Thank you so much IamTheAlleyCat for beta'ing and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading and reviewing xxx


Chapter Six

Carlisle

My mind was not capable of forgetting anything, it was absolute and perfect, so I had no excuse for not telling Bella that summer break was approaching and the rest of my family—with one notable exception—would be coming to Oregon.

It wasn't that I thought it would be a problem for her; she had been gracious enough to allow me a part in her life again, and I was sure it would be the same for the rest of us. She would surely be thrilled to see Alice, Esme, and Emmett as they had been close before. Jasper and Bella had never formed much of a bond because he was forced to keep his distance, but they'd been friendly. Rosalie was the sticking point, but I was sure Bella would be able to handle her hostility if it reared its head.

Perhaps it was the opposite; perhaps I was being selfish.

For months now, it had been just the two of us together. I'd had a chance to get to know her as someone separate from my son, and I found she was lovely. She was funny and kind. All the things I had admired in her before were still there, but there was more to her now. I looked forward to our time together and was always eager to make more plans when that time was over. I would have to share that time now.

Knowing the decline in our time was coming, I appreciated what I had even more, though it was already shared with many other people. I remembered Bella having a small group of friends in Forks, but she was gregarious with her relationships now, and I could not see her as often as I would like as she was with her other friends.

Everything about her life was what Edward would have wanted for her had he asked himself the right questions, but it had come at a high price for them both.

I didn't know exactly what she meant when she said he had ruined her, but it didn't take a lot of thought to imagine how it must have been for her. My regret for leaving had always been because of what it had done to Edward. Now the guilt was split two ways, though in Bella's case it was for what she had suffered then rather than what she was suffering still.

It wasn't just Bella I had neglected to mention things to; it was the others in my family, too. Though I had spoken to them since Bella returned to my life, I hadn't mentioned her once. By the lack of their sudden arrival, I guessed Alice hadn't seen her either.

All in all, I had created a dilemma for myself that I could only solve with honesty. I decided that honesty had to begin with Bella, so I invited her to the house one morning before our shifts started.

I had visited her home a few times since her disastrous blind date, but she had never been to mine before. It wasn't that I thought she would particularly care about the state of the house, but it was customary to have furniture for guests to sit on. I had some seating, in my study, but the rest of the house was almost exactly as it had been when we purchased it.

I was just beginning to think inviting her might have been a bad idea, after all, when I heard the sound of tires leaving the smooth asphalt of the road for the hard-packed dirt that made up my drive.

I went outside to meet her, lingering on the porch as she drew closer. When she drove into view, her eyes widened momentarily, and then she grinned. I wondered if it was me or the house that had earned the reaction.

I darted to her side as she pulled to a stop and opened the door for her. She laughed softly as she climbed out.

In lieu of a traditional greeting, she said, "Wow. This place is something else."

"Esme's choice," I said, looking back at the house with assessing eyes.

I had become somewhat accustomed to the beauty of the houses Esme always chose for us. I always complimented her on them, and for the first day or so I appreciated our surroundings, but then it just became home, and I failed to notice its charm.

I led Bella into the house and waited nervously as she looked around at the spacious, unfurnished and undecorated room. "Oh," she said. "Well, this sure isn't Esme's choice."

"Uh, no. This, or perhaps the lack of this is more correct, is all down to me."

She laughed a full laugh that made her bow over and tears stream down her face. "Oh, Carlisle. How can you live like this?"

"I don't," I replied. "Come with me." I held out a hand, and she took it, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the other. I led her across the room into the side room I had taken as a study.

As she entered, she looked around and sighed out a breath. "This is more like it. It's like home."

It was almost exactly the same as my study in the Forks' house had been. It was the same layout I always kept, from the moment I first had a proper home to add a study to.

My collection of paintings, telling the story of my life, was on the walls, and the opposite wall was concealed by shelves of some of my most beloved books. The mahogany desk and leather chesterfield chairs and loveseat were the same, and the cross my father had preached in front of was leaned against the wall beside the window.

She nodded to herself. "This is great, but I have to say the rest of the place is a disaster. You do realize that Esme will come back from Alaska eventually, and she's going to want a home instead of a shell, right?"

"I know," I sighed. "I just haven't…"

"Done anything about it?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "We can fix it. If you want help that is. I know you've got super vampy skills, but if you're looking for a little help, I'm here."

"You'd be surprised how little 'vampy skills' help when choosing furniture and window dressings," I said with a smile.

She nodded seriously. "I'm guessing you can wallpaper like a champ, though."

"That is true. I am also skilled with a paintbrush."

"Good," she said decisively. "You can take care of the walls, and I'll sort furniture. That's if you want my help."

"I would love your help. Where do you think we should start?"

