Finally, Christmas break! I should have more time to update now, particularly after the 25th… plus I'm reading tons of great fics… keeping busy. Thanks to all who've put this on alert, and thanks for your patience. Please review!

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EPOV

"Dr. Jasper Whitlock, please." I rushed to the nurses' station in the ER, and asked the first one I saw to page Jasper.

"Edward!" I whirled to find him sprinting down the hall towards me, waving. I nodded my thanks to the nurse and met Jazz halfway.

"So where is she?" We walked down together and turned the corner. The hospital was pretty busy that night. We dodged doctors and nurses and the occasional stretcher being wheeled through the hallways.

"Fourth floor. Her emergency contact got here a little while ago, and went in to try and talk to her. But like I told you, it's been useless. Bella—my patient—and this girl, Angela, are pretty close. Her friend's taking it hard. And I just feel like shit that I can't explain it to her. Or myself."

"You're taking it very hard, man." I ran my hand through my hair. We got into the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor. "I don't think it was anything you did at all. We'll have to give it some time."

"Do we even have time? What if her memories don't come back? It's like some type of delusional amnesia." The elevator opened with a ding! and Jasper stepped out.

"Is Alice here yet?"

"She's waiting outside the room for Angela to come out. I wanted to give her friend a chance first."

That reminded me of something. "Oh, and before I forget, thanks for setting me up with that girl, Jessica. Do you really hate me that fucking much? She's heinous!"

"Edward, you didn't even actually go out with her. Alice told me you stood Jessica up, after she called my wife, totally pissed off. How do you know she's heinous?"

"I Googled her. You wouldn't believe the shit pictures she posted on her MySpace…"

"You're one shallow ass, Edward."

"I prefer the term 'selective'. You lucked out with my sister."

"Me?" Alice bounded up to us and gave me a hug hello. "I think I lucked out with my Southern gentleman here."

"Oh, please, spare me." I hugged her back and lifted her off her feet. "Sorry I let it slip about the Cancún thing."

Alice's eyes narrowed at me. "You realize we almost made it five years without that getting out?"

Jasper shook his head. "It's okay. I just can't believe I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

"Learn something new every day." Alice planted a kiss on her husband's lips. It was disgusting how much they were in love. And then Emmett and Rose, my own parents… Honestly, it was hard to take when they were all in the same room together.

The door to room 417 swung open. A tall girl with long dark hair and horn-rimmed glasses stepped out. Her eyes seemed red behind them. I caught a series of strangled sobs coming from beyond the door, but couldn't see inside the room.

"I'm sorry." The girl blotted her eyes with a Kleenex. I remembered Jasper saying her name was Angela. "She doesn't remember me. I could barely understand a few words, but it's like… it's like that's not even Bella in there. I don't know what to do."

"It's alright, Angela. Thank you for coming. We can still try a few things. My wife, Alice, speaks Spanish. She's going to try and talk to Bella now. I can't promise anything, but I'm still waiting for word from Dr. Cullen. He may know more about this than I do."

"I'm leaving for Seattle on business in a couple of days. Where is she going to stay? I would cancel the trip, but I can't. She doesn't have anyone else that she's close to here in Phoenix."

"Angela, I feel responsible for the situation. She'll stay here for at least another day, and then I'll see to it that she has proper living arrangements and someone to care for her while we sort this out."

Jasper wrote down information about where Angela would be staying while in Seattle, to contact her in case anything came up. Shaking her head, the girl finally left, shoulders slumped. It must have been hard for her to see her friend in that condition, in a hospital bed.

"So, ready?" Jasper turned to Alice, who nodded. "Start out slow, introduce yourself, and hopefully she'll respond to you. I think perhaps the fact that you're also a woman will help in this case."

"What do I do? Wait for you here?" I couldn't deny that I was very curious to see this girl for myself; yet I understood this to be a fucking delicate situation and didn't want to make it worse.

"I guess you can come in," said Jasper. "Just try not to say anything. We don't want to upset her further."

Alice knocked on the door, and poked her head in. I craned my neck to see inside, but all I could see was the vague outline of a body lying on generic hospital linens.

"Hola. Puedo pasar?" Alice's accent was pretty flawless. I heard a shocked gasp elicit form the bed and Alice held the door open wider. I walked in behind Jasper, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while checking out this girl.

She was pretty, in an unconventional way. Her eyes were wide and chocolate brown, and at the moment very red from crying. Her face was tear-stained, and her ivory skin was flushed. But in my artist eyes, what really caught my attention was the waterfall of dark mahogany hair that reached almost to her waist. I had the irresistible urge to run my fingers through it. Focus! She's in a fucking hospital! Plus, she might or might not be totally crazy.

