Disclaimer: We all know that only Stephanie Meyer owns The Twilight Saga. But I couldn't help but add my little bit of an adventure to an already great saga.

Chapter 16 – The Fallacy of Fear

Alice POV

Jasper and I walked over to Esme and Edward; He gently handed our sobbing mother over to my husband. Jasper sent out waves of calm to soothe her and I kissed my mom's forehead so happy to see her again I could cry myself. Then I looked at Edward. We communicated with each other without saying anything. Edward could read my mind and I could see what he would say before he spoke so we often conversed like this, much to our sibling's chagrin.

"Edward, I just saw daddy and he needs your help. I saw you helping him out of the cavern; because he is so sad. He feels like he let Esme down; like he failed her and cannot make himself leave. He is beating himself up. Go help him. You, out of all of us would understand how he feels."

"Alice is he hurt?"

"No, he is broken, sad and angry", I replied in his mind.

"And Edward, he just killed Victor. He is ashamed of himself and how he lost control. He doesn't know how to face Esme or us now. He thinks we will be shocked at his behavior and disappointed in him," I continued.

"Ridiculous, if anything we are upset that we did not get to do it," Edward retorted silently.

"Go, help him. Bring him back to us," I pleaded putting on my special pout that I reserved for when I really wanted something from the family.

He nodded slightly and took off in the direction Jacob had come from.

"Let's get mom inside," I prompted Jasper. I wanted to get Andrew to help us for a change.

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked her tentatively. She was still so upset speech was difficult. I went with an idea I had been thinking about. "Jasper, ask Andrew to put her to sleep like he did before. She is too upset and frightened to cope right now."

"What do you have in mind Darlin'?" he asked me in his sweetest Southern drawl.

"You and Emmett will guard her while she rests, while Jacob and I will return to the hotel to get some clothes for her and Carlisle," I informed him. "Before you ask, I am not about to leave Emmett and Jacob here together to watch over Esme. That could be disastrous if they keep up their antics. Although she is not in any danger anymore, she needs to feel safe."

We set about planning what we would do to finish up our activities here in the UK so we could all return home together. I was going to get clothes for Mom and Dad until we could help them get their things together. The boys would watch over mom and continue visiting with Alistair and his coven. And Bella and I even spent some time with Kayrn sharing information about our own wedding ceremonies. Edward and Carlisle would return in the next 20 minutes and I suddenly had a vision of my parents returning home separately. My unbeating heart went into a panic. Some decision one of them made was about to separate them for several hundred years! I went to check on my mom. She was resting but not in a pleasant manner. Her thoughts were filled with anxiety.

"Ummmm…Please Victor, let me go. I need to find him. He can't be dead. He would never leave me. Let me see…" Esme murmured to herself.

Was she actually dreaming? Is that possible? I looked to Andrew for answers, "What is happening to her? Is she actually dreaming, Andrew?"

"What she is doing is reliving a memory of something she has experienced. It appears like a dream to onlookers but it is like sitting down and remembering a particular incident with all the details intact. Sometimes if you are able to exercise enough control, you can generate something like a dream by imagining a scenario of your own," he explained.

"She seems so distraught; perhaps we should wake her and try to get her calmed down. She has been through a lot these last few days," I suggested.

"If you feel that is best," Andrew replied as he slowly released Esme from her slumber.

"Mom," I called softly, "Esme, can you hear me?"

"Alice; Oh Alice, baby, I am so glad to see you! Where are the rest of the kids? We need to find Carlisle, he is … No, he's alive; we need to go get him. Victor is going to try to kill him. You know you father hates violence and that man has nothing but menace in his plans. We have to go help Carlisle," Esme blurted out these statements quickly in a panic.

"Whoa, slow down. Dad is okay. I saw it and Edward is with him. He went to bring him back home to us, to you, Mom." Esme begin to wail aloud. She was getting hysterical and frightened and apprehensive. "Jasper, Honey, need some help here."

"Something's wrong, Sweetheart," Jasper informed me. "Her emotional state is spiking and plummeting between fear and anxiety and anger and foreboding. I am trying to calm her down but something is making her suffer these panic attacks anyway."

I saw another vision of Esme running away from Carlisle and he just stood there and let her go. She was upset and so was he. They both could not get past the disappointment they felt. I needed to find what happened in those caverns when I could not see earlier.

"Mom, what happened between you and Victor? Did he hurt you? Please tell me what he did that makes you so upset? I want to help," I implored to her.

"Alice, I kissed Victor!" She sobbed. "I willingly kissed him to get something he could give me. I gave in to his desire so easily that I did not question whether or not it was right. I lost faith in Carlisle and did not wait for him as I should have. Desperate to get what I wanted, I gave in to his desires for me instead of going with my gut feelings and waiting for your father like I should have," she wailed pitifully.

"Mom, I am sure you were not given a choice," I assured her holding her to me to comfort her.

"Yes I was!" she retorted trying to pull away from me. "I was given a choice to do as I wanted to get what I wanted and I chose to betray your father's memory." Her breath hitched at that thought.

"How can I possibly face him again? He was trapped and left for dead and here I was making out with his supposed killer while he lay dying somewhere possibly thinking about me," she shook her head admonishing herself.

"Mom, think about it. This is Victor we are talking about. I am sure you were manipulated somehow," I shook her gently trying to get her to think rationally.

