"Well, Emmett, I would say that you and Edward were very lucky. Your shoulder seems to have been treated fine and is well on the mend. You have full range of motion with minor discomfort. Excellent. I don't believe that we'll need to immobilize it after all." Carlisle took a couple of steps back from his son, giving him a few seconds to redress, then crossed his arms and sighed.
"To reinforce your mother's orders with my own, don't ever do anything so foolish again. Setting a shoulder is fairly straight forward but replacing a limb is a much more painful drawn out process that I would like to see you avoid at all cost. One very innocent slip from Edward and you would have been in serious agony."
"Sorry, Pops. I did mean it when I told momma that I wouldn't do it again. I'll make sure to leave the doctoring to a pro from now on."
Carlisle smiled as he reached out to ruffle his son's hair. "That's my big guy." Carlisle turned away to clear his impromptu exam area when a rather nervous cough from his son drew his attention back.
Emmett wore a slight hanged dog expression as he studied his father and carefully chose his words. "Um. Pops, you're going to be talking to Jasper?"
It was more of a statement then a question but Carlisle responded with a slight nod.
"Well, I just wanted you to know..." The boy ran his hand through his hair and inhaled deeply. "Pops, you need to know that this was all my fault."
Carlisle cocked his head slightly as he raised a brow. "How is the fault yours, Emmett? I can't see how you would have caused your brother to attack your mother."
"Well...no, not that, but I started the fight which led to it so in a not so roundabout way, it is my fault that mom was hurt." He shifted uncomfortably under his father's gaze. "I got into an accident with Jasper's bike. Guess I pretty much destroyed it, really. When I told him about it he sorta went off and I ended up acting like a jackass and stirred him up more.
I'm not entirely sure what happened but he just kinda went weird and after that it really is all more or less a blur until he wrenched my shoulder and bit mom, but you see, if I hadn't been careless and pretty damn thoughtless none of this would have happened."
Emmett dropped his head ever so slightly as he looked down at his hands.
"I... I just don't want Jazz getting punished for something that I caused. He has been through enough and that just seems so wrong."
His father stepped back up to him and placed a hand on his son's shoulder as he gave a slightly exasperated sigh.
"Thank you for telling me this, Em. I appreciate you all looking out for each other and I am proud of you for wanting to take responsibility for your actions, but Jasper is not in trouble for the fight." Carlisle stopped and considered his words for a minute before adding, "Though you both probably should be punished since you do know better, I'm going to let it go this time.
Jasper's trouble comes from attacking his mother. Regardless of provocation, that is something that I can not allow to happen. Your mother is too good to all of you for me to ignore the level of disrespect it takes for one of you to put her in danger. I feel safe in saying that Jasper already knows this and he is already feeling the regret that this sort of violation dregs up."
Emmett nodded at his father's explanation. He still didn't like the idea of Jasper taking the fall for him but he could see Carlisle's point.
"Pops, is momma alright? I mean she looked okay and she still packs a mean punch but with the bite and the venom and all."
He wasn't sure what he said but his father's sudden groan caught him completely off guard. "Are you okay, Pops? I didn't mean to upset you."
Carlisle's rubbed his eyes in frustration as a thought seized his mind. Esme. Oh dear, Lord, Esme.
He looked back at his son's worried eyes and shook his head to try to let Emmett know that he wasn't the cause of his distress. "You didn't upset me, son. Coming home to find the house in turmoil caused something very important to slip my mind. Will you please excuse me just a second?"
Without waiting for his son's response, Carlisle swiftly made his way to the study door and down the hall to the top of the stairs. "Esme Anne, may I please see you in my office?" He kept his voice soft but he knew that his request would be heard.
"I'll be right up, Carlisle. I just need to clear up a couple more things."
"Right now if you please, young lady."
He heard her give a snort of bemusement. "Yes, love. Of course."
Satisfied he returned to his study to finish up with his son and leave himself a little time to attend to his wife before he would need to face the task of talking with Jasper.
Jasper raised a brow and looked at Alice who simply returned the expression with a shrug. Both were amused by Carlisle's tone with Esme but neither said a word. Rose, however could not let the opportunity pass her by.
"So what did you do to get into trouble, mother dear? Maybe daddy didn't appreciate getting his butt smacked, huh?" Rose gave her mother a mocking grin as she ran the vacuum over the rugs in the mini war zone.
Esme smiled at her daughter. "There is no reason for me to be in trouble, Rose. I'm sure your father just needs to ask me something. Probably wants to know what I plan to do about you and your atrocious attitude this evening."
Rosalie bit back a retort before bringing her focus back to her cleaning.
The living room restored, with the exception of the hole in the wall that would need to be patched in the morning, Esme let out a soft sigh. She really had no idea what Carlisle needed but she wanted to get it out of the way before sending Jasper upstairs. She knew Carlisle and Jasper would need a good deal of time so any other matters requiring her husband's attention needed to be taken care of before hand so he and his son wouldn't end up being disturbed.