"Well, I picked up an extra shift, so I've got to get to work in an hour, but Howard's Home Improvement in town has a pretty good selection of supplies. We can go by now to pick up some paint chips. I'm free tomorrow, so we can go into Portland and look at furniture. Give me a few weeks, and we'll have this place looking great."

"Uh," I said awkwardly. "That might be a small problem."

She frowned. "Why?"

"I should have told you sooner," I admitted. "It's just that summer break is coming, and they will be coming here."

"They as in Alice and Emmett?" she asked, and I thought I detected a hint of excitement in her eyes.

"They as in everyone but Edward."

"Oh," she said faintly. "Wow."

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I can divert them," I said, though they would want to know why, and I wouldn't be able to keep Bella a secret if Alice was looking for answers.

"Uncomfortable?" she asked incredulously. "Hell, no! I want to see them. That'd be awesome. But…" She trailed off and bit her lip, deep in thought. "They would want to see me, right?"

I smiled affectionately. She was so different in so many ways, but there was still a hint of the insecurity I had known all those years ago. "Bella," I said happily. "I am sure that, when they know you are here, I am going to be hard pushed to keep them from you."

"They don't already know I'm here?" she asked.

"I haven't told them. You have been my secret."

"Edward said it wasn't practical to keep secrets in your family."

My smile widened. "It isn't. I just happen to be better at it than they are."

She laughed. "Brilliant. In that case, we have a lot of work to do."

I nodded, satisfied that she was reassured.

It would be interesting, not to mention exciting, to take on the task of decorating and furnishing the large house in the space of a week. Not that the physical work part of it was a challenge. I was looking forward to working with Bella on the project. I wanted the house to be hers in part, too, as it was for everyone else I cared for. I wanted her comfortable here.

I wanted it to be home.


"Okay, I have to ask," Bella said. "Is it a universal vampire thing or are you guys special in your aversion to color?"

I looked up from the selection of beige and taupe paint chips in my hand and frowned. "We do like color."

"Then why do you decorate to complement your skin?"

I laughed.

"Not that I don't like it," she went on. "It's just an observation."

"I don't truly know. It was always Esme's preference to stick with light colors. We can decorate any color you like, though."

"It's not my home to decide," she said. "You can have any color you want. I was just wondering."

I dropped the paint chips in my hand and picked up more in bright reds and greens. I examined them. They didn't seem the colors anyone would be comfortable surrounded by in their home, but then I remembered the warm reds and browns of Bella's home and reassessed.

"No, Carlisle," she said patiently, plucking them from my hand and setting them down again. "I don't mean you have to live in an IKEA showroom. I was just thinking something like this would be nice." She showed me a selection of greens ranging from deep teal to pale sage. She tapped her finger against the palest. "What do you think?"

"I think it's lovely." And it was. The color would be soft and pleasant on the walls.

"And you could use one of the darker shades on the fireplace wall to make the other colors pop."

"Pop?"

She grinned. "I have a guilty pleasure I never admitted to before. I love Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Tell no one."

I leaned in close to whisper. "Do you cry?"

Her eyes widened. "You watch it, too!"

"Tell no one," I said solemnly.

She giggled and shoved my shoulder. I allowed myself to be moved, smiling at the easy contact.

"So, are we decided?" I asked, holding up the paint chip.

"I think so," she said. "I think white will work for the kitchen since it's not going to get dirty, and we can leave the dining room for Esme to choose."

We had already decided that the bedrooms would be left for the occupants themselves to decorate. Alice and Rosalie were particular, and also, as I had learned with Bella, it would be fun for them.

I put the necessary paint tins in our cart, and we moved on to the rollers and brushes.


The sticking point of the plan was furniture. The stores I would usually choose from handcrafted to orderת and we just didn't have time to wait. Bella had a simple enough answer. We shopped from a different store and paid less. I wondered if anyone would notice. Bella assured me they wouldn't if we went for the higher range items. Even if they did, it didn't matter to me and shouldn't matter to them—Rosalie included. It wasn't as if we felt more comfortable on a top-quality leather couch than a more reasonably-priced alternative.

After an afternoon spent happily watching Bella comparing the comfort of couches and colors of wooden furniture, we finished and went home victorious with the salesman's assurance that it would all be delivered within the timeframe we were working with.

The funniest part of shopping with her was when we went to the electronics department. She tagged a sales assistant and asked for 'a big-ass TV with all the shiny functions'. I had questioned it, remembering the small set at her house, and she had answered with one word. "Emmett."

Unable to argue with that, I had paid and we left the store. When we got back to the house, Bella instructed me to set up the paint and equipment while she changed. I did as she asked and then paused when she came back into the room. Her hair was hidden behind an Astoria PD baseball cap, and her tank top and jeans were already paint-spattered from previous projects.

"Ready?" she asked brightly, and I nodded.

