A/N: This is mid-Eclipse through the end of Breaking Dawn from Edward's perspective. Thanks for reading!
These characters are not mine and all belong to Stephenie Meyer.
A big thank you to hannahclan for her review. "Keep writing." It was exactly what I needed that day. Thank you, too, to ReeceK, Amanda Pall, and nynevenevermore for your kind words :)
Holding Pattern (Breaking Dawn)
"And this one?"
"I was twelve. Learning to ride a bike."
"Not until you were twelve?"
"Well, I think you can understand why Renée was never eager to put me on anything with wheels." She chuckled. "Then Dan came around - "
"Dan?" She clearly didn't think highly of the man.
"My mom's longest relationship before Phil. Longer than her and Charlie's marriage," she said, rolling her eyes.
"So what happened?"
"He decided it was a tragedy I'd been so deprived. I crashed into a tree, of course."
"Of course."
I brushed my lips over a faint white line just above her knee. "This one?"
She snorted. "Lucifer." I opened my mouth to ask but she quickly added, "Gran's cat. It's name wasn't actually Lucifer, that's just what Renée and I always called it."
I laughed. "And this one?" My fingers traced over the rough, oval-shaped scar on her bare outer thigh, just below her hip.
"Um." A shadow fell across her face. "A different bike and a different tree."
"What is it?" I asked, wondering what could have made her so sad.
"Nothing." She sighed, seeing the discontent in my face. "It was the second time I rode my motorcycle. And I didn't actually hit a tree, but I landed on a twig just right..."
I grimaced.
She seemed far away for a moment, her face forlorn, and I knew she was not with me but with him.
"Well," I said, slipping, with effort, into a cheerful tone. "I can see why you've always been afraid of me hitting trees. You've been taught a healthy respect for them."
"Call me a tree hugger," she said dryly.
"Don't let Charlie hear you saying that."
She finally cracked a smile. But I knew she could do better.
"Let's go for a swim. It's good for you to get out of the house every now and then."
"No," she pouted predictably. "Nothing that involves putting on clothes."
"I didn't say anything about clothes."
A brilliant smile broke across her lips.
The memory faded, and so did the girl. Her smile now was just as enthusiastic, but her lips were dry and cracked. Her cheeks sunken rather than round.
And the boy she smiled at was not me.
Can't remember the the last time she looked that excited to see me, Jacob thought as he walked into the house wearing the clothes Esme had set out for him. What is with her? For crying out loud, she's married! Happily married. And pregnant... So why does she have to be so damn thrilled to see me? Like I made her whole freakin' day by walking through the door. Wish she just wouldn't care - no, wish she really didn't want me around. Then it'd be so much easier to stay away.
He noticed my expression where I sat at the far end of the couch, Bella's feet in my lap. We're on the same wavelength so much lately its crazy.
"They just wanted to talk," he mumbled, his voice dragging with exhaustion. "No attack on the horizon."
"Yes, I heard most of it." I'd heard how Sam Uley and his pack were suddenly uncomfortable with murder. How they would respect the boundary line and wait until Bella was separated from the thing before making a move. How none of them thought she'd survive anyway.
Jacob's eyes widened in surprise. Wow - we'd been a good three miles out. "How?"
"I'm hearing you more clearly - it's a matter of familiarity and concentration. Also, your thoughts are slightly easier to pick up when you're in your human form. So I caught most of what passed out there."
"Oh." He felt annoyed but shrugged it off. "Good. I hate repeating myself."
"I'd tell you to go get some sleep," Bella commented, "but my guess is that you're going to pass out on the floor in about six seconds, so there's probably no point."
He marveled at how much she'd improved for a moment - the removal of the hospital bed and most the medical equipment helped the impression - before noticing the fresh cup of blood in her hands. How much is it going to take to keep her going? They gonna start trotting in the neighbors at some point?
It was true. The blood supply would become a problem soon if her appetite kept up like this. On top of that, my family members were overdue for a hunting trip. There was a growing agitation in everyone's minds on top of the existing stress. I had to pity Jasper. He neutralized what he could for his own sanity, but it was hard to wrangle with a black hole.
Jacob turned for the door. "One Mississippi... two Mississippi..." he counted off the seconds, playing along with Bella's snark.
"Where's the flood, mutt?" Rosalie called from her spot on the floor by Bella's head, mocking Jacob's too-short pants. The longest Alice had found.
I shot Rosalie a glare - the wolves were protecting her and her precious fetus as much as anyone else - but Jacob could take care of himself.
"You know how you drown a blonde, Rosalie?" He asked without stopping or turning. "Glue a mirror to the bottom of a pool."
I chuckled and Bella threw me a disapproving look which only made me smile more.
She rolled her eyes, but I could see my reaction amused her.
"I've already heard that one," Rosalie called after him.
Buttons will never be in style for werewolves, Jacob thought to himself as he trudged sleepily across the lawn.
Edward, Esme nudged. Please.
Esme felt horrible that we had not extended more hospitality to Jacob's pack and I had promised to speak to him, grateful there was something I could do for her after my previous behavior.
I kissed Bella's hand before releasing it.
"Where are you going?" she asked as I stood.
"There was something I forgot to say to him."
"Let him sleep - it can wait."
Yes, please, let Jacob sleep, Jacob agreed, hearing me from outside.
"It will only take a moment," I assured them both.
Jacob turned as I approached him only a second later, my expression apologetic.
"Jeez, what now?"
"I'm sorry," I said. I hesitated, wondering how to best convey our hospitality. Perhaps it was best to pin it on Carlisle and Esme alone. He seemed to like them.
What's on your mind, mind reader? He asked, growing impatient.
"When you were speaking to Sam's delegates earlier," I murmured, "I was giving a play-by-play for Carlisle and Esme and the rest. They were concerned - "
"Look, we're not dropping our guard. You don't have to believe Sam like we do. We're keeping our eyes open regardless."
"No, no, Jacob. Not about that. We trust your judgement. Rather, Esme was troubled by the hardships this is putting your pack through. She asked me to speak to you privately about it."
His brow furrowed in confusion. "Hardships?"
"The homeless part, particularly. She's very upset that you are all so... bereft."
He snorted. Vampire mother hen - bizarre. "We're tough," he said, starting to turn. "Tell her not to worry."
"She'd still like to do what she can," I said quickly. "I got the impression that Leah prefers not to eat in her wolf form?"
"And?" He demanded.
