hey guys.

this is my first story, so take it easy on me. i have a definite plot in mind, but im not quite sure just how far ill go with this. i guess it all depends on you. so enjoy!

~~k

p.s.- dont expect the loving cullen or swan families you're all used to. this isnt the best family-friendly piece.

p.p.s- in case you didn't know, none of this is mine. it all belongs to the great stephenie meyer. cheers.

PROLOGUE

Carlisle Cullen stared at his somber reflection, his hands steady as he reached up to straighten the knot in his tie, smoothing down the front of it before leaving the silken fabric to hang perfectly symmetrical down the front of his crisp black shirt. Satisfied, he turned his back on the full length mirror, sinking slowly into the leather chair behind his antique desk with a soft groan, bringing the heavy glass tumbler full of ice and brandy to his lips. He took in a deep breath through his noise and hummed in appreciation of the sharp aroma, closing his eyes and allowing the aged liquid to slide slowly down his throat. Carlisle brought a hand up to his forehead, rubbing his left temple slowly as he sipped his brandy, waiting patiently for his children to return home.

Carlisle Cullen had always been described by those who had come into contact with him as an intelligent men. A shrewd businessman, a responsible husband and caregiver. Never once had compassionate or loving ever crossed an acquaintance's mind in relation to one Carlisle Cullen. Perhaps that was the reason why he hadn't seen his two children since they had graduated almost two years before.

He sighed as he reached over his large desk, grabbing up the photo in the heavy wooden frame and bringing it closer to his face, running his fingers reverently over the faces captured within. The proud smile on his wife's face, the beaming grin on his baby girl's, and the almost devious smirk spread across his handsome son's, the heavy graduation robe and hat already out of sight. He paused over this image, taking in the absolute joy and freedom shining in his eyes. It had been almost two years since he'd last seen that expression, even in the infrequent photos that had been sent through the post since they had left home. The day he'd left for college, almost a full month earlier than intended, his face had been blank and devoid of all emotion. Except for the searing agony ripping through his eyes and straight into his father's heart. But rather than console or ask, he'd merely slipped the new AmEx black into his palm mid-handshake, clapping him firmly on the back as he passed through the front door. After all, what could a recent high school graduate with the world at his feet possibly have to evoke that look? He had reminded himself that day that he was long overdue for an optemetric appointment.

The ice hit the bottom of the glass as his gaze finally rested on the fourth and final occupant of the photo. The tiny brunette, firmly secured to his son's side, one of his long arms tossed across her small shoulders, his large hand hanging carelessly across her upper body. He always wondered about the girl's absence that last day he'd seen his son. And now that he took the time to notice, it had been awhile since he'd seen those dancing eyes and that mischievious smile grace the girl's face. And he'd seen her around town fairly often since his son had departed; the empty space at his side usually occupied by the tiny thing noted by everyone in their small town.

Just as he was about to set the photo back down his eyes caught on the back of a dark gray suit in the background. He recognized it as his own, his favorite at the time. Carlisle could just make out the small cell phone pressed firmly into his ear. He finally returned the image to the front of his desk, turning instead to the carefully folded newspaper next to him. Opting to rifle through it and avoid idleness as long as possible, he opened the crinkled paper carefully, smoothing out the creases and scanning across the headlines, the picture of his son and the small brunette emblazoned across his vision, unshakeable as hard as he tried.

It had been awhile since these headlines had featured her name. Maybe more had changed in the past two years than he'd taken notice of. Her name had often appeared in print throughout his children's high school years, the various misdeamenors they were trying to accuse her of proudly displayed for all of Forks to devour and spit back out, grossly exaggerated and twisted around. But her name had always appeared alone, her accomplices never charged or mentioned. It never ceased to amuse him how much money and his own connections could buy for his chilren. Although to be fair, it was always Edward, more than Alice, who needed the help. It wasn't often that his sweet daughter had been caught up in the rebellious antics of her twin brother and best friend.

Carlisle had watched Edward grow up and questioned what he could have done to have influenced his only son to act out the way he did. Of course he'd overheard the opinions of the gossiping townfolk, all pointing to the neglectful parenting. But Carlisle always felt like he'd given his two kids all the money, clothes and expensive gadgets they could have ever wanted, not to mention the best nannies and staff money could buy in this small town. All him and his wife had ever asked in return was for respect and a general adherence to the state laws.

Other gossip had pointed to that small brunette. After all, she was glued to Edward's side, and he was the one in trouble, not his sister Alice. But the Cullens all knew that the small girl had worked her way into Alice's heart just as much as she had Edward's. She was a constant presence in his family, and even his own wife had started to think of her as a daughter, a Cullen by association. Carlisle had always held back. If he had kept his own children at arm's length, he had kept the small girl in another category entirely. And on that fateful day just a short month after their high school graduation, he had never been more happy. He always felt, along with the rest of the town, that the girl was trouble.

She hadn't come from the same well-to-do background as Edward and Alice had. Everyone knew the girl would turn out just like her parents; low end jobs in this small town, their meager salaries all blown on booze rather than their two girls. The eldest had always run wild, free of all the limitations and rules that came with parental guidance, and Carlisle thought he should have known better than to allow his children to associate with her. Considering the way that the girl had stampeded into his son's, and subsequently his, life, Carlisle knew that things would never end well.

He hadn't witnessed it himself, but his nanny had, and since the small town of Forks had never seen such a pair as Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, the story had quickly become town legend.

