In this story, none of the Cullens will call the wolves mutts or mongrels. Mongrel and mutt are both racial slurs towards mixed-race people. I considered it, but I couldn't use it, even to have it stopped immediately. That they would know exactly what it was and how it was used in the past (they all lived through periods of prolific use) and still use it would be... Yeah. Dogs is bad enough.
I am going to write a chapter which includes the full triple-team takedown, but I reckon it'll take a while to get right, and I don't want to stop the story for a couple of weeks to do it (it'll take emotional energy I don't have right now). I'll let everyone know when it's in the Outtakes.
Chapter 7
Carys woke early on Tuesday morning - with one thought on her mind. Racing out of her bedroom, she sprinted through the dark hallway to the top of the stairs.
A light clicked on in the living room below, illuminating the scene for Carys' benefit; the vampires could see perfectly well in the dark. Carlisle and Esme were on hour nine of the racism lecture, with no end in sight. From what Carys had heard before Carlisle broke off, they'd moved on to the sixties. The seventeen-sixties.
All of the family looked up at her expectantly. Alice, Rosalie and Emmett's faces held the same apologetic, intensely shameful, wary expressions. Jasper's held far less shame, as he'd not yet been part of the derogatory name-calling, but he was similarly apologetic - and interested at what he could feel from her. They all likely assumed she was about to add yet another point. She wasn't surprised. She'd made many throughout the night before falling asleep around midnight. While Edward's general expression matched his siblings' in the intensity of both shame and apology, he was frowning lightly; he could read what was coming.
"Victoria can evade Alice."
"That isn't what I was expecting," said Emmett, confirming her suspicions. He glanced at the others in turn. "Any of you?" They all shook their heads.
Carlisle appeared two steps below her, his hands snaking their way around her waist. Adopting a soothing tone, likely worried she'd woken from a nightmare on the subject, he said, "Darling, you have nothing to worry about. If she decides to come to Forks, we'll be ready."
"But she won't, see?" Carys asked, excitement over the realisation raising both her pitch and tone, surprising Carlisle, whose eyes flared, belying his surprise. "That's what we've all been thinking - and you'd assume Saturday proved it, but it didn't! Alice can't see the wolves!"
"You think she'll go after the wolves instead of you or Bella?"
"Alice," Carys called, bending to look at her over Carlisle's shoulder. "Concentrate on my future?"
Alice nodded and sat to attention. Her siblings looked between them, unsure who to concentrate on. Carlisle's hands flexed against Carys' back, and her spine cracked lightly, easing an ache she'd woken up with.
Carys thanked him and closed her eyes, thinking about the day to come - going to work, having lunch with Sarah, Monica and Charlie, coming home - then she made the decision to visit Leah.
Rather than thinking specifically about what she was actually going to do, she thought only of what she'd decided to. She decided to visit Leah immediately and stay there overnight. Reopening her eyes, she smiled at Carlisle and spoke to him for five minutes or so about their upcoming workday and the possibility of going out to dinner. All the while, she retained her focus as best she could.
"Well?" she asked. "How much did you see?"
Carlisle turned to watch Alice, whose pixie-like face was easing from a deep frown.
"Your future disappeared... And then it became murky. I couldn't see much at all," she repeated when Carys couldn't hear her the first time.
"Carys was thinking about visiting Leah," Edward informed the room, though Carys assumed they'd all realised as much. "As soon as she made the conscious decision and focused on it..."
"Isn't that what Jasper does?" Carys asked. "In some way or another? Because it's not clear until someone makes a proper decision?"
"Yes... He concentrates on other things to try to confuse me," said Alice. Eyes narrowing, she accused, "Is this what you plan to do when you don't want me watching?"
Carys shrugged. "I don't know exactly... It's more what I do to hide from Edward when he's not blocking out our thoughts and I don't want him concentrating on me." The words came out in a rush.
"You all do," he complained. "You're correct, Carys. This is... The wolves complicate things yet again..."
"Laurent said not to underestimate her," Carlisle mused aloud. "Has she not evaded Edward countless times?" His son wasn't happy to hear that statement yet again. "And she knew exactly where to cross the treaty line - as if it were mapped out for her..."
Carys splayed her arms. "Remember!?" she called out. "Victoria's not just good at self-preservation! It's her power! Of course, she would know how to do it! Can you see her future now?"
