Age is Just a Number

My thoughts that night were slightly somber. Something was changing, and, good or bad, I was along for the ride now. I grieved for the peace that I had possessed until this point. Humans were chaotic creatures. So we often didn't recognize true peace and calm until it had ended because of how many trivial problems our minds concocted. The chaos my mind created over the past few days had to do with my dislike of flying, attention, and the annoyance of possessing opposing views to my peers. I was ashamed to say that I had fallen into the trap of annoyed complacency that plagued so many entitled people.

There was something happening to me now, though, something that brought with it a promise of upheaval. I saw it in the look in Edward's eyes, and I saw it within myself, too. Indefinable qualities, the very ones that I had said earlier that humans needed to live, were pressing on me and urging me to do something. I had no idea what it was, and was left with no other choice than just behave like I normally would. If I paid enough attention to my own intuition, hopefully these changes on the horizon would not spell disaster.

With dinner on the table, and thoughts swirling through my head, I retreated to the comfort of my bedroom. I had a small amount of homework to do. Of course, it was math. I never had a fondness of the subject. It tried to confine everything to over-simplified to baser rules than most things actually adhered . Regardless, it was something that society felt necessary knowledge, and I would power through.

Twenty minutes and one headache later, I had finished. It was time for a break. Though it was still lightly drizzling out, a trip outside sounded appealing at the moment. I needed some time for introspection and to clear my head. That wasn't possible really plausible with the sound of a sports game drifting up the stairs. If I was in my house in Phoenix, I would climb out onto the overhang just outside my bedroom window that led to the lower roof. As it was, this two story house didn't have a roof for me to climb out to. I looked out my window wistfully and saw a few tree branches that were close to the house. In fact, one of the larger ones brushed my window.

With a pleased smile, I eased it open and tested the sturdiness of the branch. It bowed a tiny bit, but not enough to worry me that it wouldn't hold my weight. People often saw me as clumsy, which was not completely inaccurate. When I was in buildings, surrounded by inanimate objects, it felt like I was missing a sense and often didn't see objects in my path. I know that I relied too much on my connection to the earth, but it wasn't something that I was willing to change about myself. More so, my yearn to be close to nature tended to get me hospitalized. I would take chances that most people would not. This was one of those times. The moisture on the window sill caused my foot to slip forward, and my head made contact with the branch before I had time to react, and blackness overtook me.

I knew I was in the hospital before I had opened my eyes. It was loud, like it always was, and I could hear low voices not to far from me. My brain still too groggy to actually listen to the conversation, but I voiced my displeasure to the disturbance by groaning and bringing a hand up to my eyes to block out the low light that was in the room. Many people think that hospitals are supposed to make you comfortable, but that's untrue. Those room are designed to make you as comfortable as possible while still being able to see and monitor your whole body. The effect was that there was always a source of light, and there always seemed to be something chirping or beeping. On top of that, nurses and visitors were constantly shuffling around and speaking in low voices. In short, 'as comfortable as possible' was not very comfortable at all.

With my disgruntled noises of discontent, the occupants of the room must have realized that I was awake, and their conversation cut off as footsteps approached. "You know, it's rude to talk with someone sleeping in the room," I told them with my eyes still stubbornly shut.

I heard a chuckle somewhere to my right. "I apologize, Miss Swan. I thought if you slept through being moved to the hospital, some talking wouldn't bother your rest. Clearly I was gravely mistaken," the voice teased.

"Apology accepted. Now shoo," I said with a lazy wave of my hand to what I assume was the door. I let my hand fall back over to cover my eyes.

"I just want to check your reflexes, and then you can go home and sleep in your own bed," he said, with the amusement still heavy in his voice.

I groaned again before admitting defeat and cracking my eyes. "If that's what it takes to get some peace and quiet, you have yourself a deal." My eyes had adjusted harshly to the light, but I was finally able to see who was talking to me. It was a pleasant looking man with a small smile on his face and those all to distinctive honey colored eyes. "Man, is this town swarming with Cullens or something?" I asked without thinking.

His eyebrows raised at that. "Yes, two of my children did mention that they had met you." His smile turned into more of a smirk. "You do know how to make entrances don't you?"

I groaned again. I had now met three of the seven resident vampires. One of them had found me with a broken vehicle on the side of the road. I then proceeded to rant about the end of the world, I think. With the second, I had made some weird scene with in the cafeteria, and then had some weird deep conversation about the nature of souls. Then, I had to suggest he leave me alone so he wouldn't try and drink my blood. Now, the third had seen me wheeled into the ER and been dismissed before I even bothered to open my eyes. It was official, I was an idiot, and this man, who I assumed was a doctor- a vampire doctor- was teasing me about it!

"You could work on your bedside manner," I told him dryly. His smile widened, and I pretended I did not want to return the gesture. "So, what's the damage?" I asked as he got his penlight out and started checking my pupillary reflexes.

"Luckily, just a concussion," he told me. "You're fortunate you didn't get more hurt than you did. Since you got knocked out before you hit the ground, your body must've been relaxed enough to not sustain any further injuries."

