**A/N: I wrote this before Breaking Dawn was published, and I haven't looked at it again since then. I read through this chapter this morning in a moment of complacency and felt my readers might enjoy it (most specifically MickeyandMinnie who is always trying to realign me with E/B tendencies, which I've assured her isn't likely to happen), so I thought I'd post this first chapter, and if you good people like it, I will post the others, so please, review and let me know if you'd like me to continue.**
Chapter I - The Doctor's Secret
The checklist for my human experience was completed. Everything I'd insisted on, and all Edward had as well.
I found I was pleased with the decision to allow Alice to handle the wedding. Not only because arranging affairs of that magnitude was her forte, but also because it was a day I would only live once. Regardless of how I felt about ceremony, it had been done right.
Edward was of course, so pleased with our marital status it bordered on annoying. It had been a month since the wedding, nearly 3 since Jacob had disappeared, ages since our earlier problems with first James' coven, the Volturi, and much more recently, Victoria and her newborns.
I had already spent so much time in their presence and care, that settling in with my new family seemed entirely natural. Charlie had re-embraced his former ways from before I had moved in, and had been forced to realign all his priorities and life in general.
My days passed happily, as long as I had Edward, not much else could penetrate my bliss. I was distracted occasionally, wondering what could have become of Jacob, but I knew to dwell on that would only cause pain to myself, as well as Edward, and I couldn't allow that.
I was sitting at the dining room table, eating my usual bowl of cereal as Edward sat in the seat next to me, tight-lipped and looking disapprovingly at my food. His eyes were very dark this morning, and the purple bruises were shading the area beneath his eyes. He'd been staying with me for far too long between hunting.
I looked at the expression on his face and laughed.
"You understand that I can eat on my own." I said, shaking my head.
"Yes, but what I can't understand is how you can eat that?" he replied, disgusted.
"Good morning Bella, " Carlisle said as he passed through the room. "When you've finished your breakfast, would you please come to my study?"
"Of course." I frowned. I looked at Edward, the question must have been apparent on my face.
"He wants to talk to you about a few legal matters." He grinned in amusement at the expression of consternation, which crossed my face. "Bella, he's just reinforcing that you're part of the family now, you know." His voice held a mild plea in it. He slid his cool fingers down my cheek, leaving a burning trail, and I relented.
"I know, I've just had enough with "legal matters" after the wedding," I rolled my eyes and made another face making Edward laugh aloud. It was wonderful to hear, as always.
"Was it really so horrible, Mrs. Cullen?" he taunted, holding my eyes with that intensity which always made me forget to exhale.
"Absolutely" I said, with a mischievous grin. Edward chuckled again, and I stood up with my empty bowl and walked to the sink. He leaned back in his chair as Emmett walked in.
"Edward, Rosalie is…she's in a foul mood. She needs to be alone, and I feel like hunting." Even my ears could hear Rosalie's hiss. Emmett grinned and turned back to Edward and said, "Care to take a short run with me?"
"I'll be talking to Carlisle, Edward. You might as well get out for a while. Who knows how long our conversation might last." I encouraged. He still tended to want to stay close to me, not that I ever minded.
Edward was suddenly next to me in one of his blindingly fast motions, which so stunned me when we'd first met, but had become so familiar to me now. He leaned his head forward and ran his lips across my neck, just below my ear. I shivered, and he gently brushed his lips across mine before lifting his head again to talk to me.
"I'll return soon, I promise. And if Emmett annoys me, I'll leave him behind even earlier." He gave me a quick glimpse of his crooked grin and dodging a sudden lunge by Emmett, was gone. Emmett too, disappeared from beside me.
I dried my hands after cleaning my bowl, and turned towards Carlisle's study.
Inside I found Carlisle running over frighteningly large booklets. I hoped these had nothing to do with me, or why he wanted to speak to me. To my relief, he folded the one open before him, set it aside and looked up at me.
"Hello Bella, Edward told you what I want to talk to you about." It wasn't really a question.
"He didn't explain, he just said you had some "legal matters" you needed to discuss now that I'm officially a Cullen.
"I do. Nothing taxing I assure you Bella, and it honestly won't take long either. I will have to ask you to join me tomorrow to sign some papers with my attorney though. We need to add you to our family legally, as securely as you've joined it emotionally." He smiled in a way that was very warm and charming, and I felt the compliment he'd intended with his words.
"How long will we be gone tomorrow? Will Edward come along? Will this involve any…" I was cut off as Carlisle's phone vibrated.
"I'm sorry Bella, one moment." He turned his head slightly as he answered. "Hello? Yes, this is." I was lost in thought, wondering if it was the hospital. His expression suddenly darkened, before he could regain his composure for my benefit. Then his face did something I had never seen before; it drained of all expression entirely. His entire person tensed. Had he been human, I felt certain he'd have just gone completely white. He looked frightened, and Carlisle never looked frightened. "When?" he said finally. Whoever he was speaking to was obviously giving him an earful of information. His expression didn't change and without another word, he suddenly closed the phone and slowly dropped it and his arm to the desk.
He lifted his hands to cover his face, he looked so distraught I was afraid to speak, but I wanted to offer my help, knowing I wasn't likely to be able to provide him with much.
"Carlisle?" I whispered, hesitantly.
He seemed to suddenly recall my presence, which surprised me. He pulled his hands quickly away from his face and said "Bella,.." before the door to his study was thrown open and Alice stood in the entrance.
