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Beta: Pamela – Thank you very much for your help!

Chapter 21

BPOV

I don't even remember Edward coming back to the hospital. I woke up in need of the bathroom and felt his arms around my waist, holding me tightly to his chest. I figured I would just hobble over on my own. I lifted Edward's arm off of me slowly and gently. Just as I tried to sit up in the bed, Edward's arm was around me again.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," I whispered.

"I don't want you going by yourself."

Before I could respond, he scooped me up and carried me, depositing me on my good leg in front of the toilet. When I finished and washed my hands, he carried me to the bed and we once again found a comfortable sleeping position.

Just as I was drifting off, there was a loud commotion and shouting just outside the door which someone had left open.

"My husband was in a helicopter crash. I saw it on the news. I need to see him. The lady at the front desk said that he was on this wing."

"Miss, please calm down, if you tell me who your husband is, we can find him." The nurse in the hall was attempting to calm the panicked woman down.

"Edward Masen. Please help me. Hurry! I need to be there for him." The woman was shrieking and the voice was oddly familiar.

Both Edward and I sat up quickly at the mention of his name and looked at each other.

There was some more scuffling just outside my door, and the voice got louder. "That is my husband in there and you cannot keep me from him." The shrill voice screamed and in burst Tanya, of all people.

"Excuse me Miss, but you must be mistaken. I will call security if you do not leave immediately. This is a private room." The nurse stuttered as she tried to slow down the advancement of Tanya.

"Get the fuck out of my way you little twat," Tanya hissed.

Before our eyes, a transformation occurred. Gone was the panicked, concerned demeanor and before us was the psychopathic wench who was trying to lay claim to my husband.

Edward jumped off the bed to assist the nurse and Tanya threw herself against his body, sobbing. And when I say against, I mean that you couldn't even fit a piece of paper in-between her and my Edward.

Mine.

She was touching my husband. In fact, I think I may have seen her gyrating against him.

"Edward, oh Edward, I was so worried about you," Tanya cooed.

Pushing Tanya off of him, he said, "Mary, please call security and also my dad."

"Yes, Dr. Masen," Nurse Mary responded and she went running out of the room.

He had to hold her away from him with his arms locked straight out from his frame. "Tanya, what are you doing? We are not married. I am married to Bella. You and I never even dated."

"Edward, how can you say that? You love me. I love you. Did you bang your head in the crash? Do you have amnesia? Nurse, Nurse, my husband needs help. There is something wrong with him." She kept reaching for him and he continued to hold her away from him.

Just like in one of those exorcist movies, her head rotated all of the way around and she started staring at me with her eyes bulging out of her head. Well, maybe some of it was just the pain meds that I was on, but I think I may have really witnessed that.

"YOU!" She screamed in my direction, with her finger pointing at me. "You fucking whore. You tried to steal my husband. Well, I am on to you and this little obsession with my Eddie will stop right here and right now."

Oh, my, God! Was she serious?

By now there was a large gathering of people outside of my door to watch the spectacle unfold in front of their eyes.

I sat there in my hospital bed with my mouth open. Was I dreaming?

I blinked a few times, hoping the action would rid me of my hallucination, and when I reopened my eyes, I saw a flicker of movement as Tanya freed herself from Edward and lunged at me.

Time appeared to move in slow motion as I grabbed one of my crutches that were leaning against the nightstand at just the right moment and used it as a bat, cracking Tanya across the chest with it. She went flying out of the door and crashed into the nurses station just as security came running down the hallway and arrived at my room.

Edward's father was right behind them, talking on his cell phone. Or should I say shouting into his cell phone.

The security officers grabbed Tanya securely by both arms. She screamed at me and at them the whole time.

Nurse Mary came up beside her and thrust a syringe into Tanya's thigh and pushed the liquid into her body. Within seconds, Tanya gradually became less combative and less vocal.

Edward rushed over to me and held me gently, but tightly, in his arms. My entire body trembled and I couldn't get it to stop.

