A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts.

We're inching closer toward the finish line. (Emphasis on the inching, lol) ;)

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

Broken - Chapter 36

Edward

Time was unmeasurable.

Its passage was ambiguously punctuated by moments of a vague awareness that blended with aberrant and fantastical imagery. Past, present, and imagination all intermingled and became one. In this state animated suspense, there was no distinction between delusion and reality.

At some undefined period, a bolt of all-encompassing warmth transcended any and all borders between delusion and reality and rushed me from limb to limb. It filled me so wholly that I knew, even if nothing else around me was real, the warmth was unequivocally so. It settled in my chest like a ray of morning sun. Its sublimity flooded into every extremity with an intensity that made my heart jolt. Stuttering breaths escaped me, brought on by the potent bolt of adrenaline this new sensation engendered from a source completely unlike the agonizing inferno which had so recently flayed open my chest, seared my throat, and attempted to turn my mind into a scorched and barren wasteland.

No; this warmth was gentle and soothing. It was like the first assuaging breeze that skims your skin at the tail end of a long and fiery heatwave. This warmth carried with it the promise of relief. It was alleviating rather than raging. And just like that breeze, this particular warmth was a small yet powerful reminder that better days...the best of days were up ahead if one could just withstand the miserable heat.

Almost simultaneously, a series of tones filled my ears. At times, they sounded urgent; at times, they sounded gentle. Yet each tone was indistinguishable from the other; or rather, all except for one were indistinguishable. It was the lone, bewitchingly hypnotic tone that I cleaved to in the nebulous darkness surrounding me. The other tones came and went with their notes of underlying fear and ready assurance, but that one tone always remained, always maintained its steady warmth, never wavered.

The tone became the compass by which I oriented myself in the pitch black. When the tone morphed into a minuscule pinpoint of bright light, a beacon, I eagerly followed the light. It led me to voices once again - and to the most beautiful voice in existence.

"...hear me...feel me...your hand...here, Edward..."

"...see...?...heart rate...spiked..."

"...he knows...holding his hand."

"...really think he knows I'm here, Emmett?"

"...he knows...dude loves you...loco...attuned..."

"...can't help worrying..."

"...his temperature...dropping slowly but surely...swear to you...be fine."

"...he told me once...H5N2...dangerous fevers...damage..."

"...over a hundred-and-five fever...extrapolated...analogy...frikkin' Chaos Theory...butterflies. Trust me...ain't nothing wrong...brain."

"...trust you but...was not a shitty analogy."

"...totally was! You said...yourself!"

"...Edward...here...No...Mrs. Cullen. I'm good."

"...call me Esme...my son...upset...need your rest..."

"I'll rest here...Esme...I won't push beyond my limits..."

"Thank you, Doctor Cullen. I'd appreciate...definitely rather stay...tonight."

Then...there was only her voice.

"…not star-crossed lovers, do you hear me? …together now…resolved…issues…not even your family…been around them all night…other than for a little slap...all survived in one piece." A soft, musical chuckle followed. "...sorry...not funny...figure it out…you get better...I won't allow you…especially not now…remember what I said...?...butterfly...?"

At her mention of the butterfly, my pulse began racing. My heart rate accelerated.

"...because you hear me, don't you?" Peculiarly, she sounded indignant now; impatient. "Well, if you want to hear me say it again…then…won't repeat until…open your eyes and look at me, Edward Cullen…love you so…need you…we both do…better get better..."

Those last words were delivered more like a command than a request. Strangely, the racing in my heart decelerated at the edict; the rushing in my veins calmed. Her voice was the master of my system. Because she was the ruler of my heart.

The next time the darkness dissipated, Bella and I were at the top of a mountain. My hand was wrapped within hers, and together, we made our way down the winding slope. At times, we traveled precariously close to burning fields; so close the heat tinged the fine hair on my arms. At times, we bypassed ice-covered ridges where billowing snow churned and made me shiver.

None of it affected Bella, and for that, I offered silent gratitude. With my hand threaded through hers, she kept our progression linear and away from all the dangers. The closer we came to the base of the mountain, the fewer burning fields we passed; the fewer ice-covered ridges we encountered, until all I felt was the warmth emanating from the woman beside me.