The girl's eyes were trained on Alice, shock at hearing Spanish still etched on her face. A crease formed between her eyebrows, which I wanted to smooth away with my fingertip. She didn't look at me.

"Mi nombre es Alice. Queremos ayudarte. Podrías decirnos cómo te llamas?" Alice approached the bed carefully, as though afraid the girl might snap. It was quite possible she would. I only got the gist of the first part, where she had said 'Alice'. She was stating her own name. The second part I missed.

The girl still looked both surprised and worried. She cleared her throat and seemed to think out her response.

"Yo soy Isabella María de Cisneros, marquesa del Nuevo Reino de León." The words left her mouth haltingly, as though unsure. Again, I only understood the part where she said her name, apparently 'Isabella'.

"Alice? Can you translate?" Jasper asked softly. He smiled reassuringly at the girl, who now seemed more confused than scared.

"Well, you heard her name, obviously. Isabella María de Cisneros. Is that the name you have?"

"More or less. Her name is Isabella Marie Swan. But she goes by Bella." Jasper frowned. "What else did she say?"

"I told her we wanted to help her, and if she could tell us her name. She says she's a duchess or something… she mentioned the word kingdom, but it's not from any place I recognize." She paused. "Huh. Cisneros… her last name. Cisne is swan, as in the bird." Alice shrugged.

"If she regressed, she might not be talking about a place that exists now. We'll have to do some research." Jasper pulled a small notepad from his coat pocket and produced a pen. He wrote down the information Alice had managed to procure. "Ask her if she knows where she is."

Alice turned to Isabella, and gave her a small smile. "Sabes en dónde estás? Conoces este lugar?"

Isabella shook her head, a hint of panic returning to her face. "No sé. Todo aquí es extraño. Yo vengo de España, y llegué al nuevo continente hace varios años. Mi familia posee muchas tierras. Estoy esperando…" she stopped and blushed a deep rosy red.

"What? What did she say?" I asked, frustrated. Jasper shushed me and I rolled my eyes. This was so fucking weird. How was she doing this? Pulling up random information and in a language she allegedly didn't even know?

"She doesn't know. She finds everything here strange. She says she is from Spain, but that she came to the new continent a few years ago. Her family owns a lot of land—and she says that she's waiting for something."

"The new continent?" Jasper looked puzzled. "She thinks this is a new continent?"

"That's what she said." Alice cocked her head. "Esperando? Qué cosa?"

The flush never left Isabella's face. "Estoy esperando a mi prometido. Eduardo Caellén."

"Edward? Did she just say my name?" All heads swiveled to look at me. I felt her eyes on me and I returned her gaze, confused. It was the first time she had acknowledged my presence in the room.

Something flashed in her eyes. Recognition? Fear? Isabella clutched at something around her neck, something that wasn't there. She looked down, seemed to swallow hard. Her eyes went to her left hand, and she traced the fingers of her hand with the other.

"Did she say Edward?" Jasper repeated my question to Alice.

"It is the translation of his name. But she says she's waiting for her fiancé."

Jasper let out his breath in a huff. "I don't get it."

"Por qué lo esperas? No está contigo?" Alice asked her.

"No ha llegado aún. Eduardo viaja por mar." Isabella blushed again at the mention of the name.

"She says that this Eduardo has not arrived, that he's traveling by sea." Alice thought for a moment. "I guess she means traveling by boat, or ship."

"Ship? Who the hell travels by ship nowadays?" Jasper was getting more and more frustrated. It was hard for him not to understand. Everything was usually clear to him, as it should be in the medical practice. But he dealt with people's minds—not everything was black and white.

Something occurred to me then. "Ask her what the date is."

"What?" Alice turned to me. Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"You know, like they do for people who hit their heads. Ask her what the date is." I looked at Jasper, who nodded at Alice.

"It makes sense. Ask her, Ali."

"Fine." She smiled at Isabella once more, and spoke in a soothing voice. "Isabella, puedes decirme cuál es la fecha de hoy?"

"." I understood that myself, yes. "Es el 20 de junio, del año mil seiscientos noventa y siete."

Alice's face registered total shock. "Mil seiscientos noventa y siete?" she repeated.

Isabella nodded her head, as though it were something obvious. She still regarded Alice, Jasper, and me warily.

"Did she say June?" Jasper asked. Alice nodded slowly too, nonplussed. "Well, at least she got that right. What year?"

Alice raised her own eyebrow at him. It looked like a tennis match between them. I grew impatient.

"Alice? What year?"

"She says it's June 20th, 1697."