Here's the next chapter for LLNO. Once again it is after 2 in the morning and I'm still typing away on my little laptop with my head hanging backwards on the chair. I can't exactly think of much to say, because I'm tired, so I'm just going to let you at it.

SM, you know us fanfiction-isters mean no disrespect or infringement to your characters. We just love them so much, we wanna keep them hanging around for a bit.

See you at the bottom!

Chapter 9: Faith, Hope and Love

PRESENT

I knew she was there before I even opened my eyes. I could smell her perfume, hear the ever present scribbling of pen to paper. A crossword puzzle, no doubt. She started humming a lullaby she used to sing to me as a child when I woke up with nightmares and would run to her for comfort. That is the epitome of my mother; comfort. She was there every time I fell from my bike, when I broke my arm, when I slid off the branch in our backyard and cut up the side of my leg. Every scar I can remember she was always there, and she would hum that lullaby to me as she fixed my injuries. Before even opening my eyes, I took a deep breath and spoke the first thing that came to my mind…

"It's my fault."

I heard the pen and paper clacking to the floor as she rose from her chair to race to my side. She pressed the nurse's button and requested for my father to be brought in, and that I was awake. Once the nurse's line cut out, mom looked down at me with a hard stare.

"No. It isn't." I wanted to scoff at her, but I knew I'd never hear the end of it.

"If I hadn't been racing back to my place to propose, none of this would've happened. We would've stayed over that night, and I could've done it the next morning."

I heard her sigh, and she placed her hand in my left one. "Were you speeding Edward?"

I opened my eyes in shock at her. "Of course not, mom. You know I'd never do that, especially in the winter, and especially with Bella in the car."

"Then it's not your fault, Edward. Accidents happen. If anything it's the drunk driver's fault. You weren't reckless, you weren't speeding…"

"If I'd been faster, I could've…"

"Could've what, Edward. Are you Superman now? Moving faster than a speeding bullet these days? You were crushed in that car just like she was. You were in just as much trouble as she was. If anything you saved her."

I did scoff this time, before I could keep it at bay. "Yeah, mom. I saved her by getting us pushed off the road, and into a tree."

"No, Edward. By calling your father… if you hadn't called your father, you'd both probably be dead right now."

I stopped my rebuttal and tried to remember calling him. Nothing. I couldn't remember it at all.

"I called dad?" I asked her so quietly, I didn't even know if she heard me, until she nodded.

"Yes, Edward. He was able to speak to you long enough to figure out where you were, and help the paramedics get down to you. You saved Bella's life by getting her to the hospital in time. If you hadn't called…"

She didn't need to finish that sentence. The curl in my stomach was enough to realize what she was going to say.

"So you remember again, then?" I knew a change of subject when I heard it. I shook my head at her and then shrugged my shoulders as I couldn't really answer her.

"Bits and pieces, but only in my dreams… I still don't remember anything from the last five months."

I heard her inhale quickly and asked quietly "What do you remember?"

"It's so strange mom. It's like right now, while I'm awake, I know it's real, I know we were in that accident. But when I fall asleep, I'm making a date with Bella and Alyssa to take her to the Seattle Zoo."

She laughed a little and I looked up in shock. Why could she possibly be laughing at me?

"No, sweetie, I'm not laughing at you. I'm just remembering when you did that, is all." She looked so serene as she recalled the memory, and I wish I could do the same.

"Will you tell me about it?" I whispered. I was ready to fall asleep and witness the memory myself, but I worried that I would skip over it, or the memory wouldn't come to me, and it would skip right over it. I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to know what she knew.

"From what I remember you telling me, you had taken them both there early so that when it opened, and Alyssa saw the sign, she squealed so loudly you thought your ear drums would blow." She laughed quietly. "Her favorite animals there were the penguins. She absolutely adored watching them sliding on their bellies. She said it reminded her of that TV show on… Madagascar."

I smiled at the way my mother looked as she spoke about Bella's little girl. Then as if the thought just occurred to me my eyes widened and my breathing got faster.

