Perspicuous (J.HALE)

20

Bella coughed as she leaned over the arm of the couch, and I held her hair out of her face. Alice brandished a bucket—the brunette hadn't been able to keep any kind of food down for longer than twenty minutes.

She leaned back, the bumps of her spine hitting my shoulder as I lowered her back down into a sitting position. I released her hair and offered her a tissue for her mouth; she took it, but her movements were slow and exhausted. I glanced at Carlisle, who was watching her from the corner of the room, and his jaw tightened.

She was barely mobile. She couldn't eat without throwing up. Her stomach had ballooned and sucked all of the flesh from the rest of her body, leaving her spindly and even more breakable. She used to be soft and now she was sharp.

I read to her, like I had on the morning of her wedding. We were interrupted by bouts of vomiting, cramps and rib pains, but she enjoyed it. She didn't even have the energy to be scornful, despite hating being babied. Rosalie hardly let anyone near her, other than me—and even that was a little dicey. She seemed to relax when she played with Ethan, but she wouldn't leave the room that Bella was in. Just in case.

I stood up and brushed my hair out of my face as Bella's eyes fluttered closed. I'd done a shift at the diner after waking up several times throughout the night—Ethan had a cough—and then volunteered to take over from Alice in watching over Bella; her headaches were getting worse. The more the baby grew, the sharper the pains were that pierced the centre of her forehead. She had to excuse herself more and more frequently each day, and sometimes Jasper went with her to try and ease it a little.

Esme had taken to spending a lot of time with Ethan—the distraction was welcome to her. She liked to look after people. She would constantly bring me food and coffee, check that I was warm enough, ask if I needed a nap. She sat with him in the corner of the room, looking out through the glass wall at the river and rocking back and forth with his head resting in the crook of her elbow. She looked peaceful, so I left her to it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I talked to him. ~P

I took a breath.

How'd it go? ~I

We went for a walk on the beach. It was nice. ~P

I smiled.

Good. Proud of you. ~I

Fuck off. <3 ~P

Love you too. ~I

I haven't told him yet. ~P

Probably a good plan. Ease him into it. Might scare him off otherwise. ~I

Comforting. ~P

Logical. ~I

He didn't reply for a minute or so.

Love you, idiot. ~P

I almost dropped my phone.

Shut up. <3 ~I

I didn't notice that Carlisle had risen from his seat until I heard the front door open, and a pair of heavy boots step into the hallway. All heads in the room turned toward the sound as the footsteps got louder with increased proximity, Rosalie rising from her seat and stepping in front of Bella.

It was Jacob.

He looked scruffy—unshaven, a little dirty, and wild-eyed—but determined. He strode into the room without even wincing at the vampire smell, which he usually made a big deal about, his jaw set.