Carlisle shut off the engine of his black Mercedes and unbuckled his seat belt. It had been a long day at the hospital and he was glad to be finally home.
It wasn't the same lately, coming home from work, as the family was somehow subdued and obviously not complete anymore. Edward had left for an indefinite length of time, Maddie was in Alaska and Rose and Em had decided to take a little vacation ever since Esme demanded to see their phones.
The house, even though smaller than their usual residences, seemed too big for them now… no matter what he tried, he couldn't fill it with life. His wife was heartbroken, but she tried to keep a stoic face and distract herself with housework. Alice and Jasper kept to themselves lately and barely left their room. While Jasper was confined to their room, Alice was not, but she chose to be at her mate's side. Hopefully she would be able to talk some more sense into her husband, even though Carlisle was fairly sure his son understood by now who was in charge here and set the rules in this coven.
He entered through the front door and frowned as he couldn't make out a single sound. Just as he had left the hospital he had called his wife to inform her that he was on his way, but now she was nowhere to be seen.
Usually she would greet him by the door, ask him about his day and tell him what she and the kids had been doing during his absence.
He shed out of his coat and hung it up on a hanger in the closet, then made his way to the living room where he expected to see at least some member of his family.
He found his wife.
She sat with her back to him and was completely motionless, which unnerved him.
"Esme, love, I'm home," he said and slowly approached her.
"Hm-hm."
He walked up to her, placed a kiss on her temple, then took a seat on the armrest of the sofa she was sitting on.
As she didn't say a word, he queried in a soft voice, "What's going on?"
"Carlisle, did we play mind games with our youngest?" she asked, never looking up at him.
"Mind games? What do you mean?"
"When we allowed Jasper to take her to the forest and talk to her…," she explained, her eyes staring straight ahead, unmoving, "we didn't tell her anything and let her believe she was in trouble."
"I merely wanted them to have a talk and put their differences aside."
Now she finally turned her head and looked up at her mate. Her eyes held pain and sadness. "But she was scared, Carlisle, I can still hear her frantic voice and see the look of betrayal in her eyes..."
He swallowed heavily. This wasn't easy… All of them were hurting, but he had truly believed that he could at least fix some of it by getting two of his children to put their differences aside and make up. "They needed to talk."
"But we didn't tell her that… she thought he was in charge and had free reign, that he could do whatever he wanted to her and she had to obey. We made her believe that she had done something terrible." Her voice broke at the end, and Carlisle's heart broke at hearing that.
"But we know she had no intention of hurting him or the rest of the family. She wasn't in trouble."
"We let her believe that she was," she replied and wiped at her eye. "And then we pushed her away, let her think she was now at her brother's mercy who had just minutes ago tried to attack her."
"They were fine when they came back. It had worked, Esme."
His calmly spoken words did not seem to reassure her. "No, Carlisle, I think we lost her that day. Because of this."
"Esme, what are you talking about? She'll return, she called you and told you she merely needs some time. Don't you remember?"
"We did play mind games with her, Carlisle, we knew what she'd assume would happen, and we didn't say anything. We betrayed and abandoned her in that moment."
"That sounds harsh, love."
"Yes, because it was," she said and swallowed. "What did Jasper say to you that day in your study? What did she hear?"
"I'm not sure how much she heard." Well, almost the entire talk had been dreadful and definitely not meant for the girl's ears, but when exactly she walked down that hallway and heard them talking, he did not know.
"What did he say?"
He did not want to repeat his son's words and he also did not want his wife to know the sheer amount of accusations and profanities that had come out of their son's mouth. It just would not change anything. "I told you, he was challenging me, provoking me by talking ill of our youngest."
"Tell me."
"Esme, please."
"Carlisle, tell me. I have a right to know."
Unwillingly, he began. "He said, she doesn't know enough about our true nature, therefore, for our world, she is incomplete. Not for the human world we live in, mind you. He demanded that I teach her more about who and what she is, or take pity and… end what he apparently considers a misery."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm not quite sure." Of course he knew… but he wasn't going to say it out loud.
"Your version doesn't sound too shocking, so why would she run?" The brunette knew that her dear mate was trying to whitewash this as much as he could. Would his version have hurt her less? Sure, but it was now only meant for her while her daughter had been forced to endure the fully uncensored version. She wanted to know the truth, wanted to know exactly what Maddie was going through so they could help her. Downplaying or embellishing it would not help at all.
He really couldn't tell his wife what Jasper said. He would take care of it, Esme should not get involved as she was already too emotional.
"It was a stressful day, she wasn't thinking clearly. None of us were."
"Carlisle, what did Jasper say to make her run? And don't you dare give me the same nonsense like you just did. I don't buy it."
"Love...," he started to say, but did not know how to continue.
"You're not going to give me any details, huh?"
"Why does it matter now?"
