A/N: Issuing another tissue warning, just in case.


It's you, it's you, it's all for you. Everything I do, I tell you all the time. Heaven is a place on earth with you, tell me all the things you want to do. I heard that you like the bad girls, honey, is that true? It's better than I ever even knew, they say that the world was built for two. Only worth living if somebody is loving you. Baby, now you do. ~ Lana Del Rey, Video Games

EPOV

"Get the fuck out of here!"

"He's my son, I have a right to see him when he's been in a plane crash!"

"You'd have the right to see him if you actually cared about him. When was the last time you did something for him without an ulterior motive?"

"We had a perfect relationship before you showed up."

"You mean when he was hooked on drugs and doing whatever you said because he didn't care about himself? Yeah, sounds like a great relationship. Now, get the fuck out."

Dark…

"What did you do, Bella?"

"I told you, I didn't do anything."

"We know you didn't pass out, you weren't resting here. Where did you go?"

"Just… out."

"Bella."

"I didn't do anything, Emmett. They're still there."

"I know, which is what I don't understand. You were hellbent on going on a fucking murder spree when you left."

"Emmett, please, just –"

"What changed?"

"He wouldn't have wanted me to. No matter how badly I wanted to – Edward wouldn't have wanted me to cross that line. Not again."

Dark…

"I thought it would be better, once you were out of surgery. I know more now, I guess. The doctors were incredibly unhelpful while you were in surgery. No one told me anything. I think I cursed out a nurse, I don't remember.

"They say you should be fine now, with a little time to recover. But you're still not awake. I don't think I'll be able to believe them until you wake up, until you tell me you're okay.

"I know you're sedated and you're supposed to sleep for a while to get better… but don't stay away too long, okay?"

Dark…

Fuck. Everything hurt. My head was pounding, my chest felt uncomfortably tight, and my right leg felt too heavy. I wanted to open my eyes, but they were too heavy even though it felt like I had been asleep for ages. I was stuck in that spot between being asleep and awake, where it was impossible to move no matter how much you wanted to.

Then, the sweetest voice broke through it all. "Leave me alone, Emmett."

"You've been here for over thirty-six hours, Bella. Go home, get some sleep."

"I've slept."

"You haven't left this room in a day."

"That's not true. I visited Alice a while ago."

"Bella, he's fine."

"Leave me the fuck alone, Emmett."

There was some shuffling around the room, and then a door slammed shut. I hoped it was Bella, leaving to get some sleep, but I knew it wasn't. There were fuzzy memories in my mind; the plane going down, a helicopter ride to the hospital, none of them good memories. With that being the case, I knew Bella wouldn't leave no matter how many times people told her to.

Then there was a rustling to my left, and I felt her squeeze my hand. "Emmett's driving me fucking crazy."

I heard her sigh, and then felt a weight on the bed and some of her hair brush against my arm. "I just need you to wake up so I know you're okay."

It took every ounce of energy I had to squeeze her hand.

"Edward?" She sounded so fucking happy and hopeful. I forced my eyes open just enough to make out Bella sitting next to me.

"Hey, baby." My voice was practically unrecognizable, too rough to really understand.

The longer I kept my eyes open, the easier it was. When I finally got a good look at her, I saw the tears streaming down Bella's face as she stared at me.

"You're awake," she said quietly, almost to herself. She leaned forward, and I got my hopes up for a kiss, but something changed her mind as she stiffened and backed up. "I should get a doctor."

She was gone for a minute, and then returned with two people in white coats. One was Banner, but I didn't recognize the other.

"Mr. Cullen, glad to see you're back with us. I'm Doctor Hartman, the attending surgeon for your case."

I nodded, unable to do much else. Before he could say anything else, a nurse walked in.

"Oh, sorry, doctor. I was just coming to check the patient's incisions."

"What did I say about you coming back in here?" Bella grunted at the girl, her eyes going wide.

"Um, not to."

"So why the fuck are you here? Where's Katherine?"

"I don't – "

"I'll find her myself. You touch him and I sue this entire fucking hospital."

I frowned at Bella, unsure where her sudden temper came from. She was always frustratingly nice to everyone she met, no matter their status. She squeezed my hand lightly before heading out, making sure the nursing student followed her.

