My updates for this story as well as ADSP and LD should be picking up soon. Thank you all for being patient. And today's chapter isn't so bad. Nice and light.

Thank you to Kyla713 for looking this over, and to my girls packy, everydaybella and angelycdevil for reading and putting up with me.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 15-

Bella was growing more restless and grouchy the longer she was in the hospital. I didn't blame her one bit. It sucks to be a patient. We all kept reminding her that she would get to go home soon, and then we would plan our visit to the lake house. She hated having to walk around the floor, especially after they weaned her down on the pain medicine. By the time she would do a full wrap around the hospital floor, she was close to tears, her left arm holding her midsection.

We also noticed that since the surgery, she started experiencing more hot flashes, almost as if she was going into early menopause. The doctor assured us that it was probably due to one ovary and half her uterus being removed that set it into motion. That maybe once she went through her bouts of chemo, it would begin to stabilize. My poor girl had to carry a handheld fan with her all the time now. I'd have to hold it for her as she did her walks around the wing.

We had just come back from yet another walk around the wing, portable fan up to Bella's face as she sat down on her bed with an annoyed huff, when her doctor came in.

"Hello, Bella. Better day today?" Dr. Doukas asked, before setting his chart down on Bella's tray that stood across her bed.

"Yeah," Bella replied quietly, wincing as she sat fully back on the bed.

"Well, I'll make you a deal, okay? I will let you go home if you eat a whole solid meal, since you are no longer on a liquid diet and have no problems. I'll even let them spoil you and get something from outside the hospital. I just want to see you eat."

Bella nodded. "Okay, but does that mean you will take out these god-awful staples before?"

Dr. Doukas flashed her a sad smile. "Sadly, no. But that brings me to another reason why I'm here. I want to see you next week in my office and we will take them out then while we discuss your course for chemo. Sound good?"

Bella looked around at me, then her dad, my parents were absent, and nodded as she over her doctor. "You're the doctor. What you say goes."

Dr. Doukas laughed and shook his head. "I am, but you are also my patient, and I want to know how you feel about things. I will never push you unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Okay. I trust you," she told him, winking.

"Oh, yeah, that's reassuring, Bella. You sound so confident in me."

Bella let out a loud laugh, and it seemed the doctor knew just how much she needed that laugh, and it was heaven to my ears. We hadn't gotten enough Bella laughs lately.

"I do. I really do, doctor. Now, you keep eyeing my port, so why don't you go ahead and check that over and get my discharge papers ready? How about that for a deal?" We all let out a laugh, it was so nice to see her so carefree and playful.

"Fine, if you insist. With how fast you want out of here, I'd think you're sick of me." Dr. Doukas went to wash his hands and put on a pair of gloves before walking over to Bella. "Has it been overly sore at all? I see you got a dose of meds through it and had no complications."

"It was sore the first day, I couldn't lift my arm much, but it is a lot better now. Though, really uncomfortable knowing I have this in my chest."

The doctor nodded. "That is a common complaint among patients, and really, I would have just had you go with an IV to administer your chemo, but I think if we want to be aggressive about this, the port is the best way to go about it," he told her, his fingers gently probing around the port site. "It is looking good. I'm sure you know by now to not get it wet or anything. The last thing we need is an infection."

Dr. Doukas then took off his gloves, re-washed his hands and made notes in her chart. "Now, will you please eat some food? I will send a nurse back in about an hour with your paperwork and appointment time, okay?"

"Ugh, fine, Mr. Bossy Pants. If you insist."

"I do. Remember who holds the discharge orders?" He laughed as he walked out of the room.

I bent down to kiss Bella softly on her lips, before pulling back and looking at her. "So, what will it be? Cheeseburger? Salad? I'd say soup, but he wants you to eat something a bit more than that."

"I know, I just don't feel like it. I think a cheeseburger might be a bit much." She sighed, looked over at Charlie with her sad puppy dog eyes. All that was missing was an adorable pout.

Her father stood up and sat next to her, pulling her into his arms. "You gotta eat, Bells. Remember what I used to get you when you didn't feel good when you were little?"

She nodded and smiled. "I'd really like that."

Charlie smiled and turned to me. "Do you think you could call your parents and have them pick up some tomato soup, grilled cheese and a chocolate banana milkshake? That is this one's comfort food."

I nodded and dialed my dad, who picked up on the first ring and I told him what Bella wanted. They said they were about ten minutes away and would stop to get it. My dad laughed and told me he would see us soon.

