Chapter 4

Friday, July 13, 2012

I knock on Edward's door, slowly opening it at the same time because it's damn near impossible to hear him call for me to come in from across the room. Edward opens his eyes as the door makes its now-familiar creak, and today they are bright green and glassy. It's not the same as the first day, though, when he looked almost drunk under the effects of the morphine. This is completely different. His gaze looks almost vacant—it reminds me of the way a small child looks when they have a high fever. Whatever it is, he's obviously having a worse day than yesterday.

"Hello, Edward. How are you feeling today?" I ask, sitting down in the chair beside him.

"Not that great," he mumbles, staring off into the space just over my left shoulder.

Oh damn, he's really not having a good day. "I'm sorry to hear that. I won't stay very long then. I just wanted to see how you were and keep you company for a little while. Is that all right?"

"Yeah," he breathes, his eyes slowly closing.

"Well, I promised you some stories from my childhood, so I'll tell you at least one today before I go.

"I told you yesterday that I grew up in the little town of Forks with my dad, but what I didn't mention is that he's the town police chief. There are only two other officers under his command, and it was very relaxed, being in a small town, so I spent a lot of my time growing up at the police station.

"Before I started school, he would take me to the station for whole days when I wasn't staying with my grandmother, and I would spend my time kneeling on a chair at one of those old metal desks that was way too big for me, coloring pictures or playing with dolls or spinning in the office chair until I got in trouble.

"Well, one day, I got it in my head that I wanted to play taxicab, and for that, I needed a car. I knew taxis had a partition between the front seat and the backseat, and I happened to notice that the squad cars did too, so my dad's police car would be perfect!

"While he and his deputies were making us lunch, I went out to the garage and climbed into his squad car. My taxi needed a sign to let passengers know I was available, so I stood on the seat and turned on the siren lights, like my dad sometimes let me do. Dad also taught me to be safe, so I locked all the doors. When I collected my first imaginary fare, I pulled the little lever on the steering wheel to record it, and the next thing I knew the car was rolling out of the garage and down the street!"

As I finish what I'm saying, glittering green eyes meet mine and stay with me for the rest of my story.

"My dad figured out where I was about the time I rolled from the garage onto the road, and he and the two deputies started chasing the car down the street. I remember waving to him as he came up beside me, but I'd locked the doors, so he couldn't get in to stop the car. Eventually, I rolled up a little hill, and they were able to get in front of the car and stop it. It happened to stop right in front of the town newspaper office, and of course, I had already drawn a crowd, so one of the reporters came out and snapped a picture of me behind the wheel.

"After my dad got done hugging me and making sure I was okay, I got the lecture of a lifetime, and he took away my favorite doll. But that was nothing compared to how angry he was the next day when the front page of the local paper had my picture with the headline, 'Chief's daughter takes joyride'".

Edward huffs out a breath and the corners of his mouth rise in a small smile.

Warmth fills my chest as I see his reaction. I didn't think I'd get anything out of him today, but even though he's obviously feeling like shit, he still made the effort to smile at me. I can't help but smile in return.

"Even though I got in bigger trouble later on, I'll always remember that day as the one when I saw his face go the reddest. It took him a long time to live that one down in town, and every once in a while he'll still pull out the newspaper and say, 'Do you see what you put me through?'"

"You were lucky the car didn't hit anything," Edward whispers, closing his eyes again.

"Yes, I really was. I was also lucky my dad wasn't armed when he stopped the car, that the street was crowded with people, and that I was a cute kid. He always told me that's why kids are cute—so their parents don't kill them when they mess up."

Edward smiles again, but this time his eyes stay closed. I want to spend more time with him, but I know he's going to fall asleep as soon as I'm quiet. And there is always tomorrow—I pull up short, because for Edward, that certainly isn't true. But there's nothing more I can do today.

"Edward, I'm going to let you rest, since I know you're not having a good day. Can I come back tomorrow and tell you more stories?"

"Yeah," he says so quietly I barely hear him. I want to reach over and brush the hair from his forehead so badly, to cup my hand to his cheek and tell him everything will be okay, but I don't do either. He's listening to me, and that's step one. I will have to content myself with that for now.

I get up very quietly and tiptoe from the room, sure that Edward is asleep before I close the door.

A/N: Short chapter today—we're going to be going day by day with these two for a while, because for the terminally ill every day can be radically different. The chapters will get progressively longer, though, as they spend more time together and circumstances begin to change. But since this one was so short, I'm going to post the next one on Thursday, with a teaser in my group for it on Tuesday. Thank you all for reading, and reviewing!

Music for Chapter 5: Dust to Dust by The Civil Wars. The link can be found in the Come Back Tomorrow playlist on YouTube and in Shadow Fics.