A/N

Hey Guys here the second installment hope you enjoy xx

I quickly switch on my bedroom light and locate my boots and over sized parka coat. God how I could forget Barney, the poor little guy, his most certainly an ice statue by now. Oh god what am I going to tell Alice, she's going to flip. I zip up my parka over my P.J's and slam my feet into my boots trying to remove the images of a frozen dead ginger cat from my mind. I grab my keys and head out of my bedroom and race through the apartment to the front door; I slam the door behind me and sprint down the three flights of stairs to the front door. As I get to the door I peer out through the window to see, that the entire car lot is covered with inches of thick white snow, every surface from the wall to the road is concealed under a blanket of white. This does nothing to help squash my fear of poor Barneys' survival.

I unlock the door and step out into what can only be described as the inside of a life size snow globe, it definitely wasn't this bad earlier.

"Barney" I call, making clucking noises with my tongue, the type only reserved for calling animals of the feline nature. I look around anxiously hoping to spot a little glimpse of ginger.

"Come on Barney…Barney" I continue, stepping further out into the car lot. The snow isn't falling as heavy as it was earlier this evening just light fluffy specs now slowly cascading to the ground. It's so quiet out here; just the crunching of my boots on the snowy ground can be heard as I leave the first footprints on the freshly fallen snow. As I reach the snow covered cars I crouch down and look under them hoping to find him hidden underneath.

"Barney, come on now boy" I call again as a gust of wind pierces through the thin material of my P.J bottoms. I get up and walk over to the other row of cars and crouch back down hoping he'll be there.

God what if I never find him? Maybe, I should head down to the pet store tomorrow and buy an identical ginger cat, would Alice know the difference?

Of course she would, she'd probably know before she even petted the bloody thing. He could've just found a nice little bridge to sleep under for the night, or maybe one of the neighbors might have recognized him as Alice's and have let him in already and his just having a little sleepover. Yea that sounds plausible; people do that kind of stuff, not me personally, but others would. Right? I begin stand up and head back to the apartment block certain he'd been rescued.

When I hear a distinct mew from underneath a car a few feet away, I turn back around and crouch down again and out pops Barney with his little tinkering bell.

"Oh Barney, I'm so happy to see you" I gushed as he runs softly towards me. He allows me to scoop him up, probably thankful to get out of this glacial weather, I know I would be. I head back to the apartment pleased to know that I won't be having to hand out any missing cat flyers tomorrow.

Just as I'm about to open the front door of the apartment I hear the faintest of noises that stops me in my tracks. I turn around and slowly scan the car lot again but there's nothing, it's completely devoid of any life. I open the door and hear it again only this time longer but just as faint. I let Barney in and close the door behind him, my curiosity has got the better of me and I want to locate where that sound is coming from. Probably not the best of ideas as who knows what's lurking out here, but my hearing ability assures me that there is no other person otherwise I would have heard their thoughts, for that I'm sure.

I hear the sound again except this time it's more of a groan and sounds as if it's coming from behind me. I spin around and walk to the side of the building where the dumpsters are kept, this creature lets out another whimper but it's clearer now so I must be getting closer, if I wasn't mistaken I'd be sure it sounded almost human.

Then I see it, in the bright white snow, under the light of the nearby street lamp, just beside the end of the last dumpster, the unmistakable sight of blood and footprints.

For some reason the doctor side of me kicks in and I hurry past the three dumpster to find what looks to be a man, sat in the snow with his back leaning against the end of the dumpster beside the wall with his head bent down. It seems from the trail of footprints he came through the gap in the fence and trudged over here and collapsed. I crouch down beside him.

"Hello Sir, can you hear me?" I ask, positive that his already dead, I slowly grab his wrist and try to feel for a pulse. Ever so faintly I feel a slow pulse on his ice cold wrist.

"Hello Sir, what is your name?" I try to get some kind of response from him but all his giving me now is quiet groans.

