Chapter 32

"A wedding in Denali," Carlisle said to Esme, as he handed her a few of his shirts, "That will be nice."

Esme nodded and topped off his bag of clothes with the items he just handed her, "It'll be gorgeous, especially this time of the year. Were you able to get the time off of work on such short notice?"

"Yeah," he told her, "I worked so much in the past month; did a lot of double shifts. I wasn't scheduled to work the next couple of days anyway so I took a few vacation days right afterwards."

She smiled at him, "Check you bag to make sure you're not missing anything."

"I trust you," Carlisle said. He kissed her and went into their bathroom, returning with her conditioner, "Here, I hope this makes up for the time I forgot it the time we went to New York."

Esme smiled, then chuckled, "Want to relive what happened on that trip?"

He laughed back, "No."

She continued to laugh and took the conditioner from him, "Would you mind getting me a plastic bag to put this in in case it spills?"

"Of course," Carlisle told her with a wink. He quickly left the room and returned momentarily. He handed her the bag and accepted another kiss she put on his lips.

"I'll never get sick of doing that," she said happily, wrapping her hair products in the bag.

"Neither will I." He approached her and put his hands on her shoulders as she zipped the side pocket shut, digging his thumbs lightly into her upper back.

"We have about forty-five minutes until we go, so if you want to give me a nice back rub before the ride..." She didn't finish her sentence, but turned to face him with a grin.

"Anything you want," he told her.

Esme grinned up at him, realizing her words had been teasingly unfair, "I have to go stop down at Masen's quickly."

Carlisle gave her a funny, disappointed look that made her laugh as he brought her to him for a few seconds of playful attempts to get her to stay before unwillingly letting her go. "Alright," he said, "I'll make sure Alexandra and everyone here has their things together."

"Thank you," she said to him, taking his face in her hands and giving him one more kiss before slowly removing the keys to his car from the pocket of his pants, "I'll be back."

"Mmm... I'll see ya in a half hour," he said, shaking his head without removing the smile from his face.

Esme twirled the keys around her finger and disappeared out of the room, then soon after out the front door.

Carlisle made his way to where Alexandra and Michael were about done packing their bags. She held Caleb on her arm, who laid his head contently on her shoulder. Nicole, who was turning into a spitting image of Alice with longer hair, stood next to them reading off a list of things they would need for the long weekend, making sure they had everything packed. He laughed quietly to himself, thinking it was definitely something her mother would do, and probably taught her.

"Clothes for the wedding?" she asked them both, holding the top of the pen in her teeth.

"My dress is hanging in the car," Alexandra told her.

"Got mine," Michael told her, "What's left on the list?"

Alexandra waved at her father, "Mom tell you to check in on us?"

He shrugged, "It looks like you've got it covered." He waved at her to hand Caleb to him, and she crossed the room to hand off her younger brother.

Nicole smiled and waved the list in his direction, "We do. Nothing gets by me."

Carlisle laughed and tapped the framed of the door with his hand, "Alright. We're leaving in a half hour or so."

The girls gave him a thumbs up and Michael nodded, "Thanks," he told him.

He turned and left the room, only to be grabbed lightly on the arm by Alice. She dragged him and Caleb outside and stopped a few feet into the back yard.

"Alice.. what's-" Carlisle started, but she cut him off.

"I already told the girls," Alice said, "Well, just Esme, Rosalie, Bella and Kate..." She noticed the confused look on his face and decided to just get right to the point, "Aro and Caius sent a few of the Volturi members here, but they turned around, decided not to come at Aro's orders."

Carlisle's expression changed to that of slight concern, but he continued to listen.

"It was Alec, Jane and Felix. They were sent to gather more information about Masen's illness, but they were apparently sent before Aro received your response."

He nodded, "Is that all they wanted?"

"They weren't going to be friendly about it, but yes. Aro, too, was planning on coming, but he got wind of the wedding and decided to wait."

"Regarding the same thing?"

"He wants to get every detail from your mind, rather than your writing so he can know every single detail about what you gathered from your observations and everything."

Carlisle sighed, "No trouble?"

She shook her head, "No trouble. And he decided to postpone his trip. He also is preparing a gift, or a card or something," Alice said, "Everyone knows."

"Thank you, Alice," he said, then sighed.

"I promise, it's nothing."

Carlisle nodded again and the two of them went back inside. Alice played with Caleb's fingers, making his arm twitch slightly.

"Did William already go up there with Emmett and Rose?" Alexandra asked, meeting them by the back door.

"Yep," Alice said with a smile.

"I thought he wasn't suppose to see her until after the wedding."

"We still have a few days," Carlisle told her with a laugh, "So those rules may not have gone into effect yet."

Edward and Bella made several trips through the house to the car with Jacob and Renesme on their heels each time.

"We got everyone's bags," Edward told them, "The cars are pretty much packed."

Carlisle looked down at his watch, and Jasper whipped in from outside, wrapping an arm around Alice's waist in the blink of an eye.

"Did you drink enough?" Alice asked him, looking into his eyes.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a grin. She smiled wide and gave him a kiss.

Nicole and Michael joined them where everyone had gathered.

"Where's Esme?" Jasper asked.

Carlisle looked at his watch again, "She just ran down to Masen's. She should be back any minute. We're riding up there with him, Leah and Cassandra." He looked at Alexandra, "You two are going up with Alice?"

"That's right," Alice said, parting from Jasper to put an arm over her shoulders. Alexandra nodded and smiled.

"Your bags are in the trunk of mine," Edward told him, approaching everyone closer.

"Thanks," Carlisle told him, "If you guys want to get going, you can. We know the way."

Alice and Edward made eye contact and they all shrugged.

Carlisle smiled, "Just go. We'll meet you there."

Alexandra went up and hugged her father, then gave Caleb a kiss on the cheek, "See ya up there." He returned the hug and saw everyone out with a wave, listening to their conversations for a minute or two before he was left alone with his son.

"We get to go on a trip," Carlisle told Caleb, stroking the baby's head with his hand. He sat down on the couch and tucked him securely in arms.

Caleb's eyes stared back at him for a moment, before glancing all over the room. Like many times before, his tiny hands latched onto Carlisle's thumbs and he smiled, triggering a memory of Alexandra doing the same thing as a baby. He sighed, thinking of how long he'd lived alone, and then how much better it got once he found Esme. There was never a time where he would have pictured it could get any better than how they lived. Gratefully so, he was wrong.

The front door burst open and Masen walked in full of energy, "Let's go, Dad! Come on, they're going to beat us up there."

Carlisle was caught off guard, enjoying the moment with Caleb, before he stood up with a smile, one which his first born son returned, "I know a short cut, Mase. Don't worry."