Phew. I was really afraid everyone was going to hate that chapter. Yay! The author didn't screw up (too badly, at least)! Yeah, so did you know there's a "hits" counter for your fanfictions? Okay, you probably did, but I didn't. I read and kinda thought "holy shit. That many people have looked at this silly little story? My goodness." Heh. And then, right next to it, there was the favorite story and story alert counter. You all totally boosted my ego. x3 I luff you all:heart:heart:heart:
Okay, so, I stayed at a beach house in the Outer Banks with some friends and a storm came in. The house was so close to my made-up description it was crazy. Jacuzzi, swimming pool…yeah. x3 It was seriously déjà vu. Fortunately, we didn't have to evacuate. But the irony was fun. And it inspired me. It made me wish I had an Edward with me. vv
Ugh!!! It took a week before fanfiction would let me update!! D: It wouldn't let me add any documents for the past seven days.
I'll try not to disappoint you with this chapter.
Hours later, I found myself was in the emergency room. Well, sort of. I was sitting in the waiting room beside Edward. He had his arm reached over the armrest so he could hold my hand. Every once-in-a-while, he'd bring it up to his lips and kiss the back of my hand. Edward was Edward again. He was the loving, caring and amazing person I'd always known him to be. In every action, he reminded me of just how much he loved me. I had never been so relieved in my life.
Every couple of minutes, I'd look to the ICU doors and then back to clock. Then, disappointed, I'd sigh and slump in my chair.
"Relax, Bella. Luke will be fine," Edward whispered in my ear. I just bit my tongue.
"What if they find out that he's a," I began, but Edward placed a finger to my lips. He nodded his head to the direction of an elderly woman a couple seats of away. She'd been waiting there when we walked in and looked a little frustrated when they treated Luke before her. We'd be in even more trouble if she overheard out conversation. I pouted. Great. More unanswered questions. Edward caught on to my disappointment and stood, holding his hand out to me. It would have been humorous to anyone watching us—he already had one hand locked in mine yet he still held the out other.
Edward led me to a patio outside the hospital. All the white, plastic furniture had been toppled over and pushed into corners of the fenced area. Nearly everything was cased in dead leaves and mud, not to mention covered with drops of rain. Fortunately, the rain had let up. It had dulled down to a very faint drizzle, practically a mist. He guided me over to the metal railing and leaned over it, facing the parking lot. I watched him curiously, waiting for him to say something.
"Bella, being a vampire is a lot more complicated than you know," he sighed. I tilted my head to the side curiously, waiting for him to continue. Reluctantly, he went on. "It's a dominant mutation of the human gene. That's all it is—a mutation. We're still, in a terrible sense of the word, human. We've just been horribly distorted."
"Stop talking about my Edward like that," I whined. He just rolled his eyes and continued.
"When someone's changed," he began "there's no telling what could happen. A person could be horribly contorted or barely changed at all. That's why Alice has visions and I can read minds—it's always different. Luke is a very rare case." I nodded my understanding, encouraging him to continue. "He'll show most of the physical aspects of a human yet still carry the traits of a vampire. It's difficult to explain. For example, he'll still have the same…diet, but his temperature would be closer to normal or maybe he'd-"
"Be able to walk in the sun?" I offered. Edward smiled and nodded, pleased that I'd caught on so fast.
"Yes, like being able to walk in the sun," he replied. "The doctors shouldn't detect anything unusual and, even if they do, it will most likely be too inconclusive to judge. He'll be just fine." I sighed and took a little more comfort. As I leaned over the railing, I could feel the remnant drops of rain soak through the sleeves of my shirt. I didn't mind; my clothes were all damp anyway.
There were questions I was dying to ask. I'd been dying to ask for days, ever since that day I hurt my ankle. It was more than tempting to just list off everything I didn't understand and demand an explanation for each. Somehow, I managed to keep my mouth closed. Something like that would only start an argument. I had to be patient.
Edward reached over and took my hand in his again. He rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand, looking intently at my skin. After a while, he dared to look up at my eyes. I just stared back, waiting patiently. He sighed and let go of my hand so he could pull himself up to sit on the railing.
