This story is almost complete (most likely will be thirty chapters.) You all have been so so awesome, I'm incredibly grateful. Hope you will stick with me until the end, thanks! :)

Carlisle POV

We could lose our kids. There isn't a thing in the world that I imagine could be worse then that. Because although our children were not our family through blood, they definitely were through bond. Esme and I both couldn't even consider what we would do if they were taken from us.

The two weeks Rosalie was missing were without a doubt the worst time in both Esme and I's lives. Losing all five of our kids, that would certainly be the death of us both. Our children were our world.

I've been on the phone with CPS for four hours. Trying to learn as much as possible about how to prove ourselves as capable guardians to child protective services and earn back our custody. Since we were still technically Rosalie's foster parents and nothing more, CPS felt we had not taken the best care of her (due to her time in the hospital and "treacherous" emotional state.) In reality all they particularly cared about was covering their backs. I didn't blame them; it couldn't possibly look good that Rose had been kidnapped from us when she'd only just become part of our family.

But as much as I couldn't blame them for having certain "suspicions" about Esme and I, there was no way I would let them destroy my family. They'd already done enough damage; when I'd tried to see Rosalie I found her rooms door blocked by a man in a suit who was busy talking to a strict looking woman. I could tell they worked for CPS by the way they were dressed and the scathing look they both shot my way the second I began approaching them. Esme had been forced to leave and had come back to the hotel room on the verge of tears, I had immediately left to see if I could fix the situation myself (which hadn't ended up working out at all.)

When I'd tried to get in Rose's room the woman - Edna Ross (who Esme had already been forced to deal with)- told me that Esme and I would lose our custody of Rosalie until the case could be 'further investigated.' Which meant we couldn't visit her in the ICU. When I'd asked if I could at least talk to Rosalie to let her know what was happening I had been refused that too.

Though my stomach did flips at the thought of leaving my little girl all alone in a hospital room I knew that arguing now would only make me look worse if I had to go to court over custody of my children. I just knew that CPS would be able to twist things in such a way that I looked like the villain. I handed them a bag to give to Rosalie that contained a few things for her to play with and they thankfully didn't refuse doing that too.

The hospital lobby was where I had spent the rest of the night and my morning; talking with CPS, lawyers, and pretty much anyone who could help me. I'm completely absorbed in what I'm doing and (embarrassingly enough) nearly jump out of my seat when someone sits down on the chair next to mine.

A very beautiful and sophisticated looking young woman is sitting in the chair next to mine, staring at me expectantly. "You must be Carlisle Cullen." She states. Her crystal blue eyes analyze me carefully.

"I am." I say, staring at her for a couple minutes before making the connection of who she was. "Are you Tanya Lorn? Rosalie's aunt?"

Rosalie did look quite a bit like her aunt. They both had a bright smile, delicate facial features, and a tiny button nose. Her aunt was young (probably in her early twenties), but she carried herself in a way that made her seem much wiser and older. Although she looks nothing but friendly suspicion courses through me at the thought she could have known about or been apart of the abuse Rose had suffered growing up.

"What do you know so far?" Tanya asked, pulling a notepad and pen out of her expensive looking purse. She pulls out a recording device as well and stares at me expectantly.

"Nothing. Just that my wife and I are being investigated and if we aren't proven responsible enough parents we won't get our custody back for Rosalie and will have our other children put back in the system." I let out a deep breath when I'm finished, overwhelmed by the situation. I was a little shocked at my outburst, I wasn't usually the type to spill out all my problems like that.

"Hm, we might be able to use that to our advantage in court." She said, jotting a couple notes down. "CPS isn't allowed to take your custody away without notable reason, and even if they have that: they're required by law to give you a few sit down discussions with a social worker before taking action."

"In court?" I ask, unsure I've heard correctly. "We?"

She lets out a deep sigh and rolls her eyes. "Obviously we are not going to let child protective services get away with this. My niece will be heartbroken if she gets taken away from you."

"My wife and I do want to fight this, but no lawyer wants to go up against CPS. Especially with the given situation." I explain to her, trying to remain civil. If your stupid sister and brother in-law hadn't shown up this would never have happened in the first place!

"You've got a lawyer." Tanya tells me, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You? But why help us?" I question. Especially if helping us meant proving Rosalie's mom and dad guilty.

"I just want to do right by Rosalie; she's family." Tanya tells me, hesitating before continuing. "I just finished law school, I'm not ready for a kid. I can't be the parent Rosalie deserves, I want her to be happy"

"The police are going to need to know what happened to her. This is more then just a random kidnapping, and you and I both know that her parents were involved." I say in a low voice.

