Carlisle had to say that it was… odd, seeing Jasper in Volterra. His family, he supposed, had been one thing. He'd never exactly wanted to take them to Volterra but it was something he had considered whenever they vacationed in Europe. The thought of Esme, Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett in these walls hadn't been a foreign one for all that he'd never wanted it to happen.

Jasper and Alice, on the other hand… Well, first, there was the clear and pointed argument that it was never going to happen.

Alice was utterly terrified of setting foot in Volterra with her gift, and Carlisle couldn't say she was wrong in that. Carlisle had never seen a gift quite like Alice's and, notably, Aro didn't have even a rough equivalent among the ranks of his guard. It would be very difficult for Aro not to pursue her were she standing right in front of him (that he'd held off so far Carlisle could only take as a very large personal favor to himself or that Aro was so damn busy with Marcus and Bella that he hadn't had time to even think about it.) If Alice ever came to Volterra, it would be because she was volunteering to be a member of the guard, and Carlisle could never see that happening.

As for Jasper, well. Jasper had, from the very beginning, made it clear that he, like countless other vampires, intended to spend his life as far away from Volterra as possible, making it his mission to not be noticed by them. It was a mission shared by many of Carlisle's other friends - Siobhan and her coven, Kachiri, Senna, and Zafrina, Garrett - they all made it very clear they would prefer to spend their lives never interacting with the Volturi in any way. The hand of Aro was one many sought to avoid.

This wasn't to say Jasper disapproved of the Volturi, or even feared them beyond what was reasonable with his history, but he had absolutely no desire to be a named entity to them either. As far as Jasper was concerned, he could be one of those nameless dots connected to someone Demetri had once met ninety years ago.

Then there was the fact that the family were only ever supposed to be there temporarily. When he had thought of visiting Volterra it had only ever been just that, a few weeks or months in Volterra before they went back to their regular lives, never becoming more than guests. When the invite at last had come, well, that had been a temporary arrangement. They would come, play their part, Carlisle would catch up with Aro and he had rather naively presumed his family might get along with the man as well. Certainly he'd have thought Renata and Edward might have become friends, sweet-natured and polite as they both were.

Only to have them all, except Esme, vacate the premises within less than a week.

Seeing Jasper install himself in the dungeons, then, and shopping for him in the city above to replenish his suddenly empty wardrobe, was…

Carlisle could not begin to express how odd it all felt, almost as if at any moment now they'd all break character, laugh, and then Jasper would go back to Alice.

But Aro had approved Jasper, the hours had passed, and the clothing purchase had proven to be something of a Rubicon in its own right, as Jasper very meticulously went out of his way to buy clothes that were not the colors Alice favored on him.

Jasper hadn't said much since Aro's departure, though he never had been what Carlisle would call verbose. More, he undoubtedly had a lot to think about, he'd certainly given Carlisle a lot to think about.

While Jasper thought about Alice and the anticlimactic end to their relationship that he had somehow missed the notice for, Carlisle thought about what he'd said, about their family.

He'd decided to, at least as best as he was able, put Edward and his fate out of his mind. There was nothing Carlisle could do but wait and worrying wouldn't make that waiting go any faster or the outcome likely to be more positive. If anything, he supposed, then now might be time for him to start praying if only because it was in God's hands now.

The rest though…

That had deserved some thought.

Carlisle had always had his musings about the family, idle thoughts at work during quiet hours, but they'd been just that: idle thoughts. They were funny little musings about why people were the way they were, how the society of vampirism (or lack thereof) shaped a person, and why his family looked so very funny from the outside. Even the Denali, who shared their diet, didn't have the same human quirks and charades that Carlisle's family did.

He often thought of why his family, his children, were the way they were. That was where it ended though, just thoughts on how they came to be, not on how they would move forward.

He supposed even when he agreed to Sulpicia's proposition, and accepted her and Aro back into his life and all that would come with it. He had been thinking only of himself and Esme, and their path forwards.

That he was making a choice between his family and the Volturi hadn't fully dawned on him until he heard Jasper's words.

He'd thought… Well, he wasn't sure what he was going to say to them to convince them that it was all one grand misunderstanding. He'd known it'd be an undertaking, he certainly hadn't known what to say to Jasper (who'd proven to be rather open minded about it), but he'd thought he could say something. It'd be hard, but eventually, Edward would hear him out. Rosalie might refuse to talk to him for a few months, but she'd soften and relent after an extended honeymoon.

He hadn't thought much about where he would go after the child had been born, either. He had thought of it only in those terms, in terms of what he needed to do for Bella, what he would need to do should the child survive. He had not thought about, had perhaps chosen to avoid thinking about, what he would do after, once Bella and her child no longer needed him and he would be free to go where he wanted.

And yet, he'd made his choice when he accepted Sulpicia's proposition. So, too, had Esme, when she made her offer to Aro.

He simply hadn't realized that this meant he was not choosing his family.

He supposed–maybe, though he hadn't thought as much, that he'd meant for them to stay in Volterra as well. Or perhaps they would visit every few months as they pursued the human charade on their own. Posing as working adults in–some field they had no practice in, as a young Carlisle once had. Old college friends, maybe childhood friends, roommates… He'd known Alice and Jasper would never visit, but that was easily solved as he and Esme could simply visit them.

