[A/N] I am a bit unsure of this chapter but I feel it is ready to be published. It might be awhile before chapter 3 is posted; I will get it done and posted as soon as I can. This chapter is a bit shorter than chapter 1 but I love how it ends. Please let me know what you think. I really do want to know your opinions on this story how it's going and what you think is going on. Let me know what you want to happen next. I also need a name for Liberty's father; Any idea's? Please leave a comment for me & please no Flames.

I don't have a beta on this but my hubby Halmir did look it over first so there should be little to no errors in it. Read and Review please.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the Twilight characters. I do however own the plot and the OC's.

The Hawks

-Chapter 2- What's next?

Carlisle closed the book and leaned back taking a deep unnecessary breath. Thinking back to the vision in question 'Alice saw me hunting alone,' he tried to make sense out of it 'no surprise; hunting is the only time I get to be somewhat alone as of late.' He huffed in annoyance 'there was a shadow that came up from behind me; simple enough I just need to be more aware of my surroundings and then everything went black for her. But if I was being torn apart she would have seen it, unless it was by someone she can't see.'

Carlisle stood up slowly and made his way to the door of his den 'Which leads me to believe that the person is; like I thought a shape-shifter. But it must be a species that we don't know . . . that would explain things.' Grabbing his coat and slipping it on, he rethought everything that was occurring at the present moment. 'The information that has made its way to the mass public and then the odd behavior of the Vultari and Alice's vision . . .' He grabbed his bag grateful that they had given him a night of quiet; a chance to be alone. The first time in weeks it seems. Quickly darting through the house he stopped in front of his lovely wife, Esme who smiled at him. Pressing his lips to hers he ran his hand down her back from her shoulder coming to rest on the small of her back and pulled her closer to him.

Pulling his lips away from hers he smiled playfully as a moan escaped her lips "I'm sorry that I didn't give you your well deserved attention last night, but thank you for the peace and solitude."

"We are sorry that we have been treating you like a child that needs babysitting." She buried her head against his neck and giggled before inhaling deep. "We didn't realize . . ." She pulled back and lowered her eyes to the floor.

"It's ok." He raised her head with his hand under her chin and kissed her gently.

"You were right though we have been denying you your privacy and that isn't fair to you. We were acting like you are an unschooled child."

He smiled "how about I give you some attention later tonight?" Seeing the sorrow in her face he melted "Maybe this 'child' can get a few private lessons tonight?" He held her closer and smiled at her loving and playfully

She nodded and smiled "I think that is possible, But it may take more than one lesson we may have to schedule more time." She smiled giving him a quick kiss.

He grinned wickedly "You are right; I may have to clear my schedule for a few days or maybe a week or two, what do you think?"

"I think we may have to discuss this later because you are going to be late, now get going." She kissed him again before pushing him out the door giving him a playful smack on the butt as he left.

"Yes dear." He smiled at her and darted for his car to head to work. 'At least I cheered her up. Maybe they are right and it is best to head to Alaska for a while.' He sighed 'However I still don't see the point in leaving the area, we have the packs to help us here.' He frowned trying to make sense of the whole mess again. 'If Alice can't see anything coming then isn't it better to stay where the Wolves may be able to alert us?' He chuckled as he pulled into the hospital 'I think a few of my kids are just anxious to get away from the dog smell.'

Work went slowly he had a few appointments the first few hours of his shift but for the rest of the day he would probably be spending it checking up on his various patients still at the hospital. The appointments went quickly nothing to get excited about; at least not for him. Some of his colleague's had been baffled by them but with his many years of experience it was child's play.

After he checked on his patients he settled into his office for a 'breather' according to the nurses 'he looked like he needed it'. He didn't feel like arguing so he just did as he was told. He was starting to get used to being treated like a child at home so why not here. 'I don't think I look that bad, I'm a vampire; my face can't change!' He chuckled 'maybe I can go for a hunt tonight.'

