What Happens In Vegas
Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight. I own this. Refer to the disclaimers in the other 33 chapters if you are confused, please.
A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Anyone that follows me on Twitter knows that I am under the weather and my husband made me go to bed at 9:00 last night. I can't believe I slept for nine hours!
Thank you to Riss-uscmam for pre-reading this and to lolafalana for being an awesome beta! You guys make me a better writer and I appreciate you all every day! See the end for more A/N.
Chapter 34: Taking Care
BPOV
"Is that what I think it is?" Edward managed to stutter out as he crossed the room slowly. His arm was outstretched, reaching for the DVD in my hand.
"It was in the bag from the wedding chapel," I answered. "I remember seeing it that morning in Vegas now, but I had completely forgotten about it."
"I'm not sure I ever saw it," he confessed. "After you left, I shoved it into my bag and never went through it, except to lay out some of your flowers." I handed him the movie and he ran his fingers lightly over the cover.
We both stared at the innocent looking disc as if it held some secret meaning, but I was still unsure about what to do next. Edward's thoughts seemed to be going in the same direction as mine.
"Do you . . . do you want to watch this tonight? Or would you rather wait until you're feeling better?"
"Why, Dr. Cullen! Just what are you implying? Are you thinking that watching this video might cause a visceral reaction?" I teased.
"Um, yeah, that is exactly what I expect," he laughed. "Hell, Bella, I get hard watching you wash dishes. What do you think is going to happen when I watch a video of our wedding?"
I couldn't help the giggle that escaped, and it set off laughter from both of us that had me clutching Edward for support.
"Let's take it back with us, then," I suggested with a wiggle of my eyebrows.
Edward just rolled his eyes. "You, woman, are a tease. Can I have my suitcase now? And why is this other one in the floor?"
I told him to stuff the rest of the dirty laundry in the one suitcase while he packed the other. He did complain a bit about me washing his clothes while I should be recuperating, but we compromised with the promise that I would let him fold and hang.
While he loaded the car, I looked around the place and mentally tried to imagine my things here again, and when I couldn't see it, I tried to see his things in my apartment. That didn't work so well either. I was going to have to work on the mental strain showing on my face because Edward questioned it as soon as he came back upstairs.
"I'm just looking around," I responded vaguely.
Edward pulled my back into his chest and rested his chin on the top of my head. "And what do you see?"
"I see your apartment. I see a place that is distinctly Edward. It's all so grandiose, larger than life. I love the clean lines and the simplicity of the decorating."
"But do you see Bella here?" he asked softly.
"I don't know. Maybe because I've spent so little time here I'm having a hard time imagining it. There just isn't anything here yet that holds memories like that."
Edward shifted his head down to look at me with one eyebrow quirked. "This is the first place we made love and that isn't memorable?"
I smacked his arm. "That's not what I meant! Your bed and what you can do in it is very memorable! I mean that there are no pictures of us to remind me of a fun afternoon. There are no chotchkies on the shelves from trips. What do you see?"
"Honestly? I see a lonely apartment. I told you before that I liked your apartment better. It's full of life, but maybe that is just because you are there."
I twisted in his arms and rested my head on his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist. He held me tightly and placed a tender kiss on the top of my head. I paused to gather my thoughts. We had been married for almost two months and we had only just reconciled this week. But I felt like I had made my choices—we had made our choice—and now I was ready to start living that life. "Is this where you want to stay, to raise our family?" I asked quietly.
Edward's voice was pensive as he replied. "Wherever you are is where I want to be. And really, this has been a great place to be a single man. I don't think it is the ideal place to raise a family though. There's no backyard and it's not really kid-friendly." He took a deep breath. "We don't have to move right away, but eventually, I would like to get a house."
"I'd like that," I murmured into his chest.
"Good. Now, let's get you home and watch that movie," Edward said. His voice was uplifted, happier than it had been for the last little while.
I thought more about our living arrangements as we rode the elevator down. It was all well and good to say that one day we wanted to buy a house, but the reality was that we both still had our own apartments. If we were really going to do this, one of them would have to go.
"Edward," I said suddenly into the quiet of the car. "How long do you have left on your lease?"
"What?" My outburst had caught him off-guard.
