This is an ultra-long one because it contains memories... Please enjoy and let me know what you think of the way Matt's power works on people without perfect recall.

P.s. I know edits should be made to some of the grammar, and I'll try to do them when I have more brain power I promise!

Breaking Dawn Chapter 2

"It's rather... blurry in here," Carlisle said hesitantly, looking around the room as the strange, heavy fog receded.

"Give me a second," Matt said.

The picture cleared somewhat and Carys' living room (as it was more than one and a half years before) came into sharper focus. It was a strange half-remembrance; she knew there were missing details, but Carys couldn't recall exactly what they were.

"Best I can do."

Carlisle's brow crinkled ever so slightly. "I'm not sure how much of an improvement it is... Carys?" He looked down at her. "You don't remember which books you had on your bookcase?"

Carys' lips tightened. She lowered her gaze to the floor, her face burning with embarrassment. When she spoke, it bled into her voice. "Are we going to judge your memories, Carlisle? Or just mine? I'm human, remember?"

"You also seem to have been in a bit of a state–" Matt cut off as Carys fixed him with a hurt glare. "Sorry," he said, glancing at Carlisle. "It was understandable for a human not to be entirely focused on the finer details..."

Carlisle nodded in agreement, his frown having eased into a gentle, encouraging smile. Reaching out, he slid an arm around his wife's waist, hugging her to his side. This, too, was an odd experience. They weren't really standing, nor were they holding each other. They had left their bodies behind, sitting next to one another on the sofa. And yet Carys could feel his muted touch. It reminded her of sleeping too long on a limb and then trying to rub the life back into it; a numbed, far away sort of sensation.

A disembodied voice swirled around them, drawing their attention from the conversation. "What is it? What is it? What is it? Come on, Carys. Think," it said. Closer to Carys' voice (as it sounded to her) than a recording or some such, it was less foreign. More familiar. But odd and disjointed. It made her shiver before it echoed away, repeating parts over and over, the words overlapping.

"Okay, that's weird," Carys whispered. Her eyes tracked the sound across the fathomless nothingness which doubled as a ceiling. "Why is it doing that?"

"When thoughts are strong they can be forged into memories," Matt said. He turned from her as a figure materialised on the sofa. "Shh, look."

Carys' memories could have been kinder to her, she thought. And dismissed it as a useless vanity the next second. Sarah had seen this in all its picture-perfect quality. Matt didn't matter. Carlisle didn't much care. Yet as the version of herself on the sofa slumped lower in her seat, Carys couldn't help but wonder which bush she'd been dragged through. And why it had happened more than once.

A dull thump sounded behind the group, and Sarah crossed the little living room. She may as well have been a film star for all Carys' memory had done her justice. She looked as airbrushed as the Cullens, her movements graceful and loping.

Carlisle's lips twitched at the corners as he gazed down at Carys. She studiously avoided his eye.

"Should I be jealous?" he teased.

She once again pursed her lips, repeating the suggestion that they judge his memory instead.

He chuckled. "I only wonder what I look like."

"You'll find out soon enough," Matt dismissed. Pressing a finger to his lips, he tipped his head and flashed his brows towards the two women. By now they were mid-flow in a conversation, the words not quite decipherable.

"Carys," Matt said without looking at her, "you'll feel odd for a second."

Carys did indeed feel odd. For longer than a second. A deeper fog descended over her than the one she'd felt when they came to this place - this memory - and she felt a flash of what she assumed was pain before it receded, leaving her lightheaded. And then she was sitting on the sofa in the place of the dream-like memory of herself. Sarah was frozen in place on the seat beside her, holding her bag.

Carys looked up in horror to find Matt smirking down at her and Carlisle looking rather confused, his arm curled in the air beside him.

"You can play it out," Matt said. "It's easier to remember things that way..." He squinted. "Sometimes, anyway." He shrugged. "For humans, anyway. You had 'food poisoning'. Chicken, you said."

As if Matt was a director calling 'action', Sarah was suddenly opening her bag. "You told Sandra you had fish," she corrected as she pulled a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates from its depths. "You'll need to remember that when you go back on Monday."

Carys stared at the wine and turned a small frown on her friend. "What's this for?" The words and expressions were pulled from her. She tried to change them but the fog made her even more woosy than before. It was throbbing at her temples. As soon as she gave in, it lightened almost to nothing.

"This is, in my opinion, an excellent way to start to feel better." Sarah rolled her eyes and Carys felt herself frowning uncertainly at her. "It doesn't take a genius to recognise what's going on when your friend suddenly takes time off work and then a certain handsome doctor starts anxiously asking you if you've heard from her. What'd he do?"

"Nothing," Carys defended immediately, "I mean-"

Sarah grinned. "Yeah, you screwed yourself there." Her expression flickered impossibly quickly between concerned, confused, worried, interested; it settled on intrigued and she prompted, "So...?"

"What was that?" Carlisle asked at the edge of Carys' vision.

Matt shrugged nonchalantly. "Carys can't remember how Sarah looked or sounded when she said that. I took creative license."