It didn't take long at all for someone to come in and ask if he could fill in for a doctor in the ER that couldn't make it in to work. Eager for a distraction he agreed and spent the rest of the day seeing patient after patient; it was a busy day. 'Thank goodness for that' he thought to himself.

After a few patients, he was ask to finish up with a little girl that had come in. "So young lady" he said with a smile as he approached her with the X-ray results. "My name is Doctor Cullen, what is yours?"

She smiled shyly "Tina."

"Well Tina, how did you manage to break your arm?" He pointed at the spot on the X-ray and her eyes widened with wonder and curiosity. "We will need to put a cast on this."

The little girl frowned "I was playing on the trampoline." She took a deep breath "Momma's going to be mad, we are taking family photos tomorrow."

"Did your parents give you permission to play on it?" he pulled out the necessary items and started to work on her arm.

"No, and they weren't home; I was supposed to be in my room while my brothers were studying with their friends."

He smiled 'such a sweet little thing; I am starting to see why Esme and Rosalie still mourn for their inability to have one of their own. But if we could I can imagine her being just as wild and daring as this one; especially with the help of her older brothers, Emmett would be the worst.'

He looked at her sad face and then nodded at her parents that had just walked in."You weren't supposed to and you were unsupervised; do you see why your parents give you rules now?" Carlisle gave her a stern smile "Perhaps you should apologize to them and your brothers, they have to be very worried about you." The little girl nodded and her parents gave him a grateful smile.

"Good luck with the family photo tomorrow" he said as they were leaving "I think this one may be one to remember."

The parents chuckled "Don't we know it"

'Oh the joys of parenthood' Carlisle smiled lightly as the little girl's parents led her out to their car. 'At least I don't have to worry about my kids as much as those two need to worry about that little spit fire' He chuckled as he moved on to the next patient a man that needed stitches. This time his wife was standing over him scowling; 'Well that looks like the face Rose has been giving me lately' Carlisle listened stifling the urge to laugh as the man's wife told him all about his 'childish' antics with his power tools which is what led to them being here and him needing stitches. After the woman finished her story Carlisle tried his best to explain to the man the proper uses of a saw and screw drivers or at least what he was no longer allowed to use them for.

The rest of his shift continued in much the same fashion every time he managed to overcome his urge to laugh the next patient made it more difficult to keep a straight face. His breaking point came when a large man came in with his very angry wife who had a rolling pin in her hand. The man had literally been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Carlisle listened while silently laughing as the woman explained waving the rolling pin at him like she was going to flatten him with it.

She explained that he was on a new diet and had been cheating or at least trying to and got his hand stuck inside the cookie jar. He ended up breaking the small porcelain pig shaped jar that was a handmade heirloom handed down in her family and is here for stitches. Carlisle interjected every now and then to back up the wife in regards to him needing to stick to his diet if for no other reason but for his health and the fact that his family needed him. "You are lucky he told the man, you could have really injured yourself over this." He gazed at the sliced up man's hand and sighed "At least you still have all your fingers but there will be scaring."

"Well, that will just serve as a reminder that I am always right!" the man's wife poked him in the back with the rolling pin and glared as the man rolled his eyes to which Carlisle nearly lost it; it took all the control he had not to laugh outright. 'Maybe I should take my own advice here too; my family needs me.'

After they left he took a short breather in his office where he could laugh without the guilty feeling he would get for laughing in front of the patient before he continued his rounds stopping every now and then for another 'laughing break'.

Everyone came through the door at nearly the same time. The kids each had separate project going on and had planned to be home at this time so that they were home either before or after Carlisle got home. Carlisle wasn't home from work yet but when he did get home then they would most likely be heading out to allow Emmett to hunt a Grizzly. He had been sulking over the fact that everyone was ignoring his wishes, ordering him instead to hunt close to home so that everyone was here just in case Carlisle needed them.

Alice was once again straining herself trying to see anything that might be of use. Jasper was right at her side trying to calm her. Rosalie was trying to distract Emmett; and having a successful go at it too. Emmett was trying his best to look upset so that Rosalie would try to 'distract him'. Esme retreated to her room and Bella & Edward sat down at his piano; Edward playing something that he hoped my lighten the mood a bit or at least might make Carlisle smile when he got home and Bella was snuggling up to Edward with a satisfied smile on her face.

