A/N... Ah, a Sunday post again. And I almost feel normal. LOL I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter. And thank you to all of you that were shocked I could do it sick. It was a lot of info, and I took advantage of every lucid moment in order to get it done. ;)
This chapter will surprise you, I think. And I'm pretty sure the way I left it will get shit thrown at me, but I never know with you people. Some times I underestimate you. So...we'll see. I'll let you get on with it.
CHAPTER 15
EDWARD
"Easy, sweetness," I whispered, catching Bella as we neared the corner. "Wait for Emmett and Alec, okay? They were just leaving Twi Towers."
Her face was pure unadulterated hate, and it was all aimed toward Lilith as she pulled her gun from the small of her back.
"Who else is coming?" she asked, glaring up at me. "Who else have we got to wait for?"
I grinned at her anger, because I knew it wasn't directed at me. "Listen, you sexy thing," I growled in her ear, leaving a biting kiss to the soft spot there. "I am not the enemy. And Sam and Mickey are headed this way. I can't risk just the two of us in a building that size, Bella. It's dangerous as fuck."
She relaxed minutely in front of me, leaning back against my chest. "Sorry," she murmured, and I kissed her neck again. "I just want this done, Edward," she sighed deeply.
I winced, because I knew that as long as Lilith and Walter were still free, still alive, there were endless possibilities as to what could happen. They could take another victim like Bella, Chris Douglas, and now Sharky. They could re-group with the D.O.A. and build another bomb. There was no telling at this point what their agenda was, because we always seemed to be one fucking step behind them. And as long as those two assholes were out there, Bethy and Bella were still in danger, as far as I was concerned.
"I know, baby," I said softly, keeping an eye on the loosened board that Miss Geneva had said was the only way in.
We watched a few people come and go, but no one of interest, including the young prostitute I'd seen outside the rec center. Though, this time, she wasn't alone. A man about her own age was with her, and it didn't take a genius like Alice to figure out what was going down there.
Bella yawned widely, leaning back against me some more, and I chuckled softly. "Am I boring you, love?"
She giggled a little, shaking her head. "No, I'm just exhausted. I can't seem to get enough sleep lately," she murmured through another yawn.
I ran my hand over the top of her head and down her ponytail, knowing she was right. It seemed that when my girl stopped long enough to relax, she was out like a light. The prime example was the first night we were all back as a family, and she fell asleep while we were reading to Bethy. I leaned in, kissed her forehead, and wished this was all over so we could go back to normal.
"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, Bellsy," Emmett teased over the radio. "We'll try to kick ass quickly so you can get back to it."
Bella and I both laughed, looking around the corner to see that he and Alec were in place on the opposite side of the block.
"Stand down," I ordered, still smiling. "We need Sam and Mick to get here. She's going to crack open that locked door on the south side of the building."
"Are we getting official back up for all the fun and frolic we're about to uncover in here? Because I can imagine this entire building would be a judge's wet dream," Emmett queried with another deep chuckle.
"Official? No," I stated, shaking my head and pulling out my phone to check for updates. "But El's got a team at the ready if this turns out...bigger than we expected. Technically, this is trespassing on our part. We have no right to be here, but neither do the people that are inside, so everybody's breaking rules right now."
We waited just long enough for the young prostitute and her client to come back out of the building. They parted ways, the man heading toward the better part of town, and the girl in the direction of the church.
"That was fast," Bella muttered wryly.
I chuckled, reaching up and turning both our radios off for just a moment, and leaned in to her ear. "Not everyone likes to take their time, sweetness," I crooned low, placing a long, slow kiss to her neck. "Not every man likes to...hmm, savor every sound, taste, and feeling, Bella. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a quick, fun fuck," I teased her, licking up the shell of her ear, "but it's better to take it slow and deep and hard, seeing just how many times I can make you call my name when you come."
Bella's head fell forward as she fought her smile, her dark chocolate gaze finally looking back over her shoulder. "I love you," she giggled, shaking her head at me. "But you're an ass for teasing right now!"
I grinned, kissing her cheek loudly. "Love you, too, baby," I laughed, turning our ear pieces back on.
God, I loved that part of our relationship – the teasing, the flirting, the sexual tension that never died. I liked that we nurtured it and fucking fed it all the time, because it cut the stress of nasty situations. It kept me at her feet, begging for kisses and then some. And I fucking loved that it had always been there from the beginning – from the re-introduction of Aunt Jane's apple pie, to fiery kisses in law office stairwells. It was just...us.
It wasn't long before Sam's and Mickey's radios came into range, as they were nearing the south side of the building.
"I'm on it, pretty boy," Mickey stated, "so get into position, because we can all go in at once."
Bella touched her earpiece and spoke softly. "Alice, I need as much info as you can give me on this building, pixie. Please."
"Okay, okay, okay," she chanted, her furious fingers working away over the airwaves. "Satellite imagery shows little activity – except for you six – around the surrounding area. It's a dead end in that neighborhood. Gimme a sec, and I'll have thermal up."
