AN: Here is the next chapter in celebration of the end of classes for my first year of college. I still have finals next week, but I'm almost there. I apologize for it taking so long again, but shit happens. Thanks again to my wonderful beta and everyone who reads and reviews. Now I will let you go figure out who "she" is. :)

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 17 – Waiting

BPOV

My vibrating phone in my pocket woke me up and I realized with relief that I was still clothed even though I was lying in bed with a half naked Edward. I didn't have long to ponder that, however, because it was still early.

Too early for this to be just a social call.

"Hello?" I asked groggily.

"Bella?" Jasper asked frantically enough that I almost didn't recognize his voice. "You need to get over here… Ali, she…. She just wanted to get some ice cream and now she's out and the doctor says there's no way to know if we can save both her and the baby-"

Did he just say baby? And why did she need to be saved? I was suddenly wide awake.

"Wait, what? Back up a bit."

He took a few deep breaths before starting again, more slowly this time. "She went out to get ice cream. She's been craving it for days and we ran out last night. I told her I'd go, but she demanded that she be able to do these things until she looks like a whale and, oh, Bella, she wanted to tell you herself…. She never made it into the store. They called me from the ER twenty minutes later and they said something about a crash and critical condition…. I don't know what to do, Bella. I didn't know who else I should call…."

"Okay, where are you?"

He managed to tell me the hospital, floor, and room she was staying in before starting to break down again. I told him to stay calm and I'd be there soon. He was falling apart and I wanted to as well, but I needed to stay strong for him.

"What is it, love?" Edward asked. I looked over at him and saw worry all across his face.

"She's pregnant," I whispered. "And hurt."

"Who, love?"

The full weight of the situation hit me then. My best friend was pregnant, in the hospital after a car crash at two in the morning, and in critical condition. The tears started falling instantly.

"Alice. She went to the store and…. We need to get to the hospital," I said, getting off the bed and thankful that I was still dressed. "Jasper's falling apart."

Edward's eyes grew huge and he scrambled to get dressed. "What hospital?"

In another twenty minutes, we were walking into the waiting room to see Jasper pacing and rubbing his hands over his face looking defeated. His shoulders sagged even further as he spotted us.

"Hey," he said, trying to crack a smile.

I didn't speak, running right up and wrapping my arms around his neck. His façade fell and I felt his shoulders shaking while he sobbed quietly into my shoulder. Tears ran down my face as well as I sought Edward's gaze. He smiled sympathetically and sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs.

"Mr. Whitlock?" we heard from across the room.

Jasper's head shot up at the sound of his name and looked at me questioningly.

"Go. I'll call everyone else."

He nodded and went to speak with the doctor. I sighed and went to sit on Edward's lap.

"It's bad," I said.

"Did he say anything to you?" he asked, running his hand up and down my back soothingly.

"He couldn't. That's how I know," I sighed.

"I can go if you'd rather stay with Jasper," he offered.

"No! I need you here," I pleaded. "You have just as much right to be here as anyone else. In fact, could you call Emmett and Rose? They should know too."

He nodded and I got off his lap to make a call of my own.

"Bella? What's wrong? Are you okay?" my father answered gruffly.

"I'm fine, Daddy," I assured him. "It's Alice. She… she's in the hospital. She's hurt." I heard him gasp. "I need you to get in touch with Ali's parents and the Whitlocks. I need to stay here with Jasper…"

"Of course, honey. Whatever you need."

I quickly rattled off the information I had before thanking him and hanging up. Jasper was still talking to the doctor, but he didn't look any better than before. Edward was still on the phone.

The seriousness of the environment around me was stifling. I collapsed into one of the chairs and wrapped my arms around my legs, trying to hold it together for Jasper. It wouldn't be easy. My best friend could be dying in the next room. She was pregnant and hadn't told me. We might never see the baby.

I choked back a sob as my mind circled through all the worst-case scenarios.

"Baby?" Edward said, gently resting his hand on my back.

"What if she doesn't make it? What if she loses the baby? I didn't even know she was pregnant. This can't happen, Edward. I can't lose, I can't…"

I looked up to his face and saw the conflicted expression he wore. He didn't know how to respond. It was then that I realized he couldn't comfort me and tell me everything would be fine. He'd been in a similar situation and everything had fallen apart for him. I could see that he wanted to help, but the words wouldn't come.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. He was still tense as I buried my face in his shoulder. "Just hold me, please."

