Nightshift 47: M111-M120 Hallway

[prodigalson]

[From here, now in M114.]

Nondescript room, sweet room.

When they entered his room, Edward wondered if this was what a human would feel like coming home from a day of work. A fatigued body, stumbling steps, and a journey to sink into the bed made easier only by the promise of said furniture and a period of rest. He now knew what it was like to feel tired, and he could understand why so many complained of it. A hundred years ago, he must have felt this before - perhaps after some sporting event he was doubtlessly engaged in, or a full day of schooling - but those human memories were all but gone in the wind. He had forgotten what it was like to feel lactic acid stiffen muscles. Hell, he'd almost forgotten what pain felt like. Raw, physical pain. It was hard to accumulate scrapes and bruises when your body was nearly immune to every potential injury.

It was very human. He quite enjoyed it, actually, except for all the blood that was going to stain his sheets.

Because, as he'd promised himself, when he was close enough to do so he did flop onto his bed, smothering his face with the pillow and letting that last movement's jolt of pain settle neatly into his bones. The two empty trays of food from dinner had been removed, so Edward was confident the nurses wouldn't complain about a bit of blood staining. They might even be able to convince themselves it was from the gelato.

"This is nice," he dumbly commented into the pillow. He didn't think the bed agreed with all of its groaning, but the sound was comforting to him anyway.

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[vitale.livejournal.com]

Bella watched as Edward moved into his room, a soft smile pulling at her lips as he sank into the bed - she was reminded of all the times she did so after school, and he would simply laugh and say he didn't understand (but follow suit anyway). "See? I told you it was nice after all those times after school, but did you believe me? No."

Moving towards Edward's desk, the teenager opened one of the drawers and shoved the medical pack into it for later use and shut the drawer soon after, patting the area slightly before moving to ... sit at the chair at his desk.

Would it be okay to go and sit with him? Bella wasn't sure exactly; Edward, as it were, was still incredibly injured, and she didn't want him to move in a way that would cause the wound discomfort ... in fact, she didn't want him to move at all. If it were possible, she would rather he just stay lying there with his ...

... Face in the pillow, unable to breathe. Okay, so she wanted him to at least turn over before he potentially (was it possible here? She doubted it.) almost suffocated.

Her fingers tapped gently against his desk as she surveyed his room, wondering what his roommate was like. Hopefully he wasn't ... potentially crazy like hers was.

"Do you want me to ... uh, leave? So you can rest," It was worth asking, even though Bella knew what he was going to say. Most likely something along the lines of "Absolutely not. You are not wandering the halls alone again!" or "I will bite you deep, white girl" ... though she was leaning more towards the first one.

[prodigalson]

"Forgive me for my ignorant vampire ways," he continued to mumble into the pillow, digging his fingers into the cushion below him to turn himself around. As long as there wasn't any twisting around, he hoped the pain would stay at its bare minimum.

Amazing. He felt like a child. Though the pain was excruciating at times, he wanted to feel it more than once. This was much different than being burned - he had been burned as a vampire. It didn't last, but he could feel it for the barest instance, like someone who had quickly run their finger through a flame. His body was reacting to that wound according to its human roots: the cut engorged with blood under the skin, becoming warm to the touch and red around its edges. Honestly, it might even be infected. If his skin wanted to act alive, perhaps it could be attacked like it was alive.

During that train of thought, he'd successfully lifted his weight on his fingertips and flipped his belly over like a pancake - jolt of pain, manageable. He could get used to this.

In response to her question, he managed not to whine. "No, of course not." He made the motion of scooting over on the sheets - hiding the red spot under his butt. "Would you like to sit down?"

[vitale.livejournal.com]

"You're excused," Bella said with a smile, watching as Edward proceeded to hop his body around on the bed until he was comfortable. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his actions, but hey. If he wanted to hurt himself more, then go ahead.

At his question the teenager smiled sheepishly. "Technically I already am sitting," she said in a light tone before standing and moving over towards the bed to do just as he had asked - sit next to him. Of course, she didn't want to take up space next to him, so instead she sat with her legs still hanging off of the side, her torso twisted so she could turn and look at him.

... At least he looked fine.

"You need to rest," Bella told him seriously, lifting her hand so she could place it against his forehead for a second before running her fingers through his hair, hoping to calm him down enough at least so he would stop with the flipping around on the bed nonsense. "Or else I'm going to rebandage your bandages and you can't stop me."

[prodigalson]

"Correction," he said, "I need to lie in a prone position without moving. Trying to sleep still will not get me anywhere, I'm afraid." No, that was one human experience that was still out of his reach. But even if he could, there wasn't much to remember about sleeping, was there? Well, it couldn't be too bad. Time seemed quite precious here already.

And - oh good, she hadn't made him ask! Those warm fingers made him shut his mouth as he concentrated on their motions, humming under their tips with content. It was the first time she had initiated contact that wasn't helping him refrain from bleeding to death. Considering their relationship, this was quite a change.

"Thank you," he sighed after a long moment in which he closed his eyes. "For helping me so much."

[vitale.livejournal.com]

Bella allowed his snide comment to pass, deciding that it wasn't worth arguing over. As long as Edward was staying still comfortable and not bleeding to death, she was happy.

At his hushed words, the teenager smiled and stilled her hand to cover his eyes. "You don't have to thank me. You know I'd do anything to help you ... no matter what." Even if it meant sacrificing herself to a vicious tracker ... or run through a crowded city to get to a clock tower ... or cut her hand to make a vampire lose focus.

Anything, really. No biggie.

Removing her hand, Bella carefully moved her entire body onto the bed, lying beside him and as close to the edge as possible, giving Edward enough space to lie so she wasn't touching him. Facing him, she lowered her chin to her head and pressed her forehead ever so gently against his shoulder, sighing. This was nice ... certainly not the level of intimacy they were used to, but for the time being it was enough.

"Promise me you'll take it easy," Bella told him sternly, her tone muffled against his arm. "If you get hurt again I will not be happy with you."