If you recognize it, then I probably don't own it.

Chapter four: Crash

When I woke up in the morning, something was different… it was the light streaming from the window onto my pillow, that woke me up. I looked out my window, to see the grey light of a cloudy day from my room. But it was more than just a slightly sunny grey day, it was better! There was no fog on this day! Rare for Northern California, but practically impossible for Forks, I think, I've been here for, like, two weeks.

As I got closer to my window (which was on the right side of my mattress, I slept on the left side), I saw it! A beautiful fine layer of snow was stuck on the ground. There was a fine layer of snow on the ground and it glistened on the tree branches from the forest. All the rain from yesterday froze, adding danger and glimmer to the outside. It was gorgeous! Still while I had trouble with balance on the flattest surfaces, there was still a one hundred percent chance that I would fall on flat on my ass.

I heard my dad leave while I was putting my contacts in and my make up one, and when I got down stairs there was no trace of him having even been in the kitchen. Living with my dad was kind of like living on my own… when Prissy wasn't staying the night; she acted all nursey and maternal. I liked this kind of freedom, ever since Steve moved in with u- my mom, he was suffocating to live with.

I was rushing to get out of the house, I wasn't going to be late for school; I couldn't be late for school. I actually was nowhere near late for school. Maybe I was rushing because the roads where going to be slick, and I wanted to be extra careful on the roads. Maybe I was rushing to school so I could totally take back what I said to Edward Cullen. Maybe I was rushing to school because Mike was planning to get back at Eric and I had to be there to help coordinate the plan. Or maybe I was rushing to school I left my math worksheet in my locker, and I had six problems to do before Trig. Who knows? Could be anyone of those reasons.

After I was going to take back my outburst that I told Edward, I was going to avoid him; permanently. Because he meant nothing to me, and I have no feelings for that guy who was rude to me that one time.

I was careful going down the driveway, my anti-slip snow boots proved to work. Today was going to be an okay day.

I drove slowly and carefully, going around fifteen in a thirty. I wasn't used to the iciness on the road. Still I was only half focused, I was fantasizing about ways to causally bring up my family situation. "Oh, Edwahd, ah surely didn't mean to tell y'all about mah familial problams. It was a simple slip of the tongue. Please forget it." So first option Southern Belle. "Edward, fo'get about it!" Second option Cheesy Cliché New Yorker; a strong maybe. I put my blinker on and moved into the right lane; the slow lane. "So, like, Edward, I was totally fucking with you, like, you know? Like, my family crap is, like, not that fucked up; ya know? So, could you, like, forget I told you or whatever?" A solid number three option. From California; like me. But I am not a Valley Girl… so I'll keep that one on the back burner. I put my blinker on again; this time turning into the school entrance. "Hey, Edward, can I talk to you privately for a second? Could you, like, totally forget about my family problems?" Option four a mousy mix of all three; but without the sucky southern accent.

…

I pulled into my unassigned assigned parking spot; I needed to check my tires. What brand where these super tires. They didn't skid, they broke easily, even with all this snow. I got out of my truck, (I saw Edward standing with his siblings by his car) and checked the front tires; snow chains. My heart thumped loudly in my ears, and I felt my throat burn. My dad must have done this last night… I went around to the back of the truck to check those tires. The same thin wires crisscrossed into small diamond patterns around them. My throat burned hotter; I wasn't used to this… this kind of thoughtfulness. Part-time kid appeared into my mind again.

I was standing around the back left tire; trying to procrastinate until I absolutely needed to talk to Edward Cullen, who was parked four cars down, and trying not cry at my dad's thoughtfulness, when I heard it.

The strange high-pitched screeched, becoming louder and louder. I turned around.

I was almost omnipotent; I was able to see everything… only I was powerless to stop it. The van skidded toward me faster and faster; but I was rooted to my spot. Everyone in the lot was staring at me, watching helplessly as the van got closer. The tires were locked and were squealing against the breaks, as the van slid wildly across the parking lot, but still it was going to hit my truck. Either with the front, the side, or back of the van; I was going to get hit. I closed my eyes, tightly.

Just before I heard the sickening crunch of the van wrapping around truck, I was knocked to the ground. My head cracked against the icy black top, something cold and heavy was on top of me for a brief second, then not. I opened my eyes, I was lying under my truck's bed. I turned my head. The van had only grazed the side of my truck and was now spinning back toward the truck again.

"Fuck," He whispered. I wasn't alone.

It was impossible not to recognize that voice. As the van close to us again. This time it was going to crush us. The van so close still headed towards. Jesus it's like I had a magnetic pull or something. Edward crawled closer to me; two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, the van stopped a foot from us. His hands dented the blue metal.