"Your wife is quite… passionate about your care," Doctor Hartman said with a wry smile.

My care… I did a quick inventory of my body, noticing the quick shot of pain as I tried to sit up. Looking down I saw my right leg was in a tightly wrapped boot. Fucking hell.

Bella and another woman, perhaps the Katherine she mentioned earlier, came back as the doctor started talking. I watched Bella as he talked. Her eyes were completely focused on the woman next to me who had started removing bandages from my chest. She was tense and obviously uncomfortable.

"Your right leg has a small fracture. You lucked out with that, we thought it was a much worse break. You'll just need the boot on for a few weeks, it'll be much easier to get around than if you had a cast. You've got two wounds on your chest, both from shrapnel during the crash. We were able to completely repair all damage caused by it, but you'll have to be careful of the stitches the next few weeks. There is some bruising on your ribs, and some other minor scrapes. Overall, you were very lucky, Mr. Cullen."

There was only one thing I really cared about right now. "When can I leave?"

"It's getting late today, so we'll keep you overnight tonight. Just one more night to keep an eye on you. If all goes well, we'll send you home tomorrow."

Tomorrow. One night in the hospital. I could live with that. Everyone dispersed then, both doctors left and the nurse was done with me. Bella still stood at the end of my bed looking tense.

"Are you –" before I could finish, the door opened yet again and my entire family entered. Bella backed off into the corner, but I felt her eyes on me the entire time.

"Have a good nap, princess?" Emmett joked, plopping down next to me.

"Do you…" I needed to ask, make sure they found out who made the plane fucking crash, but I also couldn't do that in a room full of family.

"Yeah. We'll talk more later." Good. "Rose sends her love, she had to go home with Alec."

Alice and Jasper were next, Alice carrying a tiny pink bundle in her arms. Jesus, how long was I out?

"Someone's been waiting to meet you. This is Delilah Isabella Whitlock." Alice took over Emmett's seat, angling the baby toward me. I had two massive fucking incisions in my chest, so holding was definitely a no.

Delilah Isabella. I looked at the little girl for a minute, fast asleep in her mother's arms. Then my eyes snapped over to her namesake. She wasn't looking at me, though. Bella had her eyes trained on the monitor set up next to me.

It was when Carlisle and Esme stepped up that Bella returned her eyes to me, watching every move Esme made toward me.

"Oh, Edward, I was so worried," Esme told me, squeezing my hand. It was nowhere near as comforting as when Bella did it earlier.

"I'm fine, Esme." Her eyes hardened as I used her name.

There was more idle chatter between everyone, but I couldn't help but get distracted by Bella. She stayed out of it all, sitting in the corner with her arms wrapped around herself. What's wrong, baby?

The room darkened as the sun set, and eventually a nurse, Katherine, came in and said it was time for everyone to leave. I loved my family, but I was a bit frustrated that I hadn't had more than a minute alone with my wife since I woke up.

Bella didn't leave. Her and Katherine simply nodded at each other as everyone walked out, and she closed the door behind them.

"You don't have to go?" I asked as she finally took a seat to my right again.

"No. I haven't left the hospital in… three days, I think."

Shit. "Bella –"

"Please don't tell me to leave." Fuck, she sounded so sad. "Everyone's been telling me what to do and I hate it. I'm not going home without you."

I knew better than to fight her on this one. She was so sad, looked so fucking terrified. And as much as I wanted her to take care of herself, to get a good nights' sleep, I also didn't want to let her out of my sight.

Looking down at the bed, I realized it was slightly larger than the average hospital bed. The sheets were much more comfortable, and the pillows fluffier. All things that worked to my advantage as I used all of my energy to move to the left a bit.

"Shit, don't move," Bella exclaimed, looking at me like I had lost my mind.

Patting the bed next to me, I said, "Come here."

"No. You're hurt."

Finally, after a stubborn stare down between the two of us, I had her next to me. She was exceptionally careful, barely touching me at all, but at least she was there. "Are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that," she sighed, giving in and resting her head in the crook of my neck. I could still feel the tension in her body.

