We Are Family

Gossip Spreads Like Wildfire

Bella slowly drifted out of her deep slumber, her mind beginning to fill with thoughts of how long she had been sleeping. She opened her eyes to reveal an incredibly bright room and an apologetic Edward.

"Sorry," He starts, "I'll ask Esme if she can get some curtains to block out the brightness."

She smiles at him, his face lighting up as she proceeded to bury her head back into the down pillow. 

"Morning," She mumbled, peeking from her dark place when he spoke, "Afternoon is more like it."

"Afternoon?" Bella asked, trying her best to find a clock somewhere in the room. 

"Yes, love. It's 12:30, you have been sleeping for 12 hours, that nightmare must have really taken a toll on you."

She smiled at him sheepishly before excusing herself to shower and get a change of clothes. Edward said nothing, hoping that Bella was not going to close in on herself like she sometimes did after a nightmare. Edward had not yet had the time to speak to Bella about it, only his father when they returned that past evening. More frequently than before, Bella tended to clam up about what frightened her in her slumber, bottling it up rather than talking about, a pretty normal human tendency, Edward understood. 

In the bathroom adjoining Edward's bedroom, Bella had stepped out of the shower and was pulling on a long-sleeved blue tee. She gasped and froze momentarily when she held her sprained wrist the wrong way. She paused, waiting for Edward to speak, she knew he had heard her gasp and would probably be concerned. Thankfully he remained quiet and Bella finished getting dressed, noticing the bruises that circled her uninjured wrist where she had been pulled by both Jacob and Charlie. She pulled the door open and exited the bathroom,  still looking down at her wrists as Edward got off the bed and made his way over to her. 

For a moment, Edward had thought that Bella might be going into shock. His first thought had been to call Jasper into the room to calm Bella after she had first laid her eyes upon the injuries that she had acquired from Jacob and Charlie. He listened to her heart, beating steadily, and her breathing, 15 breaths a minute was typically normal for humans. She was okay. He quickly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her as tightly as she dared. She reciprocated his action, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"You hungry?" He asked, she nodded in response. Walking down the stairs and entering the kitchen, the smell of delicious food hit Bella's nose before she saw it. Esme had overheard them talking upstairs and had quickly headed into their kitchen to prepare breakfast (or lunch) for their resident human. It isn't long before Bella is presented with toast and bacon. Bella sat on the barstool beside Edward and munched on a piece of the perfectly toasted bread, the human girl unbelieving that a vampire that hadn't eaten human food in well over a century, had somehow mastered the culinary arts. 

At that moment Carlisle entered the kitchen and pressed a kiss to Bella's forehead.

"Good afternoon, sweetheart, did you sleep okay?" he asked. Bella returned the good afternoon and informed Carlisle that she slept well. The expression on Carlisle's face told Bella that he was very happy with her answer. Unbeknownst to the human girl, Carlisle had been worrying all morning that she was unsettled after the nightmare. 

"Right, I am heading over to the hospital for a few hours, I should be home at around five." 

As he exited the kitchen, he pressed a hand to Edward's shoulder, kissed Bella's forehead once again and walked around the kitchen island to kiss Esme and to tell her goodbye. 

...

Carlisle always enjoyed driving to the hospital. Yes, they drove fast cars and the feeling was sometimes exhilarating, but mostly he loved the quiet. With such a large clan, quiet was very hard to come by. Their hearing was something they were reborn with, it was definitely not something that they could change. The gifts of Edward, Alice and Jasper made it particularly difficult to keep a sense of privacy, but they managed. They maintained the facade of privacy at home, closed doors and not speaking with others about conversations that they had not had themselves. But, in the car driving to the hospital in the middle of nowhere, everything was silent.