Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Bella POV Flashback
"Are you sure you're ok with me going?" Edward asked with a worried look in his green eyes that made me smile and heart my heart at the same time.
"Edward…" I groaned as I watched him hold his hands up in a sign of defeat before turning to pull his red shirt on over his head.
"I just worry about…" he began out as I interrupted him.
"And I love you for it, but I'm fine. I promise you I am fine," I assured him as I stepped forward to wrap my arms around his narrow waist as I felt myself being enveloped in his warm embraced. I could feel him breathing me in as he buried his nose in my hair.
He had been like this since I had come home from the hospital.
Hyper fixated on me and how I felt.
Hyper focused on work and school and taking care of me.
Distraction was becoming Edward's love language.
"I promise you that I'm fine," I whispered into his chest, breathing in the scent of detergent and his skin as I closed my eyes and let him brace us both.
"OK, but I will be back by 10, but if you need me just call. Carlie is manager tonight and she'll come get me," he rambled as I held him for another moment.
"I know the drill," I snickered against his chest and listened to his tired sigh.
"And call Charlie if I don't answer," I said in unison to him as I looked up to see his slight scowl as I laughed in response.
"Come on, Edward. The doctor said I was healing just fine. I mean, almost as good as new," I chuckled as I watched him look at me with a critical eye.
Almost was the key word.
My incision had healed, and I was moving around just fine. They felt confident that the aneurism was just a freak thing and I was confident that I was done with doctors. I just wanted to be left alone to heal with the boy who had become my husband.
"I know... I know," he breathed out in such a manner that hinted at his nervousness.
"I just worry," he concluded as if that was all there was to it and in a way, I knew what he was saying was true.
He did worry.
He worried too much.
His anxiety was slowly suffocating me and him.
"Just go to work and I will be here when you get home," I said with a casual shrug as he looked at me. The nervousness in his eyes as he watched me as if he was waiting for me to fall apart after losing the baby. The funny thing was I waiting for him to fall apart as well.
"You promise?" he asked me trying to sound like he was teasing, but I knew better.
He meant it.
He needed reassurance that I would be here after almost dying.
"I promise," I whispered solemnly to him as we both nodded.
"Ok," he muttered as I stepped away and watched him collect his things before sweeping me into his arms once more for a long kiss.
"I love you," his whispered against my lips.
"Go to work," I laughed as I pushed him away only to have him pull me back against him for one more kiss before grabbing his keys and leaving.
He was barely gone when there was a loud knock on the door.
"Did you forget something?" I said as I opened the door expecting to find Edward with a grin waiting for me to remind me to call, but instead I was greeted with the cold stare of his father.
Dr Cullen remained motionless as he stood there staring at me with an unreadable look on his face.
"I'm sorry..." I muttered before kicking myself for apologizing stupidly.
I had nothing to be sorry about.
He, on the other hand, did.
"Edward isn't here," I stated as I attempted to stand my ground against this man that always seemed larger than life but failed as he walked in the apartment as if he was invited.
"I know," he said softly as I held the door open, hoping that he would take the hint and just leave, but he didn't. He remained motionless in the living room.
I watched nervously as Dr Cullen looked around at our sparsely decorated apartment. I could feel the judgement rolling off him in waves as I motioned for him to sit upon our secondhand couch.
"I'll just…remain standing, thank you," he mumbled as he stepped closer to the wall of pictures that was our only decorations. His eyes scanned picture after picture of Edward or Edward and I together.
Our wedding.
The pregnancy.
Our family or the makeshift family that we claimed being my dad and Emmett.
His eyes met mine briefly before he turned toward the closed bedroom door to his left.
"Edward isn't here," I practically yelled at him as he approached the closed door.
It was the baby's room and I had refused to open the door since returning home without her. I could not stand the idea of seeing the nursery that we had put together be so still and empty without her.
"Edward isn't here," I said louder as I watched him jerk open the door with a sneer on his face as he willfully ignored me.
My eyes snapped shut, refusing to look at the unused nursery as Dr Cullen attempted to prove me a liar.
The silence was loud as I remained standing there, unmoving and refusing to look until Dr Cullen finally cleared his throat.
"Bella," he called to me softly in such a sweet tone that I might have mistaken it for being soothing if I didn't know the man better.
"Edward isn't home," I repeated softly, willing him to leave.
"Bella, open your eyes and look at me," he softly insisted with an edge to his sickeningly sweet tone that suggested he was losing his patience.
