I woke to sunlight streaming in from Alice's window, and I hoped it was an omen for the day. I dressed and did my morning things quickly, and was turning to leave Alice's room when she appeared in the doorway. Her expression was carefully controlled, and she met my eyes with complete honesty.

"He…isn't any better." She paused. "Actually, we think things might be a little worse…"

"How?" I blurted out, interrupting her before she could finish telling me.

She smiled at me indulgently for a moment, and then continued, "he's…drifting in and out of consciousness a bit. When you talk to him, he can't seem to pay attention for long, and some of the things he's saying are starting not to make sense."

This was bad. This was very, very bad. Vampires don't lose consciousness, unless they cease to exist, and nothing natural affects their minds. Vampires with special abilities could alter perception, I knew—an image of petite little Jane flashed through my mind and I shuddered—but this did not happen to them unless they were under attack. It occurred to me then that Edward truly was under attack, but from within rather than without.

"Is there nothing we can do?" I asked desperately, knowing that the answer was likely the same as yesterday.

Alice gazed at me levelly. "Carlisle is working on some theories," she replied evasively, as she turned to lead me down the hallway.

As I entered the room I knew immediately that the situation had changed for the worse. Everything in the room looked the same, even Edward, but the sense of his presence was…wrong, as if it somehow wasn't stable.

I was able to walk all the way to the bed and clasp his hand before he stirred at all, and then it was only to squeeze my hand. "Edward," I called softly, and he opened his eyes, still facing toward the opposite wall. I called his name again, and it took him a moment to follow the sound of my voice, and begin to turn his head in my direction. It was too painful to watch, so I reached out and turned his chin gently toward me. His eyes were palest pink at the edges this morning, almost white.

"Hey," I said, giving him my best smile, and he struggled to return it. I could tell his eyes were shifting in and out of focus, so I caressed the side of his face to try and help him stay with me.

"Hi," he said lazily, "I'm so glad you're here." He truly was glad to see me, but it was clear to me that if I asked him when I'd been there last, he wouldn't have been able to tell me. He reminded me of someone under the influence of morphine—I remembered how that had felt for me the previous year, and I could imagine the haze that he seemed to be floating in.

"How was school today?" he asked as his eyes drifted closed.

I debated whether to explain that it was Sunday and that it was early morning, but decided not to risk upsetting him. "Fine," I replied soothingly, "how was your day?"

That gave him pause for a moment, and I could see his eyebrows gather in concentration. "There are…holes in my memory," he said matter-of-factly, "but I think it's been better than yesterday. I don't think I've been in any pain…"

I glanced over my shoulder toward Alice, to see that she was slowly shaking her head.

I closed my eyes in resignation—this was going to be a rough day. But some part of me was glad for that, because an easier day would have meant one of two alternatives, one of which I wasn't willing to accept.

"What can I do for you today?" I asked, continuing to stroke the side of his face as I gazed at him, trying not to get used to seeing him this way.

"Talk to me," he breathed softly, and I scrambled to come up with something to say. As I dithered, I realized that it didn't matter what I said, he was only interested in hearing the sound of my voice as he lay there, floating in the haze. My voice would be an anchor to what he was trying to hold on to.

I started to tell him about my house in Phoenix, and my time growing up there with Mom. He had probably heard it all before, but that didn't matter –all that mattered was that I kept talking, and he kept listening.

I was telling him about the first time I met Phil when his chin suddenly dropped to his chest, and I cut off mid-sentence. "Edward? Edward!" I shrieked, my voice rising in volume and pitch with the second cry. He drew in a quick breath and nudged his chin upward, licking his lips as he exhaled. "Hmm?" he mumbled groggily.

At that moment, Alice and Carlisle appeared behind me, and Alice reached to take Edward's hand from mine. "Bella needs to talk to Carlisle, Edward, so I'm going to stay with you for a while."

Edward smiled a bit and mumbled, "Alice," as he breathed slowly, eyes still closed.

