Chapter 9 – Lēx
BPOV
I wake up slowly this time. I can hear voices when I come to. Soft voices, women's voices and I begin to wonder where I am.
I've never woken up to a woman's voice before. My mom died when I was little and I don't remember her at all. I don't have any sisters and I was never allowed to stay over at Alice' house, so waking up to the sound of soft voices is weird for me.
I can smell lotion, or soap or shampoo or something. It's very strong and it prickles my nose.
"How long before she can eat solid food?" I hear and I start to wonder if they are discussing me or Elizabeth.
The concept of solid food is a little frightening considering the pain in my mouth and jaw right now, so I hope they mean the baby and not me.
"Oh that's a ways off yet Alice. Six months is a good time to start trying, but not yet. She's nice and fat and happy with the formula for now anyway." The voice says and I relax, they are talking about Elizabeth.
"Angus was a porker compared to Elizabeth." The other voice giggles.
It could be Alice but it's been so long since I heard her voice in person that it could just as well be a nurse. I have no idea who Angus is. I open my left eye and the right is a little slower, but eventually it too opens and I am met with the usual view of the boring white hospital ceiling.
I flex my fingers and toes and slowly begin to stretch my legs and back. There is a dull ache at my ribs on the right side but other than that I feel pretty good. I know better than to lift my head or attempt to move my neck, so I lie still for a few minutes.
"I want to wash her hair but Edward always looks at me funny when I mention it." I hear. "But I know she'd hate having dirty hair like this."
I hear the shift of a chair on the linoleum floor and wonder who it is that just moved. "Don't antagonise your brother." The other female voice says and I wonder if that's Edward's mom. "You know he's very protective of her, he doesn't want her moved yet. Did you know those toys cost him four thousand dollars?" She said quietly and I wondered what toys. Not toys for Elizabeth, surely?
"Yeah, Rosie told me how much she spent." The one I think is Alice says.
There is a little tiny cough then and I know its Elizabeth. I swallow thickly and try to remember whether it was better to speak from my chest or from my throat. Both hurt so it wasn't going to matter too much. I take a breath and try to be heard.
"Eww-ahhh-dd." I manage. It's better than the last time, I can enunciate the 'd' on the end a little better this time. It gets my point across because straight away there is movement and they are on their side of my bed looking down at me.
"Hello sweetheart." Esme Cullen says quietly. She's holding Elizabeth.
"Hey stranger." Alice Cullen says on my right side. "I'll push the call button." She says and reaches above my head.
I flinch and try to pull away because the sudden motion of her hand looks like she's going to slap me. I realise that she's not going to hurt me, this is Edward's sister and she was once my best girl friend, but I pull away because it's my natural reaction to such quick movements.
The alarm sounds straight away because I've moved so quickly the pain in my ribs and my cheek and mouth overwhelm me, and then the room begins to fill up. Another female voice is asking what happened then she comes to stand where Alice was and the alarm stops. I hear a male voice too, asking whether or not he should page Dr Cullen senior. And then I hear Edward.
"What the fuck happened, who upset her?" He shouts as he comes to my side. He leans down and instantly his voice is softer. "Hey baby, it's alright, nobody is going to hurt you here. I'm here, we won't hurt you." He tells me.
"We didn't upset her, I swear." Alice is crying now. "She woke up so we thought we should call the nurse, I reached over her head to hit the button but she startled. I didn't mean anything by it Bella, I promise." She's crying harder now and I feel so bad for her.
I know in my brain that Alice Cullen would never hurt me. She spent years trying to get me to open up to her so she could help me, she wouldn't do that only to hurt me now. But my brain also knows that any quick movement has a hit, a punch or a slap attached to it and I recoil out of ingrained fear, no matter who the movement belongs to.
"Eww-ahh-d." I manage to get out again. I can lift my hand much better now so I reach for him and close my fingers around his forearm and squeeze.
He's right there beside my face again in a second. "It's alright baby. Just breathe Bella. Breathe with me." He's telling me and I realise that the alarm is sounding again. "You're alright baby, nobody will hurt you." He's telling me and I'm following his lips as he breathes.
When the alarm stops he asks if I want everyone to leave, he asks me to squeeze if I want that. I hold very still. I want to see them and I don't want them to take Elizabeth away yet. I'm awake for such short periods, I want to see her as much as I can while I can.
