A/N:

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its characters belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer, not me. That would be great, though.

So here's the first chapter of my story. This is my first attempt at fan fiction, so don't be too harsh =]. Reviews and advice are welcome.

- Kathryn

BPOV

I rushed down the immaculate white hall of the quiet hospital, the only sound being my black Louboutins clicking against the linoleum. I couldn't think, couldn't process a single thing that I had been told in the last thirty minutes. All I knew was that Edward was in an accident, and in ICU. I dropped my cell before I could hear the rest of the familiar doctor's words. Nothing else mattered. My Edward was hurt, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I finally reached the end of the hall, where his room was supposed to be. I came to a screeching halt, making sure not to fall flat on my face. I turned to look through the window to see into the room, and my heart skipped a beat. I was met with an unconscious, bandaged and battered Edward. Momentarily restarting my heart, I pushed my way through the door and collapsed next to the bed.

I couldn't believe this was happening. Everything was supposed to be perfect. He was supposed to propose so we could live happily ever after. What if he wasn't going to make it? I couldn't even think like that, because I knew that without Edward, life didn't exist. We had been in love since the second our eyes met eight years ago in biology class. Why we hadn't married yet was my fault. He had been begging me since we were eighteen, but I just didn't want to be that girl. I wanted to wait to be older. But now I might never get the chance.

Just as I started to think morbid thoughts, I was interrupted by a nurse coming into the room. I looked up, and she was looking at me with a kind expression on her face.

"Where's Carlisle?" I sobbed, wanting to be reassured by my second father.

"He'll be here shortly sweetie, just finishing up with another patient. Why don't you sit in that chair?" she pointed to the wooden chair next to the bed, "it might be more comfortable than the floor."

I mustered up all of my pathetic strength to pull myself to the chair before flopping over again. Without Edward, I didn't have the energy to try. I stared at his scraped up face and grabbed his hand for reassurance. He was still warm.

"Is he...going to be okay?" I held my breath for the nurse's answer.

"According to all his vitals, he should be able to pull through with flying colors. He had some slight brain damage, hopefully nothing that will have lasting effects, and shattered the bone in his left leg. Besides that, just some bumps and scrapes." She gave me a weak smile, and I felt like throwing up. Brain damage?! She continued, "he's probably going to need extensive physical therapy to get that leg back to normal–."

She was cut off by Carlisle coming into the room.

"Bella! Thank god you're here. How are you?" He looked almost as heart broken as I was feeling.

"I'm...okay, Carlisle. Thanks. What happed?" I couldn't articulate much more than that.

"He was driving to the restaurant to meet you and was hit by a drunk driver from the driver's side of the car." Carlisle's voice wavered a little, giving away his distress, "did Charlotte fill you in on his condition?" I nodded my head, cringing at the thought of the love of my life with brain damage. I couldn't begin to imagine what was going on in his head right now.

"Is he going to be okay? I can't even imagine..." I trailed off, not wanting to voice my fears.

"I think so. But Bella, there is one thing I should tell you."

My head shot up. "What?"

"His brain damage may be a little more severe than we initially thought, but we're going to have to wait until he wakes up to tell."

"How long could that take?"

"My guess is that he'll start coming around tomorrow. In the mean time, you should go home and get some rest."

"I have to stay, Carlisle." There was no way I was leaving my Edward here by himself, awake or asleep. I could barely stand to be away from him on a normal day. This was torture.

Carlisle nodded his head and started walking towards the hall. "I'll be here on the night shift if you need anything Bella. The rest of the family should be here in the morning." He flipped off the lights and left.

Now that I was alone, there was no way I could distract myself from the tearing pain in my chest. I felt so unbelievably helpless, just sitting here watching Edward looking peaceful in his naive sleep. Even with scrapes and bruises forming, he was still as beautiful as ever. His smooth pale skin almost glowed in the dark of the room, and his disheveled bronze hair stuck up in every which way. I lifted my fingers up to his closed eyelid to run them down a little gash. I wanted him to open his eyes so I could see the beautiful emerald sparkle and know that everything was okay. I dragged my hand to his slightly parted full lips and traced them with my fingers. I could feel his hot breath against my skin as I moved my hand down to cup his warm cheek.

Sitting there, I imagined how this night should have gone. He was supposed to meet me at Le Nuit, this new fancy French restaurant in downtown Seattle, and (according to Alice) he was supposed to propose, and then we would race back to our tiny apartment to make love into the morning. But none of that happened.

