Chapter 28 - Dancing in the Moonlight

BELLA

Edward had called the vet and scheduled an appointment for Max. I told Dr. Gartner about Max being one of my patients that I was able to find a home for, and she was excited to meet him. Edward had brought Max over a week after he had taken him home, so I could re-tape his little leg. I guess he had been getting frisky with it. I checked the stitches, and they were looking good. That was when I reminded him to make an appointment with Dr. Gartner for his shots and fixing.

Edward walked into the office smiling and surprised me by giving me a soft hug.

"Where's Max?" I asked excited to see him.

Edward pointed to his shirt pocket. I looked down in it and couldn't help but smile at the fat bellied baby all curled up asleep. "He's looking so good, Edward. You're doing wonderful with him," I praised just as Dr. Gartner came out.

"Well, you must be Edward, proud daddy of the infamous Max. Bella can't stop talking about you two." I totally blushed, but Edward didn't seem bothered by it.

"Yeah, I have his records Bella kept when she was looking after him here," he said handing them over to her.

"Bella, could you make copies of these and get a file started for little Max?"

"Yes, of course!" I said and quickly got to work. I wanted to join them in the exam room as soon as possible.

When I finished, I popped in smiling, as Edward scratched Max's belly on the table.

"I was just checking his stitches, Bella. You did very a good job on them. I'm impressed," she said.

"Thank you, you taught me everything I know when it comes to that."

"Well, I'm glad it's going to good use. I just gave him his first round of shots, and I see that you already dewormed him, which is obvious by his big belly. He's in good health, but I want his leg all the way healed before we get him fixed."

"Yes, I agree, no need to stress his little system more than need be," I said.

Max toddled over to me across the stainless steel table, slipping a little on his own furry paws. I picked him up and snuggled him. "How's my big boy, is daddy treating you good? Is he spoiling my baby?"

EDWARD

Bella was baby talking to Max, calling me his daddy and referring to herself as his mommy. I think I might have been a little messed up, because for some reason, that was turning me on. Max was doing great. He had grown so much in the past two weeks and was ready for his shots. I was pleasantly surprised, when Bella was there at the vet for our appointment, but I should have known she would never miss Max's first doctor's appointment. The vet seemed really impressed with her work and even copied her files and put them into Max's official file.

I guess Bella wasn't kidding when she said she was studying to be a vet. I remembered seeing her box of files. She obviously had lots of patients. The fact that she loved them seemed to just make her an awesome vet.

BELLA

I didn't realize how much I had missed little Max, until I watched Edward leave with him. Dr. Gartner came up behind me. "You did really good placing him, Bella. I'm impressed with how well kept his records are as well. I know you can't keep pets at your house, but have you ever thought of starting a sort of shelter for them, since you already are caring for them?"

"I'd love to, but there's so much more I need to learn how to do before I can do that," I said smiling.

"Well, let's get to teaching then. I think it'd do you good to learn how to vaccinate animals and just how to measure the medicine. Vaccinating strays will help prevent the spread of disease among house pets as well. You can get the vaccines at the feed store for your patients. If you find homes, then you can have them come to me for the fixing. They'll need to be put under for those operations. Really, we should find a way to do that as well. If they're fixed, then we can help control the feral cat population."

"That'd be cool. I'm already in college, working on my degree in biology, but it'll be a while before I get to vet school."

"You're a very impressive young lady, Bella. I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out," she said with a wink.

It was two weeks later when Esme brought in little Max again. I was surprised to see her and she me.

"Bella Swan, is that you? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" she asked in a surprised but happy voice.

"I'm actually done with high school and am working on my college degree now."

"Oh, I didn't realize you were a senior last year."

"I wasn't, I just finished my senior courses over the summer. I'm going to school to become a vet, so I work here a couple of days a week."

"Well, this is nice, isn't it? It's wonderful to see motivated young people really going after their dreams aggressively."

"Thanks," I said surprised. I had always been under the impression that Esme didn't like me, but I guess she seemed to be warming up to me. I held back my snicker, as she pulled Max out of her coat pocket. I guess pocket was Max's main mode of transportation. She watched me as I did his checking in and took his measurements, making notes in his chart.

"Well now, I see our little Max has returned to get his stitches out and get neutered. Bella, since you put them in, would you like to do the honors of removing them?" she asked.

I perked right up. "Yes, that'd be awesome." I picked up little Max and snuggled him. I gently unwrapped his leg while cooing to my little boy and picked up the snips, holding his leg extended while I worked. I wiped the area down, so I could see the stitches clearly, and then started removing them. He didn't give me any trouble, as I kept my forehead against his, rubbing his head, while I looked down to see what I was doing.

