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Things will be progressing much quicker now.
"Bella, wait."
I kept my back facing him. "I'll be right back, I just need to take her back and check on her little sister."
I took Stella back inside and left her with the nurse, while I went over to check on little Sophia. She was still in the incubator, and Carlisle was standing watch over her, while Emmett and Rose were getting ready to be transferred to a room.
"Is she okay?" I asked Carlisle.
"They are going to run some tests, but until then…I don't know."
I was worried.
"Oh," I said and looked over at Stella who was getting prodded at.
"Are you okay, Bella?" he asked.
"Edward is here."
Carlisle kept his gaze on his granddaughter. "Hmmm. Have you talked to him yet?"
"He tried, but I needed to get Stella back to the nurses."
He turned to look at me and raised an eyebrow at me. "Bella, you need to talk to him. You need to tell him."
"I don't know. What am I going to say? Oh, by the way, I'm pregnant. Yeah, that will go over real well."
"I know, Bella, but he was stupid and …."
"Wrong," I finished off for him.
"Yes, wrong would be a correct assessment. But, Bella, he has every right to know."
"I just can't deal with all of this right now. I'm sorry, Carlisle, I know that this would all be a lot easier for you if I just told him, but when I woke up this morning, I was not planning on talking to Edward, let alone telling him anything. Please understand."
The other doctor called Carlisle over to confer with him, which relieved me of his attention.
I walked over to check on Rose and Emmett who were about to leave the operating room. "How are you feeling?" I asked Rose, who had her husband holding and rubbing her hand.
Rose looked at me and then over to where Sophia was. "I'll be better once I know she is okay."
Emmett removed himself from Rose's side to head over to where his twin daughters were. I sat down in his place.
"I'm sure everything will be okay, Rose. They just need to keep special care of little Sophia."
"I know. I just want to hold her, tell her that I love ….." Rose started to weep and looked over at Emmett who had Stella in his arms and was making his way back over to where we were.
"Look, Stella, this is your mommy," he said as he lowered the baby down to Rose's level, so she could see her newborn daughter.
She laughed in between tears and grabbed her little hand. "Hi, baby."
I backed away from the three of them to let them have their moment. I stood over by the door and waited until it was time for all of us to leave the room.
They moved Sophia to the neonatal intensive care unit and Stella to the regular nursery. They moved Rose to a recovery room. Emmett and I followed.
I tried to hide, actually.
Everyone was still in the waiting room and were told by Carlisle to give Rose and Emmett some time before they went to go visit with them.
I waited outside the door while they transferred Rose to another bed. Emmett walked down to the nursery to check on Sophia.
"Bella," Rose called out, once they were finished getting her ready for visitors.
"Yeah?" I responded and headed into the room.
"Emmett said that Edward was here. Have you talked to him yet?"
"No, he tried, but," I answered, and looked down the hall once I heard Alice's voice coming closer.
Shit! They were all coming.
"Rose," Alice said in her high pitched voice and ran over to her bedside to give her a hug. "They are beautiful."
I backed into the corner and watched as Jasper, Esme, Carlisle and finally Edward all came in. I pretended to be looking out the window at the street below, but I kept an eye on Edward as he first went over to greet Rose, and then proceeded to block my route to the exit.
I pulled out my phone and text Kate, and told her that I needed her help to get me out of the room. About two minutes later, Kate came to the room with Garrett, and told me that I had a phone call. I politely excused myself and made my way past Edward, who started to say something, but stopped himself. As soon as I made it safely out of the room, I grabbed Kate's hand and rushed down the hallway to the nearest restroom.
"I think I'm going to be sick."
I went into one of the stalls and slammed the door. After I regurgitated all three doughnuts that I had for breakfast, I called out to her, "What am I going to do, Kate?"
"I don't know, but he was grilling me for information on where you, I mean we, are staying."
"I guess me leaving all of a sudden probably wouldn't go over too well?"
