A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for all of the sweet reviews. I'm really glad the proposal lived up to your expectations.

This chapter will also contain a moment I'm sure you have all been waiting for. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Song for chapter: Everything by Lifehouse (This is actually the song I listen to the most when I'm writing. I love it!)

And how can I stand here with you

And not be moved by you

Would you tell me how could it be

Any better than this

Cause you're all I want

You're all I need

You're everything

Everything

Carlisle POV

As I lay on the couch watching Esme sleep beside me, I knew that I had to be the happiest man in the world. Seeing the ring I gave her on her delicate hand made my heart soar.

My week's worth of planning had definitely paid off. I knew Esme was probably suspicious of my actions, but she never mentioned it. I couldn't help but be nervous about my plans. I never once considered that she would turn me down, but I still wanted the night to be memorable and perfect.

I had an idea in my mind of what kind of ring I wanted to get. I wanted one that would symbolize something about our relationship while still being beautiful to look at. Nothing would be too much for Esme, but I knew she would appreciate something a bit simple. She didn't need expensive things to know that I love her. A plastic ring would mean more to her than platinum one if there was thought was behind it.

Taking Emmett with me to look at rings had been an interesting experience. He did not like it one bit that I would not let him explore the store like he wanted to. A few tantrums were narrowly avoided with the distraction of shiny jewels. Emmett seemed to like all of the rings, so once I found the one I thought was perfect, it wasn't too difficult to get his approval.

I already knew Esme's ring size, and I checked with the orthopedic doctor during the appointment about the swelling of her fingers. He assured me that the swelling appeared to be down completely, and it should stay that way as long as she didn't do anything to strain her arm. I didn't think it would be right to have a ring that Esme couldn't wear for another few weeks.

After the ring was taken care of, I had to plan exactly how I wanted the night to go. I knew I wanted everything to happen on Friday night, so the first thing I had to do was get off work. Esme didn't know it, but one night I worked a double shift, covering for another doctor who agreed to come in Friday afternoon. I was nearly exhausted afterward, but I knew it would be worth it in the end.

I worked on my idea in my mind until it was perfect. On Friday morning, I called Maggie to see if she would be interested in watching Emmett for the night. She insisted that she would love the opportunity. I did inform her of my basic plans, but made her promise not to tell Esme. She promised not to breathe a word of it to her, but she seemed so excited and I knew it wouldn't go unnoticed.

While Esme was lunching with Maggie, I went to talk to Carmen and Eleazar about my plans. They were both extremely happy for both of us, and agreed to help with anything. I asked Carmen if she could possibly help Esme get ready. I knew she missed being able to curl her hair, and she deserved to feel as beautiful as I thought she always looked. I had the perfect dress in mind for Esme to wear, so I described it for Carmen and she said she would find it. Eleazar agreed to help move the furniture after we left for the evening as well as setting up the candles and lighting them a few minutes before we would return. They also agreed to drop Emmett off at Maggie's which completed my plans.

Esme thought I left for work, but instead I waited for Carmen to take her into the bathroom before I snuck back inside and changed in the other bathroom. I tried to remain as quiet as possible as I quickly changed. Once I was ready, I went outside to wait for Carmen's signal. When she called my cell phone and let it ring once, I knew it was show time.

Esme and I had a wonderful time at dinner. The food was delicious, and I enjoyed sitting as close to her as possible. We also had a great time laughing and talking with each other. I loved how natural it was being with her.

When we got back home, I left Esme at the door to make sure everything was set up as I had imagined it. Upon seeing that Carmen and Eleazar had done an excellent job with the candles and furniture, I turned on the music and went back to get my rather confused love.

We danced slowly together, and I couldn't resist singing to her. The words fit us perfectly, and expressed the relief I felt now that I had her back. When I looked at Esme, I could tell she was starting to feel overwhelmed so I sat us both down on the couch. I was nervous about the next part of my plan, but when she squeezed my hand, my confidence returned.

I didn't have my words planned out in advance. I knew it would mean more if I just spoke from my heart, so I did. I hoped she knew exactly how true everything I said was. I knew they had some effect on her when tears appeared in her eyes.

If Esme didn't know what was going on before, she certainly did when I got down on one knee. I could have proposed while we were at the restaurant, but this was us. Sitting together on the couch like we did every night.

I wasn't sure she heard everything I said or not through her sobbing. She stared at the ring for the longest time, and I was starting to worry that she hadn't understood me. But when she said yes along with some other jumbled words and attacked me, I was extremely relieved. I held her until she was finished crying and then I had to kiss her.

When we finally got out of the floor, both of us needed the physical contact with the other. I told her about the symbolism I found in the ring, and I was glad she thought it was perfect. Even though we didn't have to pick Emmett up, I knew we eventually needed to get ready for bed. Esme didn't want to let me go for the three minutes it took us to change, and I didn't blame her. We needed this contact like we needed air.