"Perfect, thank you," I said, giving Emmett and Alec a silent signal to approach the loose board.
The four of us were going in the mainly used entryway, while Sam and Mickey would use the old main doors.
"Mick?" I asked, as Em and Bella planted themselves on one side of the door. Alec and I peered through a small opening, but there wasn't much to see in the shadows.
"Twenty seconds..." she grunted. "It's an old, rusty padlock and an old, rusty double door deadbolt."
The slight clang of metal echoed over the radio, and I glanced around us to make sure that the area was still clear.
"Alice, you watching our backs from these streets?"
"No, I thought I'd let the gang members get you," she snapped back snidely, and we all chuckled. "Of course. You're still clear."
"Done, Ed," Mickey called over the radio. "On your word, pretty boy."
I took a deep breath, looking at Bella, Emmett, and Alec, but I spoke to everyone with me. "We go in soft. We're only looking for our two targets. I want weapons out, eyes sharp, and do not fucking shoot first. This is recon only, unless the targets are spotted. Got me?"
"Sir," they all answered back, including my Bella, which always made me roll my eyes, because she did that shit to put me back in my place. She followed my orders because she trusted me, not because she answered to me. It was a clash of personalities from the moment we met, and again, it was just...us.
"There's no telling what we'll find in here, but we don't need to level the fucking building. I just want to find this bitch and go home," I added, waiting for my answer, and then I pulled the board aside, saying, "Go, go, go," softly in my earpiece.
~oOo~
BELLA
The stench of urine and sweat and dankness hit me like a ton of bricks once we stepped through the warehouse's opening. It was so close to the smell of Miller's basement that my whole body shivered with the memory. In fact, I froze for just a second in order to focus, because the sounds of rats scurrying along the walls and dripping water somewhere in the distance had my mind reeling.
"Bella?" Edward asked softly, placing a warm, soothing hand on my shoulder, but I just shook my head and waved him off.
"I'm okay," I told him. In all honesty, I was – but sometimes, memories were attached to smells and sounds that just never went away. "Alice?"
"That's a damn full building, guys," she warned over the headset. "I mean it. I don't have numbers, and I don't have much movement, either."
A snore echoed through the large building from somewhere to our right, and we all spun.
"This is a home for some people," Alec muttered with a deep, sympathetic sigh. "We'll have to be fucking careful up in here."
Edward, whose hand hadn't left my shoulder yet, took a long, slow look around. There wasn't much to see in the small hallway where we were standing, but at the end, I could see that it opened up into a much bigger space that seemed too crowded, filled with old equipment, boxes, and makeshift walls.
"Sam, what's your location?" he asked over the radio, motioning for us to at least head toward the main part of the warehouse.
"South side of the building, coming through some old offices. They were locked, so they're all clear," Sam's voice rumbled softly. "We're looking out at what looks to be the main space."
"Same here, but our visual is blocked to the west. You?" he countered, trying to keep his voice low, because the sound of coughing met our ears. Alice was right; it sounded like the place had a fair amount of people in it.
"That far end has some heavy equipment, some metal stairs up to some sort of control panel type shit, and a couple of closed doors," Mickey replied. "But right in front of us, there's...well, shit, Eddie... There are homes made out of fucking boxes and shit."
My husband's nose wrinkled as he took a deep breath and let it out. "Fuck it," he groaned, shaking his head. "Again...go in soft. Stay in pairs, but spread out. Emmett, Alec, you take the center. Sam, Mick, stay on the south wall. Bella, you're with me, and we're taking this north wall all the way to the west end. Everyone, on me?"
"Sir," they all answered, except me.
"Yeah," I sighed, looking up at him. "I'll take the back. You lead. Are we asking these people if they've seen Lilith?"
"Yeah," he said, finally reaching to his back for his Glock. "Open radios, people. Let's go."
Edward waited until Alec and Emmett had disappeared around a large stack of boxes and Sam checked back in, before guiding us down the north side wall. I kept Edward's broad, strong shoulders in my peripheral vision with every step that I took, occasionally spinning to my back.
Lining each side of the aisle that we were trekking down were small makeshift homes. There were old mattresses, cardboard boxes, blankets, and tarps making up these areas. Their belongings surrounded them, whether in piles, crates, or homemade shelves, and I even saw a few grocery carts stacked with just...shit. Some people were sleeping, but I felt eyes on me everywhere, which caused me to falter just a bit.
"You da cops?" we heard in a raspy voice down at our feet.
Edward stopped, and we both looked down at a man that we could barely see. He was filthy and surrounded by piles of junk, but blinked up at us bravely through really thick, round glasses in plastic frames. The man was thin, older, and a little shaky, but he didn't even flinch when Edward knelt down before him.
"Nah, man, not the cops," he said, holding up a picture. "Have you seen her?"