The past few days had to be torture for her. I didn't know what happened, how she found out about the crash and the aftermath of it all, but I was sure it was hell for her. Fuck, I had to watch her get shot and go through nearly the same thing years ago.

"You don't have to be the strong one right now," I whispered to her. "You don't have to be in charge. It's just me."

I felt wet tears start to soak through the thin hospital gown covering my shoulder. "I was so scared," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Everything was falling apart and I didn't know if you would be okay. Thank you for coming back to me."

Fuck, I would do anything to take the absolute fear and sadness out of her voice. I looked down at her at the same time she looked up at me. She was exhausted; there were dark circles under her eyes and her entire body slumped into the bed. Christ, when was the last time she was in a bed?

"Everything is going to be okay. Get some sleep."

All it took was a soft kiss to her forehead for her to close her eyes. I let myself fall asleep as soon as her breathing evened out.

Dark…

"Okay, Mr. Cullen. You're ready to go."

Fucking finally. All morning I had to wait for the go-ahead to get out of this place. I had to sit through lectures of how I was supposed to stay off of my leg as much as possible. Had to sit there like a prop while Katherine showed Bella how to properly clean the stitches covering my chest.

Bella. My wife still wasn't herself. She looked marginally more rested, but she still silently hovered whenever we weren't alone. As a nurse wheeled me down the hall, I saw her get glares from a few of the staff. I grabbed her hand as she walked next to me, giving her palm a quick kiss.

The drive home was, thankfully, uneventful. Unfortunately, both Emmett and Jasper's cars were waiting for us when we got home. Bella walked slowly right next to me as we made our way to the front door. It felt odd to walk, for some reason. Even more odd to actually be home.

"He's not working right now," Bella said, eying Emmett and Jasper in the living room.

I was nearly panting as I got to the couch. Fuck, everything hurt. My chest, my abs, my leg… everything. "What do you need?"

"We just need to know what –"

"He's not working right now," Bella repeated, coming from the kitchen with a glass of water. She handed it to me, then turned toward Emmett and Jasper. Fuck, she's cute when she's intense.

"Bella, we need to know –"

"I know what you need to know," she snapped, very uncharacteristically. "He just got out of the hospital. He's not dealing with it today."

Something had definitely happened between them. This morning Bella told me I had been out about two days when I woke up last night. That was a lot of time for shit to go wrong. All three of them gave each other odd looks.

"You shouldn't even be here," Bella said, pointing at Jasper. "Go home to your wife and newborn."

Both looked like they wanted to protest, but neither did. "We'll come check on you tomorrow, Ed."

My instinct was to work. At the same time, I was fucking exhausted and thankful that I didn't have to deal with reality just yet. Once Bella escorted them out she came back to me, kneeling on the couch next to me. "Can I get you anything?"

The only thing I really wanted was going to be a lot of fucking work. "I need to shower."

"Oh, thank God. I haven't showered in a day and a half, and those hospital showers… bleh. Do you want to shower and sleep in a guestroom down here?"

"No, I can make it upstairs."

As always, Bella was right. I should have just showered downstairs because it took ten minutes and every ounce of energy I had to get up the stairs. It would have been fine if it was just the boot or the incisions, but the combination of them both made any kind of movement uncomfortable.

I had to lean against the counter once we made it to the bathroom. I closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths, then felt two hands pulling up my shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you shower."

Well, fuck if that wasn't emasculating. "I can shower myself," I grunted out, though I was completely unsure if I could.

"Put away whatever masculine ego trip you want to go on and take off your pants."

Bella picked up some bandages from the counter and covered up both wounds on my chest and abdomen. She got suddenly quiet as my shirt came off and didn't bat an eyelash as she helped me get the boot off.

I had to lean on her to walk to the shower, but not once did she say a thing. She got in the shower right behind me, still fully clothed, and helped me sit on the bench in the corner.

Without a word, she angled one of the three showerheads toward me and started washing my hair, moving on to my body. I caught the forlorn look on her face as she washed around the incision on my chest.

"They didn't tell me."

"Didn't tell you what?"

"They said the shrapnel could have impacted an organ… they never told me that organ was your fucking heart. Not until you were out of surgery." She placed a gentle kiss right next to the bandage.

