"They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods."
~Edith Wharton
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
***********~*~*~*~*~*~Isabella~*~*~*~*~*~***********
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
I did his post-stroke rehabilitation routine 3 times a day. We went through the motor skill trainings, the speech practices, balance training, all of it. I would go through the whole routine and Edward was always there helping me. He would for example hold one of Carlisle's arms while I held the other during his balance training. Or he would help to score the speech training tests while I conducted them.
It had been three days since we had brought Carlisle home. When the anesthesia from the surgery had worn off and the doctors had cleared his CTs and said that he would start his post-stroke rehabilitation, Edward had insisted that he brought Carlisle home and have a personal physician and a group of nurses take care of him while he recovered. It had taken me all of three seconds to realize that there was no way I could leave behind the man whose hand I was still holding as he lay in the hospital bed and go back to Seattle. So I offered to oversee his rehabilitation routines. Edward and I had just shared a look and he had relented without any argument whatsoever. We all discussed that it might be tough for Sophie to see Carlisle in such bad shape, and especially if we were taking him home so soon. So Alice and Jasper had offered to take her to New York and stay there while Jasper took care of business there that Carlisle couldn't attend to, while Edward and I had come back to the Cullen mansion with Carlisle. We had a nurse taking care of basic hygiene routines and his medication, while I oversaw his recovery and worked with his rehab training and Edward helped me.
By the third day we had established a fully functional routine. I would have breakfast and make something for Carlisle while Edward stayed with him while the nurse washed him up. Then after Carlisle ate we would go through the exercises once. After that Edward would work in the office while I had something light for lunch and I always left some food for him on the counter. I would sit with Carlisle and read to him until Edward came in and we would go through the routine again. Then in the evening Edward would order food for us and we ate mostly in silence. Carlisle was still bound to the bed mostly so he ate there. After dinner I would read to Carlisle again until he fell asleep while Edward would sit by his bed and listen to me. After Carlisle would drift off to sleep I would adjust the blankets over him while Edward would get the lights and we would leave him for the night. Then I would go into the music room and play while Edward would either sit and read in the room or go back to his own room.
During the past three days Edward and I only spoke when necessary, but that had happened a lot. We had to figure out all the logistics of having Carlisle home in this condition, what the nurses' roles were, what part I would do and what he would do. I would ask him what Carlisle likes to eat, or he would ask me to get an extra blanket for him. I would ask him to hold on to Carlisle's hand while I tried to lift him, or he would ask me to read a different book because the one I was reading was annoying him.
On the fourth day, Edward had to go to the office. Something big had gone wrong in their absence and Edward had to go in to fix it. He asked me if I would be alright by myself and I assured him that it was fine. He still made the nurse stay overtime to make sure I had help before he left. I told her to go home when she was done for the day and sat down to read for Carlisle. He had been doing extremely well with his rehabilitation and we had pushed him quite a lot today so he was exhausted. He fell asleep pretty soon that night and I tucked the blankets tightly around him and then left him for the night.
I made dinner and ate in the big empty kitchen by myself while I read a book. I checked my e-mail after I was done eating and almost had a heart-attack when I saw the e-mail from the Chief of Medicine from my hospital in Seattle, that basically said that he had spoken to the Chief of Medicine at my hospital in LA and they had come to some sort of an agreement about letting me finish off the rest of my internal medicine rotation here if I wanted. The hospital would be drawing up some sort of a special program in order for me to stay here.
I had a pretty good idea about what had caused this change in the attitude of the Chief from a few days ago when I had begged him on the phone to give me a few days off so I could stay behind with Carlisle while he recovered. Back then he had basically told me that I wouldn't have a job left if I didn't go back that instant and I had just ended the conversation politely, deciding that I didn't want to deal with that then. I knew that he was just threatening me and that I would be here for one more week at the most, after which I would grovel at his feet if it took that to resume my internship.
