A/N: So, this is what happened guys. I was trying to get a nice, long chapter out to hold everyone over while I'm gone next week (I'm taking a short jaunt across the pond to London and Paris, but more on that in the closing A/N, if you're interested), and long story short, HALF of the damn chapter got erased. When I say I almost cried, I'm not joking. Anyway (sigh), rather than not update at all, I managed a short update I worked from memory. Hope it brings at least a little smile to you guys today. :)

Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine as well.

Broken - Chapter 25

I awoke with a smile, a racing heart, and a vague vision in my head of Bella and me. We were trying to make our way up the winding, narrow staircase to my bedroom, while wrapped together and naked under a throw. Bella's right foot, for some unknown reason, was injured, and every time I attempted to pick her up and carry her up the steps, she pushed me off. Every time, we ended up sitting on the steps, laughing and kissing and trying not to fall and break our necks.

"Hmm, Bella," I hummed in sleepy contentment.

In the next moment, the smile withered, and my racing heart abruptly stopped. Had I...had I actually dreamed it all? Was the entire evening just another one of my dreams of Bella?

Without question, this dream had been the best one ever, both in content and realism because not only had Bella and I made love, which we usually did in my dreams, but I could still feel her wrapped around me...could feel the heat deep inside of her, and it was a heat unlike anything I'd ever felt in any of my previous dreams. What was more, there was an actual narrative that preceded the act, which was a first. The truth was that usually, my dreams of making love to Bella began in the middle. But in this dream, we'd somehow found a way to overcome the myriad of obstacles to us, and we were no longer…what was it she'd called us in the dream?

Star-crossed lovers.

For that handful of terrifying seconds, before a sense of touch or smell or any other sense could penetrate the groggy state of mind between wakefulness and sleep, my heart clenched, and my lungs-

Something, or rather, someone stirred beside me. A mane of silky hair brushed my chest. I smelled the sweet, incomparable scent of the woman lying naked beside me, and when Bella turned in my arms and met my gaze through dark, hypnotic eyes, I knew I wasn't dreaming. My imagination just wasn't that good. For a long while, we gazed at one another as if we were mutually amazed to wake and find that we weren't dreaming. When Bella shifted and sat up next to me, the blankets slipped off of her and revealed a goddess highlighted by moving headlights and streetlamps. And when without a word, she straddled me, I gripped her hips and slowly eased her down, hissing sharply when I found myself sheathed completely by her incomparable heat once more.

And no, it wasn't a dream.

Bella threw back her head, and for one long moment, other than for our mutually heavy breaths, neither one of us moved a muscle as we savored the initial connection. Then, with a deep breath, she met my eyes, braced herself on my chest, and began a slow, sensuous dance above me, which I complied with. Her long hair cascaded down her back, undulating like a dark waterfall in the moonlight and mimicking her body's rhythmic ebb and flow. With my hands curved around her hips, I helped her rise and fall around me, and at the same time, I committed it all to memory; the way she alternated between arching her back and taking me deeper, then leaning forward and seeking my tongue. And watching her ride me...it was the purest yet most erotic sight I'd ever witnessed. This time, unlike our loud lovemaking on the couch, Bella's cries were muted susurrations, whispered sighs of pleasure, while I groaned quietly into her mouth. After a timeless moment, her rocking picked up pace...she bounced harder...and when she ground her hips so tightly to mine that there was no beginning or end to us, we both threw back our heads and came together - Bella, with a strangled cry of ecstasy, and me...with a silent plea to the heavens that I be granted the privilege of making love to this woman for the rest of my damn life.

Afterward, she fell asleep on top of me, her head on my chest and every part of our body still connected. I pulled the blankets around us, and we drifted away surrounded by the lingering heat and scent of us.

I awoke a short while later to a different scene. Something was vibrating close to my ear, humming like an annoying insect. Bella's back was now tucked against my chest. Her backside was pressed tightly to my groin. Our legs were tangled and our hands weaved together over her stomach. Somehow, she'd ended up with all the blankets, while I laid naked beside her - which was fine. The heat radiating off of her body was enough. As content, sated, and warm as I was, searching out the source of the annoying vibration was not something I was anxious to do.

