Ten wolves.

Children really. And yet there were enough of them to hurt his family. He looked at them, again and again, taking in the faces of the sweet, loving, angelic people. Taking in the faces of the brave, reckless, ferocious people.

He thought back to the last morning. His children standing between him and his creator. Surrounding him. Protecting him. If it came to a fight, his children would be at the forefront of the battle again. In path of danger. He wasn't the best of fighters around, he knew it. But he was still meant to be their protector. Was that not his duty as their father?

"What do you propose we do?" Edward was looking at him and Carlisle halted his train of thought. "We also have your creator to…deal with."

That was not a fact lost on him.

His creator was old. Controlled. And had a partner. Quite possibly well fed.

Carlisle tried not to dwell too long on the fate of the two hostages he had.

But he had also been recently thwarted. He knew Carlisle had at least three other vampires with him. He knew he would be coming up against a coven at least twice the size of his own. Being ambushed by the wolves was another encouragement for him to vacate the area.

Perhaps these two facts would be enough to give him a pause. A pause long enough to listen. To be reasoned with.

But he was the lesser of Carlisle's worry. He would meet his creator again, he had no doubt about that. Even if he left now, a man who had been seeking revenge for over three and a half centuries would come back soon enough. He could be dealt with later.

Carlisle would personally track down the man and speak to him.

The wolves were the pressing issue.

They could always leave. That was an option. They could be packed up and gone by the end of the day. Esme always kept at least three houses around the country ready to be moved into at all times. Perhaps they could go to Ithaca, be across the country by tomorrow evening.

But this was an option he knew not all his family would like. Bella would be upset about leaving Charlie behind. Renesmee would miss Jacob. And the wolf…he would certainly not make the move easy. Esme loved Forks but she would be happy wherever her family was. Rose, he knew, would be glad to be away from the wolves. Emmett, Alice and Jasper held no particular preference for the place and would be in support of the move. Edward would do…

"Whatever is best for Bella and Renesmee, and this family," he answered before his thought could be completed. "Even if it meant leaving Forks."

Carlisle shook his head before a debate could break out. Bella's frown and Rosalie's smile were both far too evident to him. This was not a time for a family meeting.

Additionally the option was not all that simple either. "We have guests. We can't leave them. Not yet." Carlisle said.

He thought back to his five patients. And the five worried humans who waited on their recovery. He could not ask them to leave. La Push was indeed a battle ground. And sending them back? That would be a death sentence. The wolves were far too injured and way too heavily drugged to fight, be it vampires or humans. And the humans…they were at risk from both.

The Cullens were being hunted, by his creator already. And if the power struggle in La Push ended in an unfavorable way…two vampires wanting to kill him would be welcome visitors to entertain. Be it the third pack or be it the vampires, sooner or later they would come to the house. And without the family present there, their ten guests would be torn to shreds.

"The packs will come here," Jasper spoke. "If our theory is right, La Push is a battlefield right now. And even if the packs win, they will not escape unscathed. They will come to you."

The soft rustle of wind made Carlisle look up. Renesmee had her hand on Bella's cheeks.

"No darling," Bella whispered. "Jacob won't be hurt. He is very strong."

Renesmee frowned, clearly unhappy with the answer. She fumbled around, untangling herself from Rosalie and Bella's arms and jumped down. She landed lightly on her feet and bounded over to him, her palm held out. Carlisle got down on one knee so that his grand daughter could reach him. She touched her hand to his cheek and the moment their skin met, his vision was flooded with a blur of images. It was so fast, so uncertain, Carlisle was almost touched by a fleeting feeling of dizziness.

Jacob. The russet wolf in pain. Screaming and writhing the way the other wolves had been. In his human form, in their house, being tended to by Carlisle. His actions weren't clear in his vision but whatever he did seemed to alleviate the poor boy's suffering. Jacob sleeping peacefully with Carlisle sitting beside him in a ceaseless vigil until he is up and healed and healthy.

