MeteorOnAMoonlessNight: Without Wings Epilogue

His guts wanted to expel themselves all over his shoes, but he forced the bile down and focused on Bella.

Without his wife, he had no soul. Nothing but a black void.

Warner shoved Bella off, trying to sit up. Edward noticed she had a death grip on the gun, and her eyes were open, if glassy. Holden and the mercs moved forward to assist her, and Edward shifted his stare to the president.

The fake president.

“Your wounds are fatal, Cameron. It's time to give up.”

“You can’t kill the sitting president and expect to get away with it!” the man rasped, holding both hands over his bullet hole. Blood pumped between his fingers, and he couldn't manage a seated position without collapsing.

“You’d be right, but you’re not the president.” Rage bubbled under the surface, but on the exterior, Edward was cold as ice. “You’re an imposter.”

In his periphery, he saw Bella nod at whatever Holden said. She was alive, and she was receiving medical care. For the moment, that would have to suffice.

Thank fuck she’d taken the bullet in her stomach during their struggle, while Cameron’s had gone into his lung.

“I told you I'd annihilate you if you touched one hair on my wife’s head. Looks like you’re the one who fucked around and found out.”

“I can’t let evil win!” spit Cameron, falling back to the ground.

“Neither can I.”

Without remorse, Edward shot him between the eyes, emotionlessly watching him slump to the ground. A few people still milling around in the back made a fuss, and he didn’t resist when a handful of Secret Service agents grabbed him.

“Release him!” Holden ordered. “He’s with me.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, one of the agents checked over Holden’s credentials and let go of Edward. Clearly, they’d be stuck in a debriefing later, but it was the better alternative. Then again, he would accept the charges if it meant the entire ordeal was done and over.

With nothing left inside him, he felt his joints loosen. On the verge of collapsing, he accepted the outstretched arm of Commander Namron, leaning against him to remain upright.

“She might need surgery, Edward, but the bullet went straight through her to Warner. She should recover just fine.”

The commander’s words only filtered through his head as he watched paramedics work on his wife.

The love of his life; of his very existence.

Finally moving forward, he leaned over the stretcher to kiss her forehead. Swallowing thickly, he managed to whisper in her ear.

“Is breá liom tú níos mó ná mo shaol féin, mo chroí.”

“Love you too,” she mumbled, her eyes remaining closed.

For a long minute, he stared after her as they carried her outside and loaded her into an ambulance. With a jolt, he realized he was standing rooted to the spot. Blinking rapidly, he chased after the stretcher and the paramedics.

“I’m riding with her,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. Climbing in the back just before they closed the doors, he sat and picked up her hand.

It felt as though his life flashed before his eyes; at least those precious years after he met Bella. She’d brought so much to his home, turning him into more than the monster he’d been. She’d given him life, given him children, and a future worth living. He’d always known he would die to save her without hesitation, but he hadn’t wanted to admit she might be the one forced to make that sacrifice for him.

Wetness tracked down his cheeks until he discovered he was crying. Wiping the tears with angry movements, he stared down at his angel’s face. She was pale, but she was alive. No one shouted orders or rushed to give her life-saving treatment. She’d be okay. He had to believe that.

At the hospital, he had no choice but to let them take her away. Irrational fear rose up to choke him—the worry that she’d die in a cold, sterile room without him rushed up to force him into a chair before he dropped. Time stood still, tears flowed freely, and all he could focus on was seeing her gorgeous whiskey eyes focused on him once more.

Soon, Quinn arrived with Emmett, Jasper, and Seamus. They flanked him, keeping him from completely falling apart. He clung to his son, saying nothing. For once, even Seamus didn’t have a witty pun or joke to lighten the mood.

“I haven’t called my sisters yet,” Quinn said. “I want an update on Mom first so I don’t scare the shit out of them.”

Edward nodded.

“Leah wanted to stay back at the safe house with Layla and Aerinn so we don’t have to confuse her. We’re all hoping this is the end, and we can go home now. Jake is already packing.”

Staring over Quinn’s shoulder, Edward considered the idea of being at home in his own bed, wrapped around his wife. For the rest of their lives, that was all he wanted to do. Fuck the bureaucrats, the politicians, the ones Dwayne called cake eaters. He would never answer the call for help again, not after all they’d been through. Maybe Jake was an asshole sometimes, but he was right. They shouldn’t have to be dragged through the danger meant for the three-letter agencies when they never signed up for it.

A few hours passed before a surgeon came to speak to them. All the words went in one ear and out the other, except the ones that mattered.

Bella would make a full recovery, and he could visit her now.

Sprinting down the hallway, Edward didn't even give the surgical team time to settle Bella in her room before he entered it.

“Sir—”

“Let him be,” the surgeon interrupted. “As long as he stays over there until you’re done.”

Edward had to clasp his hands together tightly to keep himself in check. What he wanted was to touch, to pat, to hug, and reassure himself she was the same. In one piece, whole, and healing.

Finally, they were alone. Finally, he sat in a chair pulled up to the bed, trying not to sob his heart out.

“Aingeal fiáin, I need you—” He broke off from the rest of his sentence because that was all he had to say, really. He needed her.

But her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling gently as the machines around them did their job. Alive. He kept repeating the word to himself. Bella was alive.

If he had his way, he’d spend the remaining years of his life roasting coffee beans. That was what made Bella happy, what kept them safe, and gave them a genuine life. One out in the sun without shadows chasing them with every step.

“Edward?”

At her mumble, he shot up from the chair and leaned over her, kissing her forehead and gripping her hand. “Yeah, baby.”

“Did we win?”

“We sure did, Bella. We sure did.”

~~~

After the hospital cleared Bella to go home, the entire household breathed a sigh of relief. The Irish cousins could go back to their families, and everyone who lived stateside could go home to their wives. She was sore and bruised, pissed to have had to shoot herself in the first place, but grateful it hadn’t been worse. Someone had to stop that lunatic, and she was fine with it being her.

Holden had held a meeting with Senior Director Ingles, and they’d agreed to turn a blind eye to Edward killing Cameron Warner. In the end, it had to be a sanctioned death in order to put the country back together and allow the current speaker to serve as acting president until a special election could be held. Though Ingles seemed to think Edward would make a fine political leader, Edward had only laughed in his face and walked off, holding Bella's hand the entire way.

The bookstore looked the same, and smelled the same, as it always had. It was a monumental comfort to Bella to walk in through the back doors and know that was where she got to spend her days. What had once been her deepest secret dream had turned into her reality. Where she once hoped for a man like Edward Cullen to even notice her when she walked by, now he was the father of her children and the man she went home to each night. They’d received the gift of grandchildren, of watching their babies grow and learn, finding their own life partners, and building lives of their own. Quinn returned to his father’s side as a legitimate businessman, helping him responsibly source coffee beans. The girls had somehow remained untouched by the dangerous side of the Cullen’s business, thank God, and Caitriona had agreed to marry Justin, her high school boyfriend. Maeve was still figuring out what she wanted from life, but she was content working with her Aunt Angela for the time being.

Neither of them wanted anything to do with the mafia.

It was all Bella could have hoped for, on those lonely days back in Forks with nothing to look forward to but a good book on a rainy day. Through some miracle, she’d made friends, created a family, and enough love to last a lifetime.

If she was a fallen angel, she’d met her match in her devil. And together, they’d created a life they could be proud of.

Agus mhair siad sona sásta riamh.