16

Bella could feel herself shaking as everyone stared at her. Edward's jaw was clenched so tight, she was afraid he'd crack all his teeth.

"Okay, Swan, you need to calm down," Alice said, ending the deafening silence that danced around them. She pushed past Jasper and knelt in the sand next to Bella, her tiny hands grasping Bella's trembling hands and bringing them up to her chest. "You're all right. Just take a deep breath for me, sweets."

Bella sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Her head, which had already been throbbing, felt like someone had stabbed her a hundred times with an ice pick before pouring salt in the wound. "I didn't do anything to him, Peanut. Nothing, I swear."

"Of course you didn't," she soothed.

"Bullshit," Newton snarled, tearing his arm out of Felix's grasp. Bella scrambled backward, causing him to laugh, though nothing was funny.

"Back the fuck off, you dirty motherfucker!" Seth seethed and moved to that he was standing between where Bella and Alice knelt and Mike stood.

"I didn't do anything to you!" Bella insisted, curling her fingers around Alice's hands and trying to stand, but her legs gave out on her.

"You got me and Crowley pulled from the photo shoot."

"No, no, no, I didn't," Bella stammered, her eyes shifting from Mike to Felix, who sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "What's he talking about?"

"Don't worry about it," Felix said, grabbing Mike by the arm again and pushing him backward.

"What is he talking about, Felix?" Bella asked, feeling everyone looking between them.

Felix sighed. "Peanut told me about him putting his hands on you, so I made the decision to pull them from the shoot and replace them with another team since this asshole can't seem to keep his hands to himself."

"You can't do that! We have a contract," Newton snarled, trying to free himself again.

"Well too fucking bad you didn't read your contract because I made sure this one had a nice little clause about you not being a dick and after this little stunt, you are no longer a part of the PV. You've already been warned once about stepping over the line, Newton." He paused and looked back at Bella. "You are going to press charges, aren't you?"

Bella nodded. "Nobody assaults me and gets away with it."

As Felix dragged him toward the security office, muttering about calling the police and making sure these charges stuck, the sound of Mike Newton laughing echoed. Seth spared Bella a look of pity before following, most likely to give his own statement to the police, but also to make sure Newton didn't come near her again. While she was thankful that he had prevented Newton from doing anything more than grope her, she hated that now he saw the weak, pathetic person she had turned into. Before she got sick, she would have fought tooth and nail against an asshole like Mike Newton.

Tears of humiliation, fear, and pain filled Bella's eyes and she struggled to keep from screaming at everyone to stop looking at her. But mostly, she wanted Edward to hold her, to kiss her, to need her, but instead of doing any of that, he turned and walked away, ignoring Jasper as he reached for his arm.

Apparently, Edward had reached his limit.

"Okay, come on, Swan," Alice said, hooking her arms under Bella's and trying to heave her to her feet, but Bella was too heavy. "Cowboy, give me a hand."

"Um, yeah, sure," Jasper mumbled scurrying across the sand and helping Bella to her feet. Her legs felt wobbly and her hands were still shaking. "He's just scared."

She tilted her head back and looked at him.

"His feelings for you — they scares him," Jasper added.

"Yeah? Well, they scares me, too."

Jasper pressed his lips against Bella's forehead before sliding his arm around her waist. "Let's get you to the first aid tent, darlin. Make sure that asshole didn't do anything that I'm gonna need to kick his ass for."

Bella scoffed, but found herself letting him support her weight. "Don't you have a match to prepare for?"

"They can wait," he said. "You're more important."

Though Bella didn't agree with him, she didn't argue and allowed him and Alice to help her from behind the bleachers, through the crowd that still remained, and down to the first aid tent. Looking back at the pit, she expected to see Edward waiting for his partner, but he wasn't there. It wasn't until they heard lots of yelling that Bella where he was.

Jasper shifted Bella into Alice's arms and took off through the sand. By the time she and Alice caught up with him, he had Edward by the shoulders and was trying to keep him from getting around him. Sitting in the sand outside of the security tent, blood pouring from his nose, and his shirt ripped open, was Newton.

"I'll fucking kill you," Edward snarled. "You hear me, you motherfucker? I'll fucking kill you if you ever go near her again!"

Newton laughed and scrambled to his feet, prompting both Felix and Seth to move in front of him. "You can have the whore, Mason. She ain't worth getting my dick wet anyway."

