Sorry, another late chapter but it wasn't as bad as last time, which took like two months to update.
This might sound a little repetitive, cause thats what it is, but bare with me, we have to go through the boring stuff to get to the excitement.
Cat's POV.
"Where have you been lately?" Jacob wondered
"Oh, around and about." I shrugged. It has been almost two weeks since Bella had come home and Sophie and I had hardly spoke to one another since.
"That doesn't really answer the question." Jacob said as we walked through the trees.
"Yes it does."
"Not the way I want it too." Jacob said.
"I was locked up for a week," I admitted "I needed some freedom, some time to muck around and feel at home again. Get used to the new facts that have come to the light." I rambled, trying to make it sound believable. "Guess after a while I just got accustomed with it." I muttered
"And what about you and Sophie?" Jacob asked slyly
"We had an argument." I said simply, I always tried to avoid this topic lately. I wonder if he'd noticed. "It'll blow over, eventually."
"What happened?" Jacob asked, his hand around my shoulders
"She didn't agree with some choices I made." I shrugged
"Is that a reason to stop talking to you?" Jacob wondered confused, I guess he'd noticed Sophie had been giving me disapproving looks lately.
"This one is, I guess." I admitted softly. We didn't want to argue about this with the boys around, it was easier to just stay silent around one another.
"You aren't gonna talk to her about it?" Jake wondered
"No. There's nothing I can say, the same with her to me. It'll just end in arguing." I confessed
"I've never seen you two so…"
"Against one another?" I smirked "Doesn't happen often but siblings do fight." I reminded him, though Soph and I hardly ever did, back in Miami we didn't talk enough to fight, now we had to much in common to argue about.
"I know," Jacob nodded seriously "Rachael and Rebecca were awful when they fought."
"That must have been fun for you," I grinned, glad the topic had changed.
"Oh, I had a blast." Jacob rolled his eyes sarcastically.
We were interrupted by my phone sounding, I took it out and saw a message from Rosalie. Before opening the message and allowing Jake to see the sender I put the phone back in my pocket.
"You just gonna leave it?" Jake asked a little surprised
"For now." I nodded as I cuddled Jacob, this would just arise more questions. I understood the Cullen's reasoning to want to keep the newly weds return a secret, but it was becoming a bit of a pain.
Sophie's POV.
"Sophie, you can't ignore her forever." Embry said
"Of course I can," I disagreed. I'll ignore her till Bella dies and then blame her for the rest of her life. If she hadn't decided to do such a stupid thing then taking down Rose and fixing all this would be a snap.
We were currently in my room, I was lying on my bed on my stomach, pouting as Embry played with my hair.
"You two have never stayed mad this long," Embry muttered
"We're fine, at least if we're not talking, we're not ripping each other's throats out." Which is something I am very tempted to do.
"Must have been one hell of an argument,"
"Indeed." I agreed.
"Sure you don't want to tell me about it," Embry offered yet again. I turned to look at his perfect face
"Not yet," I smiled "But don't worry, it'll end soon." My voice trailed off as I thought of that. The thought that Bella might die soon. That foetus is growing so quickly that she could have less then a month at this rate.
"Hey," Embry caressed my face "I'll be alright," he promised
"I hope." But I doubted that at the moment, unlike some stupid faith my sister had gained, I couldn't see a happy ending to this.
Cat's POV.
I arrived at the Cullen's house not long later, Rosalie needed to hunt so I was taking over watch duty.
"Hey," I greeted with a smile when I arrived. I was probably the only one who did smile, other then Rose and Bella when they were together, but that was a rarity too.
No one answered me as usual, until I entered the living room however
"Hey Bella," I smiled, Bella nodded to me as she spoke down the phone for a minute before hanging up.
"What's happening?" I wondered, sitting next to her.
Bella looked like a mess now, her face was waxy and a dirty sickening colour, her cheek bones jumped out of her face and the bruises on her stomach were obvious thanks to the bulge that came out of it. Bella looked at least six-seven months pregnant, though this had been piled into the last two weeks.
Her fingers were boney and like sticks, her legs were no better and her arms were nothing but skin on a bone. The amount of weight on her was nothing. This was because she hadn't been eating. Everything she ate, she threw back up again. Bella was so weak and frail she couldn't even stand other own now, Rosalie and I helped her into the bath, helped her in the bathroom, everything. I wasn't sure it she was embarrassed but I guess she didn't care, as long as her baby was fine.
It pained me to see her like this, but it wouldn't last long.
