Coming home from work; Volterra; Family

[ofthefamily]

It's Saturday, a random weekend in Forks, and Carlisle is coming home from a shift at the hospital. He hears Esme in the house, but not Edward. Or Alice and Jasper.

Maybe they're in Milliways.

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[ofthefamily]

What slows Carlisle down is Alice.

She looks so tired.

(Because of helping him. Carlisle will deal with that later.)

For now, he reaches his hand into Esme's to squeeze it I'm here, I promise before placing both hands on the crown of Alice's hair. He gives her a kiss there and a quiet "Ca y ira, ma fille" and exhales.

There's nothing else for it now.

[betagainstme]

Alice sits up at Esme's words, her face almost crestfallen at the idea of losing Milliways, even after this. But she keeps to to herself, for the most part, knowing she'll little support for her cause now.

She stares up at Carlisle, before standing and throwing her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. "Tu m'as manqué, Papa."

[ofthefamily]

Carlisle's hands stay pressed against the flat of Alice's back, eyes meeting Jasper, Edward and Esme all in turn.

Quietly then, "Unless there's anything else I need to know, I'll...find you all later." He tilts his head towards the sofa in Esme's direction, wordlessly asking her to sit with him - Carlisle will stay with Alice until she lets him go.

Looking over at Edward before he leaves, I'd like to speak with you first. Later on.

[themidnightson]

Edward's response is simple, and unchanging from the last few minutes. His eyes stayed on the quartet of his family, touching each other, in the center of the room.

His gaze rose to meet Carlisle's for a brief half second, at the address more than the dismissal. Before he looked away as he turned and walked out of the door that was still far closer to him than the rest of the room.

[keptherwaiting.livejournal.com]

Staring after Edward, Jasper turns back to the others with a frown before touching Alice's shoulder gently.

And in a whisper that Carlisle and Esme will hear anyway, says, "Alice, hon, I'm goin' to our room. You come up when you're ready, alright?" Not wanting to pull her away from them until she is.

He glances apologetically at Carlisle before trudging out after Edward.

[sheisourheart]

Esme kept her forearm on Carlisle's lower back, around him embracing their daughter, watching first one son and then the other vanish off to wherever best they thought it would be to deal with this.

With the quietest of noises, Esme turned her hands to urging Carlisle and Alice to sit down on the couch. They could take this one of time and as they could, handling the damage.

[betagainstme]

She murmurs that she'll be up there soon to her husband. She wants nothing more than to find some comfort in his arms...but she's too frightened to move from her position here.

Her heart seems to seize with the terror of the future she foresaw. It's something that scared her more than she told her brother or Jasper.

On the couch, she leans her head against her father's...her hand in her mother's. For now, Alice needs her parents. They're here. Everything is okay.

She just needs to convince herself it's real.