"Oh God, Alyssa. How is she? Is she alright? Who is taking care of her?" I started to try to sit up, but the pain in my chest hurt like a bitch. I laid back again, with my mother's coaxing, and took some deep breaths through my clenched teeth.

"Fuck." I groaned. I waited for my mother to threaten with the soap, but when I looked at her she was crying.

"Mom, no. I'm sorry, please don't cry." I tried to reach her, and she moved closer to me, so I could wipe the tear from her cheek.

"Oh Edward, we almost lost you. Of course I'm going to cry. I was so worried." I pulled down so she was sitting on the bed beside me, and she lightly hugged me to her. "My baby boy. Don't you ever scare me like that again."

"I won't Mom." We both knew I couldn't give her that promise, as neither of us were psychic, but it was the thought that counted most.

She was able to calm down enough to tell me that Alyssa seemed to be doing alright. She understood that her mother was in the hospital and that she had been in an accident with me. They didn't tell her she was sick, thank god, because they were afraid she'd think Bella was sick like Jake. I agreed completely with that, just so long as my little Alyssa was okay.

A knock at the door, and my father came into the room. We both looked over at him, and he walked in slowly, probably gauging my reaction from the last time I woke up.

"You seem to be doing better, son." He said, as he picked up my medical chart from the bottom of the bed.

"How's Bella?" I demanded.

Mom looked up at my father with a worried expression, and I knew that they didn't want to tell me.

"Dad, I'm much better now. I won't freak out. It was a lot to take in all at once, but now that I've had time to think about it, I NEED to know. How is she."

Dad nodded and grabbed the chair from the corner of the room. Mom sat back down in the chair she had pulled up near my bed and held my hand.

"Son. I want you to know first and foremost that we are taking absolutely the best care towards her as we can. She's a fighter, and she WILL pull through this."

Well, didn't that just want to set me off like a firecracker. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders, because I knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Bella is in the same induced coma that you were put under right now, They will be taking her off of it within the next few days, but it will still take her some time to come out of it. Do you understand that."

I nodded my head and waited for him to continue.

"Bella suffered some serious damages in the accident. Her collarbone was broken, and she has a fractured pelvis and a few ribs. While those are hard, they're the most easily handled in comparison to the other injuries she sustained." He stopped there, to see how I was doing. While I can't say I'm happy as a fucking clam, I'm taking things better than the first time I woke.

"She also had swelling in her brain, which as I last checked, has come down and an aortic tear, but she had surgery for it, and she'll recover from it." He spoke this last part so quickly, I had a little trouble understanding him exactly.

"She has swelling… in her brain? Isn't that serious? And dad, I'm not in the medical field, what is an aorta… whatever you said?"

He sighed, and I knew he could see I was getting nervous.

"Yes, son, the swelling is serious. It's very serious son. And the aortic tear… that's her heart."

I could feel my heart breaking. I was freaking out. They knew I was freaking out too, because my mother's hand squeezed the hell out of mine, and my father gripped onto my shoulders. "Son, she's had the surgery from the tear, and it went very well. The swelling is going down. She's recovering."

"…Dad. I can't… I mean… is she going to…" I couldn't even get the sentence out. It hurt to much to even think it let alone say it out loud.

"We… we don't know for certain Edward. I can't lie to you about this, it's serious. But at this point all we can do is pray." He wiped the tears from my face, that I didn't even realize were streaming down my face. I couldn't feel, I was so numb. This beautiful woman was fighting for her life. The woman that I love… yes I love her so much… could…

"No. No, she's going to make it. She has to. She can't leave me, she can't leave Alyssa. It's not fair. I love her so much dad. I can't even… I ca.." I broke. I completely broke down and my mother wrapped her arms around me as the sobs broke through me. Horrible, wracking sobs wrenched through me at the thought of losing my precious Bella. I rocked back and forth in my mother's arms as we all cried and prayed for the woman somewhere in this hospital that I love with all my heart.

God, please don't take her from me. I've just found her. Take me instead if you must, but please God. PLEASE.

After what felt like hours my sobs began to lessen. My head hurt from crying, and I knew I probably looked like a fucking mess. I didn't care.

