CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Happy Valenti-- Birthday!
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-Abigail-
The whole family had split into sides as soon as the question registered in everyone's mind. Clearly they knew what she was asking and there was a loud silence before the bickering began. Abigail sat off to the side in the chair, Jacob next to it on the floor, and they quietly watched the argument. Even Carlisle had gotten up to put in his two cents, though he lingered close enough to Abigail that his fingers could touch her shoulder or hair.
Alice and Emmett were for her turning as they wanted her back in the family completely as she should be. Edward, Rosalie, and Jasper were against it because they didn't want to end her life when she had another chance at being human. Carlisle and Bella were torn as they weren't sure what they wanted, though the latter of the two didn't seem to want to get involved at all, not that anybody blamed her.
"They usually like this?" Jacob asked her quietly, not breaking through the sounds of the bickering.
Abigail sighed. "Only on the days where the earth rotates." Jacob snorted and she sent him a smirk.
"Do you really want to damn her like the rest of us when she has this new chance at being human?" Edward said angrily, his face set in a grim line as Carlisle's hand tightened ever so slightly on her shoulder.
"Don't you think that should be her decision?" Alice growled, hands tight on her thin hips.
But they just let them go at it until a growl from Carlisle broke through the loud voices and they all looked at his aggravated face. Abigail reached for his hand and clung to it as he sat on the edge of the chair.
"The final decision is mine and Abigail's. We will discuss it later." But Abigail couldn't help but think, I don't think they want me anymore. It's like I'm still dead to them. Edward's wince told her that he heard, and wouldn't meet her eyes. She frowned. Sorry, Edward. She forced the thoughts away even as she couldn't help that they came to her. It hurt, it really did, to hear arguments against her joining them again. True, it wasn't a light topic, and they did make some sense, but she couldn't help making it personal.
But for the night, the matter was done. Carlisle pulled Abigail up and towards the kitchen where Bella followed and quickly begun to make her some food. It was about five AM at that time, and it was Wednesday so theoretically she could go to work, but she didn't like that idea one bit.
Turning to him, she slid over into his lap where he wrapped around her easily and without complaint as he spoke quietly with Emmett who had followed them. She had a feeling he would be sticking close from now on, and she found that she didn't mind one little bit. It actually made her smile.
But it seemed her troubled mind drew Carlisle's attention as Emmett waved a hand in front of her face and gestured to the eggs and bacon in front of her.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Carlisle murmured, nuzzling into her neck and immediately she relaxed, head tilting to the side.
"I don't want to go to work," she mumbled.
He shook his head. "I took you out on medical leave this week." She looked up quickly and he smiled adoringly, tucking a kick of escaped hair behind her ear. "I also backdated it to the days you missed last week so they can't come down on you for it. You could probably also get disability pay once they read my report. But I didn't know when you would wake and if I didn't do medical, they would ask too many questions."
Slowly Abigail relaxed and she smiled up at him adoringly. She leaned up for a small kiss that could've very well have gotten deeper if Emmett hadn't cleared his throat in a disgusted matter.
"Dude, quit. I don't wanna see my parents making out."
Abigail giggled as Carlisle smirked and she turned to start in her food, not moving from Carlisle's lap.
Monday came far too early for her after spending the rest of the week at the Cullen house. The subject of her changing hadn't come up again, but she knew it wasn't over. She also knew Carlisle couldn't stop thinking about it, the same as she knew she wouldn't give it up. He was arguing with himself and by his silences, she could tell that he was no closer to a solution, and that's the only reason she didn't bring it back up.
She groaned as Carlisle woke her with tender kisses pressed along her neck and shoulders and while she wanted to slip back into sleep, she knew that she had to get herself around enough to head home. She had no scrubs with her at Carlisle's, so she was going to go back, shower and change, and head into work. The day without Carlisle would be brutal. After her little memory dump, she knew that not a single day went by that she wasn't in his presence for the whole time they were together. Having that change now seemed like sacrilege.
"No," she mumbled into the soft pillowcase. "If I get up, that means I have to leave you and go home, and I'm not ready for that."