Carys just about resisted the overwhelming urge to glance at her notepad and instead looked at the closed curtains. "Nothing, I just... I don't know." Her voice was high and uncertain. "I-" she turned back to Sarah and noted the sympathetic look on her face. "We had an argument," she lied.

Sarah's brow creased and she reached over to pat Carys on the knee. "I thought so," she said. Pushing to her feet, she grabbed her bag from the table. "Drink the wine, eat the chocolates, watch a sappy movie, and take tomorrow. I told Sandra that Mon saw you-" Her voice was indecipherable for a second.

"Must've been boring," Carys heard Matt say.

"-pretty shit piece of fish, so you'd better remember that before I get into all sorts of trouble."

Carlisle scoffed out a small laugh at that. Carys wished she had control over herself, but she didn't want to risk the fogginess and pain again just to glare or flip the middle finger at him.

Sarah waited for Carys' nod before she lifted her bag onto her shoulder. "You know where I am if you need me, but I figure you get one pass and you haven't filled your quota yet." Again, Sarah flickered and settled.

"Thanks, Sarah, you're a good friend," Carys heard herself say.

Sarah winked. "You've nabbed the second best looking doctor in this place. A better friend would pull out two glasses and force you to spill. I got you a week off work and the whole bottle to yourself. I'm the best."

Carys surprised herself with a laugh and stood up to see her out.

"Oh," Sarah informed her, her nose wrinkling, "and as I'm such a good friend... You need to open your curtains and get some light in here." She chuckled. And grimaced again. "And a shower."

Matt stepped forward just as Carys tried to shake her head. "Hmm... Hold on."

Carys then heard herself say that she needed a shower, to which Sarah replied, "Then I'm not gonna ask for a hug!"

Sarah took one step and disappeared. The scene reset. Carys found herself standing beside Carlisle, his arm around her again.

"I didn't like that," she murmured.

Carlisle's attention shifted so quickly that he may as well have jumped three feet in the air. "That's going to take some getting used to," he said. "I thought you were still in there." He nodded towards the bedraggled version of Carys on the sofa. He smiled. "You have a decent memory."

"Nowhere near perfect," Matt chimed in. "I could go deeper and get it right, but for viewing purposes it would take too long."

"But it's decent," Carlisle reiterated.

"But it's decent," Matt agreed.

Carys thought they could both save their sugar-tongues, but she merely smiled blandly and slowly blinked at them both. "Are we going to watch everything that happened overnight? I hope not..."

Matt shook his head. "You weren't as focused as I'd like you to be. Humans aren't like vampires. Few of you have recall powerful enough to create memories from things you're not paying any attention to."

"I thought you said you could draw memories even when someone thinks they've forgotten them forever," Carys queried.

Matt nodded. "But memory has to have been made in humans. It's not a given. I can access it, but you were too focused on your list." He glanced at the absent ceiling. "And your film, and you drank a bottle of wine in the middle. We could stand here listening to half-thoughts echoing around and around, watching a list jump about on a page, or we can skip forward to the part you focused on."

"Carlisle," Carys supplied.

Matt nodded at her. "Carlisle."

Carlisle pressed his lips to Carys' temple. "Me," he murmured excitedly.

"Will I have to-"

"Inhabit yourself?" Matt nodded, a sly grin spreading across his face and sparking in his eyes. "Yes."

The fog spread over the room, avoiding the three of them this time. And then light flooded the space. When the fog cleared, the room was spotless. Tidy. Sparkling. Carys was freshly washed and dressed, her long, dark-red dyed curls falling damp across her shoulders and back.

It was all she had a chance to see before she found herself succumbing to Matt's control, back in her old body.

She turned towards the kitchen and paused when a knock on the door heralded a visitor. When Carys turned again, Carlisle was barely suppressing his glee, staring at the closed front door. It made Carys feel far better than she had when she first experienced the moment. Crossing the room, she opened the door and a bark of laughter sounded behind her.

Matt's laughter was followed by Carlisle's. Carys thought one of them actually wheezed.

Carlisle (as he was), stood in front of her, his hair slightly dishevelled as if he'd been running his hands through it. Other than that, she couldn't see anything different about him. Nothing to explain their reactions.

Luckily for her, Matt paused the scene to explain. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," he teased.

Carys couldn't move much, but she cocked her head just enough to catch sight of them. "What do you mean?"

Carlisle took a step back, leaning against the wall so that she had a better vantage point. "I look..."

"Sexier," Matt supplied.

Carys rolled her eyes. "Carlisle is sexy."

"Yes, but you've remembered him as just a little bit sexier than he was."

"He looks exactly like he always looks!" Carys complained.

Carlisle bit his lips together. "Maybe how I look when I'm about to jump your bones, darling, but not how I looked that day. You've given me more colour, and there's a desperation in my eyes which I don't think I had."

"Oh, you had it," Carys grumbled to herself. She looked at Carlisle again. "This is exactly how I remember it."

"Which is half the problem," Matt murmured.

Carlisle chuckled.

Carys grit her teeth.

Carlisle sprang to life. Tilting his head, he looked past her shoulder. "You've made a list." He sounded both morose and resigned. "May I see it?"

