A/N: So sorry I'm such a fail and it took me over two years to complete this D:

As usual, I couldn't have done this without my Packy. Happy belated birthday bb! 3

Hope I did it justice.

Also, you can follow this story (and other fo mine, including an upcoming one) in my newly revived blog (rmacaroni dot c o m)

Epilogue - Part 2.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Edward passes out just before his parents make it back from sorting out the hotel situation, and since Mrs. Cullen insisted to stay with him, I return home. I visit him briefly in the morning, before I head to work. It's a little tougher for him to get out of bed, but Bree, the physiotherapist, ensures him this is normal since yesterday, he was still under anesthesia and hence the pain was more controlled. Regardless of her explanation, he was not at all happy.

After work, I return to the hospital. Edward was supposed to have two more physiotherapy sessions during the day, which might explain why, when I arrive, his mother tells me that he is asleep and suggests I let him rest.

In hopes that he'd wake up later, I decide to stick around and sit at the waiting area outside of Edward's room. My hands find themselves intertwined and between my knees with worry.

"Hey, Isabella, what are you doing out here?" Mr. Cullen asks as he walks into the waiting area through the hallway.

"Hi…" I stand up to greet him. "Mrs. Cullen said he is already sleeping, and I didn't want to be a bother."

"What? He was waiting for you." He turns to look suspiciously at the door. "Hmmm… give me a second."

It doesn't take a genius to realize Edward's mother is not my biggest of fans, but she wouldn't deny me seeing him, would she?

From the door, Mr. Cullen peeks his head, gesturing for me to come in.

Edward's eyes light up when he sees me and a smile stretches on his face. "Where were you?" he asks when I come closer.

"I thought you were already sleeping." I shoot daggers at his mother through the side of my eyes. I don't mean to cause any drama, but she clearly did not want me to see him tonight. His mother lets my comment slide, and continues to fix his pillows, unfazed.

"You won't believe who we saw last Sunday at church," she says without looking at me.

Edward tenses up, turning to look at her, as if he already knows who she will bring up.

"Rosalie," his mother starts. "She looked great."

Of course she brings up Rosalie, his ex-girlfriend, whom he broke up with back when I was still with Emmett.

"Mom…"

"Now she's even more involved in the Catholic community. Can you believe it? She's been organizing the children's fair."

"Good for her," Edward says, squirming on the bed.

"She asked about you, and I told her you were having surgery. I think maybe when you're back home, you should give her a call. Or who knows, maybe she'll…"

"Dad?" Edward pleads from the bed as I stare at my feet. "Would you take Isabella downstairs for some tea?"

"Sure thing, son." As a soldier on command, Mr. Cullen approaches me, and with a hand on my back, directs me to the door. I glance at Edward who gives me an apologetic nod.

So, I leave.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I'm terribly sorry about that," Mr. Cullen says as soon as we are outside of the room.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. You see, my wife can be very stubborn, but if there's anyone who can make her come around, it's Edward." He winks. "He really is crazy about you." I can tell he's honestly sincere about Edward's feelings toward me. I just wish his mother could feel the same.

Mr. Cullen smiles at me sweetly, but before I can reply, he winces, looking over my shoulder. "I would also like to add that I was 100% against this."

I turn around, follow his gaze, to see no other than Rosalie, Edward's ex, waltzing into the waiting area, and going straight for his room. Edward's mother opens the door and lets her in.

I glare in Rosalie's direction while I decide whether I should march over there or not.

"Despite my wife's intentions, Rose is a good girl, and her heart is in the right place, but she wasn't right for Edward. Everyone knew that. Everyone except my wife, apparently…"

I sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area with a huff, coming to terms with the fact that Edward's mom invited his ex to fly all the way from the US to Germany to check on him. The fact that Rosalie actually came, shows me she cares about him, and why wouldn't she? As far as I know, they did not have a nasty break up, and she isn't a bad person.

I decide to trust Edward to deal with the situation, I don't want to add to his stress on the day after his surgery. I don't know what Edward's mom's intentions are, but I won't waste time worrying about it.

Mr. Cullen sits next to me, and we remain there, in awkward silence.

"Hey-yo!" Emmett announces as he walks into the waiting area.

"Emmett!"

"Hey, Bella. Mr. C." Emmett nods at Carlisle as he approaches us. He embraces me in a bear hug and then shakes Carlisle's hand. "So, I hear Grannie's hip replacement went okay?"

Mr. Cullen laughs softly, patting Emmett on the shoulder. "I guess I'll go get that tea," he excuses himself, leaving Emmett and I in the waiting area.

"Were you in there already?" I ask, I hadn't seen him coming.

"Yeah… but seemed Edward had his hands full at the moment," Emmett gestures with his hands over his chest, tastelessly referring to Rosalie's huge breasts. "So, I came to see where you were."

I respond by just punching his bicep.

"Ow… no, but seriously, did I miss something? What's she doing here?"

"I guess Mrs. Cullen has a different recovery plan for Edward?"

"Pfff… doesn't she know he's been jonesing over you for years? As if he's going to mess this up now."

I just shrug, nonchalantly.

"I could always distract Rosalie, you know? Show her around or something?"

"Out of the kindness of your heart?"

"Of course! I'm nothing if not selfless, Bella."

The last thing I want here is any kind of competition, or even to get off on the wrong foot with Rosalie. But I have to admit, I do wish I could have a few moments alone with Edward's mother. Emmett offering to distract Rosalie could help me with that.

