It's Murder Sequel
Chapter 11
EPOV
The timing could not have been worse was my first thought. I was thinking of the effect this tragedy would have on Bella, not even sparing a single thought for the two dead passengers we all knew, or even the other faceless people who died with them.
I was working at the hospital when it happened, shadowing my father, and his cell rang.
Mom never called him unless it was really urgent, so he handed the patient in ER over to me and walked outside to take the call.
All I could think was Something has happened to Bella. Something terrible. She's dead. She's bleeding out.
No, Esme would have called an ambulance, not Carlisle, if she was alive.
The nurse standing beside me assured the worried parents of the child on the table that he was suffering from croup, and she started steam therapy and whatever, I couldn't have treated him if my life depended on it.
I watched my father's face as he spoke into his cell.
I was right, it was bad news but it wasn't completely terrible, if you know what I mean.
Not devastating.
It wasn't Bella.
Not directly.
Charlie was on shift tonight, maybe he'd taken a bullet. Maybe he'd been involved in a traffic accident.
I just hoped he wasn't dead and that he'd live at least long enough to see his grandchild.
Jake walked up to my father and I knew I was right. He would not be here unless he was coming to support Bella. They both looked through the window at me and I prepared myself.
"There's been a plane go down. So far there are no signs of any survivors."
"Who was on it that we know?" I asked, confused. My brothers and their wives were safe. Siobhan had visited now and then but she was too advanced in the surrogacy to fly. Jake's wife and children were hardly going to be off on vacation without him.
"Renee and Phil had decided to make a surprise visit for Bella's birthday this week."
"You knew?"
"She called to make sure she'd be welcome, and I suspect, have somewhere to stay if Bella didn't feel up to putting her up in your guestroom."
"That's why you had me furnish it? You could have told me."
"Renee was hoping you two would welcome her more if you had no warning," he smiled sadly.
"So, Renee is dead," I stated. I wasn't one hundred percent sure how this would affect Bella.
She and her Mom were so distant with one another.
But Bella was pregnant.
She may react way out of character because of that fact.
Just don't let it send her in premature labour, I prayed. As always, Bella was my first concern, but we both wanted our baby so desperately. I just need this to be manageable.
Carlisle called in a replacement to take over for him and we three left the moment the woman arrived. There were no major problems anyway, just the child with croup and a possibly broken leg currently in x-ray.
Bella voice drifted down to us as I opened the front door. She was up in the nursery, rearranging the many baby clothes yet again, singing softly to herself and the child within.
"Hey, Love. Wow, everything looks ready," I commented, walking to her and putting my arms around her waist from the back.
She leaned her head back and kissed my cheek.
"What are you doing home? Did your father decide you will make a terrible doctor and kick you out?"
"Actually, Dad and Mom and Jake are all downstairs. Why don't we go join them? Have a coffee or in your case, herbal tea?" I said softly.
"What's happened? Why is Jake here? He was here only this morning, bringing me the baby clothes they had stored away from when their twins were born. We talked for three hours, he can't be here on a social visit."
"Have you watched the news today?" I asked her, kissing her hand.
"You are not here because the dollar fell, or because we may end up with a new President next election if the polls are right. What's happened?"
"A plane went down over the ocean. All souls lost . No survivors."
"Who?" she asked, pulling out of my arms and standing to face me.
"Your Mom and Phil. I'm so sorry, Bella."
She frowned and took my hand again.
"Do you think this means we are going to have a girl, then? "
"I'm not sure what you mean," I replied, silently checking for signs of shock.
"Well, one mother/daughter relationship has just ended so maybe that means another will soon begin. Only I'll be the Mother this time, and it will be a better connection. I'll be a good mother, Edward."
"I never doubted that for a moment, Bella. Are you okay?"
She looked outside the window and nodded.
"It might be easier this way. I was preparing myself for my Mom to be as disinterested in the baby as she has always been in me, and I know if that was the case, it would be the very end for her and me.
She may ignore me, but I needed her to acknowledge this child for the miracle she is. Now Renee cannot disappoint me any longer. I can just assume she would have loved our baby, right? You never know, she may have been the best grandmother ever. We will never know. I like that."
"Come downstairs," I urged. I needed my father's superior knowledge and years of experience with dealing with bereaved women to see her reaction.
"I just need to put the baby blankets on the correct shelf," she replied, picking them up and turning.
I saw her shoulders begin to shake and took her back into my embrace.
"It's okay to cry. I know you loved her, no matter how she treated you. She was your Mom no matter what."
Bella clung to me and I felt her tears quickly soak the front of my shirt.
"She could have been worse. She could have taken me with her and then neglected and ignored me. I grew up in a house full of love, with Charlie. He may not be the most demonstrative man but I have never doubted how much he loves me. She gave him to me by giving me to him."
xxxx
Jake stayed for an hour before having to get home to take over so Leah could go to her part time job at the diner, but in that hour he sat and listened, and held my wife's hand, as she talked to him about their childhoods. They'd both been raised without a mother, so the bond had always been strong between them.