"Got off the phone with my dad." Bella answered me with a sigh
"You've spoke to him?" I asked surprised. Bella nodded
"I told him I'd come home, a week ago, been talking to him every now and then. He's not happy, Carlisle's 'quarantined' me, you know, no visitors." Bella rubbed her stomach
"No, that's fair enough." I nodded, quarantine meant Charlie couldn't see her in such a state, couldn't ask any questions about the one month pregnancy thing. He didn't need to be involved in this like the rest of us. We had enough trouble without him in the mix.
"Spoke to him again just now, he's not happy." Bella sighed "Because of the quarantine thing. He wants to see me. Carlisle keeps telling him he can't. It's driving him insane."
"I can't blame him. You're less then ten minutes away and he hasn't seen you for how long? It drove my parent's mad when I was gone for one week, let alone four." I confessed
"Why were you gone for a week?" Bella asked.
Oops.
Sophie and I still hadn't told Bella about our excursion to heaven yet. We figured we should wait till she's all better… well, that was then, we haven't had the chance to tell her since and we haven't been talking to discuss it.
Bella had enough on her plate to worry about without knowing an angry army of angels were after us. She still had the Volturi to worry about after all, better not add angels to the mix.
"Don't worry, it wasn't important." I waved the thought away. She looked at me for a minute before nodding.
"I feel really bad for him." Bella muttered
"Hey, it'll be alright." I promised, she shook her head
"After this, he'll think I'm dead, to think he's going to loose me and Carlisle refusing to let him visit. Imagine if you knew that," she explained, I stayed silent for a minute.
"I can see how you feel." I muttered, she sighed
"Guess that's the price to pay for such a choice as this. I always knew it'd be hard after all." Bella smiled a little
"Everything will be better eventually." I smiled, thinking about several years into the future. Bella smiled more thinking about that.
My phone began to ring then and I pulled it out of my pocket to see it was my mother.
"Hey mum," I answered
"Sweetie, you never told us Bella was home." she said, I blinked
"Umm…?" how the hell did she find out? There was a reason we didn't tell and that was because it was a potential for Billy finding out.
"How'd…?" she cut me off
"We just got a call from Charlie," she answered "He was calling around looking for Billy really but he spoke to your father."
"H-He did?" I asked, this could not be good. I could just see a disaster coming from this.
"Yes, he was talking about how she was sick and couldn't see her, that she was quarantined. You never told us she was back…?"
"Oh, well, um, that's cause… it was… you know… difficult to explain." I went with, still a little shocked and worried.
If Charlie was calling around for Billy, and he called us, then he'd definitely call Sue as well, and if Billy was there then Charlie would tell Billy all about Bella. I was surprised he'd held out for a week.
The problem with this news getting out was the pack. The pack now knew everything. They'd know she was back, they'd think the sick thing was just a scam, what else did it sound like to them? And if Jacob found out… he'd probably come running here, for one reason or another.
I looked up to realise the room was filled with vampires all of a sudden. My sister walked up the stairs not two minutes later too. The vampires had heard my side of the conversation at least. I can't blame them for coming, my voice probably sounded like something was wrong. I didn't know if it was for sure, but there would be some sort of trouble at some point, whether it was to do with me or with the Cullens was the extra question.
"Sorry mum," I said "Guess with all that happened it sort of, slipped my mind." I muttered. I heard my mother sigh
"I guess that's believable coming from you, but I'm still surprised your sister didn't tell us either."
"She's got just as much on her mind." I reminded her
"Alright, sorry." she sighed again
"You don't need to apologise mum," I assured her
"Alright. Say hi to them all for me and your father."
"Mhmm." was all I could say before the line went dead. There was silence for a while before I removed the phone from me ear, my eyes stayed glued ahead of me.
"Oh he's going to kill me." I muttered eventually, shuddering at the thoughts.
"Cat, what's going on?" Carlisle asked
"Well, my parents found out Bella's home," I began
"How?" Sophie asked, her voice held the cold and disapproving tone it always did when she spoke to me lately
"Charlie told them."
"The problem?" Alice asked
"The problem is, Charlie was looking for Billy, and if Billy finds out, then the pack will find out. To them, this whole sick facade will seem just like that, a facade. Which means you could have a pack of angry wolves on your door step in a few minutes." I explained
"And I'm gonna be dead…" I added cringing.
There wasn't very worried expressions on their faces for a while, Carlisle worried, Esme worried, Bella of course worried. Sophie I guessed was thinking about Embry, I was dreading this, I wasn't sure if the pack would come but Jacob definitely would, and if he didn't when it was because Sam ordered him not too.
In that case he'd end up at my house later and kill me then. Though I wasn't in as much trouble now, no I'd be in trouble when he found out I knew, I'd only be dead when he found out who's side I was on. Then I was in trouble of being ripped to shreds.