"Jasper, I'll call you as soon as your father and I have discussed whatever it is that he seems to need to talk about."
The boy gave her a silent nod as he took a seat on the couch only to have his mate curl up next to him. Esme felt a wave of calm crash over her and knew that this time her son was trying desperately to calm himself as the prospect of his father's lecture was brought too close for comfort.
"Jasper, you will be fine."
"I'm… momma words just can't fix what I've done. Sorry don't cut it this time. I don't have the foggiest idea of what I can do to make it right with either of ya. Heck, I shouldn't even still be here after what's been done."
Alice held her mate close trying to comfort him with her love but his misery was too great for her to reach him. Instead he stiffened in her embrace in an attempt to block the contentment he always found through her. He was suffering, he deserved to suffer and he would see to it that he did regardless of the actions of his family.
Esme ran her hand through his hair then gently kissed the crown of his head.
"My brave little solider boy who is always so ready to shoulder responsibility for everything that is wrong in this world." She sighed. "Jasper, you couldn't help what happened. It was an odd occurrence that I don't foresee becoming some sort of habit with you." She crouched down in front of him so they were eye level and took his hand in hers as she calmly spoke.
"Actions may speak louder than words, my dear heart, but your words can fix what has been done. Explain to your father what happen, to the best of your ability, and he will understand. Don't discount the strength of his love for you. He wants to forgive you, baby, but you have to be the one to let him do so. If I could do it for you, rest assured that I would."
"See, Jazzy. Didn't I tell you that?" Alice brushed a lock of hair out of his face as she continually tried to soothe him but his rigidity did not abate.
Esme let go of her son's hand as she stood back up giving Alice a sympathetic look.
"Don't worry, honey. Jazz will settle down after he and Carlisle work things out. I believe it comes down to being a man thing. It's the same phenomenon that makes them stubborn." She smiled at her children then turned her attention to her blonde daughter who had been leaning quietly against the banister.
"Rosalie, go ahead and check on Emmett. Maybe if you see that he's okay your mood will improve. We'll still talk but a little down time will probably make it easier. I need to have a chat with Edward as well."
Without looking up at her mother or acknowledging her in any way, Rosalie turned and headed up the stairs.
"She is really just upset with Emmett, momma. She'll calm down soon. She can't stay angry at Em for very long; none of us can," Alice offered as she noted her mother's carefully controlled frustration. "She will listen to you when the time comes."
"Thanks, sweetie. That's good to hear because I never really know when it comes to Rose."
With a nod of thanks, Esme turned and quickly ascended the stairs to find out what her lover wanted, anxious for this evening to finally be over.
As she approached the study, Esme was surprised to find the door open. She knocked softly on the door frame as she leaned against it waiting to be invited in.
"Doctor Cullen, you wished to see me?"
"You took your time, little miss. I see our ideas of 'now' are rather different." Carlisle cocked a brow as he looked up from the article he was reading. "Come in, close the door and take a seat." He indicated the chair across from his desk with a slight tilt of his head.
Esme complied and settled into the leather arm chair with a graceful motion, an amused smile toying with her lips.
"Am I in trouble, doctor?"
"Yes, young lady, I would have to say that you are." Carlisle stood and walked around to the front of the desk leaning a hip against its edge as he crossed his arms. "Out in the woods, what did I tell you would be the first order of business when we returned to the house?"
Esme wore a serious expression as she thought back for a moment then realization lit up her face.
"Ah. Well, Doctor Cullen, we both ended up being rather distracted. I claim maternal instincts as my defense. I had to make sure that my children were safe and cared for first."
"Hm, since I was just as much at fault in the matter I think we can let this go with a stern warning this one time but promise me that you will follow the doctor's orders from here on out."
"And if I don't?" She folded her arms mimicking his stance.
"Well young lady, if you go against doctor's orders again then there must be consequences."
Esme raised an eyebrow at his words.
"Consequences? And what sort of consequences are we talking about here, Doctor Cullen?"
"That depends on the severity of the offense just as it does for other disobedient youngsters in this house. I'm sure that I can come up with some clever methods for correcting your behavior. And we are addressing the first rule of our coven, miss. You remember the one where no one is allowed to put themselves into unnecessary danger."
Esme was well aware that Carlisle would never lay a hand on her given her past and his personality but there was something in his quiet tone that caused a shiver to race up her spine.
"Let's hope it never comes to that then."
"Behave yourself and it never will." He smiled and gave her a wink before leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Now let's have a look at those bite wounds."
AN: Alright, guys. I ended up waking up around 3:30am because Carlisle decided this was the way to go and kept messing around in my head until I did something about it. Writing basically in my sleep is not the best thing so MANY Thanks to Splinter for the proofing. Y'all have no idea what you would have been trying to decipher if it wasn't for her help.
Just a bit of a bridge so now I am ready to tackle Jasper.
Thank y'all for everything. You guys do keep me on my toes and I love it. *hugs to all*