Posted 2019-12-26: It's lovely to hear your responses to this story. So glad you're enjoying this.

Many thanks to chayasara for her fine beta work. Any mistakes are my own.

~ Erin

Bella found herself waiting on one of the clinic doctors again. Sue had volunteered to take Sarah for her while she kept her appointment.

"Go for a coffee after, Bella. We'll be good for a bit. Maybe you can even see a friend?"

And by "see a friend," Bella surmised she meant not one of the Cullens.

Who would she see, though?

After her last, disastrously failed attempt to go to a baby group, she hadn't been able to attend again, stymied either by weather or Sarah's growth spurt that required near constant nursing. Her school friends were all at university, none of them back in town, and that left . . . Alice or Leah. She wasn't up for Leah, and Alice, she was pretty sure, was away hunting.

"I'd really enjoy a coffee and book for a bit, but let's meet up at twelve, okay?" She knew that she'd be uncomfortable enough by then to need to nurse or pump.

So she sat waiting, distracting herself from her discomfort with her book.

When a knock came at the door, she was surprised. Most doctors just walked in. "Come in," she said softly.

"Hi there," a woman's soft voice called, opening it slightly and then sidling in so Bella's privacy was preserved. "I'm Dr. Tokich, and you must be Isabella."

"Bella," she said, correcting her.

"All right, Bella. Looks like you have some stitches to come out today and a pap smear, yes?"

Bella nodded, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. "Sorry, I was expecting Dr. Carr or Dr. Cullen. Are they away today?"

"No," she said. "I'm the new Dr. Carr. He's moved on to a new job."

Bella swallowed.

No, she thought, the rush of denial trying to protect her. They wouldn't.

Yes, another part of her mind said. Yes, they would—very much would.

"Oh," she said, and swallowed.

The rest of the appointment passed uneventfully, the new doctor a little concerned at Bella's sudden verbal disengagement but chalked it up to a new face and the tiredness of early parenthood.

When she was done, Bella found her way to Carlisle's office.

She knocked loudly, wondering what she would do if he weren't there.

Carlisle could hear her heart pounding and opened the door. "Bella?" he said, "this is a surprise. How can I help you?"

She closed the door behind her and asked her question abruptly. "What did you do to him?"

"To whom?" he asked.

"Dr. Carr. What did you do?" she demanded.

"Nothing, Bella."

"Don't lie," she said through clenched teeth.

"I'm not. Truly. He received an offer for a teaching position at a medical college in the Bahamas. He left to take it."

She narrowed her eyes. "What part did you have in his leaving?"

Carlisle looked at her levelly. "I might have redirected an offer meant for myself towards him and recommended him for it."

"And?"

"His incompetence will speak for him, Bella. He'll likely be fired."

"And what will that have accomplished?" Bella imagined him setting up shop somewhere else, hurting other women.

"By then, a number of complaints, recently discovered under the desk of one of the clerks here will surface. They will not be pursued, but they will be enough for the hospital to give him the most damning of references. As his only place of practical employment, it will make it nearly impossible for him to practise again. His best chance will be to get hired as an associate faculty member at a third-rate medical college where he will have to keep his nose very clean."

He watched her process this and waited.

"Oh," she said. It seemed . . . so restrained.

She had imagined him broken and buried somewhere. The vague sense of disappointment made her feel uneasy, and she shook her head against it.

"You could still file a complaint," he said quietly. "It would give weight to the . . . less substantial ones," he said, fingering a piece of paper. "You weren't the first. It would be nice if you were the last, though."

She felt a bit stunned, thinking about all of it.

"Sure," she finally managed.

He gestured to the seat in front of his desk and pulled out a file from his cabinet. "Here," he said, and handed her a pen.

She filled in the forms, asking for little help except for some of the specific procedural information needed.

When she was done, she went to hand them to him.

"No," he said, "you need to hand them in directly, by yourself. For good reason."

This made sense. "Right," she said, standing to go.

"Thank you," he said. "I know it's hard to make an accusation about someone in a position of authority. I appreciate you doing this. It makes it easier for others, too."

She nodded and left, pausing only to hand the papers to a clerk. She mumbled, "It's a complaint," as she put them in his hand. She hoped they didn't wind up throwing it away.

DISCLAIMER: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.