Esperansa- (the re-write)

Panic

Chapter Twenty-Two

 She just went limp, all of a sudden and she lay in my arms where I must have put her. I wasn't aware of anything that happened around me at that moment. In an instant I was scared, very scared. This could not happen, not now. She had been safe, I'd protected her but maybe I was too late.

Her head hung back like a newborn on my arm and her weight was heavy between my arms, dragging them down. Her eyes were shut- fused in the way our baby's were and all the redness had dissolved out of her cheeks. She was in severe danger, I could sense it- I didnt know how but I knew something was very wrong. My hand found its way between her breasts, searching for her heartbeat. It was weak, too weak. Panic raced through my body, gaining its own pulse, it's own thoughts.

"Bella!" I called across to my sister-in-law, still in the bubble of joy that her children were safe. My call flicked a switch on her face. She looked very similar to my wife as she took in what was going on in front of her.

"Alice!" she called after several gold fished attempts to speak, she put EJ back on his feet and came rushing over, motioning for Nessie to stay inside the ruins.

"What's wrong? Jasper? What happened, is she ok?" she babbled not stopping for breath. Her anxiety and shock added to my own until I was surprised my legs hadn't failed yet.

I didn't understand what Bella was doing when she reached across and placed her hand firmly on Alice's belly. She bit her lip as she looked at my shoes, dismay added to get emotional chemistry and worry added again to mine, the mix was just about ready to explode, it was too much for me already- too much horror before she says her next sentence.

"Jasper," Bella spoke softly but firmly, looking me in the eye now,

"She's having contractions."

That was all I needed and my legs gave, I sunk to the ground- careful not to jolt retched incredibly precious bundle in my arms. Alice still didn't move, her hand scraped a rock and began to bleed, bright blood trickled from the wound. It was too bright- her blood wasn't healthy. I carefully lifted her hand back up, wiping the blood off with the corner of her cloak. I kissed the cut, making it better with the magic all parents new- but I couldn't make everything better. Bella squatted down beside me,

"She needs to get to a hospital." my fear was imobaliving- I couldn't open my mouth to speak, as though it had been glued shut, I merely shook my head, it was the key to my mouth and my explanation followed straight after,

"We can't- her eyes. If we get the baby out then she'll get better, she'll fight." I knew she was ready enough to deliver, only another week gestation and the baby would arrive anyhow. Bella did not agree, shaking her head sadly,

"No, unless it happened without our knowing, her waters haven't broken. That has to happen first."

She was right, I knew it as soon as the words left her lips, I knew the birthing process and I was sure I would be able to see her belly tensing if she was very close to birth.

Surely the birth could not progress when she was unable to help.

"Ask Renesmee," I ordered Bella, she just stared at me, "Ask her if she's seen anything- she might know if her waters have broken. Bella looked awkward, as if she were about to protest, but one glance at Alice was enough to reassure her she had to do this. She got up and walked back to the anxiously awaiting kids.

"And stay over there- I want to see if... It's too dark to tell whether she's damp or not but there's a lot of fluid around the baby, I think..," I trailed off my conversation, concentrating instead on laying Alice carefully on the ground. I gently patted around her hips and thighs. The material she wore would hold the moisture for a while and eventually I did find a wet patch on her dress but it wasn't watery, it was sticky and stringed together like saliva. Raising my dampened fingers to the patch of light I saw what I had dreaded. Alice was not giving birth she was bleeding.