When we finally reached the mountain's base, Bella stopped. Turning to face me, she stood on the tips of her toes, cradled my face in her hands, and pulled me closer, brushing her soft lips against my forehead.

"We're here, baby. Wake up."

OOOOO

I woke to the sound of violent retching.

It only took a moment to surmise that it wasn't coming from me. However, other things took longer to work out. Opening my eyes, I squinted against the thin yet bright band of sunlight peeking in through shuttered blinds. It had been years since I'd actually seen light.

Or...had it?

At that moment, I had no clue. Slowly allowing my eyes to widen, I drew in a series of successive breaths. Then I heard the vomiting once again.

It came from what was likely the bathroom in this unfamiliar room. At the same time in which I noted that, I also noted the small, narrow couch that had been pulled parallel to my bed - a hospital bed. The couch and the bed would've made one flat, even surface had they been at the same level. Someone wanted to be as close as physically possible without actually climbing into the bed. The blankets over the couch were rumpled as if they'd been recently abandoned. I noted the sweet, familiar scent wafting from them; as a matter of fact, the scent permeated all the air around me. It was a soothing, calming scent unlike the usual, overly sterile and sanitized smell of these places. I inhaled the comforting scent greedily - until the gagging in the bathroom resumed. Then, I stopped breathing altogether.

I began to recall other things.

'I've been feeling off...'

'You and I are Chaos, and within our Chaos, a butterfly flapped its wings, and its effect will be life-changing...'

The room tilted at a nauseating angle. I shut my eyes and swallowed hard, instantly regretting the latter when a sharp, blade-like spasm sliced through my throat and almost made me gag as ferociously as the person in the bathroom. The pain served as a further reminder of other strange images, which now performed a disconcerting dance in my mind.

I saw myself lying lethargically on my couch at home, struggling for the strength to get up and board my flight to meet Bella.

I felt myself burning, clawing at my throat, and I saw the world beyond my windows burning along with me, while people in the street were charred to a crisp.

I saw myself swaying through the tunneled hallways at the CDC labs, then Emmett's horrified face looming large before me.

I heard ambulance sirens.

I heard unrecognizable voices. 'Doctor Cullen, can you hear me? Can you hear me, Doctor Cullen?'

Then I heard my own voice taunting me; my own face staring back at me accusingly. 'You didn't protect her, Doctor Cullen, and you lost them.'

I felt the ensuing despondency and saw myself lost in a dark, foggy mist, glad to be so because if I'd lost her...if I'd lost them, then there was no point in finding my way out.

I saw the mist morph into a blizzard, and I felt the blizzard funnel its way into my throat. I felt my bones turn into icicles that splintered and cracked.

I heard her voice. 'You and I are Chaos...a butterfly flapped its wings... its effect will be life-changing...'

Obviously, not all of these images could possibly be real. The question was, how to extrapolate reality from fantasy when your mind was barely out of the clutches of febrile delusions?

When the heaving in the bathroom finally subsided, I reopened my eyes yet kept them stuck to the bathroom door. My heart knocked painfully against my rib cage, my brain hammered against my skull, and my hands shook. All the while, I chanted a plea under my breath.

"It's not her, it's not her, it's not her."

When Bella stepped out of the bathroom dressed in nothing more than a robe and slippers, the baffling sight took a far second place to the terror that shot through me. Almost instantly, she discovered my eyes on her, and her footsteps halted as she took me in through tired eyes rimmed in dark circles; yet even from this distance, I saw them sparkle with undeniable joy.

"Edward!"

She rushed forward, and just as she'd done on that mountain...on that...mountain?...she cradled my face between her warm hands and brushed her lips against my forehead. Pulling back, she replaced her lips with her palm, her brow creasing in deep focus.

"Your fever's gone down some more, and you're awake."

She let out a long breath, and the lines on her forehead receded. While on the other hand, my anxiety only increased by leaps and bounds because Jesus, she couldn't be here. Not now. Not when...when...

"What are you doing here, Bella?" My voice erupted rough and hoarse as each syllable I spoke scraped against my throat like sandpaper.

