Searching

It had been a week since the attack and two days since Bella and I went to Carlisle and Esme's house. They had a guest room on the ground floor so Bella had more freedom when moving. I had come of my crutches but Bella still needed help walking. When she needed me I was there for her. Eliza and Esme wanted to help with whatever we needed and constantly asked if there was anything they could do. The bruise on Bella's head had gone down massively yet the pain was still there. Sometimes it would get so bad she'd start crying and when Bella cries you know how bad it is. During those times I'd carry Bella to our room and lie with her till she had calmed down. The others leave us alone so as not to make it worse for her. We were both allowed the rest of the term of teaching as there was only a week left until the Christmas break.

I'd decided to get Bella the best Christmas present I could think of this year, after everything we've been through. Which is why I was going to leave Bella's side for the first time in a week. It was lunch and Bella and I were sitting on the couch in the living room finishing up our salads Esme had made for us.

"Do you mind if I go out this afternoon baby? There are some important things I need to do and I need to do them soon. Will you be okay if I go out?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine honey. Esme is here and Carlisle is coming home at two today. You go do what you need to do."

"Thanks baby. I'll be as quick as I can be and then I want to take you out for dinner tonight. Esme knows so she won't make us any dinner and Carlisle will give you some more painkillers to take with you."

"You don't have to take me out to dinner honey."

"Well I'm going to anyway baby. You've been stuck inside for a week. It's about time you get outside."

"I love you honey. Thank you."

"I love you too baby."

I quickly pecked her on the lips and we continued our lunch. Once we'd finished Esme collected our plates and took them into the kitchen.

"I should get going baby. I've got a lot to do. Is there anything you want?"

"Can you get me my shorts and my favourite shirt from our apartment?"

"Which ones your favourite top?"

"Which ones yours?"

"The black one with the blue pattern surrounding the soldier."

"Then you need to get that one."

"Okay baby. Is there anything else you want?"

"Other than you in bed waiting for me, then no; I've got everything I need right here. Thanks honey."

"When we are home you'll get me whenever you want baby. I can't deny you ever baby. I'd probably take you right now if it wasn't for Esme in the other room."

She frowned and looked away so I couldn't see the hurt in her eyes.

"What's wrong baby? What did I say?"

"Why did you say probably?"

"What baby?"

"You said you'd probably take me right now. Why did you say probably?"

"I'm sorry baby. You know I'd definitely have taken you three times so far today. I love you baby and when you woke up with that headache, I would have taken you there and then so you'd forget about the pain but you did all that walking around the house yesterday that I knew your legs were really sore and I didn't want to make it more painful for you. Then when we were in the shower and I was holding you up around your waist and you were there standing in front of me, looking up at me through your lashes. You know what that does to me baby. And then when your headache got worse this morning, and I was kissing behind your bruise and you moaned that cute little moan I love. I nearly took you then and there. You have no idea how you tempt me baby. One day I'll have you walking around with no clothes on so I can pleasure you whenever I feel you need it. You will be amazed by how I'll make you feel. Then when we go to bed I'll you'll feel so good, you won't be able to talk or walk straight for days. Just you wait and see."

A small moan came from her lips as I lowered my lips to her neck as I sucked the tender flesh. Her hands wound into my hair, as I moved up to her ear and back down to her neck. My hands slipped under her top to her stomach. There was a slight bump to her now as our baby was growing. She loved every minute my hands spent on her stomach as she said it felt beyond words. I kissed up to her ear and sucked on the tender spot behind it, soothing it from any pain she may have.

"I love you baby. Never forget that."

"I love you too Edward. Forever."

"I'll give you forever baby, if you always stay in my arms."

"I'll never leave."

I pulled her lips to mine, tracing her bottom lip with my tongue. She allowed me access to her mouth as she pulled me closer to her.

"I've got to go baby. The sooner I go the sooner I can come back."

"Okay."

She breathed into my face as she untangled her hands from my hair, combing through it with her fingers in an attempt to calm it down.

"I love you baby; so, so much."

I crushed my lips back to hers in another searing kiss before climbing of her.

"If you need me baby, give me a ring. I'll come home as soon as you need me."

"But you have important things to do Edward. Don't come back till you've finished honey."

"Nothing is more important than you baby. If you need anything, anything at all, please call me baby. If you don't Esme will anyway, but I'd rather you called, it shows me you know when you need me. It doesn't matter if you feel weak or in need of help because I can tell you now that you will never, never be weak to me. You will always be the strongest person I've ever met. I love you my wife. My wife."

"Thank you Edward. I love you too my husband."