"Well," I smiled slightly, "we do have normal human food here, Jacob. Keeping up appearances, and, of course, for Bella. Leah is welcome to anything she'd like. All of you are."
"I'll pass that along." He saw it as a futile effort.
"Leah hates us."
"So?"
"So try to pass it along in such a way as to make her consider it, if you don't mind." I pushed him harder than was comfortable. I knew Esme was listening and I wanted to please her.
"I'll do what I can," he said, no more confident than he was before.
"And there's the matter of clothes."
He looked down at his white button shirt and khakis. "Oh yeah. Thanks." It probably wouldn't be good manners to mention how bad they reek.
I smiled in apology. "Well, we're easily able to help out with any needs there. Alice rarely allows us to wear the same thing twice. We've got piles of brand-new clothes that are destined for Goodwill, and I'd imagine that Leah is fairly close to Esme's size..." Maybe Esme would have some ideas on how to mitigate the scent.
"Not sure how she'll feel about bloodsucker castoffs. She's not as practical as I am."
I felt a little guilty then. I knew Jacob had never had a lot to his name. I'd seen his small house. Remembered Billy's shame when he'd asked Carlisle to treat his broken son in the middle of his living room because no other space was large enough.
Prattling about one-use clothes, bound for Goodwill or not, suddenly seemed quite insensitive.
"I trust that you can present the offer in the best possible light. As well as the offer for any other physical object you might need, or transportation, or anything else at all. And showers, too, since you prefer to sleep outdoors."
He was enduring more than he was hearing. I needed Esme's message - my message, too - to get through to him.
"Please..." I said earnestly, "don't consider yourselves without the benefits of a home."
He thought through my words, blinking sleepily. "That's, er, nice of you. Tell Esme we appreciate the, uh, thought. But the perimeter cuts through the river in a few places, so we stay pretty clean, thanks."
"If you would pass the offer on, regardless." Perhaps Seth would feel comfortable enough.
"Sure, sure."
"Thank you."
He turned, heading for the trees.
I registered alarm in Esme's thoughts half a second before I heard Bella's low, pained cry.
Without a thought I was at her side, Carlisle only a second behind me. Rosalie had her arm wrapped around Bella's shoulders, while Esme leaned over the back of the couch.
They'd heard a cracking sound.
Bella was gasping and grimacing, curled over her abdomen. Rosalie had flung her blankets away already. I heard nothing now - not a snap, not the sound of teeth ripping through a steel-hard amniotic sac.
My eyes were glued to Bella's face as Carlisle placed his hand on Bella's shoulder.
"Give me a second, Carlisle," she panted.
"Bella," he said anxiously, "I heard something crack. I need to take a look."
Alice strained at the top of the stairs to see something around the fetus. She could see we'd go to Carlisle's office.
"Pretty sure" - Bella huffed - "it was a rib. Ow. Yep. Right here." She pointed to her left side, careful not to touch
It's breaking her bones now. I hadn't noticed Jacob follow me.
"I need to take an X-ray," Carlisle said, calm yet urgent. "There might be splinters. We don't want it to puncture anything."
Bella took a deep breath. "Okay."
I extended my arms to lift her, but Rosalie, with her arm already around Bella's shoulders, beat me to it.
I opened my mouth to argue but Rosalie bared her teeth at me, growling, "I've already got her."
Rosalie was nervous. She knew, due to the density of the amniotic sac, the X-ray wouldn't harm the fetus - that wasn't the problem. The problem was me. Bet he'll forget all about his heartbreaking little apology if this keeps up...
And I was suddenly sure it would keep up. Now that the parasite was taking in massive volumes of human blood, thanks to me, it was getting stronger and more active. Perhaps its growth would accelerate, too.
Upstairs, I stood beside Carlisle waiting for the image to appear on the monitor.
"It's an incomplete fracture - just a crack - so no splinters. That's very fortunate." Carlisle met my furious gaze for a moment and sighed. "Fortunate in the sense that it won't puncture your lung, for instance." He placed his hand over Bella's. "But, my educated guess is this won't be the last of it, Bella. You might not be so lucky next time."
"Maybe we're overfeeding it," I murmured. "Maybe if we rationed the blood -"
"He's a growing baby," Rosalie snapped. "We're not putting him on a diet."
I took a deep breath, trying to control my temper. I couldn't bear losing access to Bella again. "Binge eating can be problematic in normal pregnancies as well."
"Yeah, after starving for a week? I don't think so."
I turned back to Carlisle. "What about animal blood? That way it wouldn't be quite so strong - "
"Absolutely not," Rosalie interjected.
"Animal blood is much more difficult to acquire," Carlisle pointed out. "Besides, we see very little difference in our strength for drinking animal blood." He patted my back. One hour at a time, son. "I'll go ahead and tape up that rib."
I moved to Bella's side and took her hand. Her brown eyes met mine.
"He needs to eat, Edward," she said softly. Her breathing was shallow as she avoided agitating her rib. "I'll be fine. It's just a few more days now."
Just a few more days now. One hour at a time...
I carried Bella down the stairs. Her expression was tender as she looked over Jacob passed out in the doorway.
Alice, sitting only a few feet away from him, raised a finger to her lips. I think he'll be here for a while.
Bella finally kept down food and, despite her poorly disguised pain from the rib, she was in a good mood. Very guiltily, she asked Rosalie to help her take a real bath - not the unsatisfactory sponge baths she'd been limited too. Rosalie was more than happy to oblige her, eager to keep up Bella's spirits for the baby's sake.
To Rosalie's credit - if Rosalie could be given any credit - she could at least appreciate Bella's sacrifice in her wrecked and emaciated body. Feeling compassion, she spent a long time on Bella's hair, working through it with her best conditioners and oils.
"What do you think?" Bella asked, feeling my eyes on her as Rosalie set her back on the couch.
It broke my heart to hear in her voice, behind her casual pretense, that my opinion of her appearance was something that she was worrying about with everything else going on.
"You look beautiful, Bella." I pressed my lips to her forehead.
And she was still beautiful. That wasn't a lie. Her eyes, her hair. The pink coming back to her cheeks and lips. Her familiar face, even as her bones stood out too sharply now.
But the burden of my evil had taken its toll. Distorted her body. Skeletal except for the massive tumor-like growth. So much of her beauty had rested in her health.
"Could I get some more, Rose?"
Rosalie drifted off to refill the cup.
