Disclaimer: All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

The content herein is mine. From here on out, all chapters will be beta'ed. Thanks to Kloogy and Little Miss Mionie for their help with this chapter, and remylebeauishot & Twimarti for their assistance with the prologue. And of course thanks to wandb, Babette12 & edwardsisobel for taking the time to pre-read and help me out when they could.

Dr. Bella Swan POV

With eighteen hour shifts, a need for mountains of coffee, and the possibility of back-to-back patients coming through the emergency doors, Mercy Hospital is one of Chicago's busiest medical facilities. Working here as a medical doctor has brought me face-to-face with anything and everything I could possibly imagine.

I have treated everything; from burn victims to gunshot wounds, stab wounds, victims of car accidents, abused victims, adults and children, it all came into the ER.

This is my life...The life of Bella Swan, MD.

It's a life I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

If anyone were to ask me, "What made you want to become a doctor? The answer will be simple. My mom did.

My mother, Renee, was a vivacious woman; so full of life. She loved life itself and lived for excitement and adventure. Renee's day wouldn't have been complete unless she discovered something or took on a new task to accomplish.

I grew up in Seattle with my mom and stepdad, Phil Dwyer. Phil was the baseball coach at my high school while I lived in Seattle.

I spent most of my life in Seattle, but I was born in a rainy little town in Washington called Forks. It's a quiet little town where my dad Charlie Swan was born and raised and still resides.

Charlie is a now retirement but he was a dutiful cop and the police chief of the local police in Forks up until he left the force a few years ago.

As for Charlie and my mom, they were married pretty young and became parents to a baby girl almost immediately. I wish I could say they met, fell in love, got married, had a baby and lived happily ever after. And sometimes I liked to think about it that way because it made my conception seem more fairy-tale like, but that wouldn't be the truth and it would be unfair to not include my stepdad in my life because he was a great guy and I loved having him in my life. It felt weird to leave him out.

So the truth was, my parents met, fell in love, got married, got pregnant and tried their best to make it work. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.

I could be persuasive when I wanted to be and I wanted to know why it didn't work out between my parents. And after some persuading, I learned that problems arose early in their marriage. One major problem was my dad wanting to remain in Forks while my mom couldn't think of sitting still for five seconds much less to settle down in a dreary little town and be content.

My dad could.

Mom saw things differently. To Renee, there was a big, wide world out there to explore. Something Forks couldn't give her. She wanted adventures. She craved it.

And they began with her taking me and leaving Forks and my dad behind.

After some traveling, Mom and I finally settled in Seattle and I was happy with her choice because it was close to my dad.

As much as I loved my mom and enjoyed her company, I loved spending time in Forks with Charlie and my friends. Sometimes, my mom could be too much for me. I found that I was more laidback like my dad than she could've ever been. Mom used to complain that Charlie and I were too much alike, but she'd always smile and say it was what she loved the most about us. We knew how to quiet the storm in her.

I could say that was why she chose Phil then. Since he had the same demeanor as Charlie and I.

Renee was often free spirited and young at heart. Sometimes it felt like I was living with your sibling rather than a parent. We had a great relationship, but sometimes it felt like I was the mom more than the kid.

With Charlie, things were different. Around my dad, I got to let go and be the kid. He was a disciplinarian who didn't take bullshit but sometimes, he would loosen the reins.

Dad loved it whenever I visited. He would take me fishing with his pal Billy, and Billy's son, Jake. He got a kick out of the fact that Jake and I got along and he and Billy wished we would be more.

That wouldn't happen. Jake and I would laugh at them and their obvious schemes to try and get us together.

While Jake and I had a great relationship and good friends, we weren't interested in each other romantically. We weren't each other's type and furthermore, Jake and I shared a brother and sister type of relationship. Secondly, Jake was very much interested in our friend, the local reverend's daughter, Angela Weber.

I swore Jake would walk through fire or eat it if Angela told him to.

My other friend, Alice and I were always laughing at Jake about his crush while we tried to get him to confess his feelings to Angela before he combusted. It was almost comically how pissed he would get if she had a date. Back then, there was a guy named Ben Cheney in Angela's church who was interested in her too. And Jake was going to explode if he didn't win Angela's affections over Ben.

Alice and I swore he was going to have a heart attack if Angela didn't eventually find out about his crush and it appeared that she returned Jake's affections.

Alice and I cheered them on until this day.

Back then, before it all changed, things were so easy.

