Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers owns all characters. I just like messing with POVs and trying to get in their heads....

A/N: I know you know this, but this is in Twilight, after James and the ballet studio. Not all chapters in this story may be from Twilight by the end, though they will be from the Twilight saga... Enjoy!

Bella lay in the hospital bed, deeply asleep. I listened to the heart monitor confirm her heartbeat, comforted by its regularity. Again I took in her sleeping form, wrapped in bandages, covered in plaster, tubes and wires snaking away from her soft, fragile body. Even broken, she was beautiful—more than beautiful, really.

I have to leave her, I thought again. It's for her own good. My world is too dangerous for her. I'm too dangerous for her. Why won't she believe me?

"Goodness, Edward, don't you ever sleep?" Renée, Bella's mother, asked as she came into the room.

I suppressed a grin and smiled wryly instead. "Not much. I'm a chronic insomniac."

"Hmm," Renée murmured, turning to Bella. "Any change?"

"No, she's still deeply under." But at least she smells like Bella now, I added to myself. The doctors had given her several transfusions, confusing her scent. It made me… anxious… not to smell the Bella who intoxicated me.

"Good. She's been through a lot."

"Yes," I agreed. All of it my fault.

"Do you think she should go back to Forks?" Renée asked after a few moments of silence.

I sighed. Like mother, like daughter… Bella always asked me the most difficult questions, too.

"Only if it's in her best interest."

"According to whom?" Renée asked, eyes narrowing.

I met her gaze, a smile at the corners of my lips. "Anyone but Bella."

Renée's half-smile was short-lived.

"Then why come all the way here to persuade her to go back?"

"She didn't leave under the best of circumstances," I said slowly, choosing my words. "I think she could go back and put things in order. Say goodbye properly. Then, if she wants to leave, she can leave." Run Bella run. Stay Bella stay.

"What made her leave in the first place?"

I smiled and sighed again. Truly, I could see now why Bella was so fascinating: the combination of Renée's perceptiveness with Charlie's unconscious ability to shield his thoughts.

"I can't really say, Renée. It was a combination of things." Again, all of them my fault. I couldn't keep Bella out of danger. Especially because I was the danger.

You love her… yet… you're so… torn right now. Renée's thoughts were as soft as her voice. You came all the way to Phoenix to… say… goodbye? Why would you do that?

To keep Bella safe. To let her be human. To escape the monster that I am—God, I can still taste her blood and I want more... right now…. And Bella knows all of this… To never be the cause of Bella's pain again. She would get over me. Right?

"So what exactly happened to her?" Renée asked.

"She agreed to meet me at my hotel so we could talk—Alice, Carlisle, Bella, and I. She took the stairs—why she insists on that, I'll never understand—and slipped in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time." I sighed. It could have happened. I wished it had happened instead of what had. "She fell down two flights of stairs and through a window before anyone could move."

Renée shook her head and chuckled once without humor. "That sounds like Bella."

We sat in silence for a while, listening to monitors and to each other's breathing. I scanned Bella's face again and again, watching for any sign of the pain I knew she had to be in. I allowed myself a small smile in the midst of my pain. For someone so utterly breakable, Bella was an extraordinary survivor. All that she'd been through before me. All that she'd been through because of me. All that I could still put her through… No. I will not hurt Bella again.

Renee's stomach growled loudly and she looked up, embarrassed. A slight tinge of pink colored her cheeks. So that's where Bella's tendency to blush came from.

"Excuse me. I should get some food. You'll be OK here?"

I nodded once.

"Can I bring anything back for you?"

"No, thank you." I smiled my soft, non-threatening smile at Renée's kindness. Despite my control over my thirst, what I wanted was in this room, connected to monitors and IV drips. Not even a mountain lion sounded good right now.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

I nodded once and turned my attention to Bella. I stood and walked to her bedside, hooking a plastic chair with my foot and pulling it to me as I sat down. I folded my arms and leaned forward, resting my chin on her pillow. So beautiful.

Bella stirred and opened her eyes. I held my breath so as not to frighten her. No sudden movements. She reached up to remove the oxygen tube under her nose.

"No, you don't," I admonished, catching her hand.

"Edward?" She turned to me. I breathed in her scent, barely registering the pain. "Oh, Edward, I'm so sorry!"

"Shhhh. Everything's all right now."

"What happened?"

"I was almost too late. I could have been too late," I whispered, tormented by the thought.

"I was so stupid, Edward. I thought he had my mom."

"He tricked us all."

"I need to call Charlie and my mom." Always the selfless one. I sighed.

"Alice called them. Renée is here—well, here in the hospital. She's getting something to eat right now."

"She's here?" Bella exclaimed, trying to sit up. I recognized the vertigo in her eyes and pushed her back into her pillows gently.

"She'll be back soon. And you need to stay still."

"But what did you tell her?" Bella's voice shot up half an octave; her heart rate accelerated. "Why did you tell her I was here?"

I rehearsed the story I had told Renée, then smiled slightly. "You have to admit, it could happen."

"How bad am I?" she asked quietly.

Pretty bad, love. Yet here you are… alive… despite everything. And I want you now more than ever before… in the same dangerous and frightening ways as always.

"You have a broken leg, four broken ribs, some cracks in your skull, bruises covering every inch of your skin and you've lost a lot of blood…" Almost 35% of your blood volume. "They gave you a few transfusions. I didn't like it." I glowered at the memory. "It made you smell all wrong for a while." Probably would have made her taste all wrong, too, my internal monster added.

"That must have been a nice change for you."

"No, I like how you smell." And taste.

"How did you do it?" Bella asked quietly.

"I'm not sure."

I had to look away from her, those deep, trusting, chocolate eyes I so easily lost myself in. I took her hand and tried to collect my thoughts. The memory took me and I was back in the ballet studio, Bella's bloody hand pressed to my lips. Waves of desire rippled through me but the monster was fettered, sated by memory. I swallowed convulsively, remembering the taste.

"It was impossible… to stop." I whispered. "Impossible. But I did." I met her gaze again and half-smiled. "I must love you."

"Don't I taste as good as I smell?" she teased lightly. Ah, Bella, love. If you only knew. And if I could only explain without frightening you.

"Even better—better than I'd imagined." So delicious. I had to swallow again.

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head slightly and smiled to myself. Always apologizing for the wrong things.

"Of all the things to apologize for." I rolled my eyes.

"What should I apologize for?"

For falling in love with me… No. I don't mean that. For not fearing me more than you love me.

"For very nearly taking yourself away from me forever."

"I'm sorry," Bella said again.

"I know why you did it," I soothed. I felt the same protective instinct toward Renée that I did for Bella. "It was still irrational, though. You should have waited for me, you should have told me."

"You wouldn't have let me go."

Damn right, I wouldn't have let you go!

"No, I wouldn't."

A pained look came into her eyes then and she trembled, then winced.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"What happened to James?" she asked in a small voice.

I sighed, feeling suddenly weary, and met her gaze for a few moments before opening my mouth to speak.

A/N: Sorry, me again! I tried to come up with a believable percentage of blood loss and keep Bella alive until she made it to the hospital. I found differing percentages, so I went with kind of the middle of the worst percentages of blood loss that absolutely required a transfusion. If anyone knows a better percentage, let me know. Also, reviews are lovely. Let me know how much you'd like to see. I can stop anytime! :-)