He pulled his hands from the van; then turned to me. "Are you bleeding?"

What?

"I'll take that as a 'no'." He put one hand under the bed of the truck.

The other scooped me so I was close to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist automatically. The other hand dropped to the ground as he somehow managed to get us towards the beige car that I had parked next too.

The van groaned metallically, as it settled and the glassed burst, shattering to where Edward and I had been just moments before. We'd of been reduced to ribbons from all that glass.

It was silent, except for the crashing of the two cars, for one more second. Then the screaming started. I could hear people screaming our names. Screaming for teachers, screaming for the nurse.

"Miri? Are you okay?" Edward asked. We were half under my truck and sat next to the beige car.

I stared at him. "What the fuck just happened?" I tried to adjust myself to sit straighter. But I was still clinging to his waist.

"Miri, I think you hit your head really hard." He said, making no move to get me off him. "Can you hear me?"

My head throbbed, all that adrenaline was wearing off, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked slowly.

"How did you get over here?" I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them again, "How did you get over here next to me, so fast." I unlatched myself from him.

"You said 'Hey Edward, can I talk to you by my car?' I was here." He said seriously; he grabbed my hand.

I looked into his eyes, now golden. Weren't they coal black last time? Focus, Miri! Car crash. He looked concerned.

Then they found us, a crowd of people grouped around my truck and the beige car. Some of them were crying, a few of them were silent, one was one their phone, one of them screamed at us, "Don't move." We were instructed.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" Some else shouted behind the crowd. There was a flurry of activity, the crowd that surrounded Edward, and me, dispersed.

Edward made a motion to get up; but I held his hand tighter. "I don't think it's safe for us to move.

He smiled, surprised, "I'll be fine."

I let go of his hand. "You were over there;" I said; he stopped smiling, "And now you're over here."

"Miri, we established that already. I think you hit your head harder than you thought?" He said, sitting back down.

"No, I'm fine." I frowned. "It's just… what the fuck just happened?"

"Miri, I was standing next to you; the… the van was coming right towards you I pulled you of the way." He said quietly.

I shook my head slowly, "That can't be the whole story."

"Trust me," he pleaded, softly.

I could hear ambulance sirens now. "Will you explain everything to me later?"

He glanced at me, "Fine."

"Fine." I replied breathily.

…

It took six EMTs and the wrestling coach and the football coach to shift the van away from my truck far enough to get us on the stretchers. They put me on the stretcher first, carefully giving wrapping a foam neck brace on me. They tried to get Edward onto a stretcher too, but he kept refusing. Finally he agreed to ride up front with one in the ambulance that held me.

To make matters way more embarrassing, my dad arrived while Edward was arguing with the EMTs.

"Peach?!" He yelled, panicked, when he saw me on the stretcher.

"Dad?" What the hell was he doing here, "What are you doing here?"

He turned to the closest EMT to be given information about what happened. A couple other EMTs loaded me into the ambulance, as I was being lifted into the ambulance I could see the half broken bumper on the beige car, some dents in the van that looked like they could fit Edward's hands.

I could see his family, watching me from a distance, with expressions ranging from severe disapproval and fury to concern.

What the fuck just happened, what was still happening. Am I dead? Because I'm pretty sure I died.

My dad followed the ambulance in his cruiser. When they unloaded me to the county hospital, I felt so helpless and awkward that they wouldn't let me do anything. Edward was able to glide into the emergency room with them as they wheeled me in; my dad followed us.

"Female, seventeen, car accident, possible head trauma." The EMT rattled on to the nurse that grabbed the stretcher and led them to the corner of emergency room.

"Get ready to move on to the bed in three," the nurse instructed, a couple nurses surrounded us and grabbed the stretcher, "One… two… three." They moved me into the bed.

"Okay, honey, I need to see your eyes." The nurse turned to me and shinned a light in my eyes. Then she took her stethoscope to listen to my heart and the pressure cuff to gage my pressure.

"What's going on?" My dad came up towards us, "Is she okay?"

"Chief Swan?" The nurse turned to him, "I need her identification to notify her family; do you have that?"

"That's me, I'm her father." He said, "Her name's Miri."

"Dad?" I asked.

"Yeah, Peach, it's me." He put a gentle hand my shoulder. Then he addressed the nurse, "Is she okay?"

"It looks like she has a mild concussion and is still in shock. But we need an X-ray before we discharge her." She told him. "Let me get you a chair." She said.

She came back a little while later, with a chair, then drew the curtains and let us that the doctor was on his way. Then she left.

"Dad, can I take the brace off?" I asked.

"No. Not until the doctor says so." He said.

