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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

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A/N:- Banner by FatesLoveQueen /oed60p

I own nothing. Boydblog helped me with this and I'll be forever thankful.

She fixed. I fiddled. Any mistakes that remain are on me.

Warning: Violence ahead…squeamish people should avoid or at least read on with caution.

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~ EDWARD CULLEN ~

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"And who's going to stop me?" Victoria laughed cruelly as she advanced. "You?"

I growled out a vicious, 'Yes'.

She shifted to the right and I matched her. She moved left and I followed. I cleared my mind of every other thought except hers. I wouldn't allow her to get past me. I knew she would stop Bella's heart. I could hear the hatred in her mind; despite the lies she'd told Kieran, she was never going to let Bella live.

Even as she struggled to find a way around me, she wondered how her newborns were faring. In her mind, she imagined the death of Kieran and Jacob at the hands of her newborns and Bella's death by her own hand. She mentally catalogued all the ways she could stop Bella's heart beating.

I snarled as I blocked another attempt to get to Bella. I managed to force her further away from Bella with each of her failed attempts at breaking through the barrier I'd created to protect my love.

"You're never going to hurt her."

The sound of vampires being torn apart outside drew both mine and Victoria's attention. The wolves were celebrating the destruction of the blond vampire and had cornered the two newborns outside.

"You've lost," I said. "The wolves have killed your friends."

"My friends?" Victoria cackled. "You mean Riley and his hapless crew? You think they matter at all to me? Those filthy beasts have done me a favor."

"They want to finish you too, but they'll have to beat me to it!" I growled.

Victoria hissed at me, her plan was disintegrating with every passing second. She eyed the door and I knew she was going to make a break for it.

One thing had become clear to me during the time I'd spent in Victoria's mind; she would never allow Bella and I to live peacefully. She would continue to attack until one of us was dead. I couldn't allow that to happen.

I reached for her just as she tried to make a run for it. My fingers scraped across her arm, unable to find purchase. Each step I took to get closer to her took me another step away from Bella. Victoria twisted around, weaving from side to side as she raced for the door. I had her exactly where I wanted her, a few more steps and she would be at the doorway. I was closing in on her; I felt almost joyful as I pictured reaching her and tearing the head off her shoulders.

A whimper from Bella shifted my entire focus.

I instantly turned away from my pursuit of Victoria; she fled through the door, bent on escape, and ran further away from Bella. Once Victoria had left the shed, she was no longer my main concern. I needed to make sure Bella was safe. The pain contained in the tiny sound from Bella was so palpable, it made my dead heart ache.

The force of Bella's whimper built quickly until she was crying out softly. I fell to my knees beside her. The makeshift tube I'd inserted to help her breathe had been pushed from her body and the wound on her neck was almost completely healed. My heart leapt at the thought that she was returning to me, albeit at the cost of her humanity.

Bella took a deep breath before issuing a blood-curdling scream.

'Bella's alive? She's alive!' Kieran's mind filtered to me; I tried to tune out his elation.

"It's all right, Bella. I'm here my love," I brushed her hair back from her forehead. "I'm here."

I felt terrible that I could do nothing to help relieve her pain. I lifted her into my arms and cradled her gently. In the moment of peace, I listened to everything happening around me. The pack had torn the two newborns to shreds and a fire was burning; consuming their remains.

Victoria had evaded the wolves. Their focus had been diverted when she'd leapt through the doorway and raced into the forest.

I lamented that I'd let her go when she'd been so close to being in my grasp, but as I held Bella close, I couldn't regret my choice.

'She put Bella in danger! She said she wasn't going to hurt her. She lied to me.' Kieran raced after Victoria; his desire for revenge comparable with my own.

My greatest need was to stay by Bella's side while she suffered through the worst agony she'd ever experience.

Kieran's need was to temper his own guilt with revenge as well as retaliation for the part Victoria had played in harming Bella.

He managed to grab Victoria's wild, flowing hair and slowed her just enough to allow the wolves to descend. As soon as they did, he stepped away wary of their teeth.

I smiled with a sense of sick satisfaction as I watched claws tear into Victoria's skin from a multitude of angles. I listened in delight as her screams drowned out Bella's.

The pack circled Victoria, but hung back to allow Jacob to end her. He relished the moment her screams silenced—almost as much as I did.

Bella's screams and the crackling of the fire were the only sounds remaining in the air.

'Bella!' Jacob's mind focused on the sound of her cries, until he saw Kieran race from the forest towards the shed door. 'He did this to her!'

The pack turned as one to close in on Kieran. Jacob issued a low growl as Kieran entered the doorway to the shed. He spun toward Jacob and held his hands up in surrender. He slowly backed away from the advancing wolves.

When Kieran saw Bella cradled in my arms his thoughts for his own safety fell away. 'I can take away her pain! If she's in the other world her pain will be gone.'

I growled. "Don't you dare! If you try to take her from me I'll kill you!"

"I can help her," he said to me. 'Please let me help her! I could have killed her!'

"No!"

