Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Author's Note: Thanks to RayCullen, MimiMiami, Guest, and SittingTooClose for your reviews! I would've updated sooner, but I wrote about 2k of this chapter and then the entire thing was deleted, so I had to start over and was feeling very lazy and irritated with myself for not saving it. Not a great excuse for not updating, but it's all I got… Hopefully, you still enjoy this anyways! Let me know what you think. This is most likely the final chapter of this story, so thanks for sticking around and reading (: I have another plan for a short story like this one and I plan on posting that soon!

Carlisle's POV

After we stepped out of the shower, I dried myself and swiftly changed into dry clothes. Esme eyed one of my shirts and I could tell that she was debating putting it on. I knew that she tried to look decent in front of the children, but perhaps tonight she would indulge in comfort over looking proper. I quickly grabbed the shirt and handed it to her, the thought of her safe in my clothing was reassuring. She took it from me and gave me a tiny smile in return. I hoped the scent from my shirt would bring her the same comfort hers brought me.

"I'll be back soon," I promised her, kissing her on the forehead.

She sat down on our bed, pulling my shirt over her head. I gave her one last look over just to make sure that it would really be okay to leave her. Her eyes were still bright gold, but the lostness that was present earlier seemed to be receding slightly. If anything, I knew she wasn't reliving the memory repeatedly. I believe she was finally processing everything. I sighed, mentally scolding myself to go and check on my daughter. Hovering over Esme wasn't helping anything right now.

I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me. I always closed doors. It was a habit of mine that I would never break. Open doors never felt secure, and right now I wanted everyone to feel secure. I didn't like the thought of leaving Esme so vulnerable in our room with an open door, even though the concept of anything happening was ludicrous. I made my way down the hallway and ventured to approach my children. I heard their voices die down into silence as I approached them.

Emmett looked at me, the frustration on his face evident. He was clenching his fists and shook his head at me. He looked past me and softened his eyes, hearing Esme moving around in the room. Rosalie had her arms crossed over her chest and glared at me as I entered.

"What do you want?" Rosalie hissed. I noticed her clothes were still torn and she was still damp. The two of them had clearly not made much progress.

"Is Esme alright?" Emmett asked, ignoring the comment his wife made.

"Actually, Esme would like to speak with you," I informed him, watching his face light up with pride. Emmett and Esme had an interesting relationship that was perhaps one of the strongest in the family, outside of each individual and their mate.

"Mama bear needs me," he beamed. "Well, I won't keep her waiting…" he glanced over at his wife, waiting for her objection. She turned her face away from him and paced over to the chair across the room.

Emmett sighed, taking her reaction as an indignant acceptance and walked over to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and an unspoken agreement passed between us. We would do what we could to help. Esme needed the warmth and humor Emmett had, and Rosalie needed my practical reasoning. Emmett gave me a gentle squeeze and then passed by.

Rosalie and I stared at each other in silence as we listened to Emmett's footsteps head towards the room. We heard him knock softly and turn the handle on the door.

"She sent you to speak with me?" Rosalie guessed, her voice sounding bitter. "You'd think she would know better by now."

"Rose, I just want to help you," I assured her. "I know that what happened was unexpected and-"

"Unexpected?" she screamed. "Unexpected?! You mean none of you expected the nomad vampires to attack those preventing them from feeding?"

I winced at her words. I certainly wasn't anticipating a civil conversation with her, but her passionate anger never ceased to shock me. Edward had screamed at me, his words often wounded me, but in time he had matured. He still had his moments, but we had come to a place where he wasn't outright screaming at me. Emmett would just take his anger out on objects, breaking anything available to him. He rarely raised his voice. Even when Esme was mad, rare at it may be, she never screamed at me. No, when Esme was mad, somehow it was so much worse. Her eyes would narrow, and she would barely speak to you at all.

I quickly pushed down the unpleasant thoughts of the few times I had seen my wife upset and focused on my daughter. We learned that Rosalie was a screamer the minute she opened her eyes. She screamed when she mad and upset. At first, I assumed she was just a more volatile newborn than Edward, but her fierceness never withered. Even now, she kept yelling at me, not allowing me to defend myself. Didn't she know that I felt awful about tonight? If there had been any other way, I gladly would have done it. If I could have gone in their place… Did she really think I was okay with the sacrifices that had been made tonight? Surely she knew that my existence was depended on Esme's…

"I'm every bit as good as you, don't you know that?" she hissed low, not caring to hear any excuses I might have made. None of them would have changed anything in her mind anyways. "My record is just as good as yours!"