His arms slid around me when he finally relaxed. He understood that I wouldn't ask him for reassurance. I couldn't do that to him.

I turned my head to see Jasper walking back over from talking with the doctor. He collapsed into a chair beside Edward and me.

"Nothing yet," he said. "They just got her into surgery and he said he'd keep us posted."

I reached over and took his hand, not wanting to speak and give anyone false hope or bring up old, painful memories.

"I'm guessing you don't know anything yet," we heard from across the room. Rosalie and Emmett were walking toward us with sympathetic looks on their faces. Rose hugged Jasper and Emmett gave him a firm handshake.

"I don't know what to say, man," the burly man said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks for coming, guys," Jasper whispered. "It means a lot."

"Of course we came," Rose noted. "She's a great friend and she'd do the same for us."

Jasper smiled weakly and leaned his head back against the wall in defeat. It was heartbreaking to see him like that. I instinctively clutched Edward's shirt more tightly, not even wanting to consider how I would react if I was in Jasper's place and it was Edward in surgery.

We sat in that waiting room for hours. Both the Whitlocks and Alice's parents came to show their support. My own parents came and went, promising that they would come back later in the day. Jasper switched between pacing, raking his fingers through his hair, and praying that she would pull through. Emmett and Rose left after two hours with a promise to be back after work.

Edward seemed to be taking it even harder than Jasper. He couldn't even sit still nearly as long as the rest of us. At one point he ran out of the room, saying he'd be back soon, and I had to run behind him in order to find him.

"Hey," I whispered when I found him outside the front door.

He was panting as he looked at me. His eyes were wide, pleading me not to say anything.

"I'm so sorry," I said, still not trusting my voice above a whisper. "I shouldn't have made you-"

He rushed forward and put his arms around my waist. "Don't, love," he said, his voice surprisingly calm. "You didn't make me do anything. You need me here, and I want to be here for you."

"But you can't even-"

"That's not your fault," he countered.

"No, it's not," I agreed. "But I don't want you to sit in there and silently relive the worst moments of your life. That's not fair!"

Edward reached a hand up to caress the side of my face. "You're worrying too much, Bella. I left when it got to be too much," he assured me. "And I have so much more than I had now. I have you, the woman I love."

I smiled up at him and kissed the side of his hand. "If you need to go home, I understand," I said.

He shook his head and kissed my hair. "Just go back in where it's warm. I'll be back in soon."

I nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips before heading back into the hospital. When I made it back to the waiting room, Jasper was talking with the doctor.

"When did he come out?" I asked Alice's mom.

"Just a minute or so ago, sweetie," she said. "Hopefully they know more now."

We watched as the two men conversed. The doctor was oddly calm – though that was probably part of the job description – and seemed like he knew exactly what he was talking about. Jasper nodded at certain intervals and didn't look like he was going to break down.

"Who is that boy?" asked Mrs. Whitlock as we waited for her son to finish speaking with the doctor.

My brow furrowed as I looked at her, confused. "What boy?"

"The boy you were clinging to before," she explained. "The one you followed when he rushed out of here like he saw a ghost."

"Oh, him," I said, blushing furiously. "Well, you see… he… I…"

"Oh, honey. You don't need to explain," Alice's mother said, patting my hand sympathetically. "Charlotte is simply teasing you, dear. We can all tell that you're in love with the boy."

My mouth fell open a tiny bit as I gaped at them. Was I really that obvious? Did they think I was horrible for being with Edward so soon after leaving James? What would they think if they knew we were together before?

"Don't look so shocked, Isabella," Mrs. Whitlock chuckled. "It was clear when you left James that it was not just about being uncomfortable. This boy is clearly good for you. No one will take that from you."

I smiled at her gratefully and relaxed into my seat, no longer worried about how Edward and I would be treated in the present company.

A few minutes later, Jasper shook hands with the doctor before walking back towards us.

"She's still in critical condition, but she's almost stable. That's something at least," he explained before we even asked. His voice was calmer now, having lost some of the previous hysteria in talking to the doctor.

"Is she out of surgery yet?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not yet. They made sure there was no internal bleeding and that her brain didn't swell. That was the most important part," he noted. "Now they need to work on resetting the broken bone in her arm, immobilizing her ankle, and making sure her head is okay. He says she'll be fine. He can't say the same for the baby…."

