Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga nor do I make any profit from this story. Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer and Summit Entertainment, etc.

A/N: This incredibly short story takes place after New Moon and edges into Eclipse a little bit, but not overtly. A little forewarning – I am not including Charlie's house-arrest of Bella. Also, I'm saying that Jacob did not bring the bikes over because he learned from Billy about Bella being grounded. Meh.

Discreet Disagreement

My relationship with my father was something I had always been discreet about.

As the relative figureheads, we were supposed to be the strong ones, allied with each other against all disturbances both inside and out. We learned early on that if we visibly disagreed with each other, the family started to quake in their boots, so to speak. Our family never behaved more awkwardly and uncertainly than when Carlisle and I were at odds. Obviously we could not just start agreeing on everything; it wasn't realistic. Instead, we learned to hide our disagreements from everyone else.

Esme could tell when we didn't see eye to eye, but only because she had been there before our family routine became established in any permanent way. Only Esme knew the bone-deep troubles her husband and first son faced in those early years. Nevertheless, knowing when we were in an argument didn't help Esme to find a way of fixing it. It just had to be settled between my father and I over time and through discussion. Admittedly most of the 'discussion' happened on Carlisle's end, until he got through my thick skull with whatever point he wanted to make. Still, that was our way of trudging through disagreements and it always worked before.

Now, though… needless to say I felt highly reactionary in regards to anything about Bella. For it to include Bella's mortality, in particular, pushed me over the edge. Carlisle just couldn't explain that in a way that I would accept.

This was the first time our method of resolution failed to work.

Granted, I had not once resorted to shouting, never fought with him, hadn't even given him angry looks. I had, however, been intensely cold and distant for weeks over the choice he made regarding Bella's mortality. I knew it was stubborn of me to keep brushing him off and pressuring him to stay away from the house when Bella and I were there. It was especially harsh when I considered the fact that Carlisle hadn't been able to spend any time with his reinstated daughter since we returned. But in my stubbornness, I thought it justification for his promise to Bella, which would cause her to lose her soul and her humanity to join me in this existence.

Of the entire family, only Rosalie recognized my attitude at first. The only reason she did not let on to anyone was due to her continued guilt over my attempted suicide and her unfortunate choice to call me about Bella's seeming death. Even Jasper couldn't tell what had begun happening, which was rare indeed. Bella had recognized something wrong with me, of course. Despite her usual intuition concerning me, however, even my perceptive Bella did not comprehend what truly bothered me and she merely put it down to my displeasure over recent events. Mine and Carlisle's discreet disagreeing had become too well perfected after all these years.

Sighing disparagingly, I confessed internally that Carlisle was much too selfless to do anything other than what made me happy – or at least reasonably satisfied. If I insinuated I felt happier without him coming around Bella, Carlisle would take extra shifts at the hospital and stay away for as long as Bella's visit lasted, no matter how much he wished he could spend time with his newest daughter and returned son.

Alice began to catch on soon enough. A strange little pattern had emerged and after her suspicions were aroused, my psychic sister figured it out all too easily. First, she always received a vision of Bella coming over the next afternoon, something she did every day. An hour or so later, there would be a vision of my conversation with Carlisle, in which I made insinuations to him about staying away; insinuations so subtle that no one would pay enough attention to recognize them. The final vision, a few minutes later, would be another lonely extra shift for Carlisle the next day, while Bella spent an enjoyable evening with the rest of the family.

Alice's ice-cold glares in my direction, whenever Bella wasn't looking, started up exactly one week after the first extra shift. Jasper was ready to explode over his continued confusion, but still he knew better than to come between an argument of the freak twins.

So it continued all the second week: the strange little pattern, Alice's glares, Jasper's confusion, my stubbornness, and Carlisle's resignation. Esme did not feel suspicious, only imagining Carlisle wanted to make up for the abrupt departure months before and the toll his temporary loss had put on the hospital staff in Forks. Carlisle was simply a martyr like that; it wasn't unexpected. Emmett never questioned, just figured that Carlisle was doing the job he loved. And Rosalie remained silent in resigned guilt.

Another week passed by. My insinuations grew into the idea that Carlisle's weekends should be filled like his weekdays. So Carlisle made them that way. Alice glared more frequently, Jasper grew frustrated, Emmett and Esme continued in blissful ignorance, and Rosalie stared after Carlisle as he drove off that Saturday morning.

Not long after the first changed weekend ended and the fourth week began, I acknowledged that Emmett did not get enough credit for his intelligence. Because Emmett had begun to catch on, too. Not having the added benefit of Alice's visions, Emmett did not put the extra hours together with my interference. All the same, Emmett knew something wasn't right when Carlisle came trudging in the house after those late shifts and heavy weekend hours, never looking satisfied with his work as he had in years past. Emmett wondered aloud to Rose about it. Rosalie said nothing and her eyes said everything, but Emmett paid no attention. He still stared up the stairs where Carlisle had disappeared.

