When I woke the next morning, Bella was still sleeping. I checked her vital signs and hurried downstairs. I saw the note on the floor and opened it.
It read:
Dear Dr. Cullen,
You are being warned to not make a mistake like that again. You will put the letter in an envelope as you are told to do so; there are no more verbal warnings for mistakes. I know you did not ask for any supplies but I have provided you with a scale. Bella is to be weighed every morning. Even if you do not request anything I need a written report explaining Bella's progress, including her weight for that day. I supplied you with more morphine and sedatives; I know how much of a handful she can be. You may retrieve the supplies now.
Me
I opened the door. It was rainy, dark clouds filled the sky. I didn't take too much time looking at the sky and hurried back inside. I opened the box and found the scale. I racked my brain to find a good reason he would need to know her weight, and I couldn't think of any. From a medical stand point, she is most likely underweight but what could he possibly gain from that information? I wasn't sure.
"Edward!" I heard Bella screech!
I ran upstairs as fast as I could, "Bella what's wrong?" The monitor was beeping loudly.
"I…can't….breath….my…my chest...can't breathe…."Bella gasped. I grabbed the oxygen mask and placed it over her mouth and nose. She was breathing extremely fast and her heart rate was elevated. I felt her forehead and she wasn't running a fever. I grabbed my stethoscope and listened to her lungs, clear as a whistle.
"Bella, slow your breathing down. I think you are having a panic attack. Inhale, hold it! And now exhale."
Bella kept shaking her head no, "I can't breathe!"
"But Bella dear, you are breathing. And if you keep breathing like that you are going to pass out." I tried for 20 minutes to calm her, it was a failed attempt. "I am going to give you something to calm you down; you can't keep breathing like that." That made things worse. Her breathing increased along with her heart rate. She started to flail her arms and started kicking. She kicked the sheets off of her. "Bella, come on dear. You are having a panic attack; I am going to have to sedate you." I said this after I had filled the syringe. She went to rip out her IV and I grabbed her wrist. She started to scream. I almost had to lie on top of her to be able to hold her arms down and I somehow managed to push the sedative into her IV. After a few moments, she calmed. I could only soft whimpers coming from her mouth.
"Bella look at me." She obeyed and looked at me with those big brown eyes. "You are going to be fine. Shh" I held her until she fell asleep.
When I was sure she was sound asleep, I retreated to the first floor. I finished the laundry and put more wood in the stove. It felt about lunch time, I really couldn't tell but I was going to make sandwiches for us when Bella woke up.
I went back upstairs and hooked the last of the antibiotics to Bella's IV. Her heart rate and blood pressure looked really good. I went and got a shower and brushed my teeth. When I came back to the bedroom, Bella was awake, calm but crying.
She wouldn't look at me. I walked into the room and sat next to her on the bed.
"Bella what's wrong?"
"My leg, I think it is bleeding and it hurts really bad. I am afraid to look at it. And it's all my fault. I am sorry about earlier…..I feel so stupid….and"
"Bella, let me take a look. It's not your fault. It's a normal reaction for the current ordeal at hand." I pulled back the sheets and the blood had already started to soak the bandages. "I am going to unwrap it and take a look at the stitches."
She just nodded at me and then turned her head to look away. I unwrapped the bandages and found that she had indeed pulled a few stitches out. "Bella, there are a few stitches that came out but it won't take much to fix this. How bad is your pain?" I asked.
"Its throbbing pretty bad," She choked out, trying to hold back the sobs.
"Okay, I am going to get some supplies and give you some more pain medication. I'll be right back don't go anywhere, "I said.
I retrieved my supplies and headed back to the room. She hadn't moved an inch but she was now crying and wouldn't look at me. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides. I didn't say anything as I drew up the pain medication, it was a hefty dose but I didn't want to cause any more pain while I stitched her leg up. I pushed the medication through her IV and then kneeled by her side.
"Bella? Look at me." She didn't budge, "Bella, please? Can you look at me?"
She slowly turned her head towards me but wouldn't look at me.
"Bella, are you crying only because of the pain?" She shook her head no.
"Then dear what is wrong? You can talk to me."
"I'm just embarrassed. I am upset that you are here, I shouldn't have gotten sick and then you wouldn't be forced to be taking care of my pathetic self. I can't seem to do anything right. It's my fault you are here and if anything happens to you I will blame myself…."
I interrupted her, "Bella, stop. None of this is your fault and nothing is going to happen to me. I am going to make you feel better and we are going to get through this together. Do you understand?"
She nodded her head yes and softly closed her eyes, the pain medication must have kicked in.
I got straight to work. I only had to repair 4 stitches and then wrapped her leg once more. I ran my fingers through my hair, sighing. I had no idea if we were going to get out alive, I had no idea what we were dealing with. Bella didn't know much information about the man in charge of this whole scheme. In turn, did not help me either.
Bella slept most of the day and woke up around dinner time
"Bella? Are you awake? How do you feel? Are you in any pain?" I asked quickly.
"One question at a time Edward, I just woke up. I am awake, I'm fine, and I'm not in any pain. I'm just a little hungry."
"Okay, I will go down and get dinner. I made some meat loaf. I'll be right back."
I walked downstairs and took out the meatloaf from the oven and put it on two plates along with some corn. I filled two glasses with water and sat everything on the tray.
When I walked up stairs Bella was still awake, she smiled as I walked through the door which made my heart flutter in my chest.
"Here you are," handing her the plate.
"Thank you, Edward."
"You are welcome, dear." I sat next to her in bed as we ate our dinner in silence but there was no tension in the air.
