All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer.
We're going in hold tight
Rosalie flipped Bella's spastic body into her arms and dashed to the second floor, "The baby is coming, we've got to get him out before he kills her."
I was faster, already in the library, now operating room, preparing. I grabbed the sterilized set of scalpels and placed them on the standing tray near the head of the table, closest to the door. I swooped around the table to the refrigerator, removing medicine and blood. An IV kit was in my hands as Rosalie arrived and placed a convulsive Bella on the table.
Rosalie removed Bella's clothes and unsuccessfully attempted to hold her still. Bella need an anesthesia.
"Morphine!" I yelled at Rosalie.
"Alice, get Carlisle on the phone!" Rosalie screeched.
I quickly inserted a needle into Bella's ghostly white arm, delivering the morphine.
Jacob's thoughts screamed at me as he looked around the room, and took a glance at my naked wife. I wasn't aware he had followed us. She wouldn't like that he was here. This is not how I wanted to see her. He thought.
"What's happening, Edward?" Rosalie's question allowed me freedom from the thoughts of the vile dog standing in the room. I was on a mission and I could not be distracted – I had to focus on Bella.
"He's suffocating!" I said as Bella's body continued to flip on the table. "The placenta must have detached!" I must have said it with absolute frenzy as Bella gained consciousness.
"Get him OUT!" she screamed. "He can't BREATHE! Do it NOW!"
I saw the red spots pop out when her scream broke the blood vessels in her eyes. I held her shoulders. We needed to wait for her body to still.
"The morphine," I growled, she'd be in too much pain; her movements were too vibrant, violent—she had to be incapacitated.
"NO! NOW!" Another gush of blood choked off what she was shrieking. I held her head up, desperately trying to clear her mouth so that she could breathe again. Damn.
Alice darted into the room and clipped a little blue earpiece under Rosalie's hair. Then Alice backed away, her gold eyes wide and burning, while Rosalie hissed frantically into the phone.
"Carlisle, the baby is coming, the placenta separated—how do I deliver him?"
"Where's Edward? You've got to do the c-section but don't cut through the placenta, you will lose them both."
"There's already blood pooling underneath her skin; what do I do?" She shouted, determined that the baby had to be delivered. I was trapped holding Bella up in order to impede her drowning. I searched for a tube to clear her airways.
"You've got to cut across Bella's stomach, below the belly button but not too deep." Rosalie grabbed a scalpel from the tray and put it to Bella's trembling stomach.
She was determined to follow Bella's instructions and confused by Carlisle's. It was too soon, the placenta was continuing to move, Bella had to be debilitated, otherwise--
"Let the morphine spread!" I shouted at Rosalie.
"There's no time," Rosalie hissed. "He's dying!"
I was unable to stop her from cutting into Bella's stomach. A fount of vivid crimson gushed out. She'd cut the placenta, Bella jerked, but didn't scream. She was still choking and now she would bleed to death. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was failing Bella.
I was in between a rock and a hard place, Rosalie would continue to pierce Bella's body until she reached the baby, there'd be too much blood lost. I had to stop Rose, but if I let Bella fall back, she'd choke.
And then confusion overwhelmed Rosalie, she inhaled. The warm red blood gushing from Bella burnt Rosalie's throat. It had been too long since she last fed. I heard her thoughts, her desire to drink. Jacob and I saw the expression on her face shift, saw her lips pull back from her teeth, and her black eyes glint with thirst.
"No, Rose!" It was the most helpless moment of my life.
The ugly harpy had a plan. Rose would drink, if not stopped, every ounce of Bella's blood. Death would be in seconds. The baby's self-expulsion would be next, followed by drowning.
It was akin to the moments of the van sliding across ice to crush Bella to her death, not once or twice but three times.
The uncaring, hateful fates were winning.
But there was one thing the fates did not seem to control – Jacob. He would not allow Rosalie to deliver the fatality. He launched his body, jumping across the table without bothering to phase, hitting Rosalie toward the door. From reflex or defense, Rosalie stabbed him with the scalpel in his right arm.
Jacob did not relent, he smashed his hand against her face, locking her jaw and blocking her airways swinging her body to kick her solidly in her gut. Rose flew into the door frame, buckling one side of it. Then Alice was there, yanking Rosalie by the throat to get her into the hall.
Bella was turning blue.
