Author's note: Howdy! I'll be honest, not a great deal happens during this chapter, just a whole lot of Bellisle! I figured it might be time for some, considering all they've gone through recently. Hope y'all enjoy :)

Just so you all know, I've just uploaded the first chapter of Let No Man Put Asunder. It's basically this story, but from Carlisle's POV.

Quick question: A couple of people have mentioned that they can't always tell whose perspective each chapter is from. I never put a name at the top, because I thought I'd be able to give enough clues in the chapter for everyone to tell, but have since started doing so. What does everyone think? Do you prefer having the POV of each chapter labelled at the start, or were you happy with me not telling and letting you work it out from the chapter itself?

Chapter forty

Bella

Carlisle looked at me for a very long time. I had asked a question and it was taking him so long to answer, that I ended up repeating it, if only to break his distracted silence. His eyes were intently studying every inch of my face and, although I didn't necessarily mind his attention, the prolonged lack of response worried me. A spark of wonder suddenly hit me when I realised that I had remembered the name of the angel in whose arms I stood, but it soon passed when said angel finally began speaking.

"Let's get you back to the house," he suggested, shifting position to shepherd me back up the hill. "I will explain everything there."

I nodded my acceptance and conceded to being manoeuvred with an arm around my shoulders. Just as I finished turning, something caught the corner of my eye and I looked to my left to see something lying on the ground.

"What-"

Before I could finish the sentence, a smell hit me so strongly that I gasped and stumbled backwards, but Carlisle's strong grip kept me on my feet.

"Easy, Bella," he cooed, whispering into my ear in a rather distracting way. It wasn't quite distracting enough, though.

My eyes fell back on the still body and refused to be moved, conducting an intricate study of the scene, which only took a matter of seconds to complete. The body was human and male, lying on his back, dressed in clothing befitting the chilly weather and completely still. His eyes were shut, but the lack of movement coming from his chest worried me. Why wasn't he breathing? What had happened to him? Beneath his head, I spied a dark spot of ground, which I had initially dismissed as shadow, but, upon reaching the light, its true colour was revealed and my eyes widened in sheer panic. What I had previous believed to be a shadow was, in fact, a rapidly growing puddle of blood.

That scratchy feeling began in my throat again and my hand instinctively went to my neck, trying to rub it away. I could feel another anxiety attack approach and breath I didn't need to take came to me in laboured gasps. A hand slid around my waist and I was spun back around to face Carlisle, who pulled me into a second tight embrace. I inhaled his wonderful scent and it alleviated my woes immeasurably. I clung to him much like I had the first time, but there was an added level of desperation in my grip, as my mind began to deduce the circumstances of the man's injuries. I tried to remember the jumbled moments before Carlisle had called my name and I began to get random flashes of coherence, but they weren't yet enough to get a clear picture of what had happened.

Before I could dwell any further, I felt my body tip and my feet left the ground. Without moving my head away from Carlisle's neck, I realised I was being carried, bridal style, presumably back to the house. I could feel loose tendrils of my hair fly about in the wind created by the speed in which we moved and it ran through the fine hairs on my skin, setting my hypersensitive nerves ablaze. I wondered how long it would take me to get used to the sudden sharpness of my senses, but, before I really noticed the time that had passed, gravity shifted and my feet touched the ground.

I refused to lift my head away from Carlisle's neck, until I felt the gentle brush of cool breath against my ear. As his whisper entered my eardrum, it shot the most intense, yet pleasurable sensation through my brain and I wondered if his voice had always sounded that way. I couldn't recall it having quite the depth and richness it possessed now. But, again, it wasn't enough to stop the troubles of my mind.

"It's alright, Bella," he murmured, trying to reassure me. Unfortunately, it didn't work and I remained where I was, shaking my head in the crook of his neck to inform him that I wasn't moving. His smell was the only thing capable of keeping the terror at bay. "We are far away from it, now," he continued. "You are safe and-"

"No," I interjected in a pitiful, broken sob. "No, I'm not…you're not…no one is…" I felt the sobs shake my body, but my eyes and cheeks were dry. Why wasn't I crying? Where were the tears that should have been running down my face? What the Hell was wrong with me? The panic built even more and the snap in my final thread of composure was finally enough to get me to remove my head from Carlisle's shoulder. My eyes were wide and boring into his with crazed desperation. "I-I hurt him…" My voice was barely audible, but high-pitched and quaking with fright. "I did that…to h-him. What's happening to me? Why is everything so different?" I looked down at my hands that did not look or feel like my own. "I can't see…why do I feel like…like…this? I can't…I-"

Strong hands clasped either side of my head and held me still, as intense amber orbs bore into my eyes, so close that they encompassed every millimetre of my vision.

"Isabella, stop."

Again, that voice held a power to it that was impossible to disobey. My finger gripped the fabric of his sleeves and curled around it tightly. I had to remember that he was my anchor and kept repeating the mantra to myself in my brain.

