Rosalie gets to be heard in this one…and Edward gets to ask a question. Just what will his first question be?

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the great and powerful Twilight originator and owner. I appreciate her work more than I can say. I own none of these characters but I sure am having fun making them jump through my hoops.

Chapter 20

~~~ The First Question ~~~

I heard what Bella said about being with Edward all night, but I was going to insist that she go and hunt. The stress of the last two days had taken a lot out of her, and she needed sustenance. The family agreed that she needed to do this. That's why they sent me and Emmett…we wouldn't take no for an answer!

Alice was getting a little more tuned into seeing things about Edward. Some of the things she saw really made her smile. She had called me just now to say that Edward wouldn't wake until 7:03 a.m. That gave Emmett and Bella time to make a quick trip up into Canada and back. I'd assure Bella that I wouldn't leave Edward for a minute. We figured that the press would get wind of his whereabouts any minute, and we needed to keep him from being bothered. The hospital security was good, but we felt like we really needed to be on our toes after the disaster of him being kidnapped. I still couldn't believe we hadn't seen that there were two stalkers. We had a lot to make up for.

I could tell from his respiration and heart rate that he was already in a deep sleep. That pain pump did wonders for humans. Carlisle thought it was one of the better inventions created in the last couple of decades. The patient couldn't OD, but could get relief when they needed it, without having to wait for a nurse to administer the pain meds.

Bella was so focused on Edward that she hadn't heard me slip inside his room. I watched her for a few moments. She was always beautiful, but now a glow seemed to come from inside her; it was almost hard to look directly at her face as she concentrated on Edward. I had seen the same look on both Esme and Alice's face as they looked at their mates. I knew that my own face looked the same when I looked at my big teddy bear, Emmett. Well, when he wasn't annoying the hell out of me!

As I approached the other side of Edward's bed, Bella looked up at me in surprise. "Rosalie, I didn't hear you come in!" I smirked at her just a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"No, you didn't. Penny for your thoughts?" I asked quietly, although I could guess.

"They are worth a lot more than that," she said, running her fingers gently through Edward's unruly hair. "Edward's alive, his hand should be well in time, and he will be able to play again." She looked back down at him, and that glow was even more pronounced than it had been before.

"I heard you say that you were going to stay with him all night. But you need to go hunt." I could see the arguments begin to form as she opened her mouth to speak. I raised my hands and said, "Alice says he won't wake until 7:03 in the morning. You won't want to leave while he's up, so you need to go now." She was shaking her head no even as I rounded the bed to put my arm around her shoulders to lead her to the door.

"Sweetie, I won't leave him for even a moment. Emmett is waiting in Carlisle's parking space for you now." Bella was looking over her shoulder at the bed even as I led her away. "Go, now, and you will be back in time to freshen up before he wakes." I gave her shoulders a squeeze. "You need this; you know you do. And besides, Emmett wants to challenge you to see who gets the most elk…and maybe even something a bit wilder!"

A small smile played over Bella's face as she considered my words. I could see that she saw the wisdom of going right now, while he was asleep. She gave me a big hug, glanced back at Edward, and then she was flitting down the hallway to the stairway. I heard her say, just as the door closed behind her, "Call me if anything changes." And then she was gone.

Turning back into the room, I assessed the monitors that gave feedback as to Edward's state of health. Everything looked good. We had spoken very quietly together; he hadn't been disturbed at all.

As I stood beside his bed, I took a good look at his face. He looked so young and vulnerable in his sleep. Edward was always pale, but the blood loss and stress of the last day was really emphasized in his coloring tonight.

I wonder what Bella was going to do about the whole Volturi Rule: Keep the Secret. He had seen her and Carlisle sparkling, not something one sees outside of a movie theatre. She had ripped the door off its hinges and broken his chains with her bare hands to save him. Even with the effects of adrenaline, those occurrences would be hard to explain.

Bella felt that he was her mate; the one that made her complete. I could understand that for sure. Emmett was my other half. I couldn't even begin to think about my life, immortal or not, without him. I had known it before he had been changed, when I had seen that bear attacking him. It was the reason that I had carried him so many miles back to Carlisle, terrified that he'd die in my arms before I got him there.

One didn't have to be an empath like Jasper to see that Bella really did feel that way about Edward.

Then I wondered how I felt about a human knowing our secret. How weird would that be? Of course, there was a way around that. She could change him or get Carlisle to do it for her. He had done it before after all, four times! I wonder if she had considered that course yet. It sure would make things easier. Well, except then he wouldn't be able to play concerts for a very long time, if ever. He was beautiful, but he would be even more so when changed. The paparazzi loved his green eyes, and gold ones would be hard to hide. But if he loved her like she loved him, it might be worth it to him.

Being a vampire had its share of perks. Being with the one you loved forever and always was the first and foremost for me. Plus strength; speed; beauty; and last but not least, not having to sleep, which left lots of time for other pursuits. Yes, lots of perks.

Well, it was certainly something for Bella to consider. As I settled down to wait for her to return, I decided that I'd bring it up to her soon.