The fifth week turned grisly. When Carlisle returned home in the early hours, after Bella had surely left for Charlie's house, Jasper felt the loneliness creeping into out father's system little by little each day. Confusion persisted. Having no sense of my feelings towards Carlisle, since I so often spent time away from our leader, Jasper stood at a loss as to what went wrong. He languished so deep in contemplating the emotions we all felt that he overlooked the most significant point of the whole situation.

I wasn't spending time with Carlisle anymore.

Esme became a little suspicious with Carlisle's overt dedication to the hospital. Alice glared more violently, as well as more frequently. Emmett's jokes grew awkward and stale, Rosalie grew uncomfortable, and somehow I grew more stubborn than ever.

Six weeks in, Carlisle began to drag during those few hours he spent at home. Reaction times slowed, responses drawn out, blank expressions, infrequent hunting… Now Esme not only felt suspicious, she felt afraid. Alice's glaring halted, but only to share worried glances with our mother. Carlisle had clearly grown detached.

For a brief moment one day he contemplated staying home instead of taking the extra shift. My bitter expression and sudden, indignant words convinced him otherwise. Emmett, of all people, overheard that brief interlude by accident. One look from Emmett after that, and I knew he wanted to wrestle with me in far more violent manner. He didn't bother to hide his glares from Bella's sight (although he did so for Esme, I noticed), a decision which strangely prompted Bella to begin watching Rosalie when she wasn't paying attention.

Rosalie fidgeted guiltily at odd times.

The seventh week, Rosalie's fidgeting made sense; only Carlisle's name prompted it. Of course Bella had to be the one to catch that. In her unknowing way, Bella simply announced Rosalie's fidgeting behavior and Emmett's glares to Alice, Jasper, and me at lunch one day without any warning. Jasper's face abruptly turned blank, then morphed into suspicion. Rosalie had no chance to escape when he cornered her for answers that night, and in minutes she told him everything I thought she would never tell, face a rare picture of shame. Dawning realization crossed Jasper's features, then finally a fury so deep that I genuinely gulped and stepped out of the house to escape his anger.

Yet the following day – in the one class I did not share with Bella, but happened to share with Jasper – my war-hardened brother gazed at me with steely intent before suddenly heaping all of Carlisle's despondency and loneliness onto me. Vampire or no, I might have passed out or vomited at the strength of the feelings, had Jasper not pulled them back again. His fury did not abate, but he left me alone nonetheless after that.

Eight weeks marked a strange turning point. Carlisle had, once again, thought of staying home that day. Staring him down ensured he left anyway.

In a rare moment that I waited for Bella, having agreed to let her drive this time, I heard Esme's thoughts loud and clear. The look on Carlisle's face and his goodbyes for my mother each morning before work had grown steadily more despondent, until this particular morning he kissed her so violently she flinched. Carlisle didn't even notice. As Esme had watched his face that morning, desperation filled his eyes; a desperation that Esme had never seen in him before.

Emmett scowled at me that afternoon, Alice hissed, and Jasper clenched his jaw. Rosalie began to send me pleading thoughts, a point upon which I could not focus lest I give up my stubborn position against Carlisle's promise to Bella.

The first week that Bella's grounding was over, it was more than desperation which filled Carlisle's face. It was terror. I didn't even have to engage him in another conversation before he left for work, already assuring me in his thoughts that he would stay late as usual. He wasn't afraid of me, but as Jasper once more forcibly reminded me in our one shared class, terror nevertheless reigned in Carlisle for reasons unknown. Still he kept it all tightly tucked away, doing his level best to hide it from everyone, even in his mind.

Emmett, Jasper, and Alice all glared with steel eyes whenever I entered the room, none of them bothering to hide it from Bella or Esme. Esme's suspicions turned horrified. Bella felt threatened and thought no more about it, her thoughts quite tied up in the problem of Jacob Black and her human friends and her whole human life soon coming to a close. As that knowledge swirled in my head, for once I glared right back.

Ten weeks. Dreadful arguments started when neither Carlisle nor Bella were present. Those strange late night hours while Bella sat at home with Charlie, and Carlisle still worked; those hours became the battle ground. Emmett and Alice went around and around with me, pointing out every flaw in my offensive strategies with our father. Esme sobbed tearlessly in the background. After four days of debate, she now had no words with which to dismantle my hard actions against Carlisle. Jasper stood behind Esme, a hand on her shoulder, doing all he could to calm the rages and still comfort our mother. And in one lucid moment, I watched Rosalie succumb to the rarest of reactions.

She cried.

Almost soundlessly, perhaps. Even stoically. Yet if she were human, tears would have been streaming down her cheeks.

Everything stopped. Literally. Words, gestures, thoughts, feelings… everything paused indefinitely in shock, silence, and stillness while the ice queen melted for the one person I thought she never would.

A/N: I'm just a big sucker for hurt/comfort stories. Particularly with Carlisle… *sigh*

A weird tidbit about this chapter… it measures 1,926 words – 1926. The year Edward acted like an idiot and left Carlisle & Esme. I find it ironic that he was being equally as stupid here.

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