Disclaimer: Still don´t own Twilight! The idea for this story is mine though.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." (Lao Tzu)

Chapter 6: Snow Globe

It seemed like a miracle.

The whole scene that day was something you might expect to see in a movie about a perfect, happy family. Even though things went from bad to worse in matter of hours, the moment that lasted only few seconds was perfect, something that a happy family would have experienced. I didn´t realize the beauty of those seconds until way later.

And we were many things, but anyone in their right mind would not have called us a happy family then. Just few weeks earlier, Carlisle had been on the verge of losing his job. I wasn´t quite sure I understood what it all about, but it had something to do with the time off he took when we had planned – and finalized – Edward´s adoption. The hospital started giving Carlisle a hard time, because they couldn´t keep paying a doctor who was never there for a job he never did. Their words, not mine. He had to work like an animal to prove the hospital that he was able and willing to do his job even if he had a son now. During the month of December he was – it seemed – at the hospital all the time.

He managed to get Christmas Eve off, but it wasn´t much of consolation, since we didn´t celebrate much. I had tried to organize a nice family celebration but Edward didn´t act like he should have. Oh, who am I kidding, Edward always acted properly, like a robot, and that´s what scared me so much that I was unable to enjoy the day.

He got quite a few presents from us as well as our other relatives who we´re happy for us now that we had a little boy and happy for him now that he had a family. Edward didn´t show any kind of excitement for the gifts he had received. He thanked like the little gentleman he was but did not seem all that happy. Afterwards I knew I should have thought about it more, but that night I just selfishly worried whether or not my presents were to his liking. A week later I found a t-shirt he had gotten for Christmas torn apart under his bed and a brand new toy car broken and stuffed inside his closet. I asked him about those and he just insisted it was the cat. Which was extremely interesting since we didn´t have a cat. I was secretly insulted but let it be. Maybe I just had done something wrong, again

.A few days after the toy-and-shirt incident, Carlisle announced that he was off the hook with work and would be able to spend more time with us now. That´s how we ended up cleaning the basement that day, all three of us. Carlisle moved the boxes when needed, I cleaned the floor and Edward packed some of our old stuff from the shelves into boxes. The atmosphere was relaxed and everyone was quiet, focused on their task. I raised my gaze from the floor and looked at my family. Carlisle stood still, holding a box, his arms and shoulders tense from the weight of it, trying to figure out where to put it so that it wouldn´t be on my way. His eyes met my gaze and he smiled widely. He seemed happy to be home instead of work even though the task was as mundane as cleaning. Edward was swirling an old snow globe around in his hands, staring at it intently as if he had never seen one before. Which, come to think of it, he probably hadn´t.

"Dad, look!" he whispered, his eyes full of wonder, trying to get Carlisle´s attention. Carlisle immediately turned around and looked at our son, his face a mask of surprise and happiness. Edward had never called him Dad before. Then Edward himself realized what he had done, his eye flied wide open, he was terrified.

"I´m so sorry, Carlisle. I didn´t mean it," he said horrified. The glass snow globe fell from his hands. The sound of glass breaking scared him even more and he bolted to the basement stairs. Before I had time to react I could hear him running up the stairs and to his room.

We gave him a moment and cleaned the shattered glass from the basement floor. Afterwards we went upstairs and knocked on his door. The door was locked.

"No, no, no. Please don´t come in. Please not again," Edward screamed hysterically.

"Honey, please let us in," I begged, desperation clear in my voice. He was very upset right now and there was no telling what he might do. There was no answer, aside from the now unintelligible screaming and mumbling from the other side of the door. Those were not sounds made by a human boy. Those were the last sounds of an animal slaughtered.

"Son, please, just open the door. Nobody here is going do anything bad to you," Carlisle tried. The constant screaming ceased, but Edward still didn´t open his door.

"Don´t call me that," he hissed, his voice barely loud enough to carry to us. We heard it anyway and that was the last straw for me. I am ashamed to admit that I just walked away. I entered the master bedroom, slamming the door behind me like a teenager in the middle of a hissy fit. Carlisle followed after me.

"There´s got to be a way to undo the adoption. We cannot help him! He´s too troubled. He´s not making any effort to fit into this family, why should we? Why not just try and send him back to the CPS? Surely they would take him if we told them that he´s turned his room into a fortification," I raved, pacing back and forth frantically.

"Esme…" my husband tried cut in but I wouldn´t let him.

"Do you know what I found in his room? I found Christmas presents, broken and torn into pieces. He had tried to hide his doings and when I asked him about them, he blamed the cat. What cat? We don´t have a cat! I don´t understand why he lied. He doesn´t want to be called our son and he doesn´t seem to want any kind of gifts from us either. I´m so confused about his behavior," I was nearly in hysterics at that point.

"Honey, Edward is a troubled little boy. I can´t understand him most of the time, either. But I do know one thing. He needs us just as much as we need him. We just need to remember not to expect miracles. Think about how far he has come. He´s able to call us by our first names already and when he called me dad… I don´t know how to describe how happy that made me. To me that proves that he wants to be a part of this family. He just doesn´t know how to. Calling me dad probably scared the shit out of him," said Carlisle, his voice rough.

"I´m just not sure I have the power to help Edward or to keep fighting to get him to love us. It´s not only the Christmas gifts that he broke. In a way, with his robotic behavior, he´s destroyed everything we tried to give him. Our love and respect, the warm atmosphere of our home. I love that boy so much but I don´t know if I have the strength to keep doing what we are doing," I was sobbing now. my whole body shook. Carlisle wrapped his arms around me and hushed me.

"Shh, Esme. I can only imagine how tired you must be. You´re the one who has to deal with his behaviors every single minute of every day. I understand your frustration but we are not giving up. You said you love Edward, and I do too, and that´s enough. The rest of it we will figure out. I love you," his voice was calm and reassuring. He wasn´t angry about my outburst. More or less, he understood and wanted to remind me that I was not alone in this. We had decided to adopt Edward together and we would look after him together. My patient love held me for another moment before slowly releasing me and looking me into the eyes.

"Why don´t you stay here for a moment longer? If our boy saw you like this, he would freak out, even more so than he already has. I am going to go and see if Edward lets me into his fortification. Please follow me once you feel better," Carlisle whispered to me with a small smile and left the room.

He was right. Even though we´re in this together, right now it was better that Carlisle dealt with this crisis on his own, at least until I was calmer.

Just moments later, I could hear a door opening on the other end of the hallway and quiet voices speaking. If I had to guess I would have said that Edward had pretty much lost his voice because of all the screaming he had done. The door was gently closed soon and I knew that Edward had let Carlisle in. It was then that I realized that we had made some progress again, even though it didn´t feel like a victory. Baby steps.

I took a deep breath, let it out slowly and turned to the window, staring at our front yard. Outside the wind was gentle and little snowflakes were falling to the white ground.

Just like on the inside of a snow globe.

A/N: Hey there everyone! I´m sorry I haven´t been writing in a long time but RL got kind of out of hand. Anyway, things are calmer now and I hope to post more regularly in the future. So how did you guys like this? Was this just a one time thing or is Esme losing it? Opinions, opinions, people! Any and every review is very, very appreciated ;)

See ya,

- La Hija de la Luna