Chapter 29

My house! Is out of the ordinary

That's right! Don't wanna hurt nobody

Some things sure can sweep me off my feet

Burning down the house

Burning Down The House- Talking Heads

Bella tossed and turned for a couple hours before waking up from a horrid dream involving her ex, Edward. In the dream Edward was trying to kill her. The dream had felt so realistic that by the time she woke, her heart was racing and she was drenched in sweat. Flashes of their wedding reception years ago began to infiltrate her mind, and she shook the terrible memories away.

Glancing over at her husband sleeping soundly beside her, Bella felt her heart swell with emotion. She loved this man dearly and never wished to part. But she was also very upset with him for losing his temper last night. Her cut foot barely bothered her but she was worried about his anger. What if he became like Edward? She knew her body and mental health could not take another abusive relationship.

But the longer Bella watched the rise and fall of Jacob's slumbering body, the more her gut told her that he was nothing like her ex. Jacob was one of the kindest souls she had ever met. His temper the night before was most likely a build-up of stress from of all of the situations they had found themselves in recently. Her car was permanently stolen and she had no hopes of obtaining it, they were being evicted from their home and Jacob had just lost his job. Too many issues to deal with would cause any normal, sane person to lose their grip and throw a tantrum. That's what she decided to deem Jacob's outburst. A 'tantrum'.

The pale woman turned away from her husband and stared at the alarm clock on the nightstand for a moment. 2:04am glared back at her with vibrant red letters. Normally Bella slept through the night with zero issues. But tonight did not seem to be that kind of night. It also didn't help that she felt as though she were overheating. She watched the clock change to 2:07am before she finally made the decision to cool herself down with some water. But first, nature called and she waddled into the bathroom in just an oversized T-shirt and underwear.

Bella didn't bother turning on the light as the bathroom was dimly lit by the streetlight outside. She tiredly plopped herself onto the toilet and began to answer natures call. As she was relieving herself she noticed the pregnancy test sitting beside her, patiently waiting to be read. She paused in her ministrations and grabbed the device, bringing it up a mere inch from her eyes. Two lines were etched into the device which promptly fell from her hands and clattered onto the floor. Images of another baby being born into their family popped into her brain and she felt a torrent of emotions. Surprise being the dominant emotion as she never anticipated having a second child. Adoration for the unborn baby already began to consume her. Along with feeling relief at finally understanding why her mood and eating habits were all out of whack.

After finishing up in the bathroom, Bella felt sweat dripping down her face and saturating her body. A cold glass of water was in her future as she wandered into the kitchen. She paused upon opening her fridge as the blaring light blinded her for a few seconds. The cool air emitting from the fridge felt amazing against her skin. Bella grabbed a water bottle and the jar of pickles and chugged the water quickly before popping a pickle into her mouth. She didn't care how Jacob teased her now, she was pregnant so she could eat any weird assortment of foods that she wanted.

One water bottle just didn't seem enough to cool her down so she grabbed another and sipped it slowly. While drinking the water she picked up on an unusual odor in the air. She glanced at her stove and a frown etched itself onto her face. "Did I leave something in the oven?" She murmured aloud to herself while opening the oven. She found the machine to be completely cold and devoid of any food inside to cause such an odor. Bella began to sniff the air and the strange smell led her to the front door. A weird feeling began to twist in her gut as she sensed something was very wrong. Bella reached out to open the front door to their apartment and retracted her hand like a cobra. The metal knob was so hot it had scorched her skin.

Bella turned from the door and rushed back into the kitchen to apply cold water to her burning hand. She knew immediately what was happening and didn't need the door to open to understand. Their apartment complex was on fire.

After a few seconds of cooling off her hand and gathering her thoughts, she raced to her bedroom to inform her husband of the terrifying news. The dire situation had her wasting no time in rousing him from sleep gently. She hopped onto the bed and began shaking him with all her might. "Jacob! Jacob wake up!"

Jacob's eyes snapped open immediately and he looked at his wife with mild concern lacing his face. "Are you still mad at me?" He asked while a yawn escaped halfway.

"The apartment is on fire! We have to get out of here!" Bella tugged at her husband with such a sense of urgency that Jacob didn't second guess her with questions that would waste their time. "Let's go!" Bella sprinted out of the room and opened her daughter's door before she realized her husband was heading towards the fire. "Where are you going? We have to get out of here using the fire escape ladder."

Jacob pointed at their daughter and made a grim face. "Take Renesmee and get to safety. I'm sure Caius is unaware and we can't just leave him here to burn."

Bella looked towards her daughter then back at her husband with indecision about the predicament. In just a few quick strides she was standing in front of Jacob with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "That douchebag better not get you killed." She choked out. "I love you." The brunette stood on her tippy toe to give her husband a passionate kiss.

Before they broke apart, Jacob slid Bella the keys to the car. "I love you too." He murmured against her lips before pecking them one last time. A discarded shirt was lying on the ground and he scooped it up quickly. At first Bella thought he was going to use it to cover his nearly naked body as he was only in his boxers. But Bella watched him saturate it with water then cover his mouth to hopefully help provide some sort of barrier between the smoke and his lungs. Jacob did manage to grab an oven mitt for opening the door before sliding into his shoes. Bella stood by for three seconds after his departure then kicked into high gear and made her way into her slumbering daughter's room.

"Renesmee, honey wake up." Bella gently, but urgently patted her daughter until the child was blinking up at her sleepily.

"I'm tired momma." Renesmee yawned and prepared to fall back asleep.