My lips caught hers up in a slow gentle kiss that portrayed my love for her. I went to deepen the kiss but she pulled back.

"You'll never leave if you continue that."

I climbed over the couch arm and on top of Bella as she moved back to the other side.

"It can wait till tomorrow."

Catching her lips in another kiss, I placed both my hands over her stomach, rubbing gentle patterns with my palms.

"No honey. You should go. You haven't been outside for a week as well honey. Go get some fresh air and do what you need to. Find a nice dress for me from home that you want me to wear tonight. You still owe me some time alone and I plan on using my time well honey."

"I'll find something good baby. See you later."

I pecked her lips quickly before getting carried away.

"See you later honey."

"Take care baby."

"I'll be fine."

"Of course you will baby, but I'll always worry about you baby. It's in my nature."

"As it is in mine. I love you."

"I love you too baby."

I leaned down and pecked her lips one final time before kissing her baby bump.

"Bye my baby."

Climbing off her, I saw a large smile covering her face.

"Bye baby."

I went into the kitchen and found my bag and shoes waiting by the side door.

"Thanks Mom."

"No problem son. You and Bella are very cute together."

"She's my life. Is it alright if Bella and I go to a hotel tonight? She may be tired after dinner and it may be better if I can get her somewhere comfortable to sleep as soon as possible."

"That's perfectly fine son. If you want some time alone with Bella, just say so. You haven't had much time together alone recently, after taking in Eliza and Olly then going into hospital. Go have a nice evening together."

"Thanks mom. I'll be off now."

"What is it you are doing son?"

"I need to get some things from our apartment and then I'm going to start Christmas shopping for Bella. There's something important I'm looking for but it may take a while."

"Good luck then son. I'll see you soon."

"Take care of Bella for me and ring if her head starts hurting again, no matter how bad."

"Don't worry Edward. Everything will be fine. Stay safe."

"Will do. Bye mom."

"Bye son."

I left the house quickly and was hit with an icy wind. I can't wait till we go to Isle Bella and bask in the sun. Jumping in the Bugatti, I turned the heating up and drove down the long winding drive. After a quick stop home and picking up some clothes for the evening and tomorrow, I drove to the only estate agents in Forks.

I walked into the warm office and saw a board of houses for sale.

"Good afternoon Edward. How can I help?"

"Afternoon Holly. Hopefully you can help me find a house."

"Well you've come to the right place. There are eight houses on sale in Forks at the moment and a few more in Port Angelus if you can't find what you are looking for here. Take a seat over there and I'll be grab the files so you can take a look."

"Thanks Holly."

I sat down where she had pointed to as she went into a back room.

"To start with, what price range were you looking in?"

"Any. There's no limit to the price. If the home I like is the most expensive, I'll spend the money."

"That's a good starting point. Do you want to look at each house in Forks or narrow the options down a little more so you only have a couple to look at?"

"I was looking for a house with four bedrooms. Three is the bear minimum that I'm looking at."

"Well that gets rid of these two."

She dropped two files onto the floor by her chair.

"Any other properties that you are looking for?"

"A large garden."

"Another two gone."

She dropped two more files on the floor.

"So I think if we start looking through the first and if you see anything that doesn't meet your list of wants, let me know and I'll put it to the side and we can always come back to it."

"Okay."

"Which do you want to look at first?"

"Let's go for the one closest to my apartment."

"Okay. I think this is it."

She pulled the third file out and opened it up. A picture of a familiar house was placed on top of the pile. It was one of those standard houses that you see in rows on most streets.

"So this house is three bedrooms, but it has a large lawn. It's down the road from your apartment now and hasn't been owned by anyone for over a year so may need some fixing up."

We went through the file slowly as she described each room and the positives of the house. It was a decent house but I wanted somewhere that immediately felt like home.

"So that was the first house. How did you like it?"

"It is a good house, lots of space downstairs and a big area outside."

"But?"

"It just doesn't feel right, you know? I want a house that feels like a home straight away, not a just another house."

"That's understandable. I'll put it to the side for now in case you change your mind. I think you'll like the next house a bit more but that's up to you. It's a new house. It was built for a family of six that were actually going to move in next week but they've decided to live somewhere else. It is a good ten minute drive from your apartment but it is a little more secluded resulting in a large space outside surrounding the house on all four sides. It's away from the roads as it has a long drive way surrounded by trees, so it will be nice and quiet. There are actually six bedrooms three on the first floor two on the top and one in the basement. Don't worry the basement is actually a very bright with plenty of room and an en suite. The master bedroom is on the top floor and has a large en suite almost the same size as the actual bedroom. Other than that there is a bathroom on each floor. The ground floor has a large open kitchen dining and living room. It's basically one large room in the shape of L. A glass staircase is in the middle of the house going from top to bottom of the house. We have several pictures here of the different rooms. Some are fully furnished, others aren't."

