(Thomas POV)
Three days after Carlisle said the words weeks, not months, the house had developed weather.
Not the literal kind…Forks was still doing its damp, gray thing outside, but the kind you felt the second you stepped into a room. A pressure system of glances and silence. Warm fronts of forced politeness. Sudden cold snaps when certain names were spoken.
Leah's pregnancy was moving fast and clean, like her body knew exactly what it was doing. Bella's pregnancy was moving fast as well, but it had…consequences.
And the Cullens, my extended family, were splitting along lines that none of them wanted to admit existed.
Leah pretended she didn't notice. That was the lie she told herself so she could keep functioning. She tried to keep the guilt she felt towards the sickly Bella out of her eyes as much as possible, but I could tell Edythe caught it anyway. As for me?
I noticed everything.
Day 5
Bella was on the couch with a blanket over her legs and a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she watched Simpson's reruns. She looked pale enough that, if she'd been anyone else, I would've assumed she was already halfway to the hospital.
Rosalie sat beside her like a guard dog protecting the most precious thing in the world. Her hand rested on Bella's knee like a claim, as her eyes flickered to every movement and shadow.
Esme hovered near the kitchen doorway, pretending to tidy something that didn't need tidying, but her attention never left Bella, unless it was to look at Leah. Everyone felt like being happy for Leah was like throwing a party in front of someone with a terminal illness.
Edward wasn't in the room.
He'd been in the room earlier, he was never away for long. He'd watched Carlisle explain the new dangers the latest test revealed. He'd watched Bella say I'm keeping it before anyone had even suggested the other option out loud.
Then his jaw had tightened, his eyes had gone flat, and he'd left like being in the same air as the conversation was unbearable.
Alice was upstairs. Jasper was with her.
Carlisle had retreated to his lab again, because when a man's ethics and his family collide, he tends to hide behind paperwork and blood tests. Looking for that one bit of information that would save everything.
Leah sat on the armchair across from the couch, legs tucked under her, hands folded over the extended curve of her abdomen. She didn't look sick. She looked… wired. Hungry in a way that didn't match the amount of food she'd not long ago eaten.
Her eyes tracked Bella more than she probably realized.
Edythe sat close enough to Leah that their shoulders brushed. Not possessive in the obvious way…just constant contact, like Edythe's body had decided distance is unacceptable.
Emmett leaned against the wall, arms crossed, expression caught between concern and the urge to say something wildly inappropriate just to break the tension.
I stood near the hallway, half in the room and half out, because I couldn't decide if I wanted to be part of this or go find and punch Edward.
Bella's voice was small but steady. "I don't want everyone fighting."
Rosalie answered instantly, like she'd been waiting for permission. "Then they can stop trying to take your choice away."
Esme's tone stayed gentle, but it carried weight. "No one is trying to take anything away, Rosalie."
Rosalie's eyes flicked to Esme. "Not you."
That was the first time I'd heard it said that clearly.
Not you. Meaning: somebody is.
Leah's gaze slid to me for half a second, like she was checking whether I was about to get involved.
I wasn't. Not yet.
Because the truth was ugly, I didn't have a vote here. Bella had already decided. Carlisle wasn't going to force her. And if Edward couldn't handle that, he needed to take it up with the universe, not with the girl who was trying to carry whatever was growing inside her.
Edythe spoke softly, not to steer the argument, but to anchor Leah. "Do you want something to drink?"
Leah, stubborn to the bone, shook her head. "I want meat."
Emmett's brows lifted. "Respect."
Leah shot him a look.
He held up his hands. "No jokes. That's… actually fair."
Bella's eyes drifted down to Leah's stomach, then away again. There was something in her expression…envy wasn't the right word. Not bitterness. More like… grief for the fact that Leah's body seemed to be cooperating while hers was actively trying to destroy her. Classic Bella, thinking everything was her fault.
I hated that I could see it.
Day 8
Edward finally came back into the room.
Not because he'd cooled down from storming out earlier.
Because Bella had thrown up again, and the sound had made him flinch like someone had hit him.
He stood near the doorway, hands clenched at his sides, eyes locked on Bella like he was watching a timer count down.
Carlisle was there too, posture calm, voice calm, but his mind was running like a machine I could almost hear.
Alice sat perched on the edge of the stairs, rigid, eyes too bright. Jasper stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder like a steadying weight.
Emmett and Rosalie stood together now…Rosalie leaned into him without realizing it, and Emmett stayed still because he understood that sometimes the best way to support someone was to be the wall they could press against.
Carlisle's voice carried. "Bella, I need you to listen to me."
Bella lifted her chin. "I am."
Carlisle hesitated, not because he lacked courage, but because he didn't want to say what he had to say in front of everyone. Then he did it anyway, because secrets rot.
"Your heart rate is elevated. Your blood pressure is trending down. You're losing weight. You're dehydrated. If this continues…"
Bella cut in, firm. "I'm keeping it."
