Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here is chapter twenty-four of 'Into the Shadows.' This chapter features some Edward/Bella. It will not be easy for me to show Bella dealing with what happened to her, but I am determined to do it. Stay tuned for chapter twenty-five.
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Chapter 24: The Coming of Daylight
Edward opened his eyes and heard the chirping of birds. He looked toward the window to see daylight peeking through the curtains. He was relieved at the sight of it. It had been tricky for him to pretend to be asleep for the remainder of the night, as he wasn't used to it. He also had to pretend to use the bathroom to prevent a doctor who came in to check on Bella at four-forty-five from becoming suspicious. However, he hadn't minded all that one bit.
Edward looked down at the sleeping Bella, who had her arm draped across his chest. He smiled lovingly at her, thinking she looked so peaceful. He took comfort in the fact she didn't suffer another nightmare for the remainder of the night. He wondered if his presence kept it from happening. Of course, he had a feeling she would experience more nightmares soon, even if he was at her side. It would pain him to leave to go hunting when she yearned for his presence.
His smile faded when he heard groaning. He saw her remove her head from his chest. She opened her eyes, only to be greeted with blurry vision. She blinked four times to clear it. She looked into his eyes and let out a contented sigh. He brought his hand to her hair and stroked it. He twirled a strand around his finger at a slow pace.
"Good morning, Edward," she greeted and yawned.
"Good morning yourself, Bella. How do you feel?" he asked.
"I feel okay. What time is it?" Bella wondered in much curiosity.
"It's fifteen minutes until eight o'clock," Edward said, eyeing his watch. "You've been asleep since that doctor checked on you three hours ago. You haven't moved at all."
"Because of that, my legs feel like they are asleep!" Bella groaned painfully. She pushed herself into a sitting position. She straightened her legs carefully. She twirled her ankles before wiggling her toes. She felt the numbness fade completely and sighed in relief. "That's better. You're lucky you don't have to deal with this."
"Mm-hmm," Edward agreed. "Of course, I do remember my legs going numb after sleeping in one position for a long time."
"I see," Bella answered and stood up steadily. "Now, I need to go the bathroom. My bladder feels like it's about to burst."
Edward sat up and rose to his feet as Bella took the heart monitor to the bathroom. He approached the window and opened the curtains. He found the sky was cloudy. He was relieved to see that. However, he knew there was always a chance it could start clearing off. He hoped that wouldn't happen as he couldn't let anyone else know he was a vampire.
He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of flushing. He turned around to see the door open. She came out of the bathroom with the heart monitor. She approached the bed and returned it to its original position. She laid back down as he came to her and seated himself beside her. He ran his hand over her hair before laying it in his lap.
"Do you feel better now?" Edward wondered.
"Yes, I do," Bella answered.
"That's good," Edward said while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She sniffled. "Edward, I want to thank you for laying with me last night. You don't know how much that meant to me."
"Anything for you, love. I hope Mike is found soon," Edward responded.
"Me too. I want him behind bars so badly," Bella whispered and started crying.
"So do I," he whispered soothingly and wiped a tear away with his thumb as it fell from her eye. He wished he could go out and hunt Mike down himself. However, he couldn't risk losing control and killing him in a horrible way. He ran his fingers through her hair. "Let's not think about Mike right now, okay?"
"Okay," Bella agreed.
He looked up at the sound of approaching footfalls. "I'm going to go into the bathroom and pretend like I'm using it. Will you cover for me?"
Bella nodded in a rapid way. Edward stood up and went into the bathroom quickly. She clasped her hands together and twirled her thumbs around. She shifted her position on the bed a bit. She looked toward the window, seeing an American robin sitting on the windowsill. It flapped its wings to air them out. It folded them against its back.
Forty-five-year-old Griff Yang walked in. He was Asian. He was very tall and had skin light. His straight black hair was short and possessed a few gray streaks here and there. His face had a number of wrinkles. His eyes happened to be blue. They contained bags underneath them. He had a clipboard in his hand. He came to her right side.
"Good morning, Bella," Griff greeted.
"Good morning, Dr. Yang," Bella responded.
"How are you doing this morning?" Griff asked while putting the clipboard against his chest.
"I'm doing okay," Bella answered and heard her stomach growl. "I am also hungry."
Griff smiled warmly. "That's great. I have a breakfast menu for you to look at."
Bella inhaled and exhaled. "If you're wondering about Edward, he's using the bathroom."
"I see," Griff commented. He looked up at the sound of flushing, as did she. They saw Edward come out of the bathroom. "Hello, Edward."
"Hey, Dr. Yang," Edward said and went to the doctor's side. "I guess you're here to check to make sure Bella is really okay."
"Yes, I am," Griff said and put the clipboard on the bed.
Edward nodded. "Go right ahead."
Edward went to the window as Griff spoke inaudible words to Bella. He watched a black-throated sparrow fly around above the parking lot. He listened to its chirps. He found sparrows fascinating. He thought they sang the most beautiful songs of all the songbirds. There were times he wished he had the ability to turn into one and fly amongst the clouds.
After two minutes of watching the sparrow, Edward turned around to see Griff shining a light into each of his girlfriend's eyes. He saw him repeat his action with her ears. Griff returned his flashlight to his pocket after turning it off. He picked up his clipboard to write down his results. Edward made his way to the doctor's side.
