(A/N): Thanks to my awesome Beta RandomatGedz.
Sorry it took a bit longer than usual to get this chapter out. I spent a few hours of writing just so I could get it to you guys soon so I hope it doesn't feel too rushed.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all.
Living Royal
Chapter Twenty One
Sunshine woke Bella and Edward up the next morning. They had spent the whole night outside in the gardens together with little to no sleep. They had more interesting things to do.
Bella moaned as she stretched her hands upwards, trying to relax the kinks in her neck from lying on the ground all night. It was still worth it, though.
"If you keep on moaning like that, I'm going to have to do something about it and then we'll miss our flight." Edward whispered, his voice laced with sleep.
Bella leaned her head on her hand facing him, "Heaven forbid that you do something you don't want to do." She smirked.
Edward pounced on her in retaliation and they spent another hour outside, forcing them to rush later so they could get ready before their flight back to Scotland. They ran up to their rooms trying not to giggle too loudly in order not to draw attention to their haphazard state of dress.
Bella quickly discarded her clothes and jumped in the shower. Edward, of course, felt compelled to join her saying he wanted to 'save water'.
Yeah, right.
After they were clean enough they got out and dried each other off. They got dressed quickly, packed the few things they had brought with them. Bella was careful to turn the engagement ring backwards so that it looked like a regular ring before they went to say goodbye to Rosalie and Emmett who were sad to see them go.
As they walked down the Grand stairs Bella was suddenly assaulted with a coughing fit.
"Bella, are you okay?" Edward frowned in concern.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. It's probably some air that went down the wrong pipe." She assured him.
The King and Queen met them downstairs. Esme, as motherly as ever, hugged both Bella and Edward goodbye, squeezing Bella's hand or rather her ring finger as she did so, Bella blushed knowing Esme knew about the engagement and only now realizing that she would be her mother-in-law. She smiled at the thought, she really liked Esme. Carlisle shook hands with Edward and then turned awkwardly to Bella. She shifted from side to side; nervous about what he would do next.
Esme cleared her throat delicately as though to prompt him to speak.
It seemed to work as he said, "Bella, I would like to apologize for the way that I have acted towards you in the past. You should know that I have only done that because I needed to protect my family. But I realize now that I was wrong."
Wow, talk about a one eighty. He really changed his mind?
"No need to apologize, Your Majesty. I understand completely." Bella offered him a small smile.
Maybe she had lied a little bit. She didn't exactly understand. But at this point she'd do anything just to get this whole ordeal over with.
"Good, then I insist that you call me Carlisle." He smiled back.
Bella was speechless.
"Uh, yes, of course. Sure, um…Carlisle." She forced out.
It felt insanely weird calling the King by his first name, but he had asked so who was she to object?
They bid them farewell and walked out of the Palace doors. Alice and Jasper were already in the car waiting for them.
"So, how did last night go?" Alice asked as soon as they were near.
"Um, it was great." Bella blushed looking sideways at Edward who grinned.
"Looks like it was more than great." Jasper commented laughingly.
The flight back was calm. They were in a private jet, so of course it was calm. Bella sat in the window seat with Edward next to her. She kept glancing at her engagement ring as the diamonds caught the light coming from the small window.
"Do you like your ring?" Edward smiled adoringly when he noticed what she was doing.
Bella blushed, embarrassed, "I love it."
They spoke in whispers so that Alice and Jasper wouldn't hear. They had spoken the night before about wanting to keep this to themselves for a while longer.
Edward moved forward and kissed her gently.
"Hey hey! No PDA where we can see, alright?" Jasper joked from the seats behind them.
Bella and Edward laughed.
Bella leaned her head against Edward's shoulder and he kissed her forehead. They stayed like that for a while until Bella was seized with another coughing fit.
"Bella, are you sure you're okay?" Edward asked, he ran his fingers up and down her cheek.
"Yes, I think so."
"Wait, Bella, you're burning up." Edward said as he felt her forehead.
"I am?" Bella asked faintly. "It's probably nothing, don't worry about it."
Bella tried assuring Edward that nothing was wrong for the rest of the flight but he was having none of it. He started getting even more worried when Bella couldn't keep her eyes open all of a sudden. By the time they made it back to Scotland he was very sure that something was wrong and it was driving him crazy that he didn't know what it was or how to fix it.
Even Alice and Jasper started hovering when they saw the state Bella was in. When they made it back to the airport they had barely grabbed their luggage when Bella collapsed.
Edward threw down the bags he was holding and quickly grabbed Bella before her head hit the floor. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the car that was waiting for them.
He asked Jasper to drive and took Bella into the back seat. He frantically tried to wake her up or get any sort of response out of her.
"Bella? Bella, sweetheart, wake up, please!"
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Bella mumbled sleepily.
"Bella, what's wrong? How do you feel?" Alice asked from the passenger seat.
"Feel hot. Too hot." She responded faintly.
"She has a fever." Edward muttered grimly. "It's my fault."
"Why is it your fault?" Jasper asked.