Certainly he'd thought, and he still did, that they would get along. Oh, Google was increasingly becoming a problem, but it might not be a century from now.

The bottom line was, when Carlisle made his choice he'd taken for granted they would all still be involved in each other's lives.

Now, though–

He supposed it was the shock of all that had happened, of Edward's predicament dulling his reaction, because if nothing else then the mere thought of losing Rosalie should have him bawling inconsolably, and the thought of losing all of them but Esme and Jasper should have him going up to Corin to get knocked out until Bella needed him again.

(Which, admittedly, would have given him an hour window at most.)

Perhaps, like a bottleneck, all the strong emotions he should be feeling had reached a point where they cancelled each other out and now he didn't feel a single thing.

He might never speak to them again–given what they suspected, they might never answer his phone calls.

He supposed, if all went well and things did not turn out for the worst, Edward at least would have to speak with him again as he would have to see Carlisle again when they returned with him. Though given the extremes Edward had just gone to, the terrible things Jasper said he sincerely believed–it might be better to not talk to Edward at all. Edward would believe he was talking to a drugged, violated, shell of Carlisle.

But, oh, sending Edward on his way without even seeing him was not something Esme would be able to endure, and Carlisle knew he wouldn't either. If only because he couldn't let his last two conversations with Edward be about laundry and the Bella voicemails.

But it would be a disaster, he now knew.

Something he felt that he somehow could have avoided if only he'd known. Except–If he'd told them before they left, the moment they arrived, would that have been enough? Oh, he couldn't even imagine how they would have taken it. Rosalie would have stormed out, Edward would have gone to confront Aro himself if not Sulpicia as well, Esme would have been as devastated as she'd been when Marcus had told her, and there'd be the question of why he'd waited a hundred years to tell them.

Not to mention, as soon as they learned about Chelsea they would have assumed he was brainwashed already, had always been a sleeper agent. As they very much believed now.

And if he'd told them a hundred years ago, told Edward the moment after he turned him, "Oh, by the way, I slept with Aro and Mrs. Aro. This may seem irrelevant now but I promise you, a hundred years from now, you'll be very grateful I told you"... Yes, he could only imagine and laugh at how that would have gone.

Edward probably would have left him and his diet right then and there. (He probably wouldn't have come back, either.)

No, his family was lost to him.

Just like that.

He found himself immeasurably grateful that Jasper, at least, would stay. Sad for Jasper, that his life should come to this and Alice should send him away, but for his own, and Esme's, very selfish sake he was deeply glad he would get to keep at least one of his children, if none of the others.

Which was.. He'd always liked Jasper, and he had viewed him as a son, in a way, at least as much as he did Emmett. However, he would also admit that it'd never been Jasper he'd been closest with and he'd never been quite sure–what Jasper thought of him. Carlisle was such an eccentric, his family didn't see it because they knew nothing else, but to regular vampires with his diet, his human charade, he was a colorful character. Character being the key word, as sometimes Carlisle wondered if even Siobhan could see him as a person and not a collection of eccentricities.

There had been many who heard his story, and drew the conclusion that those months of starving and trying to kill himself in the English woods had driven him mad.

Jasper respected him very much, that much was clear, but he did not see him as particularly tough, either. Which was fair, Carlisle was a very–well, he wouldn't exactly call himself fragile but he hadn't seen combat either. Aro certainly–he'd of course been devastated to see Carlisle go, but there had also been more than a hint of fear that Carlisle Cullen simply wouldn't be able to make it out there in the outside world.

As if, had Carlisle set one foot out of Tuscany, Aro was going to hear news of his ashes lying in a ditch somewhere.

Carlisle had been sorely tempted to point out that Aro wasn't exactly radiating tough and combative energy himself, if anything the thought of those early years where it had just been Aro, Caius, and Marcus fighting their own battles were impossible for Carlisle to picture. Between Marcus barely being present in the physical world, Aro whining in disgust when he had to see Carlisle's memories of killing wild animals in the woods, and Caius spending most of his free time doped out on Corin…

The proof was in those three being at the top of the vampire world, but much like Carlisle couldn't picture Edward willingly seeking out a human and draining them of their blood, he couldn't picture this either. There were some things, some events that had for a fact come to pass, that would simply never compute.

Regardless, Carlisle supposed that he and Jasper were going to have a lot of opportunities to get to know one another a little better. Once, of course, either of them felt like speaking about anything worthwhile.

"And now, for our final destination," Carlisle said, adding a bit of flair by rolling out his hand, "the library. As you requested," he added with a smile.

Jasper looked at the heavy, ornate, rather dramatic doors and raised his eyebrows. "I gotta say, I have some pretty high expectations for this place."

"Dammit, Renata, not another cracker!" Bella shouted from somewhere in the library's depths, sounding as if she'd been moved out of the theater to one of the study rooms. Carlisle had lost track of her after he'd hooked her up to the IV a few hours prior.

"But it's with chocolate!" he heard Renata reply miserably.

"We've tried the crackers!" Bella despaired, "We've tried everything and it never works! We are–we are done with food for the immediate future. I am on the IV diet from now on, fluids all the way, baby."

There was a crackling noise, presumably Renata placing the cookie back in its container, and the sound of Renata sighing.

Carlisle only smiled at Jasper, and flung the doors open.

And Jasper was immediately assaulted by a blur of caramel and beige.