"It matters, because my son called my little girl a cripple that needs to be killed, by you. Did you really want to keep that from me?"
He could practically feel the colour drain from his face. "Who told you that?"
"I got a call from Tanya, who apparently has a hard time getting through to Maddie because she is an absolute nervous wreck."
"He said what?!"
They turned their heads in shock, only to see Rosalie and Emmett standing in the doorway. Unfortunately, they had been so deep in conversation that they neither heard no sensed their children's sudden arrival.
Rose looked livid, while Em's face had just gone paler.
"Rosalie-" Carlisle said and got up, holding his hands in a placating manner. He had not expected them to come home just yet... thought they'd take a longer vacation.
"Is that why she wanted to get away?" Rosalie, still in her coat and heels, was so agitated, she didn't even stop to hug them or at least utter a word of greeting. Emmett wasn't looking like he wanted to offer either.
"It'll be fine, calm down."
"Will she come back?" Emmett asked.
"Of course," Carlisle said at the same time as Esme stated, "We don't know."
Emmett's hands balled into fists and his eyes darkened. "I'm going to bash his head in," he pressed out through clenched teeth, while a low growl rumbled in his chest.
He and his wife also did not know everything that happened, but hearing what Jasper said was reason enough for them to blame him in case Maddie truly wouldn't want to return. They, as well as the Denalis, had put so much work and effort into making the girl feel comfortable around the rest of the family and change the way she had thought about them right after her transformation, and now it seemed that their dear brother had managed to destroy at least part if not all of that. What if she couldn't trust anymore?
"And I'll rip his dirty, lying throat out," Rose hissed, then looked at her parents. "You can watch if you want."
"Emmett, Rosalie, enough," Carlisle said with authority in his voice. "Would you leave us so we can continue our conversation?"
"He needs to pay."
Carlisle shook his head at his daughter. "Leave Jasper alone, this matter does not concern you."
"Oh, but it does."
"You two, please just go upstairs to your room, I'll handle it."
Rosalie looked defiantly at him for a moment, then suddenly gave him a fake smile. "Sure, father. Come on, Em."
"No detours, go straight to your room."
Esme and Carlisle watched their children leave the room and heard them climb the stairs.
Now with these two out of the room, Carlisle felt the atmosphere lighten a little. It was still tense, his wife was still expecting answers, but at least Rose and Em would stop growling and launching threats.
He raked a hand through his hair, then walked around the couch to continue the talk with his wife. "Tanya shouldn't have called you back."
Esme's jaw clenched. "Tanya cares enough about my daughter that she would call me, her mother, to inform me how much she's hurting."
"I care, too."
"Really? Then why aren't you doing something?!"
He hung his head. His wife was sad and hurt and livid, but what she was asking was not that easy. This issue couldn't just be resolved by a mere talk with the girl, or more punishment for the boy. This was a lot more complicated.
"Do you have any idea what our daughter is going through right now? Do you?!" she queried, controlling her temper with an effort. Yes, this was the best she could do.
"She was never supposed to hear that and I don't know why Jasper would even say such hurtful things, but rest assured, I already took care of it. I cannot change the past, love, but if I could, I would."
"Ca-"
All of a sudden a loud, crashing thud reverberated throughout the house that startled Esme and Carlisle.
Esme gasped, and they both looked at the ceiling in the direction the noise had come from.
"You know, something doesn't add up," Tanya said, musing. It was only her and Carmen in the living room now, and they had spend the last hour trying to make sense of everything they had heard and seen on this day. The information Esme and Jasper had given them were helpful, albeit confusing to say the least. Then they added Maddie's statement to the mix and it first seemed to clear it up, before it got confusing again.
"What do you mean?"
"I get now why she is so upset, but I don't understand what it has to do with Carlisle or Esme."
"Well, Jasper did tell him to end her."
"Do you remember what Esme said? Maddie was comfortable around Jasper, but when they came inside she seemed to be angry with them, but not with Jasper, even though he said all those hurtful things."
Carmen furrowed her brow in thought. "Hm."
"And we know for a fact that she is scared to go back, because of them… I still don't know why."
"Do you think she lied again?"
"No, she was honest when she answered our questions… but maybe we didn't ask the right questions." Tanya was definitely onto something. "She left something out, because we didn't ask how the talk with Jasper went. All we know is, that she overheard a talk between her brother and her father, but we don't know what Jasper said to bring her back home."
At that moment, Irina entered the room in search of her book. She had come back a couple of minutes ago and overheard the talk while she went through the mail in the foyer.
"Do you think he shifted the blame?" she asked as she flung herself down in an armchair. "So instead of being mad at him for insulting her, she is mad at Carlisle for… I don't know, not defending her? Maybe even agreeing?"
The blonde stared at her sister in disbelief. "Agreeing? Have you lost your mind?"
