A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts.

Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine as well.

Broken - Chapter 34

Doctor Emmett McCarty - Microbiologist

I hate ambulances. Abhor them.

Did you know they paint them white on purpose? Yeah, the blandness is supposed to soothe you, empty your mind and relax your soul and whatnot. That's why hospitals are white, lab coats are white, x-ray machines are white, etc.

Then those ambulance sirens come along and completely annihilate the entire laid-back vibe the bland color is trying to convey with their "Wee-ooh, Wee-ooh, Wee-ooh!"

I mean, on what world is that soothing? I don't care what color the ambulances are painted, once those sirens start blasting, my heart races and my pulse spikes. And don't even get me started on the damn flashing lights looking like fucking disco balls on steroids.

Okay. Some of you may not know this, but when I was a kid, my dad was…an abusive asshole. Not to me, no; to my mom. When I was really young, I'd lock myself in my room to hide from the screaming and the drama. When I'd hear the ambulance roll down the block and see the glaring reflection of its flashing lights on my windows…that's how I'd know things had taken a bad turn.

Oh, don't worry. That particular story ends as well as that kind of scenario can end. You'd be surprised at how quickly a six-foot-tall, two-hundred-pound coward, who finds it easy to square off against a five-foot, hundred pound woman, backs the fuck up when his now sixteen-year-old, six-foot-two-and-still-growing, one-hundred and seventy-five pound son, who's been lifting weights, boxing, and prepping for this moment for the past couple of years squares off against him. Pfft. Fucking bully left and never touched her again.

Yeah, told you we've all got some sort of backstory. Anyway, you know how you show a little kid a picture of a clown to scare it, to get it to scream its head off so you can laugh and laugh and laugh at it?

You all don't do that? Oh. Either way, my point is all you gotta do is show me a picture of an ambulance. The Doctor Emmett McCarty in front of you may not scream, but my little inner Emmito - like my mom still calls me - yeah, he silently might.

Anyway, I hate ambulances.

So, now you might wonder why I picked a career where I see ambulances somewhat often. It's my way of forcing my mind to see that ambulances aren't inherently bad; that the boogie man isn't behind every single one.

See? Told you I was both an armchair psychiatrist and a philosopher. I still hate ambulances though.

And that Christmas Eve, not only was I riding one, I was riding one that was rushing my colleague, my panita…my brother for all intents and purposes, to the hospital.

"Temperature, 104.2"

"Blood pressure, 140 over 90."

"Heart rate, 125 bpm."

"Respiratory rate, 34."

"Sp02, 90 percent. Bag him. Doctor Cullen? Doctor Cullen, can you hear me?"

While the paramedics went back and forth, I clenched my jaw against the ambulance siren's whirring, which was setting my teeth on edge. The mental image of the flashing lights above us made me cringe. Yet none of it...none of it was as terrifying as the image before me of one of the smartest, healthiest, and strongest dudes I'd ever known laid out on an ambulance stretcher, unresponsive to verbal stimuli. His bared chest rose and fell in short, labored spasms that made a joke of his tattoos if one knew what those tattoos stood for, which I did. They were the Celtic symbols for health and strength. Whenever Edward and I went out running, I'd mock them, taunt him by saying he only ever got those for the heads he hoped they'd turn - which they did. In turn, Ed would smirk and tell me to eff off. Same old, same old.

He knew I was just joking though. It's what I did...what I do. I'm a jokester, a clown because...well because it's how I got through my childhood, and Ed knew that too. Fuck, it wasn't some piece-of-shit virus's job to mock his tats now.

"Doctor McCarty, how long has Doctor Cullen been nonresponsive?"

Shaking all the other shit out of my head, I took a quick breath and focused.

"He seized for about fifteen seconds then lost consciousness. You guys arrived two minutes later, so about-"

"So about five minutes now," one of the other paramedics deduced.

We reached the hospital's emergency entrance a few short minutes later. Edward's gurney was swiftly wheeled down the labyrinth of hallways, while I followed, and the paramedics relayed all their triage info to the attending physicians.

"What do we have?" The question came from the head physician, a woman in about her late forties who'd met us at the entrance.

"Male, 35 years old, temperature upon initial check 104.2, now up to 104.8. Blood pressure steady at 140 over 90, heartrate initial check 125 bpm, now up to 130 bpm. Respiratory rate steady at 34, and Sp02 at 90 percent before we bagged him. The patient seized for fifteen seconds or so before our arrival then fell unconscious. He's been unresponsive to verbal stimuli."

"Any past history we know of?"

Here, I spoke up. "He's my colleague at the CDC, Doctor Edward Cullen. Healthy, no underlying issues."

"Good." The doctor in charge looked over her shoulder quickly. "Wait, this is Doctor Edward Cullen of the CDC?"

"Yes."

She blinked and faced forward. "Do we know when all this started?"