~o~O~o~

Rosalie and Emmett had been right, as had the rest of the family. I had needed to hunt. Emmett, like always, wanted to make it a competition. First kill, biggest kill, most killed. I actually got satisfied after two moose and an elk. He was tickled that he stumbled across a male grizzly who was just heading into hibernation. It put up quite the battle. I didn't know who made the most noise, Emmett or the bear.

He kept humming joyfully on the drive home. He was sure that he had won just because it wasn't an easy kill. My three didn't seem to count in his mind.

Now that we were actually on the way back to Seattle, I wanted him to hurry. The pull to return to Edward got stronger the longer I was away from him. He dropped me at the hospital and went on home. His shirt and pants had been ripped in the fight with the bear, and he shouldn't be seen until he changed. Anyone seeing him would think that he had been mugged by someone with a knife.

Before he drove away, he handed me another new outfit from the back seat of the Jeep. Alice had sent it for me. I took the bag from him and waved as he left. I quickly showered again in Carlisle's office at 6:39. Rosalie met me with a smile when I strode into Edward's room at 6:57.

"He slept well for the rest of the night." She said that the nurses checked him every hour or so, and they thought that things looked good. He never spiked a fever, so it looked like, at this point, that there wasn't any infection. "But Alice says that he's going to be in some pain when he wakes, so be prepared."

We could both hear his heart and respiration rates picking up and knew it wouldn't be long before he awoke. Rosalie said that she'd leave us alone for now, and she left the room. She was going to be on guard down the hall. The press had discovered that Edward was here, and we didn't want him disturbed.

7:01…7:02…7:03…

I was leaning over Edward as his eyes opened. His smile when he saw me quickly turned into a grimace of pain. I handed him the pain pump button and offered him a cup with water. He shook his head no to the pump, yes to the water. He still wanted to talk.

"Please, Edward. We will have plenty of time to talk…later." I caressed his face, delighting in the feel of the stubble along his cheek and the way he turned his face into my palm. I held the straw to his lips so he could drink. "Right now you need to rest so that you can heal. Your orthopedic surgeon will be in later this morning to check your hand, and your other doctor should be here soon to check your side."

Before he had satisfied himself with the water, there was a light tap on the door. I was surprised to see Carlisle step inside the room. He had a wide smile on his face.

I moved the cup away and said, "Edward, this is my father, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Chief of Cardiac Surgery here." Edward started to raise his hand to shake Carlisle's, but Carlisle waved it down, seeing the effort it took. The expression of pain had become more pronounced on Edward's face.

As Edward got a clear view of Carlisle, he exclaimed, "You…! You were at the house with Bella. You helped me after the fire. You were in the sunshine too." He looked back and forth to both of our faces. Looks of confusion and wonder were chasing themselves across his face.

"Nice to formally meet you, Edward," he said, grasping him by the shoulder. "Yes, I was with Bella when you were rescued." Carlisle held Edward's chart in his hand, flipping through the pages, scanning the information there. "Dr. Murray, the surgeon who took care of your gunshot wound, had a small family emergency, and I offered to step in for him." Carlisle finished looking over the chart.

"Even though you are in pain now, you really are doing quite well. You haven't spiked a fever, which means that there is no infection at this point. And with all the antibiotics that we are continuing to pump into you, we hope that there won't be any." Edward asked how long his recovery would be. "Bella is right, you do need to rest now and heal, Edward. Recovery from a gunshot wound, even though the bullet didn't hit anything major, is going to take a while."

"You are going to hurt for several days to come. You'll be in the hospital for another four days or so. You won't be able to lift anything for a couple of weeks either." Carlisle looked sternly down at Edward. "And I mean it. After that you can slowly begin to do more.

"Now, use the pump or I will do it myself." Carlisle had his stern I'm the doctor look on his face. "You must rest to heal."

"I still have so many questions to ask. I can't sleep yet!" We could both hear his heart start to speed up. I laughed lightly to myself. His voice had a definite petulant sound to it. I had heard that men were hard patients, and it appeared to be the case with Edward.

Leaning closer, I used both of my hands to turn his face to meet mine. I lightly massaged his cheekbones with my thumbs. "Edward, I promise you, I will answer your questions, all of them. But you need to relax and heal now." I kept my eyes locked on his, moving one hand up and running my fingers through his hair. Slowly, his heart beat slowed, and he reached for the pain pump cord.

He pressed it and handed it back to me. "Will you answer some questions before I doze off again?"

His right hand had clenched into a fist from the pain. I lifted it into mine and held it gently in my own. I traced the lines on the back of his hand lightly, and slowly his hand relaxed. Once again I was amazed that he didn't flinch from the coolness of my touch. He was so tolerant of the differences, I wondered if he would be so accepting of all the answers to his questions.

I tried to guess what his first question would be: What are you? How did you find me? How did you break the door and chains? Why did you sparkle?

When the question came, Carlisle chuckled and said he'd be back later to check on Edward. I barely heard him leave as he closed the door firmly behind him, leaving us alone with the question hanging in the air.

Edward's question took me by surprise but filled me with some wild emotions. Maybe I should have asked some questions of Tanya when I had the chance.