Bella watched me curiously as I picked up the comb Rosalie had left on the couch.
"May I?" I asked.
She half-smiled. "Sure."
I sat on the cushion beside hers and helped her readjust so her back was to me. Very carefully I ran the comb through her wet hair taking great care to work out the tangles so not a single strand of hair was lost.
Her heart thumped unevenly at my touch and the sound made me want to cry.
Charlie called not much later.
"You sound so much better, Bells."
"I know, Dad. This new drug they have me on is making all the difference."
Alice and I shared an uncomfortable glance.
What's she doing? Alice wondered. Why give him false hope? It's going to be hard enough.
"Carlisle better let me up to see you soon," Charlie grumbled.
"Soon, Dad. But we can't rush things. I don't want you to get sick, too."
You need to talk to her, Edward, Alice insisted.
I sighed quietly, closing my eyes for a moment.
I can do it. Or Carlisle...
I subtly shook my head. If Alice was going to press this then I wanted to be the one.
After her call, Bella, strong enough to sit up now, curled into my side so her head rested against my chest. I tucked the blanket around her ignoring Rosalie's warning glower from where she sat on Bella's other side.
"Poor Charlie. He's really having a hard time," Bella murmured.
"Yes," I said gently. "We should try to make it as easy for him as possible... to transition."
She nodded against my chest but didn't seem to catch my meaning.
"It might make it harder for him if he thinks your condition is improving."
She was quiet for a moment.
"I've been thinking about this a lot, actually," she said, apprehension leaking into her voice.
"You don't need to worry about it now, Bella. I only meant that - "
"You think I'm giving him false hope."
I pursed my lips, considering my words carefully, when Alice cut in.
"He'll never see you again, Bella," she said sympathetically from her spot on the floor. "It's better that he start adjusting to that idea now."
"Well," Bella paused, "I guess that's the part I've been thinking about."
"What do you mean?" Alice asked, suspicious.
"I mean, maybe I could see Charlie afterwards."
"Bella - "
"Just wait, Alice. Let me explain. I know I won't be able to be near him for at least a year. We'll stall. Tell Charlie I have to go to some special hospital on the other side of the world. Keep in contact through phone calls. And then, when I'm ready - "
"Bella, you could have as much control as Carlisle and Edward combined, but it still won't change the fact that you'll look different." Alice said. "He will notice."
"Exactly," she said with a smile.
What is she talking about, Edward?
"We don't want to put Charlie in danger, Bella," I said, stroking her hair. "It's the only way to protect him."
"I know we can't tell him. That's not what I'm talking about." Bella looked over at her snoring friend beside Alice. "Jacob gave me an idea."
We stared at her confused.
"Not intentionally," she said quickly. "I was thinking back on how he told me he was a werewolf."
I frowned, contemplating the fact that I never really had learned how Bella came to find out her best friend was a mutant dog.
She explained how Sam had ordered him not to tell her and how he'd climbed in through her window one night and got her to guess.
"And how exactly did you manage to guess he was a wolf?" Alice asked.
"A big smelly dog would have been my first guess," Rosalie muttered under her breath.
"Because I already knew," Bella answered. "He told me the other stories the same day he told me about the cold ones. I just had to remember."
"The situation with Charlie is different, Bella," Alice said. "Even if we somehow got him to guess the truth - "
"No, no. I know. He won't guess right. That's the whole point. He'll find someway to rationalize things and just be glad to see me even if I am strange to him."
Alice opened her mouth to protest again, but I shot her a warning glance and subtly shook my head.
You can't let her have her way on this, Alice chided.
But that was exactly what I planned to do. Yes, it would hurt Charlie. But, if he were in my shoes, he would want her to be happy. Even if it was just in this small way.
Plus, I had much bigger concerns. Abuse from the fetus, halted for the moment, but surely not over. Delivery, which could easily arrive violently ahead of schedule.
I was consumed by these concerns, as was Carlisle.
If she dies and it lives... do we give it a chance? he wondered. It grows now, so will it mature? Learn? What if its nature is that of an immortal child? If we don't immediately destroy it, will we become bonded and unable to? Neither his research nor Jasper and Emmett's on the third floor could tell him.
But I already knew the thing's fate in this scenario. Carlisle needn't worry about that.
And if she lives and it lives? Well, many of the same questions still apply. If it needed to be killed... Can she live without it? Would she seek vengeance?
What if it dies simply of natural causes? Birth defects are not uncommon among animal hybrids. Would she be too heartbroken? Would she still want immortality? What if she is not conscious to express her wishes? Would asking her now only put the wrong ideas in her head?
I didn't have enough hope in me to fully appreciate these questions as he did, but I could imagine each of these scenarios playing out. An eternally grieving Bella like Esme. An eternally resentful Bella like Rosalie. Her face expressionless. Robbed of all joy. Desolate.
Was the only happy ending left for Bella a human death?
I envied Jacob, peaceful in sleep. The blurred, lush green forest cycling through his dreams. Her brown eyes always sparkling behind his lids.
I thought of our earlier conversation outside and of my debt to Jacob - impossible to settle - and I realized there was something I needed to do while Alice was blind. While Bella was fast asleep. I darted up to my bedroom and scrawled a few names on a blank sheet of paper.
Charlie Swan
Renée & Philip Dwyer
Seth Clearwater
Leah Clearwater
Beside each I wrote the same number.
And then I added one final name.
Jacob Black - everything else
I folded the paper in half and wrote Alice's name on the front. Then, remembering my deal with Jacob, I opened the note once again.
Alice, These are my wishes. No exceptions. You understand my meaning and I beg you to honor it. I'm sorry. I love you. - Edward
I placed the note in the drawer of my bedside table. When the world ended she would see herself reading it and know where to look.
Bella slept a solid nine hours. Quite a change from her usual restless sleep. The fetus had given her a reprieve - not since it broke the rib had her body so much as twitched from its unthinking force.
I hoped it was dead.
The first thing Bella did when she woke before dawn was glance over to the doorway where Jacob was still sound asleep. His head rested on a pillow placed carefully by Alice and Esme.
Bella's face glowed. "He came back."
I chuckled once. "He never left."
"He's been knocked out all this time?" She asked incredulously.
"Yup," Rosalie grumbled. "I'm surprised you could sleep through all the snoring."
Bella laughed. "It's not so loud through these human ears."
"Or maybe you just couldn't hear him over your own snoring," Rosalie suggested.