She got quiet again, and I could see her tension rise as she ran a warm cloth over my chest. It was a mess; nearly completely covered in purple and blue bruises. Still, Bella never said a word. Once she was done she quietly got me situated in our bed, the boot back on my leg.

It was still fairly early in the afternoon, but I knew I wouldn't make it the whole day without sleeping some more. I barely managed to keep my eyes open until Bella got back from her own shower. I eyed her as she hesitantly came back into the bedroom, wearing a simple set of pajama shorts and a tank top.

"Come here." She stalled for a minute, but eventually carefully sat next to me on the bed. I knew she wasn't okay, knew she was still scared and sad and uneasy about the whole situation. Hopefully after my talk with Emmett and Jasper tomorrow I would know enough that I could put her fears to rest. For now, I would have to settle on holding her.

Dark…

The next morning, Bella was still peacefully asleep next to me when I woke. I felt more awake and alert than I had in days, which I took as a sign to finally get some work done.

Last night had been the relaxing night both Bella and I needed. We took a nap together, and then I woke up to a sandwich sitting next to me, along with a few pain pills. I had decided to try and make things seem as normal as possible. I didn't want her fussing over me, causing her more stress than she was already under, and I was hoping it would get rid of that haunted look in her eyes.

I tried to get out of the bed as quietly as possible, but it was a big challenge when it was nearly impossible for me to move normally. Just as I stood, Bella's head snapped up, her hair a mess on top of her head and her eyes slightly unfocused.

"Go back to sleep, baby. Everything's fine."

She frowned at me as I kissed her forehead. "But, I should –"

"I'm just going down the hall to my office. I'll be fine, you need to sleep."

She was already half asleep anyway, so it didn't take much fighting to get her back in bed. Once in my office, I let both Jasper and Emmett know it was safe to come over. When they arrived, I finally got the whole story.

Petrov had started working with the Volturi's, both with the common goal of getting us out of the way. He convinced Felix and Demetri to fuck with the plane, but they didn't count on me actually surviving the crash. They fucked up right after the crash, panicking that I wasn't immediately pronounced dead. Emmett was able to send a few men after them and now had them holed up in a steel container in an old junk yard outside of town.

"We just need to know what you want to do with them."

What do to, what to do… "I'll talk with them in a few days. Then we'll get rid of them."

"You're lucky you got to make the decision," Emmett mumbled under his breath.

"What?"

"Your wife very nearly went on a murder spree while you were in surgery."

"Shit." Bella stood at the open door, clad in a sweatshirt that took over her entire body, looking like a child just sent to the principal's office.

Immediately, I tried to think of what she could have done. Did I need to call Jenks? "What did you do, Bella?"

"Nothing," she whispered, standing still in the doorway.

"Bella."

"I was so angry, Edward. You were dying for all I knew, and they did it." She started pulling at the sleeves of her sweatshirt, her eyes never leaving mine. "I couldn't sit in that waiting room any longer, listening to Esme talk about you like you were already dead. It just… infuriated me knowing they were completely fine while you were having part of your fucking plane ripped out of your chest.

"So, yeah, I might have snapped a little, but I didn't do anything. They never saw me, didn't even know I was there. I sat in a car in a junk yard, and then drove off. I didn't break any laws… I didn't do anything."

Fucking hell. No wonder she had been so off since I woke up. "What was your plan?"

Her eyes widened, and she thought for a moment before responding. "I was going to burn them alive." Jesus. "I always thought it would be the worst way to die," she shrugged, her eyes falling to the floor.

"But who was in the hospital room?" Jasper asked. He elaborated when I raised a brow at him. "Ben told everyone she passed out, that she was sleeping in a patient room. Eric stood outside, but when we walked past there was definitely someone sleeping in there. It just wasn't her."

All eyes turned to Bella, and she nervously tugged at her sweatshirt again. "It was Elena. She won't say anything, she even stayed until you were out of surgery. I…"

I knew why she did it. "You needed an alibi."

"Yes."

"Give us a minute," I said, and Bella immediately turned to leave. "Not you, Bella."