~o~O~o~

My drugged sleep was filled with weird dreams. I kept seeing diamond sparkles everywhere, on the walls, on the ground, on my skin. At least there wasn't fire and smoke this time. But as I slowly regained consciousness, the pain began to grow, both in my hand and in my side.

Golden eyes looked into mine when I could finally lift my eyelids. If the pain hadn't been biting at me, I would have thought that I was in heaven. Bella looked exactly like what I thought an angel should look like. She was almost glowing. Her touch on my face eased some of the ache I felt. I started to reach my hand up to touch her cheek, but the throbbing pain was making me weak.

She offered me the pain pump and a cup of water with a straw. Even though I hurt badly, I didn't want the pump to make me sleep again. There were lots of questions that I wanted answers to.

Before I could ask any of them, the door opened. A tall blonde man walked in. He looked familiar to me. Bella introduced him as her father, the Chief of Cardiology. I should have known that he was related to Bella before she introduced us. He had golden eyes too. No one had mentioned that there was something wrong with my heart. Oh, wait…I heard him say that he was filling in for the surgeon.

Suddenly I remembered where I had seen him. He had come onto the beach just after Bella had rescued me. Before I could do more than acknowledge where I knew him from, he was filling me in on what my near future would hold. I tried to take it in: pain for right now, no lifting, rest.

"Now, use the pump or I will do it myself." Dr. Cullen had quite a severe look on his face. "You must rest to heal."

I didn't want to whine, but I really wanted some answers. Bella's hands on my face and her fingertips running through my hair were nearly sufficient to block the pain. But not quite enough; I realized that I would have to use the pump. Maybe I could barter taking the pain pump for some answers. I was quite relieved that Bella agreed to my terms. The pain relief began moments after I pressed the button. One question leaped to the fore of my mind, and before I could censor myself, I blurted it out.

"Did you kiss me last night?"

~o~O~o~

That was the last question I expected Edward to ask. I hadn't really organized complete answers to the other questions, but this was one I was totally unprepared for.

I heard Carlisle laugh and leave quietly. He had closed the door behind him. We were alone. And now all I could do was look at Edward's lips and remember the soft brush of my own across them last night.

Lifting my eyes to his deep green ones, I found myself almost stammering. I took a deep breath to get a bit of control and to buy myself some time.

"Well, Jessica had told me to give you a hug and a kiss…" I finally uttered. If my face could blush, I would have been doing so, probably to a very dark degree.

"I don't remember the hug. Maybe I could have that now too?" Edward's eyes were doing that crinkle thing at the corners. Even in pain and pale, he was breathtakingly handsome. "I kept dreaming of kisses and rainbows all night long. Since I'm being banished to sleep again, I'd like to have more of those dreams, and your kiss must have brought them to me."

Edward's voice was barely a whisper, his eyes so dark. It wouldn't be a hardship to kiss him, that's for sure. In fact, it was something that I wanted to do again and again. And he was more awake at this moment in time. I decided to just not think anymore and go for it.

I settled myself on to the bed, on his uninjured side. We were right hip to right hip. Very carefully I placed a hand on either side of his head, on his pillow. His heartbeat kicked up a notch as did my breath rate.

"Bella…" he whispered as I leaned in slowly and brushed my lips against his. I tried to keep it light, but his right hand came up and cupped the back of my head. The feeling of his fingers tangled in my hair made me sigh. I leaned back just a little. As my breath left me, it washed over his face; he breathed in deeply, and his eyes became a little unfocused. I could smell the musky spicy scent of him, of Edward. It was overwhelming the warm linen and vanilla by a mile.

His smile deepened, and he gently pulled my head closer…our lips touched gently again. We were exploring the outlines of each other's lips, moving slowly. I was amazed at the heat that was generated at our point of contact. I felt warmth swirl through me for the first time in decades.

When he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, I gasped and pulled back. Careful. I needed to be careful. My teeth were so sharp and coated with venom. I was actually surprised that there wasn't a pool of venom in my mouth right now. But I didn't want to take any chances with him. I needed to be cautious and see just how strong my control could be.

"Wow," he said slowly as he looked deeply into my eyes. "And I thought the fire at that house was hot." His hand released my head and slowly ran down my shoulder and down to my hand. He entwined his fingers in mine and pulled it to his mouth. He placed a couple of quick, soft kisses on my knuckles as I sat back up.

His eyes were slowly closing, the drug taking over. I cupped his cheek with my other hand, and he leaned into it again.

"Wow, indeed," I finally got out. He fell asleep quickly at that point, my hand still firmly held in his.

Once again, Edward had surprised me; first with his question and then with his kiss. It was nice to be surprised. That didn't happen often. I liked it.

At that moment, it was great to be a vampire. I could sit in that same position for ages and not have to move. I could sit with my hand being held by this wonderful man and not have to shift to a more comfortable position. Right then, this was the best place in the whole world to be; holding the hand of the man that I loved; the man who had just kissed me.

~o~O~o~

A/N....Well, he was awake for that set of kisses!

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Have a great day, and thanks again for reading.

Kathie