"Squeeze if you want them to stay baby." He finally asks it the right way around and I squeeze as hard as I can. His smile is dazzling. "Then they'll stay." He tells me. "Let's get you sitting up and then you can visit with Elizabeth a bit." He says as though he can read my mind.
I prepare myself for the bed to be raised by focusing on the buttons on his shirt as he sits me up. Again I feel a small wave of nausea but it's not big enough to make me gag or retch. Elizabeth is awake and in Esme's arms as she's brought to me. Edward takes her and then settles her on my chest. I can lift my arms on my own a little so I wrap them under her bottom and try to hold her there.
It's different with her awake, she can wriggle and move against me and it takes a lot more effort to hold her like this. I wish I could talk to her but I can't, so I use what energy I have to stroke her back with my fingers.
"She's doing so well." Esme tells me. She moves a little closer up the bed and I can see her a little more clearly. She's aged a bit since I last saw her. It's probably been five years at a guess, but she looks just like I remembered her. Kind. She has kind eyes and a sweet voice. "She sleeps for about six hours at night now and she's having seven ounces each bottle. She weighed nine pounds four ounces this morning and that's perfect for her age Bella." She tells me.
She's put on six ounces since I've been in hospital but I still don't know how long that's been, so I don't know if that's enough of a weight gain. I can't ask either, so instead I can feel myself getting frustrated. Edward said to give it a few hours before I could try to speak and I guess it's been that long because I fell asleep in between, but my throat still feels raw and my cheek and lip are burning with pain from the stitches and cuts inside.
"Hooo loooo." I manage to get out before I have to close my jaw against the stabbing pain. I wanted to say how long, but of course it sounds like a braying donkey instead.
Nobody understands me even though they all look down at me kindly. Edward is there then, at my side again. "Shhh, let your mouth heal baby. I promise she's fine, she's eating and sleeping and healthy and happy, I promise." He tells me and I try to relax.
For now I've got my daughter in my arms and Edward at my side. Everything else can wait. Besides, I tell myself, the faster I can speak the faster he'll start asking questions and the faster he'll leave us.
Not speaking has its rewards.
EPOV
Bella tires so easily so she can't hold Elizabeth for long, or fight the sleep that overtakes her soon after I take the baby off her chest.
Mom and Alice take Elizabeth home after that and I go back out into the garden to call Emmett to see how his interview with the cops in Port Angeles went.
I catch him as he's on his way out the door and he tells me it went okay. They took his statement and copies of his photos. They asked a million questions about what he remembered from when we were kids, he told them not much. They asked him had he ever had any dealings with Charlie Swan, to which he says just once in his capacity as a cop, when he was seventeen he got a speeding ticket, and a few times when he came to collect Bella from our house. Although Emmett explained to the cops that he didn't really know Bella, but that he knew of Charlie Swan.
Halfway through the call I hear the background noise change and he says he's driving now so I'll have to speak up a bit.
They asked him what he knew of Jake and Emmett tells them that he's met him once. I asked what he told them about the beating he handed down to Jake and he says they didn't mention it and he didn't either.
He asks after Bella and when I tell him that mom and Alice got to spend a few minutes with her while she was awake he goes off at me!
"Dude why didn't you say she was awake? Fuck Edward, that's stuff you should say right up front. Shit. I wanted to be there when she was awake too you know, damn. Does she wake up at regular times, can we come at a designated time so she can meet Rosie and Angus? What times good? Tonight maybe? I've got to drive to Olympia tomorrow but I can come tonight." He bellows into the phone.
"Calm down Em, jeez." I mutter. "It's not a fucking conspiracy you know. I'm not keeping her from you. If you turn up and she's awake good, but I don't know what time she's going to sleep and what time she's going to wake up, I'm a doctor not a fucking magician."
"You'd suck as a magician dude, you'd cuddle the fucking assistant instead of cutting her in half." He barks with laughter and I hang up on his smart mouth.
He calls back but I don't answer. Stupid prick. He calls again and I answer but tell him to piss off. He's laughing so hard I can't help but laugh along. As usual, even though he's a complete tosser, he's just what I need. I thank him, he tells me to stop being a pussy, I tell him he's gay, he says only for me, I fake gag, he tells me he loves me, I tell him I love him too, he threatens my life if I tell anyone. I hang up happy.
My dinner tray is there when I get back, and so is my dad and Ben fucking Cheney.
