All Bark, No Bite [Jacob & Edward]

22.5

The feast stretches across the length of the dining room table. It's enough to feed several families. There are only five people sitting before the spread. Jacob has three plates in front of him, courtesy of Alice, who'd apologized for the food taking so long. To be fair, he wasn't exactly starving before. Even though he hadn't eaten since his pitiful excuse for a breakfast, for a large portion of the evening, if he thought of any food related item he felt like gagging. Now, however, he was trying his best to eat at a reasonable pace. Even, surrounded by werewolves, the ravenous hunger that had his stomach, growls sounding like the rumbling was coming from the pits of hell, was not normal. He was shoveling spoonfuls of food into his mouth, making sure to match Leah's pace and keep the discomfort from his face. 

However, even after his plates were empty. That hunger was still there. It was so strong, he felt like he was going to pass out. While the others were jovially clapping each other on the shoulder and laughing about some random part of their evening, he could feel himself swaying in his seat. 

He'd gotten really hungry before. He was eating double what he was eating when this entire thing first started, which was about quadruple of what a human his size would be eating. Though, he'd eventually feel full. After a giant tray of chicken or beef, when he got to the end, he'd feel like he'd had enough. 

Jacob didn't want to draw any attention to himself. He'd had enough of all of the eyes being on him. So, he sat there for about thirty minutes as the pack joked about something that'd happened at the house while he wasn't there. Something about the story had them all in fits. He watches them for a moment before his vision becomes blurred and he's gripping at the edge of table to keep himself from toppling over.

"Jake?" He hears someone call from somewhere at the table. He tries to answer them, barely feeling like he has control over his own mouth, his own tongue. It felt like a weight keeping him from speaking.

"Jay?" Someone else tries. He tries again to respond to them, trying to turn in their direction and feeling himself sway unsteadily.

"Jacob!" 

"Lack of blood," Carlisle says matter-of-factly, before turning to actually face Edward. Jacob's laid across the guest room bed. His eyes are closed and he hadn't opened them since Edward had left to hunt. He's looking just as pale as the day they'd brought him home. 

"Lack of blood? He's losing blood?" Edward asks, almost sounding hysterical. He's more than a bit on edge as he spins around to analyze Jacob. How is he losing blood? They'd been together for three hours before Edward could get himself to leave the house. He's gone for half an hour at the maximum. Now he's losing blood?

"No, he's not losing any. He's just not drinking enough blood. Along with the normal amount of food, he should be having at least two cups of blood a day." Carlisle clarifies, looking over a chart he'd made for Jacob in interest.

"His body was gradually shutting down to make up for the lack of blood. I asked Rosalie and Emmett to collect a little extra while they're out. He just needs a little rest and a little blood and he'll be back to himself in no time." 

Edward nods in understanding, but he's trying to figure out why Carlisle is so sure that Jacob will even drink it. He'll tear a bird to shreds, but blood in general is one of those things that's an acquired taste. Carlisle doesn't look like it's his problem as he saunters out of the room with a knowing smile on his face.

Edward sits there well into the night, feet perched up on the side of the bed, his eyes never leaving the side of Jacob's head. Carlisle had set up a feeding tube in order to get Jacob to at least be able to function so he could start drinking it himself. Edward hadn't expected it to take this long. 

He's in the same rumpled shirt and jeans from the day before when the sun starts peeking through the blinds. For the first time, he truly feels exhausted. It's not enough to make him sleep like the dead, but he can feel an ache in his bones as he shifts in the chair. 

Blood...

It's his kid. Of course, they'd need blood, but there was something about Jacob going without it for so long that had given Edward some form of hope. Maybe, they'd have a chance to just be a baby, a kid, a teenager. He'd had hope that they wouldn't have to worry about where the kid went to school, what they'd have to pack them for lunch. At most, he'd only hoped to have to worry about how much they packed them. He'd hoped they'd eat like Jacob. 

He's almost ashamed at how disappointed he is. 

Edward scoots closer to the bed and reaches out to place a hand on Jacob's stomach and is relieved to feel the skin stretch there. 

"C'mon, Jay." 

Jacob wakes up at around noon. 

He's groggy and slow to sit up as he peers around, the almost foreign, location in confusion.

"You fainted...again." Edward informs him from his perch beside the bed and watches as the news dawns on Jacob. 

He doesn't say anything immediately, sitting quietly with a hand cupping the bottom of stomach. It was times like these that Edward wished that he'd stop being stubborn and read Jacob's mind. 

"What's wrong now?" He sounds so defeated. The tone of his voice makes Edward stand from his seat and instead sit next to Jacob on the bed. He looks like he's about to cry. 

Edward tries to stop himself from doing anything too sudden. He wanted to hug him, but he didn't think that was going to get him the desired response. Jacob would either start bawling his eyes out or completely knock him ass first off of the bed.

"Carlisle says we have to start including animal blood in your diet." Jacob doesn't immediately scrunch his nose up at this and Edward takes that as a good sign, "You weren't ingesting any and it was causing you to feel faint." 

Edward brushes away a strand of hair that falls into Jacob's eyes and waits patiently for some kind of response. Jacob sits quietly for a couple more minutes before his eyes find the discarded feeding tube next to the bed. Carlisle had removed it this morning, stating that Jacob should be waking up soon.

"I have to drink blood?" He mumbles after a moment of vacant staring.

"Lions blood, probably." Jacob looks over at him in confusion at the statement. "Well, assuming they take after their dad." 

Edward, again, is not sure what he was expecting, but he sure as hell wasn't expecting relief to flood Jacob's face as the tears spring back to his eyes. They're happy tears. He's happy.

"You're okay with that?" Edward asks, and he's sure Jacob can hear the disbelief in his voice.

"Over them having some kind of birth defect or dying? Yeah." Jacob responds as if Edward's the one who's out of it.

It was Edward's turn to sit in stunned silence as he watched Esme serve Jacob lunch. He watches Jacob eat every bit of the leftovers and drink two cups of blood while watching some weird show about a vampire babysitting children.