A/N- Expect some serious shit and strong language to come from Edward during this chapter :oP *nom*

Tears in the rain,
Hidin' the pain,
Maybe she'd come back,
If she could see me cry,
She thinks I'm so strong,
Oh, but she's so wrong,
She just couldn't see these tears in the rain.

Tim McGraw – Tears in the Rain.

Charlie.

Bright lights from the ambulance flickered in the distance, a fire engine cut in front of my cruiser to get closer to the action. I'm the only one that had been sent out to help from Forks; they said it should be enough, what with a selection of their men assisting also. I told Bella that it isn't a serious accident, but now I have a feeling I might have been wrong. Ambulances (at least two or three), Fire Engines (two) and it looked like two cars had been upturned and another looking a little worse for wear.

I parked the cruiser off to one side and crossed to the first person on duty, I asked for a quick run-down on the accident. A baby's cry could be heard from one of the cars in the pile up. The man before me started to explain what I had to do – something about diverting the traffic. But that baby crying played around in my mind more than anything.

"Is there a baby in one of the cars?"

"If we make two lines -."

"Is there a baby in one of the cars?" I near enough shouted.

"Er… er, yes s-sir. The silver car furthest away."

I hated how familiar that cry seemed to me. It scared me how much it sounded like Draco's… but it can't be, because Draco is with Edward today; all babies sound the same; nothing to worry about. But I couldn't walk away when that baby is crying his little eyes out. "I see there are two silver cars. Which one holds the baby?"

"It's a silver Volvo, a young man was driving."

Silver Volvo, you say?

A young man…

Familiar cry…

No, I'm sorry, but these are too coincidental. I can't continue until I know that Draco is fine. I take off running to the cars, the officer I had been speaking to shouts and calls for me to stop, but I ignore his pleads and continue to run. A sickening feeling fills my insides when I seek out the body flopped over the steering wheel. I knew it is Edward before even having to get a closer look.

Oh Jesus, what a nightmare.

"Chief Swan, please let the paramedics do their work." It's that same man who I spoke to. He is getting on my nerves.

I spin around to see, not just him, but a couple other people as well. "That baby in there is my grandson. Are you seriously going to make me walk away and leave him sitting there? And the young man in the front seat is the baby's father, which makes him part of my family. I'm sorry, but I don't walk away from my family." My audience don't mutter a word; I take their silence as an allowance to continue what I had been doing.

I know the basic first aid skills, and I know what a broken leg, arm, wrist or foot would look like, but I don't know how to detect major, severe problems. I use my only knowledge in the medical department to assist with Edward's injuries. His arms are stretched over the dash board, I spot an angry red mark on his neck where the seatbelt has rubbed and scratched away at it. He has a cut on the hairline, trickling blood down his face and pooling on his shirt. They are the only injuries I can see, I pray that it stays that way.

"Edward, if you can hear me, I want you to open your eyes." His eyes fluttered open, and then softly closed again. "No, no, no, come on son. You've got to stay with me here, open your eyes."

"Dra… Draco… gethimout." He is fighting to keep his eyes open.

"I'm getting to him as soon as I know that you're okay. Does anything hurt?"

"…My leg."

"Okay. Edward, you need to keep as still as possible in case you've injured your spine. I will make sure that Draco is safe and someone will get you out of there."

The side both Edward and Draco are on has been severely dented, which has blocked me from opening the doors. I go to the other side and sigh in relief when the door opens without trouble. Draco's heart-breaking wails are just as strong as they were when I first arrived. I check him over, but he appears to be fine, just spooked.

Draco is a smart little boy; he knew something was wrong, as he pointed to Edward when I took him from his seat. He spoke his gibberish through his crying and leant forward for receive Edward's comfort.

"Daddy will be fine, come on buddy." He's secure in my arms when I step from the car. I tell a couple paramedics about Edward's pain in his leg and say that we'd need fireman to cut the door away. I take this opportunity to fill Bella in on the situation. As I start to talk, a car door falls to the ground near me, the glass smashes into smithereens, and so I repeat my words to Bella. She's completely silent for a few seconds, but then explodes.

"Draco, Draco, my baby. Oh, my God, dad! Save my baby! Please I –"

"—Bella, you're being hysterical. He is just fine."

"Oh my… thank God. Okay, right, I'll head over there now."

"Stay at home, there is too much traffic, you won't manage to get through. I'll be finished up here soon. Trust me, Bells, Draco is absolutely fine."

