Ch. 32 Waiting
Hey guys! i'm so sorry for the long wait! I've been busy with college and work. But here is the next chapter and I hope you guys like it! :) Thank you for those of you who are reading and reviewing. It means a lot! I don't own anything Stephenie Meyer does.
EPOV
48. 48 were the agonizing hours I have been waiting for Bella to wake up. Each hour that went by reminded me that I was getting nearer to seeing Bella wake up. Bella was heavily drugged so she could heal from all her injuries. My heart clenched in pain every time I thought about it.
I felt that it was my fault that she was in this situation. If I had stayed close by I might have been able to prevent the accident…
"Edward, Son this is not your fault." Carlisle said as he was suddenly standing on the other side of Bella's bed checking the monitors and how Bella was doing. "I can see it in your face, that you feel guilty and like we've all told you this isn't your fault. Things happen for a reason and I guess the reason for this was for Charlie and Bella to find out they are father and daughter."
I thought about it and yeah he was right but I wish there had been another way we had found out about it without them having to get injured.
"I know it would have been better if they hadn't gotten so injured. It happened though and we can't do anything but help them and wait for them to heal."Carlisle voiced as if he were reading my mind.
I sighed, "I know but I just hate seeing her laying here all lifeless. It's been 48 hours already and I'm getting impatient because to me it feels like an eternity." '
He sighed and patted my back, "I know son, but Bella will have to be like this for a few more days since she has more injuries. Charlie on the other hand might wake up later today or tomorrow since his injuries weren't as severe."
I nodded went back to starring at Bella.
A few hours later I was still in the same position. Right now Esme, Alice and Emmett were in the room with me.
"Poor Bella, she's going to be so uncomfortable and in so much pain, she's going to need a lot of help. The good thing she'll have us all and now she'll also have a father. I wonder how she'll take it…" Esme pondered as she was stroking Bella's hair gently.
I hadn't thought about that. I was so worried waiting for Bella to wake up that I didn't think about how she was going to take finding out Charlie was her father.
I didn't know what to expect. She had grown to love Charlie, even though she had never said it. I could see it in her eyes how she cared and worried about him.
"Son, you should go hunting." Esme suggested.
There was no way I was leaving Bella's side. Not even for a second. So I shook my head.
She sighed, "Edward you need to feed. It's not good that you haven't because it's dangerous. You could lose control easily. Even if you don't want to you could snap."
"I can manage." I said trying very hard not to snap at Esme.
"What's going on?" Emmett asked looking at me and then at Esme and Alice.
"I was telling Edward he should go hunting, but he refuses." Esme answered.
"That's a good idea mom! Edward we should go. We didn't finish hunting last time." He said in a pleading voice.
I shook my head, "No, I will not leave Bella's side."
"Edward, you won't miss anything. Bella is sleeping and she isn't going to be waking up anytime soon. So you have time to hunt, go home and take a shower and change…" I started to shake my head but he kept pleading, "C'mon Edward! Esme and Alice will take care of her."
"Yes we will. You know we care about Bella very much and will gladly look over her. We'll call if anything happens." Esme said.
"I looked ahead and everything looks fine, so you have nothing to worry about for now. Go hunt in peace and do as Emmett said; take a shower and change." Alice said reassuringly.
There was no point arguing with them since they weren't going to stop until I agree.
I nodded and sighed defeated, "Fine but I want an immediate phone call if anything happens. Okay?
They nodded and I walked toward Bella and kissed on her forehead gently. Then I looked at Emmett "Let's hurry so I can get back to Bella."
He just rolled his eyes at me and started walking out the door. We walked out the hospital at normal speed. We got into Emmett's jeep and he drove off toward nearest hunting area.
We didn't hunt for long, only 2 elk each. The whole time my mind kept drifting to Bella.
What if she had woken up? What if she had gone into a coma? What if her heart had stopped? What if she woke up and didn't remember anything?
Those were the questions going through my head during the whole time.
"Yo Bro what's wrong? Are you thinking about Bella? Because if you are stop! She's fine, if she wasn't Esme or Alice would have called already." Emmett said in a frustrated tone.
Emmett didn't understand what it was like to have the love of your life in a near death experiment. So I just ignored him and decided to hunt down one more elk.
"Did I say something I shouldn't? You look mad." Emmett noted.
"Gee I wonder why…" I murmured sarcastically.
"What did I do?" he exclaimed clueless.
"Emmett you just won't understand so I won't bother explaining it to you." I said frustrated.
"Well if you don't tell me I won't!" He snapped.