The man pulled out a magnifying glass and pressed it to the lens of his already thick glasses. My eyebrows rose up, and I wondered if perhaps this was a bad example of a "witness."
As if he could hear my thoughts, the guy looked up at me, locking gazes with me perfectly. "I can see you...there," he grunted, but pointed to the picture. "I can't see this." He turned to Edward. "Yeah, I seen her. She was back that way. Downstairs. Been seein' her in this neighborhood for years."
"What's down there?" Edward asked, tilting his head at him.
"The old boiler room. Nothin' on down there, but someone rigged some power," he answered with a shrug. "She's not alone, or wasn't... What she do?"
"Lots of shit, man," Edward huffed, standing up straight. "What's your name?"
"Albert," he rasped, swallowing nervously at the sight of our guns.
Edward reached into his pocket, tossing a couple of folded bills down at the guy. "That's for the help, Albert. Get outta here for a bit. Take some people with you."
I grimaced, because that meant Edward had a bad feeling about something and he wanted to clear out whoever he could.
Albert held his magnifying glass up to two one hundred dollar bills, and his eyes widened. "Okay," he gushed, standing up as quickly as he was able.
"Take as many as you can, Albert," I told him softly, making sure he nodded in acquiescence, before continuing on behind Edward, who I was now swooning over a bit for helping out someone in need. I'd always joked that he was my hero, but at that moment, he truly was.
Albert scuttled around quietly, waking up friends and neighbors, telling them to, "Shut the fuck up and let's go!"
Edward shot him a quick smile and a shake of his head, before turning his fierce gaze on a junkie in the corner, who was shaking and muttering to herself. "Watch our backs, sweetness," he whispered, jerking his chin.
I nodded, looking above us to the catwalk that Mickey had mentioned earlier. It was empty of people, but the cobwebs certainly had made themselves at home.
"Check in," Edward barked softly as we neared the end, even though we'd been listening to Alec's soft conversation with what sounded like a young woman.
She knew Lilith, too, and confirmed the same thing that Albert had – the boiler room.
"They're sayin' she's down below, Eddie," Mickey stated. "She's with a white guy and a black guy... Sharky, you think?"
"Most likely," Edward conceded. "We're taking the boiler room together. Understood?"
"Sir," they answered.
"Thirty seconds, and we'll be right next to you, kid," Alec stated. "There's a skinny little bug-eyed fuck getting people the hell outta dodge. That your doing?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Yes." Edward's answer was no nonsense as he studied the door that clearly had been jimmied open at some point.
"You expecting some nasty shit to go down?" Alec asked, as he and Emmett emerged from the center aisle.
"Always," Edward grunted, frowning toward the last section of the warehouse, where Sam and Mickey silently appeared.
Getting nods from everyone, Edward opened the door to the boiler room. The smell that hit me made me step back three paces.
"Shit," I hissed, having not felt that basement fear in quite some time, not even when Walter and Lilith had kept me in a bomb shelter for two days. But it was the smell, the temperature, the dank feel of the air that had me reeling. Why it was bothering me right that second, I had no idea.
"Bellissima?" Alec whispered, placing a hand on my upper back.
Heads spun to look at me, but it was Edward's concerned gaze I locked with. "I'm fine. It's just..." I started, but decided to exhale roughly, instead.
"A basement," he finished for me, his eyes dark with what looked like a touch of anger – not at me, just in general.
I wrinkled my nose, shook my head, and swallowed thickly. "I'm not fucking scared, Edward. It's just...the smell..."
Edward smirked just a little. "No one would ever accuse you of being scared, Bella. But can you do this?"
"Yeah... Yes!" I stated firmly, glaring down the stairwell that disappeared into some dark shadows.
Edward eyed me for a moment, but nodded. "Then you're with me. Let's go."
Not only did Edward keep me with him, but I could practically feel him behind me with every step down we took into darkness. However, his casual caresses to my waist, back, and shoulder – almost in a continuous loop – were more comforting than I could possibly explain, because I was sort of pissed off at myself that I was allowing these old feelings to resurface. Though, I suspected he knew that.
The stairs emptied out into a dark hallway with a low ceiling; it seemed to stretch forever. It felt like being inside a living thing, where the pipes that were mounted on the walls felt like veins surrounding us. They were on either side of the wall and right down the center, so we split into sets of three, Alec taking the right side with me and Edward.
A long, low moan echoed down the pipes, causing all of us to come to a standstill. Using silent hand signals, Edward told us to go in quiet, no noise, no verbal communication. As we came to the end of the hall, the room opened up into a larger space, though it was stuffed with boilers, boxes, and tipped over empty metal shelves. Hushed whispers and urgent voices met our ears from around the large metal boiler in front of us.
Again, Edward silently told us to have weapons at the ready. Mickey, Sam, and Emmett skirted quietly around the left, as we took the right. I raised my nine mil at the same time I heard a few voices.
"I'm tellin' you... You don't owe me... Your debt has been bought. You belong to Reggie, bitch!"
