The abundance of moose in the Denali area of Alaska has long been just one of the many reasons I love Alaska in general. Every now and then I'd find a moose in Washington state, and the once or twice we lived in Northern Maine I had more moose than I could possibly enjoy.

The Maine moose aren't that bright, I think it's because they are so used to humans being around and no predators they aren't afraid and kind of just skulk around and aren't quite sure what to do when suddenly something that appears human is attacking them.

Alaskan moose? Those things are just nasty, not only are they not afraid of humans, but they take offense when you disturb them and turn on you quickly and violently, I have been thrown through my fair share of trees and snow banks courtesy of moose antlers. Deer type species don't tend to be violent, but Alaskan moose defy all normality of species.

Despite having gone hunting a few days before with Laurent and Irina, Eleazar decided to join me when I ventured out, Tanya also came. She had also seen my apprehension with Laurent and was curious as to my reasoning.

I easily stalked my target moose, it knew something was hunting it, but it couldn't determine my whereabouts, it even tried sniffing the air, but the wind was blowing towards me and it didn't stand a chance sniffing me down.

The snow was nearly up to my waist as I trudged through it. I was tempted to calmly take it down, but I decided at the last second, I wasn't doing this calmly at all, I was not in the mood for calm.

I crouched down and waited for the right moment, before I pounced taking the moose down easily. When I'd had my fill, I stuck my face in the snow to clean off the blood; we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere so I had no inhibitions about just leaving the body in the snow.

Eleazar and Tanya weren't difficult to find, they were about a mile away from me, neither had a need to hunt, I was the only one, but they accompanied me anyways, both knowing I needed to talk to them, in private.

"Feel better Chris?" Tanya asked hugging me tight

"Yup, much. Haven't had a good moose in a long time."

"Why don't we take our time heading back, I know you have something on your mind that you're anxious to tell us." Eleazar reminded me as we trudged through the snow back to the Denali house.

I took a deep breath, unsure if I had the profile together enough to share, but I knew I had to at least bring up the basics first.

"It's Laurent. When we first met him I had a distinct profile about him and that hasn't changed, but something is different, there's something new about him." I paused and looked at Tanya first "I just feel bad bringing it up because I see how happy Irina is with him, it's a happiness she deserves, but I'm afraid he's going to do something that will hurt her."

Now Tanya looked at me surprised, she exchanged a look with Eleazar before looking back at me.

"What are you talking about Málo bratranec'?" Tanya asked, adding the nickname her Irina and Kate have for me to the question.

Málo bratranec' means Little Cousin in Slovakian, which only made me regret my profile even more, but this would be to protect Irina, Tanya had to be the one to make the decision on how to tell her, but I didn't want to see Irina hurt and my profile told me this was the way to go for the best possible outcome, even though I could see, either way Irina wouldn't like my profile, either way, she might be hurt.

"Laurent's been feeding on humans, but that's not the main problem. He has feelings for both Irina and the woman we hunted last spring, her mate James was killed by us after he tracked and tried to kill Bella. Laurent chose to come up here, he had no desire to involve himself in James's game. But he had feelings for the woman, Victoria and would've have expressed these feelings to her had James not been around. I think he was under the impression that we killed her when we destroyed James, but now that he knows she's still alive, I dunno I just think he might try and get back to her." I paused, unsure if I should continue, but Eleazar gave me a firm nod and waved his hand.

"Keep going Chris."

"Irina is the only reason he's stayed this long, he has no interest in the animal diet, he may have been curious in the beginning but that curiosity has since waned, and he has made the conscious decision to go back to feeding on humans. What makes it worse is partly my fault, now that he knows the woman is still alive it's the excuse in his mind he was looking for to leave, but I cannot tell if he'll act on this decision, I can't tell how strong his feelings are for Irina and those are the only thing that will determine if he stays with her or not."

"Are you sure?" Tanya asked and I nodded once

"I am more certain of this than I have been of things lately. Laurent was easy to read once he was separate from James and Victoria." I paused again and ran my hand through my hair "I also can't profile how Irina will take hearing about this so I don't know if you should tell her or if she'll even believe me and I apologize for that." I put my head down and Tanya hugged me tight

"Why are you apologizing Kresťanské? We asked what was on your mind and what you had profiled, you've done your part, let us handle it from here." Tanya said sternly, once again slipping into Slovakian, this time with my name, which trust me sounds a lot worse in Slovakian than hearing a reprimand with my name in English. Her face softened however and she played with my hair a bit.