Felix and Seth dragged Newton back into the security tent, and Jasper released his hold on Edward, looking back at Alice and Bella. Edward, who seemed to have just realized she was standing there, took a step toward her, but stopped when Bella put a shaking hand up.

"Let's go, Peanut," she whimpered, looking away. "Better call Carlisle, too."

"Yeah, okay, Swan," Alice whispered, and without another word, led Bella pasted Edward and Jasper and down to the medical tent.

—BDBH—

"How are they doing?" Bella asked, shifting her attention to the door of the medical tent where Alice had been pacing, pausing every few minutes to look out the canvas flap. Jasper and Edward's match had started ten minutes ago, and though she would deny it, Bella hated that she couldn't be out there to watch.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about, Swan," Alice lied. Outright lied.

Bella scoffed and brought her hands up in front of her, clenching her fingers when they started shaking again.

"Still feeling weak?"

Bella shifted her eyes to the chair next to the small cot she was laying on. Esme had barged into the tent about three minutes after Bella and Alice, rage rolling off her in waves. A part of Bella was surprised that Esme hadn't taken off after Newton, shown him what happens when you mess with her little sister. Yet, the other part knew Esme was more worried than anything else. She had called Carlisle, who was due at any moment.

"More of the same," she replied, tucking her hands between her body and her legs.

Esme hummed and pulled out her phone, sending a text message. Bella wasn't stupid. She knew texting Carlisle again.

"I'll, um . . ." Alice gave Bella a quick glance and smile before taking off out of the tent.

"Where'd she go?" Esme asked and started to stand, but Bella reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Cowboy," she simple said.

"Ah." Esme laughed and sat back down. "She likes him, doesn't she?"

"She loves him." Bella shifted so that she was seated with her legs folded in front of her, her hands resting on her knees. "One day, they'll get married, have babies, a life together. They may stay on the island, or head back to the mainland, but they'll spend the next sixty years loving each other," she whimpered. "He makes her happy, Essie. So fucking happy. And Peanut deserves to be happy."

"So do you," Esme whispered, drawing Bella's attention to her. "Marriage and babies, a long life full of laughter — you deserve all of that, too."

"Doesn't matter, though. I won't get it," Bella muttered, and before Esme could say anything else, Carlisle and Felix rushed into the tent, aggravation etched on both their faces. "Is he gone? Have the cops arrested him?"

Felix's jaw tightened as he nodded. "They just left. Said they'd be in contact with you later for a statement, but Seth was able to give them enough to satisfy them for now. Mike Newton fucked up this time, and God willing, he won't be able to do this again."

"He's done it before?" Esme asked, voicing the question that Bella had been waiting to ask ever since Felix implied Newton's history of assaulting women.

"Nothing quite this extreme," he groused. "Harassment, rude and improper comments, but he'd never actually assaulted anyone before. At least, that I know of. I'd never been able to get rid of him because he finds loopholes in his contracts, ways around shit like this. But I made sure he wouldn't be able to this time. I'm just sorry you were the one he messed with, Swan."

"Me, too," she quipped, clenching her fingers into fists. "I didn't want Peanut to tell you, I wasn't trying to get him kicked off of the shoot."

"I know." Felix pulled a chair over and sat in front of her. "When Peanut told me that Newton had been . . . inappropriate with you, I made the decision that Newton and Crowley weren't the right team to be a face of PV. You aren't the only woman this week to tell me that Newton's made crude or ugly comments toward them, so when he questioned why I was pulling him, I told him there had been complaints of unacceptable behavior. I guess, he assumed they came from you. I never expected him to go after you like that. I'm sorry, Swan. So fucking sorry."

"Not your fault Newton's an ass," Bella quipped, shifting her eyes to Carlisle, who looked at annoyed by having to wait for Felix to bare his confession. "I'm fine, Car. Just sore from being thrown to the ground."

Carlisle snorted, but didn't say anything as his eyes shifted to Felix.

Bella sighed and looked at her old friend. "I don't really want to get into this, but I guess I owe you an explanation about my . . . Well, about my health. I, um, I'm sick. I have a disease called Kuf's, which effects my nervous system. I have seizures sometimes, and my hands shake a lot. Sometimes, like the other day, I have trouble speaking, trouble breathing because my brain doesn't tell my body how to work right. I, um . . ." Shaking her head, she tried to keep the tears from falling, tried not to sob like an infant. "It's, um . . . there's no cure, so . . ."