A thick sounding thud met my ears, making me grimace, because I knew the sound of fist meeting flesh. I winced when Sharky's grunt whooshed from him over and over.
"Leave him," a voice ordered, and I froze, because I'd know Walter's voice anywhere. "We don't have time for this shit, Lily," he growled. "We should've never come here in the first pl—" he stated, though he cut the sentence short when the click of a gun hammer resounded around us.
I looked to Alec, and then Edward, both of whom had the safeties off, but their guns weren't engaged. I peered around to Emmett, and he was raising his weapon with both hands.
Edward seemed as conflicted as I did, because there was a part of us that wanted Walter or Lilith to die for all that they did, yet if Emmett didn't have the shot, he was about to open up hell in a really fucking close space.
"Be sure, be sure, be sure," Alec breathed oh so quietly to no one in particular, watching Emmett with a hawk's glare.
But all the silence, all the stealth that we'd gotten away with so far was fucking blown out the damn water when someone hit the top of the boiler room stairs.
"Yo, Sharky, you down here! We gotta go, man. They say the cops are here!" someone called from above, which caused everyone in the room to jump and spin, including our two targets, who caught sight of all of us closing in.
"Oh fuck!" Walter gasped, grabbing Lilith and diving behind what looked to be a water heater or some shit. The boxes next to it wobbled just a bit as Emmett's shot rang out in the tight space.
The sound of commands, clanging, and pounding footsteps exploded around us. My only concern was Lilith, maybe Walter, but I made sure to follow their every move as much as I could. I hoped they were trapped, because Sam fell back to the door of the stairwell, but I wasn't sure there was another exit to this place that we didn't know about. And it was hard to see, because the lights were dim, flickering a bit as Edward pulled me behind a wall of pipes.
"Three o'clock, behind the water heater," I whispered to him, pulling back the hammer of my gun.
"Take the right, Bella," he said so softly that I caught it more over the radio than I did when it was said right beside me. "My team, wait for my signal. Drop back, watch for weapons, and see if there's another exit!" he hissed, pointing for me to take the right side, which was filled with stacks of boxes.
"Ten-four," Mickey answered.
I stepped lightly, slowly, my arms stiff and aimed in front of me. My eyes darted to Edward when he spoke loudly.
"Come out, Walter. This shit's over!" he growled, and as soon as the name left his lips, my radio went into high alert, with Alice, Eleazar, and Carlisle all snapping into action. Hell, I'd forgotten they were even listening in.
"Mickey, back exit...far southwest corner," Alice advised quickly. "It climbs up and dumps out onto the alleyway behind the warehouse."
"I'm lookin', Alice," Mickey grunted, but I could hear her running.
"Ed, I've got backup on the way," Eleazar stated, but my husband ignored him, gesturing me to stay low, be ready, and wait for his signal to turn the corner around the boxes in front of me.
"I'm set, Ed," Alec murmured, and I looked past Edward to see him flanking the back aisle in the shadows.
"I'm not kidding, motherfucker!" Edward snapped. "Step out, or we'll open fire on the whole back wall, asshole! You're surrounded...there's no escape."
I grimaced, because with all the metal down in that boiler room, that shit would be dangerous as hell. A bullet could ricochet off of a pipe and hit someone else by friendly fire. I shook my head, but Edward rolled his eyes. He was bluffing.
My eyes narrowed on the stack of boxes, but then movement from Sharky caught my peripheral vision. I put my fingers to my lips when he started to move and speak. Shaking my head vigorously, I mentally willed him to be still. He stopped midway up into a sitting position, looking blearily around, but his eyes widened as he took in the sight before him.
Edward's patience, however, had run out. Silently gesturing for me to go, he engaged his weapon, walking around to the left. "One, two... three..." he grunted out, but before he could move or pull the trigger, the stack of boxes suddenly shot out toward me in a flash of fire and dust and water.
I fell back, my gun skidding away from me, as I covered my face from falling debris. I wasn't sure what had happened, but I didn't have a chance to mull it over, because suddenly, Lilith was right on top of me, along with boxes and chunks of concrete. She reached for my neck, and I deflected her hands just in time, rolling away from her. My earpiece was gone, so I had no idea where everyone else was. I barely had the sight to see Lilith coming for me again.
"You bitch!" she screamed, diving for me. We landed with grunts to the floor. "You ruin everything!"
We rolled, fighting and punching, until finally, I was on top of her, getting two good punches to her face. I barely heard calls of my name or registered that Sharky was moving, because Lilith grabbed a pipe next to her hand.
"Oh, hell no," Sharky snapped, diving for her hand at the same time I did, but Lilith was quicker.
She brought up the heel of her hand to my chin at the same time that her other hand made contact with my back. My sight dimmed as my strength gave out, and as the darkness took over, Lilith half shoved me off of her, even as it felt like someone yanked her away from me.
