Thank you so much to the lovely reviewers as always! OnyxWritter, Ella (she's had so much thrown at her over about four days, poor woman!), Standard postage (she reminded Edward, when he thought about it, that those places would tell her where Bella's Phoenix home was), im- okay- mj, souverian, Love. Fiction. 2020, sandwichesboi, and Ghostwriter71!

Chapter 24

Darkness faded to light as the sun rose in the Alaskan sky, but it might as well have saved itself the trip that day, for all the attention Carys paid it.

She lost feeling in her legs at one point, as she sat curled on the sofa and checked the small phone again and again, until she'd had to ignore the pins and needles which assaulted her when she rose from her seat to return to her room in search of the charger, hoping that she'd somehow missed his response in the few minutes it took her to return - but she hadn't.

We're on our way to Phoenix. The tracker is there. I'll call as soon as we have Isabella safe - remained the last message he'd sent.

For a time, she was able to divert her fretful thoughts towards trying to remember her mum's new number again. Findlay's new number. Sean and Rachel's new number. But those attempts proved fruitless. Carys hadn't thought to memorise them before - not when she could simply save them to her phone.

If Sean and Rachel still lived in Seattle, if Findlay and her mum still lived in London, she would have been able to call them in an instant - she'd memorised their numbers years before. But they didn't, and she'd left her phone charging by Carlisle's bed - she could picture exactly where it was. Why hadn't she thought to take it with her when they'd gone to play baseball? Then, at least, if she used the other phone to make the actual call, she would have been able to know that they were safe.

Her only real solace was that she hasn't updated her next of kin information at work, and so only she knew where they were. The likelihood Victoria would break into the Cullens' house to find her phone and check her texts was low.

The only people she might have been able to call were Sarah and Sandra at the hospital - but she really didn't want to talk to the latter, and she could hardly lie to either of them about her whereabouts if she didn't know what Carlisle had said to explain her absence from work.

Carys was pacing the room around five o'clock in the morning when Irina tried to remind her that no news was good news. If her smile hadn't been quite so forced, she might have been a little more convincing.

By seven, Carys' fear was eating her up inside to the point that when she finally gave in to Carmen's gentle prompting and choked down some food, it came back up within minutes. When she returned to the room half an hour later, the coffee table was empty and Carmen didn't ask again.

At eight, Eleazar, Irina, and Kate couldn't take any more and had to leave.

They were quiet about it, thoughtful in the way they slipped almost silently from the room, but it was obvious as to why they were gone when Carys looked up and found them missing. The phone lying by her side was the only connection any of them had with the Cullens, and she knew wherever they were, they were likely listening for the ring. She'd turned the setting to loud hours before at Kate's behest.

It was her they'd needed to avoid, and she couldn't blame them. It could have just as easily been for her constant worry, intermittent pacing, and boughts of silent tears, as it could be for the sporadic apologies she made for herself.

It was mid-morning when something drew her to the window and she caught a flash of orange-red in the snow.

From the shiver that ran down her spine, heating her skin even as it chilled her to the core, she knew Victoria was staring right back at her. That she'd caught her eye despite the distance.

Carys knew that she should alert the others to her presence - on the edge of the treeline - but for that long, drawn-out moment before she spoke, she felt a connection to the guarded vampire no matter the fear that lanced her heart.

Victoria wasn't there to attack, but to watch. Whatever had subsequently brought her from the safety of her hiding place, Carys couldn't immediately tell - but she knew why she felt that connection. They were both waiting for the same thing - the news that one or the other of them had lost someone infinitely precious to them.

James must have made his move. Whatever it was, she prayed he'd failed.

At that moment, as they stared at each other, the frisson of awareness the only thing that confirmed their continued eye contact, Carys could have no idea of what she'd done - the full extent of the connection that was forged between them in the anticipation of grief, or the way in which it would impact their futures.

In that moment, everything stilled around her, slowed until she could register her quickening breaths as if each were drawn out, the feeling intensifing as Victoria dropped to her knees, her gaze never leaving Carys'.

Finally, Carys stirred, and it must have been a trick of the light but she thought she saw the redhead nod in assent as she whispered, "Victoria," and flicked her finger to point towards her.

A second later, three figures were streaking across the snow. Eleazar, Irina, and Kate, judging by what Carys could see in her peripheral vision as they quickly ate up the distance between the house and the trees.

