A/N: I don't think I need to tell you all how much I appreciate your reviews! Though there wasn't as many as there normally are for the last chapter, I'm certainly not complaining! As always, keep them coming! Ask any questions you feel the need to ask and, as I said before, I'll try to answer you to the best of my ability without giving anything away. So, without further ado, here's the chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Really now, must you remind me that I don't own Twilight and make me sink further into depression?

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Chapter Nine

"Ready?" Edward asked softly as we arrived at the door that led to Carlisle's office.

I bit the inside of my cheek in apprehension, contemplating whether or not I should tell him that I was scared out of my wits at what Carlisle had to say to us. I could hardly tell him that I doubted I would ever be ready for a simple sit down with his surrogate father, even if something in my gut was telling me that this was more than a chat about the future.

My lack of response seemed to spur him into action.

He brought his hand up to my face, gently brushing the back of his knuckles along the length of my cheekbone. I leaned into his touch and he dipped his head, positioning his mouth alongside my ear. As he spoke in a whisper so low that I could barely hear him, his lips quivered against my earlobe, making me shiver with delight and temporarily forget that we were standing in the middle of the hallway.

"There's nothing to be worried about. I'll be right there beside you." He muttered, turning ever-so-slightly to press his lips against the hollow beneath my ear.

Giving my hand a tight and reassuring squeeze, he pulled back. I met his eyes to see them burning with such ferocity, my breath hitched in my throat.

I tried to steady my breath as Edward raised his fist to knock lightly on the doorframe. I closed my eyes tightly as Carlisle's calm and soothing voice drifted through the thick wooden door, even though it sounded like he was standing right beside me.

Edward glanced down at me, that undecipherable glimmer still dancing in his eyes. Before he could get a word out, I nodded my head. He smiled tightly, twisting the golden knob and pushing the door open. He hesitated before entering the office, looking over his shoulder at me. I stiffened, weighing my chances of running down the hall, down the steps, and out the door before Edward could catch me. He had always said that young vampires were unnaturally strong and I wasn't even a day old.

Just go and get it over with. After all, Edward said there isn't anything to worry about.

I locked eyes with him yet again and he pulled me into the office, closing the door behind us. The sharp click of the lock sliding into place nearly made me jump out of my skin. Besides me, Edward gave a short, forced chuckle. Leave it to my Edward to try and ease the tension when, really, he only succeeded in making it worse.

It was Carlisle who spoke first. "Why don't you two take a seat?"

He gestured toward the inviting leather couch that I had never noticed before. I sat down on the edge of the cushion, Edward taking the seat beside me, our knees barely brushing. But the brief contact was enough; a surge of electricity darted through my being and it took everything I had in me not to grab his face between my hands and kiss him senseless. I rolled my eyes at myself: only I could succeed in drawing pleasure from the intense tension.

Carlisle gathered the papers that littered his desk into a messy pile before shuffling them. He sent me a warm smile as he slid them into a manila envelope, an unreadable expression dancing across his face. I noticed that his eyes were not on me, but rather Edward. It was then that I knew what was happening: they were debating what should be discussed thus far, although whatever it was, they didn't want me to know just yet. I bit back my growl of annoyance, displeased that they were having a private conversation, even though I knew it revolved around me.

I watched, clenching my free hand into a tiny fists, watching for them to stop "talking" and speak to me, my teeth sinking further into the inside flesh of my cheek with every shake or bob of Edward's head.

When I had finally had enough of not being included in the discussion that I was called into this very office for, I cleared my throat noisily, successfully breaking them out of their trance.

Carlisle offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Bella. Old habits die hard."

I returned the smile and unclenched my fist, flexing my fingers to get the sensation back. I glanced at Edward out of the corner of my eye. His mouth was set into a firm, grim line and he was staring at a book over Carlisle's shoulder. Apparently, whatever they had been discussing hadn't pleased him. Not at all.

I swallowed nervously, knowing that if I were human, my heart would be thrumming wildly in my chest.

"I suppose you're wondering why I asked you and Edward to join me in my office?"

I nodded, shifting around on the couch, surprised whenever the leather didn't give a groan of protest.

Carlisle's golden gaze flicker to Edward for the briefest second, but it was long enough for me to catch. Edward gave a bob of his bronze head before becoming a glorious marble statue, pointedly avoiding the squeeze I gave his hand.

"And I'm assuming that you figured out on your own that there are rather important matters that need to be discuss, yes?" Carlisle continued.

