7
Edward stood by the doorway to the room and wiped his clammy hands on his pants before taking a step past his mom and entered the room. He hadn't been this nervous since asking Bella out on a date when he had just turned seventeen.
When Alice and Angela saw Edward, they all shared a look before the girls whispered a quick goodbye and left the room, shutting the door behind them.
Edward couldn't fight it anymore and turned his eyes to where Bella was. She was laying in the bed, sat slightly up, but with her head resting back against the pillows with her eyes closed. At her breast, was her baby girl.
The vision in front of Edward rocked him to his core.
Thoughts overtook Edward, one by one, hitting him with no break in between them. That should have been his Bella in that bed, with his baby. But it wasn't. All those dreams when they were younger seemed to have been washed away. And now he had to be strong for the girl he didn't know any more.
He slowly made his way over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, reaching for her hand. Her body was shaking as she tried to hold in her sobs.
"Hey," he said pathetically. He didn't know what else he could say. Well, he did, but he didn't think now was the time.
"Hey," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes stayed closed as he used his spare hand to reach and touch the top of the baby's head, feeling the soft, down like hair, the same color as her mom's.
"I missed you, Bella. So much. And now I'm nervous and scared that this is just a dream and when I wake up, you'll be gone again," he whispered, and his words were enough to open up the floodgates. Bella openly sobbed as she held her baby. Tears flowed down her cheeks and all Edward could do was to try and soothe her.
"I – missed – you – too," she stuttered out through her breaths, but still kept her eyes closed. Edward didn't know if this was because of the migraine she suffered or because she didn't want to look at him. He did note, as a doctor, that her speech was better than what he was expecting, though. Some HM sufferers took days to recover from such a migraine.
"Are you staying, Bella, are you back for good?" He asked.
"Yeah. . . I'm not going back there again," she whispered once she'd calmed down.
Edward and Bella spoke no more, not one word, while he was in her hospital room.
Just over an hour went by with Edward just holding her hand and watching the baby suckle. With each passing minute, Edward thought of a hundred different things he wanted to say or ask, but he held his tongue. He knew that now was not the time.
When the time came for the baby to switch sides, Edward helped. Poor Bella blushed deeply, but Edward just smiled softly and did what was needed.
Bella looked exhausted and thoroughly washed out, despite sleeping a little.
When he looked at the large clock on the wall above the door, Edward kept in a sigh as he thought about his shift that he was due on in just a short while.
He didn't want to leave Bella for one minute, but he had no choice. He had no option but to work, and Bella needed to speak with Charlie before she could adequately rest for the night.
Edward stood up from the bed, noticing how the baby had finished eating. Without asking, he carefully lifted the little girl from Bella's arms and placed her in the small plastic crib that Carlisle had put in the room.
When Edward turned to see Bella, her eyes were still closed, but tears were free-flowing down her cheeks.
"I'll be back to see you soon," he whispered and left a long, soft kiss on her forehead before he left the room.
He nodded to Charlie, who was still waiting outside the room and then he left for his shift.
Edward went through the motions of work. He did all that was asked of him like he was in autopilot. At shift change, he handed over to the next doctor and drove home, exhausted.
He made it home as the sun peeked over the horizon. He undressed in a haze, thoughts taking over again.
Then he climbed into bed. The warm body next to him rolled over and placed an arm over his chest, pulling him closer.
"Good shift?" she mumbled.
"Yeah,"
"Any good cases?" the sleepy voice asked.
"Bella's back. She's in the hospital, T," he whispered.