She stands up and smiles at me. "I'm going to go see Rosalie, I don't like her being alone. We'll be in touch." She hands me a piece of paper with her phone number written neatly on it.

"CPS thinks we neglected her and were in on the kidnapping. Convincing them otherwise won't be easy." I warn her as she begins walking away; watching carefully for her reaction.

She spins around, a charming smile plastered on her face. "You'll get your custody."

The best thing was, I believed her.

Rosalie POV

I woke up alone in my room. Last night I'd woken up from a nightmare and Esme had held me until I'd fallen back asleep, though she didn't say anything her presence in itself was comforting. This morning I had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach; I decided it was only because I didn't like being all alone in the hospital. Most likely I was completely over reacting and Carlisle would turn up anytime to tell me all about what Alice thought about my present for her.

The door opens and a short woman who is definitely not Carlisle walks in, when her eyes meet mine she smiles a smile that doesn't quiet reach her eyes.

"Hello Rosalie, I'm Ms. Ross. I'm your social worker." The woman says. The forced smile still on her face.

"Where's Carlisle?" I ask, getting worried.

"We're working on figuring out where you'll be staying when your discharged from the hospital Rosalie. Did you know your parents said if anything were to happen to them they wanted your Aunt Tanya to take care of you?" My social worker -Edna- asks.

"What?" I ask. Feeling more and more anxious by the second.

"Rosalie, we don't know when your parents will be coming back. So we have to figure out where you'll be living once your all healed up." Edna explains in a slow voice.

"But I want to stay with Carlisle and Esme." I tell her. They had been taking care of me before, why did things have to change now? The Cullen's were my family.

"We would do a thorough investigation of your aunt before letting you live with her. If she is not capable of looking after you we will put you in a group home, we'll make sure you are well looked after." Edna continues, completely ignoring what I've said.

"But I'll miss my family. Carlisle and Esme take care of me and they're never mean; and Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice are my best friends."

"This police will continue searching for your parents, there is still a chance they'll be back for you someday."

Once again the social worker ignores what I say. I think about what living with my mother's sister would be like. My Aunt Tanya wasn't ever mean to me, and she had disliked Royce even when my parents had gushed over him.

"Auntie Tanya, can I ask you something?" I ask, I'm sitting on the living room floor eating a pudding cup and wearing pjs at 10am (my parents would ground me for a month if they were home.)

My aunt was babysitting me for the week, my parents went on a vacation for their anniversary every year and since it was a "romantic getaway" (yuck) I wasn't invited. It was May; so my Auntie Tanya was home from law school for a few months.

"Sure kid, what's on your mind?" My aunt asks, flipping pages in the vogue magazine she's reading on the couch.

"How come you and my mom are so different?" Besides their similar looks, my mom and her sister were nothing alike. My aunt looks up from her magazine and bursts out laughing at my question

"Well, for one I don't have a stick up my ass like your mom does." My auntie says, still chuckling.

"My mom has a stick up her ass!?" I exclaim, causing my aunt to laugh even harder.

"It's a figure of speech." My aunt explains between giggles. "Don't tell your parents, or I'll lose babysitting privileges."

Although I don't really understand I promise not to say anything about it anyways. My aunt was really smart but had a sense of humour sometimes that my parents didn't appreciate. I didn't see anything wrong with the way she was. She dressed proper and spoke proper (MOST of the time), and always got her way no matter what the situation.

"I'm fun, and your moms not. Your parents are too worried about everyone else, they're so worried they don't realize how much the things they do affect the people who actually care for them. That's the difference." My aunt says. I expect to see her smiling- since she loves showing off her pearly white teeth- but am surprised when I look at her and her eyes are filled with sadness.

"I'm sorry," I say. When you say something that upsets people you apologize, that was what my parents taught me.

"Don't be." My aunt says, looking back down at her magazine. "Unless you spill that chocolate pudding on your moms new shag rug, then we'll both be sorry."

She could be a lot of fun. While my parents were strict she was what my mom called 'free spirited.' Somehow I still didn't like the thought of living with her; and I really really didn't like the sound of what my life would be like in a group home. I just wanted to go back home with Carlisle.

"Please don't make me move. I don't want to leave the Cullen's." If I had to beg, so be it. I just didn't- couldn't -let her take me away from the only people I had ever grown close too.

"Rosalie you are not staying with Carlisle and Esme anymore, don't make me repeat it again. I know it's hard for you to understand that this is the best thing for you, but I promise you it is." The social worker explains, her tone strict but sympathetic. I didn't want her sympathy; I wanted her to let me stay with my family.

