CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BREAK OF A BASEBALL BAT
Linda's declaration leaves Carlisle stunned, leaving him blinking at her owlishly as he realizes that she knows the truth. The straightforwardness of her question takes him off guard as she waits for an answer from him. He can't seem to find one for her.
While a human knowing the truth about them is dangerous - with the biggest threat being the Volturi finding out - he has a feeling that it just is not that simple, especially given that her own husband - just like Ariel - is not human.
Charlie seems to become more invested in their conversation, tugging on Carlisle's leg to get his attention. Carlisle looks at him after a moment, forcing a warm smile toward the child that hands him one of the pigeon's feathers as if it is a gift. Carlisle takes the feather, making sure he tells Charlie just how much it is appreciated before the child is off to continue to play with the birds.
Realization seems to dawn on Linda, her cheeks flushing.
"I'm sorry. Amenadiel and Ariel talk a lot about it and I got curious. I mean - vampires that's pretty - wow. Not the craziest thing that I've found out about, sure, but it definitely is in my top five. I promise that your secret is as safe with me as theirs are. I'm honestly just glad that we actually know a physical, medical doctor now so that I don't have to keep patching up wounds."
Carlisle's brows furrow, from the casual mention that vampires aren't the craziest thing that she knows about to the casual mention of patching up wounds; both which bring a new onslaught of questions that he wants to ask as he realizes that as much as he knows, there is still much unknown about Ariel and her family.
"-It happens a lot, so just expect midnight calls about how to stitch up a dangerous wound. I should really get going though so I don't run the meter, it was a pleasure meeting you, Dr. Cullen - and please, take care of Ariel for us."
Linda's eyes glimmer with raw sincerity and Carlisle wonders just how complex Ariel's family (and species) is that her family worries about her this much; and he wonders just what has happened between them to warrant the worry about her. It takes him a moment to find his voice before he speaks up, answering at least part of her statement.
"I will."
Linda hums thoughtfully, giving him a nod in return before she's out the door. He waits until he hears the cab drive off to finally relax, looking at Charlie with curious eyes; like Ariel, there is just something about Charlie that feels… warm. The child is happily giggling as he wanders around the open living room and kitchen, following wherever the birds take him.
Carlisle focuses on the child, after deciding that he will handle one thing at a time. He can't do much about Linda knowing about vampires right now, especially without Ariel present. But he can observe the hybrid in front of him and try to figure out some answers.
Charlie, oblivious to Carlisle's curious observing eyes, happily waddles after the birds and picks up every loose feather he can find on the ground.
Just what are you, Carlisle wonders in amusement as the child continues to bring him every pigeon feather that he finds. Carlisle's heart warms at each 'gift', continuing to thank the boy each time. The interactions make it very clear that hybrid or not, the child seems to be just like any other child his age.
There is no indication that he is older than he appears, or insanely mature beyond his age. Ariel has talked about caring for him when he was a baby four years ago and the child in front of him definitely seems to be four years old, just as Ariel said. Which means as far as Carlisle can tell, despite being a hybrid, Charlie seems to be aging like any human child.
It also means that whatever Ariel may be, her kind certainly at least seems capable of producing human-hybrids. The idea leaves a bit of bitter taste in his mouth, the idea that if she were with a human, then she could (in theory) conceive a child; something that he is fairly certain that he won't be able to do. That she is giving that up to be with him.
Charlie giggles and brings him over another feather. Carlisle accepts it - yet again - wondering just how many pigeon feathers Ariel's birds are leaving around. He starts to put it with the others in his hand before pausing.
He squints at the feather as it stands out among the others in his hand. Against the others, the feather looks vastly different than the others. The color being more vibrantly gray and having a shiny sheen to it that gleams against the indoor lights; giving it a more ethereal look to it. Being significantly larger than the other feathers in his hand, it looks more reminiscent to an owl's feather than a pigeon. The pigeons, however, are the only birds that Carlisle knows of that Ariel takes care in her house.
Hesitantly, when Carlisle looks up and sees no sign of any other feathers like it, he sticks it (carefully) into his pocket for the future, having a compulsion to look it over closely at a later date.
"Who's that?"
Charlie's voice is soft and gentle as he presses his hands against the glass near the back patio of Ariel's house. His nose is scrunched up against the glass, his eyes wide and curious as he fixates on something in the treeline. He turns to look at Carlisle for answers while raising a hand to point outside, repeating his question.
Rosalie. Carlisle almost forgot about her presence. He smiles warmly and scoops up the child in his arms.
"That's my daughter," Carlisle states simply as he opens the back door. "Rosalie."
Charlie waves goodbye to the birds stuck inside of the house as they go outside together. Now closer to the odd figure in the treeline, Charlie squirms in Carlisle's grasp, trying to get down. Carlisle gently sets him on the ground at his insistence. Charlie walks confidently toward Rosalie's hidden spot among the trees, arms outstretched with curious eyes and a large, innocent smile.