"Jasper!" Esme cried, flinging herself around his neck. "Jasper, I'm so glad to see you!"

Jasper looked as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. Eventually, after a very long pause, he awkwardly hugged Esme back.

(Distantly, Carlisle now realized that if Carlisle and Jasper had never been particularly close then Esme and Jasper were practically strangers.)

Esme let go of Jasper, and beamed up at him. "Aro told me you would be staying. I'm so glad, Jasper, so glad. And so very sorry about Alice," she added, and hugged her again.

"You look–well," Jasper said after a pause, the look on his face–he was a hard man to read, if you didn't know him, but even Jasper wasn't quite able to hide his utter bafflement as he stared at Esme.

Carlisle wasn't sure if it was seeing Esme in Volterra, seeing Esme at all, or seeing Esme after learning she'd started sleeping with Aro and even getting a reminder from the woman himself that had Jasper so baffled. Perhaps all three.

"As for Alice," Jasper said, looking as if he was trying to distract his own thoughts, "I suppose, given the ease with which this happened, it was inevitable. I'll get used to it eventually."

"Can't you two work it out?" Esme asked, and hooked her arm through Jasper, leading him into the library. "Carlisle and I did. You should speak to Sulpicia - she's over there - she's wonderful, truly."

Jasper stared at her for a long moment, then said, "I don't think Rosalie would agree to sleep with me."

Esme blinked. "What do you mean? Why would you sleep with Rosalie?"

Carlisle could only feel himself lingering back, as if by walking slowly enough, he could somehow not be a part of this conversation and could claim perfect innocence whenever anyone asked.

"I can't imagine why," Jasper said, looking away from her with a mysterious smile, "Must have been a slip of the tongue."

It was Esme's turn to look baffled.

Carlisle only gave him a look.

Jasper's eyes were wide as he took in the room, his head turning every angle to take in the looming shelves and the glass doors in front of them. He turned his head up to look at the vents. "You have air conditioning in here?" he asked in surprise.

"Ah, yes, to help preserve the books," Carlisle said, "Aro's very–enthusiastic about preserving original records. You'll notice the air is very dry, too."

Jasper nodded, impressed.

Then, stopping at the longtable they'd been occupying, he took in the many books lying across it, with Sulpicia parsing through a book written in yokogaki letters.

Aro had refused to let them bring out the parchments outside the specialized rooms.

"And this," Carlisle said with a sigh, "Is where we've been researching historical accounts of vampire-human relations. It hasn't been going well."

By not going well, Carlisle meant that every time one of them did stumble across anything that looked worthwhile, Aro would go on a long tangent about how that was actually some poor lass who'd slept out of wedlock with the local baker when she was to marry the local butcher and the child had been born two months too early and deformed due to the woman's large consumption of alcohol.

Sometimes, the man truly did seem to know everything.

"And this," Carlisle added, and unsure whether to let the fondness in his voice show or to make it neutral, wound up sounding oddly grand, as if he was introducing tonight's special guest, "is Sulpicia. Aro's wife, here to help since she knows more languages than the rest of us save Aro put together."

Sulpicia looked up, and her eyes widened momentarily at Jasper's appearance. She composed herself much faster than most, and offered Jasper a smile, but no one missed the quick look she threw at Carlisle.

Jasper, to his credit, didn't miss a beat, "Pleased to meet you–" he then gave Carlisle a panicked look that Carlisle couldn't quite decipher and ended on, "Your Grace?"

Sulpicia let out a merry laugh, "Oh, I like that, but I'm afraid I'm not often meeting with visitors. I'm not actually sure I have a title. If I do it's usually just 'the wife'."

Sulpicia made sure to wiggle her fingers on the last words, as if to give it an ominous cast and an air of mystery.

Jasper grinned. "Well, I'm glad I get to meet you," he said.

"Jasper is–was, a member of my coven," Carlisle said, ignoring Esme's questioning look at the wording. He supposed that was news he–would have to find time to break to her, somehow.

Sulpicia nodded, then made motion to Jasper's golden eyes (brighter and lighter than Carlisle's as he must have fed before coming), "Yes, I can see the eyes."

"He will be staying here with us," Carlisle continued, "which means that he gets to help us research."

"Oh, another indentured researcher, I like that. You should know, contrary to common belief there is no life in luxury here in Volterra. Last week I had to clean the women's baths, all by myself. And then in the sixteenth century, I had to mend the tower. Caius and Thena made a hole in it, and Caius proceeded to go out on a mission while Thena and Corin somehow just weaseled out of helping."

"Dreadful," Jasper said, again without missing a beat, though his face gave no clue as to his true thoughts on the matter.

"And in hearing distance is Bella," Carlisle said with a sigh, nodding towards the direction Bella had earlier been heard from, "You–actually aren't allowed to meet her. Sorry, Jasper."

Jasper neither looked upset nor particularly surprised by that. Carlisle suspected, even, that Jasper was going to make it a point of running in the opposite direction of wherever Bella happened to be located.

"That's fine," he simply said.

"What languages do you speak?" Sulpicia asked pleasantly.

"English and Spanish," Jasper said, "I read English better."

Sulpicia's smile faded. "Aro wasn't exaggerating."

"I was–busy, in my youth," Jasper said with a wry smile, "Didn't leave much time to become an academic."

Sulpicia only nodded in acceptance. "You can read Spanish, then, you'll get into it. Ask me or Carlisle if anything is unclear."

