la belle dame sans merci | carlisle cullen

48

Note: Buckle up and queue supermassive black hole right the fuck now. I hope it's worth the wait :)

It was Alice's idea, as most hair-brained schemes tended to be, to invite Bella along for their first baseball game of the season. Carlisle had quietly approved, even if he thought it was asking for trouble.

Rosalie hadn't put up the fuss he was expecting when eyes turned to her for her reaction, she simply muttered "You'll do what you want anyway." He couldn't argue with that. Edward was one thing but Alice was a runaway train once she got an idea in her head.

It wasn't the worst idea, they did need an umpire. The team waiting to bat took turns but that meant whoever's team Carlisle was on was going to lose— everyone else cheated.

Carlisle was ridiculously excited and he wasn't hiding it. As soon as Alice predicted the storm, he had his baseball finery yanked out of the back of his closet. He'd been practicing his swing for days.

The Cullen family had been divided and tense for months, he wasn't so blind to think he hadn't played a part in it. He was the peacekeeper, it drove him nuts to know he'd laid the groundwork for the wedge. They desperately needed to do something together as a family that wasn't ripping one another's heads off in arguments. How helpful Bella would be in the equation of family bonding was certainly up for debate.

The distraction was welcome, after everything. It'd been about a week since he'd last seen Minerva but he thought of little else. They'd had a splendid evening, gobsmacked over the strange film but it was the ending to their evening that stuck with him.

His memory was photographic, every moment was constantly flickering behind his eyes like a rolodex. It was only a sliver of the domestic bliss he craved so deeply and it, frankly, was the only thing getting him through.

The brief feeling of her lips against his was lingering like a haunting. There was no shaking it. Drunk as she was, it was gentle and warm. If he thought about it too hard, he could feel the phantom heat of her against him. It was driving him mad.

Since that night, the texts had been sparing. There was an extensive apology text the following morning and since that, it'd been spotty. He got the feeling she was avoiding him a bit. One look at her that night told him she was horribly embarrassed, she was half way to tears when she bid him goodnight.

That image had been just as ingrained in his mind as her face moments before she kissed him. He couldn't shake the idea of driving over there and laying his heart bare. She could examine every artery, every vein, every scar. There'd be nothing left unknown, there'd be no reason to hold back.

Several times, he'd considered dropping in for a visit or stopping by Little Leaf with a coffee but her silence felt deliberate. He settled for the text here and there until they could get back to their normal.

Carlisle was over the moon when baseball finally came. He'd booked the day off work and spent the day bouncing off the walls. He reorganized his whole office in the chaos, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed every inch of the house, there wasn't a task left on his to do list.

He went out and bought a little travel cooler for the occasion, ensuring Bella would have water and a snack if she needed it. He needed everything to go perfectly. He was practically pushing everyone out of the house for the game, no one but Alice shared his excitement.

All they were waiting on was Edward and Bella, which Rosalie couldn't stop rolling her eyes about with every minute that passed. While Jasper and Emmet tossed the ball back and fourth at a lethal speed, Carlisle was counting the paces they'd set between the bases for the second time.

There was a voice nagging in the back of his mind. A rather petty and annoying voice complaining that his human should be there too. It wasn't fair. He was certain Minerva's magic would ensure for an exciting game. Still, there was no easy way to invite her.