Hello everyone! I hope you've had a good week! Mine has been blah but not terrible. It was nice hearing all of your opinions on who attacked Bella! I'm not saying anything, but some of you were kind of close. But don't worry, you'll find out soon enough!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Good morning Bella!" A sing-song voice sang.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling above me. For a second, I thought the voice was in my head, but beside me the bed was slumped in. I looked over to see Alice, who was sitting on Edward's bed beside me.

"Hey," I said, sitting up slowly. Trying to avoid using my leg, "What are you doing here?"

"Mom and Rosalie are downstairs making you some breakfast. I don't cook, so I came up here to wake you up."

"Where's Edward?"

"He had some work to do. And he called mom to see if she'd come over and look after you. The doctor said you're not supposed to put too much weight on your ankle for like two weeks."

"Oh okay." I said, not arguing with her. I threw the blankets off of me.

"We brought some crutches, that way you can still get around and you don't have to use your ankle." She said as she helped me to my feet.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," I said, "Edward mentioned something about putting a television up here for me, but I can't stay in this bed for two whole weeks."

"Well, you do need to rest."

"And I will."

I walked into the bathroom and did my morning routine. When I hopped out of the bathroom, Esme and Rosalie were walking into the room.

"Bella," Esme said, walking over and hugging me tightly, "I was so worried about you. When Carlisle told me what happened, I was just completely panicked."

"Don't worry, I'm okay." I said, hugging her back.

"I'm glad you're okay Bella," Rosalie said. She sat on the bed, placing the large tray of food beside her. Esme helped me back to the bed.

"Bella we weren't sure what you preferred so we made a little of everything." Esme said.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." I drank some of the milk they gave me.

"So, what happened?" Alice asked.

"You don't have to tell us of course," Esme said, shooting a look at Alice, "I'm sure it was stressful enough."

"No, no it's okay." I said, "Well, last night after the party Edward dropped me off at my apartment. He had an emergency at one of the businesses so he couldn't stay. When I walked into my apartment there was a man standing there. He just attacked me. I never saw his face."

"Wow, that's scary," Alice shuddered.

I nodded, "It was. I thought I was going to die."

Esme shuddered and grabbed my hand, "That's terrible. What kind of monster would even do that."

I shrugged, "I don't know." I didn't feel like retelling the story of what happened when I first moved to New York.

"Well, don't your worry dear. Our family is very, very close with the NYPD. They will find who did this."

"I hope so."

"I have something for you Bella," Alice said, presenting a huge box that she somehow hid, "It's something to keep you occupied while you're resting."

"Alice you didn't have to get me anything."

"Just open it," She smiled.

I pulled the lid off the box and found several pairs of very fuzzy socks, a huge box of fancy assorted chocolates, a couple of magazines, a huge book on baking, a fuzzy blanket, and a cute little stuffed animal. It was overkill, but it was really sweet.

"Thank you Alice," I smiled and gave her a hug, "I appreciate it."

Alice, Esme, and Rosalie hung out for a while. We got takeout for lunch from the place Rosalie knew. It was pretty good.

After lunch, they left. I had to take my pain killers and my anti-inflammatories. Both of those made me tired.

I wasn't sure how long I was sleeping for, but the sound of heavy footsteps woke me up. I jumped up in fear.

Edward was standing on the side of the bed. I think I scared him too because his eyes were wide.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to scare you."

I placed my hand over my heart that was beating like a drum. He sat on the bed and pulled me into his arms.

"I'm sorry, princess," he kissed the top of my head, "I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't realize how loud I was being."

"It's okay," I said, "I guess I'm just a little jumpy."

"You have every right to be," He said, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. Just a little stiff."

"Riley called me. He wanted me to tell you to get better soon. And to call him when you open the bakery back up."

"Oh my god," I said, "I completely forgot about my bakery. What am I going to do? I need to open—,"

"Honey don't worry about it now," He said, "When you're all healed up, you can open the bakery and get back to baking."

I stayed silent for a minute, nibbling my lip.

"Are you okay?" He asked me when I didn't say anything.

"Edward… I-I'm really scared."

