Title: Who is This?

Chapter 9: I Promise

Carlisle opened the door for me allowing me to go in first. I walked into the room. I could hear several beeps of machines and a breathing machine. I went over to Bella. If it wasn't for her smell, I may not have recognized her. Her face was contortioned poorly. Carlisle was an emergency surgeon not a plastic surgeon but I knew no amount of plastic surgery could get rid of the disproportioned look of her face. I still loved her though, even as she slept. She had a breathing tube going up her nose and an oxygen mask over her mouth, forcing oxygen into her lungs.

I felt a hard lump in my throat as I place my hand in hers. There was no grasp from her, no sign she was alive except the light thump of her heart.

"What do you think?" I asked Carlisle as he stayed silent.

"She's in a lot of pain." Carlisle told me.

"Will she live?"

"She won't want to live." Carlisle said. "You are looking at several years of therapy for her. It's not Rosalie's fault but when she caught her, her arm accidentally hit into Bella's back, I think that may have led to the severed part of the vertebrae. Her L2 and L3 were split in half. I didn't think the split that I saw was possible. I expect her to be half paralyzed when she wakes. After therapy for a few years, she would probably be able to walk using a walker."

I just stared at Bella's pained face as Carlisle kept talking.

"I can see where she had hit the side of the cliff. Her arm is just as bad as Rosalie said. If we don't do something soon, we will have to amputate it. Her lungs keep filling with fluid repeatedly and I have already had to tap the liquid out three times within the past three hours. Soon, I will have to do it again. Edward…" Carlisle stopped speaking.

"I know, I was just hoping for a different outcome." I sighed, cupping Bella's cheek.

"I'm sorry, I did all I could. But you are looking at a long term recovery and plenty of pain to go with it. I don't think she deserves that."

I nodded, "I know." We both heard out in the waiting room, Charlie had just ran into the ER asking to see his daughter.

"I need to tap the liquid out before Charlie sees her. I don't need him seeing this." Carlisle said. I nodded as he grabbed the necessary supplies. I helped him by holding the bottle that the liquid was going to run into. I watched helplessly as Carlisle stuck a heavy needle into Bella's chest. We watched as a light red liquid flew through the tubes and into the container that I was holding. It was a mixture of blood and other fluids found in the body. We could hear as her lungs clear and she could breathe much easier, but for how much longer?

"I'm going to go get Charlie and have him come up to see her. Take out the needle when it is done filling the container. Please decide by tonight what we should do."

"Yeah." Was all I could say.

Carlisle walked out of the room as I watched the last of the liquid fill the container in my hands. I did this to her. I wasn't strong enough. I should have been able to stop myself.

I went over to take out the needle. When I did, I heard Bella start to groan. "Edward?" she asked blinking as she looked at me. "Where am I?"

"The hospital." I said softly, putting the container on the ground. I quickly put the needle in the 'sharps' box next to her bed. Bella's face scrunched up. "What's wrong love?"

"It hurts." She whimpered.

"I know." I went over to the morphine machine, pushing the button for it to give her a little more. Perhaps that could help her. I went back over to her cupping her cheek. "I'm so sorry. I understand if you never forgive me for what I did to you."

"Why would you say that?" She asked. Her voice was muffled from the oxygen mask but it still sound beautiful.

"Look at you, you wouldn't be like this if I wasn't here."

"That's not true. Like you said, I'm a danger magnet." She forced a smile but it faded fast.

"No, it's not your fault any of this happened."

"Edward, I meant what I said back at the cliff. I forgive you. I honestly do. I will always love you and sometimes you have to forgive someone even if they hurt you."

"What if I was strong enough? What if Alice could have helped? What if Jasper would have helped? What if…."

Bella laughed, "Life is filled with what ifs. What you should be asking is why not. I said I forgive you and I forgive Alice and I forgive Jasper. You can't hold grudges."

I straightened up at that name. "I can't forgive him."

"Why not?"

"He could have stopped this; instead, he kept Alice and himself away from helping."

Bella let out a light hearted laugh. "Edward, I'm sure he would never do something to hurt anyone. He thought he was helping and he did."

"How?"

"If you hadn't dropped me from that cliff, then you wouldn't have broken the hold." I couldn't believe that she figured out that I had broken the hold in her weakened state. Who's to say I hadn't and I would go after her again? Bella smiled before letting out a cough, I helped her to sit up a few inches from the bed as her coughing increased. She lay back in the bed, "It hurts." She muttered again.

"Just relax." Carlisle and Charlie were coming now.

The door busted open as I stood aside allowing Charlie full access to his daughter. Charlie fell at the side of her bed from the looks of her. "Bella." He muttered grabbing her arm harshly.

"Please be careful with her Chief Swan, she's in a lot of pain." Carlisle reminded him.

