A Helping Hand (Carlisle)

[Bella Cullen]

After fifty years of being a vampire, one thing was certain, she never grew old of their family members. Sure there were some times little disagreements, but that was natural in any family, human or otherwise. She’d seen a lot in her life and never once had there been a dull moment or a moment where she regretted her choice, even after her mother, father and Phil were all three in the ground. Sometimes she visited their graves, but only at night, when it was safe for her to do so. Especially upon their birthdays and the anniversary of their deaths. She still loved them even with them being in the ground, but was it strange to think of them still looking after her, in her eternally long life? Were they proud of her? She’d like to think so, even if she was something none of them would have approved of.

The one thing about being a vampire was that she still had a family. Albeit one she never would have imagined having when she was just seventeen. Even if they were considered “Damned” for what they were, she didn’t see them like that. They were just people, people with a unique diet and personality to match. It was why she didn’t turn her back when she had the oppertunity to join them, even if a few of them had hoped she wouldn’t. She did what she felt was necessary, though it had been an interesting development to suddenly realizing she wouldn’t get to be a part of Charlie’s or her mother’s lives as much as she used to be. That she’d never again feel the sun and it’s warmth the way she had always been able to. But she'd handled it well.

Throughout her fifty something years of being a vampire, she had always seen the good in others, even when sometimes it was hard to see. That particular day she had been out hunting in the woods not far from home, when she had run across a wounded male mortal. Now one might think this was a very dangerous situation for the vampire to get herself into, but she took it in stride, recalling how Carlisle had been with her when she was still a mortal. She went to him, picking him up, it was then that she realized he was unconsious, which was probably not the best thing. It just made her realize even more so that she needed to get him to Carlisle immediately. She took him into her vehicle and drove as fast as she could to the local hospital, hoping Carlisle would understand her reasons.

Upon arriving at the local hospital, she went and got a wheelchair for the unconsious man, bringing him inside the hospital. Once the nurses there started to take care of him, a smile appeared, knowing she’d done the right thing. Then one of the nurses paged her father, Carlisle, as apparently he was the only one available at the moment. After a few moments she witnessed her father enter the room. She knew he would have questions. Questions she would have to answer in private if she wanted to protect their secret..of what they truly were. And she most certainly did.

She waited until the nurses told him about the case, and felt the need to add to it. But if anyone could help this man, it was Carlisle. “Can we talk? It’s about this gentleman here, your newest patient....I brought him in.” She told her father in a whisper, not wanting to make it overly obvious to anyone else on what she had to say. “I found him, like that, Carlisle. I couldn’t leave him...not with everything that we know to be out there. I just I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

The man she had later recognized as being a decendant of one of the officers her father worked with. He was not an officer but just an every day hunter. Although the bloodlust had been strong, she was able to resist knowing it would only make things worse for all involved if she lost restraint now. She only hoped that whatever it was that caused this was out of their grounds. Out of their territory. If not it meant a nomad was still in their territory, something they would ultimately have to deal with. The wounds on the man seemed like he’d been attacked by something or someone. Whether it was an animal or that of another vampire, she just wasn’t sure. That’s why she brought him to Carlisle, figuring he would know more about this than she would. At least she hoped so.

[carlisle cullen]

The day at the hospital had been very busy in deed mainly due to a car crash on the main road, it always pained Carlisle to see people injured so badly some with very life threatening injuries and ones they will never recover from. He had been going through medication with the nurses how much painkillers for the patients and the setting up of a drip for either person involved when his pager had gone off again. "Excuse me ladies" They melted stepping out of his way, of course all the females knew he was married that he had a family but it did not stop them from flirting the occasional smile, they all jumped when he needed something done and this always made Carlisle laugh. None of them stood any chance with him he belonged heart and soul to Esme and if any of them thought they could match her than they were delusional in his opinion.

As he headed down the corridor and into the room where the pager had directed him one of the nurses stepped forward to speak with him explaining what had happened to the man and also that it had been one of his children to bring him in. "Thank you Tina ill take it from here" he patted the nurse on the shoulder before heading over to the bed as he went over the injuries the man had sustained the worst thoughts spread through his mind especially since it was one of his to bring the man in. Had one of them lost it and gone off the rails if that was so he needed to know now because they had to be found and quickly before it happened again and they went into that frenzy that happened when you tasted human blood. Making his way over to the bed he saw Bella in obvious discomfort of course she would be being this close to this blood, yes she had good self control but she was still very young "Bella, why don't I meet you in my office and you can tell me what happened?" He asked softly of course any conversation they had would have to be held in private but he also wanted to give her an escape from the thirst and though it was a hospital which meant it would be everywhere shed cope better in his office than being in direct contact with it.