Victoria kneeled, and stared, and waited with her, holding onto that connection until the end. The other vampires didn't draw a reaction from her from what Carys could tell, her eyes beginning to sting from tears as much as her own refusal to look away, to blink. She wasn't sure why, but she knew she couldn't bear to be alone if it was her, and felt for Victoria more in that moment than she would later understand.

It wasn't until they were nearly upon her, when Carys' gaze was momentarily drawn to Carmen beside her, who saw more clearly what she did, that Victoria finally turned and ran, flashing away through the snow and disappearing quickly from view.

Carmen's stone-hard arms caught Carys as she staggered, as the reality that Victoria had been sent to confirm her whereabouts, of Victoria's reaction, of her own relief and sympathy, all added to her spiralling fear, and sapped the last of her energy. Carmen led her silently to the sofa and held her tight, rubbing her arms as if the friction alone might put some heat back into her chilled flesh.

Carys felt numb, exhausted after the long night of worry, and she had no idea of how long they sat there, staring at the floor, unable to rouse themselves or connect to their own minds, Carmen clinging to her as if she needed the contact as much as Carys.

Tanya's voice seemed too far away for her to grasp what she was saying, and it was longer still - after the other three had returned - that she was able to push away the fog and stir. "What happened...?" She asked quietly, her voice foreign, as if it was being called down a tunnel, and she blinked slowly, beginning to reassemble her scattered wits, to put words to what she felt must be true.

The vampires shared uneasy looks with one another, and Eleazar - kneeling by his wife's side, his hands on her knees, was the first to speak. "She got away," he told her carefully, confirming what she realised she already knew from their clothing, disturbed only by the wet remnants of melted snow. "I got a feel for her before she did - her power is in self-preservation, not tracking as the other's. She'll be running now, I expect. I doubt she'll stop for quite some time."

"It begs the question," Kate added, sharing another look with her sisters, her brows rising as they continued to mull over Carmen and Carys' reactions, "why she took so long to run."

"Can...," Carys whispered as she began to shake. Carmen, still and silent beside her, drew Eleazar's concerned gaze once more. "Can... Vampires feel... Can you feel the loss of your mate...?"

Irina flashed to Carys' side, dropping to a crouch before her as she took her hand. Carmen's arms tightened around Carys once again as she finally moved, and Carys slid an arm around her waist to hug her, to return her gesture of support. "What did you feel?" Irina asked her, the terror in her eyes mirrored in the expressions of the others.

Carys shook her head slowly and glanced at Carmen, the blank expression on her face making her squeeze her hard frame as tightly as she could. "I think James is dead..."

"Why do you say that?" Irina asked hurriedly.

"Because... Because..." Carys tried to find the words to explain herself, her mind working slowly as she met each of their eyes in turn and slowly shook her head again. "Because she... She looked so... "

"I saw it too," Carmen confirmed, sounding as hollow as Carys felt inside. "She was waiting for death, but something changed in her eyes and she ran. Did you not see it? When her heart was ripped out?" She appealed, as if shocked they might not have.

Carys wondered if perhaps they hadn't. Eleazar had been the only one running towards her to have found his soulmate - did that have something to do with it, she wondered? That she and Carmen had been watching rather than attacking, and they'd understood the grief they saw because they'd been free to do so?

Eleazar pressed his face to Carmen's hair and began to whisper to her. For what felt like hours, they sat there, unmoving, knowing at least that James was dead and Carlisle was alive, but nothing more. As time moved on and Carlisle's promise of a call to assure them Bella was safe went unfulfilled, it became harder and harder for any of them to pretend that something hadn't gone terribly wrong.

It was mid-afternoon when Irina's hand darted to the seat beside Carys, and the phone was at her ear before Carys registered the first ring.

"Carlisle? ... She's here..." Irina glanced at Carys and rubbed her arm. "Yes, we know... No-yes, no - Carlisle, Victoria was here. No - she's-" Irina met her eye as she squeezed her arm so hard, Carys was sure it would leave bruises. "-she got away. I think... I think she wanted us to kill-yes, of course. Carys?"

Carlisle's voice came to her easily, far more easily than her own voice had, when she took the phone in one shaking hand and pressed it to her ear. "Love?" He asked, sounding worried and relieved at once.