"Alice, get her out of here!" I shouted. "Take her to Jasper and keep her there!"
I moved quickly to Rose's place at the table, "Jacob, I need you!"
"CPR?" I demanded. Yes the fates had not counted on Jacob's love for Bella. We would work together and save her life. I didn't understand why he was here, but I was grateful that he was and I would never send him away. I'd owe him her life. Again.
"Yes!"
Grateful as I was, I'd underestimated how easily he could make things difficult. He didn't immediately trust me. He wasted time judging whether I would lose control as Rose had. I shook my head in answer to his concern and grabbed another scalpel from the tray.
"Get her breathing!" I shouted, there was no time to doubt me, not now. "I've got to get him out before-"
As if the fates heard my own traitorous thoughts, there was a squelching, shattering crack of bones inside Bella's body that resonated throughout the room. The crunching of bones was the loudest yet, so loud that Jacob and I, both froze in shock. We waited for Bella's answering shriek. Nothing. Her legs, which had been curled up in agony, now went limp, sprawling out in an unnatural way. Her mouth was deepening from cobalt to black and her eyes were fixed and glossing over.
"Her spine," The horrors would not cease. Her body was noticeably smaller, disjointed and too still. The morphine had temporarily paralyzed her but the damage to her spine would be permanent.
"Get it out of her! She won't feel anything now!" Jacob finally began breathing into her mouth, air filled her lungs.
I made an incision across her stomach. Blood continued to cascade to the floor. For once, I was grateful for the unusual amount of increased blood in her system—so much blood that it caused the irreparable heart damage, but enough to keep her heart beating.
Once the stomach and uterine muscles were pulled back, I was able to see the crimson covered vampire-like skin protecting the baby. There were punctures and scratches on all sides, but the baby wasn't visible. Swiftly, I bit several times along the puncture marks, the wet round head was free. I wheeled the head around. The same chocolate brown eyes that had captured my heart two years ago were looking up at me.
I heard Bella cough and I turned my head as Jacob began to yell at her, desperately. "You stay with me now, Bella! Do you hear me? Stay! You're not leaving me. Keep your heart beating!"
There was no more time, I removed the baby's lifeline and protection; the baby's legs began to kick and press forward, I directed the shoulders through the opening. The baby was free. Bella's body no longer under assault, the morphine masked her pain.
I slid the baby in the cradle of my left arm. My emotions were too jumbled but I would not be held hostage by them. The baby was safe and the joy of the moment was bitter as her mother lay dying.
"Renesmee." I whispered. In return her mind connected my voice with the one she'd heard in the womb. An alert smile was offered and I could not resist but to smile at my daughter.
What a mesmerizing wondrous sight she was. She had curly hair, a puckered smile and she smelled like cool honeysuckles. I could hear her quick heartbeats thrumming, pushing blood throughout her warm body. Her skin was white with rose hews--there would be blushes. She was her mother's daughter.
I looked at my wife, surprised to see her eyes opened attempting to focus. "Let me-" Bella croaked in a broken whisper. "Give her to me."
Again, my wife did the unexpected. Any normal human would be unconscious, but this woman was beyond human. Her determination conquered all obstacles including the impossible. Here in my arms was our daughter and my eyes beheld my wife, conscious – willing herself to stay alive; forcing her heart to beat. Ah!
Everything in my pitiful existence was before my eyes. My family, my purpose, my future, oh how love overwhelmed my cold heart and I knew I was forever changed once again by the brown eyed beauties before me.
Bella, blinked her eyes to see the newest addition, the baby we didn't expect, but welcomed. There was a weak recognition of something in her brittle arms and then she was able to focus her eyes on the baby.
"Renesmee." She greeted our daughter. "So- beautiful." For the second time in her life, Renesmee smiled, as she had done for me, showing a full set of milk teeth. She recognized her mother's voice. I read the baby's mind as she bonded with the sound of Bella's voice. It was the melodious sound that calmed Renesmee and she grabbed the air around her in a gasp of wonderment. The air rushed through her small nose and Renesmee felt a burn in her throat, the same burn her father experienced. And for all that's good in the world, there was no way to stop the nature of an infant vampire at the smell of blood. I failed.
Renesmee pulled her lips away and sunk her teeth into Bella's chest.
Bella gasped- gasped in pain. Shock.
I snatched Renesmee away from her mother, too late to prevent the bite. The small double crescent teeth marks shone red.