I looked at the first picture to see a very modern house with one huge glass wall only broken up by a door wooden door frame, that had a large glass window in it. It was a home. The home that felt right. Looking through the rest of the pictures I saw what she meant by it being a large spacious house. The pictures of the basement proved that it was a nice place. The stairs led straight into an open bedroom with a carpeted floor and light blue walls. It was one of the only fully furnished rooms of the house. A large double bed lay in the middle of the far wall with a TV mounted on the opposite wall above a wooden desk. The only room not furnished at all was the was the master bedroom on the top floor. All the bathrooms were fully furnished as was the kitchen and the rest of the rooms had bits and pieces. The en suite for the master was amazing. When Holly had said it was almost the same size as the bedroom she wasn't lying. It was huge. There was a large bath against the wall talking up a good size of the room. A shower stood in the opposite corner of the room, a door that I assumed led to a toilet next to it. Along the back wall was a counter with a long round mirror and lots of shelves.

"It is an expensive house but because it is not fully furnished it cannot be sold for the price requested by the family selling it. If you wish to by this house it won't take long to carry out the transaction and it will be yours. But the first question is how do you feel about it?"

"It's an amazing house and there is something about it. It's not exactly what I had in mind appearance wise but I think this could be the one."

"If I show you some pictures of the other two houses would that help your decision?"

"Yeah. If I don't see what I was looking for I think I'll be going for this one."

"So here is the first. It's very much like the first however it is a semi-detached house and has a smaller lawn. What do you think?"

"No. It's not got that homey sort of feel to it."

"Okay. Here's the last. It is an older house that was once owned by the thirtieth president so is actually the most expensive house out of the lot. It's a detached house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms."

"I like it."

"But?"

"I don't know. Don't get me wrong it has that homey feel to it, but there just seems like something missing to it."

"I know exactly what you mean. I had the same feeling buying my first house. So do you want to schedule a meeting for in a few days when you've talked to your wife about this?"

"No, that's alright. I'll pay for it now."

"Are you not going to ask Bella?"

"No. I want it to be a surprise for Christmas. She needs something special this year."

"That's so sweet. You two are meant for each other you know. Ever since Bella came back to Forks all those years ago and met you, it's been obvious you were meant for each other."

"Thanks Holly."

"No problem. Let me get the papers and we can close this deal up then. The house can be yours within the hour if we can find that right price."

"That sounds great."

She took the all the files but one back into the small room behind the desk and she came back out with a smaller folder and clipboard.

"So to start with you need to fill out this form with your details and Bella's that we keep in case we need to contact you and just as a record that you have bought a house from us."

"Okay then."

I quickly filled the two sheets out with our details before passing it back over.

"Then we need to sort out the matter of your apartment. I know you don't own that but your contract states that you have to keep paying for it for another six months. If you were to pass it onto us we would keep paying for it but part of the price would be added onto the price of your new house. Or the alternative is that you keep it until the six months is up and decided where to go from there."

"I think we'll keep it for now. I have some ideas for it but I'm not sure how it will work until I've discussed with Bella."

"That's quiet alright. So now all we need to do is work through this folder and come up with a reasonable price."

As we went through the folder she explained different parts of the contract whilst I signed the boxes she pointed at.

"Now, for the numbers. I don't know what you want to do, but you can rent the house for no less than five years for $4,250 a month which would total $255,000 or you can buy the house for $525,000 and be the proud new owners of the house."

"I'll be buying it. It's a house that feels like a home and I think we'll get a lot of use out of it. I think it will be the first and only house we buy."

"Well that's good. All you have to do now is sign on these three lines, get Bella to sign that one and fill this sheet out with your bank details and the house is yours."

"You sure it doesn't take longer?"

"There are a few other sheets that I'm supposed to fill in but I can do them when you are done. There isn't much going on today."

"Okay then. If I were to sign Bella's name exactly the same way as her would that count."

"As long as it is at least recognisable as hers I'll accept it, only because she can't know about it. But you don't tell anyone about this. Got it Edward?"

"Of course. I won't tell anyone."

Once all the papers had been filled I turned to leave after thanking Holly massively for her help. I had just climbed into the car when my phone started ringing. Without checking who it was I picked it up.

"Hello Edward Cullen."

