Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Twilight or Walking Dead. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Robert Kirkman. I do own the original characters created for this storyline. Please support the official release.
Writer's Notes: Enjoy!
Bella woke after her nap at two in the morning. Her body ached and she knew it was a flare up for her. She was pushing herself really far these days and it was hard on her body. Her joints felt stiff, her muscles tensed. She needed a really hot shower, but she would welcome changing her clothes and just washing off with a cool rag. She got up from the bed in the RV in the silence of the night and she found her clothes that she had that were at least somewhat clean and she changed. She looked at her stomach, seeing the small rash. She sighed. She was right about the flareup. She finished changed, buttoning up the white short sleeve shirt and tucked it into black cargo pants that she found. They were loose on her but her belt helped cinch up the waist. She strapped all her gear back on and then picked up the bottle of prednisone and poured out two pills into her hand and she took them, swallowing them with some water from her canteen. She combed her fingers through her hair some. Her braid was still pretty tight, so she didn't think she needed to redo it. She took a deep breath and she walked off the RV. Daryl was sitting by the campfire with Jasper and both of them looked up at her.
"You should sleep more." Daryl spoke first.
Bella nodded. "I'm good. I have to go check on Carl. It's easier to change his dressings when he's sleeping." She said.
Jasper noticed how worn Bella looked and it made him worry. He stood. "I'll go with. I can help roll him and check the sutures." He said and Bella nodded. They walked towards the house. Maggie and Glenn were standing on the porch when they arrived.
"Hey, everyone good?" Bella asked, when she saw Maggie.
Maggie smiled. "I have him talked into it Bella."
"Talked in to what?"
"Letting you guys stay here." Maggie was happy with that decision. "I told him how you saved my life, that I would be dead if not for you and he's very grateful. He said that he will talk to you when day breaks, he's sleeping now, but he's gonna let y'all stay full time."
Bella smiled. "That's great news." She said and looked at Glenn, who was smitten in love with Maggie Greene and that made her happy. "Well, I'm going to check on Carl, change his bandages." She said and moved inside the house with Jasper. It was quiet inside. She went to the dining room, and saw everything sorted perfectly. She grabbed the bandages she needed to redress Carl's wound, other supplies and she walked into the room. Rick was sitting in the chair by Carl's bed. He was awake, just staring at his hands. "Rick." She whispered.
Rick looked up at Jasper and Bella and stood. "Hey, you could have waited until morning." He said, his voice low.
"It's easier when he's sleeping." Bella said and nodded to Jasper. "Go wash up some, eat something. We'll handle Carl." She said and Rick hesitated. "I'm sure. Go on." She said, motioning her hand.
Rick sighed and he left the room, looking back at Bella and Jasper. Bella still looked worn to him, and he wondered if she actually slept any.
Bella and Jasper worked together to remove the bandages from Carl's abdomen. It was still tender and swollen some, but the internal bleeding was fixed, so that was a good sign. The sutures were still good and the drainage looked good as well.
"You look tired even though you slept." Jasper commented as he gently applied the medication to the wound.
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine." Jasper said and looked up at her, his honey eyes full of concern. "Tell me. Is it back?"
Bella sighed. "It's a flareup." She murmured. "I'll be okay. I found Prednisone at the pharmacy."
"Bella, you know you need more than that. When did the flareup start?"
Bella was quiet a moment. "After I transfused Carl." She admitted and then she started applying the bandages.
"It took a toll on your body. You should have told me instantly. We could have-"
"I'm fine Jasper." Bella said and stopped to look at him. "I am okay. I'm tired, yes, my body hurts, but I'm not going to let this disease kick my ass okay?"
Jasper shook his head. "You need other immunosuppressants. Did you find any at the pharmacy?"
Bella shook her head. "No. Some of that stuff is specialized and you know it."
"A hospital would have it." Jasper pointed out. "There is a hospital about fifty miles from here and there is an emergency clinic." He said and finished taping his side of the bandage.
"That's too much of a risk."
"It's not. We need to get IV antibiotics. I think the Amoxicillin isn't going to cut it here for Carl. The infection can spread fast and you know it." Jasper said and shook his head. "It's not just for you and even if it was, I would still suggest the run."
Bella looked at Carl's sleeping face. "You're right. He needs stronger antibiotics and IV fluids." She sighed and swiped her hair out of her face a little. "Okay. I'll make the run."
"Absolutely not." Jasper shook his head. "You can get killed Bella. You're not as strong right now because of the flare up."
"I'm okay. I know my boundaries. I need to do this Jasper. I can't let you guys rush off on a run like this. I'm tactical remember?"
Jasper shook his head and pulled the blanket up gently over Carl and stood up, looking at Bella. "I'm not letting you do this alone."