I sighed angrily, "You tell me not to worry but I can't do that! You don't know what it's like to have the love of your life on the verge of death. I came so close to losing her Em!" I said the last part in a shaky tone.
He was quiet for a few second then pulled me into a crushing hug.
"I'm sorry bro. I'm sure you're going through hell… and yeah you're right I don't know what it feels like, but I am worried about Bella! Obviously not as passionately as you but its close cause I love Bella. She's like my little sister…" Emmett said and I knew he did care deeply for Bella.
I nodded, "Thanks Em." I said hugging him back.
"C'mon let's get you back to Bella." He said patting my back before releasing me and heading towards his jeep.
Those were the words I needed to hear because I felt a tremendous relief.
When we arrived back at the hospital I quickly made my way towards Bella room.
I could hear Esme, Alice and now Victoria and Laurent in her room.
I barged into the room going straight to Bella and ignoring everyone else. I looked her over making sure there wasn't anything different, but she looked exactly as I left her with her cuts, bruises, and stitches. So I let out a sigh of relief although I hated seeing her like this, I was relieved to be near her again.
"My poor Edward, I wish he didn't have to be suffering so much." Esme thought.
My heart ached toward her kindness, motherly love and protectiveness.
"Don't worry Edward, everything has been fine. There has been nothing new." Alice assured me.
I nodded and looked up to say hi to Victoria and Laurent.
Laurent patted my back, "It'll all be fine. We are all here to support each other and get through this together."
"Thank you." I said gratefully.
"Hey Edward, how are you doing?" Victoria asked scrutinizing my face.
"I could be doing better." I said motioning to Bella.
She nodded understanding, "Don't worry she'll get better. Bella is strong and a fighter."
I nodded, I knew she was but looking at her all fragile and broken made me forget…
"Edward?" Alice thought.
I looked up at her, "Look." She commanded and showed me the vision she was having which was of Charlie waking up.
"That's great news!" I said getting out of my chair and heading toward the door.
"What's going on?" Esme and Victoria asked at the same time.
"Charlie is about to wake up." I said excitedly.
Charlie waking up meant progress and it also meant Bella would wake up soon. Well maybe not today or tomorrow but soon. It also meant Charlie and Bella would soon find out they were related and I couldn't wait to see how they would react. I could always ask Alice, but I kind of preferred to see it when it actually happened.
"Really? That's great news! I'll come with you." Esme said excitedly.
"That's great! I would go too but I think it's best if Laurent and I stay here and watch Bella also because we don't want to overwhelm him when he wakes up." Victoria said keeping her eyes on Bella.
During these days I have realized that Victoria saw Bella as her daughter. She was so protective of Bella. She loved her and worried about her wellbeing. When Carlisle or a nurse comes into the room to check on Bella she is always asking questions.
I nod and walk toward Charlie room which is only a few rooms away from Bella's.
I could hear Charlie's thoughts which were confused. It was understandable since he had been drugged up for a few days now.
I turned to Alice and Esme, "Do you think it's a good idea for all of us to go in? I feel like he'll be overwhelmed if we all go in."
"Yeah that's true, so you should go in fist and we'll wait for you out here." Esme said.
I nodded and knocked on the door even though Carlisle had heard us since we were in Bella's room.
"Come in." He said.
I opened the door and walked in to see Charlie awake but look really exhausted and weak.
Carlisle smiled at me in reassurance that Charlie was fine and there were no complications which was great to hear.
"Hey Chief Swan, how are you feeling?" I asked walking toward his bed.
"I feel like a million bucks." He said jokingly in a hoarse voice.
Carlisle and I chuckled and decided I to joke with him too, "Well that's probably still the drugs talking."
He chuckled slightly but winced.
"That's going to happen for a while. You have a few broken ribs so it's going to be painful to laugh, cough and etc." Carlisle explained.
"Ugh!" Charlie complained then winced again.
"So Charlie do you remember what happened to you?" Carlisle asked him going into doctor mode.
He thought about it for a few a minute and at first his mind was blank but then I saw flashes of him and Bella at his house and the at the grocery store and then driving away from the store and then seeing the trailer coming toward them. I winced at that.
"Oh my god! Where's Bella?" He asked panicked and trying to sit up but he winced again.
"Whoa there! Charlie you need to lie down and calm down." Carlisle ordered while he tried pushing down on Charlie gently.
I could hear Alice and Esme worrying outside, I was about to call them in but Charlie needed to be calmed down first.
"Is Bella okay?" he asked again.
"Charlie, tell me what happened and then I'll tell you how she is." Carlisle tried compromising.
