A/N: Hello, everyone. Sorry for the wait. I gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Oct. 29. She's a joy, but she does make it hard to write. Hehe. Onward!

"Melody!" Bella darted forward and scooped up her daughter, her brow furrowed. "We talked about this. You can't run in a hospital."

Melody pushed at her chest, wanting down. "I want my daddy."

"I know, bug. But you have to be careful. Everyone here is trying to help people who are very sick." Bella shifted Melody to her hip. "Daddy isn't going to disappear. Promise."

They got to Edward's room before Bella lost the battle against her child's squirms. She set Melody down, her eyes stinging at the girl's joyful cry of, "Daddy!" Before anyone could stop her, Melody had climbed the chair by the bedside and launched herself at her father.

"Jesus. Mel. Daddy is still hurt. Be careful." Bella hurried to the bedside, trying to peel Melody off him. She growled and clung.

"She's okay," Edward said though his face was pinched, but he'd curled his good arm around his daughter. "Hey, Melly."

Melody started to babble at Edward. Bella didn't catch much before the little girl started gasping, her lower lip trembling as she started to sob. After a moment, she just held onto her father, her feelings too big to put into words. Bella stroked her hair, and Edward held her, his lips pressed to her crown as he murmured soft words of comfort.

After a few minutes, Melody calmed down enough, and Bella gave Edward some space with his daughter. When she left them, they were laying face-to-face, Melody all but plastered against his side, her nose to his as they whispered to each other.

She occupied twenty minutes, strolling around the cafeteria and collecting a few things for Melody to snack on. Then, she headed back. In Edward's room, she was greeted by a sweet sight. Melody was asleep, her small hand still cupped to her father's scruffy cheek. Edward's eyes were hooded. He was tired, but he was obviously fighting it, staring instead at his daughter as though he were trying to memorize her features.

He looked at her and smiled tiredly as she took her seat next to his bed. His hand lifted off Melody's back, and Bella tangled her fingers in his.

"She was really scared," Edward said, sounding sad.

Bella nodded slowly. "It was hard to see you like that." She shivered and leaned in, stroking his hair back with her free hand. "It was hard for all of us."

"I'm sorry." He took a deep breath, obviously fighting sleep. "I've tried so hard not to make either of you cry."

Her heart warmed. "We'll forgive you. I promise. You should sleep now, though."

He grunted and frowned, but his eyelids were already almost closed. "Slept too much."

"Yeah. Isn't that a bitch? The best way to make that better is to sleep some more." Her hand faltered as she cupped the top of his head. "Just remember to wake up this time."

He nodded, his eyes closing. Bella sighed as his breath evened out. "Sleep," she murmured again. "Because I have things to say to you, Edward Cullen."

~0~

Two more days passed in a blur.

Edward still slept a lot. His awake times were peppered with visits from various specialists. As the nurse had explained to Melody, the brain controlled everything about the body. It took a small army to figure out if he was firing on all pistons.

Mentally, he was coming along. He was muddled, a little slow on the uptake, but that was to be expected. Bella breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he was awake, she'd privately thought that a change to his personality, to himself, would be the most difficult repercussion of this whole mess.

Physically, he'd gotten away light. As light as someone could get when falling off a cliff. He was having trouble getting his limbs to respond the way they needed to. Most likely, time, physical therapy, and hard work would have him back to relatively normal by the end of the year.

They'd dodged a firing squad worth of bullets.

Bella approached Edward's room at a slow walk, recognizing his parents' voices. They had been around, of course. And Edward knew they were there. Bella had even asked him if he wanted her to send them packing.

"Tempting," he'd muttered, but had let them stay.

She peered into the room, not wanting to intrude but also wanting to make sure that the Cullens were, for once, not antagonizing their son. Her heart softened when she saw Edward had his mother's hand clasped tightly in his, and his face was turned in his father's direction. There was a gentle smile on his father's face. This was the man Edward had described; the good father he had been before they made the wrong choice.

Just as she was about to retreat, Esme caught sight of her. "Bella. Don't run away." Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she sniffled as she stood. "We were just on our way out."

"You don't have to rush for my sake," Bella said.

"No. No." Carlisle smirked."Edward's been watching the door for the last hour."

Edward groaned, banging his head lightly against his pillow. "Dad."

Bella couldn't help but smile. It healed something in her heart to hear him sounding like a son being teased by his father.

Both Carlisle and Esme leaned in, kissing their son's temple and squeezing his good hand. "We'll be back later," Esme said, kissing his hair one more time before she let him go.

When they had gone, Bella took the seat at his bedside. "Did you kiss and make up?" She kept her tone light as she took his hand, gently massaging his palm and fingers.

He hummed, his eyes hooded but mostly alert. "Yes and no. It's going to take some work, but…" He shrugged. "I always understood to an extent. First rule of parenting, right? You set a consequence, and you have to stick to your guns no matter how bad it hurts."

Bella scoffed. That one had gotten the better of both of them more than once. "You weren't a child, and life isn't that simple."

"Yeah." He sighed. "You know, every time I've fucked up with Melody, I've asked her to forgive me. She always does. Maybe I would never do to Melody what they did to me, but that doesn't mean I won't fuck up big time at some point. I don't know."

