CHAPTER 25 IS FIXED (11/6/2020)!

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this is a little late; enjoy and I'll talk to you at the end!

Chapter 24: Beau

"I still can't believe people actually buy this," Edythe commented, and Beau shook his head indulgently.

"What do you think is more believable: a vampire with human teeth, or one with fangs?" he countered. Edythe made a face before popping some more popcorn into her mouth.

"With three extra pairs that lay over the human ones? Ridiculous," she said.

"Hey, at least they got the decapitation part right. They're not trying to use garlic or crosses," Beau defended them. Edythe shrugged lightly, ignoring the familiar twinge in her shoulder.

"Thank heavens for small miracles," she said disparagingly as Carine returned from her office, watching their banter with affectionate amusement. She glanced fleetingly at the TV screen, where the two teenagers were watching an episode from a popular sci-fi series; the 'vampires' were fighting with the two protagonists. She had to admit she agreed with Edythe, as she watched one of the actors inject human blood into one of the on-screen creatures, rendering it helpless.

"Humans, especially those in Hollywood, never get the legends right," she said, and the two humans glanced back at her, unaware of her arrival. But Edythe gestured to Carine as she looked at Beau, as though that were proof enough. Beau chuckled but let it go. There was a long moment of silence as the three of them watched the fight sequence play out further but Edythe huffed.

"Well, this is going to take a while," she said flippantly and pulled the blanket off her legs. She turned gingerly to place her feet on the floor, unsurprised to find Carine already standing in front of her, her hands held out. She linked her fingers around her mother's wrists and pulled herself up. Carine's body ducked as she helped Edythe stand, lifting her from below to take the pressure off her back. Beau had moved, his hands on Edythe's waist, giving her the extra support as she got her balance, using them to help her stay upright. After a moment, she nodded and Beau released his hold, leaning back into the couch.

"I'll be okay," she muttered to Carine, who, after a moment's hesitation, let go of her. Edythe moved slowly toward the hall bathroom, knowing to stay within reach of something to hold onto if she needed it, all the while feeling their eyes on her back.

Carine had recently relented to allowing her to move short distances on her own without aid, so long as she was able to get support if she needed it. It gave Edythe tremendous relief to be able to go to the restroom on her own; though, of course, she understood Carine's—and the rest of her family's—concern, she would never quite forget about being chagrined when she needed a chaperone. But Carine could hardly argue with Edythe when she had pointed out she could hear Edythe and get to her as easily if she were down the hall as when in the bathroom with her, so she had acquiesced.

After she had disappeared down the hall, Carine sat down beside Beau; his eyes had returned to the screen, and the both of them watched as a victim screamed loudly as the vampire on screen stalked toward him. Carine chuckled delicately at the antics and cocked her head to the side before turning to Beau.

"You never reacted like that," she commented, "Though we all expected you to." Beau laughed good-naturedly.

"Oh, I wasn't as collected as I may have seemed. Not in the beginning."

"How so?" His blue eyes slid to Carine at her question, and the curiosity prompted him to pause the episode to face her.

"Well," he said, thinking back, "The day I went to the Quileute beach and Julie told me everything, I came back home and listened to Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory for hours straight. The screaming drowned out my thoughts until I passed out until the next morning. I had a dream, one where the whole word 'vampire' came out in all its ridiculous, overzealous antics: I remember Edythe was there, dressed in black, pointed nails and teeth, all that jazz, and a werewolf trying to defend me and lunging at her. That woke me up. When I did, I decided to do research on the internet." Beau shook his head and Carine fought a smile, knowing what he had probably found when doing so.

"Complete waste of time, in the long run," he confirmed, then sighed. "I couldn't really concentrate, so I took a walk through the trail at the back of Charlie's house, trying to think it all through."

"And that's how you decided you were okay with vampires?" Carine asked, one eyebrow raised. Beau smiled slightly, his now expression a little calmer.

"Not exactly. I had to decide whether it could be true; of course the logic side of me wanted to say 'no', but nothing else really added up, the speed and strength, skipping the blood-typing class, not eating, the way she spoke, the hint at mind-reading—"

"You guessed about her telepathy?" Carine interrupted, her expression surprised; no one, human or vampire, had ever guessed at Edythe's former extra ability, except for Carine herself. And even that was because Edythe was answering her creator's thoughts rather than spoken words. Even her siblings, as they were brought into the family, were not able to decipher Edythe's talent until it was explained, so the fact Beau had been able to was astounding. Beau shrugged though.