~oOo~
EDWARD
"I need lights down here, now!" I ordered, practically growling as I pulled myself out from underneath the water heater that Walter had just blown all to hell.
"Edward, check in," my dad called over the earpiece.
"The fucker used the gas line to blow his way out," I stated, giving a glance around.
There was water spewing from pipes leading all the way to the stairwell. A fair chunk of the wall was cracked, and twisted metal and scattered boxes were everywhere. I spun in one spot, looking for everyone.
"My team, check in!" I snapped, running a hand through my hair.
"I'm okay," Alec groaned, dumping a shitload of debris off of him as he sat up not far from me.
"I'm good," Sam rumbled, but he was rubbing his head. "Fucking metal hit my head, damn it."
"They're running, they're running," Emmett snapped. "We lost 'em, Ed! I'm on it, I swear!"
I shook my head, wondering how the hell Walter and Lilith had gotten past us. How the fuck Emmett had kept sight of them, I'd never know.
"I'm here," Mickey said, and my heart plummeted into my stomach, because the one person that I needed to hear the most wasn't saying anything.
"Bella?" I called, tripping over more pipes and pieces of the wall as I made my way over to where I'd seen her last. "Bella, check in."
There must've been just enough fear in my voice for everyone to pick up on, because they all started calling her. I heard Alice and Carlisle curse softly over the radio, but I didn't pay it much attention. Movement caught my eye at the end of the aisle.
"Over here!" someone called out, and I'd totally forgotten about Sharky.
"Aw, hell," Alec cursed quietly, as both of us ran toward the voice's direction.
My heart sank at the sight before me. I fell to my knees next to Bella's unconscious body. "Bella?" I breathed, brushing her hair from her face.
She was covered in dust, dirt, and blood, not moving at all. Her face was relaxed, like she was asleep, but she wasn't waking up with anything that I was saying or doing.
"She took a pretty nasty punch to the chin, man. And a pipe to her back," Sharky told me. "I tried to stop Lilith, but I wasn't fast enough."
"Shit," I hissed, looking up to Mickey. "Go! Eleazar's men should be here by now. Guide them in and tell them to call an ambulance."
"Sir!" she said, running fast down the middle aisle, because it had the least damage.
A spark from the rigged electric that someone had run down into the boiler room popped to my right, and Alec groaned.
"Not waiting for them," he growled, pointing to Bella. "Grab her. There could be more gas pipes." He pointed to Sharky. "Get the hell outta here. Go!"
I didn't have to be told twice. Carefully, I scooped my wife into my arms, jerking my chin to the right. "Get her gun, Alec," I told him, and he snatched it up, disengaged it, and stowed it in the front of his pants.
Climbing the stairs as quickly as I could, I got us the fuck out of there. Sam cleared the way in front of me, and Alec had my back. Surprisingly enough, Sharky was still with us.
"Is she gonna be okay?" he asked me.
"I don't know," I sighed, looking down at my girl. "I need to get her outside to know how badly she's hurt."
"I remember her," he said softly, his eyes on my wife. "She stopped Lilith before."
"She tried," I grunted, blinking rapidly when we finally made it outside into the sunlight.
There were more people outside than I was expecting, but I imagined the gunfire and the explosion had drawn the neighborhood in. I could see the people Albert had removed, but the biggest sight was running toward me at top speed with a blanket in his hands.
"What happened, son?" Preacher asked, guiding me to a spot on the sidewalk. He spread the blanket out for me to lay Bella down. His eyes were fierce and sharp when they landed on Sharky. "Terrance, did you do this?" he growled.
"Aw, no, Preach, I swear!" Sharky said, suddenly turning into a kid.
"No, it was Lilith and Walter," I sighed, kneeling next to Bella, my eyes only on her. "They blew the gas line."
Almost as the words came out of my mouth, another small explosion came from deep inside the warehouse.
I rubbed my face in frustration, worry, and fatigue, but Preacher's hands reached toward Bella.
"May I?" he asked, making sure he had my permission before touching her. "Living in this neighborhood, you learn a thing or two about first aid," he murmured, lifting her eyelid. He seemed to relax a bit when her pupils dilated. "She's just out..." he said softly, picking up each arm and turning them over. "She'll need stitches, for this," he finally stated, showing me the inside of one arm, which was cut pretty deeply.
I groaned, shaking my head. "Why won't she wake up?" I asked him.
"Sweet spot," Sharky answered, tapping his chin.
"Oh," Preacher sighed, looking up at me. "A boxer's term. The sweet spot is the chin. Punch it just right, and all the lights go out."
Pounding footsteps rushed toward me, and I turned to see Sam bringing the paramedics with him, Emmett hot on their trail.
"We've got her, sir," a young guy with bright blond hair stated, as he and his partner rolled their gurney closer, but I didn't move. "Sir, we'll take good care of her. I promise," he vowed, waiting for me to get out of his way.
"Come on, kid," Alec urged, tugging me up with a fistful of my shirt. "We'll ride with them, okay?"
