Chambers of the Soul

Summary: Bella lives with her abusive father; Charlie, her older brother; Maxi and her younger sister; Harmony. She almost thinks there's no hope but what happens when the new family comes to town? Will she ever be happy? What if Bella and her siblings became happy and then someone came back to haunt them…

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All characters and other twilight-related things belong to SM. I only own the storyline.

Bella Swan POV

"Bella I really don't think it's smart to bring you down here right now." Edward clutched me to his chest as he carried me down the corridor of the CCU. Of course, we were both breaking the rules. I wasn't supposed to leave my bed without staff permission and obviously wasn't supposed be carried for starters by a teenage boy who could drop me any second. I didn't care.

The staff had stopped me from seeing my siblings for too long. I had warned them. Hadn't any of them got the message when I'd nearly attacked some stupid blond nurse who insisted I needed to sleep?

My patience had ended. The first chance I'd gotten, I'd yelled – literally – at Edward to get me the hell out of here. He protested many times of course, but eventually he gave up and lifted me from the bed and away from all the machines. That didn't mean he was okay with it. He was still trying to tell me anything could happen – that I'd perhaps have a heart attack and he'd have to perform CPR right there in the corridor. I wasn't bothered.

"Edward, please." I couldn't argue anymore. I just hoped begging would get us to Harmony's room.

It did, and I'd wished it never did.

As soon as we walked into the room, it was chaos. Edward spun his body around; shoving my head into his chest and tightening his grip on me. He was shielding me from something. It didn't stop my panic. I could very clearly hear the screeching of the monitors; alerting a flat line.

"Stand clear," That was Carlisle's voice. "Shocking!"

I pushed against Edward. I had to see. I had to be certain. It couldn't be my Harmony. It wasn't my Harmony. No.

The next thing I knew, I was flying. Okay, not literally. Edward's legs had collapsed on him and now we were near the wall; I was still facing away though I peered around his shoulder. I could see very clearly just what was happening.

Maxi was sat in a chair near Harmony's cot; his sobs growing louder. He was shaking and pretty much hysterical. He nearly pushed the nurse who tried to help him, over. Dr. Cullen and a CPR team were trying so hard to bring Harmony back. She lay lifeless in her cot; her hair sprawled out on the pillow.

The sight was too much. My fist snaked around the area of my chest; I was in so much pain. Was this emotional pain? No, this was physical. I wanted to tell Edward to help me, but no sound came out. I didn't know what was happening. What was going on?

And before I knew it, the screeching stopped. I heard the most precious sound. A heartbeat. Slowly, my gaze flickered upwards towards the cot. There it was; a perfect, weak heartbeat beating on Harmony's monitor. A tear slipped from my eye.

For some reason, I couldn't do anything else. I was lifeless, almost. I couldn't get air in and my heart was hurting so badly. I curled my empty fist around Edward's shirt and he slowly lifted me from him. "Bella?"

I let go of my heavy grip; my head falling forwards. I wanted to close my eyes but I was afraid of losing someone. I'd nearly lost Harmony.

Edward cursed. "Carlisle!"

It seemed to be the first time that Carlisle had seen us since we entered the room. He strode towards us as Edward got up and pulled me along with him. He looked angry and started yelling about how irresponsible Edward was. Then he saw me. "Good gracious." Just like that, I was snatched from Edward.

Carlisle told the nurse to get a gurney as he laid me gently across the floor and took my hand. The CPR team lingered under Carlisle's command.

"C-ar-Car…" I couldn't speak. I really couldn't. I was in so much pain.

"I know. I know." He whispered soothingly and cradled my head in his lap. "Talk to me, Bella. Can you tell me what's wrong? Do you have pain?"

My free hand pressed firmly down on my chest; as if it would get rid of the pain.

Carlisle looked at me worriedly. "Your chest is hurting you?" I nodded lightly. Then he went into doctor mode. The team got down on the floor and I started feeling quite scared. There were a lot of grown men around me and the one lifted my top up over my stomach to listen to my heart. I started freaking out; it was an automatic reaction.

"No!" That came out alright. I wiggled my legs and 2 men reached to hold them down. My arms were still free and I managed to use the one to push the one man in the stomach. He didn't even falter, just gently took my hand – which felt rather small in his – and placed it near my side. At this point, the tears were falling freely and I was screaming Carlisle's name. He tried to reassure me but my body didn't seem to want reassuring.

The pain was too much. I felt as if someone was running a heavy truck over me over and over. I couldn't breathe.

