A/N: All characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 1: Surprise, Surprise

Bella POV

I am in so much pain. That is the first thought that comes to mind when I realize that I am regaining consciousness. The next thing I realize is that there is a medicinal smell in the air. Now, when you put those two things together, the only thing you can think is hospital. My mom did say I was perceptive, but this is ridiculous.

I decide that merely sensing pain and smelling medicine cannot be the extent of senses that I need to identify. So I start to listen. I hear a mechanical beep…beep…beep, that seems to be tracking my heart. The taste in my mouth is dry and slightly lemony, probably from the lemon swabs that they use on unconscious patients.

Now after all of this, I decide I need to use the one sense I haven't used yet…sight. I slowly open my eyes, and find a bright light nearby, so it takes me a few tries to actually get them open to any decent seeing level. The first thing I see are the white tiles of the ceiling above the bed I am laying in. I am kind of scared to move. If I feel this much pain when I am laying still, how much pain will I feel if I try to move?

I decide to try anyway. I first try to turn my head to the left, and that sparks off pain that radiates so much pain throughout my body that I yell out quite loudly. Well, at least I know my voice still works.

I notice that the heart monitor starts beeping more quickly. All of the sudden, someone comes flying into the room to check the monitors. They turn to look at me, and when they see my eyes are open, they run back to the door and start shouting out from it.

I am not sure I understand what she just said, but she runs back into my room and she starts recording things on what looks to be my chart. I try to clear my throat to get her attention, and she immediately turns to me and says, "Honey, don't worry about talking right now. Just let your throat heal. The doctor is on his way in. Please just relax. We need your heart rate to calm down. Can you do that for me?"

I try to nod a little. It didn't hurt too much, and she seems to have gotten the message.

So, now the only thing that I have to try and figure out is why I'm in here. I know I am in pain, and I know that must be the reason for my hospital stay, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember why I am in pain. For that matter, I cannot even recall my own name at this moment.

This is really weird. What is going on today? I obviously know stuff about myself, yet for some reason I can't remember anything before I felt pain.

Just then, I get distracted because what looks to be my doctor walk in. As he does I look at him and I sense something in the back of my head screaming at me to remember. This doctor looks familiar. He is a little young, with blond wavy hair, kinda like a movie star. But his eyes are a mysterious gold color, and with sudden awareness, I know exactly who that is. Someone I did not realize I missed. Someone who I once looked at as a parent somewhat. Someone who has fixed me up a number of times. Someone who helped save my life four years ago.

Dr. Carlisle Cullen.

Carlisle POV

Wow, another day in this hospital. I was going to take more time off, but I missed the hospital setting too much. I had already taken the last four off to get things settled and back together. My family and I just moved back out to Chicago about a month ago. I had hoped it would help Edward somewhat, bring him back to somewhere familiar. He was in a very depressed state, and I knew that the last four years had been hard on him. He made a decision about 5 years ago that changed him completely.

He fell in love in a human girl named Bella. And by doing that, he irrevocably changed himself. Before her, he believed himself to be complete and whole within himself. Once he met her, he realized what he was missing, and set up a series of events, that when they unfolded, was too much for him to handle. He felt he cared too much, and in his quest to protect her, he took himself, and our family, out of her life.

I do not agree with his decision, none of us did, but all of us did as he asked, and we left the town of Forks, Washington. We moved up to Alaska for a while, but then moved here to Chicago to start over.

See, about a year ago, Edward changed his mind again. He decided he could no longer live without the human girl, so he traveled back to Forks to hopefully reunite with her. But when he got there, he realized his mistake. For she had married just days before his return. He was devastated, but he realized that she had done exactly what he had asked her to do. So after grieving for a while, we thought the best place to start again was in Chicago.

Now, I have started again on my residency. I am finding it a joy to work in this hospital again. This was the same hospital that I originally met Edward and his family, all those years ago in 1901. So to be back again is a rare treat.

So far, this day was moving by very slowly. It is the middle of the night, and all the patients have been seen so far. So I am just going to check up on a few. Dr. Dryden asked me to keep an eye n the woman in exam room 2. She had come in severely beaten and almost strangled to death. Ohh, I hate these cases. When someone does this kind of deplorable thing to someone, it just hurts me to know that someone had to suffer.

She came in about 6 hours ago with severe bruising on her trachea and esophagus, as well as a few cracked ribs, a broken wrist and damaged cartilage in her knee. It is a miracle she is even still alive. And to top it off, she is seven months pregnant. Who would do something like this to such a young woman? And while she is carrying a child? She was unconscious when she was brought in, and has yet to wake up.