The entire vision lasted barely seconds, and was heavily underlaid by a question mark. A query. A request.

Carlisle moved her hand from his face and held it in his larger ones. She gripped his index finger tightly. "Please," echoed her tearful whisper.

He pulled her into an embrace, standing up with her in his arms. "Of course, my angel. If Jacob is hurt - and that isn't likely to happen because, like your mother said, he is very strong and very fast - I will stay by him and make sure he is okay."

Carlisle had to laugh when he heard Rosalie mutter We should have kicked the mutt out when she was still a baby.

He shook his head, looking at Jasper. And briefly at Edward too.

"We can't leave these people by themselves," Carlisle spoke, to his entire family. "Nor will it be safe to leave Charlie alone. The poor man's house is a target, no matter if it is a wolf scent someone is tracking or a vampire one."

He sighed, his eyes looking through the green mesh of leaves till he found Esme up on the tree, silently looking at the scene unfolding below. She didn't say anything and when he caught her eyes, her soft, encouraging smile told him her opinion on the matter.

She would support him in whatever he decided.

"Like Jasper said," he gave a small nod to his son. "The wolves will certainly come here…"

"And lead the third group of mutts straight to us," Rosalie growled and Alice echoed her discontent.

"I can't see anything," she said as angry as she was frustrated. "I don't like that. Especially with someone actively trying to kill Carlisle!"

"That rat bastard is not getting past us," Emmett answered easily. "He'll be in pieces before he can take one step towards him. His tag-along too."

As much as he didn't want to, Carlisle audibly winced at the crude statement. Since when did they become so casual with murder? It unsettled Carlisle in a way that he could not shake off. He would fight for his family. He had, and would again, kill for his family. And yet, it was not something he could ever be comfortable with. It was not something he ever wanted to be comfortable with.

Murder shouldn't be casual.

He ignored the cursory looks from his family and instead turned back. "We should get to the house. We have to make a lot of arrangements."

He carried his grand daughter with him, her arms slung around his neck lazily. She should get some rest too. In an instant, they were back in the house. The first scent that hit him was the wolves'. The next was the pungent odor of the bleach. And lastly, the smell of human blood. He looked at Jasper, who gave a curt nod of assurance. His chest was still, not breathing. Bella looked okay.

Carlisle's lips pressed thin. He did not want him, or any of his kids to be in discomfort. Not in their own home. He allowed Renesmee to pull away so that Esme could take her upstairs and turned to their visitors.

His patients were asleep. Sue sat beside Leah, tired but still awake. As was Billy though his unfocused gaze remained fixed out their front window. The girls were up too. Rachel and Kim were sitting beside their mates, and Emily rubbed soothing circles on Sue's shoulders. The smell of fresh blood had reduced and Carlisle correctly assumed Kim had taken some time to freshen up.

It was far too early in the morning.

"We are going to need more space," Edward said, looking around the room. "We don't know how many more will be injured but the beds won't be enough if its more than two."

As much as Carlisle wished there wouldn't be anymore injuries too severe for their own healing to fix, he knew he would be tending to more wolves today. At least a few more. Edward was right. They needed to expand their infirmary.

"I'll pull out some of the air mattresses," Esme said, appearing at the top of the stairs. "We'll lay them out in the rooms upstairs and shift the four boys up. You can work on four more here while still keeping an eye on Leah."

Alice nodded, a little reluctantly and flashed upstairs. Rose swore to burn the house down herself under her breath before she too went upstairs. He could hear his daughters shifting the furnitures in their room around to make space for the mattresses and the equipments that would go up.

His eyes went to the fast dwindling fluid bags hung on the IV stand.

"You are going to need more drugs and equipments," Edward voiced his thoughts for their audience and Carlisle nodded.

"I will go get them," Jasper offered. "I'll be happy to get away from the stench for a while."

