A/N:
Beauty Eclipsed: *spoiler alert* Sorry to disappoint lol!
*sigh* This story gets longer the more I write on it. A little tidbit: I had a whole outline for this story (that's not the same anymore now lol) and an already written ending that I may change around since the story has changed a little bit.
*Also: I did not get to edit this as much so there may be a lot of mistakes, sorry for that in advance I will revise soon.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.
Seth's day had been long. Long and happy.
He had had a good trip to the park with his niece and her aunt. He learned that his niece could do a great dump truck impression when she dropped an armful of sand on a little boy's head. At the same time he could talk to his niece's aunt and they could laugh together.
In the evening, just as he had done for several days now, he ate dinner at his mother and step-father's home and watched a few movies. Today was a little different though. He stayed. He followed Davina up to the bathroom and he helped her bath Kit.
They used bubbles.
Kit squealed with delight when Seth reached into the tub, grabbed a handful of bubbles and then covered his chin and mouth with them.
"Uncle Seth's Santa Claus!" Kit had clapped her hands and smiled at him.
Davina and his mother, who had stood in the doorway watching the three, had laughed at him.
It was fun. His day had been long and happy and fun.
Had been.
Not long after Seth got home, just after he'd kicked off his shoes but before he could make his way up the steps, throw off his clothes and fall into bed, there was a knock at the door.
"Ugh…"
The groan was purposefully loud and Seth hoped whoever was on the other side of the door had heard him.
"Jacob, Renesmee, I'm so glad see ya. Come right in!"
The two came right in, choosing not to acknowledge the sarcasm that was dripping from Seth's words, and made themselves comfortable on Seth's sofa.
Seth doesn't bother sitting in the arm chair across from the sofa, he stays standing and crosses his arms.
"I thought you said you'd call me later."
Jacob gave the other man his best, cheesy smile. Seth almost scowled in response, his anger at Jacob's sudden appearance not yet diminished.
"I thought you'd hang up if I tried to ask you something like this over the phone."
"It's a very delicate subject matter." Renesmee supplied. "We were at first going to try to approach the subject with you in a less bold manner but we do not have a lot of time to make this happen. Our window of opportunity is very small."
Seth raised a brow as he eyed Renesmee curiously. "And how does whatever the hell you're going on about involve me?"
"Ness and I have been trying to have kids for years then realized that could never happen."
"Because I stopped aging." Renesmee finished. "Even though I have a beating heart my body doesn't age, it can't change to support a child."
"While I feel bad for you guys, I don't see how your inability to have kids is my problem."
Seth truly does feel bad for them. The woman who lived next door to him couldn't have kids. The news had been devastating to the woman and her husband and the woman had been a complete wreck. They had adopted though and were quite happy now.
"You should adopt. I'm sure you have the money and there are plenty of kids out there who needs good homes."
Jacob and Renesmee both shook their heads.
"It would never work." Seth is taken aback by how bitter Renesmee sounds. "We don't age and the child would be human. We'd have to wait until it was old enough to change it into a vampire. What if it died before that, then what?"
"Not to mention background checks and home studies and public records. If the documents that we had falsified don't hold up, who knows what could happen?" Jacob finished.
"Again, I'm sorry but I don't see how any of this is my problem."
An annoyed look takes over Renesmee's features, as if he's completely failed to see her point.
"We want her." She finally says after staring at him for a long moment.
"Her?" Then it suddenly dawns on Seth. "My niece? You want my niece?"
Are they being for real?
Seth just can't believe that they'd even think that they'd get Kit.
"Yes. We would be good parents to her." Jacob begins. "We have money, a nice house,"
"We're alive." Renesmee states cutting Jacob off.
Seth begins to shake. It starts as low tremors in his hands.
Renesmee takes no notice of the wolf's anger and continues on.
"She's perfect. A beautiful supernatural child that would fit wonderfully with our family."
The low tremors are now violent shakes that pass through Seth's entire body.
Unlike Renesmee, Jacob notices the warning signs.
"Seth, man, calm down. We just want to have a family. Is that so bad?"
Seth takes a deep settling breath, it doesn't stop the shakes but it does calm his mind enough to speak.
"She already has a family who will take great care of her."
