A/N – I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing and loving my Emmett! As a writer it means the world to know that people are taking these characters to heart and caring about what happens to them. There are a lot of sensitive issues in this one and Emmett and Alice's lives are sadly reflective of reality for many children, but at least for these two I can promise a happy ending!

Chapter 12 – Wait and See

"Here you go." Esme hands me a glass of juice and then takes a seat on the patio, facing me. "Carlisle gave me a Vitamix for my birthday, so I'm still experimenting with juicing. What do you think?"

I take a swallow. "It's good. Very…healthy."

She laughs. "I've saved some for Alice too." Her face turns serious. "Are you okay?"

"I was just thinking about home. Our yard backs onto…well, it's really just a stream, but I always called it the river. I mean, it looked a lot bigger to me when I was a kid! I used to play down there all the time, making cubbies in the bushes and throwing stones and wading, and pretending to go fishing, that kind of thing. It's the best place to be alone…" My voice trails away. I don't even know why I'm talking.

"It sounds like a good way to grow up." Esme says. "Did you always live there?"

"Most of the time. It was my grandma's house, and she wouldn't let Momma move in any guys so a couple of times we moved out for a while, but I still stayed there a lot. And then when Grandma died we moved back for good."

"I know it's hard for you to not be able to be there right now," Esme says sympathetically. "And with the school problem on top of it, I'm sure you're feeling a bit stressed."

I mumble noncommittally. I don't want to talk about school.

I guess Esme doesn't notice. "We've spoken to Mr Davis again," she goes on. "In your records there are some incomplete results from testing and some partial assessments…it's a disgrace that these things weren't followed up, and frankly I think the school has a lot to answer for. There's a possibility that you have some kind of learning disability that has made things much harder for you than they should have been. Properly diagnosed, you could have had individually tailored learning plans that would have made so much difference to you at school."

"Does it even matter anymore? It's junior year and I'm not getting into any college, so who cares? The only reason I haven't dropped out is because it's not like there are any jobs around here…I've looked."

"Well, we can't solve all of the future's problems," Esme says cheerfully. "Not immediately, anyway. But after talking to Mr Davis, Carlisle and I talked to Mara and the three of us think that if we can organise it we'll get you assessed for specific learning difficulties while you're under our care. That will give us a starting point for helping you with school."

I don't say anything. For a moment I wish I could be Alice, asleep on the sofa; all she has to worry about is what movie she wants to watch next. Besides…she's only in the first grade and she reads fine.

"I'm sorry that there's so much pressure on you right now," Esme says after a long silence. "Please let me know if there's anything at all that you need or want from us."

"I want my mom," I mutter, my throat tight. "I know you all think she's the worst, but…it's not like she has the easiest life, and she tries…sometimes…"

"I understand you must miss her. Mara is trying to arrange some visitation, so you should be able to see her again soon," Esme says.

"She's not the greatest mom in the world, I know that," I say with effort. "She sometimes does stuff that's not…not great. And it's worse for Alice than me. But crack is a bitch and she doesn't mean it, not really…"

"It's okay," Esme says gently. "You don't have to explain. She's your mom and you love her, and that's perfectly natural."

I kick my feet. "I just feel like my whole life is being picked apart by people who don't understand, and all of a sudden everyone is judging that nothing in my life is good enough. My Momma is too fucked up and my home is too shitty and I'm too stupid…" My words choke off.

"Oh Emmett," Esme says compassionately. "I'm sorry you're feeling like that…no one is judging in a mean spirited way. Carlisle and Mara and I truly just want to help make things better. If I'm judging anything, it's the system that has repeatedly let you down. You should never have had to live with the abuse from your stepfather, and you should have been given extra help at school years ago, and it's the people in charge who should have seen what was going on and acted on it. Your mother…I feel bad that she's having such a tough time right now. But I also know that she must have done something right for you to love her the way you do, and for you and Alice to be such good kids."

I don't know what to say to that. I suppose the system, whatever that is, did let me down if it could have saved me from Christian back then. But I survived and I'm fine, and Mark is practically Barney the friendly dinosaur compared to Christian so it's not like I'm all that worse off now…

But Alice is.

