A/N: What can I say? I had a bit of a Bella moment two weeks ago, not only twisting my ankle but also hitting my face - it was not a pretty sight, and I'd say that Bella has nothing on me when it comes to being clumsy, I was just in too much pain to write. This chapter has also been giving me a really hard time, I was about to pull this story but my girls saved my ass again - 5 rewrites and I'm not 100% happy with it, but it is what it is. Eternally thankful to Dena (Monksmama) for saving me not only once, but twice on this story when I made the rookie mistake of writing about something I knew nothing about. That has now been rewritten. Equally eternally thankful to Keyla (Ezzery) for being frank with me and telling me that part of the story simply sucked donkey. Again, the donkey is now gone, and we can thank Keyla for that. She also does miracles with all my typos and grammar mistakes. I'd sound like a 3rd grader without her.
I know this chapter is a little on the short side, but the next one has already been worked out, and I can promise you enough drama there.
Pimping my favorite girls as always. When you're done here, go over to read Prove me innocent and Fingerprint by Ezzery, For Eternity and A life undone by Monksmama, Horizons and Through your eyes by Megsly, and Work Hard Break Easy by Cydryna Marie. These stories have me buzzing with excitement every time they're updated.
Disclaimer: SMeyer is the owner of these characters.
EPOV
I looked around for help, and saw the doorman come running, "Call 911!" he turned around and ran back in.
"Bella..." I felt a tightening in my chest as I watched her just lying there, unresponsive. I wasn't worried about her fainting, I was much more concerned about the fall and the bleeding, she hit her head so hard. I could feel myself panic, but I refused to give into it. I had to keep my head clear, Bella needed me to keep my wits about me.
Taking a deep breath, I started to check all her vitals. The pulse was strong and steady, but her skin felt cold and clammy. Her breathing was unrestrained, but she wasn't moving. Not even a flutter from her fingers nor her eyes. The stillness was making me nervous.
I just sat beside Bella, holding her hand and watching her as she lay still on the ground. When I heard the sirens approaching. I took a deep and shaky breath. The feeling of relief almost knocked me over, she would get professional help now. Bella was on the gurney and inside the ambulance in no time, and thankfully no one protested when I climbed inside the ambulance and sat down by Bella's head. The EMT guy had her hooked up to various machines before we even started driving towards the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, they whisked Bella away from me. I wasn't allowed to follow her where she was going, and I could feel the panic grasp at me again. Refusing to give in to it, I tried to distract myself. Alice! I can call Alice! I knew Alice was Bella's best friend in town, she should be here.
"Alice? Hi, this is Edward Cullen," I said, rather shakily.
"Mr. Cullen. Hi. What can I do for you?" She sounded really chipper, I hated that I would ruin her mood with what I had to tell her.
"I hate to say this over the phone, but Bella fainted and hit her head, we're at the hospital," the line went silent and I checked my phone to see if I was still connected, I was, "Alice? You there?"
"What hospital are you at?" Alice demanded, startling me a little. I gave her the details and hung up the phone. Not quite sure what to do with myself, I went looking for someone who would tell me what was going on with Bella.
Getting anything of value out of hospital staff in Los Angeles was harder than getting a convict out of jail. No one was telling me anything. I felt my frustrations grow, and I kept on shoving my hands through my hair, a bad habit that got worse when I felt out of control. I was ready to kill someone for information when I heard Alice.
"Edward!" I turned around and saw an Alice that looked even more frantic than I was currently feeling, "Where is Bella? How is she?"
I sighed and closed my eyes for a second, "I have no idea. None of these morons will tell me anything. Worthless idiots!" I said that last part loud knowing everyone at the nurse station would hear me.
It was as if Alice grew a foot while I watched her. The Queen of War had entered the building, and she would stop at nothing to get the information she wanted. It took Alice less than 5 minutes to find out where Bella was, who her doctor was, and what was wrong. Knowing what she needed to know, Alice walked by me and latched onto my sleeve, dragging me behind her. I wanted to tell her it wasn't necessary, that I would follow her willingly, but one look at her straight spine, and I decided it would be best to keep my mouth shut. Bella had warned me about 'Angry Alice'.
