A/N: Hey guys. I'm so sorry for the late update. I promise the next update won't be as long. I hope you guys enjoy chapter 3.


CHAPTER 3:

The street was still primary empty, with a few stragglers. Slowly, people had started to gather around us.

"Move back everyone. The ambulance is on its way. Just keep moving." I needed a clear view of the road, but people continued to step in front in me, trying to help. I had everything under control. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

The pool of blood kept growing. Why did it have to be the day that Edward stayed late? He could have at least helped me carry him to my car so we could have already been on the way to the hospital.

Then I heard the sirens, the noise was very distant but it was comforting nonetheless. People began to hurry, as if the ambulance was on the side walk and not the road. Finally, I saw the flashing red and blue lights accompanied by a paramedics truck. I sighed in relief.

The man's head was laying against my torso. His breathing became slow and even as his eyes closed. At first I assumed, that it was just an extended blink.

"Look at me," I yelled. "What's your name?" I had to keep him thinking.

"Jacob." The word was slurred.

"That's great, now, Jacob, where are you visiting from?" As the words left my mouth, his expression changed. His eyebrows pressed together and his eyes squinted.

"How?"

"I have to be very observant in my career." A faint smile adorned my lips. Any response, now, was a good response.

"So, where are you from?" I repeated myself.

"A small town in New Mexico." His lips turned upwards, almost forming a smile.

"Well, you're a long way from home." Looking down at him, his shirt was covered int he crimson liquid and the dish towel I had was soaked. My eyes stared intently into his, I was sure he would go into shock soon. The paramedics rushed towards me. Four men and one woman were dressed in neon yellow jackets.

They lifted Jacob off of me. Once his weight was gone, I got up quickly and begged to come with him. I had all the information that the police needed, but they weren't going to just bring me along for the ride.

I had to make sure he was okay, I owed it to him. Earlier, one loud scream, one word a second earlier could have given him a head start, to not get stabbed. An idea floated in my mind.

"I'm his girlfriend. I need to make sure he's okay. He's visiting from out of town," I told the woman. She looked skeptical, but as I formed false tears, she accepted my lie. Lying wasn't difficult, it never had been. Don't get me wrong, I was an honest child, but I found lying easy. Especially with my emotions, everyone always seemed to believe me, no matter how preposterous my lie. It deemed extremely helpful in the field.

But now, I was thankful to be in the ambulance. I wiped the salty tears off my face and focused on the scene around me. They hooked him onto an IV and some other equipment that I hand't recognized before. The noise in the van made it hard for me to concentrate.

My phone rang and instantly the false sadness was gone. Well, I was sad that this poor stranger got stabbed, it was unfair, but I had no connection that made it personal.

"Bella?" It was Edward. I had promised to make dinner tonight.

"Hey Edward." The woman looked up at me again. Clearly, either it looked like I was cheating or that I had lied before. Time for another show.

Another cool tear ran down my check as I delivered another perfectly constructed line, "Jake got stabbed. I saw everything." My voice cracked at the end.

"What the hell Bella? Are you on some type of drug? We don't know a Jake."

"I'll explain it later, I promise. Meet me at the hospital. Okay?"

"I'm coming just to make sure you haven't lost your mind." Hopefully the siren in the background would give him some clue that I was telling the truth. He hung up.

The woman now seemed disinterested in the conversation. Thank god. I stared silently at the stranger in front of me. A pit of guilt formed in my stomach. By now, I should have been used to people getting hurt, it happened to Edward and I on a daily basis. But there was something more about this stranger. Maybe it was his face. It was even more peaceful and kind now that he was unconscious. For some reason I needed him to be okay.

We arrived at the hospital and the paramedics pulled him off the gurney. Rushing into the ER, I had to stay behind. They needed to put him under anesthesia and then fix everything that the knife had caused. He wouldn't remember me regardless.

Gradually, I made my way into the waiting room. Edward was leaning against the dull green walls. His hands running through his bronze tinted hair. Once he saw me, his calm expression faded and a mask of confusion and anger took its place. He grabbed my elbow and pulled me outside.

"What the hell? Why are you here? And the phone call, what was that about?"

"Okay, calm down." His hand let go of me and the fire in his eyes calmed down.

