What If
Canon
- All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer -
It was another one of those mornings. Outside, the sky was dark, the cold wind was whistling, showing that the winter was coming to peaceful Forks. The crimson curtains were flapping at the slightly open French window. Noticing that, Esme put down the magazine and stood up from the comfortable armchair toward the window to close it.
Conveniently she looked out the window, and saw the strong wind whipped around the yellow and brown leaves on the ground.
Sooner or later, it would begin to snow. Esme was excited about the thought. Winter was a perfect season for vampires. To think about the activities Carlisle and she could do with no worries about the sunshine made her smile widen. They could go south having a nice trip, pretending they were newlyweds, or visited her isle momentarily forgetting they were responsible parents, and enjoyed themselves for several days...
Edward cleared his throat purposely in his room.
Sorry, sweetheart.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts, reminding herself that Edward was still at home; the poor young man didn't have to suffer from her overly romantic plans. Esme walked back to her armchair, and, as she began to clean the tabletop in front of her, she sensed the footsteps of Bella and her children coming from Edward's room.
"Alice! I woke up only ten minutes ago and what on - "
"Try on this one, Bella," she could hear Alice's high-pitched voice from downstairs; Esme could not help but smile slightly. "No way, Edward! I do this for your own good! Look at her horrible skirt and shirt! No, I won't accept them. But don't worry; I spent hundreds of years designing this elegant, wonderful dress for her!" She sang excited.
"That's kind of you," Edward retorted sarcastically. "Let her finish her breakfast first, Alice. Please."
Esme chuckled softly as Alice humphed and gave in reluctantly.
Thirty minutes later, when she finished adjusting the curtain in her favorite way and made them perfectly against the window frames, she caught the sight of Bella and her children walking out of the warm house toward her old truck. According to their indistinct conversation, it seemed that Emmett was asked to repair one of the truck's side mirrors.
"You can stay inside, love," Edward said worried, "it's cold here."
"No, I want to watch over my truck, to make sure it won't be killed by your brother," she said determined.
"Hey! I'm helping it build up its confidence! What may this old guy think every time he sees Edward's Volvo next to him?"
Emmett burst into laughter as the human girl murmured something too low for her to hear. Edward sighed, wrapping his arm around Bella's waist; she smiled at her son's protective act.
Esme was amused as Bella shivered from the low temperature.
She had not felt cold or freezing for a long, long time.
And she admitted sometimes she did miss the time when she was a human, being able to feel the wind changing from the seasons, being able to sleep, to dream, to have a cup of hot tea during the winter time.
She had lost those precious human rights since Carlisle's venom ran through her veins.
She recalled that Carlisle had once told her, it was horrifying to think about what if he had not been in time at the hospital in Ashland that night - Little did he know, his confession made her think about what if he had not left when she was still human and young.
They could have had a small walk along the countryside under the blue twilight, she could have had a nice sleep without haunting nightmares in his arms and then opened her eyes next morning to find him smiling tenderly at her...
Abruptly, Edward turned to look up at her; she blinked in surprise, and gave her son a gentle smile. He seemed to want to say something, yet Bella tripped as he opened his mouth, and he had to be her personal knight to save her from falling down. She shook her head and chuckled as Emmet let out a laugh and Edward growled warningly at his brother.
Taking an unnecessary breath, Esme erased the ridiculous thoughts from her mind, and sit in front of Carlisle's desk, trying to finished the design for Edward and Bella's future cottage. She had to quicken her pace now; they were going to marry soon.
Before long, she heard the familiar engine sound of Carlisle's Mercedes, noticing her that he was home. Esme smiled to herself as she heard him open the front door, and several minutes later, he walked steadily toward the study.
She blinked twice and suddenly he was there, stood by the door frame, looked like Apollo the gorgeous Greek God of the Sun. It was impossible for a vampire to get drunk, but every time she saw him, Esme felt somewhat drunk herself...
"You're home," she whispered delighted. Carlisle nodded, a soft smile appeared on his youthful face.
Her husband crossed the room swiftly and stood in front of her. Before she could say a word to greet him, he took her hands and pulled her to him, closed his fingers around her smaller ones. She knew what this gesture meant too well. He was concerned about something. And that baffled her.
Esme raised an eyebrow, looking up at him quizzically.
"Carlisle?"
"Edward said you are planning to write a romance novel," he was confused, staring intensely at her with curiosity. "And I need to, as what he said, inspire you," his brow furrowed.
Ah. The mind reader. She signed inwardly, and then looked up at Carlisle with an assuring smile. She reached her hand up to stroke his face and stood on tiptoe to brushed his lips with hers. To which, he responded with equal passion.
"I'm not planning to write a novel," she rolled her eyes, hoping Edward would see it through his mind. " And I'm perfectly fine," she added as she caught the unconvinced look on her husband's face.
"He looked concerned."
She sighed. "I was thinking about... something, this morning."