Now, Seth is more than happy that Davina allowed the family in Jamaica to take guardianship of Kit.
"I don't care what you've promised Sam. He and Emily have five kids, who cares if they're all boys? They should be happy they have kids at all!"
Renesmee nods her head at Jacob's words. "Jay and I deserve this more. I deserve to be a mother."
Seth's head is spinning. Sam and Emily wanted Kit? What in the world was going on? Seth doesn't have the time to really think about the situation because Renesmee's next words send him into a rage.
"I would be the best mother that little girl ever had."
"GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF MY. HOUSE."
Seth grounds the words out through gritted teeth. It's a threatening whisper accompanied by the renewed violent shakes coursing through his body.
Jacob takes Renesmee's hand and leads her to the door.
"We'll talk about this more tomorrow." He says as they leave.
Seth throws a lamp at door just as it closes.
His long day had been happy. Had been fun. Now he just felt angry and pissed off. When he finally gets up the steps and strips down to nothing but his boxers, Seth falls into his bed incredibly exhausted.
He sleeps.
In Forks, Davina is not sleeping.
She sits at the little circular table in the corner of the kitchen in the Swan house, sipping green tea from a purple mug. Sue sits at the table as well, directly across from her.
Just after Davina gotten Kit down for bed, Sue had creeped into the room quietly and asked her to talk. Davina had no idea what it all was about but here they were.
"So, what's this all about?" Davina asked as she placed the mug gently on the table.
"I want Kit to stay here. To grow up in Washington."
Davina admired Sue's boldness. The woman didn't sugar coat things or dance around hard subjects or admitting that she wanted something.
"You know Leah didn't want that and you know I won't let it happen."
"But you could." Sue looked incredibly desperate as she pleaded with Davina. "You could marry Seth, I've seen you two together. You could learn to love each other. Raise Kit together. Here."
And suddenly Davina no longer admires Sue's boldness.
Davina's downright disturbed by the words that are coming out of the other woman's mouth. If she'd been still sipping tea she would have been spitting it out.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
"Sue, I understand that Kit is the last part of Leah that you have left but disregarding Leah's wishes isn't going to get you what you want."
"And why not?" Sue sobs out.
Davina blinks back some of her own tears, trying to remain strong. She's known Sue since she was young girl and the woman has always reminded her of her mother: Strong. Fierce. Tough. Watching two of the best women she knows fall apart, has not been the highlight of Davina's young life.
"Because this place is no good for Kit. These people are no good for Kit."
Davina gets up from the table, gives Sue's shoulder a light squeeze and then she leaves the kitchen.
When Davina is in the full sized bed with Kit snuggled against her chest, she finally sleeps.
Seth wakes up early the next morning. He quickly showers, dresses and brushes his teeth. In less than a half an hour he's popping a banana in his mouth and speeding off in his car towards his mother and step-father's house.
He has no interest in being home for any surprise visitors that may decide to pop up on his doorstep this morning.
Seth doesn't bother knocking when he arrives at the house, he just opens the door using the spare key on his key ring and enters the house without any announcement. When he's in, he makes his way toward the steps, seeking out Davina and Kit. He doesn't smell either on the lower level of the house.
"Mornin', Seth." Charlie greets. He's lounged out in a recliner in the living room with his face buried in a newspaper.
"Morning, Charlie, Mom." Seth calls out as he climbs the steps. From the kitchen, over the sounds of pots and pans moving about, Seth can hear his mother call the same greeting back.
Before Seth even reaches the guest bedroom door, it opens. Davina stands there in a dark purple sundress with white polka dots and her brown woven flip flops. Her twists, aside from the ones that hang in front of her face and around her ears, are hiding under a beanie that's the same shade of purple as the dress.
As soon as Seth's eyes catch Davina's, he smiles. She cringes and he's completely taken aback by the reaction.
"Hey."
Davina's face changes, like she's suddenly realizing that she's not being as welcoming as she should, and then she's giving him the smallest of smiles.
"Hey."
"Are you okay?"
"No."
At least she was being honest. Seth thought.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Davina squirms a bit. It's the most frazzled Seth has ever seen the woman and it's starting to make him worried.
"Davina."
Her name's a whisper. It's like that moment in the bar when he was pleading with her to stop.
