A new character POV! But what is her connection to Edward, hmmm?

More at the bottom, if you are interested… but I won't hold you back from the chapter any longer. Please enjoy!

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Chapter 12
RPOV

I was just about to take my lunch break when the phone rang. Halfway through the doorway already, I glared back at it over my shoulder. Maybe it would stop? No shit, of course it would stop – after I missed the call, though. And what if it was an emergency?

I huffed in annoyance and sprinted back to my desk to catch it just before the last ring. "Hello?"

I was a bit out of shape, so I may have panted into the receiver like a porn star. Hopefully it wasn't a patient calling. Or my boss.

"Hey, Rosie," came a familiar deep velvety tone.

Ah. Not a patient or authority figure, then.

"Ugh, it's you. What do you want? I was just going to grab lunch. You know what happens when I don't get fed regularly…" I had to make sure he knew what state I was in, so he wouldn't mess around. Because god knew he would if I let him.

Luckily, he got right down to business. "Sorry about that. Actually, I was wondering if you had time to stop by? I have a former patient of yours here and was hoping we could go over her case, make sure everything's in the clear."

"Really?! Who is it? Your patient, right? Tell me everything!" I demanded. One of my former patients was being seen in Edward's office? That could only mean one thing – one very, very good and wonderful and amazing thing. I had to know who it was!

Why wasn't he talking yet?

"I'll tell you if you bring us both some food, too." Ugh, what a jerk. Couldn't he just tell me without a bribe? Whatever, it was sad to admit but I was used to it by now.

"You drive a hard bargain, Cullen. Fine, I'll bite."

"Bella Swan."

"Bella, Bella…" I had to rack my brain to connect the dots. We were a relatively small clinic, but we were damn good, so there were quite a few patients – although only one I could think of named Bella. "Oh! You mean Isabella Black? Seriously? You aren't messing with me, right? I'll fucking kill you if you're lying to me right now, Cullen!"

It had been quite a few years since she was here, but for some reason that one had stuck in my head. Isabella was such a sweet girl and I could feel her desire to be a mother practically rolling off of her. I had hoped so badly that we could make it work out for her and it really broke my heart when we got her results back. I spent many a late night trying to find the root cause; unfortunately, unexplained infertility was much too common, and without further invasive tests I wasn't able to get a conclusive feel for whether it was solely an issue for Bella or whether it might be combined infertility between her and Jacob. I was disappointed, but understanding when he father called to say she would not be returning to the clinic. I hadn't seen her since and I wondered what had happened since then, especially if she wasn't using her married name.

"It's the truth! I swear!" Eddie's panicked voice came over the line, interrupting my brief flashback. I almost laughed.

He wanted lunch – well, he'd be getting it. I just had to see her!

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

I hung up without waiting for a response and motored out of my office. I paused at my assistant's desk in the front lobby. "I'm going out for a consult; it may be a few hours before I'm back." What? So I planned to hang out over there for a while. The best thing about owning part of the practice was I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. "Oh – and call the deli for me. I need one of every sandwich, except the tuna."

Definitely no tuna. I wanted to make friends with Isabella, not make her sick.

The deli was halfway between our offices, and I was pleased to see they had my order ready when I arrived. I power-walked the rest of the way to the hospital and impatiently pressed the elevator button all the way up to the fifth floor. I barged into his office and immediately dumped all my bags on the desk before rushing over to Bella, who I saw was sitting on the couch.

"Isabella! It's so good to see you again. How have you been? I hear you have some wonderful news! Tell me everything!"

She looked a little overwhelmed at my barrage of questions; I guess I was coming on a little too strong. I started to apologize, but once she processed everything her face lit up with a beaming smile. To my surprise, she pulled me into a tight hug.

"Doctor Hale, I'm so glad you're here." She released me and grabbed my hands instead. "I'm so sorry I never got a chance to thank you for everything you did for me before. I could tell you put a lot of effort into our case and that meant so much to me."

Wasn't she just the sweetest? She had been going through such a difficult time and yet she still wanted to thank me.

"First of all, please call me Rosalie, or just Rose. I'm no longer your doctor and I'd really love it if we could be friends. And second – there's nothing to thank me for, Isabella. I only wish I could have done more."

"Please," she stopped me, "call me Bella. I know you did everything you could, Rosalie. It just wasn't meant to happen then, I think. I'd like to move past that and focus on the future now."

She instinctually placed her hand on her still-flat belly, and I couldn't hold back my squeal. "That's right! I'm so happy for you. You just found out today? Where's Jacob? Oh yeah – are you using your maiden name now? Did something… happen…?"

My voice trailed off at the end. Jeez, talk about word vomit! I was usually much more professional than this but I had just been so ecstatic to hear her good news. Bella was looking nervous for some reason and I worried I might have upset her.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to push. You don't have to explain anything."

"No, it's ok," she allowed. "Jacob and I are no longer together; we divorced about five years ago."

I was about to give my condolences, but something caught my attention. I had ignored it the first time, but when she mentioned Jacob's name I swore I could hear a growl from across the room. I spun around and noticed for the first time that Edward was actually in the room with us, partially hidden behind all of my take-out bags piled on his desk.

