I Followed Her, and She Led Me to You

Chapter 12

It was very clear, very quickly that Bella needed help that we were unable to give ourselves at home. Exactly six minutes after she was stung her whole leg was swollen and her whole thigh was covered in hives that were spreading up towards her back and down her leg. That in itself was concerning, and required treatment, but it became scarier when she began to complain about being nauseous, and when Alice began to help her to the bathroom, only a few steps away, Bella nearly fainted.

"Looks like her blood pressure has dropped. That combined with the nausea and hives is bad, Jasper, I think we need to get her to the hospital." Emmett quietly spoke to me as we could hear Bella vomit.

"Bring the car out to the front, I'll bring Bella." And so I ran into the bathroom where Alice was now helping Bella to rinse her mouth out, and as soon as they were done I picked Bella up into my arms, careful to not put any pressure on the sting site, and ran out to the car where I slid into the back seat, still cradling Bella. I looked at her face and was shocked, her lips had begun to swell and she looked like she was struggling to catch her breath properly.

Once Alice was in the front passenger seat Emmett put his foot down.

We were at the hospital in record time, and Emmett pulled right into Carlisle's reserved parking spot as it was right next to the entrance to the emergency department and under the shade of a large tree. Even in an emergency such as this we needed to be mindful of who may see us or how we could expose ourselves.

Before the car was even fully stopped, let alone off, Alice was at the door where I was sitting, opening it so I could easily carry Bella inside. I walked at the fastest possible human pace into the hospital, and straightaway we caught the attention of the nearest nurse. It wasn't often that the younger Cullen's made an appearance at the hospital, let alone the younger Cullen's wearing very little clothing an carrying a nearly unconscious girl.

"Come right this way." The nurse motioned for us to follow her to the nearest available bed where I gently placed Bella. "What happened?" She asked as I did so.

"This is Bella Swan, she was stung by a bee, we removed the stinger, but she quickly developed the rash and swelling, then nausea, and light-headedness, and is now having breathing difficulties." I spoke quickly, but clearly.

As I was telling the nurse about what had happened a doctor walked through the curtains that surrounded the bed for privacy and quickly listened to her heartbeat with her stethoscope while the nurse took Bella's blood pressure.

"Looks like anaphylaxis to me," The doctor said, "Julia, prepare an epinephrine IV please." The doctor addressed the nurse. "I'm administering a shot of epinephrine now."

And the doctor pushed the needle into Bella's exposed thigh, causing the slightest drop of blood to appear which caused only the slightest tickle in my throat. The nurse had soon set up the IV and pushed the little needle into the crook of Bella's arm and taping it into place. The nurse then moved towards Bella's head where she pulled a large mask over her face for oxygen, and Bella seemed to begin breathing better, not so laboured, which I knew was a sign that the drugs she had been given had begun to work. I moved to stand just to the left of the bed, out of the way of the doctor and the nurses, as a second woman had joined the other nurse.

"Jasper… sorry." Bella spoke quietly, looking at me and reaching weakly towards me with her left hand. Emmett and Alice had moved from out of the emergency department to wait somewhere else, possibly to call Charlie.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, darlin'." I reassured her as I moved a step closer to hold her hand.

Over the next few minutes I answered the doctor's questions about Bella and the allergic reaction as best as I could, but obviously we needed Bella or her father to answer the questions about her medical history.

But mostly I just watched Bella, and used my enhanced senses to monitor her for any changes. I may not have had any training to do with medicine, nor ever had any desire to study it, but I had learnt a little about what was normal for a human by listening to numerous conversations in the house over the years. I could hear that her heart rate was returning to a more normal level, and the smell of her blood was more normal now, although still tainted from the medications, but there wasn't as much of the smell of adrenaline as there was before. Her lips were less swollen now and her breathing had settled back to a completely normal rate. I was finally able to relax a little, so I pulled a chair from where it was behind me and sat down to tell the

"Where's Bella?" I heard a clearly agitated Charlie ask the nurse at the desk, before I heard his heavy footsteps as he ran towards the curtained off bed where Bella lay, and I sat in the little chair.

