Carlisle's POV
Driving home from the hospital doesn't take long. However, it provides me with time to think. Think about what I should say to my son to soothe his worries. As well as the fact that Edward seems to now have human hormones, that he didn't before. Is it possible that after eighty-four-years he has finally found his mate?
I continue to drie down the road with minimal concentration as I began to contemplate about the proper way to go about this. Should I speak to him as a father to a son or a doctor to a patient? But medical terms might confuse him since he's never been to medical school.
Many times, I wanted him to attend medical school since he shows an interest in it. But Emmett has never shown any interest in going to college after they are done with high school and for that, neither has Edward. They stick together those two, they are as thick as thieves.
I sigh as my mind continues to wander. I need to focus and get my thoughts together to know exactly what I'm going to say. I'm usually very calm but at the moment I am anything but. This is unfamiliar territory for me. Since my children are frozen in their late teens and the four oldest are all paired up, I have never needed to have a talk about puberty or body functions with any of my boys. Nor has Esme had to with either of our daughters.
I arrive home and park in our large, detached garage.
Making the short walk from the garage to our house, I decide to go about this talk as a mixture of a father and a doctor. With of course, the help of a particular book I have upstairs in my office on this topic.
Walking up the porch steps the front door opens and out walks my beautiful Esme. We greet each other with a hug and a kiss.
"You're going to talk to Edward now?" Esme wonders when our hug ends.
I sigh. "Yes. I believe an informed talk about teenage hormones is in order." I reply.
I'm not really ready for this talk. However, it must be done.
Esme nods her head. "I hear my flowers calling me." She randomly announces. And with that, she's gone.
I smile to myself. I don't blame her for wanting to escape. After all, she had to deal with a panicked Edward when he came home and that couldn't have been easy. In unusual situations that are unfamiliar to him he is often tightly wound.
I enter the quiet house and make my way up to my office that's on the second floor. I go over to the bookshelf that's on the far-left wall of the room and slowly remove the book I need from the middle shelf. With the book in my hands, I head out of my office and up to the third floor, to Edward's room.
The door to his room is a jar. Taking a deep breath and blocking my thoughts I peek into his room, he's sitting on his couch, looking out the window. He knows I'm here, of course but doesn't turn around. I knock on the door, announcing my presence, still he doesn't move or speak.
"Son, are you okay?" I wonder, walking inside his room.
"Just...contemplating my life." Edward sighs heavily as he turns to look at me.
I nod my head. "Your mother said..." I pause, not sure what else to say. His golden eyes, full of innocence, look at me. "You had an interesting day." I continue. "As well as a new event that happened today?"
"I guess you could say that." Edward shrugs his shoulders. "It was very unusual and odd."
I nod my head in understanding. Just as I suspected, this was the first time his body has responded that way. He seems uneasy. I make my way over to him and sit down next to him on his couch.
"It seems we need to have a little father-son talk." I put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze it.
"Well, your thoughts are unreadable," He points out. "So, I am going to go out on a limb here and say this will be about what happened to me today?"
His words are not necessarily a question but more of a statement. He's very intelligent, of course he figured out what my talk was going to be about.
I nod. He frowns.
"Now, son." I begin calmly. "An erection is nothing to be ashamed about. It's completely normal."
"I have no memory of it ever happening to me...before today." He says, his voice is very embarrassed as he looks away. "When it happened to me today in Gym class, I felt awkward and scared. Especially when the girl I was paired with for square dancing ended up noticing and wouldn't stop looking at it."
He immediately hides his face in his hands. In an attempt to comfort him and not want him to feel ashamed of the whole ordeal, I put my hand on his back, giving him a gentle pat.
"She was probably just curious." I offer in a gentle tone.
Rapidly, his hands drop from his face. He looks at me with a hopeful expression on his young face. I can't guess what's going through his mind.
"You really don't think I scared her?" He wonders.
"No." I shake my head.
The pieces of the puzzle begin to align. I believe I know what is happening. The answer to why all of a sudden, his hormones – that were once dormant – are finally making themselves known.
"This girl. Your square-dancing partner in Gym class," I begin casually. "Is she the one you have mentioned before about not being able to read her mind?"
"Yes." He simply answers.
