DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, and all the characters.
WARNING: Will contain corporal punishment/Disciplinary spanking of adult vampires in other chapters. Please do not read if you find such things offensive.
The Arrest
Friday, July 08, 2011
Alice tightened her grip on the black leather steering wheel of her yellow Porsche, and glanced to me in disbelief. She maintained the same legal speed for a moment, and then back to me for confirmation. I turned my head, and averted my gaze in answer. Tires squealed and her car lurched ahead as she commanded, "Hold on!"
The car screamed down the rural highway going well over double the speed limit. The Porsche handled corners very nicely, but the road had rocks and grit splashed on the asphalt from the gravel paths that crossed over. It was against my better judgement to continue, but my mate was in trouble. I had to protect my Esme. Alice's expression had me worried. She was fretting and looked very nervous. "Alice," I once more asked her, "what happened in your vision."
She glanced to me briefly with a shake of her head. "Dad, it is bad. Mom and a girl with brunette hair came out of the show, and a man had a gun. He had greasy long black hair, a leather biker vest, and a pair of ratty old jeans with grease stains." Her eyes darkened, and if possible, the car sped up a little faster. She chewed at her lower lip nervously as she explained, "shots ring out, and the girl dies. Mother, mom, she ... she turns her."
I sat upright and breathed in deeply as I focused my attention on the road ahead. "Get us there quickly Alice; I don't care how fast you go." An immortal child is not acceptable. Vampire babies meant death, but the age of twelve is still too young. I must save Esme from that anguish. "I cannot imagine the amount of pain Esme was in to consider turning the girl."
Alice took the next corner too quickly, and the car veered up on two wheels. I gripped the panic bar tightly, and held on in hopes of Alice getting the car back in control. My daughter easily steered the car and used the advance speed and shape of the Porsche to land softly, as if it were little more than a plane coming in for a landing. "Oh yeah, did you see that one?" she whooped delightedly with a sense of accomplishment. "Edward is never going to believe this," she gloated with a glance to me.
"Alice, it seems you are quite experienced with this type of driving," I observed curiously. "There is no need for you to brag about this to your siblings. It is not something I wish to see them copy."
"Yeah, you're right Dad," Alice mentioned a little too quickly.
My gaze snapped to her, and I focused on my daughter in contemplation. "Alice, it would displease me to discover my children driving at high speeds on a regular basis," I scolded lightly"; I suggest you not test me on this." The sign for Port Angeles came into view, and out again rapidly. "Alice, slow down!"
"We can't Dad, at least not yet," she said guiltily as a hand brushed through her black spiky hair. She drove another block before slowing to a normal speed. The show gets out in a little more than fifteen minutes, but we should arrive easily in five.
My hand hovered over the seatbelt release button in anticipation of a quick exit once we arrived.
Alice sucked in her lower lip, and bit down on it nervously as she admitted, " they are safe now, Dad. We don't have to worry about them anymore." My earlier suspicions returned, as something was not quite right with what she had told me, and now everything is all right without us having done a thing? I looked to her with an enquiring eye. "Dad," she began to explain, but had no need to finish.
The theater came into view ahead of us, and from behind, I heard the ominous sound of a police siren. Another one joined, and both cars had their lights on as they slowed behind ours. A third one joined them. Turning to my daughter, I enquired in a controlled voice, "What else did you neglect to tell me?"
Alice turned from me and focused intently on the theatre, her teeth gritted tightly. The little sports car slowed, and then jumped the curb as she pulled to a stop on the sidewalk before the theater. Turning to me she rapidly explained, "This was the only way we could stop my vision," she explained. "I had to attract attention from the police, and that is why I couldn't slow down and had to fly through the radar. No matter what decision I made, the end of my vision was always the same. This was the only way," she eagerly tried to convince me.
"You didn't think to tell me this earlier," I chastised lightly.
"I thought you might say no," Alice admitted. "Dad, this was the only way."
I pinched the bridge of my nose, as I tried to gather my thoughts. "Alice, did it ever occur to you that I might have thought of an alternative you hadn't considered?" I watched while the police pulled out their guns, and approached our car.
