AN: * I do not own Twilight or the characters within this story, nor the songs.

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" I feel a million miles away
Still you connect me in your way
And you create in me
Something I would've never seen"

Be Somebody – Thousand Foot Krutch

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Carlisle ✦ Be Somebody ✦ Amnesia

The minutes rolled into hours, the hours into day and night. They were the most gruelling seconds of my life; watching her pale form breath gently but not wake. Day three was about to begin, and our team had decided to pull her off the sedatives. We had agreed that if she had not woken within eight hours, we would have to transfer her to the city hospital for an MRI – something I really wasn't fond of as it'd mean she wouldn't be under my watchful eye if she had to stay. Alice of course had jumped at the chance to watch Bella in my stead if it were to be the case.

She had assured me that would be okay. That it'd all work out.

But part of me wasn't so sure. I usually trusted wholeheartedly in Alice's visions, but my mind kept wondering to the vivid imagery of Bella's broken body, her bloodened wounds… the feeling of my teeth against her neck… I shuddered as a slight tinge hit my throat. I shook myself of the feeling.

How could I be confident? Had I made the right decision? What if she wouldn't wake? Why did I take that risk?

Why was the thought of her blood still affecting me, even now? The faint burn irritated me more than it should.

I stole a glance at the slumbering brunette; the smell of her blood seemed to run almost true to what it had been fresh in the forest, now.

I sat by her bedside; as I had done in every break, every spare moment since she had arrived. I had a spare twelve hours now, and I would spend each minute making sure she was safe and well.

The whispers of the nurses came to a ceasefire; me waiting by the bedside of the earthen-eyed brunette became the norm.

The swelling in her face had largely gone down, leaving countless ghastly bruises and scrapes, but it had also revealed just how mature and dare I say, beautiful she had become.

It fuelled me with rage to think that Victoria could have attempted to tarnish Bella how she had.

Alice told me they hadn't had much luck with Victoria; she was having trouble tracing her decisions and the others had lost her track. The others had each spread out and were working tirelessly to find her, but to no avail. The Viper had slithered her way to slip through our grasp once again.

Alice had been reconvening with the family. She couldn't spend too long at a time here, either, or they would grow suspicious. As it is, she had told the others that I was searching for Victoria in a different direction.

As a family we had mostly – with the exception of Rosalie – agreed between us not to disclose Victoria's appearance to Edward yet. He would be forced to stay in Italy and would want to desert the Volturi to help eliminate her, an act that would consequence in heavy punishment. I was sure she was still in the back of his mind, as she had been in ours all these years.

I sighed as I glanced up at the clock. It had been six hours since we ceased the sedatives and she still had not stirred. We had decided on two more hours, but at this point, it would be good to prepare for the inevitable.

I wondered whether I could arrange to be her attending physician at the Maine Hospital. I buzzed in Cally and had her see if she could make some arrangements; which she did.

The next two hours passed slowly, and as Alice had predicted, Bella did not wake.

I helped load her up in the patient transport ambulance and we set on our way. Had the previous two been slow, the following two hours represented a standstill as we drove down the country roads towards the city.

Cally told me that they were expecting our arrival. We were lucky in that they'd had a cancellation and there shouldn't be a long wait. After completing the MRI we should be clear to return if she didn't have any dire complications.

I sighed as I stared out the passenger window at the passing fields and forests.

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We had finally arrived at the hospital. I stood by watching her closely, arms folded. A feeling of both relief and anxiety overwhelmed me as the paramedics unloaded her roller bed from the vehicle; thank goodness she arrived here safely and in a stable condition, but what if her MRI showed something I had missed?

I was usually pretty confident in my diagnoses even without equipment, but this was Bella. What if I had made the wrong decision? I shook my head as I silently tailed her. I had been following attentively as they wheeled her through the unfamiliar wards – I had only been here once or twice before. The smells of chemicals, blood and sickness washed through my senses, bringing the only form of familiarity.

My chest tightened and my stomach coiled as I was greeted by her attending radiologist. They had been right on time for her admittance.

We had agreed to do a full-body scan to assess for any other damage I had potentially missed, as well. It would take about an hour.

I stood at the window outside the room as she entered, and every minute that passed was all but unfathomable that she was in there. I was stricken with worry, with guilt, with regret.

I prayed to God that all would be okay.

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My stomach dropped as the radiologist returned to me in a dejected manner.

I clenched my jaw. I wanted to all but charge out of the room, breaking the door on my way out, and he hadn't even spoken yet – but somehow, I held my composure.

'What's the verdict?' I managed in a feignedly airy voice.

'Well, you did a fantastic job on her spine,' he started, bringing up an image and pointing to her recently operated vertebrae. 'It looks very clean and there's no swelling. A perfect case for fast healing.'

'But?' I tapped my wrist, my arms folded.

The radiologist sighed. Cally must have told him that this patient was important to me.

'Her sciatic nerve has some swelling around it and it isn't granulating well, it may take a bit longer. Not much can be done about that fractured jaw either. There is some debris but it's so minuscule that it's probably not worth surgery at this point.'

I grit my teeth.

He switched the imaging over to her brain. I recoiled at the sight.

'Unfortunately, she has some swelling in her hippocampus, cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. It's not severe, but it does appear possible that she has some micro-injuries. They shook her up good, huh?'

'That's one way to put it,' I hissed. 'Thank you, doctor.'

'I think she should be okay. She just needs time,' he said, placing his hand on my shoulder with a kind smile.

We both nodded to each other as he hurried along to tend to his next patient. I called in our regional paramedics to wheel her back to our ambulance.

So, she had sustained a brain injury as well. I would have to update Alice and see if she had any updates for me too. I was now fairly confident that it would take her much more time to wake - if she would at all.

It was somewhat curious though, that these would be specifically the parts of her brain linked to memory – given what she had been through with Jepson. I discarded the thought as we boarded the ambulance.

The trip back to our hospital was to be a long one, but at least now we had answers.

It had been days since I had properly spoken to or seen anyone but Alice. I knew I would have to speak to them soon. To pretend that I hadn't run into the fragments of our past. To pretend I hadn't crossed paths with the Brunette that was the foundation of our coven's division.

On the return trip, I sat in the back of the cab with Bella, slumped against the walls of the truck along the base of her stretcher.

Mentally and emotionally I was exhausted.

She breathed gently, the rhythm lulling me to a more pacified state with its melody.

It's funny; how much I had grown in just a few days to care so much for the human girl. Of course, we collectively had always cared for her, but now I couldn't see a day not wanting to protect her, to let her out of my sight.

I wished that Edward could be here too, to make sure she was okay, too, but it would be much too dangerous for him to know.

I wondered what she would think, what she would say when she woke up... If she woke up. She wouldn't remember us of course. My mind wandered to think about what she had been up to in the past years since we had left. How had she faired?

I moved to kneel beside her and reached out to hold the tips of her fingers with my own.

I remembered in flashes what Alice had disclosed to me about her time after we departed Forks. How lonely she had been, how she had struggled.

I didn't want her to be alone any more. I didn't want her to wake up deserted and abandoned.

I realised then, that I wanted to be that somebody by her bedside when she would wake.

And she would wake. I would make sure of it.

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