"Dad." Bella's voice sounded out from the room, coarse as gravel. I wondered how long it would be, how many honeyed words from Bella's mouth it would take, before I could drown out the sound of her screams from my mind.

Charlie flipped on the overhead light and rushed into the room. "Isabella." As Charlie came to Bella's bedside it was like he no longer had the strength to hold himself up and he collapsed to his knees. He lowered his head like a man in prayer, pressing his forehead against Bella's chained hand.

I drifted silently into the room, not wanting to disturb the pair as I took my place on Bella's other side.

"Dad, why am I chained to the bed?" Bella rasped, her voice breaking around her words.

"You kept trying to attack Carlisle when he was treating your wounds." I murmured apologetically, I didn't miss the way Charlie's face twisted in anger, fortunately Bella did – at the sound of my voice Bella squirmed in place, twisting her head in an attempt to see me. Bella's face scrunched up in pain as she moaned pitifully with the movement. "Careful, love. You're still healing." I had to whisper the words so my voice wouldn't break around my increasingly tightening throat.

Bella blinked away the pain, a few tears escaped her eyes and trailed wet tracks down the sides of her face before landing wetly on the pillow. I could see the muscles in her throat work as she swallowed thickly before she whimpered, "Think we could unlock them now?"

I bit the inside of my cheek as I studied the chains that secured Bella's limbs to the bed-frame- I wanted to unlock them but I wasn't sure if I should. Bella was calm and lucid now, but I doubted my abilities to stop her if her wolf took control again. Before I could begin to voice my concerns an animalistic growl filled the room. I looked up to see the Chief glaring at me.

"You best unlock these chains before I tear you apart." the Chief's lips twitched with the effort it took not to snarl out the words.

I was already moving, hastily unlocking the chains on the hand closest to me before moving down to Bella's legs. "Dad, it's okay." I heard Bella whisper weakly. I continued my work freeing Bella from her bonds before returning to her side. I held her small hand reverently, enveloping it in my much larger hands and bowed my head like a devout man in prayer. I ghosted my nose over the pulse point in Bella's wrist and allowed myself the privilege of breathing in a deep breath of her heavenly scent. "Is everything okay? Was anyone hurt?" Bella's broken voice croaked.

My eyelids fluttered as I raised my head to focus on my beloved. "Only you."

Bella's expression soften, her furrowed eyebrows relaxed and her pain filled frown fell away with a grateful sigh. "Thank the goddess." she let her drop back to the pillow as she closed her eyes in relief.

A sharp shard of ice shot through my chest at Bella's words. My throat grew painfully tight and I tried to swallow around the sudden lump I found there, a rush of nauseating heat rushed up from my stomach to my face and down my arms, making my fingers tingle and feel numb. How… how could Bella be so blasé with her own well-being? Did she place so little value on herself? Or did she just not realise how close she came to dying?

I took a deep breath to chase away the rushing heat of emotions and huffed it out in a short, exasperated sigh. "What the hell were you thinking, Bella?" the words came out sharper than I intended, but I couldn't take them back once spoken.

Bella's eyes snapped open in shock. "I-I… Edward, I don't understand-" Bella stuttered out, her voice hoarse, "I needed to protect you, to protect all of you." she argued.

The heat in my chest returned and I felt my face twist in anger; my family didn't need protecting, I didn't need protecting. "You lost control, Carlisle was getting them to leave. I tried to calm you and you wouldn't listen." I snapped.

"I did not lose control!" Bella argued back childishly. Bella wriggled on the bed for a moment before she tried to prop herself up on her elbows, the movement clearly caused her pain and she groaned quietly and scrunched up her face before lowering herself back down into the sheets. With a worried frown I reached out to gently caress her face in an attempt to offer her some measure of comfort to ease her pain. "I was in perfect control." Bella slapped my hand away with a sneer, "I remember everything, all of it."

"You almost died!" I snapped.

"But I didn't." Bella retorted childishly.

An equally childish rejoinder was on the tip of my tongue – and what was it about Bella Swan that made me lose all semblance of control and sensibility? - when Chief Swan spoke up from the other side of Bella's sick bed.

"You followed your gut," the Chief said carefully. His tone was delicately chosen, as to both reassure Bella and to gently but thoroughly scold me at the same time. Bella turned her head, her breath hitched slightly at the movement but slowly she turned her gaze to her father. "I'm proud of you, but maybe next time be a little more careful, hmm?" Charlie's lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile.

