A/N: OK, hope this chapter isn't too boring. Lots of talking, blah-blah-blah. But things start to pick up next chapter. Anyway, hope whoever reads it enjoys it despite that. And I am NOT Stephenie Meyer (as if any one actually needs me to say that!), and consequently I do not own the "Twilight" characters (again, DUH!)

CHAPTER TWO:

Tanya arrived at the Cullen mansion around Noon the next day. All she'd been able to think about during her drive was the man she'd met in that bar. And after hours of contemplation, she had been able to figure out nothing more than she'd learned talking with him the night before. She hoped that the old saying "two heads are better than one" would prove true, and that Carlisle would be able to help her make more sense of things.

Tanya had called after she'd crossed the border into Washington State, and talked with Esme. Fortunately, Carlisle was not scheduled to work that day, so would be available to talk with her. Tanya had not gone into any real detail on the phone, merely telling Esme that she had run across a problem she needed some help figuring out.

Also fortunately (to Tanya's mind, at least) Edward and Bella were gone on an anniversary trip. So she would not have to worry about hiding her thoughts from Edward. That could get rather tedious at the best of times; and now, confused as she was, it would have been even harder.

Esme greeted her affectionately on the porch. Tanya dearly loved Esme, and believed her to be about the most caring and warm person she'd ever met. Esme, for her part, thought highly of Tanya, and had never been jealous of the friendship Tanya and Carlisle shared. Esme knew they looked on each other as the closest that people could be to brother and sister without the biological connection. And indeed, Esme herself looked on Tanya as almost a sister as well.

Esme smiled sincerely. "It's wonderful to see you, Tanya. How was your drive?"

"Long and boring. It's so nice to be out of the car finally. How are you all?"

"We're fine. Edward and Bella should be back tomorrow. Alice and Jasper are upstairs. Jacob took Renesme into town to pick up some things. Rosealie and Emmet are out hunting. And Carlisle is in his office on a consultation call. He said he'd probably be a while."

"You know, I think I'll go see if I can find Rose and Emmet. It's been a while since I ate, and I'm rather feeling the effects of it. Need to run and burn off some energy as well, after sitting still for so long."

Esme laughed. "OK, just come on in when you're done hunting. Hopefully Carlisle will be off the phone by then."

Tanya took her time, running and taking down a couple of deer. She was in no real hurry, after all. She'd called Kate after talking with Esme, letting her know that she was at the Cullens and would be home in a couple of days.

By the time she'd returned from hunting, Jake and Renesme were not yet back, but Emmet and Rosalie were home. Emmet enveloped her in a hug, and Rose smiled. As vain as Rosalie could be, Tanya always suspected a large part of it was just a ruse. Tanya could see the hurt and insecurity in Rose's eyes from time to time; but it would always disappear when Emmet was around. As with all the others, those two were so deeply in love it made the ache that Tanya felt deep inside so much more painful.

Alice greeted Tanya with a hug of her own, babbling on about how they really must go shopping at least once during Tanya's visit. Tanya laughed, but noticed that there seemed to be something forced in Alice's tone of voice, and her eyes looked troubled. She filed the thought away for later.

Carlisle was indeed off the phone, and greeted her as warmly as Esme had. Then he ushered her up to his office. Closing the door, he turned to her, gesturing to the couch that ran along a wall under a window. "How was the drive, Tanya?"

She sat down and smiled. "OK, but boring." It felt so nice to be sitting and talking with Carlisle again. It had been so long. She hadn't visited the Cullens much since the wedding, preferring to keep her thoughts and emotions to herself, nursing her hurt pride. She had missed just talking.

Carlisle sat down next to her. They engaged in small talk for a while, she telling him about the doings of the Denalis, and he, in turn, discussing his family's activities. After a few minutes, he paused. "So, Esme says you've run across a problem you need some help figuring out. Tell me about it."

Tanya fidgeted. "Well, yes." She took a deep breath. "As you know, I tend to take a…vacation every year around this time. Last night, I was in a bar, looking for some, er, company." Carlisle did, indeed, know both what this time of year did to her, and what she was implying. But just smiled sadly, withholding any judgmental looks or words.

"I noticed someone who looked about as miserable as I felt, and struck up a conversation with him." She leaned closer to Carlisle, and lowered her voice so that it was barely audible, and thought that maybe she should have suggested going somewhere outside of the house for a bit more privacy. But then she heard music blaring downstairs, along with the sounds of a video game and boisterous talking and laughing, and knew that the rest of the family was doing what they could to give them that privacy.

