Fic: More

[kermit-thefrog.livejournal.com]

Title: More
Rating: PG
Warning: Mpreg
Summary: My speculation on what might have happened if Edward had gotten pregnant, not Bella. Not a funny story.
Word Count: 1703
Disclaimer: SMeyer's. Not mine.

“He’s been gone for a week,” Esme fretted, gazing out the window. “I’m afraid to even think what that means.”

“Don’t bother. We already know,” Rosalie spoke up from the piano bench, where she’d been tapping disinterestedly at the keys. “He’s out there eating people.”

“Rosalie!” Esme said sharply. “We don’t know that.”

Rosalie slammed the piano lid down so hard it cracked. “Well, it’s more than likely! He’s got some kind of mind-controlling tapeworm inside him telling him to drink blood. Human blood! When he comes back, he’s not going to be the same. Why can’t you just face that?”

“Rose,” Carlisle’s quiet voice came from behind them. “We all know it’s possible that Edward’s gone off his diet. We simply don’t want to imagine what that will mean when he returns. Don’t take your worry out on Esme.”

Rosalie crossed her arms in front of her chest and glanced sideways at her foster mother. “Sorry, Esme.”

Esme gave her a brief nod. “That’s all right, dear.” She returned her gaze to the forest below them. “Emmett and Jasper are on their way back. Maybe they’ll have news.”

The phone rang, and Rosalie picked it up as Emmett and Jasper entered the house.

“Anything?” Esme pleaded. Emmett shook his head.

“Trail’s gone cold. Best we can figure, he was headed towards Canada.”

“What else?” Carlisle said, watching Jasper closely. The blond vampire fidgeted, but finally spoke.

“There weren’t any animal kills anywhere we could see,” he said. “But...there were traces of human blood about thirty miles from here, in a campground. No bodies, but we could smell it all over the place.”

Esme covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, God.”

“It doesn’t mean Edward--” Emmett started, but was interrupted when Rosalie jostled between him and Carlisle, holding out the phone.

“It’s Alice. She just Saw Edward.”

Carlisle grabbed the phone and put it on speaker. “Alice, what did you see?”

“He’s coming back home,” Alice replied, sounding nervous. “I haven’t been able to see much for the past few days, but I can see him very clearly now. He wants to come home.”

Even though they couldn’t breathe,  the family sighed with relief nonetheless.

“Alice, do you have any idea if he’s....fed on anyone?” Carlisle said hesitantly.

There was a pause. “I don’t know. All I know is, he wants to see Bella.”

“How’s she holding up?” Rosalie said over Esme’s shoulder.

“Not well. I’ve had to lock her in their bedroom. She keeps wanting to go looking for him with us, no matter how many times I tell her that we’re not using her as bait...again.”

The same thought occurred to Rose and Emmett. “Alice,” Emmett said hastily. “How far d’you reckon Edward is from here?”

“A day, maybe two. Do you think we should keep Bella away from him when he comes back?”

“That would be the wisest course of action,” Carlisle confirmed. “If he has been...feeding on humans, she’s the last thing we should put in his way. It’ll take most of us to keep him confined until he can re-adjust to animal blood.”

“At least she’s being quiet. She was carrying on like anything earlier.”

Rosalie motioned for Carlisle to hand her the phone, which he did. She took it off speaker.

“Alice, have you checked on Bella lately? As in, actually opened the door and seen her?”

There was a pause. Rosalie heard a faint creaking, Alice calling “Bella?” and a sharp gasp.

“She’s gone! She climbed out the bathroom window!”

Rosalie would have laughed if it hadn’t been just what she’d feared.

“I figured. Go after her.”  She hung up the phone and turned to Jasper. “Go help her look for Bella, she can’t have gone far.”

Jasper, who was usually the most resistant to taking orders from her, nodded and took off out the door once again.

“She ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed some days,” Emmett sighed. “I love her, but she’s--”

“In serious danger if Edward finds her before we do,” Esme interrupted. “Rose, Emmett, go look for her. Carlisle and I will be here if Edward comes back before you do. I don’t care how long it takes, you find her.”

“What if he finds her before we do?” Rosalie asked. Esme’s face tightened, and Carlisle bowed his head.

“We’ll have to pray that doesn’t happen.”

***

Bella wasn’t sure where she was headed, but she had no intention of going back until she found Edward. Remembering the camping trip during the battle against Victoria’s army, she’d taken enough food and clothes for several days, as well as her wallet and phone. She’d only waited until Alice had told Carlisle that Edward was within a day from Forks before she’d shouldered her backpack and gone into the bathroom to open the small window and fling herself out.

