******** THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER OF FOR ETERNITY, it is a detailed explanation of the details, technicalities and plot points of the last chapter as has been requested by a bunch of readers! Feel free to skip this 'chapter' and you will not be missing anything new! Sorry for the alert, I know the A/N alerts drive me crazy, but I wanted to make sure everyone that wanted this gets to see it! *********
I've been getting a lot of questions on some of the details and historical references in the last chapter, so rather than typing a bunch of responses, I thought I would do what I should have done to begin with and draw up an extended author's note of explanation.
First, just in case you may have somehow missed it, if you find your name among Garrett's various European buddies, it is not a coincidence! MWAH! Thank you for everything Chickies, you know I love you. (I did try hard to give your Vampire representations characteristics or quirks that remind me of you) And if by chance you are someone I know and love thinking 'hey what the Hell, Dena?' I just may have something in mind for you… (but please, feel free to send me a review telling me I suck anyway)
So now that is out of the way, I wanted to address some timeline questions. All of the Cullen, Edward and Bella chapters are current, well 2153 at least. As I have mentioned previously, the E/C/B chapters are running concurrently and while it may seem to span a while considering we are 20 chapters in, things are happening very quickly for them. Edward finding out his soul mate is not really dead, and she wrote him a book, throwing a fit and beating the crap out of his brothers, reading said book and having a complete breakdown and epiphany, and going after the only lead he has to her in the span of one night is a lot. Even for a Vampire. So give him a break, the poor guy is doing everything he can.
The storm chapters chronicle all of Bella's past and the 150 years she spent without the Cullens. Garrett chapters fill in the details you don't see in Storm. As for the timing of Unexpected: The chapter begins at the tail end of Bella's newborn year. By the time Bella and Garrett part company (and that is certainly coming) they will have been together about 75 years. I don't really get into the breakdown because I feel it isn't really that important. I'll fill you in on the specifics if it is relevant, I promise.
Okay, so chronologically through the chapter, here we go:
It kills Garrett that he can't tell her about the boy or the animal blood. As she was wasting away in the cabin (as far as he knew) he finally caved and found her a big old deer and was going to come clean rather than risk 'killing' her. When he found that she had been broken completely by her nature he was consumed with guilt that it hurt her so badly, but he realized she was (eventually) coming to terms with what she is. As he says in the chapter, a lot of vamps struggle in the beginning with what they have become and what they have to do to survive. Most try a hunger strike and when they fail they can finally accept the lives they now live and find their own ways of making peace with it. So basically G sees her whole struggle as her version of this common process and not a testament to her conscience and convection a la the Cullens. But he still feels incredibly guilty for all of it, and it eats him alive.
Charles is a polygraph. As we know from Garrett, Bella has not been around anyone with a talent before Charles. When she tells Charles her crazy tale of meeting Garrett, he senses nothing out of the ordinary. But when Garrett goes to confirm her story (read: lie to Charles) both Bella and Charles sense his lie with a flash of red. (my version of how Charles would know someone is lying) It doesn't take much for Charles to figure out what is going on, having lived it himself.
From Charles lessons we learn that those with identical talents are immune to each other. (Thus why Charles didn't know Bella was lying. And hmmmm, could this little complication affect someone else we know and love…) We also learn that identical talents are enhanced with proximity.
"I adore you as well, my love," he calls back to her sarcastically but with such a loving smile I must turn away before my eyes betray my heart to mirror Elisabeth's.
This line is used as a small example to show that both B and G are suffering seeing the open love and affection between C and M, as they are both mourning for their own loves that are out of reach.
Moving on,
Bella is surprised that Charles is a Brit because Garrett is still a revolutionary solider through and through. He still holds quite a grudge against the British. So it is a little odd that one of his close friends would be British.
