A/N: This is only my second time doing Carlisle so please tell me if I'm doing him justice. It's really important to me that everyone is "in character".

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Carlisle's POV

The Volturi.

Up until now, the thought of them hadn't been too bad. I spent many years there with Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They were my family before I met Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper. Well, it was more of a coven then a family, but still a family nonetheless. But now, the thought of the Volturi was absolutely horrid. Alice, Edward, and Bella, my family, my children, are in Italy right now facing death against the Volturi.

"I can't believe Edward did that!" I could her Rosalie screaming at Emmett from her room. "He is such a melodramatic idiot. He never really loved that girl; if he did then he would've changed her. This is his entire fault!"

I will agree that Edward did go a little overboard this time, but I am in no way blaming him. This is everyone's fault. Of course, it is partly Edward's for going to Italy and for leaving Bella, in the first place, but it is also Rosalie's, for telling him that Bella jumped off a cliff. It is somewhat Alice's for misinterpreting her vision and it's my fault for letting him leave Forks.

I remember hearing Rosalie and Jasper arguing earlier. Jasper had just told us what Alice told him. He was walking out of my room, and Rosalie, desperate for someone other than herself to blame this on, picked Jasper.

"This is all you fault!" Rosalie had just started yelling at him.

"Rose…" She didn't let him finish, however and started screaming again.

"No! If you could've just controlled yourself and that stupid party, we wouldn't be in this mess." After hearing Rosalie, Emmet ran to her side to try and calm her down in ways Jasper couldn't.

"Rose, come on, you know this isn't Jasper's fault, it's our nature." He was right and they all knew it, but Rosalie wasn't going to let this go that easily.

"No, you want to know whose fault this is? It's Alice if she didn't throw a party for some pathetic little human who didn't even want a party, Edward would still be here!" That's what did it for Jasper, he was okay with Rosalie blaming him, but there was no way he was going to let her pin this on Alice.

"Don't you dare blame her!" Jasper tackled Rosalie to the ground, but with Emmett standing right there, he was thrown off almost instantly, he still wasn't finished, though. "If this is anyone's fault it's yours," he yelled pointing his finger in Rosalie's face, "I mean, how stupid can you get? Calling him? Were even thinking of Edward or were you only thinking about yourself?" That's when I had to break up their fight, if I didn't it would've gotten much worse. They haven't spoken to each other since.

I could hear all the members of my family from my place in my study; minus Edward, Alice, and Bella of course. Emmett is taking it hard. Bella was like a sister to him, and Alice has been his baby sister for so long, even though technically, she is older than him. Rosalie is using anger as a way to hide her grief and guilt. Jasper is in his and Alice's room. He hasn't moved since his fight with Rosalie. He is just sitting on the floor, never taking his eyes off the phone, willing it to ring and have Alice tell him that they got there in time and everyone is safe and sound. Esme is utterly distraught. This brought up painful, old memories for her. She already lost one child and I couldn't bear to even think what it would be like for her if she lost another one, or even worse, three. And then there's me. I feel so powerless; sitting here just hoping that everything will turn out alright while my children are in such danger overseas.

I tried not to think of what could happen to them, or that they might not come home. All I focused on was praying to god that all my children would return home safely. I tried to hold on to the tiniest strand of hope I had left. I refused to start morning for them until we knew for sure. Although it is unlikely they will return home. Alice hasn't called us for nearly two days and I know form experience that Aro is not lenient on punishments.

Still, I refused to believe that my children were dead, not yet. How could they die, they were so good, all three of them.

Edward, my "first-born", he was the one who changed me from a forlorn monster into a compassionate father. He and I had always been a team. He could never see in himself what everyone else saw in him; a good, caring, gentlemanly person. He always called himself selfish; that was not true in the least. I know my son better than anyone else, he is not selfish, he gives up so much for his family. Leaving had been him giving up his happiness for Bella. Although she didn't realize it at the time, he did that because he loves her. I wanted to be angry at him for it, but try as I might, I just couldn't be mad at him; at least not until he gets home. If he does come home.

Alice, my psychic daughter, if anything happened to her, I wouldn't just lose her, I would lose Jasper too. Even though I knew Edward the longest, I've always felt a special connection with Alice. We both had to endure things anyone else in our family never had. We woke up alone, had to discover what we were alone, learn how to feed off of animals alone, and control our bloodlust for the humans around us, alone. She is the only one who knows what I went through, those first, lonely years of my new life. Not only that, but I knew that if there was a fight, Alice wouldn't survive. She may be extremely strong and fast compared to humans, but by vampire standards, she was small and weak. I shuddered at the thought of tiny Alice up against the Volturi.

And Bella, my son's one and only love, she was supposed to become one of us. She was supposed to be my daughter, Edward's wife, my other children's sister. She wanted this life, it wasn't fair to her that Edward took it away, and she is still risking her life to save him. Bella truly was a special person. If she were to be killed on this deadly mission, the whole thing would've been for nothing, Edward would just try to kill himself again.

I looked up as a soft knock interrupted my thoughts. "Come in," I said in what I hoped to be a welcoming and cheery voice. I don't think I succeeded; it's pretty impossible to be optimistic at a time like this. But still, as tough as the situation was, I had to be strong for my family.

The door opened to reveal a weary and crestfallen looking Esme. "Oh, Esme." I held out my arms for her and she leaned into my chest and started sobbing again.

"Carlisle," she said in between sobs, "What are we going to do?" She looked up at me and I could see there were tears pressing against the back of her golden eyes; tears that would never fall.

"We are going to stay here and wait, "I told her calmly.

"But what if something happens to them?" She asked in a tight voice. We've been having this discussion a lot in the past few days. I have been trying to console her, but it was hard as I was just as worried as she.

"Shh, it's okay Esme." I tried to soothe her with my words, "we just have to have faith."

"It's so hard," She whispered into my chest.

"I know." She was right. It was hard. It is so incredibly hard to have faith, and to hope that everyone is safe. We have almost no reason at all to assume they are still alive. If everything had gone according to plan, Alice would've called by now.

So I did the only thing I could do at the moment; I held her. I pulled Esme even closer to me, and we just sat there, each deep in thought, for what felt like hours. It probably was hours, I had no idea what time it was. Only the soft, yellowish glow coming through the window had indicated sunrise. Yet another night has passed, and we still don't know anything.

Just then, the cell phone in Jasper's room began to ring. He picked it up instantaneously.

"Alice?" I could hear him clearly down the hall. I felt Esme stiffen nest to me as we waited for his next words. They would either be the best or the worst I've ever heard. They would either mean that we could relax, that we didn't have to worry anymore, or they would mean that we would become completely heartbroken, and our lives would be changed forever, and not for the better. I prayed with all my might that it was the first.

"Thank god you're all okay," were his next words. I could feel actually feel the relief radiating in the room. I smiled for the first time in days. I turned my head to face Esme, and she too was smiling. Everything was going to be fine, our children were safe, and we would all be together again soon. All is right with the world.

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-Nikkirenzo59