"Aw, honey," Mrs. Whitlock cooed as she saw a tear fall down her son's cheek. She quickly got up to hug him. "Everything will be fine. Don't you worry. Our little Alice will pull through. Just you wait."

I felt my throat contract as I tried not to think of more worst-case scenarios. A gentle hand on my shoulder let me know that Edward was back in the room, but I couldn't bear to turn around to see his face.

We spent another long stretch of time in the waiting room. I stretched out on the small couch with my head in Edward's lap while we waited. He stroked my hair and tried to calm me down whenever I started to cry. Jasper was finally calming down. One of his older brothers, Joshua, had come and brought a few things from Jasper and Alice's apartment. Jasper had found Alice's iPod in the bag and spent most of his time listening to that to distract himself.

The hardest thing was seeing the doctors come and go as if nothing was wrong. They were just doing their job and trying to stay calm, but it was so hard for the rest of us to see that and not know what was going on.

I looked up at Edward and saw him watching me with concern in his eyes. I reached up and cupped his face in my hand.

"Distract me, please," I whispered. "I won't ask you to tell me everything will be bright and dandy, but I just need to stop thinking about it."

"I love you," he said with a smile.

"I love you too," I replied. "Will you tell me a story or something? Even after almost four years of knowing you, I feel like I only really know part of you. You've never once told me about growing up with your big lug of a cousin."

He chuckled quietly. "Well, he was even worse when he was younger, always trying to get me to toughen up. He told me that I shouldn't keep drawing if I wanted to be respected. 'Only football players get respected,' he said. He was the star running back on the high school team all four years."

"That certainly sounds like Emmett," I laughed.

We took our time swapping stories of our childhood to pass the time. I told him about the awkwardness of being a third wheel even before Jasper and Alice started dating. He told me about introducing Rosalie and Emmett. We shared our different school experiences, his in a suburban public school and mine in an urban private school. I bombarded him with questions about college since I'd never gotten to go, but always wanted to.

Finally, at around six, the doctor came back out to talk to Jasper. He visibly relaxed as the doctor spoke to him. That was a good sign. After a few minutes, Jasper shook the man's hand vigorously before coming back over toward us.

"She's going to be okay," he said with a relieved sigh. "He said she's resting in a recovery room and she's allowed two visitors at a time."

"You and Bella," Alice's mother said right away. "The two of you deserve to go in there first."

We looked around and saw everyone else nodding. I sighed and gave Edward a kiss on the cheek before going to walk with Jasper.

"Is she awake?" I asked as we headed to the room.

"Not yet. They're weaning her off the sedatives now, so she should wake up soon," he answered.

"And the baby?" My voice was quiet now. He seemed happy with how things were going now, but I wasn't sure if this would set him off again.

Jasper ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, it seems like everything is fine. Steady heartbeat, everything like that. But there's no telling what could happen in the long run," he said. "We just have to hope everything stays the same."

I nodded. "I'm so happy for you guys, Jazz," I told him with a smile. "I'm just sad that I had to find out about it this way."

"Me too, Belly," he said, putting his arm around my shoulders. I slid my arm around his waist as we came to the room we were looking for. Jasper took a deep breath before opening the door.

To be perfectly honest, I had expected worse. I expected her to be on about ten machines, to have her head bandaged up, to not be breathing on her own…. Alice was lucky from the looks of it. She had a cast around her left arm and a splint with an elastic bandage around her opposite ankle. There was an IV in her arm, but I had no idea what the medicine in it was. She was also hooked up to two separate monitors, one for each different heartbeat.

I didn't see any bump or protrusion under the sheet, but it didn't matter. I listened to that second monitor with the quicker, shallower beat and smiled. My best friend was going to have a baby.

By the time I finally snapped back to reality, Jasper was already clutching his wife's hand and perched in a chair by her side. I walked closer to the bed and saw her chest rising and falling slowly with her breaths. If she was already breathing that evenly with no problems, she would recover. I just knew it.

I took the bag of things that Joshua had brought and set them up around the room where I thought they would be appropriate. Alice would bite my head off for it later, but it would give her something to complain about beyond her current predicament.

"You going to be okay?" I asked Jasper when I was done. I figured it was time to let some other people come in.

"Yeah, but don't ask me to move," he said. He looked up at me with a determined expression on his face. "I'm not moving my ass from this chair."