He gave a silent laugh against her skin, body shaking lightly, and he moved up to her ear where he blew lightly and made her shiver.
"Who said anything about you leaving me?" he growled. Oh, that growl did things to her. Her body went warm. "Since I have to let you out of my sight for most of the day, I'll be driving you home to get your stuff, and then back and forth to work."
She sat up quickly then, green eyes sparkling as she took in the beautiful sight of Carlisle next to her. Golden hair shining in the light, ochre eyes sparkling with mirth and happiness. He had already changed into black trousers, a light blue button down shirt, and a matching light blue tie. He looked utterly breathtaking, and she quickly scrambled up and into his lap, humming in her attempt to purr—she missed being able to do that—and she wrapped her arms around his, fingers in his hair, nose against his neck.
"Really?" she breathed excitedly.
He nodded and she could feel tension that she understood now as a signal of his arousal, but she still chose to not mention it even as her own arousal grew. She knew, though, that he wouldn't risk her. "Couldn't get rid of me if you wanted to."
"I don't," she said quickly and then pulled him in for a kiss. It was hot and desperate as they had been slowly becoming over the past few days. She moved before she could tell herself not to and found herself straddling him in a way that made him groan. She arched against him, fingers digging into his shoulders as his flattened over her bottom and yanked her bottom half against him, making her squeak as she felt the obviousness of his lust for her in his pants. She almost rocked again, but the next moment she was sitting alone on the bed and he was breathing heavily next to the wall, looking agonized.
She let out a breath and tried to push it away, knowing the scent of her own need wasn't helping him, and bit her lip. Slowly she shimmied out from her tangle in the blankets and stood a couple feet away, looking apologetically up at him through her lashes.
"I'm sorry—" She was cut off by a tender kiss and she smiled softly.
"Never apologize," he murmured. Apparently she was doing that a lot lately because that's far from the first time she's heard it since she awoke from her memories.
Finally she pulled herself away and found her purse, shoes, and coat. She breathed in the post-dawn air with a smile and climbed into the passenger seat of Carlisle's Mercedes with his help. The drive to her house was quick as, like Emmett, he seemed fine with breaking the speed limit.
He was at her door a second after the car was shut off and he opened it, leading her inside. She could tell Beth was there and a pause outside the door told her that she had company. She smiled lightly and headed for her own room where Carlisle perched on the bed as she showered, changed into scrubs, and tugged her hair up into a messy bun.
"I wish these were more flattering," she mumbled as tugged at her scrubs. Cool arms wrapped around her and she leaned back into a solid chest as lips found her ear.
"You're beautiful," he breathed and when he said it like that, she couldn't help but believe it. She blushed and turned to kiss him, humming as he made it deeper.
"I thought I heard you— Holy shit!"
Abigail jumped and broke the kiss, Carlisle immediately turning to shield her and she peaked around to see a stunned Beth in the door. Apparently Jacob had told Beth that Abigail was staying with him so the blonde didn't worry, and she supposed she should've told Beth of the plan, but she decided the look of shock in her face was worth it.
Abigail giggled, putting a hand quickly in Carlisle's hair to soothe him and tell him it's okay, before stepping around him towards her roommate.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you," she said. "I needed my work clothes." She paused and saw a blush covering Beth's face and was torn between growling possessively at Beth's obvious reaction to Carlisle's beauty, or smirking in amusement.
"It-it's okay." She managed a shy smile and took a step forward. Carlisle's hand went for Abigail's arm and she patted it. "I'm Beth Greene."
"Carlisle Cullen," he said in a friendly matter even though he still was tense behind her.
Beth's eyes widened. "You're Dr. Cullen?"
Abigail snorted as a way to cover the growl. Clearly the ER nurses weren't the only ones who knew about the beauty that was Carlisle Cullen. She wasn't a fool to think nobody else lusted for her husband—Stop, he's just your boyfriend now, even if that needs to change—but that didn't mean she had to like it. Even Beth in maternity heard of him and she wondered what the rumors around the hospital were about him.
