23. Persuasion

By the time Carlisle returned from the hospital, Bella had eaten the soup Esme had fixed for her and had it come back up. The crackers and ginger ale weren't seeming to help any more than the antiemetic had. Nothing she'd eaten since I'd left her to go hunting had stayed down.

Humans could go without food for several weeks, but that wasn't necessarily true for a pregnant woman. Even pregnant, a few days without food wouldn't hurt her, but water was a different matter, and we all pressed her to keep drinking.

As soon as I caught Carlisle's mind as he turned onto our driveway, I hurried to meet him. "Well?"

Without a word, he handed me a few pieces of paper - Bella's blood work.

"She's not anemic," I noted.

"I would not have expected her to be as there is no sign of bleeding. Her dehydration was what worried me, but there is little evidence of that. But look at this." He shuffled to the page showing her metabolic panels.

"None of this is really helpful!" I said in disgust after looking through the results.

On any other patient, I would say everything looked normal. He handed me another paper. "She visited the hospital a number of times this past year. I pulled her previous results so that we could compare them with today's." See here? He flipped back to the tests the hospital in Forks had just done and pointed to the patterns the numbers were showing him. All within normal limits, but only just. Her electrolytes are now on the low side of normal. Her cardiac markers show a slight elevation, as do all of her liver enzymes.

"Barely," I muttered.

"As I said, they are within normal limits and, on any other patient, I would not consider any of these significant."

"But on Bella?"

"I am not sure, son. On their own, these results do not tell us much. They are what I would expect in a case of hyperemesis. Tomorrow, I will run another set, and any changes will tell me a lot more. If we start to see a trend in her numbers, that will be much more indicative of her condition than this single set. The next few days will tell us - "

"Days!" I looked away from the paperwork to stare at my father in shock. "She can't keep anything down, Carlisle! How long are you planning on doing nothing but monitoring her before her condition convinces you to act?"

"As long as she refuses to allow me to take action, Edward," he said sternly.

Growling, I shoved the papers back into his hands and stalked into the house. Carlisle was on my heels as I entered the living room. My hands were clenched into fists against the desire to take some kind of action of my own. What, I had no idea, but the need to do something was hard to deny.

Well? Rosalie demanded, looking between us.

"You took my blood to be tested, right? So, when will you know the results?" Rather than looking at me, Bella kept her eyes fixed on my father, though it seemed to be deliberate, like she was forcing herself to not watch me. I, on the other hand, couldn't look away from her. She was paler than I'd ever seen, and her knuckles where she clutched her cup were white.

"I already have them, Bella."

"And?"

"And nothing," I muttered, frustrated. Though I didn't want her to be ill, to have some proof that the pregnancy wasn't good for her might have lent some power to my belief that it would kill her. If I could have shown her that she wouldn't survive it, I tried to convince myself that maybe she would have relented.

"There was nothing conclusive about what I found today. I would like to repeat the tests again tomorrow morning." He ignored Bella's low grunt of displeasure. "Any changes will tell us a lot more than what I found today, which, in truth, was nothing."

She smiled and looked at me at last. "See, Edward? I'm fine."

Fine? She was fine? How could she be so blind? Why was she capable of seeing everything except for that which threatened her? Pressing my mouth into a hard line, I strode from the room to return to the research my family had been doing that night.

"Eddie! I was just about to call you, bro. I found the answer to all your problems. See, Jazz? This is why I'm the world's best brother."

Not believing what I was seeing in his mind, I leaned over him to stare in annoyance at the computer screen. "Dungeons and Dragons, Emmett? That's your brilliant answer?"

"Yup. It's perfect! Half human, half vampire. They even have a name for your kid. It's called a... a dhampir."

"Don't be silly. This isn't based on anything more than some kids' fantasies."

He started sniggering. "No way. Man, this is awesome. It says they're vampire hunters. Like father, like son, eh?"

I straightened and crossed my arms. "That isn't funny, Emmett."

"Sure it is. Think about it. What's Bella's defining trait, huh? I seem to remember you callin' her a danger magnet several dozen times last month alone. You think becomin' a vampire's gonna stop that? 'Cause I don't."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and muttered my brother's name.

"So, you 'n Bells made a little dhampir baby who'll go after anything that threatens the family; 'cause you know with Bella around, something's bound to."

"That... that's very helpful, Emmett, really. Thank you so much."

He grinned, showing all of his teeth. "Anytime, little bro."

"Now, will you please look up something that's at least somewhat based on reality and not some game?"

"A billion geeks can't be completely wrong. Dude, you're lookin' up ancient myths, but we've spent the past fifty years being guided by the future. Why not now?"

"Alice's visions have proven their reliability time and again."

"Uh, maybe I'm wrong, but I swear I've seen you readin' Jules Verne."

"And watching Star Trek," Jasper said from behind a book.

"Yes, and I've seen Back to the Future, too, but I'm not expecting a hover-board any time soon."

"So, their timing is off a bit. The nerds of the world got it goin' on, and eventually, science fiction is just science."

"Wow, Emmett, that's very profound and profoundly unhelpful, all at the same time."