"Bella," he addressed me to get my attention even though he knew I was focusing on nothing else. His expression was pained—he was about to tell me something he didn't want to but knew he had to. "Through visions," he said slowly. "Alice has seen you die." Edward's eyes stared deep into mine and he looked as though he was afraid of losing me all over again. I could have sworn that he was on the brink of tears. It was horribly painful to see Edward like this and I suddenly regretted ever bringing up the subject. I don't care how much I want to know something—it wasn't worth doing this to Edward.
"You don't have to…" I began, but he interrupted me.
"No. You deserve to know," he replied solemnly. "I'm not keeping any more secrets from you." He reached out and pulled me closer to him. He sat high above me, on the metal bars, with me standing right in front of him. My back was pressed to his chest from the tight embrace as he leaned forward and set his face to the nape of my neck. He took a deep breath, taking in my scent. I should have been scared but, for the first time in days, I felt as safe as anyone could possibly be. His arms wrapped around my middle and hugged me so tight that I held my breath. There was another pause before he continued.
"There were four visions," he explained. "Each one had a different end. It was awful, Bella. I didn't know how to protect you." There was another incredibly long pause. He took deep breath with his nose pressed to my hair. "Alice had the first vision before we even got to the beach house. It involved you and a stranger. Alice didn't recognize the person or the house it took place in. However, Alice recognized the beach house from her vision the second we got there. This stranger—who I can only assume was Luke—turned you into a vampire." I wanted to argue that particular situation wasn't necessarily "killing" me, but I kept quiet. At least it explained Edward's outrage when he found out that I got a ride home with a total stranger. It also explained why Edward told me not to let anyone inside the house. There was another pause, followed by a deep breath.
"The second was the one she had at the movie theatre. Only this time, she saw the two of us. I was the one who took your life. I lost control and took too much blood. It was absolutely horrible. That's why Carlisle made everyone leave. We weren't taking any chances." His voice started to break up and he had to pause again to collect himself. I remained perfectly silent and still in his arms. It was amazing how everything started to fit together so perfectly—it all made sense.
"The third involved you and that stranger again, only this time I'm certain it was Luke. You were riding in his car on the way to the other town to avoid the storm. The car started to skid on the road and it fell off a bridge. It crashed into the water below and you drowned." This one had me thinking. Luke and I were seconds away from taking that bridge but he decided to stop for the night. I had no idea that a decision that small could have a consequence so large. My breath started to get short at that point. I couldn't believe that I'd been that close to death so many times. It gave all my decisions and actions a deeper meaning. Edward snapped me out of my trance by holding me tighter and breathing in my scent again.
"In the last vision, you killed yourself." This one hit harder than all the rest. I didn't want to admit that I contemplated such an act when, in reality, I was seconds away from doing so. "I left to come after you before Alice could explain anything more. I wish I would have been patient long enough to listen to her."
I turned to face Edward. He was getting that horribly depressed tone of voice again. There was something more that he wasn't telling me.
"Do you understand what I did? Not only did I cause you to consider suicide, but I brought the weapon to you. The closest you were to dying was entirely my fault. In fact, because of me, you could have been killed four times over. When you held that gun up to your neck I was ready to yank it from your hands and shoot myself instead. It was the most idiotic thing I've done in my entire life." He buried his face again. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry." I couldn't get myself to respond right away. Hearing it only made me feel worse.
"Please don't be sorry," I finally said. "I don't deserve it." Edward looked up to meet my gaze but I continued before he could stop me. "I deliberately disobeyed you. I promised you and Carlisle that I wouldn't leave the house. I promised I'd be safe. I betrayed you and did something horrible—I nearly deserve death." Edward, however, stopped me right there. He took my chin in his strong grasp and titled my hand up to look him in the eyes.
"Now you listen to me, Isabella Swan," he said sternly, although his words were far from threatening. "There is not a single act you could do to deserve death. I don't care if you've hurt someone or even killed. No one is ever going to take the life of the woman I love. You deserve more than this world can ever give to you. Don't you dare talk about my Bella that way." He tried to pull me into another embrace but I wouldn't let him. This had gone far enough; I felt too guilty to accept such unconditional love.
