A/N: As promised! The next few chapters will be pretty quick...like I said, I MISSED writing!

So, get to it! :)

All the usual:

Story Blog: (teasers, pics, songs & more!) linked in my profile.

Twitter: MarieCullen07 (come chat with me!)

PTB Editing Beta: TDS88

SM gets the priviledge of owning the characters; I just play in her sandbox! This you know!

I would almost be willing to bet my life that my feet are submerged in ice water, or even snow, they are so damn cold. I attempt to shift them further under the covers, but they won't move. In fact, all of my limbs feel oddly heavy, but I can wiggle my fingers, so that's a good sign. My head keeps telling the rest of my body to function, but it's as if there's some sort of a communication blockage.

Speaking of my head, the pounding that's going on in there compares to ninety thousand little elves picking away at my skull with their little…well, pick axes. And, what the hell is all that incessant beeping? Not helping.

Slowly, I crack my eyes open, only to swiftly squeeze them closed again. The brightness of the lights only increases the throbbing in my head. Somehow, though, I am able to get my arms to function and lay one across my face, yet I still can't manage to get my legs to work and my damn feet are freezing!

A voice calls out, but it's muffled, like it's underwater, and I can't determine who it is, or to whom they are speaking. It kind of reminds me of the old Peanuts cartoons…"whah-whah, whah-whah, whah-whah"…coupled with that damn beeping, and surely I am going to lose my mind if that shit doesn't stop.

Fuck. My head hurts.

Removing my arm from my face, I make another go at opening my eyes, only this time, wherever I am is now dark. I roll my head ever so slowly from side to side and take in my surroundings. It's not a room I am familiar with, and from what I can make out in the shadows, there is only the bed I am lying in and a small desk with a chair in the far corner near the door. There's a thin strip of light shining from beneath the door, offering just a faint glow across the dusty floorboards. I shiver slightly and take a deep breath. The room has a strange musty, woodsy aroma to it, like that of an old cabin in the woods that's been closed up for winter and badly needs to be aired out.

I let out a deep sigh and struggle to push myself up into a sitting position. My head spins as it continues to pound, and I press my palm to my forehead to ward off the dizzy spell. Once it subsides, I take another look at my surroundings.

There are no windows? Weird.

The beeping speeds up a fraction as I rise up off the bed. I stare down at my feet as if I can will them to move. Doesn't work obviously, so I slide a hand under one leg and move it to hang off the bed, before doing the same to the other.

Seriously? What's a girl gotta do to get some socks around here? Burr.

The weird voice comes again, slightly louder, from the other side of the door, and it's kind of creepy really. I debate with myself for a moment on whether or not I should try to stand on my "frozen" feet, or just call out to whoever is on the other side of the door. My stubbornness wins as I slowly and gingerly slide my feet closer to the floor. A painful, tingling, pin-prickling sensation shoots up my legs as my feet struggle to regain feeling. I shift more weight onto them, forcing them to "wake-up", hissing and gripping the side of the bed as the tingling worsens before eventually subsiding. With a death grip to the side of the bed, I force myself to place all of my weight on my legs and stand upright. It takes every ounce of will I have to fight the culmination of pain from top to bottom, starting with my head pounding and radiating down to my toes tingling.

Gradually, I move to the foot of the bed, bringing myself closer to the door. The ever-present beeping picks up in both volume and pace as I inch my way across the frigid floor. I hesitate before releasing my grip on the bed, and on shaky legs, I move towards the door. The cold metal of the doorknob sends shivers across my skin as I wrap my hand around it and twist.

With a loud creaking as the wood from the frame resists, I pull the door back and peer around the other side into a dimly lit hallway. It's long and narrow with another doorway at the end. With a hand pressed to the wall for support, my feet shuffle slowly and the muffled voice calls out again. Only this time, I would swear that it's my name mixed in with the words. My brow furrows in confusion, as I try to listen and break through the foggy sound for a clearer distinction.

