-4-

EPOV

It was as if Bella Swan had fallen out of the sky into my hospital. I had looked everywhere for any kind of mention of a missing woman. But nothing came up, I had even called the local police station and no one had heard anything, but Alice had a point, since she was clearly abused, whoever would be the one to report her missing most likely wouldn't.

It was frustrating. And I was over tired. I had just put in the order for Chinese food, and was laying on my living room couch, leaning my head back, resting my eyes.

I groaned as my cell phone began vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and lifted my head to look at the screen. Carlisle. I flipped it open quickly.

"Hello Dad," I said calmly, I was pretty sure this phone call wasn't going to be a good one, I hadn't really cleared the whole Bella coming home with me thing with him.

"Edward," he said coolly. Nope, not going to be good. "is it true? What I heard from Jane? You brought a patient home with you?" he was frustrated.

I had barely graduated Med School when he got me into this hospital, so anything that I did reflected on him, and he didn't like to look bad in front of his colleagues. There were strict rules about patient/doctor relationships.

But there was also the rule that you do everything in your power to protect your patients, and make sure they are safe.

"Dad." I groaned "She had absolutely no where to go, she just lost her baby, she was so lost, she has nobody." I explained what I knew of Bella's situation quickly. Carlisle was passionate, he would surely understand. I also made sure to give him the exact conversation I had with Jane.

"How is the girl holding up? Is she all right?" he asked, clearly concerned, just like I had figured.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to help her find somewhere to go, Jasper and Alice have already been helping, I want to make sure she gets the help she needs, and then she'll be on her way, I know this makes you look bad, but I couldn't just, leave her." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Why not?" he asked, his curiosity was outweighing his frustration, I wasn't sure if that was better or worse for me.

So I explained her story, for the second time again to my father, and I also told him about the connection I felt toward her, the need to protect her. There was a silence on the phone as I let it sink in. I nervously ran my fingers through my hair, waiting.

"Edward," he paused for a second "I'm proud of you, son." my jaw dropped, and for a second I didn't know what to say.

"Thanks Dad" I replied simply, sometimes less was more.

The doorbell rang, so I quickly said goodbye and jogged to the door, I grabbed the bag of food from the delivery guy, and handed him money.

I pulled out paper plates, and some water bottles and began to pull the small individual white boxes out, one at a time, placing them on the breakfast bar.

"That smells so much better than the hospital food." Bella's beautiful, raspy voice said from behind me. I hadn't even heard her come down the stairs.

I turned to see her in a pair of plaid boxer shorts, and plain black tank top. She looked almost a hundred percent better. Like she just hadn't gone through one of the most devastating things in the world. The only thing that gave her away was her swollen face, and the bruises and scars that peppered her arms and legs, I tried not to let my eyes linger on them long, I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable at all.

The scars made me wonder even more about her, where had she come from? What type of life did she escape from? How long was the abuse going on? Who was the one hurting her? I knew I had to be patient, and hope in time she would feel comfortable enough to open up to me, but the anger that ripped through my body was hard to tame. I wanted to find whoever was responsible for hurting her and rip him limb from limb.

She was an extremely beautiful girl. Long brown hair. Big doe brown eyes that gave away her emotions in a second. She had curves for days. She was fairly average height. But there was something about her, maybe the mystery, maybe the damsel in distress, but whatever it was made her absolutely irresistible.

Wow, irresistible, really Cullen? I cringed at myself, I almost felt sick to my stomach for those feelings, she had just gone through the most traumatic experience, and here I was being a pig. I immediately shook the thoughts from my head. I couldn't be attracted to this Beautiful Stranger that I had let stay in my home. Something was wrong with me. Sleep. I needed sleep. That was definitely my problem.

"Anything smells better than the hospital food." I agreed, sending a smile her way. She slowly made her way over and took a seat. "I got a little bit of everything, not sure what you liked," I explained to her, taking the seat next to her.

I watched her as she filled her plate with a little of everything, I followed suit, my stomach had been growling for what felt like days, it was time to cure the beast inside.

"Thank you again, Edward, for everything." she spoke a few moments later "you don't know how much I appreciate this." she said looking up at me, and sending me a small smile, it didn't reach her eyes, but she was trying.

