EPOV

"Dude." Emmett slid onto the stool next to me, tossing his charts on the counter. "Fuckable-New-Nurse Alert." He waggled his eyebrows at me, and I sighed. This was so typically… Emmett. He was perpetually working his way through the staff roster here, and thought I should be, too.

"Man, you have got to stop with this. You're going to get your license revoked by accidentally screwing someone you saw as a patient once, or something equally heinous." I hadn't looked up from the chart I was making notes on. Seemed as though this one was going to be staying with us – she had uncontrolled bleeding in her intestinal tract. Damn blood-thinners. It really was difficult to focus though, with Emmett bouncing up and down in his seat like a third grader with a sugar buzz. It didn't help that I was coming off the end of a twelve-hour overnight shift, and still had piles of charts for dictation. I sighed, dropping my pen on the chart and muting my iPod in its speaker dock. "Ok, I'll bite. Who is she?" I didn't even need to ask, really. Em went for the young blonde nursing grads. It was his way of welcoming them to the field, officially. Or so he said.

"I don't know her name, but she's gorgeous, man. Not as young as I usually like, but that's ok. I've finally hit thirty. It's probably time I grew up a little." He grinned at me. "Long brown hair. Great ass. I can't fucking wait."

God, he was such an ass. "You know, one day you're going to meet one you really want. And I mean really, really want. And she isn't going to give you the time of fucking day." I was looking forward to that.

"Naw. I gotta spread the love. There's no settling down for the incredible Dr. E." And with that, he bounced off the stool, still hyped. He waved his charts at me over his head and without turning around, said "Keep your eyes peeled, man. You'll like this one."

I snorted. I'm sure I would. I just wasn't going to go sniffing after her like a dog in heat.

*********************

BPOV

It would be lying if I didn't admit to myself, at least a little bit, that I was really, really nervous about my first day at the hospital in Cincinnati.

Medical school does a lot of things for you, if you work it right. Not only do you get the education, but you gain confidence, something I had needed, badly. I could handle just about any situation now without breaking a sweat, which was why the first day nerves were kind of throwing me off. Doctors rated several floors of the main parking garage, which connected directly to the employee entrance in the basement, but it was such a nice day out, I decided to work out the jitters by walking. I sat my bag on the hood of my beat up pickup and dug around for my BlackBerry. Finding it, I shuffled to a playlist that I usually reserved for working out. I needed all the pumping up I could get. After leaving the garage, I moved down the sidewalk, awkwardly dodging other pedestrians on Burnet Avenue as the wind whipped my hair into my face. Letting my mind wander, I thought back to that first year of residency at the University of Washington. I remembered how nervous I had been then, too. It was one thing to know what you were talking about, but an entirely different experience having to go in and explain it to the patient.

Dr. Cullen was standing next to me in front of the tall monitors that displayed the films. I knew what I had seen, but I wanted to make absolutely certain. She clicked on the patient's name in the requisition list, and pulled up the chest x-ray I had looked at only minutes earlier. Damn, the mass was still there. Stupidly, I was hoping I had been seeing things. She tilted her head to the side, a frown on her pixie-like face.

"Hmm. I see. Well, Bella, I would definitely say that you were spot on in the diagnosis. I don't know why you wanted me to take a look, though. I think this one's fairly obvious."

"I know, Dr. Cullen. I just wanted to be absolutely certain before I go in and tell the patient she's got a huge mass in her lung."

Dr. Cullen turned to look at me, smiling. "I thought I told you to call me Alice. And I understand. I probably would have done exactly the same thing if I were you."

Well, that had been a nice thought, but I could never see Alice Cullen as an insecure first-year resident.

After closing the case out, I turned to grab my chart and go tell this lady that she probably had cancer. Alice followed me, offering to go in as backup. I had never been more grateful for anything in my entire life. It hadn't been a pretty scene. But after that, my preceptor had become my best friend. We were inseparable.

I had made it to the outer portion of the ER at this point, and was yanked from my thoughts by plowing headfirst into the biggest guy I had ever met. He was in the navy blue scrubs of the ER, with a stethoscope and no less than three hemostats and a pair of sunglasses sticking out of his shirt pocket. He had a boyish grin, and I couldn't help but smile back, although it was pretty weak.