"You're so stubborn," it says. "Why, Bella?"

I squeeze my eyes shut, grip the hair at my temple and shake my head slowly. I can't place the voice, but the concern and pain is evident. My heart twists empathetically as if I know the pain the voice is feeling too. As I remove my hand from my hair, I notice it's warm and moist. I glance down to see my hand covered in blood. The coppery metallic smell invades my nostrils and I slump into the wall as I am hit with another dizzy spell. I press my back up against it and slowly slide down, resting my still pounding head against it as I take slow, deep breaths.

Why is my head bleeding?

When the floor, and my head, stops spinning, I exhale slowly and open my eyes. The skull-piercing bright light is back and with a moan, I squeeze my eyes shut again.

"Bella? Baby, open your eyes," a velvety smooth voice whispers from beside me. I smile to myself with my eyes still closed. I like that voice. I like it a lot, in fact. Soft fingertips ghost down the side of my cheek and I turn my head into them letting out a sigh.

Almost simultaneously, my eyes open again and the beeping becomes a rapid staccato. As the figure in front of my face comes into focus, I let out a heavy gasp…all I see is crimson colored eyes.

No. Shit, please no. Not again. Red eyes?

OK, time to wake up, Bella.

Wake. Up!

I fucking hate this dream. Enough already!

"Bella? Can you hear me?" the smooth voice attached to the red eyes asks.

I cringe when the pressure in my head mimics a vice grip as the beeping speeds up and grows in volume. A hand gently grips mine, a thumb sliding back and forth across my knuckles. Slowly blinking my eyes and internally praying that this nightmare will end soon, I look back into the concerned face. As my vision clears, a kaleidoscope of colors swirls in his irises, eventually settling in a deep jade. The whites of his eyes are bloodshot and there are deep purple circles underlining the swollen red skin of his eyelids. I sigh softly when I realize I am finally awake. His expression is one of deep pain, and my brow furrows as our eyes lock.

Dammit, my head hurts.

I know his face, those eyes. I fight to break through the muddled fog in my head to make the connection.

"Hey, beautiful," he whispers softly. "Welcome back." He gently squeezes my hand between his and places a soft kiss to my knuckles. Warmth spreads up my arm at the contact of his lips to my skin, and I suddenly become aware of a few things.

First, I am in a hospital. It's cold and sterile, and too damn bright. Second, this man holding my hand like a lifeline to his sanity is…

"Edward," I croak; my throat dry and scratchy.

"Oh, Bella," he chokes out as he drops his head to the bed beside me. His shoulders shake with his sobs, and he lets out a deep sigh.

"Wh–what happened?"

Edward clears his throat and lifts his head meeting my gaze. He shifts his eyes back to our joined hands and then lifts his chin slightly. One hand slowly makes its way across my abdomen causing a third awareness to spring to the forefront of my thoughts.

My baby.

Tears sting my eyes and my heart clenches as I place my free hand on my swollen abdomen. Fear ricochets through my bones.

"Edward?" My voice is still hoarse, and I choke back a sob.

"She's fine, baby. You're both fine," he states with a rigid sense of relief. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was even holding and allow the tears to fall.

"What were you thinking, Bella?" he asks softly.

"I–I don't understand. What happened?" I respond, still fighting the confusion and fuck…the pain in my head.

"Well…I think you were trying to clean out the garage or something. I'm not real sure, but when I found you…" he shakes his head and closes his eyes tight, seemingly fighting a bad memory. "I don't know, Bella. You were on the ground, covered in blood. I've never…I was…God, I'm just so glad I got there when I did. I don't even know what…" His words and expression are breaking my heart.

I squeeze his hand as hard as I can manage and thread our fingers together across my stomach. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I rasp as the sobs take over. Edward rises from his chair and sits beside me on the bed, then wraps his arms under and around me, pulling me up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Shhhh," he soothes, stroking his hand down my back. "You're okay. Everything is fine. Just relax, baby."

