Chapter 46

Carlisle and Esme sat chatting with Charlie and Sue. The four of them sat in the living room and a few desserts were scattered on the coffee table in front of one of the couches. Seth and Luciana had come by, though they were with some of the other kids around the house.

"Thanks for making all of this," Charlie said to Esme, thanking her for the second or third time that evening, "You didn't have to."

"It's no problem," she told him.

"I know we haven't gotten into any heavy talk tonight," Sue said, "But have Alice and Nicole been able to see anything in the future?"

"Not yet," Carlisle told her.

"Yet?" Charlie asked him, "Do you think they'll be back?"

"We're hoping not," he said, "But you can never tell with these things. We're not sure who's behind it."

"Seth seems to think that Aro was behind it," Sue said.

"It's something he's capable of," Carlisle explained, then shook his head, "But I met with him, as did Edward, and from reading his thoughts, he said it appeared as though he didn't know anything about it."

"Leah did tell me that," she said with a nod, "The two of them have such different views, it's hard to keep up."

"How is everyone else doing?" Esme asked her, "Jared and Embry's families? Friends?"

"It's been a rough month," Sue admitted, "But I think they're beginning to adapt, some better than others."

She nodded back and looked over at Carlisle, who appeared to be on edge from the way he adjusted his posture. He looked over his shoulder, then to Esme who was staring at him.

"What?" she asked, now catching both Sue and Charlie's attention.

He grinned, "Huh?"

Sue followed to where he was just staring, then took a sip of coffee.

Esme gave him a look, and he leaned back into the couch in a more relaxed position. Upstairs, he could hear Emmett and Jasper's voices going back and forth. He tried to zone in on what they were saying, though found it a little difficult to do that and keep a conversation going with Charlie and Sue. In between sentences, he picked up a few words that kept him on edge; specifically 'snowball' 'tomorrow' 'tonight' and the phrase 'more ideas'.

"Carlisle?" Esme said.

His attention quickly focused from whatever they were discussing upstairs, to her. "Huh?" he asked again.

"Sue just asked how you feel about the watches dying down."

He continued to stare blankly at her for a moment before it all was put together chronologically in his mind, "Oh, yeah. They, uh.." He cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, Sue. I thought I heard something upstairs right when you asked. The watches, we've decided to put on a hold. Alice or Nicole should be able to see in advance if someone were to return, so we decided to hold off on the watches for now. Everyone is still looking out for one another, and we're going to all meet again once the weekend rolls around, just so we're all on the same page."

She smiled, "That makes sense. There's no need in being out there all night when you have Alice... and Nicole."

He nodded. Charlie at times, this being one of them, still appeared overwhelmed by the immortal world and all if had to offer. He seemed to be soaking in the fact that they were truly talking about vampires and werewolves. The thought still seemed surreal to him when he actually processed the details of the situation, or discussions at hand.

Sue rubbed his arm and he flashed her a closed mouth smile before helping himself to a cookie.

"Hey," Emmett appeared behind them and Carlisle whipped around to face him. Esme smiled to herself.

"Hey Emmett," he said.

"Jasper and I are just going to the store, mind if we take your car?"

Esme made eye contact with him before he answered, "What's wrong with your car?"

"Ahh, I was such a dope. I left the windows open and the interior is soaked..." he shrugged and looked at him.

"Take mine," Esme said.

His eyes met each of theirs separately, "Well.. I guess. I mean.."

"Great," she said, "Keys are hanging. Be careful."

Emmett's grin disappeared, "Thanks," he said solemnly.

Carlisle looked at Esme and she gave him a little wink before resuming conversation with Sue.

Their night went on simply, with no unwanted excitement. They said goodnight to Charlie and Sue around nine-thirty before walking them to the door.

"Hey," Charlie said with a laugh. He pointed to where the exterior lights shined on a pair of large snowmen, "Those are pretty good."

Sue smiled and looked at Esme, "I didn't even notice those before. Very cute."

Esme laughed and put a hand on Carlisle's arm. She looked at the lighthearted nervousness on his face.

"Well, this was good," Charlie said with a nod. He held a hand out to Carlisle, who glanced over and shook his hand.

"Thanks for coming by," he said with a smile.

They exchanged their farewells and waved as Charlie and Sue got into their car and drove away.

