Disclaimer: SM owns Edward, not me (sadly!)
5th December 2010
Where is Bee? She'd been at the bathroom for ten minutes now and our meals where getting cold.
We had arrived at the restaurant at six thirty pm, thirty minutes early for our booking so we sat at the bar and talked about anything we could think of. Wedding planning was the most talked about though. Alice had already called Bella this morning to ask if she could be involved in the planning. Bella was all to happy to get Alice involved as long as Shorty knew it was our wedding. We wanted a small affair with family and close friends, nothing huge and we wanted it here in Seattle. Bella spent the good part of three hours on the phone going over dates, colour schemes, flowers and such like. I got ushered into another room when Bella wanted to talk dresses. So I was so glad I'd booked this alone time together at La Bella across town. It was Bella's favourite restaurant as a child because she shared a name with it.
I glanced over to the direction she had taken and back to my watch again. I smiled down at my watch, the one Bella had given me on my sixteenth birthday. My mind wandered to gifts I could buy Bella for our wedding. A new charm for her bracelet was a must so I started to think how I could symbolise our marriage; two hearts intertwined, a lucky horse shoe or wedding bells. Hmmm so much to think about. Glancing back at my watch, I realised Bella had been gone for a futher five minutes. Fifteen minutes to go to the bathroom? Women! Iwas getting impatient and my own drumming of my fingers on the table was grating on my nerves so I decided to go to the bathroom myself then I would see if I could sneak into the ladies room to make sure she was okay. She never mentioned she was feeling unwell and she said she'd only be a few minutes. Maybe we could be naughty in a bathroom stall; that thought made me smile.
I followed the signs for the bathrooms which took me to the back of the restaurant through a set of double doors. As soon as I opened the doors, I felt the cold. My feet slowed as I saw the fire exit door at the end of the corridor slightly open. Frowning, I walked towards the door to investigate. Surely the fire alarm would have tripped if this door was open? Maybe? The door was labelled that way. I wonder whether someone has thought about having a crafty cigarette outside and that's why the door's open? I reached for the door to close it when shadows of movement caught my eye outside.
I glanced back to the corridor; no one was there so I opened the door wider and stepped through closing it behind me but not fully.
Stepping out into the darken alley at the rear of the restaurant, I heard a noise to my right. Yep sneaky smoker. I'm not sure why but I felt I needed to warn them that someone would catch them if they weren't careful. I walked quietly around the bin following the small sounds of feet scrapping across the floor.
"Hey you know you shouldn't be smoking around here?" I called out as I rounded the large bin.
As my eyes looked up, I froze. My mind froze. My heart froze. My whole universe froze.
Staring back at me with wide, terrified eyes was Bella in the arms of a woman. The woman was holding Bella in front of her, one of her hands hovering at Bella's throat, the other around her waist holding her tightly, holding her in place. The dim light shining above them lit the scene as well as the knife that was gleaming silver and red at my Bee's throat.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Edward coming to rescue you. How very charming ..."
Hearing my name kicked start my brain as I struggled to process the scene in front of me.
"What Edward? You don't remember me? I'm hurt." She threw her head back and laughed, the knife in her right hand jerking at her movement. My first instinct was to get that away from Bella so I moved a step forward.
"Ah, ah, ah no moving Eddie dear. You won't want an accident on your hands would you?" The knife jerked again and I could see Bella physically trembling, trying to hold her neck away from the object. As Bella moved her head slightly, I could see a cut below her left ear. I trickle of crimson red was running down her neck.
My eyes flicked back to Bella's. She was petrified. Both her arms were by her side as her whole body shook.
"You want money? Here." I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket, grabbed all the notes I had and threw them at her.
She looked down at the cash at her feet before meeting my eyes again. "You think I want your money?" She spat at me. "I don't want your fucking money. I want this one." She dropped her head so her nose was in my Bella's hair. "Mmm she's nice. I get why you want her but alas, you can't have her ... Such a shame..."
"Get your fucking hands off her!" I stepped forward again but the woman dug the knife into Bella's skin making Bella scream out. "Shut your fucking mouth before I cut you wide open bitch." Bella whimpered again trying to pull her neck out of harms away. "And you fucking make one more move toward us and I will follow through on my threats."