After a few minutes Jacob stepped slowly into the house. "Hey Jake, how's Ness?" Bella smiled.

"She and Emily are having fun; she is learning how to make pies" He smiled. "Guess what type is her favorite?"

Bella laughed "we really need to get to eat other types of food"

"Yeah Emily is working on that," He frowned turning his thoughts to Edward 'Is Carlisle home?' He asked to which Edward shook his head no 'Oh . . . o-okay we need the rest of you to . . . W-Well just come with me, please' Jacob was frazzled and everyone saw it; they didn't need to have Jasper's ability to see that.

Edward raised an eyebrow at him "We?" Edward frowned at how Jacob was carefully guarding his thoughts 'What is he hiding?' He frowned 'this worries me.'

Jacob smiled "yeah the pack wants to talk to you and it's kind of a good thing that Doc's not here because Sam said that I was to leave him here." His smile dropped to only a lopsided one then he furrowed his brow "Both packs are waiting out back."

The Cullen's all looked at Edward and he grumpily replied to their thoughts; "I have no idea, he keeps singing some dumb song."

"Yeah sorry about it; but Sam wants to be the one to tell you." He smiled a bit "Besides anything I say or thought would probably just have the wrong effect" Jake turned and led them out of the house. After they went a short distance in the woods behind the house they came upon both of the packs; Edward's frown grew worse.

"Could you all at least pick a better song" He glared at Alice "they learned this from you, didn't they?" She just smirked at him and stuck her tongue out.

"Bad Dogs. . ." Emmett chuckled "obviously we need to train you better" he joked then growled as Rose hit him on the back of the head.

"Not now" she glared at him; Emmett frowned, grumbling.

Sam slowly walked over and then spoke "I know that you are all going to over react to this but there are about a dozen vampires that just arrived in the area." Every vampire in the group gasped in shock but Esme lost it Sam's face changed from annoyance to concern as he turned to Jasper "calm please?" to which Jasper obliged and a wave of calm came over everyone.

"I know that you are worried and I am very sure that you won't believe this but I don't think they are dangerous."

"You don't think! How can you not know?" Bella asked

Emmett smiled "they don't think, funny that it's Bella who admits that" he laughed outright and ducked, successfully avoiding Rosalie's clear disagreement in his idea of a good joke. "Come on babe you gatta admit that she hit the nail on the head with that one."

Rose glared at him and then turned back to Sam "go on please."

"Okay . . . Well, true they are fast and they know exactly how to get around the pack without even getting a scratch on them." Esme looked horrified and Jasper walked over and put his arm around her followed by Alice who walked over to join him standing right next to him in an effort to feel the calming wave more strongly.

"But they are deliberately avoiding the pack" Sam sighed

"Not only that but they are avoiding any semblance of a fight." Jake looked embarrassed.

Sam nodded then continued "They won't attack us in any way; it's like either we are of no concern to them, like we aren't what they came here for or they simply aren't here to harm anyone." He smiled seeing that the last part cheered Esme up a bit "they go out of their way to avoid all humans and don't seem to be feeding in the area so we are at a loss for what they are here for."

Seth looked over Sam and Jacob who shook their heads no at him but he decided to speak up anyway "we haven't been able to get a good look at them to see their eye color or any identifying marks" He shrugged "we almost caught one of them and it seemed like he was just going to let us kill him rather than fight, but one of his buddies came up and grabbed him then sped off" His face gained a look of embarrassment then he frowned at the snickers that were irrupting throughout the packs and the more they laughed the more Seth's voice got defensive "I couldn't keep up because he was weaving in and around the tree's." he glared at his buddies and shouted with a snarl in his throat "I wasn't paying attention that's the only reason why I hit the tree." A couple of the other wolves laughed outright and Sam glared sternly to hush them.