"Put your hands on your head," the officer shouted to us. I glanced to the movie theatre we practically parked in, and knew people would be looking into our car on their way out. Obediently I placed both hands on my head, and saw Alice doing the same thing. A barrel-chested man standing slightly over six feet in height approached the car on the driver's side. A pudgy hand chapped on the backside gripped the door through the window slot, as he bent down to peer into the car. The man glared at Alice, and then me, as he demanded, "Get out of the vehicle now! Keep your hands where I can see them. "
Alice muttered loudly enough for me to hear, as she obediently followed the officer's instructions, "Give my regards to Mom."
Alice hopped out of the car quickly, and smiled nervously to the officer in a flirtatious way. "I'm real sorry, but this is an emergency!"
I pulled out of the car myself, and glanced to Alice as she attempted to explain her reasoning for the speed. "I am Doctor Carlisle Cullen; we are in need of your help."
The gruff police officer stared at me, and snorted. "Doctor, you should know better than to put everyone's life at risk with the speeds you two were going," he said accusingly, "What are you, twenty-five at most? Is this what you tell all the women?" Two other officers snickered as they approached me from behind, one on either side. I felt two pairs of hands, one placed on each shoulder, and knew what to expect. When they applied pressure, I moved in the direction they shoved me and found myself face first, bent over the hood of the car. My arms were forcibly jerked behind my back and cuffs slapped on my wrists.
I attempted to lift my head to see Alice, but I placed no resistances as they slammed it back down onto the hood of the car. "Probably stolen," I heard someone say behind me. I heard eeps, and the odd sound from Alice, but she had the wisdom not to speak. "Officer, I am Dr. Carlisle Cullen of Forks Community Hospital. We urgently ask your assistance in helping my wife, and a child patient she is with named Rebecca."
"Rebecca," one of the officers beside me enquired. He looked to me curiously, as if knowing something. "Hold up, this guy might be legitimate." The officers permitted me to stand, although my hands remained cuffed behind my back. With my chin, I motioned to the pocket with my hospital ID, and the officer removed and read it. "Yeah, he is legit, but what has all this to do with Rebecca and the speed you guys drove at?"
"Dr. Cullen, I am arresting you for being an active participant in a high-speed police chase. Your daughter drove at considerable speeds, an act that you seemed to condone." The gruff cop proceeded, despite the words of the other. His brow lifted as he gazed at me accusingly. He refrained from allowing me to answer the other officer's questions, and proceeded to read me my Miranda rights. I glanced to where Alice was, and saw them shove her towards the back of a squad car.
Alice cooperated fully with the police, and I watched helplessly as they loaded her into the car. She offered me an apologetic look, and then dove into the backseat almost eagerly. Before the door closed, I heard her mutter for my ears only, "Good luck with Mom."
"Are the cuffs really necessary?" I enquired of the officer with exasperation, as I motioned to my bound arms.
A loud bang caught my attention. The theatre doors burst open slamming against the old tin doorstop noisily. I rose to my full height, and gazed to the crowd of onlookers in the attempt to appear casual. It was not a proud moment, as I hoped the cuffs went unnoticed. I surveyed the crowd of people in the hopes of finding the man Alice described before it was too late.
The man intent on hurting Rebecca did not care who was there, as he stuck to his mission. He had little concern for the police. He moved with determination toward the crowd of people exiting the theater, and reached into his pocket for something. "Over there," I mentioned to the officer who seemed to know of Rebecca. "Officer, there is the guy my wife said was following her and the girl. He frightened her, so they ran inside." I explained with my eyes staring directly at him. "He is the one with the straight black hair, the biker vest, and jeans." He turned in the direction I gazed, and motioned over to his partner. One of the officers approached the man from behind, and another merged with the crowd of parents awaiting their children.
The greasy haired fellow withdrew a black revolver from his pocket, and pushed against the crowds of people intent on finding his mark. One officer forcibly grabbed and restrained his gun hand, while the other threw him against the outside wall of the theatre. A struggle ensued, an officer became injured, and the suspect groaned loudly as he fell to his knees. The officer restraining the gun hand pried the device from the other's fingers, and carefully handed it to a third officer who joined them in the struggle. I now only had one of the four remaining officers at my side, but stayed where I was despite how easily I could have escaped.
I watched curiously, as they searched him while he lay prone on the sidewalk, and happened to notice the glances from the theater goers as they looked from the man on the ground to the tall man in tailored clothes standing beside a luxury car with his hands cuffed behind his back. It was not one of my better moments. I could detect Esme's scent, but it was not entirely fresh, so I knew I had not missed her.
