Chapter 35: Out of This World

APOV

"What's broken?"

"Dad, it's not that big of a-"

"What's broken?"

I sighed. This was hopeless.

"Two phalanges, two metatarsals, my lateral and intermediate cuneiforms, and a fractured navicular."

Silence.

"Dad?"

More silence.

"Dad! Talk to me."

"You're coming home."

"But-"

"No but's Ana. How you convinced me not to come get you when you busted your head open I'm not sure, but I sure as hell am not letting this go!"

"It's really not so bad," I tried to defend, my panic rising.

"This is the second time you've hurt yourself doing research and I'm not having it anymore."

The way he said research let me know exactly what he thought of that.

"But I wasn't doing research!" I cried out. "I was just on the dock. It was a freak accident!"

"That's what you said last time." He growled back.

"It was true then, just as it is now. I tripped last time and that was my fault, I accept that. But I didn't do anything this time. I was just standing there." I tried my best to explain.

"I don't care. Who's to say that it won't happen again? Am I supposed to wait around on a phone call that you've fallen out of a boat and gotten yourself killed?"

His tone was furious, but I could hear the panic behind it. That was the only thing that kept me from exploding back.

"That could happen no matter where I'm at," I told him calmly. He sucked in a sharp breath, but was silent. "I know me being away from home scares you, but the truth is at any moment I could die. And it doesn't matter where I'm at, if it's meant to happen it will."

"This is not reassuring me," he bit out, his voice raspy. I knew my line of logic was upsetting him, but I had a point to make.

"I know, but that's kind of my point. It doesn't matter where I'm at, accidents happen. This could have happened back home just as easily. What am I supposed to do? Sit in a bubble and never go anywhere?"

He sighed deeply.

"That isn't the point Ana. If you were home I could at least be there for you. Do you have any idea what it's like getting a phone call that my daughter is in the hospital? That she was unconscious? God Ana, I nearly went insane not being able to get to you. To be there for you when you woke up."

I tried to think of things from his perspective. If the roles were reversed and my dad had gotten hurt, wouldn't I have been on the next flight home? Yes. I would have. And it would take some convincing to leave him behind.

"Okay." I sighed in defeat.

"What?"

I don't think he expected my answer.

"Okay, you're right." I clarified. I felt like crying. This is not how my life was supposed to turn out.

"Ana." My dad's voice pleaded.

"What? It's what you want. It's what you've been trying to convince me of for months anyways. And you just so happen to be right. If something happened to you I know I would do anything and everything to be with you. So it's hypocritical of me to try to convince you to let it go." I felt so exhausted. Saying this was killing me. My heart ached.

Dad sighed.

"Why do I feel like bringing you home would take you away from everything you love?"

Because it would be, I thought, but kept quiet.

Another deep sigh at my silence.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," he trailed off. "You should stay."

I was not expecting that.

"You belong there. I can see whenever we skype how much you love it. You're eyes light up when you talk about what you've been doing and I wouldn't be a very good father if I took you away."

"So I can stay?" My voice was small and hopeful.

"You're old enough that even if I didn't want you to you could anyways." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but I really hope I never have to pull that card. And I wouldn't unless there was just no way to compromise." I told him honestly.

He chuckled.

"Aren't most teenage girls supposed to make life hard for their dads?"

I laughed back.

"I guess I'll step up on being more obnoxious."

He groaned.

"I don't think I could live through it."

I laughed again.

"Sure you could!" I replied cheerily. "You'd just give me hell back."

I could practically hear him smile.

"You bet your bottom." He paused for a moment. "Don't think I mean to get in the way of your dreams Ana Bells. I just know I missed out on a lot and you being so far away is hard to get used to."

I felt myself soften under his words.

"I don't think you get in the way. I know you care and this is hard for you. I miss you a lot too. I'm sorry for making this even harder by winding up in the hospital. If you want to fly out for a visit I would love to see you."

I really did miss him. And maybe it would put him at ease to see where I was staying.