Whether she understood or not what Jasper was implying was hard to say. Carlisle supposed he would be telling her all about Jasper sooner or later, and she'd get the finer details but–Sulpicia always had a very odd way of being able to take nearly any news without blinking.

With that, Sulpicia retrieved a stack of books for Jasper, and deposited them on an available spot on the table.

"I'll have to check on Bella soon," Carlisle murmured as he picked up the book he'd left to the side earlier.

This earned a resigned but accepting grunt from Sulpicia, who had grown increasingly overwhelmed by the idea that she really was irreplaceable in this operation. Which meant no sneaking back up to the tower for Corin.

Carlisle knew, as well, that this narrowed down the available time he would have, as Sulpicia would be using hers with him.

It wasn't really the time for it…

His family was falling apart, he'd just dropped an emotional anvil on poor Jasper's head and made him effectively homeless, Bella was hooked up to an IV next door and hadn't kept down anything in more than twenty-four hours now, and Edward…

But, perhaps that was all the more reason to do it.

Carlisle wasn't going to become any less busy, anytime, soon. Especially not if Edward–

He needed to unwind.

"I'm taking a break," he announced to the table.

They each gave him a look.

"You just got here," Sulpicia pointed out, very dryly. "I've been here for… oh dear god, it's been sixteen hours."

"Yes, but that wasn't a break," Carlisle rebutted, "I was giving Jasper a tour and helping him settle in."

And ruining his relationship with Alice. That too.

"I could use a break," Sulpicia mused, glancing idly at the library with an exhausted look in her eyes.

"No, Jasper needs you for his Spanish, remember. He hasn't gotten into it yet," Carlisle said, and winked at her.

Sulpicia seemed to only be able to stare at him. She blinked, then she kept staring, then after a very long pause she said, "My dear Carlisle, you are so very lucky that I like you. And you are also lucky that you don't mean what you just said, and that you do not want me to help Jasper get 'into his Spanish'."

… Carlisle supposed he did just walk into that one.

Jasper, meanwhile, looked deeply uncomfortable.

After a moment, Jasper stood from the table, pointedly not looking at Sulpicia or Esme, "I think I'll check out the rest of the library. I'll be back in fifteen."

That got a laugh out of Sulpicia, which she desperately clamped down with a hand. She made eye contact with Esme, and laughed harder.

Esme smiled uncertainly. She was still getting used to her friendship with Sulpicia.

"I don't–"

"I'll explain," Sulpicia giggled.

And Carlisle supposed that was his cue to exit, because he most certainly did not want to be here when Sulpicia told Esme that Carlisle had gleefully propositioned her on Jasper's behalf.

He went to Aro's study where, sure enough, there was Aro on the phone and with his computer open.

Aro spared him a look, glanced at his computer, then closed his eyes as if deeply torn. Carlisle smiled as he went to sit on the couch and wait. Whatever it was Aro was doing he managed to wrap up in two minutes.

"Roman baths?" Aro asked, and Carlisle grinned.

"I was hoping to clean them, yes. And yes, there are a lot more Marcus jokes where that came from."

Aro's lips did a funny thing where it looked like he wanted to grimace but couldn't quite manage it, "Yes, well, at least it will be my own mess this time. Maybe we could have Marcus clean it, he's been keeping to himself for the past day. He could use the exercise before his grand excursion to the outside world."

Carlisle only nodded.

"And I know you don't want to talk about Marcus," Aro said, giving Carlisle a look, "But I have to talk to somebody and Caius is off pretending he doesn't care and this is all old news. But–two-thousand years, Carlisle, two-thousand years and he's never once willingly left this building, I barely get him out into the city. I mean–I thought, best case scenario, he might say a few sentences now and then. But to actually volunteer himself to go out into the outside world? And not even to see Paris or Beijing or some place of import, beauty, or interest but–Vladimir and Stefan's dirty cave where they're holding your son hostage? It boggles the mind. I don't know if I should be pleased or terrified."

Carlisle leaned forwards a bit. "I am all too happy to speak with you about Marcus, I truly am, but could we maybe do that– after?"

"Yes, yes, of course. But, Carlisle," Aro said as he got up, apparently not able to help himself, "you must understand what this means to me." A brilliant smile spread across Aro's face. "Something I thought was irreversible– still is, in many ways, but I get to get back something I thought I never would."

Carlisle tilted his head as he got up as well, leading the way down the hallway outside Aro's study as he listened.

He realized, with a sudden clarity, that Aro had conflated the tragedies of his sister's death and Marcus' fall, made them one and the same tragedy, where Marcus could no more be brought back than his sister could.

It suddenly made awful, heartbreaking, sense, that Aro never stopped trying to save Marcus.

"I mean, of course, he's not the same as he was," Aro continued, "And I don't know if it's just that he's only now remembered how to talk but forgotten how to filter himself, and that there's still room for improvement, but it's certainly something. It's–I'm half tempted to petition for Bella Swan's sainthood, because that right there is a miracle."

"I would have to object," Carlisle said, forcing himself back into the conversation.

"Oh, what do you know?" Aro asked, "You're not even Catholic."

"As opposed to you?" Carlisle quipped.

