By the time school ended, the guys were acting like Carlisle had agreed to drive us all. I knew he wouldn't have a problem, but it was still kind of funny.

As the last bell ended, I bid goodbye to my friends and made a mad dash for Carlisle's car, which was parked at the curb, just behind the buses.

I sighed with relief once I was safe and sound in my father's car; he chuckled a bit as he put the car into drive and carefully moved towards the exit.

"Sup dad?" I asked, grinning. Carlisle turned onto the highway and looked over at me, trying not to laugh.

"Not much son, not much, I do appreciate the phone call this afternoon and the fact that it did not involve you getting detention."

"All you had to do was pick me up from that, I'm the one that was stuck with Jones for an extra hour and a half."

"You seem to forget that was only a week or so before the first session of Parent Teacher conferences, it was not the way I hoped to meet one of your teachers." Carlisle countered smoothly; he wasn't mad though, he was clearly amused. "So, Chris, what changed your mind about the game? Last I checked you seemed very adamant about not going."

I shrugged

"Dunno, I guess it was all the talk from the guys, it really got me thinking about their safety. They were talking 'bout hitting the town, scoping out spots to go back to during the summer. Nick is getting his license over the summer so they're hoping he's going to be the driver."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow, obviously confused

"His license, isn't Nick fifteen?"

I shook my head

"He's actually turning sixteen in July, I guess he was really sick right before he started kindergarten and his parents decided to wait a year before sending him. You'd never guess it though; he looks like he's only fourteen. I mean the positive note is that he can't legally drive us for six months, but that seriously isn't going to be the thing that stops this road-trip. Mainly because of his older brother Grif, he's living in Seattle; he's a junior at the University of Washington and has already offered up his apartment for the group to stay a few days. I'm hoping this whole thing is over by the time summer gets going, but it'll make me feel a heck of a lot better knowing those guys aren't going to get swept up in it." I paused and reached into my backpack, pulling out the rolled up newspaper I'd found in the recycle bin, probably left by a teacher or a student checking sports stats, but it was story on the front that had caught my attention. "Did you see this morning's paper?"

Carlisle is usually right on top of the news from all over the world, he has subscriptions to at least fifty of the world's top newspapers, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, London Post, and more importantly at least right now, the Seattle Times, not exactly hardcore reporting, but important in its own right. I hadn't seen any of the papers that morning, and had assumed he was picking them up at work, but I didn't see any in the car.

"No, I did not, at least not from the Seattle Times, something about a delay in production for today's issue."

"Doesn't really matter, this is from yesterday, but it'll serve the same purpose." I unrolled the paper and held it up so he could see the front page, the youngest victim to go missing so far, a sixteen year old boy. Here on the front page was a kid not much older than my friends at school, a kid who could've been any of my classmates for that matter.

Carlisle took a deep breath and sighed, the whole situation in Seattle had all of us on edge, but my father especially, he knew we were running out of options on how to handle it. If it was really one of our kind, it was eventually going to boil over to the point where we had no choice but to get involved, we couldn't let it go on like this so close to our territory.

Getting involved could mean a fight, something my father would avoid so as long as it did not put our family or our human neighbors in danger, not getting involved meant eventual exposure, which meant a death sentence from the Volturi.

"I know you want to protect your friends Chris, and believe me I do as well, but there is only so much we can do, we cannot force people to live in a bubble. Nor can we interfere in their lives even when we know they are making the wrong choice." Carlisle paused as we turned onto our drive, "I know it isnt something you want to think about Christian, but eventually we will leave Forks and with it your friends. Were you satisfied with how they coped after we left in September?"

I nodded

"For the most part, but in a way that was different. I made sure from day one that when the time came for us to move on, there would be no clinging. My friends would move on as well, they would grow up, remember me as a just a good friend, and have their own lives, even coming back now I know that is still the same." I took a deep breath, slipping my Dartmouth hat with the Moose mascot on it, off and put it on the center arm rest, it had come in with Edward's acceptance letter a few days ago.

We had reached the house now, Carlisle pulling slowly into the garage next to Esme's Audi.

"But?" Carlisle prodded gently

"But if this whole thing turns out to be one of our kind…then I want to make sure that my friends are safe from at least that, at this time. I can't sit back and know that I could've protected them at least for now, and not do so."

Carlisle picked up my hat and put it back on my head, pushing the brim down so it went over my eyes.

"And I'm not suggesting that you do that Chris. We will go to Seattle; one of us will try and enjoy the game while the other does what he is best at, protecting and looking out for everyone."

I grinned,

"Well, the one that will be enjoying the game also has another job to do." I said casually sliding out of the car.

"And what's that?" Carlisle asked suspiciously as he followed me to the door that leads into the kitchen.

"Apparently you've been drafted to be the driver." I replied grinning

"I beg your pardon?"

