I LOVE MY FAMILY
a/n: Hello lovely Twilighters and welcome to my story re-do! This was my first chapter story I wrote a few years back and is by far my favorite story, written purely out of the love I had (and still do!) for the Twilight characters. The POV changes up, giving everyone a voice. Everyone is in canon, in character but with new plot lines.
a/n: DISCLAIMER! Twilight belongs to Queen Stephenie Meyer and her brain. I own nothing but my brain-and the wee people who inhabit it.
Chapter One: A Welcome Home in Hell
Well, it all began on a cold and stormy Saturday night at Forks General Hospital. For four days in a row now, our brave Dr. Cullen has been ankle deep in human vomit and gore and and it is starting to take a mental toll on him. He has been chomping at the bit to spend some alone time with Esme-maybe go on a nice vacation to a ski lodge or just spend a naked weekend with her at a luxury hotel in Seattle. But a recent outbreak of the puking flu has left the hospital seriously short staffed and he has had to perform menial yet important tasks such as emptying bed pans and cleaning up recently blown chunks.
"Four days, FOUR DAYS!!" Carlisle's mumbling to himself was getting louder.
As he walked down the center aisle in the ER waiting room dodging mid-air projectile hurling and stepping around the diaper overflow from the unemptied trashcans, he stopped to pick up something he dropped on the floor and found it had landed in some gelatinous muck. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, he ran his hand through his hair only to discover that some of the muck was now threaded through his blond locks.
He turned to face one of the nurses who was slightly tilted to the left..."Nur---" and was abruptly cut off as the poor RN pelted the front of his lab coat with barf. Carefully, deliberately, and with clenched teeth, Carlisle removes his lab coat and tosses it in a bin.
Turning to the other nurse at the desk, he says in a calm yet intense voice, "I'm taking a break. I'll be at home for the next hour or so."
"Yes Doctor Cullen," Nurse Stoker meekly responded, eying him carefully.
"Page me for emergencies only."
"Yes Doctor Cullen?" She looked like she wasn't quite understanding him.
"Emergencies-you know- BLOOD - GORE- BROKEN LIMBS -SURGERY-not VOMIT-NOT FECES-NOT BEDPANS...you got that Nurse Stoker?!?" Calming down at the end he tried to curve his tightly clamped lips into a smile but judging from her now shocked face, it probably looked more like a horror mask than anything else.
"Y-Yes Doctor Cullen, surgical emergencies only, got it." She passes him the hand sanitizer gel. He pumps a big glob into his palms and runs it through his hair. Nurse Stoker just stares wide eyed at his blond hair now sticking out wildly all over in long gel spikes.
Carlisle walks a little too fast out the side door and into the cold, night air. Taking a deep, calming breath, he runs to his car, opens the door as fast as he can unlock it and lays his head against the leather headrest, closing his eyes and sighing deeply. Esme. He needed to get home to see Esme. To touch her skin. To feel her. Her arms around him, holding him, telling him it'll be ok. To lay his head on her firm, full breasts, inhaling her scent deeply into himself. Esme. His refuge. His home. His safe harbor. Esme. Home. Breasts.
B E E E E E E P ! A car seemingly comes out of nowhere and blasts it's horn, swerving just in time.
"Holy shit!" Carlisle had drifted off into his daydream ignoring the road and nearly running his Mercedes into an oncoming car.
"Wake up asshole!" The other guy yells in passing.
"Yeah, yeah..." Carlisle runs his hand over his face and through his hair causing the greasy spikes to stick together kind of Flock of Seagulls style. Every muscle is tense, every sinew stretched tight. He speeds up to over 120 and then comes to a screeching halt in his driveway.
There, sticking out the crumbling east side of the Cullen Mansion is what looks like the smashed back half of Emmett's Jeep. Carlisle, mouth hanging open, completely dumbfounded, steps out of his car and immediately sinks knee deep into a huge mud bog. On closer inspection, it appears that the muck covered Jeep is upside down and has been crashed into the once majestic house after bogging in the deep, muddy pit that was once their beautifully manicured front lawn. Edward, Emmett and Jasper, plastered head to toe in fresh brown mud are rolling around in the chocolate goo wrestling, hooting and hollering. Carlisle took in the whole chaotic scene, his fury growing. Emmett looked up just then.
"Carlisle's home!" Emmett yelled in his loud, booming voice.
"DADDY !!!" The boys screamed in mock glee like little school girls in unison and started running towards him, arms widespread to "hug" their father home.
