When Esme walked into the house, she was greeted to the sight of Carlisle at the dining room table printing some documents off of his laptop whilst talking on the phone to someone. Surprised, she walked up to him. He acknowledged her presence with a smile, and held up his finger, pointing at his cell phone. He gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll get right on to it. How soon do you need the forms back? Ok, well today is Tuesday, so I will have them filled out by tomorrow. Do they need to be sent back to you, or can I use the local office? Ok, I'll courier them to you. How long should this process take? Oh, so quick? No that's perfect. Thank you very much. Have a pleasant evening, Ms. Colgan. Bye for now."

Carlisle hung up the phone and put it down on the table before embracing his wife.

"How was your visit?" he enquired politely.

"It was most pleasant, thank you. What are all of these papers?" Esme glanced at the printer, which finished printing the last page and fell silent.

"Adoption papers for Amelia."

Esme glanced up at him in shock, blinking stupidly.

"I took the time to think it through while you were gone. I also spoke with Alice and Edward. Apparently Alice foresaw this coming. That's why they have been decorating the spare bedroom. It's not for Nessie, it's for Amelia. All of the kids are on board with the idea, even Jacob – he and Jasper have been crafting a bookcase for her room."

Esme could hardly believe her ears. "And you? How about you, Carlisle? Two hours ago, you were dead set against the idea."

"I've decided to hell with the Volturi. She quite possibly knows about us already from Bree. Bree at least had the sense not to say anything out loud to protect Amelia. The decision to become vampire will be hers – I will respect her wishes no matter what she chooses. Should she wish to be turned, then we turn her. Should she wish to die, we'll stay with her until the end. Should she opt for a transplant, we will help her through it as well. And, as the true Alpha of the pack, Jacob has the decision to make, not Sam Uley. Jacob has said that he will allow it."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I want to give her a family just as much as you do, I just needed to be sure that we could include her. I'd hate for us to bond with her only to have the treaty enforced. You haven't been able to stop talking about her. She seems like a lovely girl. She will be a daughter of your own who you can actually care for and run around after, not like Alice and Rosalie, or even Nessie for that matter. Leah and Seth have even asked if they can help out, Alice has foreseen the three of them being close friends."

"Carlisle, are you doing this just because of me?"

"No Esme, although if you disapproved of the idea, then I would not proceed with things are they currently stand."

Esme nodded her head and hugged her husband again, sighing. Carlisle let go of her and led her to their bedroom. He ran a bath for her and encouraged her to relax while he started filling out the adoption paperwork. They went for a quick hunt afterwards; Alice informed them that they would be thanking her tomorrow for making them go. Later, as they scrawled their signatures at the bottom of the paperwork and stuffed them in an envelope, Carlisle enquired further about her visit with Amelia.

"I helped her wash her hair," she said brightly, "and I combed it too! We had to rescue her from the shower because it was too hard for her. That must really suck, not even being strong enough to wash your hair without getting out of breath. She remarked that that was what having a mom must feel like. Anyway, she didn't eat much but let me carry her tea back to her room. We chatted a bit about the kids, I told her about the prank Emmett and Jasper pulled on Alice. She seemed to enjoy hearing their stories."

"Sounds like you had fun," replied Carlisle with a smile. They sat in silence, enjoying each other's company.

"Thank you, Carlisle." Esme broke the silence about ten minutes.

"For what?"

"For our daughter." Carlisle's only response was a passionate kiss that would have left them breathless had they been human.

A short while later, Esme started to get a gloomy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She generally got them when one of her kids was unhappy or upset or hurting in some way. Call it mother's instinct, she intuitively knew when one of her kids needed her. The last time she had felt this way, she and Carlisle had been hunting. That had been the day that Renesmee was born, and that was the day that she had sat comforting her son when he was worried that he had lost his wife, and her beloved daughter.

"Something is wrong with one of the kids." It was a statement. Carlisle glanced up at her in confusion.

"I'm sure they are alright, Es, relax honey."

Suddenly both of their cell phones began to ring. They grabbed their phones, Alice's name lit up on her screen, Rosalie's on Carlisle's.