I look to my dad and hope to Christ he's going to back me up when I speak because if he doesn't I'm going to have to slug him and I really don't want to. "You can't examine her, not now, she's only just gone back to sleep, you can't wake her up to poke at her down there." I'm telling him, probably too loudly but I don't give a shit. "She's lucid now when she's awake so you need her consent. Fuck off until she gives it to you."
"Edward, calm down." My dad starts but I'm already working up a full head of steam by the time he gets the next sentence out. "He just stopped by to..." Is as far as he gets.
"You touch her and I'll have you." I tell Ben then turn to my dad. "You can touch her but only above the navel." I tell him, pointing my finger at him.
Luckily for me he just rolls his eyes at me and grins. "Christ." Dad mutters and I balk. He doesn't take the Lords name in vain, I've fucked up and I know it. "Just stop you idiot." He's telling me. "He's not here to examine her Edward. This is a social call you moron." He says.
I run my hand through my hair and let my breath out through my teeth. Shit. "Sorry." I mutter.
Ben's laughing though. "You don't remember me, do you?" He asks and I look at him hard.
"Should I?" I ask.
"Probably not. I was a year below you, in between you and Alice. I knew Bella though, she was friends with my wife, Angela Weber she was back then." He says with a grin on his face.
"Ben Cheney, Ben Cheney. Oh shit, yeah, I remember you. I tutored you for Biology my senior year, right?" I ask and he nods, big grin on his face. "Shit, sorry man. I didn't twig before." I tell him and offer my hand.
He shakes it while he laughs. "Can't say I've ever been threatened in my line of work before, the husbands don't like me, but I rarely get roughed up." He laughs.
"Shit, I'm so sorry." I tell him again. "Sorry dad." I tell him too.
"I'll leave you to it. Her obs are fine Edward. Good job on the sutures and your notes are impeccable." He puts her chart back in the holder at the foot of the bed and shakes Ben's hand before leaving. He's still muttering to himself and I guess I'll have to apologise again later for what I said.
When he's gone I offer the plastic chair beside Bella's bed to Ben and he sits. "So, does it suck to have your dad as her doctor or what?" He asks.
"Kinda. No. Yes, a bit." I admit. "Look, I'm really sorry I spoke you like I did. I'm just a bit of a mess, it's no excuse but I haven't quite got my head around any of this yet." I tell him as I sit in the other plastic chair and take Bella's hand.
He's nodding so I hope he's ok with my apology. "I can't imagine what it's like to watch your wife go through something like this." He says sadly.
"We aren't married, she's not my wife." I tell him quietly.
"Oh right, shit, I just assumed. Sorry." He says.
"Her husband did this. You might know the piece of shit. Jacob Black, from the Rez." I tell him.
"Yeah, I know that asshat." He mutters darkly. "Bella used to hang around with him all the time. I think their dads were friends or something. Ange used to go with Bella to the beach down there and I picked her up a few times, Jake and his friends were always being idiots. Jumping off the cliffs and stuff, hanging shit on us guys who wouldn't do it. They thought they were tough guys I think." He says. "I never thought she'd marry him though, she always seemed keen on you I thought." He said quietly.
I run my free hand through my hair and exhale loudly. I missed so fucking much because I wasn't looking back then. "We were kids." I tell him. "I thought she had a crush on Mike Newton, I never saw her look at me twice."
He's laughing again then. "You can't be serious? One, Mike Newton, nobody had a crush on that idiot. Bella was too smart to like that douche and two, did you honestly never see her staring at you?" He asks as he leans back in the chair and puts his hands behind his head.
I think on it a moment. I know Newton is a douche, he always was, but I did honestly think she had a crush on him. She went to all the school dances with him the year I was a senior so I figured she liked him. And I never, ever saw her staring at me. But, I stared at her, a lot. "Nope, never saw her staring." I admit. "Your wife, Angela Weber, she the same Angela Weber who writes for the Forks Gazette?" I ask.
"That's her yeah. She was on the school paper way back when. You know her or remember her?" He asks.
"I don't remember her but she interviewed me couple years back when the clinic first opened." I tell him.
"Yeah, she got some good feedback from that article." He nods towards my dinner tray then. "You should eat that before it gets cold. I'll leave you to it." He stands and makes to leave so I stand too and offer him my hand again.