"You don't understand," I cried, shaking my head. "I did something absolute horrible. I chea-" Before I could get the word out, Edward jumped to his feet and hugged me once more. He pressed me to himself and my words were lost, muffled in his thick jacket.
"Shh," he whispered to me. "It's okay. I understand." I managed to wiggle enough to look up at him.
"No, Edward, listen to me, you-" I was cut off again.
"I know what happened between the two of you," he said calmly. My heart stopped. He knows? No. He wouldn't be holding me like this if he knew how disgusting I'd been. He must be mistak—
"I can read minds, Bella," he whispered in my ear. "One moment near Luke and I knew what happened. I knew what you did." This only made me cry harder.
"Shhh, shhh," he continued to coo at my ear. "Don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm just as guilty as you are." I merely shook my head and continued to sob. "Please don't cry, sweetheart. I'm right here. You were scared and confused. I can't blame you for what you've done. I'm not denying that I'm a little hurt, but I'm just glad that you're okay. I love you more than anything else in the world. There's not a thing you could even imagine that would change that." I pressed my face to his chest still. The zipper of the jacket was pulled down just far enough for me to be able to press my cheek to his bare chest underneath. As always, his cool, chilly skin felt better than anything else. He rubbed his hands along my back, as if trying to compensate for the lack of warmth from his own skin. After a moment, he bent over and kissed the top of my head. Sometime after that, my sobs began to die down.
My eyes were swollen, my cheeks were wet with tears and I could barely breathe through my nose. Yet, somehow, crying like that felt better. I was finally able to let go of all the fear, pain and guilt. I permanently let go of everything that happened and let myself focus on the brilliant, charming and gorgeous man in front of me. When I thought my voice was calm enough, I managed to speak again.
"I still love you more."
It was almost another hour before we were called in to see a doctor. There were handfuls of people hurt by the hurricane and I wasn't too high up on the waiting list. Edward followed me into the examination room, refusing to leave my side. This only made it that much more embarrassing when the nurse asked me to change into a paper smock.
"Close your eyes," I begged him. Edward just stared at me and smiled. "Edward, please!" He reluctantly turned his back to me and, the second I was finished, his eyes were instantly glued to me again. Then the doctor walked in, as if on cue. I was so used to being around Carlisle that I almost expected all doctors to be as charming and as handsome. This man was old with his age apparent in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. His head was nearly bald; most of his hair was in a thick mustache attached to a long, grey beard. He had glasses resting on his nose with thick lenses and a few pens tucked away in the pocket of his white coat. He had a folder in hand with a couple of papers on top, messily held with a paperclip.
"It says here that there was a car accident?" the man prompted, looking up at us just over his glasses. I opened my mouth to speak but Edward interrupted.
"Yes, that's right. The car slid on the wet roads and we hit a tree," he said. The doctor looked to me to verify the statement and I only nodded.
"May I see the incisions?" he asked. The words made me wince internally. I'd been stripping down enough; I didn't want to have to do it again. I looked to Edward but he was only grinning. I pulled the smock down to reveal my collarbone and half of my chest—fortunately I still had underwear underneath. The doctor inspected the cuts by gently running his fingers over them. I made a conscious effort to keep steady.
"They're not too bad, you'll only need a couple stitches," he said calmly. "We'll be able to do it right here, I'll send someone in." The doctor wrote something on the paper and headed out the door.
"Edward?" I asked, pulling the paper smock back up. "Will you be able to say?"
"I'll be fine," he smiled as he kissed the top of my head. "I promise."
We got the stitches over with easily—I was used to it, anyway. They wrapped up every wound, making me feel like a mummy. Either way, it covered up the scent of blood and I felt at least a little more comfortable. The entire time, Edward was right there at my side. When we walked out to the waiting room, I instantly looked around for Luke.
