After the tower, Marcus had spent an inordinate amount of time standing in the hallway underneath the tower, processing.

Eventually, he'd decided to get a move on. Aro did make a point out of wanting Marcus to not simply stand around in arbitrary places, had for the past two thousand years.

So he'd made his way back to the Roman baths.

This, apparently, wasn't what Aro wanted either.

"Oh, oh Marcus," Aro said, wincing as he entered the room, fully dressed. "Marcus, I realize that the baths are for everyone, and hardly for my use alone, and you are more than welcome to enjoy them. However-You understand I now have associations with this place, don't you?"

Before Marcus could say a word, Aro held up his hands in defense, still not looking Marcus in the face, "And yes, I know, I know, I know I said the gardens are off limits. And I know I said you could not sit in a public venue for hours without-giving some modicum of effort to pretend to be human. And I realize that, now that Bella knows, this all seems rather absurd, but Marcus-can't you find a new spot?"

Marcus was not impressed. However, rather than say as much, he said simply, "Build me a tower."

"Oh, you're-" Aro stopped, "Stop that, you're not allowed to be funny. I'm delighted, but it's simply not allowed."

Marcus wasn't sure he was trying to be funny. Oh, perhaps he wasn't being entirely serious, and perhaps spite was his primary motivator rather than merely effectively communicating a sentiment in the least amount of phonemes he could get away with, but…

Before Didyme died, he'd been a large fan of quips. They were an effective way to win conversations, insofar a conversation can ever truly be won.

He was starting to remember that.

Under ordinary circumstances, Marcus imagined that Aro would be thrilled and insufferable. It seemed today, he had chosen to merely be insufferable.

Instead, Aro was wringing his hands, much like he had earlier in the tower.

He looked deeply upset.

Marcus felt, again, the beginnings of concern somewhere deep within. "Is there anything wrong with Bella?" he asked.

"No! No…" Aro said, shaking his head unhappily. "Marcus," he continued, "I am about to ask you something deeply personal that I-am very sure you do not have the background to fully appreciate."

Marcus, once again, had the surreal feeling that something very disconcerting was about to happen. Now, what this could be since he'd recently learned he was to father a fish with Bella Swan was beyond him. However, Marcus had also learned not to have expectations, so while he could not conceive what could possibly make his day stranger, he knew something would.

"Understand that– it's for Bella and– no matter how Carlisle may seem to you and Caius, no matter how silly with his diet and his - dynamic - with me, and his relationship issues - the man does know his field."

"Marcus, what do you know of reproduction?" Aro asked.

Marcus stared. Rather than answer, he chose to sink his head under the water and fully submerge himself. He found himself pulled up by his hair not two seconds later, "Marcus, this is very serious."

"What does Carlisle want me to do?" Marcus sighed.

"... Let me explain first," Aro said after a very long pause.

Marcus had a strong feeling he didn't actually want this explanation. No, scratch that, he knew he did not want this explanation.

"See, I realize that there's the physical, basic, act that you know very well and dabbled in, beyond all comprehension, extremely recently. I am fully aware that you are fully aware of that part," Aro said, giving Marcus a very pointed look, and also doing a remarkable job of making sure to hold Marcus by his hair alone and avoid any touching of his skin.

It seemed Aro was still avoiding certain memories. He'd held out an impressively long time, considering the consequence of recent events.

"Now, as you are also aware, Bella was impregnated by your… seed. Oh," Aro whined, "Please understand, there's a reason why I'm putting us through this."

Marcus could see no reason Aro was putting him through this but it also seemed Aro was leaving him no choice.

"So, what seed is, at a microscopic level, there are these singular cell organisms that are produced inside your testicles that race through her womb to find a singular egg cell, called an ovum. Yours, unlike the typical human specimen, were produced after venom was introduced to your system and as a result-"

"Now, Carlisle has his theories about how Bella could get impregnated in the first place, and how it could happen so quickly, but– when I say theories, I really mean that he has his wild guesses that he throws out because we have nothing to go on beyond the blurry images of a gestational sac. Uh, your child, that is."

