Thank you to my beta&prereader, K.K. Fush and TheMortician'sDaughter!

Carlisle POV

We didn't talk to each other for weeks. Esme didn't know what she was saying. She wasn't aware of what she was doing. She was completely out of her mind. She must have been hurting herself while breaking my heart into billions of pieces. She couldn't have fallen out of love with me that quickly. Last month, she couldn't wait to kiss me. Now, she didn't even want to look at me, let alone speak to me. She was thirteen emotionally, but physically, she was twenty-five. I thought she was relying on her physical age, but no. It had always been her emotional age. I was twenty-four and dating a girl who had just became a teenager. She was much too young for me. I needed to see her again and talk this out with her.

But when Esme got mad, she could get really violent. I flopped down on my bed and shut my eyes. I imagined her with pale white skin, caramel curls down her back, deep red eyes, and gleaming, pointy teeth. Her face was glowing and everything about her was beautiful. She wrapped her arms around me and stood on her tiptoes so her lips could reach my neck. All of a sudden, she opened her mouth and sank her vampire teeth into my flesh. My dick got hard as she drained me dry. I fell on the floor and cried out as my boner hit the ground. She stood over me and wiped her mouth clean of my blood.

"Oh, Jesus!" I groaned, shaking the fantasy out of my head. "She won't bite you. She's not like that..."

"Talking to yourself again, Dad?" Emmett asked.

I was startled. "You scared the living daylights out of me, kid."

"Sorry. I'm not a kid. Anyway, it's time to go to Esme's group therapy meeting."

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. "She invited us?"

He shrugged. "I guess so."

I walked into the room where the group meeting was being held. Renee was in there and Lily was watching the children in the waiting room. Esme was seated at a circular table with six other young women.

"So, you're new here?" one of them asked her. The woman had black hair with purple streaks. She was dressed head to toe in black and red. I wondered why she asked if Esme was new here. Hadn't she been going for almost a month? Maybe the woman had short-term memory loss.

"M-hm. I'm newly broken. Not only did I get gang raped, but I also had been living with my uncle for the past twenty years. He's a sick pedophile and has had the hots for me since I was ten. Therefore, I still feel that age today. What happened to you people? Tell that dude over there." Esme jerked her thumb back towards me. "We can replay our whole first meeting to him."

"We're all healed, and we're gonna help you, girl." The woman next to Esme gave her a hug. "My name is Brooke. Hey, who's that guy over there? He's kinda sexy." She pointed at me and I pretended not to notice.

"You obviously get distracted easily," Esme muttered and pushed her to the side. "When do we start this shit?"

"Well, we're just introducing ourselves now. I'm Michelle." A woman with brown hair waved at the group. She gestured to the others and they said their names almost at the same time.

"Caroline."

"Kasey."

"Jill."

"Georgia."

"Nice meeting you all," Esme murmured and shook their hands. "I'm gonna tell my story now. When my uncle Charles stole me from my bed, he gave me a black eye. It's starting to form, see? He started out by saying, 'get outta that goddamn bed right now, you bitch! Right now!' And he also whipped me and started taking off his belt. I cried, and that's how he got sexually aroused. He has a disease called dacryphiliac. He loves to watch me cry. I've been crying almost my whole life. Anyway, he got all his friends together and they took me out by an alley near Twilight Lounge. For an hour, they forced themselves on me. I'm so fucking mad! This has made me an insane bitch, and I want to change. I've kept all of my emotions inside and I haven't even known them until I saw the whole thing in my nightmares multiple times."

"Esme, I'm so sorry-" I tried to apologize.

She spat at the ground. "Cut the crap, Carlisle! Excuse my language, ladies, but that man over there is a piece of shit! Carlisle, you're a fucked up idiot and I feel like smashing your head into a wall. If you really loved me, you would have been my knight in shining armor all the way. You would have attacked Charles like no other man could or at least taken me far away somewhere and brought everyone else we loved with us. I was in enough pain from my attack, but what you did to me was like a dagger piercing through my heart. It made me cold and I wanted to puke." Esme started shouting at me until her words blended together and I couldn't hear her clearly. "Carlisle, get me a goddamn strawberry margarita!"

"Only if you ask nicely."

"Fine. Carlisle, can you please get me a strawberry margarita?"

