Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. All rights go to Stephenie Meyer

Carlisle's POV:

It was a long night, a very long night. Death reeked throughout the hospital. It seemed like we were getting more and more patients and less medicine, there was nothing else we could do to help the ones that were already dying. All we could do was make them as comfortable as possible until they passed on, and then change the sheets on the bed as another patient came to occupy their place. It was depressing work, but most of the other doctors, including myself tried to put on a hopeful front and keep moving forward. After all, the work must keep going, lives were at stake.

I let out a heavy sigh as I made my rounds, administering various drugs, depending on the patient's needs. I slowly made my way down to the last ward at the back of the hospital; this was the ward that no doctor liked to visit. Every doctor knew that this ward was for the dying. I stopped walking when I reached Elizabeth Masen's bed.

I had grown rather fond of the Masen family over the past few weeks. The father, Edward Senior, Elizabeth's husband had sadly already passed on, and by the looks of things, Elizabeth wasn't far behind him, nor was their son Edward, but I couldn't help myself. Even though I knew I couldn't change anything, I couldn't ignore the strange attachment I felt toward this family, and still kept coming back to their bedside offering my assistance. This night was nothing new; Elizabeth's condition had not changed. Her hair was matted to her forehead by sweat, her fever burning hot as ever. Her chest still made the same horrid gasping and wheezing sound when she inhaled and exhaled, and the chills if anything had increased instead of decreased. I put my ice cold hand on her forehead, which caused her to open her eyes slightly and give me a weak smile.

"Dr….Cull…en?" she croaked weakly, looking helplessly up at me, I nodded.

"Yes, it's me Elizabeth." I answered, hoping I sounded comforting, she offered me another small smile.

"Are you in more pain? I can give you some more pain medication?" I asked, speaking slowly and gently to her, she shook her head.

"No...there's….not…hing…you…can…do? She wheezed, I opened my mouth to reply, and then closed it. As much as it pained me to admit it, she was right. Although none of the doctors dare say that she had no chance out loud, she knew she didn't have much time.

"Dr….Cullen?" She whispered after a minute, her voice weaker than it was before. Instincts made me press two fingers against her wrist, although I didn't even need to touch her to feel her pulse; her pulse was weak, too weak. I could hear her heart straining to pump blood throughout her body, it was a sound I had come accustomed to hearing. All the other doctors in the hospital had to check a patient's vital signs to see when their life was coming to an end, I didn't. I could easily hear the slow and steady thump of each heartbeat as it slowed and soon came to a halt. I recognized the change in rhythm of Elizabeth's heartbeat immediately.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Sa…ve…him." She whispered; her heartbeat wasn't improving.

"Elizabeth, you should rest now. Don't force yourself to talk." I said as gently as possible as I brushed a few stray strands of wet hair out of her face, but she didn't listen to me, or couldn't hear me.

"Please…save…Edward! You're…the...only…one…who…can!" She pleaded, using every ounce of energy left in her body.

"Please!" She begged again, when I didn't answer right away. She looked up at me, her eyes blazing intensely for someone in her physical condition.

It wasn't uncommon for patients to make a last dying wish. You held their hand and smiled and told them everything was going to be okay, and promised you would grant them their wish, whether you intended to or not.

Yet, there was something different in the way Elizabeth Masen phrased her dying wish, "you're the only one who can," there were plenty of other doctors in this hospital, all who were just as capable as I to watch over her son, but the look in her eyes was something different, something more, as if she knew my secret. I winced at the idea of Elizabeth Mason knowing what I was, what I had become. It was impossible! How could she possibly know that I was a creature of the night, doomed to walk this Earth for eternity?

"Please…!" Elizabeth pleaded once more, as loud as she could whisper, all the energy drained from her body, I could hear her heartbeat still decreasing by the second.

"I promise." I replied after another second. I decided that whether or not Elizabeth Masen had somehow figured out that I was not human, I would watch over Edward regardless.

At my words, Elizabeth seemed to relax more, her face softened and for a split second she managed to open her eyes and smile at me one last time before she closed them again and I heard the last thump of her heartbeat as her life came to an end.

I slowly let out a deep breath, then after a few minutes I brushed her wet hair behind her ears, exposing her delicate features. With a heavy sigh, I pulled the bed sheet up and over her head and let it fall near the headboard. With one last look at the now still figure in the bed, I walked at a human pace to keep up my fake facade and grabbed a spare stretcher, which were used to dispose of the bodies. Very gently I lifted Elizabeth's frail form onto the stretcher and continued to wheel her down to the morgue. I knew that any other doctor or nurse could take care of her body, but yet again, I couldn't deny the need to protect Elizabeth.