"Sir if you can hear me I need you to squeeze my hand please?" I ask him as I place my hand in his palm praying to get a reaction from him. I need to know if his conscious enough to at least be moved inside so I call for help. After what felt like a lifetime he gently squeezes my hand with his frozen palm. Then ever so slowly he begins to lift his head to reveal his face.

I swallow down the massive lump that has instantly formed in my throat. This guy, whoever he is, has been seriously attacked by something or someone. His face is completely covered in dark glistening blood. But upon closer inspection it appears he has a deep laceration to his upper right eye, followed by bruising to his left eye that has already started to swell, possible broken eye socket, with another cut to the top left corner of his mouth, ending with what seems to be another a nasty looking gash across the bridge of his nose, possibly broken.

"Who..are..you?" he manages to get out.

"My name is Bella, I'm a doctor, and I'm going to try and help you, but I need to know whether you've sustained any injuries to your legs" I ask a little breathlessly

"No" he gasps barely audible. It's then I realize looking down at his body, that he is clutching the left side of his rib cage with his right hand, I add possible broken ribs on the left side to my mental injury inventory.

"OK sir, in a short while I'm going to have to ask you to stand up and walk round this corner into the building, I'll be here to support you OK, but we need to get you out of the cold as soon as possible" I say clearly hoping he stays conscious enough to let me help him into the building.

I give him a little while to let what I told him sink in, but judging by the hazy blueish tint to his skin I'd say we're running out of time. I position myself on his right side, in the small space between him and the wall. I carefully pull his right arm away from his left side that he'd been clutching. As his palm comes into view I see that it's covered in fresh, wet crimson blood. Possible large wound to the left side near rib cage, I add again to my ever growing mental injury inventory. I put his arm behind my head so that it is resting along my shoulders and wrap my other arm behind him for support.

"Right sir, on my count, I'm going to need to you stand up and walk. It's really important that you do this, now you can put as much weight on me as you like and I will try and guide you inside. Are you ready? On my count, one.. two…. THREE."

"AHHhh" he wheezes out loudly as we stand up together. Whoa his tall, much taller than I'd expected. He leans down on me as I turned him around and we slowly shuffle through the snow as he starts panting out puffs of warm air. We trundled past the dumpster and round the corner of the apartment and edge over to the door, I push it open forcefully hoping to get it as wide as possible. We scuffle over to the staircase where the warm change in temperate immediately washes over us. He turns around and slouches on the bottom three steps bringing me down with him.

His labored breathes mixed with my exhausted ones echo round the empty quiet lobby, god he was heavy. After about a minute I step out from under his arm and stoop down in front of him.

"How you holding up?" I ask him, he glances up at me, barely able to keep both eyes open.

"I've been better" he replies in a raspy voice. I nod my head as I can now; in the bright lights of the lobby assess him better. Caucasian male, probably mid to late 20's, multiple facial injuries perhaps a few more masked by his blooded face. Pale, ever so slight blueish drawn complexion could mean potential hypothermia along with substantial blood loss, no doubt from his wound on his left side. His clothes although ripped, wet and blooded, look as though they would've have been a very smart navy suite along with his expensive looking loafers I dare to think how a man dressed as such, ended up this way.

"What's your name?" I gently query. He looks up at me again straight into my eyes, as if figuring out whether or not to tell me.

"Edward" he concedes quietly.

"Right Edward, I'm going to need to call you and ambulance and have it take you to the hospital" I state, to which his head quickly shoots up.

"No, no ambulance or hospital" he says firmly.

"What do you mean? Listen if you don't get to a hospital and have them treat your wounds, you could suffer bleeding out or infection and dying" I tell him, hoping to drive home some sense to him

"Listen lady, ….have you seen the roads out there,…. no ambulance is…. going to risk coming out here…..not with all that snow… and black ice,… and if they do…I'll no doubt be dead… by the time they get here" he says with stifled breaths between each few words. He then starts coughing profusely, all the while still clutching at the wound on left his side. By the sound of that cough I can rule out broken ribs as coughing that much would've been entirely too painful. I also glance at his mouth to see if his coughed up any blood, he hasn't which is another good sign, this time that he doesn't have any internal bleeding…yet.