"I think I will do that. Your classes start in a couple of weeks right?"

"Yeah, two weeks from now."

"If you can spare a few days with your old man, I will fly out next week."

"Really?! Of course I'd love to see you." I exclaimed excited. It had been going on four months since I had seen him last.

He laughed.

"It's settled. I'll be out there in a week. In the meantime, please be careful."

I felt a blush come to my cheeks.

We talked for a few more minutes about some details for his visit before we said good bye.

I was smiling when Brennan came back to my room. It was only the morning after my accident, so I was still in the hospital. My foot wasn't even in a cast yet. They had only just been able to do X-rays about an hour ago.

"Ye look chipper."

"I had a good talk with my dad. He's going to come for a visit next week."

Brennan's smile widened.

"That's great! Here I was afraid he was making ye go back home."

"It was a close call." I admitted. "I know it's hard for me to be so far away from him, and even worse that I've been in the hospital twice now. But I think visiting will help. Maybe it will take the edge off of him not knowing what awesome people I have here."

Breanna blushed.

"Yer too sweet."

"Just like ice cream." I agreed. He laughed shaking his head.

"I don't know about that."

He sat down beside me on the bed.

"Yer foot looks gross."

I grimaced.

"I know." It was bruised purple and black. My toes were still crooked too, but the swelling had gone down tremendously.

"How bad does it hurt?"

I hated that question. Because they kept wanting to give me drugs and I hated being loopy.

"It's not so bad." Brennan gave me a doubtful look.

"When was the last time ye had any pain killers?"

I shrugged.

"Not that long ago." I lied. My foot was aching horribly, but I really did not want any more medicine.

"Yer a bad liar. I'm getting a nurse." He walked away quickly.

I threw a pillow as hard as I could. Brennan was laughing as he darted out of the way, just as Edward walked in. The pillow just barely missed hitting him.

"I can come back later." He told me, his lips quirked in a half smile gesturing to the pillow.

I felt the blush rise to my cheeks.

"She might be throwing knives by then. Best do it now while her ammunition is soft," Brennan put in.

I shot a glare his way.

"I've got something for you right here," I told Brennan shaking my fist at him warningly.

"Ye can't even throw a pillow, ye sure ye can throw a fist?" He taunted.

"Why don't you come over and find out?" I said with a fierce smile.

He laughed in response.

"Ye better get her some medicine. I think the pain's gone to her head." He told Edward.

"I'm fine. I don't need anything."

Brennan snorted.

"Are ye a masochist?" He asked aggravated.

"Yes. Now leave me be." I said grumpily back.

He threw his hands up at me.

"Yer ridiculous. Can't ye just accidently stick her so she can feel better?" he asked Edward.

"There's an idea. That might work." He nodded his head agreeing. I narrowed my eyes at both of them.

"Come near me with a needle and I will murder you while you sleep." I warned.

"Ye can't even get off that bed."

"Fine, I'll call you mom and tell her about you-know-what." I told him heatedly. His jaw dropped.

"Ye wouldn't." he said lowly.

"You bet your ass I would. And I will if anyone sticks me with anything."

"Ye fight dirty," he told me with distaste.

"Not any dirtier than you," I countered.

His eyes lost the heat and turn sad. Oh no, here come the puppy dog eyes.

Must resist.

"Bella. Yer in so much pain. Let us help ye." He came up to me slowly and stroked the back of my hand.

"I really just don't want it." I pleaded back.

"Bella. They are going to need to move yer foot. It's already paining ye. It will hurt so much more if they don't give ye something."

I was wavering. My foot was hurting. And it was going to hurt like hell if they touched it. The X-rays earlier had been bad enough.

"Are ye worried someone will hurt ye? I promise I won't let anything happen to ye love." He said it with so much concern I couldn't help but to cave. I felt my heartrate accelerate.

