A/N: So this is a brand new AU story that I've been planning for a while. I'm trying to make as much time as possible to write between school and work. This story might not be too long, but it's probably going to be one of the most important ones to me, as the subject hits very close to home. Everyone in the story is human. Huzzah. LOOOOVE.
Disclaimer: I do not own any portion of or ideas from Stephenie Meyer's books.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Chapter One: Broken Bones
It was another dark and gloomy in Forks. Even as I opened my curtains, the amount of light in my room barely changed. Now, instead of being bathed in the blue glow of my lamp, it was bathed in the green light of the forest beside the house. Rapture.
I leaned over my desk and turned my computer on as I always did every morning so far this summer. Mom and Phil were somewhere in Florida at the moment because Phil was playing baseball in a minor league. It's good for Mom, in my opinion; she gets bored too easily when she's in one place for too long. I, however, opted out of the ever so thrilling life of moving from place to place all summer long. Instead, I moved to Forks to live with my father, who was currently in another county at a Police Convention for the next month and a half. Ironic. I move here for company and I end up living alone anyway.
A few mouse clicks later, I was flicking through my e-mails, checking to see if my mother had sent me anything new. "Nothing new..." I mused out loud, closing the my inbox. "I'll have to give her a call a little later on.. I yawned widely as I shut the machine down, stretching as I stood up. Taking a glance in the mirror on my way past, I could see that I was even paler than usual. I wasn't even aware that being paler than normal was a possibility for me.
Stepping into the bathroom, I flicked on the light, grimacing at my appearance in the mirror. "I must be coming down with something..." I muttered, examining my sallow, papery-looking skin. I was pasty white, a soft pink flushing my cheeks and forehead. Not to mention I had a bit of a headache now that I thought about it. I opened the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Advil.
"Nothing cures the pain better," I muttered, swallowing two pills with a sip of water from the tap. As I placed the bottle back into the cabinet, I nudged a bottle of bubble bath. Apparently, that was enough to shove it over the edge, and, thanks to my crappy reflexes, it came crashing down on my foot.
However, I was not prepared for the sensation that came next. Instead of the dull throb I had expected, a flash of white exploded across my vision. Pain seared my veins, traveling half way up my calf. I could hear a resounding CRACK somewhere in the midst, and I could not help but let a string of explicative loose from my mouth.
"FUCK. That hurt!" I screeched, grabbing onto the counter for support. I slid down to the floor, my eyes squeezed tight. After a few moments, the pain became bearable and I opened my eyes ever so slightly. The place I had dropped the bottle on my foot was an angry red, and extremely painful to the touch. Beautiful. Just what I needed. I'd broken something in my foot.
Pulling myself up from the floor, I managed to waddle downstairs to the kitchen. I opened the freezer and grabbed a bag of ice and sighed. I really needed to stop being so clumsy. Moments before I was about to settle into a chair, the phone rang. Sighing, I picked it up before plopping down in a chair to ice my foot.
"Hello?" I sighed, examining my foot.
"Bella? Darling how are you?" came the voice of my mother from the speaker.
"Hi Mom," I said with a small smile. "I'm alright. I'm actually just on my way out. I was going to go get my foot checked. I think I broke it."
My mother clucked her tongue on the other end of the phone before sighing. "God, Bella, how did you manage that?"
I frowned, thinking back to the moments before my world had been blinded by the searing pain in my foot. "I'm not actually entirely sure..." I said slowly, placing the ice gingerly on my foot. "I dropped a half-full bottle of bubble bath on my foot and BANG. Instant cripple."
"That's a little strange, isn't it? Only half-full?"
"Yeah, it was only a small bottle. Not overly huge. It should have just left a huge bruise, not broken bones. Theoretically."
"Well then I won't keep you, sweetheart," she said lovingly. "Go get it checked out. Call me later on. I love you."
