Thank you to souverian, Ellixwolf, lucefatale, Ghostwritter71, Guest (I'm glad you liked it! It was years in the making now I think of it!), sinxical, Love. Fiction. 2020, OnyxWritter, magicbustrip, and Jasper's Hope (We'll see about her mum soon - remember it's from Carys' side only that we have our information... It's SUPER creepy, I agree - an ex-boyfriend of mine used to do it and unnerving is not the word... Toasted Carys is amazing, I agree, and we'll maybe see a bit more of that in the future! And yep, she's going to have to get him back for his rudeness!) for your reviews!
I might need to mention, we're on Thursday/Friday in this chapter - Sunday is the day Bella meets Edward's family and the Nomads show up! So close!
Chapter 15
Carys spent Thursday morning trying to concentrate on work, but in the back of her mind, she formed a plan of revenge.
Her plan was easily decided - she simply lingered over certain details.
It relied heavily on Carlisle's appreciation of her body for one thing - which was a detail she mulled over for an hour or so... But, as she was pretty sure he had some rather lustful designs towards her when she was fully clothed - if she'd been right about what she'd felt the night before - her only real issue was whether or not her silk slip still fit.
With her plan formed and cemented by the time lunch rolled around, she just had to wait. Lull him into a false sense of security. Plan her attack for when he least expected it. And make sure that they weren't alone where he could tempt her until she was ready to enact her vengeance.
It was then almost too perfect that Esme called her towards the end of her workday to ask if she'd like to have dinner together that night.
So perfect, she debated for a moment or two over whether to accept - which was really all the time Sarah needed to pop her head around the door and remind her that they had plans.
Luckily, Esme was more than happy to push dinner by a day, and so that evening Carys emptied her mind of revenge in favour of learning about American Football from Sarah, Monica, and oddly enough Charlie - who'd been dragged out for exactly an hour, no more, no less.
She'd had fun.
Charlie, who was not only horrified she'd managed so long without at least knowing the basic rules of the game - and was then rendered completely speechless when she admitted she also had no idea about baseball or ice hockey either, seemed to have a far less enjoyable time of it.
The poor man left shaking his head in shock following Carys' final questioning.
"Isn't baseball a bit like rounders, but everything's bigger? And hockey - I mean, we used to play it on grass at school? Is it the same but ice, or do they have to use different sticks?"
Sarah and Monica wisely decided to change the subject after that, though their minds were eased a little when Carys admitted she knew about ice hockey at least and was just winding Charlie up on that one.
By the time Carlisle joined her that night, Carys was half-asleep and grumbling about having to come all the way downstairs to open the door just because he was too old to climb in her window without the risk of hurting his back.
When she woke up on Friday morning, turning in his arms to snuggle closer, and he laughingly reminded her of her "charming" comments the night before, her first clear thought of the day was simple.
Lulled into a false sense of security? Check.
Esme was waiting for Carys on the steps of the house when she pulled in to the drive on Friday afternoon. As she joined her, she pressed her hands together and smiled nervously.
"I... Hmm..." Esme glanced back at the house for a moment. "I'm not quite sure how to ask this... I'm sure it won't be a problem, but... Well, I wasn't quite sure what you might like to eat, and now that you're here, I'm afraid-" She broke off with a faintly worried frown.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be more than lovely," Carys assured her, her smile growing as she realised the source of Esme's anxiety was something so simple. After all, they usually forgot to feed her when she stayed the night unless her stomach rumbled, so something was definitely going to be better than nothing.
Esme's shoulders dropped as she let out a thankful sigh. "Oh, I'm glad. Oh! Where are my manners? Please, come in. Let me take your coat."
With that, Carys found herself bustled into the house and through the lounge, where she caught sight of the dining table and stopped dead in her tracks.
"I think I may have overprepared a little..." Esme mused from beside her, nervous again.
Carys shook her head slowly and tried to keep her expression as neutral as she could.
"No, not at all," she assured Esme carefully. "I'm... Not entirely sure I can make it through everything... This evening, but... I'm sure we can freeze some...?"
In stark contrast to the other times she'd visited the house, instead of no food... There was... Well...
"Esme..." She questioned, her hands flitting about when her friend reappeared from hanging her coat up and she finally managed to tear her gaze away from the dining table. "Have... Have you entertained much over the years...?"
Esme shook her head and smiled before they turned in unison to stare again at the mountain of food she'd prepared for her guest.
