A/N: Hey guys! So, I'm currently listening to Rob Pat on my iPod in the sun on study leave... BLISS... Second half of English Lit tomorrow though... then Spanish Reading... BOO :(
ANYWAY, this is the last chapter, and then there's an epilogue after this... I can't believe I passed 169 hits in ONE DAY yesterday... WOW. I've got like a thousand hits for this story so far, which is insane... Just a shame that most of you don't raise your voices though!
ANYWAY, thank you, merci beaucoup, muchas gracias!
REVIEW PLEASE? MAKE MY DAY? :)

PEACE AND LOVE,
x x x STARSWalkBACKWARD x x x

God Bless The Broken Road

"Hey Mr. Pinochet,
You've sown a bitter crop.
It's foreign money that supports you,
One day the money's going to stop.
No wages for your torturers.
No budget for your guns.
Can you think of your own mother,
Dancin' with her invisible son?
They're dancing with the missing,
They're dancing with the dead.
They dance with the invisible ones,
They're anguish is unsaid.
They're dancing with their fathers,
They're dancing with their sons,
They're dancing with their husbands,
They dance alone,
They dance alone."

––'They Dance Alone' - Sting, 1987.

(For the Cold War victims of Argentina and Chile.)

––– Part VIII –––

All humour had left me once my hospital gown was removed. It seemed almost my entire body was either bruised, padded, or strapped up. My skin was almost like s strange, twisted piece of art, littered with hues of blue, brown, purple, red and yellow. I tried to regulate my breathing as I watched my reflection in the full length mirror. One word filled my mind as I frowned.

Ouch.

My ribs were strapped up tightly in what appeared to be some sort of medical plastic with bandage lining it. I had padding and gauze covering the burns on breasts, and more padding down...there, between my thighs. I tore my eyes from the girl in the mirror, aware that Alice was still with me, though her back was turned as she sorted through towels. I tightly gripped my towel dressing gown back around me as Alice came over. "Ready?" she questioned. I simply nodded, thankful she was with me. Slowly she leant down and picked me up effortlessly, careful not to touch any particularly sore areas. She placed me gently, as though I weighted nothing, into the deep, bubble bath, taking my gown from me. I gasped, a strange sensation passing through me as the warm water came in contact with my sore skin. I noted, thankfully, the water wasn't particularly hot, but warm. My skin already burned were I'd been scolded, so to have water that was slightly cooling was a godsend. I let myself slowly slip under the bubbles, careful not to put pressure of where it was painful...down there. The cool water passed over the padding on my chest and soaked into the bandages, cooling the burns there. Oh, sweet relief. Thank you lord!

"Feel better?" Alice asked, and I looked sideways at her, feeling my achey body start to relax a little.

"Yes," I said, simply feeling too overwhelmed all of a sudden. No other words came out.

"Edward's going crazy out there," Alice laughed suddenly. "He can hear your wincing... He's contemplating ramming the door down." I smiled meekly as she reached out from where she perched next to the bath and tied my dark hair into a loose bun behind my head, out of the water's way.

"Let him know there's no reason to be worried. I'm in safe enough hands with his sister."

She smiled, tipping her head to the side. "He can hear you––us. He's worried I'll forget to redress your bandages, or let you drown in the bath, or something to that effect."

We laugh together at Edward's expense, before I quickly stop myself. Poor Edward. I suddenly felt a great rush of fresh empathy for him. He wasn't really be hat unreasonable at all. After all, if things were the other way around, I knew I'd just be as panicked and paranoid as he was.

I decided them to let him have his way, if it meant he'd receive even the smallest amount of peace of mind.

Suddenly there was a soft, appreciative sigh from Alice. "I'll go and get him," Alice said, her eyes glinted knowingly. She had obviously seen my decision to let Edward in the very moment I made it. Surreal.

She left, graceful as the wind, and a moment later, I heard the door open again. I kept my head forward, suddenly shy, even though all my body was submerged up to my neck in white bubbles and water.

"You're afraid," he said, his voice neutral as he sat across the room from me.

"Of what's happened to me, of the unknown," I clarified. "Not of you."

He slowly walks toward the bath, toward me, sitting rather un-Edward-like manner, cupping his bent-upward knees and crossing his ankles as he sat on the tiled floor next to the bath. His height meant that even like this our heads were practically level.

It was time, I decided, to clear the air.

