Chapter 10
We continued running together towards the house, Edward slowing down to Renesmee's pace. The wind blew gently across my face, and blurry memories popped back into my mind of Edward carrying me around from place to place, and how nauseous I would get. I smiled to myself and compared it to my almost-perfect life.
I rested my head onto Edward's chest, and tried to relax for the journey back. The pain in my leg and shoulder continued to throb, and I forced myself to ignore the pain, it would only make Edward worry.
I closed my eyes and thought back to the forest. How my life was saved once again by my love, in the nick of time- how cliché! I assume that he would never leave me out of his sight again, since I would get into trouble the only time he's not around.
The decrease in wind speed brushing over my face meant that we were close to home. I opened my eyes to see the large white building we called home. I smiled and Edward looked down to me and smiled with me. His topaz eyes filled with joy that he had me safe and sound. I stretched my head up and kissed his cheek, as we walked onto the pathway that led to the front door.
I listened to the voices and movement from within, in response to us returning home.
"Thank God they're home, where's Jacob? Oh God what happened to Bella?"
"Oh God, Edward's covered in blood is he hurt? It's not him, crap it's from Bella."
"Guys what happened, I just saw them in the forest and- Oh Bella, no please no."
They were all filled with questions. All based around me. I realised their train of thoughts that they spoke to each other. I lifted my head slightly, and raised my good arm, pointing a thumbs-up to the windows.
"Oh thank God she's ok"
"She's fine, she's fine, she's fine."
"She's not badly hurt I don't think, there's a lot of blood, I'll have to check them out…"
"Edward, can you put me down now?" I lifted myself and he looked down at me wearily. "I'll be fine; I can hop at the least." I joked, and he set me down onto my feet on the steps before the front door. It opened suddenly and a pair of motherly arms held me.
"Oh Bella, we're all so happy you made it home, we were all so worried, are you ok?" Esme pulled away from me and looked at me up and down. "Honey, they must kill, I'll get Carlisle. Great to see you back Ness." She smiled at Ness then ran back into the house, presumably to get Carlisle.
I placed my injured leg onto the floor, and gently suppressed my weight onto it. I winced at the pain, and Edward was at my side in a flash. He went to pick me up but I pushed him away. He grabbed my refusing hand and entwined my fingers with his. I smiled at him thankfully and limped incredibly slowly into the house. I grew impatient with the speed I was travelling at, and moaned to myself. "What are you thinking about?" Edward asked me curiously.
"Just the fact at how slow I'm walking, I feel so stupid as a vampire." I laughed and Edward chuckled with me.
We eventually made our way to the front room, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper stood in different places of the room, anxiously waiting for us to enter. Edward and I walked into the room and all four heads whipped around to face us, all four mouths turning into joyful smiles, but then turning upside down, grimacing at the injuries on my leg and shoulder. "Bella what happened to you?" Alice asked worried.
"Yeah Bella you look a mess." Emmett joked, and then moaned when Rose punched him in the arm.
"It was just the La Push wolves." I started, their mouths dropped when I mentioned their name.
"Did Jacob have something to do with it?" Rosalie snarled, her hatred for the wolves had increased when Jacob had moved in, and restarted all the blonde jokes.
"No of course not, Jake saved us." Renesmee interrupted her accusation. "He's still there now." Her voice broke and started to sob. I limped over to her and held her in a hug.
"Bella what happened?" They asked again, but Esme walked in with Carlisle, "Don't torment the poor girls just yet, they've only just arrived. Bella let Carlisle look at your wounds." I nodded and made my way to the nearest couch and sat down too hastily, wincing as the back of the couch hit me behind the wound on my shoulder. My hand automatically moved to cover the wound. I felt the pressure of a few hands pushing it back down. I heard the snap of latex gloves and looked to see Carlisle putting them on his hands. "Oh Carlisle, do we really need to use them?" he nodded reluctantly.
"I'm sorry Bella, but as a doctor it's procedure." He made his way towards me. "Ok, let's see your shoulder first."
"Carlisle, do we have to, it's a nice dress." Alice whined. "I'm already mad at her 'cos she lost the jacket." I stuck my tongue out at her and she childishly returned it.
"Well, I have to snap the strap. I don't think Bella wants to strip down infront of all of us." I would have definitely blushed if I was human, and I looked down to the floor in shame, if that idea was put forward by Alice. "Oh fine," Alice said defeated, "Cut the strap." Carlisle grabbed the scissors and cut the strap off. I was surprised it was still there, I was positive they would have snapped at least one strap.
"Alice, the dress is nearly torn to shreds anyway." I said to her, and she turned her head and looked at the different torn parts. She shrugged her shoulders and sat on the couch opposite me.
"Ok Bella, this might sting. Well I'm not sure to be honest but it is a flesh wound so just incase, I'm going to have to sterilise it and clean both wounds." He grabbed a cloth and dunked it into a small bottle of antiseptic. He brought it to my shoulder and started to clean the edges. It didn't sting, but the pressure on my shoulder sent pain through my body.