Changes started to happen when I was seventeen years old. Mom met Phil and after sometime, they got married. Phil became a great addition to my life. At first I was wary of him. I never heard good things about stepparents but Phil was an exception to that. He was a great guy throughout and continued to be so for me until now.

My friends were still great. Nothing had changed. Except for Jake and Angela getting together. It was a sigh in relief for Alice and me. At least Jake smiled more now. No more brooding or whining about Angela going out with other guys. She had all the time in the world for him now and he was the happiest guy on the face of the earth.

The goofball couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. It was adorable though.

The worst thing that could happen to me happened when we learned of my mom's illness.

She had been under the weather and after lengthy trips to the doctor along with multiple tests being done, Renee was diagnosed with leukemia. It shocked us all. How could my mom be sick? She was so lively! She was a health nut who hardly caught anything. Not even the damn flu!

After my mom's diagnosis, I spent every second I could with her. My visits to Forks became few and far between, and as much as I missed my friends, they understood that I had to be there for my mom.

Dad supported my decision. He even took time off from work and came up to Seattle to help with Mom. He was equally devastated with the thought of losing her.

But Renee was a pillar of strength. Even illness couldn't keep her down. She did the impossible even in her last moments. She outlived the doctors' diagnosis. Going on to live for six months after their prognosis, instead of the few weeks they'd given her. And on one rainy Sunday evening in the comfort of her own bed, because there was no way Renee was spending her last moments in a hospital, she died with her family by her side.

I remembered crying until I had no strength left. A part of me died that day.

Charlie went back to Forks for my friends. They, along with their parents, attended my mom's funeral. All through it, people, whose lives my mom had touched in some way spoke of the incredible woman she was. I sat by my dad and stepdad's sides with tears in my eyes and a hope in my heart. It was something that born in me while I visited my mom in the hospital. It took root as I watched the doctors tend to my mother and other patients. It was the relief on their faces when they saved someone and the despair their eyes wore for the families of those they lost.

In that moment, I knew where I was headed. I knew what to do with my life.

My friends stayed a little while after the funeral. Alice stayed a couple days longer than Jake and Angela. Carlisle and Esme couldn't pull her away. She was determined to be there for me. They were all instrumental in helping me heal…even a little. The void of my mom will never be filled completely, but with Jake's protective nature and raunchy jokes, I laughed more. With Angela, scolding Jake and admitting she liked him a lot so it was okay, gave me hope. And Alice and I internally rolling our eyes at her and Jake, made me feel alive and that it would eventually be okay to move on. Alice's cheery personality made me feel needed and cherished. I wished she'd find a guy who loved her wholeheartedly one day because Alice deserved nothing less. She once said I'd have a love like no other, but I shook it off because with the road I intended to travel, I was sure I wouldn't find the time for Mr. Right. Nevertheless, my friends hoped for the best for all of us. Alice wanted to know why I thought I wouldn't have the time for love. I told her why. She merely smiled and said he would be waiting.

Eventually, I returned to Forks. Phil moved to Florida after accepting a job in Jacksonville. We realized we couldn't live in that house anymore. It wasn't the same without Renee. Again, my move could have been difficult, but my friends were there for me. I had a plan to set in motion and I would everything to ensure my future, because I would become a doctor.

"OoOoOoOoO"

Edward Masen, RN. POV

It is endless shifts, a major caffeine addiction, then more work and less sleep along with a revolving door of patients. But it's the life I've wanted and one I would never trade for anything else. It's my dream and Mercy Hospital holds my passion. This was my life. The life of Edward Masen, RN.

I love the look I get sometimes when I introduce myself to patients. You'd think being a male nurse is something taboo. It always took them a minute to wrap their heads around the fact that I am a nurse.

Being a registered nurse can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes, it got me laid, and others, it got me teased mercilessly by my brother, Detective Emmett Masen of the Chicago Police Department; even if he knew my reasons for becoming a nurse. That fact didn't stop Emmett and his buddies down at the station from teasing me or trying set me up with someone's gay cousin or brother.

I want to kick Emmett's ass because he knew the truth behind my decision to be a nurse like her. And he also knew I'm not going to do this forever. He knows my goal is to become a cardiac surgeon and I'm almost through with medical school and well on the way to doing that. But being a nurse, holds a special place in my heart.

Emmett knows I do this for her. In the memory of our mother, Elizabeth.

