NOTE: I do not own or have rights to Twilight or its characters. The material is the intellectual property of its creator.

Chapter 37

Aro:

I sat contentedly at the head of the table. Before me a feast to please every one of the human senses had been laid; food and drink as a feast to please the nose and the pallet, holiday decorations to please the eyes and the touch, but most importantly the company of friends and family to please the ears and, of course, the heart. My professional specialty was cardiology, and if today's gathering was not a panacea for an ailing heart, then I knew nothing at all about the subject and should retire my shingle in disgrace.

Never mind that the power was out. No one seemed to care as the enjoyed the meal and pleasant conversation by the warm glow of candlelight. It was quite nice actually; it could not have turned out better if I planed the power outage myself. Beyond the thick stone walls of my cozy home, a rare southern blizzard raged, but inside a happy gathering glowed with the light of love.

An inch and a quarter of ice accumulated over the course of the morning and now four inches of snow lay on top of it with another three inches expected to fall before it was predicted to stop in the small hours of Friday morning. But worse, the temperatures were not going to climb above freezing before Sunday. A full seven inches of snow and an inch of ices would remain on the ground and on the streets until then … effectively, the entire Atlanta metro was shut down and on ice.

"I don't mean to be a wet blanket, or sound ungrateful, Aro, but what are we going to do about heat?" Mike asked seriously. "It seems like we're kind of out of the frying pan and into the fire here."

"Not exactly my friend," I soothed, "you have no gas … and likely no power as well by now, the storm dumped more ice on your side of town. We still have gas here and I have an electric generator to run the electrical components of the furnace and blowers. Unfortunately, the generator is small; it can provide either heat or lights but not both. Additionally, I only have enough diesel fuel for seventy two hours of continues operation."

"I vote for heat," Jessica offered, "the candles are nice … kind of romantic." She nudged her husband suggestively and I was glad that I put the two of them in the large room with the privet bath and king sized bed.

"How long do you suppose the power will be out?" Carlisle inquired. "And have you heard anything about the hospitals."

"After dinner I will call Georgia Power and see what answers they have to offer," I replied, "Caius called me earlier; Grady is operating on its emergency preparedness protocol. Marcus called me to tell me that Emory Hospital's main campus was on diversion; they lost municipal power and are operating on emergency generators, but what's worse is that their main boiler went down and they can't provide sufficient hot water."

"Is that bad?" Esme asked. Her face was a scowl of concern; being romantically involved with someone on the frontline of the health care profession placed her in unfamiliar waters. I remembered the days when Sulpicia had to get used to these things.

"Yes and no," Carlisle answered her patiently, "None of the patients in house at the hospital are in any real danger. They'll simply use what hot water they have from the other boilers to maintain the heating system and such, but things will be limited. As for diversion status … it means that, while the ER is still technically open, they aren't receiving ambulances … except by patient request or unless it's a dire case."

While Carlisle continued Esme's crash course in Hospital Protocol 101, I allowed my attention to drift to the table full of teens. The way that they chose to arrange themselves at the table intrigued me. The Newton children sat side by side as did my own twins, I expected this, but the rest of the seating arrangements were anything but expected. Esme's daughters and Carlisle's sons had aggregated into the team pairings from the fence painting contest. Edward sat beside Isabella, Jasper sat with Alice and Rosalie was next to Emmett. They all talked boisterously as part of the larger group, as teens will do, but, at various times, the pairs spoke in hushed tones with their respective partners. I found this very curious. Of course I wanted them to get along, but I wasn't sure if I wanted them to get along that well. How Carlisle and Esme would fell about the possibility of their children dating amongst themselves remained to be seen. I could understand how it might prove awkward, but none of them were technically related.

"Hey Aro," Edward spoke up from the youth table. "Did you ever figure out who won our little contest?"

"Ah, the contest, yes I did determine a winner," I answered his question cheerfully. Edward had been a different young man today; much less sullen and contrary than usual. And I had noted that Isabella was never far from his shadow.

"What contest," Esme asked with a smile.

