Fathers

Carlisle

Part Eight

By Memya, Empress of Edit

That was interesting and somewhat unsettling. I can scent the anger coming from Chief Swan. The question is how to deal with it.

We've done our best to be cordial to Charlie, trying to keep things friendly between us but he left the house today very angry, with steam practically boiling out of his ears.

I understand he wants his daughter home. She's only been with him such a short time but with that cast on her leg, surely he can see that we can care for her more easily at the moment. Is he really going to be comfortable helping her bathe? Esme or Alice is here and more than willing to help her. Perhaps I should have explained her medical needs more thoroughly and he might have understood.

You'd have thought Edward was the devil himself, with the looks Charlie threw his way, even though Edward sat across the room from Bella. I can't see anything that he's done wrong where she's concerned. Quite the opposite, he assures me that, contrary to Bella's desires, they have not begun any type of physical relationship and that he has not touched her in any ungentlemanly way. His exact word, 'ungentlemanly'. Sometimes the boy just makes me want to laugh. Oh, Edward, my son, you don't know what you're missing!

But the situation at hand. I very thoroughly explained the events in Phoenix, relating her injuries and how each of them occurred. He has no reason to suspect otherwise and no reason whatsoever to blame Edward, which it would appear that he does. I wonder if he contacted the Phoenix police department. I'm beginning to believe that's exactly the type of thing the police chief might do. I feel a bit angry about that. We've given him no reason not to trust us and yet he does not.

Charlie would have picked the girl up bodily if she hadn't insisted she wanted to stay here with us. I could see the determination in his face as he was trying to size us up, to decide whether or not we'd be able to stop him. If we chose, there is nothing he could do against us. Maybe some part of him senses that.

I have to decide whether or not this threatens us and if there is anything we should do about it. Jasper again made the suggestion to eliminate the chief but that would be our last resort and things between Bella and Edward would need to be far more settled before that action would be taken.

There is still the flicker of something off in Edward's eyes when he looks at her. He quickly hides it from her and since he can move so fast I don't believe she sees it, but I do. His eyes just die and become as flat as they used to be before she came into his life. We'd never even realized they looked that way as we'd never seen them any differently. How I'll hate it if the light in them is permanently dimmed.

I thought Charlie might just have a stroke when Bella told him she was staying in Edward's room. He seemed to think we were condoning the kids having sex right under our noses. Well, maybe he's not far off the mark after all.

Truthfully, if they can safely have sex, why shouldn't they do so? I certainly think it would be good for Edward, and Bella is all for it, according to him. He has to practically peel her hands off his pants or so Emmett says.

Edward has spoken to his brothers about this in the way that young men have, well . . . not really. Edward's scruples don't really allow him to indulge in 'guy talk' of that sort but he has talked about the situation with Emmett and Jasper within his personal constraints. Their advice was what young men's advice has always been. Enough said. I counseled him again on the need for protection.

Should I perhaps discuss this subject with Bella while she's a captive audience, so to speak? Perhaps. Maybe I'll have a chance tonight while the young men go hunting.

 

* * *
 

"Bella, would you mind if I had a word with you?" I asked, after knocking on Edward's bedroom door.

She pulled the ear buds from her ears and shut off the iPod. "Yes, Dr. Cullen," she said, pulling herself to a sitting position.

"Again, feel free to call me Carlisle," I smiled down at her and took a seat near the bed. "How are you feeling today? Any pain? Anything I should know about?"

She shook her head.

"Good, good. I wanted to speak to you about Edward and yourself. I'm speaking to you as your physician now, in a medical capacity."

She was listening intently to what I was saying, a look of careful concentration on her face.

"You must never forget what he is and how dangerous it could be for you. His bodily fluids are all venomous. It's vitally important that you avoid them at all costs. Do you understand?"

"Do you mean we can't . . . " The girl couldn't even say the words and yet she was pressuring Edward to do the deed? How childish!

"I'm saying that if you make the choice to begin a physical relationship it's imperative that you protect yourself, the same as you would in any normal human relationship except more so. There really could be death and destruction from unprotected . . . "

She cut me off, face flaming. "I understand. We'll be careful. Thank you."

 

* * *
 

It's been two weeks since she went back to her home and Charlie seems to be relieved. The kids are going to the prom tonight, first time Edward has even had any interest in attending that rite of passage. Bella certainly has made a difference in his life. I hope it will last.

He is so excited about the prom, like the seventeen year old boy he was so many years ago and yet still is. He's bought her a corsage, put on his tux and he's going to his first school dance in ninety years.

Charlie has stopped by my office twice since Bella's been back at home. I'm not sure what he hopes to gain by these 'little chats' as he refers to them. I can almost feel the hot lights and wonder where the good cop is to balance his bad cop as he gives me the third degree. 'How much time do the kids spend at our home? Are they being chaperoned? By myself or by the other teenagers?'

I'm curious if this is how all modern parents treat their children, as if they are criminals who can't be trusted to do the right thing. If anyone can be trusted in that regard, it's Edward. Charlie should see to his own over-sexed daughter.

If I told the chief some of the things I've overheard coming from his daughter, the begging, chiding, arguing, all in an attempt to get Edward out of his pants. I wish I didn't have the vampiric hearing, it's embarrassing. The others are capable of speaking quietly enough in intimate moments that we can offer each other some privacy but Bella's human voice and ears don't have that capability. I've had to quell Emmett with a look several times as I could tell he was about to say something inappropriate regarding something that he's overheard.

Edward will not change her and while I understand his feelings, we can't all go on this way indefinitely. Everyone must be so careful around her and God forbid she gets badly hurt again.

 

* * *
 

He's just gotten back from the dance. She thought she could talk him into changing her tonight and Edward is furious that the young Quileute boy showed up at the dance. We have a history with them and Edward is unsure what to make of the boy's interference. More drama added to their relationship.

I have a feeling our stay in Forks isn't going to be as long as we'd hoped. Whether we take Bella with us as a new vampire or leave behind her dead, drained body or simply take Edward away with a broken heart, I feel the strain of it all.

Maybe they'll spend time together this summer and the relationship will burn itself out. Our kind usually don't make connections lightly and once we're fixed, we're fixed but one can hope.

We all like Bella and would welcome her as part of her family but the girl remaining human is putting a strain on us all.
 

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