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Responses will be coming tomorrow. I'm not my mental best at the moment and I don't have the brainpower I wish I did just now!

Breaking Dawn, Chapter 8

Two days after telling the Cullens, things began to calm down for Carys and Carlisle. Safe in the knowledge that one of their largest issues had been tackled - and Carys was able to say, then, that she should have expected her emotions to overwhelm her when faced with such a task - they indulged in all the island had to offer. It suddenly felt like a real honeymoon. There seemed to be nothing to wait for, nothing to agonise over, nothing to worry them overmuch until Leah and Matt returned.

It was easy, then, to tell themselves that they were right about their relaxation.

The island boasted a waterfall which cascaded into a pool of bright, almost turquoise water, one corner which seemed overpopulated with parrots and birds Carys had only really seen in books, and an abundance of heady, rich nature which filled every sense and made the world brighter and more beautiful than ever. They hiked and tracked and danced to music from a little CD player Carys had brought with them.

On the fifth day, a couple of pieces of medical equipment arrived and Carlisle tested out the ultrasound. It didn't work on Carys' womb - the dhampir was hidden by the new indestructible surface - but they pretended that wasn't all it was there for. They laughed and in Carys' case giggled until her sides hurt, as Carlisle showed her her heart, her liver, her kidneys, and declared them all, "Just as pretty as your outsides."

That night, Matt called to say that they were making headway and would be expected in La Push within a week.

On the sixth day, Rosalie and Esme came to visit. There was a strict 'no shop-talk' policy around Carys, and she was left for a time with Esme while Rosalie and Carlisle went off to speak. They glistened and glowed in the sunlight, refracting across the patio from the edge of the trees. Esme pretended not to hear what they were saying and Carys already knew, so they played chess in the shade and Esme let Carys win.

They returned inside, wiling away the height of the sun by watching films and playing another game: would the hero of the film really be able to survive whatever mess they got themselves into. This time, unlike the first time Carys had played, Carlisle paid full attention to the film and was the first to say that he doubted they would.

It had just ended, Rosalie had gone to redo her hair, which she claimed was mussed after spending so long in the humidity, and Carlisle was making Carys her first decaf tea of the day when the doorbell rang.

A tall, lean, heavily tattoooed man appeared on their doorstep. His black hair was shorn at the sides and back, overlong on the top, and he stroked it away from his chiselled face when it fell into his kohl-rimmed eyes.

Wearing a studded leather jacket over a black tank and skinny jeans tucked into heavy black boots, he dropped his large satchels in the entryway and declared: "I hope you know I'm missing Reading for this."

He walked straight by Carlisle and had only just flung himself on the sofa, acting as if he hadn't noticed the attention of half the people in the room was more admiring than anything, when Matt called to announce the imminent arrival of:

"My son, for all intents and purposes, Raphel. If he mentions Reading Festival," he advised, "ignore him. He's following some band called My Chem, and they're playing the same festival as ... Fall Out... Boy? And ... The Muse."

Raphel stiffened, thrumming with energy, and sounded resigned as he half-yelled at the phone, "It's just MUSE! No 'THE'!"

"He's there, then," Matt sighed over speaker phone. "I'm a bit late for the heads up. He's not happy with your timing, but he'll be useful; no need to worry about him shifting, he's committed to this body. Carlisle, a word?"

Carlisle switched him off speaker and the two of them spoke in hushed tones. Carys hovered for a few moments before she made her way over to Raphel - who told her to call him Rafe and pre-empted her question by saying:

"Do you know how much these cost?" His long, tattooed hands swept down his front, drawing attention to his many visible tattoos. "You know how long it takes to get them done? And he thinks I'm going to throw that all down the drain unless I have to? Pssh." Rafe fiddled with one of his lip piercings.

"Pssh," Carys agreed, for want of a more specific response. She shared a look with Esme, who merely shrugged, and then lamely, she added, "I like My Chem too. I'm sorry you'll be missing out."