She was deadly serious; I could see it. She'd took Bella in a public place. Something told me she wasn't messing around. I felt completely useless as I watched the amount of blood increase.
"Please... Please let her go. I'll do anything you want, give you anything you want ... Please just let her go. She's losing blood, she needs a doctor..." She needs me.
"Oh baby. There's only one thing I want and you can't give it me." While she was talking, I got a better look at Bella's attacker. She was tall, her arms looked muscular like she worked out. She had unruly flame red wavey hair and I'm sure I recognised her but I just couldn't think straight for a second to place where I knew her from. Her next words stunned me.
"The thing that I want most ... the person I can't have is my man. Oh, my James is all man darling. You're just a boy though, I bet you have a rocking body under those clothes. Once I've done with the little bitch, I think I'll check that out."
"Don't you -" Bella's words were cut short once again with the knife now held at her cheek.
"Little whores don't speak until they are spoken to. You're a pretty thing though and I really don't want to cut that little face so shut the fuck up if you want this to be over with quickly. Otherwise we could be like this all night..." My eyes flashed to the movement of the woman's other empty hand slide up Bella's waist; her fingers spread out as they reached Bella's chest.
"On second thoughts, maybe I'll take a good look at the little bitch before you Edward." The woman's hand squeezed her chest as a sob broke through Bella's lip. "Mmmmm." Her nose was at Bella's neck where the crimson stained her neck. She lingered there, her eyes not leaving mine as her lips pressed into Bella's bloody flesh.
"Get off her." My voice was eerily calm to say my head was banging and all I want to do was to launch myself at them and pull this physco bitch off my Bee. My own sense of self preservation was out of the window. I didn't care about myself. I just wanted Bee safe. I needed a plan to get her to loosen her grip on Bella. Then I may be able to get Bella away from her. The only thing I could think was to get her to talk, to tell me her story and hopefully I'd find out why the fuck this bitch wanted to harm my beautiful, innocent Bella. Bella would never hurt anyone ...
"I know you but I don't know how. We've meet?" The woman's head shot up, her lips red from Bella's blood. This woman was seriously sick. She needed a hospital. Or the morgue if I get my hands on her. My blackened thoughts creased on hearing the woman's name.
"Oh we've meet already. The bar a couple of months back? Some people call me Victoria, others know me by Tori. Does that jog your memory Eddie?" Tori.
"Tori. I remember you. You offered to buy me a drink..."
"And you were so wrapped up with Bella to accept." So that's the reason why she's threatening to harm my fiancée?
"I'm sorry I didn't accept. We could start over. Look, just let Bella go and we'll have that drink. Just you and me. Then maybe I could ... help you? I think you really need to talk to someone ab-"
Tori threw her head back once again, halting my sentence. "Do you think I'm fucking dumb or something? Get a drink? I won't be in that bar for two minutes before the cops will show up."
"Please Tori ... Let me help you."
"Oh Edward. Always trying to be the rescuer, the white knight in shining armour. God, I can see why Tan wanted to keep you so much now."
"Who?" Tan?
"Tanya. Fucking bitch. I fucking told her to stay low especially after she thought you'd seen her in that club. Dumb bitch has had her brains fucked out too many times by my idiot of a brother to fucking listen to a word I say but who's going to have the last laugh now?"
Tanya's involved? What the fuck is going on?
"Eddie, you look all confused. Not a good look for you honey." Tori was shaking her head back and forth laughing in that sadistic tone. Her grip of Bella loosened a touch but not enough for Bella to get out of her grasp.
"Tell me what the fuck is going on Tori! Help me understand how I get make things good again for you. You know Tanya? Tanya Denali? You mentioned a James?"
"DON'T YOU FUCKING SAY HIS NAME! He'd still be here if it wasn't for this little bitch's daddy cop!" Tori's furious eyes were locked on me. She was breathing heavily, the anger seeping from her.
Daddy cop? Charlie. James. Oh Christ, it can't be.
"Who was James to you Tori?"
"HE WAS MY FUCKING EVERYTHING! AND SHE TOOK HIM AWAY FROM ME!"
Then everything happened so fast. Bella broke free of Tori's hold, launching herself towards me but she wasn't fast enough. The flash of steel in the dim light made my eyes widen in horror as Bella gave a blood curdling scream and fell into my arms holding her left side.
