Disclaimer: I don't own any of Twilight's original characters.

Thanks as always to my awesome betas Sassenach Wench and Sihaya 9!

Before I continue on, I should probably address the things that one reviewer brought up about this story after I posted Sympathetic Solitude. First of all, Cystic Fibrosis is not an infectious disease, but it does make individuals more susceptible to opportunistic bacteria. I didn't think I wrote that section in a way to make you believe that it was an I.D., but if one person misread it, then more probably did as well.

Secondly, the medical program in the US is not actually set up the way I write it in my story. My knowledge of the system was mostly comprised of Grey's Anatomy when I started this, and even then, I still didn't follow their model entirely. In a real situation, an intern would have already chosen their field of focus and would not just now be getting around to making that choice. So when you are reading this, just remember that this is fanfiction and none of it is real, so once again I need you to suspend reality for me and let me manipulate the system to meet my literary needs :). Please forgive me if you are in the medical community and are cringing at my use of creative license. I have tried my best to keep the actual treatment sections of the story as accurate as I can, but being a regular Joe Schmo, it's a bit difficult at times.

I know there were more things in the review that they caught me goofing on, but those were the biggies I thought I'd send out to the general readership just to clear the air. Thanks guys for reading and reviewing. I appreciate them all, I swear!

I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy the last chapter and the hot hospital favors in the one before...Speaking of super hot hospital favors…there is supposed to be one in this chapter that I have to edit heavily for the fanfiction TOS. For the full unedited version, please hop over to TWCSlibrary or Twilighted.

Home

EPOV

After the big grovelfest last week, things seemed to get better. Bella and I hit a new stride and started communicating about what we were feeling. Some days it felt like we were doing nothing but bickering and bitching with each other, but at the end of the day, my girl would smile, curl up next to me, and thank me for communicating with her again. It seemed ass backwards that arguing about things so much was a good thing, but she equated it to opening a bottle of soda that had been shaken up. If you open it really slowly letting the pressure off in tiny increments it hisses really loudly and might bubble a little along the lip, but you can usually keep from making a mess all over the counter. If you let that pressure build up and stay there adding a few shakes every so often, you eventually open it abruptly without letting the pressure off slowly and it explodes all over you, the counter, and the floor. We were letting the pressure slowly hiss free, instead of waiting and letting it douse us in shititude.

We were both so exhausted that first night after we sorted our shit out that we didn't talk about much of anything; we just passed out cold and didn't wake up until morning. Hell, I even slept through the nurses coming in to check on me, that's how dead to the world I was. The next day, she popped her eyes open with a wide smile. Curling up on the bed with me, she cuddled close to my bare shoulder for a few minutes before disappearing for her morning rounds. I had to admit; since she had started her new afternoon rounds on the pediatric floor, she seemed so much more excited for work.

I couldn't help but feel a little resentment for that. I was still stuck in this fucking bed and she was out finding fulfillment with her job. Again…the selfish yin to her selfless yang. I shook my head at myself, mentally preparing for another morning of relentless questions and shaky attempts to move my limbs and put pressure on my sore muscles.

Lunch came around after what felt like an eternity, but I loved my time with my girl, even if we were talking about deep shit. The first words out of her mouth after she kissed me hi were an apology for not talking to me about the whole Tanya situation. She said that she had felt she should tell me. At the same time though, she had been worried about my reaction, knowing there wasn't much I could do about it. Now that Trager was gone, it was more or less a moot point. She expressed her worries that there could be others working with him, which weren't totally unreasonable. She finished off by explaining that in the midst of my adjusting to my new cast and my less than cheerful demeanor in the days following that, she just figured it could wait until I was in a better place to deal with it.

I couldn't help but feel a bit pissed at that. I wasn't a fucking child. It wasn't her place to decide what I was or was not capable of handling at any given time, but at the same time, I could understand her reasoning. I had been a melodramatic prick over little shit, so to hit me with something major would have seemed like a stupid move. I finally accepted her apology after making her promise not to keep anything like that from me again, regardless of the state I seemed to be in.

She cuddled into my side as we nibbled on our lunches in the first peaceful silence I had gotten to relish all day.

I saw her again for supper after her afternoon on the kids ward and her appointment with Dr. Kellison. She walked in looking drained, but not unhappy.