Bella offered me a baffled smile. "Where else would I be?"

"In Miami," I hissed, "on your book tour. Anywhere but here."

The lines marring her smooth brow returned. "Edward, you got sick."

"I know I got sick, Bella. I remember. But why are you here?"

My nostrils flared, and even the sting of that long-ago injury made a bewildering and senseless comeback. Meanwhile, Bella scrutinized me carefully, and despite the rasping torture provoked with my every spoken word, I had to convey the urgency of the situation. But when I made the attempt, my voice broke weakly.

"If you get sick-"

"Shh." Bella quickly cradled my face and susurrated comfortingly. She brushed her lips against my forehead yet again, oblivious to the urgency, to the peril my proximity caused. Fighting against every natural instinct, I struggled against her warm grip.

"Bella, stop it." She yielded and released me. "You need to leave this room, this hospital, right now!"

Yet, instead of leaving, Bella merely sighed. She then proceeded to gingerly take a seat next to me, on the edge of the hospital bed. Incredulous, I could only gape at her.

"You know, a wonderfully-selfless epidemiologist gave me his booster vaccine a few weeks ago, then waited too long to receive his own, and now there's a shortage. That was massively irresponsible of him because he of all people should've known better."

"It was irresponsible, and I should've fucking known better, yes." I welcomed the blistering torment the furiously spat words bred in my throat. It kept me focused. It reminded me that this was nothing...nothing to what could happen to Bella due to my stupidity.

"And now," I continued, "you and your..."

But...what if it wasn't real?

What if her lack of self-preservation instincts, her lack of fear was because there really was less to fear than I imagined? What if I had imagined it; if the butterfly had simply been another part of my febrile delusions?

"Your tour..."

That much, I'd already succeeded in ruining without a doubt. That much was neither fantasy nor delusion. But what if saying the words on the tip of my tongue, asking the question burning a literal hole in my throat merely served to torture her with something that might never be?

Bella offered me a careless shrug. "My tour can wait. Over the past couple of years, I've made good friends and great connections including an agent who, while ditzy, also happens to be amazing at what she does. She's coordinated with the publishers, rescheduled the rest of my readings for after the holidays, and kept us on track for the same release date."

All the while, I shook my head. No matter what she said, while she remained in this room, her words absolved me of nothing.

"I could've ruined everything for you, Bella. You shouldn't have come."

"Stop." Bella dipped her head to my eye level and waited for me to meet her dark gaze. "Nothing is ruined, and of course I came. And from now on, I'm going to make sure you take care of yourself as well as you take care of others." She huffed and crossed her arms against her robe-clad chest. "You know, I'm really angry at you."

"You should be." My breaths erupted hard and heavy, making my lungs ache and my words quiver. "Bella...I guess I was…hallucinating. I had a dream. I thought…I thought…"

My head overflowed with a cacophony of half-formed thoughts intermingled with fever-induced visions and memories, and interspersed were latent dreams and wishes brought to the surface by disorientation. Yet saying that much alone was unforgivable; completing the thought aloud would've been the most heinously selfish act of insensitivity toward Bella yet on my part. To hint at it! To seek confirmation one way or the other! Out of sorts or not, how much of a self-absorbed asshole could I possibly be?

Except...except they were dreams and wishes which I suddenly couldn't keep myself from wanting more than I'd ever wanted anything. And while I battled with my muddled mind and my weakened will, Bella carefully took my shaking hand, threaded her fingers through mine, and brought our entwined hands to rest in between the slit in her robe...just above her soft stomach.

All my breath left me in a dizzying rush.

Throwing my head against the pillow served to rattle my already addled brain. I swallowed despite the pain and squeezed my eyes shut. Finally, I managed a whisper.

"It wasn't a dream." It was a half-strangled question more than a statement.

"No. It wasn't a dream."

"Bella..."

Chaos.

Butterfly.

It wasn't a dream, which meant Bella's presence here was as horribly dangerous as I'd initially feared.

My eyes popped open, round and terrified. "If you or…or our baby gets sick…"

Yet once again, Bella simply chuckled.

