Second part of the chapter is better then the first, I promise. To clear up some confusion, the people at Carlisle's work don't know he's adopting a child/children. :)

After the two phone calls, we rushed to the hospital. The ambulance had arrived fifteen minutes ahead of us, and the ambulance crew were preparing Edward for emergency surgery. He was unconscious, and I had barely caught a glimpse of him as he was rushed past me on a stretcher and transferred to a trolley. Carlisle had disappeared to get changed into his scrubs, and had left me sitting in a waiting room.

Twenty minutes later I was anxiously pacing the small area, and a few people were watching me with concern.

'Are you alright, Ma'am?' A young man asked me. He had brown hair and looked vaguely familiar.

'Mmm.'

'My name is Robert, my fiancée works here, with your husband. She's Doctor Elizabeth Craig.'

'Oh.' I mumbled. 'Hello, Robert.'

'So, why are you here? I'm here because my nephew, Willie, tripped down the stairs when I was babysitting him. He was just treated two minutes ago. Anyway, my sister, Claudia, will be really angry.' He continued to talk about his sister and nephew, but I tuned out. I was worried sick about Edward, even if he wasn't actually my son yet.

'Mrs Cullen?' Robert said. 'Mrs Cullen?'

'Yes? I'm sorry. I was away with the fairies.'

'Carlisle said you worked as an interior decorator… why aren't you at work?'

'The team I work with, six other woman, are all away. Three are on maternity leave, one visiting her sick daughter in law who lives in Brisbane, Australia, one has the flu and the youngest team member, Amanda, is on her honeymoon. I'm off work for the next six weeks.'

'Oh.' Robert said, then grinned as a small boy, perhaps five years old, ran up to him.

'Uncle Robbie! Uncle Robbie!'

'What is it, Will?' he said, before looking at me apologetically and mouthing 'he's four.'

'Look! I made a train!' William shouted, holding up a Lego… thing.

'That's great, Willie, but would you mind being a little quieter?'

'Sorry, Uncle Robbie.' The boy hung his head for a second, before jumping up and down again. 'Who is this, Uncle?'

'This is, uh, Doctor Cullen's wife-'

'Esme.' I interrupted. 'It's a pleasure to meet you, William.'

The four year old boy stared up at me in wonder. 'Good Afternoon, Esme.'

Robert smiled, and ruffled the boy's hair. He waited a moment for Willie to run back to the play area. 'You're good with kids, Esme. Do you have any of your own?'

I was silent for a moment, and by the look on Robert's face he could tell he'd struck a nerve. 'Look, Esme, I'm sorry, I didn't mean too, I…'

'It's okay,' I whispered softly. 'Three years back I miscarried a baby boy. I haven't been able to get pregnant since.'

'Oh…'

'But I'm adopting!' I said, remarkably cheerful again. I couldn't help it. The idea of Alice and Emmett and Edward being my children was just too wonderful. 'A little girl and two boys.'

Robert grinned; relieved I hadn't gone all mopey on him. 'What are their names?' he asked.

'Alice, she's three, and her older brothers, Emmett and Edward.'

'Lovely.' He said. 'I've got to go now, it quarter to two and William's got a hand-eye coordination class halfway across the city. I was waiting for Lizzy, ah, here she is now.' He turned away from me and waved at a young doctor I had often seen at the doctor's conventions I had attended with Carlisle. 'Elizabeth, my dear!' Robert yelled.

The woman swept her brown hair up into a ponytail as she approached. 'Hello, darling, who's this? No, wait… Ms Plait, wait, Mrs Cullen now, right?'

'Yes, have been for four years. You must be Elizabeth. I'm Esme.'

'Hi.'

'Well, I won't keep you. I hear you have to take William to…'

'His coordination class, yeah. See you around, Esme.' She said, smiling. Then she rushed over to grab William.

'Well, bye Robert.'

'Goodbye, Esme. You have a real gift with children, you know that.'

I smiled then. A real gift with children. I would need it.

000

Carlisle POV

After leaving Esme hanging around in a less crowded waiting room I dashed into my office. I changed into my scrubs and sprinted off towards a small reception area in the west wing off the hospital.

'Dr Cullen,' Ms Stanley said, in a rather nasal voice. 'Pleasure to see you here.'

'Thanks,' I mumbled. 'Have-'

'My eldest daughter turned fifteen last week, Jessica, she's very pretty.' Ms Stanley cut me off.

'Wonderful, but-'

'And last month my son turned twelve.'

'That's brilliant, Ms Stanley,' I said patiently. 'But do you-'

'His name is Michael. I have four children, you know.'

'I didn't know, but I urgently-'

'My other daughters are Jill, she's eight, and Daisy.'

