Okay, so this story was a spur of the moment kind of idea that developed and now I have decided I'll try you all and post it! It's my first try writing AH/AU and I really appreciate any criticsm! Of course I hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to my friend scribe4hire for supporting me, listening to me and giving me advice on this! Without her you would never see this posted!

PS: Check out the stories by scribe4hire, they were a great inspiration for me and are simply awesome!

PPS: For my other stories, a special world and missing moments I have to apologise I'm haven't posted new chapters on both of them in ages... I'm working on it, but things were a little complicated, I had a writer's block and I also have to focus on my end of term papers at university for a while... but I'll try to get one chapter each up at the end of this week - please stick with me! Thx!

- ENJOY!

Patched up

Summary: Carlisle (28) is a young doctor working at Forks Hospital, but he is also a single dad to the 4-year-old twins Jasper and Rosalie. Esme is a newly divorced woman, mother of 5-year-old Edward, trying to start a new life away from her abusive husband. An accident brings them closer together and everybody finds something they didn't know they were missing until then…

Meeting an angel

CARLISLE'S POV

beep… beep… beep… I groaned and fumbled for my alarm clock in the dark, refusing to open my eyes. It was still way too early. I probably hadn't slept more than 4 or 5 hours last night. Beep… beep… beep… "Urghh…" I sighed heavily and finally opened one eye to turn this devilish machine off. I glanced at the display. 6.02 am. I had to get up, even if I didn't want to.

I rolled around and more or less stumbled into the attached bathroom. The twins had been cranky all night, they kept waking up after nightmares and I hardly got any sleep at all. I mean, I really loved my kids, but Rose and Jasper could be quite the handfuls and my job wasn't that easy either. But I wouldn't trade this life for anything. I loved my kids. They were everything to me. And I also loved my job. I had always wanted to become a doctor and fought hard, even against my parent's wishes. This life hadn't always been perfect, to be honest it had been really rough at times but I had everything I wanted now. I had a good job, two beautiful kids and a much too big house to live in, inherited from my grandfather, the only one who ever understood my passion for medicine.

After I had taken a shower I got dressed in black jeans and a simple black t-shirt. I knew better than to dress for work already. With my two little devils around I would most likely have to change again after breakfast.

At first I went into Jasper's bedroom. He was easier to wake in the mornings, the complete opposite of Rose who wasn't a morning person at all. "Hey Jazz buddy…" I mumbled, kneeling beside his bed and stroking his hair. "Hmmm…" he mumbled after a few seconds, opening one sleepy eye. Obviously the lack of sleep had also gotten to him. "Come, we have to get up buddy…" Jasper groaned. "Already?" he mumbled. I smiled. "Yes, already. Come on, I know you're tired but if you get up now and help me waking Rose I'll make pancakes for breakfast okay?" Jasper's mood changed abruptly. He quickly jumped out of bed and ran into Rose's room opposite his. I followed, shaking my head and chuckling. "Rosie! Rosie! Come on, get up, daddy is making pancakes!" Jasper shouted and tugged at his sister's blanket. "Jazz, not so loud…" I scolded lightly. He bit his lip and lowered his head. Sorry daddy." He whispered. I smiled. "It's okay buddy, just remember that your sister isn't as much a morning person as you are." I said and gently stroked Rose's blonde hair. "Hey angel, get up… we have to get ready for daycare…" I whispered and lightly kissed her forehead. Rosalie grumbled and snuggled deeper into her covers, trying to hide from me and her brother. "Come on Rosie, daddy promised pancakes for breakfast." Jasper said. "Really?" This made Rosalie open her eyes and look at me questioningly. I smiled. "Yes really, but we have to hurry if you want pancakes." I said.

ESME'S POV

I let out a sigh of relief as I opened my eyes and realized that I was far away from him. The stuff of my nightmares. I was in Forks, I was safe and Edward too. I glanced at the little boy sleeping soundly next to me. He looked relaxed, for the first time in a long while. I smiled and gently stroked his unruly hair before lying down again. It was still too early to get up.

