Ten years had passed since The Volturi had triumphed in victory over the Cullens and their loyal comrades. Ten years. To Carlisle, to Bella - it felt like yesterday.

No one could have predicted what inevitably happened, not even Alice. Her visions were constantly changing that fateful day as Aro struggled to make up his own mind. Sure, he had lost some men on his side; but there was no deep, emotional for an immortal who felt nothing. Those 'special' members of the Volturi had long since been replaced without the bat of an eye. That wasn't the case with the Cullens.

Esme and Edward were irreplaceable - in heart, body and soul. No one could ever take their places. The loss of their lives was felt every day, even a decade later.

Bella only made it through those difficult times because of Renesme. Aside from that, she was numb - numb to pleasure, numb to pain, numb to.. everything. Her daughter made her feel alive, to a degree. She had put on a brave face every day during their interactions - though eventually Nessy grew up and Jacob took up most of her time as they started their own little family. Now, despite the love from the other members of the Cullen family and her parents, she didn't know what to feel. Bella didn't work. She didn't have hobbies. She really only left the house to hunt and some times would disappear for weeks at a time. She was lost.

Carlisle tried to be logical, but for the first time in his existence he couldn't reason with what happened. He was grieving, even though he tried his best not to show it. For two months after losing both Esme and Edward he lived a life in seclusion in the mountains of Vancouver. He didn't want to talk to or see anybody. He didn't care to practice medicine and his reason for being felt null and void. Carlisle let himself wallow in the grief in his way. When he finally returned, Alice was the first to embrace him. She knew he would be returning and so she did what she could to ease him back to reality. It was only a few months later that Carlisle returned to the hospital where he buried every spare minute he had into his work, often working double shifts and even not returning back to the Cullen household at all. Life without Esme was killing him.

In time they left Forks, only moving to a small town four or five hours away to reestablish some type of normalcy. Bella opted to stay back to be close to Nessy, Jacob and Charlie. She couldn't bare the thought of being more than ten minutes away.

With Carlisle's over-the-top enthusiasm at work, he received accolade after accolade but he didn't care. Each frame plaque he received he tossed into a garbage can at the Cullens new home in the mountains. Little did he know that Alice retrieved and repaired each one. She was keeping them for the right time.

One snowy night as Carlisle was putting on his jacket, Alice approached him and looked at him directly. He gave her his full attention, so not to be disrespectful.

She took his face in her hands. "Will you believe me if I tell you you're going to find happiness again?"

Carlisle stared back into her eyes. He managed a barely-there smile and then let it fade. "I'm going to Forks," he said quietly.

Alice nodded. "I know."

"I'll see you in a week or so." He squeezed her shoulder and then he was off - off into the night, off to grieve in the town where he had last been with Esme. He needed some space from the rest of the family and from the long, monotonous hours he'd spent at the hospital.

Carlisle chose not to drive. He just ran.. and ran.. and ran. When the familiar trees and landscapes of his former home came into view he headed deep into the woods to hunt. The last thing he wanted to do was somehow see a familiar face. He needed to be alone.

..

Bella ventured out into the woods. It was a typical afternoon for her lately. The woods reminded her of Edward, though she stopped completely consuming herself with him as if the wound was fresh. It wasn't. The Forks High School ten reunion had even come and gone, not that she went; but Bella was finally coming to terms that she would be living her eternity without Edward.

Whipping through the Forks forrest felt freeing. She jumped over the widest pitfalls she could find in between two mountainsides. She challenged herself to swim great length. She hunted down the biggest animal she could take on. It passed the time in at least mildly interesting ways.

It was a mostly typical evening after her day of self-created amusement. That was until a scent her nostrils. At first Bella was on guard. She hadn't caught the scent of another vampire in such a long time. It left her entire body feeling guarded and defensive - that is until she recognized who the scent belonged to. Someone familiar. Someone genuine and gentle. A man she knew very well.

"Carlisle?" She spoke his name and it gave her butterflies. Bella hadn't seen any of the others in years. It hurt too much and so she distanced herself from them. At the same time she felt like she might cry. She wanted to see them. They were her family.

Bella's head whipped in all directions as she searched for him before Carlisle's melancholy silhouette could be spotted near the top of a tall rock face.

She smiled in a bittersweet way and hurried to confirm it was him. There was no question in her mind, but it wasn't until she saw him up close that the suspicion was confirmed.

Carlisle slowly turned from where he gazed at the sunset with his hands behind his back and the two of them made eye contact. Bella was the first to smile. She couldn't help it. It wasn't a reaction she particularly expected as she actively avoided the Cullens over the years. Seeing Carlisle standing there, however, wasn't so scary or depressing. It was.. refreshing.

"Isabella." He gave a little smile beneath pained eyes.

She laughed in a way that forced out quiet, tear-less sobs and her chest suddenly ached. Bella ran to him and threw her arms around him, engulfing his scent as she closed her eyes.

Carlisle returned the embrace, his cold cheek against hers, and Bella knew she was hurting him just a bit from the force of her hug when he visibly winced.

"I'm sorry," she breathed the words and pulled back, still enamored by the fact that he was there - in the flesh. "I just.. I can't believe you're here."

"How are you?" He asked, looking directly into her eyes.

"I'm.. okay.. kind of.. some days.. not always."

Carlisle nodded and the two of them still stared at one another as if the other had seen a ghost, or more accurately a vampire they hadn't seen in a really, really long time for the deeply saddest of reasons.

"How are you?" Bella asked him.

"About the same, I suppose."

"I'm so sorry you've had to go through this."

"You're about the only one who knows exactly how I feel." Carlisle tipped up the corner of his mouth in a half smile but let it fade. "I'm sorry this happened, Bella."

They spoke about it as if it had happened last week, despite ten years having passed since the death of their mates.

"You deserve happiness, Carlisle. Eternal happiness. Of everyone I've ever met, you deserve it the most."

"Perhaps this is my punishment for changing the others." He pondered the thought and put his hands on his hips as he stared back out at the horizon.

"That isn't true." Bella took a few steps so she was even with him. "You're so.. good, Carlisle." There was no other adjective that came to mine. Carlisle was good. He was a good man - immortal or otherwise.

He sat down and let his feet dangle off the edge of the cliff. Bella sat down beside him.

"Can I stay?" She waited until he turned to her, his golden eyes staring back into hers. Right then he reminded her of Edward. Those golden eyes. She had missed seeing another pair staring back at her.

He gave a bigger smile this time; though it didn't last long it was there. "Of course."

Bella took in a deep breath and sighed, looking straight out ahead as she and Carlisle watched the last rays of sun fade and dip below the line of the trees. It was the best she had felt in a long time.