"Well, last weekend, while you and Carlisle enjoyed the Georgia country side," I hummed pleasantly, "your children were here with me. I devised a little contest, call it Aro's Hunger Games … they divided themselves into teams and took on the challenge of painting my new wooden privacy fence. The team that panted the greatest area of fence before lunch time would be the winner."

"And which team won?" Jessica seemed quite excited in spite of the fact that her children weren't involved.

"Well, that is the trouble," I sighed. "There was no clear cut winner when we stopped for lunch … all the painted areas looked approximately the same. I had to resort to mathematics and technology in order to determine a winner. You see I take my contests very seriously, so I had a professor friend of mine from Georgia Tech come over to photograph the painted areas and take various measurements. He plugged the information into a computer program that he is working on and it calculated the area of each painted section out to six decimal places … I was quite impressed."

"And," Jessica was practically squirming in her seat.

"I will tell you the truth, it was very close," Jessica's reaction was so amusing that I had to admit; I was having entirely too much fun dragging this out. "Six decimal places almost did not give us the answer … Dr. Jaikaran nearly had to reconfigure the parameters of his program. BUT …"

"Yes," Jessica squealed.

I realized, in that moment, that there was no conceivable way to drag this out any longer. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. "The winner, by one square micrometer … is the team of … Edward and Isabella."

Applause and laughter erupted in the room, only Emmett seems unenthusiastic. I would not have characterized his reaction as hostile, but rather, confused.

"Hey dad," Emmett spoke up when the rancor in the room died down. "How big is one micrometer?"

"Not very big at all," Carlisle answered his son. "At the hospital, we sometimes have occasion to use such minute units of measure, but they're more commonly used in research labs. A single E. coli bacteria cell averages about two micrometers in length and half a micrometer in diameter … and you'll need a microscope if you want to see it."

"Well that doesn't seem fair," Jasper picked up, "how many of those square micrometers separated me and Alice from Emmett and Rose?"

"Three." I replied with a shrug, "and, fair or not … numbers do not lie." I could see the hurt and indignation beginning to cloud the faces of Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper. This was not what I intended when I initiated the competition … I wanted to foster a bonding among the young ones, not create a foundation for bitterness. "However, as your father has pointed out, these are miniscule units of measure. The diameter of a human hair, to provide yet another example, is given to be somewhere between seventeen and one hundred eighty micrometer, depending on what reference book you look in.

"Having said that, perhaps justice would be better served if I declared a draw … as we are, quite literally, talking about a difference between the three painted areas that is less than the diameter of a single human hair … less than a hair's breath, you could say."

As I picked up my fork and resumed eating, the six of them began murmuring among themselves. I could not wait to see what comments they would come up with next … and I did not have to wait long.

"Is there a prize?" I was shocked that it was young Isabella who asked this question … she was so shy that she hardly spoke. Perhaps her association with Edward would prove to have a positive effect on her.

"Yes my dear, there is a prize," I answered, giving them no more information than that.

More murmuring ensued behind this revelation. At the adult table, my beloved Sulpicia, Carlisle, Esme, and the Newtons must have caught on to my little game as they were all attempting, unsuccessfully, to hide their amusement.

"What sort of prize," Alice asked next.

"And who will get it," Emmett followed up. "Will you give it just to Edward and Bella?"

I sighed as if I might be growing weary of them, but this was not the case. "No Emmett, the prize will not go to just Edward and Isabella … you will all receive it." In fact, it would work out better this way as I would have an opportunity to get them all together again.

"So what is this prize?" Rosalie took up this time.

I finished chewing my mouthful of turkey and dressing, washed it down with a sip of wine, and then wiped my mouth before answering, "Why don't I start by telling you what it is not."

"Narrowing things down that way could take all evening," Edward groaned.

I found myself laughing at his reaction. "Not really," I finally dismissed. "First of all, it is not money; that would be a frivolous prize and would not honor the effort that the six of you put into the contest."

"I wouldn't mind money," Rosalie sneered.

