Sorry to anyone who thinks this chapter (100) will be the battle. First, Carys has something she needs to sort out. But, as for the battle, not knowing how Carlisle is will be pure torture for Carys. Hence the chapter being Chapter 101. If you know, you know.
I edited chapter 96 to include replies, if anyone who responded didn't see it just yet.
Eclipse, Chapter 24
"Wake up. Carys. Wake up. Quickly."
Carys groaned and shifted away from the hand firmly shaking her shoulder and the urgent voice calling her name. Groggily opening her eyes, she found herself in the half-dark. It had been full light when she'd retreated from the group, seeking the solitude of the small tent, where she'd slowly fallen asleep after eating half the large bar of chocolate Carlisle had snuck into her backpack, beneath the thermal socks.
Roused from pleasant dreams of him, she wasn't happy with the change of circumstance.
"You're seriously calling your mom on me?" a deep voice complained. "What are you? Five?"
Icy wind battered the canvas walls of the small tent; she snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag, away from the chilly air stinging her cheeks and nose. The ache in her chest returned, as did the pit in her stomach as if they'd never left her.
"I-I-I sa-sa-said n-n-n-n-"
Carys' eyes snapped open again at the outraged response.
Rubbing sleepily at her cheek, she rolled to her right and tried to get her eyes to adjust. Wrapped up in Carlisle's parka, thermal socks covering her five hundred denier tights to keep her feet similarly warm, she tried to understand Bella's chattering teeth.
A large body loomed over the teenager. Jacob, Carys reasoned, recognising he had been the one to scoff about Edward calling his "Mom".
"Wha-what's going on...?" she yawned, covering her mouth. "What time is it?"
Edward's tone matched the air. "It's two o'clock. The dog-"
"Racist," Carys cut across, squinting blearily. She would sort that one out when she had the right of the situation.
"Apologies," Edward said genuinely, snarling as he added, "the boy claims he can only warm Bella by joining her in her sleeping bag."
"Unless she wants to lose a toe," Jacob replied, seemingly unperturbed, "she'll scoot over."
Carys shifted a little closer to Bella. She could make more of Jacob out than before. He was topless, clad only in what looked like sweatpants, holding Bella's sleeping bag half-open as she lay huddled, shuddering violently. Well that wasn't helping matters, was it?
Carys continued to struggle to make sense of it all. "I'm not following...," she said. "Why are you here, again?"
"Bella's freezing to death," Jacob informed her. "I run at a toasty one-oh-eight point nine these days."
Carys frowned. What? "Okay... And the sleeping bag?"
"It'll warm her up faster if I'm in there with her."
Oh hell no. "Jacob, did you or did you not hear Bella say no?" she asked slowly.
If she wasn't happy with his previous response, he only made things worse. "She's being stupid. She's freezing cold."
"That's not what I asked."
"Yes, I heard her."
"Right, so... Why are you ignoring her?" Before he could answer, she sighed, "Because she's freezing? Alright. I presume you've been taught about consent? Don't answer. It was rhetorical."
Edward responded to Carys' sluggish thoughts, lifting her to a sitting position and supporting her when she would have fallen back down again.
"I have two options for you," she told him, ignoring how foolish she felt judging from within a sleeping bag of all things, "the easy way, or the hard way. Please, for both of our sakes, take the easy way. I really don't want to have to see you sink any lower in everyone's estimations. And I'm really tired."
"What's the easy way?" he asked.
"The easy way is you zip Bella's sleeping bag back up without another word, and, if you say it's okay, Bella," she said, addressing her chattering, shaking form before she returned to Jacob, "you hold her through the night to keep her warm."
Jacob didn't move. "The longer we talk about this, the colder she gets." The exaggerated roll of his eyes would have been plain for all to hear if they hadn't seen it. "How about we wait until she's warm to have this conversation?"
"Sorry, Bella, I'm not acting like you're not here," Carys said quickly. Her voice firmed to address Jacob once again. "Zip her back up. We're having this conversation now, whether you like it or not."
"This isn't your problem. You're fine as you are. She's suffering."
Edward growled. "You can warm her just as well from outside the sleeping bag."
