My team, even if they didn't agree with me, helped to get things together for Edward's arrival.

We had an ambulance waiting at O'Hare for him. Once on the ambulance, he would be here in less than forty minutes.

Carlisle texted me once they were off the plane. Edward's condition had worsened on the flight. He had to get on-board oxygen and was losing consciousness.

His condition was getting worse by the minute, and I was still clueless on what was wrong. Maybe I should have said no…

The door to my office flew open.

"They are a minute out, Bella. I'll be meeting them down in the ER," Angela said before she ran toward the stairs. We were five flights up, but she always took the stairs.

I grabbed my lab coat and stethoscope before heading to the elevator.

Even if they said they were a minute out, I still had about three before they had him in the building.

Once on the elevator, I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that I would be able to succeed on this case.

I was confident in my being able to save him, until the news of his worsening.

The elevator doors opened right outside the ER and I walked into the arrival of Edward Cullen.

The ambulance drivers were running in my direction with a gurney between them. Angela running alongside getting vitals. Victoria and Tyler walked behind with a woman I didn't know.

"Izzy, it's been a while," Carlisle said as he held his arms out to me.

"Other than the reason, it's great to see you. I never expected to see you again." I accepted his hug and let myself fall into him.

"Oh, Izzy, I knew I would see you again. I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, Carlisle."

While my team situated Edward in his bed, I talked over the file a little more in depth with Carlisle.

Since leaving AMA to come here, Edward's color had changed from the pale, ashen look, to bright red in some spots.

His oxygen levels were fluctuating. He was getting worse, and it was a quick decline.

Once Edward was hooked up, blood drawn and urine collected, I went and meet with him.

I tended to wait to meet with the patients because it kept me from being bias.

Sometimes all you needed was a third party to look at something and know what the problem was; well I liked to be that third party.

Staying neutral had never failed me. Being bias never seemed beneficial, but this time I couldn't sit on the sidelines.

This was Carlisle's son. In my hands. Every choice I made could potentially have been life or death. I needed to see and know face to face what I was working on.

I knocked on the door before sliding the glass door to the ICU room open.

Even ill, Edward reminded me of Carlisle. The same sandy blond hair, deep jade eyes, and undeniably gorgeous looks.

"Edward, I wanted to stop by and introduce myself. I'm Doctor Swan and I will be the attending on your case."

"My dad told me all about you," he said as he coughed.

Well… isn't that possibly awkward.

Instead of commenting, I pulled my stethoscope from my pocket and listened to his chest. There definitely was fluid on his lungs.

"So, Edward, I have a few questions for you. I'm sure you may have answered a few of them before, but I would like to ask them as well, if that is okay."

He nodded.

"When did you first notice you were not feeling so well?"

"About two weeks ago." His voice was raspy. "I started tripping over my own feet. Like I was drunk all the time. When I fell was when we knew there was something wrong."

"Do you drink, Edward?"

"Not that often." He coughed.

"I want you to rest; I know you had a rough flight. We will talk more later."

He nodded.

I turned to go back to the door, and there was that woman that had walked in with Edward and my team.

"Edward, do you know her? Should I have her come in?"

He sucked in a breath. It was rough. "Yes, she's," cough, "my wife."

I left Edward's room, but I wanted to stop and talk to his wife.

"Doctor Isabella Swan," I said, introducing myself. I held my hand out toward her and she shook it.

"Tanya Cullen, Edward's wife. Do you have any idea what's wrong? The doctors out in New York were far from helpful. It's so painful watching the man I love waste away to nothing before my eyes."

A tear slid down her face, which she quickly wiped away with a tissue in her other hand. "I hate letting him see me cry. He needs me strong."

"Nothing wrong with hurting for those we love. As to his condition, he has only been under my care for about two hours now, but I have already become well versed in his case. I have a good feeling we will be able to figure this out."

I so wished I could've given her a more definite response.

"That's wonderful, really, it is. I'm so happy that Carlisle recommended you. He had nothing but good things to say about you. Edward and I thought this would be the best; bringing him here. I hope you are the answer to our prayers. "

I would need to talk to Carlisle about the things he shared with his son and Tanya…just to be aware.

"Well, I promise, I will do my best for you and Edward. If you need anything, here's my card. Just call." I pulled a card from my coat pocket and handed it to her. "My service can find me day or night."

"Thank you, Doctor Swan."

"You're welcome; now go spend some time with your husband." I placed my hand on her shoulder before I headed back to my office.

Carlisle Cullen sat in my office, drinking my coffee, out of my cup with his feet up on my desk, in my chair.

"Way to make yourself at home there," I said as I pulled my lab coat off and hung it up.

"Oh, always at home when I am with you, Izzy. So you've seen my son?"

"I have."

"And you reviewed his record?"

"Again, I have."

"What do you think?"

"Carlisle, I think I can't talk to you about that."

"Yes you can. I am his medical proxy and his physician on record. So, please, let's talk shop."

"Okay, but first, get out of my chair and get me some more coffee."

Carlisle did just as I asked and I sat down at my desk to pull up Edward's vitals. The joys of modern technology – being able to see a patient's stats from my desk helped me to relax when I wasn't with them.

"Still taking yours black, Izzy?" Carlisle asked from the coffee pot across the room.

"Yeah. Hey, Carlisle, you said you were his medical proxy, why?"

