Esme arrived at the hospital within the hours, and I was able to let her and her husband, Carlisle take over the medical forms. They were able to answer most, if not all of the question. How they knew when he last had sex is beyond me.
Esme, Carlisle, and I all watched all a sleeping Edward was wheeled away, down the hall for the brain sample to take place. The nurse that had showed me to the phone stayed behind and told us the hospital cafeteria was closed, but all the floors had vending machines. Then she told us to wait in Edward's hospital bed until he got back. Edward's parents and I walked back down the hall to his room.
I had only met Edward's parents a few time. Once during his family reunion, and another when he invited them over for Thanksgiving. They were wonderful people, but I didn't know them very well.
Esme had aged wonderfully, or at least I assumed she had. She could easily have been one of the models for our magazine. Her auburn hair and dark brown eyes radiated kindness. The first time we met she insisted I call her Mom, much to Edward's embarrassment. Later that same evening, Esme explained that Edward had never brought a girl home, though they knew he had had other girlfriends.
Carlisle was a different story. Though he had been very attractive, time had not been as kind to him. Having suffered a heart attack in his early 50's, Carlisle's health was slowly becoming worse and worse. His hair, which when I first met him was a thick and dark brown. But looking at him now, he was severely balding and all his hair had turned grey. His hands were thin and shook with the beginnings of Parkinson's. Esme was his caretaker, without her, there was no way he could survive outside a retirement home.
This being said, Carlisle was one of the warmest and most compassionate men I had ever met. He could have easily been a doctor, but instead settled for lifetime of teaching at a local college. He retired soon after he had the heart attack. Esme continued to work as an interior designer, however she soon was looking to retired.
Edward encouraged his mother to retire but, with Carlisle health continuing to fail, their bank account couldn't handle the financial drain that his medical bills created.
"Bella sweetie, why don't you sit down?" Esme put her hands on my shoulders and walked with me to one of the chairs. She pushed gently on my shoulders, forcing me to sit.
I was emotionally drained by the time Edward's parents arrived at the hospital. I hadn't been able to speak for hours. It was 2 o'clock in the morning and I still hadn't slept yet. And the hospital didn't even have decent food available.
Esme, Carlisle, and I waited in silence until Edward was brought back to us. A portion of his hair had been shaved away. His coppery hair was matted, filled with blood and hospital gunk. Are they going to clean that off? Or will they just leave it there? I thought to myself.
"Can we get a nurse in here to clean off this blood?" Esme called softly into the hallway, voicing my own thoughts.
"Do you think he's still in that coma?" I asked out loud, not expecting an answer.
"They took him off the permanent drugs, now he's just sleeping due to the anesthesia the doctor gave him." A nurse walked in with a wet rag. "I'll just wipe this stuff off of him." She gently rubs his head with the rag.
"It's okay, I'll do it." Esme volunteers reaching for the rag. The nurse glances over at her and looks as if she's about to snatch it away from Esme's grasp when Esme says, "Please?" She hands it over to Esme and turns to leave.
"If you all need anything, just hit this button. The doctor has passed on the sample to the testing area. The results should take 1 to 3 days, so it may be best if you get some sleep and go home. The hospital will call you when they get results." The nurse leaves the room quietly.
"One to three days?" I whisper at Esme. She shakes her head. "How are we going to do this? You and Carlisle can of course stay at my place." I hold up my hand as Carlisle tries to say something. "I insist. It's the least I can do."
It's a few hours before Edward begins to wake up. Esme and Carlisle are down at the cafeteria bringing me back some breakfast. I refused to leave Edwards side until I could talk to him again.
His eyes flutter open, and his emerald eyes jumps from one corner of the room to the other before landing on my face.
"Edward, sweetheart" I begin, "You're in the hospital. Don't. . . Don't move, I'm going to call in the nurse okay?" I stand up and call out the hallway for a nurse. When I turn back around Edward is struggling to sit up.
"Edward, you need to lay back down. You're going to hurt yourself." I plead with him. I don't know if I should hold him down or just leave him until the nurse gets here. "You need to stay still." I walk next to the bed and take a seat at the edge. "Edward, please?" I plead with him, my hands hovering over him, still unsure of what to do.
I see confusion in his eyes, he isn't comprehending what I'm trying to say to him. But he sees my hands, shaking nervously over him, trying to keep him down without really touching him, and he lays still again. He closes his eyes for several long seconds before opening them back up.
He opens his mouth to say something but all that comes out is a scratchy, undistinguishable noise. "It's okay, you don't have to say anything." I try to assure him. His hand moves suddenly and I can feel it resting on my thigh. "I know baby, I know." I'm trying to hold tears back as I see him get scared. He knows what's happening.
I can feel his hand try and grasp my thigh. I know what he wants me to do. Being careful to not pull out any tubes, or press anything, I lie down next to him and hold his hand. We're cuddling on the hospital bed when his mother and father walk in.
"Bella?" Esme says quietly, as she looks for me in my chair. "Bella? – Edward!" Esme puts the cafeteria try on one of the end tables before hurrying over to see her son. I don't want to leave his side, but realize that Esme has to have her moment with him just as much as I do.
"Edward" Esme coos as she gently strokes his face. His eyes begin to water and his gaze drifts from his mother's face and then to his father's, who is standing just behind his mother. Carlisle's hands begin to shake just slightly faster as the emotions start to overtake his aged body. I try to hand him a tissue, but his hands are shaking too much to hold onto one properly.
Esme notices and goes to her husband, walking him to the nearby chair and kneeling in front of him. She takes the tissue I was holding and gently dabs his tears away, murmuring to her husband the whole time.
Finally, she embraces him. Though his hands are still shaking, Carlisle wraps his arms around his wife and presses a kiss to the side of her cheek. They both have tears running down their face.
And when I turn to Edward, I see he has tears too. And that's when I notice I've been crying ever since Edward woke up.
~~**oo**~~
Authors Note:
Here you all go! Hope you enjoy. Next chapter won't focus too much on the tumor things and will be more of a look back on how Bella and Edward met. I know it's hard to get too attached to a character relationship if you haven't been able to "AWWW" at their cute moments. That chapter will come out tomorrow!
In case you're wondering, I do respond to every reviewer! So, feel free to leave me a review and ask a question about what happens next, you never know what the answer might be!