Hers part 2. I tried to get it finished as soon as I could, but hopefully there aren't any/too many typos!

EPOV

She was here.

On reflex I turned the car sharply into the car park and swung into a spot at the far end, furthest away from the building. Cutting the engine, I quickly swivelled in my seat just in time to see Bella and the woman she had been walking with enter the building by a door to the left of the main entrance.

Turning back around to sit properly, I held the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. What was I going to do? Even as I had been driving out here I hadn't expected to see her. I don't really know why.

It was like she was some sort of magical creature that didn't really exist. I had been staring at her photo so much you would think I'd be entirely certain that she wasn't a figment of my imagination. Sure, there was lots of stuff written about unicorns, even historically, that could convince some people they were real. But at the end of the day they were still mythical. Like vampires and werewolves and witches.

And yet, here she was again. She was real, and she was close. It was like I could feel her. Like there was a string that connected me to her. Maybe that was what had pulled my attention as I was driving. As I got closer to her the pull was stronger, and she was like a magnet drawing me towards her. I wondered if she could feel it too.

What was I doing here? This was exactly the kind of behaviour Alice would deem as creepy and she would probably tell me to turn the car back on and drive home. She would again tell me to write Bella a message explaining everything, leaving the ball in her court.

I pulled my phone out of its harness on the dashboard and brought up Bella's Facebook profile again. I stared at her profile picture with my finger hovering over the message icon. For the last three days I'd been trying to word what I would send her in my head, but nothing had felt right. I knew what I needed to say, I just couldn't figure out the best way to phrase it. Was it possible to be tongue tied via text?

How do you even start off a message like that? Do you start with 'Hey, you don't know me, but I once saw you in the hospital and then my sister internet stalked you to track you down'? Or would it be better to start with the 'You wouldn't happen to be adopted?' line of questioning? From there it wouldn't take much to get into the 'separated-at-birth twins' or the 'possibility of imminent, medical doom' conversations. My head was like a jumbled game of Pick Up Sticks, each thought laying over and under the next one.

My finger still hung in the air above my phone, just as stalled as my brain. My eyes drifted to my rear-view mirror, where I could see the entrance to the library and the door Bella and her friend had gone through to the left.

Before I could think too much about what I was doing, I got out of the car and strode towards the building. Trying not to panic, I kept telling myself that this wasn't the wrong thing to do, that I wasn't going to approach her and just see if I could observe her from a distance.

Yeah, totally not a stalker at all.

Pushing through the same door Bella had used, I found myself in a wide hallway full of doors. There were probably ten doors along the hall, but I could see a sign indicating that there were more around the corner. As I walked past the first couple I noticed they were numbered, and the signs on them told me they were meeting rooms. Through open doorways or the glass panel set in each door I could see some rooms filled with chairs, some had different sized tables that could accommodate different groups and purposes. A few of the rooms had people working in them, and a couple I walked past had the chairs set up in a circle in the centre of the room.

As I passed each room in the hall I had as inconspicuous look inside as possible, making sure to not stop and draw attention to myself. At the end of the hall, just after it turned a corner, I saw another open door. Like a few other rooms, this one had the chairs set up in the circle though no one was seated yet. There were a handful of people milling around inside talking, and just like outside my eyes were instantly drawn to Bella.

Concealing myself as much as I could by the corner wall, I watched as she stood with a woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties and an older gentleman, smiling kindly as she listened to the woman talking. She was wearing a denim skirt today, a long sleeve shirt with brown and black stripes tucked in. Her hair was flowing down her back, with just the stop section caught in a clip at the back. She looked beautiful, and my breath caught a little when her smile widened at whatever the older gentleman had said.

I was so engrossed with watching Bella I didn't notice that someone had come up behind me until they cleared their throat to get my attention. Straightening quickly and spinning around, I came face to face with a woman who looked familiar, though I knew I had never met her. It took me a second to place her as one of the friends I'd seen in the photos on Bella's Facebook profile.

