EPOV

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I sighed, if had to listen to that ring tone one more time I was going to break the phone. My twin sister, Alice, had left her phone in the living room in her hurry to get out the door to meet her boyfriend, Jasper. It had been ringing incessantly for the last twenty minutes, making it impossible to concentrate on the calculus homework I was attempting to work on. I glanced outside, it was another dreary rainy day in the small town of Forks, WA. It had been storming pretty hard earlier, but now was just a soft drizzle. The perfect afternoon to curl up on the couch and get caught up on some homework. I know it isn't what a typical 16 year old would be doing on a Saturday afternoon, but I had opted out of going to Seattle with my friends and was content spending the day in front of the fireplace.

My thoughts drifted to Alice and Jasper. Jasper had transferred to Forks High at the start of the school year and he and Alice had been inseparable since. They couldn't be more different, but they complemented each other well. Alice was short with spiky black hair while Jasper was tall with wavy blonde hair. Alice is a jumping bean ball of energy, while Jasper is calm and rational. They treat each other with such love and respect. Although I knew that if I was being truthful with myself, I was envious. I wanted someone to love me the way Alice loved Jasper.

Unfortunately the one and only I want to feel that way about me is both unattainable and untouchable. Bella Swan. The beautiful, intelligent Bella Swan. She was unattainable because she was beautiful and smart and shy and would never be attracted to the attention seeking jock persona that everyone in Forks saw me as. She was untouchable because she is Alice's best friend. Alice would kill me if I messed with Bella. Alice didn't put up with anyone messing with Bella.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I gave up on the homework, tossing it aside and reaching for Alice's phone. I flipped it open without looking at the caller ID.

"A . . Al . . Alice!" the panicked voice trembled. I could hear the sobbing on the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry, Alice isn't home," I started, genuine concern in my voice.

"Ed . . Edward?"

The voice was still trembling but recognition dawned on me. "Bella?"

"Yeah . . " she stuttered. "Where's Ali?"

"She's out with Jasper. Bella, what's wrong?" I didn't deal well with crying girls to begin with and absolutely hated hearing Bella so upset. It tugged at my heart and I would do anything to take her pain away.

Bella choked, more sobs escaping her lips. "When's Alice going to be home?"

I ran a hand through my disheveled hair. "She won't be home for a couple of hours. She left her phone here." I hesitated for a moment, then continued, "What's wrong, Sweetie?" That term of endearment was acceptable, given her emotional state at the moment, wasn't it?

Bella was still sobbing and I couldn't make out most of what she said. "Bella, I need you to take a deep breath." I paused, "Can you do that for me?" I could hear the shuddering breath. "Now, can you tell me what's wrong?"

I still couldn't make out all of the words she spoke, but got enough. "I . . I . . .the car . . water . . . hydroplaned . . . hit a tree."

I shot up off of the couch, my heart in my throat, already heading to my car. "Bella, where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay," she shuttered. She proceeded to direct me to the road she was on.

I talked to Bella the whole time I was trying to get to her, attempting to console her. If she truly was fine and it was just the car, I couldn't quite understand why she was so hysterical. I mean, I love my car, but plastic and metal are always replaceable. Eventually I had managed to talk her into getting back in the car to get out of the rain. She had calmed down considerably and instead of sobs I now heard her scattered hiccups. It wasn't a few moments later that I pulled up behind Bella's car, arriving much faster than I legally should have. I was out of my car in a flash and over to her driver's side door. At first glance, the car didn't look too bad, but there was some damage to the right front side. My heart nearly broke in two when Bella stepped out of the car. She looked like a drowned rat. It didn't appear there was a dry spot on her, her hair and clothes both dripping they were so soaked. She had mud all over her jean clad legs, covering one arm and smeared across her cheek and chin. Her eyes were swollen and red from all of her crying.

"Jesus Bella," I breathed. Bella took a hesitant step toward me. I noticed her hand when she stepped forward and immediately grabbed for her wrist. "You said you weren't hurt!" I really didn't mean for that to come out as accusatory as it did. If seeing Bella upset hurt, seeing her physically injured was excruciating.

"It's nothing." Bella stated firmly, pulling her arm back. "I'll be fine."

I sighed and looked at Bella kindly and started in my most persuasive tone, "May I please take a look at it?"

Bella hesitantly held her hand out to me. I gently held her wrist with one hand while the other worked to remove the blood spotted make shift bandage she had applied. I gasped when I saw the gash across the palm of her hand. I held her hand as tenderly as possible, "Bella, how did you do this?"

