Chapter 26: Never Again
Carlisle glared at Charles in the dark. "You sure know how to ruin a man's fun Carlisle," Charles commented.
"Beating a woman is not fun, Charles," he answered.
Charles chuckled evilly and Carlisle cursed, wishing that there was some kind of light so he knew where Charles was. "You just had to steal my family away. The baby Esme and I were trying so hard to have," he sneered.
"You mean the baby you were trying to force Esme to have," Carlisle answered.
Charles sighed. "You are a foolish man," he commented.
"For what? For protecting Esme than beating her up to the point she couldn't fight anymore?" Carlisle answered.
He listened for Charles and heard his footsteps stop right behind him. "Esme's mine," he snapped. Carlisle ducked out of the way when Charles tried to attack him from behind.
"Esme's not property!" Carlisle answered angrily.
Charles came at him again and grabbed Carlisle by his throat, slamming him into the wall. "She is, my property. We made vows, a piece of paper can't break the vows we made in front of the eyes of God," he snapped. Carlisle glared at him and kicked him in the stomach.
"I won't let you hurt Esme anymore," he snapped.
Charles threw a punch at him and Carlisle ducked out of the way again. "Esme's free from you, Lila's ours not yours," he added. Charles kicked Carlisle in the chest, making him stumble out of the room and hit the wall. He got up and moved again when the rock that was used to break the window was aimed at his head.
"Esme will be mine again, a dumbass doctor like you won't take her from me! Her or those stupid bastard children of hers!" Charles snapped.
Carlisle grabbed Charles's arm when he tried punching him again and elbowed the horrible man in the stomach. Charles threw him back against the banister by the stairs. Just as Charles came at him again, the banister broke and they both fell. Carlisle felt pain rip through his back when they landed on the table by the stairs. Charles had gotten off him and grabbed one of the broken banister bars and tried hitting him with it. He rolled out of the way and grabbed dirt from the flowerpot, throwing it into Charles's eyes. Charles cried out but then Carlisle felt the worse pain he had ever felt in his life rush through his side. He looked down to see that Charles had stabbed him with the broken banister. "Not so tough are you?" Charles sneered. Carlisle glared at him before he got up and stumbled out of the house. One thing was for sure, he had to get Charles away from the house and towards where the police would be at this point.
He stumbled through the forest, putting pressure on his injured side. "Can't hide forever Carlisle," Charles called to him. Carlisle swallowed, trying to ignore the pain in his side. He was suddenly knocked down the ground. He grunted in pain but then he cried out when Charles kicked him in the side. "Don't worry Carlisle, I'll take care of Esme and all those kids," he told Carlisle.
Carlisle grabbed a large, heavy stick and swung, the object connecting to Charles's head and knocked him to the ground unconscious. He dropped the stick and fell back into the snow. His eyes were beginning to droop and he stared up at the moon that was peeking through the trees. Carlisle felt his eyes grow heavy, the pain in his side was excruciating, but his arms felt too heavy to lift up to attempt to stop the bleeding again. "CARLISLE!" he heard someone shouted. He took a deep breath and gathered as much of his voice as possible.
"BACK…HERE!" He shouted before darkness claimed him.
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Esme pulled up in the car with the kids in the car. "Oh God…" Esme gasped.
"Dad!" His three kids exclaimed getting out of the car.
Esme got out of the car with the baby on her hip when the police stopped the kids from getting any closer. "You guys have to stay back," the officer insisted.
"No you don't understand that's my dad!" Alice shrieked.
Emmett saw Chief Swan. "CHARLIE! CHARLIE!" He shouted. Charlie looked up to see Carlisle's family there.
"Let them through," he told them.
The paramedics were getting Carlisle on a gurney when his kids came to him. "Daddy," Alice whispered holding his hand.
"Is he going to be okay?" Esme asked worriedly, tears pressed against her eyes.
"He's losing a lot of blood, the faster we can get him to the hospital the better chance he'll have," the paramedic replied.
Esme handed Lila over to Rosalie before she stood next to her fiancé, gripping his hand. Carlisle opened his eyes and smiled a little through his air mask. "Esme…" he whispered. She smiled through her tears as she stroked his hair with her free hand. "It's over…" he told her.
"We need to get him to the hospital," the paramedic informed.
"Mom go, we'll take care of things here," Rosalie told her.
Alice nodded in agreement. Esme bit her lower lip and hugged all of her kids. "I'll meet you guys at the hospital," she told them. She looked over at Charlie.
"I'll make sure they'll get there," he assured her.
"Thank you," she answered.
Esme got into the paramedic truck with Carlisle. She sat down, holding onto Carlisle's hand for dear life. The paramedics were trying to take care of the injury on his side and she bit her lower lip. She moved her fingers over his cheek with tears in her eyes. "I love you," she whispered to him. He gave her hand a squeeze and his eyes closed. "Carlisle no, no don't close your eyes," she begged, her hand on his face. She patted his cheek. "Carlisle open your eyes please," she sobbed. She looked up with a gasp when the EKG machine went off.
"We're losing him," the paramedic muttered.
"What? No!" She exclaimed.
Esme swallowed hard shaking her head. "Carlisle don't you dare leave me yet! Don't you dare," she hissed, pulling on his arm.
"You have to move back so we can do our job," the paramedic insisted.
Esme moved back a bit with tears in her eyes. She put her hands over her mouth and nose with a sob.
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They made it to the hospital but Esme was forced to stay in the waiting room while they moved Carlisle to the emergency room. She sat down in one of the chairs, holding the shirt that they had to get off him. She looked up when the kids came in. "Esme…what happened?" Emmett asked. Esme swallowed hard.
"He…uh…" she trailed off.
"What?" Alice asked.
Esme moved her fingers over the shirt. "He went into cardiac arrest on his way here," she murmured. Edward's face went white.
"Where is he?" Edward asked.
He moved towards the door. "Edward you can't go back there," she told him.
"I'm not losing another parent this way! No! DAD!" Edward shouted.
Esme ran over and grabbed onto him. "Edward stop!" she insisted.
"Let go! DAD! DAD!' He shouted.
"Emmett help me," she called to him.
Emmett ran over and grabbed a hold of his brother. "DAD!" Edward shouted again.
"Edward stop it!" Emmett snapped grabbing onto his brother.
"I'm not losing another parent this way! No way!" Edward exclaimed.
"Dad's not going to die! We're not going to lose him," Emmett answered.
"Let me go Emmett!" Edward snapped.
Emmett kept a grip on him. "Edward! Esme needs us! Alice needs us! Carlisle is her father too, she needs us," Emmett insisted. Edward stopped struggling and looked over to see Rosalie comforting a sobbing Alice. He moved out of his brother and soon-to-be stepmother's arms and walked over to his sister. He helped her up and hugged her tight. Alice sobbed against him, gripping his shirt.
Esme was holding Lila with tears falling down her face, waiting for news about Carlisle, the only man she ever truly fell in love with.