"I don't snore," Bella said defensively.
"Ha!" Haven't mentioned it to her, huh?
Bella, horrified, looked up at me where I sat on the arm of the couch trying not to smile.
She was easily cheered up when Carlisle came to remove her IV and it wasn't much later that she got a visitor.
Leah worries way too much. Of course he's fine. Seth walked tentatively up the porch steps, pausing as he noticed Jacob's head in the doorway. He snorted.
"Good morning, Seth," I said.
Bella looked up. "Come on in, Seth."
Rosalie sighed.
He took a few steps inside, trying not think about the overpowering odor. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." He half-smiled. "Just hadn't seen Jake in a while."
"You're welcome anytime, Seth," I assured him.
"Well... thanks," he said, his smile becoming more natural. "How're you feeling, Bells - er - Bella?" Spending too much time in Jake's head lately...
"So much better. Thanks for asking."
Seth didn't miss my grimace.
Esme breezed into the room with a basket in her hands. "Welcome, Seth," she said warmly. "It's so nice to see you again."
After forcing the basket of clothes onto Seth, Esme insisted he stay for breakfast and take out some to Leah as well. Leah was less than interested in the food, but when he returned, Seth was wearing a shirt and pants that had once been mine.
He sat down with his plate in the armchair Esme offered him. I was ready to assure him we weren't offended if he preferred to eat outside, but he thought the trade off that meant good company and a comfortable place to sit was well worth it.
"So," he said between bites, "you cook. And you ate cake at the wedding - wait, you never did tell me how you did that." He remembered our interrupted conversation at the reception.
Rosalie and I shared an awkward glance.
Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Seth looked down at his plate.
Just then Alice left Jasper's side and danced down the stairs. "We have to cough it back up," she said, sitting on the floor beside Seth's chair.
Bella shot me a wide-eyed look - I'd never told her that part.
I shrugged. "Alice made me."
"Big surprise there," Bella muttered.
"Shush," Alice said. "The pictures are perfect."
I couldn't quite bring myself to laugh as the others did - reconciling the warm memories of the wedding with the bleak uncertainty of the future felt impossible - but I was smiling again. It was amazing how much the wolves could thaw out our tense vigil.
Bella shuddered.
"Are you alright?" I asked, abruptly tense again.
"Yeah, just a little cold," Bella answered.
"I could sit next to you..." Seth said. And then he remembered the strained night he spent outside our tent. Probably a bad idea though...
"Not at all," I said quietly under my breath.
"I don't want to inconvenience you, Seth," Bella said. "You've done so much for us already. Please, relax."
"Honestly that couch looks more comfortable than this chair so I'd probably be able to relax better over there." Seth had a pretty good grasp on Bella's martyrdom - as well as how to navigate it - from Jacob's thoughts, I assumed.
"Alright," she laughed. "Thanks, Seth."
Rosalie moved to sit at Bella's feet. She was a little agitated, not liking that she found Seth charming. Well, that just goes to show the other mutt is just a dick in his own right. Can't blame it on the wolf thing...
Alice followed Seth, settling in on the floor behind the couch.
Seth was on his third cinnamon roll and thoroughly enjoying Alice recounting what our wedding would have looked like if she hadn't intervened when Jacob's hazy, dreaming thoughts started to firm up.
"Sweatpants!" Alice exclaimed "And a drive-thru chapel. I was about ready to disown her and Edward both."
Rosalie and Seth laughed while Bella fumed.
"You got your way," Bella said. "How are you still complaining?"
I kissed the top of her head.
Jacob's thoughts were all discomfort now as his snoring cut off. The smell of the pillow under his face caused him physical pain. He groaned and his eyes snapped open, taking in the grey sky. Must be close to sunset... he speculated.
"About time," Rosalie mumbled. "The chainsaw impersonation was getting a little tired."
Jacob rolled over and wrenched himself into a sitting position. He glared at the pillow that had been the source of his pain. Someone was probably trying to be nice. Unless it was Rosalie...
He blinked and immediately searched for Bella. It gave him chills seeing the very casual way Rosalie touched her, her head against Bella's knees. I guess that weirding me out is pretty brain-dead all things considered, he mused.
Yes, it wasn't the casual touching that had gotten us into this mess.
Jacob zeroed in on Bella's hand in mine and then Seth's arm slung over her shoulders, an overflowing plate of food in his lap.
"Hey, Jake's coming around!" Seth crowed.
What the hell?
I didn't entirely understand Jacob's anger with Seth, but I felt the need to defend him.
"He came to find you," I said as Jacob stood. "And Esme convinced him to stay for breakfast."
Seth took in Jacob's expression. Yikes, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. "Yeah, Jake - I was just checking to see if you were okay 'cause you didn't ever phase back. Leah got worried. I told her you probably just crashed human, but you know how she is. Anyway, they had all this food and, dang," - Seth turned to me - "man, you can cook."
"Thank you," I murmured. It was ridiculous, but I enjoyed his praise and the evidence in his thoughts. There had always been a small fear in the back of my head that Bella only complimented my cooking to be nice.
Distracted by my ego, it took me a couple seconds to see the source of Jacob's foul mood was now plain in his thoughts. He was about ready to take Seth's arm off.
"Bella got cold," I said quietly.
Right. None of my business, anyway, Jacob thought to himself. She doesn't belong to me.
Ohhh, Seth quickly pulled his arm back as he made the connection. Huh, well that's... weird. He knows me better than that.
Bella was frowning slightly as she looked up at Jacob and I wondered if she wasn't thinking the same thing.
Jacob walked over to stand a few feet from the couch trying to organize his thoughts. He'd slept a very long time and not particularly comfortably.
"Leah running patrol?" Jacob asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
"Yeah, she's on it," Seth assured him. "No worries. She'll howl if there's anything. We traded off at midnight. I ran twelve hours." Can't kick me out of the pack with that kind of dedication, now can he?
"Midnight?" Jacob's brow furrowed. "Wait a minute - what time is it now?"
"Bout dawn," Seth answered.
Jacob's aggressive demeanor faltered for a moment. "Crap. Sorry about that, Seth. Really. You shoulda kicked me awake."
"Naw, man," Seth disagreed. "You needed some serious sleep. You haven't taken a break since when? Night before your last patrol for Sam? Like forty hours? Fifty? You're not a machine, Jake. 'Sides, you didn't miss anything at all."
