Eclipse, Chapter 15

The last few days of the week sped by, and before Carys knew it, it was Friday.

The day, as she'd taken to referring to it in her mind.

When she rose alone and went in search of Carlisle, she found Jasper had returned in the early hours and headed straight for Carlisle's study. His trip had been unsuccessful. He hadn't found Peter or Charlotte, and Maria wasn't willing to get involved.

He and Carlisle spent the morning strategising and working through tactics. Carys sat in for a couple of hours, curled up in Carlisle's chair as the two vampires stood and kept their voices loud and slow enough for her to hear.

Every so often they would pause and repeat whichever comments had been made by whichever vampires were in the house at the time so that Carys was kept in the loop. There wasn't much she could think to add but they didn't seem to mind.

At Alice's last count there were twenty-three newborns - that meant ten for the eight wolves and fourteen, including Victoria, for the seven Cullens. It would be tight but they could make it with training on their side; the wolves turned the odds more in their favour than if the five Denali had been prevailed upon.

Emmett had returned the night before. He had had just as much luck as Jasper; Garrett had moved on from New York, traveling afield before his expected return to Washington in July.

The constraints of the unknown meant that an in-depth search was rendered almost impossible, even for vampires. As the newborns were nearby and could decide to move at any time, the Cullens couldn't risk too many leaving the area, or staying away for long. Even in search of aid.

Alice was stretched too thin as it was, though she had done what she could to help each of them.

They had even taken to all hunting in the immediate area.

The more Carlisle and Jasper talked, the less Carys worried. Her dread was ever present in the form of mild nausea, as was her fear for all involved, but knowing there were settled plans, and that those plans made sense and played to the strengths not only of the vampires, but of the wolves - as far as they could determine - helped.

When Carys took her leave of them to head into Forks, their plans were set. It was now a matter of training while they watched and waited.

Rosalie went along with Carys to town. It was for the sake of protection, but it didn't feel like it when they were there.

It was nice to spend time running errands with her; it felt nice. Normal. Human.

They were done before they expected to be, and as they were both willing, they stopped off to pick up coffee from the diner. Carys struggled not to laugh when Rosalie reacted to seeing Sandra. The vampire's nose wrinkled and she gave a new definition to the term "cold shoulder".

Carys, however, wasn't quite so bold and almost ended up in an awkwardly polite conversation with her old boss. Sandra was fishing for information about how Carys had been occupying herself. Every question held a derisive undertone.

Luckily, Rosalie was having none of it. She quickly reminded Carys of an imagined trip to Portland and extradited her before either human quite knew what had happened.

Carys knew she wasn't supposed to have favourites, but if she did have one, Rosalie would have usurped them to the top spot.


"What's that?" Carys asked.

Standing in the study once again, she had her back to Carlisle, who was sitting behind his desk. She was staring at the wall. The wall filled with paintings with which he had mapped his life out for her well over a year before.

The wall on which a new painting had taken pride of place in the hours since she was last in the room.

Carys glanced behind her and sank down until her head was level with Carlisle's eyeline.

It was just as she suspected.

The painting was lined up perfectly. He need only raise his head and it was the first thing he would see.

"I would have thought it obvious, darling," Carlisle observed distractedly, shifting a small pile of papers to the side in favour of others. "It is a portrait."

"Oh, that's obvious," Carys remarked with a roll of her eyes. Straightening to her full height, she approached the new addition and cocked her head.

It was beautiful. Far more beautiful than she expected. Not that she had truly expected its existence. Or that such a portrait would ever be made.

"Who painted it?" she asked.

Carlisle replied in the same distracted tone. "I did."

Well, that made it more breathtaking that it already was.

"Why?" she breathed.

"Why?"

"Why did you paint it?"

"So that I could look at it," he said, sounding a little confused. The rustling of papers continued. "I'm sorry darling, I'm a little preoccupied. Would you like me to take it down?"

Take it down!? As far as she was concerned, it was staying there forever. Just in his eyeline as he worked or studied. He had a study - a small library, really - in each of his houses. It would move with them.

"No," she answered simply, moving ever closer to the portrait. "I love it."

"Good."

Good was not quite the word Carys would use. Another understatement.

