Chapter 42: Breaking Point

Alice POV:

I was ready for the impact. I was ready to be slammed into the ground. But it never happened. There was a loud screech and a growling sound instead. Bella had thrown herself in front of me, right before the newborn reached its target.

"NO!" Jasper and Emmett had grabbed me just as I heard the sickening sound of bones being crushed. Jacob and Sam tackled the newborn off of my mate, but not before it had violently bitten into the side of her neck. There was horrible whining sound coming from my wolf and I struggled hard against my brothers' safety restraints. "LET ME GO! LET ME FUCKING GO!" Once the newborn was torn to shreds, they finally let go of me.

Bella had involuntarily phased back and was screaming in pain. I was in a panic. I didn't know what to do.

"CARLISLE! CARLISLE HELP HER!" He was next to me in a flash, carefully looking over her injuries. His fingers grazed the open wound on her neck, it was bleeding freely.

"Alice I'm so sorry I should have noticed him earlier. Fuck I'm so sorry. Bella…" Jasper never swore.

"I need to get her out of here. Half of her bones are shattered and there is a large amount of venom flowing through her veins. We don't have much time before the hallucinations start." Jacob, Sam, and Leah had phased back and ran over. I became suddenly aware of my mate's nakedness in front of everyone, it was not helping my state of mind. Edward read my thoughts and ran over towards the cars to get a blanket.

"Here." He handed it to me kindly and I silently thanked him. I carefully wrapped her body in it, and then pulled her gently into my arms. Bella was still in an extreme amount of pain and was gritting her teeth, quietly whining as I carried her.

"It's going to be ok. Carlisle's going to fix you. It's going to be ok." I was really talking to myself now at this point. Seth, I think that was his name, had pulled a pickup truck into the clearing for us. I cautiously loaded myself and Bella into the bed, Carlisle and Jacob hopped in after.

"Seth let's go! The Cullen's house as fast as you can." Jacob barked in an authoritative voice. Seth did as he was told and got us on the road in no time. Carlisle positioned himself next to Bella, trying to stop the flow of blood escaping her neck.

"Alice I need you to keep her calm." I nodded and shifted Bella's body so I could cradle her head. She had her eyes shut tightly, still groaning out.

"Shhhhh. We're almost there." I looked up at Carlisle as he tended to her. He was in complete doctor mode. Finally we arrived at the house, I picked Bella up again and carried her inside. "In your study Carlisle?"

"No. Take her up to your room. She needs to feel as safe as she can once the venom hits." My stomach began to churn as I brought her up the stairs. I don't know if I can do this. "Alice can you put some comfortable clothes on her carefully? It'll help."

"Don't you have to set her bones?"

"There's no time. I can't do it during, it'll make it worse for her. I'll have to set them after." I started to shake while putting Bella's sweats and a white T-shirt on her. Her temperature had risen to try and combat the injuries. So now she was sweating profusely and the blood was running down her chest from the combination.

"Carlisle!" He had left while I was changing her without telling me why.

"I'm right here." He returned with a syringe in hand. I looked at it terrified. "Morphine." Oh right.

"Will that help?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to set up a drip though, her body is going to burn it off too fast." Just then Bella started howling in agony and her heart was beating so fast I was worried it may explode. "It's starting."

I was frozen. I didn't know what to do. Bella was being tortured right in front of me and I had no clue on how to handle it.

"Alice! Did you hear me? I need you to help her!" Carlisle was shouting at me, I had zoned out. Esme and Rosalie ran into the room at that exact moment with horrified expressions. I was just standing there in a panic, unable to move.

"Alice? What are you doing?" Rose grabbed my shoulders and looked at me concerned. Esme had taken over my job and was trying to calm Bella down. It was too much. The blood. The pain. It was all too much. I broke down and began to cry out.

"Dammit Rose, get her out of here!" I had never seen Carlisle look so distressed. Rosalie nodded at his orders and went to take me out of the room.