Carys blanched, wavering slightly as light-headedness came over her. "How...," she asked, staring up at him. "How do you know that?"

Carlisle's gaze met hers, so very sad and-

"Looks like a fucking puppy," Matt announced behind Carys.

Carlisle chuckled self-derisively. "I felt as if I'd been kicked a fair few times."

"If I promise to tell you what I can, would you show me?" Carlisle asked quietly.

Carys glanced at the table behind her, at the notepad that still laid open. She couldn't read a word of the writing. Her brow furrowed. She turned back to him as her heartbeat wildly, so strong that she could feel it, could hear it. A muscle twitched by her eye. Her breath came fast and shallow. She expected someone to comment on how loud her heartbeat was, but they remained silent this time.

"How did you know?" she repeated softly, eyes widening.

"I didn't at first," he relented, "I thought... I thought you were avoiding me."

"I was," she confirmed, her breath stuttering.

Carlisle inclined his head. "You were avoiding me because of the list."

"How-"

"Alice," he conceded. Lowering his gaze, he slid his hands into his coat pockets. "Alice told me."

"Fucking puppy of a vampire," Matt repeated.

Carys forged on with the memory regardless of the interruption. "Did she-?"

"No." Carlisle shook his head. "She hasn't been in your home."

"Then-"

"No, she can't read minds eithe-"

Carys gasped, eyes widening in shock once again. She cut across him. "How did you know I was going to ask that!?"

"Because I'm a vampire," Carlisle joked behind her, calling it out as if he was watching a pantomime. It made Carys surrender to the fog for the sake of her chuckle while Matt laughed again.

"Would you let me read it, Carys?" asked Carlisle - the memory - once they'd recovered. "You have my word I'll answer your questions as much as I can."

Carys' thoughts began to echo. 'He sounds so calm...' 'Let him in...'

"No, don't!" Matt called laconically. "He's a vampire!"

"You won't hurt me?" Carys asked Carlisle hesitantly.

Her thoughts betrayed her. 'Well, that was stupid. He already knows what you're thinking.'

Someone snorted.

Carlisle looked as if someone had punched him in the gut. He took a small step backwards and froze, falling silent for long seconds. Then seemed to pull himself together.

"I would ne-" he cut off, shaking his head, horror widening his eyes. "I would never hurt you, my love. Never. The-" he broke off again as Carys stepped to the side and opened the door so that he could enter.

He passed her as the thought swirled around the room: 'God love me for a fool... I trust you.'

She pressed her back to the door, surprised that this, too, passed without comment. The soft click of the latch was loud in the quiet of the room as Carlisle crossed to the coffee table and picked up the notepad.

'Number 31: He walks so quietly.'

Carys didn't look at Carlisle or Matt as Carlisle flicked through the long list. Darting Carys a glance, he returned the pad to the table. "Very... Comprehensive."

"You couldn't have read it that fast," she replied, pressing her hands flat against the door behind her.

"I think you might want to add that to your list. May I?" He didn't wait for an answer before he lifted the pad and pen and scrawled across the bottom of a page, reading the words aloud as he did. "Forty-five, speed reading." He paused for a moment and seemed a little reticent as he continued writing. "Forty-six, speed in general."

"You're..." Carys slowly pushed away from the door and followed in his footsteps, coming to a halt at the end of the sofa where she sat on the arm. She felt faint again. "You're adding to it?" Her brow furrowed as she spoke, her words laced with confusion.

Relief poured over her. He was watching her patiently, waiting for her reaction to each word as if he was as afraid as she was.

"Would you like me to confirm any of these?" he asked, holding the notepad up between them. He stepped away as Carys took a deep breath, clasping his hands behind his back in an effort to appear non-threatening.

"... Are any of them... Wrong...?" she asked quietly, trying in vain to control her shallow breath.

"Do you have asthma?" Matt queried. He sounded genuinely concerned.

"Shh," Carlisle countered. "She was in shock."

"Fair enough."

Carlisle was slowly shaking his head.

"Who... Who are you?"

Carlisle took another step back. And another. And another. Until he had his back to the wall. "You really should be asking what I am," he said carefully.

Carys drew in a shaky breath. Her lungs constricting, she nodded slowly. "Okay... What are you...?"

"I can't tell you yet," he explained.

"Then why tell her to ask it!?" Carlisle heckled.

Carys scoffed and the memory continued on quickly, "If I told you, it would put you in danger as much as my family... I can, and will, answer any questions you have, but I simply can't name what I am. Not until I know what your choice will-" he stopped, his head dropping to his chest.

Carlisle - the real one - made an uncertain sound, deep in his throat. "Did I guilt trip you into loving me?" he worried.

Carys braved the pain to shake her head and heard Matt reassure him that he had nothing to worry about from what he'd seen.

Carys flickered into the correct position. "You can't name what you are!?" She was indignant. "What are you? Rumplestiltskin!?"

Carlisle's chuckle cut off abruptly at the look on Carys' face. Matt and Carlisle's died just as quickly. "No, but... I'm..."

"Are you human...?"

"I haven't been for a long time," he conceded.

Carys lost control of her breathing completely, moving from the arm of the sofa. Adding to the space between them just as Carlisle assured Matt in the background that she did not need an inhaler.

