A/N: For Shereen.
Chapter Four
She sat in the hospital bed, the drab gown hanging loose on her body. Her knees were drawn to her chest, her arms tight around them, holding them in place as she rested her head on her knees, looking away from Edward.
"Okay, Bella, that's great. Let's get a little more emotion shall we? Remember, Clive and Mary have been wanting a child since they first got married. It's been years of struggling to conceive and once they finally have, that dream has been ripped away from them. You need to make the audience see it, believe it."
Bella sighed and raised her head as she looked up at the director.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I'm trying, really I am."
He smiled kindly at her.
"I know you are, Sweetie. Can you just try a little more?"
Edward scoffed and Bella looked over at him with a frown.
He was sitting in a chair across the room from her. He'd had no trouble getting into character. He'd managed the grieving father almost immediately and needed very little direction. They'd been going over this scene for hours now, the director never being happy with it. Bella was exhausted.
"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong," Bella said as she looked up at Sam once more. He had moved beside the bed and placed his left knee on the edge of the bed, leaning close to Bella as he spoke softly.
"It's not that you're doing it wrong, Bella. We just need more emotion, more power." He sat back a little and looked up at the ceiling, calm and serene as he thought. Bella's eyes never strayed from the profile of his face. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head. She knew that he could see what he wanted her to look like, how he wanted her to play this character, and she wished that she could see his vision too. Maybe then it would be easier for her.
"For Christ's sake, stop mollycoddling her." Edward stood up and briskly moved to the bedside. "Look, you're not cut out for this so why don't you just quit now, while we still have time to find someone better suited."
"Edward," Sam growled, literally growled, scaring Bella so much that she actually flinched and shuffled away from him. "Leave it. I'll sort this out."
Edward raised his hands in surrender and stomped off, shouting for Waylon to fetch him coffee since 'this was going to be a long one.'
Sam waited until Edward had stepped off the set before he turned his attention back to Bella. He placed his hand lightly over hers and looked deep into her eyes.
"Have you ever been through something terrible in your life? And I mean really terrible, tragic even?"
She nodded slowly, opening her mouth to speak.
"Shh," he whispered, placing a finger to her lips. "Don't tell me. Show me. Show the camera."