A/N: Remember Edward is on pain meds. I'm not sure why he's crazy in later chapters, but right now we can blame it on morphine.

Thanks to the team of people who helped me with this chapter: Twike, Profmom72, Brighterthansunshine, and Daisy3853. I suck that much. Sheesh.

A cool story I happened to come across the other day is Finding Home by Jennde. It's sooo good. You should read it. Find the link on my favorites.

This chapter is for the L's. Legna, Lucy, LTR, LMC, and Elle. You girls are rocking my face off.

Good Enough Chapter 3

My arm was being squeezed so tight I wanted to scream. It reminded me of the way Ms. Davis used to grab my arm in kindergarten and drag me across the room when I wouldn't sit still during circle time. That woman had a vice grip I'll never forget. I didn't expect her to visit me in the hospital though.

"Just taking your blood pressure," a high pitched voice screeched from beside my bed. I looked over and saw a nurse. She had long blonde hair and a face that made her look more like a girl than a woman. "I had to find a bigger cuff; your muscles are so big." She giggled and squeezed my bicep when she removed the Velcro cuff from my arm. Who was this imposter, and what had she done with my Bella? "Where's Bella?" I practically groaned.

"She's off. I work the eleven to seven shift. I'm Jessica."

I closed my eyes, hoping to go back to sleep and wake up when Bella was here again. "So, Mr. Masen, how are you feeling?"

"Tired."

"How did you get shot? Were you in some sort of a robbery?" The nurse finished taking my vitals, sat down in the chair next to my bed, and rested her face on her hand like she was ready to hear a long story.

"I'm a federal agent, and I was working on a case. That's all I can say." I kept my eyes closed hoping she'd get the hint.

"Oh, my dad's an agent too. He works for the IRS."

"Not quite the same thing," I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she was really starting to annoy me.

"Do you carry a gun?"

"Only when I think I might want to kill someone." I wished I had it on me then.

"Mmmmm, deadly. There's something so attractive about a man who carries a gun." Was I imagining things or was she flirting with me? If I could have moved, I'd have gone running out of the room. If I had to listen to her nasally voice much longer, I'd want to shoot myself and finish the job.

"Let me just check your bandages," she said and untied my gown on top so she could pull it off my shoulder. She ran one hand down my chest as she peeked under the gauze covering my shoulder wound with the other. "Looks good. Of course you had a brilliant surgeon. Dr. Newton is the best," she sighed with a dreamy look on her face. I prayed my condition wouldn't deteriorate in the middle of the night. I wasn't crazy about this airhead being in charge of my physical health for eight hours a day.

"How long until Bella comes back?" I asked without thinking.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Boring Bella will be back at seven, and it's just after five. I swear all that girl thinks about is work and studying. She's our resident party pooper. I hate how she pretends to be all high and mighty and like she's too good to hang out with the rest of us. Just last week, a bunch of us were going to hit the clubs after our shift, but she was all like, "No, I don't like to drink when I have to work the next morning." I mean it's not like we haven't all come to work still buzzed and been fine. We're not exactly operating heavy machinery," she said as she stuck a syringe of medicine into my IV bag. I winced and made a mental note to mention this conversation to my dad.

"I bet you like to party, don't you, Mr. Masen?" She didn't wait for me to answer. "You should come out with us when you get discharged. It will be so much fun. I can drop it like it's hot."

I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, before I could see if she was going to give me a demonstration. She kept buzzing around the room talking about herself, and I kept my eyes closed. I don't think I breathed again until I heard the door finally swing shut. I opened my eyes in relief and glanced at the clock. There was still over an hour until I could enjoy being nursed back to health again.

I was somewhere in between asleep and awake when I heard voices talking.

"We lucked out on this one. He's so freakin' hot," the nasally voice of Nurse Jessica rang in my ears.

"Jessica, he was almost killed, and he's still in a lot of pain. I don't really think that's appropriate."

"Psshaw, whatev. Don't tell me you didn't notice. He's totally going out with the girls and me when he gets out of here. He already told me he wants to see me move my thang."

"Good for you," the softer of the two voices answered full of sarcasm and irritation.

"Alright, take good care of my baby!" I heard the door close again, and the room was silent.

I braved opening one eye and was greeted with the vision of her silky brown hair covering the side of her face as she typed some information into my chart.

"You're back," I breathed. She just glanced over at me, and I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes. What was that all about? Surely she missed me as much as I missed her. There was no denying a connection between us.

"How's the pain on a scale of 1-10?" she asked.

