Authors Note: First of all, I do not own Twilight. Secondly, this was a difficult chapter to write, so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you all so much so for favoriting my story, and adding it to your alert list, and most of all, for your reviews. I am thrilled you're enjoying the story. I hope you continue to like it. I'm starting Chapter 11 right now, so there will be another update later tonight.

Carlisle's POV

"What about the baby? Is the baby okay?" he asked, heartbreak radiating through his voice.

"For now, the baby is just fine. The heart rate is a little low, but we are keeping an eye on it. She went into premature labor from the stress of the accident, but we were able to stop the labor for the time being. There's no immediate danger to the baby." I reassured him.

"And Bella? What's her condition?" I could see that Edward was in shock, so I led him over to a chair, and sat him down, I sat across from him.

"Bella is stable, for the time being. But, she's in serious but stable condition."

Edward only nodded.

"Edward, would you like me to check if she's in a room, so you can see her?" I offered.

He only nodded, trying to control his sobs.

I picked up my phone, and called the main nurses station, asking them to page Seth, and have him either stop by my office, or call me.

"Dad-"Edward started. I looked up, and Edward was looking at me with an expression that I hoped to never again see on his face. He looked like a drowning man, a man that knew he would die son. "Does-Did you tell the rest of the family?" he asked.

"No, I wanted to be sure that you were the first to know. I called Emmett to be sure Ethan was safe, but I didn't tell him why I was asking. I'm going to call Esme first, in a little bit." Edward only nodded. Just then, my office phone rang, and I saw it was Seth.

"Hello?" I answered on the second ring.

"Hey Chief. This is Seth returning your call".

"Thanks for calling me right back, Dr. Clearwater. I've informed Edward, and he'd like to visit Bella. Is she in a room yet?"

"Yes, but Chief, please, call me Seth."

"No, you earned your title today, Dr. Clearwater."

"Thank you. Do you want me to come and get Edward, and I'll walk him over?"

"I think that would be an excellent idea. Thank you." I hung up the phone and turned back to Edward.

"Seth Clearwater is on his way to get you." Edward's head snapped up when I said this.

"Seth? Why Seth?" Interns didn't usually get to be this involved in a case, and Edward knew it.

"Dr. Meyer assigned an intern to the case, and we gave Seth the option of keeping you busy while we worked on her, or helping us. He wanted to help."

Edward only nodded. Seth was there in no time. He hugged Edward as well.

"I'm so, so sorry, Edward". Edward seemed to be distant at this time, only wanting to see Bella, which was not out of character for him.

"Thank you Seth, and thank you for helping with Bella."

"It was no problem, Edward. I know you would have done the same for me. They're going to be fine, Edward. I know it. She's strong. Bella and your baby; they're remarkably strong. It's a miracle that they're-" I needed to stop Seth right there.

"Seth, could you take Edward up to Bella now?" I asked, and he seemed to understand what I was saying behind my words.

After they left the room, I called Esme immediately.

"Carlisle! Is everything okay? Emmett called me frantic; you scared him half to death."

"Esme, there's been an accident." Esme gasped on the other line.

"Bella was hit by a drunk driver, and it's bad. The doctors are doing everything they can, but you should…you should prepare yourself." It was difficult to get the words out.

I heard the sound of Esme's cries on the other end of the phone.

"Esme, can you call the rest of the kids, or would you like me to?" I asked, still maintaining my position as chief of surgery at the hospital. I couldn't make this personal.

"No, I can do it. Go and be with Edward, the rest of us will be there just as soon as we can". She assured me. I hung up with her shortly after, and for the first time since this ordeal had begun, I layed my head on my desk, and allowed myself to cry.

Edward's POV

This isn't happening. It's a nightmare, and Bella is going to wake me up any second, and yell at me for screaming and waking up Ethan. But, as I neared the ICU, reality struck harder with every step. I was worried about seeing her. Suddenly, Seth stopped in front of me, and nodded towards one of the glass cubicles. I hit the button to open the glass partition, and stepped into the room. At first, I was okay, because it didn't look like Bella, and I almost convinced myself that they had made a mistake. But, as I got closer, I saw that there was no mistake. It was hard to see her like this. There were tubes and monitors everywhere. She had been cleaned up from the accident for the most part, but there was still some blood in her hair. I took another step closer to the bed, and my knees sank to the ground, and I took her hand in mine, and I sobbed into her hip.

"Bella, please don't leave me, you can't leave me." I cried, pleading with my wife. This feeling was unlike any feeling I've ever felt before, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. "Stay with me". My cries turned to sobs, which turned to screams, and Carlisle came in the room, and practically carried me out, and into one of the doctors lounges, trying to calm me down.

"Edward. You need to calm down. You need to calm down for her. She needs peace, and quiet, so her brain can heal." He explained. I tried hard to get my breathing under control, and it was almost back to normal about 5 minutes later.

"Now, I have her chart here, if you want, we can go through it together, so you can know everything that's going on with your wife and baby. That might make things less scary".

Edward gave me a weak smile, "thanks Dad, I'd really appreciate that".

"Okay, lets go over to the conference room, and we can look at her films in there, as well". I picked up Bella's thick file, and led Edward over to the small conference room. I sat at the head of the table, and he sat in the chair diagonally from me. I set her films aside, and opened her chart, pushing it towards Edward so he could see as well.

"Okay, these are Dr. Meyer's comments about what happened. She was hit head on by a drunk driver…" I went through Bella's file with Edward, explaining every little scratch, and how we treated it. Then, together, we looked at her MRI results, and I showed him her brain injury, and her ovarian cyst, and the multiple fractures.

