Hey there! Before you read this awesome 16th installment to Rising Sun: The Carlisle Cullen Story, I'd just like to take the time to thank Emiliana Keladry, AspiringWriter91, and Jasper Hale x Alice Cullen for commenting regularly and reminding me to keep going, even when I get distracted by school. Thanks a bunch guys and I hope you enjoy!

-Wish

Chapter 16: Unexpected Guests

My family and I stayed in Hoquiam for four years, while Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett went through the motions of school. Then we moved back to the east coast while Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett went through the Harvard circuit. Edward followed in my footsteps, earning a medical degree. Rosalie went for an engineering degree while Emmett majored in Physics, of all things. Esme took courses in architecture and even I went back to learn some of the new techniques in my field. We were all careful to keep our thirst under control, but Emmett slipped twice. After the second time, he and Rosalie returned to the house Esme and I had given them and didn't return for a year.

We travelled from city to city on the east, the kids attending high school and college courses. We worked our way through the Ivy League, starting with Harvard. Once all three had graduated, we moved on to start again at high school in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Area. That was when we met two interesting characters.

Emmett and Edward were out hunting one weekend, leaving Esme, Rosalie, and I at the house. It was later in the day; I had already returned from my shift at the hospital. We honestly weren't expecting anyone when the door bell rang.

"It's probably just a salesman," Esme commented as she went to get the door. I had just gotten home a few minutes before. Esme opened the door and gasped. "Carlisle," she whispered. Even upstairs in my study, I could hear the fear in her voice. A million possibilities raced through my head. The Volturi had come, a human had learned of our secret, the angry mob had shown up, a hostile coven was trying to eliminate others in the area, Edward or Emmett was hurt! I rushed downstairs and had Esme behind my back, protected from whatever evil had shown up at our door, before a human could have even blinked. But what stood at the door didn't seem quite so dangerous.

A male and female vampire stood on the door step. The male had straw blonde hair, was muscular, and covered with a million bite wounds that marred his skin and made every instinct in me shout "DANGER!". At his side, the female seemed to be the exact opposite. She was quite short, not even five feet tall, with black hair and features that made her look like she'd just stepped our of a Grimm Brothers tale. Immediately, my attention was drawn to their eyes, not the blood or burgundy red of all the other vampires outside of my family, but the same butterscotch gold of my own eyes.

"Carlisle!" the girl exclaimed. "How good it is to see you! You must have just gotten home from the hospital!" She skipped over the threshold and gave me a hug, like we were old friends. I was thoroughly confused as I stood up from my defensive crouch, but still on edge. The dangerous male remained outside, watching the female with amusement.

The girl let go and ducked under my arm. "Esme! It's great to see you too! Did you ever finish the house in Massachusetts?"

"Um?" Esme seemed just as shocked as I was. Rosalie had joined us from the other room.

"Who are you?" she asked her body language tense.

"And Rosalie's here too!" the girl called to the man at the door. She was like a little kid who'd found everything she'd wanted under the Christmas tree. She bounced over to Rosalie and gave her a hug before looking around. "But I guess I won't get to meet your husband Emmett, or Edward either, until they get back from hunting."

I was worried for our safety now. This little girl knew too much about us and the male at the door had obviously had a lot of vampires try to kill him, and fail. The only explanation I could think of for the girl's knowledge was that she was a mind reader like Edward.

"Who are you and what do you want with my family?" I demanded.

The little girl danced to the door and pulled the blonde vampire inside before closing it. "Silly me," she replied. "I've learned so much about you, I forgot you don't know us yet! I'm Alice, this is my husband Jasper. We want to know which room is ours."

"Excuse me?" Rosalie asked, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Well if you don't have a room ready that's fine," Alice replied. "You aren't the ones who can see the future. Edward can just read people's thoughts!"

Alice's words intrigued me. "You mentioned seeing the future," I commented. "I'm guessing you can?"

"Well only bits and pieces of it," Alice admitted. "The future is a very subjective thing."

"That's how you knew who we were?" Rosalie asked. "And where Edward and Emmett were?"

"Sure! I've been having visions of you guys for a couple months now!"

"And in these visions," I hesitated, "What do you see?"

"We're all a family. Edward and I are good friends. Rosalie is my shopping buddy. Jasper and Emmett like to horseplay a lot…" Alice trailed off, looking at Jasper. He nodded to her, perhaps in reassurance.

Alice looked around at each of our faces, her smile never fading. There was a moment of silence, the first since Alice stepped inside, and then Esme stepped forward.