The joke of Charles being a turncoat (or traitor to Britain) is based on the fact that he helped Garrett shut down Big Ben. Why would they do that? Well, like I said, Garrett still holds a grudge, but considering it is more than 200+ years later, there really isn't much he can do for vengeance. He isn't a violent guy (although as he is quick to point out, he can certainly hold his own) and he does have a wicked sense of humor. So him stopping the clock, one of the prides of London, is basically him going all 'damn the man'. It is another example of G's troublemaker persona. And the dates of the Clock being down are historically accurate, just not attributed to a goofy yet vengeful, Revolutionary vampire. I think.
Charles then shares the gossip out of Volterra. I stuck pretty close to the NM version of events, only it is the rest of the Cullens that were able to stop E. He is thrown out of Volterra permanently so they don't have to deal with any more of his theatrics. Remember, E thinks Bella is dead and does blame himself for it, so almost all of what Charles relates is true. Garrett panics during their conversation when Charles makes comments that almost sound as if he knows the truth about Bella. He is obviously worried for a few reasons. One, as I had tried to establish Charles is a good guy, but he is a gossip and a big mouth. G knows if Charles knows the truth about B and her connection to the Cullens, it is only a matter of time before he slips. Also, anyone knowing that much of her history makes him nervous in general. He is constantly concerned not only that someone would come after her (not only the cullens, but someone after her talent) but also on that same note that someone would try to take her away. He doesn't realize yet, that it is a big worry of his. Additionally, he does expect that Carslile will be furious when he finds out that G took B. While he firmly believes that he rescued her, vampires are territorial and he knows that the Cullens had claimed her is some respect. She is theirs whether they left her or not, and he knows that he will be in some pretty big trouble if Carslisle went to the Italians and 'brought charges' against him. Considering the B 'was' a human that knew too much, G thought there was no way C would go to Volterra to complain so when Charles is going on about the Cullens in Italy he is very worried that the Volturi will be after him. Given that the brothers aren't G fans to begin with he knows they are fond of Carslilse it would be a pretty severe punishment.
Then Garrett finally admits to Bella that he has been in love with Kate for quite a while. But, he eats people and she obviously doesn't. She lives in a big coven with her family and he is a nomadic loner. He doesn't think she would ever be happy if she left them and he can't imagine having to be stuck in one place. Also, he believes she only sees him as a crazy goofball and not as the man that loves her. He thinks that she sees him incapable of 'taking care of her,' 'treating her properly' and 'providing for her'. Rather archaic thoughts – but hell, he is pretty damn old, just like his morals. In He is afraid if he tells Kate that he loves her, she'll laugh it off or worse and not even want to be around him anymore. So he continues to keep his mouth shut and just be around her whenever he can. Yeah, he is kind of an idiot in that regard. Part of why I love him though. : ) He may be rather experienced with a lot of things, and he is a smart guy. But, when it comes to personal relationship stuff he is flying completely blind, both a cause and effect of being alone for so long. He doesn't really know how to be the other half of a relationship because his relationship with Bella is really the only true partnership he has ever taken on. B is the perfect companion for him, there is no pressure as he knows he doesn't love her like that and he also knows he can take care of B. And she knows it. In a lot of ways everything G is doing for B, she is doing even more for him.
Bella is able to use Charles' gift during this conversation because they are still close by. She doesn't lose her power until Charles and McKenna are a few hours out of range.
Garrett's comment of betraying his brothers with an English accent is yet another example of his intense clinging to his human identity of a Revolutionary.
The Crown Jewels and Lady Jane graffiti are both in the Tower of London. According to legend, if any of the six ravens that live in the tower leave, the Kingdom will fall. (in actuality they keep 7 nowadays, a spare just in case) So keeping with what we know of Garrett, it isn't a stretch to imagine that he would get quite a kick out of departing the tower tour with a few unwilling feathery little souvenirs.