I smiled at her and hugged her as close as I could with my current impediments. Then I had her pull the bag out of the closet that contained the delicious Italian take out I had managed to get my mom to smuggle in for us for supper.

She pulled out the bag and beamed at the outside when she saw La Luce printed on the outside. She pulled the lap table over excitedly. She threw open the Styrofoam container, squealing as the aroma of their lasagna filled the room, making my mouth water. I was fully capable of feeding myself, but she was too excited and kept insisting on feeding me every other spoonful of food she dipped until the whole thing was gone.

Once she cleared away the trash, she curled into my side with a contented sigh. She told me how her day went without giving away any details that could get her into trouble. I noticed the tenderness and excitement in her voice as she talked about the kids she was working with on the pediatric floor. I could tell that she had certainly found her calling. She always loved kids and working with them seemed to make her even happier.

I smiled and tucked her head under my chin as she told me she would be late getting up to my room tomorrow, reminding me of her plans to hang out with one of her little patients. I smiled and kissed her head in adoration.

She didn't know it now, but I knew that one day she was going to make an awesome mom for some lucky kid that would probably end up having my crazy reddish brown hair and her deep brown eyes. I smiled at the image of little kids who were the amalgamation of the two of us dancing in my mind.

I sighed, burying my nose in her hair and taking a deep pull of her comforting scent. If I hadn't have pulled my asshole move earlier in the week, this would have been a sleep over night, but since she had been gone that night and stayed with me last night, I figured she would probably be going to Em's tonight.

"So, do you have to go tonight since I threw off the schedule, or are you going to be able to stay?"

She sighed and buried her nose in my neck, breathing deeply, before she sat up with a half smile. "I ended up sleeping away from you for two nights in a row, so I don't see the harm in staying two in a row to make up for it."

I smiled, kissing her gently as she curled up next to me again. We settled back to watch some TV before she had to move to the recliner to sleep.

The next day, she ate a rushed lunch with me and didn't make it back to my room until nearly eight. When she walked in, she had tears brimming at the edge of her eyes as she walked directly to the side of my bed and curled herself around my arm.

I asked her what was wrong, knowing she had just spent the evening after her shift was over playing video games with one of her young lonely patients. She just shook her head and cried into my arm.

"I can't talk about it because of confidentiality, but I hope that we are taking care of you enough that you know how much you are loved."

I kissed her head and rested my cheek against it. "Of course I do, baby," I whispered, wiggling my arm so that I could grasp her hand in mine and twine our fingers together. She stayed that way until ten thirty when she finally broke away and left me to spend the night away.

That, we had decided, would be her first night trying to sleep at our apartment since her nightmares had been getting more and more bearable. Dr. Kellison requested she try it out to see if the change in venue would make things any worse or if the dreams would maintain the same intensity.

Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as we had hoped. After my second phone call from her at around two in the morning, I told her just to pack a bag and come in to stay with me for the rest of the night. Fifteen minutes later, she was curled up on the bed beside me. That's where she stayed, glued to my arm, until morning.

The last whole week of physical therapy had been hard, but was slowly beginning to get a little easier. I was now able to sit up unassisted and could ride in a wheelchair. Twice a day, I was even given the opportunity to walk. I was grateful because it gave me a much needed break from the four walls of my hospital room, even if I was stuck to being led slowly along the same circuit of halls on my floor with every outing.

Slowly, I was starting to feel like I really was improving and moving closer to getting the hell out of this place. The best part was now being able to actually get off the damn bed to piss in the pot again, as sad as that sounds. The only problem I had was that my chest was itching like crazy and sometimes I would get a funny electrical shock feeling right at the spot where my scars now were, but I figured it was just part of the healing process.

Bella also seemed to come in each evening, practically beaming from her time with the kids on the pediatric floor. It made me glad to see her so inspired and enthusiastic about her career. So when the day came that following Monday when the therapists told me that if I wanted I could take a short field trip to another part of the hospital, as long as the nurses were told where I was going and a family member was with me, I knew exactly where I was going.

My Dad stopped by for a visit soon after the therapists left. I told him what they had said and where I wanted to visit. He smiled brightly at me and nodded. He carefully helped me to stand and walked by me as we left my room behind. He was wheeling my wheelchair next to us in case I got tired and needed to sit. We traveled past the nurse's station first and then took the elevator to the sixth floor.