"Edward," Carlisle was alarmed. "Get the oxygen mask. Quickly."

In seconds, Carlisle lifted up my head and secured the mask over my face. "Stay with me, Bella."

I hardly heard the man on my right. He talked so softly. "Dr. Cullen, I think we should do an Echocardiography."

Carlisle nodded and the man – who Carlisle called Sam – was off across the room. I realized that he was helping the nurse with the gurney. Only Carlisle and two of the other men were needed to lift me onto the gurney. I knew Carlisle would have been able to do it himself if he hadn't of been holding the oxygen mask tightly on my face.

It was hard to stay awake because of the blur of the corridors going passed us was making me tired. I managed, though; to stay awake long enough to see the small room we went into. I also acknowledged being turned onto my left side and having all these little tabs attached to my chest. Then, I think I fell unconscious.

Or maybe I had just closed my eyes. I could still hear but it was only vaguely. Then, time passed and I was definitely gone. It wasn't death though – or at least I hoped it wasn't.

"Bella?" A familiar voice stirred me from whatever I was doing. I figured I was sleeping – or passed out. I pried my eyes open with a little bit of a struggle. It was Maxi.

His leg was propped up on a sponge chair that looked rather comfy compared to the other chairs, and his messy curls were falling around his face. He smiled weakly. "I though you weren't going to wake up…"

I started to push myself into a sitting position but sunk back down. I was in agony. My chest felt as though someone had ripped it right open. I closed my eyes for a brief moment. "Why? What happened?"

He stared at me. "You don't remember?" When I shook my head, he took a deep breath. "Harmony stopped breathing and Carlisle was performing CPR when you and Edward came in. You kind of freaked out…I had no idea what was happening! I was completely frozen. I started crying when Carlisle put you on the floor – it was so scary, Bells. You were just writhing in pain. You had pain in your chest, and when one of the medical team went to check your heart, you started kicking out at them." He grinned. "Pretty proud of that, Bells!" He turned serious again. "Then they had to perform something called an Echocardiography to get images of your heart – it apparently shows the size and shape and how well your heart chambers and valves are working."

I stared at him. "Why would they want to do that?" I took the glass of water obediently off him when he held it out to me. It felt good on my raw throat.

He took a shaky breath. "You had…you had a heart attack. Remember when you first came into the hospital? If Dr. Snow hadn't have found you in time, you would have had a heart attack and preferably died."

I covered my eyes with my hands. This seriously couldn't all be happening now. After all these years, the illnesses were now deciding to show? It was completely stupid. They could have appeared at different stages of our life – not all at once. I mean, we'd lived our life like this for most of the years we'd been here.

"Bells?" I didn't move my hands. I couldn't. I was crying. Proper crying. I bit my lip to stop the sobs, but they came out anyway. Then my body was shaking. "Oh, Bells."

I heard Maxi shift closer and then his arms were awkwardly wrapped around me. "It's going to be okay."

I nodded, and after a few minutes we pulled apart.

Then Carlisle walked in. His white doctor's coat seemed to suit him – it didn't look at all ugly. It actually made him look…almost sexy. Especially with his black stethoscope wrapped around his neck like that. He smiled gently as he approached my bed. "Hello, Bella."

"Hi." How lame. That didn't seem very polite.

"How are you feeling?" He didn't seem to realize. As he was saying this, he checked all the monitors and tubes and then carefully pulled me up. It was a much better attempt that what I had tried earlier on. It was less painful. The stethoscope was cold on my skin and I flinched a little, he apologized

It went on like that – professional I mean – until the nurse came and took Maxi to his bed.

Carlisle pulled up a chair and sat down. "Has Maxi explained what happened?" I simply nodded. "As of now, your heart is stable; thanks to the medication you're pumped up with." I followed his gaze to the IV. I groaned. I couldn't stand needles.

He smiled as if he'd read my mind, "It won't be for long."

I nodded. "Carlisle…" I took a deep breath.

"Yes?"

"Where will we go? When we leave, I mean." I looked down at the bed. "Even though I know it's probably way better than Charlie, I don't want to go to foster care. What if the family are horrible…" I trailed off.

He made me look at him and then totally serious, explained to me. "Esme and I talked to the child services, and they have agreed for you to stay at our home until they can find a proper foster home for you all."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You…you can't do that, Carlisle!"

"And why ever not, Bella?" He asked.

I shrugged. I had no idea.

He laughed once; obviously understanding my silence. I was stumped.

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