"They're gone?" Despite saying those words over and over again, Aaren still couldn't believe it. Even after hearing it from the rest of the family, it still felt like a dream. "Both Alice and Jasper have left? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Why? After Alice's recent vision, how could they? Do they fear the Volturi?"

"Not necessarily." Carlisle leaned against the rail on the deck, holding the note from Alice in his hand. The weightless piece of paper felt like a rock in his hand. Lord only knew why Alice and Jasper left, and where they have gone. Carlisle placed his hand on his heart, it felt so heavy he expected it to fall out of his chest. The heart was more fascinating to Carlisle than anything else on the human body. Pumping all the blood, and oddly, withholds so much emotion in such a small container. It's just seems so amazingly unbelievable what all the heart and body are capable of doing.

"Hello? Carlisle? Care to emphasize?" Aaren waved her hand back and forth in front of his face. Carlisle blinked back to reality, inhaled a sharp breath and refocused.

"Aro wants Alice to join the Volturi."

"Oh, well, perhaps that is why they left." An uncomfortable chill ran down her spine, imagining Aro's cowardice, power hungry eyes lust for Alice's gift just to save his own skin. Then she thought of how Mikaela and Bellatrix manipulate Riordan into protecting them.

"Alice and Jasper are smart, I'm sure they have a good reason for leaving." Carlisle said, ignoring her last remark.

"Are you going after them?"

"No." Carlisle answered, revealing more disappointment than he meant. His heart begged for him to search for Alice and Jasper, but he knew better. Not with the rest of them at risk of dying. "We don't know where they've gone. We can't go on a wild goose chase, not with the Volturi coming. Most of us split up, see if we can ask our friends to be witnesses."

"Witnesses?" Aaren imagined Carlisle rounding up a jury and put Nessie, Edward and Bella on speedy trial for a crime they are not guilty of. It amused her imagining the coven's attempts of persuasion like a Law&Order show. But she knew the Volturi couldn't be reasoned by anything speedy.

"Nessie can show them how she was born from her memory, and her first memory. If we show them the truth, we might convince Aro to leave."

"You sound depressed." Aaren stood next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. Carlisle looked away from her, hoping she wouldn't push the topic further. "You sound so sure of this plan, and yet you express deep sorrow."

"Before Jayme and Bella, Alice and Jasper were the last members to join the family." Carlisle replied, smirking at the memory of Alice telling them she had a vision of Carlisle taking in the two of them. Of course she didn't need to, Carlisle would have welcomed them in a drop of a hat. "Even before I turned, I've never felt anything like this. There's a side of me that fears I'll never see them again, then another side of me has faith they will return. It's like a constant war in my own mind."

"You give so much love to everyone, and they wind up hurting you." Aaren regretted her words when Carlisle's head turned quickly to face her, his blue eyes turning to ice. A look he never gave to her. Aaren held her breath, waiting for him to start yelling.

"I have done much good in this life." He informed her, keeping his glare hard and cold. For a second, he felt guilty for looking at her so scornfully. Then he remembered who was his family and who had been there for him recently. "I do the same thing at my job, I save people in one way or another. I never ask for anything in return. I do get hurt sometimes, but I never regret helping those who need it."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Aaren apologized, scooting away from him slightly. "But I have to ask, why did you adopt so many kids? They're not even biologically related to you."

Carlisle grinned, his face softened. "Why do you think of Eve and Julia as your sisters?"

"Good point." Aaren rolled her eyes jokingly, playing with Carlisle's hair. "So the Volturi believe Nessie to be an Immortal Child? Is that someone like a Emily?"

"Emily?" Carlisle tilted his head away from Aaren's hand, wondering what Emily had to do with this.

"She is a Halfling and a human, which is not entirely legal."

"What do you mean?" Of course, Carlisle forgot that each species has their own set of laws and regulations.

Aaren sighed, crossing her legs and perched herself on the rail. "Bellatrix is just like Aro; a tyrannical, Mussolini leader."

"Wait, I thought Mikaela was the leader?"

"She is, but she lets Bellatrix make most of the decisions regarding transformation. She basically gives you consent to change someone or have a child."

"And you've received consent?" Not that Carlisle was too worried about Aaren's slight rebellious side, he was more concerned about Bellatrix. If she gives consent for someone to be born, or reborn, he didn't want to imagine what other power Mikaela has given her. Or if Mikaela is more tyrannical than her sister.

"Not really." She answered, humming and smiling innocently, kicking her legs back and forth like she was on a swing. "Let's just say Emily just happened."

"Just happened?" Carlisle asked, looking at her with a matter of fact grin.

"That tends to happen in our family." Aaren looked up at the house, watching Emily and Nessie play dolls together. The two young girls reminded her of Elizabeth and Danielle. Both of them were as close as Aaren and Carlisle were when they were alive. They would spend their day's harassing Carlisle, flirting with boys in the village, braiding each others hair. In some ways, Aaren missed both of her sisters, when Elizabeth and Danielle treated Aaren like she was their sister."I remember, you were a surprise. Mother and father believed she was done having children after my birth."

Carlisle's smile slowly faded, his head lowered down to his feet. His heart growing heavy with regret. After changing, he had to leave everything behind, which wasn't much.

And that made it easier to leave.

And much easier to never go back.

He never complained about having close to nothing in his former home. Life was just easier that way. Carlisle wished, however, pictures were invented at the time. Not only would he get to see their mother, in a way, it would have given him a reason to go home. It wasn't until after their father's death did he return. He knew the villagers were going to do away with everything in the house, including their mother's box. The contents of her box was the only thing he had left of her.

Taking a deep breath, Carlisle found the courage to finally ask; "What was she like?"

"Father talked about her for hours." She began, pleasant shock in her grin. It wasn't because Carlisle finally asked about her, it was that it took him almost 300 years to ask. Unlike him, Aaren remember's their mother vivdly, she was always known for her loving smile. Something Aaren has missed every day since their mother's death. "It was always 'Carol-"

"Carol?" Excitement plagued his heart, his lips forming a small smile, his insides lit up like a light in a dark room. For the first time in his life, past and present, he finally hears her name. And to him, it was beautiful. "Mother's name was Carol?"

"You never knew?" Aaren asked, shocked seeing the ice melt into a bright light in his eyes. With how much Carlisle and their father spend together, Carlisle never heard their mother's name mentioned once.

"I was never told." Carlisle kept smiling, his mind buzzing with images of Carol Cullen. Looking up to the sky, he imagined her bright blond hair pulled up in a messy bun, her bright blue eyes brightly filled with life, her smile just as perfect as the modern day wife. Everything Carlisle would want in a mother. "I wish she'd lived, things would have been different."

"It's a shame you know very little about her." Aaren bit her lip, regretting her words.

"Does Bellatrix know about Emily?" Carlisle asked, feeling his heart ache the more he fathomed a life with a mother.

Aaren shot up and ran down the stairs as Garrett, Emmett and Rosalie appeared.