A/N: Here it is! The long-anticipated fight scene. Duh-duh-da-dah! Except Carlisle doesn't like fighting. Shame on you for wanting to hurt people! Or reading about people hurting people!

But I think Carlisle would want you to enjoy reading about how they saved Bella, so I guess you don't have to be too guilty. Read, REVIEW (This means ALL of you! Don't make me get Emmett!) and Pass it On!

-Wish

Chapter 36: To the Rescue

We were speeding down the highway when Alice had another vision. Her eyes unfocused as she was flung past the present scene, into the future. Jasper kept looking anxiously in the rear view mirror as he navigated the traffic. He weaved between other cars, missing more than a few by mere inches. I only knew Alice had returned to the present by the sudden gasp and Emmett's urgent "What, Alice?"

"The studio," she said. "We have to get there now! The tracker is waiting there! HE'S GOING TO KILL BELLA!"

Jasper attempted to push my car faster, but traffic wouldn't allow him to pass. He was weaving at about 100 mph, through the traffic, but it was getting more and more congested.

"We don't have time for this!" Jasper growled. He accelerated down a short gap between cars before having to slow again behind a semi-truck. My own impatience was testing my control. Bella could be in danger right now! James could already have her. None of us could live with Edward ever again if he lost Bella. None of us could bear to look him in the eye for the rest of eternity, if we lost Bella.

"Get off here," Alice urged Jasper as an exit came up. "There's going to be an accident ahead. We can't get stuck in traffic."

Jasper swerved across two lanes and barely made it down the exit ramp. He made a right at Alice's insistence and we found ourselves on a main thoroughfare, through Phoenix. It was possibly more congested than the highway, but Alice had said there would be an accident. It going through the city meant not being held at a stand-still, then we'd take it.

Alice helped Jasper navigate the unfamiliar streets, telling him where to turn to avoid the worst of the morning commute. Jasper followed her directions without fail, trusting Alice's visions.

"The studio's just ahead," Alice announced. I watched in the side-view mirror as she squeezed her eyes shut again, focusing on a vision of Bella. "Bella's gone there for her mother. I can see now, that's what the note she gave me said. And…Edward," she breathed.

"What about Edward?" Emmett asked quickly.

"He's going to get there a few seconds before us. There's so much blood. Bella. TURN!"

Jasper skidded around the corner onto "Cactus" and we were thrown against the opposite side doors by the sudden change of direction. I braced my arm against the door, ready to leap from the car as soon as Jasper brought it to a stop. Ahead I could see the sign for the ballet studio. The parking lot in front held a single car, not familiar to me. I assumed it was either the tracker's, or a car Edward had stolen. Jasper whipped the car around, into the parking lot, right behind the already parked car near the door.

We leapt out of the car as soon as it came to a stop. Emmett was inside before Jasper had even turned off the engine. Alice and I were right behind him. Ahead I could hear crashes, glass breaking, wood cracking, feral growls ringing through the dark studio. Ahead, I could see that only one of the actual dance studios was lit and the door was slightly broken and tilted to one side. That was where the noise was coming from. Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and I charged through the door, Emmett taking it completely off its hinges.

I took in the scene in an instant. The shattered mirrors, destroyed floorboards, Emmett and Jasper wrestling with the tracker, Bella's broken form on the floor, and Edward kneeling over her.

"Oh no, Bella, no!" he cried. Beyond, I heard a high-pitched keening as Jasper took the tracker's head off with a ferocious snarl.

"Bella, please! Bella, listen to me, please," Edward pleaded to the broken form before him. "Please, Bella, please!" He looked around wildly for help. "Carlisle!" he called to me, his voice breaking.

I rushed forward as Edward pleaded with Bella. The flowing blood permeated through my senses, but I ignored it as I have for three hundred years. Bella's head was bleeding, her leg was broken, and there were glass shards everywhere. I started with her head, the one with the possibility of being the most severe. I tried to gently assess the damage, but Bella cried out in pain and Edward lurched forward. "Bella!"

"She's lost some blood," I told Edward, "but the head wound isn't too deep." I looked down to her leg, bent at an unnatural angle near Edward's knee. "Watch out for her leg," I warned him, "It's broken."

Edward let out a strangled growl, enraged at Bella's injuries. It tore me apart as I methodically worked my way down Bella's broken form, making note of cuts from glass, bruises, and possible breaks. I felt a few of her ribs give and saw pain shoot through Bella's features.

"Some ribs, too, I think," I commented. I had to keep a cool head if I was going to be able to help Bella. Although it pained me to see her and Edward in such a state, I had to push it away and let the doctor in me take over.

"Edward," Bella mumbled.

"Bella, you're going to be fine," Edward assured her. "Can you hear me, Bella? I love you."

"Edward," Bella said again, with more conviction.

"Yes, I'm here," he answered. I focused on the break. It was a complete fracture. Luckily the bone had not pierced the skin. I didn't want to try to set it without being able to know more about it. I didn't want to risk further injury. But we had to make a splint for it. We would have to move Bella before calling an ambulance. She couldn't be found here.

Alice had come up behind me. Obviously James was taken care of and Emmett and Jasper were preparing to destroy the evidence of our presence. They'd left the room; the smell of Bella's flowing blood was too much for their self-control.

"My bag, please…" I told Alice, looking back briefly. I could see the struggle on her face and the way her body leaned forward, rigid. She was fighting her thirst. "Hold your breath, Alice, it will help," I advised her.

Alice left to grab my bag from the car. I dashed out without it.

"Alice?" Bella groaned.

