so it took me a while to figure out what direction i was going to take this chapter in. i hope you like how it turned out.
Chapter Twenty Five: Home
I lay listlessly in the bed on my own for the first time in days. Edward had had to go to hunt, and would not be back until the next day. He and Emmett had gone overseas to Ireland where there was apparently a sudden increase in the wolf population. I could remember his grin from the night before at the thought of being able to hunt big prey once more. I tried to smile as he left, but it hurt my heart. I knew that it was a necessary separation, but I still missed him. It hadn't been too bad the night before because Alice had stayed with me instead, making me laugh with all of her hair brained antics in the States. I could just see her elbowing her way to the front of a queue at four in the morning so that she could be the first inside a big sale. She was so little and lovable, with her enthusiasm and enjoyment of life.
She had left in the morning to get me some clothing. I would be able to leave the next day and she wanted to be able to clothe me in what she considered appropriate attire. I dreaded to think what that would be. I knew that she would not be taking anything from my closet, it was too cheap.
A happy nurse bustled into my room, smiling, carrying a try of food. That was one of the advantages of being in a private hospital rather than one of the NHS ones. You got your own room and could choose what food you wanted to be served. It was a lot more personal, and aimed at the patients. The NHS hospitals were hopelessly overstretched, meaning that personal care was lacking. Of course the NHS hospitals did not cost, and the private ones cost an arm and a leg.
"How are you feeling today?" she asked as she placed the tray on the bed table. I sighed.
"To be honest I am feeling kind of lonely. I miss my boyfriend," I said as she looked at the display above my head.
"Well, I am not surprised. Has he even left your side until now?" she asked kindly.
"No, he hasn't." That was why he needed to hunt so badly. His eyes had become a deep black, and I knew that it made it so much harder for him to be in the hospital. I had practically begged him to go with Emmett. He had reluctantly agreed when Alice had told him that nothing would happen.
"I think that you won't be lonely for much longer," she smiled as Laura and Jackson walked into the room. I was shocked by her appearance. She had lost a whole lot of weight, and had black bags underneath her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping since the attack that much was obvious. Her wrists were covered in bruises and angry welts. She walked slowly to the bed and gave me a gentle hug.
"Oh, Bex," she said as she sat down on the bed next to me.
"Laura, it's not as bad as it looks I promise. I am fine." She raised her eyebrows, but let it go. Jackson walked into the room slowly and sat on the chair next to the bed. He looked a bit worse for the wear, but that was about it. He was not battered obviously, but I knew in my heart that that day would be imprinted on our souls for the rest of our lives. That room would always hold the horrors we experienced there, and I would always feel the guilt for putting my friends through that. At least I knew the real reason for their temporary imprisonment. At least I would always know that the person who had done it was dead and gone. They would have to live with the fear of the man being out there. And they had no idea of why, they would live with the uncertainty of the unknown. It was my fault that they were in that room, not Edward's. If they had not been friends with me then it would have never had happened. But I could not bring myself to wish that they never had been, because in all honesty if they had not been then Edward would not have come here and he gave me some of the best memories and times I could ever had wanted.
We sat together for a while, chatting quietly together. Everything we said reminded me of all that I could not say to them, and it was killing me. Laura was like a sister to me and I had always told her everything. Now I was keeping the biggest secret and couldn't even tell her the real reason why she had been attacked. But it was not my story to tell.
Jackson and Laura left a little while later and I was left alone again. Alone with the memories.
The next day I woke up early, perhaps because unconsciously I realised that Edward was going to be back soon. I felt a thrill go through my body as I thought of my vampire. I heard a noise of movement in the room and opened my eyes slowly. As soon as I did I saw a wondrous sight. I felt giddy as I took in the man in front of me. Edward. It was stupid this relief I was feeling. It was like I was a heroin addict, and was hooked completely and utterly. He was like my own personal brand of heroin and I had no intention of kicking the habit.
"Hey Edward," I smiled as I spoke. He looked down at me as he sat, a smile spreading on his lips. My favourite crooked smile.
"Hello love, how have you been," he said as he reached out for my hand which lay by my side on the hospital bed. I took it eagerly, a sigh bubbling through my lips at the relief I felt with his skin touching mine.
"Bored. Missing you. More boredom. I think that you can get the drift. Alice was with me for a bit, but then she had to sort some things out. So I sat in this hospital bed, watched mindless sitcoms and counted the minutes till I had company. And now here you are," I sounded like a petulant teenager, but for once I didn't care. I allowed myself to act like the teenager I still was. Edward chuckled and lifted my hand up to his lips, kissing it gently. "What about you?"
"It was a pretty ordinary trip. Emmett managed to destroy his favourite shirt and blame it on the wolf he was stalking. Other than it was just endless waiting until I could be with you again," we smiled together.