"He's had a bad cold for the past week or so, but nothing excessive, and he appeared better yesterday. I saw him last at about 6 p.m last night. He was supposed to meet me early at the labs this morning, and when he finally arrived, he was extremely disoriented, running a high-grade fever, and alternating between severe chills and heavy sweats. Then, he seized."

"History of drug use?"

"No way."

"Paramedics said the patient hasn't had his H5N2Av?"

"Correct."

We reached another set of doors, where one of the doctors swiftly swiped a card, and the doors opened. Everyone sprinted through, guiding Edward's gurney, but when I tried to follow, the doctor in charge spun around and blocked me.

"May I-?"

"I'm sorry, no."

"I'm a doctor." Well, a microbiologist, but I wasn't about to split hairs.

Doctor…?"

"McCarty."

She nodded once in acknowledgment. "You're part of the H5N2 antiviral team as well. I recognize the name. Doctor McCarty, I thought your group was the first to receive the booster – even before we did here in the hospitals?"

"The rest of us did, but...there were extenuating circumstances in Doctor Cullen's case."

She eyed me for a quick second before apparently deciding there was no time to grill me further on the subject.

"I'm Doctor Meyer. We'll take it from here, run tests and bloodwork, work to lower that fever, which appears to be the main concern right now, and confirm or refute what we all suspect here, one way or another."

Like I said, those of us who'd been around the block knew; we just needed to run the right tests before we could actually call a spade a spade.

"Thank you, Doctor Meyer."

"I'll assume you'll contact whoever needs to be contacted. His father is the chief cardiac surgeon in this hospital."

"Yes. Do you happen to know if Doctor Carlisle Cullen is currently in the hospital?"

"That I don't know." She swiped her card and spoke the rest with her back to me as she pushed the door wide open. "But you can have one of the nurses check for you."

"Thank you, I will, and please, keep me apprised..." I trailed off as the door shut in my face.

OOOOO

Before approaching the nurses' station, I took a couple of minutes to catch my breath.

"Be calm, Emmett. Cálmate, chico."

The thing is, usually, it was Ed's job to be the calm one, to relay the necessary information to the necessary people in a cool and collected manner. My Latino half made me too impatient for such niceties. Nonetheless, I must've managed to convey my request to the nurses in a coherent manner because they set out to determine Old Doc Cullen's whereabouts for me. In the meantime, I stepped away into a quiet corner, where I placed a protocol call to LeeAnn, our CDC deputy director, who was in London for the holidays.

"Well, it can't be H5N2, thank God," LeeAnn said when I'd finished imparting most of the events and information. "He was one of the first to be inoculated."

There was an awkward pause.

"Wasn't he?" she questioned at my silence.

Mierda, I cursed internally. "There were extenuating circumstances, LeeAnn, which prevented Edward from receiving the inoculation."

Unfortunately, LeeAnn wasn't as ready to accept that vague reply as had been Dr. Meyer.

"Extenuating circumstances? What extenuating circumstances? Edward is the lead for the entire H5N2 antiviral team. He should've been the first one inoculated. We all received the first supply of the vaccine. Why wasn't he inoculated?" With every ensuing sentence, her voice increased in volume and pitch so that by the time she was done, I was holding my cell phone about six inches from my ear. When again I made no reply, LeeAnn simply sighed. "This can turn into a nightmare in a million different ways. Look, it's evening here. My parents are elderly, and I won't break their hearts by rushing out of here now. I'll wish them a Happy Christmas in the morning and then I'll be on a plane out before noon."

"Okay. I'll see you then, Deputy Director."

"And Emmett?"

"Yes, LeeAnn?"

"You make sure no one, and I mean no one other than Edward's immediate family finds out that he's there, laid up in a hospital, and not inoculated with the booster he helped develop. Speak to the doctors attending him and make sure they know their patient's identity and diagnosis are to be kept confidential."

"LeeAnn, Edward was supposed to meet his girlfriend in Miami. She's probably worried by now, and she's going to want to know-"

"I don't care. Call her and make something up. Tell her he had to work over the holidays, and he'll call her when he can."

"LeeAnn, she'll never buy that. Ed would call her himself if something like that were to happen. Besides, they're in a serious relationship, and she has a right to know," I snapped.

"Doctor McCarty...Emmett, can you imagine the field day the anti-vaxxers would have with this if it got out that one of the top Epidemiologists at the CDC and the lead in developing the H5N2Av didn't receive the booster himself? I'm doing this for Edward's sake too, Emmett. Imagine how the director would blow her top if she found out about this?"

"Pardon my French, Deputy Director, but I don't think Edward would give two shits about any of that. Trust me when I say that the last thing he would want is for his girlfriend to be kept in the dark."

"Well, Edward's not capable of making those decisions right now, is he?"

