(Thomas POV)
Day 10
Edward changed out Bella's IV bag…well, it wasn't a true IV, it was a PN. Edythe had explained the difference to me. A PN delivered essential nutrients straight into the bloodstream for patients who couldn't digest food normally.
From where I sat, all it did was give Bella something else to throw up.
Her body still rejected every attempt Carlisle made to stabilize her. If it wasn't the tube in her arm, it was the spoon at her lips. If it wasn't the nutrients, it was the water after. Her stomach kept declaring war on anything that wasn't air.
Edward tossed the empty bag and returned to the front room, sitting at Bella's feet. He leaned toward her like proximity alone could make up for the last several days. He still didn't hide the fact that he wanted the pregnancy ended, but he was trying, in his own strained way, to show her that his love hadn't moved even if his fear had sharpened into something ugly.
Rosalie stayed close enough to intercept a hand if she thought she needed to. Edward caught whatever crossed her mind and rolled his eyes, his disgust so controlled it almost passed for calm.
Bella kept her chin up anyway. Stubborn. Fragile. Determined. Though the relief at having Edward near was easy to see as she brushed her fingers through his hair.
Leah let out a frustrated sigh and stood up from her chair. "This kid," she muttered, rubbing the underside of her swelling belly, "does not like it when I sit still. I swear he's kicking and punching me right now."
Her stomach was already noticeably bigger than Bella's…healthy growth, steady appetite, and a baby who seemed to treat her like a trampoline. Leah and Bella had stopped comparing days ago. They didn't need to. One pregnancy looked like it was working. The other looked like it was eating its way out.
"Ugh," Leah grumbled, shifting her weight. "Stop stomping on my bladder, you little brat." Her tone was half frustrated and half fond.
Edythe rose immediately and followed Leah toward the bathroom like it was the most natural thing in the world. Leah didn't argue. She just walked, jaw set, one hand on her belly as if she could scold the baby into better manners.
Esme stood too. Hunger always came next with Leah now, and Esme had learned to preempt it before Leah turned pale or 'hangry' as we had come to name it. She moved into the kitchen and began slicing beef thin and rolling it up into easy bites, something Leah could eat while still moving to keep the baby happy.
I watched her hands for a second, the quiet competence of them. The tenderness.
Then a sharp inhale cut through the house like a snapped thread.
Alice.
She stood at the edge of the room, eyes unfocused, lips parted like she was trying to see through fog and only finding brighter fog. Her shoulders tensed.
"No," she whispered. "No…stop…"
Jasper was there in an instant, calm sliding into the space around her like a blanket. "Alice," he said gently.
She blinked hard, returning to the present with obvious effort. Her eyes flicked toward the couch, toward Bella, and her face tightened.
"I can't," she said, voice strained. Not angry. Not judgmental. Just… overwhelmed. "It's like staring at a wall that's screaming."
Edward's head snapped up. His eyes were sharp, defensive, exhausted. "Alice…"
"I'm not doing it on purpose," she cut in, and that alone told me how bad the headaches had gotten. "I'm trying. It's just… everywhere around her. It's like the future is there and then it's not, and my head feels like it's splitting."
Bella's expression didn't change much, but her fingers curled tighter around the blanket in her lap. Sorry again, even though no one was blaming her.
Esme looked up from the kitchen doorway, voice soft but firm. "Alice, why don't you and Jasper go hunt? Bring back something fresh for Leah. It will help, and you'll get some air."
Alice hesitated…guilt fighting relief on her face. Bella was still her best friend, and it tore her up that she couldn't be near her at such a time.
Jasper stepped over Alice's hesitation. He nodded once, like Esme had handed him a mission he was grateful to accept. "We'll be back soon," he told Esme, then glanced at Bella…not cold, not kind, just careful. "Hang in there."
Alice didn't look at Bella again. She simply turned and went with Jasper, fast enough to be gone before Edward could say something he would regret.
Rosalie watched them leave, then looked at Bella like she could anchor her with sheer will.
Upstairs, a toilet flushed. Water ran. Leah came back down a few minutes later, face composed, her gait had settled into that pregnant waddle all women took on when they moved far enough along in their pregnancy. Though usually that took months, not days. Edythe was at her side, not touching her unless Leah drifted close enough to make it inevitable.
Leah crossed into the living room and snagged one of Esme's beef rolls while smiling gratefully to the woman she had once thought of as an enemy. She took a bite, chewed slowly, then took another like she was trying to eat like a normal person, not a ravenous wolf.
Esme smiled at her like she'd just been handed a gift.
Edythe's eyes tracked every movement Leah made, subtle, precise, protective, and when Leah caught it, she just rolled her eyes, knowing that nothing she could say would stop Edythe from hovering.
