Edward's Diary

Burning

Dear Diary,

Dear God,
This is a very heartfelt, personal, and sincere plea to you.
Please, please, for the sake of my sanity and my heart, do not provide us
with any more excitement in our lives. A man can only take so much.
Seriously, okay, just lay off for a while, you know? Chill out. Strike off
the name ‘Cullen’ from your list of‘People who need to keep working just
because I want them to, and also because it’s fun to see them shit their
pants.’
Please, I beg you.
Sincerely,
Edward.

You might be wondering why I resorted to such desperate measures such as writing letters
to God in my diary. Well, folks, sit back and hear from the tip of my pen the tale of the birth
of Ed, Edd, and Eddy (as Emmett has temporarily named them because Katherine’s kids,
for the time being, are nameless. And yes, I said Katherine’s kids.)
Once upon a time, in a country far far away, nestled in the snowy, willowy laps of nature,
was the sleepy town of Atlin. On the outskirts of this sleepy town of Atlin, cocooned in the
depths of the forests that seemed to stretch on till the Doomsday, lay the house of The
Cullens, who were, for the time being, having visitors in their home with desperate need for
help.
That’s it: that’s all the old fashioned, twentieth century, fairy tale type of reading you’re
going to get.
The morning after my fateful talk with Bella, I was walking back to the house, deep in
thought.
I knew that she was right: we had done this before. So why was I feeling apprehensive
about it?
Granted, I was somewhat delighted to know that my wife wanted another baby, and that
she was willing to adopt, yet there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that was
hindering me from taking the final steps. I could not make myself come forward and say
that one word she so needed to hear.
Yes.
Really, how hard was it? We had brought up Nessie, and I could proudly say we had done
a spectacular job at that. Then, why?
“Yes, Bella, let’s have a baby.”
Six words. Six simple words.
Six hard words.
Why?
My musings were interrupted by the strangest sight I had seen in a long time.
From where I was standing, I saw my brothers, Jacob, Seth, Carlisle and Mark standing in
a row—as if they were training for some military operation—and looking somewhere. As I
took a few steps forward, a closer glance told me that they were all staring at something
inside the house.
Huh.
Curious, I walked up to the stairs on our back porch, and peered in, trying to see what was
holding their attention.
Huh.
Katherine was, as usual, sitting on the couch, but instead of laying back and caressing her
belly like she always did, she was rocking back and forth, and with great effort too.
I watched as she waddled a little, then lay back against the couch for a minute, trying to
catch her breath, and then rocked again, this time grunting a little.
“What is she trying to do?” The question came out on its own.
“Get off the couch,” Mark answered in a daze, his eyes fixated on his wife.
“Why?”
“She needs to pee.”
“So go help her.”
Even though we were talking about helping her, none of us actually made the effort to
open the door and get Katherine off the couch. It should have made me feel like a douche
bag really, especially when Rosalie came and held her arms so she could get up.
“You guys are such idiots,” I heard Esme grumble when she saw us outside the back door.
“Oh, like you were the one who took her to the bathroom,” Carlisle quipped, still watching
Katherine disappear on the stairs.
“You know what? Stay out,” Esme grimaced, but before she could do anything to stop us,
we were already in through the door.
Turns out, it was good that we did: the shuffling upstairs proved that.
“Okay, Rose, I’m good, help me up? Yeah, okay.”
“My God, you’re bigger than Bella was.”
“Well, I am car—”
A sickening crack resounded in the house in that instant. Now, it could have been
anything, but we’d had too many experiences to prove that that was the sound a bone
snapping in two.
“Carlisle!” Rosalie screeched in the next moment, and the sound of her voice was followed
by another snap.
Carlisle took one look at me and I didn’t need telepathy to know what he was thinking.
It’s time.
In a millisecond, Carlisle, Mark and I were bursting through the bathroom door, where
Rose was holding Katherine’s limp but alive body in her arms.
“Help me. Hurry!” she called out, and I shared the weight of Katherine’s body with her.
“Edward, I already have everything set up in the library. Follow me,” Carlisle ordered,
holding the door open.
There was constant shouting in the background, but I was too rattled to know who, or what
it was. It seemed like somebody was screaming, or maybe panicking.
Oh, right, Mark.
No sooner did we enter the library than we placed Katherine on the OR table in the middle.
Carlisle was looking and sifting through injections and getting out packets of blood. Rosalie
was ripping Katherine’s dress off of her, and I listened to her heart.
Weak, but consistent.
“Katherine?! Katherine! Can you hear me? Honey, please, open your—” Mark chanted
over and over, while Rosalie tried to maneuver around him, but in vain.
“GOD DAMN IT, MARK! SHUT THE FUCK UP AND MOVE! I CAN’T WORK IF YOU’RE
FUCKING HOVERING OVER HER LIKE A PIMP!” Leave it to Rosalie to work up a
tantrum.
“SHE’S MY WIFE! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
This was not going to end well.
“Mark!” I turned him around to face me. “Mark, we already discussed this. You’re not
needed right now, okay? Just stand back and relax. Don’t freak out.”
“She started it!” Mark pointed to Rose who was no longer paying attention.
“She did. But you were getting in her way. Now move, let me work.” I made him stand
back.
By this time, everyone in the family was here.
Katherine came to in the next moment, and the sounds she made were probably the
sickest I had ever heard.
“Her spine has been damaged, Edward. She’s paralyzed from the waist down. The pelvic
bone is crushed, but she shouldn’t feel it.” Carlisle was assessing the damage.
Katherine screamed as something moved inside her; I knew something moved because I
saw it—the slight bulge pressing up against her belly.
“Katherine! Katherine! Look at me! Everything is going to be fine, okay?” I moved to her
bedside and saw that was clutching the sheets in her fists. “Katherine, we’re going to take
your babies out, okay? Just stay with us!”
“Ed . . . Oh, God! Edward, it hurts! Oh—” Another scream. “IT HURTS! I can’t . . . I can’t
feel my legs, Edward!” There were tears streaming down Katherine’s cheeks, and her face
was scrunched up in agony.
“I know, Katherine. The venom’s going to heal it. Just a little bit more, Kathie, a little bit.” I
tried to soothe her, but only she knew the kind of pain she was in.
“MARK! MARK! I need . . . Oh GOD!” Katherine was now wailing, the upper half of her
body flopping like a fish on sand. “Mark! I need . . . I need Mark!”
Mark didn’t need another call. He rushed to Katherine’s side and held her hand.
“Katherine! I’m here, I’m here! It’s okay, it’s okay! It’s all right! I’m here!”
I moved from her side and saw that the morphine was ready, and so was Carlisle.
“Mark, it’s time,” I called out to him, and he paled.
“Now? She’s in so much pain! You can’t . . . it will kill her. No!” he protested. Katherine
didn’t notice as she was too caught up in pain.
“Look at her, Mark! WE HAVE TO DO THIS NOW! THERE’S NO TIME, YOU HEAR ME?
NO TIME! Just trust me, okay? Stay with her!”
The words came, surprisingly, from Carlisle.
Wow, he was in a whole new element today.
I didn’t get time to ponder over the realization, as Carlisle had signaled me to stand with
him. Esme took her place beside me, as we had decided. Each of the three babies was
going to be handed to three people, who were in charge of taking care of them while
Carlisle and I worked on the damage. From the corner of my eye, I saw Bella take position
beside Katherine. She had volunteered to stay and give Katherine moral support.
“Edward, be ready.” Carlisle looked at me one last time, and I nodded.
May the force be with us.