She asked, "How-um. How long?"

Carlisle's hands twitched as he brought his arms to his sides. "Carys..."

"How long?" she repeated slowly.

"Almost three hundred and forty-two years," he conceded quietly, "I'll be celebrating my three hundred and sixty-fifth birthday in a couple of days."

"Wha..." Carys' mouth opened and closed a few times. She cycled through more emotions in the minute she stayed silent than she could fully register, but she felt her face flickering in response. Doubt and anger won out. "What the fuck? Sure you are. Cool. Okay, so this is what? Some sort of horrible joke? It's a bloody long time to set up a fuc-"

"I can show you proof," Carlisle cut in calmly. He turned to look around the room again and pointed to the small table by the stairs. "How much do you like that mug?"

"What?" Carys frowned, shaking her head at him before glancing to her left. "The mug?" A mug magically appeared. When he continued to stare at her, she shrugged, watching him warily. "It's not a favourite..." She was pleased to know she'd told him the truth about her attachment to the object; couldn't even remember what it looked like. "Why, what're you...?"

She gasped as Carlisle flashed across the room and back.

Matt and Carlisle shared an affectionate, "Ah, humans."

Carlisle held the mug out with both hands and slowly pressed them together, crushing the object. Taking a step forward, he leaned across to the coffee table and watched her as he let the dust fall through his fingers.

"A tad dramatic of me," Carlisle dryly observed.

Carys silently agreed; Matt verbally so.

"So ... not ... a joke then...," she whispered, almost too quietly for her to hear over the thudding of her heart.

"No," Carlisle agreed. Suddenly he had the notepad in his hand again. He wrote something quickly and then hesitantly stepped towards her until she could reach across and take it from him.

Her head swam as she stared at the paper in silence.

'47. Strength. 48. Enhanced hearing.'

Carys slowly raised her head, gripping the notepad as if it were a lifeline. "You can hear...?"

"Everything," he completed. "I can hear your heart, your breathing, your footsteps... It's usually very... Comforting to hear you."

'Comforting... It's comforting... Comforting...'

"I'll accept that taken out of context, that could sound a little creepy," Carlisle said to the right of her.

"Carys..." Carlisle's voice was muted as the notepad fell from Carys' hand. She was glad that neither of the men observing said a word about how wide her eyes must be. She knew Carlisle was speaking because his mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear a word of it.

Then she felt something cold against her arm and looked down to see Carlisle was supporting her as his other arm snaked around her waist. He guided her to the sofa. Sitting on the coffee table in front of her, he gently rubbed her upper arm and tilted her face until he could look into her eyes.

A cacophony of thoughts flooded the air, whirling through every note she'd made, everything he'd confirmed, everything he'd added. Then snippets of his voice joined her own. Snippets of laughter. Of lost conversations. Sad words. Happy. Friendly. Moments of longing. The Carlisle she knew. The time they'd spent together.

The thoughts overlapped and Carys couldn't grasp many of them, only a feeling. An overwhelming feeling of knowing him. Of being sure of the man he was.

The thoughts died down until two were clear enough to grasp. 'The lives he's saved, Carys ... Nearly fifty things on the bloody list and only one's truly negative.'

Carys felt her husband's numb hand on her shoulder. It squeezed and was gone.

"Carlisle...?" she said slowly as the memory gently stroked her jaw. "I think... I think I'm ready for that explanation now..."

Carlisle smiled a little. Shaking his head, he pulled back, reaching into his inner pocket.

Carys clasped her hands together as she watched him remove a small bottle of brandy. She pointed to his pocket. "You always seem to have the right things in there... Is it a Mary Poppins situation we're dealing with?"

Carlisle stared at her for a moment before he started laughing quietly, shoulders quaking. His laugh was infectious. Even the men observing joined in. But when her answering peal took on a particularly feverish quality, they all stopped. Carlisle quickly uncorked the bottle.

"You need to drink some of this, darling." His gaze was intent as he returned his hand to her face, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. It strayed to her open lips for a moment. "It'll help with the shock."

Carys tried to control her frantic laughter as she grabbed the bottle with shaking hands and tipped it up, pouring it from above. The opening didn't touch her mouth. She swallowed hard, wincing as she held the bottle out to him. Heat spread through her; the liquid warmed her from her stomach outwards, and she wasn't too surprised to see how strong the memory of it was.

Matt said, "Corrupting the youth there, Carlisle. Inciting a good woman to drink? Shocking behaviour."

Carlisle replied, "It was medicinal. And it's inducing, Matteo. Inducing a good woman to drink."

"Pot-ato, pot-a-to."

Carlisle took the bottle and re-corked it. "I assumed you would use a glass," he said slowly, a little taken aback. "But that's okay." He leaned in, paused a moment to look deep into her eyes. "This will help far more than that." His gaze flickered between her eyes and lips once before he leaned in and softly pressed his lips to hers. In an instant, he had deepened the caress, his hard lips insistent against hers. Carys flung her arms around his neck while he kissed her with as much passion as she'd-

He flickered back and froze.

"I don't think Carlisle did kiss you just then, did he?" Matt sang.

