AN ~ If any of you watch Doctor Who I have a 10Rose AU fic and now I am beginning a collection of River Song (Doctor/River) oneshots. I would LOVE it if you could check them out. :)
For the twilighters: I am still working on the next chapter of Life is Harder, but I promise it is coming soon! Also, depending on a bunch of stuff, I might get another Wise Old Iron Lady tale up by New Years. Maybe ON New Years! Plus, don't forget my Cullenised Christmas Carols: suggestions very VERY much welcome! XD
Chapter Fifty Nine: Progress
Nothing came of Bella's broken rib, but since my close call in the kitchen I was much more wary about my proximity to her. It was no wonder Jasper had kept to the attic for the past few days. Luckily, I could surround myself with the scents of the kitchen: I occupied myself by making as much breakfast as possible, encouraged by Bella's comments about it not going to waste. As he bustled back and forth between the living room and his office, where Edward was waiting to do research that might help us learn about what the child would become, and how to get Bella through it, Carlisle helpfully put in that with the wolves' high metabolism, and particularly with their lack of sleep of late, a large breakfast would be good.
"And how do you know so much about their metabolism?" I queried, raising an eyebrow suspiciously at him. He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and smiled bashfully, as if he had been caught out on this before.
"While I was treating Jacob, I took a blood sample. I ran a number of tests on it and I've learned a lot. Shifting back and forth burns a lot of energy, not to mention the amount of running they do. If they don't eat as wolves, they're going to need an awful lot of breakfast."
"Most important meal of the day," I added with a grin. The amount of human trivia we had picked up over the years never failed to surprise me. "Speaking of sleep...where is Jacob? I hope he knows he's welcome to the beds."
"I don't think he wants to use the beds, sweetheart. They'll smell like us, remember?"
"Oh yes." And I realised all this food was going to smell like me too. I looked at the floor for a moment, then huffed and returned my eyes to Carlisle's face. "Get Jake a pillow, will you then, before you and Edward bury yourselves in books again?"
"Already done," Carlisle assured me.
"How's the research coming?" I asked. Carlisle frowned.
"Not...uh...not the best," he murmured. "We'll find something though. I promise."
"I know you will, honey."
He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek before leaving me to my cinnamon scrolls and bacon. I opened the windows, letting the smell of it all drift out to our courageous guard. A few seconds later, the scruffy sandy wolf – the youngest – Seth, was bounding across the yard. He disappeared around the side of the house and, a few moments later, returned to the already open front door.
"Hey Mrs C," he greeted me as I shut the door behind him.
"Good morning, Seth," I greeted back.
"I see Jake crashed," Seth noted aloud. 'Crashed' was, I have to say, a very effective term: the poor boy looked like he had simply fallen asleep while standing, and then fallen over, with nothing but a pillow slipped under his head.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hell yeah," Seth grinned enthusiastically, but when he spied Carlisle's cross above the landing he swallowed his words. "Uh, I mean- Wait, hold on, I didn't think-"
"Yes, Carlisle is religious," I told him.
"How do you mean, religious?" Seth asked, still frowning a little. It made me smile, just slightly. Though they thought they knew the truth about the 'cold ones' and had debunked the stakes and garlic, they still held some myths as truth.
"He is Christian. He believes in God. He prays. He tries to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ as best he can."
Seth's face was twisted. It was a mixture of surprise, disgust and...pride? I wasn't sure. I chose to believe it.
"Don't think about it too hard, pup," Rosalie snapped as she flitted past.
"Don't mind her," I appeased, though it didn't look as though Seth was offended. "Please, sit down, I'll bring you some breakfast."
.o.o.o.
Carlisle POV:
Edward tensed a little when Seth came in. As did I. Despite our rapid improvement in relations with them, especially with Seth, it was still risky to leave one of them downstairs with the rest of us. Especially as Jacob, the Alpha, was sleeping down there too.
"Your cross just blew his mind," Edward informed me with a rye half-smile.
"It seems the wolves are learning more about us as we continue to learn about them," I suggested. "Perhaps Jacob and his relationship to Bella marks a permanent change to our operations in this area."
"Perhaps."
Edward fell silent again, his eyes dropping back to the pages before him, and I opened the laptop and pressed the power button, then picked up the book nearest to me while I waited for it to turn on. But I wasn't thinking about the South American legends. I was thinking about Jasper, and Esme, and Alice with her headaches, and Rose and Edward's blinding determination to stay by Bella's side no matter what. I thought about myself; my lack of certainty and sharpness, and now of focus. I was thirsty: while I couldn't feel the pain of it any more, I recognised the urge to drink and the destruction that urge could do if not properly quelled. The strongest wills, the greatest capacities for suffering, will collapse eventually. With the progression of Bella's pregnancy being what it was, and the inability of anyone to get a safe distance from the house in case of emergency, we needed to drink. Soon.
"What's Leah having for breakfast?" Jacob asked, his voice just barely muffled by the structure and furnishings between us.
"Hey, I took food to her before I ate anything.She said she'd rather eat road kill, but I bet she caves. These cinnamon rolls…" Seth finished his sentence by loudly chewing and swallowing another mouthful.
