Chapter Sixty Two

Carlisle

I stayed this time when Jamie slept, wanting to monitor the situation with Bella connected. At first Jamie was quiet and I saw his sunken cheeks fill out quickly as he leached energy from his father. Bella lay looking at Jasper who had his eyes closed and as I watched the bruises under his eyes darkened and the scars on his exposed neck began to show up more prominently. It was happening quicker than I liked. Bella hadn't changed, no bruises, in fact I almost thought I saw a flash of red in her amber eyes and looked more closely but she shut them then and I sat back. After an hour Jasper was looking decidedly worse and I called Bella's attention to me. As she opened her eyes I gasped, they had a red tinge. Jamie was channelling Jaspers energy not only to himself but Bella too, both were feeding from him.

"Bella, break the connection now"

She looked startled but dropped Jasper's hand and move away from the bed.

"What's wrong Carlisle?"

"Go look at yourself in the mirror"

She gasped as she saw her eyes,

"What's happening Carlisle?"

I explained my theory and she looked back at the two on the bed.

"Jasper's feeding both of us?"

"I think so, that's why he was so tired today, you were connected part of the time and Jamie took more from him to feed you both."

I looked at Jazz carefully, his cheeks were sunken in and his eyes almost black. He didn't seem aware of us as we spoke.

"Is he OK Carlisle?

"I don't like it Bella but we can't get close enough to break the connection, we have to wait until Jamie wakes and terminates it himself. How are you feeling?"

"Feeling? I hate to say it but great, like I've had a huge burst of energy."

We watched in silence as the hours passed by, Jamie looking better with every tick of the clock.

Bella

"Is it my imagination or is he getting stronger?"

"Well I took some blood when he woke up the last couple of times and his own venom levels are way down. I think it might have been connected with a sudden growth spurt. I'm hoping the crisis is over or nearly so. If it is then we've won this time"

"He's going to be OK?"

"I think so Bella, now his body is settling down again. I just hope he doesn't have any more or things could get critical very quickly."

"And Jazz?"

"If Jamie's blood test results show no increase in venom levels I think we can stop giving him Jaspers and that will help. We'll still need to keep an eye on both of them for a while but I see no problems, they just need time."

" Thank you for that Carlisle"

"Don't thank me Bella, thank your husband. It's all down to him"

"Can I ask you something Carlisle? Something not related to Jamie's problem."

"Of course Bella."

"Esme told Jazz and Peter she was tired of living a lie. You don't have to tell me but I wondered what she'd meant by that."

He sighed heavily and gazed out of the window,

"I'm sorry Carlisle..."

"No, its OK Bella. Esme and I were never really mates, she had something I wanted and in return I gave her what she wanted, a family. I got the respectable Doctor's wife and she got Edward, Rosalie, and the others, but she made the mistake of falling in love with me and expecting I would feel the same. I couldn't give her what she really wanted, my heart, or whatever passes for one in this life."

"Was there someone else?"

He laughed bitterly,

"Yes Bella there was, and the crazy thing is that my mate didn't see me in the same way either, so both Esme and I were trapped."

"That's sad Carlisle. I hope you find someone, you're a good man, you deserve some happiness."

Jamie woke up shortly after that and again he was hungry, he looked like a normal healthy boy and he'd grown again.

"You keep this up Uncle Peter won't recognise you and you'll be as big as Uncle Emmett."

He liked the idea of this and leaving Jazz with Carlisle I took Jamie for dinner, happy he had an appetite at last.

Jasper

I heard Carlisle's words and was grateful, I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up. Two flasks of human blood earlier and I still felt like death. Opening my eyes I looked into his golden ones,

"We're winning?"

"Yes Jasper I believe we are and just in time I'd say."

I nodded,

"Yeah, I've felt better. But as long as Jamie is well that's enough."

"Well let's see if we can get you looking as good as your son."

He handed me a flask of blood and I forced it down but refused the second.

"Jasper you need to feed"

"Yes I know but I want to hunt Carlisle. I need to get out of here and run."

"You sure you can manage a run?"

"Well stagger, anything"

"I'll come with you."

We went out and it was good to be in the open air although I felt too weak to run far, so we jogged for a while.

"I heard what you told Bella, about Esme I mean."

"Oh"

"I'm sorry the way it worked out for you Carlisle but I always knew there was something wrong between you. Does Edward know?"

"Know?"

"How you feel about him?"

Carlisle stopped in amazement,

"You knew? How?"

"I may not say a lot but not much gets past me. I could see he was more than just a son to you. Will you tell him?"

"No. He has Gemma."

"But he's not happy with her, maybe he needs to know how you feel about him before he can tell you how he feels"

He just smiled at me,

"Maybe, some time. Lets hunt"

Then I smelled deer and my mouth watered. Carlisle held back as I stalked the small herd of deer a way before I felt confident enough to attack. I caught the slowest barely, but it felt good to sink my teeth into its veins and feel the warm blood pump into my mouth, so different from the cold human blood I'd been drinking. It made me glad that I preferred this, all my sacrifices hadn't been in vain after all. That had been my greatest worry, that after drinking human blood again I would find it difficult to go back to animal blood.

Just one more Chapter to go folks. Hope you enjoyed the story. Please review. Jules