What followed was a few moments of my fisting my hair in one hand, while I turned in a circle and silently called the deputy director every name in the book - in English and in Spanish.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear or understand any of that because I know you're upset about Edward. And Emmett?"

"Yes, Deputy Director?" I spat her title through gritted teeth.

LeeAnn sighed again. "Look, it's not just the backlash I'm concerned about here. I'm worried about Edward too, just like you are. But I'm in a position where I have to consider the big picture."

There went that fucking 'Big Picture," again.

"And ignore the minor details in the process?"

"Emmett, sometimes, those minor details have to be ignored in order to save the big picture. Make sure Edward receives top care in that hospital."

"'Course I will, Director," I drawled dryly. "'Course I will."

Ending that fucked-up call, I shut my eyes and hung my head. For a few minutes, I simply stood there, with my pulse throbbing and my shoulders rising and falling, rising and falling. What was it Ed had said that first night when he and Bella had finally gotten together, the night I'd called him thinking he was all by himself and up for a long work session, as he usually was?

'Em, the way I feel right now, I've got enough hope for the whole world, and I'm hopeful for things I never dared hope for.'

"Fuck," I expelled harshly.

'I much prefer short-haired epidemiologists who study the macro-picture over messy-bunned microbiologists who study the micro-picture.'

I chuckled to myself. "The girl's fuego, Ed."

I recalled the way they'd looked at one another that day at the labs when Ed brought Bella around to receive the booster in his place. Their mutual gaze had spilled over with so many emotions, it was honestly hard to look at them together. Poor Maria sure found it hard to witness, but that one needed something to get through to her, and again, that's a different story.

But it was hard for me to look at them too. Here's the thing though; it wasn't because I envied them, no. It was because watching them watch one another felt like an invasion of their privacy. I felt like a voyeur. That's how hugely devoted to one another they appeared.

And now, what? Now, I was supposed to call Bella and lie to her? Tell her that not only was Ed too busy to make his flight to Miami, he was also too busy to call her and let her know himself.

Bella picked up on the fifth ring, and that right there told me things because I could extrapolate too.

She was already panicky. If she'd been merely curious, she would've picked up on the first or second ring. Had she been vaguely concerned, she would've drawn in a deep breath or two and picked up on the third or fourth ring. But the fifth ring...a wait that long meant purposeful delay, which meant apprehension and fear. I could almost picture her staring at the phone, at my number appearing on her phone and knowing it couldn't be good as her shaking hand brought the phone up to her ear.

Yeah, we all have our fears.

The first words out of her mouth were low and shaky. "What's wrong?"

"Bella," I breathed, "I'm not sure what…he came into the office for some last-minute..."

Deputy Director LeeAnn? Besame el culo.

"He collapsed, Bella. We're in the hospital. They're running tests and bloodwork."

Bella started crying. "Can I speak to him?"

"He's unconscious."

"Oh, God."

For one long moment, as Bella's broken sobs filled the airspace between us, I did wonder if I'd done the right thing. Not because I disobeyed Her Highness the deputy director's direct orders. Fuck that. But because I didn't know how to do this. I wasn't the conveyer of information. That was Ed's job, and I had no idea if he would've wanted me to be so blunt with Bella. He'd always been so protective of her.

But wasn't that what had landed him in deep shit with her in the first place?

And that fever...104.8 and rising. That type of fucking fever fried brains. How could I, in good conscience, keep that from Bella?

It was a moot point anyway, not only because I'd already been honest about his condition, but because when Bella finally spoke, her voice sounded much stronger; decisive. Unwavering.

"I'll be there as soon as I can get a flight out. I was already at the airport waiting for him."

"Let me know your flight information. I'll pick you up."

OOOOO

When I returned to the nurses' station, the head RN informed me that old Doc Cullen had been paged and informed of Ed's admittance to the hospital, and he was on his way. What followed was one of the longest half-hours of my life, while I waited for word on Edward's condition. I called my mom and let her know there was an emergency with Edward, though I didn't go into H5N2 details. Mom was disappointed, of course, that I might not make it to Noche Buena, but she understood. She'd known Ed since he and I were college roommates.

"Emmito, te guardaré las sobras de lechon, okay papi? Don't worry. The roast pork leftovers 'll be here waiting whenever you're ready."

I chuckled at my mom's assurances that she wouldn't allow me to starve.

"It's okay, Mom. I don't know that I'll have much of an appetite...but if there are roast pork leftovers, yeah sure. Save 'em just in case."

Just then, old Doc Cullen and Mrs. Cullen rounded the corner and approached swiftly.

"Mom, I gotta go. I'll call you when I can."

"'Ta bien, Emmito. Don't worry about me. Your tias, tios, and primos will be here soon. We'll eat and party and listen to some Celia...but my thoughts will also be on sweet little Edwardsito. Give him my love when he wakes up."