Seeing the child walk toward her, Rosalie hesitantly emerges from the brush. She meets the child halfway and at Charlie's request to get picked up, her hands hover around him before obliging. When Charlie simply giggles and laughs at being picked up, her resolve melts.
The moment that her shift ends, Ariel is immediate in getting to Charlie as fast as she can with a warmth blooming in her chest. Despite the shift not being insanely long, it certainly felt that way. It seemed like one thing after another kept going wrong - from spills, to accidents, to other nurses not writing down the correct information. She tried her best to take it all with dignity, even when she felt like taking out her frustration. The one small break that she got, she spent it outside to listen to the thundering storm brewing in the sky and relished in the way it calmed her. Without Carlisle present at the hospital, she felt a bit alone in the halls as she attended to different patients.
But she is looking forward to her day turning around.
Her phone has done nothing but blow up over the course of her short shift; a few texts from Carlisle, with Carlisle apologizing profusely as he explains that the entire coven has flooded her house to meet Charlie; an additional text explains that they will be at his house with Charlie's things, followed by some vague text about the birds not liking Emmett; a text from Alice quickly further explains that the birds thought Emmett made an excellent toilet choice.
Linda sends emojis with hearts as she sends vague texts about seeing what Ariel sees in the doctor. Amenadiel's frustrated voice comes through in his messages; all of which Ariel sends brief replies to that his son is perfectly fine and to let her enjoy her time with her nephew.
Texts from Alice are high in number, with her sending constant texts about Charlie, including lots of pictures of Charlie; each of which she promptly saves into her phone. Some pictures she isn't sure of, not immediately recognizing some of the apparent other coven members, with her interactions always being brief and in passing at the hospital when they visited Carlisle.
But the pictures that Alice sends give her an immediate big picture of just how much the coven is enjoying watching over Charlie. Rosalie holding Charlie. Charlie hugging up against Carlisle. Emmett plays with some of Charlie's toys; some of the pictures feature Charlie playing with him, but others lack Charlie's presence and leave Emmet playing on the floor with the toys alone. Jasper being stoic as Charlie looks up at him with big, doe eyes of wonder. A selfie of Alice and Charlie. Edward looked incredibly uncomfortable as Charlie sat beside him on the piano bench, his little fingers outstretched to play the keys.
Their apparent interactions with her nephew makes her regret not spending more time with the coven that Carlisle calls family. Aside from the few shopping trips that she's made with Alice and their exchanges over text, she regrettably admits that she doesn't know the others very well. It makes her heart swell that despite that, each of them are still watching over her nephew and entertaining him.
To Carlisle
I'm going to shower and change before I come relieve you of your babysitting duties. Be lucky that you didn't have to come in - there was a code orange. Can't see Charlie until I clean up.
She follows it with a series of frustrated and sad emojis before tucking the phone into her pocket and slipping on her helmet, trying her best to ignore the chemical smell seeping from her.
Carlisle immediately greets her when Ariel arrives at the house. He notices the tired gleam in her eyes, the bags forming under her eyes from a tiring shift. He gently leads her in, a hand around her waist as he pulls her close. She leans into his embrace as they head inside. The coven gives little notice to her entrance, merely glancing at her as Carlisle whispers soft comforts into her ear. Edward appears uncomfortable as Carlisle's thoughts about how to comfort her reach his mind.
They stand in the middle of the Cullen's living room, silent, as she leans against Carlisle's side. She looks worried, with her brows furrowed. Her eyes hooded, tired, and older. Carlisle looks at her with a soft, understanding gaze and his arm moves around her, clutching her hip. He presses a quick kiss to the top of her head, almost as if he is making an unspoken promise to her and the creases in her face relax. She sighs in content, her tired eyes closing against his comforting worry seems to melt away against him and she can feel the vibration of his thoughtful, calming hums.
Alice watches with twinkling eyes, nudging Jasper in the ribs to get his attention; he nods in acknowledgement at the small moment, knowing that her excitement can only mean that this moment is what she saw all that time ago.
"Auntie!"
Charlie's excited squeal cuts through the tender silence in the room as Rosalie enters the room with the boy against her hip. He giggles and reaches for Ariel with wiggling fingers. No matter how tired she may feel, Charlie's presence lightens her load as she goes toward him to take him from Rosalie.
"There's my little owlet," Ariel coos, her eyes gleaming with joy as a soft smile stretches across her face. She glances toward Rosalie, "And it seems like you were in such good hands."
Rosalie huffs at the comment, but Ariel can see the glimpse of a smile on her face as she hands over the child. Ariel immediately hugs him tightly, burying herself against him as he squeals happily when she blows raspberries against his cheeks and tickles his sides. Rosalie watches the exchange silently, a heaviness forming in her chest; she barely acknowledges Emmett when he places a silent hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"Thank you for keeping him busy," Ariel glances toward everyone, her voice sincere and soft, "I was - I was really worried that something would happen while I was working and I wouldn't be able to see him."
Ariel's eyes are aglow when she glances toward her nephew, love shining in her eyes. "Charlie means a lot to the whole family. I knew that you all would take good care of him, thank you."