"Your lease. How long do you have left? I think I have about six more months on mine."
"Um," he stumbled, "uh, I don't have a lease."
"Oh, you're on month to month?" This seemed easier and easier.
"Not exactly." Edward paused and glanced over at me warily. "I, uh, bought the place shortly after I moved in."
I stared at him, dumbstruck. I wasn't sure what to do with this information. He had already said that he liked my apartment better, but if he already owned his . . .
"It was a good investment," he hastened to defend when I didn't respond.
I shook my head to clear it. "I'm sure it was. I just didn't expect it, that's all. Do you want me to check with my landlord about terminating early?"
"Why would you do that? It might take us some time to find a house," he reasoned.
"Why would we pay rent on my apartment and the mortgage on yours? If you already own yours, it doesn't make sense to keep paying the rent on mine."
"We sell the one and stay in the other until we find a house," he responded logically.
"Edward, I can't ask you to sell your apartment."
"And you aren't. We are discussing selling our apartment on the other side of town. We both feel more at home where we are. If we are going to buy a house, we will have to sell it anyway and it will be easier to move quickly from a rented apartment than from the one we have to sell," he pointed out.
"But the market," I tried to protest.
"Bella, if you would prefer, we can look into renting it out," he suggested.
"Edward, whatever you want to do is fine. It's your apartment. It just seemed silly to me to pay for both," I said, backpedaling because this conversation was not going where I expected it to.
Edward shifted the car into park and I realized that we had made it home. "No, Bella, it is our apartment. I've done enough decision-making for us on my own and I'm not going there again. We don't have to make this decision tonight, but if you want the clarity on where I stand, here it is. I will live wherever you are. For now, I would prefer that to be here, but if you want to move back across town, I'll pack us up and move us there. If you want to buy a house, I'll call the realtor tomorrow. As long as I'm with you, I don't really care where we are."
"Okay," I replied in a small voice.
"Okay?" he asked with a smirk.
"Okay. We'll figure it out together." I smiled and was rewarded with Edward's crooked grin. He leaned over and kissed me softly.
"Let's get you upstairs," he said softly against my lips before he pulled away and got out of the car. He had my door open and was pulling me up before I could regroup. Edward grabbed one of the bags he had packed and helped me up to the apartment. While I went back to the bedroom to change and take a little of my medication, Edward unloaded the car.
"Baby," he called as he shut the door, "is there somewhere in particular that you want this stuff?"
"Put the dirty clothes near the washer and dryer. Other than that, wherever you want," I called back. It occurred to me that I would need to clean out some space in the dresser and the closet for Edward's clothes and I vowed to myself that I would take care of that the next day while he was at work.
I turned to hobble back into the living room and almost ran into Edward standing in the doorway, watching me. He held out his hand to me and pulled me towards him. With a chuckle, he swung me up and carried me back to the living room where the DVD we had discovered was already on pause.
"So, should we have popcorn with this?" Edward asked with a devilish look in his eye.
"Oh, just sit down and watch it!" I laughed.
He collapsed next to me on the couch and bounced into me. We playfully shoved each other around for a minute and then I cuddled into his arms and he grabbed up the remote.
As soon as the words "Cullen-Swan Wedding" appeared on the screen, I was entranced. The videographer had taken some footage of us both getting ready and focused on Edward's face as I walked down the aisle toward him. If I hadn't just seen him in a tuxedo a few weeks before, I would have mourned the fact that I couldn't remember this sight. Even as intoxicated as I knew we had been, he was heartbreakingly beautiful. The smile never left his face as we said our vows and he looked so very happy when the man pronounced us man and wife. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that the two people in the video were very much in love.
"God, you're beautiful," Edward breathed. I did a double take and refocused on the screen. I had been watching him so intently, I had barely spared a glance for myself.
I really did look pretty. The dress I had chosen was a strapless white gown with a fitted, beaded bodice. My hair was partially pulled up and wavy. What struck me, though, was the beaming smile on my face. It nearly matched the happiness in Edward's.
"We look so happy," I murmured.
"You know, it was one of the happiest days of my life," Edward said, poking me in the side.
"How do you know?" I teased back. "You don't remember it either!"
