Thanks to Cintia and Krisztina for always being here for me. Thank you all for reading and to those of you that review. Your support is everything to me.

Now … Anthony … Anthony … Anthony

CHAPTER 13:

"Anthony?" Edward whispers Bella's last word before she succumbs to the needed sleep the medication puts her under. Turning, he leaves the bedroom and silently shuts the door behind him. Then he begins to pace her living room.

"Anthony?" he says to himself again incredulously.

"It looks like I have a little competition," he says to himself with a grin as he looks around the room.

He's drawn to a series of photos on a bare shelf and one by one, he picks them up to examine them. It's Bella with what looks to be her parents. You only have to look to see who she resembles. She has her father's eyes and smile, but has her mother's hair color. One picture is clearly her going off to college because her father's truck and her car are packed full. Another is of a birthday party with Alice and Rosalie; all three are wearing child-sized birthday hats. He likes the one of her as a small girl with her parents on their family vacation. But one that really catches his eye is of her kneeling at the foot of her parents' grave sites. They are buried next to each other, linked together for eternity with a chain ribbon. She is clearly distraught in this picture and so sad. His heart bleeds for her, and he wonders if she has any other family. By the sound of what Alice says, she doesn't, because she's pored her life into her work, making that her family.

Edward continues to peruse her clean, white home. He likes the way the kitchen looks out over the dining room and then beyond that is the living room. It's very open, like his place. Going down the hall, he comes upon her office, which is also white with chrome and black accents. It reminds him of her office at the gallery. Walking into the room, he comes upon a small alcove that's filled with paints, paper, pencils, water colors and an easel … with a painting … of him.

There's only one reason she would draw a picture of me, he thought to himself.

"She likes me," he whispers through a grin.

Smiling, he returns to her room to check on her. It alarms him when she whimpers in her sleep and he rushes across the room to check her temperature. Her forehead is cool and clammy. He heads to her en suite to get a damp washcloth to place it on her brow when he spies the perfume.

"That's why I recognize her scent!" he says, taking the bottle and inhaling the sweet aroma. They purchase from the same website. His mother's website to be exact. Esme's Essentials. Bella's scent is called Meadow Flower. This is yet another connection between them.

He takes one last whiff before putting the bottle back on the counter and returns to his task at hand. Opening the linen closet for a wash cloth, Edward runs it under cold water and hurries back to her.

As soon as he places the cool cloth over her forehead, she sighs in relief. After a few minutes, he runs the cloth down the side of her face and over her neck to cool her down even further. He then holds it to her chest where he is gifted with a sweet moan of appreciation.

Hearing his stomach grumble, Edward looks at the clock, noting that it's going on seven o'clock, and he's getting hungry. Deciding to order Chinese from his favorite spot in the area, he orders enough for both of them. Dragging a chair from across the room to a spot next to the bed, he sits and waits. Bending forward, he runs the back of his finger down the side of her face, moving the fine hairs away from her eyes. This causes her to stir, so he sits back, not wanting to disturb her further.

Edward goes over the instructions of the ER doctor and curses himself when he recalls she's supposed to keep her foot elevated above her heart for forty eight hours. Looking around the room, he sees she has enough pillows to get the job done, so he untucks the bedding and gently raises her foot to place several pillows under it.

It's not too much longer that he hears the buzzer from the guard downstairs, and when he announces the food delivery, Edward tells him to send the boy upstairs. Once the food is paid for, he sets out to prepare a plate for Bella and himself on a serving tray he found in the pantry.

Placing the tray on the bed next to her, he gently strokes her brow to wake her.

"Bella," he whispers. "Hey, baby. Time to wake up."

"Hmm?" she moans.

"It's time to wake up. If you sleep longer, you won't sleep tonight, and I have dinner here for you."

"You doooo?" she asks, surprised.

"Yes, I do," he answers with a grin. "Come on, let's get you situated." He helps her into a sitting position and arranges the pillows behind her for added comfort, then rearranges the pillows under her foot again, replacing the comforter over her pink colored toe nails to keep them warm

"You have the best bedside manner, Mr. Cullen. Maybe you did miss your calling of becoming a doctor after all," she teases, tucking the white blanket around her chest.

Edward grins at her 'bedside manner' comment, considering she's already witnessed it on a much grander scale.

Setting the bed tray on her lap, he takes his plate and sits down in the chair next to her, and they both dig in.

"Mmm, this is really good. I love Kung Pao," she moans, taking another large bite, all pretenses aside. She doesn't care if she's being modest or not, she's hungry and she's going to eat!

"Yeah. So," he begins, using his chopsticks to dig into his Hunan Chicken. "How are you going to manage your busy life and being a crip all at the same time?"

