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Chapter 25 - Those who think they know everything, annoy those of us who do.

EDWARD

Living with Emmett made being without Bella not as bad, marginally. Neither of us was interested in the women at the hospital, and word got around quickly that we were a gay married couple. I didn't care, but when Emmett found out, he made sure to bring Rosalie into the hospital when she visited, and they made out in as many public places as possible.

He was now considered bisexual, but I wasn't going to tell him that. His "cheating on me" explained away my grumpy behavior and kept the overly friendly nurses away, so it worked for me.

Em and I spent most of our time sleeping, studying and discussing the cases we were working on. He was better than I was, and I was surprised at how focused he could be, when he really wanted to be. It was a pleasant surprise.

He was good at keeping me distracted. Emmett pointed out that Bella had rubbed off on me. I found myself not talking unless absolutely necessary.

The thing was, besides Em, there just wasn't anyone I wanted to talk to. My silence seemed to keep people at bay, and I realized now why Bella felt so comfortable in hers.

Most people we worked with thought I was rude, because I only spoke with my superiors or when it was absolutely unavoidable, but there was one girl who seemed to be fine with my silent demeanor.

Angela worked in the lab, and where most people would voice what they wanted as they handed their test orders to her, I didn't. She would look at the lab paper, thank me, and just go back to work.

Occasionally, she would say hi to me when I approached the lab window, and I would give her a tight smile to be polite, but I didn't want to encourage her. I didn't want to get involved with any girls, because of what had happened with Bella. I would rather just avoid them altogether while I was in school. Once I was done, I probably would still avoid them and become a cranky old hermit bachelor.

I noticed Emmett talking quietly with Angela in the cafeteria, and when I approached, they shut up, and she gave me a sad smile. I glared at Emmett. I knew they had been talking about me.

"Don't look at me like that. She was wondering if you were okay, that's all. You think people don't notice you're grumpy? Well, they do, and Angela, being a nice person and knowing you don't like to talk, asked if there was anything she could do to help you out."

I growled at him, pissed at him for even thinking about talking about me.

"Oh, get over yourself, Edward. She's in a happy relationship. She can see you're hurting, and she wanted to help. I told her she was right, that you have your head so far up your ass, you're doing your own colonoscopies and not to take your bad attitude personally. You should be nicer to people, Ed. You don't know who you're hurting with your grouchy mood."

I wanted to shove him. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hate him and tell him he was wrong, but the problem was, he wasn't. I didn't feel like eating anymore, so I went to go find a quiet place to hide until I was needed again.

I heard a familiar voice coming from the waiting room around the corner. "What the hell were you thinking, Jake? I thought I could trust you with her. You knew she wasn't in a good place, and you took her to the damn CLIFFS! How could you let her jump?"

"Charlie, I..."

"No, you don't get to call me Charlie. It's Chief Swan to you now, and I'm going to throw your ass into lockup as soon as we get back to Forks!"

Another voice sounded. "I got Quil and Paul to take your and Bella's motorcycles back to your place."

"MOTORCYCLES? Are you trying to help her kill herself, Jake? What in heaven's name made you think putting her on a death machine, when she was in that state of mind, was a good idea?"

"Char…I mean, Chief..."

"Save it, because no excuse you can give me will be good enough! My baby girl is in critical condition because of you!"

Bella was in critical condition, because she had jumped off a cliff? What the hell had happened to her?

I knew Charlie and Jake wouldn't have any answers for me about Bella's condition, so I quickly went to the E-R board to find out where she was.

She was in the O-R, getting some internal bleeding fixed.

It was bad.

I rushed into the observation room, startling a couple of people who were already there. I found myself pressed against the glass as they worked and ignored the protests of the others to move.

Emmett was finally called to come in and see if he could get me to move, but once he saw who was being operated on, he told the others to leave me alone.

"Edward, why is Dr. Benge down there?" Emmett pointed out the OB/GYN next to Bella. I realized that, on the very lower half of her body, she was wearing a baby heart monitor, and Dr. Benge was watching it closely, as the others operated on her.

SHE'S PREGNANT?

I didn't realize I had shouted that out loud, until one of the doctors on the floor glared up at me. It must have been really loud for them to have heard me through the glass.

I hadn't been listening to the intercom, where the operating doctors were explaining what they were doing and why, until Dr. Benge said, "Dr. Cullen, please tell your brother to sit down and shut up, or get out of the room."