"Dad." Bella said weakly. She let out a smile that I didn't think she could muster but somehow was able to.

They say you know when your time has come. They say you can always tell when this will be the last time you see your loved ones, did she know that?

"Oh Bella, I left work as soon as I got the call." He was holding back tears.

"Don't cry dad." Bella said to him, making her tear up. "I love you."

"Why would you go near a cliff to begin with? What were you thinking?" His fatherly instincts kicked in.

"Sorry dad." Bella winced away.

"Sorry to yell." Charlie mentioned as he lowered his voice.

"You weren't yelling." Bella was so weak. I wanted to tell her to stop talking but I knew this would be her last conversation with her father, we all knew.

I heard Charlie's thoughts; Carlisle had told him that Bella only had a few hours left. Carlisle was planning on changing her tonight. I just had to give the word and we had to come up with a way to get Charlie away before that and put another body that looks like her in her place.

"I can't lose you." Charlie said. "I lost your mom and now I'm going to lose you." He released the tears that he was holding in. Her mom was still in Bella's life but it never occurred to me that Renee had left Charlie, she left him alone.

"I just want to say that I love you more than anything else in the world. Please tell mom I said the same to her." Bella said as she closed her eyes, no doubt the morphine was kicking in again. If I could cry, I would have at this site.

I couldn't take it. I walked over to Charlie and knelt down, whispering in his ear, "May I talk to you in private?"

Charlie looked over at me then back at his daughter.

"Please. It will only take a second." I said.

Charlie got up and walked to the other side of the room with me. While the room wasn't big, I knew it was enough to get us away from Bella's hearing. I didn't know if Carlisle would approve but Charlie had to know.

"Charlie what if I could promise that I could do something to make Bella better, but in exchange, you won't ever see Bella or my family ever again." I heard Carlisle on the other side of the door as he let out a coughing sound, reminding me to be careful what I say.

"I don't understand." Charlie said.

I looked him in the eyes, "I can help your daughter Mr. Swan. I can make her feel better within the week. BUT in exchange she can never see you or Renee again. My whole family will have to move. We will disappear out of your life. It will be as if we never existed."

"What are you going to do to her?"

"I can't say."

"She will live though?" he asked as he took a peak at his daughter.

"Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"She will walk amongst the world with my family. You will just have to trust us." I said to him.

This was the hardest decision for anyone. To be able to live the rest of your life, trusting that someone you love is alive but having no way to see them.

Charlie nodded, "I don't know."

"It is either that or she will die tonight. Carlisle had told me that Bella doesn't have much time to live. Can you trust me?"

"I don't want to trust you." He sighed, "But I do trust you but are you sure there's no hope for her where I can still see her?"

"There can be hope if you allow us to take her. I can't guarantee you will ever see her again."

Charlie nodded, "Can I say goodbye alone?"

"Yes. I'll leave." I walked out of the room closing the door behind me.

I could hear Charlie on the inside of the door.

"Bella?" He muttered. "Bella?"

"Yes?" she asked.

"You will be safe." He said to her in a more hopeful voice. He was happy and yet saddened at the same time.

"What was that?" She was sounding worse as time went on.

"This will be the last time I see you. I'm so sorry that I can't do anything else for you. I feel horrible. I'm supposed to be your father and here I am, the one who's crying. No one else is. I can't help you."

"Dad, I love you. No matter what happens."

Carlisle came over to me, "That was a bold move you did to tell him that much."

"I had to say something. He was in a lot of pain." I said. "It will mean a lot to him to know that his daughter is safe and we won't have to fake her death."

Carlisle nodded, "We will leave tonight. Alice already has everyone packing."

"Thank you. I don't know how to repay you guys for all this." I said.

"I know a way."

"What?"

"Forgive Jasper, he was just trying to help. Alice called me and told me what happened. You need to tell him that you didn't mean your words. You don't know how badly you hurt him."

I was about to give my side when the door opened. I turned around to see Charlie.

Charlie stepped out; he held his arms to him tightly as if trying to keep himself together. "Please keep my daughter safe. Protect her with your life and make sure she has no regrets in this world. Make sure she lives for a long time."

"I will." I said to him. "She will do just fine." I had never wanted to see a grown man cry like this, it was heart wrenching.

Charlie wrapped his arms around me as I hugged him back. "Thank you. I will write off the papers for her to be able to leave the hospital." He whispered.

Then he walked off, I knew it was hard for him. I felt horrible, making him know that his only daughter was alive but in a place he won't ever know. Maybe I can have Bella call him one day. I turned back to the room. Carlisle was already taking the machines off of Bella. This was it; we were taking her out of here and off into the night.

Carlisle gently picked Bella up in his arms, walking to the door. "She should be fine until we get her home; I gave her some morphine before I took her off the machine."

I nodded, welcome to the three longest days of my life.