Edward's face went tight. "Bella…"
Bella didn't even look at him. "No."
The air snapped.
Alice's voice cracked, sharp with panic. "You're going to die."
Silence.
Bella blinked at her, eyes full of sorrow. "Alice…"
Jasper's jaw clenched. His eyes were on Bella, but his posture was angled like he was trying to keep Alice from tipping over the edge.
"Bella," he said in his Southern drawl. "The… fetus is obviously dangerous to you. What makes you think it won't be a danger to us all when it…arrives?"
Rosalie's voice went too soft. Too dangerous. "Stop."
Alice looked like she wanted to scream. "I'm not trying to hurt her. I'm trying to…" She swallowed hard. "I'm trying to keep her here."
Rosalie moved in closer to Bella like there was a threat she needed to be protected from. "Don't."
Jasper's hand tightened on Alice's shoulder. "Alice."
Edward's eyes flashed…real anger showing towards Rosalie. "You don't get to…" He began angrily.
Emmett cut in, lazy voice, but there was steel under it. "Watch it."
For a second, I honestly thought Edward might lunge.
Then Carlisle spoke, and the room listened because Carlisle always made the room listen.
"Bella has made her choice. Our job is to keep her alive long enough for that choice to mean something."
Edward's head snapped toward Carlisle. "And if it kills her?"
Carlisle's expression didn't change. "Then it kills her. Until then, I think we could set up a TPN drip. That will introduce at least some of what her body needs to keep…going."
Edward stared at him as if he didn't recognize him.
I felt my own anger flare…not at Carlisle, not at Bella.
At Edward.
Because I understood losing control. I understood fear.
But I didn't understand wasting the last clean moments Bella might have by turning them into a war against her.
Edward's hands clenched. He looked at Bella like he wanted to carve the fetus out of her ribs.
Then he turned and stormed out of the room so fast the air shifted.
Bella flinched at his parting look.
Rosalie's hand tightened on her shoulder. "Ignore him."
Bella's smile trembled. "I can't."
That was the thing nobody wanted to say out loud:
Bella wasn't choosing a baby over Edward.
She was choosing a baby and hoping Edward would stay.
I looked at my sister…at the desolate look on her face, then I glanced at my wives. Leah couldn't take her eyes off Bella, and Edythe was looking at me. Her eyes pleaded with mine. I could almost hear her asking me to go easy on him.
I pushed away from the wall and walked past Esme, "Please keep everyone in the living room. This won't need an audience." It came out as a whisper, and I didn't stay to see if she agreed.
I pulled the heat in until I could feel the fur just about to erupt from my skin, and I followed Edward's scent up to his room. He sat at the edge of the bed he had brought in here for Bella not all that long ago. The look on his face was one I had seen Edythe make when she wanted to cry the night Leah unburdened herself to us, the first night she stayed at the house.
But Edward's eyes carried a note of self-loathing that Edythe's hadn't. When he noticed me enter his room, his voice broke as he whispered, "I would like…to be alone, Thomas."
I didn't answer him, I just paused in front of him and looked around the room. My eyes finally landed on the sliding glass door that led out to a small patio overlooking the forest behind the house. It was a very nice view.
Still not answering Edward, I walked to the door and slid it open, letting some air into the room.
Edward's tone changed…it grew harsh, as if I were testing his patience. "I asked you to leave, Thomas. I have to think of a way to convince Bella that she is just being stubborn."
I turned to Edward and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for making this easier." The hand that was resting on his shoulder snaked around his throat, and I picked him up off the bed and threw him out the open patio door.
He didn't land on his back in the yard. No, he went much further than that. I heard tree limbs breaking as he hurled through the air. I kicked off as hard as I could, chasing the sound.
Seconds later, I was close enough to watch him land, and he didn't do it with grace. He tumbled along the forest floor, with tree sap in his hair, and leaves stuck to torn clothes. His shoulder dug a trench as he slid to a stop.
He looked over at me, and he snarled. There was no Emo 'I'm tragedy incarnate' feel to him now. No, this was all monster, the one he was so afraid of, the killer of men, the furious beast.
I wasn't impressed.
I waved him forward in as insulting a manner as I could. "Poor little Eddy having a bad day???"
His rush was unthinking and easy to avoid…if I wanted to put in the effort. I simply backhanded him as he got close enough. He flew through a tree before he got his feet under him again and came to a stop. He charged again, anger radiating off him like a heat wave.
I knocked him back again, and again when he returned. This time, I let him land a blow to my side. I withstood it and returned one that doubled him over, clenching my arm with his hands as my fist twisted in his midsection.
Edward's hands clenched around my forearm tighter, nails scraping at my skin…more reflex than damage. His eyes were still feral, teeth bared, breath hissing through his nose like he still needed air just to hate.