"Of course. I'll have to go someplace downtown."

"Go to a restaurant."

"Magic words?"

"Fuck you." She snickered and waved me out of the room. When I came back with the margarita, she asked for a bag of chocolate chip cookies and a tub of Oreo ice cream.

"I'm eating my feelings," she mumbled as the women gave her strange looks. "And drinking them right down."

"Carlisle, can you wheel me to the bathroom? I'd wheel myself, but I'm too tired."

"You can't just walk out of a meeting!" I protested.

"I can do whatever the hell I want! Hurry up, I need to use the shitter!"

I sighed. "Whatever. Why are you treating me like a dog?"

"You're a man. Men treated me like a dog. I'm seeking revenge."

"I'm not like them!"

"Yes, but you're almost like them!"

I was getting so sick of her constant needs. She was supposed to be getting help! "Esme, I'm not your slave! Please stop demanding I do things for you!"

She held out her arms, palms up, and thousands of red lines that were fading into scars dotted her wrists. Even though I was annoyed with her at the moment, my heart dropped to my stomach. "This is what you did to me."

"I did not slash your wrists with a knife!" I started taking her to the women's bathroom. When we got to the end of the long hallway, she yelled at me to stop in my tracks.

"Let me make myself clear. You were a wimp around Charles and you got us busted. That's right, you should be hanging your head, you fucking asshole!"

"Shut up, you dumbass! You're so demanding and hard to deal with! God! You have no right to call me out on my flaws when I don't even know where to begin with yours!"

"I never needed a bathroom break. I just wanted to give you a lecture. Come down here so we can be face to face."

I did what she said, but as soon as my eyes met hers, she raised her hand and smacked me across the face.

"What the-" I started angrily. "What was that for?"

"First of all, don't ever call me a dumbass again. Second of all, wow, you call yourself a PTSD expert? I mean, I have problems! I'm broken!"

"I know that, and I was trying to help you heal all along! Why are you acting this way?"

"Because you're a big jerk! I've been thinking about our whole nonexistent relationship. I remember that you asked me out and you tempted me. You fell in love with me. You sat back and watched it happen from the very start! My mom and Renee said that you were human and you were bound to make mistakes and you were nice all along, but for Christ sakes, Carlisle whatever your middle name is Cullen, the mistake you made was too grave to continue this...this fling. I have been hurting inside for almost a month. Do you even know what I'm talking about?" She must have jabbed her finger at my chest a thousand times.

I scoffed at her rant. "No. I worshipped the ground you walked on. You're overreacting!" I threw up my arms in frustration.

"Well, fuck you then!"

"What are you even talking about, Esme?"

"I'm just gonna say this normally. If you cared about a person and they were being abused, you wouldn't sit back and watch."

Reality quickly set in and a wave of guilt washed over me. "I admit that I didn't want Charles to bomb the school or kill you." I glanced down at the ground sheepishly.

Esme rolled her eyes. "Even so, if someone can't go to their local police, they'd venture to somewhere else, seek a lawyer or judge's advice. A fear of bombing or more abuse is a pretty weak excuse. If you didn't get cops involved, you'd want to fight him yourself."

"Fight him my...I did! At the bar! Didn't you see me?"

"You fought him when he was drunk! He couldn't fight back very well! It was way too easy! You're not a real man because you're afraid of pain!" At the last word she bellowed, she burst into tears. "I want you to fight him when he's sober," she whispered as saltwater ran down her cheeks.

"I don't want to be violent. You're not as strong as Charles and I wouldn't be able to handle Charles. He will fucking kill me. Do you want me dead? Do you want to die?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. I would love for us both to be buried six feet under." She folded her arms stubbornly.

"Don't be stupid, Esme. I'll figure something out. I just need to prepare myself. I want to prove my love to you."

"I'll need to see it to believe it. Take me back to my girls. Now." She snapped her fingers twice, wiped away her tears, and that was my cue to return her to the meeting.

A few minutes later, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to face a woman about Esme's height, but skinny and blonde. Fuck my life, it was Betty. How the hell did she find me here?

"Can I help you?" I asked, confused.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice...were you having an argument with your lover?"

"My lover? She's...not mine."

"Why was she being so rude to you?" Betty put her hand on my arm and gave it a light squeeze. "You don't deserve any of her shit. I would never ask you to do things for me. I would have sex with you like a real woman should. And I would say that I loved you."