I was just glad she had him.
He'd at least visited with her when Charlie sent her to stay with Renee each year, because she'd refused to go alone. He knew the woman I'd barely met.
Dad looked her over and assured me she was fine.
It had been a shock, but Bella seemed to be gaining some closure already. I guess I understood. She had been so worried that Renee would not be what she needed her to be yet again, but now her mother would not be put to the test. She could not be found wanting.
A week later I flew to their town and helped Phil's sister pack up all their belongings and she surprised me by saying how often Renee had spoken of Bella over the years, and how many regrets she had for not trying to make a real mother/daughter bond with her.
She showed me photos of Bella and Jake on their visits here, taken by Phil, and Renee definitely seemed to have some sort of love for her daughter, even if it had never really been obvious to Bella.
Their relationship was not completely one sided after all.
By her bedside stood a single photo in a frame of Renee in the hospital with a newly delivered Bella in her arms and you could see the conflict in the young mothers eyes.
She wanted a different life but that didn't mean she had walked away unaffected by leaving her infant behind.
How could I judge her? As my father rightly pointed out, I'd lived a selfish life myself.
Maybe that was why Bella was made for me.
To give me a chance to be a caring and honorable person.
To be what she had always needed.
Someone who loved her beyond reason.
It was never too late to live a proper decent life, not while I lived and breathed, and I would always do my best for her.
I packed up every photo, every video tape, every Diary, deciding to read them first myself on the plane ride home before handing them over to my wife.
If they were as bleak and empty and negative of Bella as I knew she would expect them to be, then they would disappear and she'd never know of their existence.
I began reading the very first diary on the plane.
"Today I walked away from a miracle."
xxxx
BPOV
The first contractions started around midday two weeks before my due date.
Edward had been working night shifts so was deeply asleep, though twitching and occasionally crying out a little as usual.
I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
" I'll never look like this again. That makes me a little sad because for me this was such a wonderful journey but Baby Son or Daughter, you have to understand why I can't ever give you a sibling. There's no way I could put your father through this again.
He's different to me.
He sees danger everywhere, and he's so scared of losing me. Now he knows I would be completely unable to choose to walk away from him, he has moved on to thinking some tragedy will claim me instead.
We know that is not true, but I think if I ever got pregnant again, it would push him right over the edge and we need him, don't we? We love him too much to do that to him.
Anyway, you will have all those cousins to play with, and share your life with, so it's not as if you will be alone. We have to make the best choice for our family, and this is it.
Oh, by the way, sorry about the epidural but there's no way I'm crawling around the floor screaming while waiting for you to be dragged out of me. That's a step too far."
I walked along the path to the main house, pausing to lean a hand against a tree now and then as a contraction hit. They were mild, and far apart, but regular. This was really happening.
I went in through the side door and Carlisle looked up from the journal he was reading.
"Bella? Are you okay?"
"I've started," I replied, hesitating before sinking gratefully onto a chair and hoping I wouldn't ruin the brocade cover if my waters broke.
"You know Esme has about four identical chairs in storage in case anything happens to any of them, right? Sit comfortably and tell me what's happened so far."
"Just regular tightening, around my entire torso," I replied. "Fifteen, maybe ten, minutes apart. No show."
"Rest a little then we'll go upstairs."
Carlisle had secretly created an entire birthing suite in one of his former guest rooms.
"Edward's asleep?"
"Mmm," I answered, stopping mid stance and leaning over."That was closer. Five minutes?"
"Then I need to check what's going on. You still want a home birth?"
"Absolutely," I assured him. My husband had virtually bullied me into agreeing that a c section was the best option, but I had never wanted that ending, and Carlisle and I had plotted together from the early days to come up with a way around my husband's unjustified panic stricken decision.
If I could get to the point where a natural delivery was about to happen, he couldn't do anything to change things. He was hardly going to cut me open here, in the house, if there was no time left to get me to the hospital.
Carlisle had borrowed all the equipment that might be necessary in an emergency, and I was quite trusting that he would always do what was best for both me and the baby no matter what happened, no matter what my wishes or Edward's were.
"It's early days yet. Could be another twelve hours," he announced after examining me.
"Drat. Edward will wake up and come looking for me and drag me away to hospital," I moaned.
"You never know. First deliveries are different for everyone. You may surprise yourself and progress more quickly than most. We may beat him yet."
Alice and Rose appeared quickly at Carlisle's summoning. Maybe if we were all in a group ganging up against him, Edward would just relax and give in.
I could but hope.
xxxx
EPOV
"Carlisle, do something," I screamed as my wife lost consciousness and I wasn't even sure her heart was still beating.
There was blood, so much blood, everywhere.
