I'm sorry, okay? I know it had been forever in between the posting of Chapter 8 and 9. I know that. Part of the reason was that I know where I want to take the story, but I had no idea how to get over this hump. And what exactly was the hump? The family dinner with Edward's parents. That was sort of thrown in there as a transition in between the points Jasper made and the crash. While Bella did make some good points about understanding that WILL come up again (so pay attention), I'm sorry if her conversation with the family was disappointing.

You want to know what else is disappointing? Edward is not all that he seems. That's right, you heard me. There are definitely some skeletons in his closet and a HUGE secret he's hiding from Bella. What is it? You'll just have to wait until next time.

"Sir? Can you hear me? My name is Ben. I'm an EMT. You were in an accident. Can you tell me your name?"

"B-Bella," I managed to stutter out.

Was it just me or did the EMT look slightly amused? "Your name is Bella, sir?"

"N-No. Edward. M-My girlfriend. Bella. Is she okay? Where is she?"

"Sir, please calm down. You were in an accident. You hit your head on the driver's side window and were unconscious when we arrived."

Oh, right. The accident. We were sitting at the light. I was trying to tell Bella something important when we got slammed into from behind.

"Please," I begged. When it came to Bella, I was not above begging. "There was another passenger in the car with me. Is she okay? Tell me!"

"Sir, please calm down. The other passenger is en route to the hospital."

"The hospital?!" I freaked. "Why is she going there?"

"The accident was very severe. As were her injuries. Now, please lay back down on the stretcher. We need to take you to the hospital as well."

It was then I realized where I was. I was lying on an emergency stretcher in front of an empty ambulance. Looking to the left of me, I could see my car. It was totaled. The rear bumper got smashed so hard that it looked as if it was made without a trunk. That wasn't even the worst part. The driver behind us must have been super speeding. Once we got rear-ended, the car went flying into the intersection. The door to the passenger's side – Bella's side – got bent in half. That side of the car looked like it crumbled in on itself.

Is Bella okay?

The paramedics must have felt her injuries were more critical since she was already on her way to the hospital and I was still here waiting to leave.

I took in the rest of the scene. The front engine of the car that collided with us was ruined. Until now, I have never seen the inside of a car's engine before. And I never want to see something like that ever again.

But I do want to see Bella.

I need to see Bella.

I also need to see the person responsible for this wreckage.

Where is he?

Flashing blue lights in my peripheral view caught my attention and stopped my frantic search. I could see two cop cars on the shoulder of the road leading up to the intersection. Sure enough, there he was. He looked my age, maybe a few years older. He had a large white gauze bandage covering his forehead and a few bloodstains on the collar of his shirt. I was unable to see if there were any more injuries because he was sitting in the back of the police car farthest away from me. My vision was still slightly fuzzy, so it was too difficult to make out any more details from so far away.

Is that it?

Sure, it was a horrible thought, but I'm not afraid to admit it. I wanted the person responsible for this mess to be suffering too. Bella could be ... nope. I won't think about her like that. The power of positive thinking and all that. Isn't it only fair if he's in pain too? If you hurt me, then you damn well better be hurting too.

My heart rate and breathing started to pick up, along with my anger. Obviously it was noticeable. "Sir?" Ben asked. "Try to calm down. Tell me: What hurts?"

"M-My head." And my heart if Bella does not survive.

"You most likely have a concussion. I'm going to take a look in your eyes, and then we'll be off." Ben must have found whatever he was looking for in my eyes because he nodded to himself. "I'm going to move the stretcher into the vehicle. You may feel a slight jolt. I'm sorry. Soon we'll get you to the hospital and all fixed up with some pain meds."

"Bella," I muttered dazed.

He smiled at me. "And then you'll get to see your girl."

"Bella…"

"Bella?"

I could feel a soft hand stroking my check. Thinking it was her, I leaned into it.

"No, dear. It's Mom." I jerked back; she frowned. "How are you feeling?" She seemed genuinely concerned.

"Where's Bella?"

"How are you feeling?"

"You're avoiding the question."

"So are you," a voice said from the doorway.

"Doctor Cullen," I said acknowledging the Voice.

"Hello son. Seriously, how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Are you feeling nauseated?"

"No Dad. I'm okay. My head is still a little sore though."

He chuckled ruefully. "I would expect so. Unfortunately, you sustained a concussion and passed out again once the EMTs got you into the ambulance. Before I mention Bella, as your doctor, I need to advise you on how to take care of yourself."

