CPOV

Esme and I took off for our run. We ran to the border of Canada, before taking off on our separate ways to hunt. Since we were not a mated pair, it was rare we would actually hunt together. Only mated pairs were able to hunt together, as we were too possessive of our kill. However, I would sometimes watch Esme from a perch of a tree. She was so dainty and ladylike; it was almost like a dance. The way she floated toward her kill, to take it down. This time, however, I wanted to get back to Isabella, and she back to Charlie as quickly as possible. So I went off in search of my own meal. I took down a couple of Elk, and then ran across a mountain lion to quench my thirst. I'd pushed the elk into a nearby lake, but dug a hole to bury the mountain lion. I'd just finished up when Esme silently jumped down from a tree in front of me.

"Are you sated enough my dear?" I asked her. I then walked up to her, and the bruising that was underneath her eyes had vanished, and her eyes were a bright topaz. She was such a lovely creature. There were times I wish she would have been my mate.

"Yes, Carlisle, I'm fine now." She told me. I grabbed her hand and attempted to bring it to my lips, but she snatched it away.

"Is there something wrong dear?" I asked her with a confused expression on my face.

"I just don't feel this is appropriate behavior any longer, Carlisle. I think it's time that we redefine our roles in this family." She told me. I thought on her words for a moment. She was right. We now had a much more mature member of this coven. I think our cover should change.

"I think you are right Esme. And I am sorry; I didn't mean to disrespect you. We now both have mates, and yes, this behavior is inappropriate." I say to her as I look down at our adjoined hands.

"Oh Carlisle, don't you just love the sound of that. We have our soul mates." She was like a love sick school girl, and it was most delightful.

"Esme, it is wonderful, but I have major concerns. First and foremost, Edward. I know you think of him as your first child, and you two have a wonderful relationship. Much more solidified than he and I have ever had. But Esme, I can't have him here, putting Isabella in danger. And then there is Charlie. While he is her father, we don't know what he will be like as a newborn. Have you thought of that?"

"Yes Carlisle, I have. My cottage. It sits deeper into the forest. Well away from the town of Forks. It will work. I will make it work. I have to. As far as Edward, I don't know. Yes, he was my first child in this life. But you are our sire. I will take your lead as far as what you wish to do with him. I just wish he would too find his mate. At least a companion." I think a moment on all Esme has said. And yes, I do think if Esme and Charlie were to live in the cottage, we could make that work.

"Yes, Esme. We will make that work." I say to her with a smile. Her eyes twinkle with delight. "Shall we make our way back then my dear sister?" I hold out my hand for her. She grabs my outstretched hand and we start our run back to the house.

Once back at the house, I see that the girls have returned from their shopping trip. And if I know Alice, there's not much left at the mall. I also see that the construction crew has returned, and are back to work. I go down to the basement to check on the progress. It has come along quite well. There are already wall frames in place, as well as the hole in the ceiling that will serve the spiral staircase.

I go to the kitchen, and find Isabella, having lunch at the counter. I walk up behind her, wrap my arms around her waist and nuzzle into her neck. I inhale her intoxicating scent.

"Hi there." She said to me with a bright smile on her face.

"Hi there, yourself. Did you have fun with the girls shopping?"

"I did, though I don't think I would ever be able to keep up with Alice, when it comes to shopping. That girl is non-stop. If I hadn't reminded her that they needed to feed the human, I don't think we would be done. And even at that, she wanted to just stop at the food court. I then had to remind her that I did just have an accident in which I was nearly crushed to death, and that my feet hurt from walking so much. Only then did she relent and bring me home.

"Oh my poor baby, how about a foot massage then?" I asked her

"Ummm-Hummm, sounds nice." She said as she leaned back into me.

"Are you done with lunch love?" I asked

"Yes." She replied. I then took her plate, rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher.

"I could have done that, Sir." She said walking up to me at the sink. I wrapped my arms around her

"It was my pleasure sweetheart. Now let's get you off your tired feet." I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder. She squealed with laughter as I did so. This brought joy to my undead heart. I ran us up to my study at vampire speed. I softly placed her on the chaise. I then took her shoes of to expose her delicate feet, and began to massage them.

"OOOHH that feels so good." She said as she lay back with her back against the back of the chaise. Her feel resting in my lap.