"What happened?" She asked him, gently pulling her arm away from Irina. She'd been right - if the finger marks on her arm were anything to go by, she'd have bruises come morning. She pulled her sleeve down quickly to hide the evidence from the worried vampire.

"James... Carys, I'm not sure..."

"Not sure about what?"

"Rosalie's on her way to get you, and I should check on Isabella again. Why don't you wait, and she can tell you? I'm not sure if I sho-"

Carys felt a surge of annoyance at his placating tone and obvious avoidance. Wait longer? Until Rosalie got there in God knows how many hours to explain it to her? "No, Carlisle," she insisted, tempering her tone as she got to her feet and strode quickly to the hall. "What happened? What aren't you sure about telling me? If everything was okay, you would have told me hours ago - so what is it?"

"James is dead."

"Yes, I knew that - I also saw first hand what it does to a vampire to lose their mate. What I asked is what you're not sure about telling me?"

"I'm... Hold on a moment?" Muffled choices came through the phone, as if Carlisle was holding his hand over the reciever. "Carys?"

"Carlisle?"

"I really think you should wait for Rosalie. I called her a while ago, she's on her way, she'll be there in three hours at most."

His calm voice chafed at her already frayed nerves, and she gripped her hair at her scalp as she whined, "Carlisle, what's happened? Who is it? I can't face three more bloody hours of this!"

"Rosalie can explain everything-"

"Rosalie can, but so can you, Carlisle," she pleaded.

"Please trust me - it's better one of-"

"How can I trust you if you can't trust me, Carlisle?"

"I do. Of course I do," he insisted softly.

"Then why can't you tell me yourself?" She asked, her anxiousness spilling over to her voice even more. "Is the line not secure? Can you not go somewhere you're not overheard? Why can't you tell me?"

He sighed heavily. "I-the phones are fine, and yes, I suppose I could go somewhere, but... Can't you just trust that it's for the best-? ...Before James died, he lured Isabella away. She was injured by the time we got to her..."

Carys sank down the wall. "How badly?" She asked faintly.

"Please, just wait for Rosalie - she can take you back to Forks and explain everything. I'll be back in a few days when Isabella's more stable, and-"

He wasn't going to tell her, that much she knew by then, and the last of the fight left her. She would have to wait for Rosalie.

She cut across him, one last question coming to mind as she sat and rolled her head against the wall. She sounded exhausted and defeated as she asked, "How did you get me the time off work, Carlisle?"

"What?" He seemed surprised by her change of tact.

"Can you tell me that, at least?"

It took a few seconds, but he finally answered. "You... You have a couple of weeks off at the end of the month to go to California. I added a week to the system before we left the house. By the time Sandra realises the mistake, there's nothing she'll be able to do about it without admitting the mistake was hers."

"You mean, you forged that it was her who allowed it?"

"Yes."

"So if I'm not there for three weeks, no one will bat an eyelid?"

"Yes...," He acknowledged slowly, sounding more hesitant than before. "Carys, where are you going with this?"

"Nowhere," she lied, rubbing her hand against her forehead. "I'll wait for Rosalie like you want me to, and you go concentrate on Bella - on making sure she's okay." Bella needed Carlisle far more than she did, for all Carys knew, her life might hang in the balance.

Tears sprung to her eyes just thinking about what Bella must have gone through - what she must be going through.

"You know that I trust you, don't you, darling?" Carlisle asked quietly.

"Of course I do," she lied again. "I was just upset and worried." The truth. "I know I don't really have a right to be, but I've just been so scared. Look after Bella, okay? I'll wait for Rosalie."

"You're sure?" He asked softly, not adding the words she desperately wanted to hear - that she had every right to her feelings, just as he always said before.

Carys fought to keep her tone as light as she could. "Absolutely. Make sure she's okay and keep us updated."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And so she waited. And sure enough, when Rosalie arrived just over three hours later, she was more than happy to tell them everything that Carlisle wouldn't - albeit with a few snarky comments about Bella's judgement peppered about that Carys didn't think would have been included if he'd been telling it.

Rosalie held them in thrall, a completely captive audience, as she explained what had happened in Phoenix as if she was there, rather than having heard it second hand. She told them about the ballet studio, and the way Bella had escaped from Jasper and Alice in the airport twenty minutes before Carlisle, Emmett, and Edward's plane landed.

