A/N: This is a story I just thought of one day and have been trying to put into words. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I Own Annie and play with the others.
WARNING: Child spanking for bad behavior, Language, and possible lemons in the future!
Esme's POV
The moon was bright up above the trees. Even though I didn't need the light, I still liked the way everything looked in its shadows. The forest smelt of wet rotting leaves. It wasn't the most pleasant scent in the world, but it wasn't the most disgusting scent either. I stood up straighter and looked down at the doe I had managed to catch and kill to feed. I felt a little bad looking down at its lifeless form. But it was a lot better than killing a human.
"Are you about ready to head home?" My husband's soft voice asked behind me. I nodded without looking at him and he wrapped his arms around my waist, planting a light kiss on my neck. I smiled and leaned against him.
"We have the house to ourselves." He breathed, leaving another kiss higher on my neck. I shuttered a little at the feelings he was causing to run through my body. If I were still human my heart would have been pounding. Even after all these years of being with Carlisle, I was still madly in love with him. Actually my love for him grew with everyday I was with him.
"All the kids are gone for Valentines. Jasper and Alice won't be home until tomorrow, Edward is in Alaska and Rose and Emmett are in Paris. There are a lot of possibilities for tonight." He growled against my ear. I turned in his arms and stood on tiptoes to give him a small kiss on the lips.
"Then why are we still standing in the middle of the forest?" I asked. He smiled and kissed my nose before taking my hand and leading me in the direction of home. We were enjoying walk when it hit us like a ton of bricks. The scent of fresh human blood was strong. I looked at Carlisle and could see the slight panic on his face. We ran in the direction of the scent, him still holding my hand, though his grasp had gotten tighter. When we found the source I inhaled sharply.
"Oh my God." Carlisle gasped. In a little clearing were a shredded tent and several shredded items. Food lay scattered on the ground. Blood splattered the side of the part of the tent that was still standing and stained feathers from pillows. In the midst of it all was a young couple. The condition they were in was way too gruesome for anyone to see. There was another scent mingled in with the blood. A vampire had been here. A vampire had done this horrible act.
"Stay here." Carlisle whispered in a hard voice. I reluctantly let go of his hand. He walked gingerly over the mess of the campsite and stopped next to the couple. He knelt down and put a hand to the young man's neck. Even though we both knew they were dead, my husband still had hope. He stayed knelt down between them after he had felt the woman's neck. I heard him sigh. I had stopped breathing when we first came upon the scene, it amazed me how Carlisle could handle being around all this blood and not be tempted even when he was breathing right in the middle of it. I took a step toward him and stopped when I heard paper crinkle under my step. I looked down and knew I would have cried if I were able to. A pink valentine's card lay smeared with blood under my foot. I hesitantly picked it up. On the front was a family of three bears. A mother and father bear cuddled a smiling baby bear. I opened it with shaking hands.
To a very special girl. We love you more than you could ever know.
With lots of love- Mommy and Daddy.
"Carlisle." I breathed when the realization hit me. Carlisle stood up and turned to look at me with a worried look.
"Are you-?" He broke off. I'd heard it too. I guess we both had been shocked by the scene we weren't paying much attention to the world around us. But now I heard it. A small whimper and sniffle.
"Oh, dear God, no." I gasped dropping the card and running to the tent. I opened the flap with shaking hands as Carlisle knelt beside me. I was met by a pair of big frightened blue eyes. The little girl was wrapped in a sleeping bag, her face stained with tears, nose running, and trembling. She whimpered and backed away tighter in the corner. I looked at Carlisle, panicked and not sure what to do. He looked as unsure as I did. He cleared his throat and moved in a little closer.
"Are you hurt?" He asked softly. The girl didn't move or say anything.
"Carlisle what do we do?" I asked so low only he could hear.
"I don't know, but this happened not too long ago and I would like to get her out of here before he decides to come back." He whispered back as low as I had. He moved a little closer, slowly. The girls breathing got quicker and her eyes widened even more. Then her eyes slid closed and she slumped forward.
"Carlisle!" I gasped.
"It's ok, she just fainted." He whispered. I was still worried. Carlisle crawled in and pulled the child against his chest.
"We'll take her home, I'll examine her there." He said. I nodded and stood up with him. We left the crime scene and ran the rest of the way back to the car. I got in the driver's side and Carlisle laid the girl across the backseat and got in with her. I longed to be the one next to her but I knew Carlisle wanted to go ahead and look her over a little.
"She has a few scratches." He confirmed a few minutes after we had been on the road.
"I just wonder why he didn't…. I mean he killed her parents why didn't he…?" I could finish what I was trying to say.
"I know dear. I wonder too." He whispered. In my anger I floored the pedal. What would have taken an hour took only thirty minutes for us to be in front of the house. I got out and unlocked the front door.
"Esme, are you ok?" Carlisle asked when he came in carrying the little girl.
"I'm worried about her." I whispered.
"I know me too." He said.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"Right now I need to clean out her scratches. If you want to go up to our room and draw a hot bath, we'll get her clean." He said softly. I nodded and he kissed my cheek before heading towards his office. I ran up the stairs and turned on the light in the bathroom and knelt down beside the Jacuzzi tub and turned on the water. I didn't really know what was too hot or too cold. Carlisle would know when he came up. I got up and went to my closet, looking for something small enough that would fit her. I settled on a plain grey t-shirt and opened Carlisle's underwear drawer. I set the t-shirt and a pair of Carlisle's black boxer shorts on the bed and sat down, waiting for him to come up. That's when I noticed my phone flashing on the dresser where I had left it before Carlisle and I had gone hunting. I picked it up and noticed I had fifty missed calls, twenty voicemails, and a hundred text messages. All of them were from Alice.