Emmett and Jasper left quietly, and Bella took a seat opposite of me. Fuck, I didn't even know where to begin.

"What made you stop? You went all the way to the junk yard and just changed your mind?" She nodded. "Why didn't you go through with it?"

"Because you wouldn't have wanted me to. But if you had… you know… I would have gone back."

I didn't know whether I should yell at her fall at her feet. It was a powerful thing, hearing someone say with complete certainty that they would commit murder for you, no questions asked. I would do it for her in a heartbeat, had done it for her in the past. But, fuck, hearing her say it like that was completely different.

She had done it for me in the past, but her plan then was never specifically to murder Aro, she just reacted to him when he came to her.

We stared at each other from across the desk for an undeterminable amount of time, just looking at the other. Eventually Bella broke the silence.

"Are you mad at me?"

I cocked my head to the side. "No. Why would I be mad?"

She shrugged. "I thought you would be. Emmett made it seem like you would be."

Ah, Emmett. "If Emmett had done anything more than capture them, I would be mad at him. I'm his boss, but I'm your husband. It's different."

"So, I could have done it?" Bella asked, a frown on her pretty face.

"I would have understood if you did it, that doesn't mean I would have wanted you to. I don't want you to have to do that kind of thing ever again, but the fact that you would do it for me…"

Bella's cheeks flushed. "There is, um, one other thing." Fuck. Taking a deep breath, I held a hand out for her to continue. "Well, I may have implied to Emmett and Jasper that it wouldn't have been the first time I planned something like that."

"Okay, I'll take care of it." It wasn't that big of an issue, if anyone had to find out it was them. Odds were they would never even mention it to me again.

Bella stood and walked around the desk, hugging me to her as best she could, all things considered. "I'm really, really, really glad you're okay." With a kiss to my cheek she stood up.

"You know, I haven't gotten a proper kiss in days."

"That's because I felt guilty about the whole murder thing and thought you would be mad at me."

"Ah, well, we've solved that issue and decided I'm not mad." I looked up at her, and she smirked down at me. Then her lips were on mine and made every problem vanish.

"Love you," she mumbled, her lips still brushing against mine.

"I really fucking love you," I said, and earned a giggle from her.

"I'll let you finish and make you some breakfast," she said, already halfway out of the office.

"You don't have to –" before I could finish she waved me off and left.

A minute later, Emmett and Jasper were back. We didn't talk much about work, the most important things had already been discussed. Jasper went on and on about his new daughter and told me about asking Bella about her name. It made me uncharacteristically emotional when I heard him talk about the reasons they wanted to name their daughter after my wife. If I ever had a daughter I would pray every day that she was as strong and intelligent and good as Bella.

"Shit, I've never seen Bella as… intense as when she was dealing with the hospital staff. She literally had a nursing student in tears. She didn't let anyone who wasn't a board-certified doctor or nurse touch you."

"And when she lunged at Esme? Fucking insane."

"She lunged at Esme?" Christ, a lot more happened while I was out than I realized.

"Oh, yeah. Full on, would have had her hands around Esme's neck if I hadn't pulled her away."

"What did Esme do?" I asked, because I knew without a doubt that she probably deserved it.

"She said something about Bella using you, then insinuated that you were already dead. That was what made Bella snap."

"You're all very busy men, you would think you had better things to do than gossip about me," Bella said, carrying in a platter of eggs, toast, and fruit.

"Well, stop lunging at people and we won't talk about it," Emmett gurgled, his mouth already full.

Dark…

Later that night I was leaning against the bathroom counter wearing only a pair of boxers. Bella was in front of me, focused so intently on the two sets of stitches on my chest. She was so careful, barely touching the tender skin, but still cleaning the area the way the nurse told her to. The concentration on her face, the way she took care of me all day, it made my chest ache in the best way.

"I was thinking of you," I told her. She looked up at me, brown eyes swimming with confusion. "The pilot came over the intercom and said there was a malfunction. I knew the plane was going down faster than it should be. There wasn't anything I could do except sit in my seat, and all I could think about was you.