"What's the problem?" Emmett asked
"The problem is you haven't exactly been anywhere for ages? When was the last time you went to hunt?" I asked. I was glad I got this bit of information before he and Rosalie had left, who knows what would happen if they'd been gone and there had been a catastrophe.
"They'll think you broke the treaty and be prepared to do anything about that." More worried faces now.
"It'll be fine." Bella said, interrupting everyone, they all looked at her "If they do come, Jake will realise what's going on."
"That'll just make the pup angrier." Alice thought, Bella shook her head
"If he listens…"
"If," I nodded, emphasising the word
"Bella's right, the pack aren't a worry." Sophie decided, I glanced at her, not sure where she got this knowledge from. Naturally her mind was blocked off from me so I couldn't hear what she was thinking.
"As long as Cat and I are here, they wont touch anyone." Right, the imprinting rule, no wolf can harm an imprint, the most absolute law.
That didn't stop Jacob was killing me though. I've literally just dug myself a hole. And I can't climb out.
"Think they'll come?" Bella asked me
"If the pack doesn't, Jacob will." I admitted "He's pretty pissed." I said softly. Bella frowned.
Great. Now we were all going to be sitting here waiting.
Not long passed, maybe twenty minutes, before my phone rang again. The room went more quiet then before, if that was possible. I didn't look at the ID, I just pressed answer and held it to my ear
"Hello…?" I answered hesitantly
"Cat," Seth said. I let out a huge sigh
"Hey Seth."
"Did you know?" he asked getting straight to the point
"Specifically?" I asked, drawing out the inevitable
"About Bella?"
"Oh… about?"
"Her being home? And being sick?"
"Oh that… yeah, I knew," I confessed
"Since when?" Seth asked
"Since… they first came home…"
"When was that?"
"Two weeks ago…"
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"They told me not too." I answered simply, a little defensive now "So? What happened?" I wondered
"Sam said no to an attack, no proof of a broken treaty and all, he said he didn't see the Cullens as a threat and that they shouldn't pay for Bella's choice, that she's not a victim so she doesn't count." Seth explained
"I'm hearing a hesitation…" I noticed
"Yeah… Jake didn't agree."
"How am I not surprised." I muttered
"He ran off, said something about saying good bye to his dad, I think he's planning on leaving, you know like last time."
"I talked him out of last time," I remembered
"Yeah, well, he's so upset this time. He phased out once he got to his house, haven't heard from him since." Seth explained "Guessing he hasn't done anything stupid cause there hasn't been a call."
"Doesn't mean he's sitting by," I muttered
"What…?"
"Thanks for telling me Seth." I cut him off before hanging up.
"Why the hasty hang up?" Rose asked
"Cause I bet you Jacob's on his way here."
"Why?"
"Pissed off. I know that boy, if he thinks Bella's 'dead' then he'll be here." I muttered, as if on cue I heard the motorbike on the highway coming towards the driveway.
"Told you," I muttered as I saw a few heads twitch in the direction.
"What?" Bella asked
"Jake's coming." I answered
"You gonna go meet him?" Bella asked
"Huh." I huffed "No. Rather he didn't know I was here for as long as possible."
"You coward." Emmett smirked
"Leave me alone." I grumbled.
Jacob's POV.
The drive opened up into the meadow, and the smell hit me like a rotten tomato to the face. Ugh. Reeking vampires. My stomach started churning. The stench would be hard to take this way — undiluted by the scent of humans as it had been the other time I'd come here — though not as bad as smelling it through my wolf nose.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but there was no sign of life around the big white crypt. Of course they knew I was here.
I cut the engine and listened to the quiet. Now I could hear tense, angry murmurs from just the other side of the wide double doors. Someone was home. I heard my name and I smiled, happy to think I was causing them a little stress.
I took one big gulp of air — it would only be worse inside — and leaped up the porch stairs in one bound.
The door opened before my fist touched it, and the doctor stood in the frame, his eyes grave.
"Hello, Jacob," he said, calmer than I would have expected. "How are you?"
I took a deep breath through my mouth. The reek pouring through the door was overpowering. But there was something else in the reeking smell, a scent I'd recognise anywhere. It was too strong to be an old scent though.
I was disappointed that it was Carlisle who answered. I'd rather Edward had come through the door, fangs out. Carlisle was so… just human or something. Maybe it was the house calls he made last spring when I got busted up. But it made me uncomfortable to look into his face and know that I was planning to kill him if I could.
"I heard Bella made it back alive," I said.
