Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Myer.

Carlisle and Esme have always been my favourite couple in the Twilight Saga, and I always wished that there was more written about them in the books and that they had more scenes in the films. They're love is so special. Even Stephanie Myer commented that it was 'the most spiritual' love in the whole Cullen coven. So, I wanted to write this. I know there are a lot of wonderful fanfictions about their love story, so I wanted to add my own to that collection, using my own imagination on the events that followed Esme's transformation.

Hope you enjoy.

~0~0~0~0~0~

January 1921 - Ashland, Wisconsin

Power surged through his body as Carlisle raced through the darkening forest. Night was drawing closer, and the slowly setting sun was casting an amber glow upon everything it touched. Winter had stripped the trees of their leaves, leaving behind bare branches. Birds no longer chirped in the trees as the woodland creatures prepared for the oncoming darkness. The trees rushed past him; their features and strong trunks blurring together with unimportance. His golden gaze was locked on the prize of the evening's hunt; a young doe which sprang over the ground as if it weighed as much as a feather, bounding off the dry undergrowth and darting across the path as it tried desperately to evade it's hunters.

Out of the corner of his eye, Carlisle saw the blur of bronze as his companion raced alongside him, his pale face contrasting with the bland background surrounding them. You no longer have your newborn speed on your side, Edward, Carlisle goaded him confidently as together they tracked their prey with effortless procession.

Hearing Carlisle's thoughts as clearly as if the older vampire had spoken them out loud, Edward's mouth parted in his characteristic crooked grin. "That doesn't mean I can't still beat you." He shot back, pulling ahead slightly as if to prove his point. At this challenge, Carlisle pushed to quicken his own pace in order to match the younger man, the space between them sparking with competitiveness. Neither of them handled losing well, and it was that which spurred them on, combined with the inhumane speed of what they were.

Together, they weaved through the tree trunks effortlessly, dodging clumps of undergrowth and arching tree roots as they went. Despite their speed, they made no sound as they chased their prey. Their feet didn't crash through the forest, and they didn't pant. They were silent and stealthy - just as true, skilled predators should be.

The doe managed to squeeze under a tiny space created by the curve of a fallen tree, its soft belly sliding over the brittle ground. Without a moments hesitation, the vampires leapt over the tree, clearing the wide trunk with ease, and landed on their feet on the other side without a single stumble in their balance.

Determined not to be beaten by his younger companion, Carlisle pushed himself forward again. With one pounce, he caught the deer and tackled it to the ground. Triumphantly, he pulled back before striking; sinking his teeth into the soft neck. He killed it and instantly felt the warm blood spill into his mouth. He hated messy kills.

Letting go of his prey, Carlisle couldn't help shoot Edward a smug glance. Although Carlisle had been a vampire for a long stretch of time, his body was forever frozen physically as a twenty-three year old man, and it was moments like this when he was relaxed enough to act like it. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

Edward snorted, finding amusement in Carlisle's uncharacteristic gloating. "Not bad, for an old man that is." He commented, kneeling down and inspecting the kill for himself.

Carlisle rolled his eyes, stepping back to allow Edward room to feed. "I'm not that old."

"You're two hundred and eight one years old." Edward corrected him after taking a drink. "If that doesn't count as old, then I must be a baby in comparison. t'm surprised the nurses at the hospital even bother to look at you. If they knew the truth, they'd run a mile. There'd be a mob looking to lynch you from a tree, and the whole town would be out with their pitchforks-"

"Whatever, Edward." Carlisle said with a slight chuckle. Edward often teased him about the admiring glances he received from the female nurses he worked with - and the jealous glares from males. It no longer irritated him, he had learnt to brush off Edward's sarcastic ways.

"Well, it's not as if you even notice them." Edward continued. "What, with your head filled with thoughts of that girl still…"

Carlisle stiffened instantly. "What girl?" He asked, despite already knowing the answer. He tried his hardest to keep his face blank, but it was pointless with Edward.

Edward didn't look up from the deer. "The one with the caramel brown hair." He responded. "You think about her all the time - and don't even try to deny it. Why do you think about her so much?" It had been so many years since, but the younger male had often questioned why Carlisle's thoughts were often filled with thoughts of a certain bright-eyed, teenage girl with an infectious smile and beautiful laugh. Carlisle had long since given up searching for the answer himself.

Carlisle swallowed; an unnecessary action, but it showed his discomfort. "I don't know what you are talking about." He knew better than to lie; Edward knew his thoughts just as well as Carlisle did, if not sometimes better.

Edward grinned up at him with his usual crooked grin. "Yes, you do. You think about her when you're in your office, when you're pretending to read. You're always wondering about how she is, whether she's married with children of her own - just like she told you she dreamed of. You tell yourself that she is happy, with a family of her own and a devoted husband, because even though you only knew her for a short space of time, you would be heartbroken to find out any different, that she didn't have the life you so desperately think she deserves."

"Edward," Carlisle interrupted him before he could continue any longer. There was a tense set to his shoulders now. As much as he knew Edward could not control his particular gift, Carlisle always felt unsettled to know that his deepest thoughts were not private to him. "I don't think about her all the time. Please don't make it out to be something that it is not."