Jacob phased back into human form and followed Kieran inside. He was wearing nothing but a pair of cut-offs.

'She's changing. This is wrong, so wrong.'

I saw his mind filter through the options that he could see for her: death or walking death. He was wrong though, there was only one option. I wouldn't allow any harm to befall her; I would protect her to the end.

'I listened to Victoria. I thought she was going to help me get Bella.' Kieran's thoughts continued on their guilt-ridden loop.

"What happened?" I asked Jacob.

"Bella and I were talking when I heard howls from the pack at the treaty line. I knew there was something wrong, but I didn't want to leave Bella alone. Leah was on patrol near my house and I asked her to check it out for me. I had to know whether they needed me." He scrubbed the back of his head. "That's all I remember."

'Victoria ambushed them. She set up a decoy to lure the rest of the wolves away.' Kieran pictured Irina and Laurent racing through the village.

'Riley attacked the wolf.' Kieran recalled Riley jumping to attack Jacob before he phased. The sound of the back of Jacob's skull cracking as Riley's fist smashed into it hung over the memory.

'He knocked him out. I took Bella; I didn't want her to get hurt.'

Kieran's thoughts riled me up. Not only had he put his faith in the one person who was bent on destroying Bella; he'd convinced those I'd once considered family to help.

"She was hurt," I said harshly. "She almost died!"

'She's as good as dead.' Jacob thought.

I growled at him. "I didn't want this for her, but I won't let her die."

"If you don't like my thoughts, stay out of my head!" Jacob seethed.

"Jacob?" I asked calmly

"I know the rest of the pack are on their way here. Can you please ask someone to find my family—for Bella? I need Carlisle to check on her."

I also wanted to make sure I had someone to fight alongside me if the wolves tried to stop Bella's transformation.

Jacob looked at the tears on Bella's cheeks, and listened to her sobbing cries. He nodded to one of the wolves.

"Embry will look for them."

Kieran pulled at his hair wildly. He went from standing as still as a statue watching Bella to pacing madly back and forth. 'What have I done?'

Kieran's mad behavior drew Jacob's attention. 'What are we going to do about this leech?'

Kieran needed to pay for risking Bella's life, of that I was certain. However, he'd also helped destroy Victoria's newborns and had ultimately stopped Victoria.

"Please let me help her," Kieran begged.

"Like you helped her yesterday?" I hissed.

"I didn't want her to get hurt. I just wanted to show her what I was willing to give her."

"You put her life in danger."

"I couldn't accept Bella wanted you," he admitted. "I thought Vicky understood when I told her I loved Bella. She promised to spare her life."

'I was wrong.'

"Nothing was more important to Victoria than revenge," I stated.

"I know." He closed his eyes as Bella's screams pierced a new octave. "Please let me help her, I can stop her pain. I know you don't want her to be in days of agony!"

I was torn between mistrust for his motives and the certainty that he could take her into her subconscious and numb the pain. This world wouldn't hurt her anymore.

I have to let him try.

I didn't want Bella to suffer any more than she already had. A niggling in the back of my mind worked to convince me to let him. I could tell it was Kieran's influence—the way his gift worked on immortals—but it worked.

I closed my eyes and nodded, praying it was the right decision.

"Fine, do it. But if you hurt her, or try to take her away from me..." I let my silent threat hang in the air between us.

Kieran instantly concentrated on reaching Bella's mind, submersing himself into her subconscious. I could tell the exact moment Kieran's mind reached Bella's. Her screams stopped. While he was concentrating only on Bella, I couldn't hear his thoughts.

It made me realize that he could have been closer than I thought yesterday; he could have been within range of my ability if it weren't for Bella's silent mind. It made me wonder whether Kieran had seen Bella and I in the meadow. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if Bella confessed her love to another while I watched. The thought of it was agony and I couldn't be certain I wouldn't have done something rash as well.

I only hoped I wasn't making yet another mistake.

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~ BELLA SWAN ~

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"Bella, I'm sorry. Come back to me."

The fire surging through my veins changed. Rather than an all-consuming agony which I couldn't see the beginning or end of, it became an inferno in the forest. The trees around me raged in an intense blaze, but I knew if I ran hard enough I could escape.

I raced away from the flames; the heat that threatened to engulf me cooled a little more with each step.

"Bella, stop. You're safe now."

I turned toward Kieran's voice.

Fear stabbed at me. I remembered a chair and some ropes. I remembered broken bones and his teeth. He hurt me!

"No, I'm not safe. Not with you."

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just want to talk."

"I don't trust you."

"I deserve that. I made a mistake, but I want to make it better."

I stopped running and faced him. "You tricked me into staying with you, you made me forget Edward!"

His face contorted with shame. "I hoped you'd realize how much I loved you—what I was offering you."

"I knew what you were offering. But I chose Edward, because despite his mistakes he is it for me. He's the only one who can offer me what I want! I love him, I want him!"

Kieran stepped back as if my verbal blows were physical ones. "I know that now, I just didn't want to believe it. I loved you too much to believe it."