"Sorry about before. Wait till she gives you the all clear before you examine her yeah? As a favour to her at the very least. She's gonna be real panicked about it, give her a choice, please." I beg him.
"Yeah, no worries. I'll have a chat to Kerry, you met our resident therapist yet?" He asks.
"Not yet, I wondered how long it would be before the shrinks waded it." I mutter darkly.
"Nah, Kerry's great, you'll like her. Tells it real straight, won't take any shit but will help her a lot too. I'll mention what you've said to her, get her to come by to assess Bella before I examine her again. Take it easy Edward, pass on our best when she's awake next." He nods to Bella and then he's gone.
I eat my dinner and think about what everyone has said and done today.
I've had no word from Benson so I don't know if our petition for a restraining order has been denied or granted. Jake turned up again but left without too much fuss when confronted. Bella had been awake twice and twice she did really well. Her stitches and staples came out without a problem and she tried to speak and smile.
Not such a bad day in the scheme of things. It could've been a lot worse. My thoughts stray to Joshua and his mom. I throw the jell-o into my head and when the tray is clean I kiss Bella and take the tray to the lounge to stow it for the cleaners. I let the nurse at the desk, Jaimee her nametag says, know that I'll be within the hospital but to page me if Bella wakes while I'm gone. Then I head for the children's ward.
My watch says it's eight-thirty and the nurse at the desk says he's already asleep in his crib but I ask if I can go and sit by him anyway. The ward is quiet even though three of the eight kids in it are still awake. They are older than Joshua so I figure they'd have later bedtimes if they were at home anyway.
Joshua is asleep on his side and I can see that his oxygen tube has been taken out. A quick read of his chart tells me that his temperature is almost normal now and his lung function test this afternoon was a lot better than yesterdays. He's eaten more today than he had the previous three days combined and he's sleeping less, playing more. It's about as good a result as a doctor could hope for. His infection is resistant to antibiotics so the body has to fight it itself, not always easy. But he's doing well. I figure he'll be going home in a day or two if he continues to do as well.
I sit in the plastic chair by his crib and watch him sleep for a bit.
He snuffles just like Elizabeth does and I wonder if all little kids do it. I never watched Angus sleep before. Mostly, if I took care of him while Em and Rosie went out, by the time the little monster finally fell asleep I didn't want to see him for hours.
Joshua is on his belly, his little hands in fists beside his head. He's got the longest eyelashes I've ever seen on a boy. He's a good looking kid. His string bag is still tied to the edge of his crib and I can see his robot and his Lego are still in it despite the ward being filled to overflowing with new toys. These mean something to him, they're special to him and he wants them close by.
I don't even realise I'm crying until the duty nurse comes and offers me a tissue. I take one and tell her thanks before heading back to Bella's ward. I've never cried this much in my life. If I added up all the times over my twenty-six and a half years that I'd cried it would maybe be four times. Once when Grandma Cullen died, once when Grandma Masen died, once when Alice broke her wrist and I had to sit with her on the ground under the jungle gym until a teacher came to get her, and once when Angus was born.
In the past week I'd blubbed like a girl a dozen times. I couldn't help it. Now I knew why mom was always dabbing at her eyes all the time. Stuff hurts.
I check Bella's latest obs when I get back to her, kiss her goodnight, tell her I love her and then brush my teeth. I change into some sleep pants and a plain t-shirt and try to get comfortable in the too short bed for the sixth night in a row. Sleep finds me long before I think it will.
BPOV
It's quiet and quite dark when I wake up this time. I know where I am straight away though, I don't need to wonder. I can smell the hospital smell and see the blinking lights as they reflect off the monitors behind my head.
There is a gentle snoring in the room and I try to carefully move my neck to the side so I can see who it is that's asleep in that small bed under the windows. My sight is better in the dark than it is in the bright lights of daytime so I know straight away who belongs to that mop of copper hair.
Edward groans in his sleep as he tosses and turns from side to side. The bed is way too short for him and his sock clad feet hang out the bottom of the blankets.
I watch him sleep for a long time. I count the beeps of the monitor and guess that each little beep is my heart beating. I can't count the beeps and the seconds in a minute so I assume that I beat at least once a second – I failed biology senior year, hell I failed everything senior year – and count off the hour that way. It might be two hours if I beat more often, might be less than a full hour if less often, but the counting helps to pass the time. Edward groans again and then he turns to face me. I wish him awake but he doesn't open his eyes at all while I'm watching him.
