Let's all pretend Blue Moon made sense and then leave it where it is, eh? Back to our regularly scheduled programming: Carys! It's Breaking Dawn.

Chapter 1

Carys was not going to die. It was as simple as that. She'd thought about it, puzzled it all over, and she'd decided not to die, so she wouldn't.

Perhaps it wasn't really as simple as all that, but she was trying to think in black and white terms at present. Black and white terms, as they factored to her were: she could die in the next couple of months, or she could live through it and have eternity.

Eternity sounded better than death.

Eternity, now she'd come to view it as not only an imminent issue she didn't like the thought of but a very real aspect of her immediate future, for which the fault now lay at her door, and which would take place soon enough, now sounded like a very positive thing. Eternity meant not losing sleep over the little things. It meant seeing the world. It meant living with Carlisle through everything time had to offer.

So, thinking about that, she wasn't going to die. Everything would be alright in the end and if it wasn't alright, it wasn't the end.

Carlisle had laid the groundwork for her survival over three hundred and fifty years ago (befriending a dhampir) and more recently (creating a coven and befriending half the vampires in the world) so really there wasn't much to do except enjoy the sunshine, eat and drink as much as she could, sleep as much as she liked, and blame any and all things that needed blame on her pregnancy until the time came for delivery, when she have to deal with surviving and then transforming.

"Easy enough," she assured a very dubious Carlisle on their first morning on Isle Ivy. Lying with her on the outside bed, a four poster contraption with floaty white curtains and far too many pillows, Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "You don't think?"

"Darling..." He drew out the word. Tracing circles over the exposed skin of her hip, just above the edge of her bikini, he adjusted his other arm, by her head. "I think that's the most..." He trailed off.

"Say it..."

"It may be the most ridiculous oversimplification of our situation I've heard so far."

Carys pressed up onto her elbows. Frowning, she asked frostily, "Are you saying you're going to let me die after all we've been through?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Then it's neither stupid nor an oversimplification, is it?" She dropped back and threw her arms overhead. She was trying to ignore the scars on her skin, hoping the sun might do something to help. "Carlisle, until this thing pops out–"

Carlisle made a face.

"–everything is about me, you know? Am I comfortable? Am I enjoying myself? Me, me, me. Got it? Consider me selfish or whatever, I don't care. Once it's out, it can have it's time. Right now, this is my time. I'm not dying, I'm about to become a vampire, I'm representing all humans in the conclave thingy, I'm the first human to have a dhampir in two-thousand years or more, I'm revered by an entire race of supernatural beings–"

Carlisle interrupted with a smile. "Sorry, you've lost me."

"Dhampirs, Carlisle, keep up. Matt was all about how dhampirs avenge their mums and how he wants to protect and save me, right? I highly doubt the rest of the dhampirs're gonna be like 'ahh, I dunno'."

"Ah." Carlisle tipped his head up and down. "I understand. You were saying?"

"Right, well, I've lost my place and can't be arsed to add to the list right now, but my point remains: if I hear one person being like: 'ooh, the dhampir' or 'isn't it going to hurt you?' They're out. Fuck that! I'm the main event here. I've had enough of playing second fiddle to people. I'm not getting upstaged by something that's not even here yet."

Carlisle chuckled deep in his chest. "Okay, darling."

"Don't laugh," Carys laughed. She wanted him to think she was serious because, bad delivery or not, she was only half joking. She swatted at his bare and glistening chest. "I'm serious! I expect everyone to be putting their brains together, puzzling out what I'm going to have power wise, or wondering how many times I'm going to dismember Edward–"

"I thought you didn't like that."

"I don't, but that's not the point."

"Sorry darling."

"You should be." Carys closed her eyes beneath her sunglasses and wriggled her toes. Under the heat of the sun, she felt almost dizzy, brimming over, her stomach in knots. "I hope I don't have a stupid power," she admitted, squinting at Carlisle. "If there's a war coming... Even if there isn't, imagine if I got saddled with something useless..."

Carlisle rose over her, blocking the sun. "Something like compassion, you mean?"

"No, lovely. You got compassion and self control, and both of those are really useful powers. I mean something like... Imagine if my power was like... Oh, I don't know." She groaned and shifted under his scrutiny. It was a good job she knew there would likely be a power coming to her, or she'd be worried about that as well. "I want something cool and I'm open to ideas is all."

Carlisle grinned. "Not sure that's how it works."

Carys groaned again.

"Alright, how about this: you might be like Aro?"

"Boring. Matt's is cooler."

Carlisle snorted. "Eleazar?"

