EPOV

I wake up twenty minutes late and make a mental note to never agree to game night with Emmett on a school night again.

I shake a grumpy Marley awake and tell her to go down to the laundry room for her uniform after she brushes her teeth. Looks like we'll be hitting up the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast today. She stumbles to the bathroom, then out the door and down the stairs.

"Careful, Muffin," I call and hurry through my morning routine.

Passing the door, I notice that Bella isn't awake yet and figure maybe she drank too much last night.

I decide to let her sleep and, despite Marley's protests, get us out the door in record time.

"I want Mommy," she mutters around her sausage biscuit.

"She's just sleeping in. I'll bring her with me to pick you up from school."

She harrumphs and finishes her breakfast right as we pull into the drop-off lane.

"Have a good day, Muffin," I call while she climbs out of the back seat with the help of one of the drop-off monitors.

"Love you, Daddy."

The drive home is silent, something I'm not used to after spending the past month with Bella by my side.

I decide to drop by the restaraunt to check on the status of the renovations and find Emmett knocking down one of the walls that leads to where the bathrooms used to be.

"You're having way too much fun with that sledgehammer." I laugh.

"Eh, why pay the construction company when I can do most of the demo myself?"

I tell him to be careful and check the plans twice before tearing shit up before I hunt down Rose.

She's sitting at her desk, going over last week's inventory.

"Hey," she greets and looks around. "Where's your better half?"

I roll my eyes. "Bella's sleeping in thanks to the wine you poured down her throat last night."

"Huh, that's weird. She barely drank any."

I shrug and take a seat across from her. "How's it going?"

"Ugh, there was a discrepancy in the inventory last week, so I've been trying to hunt down where the shortages came from. Low and behold, it's a bug in the fucking system … We're doing well, even with the shut down for the rebuild."

She slides the portfolio across the desk, and I take a look.

"That's good. I know you were worried about losing profit when we closed."

"We're good." She bites her lip and leans back in her chair.

"What's up?"

"I had an ulterior motive when I pushed for the rebuild instead of opening a second location," Rose tells me and reaches in a drawer for a manila folder. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Do you not know who you are talking to?" I ask. "What's going on?"

Rose opens the folder and holds up a pamphlet.

"I've been doing some research behind Emmett's back … I don't want to get his hopes up in case it's not possible … and from what I've learned, it's totally possible."

"Surrogacy?"

Rose nods. "I've been looking into harvesting my eggs and IVF with a surrogate. I don't want to—I can't be pregnant again. If something were to happen, I wouldn't survive it. Seeing what you and Bella are going through, I don't want to chance an adoption. Besides, I'd like a little piece of me and Emmett."

"I understand." I offer her a half-smile. "So, when are you going to tell Emmett you plan on impregnating another woman with his baby?"

Rose chokes on a laugh. "Soon. It's a pretty lengthy process, hormones and an outpatient procedure. Not to mention, interviewing possible baby mamas and coming up with an agreement. What do you think?"

"It sounds like you're trying to convince me rather than yourself."

"Remember when you called me after you got Bella's letter?" she asks, and I nod. "And how you asked me to tell you that you were doing the right thing?"

"You want me to tell you that?"

Rose doesn't answer but studies the pamphlet. "It's only been a week or so since I started reading up on it. I feel like I might be getting my hopes up. What if Emmett isn't ready? What if he's never ready? I've always wanted to be a mom, you know?"

"You should definitely talk to Emmett. You might be surprised."

Rose closes the folder and puts it back in the drawer. "If we decide to do this, I'll want to take some time off … get used to being a mom. We'll need to hire someone to help out."

"Why don't you talk to Emmett, and then we'll worry about the logistics."

I say a quick goodbye and head home to check on Bella.

She hasn't called, so I'm guessing she drank more than Rose thought.

~MM~

The house is quiet when I enter, and Bella isn't in the living room or the kitchen. It's almost eleven, so I grab a bottle of water and some Advil, taking the steps two at a time, and knocking softly on Marley's bedroom door.

"Bella?"

There's no answer, and I feel my stomach tighten with dread.

I can only hope she hasn't yacked all over the room because I am not good with vomit.

I knock a little harder and open the door just a crack.

"Bella?"

Soft whimpers are the only reply, and I open the door farther, finding her curled up on the floor beside the bed with a blanket over her.

"Bella?"

"Shh." She cries.

I chuckle. "Must be one hell of a hangover. Wine does the same thing to me."

It's at this moment that I realize Bella is full on sobbing. This isn't just a hangover. I fall to my knees in front of her, using my hands to check her over for injury. "Bella? What's wrong? You have to tell me what's wrong."

She peeks out from under the blanket and her eyes are almost swollen shut. I'm freaking out.

