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10/11/2022
Chapter 12
BPOV
It had been about a month and a half since Edward was arrested. Things seemed to be all quiet. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Edward and I would go to work and come home, spending a lot of time in my library reading.
I didn't like it too much when he had to go out of town for a game, but I knew it was his job and dealt with it the best that I could. When he was home, spending time with each other was our main goal. We watched movies every now and then and went out to eat. With football season in full swing, he was out of town a lot. We wished I could go with him, but I couldn't take the time off at work.
Around the first week of November, I got sick. I couldn't stop throwing up. I always felt nauseous, and any smell of food made me wanna hurl. After a couple of days, I shoved it off as a stomach flu. When the next week rolled around and I was still sick, everyone started pressuring me to see a doctor.
Edward was overly concerned and kept pushing for me to go more than anyone else. If it kept happening after a couple of more days, I decided I would go. I already had a doctor's appointment with my Gynecologist, to get on birth control, and my PCP was in the same building. I finally made time to go after the hundredth time of Edward asking me.
It was now the day of my doctor's appointment. I wanted to put in a few hours of work before I had to leave and head to the other side of town, where my appointment was.
Jazz decided at that moment to stick his head inside my door, "You don't look so good."
"I definitely don't feel so good," I said, groaning and slumping over my desk, placing my head on my crossed arms.
"You should see a doctor," he suggested with a sympathetic grimace. Alice had been occupying his time a lot more, lately. We still had lunch together two or three times a week. Both of our relationships were still new, so it was okay, right now, that we're not spending so much time together, lately.
I sighed, "I have an appointment today." I popped my head up to look at the time on my computer, "As a matter of fact, I have to leave here in about ten minutes to make it on time."
"Is my cousin going with you?" Jazz walked toward my desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No. He couldn't get away." I reached down to open the drawer to my desk to pull my purse out, "I'll be fine. It's probably just some stomach flu."
"You've been sick, for what, about a week now?"
I rolled my eyes at the thought of being sick. I had no clue what was wrong with me. It could be for all I know. I barely ever get sick, "Ugh...don't remind me."
"Why don't you go ahead and head out, so you don't have to rush. I'll tell Carol you left a little early," he suggested, standing upright and walking around my desk to me. He reached his hand out to help me up from my chair, "You want me to come with you? I'd feel more comfortable going. You really don't look like you could walk a straight line, let alone, drive."
"Can you leave?" I felt relief come over me when he offered to take me. I really did want someone with me.
"Yeah, I just have a couple of manuscripts to go over, but I can pick them up when I come back to the office," he explained while I reached for my coat.
We stopped by his office on the way out to grab his car keys and coat. I honestly didn't feel like driving at all.
On the way out, I let Carol know that I probably wouldn't be coming back after my appointment. "If Edward calls, please tell him to call my cell. He knows I have an appointment today."
EPOV
Bella finally had an appointment today. I was concerned mostly because she had been sick for more than a week. She kept telling me it was probably just the stomach flu, but what stomach flu lasted more than a few days, at the least? There had to be something more to it.
I wanted to go with her, but I couldn't get away. We were scheduled for a home game this weekend and there was so much ground to cover before the game and getting away was close to impossible.
"Come on guys; let's run this play one more time. We have to make sure it's perfected. So far, we're in the lead and I don't wanna take any chances. You guys can do this. I'm proud of where are. We're gonna make it to the championship games. That's where everyone wants to be, right?"
"YES COACH!" They all shouted. Hearing them as a team like that, always brought a smile to my face, but I wasn't about to let them see me smile. I was supposed to be the hard-core coach and I didn't want them to see that I was actually a little soft when it came to them.
I had the boys run all of our plays a few more times before we cut for a two-hour break. I just wanted to get home so I could make a light lunch and hang out with my girl until I needed to be back to the university. I was so worried about her that all I wanted to do was make sure she was okay and comfortable.
When my cell rang, it brought me out of my reverie, "Edward Cullen." It was a number that I was highly surprised to see.
"Edward? It's Renee."
"Hey, Renee, how's it goin'?" I heard her sob, "Are you okay? What's goin' on?"
"Has no one called you yet?" she asked between sobs.
"No, why? What's going on?"
"You need to get over to Seattle Grace as soon as possible. Jasper and Bella were in a car accident. I can't get there right now." She sobbed more into the phone. "Edward, she needs you," she explained, but I wasn't comprehending what she was saying to me.
I shook my head, "Wha. . .What? Car accident? When?" I shook my head again as my heart plummeted to my stomach, "Oh, God, No."