Hours later, I was preparing to cook some of the bear Alice and Jasper had brought back when I overheard Jasper talking to Bella.
"My little hummingbird…" Jasper said softly, voice low and drawn out in that faint Southern way that made everything sound calmer than it had any right to be. "Alice is torn up she can't be right here beside you. But her gift…she can't shut it off, not even when she wants to. Especially not when it keeps slamming into a wall every time she looks at you."
He paused, eyes flicking once toward the hallway like he could hear Alice breathing on the other side of the house.
"It ain't your choice that's pushin' her back," he went on, gentler still. "It's what that baby does to her visions. It's like tryin' to stare into the sun…headaches, noise, blank spots, all of it at once. She's keepin' her distance because she's scared she'll crack, or say the wrong thing, or let her frustration spill onto you."
His mouth tightened for a second, then eased.
"So I just… wanted you to know." He nodded toward Bella like a promise. "She loves you. She's just fightin' her own head right now, and she hates that you're payin' the price for it."
Bella gave a little wan smile, "Oh, Jazz. I understand. It's not easy to know that my decision is hurting so many people who love me, and I wish I could make you all understand why I feel so strongly about it."
I cut a second bear steak and put it on the cutting board, waiting for the pan to heat up. Leah was sitting on the other side of the kitchen island from me, trying and failing not to listen in on the conversation between Bella and Jasper, same as me.
Jasper took Bella's hand, "We just want you to know our feelings, Bella. Don't let this distance fool you into thinking we don't care about your fight."
My attention was pulled from the conversation between Bella and Jasper by Leah making noises of pure pleasure, "Oh, God, Thomas. Make me another steak just like that one. It was the best I have ever had."
I looked at the pan that was still heating up and then turned to the cutting board to see that the second steak I had cut was missing.
"Did you just eat the steak off the cutting board, Leah?"
She blushed, "Yeah, I was trying to distract myself from listening in on Jasper and Bella and just reached for it. Why was it not ready yet?"
I looked again at the pan on the stove, "Love… I haven't even cooked one yet."
Leah's face went a little green. "You mean I just ate it raw… and it tasted that good?"
I waited for the green tint to deepen and for Leah to vomit what she had unintentionally eaten. But after a few minutes, her color recovered, and she licked her lips, looking at the other raw chunk of bear, I was just about to put in the pan.
"Are you sure you are okay, love?" I asked.
Leah nodded, "I just feel hungry for more, even though mentally I am struggling to reach for it. But honestly, my body is craving it more as I look at it."
Without hesitation, I called out, "Carlisle, can you come here for a moment, please?"
Leah, perhaps hearing the strange note in my voice, was there even before Carlisle.
"What's wrong, Thomas?" Edythe asked in a low voice.
Carlisle appeared just as Edythe asked the question.
Edythe was the one to answer, "Umm, I just ate a raw bear steak, and it was honestly one of the best things I have ever tasted."
Edythe looked confused. But Carlisle looked surprised.
Feeling a little worried, I asked, "It won't hurt her, will it, Carlisle?"
Carlisle turned his attention to Leah, "Do you feel at all nauseated?"
"When Thomas told me I had just eaten raw meat, I was. But after the shock went away, all I could feel was the desire for more."
Carlisle went still for half a second, and I could see his mind moving…connecting metabolism, cravings, accelerated gestation, shifter physiology.
I said the part I couldn't stop thinking.
"Could it be the baby?" I asked. "Not Leah. But the baby wanting what it needs."
Carlisle's gaze flicked to my face. "That's possible. More than possible, actually. Cravings can reflect nutritional demand in normal human pregnancies…iron, protein, salt. With Leah's partial wolf physiology, and a fetus that we know is developing faster than normal…" He trailed off, then nodded once. "Raw meat would be dense. Iron-rich. Easy to process."
Leah's eyes widened a fraction. "So I'm not disgusting. I'm… medically justified."
Edythe stepped behind Leah and slid her hands to Leah's shoulders. "You were never disgusting," she said simply. Then, to Carlisle, sharp and intent: "Is it dangerous?"
Carlisle considered. "Not for Leah, in the short term, given her immune system and healing. For most humans, raw meat risk is bacterial. Leah's body is… not most humans." His eyes moved to me then, thoughtful. "But it does suggest the fetus is influencing her needs in a stronger way than expected."
My mind kept going, because once it started, it didn't want to stop.
"And Bella," I said quietly.
Carlisle's attention snapped fully to me.
I kept my voice low…private…because Bella was still close enough to hear if I got careless.