"Is it fair to say you find her attractive?" I wonder. I figure I know the answer to that question but I'm curious to know anyway. To hear his reply.
He answers with a sudden wide grin.
'Excellent.' I think to myself.
For decades I have been hoping the day would come that Edward would become interested in a female. There had always been a part of me that was concerned he was too young when I turned him into a vampire, and due to that reason he might not have been at an age where he found anyone attrive. Of course, I always kept my fears hidden from my mind-reading son. I have my tricks to keep him out of my mind.
"Her name is Bella Swan." Edward says in a tone that makes him sound younger than seventeen-years-old. "She's fifteen and in my grade. Besides Gym class, I have three other classes with her. She's not like anyone I have ever met before. Not only can I not read her mind, but she never does what I expect. She's fascinating."
I listen as he goes on about her. He has mentioned her before when he learned he couldn't read her mind after the first day of school and was frightened that his talent was going away, it wasn't of course. But other than that, he's been tight-lipped about her. That is, up until now. Now, as he goes on about her, I see that my innocent young vampire is becoming a full-blow teenager.
"All right. I understand." I say putting an end to him describing what led to the incident in Gym class today.
As I begin to realize I need to figure out what to tell him about this topic and how to actually start this talk off, I noticed him shift uncomfortably on the couch. I ignore the reaction his body is having to whatever he is thinking about.
"So, you wanted to speak to me about something?" Edward questions.
"Yes." I agree. "I wanted to talk to you about…" Feeling nervous, my voice suddenly trails off.
Without a word Edward looks at me, patiently waits for me to continue.
Rubbing my forehead, I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. I begin to feel extremely nervous. I never knew trying to have a conversation on body functions with my son would be so difficult. I try to start again but I can't seem to find the right words or even my voice. I stop guarding my thoughts but that's no use either. My thoughts are too jumbled up for him to read. I know this because he is curiously eyeing me with one eyebrow up.
"What kind of book is that?" Edward suddenly wonders, noticing the book I have beside me.
The book! How could I forget? This could save both of us from this embarrassing talk that I am having difficulty with finding the right words for.
Immediately, I grab the book. "It's a book that will guide you in this confusing time." I explain nervously, handing it to him.
"Uh?" Is his only response as he takes the book and stares at the cover. Where a cartoon drawing of a teenage boy with his shirt off, exposing his hairy armpits, stands with his hands in the air.
"I'm sure this book will be very helpful to you." I say, feeling very pleased with myself.
"Hair? Where? There? The Groovy Guide to Puberty for the Far-Out Dude." He reads the title in a disbelief tone. "Carlisle, what is this?"
"It's a book that explains puberty. It has all the information you need, and will be helpful to you. I picked this book up a while back." I explain.
"A while back?" He looks at me expressionless. "It looks old. Exactly what decade did you purchase this book in?"
"The beginning of the 1970's. Despite it being published a few decades ago, it still has useful information." I answer a little too quickly. "I purchased it back when I was doing my research on myth and legends."
Edward nods his head. Curiosity gets the better of him and he opens up the outdated book.
I put my hand on his shoulder as I stand up. "I'll leave you alone to read it. If you have any questions, I'll be in my office."
"Okay." He says slowly, eyes on the book.
I quickly walk out of his room and head to my office.
Walking down the flight of stairs I'm thankful that I held onto that book all these years. Back when I purchased it, I had been reading about vampire hybrids as well as young vampires. I was fascinated when I read about how young humans that enter this life with their innocence can take time to regain their human hormones. At the time I read that he had been a teenage vampire for fifty-one-years. Who would have guessed it would take another thirty-three years for his human hormones to become active?
Walking to my office I let out a sigh of relief as I open the door and go inside. Closing it behind me, I go over to my desk where a book is placed. Feeling relieved that I bypassed that talk thanks to the puberty book, I sit down and grab the book that's on my desk. I'm planning to do some reading of my own since I took the rest of the day off.
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Thanks for reading. :))
I'm aware that in the Saga Edward has been to college and holds two medical degrees. However, in this story, I changed that so this story would make sense. I also changed the year and grade that Edward and Bella met because it's just fanfiction. ;)
If you liked this chapter, please leave a pleasant review. :)))