Well everyone, it's finally here. The end of the road for this story. It's been a blast writing it, and I'm hoping that you've all enjoyed reading as I've enjoyed writing. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed and offered suggestions and ideas for different chapters. This particular chapter covers several decades of time, and does not include anything further than the first few chapters of Twilight, as it was requested by a reviewer not to write about anything past Breaking Dawn – as she wanted to recommend this story to a friend to read, but she hadn't read Breaking Dawn yet. So I ended with the beginning of Twilight – a pretty safe bet I think.

As always, reviews make my day a little brighter. I wonder who's going to be reviewer 100?!?!? Enjoy!

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Previously…

"Before you do anything, Carlisle, please let me help her."

I knew what she meant to do – she wanted to tidy her up a little.

"Alright, Esme. Don't be too long, because she hasn't much time left."

She nodded her head and went straight to work. With the most gentle of touches she placed the cloth in the warm water and applied it to the girl whom we now knew as Rosalie's face. She gently wiped away the dried blood, the sweat and the stray pieces of hair that had now stuck to her, and after she tended to her face she began to move down Rosalie's body. Edward and I left the room for a moment to give them some privacy.

"Are you going to change her, Carlisle?"

"That's all I can do, Edward. What is she thinking?"

"She thinks she's going to die, but she appreciates what Esme is doing. It seems that even when she is in this much pain she is concerned with how we perceive her."

I smiled and was about to speak when I heard Esme call my name.

"Carlisle, she's slipping away. Come quickly."

I came back into the room and saw Esme kneeling beside the bed, holding Rosalie's hand. I nodded my head at Esme and I leaned into Rosalie's left ear as I held her hand in mine.

"Rosalie, I'm going to do the only thing I can to help you. We will all be here for you when you wake up. I'm sorry."

I leaned towards her and I felt the venom pool in my mouth as I opened it and sank my teeth in.

****

Over the past 70 years, as a family, we have gone through a great deal. We have lived through the Second World War, and I stayed in the United States to care for those soldiers who were lucky enough to be sent home alive. I had been approached at the hospital by Army recruitment to assist overseas, yet I explained to the recruitment Officers that I had a condition called vertigo, and was unable to fight due to my condition. They offered me a post at the Army Hospital in West Point; but as tempting as the ability to help so many injured people would be, I knew that we would have to stay on the base – and this could create an issue for my family. I decided that the best place for me to help would be at the local hospital, and that was how I made my contribution to the war effort. At the time we had a new member to our family join us – he had joined us in Tennessee after Rosalie found him. He had been out hunting, ironically, and had been mauled by the grizzly bear that he was hunting. As I mentioned it was Rosalie that had found him and ran over 100 miles with him in his arms, begging me to change him. I saw the pleading in her eyes and changed him. I could tell that Rosalie needed this and I changed him as she felt she may be too weak to do so herself. When he woke three days later and was changed, he said the strangest thing to us. He had said that he saw Rosalie as an angel, and me being in charge of her. After I explained to him what we were, as he now was, he looked at me with the simplest of expressions. I remember his words as though he spoke them mere moments ago.

'If you are both vampires and you saved me, you're great people. It can't be all bad.'

It touched me to know that he thought of me in such a good light, moments after I had condemned him to an eternity of walking this earth. He took to our vegetarian lifestyle quickly, and I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when he acquired a taste for grizzly bear. I suppose it was retribution for the bear that had almost taken his life. He seemed to prefer them when they had just woken from hibernation as they were more irritable then, and he preferred a good fight when he hunted. He had a hunting style that I had never witnessed before – rugged and animalistic – not concerned about the remains of the animal being almost shredded to obtain the last drop from the creature he had fed from.

The same working situation was brought forth to me while the United States was at war in Korea and Vietnam, and I successfully was able to stay stateside in the local community hospital and treat those soldiers who were welcomed home after their courageous ventures overseas. I was fortunate enough, after the Korean War ended in 1953, to have two new additions to my family. Alice Brandon and Jasper Whitlock, who had met each other about a year previously, arrived on our front porch one evening. I had gotten up out of the chair to open the door and was shocked when a very small girl threw her arms around me.

'Carlisle, it's so good to see you! I saw this coming. I'm Alice, and this is Jasper.'

I was stunned, needless to say, but we invited them in. We talked with the entire family and they told us their story. Alice did most of the speaking, as it seemed that Jasper was having difficulty in trusting us. He did however, and told us his story in a few well chosen phrases. He was in the Civil War when he was changed, and from that point on he had helped his leader to train newborns. As Alice had mentioned, they had met in a diner and he felt instantly calmed by her. We knew that Alice's gift was having visions of the future, and it took us quite a while to figure out Jasper's gift. It occurred to me one night when Esme and I were having a discussion that had gotten quite heated. We were not angry with each other, but when she was especially passionate about something she was not willing to budge, and I loved that about her. During the middle of our discussion as our words were getting heated I felt a very intense wave of calm come over me. We looked at each other and instantly apologized to each other. As I took her in my arms, I saw Jasper walk past the Living Room with a small smile on his face. I called out to him and asked him to step in for a moment, as Esme left to go into the garden. He did, standing almost at attention as he faced me; a remnant of his military service days no doubt. We talked for a moment and I discovered that he was an empath; he had the ability to manipulate emotions. He said that the reason he did it was because he didn't like to hear us fighting and that even though he had been with us a short while, he knew how much Esme and I loved each other and couldn't understand why we fought. I explained to him that even though we did love each other more than anything, we never got so angry that it escalated further. Esme was a passionate woman, and when she believed in something she held fast to that belief. It was one of the unending things that I loved about her, and though we didn't have passionate discussions often, I admitted that I secretly loved when we did. Seeing the fire behind her eyes when she spoke her argument, when she got frustrated with my stubbornness and the pride when she felt she had won. Truth be told, most of the passionate discussions we had I agreed with her side, but I loved to see her get worked up about her beliefs; and it also usually led to us sending the kids out for a few hours so we could be alone. Jasper smiled when I explained that to him, and agreed that he wouldn't manipulate the emotions when Esme and I were having a discussion such as that. He nodded politely and left the room, as was his style; but not before he called me Sir. Another remnant of his military days.