"Tanya is correct Christian, and you are correct as well, I've suspected for a few months now that Laurent has not been entirely forthcoming regarding the vegetarian diet, he hid it very well in the beginning, but lately we have all noticed his odd behavior." Eleazar explained, "he is drinking just enough animal blood for his eyes to remain a slightly yellow tint, almost as if he is managing to counteract the intake of human blood so it does not show in his eyes."

Having never taken human blood, I was confused as to how that would work, to me the human blood no matter how minuet bit would overtake any animal blood present, to me there would be no way to hide that no matter how much animal blood one was to drink and yet Laurent had managed to not only figure it out, but also hide it from our cousins at least until recently.

"Changing the subject Christian," Tanya said with a knowing smile, she put her arms around my shoulders "do you have any objections to a blind date?"

Now I really felt confused, something I'm not quite used too, I looked over at Eleazar for an explanation, but he just smiled and shook his head. It has been the goal of all the girls in the family on both sides to set me up with someone.

Between our two family's we are friends with covens all over the world, some closer than others, some either to track down than others, but my sisters and cousins have been sorting through these friends trying to find the one for me, even though I have insisted many times to just let it happen.

"Not again." I moaned, twenty years ago, Tanya, Irina, Kate, and Carmen thought they had found someone for me, they had heard through rumors that a coven in like Russia or something had recently taken in a girl, who was physically only a few years older than me. They went about setting up a meet and greet for us, and even though I was embarrassed by the situation I agreed to at least meet the girl.

It was a disaster, not only was she physically like fifteen years older than me, but she hated me on sight, calling me all sorts of things in Russian to her coven, thinking I couldn't understand her. I can speak a little Russian, it's one of the only major languages I'm not completely versed in, but can communicate and understand to an extent.

It was actually Edward who put the meet and greet to an end early, offended by whatever he was reading in her mind and her coven's, he had stepped in front of me protecting me and escorted me away.

Edward's never told me what exactly he read in her mind, but it must've been bad. So I was not looking forward to another attempt at blind dating, I don't fault the Denali clan, they are only looking out for me, but yeah…

"Oh calm down you scaredy cat, just because one date a few years ago didn't go well doesn't mean another one will go the same way." Tanya interrupted my moaning as Eleazar just patted my back.

"Tell you what Tanya you guys figure stuff out, collaborate with my sisters and just come get me when everything is ready," Tanya pouted a little, not serious of course while Eleazar burst out laughing.

As we returned to the house I still felt guilty about my profile, but the Denali's know and trust me and that made me feel a little bit better. At least up until I walked into the house.

Carmen was on the phone and she looked concerned. I felt my stomach drop as my mind created scenario after scenario over what could be wrong and the most dominant thought was something had happened to Edward. Carmen immediately saw my concern and put a hand on my shoulder

"Hold on a moment Esme he just walked in." she paused and handed me the phone; I eyed it nervously as I slowly took it from her.

"Esme, what's wrong?"

"Chris, I hate to have you cut your trip so short, but-."

"Is Edward ok?" I interrupted

"Its not Edward Chris, as far as we know he's fine." Esme seemed lost for words and seemed to be struggling to tell me whatever it was she had called for

"Mum, just tell me what is going on."

"Chris honey it's Charlie, he's very sick, Carlisle and I took him to the vet this morning but sweetie it's not good news."

I nearly dropped the phone

"Char?" I repeated

"Carmen and Eleazar are going to drive you to Fairbanks to the airport, your ticket will be waiting for you, I already called and took care of it. Honey there is nothing you can do, but we didn't want you to come home to find out, we wanted you to have a chance to say goodbye."

I felt my body shaking a bit, only an idiot would believe that the rats would be around forever, but they were still babies in my mind, barely a year old I couldn't imagine losing either of them so soon, I should've had two maybe three years more with both of them and even for my profiling ability it was nearly impossible for me to image only Chap without Charlie by his side.

"Ok," I managed to say sitting down on the couch

"Christian, honey I am so sorry." Esme said softly

"I know."

"Honey put Carmen back on."

"ok,"

"I'll see you when you land, love you Chris." She added

"Love you too mum." I mumbled and handed the phone back to Carmen. Kate and Irina followed me upstairs the guest room to help me get my stuff. I hadn't even had a chance to really unpack in the first place.

"Chris we're so sorry about Charlie," Irina said softly brushing my hair back

"I know, thank you." I paused "this was supposed to happen, but not so soon." I looked up at my cousins "and what about Chap? They're brothers; Chap might go too just from missing his brother."

Now Kate reached over and hugged me tight

"Chris you gave both of them a good life, it is just Charlie's time for whatever reason, like Esme said, there is nothing you can do and nothing you could have done."