"Thanks, Mom. I will."

Doctor and Mrs. Cullen approached me wide-eyed. Mrs. Cullen's eyes were glassy as if she was barely keeping the tears at bay. They questioned me simultaneously and with audible desperation.

"Emmett, what is it?"

"What happened to Edward?"

"He appeared at the CDC labs this morning half-dressed, disoriented, with a 104 plus fever, and then he had a seizure."

Doc Cullen's face went ghostly white. Mrs. Cullen clamped a hand over her mouth, allowing those tears she'd barely kept in check to fall freely.

Told you I didn't know how to break things gently.

Doc Cullen had to try a handful of times before he was finally able to speak.

"Do they know what it is, Emmett?"

"They're running tests, Doc, but..."

"It can't be the strain, can it?" Mrs. Cullen asked.

"Of course it's not the strain, Esme," Doc Cullen chided impatiently. "He's vaccinated against it just as we all are."

"Actually..." I shook my head.

They both stared at me with mouths agape. Doc Cullen shut his eyes for a moment and exhaled heavily before reopening them. "Why in the world not?"

Before I could get into my 'extenuating circumstances' short spiel, Doctor Meyer emerged from behind the ICU doors.

"Doctor Meyer." Doc Cullen breathed a sigh of relief as she approached us.

"Doctor Cullen, Mrs. Cullen, Doctor McCarty, I'm glad you're all here." Doctor Meyer's tone and features were unreadable, just as required from a doctor.

"How's my son doing, Doctor Meyer?" Doc Cullen demanded.

"He's in and out of a state of consciousness, but still very disoriented. His fever is almost 105, and that's our main concern at the moment. Fevers that high in adults can have serious and sometimes lasting effects."

"Oh, God," Mrs. Cullen aid in a strangled whisper.

"The high fever is causing the rest of his system to work triple-time, and we don't want him to have another seizure."

"It is the strain?" Mrs. Cullen asked.

"We're running tests, Mrs. Cullen," Doctor Meyer replied sedately. "We can't be sure until we have all the results, but..." She trailed off as her eyes flashed to me knowingly.

"He's regained some consciousness, though?" I asked.

"He comes in and out of it, but as I said, even when semi-conscious, he's highly disoriented. He tells someone called Bella that she can't get sick, tells someone called Tommy that it's okay?"

"Bella is his girlfriend," I confirmed, "but Tommy..." I shrugged and looked at Doc and Mrs. Cullen, who looked back at me blankly and shook their heads.

"Wait," Mrs. Cullen said. Her brow furrowed. "Could he mean...? There was a boy, Tommy, at the playground when Edward and I took JJ there a couple of days ago. The boy was sick. He coughed in Edward's face and got his phlegm all over him. He appeared really sick, but when Edward asked his mom if the boy had been inoculated she confirmed that he had."

My eyes met Doctor Meyer's. Then her eyes met Mrs. Cullen's.

"Do you have contact information for the boy and his parents?"

"No," Mrs. Cullen said, "but we have mutual acquaintances who might."

"Mrs. Cullen," Doctor Meyer said, "would you mind heading to the nurses' station and having them assist you in getting ahold of Tommy's family?"

"But I'd like to see-"

"Mrs. Cullen, as soon as Doctor Cullen can receive visitors, I'll come find you. But right now..." she shook her head. "The best way you can help him is by helping us contact Tommy's family. If he's contracted H5N2, not only do we need to ensure he's being taken care of, but it'll help us with your son's diagnosis as well."

"Okay," Mrs. Cullen agreed in a broken voice. She took a step then turned right back to us. "Bella."

"She's on her way, Mrs. Cullen," I confirmed. "Her flight should be landing in a couple of hours."

"Okay, good. I'll go try to find Tommy."

"And I'll call Alice," Old Doctor Cullen said. "She needs to know her brother is sick."

OOOOO

A couple of hours later, I met Bella at the airport.

I remember the first time I saw Bella. I recalled thinking she was of the highly pretty sort - though her forehead was constantly etched in a frown, her eyes permanently narrowed as she took in the world with little trust. She was still going through her rough phase back then.

The next few times I saw Bella, after she and Ed made up? Holy hell. She was my buddy's girl, so I won't stress it too much. Plus, he was my bro, so to me, Bella was my sis. But yeah, they made a good-looking couple, though that's not why Ed fell in love with her; I knew that much. She was all smiles, and she had a contagious sort of happiness in her voice; it lit up a pair of the darkest eyes I'd ever seen; eyes that were hard to look away from when you spoke with her.

When I picked Bella up at JFK, it was hard to look at her eyes again, but this time, it was because of the haunted look in them. It was downright alarming. She said not one word as she saw me and sprinted toward the airport exit. I had a car waiting, and as soon as we took our seats in the back, I could tell how her entire frame shook almost as badly as Ed's had that morning.

