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Prologue

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Bella moaned and opened her eyes, shooting up in the bed she where she found herself laying. She felt regret roll through her for both opening her eyes in the too-bright room and the sudden movement. She moved a hand to the back of her throbbing head and hissed in pain, confusion clouding her thoughts. She felt warm to the touch and her eyes looked brown- judging by the mirror across from her. Her wrist was scar free, she was hungry, and she'd been asleep. Last time she checked, vampires didn't sleep.

The sound of her moans alerted one of the nurses who drew back the curtain with a smile on her lips. "Hello, Ms. Swan. How do you feel?"

"Like an elephant has been doing ballet on my skull." Bella huffed without thinking. Getting called 'Ms. Swan' hadn't yet registered in her mind due to the new headache from the nurse's trill of a laugh.

"Well, that tends to happen after such a nasty fall on the ice. You're lucky you didn't break your skull open." She muttered the last and fussed over checking her vitals.

"Fall on the ice?" She blinked in confusion.

The nurse shot her a look and frowned. "Do you not remember?"

Beside them, Tyler Crowley heard that and whimpered. "Oh wow… your dad is gonna kill me! Bella, I'm so sorry!"

"That will be enough, Mr. Crowley, there's no damage done. Much, at least. It's nothing some medicine and time won't fix." The nurse told him.

Bella frowned and tried to remember. "What happened Tyler?"

"My truck went out of control in the parking lot at school and you hit your head on the ice when you dove out of the way. I thought I'd killed you!" He told her before his voice cracked.

Bella gasped. "Oh wow… I don't remember anything."

"I think I damaged your truck too. I'll pay for any repairs you need to have done though!" He promised.

Bella shook her head and then moaned quietly again when she moved too fast. "I don't think you hurt it. That thing is a tank and it's one of the reasons my dad got it for me." She said with a small smile.

A throat clearing drew their conversation to a lull. Carlisle Cullen walked over to the two teens. "Hello. I'm Dr. Cullen. How do you both feel? I heard you had quite the adventure today."

Bella only stared, her- now apparent- dream rushing back to her. It appeared to be just a hallucination of her mind after hitting her head, but she smiled none the less when he walked over to her. "Hello."

"How's your head doing, Ms. Swan?" He asked flashing his light pen into her eyes.

She jumped when his hands contacted her skin. "It's better."

"Sorry, occupational hazard of working in a hospital, I'm afraid." Carlisle smiled.

Bella nodded, accepting his explanation. "You sure it's not from something else?"

He froze for a second. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Some other reason for you to be so cold?" She prodded.

"I'm afraid I still don't follow your line of questioning Ms. Swan." He frowned.

Without warning, she had a hold of his wrist where his pulse point should have been. She gasped and looked at him with shocked wonder. "I knew it wasn't just a dream." She whispered.

"Ms. Swan… how did you know?" He asked, eyeing her with caution.

Bella smiled. "For now, it's enough to know that I know what you are, and I promise you I won't tell a soul. I'd like to be a friend to your family... if it's alright."

Carlisle frowned in thought. "Ms. Swan, that's a dangerous thing to ask of us. We're… different as I'm sure you've figured out by now."

"At least tell your family that I've offered my friendship?" She asked him.

He smiled at her. "I'll pass along the message. However, it's up to them if they wish to pursue any kind of friendship or not."

Bella nodded. "I understand. Somehow I think it might be easier to get along than you would think."

Anything Carlisle might have said was cut off by Charlie Swan rushing into her room. "Bella! Oh God, you're awake! You had me so worried when they called me to say you were here!"

"I'm fine dad. I just hit my head on the ice." She promised him. She tried to hide the tears of shock at seeing him again- at the second chance to have him in her life.

Tyler whimpered beside her. "I'm sorry Chief Swan! I forgot to put my snow chains on last night! My tires skidded on some ice in the parking lot! I lost control!"

"You hush. We'll talk later, son." He said shutting the curtain to his bed.

"Dad! Don't be so mean. I'm fine. Nothing happened." She told him in a huff.

Charlie rolled his eyes, turned and shook hands with Carlisle. "How is she Carlisle?"

Carlisle offered him a bemused smile. "She appears to be fine with only some minor swelling at the back of her head and no apparent concussion. I would, however, recommend that she stays awake until bed time. We don't want to take any chances. Ice for her head along with Motrin will take care of the swelling. She should be fine to drive in the morning." He told him.

Charlie sighed in relief. "I've got Jake looking at your truck, Bells. There were only a few dents in it, but I want to be on the safe side. He's at the house now with Billy…"

Bella nodded and hid her shock rather well. The last time she'd seen Jacob, he'd imprinted on her daughter. "Can we go?" She asked sounding too eager.

"Oh, of course. Let me sign your discharge papers and you'll be free to leave." Carlisle said with a gentle smile on his lips.

Bella nodded her eager agreement, then moaned in pain. "Not smart." She muttered.

Charlie sighed and shook his head, his lips twitching in amusement. "Well, when you do it, you do it, don't you Bells?" He teased.

She pretended to glare at her dad, but the glare gave way to a sheepish grin. She was too amazed that she had a second chance with him. This time- after having that awful dream of how she'd treated him- she swore she'd treat him better. This time, she'd not be so aloof. With that vow made, she stood and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She hid her grin in his chest when she felt him tense.

"I love you daddy." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear it. "I'm sorry I stopped coming to see you."

"Hey… it's alright. I'll just chalk it up to you being a moody teenager, shall I?" He teased, nervousness written clear over his face.

Carlisle cleared his throat, having heard everything while pretending otherwise. He held her discharge papers out to them and watched them walk away before shaking his head. Somehow, Bella Swan knew what he was and he was sure that meant his entire coven- his family- was about to become the center of a hailstorm of trouble. He wasn't sure if he welcomed the fact or if he should be wary of it. Either way… things were about to change- for better or worse, he wasn't so sure of yet.