A/N: There will be an A/N at the bottom of this chapter.
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10/13/2022
Chapter 20
BPOV
"Edward wake up," I said. I was having a hard time sitting up from the bed, but I was in so much pain, I couldn't stand it anymore. There was something wrong.
He groaned and turned his face away from me. "I'm too tired to have sex, baby. Go back to sleep."
"Edward." I shook him by his shoulder, again, ignoring his comment about sex. "Edward, get up...there's something wrong."
"What!" He was definitely awake now. "What's wrong?"
"I'm having a lot of pain in my lower stomach and down there," I said, rubbing my hand over my lower belly where the pain was coming from. "And it hurts really badly when I pee. I think I might have a bladder infection."
"Shit!" He said, quickly getting up from the bed and pulling on his sweatpants. His t-shirt went on after that then he hurried to my side of the bed to help me up. I was already dressed in a pair of yoga pants and one of Edwards t-shirts. He handed me my robe. "Here, put this on. Are you hurting anywhere else?"
"Just my back, but not as bad as earlier. It's all moved up front and to my crotch," I explained, slipping my robe on. I didn't care what shoes I wore as long as I had some on, so I slipped my feet into my Daniel Green Isabel slippers. They were the most comfortable slippers that I've ever owned. My feet thank me every time I wear them.
Edward helped me walk into the living room where I stood and waited for him to put his Parka on, grabbed his wallet and keys then helped me into my jacket. I was slow moving; it was a little painful to walk. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was in so much pain that I could barely stand it.
Slowly but surely, we made it down to his truck or SUV, whatever the hell they call those big ass vehicles, these days. He helped me up inside and buckled my seat-belt, then rushed to the driver side, quickly jumping in and rushing out of the parking garage.
I could tell he was stressing out because he wasn't saying anything. Thank goodness the hospital wasn't that far from where we lived. "Should I call anyone?"
"Let's just see what's going on first. We don't need to pull everyone outta bed at three in the morning unless we know for sure what it is." I winced when another sharp urge to pee, hit me. "Shit, this hurts."
Edward looked over at me with a pained expression. "Sorry, baby. I'm going as fast as I can without getting pulled over."
"I know." I gave him a small smile. My heart still did funny things when I looked at him. That's how much I was in love with him.
When we arrived at the hospital, we didn't have to wait long. There was hardly anyone in the emergency room and Edward was immediately recognized. He asked if there was any way they could keep our arrival on the quiet side. He didn't want any unwarranted attention while we were there nor anytime thereafter.
The nurse had me change into one of the hospital gowns they provided then took all my needed vitals while Edward was giving them all the information they needed for me. I saw him pull his wallet out and hand the lady a card, which I'm assuming was our insurance card.
They started an IV in my hand, for precautionary reasons, and shortly after, the doctor came in, smiling hugely when he saw Edward. I rolled my eyes, wondering if he was going to pay attention to me at all. "Mr. Cullen, nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Gerundy." He took a seat on the rolling stool and rolled over to where I lay on the bed. "What's goin' on Mrs. Cullen?" I huffed at his rude introduction then proceeded to tell him what was going on.
"I'm gonna need to take a look and see what might be the problem. Can you scoot your bottom to the edge of the bed and put your feet up in the stirrups for me?"
He stood up, walking over and grabbing two surgical gloves from the box on the wall. Edward looked like he was about to have a coronary. "Is this necessary?"
"Well, your wife's complaining of having pain in that general area. I need to see if I can pinpoint where the pain is coming from," explained Dr. Gerundy.
Edward took it upon himself to stand behind the doctor when he sat back down on his stool. This was so damn embarrassing. I only hoped Edward didn't make a bigger spectacle out of all this.
When the doctor raised the sheet to look, Edward peered over his shoulder, raising his eyebrows. I was laying there in pain and his mind started wandering where it didn't need to be, right now. "Edward," I scolded. "Come up here, please."
Dr. Gerundy didn't even touch me and pulled the sheet back down, "Looks like you have a bleeding bladder infection. From the urine sample you gave us, there was a lot of protein in it and from the looks of it, there's a little blood coming from your urethra area."
I sighed. "What the hell caused it?"
"It could be a number of things. Anywhere from being dehydrated a little to not cleaning up properly after intercourse. I can't tell you which one caused your infection." That just made it even worse. I'm a clean person, that's for sure and to even think that it could have been caused from not cleaning my crotch very good after Edward and I have sex; that's disturbing.
"So, what can she do to make it go away?" I knew Edward wasn't a doctor, but he just sounded like a five year-old worried about a scratch on my knee.
The doctor chuckled. "I'll prescribe her a ten day dose of antibiotics; Cephalosporins or Cephalexin. They're the same thing. That should do the trick. We'll give her some acetaminophen before we release you, to help with the pain."