My mother, Elizabeth Dobson, was as passionate about her job as a registered nurse as she was about my brother and me. Mom was a wonderful woman. She was so full of life. Days with her were enjoyable when I wasn't getting in trouble, which wasn't often, and getting grounded. I knew how much my mother loved her job from how animated she could be about it when she would come home and tell us about her day. Emmett and I were always fascinated about her days or nights in their ER as Mom could vividly retell us countless stories about her patients.

From how my mother spoke, you could tell she was a caring person who loved to help people. The knowledge and enthusiasm I could see shining through her eyes, convinced me from a young age that I wanted to do what she did. I wanted to help people too.

My brother and I were born and raised here in Chicago like our mom. She gave us all she could. We were never wanting for anything. We weren't rich, but we had each other and we had our mother's love and devotion to us.

Her work as a nurse could be grueling sometimes and it would often keep her away from home but Emmett and I quickly learned how to take care of ourselves. We didn't have any aunts or uncles to go stay with, and Mom couldn't afford a babysitter at times.

Mom had been an only child and her parents had died when Emmett was a baby. We did have godparents though. Esme and Carlisle Cullen, who we would occasionally hear of, but we never really saw them. There were always presents from them though for Emmett and me on holidays and birthdays. They seemed like family, but we weren't allowed to speak with them for some reason Mom wouldn't share.

From the bits and pieces I knew about them, I found out they had a daughter named Alice who eagerly wanted to know us, but again, for some reason, mom wouldn't allow it. So Emmett said we should leave it alone, it was Mom's business and focus on something else, so I did. I used school work to distract myself and it paid off. It made our mom happy when we got high scores on tests and were able to keep our grades up. She didn't want us to struggle through life like her and she thought a good education was the antidote for that. She wanted us to be able to pay our bills on time. To be financially successful as it could be beneficial later on in life.

On Mom's days off, we would hang out. Since her days off were few we always made the most of it. She loved to hang out with her boys on those days. And anything we did, whether it was a movie or going out for her favorite deep-dish pizza, it was about us spending time together.

My favorite days with her were laundry days. On those days, she would be singing and dancing and folding. It was fun to watch.

Mom was also as much of a prankster as my big brother. It was easy to see where he got it from. I didn't know much about our father, but I didn't need to. I didn't miss him. I figured if he wanted to be around, he would be. Besides, I had my mom. I didn't need anything else.

At home, I was happy, but school was another matter.

Since Emmett was two grades ahead of me, I hardly had anyone to talk to until lunch break. I was the lanky kid, you either wanted to avoid or beat up for being a nerd. I always had my head in a book. Sometimes, I was bullied, but it never lasted because Emmett had my back. And who wanted to fuck with the geeky guy who had a linebacker for a big brother. Emmett could pound your face in with one good hit.

Emmett was also great at helping me uplift myself. He was always telling how great he thought I was and how cool. I told him he was just saying it because I was his little brother and he would call what I said, bullshit.

"I'm saying it, because you're cool Geek." He'd laugh. "Just let me know who wants to fuck with the Masen brothers and I'll tear 'em a new one."

I hardly share my school troubles with Mom or the reasons behind Emmett's fights. She thought he was being troublesome but he was just protecting me, his geeky little brother.

The reason behind not sharing too much of our school troubles with Mom were that we didn't want her to worry.

But she eventually found out that kids were bothering me and let's just say, I saw where my brother got his anger from. If I thought my brother was bad ass, he didn't hold a candle to our mom. She was a fucking superhero. And when she put the parents of the kids who bullied me in their place, with just words, just well timed fucking words, I was so proud of her. She was like the strongest person I had ever seen.

That was my mom.

But she had a weakness. A place inside of her where she was weak and sad and fearful. And he unleashed it the day he showed up on our doorstep. It sucked! Just when I stopped thinking about my father, he decided to walk into my life.

It happened on my fifteenth birthday when Emmett and I met the elusive Edward Masen Sr.

My brother, our friend Jasper and I had just gotten home. We had arms full of groceries with the intention of getting dinner ready, catching a game and then head out to a movie or something for my birthday. I knew once Mom got home, she would want in on the movie outing and I had every intention of taking her. She was an awesome date. She would spend her time bothering us about the girls who were looking at her handsome sons. She always sounded so proud. She would tease us about how much she wanted lots of grandkids and then she would threaten us, and even Jasper sometimes, that if we gave her any of them anytime soon, she would kick our asses.