Slowly, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, determined to look at my father in law and not the nursey. Try as I might to focus on the man, I could not help but to look in the room that was the baby's only to find it empty.
I walked past Dr Cullen and peered into the room only to find it empty. Gone were the crib and changing table that had been gifted to us by a couple within the apartment complex. The pink curtains were missing and, in their place, the cheap white blinds hung. The bunnies on the dresser, including the one Edward bought for me after I told him I was pregnant were all gone as were any sign that this room was for our child.
It was empty.
Bare.
Part of me was relieved by it and the part was broken.
I turned back to Dr Cullen with a confused look as I tried to think of who would have done this, even though the answer was obvious.
Edward.
"I didn't come here to talk to my son."
"I'm sorry?" I asked distracted by the idea of Edward working to put all the baby things away so it wouldn't hurt me.
"I didn't come here to talk to Edward," Dr Cullen repeated almost impatiently.
"I don't understand," I mumbled as I stepped away from the door frame.
"Bella, is this what you want for Edward?" he asked me as he waved his hands around motioning towards our apartment.
The burn of embarrassment hit me as I closed the baby's room door.
"I want Edward to be happy," I countered as I felt my face burn red.
"As do I," Dr Cullen shot back at me.
"Do you really think he's happy working at Costco, taking part time college classes and taking care of his disabled wife?'
"The doctor is supposed to clear me for work my next appointment, so Edward will be able to cut back on hours," I countered back weakly then watched the man roll his eyes. It was shocking how much Edward resembled him when he did this.
"This is what you want for him?" Dr Cullen demanded from me.
"I told you…"
"He's an 18-year-old boy. He should be enjoying his first year of college. Dorm life. Chasing girls. Sneaking Beers. Meeting people. Growing. Not taking care of his unstable high school girlfriend recovering from a mistake," Dr Cullen said coldly as I found myself staggering backwards from the harm that came with his callousness words.
"Our baby was not a mistake," I defended Mara.
"So, you admit that you trapped my son? That this was all your plan to land yourself a Cullen?" He sneered at me as I stood there, slack jawed in disbelief.
"No…"
"You did, didn't you? You knew he'd leave you after graduation so this was your plan to trap him and wreck my life," he continued on as I could not find my voice as I fought back tears so I could only shake my head no instead.
"Then let him go," Dr Cullen insisted as I wiped at the tears that traitorously escaped down my cheek.
"Edward is free to go, but…" I began defiantly as he rolled his eyes.
"Oh yes, I know. You've convinced him that he loves you," he laughed sarcastically as I flinched in response to the cruelty of his words.
"He does love me," I replied which only made him laugh louder.
"And I love him."
"Then let him go," he countered abruptly.
The absurdity of his words had me sputtering with surprise.
"He won't leave you, but you… you could leave him," he said softly as if he was willing me to understand him.
"I would never…"
"Why not? I thought you wanted him to be happy?" He asked me as I shook my head no.
"Bella, let me ask you this," Dr Cullen began as he looked at me with an amused look that left me hurt and enraged at the same time.
"Do you really think Edward will be happy with this? This... this life? You?" Dr Cullen said with a cold chuckle as I looked down at the ground to avoid looking at the man who resembled the man, I loved so much it hurt.
"I would do my best..."
"But your best... it won't be enough and you... you know it too," he sighed as he looked at me with a calculating look as I tried to hold my own under his cool gaze.
I watched as he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a white envelope and held it out to me.
"This is a check for twenty-five thousand dollars," he explained as I he waved the envelope in front of me.
"Take it," he insisted as I remained motionless.
"You can go to your mother in Florida. Maybe take a few classes there. I don't know. I honestly don't care what you do, just leave my son alone," he said as he continued to offer me the envelopment.
He waited for a long moment. The envelope in his hand extended towards me as I refused to take it from him. I watched as Dr Cullen slowly moved away from me. He stepped towards our small kitchen table and placed the offensive envelop there.
"Do the right thing for once in your life, Bella," he said as I stared at him, unsure of how to respond to that, not that he waited for a response as he moved towards the door.
"If not for yourself, then do it for Edward." He called out over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.
AN:
Hello friends! Sorry for the delay I would offer up excuses of online ed w/ my kid or my own college classes, but none of it matters. Any who... We are winding this story down nicely as well as Between Friends, with that in mind I will be going forward with 2 new stories. One a cheater... yes, an actual cheater story with E cheating on B being a huge ass. The other more of a friend to lovers fic.
Thanks to all that have stuck around.
XOXO
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