"Okay, thank you Dad."

"Nothing to thank me for. I'll call you in a bit."

Paramedics have put a neck-brace on Edward to steady his head and were now carefully easing him from the cramped car and onto a stretcher. When he had said his leg was sore, I thought it'll just be a broken ankle or a bad cut. I never expected to see this. His jean leg had been cut open and revealed an obvious fracture sticking from his lower leg, a swollen knee-cap and various bruises as well as blood spotted about. They were putting a brace around his leg which, thanks to his explicit words, caused some pain.

"Fuck me that… fuck." Normally, I would try and put a stop to those words, but I understand how much pain he is in, and that it tends to slip out. Draco's large, tear-filled eyes never stopped looking at Edward; he continuously reached out towards him, and mumbled some gibberish when he never reached Edward's attention.

He's beating himself up over this. He's blaming himself when there is no need to. So for that, he's being reclusive and closing in on himself. I don't need to have some special skill to tell that. He's a dad; it's our job to blame ourselves even when our child catches a common cold. But when he sees that Draco is just fine, he'll snap out of it.

… I hope.

xxx

Edward

That fucking car came out of fucking no-where. I go from driving carefully to swerving off the fucking road 'cause that son of a bitch doesn't know how to drive. The car that hit me hits another car and flips both of them over. The sudden hold up in the road surprises some drivers, I am sitting side on, on a busy junction with cars heading straight towards me – it has happened so quickly they haven't had the time to stop. I find the energy somewhere to reverse a couple inches. If I hadn't done that, the blind prick that drove right into my door/ front wheel, would have driven into Draco.

Fuck I…

Eurgh, just the thought makes me feel sick. And angry as fuck, I would have hunted that fucker down.

I don't remember much of what happened at that time, the only thing I remember is hearing some sickening crunch, then feeling the worst fucking pain I've ever felt. The pain must have made me pass out, because the next thing I remember is Charlie Swan staring at me through my broken window – God knows when or how that smashed. Charlie is a decent man; I respect him, but you tend to shit a brick when a face is right before you when you open your eyes. Especially if that person probably hates your guts because you knocked up their innocent daughter at age seventeen.

Smooth move, Cullen.

My memory is vague from then also. I know that the only thing I thought was to get Draco out of the car and to make sure he gets as far away as possible. I remember getting lifted from my car, the unbearable pain filling every vein in my body; I have never experienced pain like that and I hope that I never do again. My boy is crying next to me – he's safe with Charlie – I make out his attempts to say 'Daddy' and it breaks my fucking heart. I can't look at him without my guilt increasing. If I had paid more attention to the road, or even went shopping yesterday instead of today, he wouldn't have been crying like he is now, and he wouldn't have been in a fucking car crash!

There are so many things that I did today which I could have gone without. I could have been home hours ago, with Draco bathed and ready for bed by now, not in an ambulance with his father who can't fucking drive. On the way to the hospital, I put out my hand for Draco to take, to offer him some reassurance that I'm okay. I'm not 'okay', but I'm not dead either, so it's got to count for something I guess.

xxx

They gave me God's gift when I arrived back at Forks hospital – morphine. The mask is fitted around my neck brace (which I don't actually need) and I take it all in like it's going out of fashion. Another name for this (apart from God's gift) is 'laughing gas', fuck knows where that came from – I still want to scream.

Of course Carlisle had to be working tonight. Of course my whole immediate family had to be informed and of course Bella looks like she wants to cut off my balls and wear them as a necklace. I close my eyes to try and get away from all the attention, which causes Esme to have some major freak out. Emmett's words were something like, 'Jesus, mum, calm down; he just closed his eyes!'

Esme then went on to say, 'Your brother has been in a major car accident, he could have died! So don't tell me to calm down.'

I wouldn't say I nearly died… nor would I say that it had been a major car accident. But, oh well, I can't face the idea of telling them otherwise. Emmett tells me how jealous he is of the scars that I will sport for the rest of my life – you can take them, brother. Before too long, Carlisle informs us that the x-ray room is free for my use.

I like how, before the x-ray happened, they thought to tell me that it wouldn't hurt. Do you think I'm capable of feeling any more pain? That anything could be worse than what I'm feeling right now? Even with the morphine, it hurts. That isn't a good thing, is it?

I have been put onto a ward when my results come back. Carlisle gives nothing away with any expression on his face. "It's not good news, Edward."

