Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
A/N: This is a replacement of the original chapter one which was embarrassingly bad, I couldn't bear to read it anymore. So enough of my rambling and on the story...
Carlisle POV
I had a feeling today would be special, I had no idea what it would be but; it put a smile on my face. As I walked that evening, to my shift at the hospital as soon as the smell of disease and death hit my nostrils, the smile was wiped clean off of my face. From a street away I could already hear the coughing of the dying patients inside. I sighed as I made my way to the desk to sign in, looking around the waiting room as I walked at an excruciatingly slow human pace, eager to get to work. My eyes lingered on two people in particular. It was a young man with a woman I presumed to be his mother. They were both very similar, they had bronze hair, and if I recalled correctly from their almost constant position in the waiting room, they both had the same shade of green eyes. They had been waiting on news of the young man's father, the woman's husband.
I struggled to remember their names and then it came to me. They were called Masen; Elizabeth and Edward Masen, with the man already in the hospital also called Edward. I yearned to reach out and comfort the family in front of me, but I controlled the urge. Suddenly the boy's head rose off of his mother's shoulder and he looked around the room, until his gaze rested on me. He have me a small, sad smile, almost as if he had heard my silent comfort and then he looked at his mother, to answer some question to quiet for even me to hear. I could only presume that Edward Sr had passed away; their private grief palpable from across the waiting room, where I stood. I turned back to the desk, signed in and quickly made my way to the back room were my coat was kept to try and stop the doctors from spreading the disease by taking them home. Once I had it on I heard a shout from the waiting room.
"Help! My son's just fainted! Someone get a doctor!"
I ran at a human pace through the door and I hoped the son wasn't the Masen boy. For his mother to lose her husband and her son to the same disease would surely kill her. I was saddened that my suspicions were correct. It was Edward who had fainted and the only person near him was his mother, everyone else had retreated from the boy's unconscious form, for fear that they too would catch the deadly virus. I went over to the boy and checked for his pulse. It was faster than it should be but there. I lifted him up, feigning difficulty, and carried him to one of the only rooms left, 17A.
His mother followed close at my heels as I walked toward one of the two beds in the room. I placed him gently on it and went to go and get a cloth soaked in cold water. Elizabeth was sitting on his bed and stoking his hair while talking to him. I handed her the cloth and she gently dabbed his forehead then placed it there to cool him.
"Mrs Masen, has he been showing any of the symptoms before now?" I asked as I continued checking his temperature.
"No, but he would have hidden it for me. He never likes to show weakness. Daft boy." Tears had formed in her eyes by the end of the sentence. Edward had started to mumble something and Elizabeth's focus was entirely on her son again.
"Momma, where are you...?" Edward's brow furrowed and his voice was no louder than a whimper as he reached out to his mother. She held his hand and started to talk to him. Once he was settled again she turned away, tears once again in her eyes.
"It's been years since he called me Momma." She smiled sadly at the boy next to her and sighed.
Minutes later, Edward's eyes popped open and he looked at his mother questioningly.
"Edward, love, you fainted in the waiting room. Dr..." She looked at me.
"Cullen. Dr Carlisle Cullen."
"And Dr Cullen brought you here. You have a very high temperature and your pulse is faster than it should be." Her tears began to flow down her face.
"Mother, I'm fine, really. We should go home. I'll be better in no time." He started to get up, his mother and I pushed him back down.
"Edward, you are not fine. Why didn't you tell me about your fever?" Elizabeth looked at him expectantly.
"I didn't want to worry you." Edward answered in a small voice. Elizabeth shook her head at him.
"It's a mother's job to worry. Now you stay put while I go and speak with Dr Cullen. Stay." That was her final command as he tried to leaver himself up again. He let himself fall back on to the bed as he let out the mouthful of air he had been holding in. He stared angrily at the ceiling as I closed the door.
"Mrs Masen..." I began.
"Call me Elizabeth. I think it best as you are going to be seeing a great deal of me. Also, I didn't want to say anything in front of Edward but..." She lifted my hand by my wrist to her forehead. She was running a fever even higher than Edward's; I was surprised it wasn't her who had fainted. Elizabeth looked at me and I looked at her. I motioned for her to go back into the room and she quickly complied. She had heard Edward's coughing as surely as I did. His slim frame was being shaken by the ferocity of the coughing fit. He had sat up and Elizabeth had gone to sit next to him and was rubbing his back as he finished and lay back down. He was soon asleep again and Elizabeth placed the cloth back on his head.
"How old is he?" I asked as I filled out a report.
"Seventeen. He was seventeen this past June." He was younger than I had thought. I had thought he was eighteen maybe nineteen.
