Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ Bette Noir ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Bette Noir

Chapter 2

I know that because of what I am, forgetting something - especially something that has a lasting emotional impact - is highly unlikely, if not completely impossible. Be that as it may, what happened last night is something that I never want to forget - no matter how long I live.

Carlisle walked slowly up the stairs to the private rooms above. He didn't know why he felt such hesitancy, such caution - it was as though he thought perhaps she might not be there when he came to the door. This was his house, his family's home, but at that very moment in time it felt like the start of some bad dream.

Esme is the strongest woman I know and I find her more beautiful everyday because of it. But last night, after all was said and done, I watched that strength fade as she sobbed in my arms for what felt like hours. I think watching her break down like that scared me more than anything else…Then again, perhaps she cried for both of us.

Carlisle opened the door to the room he shared with Esme soundlessly. She sat on the long cushioned window seat, her temple resting against the smooth glass. Her eyes were closed and she was so still that, had she been human, he would've thought her to be sleeping. A whisper of air was all the sound he made as he came instantly to her side. Tucking her caramel colored hair behind her ear; he bent down and kissed her cheek.

“She'll be just fine. She just needs rest.”

He spoke to her with barely a sound. There was no need for his voice to be audible on a human level. He watched his wife, her eyes opening so very slowly for one of their kind, and when she looked up at him the expression of worry and grief on her face nearly undid him. He kissed her cheek once more before sitting next to her, facing her with his leg resting alongside hers.

“She looked so broken,” Esme said, her voice trembling.

Carlisle reached out, his smooth palm cupping her cheek. “She's strong, Esme. She's been through a rough night, and yes, she's experienced some trauma. Physically, she will be all right.”

“What about mentally, Carlisle? Or emotionally, for that matter?” she asked, his words not as comforting to her as he had hoped they would be. “Have you spoken to Jasper yet this morning?” she asked and he was confused by her change in subject.

“No. Why?” he asked her, running the fingers of one hand through her hair that hung over her left shoulder.

“You need to.” Her answer was simple, yet it left him confused all the same.

Kissing her full, soft lips, he stood. “She'll be fine,” he said again before ghosting out of their room.

Bella Swan is human - for now - but even still she is my daughter. She holds Edward's heart - and thus, his eternal life - in her very delicate hands. She is beloved by this family. Even Rosalie, for all of her protestations, would be greatly affected if Bella were to somehow be lost from us. Edward surely would employ the wrath of the Volturi if she were to die without becoming a vampire - as he tried to do once before when he thought her to be lost from him.

Coming to stand just outside the door of the room Alice and Jasper shared, he raised his hand to knock, surprised when instead, Jasper's voice came from Edward's bedroom. Turning and slipping easily inside Edward's room, he was surprised to find Jasper lying upon the overly large wrought-iron bed that dominated the area, Bella asleep in his arms. Walking slowly to the bed, Carlisle sat down behind Bella, the girl lying on her right side, her face tucked into the side of Jasper's throat. Carlisle knew that position couldn't be comfortable at all for her, not with numerous injuries she had, but perhaps it was the only way she could sleep.

Jasper's eyes, an odd mix of gold and black, met Carlisle's in the hazy light of the pre-dawn morning. Carefully pulling back the covers and lifting the back of the long, button-down shirt the girl had been dressed in, Carlisle looked at the injuries on her back. Not nearly as severe as the others, the injuries to her back consisted mostly of bruises and a few superficial scrapes. He couldn't imagine just how many times she must have fallen last night on her way to get to them. Taking in a deep, steadying breath, Carlisle spoke to Jasper, his voice too low to be heard by human ears.

“How has she slept?” the good doctor asked, watching the expression on Jasper's face as he answered.

“Fitfully,” the younger vampire said, smoothing Bella's hair when the girl murmured in her sleep and tried to tuck herself closer to him. “Shh,” he whispered to her, knowing that she needed to hear his voice just as much as she need the physical reassurance that she wasn't alone. “It's all right, Bella, you're safe,” he promised her, projecting feelings of comfort and safety through the darkness of her slumber. “It's harder to reach her when she's asleep. Her emotions skitter back and forth so quickly, and when I project to her - it feels like she tries to bury herself inside of me emotionally.”

