Chapter Fifty Five

Rose

Bella was up really early the next morning impatient for us to leave but Peter refused until she'd had breakfast and a shower which Char and I helped her with. I must admit it was funny and Bella made the best of it. I think she'd given up on feeling embarrassed with us, or at least until Peter offered to help when she went bright red and threw the sponge at his head as it came round the door of the bathroom.

"I am so sorry Bella. Peter doesn't stop to think, he just acts."

Suddenly she giggled,

"Yeah I do that myself sometimes, well one time."

As we helped her dry and dress she told us about the shower incident with Jasper and we smiled at each other.

"Bella that just goes to show how close you two are. Can you imagine doing that with anyone else?"

"NO"

That came out louder than she intended and she went even redder,

"But it felt natural at the time?"

"Yes and that's what's odd"

Not to us. You are a pair just like Em and I, get used to it. Everything is normal and natural between mates. Now come on., we have a man hunt ahead of us."

Charlotte

As we drove Bella kept her ankle on Roses lap with a stolen pillow from the Motel to make it more comfortable. I sat up front with the guys as they drove towards their first possible area.

"Bella all I need you to do is tell us if the pain is getting better or worse if you can OK?"

She nodded and sat back rubbing her chest which brought to mind my conversation with The Major about his shirt, he had to survive the fall. As we drove into the area I looked over at her again.

"Anything?"

She shook her head and I saw the tears collecting

"Any tears and we stop right now, we need you focused."

"Sorry."

As we drove on nothing seemed to change and no one spoke, we were all waiting for Bella to tell us how she felt.

Peter

The next day was the same and we had one more run before abandoning this area. On the third day as we got in the truck I saw Bella wince but whether from her leg or the pain in her chest I didn't know. She was looking tired, dark circles around her eyes which looked sunken to me, her pale face was even paler than usual. We'd only been driving for a couple of hours when Rose suddenly tapped the back of my seat.

"Peter pull over at that Motel up ahead"

I swung across the lanes to the accompaniment of several horns and pulled in turning to see what was up.

"Its Bella. She can't do this any more, look at her"

I looked and saw what Rose meant, she was white as a sheet and perspiring.

"I think all this bumping about is hurting her leg. I'll get a room and she rests for a few days."

None of us liked it but to be fair Bella had done even better than we had any right to expect in coping this long. Rose came back with a key and Emmett carried Bella into the room. She sighed with relief when he put her gently on the bed and Rose stayed with her to help her undress while Charlotte went to get her lunch.

"Well I guess that's a halt to the search, I think we expected too much of Bella. She should be resting that leg."

Emmett looked at me,

"So what do we do now?"

"Well we don't let her see we're impatient, we work out a grid pattern and go look. Tell her we're hunting."

"You won't need to tell her anything for a while, she's asleep" Rose informed us as she walked back in.

"We tend to forget she's human. This is all too much for her. I say we take her somewhere quiet, somewhere Jazz will know and we wait for him to find us. The pull will work for him too remember and he will heal a lot quicker than Bella. Not to mention what he'll say if he finds her like this."

"True. OK I don't like it but OK. How about we take her to our place, it's not that far and she can have all the rest she needs. The other plus is that the Cullens well, present company excepted of course, don't know where it is."

"As long as Jazz does I think I can sell it to her when she wakes up. In the meantime you guys go hunt, Char and I will look after her."

Bella

I hated to stop searching but the pain was wearing me out. I knew I should be resting with it up, but the thought of Jasper out there hurt was more than I could stand. The pain in my chest was now vying for position with the pain in my leg. Rose had called a halt and I was thankful to lay down somewhere without any jolting or movement and so exhausted I fell asleep quickly. But I dreamed, oh yes! First I dreamed of Jasper and I in the park, then in the shower, and of our dream retreat with its bubble bath, candles, and bed, but it all dissolved into the picture of him falling out of the plane door hitting the button with his fist. Leaving me safe while he fell to earth with Edward. Try as I might I couldn't stop that replaying over and over until I woke with a scream to find Rose and Charlotte sitting by the bed holding my hands.

"It's OK Bella it was just a bad dream"

I shook my head tearfully,

"I wish it were Rose, I'd give anything for it to be a dream but it happened. I saw him fall and now I may never see him again."

Char squeezed my hand gently,

"Hey now, Peter already told you he'll be back. What we are going to do is take you home with us and wait for him."

"No we have to keep looking"

"Bella you can't, face it you're not well enough and if he gets back and sees you like this our lives won't be worth much. I'm sorry we put you through all this, we should have thought about your needs more"

Rose handed me two painkillers and a cup of water.

"Now take these and rest, then you can eat. The guys won't be back before morning anyway so we can't go anywhere."

I took the pills and lay back down drifting just on the edge of consciousness scared to fall asleep, scared of what I would see in my dreams this time.