Edward came home around eleven o'clock and walked into the living room clutching a blazer in one hand and a briefcase in the other. His tie was loosened at the neck, with a few buttons of his white shirt opened, his sleeves pushed up to his elbows. His hair was crazy and all over the place.
"Hey." He said while he stood in the doorway.
"Hey." I answered back. I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the couches in my sweats, with the board of Monopoly spread out in front of me.
"How is he doing?" He asked.
"Just fine. He did great with the exercises today. Much better than yesterday. He was exhausted, so he fell asleep pretty soon."
He looked out the doorway towards the staircase. "I'll go check on him."
"He's fine, really. It's probably best to not disturb him. He needs his rest." I told him honestly and he seemed to see my point. It really did amaze me just how much we could agree on things nowadays.
He pulled on his tie a bit more and started to leave.
"You look tired." I said and he stopped. Ok, so that was something that I didn't really need to say to him, but he did look that way.
He came towards the couch beside me and flopped down on it, flinging his blazer and his briefcase on the other side of the couch.
"Tough day?" I asked as I rolled my dice.
"Yeah. The useless fuckers at that office can't even keep the place running for two days without us." He said while he turned on the TV with the remote and flipped through the channels.
"Did you eat dinner?" I asked him while I counted my money.
"No, I didn't get time." He said, then suddenly he groaned. "Fuck, I forgot to have food sent here for you."
I rolled my eyes at the board. "I can still cook, even if you insist on ordering food every chance you get."
"You shouldn't have to cook too. You're already doing more than enough." He said with a frown. And it was the first time either of us had mentioned anything about me being involved in the whole thing.
"I made lasagna. There's a whole one for you in the oven." I glanced at him and saw his eyes widen.
"You cooked for me?"
I shrugged. "You've cooked for me before."
"When the fuck did I cook for you?" He said almost like I had offended him. I giggled a little.
"You made me breakfast in New York remember?"
He stopped talking and started flipping through the channels again. Then his stomach growled so loudly that I could hear it even over the sound of the TV. I laughed out loud.
"Just go and eat your dinner already."
He got up from the couch and left the room. I grabbed the remote from the couch and turned the TV off and went back to my game.
About fifteen minutes later Edward came back into the living room with a plate heaped with lasagna and a can of Coke in his hands. He sat back down on the couch with his legs folded under him and the plate balanced on his lap. He turned the TV back on and put on a news channel while he ate. I let him finish his meal in peace before I asked him the thing I had been wondering about all evening.
"Did you call my hospital in Seattle?"
He was taking a sip from his Coke and looked at me cautiously while he took the Coke can away from his lips.
"Yes."
"Why did you do that?"
He put the can down on the table before he spoke. "I heard you talking on the phone with them the other day. You were trying to get some days off to be here and they wouldn't let you."
"So you decided to help me out?"
He just kept looking at me.
"Thank you. I am very grateful Edward."
His jaw went a little rigid and his eyes hardened for a second. Then he decided to ignore me and go back to the TV.
"Did you pay them a lot of money?" I asked again out of nowhere and totally took him by surprise. He looked at me with wide eyes.
"That's not important."
"It is to me." I challenged. "I don't want such big favors Edward. I would have no way to repay you."
Now his anger flared and his face was almost red.
"Really Isabella? You want to talk favors? While you sit in my living room not giving a shit about what happens with your job because you want to take care of my father? All I did was throw some money at them that is barely pocket change to me so they let you stay here. You really want to compare favors?"
I gave him a level look for a long time then just resumed my game. I saw his point.
"What the fuck are you doing anyways?" He asked suddenly and I looked up at him.
"What do you mean?" I asked. He pointed to the board in front of me.
"I'm playing." I said with a frown. What did it look like I was doing?
"I can see that. Who the hell are you playing with?" He asked.
"With Marvin." I said with a nod and tried to hide my smile. He tried to look around the room inconspicuously and then gave me a confused frown.
"Who the fuck is Marvin?"