Jasper was the exception of us. He could try to charm his way out of Mom's threat. Or so he thought. His charm wouldn't last long because Mom could see through his bullshit. She wasn't the girls he liked to charm the panties off of and she told him so once. Jasper looked stunned. Emmett and I laughed our asses off at his expense. Mom didn't care. She was simply treating him like family. And Jasper liked it. He saw us like his brothers. And we felt the same way about him.

Jasper had initially met Emmett first after he moved to Chicago with his mom about a year and a half ago. Emmett and Jasper had most of their classes together. They also shared the same wild streak and loved pranks.

Though the calmer of the two of them was Jasper. He was a ladies' man and could charm the panties off anyone he wanted – a skill Emmett and I worshiped him for.

Jasper lived in our building, and even though he and Emmett were in the same grade and were best pals, they didn't leave me behind. Jasper was okay with being friends with my nerdy ass. He would always have great advice for me especially when it came to girls. Where Emmett could be obnoxious and would sometimes tease me about it, Jasper was understanding and ready to help get a girl if I wanted.

I did want them. Especially one in particular named Tanya Denali. The hottest girl on our block in my opinion. Every guy wanted her. She was beautiful. Guys were practically drooling over her.

Once Jasper and Emmett figured out that I liked Tanya, they made it their mission to hook me up with her. I didn't see it happening. I was the geeky kid from around the block and she was the hottest girl I ever laid eyes on. Why would she want me?

My brother thought I was selling myself short. So did jasper. They thought with my looks and their guidance and maybe a little make over and wearing my glasses less, I bag any chick I wanted. Including Tanya Denali.

That was what Emmett and I were talking about after my run-in with her at the grocery store a while ago and following Jasper's advice on how to talk to her, which made her smile and wink at me, I had a date next Friday. I couldn't wait to tell Mom. She was going to be happy for me. Turning fifteen, meant I could date now.

Jasper had stopped on his floor to help his mom with something and said he would come up later. Emmett and I had continued up the stairs to our place. Mom was on the night shift, but she was planning on asking Jean or Carole to cover for her so she could spend the night with me for my birthday. I knew I would be the one cooking since Emmett couldn't be trusted to boil water.

Emmett and I got to our floor and found him at our door, knocking it.

When asked who he was and he turned his attention to us, I took him in. He had the same bronze hair and lanky figure like me and as we steeped closer I could see my brother's blue eyes staring back at us curiously. This was our father.

I didn't say anything. I just stepped closer to the door and he moved aside as I slide the key in the lock and opened the door. Emmett began to move forward with suspicion in his eyes as he passed me and headed inside. But for some reason, I wasn't shocked. I was perfectly calm. I just wanted to know why he was here.

"You can come inside…" I said, motioning him to follow me into the apartment. I went to the kitchen and put the groceries down. Emmett started to unpack them, filling the cupboards in an awkward silence. I noticed the man –our father- looking around the room, taking everything in.

"So, where is your mother?" he asked looking over to where we were in our small kitchen.

"Not here," Emmett answered, frowning.

I chimed in, trying to curb my brother's growing unease. "She won't be back anytime soon. We'll tell her you stopped by," I told him. I hoped he would take the hint and leave. I had already made the mistake of letting him inside. I shouldn't have. I hoped Mom wouldn't come home right this minute because I don't think she would be happy to see him standing here in our home. Because as I stood there watching him taking in our place with a smug and aloof expression on his face, I realized I didn't want to know this man. It was my birthday and I wanted to be happy and felt like he was the exact opposite of that.

I was about to ask him to leave and Emmett looked like he was thinking the same thing when what I feared happening, occurred.

The door opened and I heard her happy voice before we saw her.

had made a mistake letting him inside. I didn't want to know this man. I know I always wanted an explanation, but as I watched him, standing there, taking in our apartment with a smug attitude as his eyes glanced around the place in disdain - I found that I didn't need it anymore. But when he was about to answer, I got another surprise…

"Hey boys! I'm home! Happy Birthday Edward! I got Jean to switch with me so I could be here for my baby's birthday…" She entered the apartment with a huge gift in hand and her back to her visitor. The moment she saw him all hell broke loose. The blood drained from her face and she started screaming questions at him. "What the hell do you want?! Why are you here?!" I had never seen her like that before.

My mind was reeling as I listened to her rant. Mom only acknowledged Emmett and me long enough to ask us to go to our room. When we walked out, Mom exploded. They argued and then we heard the slamming of our front door, minutes later. This was not how I wanted to spend my birthday.