I smirked. "Wouldn't have expected anything else."

The smile didn't leave my face as I returned to the waiting room. Everyone turned when they saw me coming and didn't even bothering asking me what was going on.

"She's okay," I said. "She's breathing on her own and everything. Jasper is staying in there, but you guys can head in one at a time if you want."

Alice's parents heaved a collective sigh of relief, Jasper and Alice's mothers both crying as they held each other. The men smiled at one other and elected Alice's dad to go in first.

Edward stood to the side, slightly out of place, but still there to support me. I hurried over to him and flung my arms around him.

"How is she really?" he asked quietly as he laid a gentle kiss in my hair.

"She's really okay. She's got a cast on her arm, a splint on her ankle, and an IV. But she's breathing on her own, her head isn't bandaged at all, so she couldn't have hit it too hard. And that baby's heart is going strong," I told him. "Unless someone missed something, it's really going to be okay."

"I'm so glad, love," he said with a smile. "You would have been devastated…"

"But it's okay now," I assured him.

I thought back to Jasper's face when he began his bedside vigilance. Nothing would get him to move from that spot. He wanted to be there for Alice in any way he could, even if it was just to hold her hand and tell her just how much she meant to him.

My fingers clutched at the back of Edward's shirt as my thoughts proceeded. What if Edward were the one in the hospital bed? What if there was even the slightest chance that he wouldn't make it? I couldn't deal with that.

"Bella? Baby, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

I nodded as I pulled myself closer to him. "I just thought of how Jasper must be feeling," I explained. "I would be a wreck if it was you." I looked up at his face and saw love reflected in his eyes. "I can't lose you, Edward."

His hand reached up to cup my cheek. "Don't think like that," he said seriously. "I'm right here with you."

"I love you," I said, putting my head back on his shoulder.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of you saying that," Edward replied, his arms tightening around me.

Edward stayed with me in the waiting room as the others filed in and out of Alice's room. He ignored the looks he and I were getting from Alice's family and the Whitlocks. When it came time for him to go to Alice's room, after everyone else had gone in, the other people in the room zoned in on me.

"So, who is he?" Joshua asked, breaking the silence.

When Jasper, Alice, and I were younger, Joshua was the one of Jasper's brothers that made sure we didn't do anything stupid. He was the older brother I never had, so this question was more than it seemed.

How could I respond without it being blown out of proportion?

"Well," I stammered before I decided that I needed to be honest. "He's the man I love," I finished quietly.

Joshua had looked ready to throw out a snappy comeback, but he stopped short when he heard my tone of voice and realized that I was being completely serious. Most of the others looked shocked as well.

"Well, shit," he said, surprised. "When did this happen?"

I sighed. "I promise I'll tell you, Jo, just not right now, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed. "But you're not getting too long."

"You look happy, Isabella," Mr. Whitlock commented.

I smiled over at him. "I am," I said quietly. "I tried to make it work with James, I really did, but…."

"It just wasn't right," he finished. "We can all see that now."

All of a sudden, Edward came rushing back into the waiting room with a smile. "Bella, she's awake," he said.

It took my brain a minute to process what he was saying before I jumped up to follow him back down the hallway. He kissed my cheek and promised that he would be right outside waiting for me. I nodded and took a deep breath before opening the door.

Watching my two best friends interact – when they weren't about to jump each other's bones, anyway – was something I would never get used to. Jasper was so sweet in tending to his wife. Alice tried to get him to see that she was fine, but she didn't bother wasting her energy. She simply smiled and watched, offering comments every once in a while, as her husband tried to anticipate her needs.

It occurred to me that Edward tended to me the same way. He made sure to put my needs before his own. He wanted to help me whenever possible.

He was already acting like my husband.

My mind started wandering as I stood there, observing my friends. Would Edward change if we ever took our relationship to the "next level"? What if I wasn't good? Would it matter? He loved me even when I refused to admit I had feelings for him. He saved me even though he had no idea who I was because he felt drawn to me. That couldn't be just some trivial, fading feeling.

Did that mean that he had thought about marriage? Would we ever be like Ali and Jazz? Would we have a family? Would our children grow up together?

"Bella!" Alice squealed as loudly as she could.

"Hey," I said happily, snapping out of my reverie. I went over to the bed and gave her a gentle hug. "You scared the crap out of me, Ali."