"Okay so, everything's fine with the baby? She's okay?" I was still worried that somehow, there could be something wrong and it caused me to get the bladder infection.
"The baby's fine. When I pressed down on your stomach, she didn't seem to like that too much." Which was true, it was like she knew it wasn't her daddy touching me, so she kicked at his hand.
"I think she'll be a football player like her daddy," I said, smiling up at Edward. He smiled back and leaned down to place a kiss on my forehead.
Dr. Gerundy patted me on the foot, standing up from his stool. He pulled his gloves off and tossed them into the Hazardous materials bin. "We'll give you a list of instructions to follow for when you go home. Just make sure you drink plenty of clear fluids for a few days. Try to stay away from the sodas and any extra caffeine. Too much of that can cause a UTI, also."
"Okay. I don't drink sodas too much anyway, so that's no big deal. Can I drink decaffeinated tea?" I drink iced tea, more than anything and if I could still drink it, I didn't care if it was decaffeinated.
Dr. Gerundy nodded. "Sure, decaf's fine." He turned to walk to the door. "It was nice meeting you. The nurse will be back in a few minutes to give you the acetaminophen. I hope you feel better soon, Mrs. Cullen."
"Thank you."
"It was nice meeting you, as well, Mr. Cullen. Great work with the team. They needed a coach like you." Dr. Gerundy smiled as he turned the knob on the door to leave, "You two get some rest; you'll need all you can get before the little one gets here."
"We will. Thank you, Dr. Gerundy," Edward said as he sat down on the stool that the doctor just vacated and rolled over next to me. As soon as the doctor closed the door I was confused because he never did say whether or not I could get dressed, so I just laid there waiting for the nurse to come in.
I scooted back up the bed and adjusted the sheet over me. Edward placed his hands on my stomach and began rubbing it like I was a Buddha doll, "I was so scared that something was wrong," he admitted. "I'm sorry if I acted so out of it."
"It's okay. I know you were worried; I was, too. I'm just glad it's not anything worse," I said, placing one of my hands over his. "Thanks for not freaking out, though. I half expected you to."
"I almost did, but I knew you needed me to stay level- headed." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to our daughter, who was wide awake. "Hi, Angel," Edward said to my stomach. "You're gonna make Mommy have to pee." He chuckled. "She's going to town in there."
"You make her wanna play. You're her favorite person," I said as the nurse came walking in holding a couple things in her hands, and smiled over at me. "I just need you to bend your knees and drop them open for me."
I did as she instructed. Edward moved back so she could stand next to me. She pulled the sheet up and looked, reaching down and shoving something up my ass. "Whoa, what the hell was that?"
"The acetaminophen. It'll work a lot quicker administered that way," she explained, pulling her gloves off before she started rifling through the papers lying on the counter. "I just need you to sign this for me then you can get dressed."
I signed what she needed, and then she removed the IV from my hand. My whole damn hand was sore, and I knew I'd have a bruise from it.
When the nurse left the room for me to get dressed, Edward leaned close to me. "Did she just stick something up your ass?"
I giggled, nodding, "Yes."
"Oookay. That was awkward," he said, grimacing.
He helped me re-dress then gathered our few things to leave. When we made it home, I was absolutely exhausted. We had stopped at the 24 hour drug store to have my prescription filled, so as we climbed into bed I mentioned some vital information. "We can't have sex for at least three days."
"We'll survive," he said, snuggling into his pillow.
"Ha," I chuckled sarcastically. "You say that now."
He popped his head up to look at me. "Bella, how can you even be thinking about having sex right now when you just had something stuck up your ass?" He chuckled. "You don't even let me stick my dick in your ass."
"That's different. I didn't even know she was gonna do that. Plus, your dick is way bigger than a tiny suppository. And that was medicine." I plopped down on my pillow and turned to face him. "I don't want my asshole stretched so big that when I walk and have to shit, it'll just come out on its own. I'd be Loosy Goosy. That's just gross."
He laughed a loud boisterous laugh at me. "Bella, it won't be stretched out like that. It goes back to normal size. You're about to give birth to our daughter. Don't you think your pussy will shrink back down? They have some sort of pussy exercises for that don't they?"
"Yes, it's called Kegal and we've tried it once and I didn't like it. Is it so bad that I wanna keep my ass exit only?" I reached over and pushed his hair away from his forehead. "You need a haircut."
"Let's just go to sleep. You can call my aunt in the morning and tell her you need the day off. I'm sure she'll be okay with it," he suggested, scooting over and kissing me. "I love you, now go to sleep." He was quiet for a minute before he spoke again. "I think you should give ass play one more chance."
I laid there quietly looking up at the dark ceiling. "Maybe."
Before I knew it, Edward was into a deep sleep in no time. I was still hurting, but not quite as bad as earlier. I couldn't stop thinking of the only way for me to go to sleep and I couldn't do it.
