Chapter 1: Hot Things

I could feel my eyes lids dropping already; I hadn't slept in 36 long hours. I looked over my patient's chart again quickly scanning the numbers into my head and checking for anything sinister. Her GFR had dropped to 4, crap. She needed a transplant soon.

"Dr Hoffman," I said looking over to the nephrology attending. "Melissa Jeffery's GFR has dropped to 7 and despite the EPO she's highly anaemic, her haemoglobin level is at 6 grams per decilitre."

He pulled the chart toward him and frowned, "Order a higher dosage of EPO and Iron supplements for now, in the morning we'll carry out the tests again and see if it had made a difference, if her levels stay the same I'll see to it she gets moved up the transplant list."

I nodded curtly one and jotted down his recommendation into the chart. I then clicked my pen twice and quickly place the chart in the rack labelled "attention needed".

Once in the locker room I tore off my dark purple scrubs and threw them into the big black bin to be cleaned. I swished on my grey jeans and white cotton shirt before quickly running a brush through my short black hair and slamming my locker door shut. My car was parked at the far end of the lot, the only space I could find when I arrived at the hospital all those hours ago. I felt as if my knees might buckle at any moment out of sheer exhaustion before I could reach my car. Maybe I should take a taxi? I thought absently, quickly dismissing the idea, I was fine. This was nothing, once I'd stayed up for 52 hours straight just because my brother dared me.

I plunged the key into the ignition and started the engine of my small red Volkswagen Beatle that my family have told me repeatedly to get rid of; I just told them to stop hating on the bug. The drive home seemed miles longer then it really was though every light I hit turned green, lucky night I guess. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. But right now even an hour's sleep seemed more appealing than a million dollar win. I turned the wheel sharply into a free parking spot in front of my building. I dragged my almost sleeping body out of the car, barley remembering to lock it afterwards. I made my way up to my very comfortable two room apartment overlooking a beautiful park, not that I cared about the view at this particular moment.

I threw my keys in a small bowl by the side of the door before dropping by bag, for once just letting it stay where it fell, ripping off my jacket and falling face first into my bed. Falling asleep fully clothed, praying that by some act of god that the hospital was closed tomorrow and that my alarm failed to go off so that I didn't need to wake up in eight and a half hours. Alas, no such miracle happened. And at 6:35 an alien beeping forced my lead lined eyes open to face another long day. I loved my job, I really did, but sometimes I just wanted to curl up and hibernate.

I shed my crinkled clothes and jumped into a lukewarm shower. It was refreshing. I washed my hair with my signature lavender shampoo and made sure to scrub ever inch of my sleep deprived body with sweet smelling shower goo. When I was finally satisfied with levels of hygiene and alertness I flicked off the water and dried my self quickly with a warm towel. I pulled on some plain underwear and rummaged through my drawers for something nice to wear, not that it mattered, I would be changing into some unflattering scrubs as soon as I got to the hospital but I always liked to wear something nice, no matter the occasion.

I grabbed a cereal bar and a chocolate muffin from the kitchen before searching for where I'd left my bag and sticking on some coffee. Coffee, that's all I needed to truly start the day, as soon as I had a little caffeine in my system I would be back to my usual chirpy self. At least it was only a seven hour shift today, I could finish work and maybe even have time to do a little shopping before I went to my parents for dinner. I was actually quite looking forward to it; I hadn't seen my family in a while. Except, of course, one of my brothers, but that was on a medical consult so it didn't really count.

I have two brothers; Edward is a neurologist, training to be anyway, and works in a hospital not far from mine. He's only two years older than me at 25 but he's married already to Bella, his high school sweetheart. My other brother Emmett is 26 and works, for the moment at least, in the business world. Something I can openly say I know nothing about. My dad is a doctor at well, general practice. My mom quite her job as an interior designer when she got pregnant with Emmett but when I was heading off to collage she went back to it.

But it was a good three hours drive – and a ferry ride - from Seattle to my parents in Forks so it was a good thing I had a short shift. Today's Friday and I have the weekend off so I'm staying in Forks for the night then heading back up on Saturday. I'm driving Edward and Bella down as well; carpool, save the planet and all that. Emmett was driving from Olympia, where he currently worked, I could have picked him up but that would have added another hour onto my journey. I'm such a loving sister.

