“Ugh, no more!” I protested, turning my face away from the spoon held in front of me.  

“Come on, Bella, you have to eat something.”

“I’ve been eating all week, and if I have any more, I’m going to burst.” Turning my attention back towards Edward, I smiled triumphantly as he put the spoon back in the bowl of soup. “Much better. Does Alice know when they’re going to let me go home?”

Edward pursed his lips. “No, and your being difficult is not helping things.”

I scowled. “I’m not being difficult. I just don’t think that it would help things if I’m too full to move.”

His dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “You’re never going to get better if you don’t eat properly.”

“Speaking of eating properly,” I said, raising a brow. “Are you planning on not leaving until they discharge me?”

Edward grimaced, shutting his eyes. “Desensitized, remember? And I’m not that hungry.”

I waited in silence until he opened his eyes. They were almost as dark as the first time I had met him, that fateful day in Biology. “Desensitized, maybe, but definitely hungry. Edward, why won’t you hunt?”

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” he responded promptly, not meeting my eyes.

“I wouldn’t be alone,” I retorted, knowing that there was something more. “Renee is here often enough, and Alice would be more than happy to stay with me while you were gone.”

Edward still did not look up, and I sighed. “Edward, what’s the real problem?”

He stared at the wall, and I waited patiently. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and anguished. “I don’t know... how my eyes will be.”

It took me a moment to process his words. “What?”

“I don’t know what they’ll be like, after I...”

“My blood,” I said, realizing what he meant. “You don’t know what color they’ll be, because you had human blood. But it wasn’t a lot, right? So it shouldn’t affect them that much, should it?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. Whenever I... slipped before, I was young, and my eyes weren’t fully turned anyway. Then I left Carlisle, and there wasn’t any sort of moderation to my diet.” He winced at his words but glanced at my calm expression and went on. “I suppose that it’s like painting.”

I blinked, taken aback by his reference. “Painting?”

“When you mix paints, I mean. It’s so easy to put some red paint in the white, but how long will it stay pink? How much white do you need to filter through it until the red is completely gone?”

“Oh.” I had to admit, it made sense. “Well, there’s only one way to find out!”

Edward looked at me, obviously puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Go out there and find a mountain lion or something. I don’t recall seeing any in the nearby area, but I’m sure that there are plenty of deer roaming around.”

“But... what if it’s not enough? What if they still have some red in them? Wouldn’t it...” He trailed off, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Wouldn’t it what?”

“Upset you?”

“What?” Though I fought against it, a small laugh escaped me.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Bella, I hardly find this funny.”

“You—you’ve been putting off hunting—“ The laughter was growing. “Because you thought that your eyes would upset me?”

He looked at me, a curious expression on his face. “Wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t they remind you of—“

“Edward.” I stopped him as I got my laughter under control. “Edward, a bit of red in your eyes wouldn’t upset me, especially since it would only be there because you saved my life. Haven’t you learned by now? It takes more than a bit of red to scare me.”

Without warning, Alice swept through the open door, a large bag in her hands. “You heard her,” she said to Edward, placing the bag on an empty chair. “Shoo. We have work to do!”

His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips. “Work?” 

“Girl stuff. Now go! I told you, she doesn’t care if your eyes get a bit blushy around the edges. Emmett’s waiting outside in the Jeep.”

Edward rose, bending down to gently kiss my forehead. He lingered there and I savored the coolness of his lips against my skin until Alice smacked his arm. Snapping upright, I saw that his eyes blazed. Alice scowled.

“Now.”

There was a short conversation, with the words flying by quicker than my ears could catch them, and then Edward left. Alice sighed and opened her bag up. 

“What was that about?” I asked, worried by the expression on his face.

“Oh, he’s just worried that I’ll change you while he’s gone.” She saw my expression and made a face. “Bella, I’m not that stupid. I’m perfectly happy with all of my limbs attached, thanks.”

I eyed the removed contents of her bag warily. “Here, Alice?”

She unscrewed the cap of a bottle of dark blue nail polish and placed one of my hands on the siderail of the hospital bed. “What can I say? I’m impatient. I wasn’t about to wait another two days...”  

“Two days?” I exclaimed. “They’ll let me out in two days?”

“If you’re good,” Alice said, flicking the paint over my short nails with precision.

So I’d be good.