"Not your fault." Rafe turned his bright blue eyes on Carlisle and Rosalie when they joined them, then returned to meet Carys' gaze head-on. "Matt says you're due in late August, early Sept?"

Carys nodded.

"Then"-he cracked his knuckles, drawing his arms high above his head and letting them fall to his sides-"I might still make the album launch. 'Course, it'll be out on MySpace on the second. Think you can hold out that long?"

Carys found herself agreeing that she would hold out on having her dhampir, no matter what happened, until the MySpace release of Welcome to the Black Parade, which he thanked her for. He had been in between concerts, he said, when Matt and Leah found him to tell him, and he was one of the "vampire sympathisers."

"I don't see how you guys can't have maybe, like, you know, redeemed yourselves a bit, you know?" he drawled in a deep, rumbling voice. "I mean, not all of you, I get it, but you've gotta give people a chance, right? Gotta give credit where credit's due, you know? There's you guys and that coven from Slovakia who moved to like, Alaska or whatever." His languid speech pattern made every word slightly more intense and where he could have sounded a little flippant, he instead sounded as if he spoke with the gravitas of every one of his two thousand and forty-two years. "What I'm saying is, maybe it's time we come out of the shadows, you know?"

His accent was largely lowlands Scot but ventured occasionally into a mixture of other accents including but not limited to: Irish, English, and Italian, and Carys wasn't the only one hooked on his every word.

When asked why his name was Raphel, he offered a shrug and said that it wasn't his real name but he'd changed it back in the fifties. The Sixteen-Fifties. And that it only had one "a", though he didn't expand on that, either.

Raphel, Esme and Rosalie stayed with them for the couple of hours it took for the light to dim and cloud coverage to further ease their way, then returned to the mainland so that Rafe could meet the others and show them what a dhampir was like.

As far as they were aware, there had been no adverse effects of his arrival, and after Emmett called to confirm that, and also to complain that the first dhampir he'd met was not as keen on a fight as the first he'd spoken to, Carys asked Carlisle if she was the only one who had found Rafe shockingly attractive, or if that might have had something to do with his ease of passage.

"Not the only one," Carlisle said, laying a suit out on the bed. "Is he my cup of tea? No. Would I be tempted if I were single? No. Did I let him in my house without so much as a by-your-leave and am I a little in awe of him? Yes and yes. Entrance aside, he was very pleasant."

"Pleasant and sexy," Carys mumbled. She wracked her brain, trying to remember why he was laying out clothes, and remembered something about a dinner that night with Bella and Edward. It would be interesting to see how they'd taken things, now that they'd had time to really think about their position in all of it.

Bella had had a point about the issue of having two newborns in the same place, at the same time, but her timing had been a little off. If it came up tonight, it would be a topic of conversation which she wouldn't shy away from. Part of her wondered, as Carlisle chuckled, rounding the bed and pulling her flush against him, if she shouldn't bring it up herself.

"Do I have competition?" he teased, grinning down at her. "You'll have to tell me if the honeymoon's over this quickly."

Carys laughed as he nuzzled her neck, sending thrilling shockwaves through her. "I'm very happy with what I have, thank you," she said.

"I'm well aware," he assured her, kissing his way up to her temple. His lips settled there for some time before he drew away to ask, "Can I be presumptuous?"

"About?" she asked.

"Matt suggested we find somewhere for you to change and I was going to wait and speak to you about it tomorrow, but if things continue to progress at this rate, with dhampirs arriving on our doorstep... Well..." Carlisle's nose crinkled and he tipped his head to the side. "I have somewhere in mind and I've had most of what we'll need sent there in anticipation of our relocation. The time to discuss that relocation seems to be now." He held up a finger and corrected himself, "After we've enjoyed the island for a couple more days."

Carys ran her finger down the arch of his nose, tapping the end before stroking her fingers over his lips. She knew every possibility - if he was going to suggest a place he owned - and she had preferences. There was one place in France which she'd been meaning to discuss, and a couple in America, but her heart longed for home and she hoped he might suggest one of the houses in England, Scotland, or Ireland.