And again, Seth is pleading with Davina. But this time it's different. It's not to stop.
He moves closer to Davina. She looks away from him. He can tell that she is aware, her nose prickles as she takes in his scent. The smell of the male becoming more familiar to her as the days go by.
Then he decides to do something insane. With an unsteady hand, Seth grasps her chin gently and tilts her face up so that she is looking at him. Her arms are folded across her chest and her dark eyes were like an endless, midnight void staring back at him.
"Davina." Seth whispers softly again.
He doesn't quite understand how intimate this is, this asking her to open up to him, to give something to him.
"Shit is really weird right now." She answers back in the same whispery voice.
Seth laughs softly. Curses coming out her mouth seems so against her nature to him.
"Tell me about it."
"Later. I'm sure your mother's lurking."
Davina steps away from his embrace and looks around the steps and hall wearily.
Seth gives her an odd look.
"What?"
"Not here, somewhere else."
Seth almost laughs at Davina's paranoia but decides against it seeing that the woman seems to be so serious about it all.
"The beach?" He offers.
Davina nods. "I'll go get Kit ready."
"And I'll pack a lunch. Meet me in the kitchen?"
"Okay, see you in about 10 minutes."
The two are off, Davina back in the bedroom and Seth skipping down the steps. In the kitchen, Seth grabs a large lunch bag out of a cabinet and begins shoving food from the fridge and other cabinets into it.
"In a hurry?"
His mother smiles innocently at him, too innocently and Seth starts to wonder if Davina isn't being too paranoid after all.
"Uh, I'm taking Davina and Kit to the first beach to hang out for a bit."
Sue's smile grows tremendously. "How wonderful! You two are going to have a great time!"
"Mom, what did you say to Davina?"
Sue's smile drops and her eyes go incredibly wide.
"What are you talking about?"
"You're acting weird and Davina's acting weird and I'm pretty sure you have everything to do with it."
When Sue's says nothing,she doesn't really have a strong argument against it, Seth moves toward his mother and takes her hands in his own.
"I know this is hard, mom but please don't do crazy things. I'm beggin' ya ma, don't do crazy things."
Sue smiles softly at her son. "It's not as crazy as you might think."
For the second time that morning, Seth laughs.
"Ready?"
Both of their heads turn towards Davina, who stands in the door way holding Kit's hand. The little girl is in a blue jean jumper and a red and white striped t-shirt. Her little feet are bare and her dark brown curls are a wild untamed mess on top of her head.
"Kit, you need a comb!"
Kit shook her head at her uncle. "No!
"Oh really now?" Seth asks with a raised brow as he slowly creeps toward the girl.
"Uh huh."
"And do you know what happens to little girls who refuse to comb their hair?"
Seth was just in front of Kit, his hands stretched out like claws.
"No."
Davina let go of Kit's hand and stepped away from the child, knowing exactly what was going to happen next.
"Do you want to find out?"
"No."
"Too bad." Then Seth was on Kit, tickling her all over.
"Stop, Uncle Seth." Kit called out through fits of laughter. "Stop!"
Davina leans against the archway separating the kitchen and the living room and watches the two happily, a small smile playing on her lips. When she catches Sue staring at her knowingly, she tries desperately to stifle the reaction.
"Come on you two, let's go. I'll wash and comb Kit's hair after we come from the beach."
"Yay, I win Uncle Seth!"
"Thanks a lot, Auntie D." Seth states with a mock-grumble as they leave the house.
Davina rolls her eyes playfully. "You're very welcome, Uncle Seth."
At the beach Seth and Davina don't talk as they had planned. They play with Kit mostly.
They play in the water.
Davina refuses to go in past her feet. Seth, who's only wearing dark gray cargo shorts, goes all the way in. He holds Kit in his arms and dips her feet while she giggles happily. Soon the two start splashing Davina, much to the woman's dismay.
"Hey, I'm not in there for a reason!" Davina yells at them.
"You should be!" Kit calls back. "It's fun!"
Seth smiles and winks at her. "Yeah, you should be."
Davina's eyes grow wide and she backs up a little. Seth mentally curses himself.
When Kit is tired of the water, Seth carries her out and the two try to build sand castles. Davina attempts to fix a meal for them out of the random foods that Seth threw into the lunch bag.
