338Edward POV:
"Edward?" I turned away from Bella for a moment, Esme had left me to my thoughts a few hours ago, and it was Carlisle who spoke.
"Yes?"
"It's over," and I heard her heart beat faster, faster than it had in this whole process. . .and stop.
No one moved, no one breathed. We all waited there, all eyes trained on her still, perfectly quiet form.
"Bella? My love?" and her eyes fluttered open suddenly.
"Edward," she whispered.
Bella POV:
It was disorienting to say the least, but it was so beautiful, every piece of microscopic dust, I saw it with perfect clarity, the starlight streaming through the window, the lines in the paint, but the most beautiful of all...was the man before me…my Edward.
"Edward," he let out one maniacal sob and pulled me to his chest with such force that I literally lost my breath. Every instinct in this new body told me to pull away, to fight, but I clung him to him with a force I didn't even know I could possess, even in this strange, new body, and cried with him…but they weren't sad tears, or lack of tears, they were of…happiness. Such a strange feeling, the future looked up for the first time in what felt like an eternity, the road would be hard, very hard, but we'd be together, all of us.
"I love you, Bella. I love you so much, darling, so much. So much, so, so, so much," he was shaking with the intensity of his sobs and it scared me a little.
"It's okay, Edward, I'm here, I'll always be here, everything's gonna be okay, I love you, too, always, for eternity," he calmed somewhat, and when he finally looked up at me, into my eyes, I felt the full force of that love, his love, my love, our love, all of it was held in our gaze. And the adoration in his eyes told me that we would be okay.
His hand came up to stroke my face and his thumb rubbed softly over my eye lid, I closed my eyes and leaned in to his touch.
"Oh, Bella," his words were as caressing as his hands on my face. I opened my eyes to look into those black orbs, and missed the gold that was usually there.
"You need to hunt," I frowned at him; I didn't want him to be thirsty. He let out a loud laugh, the first laugh I'd heard in months.
"I need to hunt?!" he kept laughing, not that I was complaining, I loved his laugh, but I didn't get what was so funny.
"Yes?" I looked over at Carlisle who looked like he was also hiding laughter, Emmett was not being so polite, but Carlisle seemed to be pondering something in those ancient eyes of his.
"What about you? You're not thirsty?" Edward looked at me incredulously, that smirk still on his face. I thought about it for a moment, I suppose I was thirsty, there was a burning at the back of my throat, and it itched a bit, but nothing unbearable, which was not what I had expected at all.
"I guess so?" I was still trying to figure out why I felt so normal.
"You guess so?" now he just looked incredulous. I nodded.
I did not appreciate the staring; everyone was staring at me, wide eyed and jaws touching the floor.
"What?" I was irritated at their behavior, and wondered if it was because of that newborn temper I'd heard so much about, but then realized I would have been just as irritated had I been human.
"You guess?" it was Emmett who spoke now.
"Yeah, I guess," his mouth hung a little lower.
"Well, this is odd," I looked over at Carlisle, the speed at which I moved my head should have made the room blur but everything was crystal clear.
"Odd?"
"I've never seen a newborn with such restraint. Edward, maybe you should take her hunting, you both need it anyway, keep her out of the way of humans, I don't want to put her into temptations way, though it would appear she is very controlled, I'd rather not take chances," he was staring with polite interest at me as he spoke.
"Okay, Carlisle. Come one, love," he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the bed. "You should get dressed," I nodded, I was still wearing my shorts and tank-top, kissed him quickly, though it took quite a bit of restraint to pull away, and Edward chuckled at my resistance to move a human would have missed, and the glare I shot Emmet and his insulting mouth kept him and his sex jokes where they belonged, inside of his head, and went into the ridiculously huge closet that Alice kept for us, despite the limited amount of time we spent here, to change.
I heard Emmett and Carlisle leave the room, which surprised me, because I had been sure that vampires made no sound when they walked.
"Edward?" I called, and he came in.
"Yes, darling?" he asked politely, appearing out of this air, though I had seen every movement, as if I was not standing there in my bra and underwear, though I suppose he had seen me in less…
"Is there anything in particular I should wear?" I asked, a little baffled as to if there was such thing as proper hunting attire. He laughed at me…again. I glared.
"No, this is your first time, so you'll probably end up ruining whatever it is you're wearing anyway," he smiled, trying to contain his laughter.
"Hmmm," ruin, huh? Maybe….Edward's phone rang.
"Hello, Alice."
"DON'T LET HER, EDWARD!" drat! So she'd seen my plan.
"Let her do what?" he was clearly confused.
"She can't wear the Armani dress! She can't! Don't let her! She'll destroy it!"
"Wha-oh, oh, I see," he smiled.
"EDWARD CULLEN, DON'T YOU DARE! I SPENT HOURS LOOKING FOR THOSE SHOES!" he chuckled.
"Well, we should be going now, Alice. We'll see you later."
"NO, WAIT-," but he had hung up on her.
"I know exactly what you should wear, love," he smiled mischievously.
"What?" my tone was playful.
He went over to the rack in the far back corner, one I avoided at all costs because of the ridiculous satin articles that lay hidden there like snakes in the grass, and pulled out the dress that Alice had bought for me, one I had refused and fought over more than anything else she bought me because of the ridiculous amount of skin showing, though if I was being honest it wasn't that much, it was just I was too insecure to wear something like that, but if it could have been worse, which it was, the dress was Armani…and I was honestly too scared to look at the price tag. He proceeded to go over to the shoe rack and pull out the four-inch stiletto heels that had been purchased the same day as that horrendous dress, and walk back over to me so I could put them on.
