Disclaimer: This is fanfiction.

Title: Black Trauma

Rating: Rated 'M' for 'Foul language, mild alcohol use, and sexual implications.'

Genre: Angst, Drama, Family, Friendship, General, Hurt/Comfort, Romance,

Warnings: Adult Content, Discriminatory Language, OOC

Pairings: Bella/OC, Bella/ Jacob

Character/Word Count: 16,346characters/ 2,944 words

Summary: Bella Swan is completing her final year as a surgical intern at Washington East Memorial Hospital when tragedy strikes. While dealing with the tragedy Bella becomes torn between two great men who themselves have their own issues to overcome. Enter romance, desire, suspense and above all else determination to overcome even the most out of reach possibilities.

Author's Notes I: So I know I said I would post every two weeks but I got a little over excited and decided – what the hell. Massive thanks again to Kym for reading through the jumble that somehow comes from my head and is loosely translated to paper. Sometimes I know it is a feat. Thank you to everyone that has commented/liked/added me. It means so much and encourages me to keep going. So without further adjure here is chapter three. Hope you like

3. I Run To You

Leaning with his back to the nurse's station desk in the ICU and chiseled arms folded across his chest Kobi Patel was having an internal debate with himself. His shift in the pit had finished almost two hours ago and even though all he wanted to do was to go home and rest his exhausted body he had only been able to manage changing from his navy blue scrubs back into his street clothes. He had heard from Nathan Humphries, the Head of Ortho who had been called down into the pit for a consult that Bella was out of surgery and would require a night's stay in the ICU for observations - just as a precaution. He had tried pressing for more information but Patel was determined not to blur the lines between him and Bella but regardless he had hoped that the small amount of information would have been enough to satisfy his overwhelming need to rush to her side and wrap her up in his protective arms so that he could just go home and let the events from the day sink in completely. But something didn't feel right and he just couldn't shake it. He had been on his way out of the hospitals main doors, nearly to his car when an overwhelming sensation to check on Bella had come over him. He had rushed back into the hospital and gone straight for her room.

The sight when he got there stopped him still in his tracks. Nurses were rushing everywhere pulling equipment from all directions as Bella flat lined. Patel barely remembered the Chief buzzing past him and into her room before ordering everyone to stand back as he shocked her. Patel had stood there watching, not able to will his body to move into the room and help as he felt the lines between boss and colleague fade quickly. He cared for this woman. He cared what happened to her and he would find some way to make her see it – if she lived that was. Thankfully Bella's heart rate began to pick up as everyone let out a collective sigh.

That had been almost forty five minutes ago and now he was debating on whether or not he should stay or man up and go into her room. He was scared of losing someone he hadn't had a chance to yet love, scared of opening himself up to someone that if they had any sense of right would shut him down for both of their goods and run for the hills. If Kobi Patel was being honest with himself he was scared of falling in love. He had seen the look in the eyes of way too many men dying in the battlefield calling for their loved ones as they took their last breath. He had fallen witness to the brutal exposed truth that was undying love and it scared him. Those men had been willing to give up everything to protect the ones they held dearest only to have it die with them out in those fields. He swore he would never turn into them – but that had been before he met Bella.

Deciding to forgo everything he pushed off the large octagonal desk and made his way into her room, quickly walking to her bedside and pulling up one if the hospitals uncomfortable chairs. Sitting down he stared at her. Unsure of what he should do next as he wasn't used to such shows of emotion and Bella looked so helpless lying there in her white hospital gown, skin as paler than normal with cords and bandages covering almost every visible part of her body. He felt sick in his stomach. She shouldn't be here. This shouldn't have happened to her. Patel did the only thing that felt natural to him. He grabbed Bella's hand and held it tightly in both of his. He paused for a moment taking one last look at Bella before lowering his head into their conjoined hands and praying. Patel let himself finally give in to all the emotions that had been swelling inside him since the moment Bella had been pulled from that ambulance.

"I know you're stronger than this. So you need to – you need to come back to me, you hear" he said as for the first time that night the tears feel freely down his face. "You need to fight okay! You just need to and come back to where you belong" he continued. An hour passed of him just sitting there listening to the constant beep of her Bella's monitor. Patel could feel his eyes getting weary when he heard a familiar voice from the door.

"How is she doing?" Ainslee Peterson, Head of Plastic surgery asked standing at the door in her scrubs with eyes trained on Bella before turning to Patel. Ever since he had started at Washington East Peterson had been the closest thing he had to a friend. After almost five years of serving with the Army in Sybiria, Baghdad and then finally Afghanistan Patel's transmission back into civilization hadn't exactly been smooth sailing. He had suffered from debilitating PTSD and at the drop of a hat would find himself hallucinating that he was back on the frontline serving his country. He never regretted his time in the armed forces but after one to many close calls he was thankful to have found Ainslee and that she had been willing to be there and help him through it.

