Defective - Jacob Black {1}

Chapter 48: Countdown

I wasn't ready to be logical yet. "Still seems stupid. They could bring most of it with them, right? And steal what they need wherever they go. Who cares about legal crap when you're the undead?"

"Edward doesn't want to take any risks moving her."

"She's better than she was."

"Seriously," Seth agreed. In his head, he was comparing my memories of Bella hooked up to the tubes in the hospital bed. "But she can't move around much, you know. That thing is kicking the hell out of her."

I swallowed back the stomach acid in my throat. "Yeah, I know."

"Besides, Bella didn't want to force Aria into leaving. Bella needs her to help comfort the baby but she knew Aria would struggle leaving you and her family." Seth rambled on... I had forgotten about how much Bella needed Aria's help. The Baby Whisperer. "It broke another of her ribs," he told me sombrely.

My stride faltered, and I staggered a step before I regained my rhythm.

"Carlisle taped her up again. Just another crack, he said. Then Rosalie said something about how even normal human babies have been known to crack ribs. Edward looked like he was gonna rip her head off."

"Too bad he didn't." I commented snidely.

Seth was in full report mode now - knowing it was all vitally interesting to me, though I'd never asked to hear it. "Bella's been running a fever off and on today. Just low grade - sweats and then chills. Carlisle's not sure what to make of it - she might just be sick. Her immune system can't be in peak form right now."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's just a coincidence."

"She's in a good mood, though. She was chatting with Charlie, laughing and all—"

"Charlie!" I cut him off icily. "What?! What do you mean, she was talking to Charlie?!"

Now Seth's pace stuttered; my fury surprised him. "Guess he calls every day to talk to her. Sometimes her mom calls, too. Bella sounds so much better now, so she was reassuring him that she was on the mend—" On the mend? What the hell are they thinking?! How could Aria allow this? Get Charlie's hopes up just so that he can be destroyed even worse when she dies? I thought they were getting him ready for that! Trying to prepare him! Why would she set him up like this? "She might not die," Seth thought quietly.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "Seth. Even if she pulls through this, she's not doing it human. She knows that, and so do the rest of them." It was weird grouping Aria with them... I'd have to get used to that. "If she doesn't die, she's going to have to do a pretty convincing impersonation of a corpse, kid. Either that, or disappear. I thought they were trying to make this easier on Charlie. Why...?"

"Think it's Bella's idea. No one said anything, but Edward's face kinda went right along with what you're thinking now." So maybe Aria doesn't agree with it, she's just trying to make Bella happy. It sucked I was on the same wavelength with Edward yet again.

We ran in silence for a another half hour, give or take, before Jesse phased in ready for his shift. He went on his way to go wake Leah.

When Seth and I had changed, we entered the house without hesitating but when we got to the lounge, both of our hearts faltered with panic as the only people in the room was Esme and Edward with a dead and pained expression on his face. "She's all right," Edward whispered. "Or, the same, I should say."