Chapter Four
Hospital
Grace Cullen
Forks, Washington
Port Angelos, Washington

"Alright Grace, you can open your eyes now." Carlisle told me, finally coming back into my room after convincing the nurses to leave me alone. "A gunshot wound? Are you serious?" He asked me.

"A roomful of students saw me get shot at. What was I supposed to do?" I asked him, annoyed he was trying to parent me.

"You're unpracticed in your gift." He sighed. "That was not a convincing wound at all. If anyone else would've looked deeper into it, they would've easily seen there was no entry or exit."

"But no one else looked except you." I huffed. "Alice knew that. She directed me to create more blood to hide the wound instead of focusing on creating a more convincing look. She knew you would be here at the hospital to respond to the incident."

"You could've gotten someone killed!" He raised his voice at me.

"Sorry, I hope I'm not intruding." A cop apologized, his voice deep and gruff, as he entered the room.

He was so charming, in such extreme ways that I found myself interested in everything about him. His tall frame was muscular but still inviting and warm. His head full of dark hair was the same warm brown color as his five o'clock shadow, and the same color as his beautiful eyes. He had a hard intimidating cop exterior, but I could see the soft kindness in his eyes.

"Chief Swan." Carlisle greeted him. "Of course not. I was just trying to reason with my dear sister here." He muttered.

"The hero of the hour." He chuckled, offering me a small smile.

"Chief Swan? Bella's father?" I asked him.

"Yes." He nodded. "Dr. Cullen, would you mind going down to check on Bella? She hit her head pretty hard on a desk. I'd like her to see the best, if you don't mind."

"Of course, I'm honored to, but I'm afraid I'm caught up with my sister at the moment." Carlisle frowned.

"Oh, I'm fine, Carlisle." I laughed at him. "You go check on Bella. Chief Swan will keep me company." I told him. "Won't you?" I asked the Chief.

"Of course, I have some questions for you regarding the shooting for my report." He nodded.

"Then I suppose I can step away for a short while." Carlisle sighed. "If you need anything, or start to feel any pain, have a nurse call for me." He ordered me before leaving the room.

"He sounded like he was really about to tear into you." Chief Swan smiled at me.

I had yet to see him really smile. He had just offered me small tight-lipped hints at a smile. And I found myself really wanting him to smile fully at me.

"I scared him." I frowned slightly. "We're really all each other has left. Our parents died so long ago and our older sister has been dead seven years now. Sure, he has Esme and we both have kids, but I think I scared him into thinking he was going to be left alone." I explained.

"Sorry to hear about that." He offered me a soft frown. "I get it. Bella's all I have left. To think that the minuet she moves to forks a school shooter could've taken her from me." He shook his head, as if getting rid of the bad thought. "Now, why don't we talk about what happened. It's just a formality really, nothing to worry about." He assured me, sitting in the chair by my bed and opening up his file.

"So, explain to me what happened. The best you can recall, please." He asked me and I took a deep breath, suddenly nervous to have his brown eyes piercing through me.

"Well, I was discussing a section of Shakespeares work Romeo and Juliet when the door was thrown open. The boy came in with a pistol raised in the air, and I was able to jump him and knock him off of his feet." I explained. "I turned to make sure all of the students were hidden properly when he shot me. It's like I couldn't even feel the pain at first, because I turned back around and got the gun from him before knocking him out with it. Then, I just remember hitting the floor and Alice coming to help me."

"That's a good description. Most people would be pretty shaken up." Chief Swan noted.

"The Cullens are a tough bunch." I laughed easily, meaning every word.

"Yes, I can see that." He nodded. "I just have a few more questions."

After asking about the students appearance and some other details, Chief Swan closed his file and thanked me for my help.

"And thank you for protecting those students the way you did." He surprised me by sounding so emotional. "I know your niece was in the class, but so was my daughter, and you went above and beyond to defend those kids."

"I couldn't imagine anything happening to them." I told him truthfully. "Parents trust us to be the first line of defense. No one ever wants to think something like that can happen, especially in a small town, but obviously it does. I had to do what I could."

"That's very kind of you, Miss Cullen." He smiled that same right-lipped smile at me.

"Mom!" Edward cried out, coming into the room and to my side. "Are you alright?" He worried over me, entirely for show.

"I'm fine." I laughed at him. "The shot didn't pierce any organs and went clean through, according to your Uncle Carlisle."