"With money, you will buy things, Rosalie," I corrected her gently, "Thing that you will use for a time and throw away … or grow weary of, and give away or sell on E-bay.

"Which brings me to the second thing; your prize is not a material object either."

"Ok, so no money and no … material stuff," Isabella scowled, "So what does that leave?"

I pursed my lips and nodded solemnly, it was time. I got up from my chair, went to the sideboard table, and retrieved the envelope that I had tucked into the drawer the day before. I handed the envelope to Edward and resumed my seat.

"Stocks and bonds," Emmett inquired as he stared at the envelope in Edward's hand.

"Why not simply open it," I suggested as I picked up my fork again.

Edward took up the knife from his place setting, cut the envelop open, and withdrew the single sheet of paper with in. "A map with a location circled on it and a set of numbers scrawled on the corner of the page." He passed the map to Isabella before turning to glare at me hotly, "What the hell man … what kind of fucked up …"

"Edward Cullen!" Carlisle's stern rebuke was instantaneous, "You will mind your language, young man … there are ladies present."

"Aro, just what is this," Jasper inquired calmly. I was not at all surprised by this as he was the most levelheaded and thoughtful of the three of them.

"Have you ever heard of geocaching?" I asked in reply.

"It's like a glorified grown-up treasure hunt kind of thing," Isabella supplied. "Right?"

"Essentially, yes." I nodded. Isabella was shy, but exceptionally bright. "In days gone by, young ones your age commonly struck out on adventures to test themselves against the wider world and learn their worth. In medieval Europe, these journeys took on the form of the Quest … often embarked upon by Knights.

"In the spirit of this tradition, I have arranged a private geocaching expedition for the six of you. The starting location is marked on the map along with its exact GPS coordinates. There you will find clues that will lead you to the first checkpoint. Each checkpoint will have information vital for reaching the next checkpoint. Again, you will be in teams … if you wish, you make keep your current pairing or you may switch partners. The choice is yours, but any swapping must be agreeable to all parties involved." I looked the six of them over, they seemed a bit stunned. "So what say you … will you accept my quest?"

"What will we find at the end of it?" Emmett asked in wide eyed wonder.

"The Holy Grail," I replied sarcastically.

It took nearly a half hour of mumbling amongst them before the six of them came to an agreement; they would all go on my little geoquest and they would retain their current parings. I was not terribly surprised to hear that the couples would remain together as it was obvious that something was developing between them. I felt a mixture of contentment and trepidation at this development; contentment in the fact that the groups were no longer at each other's throats, but trepidation concerning the possibility of where such relationships could go. Carlisle always warned me that one day my meddling might end up exploding in my face … I could only hope his words were not about to come home to roost.

Carlisle:

Thanksgiving dinner was the absolutely amazing; not just the food, but the whole atmosphere of our gathering … and especially having Esme beside me. She and Jessica were in the kitchen now, helping Sulpicia with the after feast clean-up. Aro retired upstairs to his office to harass Georgia Power in private. The children moved off to the game room; even with no power, there were still billiards, board games, and a foosball table to keep them occupied. I retired to the den where I poked up the fire that Aro made earlier in the day; when he made it, the fire was form ambiance, but now it was for warmth as well. With the hearth crackling merrily again I lit several candles in the room and selected a book from one of the shelves and settled down to read. Aro had an amazing book collection that I made no secret of being jealous over.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been reading when Esme finally drifted in from the kitchen. I scooted over and made room for her as he came to join me on the sofa. She shivered as she settled beside me and I took note of the hearth; the fire was in need of attention again. After stirring the coals and adding another log, I returned to Esme's side … and I brought with me a throw blanket from Aro's favorite chair.

"Here," I insisted as I wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. "The fire will warm the room soon, but the blanket will help in the meantime."

"Thank you," she replied. "I thought I left winters like this behind in Ohio."

"The winter in Washington isn't much better," I observed lightly. "And winters in Chicago are downright brutal."

After a good ten minutes, she was still shivering even under the blanket and this concerned me; I decided to try something, and I hoped that she wouldn't take it the wrong way. I settled into the crock of the sofa with my back against the armrest.