The man once again became the subject of my scorn He cared so little for anyone else that he willingly took it upon himself to kill Rebecca and anyone who got in the way. My nostrils flared in anger as I contemplated Esme's anguish. This selfish little man was undeserving of the child. I have seen many people like Rebecca go through the hospital doors, and it is never the patient's fault. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment. The more I thought of it, the angrier I became, but I forced myself to stay calm. It is not my place to decide his sentence, but death would be too good for him.
The familiar scent of Esme brought a tremendous sensation of joy to my heart. I gazed in her direction until my eyes located her. A sheepish smile given my wife, as she stared to her daughter's Porsche parked on the sidewalk, and then to me. Did she see her loving husband standing majestically in a casual posture with his hands behind his back, or did she stare at a foolish male in tailored clothing cuffed beside his illegally parked car. I hoped it was the first. Either way, I was about to find out.
My eyes fell to Rebecca, and to my surprise, she did not seem overly concerned by the commotion around her. She looked no more curious than anyone else in the crowd. Rebecca shouted once she recognized me, "Dr. Cullen!" Her arm waved high over her head in a motion that pointed me out to the assembled crowd. If I had hoped for anonymity, that was no longer a possibility.
I did not have much time to dwell on the matter. "Carlisle," Esme asked curiously, as her eyes went from the police vehicles to Alice's car. "What is going on here, where is Alice?" She walked around the car to make sure nothing was amiss there, unless that excludes sidewalk parking and surrounded by police cars
"Why did you park on the sidewalk Dr. Cullen," Rebecca enquired curiously. Before I had a chance to answer, the young girl noticed my handcuffs. Her eyes grew wide as she stared to me, and then to the police dragging off the man, and back to me. "Did you get arrested? Are you going to jail? Do those cuffs hurt?"
"Cuffs," Esme muttered curiously with a glance to my hands, "where is Alice?" she promptly demanded once more.
"That is a long story," I mentioned for Esme's sake. Turning back to Rebecca I attempted to answer her questions with, "yes, I am under arrest." That last question was a bit harder to answer, so I explained, "they do not hurt, but are rather uncomfortable." Turning back to my wife I explained, "Alice left in the squad car after her arrest."
"WHAT?!" My wife's expression was one of shock, but I knew the confusion, worry and anger was not far off.
I averted my gaze now to the police, as they loaded the man into the car. Another patrol unit arrived, but this one had a female passenger in the backseat. "I do not wish to discuss this," I pleaded lightly to my wife, wishing the matter to drop for now. Esme's eyes darkened in response.
The woman approached us quickly, her focus on Rebecca. Her hands went to Rebecca's shoulders, and said "Kayla, they found you. You must trust me little one. We have to find another hiding place, as this is no longer safe." She reached out for my hand, but pulled back when she noticed the cuffs. "My name is Karen, and I wanted to thank-you for saving her life. You should be commended, and I will make sure the station knows exactly what you did for us today."
"My stuff!" Rebecca, or is it Kayla screamed to the woman, and then flung herself against Esme. "We went shopping, and I got clothes, and toys, and lots of stuff. Please, can I get them? Please, I don't want to leave them!"
Esme's expression relaxed somewhat, as we both began to understand a little more of the situation. Without hesitation, she gently pulled from Rebecca's grasp and mentioned, "I'll get the stuff." Before the other woman had, a chance to say no, my wife had taken off in the direction of the parking lot. She returned carrying many bags bundles, and a few unwrapped items.
"Is there anything you didn't buy," Karen remarked with amusement. She held her hand out to Rebecca claiming, "Kayla, others may also be in the area, we have to leave immediately." Not another word, as she whisked the girl into the police car. Esme was quick, and promptly filled the space the officer indicated with all the stuff they purchased. She and I stood together, as we watched the squad car pull away.
One officer approached the onlookers, and began taking witness statements. The other approached us with a puzzled expression crossing his features. "My only guess is witness protection, but I hadn't heard anything of the sort. They don't always tell us these things," he explained in a friendly way. The key to the cuffs held in one hand as he mentioned, "I apologize for the handcuffs. I do not know how you knew the little girl was in trouble, but it seems you did us a favour. I'll remove the handcuffs for now, but I will need you to come to the station and make a statement."
