A/N: I was supposed to be done with this book before Christmas. But real life happened. Oh well.
I do hope you all still enjoy it. This is my first time writing something on the lighter side so bear with me. I'm still learning.
And lastly, I would love to know what you guys think about it!
Enjoy. Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays!
-ZQ
Chapter 2: Tomatoes and Awkwardness
Chapter 2
Esme made herself comfortable in Carlisle's lap, flipping through one of the dozens of medical journals neatly stacked on his table. Her head rested on his shoulder and from her vantage point, she could see the small crease on his forehead as he wrote. The almost imperceptible movement of his muscles under his shirt a soothing rhythm for her.
Near a hundred years together had taught her husband how to go about his work at his table while still holding her in his embrace.
Carlisle would occasionally comment on the research whose title she would read out loud from the journal in hand. Sometimes approving, sometimes skeptic, her husband's insight into each fascinated her. His words added animation, added a character to what was otherwise a monotonous block of text.
"Phase Two trials showed promising results. It's going to Phase Three. If it does just as well, this drug could revolutionize how we treat-"
"It won't," Alice whined from a floor below them, interrupting Carlisle's enthusiasm at the prospect of some new drug to treat some disease, neither of which Esme had paid attention to, distracted as she was by the bright hope in her husband's eyes.
The brightness of his eyes did not dim despite the downturn of his lips at their daughter's declaration. A soft sigh left his lips and he shared an exasperated smile with his wife before calling out. "Alice, dear, would you-"
Alice was across the desk from them before Carlisle was done speaking.
Esme sat up straighter too as together, husband and wife, looked at their errant daughter.
"You have been a little unhappy since morning Alice," Carlisle said, the unspoken why lingering in the air between them.
Alice sighed before she plopped down into one of the chairs. "Nessie," she offered as an explanation and Carlisle gave a nod of understanding.
With Renesmee as integral a part of their life and family as she was, Alice had long since given up on the habit or hope of looking out into the future at the start of each day and see how it went for each member of the family.
She could still see some of them. Edward and Bella in the next town over living as a young couple. Or Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and herself, as college students in different parts of the country.
But Carlisle and Esme remained a blurry figure, flitting in and out of her visions depending on Renesmee's schedule and proximity. And whatever their granddaughter had done today morning seemed to be driving Alice up the wall.
"She did something and now there's so many uncertain decisions that everything is too faint!"
"Is she all right? Should we go check on her?" Esme blurted out, throwing a worried look to her husband who remained pensive. Alice's uncertain nod did not help alleviate her worries and the glossy journal wrinkled under her tight grip.
"She'll be here in a few minutes," Alice said just as they heard the faint thrum of music blaring in a car.
Esme kept her seat on her husband's lap and Alice stood where she stood, still as only their kind could be. Carlisle neither said nor did anything but Esme could feel his muscles tense under her.
With the vehicle approaching, Esme heard not one but three people singing along to the song.
She exchanged a quick look with her husband before both of them shot up from their seats. In a blur of motion, Carlisle and Alice entered the kitchen and Esme went ahead to tackle the living room.
A tossed book here, a fallen cushion there, Esme darted around the room, messing up the things just enough to take away from the eerie perfection of their house.
Alice disappeared through the backdoor and Esme joined Carlisle in the kitchen when Renesmee pulled the car up in front of the house.
"I'm home," she called out a few minutes later. Her two friends in tow behind her.
"In here," Carlisle replied, more for the benefit of her friends than for her. Esme took in a deep breath, holding on to the distasteful scent of the hurriedly chopped tomatoes.
"Auntie, Uncle, I invited a couple of my friends over, I hope that's okay?" she asked entering the kitchen. Behind her stood two kids. A short, chubby brunette and a lanky red-head who walked with the air of someone still not used to their height. Both the kids wore identical expression of comical wonder as they took in their surroundings. The boy's eyes widened further when he took in the sight of herself and Carlisle.
Carlisle brushed a light hand over her back when he turned to greet them - her cue that it was safe to breathe again.
Ruth and Kevin. Renesmee's introduction was brief. Kevin had lost his house key and needed a place to stay at for the next couple of hours before his mother came back from picking his great-grandfather up from her cousin's home. Their grand daughter - or Esme's niece as their story went - had suggested that he come and hang out with her and Ruth at her place.
"You need to stop ogling her Aunt!" Ruth's quiet chastisement floated back to them as the three kids made their way up the stairs to Renesmee's room. "Dr. Cullen was standing right there!"