Bella tried to smile back, but the expression was marred by a grimace of discomfort. "Can I have some water?" she croaked.

"Of course," I replied quickly. As I was rushing to pour Bella a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table I saw from the corner of my eye the Chief helping her to sit upright – supporting Bella's weight with one arm while the other worked quickly to rearrange the pillows behind her back and shoulders.

I handed the glass over to Bella, being careful not to spill any and with slow, exaggerated movements Bella lifted the glass and took a small, tentative sip. "How long has it been? Why aren't I healing?" she murmured softly before taking another small sip of water.

My hands hovered in the air nearby, waiting to catch the glass should Bella drop it, but after taking another small sip she simply handed it back to me. I placed back on the side table as I answered, "It's almost 3am, you've been in and out of consciousness for the past 12 hours."

"There is still venom in your blood stream," Charlie continued, taking one of Bella's trembling hands in his. "It's slowing down your healing."

Bella lowered her gaze, intently staring down at her hands as they rested limply in her lap. "I didn't… hurt Carlisle, did I?" Bella whispered wretchedly.

Bella peaked up at me meekly and I offered her a gentle, teasing smile. "No. Though not for a lack of trying."

Bella huffed out a weak little chuckle that made my chest constrict. I stared adoringly at the tiny ghost of a smile that quirked up the very edges of Bella's chapped lips, and… oh, oh no that wasn't right, Bella usually had such lovely soft lips, my dark amber eyes darted over each inch of Bella's face, quickly cataloguing each detail that I had somehow missed before. Bella's skin which was ordinarily such a pleasant shade of ivory, like the most precious and expensive bone china, had taken on a pasty undertone, and accompanied by the slight sheen of sweat on her brow painted a picture of illness and pain. Bella's striking chocolate eyes were bloodshot, red veins crisscrossed over the whites of her eyes in a heartbreaking road-map of pain, and the skin underneath her eyes were sunken and darkened. So much damage, just on Bella's face alone, and I knew that the dozens of bandages that covered her chest and stomach only hid more from view. I was about to say… something… offer to make it better… somehow, when I was startled by a gentle knocking on the door.

I hadn't even noticed anyone approaching the room, and I hastily turned my full attention to my other heightened faculties with a sense of feral urgency – how could I have allowed myself to become so foolishly distracted? There were still two wayward rogue vampires on the loose. As I tuned back into myself, I quickly calmed when I realised it was just Carlisle standing at the door. Carlisle opened the door slowly and stood hesitantly in the doorway.

"Is now a good time to check in on my patient?" Carlisle asked gingerly, his mind flashing with stitched flesh and oozing blood.

I stood up without prompting and pressed a soft kiss to Bella's forehead. "I'll be outside," I murmured against her skin, pretending that my actions were to give Bella some sense of privacy when it was for my own, selfish benefit.

I didn't make it far, however, and found myself sitting on the landing. After a moment, Charlie sat down next to me, close enough that people could still pass us on the stairs, but far enough away from me that we weren't touching. We sat in silence, both of us listening to Carlisle and Bella talk in the room down the hall. I tried my best to stay out of Carlisle's mind, not wanting to invade Bella's privacy more than I already was. When we heard Carlisle finishing up, we stood up in unison and I turned back towards Bella's room just as Charlie gruffly said,

"I'm going to run a patrol, see if I can catch their scents. You stay here, look after Bella." There was no room for argument, Charlie's voice was low and commanding, and before I could react he was gone, moving down the stairs with barely a sound, which seemed so at odds to the way he usually presented himself – all loud, stomping footsteps as he took up as much space as he wanted.

I came to Bella's door just as Carlisle opened it, and at my questioning look he placed a fatherly hand on my shoulder. She's healing well. Bella will be okay. I answered his thoughts with a slow nod before moving past him and into the room. I closed the door with a soft click before moving over to Bella's bedside. I found myself collapsing to my knees, lowering my head to press my forehead against the back of Bella's hand.

"Carlisle said you're going to be okay," I croaked brokenly.

I felt Bella's hand move underneath my face, curling to gently cup my cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and I slowly raised my head to look at her. "I'm not sorry for killing that vampire, but I am sorry for worrying you." she hastily continued.