Soon night fell and I went to go and get sheets for the other bed in the room, for Elizabeth. She hadn't left Edward's side once. He had tried to get her to go home, so she wouldn't catch the Spanish Influenza as he had, but she told him not to be silly and that she was staying with him. Every now and again she would get up off her own bed to check on her son. One time Edward protested.
"Mother, I'm not a baby, get some rest." He tried to muster a fierce look but she didn't care.
"You'll always be my baby, Edward, and I'm perfectly fine." I had left a few times to go and check on my other patients but I kept returning. Once my shift was over, I went to tell them I was leaving. I also told Elizabeth to get some rest and to listen to what the other doctors told her. Once I was back in my small house I realised what had happened. I had gotten attached. Humans were so fragile, especially with this pandemic on our hands. I sat down at my desk and put my head in my hands. My home had very few pieces of furniture, only a desk, chair, bookshelf, wardrobe and bed, in case anyone looked in or came to visit-not that that was very likely.
I picked a book off of the shelf to my right and started to read to try and pass the time until the sun would be low enough in the sky for it to be safe for me to go to the hospital. I tried to concentrate on the book in my hands but my mind kept wandering back to the Masens'. It was stupid of me to allow myself to get this attached to them. I kept telling myself this but it didn't change anything. I kept glancing out of my window and at the clock on my wall, counting down the minutes until I would be able to go back to work. As soon as possible, I was out of the door and down the street. Once I was there, I quickly signed in, grabbed my coat and went to room 17A.
Elizabeth was still nursing her son, by the looks of it; they had both deteriorated during the day. Edward appeared to be having a nightmare of some sort.
"Mother...Momma!" He called out and tossed and turned in the bed, every few seconds.
"Yes, baby, I'm here, I'm here." Elizabeth was holding his hand again and stroking his hair, the same position she had been in yesterday. After a few minutes he was settled once again.
"Elizabeth, you really should get some rest while he's sleeping. There's not much you can do." She looked at me and then she did as I said and went to rest.
Two days went by and both of them were a lot worse. The virus was taking Elizabeth faster then Edward, most likely because she was nursing him still. One night she didn't have the strength to go to his bed. I was soaking another cloth in the basin across the room from her. Edward was deeply sleeping and I had thought Elizabeth was too.
"Dr Cullen!" Her voice was surprisingly strong, for a moment I thought she would get through this.
"Yes, Elizabeth?" I walked to be between the two beds and looked at her.
"Save him!" She grabbed my arm.
"I will do everything in my power." I placed the cloth on Edward's forehead.
"You must. You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward." I took a step back in shock. How could she know? What had I done to give myself away? Elizabeth had fallen back on the pillow, unconscious. I made my way out of the door to see to my other patients. It was a few hours before I could return to room 17A. When I got there I was just in time to hear Elizabeth's heart stop. I thought back to what she had asked of me. Could I really be selfish enough to damn the boy in front of me to this life? Apparently I could.
I wheeled Elizabeth's body to the morgue; then I went to sign out and hang up my coat. Once I was outside the door I ran round to the back of the hospital and went to get Edward. I gave him a dose of morphine to stop his thrashing and he lay completely still, no one but me would be able to see his shallow breathing. I wheeled him to the morgue and waited until no one was outside the window. Then when I was certain that there was no one there then I placed my arms under his knees and shoulders and lifted him to my chest. Then I ran through the door that led outside and I started home. I thought it best if I didn't walk the streets, instead opting to go over the roof tops. It was a quicker and more direct route to my home.
Once I was back through my door, I thanked God that I had decided to get a bed. I gently laid Edward on it, just as I had done in the hospital and dragged my desk chair to be next to him. The morphine was wearing off now and Edward was starting to stir. He was still asleep though, and as I watched him I contemplated how you would turn someone into a vampire. I had never seen one first hand except my own so I opted to try that. I lent in close to his throat and whispered in his ear.
"I'm sorry." Then I sank my teeth into the soft flesh. Edward was instantly awake and his blood was pooling into my mouth. I resisted swallowing and went to spit out his blood into the washbasin. Once I was done, I went and sat next to Edward, as he thrashed, tossed and turned, screaming in agony. I did the only thing I could think of doing. I told him about myself, what I was, what he was becoming. I had no idea that not enough of my venom had gotten into his system to make it the normal three day process. I started to worry on the fourth day that I had done something wrong, but soon Edward's cries stopped all together. There was a moment of total silence and then I squeezed his hand.
Edward's eyes flew open and a feral hiss escaped his lips. His eyes were no longer the green I had come to know, instead, they were crimson. All at once he leapt off the bed and was in a low crouch, ready to attack. I copied his movements, ready to defend myself.
"Edward?" I kept my voice low; I knew that newborns were unpredictable. He answered with a low growl, his eyes looking around the, for him, unfamiliar room. "Edward, do you know whoI am?" At the sound of his name his head shot back to me. When he recognised me he straightened out of his crouch. I did likewise.
