Chapter 18

"What do you think about everything that happened with William and Maddy?" Esme asked Carlisle.

He sat in his office scribbling some notes to remember for his next day at the hospital, working out of a manila folder. "I think they learned a hard lesson," he said, not looking up. The pen in his hand ran rapidly across the lined paper.

"Don't you think we ought to talk to Masen and Alexandra? Just to make sure they get how important things are."

"We could." He thought for a second and continued writing.

"Carlisle," Esme said, attempting to get his full attention.

"Yeah..." His voice drifted away from their conversation as he continued to concentrate solely on his work.

"When you're done, come find me. I'd like to talk a little about this."

Carlisle picked his eyes up away from what he writing, "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to ignore you."

"No, I interrupted you," she said, "But when you're done, I'll be down the hall."

"Where's Alexandra? She's not down at the reservation is she?"

Esme smiled at his constant paranoia that their daughter would return home imprinted on by one of the werewolves. "No. She's down at the field trying to learn how to play soccer with Edward, Emmett and Masen. William was suppose to go, but he's banned to the house."

"Okay," he said, looking back down at his work.

"Don't work too hard," she told him with a smile.

"I'm about done. I just want to make sure I have everything in order."

He continued his thought patterns and Esme smiled at his seriousness as she made her way down the hall to watch television and fold some clothes. She heard Luciana approach him a few minutes later, attempting to apologize for her father.

"He's doing what he's suppose to do," Carlisle assured her, "We all have to be more careful of our surroundings. He was right. And there's certainly no need to apologize."

Esme smiled again, folding a few t-shirts, placing them neatly into piles according to who's they were. There were so many people these days that she often got confused as to what clothes belong to who. Masen and William were always in each other's closet, sharing a lot of what they wore, as were the girls.

"Don't even ask William," Rosalie said loudly to her son, "You're not doing anything with anyone, any time soon."

He didn't protest, but let out a sigh that everyone in the house could hear. A few seconds later, Alexandra entered the house, laughing with her brothers. Esme heard Carlisle enter their room, and she spun around.

"We can call them up here if you want," Carlisle said, "I think you're right. We need to emphasize things a little firmer."

"Masen. Alex.." Esme called, neatly folding some face clothes into a pile. Carlisle joined her and put a quick kiss on her cheek before their children came upstairs.

"What's up?" Masen asked, tossing the red, white and blue soccer ball from hand to hand. Alexandra tried to lean an arm on his shoulder and flicked his ear. He smiled and nudged her with his elbow. Both of them were a little muddy from the mushy, wet ground outside, though were courteous enough to remove their shoes upon entering the house. Masen's hair was a mess, and Alexandra's usually pin strait carmel hair was wrapped in a messy bun on top of her head.

"We just wanted to have a quick talk about what happened with Aro," Carlisle said.

They looked at each other and waited for their parents to continue.

"I know we've had our difference with the Volturi," Esme told them, "But in this case, when it comes to the sunlight and revealaing ourselves, they're absolutely right. People can't know we're different. There could be very serious consequences, not just with Aro and their coven but with the world. They wouldn't understand."

"She's right. We don't want to ever see anything happen that will put either of you in danger," Carlisle explained, "In the past, we've been really strict and lately things have been a little less... informative. It had been so long since we've really had to explain everything because the two of us, Edward, Bella, Jasper, Alice..."

"Rose and Emmett.." Esme added.

"We've all been around the lifestyle longer. Bella picked up on it right away as Edward helped her adjust. So, I just want to overemphasize now that you can't take any chances. If it's sunny, even a little, stay here. Don't go out to any places where there would be a chance you could be seen."

Esme nodded, "And we know you haven't, this is just for the future."

"And that includes your mother and I, as well," Carlisle told them. He looked at Masen, "That boy you saved, Kenny... he saw me in the sunlight on several occasions. I made an exception because of his condition, but unfortunately we can't do that type of stuff anymore."

Masen nodded, "Okay. I know."

"What happened with Kenny, Dad?" Alexandra asked, "Who is Kenny?"