I sighed, noting his silence. "Will you ever let this go? I'm alright, Edward. Look at me––feel me," I exasperated, reaching out from the water and grasping his marble arm with my wet hand. His head snapped up at my sudden movement. "I'm still skin, I'm still bone, I'm still cells, I'm still sixty per cent water... I'm still me. My bones may be broken and my skin may be bruised but, Edward...I'm alive. You saved me. So many others in that school never made it out, but I did...All because of you, and your amazing, heavenly family... Stop punishing yourself. Please."

He was gazing at me by the time I'd finished.

"Please..." I begged, all pride gone. I just wanted him to smile. "I love you," I breathed, and then suddenly he was against me. His hand cupped the back of my neck as his lips were hard against mine, desperate. His fingers threaded through my hair that had fallen from my loose bun.

"Bella." His voice was almost a sob.

Oh no. No, dear Edward. No.

His lips trailed across my face, before softly touching my eyelids.

He pulled his face only inches from mine, his face ashen. "I was so afraid."

Oh, Edward.

"You were dying," he choked. "I had to consider that if you didn't..." He tried to clear his throat, "make it, what I would do..."

I blinked back my tears at his raw emotion. "Not this again," I croaked. "I don't want to hear about you hurting yourself because of me..." I suddenly felt enraged. "Edward, one day something is going to separate us; a disease, old age, an accident. Every day, every minute, I'm dying... One day I'm going to die, and you seem to think it's...that you can...kill yourself...straight after...I don't––I can't let that happen. I just can't..." My breathing had increased as I almost began hyperventilating. The very thought of Edward having himself...killed made my heart hammer and my stomach lurch.

Edward closed his eyes for a moment or two, and I smiled slightly as his hands cupped my cheek so gently, as though I would break. "I cannot be without you, Bella. I can't live in a world where you do not exist."

"That's not true," I argued, rather pathetically. "You have lived without me for over a hundred years."

He sighed, his other hand tugging at the beautiful madness that was his luscious bronze hair. "I can be alone, I can be without you, yes, I am capable of it... But I just...I have no wish, no desire, to be without you ever, ever again. There's no reason on this earth as to why I should be without you now I know I love you––unless you ever told me to leave, in which case, I would... All I know is, I will have no purpose on this earth once you're gone, Bella. None."

I felt my face scrunch up, and I ignored the tug of my stitches on my hairline. "Will you stop talking about me like I'm two minutes away from dropping dead? As long as I'm human, I will never be safe from death. Not unless you make me like yo––"

He interrupted me, firmly. "No. Never that, not unless it is the the only option, which it won't ever be. I won't let it."

"But why didn't you just change me, after you found me?"

He frowned. "Not only is it more complicated than that, but I am also...far too devoted to you as you are for that... If I bit you, the pain you felt in that torture room would be something you would be begging for... You would be begging me to kill you, but you wouldn't be able to. You wouldn't be able to move or speak. The pain is excruciating... I can't bare the idea of putting you through that... Besides, I love you, Bella, as the beautiful human young woman you are. I'm not ready to give you up yet..." He suddenly sounded like a seventeen year old boy; vulnerable and inexperience. Softly, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders, seemingly helpless to his feelings. "I just got you."

My heart thawed of its anger and I melted, smiling. "I totally understand that point, Mr. Cullen. If ours roles were reversed, I..."

I flailed, suddenly losing my train of thought, then realising I hadn't lost it, I simply didn't have one. I could find no words.

I looked back at Edward, totally lost for words. He smiled knowingly.

"Words cannot express much, can they?" he stated softly, and I felt myself laugh.

Ouch. I had forgotten how much laughing hurts.

"We better get you out of there, or you'll be permanently pruned," he laughed, cleverly changing the subject.

Slowly, Edward turned and picked up my gown, giving me chance to very slowly get to my feet in the bath. His eyes were firmly on mine, never straying once, as he wrapped the gown around my bubble covered bandaged naked bod, and lifted me, much to my horror, out of the bath. I flushed the deepest shade of scarlet as I hid my face from him. Edward, of course, was completely calm and cool, and simply acted as though there were nothing for me to be embarrassed about.

"Here," Edward said, placing a tube of what appeared to be cream in my hand. "For the burns."