His remark was playful but his eyes widened when that sickening anxiety returned and Carlisle reeled, supporting himself against the counter top behind him.

"Absolutely not," he shut down any questions regarding that. Then he added softly, not wanting to explain his irrational fear of letting one of his family members out of his hearing. "We need you here. Emmett too."

Jasper nodded, still eying him strangely.

"We could go." Carlisle turned around at the timid, unsure voice to find Emily looking uncertainly at Kim and Rachel. "I mean we will need a list but we could go."

"Yeah, it doesn't look like we can go back to the reservation right now anyway," Rachel agreed. Her fingers brushed back Paul's hair off his forehead.

Kim only nodded and Carlisle grasped at the opportunity. Whether he got the necessities or not was still up for debate. So long as he could get as many humans as possible out of the battle ground that he was certain his house would soon be.

He looked at Sue. She would not be leaving her daughter's side. That was certain. And the journey would be far too inconvenient for Billy. Still, two humans in danger was better than five.

He nodded and Alice was by his side. She held out a pen and notepad that he gratefully took. He didn't need to take any inventory, his eidetic memory telling him exactly what all he had left and what he needed. Ever since Bella entered their lives, he had built up a small supply of basic medical necessities she might need. It came in handy, and even grew during her pregnancy. But since then, it had dwindled and he didn't see a need to add to it anymore.

So the list he wrote down turned out to be far longer than usual. He wasn't preparing for a human slipping and breaking a bone. He was preparing for the aftermath of an ongoing battle. He finished the list and handed the notepad to Alice. She scribbled the address of the supplier in Port Angeles. Jasper looked at the list, once over Alice's shoulder and shot upstairs. Carlisle could hear him dialing their discrete associate in advance so that the things would be ready by the time the girls reached them.

Alice gave Emily the instructions on how to reach the address and what to expect. She also handed her one of their unnamed credit cards to pay for it all. Kim and Rachel left their mate's side, a little reluctantly and walked out with Emily.

"Here, take this one from the garage," Rosalie was outside with them in a second. It took the startled girls a moment to take the proffered key and Rosalie sighed in exasperation before she was back upstairs, not sparing any of them a glance.

A few minutes later, Carlisle saw the glossy black truck reverse out of their garage. It wasn't their fastest vehicle, but it was the most spacious one. They would need it.

The soft whir of the pumps upstairs stopped and he heard the flutter of the sheets. Esme once again appeared at the top of the stairs. "Bring them up."

Alice wrinkled her nose at sleeping boys. Jasper and Emmett did not seem too eager to volunteer either.

"Here, I'll take them," Bella stepped forward and walked towards Colin and Embry. Edward joined her and Carlisle stood at the third side of the mattress. Esme descended down and together they lifted up the four corners. It wasn't so much as they needed four people to carry the boys upstairs. Bella could have done that alone as well. They had to do it carefully though, without jostling the healing bones and joints.

Their ascent was slower than their usual speed. But still faster than any other team of orderlies could ever have managed. They placed the two boys in Alice and Jasper's room. Esme had laid out the air mattress with a thick layer of sheets and loaded with pillows. They placed this mattress beside the one on the floor, and with careful maneuver, rolled the sleeping boys on to it.

Bella and Esme waited patiently as Edward and he readjusted their drips and medicines. Once satisfied, the four repeated the process, bringing up Jared and Paul into Carlisle and Esme's room. Edward carried the empty mattress back down to the bed in the living room while Carlisle set the medications for the two boys straight.

He could hear the soft thuds as Edward dragged it down the stairs and a soft sigh escaped Esme's lips. She would have admonished him for treating the bedding so. But she knew it as well as anyone else, those mattresses could not be used again. She allowed her son to throw it back onto the bed. Carlisle grasped her hand at the threshold of their room and walked with her, all the way to his office.