When the doors opened, we were greeted with the bright and cheery decorations of the pediatric floor. Everywhere along the institutional corridor were happy scenes and decals designed to help a child's stay be more enjoyable. Too bad they didn't have an adult version of this effort!

We walked together slowly to a nurse's station where a sweet looking brunette worked intently on a pile of files in front of her. We were only there moments before she looked up, greeting Dad with a huge smile, before looking at, a twinkle filling her light brown eyes.

"You must be Bella's Edward, I've heard so much about you. I'm Angela by the way."

I smiled and nodded with recognition as I shook her hand with my left. "I've heard a lot about you too, Angela. Thank you for being so kind to my Bella."

She shook her head. "Bella's a godsend, everyone up here loves her…well almost everyone," she said rolling her eyes.

I replayed the story Bella had shared about the old ass who gave her a hard time on her first day and continued to be short with her when they had to interact.

"Here fellas, follow me. Bella should be almost done with her consults by now and should have a little time to visit."

She led us down a hallway that had carts of gowns, gloves, masks and other supplies on one side of the doorway; there were large red lidded bins with foot pedals to lift the lid on the other side. I remembered her talking about the isolation protocols she had to go through upon entering and leaving each room. Looking at the hallway, I finally started to understand what she really meant.

Angela led us to wait outside a room at the end of the hallway as she threw on a gown, mask, and squirted some clear gel into her hands rubbing them together before throwing on some gloves. She walked into the room, telling us she would return in just a minute.

Literally one minute later, she stepped out and pulled off the thin shield she had layered on herself, stepping to another squirt bottle on the far side of the bins and rubbing the clear liquid on her hands again. All of that had been done for one minute in the room to tell Bella we were there. I couldn't help but feel bad for all the patients on this floor and for the doctors, nurses, and family members who had to go through that every time they walked in and out of these rooms.

About five minutes later, Bella stepped through the door, talking through a crack in the door. She was answered back by a tiny feminine voice before closing the door. She removed all the protective articles, squirting the liquid into her hands and rubbing them together fiercely, before turning to us with a wide smile.

"Oh my God, you're up and walking! You didn't tell me you were walking already! What on earth are the two of you doing up here anyway?"

I smiled back, gesturing for her to come to me, but she hesitated with a frown. I frowned back as I answered and then tacked on my frustration.

"The therapists released me to roam the hospital a bit and practice my walking a little more as long as I am attended. I asked Dad to bring me up to see you. So, since I made it all this way, why don't you come hug and kiss me? Is something wrong?"

She frowned again and shook her head, looking sad. "No, baby, I just don't want to run the risk of infecting you or anything. Yes, I take full isolation protocol very seriously, but I always make sure to go down and take a really long hot shower to make sure I don't bring anything back with me to your room. You already have a weakened lung from the gunshot wound; I really don't want to see you have to fight off one of these antibiotic resistant bacterial infections on top of it all."

I sighed and nodded in understanding, but still very disappointed. She beamed at me so brightly though as she excitedly led us down the hall to a doorway to an office and knocked. Out stepped a tall Latino looking woman with gray streaks in her hair and kind happy eyes.

"Sorry to bother you, Carmen, but I have a visitor I thought you might like to meet."

I smiled recognizing the name as she stepped further into the hallway. She looked behind me, noticing my Dad for the first time, and then looking over at me with a knowing smile.

"This is my boyfriend, Edward," she said gesturing toward me in a showcasing manner before putting her hand on Carmen's shoulder, "and Edward, this is my new role model, Dr. Carmen Salazar, but she prefers to be called Carmen."

We shook hands and chatted for a little while before Carmen glanced at Bella, asking her a question about a patient. Bella frowned, obviously concerned about the situation.

I started to feel tired from all the walking. I gestured to my Dad that I needed to sit down.

He wheeled the chair behind me and helped me settle as the ladies talked very seriously.

Sensing their need to work, we excused ourselves.

Bella promised to come down to me as soon as she could shower up after her shift. Tonight was another overnight away, so I was anxious for some more alone time with my girl before she had to leave for the night. She blew me a kiss as my father began to wheel me back toward the elevator banks.