"She wasn't exactly being subtle about it," he said mildly. "But I couldn't really answer it myself, not at that point; it was too much of my own taught logic warring against what I'd seen with my own eyes. My decision really came from the second part, what I was going to do if it was true."

Beau paused and Carine waited for a moment, then pushed when he didn't continue.

"Well, I knew I would be institutionalized if I brought it up to anyone else, so that was not an option. I could have taken the first offer she gave, to ignore her as best I could, but the idea was…painful, and was just as infeasible as the first. So I chose the last, which was do nothing different."

The incredulous look on Carine's face made Beau rush to continue.

"I mean what else did I have the ability to do? It's not like I could really do anything about it if it were true, and, as far as my experience was at that point, she had saved my life; one of the first acts she had done since I met her was to protect me; so, I rationalized, if she was a vampire, how bad could she be if she were saving my life?"

"That is…quite a conclusion," Carine managed, not quite knowing what to say.

"But it was more than that. When I had the dream that night, when all the mythical outlandish vampire traps were on and the werewolf had lunged at her, I feared for her, not for myself. And I knew that dream was a mere symbol of the word 'vampire' and not my experiences, but even then, I knew I cared for her more than my own safety. And making that decision, that day, was easier than breathing. Because it never really felt like a choice."

Carine was stunned, so much so that she barely registered the familiar sounds of her children as they had returned home from yet another tracking trip. This time though, they had slowed as they approached the house, hearing Carine and Beau's conversation and, despite their efforts, they couldn't not hear. She made to let Beau know of their awareness but he had already continued; the words were spilling from him like a faulty dam, and they were freeing, as he took the chance to put into words his rationale.

Beau had long heard the teasing and jokes from the Cullens about how he was so at ease around them; he had taken them all in stride, but only until now did he feel the need to explain. And he knew that Carine understood the part he didn't not explicitly say; he had accepted and loved Edythe on the condition of her being a vampire, not just a vegetarian vampire. Carine was nearly aghast that he basically admitted that his decision wouldn't change even if the Cullens did hunt humans. He knew it, but he continued anyway, rather than dwelling on the fact.

"It didn't end there. Once she confirmed the story, and I knew it was real, I found I had no issue being around her; it was the others that made me edgy. I don't know why, since I knew she was just as, if not more, dangerous as they are. But, the night before that day in the meadow, I did think about it, more than Edythe probably thought I did. I went so far as to imagine how a vampire killed and how it would feel to be…drained. And I thought about the ramifications, to Charlie, to you all.

"I deliberately told McKayla I had canceled the trip and I didn't tell Charlie where I was going, because I knew, if I didn't come back, it could lead back to Edythe. The idea of doing that to Charlie hurt and I did realize that I was choosing Edythe over my own father. But…I couldn't not do it. It felt like moving against a current that was far stronger than I would ever be, and trying to make me do something I didn't want to do anyway. There just…never was a choice."

Carine and the rest of the Cullens were frozen in surprise; never in their own minds did they ever think that Beau had put much thought into his actions in the early weeks of his and Edythe's relationship, but it was clear he had, more than any one of them could have imagined. And he made the decision he made, to protect Edythe and her family over his own, a decision most people would call foolish or selfish, but the Cullens knew was far from it.

"I was too happy when I was with her," Beau said softly, "It was a happiness I had never felt before, unlike what you feel from being with friends or family. I made that choice because I trusted Edythe, more than she ever trusted herself. I trusted she wouldn't hurt me, that her feelings for me equalled mine for her. And that happiness we shared is something I don't think either of us wanted to let go of. And we selfishly held onto it, at each other's expense." The last part caused Beau's expression to twist, as if he were admitting some huge shameful act. Carine reached forward to grasp his hand firmly and he glanced at her.

"That is the power of mating," she told him, "We saw it in Edythe too, how she struggled day in and day out to do the righteous thing by you, when all she wanted was to never leave your side. We saw a side to her that we had never seen before, a light in her eyes that hasn't gone away since you two met, a light that got brighter the moment she became human." She paused for a moment.

"I was selfish when I chose to change Edythe, enfeebled by my own loneliness. I was again so when I chose to save Earnest. One may say the same of Royal when he brought Eleanor to me. We chose the paths we take, sometimes at what we believe is someone else's expense, for ourselves, for our own self-preservation. It's the most basic instinct.

