A Floating Life

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Blood Donor

Jacob broke through the trees onto the big lawn. The house was dark, but not empty. Edward stood on the porch between Emmet and Jasper. They appeared snow white in the pale light.

"Jacob." Edward greeted him resignedly. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Jacob slowed and then paced back a few steps. The smell coming from the vamps was so sharp through his nose that it felt like it was burning.

To answer Edward's question, Jacob let his mind run over the meeting with his pack, moving through it backward. He stopped when he got to the part about the abomination, because Edward hissed furiously and leaped off the porch.

"They were debating whether to kill Bella?" He snarled flatly.

Emmet and Jasper, not having heard the first part of the conversation, took his inflectionless question for a statement. They were right next to him in a flash, teeth exposed as they moved on Jacob.

"Em, Jazz – not him! The others were talking about it – but they've backed off for now, preferring to keep their distance and wait and see the outcome."

Emmet and Jasper immediately backed down. Emmet turned to Edward while Jasper kept his gaze locked on a weary Jacob.

"What is their problem?" Emmet demanded.

"The same as mine." Edward responded in a dead voice. "But they want to formulate their own plan to handle it." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, he murmured. "Can you both leave me and Jacob alone to talk?"

Emmet and Jasper exchanged a brief glance before complying with Edward's wishes. They wheeled and darted into the house.

Edward and Jacob stood facing each other in the dark meadow. With his sensitive hearing he could hear Emmet muttering something to Jasper. Alice appeared on the porch and then, after staring at Jacob with anxious eyes for a long moment, she flitted back inside the house to join Jasper. Jacob guessed that the blonde, Rosalie, was inside with Bella, still guarding her.

"This isn't the first time I've owed you my gratitude, Jacob." Edward whispered tiredly. "I would never have put you in this position by choice. I cannot imagine the toll it is taking on you just being here."

Jacob thought about what he'd asked from him earlier that day. When it came to Bella, there were no lines he would not cross. Then again, because of the damn imprint, there were none he wouldn't cross, either.

Yeah, you would.

Edward considered it for a moment and then nodded. "I suppose you're right about that." He agreed, answering Jacob's unspoken thought.

Jacob sighed heavily. Well, this isn't the first time that I didn't do it for you.

"Right." He murmured.

Sorry I didn't do any good today. Told you she wouldn't listen to me.

"I know. I never really believed she would. But I thought because of your unique situation – "

The imprint. You can say it. Jacob interrupted bitterly.

"Yes – the imprint." Edward's voice and eyes went hollow.

"Is she any better?"

Edward grimaced as if in pain. "She was for a time after you left, but then she deteriorated again." He breathed.

Jacob felt a sliver of panic shoot through his weary heart at the prospect of what this meant. Edward didn't speak again, just turned to look toward the house, his expression grim. Jacob followed the direction of his gaze, listening intently. There was a quiet dripping sound that he couldn't place. He could hear the muted sound of Bella's breathing, it was harsh, labored. It hitched and broke in strange rhythms. He could hear her heart. It seemed…. too fast. He paced it against his own heartbeat, but he wasn't sure that was any measure. It wasn't like he was normal.

"Don't touch her! You'll wake her up." Rosalie whispered.

Someone sighed.

"Rosalie." Carlisle murmured.

"Don't start with me, Carlisle. We let you have your way earlier, but that's all we're allowing."

It seemed like Rosalie and Bella were both talking in plural now. Like they had formed a pack of their own.

Jacob paced quietly in front of the house. Each pass brought him a little closer. The dark windows were like a TV set running in some dull waiting room – it was impossible to keep his eyes off them for long.

A few more minutes, a few more passes, and his fur was brushing the side of the porch as he paced.

He could see through the windows – see the top of the walls and the ceiling, the unlit chandelier that hung there. He was tall enough that all he would have to do was stretch his neck a little….and maybe one paw up on the edge of the porch…

Jacob peeked into the big, open front room, expecting to see something like the scene earlier that afternoon. But it had changed so much that he was confused at first. For a second, he thought he had gotten the wrong room.

The glass wall was gone – it looked metal now. And all of the furniture was dragged out of the way, with Bella curled up awkwardly on a narrow bed in the center of the open space. Not a normal bed – one with rails like in a hospital. Also like a hospital were the monitors strapped to her body, the tubes stuck into her skin. The lights on the monitors flashed, but there was no sound. The dripping noise was from the IV plugged into her arm – some fluid that was thick and white, not clear.