"Edward, honey, you need to focus. I already called Joan and your mother. They'll meet you there." She paused for a second, "Edward, did you hear me?"
"Yes. Ho. . . .how bad was it?" My stomach was twisting, and I was beginning to feel nauseous.
"We don't know anything right now. We do know that both of them were unconscious, and Jasper had to be taken in for emergency surgery." I was pacing my office as she explained.
"Did you call the Marshal?" I was pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Yes, honey. He'll be there when he can. He's in Florida right now and he'll get on the first flight out. I'll be there as soon as I can," she said. It still hadn't clicked as to what happened.
I was starting to hyperventilate, and I was getting lightheaded. "Edward, is there anyone that can drive you?"
"Yes, um. . . no, I'll drive myself; I'll be fine." I grabbed my keys and started running out of the building without telling anyone where I was headed, "Listen Renee, as soon as I find out anything, I'll let you know, okay? Please drive careful. I'm barely holding it together. I can only imagine how you're dealing."
"She'll be fine," she sobbed more. "We just have to believe that. She's a strong woman, Edward," she said soothingly.
We had to believe she would be fine. "God, please let her be okay."
Once I made it to my truck and climbed in, I had to gather my composure before I drove. I took a few deep breaths, "God, please let her be okay. She has to be okay."
I made it to the hospital in record time. When I walked in, I got the directions to where I needed to be and found my mom and Aunt Joan in the waiting area, "Have you heard anything?"
My mom and aunt jumped up when I approached them. Mom wrapped her arms around me, "Oh, sweetie."
"Auntie?" She was wiping at her nose with a tissue.
"Jasper's still in surgery and they won't give us any information on Bella. They did tell us that she was still unconscious, though. Apparently, she hit her head on the windshield." I knew my aunt was barely holding herself together, as it was, so I know adding Bella to her grief was completely heartbreaking.
A sob broke from my chest, and I dropped down in the nearest chair covering my face with my hands. I couldn't help but think the worst right now. My girl was in the hospital somewhere needing me and I couldn't get any information until Renee got here.
I had to try something, though, so I pulled myself together and approached the information desk, "Excuse me, I need to speak with someone about my fiance, Isabella Swan."
"Your name, sir?" The lady had her hands perched on the keyboard ready to type when I spoke.
"Edward Cullen," I said. She began typing as her eyes scanned the screen in front of her.
"Ah, yes. You were listed, but we didn't have a phone number to reach you. We did contact her mother, though." She glanced up at me, "Do you have a contact number that we can list for you?" We had gone through the motions of making sure that each of us were listed as a case of emergency. I thought we'd never have to use the information, and that's why my number was missing. We just hadn't got around to it.
I gave her my cell number before asking, "Can you please tell me what's going on?"
"I can page the doctor for you," she said, reaching for the phone.
I glanced over at my mom and aunt. They were huddled together, giving each other support.
I waited at the information desk for about fifteen minutes before a scrawny looking doctor came strolling out through the double doors, "Mr. Cullen?"
"Yes." I stood straight and stepped toward him.
He extended his hand to me, "I'm Dr. McGee. I'm Isabella's attending. Let's have a seat so I can tell you what's going on."
I made my way back over to my mom and aunt while he followed, "This is Dr. McGee, he's Bella's doctor."
They scooted to the edge of their seats while I sat next to the doctor, across from them, "Okay, I really need to be telling her immediate family, but since you said you were her fiance and her emergency contact, I can tell you what's going on right now."
"Is it serious?" I was holding my mom's hand, needing the support.
"Well, any head injury is serious, but Isabella seems to be doing fine. She's in surgery right now. Her ankle was shattered and they're repairing it with pins. Her head wound is superficial, and she has a slight concussion. She'll make a full recovery, although, they could only use a local anesthetic because of the baby. We did an ultra. . ."
My mom and aunt gasped, very loudly, "Baby?! She's pregnant?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I assumed you knew." He stood from where he was sitting, "Yeah, Isabella is ten weeks along.
Everything looks really good. The heartbeat was nice and healthy."
"She got her period though. How. . . I mean, if she got her period, how can she be ten weeks along?" I asked, knowing exactly how, but not so sure about the whole period thing.
"Well, with some women, light bleeding may occur. It's called a number of things like implantation bleeding, or early pregnancy bleeding which may cause them to think that they were having their cycle. Has she had her cycle this month?"
I slumped back in my chair, "No... I don't know. We've both been really busy and I'm traveling a lot right now because of work."
"I understand," he leaned in close to me, "I'm a big fan, by the way. You're doing a great job with the team."
