A/N: This is probably one of the longer chapters. It has some lemon zest in it - not too graphic. I want to keep this T. I hope you're still following along. Even if you aren't I will finish this for myself. Thank you to my loyal readers! It is so good to be back. Now, ENJOY!


After about three days or so, Edward and I were able to fly home to New York. I never thought my honeymoon would result in such catastrophe! Don't get me wrong, the first night of wedded bliss was just that – absolute bliss. I just couldn't believe I had almost killed my husband and myself over a stupid flower. What kind of yutz was I?

I was doing a really good job at beating myself up and the whole household knew it I'm sure. I made sure that Edward stayed in bed unless his therapist came to help him with his physical therapy. He had fractured two ribs along with having that nasty bite on his foot, so he would have a long way to go before he was feeling one hundred percent again. How could he keep something like that from me? I could have done something! Bear Grylls would at least attempt to suck the venom out, right? That's a thing, right? Oy, my husband could have died on that island and then what would I have done? But, I had to keep reminding myself that we were OK! I had to stop my complaining.

Thinking about coming home to the worried looks on the entire household made me cry a little bit. I was glad to be soaking in an oatmeal bath for my burns and scrapes, that way no one could see me right now. This girl's got one heck of an ugly cry! The kids just stood there, shocked and Emmett came right in to help me but I told him to help Edward. He was being brought in on a stretcher. It seemed worse than it was from the looks of it, but they were just doing it to be safe. Rosalie tried to be his nurse and at first I got really irritated, but unless it came to helping him get dressed or to and from the bathroom I didn't care anymore. I was still so sore, the extra pair of hands was nice.

As I soaked I tried to get all the bad stuff out of my head and just think of the really good stuff. And then I had to stop doing that because it was just going to get me all worked up and my husband was currently out of commission. I grinned thinking of our short time being together since we've been married. It was like heaven on earth. I had to stop putzing around and get a move on. The kids needed some semblance of a normal life and I wanted to be downstairs for dinner with them, even though Edward was still supposed to be in bed. I dried off and pulled a short sleeved, knee length purple cotton dress on. It was pretty much the only thing I wore (in several colors) that didn't hurt my skin that was slowly healing up.

I ghosted out of the en suite bathroom and peeped over at my husband. He was propped up in bed, his glasses on, reading over something. He still looked very weak, but he insisted he would and could continue working. Even though he looked caput he was still the hottest man on the planet. I just grinned to myself and went to leave the room when I saw a shift out of the corner of my eye. When I looked back over to Edward he had lowered his glasses and was smirking at me. "What?" I asked, flushing inside and out.

"You!" He chuckled and I put my hands on my hips.

"Excuse me, Mister?" I glared at him, barely keeping a smile off of my own face.

"You're just so damn beautiful. . ."

"Aww, that is so sweet!" I grinned and bounced on the balls of my feet.

"Even if you tried to kill us both!" He grinned and my face fell. I was a horrible wife! "Hey, hey, I was kidding! Come here, I'd come there but I can't." That made me want to cry even more. I shuffled over to the bed and climbed in, kneeling next to him being oh so careful not to touch him for fear of breaking him. "I'm not glass." He sighed.

"Yes, you are! You have broken bones and a killer infection. . . I literally almost killed us both. I don't even know how to live with myself." I cried. And, just like he probably did on that stupid island he put his pain aside and pulled me to his chest. I fought him a bit, trying not to press myself into him too much because I didn't want to hurt him too badly.

"Love, there was no way on earth that you could have known what was going to happen. Hell, had I known what was going to happen I would have taken you to the park for our honeymoon!" He exclaimed. I had to laugh at that. I guess I was being a little silly, wasn't I?

"You can't ever hide anything from me ever again. You were hurt and you could have died because you didn't tell me. Sometimes being brave is enchanting, but this was just stupid. And your ribs! Why in the world. . . how could you keep something like that away from me?" I blushed, knowing what I had done to him on that island. How in the world. . .? No, I would have never done that had I known he was hurting like that.

"I didn't tell you that I stepped on some giant, furry creature because I didn't want to scare you and as for the other thing, well. . . " he grinned devilishly, "then we wouldn't have enjoyed even a small bit of time on that blasted island."

My brain kind of malfunctioned then, thinking about all the things I was thinking about in the bath. I was supposed to head down to dinner with the kids, but I only wanted to be in one place, right here where I was. I allowed myself to snuggle into his chest just gently enough to hear his heartbeat, my one hand on his chest, the other on my own. Alice was right – our hearts beat as one.

