Made a little 'family portrait' as the book cover. :)

Chapter 29

The entire morning in Forks was dark and windy. Right from dawn, the atmosphere had the appearance of early evening with thick, dark clouds that threatened to rain on the town at any minute, though for the most part the rain held off for the first half of the day. The heavy trees swayed and groaned in nature's outrage, sending pieces of the earth scattering about the land.

Alice and Jasper scampered in from outside, each with their hair a little messy and wind tossed.

"Wow," Alice said of the wind as she ran her hands through her hair to straiten it up, "That is some wind. The beach is overflowing down at La Push."

"Good waves?" Emmett asked, looking up from a magazine he was reading on the couch. Edward sat next to him changing the channel to see what the weather for the day would bring.

"Huge," Jasper told him.

Alice fiddled through a stack of envelopes that she held under two magazines and handed one to Carlisle, who sat next to Esme on the couch opposite of Emmett. He sighed, knowing it was from Aro and looked over at his wife, who sat with Caleb in her lap.

"I thought he didn't want anything to do with us anymore," he said aloud to no one in particular.

Esme looked at him, "It could be important."

Carlisle's loath for Aro had not diminished since their last visit. He still had flashbacks of his daughter and wife in danger at his hand, and ultimately had no desire to communicate with the Volturi leader any further.

"Sorry," Alice told him with a shrug, as he began to tear the envelope, "I know you just got out of your PTSD mood swings."

He looked up at her and made a face.

"You know what I mean. Oh, and no worries about last night. I don't see any more pregnancies in the near future."

"Keep testing those theories," Emmett said without looking up from his magazine this time, "Me and Rose are right behind you."

Edward looked over toward Carlisle and chuckled, one which his father returned.

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

"It's nothing about you, Esme," Edward assured her, reading his mind.

Carlisle continued to smile as Emmett now insecurely looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Don't worry about it," Edward told his brother, focusing back on the television.

Carlisle opened the classier than normal envelope and pulled the letter out that was perfectly scripted inside.

"He does know how to use a phone, right?" Emmett asked again, snickering at his own joke.

Esme shook her head with a closed mouth smile and leaned closer to read what it read.

Carlisle,

It has been brought to my attention that an illness nearly caused your son's life to expire. If you have any details, which I understand you do, please respond back to me with any and all information you may have gathered. You are a man of great knowledge with a passion to further educate yourself. I would imagine you have taken it upon yourself to look into this matter, as you have a number of others in the past. Particular questions I have asked myself are as follows: what caused the illness? Are there any cures? Is it something that can happen to any of us? Is it transferable? It would be in both of our best interests to share any and all information with each other in terms of new or unusual events occurring in our kind. I imagine you understand. I will await your reply.

Regards,

Aro

Edward followed along in both of their minds as they silently read every word of Aro's letter. Carlisle sighed and Esme looked at him as he folded the paper back up and tucked it neatly inside the envelope.

A smile spread across his face and he didn't look over at her, "I'm not going to go back to what I was doing. Don't worry." Esme continued to look at him until he looked over at her, "I'm serious," he told her with a single nod.

"There's too any of us," Alice said to them.

They both looked over their shoulders and realized she had crept behind them, now leaning both elbows on the back of the couch.

"Your laboratory is closed... and locked," Alice went on, looking playfully accusatory with her pointer finger out in his direction.

"Edward..." Carlisle said, looking over at him for back up.

"He's fine," Edward told them, now leaning on his knees with his elbows.

"Oh, you'd lie for him," Alice said, now leaning back to place her hands on her hips.

"Are you going to write back?" Emmett asked. His eyes shifted to Esme, who he assumed was about to ask the same question.

Carlisle thought for a moment, unsure of his plans.

"You should," Esme told him, "Keep the peace. If you don't, he may be insulted and feel like he has to act, or come over here."

He nodded, "I'd rather not communicate, but I suppose you're right."

She gave him a half, closed mouth smile and kissed him on the cheek.

Carlisle smiled back before standing up to go to his office, "I'll be back."

Esme nodded and entwined her fingers with his for a moment as he stood up. He paused briefly to give her hand a quick squeeze before sending another smile in her direction and leaving the room.

"Are the girls still shopping?" Esme asked, she checked her phone to see if there were any new messages from Alexandra.

"The girls... and William and Michael," Jasper said with a laugh.

"They're spoiling Nicole," Alice said, shaking her head, "I can see it."

Emmett looked up with a smile, "Poor Nicki, she'll never be able to get away with anything... ever"

"Unless she's on the reservation," Edward reminded him.

"Let's not tell her that," Jasper told them both with a smile.

"Maybe she'll get imprinted on by one of the youngin's over there," Emmett teased him, raising his eyebrows.

"If my future son-in-law smells like dog, so be it," he said.

Alice looked at Jasper and gave him a smile, then tossed a pillow at him from the couch. He grinned and caught it. "Shall we hunt, my lady?"

"We shall," she said cheerily back before grabbing his hands and waving to the rest of them, "So much for fixing my hair."

Everyone heard the door open, sending the sound of whipping winds around the house before Jasper quickly closed it as they left.

"It really is dark out there," Esme said, "For two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Can't believe it hasn't rained yet," Emmett agreed, glancing over his shoulder toward the window, "Been to Masen's today yet?"

She smiled and sat Caleb up to face her, "No."

"Me either," he told her, knowing she knew about his frequent visits to his house, as well.

"Not yet, anyway."

They both looked at each other and laughed, then shared a smile with Edward.

"Enough of the weather," Emmett said, looking at his brother, "It's going to rain... like it does most days."

"The winds are suppose to get bad," Edward told him, "Trees are falling in the area in some places."

He rolled his eyes and turned the page of his magazine.

"Esme," Carlisle called, entering the room. She turned her head to face him and he motioned for her to follow him.

The two of them walked up the stairs to his office where he grabbed a partially written letter with a few sentences written on it. "I'm having a bit of a writer's block," he said with a quick laugh, "I suppose that doesn't happen much when writing a simple letter."

Esme smiled, glad that he was asking her for help. "Let me see," she said. He handed her what he had written and she scanned it with her eyes. "That's pretty self explanatory," she told him with a shrug, "It's simple and to the point."

Carlisle scanned it again, "Do you think he'll believe me when I tell him it was just an overuse of Masen's gift?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

He took in a breath through his nose and let it out, "Yeah. You're right."

"I mean, if you want to add that you're looking for something that would prevent it, you could."

Carlisle nodded and looked at the paper in her hand, "I guess that's all I really need. It's polite enough."

She nodded back, "I think it's fine. It's not rude in any way and it answers his question."

He continued to stare at the lines he jotted down, and she continued to stare at him waiting for his confirmation.

"Alright," Carlisle said with a smile. He found and envelope, wrote out the name and seal it with his response inside.

Esme walked over and kissed him on the cheek. He let her have her way before pulling back to kiss her lips, then took Caleb from her arms. She smiled wide and ran a hand through his hair before grabbed her hand.

"Let's go put on a movie," he suggested.

"Sounds good," she told with a genuine smile.

Carlisle asked for another kiss through his facial expression, one that Esme gave him several times over, before they went downstairs to relax.