Author's note: Here's the next installment!

Day Two of Forever:

A gentle hum filled the interior of the Cullens' detached garage as a crude looking vehicle intruded into the pristine space. It looked woefully out of place when compared to its new companions, among which was a beautifully kept M3 and a top of the line Mercedes. This car was a mere Honda Civic, though admittedly it was only three model years old despite looking decrepit beyond its age. Beau couldn't help but to feel kindred with the car already.

Royal was behind the wheel looking disgusted. He pulled onto the tarp that had been spread beforehand, throwing it into park and hopping out of the door as quickly as his body allowed. Beau swore he saw the blonde even dust his hands together as if to wipe away the very memory of touching a car so clearly below him.

"It's not in as bad shape as you let on." Edythe was standing at the doorframe that led from the garage to the outside path towards the house. She was dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a cable sweater, looking more like a clothing model than someone relaxing at home ought to. "I thought you said it had been totaled."

"I said it was wrecked," Royal corrected. "And trust me, this thing is wrecked. Whoever owned her before should have been shot."

Beau wasn't quite sure what he was talking about; sure, the frame was bent in ways that even he knew it shouldn't have been and the car could have belonged to someone who lived along the peer for as much rust coated the bumper, but it seemed to be holding up alright. Then again, maybe he was just comparing it in his mind to the truck he had traveled around in for three months prior. Compared to that monster, this Civic was a godsend already.

"What happened to it," he asked Royal curiously.

"Reposed, after fleeing the scene of an accident of course."

Edythe sniffed as if she had already suspected that. "Are any of the parts salvageable?"

He shook his head. "I'd rather not leave too much to chance. The body is fine, this will all buff out and El can bend the frame back into place, but the shocks are shot to shit. This idiot must have been four wheeling in her." Edythe and him went back and forth about some of the specs for the car, discussing the merits of a lifted body and what size engine they could reasonably get away with, in their own little world, allowing Beau a chance to step closer to the car that would soon be his.

He did a full circle around the car, feeling wary about his gift from the Cullen family. This was the second time a vehicle had been gifted to him and he felt even more spoiled for it this time around. Archie had promised that getting him this car was a drop in the bucket in the face of the vast Cullen fortunes at their disposal, even telling Beau they could spring for a new vehicle without blinking an eye if that was his preference. Nervous already about even accepting a fixer upper, Beau had declined; as it was, Royal appeared to be looking forward to starting with a car closer to a blank slate anyway as it gave him more to work with.

Ignoring Edythe and Royal as they continued to talk shop around him, Beau pulled himself into the drivers seat through the door left ajar. It had long since lost that new car smell in favor of a stale beer smell instead, with an over whelming scent of sweaty human sprinkled on top. The pungent odor filled every inch of the car, both impossibly delicious and repulsive to him at the same time in its abundance. If he had to guess Beau might have thought the previous owner had lived in the backseat and highly suspected the lot where the car was picked up from had to have emptied heaps of fast food wrappers from the floors before handing Royal the keys.

Edythe looked over at him, alarmed. "Are you okay in there?"

Beau shrugged, knowing immediately where her worry stemmed from. "It smells but not in any way to make me super thirsty. I'm fine, go back to your car stuff."

"It'll fade with time," Royal promised dismissively.

She crossed her arms, still concerned. "All the same, I'd rather not chance it. Let's go for a quick hunt, Beau."

"I'm fine, really." He had just been hunting just two hours before - the burn in his throat wasn't even a tickle as he absorbed the car's aroma.

Everyone was still surprised about how good Beau was in regards to controlling his thirst, though none more than Edythe. She was constantly checking in with him, and then with Jessamine after if she thought he wasn't being truthful. Beau thought she kept after him for his thirst more out of guilt than anything, though he wouldn't dream to confront her about it.

Beau tried to name the difference between this human smell and the various animals he had hunted in last two days since transforming. It was not as diluted maybe, and warmer somehow too. Even though it was permeated in every piece of the upholstery, Beau guessed the owner hadn't been in the car itself in at least a few weeks. He could only guess that was why he wasn't salivating at the mouth; this stranger's smell was the closest he had gotten to smelling any human's since his change and by everyone's accounts he would be rendered feral if he was exposed to the real thing any time soon, no matter how good his control was.

Royal rolled his eyes. "He doesn't need a babysitter, Edythe."

"Don't patronize me," she hissed at him. "It's all of our responsibilities to look after him."

He crossed his arms petulantly. "I don't remember signing up for that."

"Guys," Beau spoke up carefully, sensing the beginning of a heated argument.