Edward POV

It was three in the morning, and I could hear my mom crying. She hadn't been before. I was awake when she came home from visiting Rose in the hospital, her and my dad had left the room to talk in the hallway. (Which I guess wasn't that strange; they probably just didn't want to wake us up.) Only my mom came back in the room. That was around ten minutes ago, and it was only now that I could faintly hear the occasional sob through the door.

All of my siblings seemed to be sleeping. It was Emmett's annoyingly loud snoring that was keeping me up. Jasper's face was buried in his pillow on the bed next to me; he was shivering slightly in his sleep. Little Alice had taken all of both his and her blankets and cocooned her tiny body in them. I stood up quietly and grabbed an extra blanket that had fallen on the floor, throwing it onto Jasper. After somehow managing to eat three pieces of birthday cake, I was surprised Alice had fallen asleep at all. I'd expected her to be bouncing off the walls for the next 48 hours at the least.

I checked my phone and smiled, rolling my eyes as my notifications told me I had fifteen missed texts. Sammie had been texting me non-stop. I think she secretly knew how desperately I needed the distraction. Jake texted me a bit too, but he'd found some old dirt bikes at the dump- and was busy fixing them up. Jake was absolutely obsessed with pretty much any motorized vehicle, I think he would marry one if he could. I could only imagine his obsession would grow once he got his licence. I carefully set my phone back down on the nightstand between the two beds.

Deciding I refused to leave my mom alone when she sounded so upset I began walking towards the door that connected the two hotel rooms. When I heard my moms voice I paused and listened. Thinking someone else was in the room with her. Though I hadn't heard anyone else come in the room. When I still couldn't hear I pressed my ear to the door and listened even more closely then before. I tried to persuade myself that I was only eavesdropping on her conversation to see if she needed my help.

"Mom, I don't know what I'm going to do." She cried. Her voice was quiet but there was no denying how distraught she sounded.

What were her and my grandma talking about on the phone at three in the morning?

"-I know that. They're my kids, they can't just take them from me, I won't let them. I just can't believe this is even happening to us." A pause as she listens to my grandma. "I've been on the phone with some of the best lawyers in the state all morning. They don't like mixing it up with CPS, it's hard to say if we have any takers on the case."

CPS- no no no no no. Take us away? Why? Where would we go? I didn't understand, Esme and Carlisle were so good to us.

"I'm sorry I kept you up. I should do some more research." My mom says. "-Yes I'll call if there's any news. I love you too."

I begin to reach for the door knob but yank my arm back before my fingers can connect with it. I'm breathing louder then before and I don't think I'm capable of comforting my mom right now. Images of a social worker throwing me and my siblings into a group home flashed through my mind.

I tiptoe back to bed and lie back down; pulling the covers closer to me. There's no way I'll be able to fall asleep now. This time the blame isn't on Emmett's loud snoring, but on the fact my mind will not shut up. I couldn't help but worry about what would happen to me if I got taken away from my parents.

I had never been a part of the foster care system. Well, not really. After my mother had died suddenly in the middle of her treatment for cancer (she thought she had six months left, not three weeks) I had been put in a boys home for the night. I got my own room- but one of the home supervisors said I'd be put Ina different one with four other boys the next day- and they reluctantly let me eat supper- cold chicken noodle soup, crackers, and a juice box- in my room because all I wanted to do was cry and there was no way I was going to the cafeteria. I had been terrified. Lots of the other boys were bigger then me and looked scary and mean. It was Carlisle- my moms Doctor at the hospital- who came for me in the morning. From that day one my new parents (Carlisle and Esme) looked after me and cared for me deeply.

I think about my birth mom; and what she would think about me being taken away from my family. She was a very kind woman, and worked day and night to look after me. Her dying wish was that Carlisle made sure I was well taken care of. When Carlisle picked me up from the boys home he told me he'd been filling out adoption papers for over a month, which was how he was able to make sure I didn't have to wait in the boys home for long. Suddenly I'm reminded of the memory of my mother's last night before her death; how she held me and comforted me even though it was her who was dying. I remembered other things too; like how no matter how tired she was after working- she would always read me a bedtime story, that she loved to play the piano, and that her favourite colour was purple.

I have been fortunate enough to have always felt loved and cared for. When my mother died it has been Carlisle and Esme. If I lost them, I would have nobody. What would happen to my little siblings? They were too little to look after themselves.

I didn't want to imagine a life without my family in it. Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie and Emmett were my home.

P.S I do not believe all social workers are evil, and that all foster/group homes are either. Everything in this story is fictional. Also school is back and I'm severely sleep deprived again (yay!)