After a few calming breaths, I pull back to look into his beautiful eyes. They are laced with worry and pain, making me feel even worse. At this point, I realize that there are two distinctly different beeps sounding through the room. I place a hand on my head, immediately aware of a bandage where the throbbing is originating.

"Ow," I whisper.

"Yeah, you hit your head. You lost a lot of blood, too. You scared the shit out of me, baby."

"What's with all the damn beeping? My head can't take it."

He runs his fingers softly over my bandage. "Let me call the nurse and see if they can give you something for the pain. But, I'm pretty sure they can't stop the beeps. One is your heart and the other…" he takes and releases a deep breath "…the other is the baby's heart monitor." He looks solemnly into my eyes. I cup his jaw with my hand and press my lips to his. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me hard against him; his desperation and relief is evident in his hold and his kiss.

He releases and slowly lowers me against the bed before he stands, still holding my hand. "I'll go get the nurse and let them know you're awake and in pain." He pauses, staring hard into my eyes as if trying to make sure I am real. "Then we'll talk more about what happened, okay?"

I nod, unable to speak past the lump in my throat as he turns to leave the room. I close my eyes and try hard to remember the events that led up to this point. What was I doing? And why? I close my eyes and wrap my arms around my swollen tummy.

Thank God, she's okay.

A deep throat clearing startles me and I open my eyes to find my dad standing in the doorway of my room.

"Daddy?" I question through a sob.

His shoulders are slumped with his hands in his pockets. He raises his chin, and his eyes are just as red and swollen as Edward's. My heart begins to break all over again.

I'm so stupid for doing this to the two most important men in my life.

He blows a breath through his lips and rubs his hand across the back of his neck. "You gave us quite a scare, kiddo," he says.

"I'm so sorry, daddy," I choke out.

He moves to stand beside my bed and takes my hand in both of his. "Yeah, well, don't ever do that to me again. Ever."

I shake my head as I drop my chin to my chest. We remain silent until Edward and a nurse return. The gravity of the situation weighs heavily in the room. So much could have been lost to all of us…myself included. I could have been lost to both of them.

So stupid.

The nurse doesn't say much as she checks the monitors and reviews my chart. She then removes a syringe from her pocket and injects a medication into my IV. "This should help with the pain, Miss Swan. It may also make you a little drowsy, so please don't try and get out of the bed without any assistance."

I nod and shift my eyes to Edward. He's standing at the foot of my bed with his arms folded across his chest. His posture is one of exhaustion and I suddenly wonder how long I was out. After she leaves the room, I voice that silent question.

"How long was I…um…?" I cautiously ask Edward.

He sighs. "About thirty-six hours." He resumes his spot on my side of the bed; Charlie remains on the other. "Bella, I really need to know what you were thinking?"

Shame and guilt wash over me. My brow crinkles as I force myself to remember as best I can. "I don't remember specifically, just that I was trying to get some boxes to pack up the spare bedroom." I pause for a moment, looking back and forth between their hands as they hold mine. "I remember finding them in the back, behind our old couch, but not much else. I don't remember what happened that lead to me hitting my head."

"Well, the doctor said that it may take a little while for you to recount everything that happened," Charlie says softly. "We're just glad you're both okay."

Edward flashes a small smile my way, and we all collectively take a breath of solace. As my eyelids begin to droop, I squeeze both of their hands before asking, "Can I get some socks? My feet are freezing."

That earns a chuckle from both men and then Edward releases my hand. I must have dozed off after that, for the next time I am aware of anything, my feet are toasty warm and it's dark in the room, as well as outside. I roll to my side–the pounding in my head isn't quite as bad as it was–tuck the covers under my chin and drift off again.

EPOV

Another forty-eight hours pass before the doctor allows Bella to be released. Charlie is leaving in the morning, and I feel bad because most of his visit we've spent at the hospital with her. This afternoon, once we got Bella home and resting on the couch, I fired up the grill to cook a good meal for us, since we've been living on hospital and fast food for days.