Tanya told Carlisle everything about the conversation she'd had with the mysterious Sean. Carlisle listened without interrupting, nodding now and then. When she was finished, he sat back, arms folded and frowning a little.

"So what do you think?" She asked. "Should I be worried? Do you think he's some sort of spy?"

"I'm not entirely sure what to think, frankly. I have heard whispered rumors of, well, other things before-other entities, if you will-especially whilst I was staying in Europe. Usually I just chalked them up to folklore and such. But your story…I mean, this Sean is obviously not human, or not entirely, from your description of how his eyes changed, if nothing else. And his age."

"Yes, what is his age? I mean, when did the Romans leave Hadrian's Wall? What in the world IS 'Hadrian's Wall' anyway?" Tanya was very eager to know when Sean had been born.

Carlisle smiled. "Hadrian's Wall was a defensive stone fortification that the Romans built across northern England to keep the Picts contained in Scotland. It was a huge stone wall, with forts running along the length of it, and had probably ten thousand Roman soldiers stationed within them." He paused, and laughed, somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry for the mini-history lesson. The Romans abandoned it sometime before 410 AD, so your Sean was born in at least 409 then."

Tanya's breath caught, probably caused by the fact that Sean must be over 1600 years old. But she had also noticed the terminology Carlisle had used—"your" Sean, he'd said. Sean was not "hers", she thought. Silly of her to get so worked up by a casual word that way. "No wonder he reminded me of Marcus; he sounded so tired, and weary." She shook her head. "Can you imagine the things he has seen in his life? No wonder he knew my accent was so old."

Carlisle leaned forward. "Tanya, you know you're like family to me, every bit as much as the people who live here. I don't mean to pry, so if I'm out of line, just tell me. But…well, you're not falling for this man, are you? I know what the situation with Edward has done to you, and I couldn't stand to see you hurt again. I really couldn't."

Tanya heard the loud sounds still emanating from downstairs, and smiled, grateful that she could continue with their private conversation. She figured they would keep it up until she and Carlisle appeared downstairs again.

"You know, Carlisle, I would not be completely honest if I said I wasn't jealous of all of you. I mean, You saw Esme and knew she was the one for you. Same thing happened with Rose and Emmet, Edward and Bella, Kate and Garret, even Carmen and Eleazer. For heaven's sake, Alice saw Jasper before they met and still she knew! I can't deny that I always hoped for that, or something like it, to happen with me. I thought it might have when I met Edward, but I was wrong."

She shook her head again. "No, that's not at all how I feel now. I've never felt this way before. Sean intrigues me, yes, but nothing more than that. At least, I don't think so. There is something about him, something I can't quite put my finger on, but I have no idea what it could be. It's definitely not like how you all felt when you met "the ones" for you. Or so I would assume, never having felt that way before." She felt the bitterness trying to creep back in, and wisely decided to change the subject.

"At any rate, what do you suggest we do? If somehow the Volturi found out, they might try and find Sean. Whatever I may or may not feel for him, I certainly don't want that to happen! Also, his inference about death hanging around him as well as around me almost makes me wonder if he could be a threat to us. I honestly don't think so, but the possibility does exist nonetheless."

Now Carlisle shook his head. "No, I would agree with you about that. From your description of his reaction, he seemed more interested than angry. Of course, never having met him myself I could be wrong. But from what you've told me I don't think he'd try to come after us. He doesn't appear to be antagonistic towards vampires, even if he has no experience with our kind." Carlisle paused. "That fact intrigues me as well. How can he be half vampire and yet not know of our kind?"

"I don't know. It does seem strange. And he said he knew thousands of vampires. What in the world can that mean?"

They grew silent, both contemplating numerous possibilities. Finally, Carlisle said, "I think I'll talk it over with the family, get their reactions and ideas. It would be good if you could stay long enough for that. Edward and Bella should be back tomorrow, and we could talk about it then."

"That's fine. I planned to stay for a couple of days anyway. I miss all of you, and visits between us are so infrequent. Too bad we don't live closer."

They headed downstairs. Jacob and Renesme were finally home and Renesme launched herself at Tanya with a cry of, "Auntie!"