I nodded and slipped my backpack on

"When this is all over, perhaps in a few weeks or so promise you'll come back up for a while, take your mind off of everything?" Irina asked

"Sure, maybe it'll be good for all of us to come up, we could all use it." I replied and my cousins nodded

"Of course, it will be wonderful to have both families together." Kate added, hugging me again.

Eleazar drove the Volvo carefully down the road to the main high way, the Volvo would be staying up in Alaska until the rest of the family came up, I had suggested it as a possibility to Kate and Irina and knew my family would be up for it, we'd retrieve the car then and ship it back home to New York or let the Denali cousins keep it.

The ride to the airport was quiet for the most part and after tight hugs and goodbyes, I headed into the airport to catch my plane.

Esme and Alice were waiting at the airport in Buffalo for me, the instant I spotted them I knew I was too late, I hadn't made it home in time; the look on Esme and Alice's faces was more than enough to confirm this. I nearly stopped dead in my tracks as I profiled this. Esme moved forward and hugged me first, then Alice took her turn. Esme opened her mouth to tell me but I beat her too it

"No," I said softly, it wasn't a statement of denial, I knew it was already a yes, but I was afraid to hear it, I was just hoping that my profile was wrong, let it be wrong.

Alice looked so devastated, if there was anyone in the family who loved the rats more than me it was Alice, they could do no wrong in her eyes, no matter what they did they got away with it when it came to Alice, she had loved them the minute I brought them home and that had never changed.

"Christian I am so sorry," Esme, whispered hugging me tight, I felt a lump in my throat, the closest my body could come to mourning. "he held on as long as he could."

"When?"

"early this morning, we kept him in the spare cage in the family room so he wasn't alone, Carlisle went to check on him before his lecture, he had passed away in his sleep." Esme explained, "he didn't suffer Chris, he just went to sleep."

I reached over and took Alice's hand giving it a squeeze, if we were able to produce tears I could tell she would be crying.

"Is Chap ok?"

"He knows something is wrong, we ended up separating them Christian, but both cages were next to each other on the table so they were close to one another." Esme said, she reached over and took my other hand and held it tight.

"What did the vet say exactly?" I had to know what had been wrong with Charlie, be on the lookout for the same signs from Chap, I couldn't lose both of them, losing Char was painful enough, but if I lost Chap so early…I couldn't even finish that thought

"It was a form of lymphoma Chris, the vet said Charlie was probably born with it and had started to affect him as he grew older." Esme explained as we reached the Audi, Alice slid into the back seat while I took the passenger. Esme started the car up and we headed out of the airport parking lot towards the main highway to take us home.

"Last year…when he wasn't eating, and Carlisle and I took him to the vet in Seattle, the cold, it wasn't a cold was it?"

"No, it wasn't, that was the early signs that he was sick. But the vet assured us that even if we had caught it back then, there was nothing that could have been done." Esme paused "Chris honey he lived a good life and he had the best friends an animal could have wished for between you and Alice."

"I know." I turned around to look at my sister, she gave me a small smile before reaching forward to push my hair back. "Are you ok Alice?"

"I will be and you will too, it's just very sad to lose him."

"We are all going to miss Charlie, he had a personality that was for sure, I know he was the culprit behind the blueprints having nibble marks on them." Esme reminded us and both Alice and I exchanged a smile, that was certainly true, Charlie had left his mark on the family in many different forms of the word, one way being all the rat teeth marks on documents of all forms.

Everyone was home when Esme pulled up the driveway and parked the Audi in the garage next to Carlisle's Mercedes. Once inside the house I was swept up in a tight hug from Rosalie, followed by Emmett giving me a bear hug that lifted me off the ground.

"Chris, are you sure you're doing ok?" Rosalie asked as Emmett gently dropped me to the ground I nodded.

"I'm ok,"

"I know I was never very fond of Charlie or Chaplin when you first got them, but they both grew on me Chris, and I am going to miss Charlie, and I promise to give Chaplin more of a chance." I stared at Rose for a second, that was the first time she had ever said the rats real names, as opposed to calling them Bubonic and Plague or the creatures. I wasn't the only one staring the rest of the family was too, Rosalie rolled her eyes "oh stop looking at me like that,"

"Sorry to see him go kid," Emmett spoke up taking everyone's attention off of Rosalie. "I'm going to miss that little critter he was one of a kind."

"Thanks Em, I appreciate that." I looked around "um, where is he?"

