Chapter 10

A/N: I do not own the characters or the story of Twilight.

Bella POV

Bella couldn't hear the other side of the phone conversation but based on the sound of Edward's voice she knew that it couldn't be anything good.

"What? I-I-Is she okay?" He stuttered. His face went pale and Bella's heart stopped beating. She placed her hand on his arm soothingly and rubbed up and down to try to draw some of the tension out of his shoulders. He looked down at her with a grateful look in his eyes and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead before going back to the conversation. "Uh huh, uh huh...I'll catch the first flight I can, I love you." He hung up the phone and didn't hesitate before hopping out of the bed and reaching for the first items that he could find in the dark. Bella could see the look in his eyes that said that he was very close to his breaking point - she didn't waste another second before jumping up from the bed and going to him.

"Edward, babe, talk to me. What's happening?" She had her hands on both of his shoulders so she could force him to look at her.

"My sister...she was in a car accident and is in the hospital," Edward painstakingly told her. She sucked in her breath and pulled him in for a quick hug. She laid her head on his chest and just held him for a minute until he relaxed into her embrace and returned it. "I need to go to Chicago right away, I'm sorry that I have to leave you," he told her.

"Don't be sorry, I'm coming with you," she said.

"Bella, I couldn't ask you to do that for me. I don't know how long I'll be gone and I would hate it if you got behind in any of your classes." She just shook her head at him.

"I can't let you go alone, Edward. I know you too well - you're freaking out and I can't let you go through this by yourself. I love you," she told him. She could see by the frenzied look in Edward's eyes that he wasn't going to be able to hold himself together long enough for the plane ride so she was going to do whatever she could to make this as easy for him as possible.

"How about I pack and you call the airline and get us tickets to Chicago?" She had noticed that he had put in about five pairs of socks, one pair of underwear, and two pairs of shorts in his suitcase. He needed her - even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.

He took a deep breath while looking into her eyes and she saw the emerald green slowly melt as he caved.

"What would I ever do without you, Bella?" He asked himself softly. He leaned down and gave her a light kiss before finding his phone and calling the airline. They hadn't slept for very long before the phone rang so Bella could feel the tiredness creeping up, she could also see how bone tired Edward was just by looking at the defeated slouch in his shoulders. She hadn't met Rosalie yet but she could tell by the look in Edward's eyes when he talked about her that they were very close. Bella could actually feel the pain that Edward was feeling - she didn't even want to entertain the thought of this thing with Rosalie not ending well. She looked away from Edward and started to pack his clothing but then she remembered that they probably wouldn't have time for her to drive home and grab her belongings.

When she finished with his stuff she looked around and found the few clothes that she had left behind at his place when she stayed over. By the time that Edward was off the phone she had enough stuff packed for the both of them but she still felt like she was forgetting something.

She felt a slight breeze on her legs and realized, a little belatedly, that she only had on Edward's shirt and a pair of panties. It was her normal sleeping attire when she was with Edward - she didn't think that it would be good to meet his family face-to-face for the first time wearing almost nothing.

She pulled on the pair of leggings that she had worn last night and her bra from off the floor. She knew that she had just packed away all of her shirts that she had here so she just put the same shirt that she had worn to bed back on and grabbed one of Edward's sweatshirts that was hanging on the back of his door. After she pulled her hair up in a messy bun she looked back at Edward and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"When did you get us a flight?" She went over to him and pushed him gently so he was sitting on the edge of his bed. She placed her hands at the nape of his neck and started to scratch him in just the right spot that she knew he loved.

"Plane leaves in just over an hour," he said quietly. "Bella, I-I-"

"Shh, Edward, don't think about the bad things that could happen. Just think positive thoughts or all the negative ones will just overwhelm you," she told him. He gave her a small smile and then leaned his head against her stomach and let out a heavy sigh. They stayed like that for a few minutes before he gave her a small pat on the butt and looked up at her.

"We should get going."

"Of course."

He took the suitcase and her hand while she reached for her bag and then the two of them were out of the house. She didn't hear anything as they left so she assumed that Jasper was either sleeping or at Alice's.

As they were driving to the airport she left a message for Alice quickly explaining what was happening, she even composed an email to all of her professors and told them that she had a family emergency and asked them to send her any assignments or papers if possible.