"Yep. Lucky me. I only managed to knock myself out on my second day here," I said sarcastically. "Where's Ch- Dad?" I asked.

"He just stepped out for some coffee while I checked you over. Would you like me to get him back?"

"No, not necessary. I'm sure he's spent long enough in this room while I was sleeping." At this point, Dr. Cullen was checking my strength and coordination. I, having been in this situation enough times, didn't need the verbal prompts to know when he wanted me to push, pull, or touch my nose.

"Everything looks good. Would you mind if I checked for tenderness?" he asked me.

"Go right ahead, Doctor."

"You can call me Carlisle," he told me. "My children seem to be fond enough of you that I'm sure I'll see you outside of these hospital doors often enough."

"Alright, but you have to call me Bella. I don't know about this 'Miss Swan' shi- stuff."

Carlisle chuckled again. Apparently, I was a comedian tonight! "Of course, Bella. Now that we're better acquainted, would you mind telling me how you fell out your bedroom window?" His eyes sparkled with humor, but he didn't actually laugh at me this time. My cheeks became hot with embarrassment, and I looked away from his gaze.

"Well, I just wanted to get in that tree, and apparently water and climbing don't mix. Who knew?" I shrugged like it was no big deal, but I felt pretty silly about the whole thing now.

I didn't have to look at him to know that he felt the hilarity of this situation. "You know," he said, matter-of-hand. "Some of my patients try to lie about why they are here, but I don't think you could lie if your life depended on it, could you?"

"Maybe if my life depended on it," I hedged. "But probably nothing short of that," I admitted with a sigh.

"No need to feel bad," Carlisle said seriously. "Honesty is a rare and underappreciated trait anymore. Genuineness is to be treasured, because so few people are able to genuinely be themselves. People only lie because they want you to perceive them as something other than they are. If you have trouble lying, it just means that you don't want to be anyone other than who you are."

I met his eyes, and could feel the sincerity encased in his words. How peculiar he was to see to the heart of the matter so easily. That was the second time today that I was surprised by the depth of wisdom in these creatures that were supposed to be nothing more than killers. "Thank you," I said softly. "Perhaps we always do wish for the worst things for ourselves. I would wish for the ability to lie, or to stop being so clumsy, but without those things, I wouldn't have understood the things I do, and I wouldn't have met the people that I have... Wise words from a very young doctor."

"Yes, well, age is quite subjective, don't you think? I have met many 50 year-olds who could throw tantrums like toddlers, and still some children who can take care of their parents when something unpleasant is happening. To judge on age would be as large a mistake as to profile on looks. Some hint of the truth could be gained from both, but there are far more lies associated with stereotypes than truths because we are all individuals." Carlisle scribbled something in my chart quickly and then closed it up. He did not seem upset by my words, just curious about my thoughts on the issue.

"So you believe conversation is the way to understand a person?" I guessed.

"Hmmm, yes and no. Conversation is an excellent way to get to know a person, but, as I said, people do have a penchant to lie. Therefore, the process is flawed. I believe the only true way to know a person is by the passage of time. Thus is why age is subjective. We can only know people as they grow through time, otherwise we know them not. No one is their complete self at one single moment in time, and to boil them down to how many revolutions they have taken around the sun is a lie that will never be proven true."

"Ah, but surely you can see that one would affect the other. Age, race, looks, gender they all show a snippet of the story behind a person. They may not be saying with words who they are, but they are communicating in a very real way all the same. All of these things together can say much more than a conversation ever could if you know how to look.

You, for example, are dressed impeccably with very expensive shoes. Your scrubs are ironed and your hair is well taken care of. This shows that you care about your image, and it is important to you to maintain. There are no bags under your eyes, meaning you either take very good care of your health or you ignore your five children. I would have to guess the former because they, too, have a finely polished look, but also because you smile and laugh too easily to be cruel or neglectful. You're a young doctor, which means that you are smart, and you're working late at the ER with a good attitude. This tells me you are very intelligent, but you work because you care about people and not because you feel you have to." I squinted at him. "All in all, I'd say you pass."

He raised his eyebrows a mite. "That's quite the list of observations, Bella. I have to wonder if you attention to detail is a learned trait or something intrinsic within you. But only time will give me answers to these questions about your person." He smirked again, like he believed he won this argument, and I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up inside me.

"Touche, doc," I chuckled out.

Carlisle finished with his exams and gave both me and Charlie instructions for home care. I was grateful that there was no need for me to actually be admitted to the hospital. As much as I dreaded school, I dreaded being stuck here more.

"Glad you're okay Bells," Charlie said as we exited the hospital. "You gave me quite the scare. Heard you hit the ground there." Charlie shook his head. "Only you, kid."

"Sorry dad. Sometimes I act before I think," I told him.

"Don't I know it. You're gonna have quite the bruise for school tomorrow."

I just let out a gust of air. This fitting in thing was not going quite as I had hoped. Tomorrow was another day. Perhaps it would bring me some luck.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I know it's short, but it seemed a very organic place to stop. I appreciate all the follows favorites and reviews. Keep them coming. I have a plan for this story, but if there is something that any of you want to see, just let me know! Till next time...