"I thought you called your mommy to take over for you," Jacob mocked, sneering at Edward as the vampire likely was doing right back from behind Carys. Still, he pressed the halves together, covering Bella from the worst of the cold.
"I'm not his mother," Carys observed. "Zip her back up."
Turning his attention to her, Jacob lowered the cover over Bella, but said, with a hint of a smirk, "Look. She can freeze with you and the ice-man over here for company, or I can have her sweating in no time."
"Sh-sh-sh-sh-" Bella attempted.
"Watch yourself," Edward hissed, as icy cold as the ground beneath the camping mats.
"What's he thinking?" Carys asked.
"Nothing I care to repeat."
"Come on," Jacob said, exasperated. "Don't you like having ten toes, Bella?"
"I-I-I do-do-don't need all t-t-t-ten." Bella shivered and shuddered violently as Jacob ignored the three of them and began to force his way into the small space.
Carys battled her sleeping bag to reach the zip. "Stop!" she cried as an entirely different panic rose through her.
Jacob acted as if he hadn't heard her. "Just try to relax," he told Bella. "Of course," he chuckled lowly, "you'd warm up faster if you took your clothes off."
"N-n-n-"
Panic turned to blazing anger. "Jacob. Get out of this tent right now."
He looked up and scoffed. "Oh, come on, it was just a-"
"Don't you, 'oh, come on', me! Do I look like one of your friends? Get out. You've just proved yourself dangerous to-"
He cut across her, his tone suggesting he thought she was being as ridiculous as he claimed Bella was. "I'm no danger-"
"I AM SPEAKING, JACOB BLACK!" Carys yelled, stunning him to silence. A keening whimper came from just outside the tent before she lowered her voice to a harsh whisper, her heart thudding against her ribcage. "Unless something's happened to Sam that I don't know about, I am the highest authority both by physical and mental age, and position on this mountain. You will learn some goddamn respect, do I make myself clear?"
Jacob didn't respond. Edward's hands twitched against Carys' back. It sounded as if she were the only one breathing. Even Bella's shuttering, shivering pants seemed to take a brief pause.
"If you can't immediately understand the word no," Carys said ever so softly, the warning clear, "that's bad enough. That alone makes you a potential danger. The fact that you continuously make light of your actions - as you did last time we met, and as you do now, makes you dangerous. It renders this space unsafe. It renders any space with you in it unsafe. When I said you needed to grow up, I meant it.
"You're sixteen years old. I can't believe you haven't been given The Talk at some stage in your life, but, if by some strange happening, you have not, let me tell you now.
"When someone says no-" she lowered her head just a touch, her gaze boring into Jacob's "-it doesn't mean you force your way into their space and decide you know better. It doesn't mean you do so and then joke about them taking their clothes off. It does not mean you manipulate their needs to suit your own purpose.
"It means no.
"People who ignore their actions as you have," she went on, her voice rising ever so slightly, "and who play them off when they're called out, are dangerous. And I don't want to hear that you love or care about Bella. If you had so much as an ounce of respect for her, you would listen to her. You wouldn't dismiss her objections or those who try to protect her.
"You will get out of this tent right now," she snapped angrily, "You will educate yourself on how you should behave before you so much as speak to Bella - or any woman, for that matter, again," she spat. "And you will send someone who understands consent and normal behaviour to come in here and keep her warm if that's the only option.
"Do. You. Understand. Me?"
On the receiving end of the worst glower Carys could muster, Jacob shrank and retreated a little from Bella's side, though he remained partially enveloped by the sleeping bag. His move surprised both Carys and, it seemed by his expression, himself. She pushed on before he had time to regain his irritating over-confidence.
"Go. Now. And while you're going, you best recognise I'm not doing this for Edward's benefit. I'm doing it for Bella's benefit, for your benefit, the benefit of anyone you set an example for, and the benefit of anyone you decide in the future to pursue. This is not how you behave towards women. It's not how you behave towards anyone. And the fact you think it acceptable to act like this towards someone you're trying to be with shows just how utterly reprehensible your actions would be if you were to somehow succeed and find yourself in a relationship with her."
Edward let out a soft growl behind her.
