Aw you people – thanks!
I'm going to keep going (I know I just posted) because lord knows when this will dry up!
Chapter 4
"I don't know how inappropriate this is, is it?"
"Apple pie is never inappropriate" Edward takes it from her. "This is amazing" He peels back the covering of the cool pie.
"Just stick it in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden brown" She didn't bother baking it, she made it this morning.
"Wow" Edward looks at the pie again. "Thank you Bella"
"Sure" She smiles. "I only make pie for the community center"
"Well, I'm truly honored"
She smiles and touches her shades pushing them up a bit. "I spoke to the head at the community center, she agreed to the contact role"
"Great, what is the name and number?"
"Ms. Esme Platt"
Edward freezes and looks across at her.
Bella frowns, he stopped writing. "Everything alright?"
"Esme Platt-Cullen?"
"Excuse me?"
"Esme Platt is my mother"
"What?"
Edward smiles. "My mother runs a charity, a community center; I didn't know it was that one you were going to"
"Your mother is Esme Platt?"
"Platt-Cullen, yes"
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know"
"No, neither did I"
"Is this a conflict of interest?"
"Not unless you feel uncomfortable with me"
"No, I don't, I really don't" She whispers the end.
"I'm glad" He smiles at her. "Shall we get started?"
"You are officially almost 12 weeks"
Bella nods.
"How are you doing?" Edward lowers his tone as he questions her.
"Fine"
"Bella" He says softly. "Listen to me, I know having a baby is hard, and being alone, and in the dark makes it even harder"
Bella listens to him. "Dr. Cullen, I am your patient, you have to trust me too"
Edward nods. He has no right to push her and infiltrate into her life. "I just want your head to be in this, you have to be all in or this pregnancy will be hard"
"It is going to be hard; I am pregnant by my rapist"
He widens his eyes, hearing her say that with such conviction and such a strong voice. "Bella"
"I have to go" She reaches for her bag and stick.
"Bella wait" He stands moving around his desk as she rushes the number of steps to the door. "Bella"
"What Dr. Cullen, I know it's hard, it's very hard, being raped. That was indescribable, then finding out I am pregnant by that monster was like it happened all over again. But you don't need me crying on your shoulder, sniffing in your office each visit. So I'm fine, I save that for when I'm alone in my thoughts in my small apartment. Then I go through my day and try to make the most of my pathetic life, and I pray and hope for something better every day. I hope I can at least make it through this pregnancy with an ounce of dignity. Do you know how hard it is to come here and have you touch me and look at me after being raped? When I can't see anything"
He stares at her, her voice quivers only at the end; he sees tears on her cheeks coming from behind her shades. Stepping to her he pulls her close to his chest. "I'm sorry" He whispers holding her while she cries on his shoulder.
Bella feels like a fool, she washes her face after insisting that she was fine and going home without his assistance. She sighs and pulls herself together; she has a lesson in an hour.
"Bella Swan is your new patient"
"Yes and you are her emergency contact" Edward's hand is animated as he speaks to his mother.
"I didn't know, I just found out she was pregnant"
"Ugh this feels so unethical" He hasn't told Esme any private information about Bella other than what she already knows. Esme Platt-Cullen is Bella Swans emergency contact.
"Let Jasper or Emmett takeover"
"I can't"
"Why not?"
"I just can't alright?"
"Honey, don't snap at me, I am trying to help, and I can't step down as her contact"
"I'm not asking you to"
"Good because I'm not" She gives her son a look before going back to packing the dishes away.
"What is it babe?" Jane gives him a back rub, she is behind him in her nightie massaging his tight shoulders.
"A lot on my mind" He answers. He won't forget Bella's screwed up face full of pain and sorrow over the hell which she has to currently call life.
"I see that, I'm in this awfully" She kisses his neck. "Sexy nightie and you haven't even looked" She sucks the warm skin.
"Jane, not tonight" He stands leaving her on her knees with a shocked face.
"Excuse me?"
"Not tonight, I'm tired, and my mind is really not at ease"
"I know" She smirks crawling towards the end of the bed. "Something to help that"
"I said not tonight Jane" He takes her gently by her arms and sits her on her hunches. Leaning he presses a kiss to her head. "Not tonight" He mutters before leaving the room. "I'll call you" He grabs his things and heads home, he needs a goodnights sleep. He shouldn't have come over when his head wasn't in it.