Carys blinked away a comparison that shot to mind between Esme's dinner and the market in Spirited Away and nodded slowly. She could tell.
"I've not really had the chance to," Esme explained, urging Carys forward to take a seat beside her as she sank into hers at the head of the table. "And I wasn't sure what to make as Alice and Edward are out hunting you see - they're usually the best ones to ask about humans... Jasper and Emmett thought I was going overboard, but I'm so glad you don't think so!"
Carys swallowed and forced herself not to agree with them vocally - instead, to nod again as she turned another smile on Esme, who'd easily catered for twenty hungry humans rather than one who'd had a bit of a big lunch, to begin with. And... Well, with that in mind to start, not all of it looked to be quite as edible as Carys might have liked...
"Did you prepare all of this yourself?" Carys asked with a raise of her eyebrows, trying to keep her expression mild as her friend took the plate in front of her and mentioned something about how she must try the lobster for her first course.
Carys really hoped it was a cooked lobster Esme was talking about as she tried to avoid making eye contact with the large, and rather... Newly departed looking fish that was laid across the other end of the long table. It was the only blight on an otherwise truly mouth-watering display.
"Oh, goodness, no!" Esme laughed as she replaced Carys' plate with one that - thankfully, Carys thought - held an incredibly delicious and cooked looking stuffed lobster tail. "I made some of it, but I had some delivered. I wasn't sure what you liked and I have to admit I was a little sceptical about how much Emmett was insisting you liked fish - but he was so sweet to go out and catch a fresh tuna after school today, wasn't he?"
Carys' eyes grew round as she stared at the fish. Made eye contact with the fish. Could have sworn the fish blinked.
"I erm... Yes..."
How did she explain that she liked her fish a little less fresh, without causing offence, she wondered.
"I'm practising, you see?" Esme carried on from beside her. "For when Edward brings Bella home. I don't want to get it wrong - he's been so lonely for such a long time..." She smiled worriedly when Carys pulled herself away from her silent apologies to the fish and looked at her again. "He's a son to me, and I suppose I really just hope she likes me - that I can make a good impression on her..."
Carys reached across and placed her hand over Esme's.
"She'll love you," she promised her, pulling back when Esme stiffened in the same way the others did sometimes when she got too close without warning. She was used to it, understood the reason why, more now than when she'd first met Edward, and so it had begun to sting a little less each time it happened. "She'd be a fool not to."
Esme's face crumbled, eyes shining as she held her arms to her waist. "Do you really think so?"
"I know so," Carys insisted, before looking over the sheer volume of food again. "Though, - and this is only a small suggestion, perhaps she'd like just one or two dishes?"
Esme bit her lip and nodded, scrunching her nose a little. "Perhaps you're right... I was thinking maybe I'd make her something... Italian? To match her name?"
"I think that sounds lovely," Carys agreed, picking up her knife and fork to dig in to her first course. Her eyes fluttered a moment later as she let out an appreciative moan. "Oh my god, this is incredible."
"What's incredible?"
Carys jumped and Esme saved her plate from falling into her lap as Carlisle seemed to appear from nowhere. She tried desperately to ignore Esme's snigger, not to look in her direction in case it was accompanied by a knowing grin.
Carys narrowed her eyes at Carlisle instead, who avoided meeting her eye in favour of giving her dress a once over.
"The lobster," she informed him when she could force air back into her lungs, waving her knife towards her plate. "What're you doing down here, anyway? Esme asked me to dinner, not me and my vampire."
Esme laughed as Carlisle blinked innocently at Carys, muffling the worst of the sound by pressing a hand to her mouth.
"You've monopolised her for far too long, Carlisle," she added in support of her friend, cutting across him happily when he went to speak. "This is what humans call a... Girl's night."
Carys nodded in agreement, placing her cutlery onto her plate so she could cross her arms - which only appeared to attract Carlisle's attention to a certain part of her anatomy. She shook her head slowly as he appeared to fight with himself - to stop himself from glancing south again - and he looked as if he would be bright red if he'd been able to blush.
"Esme's right," she informed him, curling her hand into a fist as she indicated over a shoulder with her thumb. "Now shove off so we can enjoy ourselves."
Carlisle seemed for a moment as if he was willing to fight them on it, but then he sighed heavily and rose to his feet, pressing a kiss to the top of Carys' head before he walked off at a far slower pace than he'd arrived.