"I'm not saying he will," Carys explained, maintaining eye contact with Jacob, "I'm saying if he did. You're willing to, amongst other things, intimidate her and ignore her lack of consent when trying to get with her, Jacob. You must see how that suggests you'd act the future. Bella's already got one toxic boyfriend at home; half reformed, as it happens, but regardless. She doesn't need another one."
"H-h-h-h-ey, I-I-I-I-I..." Bella ever so slowly protested, trailing off with a tremendous shudder.
Carys bit her lip. Hard. She'd gone too far. Said too much. Edward's hands tightened against her waist. She couldn't be sure if it was a reassuring gesture, or one to confirm her scattered, fearful thoughts. Jacob shook his head, his jaw slack. Silence reigned, broken only by the wind and Bella's chattering teeth.
Why couldn't they just act normally? Was that too much to ask? That perhaps they could treat a woman with a modicum of respect? Edward had, this time, but he hadn't always done so...
Jacob's continued attempts to turn Bella away from Edward and towards him were also impossible, though Carys didn't mention that. Bella wanted Edward. She wanted him more than she wanted human life itself. And she would be a vampire soon to be with him as she wished, as per the Volturi's command, no less, under the penalty of death if she didn't.
Jacob's jaw firmed as he appeared to reach a decision. His eyes flashed angrily. "I'm not the bad guy here. Bella doesn't know what she wants yet, but I'd be good to her. You're just trying to protect the blood-"
Carys shook her head slowly. "I recommend you leave," she said, "and think about your behaviour tonight. I'm sure your Pack will agree with me; you owe Bella an apology, but first, you need to leave before you say too much more. I don't care if you think you're the best choice. Consent is non-negotiable. When you ignored Bella's objections, you did so knowingly. But you understand this, don't you, Jacob? Otherwise, you wouldn't be so very defensive, would you? Guard her if you need to, but do so from outside this tent."
Jacob opened and closed his mouth, on the verge of objection. "Yes, Carys," he said instead.
"Excuse me?" she lightly inquired with a quirk of her brow. If she'd been able, she would have leaned in. But she wasn't, and so she had to settle for hoping he didn't see her hands shaking through the sleeping bag.
"Yes, Miss V-?"
"Mrs Cullen," she corrected.
His brows lifted sky-high as he acquiesced. "Yes, Mrs Cullen."
"Goodnight, Jacob," she said with a nod.
Jacob finally rezipped Bella and crawled to the entrance to the tent, drawing the outer zip down just enough to squeeze his way out, letting more of the cold in as he did so.
A moment later, a howl pierced the air.
Carys leaned awkwardly to glare past her two hoods at Edward. "You too, Edward. You know why?"
"Because I used a racial slur?"
"Because you used a racial slur," Carys repeated with a firm nod.
He whined softly. "Can I-"
"No."
"But Bella's-!"
"You'll be able to see her just as well in my mind, and whichever wolf Jacob's going to send in. Go, Edward, and just be thankful your father isn't here."
Edward worried incessantly until, after what seemed an age but must only have been a couple of seconds at most, he said, "Sorry, Carys." He must have heard enough to know she was right and Bella was going to be warm soon, or he would never have left.
Carys dropped back down as he too exited through the small gap. Unable to soften her landing, pain speared through her right shoulder when she hit the camping mat. Bella remained suspiciously quiet, though her shaking had resumed in earnest which might have had something to do with it. Carys shuffled towards her, but it was slow going. She tried to roll instead, searching for her zip once again.
As she rolled and twisted, she worried again that she'd gone too far with Jacob this time, but his behaviour was beyond the pale. Anyone with a brain and a couple of morals to rub together could see that, surely? She meant it when she said he'd made the space unsafe, just as Edward had more than a year before. She doubted Bella would have been able to sleep a wink, worrying what he might think was fine, Edward or no Edward. She certainly wouldn't have.
"Bella," she asked softly, "how many layers are you wearing?"
"S-same as you. B-b-ut n-no c-c-oat-t."
"Did Jacob at least warm you up a little while he was being an utter arse?"
"Y-y-yeah."
The temperature in the space dropped again as a flurry of snow swirled from the small opening; the storm continued to rage all around them, buffeting the canvas. Seth clambered in, similarly dressed to Jacob. His hands shook as he slid the zip back up and turned towards them with wide, mildly fearful, eyes.
