Just wanted to thank sophianair for the idea of this chapter... i thought it was a very good addition to the story.. hope i can do the idea some justice :)

Chapter 12

Esme and Rosalie both sat together on Esme's bed with Alexandra being passed around between them.

"Let him off the hook, it's been a couple days Rose," Esme told her daughter, referring to Emmett, "It started over something so silly and just escalated."

"I know," Rosalie agreed, staring lovingly at Alexandra, "Sometimes I don't know why I can't let things go. And, God I hope Edward didn't hear that."

"I did!" his voice called from somewhere else in the house. Rosalie heard William reading Edward's thoughts and she could tell it was getting under his skin so she allowed her son to fight that battle for her instead of fighting back with him.

"I'm such a bitch," Rosalie laughed.

Esme giggled, "You are not."

"This is the first time I can say that Rosalie is right," Edward's voice called in to them again.

"Edward, enough," Esme said lightheartedly.

"I'm going to apologize to Emmett," she told her, choosing not to feed into her brother's taunting.

"Good," Esme told her. She noticed Masen lingering in the hallway and felt a little guilty for not realizing he'd come into the house.

Rosalie left the room and scrunched his hair with her hand as she walked past. He smiled and looked in at his mother.

"I didn't know you were here Masen. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," he told her, walking in, immediately pulled his baby sister onto his lap as he sat down on the edge of the bed, "The pack made up. Sam and Jacob talked it out and met with everyone today."

"Great," she said with a smile, "That's really great."

"Yeah," he said, seeming to be hesitant with his next sentence.

"Is everything okay with Leah?" Esme asked him, picking up on his body language.

"Oh, yeah. Everything's fine with Leah."

She could tell he was being sincere, "Okay... what else?"

"Can I ask you something. It wasn't really brought to my attention until today, kind of accidentally actually. And if you'd rather not talk about, I understand."

"You can ask me anything honey," Esme told him. She muted the television and waited for him to speak.

Masen bobbed Alexandra up and down in his lap, "Edward suggested that I shouldn't bring it up..."

A few thoughts passed through Esme's mind and the one that stuck out was confirmed by his next question.

"Who was, um, Charles?"

Esme wasn't completely shocked by his curiosity on the subject. She figured at some point the topic would have come up. "Well, you know how all of us, aside from you, Willaim, Nessy, Lucy and Maddy, we were all human awhile ago. And aside from Bella, it was a long long time since we've all been human."

"I know," he said, nodding.

"In my human life," she explained, "I met your father one time when I was sixteen. He actually fixed a broken leg for me."

Masen smiled, "Yeah. I know that. You've both told me."

Esme grinned at him, "Well, the next part I know I've told you too, but we didn't meet again for another ten years," she took a deep breath, "In between those two times, I married a man named Charles. It was by far the worst time of my life."

"You don't have to talk about it," he told her, "I don't want to open a can of bad memories or anything."

She shook her head, "It's ancient history to me," her eyes drifted to Alexandra for a moment, then back up to her son's eyes that reminded her so much of Carlisle's, "Charles was just a terrible man. I was never in love with him, but I suppose from the way he treated me, how could anyone love someone like that," she shook her head again after being reminded of how weak she felt by staying with him for as long as she did, "I thought of your father all the time, even though I'd only met him that one time. I never thought in a million years I'd ever see him again, nevermind marry him and end up with all of this... and you, and Alexandra."

Masen smiled.

"Charles lead me down a long, horrible road," she went on, "I made a very irrational decision because of him... and because I had lost the only one good thing he gave me, well almost gave me.. a child."

"You had another-"

"I lost the baby," she said, "And I found myself feeling so down.. so defeated that I tried to jump to my death off of a cliff."

Masen raised his eyebrows, "I'm sorry Mom. You don't have to-"

"Well..." she said, "That is when Dad found me. He saved me. He knew I wouldn't have survived otherwise, so he changed me into.."

"A vampire," he finished, "What'd you think when it first happened?"

"I had a ton of questions, lots of things I wanted to know. I wasn't quite sure what happened until he explained.. But I couldn't believe that he was back in my life. It was a dream come true after living for so long in a nightmare. Charles was the complete opposite of your Dad. He degraded me.. beat me..." She continued to shake her head over and over thinking of his face, "Dad pulled me out of that. I loved him way before he changed me. He's just a very kind, honest, great man. He helped me love myself again after Charlies made me hate myself."

"I'm sorry Mom. You didn't deserved to be treated that way. I can't believe someone would ever... do that to you."

Esme smiled, "It lead me to where we are now, so I try not to see it as a regret. When your father told me how much he loved me that first time, it made everything else just about disappear. It was like I never even knew Charles. Like it was a bad dream."

There was a little silence between the two of them before Masen spoke up, "I'm sorry I brought that up Mom. I was just kind of.. curious. Edward accidentally said something and-"

"It's really okay, Masen," she told him, playing with Alexandra's hair as she sat quietly staring at the still muted television, "I'd like you to know as much as possible about all of our lives. It was bound to come up."

He set his sister down, who rolled around until she was flat on her stomach and continued watching the TV. Masen hugged his mother tightly, "You deserve all the love you have now, Mom. You and Dad deserve each other.. and the rest of us."

Esme rubbed his back as he didn't let her go for an extra couple of seconds. She kissed him by his temple, "You're my first miracle baby, Masen. You don't know how happy we were when we found out we were having you."

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too."

Carlisle entered through the front door and Masen smiled as he heard him whistling the song Piano Man.

"He's been singing that song for a week," Esme told him, "I'm sorry I had to miss your act down there."

"Oh, we'll do it again," he assured her.

"Good. Next time I'll get to go."

Carlisle entered the room with a smile, "Where's Leah?"

"Home," Masen told him, "I was just visiting." He stood up from the bed and gave Carlisle a forceful hug, "Love ya."

He laughed, "I love you, too."
Masen smiled and waved, "See you tomorrow."

Carlisle gave Esme a puzzled look, as she sat with their daughter on the bed. He walked over toward them and she pulled him to her with one, chaste kiss, "I love you so much, Carlisle."

He stared at her, about to ask if something was wrong, but realized from her eyes that she had more a serious, happy look. He nuzzled his nose against hers and kissed again once, "I love you more."

"Impossible," she winked and messed up his hair, then smiled as he scooped up their daughter.