Carlisle steered me out the door and down the hall, and stopped at his study. He pulled me gently onto the red leather settee, and sat facing me. I stared at him blankly, still in shock from thinking that I'd lost Edward a few minutes earlier.

Carlisle took my hands in his, saying, "Edward's pain has stopped, I think. The last episode was about 12 hours ago, and this is the longest that it's been between them since this whole thing began."

"What does that mean?" I asked woodenly, afraid to hear the answer.

"It means that he's reached the turning point, the infection has run its course. Now, things will either get better or…" He left that sentence unfinished-a piece of mercy for both of us, and then continued, "I'm concerned that the blood from the hospital that we've been giving him is not strong enough to help him as much as he needs right now. I think it's better than animal blood, but it's not…fresh enough and it contains anticoagulants and other elements that one wouldn't encounter when drinking blood…the usual way."

He gazed at me searchingly. "I have a theory that normal human blood might help him to turn the corner, and come back to us..."

I looked at him, and allowed the implications of his statement to sink in layer by layer.

"…I think that your blood might be particularly helpful for him, given how strongly he's attracted to it."

I had been idly wondering who I'd be willing to sacrifice for Edward, and it was just occurring to me to be surprised that Carlisle would condone this, when his last statement sunk all the way in.

Me. I was the likely choice, because I was the most likely to succeed. I stared at Carlisle, and marveled at how much of his own beliefs he was willing to sacrifice in order to save his adopted son, and I knew that I was willing to give more. I was willing to give myself.

I spared sixty seconds thought for Charlie, Renee, and Jake, and for how much I would miss them. I took a deep breath before replying curtly, "Yes. How?"

This was not the response that Carlisle was expecting, and it took him a moment to catch up with my thoughts. His eyes widened. "No! Not that!" He pulled me toward him in an embrace, and exclaimed, "Bella, you already put your life forward to save his once this year, I should have known that's what you'd think I was asking! I'm sorry, so sorry! I would never ask that of you, even to save Edward's life. I could never live with myself, and there would be no living with him if I ever traded your life for his! No," he said, calming himself, "what I'd like to do is take some blood from you, not all of it."

I relaxed for a moment, and heaved a sigh of relief, until the nausea started licking at the edges of my stomach. "How are you going to take some blood?" I asked warily.

At that moment, Alice's voice rang out from down the hall, "Carlisle, I can't rouse him!"

Carlisle was up and gone before I could blink, and I followed as quickly as my human legs would carry me. When I rounded the corner, Carlisle was bending over Edward and listening at his lips, and he signed in relief and slumped a bit as he stood here. He turned toward us; the whole family had appeared in response to Alice's voice.

"He's still breathing," Carlisle declared, "so we still have time." He turned immediately to me. "If you're serious, Bella, now is the time. I don't know how long we have before he stops breathing, and I don't know what happens after that."

I didn't hesitate. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Okay." Carlisle sprang into action. In a matter of minutes, I was laying down on a cot beside Edward, my arm stretched toward him. While Carlisle was working out the logistics of how to get my blood into Edward, I was working out the logistics of how to get it out of me without vomiting. I was sure that that was something we didn't need in the middle of trying to save Edward.

Carlisle had set up some tubing and a pump between us, and he was having Jasper and Emmett hold Edward as he forced the end of the tube down Edward's throat. It was unnecessary—Edward offered no resistance to the invasion, and Carlisle was able to complete the procedure quickly.

Next, he turned to me. I had been lying there convincing myself that I could do this, but as Carlisle readied the needle and the tubing, it was all I could do not to bolt for the door.

"Do I have to be awake for this?" I asked plaintively, eyeing the instruments with terror etched on my face.

Carlisle smiled at me sympathetically. "I can't put you under, Bella, or the blood won't flow as fast and it will take too much of my attention to watch over the anesthesia while I'm trying to help Edward. But," he conceded, "I can give you some nitrous oxide so that you won't care what I'm doing."

Immediately I thought of an IV—that was even scarier than the blood draw. Again Carlisle read my mind, "I can have you inhale it as gas, no needles necessary."