I sighed tiredly as I pulled away, sitting back on my heels as I stared at Bella and pinched the bridge of my nose. "You are utterly infuriating." I mumbled from behind my hand. "Do you have any idea how terrified I was?" I demanded, as my eyes flashed angrily towards Bella. Bella's lips pressed into a thin line as she narrowed her eyes at me. "Watching you leap at James like that, seeing him dig his hands into you I-" The memories of the fight flashed through my mind as I spoke and my voice broke as my throat tightened agonisingly. My eyes burned and I blinked furiously trying to rid myself of the tears I couldn't shed, but nothing helped, my chest felt heavy like a lead stone was crushing me and the only thing that eased the pain at all was to release it all as a gut-wrenching sob. I couldn't control myself, the sobs kept rocking my body until I felt Bella's warm hand on my cheek. I forced myself to look at her, "I thought I was going to lose you. I wouldn't survive it if you died, Bella… you have to promise me that you will never do anything like that again." I begged in a weak whimper.

Bella was still cupping my face with her small hand, and I watched in slowly dawning sorrow as Bella's eyes welled up and big fat tears began to streak down her face. "Edward, I'm sorry, but I can't do that." she brokenly whispered.

My face crumpled and I shut my eyes tightly against the onslaught of emotions coursing through me. I felt Bella's hand fall from my face and land on my chest, before it curled into a tight fist in my shirt. The sounds of Bella crying caused me to open my eyes, and when our eyes met her little fist tugged at my shirt. When I didn't respond, Bella sniffled and pulled harder; worried that she would hurt herself I gave in and allowed her to move me. Bella just kept tugging me until I was awkwardly half-kneeling on the bed. Being careful as to not jostle her too much I deftly manoeuvred myself until I was laying in a half-upright position on the bed, one arm curled protectively around Bella's body and the other gently holding her hand that was still clutching at my shirt in a white-knuckled death grip. Bella rested her head in the crook of my arm, and after a moment her sniffling quietened down and her breathing evened out.

"Why?" I begged, hoping that she could give me an answer that would help me understand her, understand this impossible situation. How could Bella not see that she was the most important thing in the entire world, in my entire world?

"Could you?" Bella whispered her reply, her breath hot against my cold chest. "Could you make that promise to me? I saw the way that creature was looking at you, and I knew- Edward I just knew that he wouldn't ever stop until at least one of you was hurt or dead or-" Bella's voice broke around her words and I felt her burning tears fall from her eyes as they seeped into my shirt.

I lowered my head and pressed my nose into her mess of curly hair, taking in her captivating scent as I shushed her gently, lovingly stroking my hand up and down her back. "I can't lose you." I mumbled against her hair.

"You're not going to." Bella declared stubbornly, sniffling slightly as she burrowed further into my side. "Do you understand what I am saying?" Bella asked, her voice pleading.

I heaved out a tired sigh, never before in my existence had I ever felt this god-damn tired. "I think so," I replied wearily, I took a moment to bask in Bella's warmth, her small body pressed against mine, her heartbeat, strong and steady, reverberating through my senses. "I know that if I felt that you were in danger that there would be nothing on this earth that could stop me from protecting you." I vowed.

"So you get it."

I frowned at Bella's words. "The difference is, is that I am a lot less breakable than you are." I snarked.

"Excuse me?" Bella growled, pulled away from my chest to glare at me. "Did you miss the part where I tore a vampire to shreds?" she snapped sarcastically.

I pulled myself away from Bella, gently as to not cause her pain, but enough to create some distance between us as I glared at Bella's stubborn scowl. "Did you miss the part where he almost killed you?" I roared.

"I'm a werewolf Edward! Not some dainty little wallflower!" Bella growled out the words, the noise rumbled deep in her chest. "And if you're waiting for me to apologise for protecting you, then you will be waiting a long fucking time!" she snarled.

"Language." Esme's soft voice chided gently from the doorway and both of our heads snapped towards it. Esme was standing there with a tray in her hands, "I've made you some chicken soup," Esme explained as she walked over to the bed, placing the tray over Bella's legs and smiling softly before taking her leave.

Bella stared at the soup for a moment before she reached for the spoon, before she could take it I reached over and grabbed it, scooping up some soup as I went. I held it out expectantly towards Bella, who looked at the spoon as if it held poison before turning that icy glare at me. "I am perfectly capable of feeding myself." Bella sneered.

