A/N Hello again anybody and everybody who might have decided to continue reading to the FIFTH chapter. I am so proud of you, and glad that you decided to read this, so I'm going to keep trying to update this quickly.
Just a reminder, in case you forgot, my name is not Stephanie Meyer. That means I do not own any of the interesting characters. I'm obviously not gaining anything by writing and publishing this story. Oh well.
Chapter 5 – EPOV
I drove at record pace to the outskirts of the suburb where the large nature preserve which Carlisle owned was located. Carlisle had made this land acquisition a few years before we moved here under the name of one of the trusts we had set up long ago, The Pacific Northwestern Trust. It was full of wildlife, such as bears and deer, quite a rarity for a suburb, and part of the reason we moved here. I needed to hunt if I was going to be in close proximity to Bella and her unbelievably potent blood which seemed to be designed to tempt me more than anybody else. I caught several deer and filled myself completely, to the point of feeling a bit sloshy in my stomach.
Next I stopped by the bookstore on my way to the hospital. I headed straight to the back where I would find some literature classics, specifically, new copies of the books which Bella used to have stashed around her room. I was relieved to see the bookstores these days still carried a few Jane Austen books, I grabbed the three that they had: Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility. Next I searched for a copy of Wuthering Heights, a book I knew Bella cherished because it had been so dog eared and well used lying on the floor near her bed back in Forks. I wondered if she had read any of the Charles Dickens books which stopped making their way on to school reading lists two decades ago. I decided to grab Great Expectations and Oliver Twist just in case. The Count of Monte Cristo was always one of my favorite novels, so I grabbed that one as well. I picked up a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets for good measure then on my way out of the "Ancient Classics" section I passed a novel that was just becoming popular when I was a human, and I had to chuckle: Dracula.
With my nine new purchases I drove double the speed limit to the hospital. Since it was no longer visiting hours I decided to park down the street at a local supermarket and run back to the hospital. I returned to the floor where Esme worked and silently walked down the hall to the room that read "Rachel Meyer" though I knew it really belonged to my Bella. The door was locked and I heard no breathing inside so I assumed Bella must be somewhere in the hospital undergoing the tests she had mentioned earlier today. I heard a nurse walking down the hall, and I listened to her thoughts as she read from her clipboard laptop. Jay Barrera room 206: new bed sheets, Ryan Hardee room 209: extra cot for father, Stacey Fields room 214: IV check, Rachel Meyer room 215: Fluids rotation.
It would have been too easy to sneak past the nurse and hide around the corner until Bella was back in her room, but now that I knew this nurse had a key to the room, I formed a new plan, one that involved lying and stealing, but at least not breaking and entering. I hid until I heard the nurse getting ready to leave Bella's room, then I casually strolled past the door, with my nine books in tow. At last the nurse saw me, "Hey there, what are you doing here? Visiting hours are over."
I spun around at a carefully quick human pace and plastered a look of confusion on my face. "I'm sorry?" I said innocently, "Visiting hours?"
"Well--," Well sweet Jesus, where did you come from? A Magazine cover? "Yes, visiting hours, er--, they've ended, so you're not supposed to be up here unless you are a parent or, uh, guardian," I'd be glad to escort you out of the building, just ask real nicely, please? Heck I'll escort you anywhere you want! Like to the closet over there, or to the nurse's lounge, or to the empty room behind me, or the one down the hall.
This nurse's dirty thoughts were mildly annoying, but I knew they would aid me in my quest to kidnap her keycard. "Oh I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding," I began sweetly, "My mother, Esme Cullen is a nurse on this floor, and she left these books behind in the nursing lounge. She asked me to pick them up for her," I lied so smoothly I nearly believed myself.
"Oh right, Esme, she's such a nice woman," and here I was thinking about seducing her son, I really need to get a grip, "Well tell her I say hello then," and ask her if she ever needs a babysitter or something.
"Of course I will, Miss.--,"
"Alyssa, just call me Alyssa sweetie, and you must be?" Far too cute to be legal?
"Edward, Edward Cullen." I carefully balanced my books in my left hand and reached out my other as if I wanted to shake hands. When she realized what I wanted, she whipped her own arm out from behind her back and knocked my nine books to the floor. Just as I had planned.
