Cold As Ice

Chapter 5

Allie gently pulled back the privacy curtains hanging around the patient's bed, announcing her arrival with a smile and a "knock, knock". Seated on the exam bed was a teen girl with long, dark hair. An older man that Allie vaguely recognized was standing next to her, his hands on his hips as he lectured her about something. Allie immediately saw the resemblance and assumed the man was her father.

"Hello," the teen girl said sheepishly at Allie.

"Hi there, Miss Swan," Allie replied warmly, glancing down at the patient's chart attached to a clipboard at the edge of the bed for the girl's name. "Car accident, huh?" Allie asked, giving the teen a once over for any obvious injuries. Aside from a burgundy tint to the girl's cheeks, she looked no worse for wear.

"Soft of, yeah" the girl replied quietly.

"The sort of part is that she wasn't in a car when she got hit with one," her father interjected, earning an agitated eye roll from his daughter. The dad looked almost as uncomfortable as his daughter, although layered on top of his embarrassment was fear. Allie had worked in the medical field long enough to spot the look of fear in her patients' eyes from a mile away.

"Oh, my goodness! Lucky girl," Allie replied idly as she made a few notes on Miss Swan's record. "Are you experiencing any pain or discomfort, Miss Swan?" The girl shook her head emphatically, her blush deepening. Allie felt a twinge of curiosity – even at low speeds, a car hitting a pedestrian was bound to at least shake someone up. But, as strange as it seemed, there weren't any identifiable injuries.

"Well, it's a good thing you came in just to be sure," Allie said kindly, earning a gratified nod from the dad. Allie assumed it was mostly Mr. Swan's idea to bring his daughter in for a checkup.

"Who's Bella seeing today?" the dad asked, peering over at Allie's clipboard.

Allie glanced down out of habit; she already knew whose name was on the rotation schedule.

"Looks like it'll be Dr. Cullen," she told the dad with an encouraging smile. She saw his soldiers relax an inch as he breathed a sigh of relief.

As if on cue, Allie saw Carlisle step around the curtains, a few X-rays in his hands. Allie busied herself with recording the patient's vitals on the clipboard to avoid staring. He looked particularly dashing in his white coat today, and Allie could have sworn that his eyes were lighter, somehow.

"Hello Bella... Charlie." Carlisle exchanged handshakes with both the Swans. At hearing the dad's name, Allie's nagging sense that she recognized the father clicked into place. She'd seen Charlie Swan accompany a few drunk drivers and other ne'er-do-wells injured in the commission of nefarious deeds into the ER over the past few weeks. Without his sheriff's uniform on, Allie had been slow to place him, but now she could see it was Sheriff Swan as plain as day.

"You have a nice knot growing back there, but your x-rays show no indication of concussion." Carlisle glanced at Allie's notes briefly before pulling out a pen light from his pocket and shining it in the girl's brown eyes, double-checking for signs of a head injury. The girl named Bella shook her head, and Allie noticed she was chewing on her lip as if trying to decide whether to say something.

"It would have been a lot worse if Edward hadn't knocked me out of the way," Bella insisted. Allie was intrigued at the girl's tone, as if she were testing Dr. Cullen. Allie shot a curious glance at Carlisle, and she didn't miss the momentary flash in his eyes. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, smoothed out behind a mask of cheery professionalism. The more Allie had gotten to know Carlisle in the last few weeks, the more she realized how very controlled he was all the time, as if he were putting on a bit of a show for the benefit of people around him.