"Come here sweetheart … lean back against me," I invited her, patting my chest as I arranged myself. She looked at me strangely and I added, "You want to be warmer don't you."

She nodded but continued to regard me with suspicion.

"Then put your back against my chest, and I'll cover us both with the blanket." When she didn't seem inclined to move, I realized what she needed. "I love you Esme, and because I love you, I have the upmost respect for you. I endeavor to behave in a gentlemanly fashion whenever we're together. I have no intention of wavering from that resolve now … lean back against me love; your virtue is safe with me."

She nodded and shifted herself so that her back was against me. Once she was snuggled comfortably into place; I took the throw blanket and spread it over the both of us. I felt her sigh contentedly as I wrapped my arms around her. My nose found her hair and I nuzzled the crown of her head before kissing her there. While I preferred kissing her mouth, the crown of her head had its own special place in my heart; here I could inhale the warm enchanting smell of her as my lips brushed against her hair.

"You promised to be a gentleman," she teased.

"I am being a gentleman," I insisted, although I had to admit, holding her like this tempted me to forget my promise. Having her in my arms brought the flames of desire to life within me.

"This is warmer," she admitted reluctantly.

"You see, my idea was practical after all," I gloated in jest, "and here you thought I was merely seeking an excuse to cuddle."

She tilted her head so she could glimpse my face, "Perhaps, but your reasoning doesn't deny the fact that you did want to cuddle."

I gave her a little squeeze and nuzzled her hair again, "Only a fool would deny such a thing. Know this Esme Ann Platt; I look for any and every reason to be near you these days."

We slipped into a comfortable silence as we snuggled under the blanket and watched the fire blazing in the hearth. I was struck by how right everything felt; the two of us alone in the den huddled together under the blanket in the pale glow of candles and the fire. In fact, since that first Saturday that we spent together, my whole life suddenly felt right again. When I told her that I sought every reason to be near her, it wasn't a lie … I wanted her with me every minute of every day from now on. I wanted, more than anything, to make her a permanent fixture in my life, but I wasn't sure how she would react to me if I asked her. A bad marriage had the potential to sour a person's opinion of being married. I hoped that her experience with Charles hadn't had that effect on her; not all men were like that … God knows I certainly wasn't. The matter was quite simple; I had to have Esme for my wife, and I didn't care what lengths I had to go to in order to win her over.

"Well isn't this just charming," Roses voice sounded like a thunderclap in the quiet den.

Esme struggled to untangle herself from the blanket and me, but I held her firmly, "Be still love, we've done nothing wrong."

The six of them trooped in and stood like statues between the fireplace and the sofa. They glared at us with a mixture of shock and disappointment etched on their faces. Edward and his brothers seemed the most disappointed, and I felt instantly guilty … not because of my love for Esme, but because I had done nothing to prepare them for this moment. Rose and her sisters seemed more shocked; perhaps they feared that my presence in their mother's life would represent a repeat performance of their father's brutality.

"I told you we needed to talk to them," Rose continued, "I knew it when I heard all that gushy crap at the dinner table … not to mention the way they kept ogling each other."

"Dad how could you," Edward protested. My being with Esme must seem like the hugest betrayal to him, he was his mother's favorite after all.

"I think Rose is correct," I insisted as I helped Esme to sit up properly. I didn't really wish to end our cuddling session, but this matter needed addressing in a serious and dignified fashion. "We do need to talk … please, sit down."

"Hump," Rose stiffened her posture and crossed her arms, "You're not my father."

"Sit down," Esme insisted sternly. "Now!"

When they were all settled I felt it was somehow my place, as the man in the relationship, to take charge of this gathering. "I want to begin by apologizing to the six of you. Esme and I are very much in love … that is not what I am apologizing for. My apology is for the fact that, in the giddiness of or growing attraction to each other, we never took the time to bring the six of you up to speed on what was going on between us."

"You think," Rose grumbled.

Esme tensed beside me, I took her hand in mine and offered a gentle reassuring squeeze. "Let me, love," I insisted quietly.

