I do not own Twilight.

Esme

We all knew as soon as Carlisle arrived home that something had happened. He looked shaken in a way I hadn't seen him look before. It scared me.

"We made a terrible mistake." I watched as he staggered, leaning on the door frame to hold himself up.

The family, who had been waiting with me, were incredibly unsure. This was a side of their coven leader they weren't normally shown. He was a private man not often willing to show any weakness.

I rushed over, offering my arms for comfort. He collapsed into them and shook with dry sobs. His face was pressed deep into my neck and I gently lowered us to the floor. I gather him closer in my arms and wait.

Experience has taught me that the best thing to do in these situations is to simply wait. I don't say anything, I don't move. I simply sit and wait. When he is ready, he will explain everything.

A while later his movements still. He lifts his head and looks me in the eye.

I press my lips gently to his, showing that I still love him. At times like this I know that he struggled with his upbringing. He should be strong, independent and shouldn't rely on anyone else. Times have changed considerably.

We didn't move, I watched as he opened and closed his mouth several times. It was several minuets before he finally whispered, "He lied to us."

Everyone sucked in a sharp gasp. "Stay where you are," I said to them. I knew how reactive my children could be, and they needed to know all of the facts first.

I took his hand, helping him to stand and slowly guide him to one of the love seats. His movements were stiff and strained, showing how deep his despair went. Hopefully he wouldn't shut down again when he realised that his children had seen that moment of weakness.

"Sweetheart," I cupped his cheek, moving his face to look at me, "Who lied?"

"Edward. She didn't ask us to leave." He pulled away from my hand and curled himself in a ball facing away from us all. As leader of this family, he held himself responsible for all of our actions. "We put her through hell."

There it was, the reason for his self-hatred. I placed my hand on his back, hoping to give him some comfort, however hard it was, he would need to give us the rest of the story. I thought I felt my heart break when he shrugged it off. It had been decades since he had refused my comfort.

"Don't," he snapped.

I looked over at the family briefly, needing to do something helpful. They all looked horrified. Whether it was from the revelation about Edward or Carlisle's behaviour, I didn't know. I hoped it was the former.

I smiled at them all, hoping to offer some reassurance. "Can you give us a moment? Don't do anything stupid." They looked at each other, unsure. "It's alright, you can stay in the house. Just give us some space."

In pairs, they left the room reluctantly. I nodded as Jasper looked back at me in the doorframe. How stupid for me to forget about his empathy, he must have been able to feel my anxiety. "We'll be alright." He nods and leaves.

I stand up from the love seat, where Carlisle is still curled away from me, and stand in front of it looking down at him.

"I'm not doing this again Carlisle." I try to keep the emotion out of my voice, I need to be strong and clear. "I will support you in any way I can, but I won't watch you shut yourself down and allow this to destroy you. Not again."

He doesn't respond.

"Whatever has happened, we can fix, but you need to let us in. You are scaring your family. Snap out of it!" My shout starts to get his attention. He starts to turn to me, lifeless eyes stare at me.

"We have wrecked that poor girl's life, its my fault, I dragged our family across the country when she was fighting for her life because of our action."

"This is not your fault Carlisle." He scoffs and turns away from me yet again. "I mean it. I may not know the details, but the consequences of any action based on deliberate misinformation are the responsibility of the informant."

I know he won't take my words on board right now; he is stuck in a loop of self-destruct where he is holding all of the blame. So, I am surprised when he unfolds himself and starts talking. He explains everything that Bella had said to him.

At one point in the story I hear a loud bang from upstairs along with lots of shouting, but I refuse to get distracted.

"How could our son put our family through this?" He asks broken. "Put her through this? Surely, he would have known what this would have done to her. Why did we believe him so blindly? We need to fix this Esme. That poor girl. She considered us family and we left her without a word."

"I don't have the answers. And you cannot fix this alone. Our family needs you, we need you to be strong for the moment." I watch as he carefully collects himself, hiding all the broken pieces behind his usually calm exterior.

I nod my head upstairs, to where I know the rest of the family are waiting, listening in. My face holds the question, is he ready for them to join us.