"Sorry about that. I'm a little clumsy on the best of days." I looked at his name badge. Dr. Emmett McCarthy. Great. Way to make a good first impression, Bella.

"Not a problem." He looked me over, which normally would have bothered me, but since I was also in dark navy scrubs, not to mention still nervous as hell, I wasn't concerned. He wouldn't get much out of it. Wearing this stuff was almost as good as wearing my favorite sweats. It was one of the best parts of the job, in my opinion.

We circled each other for just a second, trying to get where we needed to go. I looked at my watch. Shit. Alice was going to kill me. "Well, it was nice to meet you, but I have to get going." Also, I wanted him to quit looking at me like I was a piece of candy. Ugh. Some people have no taste.

"Yeah, you too." He smiled, a big toothy grin, and winked at me. "See you around."

I waved at him and turned to walk towards the doctor's lounge, where Alice was waiting for me. This was going to be a long day.

*********

Alice jumped up from the small leather sofa in the lounge as I opened the door. "There you are! Where have you been, I wanted to show you around the hospital. It must have taken you forever to get here. How was the traffic? Did you get a good parking spot? Come with me, we have to get going!"

This was all said as one big long sentence, but that was Alice for you. Total force of nature.

"I walked from the garage and came in the squad entrance. It was a nice day out, for once." The springtime weather here in Cincinnati didn't seem to be much better than that of Seattle. Or Forks, for that matter. And the allergies. Oh my god… I didn't even know I was allergic to anything. I hadn't been able to breathe the entire three weeks I'd been here.

"Ok, well, that's all right. We've still got a few minutes before we have to get out front, so I can show you around a little bit." She turned towards me to lead me back out the door, and as I dropped my satchel and jacket on the chair next to the lockers, I heard her gasp. I turned back around and saw her staring at me, with that 'you-can't-go-out-looking-like-this' expression I had come to hate.

"Oh, Bella. Your hair! We need to fix you up. Damn. Ok. I've got some stuff in my locker…" She trailed off as she danced passed me towards her locker, which was plastered with pictures of her and her fiancé, Jasper Whitlock, on various vacations. They travelled so much, they were hardly ever home.

"Alice, it's fine. Really. I'll just brush it back out and put it up again." I knew this wasn't going to get me off the hook, but given the stuff we had to do before I could begin today, I didn't think we really had the time to be playing dress-up. But in the two years I had known Alice, I had come to learn that when she wanted something, she found a way to get it done. Hence the designer labels hanging in my closet at home. Now she was rounding on me with a dangerous looking black comb and a can of hairspray.

"Sit down. This will only take a minute."

Famous last words.

***************

Fifteen minutes later, we emerged from the lounge. My hair was still in a ponytail, but much puffier on top. Alice had taken it all down, brushed all the snarls out, and faster than I could blink, she had twisted it into several different styles. Some of them were actually kind of cute, if you were getting ready for prom. I finally had to resort to death threats against her shoe collection if she didn't just put it up into a pony and be done with it. I felt some tugging at my scalp, felt her frizzing my roots to death, which I really hated, and she knew it, too. Then a few more deft tugs, a spray of hairspray, and she declared me appropriate for patient interaction. When she dug around in her bag mumbling something about gloss, I jumped up and took off for the door. I heard her sigh again, one of weary resignation, and I laughed to myself. I was anxiously waiting for the day when she'd finally realize I wasn't going to be nearly as prissy as she was. I had a long wait.

Alice tossed her things back into her locker, spun the dial on the combination lock, and followed me out the door. We headed down the long back corridor, which held about a dozen curtained rooms and served as the minor trauma area, where people were treated for lacerations, broken bones, and the like. As we came around the bend that would take us to the acute care nursing station, we passed the minor trauma one and a cute blonde nurse looked up and smiled. "Hi, Dr. Cullen. Is this our new doc?"

Alice spoke, but didn't break stride. "Yes, this is Dr. Swan. Bella, say hi to Suzie."

I turned my head as Alice propelled me forward. "Hi, Suzie. It's nice to meet you." Suzie just kept smiling and waved, shaking her head slightly at Alice. Huh. The staff must have gotten used to her hyperactivity real quick, given she had only gotten here about four months before I did. Why she was in such a huge hurry, I had no idea. We still had about five minutes before the official start of my shift, and the department didn't look all that busy. Once we were out of hearing range of the minor trauma nurse's station, Alice slowed down marginally and pulled me closer.