I nodded, shoving my hands in my pockets in order to keep from snatching Bella out of the EMT's hands. She wouldn't want them touching her without her knowledge. I was shaking with that thought, trying my damnedest not to punch a fucker out.
"Easy, Ed," Emmett said, physically pulling me back from the situation. "They're helping her, bro," he soothed, knowing exactly what I was thinking.
I followed the gurney to the ambulance, as the paramedic told us the name of the hospital we were going to.
Alec spun in front of me to grab Emmett. "Call Rose and Carlisle. Tell them where to meet us. Follow behind us, got it?"
"Yeah, got it," he said, pulling out his phone. He was walking away with Sam, when I heard him say, "No, Carlisle, I lost them...stole a car..."
Alec turned to Sharky, pointing to him. "We kinda need to talk to you again. Can you stick around?"
Preacher stepped forward and landed a heavy, warning hand to Sharky's shoulder, which made him flinch. "You have my word that when you need him, he'll be there," he vowed, and I almost laughed at Sharky's comically nervous glance to Preacher, but I just didn't have it in me.
"Mr..." the paramedic called, and I spun around to look up into the back of the ambulance.
"Cullen," I grunted, stepping up on the bumper.
"Mr. Cullen, she's comin' around," he said, smiling a bit when I practically dove into the seat next to her.
"Baby?" I whispered, unable to keep from touching her, despite the work the guy was doing to try and get her situated and strapped in.
"Edward?" she rasped, squeezing her eyes closed, but then they widened. "I can't move, Edward!" she cried, starting to fight us all. In fact, the whole vehicle was shaking at the panic she was going through.
"Hey, hey, hey," I said, forcing her face to look at me. "I'm right here. And they need to keep you still, sweetness. You got hurt, so let them fix you, okay?"
"I don't want to be strapped down," she sobbed.
I looked to the EMT with a grimace.
"Please! Please, take it off!" she wailed, tears coursing down her face.
"We have to," he hedged, looking around the tight space. "It's for safety..."
"She...she has a...a fear," I told him, not elaborating, because she'd hate it if I told him about Miller and basements and fucking torture. "Can you at least loosen it?"
"Only a little," he conceded, grimacing at her cries, her continual fighting.
"Bella, stop," I ordered as gently as I could, again making her look at me. "He's loosening it for you. Feel that, baby?" I asked, sighing with relief when she settled down a bit. "You look at me and forget about everything else you hear and feel, okay?"
"Okay," she sniffled.
"We've been here before, you know," I teased her, leaning down to her ear. "If you look at me, then nothing else hurts you, right?"
"Right."
"Good girl," I praised her, giving her cheek a soft kiss and taking her hand. I linked our fingers together, leaving my lips against her skin. "How do you feel?"
"My back hurts, and so does my head," she answered me, her little hand trembling in mine. "But I don't like the strap, Edward..." she said, her tears picking back up again.
I squeezed my eyes closed at the old fear that I could hear in her voice. My own tears threatened to well up, because fuck, I hated it. Without another word, I sat up, yanking the strap off of her.
"Hey!" the paramedic started to argue.
"If we get in a wreck, I'll fucking hold her, but she can't be fucking strapped down!" I snapped, gathering my trembling girl into my arms as gently as I could at the moment. My fist opened and closed, itching to reach for my gun, but Alec took over.
"He's a good driver, yeah?" he asked, shaking us all with the change in direction and pointing to the guy's partner. He smiled when the EMT nodded. "And the hospital's close?"
"Yeah, we should almost be there," he answered slowly.
"No worries, then," Alec chuckled, but it was almost cold and humorless. "We won't tell...you won't tell. Life goes on."
It was the most subtle threat he'd ever given, but it was understood completely by everyone in the back of that ambulance.
I looked down at my Bella, cupping her chin. "Better, love?" I asked, and she nodded with a sigh. "Good. Now, let him see that arm, baby."
She sat perfectly still and quiet as he cleaned the wound and covered it with a temporary bandage. She leaned into me, slowly coming back down from the panic attack, something I hadn't had to deal with for years.
"They'll probably give her a CAT scan, Mr. Cullen," the paramedic, whose name was Sanders, I finally noticed. "You know, just to make sure she's okay."
Bella groaned, but I picked up her hand and kissed the back of it, saying, "We'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's all right," I stated, because it wasn't up for argument, and from my tone of voice, Bella knew it as she sagged against me.
We pulled into the Emergency Room bay, and they unloaded her, keeping the straps of the bed just draped over her for show. Immediately, she was taken away from me, the nurses telling me to be patient, that they needed to get her set up for tests and shit.
"Sir?" a young voice met my ears from my side, and I looked down at a nurse, who was already blushing at me. "We just need you to do some paperwork on your..."
"Wife," I stated, giving the ER one last glance with the hopes that I could see Bella from where I stood.
"She's in good hands, sir," the nurse said softly.
