Emmett waited until he had shut the door before exploding quietly "What the hell was that?" he asked gesturing to the closed door. Edward drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, thinking about the way to put it "Nothing I was just comforting her." Nice it wasn't too sappy but it wasn't too cold either. Emmett rolled his eyes and said "Look, we know how you feel about Bella, well Jasper and I know anyway. I think if Charlie knew he might have killed you by now, it's written all over you when you see her, man you need to be careful. Think about Bella, she has been hurt enough she doesn't really need this right now." Edward felt his blood pressure rise and through clenched teeth he snarled "I would never hurt her, nothing is going on and I would appreciate it if you kept your opinions to yourself." Edward stormed away from his brother and back into the kitchen, all of his anger draining away when he saw the small smile on Bella's face when he entered the room. Grabbing a drink he said "let's go back outside." Ushering her out he glanced behind him at Emmett and rolled his eyes ignoring the warning look his brother shot him.
Life moved on from that not so easy to forget weekend and Bella found herself busy with her boutique as November came to a close. With Christmas only weeks away she was swamped and she was finding it exceptionally easy to avoid her family and even easier to avoid Edward, who had called her several times to talk. She found herself wishing, quite regularly, that she had never slept with Edward because before they had sex she had had a vague notion of what she was missing and now that she knew exactly what she was missing it was killing her. She had become snappy and easily angered, even Angela, who was normally hard to irritate, was quick to point out that she needed to pull her head in.
This was what Bella was thinking about as she stood on a step ladder in the furthest corner of her shop, when she heard the tiny bell over the door tinkle, heralding a customer, she didn't even bother to look. Angela and Bree were both extremely capable sales assistants, so she continued hanging the new stock. Stepping on to the top step of the ladder Bella reached for a vintage gown hanging just out of her reach, instead of getting off the ladder and moving it she leaned further out to grab it, when a voice from behind her made her swivel and lose her footing. She felt herself falling but couldn't stop herself. She heard Angela's startled cry and Edward's gasp of surprise all in slow motion, except her body wasn't falling in slow motion, trying to stop herself she threw out her hands, as she hit the ground there was a sharp crack and excruciating pain radiating up her arm. Crying out in agony Bella rolled to her side and grasped her arm to her chest, instantly Edward was at her side "Bella are you okay? Hold still, we're gonna check you out before you move. Where does it hurt?" Gentle he cradled her arm when she held it out to him, he asked her other questions and once he was sure that it was just her arm that hurt he moved away and yelled instructions to Bree.
Edward had never felt as helpless as he had while he had stood and watched Bella tumble off the ladder. He had tried to grab her but had been just out of reach. The other assistant, who had come running at the crash, stood white and panicky as he screamed at her to get some ice. He gently picked Bella up off the floor and carried her to a chair in the back room, all the time listening to her insist on walking. "I'm fine! My wrist hurts not my legs. Honestly, let me walk. Edward put me down, Ang tell him I'm okay." He heard Bella pleading with the one person she could always count on to be on her side, unfortunately, Angela was more concerned about Bella than Bella was about herself. "Was that another dizzy spell? Jesus Bells, I asked you to get that checked out. When are you gonna start taking care of yourself. That's it. If Edward is taking you to the hospital then I'm coming and I'm gonna tell them about you getting dizzy all over the place and not eating. Yes I know you thought I hadn't noticed but I have, so there" Bella glared at Angela but she knew that there was no point in arguing with her, once she had made up her mind that was it. Edward's head swung between the women as if he were watching a tennis match, after hearing Angela's comment on Bella's health he was more worried than before. Of course he had noticed that Bella had lost weight but if Angela was to be believed there was other stuff going on with her as well. He wanted her to get the proper care so he bundled them into his car and drove them to the hospital, the drive took half the time it normally would because he broke every speed limit on the way.
Unfortunately he hadn't factored in the wait in a busy ER department, after an hour and a half Bella was finally seen by the admitting nurse; an elderly woman who stood about four feet tall and looked like a strong wind might blow her away. The minute she opened her mouth Edward knew she knew what she was talking about, she asked Bella what had happened and examined her wrist, then she listened as Angela explained that Bella hadn't been eating and had been having dizzy spells, she seemed more interested than concerned saying "Okay dear. Why don't we take some blood and urine samples while we wait for the doctor to come and x-ray your wrist, though we can probably safely say that it's broken, that way we can find out why you're having dizzy spells and not eating." Smiling she directed them to another part of the hospital, by the time they had returned Bella had gone grey from the pain. She hated showing any form of weakness but the pain had gone past her threshold, going to the counter she said "I really need something for the pain, it's getting really unbearable." The pretty nurse behind the desk smiled, in what Bella assumed was supposed to be a reassuring manner but Bella just found it irritating, but her words lessened Bella's irritation. "Actually the doctor can see you know, he wants to ask you some questions; alone. If your friends don't mind waiting out here for you..." Instantly Edward spoke "I do mind actually, very much." But Bella touched his arm and said "That's fine." And followed her into the exam room, where she was handed a gown and given some privacy to put it on. Within seconds of her having completed this rather difficult task, owing to the fact that she could only use one hand, the doctor arrived. Bella heard the doctor and the nurse come back, she called through the curtain to them to let them know that they could come in. "Hello Miss Swan, what did you do to yourself?" the doctor, a youngish man with sandy coloured hair and big grey eyes behind wire framed spectacles, glanced up quickly from his notes and did a double take before staring un-professionally at Bella.
Bella wasn't used to being stared at, she knew she was pretty but she had never believed that she was pretty enough to get double-takes. The way he was looking at her made her feel slightly uncomfortable, it was as if he had never seen anyone as beautiful as she was, and it gave Bella the creeps. Trying to get his attention to be more professional she glanced down at her arm and told him what had happened at the boutique. He nodded his head through her story and said "Okay I was just given the results of your urine test; now the admitting nurse had made some notes here saying that you have had dizzy spells and haven't been eating. She had you get some blood tests and the results for those won't be back until tomorrow but it is what your urine showed us that I need to discuss with you but I need to ask you a few questions. My first is how have you been feeling, my second is how often have you been getting these dizzy spells and the third is why haven't you been eating." He looked up from her notes and waited for her to speak.
Bella felt irritation at everyone's focus on the few dizzy spells and the fact that she had been too busy to really eat properly. Her annoyance was tempered by the fact that people cared enough for her to worry, so she answered the doctors questions "I've been feeling a bit fatigued, you know, no matter how much sleep I get I'm still tired. The dizzy spells have been more frequent over the last couple of weeks but I've always had low blood pressure which causes dizzy spells if I move to quickly, as for the eating. I don't know, I've been really busy and sometimes I forget to eat, other times I just don't feel like it and then other times I feel really hungry and go to eat and feel like I'm gonna vomit. So I guess I've got to persevere and eat smaller meals more often." She smiled at the doctor, in hopes that he would let the subject drop and just fix her arm but his speculative look made Bella lose her temper and she snapped "Look, I promise to eat better and not to climb ladders, could you please fix my arm and give me something for the pain because it is absolutely killing me." Bella moved and grimaced in pain, she looked at the doctor when cleared his throat nervously and when he spoke it was to his clip board and not her "Um, we need to discuss that actually, Miss Swan did you realise that you are pregnant?"