"Er, Jacob, it's not really the best time." The doctor seemed uncomfortable, too, but not in the way I expected. "Could we do this later?"
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he asking to post-pone the death match for a more convenient time?
And then I heard Bella's voice, cracked and rough, and I couldn't think about anything else.
"Why not?" she asked someone. "Are we keeping secrets from Jacob, too? What's the point?"
Her voice was not what I was expecting. I tried to remember the voices of the young vampires we'd fought in the spring, but all I'd registered was snarling. Maybe those newborns hadn't had the piercing, ringing sound of the older ones, either. Maybe all new vampires sounded hoarse.
"He'll freak," I froze, what was she doing here? The scent grow stronger and I could pick out both of the twins scents. They're both here, and had been for a while.
"Come in, please, Jacob," Bella croaked more loudly. Carlisle's eyes tightened.
I wondered if Bella was thirsty. My eyes narrowed, too.
"Excuse me," I said to the doctor as I stepped around him. It was hard — it went against all my instincts to turn my back to one of them. Not impossible, though. If there was such a thing as a safe vampire, it was the strangely gentle leader.
I would stay away from Carlisle when the fight started. There were enough of them to kill without including him.
I sidestepped into the house, keeping my back to the wall. My eyes swept the room — it was unfamiliar. The last time I'd been in here it had been all done up for a party. Everything was bright and pale now. Including the six vampires standing in a group by the white sofa.
Cat and Sophie were there too, Cat was sitting on the couch, near Edward, Sophie was there too but she was standing opposite them all near the window, away from the couch. I could see the disappointment in her expression, but there was also a frown plastered there.
They were all here, all together, but that was not what froze me where I stood and had my jaw dropping to the floor.
It was Edward. It was the expression on his face.
I'd seen him angry, and I'd seen him arrogant, and once I'd seen him in pain. But this — this was beyond agony. His eyes were half-crazed. He didn't look up to glare at me. He stared down at the couch beside him with an expression like someone had lit him on fire. His hands were rigid claws at his side.
I couldn't even enjoy his anguish. I could only think of one thing that would make him look like that, and my eyes followed his.
I saw her at the same moment that I caught her scent. Her warm, clean, human scent.
Bella was half-hidden behind the arm of the sofa, curled up in a loose fatal position, her arms wrapped around her knees. For a long second I could see nothing except that she was still the Bella that I loved, her skin still a soft, pale peach, her eyes still the same chocolate brown. My heart thudded a strange, broken meter, and I wondered if this was just some lying dream that I was about to wake up from.
Then I really saw her.
There were deep circles under her eyes, dark circles that jumped out because her face was all haggard. Was she thinner? Her skin seemed tight — like her cheekbones might break right through it. Most of her dark hair was pulled away from her face into a messy knot, but a few strands stuck limply to her forehead and neck, to the sheen of sweat that covered her skin. There was something about her fingers and wrists that looked so fragile it was scary.
She was sick. Very sick.
Not a lie. The story Charlie'd told Billy was not a story. While I stared, eyes bugging,
her skin turned light green.
The blond bloodsucker — the showy one, Rosalie — bent over her, cutting into my view, hovering in a strange, protective way. Cat moved also, but only those two.
This was wrong. I knew how Bella felt about almost everything — her thoughts were so obvious; sometimes it was like they were printed on her forehead. So she didn't have to tell me every detail of a situation for me to get it. I knew that Bella didn't like Rosalie. I'd seen it in the set of her lips when she talked about her. Not just that she didn't like her. She was afraid of Rosalie. Or she had been.
There was no fear as Bella glanced up at her now. Her expression was… apologetic or something. Then Rosalie snatched a basin from the floor and held it under Bella's chin just in time for Bella to throw up noisily into it. Cat rubbed her back encouragingly.
Edward fell to his knees by Bella's side — his eyes all tortured-looking — and Rosalie held out her hand, warning him to keep back while Cat shot him a look.
None of it made sense.
When she could raise her head, Bella smiled weakly at me, sort of embarrassed.
"Sorry about that," she whispered to me.
Edward moaned real quiet. His head slumped against Bella's knees. She put one of her hands against his cheek. Like she was comforting him.
I didn't realise my legs had carried me forward until Rosalie hissed at me, suddenly appearing between me and the couch. She was like a person on a TV screen. I didn't care she was there. She didn't seem real.
"Rose," Cat's voice rang as she stood up too, taking Blondie's arm gently.
"Rose, don't," Bella whispered. "It's fine."
Blondie moved out of my way, though I could tell she hated to do it. Scowling at me, she crouched by Bella's head, tensed to spring. She would have been easier to ignore than I ever would have dreamed, if she hadn't gone and stood next to Cat.
