Carys asks Carlisle about who he's slept with before. She knows it was only one person. Not sure when this happens, but it takes place before she moves into the Cullen house, and they're at her house, sitting up and reading before bed.

Carlisle's eyes flared, and he stared down at his newspaper as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Carys shifted, adjusting the pillows behind her as she turned. Still, he refused to meet her eye.

"Carlisle... You know about my exes." There had been two, and a smattering of short-lived liaisons at university. "You've never actually told me about her."

Carlisle seemed as if he wasn't going to answer for a while, until Carys' staring became too much for him, and then he turned a page and said, "Her name was Heidi. And as you know, it was short lived."

"Heidi..." Carys repeated the name quietly to herself. She'd heard it somewhere before. "Heidi... Heidi... And this was during your Volturi days."

"Yes."

"Heidi..."

Carlisle looked as if he were waiting fearfully for her to make the connection with what he'd told her about key Guard members. When she did, she sat bolt upright and gasped. He flinched.

"Heidi, as in Volturi bait, Heidi?" she asked, her shocked exclamation rising through the room. "As in, the one who's literal power is being the most attractive person on the planet, Heidi? That Heidi?"

Staring resolutely at his paper, Carlisle shook it out and nodded, grimacing as he did so. Carys snatched it from his grip, acknowledging he must have let her, otherwise it would have ripped. After dropping it just out of reach, she waited until he finally looked up and met her eye.

"You slept with the most beautiful person in the entire world?!"

He thought for a moment, and then smiled gently. "I share a bed with the most beautiful person in the entire world almost every night," he said, carefully choosing his words.

Carys shook her head and poked at his hard shoulder. "We both know that's not true. It's her power... What does she look like?" she asked after a moment's consideration, crinkling her nose.

Looking as if he wanted to be absolutely anywhere else in the world, Carlisle answered, "I'm not sure you'd like to know that."

"I think I do," said Carys, nodding slowly, "I think I probably need to..."

"Well...," he said, wincing before he continued, "Heidi has... Are you sure you'd like to hear this?"

"Yes please."

"Alright... Long mahogany hair..."

"The same colour Rosalie had me dye mine!?"

"No. Not quite. Rose simply knew how much I liked your natural hair."

"And it was the style when you were human."

"I suppose so."

"Go on."

"Red eyes."

"Naturally," Carys half-snapped.

"Pale skin."

"You're just describing vampires right now, Carlisle. I think you know what I'm asking."

"She's... Around the same height as you."

"Around the same height, or she is the same height?" queried Carys.

"There's a millimetre or two in it... Though," he said, grimacing, "you're the taller, and your hair is far longer? Even when it's curly. Yes. Yours is longer."

Carys bit her lip as hard as she could without hurting herself. Sniffing gently, she turned away and returned her attention to the book on her lap. She could feel him watching her out of the corner of his eye as he slowly retrieved his paper.

He threw it to the end of the bed and followed her down as she suddenly curled herself into a ball, facing away from him. He was hugging her before she thought to complain.

Of course he'd been attracted to Heidi. Carys shouldn't have been surprised. It would have to be her to attract him past knowing her occupation.

"I love you," he reminded her, speaking against her ear. "This was two hundred years ago."

"Don't pretend jealousies are logical," she grumbled before pulling the cover over her head. "And please don't laugh at me." Her voice was muffled, but her upset was clearer than ever.

Carlisle tugged the cover from her grasp, pulling it to her shoulder. "I nearly gave myself away by hissing at the mere mention of you talking to another man in a bar. I hot-footed it across the hospital purely so that I could know - in person - if you agreed to a date with him."

"I only thought he was handsome," Carys grumbled, melting a little.

"Exactly. Now think how different it was with Heidi."

Alarmed, Carys lifted her head. "You mean she forced you?"

"No." Carlisle hugged her tighter than ever. "Only that when she wants to be irresistible, she's damn near irresistible."

"You mean you had no choice?"

Carlisle faltered for a moment. "Well... No. I had a choice."

Despite herself, Carys laughed. Carlisle turned her to face him, and she put up no fight.

"Are you really upset by this?" he worried aloud.

"I don't know... Why couldn't you've slept with... I don't know... Esme or someone?"

The words had barely left her mouth before Carlisle stiffened and let out a horrified, strangled sound.

"I just mean 'cause now you'd be best friends and I'd know I had nothing to worry about," she explained. "You did pretend to be married on and off for more than half a century."

He relaxed a little, though some of the horror lingered in his expression.

"You don't have anything to worry about now," he reminded her.

"Apart from the fact you can remember every single detail about her?"

"I can remember every detail about a lot of-oh, fine. Yes, I can remember her - but no, I don't remember her. Do you recall your exes?"

"No...," Carys conceded, burrowing closer. "But none of them came close to you. And I don't just mean your breathtaking looks."

"And it's the same for me," Carlisle whispered, rolling onto his back and taking her with him. "No one - before or since has ever, or will ever hold a candle to you."

Carys thought for a moment. "You mean that, don't you?" she asked, pressing up onto her elbows to meet his sincere gaze with her mildly-accusatory one.

His response was firm. "Yes."

Carys sighed. There wasn't so much as a hint of a lie. She wasn't sure if that was annoying or not.

"You know," he went on, "I wanted to snatch you away the first time I saw you?"

"Really?" Carys asked as she frowned. "That's... Probably the last thing I expected you'd ever say."

Carlisle nodded, and then launched into the story of the first day they'd met. He excluded nothing, not even the vote that came later that evening.