"Fine," I say, turning to him. "Go… entertain the ex."

Emmett waggles his eyebrows. "Time to turn up the charm." He struts off, seemingly energized and glad to be of use.

It really is so good to see him happy.

Moments later, Emmett walks out of the room, Rosalie, laughing at something he's said, in tow. As he passes me, she shoots me a wink, grinning slyly.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When I walk back into the room, Edward is already asleep, while his mother sits next to him, scrolling on her phone.

"Mrs. Cullen, could I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure thing, dear." She gets up from the chair with a sigh, and follows me out of the room.

Once outside, I take a deep breath before facing her. "I know that the circumstances around the time Edward and I got together weren't ideal, but I would like you to know that I do care about your son — very much so — and I wouldn't do anything to hurt him."

"So I hear…" She crosses her arms in front of her chest, but her eyes soften slightly.

"I just don't want to make this any more difficult than it already is for him."

"At least on that, I agree with you," she sighs. "I'm sorry for my part… I shouldn't have asked Rosalie to come here. No need to make him more uncomfortable than he already is. I just thought…" she pauses for a moment, her eyes scrutinizing me.

I'm surprised she's apologized, and I wonder what Edward said to her.

"He's happy with you. I can see that…" She uncrosses her arms with a deep breath. "That's all a mother would want for her child."

"Thank you," I say honestly, and smile as I see Mr. Cullen coming back with the tea.

"What took you so long?"

"Just making sure no heads were rolling, dear." Mr. Cullen says, winking at me.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The next morning, I return to the hospital, to find Emmett standing next to Edward's bed, which, to my surprise, is bent upwards and has him almost sitting up. Edward shoots me a guilty but proud glance that leaves me immediately worried.

A soccer game playing on the TV seems to be the source of their attention; I, however, can't avoid focusing on Edward's deep breaths and his tense arms pushing into the bed, trying to help maintain the clearly uncomfortable sitting position. My attempt to lower the bed gets denied with a soft shake of his head as I reach for the button.

At half-time, when Emmett excuses himself to use the restroom, Edward asks me to lower the bed with a defeated exhale.

A faint groan rips from his throat as he breathes in and out with his eyes tightly closed.

"It's okay," I whisper softly, my fingers in his hair.

"I can't even sit long enough to watch half of a stupid game anymore!"

"You only just had your surgery like two days ago." My fingers thread softly in his hair. "A limited range of motion is completely normal."

He takes deep breaths, his eyes still shut tightly. "I'm sorry, about my mom and Rosalie being here."

"It's okay…" I shush him.

"I really don't get where she gets these ideas from." He takes a few more breaths and open his eyes. I smile at him, leaning closer, my hand moving from his hair to the side of his face.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle your mom." I smile again but he closes his eyes in pain. I try helping him, arranging his pillow, but uncertain on what to do. "Are you okay?"

He nods quickly, but his eyes are still shut tightly. A couple deep breaths later, he opens his eyes again. "I guess I shouldn't have been sitting that long," he admits, guiltily.

I shake my head disapprovingly at him while he stares at the ceiling.

"I hate missing games. I should have pushed the surgery so I could have helped with qualifiers."

"Are you serious right now?!" My voice comes out loader than I intended, but I can't hide the anger in it. His eyes widened in surprise as he turns to look at me. "The doctor even said it, with the amount of damage you had, you shouldn't even have been playing for as long as you did! You should have had this surgery months ago!"

He stares at me for a moment, his eyes softening, melting my insides.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I just…"

"I know." He reaches for the back of my head and pulls me to him, pressing his lips to mine. He deepens the kiss, pulling me even closer, as he tries to prop himself of on his elbow. He whimpers into the kiss, then flops back on the pillow, panting.

I press my forehead against his, our noses touching. His eyes are tight in a wince.

"I've been insufferable, haven't I?" He says after a while.

I smile, moving back a bit, his hand still behind my neck. "Only a little," I joke, and he finally smiles, my smile.

"I just… I can't wait," he says.

"I know. But you'll be able to help your team soon. You just need to get better first."

"That's not it though. I mean it's not the only thing I'm impatient about…"

"Oh?"

"I can't wait to finally be with you. To get started on our time together. To have my time and energy solely devoted to you. To love you, like you deserve to be loved. Without only barely making it, without worrying about what others think, without hoping and praying my body is up for the challenge."

My eyes water, as the memories of the last few months flash in front of my eyes. We haven't really had a moment to ourselves that wasn't tainted by friendship and relationship drama or an impending surgery. Where he hasn't been worried about hurting his best friend's feelings or being in excrutiating physical pain.

"I love you, you know that right?"

He nods, relaxing into the pillow with a huff.

"Now rest," I command. "Bree will be here in an hour or so."

He groans, but closes his eyes with a sigh, giving in.

"You haven't actually been insufferable." I say as I make my way to the chair next to his bed. "It's understandable that you are frustrated. You've been through so much, and you've worked so hard. I know you'll come out of this stronger than before."

A soft snore is already coming from his lips as I sit on the chair, so I am not sure how much of that he actually listened to, but oh did he do it. He pushed himself through recovery, through minor setbacks — including a subsequent hernia surgery. He never looked back. And six months after his surgery, as I watched him from the stands, vibrating with the crowd as they chanted his name, I couldn't be any prouder of my man.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~