I felt my lips make an 'O' as I cringed. Oh god. I had completely forgotten about that. I suddenly looked at my reflection in the mirror. My bandages and pads on my breasts and...down there were coming loose because of the water, and I gaped at the sight of the burns underneath. They very sight of my made me feel like retching. Suddenly, all the pain in my body came back to me along with a strong bout of quesiness, and I felt myself sway on my feet. Edward instantly caught me, tusking in a ridiculously concerned manner.

"Woah, Bella, hey," Edward crooned. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

I gasped for breathing as he quickly gathered me in his arms, frowning.

I closed my eyes, and next thing I knew, we were in a the room I had been staying in.

"I can't look," I whispered, hiding my face in my hands after I had thrown the tube of cream away. "Please, Edward, I can't..."

Part of me couldn't believe what I was asking of him, and also couldn't believe I was still naked in front of him under my gown. But a greater part of me was simply too afraid to move, never mind look at the damage to my body.

I slowly pulled my head from my hands, and Edward was stood opposite where I was sat on the bed. He looked conflicted as he stared at me.

"I'll get Alice to redo your bandages," he said distractedly. Instantly, I tried to leap up to catch up with him, but I couldn't maneuver due to my strapped up ribs. I gasped out, pain burning. "Edward, no, please!"

He came back instantly, and shook his head a little as he softly pushed my body down onto the bed. "Alright," he murmured, his eyes kind. "Of course, I'll do it, if you're sure that's what you want."

I swallow, taking the leap, not quite believing my own words. "Yes."

I maintained eye-contact as he leant over me where I lie on the bed. Slowly he squeezed the white cream from the tube onto his equally pale fingers, and, with his other hand, he lowered my gown from one shoulder slowly and carefully. He keep his eyes on mine, and once I felt the gown fall away from my chest, my breath hitched. He slowly, delicately pulled the saturated gauze and surgical tape from my breasts, and went to bring the cream to my nipple. I kept my eyes on his, not wanting to look down at my body, knowing I'd flush an even deeper red. Then, he neared me, our faces inches apart. "This is going to hurt," he whispered, pained. "I'm so sorry."

And he wasn't lying. Once the cold anti-biotic cream on his cold fingers touched the scorched skin of my breasts, I felt my body spasm with panic as it tried to get away from the cold, painful intrusion. I let out a gasping wince, and Edward instantly withdrew his hand a little. Slowly, his cold forehead touched mine as we nuzzled our heads together, still staring into each other's eyes. Gradually, he rubbed the cream into my breasts again. One, and then the other. He held my body in place to keep me still, and softly, tenderly, kissed my jaw. "Alright?" he checked, nuzzling his nose with mine. I simply tried to nod, but the pain was burning. I no longer cared for the fact I was practically completely naked in front of Edward Cullen. Pain, I noted, seemed to change everything.

Once finished, Edward moved away, then came back with more gauzes and cotton wool pads. He gently padded the burns back up, then lowered his mouth, and kissed my sternum delicately.

Softly, he began to hum the unknown lullaby I had heard once or twice before, and slowly he undid the rest of my gown. I closed my eyes, relaxing into the sheets under me as I decided to totally trust the man above me. He was only trying to take the pain away, after all, he had completed a medical degree once or twice in his time.

Slowly, I felt the gauze and surgical tape...down there slowly being unpeeled by Edward's cool, long fingers. There was complete silence, and I clenched my eyes shut tighter, grinding my teeth, bracing myself. I was concentrating so hard on the pain to come, I jumped out of my skin as I felt the unexpected feeling of Edward's lips on my cheek.

"Relax, Bella," I breathed. "It'll be over soon. Just try to relax."

He took my hand, interlocking our fingers. The feeling of his cold skin against the sensitive skin my feverish and bandaged fingers was heavenly.

Suddenly, there was an angry violent scorching sensation down there, and I couldn't stop the beginnings of a cry from escaping my lips. The moment I heard my own exclamation, I bit down painfully on my lower lip, tipping my head back and scrunching my eyes shut to the point I could see red. Edward's cold fingers continued to rub the burns on my inner thighs and beyond. I felt his face nuzzle mine as I hissed through my grinding teeth.

"Shit," I whimpered, trying to resist the urge to cry. I didn't like to swear at all, ever, as it seemed a crass use of the English language, but there were times when I made a definite exception. I suddenly worried what Edward would think of me, as I had never heard him swear at all, or curse, or cuss––nothing, ever. "How long until they h-heal?" I choke out desperately. Slowly, I felt the friction and the pain subside between my thighs as he withdrew his fingers from his task, and I could hear my rapid breathing and heartbeat in my ears. I suddenly considered how it was strange that the actions Edward had just done would be seen totally differently than what they were if the man above me were anyone less compassionate and loving than Edward.

