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Chapter 1

As soon as I step onto the floor I am assaulted with the pungent smell of disinfectant and rubbing alcohol. My ears are trying to become tolerant once again to the incessant noise of ringing phones, beeping IV pumps, and screaming patients. The bright overhead fluorescent lights reflect blindingly off the shining white tiles of the hallway that I drag myself down, squinting the entire way. Once I put my things away in a locker, I immediately begin to psych myself up for the upcoming night shift, attempting to take cleansing breaths. After checking the schedule and finding who I am to relieve I reluctantly leave the sanctuary of the break room.

"Bella, how was your trip?" Emmett, the charge nurse questions from behind the reception desk. I smile at the gentle giant, one of the few on this floor that is genuine.

"Big Emmett, I've missed you! Florida was good, I was so close to not coming back," I tell him, being completely honest.

"I was afraid of that, but I'm glad you're back. Lauren is ready to report off to you. I am splitting her patients between you and Leah. There is one coming up from recovery that I need you to take." I nod as I search for the older, crotchety woman. I find her in the middle of several other day-shift nurses in hushed conversation. I slowly approach her, not wanting to be caught in the wrath for interrupting their gossip session.

"Hey Lauren, I'm ready when you are," I timidly speak as I walk towards the computer on the opposite side of the hall. Lauren huffs in aggravation as she begrudgingly leaves the group. She quickly walks over, beginning the rundown on her patients. When she finishes, the older woman seeks out Leah who has subsequently taken over her position in the impromptu group. While I am looking over the patient's charts my friend Alice runs up.

"Bella, you will never believe what went down last night!" the pixie-like waif excitedly relays. I cannot help but laugh at my friend's exuberance as she bounces up and down in front of me.

"Nice to see you too, Alice. My trip? Oh, it was good, thanks for asking," I sigh as It's obvious that Alice is clearly not interested in hearing about my break.

"Yeah, yeah. I will get to that later. Your favorite person- "she is abruptly cut off by Emmett calling my name, motioning me over to him.

"Sorry Alice, you'll have to fill me in later." She scowls as I walk away. I notice that the floor is emitting an eerie vibe as I walk towards Emmett. When I reach him, he sighs and rubs his hands over his face, then looks me in the eye.

"Bella, I need to ask you something and I need an honest answer." I find myself frowning, wondering what exactly he needs to know that would cause him to act this way.

"Have you ever been in a relationship with Edward Cullen from the pharmacy?" I instantly pale, then laugh in his face. Most of the staff know that I am in a minority of women at this hospital that has not entertained the philandering idiot from the second floor.

"I knew that, but I still had to ask. Since you clearly haven't been tangled up with him, I have to assign you to his case. He will be up shortly from recovery. He was in an accident last night and will be on the floor for a few days. I was hard-pressed to find anyone who would and could care for him." His words slap me in the face, effectively ending my laughter. The shock of his revelation crushes upon me as my mouth hangs open. There is no way that I want to be in the same room with that imbecile, none the less must take care of him. As I repeat Emmett's words to myself again, I realize that he has unknowingly given me an out. He said the magic word, "would." My heart leaps as there might just be a way out of this.

"Emmett, you said you couldn't find anyone who would take care of him. I refuse. You better start hunting down someone else, call them in if you have to," I defiantly tell him, trying to hurry away before he can guilt me into taking over Edward's care.

"Wait a minute! I am your superior. You are the only one on duty that does not have a history with this guy. I know he is an absolute turd, but he deserves the same level of care as anyone else here, right?" I reluctantly shake my head in agreeance with him while my eyes are trained on the floor. I also know that he has just successfully wrangled me into having to deal with my worst nightmare.

"Before you go any further into your personalized guilt trip, I just want it noted that I despise him and everything he stands for and I will not enjoy my shift tonight!" I mouth off, turning to walk away from Emmett's chuckling as I grunt in frustration. The other nurses look at me with pity as they line the hallway, watching as I walk to the break room. Once I close the door, an involuntary yell springs forth from my mouth but I cannot find it in me to care who might be in the room. After a few minutes of composing myself, I leave and return to reviewing the other patients' charts again.