"I, at least, reside in the same country as the pope." Aro continued, waving away Carlisle's concern, "And I'm very important, now he might not know I'm important, but your Christian God might just telephone the man to say, 'Now, John Paul, you should listen to this Aro fellow because he's been doing God's work since before I sent my son to die on a cross.'"

Carlisle laughed in incredulity. "What are you even- what? Why on earth would God, or the pope for that matter… what would he even listen to you about?"

"Things," Aro said, as if Carlisle was missing the point, "what I mean is, I…" he frowned. "Maybe this wasn't such a winning argument after all."

"I think you lost your point somewhere," Carlisle agreed with a snicker.

"Bella is great. That was my point. Also, the 'I'm doing God's work if you look hard enough' angle worked on you."

"I don't know what I was thinking," Carlisle said with a smile.

"I do," Aro quipped. "Wonderful things. Brilliant things, and frankly much more respectful things than you do nowadays. Now you just go around crushing my flowers and propositioning me when I'm trying to work."

Carlisle opened his mouth to make some joke but his smile faded as he remembered just why he'd thought it was now or never.

Aro seemed to realize the same, "Right, well, I suppose… I don't think it will make you feel better to acknowledge that I am surprised by Marcus' decision. I–did not think he would make it, but I am glad he did."

"It's a good thing I'm helping Bella," Carlisle noted. "Or I would be indebted to him after this."

"No, no, he wouldn't expect that," Aro said, "Especially since–I can't make any guarantees. I rather doubt Alice is going to drop us a line and tell us if all our efforts were for nothing."

"All the same," Carlisle noted darkly. "Thanks to Marcus, he has a chance. I won't forget that."

Aro only nodded.

"Now, onto less depressing matters," Aro said quickly, clapping his hands together as they reached the doors that would lead to the baths, "It seems we are finally at our destination! Which is not a hallway where poor Jane will stumble onto us."

"That was your terrible decision," Carlisle reminded him.

"You–" Aro's face twisted as he searched for something to throw back at Carlisle. "You'll do something, eventually," he decided.

Carlisle only laughed, and shook his head.

"Alright," Aro chirped, as he started undressing. "Let's defile some Roman baths."

Carlisle nodded. "Yes, but rules first. Who submerges in the water?"

Aro stilled. "Don't you dare."

"Look," Carlisle laughed, "I've always heard that when in Rome, do as the Romans. So, when in Roman baths, do as the-"

"You don't even know what they said to each other," Aro said, "I paraphrased for you. I have that entire conversation etched into my memory."

"Then tell me," Carlisle said, "What, exactly, are my rules?"

Aro opened his mouth, but Carlisle cut him off. "I know about the no kissing rule. So, you can forget about that."

"I can't even say it," Aro said, "I can't–I can tell you that 'cowboy style' was discussed and that Marcus had no idea what Bella was on about."

Carlisle threw his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. "Please, you have to tell me more."

"I will do no such thing!"

"And here I thought you liked a creative approach," Carlisle said.

"Let me put it like this, had Bella and Marcus decided, for the gods only know what reason, to do roleplay in which Marcus was the stallion and Bella the rider–no, actually, she'd fall off the horse and drown."

Carlisle gave up on quieting his laughter.

"It is funny, isn't it?" Aro said weakly, "I can't even defend his honor, it's just so–awful."

"That poor child," Carlisle wheezed. "Imagine being conceived under those circumstances."

"Oh, we never tell them," Aro said, "I don't care if it is a fish, we never tell them. We just put them in a pond, give them lots of food and sunlight and–whatever a fish needs, and we never tell them."

Yes, Carlisle could just imagine Aro, sitting by a pond, watching the most eerily beautiful fish the world ever saw sparkle in the sunlight, talking about everything beneath the moon but clamping up whenever the fish bubbled 'Where do fish-babies come from?'

"You're going to be a great uncle, Aro."

"And you think you're getting out of it?" Aro guffawed, "Oh my dear Carlisle, you're not just the uncle, you're the bloody family doctor."

Carlisle opened his mouth to say something to that, when he realized–

Jasper was staying in Volterra.

Jasper would be one of the child's uncles.

… Carlisle couldn't even begin to imagine how surreal life must seem to the poor man right now.

"Let's get back to the sex," Carlisle heard himself saying.

Aro grinned, and in a moment, Carlisle's clothes were on the floor as well. Very pointedly not ripped this time.

Carlisle pulled Aro into his arms, opened the door behind them with a kick, and together they fell into the pool.

For five long, beautiful, seconds, all was perfect in the world, and there was only the feeling of Aro against him, and the sweet expectations of what was to come.

Then, on the other side of the pool, little Alec stood from the water. He was wearing a snorkeling mask, blue webbed flippers, and was surrounded by plastic, colorful, fish resembling various breeds of popular tropical fish. There was also a floating rubber duck or two in the midst.

"Alec, hello," Aro said after a beat, as if by initiating a normal conversation none of this would be happening or Alec might be convinced he was hallucinating.

"Hva faen?" Alec whined. "You're-"

"Yes, well, ah–" Aro said, "Due to recent events I had assumed–wrongly, that the baths would not be in use."

Meaning that Aro had thought, as Carlisle had, that since the entire damn castle had assumed Aro and Carlisle had sex there the week prior, that everyone would know to steer clear.

"It's Tuesday," Alec said miserably. "I always come here on Tuesdays!"

"... So it is," Aro said after a beat, "Would you believe me if I noted that I simply lost track of the date? It has been–a week."

