A/N: All character's are Steph's, personalities are mine! Thanks to those of you who are keeping up with the story, it means a lot to me. Also huge shoutout to gryffindor-golden girl for beta-ing, I love you, you're my savior.

This is a long one, enjoy the ride.

See ya at the bottom!

6: Change

We had a week until he showed up. He was from the state, just north from where we were in Montana. Almost in Canada. He was coming an about a week, and we had to begin making preparations.

Whatever that meant.

Cullen and Black became Nazi's about what we had to do. Apparently, the man who was coming was going to replace Dwyer and become the new attending. He was going to replace Dwyer in all means possible—take care of us, make the rules, and make changes around this place. To Alice and I, it seemed they both were putting all they had into this guy.

We first got the details about him when Cullen called for us all to meet in the Common, where the Assessments take place. He stood atop an empty mattress—which didn't give him much height or dignity from his original standpoint—with Black. Both their faces were white, stoic. Their scrubs were covered with dirt from the day, and their faces looked weary.

I had never taken this much time to look at each of them. Though they were both relatively young—around twenty-nine—they looked like they haven't had a good nights sleep since the beginning. Their eyes were sunken in like Alice's used to be, with the same dark circles some of the residents complained about having. Their hair was starting to grey from the original blonde and black it was.

It was kind of…pitiful. I could tell both of them looked like they had lost hope in everything we were trying to do. It looked that they wanted to stop everything and just accept what happened.

Everyone was chatting away like we were meeting for a group chat. Both attendings were chatting quietly—probably trying to figure out what to say to us. I looked around at the people who surrounded me. As per usual, they were all mixed in their circles—the residents, the interns, and the fellows. I stood alone as I waited for Alice, looking at all the people who filled the room.

I thought about how little I knew about all of these people. How the only times I've said any words to anyone besides Alice and Emmett was during an Assessment. They all had their own lives, lives that I knew nothing about. Not that I wanted to know about the unnecessary details of their lives, per se, but it was awkward. I've lived with these people my entire life and not once had I had any conversation with one of them.

It was all about the circles.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped, too engrossed in my own speculations on other peoples lives that I hadn't even heard Alice walk up next to me. "Gah!" I exclaimed, as I jumped a couple feet off the ground.

With that, Alice laughed. And laughed. And laughed. She was bent over at the waist, clutching her stomach like it was the funniest things she's ever seen. Her laugh was anything but graceful, as she guffawed at my scare.

I chuckled along with her, crossing my arms over my chest. "Okay, ha ha. You made a funny, quit laughing."

The statement only made her laugh harder. She clutched her knees and tried to get out, "No...you… should've seen your face," she stopped to stand up and wipe a tear that escaped from the corner of her eye. "Oh God, I needed that," she finished.

"Well, I'm glad I could help," I said, laughing a bit to myself. I was suddenly mad that I stopped her from laughing. Laughs don't happen here, and it's kind of weird when they do. It never seems right because of the circumstances. I turned to face Alice, "How are you holding up?"

It had been three days since we last talked. Technically, she was supposed to have concocted some type of plan for us, and the whole Emmett thing, but she had been busy and also suffered from lack of any ideas.

"I don't know," she sighed, looking up at the attendings, "this whole thing just pisses me off."

I looked up at the attendings with her. "Agreed,"

She sighed again, a more angrier sigh than tired, "It's just… I'm usually good at this stuff, you know? I'm always the one getting us out of shit and now I have nothing."

I nodded and looked at her. She was still staring at the attendings as they continued to converse. Some of the blue in her eyes came back, but they were still dull. "Hey," I said, tapping her cheek, "it's going to be okay." I hoped.

Cullen then called us to attention by clearing his throat. Black stood next to him looking so seriously at the wall behind us I thought he would drill a hole in it. "You all know about the devastating departure we've had recently," he began. He wasn't looking at any of us, but instead behind us, at the bed where Dwyer died. "It's been tragic, yes. But we have to move on. We don't have time."

Like I said, selfish.

Black then stepped forward. He looked at his chart and back to us. He put the chart behind his back and addressed us all, "We have a new attending who will be joining us—permanently. He's from just north of where we are and will be here in a week." He stood taller as he continued, "He's the best chance we have. You are to do what he tells you, when he tells you, whatever he tells you."

"Oh, shit," Alice whispered to me. I saw her head turn towards my face in the corner of my eye.

"Yep," I responded back, "oh, shit,"

We looked at each other for a short minute, trying to wrap our heads around the whole thing. Around the whole someone is going to come in, and turn this place upside down. I didn't know whether to be scared or excited.

Black continued, "So, for those thinking whatever bullshit thoughts you are, stop. I expect nothing but cooperation from you all. He will be bringing a couple of fellows with him as well, seeing as one of ours couldn't handle himself."

I saw red. I'm pretty sure Alice did as well from the way her small frame was shaking with rage. He had no right to assume, no one did, not even Alice and I. Not one person understood; not the pressure or anything that comes with being a fellow.

My eyes turned to narrow slits and I barely listened to Black and Cullen finish their speech.

Alice's face mimicked mine, I saw from the corner of my eye.

"…That's all." Cullen ended. "Back to work, all of you."

Alice and I were sitting in our usual aisle where we always sat with Emmett. We were raging about what Black and Cullen were saying about Emmett—I honestly don't think Alice or I could see passed it.

Alice stood up from her sitting position and started pacing. Back and forth, back and forth she walked, her feet skidding on the ground, stirring up dirt in the air. She stopped, looked at the ceiling and groaned, "This is so fucked up," she put her hands to her hair and began to pull, mimicking pulling her hair out.