I finally drifted off and the next thing I know, Edward was kissing me, letting me know he was leaving for work. I suppose he didn't realize it was Saturday unless he just had a few things that needed to be done.
I grabbed my phone and sent him a quick text:
It's Saturday. Didn't know you had to work? –B
Just need to do some paperwork. I'll be home by lunch. Get some rest. Love you. -E
I will. Love you, too. -B
I fell back to sleep only to be caught by surprise when I began to dream.
"Isabella, wake up," I heard a male voice say.
When I sat up and saw him sitting at the foot of my bed, taking me by surprise, I moved to the top of my bed, as close as I could get to the headboard. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see my daughter and I have a few things to say to you," he said, smiling slightly up at me.
"I don't wanna hear it. Get out of my room before I get Edward and have him throw you out," I demanded, but he only shook his head at me.
"Edwards not here, so I have somethings to say to you and I'd hope you'd listen. They're important. I need you to understand some things that I could never make right. I never got a chance to do it while I was alive." He sat with his elbows leaning on his knees. He continued looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. He looked different. Mostly clean and not homeless looking.
I was a little curious as to what he wanted to make right. "There's nothing for you to make right. You're not here and it won't make a difference anyway. This is all just a dream."
"I love you, Isabella. I always have. I never showed you truly how much. I never was the father you needed me to be and I'm paying for it now. I paid for it all with my life. I loved your mother, too, but..."
"You sure as hell had the worst way to show it. You beat her. How can that be love and then you made me watch? How could someone do something like that? You're insane if you think I'm gonna listen to any more of your bullshit. You don't mean any of it, so save it."
He shook his head. "I do mean it. I know you don't believe it, but I need to say it. I wasn't me. I wasn't the person I wanted to be. I was forced to be the way I was with your mother. I was sick. My brain wasn't right and then my mother was always pushing me into believing that your mom and you weren't good enough. She always said that I deserved better. She's the one who raised me to believe that I had to use physical punishment to get what I wanted. She did it to me. I was abused, too, by her. So was my dad. She was the abuser and the brainwasher. It was all her; I promise you."
"How can you say that? You had to have known what you were doing the whole time. Did you have multiple personalities or something? Did you not know you were doing those things?" I couldn't believe the crap he was trying to push on me, trying to make me believe he didn't mean to be the way he was.
"I'm sorry. I really am and I'm sorry that I can never get a chance to prove it to you. All I can do now is watch over you and my granddaughter..."
"She's not your granddaughter!" I yelled out to him. "You'll be nothing to her."
It was as if, what I was saying wasn't clicking in his head. "Avery's beautiful. She's gonna look just like you when she gets older. She'll have Edwards' hair color and eyes, but her face is all you. She's smart, too. Smarter than I ever was."
"Who's Avery?"
"She's your daughter. The one you carry, right now," he replied, smiling over at me. "I'm regretting a lot of things now. Like I said, I paid for them with my life and all I get to do now is watch. I can never..."
"Go! I don't want you here anymore!" I demanded, moving across the bed to push him off, but my hand went right through him. I was stunned for a moment, wondering if I was going insane inside my own dream.
Phil stood up and moved to stand by my door. "Let my father make things right with you, Isabella. Please? For any good thing that I've ever asked of you, please do this. He doesn't have anyone anymore and you know now that it was all entirely my mother. She was the manipulator between the two of us. She brainwashed us both to be the way she wanted us to be and the physical abuse was beyond anything you've seen from me. She did things to both of us that you'll have to use your imagination on because just saying it is like living through the hell all over again."
"I can't do that. He sat back and let you beat us and treat us like vermin," I said through gritted teeth. "That's too much to ask from me."
"I can't tell you all the things my mother forced him to do and how she did it. We were all victims. You and your mother paid worst of all. I can't take that back now. I am thankful that Charlie was the father that you needed. You had a great life growing up after I was gone. I wish I could thank him personally. And your mother's more beautiful now than when I first met her."
I couldn't believe the stuff he was saying to me. It was like he was a completely different person all together. The person that my mom and I needed him to be.
He sighed, stepping closer to my door. "Just remember that I do love you. No matter what you're feeling right now or what you've felt in the past, I did love you and I still do. You and Edward are going to be great parents."
And then he disappeared without another word. I didn't get to tell him to fuck off or go to hell. He was probably already in hell, where he was trying to take over. That's where he needed to stay.
I woke up crying and not believing that I would actually dream of Phil. It was neither a good nor bad dream, but still surprising. It was the Phil that we wanted and deserved to have. I knew it was only a dream, and I wish I was in the position to want to believe he could've changed.
Glancing over at the clock and noticing it was close to eleven. Edward would be home soon, so I decided to get up and dress for the day. I wanted to make lunch for my husband and have it ready by the time he got home.