"He is my imaginary friend." I said with a shrug and rolled the dice for Marvin's turn before looking at Edward. He still had that confused look on his face so I explained further. "He's a space cowboy."
"You have an imaginary friend?" He asked as if he needed to clarify this further.
I turned my eyes towards him once but just kept playing.
"Aren't you supposed to outgrow them when you're like ten?"
I shrugged. I didn't care if he judged me. We were both quiet for a long time before I spoke.
"I miss Sophie." I said while I moved my iron to Oxford Street.
Edward nodded slightly. "She's having a good time. She has always liked being in New York. Alice has been spending all her time with Sophie. I'm scared to death she's going to come back clutching a fucking Gucci purse or something."
I chuckled at the image and could totally picture Alice finding a miniature Gucci purse for Sophie.
The evening dragged on and I started putting the pieces on the table back in their little pouches when Edward spoke.
"Is he going to be alright?"
I looked at him to see him watching me intently. I didn't need to ask him to clarify.
"His progress has been tremendous so far. I am hoping for a full recovery, but there are never any guarantees with these things." I told him truthfully.
He nodded again and turned his eyes back to the TV but I could see that whatever was playing on the screen was very far from his mind.
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
***********~*~*~*~*~*~Edward~*~*~*~*~*~***********
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
The next evening I came home around 8 and heard Isabella's voice coming from the kitchen. I put down my blazer and briefcase on the side table in the hallway and went to the kitchen. She was stirring something in a pot while humming to herself. I cleared my throat and she turned around all startled.
"You scared me!"
I shrugged. "I was going to ask you what you wanted for dinner but I see you're cooking again." I nodded towards the stove.
"Yeah, Carlisle said you guys like spaghetti and meatballs." I nodded my head in agreement. It was one of my most favorite things to eat.
"He is doing great by the way." She said as she turned around to the stove to stir the sauce.
"I know, I talked to him on the phone earlier this afternoon."
I lingered in the hallway for a few minutes while she walked around the kitchen, opening cupboards, getting things out of the fridge, chopping salad. By the ease with which she moved around the kitchen in her sweats, who could ever tell she had been a stranger just a few months ago.
I turned around quietly and went up to my room after a while and got changed into my sweats too. The day had been very long at the office and I felt like shit after all the hours of trying to sort out the mess the idiots had created just in a few days while Dad, Jasper and I were away. But things were more or less under control now and I would probably have to only go in tomorrow again and then handle things through the phone. Which was good, because I didn't like dumping all of Dad's responsibilities on Isabella. She had volunteered to take care of him as his physician, but was obviously doing much more than that. I didn't want to take any more advantage of her kindness.
And I had come to the conclusion that it was indeed kindness. That was the emotion out of which she was acting. It had taken me months to understand her motivations behind why she was spending time with my family. But I had finally seen it.
It was right there in front of me from the very first time we had met. When she had gone out of her way to make sure Jasper was alright. I knew that fact, but I tried hard to find other motivations behind her action other than kindness. Because I figured that there had to be. One of them couldn't act only out of kindness.
Then over and over again since she moved here and blended in more with my family she proved herself in front of my eyes. And I saw the kindness in her all the time but always tried to see what was hidden behind it. It oozed out of her every action, in every look she gave Sophie, in every smile she shared with my father, every time she put her arms around Alice's shoulder or hugged Jasper. And I had tried and tried but never found that flash in her eyes that showed me that she had some hidden agenda behind it all.
But the moment at the hospital when she told me why she wanted to sit with Dad during his surgery in my place, she had looked me straight in the eye and let me see behind her eyes and into the depths of her soul. And I had seen the depths of it and hadn't found anything. I had shed light on every corner of it but couldn't find a single piece of darkness anywhere. And then I knew.
Isabella Swan wasn't the monster that had been haunting my life for years. All this time I had been thinking that she was one of the monsters, dressing up as a seemingly kind girl. But that day at the hospital, she wore the clothes of the monster per se – her scrubs – while she sat by my side and pulled me out of the abyss of loneliness and misery as she told me why she would stay with my Dad. And I met Isabella Swan for the first time. The lonely girl with a genuinely kind heart who had found friends in my family and whom she had come to love. At that moment, I realized that Isabella Swan was in fact a kind girl who was actually dressed up as the monster.