"Bella, don't worry so much," he whispered at my ear. "He'll be fine. I'll even go check for you." Edward left my side just long enough to talk to the lady behind the front desk. After a short conversation he came back and took my hand in his again.
"He broke his shoulder and his collarbone," he explained. "It's not critical; they just need to keep him there at least another couple hours to set the casts." My horror must have been apparent in my face. "He'll be fine, it'll just take some time. I'm more worried about you. How are you feeling?" It was clever of him to try to change the subject like that. I would have argued but now didn't seem like the time.
"I'm just fine," I answered softly.
"Honestly," he encouraged. I sighed.
"Exhausted. And the cuts hurt like hell," I moaned. In response, Edward pulled me over to the chairs that crowded the waiting room and conveniently picked the two that were missing the armrest in between. He sat and held his arms out to me, inviting me to sit in his lap. I willingly complied. He let me sprawl out on the chairs with my head resting at his chest. His arms were wound tight around my shoulders and my stomach, holding me as close as he could.
"We're going to wait for Luke?" I asked, excited that Edward was patient enough to do something like that.
"Yes," he whispered back. "We'll wait for him. Now stop worrying about him or you'll make me jealous."
"No no, I'll stay up with you," I protested even though I was already getting extremely sleepy. Edward began to hum a lullaby at my ear knowing that it was all it took for me to instantly fall asleep.
"That's a dirty trick," I groaned, feeling myself drift into unconsciousness. He just continued to sing. In a matter of minutes, I was comfortably asleep in the arms of the only man in the world for me.
When I woke up, there was another angelic voice, only she was shouting.
"Bella!!"
"Shh!" I could hear Edward hiss just above my head. "She's sleeping."
"Not anymore," I mumbled without bothering to open my eyes.
"Bella!" the angel shouted again. I only winced from the loud sound. "Oh, God, Bella, it's so good to see you! I was so worried!" I could feel another pair of cold arms wrap around me and squeeze me tight. With a deep breath, I slowly pulled myself back into a somewhat conscious state. There were two faces staring down at me; Alice and Edward. I was still in Edward's arms but the scenery had changed. This made me a little nervous. I immediately tried to sit up but Edward held me in place. It then occurred to me that we were moving and I was at least three feet off the ground. Edward caught my nervousness and started to explain before I could question.
"The doctor wanted Luke to stay overnight," he explained, talking too fast for me to interrupt. "We couldn't stay in the waiting room all night. And Alice really wanted to see you…"
"But you promised we'd wait," I whined, still half-asleep.
"We'll go back first thing in the morning," he offered. "Carlisle went over to check on him, there's no need to worry." That statement alone made me feel loads better. I was able to relax a little.
"So where are we going?" I asked. They didn't bother to answer me and instead, they looked up. I followed their gaze to a huge hotel lobby. It was an expensive hotel, no doubt. Everything was decorated with red and gold and shone like it was brand new. Uniformed employees—who looked horribly uncomfortable in those uniforms—hurried around, pushing carts of luggage and trying to get through the long line of people at the desk. It was packed because of the storm; everyone would have needed a place to stay. I sighed and leaned into Edward a bit more, still exhausted.
"We're almost there, sweetheart," he whispered to me as we stepped into an elevator. I smiled my response. A few more people filed into the elevator with us, making me feel slightly claustrophobic. Two parents filed in with their three young children close at hand, followed by two elderly people that I could only assume were grandparents. A young couple came in last and the woman gave me a funny look. I guess I deserved it; Edward was carrying me.
"I can walk," I whispered to him. He only smiled and tightened his grip around me.
Out of the five floors, we got off on the second. Chatter and random noises echoed down the hallway as families shuffled between rooms. The entire hotel was ridiculously packed and I began to feel grateful just to get a room at all. We stopped outside a door with the number "216" beside it and soon shuffled our way into a somewhat more reclusive area—all the noises in the corridor still seemed to seep through the walls. There were two queen-sized beds spaced nearly symmetrically in the room, taking up nearly all of the floor space. Fortunately, we had our own bathroom but I didn't bother to inspect it past the closed door. An old television sat behind an even older wooden cabinet on the opposite side of the beds though there were only a couple feet between the pieces of furniture. An odd scent filtered through my nose as we walked in and smelled like someone had used too much Windex and carpet shampoo. The room wasn't anything fancy, but I wasn't complaining.
