Disclaimer- Characters and several lines belong to Stephenie Meyer

CH 2

The next day seemed to take forever to end. Alice banned me from the room in which Edward was contained for fear that I would fuss over him and not pay attention to the other men. I allowed my mind to wonder back to last night playing everything back over and over, making my heart speed up every time I got to the part where he said he loved me. Several times I had to ask for instructions again because I was so lost in thought. Well so much for no distractions.

"What?" I asked snapping back to reality again for the umpteenth time. Rosalie had been trying to fill me in on the condition of one of her patients before she took her lunch break. Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything she had said. The look on her face was extremely frustrated like she had told me this more than once already, which she probably had. Nurse Rosalie, or Nurse Hale as she preferred to be called, was a tall statuesque, beautiful blonde woman who thought much too highly of herself. Why she became a nurse no one is sure but most of us wish she hadn't.

"Bella! It is extremely important that you replace bed fours' bandages as soon as possible. You know, Mr. Black?" She paused looking to make sure what she said registered. When she noticed she had my full attention she went on. "Why you are wasting my time and not paying proper attention to my instructions? You gave Mr. Banner a glass of water when he asked for a new bed pan and nobody can keep your attention for more than a few seconds today! What is going on with you today?" She said in an aggressive, aggravated tone as her cheeks flared red in frustration. If looks could kill, I would surely be dead.

Flustered I replied. "I'm so sorry Rose. I'm just distracted that's all. I apologize and promise to stay focused."

"Well lucky for you it was only a bed pan because if it were something of large importance someone could have died. Don't let it happen again Bella." She warned as she strode off toward the cafeteria in all of her perfection.

When she was out of sight I walked over to the closet which contained sterile bandages and carried them over to bed four. As I approached Mr. Black sat up carefully with a tight smile while avoiding any more pain to his abdomen where his largest wound was. He had two, smaller, less serious wounds on his chest and head. He had made a fuss and refused to wear a top because he complained that it bother him with all the bandages. Not that any of us nurses minded. Mr. Black was fit in the extreme but still thin. His skin was light brown and many of us guessed he inherited that from a native ancestor, and he couldn't be more than half native from the look of his features. He had short black hair and deep dark brown eyes.

"Hello Mr. Black, I'm Nurse Swan." I greeted, turning on my charm to distract him from the bandage changes. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better now that I have company. I've never met you before, or at least not that I can remember." He laughed and pointed to his head wound. "Are you new?" he asked smiling as I tended to his head wound. He kept trying to keep eye contact with me which made changing his bandage extremely difficult due to his constant head movement.

"Hold still, will you?" I giggled. He smiled and sat still looking straight forward. "No I'm not new, and we haven't met because I normally work in the other room, but I have heard a lot about you Mr. Black."

"Call me Jacob, Nurse Swan, and I assume the others have been bragging about my flirtatious nature I suppose?" He asked with a mischievous smile, still holding perfectly still.

"Bella and actually, I've heard more of your stubbornness than anything else. Though, I will admit to hearing about you distracting a nurse or two from their duties." I smiled as I finished wrapping his new bandage.

"I see." He said. His features twisted leading me to believe he was deep in thought. "Are you easily distracted?" He asked in a husky tone. I continued to unravel his abdominal bandage while ignoring his question and accidentally bumped his right side making him wince in pain as he leaned back closing his eyes and facing the ceiling.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry Mr. Black. Are you alright?" I asked quickly placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Jacob, call me Jacob, and I'll be fine, just… just distract me from the pain for a moment." He asked with a tight voice.

"Your head wound is healing nicely?" I paused and he waved his hand for me to continue. "Did you know that? It should be completely healed within the next few days and you won't need those bandages replaced as often." I said quickly hoping that he would focus on his heads pain rather than his abdomen, though it wasn't true, his head wouldn't be better for at least two weeks. He laughed, all the tightness in his voice vanished.

"You really aren't very good at the whole distraction thing are you?" He said looking up at me and smiling. "And you're a terrible liar;" he added. I gave him a confused look wondering how he knew but before I could ask he said, "Your voice gave it away. Please continue Bella," he added gesturing towards his half removed bandage the mischievous smile took over his features once more.

I quickly finished re-dressing the wounds being extremely careful not to bump his sensitive spots. Several times I accidently ran my fingers across the warm skin of his upper abs and stopped because he would suddenly look at me with intense and uncertain eyes and I was stuck there until he gave me a shy smile and would look away again.

Jacob didn't hold the same effect that Edward did over me, but Jacob filled me with warmth of what one could only describe as friendship. The whole time he'd make funny comments about Nurse Rosalie, who he didn't care for (though not many did, even among us nurses).

As I was about to walk away and make the check up rounds Jacobs hand caught my wrist before I could take another step. "Where are you going?" He asked, sounding more like a child than a 19 year old man who had seen war, a pleading look on his face.

"I have other patients I've got to check up on Jacob." I looked down at his sad eyes. How could I tell that face no? I had no other choice I needed to get back to the others.

"Bella, do you have any idea how lonely it gets here? The men on either side of me are always sleeping and the only time I get to talk to anyone is when a nurse checks on me or changes my bandages." He whispered looking down at his hands.

"I'll come back soon to check up on you, but I have to make sure that others are being tended to as well as you are. My shift will be ending soon so I'll come by to visit before its time for lights out." With that I walked away and made my rounds. I kept my promise and once I was done getting one last glass of water and changing another soiled bedpan I washed up and went to visit Jacob. He seemed pleased that I kept my promise. We talked for the remainder of his visiting time before I had to depart.

Alice was off shift already and probably in the dining hall so I thought it safe to take a peek on how Edward was doing. I glanced through the window toward where Edward's bed sat and realized it was empty and dressed with new sheets. There was only one reason a bed was ever emptied… NO! My head screamed. No, no, no, how could this happen? He was fine last night recovering very nicely. He couldn't be… dead. I barged into the room and walked straight to Dr. Cullen, a handsome blonde doctor with lovely golden eyes.

"What happened to Edward?" I asked pointing to the empty bed as tears rolled down my face. I blinked them away, wiping the remainder off with the back of my hand, looking straight at Dr. Cullen.

"We had to move him to a more convenient spot, Nurse Swan. You see, he is in the recovering stages of his illness and needs more rest and this bunch is quite restless. He was moved to the room just across the hall from the cafeteria he is in bed seventeen." He explained quickly as to not upset me further. I sighed with relief thanking Dr. Cullen quickly and made my way back out the door and down the hall to the room he spoke of. I was just about to enter when a voice came from behind me.

"Isabella Swan where do you think you're going?" Alice. I recognized her voice instantly and knew I was caught.