Aro drew a deep breath, and seemed to steel himself. "We need more intel. And that means– I'm so sorry, Marcus. But what that means is, we need to have a look at your…" he closed his eyes in dread. "Sperm."

With that, and not without a certain dramatic flair, Aro let go of Marcus' hair, letting him sink back beneath the surface.

Marcus felt his mind unwillingly process this. This was impressive as, a few months ago, Marcus did not believe he would have even bothered. However, it seemed Love, Actually had destroyed something precious in his own psyche, a skill he had never fully come to appreciate until he had lost it.

And now he found himself putting the pieces together despite himself.

Marcus reemerged from the water, "Your lover is asking me to pleasure myself?"

Aro squirmed, looking nothing like the regal and eternal emperor he was. "For Bella!" he squeaked.

Marcus kept staring. Aro just stared back. Marcus felt himself stating slowly, "The deed is done."

"Yes, but-" Aro said, "We will know more about the deed done if we, um, investigate its components."

Rather than respond, Marcus slapped Aro across the face. Despite the quickness of the action, the fact that it was a blow, Aro's gift would work against him.

"And now you have all you need to know," Marcus said as Aro gaped at him, unseeing.

Aro was completely still for two full seconds, eyes horribly blank.

Then he whirled on Marcus.

"I was not prepared for that!" he burst out, "I was-I was very pointedly building up to that! And that does not help this situation or excuse you from-Marcus that was the worst lovemaking that has ever happened on the history of this planet! And I've touched Vladimir's hand!"

"She's alive," Marcus retorted.

"All this trouble, over that misery? Really, Marcus? You can do bett- ah, fu-" he cut himself off with a pained grimace, as he brought memories of what he'd seen Marcus do with Didyme upon himself.

His whole body shuddered, and he threw a desperate look at the door, looking like he wanted nothing more in that moment than to bolt. Carlisle could have been naked and beckoning on the other end of the pool, and Aro would still have bolted.

"No, no, I have a mission," Aro reminded himself valiantly, "You have an unborn child! Dammit, Marcus, just give the man a vial! It's not as if he's asking to see the act in person."

Marcus hadn't thought that far ahead and he felt mildly disturbed that, apparently, his pleasuring himself in front of Carlisle had even been a remote possibility. It also made him wonder if somehow, despite all comprehension, Carlisle was not lying to Aro about the necessity of this.

Though what Carlisle could possibly want with Marcus' seed was a cursed thought.

Aro reached into his pocket and retrieved a steel cup in a plastic bag. "Put it in here."

"You realize, brother," Marcus said as he took the cup between his thumb and a single finger, "That I have not had experience with this sort of behavior in some two thousand years."

Aro nodded miserably. "I do. But you pulled through with Bella, brother, you… god, no. No, no, I'm not– I'm not thinking these thoughts."

"She may be human," Marcus noted, "But she's also not a plastic cup, destined for Carlisle Cullen's usage."

Aro closed his eyes and visibly shuddered, looking as if he were about to choke on a hairball, "... Marcus, again, I am thrilled but I am also horrified. Could you have picked a worse time to resurrect the worst part of your personality?"

"No."

Aro nodded, as if he expected nothing less.

He shouldn't.

"For what it's worth… Carlisle will be participating as well, as will I. And, er, we're asking Caius. For comparison to you, in case you're an anomaly. The women, as well, are to be examined, in the hopes of learning more about our reproductive systems."

Was that supposed to make Marcus feel better? Instead he felt oddly dirty, as if he'd been violated.

"Marcus, just-" Aro stopped, hands pausing midgesture, "Think pleasant thoughts, pleasant, arousing thoughts, which I refuse to advise you on because your two sexual partners have been my sister and a human, and I could not be more uncomfortable."

"Your lover has a growing collection of seed," Marcus pointed out.

"Not my lover, but you must understand, he's merely being professional."

