Chapter Four

All of the Cullen's cars were split up between the family. Esme and Carlisle took the Ashton Martin (guess), Jasper and Alice took the Mercedes, Emmett took the Jeep, Rosalie took her car, and Edward and I took the Volvo. The car ride back to Forks was excruciatingly quiet. No one was talking. Normally one of us would start a conversation and that would spark the interest of the other person. This time, I couldn't hear any thing but my breathing and my heart beat. Yes, my heart beat. That is how quiet it was. I was seriously about to go crazy!

Trying to get Edward's attention, I cleared my throat. Nothing, not even a glance. Crossing my arms, I let out a long sigh. Nothing, nada. I looked up and began to shake my head. "Edward, if you don't start talking, I will scream." I was serious to. I was about to scream. When Edward made no notion that he was about to talk, I opened my moth took a deep breath and was about to scream, when I was interrupted by ring. Edward brought the phone up to his ears and gave me a worried glance. Great, something must have happened. Again.

Edward didn't say one single thing to the person on the phone, he just set the phone down and looked at me again. Grumbling, I just asked, "What's wrong now?" He looked at me questioningly for a second before he burst out laughing. What was with all the laughing he was doing lately? I guess it's better than complaining.

"Bella, nothing is wrong. Alice just called to say that if I don't start talking you would actually scream. I personally would not like it if you got upset, so I am ready to talk. What would you like to talk about? He looked at me with an expectant expression. Hutting my eyes, I tried to get out all the frustration out of my system. Opening my eyes again, I glanced over at Edward who was looking at me with an anxious expression. "What's wrong Bella? Do you not feel well?" Edward was worried about me, again. Even though I loved Edward to death, all of his worrying was beginning to get on my nerves.

"I'm fine. What happened last night? Obviously you are able to come back to Washington, but what happened? Is the pack all right? Or did you have to . . . Um . . . Kill them?" I really hoped that they didn't have to kill them, but I knew that it was probably just wishful thinking. After all, that pack was very stubborn. I doubt they would just let the Cullens walk away.

Giving me a grim smile, Edward grabbed my hand, rubbing his thumb on the palm of my hand, and said "I'm sorry Bella, we had to do it. It was either us or them. While I don't exactly love the cards that were dealt, I would rather stay 'alive' and be with you. I'm also pretty sure that everyone else doesn't want to die because of werewolves." When he spoke, his voice full of comfort for me and a century's worth of guilt for him, but when he spoke the word 'werewolves', he spat it out like it was causing a bad taste in his mouth.

"Edward, its ok. I'm not mad or anything, I was just curious. Don't feel bad, guilty, or anything like that. You did what you had to do." I gave him a comforting smile and leaned my head on his shoulder. Breathing in deeply, I nestled my face into his shoulder, taking in his scent. He didn't smell like anything you would find in a bottle of cologne or aftershave or anything like that. His smell was pure Edward. Edward wrapped his right arm around me and pulled me closer to him. Taking his eyes off of the road, he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. I gave a small smile and allowed myself to drift off into a deep dreamless sleep.

"Bella . . . Bella. It's time to wake up. Bella. Come on, we are five minutes away from your house. Bella, come on sweetie, it's time to get up." I groaned not wanting to wake up just yet. Snuggling my head deeper into his shoulder, mumbling incoherent words. I was so tired! When he started to chuckle, I actually hit him! I was tired and I did not want to be disturbed. "Ok Bella, that was not nice. If you don't get up, I will call Alice about going shopping today. It's only three right now." No matter what Edward threatened me with, I was just too tired to care.

Edward dropped his head down to mine and kissed my forehead before he picked me up and took me to the house. Charlie wasn't home yet, so he was able to take me up to my bed without Charlie seeing us.

Setting me down on my bed, kneeled down next to the bed and softly whispered in my ear, "Bella, I have to go take my car back to the house and unpack everything. I will come back when I'm done, hopefully I will be back before you wake." Kissing me softly on the lips, he stood up, brushed a wisp of hair off of my face, and left my room with one last glance at me. I watched him leave, not really comprehending what he was saying or doing.

This was really strange. I shouldn't be this tired, by now I should of had enough sleep. I may not have been caught up on it completely, but still! Deciding that I was too tired to think about this any longer, I turned so I was lying on my side in the fetal position, I wrapped my blanket around me and made sure that I was fully covered, even my head, before I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up to someone placing a cool cloth on my forehead and a really bad headache. Moaning slightly at the pain, I turned and saw Edward looking at me with a grim expression. I moaned again, I felt like my head was about to explode into a million different pieces. Gazing at me with sympathetic eyes, Edward softly said, "Bella, you have a fever of a 102. You're sick." I was sick?! That would explain why I was extremely tired. . .

When I tried to speak, my voice came out all raspy, so I decided to not attempt to do it again. Edward gave me another sympathetic look before disappearing in the blink of an eye. Slowly turning my head, I looked around the room to see where he could have gone. While I was glancing around the room, my bedroom door slowly opened. Looking at the door, I saw a head pop inside of my room. "Dad?" I some how managed to croak out. "What are you doing home?" I questioned, thinking it was still early in the afternoon.