"I don't need to, to know that making you my wife was one of the best things I've ever done," he replied sweetly while pressing his lips to my neck.
"Oh, flattery will get you everywhere, Dr. Cullen."
"Mmm, I hope so Mrs. Cullen."
I paused as I heard my name. It must have been for longer than I thought, because Edward shifted me around so that I could face him and asked me what was wrong.
"Nothing is wrong," I qualified. "It's just . . . so much to think about."
He looked confused so I struggled to explain myself.
"I've had moments where I've considered, at least theoretically, that we are married over the past few weeks. It just hasn't really seemed real because we were both holding back so much. But now, it does seem more real and hearing you call me Mrs. Cullen kind of brought that home."
"I didn't mean to assume that you would take my name. I know we talked about it before and you've always insisted that you are still a Swan, but—"
I cut him off with a kiss. "I like being Mrs. Cullen," I whispered against his lips. He pulled me close in his strong arms and I felt my body being rearranged carefully. It wasn't long before I was lying down and he was hovering over me, our lips still connected. I tried to move my legs around him but the weight of the cast brought back the reminder of my injuries and my excitement deflated.
"How long until I can get this stupid thing off?" I groaned.
"Next week, baby," Edward assured me. He lifted off me and sat back on his knees. He tried to cover it up, but a yawn escaped.
"What time do you have to go in tomorrow?"
"Noon. Why?"
"You're tired and you need some rest. You haven't gotten much in the last week," I scolded.
"Now, why would that be?" he teased me. "Seriously, I'm fine. Did you want to watch another movie?"
"Nah, I want to go to bed. The medicine makes me tired," I explained. He nodded and helped me off the couch. I stood and waited for him while he turned off the movie and made sure the door was locked. When he was satisfied the apartment was secure, he picked me up and carried me back to the bedroom. We stood side by side in the bathroom, completing our ablutions, and sneaking peeks at each other.
I hopped to the bed and crawled in, waiting for Edward to join me. When he finally had our phones plugged in and the lights shut off, he slid underneath the covers and wrapped me in his arms.
"What time is it?" he asked through a yawn.
I glanced over at the clock and giggled lightly. "It's only 10:30."
"We're quite the old married couple, aren't we? Going to bed so early on a Friday night," he chuckled.
I laughed and kissed his bare chest. "You know, I can think of better things to do in bed on a Friday night, old man."
"And just what do you have in mind, my dear?" he asked. I could hear the skepticism in his voice and my previous fears pushed to the surface.
"Nothing. You're tired and you should get some sleep," I muttered.
Edward stiffened and lifted my chin with his finger. "Don't do that. Where did you go, Bella?"
"I'm right here!" I defended, perhaps a little too forcefully.
I could just see his raised eyebrow in the light from the window and he held my gaze. I curled in on myself under his scrutiny.
"Bella, you do understand why we should be refraining, right?" he pressed.
"Yeah, yeah. I need to heal. We don't want to permanently damage me." I cringed at the sarcasm and knew that I sounded whiny.
"You do need to heal," he said kindly, ignoring my childishness. "The attack was a major trauma, but that is not all. The miscarriage will take time to heal from and I don't want to rush that. One of these days, I want little Cullens running around this house and a little pleasure now really isn't worth ruining that. It's more than that," he continued, cutting off the protests that were trying to fall from my lips. "Think about your legs for me. One of them is in a cast and the other has a patch of stitches across the top and moving down the inside of your thigh." He pulled his mouth to my ear and dropped his voice. It was now husky and deep.
"When you come, your legs clench around me and pull me closer to you. I could lick your delicious pussy and risk a concussion from the cast, which I am more than willing to do, but I want more, and more would just hurt us both. Baby, I want to feel your heat around my cock more than you can imagine, but I'm willing to wait so that we don't have to hold back."
I shivered at his words and burrowed deeper into his body. I knew that he was right but I wanted to feel the closeness our intimacy offered.
"I need . . ." I trailed off, not knowing how to articulate what I really needed to feel and say.
"Tell me, angel. What do you need?" he whispered.
"You. I need you. I need to feel close to you," I begged.
Edward groaned and the sound lit me on fire. "How can I give you that?"
"Touch me," I begged.