Alice concentrated for a minute, then said, "There's nothing to give away where she is, but I can see her clearly."
"Then we're fine!" Carys announced, sagging against Carlisle's hard shoulder. "Kind of. As long as you can see her, even a bit."
"However," said Carlisle, expanding the thought for her, "if she decides to come to Forks again, or if her future becomes murky or disappears entirely... Darling," he whispered, taking a step up and tilting her face so that he could press a kiss to her lips, "you've both identified a potential blind-spot and solved it at once."
Patting his chest, Carys received his gentle kiss and said, "I know. I'm a latent genius, and you were all overconfident. If you need me, I'll be snoozing for an hour."
Carys was in the midst of an intense feeling of déjà vu as she pointed towards the door towards the middle of the hallway, and said, "... And this is Doctor Cullen's office."
Knocking on the door, she waited for a few moments, sharing an awkward smile with the young woman she was showing around the hospital.
Hannah McKay was taking over from Carys when she left the hospital in a couple of weeks, and it was Carys' job to teach her all she could about the part of her job that she would be taking over before the official handover. It was strange for her - that she was stopping work altogether. At the hospital. And for this lifetime.
In possession of a classically beautiful face and a cropped pixie-cut just a shade longer and lighter than Alice's, Hannah stood a few inches shorter than Carys, who had worn flats to work purely so that she didn't tower over her while she showed her around.
"He's probably off doing his rounds," Carys explained when there was no response. Sweeping a hand out before her, she indicated that they begin walking again.
With a tight and mildly uncomfortable smile, Carys glanced at the other woman as they moved swiftly on to Sarah's office.
"Doctor Martins!" Carys cried, relieved to find Sarah in her office - and with the door wide open. "Help," she mouthed, poking her head around the door so that Hannah couldn't see.
Carys thought Hannah seemed as if she could be lovely when you got to know her, but the main issue of their tour so far had been that she'd come home to Forks after having been away for the past five years. As such, she wasn't entirely clued up on some things, but had been dismissive and evidently displeased whenever Carys talked about things or introduced her to people she knew already after having spent her first eighteen years in the town.
Sarah winked, and they shared a grin before she held up a finger and wrestled her expression to something closely resembling a warm smile. After giving her a moment to adopt the more serious expression, Carys pulled away and waved Hannah forward.
"Doctor Sarah Martins, this is Hannah McKay. She's joining the admin team today."
"Good time to start!" Sarah replied, standing up and shaking out her white coat before slipping it on. Rounding her desk, she reached out a hand to shake Hannah's. "Though, I'd put your request in for Thanksgiving leave asap if you want the time off."
Carys' jaw dropped. Did Sarah say that to everyone? She was sure that was what she'd said to her when she started. Sarah studiously avoided her eye, and Carys had her answer.
"Will do!" Hannah replied, shaking Sarah's hand. Her head cocked to the side, she looked Sarah over. "You know my sister, I think."
"McKay... Yeah, sure! She was... She moved to Port Angeles, didn't she?"
"Yeah," said Hannah. Thrusting a hand into her short hair, she shook it out and turned away.
Sarah drew back, meeting Carys' eye with a questioning glance. Carys shook her head gently and rolled her eyes, pressing her lips together. They seemed to be thinking the same thing: "Wow, that was... Brief..."
"Hannah was at the Uni of Seattle for the past few years," Carys informed Sarah. She was grasping at straws, and they both knew it.
Sarah flashed a thankful smile and tried again. "You've just graduated?"
Shaking her head, Hannah offered, "No, a year ago," then promptly turned her attention elsewhere.
"Right... Well. Enjoy your tour! And-wait..." Thrusting her hands into the deep pockets of her white coat, Sarah swivelled slowly to face Carys. Her sudden change in tone alerted Hannah, who finally reengaged with the conversation with something akin to actual interest. "Have you shown her the Emergency Department yet, Care?"
Carys shook her head. Then kept shaking it as Sarah's eyes lit up and she briefly laughed - a devilish sound, Carys decided. Sarah turned to Hannah again, whose interest was steadily growing if the way her gaze darted between them was anything to go by.
"Then you've not met Doctor Cullen yet, have you?"
