A/N

Wow, this is my first multi-chapter Twilight story!

I'm not an English speaker, so there can be errors or something like that. I'm recently using chatGPT to correct the grammar, but still.

WARNING: This chapter mentions cannibalism, but it's due to the brutality of hybrid birth.

Enjoy the story!

He never imagined he would encounter another hybrid in the hospital—yes, a vampire-human hybrid.

He and his family had been residing here for a few years, completely settled. Carlisle, recognized for his surgical expertise (though much of his 'career' was fabricated, with 'invalid' dates and locations, in the eyes of humans), held the position of the chief of surgery, along with the position of instructing new interns and residents. Personally, he found great satisfaction in this role. While not all his experiences could be shown directly, he could at least impart his wisdom to the next generation through teaching, albeit indirectly.

His reputation at the hospital was impeccable. Colleagues often marveled at his steady hands and seemingly endless knowledge, which was particularly useful in his role. He had long since mastered the art of blending in, using his skills to gain the trust and admiration of his peers. It wasn't unusual for promising young doctors to seek out his mentorship, hoping to learn from someone as distinguished as him.

This new batch of interns was no exception. He had briefly reviewed their files, noting a diverse group of eager minds ready to absorb all they could. One name, in particular, had caught his eye—not because it was familiar, but because of the way it stood out among the others. It wasn't just the name, though; something about the file had nagged at him, a strange feeling he couldn't quite place.

"Tell him to come in." He told the nurse who was leading the new intern.

"Alright. Dr. Choi! The chief says you can come in!"

The young man with dark hair, black eyes, and a skin tone typical of East Asians—surprisingly young to be a doctor, much like Carlisle himself—entered the office. At first glance, Carlisle merely shrugged it off, as interns were naturally young. But then he caught his scent—

He almost lost all semblance of his usual calmness. Inhaling deeply, he calmed himself down. What was a hybrid doing here? Well, of course, to be a surgeon. After all, he himself was working as a doctor here, wasn't he? The hybrid—Carlisle remembered the name from his paperwork, Chris Choi—could certainly aim to be a doctor as well.

"Hello, you're Chris Choi, the new intern, I believe?"

"Y-yes! It's nice to meet you, Doctor—"

"Cullen. For your first day, we'll start with a little orientation. I'm planning to guide you around—"

The beeping of his pager interrupted him mid-sentence. Carlisle mumbled "Sorry" to Chris and quickly dialed the number on the pager, hoping it wasn't some urgent emergency. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side this time. Despite that, he smirked at the intern.

"Chris, I'm sorry, but... how about jumping into a real game upon your arrival instead of the guided tour?"

"What?!"

"Come on, it's an emergency surgery! Urgent, but the procedure itself is quite simple. You'll learn a lot, maybe even participate. Now, run! Well, with human speed, of course."

He whispered the ' with human speed' part so that only vampires and hybrids could hear. Chris looked puzzled at this last comment but easily followed the chief's lead.

"Feeling nervous?"

Chris, who was washing his hands before entering the OR, nearly jumped at the sudden question from the chief. Carlisle, already sanitized himself, looked at him warmly with his strange golden eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's my first day since graduation."

"Well, good luck. This will get easier, I promise."

"Thanks, chief."

Chris took a deep breath and walked inside. It's a real operating room, he thought. He had worked on the operation tables in med school, of course, such as in anatomy class, but this was his very first time in a real OR, in a real hospital. With real, overflowing blood. He gulped at the thought, suddenly feeling nervous again for no apparent reason.

"Everyone, this is Dr. Choi, the new surgical intern. Chris, please stand right here. You'll be the second assistant. I'll be the one performing, so don't worry. You know the basics, don't you?"

"Y-yes, I'll do my best. It's nice to meet you all."

The staff in the room greeted him.

"You can start now, chief. The conditions are stable."

The anesthetist nodded at Carlisle, signaling the beginning of the surgery. As his scalpel cut through the patient's skin—

"...!"

Chris stopped breathing, feeling overwhelmed by his senses. What's happening to me, what's this?! He could only concentrate on the free flow of—

"Dr. Choi! Pay attention!"

The woman on the opposite side—the first assistant, Chris thought—yelled angrily at him.

"Please don't yell at him; it's his first surgery. Of course, he's nervous. If the bloodlust is hard to handle, leave and watch the rest in the observation room. Don't worry about the surgery; the staff here can handle it. We'll talk about this later, son."

Carlisle didn't look surprised or angry. In fact, he seemed to have expected this behavior. He lowered his voice when mentioning the bloodlust so that humans couldn't hear. Chris nodded, still puzzled by himself and holding his breath. His hands balled into fists, and he shakily stepped out of the operating room to the theatre.