"There was a day on the island, months after you had been released, where you were suddenly you again. You didn't have that scared, troubled look in your eyes I had seen every day since you got there. We were sitting on the beach, our feet in the water, and you just looked up at me and smiled. You were so beautiful, your hair blowing in the wind. That's the last thing I remember thinking before waking up in the hospital."

There wasn't much from the crash I remembered. The doctors told me I probably had a minor concussion, and the trauma might have caused me to blackout. The first responders said I was conscious as they flew me out, but I didn't remember much.

I wiped the tears off of Bella's cheeks and smiled down at her. She was just as breathtaking as she had been on the beach, but she had another haunted look in her eyes now.

"You've got that same look in your eyes again, the haunted one."

"I don't know what I would without you," she whispered. "I keep thinking about all of the things that could have gone wrong, all of the different ways you could have just been… gone."

"I'm right here," I told her, grabbing a hand and placing it on my chest.

Bella leaned her head against my shoulder, taking three deep breaths. When she stood straight again, she resumed cleaning the wounds on my chest.

"I could do that, you know."

She shrugged. "I like taking care of you."

Dark…

Being injured got more and more frustrating the better I started to feel. It took a week and a half, but the constant soreness started to dissipate and I had more energy. I felt like I should be able to do whatever I wanted. The boot on my leg and the constant tug of the stitches were a constant, frustrating, reminder that I could not.

Thankfully, the stitches were coming out today and I was one step closer to putting this whole mess behind us.

I was in bed alone when I woke up this morning, a common occurrence now that I had been forbidden from going to work for a while. My boot and I clambered around the house until I found Bella in the gym in the basement. She had music playing and didn't hear me, so I enjoyed the view.

She was in a pair of tiny shorts and a sports bra. Nothing overly sexy, but on her it was. Couple that with her perfect form as she ran on the treadmill and I was panting for a completely different reason now.

Unfortunately for both of us, I was out of commission until my leg was out of the boot. I would have no problem breaking doctor's orders, especially once the stitches were gone, but I knew there was no way in hell Bella would.

She was running though, something I knew she hated. Someone had excess energy she needed to get rid of. Energy that we would typically burn off together. The treadmill slowed and the music stopped. She stood there downing a water bottle and the sight of someone swallowing had never been so erotic.

"Feeling… wound up?"

Her eyes snapped to me, the deep brown burning with excitement. Fuck, if only. Then, the second she dropped her sight to my bare chest and saw the stitches she relaxed.

"We should get ready to go," she mumbled, taking my hand and walking with me, slowly, upstairs.

I was uncomfortably frustrated as we got to the hospital. Frustrated that I couldn't do more than give my wife a chaste kiss, frustrated that I had to be back at the hospital, and frustrated that this afternoon I would have to deal with Felix and Demetri.

We were immediately taken to a private room when we got to the hospital, and not five minutes later the surgeon, Doctor Hartman, came in.

"You're as persistent as ever, Mrs. Cullen," he said with a slight smirk, pulling on a pair of gloves.

Bella shrugged when I looked at her. She watched the doctor's every move as he cut through the stitches. There was just a slight pull, but nothing too painful.

"Everything here looks good. No unusual swelling, everything was kept very clean. Well done. How does your leg feel?"

"Fine," I told him.

"It hurts him in the mornings mostly, I think. He seems to walk better during the day." I sighed but couldn't dispute what Bella said.

"That's pretty typical. We'll have you back in a few weeks to take another look at it. Until then, try to stay off it as much as possible, no strenuous activity."

When we were finally able to leave the hospital, I relaxed back into the car. It felt good to be able to move without the constant tugging of the stitches. Now all I had to do was get rid of the fucking boot.

"Do you feel okay?" Bella asked, eying me from across the car.

"I feel great," I told her honestly. "Who did you have to yell at to have the surgeon remove the stitches?"

Even in the dark car I could see her blush. "Just a couple people."

It was a few minutes after we passed the exit for home that Bella realized what was going on. "Where are we going?"

"I have some business to attend to, I thought you would want to come along."

"Edward – "

"It won't take long, and it won't be strenuous."

A few minutes later we pulled up to the junk yard. Emmett and Jasper were already here. The second Bella looked out the window she gasped.

"You can stay in the car if you'd like."

