Disclaimer: I do own a copy of Twilight; however, I don't own the actual rights to said book … :(

Hello everyone!! I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of feedback I got for the last chapter! Sorry it was so depressing, I wasn't in the best mood when I wrote that and it sort of shows, but I think I needed to be in that mood because the story called for that emotion so I guess it all worked out! But now I'm in a much better mood, so hopefully this chapter will reflect that – plus Edward's in it! :- ) Hope everyone is doing well … and that you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 10: Squirrel

EPOV

"Alright Bella, just sign these top two, keep the bottom two copies for yourself, and fill out the form on the last page," I said, handing a pile of papers to Bella. I still couldn't believe she was checking out, in the short time of her stay at the hospital, I'd grown accustomed to seeing her smiling face every day; it was now my main incentive to get up in the morning. "And here is my business card, call me if you have any problems before I see you next." I handed her the card, hoping that she'd call just so I could hear her voice; maybe I'd find a reason to call her.

"Thanks for everything, Edward. I'll see you tomorrow." Bella said, her eyes glistening.

"Tomorrow?" Jacob asked, clearly surprised.

"Yea, Edward is checking up on me for a little bit, to make sure I'm alright." Bella told Jacob, taking his hand to calm his temper that was about to flair.

"Is that standard protocol?" Jacob asked me.

I lowered my eyes, No, I thought, but answered yes, "See you then, Bella. Bye Jacob Black."

"Humph" Jacob said while Bella said goodbye politely while I walked out the door only to be bombarded by Alice.

"So, Bella's leaving," she said, following me down the hallway towards my office.

"Yep," I responded simply, annoyed that she was bringing up a sore subject.

"And…?" she pushed.

"And what?" I asked, opening the door to my office and walking in.

Alice, of course, followed in and closed the door, "What do you mean 'what'! Did you tell her how you feel? What do you feel?"

I sighed and ran my hand through my bronze, tangled hair realizing it was getting too long and needed a cut. I withdrew my hand, "I don't know what I feel, Alice."

"Yes you do," Alice cut in, "You like her, you feel a certain need to protect her, and a longing to get to know her better, your heart starts beating wildly when you are in her presence, and you find yourself at a loss of words when she stares at you with her big brown eyes."

Yes, I thought, That is exactly how I feel, "How do you know that?" I asked, amazed at how she had described exactly how I felt about Bella.

She shrugged, "That's how I feel about Jasper, it's called love Edward."

Love? Was I in love with Bella? I wondered, "Impossible, I've only known her for a few days, and she was only conscious for half of that time."

Alice gave me a knowing look, but dropped the topic, "So, I heard Mr. Dumbbell is back."

I raised my eyebrow, "Mr. Dumbbell?"

Alice rolled her eyes, "I think his name is Emmett McCarty? Yea, that's right; he's down the hall in room 113. I thought you were supposed to be paged."

Just as she said that, my pager went off, "Well I guess I need to go," I said taking one fleeting look back at Bella's room, slowly I looked away and walked towards room 113.

"Doc!" Emmett said as soon I walked in the door.

"Emmett," I said, nodding in his direction and I picked up his charts and quickly glanced over them, "What can I help you with?"

"Doc, it was horrible," Emmett said, getting situated on the bed so that his arm was under his head and he was looking up at the ceiling, he swung his left foot in the air that hung off the bed, "I was sitting outside, on this bench near my house because it was a nice day out, and I had just finished playing football with some guys. We won" Emmett said, smiling.

"Congrats," I responded, only mildly interested.

"Thanks, anyway, so I was sitting outside when I started to feel myself drift to sleep. I thought, no big deal, I'll just take a nap outside real quick, then I'll get up and shower and get ready for my date with Rose. Remember her? She was here last time, we're still together. She's awesome man," Emmett said, following his typical story telling pattern and getting off topic.

"I'm happy for you," I said, trying not to think of Bella. How I'd never have a date with her, how we'd never be together.

"Right, well I fell asleep, and just as planned about thirty minutes later I woke up. I slowly opened my eyes, and guess what was in front of me?" he asked, when I didn't guess right away he repeated, "Go ahead, guess."

"Ummm, a bug?" I asked, not seeing how this story would lead to a visit to the hospital.

"Nope, why would I be here because of a bug?" Emmett laughed his booming laugh, "A squirrel! A furry, beast of an animal."

"A squirrel?" I repeated. So a bug is a ridiculous guess, but a squirrel makes complete sense.

"Yes, so there it was, just starring at me, with its beady little eyes- watching me. So naturally I starred back, wondering what it was doing just sitting there looking at me," Emmett paused and looked reflective, "looking back on it, I suppose that is where everything started to go down hill. Damn squirrel. Anyway, so here I am starring at this squirrel, and it's looking back at me – it sort of became an impromptu starring contest. Which I totally won by the way." He smiled, remembering his victory, "So after the squirrel looked away briefly, I shouted 'I WIN' which the squirrel clearly didn't end up liking. It started to move towards me, its beady little eyes looking at me with pure evilness, so of course I stood up and started towards the path back to my house, only to have the squirrel follow me. I swear, Doc, the squirrel was possessed, it followed quickly, but lucky I was faster then it, I ran in a zig-zag formation, knowing that that slowed down alligators, so maybe it'd slow down squirrels."