CARLISLE'S POV

"Jasper, Rosalie are you ready?" I called, knowing we were running terribly late. Breakfast had taken longer than I thought and the twins were naturally a bit grouchy from their lack of sleep. I quickly finished buttoning up my shirt, grabbed my medical bag and checked on Jasper and Rose in their rooms. Jasper was obviously ready as he was just zipping up his backpack. "Okay Jazz, can we go?" I asked him. He nodded and I went to Rose's room.

I found Rose sitting on her bed, holding a mirror in her hand, trying to flatten her hair with her hands. "It's curly!" she complained. I sat beside her. "It's beautiful." I said softly. Rose looked up at me. "I hate these curls!" she whined. "You look like an angel!" I said. "My personal little angel…" Rosalie smiled. "Really?" I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Of course, now let's go."

I strapped the twins in their car seats and drove to the daycare center. Luckily there wasn't much traffic in Forks but since our house was in the outskirts of town it still took me about 10 minutes to get there. By the time I dropped the twins off and wished them a good day I should have been working for 5 minutes already, so I jumped back in my car and sped towards the hospital.

"Good morning!" I called as I rushed past the reception desk but was stopped a minute later by someone calling my name. "Dr Cullen!" I turned around and found Dr Ruth Chapman, the senior physician, just coming my way. "Shouldn't you have started about…" she glanced at her watch. "13 minutes ago?" I sighed. "Yes…" I agreed, wanting to add my apologies but Dr Chapman just held up her hand. "Just don't let it happen again and now go, you're expected in the ER." I nodded and quickly headed to my office, happy I hadn't gotten more of a lecture. Dr Chapman was known to be rather strict.

I rushed into my office and changed into my lab coat then headed back down to the ER. "Good morning!" I greeted the nurses at the reception before starting to look through the files on the desk. "Any emergencies?" I asked, not looking up. When I didn't get a response I looked up to saw the nurse practically drooling over me. I rolled my eyes. "Nurse Jessie?" I asked again. She snapped out of it and looked up. "Sorry?" she said, blushing but still batting her eyelashes at me. I was simply annoyed. "Do we have any emergencies yet?" I asked. "No, nothing, but Mr Tayler is in to have his stitches removed. He's in exam room three." I sighed. Great. I didn't want to know how long the poor man had been waiting already…

ESME'S POV

After Edward and I had had some breakfast I decided we should start making the little apartment I got for us looking a bit more like home. So we started to unpack the few boxes I brought with me. Edward was helping me, putting his toys, mostly race cars and action figures on the shelf over his bed. He was just as desperate as me to build a new home.

Around noon we had finished unpacking and were slowly getting hungry so I went to Edward who had decided to draw a picture to hang up since the walls looked to empty to him. "Hey my little artist, do you want to go out for lunch? Maybe chicken nuggets and French fries?" I asked him. Edward grinned. "Yes!" he cheered. "Okay, then we do that and later go grocery shopping okay?" Edward smiled. "Okay." I ruffled his hair. "Let's go then."

We went to the local diner where we had lunch and also seemed to be the town's newest attraction. Edward was hiding behind me all the time when the older women tried to catch a glimpse of him or even talk to him. He was a shy boy and wasn't comfortable with so much attention. And he had also learned not to draw attention to himself. Just like myself Edward knew that being the center of attention, especially attention from him was painful…

After lunch I went to the bank to get some money from my bank account but it was blocked. I sighed in frustration. I knew who was responsible for that. Him. Edward was looking at me curiously, a little afraid. "Mommy? Is everything okay?" he asked. I smiled reassuringly. "Yes, everything's fine, don't worry." I said. "So, let's go shopping now… We need a few things…" I mumbled, checking my purse to find out I still had 27.56$ left.

I took Edward's hand and went back to the old Ford I had bought from my savings and strapped Edward in his seat.

