I'm ba-ack! Oh yeah, meet Quinn Jackson, firefighter, and Nurse Sandra Bailey. They're guest stars from my original novel, Ashes. (I'd love to know what you think of them.) Needless to say, those two are mine – but none of the rest of them are.

Quinn:

I knew Bella was close to her boyfriend's family. That's why I called Sandra so she could warn Dr. Cullen, but judging from the look of absolute shock on his face, she hadn't gotten to him.

He barely acknowledged me as he bent over Bella's broken body, calling out orders in medicalese. I caught Sandra's eye, and she shook her head a little, letting me know how serious it was. I knew it had to be bad for her to even be down here – she was a trauma nurse.

A bunch of techs headed the gurney down the corridor. Dr. Cullen started to follow it, then turned back to me. "Here," he said, tossing me his phone. I caught it on reflex. "Please call Charlie – and then my family. Tell them what happened and tell them they need to get back here now. The numbers are in my contact list."

"Of course," I agreed, choosing not to tell him what I'd seen and heard at the accident site. That was something the police needed to hear. Carlisle had enough on his mind anyway.

The doctor jogged after the gurney as I slumped into a chair in a private waiting room. I was dead tired and smelled like a bad smoke bomb. But I wasn't leaving until they told me if Bella would be okay or not.

I handled the phone a little gingerly. It was a lot fancier than what I carried around, but my buddy Cade had one of these gadgets. I figured it out pretty quickly. Chief Swan was next on his contacts, after all his family's numbers. He deserves to know first.

I took a deep breath before hitting the call button. I was no stranger to this kind of thing. As a firefighter, it fell to me to give out bad news fairly often. It never got any easier.

The chief answered to the sounds of water and a boat motor. "Hey."

"Chief Swan," I greeted him.

"Quinn," he said, recognizing my voice. "What's wrong?"

I cleared my throat. "Chief Swan…Charlie….there's been an accident."

"Bella," he said. "What happened?" his voice was urgent, terrified, and I could hear him telling Harry to get the boat to the dock now.

"She had a car accident," I said. "She's hurt pretty bad, but they can't tell me anything until you get here. Carlisle…well, he was pretty urgent that you get down here."

"I'm on my way," he said, his voice tight.

I hesitated, wondering if I should tell the next bit now, or keep it to myself until after he got here. "Charlie, I don't think it was entirely an accident."

"We'll talk when I get there," he answered, surprise lacing the worry in his tone, and hung up.

I scrolled back up to Alice's number. I knew her best of all of them, and hoped she could break the news to the rest of her family gently. But it was a male voice that answered. "Carlisle, Jasper. What's going on?" There was a note of tension in his voice.

Suddenly another voice chimed in. "I'm all right now, Jasper, let me have the phone." Then, louder, "Carlisle, I just saw what happened to Bella."

"What?"

A long moment of silence. What in the world was the girl talking about? I knew they'd all be adopted, and their backgrounds were mixed and painful, but Carlisle had never said anything about her being mentally unstable.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice normal again. "Who is this?"

"It's Quinn Jackson, Alice. Now what were you talking about? How could you know about Bella?"

"Quinn?" She was stalling.

"Yes, Quinn."

"I didn't mean anything by that. I just have an intuition of sorts sometimes. Now what's happened?"

Reluctantly, I decided I had to let it slide for the time being. But it wasn't the first strange thing I had noticed about the Cullens, and I was determined to find some answers in the near future. "Bella had an accident. Your father wants all of you to come on home as soon as you can."

"Thanks for calling," she said, her voice tight and strained. "We'll be there soon."

After she hung up, I pulled out my own phone. I had a call of my own to make. There were two hysterical girls in the waiting room down the hall that had some serious explaining to do, by the sound of it.

"Matt," I greeted the deputy. "I need you to come down to the hospital if you can."

"What's going on, man?"

I told him. "I don't think the chief needs to get involved in this right now, since it's his daughter," I added. "I'd appreciate it if you would come straighten this out."

"On my way, Quinn," he said, "I guess you already called the chief?"

"Yeah," I replied.

As I tucked the phone back in my pocket, I noticed Sandra standing in the doorway, looking almost as tired as I felt.

"You're a sight," she teased me.

I stood up to give her a hug, but she backed away and shook her head. "No soot on the scrubs, cowboy, you know that."

I settled for leaning forward and pecking her lips. "How is she?" I asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell you that," she reminded me.

"Yeah, I know," I sighed.

"If you were family, though, I'd tell you that she isn't out of surgery yet but her chances are looking up. I might say that she'd be in a room in another few hours. If you were family."

"You're a sneaky woman," I said, "and I admire you."

She almost smiled, but the tiredness in her face wouldn't let her. "I love you, Quinn. I have to get back to work."

"Love you too, baby."

I watched her go, then headed for the entrance to meet Matt and tell him what I'd heard at the accident scene – and what was going on in that waiting room.

I was gone.

Looking at the fragile, unconscious girl in the hospital bed, unbelievably pale and boasting an impressive list of injuries, I felt love wrap around my heart and fill my sad smile. She had me fully and completely wrapped around her finger, and she didn't even know it. She had no clue what she meant to me – to all of us. It was no use fighting it now – I was well and truly gone. I loved Bella Swan like I loved my own children.

"Dr. Cullen?" Sandra's soft voice turned me. "Charlie's here, and there's a small war brewing in the waiting room."

I made a quick check of the machines to make sure everything was progressing as it should, and reluctantly followed her outside the room. Bella would probably sleep for another hour or so, but I didn't want her to wake up alone.

"What do you mean, a small war?" I inquired of Sandra.

"Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley showed up with their parents about five minutes after the ambulance did. They were in tears, but jabbering about how they 'only wanted to play a trick on Bella' and never thought she would 'end up in the hospital.'"

Fury coated my mouth with venom and made my eyes go black. Sandra took a step back involuntarily, and I forced myself to calm down. "Charlie didn't hear that, did he?"

"That's where the small war part comes in," she said softly, wincing. "Quinn called Matt down here, hoping Charlie wouldn't have to get involved, but the chief heard what was going on – or someone told him," she added darkly. Both of us knew a few ER nurses who couldn't keep their mouths shut.

"Thank you, Sandra. I know your shift is ending in a few minutes, but could you sit with Bella for a few minutes while I go sort this out?"

"Of course," she said, looking relieved to not have to deal with it. "I can stay as long as you need. But Quinn's waiting to take me home, so can you tell him?"

"I will," I promised, and strode down the hall trying to keep my fury in check. Accident or not, those girls would have hell to pay. If Charlie didn't make sure of it, I would.

I know not a lot happened in this chapter..but I feel it was necessary. Now for the real question: Would you guys like to see more of Quinn and Sandra, or should they just fade to the background? You won't hurt my feelings, I promise. Head on over to my profile and vote on my poll!

And don't forget to leave a review, pretty please!