I looked over at my mom and aunt. Both of them had huge tears rolling out of their eyes and smiles a mile wide. I knew
they were worried about Jasper and Bella, but also excited about the baby.
"Thank you. Um . . . do you have any news about my cousin? Jasper Whitlock? His moms right there." I gestured to my aunt.
"I'm sorry, no. I'm not his attending. That would be Dr. Sloan. He's in surgery right now, but I can get a nurse to come out and give you an update, if you'd like," he explained.
My aunt spoke up, "Yes, please. I need to make sure my son is okay."
"Sure thing. It was nice meeting you. I'll let you know as soon as Isabella is out of surgery. It should only be about another hour or so," he said, extending his hand to shake mine before he shook my mom and aunts.
I sat down, resting my elbows on my knees with my head in my hands. I could hear my mom and aunt mumbling to each other. I ignored them. I was still trying to embrace the fact that I was just told that I'm going to be a father. I was sad and happy at the same time. Sad because Bella was having to go through all this pain right now and happy because, well, I'm gonna be a dad.
I could feel someone's presence in front of me, "Honey, are you okay?"
I looked up to see my mom standing in front of me, "Yeah, I mean, I want more than anything for Bella to be okay, but then again, I wanna jump up and down and run through the halls screaming that I'm gonna be a dad."
"Congratulations, sweetie." She leaned over and pulled me into a hug, "I'm sure Bella is beside herself. We'll get through this."
I stood up, "I need to call Renee and let her know what's going on. I won't tell her about the baby, though. I'll let Bella tell her. Renee should be here in a couple of hours and the Marshal is on his way from Florida."
I turned to walk away, but my aunt pulled me into a hug before I could move any further, "I'm so happy for you." She sobbed into my chest. "They'll both be okay. They have to be."
"They will." I saw Alice come to a skidding to halt at the information desk, "Alice!"
She turned and made her way over to me, "What the hell happened? I got a call from Renee telling me that Jasper and Bella were in an accident."
I pulled her into a hug before I could explain to her what was going on, "We don't know the specifics of the accident. Jasper and Bella are in surgery, right now. Bella has a concussion, and her ankle was shattered. Jasper, I'm not sure. . ." I gestured to my aunt to continue.
"His right leg was pinned between the steering wheel and the seat. It was broken in four places and much like Bella, they have to place steel rods in his leg." My aunt let out a long breath, "His right clavicle is broken along with his right arm."
"Oh, God!" Alice turned her face into my chest and started sobbing, "Is he gonna be okay? Please tell me he'll be okay."
"We're waiting for an update from one of the nurses," I said, hugging her tighter.
Alice glanced up at me, "Bella? What about Bella? Please tell me she'll be okay, too?"
"We just spoke to her doctor, but he said she'll be fine," I explained while guiding Alice over to one of the chairs to sit down. I wasn't sure if I should tell her about the baby, yet, or not.
We all fell silent. I was sure there were a million different things running through our minds. I was on information overload at the moment. I excused myself to call and update Renee. When I got back, my aunt was talking to a nurse. I sat down and waited until she was done explaining what was happening. After the nurse left, I patiently waited for my aunt to get off the phone before I asked her about Jasper.
When she slipped her phone into the side of her purse, she sat down next to me, "Sorry, that was your uncle. He's on his way. Jasper will be in surgery for about another thirty minutes. They had to put a pin in his clavicle, too. When they went to set it, it broke again, but the nurse did tell me that he should recover completely."
I sighed, thanking anyone who would listen, that they both were going to be okay, "Bella should be out of surgery soon. It's been almost an hour, already. I hope everything's okay. You don't think the anesthesia will do anything to the baby. . ."
I had totally forgotten Alice was right next to me, "Baby?!" She exclaimed.
"Shit." I closed my eyes and took a few long breathes, "Yes. She's pregnant, Alice. I just found out myself."
"Is that why she's been so sick lately?" She probably just hit the nail on the head.
"Right now, I'm assuming so. I didn't know anything until just now. She had a doctor's appointment today. I'm not even sure she made it," I said, rubbing my hands across my face.
"Did they say how far along she is?"
I slumped back in my seat, "Yeah, the doctor said she's ten weeks. I guess they had to do an ultrasound before the surgery. I don't know all the details right now."
The look on Alice's face was a cross between excitement and sadness, "Wow. She didn't say anything to me. I mean . . . that there was even a possibility."
I shrugged my shoulders, "Yeah, we um . . . had a slip up a while back. We didn't think anything of it after she supposedly started her period."
"Does she even. . ." Alice didn't get a chance to finish her question because I jumped up when the doctor came through the double doors.