After a lifetime spent visiting galleries and making favourites of portraits and paintings, she was in awe of seeing her own likeness depicted in one.

Even if he had been a little kind in some places. In her mind, at least.

It was too long for a head and shoulders depiction but shorter than a kit-cat, she thought; life-sized all the same. She appeared to be dressed in a modern take on seventeenth-century dress - a little scandalous, perhaps, as it didn't appear as if she was wearing a chemise.

She commented on it and glanced over her shoulder. Carlisle looked up just long enough to wink before they each returned to their present occupations.

Carys did so with a smirk on her face.

Her hair was half-up in the portrait; an intricate design secured with jewelled pins. A few long curls fell over her right shoulder, disappearing past the frame. He'd included the shorter, frizzier curls that framed her face and hadn't sought to make the spiralling ringlets sleeker than they would usually be.

Her left hand was raised as she touched one of her diamond and pearl earrings. The position displayed her engagement ring. Double-taking, she realised he'd added a wedding band. That was a nice touch, she thought.

The pendants Carlisle had saved from his mother's wedding gift sat just below her collarbone, as they did in life, and Carys raised her hand to fiddle with their counterparts as she looked further.

The backdrop was plain and dark at first glance, but he'd managed to add a depth to it which grew the longer she stared at it. It brought everything together beautifully.

"You should paint more," Carys offered reverentially as she focused on the detail of the bodice, "you're amazing."

Carlisle murmured behind her, then said, "Hardly." Though he sounded a little proud all the same.

"You really are," Carys softly insisted. "It's stunning. And not because it's of me."

"I learned from the best," Carlisle replied cryptically over the sound of his pen. "Besides, you're a good muse. The hardest part was hiding it before it was finished."

Carys was smiling at herself from the frame - not grinning, exactly - but almost beaming. Happy and in love. Excited, perhaps. It was there in the wide sparkling eyes, the slight blush that splashed across her high cheekbones. It looked as if she were barely suppressing a laugh.

Her lips were at their fullest and rosiest, as if she'd just woken up for the day.

Her nose was-

Carys whirled around. "You made my nose shorter," she matter-of-factly informed him.

"No I didn't," Carlisle insisted as Carys turned back to the painting.

"Yes you did," she said, pointing to the portrait. "Look, it's shorter."

Carys was well aware of how long her nose was, and he'd removed the-

She recoiled when a finger and thumb appeared before her, and her back bounced off Carlisle's hard chest. He waited for her to settle and then used the two to take a measurement of her nose. He then - without adjusting so much as a millimeter from what she could tell - almost touched his fingers to the nose of the portrait.

"Oh..." He was right. He hadn't adjusted her nose in the slightest. She'd always thought it was a bit too long for her face, but it fit her in the portrait. Which, she supposed, might mean it fit her face in general.

"Oh, indeed," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her. "I have perfect recall after all. Don't doubt me, Carys, I'll more often than not be entirely correct, and then you'll end up with egg on your face. Just as you do now. Do you truly like it?"

"I do," she promised. "It's absolutely beautiful. You've been far too good to me with the details though..." She grinned when he scoffed. "I'll put it down to artistic flair." A thought occured as she leaned into his embrace and ran her hands over his forearms. "What were you doing that was so distracting?"

Carlisle was hesitant to answer, but eventually he admitted, "I have rather a lot of... Darling, I don't wish you to worry; I was simply being careful and doing the sensible thing. I have many holdings, concerns, investments, affairs to put in-"

"You-you were sorting out your will!?" Carys shrieked, turning in his arms.

"Of course not," Carlisle said with a faintly chiding frown. "I was simply amending it."

"That makes it... That doesn't make it any better," Carys whispered with a light grimace. "Why were you amending it now?"

Did he not think he was going to make it through what was to come in the next couple of weeks?

Carlisle ran a hand through his hair.

"It's sensible," he told her calmly. "I don't expect anything to happen to me, but I was planning on amending it before July regardless. I want to make sure you're taken care of if anything were to happen to me while you're still human."

"Well... I don't want it," Carys said, smoothing his crisp white shirt, "so you can just toss it away and stop thinking about dying. You're immortal and that's the end of it."

"I want to know you'll be-"

Slapping her hand to his lips stung her palm but made no difference to him other than inconvenience. All the same, it muffled the last of his words.

