In Which I Beg for Sweet Release From Breaking Dawn: Chapter 10 -- Why Didn’t I Just Walk Away? Oh Right, Because I’m an Idiot · 12:46pm Jul 1st, 2018
Why didn’t I just stop reading? Oh, right, because I’m a glutton for punishment.
When Jacob re-enters the Cullen house, he resolves that he won’t share Bella with Edward; it’s too sick. You know, it would’ve been nice to hear that last chapter. Edward takes the rest of the vampires away to give Bella and Jacob some privacy. Considering he can still read Jacob’s mind, he’ll have to run really far away to give them some privacy. Rosalie hesitates, but Bella tells her to go. Jacob tries talking to Bella, but she already knows what he’s up to.
“I told you-,” I started to say.
“Did you know that ‘I told you so’ has a brother, Jacob?” she asked, cutting me off. “His name is ‘Shut the hell up.’”
They debate for a little, Bella staying resolute that she’ll survive. She has a plan: stay human as long as possible for the baby, then become a vampire at the last second. After all, most of the other Cullens were on the brink of death when they were bitten, and they’re fine now. The plan doesn’t appeal to Jacob. Even when he proposes having a baby another way (he never mentions Edward’s way), Bella takes it to mean artificial insemination and turns it down, not wanting to have a stranger’s baby. During the talk, the baby kicks hard enough to leave a bruise. Eventually, Jacob realizes there’s no convincing her and leaves.
I could feel the addiction sucking at me, trying to keep me near her.
I almost went back. I almost turned around and fell down on my knees and started begging again.
CM + 2
Jacob heads all the way back to the rest of the wolf pack in his wolf shape. Thanks to werewolf telepathy, everyone knows what happened quickly. The wolves are terrified at what’s growing in Bella and assume that, since it’s an unknown, it needs to be taken out of the equation. Jacob attempts to point out that the treaty is still intact, but Sam says that the treaty never accounted for vampire-human hybrids. Sam thinks the baby will be unable to follow any treaty and will be just as wild as the newborns. Jacob’s objection grows stronger when he realizes that Sam intends to kill Bella to kill the baby if that’s what it takes, but Sam orders him to stand down as Alpha, so Jacob has no choice but to obey. Sam intends to attack immediately; when Seth begs for a little more thought on the matter, Sam also orders him to be still.
As Sam lays down strategy, Jacob realizes that, while he might not care for the other vampires, Carlisle at least shouldn’t die. Carlisle is trying his best to avoid bloodshed and tries to keep humans’ best interests at heart. (Except for when he’s planning forced abortions, anyway.) Does this thought seem a little sudden? That’s because it is. Jacob tries to object again, but Sam shuts him down as the Alpha again. The tribe comes first, and all the Cullens are going to die. Which, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind so much, if Alice survived.
Clinginess Meter: 25 x 2
Hoo boy. Eighteen pages devoted to two conversations. By now, my accusations of padding are growing stale, aren’t they?
Geez.
Jacob probably needed some shut the hell up last chapter, too. :B Everyone in this story needs some.
Devil's advocate time:
I know you keep coming back to the whole forced abortion thing, but I think the context is important. It isn't a normal baby, and it's DEFINITELY not a normal pregnancy. She's dying, and as far as they know it's the only way to keep her alive. And if she dies (and she would die long before the end of the term) the baby would normally die too.
So there are two interpretations.
1.) If the baby would die without her, then not aborting it would only make 2 deaths instead of one.
2.) If the baby is expected to survive after she dies, then it clearly doesn't need her, so taking it out wouldn't kill it. (Spoilers, this ends up being what happens)
So either way, for the sake of Bella's continued existence, removing the baby is the only answer. Either it dies, which it would have if she tried to carry it to term (and taken Bella with it) or it survives, and so does Bella. In both cases, Bella would be saved, and the baby's fate is unchanged.
Now, re: Bella not consenting: sometimes, to save someone's life, you have to ignore what they want. She's clearly not of sound mind, as you've clearly displayed.
Now, I'm not defending the existence of this shitty plotline, but given that we can't go back and change it, it's the natural conclusion.
Good to see that even the characters acknowledge Bella addiction. That girl is one hell of a drug...
Also, I have to wonder how vampire-human hybrids would work in vitro. Hard to drain the life of your mother when you're not in her.
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Especially Sam. The more I see of werewolf psychology, the more horrified I become.
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Given the current information, I also think an abortion is also the correct choice. My problem is that Edward is going about it in one of the most disgusting ways possible.
We've got no evidence that Edward has ever sat down and had a long talk with Bella about this. The instant he learned she was pregnant, before he knew what the baby would do to her, he was planning an abortion without her consent. The only sign he's tried talking to her at all is a single throwaway line. And now he's trying manipulate her, using her feelings for Jacob to convince her to have an abortion. Edward is barely communicating with Bella at all. Yes, sometimes you need to hurt someone to save them, but Edward's jumping to the extreme option of drugging his wife with almost no consideration for the more difficult option of convincing her. The "ignore what they want" option should be one of last resort, not the second thing in your arsenal.
If these characters had been shown to be more empathetic in the past, if they'd talked about things other than, "I love you!" "I love you more!", the situation could be mostly unchanged and it'd wind up being the tragedy Meyer wants it to be. Instead, it's just horrible people being horrible and stupid people being stupid.
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That's fair. I haven't read the series in a long-ass time, so I guess I just kind of assumed that there was the implication that they had talked it through, and she just wouldn't listen to reason.