The large table that had occupied most of the room was gone. Everything he kept scattered over it and everything he kept neatly tucked within the confines of its drawers sat on the sofa against the wall. All it took him was a single glance to know Esme had retrieved everything, down to the last paper clip from the splinters.

He gave her hand a grateful squeeze.

With the table gone, he expected his study to look vacant. On the contrary, he entered a room far too full, heavy with the dissatisfied presence of his family. Renesmee was upstairs. But other than that, every single one of his children stood scattered about within the pressing walls of the room.

Their dining room was an OT. This would be their improvised meeting room.

He stood just past the threshold of the door and exhaled. It was their cue to start talking

"Carlisle, they will lead the other wolves here," Rosalie repeated her worry. "We are outnumbered!"

"And the injured ones are a liability," Alice added. "So are the humans. And one of them is bleeding!"

Carlisle could not be more proud of how far along his children had come when it came to controlling their bloodlust. They were in a constant battle of fighting their very nature. And while their efforts were commendable, he understood, and even agreed with Alice's point. Kim's presence was making things uncomfortable for them. This house was supposed to be their safe haven.

"I will stay as far as I can," Jasper spoke, his voice tight. "But if I slip…"

"The wolves will attack." Edward finished the outcome of the improbable situation for them. They didn't need clairvoyance to know that.

"If any of those mutts attack him I will personally rip their limbs apart," Rosalie hissed. "According to the treaty, she's fair game. All of them are. None of them are supposed to come within a five mile radius of our house. Carlisle agreed to treat the injured wolves. Not turn our living room into a fucking waiting lounge!"

"You will not slip Jasper," Carlisle was looking at his son when he spoke. "You have come so far along, you deserve to have that faith in yourself. Lord knows I do. In all of you."

He understood the precarious nature of the situation they were in, the unpleasantness. He did not wish to undermine Jasper's effort by doubting his restraint, but he did not wish to put him through unnecessary hardship either. So, he continued. "But I will speak to Billy and Sue, and ask them to make other arrangements for the girls once they return."

"Rose is right though," Edward weighed in, biting his lower lip thoughtfully. "The third pack will come here, either for them or for us. And we are outnumbered. If we fight, we would be in violation of the treaty. You know what that means."

The pointed look Edward gave was not lost to him. Carlisle knew exactly what that meant. Ephraim Black stopped and listened, and agreed upon the treaty only because the Cullens outnumbered the wolves.

And inexperienced in the field of war-craft that he may be, he was no fool. If they fought the wolves, it would not be just the third pack they would be fighting. If not for the direct command of Sam, and Jacob's relations with his family, there were enough people among the other two packs who would be happy to see them gone.

As much as the packs had done for them - fighting the newborns with them, standing beside them against the Volturi - they had been equally quick to attack and try to eliminate them. Anything that could be taken as a violation of the treaty can and would be used against them.

The vision of Esme, crouching before the two growling wolves was emblazoned in his mind. Try as hard as he might, that was not a vision he would ever forget. And that was a situation he would not let come to pass again.

"I will speak to Sam and Jacob." It was almost painful for him to speak the words. He did not wish to speak to them. Or even be in their vicinity. But it was necessary. "We will come upon an agreement on what would be our course of action should the members of the third pack come for us. Ephraim Black spoke for the entire tribe, not just his own pack when we agreed upon the treaty. We have a right to defend ourselves if the younger wolves come for us on our land."

He looked around the tense room. Especially at his brave and fierce oldest daughter. Rosalie's face was contorted with rage and he kept his voice low but firm when he spoke again. "But we must remember…these boys are not just wolves. They are children. Barely eleven or twelve year olds. We have to show restraint in our actions."

"We'll defend our family," Emmett was the one who answered him. His son smiled a wicked smile. "Nothing more. Nothing less. That's restraint enough."

Jasper nodded, and the ascent went as a wave through the room. Only Bella looked a little hesitant, but she agreed nevertheless.