"Please Carlisle... You promised me you wouldn't leave last year, and you promised you wouldn't leave this year. Leaving includes dying, in case you didn't realise."

Carlisle gripped Carys' wrist and gently tugged her hand away from his lips. He smiled softly down at her as he spoke.

"How remiss of me to forget."

Carys worried her lip between her teeth as she searched his eyes and face for any hint of amusement. She found none.

"I have no plans of leaving you," he insisted as he gently stroked her cheek, "just as you have no plans of leaving me. Would you be quite so worried if I had amended it last Friday?"

Carys thought for a moment and shook her head. "You were really going to do it anyway?" she asked before re-capturing her bottom lip with her teeth.

Carlisle's smile deepened a touch. He kissed her forehead.

"I was going to do it anyway," he promised against her skin.

Carys settled her arms around his shoulders and he shifted a little, dropped his forehead to her shoulder, and tightened his hold on her waist as she stroked his hair.

"Nothing is going to happen to me," he assured her.

Carys nodded, staring unseeing towards the windows.

Nothing.

Just the thought was enough to strike fear in her heart and make her feel sick to the stomach all over again.


A few hours later, Carys and Carlisle parted again after spending time reading together and trying to ignore the worry they both felt, no matter what they admitted aloud.

Carys found herself in the garage soon after. She sat cross-legged on the bonnet of Carlisle's Mercedes, chatting to Rosalie and Emmett.

She was sure everyone had heard her conversation with Carlisle earlier, and it was nice to be with the pair. They were straight talking and wouldn't skirt around things. It calmed her still frayed nerves.

Her expectation had first been confirmed when she'd kicked off her slippers and Emmett had greeted her by asking, "You understand how much Carlisle's worth, right, Ma?"

To which she had replied, "We don't have a pre-nup. I'll be rich either way, and I'd rather have Carlisle. What would I use the money for without him?"

"Really fancy widow's weeds and a hundred cats," he'd answered cheerily.

Rosalie - who was working on his Jeep - had slid from beneath the car, raised one hand, and slapped him over the back of the head. He'd rubbed at the spot but made no apology for the remark.

Carys had laughed, and the tension was broken.

Emmett was acting as a jack with his hand and forearm lifting his Jeep as Rosalie lay beneath it on a creeper with only her jean-clad legs in view.

She had only just finished making judgemental remarks about Carys admitting she had no idea what a transmission looked like, let alone where it was located or what it did exactly, when Edward's Volvo made an appearance.

Carys didn't think to watch as he darted to the passenger's side door, but looked up the instant Emmett began to laugh and asked:

"Last day of finals didn't go too well, Bella?"

Bella glared at Emmett as she almost slammed the car door closed. Edward caught it just in time and eased it into place.

"Tired of Jake and Charlie," Bella snapped, heading quickly for the stairs. "They act like I can't make my own decisions about my own life."

"Still?" Carys asked.

Charlie's dislike of Edward was understandable; Bella's treatment of Charlie was inexcusable; her previous treatment of Jacob was terrible; but Charlie and Jacob's increasing insistence that Bella rethink her options... It was beyond the pale.

Now, Carys had her issues with Bella and Edward, but that made no difference. Charlie and Jacob were entirely ignoring her. Dismissing her choice. Dismissing her. Dismissing her right to have a choice.

They were each trying to cause problems for her, and attempting to - through various means including manipulation and coercion - force Jacob on her as a love interest when she had made clear now she didn't want him to fill that role.

Neither was taking no for an answer.

Even if Bella did have feelings for Jacob, she had made her decision, and Carys thought that they should respect her choice. Whether they liked it or not.

There was the added issue, of course, of the Volturi. Charlie and Jacob didn't know it Bella would be changed into a vampire whether she had chosen Edward or not. And Jacob had made it clear he'd rather she were dead than become one.

There was no future there.

Bella growled and almost kicked at a tyre before she thought better of the move.

"Jake can't go one afternoon without telling me I should be with him, and Charlie," she growled the name, "can't go one day without thinking he-ugh!"

Brimming with pride and verging on gleeful, Edward added, "Bella has just put both in their places."

