A/N: I can't thank you all enough for the warm and welcoming reception this story has had. I believe I have responded to everyone who reviewed, but if I missed you, know that it was just an oversight on my part. I love reading your feedback and then getting to correspond with you!

If you'd like to know when teasers are posted, you can friend me on Facebook under LisaDawn Fanfiction and follow me on Twitter (at)LisaDawn75.

I also want to give a big thanks to my pre-reader, EternallyCullen, and to my fabulous beta, Jenny Cullen, aka Jenrar. You both are wonderful and I have nothing but love for ya!

And now, enjoy!

Bella tilted the glass back a bit, attempting to get some orange juice down Matthew's throat. He began gurgling and spat it back out.

"Shit," Bella muttered hysterically. She had to get some sugar in his system, or he would die. Soon.

She dipped her finger in his prescription glucose gel and rubbed it along the inside of his mouth, praying it would absorb through the mucous membranes. "Come on, baby. Come on. Where's the fucking ambulance?" she cried softly, attempting again with the orange juice. Matt was not responding to the oral gel; he needed to have some glucose administered intravenously.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she heard a banging at the door. "EMS!" a male voice shouted.

"Come in," she yelled, not letting go of Matt – again, trying to bring him around with some orange juice.

A tall, blond-haired man wearing a jacket that said "Paramedic" walked in and squatted down next to her. "What's going on?"

"Mike," Bella cried, "don't play this game. You know him. His sugar bottomed out. His monitor wouldn't even read it. He needs some IV glucose. Now. The oral stuff isn't working."

Mike Newton motioned for his partner to get the supplies out of their bag.

"Hurry," she begged.

He stuck an intravenous needle into Matthew's left forearm successfully. He pulled the needle out, leaving the plastic sheath in the vein, flushed the line with saline, and then began to push the glucose solution gently, but quickly.

Bella figured that after the oral gel, the orange juice, and the intravenous glucose, Matt's blood sugar would be then be too high when he woke up. When he wakes up, she kept repeating to herself over and over. When he wakes up…

xXx

Edward looked for a chair to sit in. The garishly green chairs in the Social Insurance office were hideous, and it was a job for him to find one that did not appear as if it had been recently spat in or had gum stuck to it. His shoes stuck to the industrial tile floor, and he tried to keep away from any children that appeared to be sick. He finally settled in a relatively clean chair and waited to meet Isabella Swan's case worker, Judy Bartlett.

He looked around, amazed at how the "other side" of life lived. The building was one huge open space, with brown cubicle dividers throughout the room, so a steady hum of voices filled the air.

No privacy. There was no privacy or dignity in a place like this. He was attempting to see it through Isabella's eyes, yet all he could see was the dinginess of the place. He wondered how she felt when she had to come here.

Edward noticed a few young girls eyeing him closely, and he shifted in his plastic chair uncomfortably. Before he could get ogled farther, however, Judy Bartlett came around the corner and called his name.

He shook her hand, and she led him through the cubicle maze to her tiny office area.

"Mr. Cullen, please have a seat, and tell me what I can do for you," she said. Her brown hair was beginning to turn gray at the temples and hung in a limp ponytail, her blue eyes appearing dull.

Edward was beginning to understand how a place like this could suck the life right out of someone.

"Ms. Bartlett, thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

"Anything to help Matthew. He's a sick little boy. You do have the information release signed?"

He handed her a copy of the Release of Information that Ms. Swan had signed. "Good. I hated to do it, but I basically had to force her into the program at UW. She was in danger of losing her benefits if she didn't, however."

Edward sat back, crossing his legs. "Why did you have to force her?"

She sighed. "Mr. Cullen, have you actually met Isabella Swan?"

He grimaced, remembering their meeting the night prior. "Yes, ma'am. And please, call me Edward."

"Then you should know why. Isabella is a very private person, and honestly, she has every right to be after what she's been through. She was very reluctant about sharing information with a stranger."