I returned my attention to the children. "Rose, you seem to be the most vocal, so why don't I pass the floor to you. What has you so upset … what concerns you?"

"God, are you always this diplomatic?" she sneered.

"I do try … but I'm sure that isn't the question that you really want to ask me."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point," she stood up, squared her shoulders and gave me the hardest glare that her beautiful face could muster. "What are your intentions towards our Mother?"

"Rosalie Everson, how dare you …"

"No Esme," I interrupted her indignant response, "Rose and her sisters have every right to ask that question … and I intend to answer it … hopefully to their satisfaction."

I turned my attention back to the girls, "Couched in the simplest of terms, my intentions towards you Mother are these: I intend to love her with all my heart and all my soul … deeply and fully … for as long as she will allow me to do so. I intend to see to her happiness, no matter what that might entail. And I intend to see to her safety and security by protecting her, both physically and mentally, from any threat or source of harm.

"Does that answer meet with your satisfaction?"

"I liked it … it was a very pretty answer," Alice spoke up, "but it doesn't really tell us much."

I smiled at Alice, "then let me try again. I love your Mother and I intend to continue seeing her … to continue building on the relationship we've started together. And some day, if I am very, very lucky … perhaps I will be able to convince her to grow old with me."

"You want to marry our mother?" the expression on Bella's face was confused and apprehensive.

"You're getting a little too far ahead Bella," I soothed gently; "we aren't there yet."

"But that's where your ultimately going," the hurt in Edwards voice pained me greatly. "You'll never be our Mother," he lashed out at Esme and then turned back to me, "How could you?"

"Edward, I …"

Esme touched my arm gently and I when I turned to her, she wore a soft material expression, "let me sweetheart," she insisted.

I couldn't argue with her when she regarded me that way; I nodded and relinquished the floor to her.

"Edward, I am so very sorry about your Mother," she cooed sweetly. "You and your brothers seem like fine young men … the three of you are a living testimony to the kind of woman and the kind of mother that she must have been. I didn't have the privilege of knowing her, but I think I can safely say that she would be very proud of the three of you … I know I would be, if you were my sons.

"But you're not my sons … and I can never fill the void in your hearts left in the wake of your Mother's passing. To claim that I can, or that I could try, would be an affront to her memory. The only things that I can offer you are … my counsel if you want it … my friendship if you seek it … my guidance if you'll have it … and, of course … my love if you'll let me give it."

I watched Edward; his eyes were fixed on Esme the entire time she spoke. The hard bitter edge that clouded his expression when he lashed out at her softened as she spoke; he now looked as if he might break down.

"Don't you love mom anymore?" Emmett croaked. Tears leaked from the corners of my youngest son's eyes and the sight of his sorrow was nearly my undoing.

"Of course I still love her," I replied as pain seared the center of my chest, "I will always hold your mother in a very special part of my heart. My relationship with Esme doesn't change that."

"Yes it does," he insisted weekly.

"No it doesn't Emmett," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I gathered my thoughts, "Son, if it were with in my power to do so … if for one moment in time I could wield the power of Almighty God … I would restore you Mother to you … even at the expense of my own soul … But I do not have this power and I cannot bring her back."

The room fell into silence once more; the crackling of the fire in the hearth and the howling of the wind outside were the only sounds. Brokenness, I thought as my gaze shifted from face to face, here we were, eight broken vessels in desperate need of mending. Was it possible that, together, we could find a pathway to wholeness once more … did we, collectively, possess the all the ingredients necessary to compound the balm that would bind up and heal all of our wounds?

"This is a very important dialogue that we're having and a lot of things have been said here tonight," I sighed wearily. "I think that it might be in everyone's best interest to pause and digest some of it before we discuss things any further. Get some sleep … take time to think … talk amongst yourselves, and tomorrow night we'll come together once more and continue the dialogue. Is that agreeable to everyone?"

Murmurs and nods of agreement answered me, then slowly the six of them filed from the room and diapered to their respective corners of the house. Esme and I were alone in the dark once more.