Chapter 1: Nothing About This Makes Sense

Carlisle POV

The hospital was busy as usual but something was different about tonight. In the pit of my stomach, I felt that a storm was about to arrive, and then it happened. We got the call about a woman in critical condition heading towards the hospital. We all head outside and waited for her arrival with bated breath. Finally, the ambulance came and we quickly maneuvered her onto a stretcher and toward the direction of the ER.

On the way there, the paramedics, as usual, tried to give us as much information about the patient as they could. "Patient's name is Meredith Clark; 26 years old. Her six-year-old son Benjamin claims that she was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of her husband, but she has injuries consistent with an animal attack." My eyebrows scrunched together as my mind took me back to the dispatcher call a few minutes ago. Animal attack? That doesn't make any sense… the dispatcher mentioned nothing about her being found anywhere near the woods. "As you can see, she has numerous cuts and bite inflicted wounds, but our main concern is her spinal injury. She's able to move/feel the top half of her body, but not anything below the waist. We also suspect that she has a facial fracture, as well as multiple broken ribs."

Once we reached the ER, we carefully transferred her onto a bed and began assessing her injuries. As the head trauma surgeon, I took charge of this case. "I need you to page the head of orthopedics, as soon as possible and book an OR."

All of a sudden, a young voice could be clearly heard from the hallway, "Momma! Need to protect momma!"

At that point, we realized that her son had ridden with her in the ambulance. It took everything we had to keep our focus on his mother and not on comforting him. Poor kid. He probably doesn't understand what's going on right now… I flashed him a small smile before asking a nurse to take him into the waiting room.

However, right before the nurse could get to him, the patient quietly started to call out for her son. "Benji? Benji, is that you?"

He stood rooted in his spot and looked at me with wide eyes, waiting for me to grant him permission. I nodded in his direction and he immediately ran to her bedside. "I'm here to protect you, Momma. No one will hurt you now that I'm here."

With the remaining strength she had, she held onto one of his hands and said, "Benji, I love that you want to stay to protect me, but for the doctors to do their jobs properly, you can't be in here." He seemed a bit upset at hearing that, but it was completely understandable. "And I know you're probably angry and confused, but everything will be fine. You just make sure to listen to…-" She glanced at me and trailed off, as she didn't know my name. "Dr. Carlisle Cullen, ma'am."

She mustered a small smile and continued, "You just make sure to listen to Dr. Cullen and do exactly as he tells you, alright?"

He nodded and looked back at me with tears in his eyes. "Dr. Cullen, if I promise to be a really good boy, can I stay with momma?"

I walked over and put my hand on his back. "Benji. I know you want to protect your mom, but I can't let you stay with her. And for that, I'm truly sorry, but I can assure you that she's in the best hands possible. We'll take good care of her, I promise."

He looked back at his mom, to confirm with her if I was telling the truth or not. "Look at me, Benji." She said in a quiet, but firm voice. Once their eyes connected, she lightly squeezed his hand and said, "The doctors and nurses will do everything in their power to make sure nothing happens to me, so don't you worry, okay? "

He nodded reluctantly and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I love you, Momma."

"I love you too, Monkey. Go and try to get some rest, I have a feeling we'll be here a while." She said jokingly as she wiped a few tears that managed to slide down her cheeks.

With a serious face, he walked back over to the nurse and said, "I'm ready to go now. I gots to rest, so I can take care of momma when you guys are done fixing her."

The nurse smiled at the sincerity of his words. "That sounds like a fine idea. I know just the place."

Right before they turned the corner, he waved at her one last time. "Bye, Momma. I love you."

Once the door closed she whispered, "Bye, Monkey. I love you too."

And with that, we went back to business and went back to prepping her for surgery. In the midst of the chaos, I walked over to her bedside and said, "You should consider yourself lucky that your child cares so much about you. He seems like a charming young man. Are there any family members that would be able to take him in for the time being?"

"His sister is with my parents, but I would prefer for him to stay close by if that were possible." Then her face lit up with happiness. "I won the jackpot with him and his sister, they're good kids. And as far as Benji is concerned, I'm sure I'll have to chase all the girls away with a stick when he gets older."

I chuckled and was about to reply when I noticed the head of Orthopedics trying to get my attention, he gave me a thumbs up and I nodded to let him know I understood. "Everything is prepped and ready to go, so we'll be taking you up to the operation room in just a few moments."

She nodded and allowed her body to sink back into the pillows. We quickly rolled her bed to the OR and immediately had them administer the anesthesia as we scrubbed in.

Time passed quickly as night blended into day. I stood next to my nurse on duty as she handed me the documents of my patient outside of the recovery room, she asked quietly " Looks like the surgery went well, what do you think about the new discovery you found?" I whispered back calmly " Considering what she had to endure during the last 24 hours, let's just hope she takes the news well."