Chapter 1

(Carlisle's POV)

Happiness radiated off me as I headed back toward the house. The deer I had taken down had slaked my thirst, and I had a family. I had a beautiful, kind, caring wife, three gorgeous daughters, three of the most amazing sons a father could ever dream of, an adorable, loving granddaughter, and… well, I had, I guess, four amazing sons. My heart swelled even more at that thought. Even if my most recent 'son' insisted on calling me Dr Fang. I had to admit, it must've seemed funny from his perspective. I smiled, thinking that Jasper would be able to sense me arriving back even before Edward. With the magnitude of my emotions, I was sure I could make my battle scarred, restrained, Empath of a son smile from a distance of a mile, at least. It had been a long time, a very love time since my family had been 'completed', but every time I thought about it, these emotions overpowered my being, my soul simply bursting with the joy of having a family.

I shook my head, taking note of my surroundings. The air whipped by me, ruffling my hair as I ran, as fast as I could, through the dense pine forest, quite a way from home. I insisted on changing hunting grounds frequently, so the wildlife wasn't affected much by our eating habits. After some grumbling, everyone agreed. They could see the point. We didn't mind, we all love running. My adopted children just liked to complain sometimes. I mean, who didn't?

It smelt like rain, and I looked up, seeing the dark clouds taking over the sun. Once again, I smiled. Baseball. Emmett was the one my thoughts landed on this time. My boisterous, fun loving son would possibly be uncontrollable with excitement already, although it would likely be hours before we could play. Alice must've for seen this while I was hunting, and the pixie like girl would probably be picking out exactly which designer label sports brands we would be wearing for the game.

I closed my eyes, using my other senses to dodge trees and boulders, and navigate my way home. I took a deep breath, re finding the trail we had left over the past couple of weeks, and slightly re adjusting my direction, sensed a tree. I dodged to the left before going back to the familiar trail between the most recent hunting ground and home. A grin broke out on my face. This was good. Being immortal and super strong, fast and having lightning senses sure did have its perks.

I opened my eyes, and stopped running for a minute, realising I was only a mile or so from the house. I pushed my joy to the front of my mind, before continuing my sprint. Jasper had been a little put out this morning when I left for work, so I hoped to cheer him up a little. Yet another grin broke out on my face as I, human speed, walked up the steps and opened our glass front door.

'Ok, I understand, Carlisle,' Edward greeted me from the living room (A.N. No pun intended, ha ha), 'but that is just plain soppy!'

'Ah, Edward,' I smiled, 'it gets worse,' reaching out teasingly to ruffle his hair.

Him being able to read minds and all, moved out of the way very hurriedly, but was cracking a lop sided smile. I guessed my mood was just too infectious.

'You're right,' he smirked, 'it is.'

I laughed at that one. I couldn't help me feeling so happy. And if I could, who would?

'Ok, would you two mind sharing this very funny conversation you seem to be having with the more normal people here?' Rosalie asked huffily.

'Hey!' Alice said annoyed, though laughing slightly.

'Oh sorry,' Rose amended, 'I rephrase, with the more normal people, and Alice!?' also smiling now.

As I was opening my mouth to reply, Edward cut in, 'trust me sister,' putting emphasis on the word sister, 'you don't want to know.'

I shrugged at Esme, who smiled and nodded slightly. She felt the same too. Edward just groaned, likely listening to a motherly version of my thoughts.

'You're doing it again daddy?' Rose asked, hinting on the word daddy.

She was teasing I know, but my heart swelled when she said it anyway. Edward was getting annoyed now. I was surprised Jasper hadn't spoken up about my emotions, or at least changed them slightly, so he didn't feel fatherly to his 'siblings', and lust for his 'mother'. I sighed slightly. Jasper still called me 'sir' sometimes, even though he was mostly out of that habit. I wished one of my children would call me dad, but you never know. Maybe they just needed more time. Or maybe they never would. I was content with the way it was, anyway. They were still family. Edward was pointedly ignoring me by now. It was a bit funny, seeing him do that, as he hardly ever did it to me. Usually it was Rose and Emmett. Jasper still hadn't spoken up.

