Healing

Prologue

'I hate night shifts.' Dr. Marcy Thatcher thought as she walked through the long hall where her patients were all sleeping soundly. It was one of those rare occasions where the teenage patients of Palo Verde Psychiatric Hospital were allowed to congregate in the large mess hall for a "slumber party" as some of her more rowdy kids had taken to calling it. There were limitations of course. The genders were separated on opposite sides of the room, leaving a gap in the middle for the supervising doctors to walk down; making sure no unacceptable behavior was being committed. Each patient was given a sleeping bag and they brought their pillow from their rooms with them. They played games, watched movies, read books, listened to music; just about anything they wanted before it was lights out at 10 o'clock.

Marcy was just about to go for a short little break, allowing a nurse to take over for her when she saw them; it was very hard to make them out from the glowing moonlight in the room, but she definitely saw them. His bronze locks peeking out of his sleeping bag and glinting in the moonlight tipped her off to just exactly who they were.

Shaking her head and sighing softly, she carefully made her way over to two of her patients who were seriously pushing the rules. They were sleeping side by side right at the dividing line down the middle of the room the closest space to the back wall. Thinking of these two uniquely different people, she had to smile to herself. They were complete opposites, yet they had clung desperately to each other the past six months they had been here. They were her favorites; she wasn't even ashamed to admit it, and she was sure the other doctors would agree with her.

Looking down at the sleeping pair, she smiled softly. Going down to her knees and trying not to wake them, she lifted the one unzipped sleeping bag that was covering them both; the other was lying underneath them, providing a cushion of some sort. Coming to a stop, she looked down at the sight before her. Both were still fully clothed, thank God; they'd be in worlds of trouble if that were the case. The sleeping girl was on her back, her torso twisted so she was facing him, her glasses still on her face, brown hair fanned across the pillow. The sleeping boy was lying on his stomach, facing the girl, almost looking as if they had fallen asleep mid-conversation. But what caught Marcy's attention was the position of their hands. Resting right on the dividing line, the fingers of the girls' right hand and the fingers of the boys' left hand were laced together, again, clinging to each other even in sleep.

Her heart swelling at that sight, and a soft smile on her face, Marcy carefully placed the sleeping bag back over them. Yes, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were definitely her most favorite patients.

Author's Note: So I've had this idea floating around in my head for awhile so I decided to write it down. Please tell me what you think. It might take me awhile to get updates going, but if it gets popular then I will. Please review and I will certainly write more.