Chapter 2: Figuring It Out

BPOV

I woke up, yet again to the sound of beeping and a lumpy bed. There was also the sound of papers being ruffled and I willed myself to open my eyes. They felt like they could have been glued shut. All I wanted was to stay asleep with what was happening to me.

I opened my eyes to a woman that I recognized as my nurse. Shannon. It was looking at her that I remembered what had been said before I passed out.

"Holy shit," I croaked out. The nurse seemed to jump from the sound of my voice. She looked to me and smiled warmly.

"Good morning… or I should say good evening. You've been out for quite some time now," she said, looking at the clock hung on the wall to her left. "A good five hours."

I looked around at my surroundings. The hospital walls were white and morose. What a nice sight to wake up to. I remembered, again, about what was said… I guess five hours ago before I blacked out. I sat myself up in the bed and the nurse looked up from her papers with a smile.

"A husband?" I asked. My stomach felt like it did when I was on a roller coaster… dropped. And I didn't know if it was going to catch up with me anytime soon. "Really? A husband? I am beyond confused… and apparently twenty three?"

Her face showed me sympathy. I was suddenly nervous for what she was about to tell me. What was he like? I didn't know if I could handle what was coming at me… like a car coming at an innocent doe. I took a deep breath and braced myself. "Yes, apparently," she answered. "I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him, but Doctor Cullen says that he is very nice." I bit my lip and shut my eyes tightly.

"And I'm twenty three now?" I asked, with my eyes still shut, obviously already knowing the answer. But I was trying my hardest to make her say no. To let this all be a joke on the beginner cliff diver. 'You're only eighteen, Bella. What are you on? Didn't your mother ever tell you that sharing is caring?' she would say and then all of my friends and family would come out of hiding. 'Surprise, Bella! This whole thing was just a joke!' they would say.

Instead, I got the answer that I was dreading. "Yep," she said simply, letting me sit with that answer. Letting me sit on my twenty three year old ass wishing to remember the last five years. I groaned and let my head fall back on the lumpy mattress. I hadn't even started to consider what the rest of my life was like and I felt like I was going to have the most confusing next few weeks… or however long this would last. It just then occurred to me that this may not end.

"How long will I be like this?" I asked seriously. The nurse shrugged.

"It could be days… it could be years. You could stay like this forever," she answered sadly. I bit my lip again and tried to fight back the tears. This wasn't happening to me.

"Well then," I said lightly, trying to just deal with this situation, "I've got a lot to catch up with." Shannon chuckled and checked on my stats.

"Yes, I believe you do," she said before taking a bag from the door handle and handing it to me. "This is yours. It was in your car."

I dumped the bag onto my lap and rummaged through the contents. Huh, I finally got a cell phone. A nice cell phone, too. Those were not the keys to my truck… aw! Man I loved that truck. I allowed a moment of silence for my dead truck before sifting through the objects on my lap again. There was a purse. Five credit cards and two debit cards? Since when could I afford the bills of five credit cards and two debit cards? A makeup bag, obviously containing makeup, was the last thing to inspect. Weird. I didn't really take to wearing makeup too often. I guess things changed… a lot.

Two rings were under the makeup bag. I hadn't seen them before. My wedding ring and my engagement ring, I guess. My gosh, the engagement ring was beautiful! The diamond wasn't so big, but it was bigger than I'd thought I'd ever be able to afford. I guess I'm wealthy? I have no clue about anything anymore.

I realized then that I hadn't actually seen myself yet. I didn't know if I was ready to see myself aged five years. I had to do it sometime, though. Might as well get it over with now.

"Is there a mirror I could use or something? I kind of want to see what five years has done to me…," I asked the nurse. She thought for a few seconds before speaking up.

"I really don't think that's such a good idea right now, honey. You just found out that five years of your memory is gone…. You should probably let that sink in before you see the shock of what you look like. Plus, you're all bruised and swollen from the accident. It would be best if you waited for friends and family to be around when you finally see yourself. They can help you through any shock." I nodded and she smiled before looking back at her paperwork and then looking back up at me. "Oh, would you like to read some recent papers or magazines. It could spark your memory or just inform you on life today," she offered. I nodded again. She grabbed a few items from the table behind her and handed them to me.

I looked at the cover of a recent newspaper. There was a black man on it with an American flag in the background. The title read simply Obama.

"Who's this?" I asked, pointing to the picture on the cover.

"That's our new president, Barrack Obama. He won the recent election against John McCain. He's made history," she answered.