"Clean shot?" Chief Swan questioned me. "That's lucky." He mumbled.

"Very." Edward agreed. "My uncle said that Bella's exams came out fine. She's waiting for you down in the ER bay." He told the Chief.

"Thank you." He nodded, standing to his feet. "If you remember anything important, here's my card." He explained, handing me his business card. "I hope you get well soon." He wished me before leaving the room.

"What an interesting man." I stated, not sure what to make of the encounter.

I also wasn't sure what to make out of my new obsession with him.

"Chief Swan? He's the quite type, that's for certain." Edward nodded, sitting in the chair the Chief had just occupied. "His mind is nearly as silent as Bella's is." He revealed to me.

"Really? That's so interesting." I noted.

"Yes, where Bella's is silent, his is more like a radio way off in a different room that has poor signal. I get just about every fifth word around him." Edward explained.

"That suggest that the silence could be inherited." I mused over the idea. "I see now how you're so intrigued by Bella." I giggled.

"I have some bad news." Carlisle frowned as he entered the room. "I'm going to have to keep you here for the night for observation. I tried to discharge you on the grounds of me being able to keep an eye on you, but the nurses told me I needed to sleep." He shook his head. "I can get you out first thing in the morning, but you're not going back to work for a week."

"A week!" I cried out. "What am I supposed to do for a week? I'll be so bored brother."

"Well you should have thought of that before taking down an active shooter." He chided me. "Actually, I didn't mean that. I'm proud of you for stepping in. I just wish there was a way we could've avoided any suspicion." He sighed.

"I'm sorry for that." I apologized to him.

"I know." He nodded, smiling warmly at me, and I knew I had been forgiven.

Edward stayed the night with me, curling up into the chair and pretending to be asleep whenever a nurse would peek in on us, and kept me company in my boredom. In the morning, when Carlisle came in to announce he was discharging me, I sent Edward off to school much to his dismay.

I almost died from the embarrassment of having Carlisle push me out of the hospital in a wheelchair, Esme meeting us in the lobby to drive me home.

"That was so degrading." I shook my head as I closed the passenger door behind me.

"I almost laughed, you looked so uncomfortable." Esme giggled, pulling out of her parking spot. "Carlisle was smiling, so I hope people will interpret it as relief for you being okay, but I knew he was trying not to laugh at you."

"The only place I'm comfortable being the center of attention is in my classroom." I smiled at her as she laughed at my joke.

"You know, why don't you and I drive to Port Angelos and spend the day together? It's been so long since we've had a girls day, just the two of us, and I think it will do us some good." She thought aloud, smiling at me.

"That sounds wonderful, Esme." I smiled back at her. "Do you mind stopping by the house on the way? I really need to shower and change."

"Of course." She nodded happily.

Later, after several stores and a long walk through downtown, Esme suddenly perked up.

"You know, Grace, Carlisle and I have a charity auction to go to for the hospital Friday evening. Why don't you come with us?" She asked me.

"I don't know." I shook my head. "I would hate to be a third wheel."

"You're a master flirt." She accused me playfully. "I'm sure you'll find some lucky man to tease all night."

"Oh...alright." I gave in, a mischievous smile growing on my face. "That does sound fun. It's been too long." I laughed.

"Great!" She cheered. "Then let's go find us a new dress for the occasion."

We went to a popular dress shop in the area, one that we'd been to before and liked, and spent an hour searching the racks for the perfect dress. Esme finally found a calf length crimson red cocktail dress that looked beautiful on her.

"Miss." A sales associate approached me. "We have some new arrivals in the back, and I think I know the perfect one for you, would you like to see it?" The young girl asked me.

"Yes!" Esme answered for me, pushing me off into a dressing room.

The dress was stunning. It was a floor length, skin tight, black silk dress with a thigh high slit in it. It's sweetheart neckline and off the shoulder sleeves framed my delicate shoulders and chest perfectly while it's dark color contrasted my blonde hair. I looked dangerous and sexy, but still very elegant and sophisticated. It was the perfect dress to spend the night flirting with rich men.

"Damn!" Esme sputtered in shock when I stepped out of the dressing room. "Look at you!" She gasped.

"Do you like it?" I asked her, suddenly fearful the dress was too much by her strong language.

"Like it?" She questioned me. "I love it! I can't decide if you look like an angel or a demon." She giggled. "You'll make some poor men faint."

"Good, that's the plan." I laughed, winking at her playfully before going back into the dressing room to change.