Day 10

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She woke up smiling, remembering the awful joke Edward told her, so awful it was funny. Something about a zombie woman offering to give a man head, then removing her head and giving it to him. She could never tell a joke, she'd forget the right phrasing or emphasize the wrong word, then she'd try to explain it, but Edward, Edward was—

"Dr. Swan, time for your vitals."

"Come in." She was long over worrying about getting ready for the staff. They wouldn't care if she were butt naked, as long as her temperature didn't go up. She sat quietly while they took her temp, blood pressure and a blood draw. She was beginning to feel like a pincushion.

Then the guilt hit. She had a skype date planned with Emmett in five minutes. Obviously he wouldn't care that she had morning breath, but she needed to run a brush through her hair before he saw her. She wasn't looking forward to talking to him.

Opening her computer with a minute to spare, she sat, trying to think of what to say. She did the same thing day after day, the only new thing was Edward and it felt wrong bringing him up to Emmett. There was no reason to, they hadn't done anything wrong. Just as she wasn't jealous when Emmett mentioned a new professional contact, he shouldn't be jealous of what she had with Edward.

She'd googled the company where he'd closed his latest big contract, the Hale Group. She was a little surprised at the beautiful CFO that Emmett had been working with, Rosalie Hale. Bella had expected a much older woman. This wasn't news, he had plenty of female clients, and she'd never been jealous before. Of course before, she didn't have time to sit around and try to analyze his actions. When he said he was taking a three day business trip, she assumed that's what it was. When she found, just coincidentally, that the golf outing for Hale Group was a one day event, not three days as he'd told her, she just assumed he was tacking on travel time and additional meetings, as he'd done ion the past. Watching the terrible daytime talk shows, with sisters accusing sisters of sleeping with each other's men, paternity tests with six possible fathers, and women throwing chairs while grabbing at each other's hair was actually rotting her brain. She needed to stop worrying about herself and Emmett. They were solid.

And he was late. The screen said 8:06 when he finally called. She clicked to open the screen.

"Hi Em." She thought he looked a little disheveled, generally his hair was molded with product before he left to go anywhere. His face was so close to the screen she couldn't even see what he was wearing.

"Sorry I'm late." He smiled, all his dimples showing. "Kind of had a rough night."

"Are you feeling all right? Any symptoms?"

He laughed. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"True. I am currently in homeostasis."

"That's a good thing right?"

"Yes, Emmett, that's a good thing." He was annoying her. Edward would have understood.

"Babe, yeah, I gotta get going, meeting, you know."

"A meeting? On the weekend?"

"We're meeting at the club. 9:00 tee time."

Another common occurrence. Emmett made many contacts at the club, inviting clients to golf with him. Nothing unusual there, but today it irritated her.

"You're watering the plants?" She had one jade tree that was very fussy.

"Of course. " His eyes shifted to the side, looking at something off the screen. "I'll text you later."

"Ok. Love you." She said it, though at the moment she wasn't exactly feeling it.

"Ah huh." And then he was gone.

As he signed off he sat back. He was wearing a rumpled shirt and behind him was a yellow wall. There were no yellow rooms in their house.

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-21days-Day 10-

As he opened his eyes he half expected Bella to be there. Yesterday they'd had lunch and talked, went for a walk, talked some more, had dinner, then talked even more. Bella. Bella. Bell-la. He enjoyed how her name felt on his tongue. He closed his eyes, remembering their time together yesterday.

.

After Ben had closed the door to Bella's room, Edward extended his hand a few inches. She put her hand in his like they were ten year olds. It had become their thing, holding hands. There was a sweetness to it he'd never experienced. He'd been in a few, brief relationships, dating a number of woman short term, but he never felt anything like this. Something about her smile was more appealing to him, more intriguing, than the crazy outfits Tanya would wear to get his attention. And they talked, never running out of topics. She was someone he could talk to for a lifetime, and never grow bored.

.

Rolling onto his front, he put some enjoyable pressure onto his morning wood. Thinking of her was not going to help that situation, and the medics were going to be in any time for his morning vitals. But he couldn't help himself. She was beautiful, smart as a whip, generous—this year had been her fourth trip volunteering. Some people he knew went once, took tons of photos with the natives, and then lived off that glory for years. Not Bella. She had a big heart. Even in those scrubs she was pretty, and thinking of her out of those scrubs—not helping the situation. He shifted his hips from side to side, thinking about her plump lower lip and what he'd like to do to it.

"Mr. Cullen, we need to take your vitals."

Feeling as if his mother had caught him jacking off in his room, he sat up, bunching the sheets over his lap. "Uh, just a minute." He scrambled to the bathroom, wasting the start of a really good fantasy.

He took a shower while waiting for their results. Ben yelled so he could hear him through the door. "You're both good Ed. She'll be here in ten."

