Edward
I had been so careful with her, as she fell my heart stopped; she kept on rolling and skidding along the floor. Bella's fragile body flew and crashed towards the ground, in front of me. It terrified me. As I held her in my arms I realised that I was dealing with a much deeper, vulnerable creature than I had previously envisioned, I thought Bella was solid, strong and unyielding, but I hadn't really thought about her at all in that sense, she was human, she may be high tempered, stubborn and angry but she was still susceptible to pain. It was humbling but also frightening, I had to protect her, now realising that she wasn't invincible.
"Edward, can you help me up?" Bella shook me from my reviver, I looked down at her and her hands were moving towards mine, her eyes were wide, looking deep into mine. I nodded while acknowledging that she had asked for my help, she wanted me to be there for her. I gently took her hands but moved mine to her upper arms while I eased her up from her seat, her legs were shaking slightly but I could tell she felt safe as she was enveloped by my arms, her hands were gently rested against my chest as she steadied herself, I let my hold fall by my side as she left her hands on my chest, a significant element I couldn't help but notice.
"My head still really hurts Edward" She complained, her voice was very soft, almost inaudible while she looked up at me from under her eyelashes, she was truly beautiful, even with a bruise growing on her head and covered in bumps, grazes and plasters, she was stunning. I stroked the sensitive area of her forehead where she hit the grassy bank first;
"There's nothing I can do Bella, well I could kiss it better" I said with a laugh at the end, she was in pain, I only wanted to lighten the mood but when she lifted her eyes at me, I knew she had made a dramatic decision, she was ready. She bit gently down on her lip and tilted her head to the side; I had no choice but to oblige. I leant down slightly and placed a feathery kiss on her temple, following the outline of her face until I was a gentle kiss away from her lips, she turned back to me and whispered almost silently, "I'm scared" I nodded as she smiled warily, "I know, but you don't need to be" I whispered back, our lips were so close to each other I could feel her breath. She nodded again, understandingly, and closed the gap between us, my hands wrapped around her back, she moved closer to me and our lips touched. It felt considerably real, it felt amazing but we parted soon after, it was enough.
She smiled happily and slowly removed her hands from my chest and stood backwards, I let my hands fall to my side again as I waited patiently for something to happen, for anything. Bella tenderly took a step around me, testing her feet, I felt like I was watching Bambi taking her first steps, it made my heart grow as I saw her smile grow tenfold when she managed to get to the door on her own, she looked back at me and radiated her smile to me, she outstretched her hand and signalled me to take it, I did. Bella moved slowly and steadily and winced as her legs stretched out straight and her arms grazed against her side she would flinch, it wouldn't have been invisible to anyone who wasn't watching as intently as I was, but I could tell she was trying very hard to be so enthusiastic. She had led me to what I guessed was her bedroom, in the threshold I panicked, what was she thinking? As I stood still she didn't notice until her hand tugged on mine from the distance between us. She looked at me, curiously, trying to read my face. I shied away from her gaze. I felt her shrug, let go of my hand and walk away. I finally looked up to see her carefully sitting down, gently, to avoid any particularly sore areas. She looked up at me as she was slowly settling herself down, "Edward I want to go to sleep" she moaned, tentatively wriggling further down the bed so her head was resting on the pillow.
"No, Bella, please try not to go to sleep" I urged, coming to my senses and walking to her side. Her eyes had started to droop and they flew open when I spoke, "You have to stay awake, you might have a concussion" I took hold of her hand and smiled encouragingly. She listened carefully, with her other hand she grazed her forehead with her fingertips, she frowned.
"I don't think I do, I'm just tired" she tried to persuade me, I shook my head at her, "Bella would it kill you to listen to me?" I said sternly, she would have been furious if she could have managed it, her eyes darted to mine before spitting at me; "Don't start, this is all your fault anyway" she sat up too quickly and she bumped many of her wounds and winced as she stared at me coldly.
"How'd you work that one out? I've just helped you" I said back, I was making sure not to raise my voice, I wasn't actually angry with her. Bella had let go of my hand with some drama, throwing it towards me at this statement.
"Yeah alright, you helped but the damage was already done. 'Bella your shoe laces are untied', I'm never going to believe that am I?" She mimicked my voice in the middle, it wasn't great. I understood what she meant, I wouldn't have believed her if she had said that to me.
"I was trying to be nice! I'll never do that again then…" I argued back at her, swallowing my smile as she was not happy at all. I was loving it; not only were we arguing, which I enjoyed, but I noticed how all the sleep had been instantly washed from her face. As she reached angrily for my hand and intertwined her small fingers around mine I told myself that I was going to keep this up as long as I could.