I took a deep breath and let it out, swallowing thickly, nervously, but I nodded to her. "Okay, paperwork."
"Hey, kid," Alec called from the chair in the corner of the waiting room. "Just do what you have to do, and don't worry about shit. I'll call everyone, okay?"
"Thanks, Alec," I said, watching him breeze past me with his phone already out. I was pretty sure the first call would be to my dad.
~oOo~
"Christ, son," my dad breathed, rushing to sit next to me in the waiting room, with Esme right behind him, sitting on the other side of me. "Is she okay? What the hell happened in there?"
Both of them put a hand on my shoulder as I sat forward, bracing my elbows on my knees. "They're running some tests now. She was awake when they took her from me. Lilith got to her. And I just...I think Walter lit a gas line or some shit." The specifics just didn't feel all that fucking important at the moment.
It seemed like it had taken forty fucking forevers to fill out the paperwork just to get Bella checked in. By the time I'd finished, they'd rushed her off to run a scan. I knew she was probably over it, maybe a little scared, and in pain. The fact that I couldn't see her, reach out to touch her, even for a moment, was bugging the ever loving shit out of me.
"I need to see her," I groaned, my fingers gripping my hair. "She had a fucking panic attack in the goddamn ambulance."
"Oh, no," Esme gasped. "Why?"
I turned my head toward her. "They strapped her to the gurney. I didn't even think about it..."
"Damn it," my dad hissed, and his grip to my shoulder tightened.
"I almost shot the fucking paramedic, Esme. You should've seen her," I sighed, shaking my head. "I finally just ripped the shit off of her."
Esme smirked, rubbing my shoulder a bit. "Did that help, son?" she asked, a slight chuckle escaping her.
"Yeah," I grinned, despite the circumstances. "Is Bethy with Rose?" I asked them, and they both nodded.
"What were Bella's injuries, sweetheart?" she asked, keeping me focused, because I must've seemed all over the place.
"Um," I said, sitting up straight. "A pretty nasty cut on her arm, and Sharky said that she was punched in the chin and took a pipe to the back."
My dad huffed, shaking his head. "But she was awake?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Sore, but awake. The docs said that they were just going to run some tests to make sure everything was okay, before they stitched her arm."
"Mr. Cullen?" I heard from the door of the waiting room.
"Yes?" my dad and I answered at the same time, which caused not only Esme to crack up, but Sam and Alec, too.
"I think she means me, old man," I chuckled, shaking my head at his laughter and standing.
The very amused nurse looked up at me as I approached her with a raised eyebrow. "Your father?" she laughed, and I nodded with a smile. "You can see your wife now, Mr. Cullen. They're just about to stitch her arm, but that will give us time enough to get the rest of her test results back."
"Okay," I sighed, shoving my hands in my pockets as I followed her down the corridor.
She led me to the end set of curtains, smiling when she nodded that I could go on in. "She's been asking for you," she whispered.
"'Kay," I mumbled, gently pulling back the curtain to see my wife sitting up in bed, her arm on a rolling table. "Hey, baby." I sighed with relief at the sight of her sweet face, despite the fact that she looked terribly tired and slightly irritated.
"Hey," she said, her tone matching my own. "They're about to fix my arm. Sit with me."
I sat on the edge of the bed, unable to refrain from leaning in and kissing her forehead. "How do you feel, sweetness?" I whispered against her skin, pulling back only far enough to press my own forehead to hers. "I w-was r-really w-worried, love."
"I know. I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sore, but I feel okay. I'm still tired. I just want to sleep," she stated, giving a one shoulder shrug. "I don't know what happened. One second, I was waiting for your order, and the next, I'm on the ground and Lilith was on me."
"We think Walter set off a gas pipe," I told her, pulling back to cup her face. "Emmett gave chase, but they got away."
"Walter's little distractions are really starting to piss me off," she growled, rolling her eyes at my chuckle, because leave it to my girl to go right back to work, even while sitting in a hospital bed.
"Leave it for now, love," I told her, still smiling, because if she was pissed off, then she was just fine. I knew that much. "We'll start over after we get home and get you some rest, okay?"
"Okay," she conceded, and we both looked up when a young man walked into her curtained area.
"Hey, I'm Eli," he said with a smile. "I'm gonna be taking care of that arm for you, Mrs. Cullen. After that, Dr. Powell will talk to you. I think all your test results are just about back."
Bella nodded, her eyes only on me when I stood up from the bed and sat in the chair. She didn't want to watch what he was doing, even though he was kind of talking her through it. I saw the wrinkle of her nose, her eyes grow wary, and her teeth automatically latch on to her bottom lip.
"I'm going to use a local, so you won't feel anything," Eli explained, not really looking anywhere other than Bella's arm.
"Sure, fine," she ground out.
I pulled my chair closer. "Eyes on me, sweetness," I whispered to her, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "This isn't...then. You know that. This is different."
"I know," she said so low that she practically mouthed it.