"I want… I want t-to s-see her."

My mother moved her face away from the top of my head and looked at my father.

"P-please dad. I n-need t-to."

He looked out the window as I waited for an answer from him. Finally after what felt like forever, he looked back to me, his eyes bloodshot, wet and red, and he nodded his head.

"I'll see what I can do."

I sighed into my mother's shoulder and squeezed her with as much strength as I could.

I calmed myself down as much as possible, still hiccuping, with tears falling every so often. A nurse came in to check on me, and my pain levels, wondering if I wanted any more medication or if I was getting hungry.

I looked at my dad not even thinking about what I was able to do. I knew from my father that I had a feeding tube inserted this past week, but since I'd woken up they'd taken it out. I was only allowed clear liquids, so my father ordered my "breakfast."

I felt so tired, I slept an entire week, and yet I still felt exhausted. I kept myself awake though and didn't take the pain medicine offered because I just wasn't ready to see Bella in my dreams. I wanted to see the real woman, not just the memory of her.

I spoke to my father about that, telling him I felt like I was living in two different worlds. One where all of this shit was happening, and the other, my life was just about perfect. It almost felt like an addiction that I was trying to discourage myself from, by not sleeping when I knew I'd see my beautiful Bella. He couldn't explain it anymore than I could, so we let the conversation go for now.

Mom pulled her phone from her pocket and checked a text message she received. "Emmett's here, Edward. He wants to see you." I was about to give the okay, when she finished by saying

"So does Charlie."

Oh God, Charlie. He's going to kill me. I promised to take care of Bella, and I failed him. God, this must be killing him. What do I do? How could he ever forgive me for doing this to his little girl. How would I feel if this had been Alyssa with some guy. That made me see red.

I'd want to kill the guy too.

"Um.. Okay?" It came out as more of a question because fuck if I knew what I should do. My father helped my mother out of her chair and they said they were going to give us a moment alone with Charlie before they let Emmett in. Mom kissed my forehead, they both told me they love me, and then they left. Now it was a waiting game, between when that door would open, and whether my heart would give out from anxiety.

A solid knock on the door made me jump and I told him to come in. To say he was a mess too was putting it lightly. His clothes were wrinkled as if he'd slept in them all night, his face was drawn, his eyes red, whether from lack of sleep or crying I don't know. He looked like he'd aged 10 years in the matter of a week… or well, I guess I should say months since I last remembered seeing him.

"God damn it, Edward."

Here it comes...

Before I knew what he was doing, he half ran to my bed and pulled me into a... hug? I was startled. I mean, maybe he was trying to crush the life out of me, or maybe he was trying to reach across me to my IV, or…

"Thank God you're alright, son."

Wait... WHAT?

Longer A/N this time around... sorry...

Okay, so who seriously all saw that coming... be honest now. Yes, it's predictable in it's predictably predictableness, but if Edward was planning to propose, don't you think he'd have spoken to Charlie about it?

Hmm? Okay, just figured I'd give some food for thought.

Any-who, I know technically it's the 24th now, and I've only posted once yesterday, rather than the 4 times the previous day. As you can see RL is starting to return to it's regularly scheduled programs, and I had to get some things taken care of today. However, I will say Chapter 11 is partially written as I speak so hopefully it wont take too long to finish after I get a good night's sleep.

Don't forget to Review for me please. I'm up to two reviews so far, and while I love it, I know I've gotten close to 1,000 hits on this already, so i don't care if you're reviewing to say "Meh." or if it's to tell me you love it... Anonymous reviews are available too, so if you wish to critique, you may do so also.

Reviews are like... Schmexy Edward times, if I can pull it together for Chapter 11. Don't quote me though...

Thank you to my two first reviewers (an anonymous, and maryannabella) you both rock, and I'm glad you're both enjoying it. *Throws out some serious love*

Okay, I'll end the A/N, because half the time I know most people don't read these. Unless you do, and think I'm funny, in which case *flips hair over shoulder* carry on. (yeeeeaaa, no... even I know that's just cheesy...)

See ya!