"Edward, baby you're tired and still a bit disoriented, so I'll repeat to you what man-bun-wearing microbiologist and your fellow virus expert Emmett, as well as world-renowned surgeon Carlisle, assured me when they told me that you'd indeed caught that H5N2 flu strain: I'm inoculated against it. Therefore, so is our baby. Edward, our tiny peanut is floating safe and sound inside me."

Pinching my eyes shut, a long series of uneven sighs escaped me.

"And it's all because you, Edward Cullen, made sure that I wouldn't get sick. You protected our family without even knowing you were doing so." With my eyes still shut, I felt more than saw the smile on her beautiful face; I felt her sweet breath on my face...her warm lips kissing away an errant tear from my jaw. "Thank you, my love."

"I love you so goddamned much." The words were strangled, ragged and rough, and yeah, they physically hurt to speak, but the truth of them was like a healing balm to every ache and pain remaining inside me. "How is it possible for you to make me this happy while I'm splayed out and useless in a hospital?"

When I reopened my eyes, I watched her mouth widen into a broad grin. "I've asked myself the same question all night. How am I so happy right now when he's splayed out in a hospital? Maybe it's because Emmett and your dad both assure me you'll be just fine, and I trust one of them implicitly, while the other…well, I'm starting to trust him regarding certain things, at least."

I released a guttural chuckle, and when Bella cradled my cheek, her thumb stroking the thick stubble on my jawline, I finally allowed myself to return the gesture, drawing circles with my thumb on her stomach.

"There's a baby in there," I grinned.

"I know!" she chuckled. "It still feels unreal. I went to the doctor yesterday morning, and I had to pee on five pregnancy sticks before I could even begin to believe it. By the way, Doctor Gerandy says you must have some strong fucking swimmers."

"Really?" I snorted.

"You see, Edward, since those five pregnancy tests came back positive, I'm seeing how all the mountains we feared insurmountable are nothing more than tiresome hills, and some…aren't even that. Some are tiny bumps in the road." Once more, Bella rested her forehead on mine. "You and I and this life our love has somehow created," she chuckled yet again, and despite her aura of calm, I could make out the remnants of her own shock, "that's what matters. Do you remember what else I said?"

I nodded languidly, while the rest of her earlier speech filled my slowly-adjusting mind.

"You said you don't care that I have a nut-job for a sister."

Bella confirmed the accuracy of the memory with a chuckle. "I don't."

"Even if she once caused you a massive amount of pain?"

"We'll never tell her this," she whispered, "but had she never done what she did, you and I would've never ended up together."

When she pulled away to hold my gaze, I scrutinized her expression. Alice was my sister; she'd always be my sister, and she'd always be someone who'd once hurt Bella deeply.

"I suppose that's one way to look at it. And it doesn't mean you have to forgive her."

She snorted. "Oh, I know that. As a matter of fact...anyway, we'll talk about that later. The point is, what she and Jasper did wasn't an insurmountable mountain. It was a hill I had to scale, and on the other side…were you and this baby."

"A mountain?"

"Or a hill. Whichever analogy you prefer."

"I saw you on a mountain. There was fire raging on one side of it, and a blizzard brewing on the other, but you helped me down the mountain safely."

For a long moment, Bella gazed at me. "And you tell me I'm the one with the creative imagination."

"I guess that didn't happen, huh?"

"I don't think so."

"Bella," I breathed, "what I'm trying to say in my admittedly still-mixed-up-in-the-head way is that you are the center...you're literally at the core of all good things in my life."

"Edward, two, three years ago, I could've never imagined my life being this full. But you and this baby..." she gazed at me in open wonder and love, "you two are the most important parts of it."

Smiling softly, she then pressed my hand firmly over her stomach, so that her smooth skin contracted under my touch. I hissed and tried to pull away, terrified of harming our newly-forming child, but Bella held on tightly.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"I've got a baby growing in there, not an ulcer."

Nonetheless, when she pressed her mouth to mine, I forced myself to turn away.

"Stop."

Bella's lips twisted into a smirk as she huffed through her nostrils. "You know, I'm beginning to think you're not happy about having me here."