"Come on down." Although he speaks softly, everyone in the house can hear.

He has barely finished talking when 4 people appear. All of them are angry, but Emmett is vibrating in fury. "We need to find the fucker and bash his head in."

"Language Emmett," I correct automatically.

"He's right, we should be ripping him apart for this." This time it was Jasper who spoke. Why was the boy's solution to everything always killing?

"I'll help," Alice added, her glare murderous.

"We aren't killing anyone," Carlisle interrupted. "We don't even know where he is, unless someone is hiding something." When everyone shook their heads, he continued. "I'm more worried about Bella at the moment. She is so alone and struggling."

"Did you find out more about her medical condition?" Rosalie asked him.

Carlisle furrowed his brow, a look of pain. "Yes. There are some serious chronic conditions, but none of them are immediately life threatening. I might be able to help further, I would hate to give her hope without having seen her file for the exact details though. It isn't her physical state that worries me, it's her mental. She spoke so detached. No emotion. No responses. It was like talking to a robot."

The conversation continued for some time. We discussed ways of helping Bella, simple things like offering her a ride to school to save her getting the bus. It would need to be a careful balancing act, if we pushed our help on her too hard, we would likely drive her away. We all know how stubborn she is and how much she hates people doting on her.

"Umm, mum," Emmett said looking incredibly sheepish, "I may have thrown Edwards piano out of the upstairs window."

So that was the noise I'd heard earlier. I scowled at him. He knows how much I hate having to fix the house every time they break it. We should start buying doors in bulk to save money, not that it really matters.

I ask him to clean up and I arrange the delivery of the needed supplies. It's as I am checking out that my phone pings.

Can we meet?

I don't recognise the sender, so assume it's Bella.

I'd love to, how about a coffee? You can choose when and where. Esme

It's getting rather late, so I don't expect a response for a while, but am surprised when I get a response almost instantly.

Can we just go for a drive?

Just us?

Soonish?

From the multiple messages, I can tell she is nervous about asking. Poor dear. To be asking this late must mean something is wrong. I don't even hesitate in replying.

I'll be right over.

"I'm going to head out for a while, be back later." I say to Carlisle as I collect my purse. "Can I borrow your car?"

He stands, handing me the keys and placing a kiss on my forehead. "Look after her." Of course, he would know where I'm going. He hands me a piece of paper. I look at it in confusion. "Her address." Thank goodness someone is thinking! I had completely forgotten that I hadn't been there before.

It doesn't take me long to reach the correct place. She is sitting on the porch in the cold. When she see's me she stands up and moves stiffly towards the car. Her gaze is fixed on the ground, but I can see that something isn't right.

I'm pained to see her struggling. Her reliance on a cane for simple tasks. Her jaunty, painful movements. Her stick thin structure. The mother in me longs to scoop her up and hide her away from the world. To keep her safe from everyone including herself.

I'd felt my heart break when Carlisle had told me about her jumping from the cliff. Looking at her now, I couldn't help but be eternally thankful of my husband for saving me. I wouldn't have had the resolve to get up and keep fighting like this incredible young woman had.

She opened the door and sat down without even looking at me. My other children may not need support like this, but I knew that she did. She needed a mother.

I pull away and drive out of town slowly. The whole family loves speed, including me, but that wasn't needed right now.

It is as we reach one of the main highways that she breaks. Heart wrenching sobs that wrack throughout her. Gasping breaths.

I open the glove compartment and pull out the small packet of tissues I know Carlisle keeps there. I had them to her. She pulls one out and blows her nose noisily. I place my hand on her knee reassuringly and continue to drive.

I can't help but wonder when she last allowed herself to feel these emotions. To allow herself to break in a safe space. How long had she held in all of this hurt?

From my knowledge, she was the responsible adult with her mother. She ran the home, took care of everything, kept her safe. Life was very similar with Charlie except he was more independent. Until we came into her life had she ever had someone look after her? It was something I had asked myself many times, but this time it hurt. We were the ones that had hurt her this time.