"You did the right thing Bella, you do not need to apologies" Carlisle turned to look over the man he understood Bella's concern with the amount of blood he would have attracted vampires in know time and to be honest there was enough blood to give a vampire a difficult time from resisting. He looked over the injuries that had been treated by the nurses bandaging them again after making sure they had been cleaned and disinfected properly. The wounds were interesting, but they did not seem to be from an vampire and as the shifters were sworn to not attack the humans they were there to protect them, to be honest the man was very lucky to have been found left any longer and it was entirely possible that he could have either died.

Once he had checked the vital signs to make sure he was back to almost normal he signed off on the medication for him and speaking to one of the nurses about alerting him if and when he awoke. "Come on Bella" he put a hand on her shoulder comforting knowing she was probably struggling and leading her over to his office.

[Bella Cullen]

She had never expected what would happen. Being a vampire, she was used to the control that it took whenever blood was around. But still there were many times where she felt she would slip up, in cases like this, it was necessary to be careful. And not to draw attention to herself. Of course it always made her chuckle how humans reacted to them, now she understood what it was like to be a vampire and to have others simply melt at her appearance, the way they did for Carlisle and Edward. Of course marriage didn’t stop anyone from trying to flirt, no matter their age. Funny enough, she enjoyed watching Carlisle and his coworkers, and their interraction. They did anything he asked, which was hilarious, though she kept the chuckles to a minimum. She knew Carlisle well enough to know he’d never allow anyone else to take the place of Esme, they had loved eachother too fiercely for that to happen. Of course she knew better than anyone that hospitals could be discomforting. Mostly due to the fact there was blood and alot of it.

Of course she was very young so that didn’t help matters at all. “Sounds like a plan, Carlisle.” She answered her father, softly. Of course she knew that any conversation the two was likely to have should be kept in the office, due to wht they were. The thirst was something she was able to control, but it was safer being in Carlisle’s office, at least there, it wasn’t as overwhelming as anywhere else in the hospital. Being in direct contact with the blood could be a bit dangerous given that she was a vampire, that was still fairly young and still learning to control the thirst. “I know, but I also know that it causes you to think the worst, when one of your staff tells you that one of your kids brings someone in. That’s all.” She said as it took a good amount of control to keep her from drinking someone with that amount of blood being spilled. Though she had done the best under the situation that she could. “What do you think happened to him?” She asked her father with a smile, though she was genuinely concerned for the man’s safety and his condition. She knew that the man she had rescued was lucky to still be alive, any longer out there, and he could have died, especially if a vampire who couldn’t control their thirst, found him. But she knew that the shifters had nothing to do with the man’s injuries, as they were supposed to protect the humans, not hurt them.

She was struggling just a little bit, though she was doing far better than she could have been, had she not hunted before finding him. She wouldn’t have been able to stop herself had that happened. “I’ll be right behind you, Carlisle.” She said as she felt his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way. It made her feel relieved, as she was led into her father’s office. Not much had changed in this office, at all, from what she could remember when she was last here. “Is this the same office you’ve always had?” She asked Carlisle as she normally didn’t come to the hospital unless there was some kind of an emergency due to the risk that it brought out.

[carlisle cullen]

Carlisle chuckled at Bella’s comment he did worry when his children brought people in thankfully it did not happen to frequently it was more of a random occurrence, usually if they found someone they fetched him unable to actually deal with the body themselves due to the thirst. Still it made him quite proud of them whenever they managed something like this, none of them would truly ever be able to control their thirst in the way he could that seemed true, but as long as they managed it that was what mattered and who knows but after a half century maybe they may be as comfortable as him. Though Carlisle would not risk having any of them work in hospital just in case, the consequences could be horrendous and he would not wish the pressure on to any of them, he however knew that he could handle this that he could deal with being this close to blood he was comfortable with it and in fact it was second nature to him now.
At Bella’s question he looked up to her smiling backwards ”I’m not a detective but I believe he must have fallen, by the look of his equipment he was climbing the trees, the rope must have snapped and resulted in this .. well very nasty breakage” He explained knowing immediately from the scent around the man the knowledge of the breakage it seemed that their greatest weakness was also his greatest asset because it allowed him to do so much without the need of x-rays or waiting for test results even though of course he had to do these things to act natural and to seem normal to the people of the hospital.