"Shut up," Carys complained.

He laughed, "I'll only stop interrupting if you stop misremembering."

"I think Carys can misremember as much as she'd like," Carlisle cut in. "I wish I'd kissed you, darling. Now I can remember it this way instead."

Matt growled. "You know, there's such a thing as being too sappy."

"Play on," Carlisle said smugly.

"How are you feeling?" Carlisle asked, and Carys would have jumped had she had total control of herself.

"Like I've just found out the man I'm dating is ... immortal...?" She frowned at him. When he nodded, she continued, "Yeah, like the man I'm dating is immortal, and maybe Mary Poppins."

Matt laughed. "Oh, this is brilliant!"

"Not Mary Poppins," Carlisle assured her with a small smile. "And... Well, we can be killed by our own kind-"

"And two other kinds. But sure, just mention the vampires," Matt cut in, freezing the memory again.

"Would you let Carys finish?" Carlisle bit out. "This was a pivotal moment for us."

An awkward, tense silence reigned for a good half-minute before Carlisle restarted.

"-but for the most part, yes, immortal." He moved back, resting his hands on his knees as he hesitated. "Perhaps it would be easier if you asked questions and I answered them?" He ran a hand through his hair. "I would rather not risk overloading you with information, and as I said, I would rather not say exactly what I am just yet."

"Because of the risk?"

He nodded, seeming relieved.

"So... I mean... Are we talking Highlander?"

Carlisle grinned and reached towards her. At the last second, he let his hand fall to his leg again. "No, not Highlander."

"So. There is a risk, and you can be killed by your own kind, but you're not in an eternal battle to the death?" She smirked.

"No, well. My family and I are not, anyway."

"Your family..."

"Yes, they're all the same as I am," he said calmly.

Carys glanced at her list. "I was more going to ask about... Well... Okay, I'm just going to ask it. Is Jasper real? I've never seen him. Is he-"

"Yes." Carlisle was grinning again. He looked so beautiful that Carys began to realise that the men might have been right. But at the same time, she knew that if she fought the effects to look at him, Carlisle would be just as incredible now.

"Yes," he said. "Jasper is real. He simply finds it more difficult to be around humans."

Carys nodded sagely. "I can't say I blame him really." She waited for both Matt and Carlisle's surprised laughter to abate. "So you're not human... But you... Were human once?"

He nodded. "Yes. We were all born and lived human lives before we changed into what we are now. The change freezes us if you will."

"Good one," Matt commented.

"Thank you," Carlisle said proudly. There was a little frost to their interaction, but far less than the last time they'd spoken. It relieved Carys to hear.

"Okay...," Carys said to Carlisle. "So... You're saying you lived and... Died...? And then you're stuck like that forever?"

"Somewhat," he agreed. "The change enhances our features, our beauty."

"That explains Rosalie and Alice," she mused to herself, before sitting forward a little. It seemed to please Carlisle that she was moving closer to him rather than backing away again. "How old did you say you were?"

"I'm almost three hundred and sixty-five years old. I was twenty-three when I was changed. At least, that's what I estimate. Most people didn't have their birth date recorded as they do now."

"You were," Matt supplied.

"Thank you," Carlisle said.

"So we're almost the same age!?" Carys questioned excitedly. She grimaced. 'Stupid thing to say.'

"Not stupid in the slightest," Carlisle said from behind her now.

"In one way, at least?" she continued, following her script.

"Yes," said Carlisle. "We remain the age we were changed - physically and developmentally at least. Though I have lived a long life-" he paused. "Mentally we're the same age, and physically almost so."

"How long have you been a doctor?"

"Quite a while." He looked and sounded glad that their conversation appeared to be going so well. "I studied and trained myself for almost two hundred years before I began to practice, and I've been a doctor for over a hundred."

"Jeessuuuussss Christ." Carys' eyes widened. She dropped back against the cushion. "So... You died, you're immortal, you trained for roughly two hundred years to become a doctor. It clearly worked, I mean, you're the best doctor in the hospital, understandably." The notepad flickered into her hands and she flicked through the pages, speaking quickly. "You're compassionate, you're oddly calm all the time, you live amongst humans and look like us but you hide what you are and your enhanced powers." She stared at him, dropping the pad to the side. "Am I allowed a guess?"

"... Yes," Carlisle said nervously.

"Angel...," she breathed.

Both dhampir and vampire spoke at the same time. "Not even close." "The furthest thing from it."

Carlisle looked confused. He slid forward, shaking his head. "No darling, I'm the furthest thing from it."

"... Fallen angel then...?"

"No, I'm-"

"You can't deny you've kind of carved out a pretty angelic life for yourself right here. Is that why Jasper doesn't like humans? Because they're-"

"We're not angels, Carys." Carlisle spoke firmly, capturing Carys' gaze and cutting off her excited rambling.

"Ouch," said Matt.

"I'm sorry," said Carlisle.

Carys felt her face shift as sadness came over her. Carlisle looked apologetic as he placed a hand on her forearm. He was about to speak when she did.

"You hate what you are, don't you?" She frowned lightly, sympathetically.

