The Cullens and McCarty's
It took a few weeks for Carlisle to sell off his home and find work in Chicago.
He saw Esmeralda twice more after that fateful day. Once at the hospital, to have her ankle checked; and again his last day in Ohio. He sought her out that last day and found her at a park. He made it seem a coincidence, and told her he was leaving.
Esmeralda asked him to stay longer.
She started, as though she had not planned to say those words but they rolled off her tongue anyway. She was mortified. With a breaking heart, Carlisle left Ohio to Chicago. He worked tirelessly when the influenza epidemic hit the city. He worked at the hospital, at shelters and visited homes of the sick. He barely allowed himself time to think; only resting when he hunted. Esmeralda was never far from the forefront of his thoughts, no matter what he tried.
He imagined her a mature young lady, possibly with a suitor. He imagined her taking a stroll down the street with her arm hung on a nameless gentleman's; and sadness filled him. He fought the urge to return to claim her. He reminded himself that she deserved a human life, to grow old and have a family of her own. Things he could never give her.
A few years later, he left Chicago for Ashland, Wisconsin. He rarely met any of his kind because of the way he lived. He hunted or stayed in the house daytime. He worked at hospitals night time. With his mind constantly on Esmeralda, the loneliness consumed him stronger than before.
He often wondered what he would do if she were to be lost; no longer on this earth. He remembered Marcus of the Volturi. He had lost his mate long before Carlisle's time. He wondered if life would become as meaningless to him as it was for Marcus. He wondered if he would lose his love for his chosen profession too. Time had started to move significantly slower for Carlisle. It was as though it stood still. He decided that he would go back to medical school after Ashland. He could take day and evening classes to fill his time completely. He was dangerously on the edge of losing the battle with his heart.
One night, a nurse called for him urgently after he had just arrived at the hospital.
The evening shift emergency doctor had yet to arrive. Carlisle hurried to find a young couple carrying in a broken and bloodied woman into the emergency room. He ran to take the woman from the young man while his young wife was in hysterics.
His heart tore into itself when the man announced that the woman was dead. Carlisle had immediately recognized Esmeralda, as the broken and bloodied woman. He checked for a heartbeat himself, noting the strange and unnatural way her body was bent. As he listened closely, he heard the faintest of her heartbeats. They were much too slow. It laboured to keep her alive.
Carlisle knew that human medicine would not succeed to heal her. There was only one thing that would, his venom. He agreed with the young man and announced the unknown woman dead to his audience, asking the nurse to prepare the paperwork. He offered to take the woman to the morgue, in case someone came to claim her.
Once assured of some privacy, Carlisle bit Esmeralda on her neck, wrists, legs and lower back. He was desperate to give her as much of his venom as he could. Once bitten, he clamped her mouth with cotton cloth and ran out the morgue window to his home with her. Esmeralda did not start screaming and thrashing until he deposited her on his bed. It was still early in the evening. He called the hospital to excuse himself with an illness. They could still find a replacement for the evening.
He stayed by Esmeralda's side while she burned and changed into a vampire. He spoke to her, explaining all about himself to her even as she was incoherent. He apologized for her pain, and asked her to not leave him. This was a prayer of his heart. He would surely die if Esmeralda decided to leave him. At the end of the third day, Esmeralda opened her bright ruby eyes to a familiar face. Instead of fear she ran to his arms, shocking Carlisle and all he knew about new-born vampire behavior. The two ran to the woods to hunt hand in hand, and have never been apart since.
Carlisle never returned to work, choosing instead to care for his newborn mate. It was fortunate that his house was deep in the woods. Nobody bothered them for almost a decade. He had simply disappeared to those who had known him there. That is not to say Esmeralda never taste human blood. She did once, while out hunting and came across a human camping. Carlisle explained that he did not need to forgive her. It was enough that she believed she made a mistake and did not want to repeat it. He knew that he would love her, even if she decided to hunt humans.
When the two were ready, they moved to Rochester in New York. Carlisle attended medical school and Esmeralda stayed home. Esmeralda, wanting to stake more of a human claim to her mate, married Carlisle Cullen after he finished medical school. She was the happiest she never dreamed she could be, but Carlisle saw a longing in her eye in moments of quiet. He knew she hurt over a child she lost in her human life, and could never have. He explained the plague of immortal children to her, to dissuade her from wanting an immortal baby. Much to his relief, Esme found it a great sadness to turn a child vampire. She decided she could live without one, as long as she had Carlisle.
Two years later, Carlisle returned from work carrying a battered Rosalie Hale. Esme recognized her from town. She was furious with Carlisle and enraged with jealousy. She fled their home without waiting to hear his explanation. Carlisle left Rosalie on the table and ran after his mate. It took hours to calm Esme, and return to their home. Esme agreed for Rosalie to be changed, deciding she would accept her as a daughter. Carlisle and Esme stayed with her during her change, explaining about themselves to the beauty burning on their bed.
When she woke, Rosalie Hale's first words were to tell the Cullens that she was no daughter of theirs. She was disgusted with what she had become, cold and hardened inside. This was the exact reason Carlisle had never changed anyone before; even when he became very lonely. He had feared another would despise him for the choice; and Rosalie proved his worst fears true.
They moved to Gatlinburg, Tennessee a few weeks later. Rosalie was widely known in Rochester, There was a huge manhunt for her. The Cullen home was not very secluded.
Although Rosalie hated Carlisle for what she had become; she stayed with them and strictly kept to the animal diet. She was afraid of becoming something worse that what she was if she fed on humans. It comforted her to know she could one day be as strong as Carlisle in resisting human blood. She could lead some normal life. She could do whatever piqued her interest. She liked that she had become more beautiful with the change. These few things gave her comfort although she kept aloof from the Cullens. She only spoke to Esme; choosing to relate to her as a sister or cousin forced onto you. She would never call her a friend or mother; that would justify Carlisle's actions in her eyes.
Esme comforted Carlisle. Both decided to never change another human being, ever. Their decision was tested shortly thereafter, when Rosalie brought home a bleeding hulking man home – demanding that they change him for her. Carlisle immediately agreed, wanting desperately to do something right by Rosalie.
Esme was hopeful too, thinking that finding a mate would thaw Rosalie's cold heart. As it were, the beauty stayed with the man through his burn. When he opened his ruby eyes, a breathtakingly beautiful smile lit up Rosalie's frozen face. Carlisle and Esme were relieved as they welcomed Emmett McCarty to their home.
Emmett brought joy to the otherwise quiet and sombre home. He was loud and boisterous. He did not carry any negative concerns about being a vampire; and had no thoughts to leave Esme and Carlisle. He allowed Esme and Carlisle to treat him as a son, much to Rosalie's displeasure. The four became the Cullen and McCarty coven. Once Emmett was over the newborn year, they moved on to another town.