Disclaimer: The Twilight series/universe/characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.


The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: Do as I say, not as I do.

Pen Name: GetDrunkOnVictory

Pairing/Character(s): Peter/Charlotte, Jasper, Carlisle/Esme

Rating: T


I can clearly remember the day I moved in with the Cullens.

It was a couple months after my eighth birthday and my parents came into my room with boxes and told me to pack everything I wanted to keep. When we were ready to go, my dad hot-wired a car from down the street and we filled it with my boxes and their bags. I didn't understand why my mom was crying if we'll all be together.

I didn't understand until we pulled into the Cullens' driveway.

My parents quietly moved my boxes and stacked them on the porch. I stood off to the side and watched as they only moved their bags to put them into the, now empty, back seat.

"Son, your mother and I have to go away for a while. We don't know how long we'll be gone, but know that we loved you and we always will. We weren't the best parents, but Carlisle and Esme will be. We want you to have a good life and to grow up to be a great man. Don't follow in my footsteps. Don't become your old man or one day you might find yourself on the other side of this goodbye." My dad squeezed my shoulder and kissed the top of my head before my mom engulfed me in her arms.

"Baby boy, you mind your manners and do everything Carlisle and Esme tell you to. They'll take care of you, sweetheart. I love you so much." She had continued talking, but the crying had gotten so much stronger that I couldn't understand anything else she said.

"Charlotte, honey, we really have to get going now. We need to switch cars before hitting the interstate." Mom hugged me tightly and covered my face in kisses before hurrying into the car.

It wasn't until they were out of the driveway that it really hit me that they were leaving me here and I took off after them. I chased them down the street, but I couldn't catch up to them. I didn't realize that Carlisle had followed me until he picked me up and together we watched the car turn the corner and out of sight.

Carlisle carried me back to their house and Esme was still standing on the porch silently crying. When Carlisle put me down at the top of the steps, Esme took my head and led me inside the house. "You can pick any of the guestrooms to keep for yourself."

Carlisle Cullen had grown up with my dad, but they followed very different paths in life. Carlisle studied hard and worked his way through school to become a doctor. He met Esme his senior year of high school when she was a junior and they haven't left each other's side since. Dad started hanging out with the wrong crowd when he turned thirteen. He refused to sell and do drugs so they taught him how to hot-wire cars and pick locks. He met Mom during their sophomore year of high school and she has always done anything and everything for him.

Carlisle had ordered pizza for dinner that night and Esme sat with me and we poured over her piles of catalogues so I could pick out things for my new room. Esme was an interior designer so she said that I could have whatever I wanted. I wanted to tell her that my parents would come back for me, but she seemed so excited and I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I chose a car theme.

"Dad will love it when they come back to take me home," I told Esme a couple of hours later as we reviewed all of the things I had chosen. The bed was in the shape of a sports car. The store sold it in blue, but Esme was going to find someone to paint it red for me. Dad loves red convertibles. The desk looked like a shortened truck bed that attached to the wall and the stool looked like a jack with a cushioned top. It even had to be pumped to move it up and down just like a real jack. The television stand, dresser, and bookshelves were made to look like tool racks and utility shelves.

That night, Esme tucked me in and Carlisle told me a story about when he and Dad were my age. When they left the room, I pulled out a brand new notebook and marked down the first day without my parents. I slipped the notebook and pen under my pillow and went to sleep.

For the next ten years, all I get from my parents are postcards from different cities around the country. Knowing my parents the way that I do, I know that they will have already moved on to a different city by the time I receive each postcard. There are never any return addresses or any indication of who they are from. They all just say the same three words where a message goes, "We love you."

I swore I saw them at my high school graduation, but by the time I got to where they had been standing they were nowhere to be found. I know that they had been there though because two days later, I received a postcard from my hometown and this time they had added "congratulations" to their standard message.

That was eight years ago. Despite Carlisle's urging, I opted out of a college education and went to a vocational school instead. I used everything that my father taught me all those years ago and have become a legitimate mechanic. Carlisle helped me open my own garage so that I don't have to work for someone else and, of course, Esme helped to decorate it. In a way I followed in the footsteps of my two fathers, taking the best from both of them.

I still receive regular postcards and I've dedicated an entire wall in the garage to showcasing them. The message I have become so used to has changed though. About five years ago it became one word longer, but the message is entirely different.

I still love you.


AN: Thank you to my best friend, The Original Bella, for catching my mistakes and to Pandora's Box is Heavy for prereading and just generally putting up with me.

Find me on twitter: GetDOnV

I came up with back-stories for all of my entries so if you have questions, feel free to ask.

Don't forget to check out the entries from the other challengers. Just search for TheTwilight25 here on ffn and check out the community.