"I know you're tired." Bella sat her daughter up so she couldn't lay back down. "But we have to go right now."

Renesmee sighed and stood up once prompted. "But I'm sleepy." She complained and leaned into Bella's leg.

Bella ignored her and leaned over Renesmee's bed in order to open the window. "I tell you what, I'll give you a piggy-back ride. But you have to hold on to me very tightly. Can you do that?"

Renesmee's eyes lit up with excitement, rousing her from her sleepy state. "I love piggy-back rides! I'll hang on! I promise." Renesmee jumped up and down in her bright yellow pajamas and Bella had to calm her in order to get her situated on her back.

Once Renesmee had climbed onto her mother's back, Bella headed for the window and climbed onto the fire escape with little issue. A soft bark had her pausing as Midnight came up to the window sill and looked at the pair with his cocked to the side and tail wagging enthusiastically. "Sorry little guy, almost forgot about you." Bella reached inside and plucked Midnight from the floor. It didn't take the woman long to descend the stairs of the fire escape. But once she reached the ladder, she realized she couldn't hold Midnight and climb down simultaneously. Bella looked at the grass and realized they were about fifteen feet off the ground. Would Midnight survive a fall from that height? Bella closed her eyes and said a small prayer before leaning over the ladder and dropping Midnight to the ground.

The small dog yelped from the sudden fall and landed on his four paws upon hitting the ground. He trotted away from the house and barked at Bella from below before sitting on down expectantly.

"Oh thank goodness." Bella sent a small smile down to the dog then descended the ladder with her daughter latching onto her extra tightly. "Don't worry Renesmee, we're almost to the ground." She spoke the words aloud to her daughter but really she was trying to convince herself that they would be ok. When she reached the last step on the ladder, she looked down at the ground still a good six feet below her. "Hold on tight honey." Bella closed her own eyes as she released her hands from the ladder and plummeted to the ground below. She knew that screaming would only freak out her child and she did not wish to scare her so she kept her fears silent. Thankfully she had braced herself perfectly and landed on the balls of her feet. As her toes dug into the cool grass, she opened her eyes and looked up at the building that was emitting such a strong heat. Even from the back of the building she could tell it was on fire. She didn't wish to stay in the vicinity so she called to Midnight then hurried to where she knew the car was parked across the street. As she sprinted around the burning apartment, she passed by her friend's apartment and gasped. "Alice!" She looked up at the building and saw the flames had burst through the hall windows and were licking at the building hungrily. From what she could see through Alice's bedroom window, smoke had infiltrated the room completely and made it impossible to see anything.

"Momma what's that smell?" Renesmee asked, still latched firmly to Bella's back.

Bella didn't know how to respond. She didn't want to frighten her daughter with the reality of the situation. But at the same time, her daughter had eyes and would be able to visibly see what was going on if she merely looked. She decided to just not answer the question and in the blink of an eye, she was laying Renesmee down in the back seat of her car with Midnight curling up next to her.

"May I go back to sleep mommy?" Renesmee asked cutely.

"Of course baby." Bella kissed her daughter's forehead and before she had even closed the door her daughter was fast asleep. With Renesmee out of harm's way, Bella turned her attention back to the building that looked like it was straight from hell with it's horrendous flames. Off in the distance, Bella could hear the faraway sounds of a fire truck. She was happy that someone had called 911, but as she ran up to Alice's window, she wished the fire truck would arrive sooner as her husband and friend were likely still trapped inside.

Bella banged on the window hoping to alert Alice to her presence. When she didn't receive a response, she banged on it harder until her firsts hurt and managed to crack the glass. No response was had and she knew time was of the essence. Looking around on the ground beside her, she found a large rock and picked it up quickly. Without taking a moment to think about what she was doing she threw the rock with all of her might, against the window, shattering it into a million pieces. Groaning could be heard from inside of the apartment and then Alice's face appeared. "What the hell-

"Alice get out of there, the building is on fire!" Bella coughed as the smoke hit her from Alice's room then motioned to her friend to jump out of the window.

"Bella, what are you talking about?" Alice gestured sleepily to the building around her. "It's not on f-" the smoke hit Alice like a ton of bricks and had her gasping for a clean breath of air only to be obtained from outside. "Shit this is not turning out to be a good night." Alice swung her body out of the window like a professional gymnast and landed on her feet in a perfect stance. "What the fuck is going on?" She asked once the pair had evacuated the immediate area and reached Bella's car.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Bella told her honestly. "I woke up overheating and then discovered this." Both turned their eyes to the building looking like it was ready to cave in on itself. "Jacob decided to try and save Caius. Is it completely selfish that I wish he hadn't?" When Alice embraced Bella, she allowed the tears she was holding back to overflow from her eyes. "Alice if I lose him, I don't know what I will do!"

"Shh." Alice rocked Bella from side to side. "You aren't going to lose him. Jacob is going to come out of that building any minute now with that idiot Caius behind him." The pair watched the building burn and heard the fire truck finally arrive and begin to put out the fire. "Any minute now." Alice repeated after the firemen had assessed the situation and began putting out the fire. "Any minute now." She murmured one final time ten minutes later after the fire was under control and some of the firemen were storming the building looking for survivors.

One of the firemen came out of the building and removed his headgear. "Two confirmed dead! Bring in the EMS!"

A/N: Next update 3-5 weeks. I have to create a unit plan for a class, and get started on a project so the next update will take a bit. But I shall try not to leave y'all hanging for months on end anymore :) If I fall of the face of the earth for two or months, just PM me and tell me to chop-chop and produce another chapter lol.