"Sorry about that. Suzie's a nice girl, but she tends to be over-friendly. Above and beyond the call of duty." She shot me A Look. "She's already gotten with a couple of the docs here, but I don't think she's done yet." Her look turned dark at that.

Oh.

"Well, I'm sure she's nice enough." I hated passing judgment on people before I really knew them. I knew Alice was probably right, but it just didn't seem fair. So I kept my mouth shut and just followed my favorite hurricane toward a large, open area with a nursing station in the middle. Ah, the acute care area. The butterflies were back. We headed down the end of the corridor, and as we passed the med room, the massive Dr. McCarty came around the corner, charts in the air, talking to someone behind him. "Keep your eyes peeled, man," he said, looking down towards his shoes. "You'll like this one." His hand came down, he looked up at us. The smile on his face twisted into a grimace, and I could swear that his cheeks were getting pink. Interesting. I had never met anyone else who blushed for no apparent reason. Alice, being ever-observant, did not miss this.

"Which one, Emmett? Find a new nurse to break in?" Her voice was warm, despite her chiding tone. She looked at me and rolled her eyes. "There's a long and interesting story to this. Emmett here loves to play 'welcoming committee' to the new nurses. He-"

Emmett cut her off quickly. "What Dr. Cullen here means is that I just like to make sure that everyone gets settled in nicely." He grimaced at himself. "Well, that didn't sound right, but that's ok." He stuck his hand out. "Good thing we've already met, or Alice might have made me look bad. I'm Dr. McCarty, but you can call me Emmett." He winked at me, again. Lord, did this guy ever turn it off?

Alice's expression was suddenly thoughtful, and then a wicked grin broke out. "Emmett, dear, this is Bella. As in, Isabella. As in, Dr. Swan." I offered my hand to him, and he gripped it firmly, although the look on his face belied the impact Alice's words must have had.

Alice poked me with her bony little elbow. "Tell you about it later. Get back to minor, Emmett. Suzie's got three waiting for you."

Emmett's face lightened at that. "Suzie's in minor today? Nice." The grin was back. "See you later, Bella. Alice, be sure to let Eduardo know I was slightly mistaken." He turned and jogged towards the back.

Eduardo. Eduardo. Why on earth did that sound familiar to me? Oh, that's right. Edward. Alice's baby brother. He was, according to Alice, another Doogie Howser. He had graduated from Johns Hopkins at the tender age of 23, and even though we were the same age, he had almost a five year head start on me because of it. Well, just as long as it didn't leave a stick up his ass, I was good for it. Not everyone could be a genius. Alice assured me that he had stayed relatively down to earth throughout it all, but sisters have a tendency to be biased. Or I imagined they would. I know I would be. She did mention that he tended to be a little on the shy side, and he didn't have much of a love life. She had looked at me long and hard when she said that, and I was hoping that she didn't have matchmaking plans floating through that pretty little head of hers. I needed time to adjust after moving cross country, and a guy would not help that much. Plus, from the few pictures I had seen, he wasn't much to get excited over. The shyness fit, because he just looked too… thin. But the shock of bronze hair (really, there was no other description for the color) had caught my eye. There was potential there, for sure. For his sake, I hoped he had gotten lucky and grown into that hair.

Alice continued her brief narrative of what we were passing as she dragged me along behind her. "This is the med room. Nothing in here for us, really, unless you need to draw up a local. Bathrooms for patients are here, and this is the hallway that leads to x-ray. There are two CT scanners here." She paused and looked at me expectantly. UW only had one scanner in their ER, and that had been irritating. I made the appropriate noises, just to get her moving, and we continued our tour.

"Thoracic cart is here. Intubation supplies are on the crash carts, which are in rooms one through six. That's where we try to put the full arrests when they come in, but if we need to work them somewhere else, we can go in and pull a cart out to take with us." Another luxury that UW didn't have. Nice. I could see why Alice and Edward chose to come here, even though it was so far from their parents. Alice continued, breaking into my thoughts. "We usually dictate back in the lounge, but if it's slow out here, then sometimes you can rattle a few off between patients."