"BOYS? NO-YOU WOULDN'T !! DON'T COME NEAR ME!! DON'T YOU DARE!" Carlisle screeched in horror, turned to run, but too late-all three mud monsters tackled him, shoving his face deep into the bog-soup. When they finally let him up, he just stared at the three Stooges who were laughing hysterically and slapping each other on the back of the neck. Expecting Carlisle to just jump in and join the merriment as always, they weren't ready for what came next. Carlisle had had enough. This was the last straw. Clenching his fists, he raised his voice to the heavens and let out a growl of frustration so loud the surrounding trees shook. The boys were shocked into paralyzed silence, all eyes on their furious mire-blanketed father.
"Carlisle?" Edward spoke first.
Gritting his teeth tightly, Carlisle can barely get the words out,"Hose yourselves off and meet me in the dining room for a family meeting. You have FIVE minutes!"
Carlisle's eyes glazed over as he ran towards the house calling for Esme. No answer. Esme! Esme! Esme! He desperately called over and over again. Rose answered him from the kitchen-
"Esme went into Portland to go fabric shopping for the new curtains for your office, Carlisle. She said she wasn't expecting you 'til tomorrow morning." She said casually.
In a effort to calm his nerves, which were on the verge of total freak out, he took 3 deep cleansing breaths, spitting out mud that dripped into his mouth. Rubbing his hand into his mucked and gelled hair which is now resembling Albert Einstein's do, if he had chocolate Magic Shell hair, he walks into the kitchen and takes in the scene there. Popcorn was littered all over the counter tops, the blender had exploded, showering the walls, ceilings and floor with pink sticky goo, there appeared to be a chocolate fondue fountain overflowing in the middle of the imported Sicilian tile and cypress kitchen island and there, surrounding the table was Alice, Rosalie, Bella, and her friend Angela Weber doing each others toenails. He did a quick 180 and noticed the living room was covered with feathers from exploded pillows.
Angela stared at Dr Cullen's calm, yet somehow maniacal expression and the mud that was now melting to the floor in a spreading puddle and excused herself, "Uh...um...I gotta go. See you at school on Monday, girls!" and beat feet to her car.
Carlisle starts mumbling to himself, turns away and heads up the stairs. He passes a window that faces out to the front lawn only to see Jasper holding Emmet down and Edward shoving the garden hose down the front of his pants. He lets out a heavy sigh and heads for the shower. Entering his empty bedroom, he looks wistfully at the empty bed where he had hoped his beautiful love would have been waiting to comfort him. Drying and dressing quickly. He takes a breath and heads down the stairs to his family waiting for him.
The girls had cleaned the kitchen and themselves up quickly and were waiting with the boys sitting around the dining room table. Carlisle entered the room and took his place at the head of the table and stood, looking into the faces of his loved ones.
"Carlisle," Edward stood up to speak respectfully, "the building supplies and sod are already waiting in the garage. Esme is not due back until tomorrow afternoon. Have no doubt, all traces of our tom-foolery will be erased long before she returns."
"The kitchen and living room are both neat and tidy again." Bella offered.
"Carlisle...we're sorry--" Jasper started to speak but Carlisle held up his hand to stop him.
"My beautiful family," Carlisle began quietly with a serene expression and a polite smile on his lips, "it occurred to me that I have raised you all wrong." Furious protests broke out from everyone in the room, who stood up immediately defending his parenting skills.
"Yes, that's all well and good. Let me continue, please. As I was saying, I have been observing lately that, well, you all have been living rather frivolous lives. Honestly, what have any of you done with the college degrees that you have all earned in the previous decades? You, Edward have two Masters in Medicine, as well as a doctorate in Humanities and what have you done with them? Each of you comes to this table with minds filled with so much more knowledge than the average person will ever have in his or her lifetime. Have you done one thing to make the years and expense you have spent equitable to the good that has come out of it?
"My brilliant, loving, funny, educated, beautiful children of mine," he spoke, looking fondly into the faces of his beloved family, "What good is having all of this knowledge if you keep it locked up in your own mind? I have come to the conclusion that this is going to change right here, right now. I swear on my honor I will not have you living lives of idle pleasure, not anymore.