"And yet, the man tells you to pleasure yourself, with the unspoken implication that you think of him while doing so," Marcus noted.

"...You don't say this to him," Aro said after a very long pause, "Marcus, I am serious, that man is very fragile at the moment and your reemerging wit will destroy him and I won't stand for it."

"Aro," Marcus said, "I already spared his son for you, though we both know Edward's eventual death is inevitable."

Aro shot him an alarmed look.

"Brother, fragile or not, I'm saying you have a window of opportunity with your lover. Might want to…" he made a motion with his hand, signifying "get on with it".

"Marcus!" Aro shouted, looking positively scandalized. Then, surreptitiously, he looked towards the door, and the hopeless truth came pouring out, "He's hopelessly in love with that woman and very admirably intends to keep the vows he made her."

Marcus was unfazed. "He's not in love with her, and if you play your cards right, you get him back."

"He thinks he's in love with her!" Aro spat, "And what am I to do? Whatever the world might think of me we both know that I-have principles."

Marcus stared at him.

Aro, Didyme's brother, his brother and oldest friend, and the person who'd never given up on him, never once in two thousand years stopped or tired of caring for and trying to resurrect the ghost that called itself Marcus.

Even now, ridiculous and abhorrent as this scenario was, Marcus did believe it was for not only Bella's benefit but for Marcus'. That Bella had become important at all, that she had ever come to Aro's attention, was undoubtedly because of Aro's persistent, desperate, belief, that Marcus' soul still resided in this mortal world. Without Aro's interference, Bella would be back in the States by now, and Marcus would have faded back into nothingness.

Perhaps Aro was a fool who had let the man slip between his fingers centuries ago, but they were all in some way fools.

"Then have faith."

Marcus stood and pulled himself out of the bath, ignoring Aro's alarmed expression.

"Have faith?" Aro asked, "Marcus, what does that mean? What-Marcus? You just mean you'll give Carlisle the sperm, right?"

"I will give Carlisle the sperm," Marcus replied evenly.

"Marcus!"

Marcus closed the door to the changing room, leaving Aro standing beside the pool, calling after him and too deathly afraid to even touch Marcus' hand.

"Oh, this one's funny," Bella said to him as she scrolled through what were apparently the many messages Edward had left on her phone, "I mean, in a terrifying, creepy sort of way. I'll put it like this, if this wasn't happening to me, or an actual person, it'd be hilarious."

Renata was still in class, for reasons Aro hadn't been entirely clear on but that were clearly related to Aro being devastated that Bella and Marcus had sex with each other. No one seemed to be more upset about this than Renata.

Though class itself had come to a grinding halt, as it were, as Aro had explicitly forbidden figure drawing. What Marcus and Bella were to do instead, he hadn't said, only that Marcus was to remain fully clothed at all times.

Bella pushed a button and Edward's recognizable, if tinny, voice came out of the phone's speaker.

"Bella, you have to listen to me. You like movies, right? I think you should watch Nosferatu. It might prove… educational. Notice how Nosferatu is so clearly inhuman, yet Thomas Hutter sees only what he wants to see. Bella…" and his tone grew intense, imploring, "You're Thomas Hutter."

Bella let out a loud laugh, clutching at her mouth helplessly. Next to her, Renata looked as if she longed to curl up and wait for death.

How was it, Marcus wondered, that Edward could manage to irritate him miles across the sea? Marcus hadn't been irritated in years.

"And Marcus, I realize he has… presented himself to you in a certain way. He seems harmless, I'm sure, perhaps even a little simple minded. However, don't be fooled."

"Simple minded," Marcus echoed, while Bella sobbed with laughter. Renata, of course, looked more miserable than ever.

Bella held up a finger, hushing him, a look of anticipation in her eyes, "Shh, it gets better, wait for it."

"He is a serpent, Bella, a snake in human form that longs for your blood as if it were the elixir of life."

"Yes, we all do," Marcus noted. "We're vampires."