His arms had a calming effect and slowly I was able to take back control of my body.

When I tried to talk, I started gasping for breath. "Edward. Did. . . did that . . . really . . . happen?"

"Oh, Bella, I'm afraid so. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yes. I am. You?" I held on to him tightly.

"Yes. I'm fine." Edward paused. "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that we would wake up to a nightmare like that."

"That was surreal. You better go out there and see what your dad plans to do about his partner's daughter, but keep your distance. I don't' trust her at all." I spoke everything slowly, still trying to calm myself down.

He placed small kisses on my head and worked his way to my lips. "B, I don't want to leave you alone right now."

Jake stuck his head in the doorway. "Hey, how come I got the boring end of the hospital?"

Edward leaned down and kissed me. "Jake! Just the person I needed. Come on in. Could you stay with Bella while I file charges against Tanya?" He paused then looked at me. "I'm sorry, honey. Here I am making all of the decisions again without talking to you about it. Is that okay if Jake stays with you? Will you be okay?"

"Yes. I'll be okay. Just do whatever needs done to keep her away from us." I shuddered when he pulled away from me and got up from the bed.

"I will, I definitely will."

Jacob sat down on the bottom edge of the bed in complete protector mode, which caused me to relax, just slightly.

EPOV

At what point will that lunatic get the message. I can't believe it. She is a fucking nut job.

As much as I like my house in LA, I think I might need to sell it and get something else since she knows where it is. I guess it wouldn't hurt to downsize since I won't be there more than five or six days every month. Maybe a condo. With a security guard.

I ran through a couple of wings of the hospital looking for my father, when I finally found him near the psych ward.

"Dad. Now do you believe me that Tanya is psychotic?"

"Yes. I do. I'm sorry that I didn't take a more stern position before. When she came into your home, I told Eleazar that she was in need of some help and he said that he would look into it. But he apparently believed Tanya that she was okay and that there was nothing wrong with her. She must have really downplayed the situation when she spoke with her father." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I just got off of the phone with him and told him that I was having a 72 hour psychological hold put on her and that I was going to have you and Bella press charges against her for assault. He threatened to pull out of the partnership if I did that, but honestly, I don't care. Tanya has gone too far and if he thinks that he can threaten me, he has another thing coming. I'm the one that brings in the patients so, honestly, I don't need the partnership." He put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry that you got dragged into this. You and Eleazar have been partners for a long time. I am not comfortable with knowing that I am the cause of any friction between the two of you."

"Edward, son, you aren't the cause. His daughter is to blame for this, completely. I'm sorry that I got you in this situation to begin with by asking you to allow her to stay for a couple of days at your place in LA. I never dreamt it would turn in to this." He shook is head, clearly embarrassed by the whole situation.

"Dad, do you really think that this will be the end of your practice with Eleazar?"

"Yes. And perhaps it won't be him that will terminate it. I think it will be me. I can't have you and Bella be a target for that psycho any longer." He paused. "Security has Tanya and is taking her upstairs where she will be sedated and restrained. Can we go to Bella's room and talk some more?"

"Sure, let's go. I asked Jake to stay with her. He's the cop that was shot in the shoulder that was in the helicopter crash with us. I want to check on her."

o ~ O ~ o

We entered Bella's room and she didn't look very good. I instantly ran to her side. "Hey, baby, are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine, honey. Just a little worried, sore and tired. . . Hi, Dr. M."

"Jake, thanks again for staying with her. How are you feeling?"

"Good. Real good. I am getting discharged tomorrow."

"That's great. I bet you can't wait to get out of here."

"Yeah, I am, but I don't know what I am going to do with all of my time. I can't go back to work for six weeks. Do you mind if I come back tomorrow to say bye?"

"Not at all. I'll welcome the company and I definitely want to see you before you go." Bella smiled at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." With that, Jake headed for the door and before leaving turned around and looked at Bella, giving her a small wave.

The room was quiet for only a moment when my dad spoke up. "Bella, I wanted to apologize for putting you in this situation with Tanya."