Waiting until she's done chewing an overly large bite, she picks up her egg roll and bites into it and shrugs. With a full mouth, she says, "I don't know. I guess Alice will have to run the ship. We are reconstructing the second floor too, and then the contractor had to tear down a wall and rebuild it between the large and small exhibit rooms."

Dropping her fork on her plate, she throws her head back into the pillows and clenches her eyes.

"What is it?" Edward asks, sitting forward.

"I'm having shooting pains up my leg," she growls. "I would love to get my hands on that asshole who ran me down!"

"You and me both," Edward joins in. "I hope they caught him, that's all I have to say."

"I have to go in tomorrow, Edward. There's no way Alice can do it all by herself. The Building Department is coming in to inspect the new wall and the first phase of Alice's shop. Dammit!"

"Why don't you let me help?" he asks.

"Well, you are. You're here with me, aren't you?" she says, grinning at him.

"Yes, but I can run down to the gallery tomorrow and do the walk through with the inspectors. I know that Alice can handle it, but with them working on two projects, she may welcome the help. You can have the phones at the gallery forwarded here if that makes you feel better. We can set you up with an office in your bed, at least for two or three days. My dad said you have to stay off of it otherwise it won't heal properly, and you will suffer the rest of your life with sporadic mini sprains whenever you walk wrong. And with those shoes you wear, you need a strong ankle, right?"

"I guess…"

"Are you done?" he asks, reaching for her empty plate. When she nods, he asks her if she wants more.

"No, I'm good. Thanks for staying, Edward. I really appreciate it."

He places the tray on the bedside table and sits down next to her, taking her hand in his own.

"You're most welcome, Bella." He leans on his hand on the other side of her while he runs his other hand up and down her bare arm. "Well, I guess I better go. I'll clean up the dishes so you won't have to."

"But …" Bella looks pleadingly into his eyes. He can see them filling.

"What? Are you in pain?" he asks, sitting up.

"No, but I thought you were going to stay with me," she whispers. "If you're busy, I understand."

"No, not busy. Never too busy for you, Bella." He sees a rogue tear stream down her face and reaches to wipe it away with the back of his finger. He knows it's the medication making her emotional. "I'll stay for as long as you need me."

Bella smiles at him when he gets up to take the dishes into the kitchen. She can hear him cleaning up, and when he returns with two cups, he hands one to her. She smiles when she smells hot chocolate.

"My mom says that all girls like chocolate, and that it cures everything. She said that's a 'mom-ism'." Bella can't help but laugh at the comment and takes a sip.

"I love it when you giggle like that," he says, reaching for her meds. "Here, it's time."

"No, not yet. Please? I want to visit with you a while, and if I take that, I will be out for the rest of the night. Come," she says, patting the empty side of the bed, "Let's watch some TV."

"Okay," he says happily, and after kicking off his shoes, he takes his hot chocolate and walks around to the other side of the bed, climbs in and sits up next to Bella.

After she searches through the million channels on her TV, she hands the remote to Edward for him to decide what they are watching, when he settles on reruns of Game of Thrones. Having given Bella her pain medication shortly after the second episode started, he looks down to find her sound asleep.

Deciding she would be more comfortable buried under her down comforter, he gets her all tucked in and is about ready to go sleep on the couch when she grabs his hand as he turns out the light.

"Stay. Here … with me," she pleads groggily. Edward looks down at her and then around the room. Not sure if this is such a good idea, he contemplates the whole scenario first before deciding to climb into the bed beside her. Feeling like a teenager, he leaves his clothing on, just in case. Just in case he gets the urge to make love to her in the middle of the night, he would have time to rethink it if he had to remove his jeans.

As soon as he gets comfortable, Bella rolls over to face him and takes his hand and holds it in hers.

"Do you know I've never been hurt before? No broken bones. No bumps or bruises. This is the worst injury I've ever had, and it wasn't even my fault," Bella mumbles.

"Well, then you're lucky. I've broken nearly every bone in my body, knocked out a few teeth, and actually cracked my skull. It's a good thing my father's a doctor," he replies.

"Nite … Edward," she whispers, nearly asleep.

"Good night, Bella."

~.~

The following morning found Edward and Bella tangled up like a ball of yarn … legs entwined, arms wrapped around one another, and Bella's face buried in Edward's neck.

He was the first to wake. Understandably, since Bella took her pain meds again when she woke with shooting pain up her leg. She has enough drugs in her system, she will most likely be in and out of sleep for the remainder of the day.

