A/N: Ok, so I've been really bad at updating. Things are crazy in my world right now, but hopefully this will tide you over for a couple of day!

A few people have asked when Bella and Edward will be together again. Well, it's not this chapter, and probably won't be the next one either. But I promise it's not far away!

Happy reading!

Chapter 25

Jasper dropped me off at 3:30. I had an hour to kill before I had to call the hospital again and I didn't want to take a nap just yet, so I started up the computer and got online to plan some more of my trip to Chicago. I decided against a rental car at first and then changed my mind. I wanted to be able to surprise Edward by turning up at his house, not waiting for a taxi. I booked a hatchback since I wasn't going to be taking a whole lot of luggage with me, charging it once again to my credit card.

Next I called the Intercontinental and made a reservation for the Sunday night at 7 in one of their restaurants. I knew Alice would help me find the perfect dress in the next week and for the first time in a long time I was looking forward to getting dressed up.

I switched off the computer and pottered around for a while, dusting and cleaning. At 4:30, I called the hospital to see if I could come in to work.

"Virginia Mason, Penny speaking," she answered.

"Hi Penny, it's Doctor Swan again, how are things going?" I asked.

"It's good news, Doctor! The CDC has lifted the quarantine and we all finally get to go home! I'll put you through to Doctor Johns. One moment please." I could hear the excitement in her voice.

"Doctor Swan, it's good news," Doctor Johns told me when he came on the line. "The doctors currently on shift will be working until replacements can come in. Those who were rostered on the afternoon shift have been called in ASAP, and staff such as yourself on the graveyard are requested to come in as per usual."

"That's great news, sir. It'll be nice to have things running normally again," I told him as we hung up.

Right. Nap time. I changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and curled up in my bed, setting my alarm for 7pm. Not the usual amount of time I napped for before work, but it would do.

I slept peacefully and woke just before my alarm went off. I cancelled it and lay in bed for a few moments, listening once again to the hum of Alice's sewing machine. I crawled out of bed and took a quick shower, pulling my hair into its usual ponytail.

I wandered into the dining room to see what Alice was up to and she greeted me with a big smile. "Back to work?"

"Yep," I replied. I filled her in on my phone call with Dr Johns that afternoon.

"I'm glad it's all sorted out Bella. You must be worried about your patients?" Alice questioned.

"Most of them should have been discharged this morning, so hopefully they've all been able to go home tonight," I thought aloud. "It could be a very quiet night."

"You should try and sleep some – you look tired. Did this wake you?" Alice indicated the machine in front of her.

"Nope – I just didn't get as much sleep this afternoon as I normally do before a graveyard. This all looks amazing, by the way," I praised her work.

"This is nothing Bella. I have a surprise for you. Or I will soon, anyway," Alice corrected herself.

"I hate surprises!" I groaned.

"Well, think of it as a surprise for Edward then," she suggested.

My face lit up at the thought of surprising him. "I'll try. I have to go now though, or I'll be late. I'll try not to wake you when I come in tomorrow morning."

"And I'll try not to wake you when I'm working tomorrow while you're sleeping," Alice countered cheerfully, waving as I walked off.

As I got in my truck I realised I hadn't called Edward. I pulled out my handsfree and dialled his number as I drove to work.

"Hey there gorgeous," he answered after a couple of rings. "Are you at work?"

"I'm on my way," I replied. "Sorry I didn't call earlier – my nap went a bit later than usual because I didn't get to bed until later."

"Did you sleep well?" he teased.

"Like a grandma," I shot back sarcastically. "I'm guessing you haven't heard anything about your job since the hospital's been shut down?"

"Actually, I got a call from them around three your time this afternoon," he replied.

My heart jumped into my throat as my stomach dropped to somewhere around my ankles. "And?" I prompted him.

"They said my application was very impressive and that I performed well in the interview," Edward explained. "They went on to explain that the job requires someone with ambition and drive…"

I tuned out because my stomach had returned to its usual place but I could feel the tears welling up. He didn't get the job, he didn't get the job…I chanted over and over again in my mind.

"Bella?" he said, breaking through my thoughts. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Um, no," I replied honestly.

"I got the job!" he exclaimed.

My heart stopped. My stomach jumped. I swear even my kidneys were doing cartwheels. He got the job, he got the job, my mind started singing.

"Are you there? Bella?" He sounded worried.

"I'm here, just processing," I said. "That's awesome news! You have to promise me you'll call Alice when we hang up and tell her!"

"Of course I'll call her – she'd shoot me if I didn't" he joked.

"So when do you start?" I couldn't believe he was going to be here soon.

"Well, I have to pass the bar, but like I told you before, the Chief of Staff has my early processing under control. All going well, my first day will be around the middle of August." He sounded so happy.

"That's forever away!" I complained. "But I'm sure we'll survive. Oh – Jasper was saying that place in his building is coming up soon too!"

"Can you please put my name down for it?" he asked. "I have a feeling if the building is good enough for Rosalie then it must be ok!" I knew what he meant. Rose was a lovely girl but she had pretty high standards.

