Beautiful Days

Chapter 58 -Chaos after the Storm-

(Carlisle's POV)

"It's... it's Haven. He is in the hospital... He isn't well..." Bella stuttered, looking at me and Esme with an unreadable expression. It seemed she was in shock as well. My mind was a swirl of thoughts and emotions I wasn't sure I could handle. Haven is in the hospital... He isn't well... It couldn't be, we just got them back! He can't be ill, he was such a healthy baby when Esme and I had to leave. It had only been a week! How much can happen in this time?

Then I had to remind myself painfully that a lot can happen in a week... Giving our children away, facing Aro, seeing friends again and having to fear to lose them as well, fighting for your own life and the ones of your family... Indeed, a week was enough time to destroy lives, plenty of time...

I couldn't focus enough to see what was happening around me, but the too fast heartbeat of Esme brought me back. She had been scared to death, also because of me, she had had to fear for the lives of all of us and was badly hurt, even letting the emotional scars out of it. Then the realization that we could have our children back. And now the happy bubble was destroyed with just a few words. I snapped out of it fast enough to catch Esme as she fainted.

Emmett looked up shocked as Esme fell right out of his grasp. He had been shocked just as much as we were and he naturally forgot that she was still sitting there.

"I'm... sorry," he murmured.

"No apologies, she will be fine," I gave him a small smile and gathered Esme in my arms. She was breathing heavily, her heartbeat slowing down more and more, her eyes fluttering. I sighed and stroked her face softly. "He will be fine, I promise," I whispered into her ear and kissed her forehead.

Alice left our gathering suddenly, escaping into the forest without a warning. Jasper dashed after her, an apologetic smile on his lips. Rosalie got up as well, but stayed, only pacing around the clearing, looking at Edward from time to time, who was still on the phone with Charlie. The rest of our family remained silent, no one knew what to say and were shocked as well. We were all overjoyed to have a safe future stretching out in front of us and then came the news... I tried to shut out all emotions trying to crush my heart as well as any thoughts about what fatal things might have happened...

My eyes were trained on Esme and Edward. It did bother me that I didn't know what they were talking about and especially that it took that long. Edward looked at me then and gave me a serious look.

How bad is it? I asked him in my thoughts. He looked down and inhaled deeply. That bad... I sighed, but still tried to keep the emotions away. Esme would be an emotional wreck when she wakes up and she needed me to be strong for this.

"Carlisle," Edward called me back to reality and I automatically got up with Esme in my arms. Rosalie came closer as well. Bella looked up, snapping out of the shock and waited patiently for Edward to collect his thoughts.

"Charlie's words were hardly comprehensible as he had to grasp the facts himself first as well. But he and Sue have brought Haven to the hospital. He had coughed pretty badly, but the doctor had told them a few days ago that he was fine and they needn't worry. But from what I gathered, Charlie and Sue had a bad feeling about the doctor's diagnosis and went to the hospital nonetheless. They don't know what he has yet, but Haven isn't in a good shape," Edward told us. I clutched Esme closer for support and closed my eyes for a second to get my concentration back. I needed it now and had to rely on it...

"What does he have exactly?" I asked and Edward looked at me.

"Charlie said that the doctors have made some tests, but they didn't get the results yet. They have brought him there as he woke up crying with blue lips and a rattling cough." I thought about the few pieces of information I got and went through every possible diagnosis.