Stepping from the shower she reaches for her towel and wraps it around her body. Sighing she smiles. She loves her showers. Laughing a bit as she dries off. Her hand runs over her stomach, she can't see how her stomach is expanding, but she can feel it. Her hand glides over the drying skin, she feels the bump, dropping her towel she uses both hands to cradle it, learning it.
Edward taps his pen against her file as he thinks about her. She is so young for this to be her life. He fees his chest tighten at the thought she is hurt. Opening her file he picks up his phone.
"Hello?"
He smiles at her sweet relax voice. "Hi Bella, this is Edward, Dr. Cullen"
"Dr. Cullen, hello, is everything okay?"
"Fine, are you doing okay?" He listens to her pause. "I am just, I'm just worried about you"
"You don't need to be" Her tone is low.
"You are my patient"
"And you are my doctor, there is nothing more to it"
"Listen Bella, do you want to grab some green tea with me?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea"
"I think you need some friends"
She nibbles her lower lip then licks it before speaking again. "Do you do this with all your patients?"
"No" He answers honestly. "And I shouldn't be doing it with you, but I just feel"
"Pity for me, you are off the hook, you don't have to feel that"
"Not pity, just sad, and I want to see you smile, let me buy you a tea and we can talk?"
She hesitates for a long while.
"Please?"
"Okay" She agrees.
"My last patient is in at 4, I should be done by 4:45, can I meet you at your building, say 5?"
"Okay" She agrees again.
Edward walks up the street and smiles, she is standing in a scarf and beanie on her head, her Ray Bans in place. She is holdng her stick, and her bag across her body. Her coat is red, and scarf white, her beanie royal blue.
"Edward?"
"How did you know?"
"Your cologne"
"Oh" He smiles. He reaches out and takes her hand. "Hi"
"Hello"
"Ready for some tea that will bow your mind?"
"Sure" Bella smiles nodding.
He leans in. "There it is, that smile"
She turns her head towards his voice, but says nothing.
Sitting she holds her tea. "It is getting cold"
"Yeah, well it will be October soon; Seattle is brutal in the winter"
"Are you originally from here?" She questions.
"We are natives" He tells her. "You?"
"Forks"
"Really, tiny Forks?"
"Yeah, really" Bella nods.
"What made you move to the city?"
"My father thought it would be more opportunities for him, for me out here"
"What did he do?"
"Piano teacher"
"Really?" Edward says surprised.
"He taught me everything I know"
"Are you any good?" Edward smiles at her pushing the plate of mini scones between them.
"I like to think so, I teach after all, I hope people wouldn't pay me if I were doing a crap job"
He nods to himself. "Very true, maybe I should take a lesson or two"
Bella shrugs a shoulder. "What colour are your eyes?"
"Green"
"And hair?"
"Dirty red"
She laughs, before she knows it her laugh echoes through the small place. She slaps her hand over her mouth.
He laughs and pulls her hand away. "No, I like that sound"
She lets him pull her hand and rest to the table, his moves from the top of hers but the sweet burn of his touch is still there. His hands are soft and strong. Kind. "What is dirty red?"
"I don't know, it is wild, like I have crazy hair, think of bed hair all the time, birds nest"
"I don't believe it"
"Believe it"
Bella smiles at him.
"Thank you Edward"
"You're welcome Bella" His hand is on her upper arm as they stand facing each other. He smiles and leans in to kiss her cheek. "Want to know something?" He wants this pregnancy to be positive for her. It has such a negative connotation behind it, but he wants her to be able to enjoy it in some way.
"What?" She whispers.
"Your baby is 13 weeks and the size of a peach today"
"What?" She smiles.
He pulls back and looks down at her. "Yeah it's not even a pound, but it is forming teeth and vocal cords that will keep you up at night"
She laughs. "Scary"
"Interesting" He corrects.
"Yeah, interesting" Bella says with a nod. "Thank you again Edward"
"Thank you" He kisses her cheek again and she turns to her building door. She leaves him on the sidewalk watching as she goes safely up.
Bella lies on her couch, and she holds a fuzzy peach in her palm. Her legs are up. Moving her hand she places and balances the peach on her stomach. She smiles and shakes her head.