"Right then, today is the day that you get to leave hospital Bex, so we need to get you into some normal clothes." Alice chirped as she walked through the door. I looked at her and the large duffel bag she was carrying. She was wearing a black dress with a pair of high black boots. She looked stunning as normal.
"Alice, why do you have a massive bag, it's almost as big as you! I'm only going home. All I needed was some underwear, trousers and a top." She rolled her eyes at me, pitilessly. That made me slightly apprehensive. "Alice what do you have planned to do to me?"
"Relax, Bex I just thought you might appreciate a shower and the chance to wash your hair with proper shampoo." I grinned at her eagerly. A shower! My hair was so lank and disgusting by now that it actually stood up if it was pulled in that direction. I was honestly shocked that Edward could touch it, it was that full of grease. I put my hand on it for a second and grimaced. I was definitely in need of a shower. Then I looked down at my hand. I couldn't have a shower until one of the doctor's said it was okay. "Don't worry, Carlisle is coming in a minute to tell you that you are fine to go."
I sighed in relief and sat up in the bed. Looking at the clock, I laughed out loud. It was only seven o'clock in the morning. It felt like I had been up for hours, and was mid morning but in reality I had been awake for the majority of the early morning.
"How come Carlisle is here? Doesn't he work at the NHS hospital?" I asked them while I was trying to pass the time.
"Yes, he does, he felt that it would be the place where his skills would be put to better use. But the hospital here had a unique case which they needed his expertise in cardiology. So he is a visiting doctor here. And of course, we managed to get him to agree to spring you," Edward grinned down at me. I smiled and looked at the clock again. One minute had passed. I was going to drive myself insane with the waiting.
About half hour later Carlisle strode into the room while Alice was telling me about a time when she had almost threw a girl into a wall because of a pair of Valentino sandals which she apparently just had to have. I was laughing at the absurdity of the story when he walked through the door and looked at my chart.
"well I can see that you are feeling better, if you can laugh, then your throat is exponentially better." He smiled at me. "Your chart seems to be in order, so I believe that you are ready to leave."
"Yes!" the word came unbidden from my lips. I covered my mouth with my hand and turned red as I blushed. Everyone else in the room burst out laughing, and I couldn't help joining in. It felt good to laugh, after the trauma of recent events.
"Okay, father, Edward you need to leave the room so that Bex can get dressed and have a shower," Alice order with authority. Carlisle left immediately, with a quick goodbye, obviously fearing the wrath of his adopted daughter, and Edward kissed me once on the forehead before leaving as well. I turned to Alice. "Okay, so what we have to do is......"
Half an hour later I was what Alice considered as presentable, which was a lot more dressed up than I thought necessary for just going home. I was wearing a short black dress with white details around the waist and back, and a square neckline, and some beautiful white and black high heels which had peep toes. She had painted the toes which were showing a bright pink. I was pretty sure that I had seen the dress on the cover of Marie Claire recently, which meant that it was expensive. I was beginning to suspect that she had something planned, and was slightly nervous as to what it was. She had even gone as far as blow drying my hair and pining it up into an elaborate bun. She had also decorated my arm cast with black and white intricate swirls and decoration. I was almost afraid of what she would have done if I had ended up in a neck brace.
"Alice, what do you have planned for me?" I asked her apprehensively.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Just know that Edward is going to explode when he sees you like this," she grinned at me and called out to Edward to come into the room. I stood there nervously. When he walked in and turned to see me standing by the bed his mouth fell open. He quickly strode over to me and pulled me into his arms.
"You look stunning, love," he whispered as he looked down into my eyes. I blushed and looked back up at him. He had swapped his sweater for a black button up shirt and looked gorgeous.
"You don't look too bad yourself. Do you know what Alice has planned?" I asked hoping that he would divulge the information Alice was determined to withhold.
"Yes, and there is not a chance that I am going to tell you," he said as he turned me and put one arm tightly around my waist. "I value my life too highly now that I have you."
Although his last words made me want to melt I still felt annoyed at him for keeping me in the dark. After all I was just leaving the hospital! He laughed at my grimace and led me towards the door, grabbing the duffel bag in one hand. Alice followed after him and when we stepped into the wider hallway she moved forward to my side. Slowly we made our way through the hospital. It felt nice to be walking towards my freedom, where I would be able to eat whenever I wanted to, where I could actually shower regularly.
"Oh no," Alice breathed as we walked down the hallway. I turned to look at her, slightly frightened.
"Alice, don't say oh no, vampires are not supposed to say oh no. They are not supposed to say it at all!" I hissed at her.