"We stayed outside all night last night. I mean, we had a pretty thick warm blanket but it wasn't enough. God, I'm such an idiot! I wanted to give her something romantic and now I made her sick!"
"Calm down, Edward. I'm sure she'll be fine."
But even Jasper's usually calming presence could not keep Edward from worrying. He held Bella in his arms with her head against his shoulder trying to make her as comfortable as possible. When they reached their house Edward carried her inside and laid her down gently on their bed.
He then quickly took out his phone and dialled a number. It rang for a few seconds then someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hello. It's me, I need a favour."
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Bella woke up later feeling disoriented. She looked around and realized she was back in their room at the cottage. How did she get there? The last thing she remembered was being on the private jet.
She looked around again until she noticed Edward lying on a chair next to the bed asleep. She tried to get up and lean against the headboard as slowly as possible so as not to wake him, but her movement must've alerted him anyway since he shot up and looked around frantically, until his eyes landed on her.
"Hey, you're awake! How are you feeling? Are you okay?" He got up and sat down next to her on the bed.
"Um, I'm okay. What happened? When did we get back?"
"You passed out at the airport. I carried you to the car and then to bed. I called Doctor Webber to come check on you, I was so worried."
"Doctor Webber?" Bella asked.
"He's sort of the Royal physician."
"The Royal physician?" Bella felt like a parrot, repeating everything he said, but she needed to know what was going on.
"Well, Royal physician might be too formal of a title, but he's the doctor my father sees whenever his knee problems bother him too much. But don't worry he's not just a chiropractor, he's a general practitioner. I knew he was vacationing nearby here in Scotland these days so I called him up and asked him to come."
"Edward, you didn't have to do that. You could've just taken me in to the ER or something."
"Only the best for my girl." Edward smiled and kissed her forehead.
Bella couldn't help but smile back, and then she remembered something and frowned again.
"So, what did he say was wrong with me? Why did I faint?"
Edward sighed, "He said you have pneumonia. You must've caught it when we stayed outside last night. I'm so sorry, baby. I should've taken better care of you. We've just gotten engaged and I'm already messing up."
Bella cut off Edward's tirade by laying a hand on his chest.
"Hey, this wasn't your fault. People get sick Edward, it's normal. I'm sure I'll be okay in no time."
Edward still looked guilty.
"Dr Webber said that you should probably stay inside for the next week and try to take as many hot fluids as possible. He also prescribed some antibiotics that you need to take."
"I have to miss more classes? I've already missed too many of them as it is."
"Bella, you need to worry about your health right now. Alice can help you catch up on everything when you're ready."
Bella hated slacking off. Though it wasn't intentional or voluntary, she still hated it. She knew what a great opportunity getting in to St. Andrews was and what her parents had to go through to get her there, from cutting corners to going without so that they could save up for her college education, so she really didn't want to ruin it.
"Hey," Edward reached out and straightened Bella's frown. "It's going to be okay. I'll help too."
Bella smiled and nodded.
"How long have I been asleep anyway?" She asked.
"About three or four hours." He answered.
"Ugh, I definitely need a shower."
"Are you sure you're up to it?" Edward asked afraid that she'd fall and hurt herself if she was too weak.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"I'll stand by the door in case you need me."
Bella giggled. He was so adorable when he was worried.
"Just get some rest, Edward. You look exhausted." She said glancing at his droopy eyes and his hair that was all over the place. "I'll be fine, I promise."
He let her go reluctantly and laid back on the bed as she grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom. She took a quick shower as she was starting to feel weak again, dressed in a pair of comfy shorts and a tank top and quickly climbed into bed with Edward.
"Hey, you'll need to take those pills Dr Webber prescribed." He pointed to her nightstand. She saw that he had the pills and a glass of water ready.
"Thanks, baby."
He smiled, "No problem."
After she took the pills, Edward pulled her close to his side and they snuggled together. He pulled the covers up so that they were covering her to the top of her neck.
"Comfy?" He asked.
"Yeah." She replied. How could she not be when she had her most comfortable pillow? Edward.
"Oh, uh, I forgot to tell you something." Edward said.
"What is it?" She looked up at him, wondering what was wrong.
"Alice knows about our engagement."
"What? How?"
"She saw your ring when you were passed out. It sort of slid back into place. But don't worry she promised not to tell anyone until we're ready."
"Was she mad?"
"A little bit. But she was placated when she found out that she's the first one to know of our engagement, aside from my mother that is, but Alice doesn't need to know that."
"I knew there was a reason I loved you." Bella grinned.
Edward chuckled and then kissed her.
"We should go to sleep, you need your rest." Edward admonished when Bella wanted to take it further.
"Fine," She conceded, grouchily, but as soon as her head hit the pillow (aka Edward's chest) she was out. Her last thought before she drifted into dream world was that she was so happy that she had someone who would stand by her, no matter what.
Someone like her Edward.
(A/N): Hope you like it!
When do you think Edward and Bella should announce their engagement to the public? Should they do it soon or wait a bit longer?
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