Chapter Eleven

October 2000 (cont)

Carlisle saw as Esme's knees went week and he grabbed her before she passed out in a dead faint. He took the phone from her and said into the phone, "Hello? This is Carlisle Cullen, a friend of the family. What has happened?"

"Mr. Cullen, I was just telling Mrs. Evanson, there has been an accident."

Carlisle blew out a breath as he looked at the now unconscious woman in his arms. "When? Where? How bad?"

"It…it's bad, sir. It happened on Interstate Eighty just outside of San Francisco."

"Tell me where they're going. I'll bring Mrs. Evanson there myself."

The paramedic informed Carlisle of where her family would be going and he carried her over to a bench. "Esme, Esme, love, come on, wake up, darling."

Her eyes blinked open. "What? Where…?" He saw the moment she recalled what had happened. "My baby! What happened?" She grabbed for the phone but Carlisle held it.

"Esme, there's been an accident, yes. They're in San Francisco. Let's go upstairs and let everyone know. I'm driving you there myself."

Tears were pouring down her face. "Carlisle…if something's happened to my baby…"

He held her tighter and kissed her hair. "Shhh, everything will be alright." I hope.

He led her back upstairs and they informed everyone of what was going on. Edward Senior wanted to send them by plane, but Carlisle insisted that driving, especially at this time of night, would probably be the fastest. It was only a six hour drive. Horribly long, but shorter than waiting for a flight.

With hugs and kisses from everyone for Esme, Carlisle led her down to the car. Edward's doctor had come in, taken one look at her, and had given her a shot of something to calm her nerves. She was slightly groggy as he settled her down in the passenger seat of the car he'd had delivered over for him to drive.

The ride was quiet. Esme dozed fitfully between crying and worrying, and Carlisle ended up grasping her hand, holding it for most of the drive. When they arrived, they were met by a team of doctors who explained the accident and the conditions of Esme's loved ones. She held it together, better than Carlisle could have ever imagined. They were then led up to the Children's Intensive Care Unit. Esme almost didn't make it, breaking down slightly once more, and Carlisle was worried he would have to carry her again.

"Do you want me to come in?" Carlisle asked as they stepped to the door.

She nodded. "Please?"

He gave her a soft smile and grasped her hand tighter. They walked in and Carlisle automatically noticed the bronze hair that Edward had. The body was bruised, and there was a large bandage covering the forehead of a beautiful face.

"Lyn?" Esme asked softly, grasping her sister's hand.

Eyes blinked and opened, showing off emerald green eyes just like Edward and Esme's. "Essie?"

Esme smiled. "Hey, kiddobean." She said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got ran over?" Lyn asked sarcastically.

Esme laughed. "You're going to be fine…you had some serious bleeding, but they got it all stopped…" She trailed off.

"Charles? Foster?" Lyn asked.

Esme started sobbing and Carlisle pulled her tighter to him, hugging her. "Hi, Lyn, right?"

Lyn nodded. "Lynessa or Lyn works for me. You can even call me Nessa, though my family doesn't like it very much."

He smiled. "I'm one of Edward's friends."

"I know," She said with a slight blush. "I have his, well, your CD."

Carlisle couldn't quite help the chuckle, but he sobered immediately. "Foster is still being monitored closely. They're worried…" He trailed off and cleared his throat. He didn't want to know how horribly it would hurt Esme if something happened to Foster. "Charles…"

"Charles is dead." Esme said flatly, pulling away from Carlisle.

"No…oh, Essie, I'm so sorry."

Esme shook her head. "Don't be. Did you know he had been drinking?"

Lyn gasped. "What?"

Esme nodded. "The whole time you were doing your shoot, he was enjoying the fine Napa Valley wine. He almost killed you, he almost killed Foster! If he weren't dead, I would kill him myself." She said it with so much venom, Carlisle was surprised.

Lyn was crying. "It's my fault." She said softly.

"Why would you ever think that?" Esme asked her.

"B-because…I was hungry. I hadn't eaten. Foster was asleep. I begged Charles to get me something to eat. He swerved to go off onto an exit…clipped another car…we spun around, it hit the guardrail on his side, then we flipped and tumbled down over the side of the bridge." She shivered. "It was the most horrible thing…"

Esme clutched Lyn's hand. "It's fine. It was not your fault. The doctor said his blood alcohol was way too high to have been driving. I can't believe…" She took a stuttering breath. "I'm just glad you're okay. And the doctors seemed to think Foster would be as well. You guys were very lucky indeed."