Edward threw his head back and his hand snaked underneath the waistband of my panties. He was angled carefully to avoid my injuries, but his stroking within the confines of my clothes was even better than I anticipated. Without much room to move, he changed his usual strategy and curled his fingers inside of me instead of thrusting. The pressure was incredible and I moved my hips in time with his ministrations. He ducked his head to my chest and captured one of my nipples in his mouth. The internal massage and the suckling did me in and I came with a cry.
Edward pulled me close to him and held me as I recovered. My breathing slowed and I became aware that I was not the only one turned on. Edward's erection was rigid against my thigh and I started devising ways to give him pleasure. I knew that I couldn't kneel between his legs, but there were other positions available.
I scooted out of Edward's arms and propped myself up on the pillows. Edward looked a little hurt but I motioned to him with my finger. "Come here and kneel next to me," I ordered.
He was still confounded but complied. This was perfect. His cloth covered cock was aligned perfectly with my face. I reached out and slid my fingers underneath the elastic and Edward's eyes widened.
"Baby, you don't have to," he breathed. I laughed under my breath. He was trying so hard to let me know that I didn't have to reciprocate but he really didn't want to discourage me from my current plan of action.
"I know. I want to," I replied simply. Instead of further discussion, I pulled his boxer briefs down his legs and licked up the shaft of his dick. Before he could register what I was doing, I took all of him in my mouth.
I watched his face while I worked his cock with my mouth. Every time he would open his eyes and catch me staring, he would groan and close them. After the second time, he wound his fingers in my hair, slightly pulling and used his hand and his hips to set the pace. When he opened his eyes again, they were burning with green fire. I hummed in happiness and his thrusts became a little more erratic. I scraped my teeth gently against him when I pulled out again and Edward started mumbling incoherently. It wasn't much longer before he was warning me and trying to pull my head away. I just took him in as far as I could and I felt him spasm against the back of my throat.
Edward just knelt there, one hand still entwined in my hair and the other bracing him against the headboard. The contentment on his face was worth the bad taste in my mouth any day. When he finally disentangled himself, he pulled his boxers back up roughly, lay down on the bed and pulled me into his arms.
"Was that good for you?" I asked with a smile and a small laugh.
"Uh, yeah," he answered as if that was the dumbest question in the world. "I'm torn between wanting to know where you learned to do that so I could thank them and wanting to beat someone's head in for knowing what that feels like. That was incredible. Thank you, baby."
"Any time," I mumbled. I burrowed into his bare shoulder and settled myself in for the night. It was hard to get comfortable with the huge leg cast in the way and eventually, Edward rolled me over and spooned me from behind. Sleep overtook me within minutes.
EPOV
We woke later than normal on Saturday morning and Bella made breakfast before I had to go to the hospital. Over pancakes, we talked about the upcoming week.
"I have to be in at noon today and I won't be home until dinnertime tomorrow," I told Bella. "I have to be back at six Monday evening and I will be there until sometime Wednesday afternoon."
She laughed lightly. "You weren't overstating when you said your schedule was awful! Dr. Caruthers scheduled my appointment at noon Thursday to have the cast and outer stitches removed. Will you be there?"
"I'm off all day Thursday. I'll just take you."
"Um, okay." She seemed a little hesitant. "Would you mind picking me up at the office?"
"Not at all. When are you going back to work?" I imagined that she was worried about telling me her own work plans but I just couldn't fault her. That was her one constant and she needed it. I remembered Alice telling me once that Bella was almost as bad as I was about working all the time.
Her shoulders visibly relaxed and I was certain I was right. "Monday. I didn't get much done with my Mom here and I am sure that Jane will have another set of manuscripts waiting for me."
"Just don't push too hard, okay?" I pleaded.
"I won't. I am going to do some laundry today, though. Is there any that you do special, or don't do, that I should know about?" she asked.
I sighed. I really did not want her to feel like she had to do my laundry.
"Hey, you made me promise to let you take care of me while I recovered," she shot at me. "Let me take care of you too!"
"Deal. I don't do anything special so I am sure whatever you do will be fine," I assured her. I took my plate to the sink, rinsed it off and slipped it into the dishwasher. Bella was cleaning up the rest of the kitchen as I made my way back to the bedroom.