Edward's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he surveyed the man stood in front of him; selfless, compassionate Carlisle, who cared for anyone more than himself. He had lived for so long, seen so much of the world already, and had met countless of people. Yet, this girl had left an impression on him that no one else had managed to achieve before.

"Well, at least you admitted you think about her." Edward said, taking another feed from the lifeless body of the doe that lay between them. It was looking up at the sky with glassy, lifeless eyes.

Carlisle sighed, knowing this was a battle he couldn't win. It was pointless to even attempt to convince Edward otherwise. "Why are you bringing this up now?" As Edward had said, it had been years - ten years ago, to be exact.

"I worry about you." Edward replied honestly. "You are different now since you met her. You're always looking out the window, disappearing into your thoughts, almost making me repeat what I am saying about three times before you actually listen. You look lost, and confused. I guess...that it just upsets me to see you like that. It's hard to reach you when you are like that."

For a moment, Carlisle was taken aback by Edward's words. Edward was not one to show affection. For someone who could hear what everyone else was feeling, Edward hardly ever shared anything. Although Carlisle had always thought of the bronze-haired boy as being like a son to him, he had never considered how Edward felt about him. He didn't allow his head time to ponder over that.

"Edward," Carlisle finally answered in an exhausted voice. "She was just a patient. I barely spent any time with her." Two hours, all together.

"It was enough time for her to leave an impression." Edward reminded him. "She must have been pretty special to remain present in your mind for so long. Small things trigger you, like the colour of hazels, or-"

Carlisle let out a warning growl. "Edward-"

Edward cut him off. "You can't lie to me, Carlisle. Every thought that crosses your mind - I hear it, remember."

Carlisle had nothing he could say in response to that. So, he just knelt down and started to feed. The warm blood pooled into his mouth, but he couldn't concentrate on his slowly fading thirst any longer. He tried to focus on something else - anything else - in order to avoid his thoughts being read by Edward as the younger vampire hovered behind him. The forest around them was deadly silent; all animals had long since fled the area.

Sensing that he may have gone too far, Edward waited for Carlisle to finish before clearing his throat. "We'd better head back. Your shift at the hospital starts in an hour."

Carlisle sighed quietly at the reminder.

This did not go amiss to Edward, whose heightened hearing picked up instantly on the disappointed noise. "I don't recall ever hearing you sound so reluctant to go to work."

"That's because usually, I don't have to spend my hours in the morgue." Carlisle reminded him, suppressing a shiver at the thought of the lifeless bodies that couldn't to be saved; people who had either left behind loved ones unwilling, or had been desperate to end their lives for whatever reason that would always remain private to them. No matter how many candles he lit, that area of the hospital would always make Carlisle feel cold.

Edward shrugged. "I guess dead bodies don't make the best company."

"Are you going to stay and continue hunting?" Carlisle asked him, determined to change the subject. The thought of the morgue always ruined his mood. He was a doctor; he was supposed to save people, and the morgue was just a horrible reminder that sometimes, that wasn't possible.

"I won't stray too close to town, Carlisle. Don't worry." Edward said, knowing exactly what Carlisle was concerned about. "You've got to trust me more. How many people have I killed recently?"

"None," Carlisle replied, and was thankful for that. The first time Edward had slipped up had not been pretty. Edward's control had been a very testing thing to master, and it had caused a lot of friction and arguments between the two of them in the first few years. But, now, the younger vampire seemed to have a better grip of it.

Edward snorted in amusement. "The surprise in your tone is rather hurtful," He commented, but the slight chuckle he made was enough to prove that he was only teasing.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

August 1911, Columbus Ohio

"Doctor Cullen?" A timid voice caused Carlisle to lift his head from his desk. A nurse was stood in the doorway of his office, clutching a clipboard tightly. "A new patient has just come in suffering from what appears to be a broken leg." She reported quickly, glancing down at the notes on her clipboard. "Jonathan Platt's sixteen year old daughter fell from a tree and is in a lot of pain. Nurse Reynolds has already given her drugs for the pain, but he wants you to assess the damage as Doctor Richards is out of town."

Carlisle removed his reading glasses, which served him no purpose at all. He had already been at the hospital for eight hours, but he was nowhere near drained as one should be from such a long, tasking shift. Knowing he had to keep up appearances, however, he dipped his head slowly. "Of course, I'll head there right now. Which room is she in, Nurse Fletcher?"

"Room 34," The nurse answered, holding the door open for him as Carlisle brushed past her, heading down the corridor, along with the clipboard. Room 34 was close to his office, so it took him hardly any time to arrive.

Gently, he tapped his knuckles against the door and entered, holding his own clipboard in one hand and twiddling with his pen in the other as he quickly scanned over the notes in front of him.

"Miss Platt," He said as he entered the room, rounding the slight corner to where one of the beds' was occupied.