Carys continued to shake her head, but this time she was joined by Hannah, who had perked up, even more, the moment she heard the name.
"No," Hannah said, now far more excited than she had been since Carys greeted her an hour before, "but I heard about him before Julia moved."
"You're in for an exceptionally pleasant surprise then." With that, Sarah headed for the end of the hall. Hannah followed closely behind, all but tripping over herself to keep up with Sarah's quick strides. Carys groaned and headed after them.
The sense of déjà vu was only growing worse by the minute. As was the suspicion Sarah used Carlisle was a sort of get-out-of-awkward-moments-free card. Had it been awkward for Sarah when they'd first met? She'd seemed so confident. And yet... It had been for Carys. She vaguely remembered a rambling discussion - on her end, at least - about how long she planned on staying in Forks, and how Sarah found the town boring.
Occupied by her thoughts, Carys trailed a step behind as they made their way through the halls. Both she and Sarah scanned the ward as they sanitised their hands after entering the large, long room. Their gazes fell on Carlisle at the same time. His back to them, he pretended not to have heard them enter.
"That," Sarah whispered to Hannah with a conspiratorial grin on her face, "is Doctor Carlisle Cullen. Brace yourself."
On cue, Carlisle turned away from the nurse's station, biting his lip to hide a smirk. His gaze collided with Carys'. The man was being pimped out as eye candy, and he found it amusing. Carys wondered just how often this happened. It strangely didn't bother her so much that it happened before, but rather that it was happening now, and with Hannah specifically.
Hannah - standing beside Carys, close enough for her to hear - began taking quick, shallow breaths. Carys grimaced, all but pouting across at Carlisle, who struggled with his expression.
"Sarah, Carys," he called calmly across the room - his smooth voice and calm tone at odds with the amusement twinkling in his eyes. "I'll be with you in just a moment." He paused for a fraction of a second, widening his eyes minutely when he met Carys' gaze once again - as if to say: "Jesus Christ" and "Yes, that was you two and a half years ago" - then turned back to his chart.
Carys turned to Sarah and Hannah when his gaze was safely elsewhere. Hannah's mouth was slightly agape, gazing across at him as if she'd never seen anyone quite so unbelievably handsome before. She likely hadn't. With a grin fixed on her face, Sarah winked at them both before excusing herself and heading quickly to the safety of the other side of the ward when she caught sight of Carys' narrowing eyes.
Easing from her glare before Hannah finally pulled her gaze away, Carys smiled at the younger woman.
"When did your sister move out of town?" she asked. The answer would likely tell her whether Hannah knew she was openly eyeing up her fiance or not.
"A couple of years ago," Hannah dismissed quickly. Leaning in, her blue eyes wide, glossy, and all but brimming over with excitement, she whispered, "He's gorgeous! I heard he's got this huge family, but he's engaged now..." Trailing off, her face fell, and she grimaced her distaste at the news.
"Yes," Carys replied, her lips tightening. "Yes, he's-"
"And," Hannah went on, "He has five kids - all grown up, but still! Five!"
"I-"
"Do you know his fiancee? I know she works at the hospital, but that's all Karen Newton could tell me before-" cutting off, she leaned away just as Carlisle came within earshot.
"Carys," he greeted warmly before turning his smile on Hannah. As he'd been able to see and hear the entire exchange, his smile changed just a little - the intensity of the warmth seeping away so that he maintained a polite, kind, but mildly distant expression. "And...?"
"Hannah McKay," she replied breathlessly, not bothering - or, perhaps unable to - hide her reaction to him.
He met Carys' eye again and bit his lip, again hiding the extent of his amusement. "Well, Miss McKay, it was-"
"Hannah, please," she cut in unsteadily.
Carlisle struggled not to laugh. "Hannah. It was lovely to meet you." Dropping a kiss to Carys' cheek, he said, loudly enough for them both to hear, "If you wait for me, I'll join you on your run this evening. Darling." He purposefully drawled the last part, drawing it out.
Hannah inhaled sharply.
He drew back, offering the younger woman another polite smile. "I should be getting on," he said, then, his dark-golden eyes melting, stared into Carys' eyes until she shivered as the all-too-familiar frisson hit. "Farewell, love." Offering one last wave, he headed towards Sarah. Carys was sure she heard him say: "You must stop doing that" when he reached her.