"Yes. It's pleasure to meet you, Miss Greene." He smiled politely. "My apologies, I must get Abigail to work." Beth simply nodded and moved quickly out of the way so Abigail could head downstairs with Carlisle trailing her. He paused her long enough to get her coat on and then led her outside.
As soon as they were headed towards the hospital, she broke into loud giggles which earned a grin from Carlisle.
"I really didn't like her looking at you that way, but it was so funny," she gushed through her laughter. "I wanted to laugh and rip her head off at the same time." She shook her head with a small huff. "How am I expected to survive a whole nursing staff worth of that?"
Carlisle was grinning even as he grunted. "You think I haven't been asking myself the same thing since you arrived?" He shook his head. "Especially with Dr. Handsy there."
It didn't take a genius to figure out who he meant and she raised an eyebrow, reaching subconsciously for one of his hands which he dutifully gave her without thought. "Handsy?"
He growled slightly. "Talk about wanting to rip someone's head off... I've seen the way he looks at you, and I've seen him touching you. It kills me, Abigail. Only I'm allowed to touch you like that."
She squeezed his hand and waited until his furious eyes turned to her. "I'll do a better job to stop him," she said softly, shifting in her seat and switching hands so one could thread through his hair, causing him immediately to thaw. "Even though he should know better than to do it anyway. And today I'll prove to him I'm taken, and always have been." Carlisle grinned. "So hopefully he'll get the picture and stop."
"He better," he grumbled and Abigail smiled.
They arrived to the hospital a minute later and her smile immediately vanished, dread filling her body. Carlisle tugged her close to press his nose against her throat and she eased considerably.
"I still don't like it," she mumbled.
He sighed. "Me either," he admitted. "But I'm glad you're here and not home. Even though you'll be out of my sight, at least I'll be able to feel you in the building."
"You can feel me all you want," she grumbled which earned her an exasperated, heated look and she gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, it just came out."
"Mhm," he sighed. "When you have free time, text me how and where you are. That way I can come see you if I'm not busy, and I'll know that you're okay."
She smiled and nodded, leaning up for a kiss before she was forced to part from him and be professional. However, he didn't let go of her hand until they were in the lounge and drew more than one look of shock and she was torn between giggling and being embarrassed so she did both. Carlisle was much better at ignoring it than she was.
He gave her a small peck as they moved to go their own ways. "Meet me at noon for lunch?" he said with a wink. She smirked and nodded.
"As long as I can pay."
He lost his smile and gave her a cross look. "Whatever made your pretty little head think that was ever going to happen?"
She rolled her eyes and stole another kiss. "Can't blame a girl for trying." He smiled adoringly and kissed her before taking a deep breath and turning for his office.
Immediately her smile fell as she felt a cold sickness creep from her heart to the rest of her body, but she dragged herself over to get some patient files from a stunned Mackenzie, who she simply nodded at, and then moved to do some of her rounds.
As Carlisle requested, she texted her location and state of mind to him whenever she could and he could only answer back a couple which told her he was really busy as she knew how much she meant to him.
In fact, she felt silly for her previous thoughts that he could never want her. She knew how much she meant to him, and she vowed never to tell him those thoughts, because they would devastate him. And she knew Edward would know this and know not to tell him either. At least she hoped her son would help her out in that respect.
Fifteen minutes before noon, she had to take some paperwork up to ICU and found herself pausing outside the gift shop. Her eyes flickered over all the new gifts and decorations, and for a moment she was confused as to the shock of red and pink before her eyes caught the date on the wall and it dawned on her, making her feel more than a little silly. It had been very hectic the past couple weeks and she knew it wasn't her fault, but it made her laugh.
Heading inside quickly, she bought a little something she hope Carlisle would find cute and not lame, and headed for his office. Luckily she didn't run into anyone—and she hadn't seen Dr. Jones all day, which was the best part—and was able to get right to his office. She paused outside and quietly knocked, realizing he didn't specify where to meet for lunch, and grinned when she heard him call, "Come in."