Alice stopped her stride in front of a closed door and turned to me, "I have some good news for you, the doctor treating Bella is a Dr. Cullen. I'm guessing your family?" she looked at me, but didn't wait for confirmation before she walked into Bella's room.
I took a deep breath and followed Alice inside. Bella had given me a big scare when she fainted like she did and didn't wake up immediately, so I was anxious to see her well. I had sworn I would protect Bella and the baby, and I had failed. It made me feel unfamiliar feelings. But before I had any more time to think about it, the door opened up behind me. Without even turning around I knew it was Dr. Carlisle Cullen, my father. I would recognize his footsteps anywhere. I took a deep breath, feeling relieved, I knew that Bella was in good hands with Carlisle.
"Hey, dad," I said without taking my eyes off Bella, who was sitting up and whispering with Alice about something.
"Edward! What are you doing here? You know Miss Swan?"
I turned around and looked at Carlisle, feeling a little guilty for not having seen my parents for a few months now, "I guess I have some explaining to do," I said sheepishly. Carlisle pursed his lips and looked at me thoughtfully, clearly uncertain what I was to Bella, "Look dad, it's a long story, but Bella was with me when she fainted."
I saw Carlisle looked towards the bed, and I followed his gaze. Bella looked well. She had some color back on her face. Alice looked both a little annoyed and concerned as she was talking softly with Bella. Both girls turned and looked at me and Carlisle as they both stopped talking looking a little awkward.
Carlisle nodded at my last remark, and looked down at the chart in his hands, before looking up at Bella, "Well miss Swan, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell today, so you will have to be on bed rest for a couple days, or at least until you have regained your strength. That means no work, even from home." Bella just nodded and I was relieved she didn't argue that.
BPOV
I was relieved to see Alice walk into my room. It had been a little scary to wake up at the hospital alone. Seeing a friendly face made me relax.
"Hey Alice, I'm so glad you're here," I said before she hugged me.
"Oh Bella," she sighed, "I've been telling you you've been working too hard!" She looked at me with worry in her eyes, "I'm willing to bet you haven't changed your eating habits since we talked about it the last time, have you?"
I shrugged my shoulders while refusing to look at Alice, "I haven't had time to cook, and you know I've had crazy hours. I just haven't had time to worry too much about it." I looked at Alice, begging for understanding.
"Bella..." she gave me a stern look before continuing, "you're pregnant, you need to eat! And you must let Angela take over the responsibilities, she's more than ready. You've taught her well. Stop worrying so much about work, and worry more about you and the baby."
"I know, hon. I promise, I'll cut back on work, and I'll start cooking for myself," I gave Alice a weak smile, but she wasn't buying it. I guess I would have to prove it to her, and Edward, that I could take care of myself. Sighing, I looked at Edward and the doctor standing by the door talking quietly, the older man was apparently Edward's dad, and it made me wonder if Cullen Sr knew about Cullen Jr being the one who knocked me up. Knocked up. That made me snicker.
"What happened?" I asked them when they both looked at me.
It was Edward who answered my question, "You fainted outside our apartment building and hit your head pretty hard."
I sighed, "Yeah, that sounds like something I would do. So when can I go home?"
"You're an impatient one, " Dr. Cullen grinned, "We don't know yet. We have to do a full checkup first before that is decided." I nodded, suddenly feeling very gloom. "I have a couple questions for you about how you were feeling before you fainted."
I had to think about that one for a little, "I remember feeling chills, and clammy. I also remember I couldn't breathe, it made me feel a little panicked."
"Have you been working a lot lately, and have you been eating properly," he was looking at me, with what I assumed to be my chart in one hand, and a pen in the other.
Pulling my hands out of Alice's grasp, I rubbed my face. I knew I would be in trouble, "I have had extra long days for the past few weeks. On top of my regular workload, I've had to train someone else to take over my position when I'm unable to work because of the pregnancy," throwing a quick glance at Edward before looking back at Dr. Cullen, I cringed when I thought about my eating habits, "Because of the crazy workload lately, I haven't had time to have proper meals. Mostly I've just been snacking throughout the day," I looked down at my fiddling hands as I said that last thing."
"What about at home at the end of the day? Do you eat dinner?" Dr. Cullen asked.
"Um... Well... Usually I'm so tired and exhausted after work that I just crash when I come home. I'm asleep within minutes after I've let myself in," I was looking anywhere but at the people in my room.