I came out of the stall and splashed my face with water.
"I don't think your sister would be too happy with you,"
"I am getting tired, though. Where are we staying?" I asked as she handed me a paper towel that she already had ready for me.
She looked down at the floor and then caught my gaze. "With the short notice, we are going to be staying at Carlisle and Esme's house."
"But that's….."
"Next door to the other Cullen place. I know. I already spoke to Esme on the matter and she's' not going to tell Edward that you're staying with them. I don't think Carlisle would say anything either."
"I wouldn't be too sure," I said as we made our way out of the door. "I'm positive that Carlisle wants me to have a conversation with Edward and tell him the truth."
"Tell me the truth, about what?" Edward asked as he was leaning up against the window, waiting for me to exit the restroom.
Shit! I said that a little too loudly, didn't I?
I looked over at first, Edward, and then to Garrett, who was standing right next to him. Garrett shrugged and mouthed that he was sorry.
Could have warned me…
I just looked at him, and walked past him at a quick stride.
Of course he caught up.
"Bella, the truth about what?" he asked trying to keep up with me.
I made sure to make it quite an obstacle course for him, which slowed him down. I ducked through another women's restroom that had two separate exits. I waited for a minute and headed out the opposite entrance. I thought I was in the clear until I had a sneezing spell that gave away my location.
Two sneezes, one cough. Dead giveaway.
I looked behind me and caught a glimpse of bronze, which had me duck into the stairwell and take the steps to the main floor. My plan was to make it out of the hospital, catch a cab and get away from here for awhile. I would call Kate and let her know once I was in the clear, and maybe she could set me up at a hotel or something.
Being almost five months along did not help with my agility, and I almost fell down a couple of stairs, so I decided to slow it down, once I was down to the second floor. What I was not counting on was Edward being one floor up on the stairwell and calling out to me, "Bella, please stop."
I stopped only to assess the distance between the two of us. When I reached the first floor, I bolted through the door and headed for the entrance. I made it out the front door when I hear him calling out to me from behind.
"Bella, wait. I need to talk to you. I'm sorry."
I was almost across the street to where the cabs were waiting for passengers. I stopped in the cross walk to face him. "Don't you think that's a little late now…."
And then everything went black, like I was in a dream.
I heard people around me screaming and talking frantically. I felt pain, severe pain everywhere in my body.
Then darkness….
I saw bright lights all around me and I was on a bed of some type that was moving. My stomach was in such pain. I raised my hand and watched blood trickling down my arm.
"Stay with us, Bella," a male voice called out to me.
"You have to do something. Save her!" a different male voice said, frightened.
I heard others rushing around me and then I cried out in pain. "The pain, make it stop."
"Do something…." the second male voice yelled.
"You need to leave and let us do our job," a female voice said.
"No…I am not leaving her."
Who was this man? And why was he not leaving me?
"We need to work on her…" the first male voice said. "Here, Bella, this will help with the pain." I felt a stick in my arm and then my whole body became warm, and I became extremely light headed.
"Carlisle, you have to do something," the second male voice said, as someone else, I guess, ,entered the room.
"Bella, oh my God," another man, who's name was supposedly Carlisle, said. He sounded distressed. "What happened?"
"She was hit by a car. I went after her to go talk to her, and when she turned around to answer me, a black SUV, out of no where, just runs into her. They didn't even stop, Carlisle," the second man said and then started crying.
"I'm Doctor Carlisle Cullen, and this woman is a patient of mine. You need to know that she is pregnant. She is about five months along carrying a single fetus."
I'm pregnant? And this man was my doctor? Why did I not know him?
"Bella's what?" the second male voice said, surprise filled his voice.
He seemed just as surprised as I was. Why did it matter to him?
"Edward, now is not the time to discuss this. I need you to leave so that they can do everything for Bella and the baby," the doctor said.
"Dad?" the man named Edward said, pain evident in his voice.
