I opened my eyes slowly, not wanting to really see what was in front of me. I could picture the destruction that would be around me. Alice had crashed the car. She promised me she wouldn’t but she had.
But wait a minute. Was that a breeze? Could I feel a breeze on my face? That wasn’t right. I was in a car that was probably the shape of a zoute krakeling, krakeling now.
I was in the middle of a road. Literally. I was sat in the middle of a road. Ahead of me I could see a car crash. Wait.
That was the car crash I was in two seconden ago. Well, I was supposed to be in. I definitely remember sitting in the passenger seat. I remembered shouting at Alice to watch the road. I remembered seeing the headlights of the other car that was in front of us. The car that was about to hit us.
And then I was here.
But how?
There was the tiniest kick ever. I looked down at my stomach. There was another tiny kick. So gentle that I almost didn’t feel it.
“You did this?” I asked her.
Another gentle kick. Wait. That wasn’t a gentle kick. She never kicked gently. Not anymore. She didn’t know how to control her strength. Yeah, she was smart but she was still only a foetus.
Panic rose up and I tried to stand up but dizziness had me sitting back down. Why was I dizzy?
“Kayla!”
Alice appeared from God knows where in front of me, a look of absolute relief on her face.
“Are u okay?” she asked, looking me over. “One minuut u where there and then u weren’t. I wasn’t going to crash the car if that’s why u jumped out. I mean, I know it crashed it now but that was because I was freaking out because u had disappeared and-”
“Alice!” I cut across her. Her face turned from relief to panic. “There’s something wrong. She’s not kicking hard enough. Her kicks are too gentle.”
Alice passed me her cell phone and then her eyes unfocused. I dialled one of the few numbers I had memorized.
“Alice, what’s wrong?” Edward’s velvety voice was laced with fear.
“I think there’s something wrong with the baby,” I cried down the phone to Edward. “She’s not kicking hard.”
“I’m coming,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Hurry.”

Carlisle’s POV

I studied the letter in front of me and if my hart-, hart was still beating I knew it would be racing now.

Dear friend, how are you?
It has been brought to my attention that Edward has married a human. As u well know, this kind of event breaches one of our most valued laws. Our kind is to remain a secret, it is key to our survival.
I do not wish to punish Edward, it would be a waste. I am therefore offering u a chance. u have two options. u know what they are.

I suggest u carry out your plan as quickly as possible. If I hear no news of a change I will send a seconde letter. After the seconde letter, I will visit the happy couple myself along with my brothers and a few chosen members of the Guard.
Remember, I do not give seconde chances, not even to u old friend.

