Portland, February 1937

The snow continued to fall, whipped by a swirling vicious wind which rattled the wooden doors of the hospital. Mrs Cullen had been inconspicuous in her travel to greet her husband, walking through the quiet backroads with Edward who was desperate to escape the presence of the newlywed Rosalie and Emmett.

A gentle silence enveloped the pair, broken only by the crunching of their boots in the snow.

'They're insufferable, Esme. I've been trying to convince Carlisle to persuade them to move into a house of their own; I can't take it any longer!'

Esme laughed fondly, 'They're in love, darling.'

The young man rolled his eyes, shaking his head in exasperation. Esme wound a careful arm around Edward's shoulders; 'Let me talk to Carlisle, okay?'

The conversation was far more trivial for the remainder of their journey, Edward's sullen temperament was much improved with Esme's promise of a getaway, suggesting that the three of them should travel in order to give Rosalie and Emmett some much-needed peace. She loved her larger family, but the stress of two newborns had been draining and a part of her missed spending time with Carlisle and Edward.

As they approached the hospital, Edward left Esme with an embrace, confessing that he felt the need to hunt.

'Give Carlisle my love, I'll see you at the house.'

The harsh citrus blast of anti-septics stung the woman's nose as she made the delightfully familiar journey through the hospital and toward her husband's office.

Caramel waves rhythmically swung with each step Mrs Cullen took. Her golden eyes shone with a subtle happiness, her heart thudding gently in anticipation.

As she gently nudged open the heavy wooden door to her husband's office, she was at once utterly perplexed and humoured by the sight before her.

Never, in all their years of marriage, had she seen Carlisle this..flustered. His head was adorned with the unkempt waves that were only ever achieved through vigorous lovemaking, or his endearing tendency to tousle his hair with anxious hands. Naturally, Mrs Cullen assumed the latter.

However, her interest lay little in her husband, and more on the flailing infant in his arms.

'Goodness..'

At her entrance, Carlisle's golden eyes shifted to his wife.

'Esme, he won't stop crying.'

Doctor Cullen made no attempt to control the panic and urgency in his voice, and his wife's heart stirred with conflicting emotions; her eyes were gorgeously sympathetic..though she bit her lip as though to conceal laughter.

With a gentle smile, the woman took the child from her husband. She paused for the tiniest of moments, cat-like eyes focused on the unflinching blue stare of the child in her arms.

When was the last time she held a baby? Surely it must've been her own son...

Sensing his wife's hesitation, Carlisle tenderly interrupted her thoughts, 'I think he likes you.'

Esme smiled in response, rocking the child as she had done with her own son. It came so naturally.

'There was an accident..the roads are so icy. We weren't able to save his parents..' His voice overflowed with quiet guilt.

'Carlisle, stop it.'

Mrs Cullen placed a kiss on her husband's temple, laving him with her gentle love. He loved her for this, for being so strong, right when he needed it most.

It was times like this that words weren't needed; it was almost like they were connected through their hearts. When one ached, it sent the strains of that ache to the other, like a soft thumping Morse code between distant shores.

…

Carlisle was smitten as he revealed in the scene before him.

His wife looked so irresistibly maternal here; gently bouncing the giggling child in her arms, humming the tune to a nursery rhyme Carlisle was unfamiliar with, lips quirked into a smile.

The child looked..captivated, his blue doe-eyes fixated on the woman before him.

'I feared this may be a terrible idea.' Carlisle confessed to the child, attempting to gently raise his natural tenor, 'My wife seems to be falling in love with you. And where is that going to leave me?'

Esme laughed and the baby quizzically watched them both, his face spiked with interest and mouth curved into a hesitant smile.

'Do you ever dream of what our child would be like?'

Doctor Cullen was not surprised at his wife's gentle question, but it felt more intimate in his small hospital office with the iron stare of an infant flitting between them. More dangerous.

'Yes, my love. All the time.'

'Tell me about it.' Esme's tender demand pulled his lips into a soft smile, her gaze unable to refuse.

'I'd like a son.' Carlisle's voice was raspier than he'd intended, 'My relationship with my father was troubled...I always told myself that I would use our mistakes to make myself a good father someday.'

Our mistakes.

Esme's heart stirred at her husband's endearing tendency to include himself in the mistakes of others, he always carried a share of undeserved blame.

'You're a kind of father to Edward, darling.' And then, in a moment of hasty and vulnerable emotion 'But I'd give anything to see you holding our child.'

'Oh, darling..there is nobody else I'd rather for the mother of my child.'

Doctor and Mrs Cullen settled in a joint gaze, their eyes drowning. It was the child which snapped them from their trance, babbling emptily and tugging caramel hair with a chubby hand.

Carlisle laughed richly, the type of laugh that Esme longed to lock inside a treasure chest. It had been so long since she heard this laugh, things had been chaotic at home recently.

'Can't we keep him?' the woman inquired, with teasing golden eyes and a beautifully mischievous tone. 'No, darling.' Doctor Cullen kissed his wife's head gently, careful not to evoke another anguished cry from the baby. And then, in an attempt to make his wife laugh, 'He would never get any sleep with Edward's piano playing!'

…

The afternoon passed far too quickly, and Doctor Cullen did a shamefully small amount of work. The sky was dark by the time that the child's family arrived.

'You are so incredible with babies, nobody else could get him to stop crying!' The young nurse smiled cheekily, 'Can we expect a baby Cullen soon?'

Carlisle gently pulled his wife closer to him, wincing internally at the nurse's innocent question.

Oh, how he wished he could give his wife a child.

Surprisingly, Esme did not look saddened and rather bit her lip as though to hide an adoring smile.

'We have our hands full with Edward, I'd hate to deprive him of attention; we promised to take him travelling this year.'