This chapter was supposed to be earlier and much longer, but I instead I went on a week-long deep dive into ancient history and worked out exactly where and when Matt is from so that he can be historically accurate/plausible despite hardly talking about his history... Is this also important for age jokes from Carys? Yes.
Blue Moon has run away with me so I'm as unsure as to where we are as I'm sure you all are. We're one or two chapters away from the events of the first chapter of Never Too Late.
Blue Moon, Chapter 8 - Carlisle
It was 4:03 am when Carlisle returned to the site of his childhood home, full from his hunt with Matteo. Richmond Park had availed itself to them both.
When Carlisle had felt and expressed a deep-rooted unease over hunting so close to sight, Matteo reminded him of his power. Carlisle was, hours later, still wondering how often the dhampir had used his abilities on unsuspecting humans in the past. The conversation had come to nought: they hadn't seen or been seen by a single human, but the question remained unanswered and therefore nagged at him.
Had he been one of the humans Matteo had used it on? Could he trust that the dhampir's powers weren't going to be used against him?
Closing the door behind him, Carlisle tried to shake off the uneasy thoughts as he listened for the click of the lock and then for Carys' heartbeat in the house. She was in bed asleep, no matter how she'd told him she wouldn't be able to "so much as close my eyes" while he was gone. A small smile lifted his lips, thinking about how determined she was to stay up for him. Would she be upset that she fell asleep, or happy that it meant he was home sooner in her mind?
His eyes swept up, flickering over the crown moulding high above until they settled almost immediately on the corner of the attic where his mother's diaries were secreted. In all the whirlwind of the week - Carys' sleep notwithstanding as he spent much of her rest period thinking over their situation - he'd not visited the small pile as much as he'd hoped.
Now there was nothing he wanted more than to feel close to his mother, Henrietta. Matteo had been correct that in sharing a hunt, Carlisle and he had bonded. All the same, it wasn't pride or relief he felt now that his gripping fear of the dhampir had lessened. It was sadness.
Sadness ran through Carlisle, as it had since Matteo had told Carys and himself that he had enough good memories of his own mother. Carlisle had nothing of his mother but the diaries, and he had left them tucked away, hidden and protected from the world, for too long. There was a difference between remembering the words, remembering the pages, and touching them - holding something his mother held, touching the pages she poured her life and mind into.
If those were the only memories he had of her - her memories - he wanted to keep them close.
His mind made up, he took a running leap up the stairs and turned for the hallway that would take him to Carys. He didn't bother with warming himself before he woke her. Carys knew he'd been out. Instead, he paused at the threshold of the bedroom, watching as she almost immediately rolled towards him, opening her eyes, blinking dazedly up at him.
Usually a heavy sleeper, her worry showed in how easily she was roused.
Her voice was croaky and thick with sleep when she spoke. "Carlisle?"
"Yes darling," he said, pushing off the door jamb to approach the bed. After hundreds of years of hunting, his clothes and body were free of evidence but he lingered a couple of steps from her all the same, clicking on the bedside lamp. "I'm going to have to take a shower but I wanted to let you know I'm alive and well."
"Mmm," she croaked, smiling and wincing, covering her eyes against the light. "You're dead and unalive and well, but I'll take it."
Carlisle hummed, trying his best to appear unamused.
"Come to bed?" Carys offered, blinking slowly. "I don't mind."
Carlisle shook his head. "The least I owe you is to have a shower before I do," he said quietly.
"The least you owe me are snuggles because you're safe," she countered. Her voice sluggish, her movements slow, she reached for him and he reluctantly held his ground.
"I'll be back in five minutes."
Carys' eyes grew as her lips descended into a pout, providing an exaggerated, almost irresistibly adorable, expression of sadness.
"If you must," she said slowly. "If you don't love me enough..."
Carlisle tipped his head back and sighed at the ceiling. "I love you far more than 'enough'," he said, lowering his head to watch as she continued to put on a show. "I love you enough that I'm not going to subject you to cuddling up to a man who's just killed three deer."
"Three?" Carys echoed incredulously. Plumping both of her pillows, she relaxed against them. "You were that thirsty?"
Carlisle could understand her confusion. He'd hunted less than a week ago.