I stumbled to the cold floor holding Bella close. Everything else that was happening around us, the shouting and commotion, faded into the background.
"Edward." She whispered. Her beautiful brown eyes searched my own. She lifted her hand to touch my cheek lightly. I grabbed it and squeezed, "Hold on Bee. I love you." Then her eyes fluttered closed and she passed out. Blood seeped from her left side as she lay limp in my arms. For a moment, a split second, I was lost with the love of my existence dying in my arms. But I quickly snapped out of my trance as my medical training kicked into action. I knew I needed to work quickly, call help and assess the situation. I pushed my hand firmly to her side with one hand. I checked her pulse with my other; it was still strong. That's my girl. Stay with me. I love you. I checked her breathing before I pulled my cell out of my pocket with the other and started to dial.
"An ambulance is on its way bud." I turned to see what looked to be three staff members of the restaurants kitchen. Two of them were holding down a hysterical Tori who sounded like she was sobbing and laughing madly at the same time. She was clearly not with it and in need of a lot of help. I nodded once at the man who stood to my left and returned to my task.
Removing my coat one arm at a time and bunching it up into a make-shift pillow, I laid Bella gently on the ground. I worked swiftly to remove the material of Bella's top which revealed a deep cut to her stomach on her left side.
"I need that ambulance now! And some towels or something. I need to slow the bleeding!" The man nodded once before running back in the building. I was still applying the pressure to Bella's side but the bleeding continued. "Come on Bee. Stay with me." I leaned in to kiss her still lips. Her breathing was shallow. I need that fucking ambulance now! Please!
As if someone had heard my plea, the sound of sirens filled the air following by screeching tyres. The man was back with handfuls of towels and I made quick use of them. Pushing them to her side hard; if she would have been awake, she would have been in pain with the pressure I was applying.
"Hello? Sir? I'm Bree. What's her name?" I looked up to see Bree, one of the paramedics from Swiss. "Oh God, Edward...Is this Bella?" I nodded once. She stared at me before shaking her head once and leaping into action.
"Bella? Can you hear me?" Bree checked her over quickly, checking her pulse, breathing before another medic I didn't recognise was at the other side of Bella with a back board. "Diego, this is Edward Cullen and this is Bella, his girlfriend. Edward is a doctor at Swiss. We need to move fast. She looks like she's lost a lot of blood. She needs blood and surgery too. Edward, do you know Bella's blood type?"
"A." My voice cracked as the weight of situation collapsed on top of me but there was no way I was going down. Bella needed me more than she ever has and I was not going to stop until she was awake, well and marrying me. She was going to walk down at aisle, looking as beautiful as she did each day. "Come on Bee.." I whispered.
Bree and Diego worked quickly and efficiently getting Bella on the board and into the back of the ambulance. Diego was driving as Bree and I rode in the back. Bella was now attached to a heart monitor and I found the slow beeping noise a comfort. As long as that machine beeped, I knew Bella was still with me.
When we got to Swiss ER, Bella was wheeled straight into surgery. There were so many voices shouting I could barely hear myself think, but maybe that was a good thing. My Dad met us just before she was wheeled through those surgery doors. I knew I wouldn't be able to follow. The bed was paused enough time for me to give my fiancée a kiss, "Bee, stay strong baby. I love you and I'll be here when you come out." Giving her another kiss, I watched as she was taken from me.
"She's a tough cookie Edward. She'll pull through this." My Dad pulled me into an embrace. "Mom's on her way. I told her to stay at home but she was having none of it. Edward, from what Bree has told me, you did so well. She still alive because of you."
"No Dad, I'm alive because of her. She is my life, my everything."
Not sure what to say here apart from I do believe in a HEA :) As always a huge thank you to you for reading and reviewing my story; just a couple more chapters left ... Next chapter will be up in a couple of weeks (hopefully).
Thanks to my beta and bestie, SweetLovinCullen - You rock! And if you haven't already checked out her new story, please do! Hot and angry Tattward alert! ;) Links on my profile.
Please check out the two fandoms I'm writing for : Fandom4Texas & Fandom4Cancer. And if any of you LOVE the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy like I do, Twilight Fic Zone have a FANTASTIC worldwide competition :D http:/twilightficzone . blogspot . com/2011/10/worldwide-competition-win-signed-copy . html