A song to set the mood: Take me to Church – Hoizer

There are some things in this chapter that were very much out of my range of knowledge, I tried to find what I could online, but it wasn't easy. So yeah… I apologize for any inaccuracies. Just try to roll with it please? Thisisfiction…

SM owns Twilight, just in case anyone forgot. Doubtful.

. . . . . . . . . .

I groaned when my phone started ringing, reaching blindly for it on the nightstand. I answered it with a sleepy mumble.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Edward?"

"Yeah? Who's this?" I didn't recognize the blurred number. The deep voice on the other end of the line laughed.

"It's Marcus Volturi."

"Fuck-" I blurted out, sitting up quickly. "Hey Marcus, how are things in LA?"

"Hectic. I'm sorry to call you like this, but when I tried to contact your agent he said that you had fired him?"

"Err, yes. Sorry about that. Long story."

"No problem. I have a bit of an… odd request for you."

"Shoot."

"Do you remember that woman you had working for you last fall? When you signed the contracts?"

"…Yes," I answered hesitantly.

"Well, I need to get in contact with her. I'm having a lot of trouble doing so, and was wondering if you'd know how?"

I rubbed my eyes and looked over at the closed door of the bathroom, the sound of the water running letting me know she was inside. We'd talked about this in those first two weeks we had started hanging out together, but already I knew that I would never give out her name, number, or location without her explicit permission, even if I knew that she went way back with said person. He should know this, and that put me on edge. He seemed to get that from my pause.

"Look, I get if you can't talk about her, but if you are able to see her sometime, could you give her this number? It's kind of important."

"Okay. If I can get in touch with her I'll let her know. I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can, but I'll definitely try."

"Thanks Edward."

"How are things looking for the film? Have you set the filming dates yet?" I felt like he was procrastinating on it, it was odd that he hadn't set the date yet, even so long after the casting party.

"Er… there have been some issues. A few things need to be sorted out first, but we'll need to wait until after winter for all of the outdoor scenes."

"Anything that I should be worried about?" I asked hesitantly.

"Not if you can get me in contact with that woman, hopefully."

I sighed. "Okay, well I'd appreciate if you could keep me posted. I don't plan on taking any jobs after this one for a while, so I don't see the need to hire a new agent right now."

"Yes, of course. Not a problem." Bella walked out of the bathroom in a towel, and gave me a shy smile before opening up her dresser.

"Okay, and I'll do what I can."

"Thank you again. I hope to hear from you soon. Take care."

"You too Marcus." Bella turned at the sound of his name, and gave me a curious look as she slid on her jeans. I held open my arms for her, and she came and joined me, thankfully without a shirt. She was wearing my favourite, blue-lace bra, and I traced the strap of it with my finger before leaning in and kissing her neck. She giggled, and pulled away from me.

"What?"

She blushed when she smiled. "Your face is all scratchy, that tickled," she said with a small laugh, and I grinned brightly before I tightened my hold on her, rubbing my face all over hers and making her squeal and burst into laughter. I let up, pinning her underneath me, and rested my chin against her chest as she tried to catch her breath. I could feel her heartbeat against my face.

"Was that Mac?" She asked eventually, looking at me with that beautiful smile. I nodded. "Did he give you a date yet?"

"No, actually… he was calling trying to get in contact with you." She pursed her lips, looking at me curiously. "I didn't tell him anything, I wasn't sure how much he knew or if he was alone, but I told him if I ran into you again I'd let you know. It sounded kind of important."

"Hmm. Would you mind if I called him back?"

"Not at all," I said, handing her my phone. I released her and she went to her safe behind her TV, took out one of her pre-paid, disposable phones, and came and joined me back on the bed while she waited for it to start up, then dialed his number.

"Hey Mac," she said when I heard the low rumble of his voice on the phone. "Yes, he said it sounded important. What's up?"

I got up and jumped in the shower to give her some privacy, and by the time I came out the apartment was filled with the awesome smell of Bella's cooking.

"What are you making?" I asked, walking up behind her and wrapping my arms around her. She smelt even better than the food she was cooking.

"Crepes, what do you want on yours?"