A caber is like a big freaking log that big strong men throw in the Highland Games in Scotland. I had a friend go to Scotland and actually watch this and she said it was amazing to say the least. Especially amazing when you factor in said big strong men toss big freaking logs while wearing skirts. ; ) (yeah, yeah it's a kilt – I know)
Garrett's independent journey through the underground of the Louvre is a play on Dan Brown's The Divinci Code. The line about Normandy is a reference to D-day in WWII. A bloody yet important battle, G the Revolutionary is still pouty he didn't get to participate with the additional benefit of not being able to be hurt. He knows the obvious advantage of that little talent and still feels some 'battle guilt' over other men (his brothers in arms) dying where he could have fought beside them and protected them.
Julien Gracq was a famous author in France. He wrote countless poems, plays and books yet he remained very reclusive. So much, that he even turned down awards. I needed a French poet that was reclusive enough to fit the bill as a cover for a vampire author and Gracq was perfect. The fact that his name is an anagram for Jacque was just a really fortunate coincidence for me.
Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway is a beautiful public park that is filled with the sculpture of Vigeland. His pieces focus on the circle of life and are various nudes representing such. The monolith is breathtaking and after researching the park and Vigeland I am dying to go to Norway and see them all first hand.
Dar is based loosely on the legends of Anastasia Romonov. The youngest daughter of the Tsar was supposedly executed along with her family although her remains were not in their communal grave. According to the research I had done she did have a quick temper, sharp wit and fire-y personality. I could easily imagine if she were to escape and become a vampire she would be itching for vengeance along with being fiercely loyal to mother Russia.
Amun is a cannon reference from BD, to the head of the Egyptian coven. He was very possessive of Benjamin and I just exaggerated that to encompass more of his personality.
I took the liberty of bending cannon with the description of Deepa's skin tone. If I remember correctly, according to cannon, darker skin tones appear faded and grey. I decided that if white people get to be pale instead of the grey or blue dead people actually are, then darker skin tones get to be a lighter version also. No reason for the darker skin tones not to be pretty too!
Okay, so Bella's power. She takes on the power of others. Cool, huh? I am officially calling her a magnet. Why? Because I think that would be fantastically ironic considering in the books she was always called a danger magnet, and Irony rocks. : ) And, if you remember cannon – Carlisle explains his theory on abilities, claiming that your strongest characteristics pull through the change.
Given that identical powers are immune to each other, yet enhanced by proximity, B will 'inherit' someone's gift 'on steroids'.
Dar is a telekinetic and Deepa can draw out your memories. Charles' power was hard for her to handle, and when she was faced with Dar's power she had believed her 'light-headedness' was a sign that her 'original ability' was resurfacing. By using techniques for control Charles had taught her she was able to hold the power at bay and not randomly suspend various objects. She had not experienced any 'red flashes' but, she had just assumed everything being spoken was the truth.
The combination of Dar's and Deepa's talents overwhelmed her. She was trying as hard as she could to maintain control still ignorant to what was actually happening. When G freaks out and is trying to figure out what is wrong with her, he makes the mistake of looking into her eyes, which is how Deepa's talent is triggered. Since the gift is enhanced she is pulled completely into Garrett's memories and loses what little control she had over the telekinesis as well. So basically, all hell breaks loose.
So, all that leads them to a pretty good idea of what B's gift really is, but unfortunately being extremely rare, no one really knows what to do with her. She is obviously extremely dangerous as uncontrollable as she currently is. So B and G are off to find someone who may be able to help her, in Romania, in the form of the trinity…
For anyone curious, I have had a few guesses of Anastasia as the Disney Movie reference. To be honest, that one never even occurred to me, so I guess there are two. : )
The one I added intentionally is the line 'Friend not food' from Garrett's memory of the night he changed Bella. It is a line from one of my son's favorite movies: Finding Nemo. In case you haven't seen it, (or memorized it line for line courtesy of an obsessed toddler as I have) the sharks create their own 'AA' group because they don't want to eat fish anymore. The line 'Fish are friends, NOT FOOD!' is part of their 'pledge'. It really is a pretty darn funny movie, and Jack and I highly recommend it for your viewing pleasure.