"You should be careful," Esme whispered, glancing at Carlisle's retreating back as she leaned in with a smirk, "you're at risk of having that man wrapped around your little finger."
Carys chuckled quietly, leaning in herself as she shot her a jokingly conspiratorial grin.
"What makes you think that's not my plan already?" She whispered coyly, setting them both off laughing.
After Carys had announced she was completely stuffed and couldn't eat another morsel if she tried, she and Esme had - as Esme put it - "retired to the lounge for coffee and a pousse-café".
When Carys asked, Esme admitted that she'd wanted to use the term since she'd discovered it was the name for a post-coffee digestif more than fifty years before. And that she was even more excited to use the dry bar than she'd let on the first time Carys had visited.
They talked for a while longer as Carys slowly made her way through her coffee and moved on to brandy, Carys learning more about Esme's close bond with the Cullens and how she thought of all of the younger vampires as children more than siblings, apart from Carlisle who was more like a brother.
Carys told her about growing up in London, and about the things she'd liked to do there - the things she thought Esme might appreciate on her next visit.
In turn, Esme told Carys about how she'd grown up in Columbus, Ohio - though she had little to recommend about it now as she'd not been back in quite a long time. She told her about her parents, her wider family growing up, about her childhood dream of one day becoming a teacher, and her tendency to get herself into trouble when she was young.
Carys already knew enough about her marriage and the events leading up to her change that she didn't ask her about what her life was like then, but instead bypassed the era altogether in favour of hearing more about her life at present.
Esme had been all too happy at the change of topic, telling Carys first about her charity work and how often her giving included supplying the funds and plans for a new children's home, or the same for a neo-natal ward.
The new project she was helping to fund involved mobile libraries which would be equipped to deliver not only books, but other much-needed resources to those who needed them in some of the more remote parts of America.
She'd then moved on to talk about how she'd begun again to establish herself as a burgeoning architect - designing, building, and restoring houses.
"-and this is the design I've just finalised for a house outside Seattle," Esme finished, spreading the plans out on the coffee table in front of Carys. "It's only really my second paid commission this 'lifetime' so I've had to be a bit less ambitious than I would usually. Look there-" she pointed at a small correction on the side of the large paper, "-I dropped in a mistake there to make it clear I was 'a beginner', though I know I needn't have really."
Carys stared down at the plans in amazement. Not only was the house beautiful enough to warrant her admiration in and of itself, Esme's story - her life - was so incredible, she could hardly wrap her head around it.
"Carlisle was right, wasn't he?" She asked, finally looking up at her friend, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. "You're happy with your life, aren't you? With what you can do with your immortality?"
Esme smiled kindly at her and slid a little closer.
"I am," she confirmed with a gentle nod. "In as much as I can be. I have things to keep me busy - things I love and cherish. I have my family - Carlisle, my children, our cousins... And now I have another friend, and soon I'll hopefully have another daughter to think of..." Her smile grew wistful as she added, "Perhaps one day I'll find my soulmate, but I'm happy to wait for now." She leaned in and winked. "I'm not really too fussed about settling down just yet..."
Carys' jaw dropped as she stared at Esme, but before she could ask what exactly she meant by that, Esme checked her watch and tutted to herself.
"It's ten already... Perhaps we should let Carlisle join us? Alice assures us it's going to be sunny tomorrow and I'm not sure what your plans are."
"I was hoping you might want to spend the day together, Carys," Carlisle called, loud enough for her to hear as he began to descend the stairs. "As it shouldn't be too bad in Forks itself, I thought we could stay at yours tonight and decide where to go from there - if that might sound agreeable to you?"
If that might sound agreeable, Carys echoed in her mind, sighing lightly as she turned to watch him and pressed a hand to her chest. She truly enjoyed the little quirks of language that he kept on despite them having fallen out of fashion in recent years.
"Why Dr Cullen," she drawled, emphasising her accent. "I would be more than happy to receive you... However... I'm sorry to say it may not be at all the thing as I sadly find myself lacking a decent chaperone."
Esme chuckled quietly to herself as she stood and gathered up her plans.
Carlisle smirked as he took Esme's place beside Carys and lifted her hand to press a kiss to the backs of her fingers.
