Eclipse, Chapter 4

Halfway around Regent's Park, Carys felt as if time slowed, grounding steadily to a halt. She stopped running, gripped her knees, and bent almost double as she panted, staring across the park towards one of the entrances.

It was just inside the gate that the man stood - the very same one who'd captured her attention so completely. He was waiting for someone or something. Checking his phone, he didn't see her immediately.

"Carys? Are you alright?" Esme asked, jogging lightly back towards her. "Is it a stitch?"

Esme's voice seemed to come to her as if through a tunnel, and she tried to answer but wasn't sure if she had.

The man looked up and around as if he'd noticed someone was watching him, and his eyes fell on Carys the same moment she straightened to her full height. She met his dark-green gaze directly; his hand fell to his side; his phone had lost his attention just as much as Carys' run had lost hers.

Around six feet tall, in possession of thick prematurely greying dark reddish-brown hair that no amount of dye in the world could turn Carys' the exact shade of, his skin was pale and wan, strained and wrinkling around his eyes in such a way that Carys could see it from fifty yards away.

Carys watched as a teenage girl - no more than seven or eight years younger than her at most - walked through the gates behind him and tucked herself against his side. She had his hair - a mop of riotous reddish-brown waves cut into a severe bob which barely grazed her neck - and couldn't have been more than five feet four inches tall. His arm came around her; he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. The teenager looked up at him and spoke.

He looked away from Carys, staring down at his daughter.

The spell was broken.

Time returned.

And Carys ran on.


Esme had hardly spoken for the entire flight. Carys was thankful for it. It meant she didn't have to speak either.

While Esme occupied herself by reading a new set of books or working on her plans for a new house, Carys sat silently, staring out of one of the small windows or, for much of the time, huddled under a blanket with her chair reclined to various degrees, either sleeping or thinking.

When meals came around, it was Carys' turn to pick at the food until she, genuinely, announced she hadn't realised she wasn't hungry after all, and returned to whatever it was she was doing before the air steward had served their food. She felt bad about wasting it, but there was nothing she could do about her present mood. There was a strange sort of numbness about it all. And a relief as well. Carys hadn't expected that - the relief.

Once in a while, she stirred.

She would ask, "D'you know how-?"

"Five hours," Esme would say, or "Not long now."

Carys appreciated the silence until she didn't.

They were ten minutes away from beginning their descent into Forks Airport when Carys returned her seat to its upright position, folded her blanket, and sighed.

"I know you know," she told Esme, stowing the blanket in the cupboard beside her. "Or, at least, I know you want to know."

Esme half-closed the book she'd been reading and warily met Carys' eye.

"I don't want to pry...," she explained.

Carys smiled weakly. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll hear it when I tell Carlisle... Unless I end up dragging him into a bathroom or something..." That was a good idea. Perhaps she'd do that. Then only she, Esme, Carlisle, and perhaps Edward would be privy to the information. Unless Alice had seen the interaction and guessed what Esme no doubt had.

Shifting uncomfortably, Esme abandoned the book to the table, sliding it away. Carys' eyes followed it for a moment before her attention returned to her friend.

"I guessed from the eyes... You had the same green in your eyes when your hair was red..." Esme hesitantly informed her. "Did you... Did you know about her? That you had a sister?"

Carys, holding back a bitter chuckle, shook her head and removed the scrunchie from her hair.

"No," she said, wrapping her hair up into a large bun high on her head. "No, I didn't."

She sat back sharply, her arms dropping to her sides as she did so. Esme watched her with something akin to pity mingled with the sadness she'd worn since realising just who Carys had been staring at.

"It's okay," Carys insisted, waving her hand through the air. She'd tried to do so nonchalantly, but it had come across more as if she were furious, throwing the comment away. "It really is," she promised. "I kind of feel better about it now. I guess I don't have to think about it anymore. I have the answer."

After regarding her in silence for half a minute or so, Esme's posture changed. She ever so slightly tensed.

"Do you think your mother knows about it?" she asked. "The girl couldn't have been more than-"

"I know," Carys said, more in response to how old the girl was than whether or not it mattered if her mother knew what she now did. "You know..." She took and released a slow breath. "I think she might have? I'm not sure. I know it was strange when he-" The seatbelt warning went off, and they each took a moment to strap themselves in. "I never saw him again. I thought it was me, but Mum was always adamant it was him. I guess that was why they were arguing... Even if she didn't know about the girl, she must have known there was something else..." A thought occurred. "Did you know? Or Carlisle?"

Esme shook her head, folding her hands in her lap and staring down at the shiny table between them.