"When I told the guys we were going, they all unanimously decided that Dr. Cullen's Mercedes was the perfect ride to take into Seattle."

"Wonderful," Carlisle said shaking his head, chuckling a bit "I don't suppose you boys will be riding with Mr. Cooper?"

"Nope, in the 'cedes."

"What's this about the Mercedes and Seattle?" Esme asked as she greeted us inside. She hugged and kissed Carlisle, before reaching over and hugging me tight, kissing the top of my head.

"Chris decided that he wants to go to the baseball game tomorrow night and apparently his little motley crew of friends have nominated me to drive them." Carlisle replied chuckling, he moved into the hallway and Esme and I followed, he took off his jacket and hung it up in the closet and I did the same.

"I thought you didn't want to go Chris?" Esme asked taking my hat off my head and hanging it up next to my jacket, she has this thing with hats in the house.

Normally I would jet upstairs to my room, say hi to Chap, and maybe watch a few movies, but Esme wanted to talk for a moment, that much was obvious and I wasn't about to argue with her.

I shrugged

"Changed my mind?" I offered and Esme narrowed her eyes, looking at me expectantly, leading Carlisle and me into the family room.

I half expected Emmett and Jasper to have invaded the room for the TV, but they were nowhere to be found, the TV was off and the radio was on, Esme must have been enjoying a quiet afternoon with no one home. I looked at my mother, curious as to my brothers' whereabouts,

"They went to go check on Alice's Porsche."

I rolled my eyes

"Why is Edward even bothering to hide it in storage? I mean Alice already knows its coming, its impossible to keep anything from her." I asked

"That is Edward's decision, let him have his fun." Esme replied "he's waiting for the best time to give it to her."

We made ourselves comfortable in the family room, Esme and Carlisle to the love seat, me to my favorite chair, the TV stayed off.

Esme reached over and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"So what changed your mind?"

"My idiot friends?" I replied grinning

"Apparently the boys want to go to the game for reasons other than just America's favorite pastime. They're planning visit to Seattle during the summer and are hoping to find some, what's a good word for it Chris?"

"Happening places?" I guessed

"Yes, that works, regardless; Chris is a little worried about them."

"They want to have a good time this summer in Seattle, which during a normal summer I'd be fine with, a city is a city and it's never going to be 100% safe, but it's safer normally. This summer is different, it's not

"Understandable, every once in a while the news mention it, but it is certainly becoming more often." Esme paused looking at both of us sternly "While I was in town today, picking up some things for the graduation party, I overheard some of the parents talking. Do you know that Mrs. Newton and Mrs. Crowley have forbidden Mike and Tyler to go to Seattle until this whole thing is over?"

"Bella's friends?" I asked and Esme nodded

"It would seem that they were planning on going into Seattle this weekend, a trip which of course has been put on hold."

I exchanged a look with Carlisle, I didn't know that and I wondered if my father had. It made me even more nervous to know that it had reached the point where people in Forks knew something was wrong in Seattle and even worse, were preventing each other from going there.

It made me wonder, how much longer it would be before…if it was one of our kind, then god forbid, the Volturi got involved. I wouldn't be surprised if they were already planning to send scouts or something just to investigate a little. My only hope was that Alice would see that coming first and that would allow us to act on it if need be.

The one good thing about my friends going, even if I had decided not to go was that they wouldn't be alone, they wouldn't be and can't be adult-less, (if that's even a word, I don't think it is, but it gets the point across).

Mike and Tyler, in all reality they're adults, whether that's mentally or not is another story, but they could go into Seattle if they want without a parent going with them. Clearly Mike's mum and Tyler's mum had a say in the situation, but neither guy needs their mum to drive them into the city.

It's different with my friends, fourteen, fifteen year old kids with one sixteen year old who still won't be able to drive them anywhere for six months. They have to stick by an adult inside the city, they have no choice, that's their ride home for one thing and for another, my friends may talk tough, but they are still kids and will act like it when the time comes, IE staying close to an adult.

If they manage to get into Seattle this summer and all this crap is still going on, who's going to look out for them? I mean I'm sure Nick's brother isn't going to let anything happen to them, but how is he going to keep four teenagers from doing something stupid in a big city. He's not their babysitter.

My mind flashed to the newspaper article and the kid that had recently gone missing, he could've been just like Nick, Steve, Patrick, or even Paul, hell he could've been me and who knew what he was doing now, was he alive, was he dead, who the hell knew?

"I know I can't protect them from the world, and certainly not forever, but they are my friends and I can look out for them, at least for a while." I paused and took a deep breath. "And spend as much time as I possibly can trying to convince them not go to Seattle over the summer."

"Chris sweetie it is times like this, I wish you would listen to yourself."

I raised an eyebrow at Esme

"Huh?"

