Author's Notes: First of all, THANK YOU. Thank you to all the readers that have enjoyed my story, and especially those of you that message me, prod me, and in the case of some - continue to push me into writing. I just haven't been able to finish this story for some time while, as you know. Well, I'm writing it now - I'm seriously rusty at writing, it has been way over a year since I wrote anything. Bear with me, it's coming back! I would seriously consider it a personal favor if you would review this chapter, I admit I would love the feedback, bad or good - it means someone cares enough to comment!

Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 151 The Estate

"Dad. You know as well as I do that my overprotective husband

would NEVER agree to do anything that could be dangerous to me.

Besides, if anything goes wrong, he'll just change me,"

Bella smiled, leaning against Edward.

"That right, doc? Is it that simple?" I asked Carlisle.

"It seems to be, Charlie," he laughed

- although I detected a hint of his nervousness, something he never normally had -

"At least, where these two are concerned."

~oooOooo~

Carlisle POV

I hadn't spent time here in years, decades. We ran thru the forest this morning, a wild boar having the misfortune to cross our path. Draining it, Jasper commented on how it was nice to have something that was a different flavor. I smiled, thinking of my youngest daughter Bella, her desire to taste the cuisines of different countries being the reason we were all here. Emmett instantly twisted Jaspers comment into who could find the biggest, meanest boar, and the contest was on. I could only laugh.

Hunting this morning was just what the doctor ordered. I chuckled at my own thought, and at my own lighthearted mood. I wrote so many prescriptions, gave advice on what to do and what NOT to do to my patients so often day in and day out that it was nice to see my advice working . . . at least in this instance.

We had left early, long before dawn.. After the tense discussion in the kitchen two days past, we all just needed some time to get back to ourselves. That made me chuckle as well. I sat on a grass knoll admiring the sun rising over several hundred acres that I had owned for centuries, watching the antics of my family. I had created Edward and Emmett myself, had them by me for nearly a century now. Jasper had come to me of his own and Jacob, well then there was Jacob.

I watched as the large wolf licked the water from his face, his fur wet to the skin as he shook head to tail, spraying water in all directions. Jacob had shoved an unsuspecting Emmett off a rock outcrop landing him in the stream below. Emmett being Emmett, had enlisted his brothers help, surrounded Jacob and literally thrown him out into a deep pool in the frigid water. From the look on the wolf's face, I could only imagine the thoughts Edward was privy to as my oldest son doubled over laughing. Seeing Edward laughing and smiling was a spectacle that occurred more and more these days.

Jacob phased and walked over to sit by me, drying in what passed for sunshine here in England in winter. "So, you've had this place for a really long time," Jacob said. It wasn't a question, though it's delivery startled me. My surprise must have been apparent in some way, as Jacob answered my unasked question. "You just looked like my dad used to look when he sat surveying the res . . . like he was remembering all the years of it or something."

Amazing how well the boy had interpreted my mood, how attuned he was to all of us really.

"I was," I admitted as I clasp my hands and drew my knees up between them, "I've been around for what seems a very long time, Jacob," I said, letting out an unnecessary huff of breath.

He smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Yea, and good damn thing, daddy C. I have no idea how those guys would manage without you to keep them in line," he nodded to Emmett and Jasper as they blurred, flipping each other and wrestling in the meadow below. "Now, I'm glad youre here for Izzy as well."

We sat for a long while, the boys never tiring of their antics, especially now since they had Edward to join in as well. He rarely played before Bella, having aptly been described by the other kids as "stuffy and straight laced".

I had known different.

I had known him just after he was changed, before the brooding and loneliness overtook him. I changed him at his mother's request, the request being that I "save her son" and turning him being the only resort left to me with the illness he was suffering from. Spanish influenza. It had taken so many, I just couldn't stand to see it take him.

. . . and I was lonely.

He was intelligent, humorous, intense and one of the most caring individuals I had ever met, worrying about his mother over himself even while still human and at death's' door. Wood that we had been here, on the estate during his time as a newborn, but there was no way to travel across the Atlantic other than with large numbers of humans in a boat, and he wasn't capable of that. I arranged the purchase of a farm, far away from the cities, having had quite a sum of currency saved up from my years as a doctor. He and I simply disappeared for a few years. I was unaccustomed to helping newborns and it took quite a long time for us both to make the adjustment. Once travel could be managed, we had come here, of course.