Grinning down at her, he finds it amusing that she's a snuggler. Untangling his legs from hers, he manages to get out of bed to use the bathroom before going for a cup of coffee. Happy that she has a Keurig just like his, he drops in a pod and brews himself a cup of breakfast blend. Edward takes his mug into his hands and takes a sip of the hot brew and walks to the large window that overlooks the urban view. Thinking that he needs to go home to shower and change into fresh clothing, he wonders if he can get that task done before she wakes.

Deciding it would be best to wake her and let her know that he's leaving, rather than have her wake to find him gone, he returns to her bedroom. Standing at the end of the bed, he checks on her foot, making sure the bandage isn't too tight. Once he sees her tiny pink toes, he touches each one of them and grins while resisting the urge to suck on each one of them.

Replacing the blanket over her feet, he sets the coffee mug on the bedside table and sits down next to her.

"Bella," he softly whispers, so not to frighten her. When she doesn't stir, he bends down over her ear and quietly breathes her name again, "Bellaaa."

She turns her face in his direction, and her pouty lips temp him. Again, he recalls how her mouth looks so beautiful wrapped around his hard cock. Shuddering at the thought, he bends down and places a gentle kiss on them.

Just like Sleeping Beauty, she stirs awake, and when her eyes come into focus, they rest upon his, and he smiles down at her.

"Good morning, beautiful," he says, brushing her wild mane away from her face. Her long hair covers her pillow and her eyes are still sleepy and sexy.

He knows his resolve to keep away from her is dwindling fast, and his desire for her is ten-fold seeing her laying here like this.

"'Morning. What time is it?" she yawns, looking at the table with the clock on it.

"It's time I run home to shower and change. Then I'm going to take a trip to town to lend a hand to Alice, all right?"

"Okay, thank you, Edward. That's very kind of you."

"Anytime. I want you to stay in bed until I return, all right?"

"But what if I have to use the bathroom?" she pouts. Then it dawns on him …

"Do you have to now?" When she shyly nods, he gets up, scoops her into his arms and carries her to the en suite. Giving her the privacy she needs, he returns to the bedroom for his coffee, deciding to make her a cup.

Bad mistake.

When he returns, he finds Bella on her knees crawling to her bed.

Setting their coffees on the table, he shouts, "What the fuck, Bella!"

"Well!" she exclaims. "You didn't hear me calling for you, so this is my mode of transportation for a few days it seems."

Edward helps her to her feet, or foot in this case, and carries her the rest of the way to her bed. Sitting on the edge, he keeps her in his lap and holds her close to him.

"Okay, I'm going to get you some crutches after I run home real quick. I'll do that before I go to the gallery, okay?" he says sweetly, kissing her forehead.

"No, Edward. That's too much for you to take on. I'm going to call Alice and have her close the shop after the inspector finishes. It's no big deal if we're a few days behind schedule. But I will take you up on the offer for the crutches though."

Getting up to lay her down in her bed, Edward hands Bella her coffee, gets her a few bottles of water, her meds and her laptop and sets it all beside her.

"Um, can you get my charger out of my office for me? Oh, and my bag too? It has my cell phone in it."

As soon as Edward leaves her room, she regrets what she just did. She knows he'll see the portrait. She throws her head back in mortification and smacks her hand over her eyes, thinking it serves herself right when she hits her head on the headboard.

After he goes to do her bidding, he's in her office and sees his portrait again. This time he takes the time to admire the detail in her work. She's very good, he thinks to himself. If she tweaked it a bit, that portrait would look like a photograph.

By the look on his face, she knows he saw it.

"Bella?"

"Edward …"

They speak at the same time, and she has no clue how to explain why she has a large sized portrait of him in her office.

"I was bored one night, and when I picked up my pencil, that's what came out of me," she shyly explains. "Please don't think I'm crazy or stalkerish, it's just …"

"I like it, Bella. It's very good, and it tells me something."

"What?" she asks, looking down at her hands that she's twisting in her lap.

"That you like me. Even, before, when you were staring daggers at me, you liked me," Edward says somewhat surprised. And with a finger, he lifts her chin so she's looking at him. "Admit it," he grins.

"No, I'll never admit it. I'm too humiliated to," she confesses, blushing. Edward tilts his head and lifts an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, a drawing of me in the shirt I was wearing the first night we saw each other at the club … we never spoke to one another … even after our friends started dating … will have to suffice," he jokes and laughs at her expense.

"What if I told you it wasn't you, smart ass?" she says throwing a smirk his way.

"Oh, really? Then who is it?" Edward demands folding his arms across his chest.

Bella uses her arms to pull herself up higher against the headboard, using that time to rack her brain for a response. Does she tell him the truth or hide from it?

