Three
Bella's cell phone rang moments after Alice ducked out of the door. She watched the screen light up with a smiling photo of Jacob Black—it was a photo she had taken last year when the family vacationed in the woods near Lake Chelan. He was leaning up against a dirt bike, his face caught laughing, while Ness sat astride it, pretending to rev the engine by blowing a raspberry with her lips.
She let the phone ring. And ring.
"I should answer," she said.
Edward didn't respond to her, but he slid their daughter off Bella's chest and positioned her more firmly against his.
The phone stopped ringing, but within moments he dialed again, his face filling the screen once again. "We should tell him."
Edward again was silent. Renesmee stirred slightly, and he stroked his daughter's hairline, comfortingly. Bella wondered if her daughter was picking up on the strange emotions in the room though her parents touch, even now, as she lay in a fitful sleep.
The phone blackened with silence again. Bella waited. The ringing commenced.
"He came to the main house a while ago," Edward told her. "They couldn't lie to him. Alice says he's on his way here now."
Bella picked up the phone. "Jake, liste—"
Jacob's voice was clipped. "What's going on? Phantom of the Opera Barbie said that Ness is sick. Why didn't you answer the last three times I tried to call?"
"Jake," Bella tried to sooth.
His voice broke. "Why didn't you call me?"
She felt her ire rise. "We're her parents, Jake."
Jacob scoffed. "You know what she is to me. You know I can't just hear something like that and not react like this. She's everything to m—"
"Don't finish that sentence, please. She's four years old."
"She's not a normal girl, Bella. Physically she's almost a teenager…"
Edward growled.
From the other end of the phone Jake went on, "In a few years she'll be a grown woman."
Bella laid her head in her open palm. Worry, freight, and disgust all weighed heavily on her mind.
"I'm coming over. I'm almost there."
She could hear him running now. He wasn't out of breath, but she could hear the hard slap of his feet against the ground, and his voice, though still physically far away, was becoming easier to hear without the need of a cell phone.
"Wait," Edward barked, startling Bella. "Carlisle is coming too, he's right behind Jacob. He says not to let Jacob inside. He could make Ness worse."
"Jacob," Bella warned. "I know you want to see her, but you can't come in the cottage right now."
The door slammed open and she could suddenly hear Carlisle's soothing voice trying to calm Jacob down from the doorway to the cottage.
"Go," Edward told her.
Reluctantly, Bella left her daughter.
"Jacob, I know you want to see her, but we can't risk it now. Anyone with human blood could have transmitted this disease to her."
"What do you mean?" Jacob argued. Carlisle had to physically retrain him from entering the cottage, and Jacob was putting up a good fight. "She's been around me since the day she was born. You can't stop me from seeing her."
"Jake," Bella warned. "Stop. She's sleeping. If she wakes up, you could scare her."
Jacob took a deep breath, steadying himself. Carlisle released him.
"Talk to me. What's going on here. What's wrong with her."
"I ran some tests," Carlisle told them. "It appears to be a viral infection. Like the flu. She had a very high fever and earlier tonight she had a small seizure."
Jacob tensed. "A seizure?" He struggled to get through the doorway again, but this time Bella was the one to stop him. Her newborn strength, still potent, meant that she was the strongest one in the house.
She warned, "Let him finish."
"Ness has had very little contact with other human's her whole life. Besides Charlie, Sue, and Jacob, and the other members of the pack she just hasn't encountered anyone else."
"Could she have gotten this from someone at that school?" Bella asked.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Ness loves that school. She wants to go. She wants to be around other kids her age."
Bella had to restrain herself from punching him when he used the word 'kid,' after he so recently referred to her as being on the brink of womanhood.
"Okay, how do we make her better?" Bella asked.
"I brought some antibiotics. We'll do a few rounds of this and see where we end up tomorrow. I'll go see her, now. Excuse me." Carlisle made to leave them, but Jacob stopped him.
"Can I see her? I'll mask up, wear a hazmat suite, whatever. Just let me see her."
Carlisle felt for him. "I'm sorry, Jake. We just can't risk further exposure right now." He paused, thinking. "Why don't we use the video function on the cell phone. You can see her, and if she wakes up, she can see you. It's not the same, I know," he touched his arm, comfortingly. "But it's better than nothing."
Jacob nodded in understanding, but when Carlisle left them, he glared at Bella. "Will you actually pick up the phone when I call this time?"
"Of course."
Jacob dialed and even though they were still standing next to each other Bella answered with the swipe of her finger and changed the call to video. Jacob did the same.
"I'm going to stand outside her window, okay?"
"Okay!"
When she walked back to Renesmee's room she could see Jacob hovering on the other side of the window from the outside. Bella shifted the phone so he could get a better look at Ness.
"What's her temperature now?" Jacob asked
"102°, currently. She was at 104°, earlier."
"So, she's getting better, than?"
Carlisle shrugged. "In a way, yes. She has been laying up against two vampires for quite some time, now, and I'm sure that's helping the situation."
They could hear Jacob sigh loudly from behind the window glass. The phone just echoed it.
Carlisle soothed. "Nessie, can you hear me?" To their surprise Nessie did start to stir. "Ness, I'm going to give you some medicine now. I'm going to add it into your intravenous drip at your bedside. This will help your fever and help you sleep." Carlisle touched their daughters' hand so that she could see everything that Carlisle was explaining.
"Is she awake?" Jacob broke the silence. Through the phone he could see her eyes flutter open.
"Is that Jake?" Renesmee asked.
Bella cupped her daughter's check. "Yes, it is. Do you want to talk to him?"
Ness nodded and took the phone from her mother, shakily.
"Hey, Pretty Girl," Jacob said.
Renesmee was so tired. "Hey… Where are you?"
Jacob knuckled the glass. "Right outside your window."
"How come you're outside?"
Jacob signed again. "Well, it might be safer for you if I stay outside for a while. You've got a fever. Me being in there could make it worse."
"I think you should come inside," Renesmee said matter of factley.
Jacob laughed; his genuine mirth always lightening the mood. "I think I should come inside, too. I want to see you. You didn't tell me about what you did in school today. I got you a present too. I was heading over here to give it to you."
"What is it?"
"Well," Jacob edged. "I can't give it to you until you get better… So, you're just going to have to hurry up and get better so I can, okay?"
"Okay."
"Promise?" Jacob pushed.
Renesmee reassured him. "Promise."
"That's my girl."
Renesmee yawned.
"Are you getting sleepy?" Jacob asked. Renesmee nodded. "I think you should sleep now. Sleep and get better, okay?" He pressed his open hand against the glass and Renesmee reached out passed her parents and did the same.