'That's very nice, Ms Stanley, but I need to-'

'Daisy is four. She turned four three months ago.'

'Lovely, but-'

'Jill turned eight, about eight months ago, actually, so she'll be nine in September, I think.'

'Look, that's great and all, but I really need to know where patient…' I racked my brains. 'One five six seven is.'

'One five six seven, one five six seven.' She muttered, typing the numbers into her computer. 'Ah, got it. Edward Anthony McCarty. You know, I was going to call Michael Anthony. Anthony Michael Stanley. Then I decided Michael James Stanley sounded nicer. You know, Jessica is dating a boy called Mike, and her brother is called Mike!'

'Look!' I said, loosing my cool. 'Just tell me where patient one five six seven is.'

'Jeez, matter of life and death is it?' She said sarcastically.

'Yes,' I spat. 'Actually, it is.'

'Operating Theatre Twelve. I never got why it's number twelve, they only have four operating theatres, the two in the east wing are being renovated…'

I didn't catch the rest of her rambling speech because I had taken off for Operating Theatre Twelve. I pulled on rubber gloves from one of the medical trolleys being wheeled around by a male nurse. Then I dashed into the operating theatre.

'You're late, Doctor Cullen,' one of the nastier interns noted. 'Doctor Everett had to start the procedure.'

Ignoring the boy, I rushed over to the unconscious form of my future son. 'How's he doing?'

'Responding well,' Doctor Everett whispered as he gestured for a watching intern to pass him a scalpel. . 'Poor kid, his brother's freaking out, actually. Little seven year old who slammed into this boy's chest. The little one's terrified he's killed this one.

'Anyway, we've been stabilising his condition, but now you're here, we can start the surgery.' Doctor Everett started to peel back the blood soaked bandages to reveal Edward's torso. With so much blood it was hard to tell were the skin was penetrated.

Waving away the girl who was bringing him a scalpel, he pointed at the boy, perhaps nineteen, who had made the comment on my punctuality. 'Joseph, get me a cloth.'

The boy looked like he was about to be sick as he stared unthinkingly at the pool of blood. Doctor Everett sighed. 'Jane, dear, please get me a cloth. Anna, Joshua, escort Joseph out. If he's all right, leave him in the hall. If he isn't, take him to Doctor Ainslie Parker, and if he's sick call cleanup and leave him.'

The eight interns watching us nodded, and those assigned tasks hurried to do them. The interns ranged from eighteen to twenty five. Two were scholarship students, Anna and Jane, the rest had all finished university degrees and achieved places. Except for Joseph Parker, the boy being escorted out. He was the son of Doctor Ainslie, a woman close to retirement, and had been home schooled until he was thirteen. According to close sources he had been a bully, and only his parents' influence on the board of directors had got him a place as an intern.

Jane passed me a cloth and I started gently wiping the blood away. The gash was quite small, but deep. It looked like there had been a healing cut there before, which was why the skin had torn so easily. I looked up at Doctor Everett. 'Is he…'

'He's out. On general anaesthetic.'

'Good. Now…'

000

EsmePOV

At around two o'clock, a young woman, maybe nineteen, entered the waiting room and spoke rapidly to the receptionist. The receptionist, a teenage boy, looked up. 'Mrs Cullen? Mrs Esme Cullen.'

'That's me.' I said, standing up from my chair. 'I'm Esme.'

'Lily here, sorry, Miss Friend, says you're to come to hallway eleven. It's right by Operating Theatre Twelve.' Lily Friend leaned in and whispered something to the receptionist. 'Oh,' he said, flushing. 'Lily will take you. Apparently there's a little boy there. I think you might know him, according to Doctor Cullen. His name is Emmett.'

'Ah, yes.' I said, smiling. 'I know Emmett.'

'Good,' the boy said, relieved. 'Lily- Miss Friend will take you there.'

Lily walked in front of me, making small talk. We turned left, right, left, left, left, right, until I lost track of the corners. I would have been totally lost without a guide. About five minutes later Lily stopped. 'This is the West Wing. Take the next left and you'll be out side OR twelve. There are some seats there, I'm sure you'll be able to make yourself comfortable.'

Lily smiled, before striding away. I grinned back, half a second too late, and then tiptoed down the corridor. Hospitals always unsettled me, and the two times I had been there had been low points in my life. Once, when I was six and suffering tonsillitis, and a second time shortly before the miscarriage of my son.

Both times the smell of disinfectant combined with the long, white corridors and alternating between deathly quiet and mechanicals hums had creeped me out, I had been absolutely terrified of going back to hospital after I was six. Even when I was eight and my younger sister broke her arm, I had insisted that my father take me to McDonalds and we wait there while my sister was in hospital.