"Are you thinking of going in?" she asked me, her voice calm.

"Uh… I wasn't… I hadn't…" I stammered.

The woman smiled softly at me. "Group counselling can seem intimidating at first, but everyone in there knows what it's like to lose someone and having an understanding support group can be amazingly helpful on your journey to healing."

This was not what I was expecting. Not that I was expecting anything, as I'd very much acted before thinking any of this through. Looking back into the room I glanced again at Bella. Everyone in there knows what it's like to lose someone. Does that mean Bella had already lost someone close to her? And now here I was, coming to add more heartache onto her life.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," I said, trying to think of a quick excuse and make my getaway.

I could see the woman try to hide her concern behind a mask of objectivity. "Well, you're always welcome to join us if you ever need to talk," she said before moving past me and heading into the room. I could hear her greeting everyone and asking them to please find a seat as I turned and began walking back down the hall towards the entry.

I hadn't taken more than five steps before the string that led me to her tugged again, forcing me to stop in my tracks. I felt like if I left now I would break down, full hyperventilation and shaking. Like her mere presence was a drug and I had become an addict before I even realised it was happening. I knew that if I went back to the room at the end of the hall I'd be able to get my fix. I'd be able to breathe, and move, and function.

Hanging my head in resignation, I took a deep breath to try and center myself. My hands were shaking, so I gripped them into fists to quell the anxiety that ran through me. This was it. This was the precipice that would decide how everything would play out from here. I could force myself to leave and write her a message like I knew I should have done in the first place, or I could turn back now and relieve the wrenching pain I felt now in the pit of my stomach.

It felt like I'd been standing in the hall like that for an hour before I turned around again, though it probably wasn't more than five minutes. My steps back to the room were measured and slow, giving myself ample opportunity to change my mind and flee. But I was standing at the closed door before that could even happen.

Through the small window in the door I could see the woman from the hallway was speaking to the group as they sat in a circle facing each other. Bella sat next to her and I could see nodding at something, which a few others in the group echoed. Sitting in the circle were two other women and two men. The older gentleman Bella had been talking to earlier sat next to her, while the woman sat on his other side. Next to her was a young woman with strawberry blonde hair who looked to be in her early twenties. I couldn't see the other man, as he sat with his back to the door, but the slight bald spot on the back of his head was an indicator that he was probably pushing fifty or more.

As my eyes finished traveling around the room and settled back on Bella, I noticed she was sitting more rigidly than earlier. She was also staring directly at me, her mouth slightly ajar as if in shock. Her posture and expression drew the attention of her friend running the group, who turned to see me at the door and smiled. This drew more attention from the others. Holding her hand in pause to the group, she got up and came over to open the door.

"You decided to come in after all?" She said kindly, ushering me into the room. She quickly pulled a chair off a stack in the corner and placed it between the strawberry blonde woman and the dude with the bald spot, who I now saw was slightly younger than I'd assumed. She indicated that I should take a seat, and moved back to sit beside Bella.

"We were talking about ways we can or have honored those we've lost, but before we continue on I think we should welcome our newcomer and introduce ourselves. Welcome,..." she paused, leaving room for me to add my name.

Quickly clearing my throat, I quietly said "Edward." I briefly saw her smile before I quickly looked away. I could feel Bella's eyes boring into me, but I was doing everything I could to look back at her.

"Welcome, Edward. Everyone is here to share, help and heal, so I hope we can be a support to you on your journey. As we introduce ourselves, maybe we could all share a little about what brought us here," she said as she looked around the room. "My name is Angela, and I am running this group as part of my PhD dissertation."

She had barely finished her sentence before the young strawberry blonde jumped in. "I'm Tanya," she said flirtatiously. "I lost my two best friends in a shooting in highschool. It hurt me a lot and I just need a shoulder to cry on."

The way Tanya was looking at me made me very uncomfortable, especially because it sounded like she was coming onto me while describing such an horrific experience. I gave her a tight smile and mumbled an "I'm so sorry" before I crossed my arm over my chest to try and indicate my discomfort.