It was just a few short days after the town had begun to buzz about the news of a new family moving in that Heidi, the children's nanny, had taken Edward and Alice to the only park in town, Cullen Park, named after Carlisle's own father who had supplied the money to have it built. Heidi had taken Alice to the small swingset, pushing her gently as she giggled, her pink gloved hands clinging to the metal chains on either side of her dark head. Edward, always a sullen and brooding child, had been left to his own devices with a small plastic shovel and bucket in the sandbox, his red parka standing out boldly against the cold, damp sand. He had been happily digging a hole, attempting to shepard as many of the small ants escaping the excavation back into the rapidly growing pit when the small shovel broke in half. He had stared down at the two pieces of plastic clutched in each mittened hand, contemplating his next move when he spotted a small girl, no older than one, happily playing and giggling with a plastic shovel all her own. When a quick glance back to the swings had shown Alice and Heidi completely occupied, he proudly marched his way across the sandbox. And with all the self importance that a five-year-old boy in a park named for his family, who was just beginning to grasp the sense of money and power possessed, ripped the brightly colored shovel out of the small girl's hand, rolling his eyes as the happy giggles and gurgling rapidly faded into blood-curdling sobs.

Quickly realizing that the girl's parents couldn't be far, he turned around and strode back to his own hole, plopping down in the sand. It was at this point that Heidi had taken notice of Edward, and even if she had known what was about to transpire, there was no way she could have made it over in time to prevent him from realizing just how wrong he was to worry about the little girl's parents. Because they never would be the problem when pertaining to this girl.

Edward had felt a sharp tap to his shoulder, and as he began turning to face his visitor, too fast for him to even react, the small shovel was ripped from his hands and in less than a breath smashed into his face. The plastic smacked against his mouth and broke open his lip as a sharp edge tore open the tender flesh just above it. He could feel the warm blood spilling out as he looked up in awe at the tiny girl standing over him, the same facial features he had seen on the little girl across the park glaring back at him. The shock that he had actually been told no, much less disciplined, for the first time in his five years, and by someone his own age no less, began to sink into his mind. And the awe he felt for the gloriously angry figure above him, her pretty mouth twisted into a scowl and her little fists propped on her hips, began to fill him just as Heidi scopped him up, Alice whimpering at the sight of the blood smeared across her twin's broken face, and took him to the hospital. Edward had stared ahead of him, the uninjured side of his mouth pulled into that devious smirk that was plastered onto his face from that day until the day that he left Forks. When Heidi asked aloud who in the world that little hellion was, Edward never faltered as he looked her dead in the eye and simply responded in the no-nonsense wisdom of a child, "I don't know, Ms. Heidi, but I'm going to marry her someday."

Heidi had brought Edward back home to his parents with five stitches on his lip, and another three right above it. She had repeated the story to Carlisle and his horrified wife while Edward watched from the countertop, nibbling on a cookie as his mother fawned over him. He merely waved her off, that smirk still on his face as Heidi finally reached the conclusion, Carlisle's wife finally losing her worry and cracking a smile as she heard her son's unexpected declaration.

She had questioned Edward on his statement, and he had soberly nodded, looking his mother dead in the eye and repeating his sentiment. When they retired to bed that night, Carlisle could remember reassuring his wife that they didn't have to worry about any more attacks from the girl. Chances are she was just passing through, and in his mind he had never connected the buzz about the new family with the two sisters at the park. If he had connected the two as fast as his son, he might have known then what it eventually took him almost ten years to figure out. That was the first of many nights that Edward, and eventually Alice, would use the elegant white trellis that his wife had insisted upon for something other than decoration.

Unable to sleep, Edward had waited in his room for his father's snores before sliding open the window and maneuvering his small body down the side of the house, clinging to the sturdy wood of the trellis before jumping to the ground below with a soft thud. Finding his small blue bike with the training wheels on the side of the house, he pedalled furiously through the quiet neighborhood, heading to the small ranch house three blocks down where he had seen a large moving van parked just two days before on his way home from soccer practice. Edward had slowed to a halt when he saw the small girl sitting motionless on the front porch of the house, her eyes slowly finding his in the dark. The rest of the town gossip never knew how without a word she had walked to him, running her hand softly across the small stitches in his face and smiling a wicked little grin before lowering her hand and grasping onto his his. With a soft tug, she pulled him up onto the porch and through the front door, into the small, empty house, so much different than his family's own large mansion, continuing down through a dark hallway and past the closed door where loud snores could be heard echoing. She stopped in front of a small room, roughly the size of Alice's closet, before pulling him through and shutting the door behind him. She had walked to a small box, pulling out a flashlight and a storybook and walked towards the bed, motioning for him to follow.

When he had kicked off his shoes and joined her, she had clicked on the small light and pulled the sheets over their heads, giggling softly as she opened the storybook and offered him a small candy from the front pocket of her overalls.

A soft beep from his phone pulled Carlisle abruptly from his memories, and flipping it open he spotted a text from Alice, explaining that they were running late because of traffic and would just meet him right at the funeral home. Snapping the phone closed he slipped it into his pants pocket and grabbed his car keys, giving one last glance towards the photo on his desk before heading out the door. Carlisle Cullen still wonders if he really should regret what he said in secret to help his son, as his mind finally allowed himself to acknowledge that the agony in his eyes matched exactly to that in Bella's on the day in the park when he told her exactly what she had to do. But then again it had been two years, and any damage was already done. Besides, as Carlisle Cullen clearly knew, compassionate had never been a term freely associated with his name, but responsible caregiver was. And Carlisle Cullen would do anything to protect his children.