All Bark, No Bite [Jacob & Edward]

2

"Bleeding out...worse than before...get him onto a bed...get an IV in him."

Bella and the baby are fine. 

The words flash behind his eyelids and almost serve as an alarm clock as he opens his eyes. He's in a bed, he's not sure whose bed. He hasn't explored the Cullen house, but when everything finally comes into focus, he recognizes the too clean room as Edward's. There are a few things of Bella's scattered around, but it's just as pristine as it - eerily - always is. 

Where is Bella? Bella and the baby...are fine.

He's not sure when her being alive became so important to him, but it's really working to make sure he's in his grave before he dips his toes into his thirties. He saved her...he doesn't remember saving her. He remembers flashes of her startled face, but he's not even sure how that fits into his timeline of run...fall...hit head apparently. The headache he was sporting earlier intensifies as he starts to think a bit more. Jacob loved his irrationality, but the thought of Bella being pregnant just bounced off of his brain like it was something that just doesn't happen, can't happen, should not be happening. At least not by Edward, it makes no sense.

He tries to focus on the soft sound of the drip instead as it works to keep him from dying. 

His peace doesn't last for long as Bella peeks her head through the door with a small, awkward smile. 

"Hey, you alright?" 

The question would make him very angry if he could properly emote or react without his stomach twinging in pain to remind him of his constant influx of stupid decisions. 

He'd...he'd almost gotten killed for this girl. She's pregnant with Edward's baby. She doesn't feel the need to tell him that though. Edward tells him. Why does Edward tell him? To keep him in check...? "You may have saved her but she's mine."?

Too much time must pass between her question and Jacob not responding because she just keeps talking. 

"I just came to see if you needed anything?" Her voice is soft and she seems earnest, and that just pisses Jacob off even more. 

He keeps getting played by the same act, but she's clearly made a choice. It's almost too humiliating to think about, so he doesn't. He just lets her keep asking him stupid questions until she realizes he's not going to answer.

When there is finally a lull where she just stands quietly, mouth turned down in a frown, he finally speaks. 

"Where's Edward?" His voice is weak, fragile and pathetic in the way it grates itself out, but it's fitting. He's rumpling up Edward's pristine bed sheets and bleeding through quite a few bandages and his arm is laying limp next to him with an IV connected to one of his veins. He was a sad site to see. 

"He's helping Carlisle find information on whatever caused the wound." Her voice doesn't change from its quiet state even with his clear annoyance with her. Maybe she mistakes it for something else as she stands there for a solid thirty seconds before declaring she's going to get him some water for his throat. 

"And I'll tell Edward you're awake..." Then she's scurrying away as fast as she's entered and he's left with the dripping of the IV. 

He wishes it was still raining to mask how loud it seems to ring out in his ears. It's almost deafening when Edward finds his way into the room, glass of water in hand. 

He looks as ruffled as Jacob's ever seen him, hair mussed and eyes dark as he places the water on a nearby surface. 

Jacob almost expects him to scurry back out, but he instead lowers himself down and stares at the IV before he finally speaks. 

"I need you to try and remember something for me." His voice is calm, but his eyes are pleading when they meet Jacob's. 

"Just...Just close your eyes for me," his voice is soft again and Jacob feels the need to follow, closing them as Edward continues to talk. "Just think back to that night..."

It comes to Jacob in flashes. He's in the forest. It's raining so the ground is slippery. He's running. He falls.

"Tell me what you feel, smell, hear..." Edward mumbles and it almost sounds like he's moved closer to Jacob, like if he's near enough he'll be able to hear every detail of what goes on in Jacob's head.

"It's wet..My legs hurt...I'm running, dodging the trees. I can smell the rain, hear it falling...I hear the crack of tree branches behind me." Jacob can feel his ears perk up at the sounds as they replay themselves in his head. "I can feel my adrenaline spike, can feel the panic...I look back after about a minute because it's quiet. I see a shadow looming behind me...its-... not very tall...smells like blood."

"Blood? Your blood?" Edward's voice is almost a whisper, like he's afraid if he speaks too loud he'll ruin whatever this is. 

"No...animal blood. I feel a pain in my side and then I fall..." 

Jacob's almost reluctant to open his eyes, because he's pretty sure that whatever just happened was the same thing he'd told Edward yesterday. The look on Edward's face says otherwise though as he looks like something has just occurred to him. 

He can hear Carlisle's name before it even passes Edward's lips and it just reminds him that he's been here for far too long and he really needs to let the pack know where he is. 

"There must be something hunting in the woods." Is the first thing that leaves Edward's mouth as soon as Carlisle gets one foot through the door. 

"Something?" Carlisle says it as if it's most out of left field thing he's heard in a while, eyes narrowing and nose scrunching in confusion. 

"Jake said they smelled like animal blood." Edward turns to Jacob to back him up only to find Jacob's eyes are closed again and his breathing is even. He can't help the flash of anger he feels at that.

"What was he thinking?" Edward's turning back to Carlisle as if he has all of the answers. 

"He has the same instincts as you, although, more animalistic," Carlisle begins to speak as if he actually does have all of the answers, "Maybe he smelled that she was with child even if he didn't have time to process it." 

It makes sense, but it does nothing to tamp down Edward's annoyance as he watches Jacob lay there almost lifeless. He knows he shouldn't be angry with him for running out and getting hurt, but it's created so many problems for him he can't even begin to count them. Jacob's pack is knocking on the Cullen's door demanding they know what happened and who did this, Bella's floating around being as unhelpful as possible, and now he has the knowledge that something that can cause slow-healing wounds is out in the woods causing problems. 

Jacob's skin is sallow, the dark circles under his eyes are darker, and he shakes when he tries to stand.

"It must be magic..." He mumbles to no one. Carlisle had wandered off at some point and now Edward's left alone with his thoughts and a very sickly looking Jacob.