Emmett nodded and pried me away from the window, forcing me into one of the seats. I sat stone still for another hour, as they worked to repair her broken body.

One of the other residents asked how I knew Bella. "She's my girlfriend," I answered softly. I think even she was surprised I answered her.

"Really, does her fiancé know about you?" she quipped with a smirk, and I wanted to punch her in the face. I should've known better than to speak to Lauren.

"Fiancé?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, the big dark-skinned dude who rode in with her," she said in a duh voice. "He's in the waiting room, waiting for news on her."

My chest tightened. I'd lost her. I'd completely lost her. She was probably pregnant with Jake's baby.

As the doctors finished and were readying to move her to recovery, I was bawling my eyes out. Emmett practically carried me out of the observation room and into a vacant on-call room, where I could fall apart and still keep some of my dignity.

"I'm going to see if I can get some of her test results from Angie. Just sit tight," my brother said and slipped out, leaving me alone in my misery.

Emmett finally came back, looking warier than when he'd left. It must not have been good. Something was wrong. Was my girl dying? Did they miss something and need to take her back into the O-R? "What is it?" I finally blurted out, startling him.

He had highlighted a few things on the page. Her fiancé had informed the doctors that she was on birth control. Tests confirmed she was still taking it, and it was still in her system.

My eyes fell to the bottom of the page at the final highlighted section.

"The dates line up with Tequila weekend. I should've made sure you were stocked before you cocked, when you joined the Mile High Club. I'm sorry, Bro, it's yours. That's going to be a hell of a story to tell the kid someday."

It was my baby.

It was my baby.

She was pregnant with my baby. I double checked the conception date through teary eyes, knowing it wouldn't change anything. It just proved once again that it was my baby she was carrying. I handed the paper back to Emmett and dropped my head into my hands.

"Are you alright, dude?"

I couldn't stop myself from crying, and I shook my head no.

"So, you think she's marrying the library dude, because she's scared?"

I snatched the paper back from his hand. Did Bella even know she was pregnant? I went over the prescription she was on. It was that seasonal one. She wasn't due for a period for another two days. I handed the paper back to him. "She doesn't know, Emmett. That's why she's still taking her pills."

"She's going to freak," Emmett said, and I wanted him to leave. I climbed into the on-call bed and pulled the blanket over my head. "I'm going to tell them you had a family emergency and can't work right now," he said, as he slipped out the door.

I realized he wasn't lying. My child was not out of the woods yet. Bella was stable and out of surgery now, but she had been through a major trauma. Miscarriage was still a very real risk. I waited for Emmett's return. I didn't know how long he was gone, but he finally came back with word that Bella was awake, and she wasn't taking the news of her pregnancy well.

I pulled myself together enough to make it down the hall and stand by her room. I could hear talking going on inside. Apparently, all of Jake's buddies were there.

"Man, she got messed up pretty bad. Do you think she's going to be alright for the football tournament in November?" someone asked.

"No…yes…no…" Jake stumbled with his answer.

"What the fuck, man?"

"Jake," I heard my sweet angel groan.

"She's awake!"

I heard a round of several guys saying, "Take it easy," "Don't move," and, "Someone get her some water."

It settled down, and I heard her apologize to Jake. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"Yeah, well, just remember what happens when you don't listen. You almost died. That's not cool, Bella."

"Hey, no kissing, that's gross," someone said, and my heart clenched. Jake was kissing her. I couldn't stop the tears that pushed forward.

"It's just her forehead. Get over it, Quil. You're just jealous, because she won't let you kiss her anywhere."

I heard Bella weakly laugh a little, and then I heard a round of whistles.

"Ha! She let me kiss her cheek!" the guy, who I assumed was Quil, announced proudly.

There was laughing all around, and Jake said, "You know you shouldn't encourage him."

"So, girl, you have to hurry up and get better for football season. I love to see the Magic Swan fly over those jackasses' heads. It never gets old, looking at the face of the jerk who gets owned by the Swan on the field."

There was a round of whooping, hand slapping and laughter, but Jake stopped it. He cleared his throat and told the guys to shut up and sit down.

"What's going on, man?" one of them asked.

"She can't play this season, doctor's orders. She has to take it easy."

"Jake, he can't be right." Bella must've been in denial.

He cleared his throat again. It was obvious he was nervous. "She's going to be fine. It's just that…" he paused.