"Edward, do you want me to contact the school and your professors for you?" She asked him as they were pulling up to the airport almost thirty minutes later. Bella looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost four in the morning - she couldn't believe that only an hour had passed since Edward had gotten the phone call, it felt like so much longer.

"I didn't even think of that. I can do it while we wait but thank you for reminding me," he told her. They pulled up to long term parking and then quickly found their way through security. Now all they had to do was wait…

~LCA~

The plane ride had to be the longest four hours of Bella's life but they finally landed in Chicago at nine in the morning.

Edward immediately checked his phone once they got off the plane and they were waiting for the bags.

"Anything?" Bella asked.

"No, my dad says that she's still in surgery." Edward sighed and looked at her with such fear in his eyes that she couldn't help to pull him in and stroke his back. She felt the slight shudders in his shoulders as he silently cried into her. Her heart broke a little bit as she held this grown man, someone that she knew would jump in front of a bullet for anyone he loved, and lose himself.

They rented a car and made the slow trek to the hospital in silence. Bella had one hand on his leg, she could feel the tension that was going through him.

"Do you know who's all at the hospital?" She asked him after about ten minutes of silence.

"My mom, dad, and Emmett, Rose's boyfriend," Edward told her.

"Well, let me know if and when I can do anything for any of you guys," she said. That was why she was here, she wanted to do whatever she could to make their lives just a little bit easier at this hard time.

Edward just nodded and squeezed her hand that was lying on his leg. The rest of the car ride was filled with more silence, she was worried for Edward and for this family that she had heard so much about. She rarely prayed but - in that car with Edward - she closed her eyes and prayed to whomever was listening that Rosalie was going to be okay.

Finally, they arrived at the hospital almost a whole half hour later - early morning in Chicago was super busy even on a Saturday. Edward took the first spot that he could find outside of the hospital before the two of them exited the car. Bella met him at the hood of the car, he grabbed her hand and held on as if she was his life preserver in this stressful time and then proceeded into the hospital.

"My sister was in a car accident and was brought here a few hours ago-" Edward started to tell the woman behind the nurse's station but before he was finished they heard someone yell his name from across the room. Bella knew right away that she was looking at Edward's mom. They both shared the same colored hair and their eyes were perfect mirrors of each other.

"Mom, anything new?" He asked as he rushed to her. When she shook her head Bella noticed her eyes get glassy and knew that she was trying to hold in the tears so as not to worry Edward. Edward reached his mom and pulled her into a tight hug that Bella knew both of them needed.

"Rosalie's a fighter, she'll pull through this," Esme told him strongly. Bella admired Esme right away, she could tell this woman had been holding hope for the entire family on her small shoulders. "This must be Bella, right?" Esme asked after she pulled away from her son and locked eyes with Bella.

"Yes, I hope it's okay that I'm here, Mrs. Cullen. I couldn't let Edward fly alone but if I'm intruding it won't be a problem for me to find a hotel or-" She began to say but was cut off by Esme.

"Honey, I'm very happy that you are here with my son, and I've told you before - call me Esme." She gave Bella a small smile before pulling her into a hug.

Esme led them to the elevator, to the third floor, and to the family waiting room that was just off the elevator entrance. Esme pushed through the doors, Edward saw his dad right away and went straight to him.

"As you can see, that's Carlisle and this bear is Emmett, my Rose's boyfriend," she explained to Bella. She tried to joke around to lighten the tense atmosphere that was in the waiting room but her joke fell flat.

"It's nice to meet you, I just wish it was under better circumstances," Bella told each of them. When she met Emmett's eyes she had to swallow back a gasp - she saw utter pain, it was like he was a man getting burned alive. Bella didn't want to even imagine what kind of pain this man was in; a world without Edward wasn't a world that she wanted to live in. Edward took a seat next to his dad and Esme sat down in between Carlisle and Emmett. Bella sat in the seat next to Edward, she rubbed her hand up and down his back while she was thinking of what she could do for this troubled family. Then it hit her...Edward hadn't eaten since last night so she would bet that he needed something in his stomach and she would bet her entire college tuition that none of the others had eaten anything today.

"Edward, babe, can I get you something from the cafeteria?" She asked him softly.

"My stomach's in knots, I don't know if I would even be able to eat anything," he told her.

"If you change your mind, remember that I'm here for you," she said.

He nodded her head and then the four of them relapsed into silence while they waited for some news from the doctor but whenever the door opened it would always be for a different family and soon two hours had passed since Edward and Bella had arrived. In that two hours she had made a couple trips down to the cafeteria for sandwiches and coffee for the family.