Sarah's laugh rang out through the ward. As did Hannah's moan of mortification.
Carys had her undivided attention for the rest of the tour. Not once did she hear a comment, even muttered under the woman's breath, about how she already knew something.
Early Saturday afternoon found Carys sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, surrounded by papers and scraps of linen in different colours. Carlisle was in Forks. He'd been sent out to post the last of the wedding invitations, now that the stragglers had come back to them with their addresses.
Having been the subject of a twenty-four-hour lecture on both racism and her privilege over the course of two days, Rosalie sat opposite, somewhat forgiven as she'd sworn to use nothing harsher than werewolf to describe the shapeshifters. Holding two scraps aloft, her majestic grin was slowly dimming.
"You truly can't see the difference?" she asked, lowering the two pieces to examine them. Waving one, she said, "This one is slightly bluer, and this one-" she waved the other "-is a little redder."
Carys twisted her hands together in her lap and leaned forward, trying desperately to see the difference. They looked the same to her human eyes. If she concentrated, she could see a hint of difference, but not enough that it was as big of an issue as Rosalie was making it out to be. After a couple of moments, she eased back and shook her head, saying:
"No. I'm sorry. I think we're going to have to put table linens back onto Carlisle's list."
Rosalie's head tipped from side to side and she abandoned the scraps in favour of her binder. "Linens - Carlisle," she said as her pen flowed across the page. "It's alright, I suppose - we narrowed it down enough to be getting on with. Now..." She tapped the end of her pen to the page. "Was it a firm no on ice-sculptures?"
"Yes," said Carys. "We're getting married in the middle of July, remember? It might not be sunny, but it's still-"
The front door slammed open, and Carys jumped out of her skin, covering her head with her arms - as if that would do anything to stave off an attack. Edward strode into view just as she lowered them.
Rosalie glared up at him. "Can't you see we're busy?" she complained. Crossing her arms, she gripped the pen so hard she snapped it in two and pulverised the middle into dust. Black ink dripped from her fingers. Carys let out a faint whine. It was a Parker. And it was hers. "You're supposed to be hunting with Emmett and Jasper. What happened? Weren't enough mountain lions around?"
"Plenty," Edward announced, dropping down to sit beside Carys. Eyes flinty hard and nearly pitch-black from hunger, he stared at her. "I need your help."
Thinking that that was a turn up for the books, Carys squinted at him. His tone was dramatically at odds with his expression. "What d'you need?" she asked.
"Bella's run off," he told her quickly. "I need you to bring her back."
"What?" Carys exclaimed, straightening. The news alarmed her, but she found herself equally unsure as to how she was expected to help track Bella down when Rosalie was sitting right across the table from her - she would be far more help. Or Alice. "Bella's... Where'd she go?"
Edward's hands curled into fists. Every muscle in his jaw clenched. Through his teeth, he said, "La Push."
"Ahh..."
"What do you mean, ahh?" Edward growled, mocking her relieved sigh, tipping his head back just as she had. "Did you not hear me?"
The sound of a pen scratching lightly across the page alerted them both to the fact Rosalie had returned to her previous occupation.
"I heard you all right," Carys assured him lightly. Pulling her own binder towards her, she read the next item on their list. "I just don't see the problem."
"You don't see the problem with Bella-!"
"I don't appreciate your tone, Edward. If you want me to talk to you about this, you need to calm down a bit," Carys told him gently.
Holding up the binder, she met Rosalie's eye and tapped her finger to the tenth point, the second not to have been crossed out so far that day, which read: Finalise Menus.
Rosalie nodded resolutely, disappearing a split second later.
They hadn't expected to get so far as that over the last couple of hours, therefore, she needed to retrieve the notes they'd made during the tasting two weeks before. Rather, the ones Carys had dictated while Rosalie and Carlisle watched her for hours as she made her way through the various tasting menus.
Edward slowly unclenched his fists, then his jaw when Carys glanced at him and away. "Is this better?" he asked.
"Yes," she told him. Dropping the binder to the coffee table, she looked at him again. "I thought she was at work?"
"She was," he explained, hands twitching in his lap. "Or, she was supposed to be at any rate. Alice was hunting nearby - to keep an eye on her."
"Why exactly is that?"
"So that she didn't..."
