Chapter 11: Camera Phones and Questions

"Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell."
-Emily Dickinson

I pulled into the parking lot a little late on Monday morning. My father and I had spent the majority of the night arguing about the position in Italy. I was torn between going and not, and my father wanted me to go but he also wanted me to stay. So we argued both sides until my mother came downstairs and put a stop to the debate.

I scrubbed the palm of my hand across my jaw and cheeks, and lamented the fact that I hadn't had time to shave that morning. I felt gross and tired and just wanted to go back to sleep.

I was still in a daze as I made my way to the nurse's station on the pediatrics floor. I'd finally seen the end of my ER days. I threw my lab coat on one of the chairs behind the desk and made a beeline for the coffee pot.

"Morning, McDreamy," I heard a familiar voice say.

"Good morning," I said in return, stifling a yawn. I heard her giggle and fought the urge to turn around to see what was so funny.

"Rough night?" Leah asked.

"No," I replied, pouring myself a cup of coffee from behind the desk and drinking it black.

"So were you dreaming of Bella Swan, then?"

I stiffened and almost dropped my cup of scalding hot coffee. I rounded to glare at her but stopped short, because sitting right beside Leah was Bella Swan.

"Hello," she said, smiling softly, a red hot blush colouring her cheeks.

I couldn't find my voice to respond. My eyes darted between Bella and Leah, the latter of whom looked very smug.

"Thank you for my book," Bella said softly, lifting the tome from her lap and waving it at me.

"No problem," I choked out, I took a long swig of my coffee, thinking that perhaps I was just dreaming. It would certainly be a nice dream, and I wouldn't be complaining, but it definitely wasn't real.

I blinked a little and she was still there. Wow. She was still there and I was standing there like a complete, brain-dead moron.

Bella smiled reassuringly at me as I continued to process her standing right there. She turned to Leah, "I really should get going; I'll be late for my classes."

Leah nodded and my head cleared a little.

"Let me walk you out," I said, surprising myself just a bit.

Her eyes snapped up to meet mine and I smiled reassuringly, at least I hoped it was reassuringly. She nodded, her long dark hair, falling past her shoulders and over her face. My hands twitched to brush it away.

I set my coffee cup on the desk and offered her my arm. She wrapped her arm through mine and let me lead her to the elevator. We waited in companionable silence as the elevators rose to the fourth floor.

We got in and I pushed the button for the ground level.

"So," I began, rocking back on my heels and peeking at her askance.

"So," she said, smiling a beautiful, heart-stopping smile.

I smirked at her and she blushed, ducking her head so that it was hidden behind a curtain of hair. This time, I didn't resist the urge to sweep it over her shoulder; I reached out and brushed it back, revealing her beautiful face to me.

She looked at me through the fringe of her thick dark lashes, her lip held between her teeth.

"What now?" I asked, completely bemused.

"I don't know," she said softly, staring at the changing, digital numbers above the elevator doors.

"What do you think should happen now?" I challenged, not ready to admit what I wanted to happen out loud.

"Honestly?" She asked, her shoulders hunched forward as she gripped her elbows tightly, her arms crossed tightly across the book, pressed to her chest.

"Honesty is the best policy," I said with a charming smile.

She grinned sheepishly, "I'd like to get to know you more."

"I've wanted to get to know you ever since I took your book from the restaurant," I confessed gauchely, running a hand through my unruly hair.

"So how do we do that?" She asked, ringing her hands around her book's spine.

"How about I take you out for dinner, how does Wednesday at seven sound?" I asked, butterflies tickling my stomach.

"Wednesday at seven sounds perfect," she said, nodding her head and smiling shyly at me.

"Can I have your phone number?" I asked, leading her out of the elevator as the doors opened slowly.

She nodded slightly and fished around her pockets for her Blackberry. I handed her my cell and we exchanged numbers. I walked her all the way to the automatic front doors, she turned to wave at me and I snapped her picture with my camera phone.

"What was that for?" She asked, her straight eyebrows furrowing together in the center.

"So I can look at the most beautiful girl ever, whenever I want to," I teased, winking at her.

