My Renesmee/The Choice
Chapter 36: Nightmare (Edward's POV)
"She's alive, Edward. I can hear her heartbeat, but it's faint." Your grandfather Carlisle apprehensively reported as he laid your body across the hospital bed in the examination room. "The baby's still alive, too, but he's in distress. His heart is thrumming like a drum."
"Just tell me what to do, Carlisle! I'll do anything!" I forcefully shouted at him. "I can't lose her!"
Your mother put her hand on my shoulder, and I noticed her shield was flying all about her. I could read her every thought.
I'm losing my baby! This can't be happening! Your mother's thoughts wildly raced through her mind.
"Take off her clothes, Edward! I need to be able to see the wound." Your grandfather finally ordered me, sticking a breathing tube under your nose and hooking you up to a heart monitor. He then pulled out a syringe, tapping it gently and plunging it into the pale skin of your neck.
I frantically did as I was told, and your mother assisted me, practically ripping your pajama pants from your body. I inspected your stomach only to discover a crescent-shaped wound lining the underside of your abdomen where Nahuel had cut you with the blade. As my eyes took in the gash across your belly, I had to grip the edge of the bed to steady myself.
"What about my wife?" Emmett provokingly yelled at your grandfather, plastering his hands firmly to the top of his head. His thoughts were nothing but panic.
"Rose is beyond my aid, Emmett. She's been stabbed by the Immortal Blade. The poison is slowly killing her. There's nothing we can do now." Carlisle gloomily responded, and Emmett fell to his knees, pounding the floor with his ferocious fists. Then, he hurried over to your Aunt Rosalie's body, now rigidly positioned on the spare operating table, and took her into his arms. He rocked her back and forth violently, crying out for mercy. Your Aunt Alice threw her arms around Jasper and buried her face in his chest. Your grandmother Esme weakly fell against the wall, sinking down to the comfort of her knees. This was all becoming a nightmare—for all of us.
I turned my attention back to your still unconscious body, my agony almost paramount, and your mother questioned your grandfather, "The poison? From the knife?"
"Yes, Bella, the blade Nahuel used was laced with a chemical proven deadly to all vampires. It slowly takes over your body--paralyzing you at first and then painfully bringing on death." As he spoke, Carlisle opened his medical bag, pulling out a scalpel and several other cutting tools. "He obviously stole it from the Volturi— that's why they came for him. They're the only ones who possess the daggers. Not that many immortals know they exist."
"Is Nessie going to die, Carlisle?" I demanded to know the truth. I couldn't take the anguish any much longer. It rocked me down to the core of my being to think of you in any amount of pain.
"No, since she is part human, the poison is having difficulty spreading throughout her body. It won't kill her, but I'm afraid she may be in a coma for awhile. I've given her something to combat the poison for now." Your grandfather made his assessment, frowning at the silver instruments in his palms. Then, he flipped on his cauterization machine and put on a pair of latex gloves. "We need to perform a lower uterine C-section to make sure the poison doesn't harm the baby anymore than it should. We don't know if he's immune to it or not."
"Just tell us what to do." Your mother's face frightfully glanced at me, and she affectionately squeezed my left hand.
"Bella, grab a blanket or towel to wrap the baby in." Your grandfather called to your mother, and she darted over the cabinets, frenetically searching for something to meet your grandpa's request. I let out a breath and prepared to help readily deliver my grandchild.
"Luckily, Nahuel's wound cut through the skin and some of the muscle. I won't have to make that much of a deeper incision to pull the baby free." Your grandfather's words made me tense even more. The thought of anything penetrating into your skin made me flinch. But we had to save your child. "Edward, when I cut, use the machine to cauterize the small blood vessels to prevent the bleeding. I know you've had training in this."
"Yes! Just do it, Carlisle!" I was about to explode in frustration.
Your grandfather's scalpel carefully sliced through your womb, and without hesitance, I performed my duty, burning the blood vessels with the machine and wiping the excess blood away with gauze. The sweet scent of your blood engulfed all my senses, and for a second there, I almost lost the control I had worked so hard to master. The monster within me was rearing his demented head.
Then, suddenly, everything started to move in slow motion. The forms of our family members around me began to blur, and I felt my head starting to spin out of control. My existence was about to change drastically in the next few minutes—possibly for the better. Talk about déjà vu.
"There he is." I heard your grandfather as he discovered your child from amongst the incision. Steadily, he pulled the baby from your womb, and your mother, her eyes transfixed on the sight before her, handed me the blanket from her grasp. Your grandfather suctioned the baby's eyes and mouth and then grabbed his surgical scissors.
After snipping the umbilical cord, your grandfather lowered the baby gently into the blanket about my arms. And the overwhelming warmth of the black-haired child in my embrace filled my whole being with bittersweet joy. Jacob had been right—it was a boy. I held the tiny child up to my face, and his eyes immediately opened. I noticed that they were greener than the most beautiful pastures, and they peered at me with such tenderness. My heart immediately swelled to twice its original size. I would have wept at the image of the angelic child before me if I could. I loved him already.
"Give Bella the baby, Edward! You have to help me staple her back up!" Your grandfather Carlisle's frantic voice awoke me from my daze, and I quickly handed the baby boy off to your mother. Your grandfather and I readily worked over your body until the last staple was placed.
Without delay, your mother and grandmother Esme meticulously washed and cleaned the baby and wrapped him in a spotless blanket. Aunt Alice brought you some clean clothes, and she dressed you carefully, her melancholy surging throughout her thoughts. Emmett was still holding and rocking Rosalie in his embrace; he adamantly refused to let her go.
While your grandfather examined the baby, I sat down in a chair beside your hospital bed, putting my head into my hands. I felt all-consuming, overpowering guilt. If I hadn't left that evening to confront Rosalie, you wouldn't be lying there comatose, unable to see or hear your newborn son. I had almost murdered one of your kind and thus had returned to the monster I once was. I hopelessly reached out and took your right palm into mine. Oh, how I longed to take your place! I deserved it. I was a monster who let his daughter and sister become ravaged by another beast.
"Nessie!" Jacob awoke me from my mental torment and practically tore off the doorframe as he flew into the room. Leah, now in human form, was right behind him. "Oh, God, why her? Nessie!"
I stood up from the chair, and Jacob threw himself onto the bed, covering you with his massive body. He relentlessly wept, and his thoughts were swirling in a jumble of anger, confusion, and sadness. My heart plummeted like a boulder down to my feet. My utter foolishness—and the monster within—had now caused someone else pain.
"What's wrong with her, Carlisle?" Jacob's tear-stained face glared up at your grandfather and then returned to your chest. His incessant sorrow was maddening to me.
"She's in a coma, Jacob. We don't know when she'll wake up—if she'll ever wake up." Your grandpa Carlisle frowned at Jacob, wishing he had a better prognosis to report.
"And the baby?" Jacob's voice was muffled by his sobs.
"It's a boy, Jake." Your mother answered him and held the baby out for him to behold.
Jacob instantly removed his body from the bed and took his child into his arms. Your mother's lips half-smiled at your husband, and then she backed away and wrapped her arms around my stone body.
My son. Jacob's tender thoughts resounded in my head as his eyes beheld his child for the first time. And those were the only words they spoke.
Attn: Very hard chapter to write, but at least we know the baby is okay. Please let me know your thoughts. :(