"It wasn't your fault. You don't have any control over what she does. Please don't blame yourself for anything that she has done."

"Well, if I hadn't insisted that Edward allow her to stay at his place for a few days for those interviews and made him participate in all of the combined family functions with Eleazar, my partner's family, over all of these years, maybe Tanya wouldn't have felt so possessive of Edward, and perhaps this wouldn't have happened."

"None of this is your fault. Please don't apologize." Bella stressed and reached for his hand.

My dad took her hand and looked at me. "I haven't said anything to your mother, Edward, but I think I may have a proposition for you."

I sat down on the foot of Bella's bed and my dad sat down in the chair next to the bed, still holding Bella's hand.

"I guess the first question I have Edward . . . are you and Bella planning to keep Seattle as your permanent home?"

I looked at Bella and we both nodded at my father.

"Well, since you are my only child and I now may need to rethink my career plans, how would you feel about your mother and I moving to Seattle to be closer to the two of you? I mean, we wouldn't live that close and you would still have your privacy, but close enough to get together for dinner every once in a while."

"I think that would be a great idea. What do you think mom will think of that?" I had a huge grin on my face. Bella nodded.

"She has been hinting that she wouldn't want to move to L.A. to be near you, but would consider another city if you left L.A.," he said sheepishly.

"I would really like that, Dad." I got up and gave him a one-arm hug and sat down, grasping Bella's hand that he had just released. "If you don't mind, I would like to discuss the direction of your career."

"No, Edward, I think I have made up my mind. I can't stay with Eleazar. He didn't value my opinion on his daughter and I left the two of you vulnerable. My God, if anything would have happened to either of you, I would never be able to forgive myself."

"I wasn't going to try to talk you into staying with Eleazar." I looked at Bella and she gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I think she knew where I was going with this and I didn't even have to say anything to her. "I was thinking that maybe we could start Masen and Masen. We worked pretty well together on our first patient."

His eyes widened. "You would want to go into a partnership with your old man?"

"Yes, I would. I am going to have a hard time getting used to the schedule as the Assistant Chief and I would prefer the schedule that I used to have. The only reason that I took the job in the first place was because it gave me a legitimate reason to be in the same city as Bella without looking like a stalker." I gave a slight laugh at that. "But now that we are married, I don't need to keep up the charade. Honestly, I could just as easily have my L.A. patients come here to have work done instead of travelling down there one week a month. Marcus and I really only shared a building and the staff. Normally our patients didn't have anything to do with the other doctor. He can stand on his own, just as I can."

"Are you sure about this?" My dad asked.

"Yes. I am. Talk it over with mom. Bella?"

"I think it is a great idea." She smiled at me with love and adoration, squeezing my hand to emphasize her point.

My dad looked back and forth between the two of us and said, "I would love to be partners with you. When can we start?"

"Dad, you better talk this over with Mom first. I don't want either of us getting in trouble."

"Who's going to be in trouble?" my mom said as she entered the door.

Dad and I filled her in on the discussion that we just had and tears streaming down her face. After we told her everything we would like to do, she grabbed me and hugged me tightly then did the same with Bella and my father.

"I can't wait to start packing. When can we move?"

"Mom, are you really alright with all of this?" I asked with pure amazement in my voice.

"Yes. This is what I always wanted. I'll be close to my baby boy and his lovely wife and my husband will have a business partner that he can trust. I couldn't ask for more. When do we start?"

"As soon as possible," I declared as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ed, why don't we head back to their condo and let them get some more sleep. Bella and Edward look exhausted. We can talk more later or tomorrow."

My parents left and I propped Bella's leg back up in its elevated position. I only left Bella for a few minutes to get her some more pain medication and when I returned to her room, I laid back down and pulled her into my chest, kissing her neck goodnight.

"Goodnight, baby. I love you."

"I love you, too."

o ~ O ~ o

A/N: Thank you all for reading. Please let me know what you think by reviewing.