"How is he? Has he woken?"

I shook my head, wishing I had better news for her, and wishing I knew how to do this information conveying thing as well as Ed did. But I didn't. So I gave it to her straight.

"He's in and out of consciousness. He has an extremely high fever, Bella."

"Let's go," she said.

We sped off, and as the car's driver twisted and turned through New York City's late afternoon traffic, Bella shot one question after another at me.

"What does he have, Emmett?"

"We're not exactly sure, but-"

"He caught it, didn't he?" Her nostrils flared. "The strain. He gave me his booster, and he caught it."

"Like I said, we're not sure, Bella. It might be that."

"Why the fuck didn't he just get another booster?" she spat, furiously now.

"The first batch went quickly, Bella. We were waiting for-"

"He should've never given me his- or…" She hung her head and fisted the top of her hair. "I don't know," she choked, sounding almost as lost as Ed had sounded that morning. "I don't even know now."

My brow furrowed, but then I assumed she simply meant she realized that Ed would never regret giving her his booster, even if it meant he was lying in a hospital bed now, fighting off the worst form the fucking virus could've taken.

"Look, I get his reasoning. I do. You were going to be traveling, and even if he suspected there might be a shortage, he wanted to make sure you were okay."

Big fat tears rolled down her cheeks. "But he's such a health freak. How could he get so sick so quickly?"

This is where honest, incautious, and tactless me put on full display why I was never asked to be the public face of the CDC.

"Bella, Edward has been going non-stop for months – for years even. He's healthy, yeah, but he pushes himself to extreme limits, and a body, regardless of how healthy it is, can only take so much before it protests. I was hoping that now, with you…" I held her gaze meaningfully, "that you'd get him to slow down."

"And instead, I was off doing my own-"

"Hey!"

I cut her off because that wasn't where I'd been going. It wasn't a guilt trip.

"Don't you dare. You know if Edward was here, he wouldn't even want to hear you finish that sentence."

She nodded, but I could tell the guilt was still there. Just then, her phone vibrated.

"Rose, Edward's sick." Bella went into a hasty yet accurate description of the events. "They don't know yet. His fever is high- Rose, I know as an empowered woman, I'm not supposed to live for a man, but if anything happens to Edward," she choked.

And while she listened to the reply on the other end, I set myself a mental reminder to let her know, at some point later, that male or female empowerment had nothing to do with it because Ed would lose his mind without her.

Thankfully, whatever this Rose person replied seemed to calm Bella down.

"Thank you," she breathed into the phone. "Rose, I'll call you and let you know what's going on, okay? Oh, all right. Sure." Bella held her phone out to me. "My friend Rose wants to speak with you."

"Emmett McCarty," I said as I took the phone.

"Hi, Emmett," the woman on the other line replied. "I'm Bella's friend, Rose. I just wanted to check and see if Edward can see visitors?"

"Hi. Yeah, I'm Edward's friend, and we're not sure yet."

"All right, can you just keep my number and let me know? I'd like for Bella to have someone there for her right now."

Ooh, Deputy Director LeeAnn would just love this. Not only was I bringing Bella to the hospital, but Bella was bringing friends.

Oh, fuck it.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure I will. She's the most important person in the world to my-"

"Vera, I'll ask," Rose said to someone in the background. "Look, I'm pregnant, and my wife is worried about my being around-"

"I've got to agree with your wife; if you're pregnant, it's probably not ideal for you to show up at the hospital, especially when we're not even sure yet…"

Bella sighed audibly. When I looked over, she had her eyes on the windows to the world as it sped by in a dizzying whirl of gray.

OOOOO

A half-hour later, Bella and I stepped off the elevator and made our way around the maze of corridors to the private room Edward had been given, courtesy of being old Doc Cullen's son. We bypassed security, thanks to more of Old Doc Cullen's pull. Despite her petite stature, Bella easily keeping pace with me.

"Are we almost there?" she asked anxiously as we turned one way and then another. When I assured her we were almost there, she sprinted ahead. "Which way, Emmett? Which way?"

"Take a right at the end of that-"

"What are you doing here?"

Holy. Fuck.

Holy fuck. Of all people. Of all scenarios we could've encountered as we made our way to Edward's room, this was probably the worst one. And it was likely the one that would get my ass kicked if- no, not if, when Edward regained his senses because how fucking long had he been trying to prevent just this situation: another encounter between his crazy-ass sister and Bella?

As Alice stalked toward us...toward Bella like a lioness measuring the strength of her prey, Bella's steps faltered for a fraction of a second. Then, she resumed her quick pace. And yeah, some childish and admittedly chauvinistic part of me compared them for a sec.

One was what much of the world would consider a blond and blue-eyed beauty who'd been born with every first-world, material privilege.

"I said what are you doing here, Bella? Only family is allowed here."