"Wow. A black president. That's pretty amazing…," I said to myself. Of course I couldn't really make any sort of judgment on him or the opposing party. I had no idea what his views were… obviously. I shrugged and began to look at the next item- a magazine. A picture of Brad Pitt was on the cover and Jennifer Aniston as well. Angelina Jolie was in the corner. It read Brad cheating with Jen?

"Whoa. Whoa… what? Why would Brad Pitt be cheating with Jennifer Aniston? That doesn't make sense."

"Oh yeah. Brad had cheated on Jen a few years back with Angelina Jolie. They had done a movie together and 'they fell in love'. They adopted, like, five kids from God knows where and they had one of their own; which his stupid because Brad and Jen said they got divorced over the fact that Brad didn't want kids and Jen did," she answered. I was in shock. I loved Jen and Brad together! I mean, I didn't really follow much of that Hollywood stuff, but the one couple I liked was them. That is so ridiculous.

"I was shocked too. But now, apparently, he's cheating on Angelina with Jen. It's very confusing, but I hope it's true," she said when she saw my reaction.

"Good. I hope it's true too," I looked at the other papers on my lap and sighed. "There's no use in reading any of this. It's only depressing me. Here," I handed her back the papers with the one arm I could use and leaned back on my lumpy hospital bed. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said simply. I looked around the room again and wondered why nobody was here. Why wasn't my mom or dad here? Or Jessica or Angela? Or… my husband? I don't understand why I'm alone.

"Someone called them," the nurse said, taking in my rejected features. "They're coming as soon as they can. We told them to leave because we weren't sure when you'd finally wake up. The other nurse had trouble getting your husband away from you from what I hear. Poor guy probably misses you right now. I believe he's trying to get out of work to get here."

"But you don't know his name?" I asked hopefully. Any little hint to who he could be would help. If he wasn't from Forks, I probably wouldn't know who he was, though. I might know him if he was from Phoenix because of those summers with my aunt… maybe.

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch his name." Bummer.

I was suddenly very nervous. Who was he? I had no idea what he would look like or who he was or… anything. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Are you okay, honey? You look very pale," she got up and checked my monitor. "Your heart rate is up. You need to calm down." She sat in the chair next to me and took my hand. "It's okay. You'll be fine. Your friends and family could spark your memory. You never know." She gave me a motherly look and I was sure that she was a mother. It was the same look that my mother would give me when I was upset. It made me relax a little bit. I took a few deep breaths before turning to her and smiling.

"Thanks. I'm good now. You remind me of my mom… or what I remember of my mom," I told her. She smiled back and let go of my hand.

"I understand that you're very, very confused right now. It's going to be hard. But you've got to remember that there's still hope for you. Time can heal all wounds, right? Well maybe time can give you back your memory. Just try to be patient," she told me. I nodded and thought about what she said. It was exactly what I needed to hear. It was a reassuring speech and it helped me to calm down more. She smiled once more before returning to her papers.

Doctor Cullen walked into the room a few minutes later.

"Bella, how are we feeling tonight?" he asked while looking at my stats.

"I'm good. How are you?" I asked. He laughed and handed a folder to the nurse.

"I'm very good, thank you." He chuckled again. His laugh was some kind of soothing. I didn't really know what to call it. "Remember anything yet?"

I shook my head and looked down at my hands in my lap. "Nope," I answered simply. It was quiet for a second and I looked up to see him staring at me curiously. He looked away quickly as I caught his stare.

"I'm hoping that that will change soon. Now, I'm not going to make you stay here just because you don't remember. You can leave as soon as someone signs you out. And even then I'll ask you if you're comfortable with leaving. A lot of the people that will be visiting you will be strangers to you. I don't want you to think that you have to leave just because it may be inconvenient for the hospital or me. Don't worry about it. I understand how hard this is going to be… just hang in there." He looked at me strangely again before looking around the room.

His speech totally comforted me. I felt so grateful towards him. He was being so nice to me and I didn't even know if I deserved it. I really didn't know who I actually was.

"I'm telling you this now because some people are here to see you. I will send them in," he gave the nurse another folder and walked at the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned around. "Remember what I told you," he said before walking out the door. "Please inform Isabella Swan's visitors that she is ready to see them," I heard him say to a receptionist across the hall from my room.