"I was anticipating a hunt-less fortnight, if not more."
"Hmm..." Carys relented with a drawn-out sigh. "Fine ... Go have your shower, but when you come back I expect a full night's sleep." Meeting his eye, she narrowed hers. "For both of us."
"I've told you before-"
Carys cut him off. "It counts as sleep-like, lovely, and you've not had any for the past week. Don't think I haven't noticed."
"I've been resting well," he lied.
Narrowing her eyes further, his wife clearly begged to differ even before she told him so. "And," she added after the pronouncement, "I'm not happy with the amount of stress you've taken on either. And don't give me 'I've had a lot on my plate' or anything like that." She waved a hand, sounding more awake as time passed. "You need to relax, Carlisle. It's not healthy to be so worried, and I would know."
"Is that why you're trying not to be?" Carlisle wondered aloud.
Carys shook her head and said, "I'm worried. I'm stressed. You know it, I know it. But the problem is you thinking you need to be strong and take everything on your shoulders. I'm here and I've got exactly the same amount to bear. Let's share the load, hmm?"
She beckoned him towards her again, pushing down the covers to make space for him, and Carlisle wanted nothing more than to join her but there was more than a shower between him and solace.
"I need to pack our things," he said. "The flight is arranged but Matt was correct - there's much to do before we leave. I may trust him, but I cannot be sure how forthcoming he's being with-"
"Carlisle," Carys sighed. She shifted to the edge of the bed and sat up, pushing to her feet a moment later. "This is exactly why you need to share the burden. We can pack in the morning and we've talked about this: A problem shared is a problem halved. You're not the only one who's had a shock tonight-"
"I'm so-"
"-so," she continued over his attempt at an apology, serving him a silencing look as she stepped close and placed her hands on his chest, "if you don't trust Matt, I won't trust him either." She slowly shook her head as he mapped her face, incredulous. "I feel like I'm ... I feel like I'm ... safe around him, but that doesn't matter if you don't. I'm going to take my cues from you in this because..."
She bit her lips together, her eyes dropping to the side, to the floor, for a moment before she met his gaze determinedly. "We're in this," she said. "You and me. No one else. If Matt makes you uncomfortable, that's not something I'm going to argue against. I didn't when we thought he was human, and I'm certainly not going to now that we know he poses a threat to you. We don't trust him until you trust him."
Carlisle stared at her, speechless, but not for the reasons he may have expected. He stared at his wife, speechless because, as always, she seemed to understand him. It was different to when Edward read his mind or Alice saw his future or Jasper felt his emotions. Carys looked at him and she didn't see what everyone else saw. She saw him. It was what people wanted, wasn't it? To have a person who saw them. Actually saw them.
"Do I understand you as well as you do me?" he worried aloud.
Carys merely nodded, a soft smile on her full lips. "I think you understand me more than I'd like you to sometimes," she joked. "Come on. Let's take that shower."
He let her lead him into the closest bathroom, set the temperature to the scalding heat she preferred, and when they shed their clothes and stepped under the spray there was no question of it being a sexual exploit. Not this time. This time it was a different form of gentle intimacy. When they were clean, Carlisle carried her across the bathroom and dried them both off, wrapped her hair in a towel, then, reluctant to put her down, he carried her back to bed.
When he would have held her, eased her back to sleep, she argued and resisted until he gave in: allowed her to hold him, to stroke his still-damp hair and encourage him to relax.
Closing his eyes, he summoned daydreams of them both - memories mingled with his imagination - and succumbed to the start of a few hours' mental rest, lulled in the comfort of her arms. When he roused himself from pleasant imaginings, she was there - stroking his hair, staring at the ceiling as if no time had passed at all.
"I thought we were both supposed to get some sleep," he gently accused, pressing gentle kisses to the soft skin of her neck.
Carys chuckled. The sweet throaty sound reverberated through Carlisle.
"I had my rest," she murmured. "You've had yours. Now we pack, and we catch our flight." Still stroking his hair, which was now dry, she mused, "I don't think I mind this whole 'I need sun' stuff. If I knew I'd get a holiday off the coast of Brazil from it, I might have told you to fuck off for a bit before the whole Birthday Debacle."
