Day 18

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He wasn't sure if it was still night or early in the morning when he opened his crusty eyes. The desk lamp was on, shining towards the table. Bella sat facing the Sandcrawler, a brown plastic piece in her hand.

"Bella?" His voice came out more like a croak. "What're you doing?"

"I was going to finish the Sandcrawler. I know how you Lego people feel about the last piece."

He didn't say anything. Yes, he did get a little thrill out of attaching the last piece of a set, but she could do the last pieces forever and ever, if she just forgave him.

"I was thinking how I was going to explain this to you." She picked up some things from the table. He pulled back his blanket to invite her under the covers, but she sat on the edge of the bed. "And I think I figured out a way that you'll understand."

She held three of the mini-figures that came with the set. "This is me." She put down the figure of Luke Skywalker, light saber in hand. "This is you." He was the gold droid C-3PO. "And this," she held up a tiny R2-D2, "is Alice."

Luke spoke first, "C-3PO, you asked R2D2 to look into an acquaintance of mine without telling me."

"Sir," said C-3PO, "Is this unacceptable? It was valuable information. The person was a threat."

She did a passable C-3PO and a very good Luke Skywalker. He knew she'd forgiven him, or she wouldn't be in here doing Star Wars Theater.

"Yes, the person was a threat. I appreciate R2D2's fine work."

R2D2 made a whistling noise.

"Yes, you're forgiven R2D2, because you were only doing your job."

He wanted to point out that Luke couldn't understand R2D2's language when he was at the Sandcrawler, but knew this was not the time to correct Bella.

Luke continued. "As a protocol droid, do you understand embarrassment?"

"Of course Master Luke, I understand embarrassment: a feeling of self-consciousness, shame or awkwardness, synonyms, mortification, humiliation, shame—"

"You know the definition, but have you ever felt embarrassed?"

"No, sir."

R2D2 made more sounds.

"Thank you R2D2. Thanks for your offer to tell me embarrassing stories about C-3PO. I can't wait to hear all of them. And thank you for your research, I'm glad you did it. But I wish 3PO had told me what he was doing."

Edward interrupted, "But I—"

"Shssh." Bella hissed in her own voice. "I'm not done."

"C-3PO you trot around in your golden metal skin, not caring what anyone thinks of you. I wish I was like that, but I'm not. I'm human, and I wished you had not seen all the things that happened behind my back, and what a bad judge of character I am. R2D2 says you don't have a mean bone in your body, which is true since robots don't have any bones."

He pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh at the discussion of bones. He had a bone he wanted to show her.

"R2D2 says you don't understand the concept of personal boundaries. We are going to have to work on that. For example, our test results came back. I looked at mine. Yours are in a folder on the desk. I didn't look, because that's private. C-3PO, do you think you can make that distinction between private and non-private in the future?"

"Oh yes Master Skywalker."

"I forgive you. But if you do it again, I'll have to use my light saber on you. And not in a good way."

R2D2 made a few more whistles, but the play was interrupted. Edward couldn't resist pulling her down to the bed, the toys jammed between them, so he could kiss her thoroughly.

When he stopped to breathe, Edward said against her cheek, "I'm sorry I embarrassed you. I only wanted to protect you."

"I know. But seeing what he did, I felt like an imbecile. It was bad enough knowing your sister knew. She swears she's seen much worst, and that you only saw about a quarter of what she showed me. But you, I only want you to think good things about me. I can't imagine what you thought when you saw—"

"I saw a woman with a big heart, being taken advantage of by a man who only cared about himself." He pulled her closer so she was on his chest, her legs between his. "I just wanted to help you. I—I love you Bella."

She didn't say anything, burrowing her head into his chest. After a moment she wiped her eyes and sniffed. "You're going to think I'm the biggest baby, crying all the time."

"Shhh." He kissed her hair. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"No, it's okay." She lifted her head, and pulled herself up so she was eye to eye with him. "It's more than okay. Cause I love you too."

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-21 Days- Day 18—

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When he pulled the blanket over them, she relaxed into his chest. She wasn't used to dealing with her feelings; she'd spent much of her training learning how to detach herself from the emotions at hand in order to do her job better. She needed to see a sick child first as a problem to be solved. Feeling sorry for a sick kid helped no one. There were plenty of times when she let her tears flow in the break room or office, but in front of parents and patients she was strong. The whiplash emotions of the day, from the highs of the morning, to the long, lonely afternoon spent evaluating the wildfire nature of her relationship with Edward, left her drained.