I was just driving across Main Street when it happened. I didn't really know how though. I only saw a car speeding over the red lights and then screeching tires, metal crushing against metal and screams from Edward. Our car was hit and slid across the street, stopping when it hit a road sign. The impact of the car hitting us had been so hard that I had bumped my head somewhere but I couldn't keep attention to my head aching or something dripping into my eyes. I was concerned for Edward who was crying in the seat beside me. "Edward! What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" I asked him frantically. "My… my arm…" he sobbed.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" A paramedic had appeared outside of the car. "Yes… I'm fine… I'm fine…" I insisted. "My son… Edward…" I said.

We were brought to the hospital by an ambulance and told to wait in the waiting area. Edward was still crying. His arms hurt and he was frightened. My headache had gotten worse and I had started to feel a little dizzy but my main priority was Edward. I had him sitting on my lap, rocking him and cooing into his ear.

CARLISLE'S POV

"Dr Cullen? There is a trauma coming in!" Nurse Sandra called. I nodded. "Yes, I got it!" I said as I hurried to the reception desk where two EMTs where already pushing a gurney. "Male, 42, found unconscious in his car, 02 sat 83%, possibly drunk driver, mayor head wound, fractured ribs on the left side, probably punctured lung, right leg broken." The EMT called as he handed me the chart. "Okay, I got it. Let's check for internal bleeding, I want a scan on the head injury and prepare an OR." I said while checking the vital signs of my patient.

Just half an hour later I was in the OR, trying to save the life of a guy who had caused a crash on the main Road because he was drunk driving. I felt disgusted by the man. He could have easily killed someone with his stupid behavior.

ESME'S POV

The dizziness was getting worse and black spots appeared in front of my eyes. Edward was still sniffing, his eyes all read and puffy from the crying. No one had treated us yet. The nurses were all busy running around and taking no notice of me or the crying child and I was feeling too bad to ask go to the reception desk again. Obviously the trauma patient, a drunk driver who caused all this was more important than a hurt child.

I felt nausea come over me in a wave and quickly sat Edward on the empty chair next to me. "Edward, I'm going to the bathroom, I'm back in a sec." I told him and quickly stumbled into the restrooms where I got sick.

I heaved until there was nothing left inside my stomach than I slid down the cold tiles. My legs wouldn't carry me anymore. My head was spinning and I was still feeling terribly nauseated. Black spots had appeared in front of my eyes…

CARLISLE'S POV

The surgery took me 3 and a half hours and when I was done it was time for me to go pick up the twins and go home. I was just passing the waiting room when I noticed something. A little boy, not much older than Jasper and Rosalie, was sitting in one of the plastic chairs, crying and holding his arm. I instantly went over to him. "Hey buddy…" I said, kneeling in front of the little boy. He crawled away from me, looking frightened. "Hey, I won't hurt you… I'm Carlisle, what's your name buddy?" I asked him softly. "Edward…" he mumbled shyly, still sitting as far away from me as possible. "Hello Edward, are you alright? Where's your mommy or daddy?" "I don't have a daddy!" Edward almost snapped but then he sobbed. "Mommy… I don't know… she's gone to the bathroom she said… but… she didn't come back…" he sniffed. "Okay, you know what? We're going to find your mommy, okay? And then I take a look at your arm, alright?" I asked, holding out my hand for Edward. "Okay…" he agreed, carefully climbing in my lap. "Okay, so let's find your mommy…" I said and stroked Edwards's hair.

I sat Edward down in one of the chairs by the restrooms, promising him to be back in a minute and then simply stepped inside the ladies' room. And stopped, shocked.

On the cold tile floor was a woman, no, an angel. She was beautiful, even though she was just as white as the tiles behind her and a small stream of dried blood was running down her face. She had caramel colored hair, a beautiful heart-shaped face and green eyes. My heart must have sped up from just looking at her. A second later I snapped out of my trance like state and rushed to her side. "My name's Dr Carlisle Cullen, are you Edward's mom?" I asked. "Yes… is he okay?" she asked weakly. I nodded. "Yes, come on, we're taking care of you now…" I said as I lifted her up and carried her outside.

