***A/N***

I thought I'd crank out another chapter this weekend before I start putting up Halloween at my house. It's been almost 80 degrees the past few days though so I'm not really feeling it!

Ass Saver is at it again, he can't help himself...see you soon.

S. Meyer owns all things Twilight

Chapter 18-Little Victories

BPOV

I woke up the next morning feeling, good. That was the only way to describe it. They removed the IV the night before, along with the bandages on my head.

Dr. Nelson came in earlier, and told me I would be released in a day or two and I was looking forward to getting out of there, that was for sure.

My throat even felt better, and I opened my mouth to test it, "Hi I'm Bella, but you might know me as Jane Doe." Hoarse, but a definite improvement.

I was also able to get out of bed last night, with help of course. Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up having to pee. I mean really pee. When I tried to swing my legs over the bed and put them on the floor, pain flared through my knees. I hit the button for the night shift nurse, and she came in and helped me to the bathroom.

I tested my legs this morning by raising and bending them under the blankets. They seemed to feel a little better too. Maybe I would actually be able to pee by myself today. I raised my hand in a high-five to no one. Hey, it's the little victories.

I looked up at the whiteboard in front of me.

You are at University of Chicago Medical Center

Today is Wednesday October 20th

Your Nurse is Mary

Your Name is Isabella Swan

I smiled. Yes, it's the little victories for sure.

I looked over and saw a tray of food, and pulled it over my lap, and lifted the lid. Scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and hot tea. It smelled good, and I heard my stomach growl.

It looked like Mary kicked some ass.

When she came by yesterday, before her shift was over, Mary looked at the turkey sandwich on my plate and the lone bite taken from it. "A sandwich?" She said exasperatedly."Really, they sent you up a sandwich? Does no one in that kitchen read what I write on food charts? You were to have soft foods and liquids. I'm sorry honey, that must have been painful, I'm gonna straighten this out."

You tell those Dirty Birds, Mary.

Chuckling, I started digging into the food, and before I knew it, I had eaten every last bite.

I think knowing Esme would be coming by soon also contributed to my raised spirits. There were so many things I wanted to ask her last night, but didn't, because I was such an emotional mess. I especially wanted to know how she knew I was in the hospital. If they didn't know who I was, how did she find me?

And if I'm being honest, I was also looking forward to seeing Edward, I mean, Detective Cullen, again.

In my mind, I thought of him as Edward. Listening to his stories, and the way he and Esme interacted, I really did forget he was a Detective, and I was one of his cases. It felt odd to know I was the subject of a police investigation. I was so worried yesterday he was going to grill me about things I couldn't remember, but he didn't. I wanted to thank him again, maybe this time with my voice instead of a piece of paper. I also wanted to tell him I was ready to be questioned. I made the decision late last night after returning from the bathroom.

When the night nurse helped me back to bed, I found I had trouble falling back to sleep. My mind raced with a million things, and I stared at the ceiling for awhile thinking about the last few days. I decided having the breakdown had been a good thing. I needed the release. I needed to get it out, and have it behind me, so I could move forward.

And that's where I wanted to go, forward. Part of doing that, would be talking to Detective Cullen.

With my new found optimism, I looked toward the bathroom, and thought about getting out of bed. Just to brush my teeth, at the sink, like a normal person. I really wanted a shower too. My hair felt greasy. Because of my arm, I probably wouldn't be able to accomplish a full shower by myself, but I could at least brush my teeth couldn't I? Even Dr. Nelson told me earlier this morning, he wanted me up and moving. The sooner the better he said.

I decided to try it. I sat up, pulled back the blankets, and swung my legs over the side. I sat there for a minute to orient myself to the new position, and looked down at my knees. The swelling had gone down considerably, but the bruising still looked pretty wicked. I straightened each leg out in front of me, one at a time. A little stiff, but nothing like yesterday. Yeah, yesterday was rough, in more ways than one.

I tentatively lowered one foot to the ground. The bed was high, and I was short, so I had to reach. I scooted my body a bit closer to the edge, and placed first my toes, and then my entire foot on the floor. I held onto the table for some added support, and hesitantly brought my other foot down. I took a deep breath, and cautiously stood up. The hospital socks had non slip strips on the bottom, and I could feel them gripping the floor. So far so good.

I stood there for a moment, holding onto the table and getting my bearings.

Ok, you can do this. The bathroom is only a few feet away. We're gonna brush those teeth...and if we're feeling really wild and crazy, we might even try to pee!

I grabbed the toothbrush from the table, and started moving forward, taking a few shuffling steps. I was going slow, but I was doing it. I was concentrating on my feet as they moved across the tiled floor, when I heard the door open. My head whipped up at the sound, and I saw Detective Cullen walk in.

The quick movement caused a wave of dizziness, and I felt myself losing my balance. I panicked, and reached out to brace myself on something. Of course there was nothing there, and I knew I was going down.

His eyes went wide when he saw me, the smile he was wearing when he entered the room, immediately falling from his face.