"It's just a migraine," she whispers hoarsely. "I've had them since the accident. Just … don't talk loudly."

"Why are you on the floor? What can I do?"

"I couldn't get the blinds to shut all the way. I just need some place where it's dark, and pink curtains don't exactly keep the light out."

I think about possible places in the house that I can take her. I don't have blinds in my bedroom because I like natural lighting.

The living room is the best bet.

I stand up and pull Bella into my arms, and she grunts in pain.

"Where are we going?"

"The living room has black out curtains."

I try to walk as gently as I can, trying hard not to jostle her too much. I set her down on the couch and hurry to pull the curtains. "It's okay now."

She lifts the blanket. It's dark, but I can still see the tears trail down her cheeks.

I pull an extra blanket over her. "Tell me what I can do to make you feel better. Do you need me to go buy you migraine medication? I don't think I have any."

"I have a prescription … it's in my bag by the front door. It knocks me out … I just need to sleep it off."

I run and grab her purse, and her hands are shaking so badly she can barely hold it up.

I ask her permission before I rifle through it, finding the small medicine bottle at the bottom. I grab a bottle of water from the kitchen and press two pills to her lips, helping her take them.

"How long do these usually last?"

She groans and leans back. "It could be hours, but they've lasted days before."

"I'll wait for you to fall asleep, and then I'm going to leave."

"I'm not kicking you out of your house," she argues.

"You aren't. I have to go to the grocery store and pick up Marley from school. If you're still feeling badly, I might ask my mom to keep her for the night."

Bella wasn't lying when she said the pills knock her out. I make her eat some crackers and grab her another bottle of water, only to find her completely out of it. I tuck the blankets around her body and lock the front door on my way out.

~MM~

Marley is upset when she sees that it's just me picking her up from school, but I explain that Bella is sick, and her attitude quickly changes to worry.

We stop by the grocery store to pick up dinner and supplies for ice cream night because we're hosting this time, later in the week.

"We should make Mommy a cake. That will help her feel better," Marley suggests as she throws a bag of marshmallows into the cart.

"I don't think so, Muffin. We're going to make some chicken stew and let her rest. We have to be really quiet though, so you're going to come up to my room and watch TV or a movie with me after dinner."

She isn't happy, but she doesn't have a choice. She does talk me into buying three different candy bars at the checkout lane so Bella has variety.

We tiptoe into the house with our bags, and I find Bella in the same position I left her in—cuddled into the couch, hugging a pillow to her chest. Her rosy lips are pursed, her entire face pinched from the pain, and her eyes are still puffy.

Marley grabs Pooka from his cage and disappears up the stairs.

I manage to make the chicken stew without making any unnecessary noise, feeling accomplished when it's simmering. Every cabinet is open, and the sink is filled with dirty dishes because I think the dishwasher might be too loud.

Marley returns, wearing a different shirt and holding her uniform away from her body.

"Pooka peed all over me," she tells me.

"Shh. Did you put him back in his cage?"

She nods.

"All right, go put that in the laundry room. Leave the door open and come back here. Dinner will be done soon."

Marley tiptoes out of the room while I dish out three bowls of stew and tear some bread off the loaf. I drop a couple ice cubes in Marley's stew and set it on the island. She comes back.

"Is Mommy going to eat with us?" she asks, eyeing the extra bowl.

"No. I'm going to let it cool off and take it to her while you pick out a movie."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's got a migraine."

"What's a midrain?"

"A migraine," I correct her. "It's a really bad headache."

When we're finished eating, I carefully carry Bella's dinner into the living room. Marley brings a bottle of juice and sets it on the coffee table before going to pick out a movie.

Bella still hasn't moved, and she hasn't eaten anything besides the crackers I gave her. I run my thumb over her eyebrow and whisper her name, but she doesn't stir.

"Maybe you should kiss her awake. Like Sleeping Beauty," Marley offers from the DVD shelf. "It worked for the prince, you know."

"Shh. Pick your movie and go upstairs."

She rolls her eyes.

I squeeze Bella's hand and whisper her name again.

"Bella, it's Edward. I brought you something to eat."

She whimpers and opens one swollen eye. "My head hurts."

I fight back a smile and help her sit up. Her hands are shaking too much to hold the spoon, so I end up having to feed her.

Marley sits back against the DVD shelf, watching with a smile.

"This is embarrassing," Bella muffles.

"Marley turns into a baby when she gets sick too. I'm used to it."

Bella glares but reaches for her head "No more. I have to take more medication and go back to sleep before my brain explodes out of my eye sockets."

"THAT CAN HAPPEN?" Marley bellows from the other side of the room.

Bella ends up in tears, and it's decided that Marley is going to stay with her Nana and Pawpaw until her mother feels better.