I knew I wanted to spend the night with her, so I decided the couch would be comfortable enough. I wanted to save my bed for after we were married. Something needed to remain special for that time. I had a feeling if she slept with me there once, I would never want her to go back to her room again.

Sleeping and waking with her in my arms was wonderful. We were still wrapped tightly in the quilt as I watched her. I lightly touched the ring on her finger with one hand, and played with her hair with the other. I knew the moment when she woke up because she sighed and nestled closer to me, but she didn't try to stop my movements.

"Good morning," she whispered, her voice still full of sleep.

"Good morning to you, too, my beautiful fiancé," I replied and kissed her head. "Did you sleep well?"

"Fiancé…" she pondered softly. "I think I like the sound of that. And yes. I did sleep well. Probably the best I have ever slept."

Esme sat up slowly and groaned as she stretched out all of her stiff muscles. I rubbed her back gently before swinging my legs off the couch and shifting so I was sitting correctly. After she finished stretching, she curled her legs up underneath her and returned to her position beside me. We sat together silently until my stomach growled, followed closely by hers.

"I guess I should make us some breakfast now," Esme said with a laugh.

"Let's go out for breakfast," I suggested. "We can pick Emmett up and then go eat together."

Esme smiled and nodded in agreement.

We still had no desire to be apart from each other, so we both headed to my bathroom to start getting ready for the day.

"Ugh. Look at my face! I look horrible!" she exclaimed upon looking in the mirror. Her make-up was smeared and partially running down her face both from sleep and crying.

"Nonsense. You could never look horrible," I said, trying to hide my smile.

"I look like a raccoon!" she almost yelled.

"A very lovely raccoon," I chuckled, not being able to suppress my amusement any longer. Her appearance really wasn't that funny, but her reaction was definitely something to laugh over.

"Shut up," she said with a small smile of her own and playfully slapped my arm. I simply shrugged and began brushing my teeth while she did the same.

After her face was cleaned up a bit, I helped her fix her hair. The curls were still lingering, but the hairspray made it difficult to work with. I finally managed to gather the hair into a rather messy ponytail, but Esme thanked me with a kiss, so it must have not been too bad. Once we were finished in the bathroom, we unfortunately had to separate. We dressed as quickly as possible in our own rooms and then met back up in the living room.

We unknowingly coordinated: me in a pair black running shorts and a gray University of Washington hooded sweatshirt, and her in a pair of black capri yoga pants and a light weight gray jacket. Our lack of effort in our clothing choices was almost comical, but I knew we would be spending the rest of the day inside, enjoying the lack of activity.

Picking up Emmett was as fun as always. It was difficult to have him away from us, but seeing him again after time apart made up for it. He was so happy to see both Esme and me, and went back and forth between our arms. Whenever we would try to put him down, he would hold on tighter and give us more hugs and kisses. Totally worth the separation.

Maggie went straight for Esme's left hand when we got there, and was almost jumping for joy when she saw the ring. After a round of congratulatory hugs from her, we gathered Emmett's things and headed out to breakfast.

We picked IHOP for our breakfast location of choice. Emmett was excited to see his favorite morning meal of pancakes and bacon. Seeing him eat reminded me of our first breakfast together while Esme was in the hospital. It seemed like it had been so long ago, but it had only been three short weeks. This breakfast went a little different than the first one. Instead of being content to sit in a high chair, Emmett insisted on sitting in my lap. I was fine with the arrangement until Emmett kept trying to pick through my omelet with his syrup covered fingers. After the fourth time of telling him "no," I placed him back in his high chair which didn't go over well to say the least. Esme and I continued to eat like we didn't have a crying toddler with us. Our feet were intertwined under the table, and nothing could ruin our good moods.

Emmett's sour mood didn't last long, and by the time we arrived back home, he was back to being the happy, loving boy we knew. The rest of the day was spent lazing around. Since we filled up on breakfast, Emmett was the only one to eat lunch which consisted of ham and cheese on some crackers. Esme felt slightly bad for not fixing him a better meal, but wasn't really in to making anything any fancier. I understood exactly what she meant. The only thing I wanted to do was sit with her in my arms.

I volunteered to make dinner which closely resembled Emmet's lunch with the addition of fruit and yogurt. We ate together on the floor in the living room. Emmett enjoyed the freedom to roll around in the floor while eating, and I enjoyed being able to have Esme sitting in between my legs with my arms wrapped around her.

Later in the evening, we put Emmett to bed and then continued to sit around until it was our bedtime. I loathed the idea of us being apart, but reminded myself that it would be worth it to wait. We walked to the middle of the hallway, hand-in-hand, before turning to go in our separate directions. Our hands stayed joined until we couldn't reach each other anymore, which left them lingering in the air. The scene was so corny and ridiculous that I couldn't help but double over in silent laughter. Esme soon laughed along with me at the absurdity of our actions.

