Black & Blue |C. Cullen|

TWELVE

My eyes fluttered open to a blinding white light coming down from the ceiling. I looked around in a dazed state as I was still hooked up with pain medication. My eyes landed on a blurry figure with short, black hair. I squinted to attempt to see clearer, I couldn't figure out why everything was so blurry.

"Here," the figure spoke and put my glasses back on, the figure was Alice.

"Oh my god, Alice," I slurred. "You're so pretty," I lazily grabbed her arm, "I mean, so pretty."

"I see you're doing well," she giggled at my reaction to the drugs.

"Oh my god, you have to see something," I scrambled around and looked for my patient file for Abby. "Look, look, look, it's my baby," I showed her the picture.

"Jessie, you're a mess," she laughed and reached for my file to place it back on the side table.

Alice's eyes went from me to a person standing by the door, she stood up and started walking over to them.

"No, don't go," I reached for her a little theatrically, but once I saw who she was walking towards, I put my arms down. Carlisle walked towards me and placed a kiss on my forehead. "You're so beautiful," I looked up at him.

"As are you, love," he smiled and checked the monitor off to my left.

After another day, I was allowed to leave. Alice brought me a change of clothes to leave in; loose sweats, a loose tank top, and some flip flops. I tied my hair into a loose bun and grabbed my things off of the side table, including the patient charts I was still going over. Rosalie drove me home and made sure I got into the house all right, she was really caring for me; something she was not for Bella.

As soon as I got into my house, I locked the door behind me and went straight to the kitchen. I turned my music on to a louder level, the first song I played was Footloose, and I grabbed a snack pack and a spoon and started to eat it while dancing around in my bare feet. I turned around while dancing with the spoon in my mouth and I saw Carlisle standing there with a smile on his face.

I swear I jumped five feet in the air, then I hunched over and placed my hands on my thighs. "I should be used to this," I laughed.

"How are you feeling?" He held me close.

"Much better than two days ago, that's for sure," I kissed his cheek and then went back to eating my snack.

"Alice wants to know if you're coming over for Bella's birthday tonight," He whispered as he kissed my cheek.

"Tell her yes, but don't tell her that I can't wear heels, I don't want to be attacked," I laughed and turned around to throw my trash away and wash my spoon. "When is it?"

"In about two hours," he replied and leant against the kitchen counter.

"She'll kill me if I go in sweats," I let my head fall backwards as I was turning on my heel to go to my bedroom. I rummaged through my closet and found a comfortable pair of jeans, I kept the tank top the same. I stopped in front of the mirror and lifted the shirt. My entire abdomen was still a purplish colour, I looked at it for a while.

Carlisle wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. "I hope this goes away soon," I said.

"It should, it was deeper bruising, but it should start to lighten up within a week," he soothed.

"And then no more reminders," I smiled.

He kissed my cheek once more, "Are you ready to go?"

"I am," I turned towards him and hugged him before we both walked out of my house together. I locked up and he drove us to his home. As soon as we got there, I made my way to the fridge and pulled out one of my teas. I had brought over a whole bunch of Peace Tea the last time I was there. I opened the can and stood next to Carlisle.

Alice took one look at me, wearing no shoes and my hair being in a bun, "Oh my god, Jessamine, follow me," she took my wrist and pulled me towards the stairs.

"Nothing fancy, I'm two days post-op," I yawned and sipped at my drink.

She sat me in front of her mirror and started to mess with my hair. She curled it quickly with a curling iron and then placed a crown braid in it. She put me in leggings that looked like jeans- we were the same size. Then she put me in a short sleeve denim jacket and sent me back downstairs.

I walked back to Carlisle with my tea in my hand, he was smiling at me, "I guess she got you after all."

"She let me get away with just wearing socks," I kicked my leg high up in the air to show off my socks.

"Jess, I didn't know you were that flexible," Bella's eyes were wide as she stepped down the stairs.

"Girl, when you take ballet in an academy from 3 years to 18 years, you get flexible," I showcased by pulling my leg up in a hyperextended needle stretch. I dropped my leg when I realised there were more people in the living room and I stepped closer to Carlisle, he put his arm around me as we watched Bella open her gifts.

"It's a necklace," Rosalie held out a bracelet to Bella.

The next gift was thrown to Bella, who actually caught it. It was empty, she shook it and gave a confused look to Emmett who told her, "Already installed it in your truck, finally a decent sound system for that piece of-"

"Don't hate the truck," Bella cut him off and everyone laughed.

"This next one is from Esme and Derek," Alice handed her a skinny package.

"Just a little something to brighten your day," Derek commented with a smile.

"We've noticed you've been looking a little pale lately," Esme chimed in.

Bella slid her finger under the tape to open the package, while doing so, she managed to give herself a paper cut. Jasper lunged toward her, not being able to control his bloodlust, and Edward pushed her back into the table behind him. Carlisle and Emmett went to restrain Jasper and I rushed over to Bella who was pulling glass out of her arm.

I knelt down next to her and looked over her arm. I may have been a vet, but I still understood the basic concepts of glass being in a wound. "Shh, shh, Jasper, it's okay. It's just a little... blood," she turned to see Bella crouched down on the floor with blood pouring from her arm. Jasper, Emmett, and Rose all ran for the hills. Alice stayed for a moment but turned around, "I'm sorry, I can't," and she ran as well.

Edward looked at Bella with a pained expression before darting off as well. Carlisle tended to her arm and brought her downstairs to sew it up. I looked over to Esme, "I can help clean up."

"Thank you, sweetie," Esme said and went to grab paper towels and a broom.

I cleaned up as much as I could with the paper towels before throwing them into the bin that Esme brought out. She swept up the remaining shards of glass and dumped them into the bin as well. I got dish soap out from underneath the sink and mixed it with water to pick up the stain. Once everything was clean, Esme set fire to the contents in the bin and rid the home of the lingering scent of Bella's blood.