I could see Edward tense up, and the older Cullen looked pretty exasperated too, "Miss Swan," uh-oh, he didn't sound happy with me, "you are pregnant. You're not just feeding yourself. You are literally eating for two! The right thing to do would be to order you to remain in the hospital for a couple of days to ensure that you get some nutrients in you and the baby before we release you."
I was stumped. I didn't know what to say. Of course I knew I had been working too much and eating too little. Bending my head down, and hiding my face in my hands, I got why Dr. Cullen was so fired up. I was carrying his grandchild.
"Don't worry about it, dad. Once we get her out of here, she's not going back to work, and I'll be making sure she eats properly. Now that I know what the problem is, she isn't getting off the hook that easily." Edward sounded a little strangled, like he was trying to control his temper. Looking at him, I was suddenly worried. I realized that I didn't know this man, I didn't know if he had any anger issues.
EPOV
I couldn't believe that Bella had been that reckless with herself and our baby. The long hours training her assistant, I could understand, but neglecting to eat proper meals throughout the day, that shit made me angry. I looked at Bella, and saw her cringe at my anger. Great, on top of everything I was now scaring her. I tried to calm myself down, there was no need for her to be afraid of me. I might be angry, but I wasn't stupid or violent. I closed my eyes and took deep, calming breaths.
I was exhausted, the scare and all the worrying was keeping my nerves on edge. Finding out that she had been careless about her health, was the last drop that made the glass overflow. I knew I was angry for no reason, I knew that Bella was all right, but the frustrations I was feeling made it hard to keep all the emotions that were crashing against each other under control. I really wanted to pick up something heavy and throw it against the wall to release some of the tension I was feeling. But seeing how I had scared Bella just by looking angry, that would probably be a bad idea.
"Edward, do you mind stepping outside with me?" Carlisle asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked at Alice sitting with Bella and figured I could leave them for a few minutes. I didn't want to let Bella out of my sight, but I knew Carlisle had questions he wanted to ask me in private, so I nodded and followed him out of the room.
We stopped once we made sure we weren't within hearing range to Bella's room. Carlisle was looking down at the chart he had in his hand, fiddling with the papers, clearly not sure where or how to begin his new set of questions. I didn't want to stay out here and waste more time than I had to, "What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked to get him started.
Carlisle looked at me as if he'd never seen me before, and still hesitant to ask me the questions I knew were burning at the tip of his tongue, "Yes, dad, Bella is carrying my child," I said impatiently.
"And when were you planning on informing your mother and me about this?" he asked after taking a deep breath.
Running my hands through my hair for the umpteenth time today, I tried to put together words that would make sense, "Dad, it's a really long story, but basically I wanted to sort things out with Bella first before we told anyone about this."
He let out a small chuckle, which took me by surprise, "By the looks of things, Bella is at least four to five months along, you don't have to tell people anymore. That train kinda left the station a while ago," Carlisle said with a smile.
"Things with me and Bella... well... they haven't been easy. Still aren't," I said, not sure how to explain the whole thing. I looked back towards Bella's room, anxious to get back to her.
"All right Edward, I'll stop trying to drag the answers out of you right now, I see that you want to get back to her," Carlisle sighed, "but once Bella is back on her feet again, your mother and I are expecting the two of you for dinner. Soon," he said and put his arm on my shoulder, squeezing it. I just nodded, agreeing, and walked back to Bella's room.
BPOV
Alice and I had been talking about fainting, ending up at the hospital, and about work when Edward came back. I was anxious to get out of here, "Did he say when I could leave?"
He shook his head, "No, he didn't say anything. But he's preparing your tests, I guess once they have the results, we'll be out of here in no time."
I sighed, I wanted to be anywhere but here. I had spent enough time at hospitals. Being as clumsy as me, I had been a frequent guest at the local hospitals. My hospital memories were anything but good. There was a lot of pain involved in these visits. Being clumsy and hurting myself over and over again, included a lot of pain. I'd had more stitches than anyone should have in five lifetimes. I'd plucked on more scabs than there were people in Phoenix, where I grew up. I'd twisted my ankles so many times, it was a small wonder I was able to walk at all. No, hospitals did not hold any good memories for me.