The sincerity and love in her voice is clear, the energy beaming from her fills the room with a soft, caring feeling that makes them all relax with a calming sigh. She seems to glow in the low light in a way that basks all of them. Carlisle watches her closely with adoration, feeling the energy pulsing from her and the way that Charlie seems to acknowledge it and do the same thing as he grins and giggles.
Though Edward wasn't as confident as she seems to be in their abilities of control and their ability to take care of Charlie, he gives a tense nod in acknowledgement to her statement. Alice grins wildly as she leans against Jasper, who stands behind her with his arms wrapped tightly around her, his chin resting on the top of her head.
"Thank you for trusting us with him," Carlisle finally voices, stepping forward toward Ariel. He puts his hand on her shoulder and she beams at him with a glowing grin.
Rosalie takes a step back, easing into the shadows as Emmett watches her closely, noticing the pained look in her eyes.
"I'm not sure what we're doing to do now that it's storming," Ariel frowns, "Originally, it was going to be the lake."
Emmett is the one to step forward, his eyes turning wild as he grins madly, "Take him with us to our baseball match so he can see the way I beat everyone!"
Vampires playing baseball in a thunderstorm is added to the list of things that Ariel didn't expect when she moved to Forks. Used to the oddness of her own family, it doesn't surprise too much but it is still unexpected. It reminds her of the saying that every family's weird, but everyone is weird in their own way that is weird to everyone else. So here is she, standing in a clearing of the forest as thunder rolls in overhead. Unlike the Cullens, who seem to be unfazed by the drizzle of rain that starts, she at least wears a raincoat. If anything, to set an example for Charlie who is splashing around in a mud puddle in his own matching coat, hat and boats.
"There's a joke somewhere about all of you having matching baseball uniforms," Ariel states coyly as she glances toward Carlisle.
"When you find out what that joke is, be sure to let me know," Carlisle teases her as they share a chaste kiss before the rest of the coven start their game.
"Come on," Emmett urges, hollering as he swings the bat around impatiently, "Less flirting, more baseball!"
Ariel scoops Charlie up when the game begins to keep him out of the way of the overeager vampires. She knows that it is unlikely that they would accidentally run him over, but Charlie's heritage makes it easier for him to get hurt. He has yet to catch a cold, he's even taken after Amenadiel's wings, but Ariel remembers the first time that Linda freaked out when Charlie accidentally broke his arm because he played too rough. Superhuman strength plus human bones are not a good combination.
Ariel opts to sit down on a rock nearby, watching as Carlisle starts to wind up the ball. She holds Charlie tightly in her lap. Charlie pouts at being taken away from the mud puddle, squirming with incoherent frustration. Rosalie glances at them from the corners of her eyes and Ariel doesn't miss the hint of anger in her irises. When he starts to squirm too much, Ariel's hold doesn't falter. The glowering child grows restless against her chest.
Not wanting him to expose his wings in a desperate attempt to get away or get hurt in her gentle, yet firm and strong grip, Ariel hisses in his ear. Her words are distorted as Enochian is whispered from her lips. Her voice is soft, being covered by the crack of Emmett's bat as he swings at the ball.
English, at times, does not always reach the small nephilim. To Linda's surprise, Charlie had learned the tongue of the angels easier and faster than he did any human language. It is one of the many things that no one expected from the unexpected child.
"Settle down, little bird. Watch."
Ariel gently points toward the game, refusing to use the power of her voice to command anything from the child, instead trying to get him to listen from his own will. Charlie pouts, but turns in her lap to follow where she is pointing. The way Carlisle watches them curiously makes her flush as she realizes that he may have heard her despite the thunder and the noise of Emmett's bat.
But with the game in full swing, Carlisle can't exactly say much. Charlie's eyes go wide with wonder as the vampires become fast blurs in the wind, dashing around violently as they do not go easy against each other. Ariel giggles when more than one of them go flying due to being pushed by one of the others. Charlie laughs every time a bat is broken or makes a boom in time with the thunder; he giggles and squirms every time Rosalie makes a show of waving at him each time that she is up to bat.
It's not a day on the lake; it's not the quiet and sunny day that she expected to have with her nephew. Instead, it is something much better.
Enochian - the language of the angels; Maze mentions it once in Lucifer that I remember (very briefly; she mentions the language and made a sort of growling noise with it, but it not mentioned again that I can remember). I like the idea that Charlie picked it up easier and faster than he did English.
Nephilim - In the Bible, these were the children that happened between the angels and mankind. Specifically, it is mentioned that they are the offspring of 'sons of God and the daughters of man'; even more so, they were supposed to be the offspring of fallen angels and humans. In both cases, Charlie would 100% be considered a nephilim (I do not think that they mention in this Lucifer, but I could be wrong). Supposedly, they were also 'giants'. One known nephilim is the Goliath (as in David and the Goliath).
In this case, Carlisle notices that Charlie is larger than most kids his age; this is because he is a nephilim.
