Chapter One: Late Night

Bella Swan's night shift was the same as any other medical professionals. She had spent long and tiring hours working over sick and needy people. Some had flu's others small injuries. She didn't mind her job. In fact, if you asked her she'd say she loves it. The feeling of helping someone in need curbed the more nurturing side of her since her and her mother's relationship had gone south. She was just finishing up a lengthy, grueling, thirty six hour shift at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington; where she'd been working for the last three years. Her first two years she'd done while she was still training for her medical degree. At first it was just assisting the assistant nurse.

Then it was assisting the official nurses and just a year ago she was one of those nurses with an assistant of her own. To say she had stepped up on the Ladder of Success was an understatement. She'd managed to score the Head Nurse's position, a few weeks back, after the previous nurse, Carmen, had retired. Now, Carmen was what you'd describe as one of those firecracker old women who won't take shit from anybody. She can spot bullshit from a mile away and she's never ashamed to tell you about yourself, whether you're surrounded by co-workers or not.

But with Bella there were never any harsh words; only gentle guidance and a loving hand. There had been a few times when Bella had first met Carmen that she had had a few mishaps, but Carmen was never cross with her. She looked out for Bella and had been for a while now.

There was a time where Bella hadn't always been the kind, sweet person Carmen had come to love like a daughter. No, when Bella had first met Carmen it had been touch and go with their relationship. Carmen wasn't sure if she could handle an ornery child.

It started when Renee, Bella's mother, had given her away when she was four. Renee was raving on about one of her newest problems with Charlie, Bella's father, Like how she felt like she wasn't getting enough attention and how most of it was squandered on 'that girl' or how they never went 'out' anymore. Renee was a spender. She liked to have nice things but she didn't want to get a job to earn them and to learn the value of a dollar.

Instead she insisted on becoming a 'stay at home wife' just for that very reason. Charlie never argued with her. He let her do as she pleased. It wasn't as if he didn't have the money for her lavish lifestyle. He was one of the best lawyers Chicago had. He'd even bought her a large ranch style house that she wanted, out of the city limits, to prove his love to her. But she was never satisfied. When Bella was three, Charlie passed suddenly, due to a car accident. Soon after, Renee tried to liquidate all of his funds from the stock market. But she soon found out that Charlie had his lawyer put a constraint on how much she was to have when he passed. He had also made sure that everything else he had was given to his only child and that Renee wouldn't be the possessor of Bella's inheritance before she turned eighteen.

Bella thought that it was as if he knew he was going to die. As soon as Renee learned about the constraint she had papers drawn up so that she could sign her Guardianship away. A few months later, when the documents were finalized, she put Bella into the orphanage, never looking back to see her own flesh and blood. That's when Carmen stepped into the picture.

Bella had lived out the past eight years of her life at the orphanage and she had almost given up all hope of ever seeing her mother again. Every six months at the orphanage they held an Adoption Day. Strangers walked in and out all day looking for children to fill the large voids in their lives. On those days Bella liked to hide. She didn't want to be adopted. All she wanted was for her mother to love her and to take her home. So when Adoption Day came this time around, she hid in the cabinets that were in the Art Room.

Carmen heaved a large sigh at the sight of all the children running around the living room of the small orphanage. There were many children but none of them seemed to particularly catch her eye. A lot of them were young, around three to eight. She had hoped to find one a little older. She knew she couldn't afford to wake every few hours for feedings with an infant but she couldn't find herself able to adopt a much older child either. She wandered around to the other rooms of the home peeking in to see how the children live from day to day. One room caught her attention in particular. Drawings and paints littered the walls and windows .Far in the corner she noticed a row of floor cabinets. Each hand tiny handprints scattered on the doors. Some made into rainbows, others little turkeys. But one, she saw, was left open just a peep.

Walking up to the cabinet she knelt down and looked inside. Nestled in the corner was a small child. She sat with her knees to her chest while her forehead rested on her arms above them. "How are you?" Carmen whispered. She looked up from her arms and peeked at the woman before her. She had long dark hair plaited down her shoulders and fair tan skin. "Hello," was her quiet reply. "What's your name?" The woman smiled. "My name is Carmen. And yours?"

"Isabella Swan. But I like to be called Bella." She answered in a small voice. "Well Bella, what are you doing hiding in this cupboard? Don't you want to walk around and see all of the people that came today?" Bella shook her head rapidly back and forth. "My mommy's coming to get me. She'll be her soon. She promised me she would." Carmen looked on her with sad eyes. She had thought this little girl must know that this is a place where children were sent when they didn't have any more mommies or daddies. "How long have you been her Bella?" The modest child peeked at her with curious eyes. She wasn't sure if this grown up was asking her how long she'd been in the cabinet or how long she'd been in the home. But Bella answered in the latter. "Since I was four."