Edythe's eyes flashed dangerously. "Right, because we all didn't lend more than our weight when it came to watching Eleanor as a newborn. Stop being selfish."

"I'm being selfish?" he roared back at her, taking a step at her. On instinct, Beau jumped out of the car, ready to leap in front of Edythe if need be. "Aren't you the one imposing your will on the rest of us? You know if you hadn't insisted-"

"So we're back at that again are we?" Edythe appeared to have cut him off, but Beau figured she was just responding to his words that were already formed in his head. "Back to how this is all my fault for not killing him back then?"

"Well I did say-"

"And you were outvoted, Royal!"

"That doesn't change-"

"I didn't say you did, but it's a moot point now. We are here now, he isn't going anywhere. And that means you are going to help and you'll just have to get over it."

"But what about-"

"Should I apologize for the millionth time that I have disrupted the darling Royal's way of life?" Edythe spewed out, her words laced with metaphorical venom. "Should I prostate myself for you and beg on my knees for forgiveness? Would that soothe your massive ego?"

Royal snapped his jaw shut. "Get. Out." He was finally able to say the words fast enough that Edythe didn't have time to react to them just from reading them in his head. "Now."

Edythe huffed. "Fine. Come on, Beau."

Royal through his arm over Beau's chest, stopping him before he could cross the room, however. Edythe snarled, looking as if she was going to lunge at her brother in that instance.

Royal looked down at her coolly. "He stays. It's my turn to babysit - you know, pull my own weight. That's what you wanted after all, dear sister, right?"

She went to grab Beau's arm, perhaps intending to take him by force, but Royal blocked her way with his body. He had over a head and shoulders of height on her. "In any case," he continued as if she was't glowering at him. "I'll need him to lift the Civic while I take a look at the undercarriage for the vehicle I am so graciously, and unselfishly I might add, fixing for your Beau. Surely you can't object to that?"

"I don't mind helping," Beau quickly answered, hoping to diffuse the tension.

"Fine," she snapped. Without a look back she staked out of the garage, slamming it behind her loudly. Earnest would surely want to have a word with her about that when she reentered the main house.

Beau sighed, wondering if it was more important to go after her or give her space. Royal decided for him, wordlessly gesturing to the vehicle, telling Beau it was time to get to work.

He dropped to the ground right away, slipping under the car without difficulty and lifting it overhead. Of course it felt no heavier than a textbook might have felt in his arms before and Beau knew he could stay like this for hours as long as he remembered to keep his arms steady so the car didn't sway.

With his vampire jack in place, Royal got to his knees, peering up at the car from below, making mental notes of parts he would need to find. He didn't seem bothered by his spat with Edythe, focused on his task now.

Beau could only assume these types of arguments were all too commonplace between the two. He didn't get it, being an only child, but as no one had come to intervene, he figured there hadn't been too much concern of escalation. But Beau was still off kilter, not used to such interactions yet.

Beau felt a little awkward to have Royal working nonplused right beside him after shouting at Edythe - and over him, it sounded like - and struggled to find something to say. "So, uh, that was pretty intense."

Royal rolled his eyes. "Edythe only does intense. And over reactions."

"What was she reacting to? Did you say - think - something that set her off?"

"Only that I thought she was being ridiculous with her little martyr act." He stared right at Beau. "Surely she has got to be wearing on your last nerve as well. Following you around everywhere as if you're going to run off and slaughter the town, taking it upon herself to monitor your feeding schedule on an hourly basis?"

"She means well," he answered weakly. "She's just worried."

"She's just feeing guilty," Royal snorted. "And she's going to take us all down her little shame spiral with her. Edythe just needs to accept that this is her fault and then get over it already."

Beau frowned. "She didn't mean for this to happen, you know."

"But it did," he replied. "And the signs were all there that this was a possibility, even if she chose to ignore them." Royal had his hands under the wheel well, frowning as he pulled out what looked to be a balled up food wrapper. He tossed it aside disgustedly before he went on speaking. "Edythe always thinks that she knows better, that she alone can control everything around her. She ignored my warnings, Archie's predictions, Jessamine's concerns - and for what? She put you in danger and got you killed. It's as simple as that."

Beau didn't like to remember how against his presence everyone had originally been. "I was going to die anyway."

"And maybe you should have. It was probably your fate or something. But now you're stuck this way, just like the rest of us. It's unnatural."

"Couldn't this be my fate? Me being changed?"

Royal shot him a look. "Now you sound like Carine. That whole everything happens for a reason things is garbage, okay? Things do not happen for a reason - they just happen and you deal with them the best you can."