"This is ridiculous, shouldn't someone at least be updating us on the surgery or something? This waiting is going to drive me crazy," Emmett said. Bella agreed with him - it seemed to torture the family not knowing whether or not their daughter was doing okay in the OR. It had been eight hours since they had gotten the call in Seattle...the longest eight hours of her life.

Almost thirty minutes later and the door finally opened and an older man with silver hair and beard came through, he was wearing scrubs and a lab coat but they had seen so many medical personnel come and go that they didn't think twice of it but when the doctor called out, "Family of Rosalie Cullen?", they all jumped to their feet and rushed to him.

"Yes, I'm her mom," Esme said. Bella noticed that her and Carlisle were tightly holding hands and then she felt Edward squeeze the hand that he was already holding for support.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Gerandy and I'll start out by telling you that she is stable and in the ICU recovering." The four of them took a collective deep breath, it was as if none of them could breathe until they heard the news. The doctor continued, "Her surgery was very difficult; she had a concussion, part of her brain was swelling, she had several broken ribs, her left arm and leg were both broken and now in casts, a herniated disk in her spine, and due to some of her ribs she had a small amount of internal bleeding."

"Is she going to be okay?" Carlisle asked. Since he was the doctor he would be the one to understand everything that Dr. Gerandy had just told them. Bella looked over to Edward and noticed how pale he was, she was scared that he was going to pass out at any moment, and when she looked at the rest of the family she saw the same look mirrored on their faces.

"It's hard to tell right now, Dr. Cullen, but we are doing everything we can. We're hopeful that the swelling in the brain will go down - that is our main concern now that she is out of surgery. She is under heavy anesthetic so there is minor strain on the brain and it will give her time to heal on her own."

"She's in a medically induced coma?" Carlisle asked. Bella raised her hand to her mouth to fight back the bile that was wanting to make an appearance. This wasn't the worst case scenario, sure, but this still wasn't the great news that they were all hoping to hear.

"Yes, she will be out for at least 24 hours so I would recommend for some of you to go home and get some rest so you can be well rested when she wakes up," he told them. "She can only have one visitor at a time until visiting hours are over at the end of the day, I can take you back to her now if you would like," he said.

Carlisle and Esme seemed to be having a silent discussion between themselves as they decided which one of them would go first.

"It should be Emmett," Carlisle said quietly. Emmett didn't hesitate before following the doctor down the hallway.

"Edward, you should go home to get some sleep, your dad and I will stay here," Esme told him.

"Are you sure? You probably need more rest than I do right now," he replied.

"Yes, after you go see Rose go home and I'll make sure to call you if anything changes with her."

After Edward reluctantly agreed to go back home Bella spoke up, "Esme, is there anything you would like me to bring you from your home? Clothes, books, chargers…?"

"Oh, honey, that would be great. Some clean clothes for myself and Carlisle would be wonderful and if you could grab our chargers, too?"

"I sure will," Bella told her. Esme gave her a tight hug and then whispered in her ear, "Thank you." Bella nodded her head in acknowledgement. She knew that Esme was saying thank you for more than just offering to bring her some items that could bring her some comfort from her house.

The car ride to the house was just as silent as the one to the hospital. She could tell by how Edward was holding himself that he was exhausted and she could only hope that he would be able to get some shuteye. When they got to the house Bella barely reacted to the beautiful two story house, she was more focused on following Edward inside. He pointed out the kitchen and then just led her upstairs to his bedroom, he paused outside of a door that was next to his and Bella knew without him having to tell her that it was Rosalie's room. She placed her hand on his back and slowly rubbed up and down to try to get some of the tension out of his shoulders. Edward reached back for her hand and they stood outside Rosalie's room for a couple more seconds before Edward pulled her to his bedroom.

They didn't make love that night but what they did seemed to hold a lot more intimacy in it than their normal nights together. Bella laid on her back while Edward laid over her body with his head on her chest and his arm wrapped around her stomach holding her as if he was scared that she was going to leave him.

Before they closed their eyes to attempt to get sleep she softly whispered to Edward, "I love you."

"I love you," he said to her.

And as they held each other they closed their eyes and slowly drifted off.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! And like always, please review!

P.S. I did forget to put in the storyline that Edward was tested before him and Bella had sex. I just didn't know how to put it into the story, sorry.