A room full of love

A room full of love
Luna Alice did her traditional squeal out of joy when she heard Bella’s voice, and before Bella knew it, alpha Sam had joined the call as well. They talked for almost half an hour. Bella learned Nile had been appointed as the new gamma, and she was happy for him. They promised each other to talk again soon before hanging up.

“You need some food,” Graham told Bella.

“Maybe we can ask everyone to bring food when they come over,” Bella smiled.

“Fine,” he agreed. They invited the family over to the hospital and asked them to bring dinner for everyone.

After a little while there was a knock on the door and Bastian and Logan entered, with Mickey and Charlotte closely following.

“Hi,” Bella smiled. All four of her friends looked happy to see her, but then Logan and Bastian got a look of discomfort and Bella realised what was up.

Graham just looked questioning at them. He had shifted to sit up in her hospital bed with Bella propped up against him, with pillows everywhere as he had insisted that she needed the support.

 “We are sorry luna for putting you in danger by not being honest with our mates,” Bastian started.

“It was never our intention, and we have learned our lesson and will never do it again,” Logan agreed.

“What are…?” Graham began, but a look from Bella stopped him.

“You realise that in my absence, your mates take over my responsibilities?” Bella asked, pretending to be stern with the two men. She was trying hard not to laugh at their expression.

“Yes, luna,” they both said.

“That means that by withholding information from them is like withholding it from me,” Bella continued.

“Yes, luna,” they said a gain.

“But I understand why you did it. Just have a little more faith in your mates the next time. But I forgive you and thank you for being there for me. Logan, thank you for saving me,” she then said with a smile.

The two men relaxed, and they smiled.

 “It was my pleasure, Bella. It’s nice to see you awake,” Logan said.

Bella looked at her two friends that had been looking at the exchange, both Mickey and Charlotte smiled. They walked up to their mates and gave them a kiss. This relaxed the two even further. They were out if the doghouse.

As if on signal, the rest of their family entered the room. Lilly was carrying Mavis. James and George had baskets of food and drink.

‘Sweetheart, what was that all about?’ Graham asked Bella in a mind link.

‘They just needed a little reminder that their mates aren’t made of glass and that they can’t protect them from everything,’ she told him.

‘I don’t think I get it,’ he said.

‘Mickey and Charlotte have apparently not been speaking with their mates for a couple of days. They demanded they would apologise to me before they forgave them. I just gave them what they wanted,’ Bella explained.  

‘Oh, well, that’s okay then,’ he smiled and accepted the plate of food that his mother handed to him. Bella got a plate as well.

Graham offered her potato salad from his plate, and she accepted it. As they all sat around, eating and talking, Bella felt happy. Her mate was home again, the rogues were mostly taken care of; the traitor had been caught. Life could finally settle down, she hoped.

After eating, they just continued to talk. Bella felt herself get sleepy but she was perfectly satisfied leaning against Graham, half listening to the conversation, half asleep. Of course, Graham noticed how sleepy she was and sent everyone away.

Bella got hugs from everyone while Graham repeatedly pointed out that they needed to be gentle with her. He got eye rolls from both his mother and sister and a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from his dad.

“You should have brought Jessica,” Bella told her dad as he hugged her.

“Next time, peanut. She is still a bit intimidated by all the alphas and high ups,” he smiled.

“Then I’ll invite her to the next ladies’ night. She will fit right in,” Bella said.

“I think she would like that,” her father nodded.

When they were alone again, Graham helped Bella to the bathroom. It was the first time she had stood up in two days and her legs were unstable. When he lifted her onto the bed again, she scooted to the side to let him know she expected him to get on it as well.

“You are staying with me, right?” she asked. She knew she should let him go back to their apartment so he could get some rest. But she felt vulnerable and wanted him close.

“I’m not leaving you,” he said as he got back into bed and let her find a comfortable position.

“I’m never leaving your side again,” he then told her. Bella smiled.

“Eventually, we will have to at least spend time in different rooms,” she pointed out.

“I’m not seeing why,” he told her.

“Gray, we have different offices and even if I love you beyond what words can say, I will need some alone time in the bathroom, and I need alone time with my friends,” she said.

“Bad things happen when I’m not with you,” he told her.

“I know, we don’t have a good track record of being apart,” she nodded.

“But we can’t let that dictate how we live. And I’m perfectly fine with you staying by my side for a couple of days. I need it as well. But we need to find a balance. You remember that we have spoken about this before,” she reminded him. He grunted.