"Anthony," she says firmly, her decision made.

The air is knocked out of Edward's chest at that proclamation. So much so that he starts coughing.

"What … wait … who?" he asks, shocked.

"His name is Anthony, and you two look surprisingly alike."

Edward's mind starts working double time. Did she see my face? Does she really know it's me?

"Are you still seeing him?" Edward watches her face change in a myriad of ways.

"Um … no. We sort of broke up."

"What do you mean 'sort of'? Either you did or you didn't," he says, probing her.

"Well, we weren't really dating … we just sort of … hung out," she explains, trying to keep her story plausible.

"Is he out of the picture, Bella?" She sadly nods her head in response. She really didn't want it to end … at the time at least. But she has grown very fond of Edward, and rarely even thinks about Anthony anymore.

Edward bends down over her and brings his lips very close to hers. "That's too bad, Bella. I was hoping it was me." He finishes off his declaration with a slow, soft kiss that releases a purring sigh from her.

After ending the tender kiss, Edward stands to leave. "Wait, you need a key so I don't have to get up to answer the door. You can take my keys to let yourself in." In a way, it excites him to know he will have a key to her home, but in retrospect, he knows it's only for today.

"Okay," he says taking her keys from her. "I'll be back in about two hours. Will you be okay?" Bella nods firmly, assuring him that she will be.

As soon as he reaches the door, Bella calls out to him. "Edward," he stops and turns to her.

"It's you." It takes him a moment to figure out what she means, but when it sets in, a knowing smirk comes upon both of their faces.

"I know."

~.~

Edward runs home, literally, to shower and change. Not dallying, he hurries and slips into clean comfortable jeans, layers a button down under a sweater and after tying on his favorite Doc Martin's. After he gathers his wallet, along with both sets of keys, he's out the door.

Deciding to take his own car, he drives the few extra miles to the largest drug store in New York City. He selects the best crutches they have … and they're pink. He thought they matched her toenails perfectly. Strategically arranging the crutches in the backseat, he directs the car toward Bella's.

It takes him longer to find a parking space than he'd like, but smiles when he is finally inserting the key into her door. He's careful to be quiet when he places her keys on the table next to the door and after not hearing a sound from her room, he peeks in to find a sleeping Bella. He silently lays the crutches on the floor next to the bed and looks down at her.

She had fallen asleep while on her computer, and when he moves to lift it from her lap, he looks at the screen.

What. The. Fuck?

"Tantra Chair?" Edward's voice, along with him dropping the computer into her lap out of surprise, wakes her up with a start.

Shocked for the third time that she's hinted that she may suspect he's Anthony. This certainly can't be a coincidence. Can it?

"Hey," she says.

"Hi. I … um … have your crutches here," he stammers, pointing down at them next to his feet. She sees him glance at the computer screen, which causes her to look too. Seeing the chair on the screen, she slams the computer closed. She literally feels the blood flow into her cheeks in embarrassment.

"You shopping for a Tantra chair?" he teases, regaining his composure.

"No!" she screeches. "I certainly am not!"

"Really? Then why is it there on your screen?" he teases, making the most of her embarrassment.

"I was shopping for another chair for my living room if you must know. The deeper I got into the net, the chair appeared. I would never research that chair!" Her blush deepens with her explanation.

"Have you ever used one?" he asks, very curious to hear her answer. Again, he can tell she is warring with herself on whether to tell him.

"Yes, I have, but that doesn't mean I was shopping for one. I was looking for something different, and that's apparently the best the web can offer."

"Oh, so you didn't like it? The chair?" he teases again.

"Oh, stop tormenting me," she says sternly, moving to get out of bed, then remembers that she can't walk. Edward stands back with his arms crossed over his chest daring her.

"So, did you?"

"Yes. Yes I did, all right?" she shouts at him, knowing he's teasing her, but it's making her angry nonetheless.

"Did you, now? What did you like about it?"

"I am not going to discuss this with you, Edward," she blurts out.

Edward sits down next to her, placing his hand on the bed next to her and leans in close. "What did he do to you that you enjoyed on the chair, Bella?"

"Edward, don't. Please. I don't want to discuss … him. He's not around anymore, and I don't expect I will ever hear from him again," she says dolefully.

He sees the despondent look on her face and that's when he decides.

It's time Anthony pay his Isabella a visit.

A/N: Dear Guest: Thank you. Thank you for your hateful comments. Thank you for letting me know my readers don't like my story and that my reviews are down because of it. Thank you for telling me my story sucks. Thank you for hiding behind being my friend on Facebook. Thank you. But I'm still not going anywhere. I look forward to hearing from you again. Till next time …