"Bella, what's wrong?" I whispered. Without thinking about it, I found myself on my knees, too, leaning over the back of the couch across from her… husband. He didn't seem to notice me, and I barely glanced at him. I reached out for her free hand, taking it in both of mine. Her skin was icy.
"Are you all right?"
It was a stupid question. She didn't answer it.
"I'm so glad you came to see me today, Jacob," she said.
Even though I knew Edward couldn't hear her thoughts, he seemed to hear some meaning I didn't. He moaned again, into the blanket that covered her, and she stroked his cheek.
"What is it, Bella?" I insisted, wrapping my hands tight around her cold, fragile fingers.
Instead of answering, she glanced around the room like she was searching for something, both a plea and a warning in her look. Six pairs of anxious yellow eyes stared back at her. Finally, she turned to Rosalie and Cat.
"Help me up?" she asked them both. Cat moved to do so, but Rosalie hesitated, her lips pulled back over her teeth, and she glared up at me like she wanted to rip my throat out. I was sure that was exactly the case.
"Rose," Cat said, her voice sounded worrying and hesitant.
"Please, Rose." Bella begged
The blonde made a face, but leaned over her again, next to Edward, who didn't move an inch. She put her arm carefully behind Bella's shoulders, standing on Bella's other side to Cat.
"No," I whispered. "Don't get up…" She looked so weak.
"I'm answering your question," she snapped, sounding a little bit more like the way she usually talked to me.
Rosalie and Cat pulled Bella off the couch. Edward stayed where he was, sagging forward till his face was buried in the cushions. The blanket fell to the ground at Bella's feet and Cat bit her lip.
Bella's body was swollen, her torso ballooning out in a strange, sick way. It strained against the faded grey sweatshirt that was way too big for her shoulders and arms. The rest of her seemed thinner, like the big bulge had grown out of what it had sucked from her. It took me a second to realise what the deformed part was — I didn't understand until she folded her hands tenderly around her bloated stomach, one above and one below. Like she was cradling it.
I saw it then, but I still couldn't believe it. I'd seen her just a month ago. There was no way she could be pregnant. Not that pregnant.
Except that she was.
I didn't want to see this, didn't want to think about this. I didn't want to imagine him inside her. I didn't want to know that something I hated so much had taken root in her body. My stomach heaved, and I had to swallow back vomit.
"Take a deep breath." Cat advised, I glanced at her, her face was plain, concealing.
It was worse than that, so much worse. Her distorted body, the bones jabbing against the skin of her face. I could only guess that she looked like this — so pregnant, so sick — because whatever was inside her was taking her life to feed its own…
Because it was a monster. Just like its father.
I always knew he would kill her.
"Jacob!" Cat said disapprovingly.
Edward's head snapped up as he also heard the words inside mine. One second we were both on our knees, and then he was on his feet, towering over me. His eyes were flat black, the circles under them dark purple.
"Outside, Jacob," he snarled.
I was on my feet, too. Looking down on him now. This was why I was here.
"Let's do this," I agreed.
The big one, Emmett, pushed forward on Edward's other side, with the hungry-looking one, Jasper, right behind him. I really didn't care. Maybe my pack would clean up the scraps when they finished me off. Maybe not. It didn't matter.
For the tiniest part of a second my eyes touched on the two standing in the back. Esme. Alice. Small and distractingly feminine. Well, I was sure the others would kill me before I had to do anything about them. I didn't want to kill girls… even vampire girls.
Though I might make an exception for that blonde.
Cat was in front of me, Rosalie taking the burden of holding Bella, Cat's hands were on my front as she looked at me warningly.
"No," Bella gasped, and she stumbled forward, out of balance, to clutch at Edward's arm. Rosalie moved with her, like there was a chain locking them to each other.
"I just need to talk to him, Bella," Edward said in a low voice, talking only to her. He reached up to touch her face, to stroke it. This made the room turn red, made me see fire — that, after all he'd done to her, he was still allowed to touch her that way.
"Don't strain yourself," he went on, pleading. "Please rest. We'll both be back in just a few minutes."
She stared at his face, reading it carefully. Then she nodded and drooped toward the couch. Rosalie helped lower her back onto the cushions. Bella stared at me, trying to hold my eyes.
"Behave," she insisted. "And then come back."
I glanced at Cat in front of me but she dropped her eyes, refusing to meet my gaze. I had a few things that I needed to say to her too, but that could wait.
I didn't answer Bella. I wasn't making any promises today. I looked away and then followed Edward out the front door.
Third Person's POV.