"I'll go hunt with her then," Jacob muttered. Seth sighed as his friend turned to leave, and I realised that this might be my only chance to talk to Jacob before it was begging him to spare my family. I shot downstairs, and caught him just before he left the living room.
"A moment, Jacob?" I asked.
Jacob spun on his heel, trying not to look as bitter as he had sounded earlier.
"Yeah?" he inquired.
"Speaking of hunting...That's going to be an issue for my family. I understand that our previous truce is inoperative at the moment, so I want your advice. Will Sam be hunting for us outside of the perimeter you've created? We don't want to take a chance with hurting any of your family – or losing any of ours. If you were in our shoes, what would you do?"
Jacob leaned back, surprised.
"It's a risk," he said. "Sam's calmed down some, but I'm pretty sure that in his head, the treaty is void. As long as he thinks the tribe, or any other human, is in real danger, he's not going to ask questions first, if you know what I mean. But, with all that, his priority is going to be La Push. There aren't really enough of them to keep a decent watch on the people while putting out hunting parties big enough to do much damage. I bet he's keeping it close to home."
I nodded thoughtfully, taking in his advice and trying to formulate a plan.
"So I guess I'd say go out together, just in case," Jacob advised. "And probably you should go out in the day, 'cause we'd be expecting night. Traditional vampire stuff. You're fast: go over the mountains and hunt far enough away that there's no chance he'd send anyone that far from home."
Emmett looked up, hopeful at the chance to run that far after so long cooped up. But I saw a flaw in the plan.
"And leave Bella behind, unprotected?"
"What are we, chopped liver?" Jacob snorted indignantly. I laughed at his willing spirit, but the gravity of the situation belayed the humour.
"Jacob, you can't fight against your brothers," I told him, wishing I could keep the conversation light: I'd long since had enough of finding ways to avoid death and destruction.
"I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard, but if there were really coming to kill her – I would be able to stop them."
I shook my head, trying to make him understand. "No, I didn't mean that you would be…incapable, but that it would be very wrong," I objected, though I didn't like the odds: two-to-one at best. "I can't have that on my conscience."
"It wouldn't be on yours, Doc," Jacob rebutted. "It would be on mine. And I can take it."
"No, Jacob. We will make sure that our actions don't make that a necessity."
I frowned, sorting through plans that would or would not work. There was no way I was about to let anyone go alone, but if we went in pairs it would be all too easy to get split up and destroyed. Going in a bigger group, leaving only two or three of us behind would still force the wolves to fight their friends – their brothers, almost.
"We'll go in threes. That's probably the best we can do," I decided.
"I don't know, Doc," Jacob warned. "Splitting down the middle isn't the best strategy."
"We've got some extra abilities that will even it up," I reasoned. "If Edward is one of the three, he'll be able to give us a few miles' radius of safety."
We both glanced at Edward, who was glaring at me with a bitterness that was decidedly against that plan.
"I'm sure there are other ways too," I backtracked quickly. "Alice, I would imagine you could see which routes would be a mistake?"
"The ones that disappear," she replied. "Easy."
Edward loosened up, but now Bella was concerned.
"Okay then, that's settled. I'll just be on my way," Jacob said, glad to have an opportunity to leave. "Seth, I'll expect you to be back on at dusk, so get a nap in there somewhere, all right?"
"Sure, Jake," Seth agreed, though not overly enthusiastic. "I'll phase back as soon as I'm done. Unless…" he hesitated, looking to Bella. "Do you need me?"
"She's got blankets," Jacob snapped at him.
"I'm fine, Seth. Thanks," Bella said.
Esme appeared then, stopping uncertainly just behind my elbow.
"Jacob," she said hesitantly. "I know it's…unappetizing to you, the idea of eating here, where it smells so unpleasant – but I would feel much better it you would take some food with you when you go. I know you can't go home, and that's because of us. Please – ease some of my remorse. Take something to eat." She held the food out, pleading for him to take it.
"Uh, sure, sure," Jacob mumbled. "I guess. Maybe Leah's still hungry or something…"
He took the food and kept it at arms length.
"Thank you, Jacob," Esme said, smiling warmly.
"Um thank you," he murmured back, trying not to blush.
"Will you come back, Jake?" Bella asked, before he could make a break.
"I don't know."
"Please? I might get cold."
"Maybe."
"Jacob?" Esme interrupted softly. He backed towards the door, and Esme took a few steps after him. "I left a basket of clothes on the porch. They're for Leah. They're freshly washed – I tried to touch them as little as possible. Do you mind taking them to her?"
"On it," Jacob muttered, slipping away before he was asked another favour.
Esme sighed, watching him leave, dutifully carrying all she had asked him to. I reached forward and drew her towards me, and we stood in silence for a moment.
The phone rang then, and Alice dashed off to pick it up.
"It's Charlie," she said, handing the phone to Bella.
AN (again) ~ as you have probably noticed, I don't usually do this, it's just that I really would like suggestions for Christmas carols for this season. Already got Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Last Christmas, Walkin in a Winter Wonderland and Silent Night. I'm going to try Joy to the World coz I just couldn't get it last time, but I need some more!
Some of them will be wolf pack as I'm not Team Edward OR Jacob, but if you want to request a character or set of characters (preferrably with a song), go for it.
-SonicTeamCE