Charlie threw open the curtains and rushed to his daughters side where he took her hand.

"Bells, you ok?" He quietly asked her.

"Dad?" Bella answered softly in a slightly hoarse voice. "'M okay… Tired." She added softly, as if she were almost asleep. Charlie turned to me for answers instead of trying to get them out of Bella.

"What happened?" He asked me gruffly, but not unkindly. He was worried for his daughter.

"We were at the river behind the house, just swimming, playing, and Bella took a break to sit in the sun and have something to eat and she was stung by a bee. We scrapped the stinger out, but she started to have an allergic reaction so we brought her straight here."

"Thanks for that Jasper. Thanks for saving my little girl." He replied from where he was standing at Bella's other side, where he had taken her other hand.

The nurses soon finished their jobs around Bella and left us with her, telling us to call if anything changed and we sat there in almost silence, the only sound around us was the heart rate monitor that had set up at some point. I couldn't exactly tell when anything had occurred, I had been too distracted by the life or death situation we found ourselves in. It was only another ten minutes after Charlie arrived that Alice and Emmett came back.

"Jasper, I went home quickly to grab some clothes for you," Alice started, and I noticed that she had a purple sundress on over her bikini. "I took it all to Carlisle's office if you want to change there." She added.

"Thanks, I'll go after." I replied, looking back at Bella, who was asleep.

"Come on, you're still in your board shorts and damp, you'll get cold of you stay here in that." She insisted, partly to play human, and I guessed she wanted to speak with me.

"Fine, can you show me the way, I don't remember." I answered, trying to remain human.

"I'll stay with Bella." Emmett spoke quietly as to not disturb her.

Once we reached Carlisle's office, which was exactly where I knew it to be, Alice began to explain that she could see everything again, and had spoken to the rest of the family, who had come up with a theory about her lack of visions.

"So Bella's a shield?" I repeated.

"Yeah, which makes sense considering how Edward never heard any of her thoughts. And we think, and this could be wrong, but in the high adrenaline situation of the allergic reaction, her shield exploded from a mental one to a physical one. Blocking me, and possibly you as well." Alice elaborated.

"How'd they come up with that whole theory in such a short time?"

"They spoke to Eleazar, and he said it was fairly common in humans that display gifts to have stronger reactions during times of increased stress. And given what we already knew about Bella having some sort of gift, it makes sense."

It did make sense, and now that I thought about it I hadn't felt any strong emotions from Bella while we were in the car or the hospital, I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but it became obvious now. I should have felt her fear, probably terror actually, and yet there was nothing.

I quickly changed into the clean dry shorts and t-shirt Alice had brought for me and quickly made my way back to where Bella was in the emergency department. It had only been ten or so minutes since Alice came to collect me, yet by the time I was back Bella was sitting up in her bed, looking almost back to normal, except for the IV and the slightly off look to her skin. You wouldn't know otherwise that she had been merely minutes from death half an hour ago.

We sat around the bed in the emergency department for another hour or so, talking and relaxing after the stress, before the two nurses from before came in to prepare Bella to move to another room for overnight observation. The doctor was concerned that Bella may still have some complications, and so insisted that Bella stay overnight. Bella was of course less than thrilled that she would have to stay here, but none of us would let her argue about it as she had terrified us all so much.

Luckily, when Bella was moved it was into a private room as Forks Hospital was mostly private rooms, or rooms with only two beds, but Bella had a room to herself. Because of this, and our influence over the staff due to Carlisle's high standing, no one told us to leave or that there were too many people in the room.

Alice and Emmett were the first to leave at nine thirty under the guise of calling everyone before it was too late and informing them of what had happened and how Bella was doing now, and I pretended to leave with them as I was sure Charlie would be unhappy with me staying here overnight. I just sat in Carlisle's office down the hallway and waited for Charlie to leave. Of course I told Bella I would be back under the guise of giving her a good bye hug. Charlie followed half an hour later as he had work early the next morning.