I'm on edge, my heartbeat increasing and stomach twisting every time I hear the elevator doors open. Eventually, the elevator betrays me. There he is, the bane of my existence. Edward Cullen, even his name is pretentious. His name sounds like he could be a character in a soap opera, but instead, he is the lothario of Saints Memorial Hospital, lying on a gurney being wheeled to a room on the floor that I am assigned to this evening. I sit behind the reception desk, staring at him through the doorway of his room. I am unfortunately privy to his loathsome ways. He has made a habit of dating various female staff of the hospital. His modus operandi has never changed. He starts on the first floor, working his way up to the ninth floor then went back down again. The vicious cycle repeating over and over again. To the outsider, it would seem as if he had perfected this way of life into a sport. He was never without arm candy. As he grew tired of his current "flavor of the moment" he would simply move on to the next floor to find his next conquest. He made a point of never being single. He just seamlessly transitioned from one woman to the next.

I consider myself blessed to be one of the few women who work at this hospital to have been born with a moral compass and has not succumbed to his so-called charming ways. This was, in itself, not lost on him. It only fueled him to relentlessly pursue me since I'm part of a small number of women who had not caved to his whims. That is why, at this moment, I am dreading walking into the room to assume his care. I can only pray to begin vomiting, just to be able to have an excuse to go back home and not have to put up with the vain man held hostage in room 419. I'm awakened out of my lovely daydream of sickness by Alice, who is on the floor to take a patient down to radiology.

"Bella, how happy are you that you get Señor Sleaze all to yourself tonight?" I can only sigh as I roll my eyes at the radiological technician. Alice is only too happy to make light of the situation since she also refused any patient care for him. She had an unfortunate experience with him last year that resulted in a broken heart, strictly on her end.

"Oh, so happy. Thank goodness, he is still unconscious, hopefully, he will stay that way all night. The recovery nurse said that I should expect to have only minimal contact if any with him tonight. He is sedated, so fingers crossed I will have smooth sailing."

"You know you would have enjoyed giving that halfwit an enema," Alice laughs as I give her a look of horror.

"Sorry! Have you heard what happened to him yet?" Alice questions as I shake my head.

"He was busted leaving with Jessica by Tanya. Tanya was so out of her mind in love with him that she just snapped when she found out that he was cheating on her with her best friend. She mowed him down with her car in the parking lot. Serves him right, finally got what he had coming to him."

"What! The Bobbsey twins are now at odds with each other! I thought they shared everything, guess I was wrong," we both laugh at this. It is common knowledge that Jessica and Tanya, who we had dubbed the "Bobbsey twins" do everything together. They may work on separate floors, but they are always seen together in the halls. They coordinate their hairstyles, clothes, and schedules to be just alike. I have to hand it to Tanya, I didn't think the dense woman was capable of a thought without the help of her friend.

Unfortunately, when I can no longer put it off any longer, I slowly make my way to his room.

"Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up," I nervously, but quietly whisper to myself as I tiptoe around his bed. I try to be as gentle as I can while taking his vital signs, praying that he will stay asleep so that I won't have to deal with him.

This becomes a habit as I repeat the same actions for the next three nights. Praying and tiptoeing around the idiot in the bed. Fortunately, his injuries are quite extensive, resulting in his unconscious state for the past few days. I have had to empty his catheter bag, chest tube drainage system, dress his wounds and regrettably check him for pressure wounds. The accident caused him to have a broken right foot, punctured lung, concussion, and various lacerations needing sutures on his arms, trunk, and face. Just as I am finishing changing his bedding after bathing him, I hear a voice that causes me to freeze.

"Hey gorgeous," he rasps out as I visibly cringe, my breath caught in my throat. I ever so slowly turn towards him to find that he is eyeing my figure with a smirk on his face.