Bella nodded curtly and shoved her hair behind her ear as she stormed off towards the stairs. "If he still wants to be my friend," she announced, "he can be my friend. But I love Edward. He needs to get that through his thick skull."

Carys raised her fists to her shoulders and shook them, silently cheering. Emmett burst out laughing once again.

Rosalie finally paused her tinkering. "Jasper's going to win the bet," she observed smugly.

Emmett stopped laughing.

Bella paused just before the stairs. "What bet?" she demanded.

Edward stared at Emmett and shook his head infinitesimally as he urged Bella on.

"What bet?" Bella insisted, but Edward intercepted her before she could turn back completely and ferried her upstairs.

Bella's argument cut off a few seconds before the door swung shut. Carys took that to mean he'd decided it was easier to tell her.

Carys shifted, then crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, slowly turning to look at Emmett. He met her suspicious glare with an open smile.

"Fancy explaining part of that?" Carys asked. "Namely the part involving you?"

Emmett's smile grew to a grin. It happened so quickly it seemed to Carys' human eyes as if it had skipped, much like when a DVD had a scratch in it.

"Just a friendly wager Jasper and I have going," he said gleefully. "How many humans Bella will take down in her first year."

"Slip-ups," Rosalie corrected from beneath the car. "Speaking of which. Your suspension is shot to hell. Gracious, Em."

Emmett had the good sense to throw out something which sounded like an apology, and Rosalie humphed.

"The point is: Jasper has the higher," Rosalie said, "and with that temper, he may be right."

Carys' brows lifted. She hummed and then thought to ask, "Are you betting on me too?"

Emmett rolled his eyes so hard his head moved. "Damn straight."

Carys frowned. "High or low?" She wasn't sure she really wanted to know, but she had already talked to Carlisle about ways to curb her... Appetite, as it were.

She knew she could rely on Jasper to help as well - he'd promised her as much, and she doubted he would let her down. Carys wouldn't put her blood lust on him, but he had full permission to subdue her if needs be.

And there was control.

Carys could hope for control.

Carlisle had had it in spades. Rosalie had had more than her fair share of it - more than the fair share of two vampires. It was doubtful, but Carys could hope her determination might come with her into the next life.

Emmett answered while he lifted the car a bare inch higher. "We're thinking it'll be low because of," he made an all-encompassing gesture towards her, "and Carlisle. But there isn't much down on all of us getting out of it unscathed."

"You think I'm going to... Kill one of you!?" Carys cried, horrified by the implication.

Rosalie slid from beneath the Jeep in a flash and fixed her with a pointed stare.

"Probably not kill, but the chances you could maim someone are rather high."

"You think so?" Carys hadn't thought of that. She should have really. Newborns turned on their own...

"Put it this way, Neo," Emmett gleefully announced, putting particular emphasis on the name, "Edward's going to be losing at least one limb. I bet you'll hide it for a while. Give it back for good behaviour."

Carys blinked. They meant they thought she would do it by choice rather than in the midst of a desperate blood-rage?

"Neo?" she asked instead, seeking an answer she hoped she could handle.

"Freaked out when you discovered another world," Emmett reeled off, "from what Carlisle said, there was way more vomit than the movie; you learned everything you could; you never give up; got good ideas and a tendency to survive; see more than most humans; we reckon you'll fight hard."

"You're a Neo," Rosalie echoed.

"Carlisle is...?"

"A Morpheus naturally," Rosalie said as if it were obvious - which it was once she'd pointed it out - while she slid back beneath the Jeep, "I'm a Trinity. Emmett's a Kid. Alice, Oracle. It goes on."

Emmett nodded his agreement a little unhappily. "Spoiling for a fight but I've got a good heart," he explained when Carys looked askance. "I'm a Captain Mifune; not optimistic enough for Rose when there's a battle on the way."

Huh.

Carys couldn't say she wasn't happy with the comparison, though she'd always hoped she was a Trinity, and Emmett and Rosalie perhaps forgot the way the films ended for Trinity and Neo.

All the same...

There was another thing she'd have to put on the list for when she was changed.

16. Don't dismember family members - even if they did get you killed young or their limbs can be reattached with no limited mobility or lasting side effects.

17. Don't hide said dismembered body parts - they will still be able to move.

18. Don't hide vampire body parts full stop for the simple fact that it's gross. And Carlisle wouldn't like it. And they're your step-children.