"I love you, but no, I don't want you here. Bella, I know, in my head, that you and our baby are inoculated and safe, but…"

It was an irrational fear,and I knew it. But I was powerless against it. As I swept my eyes around the hospital room, all I saw were minuscule microbes dancing tauntingly in the air. I shuddered.

"All I can think about now are all the fucking germs and viruses swirling around you. I can practically see them."

"These next few months are going to be fun with you."

"Bella, I'll be fine, and I'll be out of here in a day or two. Go home, and by home, I mean back to the apartment you share with Mack. I've got to have the loft sterilized before you move in."

Bella brows met her forehead. "I'm moving in?"

"Aren't you?" I raked my hand back and forth through my hair, pulling at the knots that had formed overnight. "I mean, I assumed…but if you're not ready-"

She kissed me fast and hard, laughing at me when I pushed her away yet again.

"You don't have to twist my arm to convince me to move into that gorgeous loft."

"Ah, so it's the loft that's convinced you?"

"But give me time, okay? Let me finish this tour-"

"Do you have to-"

"Yes, I do. And let me give Mack enough time to find just the right roommate. She's very particular about who she lives with." Bella's eyes flashed to the hospital room's door. "As a matter of fact, she texted me last night that she'd be here bright and early this morning to keep me company. I wonder if she's here yet? Maybe I can ask Emmett to keep an eye out for her. He said he'd be returning bright and early too."

"Never mind all of them." I swallowed hard and ignored the ensuing spasm. "I know I'm going to sound like an asshole here, but now I'm going to be so damn nervous about the rest of that tour."

When Bella's dark eyes returned to me, beginning to look more exasperated that amused, I let it go and sighed in surrender.

"Fine. Just promise me you'll be careful and that you'll take care of the both of you; eat well, rest, vitamins, exercise-"

"So, in other words, not what you were doing here while I was gone."

When she quirked a brow, I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up a palm between us.

"Edward, Emmett told me you've been pushing yourself way too hard for the past few months…for the past few years."

"Emmett's full of sh-"

"He's not, Edward. He's not."

As I opened my mouth again, the justifications danced on the tip of my tongue. Yes, perhaps I'd pushed myself a bit for the past few months, possibly for the past couple of years. But there were diseases that needed to be stopped. There were Life's constant issues, such as a broken heart I'd tried to escape, family matters that constantly plagued me. Then, there was an influenza virus that threatened to become a pandemic. What was I supposed to do?

But as I took in Bella's dark, suddenly anxious eyes, the tiny, parallel lines that always formed between her brows when she was concerned about something, the lip she only ever bit when she was uneasy, and when I considered the immeasurable fear I would've felt for the past thirty-six to forty-eight hours had it been the other way around, had Bella been the one to contract a potentially grave virus and end up in the hospital all because of 'what-ifs' and excuses about the hardships of Life...

Had it been the other way around, I wasn't sure I would've survived the night.

And I could blame all those Life circumstances and ongoing diseases, but in reality, I'd had no one but myself to blame, whereas now...now I had so much more than just my own self as reasons to take care of me, to remain healthy.

Protect yourself, so that you can protect others.

"I'll take care of myself properly too."

I promised it solemnly. And when shadow of anxiety disappeared from Bella's dark eyes, when the tiny lines receded from between her brows, when she stopped biting her lip and instead exhaled the breath she'd been holding before allowing a wide smile to grace her lovely face, I breathed a sigh of my own relief.

Haven't you heard the news?" Grinning, I took both of Bella's hands. "Come here. Climb on this bed."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Unfortunately, not what you obviously do; at least, not right now. Give me a few."

Bella giggled and shrieked as I hefted her up with an exaggerated huff. "Edward! Watch all your wires. Jesus, Edward, if those nurses come in and find me here like this...they were already pissed off that I didn't leave you to them all night."

I rolled my eyes, and when I finally had her on the bed, I guided her into a kneeling position in front of me. Then, with our eyes locked on one another, with my heart racing once more and the monitor beeping wildly, I leaned in and gently opened Bella's robe with my head, brushing my lips to her stomach.

"Haven't you heard?" I repeated in a reverent murmur. "I'm going to be a daddy."

