Chapter 1

The Unexpected

Edward and Carlisle glared at each other from across the table. Esme sobbed in tearless silence. Her family was being torn apart.

"I cannot believe that I allowed it to come to this point. I have done all that I can in trying to hold this family together, but I can no longer pretend, Edward. My heart may be frozen, but my emotions and thoughts are not dead in the least and I cannot leave her alone any longer." Carlisle hung his head in the shameful, but inevitable admission.

"You stole her from me. You planned this all along, Carlisle! You know that she is my singer! You know that you are married to Esme!"

"But Edward, that's where you're wrong, son." Esme's expression was heart wrenching, but there was an edge to her expression that drew Edward out of his rage. "Carlisle and I were never married. We were never mated, Edward. We have happily been companions these many years, happy to have a family and enjoy family life, but both of us knew that this day would come in some century, some millennia. For me it's just like letting a dear friend go. Someone with whom you've experienced much of life with. Have loved, but not in the romantic sense. I'm sorry that you had to learn of it this way, but you must let him go to her, Edward. She may be your singer, but she is Carlisle's mate. It is better for you to stay away from her and for him to go. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm ashamed that I allowed you to talk me into leaving, knowing, seeing what was between them. Even I am capable of jealousy, but I see that now as a grave and terrible sin. I have kept my best friend from the truest happiness that any of us can know." Turning to Carlisle, she managed a watery smile. "Go to her. Just don't go forever. Bring her back with you, so that we might be a family again."

Esme gave Edward a pointed look as she stood up from the table. Carlisle raked his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Edward. You are my first born, but I cannot fight the call of my heart any longer."

"What do you expect? Do you expect to just show up and tell her that she's your mate and not mine and sweep her off of her feet? What do you think that Charlie will have to say about this? You're supposed to be old enough to have graduated from Medical School in human years. How do you think that he will feel about you walking into her life, even if she would give you a second glance?" Edward spat out the last words like venom. Carlisle cringed at this harsh, but possible reality.

"All that I know is that I have to be near her and be whatever it is that she needs me to be for her. That is the only place that I know to start. If she truly is my mate, then she will realize it in time, or immediately. As for Charlie, well, I'm indestructible, and if he finds that out, then I will deal with that with kindness and diplomacy. I know nothing of Bella's feelings for me, but I do know that I cannot endure another day without knowing." Carlisle stood suddenly and left Edward sitting at the table. Rosalie stood with her back to him, looking out the window, expressionless. Emmet tried to manage a smile and clasped Carlisle in a tight hug. Alice waited by the door with a smile, his luggage ready. "Should I consider this a positive sign or are you just a wonderfully thoughtful daughter?"

"Maybe one or the other, maybe both, but as for me, I'm staying out of this one."

Jasper coughed over a laugh. "We'll see how long that lasts." He ducked as Alice swiped at his head and he pulled her into his arms. "Carlisle, I can feel that you truly love her. Take your chance or you'll never know. As for Edward", Jasper knew that he could hear each word that he said, "he's just jealous of his singer. He'll find his mate one day and understand, but all that he's capable of now is brooding. Let him go and go to your future. We will love Esme through this."

Esme stood on the stairs and managed a stronger smile now. "I am happy for you, old friend. Bring back my sister. I will always love you, Carlisle, no matter what, but we always knew that this would happen. I'm just glad that I love her so much too. I miss her. Please, send my love." Esme was pure. Her heart held no guile. She truly meant every word that she said.

Carlisle returned his oldest and dearest friend's smile, with parting emotion in his own heart. Grabbing his luggage he headed for his Mercedes and drove out of their Denali driveway.

Charlie raked up piles of the three inch deep, November leaves, trying not to look up into Bella's room yet again. He had watched her normally small stature, go to almost waifish since Edward had left her. If he wasn't the Chief of Police, he would have hunted the bastard down and hung him by now. His Bella had gone from being a very balanced, level headed, A student, to a skinny, dead eyed, C student at best. She never reached out to her friends anymore. She just romped around the house in sweats and either stared out of her bedroom window, listening to sad songs on her iPod, or watched television like a zombie. She would cook, but seemed to only go through the motions of eating pushing her food around on her plate.

Her behavior and nightmares had Charlie terrified. He considered committing her at one point, but just couldn't bring himself to do it after visiting the facility. Besides, it would take Renee's consent, too. Bella was eighteen now, but it would take two relatives to sign an order of the court to get her committed against her will. Charlie caught himself staring at Bella, staring out into space. Her face was pale and drawn and dark circles constantly resided underneath her normally sparkling brown eyes. Charlie would be willing to do just about anything to get her to snap out of it. Choking back the lump in his throat, he returned to raking leaves.