"Sure can! I'm pretty sure I can get the super to open it up for me to have a look, I can email you some photos if you like?" I offered as I pulled into the staff parking lot.

"That would be great. Did your truck just die?" he asked.

"My truck will never die," I declared. "I just arrived at work is all so I've turned off the engine."

"Well I'll let you go and save lives. I'll call you tomorrow afternoon ok?" He sounded sad that we were hanging up already.

"Ok," I replied. "Be safe"

We hung up and I headed into the hospital. I rode the elevator up to the trauma floor and quickly dumped my stuff in my locker.

"Doctor Swan!" I smiled when I saw Eric sitting at the desk.

"Eric! Have you been stuck here all this time?" I hoped not given how cheery he was.

"Nope – I started at five. The guys who were here looked like hell and it's quiet so Doctor Hussey sent them home." He indicated the empty patient board over his shoulder. "As you can see, we're super full tonight!"

My eyes widened in surprise. "No patients? At all?"

"Not a one," he replied. "Most of them could have gone home yesterday so they were all discharged this afternoon."

In my almost six years in trauma, we'd never had an empty floor. I was at a loss as to what to do.

"Doctor Swan!" I heard Dr Hussey call as he approached the desk.

I turned and smiled at him. "Doctor Hussey – you escaped the lock down too, I presume?"

"Sure did! I see we're in for a quiet night," he said as he looked at the board.

Interns straggled in over the next few minutes and came down to the desk to prepare for rounds.

"Hi guys," I greeted them all. "It seems like we're in for a quiet night. My suggestion is to get some study and research in, maybe find a banana or something to practice your sutures on."

"Enjoy the quiet folks," Dr Hussey continued. "I can guarantee it won't be like this for long!"

"What, we're going to get trauma cases in the middle of the night?" someone joked.

"Not likely," I retorted. "But it's Murphy's Law – it's totally empty right now, so it'll be full for us tomorrow night."

The interns trailed off in groups of two or three. Hussey and I sat and chatted with Eric for a while, occasionally going to check to see what they were doing.

Around 11 I started to get tired so I decided to go down to the cafeteria for a coffee. Their food might be less than appetising but they make a pretty good coffee.

"Eric? I'm going downstairs for a coffee – would you like anything?" I asked as I walked back to the nurse's station.

"Actually, a coffee would be great if you don't mind Doctor Swan," he replied with a smile.

"Did I hear the magic word?" Doctor Hussey asked, sticking his head out of the patient room across the hall.

"If the magic word is coffee, then yes, would you like one?" I offered.

"How about I shout, since I made you walk in on the sex doctors first?" he countered.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Works for me!"

We chatted about the 'sex doctors' on our way down to the cafeteria. Dr Mallory and Dr Newton had been suspended for a week without pay pending an investigation into their behaviour. Noone had died or been injured while they were neglecting their interns, so I had a feeling things would go back to normal pretty soon.

We got our coffees and sat for a while. Hussey explained that the attendings were going to be supervising the sex doctors' interns for the next week. It was going to make the graveyard shifts difficult because there was usually one attending and two residents plus our interns on.

"Are you concerned about supervising interns as well as residents?" I asked him as we talked.

"Not really. I actually miss the teaching," he said. Seeing the confused look on my face he continued, "When I was a resident, I loved teaching the new interns things. I know I still get to help out, but that's what I really want to do. That's why I turned down the rostering job when Johns offered it to me. I hear you're going to be doing it next year?"

"Yeah, it'll be something different. And the hours will be nice, especially since Edward will be here." I felt myself grinning again.

"So he got the job? That's great news, Bella!" Hussey seemed really happy for me.

"Yeah, it really is. I'm flying to Chicago next weekend to surprise him, then he's coming here for the weekend of the fourth and staying on for a few days to sit the bar. All going well he should be starting here in mid-August…I'm rambling, aren't I?" I looked down at my lap.

He laughed. "It's ok - my wife rambles all the time. I'm used to it."

We chatted for the next twenty minutes about his family before we decided we should get back up to the floor. I grabbed a coffee for Eric and we were off.

The rest of the shift passed slowly and quietly. I stole an hour's sleep in the locker room just after 2 and checked on my interns when I woke. They were all sitting in the visitor's room, reading out unique cases to each other from old medical journals.

At 5:30 the morning shift staff started trickling in. The interns were first, then Dr White, and finally Dr Crowley. Crowley had gone to college with Jasper then to medical school in Idaho.

"Morning Doctor Swan," he greeted me. "Quiet night?"

"No patients at all, Doctor Crowley. I'm surprised the interns are still awake!" We both laughed at that. Quiet nights as an intern are hell. Crowley, Jasper and I had all had the same resident for the first two years of our internship and she was awful. There were no naps allowed and you had to be busy all the time.

I was out the door at 6am and crawling back under my covers before 6:30. I set my alarm for 2pm, reached out and sniffed Edward's shirt, then closed my eyes and drifted off.