I can feel my teeth cutting into the skin over my knuckles. I don't even want to think about it, I've tried so fucking hard to make it better for her, but the way things are isn't okay for Alice. She doesn't have Christian dragging her down to the basement, but she has Mark and Momma and I don't even know what goes on there. Momma on crack changes everything.

I'm sorry Monkey.

Almost like she's heard my thoughts, I hear Alice's rising cries from inside. She must have woken up, and she sounds panicked.

As soon as I get into the living room she pushes away Carlisle, who is trying to talk to her, and reaches towards me. I scoop her up and hug tight, feeling her skinny little body shuddering with her tears. "It's okay, it's okay…"

"I didn't know…what's…you…Mommy didn't come…I don't know…"

I can hardly understand what she's saying. "Shhhh, shhhh…come on Monkey. You're okay, shhhh…"

Eventually her tears slow to a trickle of hiccupping sobs, and I sit down and tip her face out of my chest so I can look at her. "What is it?"

She blinks at me in bewilderment. "I didn't know where I was…and I thought…is Mommy coming?"

Stress knifes through my stomach again. I'm going to get an ulcer if this keeps up. Did she just wake up and feel confused, or does she really not remember?

"We're at Esme and Carlisle's house. And Momma can't come and visit us here, remember? But we'll go and visit her soon," I say as calmly as I can.

Alice leans back against me. "But what about home?"

"We're going to stay here for a little while, instead of going home." I watch her face, which looks tired and confused.

"But what about the hospital? Didn't we stay at the hospital?" Alice's thumb finds its way to her mouth.

"You stayed at the hospital for a couple of nights…" I look helplessly over at Carlisle, who has just reappeared with a bag. What the hell is going on?

"You stayed at the hospital while you were sick," Carlisle confirms, kneeling in front of us and smiling at Alice. "You had a bad headache and tummy ache, so you stayed in hospital until you felt better, and then you came here so that Esme and I could help Emmett take care of you. Do you remember that?"

Alice nods. "You have a cat."

"That's right," Carlisle says encouragingly. "Catkin. Now Alice, how is your head feeling right now?"

"Okay."

"That's great. Do you mind if I have a little look in your eyes?" Carlisle shows her a tiny penlight, and Alice obediently swivels on my lap to look at him. "That's perfect…now can you follow my finger?" He moves it up and to the side, and then finishes by tweaking her nose, which makes her laugh. "Good girl. Now, I think you missed out on lunch while you were having a nap…are you hungry?"

"I can make you a sandwich," Esme offers.

"Peanut butter and jelly?" Alice asks. She seems to have forgotten her tears, and she happily slides down off my lap and follows Esme to the kitchen.

I bite my knuckles and look at Carlisle. "What was all that about?"

He packs the penlight back into his bag. "I'm not sure, to be honest. She woke up crying, and didn't seem to recognise where she was or what I was doing next to her." He drums his fingers against the leather of his bag. "The nurses commented in the hospital that she had moments of similar disorientation. It's not unusual after even a mild brain injury, and it's nothing to panic about, although we do need to keep an eye on it. I think for the moment Alice needs a lot of rest and reassurance while we give her time to recover."

"She'll be all right in the end though, right? It's not like it's permanent damage…is it?"

"We'll have to wait and see," Carlisle says noncommittally. "The brain can be a tricky thing…and it's not only that, Alice's world has been turned upside down too. She needs time."

It's not a yes, but it's not a no either. She needs time…what the hell kind of answer is that?

Alice is happy enough for the moment though. She's sitting up at the kitchen table eating a pb&j, with a glass of Esme's juice in front of her, and she smiles at me winningly as I enter the room. "This juice has four fruits in it," she informs me. "And a secret vegetable…did you know you could have vegetables in juice?"

"It's an amazing world we live in," I say theatrically. "Four fruits and a vegetable…who would have thought?"

Besides, maybe she can start drinking her vegetables, and I can let her stick to her preferred diet of peanut butter, crackers and pop tarts.

