A/N Ok so here is my first fan fic. Please be kind. Please review. This story is in Bella POV so far but if requested I could try an EPOV but we shall see.

Everyone does I a disclaimer at the start so I shall to.

I own nothing, just this version of the characters. ( please tell me if thats right)

Chapter One

The smell of burning flesh...that was the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital 8 months ago. It was Thanksgiving and I had yet another fight with my mother Renee over her pushing our family friend Jacob Black at me like if I didn't go out with him, I was going to be alone forever. Renee had always been like that though...not shoving boys at me from every direction, but paranoid that I was unhappy even though I never said I was. This all started when my mother told my dad Charlie that she wanted a divorce. When you're an eleven year old only child, I don't think there could be anything worse than your parents sitting you down and telling you that they don't love each other anymore. Why? What happened to make you stop? Was it me? Did I cause this? So many questions running through my head but all I could do was nod and stare at my father while tears ran down Renee's face like a water fall. Charlie had never been one to show much emotion, I guess I'm kind of like him in that aspect, so when I thought I was going to break down the way my mother looked like she was, Charlie kept me grounded. It's not the end of the world, I told myself, just the end of my family, that's not as bad...is it?

I was now 20 years old and studying to be a Lit major at college. It was the first time in years that we had been altogether again since the divorce. Renee had come back to Forks, to the home where Charlie and I still lived, with her new husband Phil who was a minor league baseball player. Since my mother was a wreck in the kitchen and did more damage than good and Charlie couldn't even cook toast, I was the one getting the feast together for them and our family friends, the Blacks, while they where in the lounge room. Billy Black had been Charlie's friend for as long as I can remember and his son Jacob was my best friend. Yes, okay so Jake was good looking and tall, and ripped but I never thought about him that way and he never did either. Jake was helping me out in the kitchen, dicing up the vegetables while I washed them, when Renee decided to play Cupid.

"Oh, don't you two just look cosy in here. You know when the two of you where little, we could not get you away from each other!"

I looked over at my mother to see where this came from. The answer came to me in the form of yet another empty wine glass. I looked at Jacob whose shoulders were shaking from trying to keep the laughter in. He looked over at me and I rolled my eyes, apparently that didn't help him with trying to keep his laughing fit under control. Renee always asked about Jacob whenever I spoke to her on the phone. Yes it had gotten annoying but it was never like this.

"I think that was a sign, yep, it was a sign that you two where going to be together forever."

Really? Can you stop now before I blush any redder! I turned around to ask her to get out of the kitchen (maybe in nicer words) when she was suddenly right in front of me. She was so close I could see her hazy eyes. Just at this moment Phil walked in, I don't think I have ever been happier to see him, and came over to my mother putting his hands on her upper arms, steering her away.

"Now now Renee, stop bothering the chef so we can eat on time."

He had turned her around by the end of that sentence, looking at her in the eyes and I could see just how much he truly cared for her in that one look.

I turned back to the vegetables we were preparing, feeling like I just intruded on a very private moment. Jacob looked as awkward as I felt.

"No! I will not leave until these two admit that they love each other! I'm sick of my poor Bella being alone!"

All of a sudden, I felt pressure on my right shoulder and Jake and I collided. We bumped heads very hard getting a loud gasp from the both of us. Me, with my oh so awesome co ordination, ended up on the ground with a loud thump. Oh no she did not just do that! I couldn't believe her! I looked up to find a very confused Jacob rubbing his forehead, Phil with a shit, what do I do NOW look and Renee, who actually looked angry. Why the hell is she angry?! Deciding that I know longer liked being below everyone, I got up off the floor and before I knew it, I was yelling.

"What the hell mum? What do you think you're doing? Do you realise how dangerous that was? Jake was holding a knife! He could have cut or STABBED ME!"

At this stage, Charlie and Billy came into the room to see what was going on, faces with the same confused and slight shock that Phil wore, standing in the door way. Phil backed up to stand next to them and het out of the danger zone.

"Why the hell would you think that was a good idea? What good could have possibly come from that!?"

I could feel how red I was in the face, but I didn't care. What I did care about was the fact that Renee looked just as angry as me.

"Well if you weren't so unhappy I would not have had to intervene!"

I can't do this again, not now, not today. I have to get out of here; I have to get some air. With that thought I looked at Jake, mouthing sorry, knowing that he would continue on with making dinner until I returned, pushed past Phil saying that I needed to get something from the store and that I would be back soon.