"Seth," Carys said, concerned, rolling away as he crawled across, heating the area immediately, to squidge in between her and Bella, "you're hardly wearing anything either." Her worry - based on his warmth over the coming hours - grew, for different reasons, as he studiously avoided her eye.
"I... Jacob called me to take over the watch when he came in. I only have this with me," Seth murmured meekly, wrapping his arms around Bella, who instantly snuggled into his hold with a sigh. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder and he flinched. "Ah! Bella, you really are freezing!"
"S-s-orry."
While Bella stuttered, Carys unzipped her parka, struggling in the tight space. She finally located the ring-pull with shaking hands, opening her sleeping bag enough to remove the coat. Biting cold assailed her as she dropped it over Seth. He turned, startled, watching as she bent and twisted to remove her socks.
"The parka should fit 'cause you're about Carlisle's height and it's a bit oversized in the arms, I reckon," she told him quickly, handing him the socks. "Not sure about these."
Carys focused on the zip again, wriggling a little closer to him when she was done. He emanated a higher temperature than a radiator on full whack. The few seconds she'd spent exposed to the elements, along with the loss of her thickest layer, had zapped most of the heat from her cocoon. His heat engulfed her the closer she came to him, but she didn't want to get too close in case it made him any more uncomfortable.
Seth continued to stare at her in shock. Bella adjusted. He jumped again.
"W-what?" Carys asked gently, shivering and curling up as she spoke, wedging her hands between her thighs. "Pop them on before you get c-cold. Super-heat or no, I don't want to have to explain to your mum or Leah why you caught a ch-chill."
A small smile lit Seth's face as the tension left his frame.
He bent to tug the socks on to his feet before quickly donning the parka, pulling the hood over his head. Settling onto his back, he slid his arms under both Carys and Bella, pulling them against him with ease.
This time, when Bella's cold skin touched him, he didn't react. He shifted her legs over one of his, settling her feet between his calves as he released Carys to rub his arms back and forth against Bella's sleeping bag, to get some much-needed warmth into her.
Hiding her face in the hood of her own, Carys pulled the drawstring even tighter to keep in the heat. Once warmed by her body, then chilled by the air, it was now fully conducting pleasant heat from Seth. With Bella against his chest, Carys had no doubt she'd be thawed out in no time.
"Is this okay, Bella?" Carys checked after a minute, realising she hadn't yet asked either of them if they were all right with the change.
"Y-yes," Bella said, "it's more th-than o-okay."
Seth's chest heaved up and down as he wheezed momentarily. "Sorry," he whispered, stuttering for a different reason, "it just takes so-so long for you to say any-anything!"
"Seth? Is-is it okay with you?" Carys asked, looking up at him as best she could, finding she couldn't meet his eye.
His white teeth flashed. "Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Oh, for definite. Beats getting my fur wet in the snow all night. Jake'll be fine in wolf form, but it isn't exactly fun."
"You're s-sure?"
"I'm really sure."
"Is the Pack-"
"After what you said, I don't think anyone could stand up for him... He sure didn't. But I'm not supposed to tell you that. Only, I shifted before I got a Beta order, so maybe I am supposed to tell you that?"
Bella sighed and finally stopped shaking, and so Seth slid his arm around Carys again.
Even without his arm, she was intensely warm and more than ready to return to sleep, knowing everyone was accounted for. The past ten minutes or so weren't something that made her want to remain conscious. "Right, then. Go to sleep, you two," she told them. "We've got a long day ahead of us."
And I've got a dream of soft sand beaches to get back to in the meantime, she added to herself. Carl Isle, Isle Cullen, Isle Ivy, or whatever it was called now, couldn't come soon enough. Brazil. Brazil couldn't come soon enough. In her dreams, Carlisle was safe and sound. The rest of the Cullens were. Her family was. Her friends were. The wolves were.
Carlisle would sparkle in the sun as well, she recalled. She would try and factor that in when she fell asleep again.
"Thanks, Carys," Bella said. "Jake... He j-just doesn't listen."
"You should have woken me up," Carys said quietly. "I would've given you my parka if you needed it."
"I-I didn't want," Bella replied, sounding less and less on the verge of hypothermia by the second, "you to be cold."
