The response to this fic is so overwhelming. Thank you all so much! Really! It really encourages me to go on!

Oh, in this chapter, I took the freedom to play a bit with the date of Edward's birthday. :')


CHAPTER 28: Wake up call

Edward

My head was pounding ferociously, my vision foggy and my entire body was aching. I felt... lost.

"Edward?"

I registered a faint voice calling out my name but it seemed like that person was miles and miles away. I fought the darkness, tried to get out of it to run towards the voice, but it felt like I was running through some thick, gooey substance, barely moving.

I heard footsteps going around, and more agitated voices surrounding me but I couldn't make out anything they were saying.

The longer I kept going, the easier it felt to move forward and I got closer to the sounds. I was still surrounded by the dark and slowly I realized my eyes were closed. I forced them open, wanting to see where I was, to understand what was going on, but I was obliged to close them again only one second after opening them as I couldn't stand the bright light. It was as if someone was pointing a flashlight directly at my face and blinding me.

"Baby, please, open your eyes again, please." A small smile formed on my lips as I recognised that sweet voice even though it was laced with anxiety now.

I tried again, this time more carefully and to my relief, I managed to keep them open long enough to see the hustle that was going on around me. That stupid streetlight was still hurthing my eyes and there were police cars everywhere. I could hear the faint sound of an ambulance in the distance but that didn't hold my attention. Only one thing did.

My Bella, who was crouched beside me, stroking my forehead and begging me to keep afloat.

"Bella," I croaked out, my voice barely louder than a whisper and my throat felt like it was made out of sandpaper.

"Oh god, Edward," she sobbed.

My head was still pounding. It felt as if a whole army of people were in there, trying to get out by smacking the walls of my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut again, forcing the pain to go away.

When another hand was suddenly placed on my forehead, my eyes popped open again. I was looking straight at a man I'd never seen before. He looked like one of those guys from an ambulance so I guessed that was what he was.

And seeing that man was all it took for everything to come back to me. The bar. James. Laurent.

The fight.

Before I could wonder about what had happened these past minutes or hours or whatever, two other men crouched next to me and placed a stretcher on the sidewalk.

"Sir, we're gonna lift you, try not to make any sudden movements, okay?"

I just nodded, because that was all I could do. My throat still felt dryer than the fucking Sahara.

"It's gonna be okay," Bella whispered at me as they lifted me on the damn stretcher. The pain that shot through my body during that move was horrible and I felt myself fall into that painless darkness again.

When I woke up again, I was in a white room, lying on a bed, covered in those typical boring white sheets. A hospital. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Hi there," Bella's voice. The only thing that could make me smile now.

"Hi," I said, my voice still hoarse but my throat felt slightly better already.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, tracing my jaw with her thumb.

"I've been better." I wanted to laugh at my own lame attempt of a joke but I couldn't. I winced at the pain in my chest.

Bella just gave me a small smile, a forced one. Was she upset?

I wanted to ask her but before I could even open my mouth the door of my room opened.

"Mr Cullen? Time for a check-up."

The doctor, an older man with grey hair was suddenly standing next to me and once Bella had nodded and retreated from my side - much to my dismay - he started checking the few tubes attached to my body and every now and then he scribbled something on the papers he had on the table next to my bed.

He never said a word, which pissed me off. Weren't doctors supposed to give the patient information? Like what the hell they were doing or how
I was doing?

"Everything is still fine. You can probably leave in a few hours if there aren't any complications but since you've easily gotten through the night that won't be a problem. But once you're back home, you won't be allowed to do anything too aggravating as your ribs need time to heal properly."

Finally. Some good news. Well, apart from the ribs. What the hell happened to my ribs? Were they broken? Bruised?

And I had been here an entire night? Wonderful...

The doctor left after a nod that was supposed to mean as much as a goodbye, I guess, and I quickly looked back at Bella who was now sitting in the large arm chair in the corner of the room. As soon as our eyes locked she stood up and came to my side again, taking a seat on the edge of my bed.