Cat sighed as she slumped into the couch next to Bella
"You alright?" Bella asked
"Barely," Cat muttered "I can just tell he's planning on killing me."
"He doesn't know your reasonings yet," Bella reminded her
"Still, he will in a minute." Cat said "But anyway, you alright?" Cat asked, Bella nodded
"I'm really glad he came to visit."
"He would have been here earlier if you'd let us tell them." Cat confessed, Bella sighed and looked at everyone around them.
Sophie was still standing by the window, watching Jacob and Edward outside. She'd glanced at the small confrontation, but tried to ignore as much of it as possible. She closed her eyes and had turned away when Bella stood up, not wanting to see how frail she really was.
"What are they talking about?" Bella wondered
"Jacob's accusing him," Cat muttered sorrowfully. Bella frowned "He's pissed at me," Cat added "Edward told her Rose and I wont let them hurt you."
"I'm sorry," Bella began, Cat shook her head
"Not your fault." she smiled.
"Are they…" Bella faded off, Cat started shaking her head immediately.
"No, they wont do that, Edward can't go through something like that at the moment, he's too worried about you." Cat said, stroking her face. Bella nodded and released a breath.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Bella asked, Cat sighed
"Eventually. I'll talk / yell at him later and make him understand. Luckily he can't stay angry at me forever… though it's never concerned someone's life before, let alone his best friends. Like Sophie I know he wont see my side of it." Cat explained
"Sorry for making you do this." Bella said again
"You're not." Cat said with a smile.
Cat looked towards the door as Jacob and Edward began to make their way back to the house. Sophie turned her attention to the door also, waiting to see the outcome of their talk.
They walked through the door and everyone looked at them confused and suspicious.
"Guess they couldn't hear them. Good, Rose wouldn't be happy that Edward asked Jake to talk Bella out of it. Not that that was possible, or I would have tried that first." Cat thought, Sophie huffed, having heard her thoughts. Cat just frowned at her.
Jacob hesitated in the doorway, almost like he didn't know what to do next. His eyes lingered on Bella, and flicked to Cat, almost as if he was debating on which on to talk to first.
Edward walked into the middle of the huddle, shoulders stiff. Bella watched him anxiously, and then her eyes flickered to Jacob for a second. Then she was watching Edward again.
Her face turned a greyish pale, the stress of what was going to happen making her feel worse.
"We're going to let Jacob and Bella speak privately," Edward said. There was no inflection at all in his voice. Robotic.
"Over my pile of ashes," Rosalie hissed at him. She was still hovering by Bella's head, one of her cold hands placed possessively on Bella's sallow cheek.
Cat let out a sigh and stood up, wiling to allow it.
"He wont do anything Rose." she assured her. Edward didn't look at either of them.
"Bella," he said in that same empty tone. "Jacob wants to talk to you. Are you afraid to be alone with him?"
Bella looked at Jacob, confused. Then she looked at Rosalie.
"Rose, it's fine. Jake's not going to hurt us. Go with Edward."
"It might be a trick," the Rosalie warned.
"I don't see how," Bella said.
"Carlisle and I will always be in your sight, Rosalie," Edward said. The emotionless voice was cracking, showing the anger through it. "We're the ones she's afraid of."
"No," Bella whispered. Her eyes were glistening, her lashes wet. "No, Edward. I'm not…"
He shook his head, smiling a little. The smile was painful to look at. "I didn't mean it that way, Bella. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Bella was beating herself up about hurting Edward's feelings. The girl was a classic martyr. She'd totally been born in the wrong century. She should have lived back when she could have gotten herself fed to some lions for a good cause.
"Everyone," Edward said, his hand stiffly motioning toward the door. "Please."
The composure he was trying to keep up for Bella was shaky. If you knew what you were looking for you could see how close he was to that burning man he'd been trying to hard to conceal. Silently, everyone moved out the door while Jacob shifted out of the way. They moved fast; Jacob's heart beat twice, and the room was cleared except for Rosalie and Cat, hesitating in the middle of the floor, and Edward, still waiting by the door.
"Rose," Bella said quietly. "I want you to go."
"Rose, you know I can be here faster then anything," Cat said reassuringly "Come on," Cat reached for Rosalie's hand, the vampire hesitated before allowing Cat to take it. Cat lead her to the door where Rose stopped and glared at Edward, she then gestured for him to go first. He disappeared out the door. She gave Jacob a long warning glower, and then she and Cat disappeared, too.
Jacob's POV.
Once we were alone, I crossed the room and sat on the floor next to Bella. I took both her cold hands in mine, rubbing them carefully.
"Thanks, Jake. That feels good."