"Oh yeah, 'cause that's useful on the battlefield, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Fine... You're right, it is, but it's not cool, you know? I want something cool. Something no one else has. Bella blocks everyone out, we know that - it worked on Edward and Aro and Demetri and Heidi and... The little one... The twin with all the pain?"

"Jane."

"Right. Her. So it'll probably come with her as a vampire. Now that is a cool power. I don't need something as cool as that, but still... What've we got so far? You, self control and compassion; Jasper, emotion manipulation; Alice, precognition; Esme, passion, love; Edward, telepathy; Rosalie, loyalty and self control; Emmett, strength. Bella's coming in with whatever we'd call it: a block or something. That's just our coven. Factor Matt in, we've got a memory manipulator... Add the Denali coven just for kicks (though I'm still pissed at them): Tanya, a born leader; Kate, literally electrifying and a warrior to boot; Irina... Let's say... Warrior again; Eleazar, ability to tell powers; Carmen, an all-round lovely..."

"She would be happy to hear you say that."

"Yeah, well..." Carys sighed. "If I come into that without anything cool, I might as well hang up my fangs before I've got them."

"We don't have–"

Carys cut Carlisle's protest off, holding up a hand. "You know what I mean. My point is: I've got to have something good or I'll be the boring one on the side."

"You will get something cool," Carlisle assured her.

"You're just saying that..."

"I'm not. I'm sure it'll be something never before seen," Carlisle teased. "Absolutely unheard of. You'll be unmatched by any vampire before or since."

"You could be a little more serious," Carys grumbled, hiding her affectionate grin.

Carlisle rolled his eyes and shifted to lay on his side again, returning his free hand to her hip, where he fiddled with the scrap of fabric. "What would you think was a good enough power?" he wondered aloud.

Carys thought for a long while, frowning as she tried to think of something. "Every power under the sun?"

"A collector of sorts?" Carlisle laughed. "And perhaps for your second attempt, something more achievable?"

"I'm serious..."

Carlisle searched her eyes, her mirrored sunglasses being little more than a tint to his penetrating gaze.

"Think about it," Carys said slowly. "I can tell when someone's using their power on me if it's not just a little bit... I mean, I have to get used to it but I can kind of tell by the way they look or act, and I can tell with Edward sometimes... I mean, I can sort of guess some powers... It probably wouldn't work for me, as a person, but what if I don't just have one power? What if I can learn others?"

"I think you've been watching too many TV shows," came a deep voice from the large patio doors.

Carys and Carlisle sat up, Carys far more surprised by their visitor than her husband. She quickly covered her arm with the sleeve Carlisle had ripped from a floaty dress for her, for that exact purpose.

"How long have you been here?" she demanded of Matt.

He chuckled. "I got to the house just in time to hear you telling Carlisle here that you might as well hang up your fangs if you're just to be a boring old basic vampire."

Carys glared at both men. "No-one thought to alert me to the fact my private conversation was being eavesdropped on?"

Carlisle shrugged while Matt shook his head and grinned. He stepped out into the sun, his skin taking on a sheen, just like he'd told them: he didn't glimmer or glisten like Carlisle, but he glowed.

"Are you always that pale?" Carlisle asked, stopping short on the last word as if he'd realised that what he'd said was rude.

Matt peeled off his t-shirt – leaving him in a pair of dark grey Bermuda shorts not unlike the black ones Carlisle wore, if not for the length; Carlisle's were shorter. He shook his head, closing his eyes while he held his arms wide – a salutation of sorts, basking in the sunlight.

"No," he said when he'd opened his eyes again. He caught the back of a sunlounger. Carrying it as if it weighed nothing, he crossed the patio to recline a few feet to Carlisle's side. "I've been cooped up for the past few years, remember? This form hasn't seen the sun in a long while."

"How much do you tan?" Carlisle asked. As if it pained him to do so, he reclined against the piled pillows, the taut muscles of his neck and shoulders relaxing ever so slightly as he did so and then incrementally more as he spoke. "And is it a matter of hours or days before you're at your most tanned, as with humans? Or a longer period of time?"

It occurred to Carys, then, that Carlisle hadn't affected an American accent since before they'd met Matt, and he hadn't thought or wanted to change his accent afterwards. They were three English people on an island off Brazil. There was something a little amusing about that, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"And," she jumped in before Matt answered, "are you Ancient English or from somewhere else?"

"Good question," Carlisle murmured. "You're quite tall for... How old are you, exactly? I don't think you said precisely?"

Matt lifted his head and raised his eyebrows. "Since when was this the Spanish Inquisition?"

"Since you barged in on our honeymoon," Carys said dryly.