It was just like the time when I had carried Sophie in my arms to Isabella's doorstep, basically begging her to take care of something I loved, and as soon as she had taken Sophie out of my arms and cradled her I had felt relief wash through me. I felt the same way when Isabella had walked back to the surgery to sit with Dad. She had once again taken all the misery and pain from me into her arms and walked into that room. And ever since we had come home with Dad and I had spent all my days around her, I had thought of every moment that had passed since Isabella had come into our lives.
It was all real. Her concern for my family, her love for Alice and Jasper, her gratitude towards my father, her affection towards Sophie, the childlike enthusiasm she had in her eyes as she watched New York from my car, the innocence in her giggles as she played with the snow, the fear in her features when she sat huddled in the living room after she was mugged, her thoughtfulness when she bought me a water bottle in San Diego. I had never been able to find hidden motivation behind all those actions because there weren't any.
She probably thought I was crazy by now but I couldn't stop watching her as she took care of Dad. How on earth could a person be that kind to someone that she wasn't even related to? I could see her genuine concern for him in the creases of her brow when he had a hard time pronouncing one of the words from her speech exercise or when her hands shot out to support him when he wobbled while walking. She would leave a sandwich for me on the kitchen counter every day during lunch and didn't even complain when I forgot to order her dinner yesterday. And then there was her job. After I had overheard her phone conversation with her employer in Seattle about extending her stay here I had expected her to come to me and ask for help somehow but she had done no such thing. She didn't even seem phased at all by the whole thing. So I decided to take things into my hands and make sure she had the option of staying in LA if she wanted to.
Not that I had done that entirely for her benefit. I didn't want her to leave right now. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back a little as I thought the next part. Her presence here made me feel safe.
I didn't need other people in my life. I was self-sufficient in every sense of the word and never asked anyone for help. And thank God, the moments when I would need to ask someone else for help were very rare in my life. And when they did come, I always had a hard time because I would do anything but ask for help. Also, it never actually helped to ask for help anyways since people generally only fucked things up and made them worse.
But somehow, God only knows how, Isabella Swan had helped me in those desperate moments without my having to ask. We weren't even friends and she couldn't possibly be doing this consciously, but from the moment I had met her, somehow she always managed to take a portion of my grief and give me a hand in dealing with them. Right from the beginning, we had always fought and she would always stay away from me as much as she could. But then those moments when I was desperate, she had been there somehow – when Sophie had her fits, the day at the hospital with Dad when I was lost, when I wanted to bring Dad back home to take care of him but was at the same time terrified at the prospect of messing something up, and then ever since we had come home. She had been there and helped me in the most desperate of moments without me ever having to ask for it.
But what blew my mind more than anything else was the fact that she made no big deal about it. She just acted like it's what she was supposed to be doing and through not a single action or word made me feel like I owed her.
I realized I had left her on her own to cook for us and went back down to the kitchen after a few minutes. I sat down on the counter and typed some e-mails on my phone while she cooked. She gave me a few looks but I just ignored them while I worked.
"You know, you don't have to, um…" She trailed off and I looked up at her. She looked at me for a moment and waited for some kind of response but I just gave her a blank look.
"You can go watch TV. I will tell you when food's ready." She said as she glanced quickly towards the doorway. I looked at it once with my finger still pointed at my phone's screen then looked back at her.
"Are you asking me to leave?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"No!" She said with a frown. "Of course, not. I just...you don't have to feel like you have to sit here."
"I don't do anything because I feel like I have to." I told her while I continued to type. I looked at her once to check if she was paying attention. Because I meant that shit.
