Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 11 Promises

Carlisle POV

The night passed slowly, Charlie and Jacob alternating every 2 hours for the 15 minutes of visitor time allowed in the ICU. As a physician, I was allowed to check on her at will but at this point, her condition was being monitored and it was Edward I was checking on. I watched him in disbelief.

I have walked this earth over three hundred and fifty years, and I had never seen anything to equal Edward.

He never left her. He stroked her hair, he wiped the fluids and blood coming from her road rash, he checked the amount of blood collecting in the drainage tube inserted into her lung thru the incision in her chest. His vampire nature was completely in check, he was not holding his breath but breathing in and out at regular intervals quite naturally. His only concern was her well being.

"How are you doing it, son?", I asked as I put my arm around his shoulder.

"Doing what, dad?"

"Controlling yourself. She is your singer, how are you managing to do this?", I wordlessly asked him, truly amazed at my son. He looked at me, eyes black and burning. He had not hunted since he had found mountain lions in the Rockies and I knew it.

"I got over it."

"Edward, you're a vampire son, you got OVER IT? How is that even possible?", I thought.

"Dad, I thought I lost her", he spoke softly to me, "I felt for months the pain of living without her. I would shy away from ANYTHING that could cause me that type of pain again. I could not possible hurt her."

"In our ninety something years together son, I have never been prouder of you than I am at this moment!", I said with my hand on his shoulder and venom pooling in my eyes, " I'll be outside."

Days passed. Her condition remained critical. Charlie never spoke to Edward. Emmett threatened to "pull his vamp card" for being able to be around all that blood and not react. Jasper lifted moods and calmed whenever possible, and Esme, Rosalie and Alice tried desperately to comfort everyone, especially Renee and Charlie.

Bella had made it thru that first night after her surgery, being rushed back to the operating room once to stop some internal bleeding they had apparently missed. Edward had heard it, the tiny tear, the spraying of blood with every heartbeat. I had brought the blood pressure and other symptoms to Doctor Riley's attention to get him to open her back up. We couldn't just tell him we "heard" it after all. But I was able to convince him using parameters he would acknowledge.

It was tense in the waiting room during the second surgery. Edward would not budge from the door to the surgical suite until she had been moved to recovery. I knew why he was waiting there, of course. For all appearances he was nervous and anxious and concerned for her, and he was all those things. But what my immortal son was actually concentrating on was reading the minds of the surgeon and nurses tending to Bella, listening for any hint that he needed to act, any indication that a decision needed to be made. He was intently listening to her heart beat, now his lifeline. Any indication that that heartbeat was about to faultier and my son would have slaughtered the entire staff here in his efforts to get to her.

He would change her.

Then.

On the spot.

I knew he had made his decision, Alice had seen it. He would not loose her, and his mother and I and his siblings would make no effort to stop him. He needed her more than he needed blood. They would either both survive, or both die, there would be no in between and I would not loose my son. As many centuries as I had hid myself among humans and as hard as my family tried to manage the facade necessary to live among them, we were not human. Bella was Edwards mate, and we would not stop him from saving her, regardless of the consequences and the danger of our exposure. We would be there to do damage control and come up with a plausible cover story to manage the collateral damage that would ensue.

Charlie sat with his elbows on his knees, his hands wringing and clasping together, Sue by his side trying to comfort him and reassure him Bella was going to make it. We all desperately needed that reassurance.

Alice was unable to see. Too many decisions were still being made and there was a cloud around things to do with Bella, especially when Jacob was around her. Though she had visions of Bella here, in the hospital with Edward, the visions disappeared when Jacob was near her and we could not figure out why! Jasper and Alice had gone to shower and change, I had gotten everyone hotel rooms across the street for our stay. Appearances had to be kept up after all, and Charlie, Sue and Jacob actually needed a room as would Phil and Renee when they arrived.

Jacob had delayed heading for the race in Pennsylvania, electing to stay here with Bella.

Alice and Jasper arrived showing Renee and Phil the way to the waiting room where we were all gathered, and they had brought donuts and pastries.

After a few words with Charlie and introductions to Sue, he brought her over to speak with me, presumably about her medical condition.

"Renee", I greeted her shaking her hand,

"Dr. Cullen," she said with a surprised look on her face. Apparently when Charlie had called her, he neglected to mention that we were all here at the hospital as well and she seemed surprised to see me.

