Wow, it has been a bit since my last update…. I apologize, my lovely readers, but I've been extremely sick for the last week, still am unfortunately, but I know that I needed to update my story for you all, so here it is! Please tell me what you think!
On a side note, the poll question will remain up for approximately three more days, so make sure to go vote! I wanted to make sure that everyone got the chance to voice, or vote, their opinion, so please don't forget to do that!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Twilight. I do, however, own my OC and the plot behind her.
Chapter Fourteen: Those Three Words
When Evie awoke the next morning, the events that had taken place were foggy. Unable to remember exactly what had happened, she was left to only wonder why her throat was hoarse and there were bruises on her wrists and her face. What puzzled her the most, however, was the room she woke up in. She had been to the Cullen's house many times, so she knew that she was currently in Carlisle's room, laying on his new bed, but she didn't know why. She remembered going to Port Angeles with Jessica, Angela, and her sister, but everything became foggy from the moment they left the frilly dress shop. Shrugging it off, Evie hopped out of the fluffy bed and went to find Alice or Rose so she could borrow some clothes. Running her fingers through her knotted hair as she walked, Evie heard them first before she saw them.
"How could you let her out of your sight?! She was assaulted, Edward! You could have prevented it had you actually cared about Evelyn instead of drooling over your little pet." Evie stopped in her tracks, half way down the stairs, and was overcome with the memories her brain had suppressed. Four men attacked her and Bella, two men sexually assaulted her, and Carlisle and Edward stopped anything more from happening, which was why she woke up in Carlisle's room instead of her own. Evie couldn't hold back the strangled sob that tore itself from her throat as she slumped on the stairs, not even blinking as she found seven pairs of eyes on her and two pairs of arms trying to soothe her. She could feel Jasper trying to calm her, but she didn't care. She was too far gone for his power to have any effect.
"Evie," Edward began, kneeling on a step a few below where she was sitting, "I am so sorry. I lost your thoughts when you left the dress shop and I couldn't find them until-" Evie shuddered at the thought. "I just- I can't tell you how sorry I am." Edward didn't meet her eyes, and it was obvious he was beating himself up.
Holding back the scream she wanted to let out, Evie instead spoke. "I- It's not your fault, E-Edward. Don't e-even think it." Her words came out quiet and broken, and she was suddenly glad that they were all vampires as they wouldn't have heard a word she had uttered otherwise. Before Edward could respond, however, Rose opened her mouth to argue. "No, Rose. It wasn't his fault. If anyone's to blame, it's the people," Evie hesitated, unwilling to classify them as people, "the monsters that did this." Rose snapped her mouth shut, instead choosing to glare at the copper haired vampire. Evie was sure that Rosalie hadn't let the subject go, but she would remain quiet while around Evie. Carlisle, who only seemed to have eyes for the raven haired beauty, gently picked her up and started up the stairs, never once looking away from her. Evie refused to meet his searching eyes as he brought her back to his room. Placing her gently on the four poster bed, Evie curled up into a ball and silently wept, Carlisle wiping her tears away and rubbing soothing patterns on her back the whole time.
A few hours later, though Evie didn't know exactly how many hours it was, she had finally run out of tears to cry and her thoughts had calmed enough to not constantly play the horrible memory over and over again. With the calm thoughts, however, came the questions. Evie turned slightly, still curled up on Carlisle's side, so she could finally meet his eyes. His eyes, which were normally a light brown when he was around her, were just a few shades lighter than black, though Evie had a feeling it wasn't because he needed to hunt. "What did you tell my father?" She spoke quietly, almost whispering, afraid to break the already thin thread she hung by. Carlisle didn't respond right away, choosing to instead search her eyes for something.
"Your sister told him that you ran into Alice and Rosalie while shopping and chose to come back to our house for a sleepover. Alice also managed to convince the secretary at the high school that you were ill and that I was taking care of you in place of Chief Swan, so you are excused for today." Carlisle paused then, his eyes getting darker, "Evelyn, I need to know what you want to be done." Though Evie understood that the topic was back on the events of the night before, she was confused as to what he meant.
"What I want done about what?" Carlisle let out a breath, seeming to prepare himself for something, before he responded.