"Your self-control is admirable," I commented. Is this what she wanted? To be praised? I wasn't exactly sure what she wanted from me. Why did Esme think I needed to speak with her? Rosalie and I have never connected on anything. All we've ever done is disagree from the very beginning.

"Oh, don't patronize me!" she cried out, standing up. She flung the chair backwards, smashing it into pieces. So, it appeared she was picking up pointers from her husband.

"I'm not patronizing you," I told her. "You've always had remarkable resistance for human blood."

"But not as good as the great Dr. Cullen?" she laughed, her eyes meeting mine. "You can cut the shitty pious act. You think you're so much better than the rest of us!"

I fought the urge to sigh. This was an argument we have had several times. Rosalie often felt that I saw myself as above the rest.

"Rosalie, you know that isn't true," I argued.

"You're better than Edward. He left you and Esme all that time ago to become a murderer. He killed how many people? I don't even think he can count how many lives he stole, how many humans he drank from. You're far better than Emmett. He's slipped up more than any of us, except Jasper and Alice. I think Jasper has killed more humans than all of us combined. Alice won't even tell us how many she has killed. I've only ever known her to have that one slip, so I know for certain she is less than you. But, Emmett, he killed those two hunters in the woods, he killed that woman who came to our house with the church flyers, he killed that small child! And Esme, oh poor, sweet Esme. How can she be worthy of your Godliness? She killed-"

"Enough!" my voice was loud and powering, cutting her off. She looked at me with something akin to shock. "I understand that you're upset, but you will not presume to say how I view the members of our family. You can scream at me, but you will not belittle the mistakes of everyone else. That is something I will not tolerate, no matter how much pain you are in. As I have told you in the past, we're all equal in my eyes. There is no pedestal, and if there were one, and if I were to put someone on that pedestal, it certainly wouldn't be myself."

Rosalie shook her head, refusing to listen to me. "I killed Royce and all the others who raped me. I killed them, yes, but somehow you still think you're better! You've tasted human blood four times. I know that you almost lost control with Esme. She has more than one scar on her neck. Every day, I look at her neck and remind myself that even someone like you lost control once."

I was losing my patience with her. It was not often that I lost my patience, but tonight had taken its toll on me. I thought that I might lose several people in my family tonight. I thought I might lose my wife. My wife, who was in a bad place and that I should be comforting! Instead, I was here trying to help Rosalie, and she just seemed to want to throw out accusations at me without trying to get to the root of the problem.

"Yes, I drank the blood of you, Edward, Emmett, and Esme," I agreed. "I'm not perfect. Esme's blood was…Yes, I drank from her twice." I thought back to that night when I found her. Her blood was indescribable. So sweet, so irresistible. Rosalie didn't get to know that. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to discuss this with her. It was a conversation for only Esme and me. What mattered was that she knew I did not think of myself as above her. "I don't know what happened tonight," I told her, hoping she would sense that I wasn't sure what she wanted me to say. "Did Victoria say something about our lifestyle that has upset you?"

"No!" she cried out. "Why? Do you think that I'm so weak that I would give up this lifestyle because of what happened?"

"I didn't say that," I finally sighed. "Rosalie, please, I would never question your loyalty. I'm simply trying to figure out what has you so upset."

"Everything!" she shouted out. "She had Esme and I didn't know what else to do! None of you were there. You sent us out in the woods wearing human clothes! My God, how could you all be so careless?! She had Esme by the hair, and I attacked her. I attacked Victoria because she had my mother and none of you were there!"

I grimaced, trying to imagine the scene Rosalie was describing. "I could give you a thousand apologies for what happened, but we both know they won't soothe the pain. Edward needed us and we all wanted to help. We didn't have much time and there weren't any other options."

"I bit her," she said, her faced filled with shame. She clearly didn't care for my explanations.

"That's a natural instinct," I assured her. "Our venom causes significant pain. Although you've never been trained to bite, your instincts react."

"No, it's not that," she whispered, her anger still present. "I bit her and I wanted her to be a human."

I blinked. I processed her words, understanding finally why she was so distraught. Rosalie was determined. She was prideful. She was precise and controlled, and tonight had made her doubt herself. Suddenly, it dawned on me why Esme wanted me to speak with her. I was determined. I was prideful. When I made a mistake, I wallowed in self-deprecation, for I expected the best out of myself.

"Victoria wasn't human," I said. "I know that your fantasy has troubled you, but know that you have not made a mistake."