Raising her eyebrows, Carys tipped her head. "Yes...?"
"Run off," he finished with a sigh. Some of the venom returned to his voice as he gritted his teeth once again. "She's in danger, Carys!"
"Is she?" Carys' surprise and mild disbelief shone through.
"Yes!"
Twisting so that she could rest her arm across the sofa and prop her cheek upon her raised fist, she sighed, "How so?"
"The wolf," he hissed, trying to make it sound as bad as dog might have if he was still able to use it. His hands curled back into fists. "He could hurt her."
Briefly closing her eyes, Carys asked, "Why do you think that?"
He stared at her as if she'd grown two heads. "Why do I think that?" he echoed, devoid of emotion. "Young wolves are unpredictable. If he phases when she's nearby, he could-"
"I've just been to see Leah," she reminded him. If he could have blushed, she expected he would have. Instead, his lips twisted, showing his discomfort. "She's been a wolf for half as much-maybe a third? As much time as him - and that was fine. She was perfectly in control."
"That's different."
"Is it?"
"Yes!"
"How is it different?"
"It just is."
Carys took a deep, steading breath. "If you can give me a valid, irrefutable reason why Bella's in danger from Jacob when I wasn't with Leah, I'll drive there right now and fetch her back."
"He's a young wolf!" he repeated, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"We've already been through that," Carys sighed. Shifting a little, she dropped the hand that had been supporting her chin and poked his hard shoulder. "Is this because she's not waiting for you at home?"
Edward wouldn't meet her eye. "It is hard enough to be without her, knowing she could be hurt at any time," he told her, staring at the floor. "Let alone when she's choosing to place herself in additional danger."
"Additional?" Carys cried.
He nodded. "Bella completely lacks basic coordination - and she would say so herself if she were here. She could hurt herself a hundred different ways just by walking a little too quickly across a room."
Carys rolled her eyes. They both knew Bella had survived for seventeen years before he met her, and the months he'd been gone as well. He grimaced as the thought passed through her mind.
"We're gonna move past that," she announced, placing a hand to his upper arm. "But you still haven't given me a good enough reason."
"He's a teenage boy. He's volatile. Bella's hardly a good judge of these things, to begin with-"
"Edward."
He looked at her then, and the fire that raged behind his eyes dimmed.
"You're a teenage boy," she reminded him with a smile. His lips briefly tipped up in one corner. "Do you want Bella to trust you?"
"Of course I do," he insisted.
"Do you trust her?"
Edward didn't answer. He lowered his gaze to Carys' hand until she removed it from his arm, then he snatched it from the air and placed it right back where it had been.
Carys' lips twitched. "Right. Well." Sobering, her brow furrowed and she voiced the thought she had no doubt he'd heard. "Are you sure you want to keep asking to marry someone you can't trust?"
"I can trust her... When she's not putting herself in harm's way."
"But you can't trust her to make the decision on her own? Of what's imminently dangerous and what's not?"
Shaking his head, he let out a dark chuckle and said, "She's hardly the best judge of character when it comes to those things."
"Look. Edward," Carys said, shifting closer. "You need to stop treating Bella as if she's some porcelain doll you want to keep all to yourself."
"I'm not!" he protested.
"You don't think you are?" Carys took note of his shocked, horrified expression. "Okay... You do realise she's been spending all her time with you - as far as she was allowed to? And don't think I didn't notice her saying you were allowed over until nine-thirty. It was nine, Edward."
He hung his head.
Ridding herself of all but the sympathetic part of her expression, she said, "Look... You've just gone on your first hunt in weeks, which - I mean-" she waved her free hand in in the direction of his chalky pale skin, bruised under eyes, and fathomlessly dark irises "-you clearly needed - still need. And you're back here, demanding I intervene the moment she deviates from the agreed-upon plan? That screams controlling, Edward."
"It's for her own safety," he argued. Staring once more at the floor, his heart wasn't in the statement as it might have been before.
Carys took a deep breath. "It's toxic as all hell, is what it is."
"I love her," he whispered softly. "I worry about her. More than you know. More than she knows."
"More than Carlisle loves me?" she queried, knowing full well the answer. "More than he worries about me?"
"No," he quietly conceded. "But... The thought of her being hurt by that-by that..."