"Carlisle, I've seen something. We're going to have a visitor, I think he's still quite far away. I don't recognize him, but he knows you."
Carlisle exhaled, "Thank you Alice, I've just had a call from Aro. I'm aware."
Alice looked concerned, "It isn't any of the Volturi, Carlisle."
"I know Alice, don't concern yourself. Thank you for the report though." He smiled. "I have to finish with Bella if you don't mind Alice."
Alice nodded and turned around, closing the door again behind her.
"Carlisle, is everything…what was that about?"
He looked at me, his brows coming together. Then his expression cleared and he nodded once.
"Excuse me, just one moment Bella, I need to ask Alice for a favor."
He left the room quickly, and was back again before I could do more than go from concerned to curious and back again.
"I've just sent Alice and Jasper after Emmett and Edward, Rosalie and Esme are in the garage, talking about some things. I need to talk about something, and I'd like to talk to you about it first."
"I'll help in any way I can, Carlisle." I responded to his urgent tone.
"I'll have to make this quick, because I have to try to keep them from knowing. Thank God Edward and Emmett are hunting, Edward won't hear my thoughts until he's finished." He was suddenly very still, and uncomfortable. "Bella, I have one secret, I've never revealed it to any of my family, though I now wish I had, and like most secrets, it's not very flattering."
He paused, by his expression, I thought he must be contemplating how to put it in words.
"170 years ago, long before Esme, or even Edward, I was an inept, unpracticed and very lonely vampire. I had a grievous and unforgivable lapse in judgment and did something I've been so embarrassed by, I've never spoken of it to anyone." His mortification at his own actions reminded me so much of Edward, I had to struggle not to smile at how much Edward unknowingly emulated his Father.
"I'm sure it isn't as bad as you assume it is." I said, attempting to ease his mind.
Carlisle only shook his head, "No Bella, I'm afraid it's every bit as bad as I assume it is. I created a vampire 170 years ago whose name was Marie Reynard. I was still an inexperienced vampire, and she was my first attempt to change someone, though I didn't do it alone. This was near the time I began moving away from the Volturi. One of the last vampires in their group I continued contact with was a man by the name Aurelio Crudele, and he was the vampire who helped me change Marie. He was not a pleasant creature, but I was foolishly unparticular about whose company I kept in those days. Since I was so young, in relation to my vampire years, at that time - I was not yet experienced enough myself, to be able to teach others to follow my choices for my vampire life. Marie was a great disappointment to me, and her dissatisfaction with my beliefs and hunting preferences, caused her to follow Aurelio who had always found my ideals abhorrent." sadness crossed Carlisle's features for just a moment before he continued.
"In retrospect, I believe Aurelio too was lonely, and was only waiting for a chance to accomplish something like Marie for some time. Together they attacked me. I was injured initially, but of course unharmed ultimately. At that time, Aro was fond enough of me to be offended by Aurelio and Marie's actions. He banished them from Volterra, and we literally never heard from them again. Aro's agents saw no movement anywhere from them. We assumed they had somehow been destroyed."
Carlisle stood then, and began pacing the room next to his desk. "I have no way to confirm these details, Aro heard it himself from other vampires residing in Volterra currently. Apparently Marie, after all these years, finally had a change of heart. She desired to follow my lifestyle. Aurelio saw this as her choosing me over him, so he destroyed and burned her in his anger." Carlisle grimaced in an offended way, and continued. "Apparently when you, Edward and Alice visited Italy two years ago, you made such an indelible impression that you are still a regular topic of conversation in Volterra. Aurelio heard my name in passing, associated with the three of yours and began relentlessly questioning residents there in earnest. He's discovered where we are, and Aro has discovered that he intends to come here, to Forks."
He walked over and sat in front of me again, leaning over onto his desk he folded his hands together and spoke to me over them, "He's the most unpleasant sort of vampire there is, his diet is that of any regular vampire and he is vicious. Bella, I am telling you of this, because I would like your opinion, and you're the only person in this family who I can count on to keep it hidden from the others for the moment, even Jasper and Alice, and most especially Edward, so long as you're out of their immediate contact. Do you think I ought to tell the family about this, or should I simply step out to meet him alone."
I was horrified. He seemed to gather something was wrong by my face, "What is it Bella?"
"Carlisle, I am so sorry, this is all my fault. This is because of my foolish decision to go cliff diving, if I hadn't done that, Edward wouldn't have gone to Italy and you wouldn't be facing this horrible ghost from your past."
"Isabella. Don't be ridiculous!" Carlisle said so sternly it shocked me to attention. "Blame laid in this instance will not help the situation, and the only person to blame in this scenario is me. Now, that said, what is your answer to my question."
I was very touched that he was talking to me about this, when I was so often kept away from any dangerous information that I was suddenly very concerned about having to answer him straightforwardly.
"Carlisle, you have to tell the family. If he comes here, everyone will have questions, and Esme will be disappointed enough about the fact that you've kept this from her. Not to mention that everyone, all of us, love you very much. They'll want to stand by you, I'm sure of it." I lost my nerve a little on the last sentence of my answer, because I realized that Edward would of course have to be there. I was instantly frightened.
"Thank you Bella, I think you're right. Ah, perfect timing," he said looking up. "They're here, they're all coming into the house now."
Carlisle called them into the room, Edward flashing to my side quickly, as always. Carlisle sat, the expression on his face so serious and unusual that the whole family was quiet, looking at him expectantly.
He swallowed visibly, "I have a secret to tell you, and we have another problem on it's way."