"I'm sorry." Bella said once again as I brushed my hand over her forehead.

"It's not your fault that you got sick, Bella. Noone could have foreseen that." I assured her in whispers.

Ever since she had gained consciousness only an hour ago she had been trying to convince me that it was her fault that she was in her current predicament. Of course, I wouldn't allow it. The last person to blame would be Bella.

Carlisle had warned the entire family not to stress her out; and that involved not telling her about the incident that Jacob and I had shared. I was in no way depressed about that fact. The longer that I could put off telling her the better off we both were.

"Don't worry, Edward." Bella said, mistaking my worried expression for the state she was in rather than the incident that could have ended a life only hours ago. "I'm going to get better. I can feel myself healing even now."

I smiled at her reassurance. "The last person that you should be worrying about right now is me, Bella."

She just sighed in response as her eyelids slowly dropped and her breathing began to become regular.

"Are you asleep?" I whispered as quietly as I could manage.

A low mumble was the only response. I carefully removed my hand from her's, kissed her forehead, and left the room in search for Carlisle.

To my surprise, Carlisle was in his office; the last place that the hospital's busiest doctor was expected to be.

"Carlisle?" I questioned.

He turned towards me, revealing his ever darkening eyes.

"You are going to need to hunt sometime, Carlisle. Putting it off is doing nothing for you." I lectured.

Yes,yes. But obviously you haven't come here for that reason. What can I help you with?

"How is Bella doing?" I asked as casually as I could.

He took a moment before forming coherent thoughts.

Your guess is as good as mine. I've been running tests and the only thing that I can say for sure is that she is infected. I can't be sure just how severe it is at this point.

I waited for him to finish but there was nothing more.

"Is there nothing else?" I questioned. His eyes looked anxious, worried.

"Yes... actually..." he began, the conversation now being expressed outloud. "I understand if you are too weak for it, but I require another sample."

"Sample?" I questioned.

Venom. I still haven't told the others about my experimenting. If you would be so kind...?

I rolled my eyes at his evasiveness and rolled up my sleeve to expose a vein, wincing at the forgotten wound on my shoulder. Carlisle saw the gesture and his eyes wandered up the sleeve of my shirt.

You changed your shirt?

I chose not to reply as he carefully rolled up my sleeve until my shoulder was exposed. Without saying a word he rolled it back down and reached for a needle, sticking me with the needle with a little more force than necessary.

Thanks.

I nodded mutely and left the office to return to Bella, not wanting to hear the thoughts that Carlisle was going to be having regarding the wound. It was very visibly a werewolf bite; there was no doubt about that. I couldn't even hope that he didn't realize what werewolf it had been. But was he thinking that Jacob was dead? Or did he really have enough faith in me to think that I would stop before either of us was severely wounded? Did he even care? By killing Jacob on neutral ground the treaty was not being broken. Sure, the wolves wouldn't be thrilled with us, but what could they possibly do about it? No rules would be broken if I had killed Jacob.

"Edward.." Bella mumbled in her sleep. I smiled at the simplicity of the action. That something so miniscule as Bella saying my name could melt all of my worries away was appalling.

"You're going to be okay, Bella." I whispered, rubbing her forehead once more.

"Edward." But this wasn't Bella's voice, it was Carlisle's. I turned towards it, ready for the heavy lecture regarding the wound on my shoulder. What I wasn't ready for was the amount of pain on my "father's" face.

"Is Bella...?" I began, mistaking his expression.

He just shook his head, the pain still there. "Your sample contained traces of the Flu, Edward."

"That's impossible." I said, bringing my attention back to Bella and disregarding the statement that Carlisle had spoken.

"Edward, I'm serious. When Jacob bit into your shoulder he infected you with the disease." Carlisle said with absolute confidence.

I was about to question his sanity when Embry's words came to mind

You're still sick.

I slowly made myself look back at Carlisle, unsure of what emotion was plastered on my face. Anger? Shock? Disbelief?

"Of course, there is absolutely no threat to your life, Edward." he reminded me. "As long as you feed at least every other day then the antibodies that you pick up from the animals should dilute the venom enough to heal you."

I was infected? How had this happened! Was this the punishment for giving into the fight for the dog? Would me being near Bella endanger her?

"You should be better in a matter of months. Three at most."

Had he actually been the one that had infected her? No... he hadn't even let her in the house. Shouldn't I be feeling symptoms or something?

"Of course, since your virus is for vampires, it should have no effect on Bella." he said, waiting for me to come up with a question.

Well.. at least that answered the most important of questions. I couldn't hurt Bella and my "life" was not in danger. Then the reality of the situation struck me. That mutt had infected me! That flea ridden monster had actually given me a disease!

"There must be some chance of me.. no longer existing," I began, trying to find an acceptable word for "dying". "There can't be a guarantee that I will live. What are the real odds of that?"

Carlisle smiled. "As I said. There is no risk of you dying whatsoever as long as you hunt at least every other day. You need to dilute it. If you don't hunt for at least a week, though, then you surely won't be able to fight it."

I nodded. That seemed simple enough. Sure, it was inconvenient. Very inconveinent. But with all things considered, it was definitly ideal. I had no chance of dying and Bella wouldn't be hurt by it.

"And needless to say, Edward..." Carlisle began.

I shouldn't tell Bella that we shared the virus. That would be an easy enough rule to follow.

"I'm sure you'll have more questions later." he finished before leaving me and Bella in the room together.

"Edward..." she mumbled once more. For a fleeting second I worried that she had overheard our conversation, but was reassured when she rolled over restlessly.

"I love you, Bella." I whispered, meer inches from her ear.

"I love you, Edward.." she murmered, rolling over to face the sound.

"You promise to be okay?" I whispered again.

Her steady breathing continued. There was no response.

3 chapters left until it's over (personally, I can't wait o.o The stress is enormous xD) As always, thank you for the reviews :P