"Well," he set my cup down on my desk and took a seat across the desk from me, "they haven't been married long. Don't get me wrong, Tanya is the best thing in my son's life, but he wanted someone that had been through all his life ups and downs in charge. I know all of his wishes and have known them all for a long time.

"He was in a car accident when he was nineteen. He was comatose for two days. Since he was an adult, I had a hard time getting much done for him since he didn't have a proxy. After that we talked about it, both as doctor and patient and father and son. I've been in charge ever since when he can't. Thankfully, that hasn't been often."

"I see. Guess that makes complete sense. Well, I did talk with him and I did go over those records and we are going to run a bunch more tests. Just with what I have before me now and seeing him, I want to say he has a form of neurological disease. Maybe MS or ALS, but very advanced."

"Neither tends to be this fast moving of a disease."

"No, but they both have underlying symptoms that could go unnoticed for years before the full effects showed."

"Are you saying I missed something?"

"Carlisle, I'm saying your son may not have always shared everything with his father, who is also his physician. I'm going to do full diagnostics panel on him to see if it's one of those two."

"You're probably right. Thinking of the symptoms now, they could both fit, at least partially. With the weakness, I really should have thought about those. It's hard to think that your child could die, you know."

"I do, Carlisle, I do." I placed my hand on his, in an attempt to comfort him.

He turned his hand over, so we were holding hands. "You are still beautiful as ever, Izzy. I'm so happy you are here for us."

I lay my head back on my couch and think of the day's events.

Seeing Carlisle, my mentor and once upon a time, best friend again was wonderful.

I hated that I was seeing him for the reasons I was, but I hadn't realized how much I missed him until today.

As he held my hand and I looked into his eyes, I remembered every moment we'd shared together, the pain we'd felt, and the laughs we'd shared. The nights we'd spent together working.

We had both come a long way since then.

We were both mad, stubborn, and angry the last time we were together. I had a side to win and he had a case to carry.

I didn't know what I was talking about, but he knew it all. He knew when, how, and why I would fail.

"Izzy, you can't, we can't!"

"Carlisle, I have to. I need to! We need to! It's what's right."

"Izzy, right or not, you can't." That was the first and last time I felt his lips on mine. They pressed into the soft flesh of my forehead.

It was a moment I had waited for, but at that moment, every thought, dream, and fantasy I had of Carlisle was brought forward.

It was just a dream. Just a fantasy.

But with that kiss he blurred fantasy and reality.

He wasn't mine. He was someone else's. The wall I built around me that I only let him into, came tumbling down that day. He wasn't the person I could let myself want anymore.

That was the last time I saw him.

I jerked awake, papers flying everywhere.

I blinked my eyes and looked around my office.

"At least it wasn't coffee this time," I mumbled to myself.

The sky was dark out the wall of windows in my office.

"You're here late," Jasper said. Jasper was one of the residents that had interviewed for my team but didn't make the cut.

"Yeah, a lot on my mind. I might as well just take up to living in my office."

"Something tells me your husband would miss you," he said.

"No husband, just a dog that is probably running low on food since I haven't been home much in two days."

"Why don't you go home then? Nothing could be that important for you to stay here over night. We could stop and pick up something to eat if you want."

…And that was why he didn't make it on to my team.

Zero dedication, compassion, or desire to go above and beyond to save a life. Medicine isn't a nine to five job, and Jasper had yet to see that.

Which is why he was working out of the clinic – eight hours a day – five days a week.

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I need to finish up some stuff here still."

"Oh, okay. If you ever change your mind, let me know." He waved bye, before leaving my office.

I shook my head as I thought over the conversation that I just had with him…thank God I didn't have a lapse of better judgment and hire him.


I stopped by Edward's room to check on him before I headed home for a short night's sleep, before returning to him.

I knocked lightly on the door, in hopes that if he was asleep, he would stay that way.

There was no response so I opened the door and pulled the curtain back.

Edward lay on the bed, on his back. His eyes were open, his hands were in the air, in front of his face, but he had yet to acknowledge me.

"Edward?" Still no answer. I walked to the side of his bed and said his name again. When he didn't answer, I thought maybe he slept with his eyes open.

I decided to check for a pulse. I knew that there was a machine doing it for me, but sometimes, it's nice to feel it yourself.

As my fingers met the inside of his wrist, his whole body jerked and is eyes met mine for a moment.

"Doctor Swan?" his voice was raspy.

"Edward, could you not hear me?" I asked him, talking a bit louder than normal.

"I can hear you, but where are you?"

"What do you mean? Can you not see me?"

"I see you…but I see three of you. Nothing is clear anymore."

I pulled my flashlight out of my coat and I shined it into his eyes.

They reacted.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"How long has your vision been blurred?" I asked him, as I pulled a chair closer to the bed.

"Since I woke up. I have been struggling to see something clearly. Is whatever I have getting worse?"

"I can't say yet. We will run some more tests in the morning, okay?"

He nodded and a tear slid down his cheek.

"This sucks, doc. I know you are not a shrink, but I hate to think I'm going to not make it through this."

"Edward, I will do everything in my power to make sure you do make it through." I looked around the room. There were no signs of his wife. "Where did you wife go?" I was not good at the emotions that people had when they feared death. I ended up crying with him and that was another blurring of the lines.

"She left. She was going to pick up my sister, brother, and best friend at the airport."

And that was how I found myself spending the evening with another Cullen man.

Thanks for reading with me(for the first time or again).