I opened my eyes, and multiple tears instantly escaped, running down my temples and into my hair where I lay still on the bed. Edward was finishing his patching up between my legs.

"The good thing, if there is a good thing to be said about burns, is that they patch themselves up at an incredible pace. That's part of the reason why they scar actually, because the skin cells form scar tissue as they heal so fast." His voice was low and practical sounding, almost like a doctor.

"Why aren't you a doctor?" I whispered rhetorically.

He smiled tightly at me. "Not old enough."

I laughed a little at his joke, but my ribs burned, so I stopped. Slowly, I reached for Edward, but he stepped away.

"I'll be right back," he assured, and sure enough, a second later, he was.

"I love you," I whispered as we lay on the bed, side by side, the mid-afternoon overcast outside the floor length window setting a dull, dim light throughout the room. Edward brought a soft, silky nightdress over my head, followed by an over-sized knitted sweater that smelt purely of a crisp spring morning and some sort of lilac, honey breeze... It was purely him. I inhaled deeply. Yes, I realised, it must be his.

"I'm glad," Edward joked weakly. He sounded tired as he lay back down next to me once I was clothed, wrapping my carefully in a blanket before hugging me to him. "Otherwise things could have gotten awkward rather quickly."

I laugh breathlessly, still deeply mortified from what had just occurred. I found myself squirming as best I could away from him. "I can't believe... Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry you had to just do...that," I mumbled, hiding my face in my hands, painfully embarrassed.

Suddenly though, Edward was laughing, as in, really laughing. He then held my head in between his hands, still grinning, hiding his amusement very poorly. "You really do worry too much, Miss Swan. There's no need to be apologising. If anything, I should be saying I'm sorry, not you. Besides," he chuckled again, "I may be slightly embarrassed too if you can believe it, but mostly, I really couldn't care less as long as you're okay."

I blink, still flushed, trying to understand. "So...have you spoken to Charlie?" I asked suddenly, wanting a change of subject.

He smiled tentatively, before tucking my head under his icy chin. "Yes. Your father is very worried about you. We have told him you're arriving back in Forks today, later on. Your mom is also around, apparently staying at a hotel in Port Angeles. They both want to see you're okay, which is perfectly understandable."

Renée, too? Wow. "If only they knew," I joked of the alibi the Cullens had devised. Getting thrown across the room because of electricity may have been a far-fetched, big-deal if it had happened to anyone but me. But, of course, it never would.

"I think we may speak to them about letting you stay here a while longer, considering my father is a doctor and so can 'dress your burns regularly.' After all, I can hardly imagine Chief Swan volunteering." We both laugh at the thought of poor, flustered, emotional Charlie trying to cope with that.

"So... If they agree to letting me stay here for a few more days, does that mean that in fact...you will be caring for me, and not Carlisle?"

He smiled knowingly. "Most likely, although I would rather your parents were not told of that idea. Your father already does not quite approve of me."

I laugh whole-heartedly, realising that if Charlie Swan really knew what my Edward was capable of and what he had already done to save me, then he actually would very much approve.

"Okay, you're right," I smiled, reaching up to kiss his nose.

He tusked at me, sidetracking me from my sentence. "Mind your ribs!" he murmured lowly, a gentle warning he gave quite sternly, as though speaking to a toddler. I carried on, ignoring him and the pain in my sides.

"Alright, Cullen," I bantered, referring to him as a jock would; by his surname. "You can act bereaved no longer. I'm here to stay; as long as you'll have me."

Edward smiled brightly, showing pearly teeth, an expression of complete exultation and joy. He appeared as though he was the winner of some worldly, golden prize, when in fact it was quite frank to me that I was the incredibly lucky winner here. The laugh lines at his mouth, cheeks and eyes highlighting his beauty even more. Happiness really was a good look on him.

He curled me tighter into his chest as his lips touched my hair, above my stitches. His bright eyes were a mix of yellow ochre and bronze aeneous tones that I had never seen before. He icy lips touched mine, and I marveled at his sorrel hair that was perfectly quaffed yet tousled all at once. He was simply magnificent.

His words next made my heart swell twice it's size; all my pain and anxiety forgotten.

"You took words straight from my mouth, Miss Swan."

–––ℬ&ℰ–––