Chapter 14
When Carlisle got home, Emmett had gone again to meet up with Rosalie, Kate and Garrett. They had prepared a meeting with William and Maddy, and it was certain to take awhile.
Esme walked up to Carlisle as he entered the door.
"So they eloped, huh?" he asked, hanging his jacket.
She nodded and gave him a kiss. He looked down at her stomach as it had begun to grow as the baby did inside of her.
"I can't believe it," she said, "I think Rosalie has calmed down because she sent me a half mad, half humor filled message."
Carlisle grinned, "They probably shouldn't have snuck around, but I don't see the harm in it, necessarily. But I can see why they'd be a little upset by their decision."
"Would you be upset if it were Alex?" she asked in a whisper.
His eyes squinted slightly, and he smiled, "Very."
Esme leaned in and kissed him again. His hands settled on her stomach and he squatted down to talk to their child. She smiled wide, finding his soothing voice to be extremely adorable. When he stood up, she pulled him in to kiss her again.
"You must have done something to make him happy," she said, "Because he's moving around now."
Carlisle laughed as she placed his hand over some of the specific spots where their son-to-be moved around.
"Can we talk for a minute?" he asked her, sensing her expression change to that of slight concern.
"Sure," she told him.
Carlisle smiled once to try alleviate any negative thoughts she may have had, though Esme could tell his smile was only skin deep. He took her hands in his and walked her toward the stairs.
"Dad!" Alexandra called from the living room. She stood with a fake, plastic microphone in her hand that was attached to the X-Box, "You should sing with us. There's a duet. Me and you?"
He laughed and went over to give her a big hug, "Let me get settled and I'll be back down in ten minutes."
"Alright," she said, "I'll get Alice and Jasper to see if they want to compete with us. You get points and stuff."
Carlisle continued smiling, "Well, if it's just Alice and Jasper, I think me and you got it in the bag already."
"I heard that," Alice's voice came from down the hall, "We'll be in there in ten minutes, too."
Michael sat back on the couch, "You got me off the hook," he told Carlisle, "I can't sing."
"Neither can I," he told him with a quick laugh, then looked at Alexandra, "I'll be right back."
"Okay," she smiled before handing Michael the microphone that he took reluctantly from her hand.
Carlisle went back to Esme's side and the two of them walked upstairs together. He knew it was generally unnecessary, but closed the door out of habit.
"You're making me a little nervous," she admitted, "What's going on?"
"It's probably nothing," he started off, "But I just wanted to talk to you to fill you in."
"About?"
Carlisle saw the tenseness in her eyes and more so in her posture. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to elaborate.
"Leah messaged me while I was at work. She said she wanted to ask me a medical related question. I called her back as I was leaving the hospital and she told me that she was concerned about a cough that Masen just developed."
"A cough?" Esme asked.
"She said it sounded like he was sick, or almost like he had a cold."
Esme looked a combination of confused and concerned, "We- we can't get sick like that."
"I know," he told her with a nod, "That's what I'm questioning. My first thought was that maybe he's going too long without hunting, now that he has a job and all. Maybe he hasn't managed his time well and it's disrupting him somehow."
"That makes sense," she said.
"But I don't know that for sure. It was just my first thought."
Esme pulled out her phone, "I want to call him."
"No," Carlisle told her, catching her off guard, "I told Leah I wouldn't tell him that she called. I'm going to stop by in the morning when he's off his shift to take a look at him. She said that he didn't want to call me about it, but she started to get more concerned about it so she decided to call while he was at work."
She sighed, "What if it's not his thirst?"
"I don't have any other ideas," he admitted, "That seems like the logical thing to me, though."
"But a cough like he's sick?" she asked, "That's never happened to any of us before, even when we've got longer than we should without hunting."
Carlisle returned her sigh from before and looked at her, "I'll only be able to tell when I hear him," he told her, "Hopefully it's nothing out of the ordinary."
"It already sounds a little out of the ordinary," Esme said.
"It'll be alright," he said.
Esme looked at him, not totally convinced, "I know you're more concerned than you're letting off."
He shook his head, "I don't think there's a reason to be upset or worried yet."
"Yet..." She emphasized the last word in his sentence and stared at him with soft eyes.
Carlisle pulled her to him, "First thing in morning, I'll go see him."
"I'm coming with you," she told him.
He nodded, "Okay."
Esme sighed and looked back into his eyes. Carlisle put his lips to hers and kissed her a few times in a row.
"No worries tonight," he told her, kissing her forehead, "There will be an explanation in the morning. Leah may think it's worse than it is, who knows."
She closed her eyes and they stood there in each others' arms for a few minutes.
"Go play that game with Alex," she told him, forcing a smile, "I'm going to take a long shower."
Carlisle put his thumb under her chin and turned her mouth up to meet his once more, "Okay."
Esme sighed and gave a half smile before heading into their bathroom. Carlisle went downstairs to play the video game with their daughter.
The following morning, Carlisle and Esme left the house around seven-thirty.
"What's our excuse for going over so early?" she asked him, not wanting to blow Leah's cover.
Carlisle smiled and gave a head nod toward the back seat, "Cassie left a bunch of things here; toys, a pair of sneakers, a sweatshirt."
