1918

AN: I have always like the idea of placing Edward and Bella in Edward's time instead. I read a story a few years ago that fit the idea perfectly, but the author has yet to finish it. So I took their idea, made some changes and decided to finish it to give myself some closure. I hope you don't mind, and maybe you will even like it, even though I can't take all the credit for it.

Chapter 1: New Arrival

The heat of the June sun beat down unrelentingly on me as I walked down the streets of Chicago. School was finally out and it showed. The city bustled around me: carriages creaking; children playing; mothers scolding their children; near the corner of the street a few men looked ready to brawl. Life went on no matter what raged on around it. Not even a world war. Not even an epidemic illness that was sweeping through the city. Yes, even the sun would continue to shine down despite the bleak, gray events that shrouded its subjects.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy sunshine, but it was not so enjoyable when you were wearing a stiff, itchy nurses' uniform. Luckily, the raging sun was on its last leg, it was slowly lowering towards evening as I started towards my shift. I smiled a little to myself. It was still hard to think of myself as a nurse. Anyone who knew me- friends from school, certainly my family- could tell you that I had no stomach for anything to do with blood. Sometimes the mere thought of it made me lightheaded. Only a very strange twist of fate could ever make me step into a hospital willingly. But, that strange twist of fate had happened. Perhaps it was not so much strange as it was necessary. My mother had become sick a month ago, sick with the only sickness that seemed to be around these days: the Spanish Influenza.

The first time I visited her in the hospital, my father had to more or less drag me there. Of course I didn't want to see her there, weak and frail. Dying. Her hair matted with sweat; her eyes crazy with fever. Why would I want that to be my last memory of her?

When we finally arrived there she looked exactly as I had imagined, but I found no fear in myself anymore. Only pain and guilt that my beloved mother had laid like this in his hospital bed and because of my selfishness and fear, she had been all alone. Though there were hundreds of other patients in the hospital with her, all dying from a common disease, I knew that she must have felt utterly alone.

I rejected any fear at that moment and resolved to return- as many times as I could. It had been bad for awhile, but the doctors and nurses saw an improvement in her health as I continued to visit. Aside from the relief and joy I felt, this also increased my guilt- to think how much more quickly she could have recovered if I had not been so shamefully afraid!

The last rays of the sun had slipped behind clouds as I walked through the wooden doors of the hospital. There I saw the real reason for my becoming a nurse. I would undoubtedly never have had an official position in the hospital were it not for Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Even now after having known him for weeks, I found it difficult to look him straight in the eye for too long. He was probably the most handsome person I had ever seen in my life. The dashing actors I had seen in plays and movie pictures seemed a weak comparison to him.

But it was more than that. Dr. Cullen was extremely compassionate- it was no wonder why he had chosen this particular line of work. He saved lives physically and emotionally. He was the first to note the correlation of my mother's improved health with my visits to her. That was when he encouraged me to visit her as often as I could.

Of course with the growing number of patients there just wasn't room for the regular visits of loved ones. I had to find a way to stay with her, to help her, so I sought the help of Dr. Cullen. He arranged for me to be a volunteer nurse in the hospital, so long as I helped the other patients as well. I would have only the most basic duties, but even those needs were in great demand. My duties were mostly to keep the patients clean and comfortable and report any dire needs to the real nurses or doctors. This way I could see to my mother and perhaps help others as well.

I worked the evening shifts as that was the time the hospital needed the most help and had the least volunteers. As long as I stayed inside the entire shift there was no real danger for me, by the end it would be the early hours of morning and then it was unlikely I would come to any harm in my journey home.

My Father came as much as he could. In the beginning he came with me all the time, but as her stay continued he had to return to the police station. He had to pay the hospital bills after all. Then, they started restricting the visits of loved ones, and he could only come every so often. He would write mother letters instead and have me read them to her to remind her how much she was loved. I knew if she did not make it out of here, he would never be the same.