"Not so bad. Maybe a 6?" I felt a little sore all over and groggy. My shoulder was uncomfortable, but not unbearable.

"I'm going to let you rest a little longer, then I need to clean you up, change your bandages, remove that catheter, and then you need to try and walk a little bit. That should be enough to wear you out for the rest of the day."

She seemed all business this morning, and I wondered what happened to the mysterious beauty that had brushed the hair from my eyes and held my arm reassuringly. She probably didn't want to seem unprofessional. Jessica was right, she was by far better than the rest of them.

"So did you grow up around here?" I asked hoping to break her out of her nurse role for a minute.

"Yeah, about two hours away in a small town named Forks," she answered without looking at me.

"Over near Port Angeles?" I asked.

"You know it?" She glanced up, surprised.

"Yeah, I worked on a case around there a few years back. Lots of people turned up missing – some weird vampire cult thing."

"I remember," she grimaced. "My dad is the chief of police in Forks."

"Charlie's your dad?" I asked in disbelief.

"You know my dad?"

"I talked to him many times while I was on that case. He never mentioned a daughter though."

"He's not really a man of many words unless you're discussing fishing or the Mariners," Bella smiled fondly.

"I see your point," I chuckled and felt relieved that she seemed more comfortable. "That's cool, though. You know it's like we already have a connection." Like we are meant to be. We both stared at each other for a few seconds before her face fell back into a frown again. She turned and started typing into the laptop again.

"What's your favorite food?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know?" She seemed suspicious.

"I'm bored," I lied.

"Guacamole."

"Sushi," I offered mine even though she didn't ask. She made a face like she thought I was gross. Hmm. I'd hoped she'd have better taste.

"What's your favorite book?"

"Wuthering Heights."

I've always hated that book.

"Yours?" she asked without looking up.

"The Da Vinci Code," I answered. She made another disgusted face. "What? It's got history, romance, mystery, action… what's not to like?"

"Maybe the underlying religious agenda or historical claims with no facts to back them up?" she answered with a scowl on her face. I was starting to worry Bella didn't like me that much.

"What about the romance? That part was nice." Surely she had to enjoy the love story.

"Yeah," she laughed and I exhaled in relief until she continued, "the grandpa's sex rituals were so romantic."

"Music?" I asked hoping she wouldn't find me disgusting a third time.

"You first," she punted.

"Classical," I answered. "I play the piano."

"I like classical." She smiled finally.

"Favorite color?" The question seemed safe enough.

Bella stared at me for a few seconds and finally said, "Green," in a huff and stormed out of the room.

I wondered what I'd done wrong. Oh no, I probably smell so bad she couldn't stand to be around me for one more second. Still she seemed irritable – bi-polar maybe. She also didn't like sushi, and she liked Wuthering Heights. Maybe Bella wasn't a perfect angel after all. Maybe I was already falling out of love. I decided I would give her another chance. After all, she was taking care of me, and she did have a beautiful smile. I might be able to look past her flaws this once. I didn't feel like listening to what Emmett and Alice would say if this didn't work out.

The sharp ache was starting to set back in. No matter how I moved, I couldn't get comfortable. My shoulder was throbbing, my stomach was throbbing, and even my pinky toe hurt a little bit. Just as I was about to hit the call button and ask for more pain meds, Bella came in wheeling a cart with some tubs on it. She pulled it next to my bed and seemed to be studying something on it intently.

"Bella, I'm in a bit of pain. Is it time for more medicine?" I coated my voice with honey, cocked my head to the side, and gave my best 'I'm pathetic yet adorable' smile.

She didn't even look at me; she just kept her eyes on the cart and scratched the back of her head. "No, you need to wait about another hour until the doctor sees you."

Not exactly the answer I was looking for. "Listen, Bella, as much as I can't wait to see Dr. Dickwad again, I…."

That got her attention. Bella interrupted me with giggles and moved toward me. She reached out and started to untie my gown at the shoulders. Then slowly she started moving it off me like she wanted me to pull my arms out from it. What in the world was she doing? I just told I was in pain, and she was trying to seduce me? Here? In my hospital bed? Sure she was an attractive woman, but I'd never imagined my soul mate being so… so trashy. First Jessica and now Bella. Were all the nurses in this hospital like this? Was it an added service they billed my insurance for?

I quickly grabbed her wrist and held it still. "What are you doing!"

Startled, Bella's head snapped up. She looked at me with wide eyes as redness washed over her features. "I have to give you a bath and change your bandages," she said quietly without looking at me.