"Eddie!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing hiding over there?"

"Ha ha, Rosie," he pouted. "It's so nice to see you too."

"You idiot, I just saw you last weekend."

"Yeah, well, you could at least pretend you care about me, too." He came around the desk to give me a hug.

I noticed Bella looking confusedly between the two of us. I hoped she didn't get the wrong idea from our playful banter, not that it really mattered. I would be the first to admit that we had a pretty strange relationship. I nudged Edward and tilted my head her way. His eyes lit up with understanding and he swung an arm over my shoulder, turning us to face Bella.

"Bella, let me introduce you again. This lovely lady is my sister-in-law, Mrs. Rosalie Hale-Cullen. She's married to my poor unfortunate brother, Emmett."

I elbowed him in the ribs and shrugged out from under his arm, taking a seat next to Bella with a huff. "Ugh, you know I'd never hyphenate my name like that."

"True. Em's still bitter about that, by the way."

"Whatever, he'll get over it. I can't just give up my professional name."

Just then, I heard Bella's stomach growl loudly, and turned to see her with a sheepish grin and an adorable blush gracing her cheeks. "Sorry, um, I've been having trouble keeping breakfast down these days…"

"No, no, don't worry. I brought us some lunch, let's eat!" I felt bad for making her wait so long; I knew Edward's office worked efficiently, but there's always some unexpected delay when you visit the doctor, so it was unsurprising that she'd be hungry by now.

Edward grabbed the bags from his desk and pulled a chair up to the couch. We sat and ate, talking casually and getting to know one another. I was glad that Bella seemed comfortable with us. It wasn't the most common thing to have lunch and chat with your doctors, but I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to be her friend, and if she was going to be in my life then she was probably going to be seeing a bit of Edward, as well.

I noticed him glancing at her often from the corner of his eye, as if carefully watching out for her, and I had to hold back another girlish squeal when I had the thought that maybe something romantic might develop between them. Eddie was such a sweet guy; he just could never find the right girl for him. If I didn't love his brother so much… Nah, Edward was like the little brother I'd always wanted: a little lackey when I needed one, and perfect for teasing.

Actually, I wondered if he'd continue as her doctor after this, or if he'd assign someone else. If he kept her as a patient he'd be seeing a lot more of her than I would… quite literally. Whew! Wouldn't that be an intimate way for them to get to know each other?

I smirked at Edward and he furrowed his brows in confusion.

Just you wait, brother. I have so many plans for you.

The conversation flowed easily and we were all laughing like old friends. I learned that Bella was going to school to earn her master's in social work, and was amazed at how far she'd come in the five-plus years since I'd seen her. It really was impressive how she'd overcome her own hardships and dedicated herself to a cause she believed in.

Eventually, the topic came back around to Bella's pregnancy. "It was just the most amazing surprise. I could've sworn I had the flu; the possibility of it being morning sickness didn't even cross my mind."

"So, you weren't trying, then?" I asked. "Honestly, after you left the office that day I wasn't sure you'd ever try again, although of course I hoped you would."

"No, I hadn't planned on it at all. It was only recently that I even starting considering adoption, either. After Jake and I divorced, I hadn't even been on a single date until… ah…"

She cut herself off, blushing furiously. It seemed she didn't want to admit anything else, but this was one thing she'd be learning about me quite quickly: I was the queen of gossip and gleaning out information. And I could tell there was a juicy story here just waiting to be heard.

"So, it's not Jacob," I mused to myself. She did say she hadn't been in any relationships, but Bella didn't seem the type to sleep around, either. I was so curious! "You do know who the father is, right?" I joked, trying to get a reaction out of her.

"Yes!" she practically shouted, surprising me. "I mean, well… yes?" she followed up much more timidly.

"Why is that a question?"

I saw Edward with one hand over his mouth, trying to hold back his chuckles. Did he know something? He did!

"You!" I pointed at him. "What do you know? What's so funny?"

"No-nothing, it… it's nothing, Rose." Suddenly he wasn't laughing any more. Actually, that was the first time I'd ever heard him stutter, and was he… was he blushing?

"Are you blushing? What the hell is going on here?" I demanded. Call me stubborn, but I absolutely hated being left out of the loop.

It was then that I saw it. Bella and Edward looked at each other at the exact same moment. They shared some sort of secret look, and I watched as Bella's nervousness visibly faded away under Edward's tender gaze. I even noticed his hand twitch at his side, as if he wanted to reach out for her.

Why didn't I see this before?

I gasped, and they both turned to look at me. A million questions were bouncing around in my mind, but there was really only one thing I could say in this moment.

"Wow, you must have some super sperm there, Eddie."

AN: Hello again everyone. Thanks so much for sticking with me, and welcome to the new readers! Apologies for the delay this time; I really meant to have this up sooner but with the holidays, and getting sick, and… you really don't want to read about all my poor excuses. I'm realizing that I'm a very slow, perfectionist-type of writer… and a huge procrastinator. I will once again try to improve next time! Please keep leaving your thoughtful reviews, they are very encouraging and motivating!