I restarted, "I was sitting on my terrace when this girl was walking by our apartment. I got bored so I kept watching her, she was very interesting. And then she headed to this guy and stabbed him."

"That still doesn't explain why we're both here."

"Well, I ran down stairs and called the ambulance. I felt bad just leaving him on his own, he's from out of town." I bit my lip. While that was partly the truth, the reason was more about this pull that the stranger had on me.

"You confuse me sometimes. We see this everyday, you did your best. Let's go home."

"No, when he wakes up he'll be all alone." If the situation was switched, I would want someone there for me.

"He won't wake up until morning. It's getting late and they need to fix him up." With that thought I agreed to go home.

Stepping into Edward's car, the familiar scent of home washed over me. We sat in silence, I was too wrapped up in the events from earlier to start an engaging conversation. But Edward kept shifting his weight slightly, tapping his fingers in the console in a rhythmic method. The noise kept disturbing my thoughts. I eventually got so frustrated, I broke the silence I so desperately wanted to continue.

"Do you have a question or something?" The unintended acid reached my tone.

"Yes, I'm still wondering if you've lost your mind."

"All I did was help someone, I don't think that's considered crazy."

"Bella," he took a deep inhale, "I had to convince you to leave. This stranger has some effect on you that I don't understand. We deal with people injured all the time, I've never seen you like this."

"I don't know what to say Edward, everything I did was a reflex. And, if I new he was from here with family, I wouldn't care so much. And maybe…," the anger rose in my voice, "maybe I feel guilty." We stepped out of the car and started to walk up the stairs.

"Guilty?" He was no longer upset with me.

I paused for a long time, my legs lethargically climbing the stairs. "Have you ever considered that if I was a minute faster that he wouldn't be in the hospital now? If I had seen the knife or looked harder I could have given him time to defend himself. But, I was too—too late." My eyes filled with real tears this time. My lungs screamed for oxygen, but I knew the moment I breathed, everything would come out. I tried to repress it, I really did, until his eyes met mine. I couldn't hold on any longer.

I tried to wipe the tears away, but they kept coming. It was like I had been suppressing my feelings for such a long time and they finally got to be freed. I hated this. I hated looking weak. Edward was my partner and he already knew everything about me, but I didn't want him to see me like this.

Then, he did something unexpected. Once we were up on our floor, he stopped and didn't unlock the door. Instead, he extended his arms out towards me. I came closer and embraced the hug. Usually, we made no physical contact with each other, except when it was needed in operations.

His arms comforted me better than I expected. I thought that there would be an awkward twinge, but it was natural.

"It wasn't your fault," he whispered into my hair. It started another wave of sobs. My salty tears were covering his shirt, but he still never let go.

A few minutes passed before I calmed down. He released me and I said a quick thank you. Somehow he knew exactly what I needed. We both went into the kitchen and started making dinner. And then I did the usual, acted like it never happened.

We ate the food quietly, neither of us wanting to speak about earlier. Once we finished, I cleaned up and headed for my room. Edward was laying on the couch watching television. His eyes were closed, clearly he had accidentally fallen asleep. Walking over there, I put a blanket over him before I headed to my room.

I sat staring at the ceiling. So much had happened and I couldn't think of a way to rationalize everything. Watching my fan spin in circles, my eyes eventually closed and I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke in a peaceful state of mind. The image of Jacob at the hospital floated back and caused my heart to beat faster than normal. I had to go see him.

The clock read 6 in the morning, and I grabbed my phone and wallet and slipped it into my jacket pocket. Edward was awake, cooking eggs for breakfast. My appearance made him angry again.

"Bella, are you really going back to the hospital?"

"Yes, he needs someone to be there for him."

"I just don't understand you," his fingers pressed on his temple.

"You don't have to this time. I'll be at the office on time." I closed the door, because I know the longer I stayed in there the easier it would be to not go to the hospital. But it was the right thing to do, right?

Driving, I became anxious to see his face. You're clearly going crazy. Eventually, I made it to the concrete parking deck and headed into the placid white building.

I walked into towards his room. The wall was lined with medical equipment, one of them beeping to keep track of his heart rate. The rhythmic pulse increased when my foot entered the room. His eyes were open, something that I wasn't expecting, it was still early in the morning.

"Hey," I said, my voice sounding uncomfortable. Did he remember me? Probably not.