And despite all that supposed beauty, despite all those undeniable privileges, it had never been enough for little Alice. The whys, again, are beyond the scope of this parable but suffice it to say that in her blind desire for more, Alice had not only stolen from Bella everything Bella once held dear, but she'd pushed Bella to the brink of her mental fortitude.

And because sometimes Life thinks it's a funny fucker, it didn't end there.

"Bella, ignore her," I said, walking close behind her.

Alice's eyes flashed furiously toward me. Yet Bella kept walking.

And that right, in its own way, could've been the sum of this entire story. The parable. The gist. Because those three words defined the latter woman, the dark-haired one whose beauty wasn't the kind that society ingrained in us to see, yet when you stopped and saw it...damn. Bella kept walking. Through everything, she kept walking. And though I knew that, of course, this moment couldn't be easy for her, Bella kept walking.

"Bella, you don't belong here. You need to go."

"She belongs here more than you do," I hissed. "Bella, don't listen to her."

"Emmett, mind your business," Alice spat. "You don't speak for my brother."

"And you fucking do? Pfft. Please."

And all the while, Bella kept walking - right up until Alice blocked her way.

"Alice, I don't have the time nor the patience for your bullshit, so get the hell out of my way. Which way now, Emmett?"

"He's just down this-"

When she bypassed Alice, I breathed a silent sigh of relief...until Alice grabbed Bella's arm.

Bella spun around, shaking her off.

"Fuck," I spat under my breath as both women squared off.

"No," Alice said. "No. You don't get to see him."

When she replied, Bella's voice was a deadly calm Alice should've taken note of.

"I'm going to tell you this once and only once. You touch me again, you'd better be ready to lose a limb. Emmett, let's go."

When she turned and started walking again, I moved beside her and guided her with a hand on her shoulder. And that should've been the end of it, right? But when had little Alice Cullen quit while she was ahead?

"Just who the hell do you think you are, Bella, coming up here to see my brother?"

Bella and I kept walking. "We're almost there, Bella."

She nodded, eyes straight ahead.

"My brother might be stupid enough to think you really care about him, but I don't buy it!"

Old Doc Cullen and Mrs. Cullen stepped out of Edward's room at the end of the hallway.

"I know this was always about getting Jasper back!"

"Alice, enough," Mrs. Cullen snapped.

But when had little Alice Cullen ever been taught to respect and listen to her stepmother?

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone!"

"Damn it, Alice; your brother's unwell, and we're in a hospital," old Doc Cullen hissed - trying to reprimand his daughter about two decades too late.

Alice kept going.

"That's why he could never get you out of his head. Because you're a sneaky, little-"

"ALICE!" Doctor and Mrs. Cullen yelled in unison.

But Bella had begun retracing her steps right around 'Because you're.' Alice got as far as 'bi' before Bella's backhand connected with her face.

The entire hospital, even the machinery, fell silent.

For a few seconds, Alice's face remained angled sideways, her long blond hair covering her cheek. When she straightened and blew away the strands, a wide handprint covered her face.

"Your brother, the only man I've ever really loved, is sick, so you chose the wrong fucking moment because I can't even think right now. When Jasper came looking for me, I gave him ten minutes."

Holy fuck.

"You, I'll spare thirty seconds," she continued. "I'm going to repeat to you what you said to me last year when you broke the conditions of the restraining order. If you want to continue this, there will be consequences, one way or another. You're delusional, and you need help, and if I were a better person, I might feel sorry for you. But I'm not, so I'm done with you."

And with that, Bella spun around, walked toward Doc and Mrs. Cullen, and I expelled every ounce of energy I possessed in trying not to fist pump the air on my buddy's behalf.

Hasty greetings followed, while out of my periphery, I saw Alice just stand there, where Bella had told her a thing or three.

"Bella, hi, I'm Esme. Edward's mother."

"Hi." I could hear the impatience in Bella's tone. She didn't want introductions. She wanted Edward.

"Bella, I'm glad you came," old Doc Cullen said.

Bella nodded. "So, what is it? What's wrong with him?"

"We're waiting on the bloodwork," Doc Cullen said.

"His fever is the worst part," Mrs. Cullen added. "It's so high. He was hallucinating before, calling out for you, Bella. Now, he's just still again. I'm so glad you're here. Come on."

She curved a hand around Bella's shoulder, but Bella didn't budge. And when Bella spoke, all the calm that had been in her tone when she set Alice straight was now gone. Instead, her voice trembled.

"So...we don't know what it is?"

"No, not yet."

Again, Mrs. Cullen attempted to guide Bella toward Ed's room. And again...Bella stood her ground.

"I can't go in there," she whispered.

Esme gave Bella a look that displayed the confusion we were all suddenly feeling.

"Bella, don't worry," I rushed to reassure her. "There are scrubs and masks we can wear to take pre-"

"I can't."