How Bella had gone to meet James, thinking he had her mother with him when really it was a video from when she was young and sat too close to the edge of a pier. That they'd got there just in time to save her life, but not early enough to stop her from suffering catastrophic injuries. That James had recorded it all.

That the blood loss from her head wound, broken leg, and severed femoral artery, had been added to when Edward had been forced to draw James' venom from her arm to stop her from being turned. The way Edward had found the strength to stop, but not until Carlisle had begun to fear he might drain her completely and prayed he would manage it.

It was that part - a part Carys wasn't sure Rosalie was supposed to relate - that made Carys realise Carlisle must have been the one to tell Rosalie, so that she could pass the information on to her. What, she thought to herself, did he think she would do when she heard? And what was Rosalie's presence supposed to do that he wouldn't be able to over the phone?

And then, after a dramatic pause worthy of Carlisle's storytelling, Rosalie told them about what the video had revealed. That it hadn't just been his attraction to Bella's blood or his hunch about Carys that had spurred James on, but Alice. Alice, who had only been turned to save her from him, and whose maker, a psychiatrist at the asylum she'd been imprisoned in hadn't abandoned her as she'd always thought, but had been killed by James in retribution for saving her life.

Carys had left the living room and the - mostly - concerned vampires behind to lay on her bed after that, unable to fully process the events until Tanya came to check on her later that night, and brought with her word that Bella's surgery had gone well and she was out of the woods.


When the time came to leave the Denali coven two days later, Carys made sure to give each one of them her indescribable thanks for their help, and somehow managed to make Tanya laugh when she'd added that their patience, kindness, and hospitality were second to none.

She'd had a lot of time to think, after her mind had been eased somewhat. More so after Carlisle had called that morning to tell them that Charlie and Renée were by Bella's side, and that she would wake up the next day. That Alice had seen Victoria was still running.

He hadn't asked to speak to Carys, and she thought he must know what she was thinking about doing.

But it was only when Rosalie was buying their return tickets that Carys allowed herself to make her decision. She ducked out of their queue and into the next one, ignoring Rosalie's confused stare as she tucked her hair behind her ear, slid both her American driving licence and some of the money Alice and Jasper had given her across the desk, and asked for the next available ticket to San Francisco.

"What are you doing?" Rosalie hissed angrily in her ear and clamped her hand around Carys' forearm, ignoring the way the startled ticket agent jumped in her seat.

Carys turned her head and whispered almost silently into Rosalie's ear. "Carlisle said Victoria's running, didn't he? That Bella's going to be okay, and Victoria's not coming after any of us?" When Rosalie nodded, Carys copied the action and wrenched her arm free, despite knowing she'd likely have more bruising from it. "Well then, I'm going to my mum's."

Rosalie's glare intensified. "You can't just go alone," she argued hotly. "What happens if-"

Carys turned to the agent and smiled, purposefully emphasising her accent as she asked politely, "I don't suppose there are two free seats on that flight, are there?"

The agent blinked and swallowed audibly as she tossed her head. "Of-of course. That'll be an additional..." She tapped away at the keys, looking through the tickets and costs, her eyes darting here there and everywhere in an effort not to look at Carys and Rosalie, or the way they stared at each other.

A muscle twitched in Carys' jaw and her teeth began to grate as Rosalie's stare turned colder, harsher, and she slid her ID and a larger stack of notes across the desk before the agent could tell her how much more it would cost. Neither of them was going to give up, she could see that. She only hoped Rosalie could see the silent threat that if she tried to force her onto a flight to Port Angeles, she'd have to explain why she was dragging her kicking and screaming.

In other words, her only hope of getting to California was to rely on Rosalie's hatred of embarrassing herself around humans. She was from the early nineteen-hundreds after all, and Carys couldn't imagine she'd been anything other than the American version of a Lady in her former life.

A couple of minutes of tapping later, the pair were still glaring at each other when the agent said, "O-okay, that's all done for you now!"

They both turned to face the agent, polite smiles adorning their faces.

"Thank you."

"Ah, thank you so much."

They spoke in unison, both reaching for the documents, and the poor agent seemed unable to decide which one to give them to. Though she was clearly enthralled by Rosalie, her mind was battling with itself over Carys' politeness and English accent.