I took the brace off anyway; my dad frowned but said nothing else.

There was a flurry of hospital personnel around us; my dad opened the curtain so we could watch while we waited for whatever doctor the nurse said she'd bring.

…

They wheeled the boy to the bed next to me, lifted him from the stretcher and put him on the bed. The nurses where surrounding him wrapping him in bandages, giving him morphine or whatever pain killer they were allowed to give him. I recognized him. He was one of the boys in my NSL class. Tyler Crowley. He looked like he was in so much pain; of course he looked like he was in so much pain. He definitely was in so much pain. He looked at me so anxiously.

"Miri, I'm so sorry!"

My dad frowned, "I'm going to find a doctor." He left.

"Tyler?"

"Miri, I didn't mean to hit you!"

"I'm okay, Tyler."

One of the nurses took something, topical anesthetic, and rubbed it on Tyler's forehead before adding a bandage. "I thought I was going to kill you!" He started to sob, "I hit the ice wrong!"

"Tyler you missed me by an inch." I said, trying to make him feel better.

"One more inch and you'd be dead!" He winced as the nurse dabbed some anesthetic on his cheek.

"Missed me by an inch; missed me by a mile." I told him, "I got out of the way, that's all that matters." I said kindly.

"You were right there, then you weren't! How'd you get out of the way?"

"Edward Cullen pulled me out of the way." I said.

"Who?"

"Edward Cullen, he was standing right next to me; apparently."

"I didn't see him, is he okay, too?"

"It all went really fast;" Then as an afterthought I added, "He's okay, too."

My dad came back with another nurse, then they wheeled me (and the bed) away so I could get my head X-rayed.

A concussion, just a mild one. Thank god. All this meant was that I was going to have a killer headache for the next few days. So when I asked to leave they told me I still had to see a doctor. So I was wheeled back to the ER, right next to Tyler, while he apologized and briefly left for his X-ray. I was left waiting for the doctor that probably wasn't going to show up for another hour. My dad left to finish work letting me know that Prissy would take me home and he would be home when we got there.

Eventually I closed my eyes; maybe I could sneak in a nap.

…

"Is she asleep?" I can't fucking catch a break today.

I opened my eyes. Edward was standing a foot from the bed, smirking. I frowned at him.

"Hey, Edward, man, I'm really sorry." Tyler said.

Edward shook his head. "I'm fine, man." He moved to sit at the edge of Tyler's bed, facing me. "What's the verdict? Are you dead?"

"Why the fuck would I be dead," I said incredulously.

"You were saying 'Am I dead? Because I'm pretty sure I died' to the EMT in the ambulance." He responded. "So are you?"

"I so didn't fucking say that." Oh my god, did I say that out loud!

"Yes, you fucking did." He said smiling. "So are you dead or what?"

"I'm alive." Asshole. "How come you aren't in a gurney like the rest of us?"

"It's all about who you know." He said smartly. "I'm here to spring you, Mir. Sorry, Tyler it looks you have to stay the night."

Tyler smiled.

Then a doctor rounded the corner. He was young, blond, and very attractive. He looked exactly like Dr. Cooper from Nurse Jackie, only blond and without the fucked up nose from to many punches to the nose. He was paler than Fitch Cooper too, and he had the same golden eyes that Edward and his siblings had. This had to be Edward's father.

"Miss Swan, I presume? I'm Dr. Cullen, Edward's father." He told me, "How are you feeling?"

"I've got this weird cut on my stomach where my kidney used to be; weirdly though I didn't have it this morning." I said.

Edward covered his face with his hand to hide his laughter. Tyler's mouth popped open.

"Really?" Dr. Cullen asked, "When did you notice the cut?" He walked over to the light-board over the bed and turned it on. He made a move to check my stomach.

"Dad, stop, she's fine." Edward interrupted. "She's screwing with you."

Dr. Cullen stopped; "Oh, how's your head, Miss Swan?"

"Fine, I got this weird cut on my head though; and also that's a lie, I have a headache."

He lightly checked my head, forging for bumps or something. "Edward said you hit your head pretty hard. Your X-rays showed a mild concussion, but take some Tylenol and you should be fine. Since your concussion is mild it's okay if you sleep but I recommend setting an alarm every hour and a half when you sleep just to be sure. Do you have anyone taking you home?"

"My dad said Priscilla was going to take me home." I told him, "She's a nurse here."

Dr. Cullen nodded, "I know her, and I'll get her over here." He went over to the nurse's station.

"Are you going back to school?" I asked Edward.

"I'm going to spread the news of our survival, and also the tragic news of your lost kidney." He told Tyler and me.

Tyler laughed.