But he has a point; with the weather being as bad as it is who knows how long an ambulance will take to get here. The only alternative is to bring him up three flights of stairs and try and treat his injuries myself but judging by the pace, when we walked into the building he may just go into shock and die before we can reach my front door.

I stand up and begin to pace up and down trying to think of a solution. I then walk to the end of the corridor and around the corner to where the elevators are, hoping in vain that by some miracle they might be fixed. I walk up to them, cross my fingers and press the bronze colored 'UP' button, and squeeze my eyes shut and hope. To my sheer astonishment I hear the soft sounds of the elevator descending followed by a classic ding.

"Well I'll be damned" I say to myself as both sets of doors slide open.

I dash back down the corridor to find Edward is still slumped on the bottom three steps, although now his eyes are closed with his mouth slightly open, his face deadly pale.

I stoop back down in front of him and grab on to his wrist. "Edward, can you hear me?" I say, hoping for an answer or sign of anything. I check for his pulse on his limp cold wrist but feel nothing.

"Shit" his gone into cardiac arrest. I swiftly grab him and heave him down onto his back on the floor gently and begin administering CPR.

With both hands placed in the center of his chest I launch into 30 chest compression throwing my weight into each one, I then pinch his nose, careful not touch his abrasion. I tilt his head backwards slightly and seal his mouth with my own and blow firm and steady into it twice. "Come on Edward, don't you die on me" I tell him. I continue with another 30 chest compression followed by mouth to mouth. Again and again I try, urging the life back into him until eventually after the 7th attempt, I stop.

His gone.

I sit back on my heels, drained with the level of exertion I've just given into those chest compression, I lift my head up and stare at the ceiling, breathing heavily I close my eyes and try to steady my breath.

Then, all at once I hear the spluttering, gurgled breaths of the man laid down before me, I quickly snap my head back down to see Edward moving his head and gasping for air as he slowly opens his eyes and looks straight at me.

"Ow!" he says simply, and to my surprise I burst into a fit of laughter this guy right here is something else. He closes his eyes again for a moment then opens them and smiles up at me as I try to compose myself.

"Welcome back" I say once I've calmed.

"Did you miss me?" he ask a little winded

"Yea, like a hole in the head."

"The best hole" he whispers

"More like the biggest" I laugh. I slip my hand in his and give it a gentle squeeze, although I have no idea who this stranger is, or how he ended being sloped behind the dumpsters outside, I am relieved that he is alive.

"Right, I need to move you upstairs so I can take a look at the damage" I declare to him. He grumbles a little but knows being spread out in the lobby like this is no way to stay.

Carefully I help him up into a seating position.

"Ahhh!" he yells loudly.

"Yea, I've probably fractured a couple of your ribs when I gave you CPR, sorry" I say as I place his right arm over my shoulder again.

"Oh you're so…lucky I don't hit women" he says breathlessly

"Yea and you're so lucky I save lives for a living, now come on you big baby the elevators are just round there" I say indicating with my head where they are.

With one almighty haul we manage to get to our feet I nestle myself close to his tall frame with my arm behind his back again for support and my other holding onto his arm around my shoulders. We cautiously stagger over to the elevators and I press the button again, the doors slide open and we step in. I pressed the '3' button silently begging this elevator not to breakdown during mid lift, the doors close and we start to ascend with a slight chug. I glance over at Edward to see that his eyes are closed again but at least I can see his chest rising and falling with each breath.

"So do you live in Chicago?" I ask trying to get him to talk to me so he doesn't slip into unconsciousness again.