In the end, she scrabbled around and separated their documents, handing them out in each hand as if she wanted nothing more than for them to leave and take their silent argument with them.

"Thank you so much," Carys drawled again with another smile, whirling around and tugging her new suitcase towards the gates, holding her ticket up to check the gate number as she went.

"What am I supposed to say to Carlisle?" Rosalie hissed again, stalking along beside her with aplomb worthy of a queen - and, Carys had to admit, about as effective as one. Perhaps, she thought as yet another person darted out of their way, more so. "I didn't even want to come, but I said I'd bring you home, and-"

Carys stopped in her tracks and held her hand up to silence Rosalie, staring deep into her golden eyes. She wished Rosalie wasn't wearing heels, or that the heels on her own boots were higher, so she wouldn't have to look up a little to meet her eye despite being taller. "You can tell Carlisle whatever you like. But if you want to know what I think should be included? Then I'll tell you: tell him that if he can't trust me, I can't trust him. Tell him that-"

Carys cut off for a moment, Rosalie joining her as they flashed insincere smiles and murmurs to an elderly couple who barged past them.

"-I don't think he trusted me with the truth about himself, not really, he just waited for me to realise and hoped he could talk me round. Remind him that above asking me to trust him, he didn't tell me-" she held up her hand and began to list off her concerns with her fingers. "-where I was going, who I was meeting, what 'his ways' were to get me out of work.

"Remind him that I practically had to force any real information out of him, not to mention the fact you all apparently knew about my-" she lowered her voice further as she leaned in and whispered the word, "-abilities and so did your cousins. I mean, how long would you have kept that a secret?" She threw her free hand up and tossed her head. "Oh, and Carlisle also didn't think it necessary to tell me what was going on the other day - though, neither did you or Esme, and I know you're going to say: he couldn't. But tell me, Rosalie. How long does it take you to text "at the hospital with Bella, I'll explain later?" Or "Rosalie's on her way to you, but I'll call later - Bella's in the hospital", or anything really at all? - Oh, here's one, how long did it take Carlisle to tell you exactly what happened?"

Rosalie's jaw firmed and her eyes narrowed again, but she said nothing.

"I'm not a child, and I don't deserve to be treated like one. I'm a grown woman, Rosalie, and I'm not going to stand around pretending I don't mind being treated like my backbone is just for show because I was too scared and trusting to realise that was what was happening. So I'm going to see my mum so that at least I know she, Findlay, and my sister are safe, and I can stop worrying about them - just as I could stop worrying about you."

Rosalie's face turned blank with shock. "Me?"

"Yes, you, Rosalie. I worried about you as much as the others, if not more at times - especially when I heard you'd been following Victoria on your own. So if you don't want to come to California, don't. If you feel you have to, then do. But unless you can tell me I'm in danger, I'm going."

Rosalie's eyes narrowed again as she let go of her suitcase and crossed her arms at her chest. It might have been enough to convince anyone else, but Carys could see her heart wasn't really in it. "I really don't like you, you know that, don't you?"

"Say that a hundred more times," Carys muttered, knowing full well she could hear her as she turned and began to drag her suitcase along behind her, heading once again in the direction of their gate. "Maybe by the end, you'll sound more convinced. Now. Which one is it, Rosalie?"

Rosalie fell into step beside her. "I guess I'm coming...," she sighed, arranging her perfectly coiffed hair over one shoulder as if it didn't really matter to her either way. "Emmett can pick me up on his way back tonight."

Carys nodded and sped up. "Fine. Then hustle your bustle, our plane's about to board."

"That's a ridiculous saying," Rosalie complained. They walked to their gate in tense silence, and it was only when they joined the queue, that she added, "You know that agent thought we were having a lover's tiff?"

"You should be so lucky," Carys grumbled under her breath.

She was pretty sure she caught Rosalie smirk in her peripheral vision when she replied, "More like you should," but it was gone by the time she properly glanced in her direction.

A/N: we're about two chapters away from the end of Twilight, I reckon - do we want an epilogue to round it out, or a couple of chapters to span a few events over summer? (chellekathrynnn pointed out that I hadn't confirmed - I'm writing the whole saga!)

P.s. thank you so much to B who played beta for the events (and then writing) in the first section of this chapter.