“Has she talked at all?” Carlisle asked as he gently probed her left shoulder for any wounds that may not have been obvious the night before.

“Yeah,” Jasper's voice was oddly choked - pained even - when he answered and Carlisle's eyes snapped back to his. “From what she's said in her sleep…it seems as though she was on the phone with her mother when the crash happened. She was trying to get to her mother when she crashed her truck.”

Carlisle was still as stone for a long moment, his mind understanding what Jasper was telling him. The worry and grief he had felt last night for the girl was absolutely nothing compared to what he felt now.

“She heard her mother crash her car…” Jasper nodded solemnly. “She heard her mother die?”

“Yes.”

Bella whimpered again, tried to tuck herself closer to Jasper as her body began trembling. Her fear was nearly overwhelming and Jasper struggled as he tried to chase it away. She gasped harshly, her eyes opening only to close again the next second. She seemed to calm and Jasper sighed with relief when his efforts to soothe her settled her down to sleep quietly again.

“She's been having trouble breathing,” Jasper said quietly. “She keeps calling for Edward. Is there any word yet?”

“I tried to call him a few hours ago. He left his cell in the Volvo.” Carlisle closed his eyes, concentrating as he listened to the raspy sound of Bella's breathing. Touching his hand to her face, he found her temperature to be elevated. “She's getting sick. The rain last night…we don't know how long she was out in it. You saw how cold she was when you came home, but when we found her, she was soaked to the bone, her clothes slightly crusted with ice.”

It is very difficult to harm our kind. Even being within the immediate vicinity of an explosion will only slow us down for a bit. We are immortal. We are very nearly invincible. Bella doesn't have that advantage - that protection. For now, Bella is human and easily hurt. Even though we are constant patrons to the concert of her heartbeat, it seems that we forget too easily that she in fact breakable. Last night was proof, to both my family as well as the werewolves she's befriended, as to just how fragile she truly is.

“When I was driving back from hunting last night - the display on the dash said that it was zero degrees Fahrenheit… Alice and I hadn't gotten two hundred miles away from Forks before she was jumping out of the Jeep and telling me I had to come back here. Rosalie and Edward were already across the Canadian border by that time.” Jasper shifted uneasily beneath Bella. “Carlisle, I need to hunt.”

Carlisle nodded, gently easing Bella off of Jasper and rolling her to lie on her back. Immediately, Jasper found himself to be missing the warmth of her body, the soft puffs of her warm, moist breath against his skin. Sitting up, he looked down at Bella, his brow creasing in worry.

“Her nightmares have been constant. She needs physical contact with another to be able to sleep.” Carlisle nodded as he undid the buttons of the shirt and assessed the wounds he'd tended to last night. Bella whimpered once more, her right hand flexing. “Jasper,” she called her voice a broken whimper even as her eyes remained closed.

“Shh.” Jasper kissed her forehead. “Go back to sleep, honey.”

“Go,” Esme told Jasper from where she stood in the doorway. “I'll stay with her.”

Jasper nodded, opening the glass wall of Edward's room and jumping down to the ground below. Esme was at Bella's side in an instant, neither one paying any attention as the front door opened and closed. Seconds later, Edward was standing in the doorway to his room, looking down on Bella's bruised and broken body, his face aghast.

“What happened?” his voice was rough, pained as he came closer to the end of the intricately sculpted bed and looked down at the girl he loved. “What happened?”

I have written these words, told what happened to the best of my knowledge. I have described in full medical detail, the extent of Bella's wounds and how I have treated them. I know that someday, perhaps long after Bella has truly joined my family, that Edward will need to read these words. He will need the rational story of all that happened last night, the version not overshadowed by the emotions of the events. He will need the clinical explanation of Dr. Cullen, and not the worried and frightened words of a father.

Carlisle replayed his memories from the night before, watching Edward's face as he pulled the thoughts from his mind. His son seemed to choke at one point, an impossibility for their kind. But then he was still, so very still. Careful not move her wrist too much, Carlisle gently felt the bones in the back of her left hand, looking for any fractures he may have missed the night before.