"Okay," I whispered and closed my eyes. I could feel the seat breaking out over my skin. I had been in too much pain yesterday to freak out over being given medicine, but I was completely aware now and the thought was terrifying.

"Ana, you need to breathe. I am not giving you anything until you calm down." Edward's cool voice floated to me. I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me with concern etched into his face.

"That's not going to happen. This is as calm as I'm going to be."

He shook his head.

"Is there anything you feel comfortable taking?"

I made myself calm down to think about it. Nearly anything I took made me sleepy, but if given the choice I supposed there were a few preferable options.

"Tylenol?" I suggested.

He frowned.

"How do you feel about Percocet?"

"I don't know much about it. What's in it?"

"It's a mixture of Acetaminophen and Oxycodone. Acetaminophen is basically Tylenol, but the Oxycodone is a narcotic. The combination is more effective at pain relief than either alone. I could give you a half dose. It would make you feel a little groggy, but it would help ease the pain." He explained.

I weighed the option in my head.

"I won't be out of it?" I asked quietly.

"No. A full dose would make you tired, but a half dose would just take the edge off of your pain."

I nodded my head, feeling more at ease.

"Okay. I can do that."

He nodded and called for a nurse to bring the prescribed dosage.

"This will take longer to work than an IV, but I thought you would rather take a pill," Edward offered when the nurse gave me a tiny pill that had been broken in half.

"Thank you." I murmured before washing down the medicine.

He waved a dismissive hand.

"That is what I am here for."

I gave him a small smile.

"So what's the verdict with my foot?" I asked after a moment.

"There are quite a bit of breaks as I am sure you are aware. The X-Rays most likely showed the majority of the damage; however, we will need to do a CT scan to make sure all of your ligaments and joints are not damaged. The bad news, two of your toes will need to be realigned. It won't be as painful as a reset, but it will still hurt. The good news is that your breaks were clean so once everything is realigned properly we can cast your foot. My best estimation at this point is it will take about six weeks to fully recover."

The thought of realigning my toes made my stomach churn. And then six weeks with a cast. That sucked.

"When do you need to realign?"

He looked uncomfortable.

"As soon as possible. If we wait too long the bone will start to regrow and we would have to re-break them to get them aligned correctly."

I felt my stomach heave.

"How long?"

He frowned.

"Not until the medicine kicks in more. I will not put you through any unnecessary pain."

I nodded my head.

"Okay."

"Just focus on relaxing right now. I won't be back for another thirty minutes or so. I am going to make certain we will cause you as little pain as possible before we begin."

I nodded my head again and he walked out.

"Sucks to be in yer shoes." Brennan commented. The pun caught me off guard and made me laugh.

"I'm gonna break your toes and see how you feel."

He grinned at me.

"Guess I'll be wearing steel toed shoes from here on out."

With that we both cracked up laughing.

…...

"There. All better"

I looked down on my foot with curious distaste. It was wrapped in a dark blue cast, my toes hidden from view. Brennan had just finished signing the top of my foot. He put a large smiley face on it.

"Now when ye look down, ye'll see a happy face."

"Yup, and I'll think, Brennan sucks at drawing."

He play hit my arm. I grinned at him.

"We can't all be Mozart." He joked, I play hit him this time. "Just kidding! I know Mozart was a carpenter."

His silliness made me laugh.

"He was a musician, you dolt."

"I know, but ye enjoy correcting me and I like to see ye smile."

I gave him a sideways glance.

"You really are too sweet."

He flashed his pearly whites at me.

"Just like ice-cream," he said using my words from the day before back at me.

I laughed.

"I'm glad to be home."

And I really was. They held me at the hospital another night before allowing me to come back today. We were currently sitting in the kitchen, my foot propped up on the table.

"Ugh! What's that smell?" Ori announced coming into the kitchen. He came over to me and sniffed dramatically. "Brennan take her away. She smells awful."

I punched Ori's arm. He winced and I smiled.

"You'd be smelly too if you hadn't had bath in two days after pulling in nets."