"Edward you need to get home. Bella's heads really hurting her. She's in a lot of pain and when I say a lot I mean a lot. She was going to ring you but it got worse so suddenly that she couldn't type the numbers in. She needs you son."

"I'm on my way mom. I should be there in ten minutes, five if I drive quick."

"See you soon son."

I started the engine and peeled onto the road, dodging the small bits of traffic. Thankfully there I wasn't stopped by the police and made it home in five minutes. I ran up the steps and was met by Esme who was crying.

"Come on son. She needs you. Carlisle's been trying to calm her for a while now but hasn't gotten anywhere. He gave her some morphine that should have knocked her out but the pain seems to be preventing that."

"Thanks mom."

I ran down the hall and swung the guest room door open to see Bella curled up on the bed, clutching her head as Carlisle injected some morphine into her. He looked up at me and gave me a worried look. Striding over to Bella, I scooped her up into my arms as Carlisle took the needle from her arm.

"It's okay baby. I've got you. Let's lie you down and try to get the pain settled."

I lay us on the bed and saw Carlisle had left the room closing the door behind him. I also noticed the morphine shot he left on the table that I was to use if need be. My fingers went to the back of her head as I kissed Bella's forehead, pulling her close to me.

"I'm so sorry baby."

"It hurts, it hurts so bad."

"I know baby. I know. It will all get better soon baby. I'm here for you love. I'm here."

"Edward, it hurts. It really hurts."

I hated seeing her in any pain but this, this was really hard. My fingers gently traced circles behind her ear as I kissed her cheek over and over again.

"I'm really sorry baby, I should have been here for you love, but I'm here now baby. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere baby. I've got you."

I kissed down her jaw and under her chin, kissing back up the other side of her jaw to the ear that was worse. I sucked on her lobe and licked behind her ear feeling a slight swelling.

"I didn't think it was this bad baby. Let me help you baby."

"It hurts, it hurts so much. Please make it stop."

"I'll try baby. I'll try."

I turned her head to the side and saw that behind her ear was a large swell. Placing a gentle kiss on it, I traced around it with the tip of my tongue and sucked on the tender skin. My hands moved to her stomach rubbing circles deep into her skin. Once her breathing had calmed down slightly, her fingers lightly grasped my shirt. I kissed down the side of her neck and along her shoulder before going back up to her ear.

"You feeling better baby? Has the pain stopped a bit?"

"A bit. Stills hurts bad. Just not so bad."

"Let me try and help with that baby. Tell me when you feel better."

I kissed my way around her ear until I reached the swelling once more. Slowly, I kissed the bruise, flicking my tongue out and softening the tender flesh. One hand moved down her thigh caressing the bare skin and cupped the back of her knee. Pulling it up, I hooked it around my waist, running my fingers in the crook of her knee. She let out a little breathy laugh.

"See baby. I know exactly how to make you feel better. All because I love you baby."

"Love … too"

"What baby? I didn't quite catch that."

I sucked harder on her swelling eliciting a long moan from her lips. I loved how I could get such a reaction from her. Kissing her swell, I travelled down her neck to her collar bone where I resumed sucking on it. Bella's hands moved up to my top button of my shirt. Franticly, she tried to undo the buttons of my shirt.

"Baby, just relax and let make you feel good. You don't need to do anything baby."

"But I want to. I need to."

"Okay baby. Do what you want, not what you think I want. All I want is for you to feel good baby."

Her hands slowed as she carefully undid each button whilst I sucked on the tender flesh in the nape of her neck. When she had the buttons undone she went to push it done my arms.

"Wait a minute baby. Let me make sure you're alright."

I kissed my way up to behind her ear and moved my hands from her head. Sucking on the bruise I moved my arms away from us.

"Now you can baby. You're perfectly safe now."

She pulled the shirt from my arms and threw it across the room, her hands roaming my chest. Her ring finger traced a circle around my old war scare sending a shiver through my spine. Consequently, she started kissing and sucking my shoulder as I continued on her ear. She grew weaker and weaker as her movements slowed and she lowered to the bed, despite her trying to grasp onto me to hold her up.

"It's okay baby. Get some sleep. Don't forget we're going out tonight. It's only half three. I'll wake you up in three hours but for now get some rest baby."

"I love you Edward. You are my life."

"And you are mine. I love you Bella. Get some sleep."

"Stay with me."

"Always baby. Always."

Laying down next to her, my fingers went back to her head as she snuggled into my chest.

"Do you want some morphine baby?"

"No. You're my morphine. I'll be fine."

"Okay baby."