Chapter 1-
Carlisle's Point of View
Carlisle looked at the faces of his children in a family portrait as he thought about the member of his family that was missing. It was March 2nd, the day of his only biological child's birthday. Of course she wasn't still alive, over three hundred years had passed since she had been born. Unless she somehow became a vampire, he was certain that she had passed on. Carlisle had done all the research he could on what had become of his original family, and found out that his beautiful wife had been struck by lightning when his adorable daughter was only four. He also found out that Natalie, his daughter, had gone to live with her god-parents, a close family friend of Carlisle and his previous wife, Irene.
No one other than Esme knew that he had had a family before he was turned, and on occasion, like today, the entire family wondered why Carlisle was so unlike himself and so unhappy. He literally was the complete opposite of himself. His temper was short and he didn't want to talk to anybody, let alone help with their problems. Esme was understanding of this and advised her adopted children to leave their father alone today.
Carlisle hadn't come out of his office since the day literally began at 12 am. He had been sitting there thinking freely about his daughter because Edward was out. He was thinking about what her life had been like, what talents she had developed, wondering if she had found love, how many children she had, every detail that may or may not have affected her life. All he knew was that she had literally been the most magical, adorable, beautiful child he had ever seen. He remembered the first time she opened her eyes and saw how shockingly beautiful the color blue they were. He remembered how creamy and smooth her skin was. And as she started to grow, how cute each of the freckles on the bridge of her nose was and how her blonde curls had just a few of the red highlights in it to match her mother's hair. Irene had always said that if it weren't for the few freckles on her nose, she would look just like him.
Carlisle had only known her until she was about one and a half years old, before he was turned. He had missed so much and wanted to raise her and see what an amazing lady she was, but he realized that even if he hunted animals instead of humans, he couldn't risk her or her mother's life.
He continued to sit and mourn until Esme knocked on the door.
"Carlisle, may I please come in?" she asked quietly, not wanting to upset him even more on this awful day.
"Yes." He answered simply, no emphasis in his voice. It was like he was dying, like there was nothing left to him. He would snap out of it, of course, but not today. Today he mourned for his child.
"I'm so sorry, Carlisle. I know what it's like to lose a child, but at least I know all about the short life he had." She changed the direction of her conversation when his face fell just a little more and his breathing hitched, "That must not have helped, I apologize."
"It's not your fault, Esme. You had good intentions. I just can't help but wondering how she turned out." He was now crying tearless sobs and his beautiful, loving wife just wrapped her arms around him and whispered "I know" into his ear.
They stood like that for a while, which was odd, considering usually Esme was the one crying as Carlisle held her, but he could not help it. When he was human, he always had the desire to be a father, and when he finally got the opportunity, his time with his child was cut much too short by the same creature he was now. Thinking of this only made Carlisle more upset with himself as he stood there. March 2nd would be over soon, and the Cullen 'children' would be home from hunting soon, so he had to pull himself together. He was not entirely sure why, but Carlisle did not want them to know he had another child. As he finished thinking about his angel of a daughter, he thought the same thing he always did when his thoughts of her were coming to a close: he sent up a prayer to the Lord that his wife and daughter would be safe and at peace in heaven, Amen.