"Now, as wonderful as I imagine you would look in that, I can't help but take the opportunity to bug Alice, so at least I'll get to see you in it for a little while," he smiled, and I felt myself quite content to stay in what I was already wearing…if he were wearing as little as I…
"Um, Edward," this was going to sound so silly.
"Yes, love?"
"Stilettos?"
"I promise you, you could do cart-wheels in those, running will be no problem," he smirked at my ludicrousness.
"But I thought we were trying to ruin them," I raised my eyebrows.
"We'll get around to it, I promise," that crooked smile I loved so much lit up his perfect face.
"Okay, I trust you," and I got dressed.
Third Person POV:
The white room was as comforting as a hospital room could be. The heart monitor beeped, a steady, consistent pace, and it was the saddest thing in the world that it was the machines keeping it that way.
The nurse had left long ago, coming into check on the poor girl every few hours. She almost wanted to be mad at the girl's parents, for leaving her so long, but then remembered that the pair of them had not the left the hospital, had barely even left the room, in nearly three months, and any traces of anger were gone, because she knew that whatever was keeping them was crucially important, or perhaps it was their family keeping them away, god knows how hard they tried to get them to just get some fresh air. Also, she remembered they had another little girl, no more than a year old, if that, and knew they must feel terribly guilty for neglecting her.
The little girl would not make it; everyone in the hospital knew this, every doctor, every nurse, every patient and receptionist. The little girl was not going to survive. Every person there knew the family personally in one way or another. The mother's family had been a staple of life here, always donating money, to schools, charities, national parks, the very hospital they were in now. The all knew the little girl's mother, many of the older women had baby-sat her as a child, she had been sweet, and oh so wise for her age. They remembered when she'd mistakenly married that mooching low-life…and when he left her and their sick child. The happiness that had shined for the smallest of moments when she'd found the man she loved like no one had ever loved before. They all approved of him, they knew him, too. The twenty-six year old prodigy, graduated med-school two years early, best surgeon in the state, the country, in fact, alongside his adopted father. He had never dated, though the young nurses were always throwing themselves on him, and the older staff members had been overjoyed when he'd fallen for the girl they all loved like their own…and became the father to her girls they'd needed and been deprived of their whole lives. They'd all noticed the changes in him, how happy he seemed, like the three of them gave him purpose, a reason to carry on, and he loved them like no man had ever loved…and the empty look in both of their eyes as they watched their daughter, because she was his daughter, deteriorate and whither before them, knowing, without a doubt, that they were going to lose her.
The nurse sat there next to the girl, holding her hand, praying that somehow she could escape this fate, that the innocent little girl did not have to die, and knowing her efforts were useless.
As she was getting up to leave, her break was almost over, she heard the door open, and there stood two people she barely recognized, because they had not been this determined three days ago.
"Dr. Cullen? Mrs. C-Ms. Swan?" she kept forgetting they weren't married.
"Thank you, Susan. We can't thank you enough for staying with her," the sincerity in his voice was impossible to doubt.
"It's not a problem, anyone here would have done the same," the elderly nurse was sure of this.
"Could you excuse us for a minute, Susan? We'd like a minute with her?" the voice startled her, it was so different than the one she'd heard just three days ago, and had the old nurse not been blinded by the determination and fierce…hope set in her eyes she would have seen the incredible and amazing difference in that mother's face.
It had not been an hour since Susan walked out of the room when she saw the pair of them in each other's arms outside the hospital room they'd occupied for the past three months. They were sobbing, his face was buried in her hair and she hid hers in his chest, there bodies' shook with an intensity that had every parent in the vicinity praying desperately they would be spared the pain the couple were experiencing now.
"Dr. Green, did Aurora…" but she could not finish the sentence. She didn't want to know the answer, but already did…
"They just pulled the plug on the life-support, she died five minutes ago," tears came to the nurse's eyes and she wept silently for them.
"Has Mr. and Mrs. Swan been-,"
"Ms. Swan requested that she tell her herself," Susan nodded, but didn't understand; Renee and her daughter had not spoken in months, and now did not seem like a likely time for them to reconcile.
"Edward," he looked back at her, hesitating at the sound of her voice to get out of the car.
"Yes, my love?" his thumb ran over her quivering bottom lip.
"What if I'm not strong enough for this?" her voice held all the fear she bore, and more, because she bore everyone else's as well.
"Sweetheart, if you couldn't handle this you wouldn't be here, no one would've let you come, but Alice can see that it's going to be fine, you have more restraint at hours old than some of us do at decades. Bella, you're going to be fine," he reassured her, but it didn't do much, and he could see that even through the brown contacts she wore.
"Love, look at me, I'll make you a deal, the second you think it's to much for you to handle just tell me and I'll get you out of there, I promise," these words offered comfort, because he had yet to break a promise to her.
"Okay," she tried to smile, but it came out sort of like a grimace, but he appreciated the gesture all the same, he found it hard to smile as well.
"Let's do this then," and he opened her door for her and they walked hand in hand through the rain to the hospital doors and up the elevator to the pediatrics floor.
Author's Note: I kinda went back and forth with this chapter, hopefully it comes together next chapter, it just came out this way and I think it fits, it's not my best work, well, in my opinion, but I'll leave that to you to judge, so review, 'cause otherwise I won't know what you think of it. : ) : ) : )
P.S. The lines aren't necessarily scene breaks, after third person POV most of them are because the mood has changed and I want to separate the emotions, it fit better that way.