"That's it," I enquired curiously having expected much worse.
"I don't expect trouble from you, and we have your daughter. Come to the station in a few hours to pick her up and we can get your statement then. I will be back by that time, and will look for you. He gazed first to Esme, and then to me as he admitted, "due to the extenuating circumstances, we won't press charges against you Doctor Cullen."
I offered the man a small smile, and pivoted slightly to aid him in removing my handcuffs. Once released, I managed the obligatory rubbing at my wrists action I have seen in so many movies. A glance to Esme informed me that she appeared calm, but I knew better. Returning my attention to the officer I enquired, "will the charges against my daughter be dropped as well?"
"That isn't my decision to make," the officer replied. "I suspect the woman you spoke with will have informed the station of the extenuating circumstances, but what you two did was extremely dangerous. We are impounding the car, so grab what you need from it, but you cannot take the car itself."
"Thank-you," I offered the man as Esme made her way to the trunk and rooted around in it. She pulled out a couple of parcels Alice had purchased, and I removed the ownership and personal information from the glove compartment. Once satisfied I approached the officer and mentioned, "I'll see you at the station. My wife and I will meet you in a few hours." The guy nodded his head in agreement, and I took that as my signal to leave.
"Carlisle," my wife said in exasperation once we found ourselves away from the people. "What happened today?" I glanced around the parking lot and watched as the only other car veered onto the main road leaving us alone. "Carlisle, please tell me everything. I don't know if I can handle any more surprises today." She leaned into my side, as my arm wrapped around her lovingly as if securing her in my protective grasp.
"Alice had a vision Esme, and we had some difficult choices to make. She kept seeing Rebecca gunned down by that man, and you suffered such anguish. In her visions she saw you turning the girl, so she would not die." I stopped at this time, and wrapped my other arm around her. She snuggled into my chest, and I kissed her on the top of the head as I mentioned, "we sped to town. There was no choice, we had to get here quickly and could not risk any other mode of travel. "I placed my chin on her head as I took responsibility saying, "I told her to speed up. I did not even notice the police until we were at the theatre. I assume they monitored us on satellite, and when we slowed down, they were there to meet us. You know what happened to me, and our daughter is now at the police station having gotten herself arrested. "
"Carlisle, this makes no sense," she exclaimed pulling away from my embrace. "Why didn't you guys just call me?"
"We tried, but you were out of the service area. Alice said her phone often won't work while in that theatre," I explained with an apologetic smile.
"Carlisle, you endangered Alice's life to save mine? How is this any better than what you did with Jasper the other night," my wife demanded of me to my complete surprise.
"Esme, no. It was not like that at all. How could you even jump to that conclusion? I did not want to see you in that type of anguish. Your turning of her would have endangered all of us. You know the Volturi's ruling on immortal children. "
Esme shook her head as she argued, "Carlisle, how did Alice see me turning the child if I hadn't a reason to form that decision yet? My only guess is that she knew my wish to have her as a child. That may have triggered the vision, but I would not endanger my family." She takes in a deep unneeded breath as she reminds me, "Alice's visions are not always reliable. The one where she thought Bella killed herself nearly destroyed us."
Slowly I nodded my head, as my wife was correct. "She did the same with that one as well. She acted without consulting us. She had the best intentions, but assumed full responsibility and control. She acted impetuously, as she did today." I pinched the bridge of my nose thinking of the situation, and mentally scolded myself for having permitted the natural protective instinct to dominate my reason. "Esme, you are a very wise woman."
Esme stared into my eyes and enquired, " how can they be black already, you only just fed last night?"
"If you had to endure in that car what Alice put me through, then you would understand," I admitted. "Our children have very interesting driving habits." With all jokes aside I explained, "It was a fairly stressful day, so my need doesn't surprise me."
Esme went silent in contemplation, and after a few moments looked up to me and mentioned, "we have a few hours before we can pick up Alice. I suggest we move to a more private place and continue our discussion."
"Esme," I enquired curiously, " what more is there to discuss?"
"Have you already forgotten my promise," she enquired with a chill in her voice.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, as I remembered it clearly, "Esme, you can't seriously mean to, Esme?"
"Get in," she said with a motion to the car.