Once I was suitably dressed, I made my way back to the kitchen where Bella was sorting my clothes into piles on the kitchen floor. I raised my eyebrows at her and she laughed.
"Let me guess, you just threw them all in the wash together when they got dirty?"
"Yeah. That's not right?"
She laughed again and grabbed her crutches to cross the kitchen. Once she made it over to me, she clasped my face between her two small hands and kissed me hard on the lips.
"I love you," I murmured against her mouth.
"I love you too," she replied with a smile, pulling back so she could see me. "Now, go. Have a good shift and I will see you tomorrow night. Call me if you get bored."
"Yes ma'am!"
There weren't any scheduled surgeries on the weekend, but usually we had a number of emergencies to tend to. Today was no exception. Since my arrival, we had three traffic accidents with severe injuries and one gall bladder removal.
I had just finished with the gall bladder and talked to the teenager's parents when I realized that it was almost 8:00 and I hadn't eaten since brunch. The cafeteria was still open and there were a few pieces of pizza left, so I grabbed a couple of those and a container of yogurt. Once I found a free table, I pulled out my phone to call Bella.
"Hey, baby," she answered happily. I could hear music and voices in the background.
"Hey yourself," I laughed back. Even over the phone, her happiness was infectious. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, Rose, Alice and Angela came over for a girl's night in. They wanted to go out, but as I can barely navigate a club with two good legs, we brought the party here."
"That sounds like fun. What are you all going to do?"
"Drink, dance, watch TV, play a board game or two. How has your night been?"
"Rather busy actually. I just sat down for dinner and wanted to hear your voice."
"Well, thank you for calling me. I was going to call you earlier but I didn't know if you would be in surgery or not."
"I probably was," I admitted. "I won't keep you much longer because I know you're having fun."
"It's okay. Just call or text me if you need a distraction. I love you."
"I love you, too." I could hear the laughter from Bella's friends in the background as I hung up the phone.
It was such a relief to be able to say those simple words and my heart leaped every time she said them to me. I never knew it could feel like this but I was thankful that I had been given the opportunity to find out.
The next few hours passed visiting patients and notating various charts. Unlike in Forks, where my father was practicing, most of my patients were here on an outpatient basis or were discharged soon after. The ones that remained generally had other pressing problems that required constant monitoring.
Around midnight, I received a text from Bella. It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was trying to say.
Nuigfjt basnby. Lobe u.
I laughed and dialed the phone. Bella answered after the third ring.
"Helll-oooo?" she answered in a sing-song voice.
"Hi, baby. Have fun tonight?"
"Yessss. We had a gooood time. Angela passed out 'bout an hour ago. Rose's in the kitchen an Alice's sleepin' on my bed."
"It sounds like it was quite the party. Are you okay?"
"Uh-huh. Think perhaps I had too much to drink though."
"Can I talk to Rose really quick?"
"ROSE! Edward wants you!" she shouted. There was a pause while I waited for Rosalie to come to the phone.
"Edward? Wassup?"
"Rose. Where are you putting Bella to bed tonight?" I asked. She couldn't walk across a flat surface at the best of times, throw in crutches and alcohol and you had a recipe for disaster.
"She's a big girl. She puts herself to bed." Rose was trying to sound defensive of Bella but ended up sounding more like a five year old.
"Yeah, but she can't really walk sober and she's not sober, is she?"
"Oh, no, she's not." It sounded like this thought had just registered. "Um, Alice is in her bed, Angela's on the couch and I was taking the guest bed. You think she'd rather sleep with me or Alice?"
I could hear Bella protesting in the background. "I wanna sleep in my own bed. Move Alice to bed with you!"
"Just put her in our bed. She knows the way around the room better if she needs to get up in the middle of the night. Can you put Bella back on?"
"Sure. Bella, he wants to talk to you."
"Edward?"
"Hey, baby. Let Rose take you back to our bed, okay?" I kept my voice soft.
"Ooo-kay. When will you be home?"
"I'll be home for dinner. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yep. I'll make something tasty. Love you!"
"Love you too, darling. Get some rest."
"K, bye!"
Bella hung up and I had to laugh. I was glad that she had fun tonight but I had a feeling she was going to regret it in the morning.
"What's so funny?"