My stomach churned the butterflies there. This was going to be a lot to handle. I looked at the nurse and she gave me a reassuring nod. She was standing in the corner of the room. "You'll be fine," she said. I must have looked panic stricken. This was nerve wrecking. I had no idea what my life was like the past five years, but this seemed to be the scariest thing I'd experienced so far.

I looked down at my lap and closed my eyes. I could hear footsteps coming through the doorway and into my room. The seat next to my bed creaked as someone sat down.

"Bella?" A familiar voice said. My head snapped up and my eyes met with the eyes of my mother. She looked almost the same. She had some more wrinkles and obviously had aged, but she looked pretty much the same. My dad stood next to the chair and Jacob next to my dad. Had I married Jake? The last time I checked, we were nowhere near marriage and I had pretty much known that nothing like that would happen between us. I guess it wouldn't be that bad if he was my husband. At least I knew who he was…

I looked over at the nurse and she motioned to Jake with her head. "Hot," she mouthed. I nodded slightly and gave her a small smile.

"Oh Bella!" Renee balled. She started crying and embraced me into a tight hug. She had included my broken arm in that hug.

"Ouch, mom, my arm," I choked out.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm just so glad that you're awake! And I know, I know about your memory and it's so horrible! But they told me that there may be a chance that you wouldn't wake up soon and I thought that I'd lost you! I've been-"

"Renee…," Charlie cut her off. "Give her time to process."

"Oh. I'm sorry," she said. "How are you, honey?" She asked. She seemed exactly the same Renee that I remembered from five years ago.

"I'm okay, mom. I'm just very… confused. It's almost overwhelming…," I answered. She gave me another, lighter, hug and wiped the tears from her eyes as she sat up in her chair. I looked to my dad.

"Hey Bells," he said in his gruff voice that was so familiar to me. This all felt familiar to me. Like it was two thousand and four still and I was eighteen. Crazy.

"Hey Dad," I said.

"You remember me!" he joked. The room was filled with subdued laughter because of the actual reality that I may never remember the last five years.

"Of course, Dad. Who else bothered me the most during my teen years?" I laughed. It felt weird to say 'teen years' because I felt used to being a teen.

"Well," he started, "I'm glad to see you, much the same." Then, almost unwillingly, I looked to Jake. He smiled widely. I held back the urge to cringe and smiled softly back.

"Let's let the two of them catch up and talk for a while, Renee," Charlie said. He took her hand and they walked out the door. Their marriage is still going strong, I see. It's nice to see. They seemed to be the same people I remembered and loved… love. I chuckled to myself at how I could think of not loving my parents. They were pretty great. Jake sat down in Renee's chair and cocked his head.

"What's on your mind, best friend?" he asked with his head still cocked. Best friend? Okay. I could handle that. But if he wasn't my husband, who the fuck was? I smiled at him.

"Best friend? That's interesting. I guess that you couldn't fulfill my… needs," I jokingly assumed. He gave me a doubting look.

"Psh. Please. I broke up with you," he told me. Hmm…

"Really?" I asked.

"No," he laughed. "But that's okay. We're best friends now," he stated.

"Good," I said with a smirk. "You know, when I first saw you in here, I thought you were my husband. I was nervous." We both laughed and the nurse shrugged.

"Yeah, like I'd marry you," he said with another laughed.

"More like I wouldn't marry you," I said back at him.

"Keep telling yourself that," he said, nonchalantly brushing off his shoulders.

"I will, I will," I started. "But, anyway, if you're not my husband… who the fuck is?" He opened his mouth to answer.

"Bella," I heard a voice say in relief at the doorway. I looked from Jake and towards the voice. Holy shit.

"You- you're… what?" I stuttered.

"Hey Mike," Jake mumbled and looked away. Mike Newton? What. The. Fuck.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Mike looked pretty hot. He had definitely grown defined in his face and his muscles were toned. His hair was still that sandy-brown blonde color. But how on earth had I managed to marry Mike Newton?

"I'll see you later, Bella," Jake said before getting up and heading out the door. He didn't seem to like Mike. Then again, he never liked him. Mike took his seat and my hand. He kissed the back of my hand and looked me in the eye. I felt like gagging or throwing up. I wanted to know now, more than ever, how the last five years brought me to Mike Newton. I was more confused now than I was when I woke up.

Yet again… what the fuck?

A/N: Just so you guys don't get confused (like Bella is at the moment) this is NOT a Mike/Bella story. I know it may seem like it at the moment, but everything is not what it seems. I'll leave it at that. :) &REVIEW.

-Erin