Chapter Four: Left Out, Brought Together
A/N: Yes, I made another literary reference in the last chapter. When I described the way Edward bit Maya's neck, I used a couple of words from Jean Craighead George's Julie of the Wolves, when Kapu and Miyax are playing tug-of-war, and she grabs the bone, and Kapu takes hold of her neck to get her to let go. Yeah. Just so you know.
Edit: When I wrote this, I'd never donated blood, and didn't do any research. When donating whole blood (ie, not just platelets or any other single component), one needs to wait at least six weeks, preferably eight, before donating again, because the body needs to replenish its supply of red blood cells. That said, I can't change the chapter, because I needed events to occur as I wrote them. So uh. Let's pretend that Maya drank insane amounts of fluid to boost her volume, and that Dr. Cullen got her some supervitamins or something.
This should be a lesson to all writers. Research, research, research.
For my part, can I just recommend that everyone donate blood, if they can? Scarcity of particular types and such is a real thing. Personally, I'm CMV-, which means that my blood can be given to newborns. That's the sort of thing that you never know about until you donate.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or the aforementioned novel or its author.
Dr. Cullen looked at her. "You're not serious," he said, his voice trembling.
"I am. Edward's told me about your family's condition, and I thought I might help. Just this once. I understand that there are poachers nearby who haven't been caught yet, so it's a risk to hunt in the forest as you normally do at the moment."
Dr. Cullen sat down and sighed. "You're right. But you realize what you're doing is—"
"More dangerous than most anything else, yes of course, Doctor," Maya broke in. "But I know it's necessary. The kids can't even go to school, their cravings are so strong." It was true. Edward's eyes, normally a golden brown after he'd eaten, were currently as dark as ebony, and had been for two weeks, and he had been the only one with enough self-restraint to show himself to Maya when she called at the house. As soon as she'd seen him, she had come up with her plan.
"This won't be just a one-day arrangement, you understand," Dr. Cullen warned her. "To get enough blood to feed the family, you'll need to come in for a week or so."
"That's all right, sir," Maya replied. Carlisle looked uncertainly into her friendly eyes. He had heard much of her, but never gotten the chance to spend much time with her because of his work; but if she was willing to give herself up to help his family, then perhaps she really was as good as they said.
"Well… You are sixteen, so you are fully responsible for everything that happens to you," he warned. Maya nodded, and Dr. Cullen called for a nurse to come in and carry out the procedure.
"Have you eaten healthily in the past 24 hours?" Maya quietly answered her questions, and was soon holding out her arm, the nurse searching for the blue vein that showed up in the crook of her elbow. When he saw the young girl wince as the nearly-crochet-hook-width needle went into her arm, Carlisle felt a pang of sympathy. "You don't have to do this. For a pack of strangers..."
"Friends," Maya corrected. "And I'm sure they'd do the same for me if the tables were turned." The nurse smiled, and Dr. Cullen relaxed. He had a feeling things were going to turn out all right.
It was the last day of the arrangement, and the nurse was about to leave with the IV bag, when Bella stormed in. "What's going on here?"
Dr. Cullen discreetly motioned for the nurse to leave, and she obeyed. "Bella, you don't understand," Maya began.
"I realize that," Bella retorted. "Maya, if you'd just come to me and told me that you were going out with Edward, that would have been one thing, but sneaking around behind my back? God, I thought you were better than this!"
Edward, hands fumbling, left his father to take the equipment off Maya's arm, and approached Bella, taking gentle hold of her shoulders. "Bella, listen—"
"You stay away from me." She shoved him off. "You're just as bad as she is."
"Bella, you need to listen to me. Maya and I…haven't done anything like that." He tilted Bella's chin up so she would look him in the eyes. "I don't feel that way about her."
There was a beat. Bella stared at him, but then pulled away. "If that's true, then why have you spent this whole week after school alone with her, and not told me?"
"Because…I couldn't." Edward knew that wasn't any sort of excuse, and his head fell into his hands, and he ran his fingers through his hair a few times before looking up and catching sight of Maya. The earnest look on her face, the silent pleading to tell the truth, steeled him to make the needed confession. "You need to believe me here, and promise not to tell anyone. Maya already has."
Bella glanced over at the girl, little moved by her pitiable expression, but more inclined to believe him nonetheless. "What is it?"
Edward pulled her close again, his eyes fixed glitteringly on her face. Slowly, almost unnoticeably, he leaned in their faces nearly met, and he found the strength to breathe into her ear, "I'm a vampire."
Bella closed her eyes and scoffed, and tried to push away from Edward again, but he held on. "Bella, please. You know I wouldn't lie to you. Do you think that I'd come up with something like that on my own? …Don't answer that," he amended, as Bella tried to twist herself free.
"I'm not putting up with this," she snapped. "If you two want to go off together and not be friends with me anymore, I'm fine with it. But I just can't deal with you trying to be compassionate."
"Bella!" they exclaimed.
"It's true, and you know it," she managed to get out, before she felt her shoulders being taken hold of, and was spun around to face Dr. Cullen's kind, but concerned, face. "Let's discuss this in my office, shall we?" Without waiting for a reply, the doctor quietly led her out of the door, down the corridor, and into the office, having her take a seat before sitting down at his desk.
"Now, Bella," he began, in the tone that she had always expected, but never heard, from her father. "How long have you known Edward?"
"…Pretty much since I moved here a couple months ago," Bella replied hesitantly.
"That's right. And in all this time, has Edward done anything to make you think him untrustworthy?"
"Not until this past week." She saw where this was going.