As Bella looked around the office he smiled ”Well it is much bigger than my last office to be honest, but I do not mind” The office was very homely a large bookshelf, lots of pictures of their family it was just how you expected a normal doctors office to look all be it a little more organised than most of the other doctors, but it was the way Carlisle liked it to be. He was one of those people that could not stand mess everything had to be labelled and put in the correct places so that he knew exactly where they were when he needed them, it was just Carlisle’s way. ”Are you alright Bella? It can not have been easy for you to be that close to blood” As he spoke he leant against the front of his desk looking over his daughter, he had adopted many different vampires into his family over the years and each one of them was important to him and Bella though she had caused her fair amount of trouble, was worth it all for the way she made Edward happy and he owed Edward to help him and see him happy after everything he had done for him over the years.

[Bella Cullen]

The way that she was able to control the blood lust was stronger than even Jasper’s handle on it, but Jasper had grown up in a different environment than anyone else. So it was understandable that he had struggled with it more. She’d nearly slipped once or twice in her fifty something years of being a vampire. Of course, she didn’t imagine doing it regularily. Though she handled the pressure with more than the usual ease of most newer vampires. No one would be able to control the thirst indefinitely, not even Carlisle. There were times where she had wanted to help out. She missed the chances of it when she was human. She had to adjust to being a vampire and that there were certain limitations to how far she could really help. She may not be as comfortable as Carlisle was but she was alot more comfortable than she had been first after she had been changed. The consequences of something going wrong though were too severe to risk even one of them working in the hospital, even part time. Carlisle had mentioned that when they thought about what they were going to do. Returning to class was the safest option for them even if it got a bit dull on her end. Though she would never cop to that if asked. There was a bit of added pressure on Carlisle, working at the hospital and she knew that she wasn’t ready to handle the pressure of being around it more than necessary. When Carlisle smiled at her, she felt a bit relieved. After all things were different now.

“Makes sense, but I didn’t see any ropes or anything hanging from the trees, though I didn’t take but a moment to look around the scene before bringing him here. I didn’t want to waste any valuable time. At least it’s safe to say that it wasn’t a nomad after him. Though I doubt if it were, they would have left him alive. How long do you think it’ll take for him to heal, from something like that Carlisle?” She asked her father in law. Carlisle could never take the place of Charlie but he had of course become like a second father to her. Of course she knew that Carlisle did not need the help of modern technology to determine whether something was broken and how. He was just that good. But even then, he had to act like any other doctor, for the sake of his and their family’s own protection.

She looked around Carlisle’s office and smiled. “I thought so. I figured you wouldn’t mind. But you’ve decorated it wonderfully. I see all the pictures around.....with all of us there. It’s a nice touch. Makes you seem almost like every other doctor in this hospital. Though the way yours is decorated, you’re proud of what you see before you. Of our family—of what you do. Though I must admit I’ve never seen an office this organized. There’s no clutter or mess anywhere to be seen.” She smiled at him, and thought of how best to answer the question that Carlisle had asked her. She wasn’t at first sure how to answer that question. It wasn’t just the blood lust that had nearly caused her to struggle, it was the fact that being what she was, things seemed to not change that much. Even in school it felt like they were learning the same things she had when she had first entered the high school over fifty years ago. It was the same mundane thing every single day. There was no excitement. Although at least this time she would have her daughter with her, which meant she could worry less. Or at least she hoped. But it also meant she worried for all their sakes more so than usual.

“Well, I must admit that it’s not the most easy thing to handle, given the situation but I just I didn’t even really pay attention to the blood, Carlisle. All I saw was a man in need of help, and that’s what I did...and at least now I can help without cringing while I do so. Sure I have moments where I’m not comfortable but that’s to be expected since I’m still young. I wish I could be like you are, Carlisle. To be able to help people and not struggle with the blood that’s right in front of you. I handle it as best as I can...but it’s not easy. I just—I don’t know. Being back in Forks alone brings back a lot of memories, Carlisle. Most of them good, but some not so good.” She knew that she hadn’t made it easy when she was human, as she and Edward had loved eachother and that of course was a risk. It put their entire family in danger and that of course was not something she had wanted. Though she had promised to keep their secret, and she had. She knew she had caused trouble for Carlisle and their coven when she had first met them, first with James, then with Laruant, then with Victoria and then finally with the Volturi. The Volturi bothered her slightly more than the three individuals alone did. Of course she had done her best not to let it show then anymore than she had let it show now. In her oppinion though it was all worth it, because in the end, she made Edward happy, and that in and of itself was worth it. He was the reason she was happy and was glad she was the reason for his happiness, prior to Renesmee’s birth. Renesmee just brought the entire family closer together. It had not only created new bonds but had strengthened the existing ones as well, between her and the coven she had joined. They weren’t just a coven but a very loving family unit.