Take Your Daughter To Work Day:
This really is just random Carlisle/Bella fluff, with some Take Your Daughter To work Day stuff thrown in. Enjoy!
"Bella," I heard Carlisle walk in the door, calling me. I was sitting in the living room with the rest of the Cullens. As the wedding drew nearer and nearer, I had been spending almost all my time at the Cullen house. "What's up, Carlisle?"
He glanced at Alice. She laughed and closed her eyes. A second later, they snapped open and she grinned. "She's going to be excited!" He smiled and sat down next to me. "Tomorrow is 'Take Your Daughter To Work Day', and I was wondering whether you might like to come to the hospital with me." At first, I was touched that he would ask me instead of taking Rosalie or Alice again, but then I remembered something. "Aah, I would, but your line of work involves icky red stuff that causes me to periodically lose consciousness." I grimaced, and they exploded into laughter. "I promise, you can stay in my office, away from all the-"he used finger-quotes-"icky red stuff." I grinned, and exclaimed, "Okay!" He smiled and gave me a hug. "Thanks, Bella." Jasper looked over at me and said, "Can you calm down a bit Bella? You're making me excited about something I'm not going to!" I felt my cheeks flame, and everyone laughed again. Carlisle put his arm around me, and said, "Well, I'm glad you're excited." Jasper groaned and said, "Carlisle, remember what I asked Bella?" He nodded. "Can you please do the same?" He grinned sheepishly. "Oh hell!" Jasper got up and ran out of the room. I looked at Edward, questioningly. He laughed and said, "Your combined embarrassment put him over the edge. He'll be back in a little while." I blinked, and said, "Oh, okay." He looked at Carlisle, and then glanced back toward me. "Why are you so excited anyway? Planning something?" He grinned at Carlisle's shocked expression. "I was kidding." he said. "But I would like to know. "As would I," Carlisle added. I took a deep breath and gave them a serious, honest answer.
"Because, well, the wedding is only a few weeks away, and soon," I started directly speaking to Carlisle, "you'll be…officially, my dad. It would be nice to spend some quality time with you, without the presence of the attacking vampires that seem to like me so much." I saw Jasper return, freeze, and yell, "BELLA! Are you trying to kill me? Or make me go insane?" Edward got up, went over to Jasper, and tossed him out an open window, returning to his seat as if nothing had happened. Then, I realized Carlisle was staring at me. I felt my face flush, and mumbled, "What?" He seemed to be at a loss for words. I heard Edward murmur, "Of course." I looked at each of them. "Tell me," I demanded.
Carlisle was still trying to form a sentence. "You…me…dad…officially" he sputtered. I was confused. "Yeah….you remember the wedding, right?' He nodded slowly. "But…you said 'officially'. What do you mean by that?" I finally understood what he was getting at, and I couldn't believe he would question something like that. "Carlisle. You're my dad as much as Charlie is. I love you as much as I do him." He hugged me tightly and whispered, "I love you too, Bella. More than you can imagine. You're my daughter as much as Alice or Rosalie are, and I love you as much as I love them." I started crying. I never imagined I would have such a loving and wonderful family in my life. I never thought I would ever deserve to have people like them in my life. I wiped my eyes and smiled.
"And, Esme, you're my mother as much as Renee is." She smiled and hugged me too. "We all love you Bella. We could never bear to lose you. You're a permanent part of this family now." Edward cleared his throat and said, "I hate to break this up, but it's getting late, and Bella is going to have to get up a little earlier than usual." I got up and said, "Goodnight then, everyone." I went around, hugging each of them. I paused when I got to Rosalie, unsure of her feelings toward me. She sighed and smiled. "Come here, Bella!" then proceeded to give me a hug. I was shocked. "I've decided that it's your choice and what you want and what I want are two different things. Will you forgive me?" I was tripping over my words in my haste to get them out. "Of course! Wow, I…I don't know what to say!" She smiled, and said, "It's okay. I'm glad you forgive me." I smiled, and hugged everyone else. I could feel a human-tradition forming. Right before I went upstairs, Jasper came back into the room. I looked at Edward, and he nodded, a wicked glint in his eye. I ran over to Jasper and threw my arms around him, yelling, "Goodnight, Jasper!" He awkwardly hugged me back. I giggled, and then ran back to the stairs. Edward picked me up and ran to his room…our room. That would take some getting used to. "Sleep, Bella. You're going to have an exciting day tomorrow." I smiled. He was right. I was going to have an awesome day tomorrow.
