BPOV
PRESENT TIME
Taking a long hot shower soothes my muscles only so much until I give up on trying to relax when I hear the bathroom door open and close. Clothes fall to the floor before Jasper steps into the shower with me where I allow my body to relax in his presence. He gazes at me with heated hooded eyes as he takes a step under the spray of water to allow the water to run over his head. His hand reaches up carefully to cup the side of my face, his fingers curling to the nape of my neck while his thumb strokes my cheek and we meet in the middle to press our lips together.
I sigh contently. "I love you," I whisper.
"I love you, too," he replies while peppering kisses all over my face.
We finish our shower with light touches and several kisses that make my toes curl before we step out to dry off. Jasper insists on drying my hair all the while leaving intoxicating wet kisses all down my neck and shoulders. Dropping the towel when he deems my hair dry enough, he turns me around and lifts me up into his arms where he attacks my mouth. I moan softly as my limbs wrap around his body, my hands coming up to tangle themselves in his own hair.
The walk to the bedroom is short but it takes way too long for my liking for him to lay us down in bed. My hands go to try to take off his towel, but I am instantly met with hands blocking my way making me let out a disapproving noise.
"Just you, darlin," he pants when he yanks his mouth away from mine. "Let me make you feel good," his mouth is then placing open mouthed kisses on every inch of skin he can reach without moving.
"But- "I try to protest.
His mouth covers my own once more, his tongue shooting out to taste my bottom lip so I grant him access.
-O- -O-
"Continue where you left off," says the attorney in a bored tone.
THREE YEARS AGO
"Come on, darlin," says a voice softly. "Wake up and let me see those beautiful eyes."
Why are my eyelids so heavy? God my body feels like it's been run over by a truck, I swear it has been- that's gotta be the only explanation. I feel my hand twitch, but I can't seem to do much else.
"That's it, darlin, go slowly and come back to your senses," says the voice again.
It reminds me of smooth honey, weird. There is an annoying beeping sound going on and by the smell around me I know I'm in a hospital, but I don't know how I ended up here. Okay, let me try my eyes this time. Ugh, someone turn the light off! A chuckle sounds from beside me, but I hear a soft click, so I try once more to open my eyes. Much better now that I am not being blinded. Lifting my hand to my face, I dig the sleep crust out of the corner of my eyes before laying my hand back down. My hand feels weird. Looking to my hand, I notice I have a death grip of someone else's hand in my own.
Slowly, I let my eyes follow the hand to the arm and then to the shoulder and finally to the face of the person. He's got striking blue eyes- tired looking, blonde curly hair almost down to his shoulders, with some facial hair growing on what looks to be a normally shaved face. Why does he look familiar?
"Do you remember me, Bella?" the honey like voice asks me after moments of silence.
I blink a few times before opening my mouth to try to speak only to be met with violent coughing and dry mouth. Another movement in the room panics me but the man next to me soothes me much like a toddler.
"This is Dr. Lee," Honey voice tells me as the said man holds out a cup with a straw in it for me take. "Here," he takes the cup from Dr. Lee and slowly places the straw up to my mouth. I don't budge. Honey voice frowns.
"Show her I didn't do anything do it," Dr. Lee says.
Honey voice places the cup down on the tray beside him before covering the tip of the straw with his pointer finger and lifting the straw. Tilting his head back, he hovers the straw over his opened mouth where he uncovers the top of the straw to release the liquid into his mouth. He then proceeds to show me that he's swallowed said liquid before placing the straw back into the cup and trying again. I still hesitate but I eventually open my mouth which seems to relieve him. Sucking in the liquid, I realize how thirsty I had been, and it's gone quickly after.
Setting the cup back down on the tray, Honey voice turns back to me. "Do you remember me?"
This time when I open my mouth to speak, I am able to. "Home," I rasp out.
He nods. "That's right. I'm Detective Jasper Whitlock and I work special cases like yours. Do you remember what happened three nights ago?"
I clear my throat, swallowing the ever-growing lump. "Where's Edward?"
Silence. Jaspers eyes dart to Dr. Lee then back to me not seeming to know if he should tell me or not.
"Answer me!" I cry out angrily as the monitors begin going haywire.
"Bella," Dr. Lee says softly making my eyes turn to him, "I'm sorry, but your husband didn't make it."
"I want to see him," I demand. I have to see what those monsters did to my husband. I have to tell him how sorry I am and how much I love him. Jasper opens his mouth to say something however I don't let him. "I'll tell you everything; but not until I see him."
"I'll get a nurse to help you clean up a bit and moving around," the doctor tells me. "You should know the extent of your injuries though." When I stay silent, he tells me everything.
A female nurse walks in with a change of clothes and some bathroom necessities while the doctor makes his way out of the room and Jasper attempts to stand up. I panic.
"No! Don't leave me!" I shout hurriedly.
"Darlin, I'm not going anywhere, I promise," Jasper sits back down rubbing soothing circles on my hand. "Letty is going to help you gather yourself and I promise you don't want me around for that. I need to make a phone call while you get ready, I'll be right outside of the room and Letty will let me know when you're ready for me to come back in."
"That's right, Bella," says the nurse named Letty. "I'll make sure as soon as you're cleaned up and in these stylish comfy sweats ready, he's coming right back."
"I haven't left you yet, darlin," Jasper says softly. "I'm not gonna start breaking my promises now."
Looking down at where I have my hand tightly grasping his own and slowly yet still painfully uncurl my fingers from his with his help. Gently Jasper massages my hand before laying it on the bed flatly.
-O- -O-
In the bathroom, Letty the nurse helps me clean up as much as possible after my breakdown when I saw myself in the mirror. There isn't anything on me that isn't left untouched from ugly bruising or stitches. The nastiest cut goes from between the valley of my breasts all the way down to the fupa. Several other cuts and scrapes litter my body, some of them not needing to be stitched up but sure to leave scarring, make me vomit.
"Here," Letty says softly when I'm finished. "I'm sorry this happened to you, nobody deserves this."
I say nothing, instead I just take the unopened mouth wash and begin gurgling. It takes thirty minutes to get out of the bathroom and into the bedside chair where I can feel the beginnings of the pain medication begin to wear off.
"I'll go get Detective Whitlock for you and a wheelchair."
Closing my eyes, I begin to have flashes of that horrendous night appear behind my eyelids. I'm not sure when Jasper came walking back in, but he is kneeled in front of me, his hands grasping my good one when my eyes shoot back open.
"Concentrate on me," he gently says. "Only on me. Feel your feet on the floor- can you do that, Bella?" Can I do that? I shift a bit not realizing that I'm in a full-blown panic attack until now. "That's good, now feel your hand in mine and concentrate on that feeling. There you go, darlin, that's it. Just take deep breaths and ground yourself back down to me," his hand continues to make soothing circles on my hand, never stopping. I finally calm down. "There's those chocolate orbs," he smiles softly.
"I don't know what happened," I say sniffling wiping harshly at my face with my sprained hand.
"Hey, let's not hurt yourself more," he says grabbing my hand firmly in one of his before using his own to wipe my face.
"I'm sorry," I apologize.
"Don't be."
Just then the nurse comes walking in with a wheelchair in tow and a grim look on her face that she quickly replaces when I look at her.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Bella?" Jasper asks with something in his voice I can't point out with my frame of mind. I turn back to him and something in my eyes must tell him what he needs to know as he nods and whispers, "Okay."
A/N: Okay, so I shortened this chapter so that way I could fit everything I wanted to with going into the morgue all in one go instead of over doing it in this chapter or cutting it off in the middle. Let me know what you guys think!
-bellacullen166