Edward's eyes grew wide with fear when he saw his mother in my arms, almost unconscious and sickly pale. "Mommy?" His lips trembled with fear. "I'm fine honey…" she replied hoarsely. "Come on Edward, we take care of you two now." I said.

I was carrying Esme to the reception desk were I saw Nurse Jessie sitting, reading a novel. This really set me off. "Where do you have your fucking eyes?" I bellowed. "These two were waiting in the waiting room for I don't know how long! The woman is having a head injury! She could have died on the bathroom floor and you sit here reading this shit!" I yelled. "Dr Cullen!" Dr Chapman was just rushing towards me, anger evident in her eyes. "What is this about? Calm down instantly!" she said. I took a deep breath, trying to rein my temper in, but seeing this beautiful woman so hurt and broken in my arms, and also her son just drove me mad. "I apologize. But…" I "I understand Dr Cullen, maybe you should take care of your patients now." Dr Chapman said coolly. I nodded. "Could you… eh, could you call the daycare center and let them know I will pick up the kids later?" Dr Chapman pursed her lips but nodded.

I swallowed, knowing this wasn't the end of this but not really caring. I placed Esme down on the exam table and smiled at her. "I'm sorry…" I whispered. "It's just… I didn't want to lose my temper out there it just makes me angry that no one took care of you…" Esme smiled. "Thanks…" she said weakly. Then I turned to Edward but he was shying away from me. "Edward, sorry buddy… I didn't want to frighten you… I just… it made me angry seeing you and your mommy hurt, okay? I was worried for you…" Edward nodded, not fully believing me though. I heard a door open behind me and saw Nurse Sandra entering. "Ah, Sandra, I need a scan of Ms…" I looked at Esme. "Platt…" she whispered. "Ms Platt's head injury and quick." I said. "And while you get the scan I while take Edward to get a picture of his arm, okay buddy?" Edward nodded.

I took Edward to the x-rays, explaining what I wanted to do with him. "Okay Edward, look, I need to know what is wrong with your arm and therefore I have this machine… it can take a picture of the bone inside your arm, you understand?" Edward nodded. "Okay, so hold still now." I said while I sat up the machine.

The x-rays showed me that Edward's wrist was broken, I had already suspected this, but luckily I didn't have to reset the bone. Esme's scans showed she had a concussion and a minor wound on her temple which needed a few stitches, but she was alright otherwise. "Okay Edward, Nurse Sandra here is going to put a cast on your arm okay?" Edward sobbed. "No! I don't want to go with her!" he said, holding on to my leg. "Hey, Sandra is really nice and she has a lot of colorful bandages for your cast and also some sweets, I'm sure." I said, winking at Edward. Edward bit his lip. "And when you're done Sandra will bring you back here immediately, okay?" Edward finally nodded.

ESME'S POV

I still felt extremely weak and a little funny in the stomach, though I didn't know if this was because of the concussion or the extremely handsome doctor in front of me. "Alright, I'll just clean that and stitch you up… this may sting a little…" he said, starting to clean my head wound. "You have kids?" I asked him weakly. He smiled. "Yes, twins. Jasper and Rosalie, they are 4." He said, smiling proudly. "You love them." I concluded. He nodded. "They are my everything…" he whispered. I could see how much he loved his children in his eyes and it made me sad knowing Edward didn't have the same loving, happy dad around him. The only thing he learned from his father was to be practical invisible. "Twins? That's great! You and your wife must be extremely happy." I said. Dr Cullen looked away like I had said something wrong. Well, obviously I had.

CARLISLE'S POV

I quickly averted my gaze, not wanting anyone to see the hurt in them. "I don't have a wife." I whispered simply. No, I didn't have a wife and the twins had no loving mom. I often thought how bad this was for them. How bad it had been when Kate disappeared that fateful night. I remembered every word of the note I found on the kitchen table the next day, telling me in no more than 20 words how she never wanted kids and didn't love me anymore. She was gone. I should keep the kids, she wasn't interested in them. I shuddered. Not interested in them. How could a mother do that? How could she be so cold, leaving her kids behind when they were hardly 12 months old?