He sounded distracted and thought of telling him to skip lunch, but she needed to at least see him for a couple minutes. Hiding her gift behind her back, she entered the room quietly so she didn't disturb him. She was right, he was distracted, files laid out over his desk and his tie tugged loose in a very un-Carlisle like matter. She frowned and stopped herself from going to him and sitting in his lap and running her hands through his hair. Clearly he needed some more time.
"We can do lunch later," she suggested.
Immediately his head came up and his face changed to a look of pure joy. She smiled and he stood, stepping close to her and shutting the door behind her back. An arm went around her waist and he tugged her close, kissing her hungrily and she moaned softly, her arms tangling behind his shoulders and pressing herself against him. They kissed for a couple minutes, losing themselves in each other and making up for the hours spent apart.
Only once she was breathless did he pulled away, and then grinned as she tried to chase his lips with hers. "Breathe, my sweet Abigail," he murmured and she sucked in a breath before nodding sheepishly. "What have you got there?"
She realized then she still held her gift, it was poking him in the head, and now she just felt silly, but it was too late. Her cheeks went red and he raised an eyebrow, but waited for her to speak.
"I feel now like it's stupid..." she murmured and he shook his head quickly. Slowly she showed it to him.
It was a little bear with light brown fur, a little red bowtie, holding a red heart with white wording that said, "I Love You" on it. On the foot "2007" was written in small white letters and she smiled sheepishly.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she murmured.
For a moment he looked stunned, happy, and joyful even though the gift was childish. Her heart ached at that look, but then his face sunk into a look of devastation and her eyes went wide with confusion.
"What?" she demanded quickly as if he had somehow gotten hurt in that five second time span, her fingers reaching his hair.
"I forgot your birthday," he whispered in horror and slowly her shoulders slumped as her fear left.
"Oh. That's all? Don't scare me like that, Carlisle." She huffed and rolled her eyes.
"That's all?" he demanded. "I forgot your birthday. That's the most important day in all of space and time. Your birth is more important to me than anything." He sighed. "'That's all...'" he mumbled sarcastically.
"I haven't celebrated my birthday since I was ten." He looked even worse then. "And I forgot it myself. How are you expected to remember?"
Yeah, now I've done it. He looked so pained she nearly wept. "I'm expected to remember because you are my mate. I want to worship you, not forget you."
Worship... She let out a shaky breath as her body warred between becoming warm in arousal and becoming warm in affection.
"It's fine, my love," she whispered, realizing she was in his hair again as his body relaxed. "If you want, we can go out somewhere tonight just—"
Just as her phone rang. She frowned and sighed, reluctantly pulling away so she could dig it out. Alice Cullen. Figures.
"Alice?" she wondered as she accepted the call. Distracted, she didn't realize Carlisle had plucked the bear from her hands and moved away until he was nuzzling her a second later.
"You're not going out, you're coming here." Her voice sounded snippy and Abigail frowned.
"Are you okay?"
"No, Mother, I'm not." She couldn't help but smile affectionately at the "Mother" that came from Alice, even though she didn't sound all that happy.
"Well, what'd I do now?"
"You didn't remind us and now I only have seven hours to throw together a party! Honestly, I know I'm good, but I'm not that good."
Oh god...
"No no no. No parties, absolutely not. I forbid it."
"You can't. I already saw it." She was so smug that Abigail huffed.
"C'mon, Alice, no parties."
"This is the first birthday we've spent with you in fifty years. We're having a party." And then the line went dead and Abigail winced.
Even though she never aged, Carlisle had always insisted on acknowledging her birthday. Once they had the others, they did with them as well, but she had a feeling that stopped after she died. But now that she was back, she wondered if she could start it back up again.
Sighing, she pocketed her phone and brought her fingers into the hair by her cheek as Carlisle was still nuzzling her, gentle kisses pressing against her neck and jaw.
"There's no stopping her, is there?" she murmured, realizing her stress of the situation was gone from her mate's ministrations.
"You should know better than anyone the answer to that question."
So that's a no then, she thought glumly.