Chapter Thirty Six

Jasper

Darius turned with an unusual look of satisfaction on his face,

"I think I may have found something to help you with Bella's problem Carlisle. It took a lot of digging, hospital records aren't kept more than a couple of years after a patient is presumed dead but these were tucked away in an old file that has been overlooked."

"Bella's parent's medical records? I assume you found something interesting in them?"

"Actually Bella's records. I'm assuming she was too young to remember but she was extremely ill when she was a small child, Leukaemia."

"Cancer of the blood? I'm amazed she's still here, the survival rate isn't good, even in children. Go on."

We listened as Darius read out the important facts, Bella was diagnosed with Leukaemia. when she was just two years old and spent a lot of time in the hospital as a result.

"She had high dose chemo, radiation, and stem cell therapy. It was an aggressive form of cancer and they didn't expect her to live. I'm guessing that might have something to do with her problems."

Carlisle nodded pensively,

"Yes, it might well. Can you get me details of the treatments she received? I need to know exactly what drugs they used and the dosage of radiation plus the timetable of treatment."

"Leave it with me."

"How long to find this out? The quicker the better. Any hope we can give Bella would be great."

"I'll be as quick as I can."

Leaving Darius to get on with it and feeling more optimistic than I had we followed Marcus and Carlisle out into the sunlight.

"I don't think we should say anything to Bella just yet Jasper after all this may be of no help at all and I would hate to get the poor girl's hopes up only to be forced to dash them again later."

I agreed and swore Peter to secrecy, he being the only one likely to bring the subject up with Bella apart from me.

"Listen, I may be brain dead but I am not that fucking insensitive Major."

"Do you have time to do any research, Carlisle?"

"I'll try son, I know how important it is to you both, it means telling Rose but I'll ask her not to say anything and I know she will understand. Of course, we have to survive the coming fight first."

"Talking about the fight Alice and I have been talking, you know she can't see the outcome, she hasn't seen anything with regard to the family since Bella arrived."

"That's not her fault Edward."

I knew I sounded defensive but I knew neither of my siblings liked Bella that much. He raised his hands in a gesture of defence,

"Let me finish Jazz. We were discussing why I can't hear Bella's thoughts and Alice can't see her future or that of others connected with her, you know we mentioned that she might be shielding herself?"

Carlisle stepped in to defuse the tension

"Yes son, we remember, go on."

"Well, we wondered if her shield might be the gift Paris felt, the thing that led James to her. If so, maybe she can use it help us win, after all if Aro brings the twins, and Caius more or less warned that he would, we'll be at a serious disadvantage. They don't need to get close enough to become a target for Bella."

For once I was interested in Edward's idea, it was a sound enough theory but how did we test it out?

"I think we should leave it to Jasper to work with Bella on that, if she can defend herself it would make things easier but he doesn't have much time to help her."

Peter cut in then,

"I'll help, she can try it out on me, I've ridden her hard since I arrived so I guess it's only right she should get her own back if she can."

Carlisle eyed Peter suspiciously but in the end, he agreed if I was happy with the idea and I knew for all his faults he would work hard to help her make use of a shield if she had one.

It turned out to be easier than expected getting Bella to utilize her shield once we explained it would be a great help if she could at least protect herself. When Peter started throwing a ball at her she soon learned to deflect it away, squealing in delight at her success. We daren't use anything more dangerous, she was still delicate after her encounter with Emmett and newly healed bones were still fragile in places. Then we encouraged her to stretch her shield to protect her from greater distances and she made it look easy. Shouting encouragement Peter threw the tennis ball at me vampire speed but it never reached me veering away at an angle.

"Did you do that?"

Bella laughed delightedly in response to Peter's question and he began moving further away, throwing the ball at a greater velocity and from different heights and angles. Bella deflected them all and then began sending the ball back surprising Peter and knocking him off the branch he was perched on, to her great pleasure.

Once we knew her shield worked so well we brought the others in on the secret and within hours Bella was protecting everyone within a hundred foot radius,

"Now that is what I call a gift Bella. We don't need to worry about the evil twins, we have you to negate their creepy influence."

Once Bella had heard what Alex and Jane were capable of she had worked even harder but it did take it's toll on her and by the time I called a halt she was exhausted but very happy.

I sat with her while she struggled to stay awake to eat the meal Esme had prepared for her and she told me that the girls had agreed to arrange our wedding for two days time, just one day before Aro and Caius were due to arrive.

"Emmett says he'll marry us and Carlisle is going to give me away…...you are still sure about this aren't you?"

I hadn't realized my silence would be taken for negativity, I had in fact been thinking how sad it was she didn't have her own father here to walk her to me or her mother to shed tears of joy seeing her daughter as the radiant bride and I was forced to explain but hearing my thoughts she relaxed.

"I really wish this was going to be a proper wedding."

"I understand, every girl wants the real thing, long white dress, flowers and a church, maybe….."

She was looking at me and rolling her eyes,

"I don't care about the place or what I wear, I was thinking of the honeymoon silly."

She looked adorable when she blushed and I wondered if I would miss it if Carlisle could cure her problem and turn her into a full vampire, he'd already pointed out that only one person could change a vampire back to a human and it certainly wasn't him.

"Our time will come darlin' we just have to be patient."

She sighed heavily,

"I thought once I was free of Diablo I wouldn't have to wait for things any more, I guess I was wrong, By the way has Darius tracked Diablo down for me yet?"

"For you? Peter and I thought we would take care of that particular problem."

"Oh no, Diablo is mine. I want him to suffer for what he's done. For all those poor humans he tortured, I want that bastard to burn in hell and I have just the thing to ensure he does."

She spat on the ground to the side of us as if to emphasise what she meant and at that point the vampire in her shone through crystal clear.

When Carlisle and Rose asked to speak to us the next evening, the evening before our wedding Bella panicked, thinking something was going to stop the ceremony but Rose told her they had news, hopefully, good news.

"Darius found out you had been very sick as a child Bella, you had cancer and were treated with radiation and chemotherapy. We believe that may be the cause of the problem, it mutated your cells, altered the chemistry and turned your bodily fluids into a compound that affects vampire cells."

"Cancer? Why don't I remember any of this?"

"You were only two and you probably hid the memories away as too awful."

"Can you help me? Can you reverse the changes?"

"We're not sure Bella but we will try. Once the wedding and the fighting are over we will certainly try."

Bella was full of the news and eventually I had to help her get to sleep at Esme's insistence.

"Bella, I won't have you walking down the aisle with puffy eyes and rings around them like a raccoon."

Once she was asleep I helped the others get everything ready, we may not have much in the way of resources up here with the exception of nature but they were determined to make the day spectacular for my wife to be. Emmett and Peter were building an arbour for the ceremony while Alice and Esme were busy collecting flowers and greenery for decoration. Rose and Carlisle had fashioned lamps from candles and old jars found in the outhouse and Charlotte was frantically putting the finishing touches to the bride's dress. All I had to do was to turn up it seemed although Edward roped me in to listen to the music he had written for the occasion, to be played by himself on a virtual keyboard supplied by Darius.