Matt smirked. Closing his eyes, he leaned back and adjusted himself until he was comfortable. "In order: I tan quite well, owing to where I'm from. You really did catch me at a bad time; I haven't been this pale in a while... It takes a day or two to get me to normal, then it depends on the sun, as it does with humans. As for where I'm from: not England, as it happens. I have this accent at the moment because I've been back for a while and it helps to blend in: to speak, look, and act like a native. I was the same when we first met, Carlisle: I limit my time in the sun and everything."

Carys' heart raced, drawing both the men's interested gazes as she sat upright. Excitement locked and thrummed her body. "And? When and where are you from?"

Carlisle whipped around to look at Matt again, shifting higher against the pillows, just as excited as Carys. Matt took his time over his answer, eyeing them both, quelling a smirk before he shifted on the lounger.

"I'll answer this one in a different order," he said slowly, drawing out the tension. "I'm five thousand years old, give or take a decade."

Carys and Carlisle gasped, sharing a glance. Carlisle whistled and then sat up, swung his legs around to sit on the edge of the bed. Carys shuffled up behind him, throwing her arms around his hard body to lock at his chest as she rested her head against his.

"Five thousand..." Carys whispered. "That's what?" She looked between them. "Bronze age?"

"Copper," they answered together.

"Sort of," Matt added. "On the cusp of the two, debatable depending on where it is you're focused."

"Post-Stone Age, pre-Bronze age," Carlisle added at the same time. They shared a nod in acceptance of each other's comments and then, to Matt, he said, "I surmised as much, but I hadn't fully... You must have been a giant."

Matt laughed. "Oh, I was. Don't forget, this was a time before humans were forbidden from knowing what we are." A darkness came over him. A sadness in his eyes. "It wasn't as if I had much of a place with them... Not without shifting. But I was tall even then."

"I'm sorry," Carys said.

Matt's eyes flared wide for a moment. "Nothing to be sorry about. Anyway, as I said, five thousand." He smiled. "I think you'll like this more; most people appreciate it. Where I'm from," he clarified.

"Yes, do tell," Carlisle said excitedly.

"Troy," Matt said. "I'm from Troy."

"Not the Troy!?" Carys gasped.

He nodded. "One and the same."

"Incredible," Carlisle whispered.

"I hope," Matt went on quickly, "that you're not going to ask if the Siege of Troy happened as it did in the Illiad or anything. It didn't. Besides, I was born long, long before the great city was built, let alone raised."

"Troy I?" Carlisle said. Matt nodded. "Ah, so you were a humble Trojan villager?"

Matt's eyes twinkled. "Psh! Hardly. I was a Trojan warrior for a time, but I suppose I had humble beginnings and yes, village life was part of those. I lived my first half-thousand years in both Troy and, on and off, in parts of Egypt."

"Because of your mother."

"You were listening."

"I have these things called ears," Carlisle said sarcastically. "They tend to pick up on things." And then he paused, and Carys watched as he blinked rapidly, frowning a little to himself. "It's odd," he said slowly. "I don't remember you, not really, and yet..."

"Human memory is an odd thing," Matt said kindly. "When corrupted, it can hold on in different ways. You might not remember me, but something deep inside of you knows me and the way we used to be. I can feel it, can see it's still there. It helps that you're more in tune with your human self than a great number of vampires."

Carlisle nodded.

Carys' lips twisted. "Will Carlisle ever remember you?"

Matt stared at Carlisle. "If you wish to, but I don't think it's as easy of an answer as it might seem. You're you now, not him, and if I showed you everything, unlocked your memories, you'd need to be sure it was what you wanted."

"I'll think about it," Carlisle said noncommittally. "If you were born in Troy, that would make you..."

"Modern-day, Troy is in Turkey, but I was half-vampire (not sure where he hailed from, didn't really stick around to ask), and Indo-European on my mother's side. It's why I'm so good looking."

Carys giggled, earning herself a glare from the corner of Carlisle's eye.

"What?" she said.

Carlisle growled. "I really don't like this."

"Sorry lovely," Carys whispered in his ear. She pressed a kiss to his temple and he softened. "He's not nearly as good looking as you are."

"Lies," Matt said, at precisely the moment Carlisle said:

"That's not the issue here."

"What isn't?" Carys asked, confused, drawing back to stare at the side of his face.

"Whether or not Matt's good looking, whether or not he's better looking than me." To the both of them, he said, "It's how easy you both are with each other. I'd say it was jealousy, but it's worse."

Matt nodded his understanding. "You're still fighting the last of your fight or flight response, and I wouldn't think it helps that you're feeling even more protective of your mate than usual."

"Will it be like this for the others?" Carys asked quickly. "If you meet the rest of the coven, will they..."

