Chapter Five

This is what I need, Please

Eight Months Earlier

Forks, Washington

POV Bella Swan

'Bella, are you alright?' It was the first thing he said. His eyes, so beautifully golden, were full of concern as he looked down at me. Unable to speak, I kissed him to reassure him. My breath was quick and my skin was hot and flushed. Edward, as always, looked calm and collected, and very, very concerned. His face relaxed when I broke the kiss.

I nodded, thinking that he maybe needed to hear it to believe it. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm wonderful. I'm proud of you." I whispered into Edward's ears, while my heart slowly began to beat again. He lay down beside me, winding his arms around me and pulling me to him. I lay my head on his cold chest, feeling it rise and fall along with his cold, unnecessary breaths. Putting two fingers under my chin, he titled up my head and kissed me, very gently, on the lips.

"I love you," He said quietly, looking me right in the eye. It sounded as if he was trying to prove it to me. He tore his eyes - that beautiful colour - away from mine, and he lay there, as still as a statue, his pale face beautiful, his marble body pressed against mine.

"I love you, too," I whispered back to him, and I just let him hold me.

Four Weeks Later

I didn't have the heart for cereal. The thought of milk made me feel ill, and the small, cardboard-ish squares held no appeal. I was feeling so sick, but I didn't want to pass out, so I grabbed a couple of crackers, which I ate with a heavy heart. I slung my jacket over my shoulder as I locked the deadbolt on Charlie's front door. I made my way slowly to the door of my truck. I threw in my shoulder bag and paused to put on my jacket. After living in Forks for a while, you get to learn to predict the weather - if it isn't raining, it's about to rain. I climbed in and slammed the door shut behind me, sliding the key into the ignition, only to jerk it out again and clamp my hand to my mouth. I scrambled to open the door, and ran into the back yard, deciding that there wasn't enough time to unlock the deadbolt.

The back yard was not extremely well-kept, but when the mood stuck him, Charlie sometimes attacked the trees and bushes out there with a hedge-trimmer. It had been a while since he had been in the mood, and so the bushes were tall and unruly. I rushed behind one and retched.

When I finished, I straightened up and leaned against the back wall of Charlie's house. I really, truly hated vomiting. It ranked among the top five worst feelings in the world, in my good opinion. I hadn't exactly contemplated what the others might be, but vomiting was right up there with them.

I could feel the little beads of sweat on my forehead rolling down my face. Or, no, I couldn't. It was the rain. I rubbed my stomach to soothe what felt like a little fire burning in there. I groaned. No way in hell was I going to school. Leaning my head against the wall, I closed my eyes and willed the tears to stop oozing out of them.

I slowly trudged back to the truck, grabbing my bag, keys and jacket, before going back up to the house and opening the lock.

I dragged my things to my room before collapsing on the bed. Edward would probably call later - Alice would have seen this.

I stripped off my sweatshirt and lay in my t-shirt. The house was absolutely freezing, but I was flushed all over, and boiling hot. I fanned my face with my hand, and after a few moments I was cold again.

I'm ashamed that it took me about an hour before I realised.

Reassured that my sickness had passed, I jumped out of bed and grabbed my keys and jacket, rushing downstairs and out to the truck. Miraculously, I did not trip once.

The drugstore in Forks was, like everything, just off the highway. I didn't really care if they recognised me in there - if my suspicions were correct, then what did it matter? People would soon know, anyway.

I extracted a bill from my pocket and handed it to the woman at the counter, who surveyed my purchase suspiciously. I narrowed my eyes at the nosy old cow, and left the store, jumping into my truck and speeding, as fast as my truck would go, back home.

I spent a moment at the kitchen table reading the instructions. I sort of knew the drill already, but just in case I read it wrong or something, I decided to read it, just in case.

It was a pretty straightforward procedure. Pee on the stick, wait patiently, look at the stick, laugh/cry (tick as appropriate).

Well, yeah, I made that last one up.

Tapping my fingertips together nervously, I realised that it was time to look. Entering the bathroom, I made my way over to the cistern of the toilet, where I'd left the darn thing, and I groaned.

I collapsed on the ground, shaking. I pulled my knees up to my body, and then the sobs came. I sobbed until I fell asleep.

Charlie found me then, when he came home, on the bathroom for with an ungodly omen in my hands and tearstained cheeks. His eyebrows knotted together and he just nodded. He extended a hand and pulled me up, before wrapping a hand around my shoulders and leading me out. He told me to go and wait in the truck, and we'd go for a drive and talk things over. He said he'd drive.

Dopey and sleepy, I did. I didn't notice him throw the bag into the back.

By the time I realised where we were going, it was too late, and I was already crying.

POV: Charlie Swan

When Renee handed me the books to read and announced she was pregnant, it didn't say anything about what to do nineteen years later when a stupid, hormonal boy knocks up your daughter. It was all I could do not to U-turn on the road and go and put my gun to that Cullen boy.

Preferably put it to a place where, if the bullet did its job, he would never defile my Bella again.

But Bella was there, sitting in the passenger seat of the truck I had given her, tearstained and exhausted. I didn't bother asking why she wasn't in school - I didn't particularly care.

"I could shoot him, you know, if he forced himself on you. If you want me to." I said, in all seriousness.

"No, thanks. I had just as much a part in it as Edward did." Bella said serenely.

"Are you scared, Bells?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes." She said, and then she looked around her. "Dad…where are we going?"

I didn't answer. She did. "You're taking me away from him."

I just nodded, staring straight ahead, one hand on the steering wheel. I wanted to clap Bella's hand with the other, and tell her I was sorry, but that I couldn't let her stay with him. I knew she'd pull her hand out from under mine, so I just let it hang loosely by my side.

(A/N If anybody is confused about anything in the storyline, please tell me and I'll remember to include it in future chapters. The chapter title belongs to "My Heart" by Paramore)