When she decided that she was going to forgive him, and even thank him for revealing what a scoundrel her ex had been, she couldn't wait to see him. But he looked so sweet asleep, his hands folded under his head, long golden eyelashes resting on his cheeks, the fuzzy stubble along his jaw. She couldn't bring herself to wake him. She'd been tempted to crawl into bed with him, but she wanted to clear things up first. She felt like they had finally come to an understanding. He was so warm and solid underneath her, but she was still so tired. They'd barely slept the night before, and she had worried herself awake 'til the small hours of the morning, when he finally realized she was there. "I'm so sleepy."

"Mmmph. Me too." He tightened his arms around her. "Don't go anywhere."

"Don't you want to know what my test results were?"

"Yep. In the morning."

"Really? You don't want to know now?"

"I know." He kissed her ear softly. "You're fine, or you would have told me right away."

She giggled quietly, thinking how well he knew her in the short time they'd been together.

"Sleep now warrior princess. For tomorrow I plan on plundering you. You'll need your energy."

"Hmm, you say such sweet things." Pressing her ear to his chest, she heard the strong steady beat of the heart that loved her, and drifted to sleep.

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"Dr. Swan, Mr. Cullen, wake up. We need to take your temps."

For a moment the person swathed in plastic seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. It took a moment to get her bearing; the unpleasant thing poking her knee was Luke Skywalker, the pleasant thing poking between her legs was Edward, whose morning erection was placed just perfectly.

"Could you give us a minute?"

"I'm sorry, I knocked but you didn't answer. I had to come in, it's protocol."

"I know, just, five minutes."

She felt a little bad for the medic. Bella had spent too much time in a similar suit and they weren't comfortable.

She'd like to stay exactly where she was, cozy and warm, but that wasn't going to happen, at least not today. She began at the notch of the vee neck of his scrubs, kissing his skin up along the edge til she got to his clavicle. He was breathing deeper and his hips began a slow gyration. She smiled into his neck. "I know you're awake."

"Hmm. If I admit it, will you stop what you're doing?"

"No."

"Okay, then I'm awake."

She sat up, pressing down firmly. A deep groan rumbled out of him, his hands pulling her hips still tighter onto him. Sighing, she said, "We have to have our temperatures taken before we continue this."

"Which medic?"

"Arlene." There were different levels of squeamishness among the medical staff. Arlene was the most senior person on staff, she didn't care if you were naked hanging by your toes as long as she got what she needed.

"So why do we have to get out of bed?"

"Are you always going to be like this?"

He wiggled underneath her. "Yes."

"If you're a good boy I'll give you a sticker."

"I don't want a sticker. I want to stick her." He thrust again for emphasis.

She laughed, her head against his chest, and wondered again what she'd gotten herself into. "That can be arranged, but only if you cooperate for Arlene. Got it?"

She used his bathroom for a quick clean up, then switched places with him. She straightened the sheets, returning the mini-figures to their place by the Sandcrawler. Luke's light saber had come loose, she snapped it back into his hand.

Arlene was back and took Bella's temperature. "You're normal." The older woman eyed the Lego creation. "That's a great idea. We should put some of those in the comfort boxes. People start climbing the walls after a few days." She nodded towards the bathroom. "You're lucky you have him."

"I know." She tried not to grin like a loon, but thinking of Edward made her happy. She had a sudden thought. "Arlene, is there any way to get refills on some of the things in the comfort box?"

"What do you need?"

She felt herself blushing.

"I'm just kidding, I'll drop a couple more off by the end of the day. We were betting how long it would be."

Just when she thought she couldn't get more embarrassed, the thought of the military medical team betting on how quickly they'd use up their condoms raised the bar. She felt like her face was on fire.

"Here's Mr. Lucky. Open wide." They stood waiting for the beep. "You're up two tenths."

"He was just, we were in bed and body heat—"

"Dr. Swan, I know. This ain't my first rodeo. We'll just keep an eye out and Mr. Cullen try not to be in bed next temp check. That's in twelve hours, think you could be done before then or should I send in those supplies STAT?"