"Well, I'm just trying to help."

"And that's what I explained to her. The state will not continue to cover Matthew's mounting medical bills unless we try this intervention. She was basically coerced into it."

Ah, well, that explains the underlying hostility, he thought. "Ms. Bartlett, you keep mentioning Matthew's condition. What exactly is wrong with him?"

She recrossed her legs, taking a sip of the Coke on her desk. "Matthew suffers from uncontrolled Type I Diabetes. He was diagnosed when he was only two years old. Isabella has spent basically his whole life fighting with doctors to get the correct diagnosis when he was little, as they didn't believe her when she said something was wrong with him, and the remainder of the time fighting the disease with only the help of his regular physician, who was chosen by Medicaid. He needs a specialist, but it's not covered."

"That's ridiculous," Edward said, stunned. "If he's uncontrolled, he needs to see an endocrinologist – a pediatric one, actually."

She nodded in agreement. "I know, but unfortunately, Washington Medicaid only allows for a specialist after the attending physician refers them, and her doctor will not do it. He says he's keeping Matt's blood sugars under control."

"Do you know what they run?"

She sighed and took another sip of her Coke. "Anywhere from the teens to the four hundred range. And he can go from one to the other in the same day."

Edward scoffed. "Controlled my ass," he muttered, causing her to smile. "Ms. Bartlett, where is his father in all of this? Is he around to help Bella out?"

Judy hesitated. "I would prefer to let her tell you her story, if she chooses to. I don't feel that's my place, but let's just say, he's not in the picture."

"So she's on her own?" he asked disbelievingly. He could not imagine the strength it took to raise a young son alone. He was beginning to understand Bella's knee-jerk reactions a bit better.

"Yes, aside from her father, who is the Chief of Police here in Forks."

Edward was speechless. There was much more to Isabella Swan than he had ever imagined.

xXx

"I think he'll be okay now," Mike said, placing a comforting hand on Bella's arm. "If you have any other problems, just call us back."

She gave him a tremulous smile. "You know I will. Thanks, Mike."

"Bella, you know, I was wondering…" he stuttered.

Bella sighed. "Mike, we've been over this. I'm not dating. It's not just you; I'm not interested in dating anyone."

He scowled. "Look, Bella. I know things haven't been exactly the best for you, but you've got to move on. Get out there. We're not all bad guys."

Why do we have to go through this shit every time he comes here on a call for Matt? "Mike, I understand that's how you feel, but it's my decision. Thanks for helping Matthew. I really do appreciate it."

He gathered his items up, putting them back in his bag. "Well, if you change your mind, Bells, you know where to find me."

She nodded, hoping to appease him a bit. He was at her house plenty, whenever Matt had an episode, and he always took such good care of him. She just wished he would not put her in the position of having to turn him down every time.

She was not going to date. Ever again. The last time had not ended well, and now she had Matthew to care for. She did not need a man in her life to complicate things any further.

She had enough problems as it was.

Her phone rang suddenly, causing her to jump. Matthew was resting quietly on the couch at that point, and she did not want the jangling noise to bother him. "Hello?" she said, trying to keep the sharpness out of her voice.

"Ms. Swan?" The velvet voice was back.

"Yeah. Is this Edward?" Oh, happy happy, joy joy!

"Yes, this is Edward Cullen. How's your son?"

She was brought up a bit short at the sound of genuine concern in his voice. "Um, he's all right. The paramedics had to give him some IV glucose, but he's resting quietly now." She hesitated. "Thanks for asking."

"Sure. I was wondering if we could meet up to start on the project."

Bella sighed. She was not going to get out of this. "Okay. How about tomorrow night? I still need to do some job hunting."

"That would be fine. How about seven o'clock?" he asked.

"I'll see you then." She just hoped that things would go a bit better than their first meeting.

xXx

Bella rested her head against the steering wheel of her truck. Her feet and her head were throbbing. She had been to several different businesses, looking for a new job. She felt as if she were wearing a huge scarlet letter, as she had been told the same thing, over and over.