"Leah's cravings are probably the baby," I continued. "And Leah's baby is… at least partly wolf. So it wants raw meat."
I glanced toward the living room again, where Edward was still trying to look calm while his whole world fell apart.
"Bella's baby is at least partly Edward."
Edythe's hands tightened on Leah's shoulders, her eyes widening in shock.
Carlisle's eyes went distant for a heartbeat.
I finished the thought.
"What if Bella can't keep anything down because we're trying to feed Bella…and the baby wants something else."
Carlisle's voice was soft. "Blood."
The silence stretched as Carlisle thought over the idea. In the front room, Edward's head lifted, and he turned toward us like he had heard something interesting. Carlisle's thoughts must have reached him. He patted Bella's knee, "I will be right back."
Then he was standing next to Carlisle, "Do you think that could work?"
Carlisle nodded, "It may help the fetus, but Bella may resist the idea as…monstrous."
Edward looked frustrated, "We could bring it up to her. If it lets her regain even a little strength, then it's worth a try."
Leah finally gave in to her appetite, reached for the still-raw steak, and started to eat it as Carlisle and Edward moved to Bella.
Rosalie went on guard as the two approached, misreading their intention.
Edward waved her off, but kept his eyes on Bella.
"Bells, love… We have an idea that we think may help you out. But hear us out fully before deciding anything, okay."
Bella looked into Edward's eyes, "As long as it doesn't hurt him," she placed a hand over her belly.
No one reacted to her placing a gender on the baby, everyone slipped here and there. Both pregnancies somehow blocked the ultrasound machine, so there was no way of knowing who was having what.
Carlisle took a breath and started to explain, when he got to the bit about the fetus influencing the appetite of the mother, her eyes brightened. Rosalie looked just as happy as anyone else.
"So, this could make the baby stronger?" She asked excitedly.
I wasn't the only one to note that her first thought was for the baby and not Bella.
Edward looked at Bella with a faint hope starting to grow in his eyes, "I know it seems…monstrous, but if we can satisfy the fetu…baby. Then maybe we can start getting you what you need to give you a chance at surviving the delivery."
Bella looked skeptically at Carlisle, "You really think this can work?"
Carlisle didn't offer any guarantees, "Nothing we have tried yet is doing much. I can promise you that this will not hurt the baby, though. The worst-case scenario is you throw it up just like everything else."
Bella just shrugged and gave a wan little smile, "So who is going to go catch me a bear?"
Carlisle hesitated before answering, "That may not be the best idea, Bella. Even for us… Animal blood is a little…lacking. For best results, I think we need to try human blood at the outset. We have several pints of O+ blood set aside for your use in an emergency. With your track record, we thought it prudent to have some on hand."
Her face went a little green, but I saw the classic Bella jaw clench as she answered, "I will try it and see if it helps."
I thought Rosalie would cheer as Bella gave consent.
Edward hissed at the golden-haired vampire, and Carlisle moved towards his lab downstairs.
A short time later, Carlisle returned with a plastic cup that had a lid and a straw. It looked to hold about a half pint of liquid if filled, but perhaps trying to make it easier on Bella, the cup was dark enough that the contents didn't show.
Leah watched from the kitchen as she ate another strip of raw meat, not even looking uncomfortable doing so anymore.
Carlisle handed the cup to Bella carefully, "Just try a small sip at first, don't force yourself. If it's right, your body will tell you."
Bella accepted the cup, a little reluctantly. Then she brought it to her lips and gave a tentative sip, her throat gulped as she swallowed.
Bella paused, breathing through her nose. She swallowed again, then took a second sip…bigger. Then she paused as if waiting for her stomach to tighten up and force the thick liquid back out. Nothing happened.
She drank more.
Carlisle watched her pulse and her color with clinical focus. "Slowly," he reminded.
Bella nodded and took another mouthful. This time, she didn't look away. She drank like she was committing to the decision.
A full minute passed.
Then two.
"How do you feel?" Carlisle asked.
Bella swallowed one more time, then cleared her throat. "Gross," she admitted.
And then, quieter: "But… part of that is because it tastes good."
Carlisle nodded once. "Good. That's important."
Edward's eyes shut for half a second. When he opened them, they were bright with something that had been missing since I saw him at his wedding.
Bella set the now-empty cup down carefully. "Can I have more?"
Edward's head snapped toward her. "Bella…"
Carlisle raised a hand, calm and firm. "In a little while. Let your body settle first."
Bella leaned back into the couch cushions, exhausted, but there was relief in her eyes and a blush of pink to her cheeks that hadn't been there for weeks.
As everyone relaxed and began to think of what this could mean, the sound of a motorcycle racing down the driveway made itself known.