I startled. Garrett was standing behind me and smirking.
"Bella had a party tonight and she is really drunk. I'm trying to imagine her hopping on her crutches while obliterated."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Are things better then? With you two?"
"Yeah, they're better. Thanks for your help last week, by the way. I appreciate it."
"No problem. Kate said she was pretty bad."
"It was. I almost lost her, Garrett." The words were so hard to say and I mentally went back a week.
Garrett pulled me back by clapping his hand on my shoulder. "But you didn't. She's fine and you all are back together. Seems to me that life is a lot better for you than it was two weeks ago."
I had to agree. We conversed for a few minutes about Bella and Kate. Garrett was ready to propose but wondered if he should wait until his residency was over. I told him to go for it. They were already living together, so why not.
We were paged to the ER and walked in on a scene from hell. Frenzy around a drive-by shooting had caused a series of traffic accidents. One of the shooters was here, as he was only fourteen, and all children were brought to us. He had taken two bullets, one to the abdomen and one to the leg. Three other patients were in the cars that crashed while trying to avoid the flying bullets. Another two were innocent by-standers. Five sets of parents crowded the nurse's station, vying for information, and a group of young thugs filled the plastic chairs.
Garrett and I jumped in to help and we ended up taking three of the six patients upstairs for surgery. It took us more than nine hours to get all three of them out of surgery and into recovery, even with the whole team working on them. One of the by-standers was moved to ICU and was still listed as critical. The shooter was stable and put under police guard.
There wasn't much down time. We went on our regular rounds and, at two, I was called into a hernia surgery on a toddler. The hernia hadn't perforated so we were able to repair it fairly easily. I did recommend that he be kept overnight for observation, though.
I noted my charts and went out to the car. When I sat in the plush leather, my eyes closed involuntarily and, not for the first time, I was thankful that Bella lived only a few blocks away. The car made the trip on autopilot and I drug myself through the front door.
Bella was in the kitchen and I trudged in there to see if dinner was ready or if I had time for a nap. Honestly, I couldn't decide if I was more tired or hungry. She was pulling some French fries out of the oven and searing some hamburgers on a George Foreman grill. It appeared that dinner was going to win out.
"Hey baby," I said and I kissed the top of her head.
"Hey. How was work?" she asked back. Her voice was flat and lifeless.
"Long. Are you all right?"
"Not really. I'm really hung over. Again." She slapped the burgers on buns and threw a handful of fries on each plate.
"That seems to be the usual conclusion to your girl's nights," I teased.
"Ugh. I know. I just don't know why I keep doing this to myself," she moaned.
"Because you had fun last night. Did you get any rest?" I asked.
"Yes. I woke Alice up and kicked her out of the bed, eventually. I don't know how Jasper sleeps with her. She squirms and kicks all night."
I laughed at her characterization because I knew it all too well. I told Bella some stories about traveling with Alice when we were kids. Mom and Dad had always stuck us kids in the same bed when we were younger and in hotel rooms. I always complained and finally settled on the portable camp bed once I was older. The conversation seemed to cheer Bella up somewhat.
Bella asked about my shift at the hospital and told me about the manuscripts she was working on. She hadn't been able to get as much done as she would have liked through her pounding headache, but she did feel sufficiently prepared to return to work full time.
After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes since she cooked and she settled back down onto the couch. I scooted in behind her and pulled her into the V between my legs. Bella flipped on a back episode of Lost that she hadn't seen and we snuggled. I knew that this wasn't all that married life entailed but this was pretty good. I could easily imagine coming home to this for the rest of my life.
I must have fallen asleep because Bella shook me awake and told me to get on to bed. It was after nine and I was exhausted so I didn't fight her too much. I was surprised when she shut all the lights off and came with me, though.
"Baby, you don't have to go to bed now. It won't bother me if you stay up," I told her.
"I know. I'm tired too, though, and I won't always be able to cuddle with you like this and I'm going to take it while I can," she responded happily.
We got ready for bed side by side and I helped Bella into bed. I knew that she had to do it by herself on the nights I wasn't here, but it made me feel like I was needed so I did it anyway. I curled my body around hers and looped my arm around her waist. We fit together so easily and I fell asleep quickly with the love of my life in my arms.
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