Patel shrugged his shoulders. Looking from Ainslee back to Bella he simply said "I don't know" before dropping her hand and running it over his worn face. This was all too much for him. He felt slightly embarrassed and ashamed that in all that time of sitting in her room he hadn't once thought to look at her chart to actually see how she was doing.

Ainslee gave a knowing sigh before walking into the room and picking up Bella's chart that hung from the end of the bed. Opening it up she flicked through the first couple of pages, humming to herself with recognition before finally putting it back in its original position. "He did a real good job on her" she said quietly looking from Bella than back to Patel with a bewildered look on her face as the concern began to seep through her voice. "Have you slept?" she continued.

Patel wasn't certain if she was referring to Chief's job on Bella or the guy that had attacked her. He was about to ask when the frantic voice of a man arguing with one of the night nurses just outside Bella's room came floating in.

"What do you mean you can't tell me? I'm her father" a disheveled middle aged man said in an angry voice.

"Sir, I'm sorry. But please keep your voice down. Visiting hours are over. You will have to come back tomorrow morning" the nurse said back politely trying to calm the situation.

"Visiting hours? I am the god damn police. Chief Swan of Forks P.D and Isabella Swans dad" he answered. A tall tanned Indian man standing behind him placed his hand calmly on the guys shoulder and said something quietly into his ear. The older guy seemed to calm for a minute before looking around and spotting us through the window. His eyes immediately falling on Bella's lifeless form. Waving the nurse off, he came rushing into the room, the calmer of the two only a step behind him.

"Bella. Oh my god – Bella!" he said rushing to her bedside before completely breaking down. "How could this have happened? I should have never let you go" he wept to himself. A minute or so passed before he realized that Patel and Peterson were still in the room. "Who are you?" he said questioning Patel, making the otherwise stoic man uncomfortable.

"Ah – my-my name is Kobi Patel. I'm a Doctor here." Patel answered suddenly unsure of himself as the other guy who was standing stock still behind the other stared him down, trying to get a read on him. "Are you Bella's Dad?" Patel asked ignoring the man's gaze.

"Yes. Charlie Swan. Are you my daughter's doctor?" Charlie asked without emotion his eyes not wavering from Patel's.

"No, no. We're not. We're kind of her bosses but I can get him, the Chief – I mean. He's the one who – his her doctor. I'll just go page him" Ainslee said all of a sudden nervous as she spoke for the first time since the two men had entered the room before rushing from the room.

Patel watched Charlie look Bella over, undoubtedly working his way down her battered body trying to take in all her injuries and piece everything together when he felt Charlie's eyes land on his hands – his hands that were currently holding Bella's fragile one. But as quickly as Patel noticed Charlie seemed to manage to gather control of his emotions. Trying to defuse the situation a little Patel gently placed Bella's hand back down beside her still form, feeling every inch of her father's glare as he did so. Patel was confused. He couldn't remembering doing it but assumed that in the haste of Charlie coming into the room he must have unconsciously picked it up.

"Her boss huh, you sure that's all you are?" Charlie questioned as the other guy moved closer to the bed.

Patel knew he had been caught out but since he hadn't actually had the chance to say anything to Bella, he sure as hell wasn't going to say anything to her distraught father. Thankfully for him Peterson and the Chief chose that moment to show up. Patel took the opportune interruption to excuse himself.

"Chief Swan" Benjamin said in greeting. "I'm Benjamin Rowland. Chief of Surgery, and your daughter's surgeon." He finished addressing Charlie and extending his hand as he watched Patel leave with a curious glare on his face.

"Please – call me Charlie" Charlie said taking Benjamin's outstretched hand deflated "and this is Jacob Black. He ah- was with me when I got your phone call" Benjamin greeted Jacob with a curt nod.

"I'm sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances – Bella is truly one of our most promising residents" Benjamin said matter of factly.

Charlie just nodded his head turning his attention back to his unconscious daughter not really paying much attention to the polite necessities. "Will she" he started chocking slightly before gathering himself "is she going to be okay?" he asked again.

"She's a fighter your Bella" Benjamin started. "She took a hell of a beating. But it appears she fought back. I thought you would like to know that and had her housemate been even five minutes later – I would have probably had to give you a different type of call." He finished sullenly.

"So- you're saying she will be fine" Jacob asked, speaking for the first time looking between Charlie and Benjamin for confirmation.