"No," Bella wheezed, "Wait for it, it gets better."

"It would not shock me, horrifying as it may seem, if he even has designs after your body."

Bella almost fell to the floor with the force of her laughter, prevented only by Marcus himself, though Bella seemed indifferent to his aid.

"Come on, Renata, that was funny," Bella insisted, patting Marcus' arm absently, her face bright red and tear tracks down her face.

Renata looked ill.

"I mean, oh Jesus, just-and the way he says it," Bella said, her expression changed, her voice dropped in pitch as she made to impersonate Edward, "He is a snake, Bella, a snakey snake who lusts after your body."

Renata tried to smile, but eight centuries of spending too much time with Aro had rubbed off on her, and she just looked like she wanted to cry.

"You wanna hear another?" Bella asked gently, seeming to finally catch on to Renata's very real distress. "I have one where he goes off on a tangent about how amazing Carlisle is, and the voicemail cuts off before he's done praising Carlisle."

"No," Renata said, a touch too rapidly, "No, that is, I believe I have heard quite enough, if you don't mind."

Marcus wondered, distantly, if it was not his duty to listen to these messages as Bella clearly had. On the one hand, they were not meant for his ears, he was sure. On the other hand, they were delivered to her because of him, because of Aro, and it felt-rude to ignore them.

"We can listen to them later," he reassured Bella, who beamed at him.

"Alright," Bella said, still shaking with laughter, "Oh, man, I almost wish Carlisle hadn't called him to tell him to shut up. I mean, I'm glad, this is terrible but-the hours of comedy I get from this. This is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me. The worst, too, but also the funniest."

Then, looking at Renata, she lit up. "Though, I haven't told you about Jessica. Uh, my small town petty drama, that is. Carlisle and Aro loved it. You wanna hear about it?"

"That's alright," Renata said very quickly.

Bella frowned. "You wanna watch a movie, then? Aro said I'm free to use his movie library, apparently he has a home cinema. No more watching things on my lousy computer."

She gave an enticing grin.

Renata looked as if she wanted to say no but then realized that not watching a movie would mean Bella talking. Which, of course, was increasingly leading to terrible places. Of course, Renata didn't yet realize that watching films with Bella, that she chose, was not a reprieve.

"Yes, yes, a film sounds fine," Renata said quickly.

Bella nodded enthusiastically. "Alright! I was thinking The Princess Bride. You haven't lived until you've seen The Princess Bride."

Quite unexpectedly, a smile lit up Renata's face. "I have, actually! Aro and I saw it when it first came out, and we have a few times since. It's very good!"

Marcus struggled to believe that. From what he'd seen so far, good movies increasingly seemed to be a mythical phenomenon, something people convinced themselves existed when in fact all stories told through the motion pictures were garbage.

However, Aro for all his eccentricities did have good, if esoteric, taste.

"Oh, well, in that case, since you've already seen it," Bella said, flushing in embarrassment, "How about The Holiday?"

"I haven't seen that one," Renata said, the distinct traces of optimism in her eyes.

The poor woman thought she was going to have a nice time.

"It's adorable," Bella promised, and looking at Marcus, "And you can't not like this one. The couples are great and the one you think is a skeeze turns out to be a great guy."

Well, that all but guaranteed that Marcus was about to have a miserable time.

He turned to Renata. "I hope you do not suffer."

Two hours later, and Marcus had all respect for Renata's taste.

"That was wonderful," Renata exclaimed, "Oh, it was perfectly charming."

Bella looked utterly delighted, like she couldn't believe her luck. "You actually liked it?"

"Of course," Renata said nodding fervently, "I was so worried he didn't care about her, but then he did!"

"I know, and then it turns out Sophia and Olivia are his daughters, and he's Mr. Napkinface!" Bella exclaimed, apparently overjoyed that she had witnessed a grown man pretend to be a napkin for the sake of his daughters.

This, apparently, was the path to every woman's heart.

"I can't believe Aro and I never saw this one," Renata gushed.