I had just gotten to Le Nuit and was sitting down at our table, smoothing down my hair and silky black dress, when my cell phone rang. I picked up the phone to hear Carlisle's panicky voice, and all I heard was Edward, accident, and ICU before my phone slipped out of my hand in shock. I recovered quickly and raced to get a cab. The last hour of my life was such a blur, and now I was here, in the hospital, begging the love of my life to wake up.

I moved my hand to his, closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, it was morning and the entire family was walking into the room.

It was silent, and lifting my head, I could see that everyone looked just as worried as I'm sure I did. Alice ran over to give me a big hug, and I couldn't help the tears from freely streaming down my face.

"Oh, Bella. I just know he's going to be okay." She smiled at me, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"How could you possibly know that?" I groaned, shoving my face into my hands.

"Bella, you know not to bet against Alice," Emmet chuckled from the door.

Esme came over and put her hand on my shoulder. "How long have you been sitting here, sweetie?"

"Since last night, I guess," I grumbled, realizing that I probably looked like a complete mess. I smiled as I thought about how much the Cullen family cared for me and loved me. I had become a part of their family over the years, spending more time with them than at home with Charlie. I knew that no matter what happened, nothing would change between us all. I stood up, deciding it was time to make a trip to the bathroom. "I'll be right back," I said as I got up and walked out of the sad room.

In the bathroom, I looked in the mirror to see that my eyes were red and puffy, and I had dark circles forming under them. I pulled my immaculate brown hair into a pony tail and splashed my face with cold water. A couple minutes later, I decided that I looked presentable enough, and made my way back to Edward's room. Hopefully he would be awake soon. I couldn't stand to see him like this anymore. It was unbearable, and I didn't think I would be able to handle it much longer.

EPOV

"When he wakes up I'm going to have to run a few more tests, especially on his brain and central nervous system." I heard Carlisle say.

What? Who are they talking about? Wait a second, where am I? I couldn't smell anything in particular, just clean air. Almost too clean. My mouth felt dry, like I hadn't had water in days. I slowly opened my eyes to see a bright light shining down on my face.

"Argh!" I flew my arms up to my eyes to block the light, but then quickly lowered them when a searing pain shot through my muscles. Ouch. What the fuck?

"He's awake!" I heard Alice squeal from somewhere to my right. I refused to open my eyes again to see where I was.

"Where am I?" I croaked, sounding more bullfrog than human.

"You're in the hospital, Edward. Do you remember what happened?" Carlisle sounded relieved. And no, I didn't remember.

"Not really...what happened?" I was mentally crossing my fingers that I'd be able to move when I finally got out of this hospital.

"You were on your way to meet Bella when you got hit by a drunk driver," Carlisle sighed.

Bella? Who's Bella? I was searching my brain for any Bella's that I knew. "Who's Bella?" I asked. I heard Alice gasp, and then silence. "What? Am I missing something? What really happened, guys? Are you just trying to mess with me?"

More silence.

Okay, that was it. I decided I had to open my eyes. When I did, I was met with six pairs of eyes, all wide open in shock.

"Edward, I really think we should run some tests now," Carlisle said hurriedly. His eyes were darting around, searching for something? He looked sort of...old. Tired, maybe?

"How old are you?" I heard Esme squeak out.

"Sixteen." What sort of question is that?

"Edward, you're twenty five."

"Um, are you okay mom? My birthday was a week ago..."

Just then, as I started to get frustrated, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen walked into the room. When she saw me, her eyes lit up, but she said nothing and just stood there. She had creamy pale skin, like porcelain, shiny long brown hair tied on top of her head, and big, gorgeous milk chocolate eyes. Her lips were full and pink, and her cheeks had a slight red stain to them. She was wearing a knee length black silk dress, clinging to her body in all the right places, and black patent leather high heels. She could have been a super model, except that she was probably too short. Who was this beautiful girl?

"Bella, there you are," I heard Alice say, her voice flooding with relief. So this was Bella. Why couldn't I remember who she was? I obviously knew her, if I was going to meet her at a restaurant. Come on, brain. Think. Bella.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Alice asked, facing the girl named Bella.

"Sure," she said. Her voice was like music. They left the room, and I focused my attention on Carlisle and Esme.

"What are we going to do?" Esme whispered to Carlisle. She looked old, too. Where have I been?