"Whatever you're having," I answered easily. I'm pretty sure I'd eat tennis shoes if she cooked them.

Luckily she didn't go that far, and we sat at her counter eating our fruit-filled crepes in comfortable silence. I kicked her out to let me clean, and then sat next to her on the couch. She was typing away on her laptop, so I grabbed my manuscript to go over lines again.

I didn't ask what Marcus wanted to talk to her about, because I knew if I asked she'd probably feel obligated to tell me.

. . .

I grabbed some take-out for us as an early dinner, both of us stuck in our own worlds as we concentrated on our own individual tasks. Six rolled around, and she closed her laptop with a soft sigh, rubbing at her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, setting my script down. She didn't look up at me, and was frowning slightly before she wrapped her arms around herself. I bit back my sigh, pulling her into my lap and replacing her arms with my own. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think I did something bad."

"You think, or you know?" I asked gently.

"I'm not sure. Is it wrong to do something bad to someone to stop them doing bad things to other people?"

I thought about that carefully. "I don't think so. That's what karma is, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I don't believe in karma."

I didn't blame her, because there was no way she deserved all the fucked-up shit she'd been through.

"Well, if your intentions were in the right place, then I don't think so. Were you doing it for personal gain?"

"No."

"You were doing it to help someone else?"

"Yeah."

"Then don't worry about it. You're a good person Bella. I wish you believed that more."

"Thanks," she whispered. "How's your reading going?"

I chose not to point out her weak attempt at a subject change, and went with it instead.

"Ugh… okay I guess? There's this one scene that's really bothering me, I just can't get into it."

She bit her lip shyly, and looked like she was about to ask something, but stopped herself.

"What?"

"Can I… look at it maybe?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You want to read the script?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Hey, of course you can, I just didn't think it was something you'd be interested in." She was very sensitive about the fact that she'd written a screenplay, I was worried that it would bring back bad memories for her.

"Of course I would be," she said, sliding her arms around my neck and kissing me. "Everything in your life interests me," she said quietly.

I smiled at her. Fuck, I loved her so god damn much.

"Want to read through it with me?"

"Sure," she said happily.

And that was the experience of a lifetime. She was happy to play along and read the lines of the females for me in my scenes, and I shouldn't have been surprised to see how fucking good she was.

She may not have taken acting classes, but she'd played a hundred roles just trying to get through her life. The way she was able to change her tone of voice, the authentic-sounding emotions she was able to create, and the seriousness in which she took the job was pretty fucking impressive.

Fuck, she would do this so much better than Jessica. I really had no clue why Marcus had hired her. It kind of lessened my opinion of him if I was being honest.

"This is the scene I've been having trouble with," I said nervously when we reached the boiler-room scene. I stopped reading and just handed it to her. She took it without asking a question, and read through it.

More than once. I knew she was a fast reader, and she spent a lot of time going over it. I was starting to get nervous. Would this upset her? I wouldn't be doing the actual… intimate part of the scene, but I'd still have to kiss her.

I knew she'd never make me choose between her and my work, but if she ever did, I'd give up every dollar and possession to my name to keep her.

After a while, she set down the script on the table gently, and looked at me. Concern was plain in her eyes.

"Marcus said he had no problem using a body-double, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why does the scene bother you? Do you want to do it now?"

"What? No! Of course not," I said in disbelief.

"Then why is it bothering you?"

I sighed, looking away. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was impossible for me to keep things from her. "It's just… knowing what the scene is supposed to be, the energy, the atmosphere and emotion I'm supposed to portray…. It's hard to get into the right frame of mind knowing that it's… not with you. The whole fucking thing is just making me uncomfortable." And it didn't fucking help that I just couldn't fucking stand my co-star, I was hating the thought of even running lines with her. I let out a deep breath, and when I looked back at her, her eyes were watering.

Fuck, what did I say? I tried to go over my words, but was distracted when she pulled my face down to hers and kissed me passionately.

The whole fucking world disappeared, all that existed was Bella, the taste of her lips on mine, the feel of her small body in my arms. All I wanted was to feel more of her, but she stopped me when my hands tried to sneak under her shirt.