Something beeped in the kitchen, coffee time. I swallowed the remaining crumbs of my muffin and dashed to grab my red flask and pour a generous amount of coffee into it. I checked my watched. I had ten minutes before I had to leave, time enough to watch the end of the 'project runway' I hadn't had time to finish. I sipped at the boiling coffee as a perched myself on the end of my sofa, afraid that if I got comfy I would never want to get up again.

My coffee was finished when it came time to leave; I washed the flask quickly and grabbed my keys, which luckily had landed exactly where I had meant them to last night. My door locked with a click behind me and I lightly jogged down the stairs. My car was waiting for me exactly where I'd left it and I slid into the driver's seat placing the key into the ignition.

When I got into the hospital locker room I quickly changed into my small purple scrubs and ruffled my short dark hair with my fingers.

"Moring Alice," Jeffrey Kirkland greeted me as he walked into the room. "Monster shift yesterday!"

"Tell me about it, I feel like I haven't slept in weeks," I chirped.

"You sound alert enough," he commented.

"Coffee," I said. "Lot's of coffee." I left Jeff to change in peace and took the stairs to the third floor nephrology department, my current and much loved work place.

The sound that greeted me was the usual bleeps, scurrying of feet and scratching of pens. But it wasn't exactly noisy; it was a rather peaceful department. But I could hear a woman's voice emanating from one of the consult rooms. I could only make out a few of her words, but they weren't kind.

"Good morning Angela, how are you?" I asked one of my favourite nurses.

"Very well doctor Cullen, thank you. We have a new patient today, transferred from Olympia, 23 year old male, stage five been on haemodialysis for four year and on the transplant list for three of them." Then she handed me the chart with a mischief's grin. "He's all yours." I threw her a questioning look but she just smiled and went on with her charting work. I flicked open the chart to find out where the patient was, consult room 2. That was the room the woman's voice was coming from, great. The door was half open and I looked inside. There was a young woman, probably the same age as me, a little older perhaps, stunning blonde hair and the body of a supermodel. Fantastic, just what I needed, a nagging Barbie.

But just as I was about to step into the room my phone rang, I took it out my pocket and hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"Hey sis," Emmett's voice greeted me. "So are we going to see the 'rents tonight or is it next week? Oh, and I have big news for you!"

"Yes, brother of mine," I said rolling my eyes. "Its tonight, we arranged it three weeks ago!"

"Sorry sis, I'm still coming I just didn't want to show up on the wrong night. Don't you want to hear my big news?" he sounded like a child, I swear sometimes that hasn't aged a day since his seventh birthday.

"Okay then, lets hear it," I sighed.

"I've got a new girlfriend!" He almost shouted. "She stunning Ali I can't wait for you to meet her, you two will get on like a house on fire!"

"New girlfriend," I said, trying to sound impressed. "Is she coming tonight?"

"Nah, she couldn't make it – she had some family thing" He said, sounding glum about it.

"Well I'm sure I'll meet her soon enough. I've got to go now, patients waiting. See you tonight." I brushed him off as politely as I could.

"Okay, bye Ali!" I hit the end call button and put it on vibrate before slipping it into my pocket.

"No!" The voice inside the room stated. "I don't want to see another one of his nurses. I was to see his doctor! Doc-tor. Understand?" Oh, I better get in there before someone started throwing punches.

"Hello," I said kindly. Flipping the chart open quickly as I suddenly realised that I didn't know the patients name. "I'm Jasper's doctor. You can go Tanya, thank you." I smiled at the nurse gently.

"Good luck with this one!" Tanya whispered before walking out the door, leaving me alone. I looked at the chart again, checking over his stats quickly.

When I lifted my head from the paper folder in my hands I looked over to the man perched on the end of the bed. Suddenly Angela's mischief's grin made sense. I swear on by budges grave, my heart nearly stopped. He looked over at me, his eyes the most amazing blue I had ever seen in my life. His hair fell messily over his ears, honey blond and perfect. He was… absolutely, for lack of any other words in my rare moment of utter stupidity, HOT!