Bella's eyes widened with glorious, glorious, potential. "There's more where that came from, Renata. Wait until you see Titanic."

No, Marcus could not sit through that again. In despair, he thought to himself, he would almost rather be donating sperm to Carlisle.

(This was an endeavor he'd failed at not a few hours before where, upon retreating to his chambers, he'd had the sudden realization that he really didn't know how to go about it. Oh, he knew the act well enough, but the actual arousal needed? It hadn't gone well, which was to say it hadn't gone anywhere at all.)

"What did you think, Master?" Renata asked, in an astonishing display of ease and familiarity.

Never, in eight centuries, had she asked him a casual question like that. She had never asked him any questions, period.

Come to think of it, he wasn't sure if they had ever actually had a conversation or not before this point.

"I didn't like it."

Renata's smile faded, and her eyes widened.

"Don't take it personally," Bella said, "Marcus is heartless and cold. He didn't like any of the movies I showed him, and if you ask any more questions he'll start dissecting how the characters don't actually love each other and they're miserable people who will live miserable lives. You'd think he had a Youtube channel."

This was not untrue.

Though he didn't know what a Youtube was.

"Oh," Renata said. "Well, perhaps Aro can help us find a movie that gets past Marcus."

"No movie gets past Marcus," Bella stated with a sense of finality.

Renata gave Marcus a look that was almost pitying. Of all the reasons he had been pitied in his life, failing to enjoy Bella Swan's taste in cinema was a new one.

No, rather, he pitied himself for having to somehow procure his sperm for Carlisle. An act which he apparently, for the health of Bella Swan and his child, could not refuse. He assumed this was a timely operation as well, given that Aro had come to find him not hours after having told Marcus he even had a child.

Which was rather unfortunate as Marcus still had no earthly idea of how he was going to go about it.

And then, despite all historical trends of Marcus never having ideas, he had one. An awful one that had, in fact, been explicitly forbidden not hours before.

He needed help.

And there was only one person who could provide that help.

He was having several firsts, because for the first time in a very long time, he wanted to curse. Specifically, he wanted to curse Carlisle Cullen for ever being born.

"Renata," Marcus said, relying on instinct to provide the calm, emotionless, tone that she was so used to from him, "I believe Aro said he needed your assistance."

Renata blinked, she looked very conflicted, "Ah, Master, he-I was told that I was to continue attending class with Bella. It was-made an extremely high priority."

"The movie is over," Marcus observed. "Class is dismissed."

"Oh," Renata said, as if she had not realized that this was, in fact, possible, "Well, I suppose in that case, I will see Bella at lunch."

Bella grinned, and waved. "See ya! And I'll bring a list of options, so we can decide on which movies to watch. Or, ooh, a watching order!"

Renata beamed back, and within the second she was gone.

Leaving Bella and Marcus alone together.

She looked up at him, a light frown on her brow. She'd caught on that he wished to be alone with her, then.

"Aro informed me that Carlisle Cullen apparently requires my sperm for reasons that revolve around your pregnancy," Marcus stated, "It seems I need your help with that."

Bella's eyes widened, and she turned a furious red. "Oh," she squeaked.

Marcus removed the plastic bag and cup from inside of his jacket.

"Um," Bella said, looking panicked.

"I feel the exact same way," Marcus stated dully.

"Look," Bella said slowly, "I realize that we-did the do, but I might just be-the least enticing person on the planet? I'm definitely the clumsiest? I-don't think I can physically give you a strip tease. It cannot be done."

"We pulled it off once, Bella," Marcus sighed. "We can do it again."

Now why did it sound like he was trying to convince himself as well?

"... Can I just state, for the record, that you are not allowed to criticize romance in my movies? Seriously, this is– there's being bad at romance, and then there's…" she trailed off.

"Blame Carlisle," Marcus said.

Bella had nothing to say to that. She stood, made her way to stand in front of him, "Alright then, I want you to imagine that this is-very very sexy. And do not let anyone open that door!"