"Wait," she said, trying to catch her breath. I stopped immediately, but didn't loosen my hold on her. She smiled up at me shyly. "I have an idea, but you might think I'm crazy."

"Your crazy is one of the things I love most about you," I told her with a smirk, making her laugh.

"Okay, I'm going to hold you to that. Just give me a couple minutes, okay?"

"Sure," I said, releasing my hold on her. She dashed over to her rack of clothes and disappeared into the washroom.

She came out ten minutes later, her hair in a ponytail, and wearing one of her black pencil skirts, a thin, tight white blouse with a black bra underneath, and a matching black blazer with a pair of black heels. I watched her like a fucking hawk as she walked across the room, scaled her book shelf, and picked out two large hard covers on her way back down.

She opened up one, taking out a fucking sexy-looking gun, and checked the barrel before tossing it to me. She opened up the other book, and took out a different pistol, one that had an older style, checking the barrel also before smiling up at me.

"Fuck, Bella, are these real?"

"Of course they are, they're not loaded though." She smiled brightly at me. "Want to play a game?"

It only took me about half a second to figure out what she was implying, and it had nothing to do with any of those creepy fucking Saw movies. I stood up with a bright smile.

"Hell yes I do."

She smiled at me, then took a deep breath with her eyes closed. When she opened them, I saw immediately that she was in full character, and I took half a second to do the same. She started right from where we left off at the party, after we'd fled and ducked into the kitchen, hiding behind one of the stainless steel cabinets. We ducked behind her couch.

"Fuck, Kellan, we need to get out of here, now," she hissed.

"I'll cover you to the door, GO," I ordered, and she dashed over to her doorway before covering me while I did the same. I was quick on her heels, trying to ignore how hot she looked carrying a gun, grabbing her as soon as we stepped into the hallway, and pulling her back up against the wall to protect her from the imaginary shots that were being fired at us.

"There are two of them, to the east," I said in the thick British accent my character had. "I'll distract them, you cover me and take the first, I'll take the second, then we break for the stairwell."

She gave me one curt nod, and held up her gun. I expertly rolled across the hallway.

"Pshuuu, phsuuu," she said, and I fucking froze, before crumbling over and laughing.

"That is so not in the script."

"Either was that! What the hell was that supposed to be?"

"Gun noises, what else?"

"I don't know, some sort of Pokémon maybe?"

"Fuck you, my gun noises are awesome."

"If you say so baby."

"Are we doing this or not? I'm trying to be fucking professional," she said with a sigh, waving her gun around, I could tell she was fighting a grin though. I shot her a wink, then jumped to my feet again, making some much more realistic gun noises. She took my cue, and bolted for the door to the stairs, unlocking them, and I ran up after her onto the roof. She didn't pause when she got up there, and I followed her into the utilities room she unlocked, pulling me inside and slamming the door shut behind me.

We were both quiet for a minute, no sound besides our heavy breathing, until she flicked her lighter, letting me see her face in the flickering light.

"Well, this was a great plan. We're stuck in a fucking dead end," she said in an irritated, sarcastic tone, and then glared at me before walking away.

"They wouldn't expect us to get cornered, so they won't look for us here," I said confidently. We both froze at the imaginary sound of boots running past our hiding place. "We just need to lay low for a while, we'll make a break when their guards are down again."

"And if they do find us?"

I shrugged. "We're all going to die eventually. Might as well meet our maker doing something exciting."

We were silent for a minute, my heart pounding loudly in my ears as I waited to see if she'd actually keep going. The second her hand slid around my neck, and up into my hair, pulling my face down to hers, I was ready to go.

"I have a few ideas of how we could do that," she purred, pressing her body up against mine. I dipped down, gripping onto the backs of her thighs, and lifted her up as I pushed her up against what I think was the hot water tank, before I quickly pulled her back.

"Shit, that thing's fucking hot. You okay?" I'd have to warn Marcus of the little flaw in his script.

"Yes, you barely even let me touch it," she said in an adoring voice. I could hear her smile.

"Wall?"

"Sounds good."

So then I moved to the right and forward, pushing her up against the cold hard wall. I was a little rougher than I liked being with her, and her air left her lungs in a bit of a huff at the contact.