There was a knock on the door and Emmett's muffled voice asking if I was planning to come to dinner. I got up, begrudgingly while Edward moaned in protest. Heading to the door I opened it and smiled up at my very best friend. "Hey, Em. Can you just bring us two meals tonight? I'm sorry to miss out with the kids, but Edward is just feeling extra tired tonight. I don't want to leave him alone." Emmett peered over my head and Edward must have played the part well because he looked back at me somberly and nodded. "Thank you, Emmett."

I helped Edward sit up a bit more to prepare him for his tray and I waited patiently. A few minutes later a different knock came and we both said "come in" at the same time. In came our kids. Jacob had a tray of food and so did Tanya, Alice had my bear squished tightly to her chest. "Hi guys!" I smiled.

"Emmett said it would be OK to bring dinner up for you. We just miss seeing you at the table." Tanya explained. I felt terrible, but I needed to take care of my husband.

"Come on in, that's so nice of you, bubula." I sniffled. They entered and placed the tray over Edward's lap and then handed me mine. After passing hugs and kisses to each of us they headed back out the door. We shouted that we loved them and they shut the door.

"You could have gone to dinner with them." Edward whispered.

"Hon, I assaulted a member of the Coast Guard to be near you, I'm pretty sure dinner with the kids can wait. You are my top priority right now. I'm your wife, I'm supposed to take care of you." I took the clothe napkin from the tray and tucked it into his shirt and lifted the lid off of the plate. Chicken Piccata, one of my very favorites. "This looks amazing! Need help cutting yours up?"

Edward just glared at me. "I may have injuries but my hands still work." He huffed.

"Oy, I was just trying to help you! Fine, do what you want." I shrugged, laying on the guilt as I began cutting mine up and enjoying every single bite. Not only was there Chicken Piccata, but there was a delicious rice pilaf with it. I could see him struggling with the fork and knife. Guess he didn't realize muscles throughout the body help do the simplest things. I waited for him to figure this out and when he finally got mad enough to slam his utensils down with a wince I smiled at him. "Now?"

"Yes, please." He grumbled through gritted teeth. I took a lot of pleasure doing these simple things for him. Like I told him when we got married – I didn't know how I could ever equal the gifts he had bestowed upon me. Well, now I felt like I could do something for him and that was very important to me.

We enjoyed dinner in silence. Once we were finished I took the trays and set them outside of the bedroom door. I decided I was just going to stay in the rest of the night and I changed into a short, satin blue night shirt. It had thin straps and a lacy sweetheart neckline. It was simple, very comfortable, and, also made me feel pretty.

I came back into the room and Edward's eyes widened, I didn't really think anything of it to be honest. I was just getting comfy and satin was so smooth on my still sore skin. "How are you feeling? Need any medicine? I have to get that antibiotic cream going on you, too. You do me, I'll do you." I winked with a big tub of cream. "I hope this is a small glimpse into our old age because it's kind of kinky when I say it out loud."

Edward laughed, hard, gripping his sides and I only felt a little bad. "Come here." He purred and I melted into the floor. I collected myself and headed over to the bed. I watched as his muscles flexed and shook with pain as he moved to sit up on the side of the bed. He went to remove his T-shirt, but I stopped him and helped him. Lifting his arms like that would still be painful. Undressing my love was intimate, but not as sexy as it would normally be, right now it was – for me – all about the closeness and the need to care for him that made it so special. His skin was burned worse than mine so I gently applied the burn cream on the areas of his skin that were still sore. He winced a few times and I kissed him near where it hurt each time. This seemed to help. When I was done he took the tub of cream from me and instructed me to undress. Once my dress was off he ghosted the cream on my much smaller wounds and then had me lie down. He massaged the cream into my skin on my legs and upper chest where the burns seemed to be the worst. He then grabbed a clothe cleaned off his hands. I pulled my nighty back on and got into bed, waiting for him to return from the bathroom. When he got into bed he pulled me close and kissed me gently and I sighed. I missed this – but I was being patient because of our current situation. When his hands caressed my body I felt a jolt go through me, I was not prepared for this – at all. He couldn't be ready yet. . . could he? His strong hands moved along my legs and then found purchase making me yip in surprise. He kissed me soundly then. "Let me thank you for taking such good care of me, wife." He said, kissing me further down my neck.

I may be sore, and I may be worried about him, but I'm not a shmuck. If he was up for it, so was I, but I wasn't going on this ride alone. I reached out and he hissed in my ear. Tonight was perfect. Even if we had to rub each other down with pain cream like a cute little geriatric couple.


Thanks again for reading. Please leave a little review and let me know what you think. I hope I'm still on target with this group. I did re-read the whole thing before creating more. My love to you all!
Joie Cullen