"Have you checked on your father since you've been back?" I asked her.

"Yes, when we got back, Jasper and Emmett were with him. Jasper told me to tell you he was on his way to the hospital." She told me.

"Isabella, once Jasper returns, we have to go to the police station. Sam called earlier while you were out. He said the police had some questions for you." I told her.

"I figured as much. It's fine. I'm actually a pretty good actress." She told me with a wink. I smiled at that.

"Isabella, sweetheart. I have something a little more serious I need to speak with you about. We have to plan a memorial for your father. The family and I will take care of that for you. However, I think you need to call your mother, and inform her." Isabella began to visibly shake with this information.

"Carlisle, what if she makes me come back to live with her. I won't do it; I can't go back to that life." She was starting a panic attack at this point.

"Sssh, sssh, baby. No, I won't let that happen. This is why I need your help. You need to press formal charges against your mother, for the abuse she inflicted against you. As well as a list of the men whom have harmed you. Formal charges will be brought against Renee', however the men, your father has requested that they be taken care of…unconventionally." She raised an eyebrow at that.

"You mean he wants them dead." She said as a statement, not a question. She sighed, and I didn't have to be an empath to know her emotions were all over the place.

"My mom most definitely deserves to be in jail. If you can even call her a mom. I don't even remember the name of the guy she held me down for. He was just some random john, she needed money from. But James, Laurant, and Phil…" She trailed off as she began to hyperventilate in a panic attack.

I placed her against my chest and buried my nose in her hair. I'm so sorry baby; I don't mean to make you relive that horror. I don't know how much you know about vampire mating, but a vampire will do everything in his power to get revenge for hurting his mate. Just the thought that they hurt you, physically and emotionally, is too much for me to bear. Even myself." I pulled her back from me so I could look in her eyes. "The first day we met, do you know how much pain I was in when I acknowledge who and what you meant to me? I knew I hurt you deeply and if I could, I would have pulled my own heart from my chest."

"And you would have caused me even more pain. I don't want to think of a world without you in it." She told me while placing her small warm palm on my cheek. The hand that had the bite mark on her wrist. I took her hand down and look at the bite.

"Who did this? I need to know how this happened." I asked her

"That was James. He and Laurant would feed from me though my cuts. James got carried away and bit me. It was Laurant, however, that sucked the venom out, preventing my change." She told me reluctantly. "But Carlisle, I don't want you getting hurt over me." I put a finger over her lips to stop her.

"My love, I have not been around for nearly 400 years not to be able to take care of myself." I told her.

"But this vampire, James, he is some sort of tracker. When I would try to run away, he would always track me down. If he hand to track me, my punishments were always more severe, until I stop trying altogether." A growl escaped from my chest at this knowledge. Just then, Jasper walked in.

"Carlisle, are we ready to take Bella to the Police Station now?" He asked me. I looked down at Isabella; she nodded her head as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

I slipped her shoes back on, and we walked downstairs hand in hand with Jasper following behind. "I brought the Mercedes back from Seattle this morning. Also, the police did stop by, while you were out feeding, and Bella was still at the mall with the girls. I am taking the paperwork, which shows she is under our medical care, so there will be no issue with child protective services." Jasper informed us. "I let them know that I would inform both you and Bella, why she was needed. So Bella, if you needed emotions to portray you are distraught about your father being missing, I can help you with that." Isabella only nodded at this.

"It shouldn't be a problem, at the moment, my emotions are all over the place anyway, but if you feel I'm not giving an appropriate emotion, I would appreciate the help." She told Jasper. I opened the car door and assisted Isabella in, before fastening her seatbelt. Jasper climbed into the back seat. I then flitted around to the driver's side. As I claimed in and started the car, tears were flowing from Isabella easily. They were genuine tears. I'm not sure what brought on the emotion, but I didn't question it. I then pulled out my cellphone and called Sam Uley to inform him we were on our way to the station.

As we drive along Borgachiel Way toward Forks Community Hospital, Isabella's emotions become more heightened.

"Isabella?" I question her with a quirked eyebrow.

"I'm thinking about the fact that I have to call my mother. What if James tracks me here from the call? Sir, you can't let me go back to that." She is starting to hyperventilate again. Jasper sends a flow of calm through the car.