"I understand why you might ask, but no. None of the family ever looked into him. Perhaps we should have..."

"No," Carys said. Esme looked up. "I think it would have hurt to find out another way that my Dad... I don't know... It's different. I feel... I feel light, I suppose. Free in a way... And he looked old, didn't he?" she asked, chuckling at the thought as she set her elbow to the arm of the chair and propped up her chin with her palm. "Like early old. I know that sounds stupid to find amusing-"

"It's not," Esme cut in with a smile.

"-but I-thanks, but I guess... Mum looks so young, you know? And when I knew him, god, Dad was younger than her I think. He was full of life and loud, and he always seemed so tall. I guess he was just smaller today somehow. I guess Mum's happiness kept her young. I mean, I know it probably doesn't have anything to do with that, but..."

There was a loud knock, and Carys ducked her head around the side of the seats. Esme was facing the door between the cabin and the cockpit, where the sound had arisen and appeared entirely unperturbed.

"We're about to begin our descent," she warned. "I asked them to knock instead of interrupting us."

"You can do that?"

Carys wondered if there was anything you couldn't do on a private jet - within reason - when you had enough money.

"I can do that," Esme confirmed with a smile.

Narrowing her eyes, Carys let her suspicion show as she asked, "Do you own this plane, Esme?"

The vampire grinned, settling back in her chair. "I can neither confirm nor deny that I'm considering it."

Her own grin fading as she stared out of the window and felt the familiar sinking feeling in her stomach as the plane shifted and began to head towards the ground, Carys thought, Good. It's over now. No more wondering what's happened to him.


Carlisle was waiting for them when they landed, as promised. While Esme sorted out the tip, he wrapped Carys in his arms and held her as if it had been months since they'd last seen each other. She clung to him just as tightly, savouring his scent, ignoring the chill of his cold skin as she buried her face against his neck. He only released her when Esme pointedly cleared her throat.

It was on the drive back to the house, Carys' hand clasped in his as he stroked his thumb over her skin and every so often used both of their hands to shift gears, that he filled them in on exactly what had transpired that weekend.

"Emmett almost crossed the treaty line!?" Esme gasped from the seat behind Carys. "Just wait until I get my hands on that boy..."

Carys was just as shocked as the vampire, but she was also utterly invested in the story and was too impatient to hear what happened next to add her voice to the shocked and mildly horrified question. He'd told them both he would fill them in properly on the way back, and wouldn't have lied about how they were if anything had happened to Emmett, but she now felt worse about her joke early that morning.

"Indeed," Carlisle confirmed with a sigh, turning onto the drive towards the house. "It was no man's land, but he was close to straying all the same... There was almost an altercation with one of the wolves."

His eyes flickered to Carys' face, and she worried her lip between her teeth. She knew what he was going to say - what he was going to suggest, rather - that she might have been right about the continued animosity between the groups. She shook her head a little. Not now. He took the hint, squeezing her hand once.

They would have their bathroom chat after all.

"Is Edward home?" she asked, keeping her tone light.

Carlisle squeezed her hand again, and she squeezed back this time - not that her response was more to him than the slightest pressure. All the same, some of the tension left him.

"He's with Bella. He'll be staying with her as much as he can."

Carys shuddered as if someone had walked over her grave. It wasn't so much what he'd said, but what he hadn't said that prompted the reaction. Edward would be staying with Bella as much as he could for now on because Victoria had come back for her again. Or she'd perhaps come back for Carys. Or both of them.

They couldn't be sure if she wanted both or was open to settling for just one at this stage. All they knew was that she wanted her revenge.

A memory surfaced. One she hadn't paid mind to in a long time. A shock of bright red curls amidst the snow. A pale face, the determined tilt of a chin. The long, drawn-out moment she and Victoria stared at each other as the vampire knew she'd lost her mate and waited, seemingly, for death.

What had it been that changed her mind? Carys wondered anew. Had it been vengeance, or something else? Had she imagined the promise she felt in Victoria's gaze? She hadn't been close enough to be sure, and the memory had faded just as quickly as it rose to mind.

Whatever it was, Victoria knew well enough of the risks now. As Carlisle had said before, she knew about the boundaries between the Cullens' and Pack's lands - she knew how to exploit them, and she'd all but confirmed her theory. Whatever was coming, Carys doubted it would be as simple as Victoria working alone.


"I'm going to go see Leah after work tomorrow."