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***********~*~*~*~*~*~Isabella~*~*~*~*~*~***********
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
I was making the cream broccoli soup for Carlisle's lunch that he seemed to have liked a lot last week. I was midway through chopping a leek when Edward came into the kitchen. He was still dressed in his flannel pants and t-shirt from last night since he wasn't going to the office today.
He groaned as soon as he came in.
"You are cooking again?"
I turned around to face him with my back to the stove. "Yeah, why?"
" I was just looking for you to ask what to order for lunch. This has to stop Isabella."
I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Why? Do you not like my cooking?"
He rolled his eyes. "Now you are fucking fishing for compliments? I don't do that shit. You are very well aware of the answer to that question."
I noticed when he said the f-word. He hadn't said it since the day at the hospital when Carlisle had gotten sick. It was an indication that he was starting to feel like himself again and trusting in Carlisle's recovery.
We were still arguing back and forth about the cooking thing while I carried a tray with three bowls of soup to Carlisle's room and Edward carried glasses and lemonade. He was whining that I should stop cooking and let him order food while I was just generally enjoying messing with him.
Carlisle was sitting propped up on the pillows resting by his headboard and he put down the book he was reading and removed his reading glasses as we came in. He gave us a curious look as he heard the bickering and I rolled my eyes at him, exaggerating my exasperation with Edward's whining.
"What are you two on about this time?" He asked as I handed him his bowl and Edward adjusted the sheets around him so he could sit on the bed.
"Edward hates my cooking." I said just to mess with Edward and it had the effect I wanted. He glared at me before taking the bowl from my hand.
"Whatever. Dad, ask her to stop with this cooking shit. I am going to throw away all the food next time she does it and order anyways."
"Why don't you want her to cook?" Carlisle asked as he tasted a spoonful of the soup and I saw in his face just how much he liked it.
"Because she already does more than enough." He said with a frown.
I stopped sipping the soup for a second but kept my eyes on the bowl. He was concerned that I was doing too much already and he didn't want to burden me with the cooking.
I looked at Carlisle and gave him a small smile to let him know that was stupid. Carlisle smiled back.
"Did it ever occur to you that she might actually enjoy cooking for us?" He winked at me as he said this because apparently the man knew me too well.
Edward looked at me questioningly and I shrugged as I took a spoonful of soup in my mouth.
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
Carlisle decided to take a nap after lunch and his rehab routine. Edward went into his office to do some work while I pulled out the Monopoly and laid it out on the living room floor.
After I had been playing for a few minutes I was kind of bored and was about to give up when I heard Edward coming down the stairs. He could see me in the living room from his position halfway down the spiral staircase.
Edward shook his head in disbelief before starting descending the rest of the steps. He came into the living room and looked down at me.
"Don't you have to study or something?"
"Why would I have to study?" I asked and looked up at him.
"I thought doctors are always reading medical journals to stay updated."
I raised my eyebrows a little, impressed by his knowledge of the medical profession. But then, of course, I don't know why I was even surprised.
I shrugged a little. "I'm not going to work for a while anyways. It's nice to not think about anything to do with work for some time."
"What about what you do with Dad? That's doctor stuff."
I frowned. "That's not work."
He went all quiet. "I know."
"But really, Monopoly? You can surely find a better way to entertain yourself." He went back to being a pain.
"Hey. I happen to like this. Leave me alone." I said without looking up at him and moving my iron two boxes down. From the corner of my eyes I saw him standing there for a while, as if contemplating something, then finally he groaned and walked towards me.
"For the love of God…" He muttered as he sat down on the floor opposite to me.
"Hey!" I almost screamed and startled him. "You are squishing him!" I tried to keep my voice as serious as possible.
He looked at me like he was completely lost. "You are sitting on Marvin!" I told him.
He made a face and then tried to pick up the dice but I snatched them away before he got to them. "Let him out from being trapped under your butt, Edward. He isn't enjoying that very much."
He gave me a level look then raised himself up a few millimeters off the floor. "Happy?"
I nodded and handed him the dice with a satisfied smirk and an indulgent smile to the empty space on my left and Edward's right. Where Marvin had now moved to, obviously.