"But I would've gotten in the shower as soon as I could."

I rolled my eyes.

"I can't get in the shower," I said pointing at my foot.

"Fine, a bath." He amended.

"Sure, I'll just hop up the stairs and plop myself in the tub," I said sarcastically.

"I'll help ye in the tub. All ye had to do was ask!" with that he scooped my up in his arms and carted me away.

Brennan was shouting at his back. Ori ignored him and was laughing all the way to my room.

When he got to the bathroom he set me down in the tub, gentle as a lamb.

"There ye go! No more excuses."

I laughed unable to contain the silliness of this all.

"Ye do know women bath in the nude," Brennan commented leaning against the doorway.

Ori grinned, before coming at me. I squealed.

"Don't you dare!" I warned slapping away his hands. "If you try to undress me I will scream so loud you'll be hearing it for weeks."

"Ye stink Bella girl. Need to get ye smelling right again." Ori joked giving up the pretense of undressing me and started tickling me instead.

"Stopppp!" I giggled floundering around in the tub. He continued to tickle me relentlessly for several minutes.

"Okay okay, Ori. She's going to pee herself if ye don't stop." Brennan finally chimed in.

"Alright. I suppose we don't want her smelling like old fish and piss."

"You suck Ori. And when I get better you had best watch out." I warned him. But I was still feeling giggly from the tickle fest.

"Yer hilarious. So feisty for such a small thing."

"What do ye two think yer doing?" Vic's voice boomed.

"Ori kidnapped me and tickled me!" I pretend whined. Vic's lips twitched at my antics.

"Ye boys are in mighty big trouble. Get ye out of her bathroom now!" She commanded in a firm voice. The guys rolled their eyes.

"We were just helping her get to the bath," Ori put in.

"Ain't no we to it. Ori ran off with her, I just followed," Brennan replied.

"I don't care who did what. Get out, ye goons."

The boys grumbled, but left.

"Och, look at ye. Ye really do need a bath. Those two eejits don't have a lick of sense."

I laughed at her.

"Are you going to help me?" I gestured to the bath. She laughed.

"Of course."

And she did.

It might have been embarrassing, but Vic had already seen me naked on several occasions. Perks of living with other people.

When she was done with me, I was squeaky clean and smelling like roses. Literally. She had bought me rose smelling shampoo. It was nice.

"Thanks Vic. You're really great for helping me out."

She gave me a soft smile.

"Don't mention it. Yer foot's still very tender. It'll probably take a few days before ye feel comfortable doing stuff on yer own. So if ye need help in the meantime, let me know. Even if it's just to go pee in the middle of the night."

I laughed.

"I think I can manage that on my own."

She smiled.

"Ye look a bit tired. Let's get ye in bed."

It was still very early, but I really was tired so I let her help me to the bed.

"I'll send one of the boys up with soup later if ye feel up to it."

"I'm broken, not sick Vic."

She laughed.

"I know, but soup always makes me feel better. What's yer favorite?"

"Chicken noodle." I replied and instantly was hit with a distant memory. The one where Edward and I make soup in my kitchen back home. It was the first time I had met him. I felt an ache in my chest at the memory.

"Okay. Well ye rest a bit now."

I nodded and closed my eyes when she left the room.

I wondered how things would be between Edward and I now. We hadn't spoken much in the hospital and when we did it was always strictly professional. I knew it was better that way. He knew how I felt about his, and he probably didn't want to make anything harder for me.

Still I wondered if he thought of me.

I wondered if he cared for me.

I could accept that he had left because of what he was. I didn't like it, obviously, but I could understand the logic there.

But to have left on the terms that we did. And on top of that to have never said goodbye.

That's what I didn't understand.

He could have at least told me goodbye.

After everything we had been through I deserved that much. I deserved to know the truth, instead of all the assumptions I was left to make.

Thinking on it now, I was too aggravated to fall asleep.

A small tap at the door brought my head up. Brennan's popped into view.