He smiled at his feet, hands on his hips. It was so stupid, knowing that she was on his way made him happy, happier than he could ever imagine being with Tanya or any of the other girls he dated. It was like something was fluttering in his chest, tickling up to his face and coming out as a big grin. He looked forward to spending another day with her, talking, walking, watching movies. But she has a live in boyfriend, his inner voice reminded him, she lives in another state. She's bored, otherwise she'd want nothing to do with you.

Ignoring his inner voice had gotten him in trouble before, but he shut it down anyway. He'd take whatever Bella wanted to give.

She was escorted in, Ben giving Edward the thumbs up. As soon as the door closed, Edward put his hand out for their customary hand holding, but she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Would you mind…" she hesitated, "Giving me a hug?"

"I'm a great hugger. World class, really." He wrapped himself around her and held on, swaying slightly, until she sighed. He could feel her chest inflating and deflating in his arms.

"Ok, thanks, thanks." She crossed to his neatly made bed and sat, taking off her shoes and sitting cross-legged at the end.

"Anytime." He'd learned she wasn't fond of direct questions, so he took a seat, mimicking her pose.

"I…" She looked at the window across the room as she spoke. "Have you had any visitors?"

"No."

"Me neither. I told my parents I didn't want them to come, it's a long trip, and they have some health issues."

He nodded, "Same here."

"But they're coming anyway, next week." She shrugged her shoulders. "But you'd think, a young, healthy person, someone who was a longtime friend…"

In her pause he heard the name Emmett.

"You'd think they'd at least make an attempt."

He hmm'd. He agreed with Bella, although he had no illusion that the self-centered Tanya even gave a thought about visiting him. There were protocols to be followed, no touching obviously, but it had been explained that friends and family members, after health and security clearance, could visit. Most importantly, for Tanya, there was nothing in it for her.

"We're almost half done." He joined her on his bed. "Eleven more days, then we can see whoever we want to."

She nodded, but didn't speak. He knew he had to pull out the big guns. "My room, my movie. After lunch we're watching 'Mouse Hunt'."

"Never heard of it."

"Stick with me kid." He wagged his eyebrows and mimed smoking a cigar. "I'll show you what you've been missing."

.

He'd never enjoyed that movie as much. Bella laughed until tears were rolling down her face. At some point she scooted closer to him until they were side by side. His arm, without his permission, went around her. She was still giggling as the credits rolled.

"You were right. That's just what I needed, something utterly insane."

"You're welcome." He gave her a side hug. She allowed it for a moment, then started to get up.

"If you think that's funny, you should have seen my parents attempting to skype. They had their side on mute, so they didn't think I could see them. Mom started shaking the computer, then looked behind the screen like I was in there." Bella straightened her scrubs. "My cousin will be at their house in fifteen minutes to help them out."

"Tell your mom I really liked the pie."

She nodded, looking everywhere but at him. He alerted Ben that she needed to leave. A few moments later her person tapped at the door.

"Dr. Swan, ready to go?"

Bella put her hand out to shake, which Edward took but pulled her to him. He squeezed gently, both arms around her. "I don't want you to go into Cullen hug withdrawal. I mean, that's worse than Ebola."

"Really?" She swayed with him. "Not too proud of yourself there."

"Just stating the facts. Your place tomorrow?"

She nodded, then pulled away.

When he was alone he decided to Skype Jasper and Alice. He had always preferred a quick text to the whole skyping thing, but the monotony made him crave seeing something beyond the facility. It took a few minutes for his brother-in-law to respond. Jasper clicked on, pulling a tee shirt over his head as he spoke.

"S'up Ed? I haven't spoken to you this much in the last year."

"Why hasn't anyone come to visit me?"

"What are you lonely? Just a second, Allie." Jasper had closed down his camera while yelling for his wife. When the video came back his sister was sitting on Jasper's Lap.

"Hi big brother." She was smiling wide, that expression on her face the same one she used to have while waiting for their mother to finish scooping ice cream. "We wanted to wait to tell you til you got out but, WE'RE PREGNANT!"

He was shocked, watching them kiss in front of him. That explained his sister's vague comments during their last few conversations. He nodded, feeling happy for them, but missing the ability to give her a hug and Jasper a slap on the back. "Congratulations you guys."

And she was off. He sat back as his sister described rapid fire every moment of nausea, every doctor's appointment, and seven possible themes for the nursery. He'd sort of tuned her out until she mentioned needing a pediatrician.

He put up a hand to slow her down. "I met a great pediatrician, in here."

"You met Dr. Swan?"

He sat back, shaking his head. "How did you know, how did you know her name?"

"Silly Edward, there are blogs about everyone in quarantine, when they went in, when they're due out."

He shook his head at his own stupidity. He could have known she was on the same day as him last week. He decided to do something he might regret, but once it was out, he wasn't sorry.

"Allie, there's a guy I want you to find out about. Emmett McCarthy."

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AN: No guarantee future chapters will be this long, I just write until they stop talking to me. Regarding my other, sad little unfinished story, "Illumination". After '21 days' is put to bed, I will finish "Illumination", promise.