It wasn't totally ruined. Mom and I still cooked dinner together. Emmett still smiled and told jokes while Jasper didn't ask about what happened. He said he heard the argument from outside our apartment and had waited until my father left before he knocked on the door. Mom tried to pretend like the visit didn't bother her, but we could see that she wasn't herself because even though things weren't ruined, there was still tension in the air that had been brought by my bastard of a father.

Before I could forget about him, I wanted to know why he showed up tonight of all nights and thankfully mom thought it was time we knew about Edward Sr. and her and what happened and why he left.

So after Jasper left, Mom didn't want us to go to our room right away, she sat Emmett and me down and calmly asked, "Are you guys okay?"

I don't know if it was the question or what happened earlier. I just so knew how angry I was and I exploded on my mom. Emmett was pissed at me for doing it and promised to kick my ass but Mom begged him not to. Saying it was okay for me to be angry. Emmett called me a brat. But I wouldn't back down. I kept throwing questions at my mom.

"Why?! Why was he here? What did he want? Why did he come here? To fuck up my birthday?! What about all the other ones? What about all of Emmett's?! Are we okay?! No! Mom, we're not okay!" I spat angrily at her.

Mom sighed sadly and moved away from me. She looked so small as she took a seat on the couch. Emmett called me a prick and went and sat beside her. I felt like shit for screaming at her. "He wanted to see you; he knew it was your birthday." Mom told me softly.

Emmett was right. I was being an asshole, just like the prick, but I needed answers. I think I deserved them. "Mom…" I said calmly, sitting down on the other end of the couch. I took her hand in mine. "What happened?"

She looked defeated. She sighed and grasped both Emmett and mine's hands tightly and began to speak.

"I met Edward when I was eighteen and he was twenty-one. I was young and impressionable, and he was very charismatic." She told us how she grew up in a middle class family while was from a wealthy family. At first, she thought he was joking around and only pretending to be interested in her. "I mean, we were two different worlds." There was also the complication of his folks and how they disliked our mom because of her poor background. They thought Mom wasn't good for their son. She was trash. "I doubted myself and for a second, I thought they were right."

"They weren't," Emmett said vehemently. "They don't know. They're dicks."

"Yeah, they sound like dicks," I agreed. Emmett nodded at me, showing that he agreed with my assessment.

Mom smiled and continued to hold our hands as she went on, "Edward stood up for us and I was so impressed. His mom thought I was a gold digger and made it clear that if anything serious were to happen between Edward and me, they would disown him. They told him I was only after the ir money which couldn't be farther from the truth. And when I got pregnant with Emmett, they thought it only proved them right. I was trapping him with a baby."

"Did you love him?" Emmett asked her.

"I really did," Mom said.

She told she loved our father and truly believed they could make their relationship work. She strongly thought they could provide for themselves and Emmett while proving his parents since they told Edward Sr. he would suffer without them and come running back.

"I really wanted to prove them wrong," Mom said with conviction. "I wanted to make them eat their words."

"It was easy," she said to us. "But my parents stood by us through the tough times. They even helped us get a little apartment when Edward moved out of his childhood home." She sighed. "We struggled while Emmett was a baby with bills and other complications. It was frustrating."

"What kind of complications?" I asked.

"Well…" Mom looked a little nervous to say it. "I don't know why but Edward wasn't really into me going back to school. I loved nursing so I was going for that. I mean, I am a nurse now, but back then he wasn't very supportive of it. He thought I was wasting my time. I didn't think so."

How dare him! Mom loved nursing! She was good at it. What did he know? Bastard!

"When Emmett was six months old though, everything changed. My parents were killed in a car accident." We coaxed her.

"We're sorry, Mom."

"It's okay now, boys, but back then I felt like the world was going to end. I was devastated. I loved them so much." Her voice cracked. "They left me everything they had."

With the insurance money her parents left her, Mom managed to give them a decent farewell, but the family house had to be put up for sale to cover some bills her dad had. She got a good amount for it and it seemed to last her little family for a while.

But my father had a taste for expensive things and seeing his wife recently come into money made his eyes pop. And Mom, wanting to please our dad, knowing how hard he was working for her and Emmett, thought it was okay to oblige his appetite.

"Why?" I asked her.

Mom chuckled. "I realized now that I blamed myself for his suffering. If he hadn't rebelled against his parents for me, he would still be living his cushy lifestyle and I thought I wanted to reward him for choosing me."