“When?” Edward asked, casting a grateful look upon Esme when she took one of his hands and offered him her strength. “When do you need to take her into the hospital?” he clarified his question at Carlisle's confused thoughts.

“Soon. Her wrist is most definitely broken. I need to know how bad the break is. It's possible that she may need surgery to set it completely.”

Edward nodded and then turned his attention to the forest outside the window, watching as Emmett crushed a boulder beneath his fist. His brother was blaming himself for Bella's condition. Turning his attention on Esme, he asked for an explanation of Emmett's self-recrimination, his brother's thoughts not making any sense to him.

“Charlie asked Emmett to protect Bella while he was gone fishing this week. Emmett promised him he would.” Esme accepted Edward's embrace with a trembling smile, feeling her eyes prick as her son comforted her.

“Do you mind if I lay with her instead?” he asked Esme, knowing she wouldn't mind, but also needing to let her know that he appreciated the worry she felt for Bella.

“Of course not,” she answered him, her arms tightening before she released him. “I should go to the store, restock the kitchen for her.”

“Applesauce,” Edward said. “Charlie told me she tends to eat quite a bit of it when she's not feeling well. A kind of comfort food, I guess.”

Esme nodded and kissed Bella's forehead before leaving the room. Carlisle watched his wife leave, listened as she started the Mercedes and drove away. He didn't want her alone when she was upset like this, but at the same time he knew that she needed to keep busy. Edward nudged Carlisle with his shoulder, making certain the man was paying attention to him.

“Esme's holding her own. She's more worried about how Bella will be emotionally, than anything else.”

She was so upset last night, Carlisle thought as he stared down at Bella, his lips drawn in a taught line. I've never felt anyone cry like that.

“Bella? Or Esme?” Edward asked in response to Carlisle's thoughts.

Both. “You saw my memories from last night.”

“Esme's as well,” Edward said softly, his eyes narrowing as he stared intently on the large half-circle bruise covering Bella's chest. “Are you certain nothing is broken?” he asked, lightly tracing the darkening, discolored skin. “This bruise is…are you sure nothing is broken?” he asked again.

“Very certain,” Carlisle said as he closed and re-buttoned the shirt Bella wore. “When I take her into the hospital, I'll be running a full skeletal x-ray.” Maybe I should run an MRI as well, to be safe.

“An MRI?” Edward's head had snapped up at Carlisle's errant thought and now he stared at his father with rapt attention. “You think there's something else? Something we're missing?”

“Edward, calm down.” Carlisle placed a hand on his son's shoulder, offering him his support. “She hit her head pretty hard and more than once last night. I don't know how many times for certain, but it was at least twice. She could have a concussion. It was errant thought, at any rate. She will be all right, Edward. Edward, look at me,” Carlisle demanded when he turned his face away and waited for his son to face him once more. “Bella will be all right. If there had been any real threat to her health - to her survival as a human - last night, I would've changed her then. Physically, she's just banged up a bit. It could have been a lot worse. Right now, it is her mental and emotional state that most concerns me.”

Edward nodded as he turned his attention once again to the girl lying between them asleep. Brushing his fingertips over the undamaged portions of her face, he studied her while she slept. He kept his mind focused on Carlisle as the man continued to examine Bella, listening to his assessment of her wounds. Turning around, he kicked off his shoes and laid down next to Bella. He was instantly concerned when he noticed that the usual warmth he felt from her had escalated into a slow burn.

“She has a fever,” Edward told Carlisle, concern creasing his brow.

“Yes, I know. It may get worse. She was out in the cold and the rain for a long while.” He turned his attention on Edward and looked into his eyes, black as coal. “Did you hunt at all, Edward?”

“I heard Alice screaming for me in her thoughts, before I got more than an adolescent mountain cat. When I saw her vision, I ran here. I didn't stop for anything,” Edward looked toward the open door of his room. “Alice is back, but Rose is still out hunting.”

