'Abandon all hope ye who enter here'. My mother's voice as she read Dante's Inferno is one of the few memories I have of her before my parents got divorced. Maybe it wasn't the light reading 5 year-olds should be listening to but if there was one thing my mom and my dad agreed upon was that sheltering me with fairytales was not the way to go. Hence Dante's Inferno.

My mother's voice was all I heard when I entered my patient's room and found her abusing boyfriend with her hand between his, apologizing profusely and promising he would never do it again. She was crying but I could see the acceptance on her face. I had only left for 5 minutes for a bathroom break.

"What is he doing here?" An annoyed voice asked me and I gulped before turning around and answering Dr. Cullen.

"I'm so sorry sir, I only left for five minutes…"He didn't even let me finish.

"Dr. Swan, all I asked of you was to stick around" He clenched his jaw so hard he was practically chewing his words out. "And call me if he came back. Now look at them." I did. They were hugging, I felt nauseous. "The next time she probably won't survive it." He left and I stood there staring at the couple. And to think her name is Hope.

Legally, we couldn't do anything, she had approved him as one of her visitors as it was her right and since we had no physical proof of the aggression nor her testimony, the police couldn't do much either. She would be free to go in less than a week, back to her scumbag boyfriend and we would have to wait for when she came back and try to put her back together. And it was all my fault.

I left the hospital. My shift had been over 5 hours ago and there was no need for me to stand guard anymore. I entered my truck and sat there for a couple of minutes considering my options and, as if we were somehow connected, my phone started ringing. It was Emmett.

"Hey baby, I tried reaching you earlier I thought your shift was over already,"

"Yeah I'm…" Oh God no. "I'm just about to…" My voice caught and I let out a sob.

"Bells? Hey what's wrong? What's going on, are you okay?" I could hear the concern in his voice but I couldn't answer him. I was trying to control my emotions but apparently, once the dam had fallen I couldn't stop. Nope, not embarrassing at all.

"Bella talk to me. Are you at the hospital? I'm coming right over, I'm at my place I'll be there in 5."

"No!" I managed to get out. "It's just…" More sobbing. Oh my God when is this going to stop? "It's all my fault." I sniffled and managed to actually stop crying.

"Bella what are you talking about? I'm on my way there."

"No Emmett, seriously. Please. This is embarrassing enough as it is." My sobs had been reduced to sniffles. I had to calm down in order to calm him down, he coming here was the last thing I needed.

"Fine. Then come to my place. Please, I still don't know what's going on and you are worrying me."

I considered saying no but my other option was to go home and wallow in self-pity. Which actually didn't sound half-bad.

"Bella, please. Don't shut me out." It was almost a whisper and it made me feel even worse. I could hear his concern and even a little bit of fear in his voice. I caved.

"Fine, I'll be there in ten."

"I'll be waiting." I hung up and started my truck. I couldn't believe I had exploded like that. I behaved just like a child with no self-control at all. I had screwed up but crying was not the solution. The problem was that there was no solution at all. Maybe crying is what we do when we abandon all hope.

I arrived at Emmett's and saw him waiting for me at the parking lot. He led me to one of the parking spots and opened my door as I turned the engine off. Next thing I knew I was in his arms as he hugged the life out of me. I didn't mind, I felt calm for the first time in the entire day.

"Thank God you're okay, I thought something had happened to you, the way you were crying…" He grabbed my face and stared at me. "Let's get inside so you can tell me everything." I nodded in assent. He took my hand and we walked towards the elevators. We stayed silent all the way to his apartment. I didn't know what to say, I was still feeling embarrassed for my outburst earlier.

We entered and he led me to the living room. It was a little bit of a mess with his laptop and books all over the place. He had been studying.

"I'll be right back." He kissed my head and headed to the kitchen. I was regretting coming here; he would think I'm pathetic. Who bawls her eyes out because she screwed up? I'm a grown up for God's sake! And he had to interrupt his studies just to take care of the crying baby. Oh God.

"Here." He handed me a cup of tea and sat next to me. "Now tell me what happened."

"It's absurd Emmett, really, nothing huge, I just overreacted. I'm sorry I worried you." He took my chin and made me raise my head to look at him.

"Bella, even if you broke a nail I want to hear about it. In the months I've met you I've seen you moved by things but never teary-eyed. Now please tell me what happened. Please." Again with the please, as if I could deny him anything when he pouts like that. He must have taken classes from Alice.

"A young woman was brought to the emergency today…"I told her all the story, including how I had screwed up, which almost brought me to tears again.

"So basically, you just called at the wrong time. Really, I'm fine. As you can see I cried like a baby because Dr. Cullen scolded me. That's it. See why I didn't want to say anything?" I was sure this would be the part where he realizes dating an intern was the worst decision he had made and asks me to leave.

I looked at him and I could see him frowning as if debating the best to throw me out so I grabbed my purse and stood up.

"Wait, where are you going?" I gulped the knot in my throat and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm saving you the trouble of asking me to leave. I know this is not what you want Emmett, this are the kind of problems you dealt with when you were and intern. You don't have to go through them again because of me. I think maybe we should reconsider this whole thing." He looked dumbfounded at first but he recovered quickly.