I shook my head. "You may think what you feel is love, but it's not. It might be attraction or desire, but it's not love."

"How can you say that?"

"Because, I know what love is. Love is sacrificing your own happiness to ensure the one you love is safe. Love is being big enough to apologize when you make a mistake and then try to fix it. Love is to understand the other's point of view and work to reach a compromise. Love is all the things I have with Edward."

"I've made some bad choices, but I did it to be with you, Bella."

"You tried to trick me into being with you! You manipulated my world and my mind to try and make me believe things that weren't true. That's not love."

"I realize that now. I'm sorry. I want to make it right."

"How can you possibly do that?"

"At the moment, your body is suffering through the worst agony you'll ever experience. I wanted to give your mind somewhere to hide."

"What's happening to me?"

All I could remember was Victoria, Kieran's bite and then darkness.

He scrubbed the back of his neck. "You're going through the change. Soon you'll be like—"

"Edward," I breathed. Did Edward do what I'd asked? Did he save me?

Kieran chuckled. "I was going to say me, but yes."

"What happened?"

He looked guilty. "I almost killed you, but Edward…he saved your life."

I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.

"We've got to go," Kieran said. "There's one more thing I need to fix. I'll let you know when it's time to return."

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The beeping of the heart monitor filled my ears again. It felt like forever since I'd last heard the noise. I blinked my eyes open.

"Kieran?" I called out, my voice raspy and unused. "What's going on?"

"Baby?" Edward's voice croaked. His face came into my view and his green eyes locked onto mine. "Are you okay?"

I blinked. I knew this world. This world held nothing but pain and heartache.

Why am I back here?

My hand fell to my stomach, the loss I'd experienced flooded back into my mind.

"Where's Kieran?" I asked.

He'd been right with me a moment earlier but now he was gone.

Edward flinched.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

I shook my head; my memory of this place was sketchy at best. I could remember the way Edward had made me feel, the way his betrayal had hurt and the loss which haunted me. My mind began to remind me that this world wasn't real.

The hurt here isn't real.

"Kieran was driving the car that ran into yours…he didn't make it," Edward said. "I'm sorry, Bella. I know how much he meant to you."

Edward's words helped me realize that Kieran had brought me back here to make things right.

Even though this world wasn't real, the things I'd felt here were. This world was my subconscious. I was going to take full advantage of it.

"Edward," I said, reaching for him. My fingers brushed against his chin, feeling the soft bristles of an unfamiliar beard and he leaned into my hand.

"Bella," he breathed out. "I've missed you."

I traced his cheek.

"I'm sorry for ever doubting you," he murmured. "And I'm sorry for making you doubt me."

I winced; his apology reminded me of the reasons this world hurt so much.

I remembered my determination to make things right. This world wasn't real—the pain I felt couldn't hurt me in the real world.

It's nothing more than a dream, a very realistic dream.

I refused to let anything or anyone stand in the way of what I wanted. I took a deep breath. I wasn't going to leave this world with any lingering doubts; over Edward, his love or my own self worth. I was going to do everything I could to fix my marriage and I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"We need to talk," I said. "About us."

Edward screwed his eyes shut in pain. "There's something I need you to understand," he whispered. His face was inches from mine. He opened his eyes again, his green irises awash with unshed tears. "Nothing happened between Rosalie and I. She convinced me to let you think something did. It was stupid. I shouldn't have listened to her."

Tears pricked my eyes.

"When you drove off like that, it just about broke my heart. Then the police called me. My god, Bella, do you understand how fucking crazy I went?"

I sobbed. His words radiated such heartache that it cemented my belief in his love.

"Then I found out about the baby. Our baby. Bella, I can't live without you."

"Edward," I breathed.

His mouth closed the last of the distance and met mine. His lips were wet and warm as we kissed. I sighed against his mouth and he swallowed it eagerly.

"I missed this," he said. "I'm sorry. I was stupid and I lost focus of what was important. Nothing is more important to me than you."

"It's my fault too; I allowed this rift to widen between us. I never felt good enough for you. I never believed you could love me, that anyone could. It always made sense for you to be with someone more like Rosalie."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short; you are 100 times the woman Rosalie could ever hope to be. Besides, I don't love Rosalie. I will never love anyone else. I love you. I love your mind. I love your sense of humor. I love your smile and I love every inch of your beautiful body."

"I won't even doubt your love again," I promised.

"There'll never be a need," he whispered.

He kissed me sweetly then yawned widely.

"When did you last have a good night's sleep?" I asked.

He looked at me sheepishly. He admitted that he hadn't left my side since the accident. For almost a week, he'd slept at the foot of my hospital bed. He'd cleaned himself in the sinks of the toilets in the hospital. His sister had brought him food and changes of clothing.

After our apologies, I convinced him to go home for the night. He was reluctant at first, but I reminded him that I wasn't going anywhere. We'd taken the initial steps toward fixing the damage we'd done to our relationship, but he needed a good night's sleep, a hot meal and a proper shower.

"Be safe," he whispered as kissed my forehead before walking from the room.

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