The older woman sitting on the other side of Tanya tutted, drawing my attention, though she turned to me with a warm smile. "I'm Judith, but you can call me Judy if you like. Five years ago my son, Kyle, died of a drug overdose. My daughter is a student here and thought it would be good for me to talk about him." This time my apology was sincere. Judy reminded me a little of my mother, warm and friendly and exuding love for her children.

"I'm Frank," said the older man. "I lost my Brenda to breast cancer twelve years ago. We were married forty six years. It's been hard being by myself, so it's nice to come to this group and talk about her freely. I hadn't opened up about her in a long time." Judy reached over and gave Frank's hand a squeeze, while Bella rubbed his arm in comfort.

Before I could stop myself I was looking at her. Just like when our eyes met at the hospital, I could feel my heart beating faster and my body began to tingle like an electric current was running through me. My tongue suddenly felt too large for my mouth and I tried swallowing around the sensation.

Bella seemed to take a deep breath before sharing her story. "My name is Bella," she said in a bell-like tone, though there was a slight wobble in her voice.

Hearing her speak again, I couldn't help but be struck by how much she sounded like Maria. After she had first died, I had played the few saved voicemails I had from her over and over again. I'd watched our wedding video and had gone through everything in my phone's gallery until I could recite what she had said, word for word. Hearing Bella talk was both like slipping into a warm bed when you were exhausted but also like having a bucket of ice water dumped on top of your head.

"Two and a half years ago I lost my son from a complication during pregnancy," she continued. "And just over a year ago I also lost my finance, Jake, in a car accident." Her eyes looked hollow, and she turned her gaze away to hide the tears that were pooling at the corner of her eyes.

I couldn't believe what she had said. My heart ached for her. I knew, on some level, that we would unfortunately have grief in common after what Angela had said in the hall, but I could never have imagined this sort of pain. I had thought losing Maria was hard, but to lose two people in such horrible ways so close together must have been hell.

I only vaguely heard the other man, who introduced himself as Mitch, talking about his brother who had died in Afghanistan, even though I was looking directly at him. My mind was reeling over Bella's revelation, so I would have to make sure I paid more attention to what Mitch says next time.

Next time? Alice was going to castrate me for coming here tonight in the first place. She would probably cut my head off if I even thought about coming back.

It was then that I noticed everyone had turned their attention to me once more. "Oh, um, sorry," I murmured. I didn't know how much I was supposed to tell everyone, so I just forced myself to start talking. "My name is Edward. Fourteen months ago, my wife Maria died from a brain aneurysm in her sleep." I heard a gasp from someone, though my eyes were firmly trained on my lap so I wouldn't have to see the looks of pity on their faces. "Even though I was sleeping right beside her when it happened, they said I wouldn't have been able to do anything to save her. I recently moved back to Seattle to be with my family because they were concerned I wasn't doing well being by myself."

"Where were you living before you moved back," Angela asked.

"Chicago. We lived there for seven years before she died."

"It must have been tough being so far away from your family at such a difficult time. I'm sure they are happy to be close and be able to support you," she said with a kind smile.

"Yes," I responded quietly, the lump in my throat once again making it difficult to talk. My eyes slid to Bella and the look she was now giving me wrenched at my heart. It wasn't pity. There was sadness in it, sure, but what I felt from her more than anything else was understanding. Empathy. She knew what the pain I felt was like and was offering me compassion.

But just as quickly as our eyes met, our gaze was broken. Bella ducked her head as I could see a faint blush color her cheeks. For the rest of the session Bella and I seemed to steal glances at each other in some sort of covert dance. Whenever I wasn't looking at her or in her direction I could feel her eyes on my face, but when I looked back at her she turned away, her cheeks blushing. I don't think I heard a thing that was talked about, and when Angela addressed a question towards me my answers were short and vague as I wasn't sure what she'd been saying.