I heard the two men part from my side, and they left the room.
I was feeling very tired when the doctor came over to speak to me. "Bella, I am Doctor Stine. We need to run some tests on you to see how your baby is doing. You have a couple broken ribs, arm and some type of head injury. Do you understand?" the female voice instructed. Her voice was calm.
"I'm pregnant?" I asked, my voice came out in a whisper. It hurt to breathe.
"It would seem so. Now I am going to do an ultrasound and listen to the baby's heartbeat. We need to make sure the baby is okay." She proceeded to put some cold gel on my stomach and spread it around.
"Sorry about that," Doctor Cullen said as he reentered the room, and came over to where my ultrasound was being preformed. He stood there watching the screen, but kept his head turned away from me so I could not read his expression.
Doctor Stine continued with the ultrasound and took pictures and different types of measurements of the baby.
Baby.
I could not believe that I heard the heartbeat and saw its tiny heart fluttering on the screen.
"Doctor Fletcher," she called out during the ultrasound. "You need to get someone down here from OB stat."
"Is that…?" Doctor Cullen said as he pointed to the screen.
"Yes," she said to him in a rush and then called out to one of the nurses, "we need to get her on a fetal monitor."
"Yes, doctor," the nurse answered and went ahead to put the monitor on my stomach. I was able to hear the swishing around of muted water and a soft subtle heartbeat.
My baby's.
I caught a glance at Doctor Cullen's face. His eyes looked scared.
Something was wrong.
A pain was building in my lower stomach and back.
"What's wrong with my baby?" I said, straining against the pain in my chest. I was becoming anxious and I heard the alarm on the machine next to me go off.
"Bella, you need to calm down," Doctor Fletcher now said to me. "Doctor Stine, I paged OB and they should be down here any minute." He was now holding up some paper that was coming out of the machine monitoring me and marking it with his pen.
The female doctor rushed over to my bedside, looked at my monitor and then the baby's. "Doctor Cullen, come take a look at this."
A few moments later, Doctor Cullen grabbed my hand that was still covered in drying blood, and gave it a squeeze. "Bella, there seems to be an injury inside the uterus, by the baby. We need to give you something to mature the baby's lungs, in case you were to go into labor…."
Labor at only five months? Even I knew that was bad.
I was scared. I had no idea what was going on inside me, or to my baby. I was dizzy and I felt sick.
"…Do you understand?"
I was nauseous and I turned to my side and began vomiting. I started to cough to free my lungs and catch my breath.
So much pain.
"Bella…" my name was called out and then darkness took me again….
o*o*o*o*o* o*o*o*o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I could hear noises around me, but it was still dark. I could not determine the individual voices that was speaking to me. I just heard the sounds of their voices…
Was I alive? Was my baby okay?
I was uncertain if it was the same hour, day or week, but I felt someone rubbing and kissing my hand. I believed it to be a male. He was talking so softly and crying…..
There was a light in my room. I could tell that from behind my eyelids. My head was in so much pain, that it was like someone had hit me repeatedly in the forehead. I raised my hand and heard a gasp.
"Bella," a female voice called out.
I heard someone scurry, head out the door and said, "Someone go get the doctor. Bella just moved her hand."
Noises were made from outside my room and I heard multiple people enter the area around me.
"Bella, baby," my mother said and came to my side.
Mom.
I tried to reach out to her or speak, but I was unable to even open my eyes.
Why could I not open my eyes? Talk or even grab her hand to let her know that I heard her?
I was so scared. It was dark and I needed her.
I needed my mom, my dad, Rose, Alice…..somebody.
I suffered as my chest rose and fell at a much faster pace. I could feel my heart beating, and the sweat falling down my face.
"Bella, it's Mom. We're all here. Your dad, Rose, Alice, Angela, Emmett and the rest of the Cullens. Please wake up, baby. Please," she said, struggling at the end.
Who was Emmett? The Cullens?