Marcus did one further, he blocked the door to Aro's home cinema, and turned on the lights so Bella wouldn't fall.

"Okay," Bella said, more to herself than to him, "Alright Bella, you are a beautiful, independent, adult woman who has had sex. You are enticing. You can do this."

She removed first her sweater. The action was at once too fast and too slow. In her haste to remove the sweater, it got caught on her arms, and she had to flail around for several seconds before she ripped it over her head and threw it to the side.

She then shook out her hair, pulling it away from her face, and shifted on her feet so as to stand in a stronger stance. As if she had just performed some herculean task Marcus was meant to be impressed by.

She was right, this was not enticing.

However, now a color best reserved for tomatoes, she made to lift her shirt over her head. It suffered the same fate and shortcomings of her sweater performance.

Marcus had to commend her bravery, if nothing else.

She stood in her trousers and undergarments, staring at him.

"Is it working?" she squawked. "Horn– enticed yet? Are you, I mean?"

Marcus shook his head minutely.

"You know you're going to have to drop your pants for this," Bella said, looking away from him and towards the wall, "Just, putting that out there, before I get down to my underwear I mean."

"How about, instead, we play strip poker, and I lose terribly. So it's-you know, a game, and, um, risky. It makes this exciting, because you might have to strip instead."

"This isn't working," he said instead.

"Look, I told you, I am not cut out for this-"

Marcus only shook his head, thinking. "We need to relocate."

Bella frowned. "What?"

"And quickly, before Aro figures us out."

With that he swept her up, bending down only to pick up her clothes and put them on her stomach where she could hold on to them.

Without giving her a chance to ask, he moved them out of the cinema, down the stairs, and back to the Roman baths. It, of course, had now probably become the first place Aro would check but it was also the best location suited for the task ahead. Though, Marcus chose the women's side to buy them some time.

When he placed her down, Bella was a strange shade of green. She groaned and splayed herself flat on solid ground, impersonating a starfish, "Oh, that was not good. You're going to have to give me five minutes here, or I will vomit."

Marcus nodded, swiftly undressed, and hopped into the pool.

Eventually, when her skin shifted from green back to white, she sat up and blinked at him blearily, "Alright, okay, what are we doing here?"

"I'm very cold, Bella."

"... Is that dirty talk or are we being literal here?" Bella asked.

"Literal."

"Alright then," Bella said, she paused for a second, then asked, "But seriously, what are we doing here, what's the game plan?"

Then, flushing, she added, "We can't exactly-repeat, you know, since it has to go in the cup."

Marcus had no response for that, he-was very much out of his depth here.

"Okay, when you're not cold," Bella said, motioning to the ledge in the water right in front of where she was sitting, "Come over and stand here, with the cup."

Marcus realized, with dread, what it was she meant to do.

And she was right. There was no way around it.

He remembered, distantly, when Carlisle had arrived in Volterra. Oh, it was only a moment of significance in how Aro had reacted to it. All the same, Marcus remembered this funny, yellow-eyed, handsome man who had the misfortune of being exactly Aro's type. He remembered thinking nothing of it except, perhaps, the dim expectation that he would be seeing the man's face around for at least a few weeks.

Carlisle Cullen had once been little more than a concept to Marcus.

Now he could see he'd underestimated the man.

Five minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness.

Marcus almost wanted Aro to find out in time to stop this. He didn't, of course, while Renata had regardless found the man by now, Aro in turn would likely wonder if Marcus had sent Renata to him for some other reason. It would not occur to him what was about to happen.

Marcus as a sexual creature was still, for the most part, a foreign concept to him. Marcus skulking around with Bella to have sex on the sly, unthinkable.

He would regret that, Marcus was sure.

"So, you, um… ready?"

No.

However, with heavy steps, he waded his way over to her and stood on the ledge. With the cup.

Bella seemed to be unable to decide where to look. Face, penis, nonspecific point on Marcus' body–

She landed on his eyes.