"What, man?" one of the guys asked, sounding annoyed.

"She's pregnant," Jake announced.

"What?" several of them shouted.

I was surprised by what happened next.

There were several threats of, "I'm going to fucking kill you for touching her!" and, "How dare you touch her!" There were also several shouts of, "How could you mess with our baby sister like that, man?"

There was an obvious scuffle going on behind the door, and I decided to see for myself if they were really going to kill Jake for touching Bella. Maybe something good could come out of this after all.

I had slipped in unnoticed, because everyone was focused on the mess of bodies on the floor. Two guys had jumped on Jake, and three others were standing back, letting it happen. I noticed Bella had a look of horror on her face.

"Fuck, man, it wasn't me! I didn't even notice she had tits until yesterday, when you guys pointed it out!"

"Bella has tits?" someone asked.

I looked over at my girl, who had blushed a deep red and pulled the blanket up to her nose. I was so distracted by her adorable blush, that I didn't realize the guys had noticed me.

"He was probably the jackass who got her pregnant!" Jake yelled.

The mass of brown-skinned, angry monsters had started to come at me, when Bella's voice croaked over their threats. "STOP IT!" Everyone's eyes snapped to her. "You will stop this right now!" she glared at everyone. They all sat down, still glaring at me. "Jake, there has to be some kind of mistake. I'm on birth control. I'm not pregnant," she said weakly.

Jake looked sad, and I knew why. Because he didn't want to be the one to tell her of the mess we had made.

"Bella," I spoke softly, not wanting to upset her, but she glared at me, "Let me explain," I begged.

"Explain what? There's nothing to explain, Edward. Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be busy making a future with someone worthy?" she snapped and then winced.

"That's not…" I tried, but she looked away from me.

I wondered if we had been together, whether I would've recognized the signs that she was pregnant. If she had been with me, I would've never let her jump off a damn cliff!

I glared at Jake, but he just glared back, not intimidated.

It was all such a huge mess, but I needed to convince her she was pregnant with my baby. "Bella, your birth control was not effective yet."

"Don't be ridiculous! I'd been on it for over a month before we had sex. It was effective."

"Remember how I was worried something had happened on the plane? The date matches up with Tequila weekend."

She started crying, and I wanted to go to her, but when I moved closer to her, she snapped at me. "Just stay the hell away from me! I don't need you!" she sobbed harder.

"Bella, please…" I begged.

"NO! I'm not getting an abortion, and I don't want you around, whining that I messed up your perfect life, so just leave me alone!" she shouted at me.

The guys moved between us, pushing me towards the door.

"I think you should go," Jake snarled at me.

I didn't want to. I didn't want to leave her. "Please," I begged him.

His brow furrowed in confusion. He pushed me into the hallway, shutting the others behind the door.

"What the hell are you trying to pull, man? Don't you think you've done enough to her?" he snapped at me, when we were alone in the hall.

"Jake," I said with pleading exhaustion in my voice, "Please, you have to help me."

"Why the hell would I help you, when you were just using her?"

"I wasn't, I swear, things just got so messed up, and I said something stupid."

"You were using her. She came to me a mess, because you used her, and then you made it clear you didn't want a future with her."

"That's not true! I do want a future with her. Just wait here, I'll prove it." I ran out of the hospital and jumped into my car, flying to my apartment. I quickly snatched the two ring boxes out of my underwear drawer and about killed myself speeding my way back. I ran back to her room and saw Jake walking down the hall with a fresh coffee in his hand. I held up the ring boxes. "I have a ring, rings," I corrected. "I want to marry her. I didn't mean what I said. I was scared, flustered and stupid, and I misspoke. She took off, and Alice told me not to go after her. I say stupid stuff a lot. I just didn't get a chance to fix it this time. I should've gone after her. Please, Jake, I love her."

He took the worn engagement ring box from my hand. "It's an heirloom," I explained. "I'd get her another ring if she didn't like it, but I thought it having a story would…"

"Yeah, she'll like it."

I looked up at him, hopeful. "Will you help me?"

"Let me talk to her first and feel her out."

I threw my arms around him, hugging him. "Thank you so much," I sobbed.

"You're not off the hook yet. Charlie's going to kill you, ring or not," he said, before he disappeared into the room, and I knew he was right.

I needed to invest in a Kevlar suit, quickly.