Aro

I placed it on my desk. How would Aro know of Edward’s marriage? Is he watching us? I know that he would like Edward to kom bij him. Is that why he would watch?
“Carlisle?”
I looked up from the letter to see Esme standing in the doorway of my study.
“Danny’s brought the incubator from the hospital.” she said. “Where would u like it?”
“Could u put it in our room?” I asked her. “I will need to make some space in the other room for it.”
“Of course, dear,” she said. She smiled at me and then left.
With Kayla growing bigger every day, it was only a matter of time before she couldn’t grow anymore. The baby will be born premature and an incubator will be needed for her.
I folded the letter over once and put it in the top, boven drawer of my desk. As soon as Edward was home pagina I would discuss it with him. Of course, Edward had not breached any law. Kayla wasn’t human. Did Aro know of the existence of Kayla’s race? He must, he’s been alive longer than I have.
“Carlisle!”
That was Alice. Why would she shout my name? I would have heard her if she’d whispered. Something must me wrong.
Alice was standing in the hallway, Kayla in her arms. Kayla looked frightened and she was clutching her stomach tightly.
Immediately I took Kayla in my arms and straight to the other room. This room was like a mini hospital. I lay her on the hospital bed that in the centre of the room while Esme brought over the ultra sound machine.
“I knew the baby was going to kick her hard enough that she would need you,” Alice spoke fast. “I tried to get her out of Charlie’s as quickly as possible but while we were in the car the baby kicked her and I looked away from the road. When I turned back there was a car speeding towards us and Kayla had disappeared. I crashed the car because I was freaking out. I didn’t know where Kayla had gone.”
Kayla didn’t say anything. There was fear in her green eyes.
“Something’s wrong,” she spoke quietly. “She’s not kicking hard enough.”
“Did u jump from the car?” I asked her as I snapped on a pair of white gloves.
“No, I didn’t jump,” she replied. “I think the baby did something.”
Esme passed me the bottle of gel and I lifted Kayla’s top.
“You think the baby got u out of the car?” I squeezed gel onto her bare skin.
“Yes. It was like once seconde I was in the car, the volgende on the road. It wasn’t me, I swear.”
I placed the probe on her skin and searched for the baby. My mind was clear of any negative thoughts. I didn’t want to alarm Kayla. I found her but it was not good news.
“The umbilical cord has detached from the placenta,” I told her. “The baby is not receiving any oxygen.”
“Is that even possible?” Esme asked. She was standing at the head of the bed, soothingly stroking Kayla’s hair.
“I don’t know,” I said, placing the probe on top, boven of the machine. “But it seems it is now.”
“I’ll call Edward,” Alice said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket as she left.
“I’ll call Rosalie and keep her away from here,” Esme said. She kissed Kayla’s forehead before leaving too.
“What are u going to do?” Kayla asked me, fear in her voice. “You’re going to save her, right?”
At my highest speed I prepared the equipment I would need to perform an emergency caesarean. I do not know why but Kayla’s own healing ability hadn’t kicked in and attached the cord back to the placenta. Maybe because it wasn’t affecting Kayla but the baby. Whatever it was I had to save the baby.
“I am going to inject u with morphine,” I told Kayla as I filled the needle. “It won’t take all of the pain away but it’s all I have.”
She nodded.
“I am going to make an incision,” I informed her as I injected her with the morphine. “to open your abdomen. This will let me get to your uterus and therefore your baby. It won’t take me as long as a normal doctor so the baby will be out fast enough.”
She nodded again.
“The morphine will be working now.” I washed her abdomen with antibacterial solution and picked up a scalpel. “Are u ready?”
She nodded again.
I made a horizontal incision across her abdomen. I heard her wince but otherwise she didn’t toon any other signs of pain. She began to bleed and before she began to heal I reached for the forceps to hold open the incision. With the forceps in place I cut through the uterus membrane rupturing the amniotic sac and causing the amniotic fluid to spill out. I put the scalpel down and reached inside for the baby. There was no need to clamp and cut the cord as it was already detached from the placenta.
“Esme!” I called as soon as the baby was in my arms. I waited for the first cry, the first intake of breath but it didn’t happen. I cleared my mind. I didn’t want to upset Kayla. Not when she was lying here with her abdomen wide open. But I think I also did it for me too.
Esme rushed in. She glanced from the quiet baby to me and then took her granddaughter and hurried from the room again.
“Carlisle?” Kayla spoke quietly. “Is she okay?”
I didn’t answer but proceeded to remove the placenta and suture her wounds, immersing myself into healing Kayla so as not to think of what had just happened. After the final stitch was in place I tried to clean her up as best as possible.
“You’ll heal fast,” I zei to her, taking off my bloodied gloves. “You’ll be up and walking in no time.”
She didn’t answer.
“I should get u something to wear,” I gestured to her now ruined jeans. “I’ll be right back.”
As fast as vampirely possible I ran to Edward and Kayla’s room, grabbed a pair of her jeans and a new top, boven and ran back to the room she lay in. She was still lying there, gazing up at the ceiling. There was no emotion in her eyes. I think she knew.
“Kayla,” I said, gently touching her arm. “She’s going to be okay.”
“I can’t hear her,” she suddenly cried. “I can’t hear her crying, I can’t hear her hart-, hart beating! I can’t hear her at all!”
Tears slid down from the corners of her eyes to the bed she lay on.
“It’s my fault,” she whispered. “If she didn’t have to save me, she would be alive.”
“Kayla, do not think like that.”
“But it’s true.”
“It isn’t.”
It’s my fault, I thought silently. I wasn’t fast enough.
She just shook her head, refusing to believe anything other than the death of her baby was her fault.
“Carlisle!”
I heard Esme shout my name. Something must have happened. Kayla sat up slowly, testing to see if she had healed. I gave her the clothes I had collected and rushed to Esme. She was in our room, standing volgende to the newly delivered incubator.
She saw me and stepped aside. Inside the incubator was the baby. She was small, too small to survive in normal circumstances. Not everything would be fully developed yet. The chances of her surviving were slim. But…
I walked over to the incubator and slipped my hands in the holes in the side. I touched my granddaughter, feeling the warmth of her skin. I gently placed a finger on her neck and smiled.
“Can u hear that?” Esme asked me. I turned to see her eyes full of instant love and adoration for the baby. I opened my mouth to speak when a voice spoke from behind us.
“She’s alive?”