As the chief had said, the surgery ended (with great success) in an hour or two, simple enough and without any unexpected situations (except for Chris' strange obsession with blood). Chris, now breathing normally, waited for the burst of shouting and yelling to arrive. It didn't. Carlisle entered the theatre silently, alone, and smiled sadly at him. No, it wasn't just sadness; it was a mixture of sadness, pride, and understanding. Chris hadn't expected this.

"Well done. You handled it very well by running away."

"What's the connection between running away like a coward and doing well?!"

"You are not a coward. You really did well resisting—" Carlisle's eyes widened. "Oh, you don't know what you are? Not even slightly?"

Chris nodded. He had no clue what this strange doctor—wait, why did he find this doctor strange? Maybe it was the lack of a heartbeat. That was certainly strange—was talking about. Don't know what you are instead of who you are.

"I know I'm not normal, but I don't know who I am. Or what I am, following your statement."

"This conversation is not for here. Let's go inside my office and talk. Serious talk, I mean."

Chris, once again, found himself inside the chief's office, just like hours ago, although it felt like days for him. Carlisle gestured for him to sit down.

"What was it like? To see so much fresh blood for maybe the first time?"

Chris recalled the sensation. It felt like his throat was burning again, just recalling the image. He gulped and answered, "I... it was..."

"Like your throat was burning? Like you had to steady yourself not to pounce at the man's artery? Did your eyesight turn red with lust?"

"How did you know?!"

"How old are you?"

"26."

"How quickly did you turn 26?"

"It's an odd question to ask someone."

"Please, just answer me?"

"...13 years."

Carlisle halted his breathing. Chris was certain that if Carlisle had a heartbeat, his heart would also flutter a little. Wait, he had to ask him about his heartbeat.

"You're so young—"

"Why don't you have—"

They both began simultaneously.

"Go ahead, son."

"Why don't you have a heartbeat? Is it related to what we're going to talk about?"

"Yes, precisely what we're discussing."

"Just... answer my question, please?"

Carlisle chuckled at the echo of his earlier plea. "That's because I'm a vampire."

"Okay, then what does that make me...?"

"And you're a hybrid. Half-human and half-vampire. It's only possible when the paternal side is a vampire and the maternal side is human. Do you know who your parents are?"

Chris shook his head.

"It's certainly not Joham; you look nothing like him. (Yes, the Cullens had met Joham and his daughters out of curiosity. It was not a pleasant meeting, though). Maybe Asian, East Asian to be precise." Carlisle muttered to himself, "May I ask where you are from?"

"Oh, of course you can. I was originally born in the Republic of Korea and internationally adopted by American parents when I was two, well, actually just a few days old, I suppose," Chris corrected himself, shuddering at the memory. "Because the people who first found me on the street thought I was a freak."

"A freak?" Carlisle encouraged him to continue.

"Yes, because I was completely naked and covered in blood. I remember it vividly, when I was born... I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to, but—I was just so hungry. The only thing in front of me when I was born was... my... my..." Chris faltered, his whole body shaking violently (If he were a shapeshifter, he would have already phased by now).

"You don't have to continue if you're not ready."

"No, I can do this. When I was, uh... finished, I instinctively crawled out of wherever I was—I think I was in the bathroom then—and began to search everywhere for something to eat. Luckily, I found a refrigerator by chance, managed to open the door—oh, I know! This is the vampire strength, right? There's no way a toddler could open such a big, heavy door!"

Carlisle nodded.

"Anyway, days went by, and I devoured everything inside the fridge. No one came. No food left. I found out I could now walk on my own, so I jumped and escaped through the kitchen window. I ran instinctively, unsure of where I was going. That's when the police found me, as I said before, naked and covered in blood. They freaked out, of course!" Chris chuckled a little. "Maybe they thought I was some sort of cursed baby. I guess that's why I was put up for international adoption. They wanted to get rid of me from their country."

"I assure you, you're not a freak or cursed. You, we... are just different."

"Thanks. It wasn't any different in America, though. My adoptive parents also freaked out when they saw how fast I was growing, and soon they gave up the adoption. From then on, I was in the system, jumping from one foster home to another. Every time I moved, the authorities decided there were some sort of misspelling errors in my certificates and everything, to my relief. To humans, there's no way to explain a kid becoming a teenager within a year. There are so many kids in the system anyways, so they just roughly 'corrected' my documents, for their convenience. My last foster parents were actually nice ones; they even paid for my med school. I would have loved it if they had adopted me, but..." Chris looked as if he was clinging desperately to the last memory of them. "They were very old. They would have passed as my grandparents. Dad... died of old age two years ago, and Mom... followed him last year. I... I couldn't do anything."