Arlene left, laughing to herself.

Edward raised his eyebrows. "What was that about?"

"It seems our potential condom use is the subject of some wagers in the medical department."

She wasn't expecting the snort. "Man, I should have worked something out with Ben. Poor guy deserves a little Christmas bonus."

"What, you, seriously?" She pointed at the door to the hall. "It doesn't bother you that they're out there discussing, listening to our, our…activities?"

"Hell no. Think of it as entertaining the troops." She felt herself being airborne again as he lifted her from behind, carrying her to the bed. Dropping her down, he reached behind his back and pulled off his shirt. He was untying his pants when she stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Sex is way better naked."

"Your file?"

"I checked my results every day for the first week. I'm clean except for the rechecks. So I figure whatever your results say, we're stuck with raincoats for the next six months."

"But why didn't you say anything?" She felt stupid again. She should have been checking her results too.

"One, I didn't want you to feel like you were the only one that needed to be tested. Two, I suspected Tanya wasn't a one man woman all along. I was curious."

"Oh." He was lifting her top over her head. She didn't want to resist, but the guards—"Ben will hear us."

"So? Just pretend I'm your high school boyfriend and we're getting it on on your parents couch. We need to be verrrry quiet."

"I never did that."

"Really? You went to his place?"

"There was no him. I didn't date in high school."

"Okay, let's play 'my roommate's asleep in the other bed and we have to be quiet'."

"Never happened."

"You didn't date in college?" He looked at her, his head to the side as if he were stunned. "Man, were all the guys at your school blind?"

"I chose not to. I was focused on my studies, so I could graduate early."

Somehow Edward had slid his hands around and unhooked her bra. His fingers were slowly circling her bare areola. She could feel the skin puckering from his touch. "So tell me, Dr. Swan. Where is the naughtiest place young Isabella got it on?"

"Umm, mmmm," it was getting harder to form words while he licked her neck with the tip of his tongue. "The, uh, on call room."

"Really…I can work with that." He brushed his hand over her face, making her close her eyes. "Think of carts being rolled down the hall. Some doctor is being paged. You only have a few minutes, you have to go stitch some drunk up, he won't notice if you're gone a little longer."

He was pulling her pants and panties down together, but she grabbed them before they passed her knees. "Maybe we should wait. 'Til we can do this right and take our time."

He breathed the words into her ear. "I'm a dessert before dinner kind of guy, Bella. Let's do it now, and do it later." His hands slid between her legs. She bit her lip when his fingers met her slick entrance. "Tell me right now if you really want to wait."

He stopped moving. She looked at his eyes, dark as she'd ever seen them, his full lips, his nipples hard, and his cock, thick and straight, shining at the tip, ready to go. She wanted him, she wanted him now. Her voice deep with need, she whispered, "Give me the condom."

He'd stashed it under the pillow. By the time she finished opening the packet, he'd finished stripping her. She rolled it on, seating it with one hand, feeling his balls with the other. His cock twitched as she guided him to her opening. He didn't ask again, he moved powerfully into her and stopped. Forehead to forehead, they looked into each other's eyes. At an unspoken signal they started to buck together, desperate to finally be one. He stopped suddenly, and holding her ass switched positions so she was riding him.

"I have to touch you," he gasped, his hands covering her breasts. "So fucking sexy." She knew one way to keep him quiet—she bent over and kissed him, deep as if she was searching for her soul in his mouth. One of his hands found her clit, and was making tight circles. She was so wound up that she started to come immediately.

"God I love watching you." He turned her over again, pulling her to the edge of the bed, lifting one leg up as he pounded faster and faster, his skin slapping against hers, until he was hissing his release in quiet curses. He laid still on her for a moment, taking deep breaths, then started laughing. "I can't believe how much that bed squeaked."

"Really?" She honestly hadn't noticed. "If we hear applause from the hall, we're not doing this again. Not here."

He kissed her forehead, then pulled out to dispose of the condom. He came back with a hot washcloth for her, then flopped down beside her, and in a few minutes was snoring.

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After lunch there was another unexpected package delivered to the room. With no address nor return address, it contained a gross of condoms.

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