The nurse followed me back into the room after Charlie left, giving me a reproachful look as she did so, I guessed she was about to kick me out for the night, but of course I would fight that. I would stay with my Bella.

"He's staying." Bella quietly but fiercely told the nurse as we entered the room. The looks that this poor nurse received from the two of clearly swayed her decision to let me stay.

"Alright then." The tried nurse answered as she looked over Bella. "Doctor Adams wants me to remove the IV, press the call button if you need anything or experience any symptoms during the night. Someone will be in to check you early tomorrow and then you'll be able to go home. Make sure you get some rest."

"Thank you." Bella genuinely responded as the nurse took out the IV and left the room. As soon as the door to the room closed Bella shuffled over to the far side of her bed and patted the spot next to her. "Come here Jasper. We have some things to discuss and I guess this is the most private place we're going to get." She spoke quietly, knowing I could hear her perfectly.

I was at her bed in less than a second and sat beside her.

"Lay down, Jazz, it's still too hot to sleep." She quietly joked with me, we both knew that she didn't just want me there because of the temperature, but still I gently laid down and she snuggled up against my right side, her head resting on my shoulder and her left hand resting gently on my chest.

"What's on your mind Darlin'?" I asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

"You." She whispered back, almost as if she didn't want me to hear it.

"Me? Now why would I be on your mind?" I paused for a moment, "Did you figure it out?" Hopefully she understood.

"Of course I did!" She responded with mock irritation, "I may not have a super vampire brain but I do have above average intelligence." She laughed, the sweet sound filling the room quietly. "And Alice helped a little." She quietly added.

"I know, she told me too when I came back from hunting the other night." I gently turned to lay on my right side so we would be able to look at each other more easily.

"How long have you known, exactly?" She questioned, obviously annoyed that I may have known for a long time and not told her, Bella liked to know what was happening.

"I knew for sure the night of prom, but instinctually I knew since Phoenix." I told her, holding my breath as I waited for her to gather her thoughts. "I did want to tell you earlier," I added, "But with you only just breaking up with Edward, and being so badly injured and everything else that was happening I wanted to wait until things were easier." I hoped like hell she would understand this and not be mad at me for withholding this.

"Thank you, until the other day I don't think I would have handled it very well. But I do think that I did know instinctually for quite a while, maybe since Phoenix or just after anyway." She seemed hesitant then, but I finally took another breath, relieved she wasn't resentful. "So what now?" She added after a minute.

"Whatever you want. It's up to you, I don't want to force you into anything you don't want." I answered sincerely as I brought my left hand up to sweep some of her hair off of her face and tuck it behind her ear. As I did this she grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes with her beautiful chocolate ones.

"No it's not all up to me. You are one half of this so we are going to be mature adults about this and be equals." She was tenacious when she wanted something.

"Technically you're not an adult." I teased her, chuckling, thankful when she laughed as well.

"Well I'm going to act like one. So, where do we go from here? We both know that we're soul mates basically, but at the same time I don't want to rush into this and be together because of it, I want to build a relationship with you and see where it goes. Is that ok?" She was so nervous, unsure of my reaction.

"That sounds perfect to me, exactly what I want." I answered stroking her cheek lightly with my left hand again, like when I swept her hair away from her face only minutes ago.

"Alright then. Let's date, like normal, human teenagers do. Go to a movie, sneak around our parents- well Charlie anyway- and make the most of being normal in this abnormal situation." Bella sounded so excited for this chance of normality that I couldn't help but feel excited for it as well.

"I better practice being a normal human then." I joked with her. "But that sounds great, as soon as you are out of here we can get started on being normal human teenagers. But you know, this isn't the most abnormal situation for me, its normal for a vampire to find their mate, you know."