"I don't have my scalpel. I've left it at the hospital," my Father called in distress.
"We have to get it out of her," I screamed at him. "Do something."
"What do you suggest, Edward? I have nothing sharp. Esme sold all the knives in the house and we don't even own a pair of scissors."
I looked at him in complete disbelief.
"How could you let her do that? You knew we had to cut this baby out. Where's Alice? Maybe Tommy has some safety scissors we could borrow."
"They'd never work,' Emmett replied. " I tried to give myself a haircut with them and they are useless. You need to bite it out of her. With your teeth."
"My teeth? Don't be insane," I screamed back at him as he nonchalantly snacked on a chocolate iced donut.
"Don't eat in here, we have to keep the room sterile."
"But Bella never cleans up after herself, you always have to do it," he pointed out.
I looked around me.
We were in Bella's first apartment and she was laying on the uncomfortable sofa bed.
"I bet she wishes she'd lashed out and bought a proper delivery table now," Emmett laughed.
"We need to clean the room," I shouted. "Where are Alice and Rose? They should be helping me clean up."
I rushed about picking up discarded jeans and Tshirts and threw them into the washing machine.
But there were dishes in the sink.
Glasses, everywhere, empty wine bottles.
"We can't let the baby see all the alcohol bottles, she will think we aren't good parents," I panicked.
"Edward, you need to do something for your wife," Jessica Stanley said.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I yelled. "Get out."
"If she dies, I'll have you," she smirked. "I always liked you. And you fuck well."
"Don't speak like that in front of the baby," I warned her loudly, rushing back to Bella.
She was so pale and looked almost dead.
"Bite her open and get that monster out of her," Jacob Black screamed.
"It's not a monster, it's a baby. Say it. Baby. It's just a little baby," Rosalie stated ,stroking Bella's belly. "I'll keep the baby and you can marry Jessica."
"I don't want to marry Jessica, I just want to save my Bella," I freaked at them all.
Emmett was handing out donuts, Alice was playing with the dog.
"Oh get the dog out of the Delivery Room at least," I growled. "This is no place for pets."
Bella screamed and arched her back and I swear I heard her spine snap.
"Hold on Baby, I can fix you," I promised, looking around for some instrument that fixed broken backs.
"Just do it, you pussy," Emmett laughed.
I had no choice. I bared my teeth and lowered my face towards her belly.
"I'll save you,my Bella."
Her blood filled my mouth and I went to spit it out but it tasted awesome. I licked her skin, then stood back in awe as the baby emerged.
It came out biting, finishing the job I had begun.
"Don't hurt your Mother," I warned him. "Do not bite Bella. Nice babies don't do that."
I stepped forward hurriedly to get him away from his dying mother and my foot missed the ground, jerking my whole body.
"Fuck. Another nightmare."
I wiped my streaming brow with the sheet and turned to check on Bella. I couldn't hear her gentle snores that she usually did at night now.
She was gone.
I jumped up from the bed and ran to the bathroom.
Empty.
Fuck.
Where is she?
A knock sounded on our front door. I ran down and jerked it open.
Alice and Jasper stood there.
"It's time," she said with a smile. "Hurry up or you will miss the whole thing."
We ran, and I do mean ran, up to my parents house.
Bella was the old guest room, immersed in water in a large inflatable child's pool.
"Get in and either support her back or welcome your child into the world."
Rose was already sitting in the water, holding Bella's back against her chest.
I knelt between her legs beside my father and watched in awe as a small, dark haired head emerged from my wife.
"You know what to do. You've done it before," Carlisle reminded me, moving back a little so I could be center front.
"Push Bella. One more push," Rose urged.
Bella's face was contorted with pain and she bore down again.
"Okay, now pant," I ordered, reaching to support the head as the shoulders emerged. The whole body slid easily into my hands.
"What is it?" Rose and Bella asked in unison.
"It's a baby!" I replied, lifting the little screaming bundle to my chest as my father monitored the cord and Bella.
Esme handed me a towel and I rubbed the vernix and blood from it's skin before accepting a second clean towel and wrapping the baby snugly.
"Bella, we have a baby. A real live baby."
I showed her the perfect little face.
The baby opened it's eyes and held Bella's gaze.
"You need to squat and get this placenta out," Dad interrupted.
Rose and Alice helped Bella stand and the afterbirth slipped from her as she straightened up.
"Well done," Dad said, catching it and holding it up to let the blood drain into the still attached baby. Once it stopped pulsing, he severed the physical link and I stepped from the tub and let my Mom see the baby as Bella was showered and then put into bed.
I walked to her side and lay the baby on her chest.
"It's a little girl, Edward. Look at her eyes."
I didn't know you could detect gender from eyes, so I opened the wrapping and checked.
"It is indeed Kristabelle. Kristabelle Renesmee Cullen, meet your mother. She loves you to the moon and back, and beyond. Forever."
xxxx