There was a loud crash that came from the living room as Carlisle stepped into the house and pulled his coat off. Placing it on the coat hook he looked around the hallway and sighed when he saw no one. Maria had decided it would be a good idea to go hunting when her eyes had gone black in the middle of the hospital, even thought she had eaten the day before.

He bent over a bit and pulled his shoes off of his feet gently, placing them next the to the wall and heading for the living room. The shouting had just started when he turned the corner.

"Carlisle!" Before he knew what had happened Esme had her arms wrapped around his waist, and he was on the floor "I missed you so much"

"Esme get away from him" Edward knew it would be a bad idea to try to pull her away from his adoptive father, but the urge was burning up inside of him even greater when she planted her lips firmly against Carlisle's "you have no right to him Esme!"

"He's my husband" she pouted

"You divorced him" Alice's calm voice cut through the thick air between Esme and Carlisle, and she made her way across the floor only to pull Esme off of Carlisle "And besides, he's already got a new girlfriend"

"Carlisle? You…moved on?"

"What do you expect?" he whispered "you left, and you didn't come back till now. Do I not have a right to move on?"

"But…I only needed some time away from you" her topaz eyes cut through him like a hot knife through butter, and he pulled a bit further back. "Carlisle, I'm back now" she whispered, crawling over to him and onto his lap. The door creaked open just as she leaned up to kiss him and the sound of a bag hitting the floor ran through the room.

"C…Carlisle" The older blond man turned his head just enough to see Marias dark black eyes starting at him "what…what's going on in here?"

"I'm taking my man back" there was a low growl in the back of Esme's throat that made it very clear of what she would do if Maria tried to stop her.

"Excuse me!?" Maria demanded "you're the one who gave him up now back off!"

"Girls calm down!" Carlisle called from his spot on the ground "this is ridicules! Esme you left!"

"And now I've come back"

"It doesn't work that way"

"You gave him up" Maria whispered "you can't just take him back like that!"

"I have every right to my husband!"

"Esme! We're divorced" Carlisle stated calmly, crawling to his feet once more and fixing his shirt "there is no husband and wife in this room other then the kids"

"But…Carlisle"

"You can stay here for now" he whispered "but you'll be in the same room as Mia if you want to go to any room"

"Car…"

"There are not buts Esme. I've moved on and you're not taking that back"

Watching as Carlisle wrapped his arm around Marias shoulders and led her out of the room Esme fell to the floor as the kids left, wishing she could cry.

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"Carlisle?" Blond hair flew out of his face when he looked up from his desk to see Esme standing at the door "Can I…talk to you?"

"As long as it doesn't include making claims about still being my wife" he whispered as he placed the book down on top of his desk and leaned back in his chair a bit. "what do you want to speak about?"

"Us I guess" she shrugged, making her way across the cold floor and to chair across from him. She took a quick seat and leaned back a bit "I wanted to explain what happened"

"Esme…"

"Just listen, please"

"Fine" he whispered

"When I left I was furious at you. I hated you for never being around. I had been talking to my ex for a year before I left and he seemed so much like you except without a job to keep him away, so…I left" she whispered "When I got there he was nothing like he seemed. He was nice and everything but…he was no Carlisle"

"What are you trying to say Esme?"

"I made a mistake Carlisle, and so are you" she whispered "you know as well as I do that we're meant to be together. You can't tell me you no longer believe that"

"I don't know what to believe anymore Esme" he whispered, to concentrate on speaking with her to notice someone outside his door. "you left, that made all the difference. I loved you more then anything and you…just left without any warning"

"I didn't know what to say" her eyes travelled down to the ground "you saved me from death, brought me into a life where I had kids to help through their lives…how was I suppose to tell you I was sick of the life Carlisle?"

"How could you be sick of this life esme?"

"Always hiding who we are, what we can do. You're a doctor for god sakes Carlisle and you can't even do everything in your power to save a person, only as much as humanly possible"

"But we're not humans" he whispered

"That's right. We're not. It's unfair that we always have to hide our powers from other people. We can't play baseball unless there's thunder crashing in the sky. We have to drive to town when it would be so much faster for us just to run"

"Esme I am not Aro, or your ex" Carlisle whispered "I wish I was human but I have no possible way of going back. The least I can do is make myself feel human once in a while and I love that feeling"

"But…its not us" she shrugged softly "and you know you're not human no matter what you do" she moved up from her chair and around the desk quickly, stopping in front of him and leaning down a bit "and your new girlfriend? A hand me down from Aro Carlisle?"

"She is nothing like that" he growled, knowing what she was thinking "Maria is amazing…"

"Better then me?"

"Esme…"

"Tell me the truth Carlisle"

Letting out a low sigh he was about to answer her question when they heard a crash outside the room. Jumping to his feet he ran out of the room to find one of his wooden crosses on the floor in pieces. "Maria…"

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Throwing a few cloths into a backpack Carlisle had bought her Maria closed her eyes as she zipped it up and threw it over her shoulder. Opening the window to his room she crawled out gently and jumped down onto the ground. "Stay here Mia" she whispered

"Where are you going?"

"As far away as I can possibly be from here" she sighed "I can't…I just can't stay here when I know he loves her more"

"That's not true. He doesn't want her back after what she did Maria"

"It's Carlisle, there's always a second and third chance for people in him"

"But right now is your chance"

"I can't do that to him Hun" she smiled weakly "just…stay here alright? You're happier here then you will be back at the volterri"

"Aro will be furious with you. He's tried to get you home so many times and you've always refused"

"I'll take the punishment" she smiled "just…don't let anyone know until I'm far enough away please. Block it from Edward somehow"

"I…ill try" Smiling Maria walked over to her friend and touched he shoulder softly "everything will get easier for you" she smiled, leaning down and kissing her forehead softly "bye for now"

"See you later…" with out another thought Maria was gone, and Mia was left standing there with no idea of what had just happened.