It was pitch black in the room, but I could feel her heart beating against my chest.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, I don't want you to stop," she whispered. I kissed her softly before switching back to my accent.

"Well, Love, I have a few ideas myself. But we need to be quiet."

"I can be quiet."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," I said back in a deep voice, and kissed her firmly. Her legs were tight around my waist and I leaned my weight against her. I attacked the buttons on her shirt as she tugged on mine, and once I finally got the blasted thing off, my hands moved up her thighs, pushing up her skirt.

We didn't talk, though I wanted to. There were no lines in the script though, and she seemed pretty fucking in character, so I tried to stay also. I was combining two different worlds though, and it was impossible not to look at her as my Bella as she tried to take over, wrestling for control, and I kept pinning her against the wall.

And when she tried to push me away one last time, to do what she knew was in the script, I stopped her, pinning her arms on the wall above her and kissing her.

"Edward, that's not-"

"I don't fucking care. I'll only go so far, and I'm not letting my woman get down on her fucking knees," I growled, and caught her moan in my mouth as I kissed her again, hard. There was a big fucking difference to me; fooling around and trying new things when we were in her bed, but the idea of her kneeling down in a dirty utility room just had no fucking appeal to me. It felt demeaning, and I just couldn't let her do it. She was so much more to me than a good fuck. I wanted this woman to be my wife. She didn't argue with me, or try to stop me as I moved my hands over her, unclasping her bra and dropping it to the floor before I covered her neck in nips and kisses.

"Fuck," She gasped quietly as I bit her nipple, and gently rolled my tongue over it to sooth the spot. "Please," she said quietly, her fingers digging into my shoulders. I was pretty fucking quick at getting my belt undone when her tongue trailed along the shell of my ear, and she sucked my earlobe into her mouth.

Her gasp echoed around the black room with my hiss as I thrust into her, and I paused for a moment to make sure I hadn't hurt her. It was hard, because all I wanted to do was fuck my beautiful girlfriend against this wall and make her scream my name.

And when she begged for me not to stop, that's exactly what I fucking did.

. . .

After our little role-playing game, Bella had about a million questions to ask me about all of the movies I've done, what school had been like, how I'd been able to pick up so many accents. She was very partial to my Irish one, and I made sure to file that information away for a later date. That led to a more depressing conversation; about how she owned all of my movies, but had never been able to bring herself to watch any of them because of the one movie of mine that she had watched. The one she had written.

But she said she wanted to watch them now, and as awkward as I found it watching my own films, I could never deny her anything.

So we spent the night playing a drinking game. Every scene I was in we took a shot, and by the end of the first movie we were completely trashed and spent a good hour sitting on the floor in front of her fridge, eating pretty much everything.

. . . . . . . . . . .

When I came out of the shower and looked over at Bella on her couch, I immediately knew that something was wrong. I could just feel it. Sure enough, when I walked over to join her, I saw that she was silently crying while staring at the screen of her laptop. I sat down next to her cautiously, and swiped away the moisture on her cheek with my thumb.

Before I could ask her what was wrong, she silently handed me her laptop. I froze when I read the headline of the news article her browser was opened to.

"Jessica Stanley: Porn Star?" The headline read. Along with some blurry images of a woman that was definitely Jessica.

It only took me a minute to put two and two together, and figure out why she was upset.

"Marcus?"

"She was b-blackmailing him. It's why he hired her for the part, although he really d-didn't want to. I guess his wife got into some trouble with drugs a while back… He asked for my help, he said he'd only use it to threaten her… and I guess she didn't head the threat," she said, her voice tapering off into a hoarse whisper. "He told me he wouldn't do it. I thought she was a bitch, but she didn't deserve this."

I sighed, not quite sure what to say to that. Because, really, I thought she did deserve it. If she had black-mailed him, and he had given her the chance to back off... it explained a lot, I knew Marcus had better judgement. She would have ruined his movie, and with that, his reputation.

I had to say or do something though. It was impossible not to as I watched her cry. I gently closed the computer, setting it on the table, and tried to pull her onto my lap. She tried to push me away at first, but quickly gave up and leaned into me instead.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She cried into my shirt.

