Chapter 19

Alice made her way around town until she was finally able to track down Carlisle and Esme, who were now accompanied by Alexandra and Michael in the car. The three of them sensed her nearby and she began to communicate with them until Carlisle pulled over so they could have a conversation.

"Charlie's at work with Masen right now," she told them, "And I think I might have freaked out Sue a little."

"Is tonight the night you saw him... collapse?" Carlisle asked her. He noticed his daughter's fearful expression at his words as he caught a glance of her in the rearview mirror.

"No," Alice shook her head, "That I can be certain of."

"Where are they?" Esme asked her urgently.

"Rosalie and Emmett are tracking them now. It shouldn't be long before she calls me. She explained everything to Leah, and I sent Jasper and Nicole over so he could try to calm her down a bit. Edward and Bella are out and about too with William and Maddy."

"Get in," Carlisle told her, "We'll go on our own search unless Rosalie calls you first."

Alice nodded and slid into the back seat with Alexandra and Michael. They began to drive around, hoping to spot Charlie's cruiser on their travels.

"Oh!" Alice said after a few minutes. A moment later, her phone went off and she rapidly traced her fingers over the keys, sending Rosalie a responsive text message. "Pull a U-turn Carlisle."

He glanced over his shoulder at her, then spun the car in the opposite direction. "Tell me when I have to turn."

"Keep going on this road for about a mile, then we'll take a left a little ways up."

"What are we going to do when we find them?" Alexandra asked.

"I want you to try your best to find out what he needs," Carlisle told her, "And we're just going to question what routes they generally take and anything routine on the job that happens just about every day, then we'll leave them be."

"Can't we take him home?" Esme asked, looking at Carlisle as his foot floored the gas pedal.

"He won't want to come," Alice explained, "I don't see anything dangerous on their trip tonight. Plus their shift ends in just a little over an hour."

"Even after we tell him the consequences and what's to come?" she asked, "He would have to know it was absolutely necessary."

"If Alice says there's nothing harmful in his path tonight, then we should let him go about his normal night," Carlisle said with a shrug.

Esme didn't like the idea of it, but decided not to go against Carlisle sensing both he and Alice thought it would be okay. She sat quietly in the passenger seat until Alice's directions lead them to where Masen stood on the road with his door to the police car open. Rosalie and Emmett both stood a few feet away speaking with him and Charlie's silhouette could be seen in the driver's seat leaning slightly over toward the passenger side.

Masen was rattling off a series of things the two of them did, though gave a big sigh when Rosalie went more in depth on her questioning.

"This is for your own good," she reminded him with a stern tone, though kept it lighter than she would have in a normal circumstance.

Carlisle pulled the car to the side of the road and threw it in park with the car still running before he unbuckled his seat belt and went to Charlie's side window.

"I'm lost," Charlie told him as Carlisle peered in the window, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm very, very sorry to disturb you while at work," Carlisle started, "I'll explain everything in the morning. It's something to do with-"

"Your kind?" Charlie guessed, "Vampires?"

"Sort of," he said, "When can I meet with you at a better time?"

"We're off an hour," Charlie told him, "I never go right to sleep when I get home." He sensed the urgency in their conversation and looked over as Alexandra ran and hugged her brother.

"Mom," he said, shaking his head, "Can we please do this later? I ran tests with Dad all throughout the day. I'm at work. You guys can't do this."

As much as she wanted to protest, she knew they couldn't do much for him at that exact moment and agreed, "Sure, honey. I'm sorry."

"Rosalie," Carlisle said, calling her toward him, "I'm sorry Charlie."

"This is the most we've done all night," he told him, "Quiet one."

Masen got back in the car without saying much to anyone else and mumbled something to Charlie about how overprotective his mother was. Charlie responded by saying that's it was part of a mother's job before putting the car in drive.

"Who cares about his stupid job," Rosalie said after they had gone, "We need to figure out these details now." She held out a paper of questions with Masen's responses written on them, "This is a good chunk of their normal routine."

"Thank you," Carlisle told her, he glanced down at it before folding it a few times and tucking it neatly in the back pocket of his pants. "Let's go home. I'll talk to Charlie in a little while."

"How's Leah?" Esme added, looking toward Rosalie, "Alice said Jasper went over to calm her down? You didn't tell Cassandra did you?"

"We were able to distract Cassie," Rosalie told her, "But Leah, well..." she looked at Emmett, "It wasn't good."

"I'm going over to see her," Esme told her, "Alex, Michael... do you want to come with me?"

They both nodded. Carlisle looked at her, "I'll drop you off, then I'll go wait over at Charlie's."