"The men who attacked you. There are a few options, but I want to know what you want." Evie grimaced slightly, but she forced her thoughts to remain calm. "We can apprehend them and leave them in front of the police station, we could give an anonymous tip to their whereabouts, or we could dispose of them." Evie thought about the three options Carlisle had given her, understanding that whatever she chose would be the end result. A part of her, a rather large part of her, she was ashamed to admit, was leaning toward killing the men. She wanted them gone, punished as they should be, but she knew that that wasn't the correct option. Sighing, Evie turned to face the window, watching silently as the raindrops made paths down the window. In a way, it was a beautiful representation of her current state. The rain was her tears, the sky, overcast and grey, her thoughts, and the howling wind was her conflicting feelings.
'They need to be punished, but they should be punished in the proper way. No one should have the power of life or death over another being, but that was exactly what Carlisle was giving me and I don't like it.' Evie barely blinked before she saw Edward standing in the door way, glancing at her before focusing on Carlisle. She registered the fact that his lips were moving too fast for her to read, so she knew he was speaking with Carlisle. When Edward turned to face her, though, Evie felt herself tense slightly. "Please don't be afraid of me, Evie." Evie's eyes widened almost comically and she shook her head. Edward gave a dark chuckle, understanding that she wasn't afraid of him, but of the conversation that was bound to follow. "You made the right choice. I know it's a hard decision, but we're all really proud of you." Evie couldn't help the tears that filled her eyes, making her glare half-heartedly at Edward. Edward merely chuckled before turning and leaving the room at a human pace. Evie wiped her eyes one last time before jumping up from the bed and walking into the adjoining bathroom. Carlisle followed behind her, not that she minded, and began to brush her hair gently. Doing her best to fix her appearance and make herself presentable, Evie managed to not flinch when she saw the bruises adorning her cheek.
Alice appeared a second later, her makeup bag in tow, and smiled gently at Evie. "I can fix that, if you'd like." Evie only nodded, not trusting her voice, and sat on the toilet seat so Alice could do her makeup. Carlisle stood in the doorway, still not looking away from Evie. In a matter of minutes, Alice had finished putting the makeup on and stepped back. Evie had only flinched once when Alice had pressed on a particularly sore spot, but the short vampire was gentle. Standing, Evie moved to look into the mirror, her eyes examining the spots where she knew the bruises to be, and she couldn't help the small smile as she realized she couldn't see them.
"Thank you, Alice." Her voice was thick with emotion, but she didn't care. Alice smiled at her before prancing out of the room. With one last glance in the mirror, Evie sighed and went back into Carlisle's room. Carlisle sat on the edge of the bed as Evie found a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt to change into. Usually she only used the clothes she had here as comfort for when Alice went a little overboard in her 'human barbie' game. When Evie had finished changing into the clean clothes, she followed Carlisle down to the kitchen, smiling softly as she saw Esme scrambling some eggs.
"I wasn't sure how you like your eggs, and I've found at least ten different ways to make them online, but I figured I'd stick with the simple, scrambled kind. Is that alright? If you don't like them I can make a different type. Or I could make something else entirely if you'd like-" Evie laughed, a real, loud laugh, that made both vampires stare at her in amusement and worry.
"Scrambled eggs is fine, Esme. Please don't worry yourself over food. I'm not that picky." Esme smiled gently at Evie and turned back to the food, humming a soft tune under her breath. Carlisle placed a hand on Evie's back and led her to the table, sitting down beside her.
"Where is everyone?"
Carlisle smiled at Evie before he answered. "Alice is upstairs with Jasper. They are discussing the weather for the next week or so. Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie went to take care of a few things, but they should be back in an hour or so." Evie nodded and dug into the eggs that were placed in front of her. Esme excused herself, leaving Carlisle and Evie to sit quietly in the kitchen. Evie was halfway through her plate of food before the fork fell from her grasp and onto the table. Carlisle was immediately next to her, worriedly trying to figure out what was wrong.
"When you say they're taking care of a few things, you mean the men, don't you?" Carlisle seemed to relax as soon as she spoke, now knowing she wasn't in any danger, and sat back down in his chair. Evie, who had previously felt pure fear and panic, felt a wave of calm rush over her. Turning to the entrance of the kitchen, she saw Jasper leaning against the door frame.
