ASL Chapter 2

Changes Are Coming

EPOV:

I still remember the first time I ever laid eyes on her. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I had never been attracted to a blonde before, I had always dated brunettes. It was my first semester at college and we were in the same History class. I couldn't help but sit next to her and by the end of the class I had her number. By that night, I had called her and we had a date planned for that Saturday evening. I took her out to dinner and then for a walk on the pier before taking her back to her dorm. She was an education major. That one date was all it took for me. I knew I was in love with her that night.

I took her home with me over Thanksgiving to introduce her to my parents, my brother, and sister. They fell in love with her immediately, too. My mom said she had such a kind heart and soul. We flew up to Alaska for Spring Break so that I could meet her family. I must say that I was charming enough that I made a great impression on her family, including her father.

No one was surprised when we decided to get an apartment together off campus that summer. That first night in our first home together was the first time we made love, to each other or to anyone at all. It was one of the five best nights of my life. The others being the obvious, when I proposed, our wedding day, the day she told me she was pregnant, and the day our son was born.

Tanya and Ethan are my entire life. I am so glad that I am finished with my residency and was in my private practice. I was loving being able to leave the office every day at 5 PM. I no longer had to work late nights and all-night shifts. I no longer had to miss putting my son to bed. I would no longer be just climbing into bed as my wife woke up for the day.

We had been trying to get pregnant again for months with no luck so far. I had been thinking about suggesting we stop for a bit and relax on it. I hated seeing the disappointment in Tanya's eyes every month when her period came. Then I noticed a change in My Tanya. I knew that Alice's pregnancy was difficult for her to deal with, but she never let it show. At least she didn't think that I saw. I was more in tune with her than I think she realized. I was going to suggest soon that she take a test. I was almost positive this time it would be good news.

I was however a bit disappointed that Alice took so long delivering my nephew. I got very excited when she started having contractions at my birthday dinner. I was really hoping that Aiden and I would be able to share a birthday. But my sister, being the procrastinator that she is, didn't deliver until about 4:30 in the morning the day after my birthday.

After visiting my sister and holding my nephew, I took Tanya home, and then went on to the office. I had a full day of patients ahead of me, seeing as Dad stayed home to rest and he despised having to cancel appointments on his patients. He would go on about how most of them were from households where both parents worked outside of the home and found it difficult to find the time to get off work for one appointment, let alone having to reschedule. It was one reason that I wanted Tanya to remain a stay at home mom. Besides, she was happy with her life and so was I, so why change things now.

I ended up never getting a break in my day at all. I had one of the nurses bring me back a sandwich that I kept in my office and would sneak in for bites between patients. But the mug of coffee rarely left my hand. Even with that, contrary to what I told my wife, I was dead on my feet. I just wanted to get home and crawl into bed. First, I had to stop at the store to pick up some milk for the kids.

I was in my car on the interstate making my way home with the radio turned up high, in an attempt to stay awake, but I was dozing off. I knew that I just needed to stay awake for another twenty minutes then I could sleep. I knew my eyes were drooping when I vaguely heard the crunching of metal as everything went dark.

TanyaPOV:

I couldn't believe that I was back to sitting in a hospital waiting room. This time it was entirely my fault. I should never have asked him to stop for the milk. It wouldn't have been that difficult for me to take both kids to the store. I had a moment of laziness and it may have cost my husband his life. Carlisle was blaming himself too. If only….if only…if only….I could go on for days with the "if only's". I just wanted…no I needed my husband to be all right.

The doctor came out after leaving us sitting there for three hours and updated us on Edward's condition. He had a broken left arm and right leg, and a skull fracture. They had needed to operate to remove his spleen but what they were really concerned about was the swelling in his brain. It was a lucky thing that he was wearing his seat belt, because when the car rolled he would have been ejected. He was also lucky that he didn't hit anyone else. He had hit the guardrail at an angle so that the car flipped over it and rolled down the embankment and into a tree. Witnesses said that he'd been driving erratically moments before he lost control and were concerned that he'd been drinking. We assured the officer that wasn't the case, that he was just too tired. I consented for them to do a blood alcohol level test on him to prove Edward was not driving under the influence.

The doctor told us that he'd placed Edward into a medically induced coma and would be keeping him like that for the near future. The good news was that although he was in stable condition, he would be staying in the ICU for a while. Emmett and Rose offered to take the kids home after they took Kara over to the maternity ward see her parents and Aiden. We had yet to tell Alice and Jasper about Edward's accident. We wanted to wait until he came out of surgery and we had an update before we upset Alice. She just had surgery and needed to rest.

With a big kiss and a hug, I sent my son off home for bed. Carlisle went with Emmett, Rose, and the kids so that he could assure Alice and Jasper that as a doctor he really believed that Edward was going to be just fine. Esme and I sat alone together in the quiet waiting room letting the silence surround us until the nurse came back to take us up to the ICU to see him. Esme and I held hands the whole walk there as the nurse tried to explain to us and warn us what to expect. I was so close to losing it. I was hanging on by a thread and needed something to focus on to keep me moving forward. I kept my eyes trained on the back of the nurse's shoes as she walked in front of us and with each step she took I let her pull me forward.

He had a lot of bruises and a ventilator to help him breathe, and they had needed to shave part of his head due to the head injury. Esme walked into the room first and I heard her sobbing gasp before I slowly lifted my eyes and took in my broken husband. I walked slowly over to him as if any sudden movement on my part would scare or startle him. I reached his side and placed one of my hands against his face, while taking his hand in my other hand. I leaned down and kissed his forehead. I was the one that startled when I heard a scraping noise behind me and looked up to see that the nurse had brought a chair over for me to sit in. She gave me a sad smile and reminded us that there could only be two people in the room with him at a time.

