Life of A Reluctant Mate

New Moon

Chapter Seven: Avery's Tailspin

The next three months had been anything but pleasant. Avery felt like she was taking care of her father again as she tried to help Bella out of the depression she had fallen into.

At first Bella had only pulled away. She stopped making the effort to hold conversations with friends. She's even go as far as sitting at the empty Cullen table, staring out the window as if that would bring them back, bring Edwards back. Bella even stopped going out, instead spending her time staring out her bedroom window for hours on end.

Avery being Avery tried as hard as she could to get Bella to leave, to do something, to go somewhere even if it there was no reason to it, but nothing worked. Finally admitting defeat Avery just left her to her staring, but she refused to leave her alone. Every day that Bella spent staring out the window Avery was right behind her. Doing homework, reading her books, or just plain sleeping from exhaustion. It wasn't till December that things got really bad.

Dean hadn't been happy having to share Avery. He demanded her to leave Bella alone, to stop worrying about her because she was a big girl. Avery couldn't not because she didn't want to but because she was afraid the one day Charlie and her weren't there would be the day Bella did something terrible stupid. When Avery still spent most of her free time with the depressed girl, Dean had broken up with her. Surprisingly she wasn't as heart broken as she thought she would be.

On top of it all Bella had started having…episodes. During the night Bella's screams and groans of pain and heart ache could be heard through out the Swan house. It had gotten so bad Charlie had been falling asleep on the job since he was up every night with her. Avery took pity on him and started sleeping at the Swan's. they then took turns with Bella, holding her and comforting her to her screams of anguish turned into quiet whispers.

All of it might have been taking a toll on Bella and Charlie but it was nothing compared to Avery. She light tan was now gone, a pale color now took over her complexion. This new pale only seemed to heighten the dark bags under her eyes and her blood shot eyes. She had a small permanent shake to her hands, no longer were they the perfect stillness of an aspiring surgeon.

It was nearing mid January when the worst of it happened.

Avery had woken up as normal, stretching her seemingly permanently sore body before rubbing her face. She pulled her hands away startled when she felt the wetness on her face. She stared wide eyed at her red spotted fingertips before wiping at her face again. Feeling it start to drip she rushed towards the bathroom and stared at herself in horror.

Her skin pale, her eyes rimmed with blue and purple and blood running freely down her nose and mouth, smeared on her cheek and neck. She looked like death. Frantically she grabbed a towel and wet it before wiping her face of the blood. Some was fresh and wiped away easily but the rest was old, a dark burgundy color as it crusted around her nose and mouth. With new washcloth was pressed against her nose tightly she made her way back to he bed. She gagged at the sight. Blood had pooled on her pillow and spreading out on the sheet.

It was in that moment Avery knew this was not a bad case of the flu.

"Okay, well we don't exactly have the best lab here so we'll be sending these samples to a lab in Seattle. It'll will wake a few weeks, so if anything continues we want you to come in straight away. Now I'll go get your papers." The nurse smiled before leaving. Avery gave a loud exhale as she started redressing. She's spent the past two hours taking a range of tests and a full physical.

" Freaking cold hands." Avery grumbled. The nurse was nice but she had hands like Ice, and not the pleasant tingly feeling like Jasper's. She had been thinking of Jasper a lot recently and every time she did, she felt a pull in her gut.

"Alright, that's it, you're free. Go enjoy the rest of your weekend." The nurse grinned. Avery grace her with a small smile in thanks before grabbing her bag and leaving. She winced as she rubbed where the nurse had taken her blood. It was already starting to bruise.

Thinking of bruises Avery's mind once again drifted back to Jasper. A few days after he had left Avery had found hand shaped bruises on her hips, thighs, and breasts. It was a painful yet pleasurable reminder of what very well might have been the best night of her life. There was something about thinking about those gold eyes that set her lower body on fire.

It was now an odd sensation not having his gold eyes on her. What was worse is that when she looked to the Cullen's table on instinct, hoping to catch the molten orbs she was met with the sight of a lonely Bella. She couldn't quiet understand why it had affected her so much. Maybe it was because Avery had never truly been in love like Bella had so obviously been with Edward. Or maybe it was the fact that she had her friends to help her. Angela had become closer to her then Bella had recently. It was Angela that had been there to cheer her up when Dean had broken up with her.

Avery slumped against her seat as she parked her car. It was time for her Bella duty. And although she didn't mind keeping her company, Avery didn't want to spend her last year here among her friends locked up in a room...

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