After she was finished she asked, "Edward, do you know how long we are going to be here?"
"No, I have no idea. I do not know what is going on. But Bella, I promise you we will get out of this."
"No, you will get out of this, I will just end up back where I was."
Anger ran through my veins, "Bella, you can't honestly think that I will let you go back there do you? I am going to do everything in my power to save you. I am going to get us both out of here, I promise."
"DON'T! Don't make promises you can't keep! You have no idea who you are dealing with! I am never going to make it out alive!" She screamed.
"Bella, you don't actually believe that I will be able to live with myself if I let you go back to those people, that is never going to happen!"
"You can't know that!"
"I do! Look at me Bella." I ordered.
She obeyed and looked straight into my eyes, fear pouring out of hers.
I got closer to her and lifted her chin with my finger, "I WILL not let you go back there, help will come. I know my Dad and he will find us. You hear me?"
She slowly nodded her head and then did something I never expected. With her face inches from mine, she kissed me. A gentle, pure kiss right on my lips. Butterflies bloomed in my stomach, every inch of my body tingled….her lips so soft…and then she stopped.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!" Exclaimed Bella. She started to scramble away from me.
"Bella, its fine! I wouldn't have kissed back if I didn't want it to happen…unless you didn't want it to happen…" I said.
"No I wanted to…" and then she whispered something so soft I barely heard her "I am just too gross for you."
"Bella don't say that! You are not gross, you are beautiful and sweet and deserve the best…" I walked towards her, "Bella I will not make or ask you to do anything you don't want to, we are in this together and we are going to get out of it together…I do not know what the future holds but we will get out of this alive."
She looked up at me with tears running down her cheeks. "I am scared." I gave her a hug and held her for a good few minutes as she cried into my chest.
After that the next two weeks went about the same. There wasn't anymore kissing, just cuddling. We woke up, ate breakfast, and got around. After Bella would get her bath I would weigh her. She never asked why, which I was grateful for. The rest of the day we would lie around in bed talking and watching movies. We had at least watched half of the movies so far. I was able to leave Bella off the machines and only have one IV. She was doing much better. She did usually slept through lunch but she was eating two full meals a day so I couldn't complain.
About six days later her leg was healing wonderfully and the stitches could come out.
"This might feel weird, sorry if I hurt you." I told her as I cut away the stitches.
"It's fine, I am just ready to get them out."
"Alright I am done, let's see how you feel walking around?"
She slid herself to the edge of the bed as I held onto her hands and pulled her into a standing position. I let go of her hands and she wobbled for a moment before catching her balance.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"The best I have in years, thank you so much Edward."
She walked towards me and kissed me again, this time she didn't stop. Every inch of my body was responding to that kiss. I gently cupped her face with one hand and placed my other hand on the small of her back. Her arms were wrapped around my neck. She was pulling me towards the bed…my body didn't object. But my mind stopped me, "Bella, what are we doing?"
"I want to, I feel so connected to you and have all these feelings….I am doing what I want to do, unless you don't want to…" He eyes moved away from mine.
"No I want to, I have never had these feelings towards anyone….I want to feel connected to you in every way possible. I care deeply for you.."
"Ok then, no more talking…." And she continued to kiss me. This wasn't just lust, this was more. We were trying to make good out of a horrible situation but this was better than good, this was love.
The next morning, I awake to Bella sprawled out on my chest. It was the most beautiful thing to wake up to but I felt guilty. I enjoyed last night so much and felt more than lust but was the situation causing us to go too fast? I slowly and quietly got out of bed and went to go get a shower. While in there I was in deep thought. If we weren't in this situation would we have made love so quickly? I didn't want to take advantage of her, I knew her mental state was fragile. Maybe more fragile than I even knew.
"Edward?" Bella asked from the other side of the curtain.
I jumped, "Oh!"
"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you, I just got a little nervous when I woke up you weren't there," She sounded anxious.
I pulled the curtain back a few inches and poked my head out. She was standing by the sink, grabbing the edge for support wearing only a t-shirt. "I am so sorry, you were sound asleep and I was just getting around for the day, I am almost done. I will be out in a few moments."
"Ok," she said with a questionable look.
"Sit down on the toilet before you fall down and when I get out I can help you back to the room." I quickly finished my shower but when I got out Bella wasn't there. I dried off and got dressed and went back to the bedroom. Before I entered I saw Bella sitting on the bed, her back facing me. I couldn't see her face but I could tell by her breathing that she was crying.
I entered the room and sat on the bed next to her, "Bella what is wrong?"
"You regret last night, don't you? I was awful, you think I'm disgusting now, don't you?"
"Bella, I certainly do not feel that way. Last night was amazing and beautiful!"
"You weren't here when I woke up…I thought you were disappointed…"
"I am so sorry, I wasn't thinking. I had a lot to think about, I just didn't want you to think I took advantage of you. And let me finish this before you say anything…If we were out in the real world, I would have taken you on many dates, introduced you to my parents, bought you flowers and so much more before we would have made love…I just don't want this situation to rush anything. This is a horrific situation and I don't want it messing up what we have. I care about you and but I don't want this situation to be the only thing that defines us." I was afraid of what Bella would think and say.
"Oh Edward, you are truly my hero!" She leaped towards me and hugged me. "I agree with you completely and you truly are an amazing guy for thinking of my feelings."
"So, not that I don't want to but I think we should wait to make love again after we are out of here…"
"I am okay with that but I still don't believe that I will get out of this alive,"
"Bella, you have to have faith and hope….I will not let you behind, we are going to get out of here together." I cupped her cheek, "Is kissing still okay?"
"Always," and she leaned in and kissed me.