"Will do, Mom. I love you too. Talk to you later." The line went dead within moments, the annoying beeping you heard every time you called a busy line sounding noisily. I pressed the off button on the phone and put it down on the table. I could probably make it to the hospital without causing an accident. It was my left foot that was in pain, not my right. My driving shouldn't be too affected. In theory.
Wincing, I hauled myself to my feet and shuffled across the kitchen to the back door. I grabbed my purse, which was on a stool by the door and headed outside. I locked the door behind me and started the perilous trek down the walkway to my truck, praying that I didn't slip and fall. I knew all too well that I would not be getting up after that.
Somehow I made it to the truck without slipping, and I was soon on the road to the hospital. Forks was a nice little town, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, that was it's problem. It was small, so small that everyone knew everything about everyone. It made privacy extremely difficult. But such was life.
An hour or two later, after telling my story eight separate times, being poked with a needle twice for blood samples (although I couldn't tell you why), and taking three x-rays, I found myself sitting in a hospital bed. I was engrossed in a tattered copy of Go Ask Alice when I suddenly heard the most beautiful voice I had ever had the pleasure to hear.
"Alice, you're my sister, and I'm not letting you stay the night with Jasper on your own. You won't go through this alone. I'll get Carlisle to bring us some cots and we'll stay the night with Jasper here, alright?"
It was like an angel was speaking from just beyond the curtain that separated my double room.. Dear God, just listening to him was like being in heaven.
"Edward, are you sure?" came the voice of a female. She sounded just as sweet as the male. I shook my head from side to side, trying to clear the fog instilled by listening to the angel's voice. It wasn't polite to eavesdrop, after all.
"Of course I'm sure. That's the end of it. I'm staying, whether you like it or not. Now come on, let's go find Carlisle."
"We'll be back soon, Jasper..." whispered the female, sounding almost as if she were in pain.
Two sets of footsteps could be heard as the two people left the room. Now the room was quiet again, save for the sound of the breathing of my roommate and I. However, this suddenly changed when I heard a gasp of pain come from the bed beside me, followed by a whimper. "Alice? Alice where are you? It hurts..."
I frowned. I hated hearing anyone in pain. It hurt me. I carefully swung my legs off the side of my bed. My foot, long since re-set and medicated, was comfortably numb and snug, encased in the safety of a brace. I hobbled over to the curtain, pushing it aside. One of the most handsome boys I'd ever laid eyes on was lying on the bed before me, sweat beading on his forehead. There were several IVs in his arms, and his hands were balled in the sheets.
"Jasper?" I whispered. "Is that your name?"
His eyes fluttered open, revealing the most beautiful dark brown eyes I'd ever seen. He glanced over my shoulder and then looked back at me. "Bella Swan?" he asked. I cocked an eyebrow, opening my mouth to speak.
"How did you-"
"I creeped your folder earlier," he said with a grin. "I'm Jasper Hale. Would you mind doing me a favor? Call the nurse?" He winced, grinding his teeth together in what I imagined was some sort of excruciating pain.
"Um, yeah, sure, no problem..." I said, reaching up to press the button above his bed. "Do you want me to stay with you for now?" I asked softly.
Jasper wordlessly nodded, his hand shaking as it suddenly found mine. "Stay," he whispered.
A nurse soon strode into the room, clucking her tongue at me. "Back to bed, Miss Swan. Off that foot."
"Don't be mad, Maryanne," Jasper said with a playful smile, sighing against his pain. "She was helping me out..."
The nurse sighed, nodding. "I'm not mad at her, I just want her off that foot. Doctor's orders. Now hold still so that we can fix you up." As I began to get up, the nurse uncapped a syringe and tapped it to get the air out. Jasper tugged me back down and looked at me imploringly.
"Just one more second? I hate needles..." he said sheepishly.
I smiled, nodding. "Of course." Only moments after the nurse finished giving him whatever it was she was giving him, Jasper's eyes closed. As his hand slid out of mine, he smiled softly.
"Thanks, Bella," he whispered before falling unconscious.