She set music to playing on her phone and put it on the windowsill, away from the area we were working.

I picked up a roller and swiped it through the paint and then held it out to Bella. She took it with a bow. "Thank you, kind sir."

I returned the bow. "You are most welcome, Miss Bella."

She laughed and I enjoyed the sound.

We were each taking a portion of the darker wall and, though she had said, "Go ahead with the super-speed," I chose to match my pace to hers, to just enjoy the action rather than the result while we worked together.

She hummed along to the music and swayed slightly in a form of dancing as she moved the roller up and down the wall. I was able to concentrate on what I was doing and on her without trouble, and I smiled as I worked.

It had been a long time since I had done something like this. Esme had always been the one to decorate while I took on all available shifts at the hospital. She had been eager to spend time with Tanya's coven this time, though, to take distraction and comfort from our extended family. I supposed she thought I could manage to do the job this once. She would be amused when she learned it had taken months and the help of Bella to get it done.

As if Bella had tapped into my thoughts, she said, "You miss them all, don't you?"

I needed no clarification. "I do. Esme especially. This is the first time we have been parted since I changed her all those years ago. Did Edward tell you the story of Esme's and my first meeting?" I asked.

"He told me that she was taken to the morgue and you found her there, still alive."

"Yes," I said a little sadly, remembering her poor broken body with perfect clarity. "But that wasn't the first time we met."

"It wasn't?"

"No. Esme was around sixteen when I saw her for the first time. I was working briefly in a small Ohio town just outside Columbus. I was called to a house to treat a young girl that had fallen out of the tree she was climbing."

She sucked in a breath. "Esme?"

"Yes, Esme. She had broken her leg. I was…intrigued by this girl, so full of verve, so spirited. The very fact she had been climbing a tree when she hurt herself was enough to interest me. It was not something young ladies of the time did. A few weeks after treating her, I moved on from the area, but I didn't forget her. Ten years later, I saw that same face in the morgue, and I just couldn't bear to let her die. The rest of the story you know; she became one of us and joined our family. She became a mother to Edward, and when Rosalie and Emmett joined us, she took them under her wing, too."

Bella smiled. "And she became your mate."

I nodded. "She is my life. She knows me as well as I know myself." My lips quirked. "I sometimes think she perhaps knows me even better than I do."

"That must be nice," she said. "Having someone that knows you so well. The closest I've had to that is Renee, and even then, it was more that I knew her." She shrugged. "I'd like that."

"And you never felt that with Edward or Alice?" I asked.

She looked down at the roller in her hand. "No. Not really. Edward didn't know me well enough to be honest, and Alice didn't know me well enough to say goodbye. It doesn't matter really. It's just… One day I would like that for myself."

I felt sad for her, though I thought I could understand, too. Before Edward, I had spent over two centuries without anything close to that kind of connection to anyone.

She shook her head and smiled brightly. "Anyway. Stop slacking, Mister. We've got work to do."

"Yes," I agreed. "We do."

I bent to refuel my roller and then heard a quick indrawn breath and a giggle. I looked up in time to see Bella spinning her roller in the air and spattering my face with flecks of paint. For a moment I froze, half bent over with the cloying smell of paint in my nose.

She giggled again and pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle the sound.

I straightened, and a wicked smile crept across my lips. "You're really going to regret that."

She dropped the roller on the plastic sheeting that covered the floor and made a run for the door. I caught her around the waist and lifted her into the air.

She squealed. "Put me down!"

"No," I said happily. "I told you that you'll regret it, and I am a man of my word." I ran up to the painted wall and spun her in my arms.

Realizing what I was about to do, she squirmed harder. "Carlisle, don't!"

She was still giggling, though, so I believed it was okay to press her against the wet wall as if I was finger-painting with her body. Her giggles became throaty laughter, and I laughed with her as I released her.

She pushed away from the wall and tried to look over her shoulder at her now painted back. "I can't believe you just did that."

"Should I apologize?" I asked, trying not to smile.

"No. I am just wondering where did this come from? What happened to the serious doctor I knew before?"

"He grew up," I said.

"Don't you mean grew down?" she asked with a smile.

"No," I said seriously, "I mean I grew up. I realized there was more to the world than piety and maturity."

"Good." She grinned. "You might be a centuries-old vampire, but you're still a young man."

And I realized she was right. I had enjoyed my life before, but with the absence of Edward, I had lost some of that enjoyment. I almost felt I had been in a state of mourning. It had taken this enigmatic human to make me see that life was not all dark without him.

I would be forever grateful to her for it.


So… That was a little fun between Bella and Carlisle before the rest of the family descend. I am looking forward to that, but I really enjoyed writing them alone, too. It was a change from my usual fare—both in Twilight and Supernatural.

Until next time…

Simaril xxx