"Carlisle, please, and you haven't met my wife, Esme."

Esme hugged Renee lightly as I turned and gestured to the rest of my family, "And these are our children Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice."

"Carlisle, I certainly remember you from Bella's accident in Phoenix. Seems you are at the right place at the right time when my daughter needs you, thank you for that! How is she?"

I explained her condition to Renee and what had been done so far, lung re inflated, spleen removed, internal injuries and bleeds repaired, compound fracture reduced and set, and that she had a machine breathing for her and was in a drug induced coma to allow her body to repair itself. I didn't know how much she really comprehended, but I walked with her into the ICU to see her daughter. She stopped at the door to her room, from the sight of her daughter lying there or from the surprise of seeing Edward with her, I didn't know.

EPOV

I had been with Bella for the last 24 hours, having been separated from her only during her surgeries and while she was in the recovery room. She had held her own during the night, the bleeder that had been missed during surgery had been repaired and she seemed to be progressing. I held her hand, constantly talking with her when no one else was there.

I told her I loved her. I told her of my search for her, how glad I was that I had found her, how much I missed her, and how sorry I was that I had ever lied to her. I told her how good she smelled, how soft she was, and how sweet her skin tasted when I kissed her lips. I told her she was good for me, that I was sorry I took away her right to choose, and that I would never do it again. I told her I wanted her in my world, that I would love her till the end of time. I told her I would change her myself whenever she wanted me to.

I heard Renee coming down the hallway with my father. Her thoughts were all over the place. When she entered the room and saw Bella, she froze - scared to death. She glared at me dumbfounded, not understanding why I was there. A thousand memories flipped through her mind in a moments time.

Charlie telling her about finding Bella in the woods where I had left her

Bella not eating, not talking

Discussions with Charlie about putting Bella on medications

Flying to Forks to bring Bella home with her to Jacksonville

Bella screaming and refusing to leave Forks

Nightmares, Bella had horrible nightmares every night

She walked to the bed to gingerly reach out and stroke Bellas hand, carefully avoiding all the wires and tubes running in and out of her daughter. She was crying as she leaned over and kissed her forehead and gently stroked her hair. I left to join Carlisle in the hallway to give her some semblance of privacy with her daughter.

We were discussing possible reasons for Bellas lack of progress in the last few hours when Jacobs thoughts virtually assaulted me as he made his way down the hall towards us. I tensed with rage having read his thoughts as he stood by us to deliver his news.

"Dale called," Jacob shook his head and explained, "Dale is the guy we have been working for that owns the race team. Anyway, they went over what was left of the bike after the wreck, and the bike was tampered with. Someone cut the metal reinforcement on the wheelie bar."

"I'm sorry Jacob, I don't understand what that means", queried Carlisle.

"It means it was deliberate. The bike is so powerful and the rear tire spins so fast, the front tire will rise up and flip the bike backwards from the intense power the rear tire is generating. Wheelie bars stick out behind the bike and stop that from happening, and someone CUT thru the bar, causing it to break. The bike was sabotaged!"

"Jacob, who would do that?", I asked.

"That's what they are investigating. I know it's hard for you to believe, given how clumsy Bella is on two legs, but she is an amazing rider!"

My mind flew thru all the bumps and bruises Bella always had and how many times I had caught her before she fell when we were walking to our meadow. She often bumped things and tripped at home and school. I could not imagine EVER letting her on a bicycle, much less a powerful motorcycle. RACING? Was he insane for allowing that, was she insane for doing it . . . or did she just not care, as I did, about living any longer. Jacob;s mind was clear. He truly believed she was a skilled rider and he was proud of her abilities. Was he insane?

Jacob continued, "Anyway, she won all the races at the last meet in Phoenix, and she had won everything up till the last race day before yesterday. Any other team could be responsible for wanting her to be out of the race!"

Jacobs mind told me that he was intent on getting to the bottom of this accident, and that there would be violence if he was the one to discover who had tampered with the bike. He had unwavering confidence in Bella's skill as a rider and he was certain, even before the facts had proved it, that it was not rider error that caused the crash. He was certain of something else, as well, he loved her. She had been living with him for 3 months. Living with him. Oh My God. I searched his mind further.