One thing that kept weighing on my mind was the name Phil said that we'd name our daughter. Avery? Was that really what our daughters name is? I had thought of it, but never made the decision nor said anything to Edward about it. I knew he'd love the name and I did, too. I only wished it wasn't Phil that brought it to my attention, and I also wished he didn't ask me to give David another chance. I know all too well what it's like to get out of an abusive relationship. There are possibilities of anything in a relationship like that. There's been some really bad cases come into the shelters, and I knew that what Phil was trying to tell me could have truthfully happened. I would have to make an appointment with my therapist, whom I haven't seen in ages. All in all, it was just a dream; just like all the others that I've had, but for some reason, this one seemed to have made an impact on some decision making that needed to be done. I didn't want to decide on anything unless I spoke to Edward about them.
I heard the keys in the door knowing it was Edward getting home. I finished up dishing out our lunch and setting the plates on the table. I only made a quick chicken pasta salad, not wanting to make too much. I'd save that part for dinner later tonight.
"Mmm...that smells delicious," he said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my stomach, placing his hands on Avery. "How you feeling?"
"Eh, better. It doesn't hurt to pee anymore."
"Good, did you call my aunt?" He asked, sitting down at the table, placing a cloth napkin over his lap.
"No, did I need to?"
He chuckled. "Shit, never mind. For some reason I kept thinking you had to work today; my bad."
"That's fine. We were up most of the night, so getting fart brain is okay."
He laughed at me then picked up his fork. We ate in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "What shenanigans did you get into today while I was gone?"
I giggled. "You make me sound like I'm ten."
Edward smiled around stuffing a fork full of food into this mouth. "You're definitely not ten, baby."
"Well, if you must know, I didn't get into any shenanigans. I actually just woke up about an hour ago," I said, wiping my mouth with my napkin. "I'm surprised I went back to sleep."
"Not me. You were exhausted. You took your meds, though, right?" He asked, forking more food into his mouth then reaching for his drink.
I nodded. "Yeah, I took it as soon as I got up." I thought for a minute about whether or not I should tell him about my dream, then decided, I needed to. "I dreamed about Phil after I fell back to sleep."
"Shit, I'm sorry. I should've been here," he said, regretfully, reaching over and taking my hand. "Was it a bad one?"
I shook my head. "Actually, no. It was like he was in the room with me, sitting at the end of our bed. He was talking to me nicely and telling me that he was sorry for how things were and wished he had a chance to make things right before he died. He said he wasn't the person he wanted to be and that Phyllis was the cause of a lot of the ways he treated me and my mom. He also told me I was beautiful, and he was proud of me. He even told me he loved me and also said that my mom was more beautiful now than when they first met. The weirdest part was when he mentioned the baby."
"Why weird?" Edward looked concerned and curious at the same time.
"Well, he said she was beautiful and smart, and the weird thing is, he called her by name," I said, looking up at him, gauging his reaction.
He raised his eyebrows. "And what name would that be?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I've been meaning to talk to you about names and I really love the name I chose, and I'm just dumbfounded that Phil said the name that I really..."
"Bella, you're rambling," he said, reaching for his drink.
"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous about what you think, and because in my dream, Phil said what her name is." I was starting to ramble, again. Edward did the Edward thing and raised his eyebrows at me. "Okay, fine. I'll understand if you don't like it because of my dream, but I really like it."
"Baby, please? Just tell me," He pleaded, giving me his puppy dog eyes.
"Avery. I really like Avery," I said, hesitantly.
He nodded. "I like it. What about a middle name?"
"I don't know. What sounds good with Avery? It has to sound at least halfway decent," I said, getting up from the table to start clearing our plates. "I want something different. Something that we don't normally hear, but also has its own uniqueness."
"I'm sure we'll come up with something. Have you told anyone else about what names you like?" He asked, rinsing his plate and putting it in the dishwasher.
I shook my head, "No. I want it to be a surprise to everyone."
"Okay. It'll be a surprise then." He kissed my cheek. "Have you heard from Jasper or Alice?"
I chuckled. "No and I don't suspect that I will in the next few days."
Edward rolled his eyes. "Those two are like two peas in a pod when it comes to stubbornness." He closed the dishwasher and began drying his hands on the small dish towel. "I suggest that we learn from those two. No disagreement will drive us from our home, and we need to make sure we continue to talk to each other when we're having an issue."
I smiled up at my very handsome husband. "I agree."
We settled into the living room just soaking up the peace and quiet, enjoying each other's company. We watched TV and napped a little, but most of all, we were together and made the most of our time. It was relaxing to the fullest extent.
In the dream where Phil is telling Bella that his mom had brainwashed him and his dad, well, we're gonna use our imaginations as to what she forced them to do. She was a very manipulative person and very abusive. She's one nasty piece of work. I honestly didn't want to write about the stuff she had done.
Thanks again,
Reason