Once I was in control again, I walked back over to her and pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Good night, sweetheart," I whispered, as to not wake Emmett. "I love you and I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

She nodded and placed a quick peck on my lips. "Okay," she smiled. "See you in the morning. I love you, too."

With that, we headed to our own beds without the extra dramatics.

When we pulled into the church parking lot the next morning, Carmen was already at the car before we could get out. She immediately embraced Esme in a hug, telling her how excited she was about her officially joining the family.

We proudly told our friends the news of our engagement and Esme showed off her ring. They were all happy for us, especially since they had known of my past and love for Esme for a while. It felt good to have their support.

Eleazar embarrassed Esme during the service when he announced our news to the congregation. I just smiled and tried to reassure her the best that I could. I longed to tell the world about this honor she was bestowing upon me, and the church was a good first step.

Family dinner on Monday night was spent on speaker phone with my cousin Kate. She was very happy for us, and excited about coming down for the wedding. We wanted to get married as soon as possible after the divorce papers were finalized. Even though we still had a while to wait, it would be useful for Esme to plan her dream wedding. I wanted to make sure she was able to include everything she had ever pictured for our wedding. I knew she already had it mostly planned out when we were teenagers, and now it would finally happen.

The next week, I went back to working the shift we were both more comfortable with. I was also on call in the emergency room at night, but I didn't worry too much about it. Most weeknights were fairly slow and boring in the ER.

Esme and I were both on cloud nine since we could spend our evenings together once more. We talked about our days as usual, but it was now difficult for us to contain our need for each other once we were alone. Movie watching quickly turned into make-out sessions, and we joked that we were regressing to our teenage years. We both had enough self-control to stop before we went too far, but our kissing was always enjoyable. We explored every type of kissing: slow, fast, tender, passionate, sloppy, sweet. Our mouths were thoroughly acquainted with each other.

My hands had also started to wander. I kept it innocent, simply caressing her arms, legs, back, or face, since I was still a little worried about bad memories flooding Esme's mind. I would never hurt her, and she knew this. But I also recognized that her fears could still be triggered by the gentlest of touches. Our physical relationship was not something that I was taking lightly. I wanted to make sure that I could give Esme all the pleasure and love she deserved once we were married. That would take patience, but I would wait forever for her to be comfortable.

On Friday evening, we had both gone to bed excited about the upcoming weekend to spend together. I had been asleep for a couple of hours when I got the call to head to the hospital. There had been a bad car accident, and the ER needed the extra help to deal with a trauma patient. I had been sleeping in my scrubs just in case something happened, so I was ready to leave in only a few minutes.

I went to Esme's room, and she was sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face. I didn't want to disturb her, but I hated the idea of her to waking up and worrying about where I was.

I softly stroked her face, willing her to wake up. She stirred slightly and her eyes fluttered open.

"Esme, I got called into the hospital," I explained in a whisper. "I should be back before morning, okay?"

She nodded and mumbled something incoherently.

"Alright. Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I love you."

I leaned down to kiss her, and she was awake enough to move her lips with mine.

"Mmm love you, too," she slurred before turning over. I chuckled after noticing she was already asleep before I could leave the room.

I went to Emmett's room to check on him. He was also sleeping peacefully so I pulled his blanket more securely around him and leaned down to kiss his head. I whispered my love to him, and then left the room.

When I got to the hospital, the case was not as bad as I had anticipated. Only one person had been hurt in the accident, and the nurses and other doctor had already cleaned him up. I ordered x-rays and a CT scan, and was pleased to find that the most serious injury was a fractured bone in his leg. He also had a gash above his eye and some minor scrapes and bruises. After sewing up the large cut and casting his leg, I made sure he was settled before returning home.

It was nearly four a.m. and I was exhausted. The only thing I could think of was getting back into the bed and sleeping in.

As I walked to my room, I heard a soft whimpering coming from behind Emmett's cracked door. I slowly opened the door, and noticed that it was darker as usual. I went over to the dresser to turn on the small lamp. Once there was light in the room, I looked over to the crib.

Emmett was sitting up, clutching his blanket tightly in both hands. His eyes were closed, but tears were running down his face.

"Hey. What's the matter, buddy?" I asked softly.

His eyes popped open when he heard my voice, and he started vigorously reaching for me.

"Da..a..ad..dy," he cried, his little voice broken with sobs. "Daddy, dark!"

For a few seconds, I was frozen in place holding my breath. The thoughts swirled in my brain. Did it really just happen? Emmett called me "Daddy?" Thank you, Jesus. Esme and I had both been praying for this, as well as Carmen and Eleazar. Now that the moment was here, I found it hard to believe. I had never been called "Daddy" before and it was an amazing feeling. I snapped out of my mini-trance when Emmett began calling for me more frantically. I rushed over to his side quickly, not wanting him to wake Esme.