I felt a rush of air come into the room. "Is she awake? Is she okay?" the male voice, that I remembered to be a man named Edward, I think, frantically asked, out of breath, like he had been running.
A different male voice spoke as he came closer to me an grabbed my hand. "Bella, I am Doctor Harris, this is Doctor Patrick, we are here to take care of you and your baby."
Baby. So I was not hallucinating?
"Bella, can you hear me. Please move your hand or something if you can understand me," he continued.
"Please, baby," my dad said, came over next to me and started to demanded of me, "We all need you to try your hardest, sweetheart. Please for your baby, just try your hardest."
I pulled all my energy inside of me and tried to concentrate on my eyes.
I attempted to squeeze even the tiniest amount of light in the hopes of communicating with them.
"Bella, this is Rose," she started to say. "I need you to wake up, dammit. You need to meet your nieces, Stella and Sophia. They need their aunt to wake up and see them, Bella, I need you, now wake up." Her voice was more forceful at the end.
I'm trying.
Try harder.
My eyes were uncooperative, so I tried moving my fingers, that were currently in my doctor's hands. I decided to try my smallest finger and concentrate.
For my family. For my baby.
Try as hard as you can.
"I think that what she experienced was an involuntary movement of some type. Her muscles may have spasm uncontrollably…"
I did it. I flicked my pinky finger in his hand and he grabbed onto it harder and squeezed.
"Bella, did you do that?" he asked. His voice hopeful.
"Do what?" a male voice anxiously said.
"Doctor, what did she do?" my mother asked. The room was filled of chatter.
"Everyone, quiet!" the doctor called out. "Bella, if you can hear me, do that again."
I dug deep this time to repeat my previous act. I counted.
1...2.….3.….
I bended my pinky in his hand. He had to have felt it.
I heard you.
"Bella!" the doctor said, his voice much lighter than before. "She did it! She moved her finger on command."
I heard gasps all around me. I wanted to open my eyes and smile at everyone of them.
"What does that mean, Doctor?" My dad asked. You could hear the emotion in his voice.
"We need to run some more tests and it is still a waiting game, but I think that Bella is coming back to all of you."
"Thank you. Thank you," my mother said as she sobbed back tears.
The other doctor finally spoke, "We need to make sure that we still let her rest, so please be very careful of what you say to her. Remember that she is becoming conscious of everything around her. No stress." his voice was more stern. "She needs as much rest as possible to ensure the health of her and her baby."
"I will see to it," another male voice spoke. "I think all of us understand the ramifications."
"Thank you very much, Doctor Cullen. Now if you will excuse us, we need to go and order some more tests. I will be back later on to talk to the family and explain the results."
I was so tired after that, I fell quickly asleep.
Time passed and I was unaware of what day, or even what month, it was.
Muted water and a fast heartbeat was the sounds that I awoke to. The room was dark this time. But I was able to tell that from my own eyes, not through the veil of my eyelids protecting me.
I could sense that someone else, besides me, was in the room with me. From everything that I was able to perceive, I was in a hospital and something very bad had happened to me. I tried to understand my current reality, or what I could remember:
I was pregnant, in a hospital and hurt.
My family was here with me.
I had been asleep for some time and was having trouble moving.
I heard someone in the room crying.
Why were they crying? I hope not because of me.
I acquired all the energy I could, and slowly moved my head in the direction of the sound.
Sitting about three feet from me was a man with bronze hair and his hands covering his face.
I swallowed and my throat was dry. I needed to communicate that I was here again.
Please don't cry.
His sobs became louder.
I grunted from my chest. Damn, that hurt.
My eyes stayed fixated on him, hopeful that he heard me. He looked up from his hands and stared straight at me. His face was streaked red, and his eyes, which I could faintly make out from the dim light in the hall, were bloodshot.
He was beautiful.
"Bella?"
I took my time and blinked twice, very deliberately.
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