Chapter 29: Bella's choice
Emmett was sitting in the hospital waiting room, bouncing is knee nervously. There was no news on Bella's condition and he was a mess. "Please let Bella be okay…please…" he whispered as he kept his head in his hands.
In ICU, the doctors were rushing to get Bella's body temperature back to normal. "Heart rate is dropping," a nurse called out.
"Blood pressure is low," another nurse answered.
Bella was floating, she felt like she was floating on a cloud. Opening her eyes, she looked around to see that she was in a house. Frowning, she looked around. "Hello?" she called out. This was far from what she was expecting when she was close to death.
"Hello, Bella," a voice greeted behind her.
Freezing, she recognized that voice, she knew it all too well. Turning around slowly, she saw Edward standing there and let out a gasp. "Edward!" she exclaimed. Running over to him, she threw her arms tightly around him. Edward hugged her back, kissing the side of her head.
"Oh, Bella…" he whispered, rubbing her back.
Setting her down on the floor, Bella reached up and placed her hands on his face. "You're real!" she gasped. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"Of course I'm real, love, why wouldn't I be?" he asked with a half-smirk.
She held onto his hands with tears in her eyes. It was then she noticed that everything he was wearing was the same as it was when he was killed. "Is this a dream?" she asked quietly.
"Not exactly," he replied.
She bit her lower lip as she looked around the room. "Where are we?" she asked. Holding her hand, he let out a deep breath.
"We're in what would've been our home in Chicago," he replied softly.
Turning around, she looked at him. "Chicago?" she asked.
"It was going to be a surprise," he replied.
The two of them were silent for a little bit. "Edward…if I'm not dreaming…am I dead?" she asked quietly.
"No…you're more in between," he replied.
The two of them sat down in the middle of the living room floor and she pushed another strand of hair out of her face. "Why are we here then?" she asked.
"Because I'm here to tell you to keep fighting," he replied.
The young woman stared at the floor and let out a deep breath. "Edward…it's so hard to fight though, it's just too hard," she murmured.
"I know it is," he answered.
Swallowing hard, she lifted her eyes, looking at him. "I have no fight left in me…" she whispered.
Back in the waiting room, Emmett looked up when the doors opened and the doctor came out. "Is she okay?" Charlie asked as the two of them stood up. The man let out a deep breath.
"I wish it was good news, Bella has suffered a lot of trauma. She suffered a massive concussion and she was in the advanced stages of hyperthermia," the doctor explained.
"She will be okay right? Please tell me she's going to make it," Emmett answered.
The doctor could only frown. "I'm doing the best I can, the only thing we can do is hope," he told the two men. He looked at them apologetically and the young man took two steps back feeling his whole world begin to crumble around him. Bella, his Bella, she was probably dying and there was nothing he could to stop it. Charlie spun around when he heard the wall crack and saw Emmett standing there with his fist in the wall.
"Emmett!" he called to the young man, grabbing his shoulder.
"I was too late, I was too damn late!" Emmett exclaimed.
He let out shaky breaths as he tried to keep himself together, but it was the hardest thing he could ever do. "Emmett, listen to me," Charlie insisted, "Bella needs you, she might not be able to hear you but dammit I haven't seen my daughter's smile in a long time before she met you."
"I'm supposed to protect her, I promised you I would," Emmett answered, "I should kill that son of a bitch!"
"No, you need to be strong here, for Bella, for Eli, and Dana. They need you," Charlie insisted.
Emmett swallowed hard and saw the misty look in Charlie's eyes as he spoke. "I have to go down to the police station, call me the minute she wakes up," he added before leaving. Emmett watched as he left and went down the hall towards Bella's room.
Walking in, he felt his stomach twist at the sight in front of him. His beloved Bella was lying in a hospital bed wrapped in what looked like ten blankets, she had an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, her skin was so white it almost matched the walls, and she had needles stuck in her arms and machines surrounding her. Making his way over to the side of her bed, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cool skin. "Bella…please…can you hear me?" he whispered, stroking her cheek with his thumb, "Please give me a sign that you can hear me."
Bella was staring at Edward as they sat in the middle of the floor. "What happens to me now?" she asked quietly.
"Are you truly thinking of giving up?" Edward asked.
"I am too tired to fight anymore, it is a fight I can't seem to win," she answered.
Shaking his head slowly, Edward let out a deep breath. "Because I'm not there?" he asked. The young woman fell silent, her eyes downcast towards the floor. "That's not fair, Bella, not fair to our son or yourself," he replied.
"Eli is probably better off with a more stable person than a mother who keeps getting him into trouble," she murmured.
"You've been a wonderful mother, Eli and Dana adore you," he answered.