"Tyler, that's not funny. It was perfectly good kidney." I snobbishly.

Tyler laughed harder and Edward joined in.

"All right," Dr. Cullen clapped his hand together, "Priscilla is going to be right down to take you home, Miriam. Edward you can go to school whenever you feel up to it. However Mr. Crowley, looks like you're going to spend the night."

Edward moved to my temporary bed and sat next me, while Dr. Cullen sat started talking to Tyler.

"Why did your dad call you 'Peach'?" Edward smirked.

Oh he fucking didn't. "My dad called me what?"

"When your dad saw you being loaded into the ambulance he yelled 'Peach'!" Edward smiled like a child who found the candy drawer, "So what's that about?"

"What's what about, man?"

He nudged me, "Come on, you can trust me."

I stared at him; "In private."

…

Edward led me to a private corner of the ER. "Why does your dad call you Peach?"

I rolled my eyes, "He calls me Peach because when they found out my mom was pregnant with me I was the size of a peach; and instead of giving me the standard yellow nursery they went overboard a little bit. They made everything peach. They got me a peach crib, peach bedding, gave me a peach accent wall. Which, by the way, I have since painted over. My parents even made sure my first word was peach."

"Can I call you Peach?" Edward asked.

"No, now you owe me an explanation." I said quickly.

"I saved your life, I don't owe you anything." He said, "But you can thank me by letting me call you Peach."

"You will not call me Peach; and you promised that you'd explain." I looked at him thoughtfully.

"Miri, you hit your head. You're confused." Edward said.

"We both know it's not me that's confused." I looked at him somberly.

"What do you want from me, Miri?" He asked.

"I don't know; how about the truth." I frowned. "I didn't ask to talk to you before Tyler almost hit us. So why am I lying for you?"

"What do you think happened?" He asked.

"You weren't near me – Tyler didn't see you, either – so I didn't hit my head that hard. Your hands dented his van. But you don't have any bandages on them so it didn't cut you, it should have crushed our legs but it didn't. You moved us out of the way. Then all the glass exploded and we'd have been ribbons, but you had moved us out of the way." I could hear how crazy I sounded. Little snippets of what happened. "I don't weigh nothing, but I'm not huge, and you had on hand on the truck wagon so it didn't bend over us, I guess, and the other was wrapped around me. So you basically crawled on your knees to get us out of there. But no one can crawl without their hands. Otherwise we'd have slithered out but we didn't."

He started intensity at me. "You think I lifted a van off us?" He asked slowly.

"No, but… I don't know… but whatever happened it wasn't pure adrenaline."

"Very convincing argument. No one would believe that."

"Thanks. But I don't intend on telling anyone."

"Why does it matter, then?"

"Because you saved my life – our lives, and we both know there's something more to it."

"Why can't you thank me like a normal person and get over it."

"Thank you," I bit my lip.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?"

"No," I chuckled.

"Okay, then… Enjoy disappointment, Peach." He grinned at me.

I glared at him.

"I don't know." He said softly. "I don't know why I saved your – our – lives, it was just instinct. Self-preservation and all that jazz. I barely even remember what happened, it happened so fast." My face softened. "I gotta go."

I watched as he walked away. Nice ass — what, no… Shut up.

"Hi, Peachy!" Prissy bubbled rounding the corner.

…

"You'll need to call Renée." He handed me the phone.

"You told Mom!"

"Yeah," He said nonchalantly.

"When you're done with your phone call we'll do something relaxing, okay?" Prissy promised me.

…

My Mom, was of course, was at some gynecological exam when I called and wouldn't stop crying. She begged me to come home, and promised that I would get my spot back at Valley Plains Charter. She completely forgot that I didn't want to be around her spawn or devil husband. I resisted her pleas easily partly because I am completely and totally against her union to her husband and partly because I'm infatuated with Edward Cullen. No wait! Ignore that! Just the first one! I just really hate my mom's husband.

…

Back down stairs, Prissy played Lady and the Tramp in the kitchen, I mean nail salon. She had turned it into the most relaxing place I could imagine.

She pulled my acrylics off, cleaned my nails, and painted them. Peach orange of course. It was one most relaxing nights I've ever had.

That night, after my nails dried, I took three Tylenol and quickly rifted to sleep.

It was the first night I dreamed of Edward.

…

Okay, so chapter four down. It took a really long time, oops. I finished my other chapter for that other fic like two days after I posted chapter three. But I started school again and got distracted. But snow day today so I finished it and now it's here. So I explained the 'Peach' thing, sorry it took longer to fit in then I expected. More on the nails to come, no exact chapter to pin point. But enjoy it. I'll have the next out as soon as I can.