"Yes, we wanted to take care of it as soon as possible. They are going to sedate the four men and tie them up, then place them in the alley next to the police station in Port Angeles. All four men are wanted in five different states, so they will be put away for a very long time." Carlisle rubbed soothing circles onto the back of Evie's hand as he spoke. "I would have gone with them, but I didn't want to leave you. Jasper wanted to go as well, but Alice told him he'd be of more use here, and I think I know why. Evelyn," Carlisle placed a finger under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "I promise that you are safe. No one else will ever harm you, I swear to it." Evie couldn't look away, his eyes held determination and another emotion that was, she knew, love. She had seen love fill his eyes many times now, but she didn't think she was ready for it, until now. Evie nodded, smiling slightly at the man next to her, and dropped her eyes back to her plate. Feeling determined and nervous, Evie knew what she had to do. Rising from her seat, she briefly saw Alice stifling her giggles and Jasper smirking at the pair, before she faced Carlisle once more.
"Will you do me a favor, Carlisle?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Carlisle stood in front of her, smiling down at her.
"Anything you want." Evie swore she melted a little just then. Shaking the dazed look off of her face, Evie gave Carlisle a half-hearted glare, causing him to laugh slightly.
"Do you remember where we first met?" At his nod, Evie continued. "Could you take me there?" Evie watched as confusion and wonder filled his eyes, but he nodded anyway. Maneuvering her so that she was cradled in his arms, against his chest, Carlisle took off. Evie had to admit that she loved the speed at which he ran. She didn't dare to close her eyes, for fear that she would miss the entire trip, and she couldn't help the gleeful laugh that spilled from her lips as they ran. Since she was looking at the scenery around her, she didn't notice Carlisle's gaze until they came to a stop directly across from a tiny stream. When she did notice, however, a blush spread over her face like a wildfire and Carlisle's eyes immediately turned black. He set her down gently, still holding her close even when her feet were on the forest floor, and let her lead him to a fallen tree to sit on. When both of them were sitting, Evie on his lap, and Carlisle resting against the tree behind them, Evie began to fidget with her hands, wringing them together nervously. For a few minutes there was silence, neither of them knowing quite what to say, before Carlisle gently pried Evie's hands away from each other and held them in his.
"What's wrong, Evelyn?" Evie blushed once more, cursing the fact that she was acting like Bella, and turned to face the dark eyed vampire. Taking her right hand from his, Evie ran her fingers along the side of his face while she thought of the words she needed to say.
"Nothing is wrong, Carlisle, but there is something I need to tell you." She paused and took a breath before continuing. "I've figured something out, I guess. I didn't know what it was before, as I'd never had to actually describe it, but I now know what it is." Evie had to suppress a giggle at his expression. He was completely and utterly confused, and it was adorable how his eyebrows narrowed together slightly and his nose scrunched up. "What I'm trying to say is-," she exhaled loudly, "I love you, Carlisle. I've loved you for a while now, I just wasn't ready to admit it to you or to myself." He was silent for a minute. So silent, in fact, that Evie wondered if vampires could go into shock, but as soon as she thought this, his lips were on hers. Letting out a squeal of surprise, Evie felt herself get picked up and swung around in a circle before placed back on her feet. When Carlisle pulled away after a second, he cupped her cheeks in both of his hands and ran his thumbs under her eyes.
"I love you too, Evelyn. I've always loved you, even before we met." Evie knew she was bright red, but she couldn't quite find it in herself to care. "You are my everything, Evelyn. I am nothing without you." The next few hours were spent cuddling and kissing on the forest floor, neither of them caring that they were probably covered in dirt. 'Yesterday might have scarred me for life, but today has given me my love for forever.' Evie didn't fool herself into believing that it would be a happy ever after from this moment on, but she knew that whatever came their way, they could handle it together.
Alright! It has been a while, I'm sorry, but I hope you liked this chapter! As for the poll question, I will be leaving it up for a little while longer. I want to make sure that everyone who wants to vote can, so make sure to go vote people! On a side note, we're almost at 100 reviews! Can we make it to at least 90 before the next update? Please review and tell me what you think!