Chapter 28: Let's Go Back
"Your body needs to be held and to hold, to be touched and to touch. None of these needs is to be despised, denied, or repressed. But you have to keep searching for your body's deeper need, the need for genuine love. Every time you are able to go beyond the body's superficial desires for love, you are bringing your body home and moving toward integration and unity."
-Henri Nouwen
Edward and I stayed up late talking and fell asleep kissing. Which I must admit was a wonderful way to fall asleep. And a wonderful way to wake up. My lips centimeter's from Edward's as I lay in his arms. His bed smelled like him—as did the shirt of his that I was wearing.
I was still worried, though.
I didn't want Edward to give up this prestigious position just because of me, but the way he spoke about it made it sound like he didn't really want to do it after all.
I resolved to ask him about it once he woke up. But I was content to just watch him sleep.
I toyed with the hem of his shirt, tracing my fingers across the scars on his stomach. He'd told me once, over the phone, about them.
He told me about the car accident that had taken his parents prematurely, and we both talked about how it had hurt him and made him feel isolated from romantic love. We talked about my mom and my abandonment issues.
And we both realized that we could work through our problems. Together.
Together, we could do anything.
We. When he had said that yesterday, I felt like my heart had soared. Edward and I were a unit. Two halves of one whole.
"Good morning," Edward groaned, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Morning," I replied lightly, kissing him gently on the lips. "I have a question for you."
"Oh?" I asked, quirking one eyebrow.
"If you didn't have me—"
"I don't like where this is going," he said, cutting me off.
I glared and continued, "If you didn't have me, would you give up this position?"
He didn't respond sarcastically, or tell me that it wasn't worth worrying about. He thought it about it quietly for a while and finally replied. "I don't know. Things were different before you. I was different before you. If I didn't have you I wouldn't have anything to live for. I would have come here and been a zombie.
"But I have you now. And things are different. I'd be miserable here without you, and I'm miserable here with you."
"What if I moved here, to Italy and lived with you while you worked?" I asked, not wanting him to give up on his work because of me.
He shook his head and smiled, "You'd miss your family. And besides I miss my family. Who would've thought that I'd actually miss Alice meddling my life?"
We both laughed, because that was exactly what Alice did.
"I'm going to go into Aro's office today—you're coming with me—and I'm telling him that I quit. I don't care if he blacklists me."
I sighed, "I can't convince you to keep this job?"
"Nope," he replied and kissed the tip of my nose.
I wasn't going to argue with him.
We got dressed slowly, flirting with each other and talking so it took a lot longer than normal. Edward wore a pressed, white button down and a pair of charcoal slacks.
I hadn't brought anything that looked too formal so I settled on my nicest pair of jeans and a blouse and tennis shoes. Edward laughed and said that I looked like an uppity soccer mom.
I kicked him in the butt and told him to put on a tie.
We made our way slowly to the hospital. Edward was nervous, and admittedly so was I.
We walked hand in hand, tightly grasping each other's fingers.
"I feel like we're walking in front of the firing squad," Edward joked.
I smiled for him, but I didn't say anything because the butterflies in my stomach were making me feel sick and I didn't want to open my mouth.
Edward let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I put both of m arms around his waist. We held tightly to each other, as we walked into the hospital.
The nurses greeted Edward and glared at me. He spoke to them in Italian and I was embarrassed that I found it so sexy that he'd learned Italian.
Aro's office was at the end of a dark corridor. There wasn't much light and I wondered absently why there were no windows and why the lights were so dim.
"This is creepy," I whispered.
"You're telling me," he whispered back. I smiled for him and squeezed his waist.
He knocked on Aro's door.
An elderly voice responded in Italian.
Edward pushed the door open and ushered me in.
"Ah, young Edward, what brings you to my office—and who is this lovely young lady?"
Aro was tall and very old and wrinkly, he ghosted around the edge of his desk and took my free hand into his, place a small kiss on the back of my hand.
"Aro, this is Bella, she's the love of my life," Edward responded, not looking at Aro—just staring into my eyes. I liked how he'd introduced me. Not as his girlfriend, as the love of his life. Love of his life.