"Not bad," Esme told him, sounding a little more at ease than the night before. She turned back around to face the road and smiled as Carlisle found her hand with his own, interlocking their fingers as he drove. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it before dropping them back in between the seats.
Throughout their ride, he attempted to keep their conversation constant about things aside from Masen's mystery ailment. He drew circles on her hand with his thumb and at the two red lights they hit on their travels, he leaned in to give her a kiss each time. The last thing he wanted was her mind to run in all different directions before they had any information to go on.
When they arrived at the house, Esme took in a deep breath and opened the door. She grabbed the small box of Cassandra's things from the back, and the two of them walked up to the door.
"Oh, I have some of those K-Cup coffee things in the car for Leah, too," she said, handing the box to Carlisle before quickly jogging back to retrieve them.
Carlisle smiled and watched her race back to the car, joining back up with him a few seconds later. The front door was closed, so he rang the bell and Masen answered.
"Hey," he said, opening the screen door first.
"Hi, honey," Esme said to him with a smile.
Masen grinned, "Come in."
They walked inside behind him.
"Cassandra's still asleep," he said in a quieter tone.
Esme held up a few boxes of coffee as Leah joined them just inside the doorway.
"Oh, thank you," she said to her with a smile.
"You're welcome," Esme told her, placing the box near the Keurig machine, " I got a box of French vanilla and a box of hazelnut."
"Mom," Masen shook his head and smiled, then took the box of miscellaneous things from Carlisle.
"Oh! Her pink and white sneakers," Leah said with a grin, noticing them at the top of the cardboard box, "She'll be excited to see those again."
Masen smiled and turned, trying to suppress a cough that had been lingering in his throat. He held his breath and left the room with his daughter's things and let out a long, hacking cough.
Leah switched her eyes to meet Carlisle's, then looked at Esme who let one hand drift to her necklace nervously.
Carlisle walked out of the kitchen to where Masen was. Esme and Leah remained where they stood.
"Dad..." Masen turned as he felt him walk into the room.
Carlisle looked at his son and saw that his eyes were full and golden. "When was the last time you hunted?"
"An hour ago. Right after work."
"Have you been hunting regularly?"
"Of course," he responded, pressing his mouth together tightly to try to prevent himself from coughing again. Only a few seconds went by before he gave in and put his hand up to his mouth. He turned his back to Carlisle in the process before he took in a deep breath as he calmed down.
"How long has this been happening to you?" Carlisle asked, now more concerned than he had been.
"Three, four days." He swallowed hard.
"Have you done anything different? Eaten anything different?"
Masen shook his head, "No."
"You haven't fed on any new animals or anything?"
"No," he repeated.
Carlisle looked around, then to his son, "Could you possibly be allergic to something? I've never heard of one of us having a reaction like this."
"It's nothing," he told him.
"We have to look into it, Masen."
"It's just a tickle in my throat, that's all."
"It's not normal for our kind," Carlisle told him calmly, "Think if you've consumed anything different. Have you tried any human foods?"
"Nothing," he said.
"Not even a little?"
"Nope. Not a thing. And I generally feed on deer, and that also hasn't changed."
Esme and Leah entered to join in on their conversation.
"I'm fine," he told them, sounding a little annoyed.
"Could a deer have consumed something that he could be allergic to?" Esme asked.
"It's possible, but not likely. We've fed off their blood for centuries, decades..." Carlisle shook his head, "I'm sure it someone would have had a similar experience at some point if that were the case."
They all looked around at each other.
"I feel fine," Masen said, "Completely fine."
"You don't sound it," Carlisle told him.
"Mase," Leah interjected, "Try to think if you've had anything out of the ordinary."
"I haven't," he said right away, "I've thought about this myself. I haven't had anything new."
Esme's face was full of concern.
"I can handle this," Masen told them, "I've seen people with coughs and the sniffles before. It's nothing."
"It's just not normal for us," Carlisle told him, "We want to make sure you're alright."
"I'll tell you what," Masen said, "If I'm in no better shape by the weekend, I'll let you hook me up to a bunch of wires, or put my venom in test tubes, whatever makes you happy."
"We just want to make sure you're okay, that's all," Esme told him.
"I know," he said, giving in, "But I'm not overly worried. It's not really hindering me at all. To be honest, it's just a little annoying."
They all stared at each other and Carlisle looked at his watch, which also revealed the date. "Three days," he said to his son, "Then you're mine."
Masen let a smile spread over his face, "That didn't sound creepy at all Dr. Crazy."
Leah snickered at the comment and Carlisle smiled, though Esme couldn't find a way to join them in the amusement.
"Mom," Masen said, giving her a set of puppy dog eyes. When she didn't smile, he changed his word, "Mommy..."
A small smile spread across her face and she shook her head, then hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I want to get to the bottom of this, Masen."
"We will," he assured her.
They exchanged a look and he attempted to make her laugh once more before they decided to leave him be for at least the rest of the day.
"Don't start ignoring our calls," Carlisle told him, "It'll only take me a few minutes to get down here."
Masen rolled his eyes, "Alright."
Leah walked them to the door and gave a quick "thanks" before waving goodbye.
Carlisle opened the passenger door to the car for Esme before hopping back in the driver's seat. He put the car in drive and backed out of the driveway before heading home.