BPOV

I could make out voices around me, but I had to strain my ears too much, and it took too long. In the time it would take me to gather up the concentration to clarify the soft mumbles, the people would already be done talking.

The times I could, I tried to move and speak to them, to tell them that this was terrifying, that I couldn't remember a lot, but had no idea what I had lost, that I was confused about what was going on and didn't know why everything was black, or how my blind movements were sluggish.

As far as I knew, I had no way of communication. With anyone.

A few times the voices were much louder, and I could hear them muffled…

"She's…thr…con…ness…resur…ing…"

Not that I could make anything of it. I wanted to laugh at what this person could be saying.

"Bella!"

EPOV

I yelled from my bed. Her merry laughing continued but she turned to face me. If I forgot she was in a hospital, I'd have thought she was running through the wind in a meadow. She looked so carefree, and… lovable, for lack of a more expressing word.

"Carlisle, this isn't normal!" I cried, officially freaked out. And somewhat frustrated. Bella seemed to be perfectly awake and alright last night, but now it was just fits and giggles. It was like she was sleep talking. Ever heard of the man that slept for a hundred years? The idea of Bella in a coma for that long scared the crap out of me.

"My only explanation is that her body is telling itself that it's alright, but her mind doesn't agree. It's going on instinct." Carlisle said unsurely. "But, then again, it's more likely the other way around. Her mind is in higher possibility of reacting that way, and it might overcome her body's instincts long enough to get something through. It would put a lot of strain on her mind, and it might deteriorate her memories at an increased rate. It's all to do with how hard she's trying."

Deteriorate her memories… quicker… "Can she chose which memories to hold onto?"

"That's very rare. But, considering her behavior right now, I don't know what to expect. Maybe, it might be possible to…"

"What might be possible?" I asked quickly and impatiently. Thank god Jasper wasn't here. He'd have a mental breakdown and probably spend the rest of Bella's coma in a padded cell.

"Getting through to her. If it's mind over matter, which seems to be mostly true for her, she might be able to take control of her body, or at least parts of it, for short amounts of time. If we can get through to her long enough, we might be able to tell her to relax, since it will make her mental stress ease up enough to keep her memory for a longer period of time."

"We need all the chance we've got." I pleaded. My heart spiked, alerting my heart monitors immediately, when Bella turned over on her side and faced towards me. Her face looked so peaceful, so content. A soft smile was planted on her lips, and her eyelids were delicately closed. An angel.

All the chance we've got…

I heard a large thump against the door.

JPOV

I couldn't even begin to fathom what Carlisle meant by 'deteriorating'. She was my sister; my Bella. And she wouldn't—couldn't— be anyone else. No matter what she lost, or missed, or forgot, she'd always be my Bella.

I collapsed against the door, wrapping my arms around my knees, and banged my head three times against the door, so hard that a headache bloomed from the back of my head like daisy.

"Jasper!" I heard my mom finally call. It's not like she was waiting there for the past five minutes (note the sarcasm). She had probably been flirting with one of the male nurses, or off-duty doctors. Yes. I was reluctant, but completely and sadly honestly, to admit that my mother was a professional model… and slut. How she managed to keep a relationship with a man long enough to have two children is beyond me.

"What happened, dear?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice. She was trying to be motherly for her fans. It blew me up to know she was using me to get another unworthy husband. You'd think after the first one died, and the second left not a year after marriage, she'd know love just wasn't her luck.

"Renée, my sister, your daughter, is in there," I knocked my knuckles against the door, which resounded with a dull thunk, "in a coma, losing her memory, and I have no idea if she's going to come out of it the same person! And all you can think about it having sex with the first man you see! How can you call yourself a mother?"

I stood up suddenly, opened the door, and slammed it behind me. I ignored the shocked stares from Carlisle and Edward and plopped down in the armchair—which was quickly becoming mine— and tried to fall off into sleep. I hadn't slept at all last night, and somehow I didn't think knowing my sister might not remember me when she woke up was going to help.

Wow, for a quiet and calm person, I had been blowing up a lot lately. To my parents.

EPOV

Bella, surprisingly enough, was the first one to break the silence left by Jasper's grand entrance. She sighed unhappily, and turned around to face her brother. In doing so, her arm flopped out to rest on Jasper's chest. I think he was asleep, but he still clutched onto it for dear life, or in his case, sanity.

It was so sweet, almost picturesque, but then I remembered the reason it was like this. Bella was stressing herself out to have at least one level of communication with us, through vague gestures and mumbles.

"Jasper…" Bella sighed, the small crease between her smooth eyebrows disappearing into her forehead. A small smile graced her lips.

"Absolutely amazing." Carlisle muttered. "I never knew someone could be so… coherent in a coma. You know, Edward, this might go on for less time than I thought…"

Someone knocked calmly on the door, for once, and waited for an answer before barging in. Carlisle called a soft 'come in', and another doctor in algae-colored scrubs and a white lab coat stepped in.

"It's time for the pre-operation check-up." He said calmly. "We have to make sure you're strong enough for the operation to be a success, Mr. Masen."

Translation: we don't want you dying on us and ruining our record, Mr. Masen.