"It's Amelia. Get to the hospital now!" yelled Alice, her voice shrill with worry. Rosalie apparently had a similar message. Carlisle and Esme looked at each other in horror and bolted out the door. Esme started running to the hospital, Carlisle locked up the house and drove there so as to remain inconspicuous. They met each other at the entrance, running at a human pace to Amelia's room. At 2am, the ward was relatively quiet aside from the bustle of activity coming from their daughter's room. Her ragged breathing was being cut off by heavy coughing and a rapid heartbeat. The spasms were worsening and she could barely regain her breath between fits. The smell of blood mixed with mucus filled their nostrils. Esme ran into Amelia's room, Carlisle hot on her heels. He snapped on some gloves and started helping.

"Someone please tell me that Dr Anderson is on her way!" yelled Samantha. One of the nurses ran out of the room. Esme lifted Amelia's arms up and over her head, the classic way to open up someone's chest, and braced her fragile body against her own. Samantha held a napkin to her mouth as Amelia continued to cough up blood. Carlisle took her temperature.

"She's burning up. When did this start, Samantha?"

"About ten minutes ago. She's been having a bad night, coughing quite a lot so she went on her nebuliser so help loosen some of it up. She slept about an hour, then woke up choking like this –" her sentence was cut off by Amelia jerking forward and coughing up more blood. Carlisle handed Sam a towel from the linen closet and Sam pressed it over her mouth until it cleared, then swapping the towel for an oxygen mask, calmly reassuring her young patient that everything was going to be ok and that she didn't need to panic, stroking her forehead and pushing the now damp strands of hair out of her face as she did so.

"She's coughing up blood and mucus separately. It's a fresh bleed," continued Sam, "We are waiting on Dr Anderson. We've booked a theatre in case, and the standby anaesthetist should be here any minute."

"Do you think that she is stable enough for anaesthesia? That's quite a risk in her state."

"I'm getting all my ducks in a row so that we can alleviate this situation a.s.a.p. I'd rather be over-prepared than waste precious time hunting down various personnel in half an hour's time. Mia doesn't have that time to waste." The last part was whispered but Carlisle and Esme heard it clearly, and the message behind it.

The anaesthetist and Dr Anderson arrived within minutes of each other. An hour later, Amelia was in Radiology for a chest x-ray and her temperature was dropping to normal levels thanks to the medication that had been administered. It was clear that the fungal infection was worsening, and indirectly had burst a blood vessel.

Esme sat alone in Amelia's room, the smell of blood still lingering. It was now going on 6am. Carlisle had accompanied Amelia to the operating theatre where the doctors were performing an angiogram to embolise the blood vessel that had started bleeding. Esme was deep in her thoughts and didn't hear Sam come in.

"Here, you look like you could do with some. I promise it's decent, I bring my own stash of coffee to avoid being poisoned by that crap that the machine down the hall has the nerve to call coffee," said Sam, as she put some coffee down in front of Esme. Esme glanced at the coffee. She had always enjoyed the smell of fresh coffee in the morning, even if she could not drink it.

"Thank you, Sam." She smiled and took the cup in her hands, blowing on the coffee to cool it down.

"Mia's a fighter, she'll pull through this," Sam stated as she started stripping the bed of its bloody sheets. Two other nurses poked their head around the door.

"Any news on Mia?" one of them asked.

"No Charlotte, nothing yet," replied Sam.

"Ok. Well it's change of shift in less than an hour. You've been on your feet all night with Mia, so just take it easy now. Claire will take over for you on Mia's case, unless they send her back to ICU, so please update her when she arrives," the other nurse said, obviously the head nurse of the ward.

"Thanks Melissa," said Sam gratefully.

Esme stood to help Sam put the fresh sheets on Amelia's bed, then Sam took them out of the room and returned soon after with her own cup of coffee. Alice had texted and confirmed Sam's thoughts – Amelia would be ok.

"Do you think Amelia will be allowed to return to Seattle soon?"