Bella choked back a sob, but it was a sob of scarcely conceivable joy based on words neither one of us ever completely allowed ourselves to consider.

"And I'm going to be a mommy."

For a long while, we remained that way, with me brushing my lips back and forth over the spot where my daughter or soon would grow and flourish, and with Bella raking my hair softly, back and forth.

"We've come a long way," I breathed.

"We have."

I swallowed thickly, the pain in my throat barely noticeable now. "Thank you, for giving me a second chance, and for making dreams I never even knew I had come true."

Bella leaned forward and brushed her lips to my bare chest. "Likewise, my love. Now, do like that ink there says, and get strong and healthy again – for the three of us."

"For the three of us," I echoed shakily.

OOOOO

Four Months Later:

"Yes, Edward. Yes. Yesss..."

Bella ground over me one last time and threw her head back, releasing those beautiful, guttural sounds into our dark bedroom that marked the end of her orgasm. And with a handful of my own quick thrusts, I eagerly joined her. Bright stars danced before my eyes, exploding like bright supernovas and sending their massive heat all throughout my system.

"Oh...Bella...God, baby..."

For a few, wonderful moments, I was so fucking gone I couldn't distinguish the supernovas in my brain from the city lights beyond the large windows. And for a fraction of a second, it reminded me of all those months earlier, when I'd been sick and delusional.

But that was months ago. Since then, I'd more than regained my health. Bella made sure I slept better, ate healthier than ever, exercised as much as I wanted...and learned when to step back from all those Life's issues which sometimes had no solution.

Life wasn't always fair, but neither was it unfair.

As a matter of fact, whenever Bella thought I was taking on too much, she was quick to point at her ever-growing midsection and shoot me an impish grin.

"You'd better slow your roll, mister, because you're not leaving me for a moment to take care of this by myself. No way. If one of your strong-ass swimmers decided to fight its way into one of my hard-headed eggs, you need to be around to take care of the sweet little thing we created."

"Yes, ma'am," I'd say, saluting her before wrapping her up in my arms - which was getting harder and harder to do. "Strong-ass swimmers," I'd frequently chuckle. "God, I love Doctor Gerandy."

"Ass," she'd chuckle.

Afterward, we laid on our sides, my still-heaving chest cradling Bella's damp spine and our hands threaded together and splayed eagerly across her protruding midsection.

"Ready?" The excitement dancing in Bella's tone mirrored my own. "He moves the most right after we make love. It's like he can feel it."

"Not a pleasant image to conjure at all, but yeah, I'm ready."

"Ass. You know what I mean." She bumped me with her bare behind and made me chuckle.

"Okay, stay still, stay still," she commanded in a whisper. For a few moments, neither of us moved a muscle.

"There he is! Do you feel him, Edward? Do you?"

My hands remained frozen over Bella's stomach, smooth and warm and rounding, with my fingers extended in anticipation, but...I felt nothing.

Sometimes, only Bella felt him move, no matter how still my hands remained over her stomach. Our son was growing inside her, and she was attuned to his every movement. It made sense, but it didn't mean I wasn't slightly disappointed.

But then...my hands flickered upward, jumped, and were kicked forcefully by a tiny foot, or by a tightly-fisted minuscule hand.

"Yes! There he is! Daddy's little man!"

Bella chuckled. "You felt him."

"Yeah. Hey, Masen. What's going on in there, buddy? What are you doing to keep busy for the next four months or so?" While our son made his presence known, I gently stroked him over Bella's stomach. "Don't mind Mommy's screams from a short while ago. I promise you, she was thoroughly enjoying herself."

"Now who's conjuring up the most unpleasant images? He doesn't need to know that, Edward!"

I chuckled heartily. "All right, all right. How 'bout I tell him this? Mommy's first book, a heart-pounding page-turner, by the way, hit number one on the New York Times Best Seller List today."

Bella laughed. "You're biased."

I kissed her neck. "Even if that were the case, which it's not, I don't run the New York Times Bestseller list. My girlfriend, who refuses to marry me, is a literary genius."

"I don't refuse to marry you; don't put it that way," she growled, "especially while you're stroking our son. I'm just...over-the-moon happy with the life we lead now, and I want to take it one day at a time."