"So Eleanor... That's just dealing the best you can?"

Royal stopped what he was doing. Beau was prepared for him to hit him, bracing his arms so the car wouldn't fall on impact, but Royal just glared at him.

"Let me be clear," he enunciated through his teeth. "Eleanor is the best thing to ever happen to me. But the fact that we had to meet like this, as monsters, was fucked up." Beau was startled, having never really heard any of the Cullens curse. Royal didn't seem to notice his shock and kept going. "That she was mauled by a bear in the middle of the woods, alone, was fucked up. That I was practically tortured to death by my fiancée's boyfriend was fucked up. This all is fucked up, okay? Make no mistake. But we get over it and try to figure out how to deal with these fucked up things everyday. That doesn't make any of it okay, it just doesn't make sense to stop moving forward to dwell on them."

He fell silent after his rant, seemingly distracted by a coil that stuck out at an odd angle along a ridge. Royal carefully twisted it, thick oil coating his hands when the metal popped out. He placed the piece on the ground carefully.

"Edythe isn't moving forward, you know," he continued conversationally, his back to Beau. "She's still partially stuck in her old ways from that era. Her views on life and what happens after reflect that. That's why she's so self-deprecating about you changing. Cause she thinks we are all damned." He shrugged. "She's probably right, but who cares? If there is a God who let these horrible things happen to us, I wouldn't be too eager to spend eternity with him after dying anyway. If this is a part of his plan, he is sick. I could have lived my whole human life through not knowing monsters existed, ones like us, ones like Ruby and her mafioso boyfriend, never knowing the God I was praying to every Sunday was so twisted... I would have been happy like that. And if Edythe hadn't been so selfish as to want you, you could have been happy like that too."

Beau couldn't help but to disagree. "I wouldn't have been happy without her."

"You don't know that and now you never will."

"Would you have been happy without Eleanor?" he challenged.

That made the blonde pause. "I would have been happy enough. I wouldn't have know anything to the contrary. And so that would have been enough for me." Royal gave Beau a long look. "Did you know you were only happy enough before Edythe?"

Beau didn't know how to answer that. "I wasn't aware of anything more so I guess not," he said slowly. "But I felt like I was wrong. I didn't have the same desires everyone else had, the same wants. I was... Floating. Just drifting by, not looking for anything because I didn't know I should be. I might have never known what I was missing if I never met Edythe, but I would have known something was missing."

"Nothing was missing for me," Royal said with such honestly Beau couldn't help but to believe him. "I had everything. Literally everything."

"Except Eleanor."

"Except Eleanor," he admitted.

"And the rest of them - Carine, Earnest, Archie, Jessamine... And your favorite sister."

"Edythe is hardly my favorite sister," Royal scoffed. "She just happens to get on my nerves the most. I don't fight with anyone half as much as I fight with her." He paused for half a second, a strange look oh his face. "Their names were Roxanne and Rochelle. They will always be my favorites."

Beau's eyes grew wide, embarrassed at his own carelessness as he recognized the look on Royal's face - it was pain. "I'm so sorry, Royal, I didn't mean to hit on such a sore subject."

"My human family is hardly just a sore subject, Beaufort," he answered coldly. Beau flinched. His tone melted a twinge then, becoming almost apologetic. "I don't mind talking about them. It's not painful anymore. You'll get to that point someday, too," Royal stated not unkindly.

"I know," he choked out, a lump suddenly in his throat. "But you miss them still, don't you? Your sisters?"

"Everyday." Royal ran his hands along the underside of the car. "They were my happiness, more than the other stuff. More than having everything. It was enough to have them, to make them smile and hear them laugh. I wanted my own daughter to be just like them." Beau thought he must have imagined the way Royal's voice shook. He cleared his throat. "But thats all gone - any chance I had at that, at having a family of my own, of growing old with the woman I love - it was all taken from me. Instead I had to watch my sisters' wedding from the back pew, watch them bury our parents alone, watch their kids grow up and start families of their own. Watching was all I could do, Beau, and it was torture."

Of that Beau had no doubt. What would he feel like, watching Renee and Charlie move on with their lives, not knowing he was out there in the shadows? How would it feel to watch Renee grow round with the life that grew unknowingly inside her even now, to see his sibling grow up from a safe distance? Never interacting with the father he had just gotten back?

"I couldn't keep myself away," Royal added, as if guessing Beau's next question. "I knew it would be painful to keep up tabs on them… but it would have been harder not knowing. I would have always wondered."

"What happened with them? If you don't mind me asking."