"No, Renesmee," I said gently. How many more mistakes would I make? It was my fault and I would not blame this innocent child for being her father's daughter. She looked up at me, her eyes turned sad, she pictured her mother, bloody and in pain. My daughter would not be the cause of her mother's change or death. I would suck out the venom. My daughter would have no guilt or a role in this matter, that bite would neither kill nor change her mother. That was my job.
"She'll get better," I promised my beautiful daughter. We would not be without her.
The most significant sound in my world ceased. My head snapped up as I heard only two heartbeats in the house, where there should be three. Both hearts were quick paced and strong—Bella's was silent. I growled and in that instant Jacob began chest compressions. He counted, One. Two. Three. Four. He blew another lungful of air into her. He'd found his rhythm.
"What are you waiting for?" He choked out breathlessly, pumping her heart again. One. Two. Three. Four.
I realized we weren't thoroughly prepared for the baby, there was no bassinette or cradle to place her in. Urgently, I demanded, "Take the baby,"
"Throw it out the window." One. Two. Three. Four.
"Give her to me," a low voice chimed from the doorway. I turned to see Rosalie standing at the threshold, her eyes still dark with thirst.
Jacob and I snarled at the same time. One. Two. Three. Four.
"I've got it under control," Rosalie promised. "Give me the baby, Edward. I'll take care of her until Bella . . ." I'm sorry Edward, I'm focused—the baby will be safe. I wouldn't . . .
There was no choice, I quickly handed the baby through the door to the waiting hands of Rosalie and they were gone.
I rushed to the surgical table and grabbed the metal syringe; it was time to fulfill my end of the bargain. "Move your hands, Jacob."
He paused, "What's that?"
He was wasting time, I had to do this before her heart completely failed – I had to save her. He wouldn't stop me, he would not prevent me from changing her, yet his hand remained in the way. Was he in cohorts with the ugly fates?
I forced his large hands out of the way and shoved the needle straight into Bella's heart. A tiny crunch let me know I had broken his little finger. He would heal. He was still making things much too difficult – he didn't trust me, but it was too late for him to do anything else.
"My venom," I answered as I pushed the plunger down.
"Keep it moving," I ordered. Thankfully, Jacob continued CPR without further resistance.
I focused on getting as much venom into Bella's system as possible. I could smell the morphine and venom as it spread through her veins. I was focused and determined – her heart would be the first thing to heal.
Renesmee was counting on me to save her mother, Bella was counting on me as well, just as Alice had surmised. I could not make any further mistakes, so many people counted on me – damn even I counted on me.
I broke Bella's skin at the wrists and ankles, allowing more venom to flow from my mouth. I was too controlled, too focused to acknowledge the burning in my own throat.
My own personal heroin addiction was conquered as the sweet smell of her blood was merged with my poison.
I bit her in as many places as possible and where my tongue washed the venom over her skin, it sealed shut, holding the poison and the changing blood inside her body. The forced air and heart compressions were the only thing keeping her alive, but soon the toxin would take control and repair the damages to her heart-- if we weren't too late. . .
I waited for the fates to try to complete their diabolical death plans. They failed with Rosalie; with Renesmee's bite and birth; and all that was left was the destruction of her heart.
And the fates continued the battle. Her heart was not working on its own. Had I put too much venom directly into the heart? Did I give her too much pain killer? Had a been a willing hand for the fates?
She was counting on me, so I continued working on her, pushing the dread to another compartment in my brain, far behind the thirst. No longer would I be held captive by the bad luck, hateful harpy.
The c-section incisions were sealed, the excess blood dissolved. Even Renesmee's bite mark was sealed. With Bella's body infused with my venom, her skin healing, I took an unnecessary breath, and examined her forced heart beats.
Jacob was losing faith. His grief filled his head and shouted, All the king's horses and all the king's men--
The thoughts spiraled into defeat, the same dread I'd pushed away. Working over a corpse. And then something I never thought would happen, he gave up. He released his love, his need, his friendship and his hold for her. And then the sorry son of a dog encouraged me to do the same. She's gone.
I compared his release, lost to my stronger pull, understanding. I had to be with her. His was love was vacant and lost. Mine was sure, powerful and alive.
She existed.
I don't need to be near this dead mangled corpse, the girl we both loved is dead, gone. I long to get away from here and never, ever come back.