Alice and Jasper had expressed the desire to be married, and as a family, we couldn't have been happier for this event. It was held in the garden of our house at the time in Minnesota and was an incredibly beautiful ceremony. Esme and I had sent them on their honeymoon to the Island that I had purchased for her on our 25th anniversary.

She had no idea of where we were going, but since it was such a special anniversary it needed to be marked with a very special gift. Esme had been shocked, to say the least, when we arrived for the first time and I presented her with her gift. It was a beautiful island in the South Pacific; one that could be easily accessed by boat from the mainland, and was completely secluded. It was a beautiful place, one that inhabited all manner of creatures – perfect for hunting – and nature that was more beautiful than I could ever have hoped for. It was our own personal Garden of Eden, and she loved it.

I remember our first night there, we went for a short run across the island and she stopped so very suddenly when she saw it.

"Carlisle, it's beautiful. I've never seen anything, aside from you of course, that is so incredibly breathtaking."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

"Well, this is your Island, Esme. Everything that is on this land is yours."

"Let's go in, Carlisle."

I nodded and she ran to the water, diving in making not so much as a splash as her form hit the water. She came up about ten minutes later, her eyes searching for me.

"Carlisle, come in – the water's beautiful."

We stayed in the lagoon for several hours, having divested each other of our clothing mere moments into our swim. It was paradise, and we both loved being there with each other.

For the second time we had moved to Forks, Washington. It was a quiet little town, and we were able to get ourselves into the house we had occupied when we were here 60 years ago. Esme loved this house, and since our family was now much bigger than before, we had built an addition to the main house and two separate houses a few miles down the road from the main house. She was thrilled about this, as she designed the two houses herself and went about decorating them perfectly. One house was built for Rosalie and her husband Emmett, and the other, though it was built for Alice and Jasper, turned out to be a spare. Jasper and Alice had asked if they could stay in the main house with us, and we were more than happy to have them stay with us. Esme was thrilled with that arrangement, and she used the second of our spare houses for designing and storing her immense collection of blueprints.

I had heard at the hospital that Police Chief Swan's daughter was coming to stay with him, and he was ever so pleased to have her stay with him. He was a man of few words, but I could tell through his simple smiles that he was overjoyed with the impending visit. A few months had passed, and I was on duty in the hospital on day shift. Almost half of the student body of Forks High School was in the waiting room, anxiously waiting for news of Tyler and Isabella. I walked into the room.

"I heard the Chief's daughter was here."

I examined her, and her vital signs looked to be just fine, though she may experience a headache and potentially some muscle and joint stiffness later in the evening once the shock wore off. She told me that the accident could have been a lot worse if Edward hadn't been there. My son, Edward. I knew that something had been different about him, and we had a discussion about it a few weeks prior to this event. He told me that he was quite certain that she was his singer, but he didn't know how he could control the bloodlust. He went hunting in Vancouver for several days, and when he came back he was satiated, and felt that he could control himself around her. Later that evening after discussing the day with Esme, we decided to take a walk through town. We were going to stop in on Chief Swan to see how his daughter was feeling. It was the least I could do for the Chief who had done so much for this town. Esme and I drove into town and parked in the hospital lot. It was relatively close to where the Chief lived, and I knew that it would make sense if I happened to see him along the streets. We walked hand in hand, silently as seemed to be our custom on our evening walks. It was our way of connecting and releasing the stresses of the day. We turned onto the Chief's street and immediately Esme took a deep breath.

"Edward."

"I smell him too. I wonder why he's here."

"We should stay back, Carlisle."

I nodded.

"I want to head up just a little more, just to make sure he's not in any danger."

She nodded her head and we walked up the hill by the Chief's house. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about the moment we reached the top of the hill. It was as though I could feel what he was thinking, even though I couldn't read his thoughts.

'Goodnight, my angel. Sleep well.'

Esme turned and looked at me.

"Carlisle."

I kissed her on the forehead.

"I know, Esme."

"He loves her."

"He might not be ready to admit it to himself yet, but I agree with you 100%."

"That's what you said to me at the hospital when I first met you."

"What did I say?"

"You said, and I quote, 'goodnight, my angel'. Then you went to get the stuff to fix my leg."

"You were awake? I was certain that you were asleep."

"I may have been asleep, but women will always remember the first beautiful words said to them by the man they love."

"The first of many, Esme."

She wrapped her arms around me and smiled.

"They're both going to be fine, Carlisle. He won't harm her, I'm sure of it. Let's go home."

"I agree, my love. Let's go home."

As we walked back to the hospital to get in our car I thought about all that has gone on in my existence over the past 70 years. My family has grown dramatically, I was lucky enough to marry the most beautiful woman on earth, and each of my children has a special someone. Edward hasn't admitted to his yet, but Alice told us all that she sees it coming. I've learned over the years that when Alice sticks to a vision, she knows what she's talking about. I took Esme's hand in mine and kissed the top as she smiled at me.

"I love you too. It's been a good night, hasn't it?"

"It has, my love. It most definitely has."