"You're a medic Jasper. You need to stay here." Bella said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'll go… I'll take Glenn with me and Paul."
Jasper was quiet a moment. "You're sure you can do this? Bella I need you to be a hundred percent honest with me. How bad is this flare? Is it like when we were-"
"It's not that bad. Not yet." Bella cut him off. "I'll be okay. I'll do this run, get the medicine that Carl needs… and me. And we'll make it back. I'll rest… let you guys handle stuff for a bit while I recover."
"You better fucking listen." Jasper said. "When I give you an order when you come back, you listen to it. Am I clear?" His voice was stern.
"Yes sir." Bella said with a nod.
Jasper sighed. "You drive me crazy." He muttered.
Bella smiled. "But you love me anyways."
"Shut up." Jasper muttered and they left the room, going out on the porch. Glenn and Maggie were gone now, but Rick was standing on the porch. Jasper patted Bella's shoulder and walked back towards their camp, leaving Bella there with Rick.
Bella sighed. "Carl's wound is looking okay. The antibiotics we're giving him aren't going to be strong enough to fight off the infection. I'm going to take Glenn and Paul on a run to the hospital nearby to hunt for IV antibiotics and he needs IV fluids. He's dehydrated."
Rick turned and looked at her. "You're sick."
Bella shook her head. "Rick. I'm okay."
"You're not okay. I heard Jasper and you talking. What is wrong? Is it cancer?"
"No. It's not cancer."
"Then what is it? I'm not a doctor Bella. I don't understand what Prednisone means or or or immunosupressants. I'm worried about you. The transfusion you gave Carl made you-"
"Rick." Bella interrupted. "I have lived with this for years. I am okay."
"What is it." Rick pleaded, his blue eyes showed her exactly how concerned he was.
Bella was quiet a moment. "I have lupus." Bella said with a nod. "I have had Lupus since I was eighteen or that is when I was diagnosed."
"What?" Rick wasn't sure he understood.
"It's an autoimmune disease. It's not curable. It goes into remission. I went into remission during med school. When I became a surgeon, I decided that I was needed elsewhere, so I joined the Army. They didn't know I had Lupus. The only one that found out was Jasper." She said. "Flare ups can happen, but they can go away. I just need to take the right medication."
Rick shook his head. "You transfused Carl knowing that it could trigger this?"
Bella swallowed and nodded. "Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he needed blood." Bella said and sighed. "Listen, I don't want you to treat me like I'm fragile. Because I'm not. I just get tired more than the others, my joints lock up on me from time to time and I can become anemic, which is probably part of the reason why I'm flared up, because I transfused Carl. I will be okay." She insisted. "I'm doing this run to the hospital and I will return and recuperate."
"You said you would rest after going to get the medical supplies yesterday." Rick said and shook his head. "This is too much."
Bella reached a hand out and cupped Rick's face, forcing him to look back at her. "I will be okay. Rick, this is my job. This is what I do. I can't stop being me." She murmured.
Rick studied her, he knew she was this person. This miraculous person that saved his life more than once. Saved his son's life. She was a force of nature. He admired her greatly, looked up to her too. His feelings felt strange, he cared for her greatly and he wanted things he hadn't wanted from any woman other than Lori. Lori betrayed him and she had died. Her life taken by this fucked up world, but Bella was here. Tangible. He could feel her, he could smell her, he could see her. All the feelings he had for Lori seemed to be fading away. Despite the hurt Lori brought him, he had loved her dearly. She gave him Carl and if he was being honest, things with Lori weren't great before he got shot either. They fought more, they hadn't been intimate in many months and they were drifting apart. Yet, he had loved his wife. Or tried to love his wife. He suspected she was cheating on him a few times before, but he never wanted to admit it. Not to himself and he certainly didn't want to stain the image of Carl's mother. But right now, he didn't want anything or anyone other than Bella. Staring at her right now on the porch in the night, he wanted her, more than anything. He leaned in, his lips connecting with hers, a slight brushing… subtle.
Bella kissed him back, his hands moving to her waist to draw her in close and she let him. Her heart thudded in her chest as the kiss stole her breath away like the first one. It made her dizzy with how delicate the kiss was, like silk shifting over satin. Her body yielded to him, her arms circling him to hold him close. Their tongues were dancing, sliding over each other effortlessly, the perfect song and dance.
