Chapter 1

Comatose

It was a beautiful winter's day. The sun was shining, glistening off the snow as if it consisted of thousands of unique little diamonds, the birds were singing and the trees had that beautiful dusting of snow on their branches. Everything in Bella's world seemed as though it was in Technicolor. The world was more vibrant and magical; colors were brighter, smells were stronger and Bella was truly stunning to behold.

Bella's world was truly magnificent. She had everything; Edward, their beautiful daughter Renesmee, a new family of Cullens, Jacob, and most importantly her immortality. It seemed like ages had past between the time she decided she wanted to join Edward's world and the time he made it be so. She had been afraid, prior to being turned, about what her new life would be like, but she never could have dreamed how perfectly it would turn out.

Bella's transition had been seamless…..more perfect than she could have imagined. She was not like the other newborns that had been described to her or the ones she had seen in person during the battle. She did have a thirst for blood, but she was able to withstand the temptation and not kill anyone. It was a transition like no other; she was truly remarkable. The Cullens were fascinated by her and it gave her an intense feeling of pride and acceptance. For the first time in Bella's entire life she truly felt as though she belonged.

If it all hadn't felt so real she would have thought it too good to be true. It was amazing to her just how perfectly everything had turned out; even better than if she had written it herself. She was able to keep both of the men she loved close to her and everyone turned out happy. Sure, imprinting on her child might not have been Jake's first choice, but at least they found a way to be happy together forever.

For the first time Bella could spend time with her best friend and not have Edward be insanely jealous and trying to "protect" her from the werewolf. They would go on hunting trips together; sometimes Jake would be in wolf form and participate in the hunts, and other times he just came along for the company.

It was a day like so many other days had been; sunny and peaceful. Bella, Jake and Renesmee were on one of their hunting trips in the woods. Renesmee was getting so big; she seemed to change before their very eyes. Bella did not know exactly how long it would take for her beautiful baby girl to grow to maturity, so she wanted to spend as much time with her as possible so that she didn't lose even one unnecessary moment in her life.

As they were walking through the woods, something inside Bella began to feel wrong. She felt torn between her perfect world and another one completely. How was this even possible? Her world seemed like it was fading away into oblivion. What was happening to her perfect life with her perfect family? Panic rose in her throat and she looked at Jacob, desperately wanting him to shake her from this weird world her mind was threatening to take her. Her mouth formed the words "Jacob, help me!" but it just came out in puffs of air. Her hand went to her throat, what was happening to her? She finally had all that she wanted and it was threatening to disappear. "Please no--!" she thought in her mind, and then realized that somewhere far away from her garden of Eden, she was being grabbed and held, being brought from her fairytale more and more with each second.

"Bella! Bella! Please wake up!" Edward pleaded, desperately holding onto her, trying so hard to get her to come back to reality, where she belonged.

He frantically felt her forehead, the fever seemed to have broken, but why was she not waking up? If he was capable of tears, he would have been shedding them all over her t-shirt. It had been days since she slipped into this nightmarish coma and he didn't know if she'd ever wake up again.

As Edward sat there, desperately trying to force Bella awake with sure willpower, he felt eyes on him. He looked up and he was there. Despite the intense situation at hand Edward couldn't prevent the memories from flooding back to him. Kiss me and then come back. Those words played over and over in his head like a one song playlist set to repeat over and over for days on end. Kiss me Jacob, and then come back. "What do you want?" Edward snapped, a lot harsher than he had intended.

Jacob looked taken aback for a second, wasn't he usually the one being aggressive? "I just wanted to see how she was doing."

"Her fever's down."

Jacob reached a hand out to feel her forehead, but Edward smacked it away, "don't touch her. With your body heat you could send her temperature soaring again."

Jacob folded his arms at the bloodsucker; his arch enemy. He glanced down at Bella's left hand and eyed the gigantic rock on her third finger and rage filled him, he feared he might phase right there in Bella's bedroom.

After Bella had made her choice and had agreed to marry Edward, Jacob became the wolf and ran off for a long time, maybe he would have stayed that way forever if word of Bella's condition had not reached him. He still wasn't sure how Sam had managed to communicate with him from so far away, but he had been glad that he could.

"I didn't come here to fight with you again." Jacob eyed Edward coolly, looking him straight in the eye. "She's my friend and I wanted to see her."

"Well, now that you've seen her could you just leave?"

Jacob glared at Edward, "No, I can't just leave. I need to speak with her; I need her to know that everything's alright, I'm back now."

Edward rolled his eyes, "I don't see what good that will do, she can't hear you anyway. Trust me; I've been talking for days."

"And I'm sure that was such an inconvenience for you." Jacob folded his arms over his chest, "I'll relieve you of your duties for a while. You can go hunt or whatever it is that you do to get your jollies."

Edward snarled at him, "I will not leave her side."

"Yes you will. This is Charlie's house and I think he would like for me to get a chance to see her and talk to her. Clearly whatever you've been doing hasn't done any good, maybe I can get through to her."

Edward snickered, "I'm her fiancé."

"And I'm the big bad wolf." Jacob pushed him aside so that he could sit at Bella's side and take her hand in his own. "Go away, leech."

Edward seethed and literally growled, ready to attack, but then he thought better of it, sighed and left the room.

Jacob turned his attention to the beautiful comatose girl that he loved. He gently caressed her hand with his thumb as he found his eyes focusing on the floor. "Bella, I shouldn't have left. I should have accepted that you love Edward more than you'll ever love me and accepted defeat gracefully. Bells, you know I love you, and I always will. Nothing will ever change that; nothing.

