A/N: Hello! Hope everyone had a good week. My Olderward would like to thank you for the follows and favorites :) He's very happy that you're all joining him on this ride!

DISCLAIMER- The Twilight Saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer and I'm grateful to her for allowing us to have fun with her characters.

As always, I couldn't do this without Dazzled Eyes22(Danielle) and Melissa. They're awesome!

Everyone had questions about Alice. Let's see what she has in store for us...

CHAPTER-3

I called Jasper first thing early in the morning. He informed me that Bella was recovering perfectly well and suggested, however futilely, that I could get in a few more hours of sleep since I had the day off. He knew as well as I did that there was no way I would stay away from the hospital any more than absolutely necessary.

After taking the quickest shower in history and gushing down a glass of milk for breakfast, I rushed to the hospital. My steps faltered as I reached Bella's room, but taking a deep breath and bolstering myself for whatever greeted me inside, I walked further, only to stop in my tracks when I saw a guy in there.

Or rather, a giant.

Inexplicable, albeit irrational, rage overtook me as I stood in front of the window, watching the dark-haired guy, all seven feet of him, leaned over and wrapped his arms around Bella. My chest tightened and pain rippled through me as though a piece of my heart had shattered when Bella hugged him back and he buried his face in her hair.

I turned away, my head banging against the wall. The sharp sting that shot through me was nothing compared to the agony I felt at the sight of my Bella engulfed in someone else's arms.

What right do you have to call her yours, you idiot? Maybe this guy treats her right, and that is more than one can say about you! This was probably what she meant about having some things of her own to say to you.

I fisted my shaking hands, desperately fighting the urge to walk in there, break them apart and tackle him to the ground for laying his hands on the girl I loved.

You think you can take him, huh? Why don't you go and peek once more if you haven't gotten a good enough look at the muscles bulging from underneath that tight T-shirt of his?

That's it. I officially hated my subconscious.

"Well, hello, Dr. Cullen," the shrillest of voices said, pulling me out of my jealous haze. "Come to perform another exam, have you?"

Counting to ten in my head in hopes to put off the raging fire inside of me, I turned to Alice. "What the hell is your problem?" I gritted through clenched teeth.

Okay, so maybe the counting didn't help much.

Her mouth fell into a surprised 'o' as her eyebrows rose sky high. "My problem? My problem? YOU are my problem, Edward," she sneered, much the same way as she'd done at the poor receptionist the day before.

A moment passed as we glared at each other, neither one backing down and as my mind regained some of its senses, I was overcome with shame at the way I'd snapped at Alice. As much as I'd observed in the past couple of days, she'd been a good, caring friend to Bella and in spite of her rude behavior toward me, I had no right to speak to her the way I had.

I desperately needed to get a handle on my emotions and act like the mature adult I was.

Breathing deeply, I said softly, "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."

"Yes, you shouldn't have," she said, losing some of the hostility herself, but her face still held that cautious expression she always wore while talking to me.

I couldn't stand not knowing the reason behind it.

A few people turned to look at us curiously as they passed, so I requested Alice to follow me to the supply room. She threw me a dubious glance, but I was relieved when she agreed.

"I don't know what I've done to offend you, Alice," I stated once we were inside. "I haven't even met you before and you've been, uh-" I struggled to find the right word. "-unkind to me since the first time you saw me. Could you-"

"It's not about me," she interrupted in a tight voice. "It's about what you did to Bella. It was you, wasn't it? You hurt her."

I froze at her admission. Swallowing hard, I choked, "You- you know? She told you?"

"She didn't tell me anything."

"Then what do you… How do you know?"

She shrugged. "We live together. It's not easy to keep secrets from each other."

"How. Did. You. Know?" I repeated, struggling to maintain my composure.

"You really wanna know? Fine," she huffed. "I heard her talking in her sleep. The dorm walls are thin as paper. I've lost count of how many times I've heard her whimper your name in the night and the following morning, she'd always be miserable. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together once I knew your name and I saw the way you were looking at each other."

The fury melted away and all that was left inside me was unrelenting pain and regret at the thought of Bella hurting because of me.

I turned away from Alice but she wasn't done.