The hospital seemed busy as ever as I stepped into the front hall. If I had thought outside was hot, with the sun beating down, it was nothing compared to inside. It was sweltering with heat; I felt beads of perspiration form almost immediately on my forehead. Everyone else appeared to be affected in a similar way.

The one exception was Dr. Cullen, standing in the hallway, staring down at the clipboard in his hand, always exactly on time to start his shift. He looked impeccable and unruffled as ever, even in the madhouse of a hospital. I never saw him break a sweat or even with a hair out of place at any time. The only time I ever noticed the strain of his job affect him was when the bruise-like shadows under his eyes deepened against his snow white skin, showing how tired he was. This made sense since Dr. Cullen always worked the longest hours, seeming very reluctant when the staff insisted he go home and get some sleep.

"Good evening, Dr. Cullen."

"Good evening, Miss Swan. How are you today?"

"I'm well, thank you. How is my mother?"

"Continuing on her recovery, thanks to your influence." He smiled at me and my feet refused to move for a second. It seemed I would never get used to his unnatural good looks.

I sighed in relief. She had seemed so much better in so quick a time, it made me wonder why they were still keeping her there. But then they probably weren't used to recoveries at all, I thought grimly.

"May I go see her now? Or is there anything you'd like for me to do first?"

"Actually what I need your help with happens to be just next to your mother, so there's no problem in you visiting with them both. We just admitted some new patients today. A family, actually- Edward and Elizabeth Masen. Their son is with them now."

The name was familiar to me. I had probably seen it before in the papers that Father always loved to read. Not that our social circles would ever have crossed paths. The Masens were rather up in society while I was much lower. They came from an old family, old money- that was all I knew. It wasn't logical, of course, but it seemed strange to me that this family too could be touched by the disease raging through the country. In the end, not even wealth could protect you from death.

I shuddered a little at my thoughts. What kind of a nurse was I if I was already thinking of their impending demise?

"Anyway, the mother is not very bad. I think she may have gotten over the worst of it. She's next to your mother and I was wondering if you could just attend to her. She doesn't like hospitals, I think."

"What about the father and son? Where are they?" I asked.
His face turned grim. "That may be why she is stressed as well. They're with some of the more serious patients. The father doesn't look well at all. The son is with him there." He shook his head, his eyes pained.

"Oh." I said lamely. "Of course, I'll make sure to see to her as well. Thank you for telling me." I started to walk down the hall.

Again, I could not understand the confidence that Dr. Cullen seemed to place in me. Truly, I was not a gregarious person by nature. I especially felt awkward at school with my peers. It was true that I felt a little more relaxed with the older patients here- my father had always called me an old soul. Maybe it was the utter pity I felt for each person that came through the hospital that forced me to overcome my shyness and try to comfort them a little.

I didn't feel like I really did that much. Mostly I just sat and listened. Nurse Thornton had given me charge over the very most basics of nursing, so there wasn't much that I could really do medically for them. Still, I found a little gratification that others thought I was doing something well.

I walked into the recovery ward and was pleased to see my mother sitting up in bed. She had a cup of water in her hand and one of father's letters in the other. She looked a little worn, but alert. As she saw me walk in, her smile and her eyes crinkled tenderly.

"Hello mother."

"How are you, my dear? I shall never grow accustomed to seeing you in this nurse's uniform. It simply does not look right. I know you and I know what nurses do, and the two are very incongruous." Her smile deepened a little and I knew that she was teasing.

"Well apparently what this nurse can do helped you to recover, so be grateful." I shook a finger at her before I leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"It seems there is something new going on in the hospital. I hear you have a new neighbor." I glanced to my side to view her for myself.

Elizabeth Masen sat upright in her cot. She was not looking at us; it seemed she did not hear our conversation though I knew she would have been able to. Her eyes stared unseeingly straight ahead, her fingers nervously pulling at a necklace around her throat. If I had never heard of the Masens before I still would have been able to tell that they were high class. Even with that bewildered look on her face and in the midst of a sweltering hospital, she looked elegant and refined. She was quite beautiful as well; her hair an uncommon shade of bronze and her eyes a vivid green.