"My deepest apologies," Aro said after a beat.

He nudged Carlisle. Carlisle's eyes widened and he blurted, "Yes, I'm terribly sorry. It–won't happen again."

"It better not," Alec said miserably.

Then, looking at his toys still in the water, he seemed to debate whether it was worth retrieving them, whether he would ever want to play with them again.

"I'm not sure if Jane's told you," Aro said as he extracted himself slowly from Carlisle, "But I promised you and her a trip to Tokyo due to your–underappreciated efforts regarding Bella Swan. Would you like another week in Japan?"

"Fuyuki," Alec muttered.

"Fuyuki it is," Aro promised.

"And Carlisle can't come," Alec added with an accusatory look at Carlisle.

Aro frowned at that but his smile was back soon enough, "You have my word that Carlisle will not come."

Alec nodded, and, still looking upset, removed his snorkeling mask and flippers, gathered up his toys, and cleared the pool.

"Congratulations, Carlisle," Aro said after Alec disappeared, "You have now chosen just as bad a location as I did."

Carlisle only sighed.

"Right then," Aro said, moving back towards Carlisle, "no time like the present."

"Forget it," Carlisle said with a sigh, making his way towards the edge of the water, "I have to check on Bella anyway."

"What do you mean?" Aro asked, "She's fine, Renata's with her, she's no longer vomiting."

"She also hasn't eaten anything in a day," Carlisle responded, "There's nothing left for her to vomit."

Aro grimaced.

"And being caught by Alec is a bit of a mood killer," Carlisle added.

"We're always going to get caught by somebody!" Aro cried out desperately, "It's just–What about my study? Or my private quarters? I'm actually supposed to have sex in there!"

Carlisle made a face.

"And yes, I know, I was just there with your wife but–I can clean it, I have febreeze," Aro pleaded, looking like he was going to cry.

Well, that settled matters, didn't it?

"Alright," Carlisle said. "But only because we might not get a chance like this again."

Aro practically sagged in relief.

"And you have to tell me what Marcus' rules were," Carlisle added.

"Is that a requirement?" Aro asked after a long pause.

"I'll spend the rest of eternity wondering if you don't spill," Carlisle told him. It was the truth, too.

It wasn't that he had a particular interest in Marcus' love life, it was just…

Well, it was starting to feel a bit like a matter of principle. Damnit, he had to know.

On exiting the Roman baths, it seemed Alec was waiting for them. He was now fully dressed, tapping his foot to clearly display his impatience, and at their appearance just gave them a look. Then, to Aro, he said the single word, "Fuyuki."

To Carlisle, he said, "No Carlisle."

Carlisle was so, so, relieved they hadn't decided to finish the sex in the Roman bath. Of course, sneaking off to Aro's quarters was hardly much better, but Aro was far beyond shame at this point. Carlisle was still deciding if he had any shame left, the jury was still out.

"Is Bella sick?" Alec continued with a frown.

Aro only closed his eyes. He just closed them.

"She has the flu," Carlisle said, "We think."

"Why didn't anybody tell us?" Alec cried.

Then, after a pointed pause, he added, "Oh right, you forgot us."

Well, Carlisle had nothing to say to that. Quite frankly, he had forgotten that Jane and Alec were embroiled in the original madness. He'd been too preoccupied with trying to get his family to leave (and then, of course, his marriage falling apart and being salvaged by becoming a swinger).

Also, he liked to tell himself he wasn't the responsible party. Oh, sure, it might have been nice if he piped up and said, "Since my family's gone and Bella's very ill, should we tell Jane and Alec the operation's off?" But ultimately, Aro should have been on top of that.

… Instead he'd been on top of Esme.

"For what it's worth, my family is out of the loop as well," Carlisle told Alec truthfully.

"Your rude family that never cared about the plan in the first place and left within a few days were told as much as we were? Great, I feel much less forgotten now," Alec grumbled.

"I'm so sorry," Carlisle said, "Unfortunately, it is not in my jurisdiction to offer you a trip to Japan."

He also wasn't sure if it was in his budget. If the family was falling apart, if Alice thought he was brainwashed–he was no longer sure of how money should be divided between them. There was his salary from being a doctor, of course, but the rest of it (aside from Edward's bizarre self-inheritance scheme that Carlisle had told him to knock off a billion times already) was Alice's donated to the family at her leisure.

… He might just rely on Aro for money from now on.

Dear god, what about his things? His paintings, his sarcophagus, his old medical supplies that he'd never had the heart to throw away, all his beloved artifacts from across the years–

Surely, Alice wasn't going to want any of that.

Then he remembered, "Did you ever burn down my house?!"

Aro blinked at him, "What?"

"My house," Carlisle cried, "You were going to have my house burnt down to convince my family to leave!"

"I was distracted by Esme," Aro breathed.

Oh thank god, he hadn't done it.

… And here, in the form of Carlisle saying "Thank god you fucked my wife so my material possessions are okay" was the proof that Carlisle was indeed a horrible husband.

Aro looked pointedly away from Carlisle.

"You didn't," Carlisle said in growing horror.

"I told you that I was going to have it subcontracted out," Aro said, as if this was in any way an argument in his defense.

"You–" Carlisle hissed. "You bastard! You absolute– how dare you!"