Just looking at it you can tell it isn't good news! "Well I knew it wasn't just a sprain." I reply flippantly.

"No, I mean it's more than just a break." Carlisle clips the scan onto a light board. Oh, Jesus fuck, what a mess. "Your fibula has broken," he points to various places of the scan with the tip of a pen, "and you have fractured your tibia. Charlie described the dent in your car, and seems as though the opposing car drive over the part that it hit, which would have been right above your leg."

So some bastard drove over my leg? Yeah, I am going to hunt that fucker down.

"Asshole… Right, so what is the punishment for that?"

Carlisle took a deep breath before he spoke – it is bad news. "This isn't just a case of putting it in a cast and let nature take its toll. You're going to need surgery to fix the open fracture and you're going to need screws to keep the fibula in place and a metal rod to mend the fractured tibia."

"What will the recovery be like?"

"It could take between four to six months to heal fully and you'll need physical therapy to help muscle support once you're healed. It'll be a long time before you will manage to walk properly again."

"Fucking A." I mumble to myself, although my family over-hear me. I gaze past them and spot that Bella had left with Draco – don't blame her. To be honest with you, I don't see why she looked so angry at me. I'm aloud to blame myself, but why should she? Bitch didn't even ask if I was okay.

Believe me, I'll be having a word or two with Ms. Swan next time I see her.

xxx

My operation went underway that evening, the following afternoon I'm still recovering plus feeling very sorry for myself. I dose off at some point during the day, and wake up a few hours later to someone sitting beside me. She doesn't realise I have woken up, so sits with her hands between her knees, scratching away at some chipped nail polish on her thumb nail. "Finally remember I exist, Bella?" Her head shots up, she looks me straight in the eye, and then looks back down to her hands. Her teeth nibble away at her bottom lip.

"You have been on my mind all day," she mumbles, mostly to herself. "I came to see if you were okay."

I don't have anything to say to that, so I change the subject. "Where's Draco?"

"He's with Charlie."

This enrages me, "I'm not going to hurt him, you know. You don't have to keep him away from me."

"No… no, Edward, that isn't why I…" Admit it Bella, I caught onto you. "I just wanted him to be in a place where he is safe; he's still shaken up from yesterday and…"

"And you blame me for everything that happened so you're keeping him away as punishment."

"That isn't why I kept him at home."

"Oh cut the fucking bullshit, Bella. I saw the look you gave me yesterday. Just admit to it; you don't trust me with him anymore."

"I'm just… just…"

If I could, I would walk straight out of this room right now. "Just what? Spit it out!"

It seems as though I'm not the only one to explode. Bella tenses in her seat, and then, as she starts to speak, storms up from her seat and paces the room, back and forth in front of my bed. "I trusted you, Edward! I put all my trust in you to take Draco for the day and to look after him. But this happens! I knew something was wrong, I knew it! And then Charlie tells me that you've been in a car crash? Edward, how could you let that happen?"

Bitch says what?

Low blow, Bella.

"How fucking dare you assume that I would put my son in danger like that. Do you even know what happened? No, you fucking don't! So don't you dare accuse me of such bullshit."

"In that case, Edward, please enlighten me in what happened."

"It was dark, the roads were busy, I had every speck of attention on the road before me and Draco was sound asleep in the back. Then out of no-where, I car is coming straight towards me. I swerve onto incoming traffic, and if I hadn't found the energy in me to reverse we would have been discussing a very different matter right now. Do you honestly think that if I didn't care or never wanted to look after him, that I would have allowed some fucking retard to drive over my fucking leg? I am crippled for the next six months, so I think a 'thank you' is in order instead of the shit you just sprouted."

Man, that felt good.

I had rendered Bella speechless.

Sweet.

"Edward… I'm really sorry. I was so worried and I…"

I had had enough of this now. "Bella?"

She looks up at me, wide eyes flooded with tears. "Yeah?"

"Piss off."

"What?"

"Are you deaf? Piss. Off. You're not coming in here, complaining to me about trust issues, accusing me of getting Draco in a car crash and then wanting me to forget all about it when the water works start. I don't want anything to do with you right now. You know where the door is."

I pull the blanket further up my body and close my eyes; my only form of escape.

Yeah, Merry fucking Christmas to you too.

xxx

A/N- I love Charlie. Do you think Edward had been too harsh? Leave me your thoughts.

RosieRathbone

xx