My Hero

Chapter One

Bella's POV

I've known ever since I was a teenager that I wanted to be a doctor.

My parents had protested a hell of a lot about my ambitions; Renee, my mother, kept telling me that I should be a hairdresser or something along those lines, mostly because she was one herself. "You've got to do it, Bells," she'd say. "It's a really rewarding job! You'll thank me after it all!"

Being at that age, I had a major rant, protesting that she couldn't tell me what I wanted to do for my future. Of course I apologised afterwards, feeling guilty about shouting and being moody, but she kept persisting weeks afterwards, much to my irritation.

Dad was sort-of the same. He thought I should be doing something like teaching because I was, apparently, 'good with kids.' Not only did that sound strange when he talked about me to other members of our family, but it wasn't true. I liked children, sure, but I couldn't cope with a class full of them screaming about their grazed knees.

So I didn't change my mindset and kept determined, eventually doing a degree at University. It may have taken a very long time, but here I am today, starting my job at Forks General Hospital. I was a little nervous, but that was completely natural for a first day. I couldn't help gazing at the strangely intimidating building in front of me, though. It was grand and... well, gigantic. It was probably the biggest place I'd seen in my entire life.

The first thing I noticed after stopping in the parking lot, to my shame, was that my car looked terribly out of place here. The old and faded-orange Chevrolet that my father had generously given me for my eighteenth birthday (I've kept it for several years 'cause it's very reliable) was surrounded by row after row of expensive cars, including a shiny black Mercedes which I immediately longed to run my hands along; it was smooth, slick and looked like it should belong in a spy film.

That wasn't going to get me down, though. The morning hadn't exactly gotten off to the best of starts with Mark, my partner, but I was trying my hardest not to let that stop me. His words that I wasn't good enough for this job kept echoing around in my head, but that wasn't true. I could do this; I'd had the training and I was ready.

But the venom in his voice always seemed to affect me. He was always adamant that he was right and wasn't going to stop until I knew that.

Blinking out of my thoughts, I stepped outside and quickly dashed to the building, carefully dodging the cars that were pulling up all around me. It was starting to rain – something that wasn't uncommon in Forks – so I hurried as fast as I could without falling over, splashing through the puddles.

He always taunted me because of my clumsiness.

I sighed to myself and continued racing forward, eventually making it to the entrance. The warmth of the building hit me immediately and I wriggled in my clothes, feeling the dampness.

My shoes squeaked and my socks sloshed due to the vast amount of water which had saturated them. With a small groan, I pulled my hood down and stood at the reception. A middle aged woman in glasses eyed me carefully, her eyebrows raised high into her fringe of blonde hair.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan," I began. "It's my first day here..." I trailed off as she nodded slowly.

"Ah, we've been expecting you," she said in a nasal voice that sounded eerily like my old school headmistress; she'd never believed I could be a doctor, either. In short, people never seemed to have much belief in me.

The woman suddenly stood up and escorted me to a room, her heals clacking along the floor on the way. It was a struggle to keep up with her, but I just managed.

"Put your coat there," she ordered, indicating towards a coat hanger in the corner. I did so without hesitation and straightened out my uniform when she opened the door for me. I was immediately greeted to a roomful of doctors and nurses; my new colleagues. My stomach twisted and I felt my legs wobble.

Meeting new people wasn't one of my strongest points.

"This is the new one," the woman said somewhat coldly, leaving me alone with these strangers and letting the door slam loudly behind her.

I couldn't make my lips move; I was just frozen, like a new child at a school full of unfamiliar groups of friends. The familiar feeling was kind of nauseating.

"Hello," a young woman said, approaching me suddenly with a bounce. "I'm Megan. It's nice to have you here."

She seemed to be around my age and had peroxide blonde hair with dark roots showing through. I had no idea why I noticed that first.

"Hi," I replied eventually, my voice croaking a little. "I'm Bella. Bella Swan."

The atmosphere relaxed slowly over time and everything passed by in a strange blur. Conversations were struck up and I was gradually introduced to everyone in the room. Well, nearly everyone. Megan, or Meg, as I was repeatedly advised to call her, was busily chatting to me as we grabbed a coffee.

"Oh my God, I forgot to say!" she said in a squealing voice. "Just wait until you see Dr Cullen."

"Who?" I said, running my fingers around the cup for comfort.

"He's busy at the moment," she continued. "He's got some patient to deal with, but I wish you could see him." Her voice trailed off and she sighed dreamily. "He's gorgeous. Like... completely stunning. Half the people here fancy him, including the men."

"Really?" I muttered half-heartedly, not particularly listening. I expected her to start drooling at any moment and wanted to be a safe distance away.

"Yeah," she continued, oblivious to my disinterest. "He's like... like a movie star."