"NO! SHE NEEDS ME!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs. But Carlisle was not having it.

"Right now I need you to help or get out of the way. If you can't do that, I need you out of here. You're right. She does need you. But she needs a composed you." I wanted to be with her. I wanted to be calm and steady, holding her down safely. But my mind had broken. "Rose." Carlisle said disappointedly. Rosalie struggled with all her might to get me out of the room.

"Emmett! Edward!" My two brothers were there in an instant, dragging me away from my screaming mate.

I sobbed uncontrollably once they got me outside the house, trying to push and claw my way back towards Bella.

"BELLA! BELLAAAAAAAA!"

"Alice stop it! Carlisle is doing his job. You're making everything worse." Rosalie said pissed at me. She obviously wanted to be with Bella right now but was stuck taking care of me.

"Rose we got it. Go back to her." She nodded at Emmett's words and ran back into the house. Edward and Emmett continued to pull me into the forest, further away from my mate. Eventually we ran into Jasper who was sitting in a ball on the ground, rocking back and forth. That got my attention.

"Jasper? What's wrong with him?" I turned to my brothers who were last with him.

"He got about five feet away from the house and started screaming in pain. He said Bella's emotions were too strong and ran." Edward explained and leaned down to comfort Jasper. I sat next to him as well and continued my crying. I had completely failed my mate once again.

Sometime later Rosalie came to find us looking pretty shaken up.

"The worst is over. Do you think you can handle coming back?" I nodded genuinely and stood up. She scrutinized me up and down before letting me follow her back. Edward stayed with Jasper and Emmett came along with us.

Once inside, I hurriedly ran upstairs and put on a brave face. Bella was laying down in my bed where I had left her with Esme holding her head in a mothering way. She looked barely conscious, covered in sweat and blood. There was a fresh bandage on her neck. Carlisle was in the midst of setting up an IV drip with what I assumed was morphine. He glanced up at me concerned, but Rose nodded an approval and he went back to his work.

"Alice I need to re-break her bones. They've set in the wrong place. It would be really helpful to have you here if you can keep it together." Carlisle sternly lectured me. I was feeling even worse than before.

"Yes I can." I looked to Esme, who understood and moved so I could take her place. "Hey." I whispered gently while placing Bella's head into my lap. I'd never seen her so fragile looking. She opened her eyes and smiled weakly.

"Hey." She feebly croaked out. The effort to keep her eyes open was too much and she closed them again.

"Alright Bella I'm going to start with the re-breaking. I've started the morphine but it won't really help with the immediate pain. Alice maybe you'd like to hold her hand during it?" Carlisle was definitely still irritated with me. I nodded and positioned myself on the uninjured part of Bella's body, taking her hand.

"Ok Bells, you can squeeze my hand as hard as you want. I'm not going anywhere." Carlisle moved to her other side and we both braced. The re-breaking was torture to sit through, I almost attacked my own father from the pain he was causing. But I knew he was helping and not enjoying this in any way. Bella refused to squeeze my hand and only had enough energy to groan with each new break. I kept myself together this time though.

Finally it was all over. Carlisle gave her some more morphine and left us be, saying he'd come back to check up in a bit. With the amount of drugs in her system, Bella faded in and out while I pet her hair softly. It had been a very long day.

Bella POV:

I woke up around mid-day Friday afternoon. My whole body felt like a semi-truck hit me head on.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Alice was still positioned behind me as my headrest. I groaned out and tried to stretch my sore limbs.

"Ugh. Like crap. Are you alright?" I was worried about her yesterday. She had completely broken down at the sight of me in pain. Of course I don't remember much after the venom hit me. I shuttered at the memory.

"I've been better. I'm really sorry Bella." Before I had the chance to respond Carlisle walked in.

"How's my favorite patient?" I rolled my eyes.

