Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting! This story has panned out in my head, but I am having some difficulties in articulating this story onto paper. Unlike 'Of Lies and Deception' which flowed like water onto paper, this one is coming out more like caramel. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you so much for all the reviews!

02. Anything But Immortality

"You want an internship at the hospital?" Carlisle asked me curiously. Although he was my grandfather, the fact that he looked the same age as my father, really made it uncomfortable when I called him grandpa.

"Yes," I said confidently.

"Why?" Carlisle asked me slowly, his expression puzzled, as if he was trying to think of a single reason why I would want to spend hours at the hospital.

"I don't know, I just want to try it out," I said indifferently. The real reason was, I wanted to test myself. Maybe if I was near human blood enough, I'd discover that I really did crave it - just like my family. Totally sick, but that was my reasoning in any case.

"Well," Carlisle said, his voice contemplative, "You are a senior in high school right now right?"

I nodded my head.

"Well, I can get you an application, but I can't guarantee you'll get it," Carlisle said doubtfully.

"It's okay," I said smiling, "It's just something I wanted to try out - besides if I don't get it the first time round, I have all eternity right?" I said laughing a bit at the end.

"Yes," Carlisle agreed, joining in my joke. I smiled at him briefly and thanked him for helping me. He told me that he'd get back to me as soon as possible, and wished me luck.

…

I tapped my foot impatiently next to the gas pedal. What was the point of a fast car if there was no place to utilize its finer points? The car in front me crawled forward and I clenched my jaw. Carlisle had used his considerable influence to get me the hospital internship - regardless of his insistence that I had gotten in on my own - and I was going to be late. Usually it only took me fifteen minutes to get from home to the hospital, but this unexpected traffic snarl had set me back almost an hour. From here on out, I'm talking to Aunt Alice every single time I leave the house. I cursed silently under my breath, as the car in front inched forward.

I slammed the car door as I hurried out. I cleared the hospital parking lot as fast as I could and dashed up the three flights of stairs to Carlisle's office. I burst into his room, with apologies on the tip of my tongue.

"It's alright Jake - Alice called."

I nodded, and felt relief. Thank you Alice! I made a mental note to see what she might want as a gift.

"You have been assigned to the pediatrics ward, and although you will be working with me on some assignments, your internship will pretty much be a glorified volunteer position," Carlisle warned me.

I smiled, as long as I got to stay in the hospital, anything would be fine - it wasn't like I was hurting for cash anyways.

Carlisle stood and opened the door for me. Together we headed down to the pediatrics ward.

"The ward is split into two areas - one for the younger children, twelve years and under, and the other for the teenagers. Most of these kids are on chemotherapy or some sort of cancer treatment. There are twenty six kids here altogether, eight of them are terminally ill."

I nodded as I listened to Carlisle's commentary. Carlisle listed off the names of the kids on this floor, and he introduced me to one of my supervisors. He was a young man, maybe mid-twenties, with dark black hair, and warm chocolate brown eyes.

"Welcome, you must be Jacob," he greeted me, with his hand outstretched.

I reciprocated and shook his hand, "Yes, but please call me Jake. It's a pleasure to meet you -" I paused, uncertain of his name.

"James, please call me James," he said with a friendly smile.

"Alright then, James, I look forward to working with you."

Carlisle excused himself then, as his pager was beeping like mad. James took over giving me the grand tour and I followed him through the rest of the floor. He gave me a short personal history on all of the patients, and I smiled at every person that he pointed to. They all smiled back, and I felt a slight pang in my chest. Here these kids were, so young without their hair and so gaunt. In my heart, even though I knew my original intention to do this still held, I personally vowed to myself that I would make their lives during my time here as comfortable as possible.

"So why did you want to do this internship?" James asked conversationally, effectively breaking me out of my thoughts.

"My father is a real champion of human lives," I said vaguely. I knew that my speech sometimes sounded too formal, but that was all because of my mom and dad. Edward, although I was never really allowed to call him that, was born more than two hundred years ago, and he detested bad grammar, so all my life I had been schooled in the art of proper language. My mom, was more lenient, having been born relatively later - about a hundred years - allowed me some slack when it came to cutting off syllables, and swearing - but only occasionally.

"Your father sounds like a very smart man."

"He is," I replied, completely agreeing with that assessment. Although 'very smart' was pretty much the understatement of the year when it came to describing my dad.

"I'm sorry Jake, but I'm going to have to leave you to your own devices for a little while, there's something that I have to take care of," James said apologetically.

"Hey, yea, it's no problem, I can just look around, and get to know some of the kids," I assured him.

"Thanks," he said, "Well, I'll see you later then okay? Make sure when you leave you check out with me."

"Yep, see you," I said to his retreating back as he dashed off.

I wandered around aimlessly, although quite frankly there wasn't really that much space to wander. On my fifth trip around, a little girl ran smack into me.

"Are you okay?" For once I was glad that I didn't feel like stone, or the poor girl would have been annihilated into bits.

"I'm okay," she said with a bright smile. She had to be one of the younger kids - ten years old maybe?

"I've never seen you before, what's your name?" she asked me with no shyness at all.

I smiled back at her, and introduced myself. "My name is Jacob, but you can call me Jake if you want."

"Okay," she agreed happily, "My name is Allison Hadley," she said with another grin.

"Well, Allison, you have a very pretty name," I complimented her, "Where are you headed?"

"I was about to go outside - my doctor gave me a day pass today, do you want to come with me?"

"Sure." I said with another smile.

Together we headed out into the brilliant sunshine that lighted the entire hospital garden.