"Perhaps or perhaps not, I am not sure how your father sees it. He rejected me as soon as he saw me. He immediately sent me away as soon as he saw me. He must have been so hurt by this. Alice, I have never seen that kind of rage on his face before. He was livid. How can I face him? How can I face his disappointment in me?"

"Oh Mommy, don't say that. Daddy loves you more than his own life. He was probably angry at what Victor had done not at you," I caressed her face as I assured her.

"Alice, he would not even kiss me. Your father always kisses me. He was visibly upset and he and Victor were confronting each other when I left. I am sure Victor gloated about w…what he made me do. I can't forgive myself, let alone accept his forgiveness of what I did," sobbed my broken-hearted mother.

Jasper feels guilt and self-loathing from my mom and I saw a vision of them both taking different routes home due to their own self deprecations.

"Alice, Alice, what do you see?" Jasper asked as he grabbed me when my vision took over my body and I sobbed aloud.

We're all heading to the airport. Carlisle and Esme are polite to each other as they lay a chaste kiss goodbye on each other's cheeks. No passion at all. He helps Esme and Bella and Edward to load up the cab. He then returns back to the hotel, and sits in the lobby with his head in both hands dejected. Meanwhile Esme is quietly sobbing in the cab on the way to the airport. She is also dejected and unhappy at the situation but apparently neither of them is able to get past their sense of failure in themselves.

"They just need time to adjust to what has happened," suggested Jasper as I explained the vision I had just seen.

"Do you want to wait another 100 years for them to figure out what is wrong?" I hissed at my husband. "Well I don't. We have to do something ourselves."

Then Alistair appeared in the doorway, "Alice, Jasper, may I speak to you mother for a moment, alone?"

Esme POV

"I am sorry to intrude but I feel I must. Alistair stated. "My son was a vile, malicious person who only cared about what he wanted for himself. How can you possibly allow his manipulations to tear a hole in a relationship that took nearly a century to build?" I shook my head as he spoke unable to answer just yet. "If you give in to this, Victor would have won even if he dies," Alistair informed me.

"I am afraid I cannot face the disappointment I have caused Carlisle," I sobbed.

"You and your husband both will continue to suffer needlessly because of my stepson's foolishness in assuming he could destroy something so precious just to appease his on desires. Are you willing to throw away your marriage, your children and your entire lifestyle for the likes of Victor?" Alistair challenged me.

"But how can I face my poor husband, knowing what I have done?" I sobbed sadly.

"Why did you kiss him, Esme?" Alistair asked me pointedly.

My face scrunched up as I answered him truthfully. "He told me Carlisle was dead and he was going to take care of me from now on. I wanted to reach out to my kids and needed a phone to do that. He said if I kissed him, and really meant it he would allow me to call and say goodbye to my children," I explained breaking into a tearless cry again.

"And so you kissed him with everything you had in you despite mourning the loss of your husband, right?" Alistair continued for me.

"Yes," I replied sobbing. "How can you be so calm about this? This is your son we are discussing. He could be dead by now, especially if my boys got hold of him after this."

"If I got hold of Victor, I would have to kill him myself, Esme. You don't know all that has happened here, but my son is no longer my son. I tried to raise him as a son and he rejected me on all accounts," Alistair continued with a pained expression on his face. "He tried to take my coven from me and even had me and my mate marked for death."

"Oh Alistair, I had no idea all this had occurred," I expressed my sympathy at his pain of betrayal from his own son.

"I am going to be fine as I have accepted that I have merely lost a thorn in my side. But you are allowing an unnecessary wedge to be forced into a relationship that was never questioned before."

"But you don't understand…" I interrupted.

"And by your definition," he continued, putting his hand up to stop me mid sentence. "This makes you a bad person; a terrible wife and mother?"

He scoffed at my nod of admittance. "Surely you see the error of your thoughts? Consider the source of your affliction. Look at who was behind everything and how far he went to get something he did not deserve nor have a right to claim. Do not let my son appear even remotely successful by breaking an unbreakable bond for his own selfish reasons."

"What if Carlisle doesn't forgive me?" I asked nervously.

"We are talking about Carlisle Cullen, right? This is a man that I observed, that worships you immensely. How is it possible he cannot forgive you? He will have a harder time forgiving himself don't you think?" Alistair pointed out. "I know I would if the same thing happened to my Kayrn."

"What would he need to forgive himself for? He did nothing wrong?" I asked as I looked at him incredulously.

"Will he see it that way or will he fault himself for everything that has happened to you?" Alistair asked as he raised his eyebrow inquisitively.

I gasped at the realization of his words. Could we both be a victim of Victor's machinations? Could it possibly be that even after having all his plans fail, Victor would still win? Where would we go? How would we live? How can I assure Carlisle that we were both manipulated and we each need to each forgive ourselves?

"Mom!" Alice flitted into the room excitedly, "Dad and Edward are returning in 18 minutes. Let's get you cleaned up before they get back, plus Daddy needs to shower and change himself."

"I'll let you freshen up," Alistair said as he left, "but think about what I have said to you. Your entire family will be waiting on how you two react to each other."

A/N: Thank you to my faithful readers. We are almost done. I have discovered a few more stories hidden inside me and will continue to write after this. Thank you to my wonderful beta Totteacher, You rock! And I am so excited about all my new friends I have made on this sight; people who have gone beyond the favored reviews and spoken to me personally. Thank you so much for encouraging me and sharing your thoughts and ideas and future projects with me. I am looking forward to some excellent collaboration of projects and furthering of future friendships. Now please review and go ahead and add me to your author alerts.