"Uh, Seth what were we supposed to eat?" Davina asks as she holds up a mustard packet and a torn slice of bread.
Neither Seth or Kit are paying attention to her, the two are engrossed in trying to build a moat around the four wet lumps of sand that make up their sand castle.
"Not hungry." Kit says as she scoops sand out of her way.
"Eat at my house later. Something, whatever." Seth answers as he completes the deep circle he and Kit are creating.
Davina rolls her eyes at the two.
"Yes!" Kit shouts as they begin to let water into their moat.
Seth gives his niece a high five. "We did it!"
Davina can't help but smile at Uncle and niece.
"I'm glad for you two but I'm hungry and we should probably leave and get some lunch. Something to drink."
Kit crosses her arms and pouts. "But I don't wanna go!" She whines unhappily.
"Please don't pout, Kit Kat."
Even though Davina has had to be at times, she does not like being strict with Kit. She truly wants the girl to just be happy. Not sad like she had been before.
Seth grabs Kit and throws her over his shoulder.
"Hey! Put me down, Uncle Seth!" Kit shouts.
"Nope, we're going to eat lunch." Seth states as he starts walking down the beach.
Davina walks behind them. She reaches out and grasps Kit's hands.
"Make him stop, Auntie D." The little girl pleads.
To the child's disappointment, Davina shakes her head.
"Nope, we're going to eat lunch."
Eventually, Seth lets Kit down and the child walks in between thim and Davina holding each of their hands. Occasionally, to Kit's delight, they swing her little body and she laughs.
As they walk along, Seth notices that he's not the only one who thought that the beach was a good place to spend the day. He notices Jared and Kim with their two sons, Colin Littlesea and Sam and Emily with their three youngest sons.
After what he found out the previous night, Seth desperately hopes that Sam and Emily don't approach him. Emily and Sam had both treated his sister horribly and now after all of that they wanted his niece to be the daughter they were unable to create. The nerve of the two of them. He'd really, really like to punch Sam in the face. He wondered if he could get Davina to sock Emily for him.
Of course, Seth wouldn't be getting his wish today.
"Seth!" Sam called out as Seth, Davina and Kit walked near them.
They had been so close to the beach exit.
Sam and Emily got up and began to walk to them. Seth and Davina shared a look, silently deciding on what to do. Seth let go of Kit's hand and Davina lifted the girl up into her arms and stepped closer to Seth. They looked like a tiny, united front.
"Sam." Seth stated when the other man reached him. Emily stood to the side, watching Kit and Davina.
"We need to talk Seth. It's about something that's really important to Emily and me." Seth's only response to Sam's words are a hard glare. "I know Jake's already spoken to you but I don't care. He and that…that…they don't deserve it. Emily and I have wanted this for years."
"I'm hungry, Auntie D." Kit whined as she rested her head on her aunt's shoulder.
Before Davina can console the girl, Emily is jumping in.
"I have some mini muffins over there with my boys! Do you like muffins?"
Kit shakes her head, growing shy at the sight of the stranger. Davina shoots Emily a glare before pulling Kit firmly against her chest and rocking her side to side. Emily moves closer to Sam, taking her husband's arm in hers.
"It's okay Kit Kat, Uncle Seth's taking us back to his house. We're going to fix you lunch real soon."
"Seth."
Sam's desperate and Seth is not in the mood to play ball. Seth is about ready to explode.
"No. I don't want to have this conversation with you or Jake. What makes you two think you have the right to even ask a question like this? What? Huh? WHAT?!"
"Seth."
This time it's Davina. She offers him a small comforting smile and gently takes his hand in hers. It's not an easy thing for her to do, the physical contact and trying to balance a four year old in her arms. But she manages and Seth does not take her efforts for granted.
"We should go, Seth." Davina gives his hand a squeeze.
"Okay."
They continue walking down the beach. As they do so, Seth can hear Emily pleading with him to change his mind. It doesn't take long for him to tune her out.