"I swear to god Isabella, you are worse than Sophie sometimes." He said as he went through the pouch and picked out a shoe to be his piece.
"I thought you hate this game." I said and he shrugged but didn't say anything in response.
I shrugged back and started a new game with him. Honestly, I was getting quite tired of playing with a partner who didn't speak much. Not that Edward was any better as we had now been playing for about fifteen minutes and none of us had said anything.
That's when it happened. Now when I think about it, I realize it had actually been going on for a while but I was too innocent at the time to suspect anything. Edward had been getting a lot of money very quickly and pretty soon he had a huge heap and had almost emptied the bank. I should have been suspicious but don't know why I didn't think about it.
When he picked up a Community Chest card and announced he had won another two hundred dollars my suspicions took full force.
"Show me the card." I demanded out of nowhere.
"Whatever." He mumbled and grabbed the money from the bank. I let him take it but refused to play my move until he showed me the card. He let out an exasperated huff and turned to the space on my left and his right.
"Marvin, can you ask your girlfriend to play already?"
"I'm not his girlfriend." I huffed back and folded my arms on my chest.
Edward never showed me the card and we finally ended the game there because we had reached an impasse. He wouldn't show me and I wouldn't play unless he did.
o~*~*~*~*~*~o
After that Edward went up to check on Carlisle while I went into the kitchen to make dinner. I pulled out some marinated steaks from the fridge and started looking for potatoes to bake when Edward cleared his throat behind me. I turned around to see him standing in the doorway.
"He is up, but he's doing some reading. He says he's very hungry though." He said as he leaned against the door and nodded towards upstairs where Carlisle was.
I smiled in relief. "His appetite is returning. That's very good. Dinner will be ready soon."
Then I turned back towards the sink where I was washing the potatoes and speeded up my work as I felt relief wash over me. These first days after a stroke were crucial and the recovery that he did now was indicative of how much he would recover in the long run. From the way things were progressing it seemed like Carlisle would make a full recovery.
I started turning towards the fridge and squealed when I hit something hard standing right behind me. I looked up to see Edward standing two inches from me holding half a spring onion in his hand.
"What are you still doing here?" I gave him a confused look.
"If you insist on cooking for us then at least let me help you."
"Edward, you really don't have to. I like cooking for you guys."
He got an irritated look on his face. "Yes, you have made that clear. But I don't like other people doing things for me. So cut it the hell out or let me help."
I sighed. This was definitely not worth breaking peace over. "Fine, just chop the rest of that," I pointed at the spring onion in his hand. He nodded and turned towards the counter to the cutting board I had placed there.
We stood with our backs to each other as he chopped and I sautéed garlic. After a few minutes I held out my hand behind my back as I asked him for the onions. He mumbled something but didn't hand me what I wanted so I came behind him and looked over his shoulder at the cutting board.
I had already chopped some of the onions before Edward had taken over and they lay on a pile on one side of the cutting board. On the other side lay chunks of onion cut in haphazard shapes and sizes that stood in stark contrast to my perfectly cut concentric circles. Edward was holding up one of his pieces and comparing it to one of mine, trying to get his look more like mine. Suddenly he noticed me standing there and his posture went all rigid and he gave me a level look. I tried very hard to keep the amusement from my face but I know my eyes were giving me away. He noticed and gave me a glare.
"What?" He asked as he banged the knife against one of the onion pieces.
"Nothing. I just need the onions now." I said innocently.
"They are not ready yet. You can wait."
"Umm…no I can't." I pointed at the stove where the garlic was sizzling. "I need them, like, now."
"Isabella. Stop being a pain. Go do something else while I do my work." He spoke like I was a child and I realized there wasn't really any point in arguing with him. So I just removed the skillet from the stove and started preparing the potatoes again.