No.

Sorry, not hiring.

No, thank you.

Bella still had an hour before Matthew got out of school, so she decided to stop by the police station and see her dad. She pulled into the parking lot and shut the ear-splitting engine off.

"Hey, Dad," she said, walking into his office and sitting down in the chair opposite his desk.

He looked up from the accident report he was completing. "Hey, Bells. What are you doing out and about?"

"Job hunting," she said quietly, her head hanging in shame.

Charlie Swan sighed and set his pen down. "What happened at Thriftway?"

She quickly swiped under her eyes. "The school called again about Matt's sugar. It bottomed out while he was there, and I had to take off really quickly and go to the school. They said I'd missed more than my allotted time off and let me go."

"So where all have you been today?"

Bella recited all of the businesses she had applied at since her termination at the grocery store.

"Were any of them promising?"

She shook her head. "No; they all turned me down. I'm sure it's all over town that I miss a lot of work because of Matt. What am I gonna do, Dad?" she asked, her voice small. She in no way resembled the strong woman she showed the world on a daily basis.

"Bells, you're twenty-three years old. You have a six year old son who's depending on you."

She swiped at her eyes, again. "I know, Dad."

Charlie cleared his throat. "You're gonna take that job I've been offering you for months. I can't find a suitable receptionist, and you'd be perfect for the job."

Bella sighed. "Dad, I appreciate it, but I don't want to put you in a weird position if it didn't work out. Matthew's diabetes is so out of control right now that I might have to run out at any time."

Charlie looked at her sternly. "Isabella, you don't really have a choice now. Besides, he's my grandson. I'm not going to fire my daughter for taking good care of my grandson."

She scoffed lightly.

"Bells, you take wonderful care of that kid. You've educated yourself on his disease and do everything you can to take care of him. I know the situation you had him under wasn't the best, but you've made the best of it. You're my daughter, and I'll do whatever I need to do to help you out."

Bella thought that was the longest speech he had made that she could remember. "I'll think about it," she finally deflected.

He sighed. "You'll think about it tonight, and then you'll come back tomorrow and say yes."

"I know," she said with a sigh. "I've gotta go pick up Matt and get him fed. Edward Cullen is coming by again tonight."

"Who's he?" Charlie asked, his eyebrows raised.

She rolled her eyes. "He's a medical student that's supposed to help me find good medical care for Matthew as part of a school project. My caseworker set Matt up in the program to try to get him into an endocrinologist."

"You don't act too happy about that."

Bella shook her head. "It's just that he came over a couple of nights ago, and he was so… arrogant. It flew all over me, and I probably overreacted."

"You kicked him out."

She hung her head. "Yeah."

He sighed again. "Bells, you're just gonna have to get over it and let him do what he needs. For Matt."

She nodded and stood up. "I will. I promise, I'll try to work with him."

"That's my good girl."

xXx

Bella took a deep breath when she heard the expected knock at her door at seven o'clock sharp. Be nice, be nice, be nice, she kept repeating to herself. She opened the door with a smile plastered on her face. "Hi," she said, when she saw Edward standing on her doorstep, his hair wet from the rain.

"Hi," he said quietly, almost as if he were afraid of her reaction.

She stepped back from the door. "Please, come in," she said softly.

"Thank you."

She could tell they were dancing around each other. Bella could not stand the tension and finally spoke. "Look, Edward, I'm sorry if I—"

He cut her off. "No, I'm the one who owes you an apology. I came in here the other night with a stereotype already in my mind, and I treated you as if you weren't worth my time. I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I really am here to help."

Bella was stunned. Maybe he wasn't a total asshole after all. But she had been sweet talked before, and that ended in nothing but trouble.

He's not here to seduce you, dummy. He's here to help Matthew. She offered him a tremulous smile. "Thank you, Edward. Apology accepted. So, where do we start?"