Yet, just like an annoying insect, the vibrating continued. Eyes still closed, I sighed as my mind began the instinctive extrapolation:

There was a crate next to my bed, turned over a bunch of medical books. The crate acted as a makeshift nightstand. On top of this nightstand, I had only a lamp and my cell phone. Lamps tended not to vibrate. That left the cell phone.

"Fuck me," I breathed in frustration.

"I did." Bella sighed and turned her head sideways, eyes still closed. "Twice. So, so good, but tired now."

Chuckling softly, I brushed my lips against her soft cheek. "Then rest," I whispered.

"K. Love you, Edward."

I inhaled deeply, and a broad smile spread across my face at hearing her say those words so easily, and even while more than half-asleep. Meanwhile, Bella released my hands for a moment to pull the blankets tighter around her shoulders, then re-weaved her fingers through mine. She kicked her legs, got my shins once or twice, and with one more long breath, she settled into sleep once more.

And all the while, the vibrating continued. With a much less satisfied sigh, I reached behind me and picked up my cell phone.

"Yeah?"

"Fucking hell, man. I've been calling and texting you for the better part of an hour! You did not drink enough last night for you to have passed out. I was there. So what's going on?"

It took me a couple of seconds to reply. In the ensuing silence, I could hear Bella's soft, rhythmic breaths behind me, as well as the louder city noises over the cell phone of wherever Em was calling from.

"What's going on?"

"You know what? Never mind," Emmett said. "You saw the approvals, right?"

"The approvals?"

"Yes! The approvals! From the FDA! You saw them come through, right? They just need your John Hancock, and we'll be ready for full production immediately! Woo-hoo! And that also means those trial vaccines back at the lab are viable, and we can innoculate ourselves tomorrow morning, so the anti-virus can kick in before we're out in the field next month. We don't want to run the risk of there being a shortage. You know what they say, Protect yourself first so you can protect others.'"

"Uhm..." I scrubbed a hand down my face. "Okay. Good. Good. This is all good. I'll take a look at the documents now, double-check that everything's in order, and I'll give you a call if I-"

"Yeah, I know you'll give me a call, which usually means if you don't sleep, I won't sleep." He chuckled. "But you're in luck. I was still up, and admittedly a bit hungover, so rather than going home and passing out, and having you banging on my door when I don't answer your Skype calls, I figured I'd save myself the trouble and come banging at your door instead."

"What?"

"I figured I'd let you make some coffee, and see if the tediousness of repetitious paperwork can stave off the building headache. I'm around the corner."

"What? Around the corner?"

"Panita, seriously. What the hell are you on? You're never this slow, even at two in the morning. Anyway, I'm here. Ring me up. I'm freezing my balls-"

"Edward...babe...everything okay?"

Bella turned over half-way, eyes still closed, and I leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Everything's fine. Promise. Go back to sleep."

"K." She burrowed deeper under the covers, kicked her legs, and fell into an even breathing pattern once more.

And all the while, Emmett was silent.

"I've got all these crazy scenarios running through my head," he finally said, "from you finally giving in to poor, love-lorn Maria, to you having met some random woman while my back was turned and before you left the bar, to the return of marriage-ready and Dentist-at-large Kate, to...well...no, likely not that one. Either way, none of those scenarios make any sense."

I grinned to myself. "Em, I'll pull up the paperwork right now, and I'll text you if I have-"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No way in hell am I letting you change the subject this time, fucker. What, or rather who was that?"

"Just make sure you don't pass out from that hangover and keep your phone handy in case-"

"Te jodiste, panita. You're screwed, buddy, porque for once, I've got the upper mano. Hah!" He shouted so loudly I heard him through the windows, and between that and his heavy Spanglish, I knew he was pretty drunk. "Dime who's there, or yo no voy a contestar when you call me. I will not answer that phone, fucker. That's a promesa."