"Oh I'm so sorry honey, let me get those for you!" klutz, klutz, klutz, klutz. She bent to pick them up and I mirrored her action so that we were both kneeling picking up the books. I reached around her to pick up a book and whipped the key card off the clip on the back of her scrubs. Oh my, he smells good. Maybe if I lean in a little bit closer I can just…
I pulled away quickly before Alyssa got too many other ideas which would probably end her life. I took my books from her and smiled, "Thanks Alyssa, I'll tell Esme you said hello." She was dazed, dazzled as Bella used to call it. Her thoughts were an incoherent string of "too young" coupled with "probably illegal". I waited for her to walk toward the elevator before I slipped into Bella's room using my newly acquired key card.
I entered the room silently and let the scent in the room envelop me. The burn in my throat was painful but it thrilled me because I knew it meant Bella was alive and had been here recently. I let myself become accustomed to the burn and the smell like I used to back in Forks and I took a look around the room.
It was dark to human eyes, but I could see the room clear as day. It was clean and sanitary. Clearly nothing that Bella would enjoy. The monitors for heart rate, blood pressure, and internal body temperature were next to the bed on one side with a small nightstand on the other. There was a fold away tray table standing at the foot of the bed with a stack of neutral colored blankets. The thick curtains covering the full length window were impersonal and mundane.
The room was small and unfriendly. I knew some of the children had pasted posters, plants, or other mementoes of their homes around the small rooms. This room was completely bare and I was glad that I could hang around and help make her stay at this hospital at least slightly more enjoyable. I turned on the charts at the end of her bed. Carlisle had said the touch screen computers they used were heat responsive so it probably wouldn't register me touching the screen since my body had no heat. I improvised and grabbed one of the blankets off the table and rubbed two of the edges together to create a little friction. Covering my hand with the friction warmed blanket, I was able to tap into Bella, or Rachel Meyer's charts. I confirmed what Esme told me earlier. Bella was going to die, again.
I let the news sink in and felt the sadness engulf me once again. I held the expensive clipboard to my chest, nearly breaking it and tried once again to sleep, to escape consciousness. After a few minutes of drowning in my own personal pool of despair, I reaffirmed the snap decision I had made earlier today when Esme first revealed the severity of Bella's illness. I would not to dwell on what couldn't be changed and I would not think about the horrors the next few months would bring. Bella didn't have time for that.
Next I searched through the beginning of her file. Under parents or guardians I read the name Augusta Christianson. I remembered that name from the list of hospital staff, she was a social worker. That had to mean that Bella, or Rachel, was a ward of the state. But what had happened to her parents? I barely had time to wonder as I heard the thoughts of another nurse and Augusta walking down the hall toward the room. They were pushing a gurney so I assumed they must be bringing Bella back from her examinations.
I quickly hid behind the heavy curtains covering the window of the room and waited for the three person party to enter and drop off the love of my life. I listened to the whispered conversation the nurse and Augusta were having. It looked like Bella was pretending to sleep. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing wasn't steady enough.
"So it's not spreading at all?" asked Augusta, quietly.
"Correct, it's completely confined to her brain. It's quite an anomaly I must confess," said the nurse, I don't understand this illness at all. Even Dr. Minor said he'd never seen anything like it.
"But that's a good thing right?" the rest of her won't be infected with the cancer. That's wonderful news.
"Yes and not really. It's true the rest of her body will go on functioning like normal until her brain completely shuts down and stops sending messages to her body. But at that point, she won't even know how to breathe, we could try using artificial respiration for a while until her body eventually rejects it, but we don't know how long that will be, it could be hours or days. She'll be in an irreversible vegetative state no matter what. I'm afraid the fact that the rest of her body is still perfectly fine will not be enough to save her. There's nothing we can do."
"I see," replied Augusta sadly. If her heart still works though, there's no reason we can't do the heart transplant. This could be the answer! I already know Rachel wouldn't mind at all.
They left the room and I was left a little confused. What was this Augusta woman planning? She wanted to do some sort of heart transplant, but that wouldn't help Bella at all since her heart was fine according to the nurse. So what would a transplant of a perfectly good heart do? Augusta wasn't making any sense, how could she save Bella by giving her a heart transplant?