"Hi," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Jasper Hale." I think my jaw dropped about three feet. His voice. Oh my God I could have listened to him talk all day and all he had said were four words.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Dr Cullen." I finally managed to squeak out. I quickly grabbed his hand and shook it. I suddenly felt unnecessarily self conscious. I should have done something more with my hair, put on more than just mascara and some face powder, I should plucked my eye brows, I should have – snap out of it! I chastised myself, giving my face a mental slap. You're his doctor for crying out loud.

"Well it's about time!" The tall blonde woman standing beside him said. "We've been waiting for hours, we were told to arrive early and that we would be seen by a doctor straight away!"

"I'm terribly sorry…"

"Rosalie," she quickly supplied. Rosalie, I thought, great. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, wearing the most figure fitting cloths I had ever seen and had the body of a frigen supermodel but she was also called Rosalie! How the heck was little old scrub wearing, long hour working, sleep deprived me supposed to compete with that? "I'm his sister."

SISTER! Yes! Oh for havens sake Alice get a grip of your self, what are you fifteen!

"Well I'm very sorry Ms Hale but-"

"But you were to busy talking about someone's new girlfriend?" She interrupted me. "Yes I heard you on the phone out there, was that really more important than your patients? I couldn't give two craps about your brother's new girlfriend! Do you want to know what I do care about? I care about my brother who happens to be –"

"Rose, stop it!" Jasper chastised her. He was blushing. It wasn't till blood flushed his face that noticed how dreadfully pale he was, and the dark circles under his eyes. It seemed only then that I really realised he was my patient, my seriously ill patient and not just some guy I met at the coffee stand.

"I am sorry you had to get up so early, really I am. I wasn't made aware that you were coming in at all actually. My mistake I should have called in to see when I was needed, it won't happen again." I said carefully, not wanting to set her off on another rant.

"It's okay, I don't mind," Jasper smiled.

"Okay then, would you mind answering a few questions? I know most of it's in your chart but I'd just like to get a personal idea of your treatment so far if that's okay? I don't need details I can get that in here," I tapped that chart, "just a general idea." I asked, switching my brain into doctor mode once again.

"Sure," he smiled. "Ask away."

"When did the Kidney failure start?"

"When I was eighteen."

"Where have you previously received treatment?"

"First in Austin, Texas, then I moved to Olympia a few years ago."

The questions continued along a similar line for about fifteen minutes or so until I decided I had enough info and had set up a dialysis time table (I'd get to see him every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 till 10), and had listened intently to every liquid word that flowed from him wonderful mouth. He's a patient you babbling teenager, snap out of it!

"I'd like to get you started as soon as possible since it's been quite a few days since your last dialysis, if you're free now I know there's space and I can set you up and then I'll see you again on Monday at the arranged time?"

"Sounds good," he said softly.

"Great, now if you'd just like to go through there and give the nurse at the station this," I tore him off one of the patient slips we use for new or one time only patients. "She'll show you where to go and I'll be there in a few minutes." I smiled and stood up clicking my pen twice. Jasper walked out of the small room and I headed to the nurses station.

"Angela!" I whispered urgently when I saw her at the nurse's station. "You could have warned me he was totally gorgeous before I walked in there and nearly made a total fool of myself falling over my jaw!"

She chuckled, "That would be no fun!"

I shot her a look of mock horror and huffed away. I had to sort out Mr Hale's paperwork, terribly boring but it had to be done. Then I would go see him, take some blood samples and get then too the lab as quickly as I could. It had been over a week since his last blood test, and that was too long, for Mr Hale at least.

I had he notion stuck in my head that if I called him Mr Hale enough times I would stop thinking unprofessional thoughts about him… so far it wasn't working.

I flipped open his chart and scribbled down some notes, then I went onto the computer and logged everything I need to into there, so much nonsense had to be filled out for such simple things.

I grabbed a blood drawing kit and headed through to the dialysis room.

"Okay Mr Hale I'm just going to take a few blood samples," I said sweetly, but professionally.

"Oh," he said frowning. "Please, Dr Cullen, call me Jasper."

Oh, well. I guess my plan worked a whole five minutes, Jasper it is then! "Call me Alice; we'll be seeing each other a lot after all."

His sister spoke again as I started to draw his blood. "Why are you doing that?"