Nothing at all? Jacob appraised Bella. He could see the color in her cheeks and lips was back to normal. He even noticed that she'd washed her hair.
Bella smiled up at him.
"How's the rib?" he asked.
"Taped up nice and tight. I don't even feel it."
I ground my teeth as Jacob rolled his eyes.
Guess her blow-it-off attitude bugs him, too, he thought.
"What's for breakfast?" he asked her grimly. "O negative or AB positive?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. I blinked, surprised at the playful expression I'd never seen her use just as Jacob decided, Well, totally herself again.
"Omelets," Bella answered, not mentioning the cup of blood beside her.
"Go get some breakfast, Jake," Seth said. "There's a bunch in the kitchen. You've got to be on empty."
Jacob's stomach growled as he examined Seth's partially eaten breakfast, but he ignored it. Instead he gave Seth grief over Leah's needs and committed to go hunt with her.
"A moment, Jacob?" Carlisle said softly. He wasn't unaware of Jacob's mood, but Bella's blood supply - everyone's really - was just way too low. Obviously we couldn't let Bella starve again and it was incredibly risky to have so many thirsty vampires living alongside her.
Jacob put forth a great effort to smooth out the angry set of his features, almost succeeding. "Yeah?" he asked, turning towards Carlisle.
I'm sure this is the last thing he wants to hear about. "Speaking of hunting," Carlisle began in a somber tone. "That's going to be an issue for my family. I understand that our previous truce is inoperative at the moment, so I wanted your advice. Will Sam be hunting for us outside of the perimeter you've created? We don't want to take a chance with hurting any of your family - or losing any of ours," he added quickly, not wanting to come off arrogant. "If you were in our shoes, how would you proceed?"
Jacob advised him on the risk - the treaty was void in Sam's head - and suggested going together in the day time.
"We'll go three at a time," Carlisle decided. "That's probably the best we can do."
"I don't know, Doc. Dividing down the middle isn't the best strategy."
"We've got some extra abilities that will even it up. If Edward is one of the three, he'll be able to give us a few miles' radius of safety."
Jacob and Carlisle glanced over at me. Jacob seemed completely unsurprised by the frigid glare I was throwing Carlisle.
No, nothing would pry me from Bella's side now. I did worry, though. I hadn't fully known what to make of Sam Uley before Jacob and Seth's flight. Leadership did not come to him naturally the way it came to someone like Carlisle or even Jacob, but he'd practiced restraint and he hadn't been unreasonable in allying with us in the spring.
That cautiously optimistic impression of him, despite his disdain for me, was out the window now.
"I'm sure there are other ways, too," Carlisle said, backtracking. "Alice, I would imagine you could see which routes would be a mistake."
"The ones that disappear," Alice said, popping up from the ground. "Easy."
I relaxed while Bella tensed. She was worse than Jasper when it came to underestimating Alice. I squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Okay, then. That's settled," Jacob said, eager to make his exit. "I'll just be on my way. Seth, I'll expect you back on at dusk, so get a nap in there somewhere, all right?"
"Sure, Jake. I'll phase back soon as I'm done. Unless..." Seth looked down at Bella, who sat shoulder to shoulder with him. "Do you need me?"
"She's got blankets," Jacob snapped.
"I'm fine, Seth, thanks," Bella said quickly, clearly worried about getting him in trouble.
The possessiveness was a lot. Peculiar, even. No, Jacob was not beyond jealousy when it came to me. But Seth? It didn't cause me an ounce of distress for Seth to keep her warm in this way and sharing wasn't my strong suit.
Jacob couldn't take a step before Esme appeared, guilting him into accepting food for him and Leah. He listened as patiently as he could.
"I know you can't go home, and that's because of us," she said. "Please - ease some of my remorse. Take something to eat."
He was momentarily stunned by her pleading face - something in it reminded him of his mother. Jeez. "Uh, sure, sure," he mumbled. "I guess. Maybe Leah's still hungry or something." He took the food from her, holding it at arm's length. I'll go dump it under a tree or something. I don't want her to feel bad. Shit - Edward probably caught that.
Don't you say anything to her! Let her think I ate it. He trusted, correctly, that I would abide by his request. Bloodsucker owes me.
"Thank you, Jacob." Esme smiled at him.
How does a stone face have dimples, for crying out loud? "Um, thank you," Jacob said. He was having a bit of a crisis, feeling he'd become too comfortable around us. God, they're starting to feel like friends.
"Will you come back later, Jake?" Bella asked, hopeful.
"Uh, I don't know." He just wanted to get out before he had to confront anymore deeply held biases or beliefs.
Bella pursed her lips trying not to smile. I imagined, given how she always had a disturbingly good read on him, she could see his distress as his worldview threatened to turn upside down.
"Please?" She pouted. "I might get cold."
I wasn't sure if I felt worse for him or myself.
He inhaled deeply trying calm his agitation and then winced, burned by our scent. "Maybe."
After Esme forced one more errand on him - taking clothes to Leah - Jacob was flying down the porch steps.
Bella and Seth shared a look, both snickering.
Though Jacob had been something of a storm cloud, he seemed to steal the peace away with him. It was only a few minutes after his departure that the thing began kicking her again. And only an hour after that that she developed a fever - not that she told us. Carlisle felt her forehead after watching her shiver under her two blankets.
I was grateful Seth did not phase back as he promised Jacob. He switched off with me, helping to regulate Bella's temperature. And when it broke another of her ribs, he kept me from slaughtering Rosalie...
"Bella." My voice was tense. "Maybe we should deliver now. It's not so early - "
"I have to give him the best chance I can," she said as Carlisle taped her up again
"Carlisle has everything he would need to care for it... if it were premature..." Equipment acquired at Rosalie's insistence.
Anger flashed across her face. "I know the health of our baby is not important to you, but I'm not going to knowingly put him at risk. Not when there's another choice."
I rubbed her hand in mine, trying to soothe her. "I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I reacted like that."
Bella was asleep on Seth's shoulder when Rosalie decided to open her big mouth.
"Even normal babies have been known to crack ribs, you know," Rosalie mused.
This is not normal, Seth thought. He'd felt the unsettling, involuntary jolt of Bella's body against his side again and again. It's kicking the hell out of her - whoa, hey buddy!
He reached in front of Bella with his free arm to put a hand on my shoulder. I was leaning forward and glaring at the back of Rosalie's head, for once not watching Bella's face.