"Edward?" called my Angel, interrupting my thoughts. I assumed maybe she was asleep after all and was having one of those dream memories she mentioned earlier. She always did talk in her sleep, and it wouldn't be the first time she said my name.
"Edward, I know you're in here. Don't make me think I'm going crazy please. I just want to talk to you!" I looked over as she sat up in her bed trying to look around the room for me. Well I guess she was awake.
"How'd you know I was here?" I asked as I crept out from my hiding place and sat at the edge of her bed. The smile that enchanted her face in the dark room was exultant, and she reached over and turned on the light which was attached to the wall near her bed.
"Well, I could sort of sense you," she admitted sheepishly, and Lord help me, that deliciously beautiful blush filled her cheeks. The burn in the back of my throat was back in full force, but I reveled in it. I basked in the burn knowing that it meant my Bella was alive and here with me. "So I guess you heard the nurse and Mrs. Christianson chatting a few minutes ago," she asked glumly.
My heart ached and all I could do was nod my head. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I knew the cold of my hands would probably scare her.
"I'm sorry Edward, I wish you didn't have to know about that."
I would have recognized that lacking sense of self preservation anywhere. Of course she didn't care that she was dying. It only bothered her that I knew about it, that I would have to face some pain because she was dying. Where did this bravery come from? "You've always been so brave Bella, er Rachel," I said softly, praying that she would remember something from her previous life.
She smiled now, "I don't mind if you want to call me Bella," she said, "It's what my mom used to call me when I was little. I figured that was why you called me that in my dreams." She blushed again and looked down, letting her hair cover her face just like it used to when we first met.
I couldn't resist any longer. I reached over and with two fingers lifted her chin up so she was looking me in the eye. Her heart rate quickened and her eyes were wide with some emotion akin to shock, so I quickly removed my hand and placed it back in my lap with my fingers still tingling after the return of the electric feeling I got from touching her. "Sorry I know it's cold. I've just been without your face for so long; I couldn't bear to have you hide it from me."
"No it's not the cold," she touched her chin where my fingers had been and looked at her hand, "You didn't feel it too?" she asked.
"Feel what?" I wondered softly.
"The electricity," she said just as quietly, "Maybe it's just all those machines I was hooked up to a little while ago. I don't know, maybe it's--,"
I placed one finger over her soft lips to quiet her and enjoyed the tingling sensation once again as I listened to her heart beat speed then return to normal, "Of course I feel it, Bella, I just didn't know you could too," I chuckled.
"So who are you exactly?" she finally asked, "Why do I feel like I've known you my entire life, maybe even longer?"
"Well as you know, my name is Edward. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," I introduced myself. "I'll tell you what I know, but only if you tell me about your dreams first," I bargained.
I was not disappointed to see her chin jut out a little in her classic "I'm going to be stubborn face" and I struggled to hold back a gleeful laugh. "And what if I don't agree? I think my dreams are private and they shouldn't be shared, even with random beautiful strangers."
I let my face curve into a crooked smile that I hadn't worn in over half a century. She smiled back in reaction and I saw right then that she would cave. She was far too curious to let me walk away. "Oh come now Bella, I know for a fact that you shared them with a young girl named Christy. And I don't believe that I should be considered such a random stranger if I was actually a subject of the dreams in question."
She chewed on her lip for a moment in contemplation. The smile refused to leave my face, I was so happy to have my Bella back and I just wanted to live in this moment for eternity. She was taking a while to answer. I felt my patience grow thin as I remembered my frustration that I couldn't read her mind. "Bella, what are you thinking?" I pleaded.
"Just trying to decide which one to tell you first," she said pensively, "Can I ask you a question first?"
"Be my guest," I agreed.
"Is nurse Esme your mother?"
"Yes she is, well my adopted mother. Why do you ask, do you remember her?"
"Just vaguely," she replied, "From my dreams of course. And Edward?"
"Yes Bella," I replied with a grin. I just couldn't get enough of saying her name, and hearing her say mine was heavenly.
"Do you know Alice?"