"Keep in mind that I've never done this," she said in a trembling voice, before she reached out a slow, flat, hand, as if to give his penis a handshake.

"You were not the one who failed to do this on your own," Marcus pointed out, if anyone was winning awards for impotence then-it wasn't him, given the situation, but he'd certainly won something.

"Thanks," Bella squeaked, and with her eyes squeezed shut she took the plunge and wrapped her hand around Marcus' penis.

Flushing so furiously, she was moving past the point of red, and towards a dark blue, and started to move her hand up and down while Marcus stared at her.

They did that for a few minutes.

"Ha, ha!" Bella eventually exclaimed in joy, "Oh my god, it's working! It's actually working! Oh shit, where's that cup?!"

Marcus handed her the cup, keeping his hand on hers so as to prevent her from dropping it, which she of course nearly did no less than three times.

"Alright, we just, position it here, and make sure we don't miss…"

In a pitiful, single, spray, it was over. They did not miss, praise be to the gods. And to Bella.

"Yay!" Bella cheered.

Marcus took it from her quickly, lest she drop it, and sealed it in the plastic bag.

Bella looked at her hand with something bordering on awe that soon turned to indecision, as if not quite sure if she was supposed to wipe it clean or if he would consider that rude. She then looked at him, suddenly flushing, "Um-that was it? I mean, given that we're here and-Yes? Mission accomplished?"

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "I know I-promised, if that is what you're asking-"

"No, no," Bella said, "Not asking, not propositioning, genuinely want to know the answer. See, I never dated before so boy meets girl, boy is undressed, girl is half naked, handjob is had-Under normal circumstances, as I understand it, there's-stuff."

Marcus exhaled slowly. "We're not getting another chance," he said slowly, "So while I can't say this is… a particularly appealing prospect…" he trailed off.

"Oh," Bella said as if she hadn't realized that, "Oh, right, I'm pregnant. Probably dying. Shit."

Marcus said nothing, he simply sat back down in the water, motioning for her to join him.

After a few seconds, the water next to him rippled as she eased herself into the water.

"Same rules as last time?"

"Yes," Marcus said, and, before she could ask anything else, submerged himself. He was sure she could figure out the rest on her own.

Carlisle had the nerve to blink at him in askance.

"I believe you requested this," Marcus said as he deposited the bag and the cup on Carlisle's desk.

Esme blinked in confusion, and gave her husband a questioning look.

They'd been in the middle of a conversation when Marcus walked in.

"Ah, right, Esme," Carlisle said, "Marcus was, um, good enough to collect a sample I needed from Bella for me. Thank you, Marcus, this will be of great help."

Marcus gave Carlisle a deeply unimpressed look. "Yes, this sample would not have been attained without Bella," he stated.

Carlisle blinked again, then realized exactly what Marcus was implying. He tried and failed to smile, "Thank you, Marcus, for telling me that."

Marcus could, in some other world, have left it at that.

However, in the past day things had changed regarding Marcus and Carlisle Cullen. Not only had Carlisle sent him on this demeaning, awful, quest, but he had produced Edward Cullen. Aro, also, was a hopelessly lovesick fool over this hopeless fool who happened to have a wife.

Marcus' next action, then, seemed obvious.

"I have more to tell, actually," Marcus said, and turned to Esme.

She blinked, her large, yellow, eyes confused as she took in Marcus.

Carlisle's smile stiffened further, "Marcus, I'm sure Aro has told you, but-ah-Bella's health condition should be kept as confidential as possible. It's her right as a patient and-"

"Your husband and Aro are lovers," Marcus interrupted. "Aro seduced him shortly after his arrival in Volterra, and Carlisle stayed in his bed for, oh, twenty, twenty-five years, or so. They remain unusually close and deeply sexually attracted to each other to this day."

"I expect they'll be sleeping together again shortly," Marcus finished. "They certainly both want to."

Then he walked out, leaving Carlisle with his blankly staring wife.