A New Cullen Sister

Chapter 7

When Esme walked into the house, she was greeted to the sight of Carlisle at the dining room table printing some documents off of his laptop whilst talking on the phone to someone. Surprised, she walked up to him. He acknowledged her presence with a smile, and held up his finger, pointing at his cellphone. He gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll get right on to it. How soon do you need the forms back? Right, well today is Tuesday, so I will have them filled out by tomorrow. Do they need to be sent back to you, or can I use the local office? Ok, I'll courier them to you. How long should this process take? Oh, so quick? No that's perfect. Thank you very much. Have a pleasant evening, Ms. Colgan. Bye for now."

Carlisle hung up the phone and put it down on the table before embracing his wife.

"How was your visit?" he enquired politely.

"It was most pleasant, thank you. What are all of these papers?" Esme glanced at the printer, which finished printing the last page and fell silent.

"Adoption papers for Amelia."

Esme glanced up at him in shock, blinking stupidly.

"I took the time to think it through while you were gone. I also spoke with Alice and Edward. Apparently Alice foresaw this coming. That's why they have been decorating the spare bedroom. It's not for Nessie, it's for Amelia. All of the kids are on board with the idea, even Jacob – he and Jasper have been crafting a bookcase for her room," Carlisle explained.

Esme could hardly believe her ears. "And you? How about you, Carlisle? Two hours ago, you were dead set against the idea."

"I've decided to hell with the Volturi. She quite possibly knows about us already from Bree. Bree at least had the sense not to say anything out loud to protect Amelia. The decision to become vampire will be hers – I will respect her wishes no matter what she chooses. Should she wish to be turned, then we turn her. Should she wish to die, we'll stay with her until the end. Should she opt for a transplant, we will help her through it as well. And, as the true Alpha of the pack, Jacob has the decision to make, not Sam Uley. Jacob has said that he will allow it."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I want to give her a family just as much as you do. I just needed to be sure that we could include her. I'd hate for us to bond with her only to have the treaty enforced. You haven't been able to stop talking about her. She seems like a lovely girl. She will be a daughter of your own who you can actually care for and run around after, not like Alice and Rosalie, or even Nessie for that matter. Leah and Seth have even asked if they can help out, Alice has foreseen the three of them being close friends."

"Carlisle, are you doing this just because of me?"

"No Esme, although if you disapproved of the idea, then I would not proceed with things are they currently stand."

Esme nodded her head and hugged her husband again, sighing. Carlisle let go of her and led her to their bedroom. He ran a bath for her and encouraged her to relax while he started filling out the adoption paperwork. They went for a quick hunt afterwards - Alice informed them that they would be thanking her tomorrow for making them go. Later, as they scrawled their signatures at the bottom of the paperwork and stuffed them in an envelope, Carlisle enquired further about her visit with Amelia.

"I helped her wash her hair," she said brightly, "and I combed it too! We had to rescue her from the shower because it was too hard for her. That must really suck, not even being strong enough to wash your hair without getting out of breath. She remarked that that was what having a mom must feel like. Anyway, she didn't eat much but let me carry her tea back to her room. We chatted a bit about the kids, I told her about the prank Emmett and Jasper pulled on Alice. She seemed to enjoy hearing their stories. It makes me sad though. She always seems to iterate how lucky she is, and how much worse she could have it."