It didn't take long for the rest of the family to arrive at the hospital, in just of a frantic state that I was in. I felt better after Carlisle went through her chart with me, though. In just a few hours, Bella had improved enough to be moved from the ICU to a room in the neurology wing of the hospital. I was on my way to visit her when Emmett and Ethan walked through the doors.

"DADDY!" Ethan yelled. I was immediately grateful, it didn't seem that Emmett or Rosalie had told my son what happened yet, and I was glad. I squatted down, and Ethan flung himself into my arms. I stood, hugging him tightly to my chest, holding back tears.

"Hey buddy, did you have fun with Uncle Emmett?" Ethan nodded into my shoulder.

"Hey Emmett, thank you." I said to him, and noticed the expression on his face for the first time. He had tear stained streaks, and was just as devastated as I was. Emmett hugged me awkwardly, as I still had my three old son in my arms.

"I'm going to go see her, do you want to come?" I asked Emmett. Before he answered, he threw a questioning glance at Ethan.

"Carlisle's on his way. He'll sit with him while we go in". Emmett nodded.

We walked down the long, green tiled corridor of the neurology wing to Bella's room. Carlisle was waiting outside. Emmett hugged him tightly, both of them allowed tears to escape. I hugged Ethan closer to my chest. Luckily, he was still too little to understand what was going on. Carlisle silently took Ethan from my arms.

"I'll let you have a few minutes alone with her". Emmett whispered. I nodded in thanks, and walked into her room. Immediately, I noticed she looked better, but at the same time, worse. Bruises on her face had begun to develop, but her overall color had improved. There were still quite a few tubes in her, though. Carlisle said that the baby had stabilized, and was in no immediate danger, but that Bella would almost certainly go into premature labor, but Carlisle also said they were administering medication to speed up the baby's development. I felt the tears slide down my cheeks as I held her still hand in my mind. I kissed her palm, and sat in a chair beside her bed. "I love you, please come back to me. Please don't leave me; I can't raise two children all alone". Just then, Emmett came in, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"She'll come back, Edward." I wasn't sure if he was saying it me, or himself. I only nodded, and Emmett walked to the other side of her bed, and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. We stood there for awhile, not talking. This was all just so surreal. Just then, Esme stuck her head in the room.

"Boys? The doctors need to check her out; we need to leave the room". She said softly.

I stood, and kissed Bella softly on the lips. For the first time of our relationship, she didn't kiss me back, and a new wave a grief washed over me. Emmett and I left room, and joined the rest of our family in the waiting room. Alice was clinging to Jasper in the corner, crying. I walked over to her, and Jasper moved her from his arms to mine. She sobbed harder into my chest, and I tightened my arms around her, pulling her closer, and let her cry. I kept my composure, for now.

Later that night, Carlisle had finally talked me into going home for the night. Alice and Jasper were going to stay with me to help with Ethan, and to keep me company, so I didn't have to go back to an empty house. After Ethan was asleep, I poured a cup of tea for Alice and me, and sat beside her on the couch. Jasper was already upstairs, sleeping. I looked down at my feet.

"Edward, she's going to be okay, I know it." Alice said, placing a hand on my knee.

"But Alice, what if she's not? I can't survive this. If she doesn't make it, I can't…I don't even want to think about it". I admitted. Alice was so easy to talk to. The rest of my family didn't always understand the relationship between Bella and me. This was my worst nightmare coming to life. Alice was the only one that knew that, without even having to hear me say it. She was very perceptive, and she knew me just as well as Bella did.

"Listen, Edward, you may not like what I'm going to say, but I need to say it". She admitted, but I nodded for her to continue.

"What would you do if your situations were switched? What if you were the one in a coma from a horrific accident? Would you want her in this much pain? And if, God forbid, you died, would you want her to curl up in a ball of misery and give up?"

I thought about Alice's questions for a moment. No, I wouldn't want her to be miserable. It would be okay to be sad for a little bit, but life goes on, I would want her to raise our children, and get on with it the best way she knew how. I didn't need to answer Alice's questions out loud, based on the small, but smug smile on her lips she was trying so hard to hide, she knew my answers. And it was at that moment that I knew. No matter the outcome of this, I had my family, and I would be okay. I would be okay for Bella.

Three Weeks later…

My family and I had quickly fallen into a routine. After a week, I went back to work, and while I was at work, Alice stayed at our house with Ethan. Then, Esme or Carlisle would take over for a few hours in the evening when Alice came with me to visit Bella for a few hours, and then I went home to spend a few hours with Ethan. I had finally told Ethan what happened about three days after the accident, but it was just as awful as I thought it would be. I took him in to see Bella once, but he was very upset that his mommy wouldn't wake up for him like she usually did. It broke my already broken heart into smaller pieces. He didn't understand what was going on, but my family assured me that it was probably for the best.

Bella improved a little everyday, and Carlisle was fairly she that she would eventually wake up. Her brain injury had improved significantly, and they had done surgery to remove the ovarian cyst that had made her so sick before the accident.

It was a Friday, and I was ending a 48 hour shift, fully intending to drive back home and sleep. I was exhausted, but I needed to see my wife first. Emmett, Rose and Brooke had taken a family vacation, so I knew Bella had probably been alone all day. I sat in the chair next to her bed, as always, and kissed her forehead. Usually, when I kissed her forehead, it was like kissing a porcelain doll, but today, something was different, it was more like when I kissed her forehead while she was still sleeping. I let it go, not allowing myself to get my hopes up, and held her hand in mine. Then, I felt her squeeze my hand. I felt tears slip down my cheeks, as I stared down at her hand. She kept squeezing it. I looked up to her face, and saw two wide chocolate brown eyes staring back at me.