I took one glance at Carlisle, who shrugged, and then at the doctor, whom I nodded to. In a second, I was sitting up, struggling to move my feet over the edge of the hospital bed. I groaned when I noticed I was wearing a stupid hospital gown. It might have just been my rising paranoia, but I was sure to face Bella, just in case she would suddenly wake up again like last night.

BPOV

I don't know how I knew. I just did. One minute (or so I think) I felt alone, and confused, and strangely giddy when my name was called, the next, I felt the overwhelming need to rollover. Once I did, I vaguely felt my out-stretched arm hit something, and I just knew it was Jasper.

Jasper…

And then I felt like sleeping. Not this state of frightening inactivity, but actually sleep. Like happy-go-lucky dreams, where nothing is wrong.

But in truth, I knew everything was wrong. Very wrong. I silently prayed to God that I was blind, or deaf; I had my whole life ahead of me. I wasn't even done with college! I wasn't even 21! There were so many experiences I wanted to have in full detail, not a pressured, make-believe idea of what they were like.

And as if things couldn't get any worse, I suddenly felt ten times emptier than I ever had in my life. The only thing that rivaled it was seeing Edward in a pool of his own blood after my little action movie. But that one was mainly devastation, like I had lost Jasper and Alice both at once. No. This was the empty feeling you get when you're a toddler lost at a grown-ups' Halloween party. Where the tiniest little thing can set you off screaming.

I was quickly consuming me, like my heart was stopping and chest was collapsing altogether, determined only to cause me pain.

"Edward…g…ba…n…re!"

Edward? Edward had left? Edward had been here?

"What happened?" A sweet, velvety voice said clearly. I was stunned stiff that I could hear him like he was speaking in my ear.

"Sh…zed…nce…ou…ot…ut…f…room."

"C…le…e…xam…on…as…o…gin." This was an unfamiliar voice.

"Can't we postpone it long enough for her to calm down? She'll probably rip her side open if that happens again."

"Pa…n…ler."

Panler… painkiller. Of course. Jasper must be talking. He's always thinking of the best for me. But, I hate drugs, even if they are medical. I tried to shake my head and roll myself into a fetal position to give them nowhere to put the needle.

"Are…o…re…e's…n…a…ma?"

"Yes I'm sure. If she wasn't, I'd probably be thanking her for saving my life."

All the while Edward was speaking, he was getting dimmer, and I knew that wasn't just me. He had gone for whatever he had to do. Again, I cursed my inability to move and chase his comfort.

I had an immeasurable time to think over the past… the past time I had been 'sleeping'. I really got a lot done. For instance, I can now do long division in my head! And, I did all the homework I could remember; in my head! I've got to get some sort of reward for that, because college courses aren't exactly the easiest when it comes to mental homework. Have you ever tried to compile a nearly 50-paragraph essay on the history of literature mentally? Thought not.

But, to more pressing matters.

Edward had confounded and confused me since Day 1 he had started out as our gardener. He must have been just 17 or 18 when he began work. Everyday when I would walk home from school, be would be there, rain or shine. It was one of the only things I could count on.

But it had annoyed to me no end how he had always avoided my gaze whenever possible. Sure, he looked at Jasper a lot, and even talked with him! But me? Nothing. Not a look, not a peek. Not a word.

Yet, I looked at him a lot. As the complete opposite of him, I took every chance I got to stare at him, and then he would look up and we would both turn away. I always had a blush on my face. Even though I always did blush, a lot, Edward just made it ten times worse, if not more.

No matter how hard I thought, I never got anywhere with my feelings towards him. It was like a really hard puzzle, but once you figure out the strategy, it's so annoyingly easy! And the worst part is that it feels like even your conscious is laughing at you for not getting it.

Love kept coming up on my mind.

EPOV

The examination was mainly just of the doctor opening my casts to make sure my bones were healing properly. I knew that it was too soon to tell, but also that spotting things quickly helps right them faster. When you think about it, so many things seem like they can go wring in a split second, and it makes me worry. And with worrying, I don't go halfway.

"Well, Edward, everything checks out!" The doctor announced, putting down his clipboard. He had a smile on his face. "And the operation room is all set up and ready once I tell you the details! Any questions about the surgery?"

"Um… one." I said confidently. "What's going to happen to my shoulder?"

The doctor frowned for a second, looking deep in thought. "Well, it's shattered beyond repair. We had two choices; to either wait the year and a half it'd take to heal, completely cutting you off from moving your left hand for that time, or replacing the bone.

"I hope it isn't a problem for you, since you're going to have to take therapy afterwards, but you'd still have to take it either way."

"It's fine. Might as well get it over with." I sighed and laid down on the stretcher. He came over with a mask, as well as several other male nurses and other doctors, and I blacked out.

New shoulder and ribcage; here I come.

A/N: A full, shiny hundred points to whoever can decipher all six sentences!

For those of you who actually know what it's like to witness, or even be in a coma, I apologize completely if this isn't very realistic at all, which I know it is. I know as much about comas as I do about quantum physics. But, if you could PM me about what makes a coma a coma, that'd be great. Something that you must know about me is that I'm a very logical person, and if my stories are all human and realistic, I try to base it as much on pure fact as possible.

No worries,
Kylie M.