There was, of course, the issue of newborns and where Bella might want to be changed, but Carys took a deep breath and concentrated on herself and Carlisle when she looked into his eyes and asked, "Where is this place?"

"Where would you like to be?" he asked, as if he were a mind reader himself.

"I thought you said you had somewhere...," she said, trailing off, teasing him this time.

His eyes narrowed but there was nothing but amusement and a hint of censure in the expression. "Answer the question, Mrs Cullen."

Carys sighed dramatically and made a show of thinking about it. "England?"

"Where in England?" he asked.

"England!?" she cried, gripping his stone-hard arms, using them as leverage and leaping with excitement. "Don't you get my hopes up, Carlisle Cullen! Where!?"

"Not far from..." Carlisle pointed to himself and Carys screamed, clapping her hands over her mouth.

"THE NORTHUMBERLAND ESTATE!?"

"The Northumberland Estate," Carlisle confirmed. He was grinning widely, proud and happy about her reaction. "One hundred acres on the border of the National Park-"

"Call a castle a castle, Carlisle," Carys screeched. Still jumping, she waved her hands, trying to calm herself enough that when she spoke, it was only an octave or two higher than normal. "Remind me why we came here and not straight there?"

"Honeymoon," Carlisle informed her, his voice dry, his expression anything but.

Carys snapped her fingers. "Gotcha." Again, she jumped and screeched, "Northumberland! We're going to Northumberland!"

Carlisle watched on fondly as she jumped around him, turning and catching her on every lift and drop, so that she was lifted a little higher when she jumped and lowered gently when she came back down. It wasn't long before he, too, was laughing and jumping, making her swear when they calmed down that she wouldn't tell anyone about his reaction. Carys agreed all-too-easily, and having rid herself of the excess energy, she stepped slowly towards him and fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt.

"Take that look off your face," Carlisle laughed.

"What look?" she innocently inquired. "Is there a look?"

"There is a look," he said.

Carys stepped closer still and Carlisle took a small step back. She leaned against him and he remained where he was so that she didn't fall. "What does the look say?" she asked sweetly.

"We're expected on the mainland." Carlisle closed his eyes and then cast a look heavenward. "We have reservations."

"They'll keep," she whispered against his jaw. "I won't." Matt had been lying when he'd told them that there would be a change to their lust over the next few weeks, but Carys had been becoming tired more easily of late and it would remain that way for a couple of weeks at least. She had also begun to show over the past week, with her belly popping out, rounding and on its way to an unmistakeable bump. She would not, she feared, have the energy if they were to go to the mainland before she got him naked and into her bed.

Carlisle took hold of her hands and eased her away, his hold firm, his expression reluctant. "No, they will not. It's Bella and Edward's last day here."

Carys groaned - not because she was dreading the interaction but because she'd forgotten the importance of the dinner. "I'd forgotten." She patted Carlisle's chest. "Would you mind doing my hair? Nothing fancy, I just think it might take a little while to get my makeup done."

A/N: It's only a short one this time, folks! But it takes us forward almost a week and does a lot in a short space of time! I'm not going to include the dinner with Bella and Edward, I don't think, but I will let you all know what happened in the next chapter! Next time we see Carys and Carlisle, they're heading home! Can anyone see the connection (above the obvious) with Carlisle and wanting to have a child in the north of England?

P.s. Northumberland has the largest number of castles versus any other county over here (with over 70 castles). It also has forests and a huge national park which feeds into the North Pennines, which in turn is a hop, skip and a jump from the Lake District, and Northumberland is right by the border to Scotland... the list goes on. It also has the lowest population versus size of any county! It is the perfect place to go, and if you're thinking "How did Carlisle get a castle?" - there are at least two or three castles and a few large manor houses for sale there at the moment, let alone all the smaller ones, and we'll see that it's not entirely castle anymore.