"Chris every once in a while you slip back into the bad habit of pretending you prefer to let nature take its course, separating yourself from the situation and the feelings that come with that something I thought was over with decades ago. But then you seem to unintentionally correct yourself. You just did that." Esme pulled me over to the loveseat and planted me in between her and Carlisle, she hugged my shoulders tight, "you are not separate from the situation, you are a part of it, you have a say in how things will play out and more importantly you have an emotional connection, we all do."

I sighed

"I've let myself become to close to everyone here haven't I?"

Carlisle and Esme looked at one another, then at me with a look that made me shrink back a little.

"Christian Aiden Cullen, that is exactly what I'm talking about." Esme reprimanded, "Why are you questioning that? You have made friends, very close friends I might add, with a group of children with whom you have a lot in common. You may not see how that has affected you, but we can see it, it has been a wonderful thing to see you letting people other than us in. Your attitude has dramatically changed, you are acting like the kid you should be and we couldn't be happier."

She was right of course at least on one aspect, I didn't see any changes in myself, profiling myself is not part of the ability, I profile others and environments, it is impossible to profile myself, at least, I've never tried.

It got me thinking, would the old Chris have opened up to Bella like I had, would I have allowed myself the vulnerability that comes with telling Bella my sob story?

There was also the bigger picture to consider, I knew how I acted around Marie and her group of friends, I felt comfortable with them enough to be kind of be myself, something I hadn't done at school since I was human.

But to me that was like a chicken or the egg question, was I more comfortable with my friends at school because I felt more comfortable around Bella, was she somehow changing my attitude towards everything? Or was it the other way around; was I more comfortable around Bella because of the affect my friends were having on me?

I mean I was courteous to my classmates, starting when I met them in sixth grade, but I never went out of my way to be overly friendly, the occasional hi or what's up was passed around and sometimes I would pair up with one of them for an assignment. But I didn't instigate the grouping, it was all on them, now that I'm thing back, it was really Sarah and Nick, they were the first ones to kind of approach me in sixth grade, Marie did too, but she is so painfully shy it took her a while to talk to me, it involved Sarah dragging her up to ask me question about an assignment.

But that was back then, none of what I was experiencing now was even in the same description of then. It really started snowballing last year, last spring to be specific, before I had even met Bella. So maybe Bella had nothing to do with my perception, maybe it was just a coincidence. I'm not big on relying on coincidences or believing everything happens for a mythical reason. My ability allows me to see how things will occur, triggers so to speak, I rely on the facts that my ability tells me, not basing everything on faith and coincident.

I see body language and it tells me everything I need to know about a person or an environment. Its like this, if I see a root sticking out of the ground on a walking path and I get a look at five people who will walk that path, I can easily figure out just by body language alone, which one of those five will trip over that root. Those are facts and are all pieces of the puzzle I use to come to my conclusions.

So without Bella in the puzzle I was left with a burning question, was it my friends changing my attitude or was I changing myself, was there really a reason for my new outlook?

I didn't know how to answer my own question and it was a good one too. But asking it aloud might bring another reprimand from Esme so I kept my question to myself. I simply nodded my acceptance at what she had just said, it's safer then arguing with her.

"Sorry Mum," I said, apologizing doesn't hurt either.

"Don't apologize Christian; just keep in mind what I just said."

"I will,"

Carlisle cleared his throat; he had been letting Esme handle this discussion because it was something she felt very strongly about. Carlisle understood my reasoning as well as Esme's, but spouse overrules youngest child each time in this kind of thing, he agreed with everything Esme was saying.

"Chris, how about you and I go hunting?" he asked and Esme nodded her approval "it looks like you're getting close to needing it, might make things easier tomorrow at the game if you're concentrating on your profile and not the coming mountain lions."

I grinned at that and laughed as Esme and Carlisle joined me. I looked at my father mischievously

"So, first one to take down Bambi?" I asked innocently, Carlisle rolled his eyes, he does not get involved in bets like my brothers and I do. If anything Carlisle sits back and just shakes his head at us.

"Chris, do I look like Emmett to you?"

"Occasionally," I replied, "once in a while you get this look in your eyes that is a dead ringer for Emmett." My grin widened as Carlisle stood up.

"Let's go Chris," he replied chuckling, pulling me up by the collar of my shirt.

XXXX

Carlisle and I don't get to hunt together just the two of us very often. It's tends to be me with my brothers or sisters, or sometimes just him and Esme, but rarely just us. It's amazing how similar we are, I mean given the fact that my father is nearly three hundred years older than me and the fact we're not biologically father and son, we could easily be father and son.

If you want to get technical, the moment Carlisle bit me, injecting the venom into my bloodstream we became father and son literally and psychologically, it's weird to think about, but the vampire who bit Carlisle and turned him, is for all intensive purposes, my grandfather, mine, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, and even Esme, without him Carlisle wouldn't have been turned, and neither would any of us.