"Edward. You have to trust her at some point," Carys counselled, waiting until he finally met her eye once again before she continued, "Has Jacob ever done anything to harm her before? Either before or after he started phasing?"
He growled, glaring in defeat. "Not physically, no," he ground out after a few moments.
Carys gently stroked his arm, nodding slowly. "Right. So what makes you think he'll do so now? Or that Bella won't run for cover if he does?"
"I..."
"It's alright to be anxious about it," she counselled, "but it's not alright to go around controlling her every move. Do you think she would have run away to see him if she didn't feel she had to?"
Edward raised his head, so quickly his neck would have snapped had he been human. "What do you mean?" he demanded.
"I think we both know what I mean," Carys gently and quietly replied. "If she felt as if she could go without you getting like this, she would have told you exactly where she was going, or at the very least, would have told you that she planned on visiting him soon. Did she? Mention that she wanted to?"
"She mentioned it," he admitted. "I talked her out of going."
"You put your foot down, you mean?"
Shoulders slumping, Edward fell slowly towards her, dropping his forehead to her shoulder. Carys hesitantly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, settling into the embrace when he shuffled a little closer. She stroked his back until the tension in his marble-like muscles eased a little. After a few minutes, he drew away. Rosalie returned an instant later. She must, Carys thought, have been waiting until her brother was finished.
"You should choose the red," Edward sighed, pointing to the scrap of cream linen Rosalie had called "redder" as he slid away and stood in one smooth, graceful movement. "It's not as draining as the blue."
"Where are you going?" Carys asked over the faint scratching of Rosalie's new pen. Watching him make his way to the door, she was about to ask again when he turned on his heel and walked backwards for the last few feet.
"I'm going to go wait on our side of the boundary line and listen to Jacob's thoughts," he informed her. "If he so much as thinks about hurting her, I'm crossing."
"Do that and you'll start a war," Carys reminded him.
"If he hurts her, he'll have started it first," Edward said.
Sighing, Carys ran her hands over her eyes and turned back to face Rosalie. "Right," she said, her hands falling once more to her lap as she leaned forward. "Where were we?"
Rosalie held up three menus. One was in French, one in English, the other a blend of the two. Other than that, everything else appeared identical.
"I meant choosing the food," Carys whispered.
"Oh," said Rosalie. "I'll be back in a minute. Choose one of those while I'm gone. I like the one with the French."
Which one with the French? Carys thought, gathering her hair at the nape of her neck. There are two.
They were just finalising both aspects of the menus - having seen them properly, Carys realised there were subtle differences in font, and Rosalie was right about the font of the entirely French one being the most aesthetically pleasing - when a pair of hands gripped her waist and lifted her from the ground.
Recovering from a minor heart attack, she waited until Rosalie had shifted the coffee table a few inches to her direction and Carlisle had sat down behind her, before she said, "Edward's on the warpath about Bella."
"When is he not?" Carlisle calmly asked, stroking her hair over one shoulder. With that achieved, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her temple as she raised her hand and slid it into his hair. "How are things going?"
Rosalie held up the two indistinguishable scraps of linen in silence.
"Hmm..." Carlisle deliberated for around a minute before he nodded his head in the direction of one and said, "I think I prefer the blue."
Closing her eyes, Carys groaned as she dropped her head to the table.
A/N: Happy New Year! And I'm screaming at them all (Carys especially) to make the Victoria/Seattle connection before Bella because... I'm annoyed it was Bella for some reason...
Thank you to: Delilah- JS, GuestMG, chellekathrynnn, ReadLikeHermione, Lizzie B (Charlie deserves all the love and care! He deserves so much more than he's given! Also, I love the Clearwaters too!), Ella (I'm pretty sure - considering how both Edward and, in this story, Carlisle - asked to tell anyone else's story (I'm not sure if Edward asked about Esme, but he definitely did for Carlisle), it adds to Bella's ease of telling their private information. Their deaths are their own stories, and deeply traumatic for most of them... Yeah... Nevermind Seth, Bella's the blabbermouth! I agree wholeheartedly with each and every one of the shoutouts!), TDI- Ryro- Eclares, BMBMDooDoo- Doo- Doo- Doo (I did indeed! Thank you!), jhaenox, Ghostwriter71, LarissaValenti2613, derniermom, and KEZZ 1 for your reviews!