Dr. Cullen sighed. "Bella, I need you to listen carefully. I'm a friend of your father's, and Edward's a classmate. You have to trust us." He leaned in a little. "Edward wasn't lying." He sat back in his chair and began collecting Maya's IV bags into one packet. Bella watched him. He seemed to be serious, but he couldn't honestly expect her to believe that the Cullens were the stuff of folklore. He was a normal human being, sitting right in front of her, and so was Edward; admittedly quite pale, but then again, this was the Pacific Northwest. It couldn't be true.
She eyed the packet. "So then, what exactly are you going to do with Maya's blood?"
"Drink it." The doctor didn't bat an eye. "I haven't able to touch any other patients' IV bags, because blood is so precious in the hospital, and they are my patients, after all; but Maya is a family friend, perfectly healthy and willing, and I highly trust Nurse Goodley."
"But why?" If he was going to come up with this ridiculous story, she might as well see how detailed he could get.
"Your father's told you about the poachers roaming around lately, hasn't he?"
A memory of the loud conversation she had heard during the last time she'd eaten with her father in the café flashed through Bella's mind. "Yeah."
"The family's vegetarian. We hunt animals in the forest. But what with the neighborhood being on alert because of the poachers, it's very dangerous to try and hunt until they're caught. Maya realized this, and offered to help us."
Bella slowly started to take it in. It just had to all be true; how else could so many people be involved? Unconsciously, she rocked back and forth in her seat, and stole glances at Dr. Cullen. "Maya knew?" He nodded. "How long?"
"Two weeks now, by Edward's account," Dr. Cullen answered.
"And why didn't he tell me?" Here, he hesitated a few moments, and wet his lips before saying softly, "You shouldn't have to ask that." When Bella had caught his meaning, and stared at him shocked, he continued. "He wouldn't be able to handle drinking your blood. It'd simply be too intoxicating… He cares about you too much." As Bella hid her face, he smiled. "Not that that's a bad thing. It just made him not want to tell you what he was. He didn't know how you'd take it."
Taking a minute to recover and let the color drain away from her face, she responded quietly, "I'm fine with it. Can I see him?"
"Sure." Back again at the quiet hospital room they had left, Dr. Cullen and Bella came upon Edward and Maya sitting down on the bed. Edward was laughing at something Maya had just said, and Maya was eating something from a bowl in her hand.
"Hello. I ordered something from the salad bar. I hope you don't mind," Maya quickly began.
"It's fine," Dr. Cullen smiled. "You just eat and keep up your strength." Maya beamed, and waved at Bella. "Want some? It's lentil soup."
"Sure." Bella took the bowl, and sat down between her and Edward. The latter instantly started, and began talking very rapidly. "Bella, do you forgive me? I just didn't know how to tell you, I thought you might not—"
"It's ok, Edward," Bella interrupted. "Your dad told me everything." She stirred the soup. "It's better that you didn't tell me, anyway. I probably would have done something stupid, like offer you my own blood." Maya giggled, but Edward bit his lip.
Nurse Goodley entered the room. "Excuse me, Maya?" Maya looked up. "There's a Mr. Black here to see you." Maya wrinkled her brow, but Bella knew. "It's Jacob."
"Oh… Ok, well, let's go, then. I don't think I wanna see him alone at the moment, and we're probably taking up Dr. Cullen's time, anyway. Goodbye, sir." She motioned for the others to follow her, and as Bella drained the bowl and set it down, Edward grabbed their jackets, and they quickly set off after Nurse Goodley.
"Why not, though?" Edward demanded suddenly, right before they exited the hospital.
"Long story." Jacob was immediately outside with his hands in his pockets, and his eyes latched onto Maya as soon as she emerged.
"Hey," Bella offered. Jacob and Edward glared at one another. Edward's lip curled instinctively, and he tightened his hold on each of the girls.
"Hi, Bella," he finally responded. "Where are you going with Maya?"
"Um…home?" Bella tried to laugh, and threw an arm over Maya's shoulders, surreptitiously trying to loosen Edward's own grip on her and hopefully lessen the enmity radiating from both of the boys.
"Would you mind if I…took her? Everybody on the rez has been missing her."
"She's not coming with you," Edward growled at him. Bella was about to make another attempt at diplomacy, but Maya abruptly slapped at Edward's hand. "Stop it. That's not nice." Edward let go of her, surprised, and she turned to Jacob. "Hi. I don't think you two have met properly. Edward, this is Jacob, a friend of Bella's and mine. His dad Billy is a friend of Bella's dad, Charlie; Chief Swan. Jacob, this is Edward Cullen, a classmate of Bella's and mine. You've heard of his father, Dr. Cullen." A subtle eyebrow quirk on her part allowed for no words from either of the boys. "Now shake hands."
Both of the young men had been staring at Maya while she spoke, but now shrugged, and grudgingly shook hands. Jacob winced at the cold and tightness of Edward's grip, but otherwise made no sign of discomfort, while Edward's set jaw was a common enough characteristic of his to go unnoticed. Bella wondered what on Earth the point in all this was.
"So does this mean you'll go to La Push?" Jacob asked more than a little hopefully. Edward narrowed his eyes at him, but Maya appeared to be considering the request.
"No. Tell you what though; maybe we could hang out later, someplace other than at La Push." Jacob nodded, and after a brief hug and a wave at Bella, he was gone. Maya looked after him, and sighed.
"All right, let's go." Maya took the arm of each of her friends, and the three went off together.
A/N: Anyone catch the biblical reference? The starving Esau giving up his birthright for a plate of lentils from Jacob? I did what I could to turn that inside out—Maya instead giving her lentils to Bella, for having borrowed what was really Bella's by right, namely Edward's time and attention.