Feeling her heart break, she lifted her head to look at him. "Our time together was taken from us, it's not fair," she told him. Sighing, he moved to sit beside her and rested his hand over hers.
"Bella, I hate to be the one to put it this way, but…life isn't fair sometimes. Life is cruel and sometimes it plays mean tricks that throws you off course just when you feel like you have everything figured out," he told her.
She bit her lower lip and he pushed her bangs from her eyes. "But not all life is bad, there is good in it. You have part of me, you have a son who loves you more than anything in this world. Right now that little boy is sitting at home wondering where his mama is," he added.
"But he doesn't ask about you," she replied.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Eli never asks where his daddy s," she added.
"That's because he has Emmett, who has been there for the moments I can't be," he replied.
Swallowing against the hard lump in her throat, she pulled her knees up to her chest and Edward moved so he was in front of her and moved his hands along her shins. "Bella…you have someone who wants to love you," he told her. He moved his thumbs into circles over her legs. "Emmett loves you, the man has gone crazy trying to find you," he added.
Suddenly, the mention of Emmett's name made her heart constrict and Edward nodded his head slowly when he saw the look on her face. "It's okay to love him," he whispered.
"How is it okay to love another man when I'm married to you?" she asked.
"Because I love you enough to let you find happiness in your life," he replied.
Edward reached up and stroked her cheek. "You are allowed to love this man, he loves you. He probably loves you as much as I do," he told her. Standing up, he helped her up and walked her towards the front door. "Let me show you something," he murmured.
Opening the door, he stepped through and had Bella go with him. Instead of entering Chicago's busy streets, they were in a hospital room. Bella was looking at herself in the hospital bed. She almost couldn't recognize herself lying in the hospital bed. Beside her bed was Emmett, sleeping, his head was beside her with his hands gripping hers. "You have been unconscious for a week now," he told her.
"A week?" Bella asked stunned.
Edward nodded his head slowly. "Emmett hasn't left, barely eats, and barely sleeps," he told her as he stood on the other side of the hospital bed. Bella stared at herself, feeling sick to see herself this way. She looked at the heart monitor to see it beating slowly, too slowly for her liking. "The doctors have been trying to get Emmett to leave, but he won't," he added. Biting her lower lip, she reached out to try to touch him, but instead of her hand went straight through.
"Do I have a choice?" she asked, looking at Edward.
Edward was leaning against the wall. "You always have a choice, you can either stay….or come with me," he replied. She stared him, to see him staring at her unconscious form.
"You don't want me to come…" she said quietly.
Lifting his head, he let out a deep breath. "It's not that I don't want you to come, it'd be selfish of me to want you to come," he replied, "To cheat you out on a life that I know you'll have with Emmett just to spend eternity with you? That's too selfish for me." Bella continued to stare at Emmett's sleeping form.
"I'll have a life with him?" she asked.
"Yes, a happy one at that," he replied.
"Really?" she asked.
Edward couldn't help but chuckle to see the look in her eyes at the idea of being happy with Emmett. "Yes, truly happy, I can't tell you that bit, that's for you to find out if you stay," he replied. Suddenly, she looked back at up him..
"What would happen to him if I chose to go?" she asked.
Edward was silent for a minute. "Emmett will go on…he'll marry Rosalie, but all they'll have is a marriage, nothing else. She'll raise Eli and Dana, be a good mom to both of them. Emmett will be a great father, love them as a father would love his children, but he wouldn't be truly happy. All he would be able to think about is you, how much he loves you, how he blames himself that you died," he replied.
"But it wouldn't be his fault," she insisted.
"You think Emmett would see it that way?" he asked.
The silence was almost deafening and Edward made his way over to Bella. "I will be over there…" he told her gesturing to the door behind her, "Come in if you want to go, I'll know if you decide to stay." Bella bit her lower lip as she watched as Edward went back towards the door they went through. She looked where her husband went and looked back where Emmett slept. Letting out a deep breath, she made her way towards the door and gripped the doorknob, but then she once again looked back towards Emmett's sleeping form.
Emmett was asleep, even in the uncomfortable position of sleeping with his head by Bella, he refused to move. Suddenly, he woke up to the feeling of someone touching his face. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see Bella staring at him. "Bella!" he gasped standing up. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, holding onto her. "Baby I knew you'd come back," he told her, hugging her gently. Grabbing the call button, he called for a nurse when Bella gripped his hand tightly. Looking back at her, her brown eyes locked with his blue eyes.
"I…love…you," she whispered.
Feeling his heart soar, he pulled Bella into an embrace without dislodging any of the needles or machines that she was attached to. "I love you too baby, I love you too," he answered, holding her close to him.