"Dad said for me to tell you that he's getting you extra whip cream on your milkshake. He thinks you deserve it." Bella smiled, giggled softly before trying to scoot up further on the bed. I picked her up and moved her to where she wanted to be, and pulled the blankets up over her legs.

Shortly after, my parents showed up and made their way into Bella's room. My mom came over to Bella and placed the milkshake down, along with the soup and grilled cheese. "I want to see you eat all of that. I know you want to go home," my mom said, slightly teasing Bella.

My dad came up and kissed her on the cheek, handing her another small bag. "I can't have my girl go without extra sweets."

Her eyes grew big, like a child's on Christmas, when she opened the bag. "Chocolate chip cookies? And still warm? Carlisle, I love you!"

My dad's eyes glistened a bit as he looked over at Charlie, nodded and smiled. Bella began to slowly eat, little bites at first. But it was the milkshake and cookies she eyed the most. She'd sneak little bites of cookie in between her huge gulps of milkshake. It made me incredibly happy to see her eating something other than the protein drinks, juice and broth they had her on.

"I'm full." She groaned, falling back on to her bed, smiling.

"Good, I'm glad you ate. And you ate a lot!" I told her, hugging her gently to me. My mom began to clean up the remnants, and when she went to grab the milkshake cup, Bella shook her head no.

"Back away from the milkshake," Bella said, quickly grabbing it and taking another long gulp with closed eyes.

My mom threw her hand up in surrender and laughed. "Okay, milkshake stays."

The nurse then came in with a few syringes and a stack of papers. "I see you fulfilled the doctor's request and ate! I'm glad!"

Bella ducked her head and nodded.

"Alright, now, I'll take out your IV, clean your port insertion, give you your last dose of pain medicine and then all I need is your signature on a few papers." The nurse told her, while pulling back the tape from the I.V. She removed it with only a light amount of blood, and even then, Bella still clenched her eyes closed. The nurse then hurried and cleaned around the port before inserting the last dose of pain meds, causing Bella to flinch at the coldness.

Bella had the bigest smile on her face as she signed those papers, took her copies and her appointment time. "I'm finally free!"

"You're adorable, Bella," the nurse said, piling up her papers and getting rid of the used needles. "I'll be back in a few minutes with a wheelchair to take you down, if your family wants to go get the car ready for you."

"Well, I guess that is my cue to leave then. See you in a few minutes, Bella." I kissed her lips softly and went down to the car to bring it around to the front of the hospital. When I came around, I saw my parents and Bella waiting on the curb. I pulled as close as I could and parked.

"Ready to go home, sweet girl?" I asked, and Bella nodded before I opened the passenger door so that I, as well as the nurse, could help her in. Once she was situated, Charlie got into the back of my car and I turned to look at my parents. "So, we will meet you back at the apartment?"

My mom shook her head no. "The lake house is ready. That is where we were this morning. I just stocked it up with groceries and everything we would need out there. We will be staying in the guest house, leaving you guys the main house." I hugged my mom and thanked her, knowing it would be just what Bella would need after the long stay in the hospital.

"Probably a good thing they gave her some pain meds before leaving," my dad said as he looked down in the car. "She looks about ready to nap. Hopefully, she won't be too jostled on the drive out there. See you guys in about an hour."

The drive was quiet out to the lake house and the afternoon sun was shining bright. Bella dozed off shortly after we got on the highway, and Charlie kept to himself and read one of her books from the hospital. I kept glancing over at my girl, checking to see if she was in pain, breathing, still with me.

A short time later, we turned onto a rocky dirt road that really jostled the car. I tried to slow down as much as I could, so that she wouldn't be in pain, but it woke her up. She sleepily looked around and rubbed her eyes.

"Shouldn't we be at the apartment?" she groggily asked while she looked out her window, looking confused.

"You requested the lake house. Mom made sure to set it up for us. They will still be here, but on another part of the property. We will be here for a few days. The weather is too nice to spend up in our crappy apartment." I grabbed her hand and held in mine, and squeezed, which caused her to smile and mouth that she loved me.

We pulled up to the house, and Charlie and I were both quick to go around to Bella's side to help her out while my parents went up to unlock the house and open the door for her.

I watched her as she took in the lake, trees and flowers. "So beautiful. I don't think I'll want to leave."

My mom walked back towards us then and held her hand out to Bella. "You are always welcome here, dear."

We set Bella up in the living room and got her comfortable. She requested to sit near a window so that she could look out at the lake. I went up to go get her a drink and blanket, but apparently, she had other plans. She pulled me down next to her, kissed me softly and asked me to stay.

I didn't plan on moving anytime soon.

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