Matt pursed his lips, his brows flashing high. "I don't rightly know. A lot of it depends on how much of a threat I'd pose them. I really did fuck up when I came to the house."

"I didn't much like you at the library either," Carlisle admitted.

"Well I was human-esque and pissed as all hell that you'd fucked with a human," Matt said. Yawning, he stretched out so far that Carlisle twitched back, jogging Carys and apologising with a stroke of her thigh. "We can blend in so well that vampires can't tell us from humans, when we want to. Survival skills and all that. You hit a nerve from the get go, getting Carys–"

"That's where I should stop you," Carlisle said. "Carys has spent the morning hammering home that we're here for her, not to talk about the dhampir."

Matt stared at each of them in turn. Tipping his head back, he closed his eyes and chuckled under his breath. "I'll just sod off and leave you to it, shall I?"

"No," Carys whined. "The conclave still matters, I just mean I'm not going to be a vessel for people to argue over. I don't want the last of my human life to revolve around something that's not here yet. I'm still a person in my own right."

Matt's smile deepened. "Good on you. Plenty of time for everything else. Anyway, it's good to know I'm not entirely superfluous."

"Speaking of which," Carlisle said. "Carys has called Leah; she should be here soon."

Matt's eyes snapped open. He stiffened. "Who's Leah? I thought we were keeping this group small for the moment."

"Leah's a wolf," Carys said. "A wolf-shifter, as you called them."

It was a long while before Matt blinked. When he did, he drew a sharp breath. "A female wolf-shifter?" He was dubious at best, strained at worst. "You're shitting me."

"Cross my heart," Carys said. "She's the first female, they think."

"She is," Matt said thoughtfully. He stared into the distance. "How long since she shifted?"

"Months," Carlisle said. "Are you alright?"

"... Yes. Yes, yes, of course. A shock is all," Matt said. He schooled his features into a mask of indifference.

"Is that how I looked, learning about vampires?" Carys asked Carlisle, who laughed outright, drawing Matt's focus.

"No darling, you looked like I expect you might if I'd turned up to tell you I was planning on killing you." To Matt, he said, "I can laugh about it now but it was horrible when it happened."

Carys rolled her eyes and swatted at Carlisle's shoulder. "It wasn't that bad."

Carlisle moved so that he could look over his shoulder at her. "You went into mild shock and vomited as far as stomach acid! Tell me you remember this?"

A grin had slowly made its way across Matt's face while Carlisle spoke. Now it split his face. "Can I?" He held his hand out, twitching his fingers.

Carlisle raised an eyebrow in question.

"I like to ask before I borrow memories or remind people of things."

Carlisle nodded.

Carys shook her head.

"Come on," Matt said, wiggling his fingers up and down now, one by one. "It'll be funnnnn."

"It most certainly will not," Carys complained.

"I thought you said you'd like to see Matt's power in action," Carlisle said, joining in the teasing. "What if this is your one chance?"

"It's embarrassing!" Carys whined. "You'll see me throw up!"

"I'll speed through that part," Matt promised. "Come on, live a little! Don't you want to remember what it was like in those first days after you two met?"

"It was actually more than a year after we met," Carlisle told him.

Matt's brows skyrocketed. "You waited a year of being together-"

"Not together," Carys said. "We were colleagues, then friends, then best friends, then we got together and dated for a little while, then I found out–"

Matt sat forward, holding his palms out. "Hold on, you're telling me you didn't notice when you kissed him?"

Carys cheeks burned. "We didn't kiss until after he told me... We... Well..." Matt's gaze bored into her until she ducked her head and murmured against Carlisle's neck, "We held hands with gloves on."

Matt's response to this news was to guffaw until small tears leaked from his eyes. He swiped at them, clutching his stomach as he recovered.

"That's fucking cute," he said by way of attempting a recovery under Carlisle's glare. "Alright, so..." He chuckled again. "Don't you want to go back to remember the days when you first got together? Come on, let's take a trip down memory lane... I don't do this for just anyone. I mean it, I don't."

"No," Carys said resolutely.

It took an hour, with near constant coaxing from both men, a change of clothes, and a move to the large, spacious living room, for Carys to agree. She regretted it almost immediately. It wasn't Carlisle's memory of the day which Matt plunged them into, but hers.

And, whether he meant to or not, he took them to the day she'd begun her list, rather than the day Carlisle came to see her.

A/N: let me know if you want me to show the actual memory in the next chapter or not. I think it would be cute and funny but up to the consensus!

Thank you to: Momochan77, BMBMDooDoo-Doo-Doo-Doo, Guest, madigeek, eeeeaud, chellekathrynnn, Momochan77 again, Guest, and Guest for your reviews over the past few chapters!