"You don't understand! I bit her and I imagined it was Bella," the hurt in her voice made me ache with desperation to help her. "I've never been temped by her before. She smells just like the rest of them. I've smelled humans ten times more tantalizing than her. Still, I couldn't even control myself after that first bite. I forced Esme to take off Bella's clothes because I was so scared that I would bite her." She closed her eyes. "Why is this happening?"

I took a tentative step towards her. "What happened tonight doesn't change anything."

Her eyes shot open and she immediately recoiled. "It changes everything!" Her blonde hair was starting to dry and it looked wild, untamed like the passion in her gaze.

"No, it doesn't. You're the same as you were. You have not slipped. Temptation was dancing in your mind due to undesired circumstance, however, your resistance…your control was the same force as always."

"I've never felt…" she trailed off. I watched her gulp and look at me with an unsteady gaze. "I've never felt more like a vampire. I'm a monster, and tonight the monster bared it's fangs and nonexistent blood sang it's siren song."

I winced as if her words were somehow able to physically sting. "Rosalie," I said her name softly. "You are a vampire. That is something you cannot escape and I'm terribly sorry for that. However, you're not a monster. It is your choices that define you and you choose to do the right thing. You chose to protect Esme tonight. You could've just protected yourself, but you risked your own life for her, and I cannot even begin to express my gratitude. You chose to help Edward and Bella, even though you disagree with it. You choose to abstain from human blood every day. You choose to let humans live. You make all of these choices because you are not a monster."

She sighed and shook her head. "You're right. I know you're right. It's the same thing I've told Emmett after he slipped, and yet is somehow seems so inadequate. We aren't monsters because we deny that part of ourselves. I just don't know how to accept what happened. I'm not used to feeling so out of control. It's like someone else took over and I wasn't me anymore."

"And that is okay," I said. "No one is perfect. I'm not perfect. I could list you the mistakes I've made. Regardless, what happened tonight doesn't change anything. Tomorrow is another day and you're still the same. Emmett still loves you. Esme still loves you. I still love you."

"Yeah," she said, giving me a half smile. "I love you guys, too."

I smiled at her confession.

"I'm still mad at you, though," she said. "I don't like seeing Esme upset. And I'm still unhappy with many things, including myself."

"I know," I said. "And I will fully accept your anger. It is deserved from the both of you."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Esme won't be mad at you. Or Edward. She never gets mad. So, I guess I'll just be mad for the both of us. You made a poor executive decision and Edward is just continuously making poor life choices with Bella."

"You should be delicate with Edward, as I'm sure he will be apologetic once he discovers what happened. He is already shaken up from what happened with Bella." I told her firmly, thinking about the events that happened that Esme and Rosalie missed.

"I don't hate her, you know," she admitted quietly.

"Edward knows that," I told her. "He also understands why you feel the way you do. He has his own reservations. But, he's going to need us to be there for him after what happened tonight. I fear he's having some conflicting thoughts."

She gave me an inquisitive glance.

I contemplated telling her when suddenly the silence was filled with the booming laughter of Emmett and soft giggles of Esme. Rosalie and I looked at each other and beamed knowingly.

"Perhaps we can discuss this once Edward has returned?" I wondered, already taking a few steps backwards to my bedroom. "He will surely want everyone's opinion, and I shouldn't be presumptuous of his emotions."

"Yes, it can wait. Let's join them," She nodded, following closely behind me.

I felt my smile stretched as I heard Esme say something completely silly and Emmett laughing in response. It appeared that my son was helping her come out of her dark place. I couldn't help but imagine her nose crinkling as her laugher escaped her lips.

I glanced over at Rosalie and saw that the anger that was radiating about her had subsided. At the sound of her mother relaxing, she seemed to be relaxing more as well. I was both surprised and pleased that I had managed to help her calm down some and realize her worth was the same. I felt a fatherly pride that she often refused to let me have.

It had only been a short time since everything spiraled out of control, and yet it seemed to have aged me immensely. The stress for Edward, Bella, Rosalie, and my dearest Esme, was quite overwhelming. I wasn't quite sure how we managed to come to this so quickly, but tonight we had all made a big risk for Isabella Swan. Like it or not, she was a part of our family now.

I couldn't help but shake the tortured look in Edward's eyes after what happened. I knew what he was thinking, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. Not now. Not when I knew the hardships it would bring on every single member of our family. Now, I would go into my bedroom and laugh with my wife and two children at whatever absurd things they wanted.

We survived this night, and we would survive whatever chaos was likely to come with the sacrifices made for a lamb.