Rose took my hand and Alice took the other and led me to the dining room, sitting on the table was a shoe box. I gently pulled my hands away from my sisters and reached forward to lift the lid, just to see him once more. I ran my fingers down his back, shuddering a little at the stiffness of his body.

"We didn't know if you would like to bury him Chris." Carlisle explained entering from his office. He walked over and hugged my shoulders "I'm sorry son. It never occurred to us that he was as sick as he was, that one cold last year was the only sign anything was wrong up until two days ago, he began wheezing again and stopped eating and drinking. We rushed him to an emergency vet; they ran as many tests as they could possibly run Chris. Even if we had caught it last year it wouldn't have been curable."

"I know, but that doesn't make me feel any better…I should've caught it, I should've felt something was really wrong with him," I admitted. Carlisle took hold of my shoulders and gently squeezed them, making sure I was looking at him,

"Chris you gave Charlie a year and a half that he never would have gotten had he stayed in that pet-store or been bought by someone else. Not even Charlie would have realized how sick he was, how can you expect to have known it? Knowing how an animal is feeling is not the same as knowing what is medically wrong, aside from that cold Charlie was always a happy and content animal, especially when he was getting into things." Carlisle added with a sad smile "it makes sense that all you would feel with him was happiness, content, and perhaps a little mischievousness. If Charlie had been truly feeling the effects of his disease in the time you have had him and Chaplin, you would have known it Chris, you did not, so I can only imagine that neither did he."

I nodded, feeling surprisingly a bit better, Carlisle had made some valid points, ones that I hadn't considered, of course it didn't make the sorrow go away, I had just lost one of my best friends and no words of comfort would change that.

"Chris honey?" Esme said softly "you don't have to decide now, but when you're ready we can do what you would like for Charlie."

I thought that over for a second, as I closed the lid of the shoebox, burying him would be the best option.

"Chris, we weren't sure what you wanted to do, but just in case Jasper and I made this for him." Emmett said coming closer to the table, he held up a thick square rock about the size of a paperback book, with the name 'Charlie Cullen' carved carefully into it with a cartoon rat chewing on the image of what looked like blueprints at the bottom.

"We will all miss him," Jasper spoke up patting my shoulder "the two of us were just starting to become friends."

"Thank you guys," I looked at the little headstone and smiled "yeah I think you guys have the right idea, that's perfect for Char." I began to laugh a little, "That's more than perfect that is Charlie to a T."

"Come on Chris," Emmett said putting an arm around my shoulder "lets go find the perfect plot for the master Shredder." I groaned a little as we walked through the kitchen to the back door.

"Em was that supposed to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference or was that just a coincidence?"

Em looked down at me confused for just a split second before he burst out laughing and I joined him, feeling much better than I had on the drive home, if anything my brother knows how to lighten a situation.

"Sure, why not."

"'Cause just to remind you, Shredder was the bad guy and human, sorta, Splinter was the rat and the good guy."

"Don't get technical Dr. Doolittle." Em replied hugging my shoulders a bit "it doesn't suit you."

As sad as I was about the fact I was looking for a place in our backyard to bury one of my best friends, I chuckled at that, Em had been right, Charlie was one of a kind, and as I said before, Charlie in all sense of the words, had left a mark on our family and I was going to miss the guy.

Chaplin was the calmest and most laidback of the two, so the house, wherever we lived after this was going to feel quiet and empty without Charlie getting loose, unintentionally terrorizing Rosalie and intentionally making a nest of Carlisle and Esme's paperwork.

a/n: I want to apologize for the depressing chapter but hear me out, long before I even really started working on the New Moon version, when I was still working on the Twilight version I knew one of the rats was going to pass away in New Moon. I had based both Charlie and Chaplin on one of my best friend's two rats Nicodemus and Remy, the personalities and size were identical to how I described Chaplin and Charlie in the first fic, when I was nearing the end of that particular fic, Nicodemus who I based Charlie on (he too got into everything, shredded paperwork, made nests in it, etc.) passed away even though he wasnt that old. So I actually went about and wrote a good chunk of this chapter and saved it for the future. The reason some of this fic has been uploaded quicker than other parts is because those parts were written long ago and just needed tweaking while others that sadly, have taken and probably will continue to take longer to upload, as I had to write to fill in between what was already written. The same will be true for the Eclipse version, towards the end of that fic I have it pretty much written, the last dozen chapters of it or so, but I have to tweak and work on the beginning and middle so as always I appreciate you guy's patience and faithfulness in reading these fics, it means a lot to me. Sorry for the length of this note, hopefully chapter 26 up by Sunday, we are moving closer to the end though, probably another five chapters tops.