The young girl looked up, greeting Carlisle with deep hazel eyes that were filled with unease. There was a flushed, defiant look to her face. "Who are you?" She asked. Instantly, her unique smell hit his nostrils, and Carlisle had never experienced such a burning in his throat before. It struck him as strange, as the girl wasn't bleeding. He concentrated on her features, ignoring his thirst. She was a brunette, but her hair had whispers of caramel running through it. Her reddened cheeks had a light sprinkling of freckles covering her nose. There was a confident set to her jaw, and her arms were crossed in front of her, her injured leg already supported.

"Manners, young lady!" The woman beside her chided instantly. Carlisle assumed this was the girl's mother. They had the same likeliness to their faces and eyes, although the girl's were slightly lighter as she glowered. She pulled a face at her mother's scorn. "Doctor, I apologise for my daughters rudeness."

"It is quite alright." Carlisle excused. "My name is Doctor Cullen. I know you usually have Doctor Richards see to you, but he was called out of town this morning. I'm not going to do anything that will hurt you, I promise. I just need to take a look at your leg."

The little girl chewed on her bottom lip, a tell-tale sign of her nerves. When she released it, there were teeth indents. "Does my mother have to stay with us?"

"Only if you wish her to." Carlisle allowed.

The girl glanced at her mother. "You may go. I'll be fine."

Carlisle was momentarily surprised at the girl's confidence, the woman stood and headed for the door, glancing at Carlisle as she passed. Clearly, Miss Platt was quite independent and her mother hadn't seemed to expect to be wanted to stay. Carlisle waited for the door to shut before turning his attention back to the girl facing him. Slowly, he made his way to the side of the bed.

"Miss Platt, would you like to tell me what you were doing climbing a tree at such an early time in the morning?" He asked, noting that it had only just turned half nine.

She continued to bite down onto her bottom lip - so hard that Carlisle worried that she may draw blood. Her scent was enticing enough to him as it was that he feared that if she did start to bleed, he may lose his control for the first time. He pushed the thought away.

"We have a tree outside our farmhouse. I always climb. I have done every morning since I was seven. There's a birds nest, you see. My father taught me how to climb - I've never fallen before." She informed him, trapped in his golden gaze and unable to look away.

Carlisle nodded. "The morning frost would have made the bark slippery for you. Have you ever broken a bone before, Miss Platt?"

"Please, don't call me that." She requested, but with no edge to her tone. Her previously guarded manner seemed to have faded slightly. "It makes me feel...old. My name is Esme."

Esme, he played with the name in his mind for a moment. "Esme," He spoke out loud, tasting the name on his tongue. "Did you know that your name is linked to an Old French principle, meaning 'esteemed'."

She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I didn't know that. I just assumed my parents were fond of the name."

He gave her a comforting smile as he placed the clipboard down at the end of the bed and quickly assessed the leg. He didn't need to be a doctor to be able to tell that it was definitely broken, it was contorted at a most peculiar angle, and he was quite impressed to see that the girl hadn't been crying from the pain before the drugs had been administered to her. Her eyes were dry, and they seemed to be watching his every move.

"Well, you'll have to have a brace put on to avoid you moving your leg and making the break worse. But, it seems like a nice, clean snap, which makes things easier." Carlisle informed her. "You'll have to spend the first night here, but you may leave tomorrow afternoon once you've adjusted to the break."

Her face fell slightly. "I have to spend the night here? But...won't I get bored?"

Carlisle could not blame her for her unease; the hospital at night time was certainly not the most homely place, especially for someone so young. For some reason, he felt a wanting to make her feel a little more comfortable. "Well, I could always fetch a few things for you to keep you occupied for the rest of the evening?" He offered.

Her face softened. "You'd do that, for me?"

He nodded. "Of course. Do you enjoy reading?"

"I was reading Lost Generations at home." Esme told him softly, visibly starting to relax again. "I'm making my way through Hemingway's books, you see."

Noting that, he dipped his head. The hospital had a visitors library downstairs, hopefully it would have something that would keep her interested. "Is there anything else you enjoy doing to pass the time?" He glanced down at the small table beside the bed, noting a sheet of scrunched up paper with a few doodles on it. "I see you're an artist."

She coughed in an attempt to hide her embarrassed laughter at the suggestion. "Oh, no, I'm not very good at it. I enjoy it, but my attempts at drawing are tragic to say the least."

Despite her modesty, Carlisle made another mental note about the drawing. He didn't believe her attempts to downplay her talent; from what he could gather from the scribbles and tiny images on the sheet of paper, he could tell she had a passion for art.

"Well, Miss Esme, I'll be back shortly with the materials for the brace. Is there anything you require me to bring back? A glass of water, perhaps?"

Esme looked up at him with careful eyes, but he hoped he could see the tiniest glimmer of warmth radiating in the brown depths. "That would be perfect. Thank you."

~0~0~0~0~0~

And there we have it; the first chapter completed :)

I remembered reading that Carlisle had never quite forgotten about Esme, and nor did she forget him, so I wanted to make sure that she was still present in his mind after all these times, even though he couldn't understand why. Although their time together was short, I thought that it was best that they had a small interaction like this. I hope you all enjoyed!

- E x