About fifteen minutes later and my countless attempts at trying to keep my snickers inside as I watched Edward launch into a full blown battle against the poor onions I was done with everything else and really needed those onions now if I was going to get anywhere. Edward was angrily wiping away the tears that were now flowing freely from his eyes but it seemed like he refused to acknowledge any of it. At some point his onion pieces were way too small to match the ones I had made so he had switched to trying to make mine smaller and now they were all just as messy. I would have tried to stop him earlier but I was having way too much fun watching him.
Edward quickly threw me a glance and caught me smirking with my elbows resting on the counter top as I leaned back on it and watched him. His frustration with the onions seemed to grow tenfold and he started banging his knife down on them all over the cutting board.
"Edward?" I tried cautiously.
"What?" He barked but didn't look at me.
"That will be just fine." I tried but he just gave me an angry glare.
"No, seriously. I mean it. If you make them any smaller they'll just become mush."
"They are not all the same size yet." He said angrily as he continued his assault on the cutting board.
"But they don't need to be…"
"They," thud "fucking," thud "will," thud "be." THUD.
I jumped a little as the last thud echoed around the entire kitchen and watched him with wide eyes. He threw the knife down on the counter and pushed the cutting board towards me.
"There. All done. Anything else?" He asked as he wiped his tear soaked chin with a dish towel, like nothing had happened.
I just shook my head and quickly picked up the cutting board and went to the stove with it before he changed his mind or something. Hell would have to freeze over before I let Edward do anything else to help me. The mood swings on the boy was giving me a whiplash that I was going to need physiotherapy for.
He however had other ideas. He started picking up the cutting board, the knife and some other pots around the kitchen and took them to the sink. Then he started washing them and I just smiled to myself at his helpfulness while I prepared the sauce.
"Motherfucking horseshit. Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, fuck, shit, shit, shit, fuck." I quickly turned around as the stream of profanities oozed out of Edward. It was quite a lot, even by his standards.
I quickly ran up to the other side of the kitchen island where he was standing flailing around with his left arm as blood oozed out of his palm and stained every surface of the kitchen.
"What are you doing? Stop moving your hand." I said as I started towards him.
"It fucking hurts." He gave it another shake as he spoke and a row of drops was scattered on the fridge door.
"Edward! Stop." I said as I finally reached out and took a hold of his bleeding hand. It really didn't seem to be that bad of a cut. It just looked bloody since he was letting it get everywhere.
"Ouch! Let go. You are hurting me!" Edward almost yelled and I rolled my eyes as I pulled him towards the sink where I started to rinse out the wound. As I had predicted, it wasn't that bad at all.
"Damn it, that water is too cold. Make it warmer." He whined.
"Edward, it's just a little cut."
"Little! What the hell! Do you not see all this blood?"
I rolled my eyes again. "Yes I do. And it's all there since you forced it out with all your movements. All you had to do was put some pressure on the wound and it wouldn't even have gone that far."
"Whatever Isabella. You have no idea how much it fucking hurts."
"Why are you being such a baby? I thought you get into fights all the time. I'd think you got used to all the blood by now." I said as I wiped more blood away from his arm. He suddenly went rigid.
"How do you know I get in fights? Nothing's happened since you came here." He looked at me with hard eyes.
"Umm…the day we met…" I said cautiously but I didn't want to remind him too much of that day. Realization dawned on his features as he remembered how bruised he was that day from his bar fight and he nodded.
"That's different. There's an adrenaline rush and it's exciting. It's different when it happens like this."
I had been pressing on his wound for a while now so the bleeding had stopped. I removed my hand a little to see if a clot had formed and saw that it looked fine. I asked him to keep the pressure on as I looked for a band aid. I found a first aid kid and rummaged through it and found two sets of band aids. One set of normal ones that were skin colored and another set of Hello Kitty band aids, which I assumed were for Sophie.
I returned to Edward and asked him to hold out his hand. As I started to put the glittery pink band aid on him he snatched his hand back.
"Are you kidding me?"
"What?" I made my eyes all big and innocent. "I just grabbed the first ones I found to get back to you as soon as possible since you are clearly so distressed with all this."