"It's none of your business! Get off me!" I hissed.

"Oh, come on. She's not even worth it. I've fallen in love with you at first sight. Isn't that romantic?"

"I don't even know you," I groaned. "Would you please leave? I'm not in a good mood right now."

"I can make you happier. Let me tell you a secret." She grabbed my package with my other hand and gripped it firmly. "I make you hard."

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I believe that qualifies as sexual harassment!" a loud voice rang out. Suddenly, Betty was screaming and toppling over Esme's wheelchair as it sped down the hallway and half dragged Betty with it. Esme was still sitting on the floor and looking over her shoulder at me with an evil grin on her face. "Hey, idiot who can't stop staring at me and letting other women grab your cock, get my wheelchair."

I sighed and sluggishly retrieved her wheelchair. "Here you go, you jealous bitch."

Esme opened her mouth wide. "I'm not jealous. I did to her what you should have done to Charles, you bastard. I saved you from having to go through her torture."

"I don't think her giving me a hand job classifies as torture."

"You were resisting her advances. I don't like whores."

The other women just gaped at Esme while she laughed out loud hysterically. Her laughter echoed throughout the room and it seemed like she couldn't stop herself. She was laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes.

Renee looked puzzled as she joined me on the side of the room. "What's going on?"

"I think she's drunk."

"I burned that bitch!" Esme shouted through her bursts of giggles. "Oh my fucking god, I did it! Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah! Whoo-hoo! I threw her in the fire! She's dead! My wheelchair killed her!"

"I hate to break it to you, but someone is kneeling by her side and calling nine-one-one," Renee said after looking over at the fallen seductress.

"It won't work," Esme gasped out. "She's gone! Her soul has burned in Hell! The flames have turned her to ash."

"Wheelchairs don't murder people," I called out to her, but it was useless.

"Did you ever fall over a wheelchair?" Esme asked me.

"No, but I think you fell in the looney bin," I muttered.

Esme looked up at me with a glazed over expression in her eyes. "Lighten up, buddy. Oh, Jesus Christ, I want to go home! Come on, I'm seeing double," she whined. "Pleeeeeease! Bye, girls!"

She was humming a tune to herself as Renee took her back to I guessed, her mother's house, and I parted ways with them. We said goodbye to Esme's fellow group members and I drove Lily and her kids back to her place. It was just Emmett and me at my house now.

"How was it?" he asked.

"It was okay. Esme's pretty messed up right now. I understand her situation. I screwed up. I can't believe I didn't think of other ways to kill Charles."

"Well, Dad, you didn't want to stoop down to his level. But I get it, all women want a man to fight for them. Oh, let me tell you about the substitute teacher that was filling in for Esme."

"What about her?"

"Er, you'll meet her tomorrow when Esme goes back to school, Alice told me. Her name is Crystal Turner and Alice said that one kid asked if she was Timmy Turner's mom. The lady was like, 'oh god, no!' and started laughing. Then, she said that she liked that little character and was all, 'I could be' and winked at the kids. It was funny."

"I'd love to meet her. If Esme's not interested in dating me, I could ask her out."

"Eh, that would be cool. You wouldn't have to be in a forbidden relationship with her or anything. It might actually be better. If you get married, both your initials could be C.C."

"I don't even know this woman."

"Aha! You like Esme!" He pointed at me and shook his head. "I knew it."

"I hope I can prove it to her!"

"Make me proud to be your son!"

"Okay, little man." I pulled him close to me and ruffled his hair as if he was still a child who didn't want to grow up.

"Rosalie did cartwheels on the church altar. It was hilarious," he said to me randomly.

"I'm sure the priest didn't share your thoughts."

"He wasn't there. Lily, Will, and their kids went to pray inside the church for Esme and then Rosalie got bored and did gymnastics inside the church. We started cracking up, but Lily gave her a lecture. I know she has a disability, so I didn't care. Besides, kids will be kids."

"I agree, but you guys all have to learn to act appropriately in public. When Rosalie or the others don't act their age, we have to teach you on what's right."

"I know. It was cool, though. You'll look back on this and laugh."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you! That stupid Mr. Evenson is back!"

"Excuse me while I go to his house and pay him a little visit!"