"Hi," his voice was gentle and not as confused as I would have expected. Making my way to the false leather chair, I made an effort to smile.

"My name is Isabella, I was with you when you got stabbed." He winced.

"I remember,"his eyes closed briefly, clearly this was not the fondest memory, "you saved me."

"What?" How could he think I saved him? Because I was foolish and unobservant, he got stabbed.

"You're the one who called the ambulance and held pressure on the wound."

"Yeah," my tone hinted at my confusion.

"If you didn't do those things, I would have died from blood loss." His deep brown eyes bore into mine.

"Anyone would have done the same," my face was starting to blush. I didn't feel like I deserved his praise.

"Well, thank you," his hand extended toward mine. My heart jumped. I took his hand. It was much warmer than I had anticipated, but it also caused a strange feeling in my torso.

Glancing at my watch, I knew I had to leave soon, but the longing to stay with Jake was very compelling. This would probably be the last time I would see him. No, this can't be the last time. I focused on the warmth in my middle telling me to stay.

"Do you have to leave?" His expression dropped and with that so did my mood.

"Not for a few more minutes." I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, "Tell me something about yourself Jacob." Saying his name made me realize that I had already started using a nickname: Jake.

"Well, yesterday I was stabbed by a random person and…," his smile brightened, "and a beautiful woman helped me stay alive. Currently I'm wondering if she's free this Friday so I can repay her for saving me."

"Friday sounds nice." A surge of excitement rushed through me. My smile lifted as our eyes connected again. A round of butterflies hit my stomach walls. Hoping that this moment would last longer, I refused to look at my watch. But the constant ticking brought me back.

"Ugh, I've got to go, but I'll see you soon." I practically skipped out the door.

"Bye Bella." The way he said my name was absolutely perfect.

Rushing to my car, I couldn't help but think about the situation. I hadn't dated in years, the job didn't really allow time for it. Even before that I never really said yes to dates and if I did, I did extensive research before saying yes. But here I was, agreeing to a man I just met.

Walking into the office, I definitely had a perk in my step. Edward sat in his desk across from mine; a cup of coffee sitting in his right hand. His eyes were glued to the computer in front of him.

"So how was the hospital?" His tone showed that he wasn't angry with me, but more so confused. His fingers drummed on the keyboard in front of him.

"Actually it was pretty great. More than great." My response made him look up. His green eyes observed my positive body language. "Actually, I'm going on a date this Friday."

"With the stabbed guy?" I nodded. "Whatever makes you happy Bella."

"I think this will make me happy."

Throughout the day, I couldn't get that smile off my face, even though we were discussing murder. My thoughts kept drifting toward Jacob and Friday. I flipped one of the pages on my desk while replaying the moment that we met. Although it wasn't happy, it was adrenaline filled and it left me with a longing to check up on him. The memory caught my attention. Stabbing, a woman, the stabbing was in the relatively same place as…as… Bianca Lewis, the victim from 2 days ago. Wait.

"Edward?" It was practically a yell. My fingers frantically flipped through the pages and then moved to the keyboard.

"Yeah?" He stiffened, it had been hours since we last spoke. We usually worked in silence. My heart fluttered.

"I think they're connected." My eyes widened. How could I have not seen it earlier?

"What's connected?"

"The stabbings, except for one of them I intervened and he didn't die." With a spark intake of air, he turned towards the computer and started typing.

"That means she's still here. We've got to dig deeper." Knowing that we would have to question Jacob later, I was excited yet unnerved. I didn't want to reunite under this circumstance, I would try my best to make sure we didn't have to ask questions too make him relive the event.

"Her family owns a business a little ways outside of town and she had a boyfriend who lived pretty close to her."

"Had a boyfriend?"

"He died a week ago." A shiver went down my spine. She was clearly angry about his death and taking it out on unsuspecting civilians.

"Split up?" He would be opposed to the idea, but we had to work fast before someone else died.

"Fine," he gave in. Logic would always win him over. "I'll take the restaurant, you take the boyfriend." He swung his brown jacket on and put his gun in his belt. His eyes probed me with anxiety. "Be safe Bella."

"I will. And the same goes for you." I forced a smile, putting a knife in my pants pocket and my gun in my bag. "I'll call for back up if something seems abnormal." He nodded as he walked into the elevator.


A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review :)