Of course, I hadn't had much choice the second time, but still, to this day; hospitals gave me the heebie jeebies. Which made it rather ironic that I had married a doctor, who worked eight hour shifts at the hospital.

Breaking out of my reverie I glanced around me, uncertain of my whereabouts. Thankfully, a young man was walking confidently down the corridor. He was wearing scrubs and holding a clipboard. He glanced at me for a moment, before grinning.

'Hey, miss, I'm Joseph Parker. Who might you be?'

I sniffed. He looked a bit creepy, to be honest. 'I'm Mrs Cullen.'

'Mrs?' he said, looking a little thrown off. His breath smelt like vomit.

'Yes, Dr. Cullen's wife.'

'Oh, right. I'm an intern. Anyway, you look a bit lost…'

'I'm not lost.' I said crossly, 'I want to know where OR twelve is, though.'

The guy grinned again. 'Your lucky day, I'm headed that way. I'm intern eight.'

'Yes, I know. You're much talked of at medical meetings, according to my husband.'

'Highly praised.' He said, proudly. I didn't answer, there was no point. The second I saw a small sign declaring a room "OR 12" I said goodbye. Joseph grinned at me. 'See ya round, Ms Cullen.'

'Mrs.' I corrected automatically. 'Goodbye, Joseph.'

He hurried into the OR, and left me standing awkwardly outside. I saw a small row of seats a few metres away, and gratefully sat down. After two minutes of staring at a poster about the importance of wearing masks during surgery, I was thoroughly bored. I began tapping my foot against the ground, but the noise echoed and I felt self conscious, though there was no one that I could see. The corridor branched off about four metres ahead of me, so someone could be watching though.

Confirming my suspicions, a little boy's head popped out from around the corner. I remembered that Lily and the boy on reception had said that I had been asked to go see Emmett, but I had totally forgotten, nor had I seen him until now. He stepped into the corridor I was sitting in, and I stood up to say hello.

'Emmett!' I said. 'Hello, sweetheart.' I frowned, taking a closer look at him. He looked as though he'd been crying- his eyes were puffy and red. 'Is something wrong, Em?'

He sniffed, and wiped his eyes. 'It's all my fault, Mrs Cullen.'

'Esme.' I reminded him gently as I walked towards him. I crouched down in front of him and took his wrist. 'Now, Em, you haven't done anything.'

'But I have!' he wailed. 'It's my fault Edward's here.'

'No, darling,' I whispered softly. 'It's your old step father's fault. You and Alice and Edward have never, ever done anything to deserve this.'

He began to cry, and put his arms around my neck. I lifted him up and balanced him on my hip. It was a little awkward with such a big child, but I swayed a little and rocked him. 'It's alright, baby.' I whispered. 'Everything is gonna be fine.'

He cried harder into my shoulder, and I adjusted his position on my hip. 'It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay.'

Ta da! Chapter six! I'm going away on holiday, so if I don't update in the next two days, this'll be the last update in a week or two. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, in case you're wondering how Emmett came to the hospital, this is his flashback.

Flashback

The ambulance pulled up, and Antonia was flustered, yelling directions left right and centre. Most of the kids had lined up on the lawn, including Alice, but I was frozen by the phone. The ambulance crew rushed in, there were five of them, and a driver waiting in the car. Two males were carrying a stretcher, while two woman and a third man rushed on ahead. Antonia followed up behind, she pointed at the staircase, and followed the ambulance crew up it.

I stared at the wall. Time blurred, I could have been waiting ten hours, ten minutes, ten seconds, I wouldn't know. Finally the medics rushed down again. Two were carrying Edward down on the stretcher, whilst one of the women fussed over him. Edward was gasping, and his eyes rolling slightly.

I shuddered, two words repeating themselves in my mind, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault. The third man opened doors for the group, and they rushed outside. Finally, the second woman came downstairs.

'Hey, honey.' She said, ruffling my hair. 'Do you know that boy?'

'He's my brother.' I choked out.

'Are you okay?' She said, concerned.

I willed my mouth to move, but it wouldn't. I couldn't speak, so I just stared pleadingly at the woman.

'I'm Katrina.' She said finally. 'I think maybe you should come back to the hospital with us.' She took my hand and led me to the ambulance, where my brother had passed out.

Everyone else was fussing around, but Katrina just sat me down. 'Ms…' she called out, poking her head out the back of the ambulance. 'Antonia? I'm taking the younger brother as well. I think he's gone into shock.'

Antonia didn't reply. Stared blankly at the ambulance door, avoiding looking at my older brother. A tear trickled down my cheek.

Flashback Ends

Anyway, hope you like, please review.

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You don't have to review the last chapter! You can review EVERY chapter. That'd make me one happy person. *HINT HINT*