Thank you so much for the response to this! I am plugging away at this story (that keeps taking on a life of it's own because spoiler alert but I never planned on Bella punching Jessica's stupid face) and I'm trying to keep a couple chapters between the chapter I'm working on and what gets posted next. So fingers crossed I can keep up!

The song for this chapter is Landslide by Robyn Sherwell.

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Disclaimer: I'm only doing this for a friend. I don't get anything from it but her undying appreciation. I certainly don't get to have fun with Emmett and the boys in my head.

Chapter Five: Landslide

CPOV

"You'll never guess what happened today," Rosalie said as soon as I opened the door. I raised my eyebrows at her as I stepped inside.

"I can't even guess so you had better just tell me."

"Bella Swan got into a fight," Emmett shouted and I froze.

"She what? Is she okay?" Rosalie rolled her eyes at me.

"She's fine. She kicked ass like the queen I knew she was," she said proudly.

"What was this fight about," I demanded. Jasper strolled into the room, shaking his head in disapproval.

"It wasn't like that, Carlisle. Jessica Stanley was being… well, bitter about the fact that Edward won't give her the time of day. She told Bella she thinks that we're a family of incestuous ne'er-do-wells. Bella stood up for us and she started yelling at her. So Bella… insulted her character, so to speak," he said lightly.

"She called her a bitch," Rosalie said gleefully.

"That was rather rude," I remarked chastisingly but she merely shrugged.

"Well, Jessica didn't take too kindly to that and suggested that the reason Bella moved here is because her own mother didn't want her." I immediately felt anger rise inside of me. To make such a malicious remark to a girl who was still very much grieving the loss of a parent was just mean spirited.

"Then what," I asked through my teeth. Jasper eyed me speculatively.

"The teacher marched her to the principal's office. He tried to steamroll over her; didn't even listen to her side. But she called him on that and then Charlie showed up. He heard her out and called Greene to task. Explained that Bella's mom died of cancer two months ago. Also pointed out that the kind of gossip Jessica was spreading was inappropriate and came right out and defended you and the family. Demanded that she be punished as well for what she said and for provoking Bella. Then they left. Bella has two weeks of suspension. Alice offered to drive her truck home. She's over there now." I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"We should probably do something to show her our gratitude. And Charlie. He's always been very kind to our family but this was especially caring of him."

"Like what," Rosalie asked. "They hardly make a card for 'Thanks for not assuming we're incestuous bastards'. And cookies feel slightly trite for such an occasion." Emmett laughed heartily at her joke while I paced, considering our options.

"A thank you dinner, perhaps? Unless there is something bigger we could do? Is there a financial burden we might ease or an item to be procured?"

"I'm sure if we ask Alice, she'll have a whole host of ideas and a pretty good idea of what turns out best," Jasper drawled and I smiled fondly. Alice lived to give gifts and I certainly wouldn't steal her fun. Rosalie and Emmett announced they were going for a hunt but I was surprised when, instead of joining them, Jasper settled in on the chair across from the couch I had decided to sprawl across.

"Is there something I can help you with, Jasper," I asked. The corner of his mouth quivered with a half smile.

"I was just wondering if you were intentionally keeping your growing feelings for Bella a secret," he drawled lazily and had I been human, my jaw would have dropped.

"My 'growing feelings' as you call them only pertain to her relationship with you children and concern for her wellbeing. As a doctor, I care for everyone's wellbeing," I said lightly.

"You know, Carlisle, I understand that this is all relatively new for you but you and I both know what you're feeling, so don't insult my intelligence by pretending that you don't. You're falling for Bella Swan. Have been since you saw her last night." I pursed my lips.

"I think you're exaggerating the depth of my emotion, Jasper. I care for her, yes, but I wouldn't say I'm 'falling for' her."

"Then why was Alice nearly convulsing with visions while you were outside the Swan house last night? Why do I feel more than just a doctorly concern coming from you? When you heard what the Stanley girl said to her, you were consumed with rage; the kind of rage that you would feel for your companion, not a random girl you've never met." I avoided his gaze, wondering if perhaps he was right and this was more than I realized.

"What… what did Alice see," I finally asked quietly.

"The two of you, together. You were finally happy. Not the happiness you've resigned yourself to that stinks of loneliness. True happiness." I inhaled deeply at his words, trying to calm my racing thoughts.
"I don't even know her. To court her would be putting her life at risk. I can't… I won't change her."

"Even if it would make both of you the happiest you've ever been? Why not?"

"You've heard the others. Rosalie laments the price she's had to pay for this life. Edward believes our souls are damned, no matter what we do. The rest of you… well, I know that graduating from high school repeatedly certainly isn't anyone's idea of how they'd want to spend eternal life." He chuckled ruefully.

"It's not great. But we each get to spend eternity with the person we love most. We are free to pursue our interests. It isn't nearly the damnation you allude to."

"But it doesn't come without a price," I said quietly. "I am prepared to pay the price with my aloneness."

"But are you prepared to deny her the happiness that she deserves?"

I didn't like his question. It ignored the ethics of turning her in favor of something much easier to succumb to but much harder to justify.

Love.

I didn't think I was in love with Bella Swan.

But I could be. If given the opportunity to nurture that seed of caring into a bud of affection, I knew that it would inevitably bloom into a love that enveloped us both in its beauty. But it hardly seemed fair to the girl. I was centuries old even if I barely passed for thirty these days. She was young, so very young, with her whole life ahead of her. A life that would surely be better without me in it.

"Look, don't make a decision yet. Wait, maybe introduce yourself to her. See if the feeling is mutual. But please don't dismiss it so easily because of silly arguments like salvation."

"Careful, boy," I teasingly warned. "I was molded by religion. I will not forsake it so easily as some of you have." He shrugged.

"I'm not suggesting that you do. But don't you think that God that you believe in sees what you've done with your eternal life? Do you really think He'd begrudge you your happiness because you were attacked by a creature of the night?" I remained silent but my mind wandered up the stairs to cross my father had made, hanging on the wall.

Truthfully, I wasn't sure what the best course of action was. And I felt Edward's absence bitingly as he would have listened to my thoughts, even the errant strays, and would have answered and challenged me on the questions I was truly asking myself.

Did I deserve love?