I went back and forth all week on what to do about this. Bella needed the closure, I knew I would tell her immediately when we got rid of Felix and Demetri. At the same time, they were her blood relatives. I wasn't sure if there were any last words she had for them, any unresolved issues she had questions about. This was the last place I wanted her, but she deserved the choice.

"You're going to – "

"Yes."

"I don't ever want to see them again."

"Okay. I won't be long." I expected her to try and stop me. She looked like she wanted to say something, but simply watched me get out of the car.

"Nice boot, Cullen," Felix coughed out as I came into view.

"Nice piss stain, Volturi," I countered. They had been tied up in here for a week, and it smelled like it. Fucking disgusting.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Demetri said, glaring at me.

I took a seat on the chair right in front of them, Emmett and Jasper standing off to the side.

"I didn't understand it at first, why you kept coming for us even though you knew you would fail. Then I thought about how I would feel if my family was taken down by a twenty-two-year-old girl who just happened to be related to us. That must have been fucking infuriating." The start of the Volturi's downfall was undoubtedly Aro's death. Unbeknownst to her, Bella took down one of the biggest crime families in the city.

Both of them were silent.

"She's stronger than both of you, smarter, better. Nearly took you out herself the night of the crash," I laughed to myself. "I get it now, why you all kept coming after us with no chance. I had the one good thing to ever come out of the Volturi family. Hell, if she had grown up with you the Volturi's very well could have taken Chicago from us."

They were both furious. They were chauvinistic bastards who would hate knowing a woman would have been better than them. I could see the rage burning inside of them.

"You should be thankful we're the ones doing this. My wife had much more interesting plans for you."

After a quick nod Emmett and Jasper shot at the same time. I left them there to clean up the mess and returned to the car.

Bella stayed on her side of the car as Ben drove home, never saying anything and only looking at me out of the corner of her eyes. Was it a bad idea to bring her, was she looking at me differently because she knew what I had just done?

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," she replied, her voice breathy and slightly high pitched. I knew that voice. She was turned on.

Looking at her closer, I saw more signs. Her cheeks were flushed despite the cool temperature of the car and her thighs were pressed together tightly. I could see her chest rise and fall with quick breaths.

"Come here," I said, holding a hand out for her. She took it immediately, and I pulled her right in my lap. She tried to hold herself away from me, but I wasn't having any of that. I pressed her right against me, reveling in the most contact we've had in so long.

"We can't –"

I cut her off, kissing her for what felt like the first time in days. Really kissing her; finally feeling all of the pent-up fear and anxiety melt away as our breath mixed and hands wandered. Bella's hands were tentative, slowly wrapping around my neck and digging into my hair. Mine gripped her hips for a minute, keeping her steady.

Bella stiffened as my hands trailed up her thighs and one hand ended up between her legs. She pulled her lips away from mine and looked down at me, panting. "We can't."

"The doctor just says that because –"

"The doctor. Fuck, you just got your stitches out." We reached the house then. Bella mumbled something about being saved as she got out of the car.

The moment we were inside the house I pulled her back to me. The action confirmed everything Bella would have said if given the chance. When she landed against my chest all of the air went out of my lungs. There were still faint bruises across my chest, and still a slight discomfort where the stitches had been. Logically, I knew I wasn't well enough to do what I wanted to do. But, fuck, I wanted her.

Sex was just another way we communicated with each other. It was our way of solidifying our relationship, making everything fall into place. It let us know the other was there, safe, and ours for the taking.

I pressed Bella lightly into the door, letting my hands rest on the skin of her hips underneath her shirt. "Five weeks and you're mine again."

Dark…

There was never a time in my life since the age of fifteen where I had ever really been taken care of. From then on, I was part of the family business, more of an employee to my father than a son. My mother took care of me to an extent, but she also got more standoffish around that time. I never realized it at the time because I was caught up in my time with Carlisle but watching Bella the last few weeks made me think about the last time someone cared so much about me.

She was perfect. Too perfect, really. She took care of everything, thought of everything. She made me stay home a full two weeks before I went into the office. When I did go back to work she went with me, staying in her office the floor below. We both needed our space to get work done, but every three hours she showed up with a water (because she didn't think I drank it enough), or an aspirin (because my leg would bother me in the late afternoon), or sometimes she just came up to make sure I wasn't working myself too hard.

