Disclaimer: Not mine. Go figure.

Chapter 8
Jealousy

"If this bothers you, you don't have to be here," she said quietly to me as she tended to another patient in the ER.

"I'm fine Bella, honestly," I told her, rolling my eyes.

"Alright," she muttered. "I just didn't want you to be uncomfortable."

Dr. Chase had been watching her the entire time. As if the look on his face wasn't obvious enough, his thoughts were practically drooling over her. I knew that I had nothing to worry about – that Bella loved me and not this other fool, but that didn't soothe that part of me that was jealous. And it was a large part of me.

I tugged on her arm as she finished up another patient. "Come on, you need lunch."

She rolled her eyes, but complied nonetheless. She stopped as we passed Chase and his patient.

"I'm going to lunch," she said. "I guess I'll be back in about 30 minutes." She looked at me to confirm the time and I nodded, smiling.

I slung an arm over her shoulder as we walked away, and she laughed softly.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You're so cute when you're jealous," she said, smiling.

"I'm not jealous," I argued instantly. "Don't be silly. What's there to be jealous of?"

"Please," she chuckled. "The way you were glaring at Dr. Chase? You looked like you were going to try to take his head off."

She grabbed a salad and a bottle of lemonade from the counter and scooted down the line to pay for it. Before I could even reach into my pocket for my wallet, her hand wrapped around my wrist.

"I've got it," she stressed. "You've seriously got to get over this 'not letting Bella pay' thing."

"I've no idea what you're talking about," I hummed innocently.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure you don't."

She pushed my hand back in my pocket and handed a couple dollars to the cashier.

I scowled. "You need to get over this 'not letting anyone buy you anything' problem. It's really annoying to all of us."

"All of us?" she questioned, her eyes lit up with amusement. She set her salad and drink down on a table and sat down. I took the seat across from her.

"Yes," I nodded. "All of us. It annoys Alice too, you know."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just don't understand why you all want to buy me things when I'm perfectly capable of paying myself."

"Because we love you and want to buy you things. It's called being polite in many cultures," I quipped.

"It's called being annoying in my culture," she replied.

"And what culture would that be?"

"It's special. I made it up. It only exists in Bella's world." I laughed as did she.

"Well, Bella's world is all that I'm concerned about," I said, smiling at her. God, how I loved this woman. I blinked a few times to refocus and saw Bella staring at me curiously.

"What?" I asked, laughing quietly at how cute she looked.

"You're face…" she trailed off. "You just, I don't know, I've never seen you look so unguarded. You were just lost in your own little world."

Bella

I watched as a content smile came over his face. "I was thinking about how much I love you," he replied, and my heart stuttered in my chest. What did I do right in this world to deserve a man his love?

"Oh, great line," I heard someone say. Dr. Brennan sat down at the table with us. "Wonderful line, really. He's definitely a keeper, Isabella."

Edward smiled, satisfied with himself. "Bella, who is your friend?"

I rolled my eyes. As if he didn't know from reading her mind. "This is Dr. Brennan," I introduced. "She works for Dr. Chase." I chose to ignore the flare of jealously I saw in Edward's eyes.

"Dr. Brennan, this is Edward, my boyfriend."

"And does Edward always feel the need to follow you around while you volunteer at the hospital?" she teased.

"More like stalking," I muttered, but Edward laughed, knowing I was joking.

"How do you get away with that, anyway?" she asked, intrigued. "Why do they let you have free reign all over the hospital?"

I smirked and Edward rolled his eyes. "I think they're too afraid his father will quit if they reprimand him."

She looked somewhat surprised, but did a pretty good job of composing it. "Oh? And who is your father?"

"Carlisle Cullen," Edward replied before I could open my mouth to tell her. She didn't compose her shock as well this time.

"Oh! And um, Bella, how long have you and Edward been together then? Dr. Cullen only just started here a few weeks ago."

"Well, really, we just got back together," Edward supplied, seeing as I had no idea how to answer. "We were pretty serious in high school until my family had to move away."

Dr. Brennan nodded, taking this information in. "I'm sorry, I'm still having trouble believing you're Carlisle Cullen's son. He's so young to have a son in college."

"Actually, I'm his youngest of five." Dr. Brennan's mouth dropped open.

"Now Edward, stop torturing the poor woman," I chastised. "They're all adopted," I explained to her. "Esme, Carlisle's wife, is, unfortunately, unable to have children. They adopted two of Esme's nieces after their parents died. Jasper and Rosalie go by the last name of Hale. And Edward, Alice, and Emmett were all adopted separately.

"Although, if you saw them all together, you'd think they'd been together since they were born. I've never seen a closer family."

The three of us continued talking quietly for a while until I finished my salad and stood from the table, Edward immediately following suit.

"Well, I guess I should get back. Is Dr. Chase still in the ER?" I asked. She nodded her head and bid us goodbye.

"So, did she pass the test?" I inquired as we headed back to the emergency room.

"She's a very nice woman," he concluded with a nod. I smiled. At least there wassomeone in this hospital that I could trust. Well, other than the Cullen's, of course.

A/N: This was really just a filler chapter. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I'm currently in the hospital right now, and typing on my laptop.

I'm working on a new story called Plague. It's also BellaxEdward. Instead of Edward and the rest of the Cullen's leaving in New Moon, Bella does, because she thinks the family hates her after the incident with Jasper. Therefore, she runs away. I personally think it's better than this story is. I have about 7 chapters finished already and I should be uploading the first chapter very soon.

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