A/N: You all are amazing! 76 reviews already. That's more than I expected. Thank you so much twihardchick29, sheeiur22 and pmbs1992. As always, a very special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW for doing a wonderful job. There are still a few more chapters to come. I don't think I'll be able to post them all before 2012, but I'll do my best!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

Twenty-fifth Chapter…

…where time won't pass

Carlisle was worried. He hadn't heard from Edward, but he'd heard from Rosalie. Twice. The first call had been to ask him if he knew anyone in New York, who could throw the doctor who wanted to kick Bella out of the ER off her high horse. Unfortunately, Carlisle had never worked at the hospital his children had taken Bella to and his contacts in the area were, for a city as big as New York, sadly limited. He knew of a small private hospital the director of which owed him—or rather, as he thought, Carlisle's 'father'—a favour. Carlisle had been about to call Rosalie back to tell her that she could take Bella there when her call had intercepted his, this time to tell him that Bella had flatlined. Apparently she was fine now—as fine as one who'd been dead for over a minute could possibly be—but that was bound to change.

Carlisle hadn't wanted to tell Esme any of that, but she'd overheard every word of what Rosalie had said, of course. She was sitting rigidly in her seat now, staring out the window at the ground that came closer with every passing second and not talking to him. She was lost in thought, worrying. They still had two hours of running ahead of them and there was no telling what would await them in New York. Two hours was a very long time. He wasn't especially worried about his children. They knew how to take care of themselves. Besides, how much trouble could they possibly get in? But Bella… On some level he'd been worrying about her constantly ever since Edward brought her home. Carlisle had been a doctor for so many years, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how the human race had survived this long. They were so fragile, so easily destroyed. He'd never had to worry about that with his other children and was glad that the date for Bella's transformation was set now, for after the honeymoon.

Carlisle smiled despite himself. He'd wondered, of course, why Edward had asked him to 'borrow' the island he'd given Esme a very long time ago, given that he and Bella couldn't have a real honeymoon. Now it made much more sense, though. I guess I'll have to talk to her about it, he thought. She doesn't know how dangerous it is.

If she didn't die in the next few hours.

The smile faded instantly. Carlisle hadn't expected things to proceed to quickly. Yes, Edward was right, there was always a chance that a detached bone fragment worked its way into the bloodstream and travelled to any place in the body. But it was a very slim chance. Emmett called Bella a danger magnet and he was right. She was.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Esme said suddenly.

"When does anything ever happen the way it was supposed to?" Carlisle asked, glad she was speaking to him again. Her silence always made him uneasy.

"That's not the point." Esme's eyes were on her hands in her lap. "If they hadn't gone to New York…"

Carlisle never interrupted Esme. He always cared about what she had to say, but this time was different. They'd been over this before. Alice's decision to go to New York would save millions of life. Yes, he wished Bella hadn't got hurt, but… But a broken bone was nothing compared to so many lives being wiped out.

"It was good that they did," he said firmly. "It will be okay."

"I hope you're right," Esme whispered. "I really do."

What do you think? Please review!