Please let her be okay. Please. Edward could hear Alice pleading. He could see in her thoughts that she had seen what had taken place last night - or at least most of it. From what he could tell, she hadn't been able to see Bella at all from the moment she crashed her truck to the time when Emmett found her staggering in the rain

What worried her most was that she hadn't been able to see Bella at all from the point of impact or from the moments directly following Emmett's discovery of her. Jacob Black, being the werewolf that he was, blocked her visions. For all she knew, Bella could be screaming in the fire-inducing pain of Carlisle's venom. Seconds later Alice was standing in the open doorway of his room, staring down at Bella, her dark eyes wide as saucers in her small face. She was silent, shaking terribly with unheard sobs, her tiny hands flashing up to cover all but her eyes as she shook her head in disbelief.

My family - every member - loves Bella so much. To see her lying so still, broken and in pain, is almost too much for any of them to bear. This gentle, loving girl witnessed her mother's accident through a phone call, listened to her die as she raced in the ice and rain to get to her. She then nearly died herself. It is still inconceivable to me how she was able to walk to us - over four miles through the ice and rain, her mind frozen in shock - with the injuries she has. Charlie, her biological father, has no cell phone. He is away for at least five more days - perhaps completely unreachable by conventional means -on a lake somewhere beyond our reach. And I can only hope that Jacob will find the strength to tell him what has happened.

I must take Bella into the hospital today for a complete x-ray panel and blood count. I don't know precisely how much blood she lost last night, but I do know that it was more than a pint. Her continued vertigo and exhaustion tells me that it may be enough that she would need a transfusion. Her rest has not been peaceful, though I don't know that I really expected that it would be. Thankfully, Edward came home early this morning; exactly one hour and thirty-two minutes before I began this journal entry. He is with her now, holding her whilst she sleeps. When Esme returns, the three of us will take her into the hospital. I must be certain that we are unseen by the staff - or at least that no one sees Bella - they would never let me leave the hospital with her if they do. Perhaps I should contact the hospital's supplier, make arrangements for a portable x-ray machine and other necessary equipment to be brought to my home. That way should anything unforeseen like this happen again, I can easily care for her here. It is something to consider.

Carlisle looked up from the open leather-bound, parchment-paged journal on his desk, his pen poised above the page. He had been so wrapped up in the entry he was writing, that he almost missed the silent knock on his closed office door. Setting his ball-point, black ink fountain pen down in the trench between the pages, he bid Emmett entrance to his office. The dark-haired vampire entered slowly, staying close to the walls as he entered the room and skirted around the edges. It was clear to anyone how much the younger man blamed himself for Bella's current condition.

“No one blames you, Emmett,” Carlisle said as he stood from his desk and moved soundlessly to stand beside his distraught son. “No one could have known.”

Emmett looked into the kind, golden eyes of his eternal father and friend; his own eyes the darkest black and deeply troubled.

“She could have died,” his voice was hoarse, pained and very quiet when he spoke.

Carlisle placed a reassuring hand on Emmett's shoulder. “We all know what Bella's choice would have been, Emmett. Had it come to that, I would have made her one of us.”

Emmett shook his head, his eyes filled with doubt and fear. “What if she'd never left her truck? What if she'd never made it here? She could've been hit by a car when she was walking here and we never would have known!”

An aura of calm settled over Emmett and he looked back to see Jasper standing in the open doorway, his eyes a warm, concerned gold. At Carlisle's nod, Jasper walked further into the room, coming to stand near the two of them, but not interfering with the ongoing conversation.

“Bella is safe. She did make it to us, Emmett. She is here now and she is going to be just fine. That is what we need to be focused on, not what could have happened.” Carlisle looked away from Emmett and toward the doorway when he heard Bella's heartbeat grow closer. “Edward?” the patriarch questioned.

Edward stood still, just inside the open door, but not fully inside the room. Bella was held, cradled in his arms and tucked against his chest. Her cheek rested against his shoulder, her eyes closed, and Carlisle thought her to be asleep in his son's arms.

“She wanted to see Emmett,” Edward explained as he moved further into the room and walked toward his dark-haired brother. “She could hear your voice last night,” he spoke to Emmett, “but couldn't remember seeing you at all. She was worried.” Looking down at the drowsing girl in his arms, he nuzzled his cheek against her hair. “Bella, I've found Emmett.”

