CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The further along Bella got, the more her health declined. Edward found himself trying to hide Ezra from his sick mother as much as he could without causing either of them to raise an eyebrow. He spent a lot of time at Charlie's.

Jacob and Billy attended E.J.'s birthday party, and even brought him a gift. He was so excited to open up his fire-truck blanket and share his dump-truck cake with his new friends. Jacob kept his eyes moving between E.J. and Bella, but Edward couldn't take his eyes off of Jacob. He wondered what Jacob was thinking. Did he look at Bella like prey? Or did he take pity on her? Edward couldn't decide.

After their festivities were over and Bella was taking a nap in her old room, Jacob pulled Edward outside.

"What's going on with her?" He asked, making a very obvious effort to keep a calm tone. Edward appreciated his effort, but not his concern.

"She's pregnant." Edward replied, keeping his tone just as calm as Jacob's.

"Well, was she like this when she was pregnant with E.J.?"

"Jacob, I think it's nice that you're worried, but I don't understand why."

"She's the mother of my child." Jacob said, as if the answer was obvious.

"No, you're not getting it." Edward snapped, losing his composure. "She's the mother of my children. I don't know what's going on in your head, but you need to figure that out. Until you do get that figured out, I think it would be best if you stepped back some."

Edward left it at that, leaving Jacob stunned on the porch.

When Bella's skin was fully grey, Edward had enough of seeing her suffer. He packed up a bag, called his mother, then woke Bella up.

"Hey, my love." He said calmly. "We're going to go to the hospital, okay?"

"Why?" Bella mutter groggily. "Did my water break?" She sounded hopeful, and it broke Edward's heart.

"No, baby, but you're getting really sick. We're gonna take Ezra to your dads, then go to the hospital in Forks. My mother and sister are on the way."

"Okay," Bella whispered, not able to muster up the energy to argue.

Edward practically carried Bella to the car, buckled her in, then placed a heavy blanket over her. "I'll be right back." He whispered.

The drive to Forks was miserably wrong. Charlie pressed a soft kiss to Bella's forehead before he took Ezra inside, wishing her good luck and reminding her that he loved her very much.

Bella didn't remember much else. She didn't remember getting out of the car and into the hospital, or how the doctor had to stick her with the I.V. multiple times. Every so often she could make out the sound of her own slow heartbeat.

Edward paced the halls in front of Bella's room. The doctors told him that she had developed a very rare case of preeclampsia, where instead of her blood pressure rising, it declined, and her organs were beginning to fail. He felt like a complete imbecile for waiting too long to bring her in. What if she didn't make it? Edward couldn't live with himself.

Bella was at twenty-seven weeks. The doctors said that they could perform a cesarian operation on the young mom, but the odds of their baby surviving were not great. 68% at most. Edward would take that chance. He couldn't have that baby without Bella.

Bella was dazed by the drugs flowing through her veins when Edward woke her up.

"Baby?" He asked softly. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." Bella replied softly. She felt a soothing hand in her hair and found it too hard to open her eyes.

"The doctors are going to take you into surgery. They're going to get Renesmee out." He whispered, hoping that she wouldn't be alarmed. Her heart began to race.

"Why?" She asked, her brow furrowed.

"You're dying, Bella. If you die, she does too."

"She's not ready." Bella fought, trying to fight the drugs.

"They're going to take care of her. You're going to be okay; I'm going to be there right by your side. I love you, Bella."

Before Bella could reply, she felt her head go back into the fuzzy space where she had been for hours.

Edward didn't lie, he stayed with Bella through every second. He watched the doctors pull his infant daughter out of his wife. She made no noise, and Edward began to cry. He never had openly sobbed in front of anyone except Bella, but he begged his baby in front of the doctors to make any noise. To prove that she was going to make it.

The nurses took the baby out of the room before Edward could even touch her. He turned his attention back to Bella, kissing her head softly while his own tears dripped onto her face. "It's going to be okay." He whispered to her sleeping body, hoping for both their sake that he was telling the truth.

It took hours for Edward to hear any news. The women in his life were surrounding him and Bella's weak body, silently praying for good news, when the doctor came in.

"We almost lost her." He started with, causing Edward to bury his hands in his face. He had yet to leave the head of Bella's bed, staying as close as he could comfortably get to her. "But," The doctor continued, "we have a heartbeat. It's faint, but its there. My NICU team got her on an oxygen machine and we did have to use an I.V. on her to begin the feeding process. That being said, Mr. Cullen, your daughter is two pounds even and thirteen and one-eighth inches long."

"And what about Bella?" Alice asked while her brother leaned onto their mother, crying in relief that his daughter was even alive.

"My team in surgery did all we could. All we can do is keep her comfortable with pain medicine. She will wake up on her own, and if that is not within eight hours, then we may need to go back to surgery in order to insert a feeding tube. However, she is expected to make a full recovery in due time."

"When can we see the baby?" Rosalie asked, standing up from the chair that Edward insisted he didn't want.

"We only allow the parents into the NICU, especially during this critical time. Hopefully, she will be strong enough in four to six weeks, and will be ready to go home." The doctor replied. He asked the family if they had any more questions or if they needed anything, then stepped out when they declined.