Where was Jasper anyway? I looked around the room seeing my wife in an armchair, flipping through her favourite art books, and Edward sitting on the couch, with a phone in his hand. He was probably going to ring Bella, who had gone to see a movie with Renesmee and Jacob.

'I am,' Edward said, 'the movie should be finishing soon.'

Emmett groaned, he always thought Edward was too protective of Nessie, thinking he should lighten up a bit. I ignored Emmett, and nodded. Who could blame him? He was in love and had a ring to prove it, and still didn't trust Jacob to do the right thing by his daughter. Looking again, I saw Rosalie sitting on the couch opposite Edward, blowing on her still drying nails. She had painted them a deep red. Emmett was sitting next to Rose, looking half-heartedly at the TV. It was on the sports channel. He was also playing a game of lightning speed catch with Alice. Probably 'warming up' for the game later. Meaning Alice was keeping him occupied and relatively quiet for the others benefit. Truthfully, I was surprised the baseball had lasted so long. So where was Jasper? Edward shrugged at me. So he didn't know.

'Where's Jasper?' I asked, a little concerned now.

'He's just gone for a walk,' Alice said, looking up from the game of catch, 'there's no need to worry, Carlisle.'

I nodded, walking over to Esme's armchair. I picked her up, bridal style, sat myself in the chair, and then pulled her back down on top of me, the current book she was looking at laying open in her hands. She giggled, and leaned into my chest, giving me a peck on the cheek before returning to her book, adjusting its position so I could see it as well.

'You two are hopeless,' Edward grumbled, 'I mean seriously, you're as bad as a pair of newlyweds, not a couple that's been together for over 100 years!'

I smiled sweetly at him, 'what about you and Bella?'

He looked mortified.

'Ok,' I said, not needing to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking, 'when Nessie's not around.'

Now he looked disgusted. I smirked, and heard Esme give a slight chuckle. Alice burst out in a fit of hysterical giggles, and started to roll on the floor.

'Alice,' Emmett said, 'come on, it wasn't that funny.'

Alice looked at him, and then still laughing pulled herself up into a sitting position, leaning against one of Emmett's legs. Almost immediately, her laughter stopped, and her eyes gained a familiar glazed look. Edward started gripping the coffee table so hard it started to crack and splinter. It looked like it was about to snap in half. I knew it must be bad, but that didn't prepare me for the reaction. I don't think anything could. As soon as she came out of the vision, Alice launched herself at me and Esme, sobs wracking her body. She had her arms wound tightly around my neck, and was sobbing violently into my shoulder. I was shocked by her sudden change of heart. What was it? She had barely stumbled when she saw the Volturi coming to destroy our family.

'Alice,' I said, rubbing circles on her back, 'Alice darling, what is it?' I was really worried now. What was going on?

Esme had slid off my lap when Alice hugged me, and was now comforting Edward. Alice had curled herself into a little ball in my chest, with her arms still in a choke hold around my neck. Good thing I didn't need to breathe. I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame, pulling her close.

'Sweetie,' I repeated, 'what is it?' My voice was panicky now.

It was Edward that answered me. 'It's Jasper,' he choked out, voice wobbly and unstable, 'Maria… they're torturing him, k-killing him, slowly…' his voice completely broke on the word killing.

I reacted immediately, pushing my fatherly terror to the back of my mind, and pretended this was just another medical emergency at the hospital. I needed to stay calm, and capable of thinking clearly.

'Where?' I asked, my voice calm, with an undercurrent of fury. That was an emotion I couldn't push down. She had done this to my son. My fragile yet strong son, who mentally broke down frequently, over the things she did to him, what she had made him do. How dare she!

'In the clearing North of the river,' was the whispered reply I got, muffled slightly by Esme's arms.

I stood up, supporting Alice in my arms.

'Shh,' I comforted her, 'Jasper will be fine, I won't let anything happen to my family, OK?'

I let go of her briefly, but she stayed in the same position, muscles straining. I put my hands under her arms, and forcer her off me. I gave her to Rose, who had been hugging Emmett fiercely through this whole ordeal.

'Emmett, Edward?' I said, my voice shaking with fury I couldn't shove down, 'Come with me, we're going to find my son.'