I nodded once more, several strands of hair falling into my face. I reached to tuck them behind my ear, but Edward had already done it for me. I sent him a short, appreciative smile before returning my attention to Carlisle.

Carlisle opened his mouth to speak, but Edward cut him off. "Don't you think we should discuss something else before diving head first into that topic?"

I gritted my teeth. Something in the pit of my stomach told me that, whatever it was that Edward was talking about, it would be painfully obvious once it was brought up. But I couldn't figure it out, not for the life of me.

"I suppose we should." Carlisle said, sitting up in his chair a bit straighter. Edward grabbed my hand once again, threading his fingers through mine, resting our joined hands on his thigh. "But first, do you have any questions? Any requests?"

They turned their eyes to me, waiting patiently for me to conjure up an answer. I locked eyes with Edward and asked the first question that came to mind.

"What happened? I mean, I know there was an accident and all…but I can't remember anything after that."

Carlisle and Edward shared another look and I couldn't hold back my sigh of frustration. "And not to be rude or anything, but could you please stop doing that?"

They looked at me with curiosity, probably wondering what the hell I was talking about. Before either one of them could ask, I sent Edward a pointed look and realization flickered in his ocher orbs.

"She wants us to stop conversing through thought." He said, barely masking the displeasure in his voice.

"It's hardly fair!" I protested. "My presence was requested and a discussion was planned, but how I am supposed to partake in said discussion whenever I don't know what's being discussed?!"

Edward's locked his jaw with a low snap, his eyes blazing. He opened his mouth to speak, but Carlisle beat him to it.

"She's right, Edward." I threw him a grateful look and frowned whenever I saw the corners of his mouth sag slightly. Maybe I had asked too much and they were only doing it to protect me? "As much as I don't like it, she's right."

A huff of annoyance escaped my beloved's lips and he leaned back into the couch. Although he was angry at me, he didn't take his hand from mine. If anything, his grip tightened, as though he was readying me for something I didn't want to hear. My stomach churned; maybe I shouldn't have been so forward and kept my mouth shut.

After a few moments of intense silence, I cleared my throat again and asked, "So…what happened?"

I saw Carlisle's gaze drift to Edward's handsome face, but quickly returned to mine, like he had just remembered he wasn't supposed to ask his son whether or not he should answer my questions.

"You hit a deer." Edward said, his voice devoid of emotion. "The carcass wasn't there, but we knew that's what struck the vehicle, as its blood was splattered across the pavement. The police cruiser had skid about thirty or so feet before it struck the deer."

I stared into his angelic face, suddenly wishing that I hadn't asked. The pained expression that danced across his face, tainting his seraphic features looked out of place. And I had put it there. My dead heart clenched painfully in my chest and I gave his hand the hardest squeeze I could muster.

Much to my surprise, he winced and it seemed to snap him out of his trance. He gave the tiniest shake of his head, as though he trying to clear his thoughts before continuing. "A little over fifty yards away from the deer's blood was the cruiser. It was flipped over and-."

He stopped and took a deep breath. I looked into his eyes and saw that they had darkened. They were nearly black now and tears threatened to spill over the ledge of his eyelids, although I knew it was impossible. Vampires couldn't cry, but although crying was often an outlet, this was quite possibly the only time I was glad that we couldn't.

The sight of Edward crying would've crushed me. The mere thought sent an unpleasant shiver rolling up my spine.

"Edward, you don't have to…" I whispered.

"No," He said, shaking his head against and taking another breath. "The cruiser had flipped over and the passenger side -- your side -- was smashed against the asphalt. I was so scared that you were…dead, that I wanted to rush over to the car, right it, and pull you out of the wreckage, but Carlisle held me back because you could've been injured…"

I didn't have to ask if I had been or not. The answer was rather obvious.

"But once Carlisle asked you if you were all right, once he made sure that you weren't already…gone, we righted the car and I went over to your side to pull you out of the car."

As he spoke, a white-hot flash clouded my vision, making me dizzy. I suddenly saw the whole scene played out before me.

"We're going to get you out, all right, Bella?" Carlisle's voice called out, the soothing tone washing over me.

"Okay." I croaked, my voice sounding like I had smoked a whole pack of cigarettes and chased it down with a gallon of whiskey.

"But before we can do that, you have to tell me what hurts. So we won't cause any further injury when we pull you out. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." I gasped, my stomach burning as my legs slowly started to tingle, to turn cold.

"Tell me what hurts? Can you not feel anything? Do you think that anything's broken?" Carlisle drilled.