"Go back to sleep, you aren't missing anything," I softly plead with him as I continue to tuck his sheets in. "Now what fun would that be? I can think of better things to do than sleep, can't you Pollyanna?"

I turn to him again, knowing my face is mirroring the disgust I feel for the man. "Mr. Cullen, please refrain from speaking to me like that. I am here to ensure that you don't have any problems with your injuries healing and don't die. Why don't you make it easier on both of us by going back to sleep, hmm? I would hate to have to call Big Emmett to take over your care tonight, wouldn't you?" I smile sweetly at him while enjoying watching him shudder.

"You wouldn't really do that to me, would you? I know we often don't see eye to eye, but you wouldn't call Emmett in, would you?"

"Oh, Mr. Cullen, who do you think would have to bathe you? If you keep talking to me like that, Big Emmett would have to become your nurse, especially since you have gone through most of the female staff on this floor so they won't touch you. That only leaves Big Emmett, who I believe will be more than happy to take care of you considering you dated his sister from 5 East." The scowl on his face is rewarding enough for having to be his nurse. He is showing the range of emotions that he is surely going through while listening to me relay this information.

"Fair point. Who took care of me in surgery or recovery? With any luck, it was a new nurse."

"Don't worry, it was Ethel. She gave you an enema and a catheter. She really praised your physique, maybe you should ask her out next," I innocently tell him while smiling brightly at his grimace.

"I guess I deserve that, but at least someone is impressed with me. Guess you are the only one left I need to charm, right?" I cannot control my temper, nor tongue any longer.

I lean over him with a sugary smile still on my face. His eyebrows lift in surprise, thinking that I am actually going to give in to him when I begin my rant. "You know what, Edward Cullen? I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for you. Your treatment of women finally caught up with you. You of all people should have known better than to try to date the "Bobbsey twins" at the same time without them finding out. When you went out with Jessica did you really think that Tanya would just lie back and take it? Do you know that most of the women in this hospital have sent her flowers when they found out that she ran you down with her Volvo? You think you are so special, mister big shot pharmacist. You really think that you are beyond reproof, don't you?"

Edward awkwardly attempts to sit up in the bed, trying to get in position to defend himself against the cold hard facts that I'm throwing at him, plus my index finger that is poking him in the chest. My filter is now non-existent as my voice grows louder with each accusation. He does not look guilty though, in fact, he looks smug. He seems proud of what he has done to these poor women, which only makes my anger level rise.

"Stop moving and get that look off your face! Aren't you just a little bit sorry for what you have done?" I ask exasperatedly. I huff in frustration and angrily push the hair that has fallen out of my messy bun back from my face.

He looks down at his hands, his fingers playing with the loose threads of the scratchy, blue blanket that is draped over his body. His lips pucker and eyebrows furrow, showing that he is deep in thought. I believe that I finally have him where I want him. Now he must acknowledge his wrongdoings and maybe even start apologizing to the countless women of this hospital for his behavior toward them.

He takes a deep breath as he lifts his azure eyes to me, his countenance now steady. "Well, Miss Goody two shoes, do you honestly think that I make promises to any of the women I date? Every woman is made fully aware that I am not looking for a relationship of any kind. The fault lies with them entirely. They force themselves to believe that they will be "the one" to reform me of my ways. As soon as I can tell that is where they are headed, I move on to someone else. Now that you have been enlightened, I would like to go back to sleep." He turns his head away from her, closing his eyes as he sighs deeply. I stand dumbfounded at his bedside. His disclosures replaying over in my head.

I remain stunned as I quickly exit his room, leaving the door ajar. I quickly begin to engage to myself with my other patients in a poor attempt to distract from Edward's confession. His words still weigh heavy on me as I leave the floor after the shift ends. On the bright side, I now have the next few days off. I sigh hoping that Edward will be released by the time I report back again. Ultimately, all I can do is hope.