And again, I'd throw him a lifeline; free him from his unnecessary grief and get his blasphemous thoughts out of my mind.
"Go, then," I growled as I knocked his hands out of the way and took his place. Three fingers broken, it felt like.
I pushed her heart faster than he had – I knew its rhythm. I understood it like no other sound in the world. I knew each phase of the pulse that caused the valves to open and close, forcing blood through her body. Yes it was my job to be her heart. I would. The compressions would not cease. I would never tire, never stop until her completed transformation. I would be her heart for as long as it took, three days or three years. She would survive.
"She's not dead," I growled. "She's going to be fine." This was all in my capable hands and there was nothing that would stop me from keeping her heart going. No thirst, no harpies, no monster. Nothing. I began counting the heartbeats I gave her. I applied pressure to the rhythm I would recognize from miles away. She would be fine, I knew it because nothing would stop me.
Jacob turned and walked away, questioning whether I was talking to him. He felt pity for me, but I no longer cared for his feelings, only that he would depart with his hateful thoughts. He walked slowly down the stairs, one step for every ten compressions.
Alice and Jasper stood still by the window wall, breathing and marveling.
Rosalie had just fed the baby. I heard Renesmee's heart beating quickly, sturdy. It's rhythm faster than Jacob's. And then Jacob's thoughts -- his decision hit me like a stone wall.
Sam had been right. The thing was an aberration-its existence went against nature. A black, soulless demon. Something that had no right to be. The thing that had killed Bella and could not live another minute longer.
He was going to attack Renesmee, he had made his decision. But how could he make such a decision, hadn't he seen the baby? Didn't he know that she was not what we thought? And then realization hit me – he'd only seen the baby's bite mark.
I had to protect the baby but I could not leave Bella – her heart would not continue.
I pictured the fates with their heads thrown back over their necks, laughing at me. I had to chose - protect Renesmee and Bella would die or stay with Bella and Renesmee would die. How could I choose?
In situations of danger, I turned to Alice. She would see the future. I searched her thoughts, and the pictures of the future baffled me.
I was standing in the lawn by the ancient trees, tossing something invisible above my head, laughing out loud as I caught it, pulling it close to my chest and squeezing. There was someone beside me, a vampire.
The scene changed to Rosalie sitting in the lawn rolling a ball forward to the same invisible space, the ball returned from the space. Rosalie was laughing, happy and then a grimace crossed her face.
And then I realized that Jacob's murderous plot would not succeed. He would not carry out the task that the fates demanded.
Something would impede his actions, cause him to turn completely from his intentions.
There was no need to alert my family, Bella and the baby would be fine.
I continued pressing on Bella's chest, the blood and venom flowing, changing her.
I listened to Jacob's thoughts.
Perfect. The new position was perfect for my strike. He leaned forward and felt the heat begin to change him. The pull toward the baby grew- it was stronger than he'd ever felt it before, so strong it reminded him of an Alpha's command.
I went into Renesmee's mind. She was staring past Rosalie's shoulder at Jacob. Her gaze was more focused than any newborn's gaze should be, she had acute vision. The aroma that entered the room mesmerized her.
Jacob stared back and saw Renesmee's warm brown eyes, the color of milk chocolate- the exact same color that Bella's had been.
Renesmee saw that Jacob jerked to a stop. Her eyes froze.
Jacob felt heat flood through him, stronger than the phasing burn, but it was a new kind of heat- not a burning.
He recognized it as a glowing.
He released everything that held him to his life. Everything that made him who he was- his love for Bella, his love for his father, his loyalty to his new pack, the love for his other brothers, his hatred for his enemies, his home, his name, his self- disconnected.
It was frightening to him to be so broken, lost.
Then he felt a new, stronger connection.
He'd found something more to hold him to life, to the universe.
He imprinted. He stared at the object of that new found connection. A half-vampire, half human, brown eyed baby girl.
Renesmee.
I cursed.
I froze for a second, less time than that.
Bella's heart had been repaired, changed. Her heart would never beat the same. Her blood song ceased.
I returned my full attention to Renesmee's thoughts. She had control over her thirst.
It would never force her to rampage the human population or destroy the ones she loved.
La tua cantante. Jacob.
Damn fates.
A/N – The next chapters will be a little different because it's hard to ignore the entire purpose of the story – Edward and Bella live happily ever after as equals
A/N2 Comments are welcomed