I started telling Edward how much I loved him and needed him and so did Ethan. It was about a half an hour later when Esme touched my arm and told me that she was going to step out to the waiting room and let Carlisle come in for a while. Moments later Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder and crouched in front of me, assuring me that he was positive that Edward was going to be just fine. He'd looked at Edward's chart and it all looked good. I just nodded.

He left a few minutes later telling me that he was going to lie down on one of the couches in the waiting room if I should need him, but he was going to send Esme back in to sit with me. I fell asleep with my head resting on Edward's arm only to be woken a couple of hours later by a sharp pain in my stomach. Esme was fast asleep in a chair at the foot of the bed. I got up and quietly slipped into the bathroom. When I found blood in my underwear, I started to panic. I slipped out of the room and made my way back to the waiting room to find my father in law.

"Carlisle. Carlisle! Wake up, please! I need your help!"

"Wha…Edward…is he…?"

"No, no, no, it's not Edward, Carlisle, it's me. There's something wrong and I need your help."

"What's wrong, Sweetie?"

"I'm pregnant and now I'm cramping and spotting."

"Shit. Let's go down to the ER and get you looked at." He grabbed a wheel chair, insisting that I had to get off my feet. We made it down to the ER and found a doctor to examine me.

A couple of hours and many tests later the doctor came in with an answer, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cullen. I'm afraid you miscarried." Then I broke down sobbing in my father-in-laws arms. Why? Why were so many bad things happening to us now?

The doctor left us alone at Carlisle's insistence. "Does Edward know, Tanya?"

"No. I was going to tell him last night but then Alice went into labor and we didn't get home till this morning. Then he had to go to work and then the accident," I choked out through the sobs. "Don't tell anyone Carlisle. This is only going to hurt him if he finds out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Why bring him more pain. This can be our little secret, right?"

"If that is what you really want, then yes, we can keep this between the three of us. I won't keep this from Esme. But I do understand you wanting to keep it from Edward right now. It might impede his recovery, but I want you to agree to think about telling him in the future."

"Yes, I will tell him at some point. Just not now."

"We'd better get back upstairs."

When I got back up to Edward's room Esme was awake and looked worried. "Oh, dear, I was wondering where you were."

"I had to deal with something. Carlisle needs to talk to you." She kissed my temple before leaving the room. When she came back fifteen minutes later, she had tears streaming down her face.

"Oh my dear, I am so sorry. I…I…I…"

"Shh, Esme. Please. Not in here. Not now." That was all that was said as we held each other the rest of the night. Rose woke me up at about eight to tell me that Ethan was in the waiting room with Carlisle and Esme and suggested that I go have breakfast with them while Emmett and Rose sat with Edward. I took her up on her suggestion and told her that I should probably run home for a few things too and get a shower. She pointed at a bag sitting by the door.

"We figured that you wouldn't want to leave, so we brought a few necessities." I left my husband in the capable hands of my sister in law and went to find my son.

The next three weeks crept by slowly. I tried splitting my time between trying to be at the hospital and trying to be at home with Ethan. I didn't want him to have to be at the hospital any more than necessary but he kept crying that he missed his daddy. Yet he couldn't understand at that age why daddy was sleeping so long, and would cry when daddy wouldn't wake up to play with him.

One day, about a week after the accident, I came home around lunchtime after having left Ethan alone with Emmett for the whole morning.

"Tanya, I need to tell you something." That was not the way that I wanted to be greeted by my brother in law as I walked in the door.

"What's wrong? Where's Ethan? Is he alright?" I knew that they were headed to the mall to buy Rose a birthday gift.

"No. He's fine. Just fine. Well, he's really fucking ecstatic at the moment. Which brings me back to-"

"Mommy! Guess what Unca Em boughts me! I gots a pet!"

"You bought him a PET!"

"Now don't get excited, you don't even know what it is yet."

"I don't have time to take care of a pet. I have a husband in the ICU and a three year old and now I have to train and care for a pet. Great!" I was seriously going to beat him.

"Wait now. This pet doesn't require much attention and there is no training needed."

I was just about to ask what kind of pet needed no attention or training when Ethan grabbed my hand. "Come wif me mama!" and he pulled me into the living room behind him. What I saw on the coffee table made me burst out in laughter for the first time since that horrid night. There was a small bowl with a goldfish in it.

"You got a goldfish, baby?"

"Yip, his names Jacob."

"Jacob?"

"Yip"

"I know I should have talked to you first, but it made him smile. I thought it would be a good distraction for him."

"It's was a brilliant idea, Emmett. Thank you."

"You're welcome, sis."

"Did you find a gift for Rose?"

"Yip"

"Now I know where my son is getting that. What did you get her?"

"Furniture."

"What?" I spun around to look at him stunned.

"The real estate people called. We got the house we wanted, the one that Rose called her "dream home'." I gave him a big hug.

"I am so happy for the two of you," I cried. He left a few minutes later to go home, pick up Rose, and take her out to celebrate. After I put Ethan down for his nap, I went to my room and cried; I cried out of anger and frustration. Why? I questioned. Why was everything going so wrong for me and so right for everyone else? Why did Alice and Rose both get their dreams while mine died? How had my life fallen apart so bad, so fast?

A/N:

Do you like how I got Jacob in there? How do you feel about Tanya? Thanks again to Sweetpea123 for betaing this for me. She is getting chapter 3 today so I should be able to post it for you guys next Saturday. Reviews will get a teaser of that chapter. Thank you for reading.