I wave of calm and relaxation washed over me, and the stinging in my body was drowned out. Carlisle continued working on my shoulder mentioning some scientific terms that I wasn't completely sure meant. I wasn't focused on anything until Renesmee walked back into the room; I hadn't realised she had left. She strode straight to the TV and switched it on. "You've got to see this," Renesmee said, and she flicked the channel to the news. "Have a look at this." She stepped away from the telly and sat next to Alice. Everyone's attention turned to the TV.
"Hello and welcome back, our latest story today. A small forest fire has appeared in Forks, in the Olympic Peninsula. Authorities believe that due to the weather Forks receives all year round, they believe that it was started by arsonists. The fire was found just a few kilometres away from the nearby church, in which the funeral of former police chief, Charlie Swan took place today. Some are wondering whether it was some sort of attack to the mourners. Reporter Andrew Murphy is there live. Andrew what can you tell us."
The picture changed to a young reporter sat in a helicopter, circling the forest, not too far away from the ravaging flames.
"Well Cynthia, apart from what you've already said," the reporter shouted from within the copter, "the fire started sometime after noon today. Fire-fighters have told us that the fire is under control, as you can see the fire is only secluded to one area. Forensics are waiting for the fire to die down so they can process the scene, and find any evidence that can find who started the fire.
What's stranger still, if you look down to the area the fire-fighters have controlled, you can see that there seems to be some sort of disturbance that had happened." All the vampires' heads turned to me and Renesmee. Ness held out an accusing, pointed finger to my direction, and they all gazed onto me.
"Guilty." I said.
"You were in that," Esme said, her face full of worry on where we had been.
"Yeh, but it has obviously got worse after we left, there was only a few trees on fire when we were there." I pointed to the screen where the camera was pointed to the scene of disturbance, and a circle of a few charred trees, some still standing, some lying on the floor, dead and broken.
Emmett stood up, "Wow, you can see where she fought, cool, nice one Bella." He held his hand out for a high five, and I hit it enthusiastically. "You should have seen my kick; it crunched one of their jaws." He held his hand out again and I smacked it.
Renesmee shushed us, and then turned the volume up. The reporter, Andrew, continued speaking, "…so far there has been no bodies discovered within the forest, and there have been no casualties that have been reported to hospitals, so everything is ok in terms of civilians.
But there is one other thing that is being discussed within the villagers of Forks. As we all know, Forks is the town which does have frequent animal attacks, so bears and other animals aren't seen as bizarre, but one fireman claims that as he was putting out the fire, he saw two wolves, bigger than cars, running out of the flames. One was being dragged by the other. No trace was found later of any wolf presence in the area, but many residents are on the look out for oversized wolves. From what I can say, I think the fumes have got to him. This is Andrew Murphy, back to you in the studio."
Renesmee leaned back onto the couch, and breathed a sigh of relief. From what we knew Jacob was safe.
"Hey, Ness, did you get a glimpse of the fight?" Emmett questioned and Renesmee nodded in response, "well can we see the fight?" He started to bounce enthusiastically in the chair. The faces of the others turned to her, eager to see the fight as well as Emmett.
Renesmee stuttered and turned to me. She was obviously worried about what had happened in the forest. Her power didn't work, on the wolves or me. "Just try." I said to her, and she nodded. The others looked at us in confusion.
Ness stood up and walked over to Emmett, who sat prepared on the couch, with his eyes closed. Ness placed her hand on her cheek, and shut her eyes in anticipation…
"Whoa Bella, nice kick!" Nessie breathed out another sigh of relief, then smiled, and continued replaying the fight. She repeated the fight to everyone else, and I watched and took in everyone's different reactions. Edward was the worst; his muscles were clenched the whole way through.
"You know what's peculiar?" Carlisle started, "I thought werewolves only appeared when there were vampires close. We left years ago, how is the pack still there?" No one answered, but thought about it in silence. How could the wolves have been there? It was a possibility that another pack may have moved, but not many vampires are as permanent in staying like we are. It was a mystery on how they were there.
But also, I still couldn't understand what was wrong with Ness. The day before the funeral her images are fine, the next day she's sick and her ability didn't work. What could have caused that? I thought through the possible options but nothing really seemed to fit. It was either some human disease which had a random effect on her power, or she had some emotional stress and her mind couldn't focus properly.
Carlisle finally finished checking my wounds, there was obviously no need for stitches- how could I have one anyway if the needle would break due to my skin. The muscle was already repairing itself, and I was able to limp more successfully.
Evening came, and everyone was making their way back to there rooms, and there was only Edward, Ness and I on the couch watching TV. I sat curled in Edward's lap, my head pressed to his chest, and he was humming my lullaby quietly to me.
My eyes weren't focused on the television, but on Renesmee. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and she was rocking gently on the couch. She was obviously upset, and I know I would be too if I would have watched Edward run into a circle of flames to save one of his family. I would miss his presence, his cool arms wrapped gently around my body.
