A/N: Thanks to my readers for….well, reading.
minako366: here's your longer chapter : -) thanks for reviewing!
Carlisle flicked his bloody gloves into the biological waste bin. The little girl had a hard road ahead of her, but she was going to be alright with a little bit of time. Upon examining her, Carlisle had discovered many of the wounds were actually older and already in the middle of the healing process—which of course implied that whatever had happened was not a onetime incident and therefore likely not accidental.
Within a few hours after the child was brought in, she had been identified as Caroline Winter Evans, the only child of a Mr. William Thomas Evans. And after talking with the Evans' neighbor for a few minutes, it had been deemed appropriate to page a social worker. This child's safety was clearly compromised.
Carlisle sighed as he glanced back at the little Evans girl who was still waiting to be brought up to an inpatient room. These situations were never fair. And absolutely nothing angered him more then a situation where a child's welfare was endangered. Children were small, helpless creatures. They could be preyed upon by their own species. Nothing made Carlisle sicker.
Esther the nurse watched Dr. Cullen for a moment as he looked wistfully at the little girl. "It's not fair is it?" she asked as she joined him in the doorway. "She goes through all this and there won't even be anyone there when she wakes up. A nurse or a doctor maybe, but no mother."
And all it took was that one word. An idea formed in Carlisle's brain before he even had time to formulate a response to Esther's statement. He shot Esther his standard gentle smile. "If you wouldn't mind making sure she gets situated in the PICU, I have a few things I should attend to."
"Of course, Dr. Cullen. Go right ahead."
He nodded and smiled again, then strode off to a more secluded area. He flipped open his cell-phone and dialed the now familiar number. After several rings, the recipient picked up. "Hello, Esme."
Esme responded in her soft, smooth voice. "Oh, hello, Carlisle. How is your day?"
"Wonderful, darling. But I do have a favor to ask of you."
"Of course."
Carlisle carefully explained the basics of the situation to his wife. The girl was badly injured, had no family, at least none that deserved to be anywhere near her, and she would ultimately be waking up alone in an unfamiliar environment. And then he asked. "Esme, would you mind coming to the hospital so she won't have to be alone?"
And of course Esme, the compassion maternal figurehead of the Cullen family, wanted nothing more than to be there for a child in need. She would be there within the hour, she announced before quickly hanging up.
Esme slipped into the PICU as discreetly as possible and searched for her husband. "Esme!" Carlisle whispered in a voice only another vampire could have heard. "Over here!"
Esme followed his voice to the door of a private room. She scanned the nametag on the wooden door. "Caroline W. Evans?" Carlisle nodded and watched sadly as his wife's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the little girl. "Oh the poor dear! I can't believe a man could do this to his own daughter!" She sat in the chair beside the hospital bed and reached for the child's right hand. It felt so small and warm within the cool palm of her own. "Carlisle?"
Carlisle reached out to stroke his wife's hair. "I know. But she is safe now. No one here is going to hurt her."
"I just can't imagine…her own father. When I was a human..." Esme choked up. "When I was a human, I could have left. I was a grown woman. But she's just a child, she never had a chance."
"But just think, Esme, because of what you went through in your human life, you will be able to help this girl so much. There is a reason for everything. There is a reason I was one of the doctors on emergency call today and a reason I was the one paged."
Esme nodded and leaned her head into her husband's hand. Of course he was right, Carlisle was always right. "When will she wake up?"
"It's hard to tell. Probably in the next few hours. I need to go tend to my patients. Will you be alright here, Esme?"
Esme nodded resolutely. "I will wait until she wakes up. Besides, I have a feeling the children will be getting here as soon as school is done."
"Oh?" Carlisle asked from the doorway. "Did you leave them a note?"
Esme smiled faintly. "No, I did not. But between Alice and Edward, not much gets past those five."
Carlisle chuckled in agreement. "In that case, I am sure you are very right. Please have one of the nurses page me if she wakes up or if there are any other changes."
"Certainly." Esme settled into a pattern of silent waiting. Sure enough, by half past three, two teenagers came flying into the hospital. "Esme!" twirped Alice. "Why are you at the hospital? Oh my!"
"Your father called me. It seems he thought she could use our help."
Alice approached her mother's side. "What happened to her?" she asked curiously. Despite her foresight, the teenage vampire had no idea what had happened in the past.
Esme sighed merely out of habit, because it was of course unnecessary because she required no oxygen. "Her father."
"Her father did this to her?!" Alice exclaimed. Edward, who had posted himself by the doorway, stepped forward and placed his hands on Alice's shoulders to comfort her. She glanced back at her brother appreciatively, but as soon as she turned back to the hospital bed, her eyes narrowed again in fury.
"Alice, dear. Please calm down. We all know it's dangerous for one of us to get angry," Esme reminded her brunette daughter.
"I can control myself," Alice growled somewhat unconvincingly.
Edward's grip on Alice's shoulders tightened. "Alice, if she were to wake up now, the first thing she would see would be anger. Don't you think that might frighten her?"
Alice's face softened. "You're right, Edward. Whether or not I can control myself is irrelevant at the moment."
Just as Alice spoke those words, the child in the hospital bed stirred slightly. Esme glanced over to her son. "Edward, please go get Carlisle. He wanted to be notified of any changes. I believe she is waking up."
Giving his sister's shoulders a final reassuring squeeze, he nodded to Esme and exited the room to search for Carlisle. Esme sighed and watched the standard issue white blanket wrinkle slightly as the child shifted just the tiniest bit.
"Mom?" Alice questioned.
Esme was startled for a few seconds. Although she was in fact their mother, the Cullen children rarely called Esme "Mom."
"Alice, darling, what is it?"
"What's going to happen to her?" It was moments like this that reminded Esme that all although all five of her children frequently acted like adults, their maturity level was frozen at that of a human teenager.
"I don't know," Esme admitted.
"She can't go back to her father!" Alice exclaimed. "She just can't! Carlisle won't let her, will he?"
Esme gestured for Alice to come closer. Alice obliged and slipped into her mother's lap like she would have if she were still a little girl. She wrapped her arms around Esme's neck and leaned into her shoulder. Esme held her daughter close and reassured her. "Your father will do everything in his power to keep that girl safe. You know that, Alice."
Suddenly Alice eyes were filled with images from the future. "You're right, he will," she beamed.