"Bella," Doc Cullen said quietly, "I'm sure if my son sees you he'll feel much-"

It would've been a winner of a statement, one of the most accurate statements Doc Cullen had spoken in a while, had Bella allowed him to complete it.

"I love him with all my heart and soul," she choked, "but I can't take the risk."

No one spoke. No one moved until little Alice Cullen slithered over to her dad.

"Daddy, can I go in and see Edward?"

"Uhm…yeah," Doc Cullen said. "Yes, Alice. Come on, let's go prep you."

As they walked into Edward's room, Esme squeezed Bella's arm and offered her a weak smile.

"I'm going to go in with them, okay, Bella? Thanks for coming."

Bella nodded, and she and I were left alone in the hallway.

I'll admit I was...beyond disappointed. I was disheartened. Frustrated.

Fucking indignant on my buddy's behalf.

I mean, the guy spent two years hopelessly in love with her - emphasis on the hopeless; at least, as far as he thought. In that period of time, he pushed away every other woman who showed interest in him - and mind you, there were a few, some of which he never even noticed. The man even remained celibate for God's sake. He gave Bella his anti-viral vaccination and perdoname and I'm sorry, but for what? What had it gotten him? Not that Edward would've ever expected anything in return for either loving her so unconditionally or for giving her his booster, but come on man. Let's be real. He was paying the price for both.

Had I imagined the way she looked at him? Was the devotion I thought went both ways just a one-way figment of my too-romantic, hot-blooded Latino imagination? The devotion was there on his end; that was unquestionable. The truth was, had it been Bella with fucking Ebola or with some unknown disease that was one-hundred-percent contagious and absolutely uncurable, Ed would've been in there with her in a heartbeat, shoving away every obstacle, human or otherwise, that tried to stop him. Had I only hoped she'd do the same? Why did she even get on that plane then? Did all those little details truly mean nothing?

Was the big picture really more important than the small details?

Was there no such thing as the love I thought I'd voyeuristically witnessed between them?

And for one quick moment, I blamed my Cuban grandmother for making me watch all those Spanish telenovelas with her when I was little. Apparently, they'd turned me into a fucking hopeless romantic, made me believe in things that didn't exist; in some bullshit 'the one,' and some fake-ass 'feliz para siempre.'

I drew in a deep breath and remained as stoically impassive as I could manage - for my panita's sake.

"It's all right, Bella. Everyone has certain fears they can't overcome. Come on." Carefully lifting a hand to her shoulder, I meant to guide her to the nice and safe waiting area. "Let me take you to the waiting area, and then I'll come back and-"

"Emmett, can you please do me a favor?"

For Edward, for my bro, who would love her no matter what?

"Sure, Bella."

OOOOO

It was a...strange favor. But at least, Ed might hear her voice, see her image on the screen - which she could've done just as well from Miami. Perhaps it would reach his subconscious somehow, somewhere, and help him fight the fever.

"You ready?" I asked once I was properly situated in front of Ed's bed and holding the phone screen to face him.

"Yes."

I, like the rest of Ed's family, had my scrubs on, though none of us wore our masks. No, we didn't have the official confirmation, but we knew what it was, and we'd all been vaccinated against it, including Bella. When Bella caught sight of Edward's nonresponsive and flushed face, she whimpered. That, combined with the quiet sobs did make me feel bad. I supposed it was a difficult sight to drink in. Meanwhile, Ed's mom sat silently, holding his limp hand. Alice stood behind Esme, looking awkward and unhappy to be there. Carlisle read Ed's chart and took his vitals.

"All right, Bella, go ahead."

"Edward?" she said. "It's me, Bella."

Edward didn't stir.

"He comes in and out of it," Mrs. Cullen explained. "Keep talking to him, Bella."

"Edward," Bella said, "Edward, I'm here."

Edward shifted slightly under his covers and expelled a low moan. Other than that, he showed no signs of hearing her.

"His fever is still high, Bella," Esme said.

"Edward, it's really me. I'm here. I mean, I'm not in there, and I wish I could be. I swear I do."

Alice snorted.

"Edward, listen to me. I've got something important to tell you. I wish I could tell you in person, but…" Bella paused for half a minute. "You and I, we made a promise to one another a few weeks ago. We said we wouldn't keep things from one another anymore, not even if that meant discussing them through something as impersonal as a phone or a laptop."

She stopped as we all watched for some sort of reaction, but there was none.

"Keeping things from one another has caused us so much grief. But we've been sharing, haven't we? We've been apart for a few weeks, yet even through something as simple as a phone call, I get to share my days with you, my thoughts, and all my realizations."

Again, we watched and waited, yet Ed showed no reaction, no sign that he was aware of Bella's screentime presence.

"Here's another realization, Edward. This one literally hit me just a few moments ago. Ready?"