That's when I realized those small tubs were full of water, and Bella planned to give me a sponge bath. No way. That was not happening. Sure, it was every man's fantasy to have a beautiful woman suds him up, but not like this. Not with me sitting here involuntarily pissing into a bag and smelling like three day old BO.

"No thank you. I'm good." I slid my nightgown back up onto my shoulder. I really hated the fact that I was wearing a stupid nightgown.

"Trust me. You're not good. I can smell you from the door."

Sweet nurse Bella had been replaced with grumpy PMS Bella. I just shook my head no again, letting her know this was not negotiable.

All the shy sweetness in her voice was replaced with authority. "Don't be a child. You are filthy, and I will not risk your wounds getting infected."

I met the challenge in her eyes and snapped back. "I didn't say I didn't want to get cleaned up. I just don't think you need to do it. Isn't there someone else?" I considered getting my dad to sneak my mom up here. Which would be more embarrassing – having the woman of your dreams (Bella being the woman of my dreams seemed to be growing more unlikely by the second, but I still hadn't ruled it out completely) or your mom give you a sponge bath? Maybe there was some old lady or something that could do it.

Bella glared at me and I swear I could see her nostrils flaring in anger. "I'm sorry, but Jessica's already left for the day."

"Oh God no, please don't let her back in here!" I sat up in the bed too quickly and winced in pain. "She … she … she talks… a lot," I groaned as I settled back into the pillows.

Bella laughed again, breaking the tension in the room.

"Well in that case, there's Jacob. He's our nurse aid. Have you had a chance to meet him yet? Native American, long hair, 6"8', and 280 pounds of muscle?"

"No, I don't remember talking to any giants named Jacob," I squirmed. A bath from a well built man was probably worse than my mom.

"Oh, he doesn't talk. He's completely mute. That's probably why they chose him to work up here this week," she chuckled. "He's just at the nurse's station playing solitaire. I can go get him."

"No, no, that's ok. I just hate not being able to do things for myself."

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm used to working on the adolescent trauma unit, so some of this is different for me too." Was I imagining things, or was she blushing again?

I wondered why she was assigned to me if she usually worked with kids, but I didn't want to make it seem like I didn't want her here by asking. Then I remembered Doolittle had a crush on her.

"OK, now I'm going to remove your catheter before I get you cleaned up."

What! No! This was a nightmare. I like to take things slow and showing of all my assets before we even go on a date is not my idea of slow.

Without even asking, Bella pulled my gown down, and then reached toward the cart for a syringe. Whoa! I started to panic. I did not like the idea of a syringe down there. Then she started messing around with my stuff. She was biting her bottom lip and her eyes were furrowed in concentration. I closed my eyes and tried to go to my happy place. This was humiliating.

"OK, that's done," Bella said nonchalantly. Wait, shouldn't she be more bashful and if not, then thank me for the view or something?

She took the washcloth from one of the basins and began to systematically wash my body starting with one arm, going across my chest, down my other arm, and then my back. Even though I was confused by her and maybe even a little irritated, her touch was soft and caring, and I started to enjoy the process.

I realized I was probably enjoying it too much and started to freak out when she worked her way up my calf to my thigh. I tried to do whatever I could to avoid the inevitable. I thought of my dog Sammy who got run over when I was ten, listed as many digits of pi as I could remember (which was three), quoted Erickson's theory on development, I even tried to imagine kissing Emmett. I worried it was no use, but then I realized nothing was happening. That wasn't right. No man could have a beautiful woman caressing his inner thigh and not have a reaction to it. Either there was something wrong with me or something wrong with Bella. Maybe I didn't really find her all that attractive. That must be it.

"Um, I'm going to go ahead and let you keep some shred of dignity and uh, finish this up for yourself." Bella blushed and handed me the wash cloth so I could clean the rest of my stuff. She turned her back to me, and I gave myself a quick once over trying to make sure nothing important seemed out of place or broken. Everything looked fine.

Bella changed my bandages and told me that things were looking good considering what I'd been through. She helped me out of the bed and into a chair. Moving hurt like hell. Jacob the teenage mutant ninja nurse came in and changed my sheets while Bella gave me a new gown to put on. I watched her move around the room, and I realized that as nice and cute as she was, she wasn't 'the one.' I sighed in defeat and wondered if I'd ever find her.

A/N: Come on. Review. You know you want to. OK I'll bribe you with a teaser. Fine. You're making me do it. Review and I'll pm you something from the next chapter.