"Isabella, I promise, no one will take you from me. You are mine!" I say to her as I place my hand on her thigh, just above her knee and giving it a light squeeze. We finally pull into Forks Police department. I turn to her and look her face on.

"Are you ready to do this Isabella?" I asked her. Just as Jasper started to climb out of the car, Sam Uley runs out of the trees toward us.

"I've actually found an empty bear cave. The smell of bear urine and feces are strong. I grabbed a pair of boots from Charlie's and took them up, after letting Jacob chew on them for a while. Once I trail the blood up and into the cave, we should be all set." Sam told us.

"Thanks Sam, once this business is finished we can start to prepare the memorial. Tonight we will discuss some other issues we have concerning that." Sam's brow furrows but he give me a tight smile, and takes off again toward the trees.

"Let's get this over with sweetheart." I say to Isabella as we make our way into the station. We are greeted by Deputy Randy Champion and Deputy Cheri Dupree

"Hi Bella, we met briefly when you first moved to town, but I feel like I've known you your entire life. I'm really sorry to meet you again under these circumstances."

"So am I Deputy Randy. Do you have any more information on Charlie?" She asked him with tears in her eyes.

"I'm afraid not Bella. Can you tell me the last time you spoke with him?" He asked her

"When he left the Cullen's last night. We were supposed to have dinner, but we got into a terrible fight. I pretty much left him with the impression that I didn't love him, before storming off upstairs. I'm not even sure when he left." She told him.

"Well we brought the cruiser in. There was nothing there to tell us anything, except there was paperwork from the hospital."

"Isabella is under our medical and Psychological care. Chief Swan signed over care to us." Jasper told the deputy.

"Can you tell me what kind of Psychological care Bella requires?" The deputy questioned.

"I'm afraid we can't. Unfortunately it goes against HIPPA regulations and against Doctor/Patient privilege." I tell him.

"It's ok Dr. Cullen, Dr. Whitlock. I have been having 'episodes' due to abuse, sexual, mental and emotional, at the hand of my mother. In lieu of having me committed for inpatient care, they thought it best to provide in home counseling and rehabilitation. So I could understand a real family dynamic, since I didn't grow up with that. This brings me to another point Deputy Randy. Is there a statute of limitation for child abuse?"

"Actually Bella, there isn't. Is this something you wish to pursue?" The deputy asked

"Very much so, Deputy Randy. My mother has kept me from having a normal life nearly my entire teenage life. Not to mention she kept me away from the only parent that really cared about me. And now, he's missing." At this point Isabella broke down in tears. Jasper and I both placed an arm around Isabella to support her.

"The only problem I foresee is that Renee is still in Phoenix. I could get the Phoenix PD on it, but we don't have jurisdiction there." Randy told us. Just then Sam Uley came into the station.

"Deputy, I think you need to come see this." Sam nodded to us and gave the deputy a look of urgency.

"If you will excuse me Isabella. I don't know if you know the guys we use for missing persons cases. They are from the Quiluete Indian Reservation. They are the best trackers in the area. I didn't want to get your hopes up or dissuade you in any manner. But we normally use them in case we feel have to do with disappearances that involve animals. Isabella, we actually suspect that your father may have been attacked and carried off by a bear.

"OH GOD! that's awful. So then you suspect that he…he's…"Isabella says to the deputy with horror gracing her face.

"I'm afraid so. I am so sorry to have to give it to you in this manner. But it looks like Mr. Uley here may have found the proof to close this case, as missing and presumed dead. Ms. Swan, the Chief was a fine man, I am very sorry for your loss" At this information, Isabella starts to hyperventilate and faints at the news. I see Sam Uley roll his eyes and Jasper gives him a little smirk. I scoop her up in my arms.

"I'd better take her home. This has undoubtedly been too much for her to handle. Please call us and let us know your discovery."

"Will do, Dr Cullen. Now if you will excuse me." Deputy Randy flitted out after Sam and I carried Isabella to the car. I put her in the backseat with Jasper and we drove off.

Once we were out of range of the Police station, Isabella immediately sat up. "Was the fainting too much?" Jasper and I both laughed. "No sweetheart, I think it was just perfect." I tell her shaking my head.