I smirked and caught it before blowing one back as my Dad snickered at us under his breath.

A few hours later, my beautiful doctor girl sashayed into my room with a wide devious smile on her lips. It didn't escape my notice that she was carrying her overnight duffel bag either when this was an apartment night. I looked at her curiously, trying to figure out what she had on her mind, but the room was currently occupied. Elizabeth had stopped by on another cursory visit, along with Tanya, who had just gotten off of a shift and was sitting with her feet up in the recliner.

Bella dropped her bag off in the closet. She crossed the room, leaning down to kiss me and ask how the rest of my day had been.

I smiled at her telling her it had been a great day, but even better now that she was back.

She smirked and winked. I'm not sure how, because everything she had done was innocuous, but somehow it clicked. Tonight we were going to give providing me a little sexual relief another try. My eyes grew wide.

Her sexy little smirk widened as I shifted my legs under the blanket, trying to disguise the fact that my body had instantly reacted to the concept.

The rest of the evening was an exercise in cruel, slow torture. New visitors trickled in to replace old throughout the entire night, not even giving me the chance to bring up my hope to Bella for confirmation.

Finally, the night was drawing to a close. As Emmett and Rose left the room, Rose shot Bella a knowing smirk before they disappeared into the hallway.

Bella came back to my bedside, climbing in next to me. She began running her hand up and down my thigh slowly, coming desperately close to my throbbing hardness, yet not touching.

"So," she whispered huskily in my ear as she nibbled the dangling lobe gently before sucking it between her lips, earning a hiss from me. "I noticed that you handled walking around and sitting up in your wheelchair all that time without a single wince or sign of discomfort today. It seems to me that since you seemed to be so much stronger…"

Her hand drawing circuits on my thigh shifted and ghosted where I wanted her. It was throbbing with weeks of neglect, causing my hips to buck involuntarily. A groan escaped my chest

"…and tougher…" she palmed me, cupping me in her warm caress.

My eyes rolled back in my head.

"…that maybe you might feel ready for me to give pleasuring you another try. What do you think?" She asked, shifting up to graze her lips over mine before slipping the tip of her tongue out to taste my bottom lip.

"Do you think you want to try again after the nurse does her last round before lights out?"

I moaned, latching my mouth onto hers, delving deeply with my tongue, and exploring her mouth hungrily.

"Oh God, yes, please yes!"

She snickered and shifted under the blanket, maneuvering herself so that she was slightly rubbing the heat of her arousal on my thigh. As we kissed, she continued her long firm strokes through the material of my boxer briefs.

It was heaven. I couldn't help but notice that all I felt was pleasure. There were dim twinges of pain, but nothing like it had been a week ago when we had attempted this. I did a fucking cheer in my head that this was going to work…FINALLY!

All too soon, she pulled away. I moaned at the loss of contact, wanting to pull her back, but understanding her reasons for pulling away. The clock had just ticked eleven, and the nurse should be walking in for my last meds of the night at any minute.

Bella crossed the room, disappearing into the bathroom with her duffel bag in tow just as the door to my room opened. My favorite nurse, Kim, walked in with a big smile.

"So, Mr. Masen, I hear you're feeling much better today, and even managed to escape the floor with your father this afternoon for a while."

I smiled and nodded as she handed me my meds, grateful that her visits were much shorter now that I no longer had an IV for her to check, nor was I hooked to any other machines.

She made a few notations and turned when she heard the door of the bathroom open.

Bella stepped out, wearing a white terry cloth robe with her day clothes draped across her arm. Bella smiled at Kim.

Kim smiled back before looking at me with another wink. She was a very perceptive lady.

"This is the last check for the night. Now that you are able to get around better by yourself, nobody will come back in tonight unless you use your button to call for us. If you need meds or any help to the restroom, then please feel free, otherwise enjoy your night."

With that, she disappeared into the bright hallway, closing the door loudly behind her.

I turned to see Bella smirking at me again from across the room. I shifted in my bed in anticipation, wanting Bella to hurry up and get over here into my arms.

It only took three seconds for me to be grateful I hadn't said that out loud. Slowly and seductively, Bella pulled one end of the belt that held the terrycloth robe together. It fell open slowly, revealing a very low cut, very short, lacy, black sliver of lingerie in the space between the two flaps.