I kept my eyes on her as she started to explain, "It . . It didn't even happen in the accident." She blew out a big breath, "The car still seems to run and I thought if I could pull the bent pieces off of the tire, I might be able to get home."

I gave her a confused look, also taking a cursory glance at the rest of her body to make sure there were no other injuries she was attempting to hide.

"My hand slipped when I was pulling on the metal piece." Bella waved her good hand to her body, "That's how I ended up looking like this. When I lost my grip on the metal I fell into the mud."

I looked between her and the car, unsure of how to proceed. "Bella, I think I need to take you to the hospital to get stitches." Bella was not going to like that thought. She hated hospitals.

Bella shook her head. "I'm not going to make you take me to the hospital."

I cracked a smile at her, "It's kind of the other way around. I'm making you go to the hospital." I stepped around her to her car and reached in for her purse and book bag that were sitting in the passenger seat. I carried them back to my car and tossed them in the back seat as Bella followed me. I walked over and opened the passenger door for her, but she hesitated. For a brief moment I wondered what was so horrible about the thought of riding with me, then it occurred to me that she might not want to be in any vehicle with as traumatized as she appeared to be. I tried to give her my best reassuring smile, "I'll drive extra slow and careful."

Bella shook her head, "It's not that." She gestured toward the car and then herself, "I'll get your car all dirty."

It was true, I did love this car, but the last thing in the world I was thinking about was that Bella might get it a little muddy. I wanted her out of this rain and her hand fixed up. Those were the priorities at the moment. I looked back at Bella, but she shook her head again. Stubborn girl. I left the door open and quickly popped the trunk open, pulling out a blanket that was stored there. I laid it across the passenger seat and again motioned for Bella to get in the car. This time, she followed my instruction. "I'll wash your blanket," she muttered as she climbed in.

On the ride to the hospital I learned why Bella had opted to call Alice instead of her father – he had gone out of town this morning and wouldn't be returning until Wednesday. Apparently he felt Bella needed someone to stay with her while he was gone and she had insisted she didn't need a babysitter. She had won the argument and didn't want to let him know that she had gotten herself into trouble on the first day.

I saw Bella tense and a few more tears slip out as we pulled up to the hospital. I quickly rounded the car so I could open the door for her. "Hey," I said, wiping a few tears away with my thumb, "if you want, we don't even have to check you in. My Dad's working today – I'm sure we can get him to take a look at it." Bella seemed to perk up slightly at this news and let me lead her into the hospital.

Alice and I's Dad, Carlisle, immediately agreed to look at Bella's hand, as I had known he would do. I bent in front of Bella as she sat in one of the consulting chairs in Carlisle's office. I placed one hand on each side of her face, willing her to look at me. "I'm going to go take care of some things, will you be okay if I step out for a little while?"

I thought I saw a look of disappointment on her face, but it was quickly replaced. "Of course, I'm sorry I've ruined so much of your Saturday afternoon already."

I shook my head, "You haven't ruined anything," I reached out and tentatively ran my fingers down her cheek. "I'm just glad you're okay." And with that, I turned and stepped out of my father's office.

"Emmett, I need your help," I started. Emmett was my big burly brother. His size and demeanor could be extremely intimidating if you didn't know him, but for those of us in the know, he was just a big teddy bear. He was two years older than me and had opted to stay in Forks after he graduated from High School. I had a feeling that the majority of that came from him wanting to stay close to his girlfriend, Rose, who was a senior this year.

I quickly explained my problem, smiling when my brother's first reaction was the same as mine – an immediate need to know if Bella was okay. I knew it was just going to stress Bella out more having to pay to have her car towed to a shop, and there was no point to that. Emmett arrived at Bella's car shortly after I did, the tow kit already attached to his monstrous jeep. It took us a little longer than expected, but we managed to get the car attached and I followed Emmett to Hale's Garage. Rosalie's family had run the shop for years and Emmett had become an extremely good customer, adding all kinds of customizations to his Jeep, especially when he was first trying to get Rosalie to notice him. After a quick conversation with Rose's dad, we were on the road to having Bella's car repaired.

"Thanks Em," I said, patting his shoulder. "I owe you."

Emmett smiled at me, "Yeah, and don't think I won't take advantage of that."

When I arrived back at the hospital Bella was sitting on the couch in my dad's office. My dad had apparently let her use the doctor's lounge to shower and given her a pair of clean scrubs to put on. I never thought anyone could make plain light blue scrubs look as sexy as the beautiful girl before me. Even with her eyes still slightly puffy and red and her hand all bandaged, she looked gorgeous. She was curled up on the couch and it looked like she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"Edward," Carlisle spoke, startling me and breaking my attention from Bella.

