Hello, dear ones. I be back. This chapter is a nice bit of filler. I felt as if we were loosing touch with the central narrative of Andrew and Edward in Italy, so I wrote my boys a chapter. I've decided to start putting times and places below the POV's so people can keep the story straight. Just a little thought from me. Musical Rehearsals start on Wednesday, so it may take awhile for me to update, but I promise I won't forget you all. This chapter shows my fascination with Jane and Alec. I love them, in a very odd sort of way. I was thinking of putting in their own GOP story. (The first one with Alice is up.) I was also thinking about trying my hand at a Lemon, so if you really want me to write some Andy/Char smut, just say so and I can take a crack at it. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when this is all over. A lot had to happen. Edward finds out about Andrew (next chapter), Edward had to die, (crying is going to ensue), and, of course, Charlotte has to die. One of my friends brought to my attention that there is a character in the series named Charlotte. A complete coincidence. I've been thinking about this a lot. I can't bring her back. I just can't. It would ruin the whole point of this story. And I think I would hate myself if I did.

Enjoy.

"There's a lot to be said for self-delusionment when it comes to matters of the heart."
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, First Snow, 1993

EPOV

Present Day; Volterra, Italy; Andrew's Room

I did not know what to say to him. We had both been telling the story up till now and I was not in any hurry to discuss it. I knew what I wanted to say to him. Well, what Human Edward would have wanted to say. Very few words that could be said in front of a lady were involved.

And yet I did not dare to utter a word of it. I could remember all the pain of her rejection and distance. The hours spent alone, trying not to hear the whispers down the hall. I did not really know about him for months. Charlotte was not a fool and had hid her work well. She had never been unfriendly, per se. She had never cut herself off from me completely.

She had still smiled at me and talked cheerfully enough. But the sweet kisses and long nights spent talking had stopped that day. I knew what had happened and yet my heart refused to believe it. I had been in love with her. I had been a fool.

Andrew was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed. His hair hid his face from me like a curtain. His fingers twisted and untwisted, out of nerves, no doubt.

"I…I don't know what to say." He said at last. The words seemed louder than they actually were, reverberating off the walls. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"It's alright. Really, it is." I said. "I can't look you in the eye and tell you I wouldn't have done exactly the same thing if I had been in your position." You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen. Vizzini's words echoed in my mind. A laugh without humor broke from my lips. How true it was: a boy had stolen another man's love and expected nothing to come of it. And when it did, he had thought it unfair. How wrong he had been.

"Is that the end of the story?" I asked, looking back at him.

"Oh, no. There is still a story left. A great many things still have to happen, not all of them to my knowledge." He said.

I thought it over for a moment. I still had to find out about "my wife's affair", I still had to die, and so did she. I gulped when I thought of her death. I remembered when I was sick that she never seemed to bat an eyelash at the possibility of her dieing. She didn't get infected, and for a time I had thought that she couldn't die. It looked like I was wrong.

Another tear slipped down Andrew's cheek.

"Andrew?" I asked. He looked up. "How can you cry? I thought it was impossible." He sighed and wiped it away.

"It is, for most of us. We go through life with pain and live with it, killing for our release from it. And for most, almost all of us, it's enough to just keep it all bottled up inside until it's finally just gone and disappeared. But there are a few, like me, and maybe one day you, that can't just keep it all inside. That feel pain so intense and total that you have to let it out somehow. You scream, you thrash and you cry; really cry." He sighed and ran his fingers through his bangs. "Because it's just too much. Much too much." He looked back up at me, his eyes that never seemed to lighten deeper than ever. "That's why I can cry. And why one day, if you keep doing what you're doing, you may gain the ability back as well."

I didn't even bother asking what he meant. He wouldn't tell me if I did. It was just his way, I had learned.

For a long while, neither of us said anything. There was nothing to say. It was like a very gender bended version of Pre-Revolutionary France. Charlotte was King Louis, I was the Queen, and Andrew was Madame de Pompadour. Of course, those two had gotten along quite well, while I was sure that we would have been at war with one another.

A knock came at the door. Both of our heads lifted up. Andrew's eyebrows knitted together.

"No one ever comes to call at this time of day." He muttered. He dragged himself off the floor, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

APOV

"Jane?" I asked. The young girl was standing right outside my door. Just standing. Not yelling or causing pain. Just standing like a civil person. "What you doing here?" I asked, leaning back against the door. She said nothing, just looked at her feet. She looked almost…vulnerable. But that was impossible.

"Um…Gianna said that there was this woman asking about Edward and Aro wanted to know if you were done with him yet." She said, never looking up.

"No. Not just yet, no." I said. I took one long drag from the air off her. Alice. Yes, most defiantly Alice. Poor thing, she had to be worried sick, not being able to see into Edward's future. She probably thought he was dead, relatively speaking. Bella had to be on the verge of a heart attack. I didn't doubt that she was alive. Taking the information second-hand from a woman who never really liked Bella in the first place, who in turn got it from a woman who's visions may or may not come true, left an awful lot of room for error.

Jane nodded, but did not move.

"Was there something else you wanted?" I asked, trying to prompt an answer out of her. She bit down on her lip and said nothing. I sighed and bent so that I was on eyelevel with her. "Was there something else you wanted to ask me?" I asked. She nodded again.

"Are you going to leave with them?" She said in rush. "When Edward and that woman leave to go back to America, are you going with them?" I blinked once, twice.

"Where's that coming from?" I asked, leaning back a bit.

"Nothing. No reason." She said, still not looking up. "It's just…you've been here for as long as I can remember. You looked after Alec and I when we first arrived, before you got like this."

"Like what?" I snapped. She shrank away and wrapped her arms around her. I swallowed back the anger. "Like what?"