"How-"

"When you realised what I meant, you practically recoiled. When I suggested you were a fallen angel, it was the... Whatever you are, you hate it, don't you...?"

Any response was cut short by the freezing of time. "I'm beginning to think we should skip through this part," Matt explained from Carys' left. "It's..."

"Personal," Carlisle agreed.

Carys caught Matt's gaze from the corner of her eye and mouthed her thanks. She would rather Carlisle not have to relive the next minutes. She might not have a perfect memory, but she remembered this so well... Remembered how Carlisle felt. What he told her. How difficult it must have been for him.

Matt received her thanks with an infinitesimal nod and she realised he knew it all already. He'd seen her memory before he took them through it, or maybe he'd read ahead. Either way, he'd seen what they discussed and knew what Carlisle thought and about it. And because of that she understood why he took them through her memory instead of Carlisle's.

"Is that it?" Carlisle queried. "Or will we pick up the strand later on?"

"We'll pick up right after," Matt said. He forced a smile. "You're not off the hook just yet, I'm afraid!"

Carlisle chuckled. It, too, was forced.

Carys said nothing. She just nodded at Matt, turned her gaze to Carlisle, and said:

"You told me the truth... Well, part of it."

Carlisle flickered forward, his hands wrapped around hers, their lips pressing against each others' skin. When he spoke, Carlisle mimicked his words from behind and above her. "I wanted to tell you. So much."

"Why?"

"Could I answer that later, darling?" Carlisle's hard lips moved against her skin as he talked, a caress that she returned with a kiss to his skin while she nodded. "Alice can see the future. It's subjective to decisions, choices, prone to change at times. In some matters, however, her visions are far more concrete."

"That's how she saw me today?" Carys asked, tightening her grip on his hand.

"Yes... And how she's seen so much more." He sped through. "We bring our strongest power with us when we change. I brought my compassion. Edward was always able to guess what people were thinking... He can now read minds. Jasper was an empath, which translated to the ability to feel and influence the emotions of those around him."

"What about the others?"

Carlisle grinned, his eyes alight as he spoke of his family. "Emmett brought strength and a playful contentment in his life that affects us in a more subtle way to Alice's. Esme is supremely devoted to those she loves, far beyond anything I've seen. She brought that and her warmth. Rosalie, well, you might have noticed. She brought with her her protective nature, alongside her determination and strength of character. And her beauty of course," he added as if an afterthought.

"Is that why Jasper finds it hard to be around people?" Carys questioned again. "Because he can feel everyone? It must be overwhelming."

"No," Carlisle replied softly, shaking his head as the light left his eyes. "He was... His upbringing was different to ours... He..." He trailed off.

"Have we circled back to the part you can't tell me yet?"

"Yes... I... I could tell you, but you'd have to be sure. If I... If I tell you, it would endanger my family. What I've already told you is enough to put us at risk if anyone else were to find out."

Carys made to protest, and Carlisle stroked her arm.

"I know. I believe you wouldn't tell anyone... But it would also, crucially, put you at risk if some of our kind were to find out that you knew. There... We have rules, laws which govern us."

"I imagine this sort of thing isn't something you want the world to know," she conceded. 'But I want to know," the disembodied voice complained. 'I want to now. To understand why you think you're damned. I need to understand you.' "What if I told you I wanted to know? That I could understand...?"

Both versions of Carlisle said, "You must know how much I want you to know, Carys. You must know how much I..."

"Carlisle...?"

It was as if Carlisle couldn't help but reiterate his sentiments, all this time later. He continued to copy the words in time with the memory. "I tried, darling, I tried to hold back, to wait. I didn't want to put this on you, the knowledge, the danger of what I am... But I failed you, I couldn't bear the pain you were going through, the depression I saw over those weeks at the hospital from afar. When I saw you that day on the trail, I could no longer hold back. I thought... I thought I could be your friend, that I could help you and somehow keep my distance.

"I can't explain to you how it felt last summer when we were friends and you pulled away. I wanted nothing more than to be with you, but I knew I needed to let you go, to let you live your life and not be cursed with this knowledge, not have me take any decisions away from you... And then I saw your eyes at the coffee shop, I saw the love you held for me, and-" Carlisle moved forward, his hands moving to her waist as he pressed his forehead against hers and briefly closed his eyes.

Carlisle - the one behind her - placed his hands on her shoulders, gripping tightly, mimicking the way Carys slid her arms over his shoulders in the memory.

Matt must have done something because when they spoke again, Carlisle's voice was far louder than the version of him in front of her.

"I've never wanted anything as much as I want your love, my darling. It's been a long time since I've had total control over what I am. The need that comes from it ... but that need is the closest thing I can think to how I feel about you. I love you, Carys. I think I've loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you."

Carys breathed softly, her eyes swimming with tears of happiness that fell ignored down her cheeks as he continued.

"Becoming your friend, I thought it would be enough. I thought I could love you from afar, I could protect you and my family and somehow make it through." The memory swam and shifted as he spoke. Carlisle disappeared and Carlisle's hands left her as he rounded the sofa to brush the tears from her face. "In all my time on this earth, I'd never felt anything like it, my love. I cannot put into words what you mean to me. I can only tell you that I'm sorry, I'm sorry that it wasn't enough for me, that I brought you into this. And that I'm also not sorry. Not really, no matter the guilt I feel for it.

