Chapter 20

Esme walked through the woods, emerging by a clearing that lead up toward the front door of the house. At the same time, Carlisle pulled his car in after a shift down at the hospital. She gave him a wave and waited for him as he got out of his car.

"You shouldn't be hunting for yourself anymore," he told her, "It's only a matter of days now."

"I wasn't hunting," she assured him, "Just came from Masen's."

"Let one of the kids drive you if I'm not here."

"Okay," she agreed, giving him a smile.

Carlisle leaned in to give her a kiss, "The only reason I say that is because it appears like you could possibly go into labor at any point. I'm not trying to tell you what to do."

"I know," Esme told him, "I wouldn't think that anyway."

He grinned and put an arm around her shoulders as they walked up toward the house.

Alexandra walked out of the house to greet them, "Hey," she said, "I thought you were working."

Carlisle looked up at her, "I was. I just got home."

"Oh, alright." She removed her cell phone and started to punch in a message to Michael.

"Why?" he asked.

"Michael just left for Masen's. They were going to stop by the hospital."

He gave her a puzzled look, "What for? Just to say hi?"

She shook her head, "He was going to ask you if it would be alright if he showed off his gifts a little more to Michael. He wanted to go visit the sick children's wing."

"I've talked to him about that in the past. As much as I'd love him to heal every single one of them, it might start to draw attention to us all quite a bit."

Alexandra stared at her father for a moment before her mouth dropped open as if something just clicked in her mind.

"What?" Carlisle and Esme asked at the same time.

"I just realized something," she said slowly, as if still visualizing a picture in her mind, "What Masen needs."

They both suddenly looked alert, "What does he need?" Esme asked.

"He," Alexandra ran a hand through her hair, "He, uh..."

Edward raced out the front door upon reading her thoughts, "Get back in the car," he said, sounding out of breath despite how impossible it was.

"Yeah," she agreed, "Yes get back. Let's go down to the hospital. Call Masen."

Esme pulled her phone out and Carlisle looked confused, but followed Edward's instruction. The four of them pulled out of the driveway.

"Explain as we go," Carlisle told Edward, who was in the passenger seat next to him. Esme and Alexandra were both frantically using their phones to call Michael and Masen respectively.

"If they're already inside, the service can be terrible in certain areas," Carlisle told them, "The hospital has lots of places where cell phones don't work. You have to be in the right spots."

"Great," Alexandra said aloud.

"Edward..." Carlisle said, glancing over at him as they drove.

"I read Alexandra's thoughts. She knows what he needs to.. survive."

"He has to stop using his gift," Alexandra said.

Esme looked at her daughter, then to Edward and made eye contact with Carlisle in the rearview mirror.

"On humans, anyway," Edward finished, then turned to look at her, "Right?"

"Yes. Something about saving the amount of humans is... sucking the life out of him. One or two wouldn't have made a huge difference, but he's been healing more people lately."

Carlisle's phone went off and he struggled to remove it from his pocket before tossing it to Edward, "Put it on speaker, it's Alice," he told him.

Edward fiddled with the phone, then answered with a quick hello.

"Edward," she said, recognizing his voice and possibly seeing ahead to him answering the phone.

"Yeah. You're on speaker phone."

"I know. Listen... I've seen your conversation just now in the car, and I can see what Masen is seconds away from doing. You have to get to him before he does."

"What is going to do?" Carlisle called into the phone.

"Carlisle?" her voice came.

"Yes," he said.

"He's going to be looking for you, but in the process he's going to stop by the floor of sick children and he's going to heal a number of them, and an older man too. Get to him before he's able to. Call him."

"I'm still trying," Esme said quietly, yet franticly in the back seat. Every time the phone went to voicemail she would repeat the action of clicking on his number, followed by the 'send' button.

"Do what you can," she said, "Good luck."

"Thanks, Alice," Edward said before hanging up. He slid Carlisle's phone into the cup holder and watched his father's foot press the pedal to the floor, toping well over the forty-five mile per hour speed limit that was required on the long, back road.

When they arrived at the hospital, a few people greeted Carlisle as he lead the four of them down the first hallway. He waved briefly, sounding as out of breath as Edward had when he met them out on the front step of the house.

"Let's split up," Edward said, "In case he's not on the floor we think he is. You two go toward the children's wing, we'll go this way." He grabbed Alexandra by the hand and lead her around with him.

Carlisle saw them off with a nod and tried not to look too panicked as he and Esme walked the halls together.

"Hi Dr. Cullen," a young male, intern said, giving him a wave.

"Hello," he said with a quick smile, passing him by quickly.

Esme sighed as Carlisle lead the two of them to the elevators, pressing the up arrow. Their thirty second wait seemed more like thirty days, though the doors finally swung open and Carlisle pushed the number three, making the white button glow orange beneath his thumb. The doors were about to close, though a man reached in and found his way on. The two of them tried hard not to show their frustration at his last minute act and gave the man a smile, who pressed the number two.

Why didn't we take the stairs? Carlisle thought to himself, shaking his head.

The man minded his own business and got off as the elevator doors opened on the second level before closing again.

"I can hear him," Esme said quietly, almost whispering to Carlisle, as the elevator climbed and finally opened on the third floor.

They rushed out, spotting Masen almost immediately, who stood with Michael chatting with an older woman at the main desk just around the corner from the elevators.

"Oh, there he is," the woman said, pointing, "Dr. Cullen, I thought you'd left for the evening. Your nephew was just in here asking for you."

He managed a smile and looked at Masen, then to Michael.

"Thank you," Masen said to the woman with a smile.

She grinned back and removed a clipboard from where it was placed on the wall and resumed whatever work she had been doing.

"Hey," he said with a smile, greeting his parents, "Guess what I just did?"