In her current position, Carys couldn't see Carlisle's expression, but she felt the tensing of his muscles and the slow release of breath well enough. His arms tightened around her, drawing her flush against his chest. The movement displaced the water surrounding them. It sloshed and rippled at the surface. A little spilt over the edge of the roll-top bath, splashing loudly as it hit the floor.

They'd briefly touched on the issue of Carys having seen her father, but as she wasn't quite ready to get into the specifics of how she felt - or, rather, didn't feel - about it, she'd assured him they'd speak about it once she'd talked to her Mum and moved quickly on to the issue of the wolves.

It seemed Jacob had called Bella's house near constantly over the weekend, fearing she might have been in the midst of being turned. In contrast, Carys' phone, discarded on the end table Carlisle had placed next to the bath for just such a purpose, held but two texts from Leah.

The first, sent that morning when due to time differences, Carys was on her way home with her phone turned off, read:

Are you a bloodsucker now?

And in response to Carys' reply of:

No. If I was, I wouldn't have spent half the day sleeping or be on my fifth cup of coffee. Plus, I'm planning a wedding - not exactly going to miss out on that xx

She'd written:

You have too many texts. P.S. Tell your leeches to keep the fuck off our land.

Carys didn't appreciate the language - the names she'd called vampires - but Leah hadn't replied since she'd texted back to tell her as much.

"If you flood this bathroom, I'm not cleaning it up," she admonished Carlisle, glancing over the rim at the small puddle he'd caused.

He groaned low in his chest and dropped a kiss to her bare shoulder. Then, hanging his head, he stroked a hand back and forth across her ribcage and sighed. He wasn't happy. That was obvious.

"Look," he hesitantly began. "I don't... I suppose I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to spend time with Leah at the moment."

Despite the hot water, Carys chilled all over. "Oh?"

Carlisle, taking heed of her icy tone, collected his thoughts for a moment or two before he explained:

"From what we know of the shapeshifters, they can be volatile - she could shift at any moment, could hurt you if she became angry."

"I think you're thinking of Jacob," Carys countered. Refusing his attempts to meet her eye, she stared resolutely ahead and grabbed the sponge, twisting it round and round. "Or any of the young male wolves, for that matter. This is Leah we're talking about - Jesus, Carlisle, when she came over - which was more than a month ago now, she was already in control."

Carlisle shook his head and pressed a kiss to her hair. "I know... I suppose I simply-"

"You didn't have a problem with me going to Harry's funeral," Carys cut in.

"That was different."

"Was it now? How's that?"

"You were going to support Leah, and she wasn't a wolf at the time."

"So, you're okay with me being around wolves, just not if they're my friends?"

"No! Of course not! - That is to say, I'm not against you consorting with the shapeshifters when they're in control of themselves."

Carys threw the sponge towards the end of the bath. It balanced precariously on the lip for a split second before toppling back into the water with a plop!

"Then what, Carlisle? Because that's sure what it sounds like to me."

"I've been talking to Edward and Alice, and the more I know about the wolves this time around, the more I worry. I trust none of them would purposefully harm you, but I don't know if you know that it wasn't a bear that-"

Angrily, she cut across him again before he could finish. "Don't start getting prejudiced on me now, Carlisle. It doesn't suit you."

Carlisle sighed, dropping his head back. The back of his head connected with the copper, and the small resulting bang! resounded through the room. Carys, as best and quickly as she could without being responsible for even more water displacement, turned around and pushed up onto her knees. He caught her about the waist when she slipped, holding her steady and raising his head to allow her to slide her hands into his hair so that she could examine him for signs of injury.

Her cheeks reddened when she remembered the bath was at more risk than he was. She felt utterly foolish and more than a little upset, but her anger had left her at least. Withdrawing her hands to rest them on his chest, she slumped against him and met his half-lidded gaze. His dark golden eyes twinkled in the light, but he was grimly serious.

"You know I'm right, Carys."

"Do I?" she asked.

Staring down at his chest, she watched as she ran her fingers in light circles over his skin.

"Feigned ignorance doesn't suit you," he told her gently, an echo of what she'd said to him. "You know as well as I do that there's a risk that won't be there in another month or two. In a matter of weeks, even. It would simply be a matter of time... From what Bella's shared, it seems it only takes so long - but remember dearest, you told me she was enraged when you last saw her."

Carys shook her head and slumped further so that she could lay against his chest. With her now secure once again, and at no risk of falling in the water and hurting herself, Carlisle raised his hand and tangled their fingers together.

"You didn't see her last time. There are things she said... Things she felt...," she whispered sadly. "You didn't hear Seth... And you were the one who thought there could be hope in the first place..."

Her trailing comment met with silence.