"Well... If there's a next time, just wake me up, okay?"
"If there's a next time, I'll bring a space heater," Bella joked without a single chattering stutter.
"And a coat," Seth playfully added.
A few minutes later, Carys leaned up as best she could to check on Bella, now lying on the other side of Seth. Eyes closed, her lips and cheeks flushed a natural, healthy-looking pink, she murmured Edward's name in her sleep.
Carys settled back down and was on the verge of sleep herself when Seth whispered her name.
"Yeah?" she whispered back.
"Have... Have I ever... Sometimes I hug you, and-"
"No, Seth," she said, "you're good. Perfectly normal."
"Phew. I-I mean." He deepened his voice. "Cool."
Carys bit her lip and ducked her head to hide her smile. "Thank you again," she said when she could control her pitch. "Carlisle slipped a couple of granola bars somewhere in the parka if you get hungry."
He caught her again just before she slipped into unconsciousness. "Carys...?" he asked slowly, just loud enough to be heard above the wind buffeting the tent.
"Hmm... Yeah?"
"What would you have done if Jacob took the easy option...?"
"Mm... Given him my parka," she said sleepily, "and my socks. But I'd not've got as close as I have to you."
"She called it." He spoke loudly enough that she knew she was supposed to respond.
"What?" Carys sighed.
"Leah bet Quil, Embry and Jared fifty dollars apiece that Jacob would get his ass handed to him if he didn't back down. That's verbatim," he added quickly.
Well now. That was impressive. Hell if she wasn't enterprising, that woman. Leah had to bet a lot of money for that. And trust she wouldn't lose it.
"I could've told them that for free," Carys murmured.
"Yeah, but they didn't think he'd give up even if he was wrong...," he replied softly. Time drifted by; the wind became a soothing background to their breathing. Seth's tone changed. He rambled absentmindedly. To himself, or her, she wasn't entirely sure. "Leah said when they give her the money, she's going to get me a present. I don't want to ask for too much, but she said I can have anything I want. That means, like, there's got to be a limit, right?
"Should I ask for a new game, or like a bunch of movies we could watch together? There's this one movie I've had my eye on for ages, but Jared's got this really cool game and Leah could play it too. I think she'd like it. It's so much fun; you get to-"
Carys smirked and shook her head against his side. "Go to sleep Seth."
"Yes, Carys..." A grin lifted his voice as he corrected himself, "Mrs Cullen..."
"Oh, shut up," she groaned. Then sighed. And finally half-opened her eyes. "Ugh... Seth?"
"Yeah?"
"What's the game?"
"Fable."
"Get the game," she tiredly insisted. "It's the best. It's not even a question... You know what is a question...?"
"What, Carys?"
"Would you rather fight a hundred penguin-sized wolves or one giant wolf-sized penguin?"
Seth snorted. "I'll have to think about it."
"You do that... I'll expect your answer," she murmured, "when we've both had some proper shut-eye..."
Seth's gentle laughter followed her down into oblivion.
A/N: Just to say, half of the lines Jacob has in this chapter when he's talking to or about Bella are all either verbatim or very close to what he said in the book, either in this scene or to Edward after. Or things he said to Bella before this scene. I, of course, did change the tone of some bits, and kind of followed the lines when I wrote him talking to Carys, but I mean... If you're like "whoa, did you make him way worse?" Not really, unfortunately for the character. Just like Edward, I made him him. Just trying to be equal here.
I also cut off the weird/objectifying/downright creepy conversation he and Edward had after as if Bella wasn't there... And gave him some shame, which he never ended up having in the book. And Edward said a worse slur than dog in the chapter... So, if you think either of them is bad here, they were also bad in the book? I think?
Thank you to: inkyvlaudy, Guest (I'd say it probably is! ;) And I'm glad it wasn't just me! Poor, poor Carys. I might do, but I have a couple of plans before I do, but I'll add it to my list!), jhaenox, TheWiseQueen, derniermom, Momochan77, GuestMG, PsychoMutt, KEZZ 1, Nistereal, hellocherryblossoms, Jar-of-puzzles, Ghostwriter71, BMBMDooDoo-Doo-Doo-Doo, 0oKitteno0, BubblyYork, and ReadLikeHermione for your reviews!