I liked the sound of that.
"Ah, Bella it means beautiful," Aro said. He smiled, and I cringed a little. No wonder Alice thought this man was a pedophile or a pervert. His smile sent chills down my spine.
"Actually Aro, we were hoping to talk to you."
"About what?" Aro asked, his dark eyes sweeping between the two of us, "Neither of you has done anything irresponsible I hope."
I blushed instantly. We hadn't even done anything, I felt like it was very rude of this man to assume things about our relationship.
"Well, Aro, actually I wish to request a transfer back to Forks; so I can be closer to my Bella," Edward said coolly.
"Well, Edward, a transfer will not happen. You signed a contract to work at this hospital for four years, and then we can discuss your moving to another location." Aro said, narrowing his eyes and frowning. The deep creases in his face made him look ancient, like one of those old, dry mummies excavated from under the sand in Egypt.
"Then I must inform you that I can no longer work here, Aro," Edward said smoothly.
"Has there been trouble?" Aro asked, his brow furrowing.
"No," Edward replied, "I just want to go back to the States. I miss my family and I wish to be there with them, again."
Aro's eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry, Edward, but I cannot allow you to just quit. It will break your contract."
"I know, Aro, and I'm terribly sorry. But I have to go back home, I don't belong here," Edward said evenly, undaunted by the terrifying man standing in front of us.
"This is an awful decision, Edward. No one will hire you if you've given up," Aro threatened, shaking a fist at Edward.
I tried to take a step backwards but Edward held me tightly.
"I don't care if anyone hires me," Edward said, fishing around in his pockets for his hospital ID, he tossed it on Aro's desk. "I really don't care. I want to go back home—spend time with my parents, and one day marry this woman. I'm sorry that I couldn't do this job."
With that Edward held me tighter against his side and pulled me out of the room. Aro shouted after us in Italian and Edward ushered me quickly through the hallways.
He said something in Italian to a nurse at the station near the elevator and then we were safe inside of the elevator, staring at each other both a little mystified by what had just happened.
"I can't believe you just quit your job," I told him.
He laughed and stared at me, "I can't believe I just quit my job, either."
"What are we going to do?" I asked him.
"Well, first I'm going to go get something to eat, and then I'm going to call my parents, and then I'll get myself a ticket back to Seattle, and then we'll live happily ever after." He declared his eyes bright and happy.
The elevator doors slid open and we stepped out, hand-in-hand, ready to face the day. Edward smiled and fished around in his pocket for his phone.
He dialed a number and then put the phone on speaker.
"Hello?" Someone answered.
"Hi, Carlisle," Edward said.
"What's up, son?" Carlisle Cullen asked, he had a very smooth, English accent.
"I'm coming home…Dad," Edward said. The way he said 'dad' made me feel like he didn't call Carlisle 'dad' very often.
"Edward, what did you do?" Carlisle asked after a moment of silence.
"I told Aro I quit. I want to come home," he said, sounding very much like a little boy.
"Good," Carlisle breathed, "I'll try to get you your job back at the hospital."
"Good luck," Edward said, "Aro told me that no one would ever hire me because I broke his contract."
"Forks will hire you," Carlisle said, "the Cullen family is an integral part of the hospital, it would be very hard for them to say 'no' to me."
Edward laughed, "Dad, I'll talk to you later. I've actually got a wonderful visitor here with me."
"Ah, tell Bella 'hello' for us," Carlisle said and the line disconnected.
Edward smiled and pocketed his phone. "So that went better than expected."
"Yes, yes it did." I told him.
"I feel like I can take on the world," he said softly.
"You can," I told him. Because he could.
I love these last couple of chapters. I'm a hopeless romantic so these lovey-dovey chapters always get me. :)
Ok, I've set a goal for this story. I want to get more reviews than Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. 7B47B has about 488 reviews. This has about 430-ish. So let's beat Seven Brides!!
Are you sad to see this story end? I am, I've enjoyed this story and reading people's reactions to it.