When the kiss broke, Rick leaned back to look at her, bringing a hand up to brush the loose strands of hair out of her face. "Bella… I need you." He nearly whispered. Bella nodded, understanding more than he knew, what he meant. They moved together inside, to the bathroom, shutting the door quietly and locking it. They went back to each other, their hands pulling at their clothes until they were both naked. Rick's hands moved over her breast, thumbing her nipple as he pressed her against the back of the door. Bella forced herself to be quiet and she leaned her head back when his mouth went to her throat, kissing her there, suckling before he hoisted her, her legs wrapping around him. She felt his cock push deep inside her and she bit her lip to stop the moan. Rick shuddered as he felt her enveloping warmth around his leaking cock. It had been months and months, too many to count, since he had felt like this. He was afraid to move, but he mustered his strength to thrust up inside her deep and slow. His cock reached her depths and she shuddered as her body tightened over his. His mouth went back to hers as he pushed inside her, forcing them both to remain quiet as they united.
His hands gripped her ass, as he picked up his pace, his cock tightening harder and harder as it filled, ready to burst open, but he held himself back, wanting her to meet her pleasure first. Bella's breath hitched as she felt her orgasm wreck through her, her hands raking over his back, leaving marks, her signal to him that she had orgasmed. Rick kissed her hard as he pushed inside her hard, jolting her. His hips thrashed faster and faster until his cock released, coating her inside, making her gasp from the instant pleasure, sending her spiraling again with a second orgasm. Rick slowed down, milking his cock inside her until he was empty. They stayed like that, interlocked for a few long moments until his cock shrunk back and he slid out of her. His body felt alive, like a fire burning. His heart was still bouncing around wildly in his chest, but he was satisfied and from the looks of it. So was she. He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the shower, turning it on.
"Please." Rick murmured and Bella nodded, giving in. She climbed into the shower with him and let the heat of the water wash over her, instantly relaxing her tired muscles. She sighed, relief flooding her and she leaned against him, his arms held her close and they stood in silence and let the water wash away the fatigue and pain of surviving the end of the world.
[Clearview Hospital]
Bella, Glenn and Paul surveyed the hospital in front of them. The front entrance was covered with walkers.
"What are you thinking Captain?" Paul asked, trying to figure out a way in the hospital without casualty.
Bella blew out a breath. "Well. This is challenging." She said and thought about the ambulances sitting closeby. "We could hotwire the ambulance. Roll it into the emergency bay doors." She pointed out.
Glenn looked at the ambulance. "Yeah. What about all the biters in between? They'll come for the ambulance as soon as we start it up."
"True, but there are two ambulances." Bella said and the gears started turning. "Alright. Get the one ambulance hotwired and ready to go. I'll set the lights blaring on the other one. Draw in the herd to that one ambulance and we'll drive around to the emergency bay doors."
"Yeah… that'll work." Glenn murmured. "Alright. I'm ready when you are."
Bella nodded and then looked at Paul and he nodded to her. The three of them moved, going to the first ambulance. Glenn was quick with his ability to hotwire the ambulance and it started right up and then Bella moved to the second ambulance and she ripped open the panel under the steering column and she hit a couple wires and the sirens started howling. She moved quickly, running at the first ambulance and hopping up in the back with Paul while Glenn drove the ambulance away from the sirens. The dead walked towards the ambulance with the blaring sirens, their idea working. Glenn backed the ambulance up into the emergency bay area and hopped out and followed Bella and Paul to the doors. They pried them open and the three set to work, clearing the emergency room floor. Nurses, doctors and patients that were dead were walking around aimlessly and the three of them put them all out of their misery.
It took them an hour to clear the floor before they could circle through and hunt for the supplies they needed.
Bella busted the door in for the medical supply and flipped on her light on her scope on the crossbow and looked around the room. "We need IVs, tubing, saline bags." She relayed as they searched the shelves. "Pack everything you can in the duffles and seabags." She said and she started putting things into the seabag she had.
The three worked in silence. The room was stuffy, but it wasn't hot, which was good for a lot of reasons. When they cleared that room, they moved to find the pharmacy on the floor. When the found it, it was locked up tight and Bella kicked the door in, which took a lot of energy. She felt the fatigue wash over her, but she shook it off. Paul noted that Bella looked a little breathless, but he stayed quiet as she moved into the pharmacy, killing the two walkers inside. They found far more medications here than at the pharmacy. Bella shifted through the bottles tossing them all into the seabag, only glancing at some of the names until she found what she needed. Azathioprine. She felt relief as she found it. She set the seabag down and she took the bottle and opened it, taking a pill out and taking it. Paul and Glenn glanced over at her.
Bella sighed, closing her eyes. She took a moment to just take a few breaths, before she started moving again.
Glenn looked at Paul, he shook his head and the two went back to work.
Paul strapped his seabag to him that was so full, it was hard to close, but he hefted it and then grabbed the seabag that Bella had filled just as full as the one Paul did and he strapped it to himself too. "What's the plan now?"