Benjamin cleared his throat before answering. He didn't like this part. It was never easy giving a patient's family news – it was even harder when you knew the patient personally. "Chief. I'm going to give it to you straight. I think that's the very least I can do in these circumstances" Rowland said waiting for Charlie's understanding and then watching as it dawned over the man subtle appreciation on his worn face. "Bella came in earlier tonight as a reported Jane Doe from a suspected home invasion. She had multiple stab wounds to her body and was suffering from severe hypothermia. It took is a little longer than normal o get her hypothermia under control, but as soon as we got her body temperature back within the normal range we rushed her straight to surgery where I was able to cleanly repair and patch all the stab wounds. We were also able to ascertain that she has a couple of broken ribs and a punctured lung" Benjamin paused, checking both Charlie and Jacob to make sure they were understanding what he was saying before continuing.

"I was able to patch her lunch up but at the moment the only thing breathing for her is that machine" He said pointing to the machine in question "we will keep her on it until she is strong enough for her lungs can withstand breathing on their own. Her ribs will take some time but I see no reason for them not to heal by themselves" This was where it got tough.

"Charlie, she crashed on us twice. Once while she was in the ambulance and then again while she was in surgery. The second time was serious enough that I had our Head of Neuro come in and take a look. He determined from her observations that she possibly had some bleeding on her brain- most likely from multiple hits to the head during the struggle" Benjamin paused again letting that sink in. He wasn't certain how much Charlie knew about the attack, but since he himself didn't know much he couldn't imagine it would be any more than what he did. For any other person this amount of news and the severity would have been a lot to take in, but for a veteran police officer who was used to giving bad news to loved ones in similar situations – this was hell. There was no way of sugar coating any of this for him like he would a normal family. There was no pretending, no optimism – just the cold hard facts and Benjamin didn't like it one bit.

"What aren't you telling me?" Charlie demanded sternly as Benjamin looked between the two men standing before him both of which obviously cared a great deal for Bella. Sighing he answered.

"When Dr. Hurst went in to repair the bleeding he noticed that their seemed to be an odd amount of swelling on her brain. He did everything he could to control it – but we will not know if there is any or the possible extent of the damage until she wakes up. If she wakes up" Benjamin said not able to meet the eyes of the two men as Charlie began to sob uncontrollably. Jacob who had remained silent throughout the exchange moved to Patel's vacant chair and began saying something in his native language that Benjamin couldn't understand.

"The next 24 hours will be crucial" Benjamin said before being interrupted.

"What happens if she doesn't wake" Charlie said through harsh sobs. "She's all I have left –what happens?" he said not able to finish his sentence as he completely fell apart.

"I'm sorry to be the one telling you this but if Bella hasn't woken in 24 hours" Benjamin stopped and gathered himself. This wasn't some unknown patients' family he was talking to. This was Bella Swan's dad and friend. This was a colleagues family. "If Bella hasn't woken within the next twenty four hours, there is an extremely high chance that her injuries are more pronounced than we originally thought and you will have a decision to make"

"Decision – what decision? Charlie? What is he talking about?" Jacob said looking up confused.

"He's saying that if she might be – might be brain dead" Charlie answer quietly barely holding himself together "and if she doesn't wake up in the next twenty four hours. I need to decide whether or not – whether or not to keep her on life support" he finished with full understanding not liking that option any better than Benjamin as he completely broke down crying in his hands.

"What is there to decide? Of course you keep her on" Jacob said angrily to Charlie as if the decision was a no brainer but Charlie wouldn't meet the gaze of anyone in the room. His bloodshot eyes focused only on Bella.

"I have seen to it that out best surgeons are on call for Bella and asked for complete privacy at the moment. I have left you with a lot to think about. Charlie please if you need anything – anything at all. Just let me know and I truly am sorry" Benjamin said solemnly only getting a nod of acknowledgement in return from Charlie before he and Peterson left the room.

"Do you think she will wake?" Petersen asked with her usually sunny disposition sullen. Benjamin and seen a lot in his thirty plus years of practicing and for the first time in all those years he was unsure. For the first time in all those years he had never wanted anything more than to see Bella Swan back on her feet and in surgery.

"I honestly don't know" he answered before walking off in search of his office leaving Ainslee Peterson standing by herself in the middle of the corridor. The next twenty four hours would be the longest he had ever had in his career by a long shot.

Author's Notes II: Once again I hope this chapter lived up to people's expectations and you are getting some sense of what is playing through my head. As always I would love to hear what you all think and where you think I might be going with this because let's just say things are going to get (hopefully) a little interesting. Until next time - RxR