Bella choked a little in her uneasy sleep. Edward darted inside the house and appeared at her side. Rosalie blocked his path, hovering protectively over Bella. Edward scowled angrily. Bella's body jerked, and then she whimpered. Rosalie smoothed her hand across Bella's forehead. Edward stiffened- his back was to Jacob, but his expression must have been something to see, because Emmet wrenched himself between him and Rosalie before there was time to blink. He held up his hands to Edward.

"Not tonight, Edward."

Edward turned away from them, and he was the burning man again. His eyes met Jacob's through the window for one moment, before Jacob dropped on all fours and turned away.

He couldn't stand it any longer. He ran back to the dark forest, running away from what was behind him.

However, he didn't go far - the imprint wouldn't allow that. He collapsed between a grove of trees, his own heart beginning to beat a jagged rhythm, matching the dying girl lying barely conscious in the hospital bed.

Jacob was right on the edge of sleep when a sharp pain stabbed him right in the heart.

The sun had risen behind the clouds an hour ago. The forest was gray now instead of black. Jacob lurched up from the ground, his front legs pulling toward a sprint before his hind legs were off the ground. He hadn't meant to doze off. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with it until his sides bulged. Then, when he was sure he wasn't going to scream, he exhaled in a gust.

Jacob changed into his other form when he was a few yards from the lawn. He hadn't been planning to spend much time human, he found it easier to cope when he ran as a wolf, the heartbreak wasn't as strong. He pulled on his ragged shorts and started across the lawn, rubbing one hand over his chest as if it pained him.

The door opened before he got to the steps, and he was surprised to see Carlisle rather than Edward step outside to meet him – his face looked exhausted and defeated. For a second Jacob's heart fluttered like a bird trying to break free of his ribcage. He faltered to a stop. Is that why he felt so strange. Had Bella…?

"Are you alright, Jacob?" Carlisle asked.

"Is Bella?" Jacob choked out.

"She's… much the same as last night. Did I startle you? I'm sorry. Edward said you were coming in your human form, and I came out to greet you, as he didn't want to leave her. She's awake."

And Edward didn't want to lose any time with her, because he didn't have much time left, Jacob thought bitterly. Carlise didn't have to say the words out loud, but he might as well have.

"And how are you feeling?" Carlisle questioned earnestly.

The coven leader was the first one to express any kind of concern for his wellbeing. Jacob felt his throat close, his emotions dipping, he lowered his head to try and conceal the moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes. He really did need to sleep. He was so tired. He could really feel that now. His feet dragged as he took a step forward, sat down on the porch steps, and slumped against the railing. Then he began to sob, his shoulders shaking with the effort to contain the loud wail of grief building in his chest.

Moving whisper-quiet as only a vampire could, Carlisle took a seat on the same step, against the other railing, and much as Billy would have done, he put a gentle hand on his shoulder, saying nothing as he let Jacob cry himself out.

Afterwards Carlisle and Jacob continued to sit in silence. Jacob was embarrassed by his emotional breakdown, but the vampire doctor didn't seem to be judging him for it, for which he was grateful. He could hear the others in the house. Emmet, Alice, and Jasper speaking in low, serious voices upstairs. Esme humming tunelessly in another room. Rosalie and Edward breathing close by – Jacob couldn't tell which was which, but he could hear the difference in Bella's labored panting. He could hear her heart, too. It seemed…uneven.

He thought about the odd, jagged pace his own heart had taken on earlier, like it was a precursor for the way Bella's was beating now. It was like fate was catching up with both of them. Here he was, hanging around the vamp's crypt, waiting for her to die, knowing that he would soon follow.

Jacob sucked in a sharp breath. He didn't want to listen anymore. Talking was better than listening.

"She's family to you?" He asked Carlisle.

"Yes, Bella is already a daughter to me. A beloved daughter."

"But you're going to let her die."

Carlisle was quiet long enough that Jacob looked up. His face was very, very tired. Jacob knew how he felt.

"I can imagine what you must think of me for that, especially given how this impacts you." Carlise gazed at Jacob with an intense sympathy. "I am sorry for that." He sighed in defeat. "But I can't ignore her will. It wouldn't be right to make a choice for her, to force her."