I stood up and Edward moaned in protest. I bent down and kissed his forehead, then ruffled his hair playfully. I sat besides Ness and wrapped my arms around her caringly. Like a mother normally does when her daughter is upset. I kissed the top of her head, and she turned around and sobbed into my shirt (which I got changed into earlier). "It's alright Ness, he'll be back. I bet he's on his way right now." I said soothingly, and I hoped that he would be back, because it's terrible to watch her suffer like this. She pulled away and nodded in agreement to what I said.
"If it's ok, I'm going to go to our cottage." I pulled her close for another hug and then let her stand up. Edward stood up in unison, but she turned back to me, although her eyes were still facing her dad. "Dad is it ok if Mum takes me?" He looked at her confused.
"Ness I don't think your mother will be able to run."
"No, I know that, it's just," she looked down to me, "There's something I need to speak to you about. Privately I mean." Also meaning that I am the only one who can keep it a total secret around Edward - it must be important.
Edward nodded, "I'll see you back in the house," he placed his lips against mine softly, "don't take any detours or bump into any wolves." He joked and ran out the room.
I sighed and then grabbed Nessie's hand, and led her out the back. We didn't run so the trip would take more than 15 minutes. 15 minutes of mother-daughter time…
"So Ness, what is it that you want to speak to me about?"
She had her head down, and was looking down to her hands, which she was randomly messing with to keep her from avoiding eye contact.
"I don't know, we haven't had a good chat in a while, I just thought now would be a good chance to speak." She lifted her eyes from her hand and looked at me. "I'm sorry if this hurts you in any way, but, it seems stupid in me asking this, but did Grandpa know I was different."
"Yup," I responded simply
"That I was half-vampire."
"Nope, not exactly."
"Did he know about you?" I shook my head, and ignored the memories that were creeping back into my mind of my little, well huge, confession.
"And he knew that I was definitely yours right?"
I laughed, "Of course, you even knew that. Why you asking me this?" She ignored my question and carried on.
"Was he mad that you were pregnant at a young age?"
"No, not really, I mean I was married so he accepted it more."
"But if you weren't married, would people have had bad views on a teenage-pregnancy." I tried to figure to myself where she was leading me too with the interrogation. She knew most of the answers to this anyway, I didn't understand why.
"It was possible. Why?"
"No reason." There was something and she was hiding it from me. There was a silence between us as we carried on walking through the forest. I could see the light shining from the house through the forest.
"Do you know why my power didn't work, Mum?"
"To be honest no. I'm completely baffled as you are. Do you have any ideas?"
"Well I had one, but…" she trailed off and returned to looking at her hands.
"But what Ness?" I asked impatiently.
"Nothing, it was a stupid idea, stray thought." She laughed to herself then carried on staring aimlessly at her hands.
We got closer to the house and she let out an unexpected sob. I stopped and turned to face her, tears were streaming down her face. I pulled her into a hug. She carried on crying into my shoulder. "You're positive that Jake's going to be ok mum? He would have returned by now wouldn't he?" I pulled her away so we were facing each other, and I wiped a falling tear with my hand.
"Ness hun, you're worrying to much. He'll be fine; he's probably with the pack. He'll be by your side before you know it, and I'm saying that without one piece of doubt in my heart."
"Thanks Mum, it's just…it's just that I have this weird feeling something's happened, or will happen. Jake is the closest thing I love, no offense mum,"
"None taken,"
"But I just keep worrying you know." I nodded and noticed she was shivering. I never noticed how cold it got.
"Let's carry on talking about this inside, you must be freezing." Ness smiled, but chattered her teeth simultaneously.
We entered the little cottage, and Ness automatically ran to the fireplace. She never liked the electric ones, but preferred the old traditional open ones. She struck a match and held it to the log, "It won't be weird will it, I mean after today." I shook my head and laughed. She laughed along with me, and then sat cross-legged on the floor infront of the fire.
"Did you ever feel that way, I mean with Edward not Jake."
"I think so. I think I was so worried that something might happen that I needed him by my side all the time. It sounds selfish I know but, I felt so much better, and content with the fact I knew he was alright because he was with me."
"Then you totally understand why I'm worrying about Jake."
"Of course I do, but I know Jake too, and I know he's alright, you're overreacting."
"But Mum you don't understand," her voice was slightly raised, "I'm not overreacting; I need him safe with us."
"With us. Honey I'm sure he wants to be with you too, but me."
"No mum…" she held her head in her hands, and started mumbling to herself. I looked to her, confused. "Mum, I think I know what's been the matter with me lately." She breathed in deeply, then looked up from her hands, and met my gaze.
"Ness what aren't you telling me?" I moved from the couch and knelt before her, and held her hands in mine.
"Mum…" she started, "I think I'm pregnant."
A/N so what do you think? Please review, review, and review!!! Thanks again guys!!!