Making my way to the front door I felt a warm hand on my shoulder stopping me before I could reach the door handle.

"She didn't mean to upset you Bells. Please, don't be long"

Charlie sounded so miserable that I couldn't help but turn around. His eyes matched the emotion of his voice. No, don't break down now, wait til you're in the car. Everything will be better if you can make it to the car. I turned around without a sound and opened the door, grabbing my keys to my truck that hung next to it on the way out. Charlie has never looked like that. Ever. This is bad, something is wrong. My mind was going absolutely wild with thoughts as I made it to The Beast. The name of my truck was very adequate to its appearance. I was never one for fancy things, so I was quite happy with my beat up red (well, it was red...now its basically the colour of rust) pickup truck. I threw the door open, sliding in and closing it as quickly as I could. It took three tries to ignite the engine before slamming it in reverse and getting the hell out of there.

As soon as I left my street, the tears came. I don't know why it had such an effect on me. This shouldn't make me as miserable as I am now. It was just some stupid comments from my slightly tipsy mother. She was just concerned about me. But why was she so angry? I couldn't get over the rage in her eyes when I was on the floor; I had never seen Renee like that before. She was always care free and loving, never like this. I was so caught up in my internal rambling that I had only just realised I was driving back to my house and that almost an hour had past. Shit, I didn't mean to stay out that long. Pushing my truck to its limits I journeyed home as fast as I could. Turning into my street, I realised then that my world would never be the same. Fire trucks. They were everywhere. Police stopped me four houses away with their cars blocking the street. My door flew open as I tried to see what was happening. Dodging the people in the way, I ran to my house. It was still on fire. Screams filled the air, I don't know what I was thinking but I had to help the person screaming. I ran into my house, seeing fire fighters trying to stop me from the corner of my eye. Nothing could stop me. My family was in here. Everyone I cared about. I burst through the door and started choking on smoke. My lungs ached already but some one had screamed, someone was alive. I ran into the lounge room and saw Charlie on the ground, coughing. As quickly as I could I started dragging him to the door. I weird almost sizzling sensation was travelling up from my legs to my arms and back. The smell started to get to me. Everything started fading to black. I reached the door just as everything around me went dark.

I woke up three days later in the same hospital I have been in for the last 8 months. Charlie and I were the only ones left from that house. The police said that it was lucky I found Charlie when I did, or he would have died. I didn't understand why they hadn't found him before me, didn't they hear the screaming? They said it was me who was screaming.

So here I am. Isabella Marie Swan, with second degree burn scar's covering the back of my body, leaving my neck and palms bear, sitting next to an unrecognizable former Chief of police Charlie Swan, with third degree burns covering his entire body that relied on life support to keep him with me. The only way I knew it was him was that Charlie had brown curly hair, whereas Phil is bald and Billy was found in his wheel chair and Jake, I can't think about.

All of his skin was burnt so the skin graft that was achieved on me, wasn't possible on him. Apart from the life support, Charlie had a number of things that could go wrong, resulting in frequent check up's, to make sure there was no infection, to keep his muscles as healthy as they could with him being immobile and to make sure he didn't go into respiratory distress. I had spent so much time at this hospital that I knew all the nurse's and doctor's name's that worked in the burn unit and most of the patients. After a few months here I had been asked by one of the doctor's if I didn't mind taking some time to talk to people also in this wing. I had bought a lot of books and board games and sketching pads to pass the time. I often played with the nurse's on their breaks and drew portraits of them when they didn't know. I had told them that I might draw them without their knowledge at the point but they understood why I preferred to capture them that way. So care free, so happy amongst the chaos that is a hospital. Laughing with friends, seeing the true joy on their faces as they talk about their loved ones. I thought why not, and so every day I found someone different to spend time with while they stayed here, getting better. None of them were as bad as Charlie, and for that I was thankful.

I always hung out with people who were older. No one around my age was ever here, so I didn't feel self conscious about walking around in the few clothes of Jakes that I was given by his sister Rachael. It pained me to wear them but I couldn't bring myself to touch the money Renee and Phil had left for me to buy new clothes, plus I had never left this hospital since I was brought here. All I had was Jake's three grey sweat pants, two over sized shirts (well they were over sized on me but they probably fit Jake) and two long sleeved shirts of mine that I found in my truck. I kept my scars covered up and no one but my doctor and nurse's knew I had them. I was never one for attention so I never admitted to being a patient here first, before just staying with Charlie and I wanted to keep it that way.