"Go get a normal one." He ordered.
"I don't think so. I got you this one. Take it or leave it." I stood my ground. He finally gave in with a huff and held up his hand for me.
Carlisle cleared his throat from the doorway and Edward quickly pulled his hand away. The nurse had brought him down for dinner and Carlisle sat in his temporary wheelchair in the doorway while the nurse stood behind him.
Edward got all flustered and started speaking really quickly. "Dinner is almost ready. Um, we can eat soon I guess. Are you very hungry? I can get you an apple or something. Oh and by the way, I talked to Sophie and she is doing fine still. Jasper said she is still enjoying going around with Alice all over New York so they can stay there a bit longer." He rambled on at the speed of light as he quickly walked towards Carlisle.
Carlisle and I shared a look and I caught the twitch of his lips as he tried to control his amusement. I don't know what Edward's deal was, but I didn't see any reason for him to be so flustered. I was just putting on a band-aid on him, for god's sake.
Carlisle was looking much better today. He was still ruffled, there was still a lot of tiredness in his voice when he spoke and in his movements, but he was definitely getting better. Edward dismissed the nurse for the day and then went upstairs to clean up before dinner. Carlisle sat by the kitchen island and watched me intently as I set the table.
"He likes having a friend." He suddenly said out of nowhere and I put down the plate in my hand in its place on the counter as I looked up at him.
"I wouldn't say I'm his friend." I looked at the doorway once to gesture towards the direction Edward had left in.
"Would you like to be?" Carlisle asked and I looked at him in the eyes. His tired eyes contained nothing but curiosity. Ever the loving father, even in his sickness, he had apparently been watching Edward and I interact.
I shrugged. Everything about Edward was confusing. I didn't know what to make of his actions and words. Carlisle spoke then, as if he knew what I was thinking.
"I know he's rough around the edges, but he is lonely Isabella, just as you are. He has built a wall around himself to protect him from the harshness of the world and throws back a lot of harshness outwards, using offense as a defense. But he is lonely nevertheless and he doesn't usually let people in." He spoke slowly and in a weak voice but I could see that he really wanted to get this out so I let him.
" I can see that he trusts you." He said again and waited for me to look up before he continued.
"I don't want to interfere where there's no need but you two might actually enjoy each other's friendship if you can push past the roughness a little. This last week, you have been forced to do so because of me and see how far you have come already?"
I thought about this. Had Edward and I become friends? No. I didn't think so. We had merely come together for taking care of Carlisle. Although, I couldn't really ignore the fact that since we had stopped fighting last month, I liked his company. Of course, being isolated in the house, without Alice and Jasper and Sophie being present, it all felt kind of surreal and that made it easier.
Edward had a problem with his anger, but other than that, I liked him as a person. It was difficult for people to see his real self but he was very likeable if one saw past the harsh exterior he projected. He was honest about his feelings and was never scared of speaking his mind. He was loyal and genuinely devoted to his family. And this last week when we had been working together so much, I noticed that he and I shared a similar rhythm. We worked together seamlessly, without awkwardly bumping into each other or not knowing what to do. When we spoke, our conversation flowed easily when we allowed it to. I could see how if we had met under different circumstances we could in fact have been friends.
But we hadn't met under different circumstances. And we could only work with whatever hand we had been dealt with. And I realized as the three of us ate dinner that night that I was willing to make the best of our hand if Edward was.
A/N: I know…two updates in a day…I have outdone myself this time. BUT, I have been bubbling with excitement about this chapter so my patience ran out. 13 chapters into the story, and they are FINALLY where I want them to be. Please tell me what you think. I am really looking forward to the next part of the writing. Oh, the possibilities…Any suggestions? I might use them as long as they are not cliché.
I was too eager to get this out so didn't have the patience to let Jamie work her magic. But I love my Beta to bits.
Special shoutout to YankeeDiva…I got the Hello Kitty band aid on him :D :D