"Ah," he murmured, his lips lingering as he stared up at her through his lashes, dazzling her more than she'd like to admit, "t'would be vastly improper indeed. As you must know, my darling, I would not risk so much as a blemish on the perfect respectability of your name..." He affected a mild, questioning expression - complete with a faint frown, as he leaned towards her and pressed her fingers. "Though for mine own part, I would be inclined to admit a modicum of disquiet - to be parted from your esteemed company for quite so long would-"
"Oh for the love of all that is holy," Rosalie cut in from the stairs, staring down at them in disgust. "Tell me you don't do this regularly!?"
Carys pulled her hand from Carlisle's and collapsed face-first into the sofa, covering her face as she laughed.
"No," Carlisle assured his daughter, sounding far more embarrassed than Carys felt. "I promise you, we do not..."
"It's sickening," Jasper piped up from somewhere above Carys, setting her off again. "Almos'as bad as those books Edward's been readin' again lately... Them Austen ones."
"Jane Austen is amazing!" Carys protested, pushing herself up to fix a glare in his general direction, and correcting herself when she missed him by a few feet. "How could you say they're sickening?! Do you not have a romantic bone in your body?!"
Jasper smirked and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Ma'am," he began, abandoning his usual attempt at saying her name. "I'm a former Major who found m'self fightin' endlessly fer near a century prior to meetin' my wife, a woman who captured my heart the instant she hopped off her stool and gave me quite the tongue lashin' fer leavin' her waitin' so long. I have no problem with the... Romance of the books, simply the language."
Carys' eyes rounded, her bottom lip pouting slightly as her nose twitched and she blinked back tears.
"Jasper..." She whined softly. "You absolute sweetheart..."
Emmett joined Rosalie on the stairs as Esme reached Jasper and placed an affectionate hand on his arm.
"He's not sweet!" Emmett protested, drawing Carys' attention as Carlisle wrapped an arm around her waist and grinned against her hair. "Didn't you hear the bit about fighting endlessly for almost a century?"
"That's what makes it sweeter," Carys protested, ignoring the question of just what Jasper was fighting for so long as she waved her hand in his direction. "After all that," she turned back to Jasper and sighed, "you found true love..."
"Carlisle, get your wife out of here before she tries to hug him and he eats her or something," Emmett grumbled, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Rosalie and a roll of the eyes from Jasper before he froze as Carys blinked at him and tilted her head to the side. "I mean... Carlisle, get your girlfriend?"
She shook her head and he swallowed.
"Carys, be careful-no?" He frowned and fell silent for a moment as she shook her head again. "It really is unnerving, the way you stare... You sure we're not relat-? I'm just gonna be quiet," he finished quickly, stepping behind Rosalie, though she didn't really prove to be a very appreciative or effective shield.
Carys sighed heavily as Esme gave in to her laughter.
"Perhaps we should get going?" Carlisle whispered softly in her ear, the hand that was hidden from his family by the back of the sofa slowly creeping across her stomach.
Carys pushed his hand to the side and tried to hide her reaction as Jasper grimaced slightly.
"Okay, we're going, but not because I'm worried about Jasper - just so we're clear on that," she insisted, standing up as Esme brought her coat across to her. "Thank you for a lovely evening, Esme. I had a really lovely time."
"It was my pleasure," Esme replied with an affectionate grin, leaning in to give her a quick hug.
Carlisle disappeared for a few moments, and when he returned with an overnight bag - filled mostly with books, from the looks of things - they said their goodbyes and made their way to Carys' car.
Owing to the couple of drinks she'd had that night, she was happy to let Carlisle take the wheel, and they sat in silence until they pulled out onto the highway.
"What's up with Emmett?" She asked seriously when she was absolutely sure they were out of earshot of the house. "Why would he joke about Jasper like that?"
Carlisle smiled easily as he reached between them and took her hand.
"He likes you," he explained. "Not just because you remind him of his mother and sisters - though I suspect that has more to do with it than he'd like to admit... I think he's worried you might prefer Jasper."
"That's ridiculous!" She complained incredulously. "I clearly prefer Rosalie, Alice, and Esme!"
Carlisle laughed for a few minutes, as Carys sat beside him and tried to hide the tinge of mischief in her smile.
Stage two: plan attack for when he least expects it. She thought, turning her head to watch him.
He sent her a pleasant smile as they turned onto her road, and squeezed her hand.
Check.
A/N: I usually don't mention the goings-on in the world in my author's notes, but today we lost Chadwick Boseman, and I still can't believe it. Strong is not nearly a good enough word to describe him. I could write endlessly about what he's given the world, but I'll just say that we lost a man who will be greatly missed, and whose talent and dedication knew no bounds.