We are on our way home. Was the last text message I had received. It had come a few minutes before we got home. I dialed the number for my voicemail.
"Esme, call me as soon as you can." Alice spoke frantically on the first one.
"Esme this isn't one of my mindless calls." The second said.
"There is going to be an accident tonight!" The tenth one said.
"Esme, a vampire attack is going to happen. A little girl is going to be orphaned and you're going to bring her home. Please call me!" The fifteenth said.
"Ok we are on our way home. We should be back at one in the morning." On the last one she sounded ticked. I looked at the clock. It was twelve. I heard Carlisle coming up the stairs so I moved back to the bathroom and turned off the water. I heard sniffling and I turned to see that she had woken up.
"She's ok, just in shock I think." He whispered. I nodded and moved aside so he could kneel down beside me. He set the girl down in front of us. She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes.
"Do you want to take a bath?" Carlisle asked the girl. She sniffed and looked from Carlisle to me, then back to Carlisle. She looked at him with frightened eyes.
"Carlisle, maybe you should leave for this part." I whispered gently. He nodded and smiled gently at the girl before standing up and leaving, shutting the door behind him. When he left she moved closer to me and I smiled before lifting her nightdress over her head. I lifted her up and put her in the water. She winced a little and I felt a surge of panic.
"Is it too hot?" I asked.
"N-no." She said biting her lip before pointing to a scrape on her knee. I understood and made a mental note to be careful. I helped her wet her hair and grabbed a bottle of my strawberry shampoo. I gently scrubbed her hair and she seemed to relax a little more.
"May I ask your name?" I asked gently.
"I'm Annie." She whispered looking down at the water.
"My names Esme." I said gently, rinsing her hair and picking up a washcloth. "How old are you?" Instead of answering she held up four fingers. I finished with her quickly and lifted her out of the tub, and quickly wrapped her in a pink towel. I used another towel to dry her hair. When I was done her hair hung around her face in little brown curls. She was a pretty little girl. She had a few freckles on her nose that added to her cuteness. She was tall for her age and pretty thin.
" Esme?" She asked a little hesitantly.
" Yes?" I answered.
"Where are my mommy and daddy?" She asked curiously. I gaped at her. I didn't know how to answer. She couldn't have forgotten what had happened. Or maybe she had. Maybe she was in that much shock as to forget what happened. I was saved by Carlisle knocking on the bathroom door.
"Do you mind if he comes in?" I asked her. She bit her lip and nodded.
"Come in." I called gently. Carlisle came in with the clothes I had laid out. He smiled gently at her and she smiled shyly back. He handed the clothes to me and turned his back. I helped Annie dress quickly so he could turn around. The shorts hung down to below her knees and the shirt hung down just as low. I sighed, but it was the best I could do for now.
"Alice called." He said gently.
"Yeah she left a message for me." I said with a little laugh. Annie listened curiously but didn't say anything as I grabbed a brush and ran it lightly through her hair. She tried to hide a yawn, and I noticed how her eyes drooped a little bit.
"Are you tired?" I asked.
"A little." She said, blushing. I stood up and reached my hand out to her. She took it and I led her out of the bathroom. Carlisle followed behind us and turned off the light in the bathroom. He went around us and pulled the thick black quilt on our bed down and plumped the pillows. I picked her up and set her in the middle of the bed, Carlisle sat on one side of her and I took the other side.
"Go to sleep sweet heart." Carlisle whispered gently. Annie didn't argue, just slid deeper under the quilt and buried her face in one of the pillows. It wasn't long at all before she was asleep.
"What are we going to tell her?" I whispered.
"I don't know." Carlisle sighed. "Alice said she had a vision. She didn't want to tell me on the phone though."
"I hope it's nothing bad." I said looking down at the sleeping child between us.
"I hate to say this because I don't want to jinx her, but I don't think it can get any worse." He sighed. We were quiet for a few more minutes.
"She asked me where her parents were." I said sadly.
"I know. It's going to be hard to tell her that they're-"He stopped when we heard a car coming up the driveway fast. I looked at Carlisle before I got up from the bed, slow so as not to wake up Annie, and ran quickly down to the living room right as Alice and Jasper came through the front door.
"How is she?" Alice asked quickly, worry etched on her face.
"She's ok, she's asleep right now." Carlisle answered putting an arm around my waist. Alice looked up at the ceiling and that blank look came across her face.
"She will sleep throughout the night and wake up around nine-thirty." She said before moving past us to the living room. "I had a vision on the way home." She said, back facing us. I looked at Jasper and he sighed.
"She wouldn't tell me either." He said rubbing the back of his head.
"Alice just, tell us." I said worried.
"I was going to tell everyone, but Rose and Emmett won't be home till tomorrow and Edward won't be able to be back until tonight." She sighed turning around. I noticed she didn't look worried, but excited.
"Alice." Carlisle said a little annoyed.
"Ok, ok." She said. She was hiding a smile now. "In the vision I saw her with us. Ten years from now." She finished in a rush. I gaped at her and Jasper gasped.
"You mean…" He trailed off and I could see the fear in his face.
"Yes. Esme and Carlisle are going to keep her. We are going to have a baby sister!" She squealed.
