"Hey, are you a doctor?" a disgruntled looking paramedic asked as he rolled a stretcher behind him. There was a black body bag on the stretcher zipped to the top.

Not again, Carlisle thought to himself as he fought his way through the busy hall to where the paramedic had stopped.

"This guy's gone, lost him on the way. Can you pronounce him for me so I can get rid of him? I've got a field full off people that still need medical attention." The paramedic sounded exhausted and slightly perturbed by the situation.

Carlisle was slightly taken aback at the paramedics tone. He understood the pressure and the stress, but this young man had still been a person. He deserved more respect than that. He was not an object to be casually thrown aside, to be disposed of.

"What's his name?" Carlisle asked, gripping the metal zipper in his hand.

"No idea, most people have no ID," the paramedic said, shrugging impatiently.

Carlisle nodded. Each click of the zipper teeth unclenching made his stomach drop. He saw pale skin and blond waves of hair. It looked as if it fell just above the boy's shoulders. His eyes were closed. He looked peaceful, but as Carlisle pulled the zipper over his mouth he felt a small gust of air.

Immediately Carlisle dropped his ear to the boy's mouth and nose, listening for breath sounds. He placed his fingers against the jugular vein, feeling for a pulse. He could feel both the breath sounds and the pulse. They were weak, but steady.

Carlisle took the clipboard hastily from the paramedic. "This boy is now a patient. He is very much alive," Carlisle said angrily. It wasn't going to do any good sending the victims that were still alive to the morgue. He knew the hospital was running out of room, people lay all over the halls in makeshift stretchers, but really? The reality of these people surviving was only as good as the care they received from medical professionals.

"Wait…how?" the paramedic asked blankly. Carlisle silently wondered how many others the paramedic had already dropped off in body bags?

Carlisle opened the boy's mouth and peered inside with his flashlight. There were red, raw smoke burns on his throat. "Smoke inhalation, someone get me an intubation tube!" Carlisle yelled as he saw a free nurse dash towards the supply cart. "You've been suffocating him," Carlisle said through gritted teeth.

"Man, I'm sorry," the paramedic began.

Carlisle looked up at him, but there was no sympathy in his expression.

"We're all tired, if you can't do your job then clock out. These people have already been through enough, we don't need to be making mistakes like this!"

The paramedic nodded stupidly, shocked into silence and eventually turned on his heel as Carlisle began threading the intubation tube into the boy's throat to help him breath. It took him two tries but he finally felt the tube slide down the trachea.

Carlisle looked at the nurse beside him, really taking in her expression for the first time. Sheila, oh thank God it was a familiar face. There were so many people running around it looked like a zoo.

"Sheila, can you take this young man up to room 13A, we're running out of space. There is already a young lady in there but I don't think she'll mind. Start an IV, put him on ninety-five percent oxygen and have me paged if anything changes or if he wakes up."

"Sure thing, Doctor Cullen," Sheila said, taking the head of the stretcher and rolling it down the hall.

Thank God, Carlisle thought. That one had been too close.

"Oh, Doctor Cullen, Edward Masen Jr. is up now. He's asking to see his father," Shelia's face turned into a defeated grimace.

Things just kept going from bad to worse.

Carlisle paused outside the door of the private room where Edward Masen Jr. sat teary eyed. Someone had already beaten Carlisle to the news. He hoped whoever it was had been gentle, but knowing the behaviour of most of the staff right now it had probably been direct and to the point.

Now he no longer had to be the one to deliver the devastating blow, but he still felt the need to offer his condolences. He had done that a lot over the past several hours. I'm sorry for your loss. I can't even begin to understand what you are going through. If there is anything the hospital can do please let us know.

But for some reason it didn't feel like enough this time. He wasn't talking to an adult. This was a boy, a kid, a sixteen year old teenager who needed his family now more than ever but he was completely and utterly alone.

"Carlisle," he heard someone say. He turned his head to see Jodi, one of the other full time nurses that often worked with him in the ER.

"Hello, Jodi," he sighed dropping his hands to his hips. His head fell as he gratefully took the distraction to postpone the inevitable conversation he felt he had to have with the boy.

"I know this is a bad time, but we need the space Carlisle. We need to bunk him in with some of the other less serious victims."

Carlisle nodded. "When I'm done I'll have him moved to 13A, there's room in there."

Jodi listened as she wrote the room assignment on the boy's chart.

Carlisle looked at her face; he could sense there was more.

"I know it's still kind of early, but you should probably think about contacting Janice from child services."

Carlisle looked at her confused. She sighed desolately.

"His father is dead and his mother was on the plane as well. Since we haven't identified her yet, I assume she's among the dead."

"Doesn't he have any other family?"

Jodi shrugged awkwardly. "He told me about a cousin in Britain. I've already been on the phone with the man. He's a nice guy and everything, but the family was estranged and he's just not prepared to take on a teenager that just lost both his parents."

Carlisle nodded. This conversation was just looking worse and worse. This boy's life was crumbling around him and he was still trying to process the death of his parents.

"He said he was sorry for the kid, but that he couldn't do anything. There are no other living relatives that can take him. Once the hospital discharges him, he won't have anywhere to go. We need to involve Janice as soon as possible."

"You're right. There will probably be more. There are more dead than there are living coming through the front doors right now. Most likely other children will be orphaned by the crash."

"Yes," Jodi agreed.

"I'll talk to him and tell him we are moving rooms. I think the rest can wait until tomorrow. He has enough to deal with right now."

"I think that's wise Doctor Cullen. Now you better go in there. The longer you wait the harder it'll get."

"It's already too hard," Carlisle noted, but pushed his hand against the door anyway and felt himself drift into the unhappy bubble.

"Hello, Edward," Carlisle said courteously. He didn't smile at the boy because he felt it would be out of place. This was not a happy meeting and they both knew that. Carlisle was just being considerate of the information Edward just received.

"Good evening, Doctor Cullen," Edward said glancing at the doctor's name tag. "Or perhaps I should say good morning," Edward said again, seeing the watch on Carlisle's wrist light up to show 2:33AM.

"I just wanted to tell you how very sorry I am for your loss," Carlisle forced the words out, feeling a horrible pain wash through his body as he looked at the broken hearted face of the boy.

"You were the Doctor who treated my father, I presume," Edward stated evenly. Carlisle could hear the tears he was trying to choke back.

"I was," Carlisle confirmed.

"And you did absolutely everything in your power to try and save his life?" Edward asked.

"We did. His injuries were just too severe. He fought hard, but in the end there was just too much damage for his body to handle. I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Edward choked out. "Thank you for everything you did for him. I'm grateful to you for trying."

Edward broke down then as a fresh wave of tears leaked silently from his eyes. Carlisle placed his hand gently on the boys shoulder and was surprised when he felt Edward lean against him for support. They stayed like that for several long minutes. Carlisle knew there was very little he could do to ease Edward's pain but for some reason, just being present seemed to help Edward calm and regain a small enough part of himself to allow Carlisle to transport him to his new room assignment.

"If you need anything, just have a nurse page me," Carlisle said, echoing his sentiment over to Rosalie as well. Both she and Edward nodded. The other young man was still unconscious but his breathing was strong and steady as was his heart as the ECG waves rose and fell on the monitor in an even pattern.