You can't rip her head off today. She's not worth it.
I didn't relax.
It's not good for Bella, he pressed.
I sighed and nodded, returning my eyes to Bella.
"So," he said, trying to distract me. "Why did you guys decide to stay here when Sam lost it? Why didn't you go up to Tanya's place or something?"
I was distracted - amused at his casual knowledge of my extended family. He'd kept busy at the wedding.
I explained the challenges to access if we moved. Carlisle's credentials allowed us to get the equipment and blood we needed here. And then, of course, Carlisle had essentially set up an operating room upstairs. It would take time to rebuild that elsewhere. But more than any of that, she was just too fragile to move. Anything could happen in transit.
Charlie called after lunch and I discovered the one downside of having Seth around. Jacob wasn't going to be pleased when he heard in his brother's thoughts how Bella was handling that situation.
I also learned why it took a week for Jacob to show up at the house. My attempt at matchmaking Charlie and Sue Clearwater at the wedding had driven a wedge between Charlie and Billy delaying their eventual phone call about Bella. Apparently there was a bit of a love triangle going on. I wanted to kick myself. Not for delaying Jacob's arrival - I knew by now nothing would have changed Bella's mind - but for once again harming the Black family.
"Stay safe out there," Bella told Seth when he finally rose to leave. "And don't forget to ask Jake to stop by." It was the fifth time she'd mentioned it.
"Tell him to hurry," Alice moaned as she trudged up the stairs. "I'm tired of hanging out in the attic like the vampire bat in the belfry."
Seth laughed. "Don't worry," he said to both of them. "He'll definitely come." Now that I know which buttons to push, he thought, scheming to make Jacob jealous again. Hooked on her worse than ever... might not even take that much.
"You really think he'll come?" Bella asked me after dinner.
"Yes, I'm certain of it," I answered as patiently as if it was the first time she'd asked and not the eighth. "Try to sleep. I promise I'll wake you when he gets here."
But she fought her sagging eyelids and refused to lay down, always staring at the door. It was like her need for him deepened by the hour.
Carlisle had a theory about that. At the end of life, patients leaned into attachments. Family, friends, or even favorite nurses. He believed Jacob had become something of an attachment figure to her.
I might have bought into that if I hadn't seen the pull between them, already well developed, in the woods outside Charlie's house all those months ago. The tenor was the same now, only it was stronger. The strongest it had ever been.
If she survived this, if she changed, that love and need would follow and maybe even deepen, wouldn't it? Could the natural repulsion between our species somehow temper it, eliminate it?
And if it didn't? Would she pine for an eternity over a boy who hated her? Or could he overcome his hatred? Maybe he could, for her, but he would always hate the thing and, whether it lived or died, she would always love it. Perhaps that was more than their bond could overcome.
I was growing agitated with Jacob the later it got and that wasn't fair. I knew he was putting off his visit, considering not coming at all, but in the end he couldn't resist. I must be some kind of masochist, he thought.
I sat on the couch, my face in my hands, Esme's arm tight around my shoulders. I was reminded of that afternoon on the stairs almost three months ago now when I awaited Bella's decision. Would she choose Jacob or me?
If only she'd stayed in La Push at his bedside that night. If only he'd held her while she cried over my lost future with her and not his. If only, if only, if only...
Jacob's heart stuttered as he walked in to find my defeated form but no Bella.
"She's all right," I whispered without looking up. "Or, the same, I should say."
"Hello, Jacob," Esme said. "I'm so glad you came back."
"Me, too." Alice sighed pointedly.
"Uh, hey," he said, taken aback by the strangeness of her dependence on him.
"Where's Bella?" he asked.
"Bathroom," Alice answered. "Mostly fluid diet, you know. Plus, the whole pregnancy thing does that to you, I hear."
"Ah." He shifted his weight uncomfortably, not prepared to make small talk on the subject with a room of anguished vampires.
"Oh, wonderful," Rosalie grumbled. "I knew I smelled something nasty."
I broke my pose and focused on getting my eyes right.
Jacob watched Bella's face light up. She looks like a kid on Christmas morning. Like I brought her the greatest gift ever. It's so unfair.
"Jacob," Bella breathed. "You came."
"Hi, Bells."
Her heartrate accelerated at the sound of his voice.
Esme and I moved out of the way. Though Rosalie could not have handled her more gently, Bella still turned white and held her breath as she set her down.
God, looks like she's trying not to make any noise no matter how much it hurts, Jacob thought.
Acting as if I was sweeping her hair back, I brushed my hand across her forehead and then her neck, comparing the two temperatures as I'd watched Carlisle do. She was still feverish.
"Are you cold?" I asked, checking for chills.
"I'm fine," she said automatically.
"Bella, you know what Carlisle told you," Rosalie lectured. "Don't downplay anything. It doesn't help us take care of either of you."
"Okay, I'm a little cold. Edward, can you hand me that blanket?"
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Isn't that sort of the point of me being here?"
So, Seth had used his trick.
"You just walked in. After running all day, I'd bet," Bella said. "Put your feet up for a minute. I'll probably warm up again in no time."
Ignoring her, he sat on the floor beside her. She looks so brittle... afraid to move her. He settled for leaning against her side, his arm extended along hers, and held her hand. He put his other hand on her cheek.
"Thanks, Jake," she said, shivering.
"Yeah."
I sat on the arm of the sofa by her feet, watching for any signs of pain or discomfort.
"Rosalie, why don't you get Jacob something from the kitchen?" Alice suggested when Jacob's stomach growled. She sat behind the sofa again, enjoying her painkiller.
Rosalie looked at her, outraged. I'm not going to serve him.
"Thanks anyway, Alice," Jacob said, "but I don't think I'd want to eat something Blondie's spit in. I'd bet my system wouldn't take too kindly to venom."
"Rosalie would never embarrass Esme by displaying such a lack of hospitality," Alice said, cocking her head in reproval. So. There.
"Of course not," Rosalie said with false sweetness. Time to feed the pup.
I sighed. It was good Jacob had a sense of humor.
"You'd tell me if she poisoned it right?" he asked.
"Yes," I promised. And he trusted that I would.
In the kitchen Rosalie meticulously bent a metal mixing bowl into the shape of a dog dish.
I sighed again.
Fido, she scratched into the metal.
I couldn't help but smile a little at her attention to detail.
"Enjoy, mongrel." Smirking, Rosalie set the bowl, filled with steak and potatoes, onto the floor beside him.