Griff took the breakfast menu off the clipboard and handed it to his patient. He motioned to her what she could have and gave her a pen. Bella looked at the menu rather carefully. She checked off scrambled eggs, biscuit, a bowl of strawberries, and a glass of orange juice quickly. She handed the pen and menu back to him.
"I'll go get this breakfast prepared for you," Griff said.
"Thanks," Bella replied.
"Edward, you're welcome to go down to the cafeteria to get breakfast," Griff said as he put the menu back on the clipboard.
"I'll have something to eat later. I'm not hungry right now," Edward responded.
"All right," Griff said and headed toward the door. "I will be back to in a little while."
Edward and Bella turned to each other. The robin chirped in a loud way, but neither of them heard it.
"You're lucky you have good doctors on call," Edward commented and ran his hand through his hair.
"Yeah," Bella agreed. "Some doctors are only in it for the money. They even make their patients have unnecessary surgeries to draw in more profits."
"Talk about sick," Edward said in much disgust.
"Yep." The couple proceeded to talk about something else. Edward sat back down on the bed.
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Bella poked some eggs with her fork and put them in her mouth more than thirty minutes later. She was sitting in an inclined position. Her breakfast tray happened to be on the table. She chewed up her eggs and swallowed with a loud gulp. She ran her tongue all over the inside of her mouth. Edward was seated in a chair next to her.
"My favorite kind of breakfast was bacon and eggs. My mom loved cooking both," he said.
"Did she ever cook pancakes?" she wondered.
"She cooked them on a few occasions. She could never get their circle form right, though. One time, the pancakes looked almost like squares," Edward explained and formed his hands in the shape of a square.
"Imagine if vehicles had square wheels. They'd never be able to get anywhere," Bella commented.
"No kidding," Edward agreed. "Of course, we vampires can move square boulders by simply pulling them up from the bottom."
"How about you throw a boulder for me sometime? You can do it in a field," Bella suggested.
"Okay. Maybe I could get Emmett to join me for a boulder-throwing contest," Edward said thoughtfully.
"That'd be fun to see," Bella said in a warm voice.
He ran his hand over her hair. He leaned forward to kiss her temple. "I really do miss being able to eat and digest human food. I'd give anything to have both again."
"Though you can't digest it, why don't you have some of my biscuit?" she asked.
"I couldn't do that, Bella. This is your breakfast," he said reluctantly.
She shook her head. "I don't mind. Besides, the next doctor or nurse who comes to check on me might get suspicious if you say you still aren't hungry later on."
Edward sighed heavily as he knew Bella was right. Though he hated the fact he'd have to cough the biscuit up, he wanted to eat it so much. After all, he loved eating biscuits his mother made during his days as a human. He nodded at her slowly.
"Okay. I'll eat that biscuit for you, Bella," Edward said and took the biscuit off the tray.
"Great," Bella said, sighing in relief. She watched him take a bite and chew it up. He swallowed and nodded in approval. "It's good?"
"This is the best biscuit I've tasted in so long," Edward said and bit into it again. He proceeded to chew. "It's got buttermilk in it. Mom was an expert at making buttermilk biscuits."
"How many did she usually make for a meal?" Bella asked curiously.
He finished chewing and swallowed. "She usually fixed six biscuits for breakfast or dinner. That was two for each person in the family. Sometimes, she fixed up to twelve biscuits."
She formed an awed look on her face. "Wow."
He finished eating the biscuit. He took the napkin and wiped crumbs off his mouth and chin. She placed a forkful of strawberries in her mouth and started chewing.
"As much as I loved that biscuit, I must cough it up," Edward said regretfully.
"I know," Bella answered sympathetically. She swallowed with a loud gulp. "You better hurry into the bathroom before someone comes in."
Edward nodded in agreement and stood up. He walked quickly into the bathroom. Bella picked up her juice and sipped it. She placed it down. Flushing sounded, followed by running water and spitting. He came out and returned to his chair.
"You want to watch some TV?" Edward asked.
"Mm-hmm," Bella replied.
Edward picked up the remote and turned on the TV. A newscaster spoke about Mike's crime. Bella put her hand over her mouth as she knew the story was out now. She wondered what the citizens could be saying about her if they had already figured out she was the victim or suspected it. She looked up at him.
"Edward, please change the channel," Bella pleaded.
"Okay," Edward said and changed the channel to one playing X2: X-Men United. The scene where Logan and Marie hugged as he returned to the Xavier Institute came on. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Me too. We may see that a number of times in the future," Bella mumbled sadly and choked back a sob.
"At least it made the news," Edward pointed out. "Perhaps someone will come forward with information about Mike's whereabouts."
"I hope so," Bella whispered and wiped the tears from eyes. "I dread the fact I use birth control getting out. People who side with me could turn on me and say I lied being about a virgin at the time of the rape. They could also say I lied about being raped."
"If those people turn on you just because they learned you were using birth control, then it's their loss. One thing is clear. I'll defend you when they say you're a liar," Edward declared.
"Thank you, Edward," Bella said in relief and held out her hand. He took it into his and kissed the back of it. She resumed eating her breakfast after he released his hold on her.