Jacob wanted to be angry with him, but Carlisle was making it hard. Bella was stubborn, and loved things she shouldn't. There was nothing anyone could do to change that.

"Do you think there is any chance she'll make it? I mean as a human…. or a vampire and all that." He winced as he said the last words. "She told me about…about Esme."

"I'd say that there is an even chance at this point." Carlisle answered quietly. "The circumstances here are unusual. She is tied to you – her heart is working too hard now. If not for you, it would have failed by now. You're young and strong, Jacob, however I can see the toll it's taking on you. I've seen vampire venom work miracles, but using that will be a last resort. If Bella can survive this human, then I will do everything in my power to make it so. I refuse to condemn you, too, because of some twisted quirk of fate."

Jacob felt that damn moisture welling in his eyes again at the vamp doctor's compassionate little speech. He turned his head aside, hearing Bella's heartbeat as it throbbed and faltered, giving an agonizing emphasis to Carlisle's words.

"What is that thing doing to her?" Jacob whispered. "She was so much worse last night. I saw…. the tubes and all that. Through the window."

"The fetus isn't compatible with her body. Too strong, for one thing, but she could probably endure that for a while. The bigger problem is that it won't allow her to get the sustenance she needs. Her body is rejecting every form of nutrition. I'm trying to feed her intravenously, but she's just not absorbing it. Everything about her condition is accelerating. I'm watching her – and not just her, the fetus as well – starve to death by the hour. I can't stop it and I can't slow it down. I can't figure out what it wants." His weary voice broke at the end.

"Blood probably." Jacob muttered sarcastically. "The little demon is thirsty. I bet it would even drink mine."

He clenched his hands into fists in his lap to control the shaking. He hated the thing that was hurting her. It wasn't enough for the monster to beat her from the inside out. No, it was starving her, too. Probably for something to sink its teeth into – a throat to suck dry. Since it wasn't big enough to kill anyone else yet, it settled for sucking Bella's life from her.

He could tell them exactly what it wanted: death and blood, blood and death.

Jacob's skin was all hot and prickly. He breathed slowly in and out, focusing on that to calm himself. He didn't see the incredulous look on Carlisle's face.

Then he heard Edward's voice inside the house, and he raised his head to listen.

"I'll be right back, Bella. I want to speak to Carlisle for a moment. Rosalie, would you mind accompanying me?" Edward sounded different. There was a little life in his dead voice. A spark of something. Not hope exactly, but the desire to hope.

"What is it, Edward?" Bella asked hoarsely.

"Nothing you need to worry about, love. It will just take a second. Please, Rose?"

"Esme, can you mind Bella for me?" Rosalie called.

There was a whisper of wind as Esme flitted down the stairs.

"Of course." She agreed with a sad smile.

Carlisle shifted, twisting to look eagerly at the door. His expression was suddenly animated, as if he knew exactly what Edward wanted to talk to him about. Jacob eyed him suspiciously, wondering what was going on to have everyone acting so energized suddenly.

Edward was through the door first, with Rosalie right on his heels. His face, like his voice, was no longer dead. He seemed intensely focused. Rosalie looked as suspicious as Jacob did.

Edward shut the door behind her.

"Carlisle." He murmured. "I heard what Jacob said. You are thinking along the same lines." It wasn't a question.

"What are you talking about?" Jacob demanded as both Carlisle and Edward focused their intent gazes on him.

"It's what you said…about what the fetus wants, Jacob. We haven't actually addressed that angle." Edward explained haphazardly. "We've been trying to get Bella what she needs. And her body is accepting it as well as one of ours would. Perhaps we need to address the needs of the… fetus first. Maybe if we could satisfy it, we'll be able to help her more effectively."

"Yes, you're right. Of course you are." Carlisle said. "I have been so blinkered in my approach." He castigated himself. "If the fetus is more vampire than human – than it craves blood. Just like Jacob said. Its thirsty."

"Not just any blood." Edward tagged on the end. "They are tied by the imprint, Carlisle. And his blood has quick healing qualities. Maybe this would not only provide the fetus with sustenance but Bella as well."

"Wait a minute." Jacob demanded, rising to his feet, and towering over Edward. "Just hold on. Are you – are you talking about making Bella drink blood? My blood?

A/N-thanks for reading!