You're Still The Same

Esme's POV

I was in the kitchen tidying up once again after Jacob and Seth had attempted to interest Nessie in cooking. It hadn't worked and the boys had just made a huge mess instead while Nessie played cards with Alice, Bella and Emmett. Not that I minded. The wolves, well at least Jacob and Seth, had become like family. The other had gradually become more excepting of the strange situation we had all landed in. We all adjusted differently but the important thing was that we did adjust. After all, it is rather a big shock for everyone. But we are getting used to it.
"Esmee?"
I turned to see Alice smiling sweetly at me. Too sweetly. I guessed what she was going to say next.
"Only if you make sure you keep it out of Jacob's hearing or else you will have him tagging along to go shopping."
"Oh, I know, but for once I wasn't going to ask that. We were all going to go hunting and we were wondering if you wanted to come?"
"Of course I want to come! But can we wait until Carlisle and Edward come home? Then we could go all together?"
"Sure. We'll go as soon as they get back."
"Thanks honey."

I finished tidying up and went through to the sitting room where Nessie was happily painting a picture of Emmett who was posing in a stupid face for her while Alice, Rosaline and Bella discussed outfits for Nessie and Jasper sat in the corner switching between watching Emmett and Nessie and reading his book.
"Esmee! You have to look at this outfit! It's adorable!" Squealed Alice. Bella rolled her eyes like she normally did at these particular moments. I grinned. As annoying as Alice could be she did have fabulous taste and absolutely loved choosing outfits for everyone. Particularly Nessie. And with Nessie still growing at a reasonably fast pace the girls did not need an excuse to buy clothes, though the pace was slowing. Right now Nessie looked about 9.
Just as I was looking at the outfit which, true to Alice's words, was adorable with the long purple cardigan over a white knee-length dress with a navy stripe around the waist and matching navy pumps, I heard Carlisle's car coming up the drive.
"Yay! They're home! We can go now!" Nessie cried in excitement. We all smiled at Nessie's delight at the whole family going hunting together. It wasn't something we did too often anymore so it was always an enjoyable occasion with the wolves occasionally joining us.
We all went outside to meet them.
"I take it we are all going somewhere then?" Carlisle said smiling. I pecked him on the cheek.
"Of course. The girls have decided we are all going hunting together." I replied while Edward picked Nessie up and swung her up in a way of greeting.
"Have you really? Well there's a surprise isn't it?" Edward grinned.
"Now there's no need for sarcasm. We thought it was a nice day to do something all together." Bella frowned jokingly at her husband as he chased Nessie around the garage.
"Well no time to waste then." Said Carlisle as he took off his jacket and tie.
We all grinned and set off into the woods with Emmett giving Nessie a piggy-back so she could keep up as she couldn't run quite as fast as the rest of us. We ran for a few minutes with Edward and Jasper up front.

Suddenly they stopped. The rest of us caught up and then stopped also.
"What is it Edward?" Carlisle asked, worried.
"Can you smell it? There is another vampire nearby." Jasper answered for him.
I breathed deeply. Once you knew what you were trying to smell, it was relatively easy to tell that there was a vampire close. I faintly recognised the smell. No, that was impossible, how could I? But that niggling feeling didn't go away.
"Any ideas on what to do?" Emmett asked to Carlisle.
Carlisle hesitated, looking at Edward who in turn was looking at me. It is nothing Edward. It doesn't mean anything. Please, I don't need anyone worrying about me, particularly you or Carlisle. Ignore me. Please. I begged Edward through my thoughts. Edward turned his gaze from me and shook his head.
"Well I don't think it is anything to worry about, as Alice hasn't had a vision yet. But we should check it out anyhow." Carlisle replied finally, looking at Alice to check.
Alice frowned, and suddenly her eyes were vacant. A few moments later she came around with us all waiting patiently for her response to her vision.
"It wasn't very clear, but I saw a vampire, he looked about 21 or 22. He was in the clearing near our house."
We exchanged worried glances. "Did he look like he was going to cause trouble?" Jasper asked.
"Surprisingly, no. He seemed rather clam but nervous for some reason."
"Well we need to go find him, we don't know yet who he is, as he is still in our jurisdiction and we need to get him out of this area before he goes hunting. Rosaline, stay at the back with Nessie. We don't know who he is, so we can't take any chances." Carlisle ordered. Nessie scrambled down from Emmett and into Rosaline's arms.
"Everyone ready? Let's go."

We followed his scent to another clearing a few miles away. As we approached, Rosaline stayed back with Nessie just in case.

We slowed down to a human paced walk as we strode into the corner of the clearing. We didn't know this area as well as we should so we stayed away from the sun in case there were any hikers nearby. It was quite a small clearing considering the size of the whole forest, but the trees towered above us, blocking parts of the clearing from the sunlight, creating dapples of white light shining down on the leaf-covered ground.

In the middle of the clearing, with his skin sparkling as we all did, stood the same man that Alice had seen in the vision. He was standing with his back to us, but he turned around as we stopped 20 metres away.
If my heart could beat, it would have stopped. It couldn't be. But it had to be. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. No. It was the older version of a face that used to be as recognisable to me as my own. My darling brother.

"Will?"
"Esmee?"