"Well, normally ice cream trips aren't quite that exciting," she said, trying to laugh it off.

"You weren't eating for another person before," I noted, cocking an eyebrow at her. She shrank into her pillow guiltily and began muttering excuses for not telling me, sprinkled with apologies. "Ali, it's fine," I said with a chuckle. "You would've told me soon, anyway, so it's not a big deal. You're safe. The little one is safe. Everything is great."

She leaned her head on my shoulder and rested her hand on the slight bump of her stomach. "Yeah. It really is," she whispered.

"So, now you have to tell me everything," I laughed. "When did you find out? How far along are you? And when the hell were you planning on telling me?"

Alice patted an empty spot on the bed and I sat down with her. "I'm about fourteen weeks along. I hadn't been feeling good for a while, so I asked Jazz to take me to the doctor the night of your dinner with James. Turns out it was a baby, not a virus," she laughed. "And I was planning on telling you this weekend. I wanted to do a girl's day at the spa tomorrow before I asked you to be the godmother. Looks like that's not going to happen," she added in a mumble.

"Y-you want me to be the godmother?" I gasped.

Her eyes widened. "Shit, you weren't supposed to hear that. But yes, I do," she said sheepishly. "I just didn't want it to be some offhand comment that you responded to."

I threw my arms around her, remembering to be gentle. "Of course I will!"

I heard Jasper chuckle across the room. "Good thing, too. We didn't have anyone in line as a backup," he said.

With a half-hearted glare, I stuck my tongue out at him. I stayed in with them for a few more minutes until Alice started to yawn. She needed to rest, so I left her in the capable hands of her husband with a promise to come back later.

Edward was still waiting outside the door like he said he was. His eyes lit up as I came into the hallway.

"How is she?" he asked, taking my hand to walk back to the waiting room.

"She's okay," I said. "She'll be stir-crazy if she has to be in here for very long, but she'll pull through. She'll want to drag her baby's godmother shopping after all. It'll just give her an extra excuse."

He looked at me, a smile threatening to break out across his face. "They asked you to be the godmother?" I nodded vigorously and he hugged me tightly, swinging me around gently in the small, cramped hallway of the hospital. "That's wonderful, Bella. You'll be amazing."

"Thanks," I said. "I guess it just never occurred to me that they would ask me."

We reached the waiting room then. All the heads snapped in our direction when they realized we were there.

"She's resting now," I explained. "But she's okay, really."

When everyone was satisfied with my answers – they didn't want to disturb Alice's rest by going to check for themselves – Edward and I were finally able to sneak away.

"What are you thinking?" Edward's fingers slowly combed through my hair as we sat together in his bed.

We'd made ourselves a small breakfast before we collapsed into bed, but neither one of us could fall asleep. Edward had called Rose to let her know that he was staying with me for the day. It was nice to not need to worry about the world for a while.

But with that time, my mind circled back to Alice being in the hospital. It was a wakeup call for me. Edward had to deal with worse than this. I wanted nothing more than to go back in time and fix everything for him, but that was impossible. I just needed to help him now.

"Just thinking about the fact that my two best friends are having a kid," I lied. He noticed.

"It's not just that," he accused. "You're frowning." He sweetly kissed the creases in my forehead to prove his point.

I sighed and lay my head back on his shoulder. "I don't know how to help," I admitted. "You've gone through all this before and you're still not completely back to normal. I want to help you get back to the point – at least as close to that point as possible – that you were at before everything fell apart."

He didn't say anything right away, but I could tell he was processing when his fingers continued combing through my hair. He wasn't angry or anything because he would have tensed up and stopped moving.

After a minute, he placed a kiss on the top of my head and gently moved me so that I was no longer resting against him.

"I need to show you something," he explained. "I'll be right back."

He quickly sped off to his bedroom, coming back soon after with a simple picture frame in his hands. He passed it over to me and I gasped at it.

"What is this?" I asked quietly, outlining the figure with a gentle touch.

"This is what you mean to me."

AN: Before you kill me for putting another cliffie (for which I apologize), the clues are all there this time. If you remember a few chapters ago, you'll know exactly what it means. Please review and let me know what you think, though.

Next chapter: Edward expands on that last quote and Alice goes nuts staying in the hospital.

The next chapter will be a lot quicker, I promise. I have a lot of free time this week. :)