"Roxanne married young; he joined the war effort and left her a widow at 20. She never remarried, went to school against our mother's wishes, and was a teacher for over thirty years at a finishing school. Died in '72 - cancer," he added bitterly. "Rochelle took over as the heir and married into the family of an oil tycoon. They had four children, though one fell ill soon after birth. He passed away in her arms. Rochelle had given him my Christian name, Matthew, for his tombstone. She's buried next to him now, fifteen years this November." Royal looked away, his hands balled into fists. "I put her children through school on an anonymous trust I set up. Most of what's left of my family still live in New York in various upperclass lineages. I don't visit as much now with my sisters gone, I just follow them through what I find online. It's easier with a little distance. And time."

"Do the others…?"

He shook his head. "Not like I do. Jessamine only had a brother and he died before she could track him down. Carine - well, you know her story; same with Edythe. Earnest didn't have anyone after his wife killed herself and their daughter. Until a few days ago, Archie didn't even know who he was, so he's still searching. Eleanor had a huge family, though, lots of siblings and cousins." Royal crossed his arms. "It was easier for her to not look after them, though. She isn't the type to cling to the past. Not like me."

Beau mulled that over. Could he be like Eleanor and just give up his past? Was he capable of that? He didn't know yet, the wound still too raw to have perspective.

Royal was watching him as if he could guess the brunette's train of thought. "You don't have to decide now, you know, about what you're going to do. And you can always change your mind - you could track them for the next few years and than reevaluate what to do after."

"I think it would hurt Edythe if I was too invested in their lives," he said quietly. "I don't want her to think I resent her for losing them."

"This isn't about her. This is about you." When Beau didn't respond, Royal softened. "She wouldn't need to know, Beau. I could help you keep it discreet until you decide. You should always have the choice."

"You'd help?" he replied somewhat incredulously.

If Royal felt snubbed by the accusation, he chose to rise above it. "I don't hate you, Beau, despite what you might think from what you heard earlier with me and Edythe. As a human you were an unnecessary complication, it was nothing personal. Well not completely," he amended as Beau's eyebrow rose. "Its hard to not be a little - annoyed, shall we say? - when faced with someone who has all the opportunities you wish you still had and is completely ignoring them in favor of being a part of a world you never wanted. But as I was saying," he continued as if he wanted to wave away basically admitting he had been jealous of Beau. "I would be willing to help you. I can keep Edythe out of my mind better than anyone, even Carine. If you ask, I can help keep tabs on your father and mother until a time you ask me to stop. Sound good?"

"Yes, it does." Beau couldn't believe how relieved he felt at his offer. "Thank you, Royal. Truly. I'll owe you forever."

"Yes, you will." He sounded amused. "And I will cash that in someday, maybe in a few decades. Until then, you'll need to help me in the garage now and again as I start bringing in parts for the Civic. If you can shake Edythe off, I will also use those times to let you know about your family's coming and goings. Is that fair?"

"More than fair."

Royal reached out a hand as if to pat Beau on the shoulder, but seemed to think better of it. His hand awkwardly shot back to his side as he stayed in a kneeling position with the car overhead. "I don't know what the future hold for us, but know I consider you a part of my family now too. I don't relish having Edythe barking at me to watch after you, but I'll do it if it means keeping our family safe. That's probably selfish - I know she would say so - but there it is."

"It's not selfish," Beau said quietly, his eyes trained up at the car's under belly. "You're fiercely loyal, and I can respect that. I'll do my best to not cause trouble for the family. Our family."

He nodded assuredly. "Good. You can put her down now, I've got everything I need to make my shopping list."

Royal but his hands on either side of Beau's as they slowly set the Civic back down on its tires. Beau was just rolling to his feet just as Edythe reappeared at the doorway. He didn't think she had heard their conversation; he supposed she had just been waiting to hear them finish up with the car to appear.

She made a point of ignoring her brother, crossing the area gracefully to stand beside Beau. "You're done?"

Beau looked over at Royal, who nodded. "For now. Royal will call me back over when he needs me."

She sighed. "I suppose it can't be avoided. In the mean time, I'll take you out for a nearby hunting trip." Her hand was on his cheek, smoothing his hair away. "Your eyes are a bit dark. Carine will join us. Come."

Royal rolled his eyes but smartly said nothing.

Beau followed her out the way she came in, waving cautiously to Royal as he did. The blonde waved back automatically, giving him a little hope for their relationship. They weren't exactly friends but there was an understanding there.

Realistically, Beau knew Royal was right about not being sure what their dynamic might be in the coming years, but he felt confident at least that it wouldn't be as antagonistic as he might as thought before. And that was more than enough. For now.