"Of course," I said, attempting to keep the smile off my face, "Completely logical."

Emmett didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in my voice because he continued with his story unfazed, "So I was so busy running in a zig-zag pattern around my front yard, I completely forgot about the roots that rose above the ground under this big tree in my front yard. This is where tragedy strikes," Emmett said, dramatically, "I looked back at the ferocious animal, making sure it was far behind me when suddenly I tripped over the damn roots in the ground. The squirrel, of course, took this to his advantage and look what he did," Emmett said, holding up his left hand. On it were three small scratches, "He scratched me! So I tried to stand to get back up, to head back to the house, when I realized that my ankle had swelled up to the size of a … well I don't know, what would you compare this to?" he asked, sitting up to point at his foot.

"I don't know, a softball maybe?" I said, looking for signs of possibly broken bones.

"Sure, that works," he said, putting his hands together to make the size of a softball and then bringing it to his ankle, "That's right! It's the size of a softball, I've never had a great skill for size estimations, it's a family curse." Emmett sighed, "But, back to the topic at hand, what's wrong with me, Doc?"

I reached down cautiously to touch his ankle, "Do that hurt?" I asked.

He winced, "A bit"

"Hmmm, well let's give you a quick X-Ray, although I'm pretty sure all we have here is a twisted, maybe sprained ankle as for those scratches, I can get you some Neosporin to put on them so they won't get infected."

"Thanks, Doc," Emmett said.

I nodded and walked out of the room to get the Neosporin while Alice walked in and took X-rays of his leg.

Ten minutes later I returned to his room, Neosporin in one hand and the X-rays in the other, "Good news, it's just a sprain, put some ice on your leg when you get back home, and keep it elevated whenever possible, and maybe take some aspirin for the pain and you should be all better in a week or two."

"Good, so does that mean no football next weekend?" Emmett asked.

"That would probably be best," I responded, "And here is the Neosporin for your scratches, try not to anger any more neighborhood squirrels."

"I didn't even do anything," Emmett protested, "And that was no typical neighborhood squirrel that was a devil squirrel – it was out for blood."

"Of course, I hate those vampire squirrels," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" Emmett asked.

"I said you're free to leave, just take it easy the next couple days."

"Thanks, Doc." He said, carefully hoping off of the cot, putting all pressure on his good leg, "Oh, and if anyone asks, I was trying to get a cat down from a tree for a little girl and fell."

"Ok," I said, shaking my head.

Emmett threw me a quick wink, and limped out of the door, already on his cell phone, "Hey babe, yea I just got out, Doctor said I was lucky to only have a sprain, who knew falling from trees would hurt so much. I'm just glad that cat got down safely …"

I broke into laugher as soon as his voice faded down the hall.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and boring. Patients with colds, stomach viruses, nothing out of the ordinary. Every time I walked past Bella's room, I couldn't help but think of her smile, her laugh, the way her face lit up when she thought something was funny. I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing right now, who she was with, was she having fun? Was she thinking of me? Maybe?

"What are you doing tonight?" Alice asked during one of my zoning out periods.

"Hu? Oh, um, nothing, just heading home and maybe watching a game or something," I said.

"You'll see her again tomorrow," Alice said, knowing who I was thinking about.

"I know," I said, smiling at the thought.

Alice looked at me, narrowing her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said, waving a dismissive hand, "Well, it's time to leave, so I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early."

"Alright, I'm heading out too, good night Alice." I said, and went to change out of my scrubs and into my casual clothes.

When I got home, I heated up some dinner in the microwave and sat down on the couch and decided to read one of my favorite books. As always, I lost track of time while reading, and before I knew it was nearly one in the morning.

I groaned internally, realizing that I would have to get up in less then 5 hours for work, and made my way to my bed when my phone started ringing.

"Who would be calling at this time of night?" I wondered out loud. Was there an emergency at the hospital? Quickly I snatched my phone out of my pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Edward, what are you doing?" a voice that sounded like Bella's asked, only she was clearly very upset.

"Bella, is that you? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"I, I just need you to come pick me up, can you do that?" she asked. I felt a burst of happiness grow inside of me, knowing that she had called me for help, but that burst suddenly popped when I heard her sniffle- was she crying?

"Where are you Bella? It's nearly one in the morning," I asked, wondering why she was out so late without a car.

"I'm at La Push beach, boardwalk fifteen, I'll explain everything when you get here." She said.

"I'll be there as soon as possible, five minutes maximum." I said, already getting in my car and pulling out of the driveway.

"Thanks, see you soon." She said sadly.

"Be there in five," I assured her, and hung up the phone and pressed down on the gas pedal.

A/N: So that chapter is dedicated to two people, one of whom is my sister who hates squirrels and is convinced they are evil. (THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE…EVIL EVIL EVIL LITTLE BEASTIES!!- That was her comment while editing this chapter) And secondly to my friend, Kenneth, whose story I actually based Emmett's off, of course I added a little to it, but that general thing did happen to him! Anyways, I updated quickly because I loved all your reviews! So keep them coming, and I'll keep the story coming!