Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N: This is slightly shorter than normal so I apologize!
NOTE TO melmel1223: I can't PM you, coz the feature is disabled in your profile, and I don't know your e-mail address.
BPOV
In the middle of the night I swear I felt Edward's soft lips on my forehead. I smiled in my sleep.
There is one sound universally hated by human beings all over the world. Whether in New Delhi or (as in my case) in New York, we humans have grown up absolutely detesting this sound.
And this sound is, of course, the beeping of an alarm clock.
As usual it was to this unpleasant sound that I awoke the following morning. Glaring at the alarm clock like it actually made a difference I tried, in vain, to get the infernal noise to stop. I eventually managed to pull myself out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom.
I groggily brushed my teeth and splashed cold water on my face so as to not closely resemble The Living Dead, as I did in my current state. The icy water stung my cheeks causing me to open my eyes properly.
As I stared at my own reflection in the mirror, I was surprised at the subtle changes I could see.
Nothing drastic, my eyes had remained the same old brown, as had my hair, but there were little changes. The worry lines, which used to be etched lightly upon my forehead, had disappeared, and my usually pale face looked healthy. I just looked happy for once.
The cause for these changes was evident.
Edward.
His presence done me so much good, and every moment with him reinforced the fact that I needed him. My love for him only grew more with each passing day. I may have thought along the same lines when I was eighteen, but it was only now that I had realized his true worth, and how much he meant to me.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
It was agony for me to be within a few meters of him and not grab him and kiss him like I wanted to. If only I could touch him like I wanted to. If only I could tell him that I loved him, like I wanted to. However my greatest enemy, self doubt, was winning this battle.
"What if he doesn't feel the same, Bella", my subconscious whispered. "You'd only ruin your existing relationship with him. You don't want that, do you? Remember how broken you were last time?"
Involuntarily, my eyes wet up. A teardrop ran down my cheek, and I wiped it away. I knew I didn't deserve him, and the additional pain of living with him, without telling him how I felt, was self inflicted torture.
I cleared my head of my increasingly negative thought by shaking it violently, until it started to throb. I washed my face once more to remove any sign of my tears, and then went to wake Ethan up.
On the way to Ethan's room, I peeked into Edward's room and saw that he was still asleep. He had an angelic smile firmly placed upon his face. It was truly a sight to behold. I went past his room and into Ethan's.
I shook Ethan gently. He didn't wake up, which was unusual, because he normally got up instantly. Frustrated I pulled the blankets off him, and called out to him softly.
"Wake up, Eth. You have to go to school"
It took me a whole ten minutes to finally wake him up. Drowsily he said, "Mommy. I want to go back to sleep. I don't feel so good."
"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked, concerned.
"I dunno. It hurts all over" he replied.
I felt his forehead and to my surprise it was flaming.
"You really are sick, baby. Why don't you just lie here while I go and make you some soup. I'll get Edward to check you up"
"Daddy" corrected Ethan.
"I'll get daddy to check you up" I repeated. Though I didn't show it, I was thrilled that Ethan was already used to having a dad.
Edward was still asleep in his room. I shook him hard till he woke up.
"Why are you pushing me, Bella?" he asked, sleepily.
"Wake up! There's a huge emergency. Ethan is really ill." I said, incoherently.
"Calm down, Bella. Now repeat that slowly. What's wrong?"
"It's Ethan. He's really sick. He may even have to be hospitalized. He says that he doesn't feel well, and that his body hurts all over. And his forehead is really hot. I'm worried about him"
To my surprise, and utter indignation, Edward laughed. Not even just a smile, nope he outright chortled.
"What's funny?" I asked, peeved. "I'm sorry if you find it entertaining that my baby is seriously unwell but I don't!"
Edward stopped laughing and said, "It's not that, Bella. From the symptoms you just described I think all Ethan has got is a case of the flu. Let me go check."
He went to Ethan's room and saw Ethan lying on the bed, asleep. He woke him up to check his temperature, pulse and general body condition and then let him go back to sleep. He declared triumphantly, "See! I told you! It's just the flu."
"I still don't see the joke" I said, sorely.
"The joke is, quite literally, you. Or rather, the way you reacted just because Ethan had a slightly higher temperature than normal. One would have thought he was nearly dying the way you made to out to be."
"Fine. Maybe I did over react a bit" I admitted. "It's just that Ethan never gets sick. Anyway, we can't all be world class doctors can we?"
Edward rolled his eyes and said, "You have work today, don't you?"
"Shit. I forgot all about that. What about Ethan?"
"Ethan better stay at home today, or he may spread his germs. I'll stay here and take care of him" said Edward.
"Don't you have to go to the hospital?" I asked.
"I worked overtime to cover for Dr. Louis when he needed some time off. I'm sure he'll return the favor."
"Okay, great. Ethan will be thrilled to spend some time with you. I better get ready for work. I'm running late. As usual"
Saying thus, I ran to my room to shower, and then changed into a fitted blouse and a pencil skirt. Hastily, I tie my hair in a bun, put on some lipstick and voila! I was ready for work.
Grabbing my purse, and slipping on a pair of black flats, I yelled goodbye to Edward, and literally sprinted out of the house. I hailed the first cab I saw, and urged the poor driver to go at least 40 miles above the speed limit.
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm afraid of speeding. What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures!
I reached work just on time (as usual, again) clocked in, and went to my desk. I switched on my computer and switched on the internet. While I waited for the computer to start up, I visited the blessed coffee machine, and drank up the delightful brown liquid with obvious relish.
I returned to my desk and loaded up my mail. Sure enough, there it was. A mail from Mr. Cullen, with details for my new project. He had managed to acquire a nice two bedroom apartment in downtown Manhattan, but wanted to me to sell it as quickly as possible, because he had received a hint from his agent that the prices were going to drop steeply.
If I didn't manage to sell the house by today, I would cause Mr. Cullen a considerable loss of money.
However, we weren't the only ones being tipped off by real estate agents, so I had to find a really naïve buyer, if I hoped to sell the apartment. This was easier said than done, because New York is full of business savvy people. I had to convince someone to put down a cart load of money for a dud project.
This is why I didn't like this industry. People tended to get hurt because of a highly competitive environment. My job was to persuade someone to possibly put down their life savings, on a dud apartment. Mr. Cullen thrived on these deals, while my stomach turned at the very thought of them.
Don't get me wrong. Mr. Cullen is a wonderful person, but a brutal business man. That's the NYC way. You have to be ruthless to get ahead.
That's why my dream career was something different – I wanted to be a journalist. Not a celebrity journalist, but one who reported real stories. Stories that could make a difference and change people's lives.
When I initially came to New York, this was obviously out of question, as was desperate to find a job, and couldn't afford to be too picky about what work came my way. A lot of people would kill to have my job, so I didn't complain. However, I've often thought about pursuing journalism once Ethan completes his education.
So, where were we before I began this rant? That's right! I had to sell this apartment.
I finally managed to find a Mr. Scott who agreed to buy the apartment, after around half an hour of persuasion. I didn't feel too bad for selling him an apartment whose value would soon go drastically down, because he was very rich in the first place and the loss wouldn't set him back too badly.
I wonder how Edward is doing with Ethan…
EPOV
Bella rushed out of the house, looking fabulous (as usual) in her work outfit. I was left in the house, with a sleeping five year old boy, whom I had no idea whatsoever to do with.
Oh! And this sleeping boy also happened to be my son!
This was going to be interesting…
Everybody go AWW!! How ever is Edward going to face the challanges of being a dad?
Find out in the next chapter!!
And till then...REVIEW!