"Because you don't deserve to be beat up over this, and you're doing too much of that to yourself already."

"I'm a horrible person."

"You're the most amazing person I know."

I was tempted to touch my wallet, where her ring was just waiting for me to find the balls to offer it to her, but I forced myself to resist the urge. We had only been together a couple months, and really, I was Bella's first boyfriend. First… everything. I knew she loved me, but asking her this soon just felt like I was rushing it. I couldn't do that, pressure her like that.

"You're only saying that because you love me," she whispered.

"Not only. It's also because I think it's true. Jessica is a horrible person, a complete bitch to anyone who wasn't on a higher pay scale than herself or could give her something she wanted. You know, even losing the part, she's probably going to love the publicity."

Bella didn't say anything, so I just held her like that for a long time, until she got it out of her system. She sniffled when she pulled away from me, and watched me with worry and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry about that," she said quietly. I gave her a gentle smile as I cupped her beautiful face in my hands and kissed her.

"Don't be, I want to be here to hold you when you're upset. It means the world to me that you let me," I told her honestly. I was very much aware of Bella's need for keeping herself composed, she didn't like to show what she considered weakness in front of anyone. I honestly doubt anyone besides Emmett or myself had ever seen her cry. It meant a lot to me that she was able to let her guard down around me, be herself. She didn't do that with anyone else, even her brother. She gave me a small smile as she leaned into my hand.

"Thank you."

I smiled, and kissed her again. It was obvious that she was still stressed about the situation though, and I quickly tried to think of something to distract her.

There had been something I wanted to do for a while, but it was always hard to leave the comfort and safety of her building. The weather wasn't great, but that would probably work in our favour.

"I want to take you out," I said seriously. "Do you think you could put on one of your better disguises?"

She watched me curiously for a moment, pursing her lips before she smiled. She didn't even ask what we were doing, which was pretty weird.

"Sure," she said happily, and kissed me again before I gave her a hand off of my lap. "What should I dress for?"

"Just the weather, something comfortable and warm," I called back before she disappeared into her bathroom.

She came out an hour later, with her blond wig, a white-knit sweater dress, and black leggings. She slipped on a long, brown leather jacket, and I steadied her, holding her hand as she slipped on a pair of boots. I pulled on a thick tuque and my own jacket and shoes before we both slid on our large sunglasses.

"Are we walking or driving?" She asked curiously. I paused, because I didn't want her to be driving.

"Would you mind if we took a cab?" I asked cautiously. I knew the real reason now of why she didn't trust other drivers, being thrown out of a moving car and all, but I also knew that she felt safe when she was with me, as weird as that fucking was. I loved the faith she had in me though. "I won't let go of you for a second," I whispered into her ear before kissing her neck. She shivered, her hands gripping onto my biceps.

"I don't mind," she said quietly, and I grinned before kissing her lips and pulling her along with me out of the building, and walked down the street. I waved down the first cab I saw, and held the door for her and slid in after her, tucking her under my arm.

I had him take us down to the 5Points Aerosol Art Center, because I had really wanted to see it again, hearing that the owner was thinking of tearing it down to build some condos. We spent over an hour walking around the building, looking at all of the different styles of tags that had been painted on the walls. I was kind of surprised that Bella had never seen it before, and even more surprised when I realized that as long as she had lived in New York, she had never taken the time to play tourist. So I also took her to see the Statue of Liberty, though we didn't go to the island because it took forever. We walked together hand in hand across the Brooklyn bridge, and we grabbed dinner and a hot chocolate at a small café before I took her skating at the Rockafeller center. It was extremely entertaining to find something she wasn't good at. Teaching her how to skate, catching her whenever she stumbled, doing something so fucking normal with her, was amazing. I never wanted the day to end, but we were both exhausted, and Zeus was home alone, so we headed back to the apartment.

"Thank you, for today," she said with a shy smile. "That was really fun."

"It was," I said back. I wished every day could be like this, and I had to stifle the automatic rage that filled me every time I thought about everything Victor had taken from her; from us.