The nurse helped me up and supported me as I moved back to my bed. Somehow, however, I managed to lose my footing, and a squeal escaped from between my lips. "Oh shi-" But before the end of the word could come out of my mouth, a second pair of arms, much stronger than the nurse's, picked me up again. And as I turned to look into the face of my saviour, I could feel my heart stop.
Holding me in his arms was the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life. His hair was bronze and looked softer than my hair had ever been. His skin was a pale alabaster, completely flawless. And his eyes, oh dear sweet Jesus, his eyes. They were the colour of emeralds, a beautiful green. He was even more beautiful than Jasper, and I had thought that impossible.
"Are you alright?"
Holy shit. This was the owner of the angel voice. He was perfectly matched to his voice; only someone with the face of an angel should have a voice like his. I had officially died and gone to heaven.
"I- I think so," I mumbled, my cheeks starting to burn.
"Thank you, Edward," said the nurse breathlessly. "That could have ended badly."
"Not a problem, Maryanne. I'll take it from here. You can head back to the nurse's station." Wordlessly, the nurse nodded and left the room. And I was left in the arms of an angel.
"Um, thanks, Edward, is it?" He nodded, smiling as he swung me up into his arms with what seemed like no effort at all.
"Mmmhm. Edward Cullen. And you're Bella Swan. According to your charts anyway..."
I snorted as he helped me back into my bed. "Did you creep my folder too?" I asked teasingly.
"Nope, just heard it from Jasper earlier," he said with a wolfish grin that revealed a row of perfectly straight white teeth. The man was a god. As he pulled the blankets back onto my body, he took a seat on the edge of my bed.
"So what brings you to the hospital for a stay?"
I frowned, pursing my lips. "I'm not so sure," I said. "I broke my foot earlier when I dropped a little bottle of bubble bath on it-"
"Strange," he interrupted.
"I know, right? So they took x-rays and re-set my foot, but they ended up taking some blood samples and some more x-rays. If someone doesn't tell me what's going on soon I think I might go crazy."
"Understandable," he said, nodding.
"Dr. Cullen told me he wanted to keep me over night, which I guess suits me fine. At least I'm not home alone."
"My father is your doctor, huh?" he asked with a smile. "He's good at what he does. I'm sure he'll take care of you, whatever is wrong. And you said you're home alone?"
I nodded, sighing as I shifted my foot. "My mom and her new husband are out in Florida because Phil plays minor league baseball. Dad is up north somewhere at a conference. So I'm alone for now. Hopefully I'll get my test results back soon though. I'd rather know and be alone than not know and be alone..."
He nodded his head to the curtain. "Well, I'm just on the other side. If you ever need company, let me know." He smiled, and my heart turned into butter, melting at an alarming rate.
"Thanks, Edward," I said, nodding as he got up. I chewed my lip as I debated whether or not I should ask my next question. Sighing, I gave in to my need for comfort. "Can you do me a favor? I know we just met and everything, but I feel comfortable with you."
"As do I with you," he said, smiling. "What can I do for you?"
"When Dr. Cullen comes in with my results, could you maybe be there with me?" I asked shyly, chewing on my bottom lip and averting my eyes to the sheets on my bed.
"Of course I'll come with you, Bella," came his voice, almost immediately after I asked the question. My eyes rose to meet his and at the same time, he took my hand in his. "Just let me know when and where." I nodded wordlessly, unable to do anything but smile shyly and blush at the contact.
"Thank you, Edward," I said softly.
"Anytime, Bella. Now get some rest. You look exhausted. Sleep." Edward's hand slid from my own and the light beside my bed turned off. I then noticed that the room had darkened considerably. Jasper's side of the room was dim as well, and it was then that I felt the exhaustion wash over me. My eyes began to droop, and not long after I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
----
A/N: Let me know what you think! Reviews are always welcome. Hopefully this one will go the way I want it to. LOOOOVE.