AN: Here is the fourth and final chapter to this story. I'm sure you all know this, but, alas, I do not own Twilight or its characters.

Setting the pieces in her hand down she pulled her hands into her lap, twisting them together in anticipation. As she had sat there waiting for Carlisle's return she had gone over multiple scenarios, unsure of where to start or where to begin.

What was supposed to be said when you confessed you were in love with someone? Did people usually just do that, come straight forward and tell someone they had fallen in love with them? Did vampires? Wasn't love supposed to happen slowly, start as something small, a small flame that snailed its way into a burning fire? Why did this feel like it did start as a small thing in the pit of her stomach, but in a flash turn into something larger? Something that consumed her entirely.

She had concluded as she had started to panic that one thing was for sure. Love was confusing and that maybe it didn't work the same for everyone. Just like everyone was an individual, the way they fell in love was just as unique. It was a comforting thought and she had decided it did hold some sense to it.

Her ears pricked as she heard the familiar crunching of bracken on the forest floor not far from their secluded home. Taking in a deep breath of air she waited for a familiar scent to hit her nose. And, alas she did. It was Carlisle.

Those pretend butterflies started fluttering like crazy in her empty stomach. She felt as though she was going to be sick. All the possiblities about what she was about to confess swam in her mind. She had to calm down before Carlisle came into the house.

'Calm down, Esme,' she thought, attempting to ease her nerves.

Her eyes got wide as she looked up at the front door as it slowly opened and a black shoe covered foot stepped over the threshold. She took a deep, calming breath and she smiled, making it seem as though everything was alright.

"Esme," Carlisle called out.

A genuine smile graced her lips as she heard him speak her name.

"In here," she replied calmly.

She watched as he made his way into the dining room. He was dressed in his usual work attire; black slacks with a pale blue shirt tucked into them. His blonde hair was ruffled, like he had run his hands through it a lot. It is how he always looked when he came home from work.

"How was work?" she asked innocently.

"It was...work," he answered with a laugh. "It was a quiet night, not busy at all. How was your night?"

She went back to her work, sanding the edges of the wooden box. "It was nice, quiet," she replied.

Esme paused, staring at her work while she thought of what to say next. She knew she had to tell him, but she wasn't about to just blurt out her undying love to the blonde doctor. That would certainly be awkward. She chewed on her bottom lip absently as she contemplated what to say.

She looked up quickly from her work. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.

At that same moment Carlise spoke too. "Can we talk?" he inquired.

She smiled, amused as she responded. "Sure."

"Of course," Carlisle answered.

They both looked at each other and laughed. Carlisle shook his head, a large smile gracing his perfect face as he took a seat across the table from Esme. He lifted his hand and gestured toward her.

"Ladies first," he smiled, urging her to speak.

She cleared her mind, as much as she could, and took an unneeded breath to calm her quickly tensing nerves. "Well, I know things have been quiet between us," she started, staring down at the table, taking an interest in the way every grain of the wood pieced together perfectly, "And I can't help but feel that it is my fault."

Looking up briefly through her lashes she noted the confused expression on Carlisle's face, his blond brow contorted and scrunched.

"How so?" he asked curiously.

"I'm not sure how to explain it really without being so forward," she told him, her voice becoming quieter as she continued. "Before you changed me, I was lost. I had no reason to continue with my life. Everything I had ever loved and strived to make work had fallen to pieces. My only outlet was to remove myself from the world. I felt helpless, depression consumed my every being and dying seemed like my only way out."

She paused and shyly looked up at the doctor. He looked at her kindly and smiled warmly at her. His expression fueled her to continue.

"You found me after I had made my decision. I remember when I jumped from the cliff that I had no hope or faith that anything would be waiting for me on the other side. The only thing I was sure of was that I'd at least be able to escape the pain that had become my life."

She looked up again, finding Carlisle gazing at her intently. His face was slightly saddened as he listened to her explain, but his expression also held an assurance that urged her to go on.

"But rather than escaping into a black abyss of uncertainty I had woken up to you beside me. It was a sight to wake up to," she smiled as she recalled waking up after the excrutiating pain, "It was like you were an angel, guiding me into a new life. Hopefully a better one. At the time I didn't know that you were in fact just that, I only hoped. It was the first time, as I looked up at you, the burn in my throat screaming at me, that I felt hope despite the physical and emotional pain I had gone through."

The familiar prickling feeling behind her eyes began as she stared at her hands. The need to cry as she confessed her feelings to Carlisle, reliving some of her strongest memories and emotions, stronger than ever. She held her breath, unsure of how to keep going, but she didn't have to.

"When I saw you in the hospital," Carlisle spoke, "The second time. This time not the bright, vivid teenage girl of the past, but rather a hurt woman who felt the need to rid herself of life. It caused me to fall apart. I didn't understand. You had seemed like such a happy and caring person I couldn't believe that something so drastic had changed in you. That you could have wanted to just leave your life behind."

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. They held her there, the confident gold colored irises, begging her to understand just as she had tried with him.

"But then I heard your heart beat. Though quiet and excruciatingly slow, it gave me hope. That you were strong, that this was a sign that you did want to live, at least some part of you. So I changed you, hoping with every ounce of me that it was the right thing."

"As you changed and I watched every part of you transform, becoming even more beautiful than you already were, I was changing too," he confessed quietly, "At first I was unsure of what I was feeling, what emotions were running rampant through my veins as I watched the broken and battered you turn into the stunning and strong woman that sits across from me today."

Esme held his gaze, holding onto every word he said. Her physically dead heart was pulsing with emotion rather than blood, the emotion it pumped through her veins was consuming her. His sure and honest words would have surely caused her to blush had she had the ability. Her hands twisted in her lap as she took her bottom lip between her teeth, holding back any tear-less crying she wanted to do, and Carlisle continued.

"All of this is new to me," his voice wavered, "But I'm positive I know what it is."

The two stared at each other. Esme pouring out everything in her expression and drinking up the return from Carlisle.

"Me too," she whispered to him.

She pulled one of her hands free from her lap, slowly extending it across the table between them, unsure of where she suddenly found the courage to do such a thing.

Carlisle returned the gesture, meeting her small, delicate hand halfway with his stronger fingers, intertwining them. The contact spurred sparks to course through Esme's hand and through her body, the feeling welcome and wanted. She never wanted to let go of his hand now that she finally had hold of it.

She felt Carlisle squeeze her hand as a small, genuine smile spread across his face. "Esme," he whispered shyly, "I think I'm in love with you."

She returned the smile. "Carlisle, I am in love with you."