Somehow, she managed to do all of that and never become overbearing. She wasn't doing it because she felt obligated or because it made her feel better. There was only one reason she did anything she did the past six weeks, and that was to try and make my life easier, less painful.

It had been obvious, about four weeks in, that she was starting to lose steam, but she never stopped. Never complained. She smiled and gave me a kiss and went back to running her own production company.

Today I finally had my follow up appointment with an orthopedist to see about getting my boot off for good. I didn't care if I had to bribe the doctor, I was getting his approval to be done with it. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. He felt around my leg, took an x-ray, and all was well.

"You're free to lose the boot now, Mr. Cullen. You'll want to start exercising regularly again but start off slow. You'll have to rebuild some of your muscle."

"Okay," I consented, eager to get out of here. Just as I stood, finally without the boot on my leg, Doctor Hartman walked in.

"Ah, Mr. Cullen. No missus today?"

"I snuck away," I admitted. Bella didn't know my appointment was today. Technically, I was at five weeks and six days since the accident.

"How are your incisions healing?"

I sighed, taking off my shirt and letting him examine me. "Shouldn't you have more important things to do than check an old incision?"

"I do. But, your wife made me promise to make sure you were in pristine health. One more check and I can go to bed knowing I fulfilled my promise." He started pressing the skin around the scars; still slightly red and raised, but nothing too gruesome.

After what seemed like an eternity I was given a clean bill of health. I even had them both sign a note saying I was fine in case Bella didn't believe me. She would never doubt me, but I didn't have the patience to talk about the issue any longer.

Home. Now. I texted her as I left the hospital. She was at the office, so it should take us about the same amount of time to get there. I sat in the car and stretched out my body, pleased that there was no longer any discomfort in my chest. My leg still felt a little odd, weak, but it was better than lugging around the heavy boot all of the time.

I was pleased to see that Bella had beaten me home. She wasn't on the main floor when I walked in, so I took the stairs two at a time until I found her emptying her purse on her bedside table.

"Hey, are you –"

I cut her off, pulling her into me and reveling in the feel of her, finally getting to feel her flush against me after so long. With a gentle push we fell to the bed. I kissed my way down her chin to her neck, nibbling at the sensitive skin by her collarbone.

"Edward, we –"

"I went to the doctor today," I grunted, digging the note out of my pocket and handing it to her. She twisted her head while I continued to enjoy the sweet skin of her neck.

"Fuck. Why didn't you tell me?"

With a quick tug at her blouse, all of the buttons snapped off, revealing her modest, nude colored bra. Another tug and it was out of my way, her breasts finally free for me to play with.

"Went a day early."

Her surprise must have finally worn off because her hands were in my hair and her legs were tight around my waist then. We both groaned as our lips found each other again.

Then, the doorbell rang.

I ignored it, but Bella tensed underneath me. "You really, really should have told me you were going today."

Fuck. "Who is it?"

"Alice wanted to throw you a party, six weeks since your accident kind of thing. I told her to do it a day early because I thought you would go to the doctor tomorrow and then we would –"

"We'll just tell them to leave."

"Edward," Bella scolded, running her fingers through my hair. Not the best way to diffuse the situation. "They're all here to celebrate you. I'm not the only one who was worried about you, you know."

"Two hours," I grunted. "Then I'm taking you somewhere they won't be able to find us."

I pulled us both off of the bed. Bella went to the closet to find a shirt that wasn't torn, and I turned to go get the door.

"Edward?"

I turned just in time to catch her as she jumped at me, her arms tight around my neck. I stumbled slightly but caught myself quickly.

"I'm really glad you're okay."

A/N: I was going to split this into another two parter, but I couldn't find a good breaking point. So, I hope you enjoyed the insanely long chapter! I hope this makes up for the last cliffhanger, though there may be one or two more coming up soon…

Also, Hopeless Kingdom is getting close to 100,000 views, which is just insane to me. I was thinking of posting an outtake from that timeline as a thank you. Anyone have any requests?

There's still a bit more in store for these two. See you soon!