My door opens and in comes a Bob Marley look alike.
"Sleeping beauty awakes." He whispers to me as he takes my temperature with a thing he sticks in my ear. "I'm Iggy but your man calls me Bob." He tells me quietly. I want to laugh. Edward thought he was Bob Marley too! I can't say anything so I just follow Bob with my eyes. "Your chart says you can't talk to me yet, but I bet you're in there, dying to tell me how gorgeous I am, right?" He chuckles as he checks my cheek and my lip then shines a light in my left eye then my right. "Your mans been here every minute since they brought you in. He's a good guy, his dad is too. Don't you go given them any shtick when you get your voice back Sleeping Beauty." He laughs and then I can't see him anymore.
I hear the scratch of his pen on paper and then the door shutting.
"You okay baby?" I hear from Edward. He's swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. He stands and comes to the side of my bed and I feel his warm hand slide into mine.
"Ed-www-aaah." I rasp out. Its sounding better, the letter sounds are more distinct.
"Oh baby that's nearly it, you're doing so well." He tells me. "Squeeze if you're okay." He tells me and I squeeze hard. I want to tell him to get onto the bed with me but of course I can't do that. I keep squeezing his hand and hope he'll play twenty questions with me. "I wish you could tell me what you need baby." He mutters and bends down to kiss my cheek. I take my hand out of his and pat the bed as best I can. He looks at me blankly so I do it again. I slap my hand up and down on the bed and stare up at him. "You want me up on there with you?" He asks and I take his hand and squeeze.
"Ye-eh-th." I whisper as best I can. "U." I tell him. I can make the 'you' sound without any problems, it's a good start I think as Edward smiles widely.
"You want me up there with you?" He asks as if it's the stupidest idea he's ever heard. I squeeze his hand and he sighs. "Oh you got it baby." He laughs and slides up onto the bed beside me. He shuffles down so that our faces are lined up and I can see him clearly. He puts his arm across me gently and rests it under my ribs. "I've dreamt about this." He whispers as if he can read my mind. "Admittedly we were naked and you were a lot more well than this, but it's a good start baby." He chuckles.
I fall back to sleep with him stroking the soft hollow of my stomach with his fingertips and his beautiful face half an inch from mine.
EPOV
I wake up with her beautiful face only an inch from mine and have to blink a dozen times to make sure I wasn't dreaming it.
The events of yesterday and the night before come flooding back when I realise we aren't alone in the room.
My father is standing at the foot of the bed writing on Bella's chart. He's grinning from ear to ear.
"Morning." I mumble and slide off the bed.
"Morning son." He chuckles.
"Don't say anything." I warn him playfully.
"I wasn't going to." He mutters and keeps writing. "I wondered how long it would be before I caught you with a woman." He laughs.
"Dad I'm twenty-six." I laugh.
"Exactly." Is all he says.
I go into the bathroom with my toiletries bag and a stack of clean clothes and leave him to it. I do not want to have that conversation with my father and I don't want a lecture from him in his capacity as Bella's doctor either.
I shower and shave and change into clean clothes. Mom brings me new ones everyday when she visits and I don't think I've once said thank you. I have to remember, in fact I should go to the gift shop and send her flowers. And Bella. Bella's room needs flowers too. And cards and she can have visitors now and we will need to get her moving soon too. I'm looking forward to taking her outside. From the paleness of her skin and the rules I saw in the apartment I know it's been a long time since she's seen the sun.
Dad's gone when I get back into the room but Sheila is back and she's got a basin of water and a washcloth.
"Welcome back." I tell her as I put my dirty things into my backpack for mom to take home later.
"Thanks. How is she doing?" She asks me. It's been two days since she's seen her after all.
"Much better. Here let me do that, please?" I take the washcloth and begin to wash Bella's arms and hands. "She's off the sedation and has been awake three times under her own steam now." I tell her.
"That's great." Sheila says as she strips the sheets and blankets from my bed. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. I should check in at work, but I'm fine." I tell her as I switch sides and wash Bella's other hand and arm.
"I heard what you did in the children's ward. That was really good of you." She says as she remakes my bed for me.
"It was nothing." I mumble. "What can you tell me about Kerry, I don't know her last name, but she's a therapist here I think."