"But why would she fear him now?" This was still a huge mystery to them and Carmen felt like they had barely scratched the tip of the iceberg. "Do you believe she thinks he'll end her now?"
"That's ridiculous… and it wouldn't explain why she is also so cold towards Esme," Tanya shook her head as the mere thought was preposterous.
Irina scratched the side of her nose. "She supports her mate, doesn't she?"
"And she, a mother, would let her husband murder her own daughter. Please, stop reading all those crime novels…"
Carmen groaned and covered her face with her hands. "We are so far off from the truth, it's painful..."
"Maybe she can enlighten us."
Carmen shook her head at Irina. „Leave her alone for now, give her a break."
"Carmen, it won't get better for her unless we know what we need to do to help her," Tanya explained. "Nobody wants to hurt or upset her, but she'll get worse if we don't do anything."
The dark-haired vampire had her doubts. They had made progress today, got her to confide in them to share what was tormenting her so, but she doubted that pestering her about it now would be in any way beneficial. At the same time, she could fully understand Tanya. All she wanted to do was find out the truth, so they could start making the girl feel better.
"Fine, but if she doesn't want to talk, we'll leave her alone."
"Sure," Tanya nodded her head, then stretched her neck and called the girl's name.
Maddie was in her room, probably feeling more comfortable being on her own for now, but this couldn't wait.
They looked up expectantly when they heard a door open and just a moment later, the girl appeared on the bottom of the stairs.
"Have fun, girls," Irina said with a little grin and left to take a nice, long shower. Sticking around wouldn't change anything anyways.
"Maddie, come, sit with us."
"I'd rather be upstairs."
"We won't keep you long."
The girl was wary. She eyed them suspiciously, trying to see what they were up to, but their faces didn't give anything away. So she slowly walked up to the sofa and sat down next to Tanya.
"Hey, Mad, I was wondering... "
"Yes?"
"You'd like to stay with us, right?"
She nodded her head in affirmation.
"And we love to have you... but I was wondering about your family."
Maddie frowned up at her in confusion. "You are my family."
"Yes, yes, of course we are. But what about your other family?"
"What about them?"
"Would they be okay with you staying here and not going back?"
"You said it's my decision and you wouldn't let anyone take me away if I don't want to." Maddie was getting visibly and audibly upset now. They had promised she could stay and that they wouldn't let her be taken away. They promised.
"That's right and that won't change, Maddie, ever."
"Okay, good," the girl replied, sounding at ease now, and got up to leave the room again when a hand on her forearm made her stop.
"Still," the blonde said and guided the girl back down on the sofa, "what makes you so unwilling to even consider going back?"
"I told you."
"Yes, but I still don't understand."
"I don't like moving and you don't move, so I wanna stay here," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Maddie, it's not about the move anymore."
Maddie let herself fall back into the cushions and groaned as she stared up at the ceiling. "But it is."
"No... this is about something different. Why are you evading your parents?"
She turned her head towards her, her face scrunched up. "I'm not, I called Esme."
"Yes, once, but you still haven't talked to Carlisle."
"Why should I?" Maddie snorted. What's up with the interrogation? Of course there was something wrong, but did they really need to know everything? She already told them what was safe to know... they knew what Carlisle knew, and now they should leave it at that.
"Because he is concerned as well."
"He shouldn't be, everything's fine."
Tanya looked her up and down, then slightly narrowed her eyes at the girl. "No, it's not, and it has something to do with your parents. Why?"
"I don't know what you mean."
As if. "Okay, let's try it this way... are you still mad at Jasper?"
"No, he apologised."
"Okay, but when you came back from the forest with him, after you ran, you were mad at Carlisle and Esme."
Maddie shrugged her shoulders, trying to be as indifferent as possible. "They lied to me."
"I don't think you're holding a grudge for so long and I assume they apologised as well."
This was getting more and more unpleasant. Maddie couldn't let them probe any further, allow them to dig their own grave... or someone else's. She got up and walked across the room. She needed to leave, now.
"What Jasper said in the study...," Tanya called after her and got up, taking a step towards her. "Do you fear Carlisle might hurt you?"
She already had her hand on the wooden banister, and only turned her head so far as to glance back at Tanya, before she looked up the stairs again.
"He's your father, Maddie, he would never hurt you."
The girl's face hardened. "But he's dangerous."
Carmen and Tanya exchanged panicked looks.
"Tell me, what makes him dangerous?" Tanya asked, trying to sound calm even though what she said was very unsettling.
"I can't say." Maddie shook her head, never turning around.
"Why not?"
"Because if I do, someone will die."
Happy New Year everyone!
Okay, as you may have noticed we have a problem here... someone woke the sleeping bear. And his wife.
These two were never supposed to be part of the story, and now you see what happened. Gah.
Well, thanks for reading and reviewing! And Happy (Belated) Birthday, Spawn, hope you are feeling better!