Anyway, I'm sorry that I ran away because I couldn't face you and I couldn't stand the idea of you marrying that, that….Edward and becoming one of them. It was wrong to take off and worry you, I know I caused this sickness, Bells, and I'm so sorry. But, I'm back now and I'm not going anywhere ever again."

Maybe he was trying too hard to see a reaction from her at his words, or maybe he was just crazy, but he thought he saw her eyelids flutter a bit, as if she was struggling to open them.

"Bella, Bella, everything is just fine. Wake up, come back to me." Kiss me and come back. Ugh, why must he always be reminded of that luscious moment by the tent, her arms around his neck, kissing him back? I love you, Jacob. Her words had cut through him like a knife but it felt blissful, like a sunset over the water.

Jacob struggled with his inner demons for a few minutes, having taken his eyes from Bella's face. When his eyes caught back on to her, she seemed as though she was stirring and rejoining the land of the living.

"Bella, honey….I'm here."

Bella's eyes opened, very slowly, and she had trouble adjusting to the light. It was as if she was struggling to see light in a completely new way. "Jake?" her voice sounded funny, she thought, deeper and more human-like.

"It's me, I'm here." He told her, ecstatic. "How do you feel?"

"Weird." She looked around, taking in the sights around her. She noticed her bookshelf, full of her favorites, her window that she had sat and stared out of month after month after Edward had left her for Italy. She took in the pictures on the wall, the closet and dresser…it was her room at Charlie's. Why had they brought her here, didn't they know it could be dangerous for her to be here?

"Did I pass out in the woods?"

"What?"

"When we were hunting." A look of intense fear rang through her, "Where's Renesmee, is she alright?"

Jacob looked at her as if she had grown three new heads, "Renes-who?"

"Renesmee. My baby, the one you imprinted on?"

Jacob looked horrified, "You don't have a daughter, Bella, and I've never imprinted on anyone, especially not a baby."

"What are you talking about? She is the most beautiful and perfect child. She has my eyes….well, my human eyes, and Edward's pale skin, with just a hint of a shimmer…." She continued to go on and on about this child and Jacob drowned her out, wondering what kind of drugs she was on. Had Edward messed with her head? He sat there, staring off into space for quite some time, before turning back to look at her. She seemed different; lost. She looked down at her body and made a face, why was her skin darker than it had been? She desperately tried to reach out for her lamp, but she wasn't strong enough. "Jake, can you bring me my lamp."

"Huh?" He asked, being dragged back to reality. "Oh" he said as the realization of what she wanted hit him. He grabbed her lamp and brought it over to her. "What do you want this for?"

"I need to look at my skin." She turned it on and stuck her arm right up under the ultraviolet light bulb to inspect her skin. She looked at her arm, puzzled, something was definitely wrong. She had a horrified expression on her face and Jacob reacted concerned. "What's the matter, Bells?"

"My skin's plain."

"Huh?"

"It's not sparkling."

Jacob looked at her really confused, "why in the world would it be sparkling?"

"Because Edward turned me."

Jacob's face contorted into a grimace of shock and horror. He jumped to his feet, feeling as though he might phase, "he what?!"

"He turned me after I had the baby; it was the only way I would have lived."

"Bells, you're really scaring me." He reached out to feel her head, then he realized that was stupid because her skin would always seem cool to him.

"No, you were there too. You saw me afterwards and I told you how much you do actually smell." She cocked her head to the side, "You don't remember?" He just looked at her blankly and she clutched her hand to her chest. What she felt almost startled her to death….her heart was beating.

Before she knew what was happening to her, big messy tears were pouring from her eyes and she wrapped her arms around herself, the way she always did, as a method of self protection. "What's wrong with me? I'm not beautiful anymore."

Jacob was floored; he had no idea what to do. In that moment he realized that he actually needed Edward's help; maybe he would know how to calm her from her state of confusion. "I'm going to get Edward." She didn't move or respond, she just sat there, crying, not understanding what was happening to her.

Edward sat across from her on her bed, looking straight into her eyes. He had sent Jacob home, but he had refused to leave, saying that he was going to sit in the living room and wait for Charlie to get home. Edward had been irritated, but when he saw how Bella was behaving, he understood why Jacob would have been concerned.

"Bella, love, what's the matter?" Edward asked her, gently stroking her wrist with his cool thumb.

"Why is your touch so cold?"

"Because I'm a vampire, sweetheart."

"But, I'm supposed to be one too. I am, you turned me and I was beautiful and perfect. I had these amazing abilities to withstand temptation against human blood and I discovered that I was a shield who could protect people from the powers of the Volturi and other vampires."

"Bella, you aren't a vampire. You are still human, until after we are married and you are ready to be turned."

Tears were streaming down her face, her chest heaved with her sobs, "I want it back, I want my life back."

"You have your life, my love; you have your beautiful, human life."

As Bella sobbed against Edward's chest upstairs in her room, Jake sat on the couch flipping through channels downstairs in the living room. There was a good part of him that wished he had never come home, that he had just continued to run freely as the wolf. He sighed, hearing her sobs of complete emptiness through the ceiling. There weren't very many things that he knew for certain, but one thing he did know was that Bella was completely settled to be a bloodsucker forever, and there was little (if anything at all) he could do to change that.