Carlisle laughed, embracing her from behind as Kevin stammered out a hasty defense, foremost of which was that Ruth had taken her sweet time eying the doctor too.
"I can not fault him," Carlisle whispered into her neck before placing a soft kiss over the faint crescent scar he had given her. "You, my dear wife, are truly a sight to behold."
"You both are weird," Renesmee informed her friends of the fact once they entered her room. Esme pulled her focus away in a effort to accord them whatever privacy she could.
"Two friends hanging out for a couple of hours shouldn't have done this to my visions so far into the future." Alice appeared before them, her forehead furrowed in distaste.
"Have you-" Carlisle's question was interrupted when Alice abruptly spat out, "What are we doing for Christmas?"
Esme shared a perplexed look with Carlisle. "Bella, Edward and Renesmee are visiting Charlie," she said.
"No they aren't," Alice shot that down. "No, they-"
Halfway through the sentence and Alice once again shot out of the house.
"I'll check on her." Carlisle squeezed her hand before he too disappeared. The soft thud of footsteps alerted her to the fact that Kevin was making his way downstairs.
Esme threw a worried glance in the direction her husband and daughter had gone before she restarted chopping the tomatoes with shaky hands, trying hard to maintain the aura of an unperturbed woman preparing dinner.
"Mrs. Cullen," Kevin nodded at her politely before he bit on his lips and went to fill the empty jar he was carrying.
From the corner of her eyes, she could see him looking at her over his shoulder occasionally. Esme made a subtle switch and started breathing through her mouth instead of her nose when his nervous chewing on his bottom lip broke through the skin. His fingers tapped on the jug once it was full and he took in a deep breath before he turned. Instead of exiting the kitchen, he walked around the counter and stood across from her.
"Mrs. Cullen, may I ask you something?" he spoke hesitantly, his eyes fixed on the jug in front of him.
"Yes, of course dear!" Esme smiled at him, hoping to alleviate some of his discomfort. Most human were nervous around their kind, but Kevin wasn't nervous in a self-preservative way. He was…awkward. There truly was no other way of defining it. The child swayed on his feet, looking almost ready to pass out.
"Will you come to my place?" he blurted out.
"I'm sorry?" Esme squinted at him, unsure if she heard him correctly even though there was no way for her to mishear anything. His eyes flew open and his face reddened with a rush of blood.
"No, No, not like that. No!" Kevin's forehead beaded with sweat and his face turned an even darker shade of red. "I mean…um…I…"
"Kevin." Her voice was firm and her smile remained warm. She gestured at the small set of table and chair in the corner of their kitchen placed for the benefit of the visiting wolves. "Sit."
She guided him into the chair and took a seat as well. The boy's face was now completely damp with sweat and Esme offered him the tissue box.
"Child, breathe," she encouraged him. "And then tell me what you're trying to say."
Kevin took his time, his eyes closed and his lips lightly mouthing the words as he quietly rehearsed what he was going to say. In the silence that stretched between them, Esme could sense Carlisle and Alice close to the house. Renesmee was mostly quiet too, occasionally throwing out a hmm as Ruth chattered away.
"Okay, first, I'm sorry because I know this is a very weird request," Kevin started and Esme turned her attention back to the boy.
She gave a small nod, gesturing at him to continue.
He took in another deep breath before he started. "My great-grandfather is going to be here for the holidays. He's really old and he has some trouble…uh…telling time apart. Like he gets confused about where he is or what age he is or what year it is right now. He confuses people and faces too.
"We all love him a lot…and my extended family is going to be here. But he doesn't recognize most of us. For the past few years he's been asking for his father and mothers."
"Mothers?" Esme interrupted despite her plan to hear him out entirely.
Kevin nodded. "The mother who gave birth to him and the mother who raised him. He asks for them all the time, and even cries for them. Especially his birth mother. He spent a good part of his teenage years looking for her. Sometimes he thinks he is that age again and insists he will find her if only he looks for her harder. He doesn't remember-"
Esme poured him a glass of water when his throat dried up and he took a small sip.
"He doesn't remember what?" she prompted and Kevin continued.
"He doesn't remember that he did find her. Or rather what he could about her. He found her photograph and a little bit about her." The nervous teenager looked at her with the most uncertain and awkward expression ever. "You kinda look like her, you know. My great-grandfather's mother. Her name was Esme Evenson. She died in 1921." 921."