Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

63- ʙɪʀᴛʜ

BELLA HAD been getting better and given that she was approaching the day Carlisle estimated that she would deliver, that was a very good thing. Some of the tension of looming death had been relived but they were all hit with the problem of constantly being around a mortal who drank blood out of a styrofoam cup. She and Jasper spent so much time on that roof that they ended up fixing a few loose tiles that probably had some sort of wind damage.

Athena sat with Jasper in his room as he watched some sort of movie, She was answering email after email about her book, talking to Pria about how the book was growing in popularity all over the country. But she still hadn't told anyone about it, knowing that it wasn't the time for that sort of thing and if she did tell someone, then Jasper would most definitely want a copy which would reveal something she wasn't ready to give him yet. Not quite yet anyway. After she finished up the emails, she headed downstairs in search of her iPod that Emmett had borrowed before he, Carlisle and Esme went out hunting to fuel for the birth of the baby.

Just as she walked into the room, a succession of cracking bones echoed around the room as Bella clattered to the floor and Edward caught her head. Within seconds, they had carried her limp and yelling out in pain self into Carlilise's office where all the doctor equipment they could ever need was. "Rosalie pass the morphine," Edward yelled, his voice still oddly and relatively calm given what was going on.

"Carlisle said the placenta must have detached," Alice yelled in a panic as Athena watched Bella's stomach move as if it was made of jelly. It did not resemble a usually pregnancy stomach whatsoever and the very sight had her gradually growing more and more concerned.

Rosalie lifted a scalpel, holding it against Bella's stomach before Edward stopped her. "Rose! Let the morphine spread," he half seethed, looking to his wife with so much concern in his eyes. He looked almost wild.

Athena acted quickly. She took one of Bella's hands, clasping it tightly as something t ground her and keep her connected through the entire mind-bending process."I got it, I got it," she ensured then delved into Bella's mind, deeply this time as she began working through the many pain receptors in her mind. She numbed receptor after receptor, severing some of the major ones completely.

"Get him out, now!" Bella yelled, bringing her out of her mind instantly. She watched as Rosalie made the cut along the bottom of her stomach, blood dripping down her stomach and Rosalie's hand. She then lifted the scalpel, watching the blood drip down her fingertips so intensely that it only meant one thing. Alice and Luna worked quicker than Rosalie could, knocking the blade from her hand before she could bring it to her lips. The two dragged her out of the room, ignoring Bella's calls after her.

"Lu!" Athena called, stopping the vampire in her tracks. " Go check on Jasper?" she asked, knowing full well that he would be able to smell the blood from upstairs. Luna nodded then disappeared, speeding upstairs and away from all the blood that burned her throat. "Bella I need you to keep breathing if there's no oxygen going to your brain I can't cut off the pain," Athena tried to keep her voice somewhat reassuring but the panic surrounding the entire room had her voice strung. Mind control worked differently for mortals. All the damage she did to the mind would be reversed at the single sign of lack of oxygen, like a factory reset.

She delved back into her mind again, this time finding it incredibly difficult to actually get to the pain receptors due to Bella's heightened blocking powers. It was probably something to do with the adrenaline that coursed through her veins mixed with the lacking morphine that was just beginning to take effect on her already numbed brain. Athena felt her own mind begin to spin as Bella's did, feeling the dulled symptoms that she had because of how deep she was in her mind. The screaming from Bella, the constant deafening screaming made it even the more difficult but she was trying her absolute hardest. She numbed the pain just as the morphine would, making sure not to leave one pain receptor untouched. She didn't care about the damage going to other things by accident, knowing that after all this was over she could quite simply reverse it.