author's note: A complete drabble. I love the idea that Edward adores Esme in the books and wanted to look at that.
Disclaimer: None of the characters herein belong to me. They are the property of Stephanie Meyer and those associated with the work.
Because it makes her smile.
That's why he does it.
Right now, that is why he's pouring over a piece of staff paper and scribbling musical notes furiously, then erasing them, then writing them again. His eraser is depleted to a rubbery little stub of greyness, his pencil grows blunt every few minutes and yet it does not stop his frantic quest.
It is in a frenzy of creativity that he feels the desperate urge to see her smile.
The first time he played for her, she had cried silently. She could not shed tears but she had shaken softly as she sat, cross-legged before the fire that Carlisle had lit for them before he left for work. She looked so alone.
"You could tell him," he had suggested over the gentle music.
"But who would want me?" She had asked and she had really meant it.
Then his fingers had found the ivories and he thought of everything he had witnessed between them and from his fingers came this music. Her favourite.
We want you, he had thought, you make us real.
Now she is before the fire, staring into the flames again, but she is sitting in Carlisle's study and he is sitting behind her; holding her to him. Edward has not been able to face them both since this morning.
He had left her, and though he could feel her joy on his return from Denali, he had to atone for the agony he had put her through. This was the only way he could possibly atone.
"Esme this is for you," he says as he starts to play, deciding that he cannot wait until the piece is complete. He is too impassioned by his apology.
Instead he plays their lullaby again. Her favourite.
She is listening, he can tell, and over the music he hears the creek of the floorboards as they begin to dance.
He does all this so he can see her smile, even if he doesn't get to see it. It's better when it's Carlisle who gets her smile anyway.
And perhaps that is why he does it really – so he can see them be real together.
Please R and R.