"Go, Dad, go!" Emmett cheered.

Charles' house was empty, but I could see him inside. I sat there all day, waiting for him to come out, but he never did. The women returned, but nobody screamed. All of a sudden, I saw him lurking in the bushes. I jumped when he shouted, "There's ghosts in my house! And that nasty little girl is back to haunt me! What the hell? I gave her away! Those stupid cunts are supposed to be dead!"

"So, three generations you thought you could get rid of?" I heard myself question him.

"Who's there?" he asked nervously. I climbed up the fence so I could be above him.

"Well, look who's back from hiding! You killed her, you know! You're seeing things. You thought they would suffer in hell, but guess what? She's the only one who's dead. Her mom is alive and so is her daughter. That's right, Alice is Esme's daughter!"

"I'm really freaked out right now. You mean to tell me Esme is walking around in her house, but she's dead?"

"Yeah, that's basically it. So tell me, how did she die?"

"She wanted us inside her. She was a massive horny girl. She liked big dicks and she wanted to fuck us all hard and have our cum all over her. She liked giving herself to us because she was a complete whore. You know, she was a prostitute throughout her young life."

"That's not what Esme told me before she died!"

"What did she tell you?" he snickered.

"Your friends raped her while you videotaped it. You're so sick that I want to risk my life and beat the fuck out of you."

"You? You're puny compared to me. I'm six feet two. You can't get me! You've been warned, Cullen."

I jumped off the fence and pounced on him. He yelled angrily and threw me off his back. He tried to slam me down into the dirt, but I wasn't having any of it. I banged his head with both my hands that were balled into fists and that stopped him for a minute. He raised his fist and hurled it into the dirt as I turned my face away from the blow. I growled and kicked him in stomach and in the nuts as hard as I could. He fell over with a loud groan and that's when I knew I had the upper hand. He was soon eating dirt since I had him by the hair and pushed his face into the ground multiple times. While he coughed, I jumped on his back like it was a trampoline. It seemed like he was too weak to move anymore, but I kept punching him as I rolled him over. He spat out blood and I laughed. "This is fun."

"Okay, Carlisle, you're my friend again. Stop, you're gonna kill him! I don't want you in jail. That's enough." Esme pulled me off the asshole and helped me to my feet. "Are you okay? You look like you dodged him when he tried to hit you. You just have a few bruises. Do you need ice?"

"Yes, thank you." I rubbed my face in pain. "See, I told you I'm better than Charles."

"I swooned as I watched it from my bedroom window. It was great! You won! I'm proud of you!"

"You should be, I just about knocked his brains out."

"Didn't it feel good? Oh my God, you're my hero now!" Esme fanned herself.

"It felt very nice to take him down."

I followed her inside her house and she led me to the kitchen. She handed me some ice and I held it to my head.

"Better?"

"Much better. Once again, thank you, Esme. I'm glad we're friends again."

"Me too. See, was it so hard? All you needed to do was get some leverage. You know, take him by surprise."

"Nah, it wasn't that hard."

"Come on, you can meet my mom."

"I can?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. She's in bed and Alice is sleeping, so be quiet. We're going to tiptoe upstairs."

"The stairs don't creak?"

"No, this house is nearly thirty years old, but it's still in pretty good shape."

I guided her up the stairs like a gentleman and she took me to a closed bedroom door. She knocked on it softly, but then I noticed there was a beam of light coming through the bottom of the door.

"I think she's awake."

Esme opened the door. "Yep, just as I thought. And she's reading, too. Hi, Mom."

The gray-haired woman looked up from her book and raised her glasses up on her nose. She had barely no wrinkles and her eyes looked gentle and kind, just like Esme's. She smiled at us and her daughter limped towards her.

"Mom, this is um, my friend Carlisle, and Carlisle, this is my mom, Anne."

"It's very nice to meet you, sir." She struggled to sit up straighter against her pillows and held out her hand towards mine.

"It's also a pleasure meeting you, ma'am." I shook her outstretched hand. "I assure you that I will be the best bodyguard possible for your daughter."

"Thank you. So I can trust you with her?" Anne raised her eyebrow at me.

"Oh, Mom. he's the best man a girl like me can have, for a friend, anyway!" Esme beamed and clasped her hands together.