The three of us stayed in my room, talking about nothing of importance, when Dr. Cullen came back. They were ready for me to do some tests. Sighing, I got off the bed with a little help from Edward, and sat down in the wheelchair before being wheeled to unknown parts of the hospital.
When they were done poking and pinching me, and sticking me black and blue with needles, I was wheeled back to my room, where only Edward was waiting for me.
"Where is Alice?" I asked.
"She had to leave for an audition, she'll be back after. She'll come by the apartment if we're out of here before she's back." He looked exhausted and tired. I guess I had given him quite a scare today.
We were just sitting in my room, an uncomfortable silence surrounding us, when Dr. Cullen came back, "Please tell me I can go home now," I looked expectantly at him.
He grinned, "You can go home. We didn't find anything too out of the ordinary in the tests. We don't have the results to all the tests yet, but we'll be in touch with you when those come back." I was just relieved I could go home, but Dr. Cullen wasn't done talking just yet, "Miss Swan..."
"Bella, please," I cut him off.
"All right, Bella. We did find that your vitamin and mineral levels were a little on the low side of things. I'm going to prescribe some pills you'll need to take for a while, and then come back for new blood work to make sure those levels are on the rise." I just nodded, relieved it was nothing that wasn't fixable. Dr. Cullen smiled at me, "Now, you can go home."
I was dressed and on my way out of the hospital in no time. I was ecstatic to be able to go home. Edward had come with me in the ambulance, so we took a cab back to the apartment. We were quiet on the ride home, I just knew Edward wasn't done with whatever was bothering him. I could feel the tension radiating from him, and it was bothering me. I was in love with him, he was gorgeous, he had gotten me pregnant, I was living with him – but I did not know the man sitting next to me. Not really. And it made me feel a little uneasy.
EPOV
Bella didn't say a word on the ride home. But I could tell from her glances towards me that she was feeling uneasy. Good! She had done such a stupid thing. I knew it was partly my fault for not paying attention to her, but she was always asleep when I got home. That should have told me that something wasn't right. I was angry with Bella for pushing herself too far, and I was angry with myself for not seeing what really was happening right in front of me.
The cab stopped and I paid the driver, helping Bella out, I left my hand on the small of her back as she walked towards our home. I wasn't about to take any more chances with her. If she tripped, I was going to catch her this time. Bella didn't protest my hand on her back, and nothing was said on the ride in the elevator either. But when we stepped out of the carriage, we could hear voices coming from the kitchen. I looked at Bella, and she looked just as surprised as I did. I motioned to her to stay behind me and stay quiet. I had no idea who was here, then we heard a high pitched laughter, Alice.
We walked into the kitchen not to find only Alice, but Jasper and Emmett as well. Bella looked at the mess on all the counters, "Um guys? What are you doing?" she asked.
"What does it look like, silly?" Alice asked, pointing at something, "We're making you dinner of course!"
Bella walked over to Alice and tasted whatever was cooking, "This needs a little more salt," she grinned down at her friend. Then she turned at looked at Emmett and Jasper, "And what are you two doing here?"
"Come on, Bells, we were worried about you!" Emmett boomed from his seat by the island. Jasper didn't say anything, he just nodded before looking back to...Alice? I looked back and forth between the two, understanding suddenly dawning down on me. There was something going on with these two.
I sighed quietly and turned to walk back to the living room, my talk with Bella would have to wait until everyone had gone home. Pinching my nose, I felt the entire tension move its way to my head. I could feel the headache loom in the background, and I figured it was just as well that I was forced to do this later. It would give me time to calm down. Just as I was leaving the kitchen, I heard the elevator ping. Now what? I thought to myself. I looked up and saw Rosalie walk in, she was wearing a tight, red mini-dress and her red fuck-me shoes. I knew Bella and Rose didn't get along, so this was just perfect.
Dragging Rosalie with me back to the kitchen to introduce her to the others, I walked in on Bella crying against Emmett's shoulder, and him looking at me as if he wanted to kill me. I had been gone for two minutes, what had happened?
A/N: Please, don't hesitate to take a look at my pimping lists both here and in my profile - a lot of good stories linked there that deserve to be read by everyone. Again I want to thank you for reading and being so patient with me ladies and gents. Especially thank you to those who reviewed, you all have kept that special place in my heart!