Rebirth (Twilight Saga - Pregnant with the next generation)

Chapter 26: Homeward Bound

But the room was too dark and dirty and Esme was in too much pain to do an examination here, in this setting.

He lifted her as carefully as he could from the soiled mattress and soon after lay her on the double king size bed of the hotel room he had paid double for to get on such short notice.

She had already fallen asleep by the time Carlisle had returned from the linen closet with a pile of fresh towels.

She stirred slightly at the feel of the warm rough towel against her skin as Carlisle bathed her, he could have cried when he washed away the dirt and blood to find her perfect skin a swollen mottled mass of bruises and abrasions.

“Shhh, don’t move Esme. If you’re spotting you need complete bed rest I can’t let you shower or bathe by yourself yet”.

“Is he okay?” she asked hoarsely. “I don’t know yet, angel” he said truthfully. She nodded in understanding and lay back, focusing all her energies on healing the baby in her womb and relaxing her muscles”.

He lifted her gently so that she was semi-sitting up, leaning back against the pillows so that she could see what was going on. “I’m sorry Esme but this might hurt”. She shook her head “Just make sure our baby is okay Carlisle” she said urgently, closing her eyes in preparation for the pain the exam would bring. Unlike the piercing scrabbling fingers of Jane, Carlisle‘s hands soothed her as he gently parted her legs. His hand skimmed her thigh comfortingly as he finished. “Es, you’re not in labour. The baby’s just under a lot of stress which is causing the placenta to detach which is causing the bleeding. You just need lots of rest and proper nourishment so that you don't start to hemmorrhage which is likely if the placenta goes through a full abruption.

In a way, the Volturi’s mistreatment of you stalled your labour from happening; that or an act of God my darling”.

He pressed a hand to the underside of her belly and brought hers down to feel. “Can you feel that?” She frowned for a moment before flopping back against the pillows: “He’s alive” she breathed “I, I couldn’t feel him Carlisle I was so scared, are you sure he’s alright?”

“He’s hanging in there for the moment, and it looks like the bleeding has slowed down as well, but I still think it’s safer to keep you here for the night than try to move you now. The bruising and swelling kept you from feeling him before so when you can do a kick count of ten every hour we can go back to the house and I can run some more comprehensive tests".

He pulled several large steel thermoses out of a backpack and unscrewed the lid. As soon as Esme realized its contents she looked up at her husband questioningly.

His shoulders sagged as he spoke; “I’m not proud of what I did Esme, but I promise you this man was going to die anyway – without question. There was a car accident near the mountains, his, he was barely recognizable and his heart was one beat away from stopping so I drained what blood still remained in his veins; he had less than a minute of life left and he was in pain. He couldn’t have been saved unless I changed him and though we have peace with the Volturi right now they would not stand for any unauthorized creation”.

She nodded slowly and tried to bring the cup to her lips but she was so weak that the effort shook her arms and she had to lay the thermos down so that it didn’t spill.

Carlisle climbed into bed, careful not to move her too much but somehow she ended up cradled against his chest, leaning against him as he brought the cup to her lips.

He saw the thirst blacken her eyes but he stopped her from finishing it all. She growled at him before blushing in embarrassment. He pressed her head back against his shoulder; “slow, Es, take it slow. Your stomach isn’t used to so much rich food all at once. You probably weren’t able to keep down what the Volturi gave you were you?”

She shook her head and he continued “it’s a popular form of torture I’ve seen them use on prisoners before during my time there. They offer a dying vampire more blood than he can handle and watch as the thirst destroys him.

He rubbed her belly in soothing circles until she was sure what she had drank would stay down and then he offered her some more, repeating the cycle until her eyes had returned to a liquid honey amber and her colour was better. “Are you feeling better?” he asked, shifting so that he could look her in the eyes but she grabbed him so that he wouldn’t move away and kept his hand on her belly.

He felt her shiver in his arms once before she began to cry, big heaving sobs that shook her whole body and she found she couldn’t stop. And he found that all he could do was hold her tight in his arms and rock her, murmuring to her words of comfort and love that he repeated to their baby.

He cried with her as she told him what they had done to her, what she had had to do to survive, and that she didn’t know if she would have been able to do it if it wasn’t for the baby in her belly.

Into the night, he held her as she slept in fitful bursts, punctuated by night terrors that woke her screaming until Carlisle lulled her back to sleep.

Late the next morning she woke not to the four concrete walls that had made up her hell but to the beautiful eyes of her one love; he helped her to the bathroom as she was still so weak and then took her face in his hands and kiss her ardently.

“You’re not bleeding anymore” he whispered, his voice hoarse with pent up emotion “it’s stopped, almost completely”. He filled the spa sized whirlpool tub in the corner and instead of helping her up the steps lifted her effortlessly into his arms and lowered her into the warm water.

He positioned her so that she was straddling his lap facing him and with one hand on her lower back and one holding the back of her head he dipped her back into the water, taking all the weight off of her tired swollen body as he let her float.

Dipping a bar of soap in the perfumed water, he lathered her shoulders and worked his way down her body with his hands, cleaning her and freeing her from every horrible memory of the past week.

As he turned the showerhead on to rinse the soapy lather from her body he kissed every bruise and cut as the soap was washed off. “Carlisle” she moaned out and he laughed sadly “I can’t Es, not while you’re still so hurt. I don’t want to bring on the labour until we’re at home where I’m set up to deliver you”. “Then just hold me, tightly, and don’t let go no matter what. Promise me?” she searched his eyes with her own worried ones and he kissed them shut as he lay her back down on the mattress. “I promise you cara mia, I’m never letting you go again I swear it”.

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10 comments again before I update, let's try to elaborate a bit more shall we? Lol :) So it looks like Esme is back in Carlisle's arms as well as their baby, Hooray! But the drama isn't over yet. You'll see :) Next chapter you find out Alice and Rose's babies' names!!!

So comment comment comment! As ever, TLH <3 xoxo