In His Absence

This is a Carlisle and Bella story set during New Moon.

It is not used for profit, nor do I own the rights to Twilight or any subsequent books, only Stephenie Meyer does.

Carlisle's Point of View:

The day after Bella's birthday party was somber, to say the least. The whole house was eerily quiet, with everyone reeling over yesterday's events, they were absent from the place where the disaster took place. The whole family had decided to go to see family in Denali, giving the Swan's the space they needed. Edward was the last to leave. He caught me in my office, clearing the last remnants of when Bella had been here only hours before. When he appeared in the doorway, he was despondent, as if the last bit of life he held onto had left him. His eyes said what he could not speak of. I knew he would leave like the rest of the family to escape what had happened here yesterday. Because of the fact that we were not human, and although we tried to blend in, we were still vampires hurt me to the core. Yesterday we nearly killed a human because we had tried to fit in. She was someone that had grown as dear to us as family, and we had hurt her in the process. As I pretended to be browsing at the library, he leaned against the door frame; his hair was disheveled, wearing the same clothes as he had to the party.

"I've left her, Carlisle. And I'm leaving, just like the rest. I can't stay here any longer. Are you coming, as well?"

"I've given it much thought, Edward. My practice will have to find a replacement. I'll have to give them time to find a new physician with the same qualifications, and that could take time. There's more to walking out on your problems than meets the eye, Edward. There will be consequences. What about Bella's welfare. We've changed her life forever, we can't just neglect her."

"She has Charlie. I can't go back, Carlisle. I told her so. She has to move on without us. Goodbye, Carlisle."

"Take care of yourself, Edward."

Later that afternoon, the Sherriff's office called, and I picked up after glancing at the caller ID. It was a colleague of Charlie's, he said. He had just come from the Swan's, and the hospital said that I could be reached at this number. He apologized for calling me on my day off, but he thought it was an emergency. He said that they had just found the Chief's daughter in the woods, she was at home now, and that they couldn't get her warm, and she was incoherent. She kept mumbling nonsense and Charlie wanted to take her to the ER, but she would start screaming. The whole department is worried, and we'd be grateful if you could go over there. I told him I would be glad to, thinking all the while, both Charlie and Bella knew it was our family that caused this whole disaster in the first place. Would I even be welcome in their home? I had to try.

Pulling up to the house, there were about five squad cars in the driveway, all of the officers waiting outside. There were a handful of Black's, and my presence was not welcome by the looks of them. But they said nothing, as to not be detected by the officers outside. For the secret to be uncovered would be detrimental to the pack. But I knew that my every move was being watched. I had my bag in my right hand, my tan raincoat turned up at the collar to keep the rain out. It was a bitter day, and if she was out all night, I shuddered to think about it. I knocked on the door with caution. You could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. The door creaked open, and you could feel the warmth from inside wafting out into the frigid air.

"Dr. Cullen, I don't know who called you, but I'm glad you're here. I guess you know what happened? Because I need some answers. But for now, can you help me with Bella?"

"I'd be glad to help. Can you show me where she is, please?"

Charlie raced upstairs, and I followed. In the room to the left, was hers. I nodded to Charlie, as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He left the room with hesitation, worried. I closed the door behind him, and laid my coat on the chair at the desk. I put my bag on the nightstand, and removed my stethoscope from it. She was curled in a ball, shivering, lips and fingernails blue from hypothermia. Her heart rate was low, breathing was shallow. She looked so fragile lying there. I straightened her fingers, and they instinctively curled around my hand. She opened her eyes, gasped and was startled by what she saw.

"Carlisle, where's Edward?"

"Don't worry about that now, Bella. He's fine. He's with the rest of the family. We'll talk about that later, OK?"

I took her hand, and looked at the veins along the side of her wrist. I took the equipment out of my bag, fluids, lines, needle and tape. I scrubbed her wrist and took the needle from the wrapper. She barely winced from the pain. The bag of fluid rested nicely from the top of her headboard, and it was taped securely. She was severely dehydrated and hypothermic from being out there since the afternoon before. I can't imagine what was going through Charlie's mind during that time. I told her to open her mouth for me, and slipped a peach tablet under her tongue. It should help her state of mind and calm the chills from shock. I turned up the drip, and called out for Charlie. She needed some warm tea, something to warm her from the inside out. Charlie produced the tea just moments later, and stood at the doorway with a horrified look on his face. He was relinquishing care of his daughter to the very ones that nearly destroyed her. How could he live with himself if anything happened to her? I took the tea from him, giving him a reassuring look. I touched him on the shoulder and shook my head. He slowly trod back down the stairs, and took up his post on the couch with his head in his hands.

With the tea on the nightstand, I helped her to sit upright. She made an awful face, as the tablet dissolved. It was bitter. I sat on the edge of the bed and held the cup to her lips. She took a sip, and turned her head to refuse more.

"All of it, Bella. You can't go back to sleep until it's done."

"Carlisle, it hurts, here," as she pointed to her heart. Tears streamed down her face. "It was my fault. I can't go on without him."

"Yes you can. There's a man downstairs that's depending on you. He loves you more than anything in this world, Bella. My whole family has left me, and I'm hurting too. We can get through this together, if you'll let me."

She took the cup from his grasp, and finished the warm elixir. She rested her head against the headboard, looked at him and said, "Why did you stay, Carlisle?"

Before answering, he took his stethoscope off and returned it to his bag. She could hear the leather soles of his shoes on the floor as he went to stand by the window. He looked out at the throng of people still hovering outside, waiting for word. He took his coat off of the chair at the desk and threw it onto the foot of the bed, covering the blankets at her feet. He slid it to the side of her bed. He took her hand, turning it over in his ever so gently. He looked in her eyes and leaned over to her.

"Because Alice told me before she left that you would need me. But she was only partially right. Turns out I need you, too."

Until we meet again, my friends. I hope you enjoyed getting lost in their world, as much as I have writing it. I'll post further chapters if you think it's a worthwhile venture. This is my first fanfic. Thank you so much for giving me your time! Amy