Excellent handwriting, he thought, noticing the engraving. "Thanks, Blondie."
She snorted, mildly disappointed she didn't get a rise out of him, but still proud of her handiwork.
"Hey, do you know what you call a blonde with a brain?" he asked. "A golden retriever."
"I've heard that one." Why couldn't Bella have fallen for the chatty one? Rosalie wondered, picturing Seth.
"I'll keep trying," Jacob promised.
Bella seemed to drift in and out as he ate. Her eyes opened at the sound of his empty bowl clattering softly against the floor. She studied the back of his head for a minute and I wondered what was going through hers. She reached out and combed her fingers through the back of his hair before patting it down against his neck.
It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling to him. Her hand in his hair.
I felt a heaviness in my chest.
"Time for a haircut, huh?" he asked, meeting her eyes.
I looked at the TV, trying to give them at least the illusion of privacy as I monitored her through his eyes.
"You're getting a little shaggy," she said. "Maybe - "
"Let me guess, someone here used to cut hair in a salon in Paris."
She laughed. "Probably."
"No thanks. I'm good for a few more weeks." He swallowed. Weeks. How long is she good for? "So..." he said with forced casualness, "um... what's the, er, date? You know, the due date for the little monster."
She smacked the same spot on his head that she'd just touched with such tenderness.
"I'm serious." There was an edge to his voice now. "I want to know how long I'm gonna have to be here." How long you're gonna be here.
"I don't know. Not exactly. Obviously, we're not going with the nine-month model here, and we can't get an ultrasound, so Carlisle is guesstimating from how big I am. Normal people are supposed to be about forty centimeters here" - her finger followed the curve of her stomach to its highest point - "when the baby is fully grown. One centimeter for every week. I was thirty this morning and I've been gaining about two centimeters a day, sometimes more..."
He felt sick to his stomach as he processed that. Her life's speeding by in fast-forward. How many days does that give her? Four?
Four. If we were lucky.
I pretended to look out the windows as my face contorted, though they only reflected the suffocating scene back at me.
While I hated when it hurt her, the thing's stillness now was almost eerie. The unnerving silence just before the climactic scene in a horror film.
Four days. The thing would make a mockery of that expectation. I was sure of it.
"You okay?" Bella asked when Jacob didn't respond.
He nodded, unable to speak.
Funny how, even knowing it's almost over, he thought, her hold on me is only getting harder to break. Like its related to her expanding belly, like she's growing in gravitational force. It's not my imagination - my need for her, the pull... it's stronger than ever. Why? Because she's dying? Because even if she lives she'll become one of them?
The pull. I'd never known quite how conscious he was of it until that moment.
I'd wondered at their strange relationship a thousand times. Always considering the pull and their way - the whiplash between being nurturing one moment and at one another's throats the next - separately. I'd written off the latter as passion. But what if that was oversimplifying things? What if it was just that the pull was so overpowering that it trumped their incompatibility?
What was it?
The jealousy paled in comparison to my burning curiosity. I just wanted to know. To understand.
"It's going to be okay," Bella crooned, wiping away Jacob's tears.
"Right," he muttered.
She curled against his arm so that her head was resting on his shoulder. "I didn't think you would come. Seth said you would, and so did Edward, but I didn't believe them."
"Why not?" he asked gruffly.
"You're not happy here. But you came anyway."
"You wanted me here."
"I know. But you didn't have to come, because it's not fair for me to want you here. I would have understood."
I looked back at the TV, their conversation a welcome distraction from darker thoughts. Bella and Jacob. Jacob and Bella. A lesser pain. A welcomed pain.
"Thank you for coming," she whispered after a minute.
Seriously, I can't - I just... "Can I ask you something?" he asked.
"Of course."
I gotta know what this is. "Why do you want me here? Seth could keep you warm, and he's probably easier to be around, happy little punk. But when I walk in the door, you smile like I'm your favorite person in the world."
"You're one of them."
"That sucks, you know."
"Yeah." She sighed. "Sorry."
"Why, though?" he pressed. "You didn't answer that."
I turned towards the windows again, bracing for her answer. Even if I hadn't been worried about upsetting her with such questions, I wouldn't have been bold enough to ask them.
"It feels... complete when you're here, Jacob. Like all my family is together. I mean, I guess that's what it's like - I've never had a big family before now. It's nice." She smiled for a moment. "But it's just not whole unless you're here."
Why? What was it about her? It wasn't normal. Humans let go. They moved on. But not her.
"I'll never be part of your family, Bella." I could have been. I would have been good there. He could see it. Their wedding vows. Their house. Their children. That future died before it even had a chance to live.
"You've always been a part of my family," she said stubbornly.
"That's a crap answer," he snapped.
"What's a good one?"
"How about, 'Jacob, I get a kick out of your pain.'"
She flinched, but it wasn't from the fetus - no the fetus hadn't bothered her once since he'd arrived. This was a different kind of hurt. He knew her better than that and I suppressed the angry urge to tell him as much. There was nothing Bella had ever been more sensitive to than Jacob Black's pain. Not Charlie's. Not Renée's. Not mine.
She blinked a couple times as if fighting back tears. "You'd like that better?" she finally whispered.
"It's easier, at least. I could wrap my head around it. I could deal with it."
She closed her eyes, frowning. "We got off track, Jake. Out of balance. You're supposed to be part of my life - I can feel that, and so can you." She paused. "But not like this. We did something wrong. No. I did. I did something wrong, and we got off track..."
Me, Bella, I wanted to say. I did something wrong. I pushed you off track. The villain in the love story. She was circling around it. She was so close...
Go ahead, just pour some more lemon juice into my wounds, Jacob thought. But then she started snoring and he realized she'd fallen asleep.
"She's exhausted," I offered in her defense. "It's been a long day. A hard day. I think she would have gone to sleep earlier, but she was waiting for you."
He asked about her ribs before taking me to task over the Charlie situation.
Alice, still tucked behind the couch, silently agreed with each of his points. Her fondness for Jacob grew as she saw he loved Charlie as she did.
Weak of him to let her get her way on this, just to keep her happy now, Jacob grumbled. It won't turn out well... Probably not expecting her to live to try out her crazy plan. Just placating her a while longer. Like four more days.
"I'll deal with whatever comes," I told them both. "I won't cause her pain now."
"Four days?" Jacob asked.
"Approximately."
"Then what?"