Once I had taken care of cleaning and disposing of Elizabeth's body, I walked over to a nearby chair and collapsed in it, burying my face in my hands. If I wasn't immortal, I'm sure I would have the worst migraine at the moment. I needed to clear my head and think, the quiet down here helped. I could not get Elizabeth Masen's dying wish out of my head. To begin with, how she had come to the conclusion that I was a vampire was beyond me, and if she really did know what I was, how could she possibly wish for her only child to have this life? But then, she wouldn't know the unbearable pain and suffering one goes through in the beginning of this new life, the agony one has to endure. In her weakened and delusional state of mind, Elizabeth Masen figured her son had two choices die suffering, or for me to "save" him. If only she knew…

I couldn't deny the yearning I felt for a companion, someone to share this immortal life with, yet I wasn't sure if I had the strength and courage to sentence an innocent life to eternal immortality. Somewhere in the back of my mind, part of me kept telling myself that Edward Masen was dying anyways. He had a few mere hours if that to live would be my guess. But he was so young! Edward was still a boy, not even eighteen yet. It wasn't right to take his life away at such a young age. It wasn't fair that the only choices he now had was death or eternal damnation, and I was the one that had to make that decision. I let out a heavy sigh as Elizabeth's weak and frail voice echoed inside my head again.

"You're the only one that can save him!"

After taking a few deep breaths I slowly stood up from the chair I was using and with one last glance at Elizabeth's body, made my way back up to the main floor of the hospital. I kept trying to reason with myself, convince myself that there really wasn't any other choice. Edward was due to die within the hour, he was already orphaned at seventeen years old, and if by some miraculously miracle that would never come and Edward did manage to survive, he would have no place to go. Not to mention that this was something that his mother had begged me to do with her dying breath.

Yet, I couldn't shake the thought that I was using Elizabeth's request as an excuse to get myself a companion. How could it possibly be right to use Edward for my own dark and selfish wants? I suppose that somewhere in the back of my mind, I had tried to convince myself that loneliness came with this life. But, as I thought about it, no one really wants to be alone, regardless of what they say. Even most of the native vampires who come and go as they please had mates to share this life with.

Another concern was that I had never changed a human before. Yes, I knew how it had happened to me, but I was sure that not every vampire was transformed in the same method, though very similar of course. The transformation would involve biting Edward and waiting as he went through the agonizing pain and suffering of the transformation. This brought my mind to another dilemma, how was I going to sneak Edward out of the hospital? Although, the more I thought about this factor, it wouldn't be very difficult, he was dying anyways, no one would notice that his heart was still beating except me if I rolled him down to the morgue while he was still alive. Everyone would just assume that he had died sooner than expected, which wouldn't be uncommon, perhaps one of his lungs had fully collapsed suddenly before I could do anything? There were a thousand possible scenarios I could come up with…

Just as I had finally been able to get control over my hounding thoughts, I found myself at Edward Masen's bedside. It was obvious that his condition hadn't improved either. He was shivering fiercely, his entire body wracking with convulsions from the fever, and his whole face seemed to be drenched in sweat. Like with his mother, I gently brought my hand up and pressed it lightly against the boy's forehead. Edward did not wake like Elizabeth had at my touch, but simply let out a dull moan and instinctively pulled the blankets up to his chin. At that same moment, I heard the footsteps of an approaching doctor, who was probably at the end of the hall, considering the distance of his footsteps. Sure enough a couple minutes later, the doctor was behind me.

"Dr. Cullen?" the other doctor said, surprised to see me sitting at this boy's bedside again.

"Good evening Dr. Pierce." I replied, turning away from Edward to look at him.

"I don't necessarily mind you looking at my patients Cullen, but is there a reason why you're down here again? You know that there's nothing more we can do for him." Dr. Pierce said sadly, I nodded.

"I know." I replied, then after a few seconds of silence I continued. "His mother died a little while ago." I said solemnly as I brought my attention back to Edward, I heard Dr. Pierce give a heavy sigh behind me.

"You know that the worst thing you can do is develop an attachment to the patients, especially the ones that don't have much time." Dr. Pierce said seriously, it was my turn to sigh.

Of course I knew that it was dangerous to develop attachments to a particular patient, let alone a whole family.

"Yes, Dr. Pierce I'm aware of that." I replied matter-of-factly, not taking my attention away from Edward. The boy didn't have much time, but I couldn't sneak him down to the morgue with a witness watching his labored breathing and gasps, obvious signs that he was alive, however a short of time that may be for.

"You know Dr. Pierce, you've been here two days straight, why don't you go home and get some rest. I'm going to be here for a while anyways, I'll look after the boy." I said, studying the doctor in front of me, it was obvious he was exhausted. The dark circles and the way he dragged his body around were obvious signs of exhaustion. Dr. Pierce sighed; I could see the eagerness in his eyes to escape all the death and misery that the hospital held.

"That's very nice of you Dr. Cullen, but if I'm not mistaken, you were here before me." Dr. Pierce sighed; I shook my head and smiled at him.

"Yes, that's true but I've taken enough breaks to last me a couple more hours." I lied, still smiling. Dr. Pierce hesitated another minute before taking a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright then, good night Dr. Cullen." Dr. Pierce replied then turned around and walked to the front door of the hospital. I sighed in relief, for a minute I wasn't sure if I would be able to get Dr. Pierce to leave. The minute he left I did a quick glance around the rest of the ward, no one was paying attention to me or Edward; it was now or never. I scanned the ward again, this time looking for another senior doctor.