By this time, we were coming up on the nursing station. Seven or eight people in navy scrubs were standing around, doing various things. An older nurse who looked to be just a hair shorter than Alice, which I did not previously think was possible, turned to us and smiled. Wow. It must be a slow day, if this many people can still paste on a smile. I couldn't help smiling in return, just because she reminded me so much of my mom, in facial expression alone. A small pang hit me as I thought of her, Phil and Phoenix. Alice spoke again, introducing us.

"Dr. Swan, meet Margie, my favorite nurse in the entire hospital. Margie, this is Dr. Swan."

I held my hand out for Margie, and she shook it, still smiling. She glanced from me to Alice, then back again.

"Alice only says I'm her favorite because I bring her cookies. And I do her discharges about as quick as she writes them."

Alice beamed at that. "A definite plus, in my book. The quicker you can get them out…"

"The quicker they can come back in." Margie laughed. "You'll see, Dr. Swan. It's the same, all around. Can't escape the seekers."

Another nurse, younger, with shoulder length red hair and more freckles than I could count, turned to us and chimed in. "Or the drunks. Or the crazy people…" She laughed and pranced off towards a room, chart and a small medicine cup of pills in hand.

Margie sighed. "That's Tabitha, my daughter. She's a little out there, but in a good way. You'll like her." She smiled yet again, and scooped up the pile of IV supplies she had been preparing while talking to us. "Good to meet you, Dr. Swan. We're glad to have you."

"Thanks. I'm glad to be here." And I really was. So far, so good. The nerves were calming. Bless Alice and her grand tour.

I followed her into the station, and she stood directly in the middle, hands on hips and head held high like she owned the place. She likely had everyone there under her tiny little thumb, so my musings were probably not far off the mark. Turning towards me, she grinned at me and said, "Welcome home."

I stood next to her and turned slowly, to take in the area. It looked as though three of the five counters in the station were being used by nurses and other staff, charting and preparing medicines. One nurse slumped over, her head hitting her forearm, phone held to her thigh, and let out a muffled scream. Very muffled. Nurses were the only people I know who could express displeasure so quietly. "I… hate… TCU," she growled. She knocked her head against her arm at each word, and then once more, as if to punctuate the end of her sentence. She then raised the phone back to her ear, and in a voice as friendly as could be, said, "Oh, hello, Lauren. Thanks for taking this patient." She continued to read her report over the phone to the nurse on the transitional care unit that would be taking the patient for her. I shook my head. Amazing.

Alice whispered in my ear. "That's Sam. She has some anger issues. We're working on it."

"Ah. Thanks for the heads up."

"Anytime."

I continued my perusal of the station. The fourth counter held a collection of monitors and machines, some of which were monitoring patient's vital signs, while others were displaying x-rays and yet others were printing off what I could only assume were lab results. The fifth counter was nearly empty, except for several empty styrofoam cups that looked like they had held coffee at one time. Even as I noticed them, a young guy in a wheelchair rolled into the station with a tray full of more styrofoam. He placed it on this fifth counter, deftly stacked up the empty cups and tossed them. He then pulled a carton of milk and about five hundred packets of sugar out of his pocket, tossed them on the tray, and spun his chair around to come back towards us, and the computer sitting in the corner of the station. Surrounding this computer were all the gadgets and papers that denoted this as the unit coordinator's spot. The man looked up at us, and I was shocked at how, well, cute he was.

"Hi. You're Dr. Swan?"

"Yes." Four words, and he had railroaded me with his efficiency.

"I'm Craig. Here's your folder for your to-be-dictated charts. Alice will show you where it goes. Don't let it get crammed, or Pam will be on your ass." He smiled, but it looked pained. I met Pam once. I could understand why he had that looked that way. "Welcome to bedlam."

"Thanks." I turned to Alice. "Does everyone around here call you by your first name? I mean, that doesn't bother me, but I thought most places had a policy about that."