Dr. Cullen said that she didn't like to be in hospitals. Well, I could certainly empathize with that, despite my sudden career choice.

"That woman does seem quite out of sorts being here." Mother whispered at my side. "I'm not entirely sure why she is here, she seems healthy enough. But she threw quite a fit when they took her here. I imagine it's because she's been separated from her husband."

Well of course she would feel that way. How could anyone stand being away from their family if they thought they were on the point of death?

"Perhaps you can set her at ease a little." Mother jerked her chin forward slightly, indicating in the direction of the woman. I felt a little reluctant as I always did- it was never easy for me to strike up a conversation with a stranger. But I could see that the woman was genuinely frightened and that bolstered my resolve. I walked over to her bedside.

"Hello," I began quietly. "I'm Miss Isabella Swan."

I waited for her to introduce herself, though I already knew her. Her face did not move an inch in my direction.

"And you are Mrs. Elizabeth Masen, I hear?"

Again I waited and again there was nothing in response.

"Well… I am your nurse now, and... I will be here if ever you need my help." I offered awkwardly, beginning to turn back to my grandfather. See? What on earth was Dr. Cullen going on about?

Suddenly a hand grabbed mine around my wrist. I looked back to see Mrs. Masen staring at me finally, her mouth slightly open and breathing in short gasps. Her hand gripping my wrist felt slightly warmer than it should be.

"Please," her very feminine voice was slightly roughened with emotion. "Please help me. I need to see them. I need to take care of him. They won't" -a sob broke out then. I could tell she was nearing hysterics.

Instinctively I placed a hand on the one that gripped mine. "Your husband and your son?" I asked softly.

She nodded. "They said I couldn't be with him. I don't know why. How can he get better if I'm not there to take care of him?" Her voice broke frequently as she spoke.

I knew why they couldn't be together. Because her husband was in a much worse condition than she was in herself. But I couldn't tell her that. What could I tell her?

"I know for a fact that your husband is being well cared for, and your son is with him. Dr. Cullen is probably the best doctor in the world and he treats each patient as if he had to care for them alone. He will do everything in his power to help your family."

She seemed slightly more placated, but I did not think it would last for long.

I was right. "I need to be there!" she pleaded, her lovely green eyes boring into mine. "I need to be with them!"

I bit my lip softly. I knew they would never allow that. Not while she was still recovering herself. But, I wondered how her health would stand up if she continued to stay away from them, the worry eating away at her. Clearly that did not seem right either.

"That isn't possible right now, but I'm sure if you concentrate on recovering yourself, you'll be able to see them."

She seemed to understand what I was saying. While their conditions were so different, they would have to be separated. She nodded her head, still shaking slightly.

She looked at me again; her eyes seemed to burn into mine. "Then you! Please- you must go see them for me. I can't stand not knowing how they-" a sob bubbled up once again and she couldn't finish.

I didn't know what to say. I had never been in that section of the hospital before. It was basically a red zone, for me in particular. That was where all of the worst patients went and the worst patients often had a lot of blood oozing from them. The thought alone made me shiver a little. Not to mention the fact that I didn't want to see all of those people, so close to death. I didn't think anyone, including Dr. Cullen, had ever intended for me to go into that part of the hospital.

But as I looked into Elizabeth Masen's beautiful face, so wild with worry and pain for her family, the words for refusal could not come. I knew what it felt like to be refused from seeing a loved one when they were deathly ill. Knew how it felt to be sick with guilt at not being at their side to help them. I couldn't let someone else feel that way. Not when I could ease it.

"I will." I promised solemnly.

"Now. Go now. Please."

I nodded, turning away.

"Thank you." She whispered, easing back onto the pillows- for the first time seeming more relaxed.

It was only because of her that I slowly made my way towards the critical patients ward.