"Okay," she nodded, squeezing his hand. Carlisle admired her abilities to remain calm for Alexandra's sake. He gave her a subtle half smile.

"We'll head home on foot," Rosalie told them, "I'll call Edward." She looked at Emmett, who was already in the process of dialing William's number.

"I'll go with you guys," Alice said to Carlisle.

He nodded and the five of the got back into his car before Rosalie and Emmett took off into the night.

Alexandra sat in between Alice and Michael, bracing herself for the bumps and harder than normal corners Carlisle took. He looked back several times and apologized to them for his non-typical driving patterns. She assured him each time that it was alright and felt a certain comfort as she saw her parents link hands across the glove compartment.

"I think it's all going to be alright," she said to them.

Esme turned to face her slightly and gave her a quick painful smile and an accompanied nod, then took a deep breath and turned to face the road again. Carlisle glanced over at her momentarily before he, too, refocused on what was in front of them.

When they pulled in the driveway, Alice sensed Jasper and Nicole right away. She barely waited for Carlisle to put the car in park before she was running toward the house, where almost all of the lights were on despite the late hour.

Michael and Alexandra exited the car at the same time, both through the driver's side door in the back. They stood close, linking hands and Carlisle stepped out of the car to see them off. Alexandra parted from Michael for a moment to give her father a long hug before joining back up with him.

Esme rounded the front of the car and did the same, hugging Carlisle for a little longer than she normally would before giving him a kiss. "Call me when you get there," she told him.

"I will," he promised, placing a hand on cheek, "I love you."

"I love you, too." She kissed him once more and joined where Alexandra and Michael stood waiting for her halfway between the car and the front door.

Carlisle got into the car and headed over to Charlie's, preparing what to say to Sue first when he got there. He hoped by some chance that Charlie might get there before him, though he knew it wasn't likely.

When he arrived, a few of the lights on the lower level were on. He saw Sue in the break of the living room blinds and was glad he wouldn't be waking her. She anticipated his knock and opened the door before he was able to. Just behind her stood Seth and Luciana, both with long faces, apparently over the news about Masen.

"Come in," Sue told him, starting off their conversation with a hug. He gave the kids a quick closed mouth smile as she let him go, though placed her hands on the outside of his shoulders.

"Esme's over with Leah," he told her.

She nodded, "Is Masen going to be alright?"

Carlisle cleared his throat as a momentary distraction from his urge to get emotional before he answered her. "We're doing what we can to get to the bottom of things."

"But it's just a cough right now, right?" she asked with hope beaming through.

He realized quickly that she hadn't heard the latest part of their discoveries through Alice's visions. "Right now," he nodded, "Yes. We just want to try to prevent anything further from happening."

"I thought-" Seth started, then quickly stopped himself and began to play with his phone to avoid his mother's potential questions, "Mom, can we go over to see Leah?"

Sue looked back at them, then gave a quick nod. Her son walked by and kissed her cheek, before she did the same to both him and Luciana. They both gave matching smiles to Carlisle before fleeing out the front door.

"Is there more than I've been told?" she asked him, as the two of them were left standing by the open doorway.

"We just," he sighed, feeling overwhelmed by what to do for yet another time. As much as he hated lying, and rarely made a practice of it, he also felt that certain times called for a variation of the truth to keep order. "I'll keep you updated as we find out more. I ran tests all day today, and he's weaker than the rest of them, but he was fine at work. We just ran into him and Charlie. I actually came here to speak with Charlie once he gets off his shift."

She nodded, "He mentioned something a little while ago on the phone. He shouldn't be more than a half hour now."

"Thanks," Carlisle said with a nod, "I hope I'm not keeping you awake. I can wait outside in the car."

"No, no. Of course not," Sue told him, "I'm wide awake, and even if I wasn't I would never have you wait outside."

"Thank you," he said again.

"You're very welcome." Her eyes drifted to the open door behind him and she was about to close it.

Carlisle took it upon himself to do it so she wouldn't have to and let her escort him into the living room where the television was on at a very low volume.

The two of them sat and talked for a little while, mostly about Masen and Leah until the headlights from Charlie's car rolled across the walls. Sue stood up and made her way toward the door and he entered a minute or so later.

Carlisle slowly stood up from the couch, not eager to retell the story of his son, yet again, though was equally eager to get any information from Charlie that could possibly help him in the near future.

"I'll let you two talk," Sue said, kissing Charlie on the cheek, "Good luck with everything Carlisle."

"Thank you, Sue," he said back with a nod.

"Goodnight." She kissed Charlie on the cheek once more, using his shoulder to reach the height she needed before disappearing up the stairs.

Carlisle and Charlie stood in a brief few seconds of silence before Carlisle began an in depth rundown of what was to come.