"Esme has many houses," Aro said, "Many beautiful houses which I did not order burnt down. And that one–mostly had Rosalie's cars. And perhaps Edward's grand piano. But it wasn't her favorite house."

Carlisle couldn't even with him.

"We're still… going to my chambers, right?" Aro asked nervously. "Please?"

"Are you seriously having this conversation in front of me?" Alec asked dully.

"No, we're not, because the answer is no." Carlisle deadpanned.

"Carlisle!" Aro cried. "You agreed to it, remember?"

"I never agreed to it!" Carlisle spat, "You told me you'd pick a house for me if I didn't give you one. I never gave you one, and apparently you went and picked a house for me!"

"But if we think about this like reasonable people, you will remember that your whole reason for not wanting the house burnt down was Esme. Well, by making love to Esme, I have actually proven to be a far greater therapist than any house could ever be. So, really–"

"You did what?" Alec breathed in horror.

Carlisle ignored him. "Are you hearing yourself? You have sex with my wife, therefore it's okay for you to burn down my house?"

"Dammit, Carlisle, your family is going around accusing me of rape and burning down one of their houses is the least I can do to pay them back for the compliment!" Aro said, "Even if it's no longer necessary, and I perhaps should have waited a few days for–I don't even know what to happen. Since it did happen then I am choosing to look on the bright side. Which is that I hate your family–dammit, I just said that, didn't I?"

Carlisle only closed his eyes, and exhaled.

Then, when he opened them again, "Fine. Fine, let's go do your damn chambers, because it's that or standing around arguing in the hallway. Fine!"

"I can't believe you said yes," Aro said after a pause.

Carlisle couldn't either.

By the look on his face, neither could Alec.

Then, at a far distance, several floors above, they heard loud shouting.

"That's Jane," Alec said in bafflement.

Aro closed his eyes, his lips forming a thin, humorless, smile.

The library, Carlisle noted dully, was in the direction of Jane's shouting.

"Alec," Carlisle said, as Aro ran ahead of them in the direction of the library, "if I asked you to please go to your room and not mind what's happening upstairs, is there a chance you would do as I say?"

"None at all," Alec replied, and followed Aro.

"Right," Carlisle sighed, and followed.

For the second time in as many weeks, they were having a meeting in the tower.

Only this time, while the original board members had gathered, they'd made additions in Esme, Jasper, Alec, and Jane. The main room of the tower was feeling… very crowded. Especially given that Bella now sported an IV.

Jasper, of course, had a look like a morbidly amused man walking to his gallows as Carlisle brought him up the tower stairs.

"So, we going to make this an official, weekly, thing?" Bella asked, apparently having lost all concern for her well-being along with her appetite.

Caius, however, seemed amused more than anything else, "Depends how often Aro decides to fuck up."

It spoke volumes that Aro didn't even say anything to that.

Instead he said, "We need to decide on whether to keep this secret from the rest of the guard or not."

Well, Carlisle thought to himself, that was blunt.

Usually, Aro would have used at least a minute to get to the point, and that was if he wanted to make it brief.

Aro, it seemed, was past his wits' end.

"Given the colossal failure we've made of it thus far due to your unquenchable thirst," Caius said to Aro, "I vote we let them know. That, or you resign yourself to a future of celibacy."

By the miserable look Aro threw at him, this was the least funny joke anyone had ever told Aro in all his three thousand plus years of life.

Sulpicia patted his arm in sympathy.

"We should be told," Jane said with outrage, "This is just–we are an important part of daily operations! Marcus can't just go having a baby without any of us ever being told about it!"

"I don't understand why you wouldn't trust us with this," Alec asked, his wide, red eyes looking hurt.

Carlisle flinched slightly.

True, he had no relationship with either of the twins, and all of the decisions and responsibility regarding them were Aro's, but–

Carlisle felt guilty all the same.

"This is–" Aro said, "Understand that only Renata and Corin know because that was unavoidable. I was not slighting you or thinking less of any of my guard, this is–delicate. Delicate and uncertain, Bella–the child and Bella may not even live."

"Today's been rough," Bella explained nonchalantly to the twins. (Carlisle would never quite be over how easily Bella could look death in the face.)

"But we can protect this child!" Alec argued. "And hang out with it! It's going to grow up, right? We're kids, this is a kid– surely we could be really useful."

Jane nodded fervently.

Then Marcus, who thus far had been oddly quiet and merely sitting next to Bella, said a single word, "Demetri."

Apparently that meant something to Aro, because he nodded. "We can't tell Demetri."

"Why not? Who's Demetri?" Bella asked.

"The tracker," Marcus replied. "He knows everyone, it is his duty. When he is not on a mission, he is off socializing, to add to his network. He is very talkative, and can't keep a secret, at least not a secret everyone will wish to know. If we tell Demetri, everyone in the vampire world will know about this child before it's even born."

"Alright," Jane said, "Maybe tell everyone but Demetri."

"They can't just tell everyone except Demetri," Alec said, "That's even worse."

"Chelsea will tell Afton," Renata added, looking very unwilling to part with this information, "If we tell Chelsea–she'll tell Afton."

"Who will then tell everyone else," Corin added, "Because Afton will want people to listen to him."

"... So we tell everyone but Chelsea and Demetri," Jane said weakly.

"Felix will tell Demetri," Aro said.

"Heidi would tell Chelsea," Renata added with a sigh. "I'm struggling not to tell Chelsea myself."