"Not like this, no. I hope she gets to go home for a little while though. Why do you ask?" Sam's tone was gentle and warm.

"Carlisle and I want to adopt Amelia. It will be nice to give her a family she deserves. No matter what happens to her, she shouldn't have to go through it alone."

"I think she would like that very much," replied Sam, with a large smile on her face, "goodness knows that girl deserves some love in this world. How did you know to come when you did earlier on?"

"Call it mothers' instinct."

They sat in companionable silence for a while. Change of shift came and went, with Claire being apprised of the latest developments with regards to Amelia's case.

"Shouldn't you be going home, Sam?" queried Esme at around 7.30am.

"I just want to know that she is alright. I can't stand not knowing. She is special to all of us here in the ward."

Esme's phone buzzed with a text from Alice.

'Relax Esme, she is going to be ok, I promise. A x' .Esme sighed in relief.

A few minutes later, Esme could hear Carlisle coming up the stairs. Soon he entered the room.

"She's in ICU right now. We managed to embolise the bleeding vessel, it was quite a big one that was bleeding. We suctioned what we could from her lungs, and she's receiving anti-fungal medication and anti-pyretic medication as well. She's still sedated; we're going to leave her intubated for now to keep her vitals strong."

"Thanks Dr Cullen," said Sam, evidently relieved. She stood up to leave, stifling a yawn as she did so, "I'll see you both a bit later. I'd better get going. It was lovely chatting to you, Mrs Cullen."

"Likewise, Sam. And please, call me Esme." They smiled at each other and Sam left.

"She is still asleep, my darling. We are giving her meds for the fungal infection and meds to bring her fever down, and a tube is still breathing for her."

Esme nodded fiercely, her eyes full with unshed tears. Carlisle sat down in the chair vacated by Sam and embraced his wife, who dry sobbed in his arms.

"She's going to be alright, Es, she is going to be just fine," he soothed, rubbing her back as he did so. When she had calmed down, he took her by the hand and led her to the ICU. Amelia looked pale and fragile, dwarfed by all of the equipment that was surrounding her bed. Her chest rose steadily in time to the machinery.

"May I stay a while?" asked Esme, not wanting to leave her new daughter alone.

"That can be arranged," said Dr Anderson, walking into the room, looking grave, "we need to chat about Amelia. She is getting worse, it seems as though she is no better than when she first arrived. She's been here for months and she's not improving. I think we should let her go back to Washington as soon as she is well enough to travel. Perhaps a change of scenery will do her good."

"We still need to discuss her options with her. She doesn't know yet that we are adopting her. From there, her medical care needs to be planned."

"I am more than happy to release her into your capable hands, Carlisle. However, should she opt for a transplant, I would prefer that she come here for it."

Carlisle nodded and he and Dr Anderson left the room to talk privately. Esme sat with Amelia, holding her hand, rubbing circles on her small hand with her thumb.

"You scared me back there, sweetheart," she informed the sleeping teenager, "but I am so glad to hear that you are going to be ok. Soon, you'll be able to come home with us and you can meet your brothers and sisters. It's going to be such fun. I'm going to be your Mom. Won't that be lovely? We can do stuff together, like bake cookies and watch movies. You can come to me for advice any time of the day or night, and I can help you with your lessons, even teach you to drive a car. Don't let Emmett do it, he'll surely teach you incorrectly. Alice is excited - I think she is looking forward to someone else to shop for."

While Esme continued her chatter, Carlisle watched her from the doorway. His wife was a truly exceptional woman.

"Having fun?" he enquired, arching an eyebrow. Esme turned to look at him sadly. "Let's go home, Es. She is still fast asleep. She won't be awake until tonight. The staff will call us, and Alice will keep an eye on any changes. ICU does have strict rules. We will come back later, I promise. Besides, we have papers to send to make her a member of our family."

Esme reluctantly stood up and kissed her daughter's forehead and smoothened the blankets down.

"Good bye sweetheart, see you later. I love you lots," she whispered in Amelia's ear. Taking Carlisle's hand, they walked out of ICU and went home.