It was a long time before her sobs started to stop. I continued to drive. The tank was nearly full, so I didn't need to worry about stopping. If this was what she needed to feel comfortable, I could provide this.

I could see that she was desperately wiping her eyes, embarrassed by the show of emotion. She was trying to collect all the broken pieces and build them up to resemble something similar to a Bella.

"We've got time," I said simply as I squeezed her knee gently.

She started crying yet again. However, much it hurt, letting it out would help her massively.

Her warm hand slowly moves inside mine and holds on. I wonder if she is using it as a lifeline. Her fingers are going white with the strain of holding on.

"Thank you."

I just gently squeeze her hand in response.

We had been driving for well over an hour when she finally settled. She must be exhausted. Not only is it late, but it's been an incredibly trying day for her. "Would you like to head home?"

She shakes her head, looking firmly out of the front window. "I don't want to be alone," she whispers, "My head keeps going to a dark place and I get stuck." The admission is hard for her to say out loud. Something I remembered.

"We can keep driving, do you want to talk?"

"I don't really know what there is to say." She seemed so unsure and scared. Maybe I could get her talking with something easy. Something safe.

"Why not tell me about your roommate? What are they like?"

She snaps her head around to look at me. Apparently, that wasn't expected. "Umm, well she's alright. She's called Diana. Bit shy and an art student." She laughs to herself. "Actually, she has this fascination with the supernatural. Wish I could tell her how accurate her drawings are. I might ask to buy her wolf for Jake, nearly a spitting image."

"That sounds good, some people just have a flare for seeing the unseen. Are you both settled in?" I'm trying to keep the topics light for her.

"Mostly, we have got a good routine going, just not easy ya know. Support on site is great, but it isn't the same as being around family."

Well light topics weren't happening. Her life must be incredibly difficult. She was facing difficulted that I struggled to imagine. "It must be very hard. If there is anything, I can do let me know. Or any of us." She stiffened. Poor dear was really struggling. Her self-worth was almost entirely gone.

"Thanks, maybe, umm. I don't know."

"You don't need to answer now. The option is just there if you ever need it. Even if it is just a trip to the shops. You know how I love getting out, it's something the others get to enjoy all the time, but I miss out on."

"Alright." She stopped talking and we fell into another silence.

It was broken abruptly by her strangled gasp of "he lied to me" and another flood of tears.

I decided that this time I couldn't sit and watch. I pulled over into a layby and gathered the wheeping girl in my arms, much like I had done with Carlisle early that same day. Her arms went quickly around my neck and she sobbed harder.

Her distraught ramblings were impossible to decipher, but that didn't matter. At some point, her cries turned to screams as her mind processed all of the information. Each scream tore through me like a knife. She just clung to my neck.

I will fix this. We would not leave her until she has her spirit back. We would not leave this incredible child broken and alone. Not again.

Finally, she starts to calm and her breathing even out. She's fallen asleep.

As gently as I can, I move her back onto the passenger seat and start up the engine. Driving smoothly, I return to her house. Not once does she stir.

I look at her face, trying to decide what to do. It is very early hours so no one is around, I could easily take her in to bed unnoticed, but would she want me in her space? Was I welcome?

Deciding that she looked far too peaceful to be woken, I checked her bag for the keys. I found them quickly and moved to open the front door. Attached to the key is a small fob with the number 2. Thankfully I wouldn't need to guess which room and risk waking her roommate.

I returned to the car and lifted her careful. She was far too light. Far too fragile. I close the door but don't bother locking it. If needed, it would lock itself. As I lift her, her hands grab onto my top in a death grip. Poor girl was terrified of being alone, even in her sleep.

We move into the house, closing the front door softly behind us. Opening room 2, I lay her on top of the covers. I had intended to change her clothes and make her comfortable, but she wouldn't let go. Sighing, I removed both our shoes and burrowed under the blankets.

"I'll stay, just relax." I doubted she would be able to hear me, but I couldn't help but wish that as the night went on, she would find some comfort.

All night I lay with her. I stroked her hair as her sleep became fitful and hummed gently.

Thank you for reading, let me know what you thought.