"Are you insane? Where is all of this coming from? Two days ago everything was perfect Bella. What are you talking about? Come on, sit down. I think I know what's going on." I hesitated. "Sit Bells, please. You can leave after I've said my piece." I sat down again. I didn't know where all of this was coming from but I could feel the truth in my words, his life would be simpler without me in it.

"First of all, about what happened today. I don't think it's stupid and I don't like the way you're blaming yourself for everything. First of all, my uncle knows this kind of thing happens all the time. You're a human being, you have human needs. He can't expect that you'll pee yourself just to keep watch over a patient. Besides, he had told you not to be alone with that creep, if you had been there when he appeared who knows what he would've done if you had denied him access to the room?." He grabbed my hand. "But I don't even think that's the main problem here is it?" I looked down at our intertwined hands.

"It's all my fault Emmett. Next time she probably won't survive it, he's right. And that's on me." I hadn't realized that's what I had been thinking all the time until I said it. That woman's life had been on Dr. Cullen's hand literally, but then, the responsibility of keeping her safe, even from herself, had been on me and I had let her down.

"How can it be you fault that she wants to go back with her abusing boyfriend? You know how the cycle of abuse works."

"I know. But maybe if she had had a little more time to put things into perspective, reconsider the life she was living, the condition he put her in, everything. And that's time she didn't have because of me. I should've called someone to watch over her when I left." At that, he nodded.

"Maybe that would've been one way to solve it. I still don't think this was your fault at all. I know it and my uncle knows it. He probably was just frustrated because he has seen this happen repeatedly and it has personal significance for him for reasons you'll probably know one day, but it's not my story to tell. The thing is, he probably was a little harsher than usual but he knows how this works Bella, and you'll see it a thousand times so really, don't put the blame where it doesn't belong. If there is someone to blame in all of this, is the abuser. Trust me."

I did. I trusted him to tell me the truth. I trust him so much it scares me a little.

"Now, all of this nonsense about 'intern problems' and 'shit I don't need'. What was that? 'Cause I'm going to need a little more explaining." I blushed and looked down, really, he must think I'm mad by now after this night.

"It's just…Emmett." I decided to put my big girl panties on and just tell him the truth. "I really care about you. A lot more than I thought would be possible in so little time. But we're in different places in our lives. You'll be an attending in a couple of years while I still have my whole residency ahead. My problems and your problems are different as well as our priorities." He held his hand up.

"Let me stop you right there. Let me tell you my priorities and then we'll see." I nodded. He began counting with his fingers. "Number one: Finish my residency and pass my boards. Two: Become an attending, probably at this hospital, maybe another one but definitely here in New York. Three: Once I've adjusted to the new responsibilities I would like to buy a bigger apartment so that one day, when I decide to have a child everything in my life will be ready for that. Now, are those priorities so different from yours?"

"No. But that's the thing, I don't want to be the thing that takes part of your time and keeps you from your priorities. Look around you, you were studying and now you're not. Why? Because I can't keep my emotions in check. Maybe you're right, maybe I'm being unfair with myself and the patient would've gone back to that guy anyways, but because of something that doesn't have anything with you at all, you are here, consoling me instead of studying for your test."

"Why are you doing this? You just said you care for me. I do too. You know I already know this shit. Are you looking for an excuse to ending this Bella? If you are, tell me why. What's got you so scared?"

And that was the thing. I didn't know how he could read me so well. And that precisely was what scared me.

"You." I regretted immediately when I saw his face. He looked so hurt. "Not scared of you per se. I know you would never hurt me intentionally or anything. I swear. But the intensity of this. It's like I told you Emmett, I have never felt for someone so deeply in so little time." He squeezed my hand which I hadn't realized was shaking a little.

"You can't run away from your feelings Bella. I think what you're most of scared of is failure but you can't have happiness if you don't take some risks. You must know though, that I'm 100% into this." He looked me in the eyes as he told me all of this and I could feel my barriers coming down. "I asked you earlier and I do it again. Please, don't shut me out. It kills me when you do that."

I kissed him and tried to pour into the kiss everything I had been feeling, all my doubts but also all my caring and passion.

"I'm sorry." I murmured after a couple of minutes.

"You don't have to be sorry. All I ask is that next time you talk to me before taking any rash decisions and don't keep this things inside of you festering ok? Talk to me and we'll find a way around whatever is going on." I nodded and hugged him. He moved me so I was practically in his lap and we stayed there, just holding each other. I listened to his heartbeat as it lulled me to sleep.

*Three months later*

The sound of his heartbeat reassured so I had climbed in his bed for the night and slept using him as my pillow. I woke up and for a second everything was well with the world. Then I remembered, we were not at his place, we were at the hospital. Emmett wasn't merely asleep and my eyes were raw from crying. I looked up at his face and caressed his cheek. "Please be ok." I whispered, before standing up and heading for the bathroom. I needed him to wake up.

Hi guys! I was planning on updating last week but my internet died. But I'm back! I hope you like it, I promise we'll have a little more fun next chapter before we found out what happened to Emmett. Any guesses? I'm really excited! More than one hundred followers! Thank you soo much. I'll try to update in two weeks. Next week it's definitely out but maybe the one after that I'll be able to give you some BellaxEmmett love. Maybe it¿s time for an Emmett POV. What do you guys think?

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