A/N: Thank you to everyone again for the love and support you've given me for this story! I get warm fuzzies with each alert I receive!

Thanks, as always, to my pre-reader and ficwife, EternallyCullen, and to my lovely beta, Jenny Cullen, aka Jenrar. Check their stories out as they are both fabulous writers!

Also, EternallyCullen and I have written a one-shot for the Flowers to Showers Contest. It's anonymous, so I can't tell you which one is ours, but hop over there when you get a chance and vote for your favorite! http:/www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/u/2743940/showerstoflowers

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Twilight other than some well-worn books and DVDs. That's all. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer, other than Matthew. He is mine.

Bella sat beside Matthew's hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit, looking morosely at the IV lines and tubes that were connected to him. He also had patches on his small chest to monitor his heart rate. She knew it was all necessary, but it physically hurt her to see her precious son in such a condition.

Was this something I caused? Could I have prevented this?

Matthew was unconscious again, so she knew his sugar was still too high. She prayed that his new treatment plan would work for him.

They had been in the ICU for several hours, and the nurses there had followed Dr. Cullen's orders without issue. Matt was now on an insulin drip, along with some IV fluids to keep him hydrated. His sugar was coming down, but not as quickly as it needed to.

Bella's head was laying on the bed, with Matt's hand resting in hers. She stroked it gently, but was surprised when she felt two large hands on her shoulders, beginning to knead the knots in her muscles. She turned her head, to see Edward standing behind her.

"Hey," she said quietly. "I thought you went home."

He continued gently massaging her shoulders. "No, I didn't want to leave you here alone. Does your father know you'rehere?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he's going to come by when he gets off duty. He offered to come before, but I told him to wait. There wasn't any sense in him missing work, and the same goes for you. You must have something better to do – homework, studying..."

"Bella, I'm not leaving you here to deal with this alone. You're a wreck, and you don't need to be by yourself."

She sighed. "All right. I don't have the energy to fight with you."

"Good, because I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled up at him wearily. "Thank you."

"So, how's he doing?" He nodded at Matthew.

Bella swiped at her eyes again; they were starting to swell and felt tender. "A bit better. His sugar was down to three hundred a bit ago. Why isn't it coming down faster, Edward?"

Edward pulled the other chair up to the bed and looked at the sickly child in the bed. "I'm not sure, but I'm sure it has something to do with his pancreas or his liver. Dad ordered a full lab workup, so we'll be able to see if his white count is up. If he has some type of infection, that will keep a diabetic's blood sugar up. Have they given you an actual diagnosis?"

She laughed. "Yeah. High blood sugar. Imagine that. Edward, what if he doesn't have an infection?" she asked, desperation clouding her voice.

"We'll find out for sure tomorrow. They'll transport him to Seattle, and we'll see the specialist then. Dad is supposed to call him when we get there and let him know that Matt's arrived."

Bella felt the tears trickling out of her eyes again. "I-I don't know how to thank you. I'm sorry I was so difficult at the beginning. If you hadn't done what you did earlier with his joke of a doctor, they'd be sending Matt home in the morning, and there's no telling what would have ended up happening. I-I can never repay you for your help."

Edward was stunned. He knew that her son's condition was leaving her more vulnerable, but he could tell that she meant her apology. He stared a few moments, allowing himself to drown in her deep, brown eyes. "It's all right, Bella."

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I was horrible to you, and you've done so much for us."

"Then I accept your apology. And now I see why you needed better healthcare for Matt." Edward was now able to understand the concept of his assignment; he had just been too self-centered before to be able to see it.

Matt shifted on the bed, and Bella jumped up. "Matt? Can you hear me?"

"Mom?" he asked, his throat raspy. "What happened?"

Bella laughed tearfully in relief. He was finally making some sense. He had mentioned several things about flying bunny rabbits in his room, and she knew that his sugar was so high that he was having hallucinations. "Baby, your sugar got really high at school, and you're in the hospital. How do you feel?"

He sighed. "Not so good." He looked around and spotted Edward. "Edward," he greeted weakly.

"Hey, buddy. I'm glad to see you're awake. You gave your mom and me quite a scare." Edward hadn't realized how worried he had been until Matt had actually opened his eyes. He had never had to worry about anyone except for himself – other than his family, who were all healthy – so he had not been able to grasp the extent of the love and devotion that Bella felt for her son.