Bella moaned softly, her eyes opening slowly as she blinked away her momentary disorientation. She was so tired, too tired to think clearly. Movement was difficult, slow and took so much concentration on her part that simply holding a cup to take a drink of water had the power to exhaust her completely. Breathing wasn't too fun either, and as she breathed in deeply, her chest and ribs felt as though they were on fire. Releasing a soft sigh, Bella hid her face in Edward's chest as she yawned gently, her love smiling down at her. Turning away from Edward's chest, Bella looked up, her head pounding viciously as she searched for Emmett.

“I'm right here, Bella,” Emmett said, his voice rough, when she spoke his name, her voice exhausted and uncertain.

Her eyes found him and she blinked tiredly at him, having to focus her tired, aching mind on the task she wanted to perform. She reached out her right hand to him, her fingers twining around his, when he took her smaller hand in his large, cool palm. Wincing at the twinge of pain from the stitched gash running nearly the entire length of her right forearm, she looked back at Edward. She knew that he couldn't read her thoughts, but she also knew he'd be able to read her expression and know what she wanted. Her tired mind was simply too slow to form the request with any kind of coherence.

“She wants you,” Edward told Emmett, kissing Bella's temple as he carefully placed her into Emmett's waiting arms.

“Hey, Bells,” Emmett spoke to her softly, almost as though he were afraid to speak any louder.

Bella curled herself against his chest, wincing at the pain she was in and fighting against the growing exhaustion that seemed to be consuming her. She felt a cool kiss to her temple as ribbons of safety and calm wrapped around her, soothing her. She turned her head to look at Jasper, wanting to reach out to him as well. He could feel her emotional embrace of him and smiled down gently at her, stroking her hair back away from her face.

“You have to let me know if I'm hurting you,” she told Jasper, her tired voice strained with pain and the distraught emotions she was trying desperately to control for both their benefits.

“You let me worry about that,” he told her, rubbing his knuckle beneath her eye and catching a bit of moisture on his skin. He turned to address Carlisle and found the man to be standing back, silently observing the four of them. “She's in a great deal of physical pain,” he told the doctor. “And it feels as though her right arm is burning around the stitches.”

Carlisle nodded and opened his desk drawer, retrieving a small glass vile and a pencil-thin syringe. Bella snorted at Jasper's assessment of the pain she was in and narrowed her eyes on him when he turned his attention back to her. The irritated look she had intended to give him, instead looked as though she were on the verge of sleep. Jasper chuckled though as he felt her irritation and sent her soothing feelings of warmth, with a touch of his amusement mixed in. Opening himself up to the others in the room, he used his talent to allow her to feel all of the love and concern that everyone in the room felt for her.

Carlisle's cool touch on her braced arm drew her attention and she whispered her thanks to him. He smiled down at her, his concern showing in his eyes as he gave her an injection of morphine. Jasper could feel Esme and Alice when they exited the car and added their love and concern of Bella to those he was already projecting to her.

“Bella?” Esme's voice sounded from the doorway as she ghosted to her husband's side and reached out to touch Bella's face.

Alice was by Jasper's side in the next instant, one hand reaching out to touch her best friend cradled in Emmett's arms. Alarmed when a tear escaped Bella's eye, Alice turned to her love for an explanation. Instead of speaking, Jasper used his talent like a repeater and projected the overwhelming love and gratitude that she felt for his family to everyone in the room. Warm smiles were soon decorating everyone's faces as Emmett hugged her as close as he dared.

“We all love you, too, little one,” Emmett whispered to Bella.

Edward's lips lifted in a half-smile when he heard Rosalie's irritated thoughts and Jacob's taunting growls coming from outside. He was hard pressed not to laugh aloud when he heard the swat Jacob landed on the blonde vampire's backside with his thick tail. His brow furrowed in thought as he continued listening to the two and heard the click of Jacob's claws on the floor as he entered the house - ahead of Rosalie.

“Dammit, mutt,” Rosalie growled at the horse-sized beast.

`C'mon, Blondie, you think you're so tough, Jacob chuckled in his mind. `Try this on for size!'

Edward was about to warn Jacob against the action he was about to take, but thought better of it. Not a half second later they all heard Rosalie's irritated shriek, Jacob's breathy woof of laughter and the `thump' as Rosalie landed a punch to his shoulder.