I coughed and shook my head, blatantly trying to cover for my staring.

Carlisle just smiled knowingly at me, setting the pen down on his desk and moving the paperwork aside that he had been working on. "Bella told me her father is out of town until Wednesday?"

I nodded, knowing my father would be about as happy with the fact that Bella was home alone as I was.

"Well, she can't stay there without transportation, plus I don't want her alone with as upset as she was today."

I took a cursory glance at Bella, her eyes were now completely closed. Carlisle must've seen my glance because he continued, "I gave her something for the pain and something to help her calm down. As upset as she was about the damn car, you would've thought she killed someone."

I smirked at him, having fully experienced Bella's hysteria earlier. "I'll take her to our house for now, you're going to have to convince her about the rest of the week. I think she was really hoping to prove to Charlie that she was capable of staying on her own." Truth was, I liked Carlisle's idea. It wasn't like Bella didn't spend most of her free time at our house, but this just seemed . . . different.

I headed toward Bella, gently shaking her shoulder and telling her it was time to go home. She slowly sat up, wincing as she forgot and used her injured hand to push herself up. She picked up the plastic bag that was at her feet, I assumed it contained her muddy ruined clothes. Bella had taken a total of two steps before she swayed and I wasn't completely convinced she wouldn't have gone face first into the carpet. I had my arm around her in a flash. I took the bag from her hand and gently placed her arm around my neck, placing my arm around her waist to steady her as I lead her back to my car.

An hour later we were back at my house, Bella had immediately curled up on the couch, insisting on staying in the living room until Alice got home. I sat on the opposite end of the couch, attempting to work on the homework I had out earlier, but truly just listening to Bella's soft breathing as she slept. I had finally managed to concentrate on the homework when I felt Bella shift next to me. She sat up and looked over at me and, for a moment, I thought she might start crying again. She leaned towards me and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest when her soft lips connected with my cheek.

"Thank You Edward," she whispered. "I don't know what I would've done today without you." She paused for a moment, taking a shaky breath. "I'd probably still be sitting out in the rain on that road, freezing my ass off." She shifted so that she could comfortably lean against me, her head resting on my shoulder.

My heart was about to pound out of my chest. It's just the drugs. It's just the drugs. I chanted. Bella would not be this forward if she weren't under the influence of the medication Carlisle had given her. I was trying to quench the hope that was trying to spring thru in my heart.

"Well, we couldn't have that now, could we? That ass is far too cute to be frozen off," I said, trying to lighten the suddenly tense atmosphere.

Bella giggled, but left her head against my shoulder. "Thank You," she said again before her breathing evened out and I was convinced she fell back asleep.

I was carefully reaching for the blanket to cover Bella when Alice came barreling in. "Where is she?" she screeched, running into the living room. I had called Jasper when Bella and I had gotten back to the house so that he would let Ali know what had happened, and that she needed to go over to the Swan's house and get Bella's stuff for her. There was no way Bella was going to be up for getting out again tonight.

"Shhh. . . " I immediately tried to quiet my hyperactive pixie sister.

Alice quickly shut her mouth, then quietly whisper demanded, "Is she okay?" pointing a shaky finger at Bella.

My arm tightened protectively around Bella. "She's okay Ali. Just shaken up. She cut her hand, but Dad got her stitched up. Nothing that won't be 100% healed in a week or two."

Alice took a deep breath to calm herself. "Thank god." It was then that Alice seemed to take in the scene in front of her. She cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "Edward," she started pointing a finger between Bella and I, "did something happen between you and B today?"

I sighed, wishing so much that Alice's wild imagination could come true. "No Alice. Bella tried to call you – but you left your phone here and after it rang for the millionth time, I answered it. Do you honestly think I wouldn't help her?"

Alice didn't look completely convinced. "No Edward, I know you would always help anyone in need. Especially a freaked out girl." She paused for a moment, "But you wouldn't go as far out of your way as you did for Bella today." She took a seat in the chair next to the couch, looking thoughtful. "You should ask her out, you know. You two would be great together."

I couldn't believe my ears. Alice was okay with the thought of me dating Bella? Not only okay, but encouraging it. I shook my head, once again trying to clear the hope that was once again attempting to spring forth. Alice's approval was only part of the problem, it still remained that Bella wouldn't want a guy like me. She probably just saw me as a brother-type from hanging out with Alice.

I reached over and squeezed my sister's hand, "Thanks Ali, that means a lot to me. It's not going to happen, but thank you."

Alice's attempt to argue was short lived as Bella awoke to our voices, successfully ending that conversation.