"Sorry," he whispered.

Bella sat on the side of the bed and held his hand. "It's all right; you did the right thing by going to the nurse. Oh, I'm so glad you're better," she said, her voice breaking.

Edward was feeling a bit choked up, as well, and cleared his throat. "I'm going to go get the nurse and let her know he's awake."

Bella nodded in acquiescence. "Thank you."

He was back shortly with Matthew's nurse, Mary. She busied herself around Matt's bed, checking his IV solution and the insulin drip. "Well, little man," she said. "Let's check your sugar."

She pulled out the glucometer and stuck his finger with the lancet. Bella watched as a drop of blood appeared on his finger and was whisked away by the strip in the glucometer. Before she'd had Matt, the smell of blood would make her faint. She had even passed out one day in Biology when they had done blood typing.

But after having to stick Matt's fingers four times a day for the last four years, she had gotten over her aversion to blood. She hadn't really had a choice.

"Great, Matt. It's down to one eighty two. According to Dr. Cullen's orders, we can stop the drip for now. We don't want his sugar to get too low." Mary gathered her equipment up, along with the glucometer, and headed for the nurses' station. She was back quickly to turn the insulin drip off.

"Do you know of plans to have him transferred to Seattle?" Bella asked, her brown eyes wide with concern.

Mary nodded. "Yes, they're going to transport him by ambulance at eight in the morning. You'll be able to meet him there."

Bella breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed Edward's hand reflexively. "Oh, thank you. Thank God," she murmured. "Will I be able to ride with him?" she asked. She was afraid her old truck wouldn't make it to Seattle.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Swan, but that's not allowed."

"Oh," Bella said, her face falling. I'll check with Dad. I don't know if he could drive the cruiser to Seattle or not…

"You can ride with me, Bella," Edward offered.

"I don't want to put you out, Edward," she said, her eyes downcast.

He shook his head and squeezed her hand to get her attention. The electrical current was back, buzzing up her arm. The sensation reminded her of when she would hold her tongue to a battery when she was a child.

"It's not a problem, Bella. On the days that I go to school, I can just drop you off at the hospital."

"Edward, that's too much trouble for you. And you don't have class for a couple of days, do you?"

He shook his head. "Bella, I'm going to be at the hospital, and so is Dad. We want to meet with Dr. Taplin, so we can all learn about this and help figure out the best possible course."

Bella was stunned. Edward was going to be at the hospital with Matt? What does that mean? Nothing. It means nothing, Bella. It's just so he'll have the information from Seattle to include in his paper. "I would appreciate that."

He shrugged. "Not a problem."

"Have you studied a lot on diabetes at school?"

Edward shook his head. "No, we haven't really gotten to that section yet."

She attempted to lift the corners of her mouth into a smile. "Then this should be a good learning experience for you." She turned back to the bed. Matt had dozed off, but this time, he was just asleep, and not unconscious due to his sugar.

Edward stared intensely into her chocolate brown eyes, his own emerald green eyes searching for something.

"What?" she finally asked. He was making her self-conscious.

"I'm not in this for a learning experience, Bella."

She stared back into his eyes, drowning in them. "Yes, you are. This is part of your assignment, right?"

He sighed. "You're no longer just an assignment to me."

She laughed lightly. "I'm a pain in your ass, is what I am," she said, looking down at the floor. "You're in college! You should be having the time of your life, partying every weekend… You don't need to be hanging out with me and my son in the hospital."

Edward placed a finger under her chin and tipped her face up so he could look into her eyes. "Bella, stop that. Why do you always think that no one could be interested in you? You're a bright, beautiful, and caring woman."

He called me beautiful? Is he crazy? "You're just saying that to be nice, Edward. It's all right. I've accepted it."

"Tell me why," he demanded.

She sighed. "Because there's only a few people that give a shit about me: Matt, my dad, my mom, and Angela and Jake. That's it."

"You deserve happiness just as much as everyone else does."

She shook her head. "I've learned to live with it, so it'll have to do."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Bella," he whispered, stroking his fingers down her cheek.

"Please, don't go there, Edward."

"Why not?"

She sighed again and sat heavily on the hard couch in the room. "Because it would never work out. We're too different, and I don't think I can handle that kind of pain again."