Chris didn't realize he was shedding tears. He didn't know he was in the chief's arms, squeezing him with great power (although he was much weaker than the vampire in front of him due to the lack of drinking blood), clinging to him like a real 13-year-old. Carlisle didn't mind his lab coat soaking, allowing the hybrid (who was much younger than his granddaughter) to cry in his arms.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. I'm really sorry about your foster parents. They'll be in a good place." Carlisle embraced him tighter. The crying slowly subsided. Chris sniffled, mumbling a small "sorry".

"Can you answer more questions from me? Or shall we take a break?" Carlisle asked gently, gesturing for Chris to sit down once more.

"I think I can handle some more. I've calmed down now, and I'm also curious about you."

"Then it's your turn to ask a question. And then we'll take turns from there."

"Okay. So... how do you handle this? I mean... this thirst of yours? I bet your thirst is more severe than mine since I'm a half-vampire and you're a full vampire? Pure-blood? Whatever."

"Oh, that. It was hard and took a long time. Years and years of practice, that's all I can tell you. It took hundreds of years for me to perfect my control. But like you said, it's easier for hybrids. My granddaughter—also a hybrid and a doctor—just needed decades."

"Hundreds?! How old are you?"

"I was born in the 17th century, in London. I guess I'll save my history for later—"

"You're British? I don't hear any accents."

Carlisle chuckled at this. "I think of myself as American now, though sometimes when certain emotions are strong, the accent surfaces a little. I've been in North America longer than I was in Europe. The New World suits me, I guess. Plus, there are no good memories in London, anyway." He was lost in his memories for a while. Witch hunts, transformation, suicide attempts... No good memories, indeed. "It's my turn to ask a question! What brings you here, to this field? I'm purely curious."

"Oh..." Chris looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, I didn't know that I'm a half-vampire until today, but I always knew I was different. I could hear people's heartbeats since I was born. When I was younger, I thought everyone could hear that!" They both giggled at this. "But I was devastated every time I knew someone's heart was going to fail judging by the sound, and I couldn't do anything! If only I knew what to do, then I could have saved them. I wanted knowledge, I wanted skills. I didn't want to regret anymore, blaming my lack of knowledge. I think... that's why I wanted to be a doctor."

Carlisle nodded in understanding. He, too, was helpless at first, not knowing what to do to help people. They were very alike regarding their motivations.

"It's my turn to ask questions, but... aren't you busy?" Chris realized they had been talking for almost an hour.

"Actually, yes, but I think I can handle just one last question. The rest can be talked about at home. Oh, you can come with me after work if you want. I... personally want that."

"Of course! Well... tell me about your family. Briefly, I mean. I can imagine it's a long story, since you're so old. You said you have a granddaughter?"

The grandfather in question smiled widely at the mention of his beloved granddaughter. "Yes. Renesmee, my granddaughter, is the daughter of Edward and Bella, who are my son and daughter. Edward was the first vampire I sired—biologically, in a way, by venom, you see, vampire venom carries extra pairs of chromosomes, from his or her creator, so he is my almost biological son—and his wife Bella was human when he found her. They fell in love, and... it's a long story. Nessie—nickname of Renesmee—is also a hybrid like you, as I said before. After Edward's change, I changed Esme, my wife, next. And then Rosalie, and then Emmett... he was the last one I directly sired, since Alice and Jasper were turned by someone else and joined me later, and Bella was turned by Edward. Jacob is Nessie's husband, and they have two kids, Billy and Elizabeth, who are now adults, too. I can't believe I'm not only a grandfather but also a great-grandfather. I'm old enough, yes, but... this sounds too old." He chuckled lightly with his last sentence.

"Wow, that's a big family! Total of..."

"Twelve, including me."

Subconsciously, Chris felt a momentary pang of jealousy. Living in such a big family must be very... fun and happy. He had always been a wanderer, even after meeting his last foster parents. Their presence was too brief for his liking. Carlisle looked like he noticed some of his feelings, but then...

"Well, they're paging me again. I really have to go. If you think you can't handle this yet, I'll tell them you're not feeling well and resting in my office. Is that acceptable to you?"

"Of course, Dr. Cullen. I don't think I can even be around the patients now, whether they're bleeding or not."

"All right. You'll get over it soon, as you will learn how to hunt and control your thirst. Oh, and please call me Carlisle, by the way, especially outside of the hospital."

He gave the young hybrid one last reassuring smile and took off.