"Bella..." I said softly, gently stroking her smooth cheek.
"Edward," she whispered painfully back to me. Without warning, Bella broke into a coughing fit, doubling up into a ball.
I was scared. Something was wrong with Bella...deathly wrong. Even Carlisle didn't know what it was!
"Edward!" Bella suddenly gasped. "Edward!"
I grabbed her outstretched hand, carefully so as not to hurt her, and leaned in over her, almost protectively. "What's wrong Bella? What's the matter?!"
She moaned, her breathing turning to panting. Then without warning, her breathing stopped, and her eyes closed, her hand going limp.
"Bella..." I murmured, my mouth going dry. I shook her ever-so-gently. "Bella...Bella...BELLA!!" But it was no use. She was gone. My love and my life, the only reason worth living for was gone.
Feeling the tears run down my face, I set Bella's small white hand gently down on the bed, turned, and walked out the hospital room door to break the news to my family.
But when I opened the door and stepped out, my tears dried up. There was Bella! And she was wearing the wedding dress Alice had picked out for her. She stood at the end of a long, velvet red aisle, smiling at me, looking absolutely beautiful. The wedding music began playing softly in the background, and I looked down. My street clothes had been replaced with a tux.
I took the first step, and not a second later, Victoria leapt into my path, wild and savage. She licked her lips, stepping towards Bella.
Rage coursed through me, and I swung at her from behind, knocking her to the now-bare floor. I leapt on her, and her claws raked my arm. I gritted my teeth against the pain, and used my free arm to tear off one of her arms. She howled, twisting more savagely than before.
Bella's scream had me on my feet, leaving the beast to my brother Emmet. James. They were both back!
I socked James so hard he fell backwards into the hands of my father and Jasper. Panicking, I looked around, but I couldn't sense any more of my kind that was an enemy. Relaxing my stance, I turned around.
But this time Bella wasn't smiling in a pretty wedding dress. She was standing on the edge of a cliff, about to step off.
"BELLA!" I shouted, my dead heart already starting to break. "Stay away from there!"
Bella looked back at me, her big brown eyes filled with emptiness.
"Please stay Bella...I love you!"
She jumped, and I shot forward. I caught her in my arms, and kissed her.
The vision slowly faded away, and I opened my eyes, stunned. Focusing, I found myself kissing Bella. Not a bad thing to wake up to. The relief of the nightmares soaked my heart, and I clutched Bella close to me, afraid she might disappear after all. Hearing her heart speed up, I gently broke the kiss so she could breathe. Plus I was getting a smidge to excited myself.
Taking in her groggy early-morning state, I smiled grimly.
"Well good morning to you, too, sunshine." She said, seeming to recovering her senses.
My smile turned into full-blown laughter, and trying to muffle it with the pillow.
When I recovered enough to meet her eyes, she changed her mood abruptly. "Liar."
I felt my expression turned confused, and slightly wondering. "What?"
"I thought you said vampires couldn't sleep."
I cracked a smile. "So did I. I don't know how or why I was able to sleep after hundreds of years, and I'm not to anxious to do it again."
She raised her eyebrows. "Why? Did you have a nightmare?"
I stiffened, and my jaw clenched. "I dreamed that you had...left me, and that you had gotten hurt."
I heart her heart skip a beat. "Oh, Edward. I'm so sorry. But you know you won't be able to get rid of me that easily," She said, throwing in a bit of teasing.
I laughed grimly, and met her eyes. "I wouldn't try to get rid of you if my life depended on it." I felt myself soften. "I love you, Bella."
She touched her gentle hand to my cheek. "I love you too. Now don't worry," she said soothingly. "I won't ever leave you."
I sighed heavily, finally relaxing.
She softly pressed her lips to mine, and much to my amusement, slid back under the covers.
It was Saturday.