He pressed his lips together. "Now you're the one who's stereotyping. Look, I know the first time we met, I came across as too cocky and arrogant. But I hope you've seen the real me over the last month. And we're not that different."

She turned her head to stare at him in disbelief. "And just what do we have in common?"

He gave her his famous lopsided smile. "We both enjoy the same music, we both enjoy reading, we both enjoy being with each other, and we both care about Matt, just to name a few."

"I'm not good enough for you," she whispered so softly, he had to strain to hear her.

Before Edward could reply to that sentence that had shattered his heart into a thousand pieces, Bella's father, Charlie, walked in.

"Bells," he greeted, hugging her awkwardly. "How Matt doing?"

She took a shuddering breath. "He's better. His sugar was down enough earlier that they were able to stop the insulin drip. He also woke up and was coherent, but he's back asleep now."

Charlie eyed Edward with interest. He introduced himself and shook Edward's hand.

"I'm Edward Cullen. Bella and Matt actually started out as a homework assignment in my Ethics class."

"You're Dr. Cullen's son, right?" Charlie asked.

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

Charlie grunted. "Bells has been telling about some of that. How's that going?" He looked between the two of them.

Bella sighed. "All right, I guess. I hope it is. But things here aren't so good."

"I'm going to go to the cafeteria, Bella, so you and your father can visit. Can I bring you back anything?"

She smiled at him lightly. "Yeah, just some black coffee would be great."

He nodded and left the room.

Charlie turned to his daughter. "So, what's going on with you two?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing, Dad. As I said, I'm just his homework assignment, and that's all."

Charlie looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. "Yeah, right. I saw the way you two looked at each other."

"Dad, stop. I don't need or want a man in my life. Once was enough for me." She sighed. She hated thinking of the past and how stupid she had been – not that she regretted Matt, though.

He chuckled. "You mark my words; something with that boy will happen."

Bella swallowed and went back to sit on Matt's bed. It made her a bit uneasy, because that was exactly what she was afraid of.

xXx

Bella stared at the greenery flashing by the windows as Edward hurried toward Seattle so they could meet Matt at the Children's Hospital. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her head resting on the window.

"You okay?" Edward asked quietly, while soft strands of Mozart drifted through the speakers.

She sighed. "I don't know. I'm just tired… of everything. What if they find something really, really wrong? I'm so scared."

He reached over and laid a hand lightly on her leg. He waited a few moments with bated breath to see if she'd ask him to move it or remove it herself. She did neither. "I know, Bella. But remember, even if they find something, it's better to find it now, rather than later, when it may not be treatable."

"I know. It's just so scary. He's just a little boy, and he can't be just a little boy because of this horrible disease."

He nodded silently.

She decided to change the subject. "So... What field do you want to practice in?"

He smiled, his eyes looking at something far away. "I've always figured I'd be a surgeon, like my dad. He used to tell us stories about how he saved someone's life, and we could all see how happy it made him. And I always wanted to be just like him."

"You'd make a great surgeon," she said numbly, but her mind was with her son. Is Matt okay? What's going on in that ambulance? Is he scared to be in there without me?

Don't worry about it, Bella. They're gonna take good care of them.

I'm just scared.

He'll be fine.

She sighed again, but didn't speak. She couldn't keep arguing with herself. She was so tired, both physically an emotionally. She was also overwhelmed at how kind Dr. Cullen had been to her. He was taking a day off to meet them in Seattle to speak to this doctor. All for Matt.

You couldn't ask for anything more, and she was not used to being treated this way. She was typically treated like the dirt on the bottom of people's shoes. But Dr. Cullen had treated her and Matt… like they mattered to him. As if he actually cared.

She sighed once more.

"Penny for your thoughts," Edward said.

"I was just thinking about how nice your dad was to us. We've never been treated like that before. Mostly, we've always been pushed to the side because Matt has Medicaid, which always made me feel horrible. But he didn't do that. And for him to meet us in Seattle… I'll never be able to thank you all enough."

He smiled. "I know one way you can thank me, if you're determined to."

"What?"

"Go out to dinner with me again."

"We already did that to get to know each other," she reminded him.

He nodded. "Yeah, but this time, my intension are clear. Go out with me, Bella? Please?"