"Well outside there are some reporters. They found out what happened and they think it would make a really good story. You know the whole hostage situation, how the guy is still on the loose. They basically want to stir up a frenzy. And someone told them that you were being released today. Only people at the hospital and us know that," she murmured to me as we got closer to the door. I heard Edward growl softly as his hand tightened on mine.
"What's wrong Edward?" I asked nervously.
"Taylor is their source. He found out from Laura that you were leaving today and he told them. He has done a whole interview for money. The little rat." Edward was literally fuming with anger. It was Taylor. How could he do something like that? We had been friends. He was dating Kerry. I knew that wouldn't last much longer after this. That thought made me inexplicably sad. After an event like that everyone involved would need someone who understood. And yet now Kerry would be alone because she had chosen to give her heart to someone who was very good at hiding their true self. And his true self happened to be a money hungry vulture.
"Edward, do we have to go out this way?" I asked him desperately. I did not want to face people asking me about what had happened. He grimaced.
"Unfortunately yes. There are people at every entrance. This one is the closest to the car." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Okay, let's go."
We walked out of the door and into the cool air of the day. Even though we were getting closer to summer there was still a cool bite to the air. It was overcast and grim. The weather perfectly represented the situation. We started walking quickly towards the people who were standing in a loose formation by the entrance to the car park. Then I heard something which I had been dreading hearing.
"There she is! The girl who was in the school!" a large reporter bellowed as he looked at my face. Crap.
All at once they all surrounded us and began asking questions. Edward and Alice both closed in next to me and Edward put his arm around me. All I could hear was fragments of sentences and words which did not make much sense.
"How do you feel about....."
"....must have been so traumatising...."
"Can I just ask.......?"
"......get a description of him?"
".....matter of national security!"
At that last statement I snorted and turned to look at the man who had said those words. He had a badge which stated that he was from The Sun, one of the trashiest tabloids of the country.
"You know damn well this is not about 'national security'" I said, making air quotes around the two words. "This is about you getting a story which people want to read about. It's about getting a story which you can sensationalise and scare people with. Now leave us alone!"
"You heard her," Alice trilled as she pushed him gently out of the way. They refused to move, the mob mentality was all they could make sense of. I'm sure that they believed that they had safety in numbers. Of course, with Alice and Edward, we didn't need numbers.
"She's just got out of hospital. Now move!" Edward snarled at them. They all took a step back, after that, and we were able to get through them to the car. I could see that they were all frightened by him. God, I loved my vampire boyfriend! Myself and Edward collapsed into the back seat as Alice slid into the front. She pulled out of the car park quickly and raced away. I was surprised that Edward had allowed Alice to drive the car while he sat in the back with me. I let it go, and relaxed into his arms.
Alice drove us all the way through town and out again until we reached the outskirts of Basingstoke. I expected her to turn into the road which led to Oakley, and to my house, but instead she carried on and took the winding road which ultimately led to their house. I was beginning to smell a rat.
We pulled up in front of the house and Alice parked on the long driveway, instead of driving around to the garage. Before I could say anything about it Edward had already pulled me out of the car door and was 'helping' me to the front door. His 'help' was in the form of practically dragging me across the paved driveway and up the front steps.
"Edward!" I groaned as I tried to hit has hand away from me. He just laughed and put his arm more conventionally around my waist. "What is going on?"
"You'll see," he promised as he opened the front door. I noticed that Alice had disappeared, probably to go see Jasper, and that the house seemed eerily quiet. Normally you could hear Emmett from a mile away, cursing or laughing in his booming voice. But today, today there was no kind of noise at all. Ominous.
"Okay, now love I am going to cover your eyes up. Please don't get angry or try to hit me, because you will end up hurting yourself," Edward said as he moved his hands from my waist to my face. He did it rather slowly, moving his hands slowly up my back and waist, leaving me breathless. He then stroked my face before gently covering my eyes.
"Okay," I said weakly as I tried unsuccessfully to breathe evenly. I heard him chuckle and could only assume that my breathlessness was what he had been aiming for with this dastardly deed. If I was breathless then I would not be able to complain, or ask what the hell was going on. With my eyes covered up it was all I could do to put my feet one in front of the other, determined not to fall over in the high heels Alice had put me in. Edward guided me through what I assumed was the foyer and around the corner to where the living room was. I could hear vague swishes of fabric, and the occasional cough from more than one location.
Edward uncovered my eyes and I took in the scene in front of me. All of my friends and family were there, standing in front of me all dressed up. They were standing underneath a banner which proclaimed "WELCOME HOME BEX!"
"SURPRISE!" they all shouted.
any thoughts? i would REALLY like some reviews, and i PROMISE a special sneak preview of the next chapter to everyone who reviews! also, links Bex'sand Alice's party outfits and shoes are on my profile now! go check them out and tell me what you think!