Edward rolled onto his side, the sheet constricting around his waist as his eyes traced over the delicate features of Bella's face as she slept. He let his index finger follow the path his eyes made, grazing over her eyebrows, down the slope of her nose, tracing over the outline of her lips.

She sighed heavily as his fingers slowly trailed through the length of her hair. On instinct he slipped his arms around her, pulling her tightly to his chest. His thoughts wandered three thousand miles away, back to where he was lying on a cot, trying to live with the thought he would never be here, be able to hold Bella again. His chest tightened at the thought. She rolled over, blindly reaching for Edward. She sighed contently as his arms constricted around her.

Even though he could spend all day watching Bella sleep, Edward decided to surprise her and Abby with breakfast. He carefully slid out of bed, slowly extracting himself from her arms. He limped over to the closet, carefully pulling on a pair of black sleep pants before grabbing his cane and slowly stalking into the kitchen.

He hated depending on the damn thing, hated not trusting his legs enough to walk completely on his own. Of course it was better than a wheelchair, or a pair of crutches, but it was still a pain in the ass. He made sure to gather everything he needed to make his "special pancakes" and quickly made the batter before pouring them onto the skillet.

Edward heard Bella's yawn from the hallway and couldn't suppress his grin as she kissed his cheek. He turned the burner off, moving the skillet off it before picking up Bella and putting her onto the counter. He stood in-between her legs and picked at the top button of her borrowed shirt, tracing over her collarbone as he flicked the first two buttons open. He leaned forward and kissed her neck, smiling against her skin as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

"Good morning love."

"Mmm." She hummed as she tugged on his hair, forcing his face up. "Morning."

She tilted her head down, gently brushing her lips against his before pulling away with a smile.

The sound of a car door being slammed shut made his muscles tense. Who would visit this early?

Bella slid under his arm, resting her forehead against his chest as she shook her head. "I still can't believe you're home." Edward slid his arm around her as he started to flip the pancakes. "I'm scared I'm dreaming and I'll wake up and roll over to an empty bed."

Edward chuckled as he kissed the top of her head. "I'm home."

"Bella!" Esme's voice echoed through the house. "I'm sorry to come over so early but I figured we could have a girl's day."

The light clacking of her heels against the tile floor stopped as she stood in the kitchen's entryway. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at her son, leaning against a cane with his arm around Bella. She ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Hi mom." He murmured into her hair as she gripped him tighter.

"You're alive. You're home and you're alive." She pulled back and smacked him in the chest. "Why the hell didn't you call me? Your own mother! I thought you were dead or otherwise!"

Edward cringed at her tone, cringed at the memory of pain, at the reason why he couldn't call. Images flickered through his mind: his buddies, his men scattered on the sandy ground lying in puddles of their own blood, crippling pain flowing through every vein in his body, knowing he didn't deserve to survive.

To be dragged away from the scene, alive, when he had no right to be.

Remorse quickly turned to anger but he tried to mask it as the two most important women in his life started talking about him as if he wasn't in the room. He rolled his eyes as he turned around and slowly limped towards the living room.

Two loud gasps sounded from the kitchen, forcing his feet to cease their movements.

"Edward, what happened to you?"