Corin nodded sagely.

"And the others are–temporary," Aro said, and shot Jane and Alec a look as he said it, "You know this, aside from Felix, muscle comes and muscle goes. They may leave this place and then they'll have no reason to hold their tongues. Especially about news of such magnitude."

Jane slumped in her seat, looking defeated. "This still doesn't explain why we weren't told," she said sullenly.

The real words she was saying being, 'You didn't trust us either.'

"I swear," Alec implored, "we won't tell anyone."

"How about a month in Japan?" Aro asked after a very long, very damning, pause.

Alec looked at Jane, Jane looked at Alec.

It became very clear that no, Japan would not be enough.

It was one thing to be forgotten about, Aro being a very energetic person with fifteen plans and even more things on his schedule plus a pet project involving sharks all at once let some things slip his mind every now and then. It was annoying, but ultimately nothing to be that upset about.

Not being trusted by the man they had devoted themselves to for twelve hundred years was quite another matter.

It was Marcus who broke the silence. "When you were first turned he was very leery with both of you, expecting you to be unstable, unreliable helpers that might prove to be a greater liability than assets. He was terrified, too, of what should happen should you turn on him. However, you proved yourselves, and he now holds great adoration and trust for you. The reason why you weren't told is that we all forgot to consider you."

Carlisle looked at Marcus in amazement.

That was… an awful speech, but it was oddly rousing, in its own way.

Marcus was a man full of surprises.

The twins looked at Aro.

Aro closed his eyes, but nodded.

Jane looked like she wasn't sure whether that should make her feel better or worse. She exchanged a look with Alec.

"Six weeks in Japan," Jane said, "And we're bringing Marcus' child."

"It might be a fish," Marcus pointed out.

"We're bringing Marcus' fish," Alec corrected.

Aro smiled at them in brilliant relief. "Let's make it seven weeks," he whispered.

"And we'll, ah, see what condition Marcus' child is in," he added, looking extremely desperate as he said it. How they were going to get that child, or whatever it was, if it was even alive, out of Volterra and to Japan without anyone noticing–

Carlisle wished Aro luck in talking his way out of this one.

"Alright," Aro said, clapping his hands together as he bravely tried to bring the meeting back to some semblance of track. "We've reached our verdict. The secret stays between the residents of this room, and the twins get seven weeks in Japan."

No one, it seemed, was going to argue with that. Instead, Marcus seemed to decide the meeting was over as he stood and, picking up Bella and her IV, made his way quickly out of the room before anyone could stop him.

Carlisle didn't miss the nervous look on both Aro and Renata's faces.

Renata darted quickly after them, slamming the door behind her.

"Alright, meeting's over," Caius said, then to Aro and Carlisle, "Get out."

Carlisle grabbed Jasper by the arm, and raised a brow at Esme.

"Oh, I'm staying with Sulpicia," she said. "We've earned our break!"

Carlisle opened his mouth to note that 'break' meant Corin but–Perhaps he'd best let Esme figure that out for herself. He didn't think Sulpicia would keep this information from Esme but–well–he remembered Esme once asking him why the humans sometimes sought to get high when the world was such a wonderful place filled with wonderful things.

Carlisle hadn't known quite what to say, so he'd just patted her arm at the time.

"Oh no, you haven't," Aro said as he grabbed onto Corin's arm, "I'm afraid Sulpicia's taking a break, which means you must help in the library."

"No!" Sulpicia cried.

"I haven't had a break either," Aro said cheerily, "And I've tried, I've tried very hard."

He exchanged a look at Carlisle.

Hopefully this time, after the meeting, they would succeed, but–

Carlisle was starting to doubt.

Sulpicia looked despairingly at Athenodora. "You can't go down to the library? For an hour? For me?"

"I've forgotten how to read," Athenodora said, blatantly ignoring the fact that this was impossible for a vampire.

Athenodora didn't seem to care.

Esme gave Sulpicia a confused look.

Sulpicia sighed. Then her gaze turned shrewd, she looked towards Carlisle, "Wasn't Carlisle looking to take a break earlier? I can't imagine he got much of one, given how quickly we all ended up in here."

"Don't you dare," Aro whined.

"Oh, I dare," Sulpicia retorted, and grabbed Carlisle's arm.

"What's happening?" Alec asked, his eyes growing wide.

Jane patted his hand. "Eight weeks in Japan."

"Corin, you are no longer needed in the library," Aro said to a very confused looking Corin.

"Oh, it's too late," Sulpicia said, "Keep Corin, Aro, you may need her soon."

Carlisle eventually emerged from the tower. Aro was waiting at the bottom. This wasn't an exaggeration, he was sitting down on the bottom most step with Corin.

"The good news," he said as Carlisle reached the bottom, "Is that Renata informs me that Marcus and Bella did not have sex again."

"The further good news, realizing just how sick Bella is has made Marcus put in hours at the library, leaving us free to finally have sex."

Carlisle lit up.

"You've become blunt in your old age," Carlisle couldn't help but note.

"Yes, well, the bad news is, Demetri arrived. Which means Marcus and Jane have left with him to go find Demetri, and I have to return to the library."

Carlisle felt his smile fall.

"Then I suppose I wait," Carlisle heard himself say, then, walking as if in a dream, he added, "And check on Bella, I keep meaning to do that."