"I guess we need to find you a room then," she said, taking Alice's hand.

Alice's face lit up and she half walked, half skipped up the stairs with Esme. I turned to Jasper, extending my hand.

"I'm Carlisle," I said. "I guess you're welcome here."

Jasper grinned, which looked almost malicious with his scars. "Alice is a little overwhelming at first. When I first met her, she was waiting for me at a diner in Philadelphia. She told me I was late!" Jasper had a southern accent that he seemed to try to repress.

"When Edward and Emmett get home, you two will have to tell us your whole story. I have a feeling it is quite interesting."

Jasper shrugged.

"Jasper!" Alice called from upstairs.

"You better go," I told him, smiling. Jasper nodded and disappeared upstairs.

When Edward and Emmett returned from their hunting trip, they were greeted with the same welcome from Alice that had frightened the three of us the day before. Now we watched with amusement as Edward read Alice's mind, seeing all the visions she spoke about, and as Alice climbed on Emmett's back to give him a hug.

Once introductions had been made, we sat down to hear Alice and Jasper's story. Alice went first, talking about her human memories, or lack thereof, and her subsequent visions of her with golden eyes, feeding from animals, her with Jasper in a diner in Philadelphia, and finally her visions of our own family. Alice's story seemed quite straight forward, though her lack of human memories puzzled me. Our human memories were foggy and indistinct, especially when we didn't focus on remembering them, but all of us had them still, even I who hasn't been human since the 17th century, almost 300 years ago.

Jasper's story was more in-depth. He was born in Texas and joined the Confederate Army. He advanced quickly, becoming a major before he was turned into a vampire by a Maria. He fought in the southern newborn wars, which I'd heard about already. The Volturi had had to step in to clean up as the southern vampires got careless about secrecy. Jasper was in charge of the newborns as Maria's partner because he could sense and influence emotions. He left Maria with the help of two newborns he'd let live, Peter and Charlotte. But because of Jasper's ability, he didn't like feeding from humans. He'd met Alice in Philadelphia and joined her, feeding from animals. They'd set out to find us after Alice had a vision of us.

"That was quite interesting," I remarked. Both Alice and Jasper had given me food for thought.

Edward seemed focused on others' thoughts. His face was screwed up in concentration and he didn't move a muscle. "The neighbors are curious," he said. "Nothing more. They—" he cut off and his eyes snapped to Alice. We all followed his gaze. Alice sat rigid; staring off, as if she wasn't really seeing what was really in front of her.

"Alice," Jasper called an edge to his voice. "Alice what do you see?"

Alice stared off a bit longer. "A field. Storm clouds. We're all there." She broke off and Edward picked up her description.

"It's a clearing in the Appalachians," he said. "No, it's the Poconos. And the sky is filled with thunderstorms. We're excited about something. Emmett has a baseball bat?"

Alice's vision broke off and both she and Edward sighed at the same time.

"A baseball bat?" Emmett scoffed. "We don't play sports. It's no fun when you have to throw the game." He growled audibly and Rosalie patted his back.

"That's what the thunder was for," Edward replied. "It masks the noise of a hit. A real hit."

Emmett's face lit up. "You mean we're gonna play ball? Sweet!"

"But the bat was odd," Edward added. "It wasn't wood, but metal. I haven't seen any of them like it."

"That would make sense," I commented. "A wooden bat would break if submitted to the amount of stress we would put on it. If we were to really play baseball, we'd need a sturdier material."

Emmett groaned and Jasper sighed. Both seemed to be genuinely upset about not being able to play.

"We just need to figure our how to make a sturdier bat," I assured them. "Rosalie, do you think you could?"

Rosalie was looking down at her folded hands. "I have heard, in one of my engineering classes, that an inventor somewhere created a bat of aluminum. But his was pieces. We'd need one of one piece, so that it didn't stress at the seams. I think it might be possible. I could tell you for sure, after I get a chance to try."

"That's my girl!" Emmett cheered, giving Rosalie a kiss. It was a bit excessive for the context and company, but Emmett and Rosalie had always flaunted their relationship. Neither seemed uncomfortable with public displays of affection. I saw Edward roll his eyes at them and then climb the stairs at vampire speed. Not two seconds later, he found the changes Alice had made to his room.

"Where's all my stuff?!" he yelled down the stairs, though we would have heard him just as well if he'd whispered.

"Oh uh, in the garage honey," Esme told him.

"Why?" Edward growled from the base of the stairs.

"Your room had the best view!" Alice replied cheerfully.

Edward snarled and marched out to the garage in a huff.