I've been grasping at straws to come up with another way to let Mike get the girl. I already know it's far fetched. It depends upon so many things that are ... uncollaborated by canon. Nevertheless, with that teaser, I present to you:

---

"Bella? Bella Swa-Cullen?" He was walking toward her from the vegetable section and she turned toward the sound of his voice, smiling at first. Her grocery cart was half full. He was glad he’d run into her, though it seemed odd to see her, here of all places.

"Swan, Mike. Bella Swan. Geez, it hasn't been THAT long since you've seen me."

Mike Newton squinted at the girl he'd spent the last two years of high school falling all over himself for. She looked good. She'd put on some much-needed weight in the year since he'd seen her last. Since he'd seen her last - at her wedding. To Edward Cullen. Why did she say her name was still Swan?

"Right," he said uncomfortably, unwilling to contradict her. Maybe she'd kept her name after the wedding. What did he know? He tried to look at her left hand discreetly, and she made it easy for him, reaching up for a can of creamed corn. Her fingers were bare. "So, when did you get back into town?"

It was October, and he was sure he'd heard that Bella and Edward were both attending Dartmouth. She should be a Sophomore this year, but here she was, shopping for groceries like she'd got stuck in this God-forsaken town the same as him. It was Bella's turn to squint. "Just today. I was -" she paused and shook her head, putting the can of corn back on the shelf to turn toward him. She looked confused. "I was driving on an overgrown path - and I came out on that road that heads out of town to the East, so I came back into town and went home. Charlie was still at work, so I checked the fridge, which was empty, and then I came here. But -"

Mike watched her carefully as she spoke and then broke off abruptly. She looked thoroughly lost. "Bella, shouldn't you be at school?"

"We graduated, Mike. Or are you skipping, too?" she joked, suddenly herself again.

"No, I mean, you've been going to Dartmouth, haven't you? I heard you and Edward were living there now."

"Edward?"

Now Mike knew something was horribly wrong. Bella was looking at him with a pleasant expression, puzzled, but not upset. Not yet. He, however, was starting to feel like he'd entered the Twilight Zone. "Yes, Edward Cullen. Bella, a year ago last month you married him and moved away to go to school at Dartmouth."

Bella blinked at him, then turned away, picked up the creamed corn again, and put it into her shopping cart. She pushed the cart a few feet and he followed her, still watching, trying to decide what to do. "Bella, I think I should drive you to the hospital. If you've forgotten -" he broke off as she turned around, tears streaming down her face, and he thought for a minute that maybe she'd just been pretending to forget. Maybe Cullen had left her again and she was going to turn back into that zombie she'd been for half of their Senior year. "Bella?"

"I don't remember," she whispered, horrified. "I can't remember where I was before I was in the truck. I can't remember anything you're talking about. Married?"

Mike realized that in another two minutes, she was going to be hyperventilating right there in the middle of the grocery store. "Come on, I'll drive you to the hospital. We'll call Chief Swan on the way," he said, putting an arm around her. She turned her head into his shoulder, and thus didn't see every single person in the supermarket watching them walk out, leaving her half-full cart abandoned in the middle of the store.

They drove to the hospital, only ten minutes away, in utter silence except for a quick phone call to her dad. Bella was still sniffling, so Mike handled that. The Chief was astonished, to say the least, and quickly said he'd meet them at the hospital. When they arrived Mike spoke to the nurse for her and then sat with her, waiting. When Dr. Gerandy finally came into the little room, he raised an eyebrow at Mike. "Should I go?" he asked quickly, casting a glance at Bella. He didn't really want to, but he didn't want to be in the room if there was going to be some kind of physical examination, either. He liked her a lot, but they'd never been close enough for that.

"No, stay. I don't - I need someone here who knows what's going on," she stuttered, embarrassed. "That's okay, right?" she asked the doctor belatedly. He nodded.

"What's the last thing you remember, then, Mrs. Cullen?" he asked, eyes on her chart. Bella's eyes widened.

"Um. She doesn't remember the wedding," Mike interjected quickly, and Dr. Gerandy looked taken aback.

"Miss Swan, then," he amended. Bella blinked a few times and took a deep breath. She seemed to be stretching out her mind towards something. In her eyes was a great expanse of nothingness, and on the other side of it was...

"I remember Graduation. Jessica Stanley hugged me, even though she'd hardly talked to me all year." She said this with a frown, and Mike rolled his eyes. That was Jess for you. But she and Edward had been back together for months by Graduation. How was it possible that she remembered it and not him? He tried to stop his mind from considering it a gift from God, if she really didn't remember anything about Edward Cullen.

Dr. Gerandy nodded. "I'd like to examine your head, if you don't mind. This kind of memory loss can be caused by trauma to the head. Tell me if anything feels tender."

Mike watched as the man felt along Bella's scalp in a very professional manner. When he'd finished, Bella shook her head bemusedly. "My head doesn't hurt at all."

It was obvious that Dr. Gerandy was stumped. He was just pulling out a prescription pad, though what pills might fix something like this Mike had no idea, when Chief Swan showed up, not even bothering to knock at the door. "Bella?!" he asked worriedly.

"Hey Dad," she said, smiling sheepishly. "I don't think I fell down this time."

"Bells, I haven't heard from you for a month, and then you turn up back here and at the hospital? What's going on? And where the hell is Edward THIS time?!" he asked angrily, with a glance at Mike. Mike shrank back into the small plastic chair, wishing he'd mentioned to Bella's dad that she couldn't remember Edward.

When Mike or the doctor had questioned her on what she remembered, or mentioned Edward, she'd seemed confused. Now she just seemed angry. "I don't KNOW what's going on, and I don't know where this Edward is. I don't even know WHO Edward is. And if you don't stop shouting at me for it, I'm -" she stopped, mid-rant and blinked.

"Moving out?" Charlie suggested quietly. This was clearly a familiar phrase between them, used often in the months leading up to her wedding. Even Mike had heard the rumors that Bella was going to move in with the Cullens before the wedding. She'd fought with her dad so loudly that the whole neighborhood had heard. And word gets around, in Forks.

"That's what I was going to say, but I don't know why I was going to say it. I don't want to go to Jacksonville. Where would I go?" This admission was quiet, and thoughtful. She obviously didn't remember those fights.

"Aw, Bells," he said quietly. He opened his arms and Bella stood to hug him. Mike exchanged a glance with the doctor. The whole situation was just too weird. "Why don't you and Mike wait for me outside for a minute," he suggested, releasing her quickly. Bella nodded, and Mike followed her out the door, closing it behind him.

"So, I'm married?" she asked lightly, seating herself in one of the vacant plastic chairs, her eyes turned up to him pleadingly.

"I was there. Your dress was really old fashioned, and you looked really happy," he said, remembering. He'd rather tell her that he didn't know what she was talking about, no of COURSE she wasn't married. But he couldn't see lying to her. It wouldn't be right. Even if it might mean she was available to date whoever she liked. Even if it might mean he finally had a chance.

Bella shook her head, bringing her left had up before her face. "Then where's my ring?" she asked nobody in particular. "And who is my husband?"


Chapter 2