Tanya caught her, laughing, and gave her a kiss on the check as Renesme put her arms as far around her as they could go. "I've missed you so much! When can I come to your house and visit you?"

"Well, that's up to your Daddy and Mommy. And Jacob," she added, smiling at him over Renesme's shoulder. He grimaced back, more out of deep-seated concern over the fact that his imprint was being held by a vampire. He trusted Tanya with her, of course, but still—the old dislikes died hard.

Alice dragged Tanya off to go shopping the rest of the afternoon. Esme and Rose declined the invite, so it ended up just being the two of them that went. To her dismay, Tanya noticed that Alice still appeared to be forcing her happiness. Finally, as they drove back to the Cullens, Tanya asked her what was wrong.

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong! I've been having a great time shopping with you! You really need to visit more often, so we can do this more. The other girls don't like it, especially Bella. It's like pulling teeth to get her to go anywhere these days!"

"Alice, please tell me…I know something is going through your mind. What is it?"

Alice sighed. "I don't know. It's not something definite; I can't tell what it is. I see you talking to someone, but it's blurry. I can't make it out. It's a man, that much I can tell. But he's all fuzzy; I can't make out any features. Like a TV that's on the wrong channel." She glanced at Tanya. "What's going on?"

Briefly, Tanya filled Alice in on her discussion with Carlisle. Alice nodded when she was done. "Well, I guess that explains why I can't seem to see much. You're clear in the visions, and you look happy enough…certainly not in any danger. But it bothers me, because I've never had anything like this before. With the wolves, there's nothing. With everything else, it's all perfectly clear. I don't like it."

Tanya wasn't sure what to make of it either.

Tanya left the following evening, in the middle of a thunderstorm. The family meeting had gone well, although most had a different approach to it all. Emmet wanted to go find this Sean, and make him tell them everything. Jake, while vaguely agreeing with Emmet, seemed mostly concerned with making sure Sean was no threat to Renesme. Rose was upset that yet another human (or something at least partly human) was again causing a crisis for them. Bella didn't have much to say at all.

Alice was mostly silent after telling everyone about her visions, and how she couldn't see the person clearly. While none were sure it was Sean Alice had seen, they all agreed it probably was.

Jasper sided with Carlisle on the "wait and see" side of things, as did Esme, but he also sided with Emmet a bit in that he thought they should all be more on the alert. Edward went with the wait but alert angle as well, although he also shared a bit of Jacob's point of view in regard to the safety of his family. So despite the lack of a true consensus, the wait-yet-prepare plan was adopted. The other wolves would be alerted as well, so that they could be added to the general watchfulness. So they were no closer to any answers than when she had arrived.

As Tanya walked out to her car, disappointed that so much was still uncertain but feeling better in spite of it, Jacob was sitting on the porch (it being far past Renesme's bed time). Trying to be nice, he called, "Have a nice drive home, Tanya."

She stopped and turned to him. "Thank you, Jacob. And, thank you for taking such good care of Renesme. I know I don't need to tell you this, of all people; but she is a very precious child. And I'm glad you're here, watching over her."

Jacob was taken aback by her words, and unsure of how to reply. "Um…you're welcome?"

Tanya smiled. "Maybe you and her parents can bring her up for a visit sometime."

"Ur…yeah, maybe." He hadn't sounded so sure.

"Goodbye, Jacob." Tanya got into her car and started it up. She was surprised how, after all these years of pining after Edward, she had been unbothered seeing Edward and Bella so affectionate together. Alice had told her that her time would come, someday. Tanya knew Alice was just trying to make her feel better; Alice hadn't said she'd foreseen it, after all. Tanya no longer believed it herself. She sighed as she put the car in gear, starting her long drive home. Home…it had a nice ring to it.

Carlisle, Edward, and Jasper were watching from the window as she drove away. Carlisle sighed. "I'm worried. Worried that she is so desperate for love that she's falling for this person she met. We know so little about him. The Volturi have been after all of us for so long. It could be a trap of some sort."

Edward shook his head. "Don't worry about Tanya. Her thoughts didn't indicate she felt she was in love. She's intrigued by him, but it's more because of his resistance to her…charms than by anything else. She does find him attractive, though. In fact, she's given up on ever finding love. Consciously at least."

"I didn't sense any love coming from her," Jasper told them. "She feels confused more than anything."

Carlisle sighed again. "Well, I guess now we just watch and wait."