Bella sat in her room, dead to the feelings of hunger, or the nasty feeling of greasy hair. She was dead inside. Death had no place for such needs. Something had left with the Cullen's and she couldn't put her finger on it. Edward had said that he didn't want her. At first, she had grieved actively over that, but after a couple of months, as the hole in her chest refused to close, she realized that it wasn't those words that had hurt her so bad as the sudden disappearance of all of the Cullen's. Bella had sent countless rambling e-mails to Alice, as if her laptop was her own personal shrink, trying to work out this mystery that had been built around her. Trying to make sense of the fact that they would and could move out of her world, leaving her in it alone. All of them. She understood Edward's constant angst and could see him fleeing her and his pull toward her blood, but what if Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Emmet and Jasper. She knew that Rosalie would just as soon see her dead. What had her so empty, was something that she just couldn't put her finger on, but weighed her down so solidly, that she couldn't even move. She felt barren, separated from something. She felt hollow and grieved, but confused. Something wasn't right. She was going crazy, she often thought. If only her body would die and release her spirit, she thought, then there would be no more pain, but she held on. She held on for Charlie. She held on to solve the mystery that constantly had her pondering what it was that had her so distracted and grieved.

Carlisle pulled into the half-moon drive of the Forks house. It looked empty and cold without the constant activity of his family, but as he entered, he pulled dust sheets off of certain pieces of furniture that retained her smell and suddenly, he wasn't alone. Bella's presence was here. Having a flash of memory, he jumped two stories of stairs and entered his study and pulled the sheet off of the desk that she had sat on while he stitched up her arm. He placed his hands on the smooth wood, suddenly lying down on it. He closed his eyes and remembered her eyes that night as she watched him as he pulled pieces of glass out of her arm. "You couldn't possibly be damned, Carlisle. You're too good." He had known at that moment, but fought back the urge to move any closer to her. He wouldn't betray his family that way. He could control this. He may have just connected with his mate, but he wouldn't break up his family over this. Keeping Bella in the dark had seemed like the best decision at the time.

Just then, he got a page. Looking at his pager, it was a note from Alice. "Just rip off the band aid, Carlisle. It will be rough, but it's for the best. Go to her." It took no more than that. Carlisle, feeling a rush of emotion and the knowledge that he was only miles down the road from where his heart lay, had him rushing back to his car, before he even had time to think about what he was doing.

Driving at mad speeds, he suddenly found himself parked a half a block down the road from the Swan's house. He could see Chief Swan raking leaves in the side yard, wearing a flannel and a pair of jeans. In a moment of rare humanity, Carlisle rested his head on the steering wheel searching for a cue. "Just rip off the band aid, Carlisle." Rang through his head like giant peels of bells. Before he knew it, he found his hand on the door handle and his legs carrying him toward Charlie.

Charlie looked up, stunned to see Carlisle Cullen walking toward him. He immediately felt protective of Bella and walked to meet Carlisle out of Bella's range of vision from her window.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Charlie didn't mean to come across so gruff, but months of pent up emotion at Edward poured forth onto Carlisle.

"Chief Swan, I can understand your anger and I will take full responsibility for it, if it will help. You see, I am only here to help."

"How do you think that you can help, Dr. Cullen? Bella is a basket case because of your son."

"Well, Edward is not really my son, I adopted him. To be honest, I'm only twenty seven. I did it as a sort of big brother sort of thing. Actually, I'm not even married to Esme, we just teamed up to help the kids." Carlisle felt embarrassment at rambling, especially with Charlie's mouth hanging open the way that it was. Vampires were notoriously bad at information overload when it came to talking to humans. Carlisle had to shore himself, if this was going to go at all well. "I came to be here for Bella. I've taken a leave of absence and felt, well, if there was even anything medical that I could do for her, that I would be happy to spend my time doing it."

Charlie seemed to relax a bit at this. "I have to admit, I wouldn't mind a little advice when it came to Bella. She hasn't been well at all since, well, you know."

"I do know. I know that my son can be a selfish, egomaniac and that Bella got taken for one of his joyrides. I had hoped that this was not the case, as he hasn't dated much, but I see that he has left quite a mess behind. Would you please do me the honor of trying to clean some of it up?"

Charlie still looked undecided. He stood, rubbing his fingers across the stubble of his chin. Finally he spoke. "Come on inside. In all honesty, Dr. Cullen, I can use all the help that I can get."

"Thank you, Chief Swan. And please, call me Carlisle."

Charlie gave him a slight nod. "Then you can call me Charlie." Charlie extended his hand and deemed Carlisle's handshake good and firm. Charlie could pretty much make his mind up about a man by his handshake and Carlisle had a firm grip, while making eye contact. Something in him liked Carlisle, even though he didn't want to.

"Please, have a seat, I'll just go and get Bella."

"Thanks, Charlie."

Just then, Bella came rushing down the stairs, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Y-you! You left me! How could you leave me like that? You just picked up and left me here!" Bella ran to Carlisle and began slamming her fists against his chest, to which he quickly held, gently by the wrists to keep her from breaking anything.

"We left, Bella, but I am back and I promise you this. I will not leave, until you order me away."