“I’ll take that as a yes. I love you, Gray,” she said.

“I love you too, Ellie,” he smiled.

Bella fell asleep in his arms, the way it should be.

The next morning, Bella woke up as a nurse came in with a tray of breakfast for them. Bella thanked her and insisted she could go to the bathroom by herself. She was pleased that her legs seemed to function as they should.

“Gray, I want to go home,” Bella told him after they had eaten.

“I have asked the doctor to stop by. If he says okay, you can go home,” Graham agreed.

“You remember what we talked about yesterday, right?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he grunted. She smiled and kissed him.

Doc knocked on the door and came in. He asked Bella how she felt and examined her.

“Things are looking good. I’m just going to remove the bandage and look,” Doc said.

“Okay,” Bella said, laying on her side and taking Graham’s hand. It was more to keep him calm.

Doc removed her dressings and looked at her back. Bella felt him gently examine it.

“Any tenderness or pain?” Doc asked.

“No,” Bella said.

“Good. Looks fine. It has healed. A bit of a redness of the skin left. It should go away in a week,” he concluded.

“So I can go home?” Bella asked.

“Yes, I don’t see why not. Please be careful and rest. Your body is healed, but it took a lot of energy,” he told her.

“I’ll make sure she gets all the rest she needs,” Graham said. The doctor nodded and Bella looked at Graham.

“Doc, I think I need to apologise for how I spoke to you earlier. I shouldn’t have threatened you when you were taking care of Bella,” Graham said.

“It’s alright, alpha. I understand the desire to protect your mate,” Doc told him with a nod.

“Thank you,” Graham said, giving Bella a look that said I told you so. She just rolled her eyes.

“I have asked Mickey to bring over some clothes for me,” Bella said, as they were alone again.

When Mickey arrived ten minutes later, he gave Bella a hug and showed her what he had brought.

“Isn’t it too formal?” she objected. Bella had been thinking of sweatpants and a cosy sweater.

“Bee, the entire pack knows you are awake and everyone is hovering around the pack house to get a glimpse of you when you get out of the hospital,” Mickey smiled.

“I’ll make them go away,” Graham said.

“No, Gray. Let them be. They need to see that I’m fine. It’s okay.” Bella smiled.

“Fine, I’ll get you a wheelchair while you change,” he said.

“I don’t need a wheelchair,” she objected.

“Fine, I’ll carry you,” he huffed, and Mickey chuckled.

“Don’t encourage him,” Bella told her friend.

“I can use my legs, Gray. But I would like to have you to lean on,” she said.

“Fine,” Graham growled.

“You, my alpha, are cute,” Bella told him and kissed him. She loved how taken aback he looked each time she told him that.

Mickey laughed again and as Bella broke away from Graham, Mickey helped her get dressed in the black dress pants and cream-coloured blouse.

“You look lovely,” Graham told her.

“Thank you,” both Bella and Mickey said.

“Ready to go home?” Graham asked, holding out his hand.

“Yes, but first I want to see my gift room,” Bella smiled. Both Graham and Mickey chuckled.

Graham put his arm around her and guided her through the hospital.

“Where is Mavis?” Bella asked Mickey.

“With Logan, he needed some bonding time,” Mickey smiled.

“Aww,” was all Bella could say.

Graham took her to a room, and Mickey opened the door. Bells stepped inside and was speechless but what she saw. All over the room there were flowers and handwritten cards. There were stuffed animals and cute baby clothes, chocolate and home-baked cookies. Someone had made a train set in wood and there were handmade baby blankets and baby nests.

Bella slowly walked around the room, reading every card, looking at every single gift. The tears were rolling down her cheeks, and Graham gently kissed the top of her head. It was a room full of love and caring.

“I hope someone has kept track of all of this,” Bella finally said.

“Yes, don’t’ worry. Charlotte has a list of all the gifts and who gave them,” Mickey chuckled.

“Good. I would like all the gifts for the pups to be taken to the nursery. The rest of it, I think we can split between our apartment and my office,” she said.

“You don’t need to keep everything. You can leave some of it here,” Graham told her. She looked at him as if he had gone insane.

“These are gifts from the pack that show their support and love for our family. They are coming home with us,” she said.

“I’ll arrange it,” Mickey smiled.

“Thank you,” Graham said.

“Now, can I take you home?” he then asked.

“I would like that,” Bella nodded.