"All I'm sayin' is, this kid of yours can't be unique if even the humans have a name for 'em."

"He's got a point," said Jasper as he turned another page.

"Perhaps, but does it say anything about the mothers?"

"Er, no." Emmett looked chagrined as I stared at him, trying to think of something polite to suggest that he research next. He must have seen something of it in my expression, because he stood and muttered, "Guess I'll find another book to read."

I took my brother's place at the computer and, after closing a ridiculous number of tabs, started researching for myself. It wasn't too much longer before I heard Bella bolting to the bathroom.

Once, I had entertained the idea that God must have made her specifically with me in mind, but that to do so, he'd had to remove or reverse her instinct for survival. She'd always fit against me so perfectly. On our honeymoon, we'd been like two interlocking puzzle pieces, sculpted to match each other exactly. But she was a human, and I was a vampire.

Humans were instinctively afraid of us. Even when we tried not to be scary, they were aware of our subtle menace, of something not right about us. Bella's reactions were the opposite of any other human I'd ever met. She was attracted to me without fear. She was drawn to my menace instead of repulsed by it. Now, instead of seeing the demon spawn for what it was, she protected it. Loved it! Like any mother would do for her young. Like my mother had done for me.

My mother...

Giving up on the internet, I strode through the house to find Esme in the kitchen. She was eyeing the pantry and chewing on her lip while thinking of foods that might help Bella. I took a calming breath and stood beside her.

"Esme?"

"Hmm?" She didn't meet my eyes, her mind still focused on the food she was considering.

"Esme."

"Do you think Bella would like a sandwich? Or should I try another soup? She needs liquids, but the bread could help settle her nausea."

Trying a different tactic, I spoke again. "Mom?"

Surprised, she looked at me. Her expression turned to one of pity as our eyes met.

"Mom," I repeated in a low whisper. "Help me."

"I am, sweetheart."

"No, Mom. You're not. You're helping Rosalie."

She sighed and shook her head. "I'm helping Rosalie help Bella."

"Rose would listen to you where she won't listen to me. She trusts you, respects you. We all do."

"Then trust me now, Edward."

"I do, Mom. I trust you to make the right decision. The one that keeps our family whole."

She narrowed her eyes at me. I know what you're trying to do, Edward.

My eyes widened as I made my expression guileless. "All I'm trying to do is save Bella's life."

"You've called me 'Mom' more times in this one conversation than the past five years combined. Don't think I can't recognize when you're trying to soften me up."

"But you are my mother. You don't have to risk Bella's life to become something that you already are."

"I'm not. Bella has made her choice, and I'm supporting that decision."

"Would you support her if she decided to become a human hunter?"

"That's hardly the same thing."

"You don't think so? By giving birth to an uncontrollable vampire child, it amounts to the same thing. You've been around human babies, and you know how insistent they are that they be fed regularly. They're demanding, selfish, little monsters with no thought for anything other than their own immediate needs."

"Good grief, Edward! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say."

"Tell me it's not true. When they're hungry, babies demand to be fed. They cry and will continue to cry until that need is met. But this creature won't need to wait to be fed. It won't even bother with crying! When it is thirsty, it'll just go out and kill no matter how we try to stop it."

"Edward, sweetie, you're looking at this the wrong way. Won't you try to see it from Bella's perspective? All newborns have needs, and it is up to the parents and grandparents to meet them."

"And if I was a human still, I'd be more than happy to do so. But a human baby won't go on a killing spree! If you think this vampire child will be any different from every other newborn vampire you've ever seen, you're right. Just ask Carlisle! It will be far worse, with the strength to see to it that it gets what it wants, but without the mental capacity to practice restraint."

"Carlisle kept you from killing when you were a newborn."

"But not you."

Her face paled at the reminder of the people she had accidentally killed.

"And not Rosalie, nor Emmett."

"This isn't the same. Bella's baby is a baby. It's not a newborn vampire!"

"Have you looked at Bella? What she's carrying is far from human. It's more vampire than anything else!"

"But it's not. Vampires don't grow. Bella's child is."

"Not at a human pace. If... if it were more normal, I might agree with you. But she's not even three weeks pregnant, and measuring as though those weeks were months! Esme, Mom, please. Talk her out of this!"

Her eyes were sad, though she gave me a small smile. "I'm sorry, Edward. But this is her choice, not yours, and not mine."

"But you're choosing to support that choice."

"Yes! I am. And so should you."

"Well, I'm not!"

"There's a difference between being protective and being controlling, Edward. Don't become that man." In her mind flashed the image of her abusive ex-husband.

My lips pulled back from my teeth at her accusation, and I snarled, "I'm nothing like Charles!"

"No. You're not. But you're scared, and you're not thinking rationally."

"Are you mad? You can't possibly think wanting to keep that - that!" I pointed furiously toward where Bella sat with a demon growing in her stomach, " - is rational."

Her eyes followed the direction of my finger and, though there was a wall in the way so that Esme couldn't actually see them, her face softened, and a smile tugged at her lips. I saw her imagine Rose and Bella cuddled together as they were now, only in her imagination, they were cooing at the infant in Bella's arms. "I think that it is rational for a mother to protect her child."

