Carlisle stood with his hands on his hips next to Esme as Tanya revealed the map to Carmen and Eleazar. She had purposely asked the elder Cullens to be present when she asked of it because of her respect for the two of them and for Marshall.

"What is this place?" Tanya asked. "I remember a long time ago you talked about it, but I hadn't thought of it in decades."

Eleazar slowly reached for the old, slightly withered piece of paper and accepted it from Tanya's fingertips. Carmen looked at him and then the two of them looked back at her. "We went here many years ago," he admitted.

"I thought so," Tanya said with a nod.

"Went where?" Carlisle asked.

Tanya called for the map, waving her hand at Eleazar and then handed it to Carlisle. "It's a little island in the pacific ocean."

"Nobody really knows of this place," Carmen explained.

"It's off limits, actually," Eleazar added, "And it's not on any maps."

Carlisle raised his eyebrows and thoughts of Isle Esme popped into his mind. "So no one inhabits the place?"

"No humans," Eleazar explained.

"So... other vampires?" Esme asked.

He nodded. "At least when we were there."

"How long were you there for?" Her eyes shifted from Eleazar to Carmen.

"We went on several occasions for short times," Carmen explained. "It was different... a nice place to stay for a short time. We could never live there."

"No." Eleazar confirmed her statement right away and shook his head.

"So, what's so taboo about this place?" Tanya asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Eleazar explained, "There are several types of our kind who reside there. None are confrontational, as long as their secret is kept and there isn't a rush of immortals to the island."

"So, would we be unwelcome?"

"I don't believe so." Carmen looked up at Eleazar. "They were nothing but friendly to us."

Carlisle looked at Tanya. "Where did you find this?"

"Marshall and I were looking through some things. It fell out. He asked about it."

He nodded and then looked around at everybody. He could tell that they were all wondering the same thing - what was going on between Tanya and Marshall?

Tanya sensed their thoughts by their looks and stiff body language. She took a deep breath and decided to make an executive decision. "I may go up north to hunt for a few weeks. If you're not here when I get back then I'll see you all soon I'm sure."

Esme looked at her. "You're leaving?" A part of her didn't what Tanya to go. She could sense their friend's feelings for Marshall, and those that he reciprocated. Esme knew that Tanya was a good person, and for her to have genuine feelings for someone was rare and special.

"I think it's for the best." Tanya suddenly empathized with Edward's initial run from Bella when he visited Alaska. She could truly put herself in his shoes, despite the possible consequences being less severe to potentially trying to start a relationship with Marshall Cullen. She suddenly felt smothered, as if she was doing something wrong by caring about him.

"You're leaving?" Marshall whipped into the room.

"Just going to hunt," she confessed. "Upper Canada is nice."

"I'll go with you," he offered, but she shook her head and declined.

"I'll be okay. I prefer to hunt alone." Tanya forced a smile and touched him lightly on the shoulder as she crossed out of the room.

"Maybe we should, um, be on our way," Carlisle said with a nod.

"What?" Marshall shook his head, confused. "Why?"

"You don't have to go," Carmen insisted.

"We'll visit soon," Carlisle told her, "Or you could come down to see us." He smiled and put an arm around Marshall.

"Dad..." He wasn't fully comprehending and even Esme looked a slightly down in her posture.

"I'm going with her." Kate peeked her head into the room and waved, "Have a same trip back guys." With a smile she left as quickly as she'd entered and then was out of the house; gone.

Carlisle and Eleazar looked at one another for a moment before Carlisle his posture and put a hand on Esme's back. "It's probably time we headed home... no?"

Esme agreed, but didn't know it would be so soon. She knew whatever the map meant, and whatever was going on between Tanya and Marshall had sparked their sudden decision to leave Alaska. On the same note, she didn't want Tanya feeling uncomfortable in her own home and so she agreed. "Of course."

Carlisle could see she only partially agreed with leaving and so he looked at her for an extra second until she nodded, squeezing his arm.

"Well, feel free to stay as long as you'd like," Eleazar told them sincerely. "You don't have to leave right this second."

"Thank you." Carlisle smiled with a nod. "Maybe we'll stay until the morning and then head back."

"Sure." They exchanged a polite grin and then the couples parted ways within the house.

"Dad, why-" Marshall began, but Carlisle silenced him.

"We'll talk later."

"But-"

"Listen to your father," Esme told their youngest son.

Marshall scowled and hurried away up a staircase where he immediately began talking with Caleb and Delilah in a hurried, angry fashion.

Carlisle looked toward the stairs and then felt Esme's eyes on him. He turned to her and waited for her to speak.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing."

"There's the big elephant in the room that no one has outright spoken about."

He raised his eyebrows but Esme gave him a look. "Okay," he admitted. "I don't know that here is the place to talk."

"Then we'll relocated for a half hour." She tugged on his hand and the two of them walked out into the wilderness for about a mile. "You're concerned about Tanya and Marshall," Esme finally said.

"I just don't know that he knows what he's doing... or getting into," Carlisle admitted.

"Tanya is a good person."

"She is," he agreed, "But..." He sighed, "I don't know."

"Marshall wants to go with Tanya to that island," Esme suspected.

"Sounds like it."

She sighed and sat on a big rock next to where they stood. Carlisle slunk down next to her. "I get it," she said, "Yeah, he was a foot shorter than her a few months ago."

"I think Tanya did the right thing," Carlisle told her. "She's conflicted. She needs time to think."

"She's smart," Esme added.

"Yeah."

"And I think she likes Marshall."

He nodded subtly. "I'd hate for either of them to get hurt."

"If there's something that's real there then remaining apart and not giving it a chance could lead them to get hurt."

"True," Carlisle agreed, "But look what happened when I waited for you." He raised his eyebrows and Esme smiled and looked down, echoing his phrase. "True."

He smiled again and pulled her to him, kissing her on the forehead "I don't know what to do about this."

"Tanya just solved the issue on her own," Esme reminded him. "When she's ready she'll come to him."

Carlisle nodded, "Yeah."

"In the mean time... we'll go back home and try to pick up some normalcy in our lives... again."

He tipped the corner of his mouth up in a smile. "Sounds good to me."

Esme kissed him once, rose from where she sat and pulled him up. "Let's go back to the house."