I took a deep breath that hurt just a little and moaned in appreciation. I licked my lips, desperate to see more.

So slowly that it seemed like the worst torture ever, Bella dipped one shoulder, letting the robe fall off. A thin strap of the sexiest fucking teddy I had ever seen along with the soft creamy white flesh of her shoulder was revealed.

I glanced back at her face to see her eyes twinkling. Her sexy smirk flashed brighter as my dick twitched in excitement.

Soon the other shoulder shifted and the robe fell off to hand from her elbows. She smiled as she lowered her arms, allowing the whole thing to fall, pooling at her feet.

My eyes slowly drifted from the puddle of cloth on the floor up her long legs hardly covered at all by the extremely short teddy. The lacy bottom of the black teddy was sheer. As my eyes drifted up past her thighs, I saw that underneath, she wore the tiniest black thong I had ever seen. My eyes finally pulled away to continue up and I moaned again when they reached her taut breasts, only concealed by a tiny shroud of sheer black material, begging for me to taste and feel.

"You are the most amazing creature God ever created, love. Get over here and let me touch you…please!"

She snickered, but slowly sashayed towards me, swiveling her hips seductively with each step as she spoke.

"Unh, unh, Mr. Masen, I had mine last week, tonight is all about you. This was just a little icing on top of the cake."

By the time she finished her little proclamation, she was standing beside my bed, leaning over me. She brushed her hard nipples along my arm as she leaned over to claim my lips feverishly. I moaned into her mouth as my hand instantly came up to cup the mound teasing my forearm.

After a minute or two, she broke off the kiss.

I panted into her mouth, "But, baby, I love touching you. You can't dress like this and not let me touch you. That's just cruel!"

She rolled her eyes at me as she crawled up on the side of the bed, straddling my left leg as her hands braced herself on the bed above my head.

"I didn't say you couldn't touch, but I just want this to be more about you than me, okay? Besides, what I plan on doing tonight will make it a little difficult for you to touch me while I'm pleasing you…and trust me," she said as she leaned down claiming my lips again, teasing me with her tongue while her thigh between my legs rubbed up and down on my screaming dick, "I plan on pleasing you…many, many times."

I moaned as she crashed into my mouth again, as she continued to tease me relentlessly.

We continued like this for several minutes until I was on the brink of cumming just from her insistent massage. Suddenly, she pulled away from me completely, making me groan from the loss. I felt her shifting and shuffling as the blankets disappeared from my body. I was now exposed to the cool air of the hospital room.

It was a dark night with no moon to provide any additional light, so her movements were concealed from me. My only sensory feedback I could draw from to figure out what she was up to was the sound of her body maneuvering around me and the feel of her soft skin as it grazed and brushed past my legs. It was a surreal experience, having my sense of sight so impaired that it seemed to heighten the other senses, almost like being blindfolded, except without the discomfort of having something tied over my face.

Soon I heard and felt the foot of the bed shift again, followed by her soft silky hands brushing up my legs before grasping the tops of my underwear firmly and pulling them off. The bed shifted again. I felt her shoulders and arms on my thighs, then I felt the warmth of her mouth engulf me completel as I moaned loudly.

"Shhhh, you have to stay quiet, baby, or I can't do this for you," she hissed in the darkness. "Put the pillow over your face if you have to, but if I get caught, I'm going to kill you."

I chuckled and did as she suggested, grabbing the pillow from behind my head, holding it over my mouth as I felt the warm bliss again. I bit down when the moan building in my chest threatened to come out.

I felt little twinges occasionally in the muscles behind my cast. Thankfully, it wasn't unbearable, and was certainly not worth losing the heaven provided by my girl's amazing hot mouth. She quickly brought me to the edge and threw me head first over the side. I threw my head back, moaning loudly into the pillow.

I was the luckiest son of a bitch to ever walk the planet because my girl was a fucking goddess when it came to fellatio. There must be something to that whole having to develop the skill when you're not loose and easy, because holy fucking shit, the woman was the mistress of blow jobs!

I felt her shift and settle next to me on the bed, caressing my hair and kissing my lips as I tried, through my exhaustion, to return her attention with as much enthusiasm as possible.