The next morning, I felt Edward gently shaking me. "Bella, time to get up." I rolled over, groaning. "No, I want to sleep!" I heard someone else come in the room. "Bella," he said in my ear. My eyes flew open. "Weren't you so excited about today?" Carlisle put a hurt tone on. "Did you change your mind?" I looked up at him and smiled. "Of course not! I'll be ready in 10 minutes." I jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. I heard Carlisle laugh, and Edward say, "I knew it would work."
I got dressed quickly, and ran downstairs nearly crashing into Emmett. He turned around and gave me a hug, saying, "Hey, little sis!" Once again, he tried to crush me, but Carlisle nearly detached one of his arms freeing me. I grinned and said, 'Thanks." I saw Esme in the kitchen, cooking breakfast for me. It smelled really good, and my stomach growled audibly. "Hungry, Bella?" Esme called over her shoulder, laughing. She slid something onto a plate and set it on the counter. "Come and eat. Tell me how it is."
It was an omelet, with chopped vegetables and cheese. My stomach growled again, loudly, even to my human ears.
I took a bite, and my head started spinning. I never imagined food could taste this good. My taste buds were euphoric. It was seriously the best meal I'd ever had. I sighed contentedly. Jasper made a face. "Esme, did you drug her or something? It feels like she's tripping." They all stared at me. "This is…amazing." I said. I finished eating, and got up to put my dishes away. They were gone before I had my feet on the floor. "Okay, then," I said slowly. Carlisle looked at the clock. "Time to go, Bella." Esme handed me a brown bag. "I made you lunch," she explained. I hugged her and said, "Thanks Mom!" She laughed and pushed me out the door after Carlisle. "Have fun," she said.
The ride to the hospital was one of the least terrifying rides I'd ever had with any of the Cullens. Carlisle kept to the speed limit, and I could see the look of frustration that crossed his face whenever he had to stop. I burst out laughing. "Carlisle, drive at your normal speed. Honestly, I'm used to it by now!" He grinned and said, "Thanks, Bella!" I thought for a minute and asked, Have any of you ever gotten a traffic ticket?" He grinned, and told me, "Emmett, in 1962. He had just bought a new truck, and he wanted to see how fast it would go, so he pulled out of the lot at top speed, and nearly hit a police car." I stared at him, speechless. He laughed at my expression and said, "Really, what do you expect? It's Emmett." I was silent for the rest of the drive. I didn't want to know anything incriminating about any of the other Cullens.
When we got to the hospital, there was a ridiculously colorful banner stretched across the entrance. We walked up the steps, and, of course I fell, and Carlisle caught me before I made impact with the ground, laughing loudly. "Thanks," I mumbled. That just made him laugh harder.
"Wow," I said when we got to his office. "This doesn't look much different than your office at home." We both realized what I'd said at the same time. Home. It was home for me. He smiled, put his arm around my shoulders, and led me to the cafeteria so I could put my lunch away.
On the way there, another doctor stopped us. "Who's this, Carlisle?" He smiled and squeezed my shoulders. "This is my daughter. Bella." I smiled up at him. "Bella, this is Dr. Snow" I smiled and shook his hand. He walked away, and we continued on to the cafeteria. After that, we went back to his office.
I had a better look around this time. Photos covered every available inch of space; single photos, pictures of Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Edward, and…me. There were assorted group pictures all over, but the one that stood out was one I remembered from our first Christmas together. It was all of us, as a family. I jumped a little when I heard Carlisle say, "That's my favorite one." "Mine, too," I whispered. Just then, his pager went off. He glanced at in for a second, and then said, "Er, Bella, I think you'd rather stay here for this one." I grinned. "Icky red stuff?" He smiled and nodded. "Okay then!" I plunked down in a chair to wait.