Charlie chuckled slightly before walking into the room warily, almost as if he was expecting someone to jump out and attack him. "Well Bells, its ten o'clock at night, I think I have every right to be home and look after my sick daughter." Chuckling once more, he walked over to my bed and sat down a at the end of it. "How are you feeling? When I came home, you were in bed asleep, moaning because of the fever." He scooted over on the bed closer to my head so he could lay his hand across my forehead and then my cheek. Grimacing slightly, he began to mumble, "I think your fever has risen. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to take you to the hospital. When I came in last with a head thermometer, your temp was 100.3, let me check it again." Reaching over to my bedside table, he grabbed the thermometer which was currently residing next to my alarm clock. Placing it at my temple, he slowly slid it over my forehead to my other temple. Looking at the screen, he waited for it to beep, when he did, he set it down with another grimace on his face. "Just what I though, its 102.7. If it hits 103, I'm taking you to the hospital.

Standing up, he pulled on the bottom of his shirt, straightening it, and said, "I'll be right back with a glass of water, soup, crackers, and some ibuprofen." Giving me one last look, he walked out and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door clicked, showing that it was completely closed, Edward was right by my side, placing the cool cloth on my head once again. Finally deciding to talk again, I opened my mouth and softly whispered, "How did I get sick? I don't get sick, I never do! Ugh, make the pain go away." I pressed my head into the pillow, almost as if the pressure would force the pain to evacuate its new home, my skull.

As I moaned yet again, Edward gave me a small smile and cheekily said, "Bella, everyone gets sick. As for how, there are a number of ways it could have happened. The number one way, and most common, is that you touched something that had germs, it entered your body, and now your body is fighting it off with heat. There are a number of other ways it could of happened, but I won't bore you with the complexity of it. Your feverish brain might not be able to comprehend what I am saying." Giving me a cheeky smile, he swept his hand across my head, allowing the coldness of it to cool me down. However, my fever was so high that his hand was too cold.

I squirmed away from his hand, normally I loved the coolness of his skin, but this was too much. At first he gave me a hurt look, thinking I was turning him away. Then the realization hit him in the face at a 100 miles per hours. Smiling apologetically, he grabbed the cool cloth and placed it on my head again.

"Bella, I don't know how you got sick. We can't carry germs, so it wasn't from us, it was probably those dogs." Even though 'those dogs' were deceased and no longer with the living, Edward still spoke of them with such malice in his voice, almost as if he wished they could come back to life so he could kill them again.

Speaking of those dogs, what exactly happened out there? Just as I opened my mouth and was about to question him further, the door opened and Charlie came in with a tray. On the tray was a tall glass of luke warm water, a package of crackers, a grilled cheese sandwich, two tablets of ibuprofen, and my favorite, tomato soup. I loved tomato soup, especially with a good, old fashioned, grilled cheese sandwich.

This time, however, I was a bit hesitant. After all Charlie cooked it. The soup I wasn't so much worried about, it came from a can, all he had to do was stuff it in a microwave. The sandwich was what I was had me worried. He had to oil a pan, place bread on it, toast it, flip it, place cheese on it, place another piece of bread next to the first, toast it, place the toasted side of the bread on the cheese, and flip the whole thing. Way too much cooking for Charlie.

Smiling gratefully at him, I quickly popped the pills and downed three quarters of a glass of water. One would think that after the amount of medicine I have had to take because of my . . . malfunctions, I would be a pro at swallowing pills. Nope, so not the case. I was horrible at it. If I didn't take enough water, I'd choke, which would not be a good thing. Not a good thing at all.

I sat up carefully, as to not knock over any hot liquids with my clumsiness. After I sat up, Charlie looked as if he would rather not place the tray on my lap. I can honestly say, I didn't blame him. I was just too clumsy. Giving an encouraging smile, I beckoned for him to give me my food. I was really hungry, so hungry that his grilled cheese sandwich sounded quite appetizing. As he cautiously placed the tray on my lap, I smiled in ecstacy. Charlie gave me a soft smile and started to leave. Just as he reached the door, I called out. "Dad? Thanks. For everything." Charlie walked back into the room and sat down on the bed next to me. Careful to spill or dump anything. It wasn't my mother that I received a certain trait from.

"Bells, you are very welcome. You deserve all of the stuff that you get. All though, you don't get very much. You're an easy kid to please." Kissing my flaming forehead, he sat up and began to walk away. Closing the door behind him once more, the door clicked once again, as if saying, 'hear ye, hear ye, I am closed, all vampires are allowed to come out of their hiding spots. Unless your evil like the deceased Victoria and James. If you are evil you can just go away and run for your lives.' Ok, so maybe my fever was beginning to affect my brain. I was obviously not in the right state of mind, what kind of sane person imagines that doors are talking? None that I know of.

As soon as the door clicked, Edward was right by my side, using one hand to hold the tray and not allow it to topple over. His eyes kept flickering back and forward. Watching me and the tray. We didn't say anything. I just ate and he just watched me and the tray. When I finished with my dinner, Edward grabbed the tray with two hands, not once taking his eyes off of me, and placed the tray on the ground next to his feet.

Standing up, he walked over to the other side of the bed and lied down on top of the covers. Lifting my back up slightly, he placed his arm underneath me and pulled me closer to his cold, stone like body. Since there was a blanket I was able to snuggle up closer to him. "Edward," I softly whispered, "What happens from here? Where do we go after this? Just continue with our everyday life? Go to school, attempt to get into a good school, well, me at least, you'll make it into any school you apply for.?" I was very curious about it. It was our last year of Forks highschool, and there was still a whole school year ahead of us.

"I don't know Bella, we'll figure out something."