"Dr Cullen?" He was uncertain, his voice much smoother than he was used to. He looked at me with his head cocked to the side.
"You can call me Carlisle, Edward." He looked round at me. His hair was a mess, tuffs sticking up everywhere. Almost as if he had heard my thoughts his hand went up to run through his hair, fixing it back to its normal disarray.
"Carlisle?" He sounded uncertain again.
"Yes, Edward?" He looked at me again. He had a confused look on his face.
"How are you doing that?"
"Doing what?" I wasn't aware I was doing anything strange.
"That. Talking without moving your lips." Now I was the confused one.
"I'm not." I then had a thought. Maybe this was similar to what Aro could do. Edward could read minds.
"That's ridiculous!" Edward was looking at me as if I was crazy.
"Do you remember what I was telling you while you were...?" I gestured to the bed. Edward nodded quickly.
"Some of us have extra abilities and yours appears to be that you can read minds."
"I...I can...read...read minds?" He looked like he was in shock. He stood perfectly still for a moment and I seemed as if he might be listening for others thoughts. Edward's eyes grew wide with shock. Then he crumpled to the floor, his head between his hands as he screamed with pain.
"THEY'RE TOO LOUD! MAKE IT STOP! Make it stop." The last part of his request was a whimper. I went over to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.
"Edward. Edward, look at me. Just concentrate on my mind." He nodded and the sobs soon subsided. I felt him wrap his arms under mine and I stiffened with surprise. Then I loosened up and put my other arm around him and told about his mother. The sobs soon started again; I simply held him there until he was done.
Soon after we stood again, and I asked him if he wanted to hunt. His hands flew to his throat and he nodded a yes. We ran out of the door together and as soon we were in the forest I sincerely hoped that no one had decided to take a midnight stroll, as I would never be able to catch Edward at the speed he was running. I had never seen a vampire run that fast, newborn or not.
He soon took down a deer from a herd nearby, I went to get one for him once he was done with the one he had. Edward looked at me briefly when I dropped the deer next to the one he already had but he was soon preoccupied again. I went to sit at the base of a tree until Edward was finished. He ran to me once he was.
"What now?" He stood, looking at me for an answer.
"What do you feel like doing?" I asked him back. I could smell a mountain lion nearby and he was soon after it. I got there just as he kicked the carcass off of him self. His shirt was ripped to shreds were the lion had tried to fight back.
"Do you feel better?" I asked as Edward walked back over to me.
"Yes."
"Then let's go home. You need a new shirt." He looked down as I said it and nodded in agreement. We ran off, him in the lead, following our earlier trail. Once we were back in the house, I took one of my own shirts out of the wardrobe and handed it to him.
"Thank you." He changed quickly and I explained that we would have to move somewhere else, he was too recognisable to stay in Chicago.
"Can I ask a favour?" Edward looked at me.
"Anything. By the way it's up to you if you want to stay with me."
"I'll stay with you, Carlisle. But I want to visit my home. One last time." He smiled sadly at me.
"I don't see why not. Your house was out in the suburbs wasn't it?" Out of the way of humans.
"Yes, far away from our neighbours."
"Do you want to go now?" He smiled at me. His smile was crooked, but it fit his face perfectly.
"Yes."
We had to take the longer route through the forest so not to get the scent of humans. Once we came to a large house surrounded by woodland, Edward stopped. I almost crashed into him.
"Here it is. My home." He ran up to the door, pulled a key out of one of the plant pots on the porch and went inside. He went into each room not bothering to put on the lights. Soon he went upstairs. First he went into what I presume to be his bedroom. There were books, music and drawings everywhere.
"Do you play?" I picked up a piece of piano music.
"No. I was going to learn but I never got round to it. I guess I might as well take some stuff with me, now that I have all the time in the world." Edward laughed humourlessly. Then he walked out of his own room and into one across the hall. It was his parent's room.
He seemed to be looking for something. He came back out carrying a small jewellery box.
"My mother told me that if anything ever happened to her or Father, then this was mine." Edward opened the box. Inside there were two bracelets, a necklace, a pair of earrings, an engagement ring and a small diamond heart charm.
Over the next few days Edward came and went from the house, getting things he wanted from his room, pictures and such. Soon, though, we were ready to go. I told the hospital my relatives had gotten sick and I needed to go to them. The doctors were sad to see me go, most likely because one of them would have to take over my shifts. When Edward left his house for last time I could see he was struggling not to look back. I placed my hand on his shoulder and, although, he wouldn't see me as his father, I already saw him as my son.
A/N: TADA! New and improved chapter one! Keep reading for Esme's transformation! R+R!
Holly xxx