"It pains me to see her like that, you know? She hardly ever goes out. I have to fight tooth and nail to drag her to a party. She should be enjoying her college life, but all she's doing is moping around, cooped up in her room with nothing but books to keep her company. I may not know the whole story but I'd assumed and now I know it's you who hurt her and that's enough reason for me to distrust you, Dr. Cullen." Her voice had lost the bitterness; her tone was despondent as she told me about the past six months of Bella's life.

"I made a mistake. I just… I just thought…" My voice broke.

It was a strange conundrum I found myself in. On one hand, I didn't know this girl and every cell of my body was against the idea of disclosing my feelings in front of her. However, I really needed to talk to Bella and the only way to get some privacy to do that was if I could convince Alice that I had no intention of hurting Bella. Well, hurt her more than I already had.

"Look, Alice," I started. "I can't even…I-I love her," I blurted before I could have a chance to rethink my decision. It felt wrong to admit this to her when I hadn't told Bella but I had no choice.

Alice's reaction was to be expected, I guess. She gaped at me, blinking silently, her eyes widened in pure, undiluted shock.

"You love her?" she parroted blankly. Her gaze turned dubious, then speculative.

"I do." I didn't look away, allowing her to gauge my sincerity.

She shook her head once, as if to clear it. "What the hell happened between the two of you? If you love her, then why aren't you…?" She trailed off, frowning.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you everything, that's Bella's prerogative. But, please, trust me when I say that I had nothing but Bella's best interest at heart when I… left her. I never wanted to… I never thought that she'd felt…" I swallowed thickly.

She looked intently into my eyes as I spoke and her expression softened just the tiniest bit. The frown marring her brow eased out slightly and I jumped at the first flicker of doubt in her mind.

"I just want to talk to her, Alice. Apologize, explain my side of the story, that's all."

"You-You're serious," she stated, nonplussed. It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. "Forgive me if I don't care what you want, though. I only care about Bella."

"I asked Bella," I rushed to say. "She's agreed to talk, but we, um, we need to do that in private."

"Right now? She doesn't need the added stress when she's recovering from a major surgery. But, I know her well." She sighed, resigned. "Bella's stubborn when she wants something but she can't hold a grudge to save her life. No matter, I can do that for her." I resisted the urge to fidget as she looked me over with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. "If that's what she wants, I'll leave you two alone for a little while. I'll be just outside the door, though. If I hear Bella getting upset, I won't hesitate to step in and throw you out even if Bella wants it otherwise, you hear me?"

"Of course. I promise you, if she doesn't want me there, I'll throw myself out."

Telling Alice about my feelings seemed to have been the right move if it got her to trust me the slightest bit. I wondered if I could count on her to be an ally, albeit a reluctant one, in my quest to win Bella's heart.

Alice nodded firmly and started to walk out, when I remembered.

"Oh, Alice? Who was the…uh, guy in Bella's room?"

A slow smirk made its way across her lips. "Oh, that guy? He's Jacob Black."

Jacob… Jake? The one Bella had been with right before the accident?

"Yep, the very same," Alice trilled and I realized that I'd spoken out loud. "He's studying at Columbia too. Mechanical engineering. He's from this little Indian reservation not far from Forks. Bella told me they've known each other since they were in diapers. That's so sweet, don't you think?" Her voice was entirely too smug by the end.

Sweet was not a word I'd ever associate with that guy.

"I guess," I forced out, not wanting to give Alice the satisfaction of watching me respond to her goading.

She walked out without another word and I followed with a sigh.

So much for an ally.

When we reached Bella's room, Alice took one glance inside through the window and muttered something under her breath before turning to me with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Looks like you're gonna have to wait a little longer for that privacy, Romeo," she said gleefully.

Frowning, I peeked in and sure enough, there were now two people in there with Bella. Jacob was still in there, but at least he wasn't touching Bella any more. No, he was seated on the couch since his place on the bed was now occupied by a man in police uniform.

His back was to me, I could see his hair, the same shade of brown as Bella, with some greys thrown in. He held Bella's hand and stroked her hair while she smiled at him, often shaking her head. Her expression alternated between indulgent and frustrated as the man fussed over her.

Alice pranced in with her patented squeal and the man turned to look at her with a smile.

Charlie Swan.

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See you next weekend :)

~ForeverRobsessed