Charlie sighed and settled down a bit. "Fine." he said resigned then told us what happened.
"That's good that you remember everything that means we don't to worry too much but we still have to do some testing to make sure there wasn't any damage to your brain. Now answering your Bella question she's sedated like you were. She will be for a few more days because her injuries are worse than yours."
He inhaled sharply and then thought, "Worse than my injuries? And I'm pretty messed up. This is terrible! How could this happen to her? It should have been me who should have been in her condition. She's young and has so much to live for. I'm old and have no one it should have been me…" he started to sob after that thought which broke my heart.
I wanted so badly that this wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't think that way, but I couldn't since he hadn't said it out loud.
I looked over at Carlisle trying to show him that Charlie's thoughts were sad.
I decided I needed to reassure Charlie.
"Charlie? Everything is going to be fine. I know you probably feel guilty but don't everything happens for a reason." Yeah I was using Carlisle's earlier words to me.
I saw Carlisle smiling smugly at me.
"Bella is going to be fine and like you will need time to heal." I reassured him.
He nodded absently.
"She's probably worst and will have complication but they just don't want to tell me." He thought unconvinced.
"Charlie I promise to you that Bella will get better. She will need a lot of rest and time but she will." I tried to reassure him again.
"Edward is right Charlie. We'll even let you go see her tomorrow if you want." Carlisle said.
Charlie smiled, "Okay that sounds good!"
"Charlie, Esme and Alice would like to see you as well is it okay if I let them in?" I asked.
"Yeah of course! Let them in!" He said excitedly.
Alice and Esme really brighten Charlie's day. He was smiling the whole time they were there and they both noticed so it broke their hearts when they had to leave him when the nurse came in telling them he needed to sleep. They promised him they would come visit him the next day which made him happy again.
Bella continued having no changes that night. Victoria and Laurent had left at nine when the nurse had told it visiting hours were over. Victoria had been reluctant to go. I had almost offered her to stay the night while I went home but I just couldn't be away from Bella. I would be going crazy if I did that, so I just assured Victoria that I would keep her updated.
Also Victoria couldn't stay anyways because she had a club to run. So that also gave me the excuse of not telling her.
Four more days had passed and I was going crazy. My family could tell that I was about to lose it, so they tried keeping me company and trying to distract me. I had gone hunting with Emmett and Jasper yesterday because I had been forced to go. I didn't want to leave Bella's side but like last time they made me.
Charlie had been coming to visit Bella these last four days too. The nurses would help him onto a wheelchair and would wheel him into Bella's room where he was allowed to be there only for and half an hour because he was still delicate.
The first day they brought him in he started crying and apologizing to Bella for putting her in that situation but I kept assuring him it wasn't his fault.
We still hasn't told Charlie that Bella was his daughter because we thought it would be better if we told them both together once Bella wakes up. We felt bad and guilty not telling him because you could see how much he loved and cared about her when he came to visit her. When he would come to see her I would always come close to telling him but Alice would either call me or text me reminding me not to and I appreciated it.
Right now I sat on the chair beside Bella's bed holding her hand and making random figures on her hand while Alice was combing Bella's hair. I told her to leave Bella alone but she said she needed to make Bella look more decent. She wanted to put makeup on Bella but I had told her if she did I would kick her out. She pouted but eventually relented and decided to comb her hair.
As I stared at Bella I kept begging God to please make her wake up already I needed her to wake up before I went crazy.
There were times where I thought Carlisle was lying about her waking up because it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. Although I had seen it in Alice's vision that she was but it seemed unreal.
I kept starring at her face, now it wasn't hard for me to look at her face as the first two days because now her cuts were healing so that meant progress which was relieving.
I was so deep in thought about Bella that I was caught by surprise when I felt a squeeze on my hand. I looked up at the hand that was holding Bella's to her squeezing my hand.
If I had a heartbeat, it would be beating like crazy right now with anticipation.
"Alice?" I looked at her hopefully.
I saw that she had stopped combing Bella's hair and was now starring at Bella's face but turned around when I called her.
She smiled and nodded excitedly. "It's time." Was all she said before she focused her attention back on Bella.
I immediately focused my attention solely on Bella's face and was waiting in excitement that I was finally going to see her gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that I've missed so much.
I saw her eyes move, struggling to open. It seemed like she was taking forever opening her eyes but in reality it was only thirty second. Before I knew it she opened those gorgeous brown eyes that I loved so much and looked around the room before focusing on me.
So what do you guys think? like it? hate it? let me know! and yay! Bella is awake now! Let's see whats going to happen next! leave me your thoughts! and until next time! :)
3 Angelica