"Carys, my love, my darling." He brushed a still damp curl from her face and bent low to press a soft kiss to her cheek. "I wanted to wait until you made your decision. When Alice saw the choice you'd have to make for your family..." He shook his head slowly.

"You didn't tell me what you thought I should do," she whispered.

"Your life, your choices, every decision you made... I wanted it to be yours, my love. I still want them to be yours."

Carys felt no ill effects when she broke free of the script this time. "I know that, but you need to know that you factored in. You still factor. You always will... I've told you how I didn't want to leave Forks; if it wasn't for you, I might have felt differently. Stop letting your guilt win, Carlisle." Leaning in, she smiled and scrunched her face. "Every time you do, I think you forget how much I wanted you. How much I loved you. How much I still do... And I actually think I might love you more now than I did then..."

Carlisle smiled. "I do grow on people." He winked, dropping to his haunches and brushing a curl from her face. "I think I love you more with every passing second. You can be the most caring, thoughtful, selfish (because yes, I know you'd complain if I didn't mention your faults), selfless, infuriating, sweet, lovely person. You make me happy, thrilled, terrified, angry, excited... And every other emotion under the sun."

"And you do and are the same for me," Carys said. "Except, you have a really annoying habit of never being selfish."

"Oh, I beg to differ," he said.

"Name one time you were selfish."

Carlisle stared deep into her eyes and she saw the depth of his emotion. It brought fresh tears to her eyes.

"I told you what I was," he said. "There are so many more, which you're forgetting in this moment, but that..." He gravely shook his head. "I told you what I was."

Carys looked at Matt with exaggerated exasperation. "You see what I have to deal with?"

He chuckled. "It's something he suffered from in his human life. Christian guilt."

"Hammered home by my father, I suppose," Carlisle said thoughtfully.

Matt nodded. "I think I've seen enough," he said to them both. And Carys realised why he was so set on seeing this particular scene. Her suspicions had been proven correct: he wanted to know he was right to support them.

"Did we pass your inspection?" Carlisle asked him.

He grinned. "Flying colours, Carlisle. Flying colours."

Carys and Carlisle smiled up at him.

"So... We don't need to see me being sick?" Carys asked. The wrong move. Both men shared a glance and then turned identical grins on her. "Oh no," she said. "Please. You said you had enough!"

"I forgot," Matt said gleefully, rubbing his palms together. "Carlisle, if you wouldn't mind joining me in the viewing box?"

Carlisle sprang to his feet. "Happy to, my good man, happy to."

Carys groaned. Her body shuddered and shifted without her control, and Carlisle was sitting in front of her again.

"I want to know, Carlisle," she found herself saying. "I want to understand this. You. Why you felt damned, why you feel such guilt about saving the others. I want to know why you waited to tell me."

He looked conflicted, fear in his eyes as he finally relented and rushed through his explanation. "I-I drink the blood of animals. It's what sustains me, what sustains my family. Very few of our kind do - I was the first. When I was changed, I wanted nothing more than to die because I believed there was only one way to survive. I-"

"Vampire," Carys whispered, cutting off the rest of his fearful speech. She drew back. "You're a vampire..."

Matt clapped his hands, applauding her. "There it is!"

Carlisle nodded, moving back until the backs of his knees pressed against the wood of the small coffee table, giving her space. He looked as if a knife had been thrust below his ribs and twisted.

Carys felt as if she was going to be sick. The blood drained from her face.

The thoughts rose again. Saying that she could understand him, somehow. Could understand that he was different, that he fed on animals rather than humans. And then the thought of the others joined them... The thought that other vampires existed... That he might have consumed human blood... It was as if the penny had dropped and the reality of what he was, what truly existed in the world had suddenly broken through.

She raced from the sofa, taking the stairs two at a time, and slammed the bathroom door behind her as she dropped to her knees and began to retch.

Her body shuddered and the fog took over. She found herself sitting on the floor, trembling in Carlisle's arms while he whispered apologies and soothingly rubbed her back. Carlisle and Matt stood in the open doorway.

"Didn't think we needed to relive the sick itself," Matt said.

Carys pushed away, reaching towards the sink to pull herself up onto shaky, numbed legs.

Carlisle stood slowly, watching her warily in the mirror as she washed her hands and brushed her teeth. He remained motionless until she wiped her mouth a minute later and turned towards him.

She kept her eyes averted as she sat on the edge of her bathtub.

"Have you..." She stared at the wall. "Have you ever kill-"

"No," he denied vehemently before she could finish. "When I knew what I was, I fled. I travelled by night, on roads as far away from humans as possible to avoid the risk. I couldn't take life, couldn't become the... I tried to starve myself to death rather than taste human blood. It was the last of several attempts to destroy myself. I was hiding, for a time, in a forest near London - it was there that I discovered animal blood could sustain me instead when a herd of deer passed by where I was concealed."

"You knew this, didn't you?" Carlisle asked Matt.

