Bella was in purgatory, floating in a light grey mist. She
could hear whispers, hushed conversations but couldn’t understand anything that
was being said. Her head was throbbing, pulsing with each heartbeat. Her wrist
hurt, as well, but not as badly as her head. She tried to open her eyes, but
they wouldn’t respond.
“Sweetness, just rest,” came the honeyed voice of Edward.
“You’re okay.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, sniffling quietly. She didn’t
respond, but she allowed herself to fall back further into purgatory, allowing
the grey mist to swirl around her comfortingly. She didn’t stay there long. She
heard more voices and medical jargon.
Severe concussion.
Traumatic brain injury.
Fractured wrist.
Memory loss.
Drug-induced coma.
Weaning her off the medications.
Bella whimpered and she felt a warm hand twine with hers. “Bella,
you’re okay. Can you open your eyes?” She whimpered again, trying to will her
eyes to open. They did and she gasped, the light causing the pain in her head
to intensify. There was rustling and angry whispers before Edward spoke again.
“It’s dark now, sweetness. I need to see your beautiful eyes. I have to know if
you’re okay,” he said, his voice sounding so lost and broken. Bella opened her
eyes, trying hard to focus on Edward’s face. He was fuzzy, but he was there. “There
you are, my gorgeous love.”
“Thirsty,” she croaked, shifting uncomfortably and her voice
raspy.
“Here,” Edward said, placing a straw between her lips. She
sipped tentatively and leaned back against the pillows, moaning quietly. “Easy,
sweetness. You’ve got some staples back there.”
“What happened?” she asked. “I mean, I know what happened,
but why am I in the hospital? Are Lucy and Liam okay? Did she …?” Her eyes flew
open and she tried to get up out of the bed. She needed to see her babies.
Edward gently stopped her and caressed her cheeks. “They’re
okay. Worried about you and anxious to see you. They miss you so much,” he said
soothingly. “They want to see their mom.” Bella smiled, tears falling onto her
cheeks. He kissed her forehead and sat back, turning to Dr. Wells.
An older, African American doctor stepped forward, standing
behind Edward. “I’m Dr. Felix Wells and I was the neurosurgeon assigned to your
case. You hit your head so hard on that counter that you got a severe
concussion. In fact, you actually fractured your skull and you’ve got seven
staples just below the crown of your head.”
“Is that why my head is throbbing and everyone’s blurry?”
Bella questioned, blinking her eyes to try to get her vision to clear. It
didn’t work.
Edward’s eyes widened and he took out a penlight. “I’m
sorry, Bella, but we need to check your eyes,” he whispered. The light seared
Bella’s brain and she whimpered, clamping her eyelids shut. “Still sluggish.”
“Bella, your brain slammed against your skull and rattled
it,” Dr. Wells said. He took out an egg and put it into a glass jar. He shook
it, scrambling the egg. Inside the jar, there was the scrambled egg and cracked
shell. “That’s what happened to your brain. Obviously, not to this extent, but
you get the idea.” He put the egg/jar combo on a shelf behind him. “It’s going
to take time for your brain to heal. Your concussion is pretty damned severe. Any
more severe, you would have needed surgery.”
“Shit,” Bella whispered. “I hope Tanya …”
“Is going to jail for a long, long time,” Edward said, his voice cold and his eyes dark with hatred. He took her left hand and kissed her knuckles, pressing her hand to his cheek. “She confessed. No trial. The kids will not have to testify, thankfully. Nor do you need to testify. Nothing. She’s in heaps of trouble and will pay for her crimes.”
yay, she's awake! sounds like no cognitive loss. that's great!
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