Interminable E. Cullen

Chapter 16

Ophelia could feel the heavy weight of eyes looking at her. 

The incessant beeping of whatever machine she was hooked up to blared into her eardrums harshly, making her wince with a headache. 

"Opie? Oh my god, okay. You jerk, I can't believe you did that!" Yup that's Bella. 

Ophelia tried to sit up only for Bella to push her gently back down, instead reaching around to hug her. "Don't ever do something like that again, you hear me? I love you." She nodded even though she would 100% do it again if she had to. "I'm going to go get dad, I'll be right back."

She laid there for a moment, waiting impatiently before speaking up. "Aren't you gonna say anything?" 

Edward chuckled at her temper, moving from his seat and over to her bed before grabbing her hand gently, bringing it up to his mouth where he placed a soft kiss. "I'd like to say I'm surprised you knew I was here but I'm not." Ophelia unintentional pouted when he tried to let go of her hand so he held it again with a big smile. 

"Are you mad at me?" 

"Infuriated. But it seems as though my love for you is much stronger than my displeasure in your actions." She gulped, blushing a bright red from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears after hearing him say it. "You heard correctly; I love you Ophelia," he repeated after seeing a brief flash of him standing over her barely conscious body from the night before when he first said the three words. She gripped his hand tighter and Edward leaned down to kiss her forehead, whispering it again into her soft skin. 

Ophelia tried to speak but her throat felt rough and her other hand moved up only to meet a thick bandage placed over the side of her neck, close to where her neck meets her shoulder. 

Where he bit her.

Her brain worked in overdrive trying to remember all that happened but found it hard to sift through all the messy memories. It was a stressful situation and she was pretty much being thrown around for most of it. 

"I love you too." Edward shushed her. 

"Charlie's coming." 

***

"Opie you look beautiful," Bella gushed over her younger sister.

"Stop it," she blushed. 

"I'm serious. How much do you wanna bet dad cries?" 

Sure enough, the further Bella helped her down the stairs, the more choked up Charlie Swan became. Ophelia Swan did indeed look beautiful, though she would probably deny it and move on to a different subject. 

Edward felt as though he was human again, wishing he had Jasper here to regulate his nerves that nearly sent him running off into the woods. 

"Well?" She asked, one hand gripping Bella's while the other anxiously tugged at the fabric of her dress. 

"You look -"

"Beautiful," Edward cut off Charlie, earning a death glare and threatening thoughts from the girl's father. 

"Alright now. You take care of my daughter. Don't need her coming home with anymore scratches." 

"Dad," Ophelia drew out the name, once again adorning a red tint to her skin. 

"I mean it Opie." 

Edward moved to help Ophelia out the door but stopped when Bella tugged his arm back. "If you hurt her, I will make sure Charlie shoots you."

Ophelia felt anxiety wrack her body the further Edward pulled her into the dance, and he could tell so he led them outside to a wonderfully lit gazebo. Gently nudging her body closer to his in a slow dance. 

"You know I'm not a good dancer," she giggled as they moved smoothly, thanks to him putting her on top of his feet. They danced in silent content for a few minutes before she spoke up again. "You were gonna leave after, weren't you?"

He sighed, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I thought about it. After we finally made it to the hospital I was so sure you were going to die. Alice threatened to weigh me down to a chair because she was convinced you'd make it. As we waited I kept thinking of how much better off you'd be, how much safer you'd be if I was no longer around to put you in danger." 

Ophelia snapped her head back, trying her best not to get an attitude at his response about leaving. 

"I know you think you're some kind of monster, and I know that there's nothing I can say that will make you think otherwise. But I love you. You, Edward Cullen. People always talk about how someone stole their heart and I always thought that was stupid. Hearts give out, hearts get sick and hearts will eventually rot in the ground." 

His grip tightened slightly at the last part. "You stole something so much more valuable than a silly organ. Whether you like it or not you have a piece of me that you can never give back. If you left you'd only leave me with a hole that couldn't be filled because you took it with you. So suck it up butthead cause' you made a promise and I'm holding you to that. You're stuck with me." 

Edward looked down at her face, his eyes trailing over her every feature as if to memorize it indefinitely. His frozen heart hurt at the thought of ever leaving, of her ever having to leave him in death especially. No matter if it was 80 years from now or tomorrow, there would be nothing left for him in this eternity he had been stuck with. For Ophelia herself was the only thing tethering him to this ridiculous second life he was forced to endure. And she was the only thing that could possibly fill the hollowness that was his body. 

Because she was his missing piece. 

Sorry for the little break I took, I'll be updating more soon hopefully. 

I made a new Harry Potter x reader fanfic if any of you would wanna read it. 

I've also updated Desecrate (mostly cuz I just wanna get to the sequel already lol)

Onto New Moon <3