All I could do was pray that he'd be found, caught, dealt with in some manner so that we could try to live our lives without having his ominous shadow cast over us.

"So, Emmett wants us to come over for dinner tomorrow," she said, shrugging off her coat.

"Shit, I forgot about that," I admitted. I knew it still kind of bothered him, how fast things had moved between Bella and I, and the fact that we were practically living together. I didn't like rubbing it in his face, because I wanted to stay in his good books when it came to his sister. I sighed, not really wanting to leave, but knowing I needed to rotate my wardrobe. "I should go back to the apartment and grab some new clothes."

She looked panicked for a moment, but the look was quickly replaced by a smile. "Okay, do you want me to go with you?"

"Yes, but you know that we shouldn't."

She sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be clingy, but it's been so long since I've heard you play your piano."

I laughed. "One, you are not clingy. I could go for a bit more clinging to be honest," I said in a teasing voice. She rolled her eyes, but was grinning at me. "And… if you want, maybe we could have my piano moved over here?" I was suddenly nervous, and hoped I wasn't being too presumptuous. But she beamed happily at me.

"Really? You'd want to do that?"

"Of course. I have no desire to play anymore unless you're there with me."

She leaned forward, kissing me gently with a small smile on her lips. "I love you so much, and I'd love for you to move your piano over here," she said, looking up at me with sparkling eyes.

"I love you too," I said with a smile, kissing her again before I got up from the couch. I stuffed a bunch of my clothes into my duffel bag to make room for some new ones. I stopped by her kitchen, picking up the set of keys that were apparently mine from the bowl on her counter.

"Mind if I take these?" I asked, and felt pretty damn good when I saw her brilliant smile.

"Not at all," she said softly. "Hurry back?"

"Always." I gave her another kiss, and attached the keys to a chain around my neck as I rode the elevator down. I could feel them against my chest, and having that reassurance that I'd notice the second they weren't there took some of the worry off of my shoulders.

I stepped out of the door from the parking garage, then walked around the corner to get a cab.

As I turned the corner, I collided with another body, and almost fell back before a hand steadied me.

"Shit, sorry dude. Didn't see you there," a deep voice said, and I looked over at the man.

He was almost my height, muscular with ice blue eyes and black hair. There was something oddly familiar about him, but I quickly shook off the thought and smiled at him.

"No problem. You okay?"

"Yeah," he said in a gruff voice, and I was surprised by the cold glare he gave me, his fists clenching.

"Okay, well, have a good night. Sorry again."

He just smiled at me, and the look of it sent shivers down my spine. He didn't say anything, so I just turned away from the guy and walked down the street, hailing down a cab.

We were about a block away from my place when I realized I'd forgotten my phone. I don't know why, but it made me panic, and I told the cabbie to turn around and head back. He waited outside for me as I went back up, but when I got to the apartment and went inside, she wasn't there. Zeus ran up to me, whimpering.

"Hey boy, where's your mom?" I asked curiously, looking around. Her purse was still here, but a set of her car keys were gone. I looked around for my phone, but couldn't find it anywhere.

I smiled. Maybe she realized I forgot it, and went over anyways. I gave Zeus another scratch behind the ears before I left and locked up again, a little surprised when he started barking and scratching at the door. I'd never heard him do that before, but if I missed Bella and she came back, and he wasn't here, she would freak out, so I couldn't bring him with me. It put a pit in my stomach leaving him like that, but I forced myself back into the elevator, and back out to the waiting cab.

Traffic was at a standstill by the time we got back to my block once more, so I just paid him and walked down the street.

I froze when I saw what was blocking traffic. Bella's car was stopped on the right lane of the road, and cars were slowing down to look at the beautiful car as they went to pass in the left lane. It was still running.

She wasn't inside.

Then I heard the shot go off. People started screaming.

It was quickly followed by a second shot as I ran towards my building.

I stopped breathing, but my legs sped up when she came into view. I wove through the thick crowd of people running in the opposite direction that I was. She was leaning against the wall of my building, sliding down until she was sitting pretty much, and there was a large man kneeling down in front of her. He leaned in, his lips brushing against my Bella's, and her bloody hands lifted up shakily and cupped his face. I didn't stop, I was so close to her.