"I enjoyed my time here with you, Carlisle", Edward offered, "Even though I'm sure it never really showed at the time." His eyes sparkled and I guess I did something of a double take, having been completely lost in my thoughts. Edward had obviously read my mind and knew where my thoughts had gone.

"So did I," I admitted, "I had been alone for so long."

I don't know if he was genuinely inquisitive or if he was just trying to make conversation but Jacob's next question was a reasonable one.

"So, daddy C, how was it that you ended up a bloodsuc . . . vampire, anyway?"

The other kids had come to sit with us at this point. They knew the story, parts of it anyway, but I retold the story of my life as a Vicker's son and my attempt to aid my father in ridding London's sewers from the evil that lurked there. I spoke of the many mobs I had led thru the streets, searching out the evil beings . . . about my catching up to a vampire one night . . . and being bit.

"But how in the world were humans able to EVER catch up to a vamp?" Jacob wanted to know, "You guys are way too fast for that."

"We are, Jacob, if we aren't weakened from thirst. Hunts had been carried out in the sewers for quite a while and sometimes the vampire would stop long enough to have a drink, but not long enough to drain the person for fear of being seen, or of the mob catching up to them. Mobs carried torches, brandishing fire at them - the one thing they were most afraid of. Back then it was thought that evil - whether it was a witch or the "undead" that were discovered in the night, had to be burned to be destroyed. Funny that they were right, of course, where vampires were concerned. Anyway, it happened more and more as the vampires that were created had no idea what had happened to them, much less how to control themselves. They hid until their thirst drove them to bite someone, but they rarely finished them off, resulting in the creation of yet another vampire that had no real idea of what had happened to them."

"So, you were a preacher's son then. I bet the last damned thing you wanted was to become one of the undead," Jacob mused, "How did you handle it? Did it take awhile to decide to drink animals rather than humans?"

I was thoughtful for a moment, silent and still as only our kind can be.

"I have never killed a human, Jacob, not in my three hundred and sixty plus years on this earth as a vampire," I told him, staring straight into his astounded face.

"Holy shit, doc. How the hell did you manage that?" his asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"I fled. Well, that is after I hid myself in a rotting stack of potatoes until I could gather strength . . . and the change had passed. I had an idea of what I had become, I knew what would happen to me if I was found. But I somehow still had presence of mind and I refused . . . I refused to kill humans," I explained with some amount of resolve in my voice. My father's teachings and beliefs had been so ingrained, I guess they carried over.

Emmett and Jasper stared at me with a stunned look, almost disbelief on their faces. "It's not really a choice though, Carlisle," Jasper added in his southern drawl, "the desire is overwhelming when you're first changed. It's more instinct than anything else from what I saw, training newborns."

"Training newborns?" Jacob turned to Jasper, astounded.

"I did not have the same . . . upbringing . . . as the rest of the Cullens," Jasper said flatly.

There was silence for a moment, the only breath heard was Jacob's. My sons sat motionless, staring down and lost in their own thoughts. I continued, "Well, when I realized that I couldn't drown and throwing myself off a cliff only made a large crater where I landed, I had to do something."

"Crater! Shit yea it would, Carlisle!" Emmett added.

"I knew that the thirstier I got, the weaker I would become - so I tried sealing myself off in places where I would never be found. The problem was, had I stayed sealed off long enough, when I was eventually found my resolve and control would have been so weakened that I would have indeed killed the first live thing that had come upon me, and it would probably have been a human."

"So that's how all the Dracula stories got going, sealed in a coffin and buried and some poor ass had to go and open the coffin," Jacob speculated.

"That's correct. And I would have had no choice at that point. But, as it happened, I was in a cave far from any humans, growing weaker by the day, when an injured deer happened to pass too close. I smelled the blood, and that was all it took," I ducked my head, staring meditatively at my hands, "I have been feeding from animals ever since."

Edward placed a hand on my shoulder, "You were right, Carlisle, we don't have to accept what was dealt to us at face value. We can exercise control over our lives. Thank you for teaching us that."

~oooOooo~

Esme POV

"Really, Alice, I just don't know why you let it get to you," I said dismissively, idly flipping through several selections of sport coats.

The "little puppy denied a treat" look on her face was still there. It had been there on and off since we left the estate and got into town. Clothes shopping normally put a smile on her face, but today the down turned mouth had lingered.

Charlie's face, now that was something to see. Just the look he wore when Alice told him she wanted him to try on a few things, well, you would have thought they had just fired him from the police force or something equally dreadful.