Lyn's eyes were getting heavy once more. "Sleep," Esme insisted. "And the doctor said after they monitor you for a few more hours they'll let you move down to a step-down room. The Intensive Care is just a precaution."

Lyn yawned and said, "Okay…Essie…" She was already asleep again.

Carlisle led Esme out and she blew out a breath. "I need to see my baby."

"I'm not sure they'll let you see him right now…" He cautioned gently.

"I need to see him. Please?"

Carlisle nodded and led her to the Infant Intensive Care. They let them both in after they dressed in gowns covering their clothes, just as a precaution. Carlisle looked at the little baby. He was chunky, but he wasn't sure if that was his age or not. He was around six months old now, if Carlisle's calculations were correct, and he was a beautiful baby. He looked a lot like Esme. Esme brushed a fingertip down Foster's face.

"He'll be fine, Esme. The doctors all said so…" Carlisle told her.

She took a breath and broke down once more. Carlisle pulled her to him yet again for a hug and he kissed her hair as she sobbed. She had cried buckets already and he was worried about her dehydrating.

She clung to him like he were her lifeline, and he was surprised at himself that he wanted to be. He couldn't help the feelings that were moving through him. He wanted this woman. Sexually, emotionally, in all aspect of the word 'want'. And how horrible of him, as her husband, albeit one that was an asshole, had just died. Most of her family was in the hospital. But he couldn't help himself. He pulled away just enough to put a hand under her chin and lift her face to his. "They will be fine, Esme. Edward, Lynessa, Foster, they'll all be fine."

Her beautiful green eyes penetrated his and he felt sucked in by them. "Carlisle…"

"Esme…" He said as his head dipped down. His lips descended to hers. Hers froze in surprise before they melted to his and began to move.

He groaned, she whimpered, and the kiss deepened just slightly before they heard a keening cry next to them. Foster had awakened. Esme pulled back and her eyes lit on her son. She smiled as she cooed to him. Carlisle moved over to the other side of the little crib like bed Foster was in, watching her.

She was stunning, like Leto, the goddess of motherhood. Esme's eyes lit on Carlisle across the bed. "Carlisle…I want…I feel…" She sighed. "I can't. Not now. It's wrong."

He nodded and smiled softly. "It's alright, Esme. I understand. But just know that I'll be waiting for you."

Back in Los Angeles:

Bella was getting tired of Tanya. She was acting like a spoiled princess and also acting like an idiot. She was fluttering about completely uselessly, fawning around; almost fainting anytime the doctor came in and said anything.

Bella rolled her eyes as the doctor walked out once more. They had just given everyone the green light to sneak in and visit with Edward. His mother and father went first, then, when they came back, since Esme wasn't there, they asked Bella to assist Tanya so she could go in and see Edward. Bella huffed out a breath, but she stood and said, "Come on, Tanya, let's go."

Tanya wrung her hands the whole way down the hall. "What if…what if he doesn't recover from this? Oh, God, I'll have an invalid on my hands at twenty years old! I don't think…"

"Tanya, it's heart surgery. Not the end of the world. He'll be fine after a little surgery."

"But the scar! It will be horrid! Oh, his beautiful, perfect chest…"

Bella had seen said beautiful, perfect chest before, and what Tanya was insinuating was pissing her off. But she held it in even as Tanya went on.

"I mean, he's just this perfect specimen and now he's going to be hurt and have to recover and he'll have to be looked after and…"

That one comment was the straw that broke the camel's back. Bella couldn't take it anymore. She'd tried to hold it in. She really had, but now… "You know, Tanya, you really are an ignorant twit."

Tanya looked at her in surprise. "EXCUSE me?"

"You heard me. You are, in fact, an ignorant twit. You talk about him like he's a horse you should have put down. He's a human being! He has the capacity to be a great guy! And you're just…you know what? You're not good enough for him."

"And you are?" Tanya spat. "Don't think I don't see the way you and he look at each other. Why else did I stay in that horrid log cabin in Nashville? Do you know how much I deplore Tennessee? But I didn't want you moving in on my man!"

Bella snorted. "Honey, I don't know what you see, but I don't want your man. And if you knew anything about him, you'd see that he's not your man anyway."