"I will protect her from anything and everything. I'd give her an island in Rio and name it Isle Esme if I could!" I joked, knowing that I didn't have that much money or power.

Esme giggled softly and rolled her eyes. I think she even blushed a little. I missed those pink cheeks and that tiny laugh. She was so cute when she did that.

"Well then. If my Ezzie pie thinks you're a good man, then I trust her opinion. You certainly seem like a nice young man. My daughter needs a gentleman in her life."

"Thank you, Anne."

"She's right, you know," Esme agreed.

"What do you think, baby?" the older woman asked.

"Mom, he's just a friend and my bodyguard. Even though he's very sweet and handsome, I don't love him. It would take me forever to be ready for a romantic relationship after everything that's happened."

"I understand," Anne said.

Esme nodded and skipped out of her mother's room with me in tow. "In case you're wondering, my mom was knocked unconscious, but Charles didn't kill her! She's just been in a coma for two decades. He thought he murdered her, but he didn't because he's not strong enough!" She muffled her laughter with a pillow. "He's a loser! He can't even kill someone! He had a dummy in his room that he jacked off to and we thought that was my mom's corpse so we buried it!"

"I was going to ask you how she was alive, but I was in so much shock that she was alive that I forgot to ask."

Esme shrugged. "It's all right. It's just amazing that she survived his blows."

"So that gravestone...it's covering a plastic doll?"

"Yes. It's sorta funny if you think about it. But we were extremely sad at the time."

"I would understand. I'm glad your mom and your daughter are alive after all."

"Yep!" Esme cheered quietly and stretched her hands over her head. "My family is complete again, at last."

"How does she not have brain damage if she's been in the coma for twenty years? Does she have a voice box or a brain transplant?" I wondered aloud as we went downstairs to sit on Esme's couch.

"Yeah, she has both. At least that's what her doctor told Renee. Also, she hasn't aged much either. She looks very young, even though she's fifty. Her body was practically dead and she wasn't doing anything to it to age it. The gray hair came naturally, but she wants to dye it brown like it used to be. She acts like a thirty year old grandma, pretty much."

"Thank you for introducing me to her. That means a lot."

"You're welcome. And I'm going back to school tomorrow! Yay!" Esme clapped her hands in excitement. "You know, I'm still going through a very dark time. I'm sorry about our fight."

"Don't worry about it, Ezzie. I was wrong for not being a hero in a challenging fight. I'm glad you knocked some sense into me. It made us friends again. You have no idea how much I wish we were a couple. But I'm not going to pressure you into a relationship until you're ready."

She looked at me with sad eyes. "How would you know if I would ever want to swing back into the dating game again? I don't trust men. I'm fine being single. I'm okay with you protecting me, but I want to take our friendship very, very slowly. We rushed into it too fast."

"Yeah, I know. Hey, uh, Esme, I had a nightmare of you being a vampire and killing me. Is that what you want to do to me?"

"That's way too weird. I'm not that creepy," she laughed. "Are you afraid of me?"

"I've just never met any PTSD victim like you. Lily and I weren't in situations as bad as yours. I had no idea what to expect from you. I suspected you were angry with me, but I didn't know why. I'm relieved that you told me."

"I am too," she said in a hushed tone. "Do you want to hear my favorite song?" I nodded, so she got her iPod out of her pocket, pressed a button, and a soothing melody began to play. "This totally defines my life."

"That's a nice song. Who sings it?"

"It's called Two Beds and a Coffee Machine by Savage Garden."

...Another bruise to try and hide
Another alibi to write

Another ditch in the road
You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast

Wonder how I ever made it through...

This semester is so busy that I can't do regular updates every Monday anymore, sadly. At least you get a surprise when I update! Sorry it's been so long. Hopefully you're all still here, waiting for me and my painfully slow updates. :D I'm halfway finished since this story will have twenty more chapters, including this one!

Thank you so, so much for making this story the highest reviewed story I've written so far! Love you all: K.K. Fush, TeamCullenx, CarlisleandEsme, that kiwi chick, MrsCarlisleCullen13, Just4Me, TheMortician'sDaughter&TeamCarlisleandEsme8! And also my local friend, Msoxcookie!

Please R&R White Picket Fence by K.K. Fush&The Vampire in the Mix by TheMortician'sDaughter&Love in the Strangest Places by MrsCarlisleCullen13!