"Would you say the same thing if I was going to see Seth?" she asked, unsure of where the sudden thought came from.

"No," Carlisle conceded.

Carys pushed up to meet his gaze. He was as utterly serious as his tone suggested.

"He's been a wolf for less time than she has," she reminded him.

"I know... But he's as... He is... He's..."

Carys raised her eyebrows. "Yes...?"

"Oh, you know what I mean," he complained, looking up towards the ceiling.

"What if I don't?" she asked, placing a wet hand to his cheek, urging him to look at her once again. "What if I don't know what you mean?" she repeated when he did so.

"All I know for sure," he said, shifting uncomfortably, "is that Seth Clearwater is - unlike any other wolf I can be sure of - both excited and hopeful at the prospect of seeing you - and of a potential truce. Leah Clearwater, on the other hand... Well, I know she cares for you, and doubt she'd hurt you on purpose, but what if she somehow...? What if she felt a sudden appearance was pushing too far too quickly? If you ignored the time she needs to heal from the wound that you're now on opposing sides? You could be hurt, or even killed if she were to shift too close to you."

Carys pressed her lips together to stifle a smile. "So..., I'll call ahead and be careful then?"

Carlisle sank down in the water, submerging himself completely and holding her above him as she squealed and scrabbled for purchase. She steadied her uneven breath and waited, but he didn't resurface.

"Lovely," she finally spluttered, chuckling when she realised he had no plans of returning for air, "d'you think you're being a little immature about this?"

His face cleared the water for a second. "No."

She couldn't help but laugh harder. "Is your problem that you want to be all protective and refuse to let me go, but you're just too nice to say-" she broke off with a yelp as she suddenly found herself lying against the other end of the bath with Carlisle looming over her, his hands holding her wrists by her shoulders, his face a fierce mask of possessiveness.

"If I was to refuse to let you go, you can bet your arse you wouldn't be going anywhere, niceness be damned," he whispered harshly. "Do you understand me?"

Carys, eyes wide, bit her lip and nodded slowly. Her body tingled and flushed - with arousal, this time.

"Good." Water cascaded from his body as he stood, stepped from the bath, then wrapped a large towel around his waist, impeding what she thought was a rather nice view. "If you insist on going to see Leah-"

"I do."

"Then keep your distance, be prepared to run if she so much as shivers, and keep your phone on you at all times. If I don't hear from you every two hours, know I'll expect it's because you're bleeding out somewhere. And believe me," he bit out when she whined her disapproval at his heading for the door as he spoke, "you'll thank me for leaving whilst I can still control myself."

"No, I won't!"

"Yes," he all but growled, his burning gaze touching every inch of her above and below the water. "You will. If you'd like to discover just why, I suggest you wait until Thursday - then you may provoke me all you like."

Carys shivered. "Why Thursday?"

That was four days away, they'd been away from each other for almost as long already, and he was looking at her as if he'd like to devour her whole now.

He narrowed his eyes. "Because," he said, his words a promise of what would come, "I doubt you'll sit comfortably for days when I'm done with you."

He was gone in a flash, the door firmly closed between them.

Carys bit her lip again, her breath catching, drawing a high-pitched sound akin to a kettle whistling as she slowly inhaled.

"Fucckkkkk..." she whispered, fanning her face and sinking lower in the water. "Where's that been!?"

There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to "provoke" him, as he called it, at the earliest opportunity. Simply for research purposes, of course... But first...

She sank lower still, adjusting her hair atop her head.

First, she needed to call her Mum and see Leah...

She really wasn't sure if she hoped the former had known about her second - first, technically speaking - younger sister or not, but she certainly hoped Carlisle was wrong about the latter's risk to life and limb.

A/N: Guess who's not gonna get guilt-tripped by anyone about not inviting her Dad to her wedding? Don't worry, this isn't just a random part of one chapter, it'll be revisited.

Thank you to: Estene (Thank you! I feel like she deserves so much more time!), Lizzy B (Esme's amazing, I love writing their friendship, and Seth is incredible!), souverian, jhaenox, Ella (you're right - I need to go back and change that to "Is everything such a grey area to you, Seth?" because you're so right - I got the saying wrong!), ksyushangel, derniermom, Erica Thrush, GhostWriter71, YourFan (Esme and Carys are the best! Next to Leah and Carys, maybe...?), and Guest (Thank you! Don't plan on too long of a wait!) for your reviews!

See you all next chapter (hopefully tomorrow) for a bumper Leah chapter, where things will pick up, and we'll learn lots more about the wolves than Carys knows!