"You never come out anymore. You haven't for decades. You used to come and play with us and teach us how to fight, tell us stories and make fun of the elders behind their backs, but now…" she looked up at my eyes. "Now you only sit and stare at the ceiling. Do you even notice when I come and visit you? You've retreated so far into yourself and…I miss you." She looked down again, rocking back and forth on her heels. "So does Alec. You were the closest thing that we ever had to a real friend around here."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek.

"You wouldn't miss me, Jane. No one would. I'm not worth missing." I said softly. If I had been worth anything, why hadn't I been able to save her? A very small hand slapped me across the face.

"Don't say that! You're the only person worth a damn in this place." She seethed.

"You hit me." I said lamely. It had hurt too, my cheek was stinging. Jane sighed.

"You're talking nonsense, of course I hit you." She said.

"She's right, you know." Alec said, walking around the corner. "We were going to run away our first few years. But we had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, and we knew that you would never find the heart to leave this place." He sighed and wrapped an arm around his sister.

"How long have you guys been thinking this?" I asked, beyond confused.

"You don't get it, do you?" Alec asked. "We don't want you to leave because you're just so…kind. Everyone thinks so. Gianna, Aro, Demetri, even Felix. You're the only one Chelsea's talked to in years. Marcus speaks more than two words to you. Even Caius warms up a bit when you're around." Jane nodded along.

"But why? I'm not special. Not like all of you." Alec rolled his eyes.

"You block our powers." Jane said. "It makes everyone feel a little more normal. Things like that do wonders for a person's peace of mind. Like me, I don't have to be afraid of hurting you." I raised one eyebrow. I had to have had some kind of effect; Jane was never sentimental with anyone except her brother, and only then, it was behind closed doors.

I looked down at my shoes. I knew I would never be able to promise the two children in front of me what they wanted. I could not promise that I would never leave. Alec caught on first.

"It's killing you, isn't it?" He said, his voice faint. "Staying here, wallowing in your own misery. It's killing you. Eating you from the inside out." How could one little boy know so much? Jane gasped at him, betrayed. "Just because you fancy him, it doesn't mean you get to keep him here against his will." He snapped. A chocking laugh sounded for half a second and Jane glared at the door, as if willing Edward into existence so she could kill him. She glared at Alec, huffed, and stomped away. She almost never acted her age and it almost made you forget how young she really was.

Alec shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"You should leave, if only for a little while. You seem more like yourself around that man, and it would do you good to have a proper family again." He bit his lip and looked down again.

"But you don't want me to leave anymore than your sister." I said.

"It doesn't matter what we think. Though, I must say, I fear for the female population of Forks if you leave. If you can charm your way into Jane's heart, who knows what kind of havoc you can wreck." He laughed. Sometimes, it was almost too easy to like Alec. He was the kinder of the twins.

He didn't enjoy pain as much as his sister did. Perhaps that was why he had the power he did. If he took away the pain of those he killed, he wouldn't have to think about how much he was really hurting them. Poor kid, he really didn't belong in a place like this.

It was a very odd moment. Alec and I, standing there, talking about my future. For the longest time I hadn't thought I had had any future. But now…what was so different about now? What ha – Edward. One man reflecting my own pathetic life right back at me. It's astounding the things one thinks of when you're talking to children.

"Thanks, Alec." I said, opening the door back up again.

"For what?" He asked, eyebrows knitting together.

"Exactly, my dear boy. Exactly." I laughed and slipped back in the room, leaving the boy standing out front, still stunned.

"What was all that about?" Edward asked. He hadn't moved since I had left. I said nothing for a moment, leaning back against the wall.

"What would she have done? Charlotte, if she had known about all this, what I had tried to do, what would she have done?" I asked. Edward chuckled and shook his head.

"She would have punched you in the face, slapped you, and God knows what else to get her point across." He laughed.

"I know! I've been thinking, really, properly, thinking. Now that I've made myself remember what life was like outside these walls, I've finally realized how much I've missed it. Mind you, this is probably an urge that will all go away in a day or so." I sighed. "Besides, we've got to get you home. People have been asking about you at reception. Alice must be worrying her little head off about you."

"Alice is here?" He asked. "How would you know that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Jane told me. Sorry, mate, our Lords and Masters aren't quite ready to let you go yet." I said. Lying didn't hurt when he wasn't going to find out the truth. Edward growled and clenched his fists. "Come on, it isn't that bad. It could be worse: you could be like me." I laughed. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to stick around for the rest of the story. Let's fast-forward a few months, yes?" I asked, jumping down in a chair again.

"I've got just the place: April 24, 1918." He said. I sat back in the chair, waiting to hear his tale.

Alright, let's have some more interesting tidbits about Andy dearest:

1. He has a power, not just the ability to block. He never talks about it, almost never uses it, because he thinks it wrong. He can reach out, touch you with his mind, and understand everything about you. Aro can store information, but Andrew can understand it. Feel what you feel, think what you think, love what you love. He can completely turn into that person if he wishes to, but it isn't a requirement. It used to be before he got the hang of it, but not anymore.

2. He loves cooking. Always has. He belives nothing is better than good fish 'n' chips, tea, and pea mash.

3. He loves books and longs to write one, but doesn't think he could think up anything original.

4. He learned a few tricks from the true witches of the world. Everyone had to band together during the Spanish Inquisition. Because of such time, he has little faith in organized religion, but does think that everyone has to believe in something. Spirituality is not religion. Religion divides people. Going to a building does not make you a Christian, he says.

Alright, that's about it. I'll be writing the next bit a posting it in a few weeks, I hope.

Until we meet again,

the3rdbronte