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The hospital room door slowly swung open, both Edward and Renee’s heads snapping to attention. Renee smiled as Carlisle walked in, giving them both a soft smile while closing the door quietly. Her shoulders fell, the tension releasing as she saw the man she kept thinking of as ‘too kind for his own good.’ Her eyes landed on the phone at his ear, and realizing he was occupied she turned her gaze to her sedated daughter for a mere moment before focusing again on the fashion magazine Alice had purchased her at the hospital gift shop.
Edward had of course known who it was, Carlisle’s thoughts were as loud as they always were punctuated with the almost sickeningly sweet tone they got whenever his wife was the subject.
“Esme wants to say hello,” Carlisle said quietly, passing his phone to Edward.
Edward let his head fall back in disinterest, a move he knew Carlisle thought ‘makes him look like such a teenager.’ Edward made no move to remove either of his hands from their grasp around Bella’s.
“Shall we try that interaction again? Edward, your mother — who has been worried sick about you — is on the telephone.”
Edward sighed, taking the phone and bringing it to his ear with one hand, the other still tightly gripping Bella’s. “Hi, Mom.”
“Mom? Is there someone else in the room?” Esme asked, a small trace of amusement in her voice. Somehow he knew it was a farce, he could picture her on the other line. Eyebrows furrowed, her free hand tucked under the arm that held — no clutched — the phone. If she was at home she would be twirling the cord anxiously around her finger, if it was the cellphone — which she refused to use unless absolutely necessary — she was likely pace, strides a touch too fast to be human.
“Mhm,” Edward muttered, glancing across the room at Renee who was still focused on her magazine. He could feel Carlisle sit down next to him on the plastic bench a nurse had brought into the room in the middle of the night.
“Feel free to tell Carlisle that condescending tone was not the least bit becoming,” Esme offered, the false lightness in her voice remained.
Edward smiled slightly, glancing towards Carlisle, who, of course had been listening to the conversation the whole time. “She says your attitude is unflattering.”
Renee smiled to herself, quickly catching that she was being obvious about her eavesdropping and let her face fall. ‘I wonder if the wife is just as gorgeous as the rest of them?’ She thought, flipping the page of her magazine.
Carlisle waved off the comment, his eyes focused on the screens above Bella’s bed, watching the steady waves on the heart monitor mounted above Bella’s bed.
“I won’t be foolish enough to ask how you are,” Esme said, drawing Edward’s attention back to the phone. “I know I have said it before, and I know you are sick of hearing it but I am so sorry, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” he said half-heartedly. “How are… things with you?”
“I feel safe to assume you do not care how I am, but instead are covertly asking about Officer Swan?”
Carlisle bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from cracking a small smile at that line.
“Mhm,” Edward muttered again, attempting to ignore the man at his side.
She took a deep inhale. He could hear a distant tap-tap-tap in the background, she had gone with pacing. “He was quite upset to hear the news, as any father would be.”
“I know, I heard.”
“Carlisle should know better than to have let you hear that,” she sighed. “Mr. Swan is… fine. He is physically fine. I am remaining close, I have no reason to suspect the threat has returned. Yesterday we went to the courthouse out in Port Angeles. I managed to listen to the trial from the parking lot and it was fascinating.”
“I’m glad you are having so much fun,” Edward said coldly.
Carlisle glanced over, his brow furrowed in a puzzling blend of chastisement and curiosity. ‘Be nice,’ he thought.
“You know that isn’t what I meant,” Esme said and he could practically hear her eyes roll over the line.
“I know,” Edward murmured, looking at the toes of his shoes.
“His friend did come over, the one in the wheelchair, I didn’t catch his name. He is quite furious.”
“I will deal with that later,” Edward sighed, yet another problem of his making.
“We will deal with it later. You do not need to hoist the entire world on your shoulders.”
Edward scoffed in reply.
“I hope you are not blaming yourself for all of this too much,” she said gently.
“Too much?”
“I knew it would be a fool’s errand to tell you not to blame yourself at all. Am I wrong?”
“I think you know me too well.”
“Eighty years will do that.”
“I suppose it will.”
There was lull in the conversation, an almost comforting silence. One he had experienced countless times before, whether it be lying on the couch in her art room, or her seated beside him at the piano bench. Only this time the gentle warmth of her thoughts were thousands of miles away, and he was left in a cold sterile hospital room.
‘Will you ask her if Rosalie went with Emmett, please? I cannot ask, lest I risk her calling me a worry wart,’ Carlisle thought, taking advantage of the silence.
“How is Rosalie?”
“On her way to Phoenix, only after threatening that if I die while she is gone she will never speak to you or Carlisle again, so I must stay alive for the sake of the family.”
Carlisle frowned at this, twisting his wedding ring as he focused on the word that had bounced around Edward’s head for the past two days, albeit for a different person.
Die, die, die.
“That sounds like her.”
“She will come around, I promise. She is acting out of fear.”
“I wish I could have your faith.” In Rosalie. In modern medicine. In the universe , and a God neither of them believed in if they were brutally honest.
“I will have enough faith for the both of us, at least until you find yours. Although, truth be told I think you have found yours, she’s simply asleep right now.”
“Thank you, Esme.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“This will all work out, I promise you,” she said, sincerity dripping off her words. More than anything he wished he could believe her.
‘I would like to speak to her again before you hang up, please,’ Carlisle thought, holding his hand out slightly. Edward nodded, about to hand over the phone when his mind flashed to the tape Alice had shown him and he held out his index finger to Carlisle.
"Have you spoken to Alice lately?" He asked.
"Not in the past two days, no. What happened?"
"Nothing happened, but you might want to give her a call. She's going stir crazy in here."
"I can imagine," Esme laughed.
“That was it. Carlisle wishes to speak with you before you hang up,” Edward said.
“That man is obsessed with me,” she laughed, which earned a small smile from Edward. “I will see you soon. Give Bella my love.”
“Bye, Mom,” Edward said quickly, handing the phone back to Carlisle, whose eyes were wide in surprise at Edward’s use of an endearment, specifically that endearment, not out of practicality to keep up a ruse but out of genuine feeling.
“No, you’re not losing your mind, I heard it too,” Carlisle laughed when he got the phone back. Edward watched out of the corner of his eyes as Carlisle stood and snuck out of the hospital room.
Edward's attention returned to the subtle rise and fall of Bella’s chest, the steady beep beep beep of the heart monitor. It was not enough to convince him completely she would be fine,