"I want to check out the oxygen. If we have to perform surgery at all." Bella said. "I need that and intubating kits, you and Glenn take that back to the Ambulance. Stuff it in the back and close up the doors. The sirens are still going so that should keep the walkers busy for a little longer until that battery dies. So we need to keep moving fast." She said and Paul and Glenn nodded and they left to take their haul back to the ambulance.
Bella moved through the floor and found the room that had the non-pharmaceutical supplies. She took the other seabag and she started setting the oxygen canisters down inside the sea bag gently and then found the tubing and intubating kits and put them in the bag as well. She found a defibrillator and other wound pack kits and she took all of that. She found a portable ultrasound machine and packed that away too. It would be useful to see if there was any free fluid in Carl's abdomen in case they missed something. Whatever she could fit in the sea bag she took it and then started on the second seabag. She heard noise and swung her crossbow around and saw Glenn and Paul. "Hey, there's good equipment in here. We should try to take what we can that is portable. Monitors, echocardiograms that are portable." She said motioning.
Paul and Glenn went to work with her, collecting everything that she pointed out.
By the time they were finished, the Ambulance was loaded down to the max. There was no more fitting anything in the back. They headed back inside the hospital anyways to fill the last three bags they had. The sirens was still going outside the hospital and Bella estimated that they had probably another hour before that battery died, so they moved quickly, taking the stairs up to the second floor of the hospital, which was the pediatric floor. Bella wasn't prepped for the horror she would see, but her time in the Army made it easy for her to block the emotion from showing on her face.
"My god." Glenn murmured as he saw the walking dead. The children as small as a small toddler roaming the halls in patient gowns.
Bella readied her bow and she fired rapidly. It made Glenn flinch a little, but he moved to help put the children out of their misery. It was hard, shoving his knife through the skull of a child, but he reminded himself that they were all already dead.
It was hard for Paul an Bella too, flashbacks of Afghanistan coming back to them both, but they pushed through the mental pain of the situation and they kept fighting. They made it towards the nursery and they saw movement. Bella kicked the door in and heard the baby cry and it made Bella stop short. "What?"
"It's a baby." Glenn said, shocked.
"Please, w-w-we're not zombies." A girl's voice called out.
Bella swung towards the voice and looked at a girl, around thirteen. She lowered her bow, stunned to see a child not dead. "I'm not going to hurt you." Bella said softly. "I'm Bella, this is Glenn and Paul. I'm Army." She said and pulled her dog tags from under her shirt. "Paul check the baby."
"Babies." The girl said softly.
"What?" Bella blinked.
"I… have been taking care of them." The girl explained. "My name is Annalise." She introduced.
"You've… been living here… by yourself?"
Annalise nodded. "For the last three weeks. A nurse, she was with me up until a few weeks ago I think. She left to go help another kid, but the screaming stopped and then I heard… I heard the nurse scream and I think… I think the zombies got her." She said.
Bella took in her appearance. The little girl had long brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. Her dark eyes and olive complexion made her think that Annalise had Asian heritage. "Alright Annalise. The babies."
"There are three." Annalise said. "Um they were newborns before, but now they're… I think… I don't know three months maybe." She said and then went to the bassinets.
Bella followed her and Paul and Glenn were looking at the babies. They were fed and taken care of. Dry diapers and swaddled gently. "Okay. We can um. We'll take them back to the farm with us. All of you."
"Thank you." Annalise seemed relieved, tearing up.
"Hey, it's okay. You're safe. We have you." Bella reassured her. "Glenn, Paul, put all the supplies in the duffels. Every can of formula and diapers. Anything. Blankets, you name it." She said and the two moved around. The baby that was crying was awake and had a pacifier in its mouth.
Annalise helped gather things. She was wearing scrubs that were too big for her, but she had it fastened to where they wouldn't fall off of her. "Um, my parents never came back to the hospital. I don't think they're alive anymore."
Bella found some wraps that could secure the babies to them and she picked up the one baby and started strapping it to her. "How old are you?"
"Fourteen." Annalise said. "I turned fourteen the day everything bad started happening." She said and then she helped tie the wrap for Bella.
Paul strapped the seabag to his back, then helped strap the other seabag to Glenn and then Bella helped situate the other two babies. Glenn was carrying other gear, so Bella strapped one of the babies to Annalise and the other one to Paul. They woke slightly, but they went back to sleep once they were snuggled against someone.
"Okay. We're going to move quickly and quietly back down the stairs to the ambulance. The siren is still going, so we have time to drive away. We'll get to the highlander and I'll take the highlander and Annalise and you guys drive the Ambulance back." She said to Paul, and he nodded. "Alright, let's move."