"The snowmen are making you nervous, huh?" Esme asked him with a laugh.

Carlisle looked at her with a smile, but didn't answer. He glanced over at them and went to turn to go back inside. At the same time, the heavier door to the house closed and locked, leaving the two of them on the step.

He tried the doorknob and banged his fist on the door, "Guys!"

Esme joined him, "Open the door."

Carlisle shook his head, "We'll go around back."

Esme looked at his concerned expression as he glanced back at the snowmen in front of them. She snickered, though held onto his arm as they began to get closer to pass by them. She giggled again as they were about to pass by, entertained by how much fear a few snowballs had put into her husband.

Before he could even make a move, Emmett and Jasper emerged from inside the snowmen, sending powder into the air in snowy waves.

Esme screamed and began to laugh and Carlisle pushed her ahead of him, "Go, go!"

The two boys began pelting them both with snowballs, only sending a few Esme's way. She quickly ran inside and laughed as Carlisle tried to fight back against both of them, though between Jasper and Emmett they got him hard in the face repeatedly until he finally put his hands up.

"Okay," he said, though they didn't let up. Carlisle eventually found himself on the ground in a ball, covering his face and head, "Stop!" he screamed again.

The rest of the family had gathered near the back door where Esme stood.

Emmett smiled over at Jasper as he sensed Carlisle was beginning to get mad at their relentless snowball pelting. He finally got back to his feet, catching another one in the face immediately.

"Emmett, d-" he held his tongue before saying 'damn it', though Edward laughed from inside, knowing more than just that was playing over and over in his father's mind.

"He's thinking it," he said, looking at Rosalie and Alice, "He wants to say it."

"Say what?" Esme asked.

Rosalie and Alice laughed.

"What's this little plan you all have?" she asked them, sensing everyone had a part in the joke.

"Well," Edward said, "These two, and the guys out there have a bet going that Carlisle will curse by, what four o'clock tomorrow?" he looked at Alice.

She nodded, "For the record, we don't think he will. Emmett and Jasper think they can make him do it."

"Curse, as in swear?" Esme asked.

Rosalie laughed, "Yeah. It's more entertaining than I thought it would be."

They all looked back outside and a snowball was thrown hard enough that it crashed through the thin pain of glass on the back door. It landed in several pieces near where the rest of them stood, and Esme and Rosalie's mouths both dropped open.

Emmett froze, as it was the one that launched it.

"Damn it, Emmett!" Carlisle said, finally setting his patience to the side, though the small outburst was still very out of character for him.

"Yes!" Jasper put his hands up and gave Emmett a high five.

Carlisle looked at both of them, still visibly angry and he made his way to the door.

Rosalie and Alice showed defeat in their posture.

"That was quicker than I would have ever imagined," Rosalie said, "It's only been six hours."

Carlisle entered through the door, picking up bits of glass on the floor. He shook his head, though Esme stopped him, "I'll get it."

"No, they'll get it," he said pointing toward where Emmett and Jasper still stood basking in their glory over the bet. He saw how excited they were and continued, "I don't know what's so funny, guys. You broke the window back here."

"They won a bet," Edward said.

Carlisle looked over at him, then to the rest of them, ending with Esme.

"I just learned of this about three minutes ago," she said, putting her hands up in defense.

"The boys bet that they could make you say a curse word in the next twenty four hours," Alice said, "Me and Rose bet that they couldn't do it."

"We lost," Rosalie added.

Carlisle ran a hand through his snowy hair, "I didn't... " he thought for a moment and bit his tongue, shaking his head. "I'm going to shower."

The rest of the family stood in the wake of the ruckus by the back door as he went upstairs. Esme looked around before letting a slow smile spread across her face, almost giving the rest of them the ability to do the same. Emmett snickered at her expression, knowing what they had done was amusing to everyone.

"Who closed the front door on us?" Esme asked, looking around at them.

Nicole looked shyly up, "Me."

Esme started to laugh, then Alice, Rosalie and Bella followed.

"Her dad's a bad influence," Alice said.

Esme looked back out toward the boys. "Clean all this up," she said, holding back a laugh, "And you're responsible for replacing this window."

"Yes ma'am," Emmett said with a smile. He high fived Jasper once more before they made their way over to the girls to gloat.