It wasn't until the rest of the group began to move that I realised the session had ended. The others moved to stack their chairs, but Tanya instead turned in her seat to face me, leaning against the back of her chair and crossing her legs in a move she probably thought was very sexy.

"You know, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on I'm here for you," she said with a wink and a coquettish smile. She began to reach her hand out to touch my arm, but before she could I shot up and grabbed my seat to stack it in the corner with the others.

"I could give you my number and we could go get a drink sometime," Tanya tried again, following me with her own chair.

Taking the chair from her and heaving it onto the top of the stack to avoid eye contact. "I don't think so," I said in a blunt tone.

"Oh, come on. It could be fun."

"That's not really what I'm looking for right now." I tried to be as firm as I could without showing my annoyance.

"Hey," said a soft voice from behind me. Tanya scowled as I turned around so quickly the movement could have been invisible to the human eye. Bella stood there looking between Tanya and I, rubbing her hands together as if she were nervous.

"Hi," was all I could say as I looked into her eyes, mesmerised by their depth of color. Her eyes were the richest brown, just like Maria's, but they were also different. Maria had had gold flecks radiating from her pupils like she had trapped the sun in her eyes, but Bella's eyes were a deep, clear brown that only faded in shade slightly towards the edge of her iris. It was odd to see an actually marked difference between them. Bella also had a four inch scar along her hair line and another small one on her chin.

I was so nervous and unsure about what I should do, I just stood and waited to see what Bella would do next. When neither of us broke our gaze or said anything else, Tanya huffed and stomped away. As she moved past us Bella watched her leaving, not turning back to me until Tanya had started talking with Mitch.

"Sorry," Bella said with a slight smile. "I thought you might need rescuing from her. It's like she uses this group as Tinder to pick up emotionally vulnerable guys, or something."

While I knew Tanya had been flirting, I was horrified to have her motives described that way. "Well, that's disgusting on so many levels."

Bella chuckled. "It's more disgusting watching her keep trying." I laughed lightly with her, but it sounded too nervous and the humour quickly died in the awkward silence.

I was really fucking this up. There was no coming back from tonight, or explaining my actions. Though, Alice was sure to kill so at least I shouldn't worry about coming clean to Bella after all.

"So," Bella said, breaking the weird energy that seemed to have settled over us. "This might sound weird, but have we ever met before because you look very familiar?"

That definitely shocked me. The sheer fact that I was standing in front of her, talking to her shocked me in and of itself. I'd hoped she had felt something during our brief encounter at the hospital, assuming that her deep blush was evidence of that. But to hear that she had remembered me from just the fifteen seconds it took me to pass her sent my heart into overdrive.

"Um," I struggled to find the right words. "No, I can't say we've ever met before. But you do look awfully familiar."

This was wrong! I was going about this all wrong! Was I trying to turn this into a joke? How was I ever going to work my way out of the massive hole I'd dug myself into tonight?

"I feel like I saw you at Harborview Hospital once. Not that I'm a stalker!" She threw her hands up in defence, laughing nervously at herself. "It's just that I remember you for some reason, and I was very surprised to see you show here as well. Not that I'm calling you a stalker either," she said, chuckling tensely again.

My eyes shot to hers, suddenly terrified. She had no idea that what she had said struck a nerve. Unknowingly, she had hit the nail on the head and all I could feel was shame. Shame in myself. Shame in my behaviour. Shame in the tangled web I was weaving. Shame in the fact that I would cause this sweet woman, who had already suffered so much, more pain and confusion. The shame ran so deep it was turning to self-hatred.

I didn't respond. I couldn't. If I tried to say something to her, I had no idea which words would come out of my mouth. The most my body was capable of was a nervous grunt before I fled.

If love to know what you think after this chapter! I'd also love to hear if you guys have any good fic recommendations. I've been loving the new story by LyricalKris, but it's a WIP and I'm dying while waiting for the updates! If you've never read her work, I'd highly recommend :D