"I'm not going to lie, Bells. You're hideous." "I know," she sighed. "I'm scary-looking." "Thing-from-the-swamp scary," I agreed.
She laughed. "It's so good having you here. It feels nice to smile. I don't know how much more drama I can stand."
I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, okay," she agreed. "I bring it on myself."
"Yeah, you do. What're you thinking, Bells? Seriously!"
"Did he ask you to yell at me?"
"Sort of. Though I can't figure why he thinks you'd listen to me. You never have before."
She sighed.
"I told you —," I started to say.
"Did you know that 'I told you so' has a brother, Jacob?" she asked, cutting me off. "His name is 'Shut the hell up.'"
"Good one." She grinned at me. Her skin stretched tight over the bones.
"I can't take credit — I got it off a rerun of The Simpsons."
"Missed that one."
"It was funny."
We didn't talk for a minute. Her hands were starting to warm up a little. "Did he really ask you to talk to me?"
I nodded. "To talk some sense into you. There's a battle that's lost before it starts."
"So why did you agree?" I didn't answer. I wasn't sure I knew.
I did know this — every second I spent with her was only going to add to the pain I would have to suffer later.
"It'll work out, you know," she said after a quiet minute. "I believe that." she hesitated for a minute "Cat does too,"
I sighed and shook my head. I had no idea what was going on with that girl, she's kidnapped by angels, finds out her parents are angels, she doesn't freak out or worry that the angels are still after her and then decides to let one of her best friends die.
She was one of the craziest girls ever.
But Bella, really? After all that's happened she thinks she'll be fine?
"Is dementia one of your symptoms?" I snapped. She laughed, though my anger was so real that my hands were shaking around hers.
"Maybe," she said. "I'm not saying things will work out easily, Jake. But how could I have lived through all that I've lived through and not believe in magic by this point?"
"Magic?"
"Especially for you," she said. She was smiling. She pulled one of her hands away from mine and pressed it against my cheek. Warmer than before, but it felt cool against my skin, like most things did.
"Take a look at Cat for example." She had me there. "Edward told me once what it was like — your imprinting thing. He said it was like A Midsummer Night's Dream, like magic." So that's what she was really getting at. "That should help to make all of this will make sense."
If she hadn't looked so fragile I would've been screaming.
As it was, I did growl at her.
"Imprinting doesn't help make sense of this insanity…" I struggled for words. "Do you really think that just because I imprinted it would make this right?"I jabbed a finger toward her swollen body. "Tell me what the point was then, Bella!What was the point of you loving him? When you die" — the words were a snarl — "how is that ever right again? What's the point to all the pain? Mine, yours, the twins, his! You'll kill him, too, not that I care about that." She flinched, but I kept going. "So what was the point of your twisted love story, in the end? If there is any sense, please show me, Bella, because I don't see it."
She sighed.
"I don't know yet, Jake. But I just… feel… that this is all going somewhere good, hard to see as it is now. I guess you could call it faith."
"You're dying for nothing, Bella! Nothing!"
Her hand dropped from my face to her bloated stomach, caressed it. She didn't have to
say the words for me to know what she was thinking. She was dying for it.
"I'm not going to die," she said through her teeth, and I could tell she was repeating
things she'd said before. "I will keep my heart beating. I'm strong enough for that."
"That's a load of crap, Bella. You've been trying to keep up with the supernatural for too long. No normal person can do it. You're not strong enough." I took her face in my hand. I didn't have to remind myself to be gentle. Everything about her screamed breakable.
"I can do this. I can do this," she muttered, sounding a lot like that kids' book about the little engine that could.
"Doesn't look like it to me. So what's your plan? I hope you have one." She nodded, not meeting my eyes.
"Did you know Esme jumped off a cliff? When she was human, I mean."
"So?"
"So she was close enough to dead that they didn't even bother taking her to the emergency room — they took her right around to the morgue. Her heart was still beating, though, when Carlisle found her…"
That's what she'd meant before, about keeping her heart beating.
"You're not planning on surviving this human," I stated dully.
"No. I'm not stupid." She met my stare then. "I guess you probably have your own opinion on that point, though."
"Emergency vampirization," I mumbled.
"It worked for Esme. And Emmett, and Rosalie, and even Edward. None of them were in such great shape. Carlisle only changed them because it was that or death. He doesn't end lives, he saves them." I was silent for a while, thinking that over but not comprehending it.
"Cat believes in it." she added again, I huffed
"Despite her being my imprint that doesn't help you at all." I admitted "The sensible one is Sophie," I waited for her to tell me she was alright with it too, but if Sophie was sensible then that would make her against it.
Everything clicked now.