For the first time all day, I could hear a smile in Bella's voice. She waited as if allowing him an opportunity to respond.

"Edward, I've realized I don't care that your mom made a choice I'll never understand."

Girl had balls in some areas; I'd give her that.

Esme looked up, startled, but then simply sighed and returned her attention to Edward.

"I don't care that your dad made a choice I'll understand even less."

Old Doc Cullen ignored her.

"And I don't care that Jasper will always be your nephew's father or that your sister has issues."

Here, I'm sorry, but I fucking chuckled while Alice scowled at the phone in my hand but wisely kept her mouth shut lest Bella deliver another backhand later.

"I don't care about any of it. In fact, I'll embrace them all as part of our dysfunctional family, maybe a bit more dysfunctional than most, but…whatever."

Now, I couldn't help snickering.

"And I can be around them or not be around them. It doesn't matter. I've realized how little all of it matters in the grand scheme of things because…" Bella drew in a series of uneven breaths. "Are you ready for this? It's an analogy."

Edward made no reply.

"In the grand scheme of things, you and I are Chaos. That Day was our Chaos – our huge, random yet universe-altering event. But then, within our Chaos, a butterfly, no less important for its diminutiveness, flapped its wings, and Edward, its effect will be life-changing. A beautiful, perfect stone has been cast in our pond, and it's going to ripple far and wide."

Underneath a thin hospital-grade, white, and bland sheet, Ed's chest rose and fell erratically. But then...had I imagined...had he just...sighed? I looked around to see if anyone else noted anything, but Doc Cullen was staring at the machines, Mrs. Cullen was pushing back a stray lock of Ed's damp hair, and little Alice was inspecting her manicure.

"They're shitty analogies, I know," Bella said over the phone screen. "I should've chosen something much simpler than the Theory of Chaos to compare-"

"Chaos…butterfly…"

Esme's breath hitched wildly as her son spoke in a whisper. Doc Cullen and Alice both stopped what they were doing to gape.

"Holy shit," I mouthed.

"Bella…" Edward breathed, "you're pregnant."

OOOOO

Excuse me, I've got something in my eye. I mean...in my throat. Let me just clear it a bit...okay. Okay, I'm good.

Anyway. Do you guys remember what I said at the very beginning of this little parable-

Oh, come on, give me a break. Yeah, it's a bit longer than a little parable, but don't you guys think it was worth it?

And that right there is the point. Sometimes things take longer...are harder than we initially thought they'd be, but the pay-off...man, the pay-off...

Like I was saying, do you guys remember what I said at the very beginning of this long-ish parable here?

It was this: Everyone always makes such a fuss over 'The Big Picture' as if there'd even be a big picture without those minuscule yet massively important micro parts, that collection of micro-images all pieced together.

Why did Ed see what he saw when he was a kid, and how did it affect the man he grew to be?

Why couldn't Bella have kids with her husband, and why was Ed even there on the day of her breakdown?

Afterward, why did those two seemingly star-crossed people resonate so powerfully with one another?

Why did Bella fall in love with the brother of the woman who betrayed her?

Why did Ed fall in love with a woman who stood for everything that was unresolved in his past?

Why did their relationship have to wait until Bella was in a good place both physically and emotionally?

Why did Ed stop wearing super-heavy-duty-condoms?

Come on, that is an important one!

Okay, fine, fine. Why did Bella's publishers decide to send her on a book tour in the middle of an outbreak one phase from becoming a pandemic?

Why did Ed give Bella his booster?

Why would Bella leave behind her book tour to get on plane to New York with nothing but the clothes on her back, be willing to risk losing everything...everything except the one thing neither she nor Ed would ever risk?

So when we got to that 'Aha!' moment, to that "So that's why all that went down' moment, it was one small detail, the nucleus of this here set of seemingly random events, which would forever tie all those other moments together.

OOOOO

I laughed.

While Mrs. Cullen shrieked with joy, and old Doc Cullen patted his son's leg, and Alice bitched and moaned about the unfairness of her life...and Ed just smiled, eyes still closed, but his breathing somewhat less labored, perdoname and I'm sorry, I roared my ass off because if that wasn't just the best ending to that entire scenario, then I don't fucking know what would've been.

"Yes, Edward." Bella finally confirmed it, though we knew. By then, we were all extrapolators. If nothing else, that contagious sort of happiness that was once again in Bella's voice would've given it away. And yeah, I owed her an apology for my kinda wicked thoughts a bit earlier.

"Yes, baby," she said to the room at large. Yet she spoke solely to my buddy. "Yes, I'm pregnant."

OOOOO

Oh, wait, wanna know what made it an even better ending?

They made me godfather.

A/N: Thoughts?

*Happy Thanksgiving to all, even those outside of the U.S. Life can be a bitch, but every once in a while...it makes sense.*

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