Within the next few days I practically had my normal Carlisle back, aside from him wanting to sleep a bit more due to having a cold. He still was kind of upset about the idea of hunting but I figured we would cross that bridge when we came to it. For now I was just happy that he was happy.
"Hey Esme?" Carlisle called to me as I walked across the snow.
"What?" I turned around to face him. "You need to go back inside before you get sick again."
"You're not my mother," he teased, jumping off the deck and disrupting the perfectly smooth white surface that was apparently our lawn.
I rolled my eyes are turned away again, only to be hit in the back with a ball of snow. I tried to stifle a giggled but couldn't stop the smile. "You want to play dirty, do you Carlisle?" I laughed.
"Um…I'm not really sure what you mean by that seeming as the snow is actually quite clean looking to me and if that's a sexual reference you are way over my head so-"
I stopped his nervous rambling by throwing one back at him, marvelling at how innocent he actually was. It hit him in the legs.
"That was a bad shot," he accused, smiling widely.
I picked up another one and tossed it. He retorted by returning fire.
In the end it became pretty obvious that the only time I could hit him was when he pitied me and stepped into them.
I ran toward him and tackled him into the snow, landing on top of him. As I started to get up again he wound his arms around my waist, holding me closer to him.
"Thank you," he whispered softly. I could feel his breath against my neck.
"For what?" I asked, pushing his hair off his face.
"For everything." He reached up and kissed me. He pulled back too soon so I kissed him again, not quite as gently as he had to me.
Suddenly Garrett was beside us, sitting cross-legged. He tapped me on the back.
"Oh god, here we go," Carlisle mumbled, trying not to smile.
"Sorry to interrupt you two when you are being all romantic and everything, but if somebody doesn't go back inside like a good boy than somebody is going to get sick."
"I think he's right, honey," I chuckled. "You're getting cold." I reluctantly got up.
"Ugh." He remained lying in the snow for a few seconds without moving.
I marvelled at how angelic he looked surrounded by the perfect backdrop and covered in snowflakes. "Come on, sweetie," I encouraged, knowing that I couldn't look at him much longer without wanting to kiss him to the point it was irresistible.
He jumped to his feet in one fluid movement and slipped his hand into mine.
Garrett pointed at the door, looking sternly at Carlisle.
Kate, who was on the deck, burst out laughing. "Honey, you would make a great mother."
He rolled his eyes and turned to face her, leaving us to ourselves.
Carlisle's lips met mine again. I hadn't realised he was in front of me but now he was right in front of me.
"We have to go inside," I whispered to him, knotting my fingers behind his neck.
"Or maybe you could just keep me warm," he whispered back, smiling.
"I think that could work," I giggled, pushing my tongue between his lips.
In response he ran his hands down my back, pulling me closer to him even though there was no space between us.
"Do you think they'd miss us if we just, I don't know, ran away for an hour?" he asked. I could tell he was teasing but there was nothing I wanted more.
"Not if we moved quickly," I told him, sort of hoping we could. I ran my hand down his face and he caught it and held it there.
"Seriously, you two, I'm going to puke," Edward smirked at us.
"Maybe we should run," Carlisle chuckled to me, ignoring him.
"No, inside," he commanded, using a surprising amount of authority.
"It's a shame it's Edward; I'm faster than Garrett," he continued, biting his lip to keep from laughing.
"We could do it anyway?" I suggested.
"I haven't tried running from him since I changed, maybe I'm faster now." He was teasing Bella's husband now and Edward knew it. Carlisle's eyes were alive with excitement.
"You are not," Edward scoffed, laughing. "I would have you in three seconds."
"But we'd already have a ten metre head start," he whispered softly so he couldn't hear. His fingers played with a piece of my hair. He thought for a moment and his smile grew more mischievous. "Ready?"
"We're really doing this?" I giggled, unable to help myself.
"Carlisle Cullen," Edward muttered, reading his thoughts and shaking his head. "That's disgusting."
I suddenly wished I could read his mind.
Instead of going red like I thought he would he burst out laughing and grabbed my hand, starting to run. "Run Esme run!" he yelled, barely able to speak through his giggles.
When I failed to keep up with him, he picked me up and suddenly we were in the top of a tree, grinning like idiots. He held me so I was on his knee with his arms around my waist.
"It's like we're in a snow globe," he murmured, looking up as the snowflakes fell. "And somebody shook us."
"That's an odd thing to say," I smiled, remembering why I loved him so much.
"Too weird?" he asked self-consciously.
"Just the right amount of weird," I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck again.
He smiled but it was shy and he hid behind his fringe, his face growing warm.
I touched his cheek and made him look at me.
"I love you," he whispered even though there was no one to hear us.
"I love you too," I whispered back. When our lips met he lost his balance and almost slipped off the branch. "Carlisle Cullen, did you just swear?" I giggled, unable to help myself.
"Maybe?" he giggled back.
I pushed him lightly and immediately regretted it.
He laughed nervously when he only just managed to catch us before we fell.
"Sorry," I squeaked.
He smiled at shook his head. "We could fall; I don't think it would hurt that much, the snow would be soft."
I wondered if he was considering it. "Carlisle…" I warned, worried.
"Don't worry, I won't do it," he chuckled. He rested his cheek on the top of my head.
"Do you think they're going to be mad?" I asked, fiddling with the collar of his shirt.
"Why does it matter?" he teased and then sighed. "I missed you."
"I haven't gone anywhere," I told him, momentarily distracted by the warmth of him. It was nice, comforting.
"No…but I miss being with you. I mean like we used to be when Edward left and we were by ourselves."
"Oh." A silence covered us again.
"Sometimes I wish we really could run away," he mumbled, more to himself than me.
"What did we just do?" I chuckled.
"No, really run away. Like far away."
"You don't really want that, sweetie," I reminded him softly, knowing he wouldn't like to be away from our family for long.
"Hmm," he looked away and I could see longing written all over his face.
I squeezed him.
He squeezed me back. "Not forever, just for a while," he murmured.
"You actually want this?" I asked, surprised.
"I don't know, maybe." He glanced at me before looking up again.
I read what he really meant; I want to go but i know it would hurt you.