I highly doubted that. "That's all good, but I've got a partner," I said, wincing internally as I started nibbling on a biscuit.

She laughed. "That won't matter once you see him."

I had completely stopped listening then, staring absently out the window. The raindrops were slowly trickling down the glass, racing each other to the bottom.

Work was starting in five minutes and I would finally get to help the patients I'd wanted to for years and years. I smiled to myself as the doctors and nurses began slowly disappearing, but some nerves began to creep in somewhere deep in my stomach. Even though all I could think about was that, I saw a man approaching me out of nowhere, grinning goofily and showing me the gaps between his teeth. Nice.

"Hello there, I'm John, I'll be helping you today," he said, shaking my hand formally. "It's just to make sure you don't end up hurting anyone," he added, laughing loudly. I forced a smile back; it was already clear that he was irritating and patronising. Great...

"Right, let's get you to your ward," he said and I walked forward, balling my hands into annoyed fists by my sides. Keep calm, Bella. It'll be fine when he's gone...

It probably wouldn't be too good to slap him across the face with a plastic glove or something. No, that's definitely not professional.

And there's already enough violence in my life, anyway.

When I was eventually helping my first patient, the swell of pride and emotion I felt was almost enough to make me cry.

I managed to hold myself together, though - mostly because of my months of practice - and it wasn't long before I was out searching for the next person to attend to.

As if it wasn't bad enough that I was carrying a pile of papers and boxes of documents, John insisted on trailing inches behind me the whole way, like some kind of dog. I hoped that he was going to leave me alone after today because, if he didn't, there might have been some serious consequences.

I began stepping carefully down the stairs, breathing slowly to calm myself while his voice droned on and on about hygiene. How did people cope with him?

"Yes," I repeated, for the fifth time. "I have got a degree in all this y'know."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but it's good to be sure."

It took so much of my concentration to actually ignore him that I was surprised when I suddenly registered my feet slipping clumsily from underneath me.

I staggered forward, falling uncontrollably down the stairs, closing my eyes and just praying that I wouldn't get hurt; I was still sore, anyway. There was a horrible light sensation in my stomach as I had no control over what was happening, but I felt myself suddenly thud into something hard and cold, listening to the papers and boxes scattering frantically around me. After a pause to calm myself, I slowly opened my eyes and felt my legs turn to jelly, clichéd as that sounds. My first thought was that the man in front of me couldn't be real. He was too... just too beautiful.

Maybe my eyes were deceiving me. Perhaps I'd already fallen, and this was because of my concussion.

I scanned myself mentally for injuries and blinked twice. Nope, I was still conscious. A smile spread slowly across his face as he watched me closely.

I laughed nervously, the only thing I could think of doing, and began to pick up the papers and documents around us. The man in front of me knelt down to help me, copying my actions, and I felt his strangely golden eyes on my face; it was as if his gaze was somehow scorching me.

He was turning my thoughts into incomprehensible nonsense without saying a word.

His hair... oh my goodness, his hair was wonderful. It was a light blonde which was swept back as though he'd been continuously running his hands through it. It was probably stupid of me to be instantly envious of his hands, but that was a pretty accurate description of how I felt.

"Are you alright?" he asked suddenly, his voice warm and deep so that it seemed to rumble in his chest. I told myself to breathe.

"Yes, thank y-you," I replied slowly, pausing nervously to search for something else to say. "Thanks for, uh, saving me."

He laughed beautifully, a sound that made my stomach feel light once again. "That's probably a bit over-dramatic, but it was no problem, anyway." His eyes quickly darted to my name tag. "Ah, you must be Bella Swan, the newcomer," he smiled, the areas around his eyes crinkling. I also noticed how his lips were nicely plump and how-

"Gosh, you must be psychic," I joked, stopping myself before I thought too much, and he grinned, flashing his brilliant teeth at me. God, there were white. And sharp... really, oddly sharp.

"I'm Dr Cullen," he smiled.

I was surprised that I was still conscious. I found my eyes uncontrollably scanning his body; underneath his pristine white doctor's coat he was wearing a light blue shirt with a pale yellow tie. He wore a tightly fitted cardigan, buttoned up neat and tidy. He was basically wearing clothes nearly as light as his skin; maybe he was part albino or something. I shook my head and averted my eyes to the papers. I could feel his stare on me again and I wished it would stop; I looked completely terrible next to him, a complete mess.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked. "You hit me pretty hard."

When he said this, I felt a slight twinge in my arm that had gone unnoticed before. "Hmm, yeah my arm hurts a little, but it'll be fine, it's nothing, really," I shrugged. I'd had much worse. A thought popped into my mind. "Oh, sorry, did I hurt you?"