"You're truly amazing with him," Esme said when I finished.

"Nah, he's just my baby," I said kissing Max's head. "Isn't that right, baby?" I said snuggling him, and he nuzzled back.

"Bella, can you feed him this bottle with the tranquilizer in it so we can get to work?" Dr. Gartner asked.

"Of course, I miss doing this," I said. Max was a good boy, taking the bottle happily and sucking it all down fast. No wonder he was such a fat little baby. He was out cold when he took his last sip, and I rubbed his little belly and kissed his head. Truth was I was worried about this operation, but I needed to buck up and show I trusted Dr. Gartner, so Esme would not become nervous as well.

Dr. Gartner came into the room in operating gear and took my baby from me. "Why don't you go sit with Esme, honey?" Dr. Gartner said.

I nodded okay, because she was right. I needed to sit down. I was surprised when Esme took my hand and squeezed it. "You're very good with animals. You have a gift. You're definitely going into the right profession."

"Thank you," I said not sure what else to say.

"Edward seems really taken with little Max. I think it's done his heart good to have him. He takes his care very seriously."

I just nodded.

"I brought him in to be fixed behind Edward's back, because he was researching the procedure and was going to ask to stand in to make sure Max was alright. He was so worried."

"Oh, heavens. Well, Max is in good hands with Dr. Gartner. That's really sweet of him to be freaking out about him."

Esme chuckled. "Yes, that's one way to put it."

Dr. Gartner interrupted us. "Everything went smoothly. I have a couple of prescriptions here for him," she said handing Esme a couple of dropper bottles. "One is for pain; the other is to make sure there's no start of infection. He's still on his pain medicine right now, so he won't need anything for another six hours if at all. Bella, why don't you go back with little Max, as he'll be waking up soon."

"Of course," I said rushing back to my baby.

EDWARD

I came home from school to see my mother holding my kitten. She was talking softly to him, apologizing for his rough day.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I took him to get fixed. Everything went well," she rushed out before I could yell at her, but I did, anyway.

"How could you do that? How could you make him go through that alone?"

"He wasn't alone, Edward, I was there, along with Ms. Swan. She took care of Max like he was her own. He's fine."

I had rushed forward and took my baby from her. "Max, baby, I'm so sorry."

Max nuzzled and batted at me sloppily.

Esme giggled. "He's a bit high. He's on his painkillers, Edward. He really is fine."

I pouted and went to my room, cuddling my little boy. I couldn't believe they had fixed my cat without telling me. I tucked my little boy into my pocket. I was going to go talk to Bella Swan.

I went around to her back gate and found her giving a big black cat a shot. "He's not yours!"

"He's not anybody's, but someone needs to look out for him."

"I'm Max's dad, he's my cat! You shouldn't have fixed him while I was at school!"

"Dr. Gartner fixed him."

"I thought we were friends!" I snapped.

She looked up at me, her eyes burning. "Really? Because I didn't see you all summer. You want to explain that?"
I felt like I had been slapped in the face. "You acted like my friend, but then you just up and disappeared on me."

"No, I..." How did I explain this? "I was ashamed."
She looked at me confused. "I should've done more to stop Tyler. I should've been the one fighting the knife away, not you."

She shook her head at me. "You're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not, Bella, I didn't protect you! I was a mess, and you almost died, and I did nothing to stop it. I froze. I shouldn't have froze like that."

She stepped forward and hugged me. "He just caught you off guard, that's all. If he had been in front of you, going to attack me, you would've stopped him. I know you would."

"When you didn't show up for school that first day, I started freaking out. I was worried something had happened to you."

"I'm fine. I just have better things to do than hang around with the likes of Lauren."

I smiled softly at her. "Yeah, you do."

"I'd never let anything happen to Max. I'm sorry Esme went behind your back. I didn't know until after Max was already under and being worked on." I closed my eyes, thankful she hadn't betrayed me. "How is little Max doing?" she asked.

"He's doing fine. Feeling really good," I snickered remembering his stumbling earlier.

"I'm glad. Just remember, Edward, he's my baby, too. I'd never let anything happen to him."

She was right, and I kind of liked her being Max's mommy and me the daddy. Yeah, I was messed up.

I gave her a hug and kissed her cheek, wishing I could kiss her lips, but I didn't want to push it. I didn't realize she had felt upset over my absence over the summer. I would be sure to make it up to her. "I know, thanks, Bella."

She nodded and grabbed a file. It said 'Blacky' on it. I was guessing that was the black cat she had been treating before I had interrupted her. After she had given the cat a shot, she slipped it some sort of treat, and it ran off. Bella Swan was amazing when it came to animals. I wouldn't be surprised if she became the best vet in the world by the time she was done.