The entire time we spoke, our hands stroked our son.

"Fair enough," I conceded. "Your book is a hit, you're working on having another one published, writing yet another one, and Volterra Publishing called you last week to discuss movie rights for the first."

Bella took me in over her shoulder. The city lights streaming in through the windows illuminated the scowl she shot me before she twisted back around.

"Edward, why do you always laud my successes and not your own?"

I chuckled.

"Just a couple of months ago, you and Emmett and the rest of your team were hailed as freaking heroes at the World Health Organization Conference in Switzerland, accolades which you, Mister Jack Ryan slash James Bond of the CDC World, fully earned and deserved."

"It was no big deal."

Again, she took me in over her shoulder, her expression angrier this time, nostrils flaring.

"It was no big deal? No big deal? Edward, after seeing what that virus did to you, and knowing it could've done much worse..." When she shuddered in my arms, I held her tighter.

"Shh. I'm fine."

"I never told you how terrified I was that night."

"I knew."

"Thank God that little boy you caught it from, Tommy, recovered as well."

"Yeah."

We stroked her stomach more insistently, and I knew we were both thinking similar thoughts, picturing our son in Tommy's place.

Bella sighed. "Anyway, then you were promoted to one of the deputy directors, and while I know you're going to miss traveling as much as you used to-"

"Bella, I'm not going to miss traveling half as much as you think I will; not now. Not with all I have here."

But Bella continued. "-it's still an amazing position, and one from which you'll have the authority to not only carry out the decisions of others, but you'll be helping to mold those decisions and the ways in which infectious diseases are handled in this country. And-"

"There's more?"

When she turned over in my arms and gazed up at me, her dark eyes sparkled in the room's dim lighting.

"There's plenty more. And despite how pissed off LeeAnn was at you a few months ago when you got sick because you weren't inoculated with the vaccine you helped develop, everything worked out. The next batch came out quickly and with enough of a supply to keep H5N2 from ever threatening to become a pandemic. You, Edward Cullen, are the golden child of the CDC. I heard what little JJ said to you on the phone the other day. "Uncle Edwahd," she mimicked my nephew's young voice, "you saved Tommy! You a hero!"

While she smiled up at me, I searched her eyes, looking for any signs of distress at her apparently easy mention of JJ, but there were none. As she'd once promised, though Bella had never actually met or interacted with my nephew, she never tried to interfere in my close relationship with him. The necessary separation between them, because if Bella wasn't ready, I'd never risk hurting either one by forcing the issue, was perhaps the only regret in my life as of late. Yeah, Alice was still difficult. Jasper was still a bastard. They still teeter-tottered on a fucked-up relationship no matter which side it landed on. And my parents' issues would always be the formative background to certain parts of my character.

But all of it was nothing in comparison to what Bella and I had going on in our lives at the present.

"Hero," I smirked. "I don't know where JJ got that from."

"From Esme, of course, who got it from Tommy's mom, what was her name? Lauren. I told you she came to see you during those few days you were in the hospital. Right?"

"Yes, Bella," I grinned. "You've told me - more than once."

"She stayed for a while in the waiting area, waiting to see what would be a good time to say hi to you. She said her ex-husband was up in Pediatrics with their son. It was a shame you were sleeping that day."

"I was sleeping the whole day, huh? Other than for that first day, I don't recall sleeping an entire day."

"Anyway, we're both finally home from our respective obligations abroad. Emmett's going to help you pick up the rest of my stuff from Mack's place tomorrow so I can finally be completely moved in, and..."

"And?" I prompted after a few moments.

She reached up and slid her arms around my neck, her dark eyes glassy...and her lips turned upward in a peaceful yet overjoyed smile.

"And I love you so much, Edward."

Brushing my lips to hers, I replied against her lips.

"I love you too, Bella. And hey, you want to know what I'm most eager for?"

"What?" she breathed softly against my mouth.

"I'm eager to get to those successes, to those projects we've started together. I'm eager for the next chapter in our mutual lives.

A/N: Thoughts?

Almost done. (We'll see what that means for me, lol) ;)

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"See" you soon. :)