I like science and medical stuff, but that thought really weird's me out, so I try to avoid the technicalities associated with my vampiric DNA, not only that, but it gives me the vampire equivalent to a migraine.

I'm getting off topic there, it's not the point, the point is that of everyone in the family, it's Carlisle who I relate to the easiest, who I'm the most like. Carlisle even told me once that I remind him of himself when he was a kid or a young teen. I may look up to my brothers and sisters, I may even act like them at some points or enjoy similar activities, but it's with Carlisle who I share a similar personality with. There are even some times when we think alike, except of course when it comes to fighting.

Carlisle is very much a pacifist, he'd rather see his own life in danger then put someone else in harms way no matter the reason, he's the perfect definition of a doctor, the whole Hippocratic oath rolled into one man. I'm not like Emmett where I jump into a fight as if it's the only option, but if my profile gives me reason to fight or I see it as the only logical option, I will side with Emmett each time. Many underestimate me because of my size, but I can fight with the best of them. But I see Carlisle's feelings on the matter of fighting and at times I do agree with him.

But I love spending one on one time with my father, especially outside. I feel so free when I can just run through the woods as fast as I can, with nothing holding me back.

I dodged a fallen tree and hopped over another as I felt Carlisle right behind me. I'm easily the fastest in the family, but my father was keeping pace with me as we followed a herd of deer deeper into the woods, waiting for the right time to pounce.

As much as I love being in the forest and as much as I need to hunt, being able to sense animal emotions makes hunting less enjoyable for me. I wish I could enjoy it like my siblings do, but unless I really concentrate on ignoring the fear, pain, confusion, and sometimes rage that I get bombarded with, I can't enjoy it, I'm so focused on maintain control of the emotions that I go kind of on auto pilot with the hunt.

Hunting with Jasper always goes a lot smoother for me. He manages to counter nearly any emotions getting thrown my way, especially the violent ones from predators. He focuses on my emotions leaving me with a full sense of calm and clarity as I hunt. It really helps when Emmett goes for the bears, which I enjoy, but rarely get because of how nasty they can get, especially after they've been agitated by Emmett.

Prior to Alice and Jasper joining the family, there were actually times hunting with Emmett, where I had to leave the area because as he enraged the bear to the point where it was a good wrestling opponent I would be nailed with that bears emotions, getting more and more angry with my brother until my choice was either leave the area or attack my brother.

Amazingly though, Carlisle without any special abilities, can do the same thing at least with me. Like the father he really is, Carlisle can see when something isnt right with each one of us, so if he sees me getting agitated when we're hunting, he knows the source isnt me, its whatever animal is in the area.

Carlisle can usually get me calmed down enough to help me focus the emotions pushing them into more manageable solutions. Aside from Jasper, when it comes to the emotions bombarding me and basically pushing me underwater, Carlisle is the only one who can pull me out quickly. Esme is usually the first one there to calm me down and comfort me, but it's Carlisle who gets me to Esme at least in the emotional sense.

So as we neared the herd of deer, the emotions began to get stronger, including one emotion that didn't really fit with the herd of deer, a feeling of anger, something nearby was not only territorial, but was very hungry. We were not the only predators hunting in the woods tonight. In the distance I could make out a shape of a mountain lion, it was slowly making its way to the herd, stalking. It must have detected our presence, because it was not a happy cat, believing that it now had competition and it was not giving up that herd without a fight, especially not to some new creatures it didn't recognize.

Carlisle and I had two choices here, we could either allow the cat to get the herd first and then we track them further into the woods, which wouldn't be a problem, or one of us take out the cat while the other goes for the herd. We exchanged a look and he gestured towards the cat's scent, I nodded my answer, Carlisle knows me well enough to understand my nod, he was giving me the cat if I wanted it, he would take the deer. I guess he figured I needed to hunt more than he did, hence why I was getting the predator. I was grateful for it though; I could take the lion down swiftly and still keep most of the herd on a fairly calm level while Carlisle went for them.

We split up as I headed up the hill, behind the lion, it wouldn't smell me from this direction until it was to late. I could feel its emotions, it was cocky, it thought it had scared off the competition; boy was this hairball in for a big surprise. My throat began to burn a little as a thirst that hadn't been there a few minutes prior, suddenly sprang up with the prospect of the hunt. I focused my thoughts on the herd of deer, trying to keep them as calm as possible, giving Carlisle the chance to take one down quickly.

The rest of the herd scrambled and I shifted my concentration into the mountain lion, it was stunned for a second as the herd ran off in all directions and it wasn't sure which one to follow. Of course the cat didn't have time to finish his contemplation, as I pounced on him from behind incapacitating him and extinguishing the fire in my throat, feeling so much better instantly, I guess Carlisle had been right, I did need to hunt; he really does amaze me sometimes.

XXX