The phone on his desk rang. I glanced at the caller ID, and saw it was coming from home. I smiled to myself at the easy use of the word. "Hello?" "How has your day been going?" he asked. Edward. "Great! Have you seen all the pictures on Carlisle's desk? He has the one we all took at Christmas. I need to get a copy of it. It's our favorite." He laughed and said, "I'll get right on it. How are things with Carlisle?" I could hear the smile in his voice. "Amazing. He introduced me as his daughter, it's…I don't know. I feel the same way I do with you. Insignificant. Why should they love someone as plain or boring as me? Why should they accept me into their family?" Edward sighed, exasperated. "You will never see yourself clearly, will you?!" he exploded. I laughed quietly and said, "I don't know. But I'm ecstatic! I love them so much!" He laughed, and I continued. "Carlisle is just..." I trailed off, looking for the right word. "I know. I've been with him for more than a century. I haven't come up with an appropriate word either." He snickered then, and said, "Carlisle's been standing in the doorway and heard everything we said." I whirled around and gasped. He was standing right behind me. "Oh!" Edward roared with laughter, as did Carlisle. I felt my face go beet red. "I'm going hunting with Jasper and Emmett. I'll see you soon." "I love you," I said. "I love you too. Bye." I hung up the phone, then turned back to glare at Carlisle. He had a serious look on his face, touching a picture on his desk. I couldn't see which one it was from where I was standing, so I walked around to stand next to him. The picture was a candid of one of the many times I was at the Cullen house. I had a huge smile on my face, as did everyone else.
"You will never see yourself clearly. He's right." I looked up at him, a million questions written on my face. "I heard everything you said. And, something is bothering me." He sat on a leather couch and patted the place next to him. I joined him, and he began to speak.
"I want to know why. Why do you feel insignificant? I can't understand. You're one of the kindest, loving, most selfless people I've ever met, and I've had a long time to meet people." We both laughed, and then he looked at me, waiting for an explanation.
"You're all so loving, and nice, and perfect, and…I don't know. But I've never done anything to deserve such a family." He smiled wryly and said, "You haven't, to my knowledge, done anything not to deserve us," he reminded me. I grinned, and said, "It's been a while since I cared whether or not I deserved you. I love you all with all my heart, and there's really nothing that can be done to change that." He smiled and hugged me. "You've just described how all of us feel about you. Now, come on, you haven't been learning much about what I do, and I believe that's the point of today.
The rest of the day was spent learning about all the machines and tasks that went with being a doctor. I was surprised; I was actually interested in this stuff. "You know, this would be a great job for me…if I wouldn't pass out at the sight of blood." Carlisle looked up from the machine he was tinkering with and said, "Well, if you're serious about that, you could do what Edward does. He comes and assists with things that don't have to do with blood, sprains, broken bones, things like that." I nodded. "I would love to do that."
When it was time to go home, Dr. Snow stopped us in the hall again. "Hey Bella, Dr. Cullen." We nodded at him in acknowledgement. "So, Bella, have you learned much about what Dr. Cullen and I do for a living?" That comment took me totally by surprise, and I couldn't help but to burst out laughing. Carlisle had to hold me up while he was laughing. Dr. Snow looked at us like we were insane. "Inside joke," Carlisle explained. I couldn't stop laughing. Carlisle had to half carry me out to the car.
"I've never made that connection before," he said. I finally stopped laughing and said, "I'm sorry about that. It just took me by surprise." He looked over at me and grinned. "I can only imagine what Emmett might say when he hears it."
After I ate dinner, I sat in the living room with the female Cullens and Carlisle. Jasper, Emmett and Edward wouldn't be back for awhile. We watched jeopardy until they came home-of course, they all knew every answer.
They came in the door; Edward came over to sit next to me. "How was your day?" he murmured. His head snapped up, and he stared at Carlisle. He nodded at Edward, a huge smile on his face. Edward turned to me and said, "He just told me everything that happened today. It's not quite the way I would have liked, but I'm happy you're past feeling undeserving, in a way." He smiled his crooked smile, and I stopped breathing. He 'listened' to Carlisle some more, then his face lit up. "We'll have to arrange a time for you to come with Carlisle and I to the hospital. Jasper groaned, and said, "Please, for the sake of my sanity, please try to contain your excitement!" Edward snickered, and said, "Bella, it's late, time to go to bed." I went around to hug everyone again, and then went upstairs. When I was in bed, Edward told me, "Today was one of the best days Carlisle's ever had. You make them truly happy." I smiled, and drifted off to sleep. This was one of the best days I'd ever had too.
Okay, I realize I've been neglecting What If, and I promise, that's the next one to be updated. Keep an eye out for it in the next few days!