"Dude Seth you had the wrong end facing the tree that's your problem; you're supposed to pee on them."Emmett laughed and this time he got a couple of snickers from the others.

Regaining his composure he turned to the wolves and asked with a hint of near submissiveness "Show me your encounters with them" one by one they showed him and Edward frowned at the memories of their encounters he was being shown. After a few minutes he turned towards his family "I agree with their assessment; I don't think they are a danger. Alice have you seen anything about them?"

"No" her eyes grew distant as she tried to focus "I can't see them." She was starting to panic. Watching her thoughts Edwards face grew more serious Esme's face dropped again as it looked like she would once again cry her invisible tears.

"Could it be the Volturi?" Bella asked "We all know that they know how to get around Alice's visions." She gave Alice a smile knowing how upset this was all making her. Everyone is expecting her to come up with the answers but somehow she was being blocked at every turn and it was making her feel helpless and weak.

"There is no way to know until we confront them" Jasper wrapped his arm around Alice giving her a loving squeeze then he continued "Besides we can't just stand around waiting for them to engage us; if that is what they intend to do." Jasper sent another wave of calm to Esme before he continued "We need to track them, maybe if we could get close to at least one of them we can talk to them; see if they are a threat or not."

Emmett looked up from the ground he was concentrating on with a serious look on his face for the first time "I think we need to explain all this to Carlisle. I hate leaving him out of the discussion."

"I agree with him; Carlisle is a member of this family too and we shouldn't be leaving him out like this." Rosalie turned leaning into Emmett's arms for comfort.

Edward frowned as a couple of the wolves let their thoughts slip; He glared at the packs curios as to why they were angry at them for Carlisle current mood.

"Alright" Esme pulled herself out of her deep sorrow and tried to take control, stepping away from Jasper she addressed everyone present one group at a time "Yes Carlisle should be involved but he isn't here right now and we need to make a few decisions now." She paused to take a breath trying to calm down a bit.

Sam smiled "I agree with her."

"I do think that we need more information on these newcomers; Carlisle should be getting home soon, hopefully we will have more to tell him when he does." She looked at her family "We should wait for him inside." Turning to face the wolves she then pleaded "will you do a few quick searches? See if you can find any trace of them, see if they are still in the area, where they are hiding and try to get a better look at them then Sam you and Jake come back here we will wait till you get back before we talk to Carlisle about this. The rest of you need to stay out there just in case these vampires try to feed on any locals."

The wolves all nodded and Jake stepped forward. "Can I say something please?"

The Cullen's all looked confused a bit but looked at Edward who nodded at Esme and then she in turn nodded to Jake ushering him to speak.

Sam smiled nervously "This is why we preferred that Carlisle not be here right now." He nodded at Jake "Go ahead."

"You have all been treating him like a child!" His anger showed on his face and he forced in back continuing with a growl "I know you all love him God knows we all do, but . . ." He fidgeted finally calming himself down as he saw the looks of annoyance flash over all of their faces. "Have you even considered that you are forgetting that he might just need . . ." He smiled trying not to notice that based on the look he was getting from the blonde it was clear that she wanted to kill him. Backtracking a bit he tried another way to explain it "Just a suggestion but maybe you should remind him how much you all love him; if it was me I really might need to hear it again right now."

Rosalie had heard enough she didn't like what he was insinuating 'As if we haven't done that recently; He assumes that we have been saying that or showing him it, the arrogant. . .' She shouted at Edward as she turned to leave but Emmett stopped her; "Babe come 'ere" wrapping his arms around her he pulled her close and cooed in her ear too low for anyone to hear; she relaxed in his arms and then turned to face him burying her face in his neck. He then raised his voice so that everyone could hear his response to Jacob's words. "Relax everyone, keep in mind that Jake is the only one Carlisle will talk to about this right now." He gave Rose a kiss on the lips and smiled "Maybe he is trying to politely tell us what the unspoken silence agreement they have keeps him from saying flat out."

"Well we are all here and nobody is out there so. . ." Jake then excused himself grateful at least one of them got it He turned and left to make a run as the discussion continued. Everyone tried to think back to the beginning of all of this to see if there had been any signs of depression along the way that they had missed.