Carlisle was gone and back in an instant, and he was holding a mask out toward me. Glancing nervously at Edward to ensure he was still breathing, I put the mask over my nose and mouth and lay back.

I heard the hiss of the gas begin immediately, and Carlisle popped back into my view. "Just relax and think about how happy you'll be to see Edward when this is all over," he said, and he disappeared from my field of vision for a minute…

Or was it more than that? I couldn't tell anymore, and I didn't really care. Carlisle appeared beside me, and started doing something to my arm, but I couldn't quite see what he was up to, so I turned my head the other way. Alice was standing there, holding my hand.

"Hey Alice," I said with a grin, and I giggled a bit.

Alice put her other hand on my forehead and said, "hang in there, it will be over soon."

"Sure, sure," I responded, wondering why the room was so crowded. Alice stood next to me, and Carlisle was on my other side, still holding my arm. Next to him, Jasper and Emmett stood on either side of Edward, holding his arms down to the bed and waiting for…something. I could hear Esme and Rosalie, but I couldn't see them.

Then all was blackness.

I floated on a sea of dreams, just below the surface of the water. Slowly, I could hear voices around me, but it took a while to sort them out.

I could hear Carlisle, and he was calling Edward's name. There was no answer, and this worried me for some reason. I waited, and after a few more calls, I heard Edward's voice.

"Wha..? I…what happened? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" he cried, and I heard what sounded like a struggle.

Carlisle's voice overrode the commotion. "She's fine, I promise you! I did what was necessary, and only that, to save your life!"

A pause.

"Really?" Edward said incredulously. "This is what you had to do…?"

"Yes," Carlisle said gravely, "it was my last option—my only hope."

"I guess it worked," Edward observed. "When will she wake?"

"I…" began Carlisle.

"Mmmhere," I slurred, as I struggled to open my ten pound eyelids. I finally snapped them open, and Edward was lying next to me on the hospital bed, his eyes a deeper red than I'd ever seen. It was a little bit shocking—I'd forgotten that his eyes had been red this week, and it took me a moment to realize why they were now a darker color than I'd ever seen. It was because of me, and what I'd done—what I'd given to save him.

His face broke into a relieved grin, and I could already tell that my sacrifice had been worth it. He was still lying on the bed, but he raised his head to smile at me, and he was there. Really and truly, all there—present completely in body and mind the way he'd always been as long as I'd known him. The relief was like bread for the starving.

Carlisle came to stand beside me, and gingerly held the inside of my wrist. He counted silently, and then smiled at me. "Bella, you'll be a bit tired today, but you should be fine by the time Alice needs to take you back to your house."

My house? I'd forgotten that it was Sunday and I had school tomorrow. The weekend from hell had made me lose track of everything.

Edward looked at me thoughtfully and winked. "Yes, I guess I'll have to head back to school, too."

"Not so fast," replied Carlisle. "It will still be a few days until you're back to your old self, and you have the small issue that you look like you belong in a horror movie."

Edward snorted.

"I think we will be able to give you some of the donated blood now…just until you're back on your feet! Then you can go and hunt with your brothers and return to your normal diet…and appearance." Carlisle truly smiled—for the first time in I didn't know how long.

Next, he turned to me. "Bella, you should be fine for the rest of the day here—I can't imagine that Edward would be tempted by you after the…excellent meal he just had. But you'll need to keep your distance until we can get him 'back on the wagon' again, so to speak."

Edward rolled his eyes at Carlisle and I frowned, but it quickly turned into a smile. I was just so happy to have him back that I would do anything, as long I as knew he still existed.

Edward ducked his head and looked at me from beneath his eyelashes; a look that I usually found very endearing, but the red eyes just made it comical. He teased playfully, "So, you couldn't resist sticking your neck out for me again, eh? You're at least one up on me now, you know."

I grinned at him impishly and reached across the bed to take his hand. "Didn't you know? Donating blood saves lives!"

Carlisle winked at me as he left the room, and as I closed my eyes, I heard Edward's deep chuckle beside me.