“Damn dog licked me!” Rosalie shrieked in disgust as she disappeared up the stairs to the bathroom.

“You don't exactly taste like peaches yourself there, Princess!” Jacob shouted after her, laughing as he quickly donned his sweatpants before following Bella's scent and entering Carlisle's office.

“Over here, Jacob,” Carlisle directed the teen at the sight of his confused frown.

He looked through the circle of vampires until he found Bella cradled within the center and walked toward her.

“Did you really lick Rosalie?” Bella asked, her voice tired but heavy with undisguised amusement as she curled herself against Emmett's shoulder.

“With extra slobber,” the werewolf winked at her. His expression sobered quickly though, concern etching his face into a worried frown.

“I'm all right, Jake,” Bella promised, blinking slowly as she struggled to keep her eyes open. The morphine was finally taking its toll on her exhausted body.

“Go to sleep, Bells,” Jacob told her, resting a fever-warm palm against her cheek. “Doc?” he turned anxiously to Carlisle. “She doesn't feel that much cooler than I do.”

Carlisle moved closer, touching his hand to her cheek and brow and listening closely to the sounds of her heartbeat and breathing.

“Put her in the car, Emmett,” Carlisle instructed as he moved to get his medical bag and returned before Jacob had registered his absence. “We're taking her into the hospital, Jacob,” Carlisle said as Emmett moved away. “You're welcome to come.”

Jacob nodded, not knowing whether it was a good idea for him to go or not. It had only been within the past two hours that morning that he had felt calm enough to phase back to his human form and hold it for any length of time. What if he got upset and phased inside the hospital? The cat would then be very literally out of the proverbial bag. And if he did phase inside the hospital - what if he hurt someone? What if he hurt Bella?

“Jasper can calm you enough to prevent that from happening,” Edward said in answer to Jacob's thoughts. “And I've seen the control you have. You would make it outside of the hospital and away from people before that happened.”

Jacob looked at Edward silently for a long moment. Even his thoughts were still. I want to go with you all - go with Bella. But, Charlie still doesn't know what happened. Do I leave Bella and go to him?

“With the mind link, shouldn't your pack already know?” Edward asked as he walked out the front door behind the wolf, locking the house behind him.

“I haven't heard any of their minds lately. I don't think any of them have phased in the past week, they've all been so tired.”

Edward nodded at Jacob's assessment and offered him a ride in his Volvo to the hospital. Kindly refusing the offer, Jacob disappeared into the edges of the trees and phased into his wolf form. I need to burn off as much of the energy and emotion as I can before I go into a hospital filled with people. Jacob spoke to Edward through his thoughts as he stepped out of the trees, his tail swishing idly behind him with each step. Sniffing at Esme, he moved closer to her, slowly so as not to startle anyone. She's so sad.

“She's worried,” Edward answered, watching as Esme looked at the wolf coming closer to her. “We need to go, Bella's fever is getting worse,” he said, nodding at Emmett, already sitting in the back seat of the Mercedes, Bella cradled in his lap.

Within a blurred collection of seconds, all of the Cullen family was tucked away in three cars: the Jeep, the Mercedes, and Edward's Volvo, the scent of hot rubber the only thing left behind the speeding cars as they disappeared around the road's bend.

* * *

The too-strong scent of antiseptics and cleaning agents stung her nose and burned her already dry throat. It was so cold; and not the comforting coolness that she'd grown use to from being around her adopted vampire family. No, this cold felt almost malicious. It was the kind of aching cold that told her she wasn't where she belonged - that wherever she was, she was alone.

Brown eyes snapped open and Bella whimpered at the brightness of the sterile room. The inescapable fluorescent lights and pristine white walls that reflected the light had her wincing, groaning with the pain of the instant migraine that the overwhelming brightness caused. She called out for Emmett, the last person she could remember holding her…Nothing. She called out for Edward, then Carlisle and Esme. But again, no one answered her.

Choking back a frightened sob, her emotions so raw they left her feeling torn open and exposed, she opened her eyes once more. Blinking rapidly against the harsh light as she waited for her eyes to adjust, Bella clenched her jaw against the pain in her left hand. It caused her so much pain to focus what little control she had over her braced hand and pull out the IV needle from the back of her right hand. She didn't know why she was in that room, or why she had been left alone. The fear alone had her fighting back nausea that set her stomach rolling.