I knew that she was thinking about Miller. In fact, all day had been filled with subtle and not so subtle reminders of his twisted fucking ass. From the smell she'd reacted to at the warehouse, to her trepidation of going down into the boiler room, I'd watched as she'd shove the memories away just to be able to get through.
"You seem awful touchy about...him today, Bella," I said softly. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head, looking a little frustrated about it, but took a deep breath. "I don't know," she sighed, looking up at me with pleading eyes, like I would have the answer. "One minute, I'm okay, and the next, I'm not."
I picked up her free hand, kissing the back of it. "I'm sorry, baby," I whispered against her knuckles. "We'll take you home soon, okay?"
She nodded, giving Eli a brief glance. He was respectfully ignoring us, going about his stitching with a passive look on his face. He glanced up to see her watching him, and smiled kindly.
"I'm doing the smallest stitch I can, to lessen the scarring," he told her, and she grinned at him.
"Thanks," she chuckled softly, but turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "I can live with scars," she said softly, pulling her hand from mine so that she could run her fingers through my hair. "Have you checked in?"
"With who?" I laughed, jerking a thumb behind me. "They're all here, except for Bethy. She's with Rose."
She smiled and blushed a little. "Okay, good."
"All set, Mrs. Cullen," Eli piped up. He turned around and tugged open a drawer behind him, grabbing a few supplies. "I'm going to wrap you up, and you should be able to get these out in a few weeks."
He wrapped her carefully from wrist to elbow, making sure that it was secure. He smiled again, giving us a wave on his way out the curtain. Immediately, Bella was out of the bed and crawling in my lap.
"I'm so sorry for scaring you," she gushed, burying her face in my neck. "I'm sorry for freaking out in the ambulance, too."
"Shh, sweetness," I sighed, sitting back in the chair and cradling her. I kissed the top of her head, smiling at the open back of the hospital gown as I lightly traced my fingers down her spine, careful of her injury back there. "How else would I see you dressed in such...sexy attire?"
She burst into a giggle. "Shut up, Edward," she laughed and sniffled at the same time, making me grin.
"No, seriously," I argued, snaking my hand inside the open back to just barely graze the side of her breast. "It definitely has its advantages."
She sat up, trying her damnedest to give me a stern look, but totally failed. "Edward, no!" she hissed, shaking her head, but she was still giggling – a sound I fucking lived for.
"Fine," I sighed dramatically, holding my hands up in surrender.
She smirked, grabbing both sides of my face and kissing me roughly. "I love you," she whispered against my lips.
"God, I love you, too," I groaned, hugging her as tight as I could for fear of hurting her. "I'm just glad you're okay. Y-You h-have n-no idea how f-fucking s-scared I w-was w-when you d-didn't ch-check in."
"I can imagine," she soothed, running her fingers through my hair again over and over as she snuggled back into my neck. "I would feel the same way."
She got quiet, content to let me hold her, and if it weren't for her tiny fingers playing with the hair at the base of my neck, I'd have thought she'd fallen asleep. I dropped random kisses to the top of her head, absolutely stupid with the fact that she was okay.
There was a clearing of a throat at the curtain, and we both looked up.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, I'm Dr. Powell," a short, balding man said with a smile. He tugged over the rolling tray and set her chart down. "I just wanted to go over a few things with you."
"Okay," Bella said, but made no move to get up from my lap.
"Your CT scan came back fine. The x-rays on your spine, too. There's just some bruising, so I imagine you'll be sore for a few days." He cleared his throat again, a smirk gracing his face. "I see that your arm has been taken care of... How does that feel?"
"Fine," she answered him.
"Good. That's really good," he said, noting the chart. "How about pain? On a scale of one to ten, how would you rank it?"
"Um, a six or seven?" she guessed, shrugging a bit. "I mean, it's livable with..."
"Now, with your condition... we'll have to be careful with pain meds..." he started, but we cut him off.
"Condition?" Bella and I both gasped.
"What condition?" I asked, trying not to get loud, but the word didn't sound good.
He smiled at both of us. "I guess you didn't know," he murmured, glancing down at his chart again. "Glad we tested..." He looked straight at us. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. You're pregnant."
A/N... I'm totally ducking behind shit, because I know that was a cruel cliffie. Probably worse than explosions and shit. Lol Just know that this is how I saw things working out from the beginning.
But...Pregnant! :D And I know, Walter and Lilith got away again. Believe me, their luck will eventually run out, but not yet.
Coming up next is our favorite couples reactions to this news.
I need to thank JenRar, who helped me break this warehouse situation down to its bare bones. To GooberLou for pre-reading and loving the word "condition." lol And to MedusaInNY for just all sorts of things. I miss you...holla at me soon, before I think you fell off the planet!
Things are looking pretty good for a Wednesday post. And I'm pretty damn sure you've got something to say, so let me strap on some armor, and you can get to it. ;) Love you guys, and until next time... Later.