"Maybe this whole thing does have him a bit depressed" Alice agreed "Jazzy have you noticed anything?"

Jasper frowned "No lately he has been burying all his emotions the second he enters the room, either that being affected by the calm I try to feed all of you or avoid me all together."

It didn't take long for Jake to get something as that a wolf's howl echoed to them from a distance. A couple of the wolves quickly phased to see what's up and the rest stood still awaiting instructions.

"Jake has them;" Edward smiled the rest of the packs phased as well and immediately ran off into the woods. Edward turned to address his family "He is right on the tail of two of them and wants our help cornering them. He is near the reservation, on the border line." The family all nodded and took off towards the reservation in hopes of finally getting some answers.

As he headed home he had a large smile on his face; it was days like this that made him smile; that reinforced his beliefs in something greater. Just when he needed it he gets a day that makes him smile and laugh the whole way home. He put his car in the garage and headed for the house; stepping into the house he noticed the house was silent and still. 'Hm, maybe they are out hunting' He slipped out of his clothes and put on something more casual then headed back down stairs the carefree atmosphere of work had relaxed him all too well.

'Perhaps I will go hunting, see if I can locate them. They mentioned the other day heading over to Montana because of a Grizzly bear problem.' Emmett had been sulking over the fact that rest of the family brushed him off. 'Apparently since I was at work they decided to go hunting and humor him.' He smiled forgetting all about the vision 'their classes should have ended about an hour ago so they haven't been gone for too long so I might even be able to catch up with them.

Stepping out the front door he heard a wolf's howl and the vision snapped back into his mind. It took him about a minute to regain his composurebut after he had calmed down he still couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Then he smiled 'That means the wolves must be in the area too; meaning my bodyguards are close by.' He sighed 'Esme and the kids must be also . . . Okay so local it is.' He smiled again as he took off out the door to hunt.

It took him just a few minutes to catch the scent of a deer and he took off after it. He darted through the tree's chasing it for awhile out of mere sport before he tackled it, snapping it neck. Sinking his teeth in he moaned with pleasure as he felt the warm blood trickle into his mouth and down his throat. This isn't a life he would have chosen but he had learned to love the small things and the feeling of relief that came from their blood of choice (that being animals) was a bit of a pleasure to him. Contemplating why he figured that mainly it is a pleasure to him because it serves as a reminder that he was more than the monster that the rest of the Vampire community believed him to be. He was not a monster just because he was one of them.

'One of them' he thought wandering back to his fleeting thought 'I have never been one of them; they choose differently than I do, I know that we still have our souls I have seen it.' He sighed as his kill was nearing empty 'I feel sorry for those that do not know the things I do; I wish they could see their potential.'

Finishing off his kill he buried it then stood up walking slowly through the woods while he let himself just experience all the sights, sounds and smells around him. Within a few minutes a smell caught his attention and held onto it and he caved in happily and chased after his second deer.

He couldn't help but enjoy the hunt especially since no humans would ever be hurt by him. He relaxed a bit letting the hunter take over, relishing in the feel as he took after it, once again allowing himself to chase it a bit longer than necessary just for the sport of it. 'This never gets old, I love a good chase; maybe I'll convince Esme to play a bit tonight, of course I wouldn't be finishing the chase the same way' He smile and darted through the underbrush and spun around tree's catching the deer by surprise as he came up in front of it.

Quickly he snapped it's neck and let it fall limp to the ground of the small clearing and once again the same feeling of pleasure came as the warm blood trickled down his throat 'I will never tire of that' he thought. 'I am not a monster, I do have a soul and God will protect me. I do so much good, I have helped so many people, I am of worth; I am not a monster.' He was almost chanting to himself as he drank. After he had finished he stood up and stretched feeling a bit of relaxation come over him.

Suddenly he had the feeling that he wasn't alone and his head snapped up and started looking around. It was then that he noticed beside him on the ground, the shadow.