"Em, remind me how old are you again?"

He chuckled unapologetically. "Ed, for once, make this easy for both of us, and just tell me who-

"It's Bella, of course," I smirked. "Who else would it be, Em?"

Another long moment of silence ensued.

"Who else, indeed?" he finally murmured. "Panita...buddy...wow."

"Emmett-"

"I mean, when I heard a woman's voice, I figured it had to be...but then you made it sound like such an impossibility..."

"Yeah," I raked a hand through my hair, "because I thought it was. But apparently, I was wrong, about a few things actually."

"Wow," he breathed.

"Yeah."

"You were wrong," he chuckled heartily. "Holy shit, I love that."

I rolled my eyes. "That's what you got from this?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon for you, dude, but you. were. wrong."

"I'm hanging up."

"You said you extrapolated, and there was no chance your extrapolations were wrong. HAH!" Again, I heard him through the windows. "You said you studied the macro picture - the live-in boyfriend, your past ommissions about your crazy-ass sister, etc. And what did I say?"

"Goodbye, Emmett."

"I said you needed to focus on the micro parts. I told you that the way Bella looked at you...the fact that she contacted you...that she was seeking you out, it all meant something. Hah! You know what this means, right?"

"What?" I asked, already regretting the question.

"This proves it once and for all that the micro is more important than the micro! HAH!"

"Seriously, goodbye," I said, but I was grinning too.

"Wait, wait, wait, panita!" Emmett laughed hard. "Seriously, I'm...good for you, man," he said much more soberly. "I guess sometimes good things do come to those who wait. And man, did you wait. Makes me hopeful for me someday."

"Em...the way I feel right now..." I swallowed, while an image ran through my head of Bella and I making love just a short while earlier. There was something she'd said.

'It's not as if I'm going to get pregnant.'

I smiled to myself as I pictured the dark-haired newborn I'd imagined a few weeks earlier, the one I'd imagined sick with the flu strain, only this time, I pictured him as healthy and strong.

"I've got enough hope for the whole world, and I'm hopeful for things I never dared hope for."

"A CDC Epidemiologist overflowing with hope? Not sure those are allowed. What will you do with yourself when the world is eradicated by a disease, the way we've already agreed will happen?"

I chuckled heartily at that dim view we usually shared. "It's not going to happen tonight, Em. Not tonight. And on that note-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, amusement still dancing in his voice. "On that note, I'm going to let you go. Knowing you, you're still going to take a look at those documents, even with your woman's warm body next to you. So go ahead, and give me a call if you need to double-check anything. I'll make my own damn coffee and try to stay awake."

"Okay, thanks," I smiled.

"And then afterward, though I'm sure you already have, make love to your woman, dude, cuz you've been celibate for far too fucking long."

"Asshole."

As I disconnected the call, I could hear his roaring laughter. The sound continued through the windows even after I hung up. And with quiet chuckles of my own, I turned to my woman. Bella was fast asleep, her lips slightly parted in her slumber. And unable to resist, I leaned in and kissed them softly.

"Love you, Bella," I breathed, not expecting a reply

"Love you too, Edward. So much," she breathed in return, then kept sleeping.

And squeezing my eyes shut, reopening them, and reassuring myself she was still there, I forced myself out of our warm bed to grab my laptop and get to work.

A/N: Thoughts?

So, I will be MIA for the next week or so. I'm leaving tonight for a last-minute trip to England and France. Yay for me! It'll be very quick, under a week, and between doing the touristy things in London and Paris, I'll also be attending a 50th wedding anniversary in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England.

For those of you familiar with 'The Cullen Legacy,' you might recall that Leigh-on-Sea was the coastal town where Bella hailed from in that story, and where she lived with Ellie before Edward knew of Ellie's existence. My sister-in-law grew up there, and I'd visited there with her long ago, but it's been a long time since I've been back. I'm looking forward to exploring the town again, and I'll try to take lots of pictures and post them on Facebook if anyone is interested. :)

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"See" you soon. :)