Carlisle responded, "I'm not sure yet. I guess just slowly reintroduce him to his life..." His voice trailed off as he noticed me watching them. "Edward, do you know what year it is?"

"Sure, it's 2001." What's with all the questions?

Silence.

"What?"

"Well, Edward, sweetie. It's 2010," Esme responded.

"You're lying! Stop playing jokes on me." I was really starting to get pissed off.

"Edward, she's not joking. Today is May 13th, 2010. Look." Carlisle held up the newspaper so I could see the date. May 13th, 2010. My stomach sunk to the floor. Why couldn't I remember nine years of my life?

"Have I been in a coma for nine years?!" I asked, panicking.

"No, you got into the accident last night. I think..." Carlisle trailed off, "I think you might have severe Amnesia, Edward. What's the last thing you remember?"

I thought for a second. Actually, I couldn't really remember anything. I felt like I had a black hole in my brain. The last thing I could remember was getting asked to junior prom by Jessica Stanley, and telling her no. The last image in my head is her face, looking disappointed. What a terrible image to have. Jessica was NOT the kind of girl I wanted to associate myself with. What else could I remember? Sitting in my trig class, zoning out as Mr. Mero droned on about god knows what.

"I don't remember anything except school."

"What school?" Esme asked.

"Forks, duh. What other school?"

"Well, you went to Dartmouth for four years, and then Harvard for grad school. Do you remember any of that?" Dartmouth? Harvard? Those are fantastic schools. I went there?

"Not really..."

I saw horror and sadness flash across Esme's face, and I just wanted to punch something. Why couldn't I remember my life? What did I do now? Who was that gorgeous girl Bella?

"Edward, we'll be right back. Try not to move around. Do you need any pain killers or anything?" Carlisle asked.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," I grumbled.

I guess that explains why everyone looks so old. And I'm...twenty five. And I can't remember a single thing about my life.

Just as I was drifting back to sleep, I heard footsteps in my room. Alice and that girl, no woman, Bella were here. I looked at their faces, and they looked...really sad. Especially Bella. She looked like someone had just died. Now that I looked more closely at her, she also looked exhausted, like she had been sitting in the hospital crying all night. How do I know her?

Alice came over to me and grabbed my hand. "Um, Edward. There's something I think you need to know." I didn't say anything. "Do you have any idea who Bella is?" She gestured towards to beautiful woman in the doorway.

I shook my head, feeling frustrated as ever. I looked up at Bella, to see tears streaming down her face. I had and odd urge to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright. She just looked so torn up.

Alice continued, "Bella is your...girlfriend. I guess that's the best word for it, although you two have been in love for eight years. She moved to Forks our senior year of high school. You told me you were going to propose to her last night."

Fuck. If this girl was as important to me as Alice made her sound, why couldn't I remember her? We're probably madly in love with each other, but all she is to me is a stranger.

I heard Bella clear her throat, and looked up. She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead walked over to stand next to me. She really was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Alice got up and left the room, while Bella sat in the chair next to my bed. She was looking me in the eyes, like she knew me better than anyone else. Hell, she probably did.

I had to say something. "I'm sorry." I didn't know what else I could say.

"It's okay, you hit your head. Carlisle told me this could happen, but I didn't realize that you wouldn't even...know me." She frowned, and I could see tears shining around her eyes.

"I...don't know what to say," I whispered, feeling terrible for making this woman so sad.

"I understand...I know you don't know who I am, so this may sound weird, but I love you so much, Edward. You mean the world to me." When she said that, tears started flowing down her face, so I took her hand. It felt like the right thing to do. It also just felt right. My body obviously knew Bella. My hand tingled when she wrapped her little fingers around mine. Why couldn't my brain know her? All of a sudden, I really felt like crying. The weight of this situation was finally pressing down on me, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"So, we met in high school?" I asked, not really knowing what else there was to say.

She nodded. "Yeah. We had biology together. We were lab partners. I fell in love with you the minute you spoke. And you told me you did the same..." She whispered. I could tell that she didn't trust her voice to be loud– it was shaky. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked.

"No, thank you."

"Are you in pain?"

I tried bending my ankle, and grimaced. "A bit. But only when I try to move."

She took her hand from mine and grazed her fingers up and down my arm. She left a trail of warmth and electricity. My body definitely knew Bella. When would my brain catch up?

Let me know what you think! Hopefully I'll have my second chapter up in the next few days. School is kind of crazy, so we'll see. Thanks for reading!