"Park here, Esme," Alice had said, a puzzled look showing on Charlie's face as he surveyed the businesses that lined the street "Think you hit it wrong, Alice, no grocery stores in sight on this street," he told her as he surveyed the stores.

The spark in Alice's eye was unmistakable. I had seen it in Paris, Greece, Rome, the fashion shows in NYC and on Rodeo drive. I didn't have to be a mindreader to know that Alice wanted to shop. For Charlie.

"Something in particular you have in mind, dear?" I asked, turning the car off and looking over my shoulder to where she sat in the backseat.

"Well, since there's a wedding in Charlie's future he needs an entirely new wardrobe," she trilled, completely animated over having a new person to clothe.

"I need no such thing, Alice, and how do you know about the wedding? I haven't even told Bells yet!", he all but fumed as his face displayed everything from anger to embarrassment.

"Really Charlie," she said as she closed the car door and we all stood on the sidewalk, "Remember when Masen was born? How it was alright for you to know about us? It wasn't only that Edward read your minds you know, I've been getting glimpses of a wedding for some time now."

She took his arm and all but dragged him, protesting, towards the shop entrance. He opened the door to a men's clothier that Alice stood expectantly in front of, a look of shock still on his face as she entered in front of him, and I followed.

"Sue will want to pick out the tux, of course, but I thought we might put together some things for the honeymoon," Alice explained as she flitted away toward the wall of shirts.

I looked up from idly browsing the rack of clothes to smile at him, shrug my shoulders and perhaps sooth him somewhat. "She is right, Charlie. Alice knows clothes as well as comfort and it would be a nice surprise for Sue, you're having a new wardrobe that she hasn't seen."

"Well of course it would! Charlie . . . !" Charlie and I looked at each other as Alice flitted by and added, "and you know very well that I take every consideration possible towards comfort!"

"Alice, why don't you tell me where where were going on our honeymoon," Charlie said smugly, "Because I HAVEN'T EVEN DECIDED YET!"

She stopped long enough to turn her head and answer. "Please. Hawaii will be beautiful and Sue is going to be so surprised, she'll just love it!"

I just looked at him. "Alice," I said, as though it explained everything.

Shirts, slacks, sport coats and even cargo shorts were neatly folded and placed into bags tucked away behind the counter to keep Charlie from realizing just how many things Alice was selecting. She tossed a belt or two on the stack, along with socks and undershirts as he came out of the dressing area in khakis, a polo shirt and the most comfortable looking mens cardigan I think I had ever seen. I loved sweaters on men, Carlisle routinely wearing one not for warmth, but for its effect on me.

"Alice, why in the world would I need a sweater if I'm going to a tropical climate on my honeymoon?", he scoffed, looking somewhat unsettled from all the attention he was getting from the sales staff, an elderly gentleman still kneeling beside him adjusting the length of the pants.

"CHARLIE! You'll be home in Forks most of the time after the wedding! You don't want Sue to get bored with you do you, same old uniform day in and day out," Alice explained.

"Huh," he scoffed. "Even you can't expect to change the uniform I wear to work, Alice," he said, a look of relief covering his face.

"No, but you wear clothes so well, don't you want to look good for her when you're off duty?", she pouted, unfairly dazzling Charlie as our kind routinely did where humans were concerned.

"She is right, Charlie. I adore sweaters like that on Carlisle. Just makes me want to snuggle into him when he has them on," I told him, placing a hand on his shoulder to adjust the fit and feeling the soft knit. Charlie's face turned quite an unnatural shade of red as he hemmed and fussed, taking off the sweater and placing in on the sales counter where the items we were purchasing lay before heading back to the dressing room.

Two stores and a firm refusal to try on swimsuits had us finally heading to the grocers. Alice was smiling and Charlie looked relieved, though he was still fuming that Alice had managed to pay for the clothing, telling him to "Put your money away, Chief Swan. Consider this a wedding present from me and I won't take no for an answer. Someone has to keep this family presentable!"

Charlie went to the butcher shop while I finished up at the grocers, and having joined him there, I said nothing as he pulled out his wallet and paid the bill. Really, you could only push him so far and Alice had managed to get to what I thought was nearly the end of his patience. Men. They were all the same, vampire or human. Feeling in charge seemed to be something necessary to their wellbeing, so the less said the better. Poor dear, after all - we had just come into town to get beefsteak . . .

~oooOooo~