Chapter 23

Esme indulged herself in the happiness that Caleb was bringing her by doing nothing more than laying in her arms, showing off his eyes of topaz to the members of their family. It had been almost an hour since she'd given birth, though it felt like five minutes. She generously allowed him to get the attention from all of his brothers and sisters before he eventually found his way back to her arms.

Carlisle stood over her, playing with strands her hair and unable to take his eyes off of their child.

"Here," Esme said with a smile. She gently held him upward toward him.

"You just got him back," he told her, kissing her temple.

"It's okay. You didn't get to hold him yet." She continued to smile warmly and Carlisle could tell that she was so naturally happy. He took the baby from her arms and tucked him securely in his own.

Caleb's eyes opened and closed several times, meeting Carlisle's once in the process. His little movements were awkward and choppy as he began to adjust to his first hour of life.

Alexandra lingered around her parents, closing the gap between her and her father to stroke her thumb along her little brother's arms and legs. He moved reactively each time, making all of them smile.

"He's so beautiful," Rosalie gushed from across the room.

Esme smiled and nodded, "Thanks Rose."

The mood of the house had completely altered from stiff and anxiety ridden to complete elation. The joy of Caleb coming into the world seemed to mask all the concern and doubt that was the center of everyone's thoughts just hours ago. His presence gave everyone hope, and the faith that things would be okay.

Carlisle's phone went off in his pocket and he handed Caleb back to Esme. She grinned up at him as he quietly excused himself to answer the phone, kissing her once in the process. Alexandra took his place next to her and watched her father as he left the room.

He crossed through the doorway and walked down the hall, finally pulling the phone free to read the called I.D. When Charlie's name popped up on the screen, the 'on top of the world' feeling he'd previously had drained from his body.

The phone continued to sound off in the darkness of the room he stood in and he couldn't bring himself to answer. His thumb danced above the connect button and he took in a deep breath. Carlisle knew it wouldn't be long before the call reverted to voicemail and so he finally gave in to what he knew was inevitable and pressed the button.

A full second went by before he spoke, "Hello." He looked over his shoulder and made his way out of the house before Charlie said anything back.

"Carlisle," his voice was frantic, "Carlisle, it's Charlie. You have to meet me right away. It's Masen. He's, uh, in.. he's in bad shape. I don't know what happened. One minute he was fine, the next..."

Carlisle gripped onto his hair with his free hand, then let it drift down his face and responded into the receiver, "I'll be right there were are you?" His eyes scanned the evening landscape as he waited for Charlie to respond before running back inside.

Edward confronted him at the door with a whisper and Carlisle shook his head and signaled for him to be quiet. Bella was at his side and knew something was terribly wrong, guessing it had to do with Masen.

They watched him go back down the hall to where Esme still laid with Caleb. Alexandra, Michael, Rosalie and Emmett were still inside the room, all as happy as they'd been when he left.

Carlisle walked over to Esme's side and touched her face gently, making sure he didn't leave her with any reasons to think something was wrong. He closed his eyes and kissed her, then did the same to Caleb's forehead. The baby's eyes closed at the touch, then reopened with a few fast blinks.

"Who was on the phone?" Esme asked.

He smiled at her, "Sue," he lied, "I told her about Caleb. I'm just going to, uh..." he smiled, not wanting to leave her and struggling to keep his face at ease, "I just have to go pick her up and I'll be back. Her car's not working and she wanted to stop by."

"Okay," Esme said, still fully in her motherly glory, "Hurry back."

Her smile made him want to die inside. He knew it was wrong to lie to her, but he, in no way, could take the precious first moments with their child away from her. She was too happy; too perfectly in her element, and in this circumstance, she deserved more than the truth. She deserved to remain in her current state of happiness, because Carlisle was unsure when she would ever be able to feel this way again if the night's events suddenly turned tragic.

The way he looked at her made Esme uneasy for a moment. Before she could question her husband, he kissed her once more and squeezed Alexandra's elbow with a wink on the way out before leaving the house.

Rosalie seemed skeptical, but didn't push the issue one way or another. She made her way closer to Esme and the baby with Emmett close behind her.

Edward and Bella followed Carlisle out of the house as he rushed his way to where Charlie's directions would soon lead them to Masen.

"Carlisle!" Edward shouted, as he and Bella raced after him.

"I have to get to Masen," he told him, "I couldn't do this to Esme right now. She's too happy. She doesn't deserve this."

"I know," Edward agreed, finally catching up to him, pulling Bella by the hand as he did.

Bella felt her heart sinking for Carlisle and hoped whatever was going on with Masen wouldn't be as serious as they were all thinking.

"This shouldn't take this long," Carlisle said to himself as they raced through the trees, finally emerging onto a dark back round.

"Up there!" Edward called, pointing as they went, "He's right up there."

Carlisle saw the outline of Charlie's cruiser and got to them as fast as he could. Charlie squatted over Masen and was trying to calm him down, though his facial expressions and voice were frantic.

"Dad," Bella called to them as they closed the distance between them.

Charlie stood up and Carlisle took his place above where Masen laid flat on his back. His eyes were half open and his hands clutched his chest as he coughed violently.

"Masen," Carlisle said, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder, "Masen..." He didn't know what to say.

His son curled his knees up toward his chest and rolled on his side into the fetal position, "Dad..." He groaned in pain, bringing his knees even further into his chest.

"What can I do?" Carlisle asked him, "Talk to me, Mase."

"Everything hurts," he choked out, closing his eyes, "My whole body hurts."

Charlie ran a hand through his hair and made eye contact with Bella, who looked horrified.

"Edward, can you tell anything from his thoughts?" Carlisle asked.

"There's only one thought," he said, shaking his head, "Pain."

Masen tried to stand up from his position on the ground, causing his arms to shake in the process. He let out a choked gasp and fell back to the asphalt beneath him.

"Call Leah," Carlisle told Edward, as he turned to face them, "I want to get him to somewhere where he's comfortable."

Edward and Bella exchanged a look and Edward took out his phone.

Carlisle lifted his son from the ground and held him in the same way he was just holding Caleb with an arm behind his neck and beneath his knees. Masen's face was still full of pain as he leaned into his father's chest for support, closing his eyes and grabbing the front of his shirt.

"I'm running him to his house. Follow me there, or do what you want."

Edward had Leah on the line, though listened to his father's words at the same time. Charlie put his arm around Bella and looked hopelessly around.

Carlisle made sure Masen was secure in his arms and began to run full speed toward the reservation, trying to keep his son's thoughts off of the pain he was feeling.

"You're going to be okay," he assured him.

Masen didn't say anything. He laid lifelessly against Carlisle as they whipped through the woods.

"Caleb was born," he whispered to him, "Tonight. Just like you said."

His eyes opened briefly, then shut again and he was able to smile once before the pain kicked in again.

"I'm going to help you," Carlisle assured him, "Stay with me."

"Okay," Masen said quietly, then began to cough again with the same violent effect as before. Carlisle glanced down at his son with distress, who continued to heave his entire upper body forward, before letting out an extra powerful cough, sending blood out of his mouth and all over the front of Carlisle's shirt.