Kate had broken my heart that day. I had loved her, really loved her and I was the happiest man alive when she had the twins. I was too blind to see Kate didn't share my enthusiasm. When I found that note on the kitchen table I was devastated. I was heartbroken. I couldn't really function and I was hardly able to take care of my kids. I was burying myself in my work, not sleeping, hardly eating, trying to numb the pain I felt. Things were getting worse and worse until something happened that I could never forgive myself. Jasper got hurt because I was not able to take care of him.

I took a deep breath and forced myself away from the horrible memories and focused back on my patient.

ESME'S POV

I winced slightly when Dr Cullen touched a tender spot on my head. "Sorry." He mumbled under his breath, stopping with what he did. "I will stitch it up now, it shouldn't be more than 5 or 6 stitches and they'll just leave a little scar." He explained. I smiled. "I'll give you a local anesthesia." he said quietly before carefully injecting something below the skin of my temple. I winced a little from the pinch but Carlisle, Dr Cullen, instinctively squeezed my hand to calm me down. I smiled as a rush of warmth spread through my body and my stomach tingled.

I closed my eyes when Dr Cullen started stitching up my head wound. He had one hand lying on my cheek to hold my head steady and it felt extremely good. I had to bite my lip not to sigh. "How are you feeling now?" Carlisle asked softly. I opened my eyes and looked at him, his beautiful blue eyes shining with concern. "I'm fine, a little lightheaded maybe." I replied. "That's completely normal. You will have to stay under medical supervision for the next 48 hours…" I looked up, moving my head so sudden I felt a short pain in my temple. Carlisle immediately held my head still. "Don't move." He said. "Medical supervision?" I asked. I couldn't stay in the hospital. First of all I had spent enough time in my life in a hospital, getting treated for the many accidents I had at home. Secondly, I would hardly be able to pay the treatment Edward and I already got, I could never afford another two days stay!

Dr Cullen nodded. "Yes, well, at least you can't be left alone. You have to be kept awake for the next 12 hours and then you have to be woken up every 2 hours to check on you, after that you just need someone to watch you, in case you feel dizzy or something…" he explained. "It doesn't mean you have to stay in the hospital, but you need someone to keep an eye on you and also on Edward. Do you have any relatives you could call?" he asked. I silently shook my head. "No… we just moved here, we arrived yesterday… I don't know anybody…" I whispered.

CARLISLE'S POV

Esme's face fell at the thought of spending another two days in the hospital and I instantly felt bad. I knew this wasn't a perfect solution. Especially with Edward.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Edward stormed inside the room. "Look, it's green!" he said, pointing to his cast. I laughed. Esme gave her son an affectionate smile and stroked his hair. "Yes, really cool." She said. Edward grinned. "Hey buddy, are you all good again?" I asked him. Edward smiled. "Yes." He replied. "Okay, your cast is really cool and you were such a brave boy. I have seen much older men crying a lot more than you did." Edward smiled proudly. "Really?" he asked. I nodded.

"Mommy, can you sign my cast?" Edward asked a minute later. She smiled. "Yes, of course…" she said, then looked at me. "But I fear Dr Cullen is not finished with my head yet." I smiled softly at her. "No, but I will be in a minute, then your mom can sign your cast, okay buddy?" I told Edward. He smiled and sat down on the edge of the exam table, waiting patiently.

I finished stitching up Esme's head wound and then put some gauze over it. "Okay, you're all good, just take it easy, and don't sit up to quickly." I said as I released her head. Esme nodded and carefully sat up, leaning against the wall behind her. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Yes, just give me a minute." Edward was looking at his mom; he was clearly still very concerned about her. Seeing the two of them together I was even more convinced they shouldn't spend two days in the hospital… Suddenly a crazy thought entered my mind. Maybe I had a solution… "Eh, I know you don't want to spend any more time in the hospital, but… I can't let you go home alone either… so…"