She knew that they’d look for her. She also knew that their sense of smell would lead them to her in a matter of minutes if she wasn’t careful. So she’d tossed a shirt into a bush, a pair of socks against some tree roots, and a winter scarf up into the branches of an old oak before setting off in the opposite direction. This would slow them down for at least half an hour, which would give her time to get somewhere.

Bella smiled at her own cleverness. It was better to do this alone. It didn’t matter where she went, because Edward would find her. She was a walking target for him. So technically she couldn’t get lost even if she didn’t know where she was. It was a comforting thought.

Well, mostly. She didn’t like the idea of running into Edward after he’d fed on humans. If it really was as addictive as he said, it would be very hard to keep him from feeding on her. Biting her. Changing her.

I can handle that, she thought breezily. It had been the plan all along, and what did it matter if this was when and how it happened? They’d both get what they wanted in the end.

There was just the trouble of that...thing Edward had contracted. As far as Alice knew, he still had it in him. But maybe he didn’t. Maybe he’d gone away to find a way to kill it, and now he was coming back, his old self, to tell her how grateful he was to be back.

Yes, that was the best scenario to focus on. Bella firmly shut her mind to any other possibility. Nothing would stop her from being happy this time around.

She continued walking away from the house, keeping the sound of the highway within earshot so she didn’t become hopelessly lost, and tried to imagine what she would say or do when she saw Edward again.

After about an hour, she stopped to eat a sandwich, keeping an eye out for any familiar Cullen faces besides Edward’s.  Pleased that her trick seemed to have baffled them, she licked mayonnaise off her fingers and stood, brushing crumbs off her jacket and preparing to leave.

“Bella?”

With a shriek, she whipped around, stumbling back several steps when she saw Edward only a foot away from her.  She stared mutely at him, taking in the changes that had occurred in the two agonizingly long weeks since he had left her.

She’d never seen him so....beautiful. There was color in his face, his hair shone coppery-gold in the weak sunlight, and his eyes were leonine yellow. Even his skin seemed to glow more than sparkle. She was entranced, drinking in the vision as if it was water and she was dying of thirst.

“Edward....” she breathed, once she remembered how. “Where have you been? We’ve all been so worried.”

He shifted his weight, and that’s when she noticed that under his shirt--which must have been one he found, because it was certainly not as elegant as anything he usually wore--the unsightly bulge that had first appeared during their honeymoon had...grown. Considerably. It was at least the size of a pregnant woman’s stomach during her last trimester.

Bella wanted to look away from it and refocus on Edward’s face, but she couldn’t. “Edward...what happened?”

Edward followed her gaze and smiled, cupping the bulge tenderly. “It’s all right, Bella. He’s happy now.”

“Happy?” Bella echoed thoughtlessly, dread tingling up her spine. “What--what do you mean? And why are you calling it ‘he?’”

“Our baby,” Edward said patiently, stepping closer and tracing a finger down her face. “I began hearing his thoughts two weeks ago. That’s why I had to leave. He was so hungry, and so helpless...I needed to feed him, to make him strong and healthy so he could live. It was all for him.”

Bella stood absolutely still, riveted with fear. “You mean, feed...on humans?”

Edward chuckled condescendingly. “Of course. He didn’t seem to enjoy deer blood at all.” He took one of her limp hands and pressed it to the side of his stomach. “He’s so much stronger now. And he wanted me to come back to you. He loves you.”

Bella trembled. “Edward, Carlisle won’t be happy when he finds out you were eating humans. He can help you.  Everyone’s looking for you--”

Edward pulled her closer and kissed her, and for a moment, she forgot about everything. He smelled wonderful, and he looked so much better. Maybe Carlisle would understand---

Then he sank his teeth into her throat, and she screamed in spite of herself.

He’s changing me! she thought for one joyful moment. But when he didn’t release her, when she began to feel weak and her vision darkened, she realized that he wasn’t changing her. He was feeding on her. Feeding it. And he wasn’t going to stop until she was drained dry.

The last thing she remembered before everything went dark was the voices of Rosalie and Alice running toward them, shouting and pulling Edward off her. As she fell to the ground, she saw his bloody face staring down not at her,  but at his stomach.

“He loves you so much.”

Fin

Comments

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

AWESOME. Great job and very dark.