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I watched the windshield spot over with droplets of rain as Rosalie drove along. They illuminated by the streetlight into small stars for only a moment. Only fifteen minutes ago, we were crank calling Emmett and Jasper. We were commenting on how pretty the snow was. I was writing thank-you notes on my pregnant belly, while my friends laughed at me and signed them from Mike and myself. Now, Mike was possibly dying.

"This can't be," I muttered. Something squeezed my hand, I realized it was Angela's hand. She was holding it. She had been holding it the whole time we were in the car. "This can't be," I repeated.

"I know," Ang murmured. She shuffled closer to me and pulled my head onto her shoulder with her other hand.

I hadn't cried, yet. Something in me didn't want to cry. This was all just a mistake, Mike would pull through. I had to save tears to shed at Dave's funeral. Mike had to take care of the store. His mother would be devastated that her husband of twenty-seven years was dead. He had to take care of her and he had a son to raise. He hadn't seen the presents from the baby shower, yet. His last words to me were I love you, never forget that. Those couldn't be his final words to me, they seemed too ominous, like there was something inside of him expecting something bad to happen on this trip. No, Mike never bet on sports games because he always lost. He always lost at the Tuesday night poker games with Emmett, Jasper and the boys from the fantasy football league. He had the worst luck with betting. A nervous, crazy peal of laughter escaped my lips, and Rose and Alice turned around from the front seat out of concern to look at me.

"This is all a mistake!" I cried. "I'll get there, and they'll have misidentified them, and they'll come home tomorrow, and it'll all be a big scare for nothing, and Mike will come home and I'll tell him about this and about how scared I was and he'll laugh and then make love to me-"

"Bella," Angela said, softly. Alice reached over from the front passenger seat to pat my knee. "Let's just see." She picked up her cell phone and started dialing her father. "Dad?... I'm sorry to be calling so late, but can you meet us at the Forks Memorial Hospital?... There's been an accident… Bring your Bible and collar… I know you know… I'll fill you in when you get there… I love you, bye."

Rosalie pulled into the parking lot closest to the ER behind Mark's Police Cruiser. They all helped me out of the car and Rosalie held the umbrella over my head as we walked in. I went up to the Triage nurse with Mark.

"Hi, Marge," he said. "I've got Bella here. Where are Mike and Charlie?"

"Charlie's pretty banged up, but he's OK," she said, looking at me. "Michael Newton, though… he hasn't woken up, yet. Bad head injury. Dr. Cullen is having him life-flighted to Seattle. The chopper's coming in about thirty minutes."

"I have to see him," I said. I began to repeat myself, again. I tended to repeat myself when upset. "I have to see him."

"We'll let you in, Bella," Marge said.

I went straight to see Mike. He was on a gurney, his neck suspended, carefully, his eyes closed and completely still. He was covered in dark, dried blood, his face was misshapen and swollen. I hardly recognized him, but when I saw his wedding ring, the one with the continuous ivy engraving that I had picked out, I knew it was him. I felt like my heart would explode. No, it couldn't be Mike. He was everything to me.

I ran my hand over his, hoping against hope that it would move against mine, recognizing my touch, giving me hope that he'd be OK. It all became real to me; Mike was dying. My tears began to run down my cheeks and heavy sobs heaved my chest.

"Bella? Dr. Cullen is here," Mark said. I turned around, expecting to see Carlisle, my second father, who I could run to, bury my face in his chest and sob to, but instead, I saw a young man, maybe my age, with coppery-red hair, in scrubs, with a somber expression.

"Hi, Mrs. Newton, I'm Dr. Cullen," he said in a low, comforting voice, extending his hand. I remembered that I was supposed to shake it. I shook it, my chin trembling. "I'm the on-call doctor tonight in the ER. I believe you're best friends with my cousin Alice."

Oh yeah, I had a best friend named Alice, the short girl with spiky black hair. She had thrown a party for me in honor of my pending birth. I nodded.

"I'm so sorry about the accident. Your father is fine, but your husband is in critical condition," he said. "We're sending him on to Seattle. A team of emergency neurologists will operate on him to relieve the pressure on his brain from the skull fracture and concussion. It's a very delicate procedure and must be done as soon as possible. I'm afraid nobody in this area is trained to do it properly, so I'm having him life-flighted."

"What-what are his other injuries?" I finally asked.

"His right upper arm was crushed, his clavicle was broken, several of his ribs were shattered on the left side, and his left lung was punctured. We think his L4 was broken. The CT Scans and the X-rays aren't too clear with all the swelling."

"His back was broken?" Dr. Cullen nodded. I'd love him regardless of his paralysis. We'd build wheelchair ramps to our house and I'd support him and do everything in my power to keep him from the depression. I couldn't lose him. "Do you know if he's paralyzed?" I asked.

"We won't know that until he wakes up," Dr. Cullen said. "I don't know if you're a religious person, Mrs. Newton, but if you are, now is as good a time as ever to pray," he said. I nodded.

"I don't think you need to see him like this. I think you should go see your father and start making travel plans to go to Seattle in the morning."

He was telling me that I shouldn't spend every precious second with my husband possible? I know he was a doctor, but who did he think he was? Mike was the man who made my life! I had never had a boyfriend before Mike. Mike was my first everything- my first kiss, my first slow dance, my first love. And I wanted him to be my last everything. How dare he suggest this? "I'll stay with my husband," I snapped. "My father isn't critical, but Mike is. I'll go with him on the helicopter."

"They can't take you on the helicopter," he said. "It's not like the ambulance. I'm sorry."

I clutched my stomach, and shivered. I hadn't thrown up much in my first trimester, but I wanted to vomit, now. I felt feverish, almost. I was going to lose precious time with him while they separated us on the life flight.

"Call the nurse if you need anything," he said, and exited the room. I went back to Mike's side. I ran my finger over his thumb, wishing it would raise goosebumps over his flesh like it did when we were alone together. I overheard Dr. Cullen saying to a nurse, "Watch Mrs. Newton, make sure she doesn't go into early labor."

Well, fuck him, I thought bitterly.