Alice looked cheeky. "Well, usually, yes. But if the staff likes you, they'll start using your first name. It'll probably take a few weeks, since you're new and they don't know you yet. But I guarantee no one will be calling you Dr. Swan unless you're in front of patients. In my case, though, I told them straight out just to call me Alice. It's a lot easier to tell us apart when we're working together." She cocked her head toward the far end of the fifth counter as she said this. A man sat, hunched over a stack of charts, speaking quietly and quickly into the phone. Without raising his head, his left hand shot out for one of the styrofoam cups Craig had left on the tray, popped the plastic top off with his thumb, and brought it back to him. Hitting a button on the keypad of the phone set, he sat the hand piece down and ran his other hand through his hair as he practically inhaled the coffee. The mess of bronze locks were left sticking up every which way, and I could swear I heard at least two heartfelt sighs from the nurses at the counter next to him. Hmm. Edward must not have done too badly in the looks department. Alice glided noiselessly over to the chair where he sat, and without making a peep, grabbed the back of it and shook. His hands shot out again, this time in a valiant effort to save his balance and his coffee.

"Wake up, Edward! Bella's here, so you can go home."

"Jesus, Alice, do you have to do that? We're not fucking five years old anymore. And I can't go home." He gestured to his stack. "Charts. Pam is damn near ready to kill me."

I looked over to Craig. He grimaced and mouthed "told you so." I shuddered.

Alice smacked the back of his head. "Language. You can at least go back and take a nap now. I'm surprised you haven't killed anyone yet, given you've had about three hours of sleep in the last two days. Pam can wait another couple hours."

That sucked. I knew they were stretched here in terms of physician coverage, but I didn't realize it was that bad. No wonder I got such a nice relocation bonus. They must have been desperate.

"Not the way she's been going. She's already called me twice this morning, so she knows I'm still here. She won't leave me alone until I get at least half this to her by lunch. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He slid the chair back and stood up. I could hear popping noises coming from his lower back. Ouch. He stretched slightly (more sighs, this time slightly louder than before), and spoke in that raspy, deep voice as he turned to face me. "So, Bella, we finally… meet." He stared at me. Normally, I would have panicked, thinking I had something stuck in my teeth. This time, I didn't notice so much. I was too busy staring at him.

Alice's brother was a god.

********************

EPOV

Alice's friend was a goddess.

Given her gorgeous mane of brown hair and the subtle flair to her hips, this had to be Emmett's new 'nurse'. No wonder he had been so excited. I hated that I probably looked like a fool to every person within viewing distance, but I couldn't help taking the opportunity to drink her in. Bella. Her name suited her perfectly. Lush lips, perfectly proportioned, she was every man's wet dream. Even in scrubs. I can see what got Emmett so worked up. Whoa, down boy. If I didn't watch it, Bella, not to mention my sister and about fifteen other people, were going to see just how glad I was to meet her. I cleared my throat just as she shook her head a little, and I caught glints of every color from chocolate to a deep, deep auburn in her hair. I had to clear my throat again. Damn. Be cool, Edward. I held my hand out to her.

"Alice talks about you all the time. I'm Edward."

She put her small hand in mine, and I could swear I felt a crack of electricity and heat shoot up my arm. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad.

"Hi. Yes, I've heard lots about you, too." She smiled now, and it transformed her entire face, making her even lovelier than before. Like that was even possible. Vaguely I wondered what Alice had told her about me. I didn't need to start with a handicap. Actually, I didn't need to start at all. Alright, Edward, time for bed.

Alice was looking at us, expectantly and with an impish grin. Oh shit.

She was going to try and set us up.

Yep. Definitely time for bed.

"Well, I think you'll like it here. It's about as laid-back as you can get in a place this big." I turned again to clean up my mess. Stacking up my charts, I handed the finished pile over to Craig, and took the much larger stack to be done, along with my open cup of coffee, my iPod and my cell phone, to the upper counter at the end of the nurse's station. Passing by Alice, who was moving to take my seat, I nodded to Bella and tried not to look at her. I'd probably start drooling again. "Enjoy your day. Not much going on at the moment, but I'm sure that won't last long. Alice, call me if you need me."

"Shut up and go to bed, Edward. I think we can handle it."

"Alright then. I'm out." I slid past Bella as she moved toward Alice. Her heat and her scent caught me like a punch in the gut. I think I actually tripped over my feet a little. There was a hint of something spicy there, like perfume, but mostly, it was just… her. It was soft and inviting and oddly enough, very comforting. It smelled like home. Then I got another whiff of the perfume. Correction: home and sex. God, I was in trouble.