At that moment Edward walks in, looking a little surprised to see us all gathered in the kitchen. "Hello everyone," he says, before he looks at Alice's juice and adds, "Is there any of that left for me?"

"Sorry," Esme says. "There's some overripe bananas though – I can make you a milkshake? How was school?"

"A milkshake would be great thanks, and school was fine. I got my Latin translations back…got a 95, so not too bad." Edward drops his bag and disappears into the pantry.

He got a 95? In Latin? Who learns LATIN? What the hell is wrong with the people in this house?

The noise of the blender covers anything else that might be said, and then I'm sitting down with a banana and coconut milk shake and sharing a bag of organic, stone ground corn chips and an apparently homemade salsa with Edward, the Latin genius.

"How was your day?" he asks.

He sounds kind of stiff and formal when he's talking to me, but I have to appreciate that the guy tries. "Um…okay."

"He's not allowed to go to school anymore," Alice tells Edward. "Because he was a fuck up and now he has to stay home with me!" She sounds delighted.

"Alice!" I say, feeling my ears go hot with embarrassment. Not because she told Edward I was suspended, but because of the words she used. She doesn't swear that much, which is something of a miracle considering the language she hears constantly from Momma and Mark, and this is the last place I want her showing off her slightly age-inappropriate vocabulary!

"Oh." Edward looks startled. "Well…that's…um…"

He's obviously groping desperately for something inoffensive to say, and for some reason this makes me laugh.

"Dude, it's fine. I was suspended for cutting school, so it's sadly only a temporary vacation." I grin at him ruefully. "It's not exactly your 95 on your Latin paper though, is it?"

Edward gives up and laughs. "Oh, Latin…who speaks Latin anyway? A vacation from school sounds a lot better."

Carlisle cuffs him gently across the back of the head. "Don't go getting any ideas. One person suspended in this family at a time please! And Emmett is going to be filling in his free hours very constructively, helping Esme around the house."

He gives me a friendly grin, and it's all sounds like something a normal sort of dad would say to his errant son and I don't know how to deal with that. One person suspended in this family at a time please! …We're not a family. I bite my knuckles and half smile back, and hope someone changes the subject soon.

The phone rings and rescues me, as Carlisle picks it up and heads off towards his bedroom to talk. I finish my milkshake and throw the chip bag in the trash while Edward takes the glasses and puts them in the dishwasher. I surreptitiously watch to see where he places them- we don't have a dishwasher at home and I don't know how to pack dishes into them, but if I copy what he does I'll be right.

"Can you show me how to play the piano?" Alice asks Edward. "I want to do the Disney songs."

"Why not?" Edward closes the dishwasher. "We might have to work our way up to the Disney songs, but let's see how we go."

I follow them into the library. I don't care if Edward thinks I'm all up his ass- until I'm sure he's okay I'm going to keep an eye on them. I grab a notebook out of my schoolbag and sit down on one of the armchairs, beginning to write out the alphabet in a complex gothic style script on the first blank page I find. It might be odd, considering how much I hate spelling, but writing out the alphabet is one of the most relaxing things I know to do.

Alice is momentarily disappointed that she's not going to be able to play a concert hall worthy version of her Disney favourites immediately, but Edward soon has her plinking away at something that resembles a tune.

"Emmett, listen!" she demands. "Listen to my song!"

Alice is more enthusiastic than musical, but I applaud at the end like she's Beethoven anyway and she beams at me. A moment later she climbs down from the piano bench and disappears to the bathroom, and I look up and catch Edward's eye. "Thanks for doing that for her."

He plays a series of notes, listening to them thoughtfully. "I didn't mind. She did well actually, especially considering that she has the smallest hands I've ever seen, and that makes it harder."

"I'm sorry we've kind of come into your house and taken it over," I say after a pause. "I know it must suck…we should be out of here soon."

Edward shrugs. "It's not a big deal. It's what Carlisle and Esme do...I just live with it." He laughs, "And you and Alice aren't that bad." Obviously getting uncomfortable with the seriousness of the conversation he closes the piano lid and stands up. "So…do you want to play some x-box?"

"Sure, why not?"

And, somehow, this weird Latin-learning-piano-freak starts to feel like a friend.