There was an incessant banging somewhere very close by. It was not helping with the throbbing in my head. To add to this, I smelled something that needed to be taken out of the oven before it burnt.

I opened my eyes slowly. The light coming in from the window in the living room was hurting my eyes. The pounding continued "Damn it, Bella. Open this door right now before I kick it in."

I jumped to my feet, and stumbled to the door. I threw it open and fell into Edward's arms. He sighed with relief when he tightened his arms around me. I wondered how long he'd been standing there trying to get me to open the door.

He tunneled his fingers into my hair and held my head to the junction between his neck and his shoulder. I winced at the contact. I probably had a bruise forming from where my head hit the ground. "Get your coat. We're going to see Charlie."

I gave a curt nod. I went to the kitchen, closed my computer without bothering to shut it down, turned off the oven and ran upstairs to get my coat. Edward ghosted behind me every step of the way. Clearly not believing me stable enough to do so on my own. I couldn't argue with him. I probably wasn't

We were quickly in his car as he broke every traffic law known to man to get me to the hospital. He shifted gears so quickly that I was amazed the transmission didn't groan in protest. We were at the hospital in five minutes flat. I was running through the doors, Edward very close behind me. He caught me and pulled me toward the receptionist. I didn't want to talk to her. I needed to see Charlie.

"Where's my Dad?" Edward startled the woman from her phone call. She hung up her phone and examined Edward.

Usually this annoyed me. Today, it pushed me past pissed. Charlie could be dying or dead. I pushed that thought away quickly. And here she was ogling my boyfriend rather than giving me the information that I needed.

I slammed my hand down on the counter, startling her. "Take your eyes off my boyfriend if you want them to remain in your head and tell us where Dr. Cullen is."

She studied me, as if judging how much of a threat to her I really was. I growled and she pointed down the hall, "He's in room 304 with Chief Swan."

I was still irritated wit the woman, but Edward took my hand and pulled me down the hallway toward our father. My heart rate increased as I thought of Charlie in here. My mind came up with the worst possible situations. Charlie breathing his last breath, his body bruised and broken, his life being pulled from his just as he was finding happiness.

I was so worked up, that Charlie's actual condition was a relief. Edward pulled me into the room. I looked over at the bed and saw Charlie sitting up, remote in hand, flipping through the small TV trying to find some game or other. I flew across the room and flung my arms around him. I cried into his chest as he stroked my hair in shock.

"I thought I'd lost you, Dad. I got a call from Carlisle and all he told me was that you were in a car accident. Then I couldn't get to you because me truck died and…and…"

"Shh," Charlie continued to stroke my hair. "Everyone is making too big of a deal out of this. I'm fine. I just broke my leg."

"You were quite lucky," Carlisle spoke without looking up from my father's chart. "The driver of the other car didn't make it and the passenger has yet to wake up from her surgery."

I pulled back to look at my father. "What happened?"

"Drunk driver," said a gravely voice from the other side of the room. I looked over to see Billy and Sue. Sue was sitting in a chair next to the bed while Billy had rolled himself to the edge of the bed while he spoke. There was anger in his knowledgeable eyes. I could only imagine the pain this brought. His wife had been killed by a drunk driver, I couldn't even begin to imagine how the idea of losing his best friend the same way would affect him."

Charlie nodded. "They rammed the nose of the cruiser from the side. If they had been a few inches back, they would have broken more than my leg. The driver went right through the window shield." He shook his head. "You will never get in the car with a drunk driver."

I nodded my head. I felt weak with relief that Charlie was okay. "You don't have to worry about that, Dad."

The tension in the air slowly began to fade. I sat on the bed next to Charlie and we talked about our Christmas Eves. "So did you and Edward spend all night under the mistletoe?"

"Dad!" I shoved him lightly and blushed. My father had changed a lot since I left. His ability to joke about these kinds of things were newly acquired. "No, Dad, we didn't get caught under a single mistletoe. Actually," I looked up at Edward in confusion. "I didn't see a single mistletoe at your house. How is that possible?"

He scrunched his nose. "That would be Em and Rose's fault. One year they went a little overboard under the mistletoe. Mom didn't want to go through that again. So we haven't had mistletoe at the party since."

My father laughed loudly, nearly causing me to jump from the bed. "Sounds like Jacob and Leah last night."

Sue and Billy looked at each other smiling, clearly happy with the match. I just shook my head and mumbled under my breath. "And he says that I'm bad."

"What did you say, Bells?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing, Dad."

Carlisle walked in and saved me from my father who knew that I was lying. "Okay, Chief Swan. I just need to do some blood work to make sure that everything's still okay. Then you can go on home."

I kissed my father on the cheek. "I'll be in the waiting room." I couldn't watch as they drew blood. I didn't need to pass out again.

Edward and I walked down the hallway to the waiting room where the receptionist sat. I threw a glare in her direction and turned to sit in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. Jacob was sitting there with Leah's head on his shoulder. She seemed to be asleep.

"Hey, Bells. Come out to give another go at killing the poor woman behind the desk." Jake chuckled.

I knew I was blushing, but I continued to glare at him. "You mean you were sitting here the whole time and you didn't try to help me."

He laughed loudly, jostling Leah and waking her up. She looked up at me curiously as Jacob spoke. "And risk the wrath of Bella being turned on me. I don't think so."

Leah popped Jake upside the head in a way that reminded me of Rose. "Her father was just in an accident, Jacob. Stop being such a jerk." She turned to me. "I'm sorry, Bella. He forgets the appropriate way to act sometimes."

I laughed at the situation. Jacob was looking pleadingly at Leah, "I know, Leah. I've had more than my fair share of putting up with Jake."

Jake looked between me and Leah, "My girlfriend and best friend are ganging up against me?"

I shrugged, "It's not really me that you have to worry about. She's the one that can withhold."

Leah smiled at me. A glint of mischief in her eyes. I liked this side of her. I was glad that we could be friends now. "That's not a bad idea, Bella."

Jacob stared at her, mouth agape, "You can't be serious, Lee Lee. You know that I would die without you."

Leah rolled her eyes, but I saw her breaking a little. "You're being over dramatic Jacob."

He nuzzled into her neck and her eyes rolled back into her head as he whispered into her ear.

"Ewwwww," I put my hand over my eyes, trying to block what I had seen from my mind. "Could you two stop that? I don't need a show."

I heard Jake chuckle. "Pay back's a bitch, Bells." I heard a thwack. "Aw, come on, babe. You didn't see them last week. They were so into each other they completely forgot that I was in the room."

I knew I was blushing again. Edward pulled on the hand that wasn't covering my eyes until I fell into a seat. "We do have a tendency to forget about other people." He said quietly to me.

I sighed and pulled my hand from my eyes. "Why didn't you call me, Jake? I was going out of my mind trying to figure out where he was."

He scrubbed his face with his hand. "Sorry, Bells. I wasn't really thinking. When Sue called, I was more worried about getting to the hospital. Then when I was about to call you, the doctor said that he already had and someone was on their way to get you." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Bells. Things were moving so fast that I was running on autopilot."

I nodded and leaned into Edward. "Thanks, Jake. I'm glad that he got to the hospital safely."