The words were right on the tip of my tongue, but the sudden pressure that suddenly rested on my chest made it impossible. Every moment, including that of my mouth, hurt like hell. The flame in my stomach continued to grow in size as my legs became increasingly numb. I gulped down as much air as possible before I spoke, "Everything."

"What hurts the most?" Alice asked. I jumped in surprised, startled at the sound of her voice, although I welcomed it.

I tried to determine what hurt the worst whenever I was struck with the sudden realization: I couldn't feel my legs. Panic rose in my throat and my voice, already hoarse, rose a few octaves higher. "I-I-I can't feel my legs!" I cried. "Edward, I can't feel my legs!"

"It'll be all right, Bella, I promise." Edward's musical voice made my head spin. "Just stay calm."

"Is there anything else?" Carlisle questioned.

The sudden urge to cough itched in the back of my throat and I tried to push it down, but found that I couldn't. When I finally won the battle against the itch, I muttered, "My stomach hurts." I gulped down as much oxygen as I could, but my lungs burned in protest and I trailed off into a hacking cough.

Something tangy filled my mouth and, almost immediately, I knew it was blood.

The rest of the scene played out before me as though I had a front row seat to the opening night of the tragic play.

A shudder passed through me before I locked gazes with Edward, completely forgetting that Carlisle was in the room with us. "T-t-there was a shard of glass in my stomach. It must've lodged itself in my torso whenever the crash happened. I asked you to pull it out, but Carlisle said that you had to pull me out of the car first to see what damage had been done."

I licked my lips, my eyes flickering to Carlisle, who pointedly averted his eyes from us and focused on the paintings that hung on the wall behind us.

"I-I-I remember asking you to-."

"Bella, please." Edward cut me off, his tone desperate. His eyes were watering against and iron hand on my heart tightened. His nostrils flared as he took several deep breaths. "Don't bring that up. I'm begging you." He brought my hand to his lips, kissing each of my knuckles softly. "Please."

I nodded my head and he kissed my hand again, giving yet another painfully tight squeeze.

"I don't know what happened after that…" I trailed off, turning my eyes to Carlisle, knowing that Edward wouldn't tell me, since it was not only painfully obvious what happened, but his emotions would overtake him. I was just starting to get him to open up to me; I couldn't let him close himself off from me.

Carlisle glanced at Edward and the latter nodded. He's giving the go ahead.

"Once you were unconscious, I tried to think of all the ways we could pull out the glass without damaging any of your internal organs. Even if we had removed the glass, you would've bleed out before we could've gotten you to a hospital and you would've died."

My eyes darted over to Edward. His head was turned away from me, but I knew his jaw was clenched and his eyes were screwed shut. I rubbed a small circle on the back of his hand with my thumb, hoping that it would bring him some comfort.

"There was only one other option and that was for one of us to bite you." Carlisle said, Edward flinching at the last string of words. He opened his mouth to speak, but Edward made an odd noise that cut him off. The expression on Carlisle's face changed and he took a small breath. "And I suppose you can determine the rest."

I wanted to press the matter, but knew that I shouldn't. Instead, I smiled softly at him. "Thank you."

"For what?" Edward and Carlisle asked at the same time.

"For saving my life." I stated simply.

Edward turned toward me, his mouth open and protest ready, but I silenced him with a look. His jaw snapped shut and he became the stone statue I had fallen so helplessly in love with.

The silence hung heavy in the air, no one daring to open their mouths. Carlisle seemed the least hesitant of us all, so I wasn't surprised whenever he was the one who broke it.

"Is there anything else you'd like to know before we move onto something else?" He asked, a kind smile on his handsome face.

It didn't take long for one to pop up in my mind, but before I could think about the answer I would receive, it flew out of my mouth. "How's Charlie? Is he all right?"

Edward stiffened beside me.

Carlisle froze.

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I blanched. "No," I breathed, shaking my head as tears blurred my vision.

I rose from the couch, dropping Edward's hand as though he was a leper and had just spread his disease to me. I forgot how to breath as I slowly backed toward the door.

"No," I muttered again, still shaking my head.

Edward stood, taking a few slow steps toward me, "Bella…"

"NO! Don't touch me!"

The look of hurt that flashed across his face only made my heart sink further into the acidy pit of my stomach.

Before I knew what I was doing, I wretched the door open and dashed down the hallway. I slammed into Jasper's stone chest, the clash deafening to my new, heightened sense of hearing. His eyes met mine and I knew that he sensed the emotion peril that coursed through my body.

"Bella?" He questioned, a brow arched in concern.

I pushed past him and flew down the stairs, nearly tripping over my own feet in my hurry.