Carlisle lifted his head, levelling her with a judgemental, unamused glare.
"What?" she asked, shrugging, unaffected by his response. "I've been angling for a holiday for ages."
"Darling, I doubt this is what you were after."
"A month at the least of lying in the sun, lazing about, likely being waited on hand and foot? On a ruddy private island? What's not to love?"
"Matteo plans on being there for some of it." Sighing heavily, Carlisle returned to his previous occupation, breathing in her scent, satisfying himself with the sound of each strong thud of her heart. He didn't mention the others, though he would have to make use of his time when they were at the island. He'd mapped out a plan for a second house, and one for an extension already.
"I've got a way to make that easier on us both," she said, unaware of the direction of his thoughts. Carlisle waited for her to continue. "I'm going to ask Leah if she can come join us. I know you don't dislike her-"
Carlisle rather liked Leah, actually. She reminded him of Rosalie, but he suspected this was not the time to make the obvious comparison.
Carys continued. "-almost like her, really, and she'll be a good foil for us all. She doesn't hate you... So long as she can meet Matt and wrap her head around what he is, I think it would be okay. She could do with a break from Sam as well. I mean, I don't know how long it'll be before she needs to phase, or if she'd be able to stand being around you for that long - or you her - but..."
"I think it's a good idea," Carlisle said. "Of all the wolves, I doubt the conclave could go better than with Leah. Unless Seth was there, but he's too young."
"You're right," she said. "I mean, I thought of it as soon as Matt suggested a conclave, so I'm right too, but Leah's a good choice. Not only does she know us, but she hates vampires."
"That's a good thing?" he asked, drawing back to meet her eye. The towel was still wrapped around her hair but it had loosened and been reapplied haphazardly, leaving sections of her still damp curls exposed. "Hatred of vampires?"
"Yes," she said. "Exactly. She's as impartial as they come. I mean, not as impartial, but you get my meaning? She'll understand Matt's want to kill vampires, she gets me, she's come around to you a bit... After the wedding, I think she kind of understands the wider supernatural better than most of the vampires and wolves I know combined, don't you think?"
Carlisle thought about it for a good few moments before he reluctantly nodded. "I don't doubt she has a better grasp of things, no." He paused. "I suppose my greatest worry at the moment is that you'll be disappointed yet again," he admitted.
Carys pushed up onto her elbows, causing Carlisle to shift up, leaning over her.
"What do you mean?" she asked worriedly.
"You said it yourself: you've wanted to travel. You wanted to spend time, just the two of us. You wanted to be together without distractions."
It was a long time before Carys spoke. She searched Carlisle's eyes for a time and then turned her thoughts inward while he watched, wondering what she was thinking. Eventually, she sat up further, pressing her forehead to his.
"I did say that, didn't I?" She smiled softly.
Carlisle nodded, unsure of himself and her.
"Don't worry, Carlisle." When his expression remained unchanged, she took a deep breath and added, "You can make it up to me."
"How?" he asked.
"Don't worry," she repeated, her smile growing. "You'll have eternity. I'm pretty sure that's long enough to think of something."
"And if it's not?"
"Then you'd better hope you're right and our good deeds get us past those gates."
"And if I'm not?"
"God, you're pessimistic this morning, aren't you?" she accused, shoving at his chest. The glint in her eye betrayed her, as did the roll of her eyes as she flopped back against the pillows. "And to think I was genuinely going to help you pack. Go sort out our lives for us. I'm having a nap, and I expect to be woken up with eggs, bacon, beans and toast. And coffee. There's only so much a human can take of vampiric brooding."
And then, just for good measure, she shot him a wink and Carlisle knew that all was well and good with the world at that moment, no matter what the future might bring.
A/N: I just love them together. This chapter was more for my heart than anything else. I needed to exercise my "Carys and Carlisle" brain because I've missed the two of them.
Thank you to: Nulip2001, eeeeaud, Guest (Thank you!), JosieNightOwl, Momochan77, Guest (Oh, thank you! I hope I do any of it justice when I write it down!), Saera Aimie, GuestMG, NeonKat (Thank you so so so much - it's the greatest compliment!), and BMBMDooDoo-Doo-Doo-Doo for your reviews!