"You're gonna die," Felix whispered, not asking, but Bella found herself nodding all the same. "Shit, Swan."

"Yeah, I know," she whimpered.

"I'm sorry. I . . . I don't really know what to say."

"Nobody does." Bella whipped the tears off her face with the back of her hand. "This is why I didn't want you to know. I didn't want you to look at me like that."

"Like what?" Felix asked, his face filled with pity and sorrow.

"Like I'm not the same woman who kicked your ass in tenth grade after you broke up with Clara Marten because she wouldn't suck your dick."

Felix brought his hand up to his mouth, trying to keep from crying. "You made me apologize to her. Called me a motherfucker and threatened to tell your dad, saying he'd kick my ass, too."

"He would have, too," Esme quipped, crossing her legs at the knee. "If there's one thing Charlie Swan didn't tolerate was teenage boys who tossed girls aside for not putting out."

Felix nodded and stood. "I've gotta get back to the tournament, make sure we don't lose any sponsors because of what happened. I'll check back with you in a bit, okay?"

"All right." Bella waited until Felix left before shifting her attention to Carlisle. "My legs hurt. They feel weak, like really weak. And, um, my head hurts," she whimpered. "Had a headache before he . . . But now it's worse."

"The stress of . . ." Carlisle settled in chair Felix had just been in, leaning forward so that his elbows were on his knees and his hands were clasped in front of him. "I was going to say the stress of the attack, but let's be honest, Bella: your health is declining faster than Charlie's did."

Bella frowned.

"I think we need to consider more aggressive treatments," he added. "That doctor I was telling you about this morning, the one who is doing the trails — he got back to me about an hour ago. In fact I was on the phone with him when Esme texted about what happened. Anyway, he's not a hundred percent sure, but he thinks his infusions can help."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Esme asked, drawing Carlisle's attention to her. Clearly he hadn't told her about his research, surprising Bella. She assumed Esme had been the push he needed to look for experimental treatments.

Carlisle sighed. "I, um, I was telling Bella this morning about this doctor in New York. He's been having a lot of success treating MS patients with IV infusion treatments. It's a long shot, and there's no guarantee that these treatments will help her, but I sent him her chart, her test results and he seems to think there's a chance."

"That's great," Esme cheered, but stopped when Bella scoffed and scooted off the cot, standing with a wince as her legs ached. Both she and Carlisle reached for her, but she pushed their hands away. "Bella…"

"A chance, Essie?" she whimpered. "What chance? A few months? A year? There's no cure for Kufs. No matter what I do, I'm going to die. Why can't you just accept it?"

Esme started to respond, but Bella rushed out of the tent. Her lungs ached as she struggled to breathe, to keep from screaming and raging, and begging God for more time.

Alice, Jasper, and Edward were standing just outside of the tent, the look on their faces made it clear they'd heard every word that Esme, Carlisle, and Bella had said. With tears burning and threatening to fall, Bella turned to leave them, too, but stopped when Edward wrapped his fingers around the tops of her arms, pulling her body against his.

"Don't do this," he whispered.

"Do what?" The words escaped her before she could stop them. Her brain was telling her to run, to let him go and get on with what short amount of time she had left, yet her heart screamed at her to let him in, let him be her constant in a world of inconstancy.

"Don't give up." Edward pressed his lips against the side of her neck, dragging them upward to her ear. "Fight."

The tears she'd been fighting fell as she pulled away from him, turning so she was facing him. "I can't, not anymore. I'm tired, Edward. Tired of pretending you and I can be anything other than this."

"That's not true," he argued, reaching for her, but she pulled away. "You don't get to do this, Bella."

"Do what?" she argued. "Accept that I'm dying? I have because I am. I'm dying, Edward. I'm fucking dying. In a month, a year, maybe two, but I am dying and there's no point in pretending otherwise. Not anymore."

"That may be true," he said, the words sounding like they hurt him to admit. "But that doesn't mean that you and I can't be together, that I can't be there for you."

"I don't want you to watch me die," she cried.

Edward took a step toward her, his hands coming up to cup her face. "I'm not going anywhere, Bella, and you know why?"

"Why?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Because I love you."

And without giving her a chance to respond, Edward kissed her.

Thank you for all the reviews and I apologize for the delay. I struggled to get this chapter right.