In Paris 1723

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Chapter Seventy-Nine - Just a Theory

*Genevieve*

Sitting on the couch, we all were dead silent as the TV played, the football announcer calling the plays as they happened.

"Washington driving into the red zone, almost stripped of the ball. He stood up and Calvin finally..."

We all shifted our gaze as we saw Bella adjust the arm of her sweater. The IV that we had put in her hand, tried to give her the nutrients that both she and the baby needed.

"Are you cold?" Edward asked, looking her over in concern. She let out a mumble and nodded her head, carefully adjusting to not move her IV.

"I got it," Jacob said, immediately shifting to sit closer to Bella, using his body heat to instantly warm her up. She gave him a small smile as he rested his hand on her leg. "Don't do that."

"What?" She muttered, looking at him in confusion.

"Smile like I'm your favorite person in the world," he said softly to her.

"You're one of them," she replied softly to him, her eyes closing as she leaned back against the pillows. "Feels complete when your here, Jake."

Edward watched the two interact with a close eye, still trying to understand the connection that they held for each other. Bella's eyes suddenly opened, she swung her legs down and let out a painful moan. Edward swiftly pulled over the metal bucket and placed it under Bella's head. She didn't use it but rather continued to whimper painfully.

"We need to find a way to get some food into her system," Esme said nervously, watching as the girl stayed bent over.

"If I could only see the fetus-" Alice started, shaking her head disappointingly.

"-the baby," Rose interjected, looking from Bella to the pixie-haired girl.

"-maybe I could figure out what it wants," Alice continued, not acknowledging what Rose had said in the slightest.

We all fell silent as we tried to think of ways to get food into Bella's system. Edward's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked at Jacob.

"I think you might be right," he said softly. "Jacob just had an idea."

Jacob scoffed as he looked back at Edward. "It wasn't an idea. It was a snide comment."

"What were you thinking?" Carlisle asked, hopeful that the comment could help Bella's deteriorating health.

"That it's probably just looking for someone to sink its teeth into," he said simply, a small smirk appearing on his face as he finished.

Bella thought it over before slowly turning her head to look at Edward. "He's thirsty."

"I know the feeling," Emmett joked weakly. The rest of us let out a a weak chuckle, knowing full well he was completely serious.

I smiled weakly at his attempt to lighten the somber mood, Theo resting a hand on my shoulder, helping to distract me from the thought of my burning thrust.

"If it's craving, it's not gonna want animal blood," Edward thought out loud, looking at me and Carlisle.

"I have some O Negative laid aside for Bella," Carlisle said, leaving the room to grab the bag of blood.

Knowing that Jasper's control was at an all-time low, Alice swiftly stood up and gave him a small smile, holding out her hand. "Walk with me."

When he made no effort to move his hand into hers, she bent down and intertwined their hands. Causing him and stand up and follow out of the room, his back stiff and straight the entire time. Rose sent Emmett a little nod and he regretfully got up and started to leave. Theo pressed a kiss to my temple before moving to walk with Emmett out of the room.

Carlisle came back into the room, dumping a blood bag into a glass cup, his eyes shining with hope at the idea of finding something to help Bella.

Jacob's eyes widened at the sight of the blood and the cup, quickly looking back at Edward incredulously.

"Wait, wait, wait," he exclaimed, "you're gonna make her drink that?"

Carlisle looked up from the cup, for a moment with an understanding smile.

"It's the fastest way to test the theory," he explained patiently.

"Only if you're comfortable with it," Edward said, giving Bella a look of reassurance. They would be willing to try a different idea if she said no.

"I'll try anything," Bella said weakly, lifting her head up from the pillow for a second.

Edward froze for a second before standing up and walking over to Carlisle. "Just hold on."

"I thinking gonna be sick," Jacob muttered, his hand reaching up to cover his mouth as he scooted away from Bella, a green tinge appearing across his face.

Biting back my smirk, I leaned over and moved the bucket over so he could reach it better, making sure that it was still close to Bella at the same time.

Edward walked back into the room with a styrofoam cup, the lid placed on with a plastic straw stuck into it. He squatted down in front of Bella, looking from her to the cup. "This might make it a little easier to take."

She lifted herself up and looked from Edward, down to the cup, then back up to him again. As she slowly took the cup, Jacob only scooted further down the couch.

She took a small sigh as she looked down at the cup, mentally preparing herself for it. Slowly, she lifted it up to her lips and started to drink it, the dark red liquid being pulled up the straw and into her mouth. She pulled the straw away and swallowed, pausing for a minute to think about how it was before looking back up at us.

"Tastes... good," she announced, making Edward smile a little. She scoffed as he looked back down at the drink, pulling it closed to her lips and drinking more.

I moved over closer to her and gently took her hand, feeling for her normally weak pulse. Smiling, I felt it slowly being to grow stronger. Not bothering to hide my smile, I look up at both her and Edward. "Your pulse is already getting stronger."

"It's working," Esme commented, thinking too much about not drinking the blood herself to show any excitement. Rose did the same, squeezing Esme's shoulders as she gave the girl a small smile.

It worked.

The blood worked.

We all let out a relieved sigh, we had some sort of way to get her nutrients to, hopefully, help give her body, and the baby, a much needed chance to survive. It was a start. A really good start.

_______

don't forget to comment and vote!
-T