Chapter 43

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Beeping filled the room as Bella's eyes fluttered open, immediately closing as the harsh lights invaded them. "Bella?" Renee asked as she saw her daughter move, more than she had the last few days. "Bella?" She whispered, wondering is she had imagined her daughter waking, but sighed in relief as the brunette blinked. "Mom?" "Hey." "Where are they? Where's- where's Edward? Lia?" She asked.

"He's asleep. He hasn't moved for a while. Poor guy. He's been going back and forth between rooms since you both got admitted." Renee told her daughter. "Lia, where's Lia?" "She's in a room down the hall sweetheart. And your dad, he's down at the cafeteria." "What happened?" Bella asked, not truly remembering everything.

"Well, when you fell, you broke your leg, and you lost a lot of blood. You even brought Cori down with you. You don't remember any of this, do you?" Renee asked and Bella shook her head.

"Edward came down with his dad, to try to convince you both to come back to Forks. You went over to their hotel, Cori was hesitant, but then you tripped, bringing Cori down with you, and you both fell down two flights of stairs, Cori went through a window and dropped two stories." Renée informed her.

"Yeah, that sounds like us. How is she?"Bella said lightly, wincing at the thought of the redheaded girl in any worse shape than she was. "She's still in a coma baby. She cracked her skull, has brain swelling, and has a broken arm and hand. That's all we know right now." Renee told her as her phone vibrated, her flipping it open to text her husband.

"It's Phil. He's so worried about you." "You're texting." Bella said amazed. "Finally, yeah. I told him to stay down in Florida. Oh honey, you are gonna love Jacksonville. It's sunny everyday, and we found the cutest little house, and you've got your own bathroom-" "Mom, I still wanna live in Forks."Bella interrupted. "What?" "I wanna live in Forks." Bella told her mother. "Well, okay, but we'll talk about it." "Do you mind getting dad? I have to talk to him. Apologize." "Okay baby. I'll go get him." Renee told her, kissing her head, "And I'll go get a nurse,okay?" "Okay."

Once Renee was out of the room, Edward's head came up, looking at Bella. "So what happened?" Bella asked, "Where's James?" "We took care of it. And the woman, Victoria, she ran off." "I'm alive because of you. You and Lia." "No, you're in here because of me." Edward said shaking his head, "The worst part of it was that, I didn't think I was gonna be able to stop. I couldn't even help Cori." He said, sorrow being hidden in his eyes. "But you did stop and you did help." "Bella, you've gotta go to Jacksonville so I can't hurt you any more." Edward told her.

"What? Are you... No! No! I don't even know what you're... How... What are you, what are you talking about? You want me to go away? I can't... No, I can't... I can't just leave you both. I..."

"I know." Edward told her, regret in his eyes. "We can't be apart, either of us. I need both of you. You can't leave me." Bella told him. "I'm here." He said and she nodded. "Okay, just don't... You just can't say stuff like that to me. Ever. Not Lia either. She almost had two panic attacks being away from you. We need you." She told him as she breathed out, relaxing a bit back into her pillows.

"Where else am I gonna go?" He asked as he kissed her on the forehead. "How's Lia?" Bella asked. "I don't know." "What? You don't know?" "Her father, he doesn't like me. He thinks I cheated on her, and won't take my word for it that I didn't. Even Carlisle tried." "He can hear what the doctor's are saying right? What does it seem like?" Bella asked and Edwards face was hesitant.

"Edward." "They still don't know. They don't know how long she was out for, or anything of the variables. She hasn't shown any sign of improvement in two days." "What does that mean?" "It means for right now she stays in the ICU."

🩸
Big Time Skip

"You know Chief, your house isn't really made for wheel chairs." Cori said as she stood from her mobile chair, Edward rushing to her side as she got light headed.

"You only got a few more weeks in that thing, yeah?" He asked. "Yeah, but the doc says if my mobility is back to normal, I may have to go on a walker, but we'll take it a week at a time. I've got pt next week, so we'll see." "Do you really think going to prom is such a good idea?" Charlie asked as he glanced in at her wheelchair. "I'm not dressed up like Barbie to go to bed. Plus, Edward and Bella will take good care of me." She said with a smile as she looked to her boyfriend. "Heard that before." Charlie grumbled under his breath.

Hearing the thumping of Bella's boot against the wood of the stairs, the three made their way towards the stairs

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Hearing the thumping of Bella's boot against the wood of the stairs, the three made their way towards the stairs. Cori's mouth dropped open and so did Bella's as they saw each other for the first time. "You look beautiful." They both said at the same time, both of their cheeks turning pink as Cori began to lean on Edward more. He supported her, knowing there was a possibility that she could pass out as it was still happening, more frequently than they would like.

"Alice lent me the dress. The cast is..." "Your perfect. You're both perfect." Edward told them as he kissed Cori's head. Charlie looked over to him, rolling his eyes slightly. "I'll take care of them Chief Swan." "Yeah, I've heard that before." Charlie said out loud, Bella and Cori looking at the man with wide eyes.

Edward opened the door, helping Cori to her wheel chair as he prepared to help her out to the car. "Ah, Bells." The chief stopped his daughter, allowing the other two to head out. "I put a new can of pepper spray in your bag." "Dad!" "And um, well, you look beautiful." He told her and she smiled lightly. "Thanks. See you." She said as she headed out towards the car, catching the end of Edward and Cori's conversation.

"You're not popular with dads at the moment." Cori said with a smile. "At least Charlie hasn't threatened to shoot me." "Not yet." Cori said with a grin.

There was a pause in words until Edward spoke. "Are you sure you're ready for this? This is the first time you're seeing everybody since everything happened." "Yeah. Better now than never. I mean, I did have actual brain surgery, but you know. Just don't let me fall." She said. "Never." He told her as Bella came up.

"Ready to get your boogie on Bells?" "Yeah, no. I think I'll stick on the side lines." She told the red head, and Cori laughed. "Solid choice. At least we can't fall out any windows there."

A/N: as we are getting towards the end of twilight, I wanted to say thank you for getting this story to 31k views. I never thought that would ever happen. I appreciate every single one of you! Much love ~ D

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