"Shhh. It's okay, baby," I said as I pulled him into my arms. He held on tightly to my shirt, and I could tell he was desperately trying to soothe himself. "You're safe now. Daddy's got you." My voice almost broke as I said it, but I felt incredibly warm inside. My son needed his Daddy, and I was here to comfort him.

I quietly paced the room, rubbing his back and humming any tune that came to my mind. Once his cries turned in to sniffles and coughs, I stopped moving.

"All better now?" I asked and kissed his temple.

He nodded against me. "Dark," he said once more.

I then remembered that it had been darker than usual when I first came in. I looked around the room and found that the nightlight we always turned on was no longer burning. I made a mental note to buy a replacement bulb.

Even though I was quite ecstatic, I was still exhausted. I didn't want to wait for Emmett to fall asleep while I rocked him since I knew I would probably fall asleep in the chair as well. After changing his diaper, I turned off the lamp and went to the kitchen to pour a small amount of milk in a sippy cup for him. I handed it to him in exchange for his pacifier and he drank quietly with his head against my shoulder as I walked to my room.

I sat down on the bed with Emmett still in my arms and kicked off my shoes. I didn't even have enough energy to change into pajamas. I laid Emmett down with his head on the pillow and then reached over to turn off the lamp I had left on before going to the hospital.

Emmett whimpered again when the light was off, so I laid down and quickly pulled him to my side.

"It's okay, buddy," I whispered and kissed his forehead. "I'm right here. You can sleep now."

I traded back his pacifier for the now empty sippy cup. After placing it on the night stand, I cuddled Emmett as close to me as I could and made sure his blanket was wrapped around him. I pulled my quilt up to cover both of us, and said another prayer of thanks before drifting off to sleep with my son beside me.

A bright light was flashing in front of my closed eyelids. I couldn't figure out what the cause was. I had not been dreaming; instead, my sleep had been blissful and uninterrupted by anything until now. I finally opened my eyes and saw Esme standing at the foot of my bed with a camera.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you up. The scene was just too cute to pass up. You can go back to sleep now."

I looked beside me to see what she was talking about. I smiled and understood what she meant. Emmett was sleeping with his back against my side and his head on my shoulder. His arms were wrapped around mine which held him to me.

"Why don't you join us?" I asked. Esme was still in her pajamas so I knew it was probably still early. She climbed under the covers with us and snuggled up as close to Emmett and me as she could.

"Did he sleep here last night?" she asked as she lightly kissed his head.

I nodded. "When I got home, I heard him crying," I explained. "The bulb went out on his nightlight and he didn't like the dark, so I just brought him in here to sleep with me."

"That was sweet of you. You could have just put him in bed with me. I can't believe I didn't wake up."

I wasn't sure how to tell Esme what else had happened last night, but I knew I couldn't wait much longer.

"Um something else happened last night," I began. "Emmett, he called me 'Daddy.'"

She gasped and tears filled her eyes. "Really?" she asked hopefully. "Did he really say it?"

I nodded and tried to swallow back the lump forming in my throat. "He did, Esme, and it was so beautiful. I just can't wait to hear him say it when he isn't crying."

Our talking had caused Emmett to begin stirring. He turned over completely on his belly, and his breathing became faster.

"Someone's waking up," I whispered in a sing-song voice.

Esme nodded. "Well I see someone peeking at me," she said while looking at Emmett.

He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes before smiling at both of us and lying back down. Esme winked at me, and we both attacked him with tickles. Once his laughter left him almost gasping for air, we stopped and helped him sit back up.

Esme got out of bed, and Emmett stood up to walk over to her. She settled him on her hip and walked around to my side of the bed. I sat up and swung my legs over the side to put my feet on the floor. After stretching, I stood up and walked closer to Esme.

"Who is that?" Esme asked Emmett when he was looking at me. He just smiled and remained silent.

"Who is that? What's his name?" she asked once more.

He looked at me for a few seconds before reaching for me. "Daddy!" he said loud and clear. Esme smiled in relief and happiness.

My smile matched hers. I had not expected Emmett to say it again so soon.

"C'mere," I said as I took him into my arms. "That's right, little man. I am your Daddy, and you are my precious son." I lifted him into the air and brought him back down quickly while his giggles filled the room.

He didn't say "Daddy" again for the rest of the day, but I didn't care. The times he had said it were more than enough for me. I had been thinking of myself as his father since I met him, and having him confirm it meant so much to me. I was so close to having everything I ever wanted. Esme was going to be my wife in a few short months, and I knew I wanted Emmett to officially be my son as soon as possible. I truly was the happiest man in the world.