"That's why they haven't been talking to one another, or even acknowledging one another." I muttered, they were on opposite sides of this conflict.
Bella sighed and frowned, obviously feeling responsible. I shook my head, what the twins thought wasn't important now.
"Listen to me, Bells." I started begging "Don't do it that way." Like before, when the call from Charlie had come, I could see how much difference it really made to me. I realised I needed her to stay alive, in some form. In any form.
I took a deep breath.
"Don't wait until it's too late, Bella. Not that way. Live. Okay? Just live. Don't do this to me. Don't do it to him." My voice got harder, louder. "You know what he's going to do when you die. You've seen it before. You want him to go back to those Italian killers?" She cringed into the sofa.
I left out the part about how that wouldn't be necessary this time.
Struggling to make my voice softer, I asked, "Remember when I got mangled up by those newborns? What did you tell me?"
I waited, but she wouldn't answer. She pressed her lips together.
"You told me to be good and listen to Carlisle," I reminded her. "And what did I do? I listened to the vampire. For you."
"You listened because it was the right thing to do."
"Okay — pick either reason." She took a deep breath.
"It's not the right thing now." Her gaze touched her big round stomach and she whispered under her breath, "I won't kill him."
My hands shook again.
"Oh, I hadn't heard the great news. A bouncing baby boy, huh? Shoulda brought some blue balloons."
Her face turned pink.
"I don't know he's a boy," she admitted, a little sheepish. "The ultrasound wouldn't work. The membrane around the baby is too hard — like their skin. So he's a little mystery. But I always see a boy in my head."
"It's not some pretty baby in there, Bella."
"We'll see," she said. Almost smug.
"You won't," I snarled.
"You're very pessimistic, Jacob. There is definitely a chance that I might walk away from this."
I couldn't answer. I looked down and breathed deep and slow, trying to get a grip on my fury.
"Jake," she said, and she patted my hair, stroked my cheek. "It's going to be okay. Shh. It's okay." I didn't look up.
"No. It will not be okay." She wiped something wet from my cheek.
"Shh."
"What's the deal, Bella?" I stared at the pale carpet. My bare feet were dirty, leaving smudges. Good. "I thought the whole point was that you wanted your vampire more than anything. And now you're just giving him up? That doesn't make any sense. Since when are you desperate to be a mom? If you wanted that so much, why did you marry a vampire?" She sighed.
"It's not like that. I didn't really care about having a baby. I didn't even think about it. It's not just having a baby. It's… well… this baby."
"It's a killer, Bella. Look at yourself."
"He's not. It's me. I'm just weak and human. But I can tough this out, Jake, I can —"
"Aw, come on! Shut up, Bella. You can spout this crap to your bloodsucker, but you're not fooling me. You know you're not going to make it." She glared at me.
"I do not know that. I'm worried about it, sure."
"Worried about it," I repeated through my teeth. She gasped then and clutched at her stomach. My fury vanished like a light switch being turned off.
"I'm fine," she panted. "It's nothing." Cat was suddenly in the room then, her hands on Bella's stomach.
"I'm fine," Bella said
"Huh," Cat huffed "If you want to do this, that's fine, but you can at least be in as little pain as possible." I couldn't believe what she just said, she as okay with it? Sure I was told, but hearing her say it…
I looked back at Bella as Cat seemed to examine her, but something else caught my eye, her hands had pulled her sweatshirt to the side, and I stared, horrified, at the skin it exposed. Her stomach looked like it was stained with big splotches of purple-black ink.
She saw my stare, and she yanked the fabric back in place, removing Cat's hands.
"He's strong, that's all," she said defensively.
The ink spots were bruises.
I almost gagged, and I understood what he'd said, about watching it hurt her. Suddenly, I felt a little crazy myself.
"Bella," I said.
She heard the change in my voice. She looked up, still breathing heavy, her eyes confused.
"Bella, don't do this."
"Jake —" It was a lost cause, though I knew that from the beginning.
I started to get to my feet, causing her to change her words.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm not doing any good here." She held out her thin hand, pleading.
"Don't go."
"I don't belong here. I've got to get back."
"Why did you come today?" she asked, still reaching limply.
"Just to see if you were really alive. I didn't believe you were sick like Charlie said." I couldn't tell from her face whether she bought that or not.
"Will you come back again? Before…"
"I'm not going to hang around and watch you die, Bella." She flinched.
"You're right, you're right. You should go." I didn't go straight for the door, I grabbed Cat's wrist from there she was sitting on the arm of the couch and yanked her to her feet.
"Cat…" Bella began
"I'll be back," she said before I pulled her out of the room.