"Hi. Vic said ye were sleeping. I hope I didn't wake ye."

I shook my head.

"No. I have a lot going on in my head. Can't sleep."

He made his way over to my bed and cuddled up beside me.

"What to talk?"

I shrugged.

"I'm just aggravated." I sighed.

"With Edward?"

"Why is it so obvious?" I asked frustrated.

"Because it's the only thing that makes any sense for ye be aggravated over."

"I guess."

"Why are ye made at him?"

I sighed.

"I'm not mad. I'm confused and aggravated." I grumped. He gave me a look. "Okay I guess I am mad. I just don't understand what happened between us. Everything was fine until it wasn't."

Brennan had a rueful smile on his face.

"Sounds about right."

I huffed.

"I'm just so irritated with him and myself. I mean I can only ask myself why so many times." I rubbed my temples.

"What do ye want Bella?"

At his words my hands dropped.

What did I want?

"Answers." I said after a moment.

"Answers about what?"

"Why he never said goodbye."

We were quiet for a long moment.

"Why do ye think he didn't say goodbye."

"Because he hated me."

As the words left I knew they were wrong. I had thought that for a long time, but it wasn't what I thought now.

"Do ye really believe that?"

I heaved a great sigh.

"I don't know. I mean it's what I thought for the longest time. And it hurt, but it made sense to me. Why say goodbye to someone you hate? But now after talking to him, I just don't know. I mean I understand why he left, but I genuinely don't understand why he didn't say goodbye."

"Well why do ye think he left then?"

"Because he's a-" I stopped suddenly, realizing what I was about to say. That Edward wasn't human. That he was a vampire.

That would have been fun to explain.

Not that Brennan would have believed me. He probably would have thought it was a joke or something. But still, better keep those comments to myself.

"Because, he's a what?" Brennan asked curious at my suddenly halt in speech.

"A jerk," I covered.

Brennan chuckled.

"I don't know." I sighed again. "I feel like I've said that phrase way too much lately."

"It's okay to not know everything."

"Yeah, but I feel like I don't know anything."

"What's my favorite color?" he asked suddenly. Startled by the change of subject I answered without much thought.

"Blue, why?" I asked bewildered.

"And my favorite animal?"

"Cuttlefish," I answered amused.

"Food?"

"My green beans," I replied with a smile. He grinned back at me.

"There ye go." He replied cheerily.

"You've lost me." I said with a laugh.

"Ye know lots of things," he clarified.

I rolled my eyes, but laughed.

"Smartass."

"Indeed. It skipped two grades."

I laughed at his joke.

"Unfortunately your brain got left behind."

"It's sad, but true," he agreed with mock solemnity.

"What are you doing here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be on a date with…uh…what's her face… Kaleen?" I asked trying to remember her name.

He shrugged.

"Please tell me you didn't blow her off? You've been trying to get her number for the last month."

"I changed my mind."

"Just like that?"

He nodded his head.

"Just like that." He agreed.

"Why?" I asked befuddled. He had been talking about this girl nearly nonstop and now no dice?

What the heck?

"She isn't who I want." He said simply.

That really confused me until I realized the sadness in his eyes. My heart constricted for him.

"Me seeing Edward again has brought up old memories hasn't it?"

He turned melancholy eyes towards me.

"Ah, ye really do know me well, love."

I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Love sucks."

He hummed in agreement.

"I wish I could throw my heart to the moon."

Brennan gave me a curious look.

"Why the moon?"

"Because my love is out of this world."

He laughed really hard at my joke.

"God, Bella, ye are so ridiculous sometimes."

"Made you laugh!"

His chuckles eased and he gave me a soft smile.

"Indeed ye did."

AN: Progress? We will see…

Shout out to my lovely reviewers cheshire15, Lizy2000, FangsandDaggers, Iwillnotbeafraid, and the Guest who left a very sweet review!

Thanks my pretties! *cackles like wicked witch*

-Shadows