"You know how your brother has the ability to heal people..."

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Well, he healed a boy down at the hospital who had terminal cancer. He was maybe nine or ten years old."

Alexandra looked at Esme, "Cancer is that horrible disease that kills humans, right?"

Esme nodded, "Yes." The two of them had brushed up some terms during the times Alexandra worked with her mother educationally.

"Well, Kenny saw me from his window in the sunlight for a brief second and thought I was an angel. He was convinced I could heal him and I brought in Masen to see if he could heal him."

"And he did right?"

Carlisle nodded, "Yeah. We ran into him at La Pushe when you were still just a baby. You probably don't remember because you were so young."

Alexandra thought for a second as her father removed the picture of the two of them from his wallet. He handed it to her and she smiled, "You keep this all the time?"

He nodded, "All the time."

Her face seemed to glow as she handed it back to him, "It's weird that that was less than a year ago."

Esme smiled and Carlisle let out a laugh, "Yeah. It is."

"We're a weird family," Masen said, "Get used to it."

"But anyway," he continued, sliding the photograph back and putting the wallet into his back pocket, "We saw them on the day the picture was taken, and just seeing their family happy again, and Kenny completely healthy was unbelievable. His parents looked at us that day like they sensed something, or knew something."

"Do you really think they'd look into and try to like, bring attention to us?" Masen asked.

Carlisle shook his head, "No. Probably not. But in the future, we can't take any chances. And, like I said, that goes for us too."

They all stood for a second, looking at each other silently.

"Everyone understood?" Esme asked.

Masen and Alexandra nodded, "Yep," they said together. "How come there's no picture of me in your wallet?" Masen asked with a joking grin.

Carlisle pulled his wallet back out and fiddled through a small stack of photos and cards before handing Masen one of him and Leah.

"Okay, I take back my words."

Alexandra leaned over and checked the picture out, "Leah's so pretty."

"She's hot!" Masen said enthusiastically with a laugh.

Carlisle and Esme shook their heads with matching smiles.

"We're clear, right?" Carlisle asked.

"Crystal clear," Alexandra told him with a smile.

"Go shower," Masen told his sister, "Having a fire at our place tonight."

Carlisle's face turned somewhat serious, "Another bonfire?"

"Dad," Masen told him, "It would have happened already I'm sure."

Esme snickered, knowing he was referring to the imprinting process. Alexandra had been down to hang out with them all a number of times without anything happening.

"What would have happened?" Alexandra asked.

"Remember I talked to you about the whole imprinting thing.. and how the Quileutes find their true love that way?"

She nodded.

"Well, Dad's afraid that's going to happen to you with one of the guys in the tribe."

Esme raised her eyebrows with a smile and looked at Carlisle, who was caught off guard by his son's bold move to call him out. "That's not really the case," he said.

Alexandra smiled, "None of those boys are my type anyway," she said with a laugh, "They're just buddies."

"You have a type?" Esme asked. She knew this was a discussion that had been going on with Alice, or Rosalie most likely.

"Well... you know.. Kind of."

"Boys... that's her type. Just boys." Masen teased.

"Shut up," she said back with a slightly embaressed smile.

"Shower, so we can go," her brother urged.

"Emmett's in the downstairs shower and you already called the other one. Why don't you just shower at home?"

"Use ours," Esme said. She guided her daughter toward the bathroom and was eager to ask her more boy questions, though decided to wait until another day when her husband was at work.

"And Dad," Alexandra said to him, returning for a quick hug, "Don't worry. No one will ever take your place. Mom said you were sad the other day, so we can catch a movie tomorrow if you want. Or we can go hunting together."

Carlisle grinned and hugged her, "Alright... if you want to."

"I want to," she assured him before skipping past Esme into the bathroom.

"Look after her," Carlisle told his son, "Do not let-"

"She's in good hands, Dad," Masen said, "Trust me. All of us will be there... plus something involving Jacob and Renesme could happen tonight.." He put a hand on his father's shoulder then tossed him the muddy soccer ball, "I have to go shower."