Chapter 25 -- Rowan Jude Black

Disclaimer: I like writing, but unfortunately, my characters never seem to stick. :( Hmph. Therefore, I do not own Twilight, but I DO like playing with Stephenie's creation. hehe.

A/N: I can't wait to get started on Part III of this series. Therefore, I'm trying to wrap up all of the loose ends. :)

I awoke to the sharp, stabbing pain that felt like needles in my back, accompanied by an unbearable squeezing sensation in my belly. My head was throbbing and I was dizzy. I tried to sit up, but Jacob pushed me back down.

"Bells, honey, please lay back down," he said. I could hear the emotion in his voice -- he sounded strangled and choked up.

"Jake -- " I slurred, trying to comfort him.

"Bella, I need you to face the seat, so I can reach your back," Carlisle said, frowning. I slowly rolled over, wincing as the needle-like pain grew worse in my back. Suddenly, I felt a painful, burning sensation and I winced my eyes shut in pain. It was awful, like bee stings accompanied by labor.

Labor, I remembered as the car went over another thump somewhere in the road. I was having a baby. And Irina... I tried to remember what had happened, but I was too exhausted. Carlisle picked a few more glass shards out of my back and I cried out in pain.

"Bells, I'm here," Jacob said, lending his hand for me to hold onto. Another contraction rocked through me and I cried, shaking through the whole thing. Jacob kissed my hand, smoothing my damp hair out of my now sweaty face.

"How much further do we have to go?" Jacob asked the driver impatiently.

"We'll be there in about five minutes," a voice that resembled Alice piped up from the front seat.

"Alice?" I mumbled. "When did she get here?" I had no clue as to why I was in a truck and where this sharp, burning, stinging pain was coming from. I felt like I was being stabbed in the back as Carlisle leaned down and pulled out more of the stingy things. I was trembling with the pain and trepidation of everything that was going on. My confusion made everything even scarier.

I felt someone pull down my pants and I instinctively drew my legs up to my chest. I screamed aloud in pain, as the burning sensation in my back worsened.

"Bella! Bella... Bells..." Jacob hushed me. "It's okay, it's fine... Carlisle just needs to make sure we have enough time to get you to the hospital. You don't want to have the baby in the car, do you?"

"If it ends the pain, then I'll do whatever I need to!" I panted. I felt Carlisle push up on the baby's head.

"Oh, damn," he hissed. "Alice, pull over," he snapped.

"What?" Jacob said in alarm. "What's going on?"

"The baby's head is almost crowning. We can't wait anymore. The risk of complications is too high. This baby wants out now."

"How the hell did she go from six centimeters to fully dialated that fast?" Jacob said, astounded.

"Her first delivery went quicker than most do. Besides, Bella was three centimeters dilated for about three weeks. Didn't she tell you?" he asked, frowning.

"No," I heard Jacob murmur. I would explain to him later. He had been so busy... I didn't want him to worry... My thoughts were cut off with the unbearable urge to push.

"Bella, give me one small push," Carlisle instructed.

I responded, pulling my head into my chest. One, two, three --

I immediately stopped, screaming. It felt like the glass in my lower back was cutting me open. I burst into tears, shaking my head.

"I can't, I can't!" I cried, tightly closing my eyes.

"Bella, you have to," Carlisle said. "Your baby needs to come out. He's ready. If he doesn't come out soon, I'm going to have to pull him out and I don't think you want me to have to do that."

I nodded, looking toward Jacob, who came up behind me and supported my shoulders and head in the uncomfortable seat.

"Come on, Bella. Rowan needs you."

I nodded lucidly, barely aware of what everyone was saying. I pushed.

A different sort of burning sensation filled my lower pelvis and I screamed out in pain once more.

"Come on, Bella!" Carlisle yelled above my screams.

I tucked my head in and gave the biggest push I could. I looked up into Jacob's face and tears were welled up in his eyes.

"One more push, Bella, and his head will be out. You can do this!" Carlisle said enthusiastically.

"You're the strongest woman, I know, Bella. One more push, honey," Jacob said. He bit his bottom lip and looked at me attentively. "The sooner you push, the sooner this will all be over and the sooner Rowan will be in your arms. I know you can do this," he said softly, kissing me on the cheek and rubbing my hair out of my eyes.

I leaned down, ignoring the stabbing pains in my back and the burning, tearing sensation caused by the pushing and gave one last push. I kept pushing and didn't let up, trying to block out all of the pain.

I felt him slide out into Carlisle's arms.

"It's a boy!" Carlisle said, grinning. He placed him on my stomach, cleaning him off as best as he could. The baby wasn't exactly crying, but he wasn't silent either. He was making noises that vaguely resembled mewling. I heard the driver's door slam shut and I knew that Alice had temporarily vacated the vehicle.

"Bella, look at him," Jacob whispered in my ear, looking over at the baby in awe. "He's absolutely perfect."

"He's a little small. I think your due date might have been off a bit. He looks like he could be as many as four weeks early." He placed a makeshift scale on the hook next to the window and sat the baby in it.

"Five pounds, two ounces," he said. "Nineteen inches long. Again, a little small. But other than that, he seems fine. I would place his APGAR at around an eight."