"I'm not judging. If this is what you want, I'll back your play. You know that."

He nodded, his expression serious. "You know what else?"

"What?"

"I still really want my mom and dad." His eyes met hers with a sweet vulnerability. "Is that immature?"

Bella brought his hand to her cheek, holding it there. "I don't think so. You know, the upside to being exiled to Port Angeles was getting my dad back. And Renee might not be much of a grown up, but I still like our weekly talks. She and I are very different people, but she's mine."

He nodded. "I'm still pissed. It didn't have to be like that. But we can work on it. They said they would pay for Emmett to come stay with me."

"Oh." That had been a concern. Bella was, of course, more than happy to do whatever she could for Edward while he recovered, but she wasn't strong to help him while he was partially paralyzed. Emmett had said he could take time off under the family medical leave act, but not at full pay, and he couldn't afford to hop on another plane. "That'd be great."

He nodded and sighed again as his fingers traced the shape of her face, his eyes intense on hers. "I almost died without seeing them again."

She shuddered and clutched his hand.

"I almost died without a lot of things." He breathed in and out, studying her face. "You asked me to think about my life, right? What I wanted?"

Bella's heartbeat picked up, and she had to stop herself from pulling away from him. "We don't have to talk about that right now."

"I'm awake. You're awake." He looked at her as though trying to read her mind. "And you're nervous about something. Is it that you decided you don't want me, and you just don't want to tell me?"

"No," she said quickly. Then, she laughed, chuckling her head. "The opposite." She leaned closer. "These weeks… I don't think I understood how essential you became to me." She shook her head. "Somewhere along the line, you got under my skin. After almost losing you… I just don't want to lose you again."

"Why would you lose me?"

She looked at him, forcing a steadiness she didn't feel. "I still am who I am. I've never needed a man to make me happy. I do need other things to make me happy. Things I don't have now."

"You don't need me."

"I love you, and I want you. I want us. But, no. I don't need you." She tilted her head, hating the way her gut twisted. "Does that bother you? It's not that I wouldn't work hard at our relationship, or that I would neglect you anymore than I would neglect Mel. But there might be a time when we, you and me, come second to my ambition."

He squeezed her hand. "I don't need you to depend on me to make your life meaningful. I want to be the one helping you get there. Like you've helped me figure out who I want to be when I grow up."

Bella smiled and leaned in to press a small kiss to his lips. "That's how I think all relationships should be. A partnership. And I hate to belabor the point. I know you. We both want this, so why can't I just take what's right in front of me, right? But giving someone your heart means you give them the ability to break it."

"I would never."

"Don't say never. You can't promise me never. The whole thing about love, just love and not compatibility, not the hard work of relationships, is that it can't be fought." Her heart ached. He wasyoung, his whole life and so many people ahead of him. She thought of all the interesting people she'd met in her twenties and thirties. "Realistically, do you think I'm the only human being you're ever going to feel a connection to? And if you meet someone who's more like you on what they want out of life…"

His brow furrowed, but to his credit, he didn't dismiss her concerns. His voice was serious when he spoke. "I think you don't realize that you've ruined me for other women. They pale to you."

She flushed, pleased in spite of herself. He'd always been a smooth talker. "Edward—"

"I know. I hear what you're saying." The corner of his lip turned up. "I can't predict the future. What we have works now. And it's what I want now." His eyes sparked with mischief. "The only real difference is we get to have sex."

She shook her head, grinning. "Edward," she said again, admonishing.

"I did think about it. Up there. What I wanted. And all kidding aside, I want what we already have. We're good parents to Melody. I got your back and you have mine." He grimaced, tilting his head to stare up at the ceiling. "And maybe that's what makes all this a moot point."

"What do you mean?"

He scowled upward, shaking his head the slightest bit. He gestured down at his broken body. "Do you think I'm an idiot that even with all this, I still want to be a ranger? I still want to keep hiking?"

She winced, closing her eyes a brief moment, and blew a slow breath out. It was like she'd told Esme, she would never begrudge him his passion for anything. "I don't think you're an idiot. I know what it feels like to do something you love, and you're good at what you want to do, obviously. You know I'm proud of you, right? What you did? You're a damn hero."

"Yeah." He chuckled, the sound wry. "So they keep telling me." His face pinched at the corners of his eyes. "That's why…"

"What," she prompted when seconds went by without him speaking.

He closed his eyes as though gathering strength and turned his head to look at her. "The director of the NPS division came to see me this morning. He said they're developing a new program, and he wants me to be a part of it." His eyes searched hers. "But it's based in Yellowstone."

Bella sucked in a sharp breath, blinking hard.

"It wouldn't be for at least two years and contingent on me finishing my program in school," Edward said in a rush. Then, when seconds ticked by and she still didn't talk, he started to babble. "I'll say no. Wyoming… I mean, it's so far. And sparse. And I couldn't be that far from Melody and—"

"Shhh." Bella put a soft hand over his mouth to stop his flow of words. She laughed, covering her eyes with her other hand. "Oh, damn."

Now what was she supposed to do with that?

A/N: *whistles innocently*