"Yea I do?" he says slowly "You're not from round…here are you?" he asks

"No, what gave it away?" I ask in mock surprise. Just then the elevator stops and the doors slide open with a ding. We step out and I see my front door a little further ahead with none other than Barney perched outside ready to be let in, clever boy I muse.

"Your accent, smart ass" he says with a smile. I put my hand in my pocket and remove the keys and we steadily make our way closer to the door. Barney looks up at us as if to say where the hell have you been?

"Is that your cat" he asks

"No, don't worry, I don't usually make it a habit of picking up strays, it's my roommates" I joke as I put the key into the door and turn it.

"Good to know… is your roommate here?"

"No she's away for the weekend" I reply, suddenly I realise maybe I shouldn't have disclosed that bit of information, after all this guy is a complete stranger. Well his too damaged to cause any danger to me, hopefully I can patch him and send him on his way before he starts getting any bright ideas.

I switch on the light as we enter the apartment; Barney scurries in around our feet and dashes straight to the kitchen, probably to get some food from his bowl. We gradually make our way to the three seat sofa in the living room and I carefully guide him down onto it.

"Ahh" he sighs as I lift his feet slowly onto the sofa so his laid flat on it. I crouch down beside him

"I'll be right back OK? I'm just going to get some things, try and stay awake for me alright" I plead.

He nods his head and I race off into my bedroom and take off my coat and boats, I unplug my lap from the bedside table and grab my big black leather medical bag along with my surgery instrument kit equipped with all the essentials needed to perform a minor surgery, a gift from Dr Harrison in Washington.

I remember him telling me when he gave it to me that "A surgeon is nothing without their tools, Isabella" he had stated. I smile thinking that I'd probably never have to use tools like these outside the hospital, turns out I was wrong. I quickly snatch my stethoscope from off the dresser and head back out into the living room balancing everything in my arms.

I place my things on the other sofa and put my stethoscope around my neck, I turn towards Edward to see him looking at me. I head back down the corridor and grab a few spare blankets and pillows which I throw onto the sofa as I make my way back through.

I aim towards the kitchen and grab a medium sized plastic bowl from underneath the kitchen sink I grab the kettle and fill it up and turn it on. While the water begins to boil I search through the bottom cupboards for the box of white sterile gloves and kitchen paper, I take them out and head over to the sofa where I dump them with the rest of my things.

"How you doing Edward?" I call over to him.

"I'm fine, although…I could do with a drink" he answers in a raspy voice

"Sorry Edward no can do, you'll have to remain nil by mouth till I can treat your wounds" I say sadly, last thing I need is him throwing up on me.

"So much for…hospitality" he coughs "Ahh" he gasps; yea I've definitely fractured some ribs.

The kettle has boiled and I head back over to the kitchen but before filling it up, I wash my hands in the sink and dry them then fill up the plastic bowl to about half way with water, and carry it over to Edward and place it on the coffee table.

I grab the pillows and gently prop them underneath his head. I begin by slowly taking off his jacket and blood soaked shirt and with his left side facing towards me, I'm able to see for the first time the huge laceration he has sustained that he's been clutching with his hand since I found him. It's approximately 13 Cm long and 1 and a half cm wide, as for how deep well I dread to think. I reach over for the lamp and plug it in hoping to get a better look at it. I switch it on and yep that's one nasty looking gash.

I reach over for the box of white gloves and pull out a pair and quickly put them on. I look at Edward whose been staring at me this whole time, I look straight into his eyes and he gives me a crooked smile, his actually not that bad looking minus the blood and cuts. I close my eyes and take a deep breath and he reaches across and holds my hand. But just then in that very moment as I open my eyes and look down at this man, I realize something that has only now just occurred to me. Throughout all the drama and stress of the pass hour or so,

I have not once heard a single voice from his mind.

A/N

So there we have it guys second chapter complete, what a roller coaster, yes/no? Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you liked it please leave a review if you didn't please leave a review :-).