He tilted his head smiling, interested. "And what would that be?"
"It was silly."
"I'm sure I would love to hear," Carlisle said gently.
Slipping away from this question was impossible, she could see that in his tender yet insistent eyes.
"Well, I was wondering…." Esme took a breath and averted her eyes from his handsome face, embarrassed,"that what it would be like if we were together when I was sixteen,"
Silence hung between them awkwardly for few seconds. Esme stole a glance at her husband, finding him smiling absently at her. And his answer surprised her thoroughly.
"Hmm, it's not like I haven't thought about it before," he chuckled as he noticed her stunned look. Her topaz eyes widened at the unexpected reply, and he had no strength to resist the invitation coming from her slightly parted lips, and so he lean down to taste them for a few wonderful seconds.
"Good to know I'm not the only one who's fascinated with imagination," she whispered against his lips teasingly.
"After leaving Columbus, I used to imagine what would have happened if I stayed," he confessed quietly, his eyes twinkled, "it was addictive, to say the least," he shook his head, still smiled helplessly at the distant yet vivid memories, "even while you were at the hospital, I almost couldn't resist staying with you when you were asleep. A gentleman should not be with a young lady in that way; it's improper."
"Your son stays in an unmarried lady's bedroom every night, Doctor Cullen," she reminded him.
Outside, Edward coughed intentionally.
Carlisle laughed, let go of her briefly to take off his brown coat and cream-colored scarf. After putting them down, he turned around to grin at her; Esme felt her face heated.
"I can't blame him. He just wants her to be safe; he wants to be with her," he said gently, a mischievous grin spread over his lip as their eyes met. "If you were a human, I probably would do the same to protect you."
"What?" She smirked teasingly at him. "Do you mean you would appear in my room every night, too? That's highly inappropriate, Doctor Cullen," she narrowed her eyes, pretending to be shocked by this idea.
God knew she would have broken her windows to welcome him in.
"No. No, it would be inappropriate indeed," he agreed, looking down at her with her favorite tender smile. "I would just stand outside your window and behave like a gentleman. But of course, if you insisted I should share your bed with you, I wouldn't against your wish," he added innocently.
She stifled her laugh and gave him a pat on his chest playfully. "Very considerate. It sounded like you would encourage me to do that!"
She had to say Carlisle feigned sadness perfectly. In fact, too well. "What a horrible accusation, Mrs. Cullen," he almost made her feel guilty. Almost.
She stared at him for several minutes, and could not help laughing out loud. Carlisle's face softened, pulling her into his arms and kissed her tenderly. Esme smiled against his lips, sighing happily as he deepened the kiss. Her fingers slid up from his to stroke his face, and slid into his soft shiny hair; contented he sighed, slowly casting his eyelashes down. She bit his lip mischievously and giggled as he shivered.
"Our children are still outside, love," he reminded her in a husky voice. She looked back at his honey-like eyes and bit her lower lip smiling innocently. Carlisle shook his head sighing.
Her husband's hand slipped down her back to her waist, and pulled her closer against him. Esme rested her head on his shoulder.
"… All of those what ifs mean nothing to us now, don't they?" She chuckled softly, snuggling close to him "It was rather silly of me to imagine the impossible."
"Not at all," he whispered against her forehead, pulling back a bit to examine her expression, "it was a possibility we once had and lost," he smiled sadly at her, his face full of regret, "it still pains me to know the possibilities we could have had if I had never left."
"Now I'm fully aware I've ruined our morning and your mood. I shouldn't have brought this up," she murmured regretfully as her fingers played with the buttons on his shirt.
"Oh, Esme," he reached out a finger to lift her chin up, his eyes so warm they made her dead heart race. "I found you. We have our own story, which is my favorite one of all. A story full of sweet plots is good, however, I prefer bittersweet one with a happy ending, I suppose," he winked at her pointedly.
She grinned, gave him a feather-like peck on his lip. "You have strange taste in books, Carlisle. But, I can't agree more with what you said."
Just as she grabbed his necktie and pulled him down so she could kiss him, the door of Carlisle's study opened; Rosalie entered the room and grimaced at the view.
"Oh, get a room, you two," she rolled her eyes.
This is Carlisle's study, therefore, technically we are in our room. Esme thought, but instead of saying it, she inquired what they could do for their daughter. Rosalie rolled her eyes again and asked if they wanted to join the baseball game. After giving her a positive answer, Esme sighed. She let go of Carlisle's necktie reluctantly.
"Later would be better, don't you think so, darling?" Carlisle teased, lowered his head gracefully as she threw his scarf to him.
"Yes, of course. We have a whole night to make up for our lost time, after all," she kissed his neck before walking out of the study to change her clothes.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Sometimes a little fluff is good for our lives. :) Breaking Dawn is coming soon and although the doctor's new hairstyle's killing me, I'm still looking forward to more Carlisle and Esme's scenes!