Charlie raised an eyebrow at this remark. He felt a bit funny about that statement, but another part of his mind was summing up the fact that Carlisle was not only nine years older than his adult daughter, but very well off and a respected member of the community. He decided to let this one slide. He sat back on his heels and folded his hands in front of his chest, deciding to just watch and observe where exactly this was going to go. His money would have been on Bella giving Carlisle a black eye, but he was surprised when she finally melted into his chest, wrapping her arms around his middle and holding on to him as if he would vanish into thin air at any moment. Charlie couldn't help but notice the look in Carlisle's eyes as he tucked Bella's head under his chin and held her as she wept, great heaving sobs. Despite the tears, this was the most hopeful that he had felt for Bella in months and this had Charlie very conflicted. Carlisle lifted Bella and sat down with her, still holding her on the couch. For some strange reason, this felt like a private moment to Charlie as Bella sobbed out her pain. With one last glance at twenty seven year old, single, Carlisle Cullen, comforting his broken daughter, he awkwardly made his way into the kitchen. Not so far away that he couldn't keep an eye on the situation, but close enough that he could allow Bella the time that she needed, in private.

A whirlwind of emotions passed over Bella as she clung to Carlisle. The hole in her throbbed, but less like a fresh laceration, and more like an itchy bit of healing flesh. She didn't understand how this could be, but it had been so long since it felt like she had taken a willing breath and Carlisle felt like pure oxygen to her at the moment. She sat content, being held by him and allowed the first relief in months to wash over her. In a strange way, she felt as if it was this connection that she had missed so much. Carlisle had always been such a friend and confidant. They had spent hours discussing and debating classic authors and philosophers. It seemed like a dream to have him here and a promise with it, not to leave. Letting out a deep cleansing breath, she relaxed into a long sought dreamless sleep.

Bella awoke in the morning with a start. Sitting up quickly in bed, she felt the tears coming. A scream ripped from her throat at the renewed pain that she felt in her chest. It had all been a cruel dream. Finding it hard to breathe, she pulled the collar of her T-Shirt away from her throat, trying to give herself more room to breathe as she panicked. Her heart felt as if it would explode. "NO! Damnit!" She screamed at how her subconscious had tortured her own mind. The comfort of the dream of Carlisle melted away into a new bout of pain and emptiness. Why would she dream up such a thing as Carlisle coming back for her. Of the pain ebbing away at the feeling of his arms wrapped around her and why would her dream state choose Carlisle. Carlisle was Esme's and the father figure to the Cullen family. Sobbing, she bent over and wrapped her arms around herself, only to find that in the blink of an eye, that arms were encircling her, trying to gently pry herself from being folded in half. Suddenly she realized that it was cool arms. Solid arms. She bolted upright, afraid to yet again have her hopes crushed, but was only met with the saddened concerned face of Carlisle Cullen.

"Oh, thank God. I didn't dream you, did I? Your still here? Am I still dreaming?"

"Isabella, I told you that I wouldn't leave you now, until you ordered me away." Carlisle pulled her into his lap and tucked her securely into his embrace. Rocking her gently he soothed her panic as it began to wane. She clutched the front of his shirt and sobbed into his chest, relief washing away the fear and emptiness that had just ripped through her, wetting his shirt with her tears. He was here. He was here for her and he had vowed not to leave her until she had ordered him from his side. She was confused for a moment by this. Why would he come for her and why would he refuse to leave her when Esme was waiting for him? Why wasn't it Esme here, or Alice instead?

"Carlisle, why is it you that is here and not Esme or Alice?" Bella's voice was hoarse from her sobbing and screaming. Why did she not mind that it was Carlisle? She found that she was almost relieved, somehow that it was. Bella shook her head as thoughts bounced around in her already confused head.

"We have a lot to talk about, Bella. Right now, we need to get some nourishment into your system and then you and I are going for a walk to get some fresh air. You need to shower and get dressed. Life is not over for you, Bella and I will see to that. Let's just get you on your feet again and the rest will play itself out. I promise you this, though. I will always be here. I'm not leaving ever again and I'm sorry that I even left begin with and I have a lot of making up to do. It was all wrong and I must beg your forgiveness. I know that it may take time and that's okay, but for now, it would greatly please me to see you look after yourself."

Bella absentmindedly nodded up at him, trying to wrap her mind around all that he had just said to her. She rose on shaky legs and grabbed a pair of jeans out of her dresser and a clean shirt and quickly, a clean pair of panties. Heading for the shower, she gave him one more look over her shoulder to be sure that he wasn't just an apparition.

"I'm still here." He smiled, warming her iced over insides. "I'll be here when you get out of the shower Bella. I promise. Go get your shower and then we'll get some breakfast into you." Carlisle's calm countenance and speech almost hypnotized her. She absentmindedly nodded her head and followed his instructions like a robot and headed for the shower.

Charlie sat downstairs, and heard a stirring up the stairs. He watched in amazement as Bella approached the bathroom with a fresh change of clothes. Jeans, to say the least, not the ratty old sweats and T-Shirts that she had been wearing. Carlisle came down the stairs with a smile. "She's going to be okay now, Charlie. Just wait and see." Charlie just nodded his head, still amazed at the already significant change.

"Thank you, Carlisle."

"It's my pleasure. I have some ideas of how to help her to rehabilitate, but I'm not sure that you will find them agreeable, so we have to talk."

"I'm willing to listen to anything that you have to say, Carlisle. Thank you for bringing my Bella back." Charlie figured that anything that could continue to bring Bella back out of the dark place that she had been, would be worth considering, to say the least.