"And how old are you now?" The question wasn't meant to be harsh or impersonal and Bella thankfully didn't take it in that sense either. "Twelve." She whispered. Peeking father into the small opening Carmen asked, "Will you come out so I can get a nice look at you. It feels funny talking to darkness." Bella gave a small laugh. Slowly the young child scooted closer toward the cabinet door. Carmen moved back and Bella swung the door open gently. Once she had emerged herself from between the wood work she stood as Carmen had done. "Bella, I don't make promises lightly and I prefer honesty above anything else. Do you think your mother will come back for you?"

Slowly Bella shook her head. "I've know for a while that she wouldn't and I know that she gave me away because she didn't want me anymore. I was just hoping that she'd change her mind and come back for me. To love me like my dad did. I know my hope is wasted, but I just can't seem to let go of the wish that she'd want me again."

"Bella, would you like to come home with me?" Slowly she held out her hand for the young girl to take. Looking unsure for a moment, Bella asked, "Do you promise not to leave me?" With a faint feeling of hurt and love Carmen nodded. Bella gave a small smile and took her hand, following her into the next room where she met Carmen's husband Eleazar. He was a quiet man with a warm smile. He took her other had and together, after a few signed papers, they took her home.

Shaking her head from the memories she resumed her work. She also remembered when Carmen had told Bella about her retirement from the hospital, Bella had been crushed. But Carmen assured her that if she ever needed anything at all, that she could come to her. She'd even left her some specific 'instructions' to follow:

Keep all of the other nurses in line and don't let them, "push you over like a sack of potatoes in a washer machine." Her words not Bella's.

Remember the three C's.

Character

Courtesy

Compassion

Carmen says you can never have too much of the Three C's. But after thirty six hours of slaving away at the hospital, it got a little hard to keep up with at sometimes.

But Bella refused to think about that now. Now she just wanted to have a good shower and go home. It felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Believe me she could feel every one of those hours in her back and shoulders. She had spent the better part of her shift resetting bones and giving stitches to victims of a three car pile-up on Route 90 coming out of Mercer Island. One man involved in the accident had to get twenty eight stitches in the back of his head. He'd come in with shoulders covered in blood from the injury and when she brought the clippers in to shave his head he flipped out. She was getting quite a bit of a struggle from her patient when he picked up her instrument tray sending it flying across the room at the wall behind her.

She was lucky she'd managed to duck in time and push the nurse call button for assistance. She turned in time to see him coming at her with one of the scalpels from her tray. There was no time to grab something to defend herself with, so she closed her eyes and threw up her hands to block her face. Let me tell you being stabbed in the arm with surgical instruments are never the best type of fun to be had. She must have apologized about thirty times to Tyler by now, one of the staff nurses on call. He'd managed to squeeze in between her and her crazed patient in time to take the brunt of the patient's weight and brute force along with a scalpel to the bicep.

When three more nurses came to the rescue, and managed to subdue the crazed patient, Tyler turned to Bella and asked if she was alright. When she confirmed that she was fine she asked him to check out the extent of his injury. When he gave the okay she set him up in another room and brought out some alcohol pads along with some thread and a needle. Gently she took his forearm into her hand and pressed around the scalpel lodged in his arm. "Does this hurt?" She asked glancing up at his face from her hunched position over him. She noticed the grimace he was no sporting but he chose to answer in the negative. Grabbing a small towel, which she'd dosed in peroxide, she set it next to the wound. As quickly and as safely as she could she pulled the offending instrument out and pressed to it to hold off the blood flow. After the blood stopped flowing she stitched him up and he was as good as new. Well, as new as one can be when stitches are involved.

While she was tending to Tyler's arm, the other nurses managed to finish what she had started with her car accident victim. Stitching him up too and calling the police to arrest him for assault with a deadly weapon. When that had blown over Bella went back to work. After three more grueling hours she was finally free to go home and sleep for the next thirteen hours.

She managed to drag her way to the changing rooms and stripped out of her black scrubs and long sleeve white under shirt before climbing into the shower. Never had a shower felt so good to her then it did at that moment. Of course nothing beat the feeling of a nice hot bubble bath with a bottle of Port Wine after a long shift. But alas, she didn't have that luxury at the moment. But what she did have was some new Lavender and Freesia shampoo and conditioner which served as a nice relaxer for her.

When she finished she dressed in a pair of dark washed jeans that hugged in all of the right places, a warm, grey flannelled, long sleeved tee, and a knitted deep blue cardigan poncho that opened in the front. She stuffed her notepads and books into her black, over the shoulder pack, and walked out into the crisp, clear November night.