"Of course" I replied, taking a sip from my water bottle. "So Bella Swan," I watched as her blush rose from her chest, to her neck, resting in her cheeks, causing her to look even more adorable than normal, "tell me about yourself, about your life, you don't have to tell me how you ended up here, but tell me about you."

I watched her play with her food, pushing it around her plate, debating with herself. I almost regretted asking her, but I wanted to know about this mysterious woman sitting across from me.

"Well, I was born in a small town, not too far from here, where my father, Charlie, was the chief of police. I lived there for about five years, and then he and my mother, Renee, got a divorce, and she packed up our things, and took the two of us to Pheonix, I loved it there, always warm, and sunny, and there were so many people, and so many things to do," she paused, her eyes were glazed over as she remembered her childhood. "But, then, when I was 14, she was on her way to pick me up from school, and there was a huge accident, a kid driving a truck ran a red light, he wasn't paying attention, and he slammed directly into Renee, and she didn't make it." I frowned, I could see the sadness in her face.

"I'm so sorry." I said softly, putting my fork down and placing my hand over hers, she smiled warmly at me, and continued her story.

"So then, I moved back with Charlie. It was really hard at first, Renee was my best friend, she was erratic, and impulsive, and crazy, she used to keep me out of school randomly so we could have a girls day, all day." she smiled at the memories "It's still hard some days, but, it gets easier in time, and I know she's looking over me" I squeezed her hand, and listened to her continue.

"Charlie was great, he really did try, he and I didn't really have much to talk about, but we got along, and he really did a good job raising a teenage girl." she smiled "He bought me my first car, taught me how to fish, taught me how to shoot a gun, and introduced me to my first love." she giggled a little, shaking her head, "He died about two years ago, there was a bank robbery, and he was called to the scene, one of the robbers had a gun and was shooting at the officers, two of them died, and another was seriously injured." her voice was pained. I felt horrible for this girl.

"Bella, I'm so sorry." I replied, what an idiot, that's the best you can come up with? I inwardly groaned at myself.

"Thank you, Edward." she smiled "I was pretty tough, I handled myself a lot better than anyone thought, like I said about Renee, I know he's watching over me, too." she smiled, picking up her fork and beginning to eat again.

"How old are you?" I asked, curious.

"Twenty five." she looked at me "how old are you Dr. Cullen?"

"Twenty eight." I replied. She was in a decent mood for the circumstances, I could only hope things would stay that way. But I knew better.

"Tell me about yourself." she said, taking a sip of her water.

"Well, I was born in Chicago, I have an older brother, Emmett, who I'm sure you'll meet soon enough, and Alice, who is the baby of the family. We lived in Chicago for about ten years, our mother Elizabeth, was wonderful, but she was diagnosed with cancer, and needed special care, which they offered here, so then our father, Carlisle, who also works in the hospital, was transferred here. So we all moved, my mother, Emmett, Alice and I, and we went to high school here, and I actually graduated two years early, so that I could go directly to MedSchool and work in the hospital" I grinned at her, "our mother, Elizabeth, was a beautiful woman, who took care of us until she physically could not anymore, she passed about ten years ago." my breathing hitched, and it was now Bella's turn to put her hand over mine. She was watching me intently, with understanding pain in her eyes.

"It was devastating, to all of us, we all knew it was coming, but you can never prepare yourself enough for something like that." I sighed "We all helped each other through it, as a family, we still have some really hard days, all of us, Carlisle was distraught, for a while, but he's doing a lot better now, he actually started dating again about five years ago, and he's been serious with this woman, Esme, who we all think is wonderful, we're truly happy for him, and she makes him happy, so.."

"Your family sounds wonderful," Bella said sincerely "And I'm sorry about your mother, maybe her and my parents are watching down on us together." she smiled at me, I couldn't help but smile back.

We ate the rest of our meal in silence, Bella seemed to be out of it, I wasn't sure if it was the pain meds, or she was lost in thought. She helped me clean up the kitchen and we both trudged our way upstairs, it had been and excruciating long few days for the both of us.

I was so glad that I had the next two days off.