He wrapped Rowan up in a blanket and placed him in my arms. I leaned back into Jacob's arms, trying to place as little pressure on my back as I possibly could. Jacob wrapped his arms around us protectively.

"Rowan," he said, looking down at our son. I took in his features for the first time -- Jacob's brown eyes, already full of mischief, his nose, his full lips... our son was the spitting image of his father. Except for his slightly lighter skin... the same color as his sister's. I brushed a finger across his spikey hair, realizing that it was a dark brown like mine, not exactly black, but a chestnut color. I pouted.

"What?" Jacob asked, looking down at me.

"He doesn't have your hair," I laughed. "I wanted him to."

"Yours is equally beautiful," Jacob whispered in my ear. "Besides, he already looks too much like me."

I lightly smacked him as I heard sirens in the distance. The front door opened.

"The ambulance is nearly here," Alice said. "And Bella, I better get to see that baby before you guys get in that thing."

Jacob and I laughed.

Rowan and I spent the next few hours being poked and prodded at the hospital. They gave the baby all of his booster shots and immunizations, taking special care to monitor his lungs for any possible developmental delays due to prematurity. Carlisle had mentioned that we seemed to be very lucky for as small as our baby was, not to have had any problem with him or his delivery. I was thankful.

They finished dissecting my condition and cleaned the wounds on my back, pulling the glass out of them. I won't go into gruesome detail, but it hurt like hell. It took them nearly two hours. Finally, they moved me into the maternity ward and Jacob and I finally got to see our son again.

"He's perfect," Jacob said, sitting across from us on the bed, looking at him.

"He is," I agreed. "But we still haven't picked out a middle name."

Jacob frowned, looking directly at the baby for a few seconds.

"Well, he looks a lot like me, you said..." he trailed off.

"We could name him after you," I suggested. "Rowan Jacob Black?"

He shook his head. "I want him to have his own idenitity... not mine. Could we use Jude? That name that you picked out a while back, when we were suggesting names for him? It's close enough to both my name and Norah's name. I like it."

I frowned for a second. "Rowan Jude Black?" I asked, tasting it on my tongue. I repeated it to myself several times, varying the inflections in my voice.

I finally looked back up at Jacob. "I think you've just named our son,"I said, a huge grin spreading across my face. I yawned and handed the baby back to Jacob. "I think I need some sleep... I am so tired..." I yawned, raising my arms over my head and stretching, trying to not pull at my stitches. Jacob lifted Rowan out of my arms and sat at the end of the bed with him as I dozed off.

A few minutes later, or it seemed to me, the door to our room swung open and someone came storming into the room.

"Bella!"

My eyes shot open and I saw Edward standing in front of the doorway, looking at me with a wild expression on his face.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Are you okay? Alice just came back to the house and Carlisle told me not to follow him up to the reservation..." he trailed off, trying to get answers.

"You better not come up to my reservation," Jacob growled, holding Rowan up to his chest protectively. "For any reason. The only two bl -- vampires -- allowed there are Alice and D -- Carlisle," he snapped. "And having them there causes enough problems as is."

"I think you have enough problems on your own that me coming up there wouldn't cause any more harm," Edward snapped.

"Shut -- "

"Will you two please stop arguing?" I begged. "What do you want Edward?"

"Alice said that you were hurt... that Irina attacked. I told her not to. I warned her..." he trailed off helplessly. "I met her in Seattle and told her that if she did, there would be vile repercussions on her part and retaliation not only on behalf of the wolfpack, but from us as well."

"Yeah, well, looks like you didn't get to serve those repercussions. Irina is dead," Jacob said shortly. I could hear a bit of smugness and triumph in his voice.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, ignoring Jacob, who simply rolled his eyes. I could see the irritation coursing through him.

"Let's see... I was thrown into a china cabinet, had glass embedded into my back, went into early labor, had a baby without any sort of medication whatsoever, and had the glass pulled out of my back with tweezers with no localized pain meds at all." I could see the horror in Edward's eyes. "Exactly."

"But I told her -- " he gaped.

"Obviously, that wasn't good enough," I shrugged. "We all knew she wasn't going to stop until I was dead or she was. That was painfully apparent the other times she attacked."

Edward winced, an uncomfortable expression on his all-too-handsome face.

"What's the baby's name?" he asked, changing the subject and looking over at Rowan, who was sleeping in Jacob's arms.

"Rowan. Rowan Jude Black," I said, smiling at Jacob.

"So, then..." Edward trailed off.

"What?" I asked him.

"I guess I better go," he sighed. "It's extremely obvious that you have everything that you've ever wanted," he said, looking from me to Jacob and back. "He really will keep you safe. I don't know how I could have ever doubted that before."

Edward turned around and walked out of the room. I looked over at Jacob and smiled in exhaustion.

Jacob came over and sat next to me on the bed, so I could get a closer look at our baby's sleeping form.

"So when does Norah get to see her baby brother?" he asked slowly.

"Tomorrow," I yawned. "I'm too tired today," I said honestly. It had been a long day.

Yay! Rowan Jude is here! :)

I did like the beginning of this chapter. I thought it was action-packed and all. I thought Norah's birth was a little bit better written, but the emotions surrounding it were a little more potent and easier to write... I wanted this one to be different because Norah and Rowan are going to be completely different people in Part III. :)

Please read and review!

Much love.
xoxo