"We need to check his levels; it's very routine." I relied.

"Why do you need to do that? Can't you just take some blood from the machine in stead of sticking him with more needles? Do you really know what you're doing because you look very young to be fully qualified? And…" She rambled on.

I quickly packed away the kit and rapped the label around the vile of blood. "Ms Hale," I stated. "Can I speak to you privately?" I motioned to the small examination room just off the dialysis centre. I started walking toward it, throwing the reminder of the kit into the biohazard bin and handed the blood sample to the nurse. "Could you take this to the lab please?" She nodded once and walked on.

I opened the examination room door and Miss Hale walked inside. "Miss Hale I understand your concern about your brother but you have to understand that this is my job, I know what I'm doing and I would greatly appreciate it if you did not question my actions in front of my patient. He may be your brother, but I need you to trust that I will no nothing but what is best for my patient." The words were stern, but they had to be said.

"I just don't want to see my bother pocked and prodded when it's not necessary. He's been through enough as it is." She snapped at me.

"There's something else you need to understand Ms Hale. Healthy people don't get sent here. Stable patients don't get sent here. I'm guessing that at his last dialysis centre he was taken care of by nurses?" She nodded curtly. "Well here he'll be taken care of by me, a doctor. Your brother's renal function is decreasing, he's getting worse, otherwise he wouldn't be here. So I'm going to take more blood samples, he's going to get more treatment; he's going to have more complications. You have to realise that."

Somewhere in my harsh words her face cracked, "I know." She said, so low it was almost a whisper. "You have to take care of him" All the ferociousness she showed a short time ago was gone. Now she just looked scared, she was scared. "Ever since my Dad died it's just been me and him. I've always taken care of him, and everything was going so great, he was doing fine and I got a new job and a boyfriend and then…then he got worse. Now he's in Seattle and I'm down in Olympia and he's getting sicker. He's had to live with this for so long and now it's getting worse and I can't protect him the way I used to when we were kids, before everything got so serious, so… life threatening. I just can't loose…I can't…"

"I know," I said reassuring her. "And trust me; I will do everything in my power to make sure he gets the best care possible. I will take care of him; I'll be here whenever he needs me. I'll look after him."

"Thank you," She said softly.

"Just doing my job," I smiled. "Do you need to go or are you staying?"

"I took a few days off work; I'm staying, just to get him settled in." She replied.

I watched her walked out the room and over to her brother, she said something and he laughed. I sat down the bed beside me and watched them. They were talking easily with each other, laughing. I flipped open the chart that I somehow still hadn't put down where it was supposed to be. I looked over the pages again. If she cared so much about her brother, why didn't she donate a kidney to him? It's the first thing I would have thought of if it had been one of my brothers. Ah, there it is. She was a positive match, but… that didn't make any sense. She was so protective of her brother why wouldn't she donate if she was a positive match. I read on, 'unviable candidate' the chart said. So she did want to help her brother, she just couldn't.

I shut the chart and walked out of the small exam room. I wanted to ask her why she couldn't donate. What can I say, I'm a curious person! But I knew I couldn't, after all, she wasn't my patient.

"Good morning Alice," a deep voice spoke from behind me. I turned quickly.

"Doctor Hoffman, good morning sir!" I chipped.

"I see you have discovered your new patient, I was going to tell you last night but it must have slipped my mind. Terribly sorry about that! But I also have a bit of a surprise for you," I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Mr Hale is your patient and yours alone!" He beamed.

And for the second time this morning my jaw nearly hit the floor, was he kidding? "Are you sure?" I asked cautiously.

"Entirely sure Dr Cullen you are more then ready. Of course I will keep an eye on things but I have every confidence that you will do brilliantly!" He smiled. "Now I will be off to see to my patients and will leave you with yours."

My own patient! All mine! All to myself! I could barely believe it. But just as abruptly as the excitement set in, it vanished. And in it's place, dread. After all this was my patient and if I did anything wrong it would all be on me. I looked over at him sitting in a big pink 'day patient' chair chatting lightly to his sister, he was my responsibility now. I was in charge of keeping him alive, me and only me (so maybe there are some other docs in this place that would step in if I messed things up, but still). And besides that… He. Was. HOT!