"For a moment, I thought we'd lost you," she whispered, carefully placing my hand of her now very round stomach.

I gasped when I felt movement under my touch and then the most beautiful sound in the world filled the room. Bella's soft laugh.

"He missed you too," she softly chuckled while a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Wha-"

But I didn't need to say more. She knew what I wanted to hear, what I needed to hear.

"After they'd thrown the first few punches and you fell to the ground, I went back inside to get some help," she started. I breathed in relief at the mentioning of Bella leaving the scene. The last thing I had wanted was for her to take a hit, even if she wasn't meant to be hit.

"A few guys and the bouncer of the bar came with me and they were able to pull... James and Laurent?" I nodded to confirm she had the names right, though it didn't really matter. "Well, they pulled them off of you and before I knew it someone had called an ambulance because you weren't moving anymore."

She remained quiet for a while, lost in the memory and fighting the tears that were threatening to fall. When she spoke again her voice was more forceful.

"What the hell were you thinking, Edward? Couldn't you at least try to punch back or push them off of you, or, I don't know, run? You weren't doing anything!"

"I had to protect you," I said, diverting my eyes from her.

"This wasn't protecting me, this -," She motioned at my body that was partly covered in bandages now, "- was killing me."

"I'm sorry." I said the only think I could think of. But I knew it wasn't good enough. I had scared her with my actions - or non-actions to be specific - and even though I couldn't regret what I had done, I knew she didn't think about it the same way.

"Where are they now?" I asked, trying to divert the subject of my stupid actions.

"Someone called the police and they arrived a few minutes later. James and Laurent were handcuffed and taken to the police station."

I nodded, hoping to hear more about the consequences of this soon. I didn't care really what happened to them, as long as they were far away from everyone I cared about.


Bella

I couldn't remember the last time I had been so damn afraid in my entire life. Well, I guess I had never been. I had been afraid to see my mom die a few years ago, but at least I had been prepared for that. I knew she would pass away and I had come to terms with it as much as possible then.

But when Edward was beaten up in front of my eyes, fear had taken over and I felt it coarse through every little cell of my body. I knew I couldn't do anything myself to help him. I couldn't stand up against those two big men, especially not with a baby on the way. And I knew Edward would probably freak out if I tried anything to endanger our child.

It had taken me a while to realize who they were; those two men that seemed to scare the shit out of Edward, but when one of them mentioned a stay in prison I knew. Those were the people who fucked up his life. A life that was finally falling into place again. But I guess luck was never on my boy's side because right now he was being kicked in the stomach and cursed at.

So I did the only thing I could in my condition; I ran back inside and yelled for help. Tears were already streaming down my face and I felt like my knees were going to give up but luckily I managed to stay strong enough to point the few volunteers into the right direction.

They quickly dragged a kicking and screaming James and Laurent away from Edward's body.

When they were far enough I ran back towards him. His eyes were closed and his breathing seemed to come in shocks. A man's voice called out that he already called an ambulance, much to my relief because I didn't know if I would have been able to dial the number with my cell phone.

"Edward, baby, please, please, say something," I pleaded, not really knowing where I could touch him so my hands were awkwardly hovering over his body. I was afraid to hurt him and make everything worse.

Much to my relief, I saw that his face wasn't really damaged, apart from the bloody nose, so that meant his head was probably fine. I was more concerned about his ribs and chest because that was where he had taken most hits.

It felt like forever before a police car showed up, carefully making their way through the now very crowded sidewalk. People were all around us, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on and for a moment I felt like an animal in the zoo.

"Everyone move," an officer yelled, trying to make his way over to us.

When he finally did, he assured me that an ambulance was going to be here any second before he asked me about what had happened. I gave him a detailed description, telling him as much as I knew while keeping a close look on Edward from the corner of my eye.

Suddenly his eyelids fluttered and I instantly ignored the officer's question. I mustn't have been that important because without another word he stood up and left for his car.