"Yeah, but I'm not a vampire yet, am I?" She laughed. "Humans usually don't find their soul mate like this."

"You still want to be a vampire?" I questioned, none of us had thought she would after seeing the destruction vampire could cause after the incident with James.

"Of course, but not for a few years, unless I'm dying. But definitely one day. Maybe when I'm nineteen or twenty and the same age as you." She answered.

"That's great. But Bella, seeing as we're dating now," I made an odd sort of face when I said the word to illustrate how foreign that was for me as a vampire, "can I kiss you?" To which she responded to by slightly biting her lower lip and nodding while continuing to look into my eyes.

In that moment I don't think I had ever seen someone look so beautiful. Her big, brown eyes felt as if they were gazing directly into my soul, her cheeks were slightly flushed, almost as if she were too embarrassed to have asked for a kiss herself, and her gorgeous, full lips pated ever so slightly once she released her bottom lip from her teeth. I gently cupped her cheek in my left hand, amazed by the warmth of her skin, and took a deep breath through my nose to be certain her blood wasn't going to temp me. When I was sure of my control I slowly leaned in towards her, and she met me half way and my stone cold, hard lips met her warm, soft, human lips.

I had kissed a number of people in my long life. There were human girls in my human life I was sure, then Maria, and a couple of other women in the newborn armies, and then Alice. But none of those numerous kisses could compare to the one I was experiencing right now. I thought all of this in less than half a second before I stopped consciously thinking so I could just enjoy this moment with Bella.

Her soft lips yielded to mine as soon as they touched, and moulded themselves to mine, but that was to be expected I was sure, to Bella it must have felt like she was kissing a living stone. But she was enjoying it. Her arm reached over my shoulder and she tangled her slender fingers into the back of my hair as I deepened the kiss. The taste of Bella was like nothing I had ever experienced, there was the unmistakeable taste of her which was exactly how her blood smelt, only more subtle, muted. She was sweet and floral, the fuchsia was unmistakable, there was also strawberries there, and not so pleasantly I could taste the mint from her toothpaste. While it may have been a desirable taste to humans, it was so unnatural to me. It wasn't overpowering like I thought it might be though, just a slightly unpleasant background scent, or taste rather.

Our kiss ended too quickly for me, although Bella was panting and her heart rate was accelerated, obviously she needed to breath regularly and kissing wasn't the easiest way to breathe for a human.

"You alright?" I asked quietly.

"Amazing. But happy I'm not on a heart rate monitor anymore, or the nurses might have come running!" She laughed, and I joined in. My deep bass laugh and her higher mezzo-soprano laugh melding together musically.

"That was the best kiss I have ever experienced." I told her quietly as our laughs died down and I turned slightly to lay in my back.

"Me too." Bella responded as she moved in to snuggle against my side again. "Stay here and don't move please. This is exactly how I want to sleep." She added sleepily, the fatigue rolling off of her in waves, as if all the events of the day were catching up with her.

"I won't move. Go to sleep my beautiful Bella." I whispered as she closed her eyes, succumbing to sleep after a long and eventful day. First she woke up in my arms, then there was the river, then the near death experience, and then we talked, and I guess she was my girlfriend now, and we had our first kiss, and now she was once again asleep in my arms.

…

A.N.: Thank you for reading, please leave a review with your opinions. So finally their together! Yay! Thanks for being patient, I didn't want to rush into this from the start. Hope you enjoyed, there is more to come soon.

If there are any inaccuracies with the medical side of things, sorry, I am used to a very different healthcare system so there might be differences there, and I have never experienced a life threatening allergic reaction, although I am allergic to bees, like I made Bella, but that was just because it was convenient to make Bella allergic to bees and not know rather than have a food she had never been exposed to. All of this will be important later in the story. Hint, hint. If anyone can guess what happens later in the story you might win something, like an extra little scene I'll send just to you. Just send me your ideas or leave them in a review and I'll respond if you get it right.

Thanks,
Daisy
xx