I dropped the spoon, which clattered noisily back into the bowl, as I shut my eyes and took a deep, calming breath, forcing myself to bite back the harsh words that were inching their way up my throat like venomous snakes. "Why do you always have to be so goddamn stubborn?" I groaned, opening my eyes and staring at Bella wearily. I picked the spoon back up, scooping up a hearty mouthful of chicken and vegetables and held it out towards Bella expectantly. "Please just let me help you." I begged. Bella huffed out a breath, but leaned forward to take the soup into her mouth, she chewed for a moment before swallowing. "Thank you," I breathed.

We sat quietly for a while, the only sounds were Bella's soft breathing, her heartbeat and the sound of the spoon scraping against the porcelain bowl as I slowly fed Bella her soup. "I know that you are strong, and resilient and more than capable of protecting yourself and others." I murmured quietly, not wanting to disturb the fragile peace between us. Bella didn't respond, but happily ate another spoonful of soup when offered. I was grateful for her silence, I needed time to get my thoughts in order, and to force them out my mouth. "But I think you need to admit that you aren't as indestructible as you'd like to think." I continued carefully.

Bella sighed and when I offered another spoon of soup, her hand came up to my wrist and gently pushed my hand back down until I was forced to return the spoon to the bowl. "You're probably right." Bella said reluctantly, and I couldn't stop the beaming smile from breaking out across my face at those words. She understood, Bella finally understood that she needed to be more careful. "I'll only get stronger, though. A wolf's power and strength only grows with age. When I was thirteen Charlie destroyed a vampire by himself and barely suffered a scratch." Bella continued wilfully.

"Your father is centuries old." I reminded her gently, my mood lightening further as I felt Bella slowly come around to my way of seeing things. "So until you are at least as old as I am now, can you at least try to refrain from doing anything that might maim or otherwise kill you?" I asked, making an effort to put a measure of light amusement in my voice. I really didn't want to continue to argue with Bella, it was almost as painful as watching her being torn to shreds. I was just hoping, praying, that we could find some sort of middle ground.

"I'll try my best." Bella replied, her eyes sparkled mischievously. "No promises though,"

"Of course not," I droned playfully as I returned to my task of feeding Bella her soup. Once she had completely emptied her bowl I placed the tray on the nearby side table. I looked back at Bella and noticed that some colour had returned to her cheeks, her eyes no longer looked so flat and lifeless. I tucked my arm around Bella and she wasted no time snuggling against my side, her movements stiff and jerky as she tried to move without hurting herself.

Once she was settled, Bella tilted her head to look up at me. "What happened to the other vampires?" she asked lightly.

"When you attacked James, all hell broke loose. Victoria launched herself at you but Jasper saw it coming and stopped her, they wrestled for a bit but she managed to slip away." I reported mechanically. I paused to scrub a tired hand down my face, "I've never seen anyone give Jasper the slip like that,"

"She got away?" Bella asked, frowning adorably, her eyebrows scrunched up and her mouth turned down in a concerned frown.

"We'll get her." I promised as I tucked an unruly wave of hair behind her ear.

"What about the other one? Laurent?" Bella prodded, catching my hand as it moved from her hair, she held it in her own, her warm fingers curling around my cold ones.

I huffed out a humourless chuckle, "Coward, the moment you attacked he ran."

"Told you I was scary." Bella teased, but the effect was diminished by the fact that her sentence was cut off by a large yawn.

"You should get some more rest." I frowned. I began to remove myself from Bella's arms, to allow her some peace so she could rest uninterrupted, but I found that I couldn't move at all since Bella seemed stuck to me like an exceptionally clingy octopus.

"Stay with me?" Bella begged sleepily, her brown eyes blinked up at me as she held me in place with a surprising show of strength.

"Of course." I whispered as I rearranged the pillows and helped Bella to lay back down on the bed, and the moment I settled myself beside her Bella was nestling up to my side, burrowing her face into the crook of my neck. It was not even a minute later that Bella's breathing slowed, and her heartbeat evened out in a way that told me she was asleep. My chest filled with a blooming warmth as I cradled Bella in my arms, and while I didn't think that I made a particularly comfortable pillow, Bella didn't seem to mind.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Life's a bitch. This chapter is barely edited so sorry for any mistakes. Thank you all for sticking with me, it means a lot.