She blushed and I snapped another picture. "Now what was that one for?" She demanded.

"Because you blush so pretty," I said, pocketing my phone. It was true; the way the apples of her cheeks flushed with colour was absolutely amazing. She was so beautiful.

She huffed and turned away.

"Bye-bye, Bella," I said.

She waved over her shoulder, "Bye, Edward!"

I chuckled to myself and turned around to reenter the building. I rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, staring at her picture on my phone the entire time. I liked the one where she was blushing better.

She had a slight smile on her face, a shine in her eyes and her cheeks were a delicious, candy apple red.

"Look at that McDreamy is back with a dopey smile on his face," Leah said, straightening the hem of her Toy Story scrubs.

"I suppose I have you to thank for this, so I really shouldn't make a snappy comeback, should I?" I asked, grinning at her.

"No and your welcome. So when's the wedding?" She asked, sticking a pencil behind her ear, her dark eyes dancing.

The look on my face must have been hilarious, or at least Leah found it so because she laughed uproariously, "Geez, Doc, I'm just kidding!"

I nodded and pursed my lips, "What kind of food does she like to eat?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Leah asked, "Wait. Oh my God! You're taking her on a date!"

"You don't have to announce it to the entire floor—but yes I'm taking her on a date," I said proudly.

"Good, she needs to date someone," Leah said pointedly.

"Why do you say that?" I asked, grabbing my stethoscope and slinging it over my shoulder.

"She's lonely," Leah shrugged, taking off towards one of the rooms.

I knew the feeling well. Even though I had the Cullens, I still felt lonely from time to time. It was almost incurable. Despite having my mother, father and sister there was still a rift in my heart, but I believed unreservedly that Bella could fill that void.

I made me rounds of the pediatrics floor. Most of the kids were in there for appendicitis or tonsillectomies, but there were some that had cancer and it made my heart hurt. There was one little boy who'd just been in a car accident and I spent a great deal of time with him.

He had a leg in a cast and several long, deep lacerations covering his plump cheeks. He was wide-eyed and earnest and said what he thought. His honesty was refreshing.

We made paper airplanes together and I tried to take his mind off the father he had lost in the accident.

"Doctor Edward?" He asked, looking up at me with dark blue eyes.

"Yeah, buddy?" I asked, streamlining our latest model of paper aircraft.

"Is my daddy in heaven?"

My heart clenched painfully at the small question. I remembered asking a similar question of my childhood doctor.

"Yep, I'm sure he is. And guess what?" I asked, smiling at the boy.

"What?" He asked; his eyes undulated with fat tears.

"I'm sure he's probably with my daddy, too" I said, wiping away the tears that were spilling out of his large eyes.

"Your daddy's in heaven, too?" He whispered a little brokenly.

"Yeah," I said softly, holding the little boy tightly in my arms. He was small and warm and trembling, and I wanted so badly to take him home with me.

One of the nurses on duty stuck her head in and told me that I had other patients to check on. I nodded and stood from the bed.

"Alright, Benjamin," I said, addressing the broken little boy, "I have to go now. You should get some sleep."

"I'm not sleepy," he said defiantly.

I grinned at him, "Big boys need their sleep."

He hunkered down in his bed and started to fake snore. One of his dark blue eyes cracked open to see if I was still there. I laughed out loud and mussed his brown hair. "Go to sleep, for real. I'll bring you some ice cream later if you do!"

"Ok!" He chirped and rolled over, pressing his face against his pillow. I hit the light switch and closed his door quietly behind me. I stood with my back pressed against the door, and flipped my cell phone out. My heart was hurting, and I just wanted to see Bella.

Sorry, this is kind of late. I was originally going to post this morning, but my schedule got thrown off. I started my senior year of high school this morning. So it's my last first day. Now that I'm back in school [and have a sort of demanding work load] I might have issues with updating as reguarly as I've been. I have most of this story written, but I'll be busy with school work and won't have much Internet time, so please excuse me if I'm late/early on updates.

Thanks for everyone's support of this story! And I'll apologize in advance for iffy updates.

Do you have a camera phone? I don't. My phone fails.