So I didn't miss it when she jerked her hands, snapping the man's neck. His lifeless body dropped down on top of her.

I was ripping him off of her in the same second, recognizing him as the man that had bumped into me less than a half hour ago. It didn't fucking matter though as I saw the blood pouring out of Bella's stomach, a stark contrast to her white knit dress. I ripped off my scarf, putting pressure against both of the wounds like she had taught me, trying not to crumble apart.

There was so much blood, someone from behind me said they'd already called 9-1-1.

"Bella, baby, can you hear me?" I couldn't stop the tears from escaping my eyes. Hers fluttered open, and a choked sob escaped my mouth as she smiled up at me beautifully.

"You're okay," she breathed in relief, her voice weak. I could hear the sirens getting closer.

"You're going to be okay baby, the ambulance is coming. Just hold on, please, just hold on."

"I love you," she whispered, a tear escaping her eyes before she coughed. A bit of blood trickled out of her mouth. "I'm so sorry." She started coughing again, and her eyes fluttered closed.

"No, keep your eyes open. Please baby, just keep your eyes open."

She didn't open them again though, and her blood soaked through my scarf, the thick liquid warming my hands. The ambulances pulled up on the curb next to me, and two men quickly jumped out of each of them. Two were taking to me, but I didn't hear anything. I let them push me away as they shifted her onto a stretcher, and someone pulled me into the ambulance with them before they took off. They were saying something about an artery, something about saline, and that she was losing too much blood as they cut through her dress and tried to slow the bleeding. That broke me out of my shock, and some of my panic shifted into anger.

"Can't you give her a transfusion or something? Do something!" I practically shouted. They had to do something. I knew my apartment wasn't close to a hospital, the roads were horrible, and there was so much fucking blood.

"The best we can do right now is a saline solution sir, we don't carry blood on ambulances-"

"Why the fuck not!" That didn't make any fucking sense! "She's going to bleed out before we even-" My voice caught on a sob, and then I remembered something Bella had told me not long after her brother's wedding, when she was teaching me some basic first aid…

"We have the same blood type." Though I just couldn't remember what the fucking type was. FUCK. "Do you have the equipment to do a person to person transfusion?" I saw them do that on that zombie show she loved, I just didn't know if people actually did that.

They stared at me in disbelief for about three seconds before there was a flurry of activity.

"Are either of you on any medications, or do you have any sort of disease?"

"No," I said, yanking up my sleeve. "Please, just… don't let her die."

That was the longest drive of my life, it felt like days instead of minutes as I watched Bella's pale, still face. They timed to disconnect the tubes just as we reached the hospital, and my head was spinning as I ran through the corridors with them and they rolled Bella into surgery.

I almost ran straight into my father, who was in his scrubs and looked at me in horror.

"Edward, what-"

"Please! Dad, you have to save her, we have the same blood type, but-" My voice caught in my throat, and my dad quickly went into doctor mode.

"Set her up with AB positive then get him out of here, and call my wife to let her know he's here. Edward, do you know if she has any allergies to anything?"

"No, she doesn't."

"That's good son, very good. Now, I need you to leave. We have to operate, right now."

"But-"

"Edward. Now," he said, giving me a stern look. Someone pulled me out of the room and sat me in a chair somewhere.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, lost in a numb haze. She was fucking everything to me, I couldn't lose her. I couldn't live through that. I looked down at my hands, and almost screamed when I saw the blood covering me. It was everywhere. My hands, arms, shirt, pants… I swear I could actually smell it, and the rust and salt filling my nostrils made me throw up in the garbage can next to me before I blacked out.

. . . . . . . . . .

Cliff-hanger. I know, I'm sorry. Kind of. Not really. It's not like this is the last chapter. Please don't hurt me.

I only have very basic first aid training, and I've never been to New York. I've never actually stepped a foot outside of Canada. So once again, I apologize for any inaccuracies.

And I enjoyed your theories, a few of you guys got close. Did you really think Bella could just disappear and leave him? Tsk tsk. Please leave a review!

Love,
Kitty