Matt nodded. "Not immediately, but I did, yes."

"Deer...," Carys whispered. She slowly looked up.

"I ate venison as a human. Afterwards, I reasoned it wasn't too dissimilar. It was a revelation, to know that I could survive on that, that I didn't have to take human life," said the memory.

Carys nodded to herself as they lapsed once again into silence. She turned back to the wall. She felt numb and drained; tired both mentally and physically.

She stood slowly, testing her legs, and Carlisle stepped out of the way as she passed him, following her uncertainly down the stairs while Carlisle and Matt walked ahead of her. She had to hold onto the bannister and slide her other hand against the wall to support herself, but she made it down and crossed to the sofa once again.

Carlisle hovered, standing beside the coffee table, and she held out a hand to him. He took it, and when she tugged lightly, sat down beside her. She wondered how much more of this she would have to go through. It was so real for her that she felt everything as keenly as the first time.

"I don't think... I'm not... I love you Carlisle, but I don't think I can... My head feels... Would you just hold me for a bit? I... I think I need some time to process...," she explained, her voice devoid of emotion.

Carlisle moved quickly, placing a cushion between them. His arms came around her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It was just a bit of a shock - that Jasper really exists."

Carlisle chuckled and drew her closer.

Staring at the fabric of his jumper, she took a deep breath, her smile fading. "I love you, Carlisle. I trust you. And I don't know why or how, or what's happened... Or what will happen... But I know that. And I'm not saying I'm not scared, but I am saying..."

"I know..." Carlisle replied quietly, pressing his face to her hair. "But would you trust me enough to meet my family tomorrow?"

She pulled away so she could look up at him. "Your family? All of them?"

"Esme is here for my birthday weekend," he explained, putting a strange emphasis on the word birthday, "and I know she and the others would like to meet you - or to meet you again at any rate... If you're willing to, I could show you more, explain my past once you've had some time to process."

Carys hesitantly replied, "You want me to walk into a house filled with vampires?"

In the background, Matt and Carlisle agreed that it was a rather big ask, considering her reaction.

Carlisle removed his arms from her, clasping his hands together. 'He looks so sad! Say yes!'

Carlisle spluttered. "What!?"

The fog returned, and when it lifted Carys found herself back in the living room of the island house. She felt nauseous and exhausted from the strange ordeal.

Carlisle stared at her, horror-struck. "You said yes because I was sad?"

Carys rubbed at her forehead. "I would have gone one day. And I'm glad I went for your birthday."

"But I guilt-tripped you into it," Carlisle said dully.

Carys shook her head against the lingering effects of the memory. "No, not really. I mean, at the moment it might seem like that, but it wasn't."

Carlisle murmured thoughtfully.

Matt chuckled, shaking his head. "The guilt's so strong, it's Catholic." Ignoring Carlisle's sharp glance, he clapped his hands together once, rubbing his palms. "Now that that's done... I believe you have a visitor on her way. What time does the shifter get here?"

Carlisle answered, and Matt nodded to the windows. "What I could have done in a fraction of a moment on my own took a little longer... Humans, you know..."

Carlisle and Carys nodded, though Carys' nod was a little less of an agreement and more of a begrudging acceptance.

"She should touch down in around an hour," Carlisle filled in. He looked at Carys and grew concerned. "We should get going. I can go with Matt if you're not feeling up to it?"

"I am," she told him. But she wasn't. Not really. She felt nauseous and sluggish, desperate for a nap. Matt had warned her that it could take humans longer to recover, but it had only been in passing and it hadn't suggested she would feel this bad.

"You're sure? You don't look too well, darling."

"It's a bit like the old brain-teaser, isn't it? I can't send you alone because it's Leah and as much as she's come round to you, you're still a vampire. I can't send Matt because he's a dhampir and she doesn't know him. I can't send you both because of the above reasons."

Matt hummed. "I could go in human form?"

Carys' lips twisted. "Hmm... No. No, I don't want to spring it on her that she's been in the company of a dhampir for that long." Straightening her spine, she nodded curtly. "I can't promise I'll be great company until we're home and I'm lying down, but I'm coming along."

Carlisle rubbed her back, watching her carefully, kissing her forehead when she leaned into him.

"Good," Matt said. "I don't want to be back in that form for a while. Or any other. I'm enjoying myself too much."

"Not too much, I hope," Carlisle countered. "Not in front of others, in any case." And then he laughed. And Matt laughed. And Carys watched them with unbridled interest.

A/N: well... We get Leah back next chapter, which means... Things are moving on! I'm excited for her reaction and for what will happen when they're all on an island together! A vampire, a dhampir, and human and a shapeshifter walk onto an island... Got to be a joke or two there!

Thank you to: chellekathrynnnn, Nulip2001, JosieNightOwl, BMBMDooDoo-Doo-Doo-Doo, Momochan77, Guest (was it an odd reaction? Don't stop reading between the lines is all I'll say), deniermom, NeonKat (Thank you so so so much! Highest praise indeed! I love reading your thoughts on the chapters - thank you for sharing them with me!), Valen Goncalvez, Guest (Thank you, thank you, thank you!), and ReadLikeHermione for your reviews!