Seth and Davina lie side by side on the old full sized bed in Leah's old bedroom in the Clearwater family home. Kit sleeps peacefully in her uncle's arms, her little head laying directly over top of his heart. The three came up to the bedroom after eating lunch and watching a few cartoons. Kit had begun to fall asleep on the sofa and Seth had suggested taking the child upstairs for a nap. They ended up in Leah's mostly untouched bedroom. The same purple and black quilt set was on the bed and her walls were still covered with posters of bands that she had enjoyed as a teenager and young adult. The room still smelled a little like her too, something that neither Seth nor Davina mentioned but that both enjoyed.
"What do you miss about her?" Davina asks quietly as she stares up at the white ceiling above them.
"Her voice. Her words. What about you?" Seth strokes Kit's back absentmindedly as he speaks. He enjoys the sounds of the child's light snoring.
"Her singing. She used to sing to me all the time when I was little. I used to love listening to her sing to Kit too."
"What do you miss about David?"
"His story telling. He told the best stories. He used to make funny voices and sound effects and he'd dance too. He was a funny guy."
Seth nods his head in agreement. "He was funny. I didn't get to spend too much time around him but we did think up a good prank together one time."
"The hot sauce thing." Davina chuckles softly. "Leah told me about that after Kit was born and when I came home from my walk."
"A walk?"
"A journey of self-discovery. I'll tell you about it sometime. Right now we have other things to discuss."
"We do. I think you should go first." Davina was desperately hoping he'd start. Seth notices the look on her face and adds, "What I have to say might…make you have less than positive feelings."
"Very well." Davina really does want to talk about what Sue said to her. "Want to see a trick?"
"You're stalling."
"Do you want to see?"
"Fine. Then you talk."
Davina leans up on her elbow and Seth does the same, adjusting Kit in his arms a little. She opens her mouth wide and then to Seth's surprise two, large, canines descend from her top row of teeth.
"What the hell…?"
Davina lays back down and laughs quietly.
"A wolf trick. Kit can do it too."
"But, but I can't do that!" Seth sputters. "How? No, wait a minute! This is not what we're supposed to be talking about."
"Darn. I almost had you."
"Almost. Now talk. Please."
"You're mother said that we should get married, that we could learn to love each other and that we should raise Kit here together. She kind of implied that we had feelings for each other."
Seth thinks her words over for a moment. He thinks about the morning when Davina barely wanted to approach him, how she avoided his eyes. He thinks about how his mother was being too innocent. What did she say?
It's not as crazy as you might think.
"This is why you were acting so weird this morning."
"Kind of." Seth catches her eyes and he raises a brow at her. "Fine. Yes it was exactly the reason why I was acting so weird this morning."
Seth begins to laugh. He tries to keep the volume down in an attempt to not wake Kit. He's still loud but luckily the child doesn't wake.
"I guess my telling her not to do anything crazy came way too late."
"You tried. I thank you for that."
"Welcome."
"So what do you have to tell me that might make me experience less than positive feelings."
"Well apparently it's not only my mother who wants to get a hold of Kit. Jacob Black, the guy you met the other day and Renesmee, Charlie's granddaughter, want Kit. They can't have kids and adoption is a little too complicated for them."
Davina covers her face with her hands and groans lowly.
"But wait there's more. Sam and Emily, remember them." Oh, did Davina remember them, how could she ever forget them? "Well they have five sons and that's not enough. They want a girl bad. So they want Kit too."
Davina groans again. "That's what they were going on about at the beach."
"Yup. I explained to Jacob what Sam already knows. Kit has a family who's going to care for her and I don't make decisions about where Kit goes."
"If you did have an issue, please make no mistake, I would take your opinion into consideration."
"Davina, I trust the decision that you've made." Seth states in earnest. "Plus, I wouldn't trust any of those assholes with my niece."
Davina chuckles. "Well I'm glad we're on the same page then."
"Can we get on the same page about something else?"
"And what might that be?"
"If I punch Sam in the face would you jump in and punch Emily too."
"She'd get fed bricks until she looked like a goddamn house…for Leah of course."
"Yes for Leah."
Before the two return to their previous silence, before they can drift off to sleep, Seth has one last request.
"Next time can you tell me. I mean, I feel like we're in this together in way and I don't," Seth stops short, he doesn't really know how to say what's running around in his mind.
But Davina understands.
"I won't pull away again. I'll just tell you that your mom is being crazy as heck."
Seth smiles. "Cool."
And soon the two are as knocked out as Kit is.