"Oh that would be Kerry Nunn, she's fantastic. She works out of here and she has a private practise in Port Angeles as well. I think she might be attached to the high school too." She adds at the end. "You'll like her. Is she going to come and talk to Bella?"
"Ben Cheney said he'd mention Bella to her, yeah." I lift Bella's gown and wash her carefully across her stomach and under each breast. I know she's got to have her dressings changed today, and have her wounds examined, but I don't want to think about that yet.
I rinse the cloth and pull the blanket off her right leg. I hesitate and Sheila reaches for the cloth. "Let me. You throw those in the trolley outside and we'll call it even." She laughs and points to the dirty linens.
"Thanks. I'm going to head to the gift shop, page me if she wakes up please." I tell her.
In the gift shop I arrange for white roses and carnations to be sent to my mother at home, red zinnias to be sent to Rosie at her home and yellow roses to be sent to Alice at her work. Then I choose an enormous brown teddy bear with a pink knitted sweater on for Elizabeth and a smaller matching one for Bella's room. I choose a massive arrangement of pink and white flowers for Bella, at the centre of which is a half dozen pink rosebuds. I write on the card and tell the girl there which room Bella is in on ward six. She writes it in her little book and I ask her to send a smaller version of the arrangement, in every colour she has it in, every two days until Bella is discharged.
I grab a candy bar from the vending machine outside the cafeteria on my way past and then I head back to Bella's ward.
"Dr Cheney and Dr Cullen senior are in with her Edward, they've asked if you can stay outside for the moment please." Sheila cringes and is probably waiting for me to explode.
I sigh but realise there is nothing I can do for her right now. "Was she awake when they arrived?" I ask.
"No. Hopefully she'll sleep though it." She says and I nod.
"I'll be outside." I tell her and make my way through the door beside the nurses station.
It's hot outside and there isn't much shade this early in the day. I start my pacing at my usual spot and start my laps. I wish I had a cigarette but when I think of the burns on Bella's inner thighs I resolve to never have another one on my lips. I hate to think what her reaction would be if I stuck a smoke in my mouth around her. I shudder at the thought.
I take my cell phone out and call Kate. She's understanding about Bella's recovery but I can hear in her voice how stressed she is. She tells me Simon Field is doing well in my absence but my regular patients have been cancelling and rebooking their consults for the following week in the hope that I'll be back by then. I give in and promise that I'll go back the following week, but only every second day. She is relieved and thanks me profusely. I hang up and take stock.
Its Wednesday now so that gives me today and four more days before I have to even think about leaving Bella during the day. Hopefully she'll be up and around under her own steam by then. That will be two weeks since admission and all her stitches will be out and she'll be on the mend physically at least.
She'll be having physio for her ribs and feet and probably her hands too and god knows what will be happening by then with her eye and mouth. I figure I can leave her, if mom or someone else comes to sit with her for a bit, for a couple hours a day to see my patients. I can still sleep right beside her at night and spend alternate days with her too. But I have to work if I'm going to pay for her recovery and the medical bills, and that's how I'll explain it to her on Sunday evening.
For now I'm here and that's where I'm going to stay.
My next call is to Emmett. He answers on the first ring and loudly asks what's wrong.
"Nothing, god Em calm down." I tell him, "I just want to ask if you three want to come see Bella tonight? She's been awake for a bit early in the evening so I thought it might be nice for her to meet you properly."
"We'll be there dude. Sure. You hear anything yet from the law?" He asks. "Angus put that down, Christ Rosie take that off him will you." He shouts and I have to pull the phone away or risk permanent hearing damage.
"No, I've not heard anything, that's my next call. See you about six, right?" I ask.
"Sure, sure, see you then. For fucks sake Rosie don't let him put that in his mouth..." I don't want to hear what the little monster is doing so I hang up.
After five minutes on hold I finally get to talk to the female cop in Port Angeles who took my statement. She tells me there's been no complaint made against me or anyone else in the family since we removed Bella from the apartment and she's not heard from Charlie Swan since she made her enquiries with him about his daughters injuries.
"You mean he hasn't even called you back? Not even to help you find out how she got hurt?" I ask.
"Nope. I called and spoke to him in person. I asked him if he was aware his daughter was in hospital, he said he was. I asked the nature of her injuries he said self inflicted. When I asked how she managed to give herself two black eyes and cut her mouth like that he said she was very resourceful and very attention seeking. Our detective told me to end the call and I did. That's all I can tell you Edward. But we're working on it, trust me." She tells me.
