Chapter 21
Carlisle Cullen stared blankly at the screen of his laptop computer. He had been there for almost two hours in the exact same position. He blinked at the screen as the battery waned and the screen turned black. He swallowed and sighed thoughtfully; he pushed the top of the computer down and pulled his chair around so that he had his back to his desk.
He had heard her move; heard her at his door. He knew that she would know he had, in fact he entertained the idea that it could well have been for his benefit. He had found himself doing similar fruitless things in order to gain her attention; resulting in him feeling as if he was cheating more than just himself in the process. However, today was different she wasn't going to have taken this easily. Although if he had said that he was, he would have been a filthy liar. He eased himself out of his chair in a split second decision; realising that this at least would hopefully mean that Alice might just miss it and not feel compelled to scale the house to ensure that they were not in the middle of a passionate tryst.
He closed his door behind him; not bothering to be quiet about it, if the rest of the family were listening then they would surely hear even if he didn't want them to. Looking out onto the corridor he noted that the last room was ajar. Edward's room. He flinched, none of them had been in there, and he didn't particularly want to disturb her if she was having a personal moment in his space. He turned around and motioned to go back to his study when a small voice, detectable to only him rang out.
"It's okay Carlisle."
She was obviously in some state of distress, her voice was cracked and she sounded as if she had been crying.
He stopped dead in the middle of the corridor listening to her voice. As if in a dream his legs carried him towards the room.
He peered inside reluctantly, all too aware of the state that he may find her in, she was still wrapped up in the blanket; her legs hung over the sofa. She looked like an angelic child. He immediately softened and closed the rest of the distance between them; pulling her onto his lap. She pulled her arms around him as if in reflex and brought her head to her chest. He allowed a hand to drift over her face and relax into her hair; he crushed her to him as she sobbed into his chest.