"Dr. Brown, would it be alright if I left now." Dr. Brown turned to me with an odd expression.

"I didn't realize you were still here Cullen, you must be exhausted, finish up your rounds and go home, get some rest." He said, before turning back to his patient's chart.

"Thank you Dr. Brown." I muttered.

I quickly walked to the end of the hall and grabbed another empty stretcher and wheeled it over to Edward's bed. Gently, I slid one of my arms under Edward's knees and the other under his neck and carefully lifted him off the bed and onto the stretcher. When I laid him down on the stretcher I noticed that his eyes were open and he was looking up at me with a blank stare, obviously confused and disoriented about what was going on.

"Shh, it's alright, just relax; close your eyes and rest." I whispered just loud enough for him to hear me, he let out another soft groan then let his eyes flutter close. I quickly pulled the thin sheet up to his chin, not wanting to cover his mouth and nose. The poor boy could hardly breathe as is, no one would notice that the body was not fully covered, no one really paid any attention anymore to the stretchers carrying the bodies; we didn't have to see them to know they were there. Going as fast as humanly possible, I pushed the stretcher down to the morgue, grabbing a spare blanket on the way so fast; no human eye could detect the movement. Once we were down in the morgue, I took the spare blanket and wrapped it securely around Edward's shivering body.

"Hang in there Edward, just a little longer." I whispered to him soothingly as I gently picked him up before darting out the back door.

I quickly glanced up and down the bleak side street to make sure no human was in sight, then leapt onto the hospital roof with vampire reflexes. Without thinking, I ran from rooftop to rooftop until I gently landed on my feet in front of my house and unlocked the door.

I had discovered rather quickly that jumping on roofs was the easiest and fastest way to get around when I was in a rush. People didn't make a habit of watching rooftops, and if on some rare occasion someone did see me, I would be moving too fast for them to realize what I was. They would probably assume it was an animal of some kind.

Once we were in the security of my home, I went into my bedroom and carefully laid Edward down on my bed before running around the small house at vampire speed to make sure all the windows were shut and closed. A minute later I was back at Edward's bedside.

His bright green eyes were open again; gosh he looked so much like his mother! I took a deep, staggering breath, I had to try and explain a little of what was about to happen to him first, regardless of how coherent he was.

"Edward, can you hear me?" I asked, using my calm and patient doctor-voice, he opened his mouth and tried to speak, but all that he managed to get out was a loud grunt before bursting into a coughing fit. Instinctively, I lifted him up into a sitting position and patted his back gently in order to help his airways open and allow him to get more oxygen into his lungs.

"You don't have to talk, just nod your head if you can hear me?" I asked again, once Edward had recovered from his coughing attack, though it was obvious his condition was getting worse by the second. After another long minute though, Edward slowly nodded his head.

"That's good, Edward…I need to explain something to you, but…it may sound like madness. Are you following me?" I began awkwardly, the last thing I wanted to do was frighten Edward, I don't think his body could handle being scared; the increased heartbeat, staggered breathing…I didn't want to risk anything. Edward let out another groan and rolled over on his side coughing. I let out a heavy sigh and placed one of my cool hands against his blazing forehead. I closed my eyes for half a second and took a deep breath, this was it.

"Just trust me Edward." I said quietly, he somehow managed to give me a weak nod.

I had been debating ever since Elizabeth had made her request to me on how exactly I was going to change Edward. Would one bite be enough? I had suffered multiple bites from my creator, yet I didn't know if that was the best method or not. Then I remembered something I learned long ago when I was training to become a doctor, one of the first lessons I had learned was trust your instincts. Chances are, following your gut feeling is usually the best decision to make. My gut feeling was to give Edward the same wounds that I had received.

With my mind made up, I took one last staggering breath then leaned in closer to Edward. I bent over to where he could feel my icy breath on his burning neck and sunk my teeth into his scolding flesh.

Edward gasped, and weakly struggled against my arms. After repeating the same action on both of his wrists, I sat up straight and looked at Edward's face. At first he seemed stunned, so shocked that he couldn't do anything but lay there panting.

"You'll be alright Edward." I said quietly, not taking my eyes off of his face.

A few seconds later, I heard the change in Edward's heartbeat; the steady rhythm suddenly increased dramatically. Edward gasped again and his eyes widened before he let out the first of many blood-curling screams. His breaths were coming in short and shallow pants, his face twisted and contorted in the excruciating, intolerable pain.

"HELP! SOMEBODY…HELP ME!" Edward screamed, twisting and thrashing his body every which way, trying to find some way to ease the pain, my heart broke, knowing that this was only the beginning, within a few hours, his suffering would only increase.

Okay, so I know this isn't an original idea or anything, but I just got the inspiration to write this after reading SO many different versions of Bella's transformation (before BD came out) but I kept thinking of how Edward's transformation would have happened. I will try and update as soon as I can. Please give this story a chance!

Also, I'm sure there are a couple grammar errors, I apologize for that, I try to get them all, but I'm sure I missed some.

As always reviews are greatly appreciated. I love to hear what people think of my writing, story, etc., good or bad.

Thanks,

Fantasyforever1989