"I want to see each and every one of you doing something-one thing- to make someone's life better. I challenge you all, you included Bella, as you will be joining our family soon and the sooner you learn to make good use of a life with all of the time you could ever ask for and more, the more fulfilled, enriched life you will lead. Do it as anonymously as you can. If you can not do it in a completely unknown or clandestine fashion, I will trust you to use the utmost discretion, remembering the most important rule we live by: Do not do anything so extraordinary or super human that you attract unwarranted negative attention. You have 3 days to come up with a plan and another 2 to set it in motion. We will meet here in 3 days to discuss what you have come up with. Any questions?"
Jasper hesitantly raises his finger in the air.
"Yes, Jasper, you have a question?" Carlisle crosses his arms over his chest and waits.
"Carlisle," he began meekly, "Just what are the parameters to be? The articles of engagement?"
Carlisle raises an eyebrow, fighting a smile at his Confederate soldier son's use of military terms to ask what the specific rules are involved in forming a plan of action.
"Well," Carlisle paces slowly, rubbing his chin in thought. "The gesture should be something that brings meaning to to someone's life. It should make them feel really good."
Suddenly, Edward reaches around behind Rosalie and smacks Emmett on the back of his head.
"Shit Edward !" Emmett whined, rubbing his head.
"Whatever you thought, I'm positive you deserved that," Rose snickers. Bella and Alice look at each other and giggle.
Carlisle's head snaps up suddenly, cocks his head to one side and looks anxiously up towards the ceiling. "Meeting adjourned!" He calls and was gone in a blur. Carlisle flies up the stairs to his bedroom, throws open the door off its hinges and dives head first onto the bed. Grabbing at his cell phone from under the silk comforter...
"Oh baby when you talk like that..
You make a woman go mad
So be wise
And keep on
Reading the signs of my body"
Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" serenaded him with the ring tone Esme had set on his phone for her number. He holds his breath as he answered...
"Esme, my Love," he cries into the phone.
"Yes, darling, I'm here." With the sound of her voice filling his ear, he finally exhales and lets all of his constricted muscles relax.
"You knew I needed you, didn't you?"
"Yes, my Love. I could feel your heart calling out to me. " Her voice, so soft, so sweet, like she was with him, next to him, whispering to him in the dark.
"I...I...uh..." The past few days events played before his eyelids...but faded away and became an unimportant memory as he listened to Esme's gentle, rhythmic breathing on the other end of the phone. "I miss you, Esme. When are you coming home to me?"
"Mmmm...Carlisle. I have some further business in Portland tomorrow. The town council is considering letting me have the architectural renovation program and tomorrow I get to speak before the committee members. But I'll be home after that. I should be in your arms by dusk. Will you be alright until then, dearest? Shall I come home now?"
He knew if he said yes, she would be home within the hour. But, ever the gentleman, Carlisle strengthened his voice and said, "No darling, you stay and finish your work. I'll be here when you get home with a nice warm bath and candles all ready for you."
"How are things at the hospital, Carlisle ? Can you get away? Can they spare you for the evening so you can join me? I am in the very suite we stayed in during my last project here. Do you remember? Although we mostly spent a great amount of time in bed very meticulously re-learning each other's bodies."
Carlisle let out a low, sexy growl remembering that weekend. There wasn't a single moment when they weren't touching or tasting each other. Esme sighed on the other end. His breath caught and he started unbuttoning his shirt. Just then his phone buzzed. "Dammit! It's the hospital. I told them to call only if they needed me. I'm sorry, my darling, I have to go. Hurry home soon. I can't wait to hold you."
"I'll be there as soon as I can, my love." Esme hung up the phone.
Carlisle whimpered softly. He straightened out the comforter and was arranging the pillows on top the way Esme liked them when he saw something sticking out from under her pillow. It was a small brown leather pouch the size and shape of a small envelope with a platinum Celtic Love Knot clasp securing it closed. Inside the pouch was a a beautiful gold antique pocket watch on an elegant, manly chain with a crystal fob hanging on it. He opened the watch to look inside and sighed..."Oh Esme," he choked back a sob as he recognized the inscription:
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
The words spoken with uncompromising devotion by Esme to Carlisle on their wedding day.
A/N: Quote is from Emily Bronte, 1818-1848.
Hey lovely Twilighters, as promised, this is the beginning of the revamped (winks) story, all corrected and pretti-ful. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do—please let me know!
Next chapter, the family tries to do what Carlisle tasks them and to bring meaning to their lives as they bring their special brand of Love to the citizens of Forks. Called "Playboys and Peep Toes," Chapter Two is a very sweet and sexy story told from Emmet's POV.
Love and lemondrops!
BSL