Friends . . . all she had allowed was friendship. I nearly staggered in relief. He had wanted more, his thoughts were very clear on that, but she wouldn't allow it. She had told him she was broken, that her heart didn't work right anymore. I wondered what that meant. She had nightmares every night and every night he was the one in bed with her to hold and comfort her. My thoughts alternated between murderous rage - the desire to tear him limb from limb for being in such intimate circumstances with her and gratitude that he was there to comfort her. In an instant, none of that mattered.

Bella's heart had stopped.

Carlisle and I bolted for her room. Renee stood by her bed in shock, unable to move and white as a sheet. Nurses instantly removed her from the room. We instantly assessed the monitors and began moving machinery to get it out of the way and removed her covers. Nurses and the on call arrived with a crash cart, telling me that I had to leave the room, but saying nothing to mCarlisle. I backed to a corner, out of the way and Carlisle seemed to put himself between their line of sight and me, effectively allowing them to forget my presence and turn their attention to Bella. The ventilator was still functioning, but her heart had stopped. They injected adrenalin directly into the muscle, and prepared the paddles to shock her. Dr, Riley arrived and took over, administering the first shock. Nothing. The monitor still flat lined. No heartbeat. "Clear", He said again, and placed the paddles to her chest. Her body jarred upward, but there was still no heartbeat.

My mind raced. The moment I had dreaded most in life was here, and I had only seconds to react. Carlisles' mind screamed at me to wait, to at least give them a minute or two to try and restart her heart before I jumped in. It was change her, or let her die. I would never let her die.

I was sorry for what this would do to my family, that it would probably expose us, that I might have to kill innocent people who would get in my way in their honest effort to help her. It didn't matter, I would not loose her, and her heart had to pump the venom thru her body for the change to take effect. For her to become a vampire. I could not allow her heart to stop, for this to continue. I had to pump her heart myself with the strength of compressions only an immortal was capable of, and I had to take her blood and inject my venom. Now. Carlisle would not stop me. He would not try.

Carlisle backed up to stand at my side as though he was reading my mind. "She'll need venom from both of us, just to be sure," his thoughts screamed to me. He was tormented with how to possibly render everyone in the room unconscious without killing them, and if we had the time to bother. The curtains were pulled, so passers by would not immediately see the carnage. He was there for me, supportive - he was going to help. His mind screamed at me again,

"In 30 seconds, agreed?"

I was tensed as though to spring, just as the monitor stopped beeping and her heart rhythm appeared on the screen. I starred at it - if I had a heart, it would have stopped.

"Merciful God, thank you!", Carlisle's mind screamed. He had never killed a human but he stood shoulder to shoulder with me, and we would have saved Bella, regardless. I was truly blessed to have this man as my dad.

Carlisle POV

She improved after that, she was taken off the ventilator later in the week, and she was scheduled to be moved to a room on the step down unit later today. She still had not regained consciousness. Doctor Riley had thought it best to keep her in an induced coma to allow her to heal.

Charlie was becoming increasingly annoyed at Edwards constant presence. It was as though he saw her gaining strength and was beginning to feel she would recover and was having second thoughts about her seeing Edward. He viewed Edward as the cause of all of this and Edward, of course, read his thoughts and that fed the guilt he was already feeling for the things that had happened since he had left her.

Everyone had gathered in the waiting room this morning, the sedation had been discontinued last

evening, and Bella was in a private room. Well, suite actually. Edwards doing. He would have nothing less than the best they had to offer for her. The doctor was in with her and the anticipation of her waking up was palpable.

"Stay calm", Alice had said to Edward. They were walking towards the door to her room just as Charlie came out. "Edward", Charlie said. Edward visibly stiffened, already having read the thoughts Charlie was about to disclose. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for Bella to know you are here. I don't want her getting upset, I don't think it would be good for her. It nearly killed her when you left and it's bound to be hard for her to see you again!"

Alice put a hand on Edwards chest as if to restrain him as he took a step towards Charlie, a murderous glare on his face. This was not going to go well. There was no way ANYONE would have been able to keep Edward away from her at this point. Edward would have slaughtered the entire floor if need be, and I knew it.

It was Jacob who spoke up. "Charlie, I don't like him any more than you do . . . but she does. She loves him. She is alive right now because of him and I think she knows he is here. Somewhere deep down, she already knows he is here, Charlie. Let him in. Please, for her."

Charlie's expression was that of a man being burned at the stake. He turned his stare from Jacob to Edward and said, "If you hurt her, I swear I'll kill you myself. Do you understand?".

Edward nodded, and slipped quietly into her room.