Tanya's eyes grew wide and before Bella knew what was happening, Tanya's hand crossed Bella's cheek. "You whore. Don't you dare talk about Edward that way. He's a good man. He just needs to be led down the correct roads. He'll get over this phase of wanting to be a singer, then he'll come home and start his real life. And guess what? There's no room for you in it!" And with that, she stormed into Edward's room, leaving Bella alone in the hallway.

Bella felt the hot tears filling her eyes but she refused to cry. It wasn't her place to be here anyway. She turned on her heel and hurried back to the waiting room. "Alice, I…I've got to go, okay?"

"Bella? What's up?" Alice asked.

Bella shook her head. "I…I just need to run. Call me? Let me know how Edward is doing, okay?"

Alice's brows knit, but she hugged her friend. "Okay."

Bella dashed out the door and ran the whole way down to her rental car. I don't need this, I don't need to even be feeling this way…Edward's a man-whore, Tanya's his fiancée…I don't want to be in any part of that mess, do I? No, of course not. I'd be crazy to want to be.

She picked up her phone and dialed the number. He answered on the first ring. "Hello?"

She forced a smile into her voice. "Hey, Mikey, baby, are you and Jamey still writing?"

"Sure. How's your friend, Alice?"

Shit. She forgot she'd lied to him about where she was. "Fine. She had some personal drama…it's better."

"Good. Well, come on over. We're just writing away."

"I'll be there in an hour. I just need to go back to the hotel and shower."

"Bella, you know you can come shower here. With me."

Was that what she needed? She thought a moment. Yes. Sex. With Mike. To get her mind off of Edward. That sounded plausible. "Sure, let me run get a change of clothes."

"You could spend the night…" He said hopefully.

She smiled slightly. Mike was always so eager to have her with him. "Sure, baby, I'll spend the night. Can you kick out the rest of the guys so we can have some alone time?"

"Sure." He said. "I'll kick their scrawny asses out one-handed for you, babe."

She could hear the other guys in the background mouthing off to him and she giggled. "I'll be there soon." She hung up the phone and blew out a breath. What am I doing?

Running, Swan, you're running.

From what?

That, she didn't have an answer to.

Edward awoke slowly, his chest aching slightly, and feeling like he'd been run over by a bus. To his surprise, Jasper and Emmett were standing over him. "Hey," He said softly.

"Ed! Man! You're awake!" Emmett started to hug him, but Jasper put his hands on Emmett's shoulder.

"Em, don't hurt him."

Emmett laughed and pulled away. "Yeah, you're right."

"What happened?" Edward asked.

"It's a long story, brother. But you're going to be fine." Emmett told him.

"You're going to have to have surgery…" Jasper said softly.

"On-on what?"

"You're heart, dude. You passed out. We found you and did CPR…you've got something funky going on with your cussing valve isn't attached to your anus properly."

Jasper and Edward both looked at Emmett. "Okay, I may not have that right…"

"No shit, you dumb fuck." Jasper said with a grin. "It's one of your Bicuspid valves or something. The doctor will explain it."

Edward breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I thought they were going to work on my heart through my ass or something."

"Well, your head's up there most of the time. Maybe they're going to do a head-ectomy while they're up there?" Emmett provided.

Edward laughed weakly and flipped him off. "Fuck you, Em."

"Love ya, bro, you know that."

Edward sighed. "So…what about our shows?"

Emmett and Jasper looked at each other. "Well, Phil wants us to continue without you, but just until you're well enough to go back out with us."

"Oh…" Edward said softly. He knew they should, but he rather liked the idea of them being unable to perform without him. "Who's going to sing my parts?"

They shrugged. "We'll figure it out." They both wondered if they should say anything to Edward about his sister and nephew, but decided the doctor probably needed to check on his heart before they said anything.

"So," Emmett said. "You totally missed it, dude."

"So did we, Em." Jasper shot at him.

"What?" Edward asked with a slight grin.

"Apparently Bella got bitch slapped by Tanya after calling her an ignorant twit."

"What?" Edward asked. "Why?"

They both shrugged. "Don't know. Alice, in true Alice fashion, got it out of her some how. Bella left, we knew she was upset. She says to send you her best…"

Edward sighed. He wanted to see Bella. Why, he wasn't exactly sure, but the thoughts of seeing Tanya were almost nauseating him. "So, Tanya's here?"

The two other men snickered. "Oh, yeah. And she's eager to play nursemaid. You may get to tap that virginal ass yet."

Edward groaned.