I was pleased to see that most of the doctors had changed rotations. Dr. Snow and Dr. Gerandy seemed to have moved. There was less of a chance I would be remembered, less of a chance that someone would see my face and know that I had not changed a bit in the past five years.

I constantly asked myself what I was doing here. It was wrong, and I knew it. Edward – if he could pull himself together enough to know what was going on, I knew that he would be horribly angry with me.

But really, what was I supposed to do? Esme was so sad all the time now. It would be horrible of me not to try to mend our broken family. Edward was practically gone, an empty shell, a ghost of the joy he had been when Bella was with him. I owed this to him.

Dr. Pryce opened the door to the staff lounge, which hadn’t changed at all since I had left.

“I’ll just be a moment, Mr. Cullen,” he said, taking off his jacket and reaching into the closet for a fresh set of scrubs. “Do you wish for a guided tour, or do you think you remember your way around here?”

“I should be able to guide myself, I think,” I said politely, trying to not see repulsed by the idea of being led around my own hospital. I paused in the act of inhaling, frozen. I recognized one of the scents of a patient. I knew her smell better than I knew my own.

“Dr. Pryce, do you have a patient named Isabella Swan?” I asked, scrambling to think of a good enough story that would let me know that she was here.

The doctor’s face froze with something that could have been pain. “Ah,” he said. “Bella.”

I let my own face respond to the pain in his, feeling it pierce my dead heart. “She was the daughter of a… family friend, when I was here. I had heard that she wasn’t doing so well.”

His head shook slowly. “No, she isn’t doing well. You must mean Charlie Swan? Poor man.”

I was frozen with shock. What had happened to Charlie? “Yes,” I murmured. “Poor man. Is it possible, Doctor, for me to see Bella?”
He pursed his lips, deliberating. “She’s in pretty bad shape, Mr. Cullen,” he mused. “She hasn’t moved since they brought her in. We’re getting real concerned.”