"I know you are but—,"

"No, I mean, I'm terrified to go back to my place," I told him, "When I think about going back there, I get all panicky and I start thinking about being attacked again. And when if the next time, he kills me? How am I supposed to run my business when I'm constantly thinking about someone killing me?"

"I have a solution to that Bella," He said, "I was going to talk to you about it when you were feeling better, but I guess now is a good time to go ahead and show you."

"What's up?"

He turned his head and whistled. Two big dogs trotted into the room and sat on my side of the bed, staring at Edward. I looked at him in confusion.

"Bella, that's Nero and that's Tank. They're highly trained guard dogs. I got a little demonstration of what they can do, and let me tell ya, I wouldn't want to be on their bad side."

"So, you got me guard dogs?"

"Yeah," he said, "They're trained to stay with you all day. I would hire someone to stay with you all day, but I didn't think you'd like that. So, I was hoping these two would put your mind at ease."

"Edward it's such a nice gesture, but if I do go back to the bakery, I can't walk them like they need."

"Wait, what do you mean if?"

I averted my gaze and looked down at the bed.

"Oh no, Bella," He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, "Bella you can't quit your bakery. I won't let you do that. You've worked so hard. You can't give up on it."

"Edward I'm scared," Tears started leaking down my face, "I love my bakery, but I'm so afraid. What if I get attacked again, he's still out there."

He pulled me into his arms, "Bella I talked to the cops today. They found a fingerprint. They're analyzing them now and they're supposed to be getting back to me. I have a good feeling Bella; I really think we're going to get this bastard."

I nodded, "How am I supposed to take care of these dogs during the day? They need to be let out and everything right?"

"No, they've been trained," He said, "They only need to go out at certain times. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once at night. I'm going to hire a dogwalker to take them out in the afternoon. And in the evenings too. Whatever you want."

I stared at the dogs, thinking about it.

"Bella I promise you, if someone tries to attack you again, these two dogs will not let them get away with it. They're very protective."

"So, is this your way of telling me that I need to go back home as soon as I'm healed?" I asked.

"What? No, of course not," He looked offended, "Bella, I would be the happiness man on earth if you wanted to stay here permanently. I can't express in words how happy that'd make me," he said, "But, I know you don't want to give up on your bakery. That would crush you. I don't ever want you to give up on your dream. You've worked so hard. I can't let you give up on your dream."

I looked down at my hands, nibbling my lips. After a minute, Edward pulled my lips out from my teeth and lifted my chin.

"Talk to me Bella," He said as he kissed my forehead, "What's going through that beautiful head of yours?"

I inhaled and closed my eyes, "I…I don't want to go back to my apartment."

"Okay, and you don't have to go back. You can just stay here."

I groaned and thumped back against the pillow, wishing I could stand and turn away. But my stupid ankle.

"But we haven't been dating for that long! I don't know much about relationships, but I'm pretty sure moving in together after barely four months is a huge risk! And it'll put a strain on our relationship. I don't want to ruin our relationship. I love what we have."

"Bella, we pretty much live together now. I mean, I'm either at your place or we're here," he said, "And you know what, I was going to try and convince you to just stay here. I had an idea about your apartment."

"What's your idea?"

"Well, I have a friend who's looking for a place. He works as a bodyguard. I was thinking you could rent out the apartment to him. And I'll hire him to watch out for you. We can put more cameras around the building and monitors in the apartment. That way, he can keep an eye out for you too. You'll have the extra security."

"Edward I don't want your friend to have to babysit me."

"He won't be babysitting. He'll be your security guard."

I sighed heavily, "I don't know Edward—,"

"Bella, I'm going to be honest with you," He said, his voice getting somewhat lower, "I'm not okay with you going back to the bakery without protection. The cameras are great and all, but you were still attacked. If it happened again, I-I don't know what'd I'd do. The next time could be worse. This was already bad enough. It can't happen again."

I was surprised by his words, "Can we just talk about this later please?"

"Yeah sure," He said, "Are you hungry? You want some takeout?"

I nodded my head and snuggled closer against him.

Do you think Edward is right to feel this way about Bella going back? Do you understand Bella's fears? Lemme know in your reviews!