"Baby, please, open your eyes again, please," I begged. A little smile formed on his lips and a minute later his eyes slowly opened again. I started stroking his forehead, much more to soothe myself than to sooth him, but it seemed to calm him down, so I didn't remove my hand.

"Bella," he croaked out, his voice hoarse. I was a sobbing mess by then, barely able to keep myself from throwing my arms around his body.

Everything happened quickly then. Edward was placed onto a stretcher but the movement had caused him to black-out again. The medical staff said it was nothing to worry about as it was very common and it was more important to get him to the hospital to check for any other injuries. One of his ribs could be broken and have pierced a hole through his lungs.

During the ambulance ride a few doctors were already checking him for any other severe bruisings but as far as they could tell now there were only a few ribs that were possibly broken and no severe damaged was done.

Once we were in the hospital a doctor confirmed their suspicion. Two broken ribs and one heavily bruised. Nothing too bad for what he had endured. According to the man he was lucky that they didn't kick him in the face because then the outcome wouldn't have been so nice.

I paced up and down through the waiting room the entire time they were performing surgery on Edward but by the time I was losing my mind they were already wheeling him outside again. They hadn't found any other injuries so now it was only a matter of time before those ribs would heal.

Edward was still unconscious because of the anaesthetics but I couldn't bring myself to go home to sleep and just leave him here like this so I just curled up on the arm chair in the corner of the room and tried to get some sleep there.

I woke up by a soft voice and when I opened my eyes I saw that a nurse was sweetly smiling at me, asking me if I'd like to have some breakfast. I gratefully accepted her offer before scooting over to Edward's bed.

He was still asleep and I didn't know if he was still under influence of the anaesthetics or if he was just sleeping but I decided that now was the perfect time to call Madelyn about the incident. I walked outside and was met by the slightly cold breeze. I wrapped my free arm around my body as I waited for Edward's sister to pick up the phone.

Of course she freaked out when I told her what had happened but I managed to convince her that there was no need to immediately come over.

After that phone call I realized that Edward and I actually both needed to be at work in about fifteen minutes. Well, that wouldn't be happening, would it?

I pulled out my phone again and called Suzy and Mr Black to inform them about our absence before returning to Edward's room.

While I waited for him to wake up again I paced through his room, feeling pretty useless. When he finally did, I gave him a quick explanation of what had happened and lectured him on his actions. Yes, I was kind of mad at him. Not once did he strike back. Not once!

After a few minutes of arguing I decided that in fact, it didn't matter anymore. What had happened happened and there was nothing we could change about it now.

As from there, the rest of the day passed in a blur. Doctors coming in and out, checking stuff and only giving us a little information - much to my dismay - but luckily they kept to their statement that Edward would be able to leave the hospital in the evening.

Suzy stopped by as well, wanting to check on her 'dearest colleague' as she named Edward. Good thing she had that many employees...

Edward, of course, promised to return to the shop as soon as possible but luckily Suzy convinced him of taking all the rest he needed.

"If you dare to come back before you're completely healed, I'm gonna kick you out," she had said forcefully and I in fact knew that she wouldn't be afraid to show Edward the door if he didn't listen to her.

A few minutes after Suzy had left, two police officers entered the room, looking pretty pissed. I guess they didn't like these types of visits and would rather be out in the field instead of informing us about the consequences for James and Laurent.

I breathed in relief when they announced that they were also in another trial and would probably be going back to prison as they were only on probation.

After all of the necessary information was given they fled the place as if they would get any type of disease if they stayed any longer. I rolled my eyes at their awkward behaviour but was happy they were gone and had delivered some good news.

The last visitor of the day was the same doctor that had performed Edward's surgery and now he was here to dismiss him. The man was a little late with his advice to take it calm for a good week though because Edward, who was more than eager to leave this place, had already jumped out of bed and was now shouting out in pain. Typical.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, once he had come down from the pain attack.