"Jesus!" He yelled, as he sprinted toward me. He caught me just a few inches before I hit the floor. He had one arm around my back as his hand cradled my head, and his other hand gripped my waist. We must have looked like a pair of ballroom dancers, doing an extravagant dip. His face was so close our noses almost touched, and his eyes were wild as they searched mine.

"Holy shit. Are you ok?"

I was frozen, looking up at him, my heart racing from the adrenaline.

I managed to nod my head a few times while my eyes stayed locked on his. Even though my voice had improved, there was no way I was opening my mouth to speak, while his face was this close to mine. Why couldn't this have happened after I brushed my teeth?

He brought us both to an upright position, keeping his hands on me. He looked me up and down , his eyes desperately sweeping from the top of my head to my socked feet, more than once. "Are you sure? Are you sure you're ok?"

I nodded again.

His expression still looked a bit wild. "What the hell were you trying to do?"

Embarrassment washed over me, and I could feel my face getting hot. I could only imagine what I looked like. Greasy hair, too large hospital gown engulfing me, arm in a sling, knees battered to shit.

I slowly held up the toothbrush still gripped in my hand. I gave an apologetic grimace and lifted my shoulders slightly, before looking down at the ground. I realized it was probably a really stupid idea not to ask for help.

"Hey." he said, and I looked up at him.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I sounded angry. I'm not, I just...you just...you scared the living shit out of me, that's all. What are you doing out of bed?"

Again I held up the toothbrush.

He looked into my eyes for a moment. "Let's go."

I looked back in confusion.

He put his arms out as he bent over a bit, indicating he wanted to pick me up, and raised a questioning brow asking me for my permission. I felt torn, not knowing how to respond. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but knew it was probably the quickest way to get to the bathroom. Ultimately, I gave him a stilted nod of my head.

He picked me up, with one arm under my legs, and the other on my back. I brought my good arm up and placed it around his neck, and looked straight ahead toward the bathroom. Once we arrived over the threshold, he placed me on my feet in front of the sink and I put the toothbrush down and gripped the counter.

I turned around and gave him a small smile, while I waved the back of my hand toward the door to shoo him out. I wanted some privacy.

"No way."

I looked at him for a moment, and then stood on one leg, while simultaneously gripping the counter top. I raised my brow and widened my eyes a bit as if to say, "See, I'm fine."

He stared at me for a few seconds and then conceded." Fine, I'll be right outside."

I nodded my head, and waved my fingers at him in a 'too-da-loo' gesture, to get him to back out.

Once he was gone, and I closed the door, I turned around, ran the brush under the faucet, and put the paste on. I closed my eyes, let out a sigh and started brushing. Oh, that felt good. I got all up in it, back molars, tongue, front, back, and everywhere in between. I opened my eyes, glanced up at the mirror, and froze.

What the actual fuck?

I didn't even recognize myself. My hair was in fact, a greasy mess, but more concerning to me was my face. I had a large bruise along my jawline which ended at the bottom of my right cheek. There seemed to be a gash on my lip which was almost healed, and my eyes had purple shadows under them and looked sunken and listless.

I continued to stare at my reflection. What happened to me? Someone did this to me? I could feel the tears start to form again.

I shook my head and tore my gaze from the mirror. I didn't want to look at myself anymore. I finished brushing my teeth, rinsed, and spit into the sink before grabbing a towel and wiping my mouth.

I took a shaky breath and turned around to open the door. When I did, Detective Cullen was leaning against the wall. "Feel better?"

I nodded my head, and tried to give him a small smile, but I could tell he knew something was wrong. He stared at me for a few moments and then looked over my shoulder into the bathroom. I couldn't read his expression.

He brought his gaze back to me, and held his arms out again to pick me up, but I shook my head 'no'. I grabbed one of his arms and held on, as I tried to start walking forward.

He removed his arm from my grasp, and instead, wrapped it around my waist, and we shuffled back to the bed.

Once we got there, and I saw how high the mattress actually was, I frowned, as I tried to figure out how I was going to climb back up. Before I knew what was happening, he swept me up and gently placed me in the bed. I couldn't even argue, I didn't have the energy.

It was like I was completely deflated. Like all the air had been let out. Like all the positive feelings I had when I woke up this morning were completely erased once I looked in the mirror. I could still feel tears threatening, and I steeled myself to lock that shit down.

He arranged the blankets around me while I tried to avoid his gaze. Once finished he said softly,

"Miss Swan, I know it's hard right now, but I promise, it'll get better. Hey, you made it out of bed today...all by yourself, and you would have made it to the bathroom by yourself too, if I hadn't barged in here the way I did. I should have knocked."

I looked at him. Wasn't I just saying this morning it was the little victories? I did get out of bed myself. I did brush my teeth myself like a normal person, and as the days go by, I was only going to improve. Edwa..., I mean, Detective Cullen was right, and I felt some of my resolve from earlier start to return.

Fuck the guy who did this to me, he wasn't going to win.

I looked at him as he continued to smooth the blankets. "Detective Cullen?"He looked up quickly, surprised to hear me speaking, and in a hoarse, but determined voice I said,

"I'm ready to give my statement now."

Hope you're enjoying the story. Let me know what you think if you're so inclined Thanks for reading!