She didn't bother telling me what they were. She ran out to call help.

Shock.

Jasper was going into Septic Shock.

..

They confirmed it later. He had had an infection that went unnoticed and it had caused a serious, life threatening inflammatory response in his body.

How long had the infection started spreading while we slept?

How in the hell did an infection slip through without us noticing anything! He was fine when he went to bed last night!

*********

I had to call mom and dad after they had wheeled him into ICU.

Dad had answered the phone, sounding very cheerful. Of course they weren't expecting this to happen. Jasper had been laughing when they left. Dr R had told us that his bloodwork was great and his progress very good.

"Dad you need to come over quickly. Jasper fell ill this morning.." I broke the news.

"Fever?" He asked immediately. I heard the worry lace in his voice clear as day. For once I wished it was only a simple fever. I wanted to cry suddenly.

" I think it's sepsis dad…it was symptomatic of sepsis.." I told him gravely instead. The silence I heard from the other side of the phone was so loud you could hear a pin fall if it did.

"He.. he went into shock..." I supplied shakily moments later. He must have dropped the phone because I heard it clatter and hit something hard.

I called Emmett and Bella next. I didn't bother to explain the details to them, only that Jasper was in ICU and it was emergency.

"Hurry." I pressed urgently, ignoring the emotion that was evident in my voice.

It was the longest hour of my life.

When he came out of Jasper's ICU room, Dr R looked grave. I almost wanted to tell him not to say anything.

"We've managed to stabilize his pressure for now. "

Dr R churned out Jasper's latest medical facts to me as I stood there listening to him. I felt as if I was in twilight zone, and I was back in medical school, in class, listening to a prepared lecture.

His early prognosis was not good. Sepsis was never good. Especially with someone as immune suppressed as Jasper.

Hypotension. His blood pressure had remained dangerously low despite fluid therapy. They had had to use vasopressor drugs to stabilize him.

Organ dysfunction. His organs weren't coping on their own. Renal, Respiratory support.

Organ Hypoperfusion. He was showing signs of lactic acidosis. Too much acid in his bloodstream, and not enough oxygen circulating in his system. His kidneys not excreting waste..

……………..

"The next 48 hours are going to be very critical for him," he finished, finally.

" Edward, I'm sorry.. I know this must be hard for you,"

I was listening on autopilot.

"Have you called your family?"

I nodded my head absently. Then a thought came to me.

"..is..is he alert?" I didn't know how else to say it. The look on his face was very apologetic. The vision this morning flashed in my mind's eye again. In his room an hour ago, him in my arms, fading away even as I tried to keep him awake.

He faded before my eyes. I saw him slipping away.

" I'm sorry Edward..Jasper's in coma."

Don't. Cry.

I knitted my eyebrows, and steadied the storm brewing in my chest.

" Can I see him?" My voice was barely audible.

I had to wear protective clothing and a mask before they would let me in. I nearly broke down right there by the door when I saw him lying lifelessly on the bed surrounded by machines that were helping him to carry out his normal bodily functions; wires of different sizes and colors snaking out of his body. He was intubated. The ventilating machine was mechanically doing the breathing for him.

Except for the fall and rise of his chest, he looked… dead.

I took the chair beside his bed and grabbed hold of his cold hand and pressed my forehead onto it. Questions ran in my head suddenly. Mocking me, taunting me.

How did he slip away so quickly? Weren't we supposed to go home today?

Why didn't I see this coming? Why didn't I notice him getting sick earlier?

If we had caught the infection sooner, he wouldn't have.. gone into shock…

He wouldn't look like this now.

This was my fault. I was supposed to watch him.

"I'm sorry Jas..I'm sorry…"

I broke apart.

The storm had arrived. The heavy clouds had burst open.

I cried in front of his unresponsive body then, and even with the loud whirr of the machines around him, working to support his organs, because he could not, they couldn't fade out the loud, regretful cries coming out of me.

A/N: Leave me some lovin'. Thoughts and tears are appreciated.