19. Be bold if you do snap. Beat Edward with his own-

Carys crossed out that last mental point and slid from the car bonnet as elegantly as she could manage. It was more of a feat than she wanted to admit. She was still being watched as she stepped into her slippers, and so she sighed and passed a hand over her eyes.

"Yeah, you're gonna lose that bet," she told him as she headed up out of the garage.

Rosalie's smooth husky laughter followed her until she reached the living room.

Carys found Edward and Bella on one of the sofas. Bella looked as if she were only half involved in the conversation. There was worry in her eyes. Fear, almost. Carys couldn't blame her. If the brunette teenager had been told the same thing as she had, it was no wonder.

Carys doubted Bella gave much thought to the bad parts of vampirism, only the good. Knowing there was a bet going around might have given her a bit of a wake-up call in that respect.

As she toed off her slippers, dropped to lie on the sofa opposite them and stretched out her legs, Carys began to wonder how Bella was only just seeming to begin to worry on that front.

In her eyes, it sometimes felt as if a single week couldn't pass without the supernatural world throwing out a maelstrom of shit.

Alright.

Perhaps "maelstrom of shit" was a little strong.

It was just that, amongst other things...

Two weeks before last, there had been the small issue of Victoria's latest visit, followed strangely enough by Carys' discovery that she had a secret sister (whom she was still to discuss with her mother).

The week before last there had been the issue of vaguely racist name-calling, an overprotective Edward, Bella playing hooky from school with a werewolf, and issues with Leah and Jacob finding out she and Bella were to become vampires soon - the latter of whom had made the aforementioned comment about death over vampirism.

Last week had thrown out Jasper's news, the realisation Victoria was behind the newborn army (which was probably coming to Forks), Bella's clothes being stolen, Carys' house being ransacked, and the wolves joining the fight (which risked yet more teenagers' lives).

This week had involved talking to Jasper, Jasper and Emmett coming back empty handed, Carlisle apparently deciding to rewrite his will "just in case", and now...

Discovering there were bets not simply on how many times she 'slipped up' in her first year, but how many times she injured her family.

Bella didn't have quite the same problems, but enough, and she was dealing with other personal issues and had had finals on top...

Carlisle appeared suddenly at Carys' side. He raised her ever so gently and sat down, laying her head and shoulders across his lap.

Carys closed her eyes as he began to gently braid her hair, making small talk with the pair of teenagers all the while.

There were good things coming, she hoped. The first training session was tonight and so they would be prepared; Edward and Bella graduated on Monday and there would be a party to celebrate; her own birthday was coming that Friday; and the wedding was four weeks and a day from that.

Optimism was key.

Her heartbeat slowed, her breath evened out, the nausea that had begun that morning began to fade, and thoughts of the future consumed her dreams.

Carlisle woke her for dinner, which she nibbled at sleepily, her eyes barely opening long enough to manage the feat. When she woke once more it was full dark.

"We'll be leaving in around an hour," he told her quietly. "You'll finally get to see the wolves in all their glory."

Carys stretched and yawned, rubbing at her cheek with the back of her hand.

When she spoke, her voice was sleep-roughened and crackling. "They're really that amazing?" she asked quietly, looking about herself to find she was now in bed.

Carlisle sat by her hip, brimming with remembered awe.

"Oh, far better," he assured as he leaned over her to steal a kiss. "Absolutely magical."

A/N: alright. I know I said we'd have wolves this chapter, but... They'll turn up next chapter. After checking in with the Outtakes, I took a general consensus and my feelings on Jacob's assaulting Bella and removed it from this story. It's just really upsetting and horrible for absolutely no reason. No idea why SMeyer did it or handled it so badly going forward, but... Removed.

Thanks to: derniermom, eeeeaud, RizzlesFan, chibi- no- baka, chellekathrynnn, Momochan77, jhaenox, Lizzy B (thank you! I'm really glad you liked it. Emmett is incredible and I love him so much!), queen area, Anita Simons, KEZZ 1, Adela (thank you!), BubblyYork, BMBMDooDoo- Doo- Doo- Doo, souverian, and ksyushangel for your reviews! I'll reply this afternoon!