"Do it." He spat, voice ragged. "Kill me."
I kept my voice even, "God, you're such a coward. You think I would hurt her the same as you have been doing? You think I would give you an easy way out while she suffers?"
I moved my hand back to his throat and pushed him up against a huge fir tree trunk.
His eyes flashed. "You don't get to talk to me about her."
I didn't move. Didn't flinch, just held him there.
"I do," I said quietly. "Because I love her too. And because I've watched you pick fights with everyone in this house instead of sitting next to your wife and letting her breathe."
His voice came out raw, stripped of the pretty, controlled cadence he used when he wanted to sound civilized. A trace of terror seeping into the anger.
"She's dying… I can hear it. I can smell it. Her heartbeat changes every time she tries to stand. She's losing weight every day. I can count the calories she doesn't keep down. I can hear her organs working harder just to keep up…"
His voice broke.
"You get to have it easy," he continued, and the jealousy in it was ugly…not because he was cruel, but because he was desperate. "Leah's fine. Leah's glowing. Leah eats and sleeps and gets bigger, and it's healthy. You get to be happy."
"I don't even get to be happy for you," he admitted, voice raw with shame. "Because every time I look at Leah, every time I hear someone laugh about it, every time…
He swallowed hard.
"All I can think is…why not Bella? Why does she get the nightmare? And don't look at me like you're above it," he said. "You'd tear the world apart if it was Edythe. If it was Leah."
He was right.
That was the sickening part.
So I didn't deny it.
I nodded once.
"Yes," I said. "I would."
Edward's eyes widened just a fraction, like he'd expected a defense. Like my honesty disarmed him for a second.
Then he filled that second with anger again, because he didn't know what else to do.
"So don't come at me like I'm a monster because I can't accept it," he spat. "Don't talk to me like I'm being childish because I'm trying to stop the thing that's killing her."
I kept my voice low. Controlled.
"You're not wrong for being terrified," I said. "You're not wrong for hating it. You're not wrong for wanting to rip the world open and find a way around this."
Edward's throat worked.
"But here's what you're doing, that's pissing me off."
I tapped his chest once with two fingers. Not hard.
"You're bleeding all over Bella."
Edward went still.
I didn't let him dodge it.
"Every time you glare at her," I said, "every time you storm out, every time you look at her like she's betraying you…she takes that on. She's carrying your fear and her own. She's carrying your anger. Your helplessness. Your disgust."
His eyes went sharp. "I'm not disgusted by her."
"No," I agreed. "You're disgusted by the situation."
He flinched anyway.
"Same effect," I said. "Because she feels it. And she'll keep smiling through it because she's Bella, and she's stubborn, and she's trying to hold you together while her body falls apart."
Edward's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
So I pushed the last part in, because this was the point of the whole thing.
"If the worst happens," I said, and my voice stayed steady even though my stomach turned, "do you want your last weeks with her to be a fight?"
He tried to look away.
"Do you want the last thing she remembers," I continued, "to be you treating her like a problem you need to solve?"
Edward's jaw trembled.
And then the anger finally ran out of him.
Not vanished.
Just… emptied.
His shoulders sagged, like he'd been holding himself up on rage, and it finally failed.
"I can't lose her," he whispered.
There it was.
Not Edward Cullen, the perfect vampire.
Just a man who loved someone and couldn't bear the countdown of her life.
I didn't soften into comfort. Not yet.
I just nodded, once.
"I know," I said.
Edward dragged in a breath he didn't need. Let it out like it hurt.
"What do I do?" he asked, voice wrecked.
I held his gaze.
"You go back," I said. "And you stop making her carry your pain on top of everything else."
His eyes flicked toward the house.
I kept going.
"You can be angry," I said. "You can be scared. You can hate it. You can even try to find a way around it. But you do it with her, not at her."
Edward's eyes burned, but the fight behind them was slipping…replaced by something that looked a lot like grief.
"But you do not," I said, each word measured, "walk back into that house and put this on her shoulders again."
His voice cracked, barely audible. "I can't…"
"Yes, you can." I leaned closer. "You're Edward Cullen. You've fought wars. You've starved yourself for decades out of stubborn principle. Don't tell me you can't control your own mouth for the woman you claim to love."
Silence.
Then Edward's hands finally let go of my arm, fingers uncurling like they were exhausted.
I eased the pressure, stepped back, and let him breathe
"She's so small," he said, voice wrecked. "And it's… inside her."
I didn't soften my stance, but I softened my tone.
"Then go be with her," I said. "Be gentle. Be present. If you're right and this ends badly, don't make her last days about managing you."
Edward's eyes lifted, and they were raw now.
"And if you're wrong," I added, "you'll spend the rest of your eternity remembering exactly how you treated her when she needed you most."
That did it.
Edward turned…fast, sudden…and vanished into the trees, not running away from me.
Running toward the house.
Good.