Just then, I look up at the door to Exam Room 2 which has just opened.

"Dr. Cullen? The woman in Exam 2 has woken up."

"Ok Sarah, I'm coming." I tell her. Well, this is good. Maybe she can talk to us about what happened to her, and maybe we can get some contact info from her, as she came in without identification.

I walk into Exam 2, and I look up at the patient.

Recognition flows through me, and I cannot understand what I am seeing. Bella? This is Bella? Ooh no, this is not good.

"Bella?" I ask?

She just nods slightly, as I know that the bruising in her throat is too severe for speech at this moment. She looks like she is going to cry any moment. So I do the only thing I can for her at this moment. "Sarah? Can you give me a moment with the patient?"

"Sure Dr. Cullen." She says as she walks out of the room.

I go up to her bedside. She looks awful. I never thought I would see Bella looking like this. The last time I saw her, she was smiling through the pain of a long gash on her forearm from that mishap of an 18th Birthday Party. She is pale, thinner than she should be at 7 months pregnant, and all the bruising. This is one of the worst things I have ever seen.

"Bella, I am so sorry that this had to happen to you. I know you can't communicate right now, but it is a good thing that it was your left wrist that was broken. I am going to go get a pad of paper and a pencil so that you can write questions and answers for me when you choose. Is that ok?"

She nods her head again, and a turn around and step outside of her room for a moment.

I immediately call the one person who needs to know about Bella right now. I dial the number quickly into my cell phone. It rings a few times before it is picked up. "Hello?"

"Edward…I need you to come down to the hospital," I tell him.

"Why now Carlisle? What's going on?" He asks uncertainly.

"This is not something I can relay on the phone, but I need you, Esme and Emmett to come down here ASAP. Please. This is important."

"Ok Carlisle, we will be there shortly." He says.

"Thanks you. See you soon." I say, and then click the phone shut. How am I going to tell him this? How will he react? I don't know, but I know that my whole family would do anything for Bella, and I cannot keep this from them, even thought I really wish I could. And this is not something I could keep from Edward either. There is no way for me to be able to concentrate enough to do that. It is better if I and Emmett are there when he finds this out.

I quickly go back to the nurses' station and grab a small notepad and a pencil, and walk quickly back to Exam 2. As I walk in, her eyes have not strayed from the door since I had gone through it…or at least I don't think they have. She looks desperate to communicate, so I offer her up the paper and pencil. Though I know it hurts her, she immediately takes the pencil and starts writing.

Carlisle? What happened to me?

"Bella, that is what we were trying to find out from you. You came in with no ID, and you look like you have been…" I know the next part is going to hurt, but I am hoping this will trigger something…anything, that will help us figure out what happened. "…beaten. The reason you cannot speak is because someone tried to strangle you. Can you remember anything about what happened to you?"

She sat still for a moment, and then I realized when she started remembering what happened. I got closer to her and sat down in the chair that was pulled up to her bedside. I didn't want to look too intimidating. She started to cry, and that's when I heard my name outside.

I knew it would not take them long to get here, as we only live about a mile away from the hospital. They must have sensed the urgency when I spoke. I look back at Bella, and I said, "Bella. I need to go outside the room a moment. I will be right back. Is that ok?" She nodded her head.

"Ok, I will be right back. I will just be stepping outside." I get up from the chair, and I walk slowly back to the door and move quickly through it. I need to prepare them before they go in there. This is not going to be pretty.

As I come out into the hallway, Edward, Esme, Emmett and Alice turn around and look at me. I know I didn't ask for Alice, but I knew she would come anyway, if she was home. I just thought she had gone off hunting with Jasper.

All of them look at me with curious expressions, but when they see my drawn face, they start to become alarmed. Esme walks towards me, and puts her hand on my arm. "Carlisle, what is it? What is the problem?"

"I am glad all of you are here, but the one I need to speak to most is Edward."

He steps forward. In trying to keep up with pretenses, he asks, "What's up, dad?"

"Edward. There is a patient in this room behind me. Someone who you know. And she is seriously injured. I need you to stay calm for me. Can you do that?" I ask. I need him to reassure me on this, because I need to know if he can keep his composure.

"Of course," he says.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, even though I don't really need to, it is just a force of habit. I look Edward straight in the eye, and I say, "It's Bella."

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