Carlisle suppressed a sigh. He wished for better times. He prayed for better times. Just when he would start to think his family was coming upon some semblance of normalcy, another hurdle would come into their path. But he believed in Him. He knew He had a better future for them all. The Lord never gave His followers a test beyond their capabilities.

He would pray. More fervently. He would seek the Lord's protection over his children. And on this Earth, he would fight for the blessings his Lord had given him. For indeed, Carlisle considered his children nothing but an answer to his prayers. The divine gift the Lord had blessed him with.

He had spent over two hundred years, praying for a companion. A friend. Anything. And he had been blessed with so much more. He wished for an end to his loneliness. And he was granted so many sons and daughters. A wife. A grandchild!

A family to love and to be loved by. He would not go against the dictum of the Lord. But he would indeed protect the gift he was given.

He was certain God would enlighten them. Show them a path out of this dilemma. Until then, this was a plan as good as any. All he had to do was prevent any unnecessary excess.

He dipped his head in a single nod.

That was all his children needed and within minutes, they started developing defensive strategies. Multiple of them, covering all what ifs. He still had to speak to Sam and Jacob, but Jasper's plan was something that could be adapted into either of the cases. The way he spoke, Carlisle could tell Jasper had used the brief moment of being attacked by the wolves to study their technique. It was rudimentary, but still had a lot more insight than something most of them could have gleaned on their own.

They established a perimeter that would be guarded by Jasper, Emmett, Edward and Rose. Alice, Bella and Carlisle would form the second circle of defense. Esme would stay back, protecting chiefly Renesmee, and any human should they be around when the attack happened. Their radius could be expanded to include the wolves should they agree to stand by them or reduced to cover any gaps if they disagreed.

Esme was to also guard the injured wolves, however many of them there might be. Carlisle mentally went over the injuries of each, and estimated how long it would take them to heal enough to phase should the need arise.

He trusted the packs enough to not attack Esme. Not when she was protecting them and the tribe members. But only barely so. He did not wish to leave Esme alone with them. But he did not wish for her to be on the frontlines either.

Lesser of the two evils.

"If the attack happens after tomorrow afternoon, the Quileute boys will be able to safely phase. Or at least their injuries would be healed enough that they would no longer require my care," Carlisle added his insight.

Alice smiled a devious smile up at him. "In that case we knock Charlie out, stuff him in the trunk of the car and go for a cross country road trip. Let the dogs rip each other apart."

Bella winced and Alice gave her an exasperated look.

Carlisle just shook his head. "Let us pray that the children heal quickly enough to render this confrontation unnecessary."

Children Emmett rolled his eyes at the term he used for the teenagers recovering in their house. But he, and the others, seemed happy enough with the plan they had that one by one, they trickled out of the room. Jasper, Emmett, Rose and Alice left to take their place near the perimeter. Edward and Bella went to Renesmee's room.

Carlisle grabbed Esme's hand when she made to leave as well and he had to scramble for words when she looked up at him with a questioning smile on her face.

He paused before he gently dropped her hand beside her and walked around to the door to his study. He closed it, softly and turned the knob till the click sounded in the sudden silence of the now empty room. He walked back to Esme where she stood in the middle of the room and clasped both her hands in each of his own.

"Stay," he whispered, bowing down till he could rest his forehead against her. "Stay with me please."

Esme squeezed his hands. "Of course," she whispered with a smile. Her dark golden eyes looked up at him and Carlisle could see her giving him one of her careful appraisals. Her eyes relieved him of all the layers of pretense he lived under, the smile, the control, the human facade, till he was naught but a flesh stripped back down to only his bare constituents. His body, his faith and whatever bothered his heart. She saw him at his most indecently vulnerable and built him back to his strength.

He might be the doctor to the world, but in the quite solace of marital seclusion, he was the patient and she, his healer.

"I am unhappy," she said and Carlisle's eyes widened. "Vexed, with you and Jasper."

