Marvellous days

Chapter 6 -Pneumonia-

After putting Carlie to bed, I walked back downstairs. It was still early to go to bed myself and I didn’t want to be alone.

Jacob was still here and played with Nessie. Rose and Alice were doing something on the computers and Emmett and Jasper were playing a game. Edward and Bella were cuddled into each other on the loveseat and talked.

“Were you already Christmas shopping?” Edward asked me when I sat down opposite them.
“No, Carlisle and I wanted to go next week.”
“Could we join you? We wanted to go to some of the nearer shops.”
"Of course,” I smiled.

Suddenly the baby phone went on and we could hear Carlie crying.

“I get it,” I said and sprinted upstairs. “Oh, honey, have you dreamed badly?” I said quietly. I lifted her from the crib into my arms and rocked her soothingly. But she didn’t stop to cry. “Shush, shush,” I rocked her further. She slowly started to calm down, but then she coughed and started to cry again. “You’re fine, shush,” I said and handed her a bottle with water to let her drink. She drank eagerly and I calmed down again as well.

I hated to hear her cry and the coughing startled me for a second. But she seemed to be fine; still I thought to tell Carlisle to take a look in the morning.

She drifted to sleep once again and I lay her back into her crib.

I walked back downstairs. “Is everything fine?” Bella asked.
“Yes, I think… She just wanted to drink.” Bella smiled at me. We talked some more for an hour and it was dark outside now.

“I think I go to bed as well,” I said and yawned.
“Okay, sleep well,” Edward said and I hugged both.
“Good night,” the others said. I waved and went upstairs.

I checked on Carlie again when I was in our bedroom. She was sleeping soundly, sometimes moving around a bit. I sighed and got dressed for the night.

I woke up to Carlie crying.

I rushed to her bed and took her into my arms. I looked outside and it was still dark outside. I rocked her, but again she wouldn’t calm down.

The coughing was worse and I lay her on my shoulder to gently pat her back. I walked up and down in the room to calm her down. She probably had a cold and couldn’t sleep right, I thought. I was worried sick, but tried to stay calm for Carlie.

“You will be fine, shush,” I soothed her. She looked up from crying and patted my cheek. She let me know that she was tired and sad. “Oh, sweetheart,” I nuzzled her face and kissed her forehead. It made me so sad as well that I couldn't help her. She coughed again, but I couldn’t find her bottle. I frantically looked around in the room before I turned the light on to find it. “There it is,” I laughed in relief and gave her the bottle.

She took it in both her hands and drank. “Oh, my…” my whole body trembled.

Her otherwise shell pink lips were now light blue and she looked pale. “Oh, Carlie,” I clutched her to me. “Edward!” I screamed in panic.

“Yes?” the door banged open and he was standing in front of me and looked around in the room frantically.
“It’s Carlie,” I started to sob. He kneeled in front of me and observed my daughter.

He looked very worried before he composed his face and smiled at me. I shouldn’t have seen his first expression probably. “Don’t worry,” he said, but only half-heartedly. “May I?” Edward asked and held his arms open for her. I gave her to him and he gently put the bottle away and lay her on the bed. She started to cry again but coughed several times.

I really tried to keep the tears away, keeping the hope up that it was nothing bad after all. He examined her and a few minutes later gave her back to me. “I will call Carlisle, wait a second,” he said and walked out of the room.

I rocked Carlie around soothingly, patting her back from time to time when she coughed. Her lips were still blue. I only concentrated on her, to not think about it.

I didn’t notice how time passed, because the second time the door flew open Carlisle walked in and with a worried glance at me took his daughter from me. He looked at me and then back to Carlie, who was lying on the bed again. Worry was prominent on his face, but he still smiled at me. I stood in the corner of the room and watched my husband examine our daughter.

“She probably has a lung infection, but I cannot be sure, I would need to run some tests in the hospital,” he said worried and looked around to me.

Everything swirled as he said those words. Not again, I thought. My legs wobbled and I held myself upright on Carlie’s cradle.

“Esme, please don’t worry, first of all we have to make sure that it is really pneumonia. And this is different than 90 years ago, we can treat it,” he said and took me into his arms. With that he triggered the tears I tried to keep in check.

“I’m so sorry, Carlisle, she has coughed when I brought her to bed, but I didn’t think about it. I should have done something…” I cried.
“Shush, no, you couldn’t have. This is not your fault, okay?” he told me fervently, "we will go to the hospital and see,” he said and guided me over to the closet to get dressed. Carlisle in the meantime dressed Carlie.

We rushed downstairs in the middle of the night. Carlisle had Carlie cuddled into her blankets and rushed us both outside and into the car. “Shouldn’t we put her into the car seat?” I asked breathlessly.
“No, she could choke or not get enough oxygen, it is better if we keep her so that we see her,” he told me and handed her to me as he climbed into the car.

He sped away in the direction of the hospital. He didn’t look like himself. He was usually calm and smiled, but right now he looked like a ghost and deeply worried. He saw that I watched him and stroked my thigh and smiled at me. “I’m fine,” he tried to assure me.

-All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer-