For Your Eyes Only

Chapter Eighteen - When There Was News

"Morning Edward," I smiled. "We've got some breakfast for you."

He was already sat upright in his bed and glanced over at me as I walked into the room. "What do you mean we?" he asked, half smirking. "Have you got a new imaginary friend?"

I whipped around, expecting to see Carlisle behind me, but there was nobody. He'd obviously disappeared off somewhere without my knowledge, but I thought that he would have wanted to see Edward again to check up on him... Maybe he was giving us some time alone or something along those lines, and I considered this while Edward took the bag of food gently from my hands.

"Carlisle was with me," I told him. "He snuck this up for you from the café below."

"That was nice of him," he commented while I took my usual seat by his side. "How are you anyway? Did you spend the night here?"

"Edward, you should really stop asking me how I am. You're the one who's in hospital." Despite saying this, I was secretly flattered that he was concerned about me and I experienced a warm glow somewhere deep in my chest every time.

"Well, I'd just like to know," he replied, taking out a couple of tasty-looking biscuits. He met my eyes and chuckled. "Want one?"

I gestured towards the other bag in my hand. "I've got my own."

"Gee, Carlisle's such a rebel."

I snorted half heartedly.

"Oh, and you didn't answer my question," he added, raising his eyebrows. When he did so, I couldn't help noticing that his hair was all messy and dishevelled. Maybe he'd been tossing and turning all night. It certainly suited him, though.

"Uh, I'm fine, thank you," I mumbled, trying to focus my attention. "Although my neck's a bit sore. Are you any better?"

"I feel great, actually," he told me, smiling widely. "Maybe I'll be out soon."

The thought made my body turn cold and my hand froze half way in the air as I was about to take a bite out of my food. Where would he go? Back to his house where I'd never see him again? Who would look after him?

"Bella? Are you alright?"

I lowered my arm, forcing a smile. "Yeah. Great."

"Bella, what are you scared of?"

"Scared? I'm not scared."

"You are," he insisted. "I can see the fear in your eyes."

He really was scarily observant. "Well, y'know, this whole hospital thing has been quite stressful," I shrugged, trying to avoid the subject. "Can you really blame me?"

"But I'm fine now," he said slowly. "The fear should have gone by now."

"The future's unpredictable," I countered. "Anything could happen."

He didn't have a reply for that and my words seemed to hang around in the air like a bad smell. "Sorry, I just want to go to the toilet a second," I suddenly said, needing a break away from him; it was all really intense. "Besides, I probably look a mess."

He scoffed but didn't say anything and, when I reached the door, I said, "Don't you go anywhere."

"As if," he teased. "I can't exactly hobble away. You'd catch me up easily."

"True," I smiled, heading out and down the corridor.

I stood in front of the mirror, truly taking in my reflection for the first time in a while. Maybe Edward was right; I did look a little worried, but that was mostly fear of the unknown. I just wished that I had a better idea of what might happen.

Looking closer, my skin was paler than usual and even I could see that I was tired.

The words of my father suddenly echoed in my head. Quit stressing, Bells. There's always someone out there worse off than you.

I never really knew if that was a selfish way to think, but it did provide me with a bit of comfort. Because of this, I freshened up my eyes with some cold water and took a few deep breaths.

I guessed that I just had to enjoy our time together while it lasted and, with this in mind, I headed out the bathroom and back upstairs.

I sat with Edward during the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, knowing that I would be leaving later in the evening to visit Charlie. We talked together and laughed a lot, and it was nice to forget, at times, what might happen in the future. It was almost normal, and there weren't any more really tense moments, something that I was eternally grateful for.

"Where's that friend of yours? The blonde one," he frowned suddenly. For some reason, I started panicking at his random question. Gah, this wasn't the time for jealousy... "Why do you ask?" I managed through slightly ground teeth.

"Well I just would have expected her to be curious about where you are. You haven't been at school for a while now."

I sighed. "My phone's been taken, as you saw, so maybe she's been texting me. Either that or she's been busy with Emmett."

"That's her boyfriend, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"The one who punched the living daylights out of that other guy?"

I nodded stiffly. "That's the one."

"Hmm. He must be really protective of her." He paused and I could feel him looking at me. "Would you want somebody to be like that with you?"

My skin suddenly prickled. No, he's not suggesting anything Bella, don't be ridiculous. "Um... maybe. It'd be nice to know that somebody cared for me so much that they'd be willing to protect me at any cost." That all came out in a garbled rush and I took a breath, before adding, "Although I don't approve of violence."

I saw him briefly grinning out of the corner of my eye. "I..." He started and then trailed off, but I didn't push him to finish. Eventually, he said, "I care about you, Bella."

As usual, my heart had a stupid reaction to his words and I felt hot all of a sudden. "Thank you," I murmured quietly.

A strange sound came from him, as though he'd been trying to say something else and had stopped himself. Don't get your hopes up...

We were silent for a long time and everything became very tense, to my dismay; I hated it when that happened.

I was sat on the small space on the bed and suddenly felt his hand cover mine. My body automatically jumped in surprise but I soon grew accustomed to the feeling of his soft skin against mine. It was stupid, but I didn't have the courage to meet his eyes, even though I loved their colour so much.

"Bella?"

"Mmm?"

"Please look at me."

My instincts told me not to, knowing that I would probably have an embarrassing reaction. Whenever I tended to look directly at Edward, I seemed to lose the ability to think clearly or act normally. In fact, I usually ended up making a fool of myself.

Despite this, the draw of his eyes was like that of a glass of vodka to an alcholic. The comparison seemed ironic to me, considering my father, but it was the only thing I could really think of.

I knew I shouldn't, but I did. I just looked at him and found myself getting lost again.

Gee, I sounded like the narrator of a bad romance novel.

We met each other's eyes for a long time. "Bella," he eventually said, trailing off again.

"You seem to like saying my name," I teased, trying to lighten the atmosphere. His lips twitched momentarily and he murmured something that sounded suspiciously like 'you don't know the half of it.' I'd probably misheard though. No, I'd definitely misheard him.

He took in a long breath, as though preparing to say something else, but there was a sudden light knock on the door and his mouth closed shut in what looked a mixture of relief and frustration. I glanced in the direction of the noise and waited to see whoever the person was outside; whoever it was had certainly saved us from a very awkward moment. Another awkward moment.

It wasn't really surprising that it was Carlisle and he walked slowly over to Edward's other side, smiling at him as always. He opened his mouth to speak but, just as he did so, Edward held up a hand. "Before you ask, I'm fine, thank you."

Carlisle laughed. "Psychic now? Or are we all just becoming very predictable?"

"I'll go for the second option," Edward joked.

He remained quiet for a brief moment, before shifting his weight between his feet somewhat nervously. "Edward, I'm not going to dodge around the subject here. I've... I've got an offer for you."

My heart immediately began pounding harder.

"You can refuse if you want to, like I said it's just an offer. I..." he hesitated. "I know you live in your mother and father's old house and that you were on your own, so I got thinking... my house is quite big. Too big really for just the one person..."

He trailed off and I hoped that what I thought he was suggesting was correct.

"So I was, um, I was wondering if you'd like to live with me?" He paused and was greeted by silence. As a result, he started talking speedily. "You can trust me, obviously, but I just thought I'd offer because you would have some company and maybe it would get you some more money... not that you're poor or anything. I-" He trailed off again before sighing heavily and shaking his head. "I'd never make a very successful salesman."

I glanced at Edward, whose eyes were wide. Please please please say yes.

"Carlisle... that's a lot to offer," he murmured quietly. "I mean... I- are you sure?"

A wide smile spead across his uncle's face. "Of course. You are family, after all. And," he met my eyes, "you'll be closer to Bella."

The heat automatically travelled to my cheeks and I looked down at my feet, shuffling them awkwardly. This must be so difficult for Carlisle considering his feelings, yet he was being really selfless and helpful once again. My respect for him grew even more in that moment - why couldn't there be more people like him?

"Are you absolutely sure now?" Edward asked. "I'd obviously pay some rent and-"

"No, no, don't worry about that. I want to do it, Edward."

They looked at each other for a long time before both smiling widely. "Thank you, uncle."

Carlisle walked over and gently wrapped his arms around Edward. Everything suddenly seemed a little bit more positive; Edward was no longer alone, Carlisle had some company, Edward was also close to where I lived...

He hadn't wanted to leave. Did that possibly mean anything?

Pfft no, of course it didn't. Quit being so selfish.

"I'll come back in and speak to you again later," Carlisle said, taking me out of my thoughts. He headed towards the door and, after another thank you from Edward, he disappeared off down the corridor to save some more lives with a new spring in his step.

After a second or two, Edward grinned widely. "What fantastic news!"

His enthusiasm was contagious and I soon found myself smiling along with him. "It really is great."

"At least we can keep in touch now," he said quietly, looking down at his lap. I wanted to do much more than just keep in touch, but I couldn't always get what I wanted. That's a fact that I had to learn a long time ago.

Feeling anxious, I glanced at my watch.

"Have you got to go soon?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, in an hour or so," I told him.

"How is your father?"

It was nice to see someone taking a genuine interest in Charlie. People were only ever interested to get gossip about the local alcoholic, just so that they could have something to talk about. Things were usually boring and slow in a little town like Forks and this piece of information had spread like a wild fire.

"He's doing great. I'm hoping there'll be some more news later."

He smiled, a simple but meaningful action.

"Mr Cullen?"

We both jumped in surprise and turned around to see two police officers holding out their ID cards in the doorway. I recognised one as DI Esme Adams and relaxed a little at the familiar face.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," she said, speaking in a soft but confident voice. She met my eyes. "We have some news for you both."

Edward sat up eagerly and I felt his hand grip mine.

"We believe we may have found the people who hit you over and stole your belongings."

I sucked in a shocked breath, feeling the excitement rising. "One of them, Jacob Black, fits the description you gave us, Miss Swan, and the other suspect was in his company when we found him. It's best not to get too optimistic at the present moment, though. Mr Cullen, you'll have to confirm a few details once you're out of hospital, and we may need you both to identify the suspects." She turned towards me. "You may also need some protection, Miss Swan, as you know. Mr Black's girlfriend is unlikely to be too pleased about this."

"Did you get the necklaces?" Edward asked.

"We retrieved one from the suspect's girlfriend and the other was in the suspect's possession." She smiled. "Like I said, you'll have to identify them in the next few days."

"Thank you so much!" he gushed. "This is brilliant..." He glanced towards me. "I never expected this to happen."

"You have to thank Miss Swan; she was responsible for most of the conclusive evidence," DI Adams said, smiling warmly at me. "Anyway, we'll be in contact in a few days' time. I wish you well, Mr Cullen. Miss Swan."

"Thank you," we both uttered at the same time as they headed back out of the doors.

An excited squeal escaped my lips and I instinctively reached to hug Edward tightly, once again relishing in the feel of him being so close to me. It could be one of the last times you do this... My arms gave way underneath me and I carefully leaned against his chest, not wanting to let go.

"Is this too tight?" I mumbled against him.

"Uh?" was his muffled reply.

I leant back a bit, suddenly very aware that I was incredibly close to his face. And his lips. I was beginning to lose myself again in those wonderful green eyes. They looked so fantastic up close... they had pigments of hazel as well and-

Realising I was oggling, I laughed breathily. "I, um... I was wondering if my hug was t-too tight."

He just looked at me and shook his head gently. This didn't mean much to me, as I was too preoccupied with the fact that our noses were nearly touching.

If this was the only moment we were gonna get, I might as well go for it... if it all goes wrong then... then...

Before I could think anymore, I just followed my instincts. The consequences didn't matter in the moment that I leant forward to meet Edward's lips with mine. My mind was blank apart from the fact that I was kissing him, something that I'd longed to do for so long.

He was frozen underneath me so I couldn't really enjoy it and, as a result, I started to panic, completely worried that I might have done the wrong thing; it could have completely ruined everything. He'd be completely different around me from now on and-

I pulled back suddenly and was too scared to even look at him. Maybe I could blame it as a spur-of-the-moment thing... but the threat of tears gave away that it had meant so much more than that.

Gathering all my courage, I raised my eyes to his and was genuinely shocked at what I saw.