The Man She Never Knew

AN: I know, two chapters in a day! Holy Crap right? Well don't get too excited. I had to add this so I can spend time on the next Chapter. This is sort of short compared to my normal chapters, but this is important to the continuation of the story. Please review, I love knowing that you like this story.

Chapter Nine: Paging Doctor Cullen

God I was hungry. I had woken up late, no time for coffee, couldn't even stop by the diner for something quick to eat, and I was stressed out the trauma department because they had too much drama going on there. Ever since the board of directors hired the bungalow twins the trauma department has been slow. I had informed them on a number of occasions that the trauma room was not here for them to look down at women and try and get men to fuck them on their desks. I think I am going to have to have a word with the board about getting rid one if not both of them. I can't have them setting this hospital up for a lawsuit.

It was almost nine in the morning and I had been here since five. To say that I was starving was an understatement. Walking into my office I couldn't help but think to myself how much I would kill for a cup of sweet black coffee, and some stuffed French toast. With a sigh I opened my office and my nose was hit with the smell of fresh coffee and French toast. No one was in my office, but the food was fresh and it was from the diner.

I walked over to my chair and saw that it indeed was my favorite breakfast on my desk. I couldn't help the smile that came upon my face, and though I didn't know who had put the breakfast on my desk, I was silently thanking them as I dug in.

After I had eaten the breakfast, I noticed a wrapped gift sitting against the wall. It was large, but not over whelming. I slowly walked over to it and read the gift tag.

To: Edward

From: Santa

I continued to stare at it wondering who would get me a present, and debated on if I should open it or not. My better judgment won out and I opened it. Peeling the paper on the box I realized what it was. It was a large keyboard with an envelope taped to it. I pulled the envelope off of the box and opened it.

Edward,

I know you couldn't wait to open this, luckily I'm not really Santa Clause, because then he would have to call you a pansy assed momma's boy. If you still haven't guessed who this is then you are dumber than a box of rocks.

I wanted to do something special for you, and after watching you play the piano I knew this was the best gift for you. I would like you to keep it in your office that way when you feel as though you have too much on your plate and need a few minutes to yourself, you don't have to travel to the chapel for a few moments of peace. You just seem so peaceful while you play, and I thought you might like this.

I hope you like your breakfast; Alice is helping me with sneaking this in. Please enjoy it. When you get off of work please go straight home. There will be a surprise waiting for you. That is all I am going to say.

Always,

Bella

I read then reread the letter from Bella. How did she know about my stress with life? It was the most thoughtful gift I had ever received, and because of it, I felt all the stresses that had come my way today melt away as I opened the box and set up the keyboard with the stand. In two days, Bella had learned my deepest secret and embraced it in the only way that she could, by bringing the peace into my office. And I knew then that I was already in love with Isabella Swan. It didn't matter that we had just met, and it didn't matter that she lived in a different state. I fell in love with her the moment I first laid eyes upon her beautiful face.

"True love never comes when you expect it." I heard Charlie's voice in my head. I hadn't thought of that conversation in four years, and now it was sitting right in the front of my mind.

~ Four Years Ago ~

I sat there on the porch next to Uncle Charlie. Today was one of the few days I had a chance to take a break from the hospital. Charlie had made it clear that he wanted to talk to me before he went back up to Forks so I made it a point to make the time for him. He smiled as he handed me a beer and I took a sip.

"Edward, I need to give you some advice that you're going to blow off until it happens, but I still need to give it to you."

I stared at Uncle Charlie as if he were crazy. "What words of wisdom do you have for me today Uncle Charlie?" I asked him. In the last three years he had been giving me advice on love as if he knew something big was going to happen.

"You're twenty-one years old now Edward, it's time you know about love."

"I already know about love Uncle Charlie."

Charlie looked at me for a moment and sighed. "Edward, shut up and take some words of wisdom. Don't be like me. When you find love, you need to hold on to it with a fierceness. Don't do what I did with Renee, and let it go. You can never take back words, remember that. True love never comes when you expect it. It could land on your door step with the most unknown attentions and if you turn it away, you're a fool.

"Love is a once in a lifetime experience, what you may think is love now isn't love. Love is known the moment that you lay your eyes upon the other person. It is the breath you take when you see their smile or the racing of your heart when their eyes meet yours. They become your air, your being, they become your life!

"Don't be like me Edward, don't regret decisions you made and cannot change. Don't say things in anger, because no matter how much you wish you can take them back you never can. Don't do something that you will be ashamed of when you're thirty, because if you think you'll be ashamed of it later, odds are so with your wife. Don't think that just because your day was stressful at the job, that your wife running around with your two year old daughter didn't have just as much of a stressful day. Remember to help each other in every way that you can, and remember why you are with each other. Never forget that it's a partnership and not one of you can do it alone. Don't be like me Edward."

I sat there looking a Charlie knowing there was nothing I could say. I replayed everything that he had just spoke to remember it and filed it away. I knew this conversation was important, I just didn't know why. Uncle Charlie had just laid every piece of advice he had on me, and to say that my mind was a cluster fuck trying to sort it out and file it away was a lie. I had just been bombarded with a huge piece of advice that was going to be very important someday.

I quickly drank down my beer and put my hand on Uncle Charlie's shoulder. "Thanks Uncle Charlie, and don't worry I won't let the right girl slip through my fingers." I said.

Charlie placed his hand over mine, and said softly. "I thought the same thing…" I left him there on the porch lost in him memories of the one woman he had loved and lost. I promised myself that moment that I didn't want to end up like Uncle Charlie, and I hadn't.

~ Present time ~

"Damn Uncle Charlie." I said softly to myself. "How did you know?" I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he knew she would come. That he knew I would fall in love with her. He knew I was going to meet Bella, his flesh and blood and fall madly in love with her.

I stared out into the nothingness of my memory for a moment, and then made a choice. I was going to let it all go. Throw my insecurities out the window and take my chances on a woman that could quite possibly be the only woman I would ever love. I thanked Charlie for bringing her to me, even if it was in some sick and twisted way, and stood up. I had five hours left of work and then I was going to head home and see what Bella left for me there.