"Sorry we couldn't get a nicer room," Alice sighed. "We were lucky to even get one." Edward sat on the edge of the bed closest to the window and placed me in his lap.
"No," I insisted. "This is perfect."
"Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett have a room downstairs. The rest of us are bunking here," Alice explained. This brought a smile to my face. As much as I was surprised to know that Edward's parents trusted him enough to stay in the same room with me, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I still had so many questions for him.
"Don't get your hopes up," Alice warned me. "Jasper and I are under strict orders—he and Edward get one bed, you and I get the other." Edward, whose back was turned to Alice, simply rolled his eyes. Even Alice knew that there wasn't a force in this world strong enough to keep us apart. Especially not tonight. I looked up at the man that still held me tight in his arms and smiled. I stared into those topaz eyes for a moment that wouldn't have been long enough if it lasted the rest of my life. I might have gone on that long if I wasn't interrupted. Alice's phone buzzed, sounding its silent ring. She yanked the thing from her pocket and flipped the cell phone open with lightning speed. Another second passed and she had the entire text message read.
"The boys are almost back with our things," she explained. "They don't know where our rooms are so I'll go meet them."
"Our things?" I asked, my curiosity sparked. "You don't mean they…"
"Yeah. They went back to the house to get all our belongings," she grinned. My jaw dropped. Alice simply gave that ridiculously attractive smile of hers. Because I'd so many questions already I tried to fill in all the pieces for myself. Jasper and Emmett, maybe Carlisle, too, must have traveled all the way back to the beach to retrieve our stuff. But in this weather? The idea made me chuckle. Leave it to a family of vampires to accomplish the impossible.
"You guys spoil me too much," I sighed. The two laughed, failing to realize how much I really meant it.
"I'll be back," she grinned from the doorway just before she walked out. It was at that moment that I realized how long it had been since I talked with Charlie. I gasped my shock and jumped up from Edward's lap to get to the phone.
"Bella? What's the matter?" he asked, placing both his hands at my waist as though he feared I would fall. I stretched across the bed, reaching for the nightstand in the center of the room.
"I need to call Charlie," I replied with a regretful tone. "I'm sure he's worried sick."
"He was," Edward corrected me. "But don't worry; we've already talked to him." My jaw dropped again.
"What? When? And what do you mean 'we'?" I demanded, panicked. No doubt Charlie would have been furious—out of fear, of course—and probably insisted on driving up to get me as soon as he got wind of the hurricane. I was surprised that he wasn't already here, watching me every single moment to make sure I was okay.
"I called while you were asleep at the hospital," he answered simply. I gave him a look that said I expected more of an answer. With a sigh, he continued. "He was worried, but I convinced him to stay in Forks. He can't wait to see you again."
"What did you say about the accident?" I asked, hanging on his every word.
"I said the car spun out and you were the only one that didn't have your seatbelt on," he mused at me. As embarrassing as that story was, it was mostly true, minus the intentionally excluded details. I wasn't wearing a seatbelt when we were in the car which is why I crashed into the dashboard.
"And my back?" I asked. Edward frowned—he still felt horrible for hurting me.
"What Charlie doesn't know can't hurt him," was Edward's final answer. As much as I hated lying, this would definitely be better than explaining the entire story. With his hands still firm around my middle, he pulled me back into his lap. He started to play with my hair, twirling it around his fingers. He pressed his nose to my hair and took in a deep breath.
"Ugh. I really should take a shower," I whined, well aware that my scent, as well as my appearance, was a little less than attractive.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Edward retorted. "I think you smell wonderful."
"Liar." I accused. He just chuckled.
"Never."
So I'm contemplating if I want to add more conflict or not. If I don't, there'll be one more chapter of just Edward and Bella fluff and filling in the last of the questions. If I don't, then I'd have to come up with some more conflict. xDD Oh well. Any suggestions?