Where am I? She looked around the room frantically. Why weren't any of the Cullens with her? Where was Edward? Had someone separated them? Taken her away from them?

Bella shook, trembled as she stood up slowly on unsteady feet. The only thought in her mind at that moment was the desperate need to get out of that room, to find her family, to find Edward. Holding on to the hospital bed for support, she took two shuffling steps forward and was falling to the floor before she had time to catch herself. Her fall was stopped by two slim, strong, and stone-like arms surrounding her - catching her. Whimpering, Bella clung to Alice as the lights in the room were swiftly turned down to their dimmest setting and she looked up to see Jasper standing inside the open door.

Alice lifted Bella easily in her arms and laid her down on the hospital bed. Sweeping the discarded IV needle off the bed, Alice hastily snipped the clamp shut so that no more of the cold saline that had been used to cool Bella's raging temperature spilled. Moving to lay behind Bella on the bed, Alice settled against her back easily. The bed was stiff, uncomfortable, and the linens felt as though they were made from paper, but Alice's embrace eased her discomfort.

“You need to stay in bed, Bella,” Alice told her, the pixie-vampire's wind chime voice admonishing. “It's a wonder that you slept through all the X-rays that Carlisle took, not to mention the blood he drew.”

“Alice,” Jasper cautioned his love as he stepped closer.

Sitting beside Bella's shoulder on the bed with his back against a pillow, Jasper encouraged her to lay her head in his lap and began brushing his fingers through her tangled hair. Bella released a comforted sigh as she lay with her cheek on Jasper's thigh, her head tucked against his abdomen. The feel of his fingers in her hair was comforting, hypnotic and had her fending off the sleep that beckoned her. Soothing ribbons of calm began twining around her as Edward entered the room and moved to join them on the bed, sitting beside Bella's hip, resting his hand on her shoulder.

Although Bella didn't know exactly what was going on, she could tell that they were trying to protect her from something Alice's arms wrapped carefully around her waist from behind and Bella could feel her body aligned against her own.

“Carlisle will come in here with Esme in three minutes,” Alice told Bella, her voice soft as she employed the pillow. “We love you, Bella.”

Confused by Alice's words, Bella tried to look back at her, but Jasper's constant stroking of her hair prevented the movement.

“Is there something wrong with me?” Bella asked, frightened as she looked up at Edward.

“Nothing's wrong with you,” Edward assured her, his face tense. “Aside from your injuries, of course.”

A soft knock sounded at the door of the hospital room and Edward's soft voice beckoned Carlisle inside. Bella watched as Carlisle, followed closely by Esme, walked into the room and closed the door behind them. Bella's brow furrowed. Where were Emmett, Rosalie and Jacob? And why did Carlisle and Esme look so sad and worried?

Carlisle stood back, watching his wife as she moved to stand behind Jasper. He watched while she let her hand fall down over Jasper's shoulder, her fingers gently curved as she rested the back of her hand softly against the curve of Bella's throat. Pulling in a deep breath, Carlisle moved a chair by the wall closer to the bed and sat down slowly.

“Carlisle?” Bella's voice was hesitant, worried as she took the hand he offered her, curling it closer to her chest.

Bella curled her body more around Edward and Jasper, ignoring the pain it caused while seeking the reassurance of their touch, even as Jasper influenced her emotions and calmed her fear. Relaxing back against Alice as her friend pressed closer, Bella waited for Carlisle to speak, her eyes never leaving his face.

“Bella,” Carlisle began slowly, choosing his words carefully. “There's something I need to tell you…It's about Charlie.”

Bella froze, her mind running through a hundred possibilities of what that statement could mean in only a three second pause. She clung to Carlisle's hand, her eyes wide in her pale face. Her heart beat madly in her chest and even though she could feel Jasper's calming influence - could feel him trying to chase away her fear - she wondered if it was really doing any good.

“Charlie?” she whispered her father's name, a coldness settling in her chest as tears pricked her eyes. “What happened to Charlie?”