"Carlisle you say that to everyone. It's so cliché." He chuckled and went to check on my IV and vitals.

"Yes, but I actually mean it with you. How are you feeling? Any pain or discomfort?"

"Not really. Just extremely sore." He nodded and examined my injured side.

"Well your bones seem to be healing perfectly. We should have you up and running in no time."

"Thanks doc." He smiled warmly at me and then gave Alice a very cold look before leaving. Damn. I was about to ask her about it but she started to cry underneath me. I carefully turned my body to face her. "Hey hey. What's wrong? What happened?"

"I'm a horrible mate! You were in so much pain and I couldn't handle it. I left you! And I almost made things worse by getting in the way." She was really bawling now. I pulled her into my chest and rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Alice baby don't cry. Listen to me, you are not a horrible mate. So you had a small breakdown? It happens. There was a lot going on and it was hard on you. And you came back. You're here right now. Please stop crying." I rocked her back and forth until her sobs subsided.

"Do you still love me?" I chortled lightly at the absurdity of her question.

"Of course I do. Nothing you could do would make me change my mind on that." She looked up at me sadly and I kissed the top of her head. We sat like that for some time, until I fell asleep again from the morphine.

Carlisle gave me the ok to go home on Sunday morning and Alice has not left my side for a second. She's stress cooking and cleaning, and driving me a little bit insane. I hit my breaking point when she made me my tenth meal of the day.

"Alice! Honey, I love you but you're driving me crazy. Just relax ok? I am all better. See?" I showed her the now pinkish mark on my neck that was almost all healed. "Look I know you care. And I know you're still upset with yourself. But baby you don't need to be on me all the time now. I can't deal with that." She bit her lip and gave me a sheepish look.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. You're right. Do you want me to go?"

"What? No! I just meant in general. No, I love when you stay the night. Just some alone time every now and then would be nice." Alice smiled and jumped on her tip toes to kiss me. "Alright I'm going to take a shower and then get ready for bed." She nodded as I moved past her. "Would you care to join me?" She giggled happily and followed.

"Get up you piece of shit. I said get up!" There was a sharp pain in my side.

"Wha-?"

"You're so weak. Couldn't even take a small bite. That's what creates our kind! You are nothing! Nothing compared to our species. So pathetic." Caius spit on my face and threw me against the nearest wall. What did I do to deserve this fate? "You think you're strong don't you? You think you can beat me?" Another sharp blow landed on my head. "ANSWER ME!"

"N-no sir."

"You're lying." I could hear him slowly approach me. He ran his cold fingers down my face and neck. I cringed away. Please not again. Please god make it stop. "You know what happens when you lie to me 173952. You know what I have to do to you."

"Please. Please don't." The voice coming from me did sound pathetic.

"Shut up! You brought this upon yourself. Time for another lesson…."

"Bella wake up! Bella!" I sat bolt upright clutching my chest. Fuck. I pulled my knees into my chest, panting hard. Alice was rubbing my back and whispering soothing words. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Bella it's not healthy to keep things bottled up."

"I said I don't want to talk about it Alice!" I don't know why I went off on her so suddenly. She had asked gently. Something inside me just snapped at her for some reason.

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't keep saying the same damn things every time! I don't know what to do!" My rage had set her off as well. She stood up and started pacing back and forth angrily.

"I don't know ok! Stop pushing me to talk about things! These are my problems, not yours!" I stood up and faced her now. It was going downhill fast.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we are a team? An equal partnership. You can't just expect to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders all the fucking time! I'm here! I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't want your help!" I roared right in her face. She took a step back.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't keep having this same fight with you over and over again. I can't. I just can't." She had stopped yelling and started crying.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you're trying. I know you are. But it's not enough. Not anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She wasn't making any sense and it was pissing me off further.

"I can't do this anymore Bella. I'm done. I-I can't be with you anymore." She continued to sob quietly and ran out of my room. Out of my house. Out of my life.