"Mr. Cullen, Isabella's finally out of surgery and in recovery. You can go back and see her in about thirty minutes. Has any of her other family shown up?"
"Not yet. Her mom's driving from Forks and her dad's flying in from Florida," I explained.
"Good, good. I'll send a nurse out when we get Isabella settled in a room. She'll be staying a night or two just for observation," he said, patting me on the shoulder.
I sighed in relief, "Thank you, Dr. McGee."
"You're welcome, Mr. Cullen," he said, giving us a small wave as he walked off.
Twenty minutes later, a man, whom I was assuming was Dr. Sloan, came walking through the same double doors looking for my aunt, "Mrs. Whitlock?"
"Yes," my aunt replied, turning toward the doctor.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Marcus Sloan; I'm your sons attending, and I also assisted in his surgery." Why did his name sound so familiar to me? He looked and sounded like he could be a doctor on a TV show.
"Hi, how is he? Did everything go okay?" My aunt was just as anxious as the rest of us.
"Everything went beautifully. We were able to use four tiny 1/8-inch titanium plates to repair Jasper's clavicle. I'm not sure what the nurse explained to you, but it broke again when we were trying to set it. There really isn't much we usually do for a broken collarbone. Normally, just a brace, but in Jasper's case, we had no choice but to put plates in," he explained. All of us nodded our heads as he talked.
"What about his leg and arm?" I asked, needing more information other than what he gave us on his clavicle.
"Well, his left Fibula had one break to it, and it was a clean break. That's this bone right here." He used his finger and ran it along the outside of his leg showing us which part was the Fibula. "We made sure it was set correctly while we had his leg open. He had four breaks total throughout his leg. His Tibia, which is his shin area, was broken in two places causing a compound fracture and needed the pins put in and his Femur was broken, too, but it was also a clean break." He took a few deep breaths, "As far as his arm, it'll be fine. It only had one break to it and it didn't need to be set."
"Will he have full use of his leg once it healed?" My aunt asked.
Dr. Sloan nodded, "Yes, with some extensive physical therapy, his leg will be as good as new."
"Thank you, Dr. Sloan."
"You're welcome, Mrs. Whitlock. Jasper will be in recovery for about an hour. I'll send a nurse out when you can see him."
I saw a nurse come through the double doors, "The family for a Ms. Swan?"
"That's me," I said and started walking toward her, but turned back, "Give me a bit. I'll be right out after I talk to her, okay?"
"Okay. Tell Bella we love her," Alice said.
As we were walking, the nurse started to explain some stuff to me, "She'll be groggy from the anesthesia, but she kept asking for an Edward. Are you him?"
"Yes . . . um. . ." I stopped walking causing the nurse to turn toward me. I was impatiently running my fingers through my hair, "Is the baby, okay? I mean . . . does she know about the baby?"
She smiled widely at me, "Yes, she knows. She knew before the surgery. I was there when she found out. She was pretty surprised."
"It's a surprise for both of us. A very happy surprise, I might add." I smiled, feeling giddy and ready to see my girl.
"Congratulations." She smiled and finished walking towards the door that led me to my girl.
"Thank you."
She then gestured toward the door. When I walked in, my heart sank. My girls poor head had gauze wrapped around it and her right eye was bruised and puffed up. She had a bandage going across the top of her nose and a few butterfly stitches on her right cheek.
She slowly turned her head toward me. A small smile graced her face, "Hi." She croaked.
I walked over and sat on the bed next to her. I leaned forward, taking her face between my hands, making sure I didn't put too much pressure on her right cheek, "I was scared to death. I just. . . I couldn't. . ."
She placed one of her hands over the top of mine, "Hey, I'm okay; we're okay." Her other hand was laying on her stomach.
I smiled at her. I could feel the tears rolling down both of my cheeks. She smiled at me, too, "A baby."
She weakly nodded, "A baby."
A sob escaped me, "I almost lost you today and now . . . now, there's a baby. It's so overwhelming," I shook my head, "I can barely wrap my mind around everything." I lowered my head and laid it on her stomach, "I don't ever want that feeling again." I sobbed into her stomach. "To feel like I've lost you. I couldn't survive it. I couldn't survive losing you."
She placed her hand on my head and started threading her fingers through my hair. It was calming me. Then, the face of the Marshal crossed my mind, causing me to pop my head up to look at her, "We have to get married, like, tomorrow. Your dad can't know I knocked you up before I married you."
She let out a low, painful giggle, "Edward, remember my dad saying that there would be a shotgun wedding, anyway, if you got me pregnant?"
Thanks again,
Reason