We lay there quietly kissing for a good ten minutes before I felt my desire to touch and taste her build inside me again. My good hand began to ghost over her body again, touching and exploring the ample amounts of soft skin that the hot little black teddy left exposed.

We didn't get much sleep that night, not that either of us complained one bit. We spent the entire night exploring one another with hands and mouths. It felt so good to be able to be so free with each other again. It made me anxious to get the damn cast off so we could once again lie flesh to flesh and feel every inch of each other's body.

I tried to convince Bella to try to ride me, but she refused, citing that no matter how quiet we tried to be, the motions we would make alone in order for that to work would cause the bed to make more noise than we could get by with. I groaned, but finally conceded that she was right, making her promise that the first night after I made it back home, we would try though.

She winked and leaned down to kiss my forehead before shifting to whisper in my ear, "Count on it, baby, because I am dying to feel you inside me again."

I moaned and once again called her out on teasing. She giggled before helping me go to the restroom where we both cleaned up. Soon we were presentable again, settling back in for a short, two hour nap, which was all we could squeeze in before a new day would begin once again.

o~O~o

The following Friday, three weeks to the day of the standoff, I was finally released from the hospital. Bella excitedly arranged to have the day off. She shuffled around me all day, trying to make sure we remembered everything. I was so excited as she wheeled me out of that godforsaken room for the last fucking time and down to the lobby where my Dad waited with his Black Mercedes to take me back to our apartment.

It was mid December now. The air had gotten a hell of a lot colder in the three weeks I had been trapped in that building but I wasn't complaining. It felt like heavenly freedom to me. A low hum of excited chatter filled the car between my mom and Bella as we traveled the few short blocks between the hospital and our building.

Once we finally got me out of the car and inside, I was greeted by Jensen's brightly smiling face.

"It's so nice to have you back, Mr. Masen. We've all missed you!"

I returned his smile, "It's good to be home, Jensen. Thank you."

We rode the elevator in silence. As we were approaching our floor, Bella turned to me excitedly.

"Oh, I totally forgot to tell you, baby, guess who moved out of the building while you were in the hospital?"

I frowned for a moment before it dawned on me the one person she would be pleased to see gone. "Lauren?"

She beamed at me, hopping slightly in her spot. "Yes! Isn't that the best news?"

I smiled and shook my head, "No, the best news was that I was getting out of the hospital today, but it is a close second."

She laughed and nodded. As the doors opened, we all slowly emerged to make our way down the corridor to my doorway. Bella used her key to open the door as the smells of home wafted over me in welcome.

I smiled and sighed in relief. Finally, I was home!

My parents stuck around a couple of hours, helping us settle in and explaining the schedule for the physical therapists to come and go so I could continue my rehab at home. Melissa had been put in charge of monitoring my medications during the day to make sure I didn't accidentally take too much, while Bella would be in charge the rest of the time. This was something my Dad and Bella insisted on since it was not an uncommon occurrence for people on heavy pain medications to lose track and accidentally overdose themselves. I didn't mind though, I'd let them wipe my fucking ass for me if it meant I could be home again instead of trapped in that fucking hospital room.

Soon, my parents left. I melted into the couch, reveling in the blessed silence of our apartment. No constant low rumble of the nurses, aids, visitors, and patients meandering down the hallway all day and all night. No constant interruptions of my sleep at night by nurses and aids. Nobody to come in and say I can't sleep in the same bed as my girl…which reminded me.

I shifted, managing to get myself off the couch. I wandered into the bedroom where Bella was busy putting away my things that we had brought home with us from the hospital. I smiled as I watched her move around our room in total comfort. I sighed in contentment and shuffled toward the bed.

"Baby, can you come lay down with me for a while and take a nap? I'm tired and I really want to lay down with you in a place where we can both be comfortable for once."

She turned and smiled. "Of course," she sighed, rushing across the room to hug me. "I missed being able to nap with you in our bed."

She helped get me settled and then climbed in next to me, cuddling up to my good arm. Resting her head in the crook of my neck, we both sighed happily.

"I missed you," I whispered toward the ceiling.

"I missed you too," she mumbled into my shoulder. "I'm so glad you're home."

I smiled and shifted to kiss her temple. "Me too, baby, me too."