"Dad… I've been taking care of myself for twenty two years now."

He smiled. "Even so, you've never had a concussion before, thank God. You're going to want to take it easy these next couple of weeks. That means no unnecessary strenuous activity. Make sure you rest more often than usual, even if you are feeling alright. Your body is still healing and overdoing it may set back your recovery."

"Got it. Where's Bella?"

"She's here." He said grimly.

"Is she…" I couldn't bring myself to say the words.

"She's okay." I breathed a sigh of relief. "She too sustained a concussion when the car crashed into you two. Because it hit her side of car, her right arm got caught in between the car seat and the metal of the door. It's fractured in four places. Her doctors set the bone and put a cast on to hold it in place. At the time of the collision, she was thrown to the left and cracked a rib on the gear shift. We've got her on a morphine drip right now to help manage the pain."

"But she's going to be okay, right?"

"Physically yes," he replied.

"But…?"

"Edward, sweetheart, there's something I need to tell you," Esme said gently. "I'm very sorry about what happened to you two and about what happened at the dinner. I feel responsible for this whole mess. If I hadn't upset you so much that you felt forced to flee the family, then you wouldn't have gotten into that crash. I swear I never meant to hurt you or Bella."

"I know Mom. I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did."

"We shouldn't have cornered you in the kitchen with Jasper."

"Yeah. That was probably a bad idea." We laughed with little enthusiasm. "So what happened to Bella? I know there's something more you want to say."

"Why would you say that?"

I snorted. "Because I'm your son and I know when you have something on your mind."

"Alright, fine. There was a problem when she woke up," Esme sighed. "When she woke up, she … freaked out. She..."

"She was disoriented and unsure of where she was," Carlisle picked up where his wife left off. "A nurse came in and tried to explain what was going on. Once she realized she was in a hospital, she had a panic attack. She was hyperventilating and scratching at her arms, screaming that she was trying to get the germs off. Her doctor said she told him she felt as if her skin was crawling. He had to give her a sedative when he was unable to calm her down. Because she had such a severe episode where she hurt herself, intentional or not, her doctor believes it would be in her best interest if she stayed here in the hospital to undergo a twenty-four hour psych evaluation to ensure that she's not a danger to herself."

"Well, of course she's not a danger to herself! That's ridiculous! How could you allow that to happen?" I snapped. Realistically, and from personal experience, I knew that a psych evaluation was standard for something like that. It would be unlikely Carlisle could have forestalled it.

"Edward, I know that you are upset right now, and you are going to be a little more emotional now because of your concussion. I know you don't want to admit it, but she has a problem. Maybe this is going to be a good thing for her. This may be a chance for her to get some help. You of all people should know how important and beneficial it is to get professional help before it's too late."

Oh yes, he was referring to my own little problems. While Bella has her mental demons, I have my own haunting me, taunting me, tempting me every day. That was what I wanted to tell her in the car, but I started to chicken out. Bella has this image of me as her knight in shining armor. It doesn't matter to her that my suit of armor is a size XXXL. She can look past all of that shallow, superficial nonsense. The only thing that's important to her is the real me. If only she knew the real me.

I've been projecting this false self to her in order to keep her. I don't want to shatter her idea of me. Never in all my life has anyone outside my family looked at me without revulsion. In general, people take one look at me and automatically dismiss me as lazy or unworthy because of my weight. Bella is able to look past that. Maybe she's right and it's because of her OCD. It forces her to think of things in a different way. Sure she doesn't notice that I'm horribly obese, but she does see the microscopic germs on my hands.

Obviously I realize that she has a real problem. I want her to get better; I really do. That's the honest-to-God truth. I just worry about what she's going to do when she learns the truth about me, when she learns the truth about why I decided to go out with her in the first place.

What is she going to do when she learns the real reason I went through with our first date?

Yay! Bella is going to live! Well at least for now. You never know. Stephanie Meyer may technically own these characters, but the plot is mine to do with what I wish. So you'll just have to sit back and hope she'll make it to the end. It looks like Eddie boy here may have had some impure motives when it comes to our little Bells. After years of being targeted and bullied, his moral judgement may not be as sound and would hope it is. As we saw with his thoughts about the driver, it's like the age-old philosophy: You hurt me, I'll hurt you back ... Right?