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Chapter 12: Steady beep…

BPOV

The walls of the waiting room at the hospital held no interest to me. But I kept staring at one of them. Counting the tiles. Seeing where the pattern failed. I could hear Alice sobbing next to Jasper while he held her in his arms. Emmett kept pacing back and forward, Rosalie long forgotten on her chair. I tried to keep looking at him but, when he pulled at his hair, I had to look away. It reminded me how Edward did that a lot when he was frustrated or confused and I couldn't stand it. Emmett then growled, attracting everyone's attention.

"Where's dad? We need information!"

"Emmett, calm down. Your dad must be trying to get some insight. Stop pacing, please" Rosalie said while looking at her boyfriend with sad eyes.

"I can't calm down. Edward must be okay." Alice sobbed louder at his words and he stopped "I'm sorry, Short Stuff. I'm just…"

"Nervous… I know. I can't lose him either, Em" She replied and my heart constricted in my chest.

Esme came back into the room then with several Styrofoam cups and started handling them to everyone until she came and sat beside me with two of said cups. "Here, Bella. A little coffee"

"Thanks, Esme. But I can't…"

"You need to drink something. It's been hours since you ate…"

I grabbed the cup but knew deep down that, if I tried to take any, I would probably end up throwing it back up. When I saw Emmett stop his pacing again and prepared myself for his growing frustration, a set of footsteps made us stand up. Carlisle and a woman with long black hair, tanned skin and green eyes stood there. If she didn't have the white coat, she wouldn't guess she was a doctor at all. Carlisle's hair stuck up in different directions and he was trying to keep it all together for his family' sake but I could tell he was suffering as well.

"Everyone, this is Dr. Zafrina Kachiri. She's been Edward's doctor since he moved here. Dr. Kachiri, these are Emmett and Alice, Edward's cousin and his twin. Jasper and Rosalie Hale, his friends from school. And Bella, his girlfriend." Carlisle introduced us all and she smiled slightly at us.

"Too bad I couldn't meet you all under better circumstances" she said and then went serious all over again. Emmett couldn't handle subtlety so he went right to the point.

"How's Edward? What happened?"

"Your cousin is stable right now. We're keeping sedated for now to give his body time to recover." That didn't explain anything except that, for now, Edward was okay. "We did some studies and found an edema on his right lung. That's what provoked the blood and the difficult to breathe"

"An edema?" Alice asked in a whisper. Dr. Kachiri smiled.

"It is an accumulation of fluid in the tissue and air space of the lung. In his case, since he caught the flu, there was a little infection and blood there. So, when it ruptured, it led to the attack."

"Is this because of the fire?" Emmett asked, subdued now that he was getting answers.

"Yes, in a way. His lungs are way weaker than a normal lung would be. Especially because of the chemicals found and treated on his lungs when he was little. So it's easier to get infections and these kind of complications for him"

Everyone stayed quiet after that, so we tried to process everything. But I had to know. "Is he okay? When can we see him?"

"He's stable. We put him in a coma to help his body heal because he was so agitated. He was having respiratory failure so we had to intubate him to help him breathe. He's in the ICU but we'll monitor him for a couple of hours and, if nothing changes, we'll move him to a room for the night where a few of you can stay with him.

"I have to see him" whispered Alice from Jasper's arms.

"You will, as soon as we move him to his room. He's receiving treatment as we speak and we'll make sure he's well cared of. I suggest you guys go home to charge batteries. It could be a long night" she suggested with a smile and left to a chorus of thanks from us.

Alice immediately went to sit again and I did the same. Jasper and Emmett looked at us and sighed.

"You won't go home, will you?" Jasper asked Alice, kneeling in front of her.

"No. He could need me. We've never been apart and I need to make sure he's okay" she said looking into his eyes and he nodded.

"Do you need anything from home? We could go get you guys some stuff for the night…" suggested Rosalie.

"I'll go. Get some clothes and stuff. For Edward too, he'll need it" announced Emmett and then went and hugged Alice "He'll be fine, Short Stuff. He has to be" Alice didn't say anything and Emmett came next to me "Bella, you need to call Charlie. He'll wonder why you aren't home yet. It's late." I nodded. I didn't even remember to call my dad. "Do it soon so we can go by your house to pick some clothes for you too." he then squeezed my shoulder "Come on, Bella. He'll come back to us. I guaranty you that"

I tried to smile but probably failed. Jasper saw it and tried to cheer me up "Yeah, Bella. Now that he finally told you that he loves you, Edward won't be away for too long. He'll be like a fly next to you"

I smiled for real this time "I think this is the first time I've heard you call him Edward"

"Well, don't get used to it, darling. I promise you won't hear it a lot"

They left and I went to call Charlie, let him know what was going on and told him I would be staying here and Emmett and Jasper were picking some stuff for me. He told me not to worry and that he would pack a bag for me and would be here in the morning to check on Edward. I tried to be aware of everyone around me but couldn't be for long.

We were trying to get some homework done in the kitchen while Esme baked some goodies. Alice was telling a story about a girl in her class that almost made her experiment in Biology explode by adding the wrong component making us all laugh with her craziness. I turned around and saw that it was snowing for the first time this year.

I hopped out of my chair and opened the door to the backyard and stayed there, under the snow. I loved to feel the snow on my face. I could see Alice and Emmett running outside too and trying to pack the little snow that was sticking to the ground. I turned around with a smile and saw Edward with his arms crossed leaning on the door grinning down at me. I beckon him to join me but he shakes his head still grinning and I just look at him until I feel the hit of a snowball on the back of my head and see Emmett whistling away.

That started a war that Edward and Esme enjoyed while bundled up with a heavy blanket from the porch. The laughter carried away and we were so carefree… I went to Edward's side but couldn't reach him no matter how much I walked… suddenly everything went to black.

"Bella…" Alice was trying to wake me up and I looked at her with sleepy eyes

"I'm awake. What's going on?"

"Edward is in a room now. We can go see him." she told me and I shot up from my chair so fast that my head spun for a minute.

"Okay, let's go then."

Carlisle stopped us, alongside Esme before we could get inside the room. "I must warn you: he's still in a coma, because Dr. Kachiri wants to give him time to recover. And there's a lot of tubes and stuff on him"

"So what? We just want to see him, Dad" Alice said while trying to push him away from the door.

"It's important, Mary Alice. I know how he looks right now but, just keep in mind that he's getting better, okay?"

I nodded. And then he opened the door and the steady beep of the machine tracking his heartbeat makes me look up and gasp. There, on the bed was my Edward. There was a tube down his throat and one from his side. And IV was steadily dripping medicine to him and he was pale as hell. I moved to his side and took the hand that didn't have the IVs and hold it for a while as I stared at his face. I could hear the rest whispering around me but I didn't care, I was with Edward and he has to get better. I put my nose to his cheek in my own version of an Eskimo's kiss and whispered in his ear. "You need to get better, sweetheart. I need you. Your family needs you. You have to get better so I'm able to give you a kiss again. I'll be here, by your side. I'll always be here, Edward. Always"

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AN: Well, hello. First of all, I wanted to apologize for being so late with this chapter. Real life is awful and, as much as I wanted to be here every single day writing, I can't since I have bills to pay so... Also, I wanted to thank everyone that nominated and voted for this story for the FanFic Awards. We didn't win, but it doesn't even matter. Third, a lot of people asked me if this story is HEA and YES! I'm not able to do anything serious to anyone here. I love them too much, I just make them suffer a little. Hopefully, I'll have time to write another chapter soon, and this is not beta-ed, so any mistakes are mine... sorry!