He had winced once more when I helped him to put on his jacket but other than that everything went fine.

"I'm going back to work tomorrow," Edward announced once we were at home, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"No, you're not," I answered casually as I went to sit next to him on the couch, offering him a plate of spaghetti. "And I think Suzy didn't lie when she said she would gonna kick you out."

He mumbled something under his breath as he knew I was right before putting of fork full of pasta in his mouth. I couldn't hold back a chuckle at the sight.

We were halfway through dinner when my phone rang. I quickly got up to take my purse and fished the annoying thing out of it. I checked the display before answering and mouthed to Edward that it was Charlie before retreating to the bedroom, leaving the rest of my pasta to turn cold.

"Hi dad," I greeted him as I plopped down on the bed.

"Bells, you sound exhausted," he said, his voice laced with worry.

"Yeah, well, last night has been pretty hectic." And I had to sleep in a much to small arm chair. Not the most comfortable place to get a good night's rest if you'd ask me.

"Oh, should I call again another moment?"

"No no, it's okay. What's up?" I could use some distraction and I guessed there would be nothing more distracting than a call from my father.

"No, first things first, how's the baby doing?"

What? I was about to squeeze my arm to see if I was awake because even though my father had come to terms with the fact that I was pregnant, he had never asked about our boy before. I wondered what had made him change his mind but to be honest, I didn't really care. I was happy he finally showed some interest in his first grandchild.

"He's okay," I said, already feeling a lot better. Maybe that had been his incentive in the first place...

"Good to hear and how about Edward?"

"Well, he's actually doing less good, but everything is fine now. Nothing to worry about," I shrugged. I didn't really want to give my dad an entire rerun of the events of last night but I couldn't lie to him as well so when he asked what had happened, I gave him a short version.

"Oh, well, that's annoying, because I kinda have an early birthday present for him."

What the...? My dad has an early birthday present for my boyfriend? The boyfriend he liked a lot less ever since he had knocked me up. What was going on here?

I didn't even have a present for Edward yet and his birthday was already in two days. Well, of course I had kind of arranged a surprise party for him with Madelyn but that didn't suffice for me."I guess he's in perfect shape to accept gifts," I joked, knowing that Edward would be welcoming anything that could distract him from the pain in his ribs or the fact that he could barely move, mostly because I wouldn't let him.

"It's not really something to accept. And he would need to take a plane, so..."

To say I was getting confused would be a huge understatement.

"Dad, what did you get him?" I asked, more curious than ever.

"Well, I did some research and at first I didn't really find anything, mostly because I didn't have the resources but yesterday I found out, by luck actually, that Emmett is studying at Yale and-"

"WHAT?"

"Emmett is studyi-" he repeated unnecessarily because I had understood him the first time round, I just couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Yeah, I heard you," I said, letting myself fall back in a chair. This was huge! Like bigger than huge!

We knew how to reach Edward's brother. After about two years of separations they would finally see each other again.

The only thing that was being an obstacle now was that there was no way Edward would be allowed to fly now. I knew if I told him this news I could never stop him from jumping on a plane to Connecticut, allowed or not, and that was exactly what I wanted to avoid.

As much as I would like to reunite them as soon as possible, Edward's health was far more important.

Charlie gave me all of the information he had gotten hold off and slowly a plan started to form in my head.

I would go to New Haven myself, try to find Emmett there and hope that he would be able to come to Seattle for Edward's birthday. It would be the perfect present!

That is if the plan was going to work because I didn't know
that much. I knew his name and that he was studying Science. Not much to start with but it was still better than nothing.

Now all I needed was an excuse to go all the way over there without Edward getting suspicious.


A/N: Of course I wouldn't harm any of them. :D I 'm not THAT cruel :') But euhm, well, Edward had to have a few broken ribs :')

Reviewers get a sneak peek :D

Love to MidnightSunSC17 aka Superbeta ;)

See you again at the next chapter ;)

Love, Ellen