Emmett and Rose ended up waiting until yesterday to drive down. Rose wasn't too thrilled about it, as she wanted to be at Bella's bedside, but Charlie was able to convince her to wait and come take care of her once she was home. She's been an angel since arriving, too. Both her and Em cleaned up the mess in the garage and washed out the blood. Something I couldn't bring myself to even go near after I found Bella, so the mess remained until they arrived.

With her resting on the couch–and being mercilessly doted on by Rose–I grab the steaks from the fridge along with a few ears of corn and head out to the patio to start dinner. Em joins me, grabbing two beers from the cooler and handing me one before taking a seat at the wooden table and opening his own.

"So, how ya doin', man?" he asks after he takes a sip.

I shrug as I place the steaks over the heat. "I don't know, Em. I've never been so scared…about anything…in my entire life. I mean, they almost…" I can't even finish that sentence. Finding Bella that way was just…world altering. There was a moment, while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, where I seriously contemplated what I would do if she…died. I shake my head to rid the sordid thoughts.

She's fine. The baby's fine.

"Yeah. I get it. But they're all right, bro. You can't let yourself keep thinking about 'what if'. It'll drive ya crazy, ya know?"

"Yeah," I reluctantly respond. I try to distract myself with the grilling, but my thoughts still drift back to what I saw when I found her. Fuck. I close the grill cover and pick up my beer. About that same time, Charlie steps out the back door to join us. I turn and lean over the railing of the balcony as I take a long swig, and Emmett hands Charlie one of his own from the cooler.

He and I haven't really spoken too much since he arrived. Maybe five minutes after I called for the ambulance, his cab pulled up to the house. He practically sprinted up to the garage when he saw me hovering, and as he took in the sight of Bella and I covered in blood on the floor of the garage, he turned pale as a Goddamn ghost. I knew exactly what was going through his mind, because it was the same that was going through mine.

Once the paramedics had arrived and loaded her into the rig, he took my keys and followed us to the hospital. He found out that the baby was a "she" from the doctor once Bella was stabilized, and while that wasn't exactly how we wanted to let him know, he does and still has yet to comment to either one of us on it.

Charlie slides up next to me on the balcony as we stare out at the ocean. He raises his beer to his mouth and takes a long pull before releasing it and leaning his forearms on the railing. We stand in contemplative silence for a few minutes, watching the waves rise and fall from the shore as we sip our beers.

"So, Edward…a daughter, huh?" he asks with a twitch of his moustache covered lip and still looking out over the sand and surf.

"A daughter," I retort with a smirk of my own. This should be good.

He turns to face me and claps me hard on the back with the shake of his head. His chin drops to his chest and he chuckles softly. "Well, I hope you're ready, son."

I raise my eyebrows in question and peer at him from the corner of my eye. I don't really have a response to that particular statement. I was actually looking forward to something to this effect from him–prior to recent events, anyway. I knew Charlie would get some sort of enjoyment from it.

"Yeah," he says with a long sigh, turning back to the water and appearing lost in thought. "I hope you're ready for your world to be completely flipped upside-down. Ready to be completely paranoid for no good reason, other than she is just asleep down the hall. I hope you're ready to worry about her every single second of every day, because she carries a piece of your heart around with her wherever she goes. Ready to contain yourself, because you'll have the urge to hurt, or even kill, anyone that hurts her." He pauses at that, still not making eye contact and takes another pull from his beer. "But mostly…I really hope you can be ready for the day she comes to you and tells you that she's in love…and suddenly, you're no longer the most important man in her life."

He pauses again and turns back to me. Our eyes lock. "Yeah, Edward. I hope you're ready."

Emmett attempts to hide a chuckle behind his hand.

I swallow hard.

Well fuck me.

End Notes:

Oh ye readers of little faith! lol Did you REALLY think I would let something terrible happen to our Bella? This event came together as an "option" when I wrote that dream chapter for the first time...it was the lesser of all the evils...promise!

See ya soon!

xoxox