I got up and rushed her, seeing her anger take over her. That was never good. "Hey," I said. Seeing as she didn't listen—I doubt she could even hear me—she kept pacing, her speed increasing. "Hey," I said louder. I stood in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me, and I could see her walls begin to crumble. The tears were pooling over in her eyes, threatening to break and let the emotions she's been holding escape.

The thing with this place is that we try as hard as we can to save humans. We push long hours, put everything we have in it. But we aren't allowed to feel. We're not allowed to sit and have a good cry, or laugh, or joke, or comfort others.

It was pitiful.

"Hey," I said, wiping her eyes as she silently cried, "it's going to be okay."

She sniffled, and glared at me saying, "What if it's not?"

I let go of her shoulders, crossing my arms across my chest. This wasn't Alice. This wasn't Alice at all. I glared back at her, "You stop it. You know damn well that we're going to figure this out and somehow Emmett will come back."

She through her hands up in the air, "And what if he doesn't, Bella? What then?"

I sighed, "I don't know, okay? Is that what you want?"

"I want the truth," she said. I looked at her, at a loss for words. We stared at each other for some time before she sighed and ended, "Look, I'm sorry I yelled. It's all this stress. I guess this new attending is getting to me."

I chuckled, "Yeah, well, life goes on."

She crossed her arms across her chest, and stood tall looking behind me. At what, I don't know. All I know is that once she stood tall I knew she was semi-back to normal. I don't think she would return to being normal until Emmett came back.

He was scheduled to come today, him and his minions. Alice and I decided we didn't like him solely because of what his fellows would be doing.

Childish, yes, but we all never really grew up here.

Cullen and Black have been on edge all day, and it's been quite comical. Alice and I would catch them checking the time on their watches, or shuffling back and forth during an Assessment, and each time we would snicker.

Served them right.

It was time, time for the inevitable to happen. The replacements. Change—God, I hated change.

I was standing at the makeshift desk we had in the Common, looking over a chart with Alice as we discussed the resident's takedowns. They were wrong, but what else is new? The residents are sloppy and shouldn't be here, God only knows why. Maybe this new attending will kick hem to the curb.

I heard them talking before I saw them. I looked towards the doorway where they would enter. The man's voice, of what I could hear of it, was deep—really deep next to Cullen's. The footsteps got closer, and I had zoned out on Alice who was still reading the chart and talking to me. My head was fixed solely on the door watching. Waiting.

"Are you listening—holy crap," Alice whispered.

The man had entered the room. Alice and I both stopped, as did the rest of the Common. Cullen looked up at us all, busy staring at him and the man next to him, and stood taller and said, "Nothing to see here, back to work, all of you."

No one seemed to hear him as the man spoke, "Well, I think there is something to see here," he said.

Oh my God, his voice. It was rich, thick, like molasses. It engulfed me, making me not only hear the words, but feel them. Its like I could feel the vibrations all the way across the room. His voice matched his looks—breathtaking. His copper hair, simultaneously short and long. His eyes such a vibrant green they seemed to glow. The five-o-clock shadow creating a roughness to him that was all man; he stood tall, probably about six-three, maybe six-four if extended to full height. His black scrub pants hung low, his white t-shirt barely covering the drawstring. I couldn't gauge his age, his face seemed timeless. He could be anywhere from twenty-three to thirty-seven.

No matter how old he was he was all man.

The man was flanked by two blondes—one boy and one girl. The boy was tall, but not as tall as the man. His shaggy, dirty blonde hair was flung in all directions, almost like he had a habit of running his hand through his hair. His face, while attractive, was stoic and cold, void of any emotion it seemed. His piercing blue eyes were shining, like pools of sea. He stood tall, with his hands behind his back.

The girl, however, was insane. She was leggy, standing shorter to her blonde partner, but almost as tall. Her hair, long, shiny, and blonde, was braided haphazardly, but I could tell it hung to at least her waist. Her blue eyes were shiny and dark, but held a cold façade of indifference as well. She stood, with her hands crossed over her chest, as she scanned the room with a smirk on her pink lips.

Both of their black scrubs fit to perfection, while ours were either too big or too small.

My eyes, I could tell, grew bigger than before. I gasped and dropped my pen I was writing with.

Once the pen dropped, significantly after the man spoke, everyone looked at me. I looked back at everyone, and quickly dropped to gather myself and the pen. I stood up to find everyone's attention was back to the three people.

The man spoke again, "Might as well make introductions now," he said. He moved to the center of the room, his blonde babes following him, but they stood back further against the wall as Cullen started the introduction.

"This is Edward Masen, your newest head attending—"

He interrupted him suddenly, "I do not care to get to know you all, so do not even try to. I'm not impressed easily, so don't try that either. I'm here, whether you all like it or not. I don't know how things were handled before, and honestly, I don't care."

He began to walk around the room, catching the eyes of every person filling it. "You do you job and you do it well, or die trying." His eyes landed on Alice, whom he skipped just as fast as he had the others.

Next, was me.

His eyes caught mine and he walked towards me. He stood close to me, so close I had to lean back so I wouldn't crash into him. He smirked at me, and looked me up and down, assessing. He chuckled, and leaned back. I stood glaring at him.

I looked over at his blonde babes and noticed they, too, were smirking but not at me, just in general. They were leaning against the wall, ankles crossed, arms across their chests. They have to be related.

He walked backed towards Cullen, who I could tell was proud at the job he and Black did.

He spoke, "I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Masen."

With that they walked out of the room.

Alice and I looked at each other, and I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was.

We're all fucked.

Oh, Edward, such a sweetheart. Thanks for reading!

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