Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm excited to continue. For the guest who was asking about my story, The Doctor: The Life, Loss and Love of Carlisle Cullen... I will be updating soon. I'm sorry I haven't kept up with that one as much. I just keep getting all these ideas for this one and I can't help but write them. I will update that one soon. :)

Chapter 1

Spring in Minnesota wasn't overly different than spring in Washington, though the rainy days weren't quite as consistent. The biggest challenge was keeping the kids in class for as many consecutive days as possible. They would often make their way toward campus before sunrise and linger in the library, or the hallways until classes began.

Carlisle was on the night shift and it had become his regular hours, something he volunteered to stay on. Most of his co-workers had minimal interest in working nights, so he didn't have to put up much of a fight to stay there. While Esme missed his company at night, they were able to spend their days together and he was home at reasonable times that allowed him to keep up with what Caleb, Alex and the rest of them were doing in school.

Delilah remained living "permanently" on campus, though often snuck out after the staff made their rounds to make sure everyone was in their rooms for curfew. She and Caleb were happily in love and had a difficult time when forced to separate for the night. Esme had overheard Caleb on the phone for hours while Delilah was on campus and didn't hang up until he was about to leave to see her in his first period class. She was, however, slowly becoming part of their group. Aside from Michael, a number of the others made her feel more at home, particularly Emmett, William, Mackenzie and Nicole.

Alex was still skeptical of the girl who had started out trying to play her brother, though after an early morning one day before school where Delilah showed them a number of underground tunnels she had discovered that led from building to building, Alex had thought her to be a little "cooler". She was beginning to accept her as part of their family, mainly through the encouraging words of Michael and the constant reassurance of Edward.

Carlisle and Esme tried keeping their casual plans for a baby in the dark from everyone, though they were certain from the subtle comments of everyone that Edward and Alice had inadvertently spread the news. Esme had wanted to speak with their children, Caleb particularly, but Alex as well, though she hadn't quite yet.

"I'm off to work," Carlisle said, straitening the collar of his shirt. He looked at the clock, which showed it was a few minutes before eleven-thirty.

"Call me when you get there," Esme told him, running her hands over a leftover wrinkle on the sleeve of his shirt.

He looked down, "Do I need to re-iron it?"

She snickered and kissed him, "No. Just maybe let me do it next time." Her voice was playful and teasing and made him laugh.

"Okay." He kissed her a few more times in a row as they stood by the front door. "Call me if anything... happens."

"I will," Esme assured him.

The two of them shared a smile before he made his way outside toward the garage.

"Hamlet test," Caleb said, nearly bumping into Esme as she rounded back toward the living room.

"In the morning?" she asked.

"First period," he said, handing her a sheet full of notes and sample questions.

"You're already finishing up the book?"

Caleb nodded, "Yeah. We've been reading it for over a month now."

Esme scanned the questions and Caleb put an arm over her shoulders. She smiled and placed her arm around his waist as they walked until reaching the kitchen table where other papers were scattered and Mackenzie sat.

"Can you quiz us?" she asked.

"Of course," Esme told them with a smile.

"Just like the old days back in the Forks classroom," Caleb told her, taking a seat in one of the high chairs.

She laughed, "Miss those days?" Her eyes drifted toward both of them.

"Yes," Mackenzie said with a nod, "I miss Forks a lot actually."

"Me too," Caleb said.

"We'll move back some day," Esme assured them, "And once school's out maybe we'll go spend a month out there. What do you think?"

"Yeah," they both said with smiles at the same time.

She smiled back and began reading over the questions that Caleb handed her, then spent the next forty-five minutes or so helping them prepare for the test they had in the morning. When the two of them felt satisfied and ready, Esme reached for a course syllabus that was left out.

"What are you reading next?" she asked.

"Caleb and Delilah, I think," Mackenzie said, looking over at him with a smile.

"What?" Esme asked with a grin, seeing him toss a balled up piece of paper at her.

"Romeo and Juliet," he said, shaking his head.

Mackenzie snickered and threw the paper back at him. Caleb turned and it hit him in the face, making Esme laugh lightly.

"Mom, she's being mean to me," he said.

"I believe you started it," she said, raising her eyebrows with a smile.

Caleb smirked and shook his head, then gathered up their notes and tucked them back into a folder while Mackenzie did the same.

"Okay, I'm going to call-" he started.

"Delilah," Mackenzie finished, still teasing him.

Esme stood up and smiled, as the two of them began to make their way toward other parts of the house.

"I'm just kidding," Mackenzie said, draping an arm over them as they walked, "She's alright."

"Yeah, yeah..." Caleb said, shaking his head, then called out over his shoulder, "Thanks Mom!"

"Yeah, thanks!" Mackenzie added.

"You're welcome kids," Esme said. She sighed and straitened up the kitchen table, readjusting the napkin holder, candles and table runner.

Edward strolled in with a smile and looked at her, immediately helping as she was yet to get things perfectly as they were before. "So, I would like to talk with you about something, if that's alright."

She laughed, "If that's alright? Of course it's alright.'

"Alright." He smiled, purposely saying the word again.

Esme sat back down in one of the chairs and Edward sat across from her. "Why does this feel like an interrogation?" she asked with a laugh.

"It's not," he assured her, grinning, then pointed up, "Though the bright light doesn't exactly help."

She laughed and lightly placed her hands over his for a moment, before slightly readjusting the candles on the table top again.

Edward lowered his voice, "I know about your plans with Carlisle," he said, "Obviously."

Esme shrugged and nodded.

"Bella and I were kind of thinking along the same lines. I don't think there's another eclipse until July, or maybe the last week of June, but-"

Esme had to control the excitement in her voice, but managed to do so, so she wouldn't spread Edward's thoughts to the whole house. "You're going to have a baby?" she asked with a smile, whispering as she did.

He laughed, knowing from her rapid-fire thoughts that she was perhaps more excited than he was. "Yeah, I think so," he whispered. "Bella was all nervous to talk about it because, well, I'll be honest I told her that you and Carlisle were too."

Esme laughed and got up from the table to hug him, "Are you kidding?" she asked, unable to hide a smile as she continued to whisper excitedly, "I've been waiting for you to come to me with this kind of news."

Edward laughed again and winced from the force of Esme's hug, making him laugh even harder.

"Oh sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to hug you so hard."

"I don't want to say it's a secret," he said, "Because it's really not, but I haven't mentioned this to anyone but Alice."

Esme put her hand over her mouth for a moment to let him know that she wouldn't say anything, "Can I tell Carlisle?"

Edward nodded with a smile, "Yeah, that's fine."

"Or were you planning to?"

"No, it's fine," he told her again, "I'm going to talk to him but you can tell him. It's not going to happen for a little while anyway, but I just wanted to talk to you about it."

Esme hugged him again and kissed him on the cheek. "And tell Bella not to be silly. She should enjoy it!"

"I'll tell her," Edward whispered.

Esme smiled and the two of them stood there for a moment in silence until Edward broke it with a chuckle, causing Esme to do the same.

"Want to watch a movie with us?" he asked.

She nodded, "Sure."

Edward held out his arm and she linked hers through it as they headed toward the living room.