"Then protect me!"

Her eyes flashed back to mine.

Ruthlessly, I reminded her of what I knew. "When she dies? What do you think will happen to me, Mom?"

Her lips pressed together and she frowned angrily. "Threatening suicide to get me to help you abort Bella's child is beneath you, Edward."

"I'm not threatening anything. But you know the truth as well as I. I can't live without her. I won't."

"You've played that card. The Volturi will not kill you."

"There are other ways."

She sighed and turned away from me to resume examining the contents of the pantry. "Don't be so pessimistic! Other than a little nausea, Bella isn't showing any ill affects from the baby. Didn't Carlisle show you the results of Bella's blood work?"

"He did," I muttered, frustrated.

"The first months of pregnancy are usually accompanied by morning sickness. Missing a few meals won't hurt her any more than it did me."

"You're missing the point!"

"And the baby is growing quickly. These early 'months' will pass in another week or so, right?"

"Has everyone in this house lost their minds? That is not a good thing!"

"In the meantime, the best doctor in the world is monitoring her closely," she said as if I hadn't spoken. "If necessary, he can administer fluids intravenously until she can keep her meals down."

I scoffed in disbelief. "Mom! Have you heard a word I've said?"

"And then when the baby is born, you can change Bella, and we'll have two newborns to care for." She met my eyes, and I saw my aghast expression in her mind. "Don't worry, Edward. We'll keep them both safe."

Patting my cheek with a smile, she grabbed a can of soup, a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and another of jelly from the open pantry before striding away from me, humming under her breath.

Once Bella's lunch was prepared, I followed Esme into the living room to find Rose smirking at me. Nice try. You should've known Esme would never buy that performance.

Rather than respond, I scowled and watched Bella eating. Rose had to keep cautioning her to eat slowly, to take small bites. She hadn't kept anything down in days and was surely hungry. Unfortunately, she would probably lose this lunch just as she had her other meals.

"Esme, you should probably get a bucket." They all looked at me, but I couldn't meet any of their eyes. "For when she throws up again," I explained and left the room to seek out Alice.

She and Jasper were in their bedroom and invited me in before I could knock. Alice was curled in a ball in the center of their bed, rubbing her temples and frowning. From where he was seated beside her, I could feel the emotions Jasper was trying to send to her, but they didn't help her any more than they could me.

I sank into one of their chairs and tried to ignore the conversation I knew Rose and Esme were having with Bella. "Can you see anything, Alice?"

"I saw you coming here to ask me that," she whispered.

"But Bella?"

She shook her head, miserably.

"Can you tell how long the pregnancy will last?"

"No."

"Not even from watching the rest of the family?"

"No."

"But you saw me come up here - "

Her head snapped up and her eyes were flashing with anger when they met mine. "Because that had nothing to do with the thing she's carrying! Not directly! I can't see her. I can't see it. I can barely see past my own immediate future. I'm pretty sure she'll still be pregnant tomorrow, but that's just a guess based on glimpsing you and Rose arguing again. I hate being blind!"

"I know, Alice," I mumbled.

She sighed, and her head sank back into her hands. "It's worse when I'm closer to her. Everything is blurred. It's making my head ache."

"And you, Jasper?"

He grunted. "They're happy. Rose and Esme and Bella. Even Emmett," he added after a pause.

"Happy," I scoffed, furious.

"I'm not, though. And nor is Carlisle."

I eyed him and was sure he could feel my gratitude.

"I've raised thousands of newborns. Sometimes Maria would choose ones even younger than that Bree girl was. The young ones were small, but quick and vicious. Bigger, older humans had a tendency to be stronger. Not as strong as Emmett was as a newborn, I'm sure, but stronger than the others their age. Not that that would help them keep their heads when the younger ones could zip past their defenses and - "

He broke off recounting his memories from being a leader of a newborn army, but I could still see them in his mind. The younger ones, being smaller, faster, and more agile would be able to flit around the ones who were changed after becoming human adults, and were taught to cling to the backs of the bigger newborn vampires to remove their heads.

"Well," he amended. "When we could get them to listen and remember their training. Otherwise, they would just rush in wildly and get crushed."

I groaned and ran my hands through my hair.

"It's hard," he continued, almost to himself. "Because I can feel their conviction that this will be good. There is so much hope in them! Bella is especially certain, and I keep catching what I can only describe as intense love coming from her. The only time she's not almost deliriously happy is when you're in the room - which is a first, let me tell you. You two are normally almost sickening to be around," he tried to tease.

"Wonderful," I muttered. I used to make her happy - when I had been the most dangerous thing in her life. Now, the thing that would kill her where I had failed to do so was making her happy, but I was upsetting her.

"Part of me wants to support her, too. Her conviction is hard to deny." His eyes were unfocused, concentrating on the happiness he could feel coming from our family downstairs. "But though I may be an empath, I'm also a rational creature, and I've seen too many newborns to believe this one will be what they think."