"All of their changes—Edythe's, Earnest's, Eleanor's—worked out for the best, I believe. Edythe has worked hard since the moment she awoke to her vampire life to be selfless, to do what she thinks is right, no matter what it cost her. And she thought by allowing herself to love you, by introducing you into our world, was dragging you into something you could never escape from. And she hated herself for it, for wanting something so badly she was considering destroying what she believed was the perfect life for you.

"Though she says she never despised me for changing her, this life is not one she would wish on anyone, least of all the love of her life. But she felt powerless to stop it, because of the infectious feeling she had around you; we could all see it. She chose her love for you, and you chose your love for her. And that kind of love isn't selfish."

Beau dropped his head at her words, but she delicately pulled his chin up to meet his gaze, her gentle smile bringing his own to his face.

"I never hated you for changing me," a quiet voice said and both of them turned to look at Edythe, who stepped out from behind the wall. Beau's eyes widened slightly, but Carine was unsurprised, knowing Edythe had heard most of the conversation. Now, she moved gingerly back to the couch and settled gently between her mother and Beau, leaning into her mate's side as she looked to her mother. Carine's smile was tender now and she reached out to brush a lock of Edythe's hair back behind her ear. Then Edythe craned her neck up to look at Beau.

"But you're wrong about one importante piece: the first thing I did was almost kill you," she said, but Beau smiled, hugging her closer.

"You stopped yourself almost immediately," he reminded her.

"I planned hundreds of ways to do it."

"But you didn't. So you saved me then as well," Beau said firmly, but Edythe shook her head.

"I shouldn't have had to save you from myself. Normal people—" she began, but Beau cut her off.

"You weren't a normal person, Edythe. You were a normal vampire; there's a difference," he said. "Normal people don't have the underlying instinctual urge to satiate a thirst from another person."

"Exactly!" Edythe said, but Beau shook his head.

"You should have never compared yourself to a normal person. That's like comparing your reaction then versus the reaction you would have now. Don't compare your vampire self to a human; compare your vampire self to another vampire. It's apple and oranges."

Edythe was incredulous at his words, and her expression said as much. Beau said nothing, simply reaching down to press his lips against her temple when she said nothing, his grin slightly triumphant. Carine sat besides them, watching the banter, slightly amused. Finally, Edythe recovered and shook out her hair.

"You seemed to compare me well enough to a human where you thought I would be hurt by bullets," she countered, one eyebrow raised; the word 'bullets' came out like a joke. "And when you just politely asked me to not murder three people."

"I didn't think you would actually do it," Beau responded casually, "And it wasn't until you implied you would be able to travel multiple miles without a car did the 'vampire' thing come to mind."

"That is what triggered it?" she questioned in disbelief. He nodded then shrugged.

"I had kind of forgot about it up until that point," he defended himself. Edythe turned her expression on Carine, who laughed.

"I am very good at repressing non-pleasant things," Beau added, his smile coy as he remembered their conversation; Edythe shook her head but couldn't help her own grin.

"Good enough to keep from going into shock after nearly being murdered," she shot back.

"Oh, I did," Beau corrected, "But not until after you dropped me off."

"Really? You never told me that." Beau shrugged underneath her.

"I had the scarf and it helped," he said, a little sheepish.

"Interesting," Carine mused, though her expression was partially bemused and partially in awe. She watched silently as Edythe pressed further into Beau's side, her head falling to his shoulder and her hand intertwined with his, and she was reminded again how fortunate they—both herself, Edythe, and her family—to have Beau. She doubted there was anyone else who had done what he had done, what he had given up—and what he had been prepared to give up—for the sake of her daughter and, by extension, her family.

Carine couldn't think of a better mate for Edythe than Beau, and she was forever grateful to call him her son.

A/N: Extra points for knowing the TV show reference in the beginning ;)

So this is way deeper of a chapter than I anticipated it being, but sometimes the words just flow and you can't really stop them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It is a little short (sorry), but I wanted to get this out tonight and the next part I have planned just didn't warrant being added at the end of this section.

I always thought that if the Cullens knew how much Beau had actually thought about the consequences of his actions, they may see his decision in a different light, especially Edythe. So I thought I had to include it somewhere. Obviously, some of these things mentioned are inferences i have made, but for the hundreds of times I've read L&D, they seem as close to canon without physically being written on the page.

I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think, if you have the chance! :)