"You shouldn't have to," Emmett said to her. And I agreed.

Backing up my brother, I said, "He chose to leave. He was the one who walked away. If he was attached to his rich life he should have stayed."

"I thought that too after a while," Mom said. "But I knew he blamed me."

After the money ran out, and Edward couldn't handle things financially, his best friend Carlisle stepped in and helped. Carlisle and his girlfriend Esme got them through the roughest times after her parents' death. They were from Edward's world but they weren't pretentious. "They were really kind to us. Still is." Mom sighed. "Esme would often come over to help with Emmett. But things…they were going downhill for me and Edward, and we started to drift apart."

When I was born two years later, it was the last straw for Edward Sr. and he left.

Mom didn't tell us more much after that. She just said one day he was there and the next, he was gone. I could see the hurt on her face. Carlisle and Esme somehow helped her further dream of becoming a nurse because had put it on the backburner after losing her folks. And then she decided to live for us.

I felt so much closer to my mom after our talk. I apologized for getting angry at her but she dismissed it saying I needed to get it. Emmett told me I was a douche.

I felt like one. And I promised myself I would make it up to her. We were always going to be together. I was going to make Mom proud of me. I thought she would be around to see me through all of the milestones in my life. I loved her more than anything.

But my life changed with one phone call.

I was eighteen years old when my world came crashing down around me. It was the day I thought I had lost everything. And everything I had done had all been in vain because I would not get to have my mom around for all the milestones I was always boasting to her that she and I and Emmet were going to experience. It always made her laugh. And as that person talked on that dreaded call, it was all I could remember along with the happy look on her face…her laugh.

The caller said my mom had been in an accident. It was a head on collision with a drunk driver, and it had been too late for my mother. In a single moment, the only woman I had ever loved was ripped out of my life. All I had ever known was taken from me.

I didn't remember much after the call. I know Emmett was shaking my bawling body until I screamed at him that Mom was dead. I know Jasper ran for his mom and it was the last thing I knew before I passed out from pain and loss.

Mom has been gone for several years now, but every time I think about her, it feels like it just happened.

The day of her funeral, I was a wreck. They were so many people there from our neighborhood and her work and Emmett and mine's school. Even old patients of Mom's. I promised her I would be all she wished for me to be and Emmett said he would find a way to protect others from the pain we were enduring. Esme and Carlisle promised to continue help us in any way they could. Alice promised to be there for us. She would become the sister we never had. I knew Mom's love for her job as a nurse and helping others and I wanted to do that in the memory of her. It was also what fueled my passion for becoming a cardiac surgeon. I wanted to fix broken hearts. I wanted to save as many people as I could from my pain. I promised her that while I stood by her grave long after the funeral had ended.

Our father had showed up for the funeral with his wife on his arm. I didn't look his way. He would never exist for me. He laid red roses on her casket and I threw them away. He wasn't needed and never would be. The one person I wanted to see, to hear, was under my feet and I would never hear her sweet laugh again.

Over the years, Edward Sr. has tried to reach out to us. I always refuse. Emmett has met with him more than once, and each time, I wouldn't speak to him for days. He knew where I stood. He has tried to explain his motive to me. Saying it was a way to get to know the man and see how much of a bastard he truly was. He even went as far as to tell me he spoke to him about Mom, and she was right. He walked away because he couldn't handle it. I got so mad at my brother for talking to him about Mom, it turned into a fight. The lanky, geeky looking kid had packed on a few muscles over the years and wasn't afraid of kicking his big brother's ass. We smashed into things and then I ran him out of my place and we didn't talk for almost a month.

My refusal to meet with Edward Sr. hasn't stopped him from attempting to weasel his way into my life though. He came to me, offering to pay for medical school, and I ran him away. He tried to do it with college, but I was there on a scholarship. He showed up at my college graduation and I went out of my way to avoid him. Mom taught us that anything you want you have to work hard for it and I have done just that.

The both of us have.

Emmett went into the police academy and I worked a few odd jobs while attending nursing school. It was hard but it was worth it. And when I stepped through those emergency doors on my first day, I was met with a few of Mom's former co-workers and friends like Carole who hugged me, crying as she said, "Welcome."

I cried on her shoulder, because it felt like home.

Even though being a nurse is temporary, I value the skills I am getting every day. Carlisle did live up to his promise and it's because of his assistance, I'm in med school and on my way to fixing those broken hearts like how I promised Mom.