"She's here, she knew where to find you," Edward assured her.

"My hand hurts," Bella said.

Alice returned with the bag and I began preparing a needle of morphine. I never thought I would have to use it when I first put the morphine and needle into my bag. But I was thankful now that I had.

"I know, Bella. Carlisle will give you something, it will stop."

"My hand is burning!" she screamed.

Edward glanced down at the hand in his. "Bella?"

"The fire! Someone stop the fire!" she insisted.

"Carlisle! Her hand!" I looked to Bella's opposite hand, the one Alice was pointing to. I moved around to the side. A perfect, crescent impression of James's teeth bled freely on Bella's hand. "He bit her." I couldn't believe it. After all this, he'd bitten her too.

Edward gasped.

Alice had situated herself by Bella's hand, wiping the blood from her face with gauze from my bag. "Edward, you have to do it," she urged.

"No!" Edward shouted, in answer to her thoughts.

"Alice," Bella moaned.

My mind was frantically going through the possibilities. If Bella was changed, all these injuries would be healed. The family would have to move, though. I knew Edward didn't want this life for Bella. But there was no antidote for vampire venom. It wasn't like snake venom…or was it?

"There may be a chance," I said.

"What?" Edward asked, desperate.

"See if you can suck the venom back out. The wound is fairly clean." I moved to her head. The wound was full of glass. I didn't want to bandage it as it was.

"Will that work?" Alice asked as I picked out pieces of glass. Her voice was strained as she fought against the flowing blood. Talking required air, which she couldn't get holding her breath.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But we have to hurry."

"Carlisle, I…" Edward broke off, looking between Bella's face, and her bitten hand. "I don't know if I can do that."

"It's your decision, Edward, either way." I took a packet of gauze from my bag and placed it to Bella's scalp, applying firm pressure to stop most of the bleeding. "I can't help you. I have to get this bleeding stopped here if you're going to be taking blood from her hand."

She twisted and I was worried about her leg.

"Edward!" Bella screamed.

"Alice, get me something to brace her leg!" I ordered. I was still pulling out glass as I applied pressure to the major part of the wound. The venom was still burning in Bella's veins. "Edward, you must do it now, or it will be too late."

Edward was torn. He didn't want Bella to go through this, yet he wasn't sure he wouldn't kill her in the process of preventing the change. For a moment, I thought he was going to refuse, not wishing to risk it.

Find the will, Edward, I urged silently, not sure if he was listening to my thoughts.

Edward's jaw hardened as he made his decision. He picked up the injured hand with a look of steely determination. I braced Bella's head in my arms as Alice braced her leg.

As Edward lowered his mouth to Bella's arm, a bible verse came to my mind. "I have the strength for everything through Him who empowers me." It came from Philippians. Chapter 4, line 13. Edward needed that strength, now more than ever.

As Edward took more and more of her blood, Bella's thrashing slowed. I began to worry. Would Edward stop?

Bella's eyes began to fall as she slipped further out of consciousness. I prepared to step in, if Edward didn't stop. I wasn't sure if I could stop him as he drank her blood, but I would have to try.

Just as I thought I would have to wrestle Edward away from Bella, he threw himself back. I moved in quickly with another gauze pad to cover the bite. Edward must have still been fighting the frenzy. Covering the source as much as possible may help.

I looked over my shoulder to where he slouched on the floor, his hand clamped over his mouth and nose, his eyes clenched shut.

You did it, Edward, I told him. Well done, son.

"Edward." Bella's voice was weak, but Edward's head snapped up immediately.

"He's right here, Bella," I reassured her.

I could tell Bella was beginning to lose consciousness. She was slurring her words and kept blinking. "Stay, Edward, stay with me…"

"I will," Edward promised. If he were a human, I imagine his voice would've sounded hoarse. As it were, his words were strained, but I could tell he was just as proud of himself as I was of him.

"Is it all out?" I asked Edward.

"Her blood tastes clean," Edward confirmed. "I can taste the morphine."

"Bella?" I wasn't sure if she would answer. She seemed to be slipping away.

"Mmmmm?" she managed.

"Is the fire gone?"

"Yes," she answered with a contented sigh. "Thank you, Edward."

"I love you," he replied.

"I know."

Edward laughed softly at some inward joke.

I looked around the room once more. I destruction was everywhere. There was no saving the room. It would have to be destroyed, to make sure there was no evidence. And we'd have to go back to Bella's mother's house, to make sure there was no sign of ours, Bella's, or James's passage. Then I remembered the reason Bella had come.

"Bella?"

Bella answered groggily. "What?"

"Where is your mother?" Had James already gotten to her? Had he killed her?

"In Florida," Bella replied. "He tricked me, Edward. He watched our videos." The indignation was barely readable in her voice. We needed to get her to a hospital. At the very least, we needed to get her out of the studio so that Emmett and Jasper could finish destroying the evidence. They were already spreading gasoline over the pile of James and the rest of the building so that it would burn quickly.

"Alice," Bella added suddenly. "Alice the video—he knew you, Alice, he knew where you came from. I smell gasoline."

"It's time to move her," I urged.

"No, I want to sleep," Bella protested.

Edward soothed," You can sleep, sweetheart, I'll carry you."

Edward, are you sure? I asked silently. I could—

But Edward already picked Bella up before I could make my offer of help. He cradled her against his chest. "Sleep now, Bella," he whispered.

Bella went limp in his arms. Alice followed him as he carried Bella out to the car, supporting her splinted leg. Edward cradled her injured head himself, though I walked along, holding pressure still.