"My apologies, love." Carlisle stepped closer. His hands left hers. One of it went to her waist and the other guided her chin up. "What is it that has bothered you so?"

Esme's lips remained down-turned, her lower one jutting out just a little in a pout that at once broke Carlisle's dead heart and filled it with the most intensely warm desire to capture it with his own lips. Oh if only he could kiss all her grief away!

"Well," she started, her fingers smoothening out the wrinkles of the T shirt that hung loosely over his frame. "It had always been me you know."

Carlisle frowned when Esme's voice tapered off without further explanation. A restless energy filled his limbs and his grip of her tightened. His wife was sad. That had to be rectified. He said nothing. Only encouraged her to elaborate, his eyes shining with confusion, and a desperation for clarification.

She bit her lips and Carlisle could have swore his dead heart lurched to life for a brief second. His fingers framed her face as his thumb stroked her lip free of her teeth. He traced soothing lines over those plump pink skin and she blessed his thumb with a soft peck during one of its lazy strolls across.

"It had always been me," she repeated, and then looked up, her face blessed with a Cheshire cat grin. "It's always been things I do to you that makes you break that table."

The moment those words left her mouth, two things happened.

First, the phantom warmth of his heart traveled all over his body, coloring him from head to toe with a flush that remained pitifully invisible, concentrating harder in a blissful place below his waist. His mind raced a million miles a minute with vivid recollection of the deliciously sinful things the two of them had done on that table. And the one before that. And the one before that. And the one before that. Each large, ornate desk had diligently served its purpose, for a decade, perhaps two if it was a particularly sturdy one. And each of them had met its demise under their tangled body as he lost control over his strength under Esme's sinful ministrations.

At the very same instant, the second thing pulled their attention a floor up. A surprised, embarrassed yelp escaped Bella's lips at her adoptive mother's words. It was immediately followed by the sharp smack of skin on skin as their youngest daughter slapped a hand over her mouth. Edward burst out laughing, and even Esme giggled at the poor girl's expense. Carlisle was loathe to laugh at anyone's discomfort, but Bella's ceaseless stream of sorrys and the infectiousness of Esme's mirth pulled an affectionate chuckle out of him.

We will be there instantly if Renesmee wakes up.

Carlisle's silent promise was Edward's cue as he tugged his mortified wife towards the window and the two jumped off, landing lithely on the ground below and took off after their siblings.

Esme giggled once more and Carlisle's heart swelled at the sound. But she pouted once again, this time, her features more pronounced, her face almost exaggerated with grief. She was jesting, he knew that. And yet, he wished for nothing more than to replace that expression with one of all the pleasures of this world.

"Tell me how can I fix it," he demanded, his voice rushed out with an urgency that some might even find silly.

Esme's grip on his T-shirt tightened and she pulled him closer still, impossibly so until their body was pressed as tightly together as they could be. There was only one way of getting any closer.

"Let me show you," she grinned.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Esme ripped his shirt off and Carlisle could not have been happier as the tattered, green fabric fell to the floor.

He would heal. He would protect. He would fight. When the time came, he would do it all.

But until such a time, he would love.

A/N:

For all the wonderful people who have read my other story, Twisted Vice, I have a small news. Twisted Vice has been nominated in the poll to find the Top 10 fics completed in September on TwiFanfictionRecs (The first link on doing a web search). If you have read and enjoyed the story, it would be wonderful if you could make the time to drop a vote. Poll open till 29/10/2022

Back to Whispers!

I hope this was not as long a wait as the last chapter. I enjoy writing Carlisle and Esme as a couple so much, I am considering writing a longer romance for the two of them as an independent story. Basically resurrecting an old story idea I had back in 2012. But that will probably still be a few months in the making.

The family has a plan of action. Now all they can do is wait.

And as far as waiting goes, I'm sure our lovable doctor doesn't mind it too much right now.

Do share your thoughts! Your kind words are the best things to come from my writings!

-ZQ