I didn't shield him from the gory truth of it, sharing how the thing would attempt to escape her womb using its teeth. How the legends warned it must be killed immediately.
Just like Sam thought.
"Of course, their legends say the same of us. That we must be destroyed. That we are soulless murderers."
Two for two.
I laughed once. Two for two, indeed.
"What did their stories say about the... mothers?"
I was back on Isle Esme, back inside Kaure's dark imaginings. My face twisted in agony.
He flinched.
Rosalie made a scornful noise in the back of her throat. "Of course there were no survivors. Giving birth in the middle of a disease-infested swamp with a medicine man smearing sloth spit across your face to drive out evil spirits was never the safest method." Her tone was lazy, uncaring. "Even the normal births went badly half the time. None of them had what this baby has - caregivers with an idea of what the baby needs, who try to meet those needs. A doctor with a totally unique knowledge of vampire nature. A plan in place to deliver the baby as safely as possible. Venom that will repair anything that goes wrong. The baby will be fine. And those other mothers would probably have survived if they'd had that - if they even existed in the first place. Something I am not convinced of."
Bella, not even mentioned directly in her monologue, was an afterthought. Her survival was inconsequential. A perk at most.
I was grateful that it was Jacob and not Seth beside me now. Alice was blind, but she was close enough to hear. Her thoughts weren't so different than mine at the moment, though. She would probably keep her mouth shut - she might even help.
My hands curled into claws as I planned my attack. I just had to be a little patient. If Rosalie saw me coming, she wouldn't be fast enough to escape, but she would sound the alarm. I'd dreamed of torturing her, but that wasn't my aim now. At this point I just wanted her dead. I needed this to go down quietly so her body could burn before Emmett realized and tried to put her back together.
They would all hear her head detaching from her neck. Could I dart outside with her fast enough before she realized? I already had a lighter on me for the day Jacob would need it.
Rosalie twisted so that her back was to me and I crouched.
Allow me. Jacob suggested, interrupting my crazed thoughts.
I paused, sanity coming back to me, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
He lifted his bowl off the floor, careful to not make a sound, and flung it like frisbee into the back of Rosalie's head. It smashed flat with a loud bang before ricocheting across the room.
I checked Bella wasn't disturbed by the sound and then looked up in time to see the damage. Rosalie's blonde hair was matted with a starchy mush of potato, sour cream, and cheese. There was even a sprinkling of vivid green chives I'd chopped up myself.
Her furious thoughts were wordless as she slowly turned her head to fix Jacob with a glare. "You. Got. Food. In. My. Hair."
It wasn't as satisfying as watching Rosalie get torn apart by a giant wolf, but it was enough to make me smile.
Jacob pulled away from Bella as he broke into a fit of laughter so violent tears ran down his face. Alice joined in, too.
"What's so funny?" Bella mumbled, her eyes half open.
"I got food in her hair," Jacob declared proudly.
"I'm not going to forget this, dog," Rosalie hissed.
"S'not so hard to erase a blonde's memory. Just blow in her ear."
"Get some new jokes."
"C'mon, Jake," Bella said. "Leave Rose alo - " She gasped.
I leaned over her, ripping the blanket out of the way. There was no violent, bloody scene beneath it. Not yet.
She convulsed, her back arching. "He's just," she panted, "stretching." Her face went white and she locked her teeth together, trying not to scream.
I held her face between my hands. "Carlisle," I called, my voice tense.
"Right here," he answered.
Bella's teeth unclenched but her breathing was still hard and shallow. "Okay. Think it's over. Poor kid doesn't have enough room, that's all. He's getting so big."
There was a wave of silent groans and grumblings over her affectionate tone.
"You know," Bella said. "He reminds me of you, Jake."
I watched him closely. His thoughts weren't exactly pleasant in that moment.
"Do not compare me to that thing," he spat.
"I just meant your growth spurt," she said, hurt. "You shot right up. I could watch you getting taller by the minute. He's like that, too. Growing so fast."
Jacob wanted to say more - he was glad he'd hurt her feelings - but he bit his tongue. I'd been in his head long enough to understand why he was so upset, but I could never fully wrap my head around the petty, short-lived satisfaction he sometimes got in causing her pain.
Besides, weren't the worst comparisons reserved for me? The thing's violence. Its selfishness. Its diet. Growing fast - that was nothing.
"Hmm," Carlisle murmured. Twenty-four pairs...
"What?" Jacob demanded as Carlisle appraised him.
I concentrated on Carlisle's theories as he shuffled through them.
"You know that I was wondering about the fetus's genetic makeup, Jacob," Carlisle answered. "About his chromosomes."
His. As Carlisle pictured Jacob and Seth's faces, beholders of twenty-four pairs of chromosomes, the thing became a him and not an it.
"What of it?" Jacob asked.
"Well, taking your similarities into consideration - "
"Similarities?" Jacob growled.
"The accelerated growth, and the fact that Alice cannot see either of you."
Jacob's face went blank as he realized Carlisle had a point.
"Well," Carlisle said. "I wonder if that means that we have an answer. If the similarities are gene-deep."
"Twenty-four pairs," I muttered, mulling the idea over.
"You don't know that," Jacob argued.
"No," Carlisle agreed. "But it's interesting to speculate."
"Yeah. Just fascinating."
I could see Carlisle was internally more invested in this idea than he was letting on, growing more and more open to the idea that this thing inside her might be good. Good as Jacob and Seth were good. He was letting his emotions interfere with his scientific reasoning. And, with Bella soundly asleep, I argued as much. Pointing out, for starters, that many vastly different animals shared the same number of chromosomes. Giraffes and certain types of millipedes both had fifteen pairs of chromosomes didn't they? So, sure, maybe the thing had twenty-four pairs of chromosomes, but it was obviously more like a leech than a wolf.
The conversation lulled Jacob to sleep where he rested at her side. I woke him when her face was flushed so I could cool her back down.
He wasn't gone ten minutes when the thing started kicking her again.
I frowned, finally recognizing the pattern.
A/N: Next up, Edward hears the baby and Leah stops in for a visit...
This chapter is a huge chunk of BD book 2. It was an absolute headache because Edward is just not the main character here but important things are happening so I felt it couldn't be skipped. I decided to knock it out in one massive chapter because I'm ready to move on to the juicy stuff.
Don't forget to check out the first two chapters of Volume 1 - Bella's birthday (See my profile for the link).