He frowned for a moment, looking a little stunned, but then chuckled. "No, no not at all."

"Good," I breathed, collecting the papers he had gathered for me. "Thanks."

I heard an impatient cough coming from behind us and turned to see John looking at us both with disapproval. What a tool.

"Oh, sorry," I said, standing up quickly. I turned back to the more important man there. "Um, thanks again, Dr Cullen."

I was ushered away hastily and I couldn't take one more look at his quite frankly amazing face. I was really going to fall out with John soon... No, scratch that, I'd never even been friends with him in the first place.

"I'd stay away from him if I were you," he whispered in my ear when we entered a quiet office a while later. His voice was enough to make my toes curl. "He's... strange."

"Oh shut up," I snapped, suddenly at the end of my tether. "Don't tell me what to do." I was beyond fed up of people taking control of me, but there was no way I could stop it at home. I just had to accept it.

John stared at me, completely shocked, and I sighed. There was no point in this.

"Sorry, it's just been a stressful day," I said, filing away the papers with my back turned. That way he couldn't see my face.

He tutted at me. "You'd best not act like that all the time or you'll get fired before you even get properly started."

He left the room and I grumbled to myself. "You're not my bloody boss."

I leaned against the cool filing cabinet, closing my eyes in exhaustion. Then I realised I had people to help and I walked out into the humming corridor, ready to work again.

A small part of me wanted to see a certain doctor, too.

I returned back to the office a long time later and glanced at the ticking clock beside me: just one hour left. The day had gone by so fast, despite a few obstacles. Why did it have to end? Maybe I could go out for lunch or something... anything to avoid going back home.

But he'd just be mad if I was late back and that was never a good thing.

With another sigh, I walked back outside, thinking about what had happened once again. I felt strangely guilty about my sudden rush of thoughts for Dr Cullen; my brain had turned to mush around him before and he was on my mind quite a bit. As much as I hated to say it, I had a partner, for goodness' sake; how could I even think about another man? Now I deserved to be punished.

I began walking down the long corridor with my head down and my heels echoing loudly. One final hour to go. The familiar feeling of dread crept back into my consciousness as I walked back to the ward. I really hated going back home; it was a nice escape getting out of the place because-

I shook my head, desperately trying to escape my thoughts. It was no good being trapped in that circle.

Even though I told myself this, I had something new to think about when I swiftly turned around a corner, because I bumped into him again.

"Ooops, sorry!" I staggered, as Dr Cullen smiled brilliantly and took a few steps back from me. I tried not to take that personally.

"It's perfectly alright," he answered and I frowned at my increasing heartbeat. Shut up dammit! He's just a man.

"How has your first day been?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested. "I forgot to ask when I saved you earlier." He smirked while saying this and his eyes seemed to light up beautifully.

"It's been really good... mostly..." I told him, rolling my own eyes. "John's been getting on my nerves a bit." There was a small pause. "No, stuff that, he's been driving me insane."

He chuckled, looking briefly at the floor. "Yes, he tends to irritate a fair share of people." To my surprise, he suddenly leaned closer, somewhat conspiratorially. "Most of our colleagues call him the Shih Tzu."

I felt a warm glow when he said our.

I laughed at his joke and, as I did so, I realised just how long it had been since I was genuinely amused. My thoughts turned back to the reason and my laughter cut off abruptly.

I looked at the floor, echoing his own actions, while the memories viciously consumed me. Feeling paranoid, I quickly glanced upwards and noticed him looking at me; his face made it seem as though he was studying me and it made me very uncomfortable. None of us said anything.

"Miss Swan?" I heard a familiar voice suddenly call from in the distance. It was John. Automatically, I closed my eyes slowly in exasperation. I opened them seconds later to see Dr Cullen's amused face smiling at me.

"I'd better go," I grimaced, walking reluctantly away from him. "I guess I'll... uh, see you around?"

"Yes," he replied, looking at me strangely. "I'll... see you around."

I turned to face John. "Did you want something?"

"Yes," he snapped, clearly annoyed. "I've been told that you can go home now; you're allowed to finish early seeing as it's your first day."

He forced a smile and disappeared quickly, leaving me standing alone in the corridor. I turned around to see if Dr Cullen was still there, but he was gone. I felt momentarily disappointed, and frowned to myself. I shouldn't be thinking like this.

After a few moments of more thinking (or panicking), I exhaled heavily and headed towards the exit. It wasn't raining this time, but I sat still in my truck, allowing a few silent tears to trail down my cheek; I was powerless to stop them. I then wiped them away angrily with the back of my hand and started up the truck to head home. It had been a fantastic first day, but that didn't matter any more.

The only significiant thing at that moment was whether Mark was in a good mood or not.

I prayed repeatedly that it was the first option.