Chapter 8

Carlisle and Esme were about finished hunting. Unlike normal days where they'd playfully make jokes and enjoy each other's company, the mood was quietly on edge. Esme hadn't said much herself, though finally decided to call her husband out on his out of character behavior.

"Do you not want to have this baby with me, Carlisle?"

He whipped around to face her. Esme suddenly regretted being so bold. "What?" He asked.

She swallowed hard, " You're not yourself. You haven't said all but two words to me in the last two days."

He recognized the heartache that was passing through her and hurried to her side. She didn't make eye contact despite the warm gesture he was trying to offer her.

"Esme, of course I want this with you. I've wished for nothing more for decades, despite how impossible it felt."

"Well, from the way you've been ignoring me since this has happened, it doesn't quite feel that way."

Carlisle placed his his arms around his wife and hugged her tightly, " You're right. I'm very sorry, my love. Sometimes I need you to show me the light." He placed a hand gently on her chin, "I love you. I love you more every time I see you, Esme. I don't want to make you feel alone the way I have over the last 24 hours." He took a deep breath and went on, " I'm just terrified that the Volturi are going to try to you hurt you and take you from me. I can't have that. I would die if something happened to you."

Esme buried her face in the warmth of his chest. " Alice said her visions were clear. They won't come bother us."

As much as he wanted to protest and list the possible consequences that could come of their situation, he bit his tounge and thought carefully. So far the only thought process he concentrated on was the list of bad possibilities. He hadn't taken the time to really focus in on the good ones. He owed to to himself and especially to Esme to enjoy something that, to his knowledge, no other beings of their kind could do. The more he thought about it, the more extrordinary it felt. He decided to speak from the heart, rather than try to reason everything out.

"Esme, I'm going to be completely honest about how I feel about this whole situation," he started.

She braced herself, knowing very well that her husband looked at things from all angles and came to logical conclusions.

Carlisle saw the fear in her eyes, and regretted very much that his words could effect her in such a way before he even spoke them, " My love, I can't wait for you to have our child. In all of my years that I've been privileged to be on this earth, and the decades I've been lucky and fortunate enough to have you by my side, there is nothing that I have been happier and more estatic about." His calm, honest smile cooled Esme's emotions and she smiled back, "We're going to have a baby, Esme. I never thought I would say those words, but it's true. I love you in more ways than you'll ever know."

Esme felt her entire body begin to feel weak from happiness. Her throat felt tight and choked up. She couldn't bring herself to respond to the paradise of words that left Carlisle's mouth. Instead, she kissed him and couldn't bring herself to let go. She felt his body shaking, more than any human nervous system could.

"Are you ok, Carlisle?" she managed to get out.

He pulled her tighter to him, "I can't bring myself to let you go, Esme. I can't believe I haven't taken the time to think this over properly."

"Well start thinking Daddy."

Carlilse smiled and eskimo kissed her before leaving a string of real kisses on her lips. "Thank you."

"For what?" She asked.

"For being with me, and making me the happiest man," he rephrased himself, "Happiest vampire in the world."

"Are you going to be my doctor?" Esme winked at him to lighten the mood.

He grinned wide, "Of course. And I'll have to give you a full body exam when we get home."

She laughed, "I think that's how we got into this position in the first place."

Carlisle kissed her, then put her on his back. "Let's go home."