"Okay, I get that you can't tell me anything because I'm not family, but just tell me you guys aren't ignoring it because he's a fellow cop." I beg.
She scoffs. "You have no idea how serious this is Edward. And trust me, nobody here is ignoring this. It's in our best interest to get rid of any cops who are doing the wrong thing, so if we can prove that he is, or has, we'll do everything we can to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone ever again. You gotta trust us Edward, trust us to do our job." She tells me.
I want to trust her but Charlie Swan is a cop too and people trust him too. I thank her for all she is doing and hang up. I don't feel too much better knowing that Charlie is ignoring what's happened to Bella, but in a way that's good too. If he's not interested that means he's not going to bother trying to get temporary custody of Elizabeth or interfere in Bella's recovery. That could be good for us and will be excellent for Bella.
I take a deep breath and call Gary Bensons office again.
The same woman answers and I tell her I'm Edward Cullen.
"Oh Mr Cullen I'm glad you called. I've just finished your paperwork. Mr Benson is already in court this morning but I've been authorised to tell you that Mrs Esme Cullen has been granted temporary custody of the minor child Elizabeth Smith. A further hearing has been set down for two weeks time, before which time a court appointed social worker will need to meet with you, Mrs Cullen and Mrs Black if she's able. Is there a number I can fax the copy through to you Mr Cullen?" She asks.
I'm still trying to digest what she's said but I give her the fax number at the hospital as if on autopilot. I've sent so many things to the hospital over the years the number is imprinted on my brain. My mom now has custody of Elizabeth and I can relax a little. Jake can't take her and neither can Charlie Swan. It's such a relief.
I thank her and get ready to hang up when she says there's more.
"The petition to grant a temporary restraining order has also been granted against Mr Jacob William Black effective today. He cannot come within two hundred yards of Mrs Black or the minor child Elizabeth Smith. Another has been granted by reason of implied violence against Mr Charles Andrew Swan. Mr Swan's is temporary and will last until such a time as Mrs Black can report to the court her intention to renew it or declare it null and void." She tells me stiffly as though she's reading it, which she probably is.
"Wait a minute, Charlie Swan can't come near either of them?" I ask incredulously.
"That's right Mr Cullen. The application for health care proxy for Mrs Black is being heard today and you should have an answer this evening. Mr Benson requests you meet with him in the next few days to discuss what happens next and to discuss Mrs Black's application for divorce that is pending." She says.
"What application for divorce?" I ask.
"The one Dr Cullen senior asked Mr Benson to prepare." She says matter of factly.
I leave it at that. She won't tell me anymore about that anyway, even if I ask, so I thank her for her time and ask her to send all the documents to the hospital fax and the originals to my father at our home address. She says she'll do it right away and I hang up.
I'm walking towards the hospital general offices before I've even put my phone away.
Neither Charlie nor Jake can come anywhere near Bella or Elizabeth. It's a fantastic outcome, so far. Mom has custody of the baby and I'm free to keep taking care of Bella.
I have copies of the two restraining orders in my hand in seconds and then the machine spits out a copy of my mother's temporary custody order and I sigh in relief. They're both safe. At last.
I make copies of the copies and leave a set for Tony and his security team before taking the others back to Bella on the ward.
I give Sheila a copy for Bella's file and take a copy in to show Bella herself. She's asleep when I get there and I hope to Christ she's slept through the ordeal of being examined.
I read her chart and note that she wasn't and that she had a large panic attack when she was told that she'd need to be examined. A medium dose of morphine was administered, effectively putting her sleep. Ben had then continued with his exam while she was out to it. His findings were good, she was healing well, but that wasn't the point.
"Fuck." I mutter. "Two fucking steps forward and three steps back." I slam the copied documents onto the rolling table and take Bella's hand into mine. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that baby. I wish I could take it all away for you. I can't wait to tell you the good news, but you rest for now. I love you baby." I tell her. I reach for her novel and begin to read to her from where I left off.
A/N: Thank you for reading.
It really has been two steps forward three steps back for Edward, but for Bella she is making good progress.
I hope you have found something of interest in this chapter and hope that you'll review and let me know what it was. If you hated it and it's made you want to write to me and tell me how much you hate me, please do, I enjoy all my mail ;)