"Listen to me very carefully," he said, the words exiting his mouth slowly and clearly to ensure I fully digested them. "I know you are scared, that is natural. It will take time to adjust, but you must believe me when I say that you are safe." The emphasis on those last two words was reflected in his eyes and I felt my internal barricades crumble a little, wanting so badly to maintain my faith in him. "I am here," he reassured, thumbs brushing my cheeks. "You are not alone. Now, let me take you inside and every question you have will be answered."

He waited in silence and I was unsure of whether he expected an answer, but he did not push for one, so I let the silence between us continue. He was right, of course, we did need to get inside, but, as much as I wanted answers and an end to the debilitating confusion surrounding my thoughts, I was terrified of what the answers might be. I was terrified of what had happened to that man in the woods and the lack of refuting from Carlisle made it more than clear that I was responsible for his fate.

I felt drained all of a sudden, like I'd run forty marathons back to back and knew my knees would give way any second. Luckily, Carlisle, my dear, sweet, beautiful angel, sensed this and scooped me up into his arms once more, walking us towards the house and carrying me over the threshold. Upon entering, a whole new wave of sounds and senses washed over me and I felt my fingers tighten around the cloth covering Carlisle's shoulders. Without even seeing, I could tell there were two presences somewhere in the building and both smells hit me simultaneously. One was far stronger than the other and elicited a rush of familiarity in me. Flowers, damp leaves and a subtle hint of pine all entered my nostrils and the scent was both beguiling and refreshing, but also signified comfort and camaraderie. I definitely knew that smell and, when a high-pitched, musical voice travelled down to my ears, an image of a delicate pale face, framed by short dark hair entered my mind.

Alice.

I tried to work out who or what the second smell belonged to, but was saved the trouble when the owner stopped at the bottom of the staircase a few feet ahead of me. Besides Carlisle, I had never seen any creature with such striking clarity before. The woman by the stairs was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever gazed upon and I began to wonder how I'd ever survived with the meagre excuse for sight I was cursed with before. I could see every single different shade of golden brown dancing along each strand of hair and her skin was the same hue and texture of a freshly bloomed lily. Her beauty almost made me ache and it was enough for her to become the female equivalent of the angel carrying me.

There was an expression on her face that took me a minute or two to comprehend, just like everything else did at that point. Wariness, coupled with concern danced across her features and I wondered what had put those emotions there, until I deduced that it was me. I felt the tendons in Carlisle's neck shift beneath my fingertips, as his head bobbed in a slow nod and the woman stepped aside, allowing us access to the stairs. Her ochre eyes followed our ascent and I found it difficult to eventually look away, until we reached the desired floor and my equilibrium shifted.

Something soft tickled the soles of my feet and I looked down to see they had connected with carpet. When my eyes moved back up, they found themselves confronted with the very prison I had recently escaped. Now that some semblance of coherence had returned, my perspective of the room was very different and I got to see some the damage I had wrought. The first thing to grab my attention was the upturned bed beside the door, framed by scattered cushions and linen. Then my eyes travelled along the floor to the massive dent in the wall opposite me. What had happened there? A flash of memory informed me of the moment I scurried backwards into it, after falling off the bed.

After spending a while following all the different paths the multiple cracks in the wall made, something glinted in the corner of my eye and my sight journeyed to the left of the room, where dozens of glass shards glistened in the daylight. Cold wind blew in through the broken window and another surge of remembrance pieced the whole thing together.

I had woken on the bed, utterly disorientated and confused. Then I heard something (a door opening, perhaps?) which caused me to sit up and that was when I fell to the floor. Someone had approached me (I couldn't quite figure out who) and I had tried to get away, which resulted in the damaged wall. What had happened next? I closed my eyes, hoping that, by rendering one sense redundant, my sense of memory would be increased and it worked. I remembered the moment I realised my heart wasn't beating, the moment Jasper (that's who it was!) had started calling my name. It had taken me a while to even grasp that the noises leaving his lips had been speech and there was a particular question he asked that resonated with my memories. It was the same one Carlisle had used to stop me in the forest, but my reaction to Jasper had been very different.

That was when the terrible memories began. The face that had sent me through the window returned, but added lucidity meant greater clarity and the visage glaring back at me was thoroughly unforgettable. Alabaster skin, sharp angles that threw harsh shadows across his face and scarlet eyes, begging for blood, those were the defining features of the creature responsible for my fate: Edward Masen, my tormentor, my enemy…

…my creator.

My eyes shot open and I was unprepared for the harshness of the light. My eyes still needed a period of adjustment, apparently.

"Bella?"

I turned to face the owner of the silken voice and saw the curious and concerned crease to his brow, as he took a step towards me. A quick glance told me I had moved to the centre of the room without even realising. I looked down at my hands and flexed the pristine fingers.

"He…he bit me," I said, my voice soft and more bewildered than I'd intended.

Regret crossed Carlisle's striking features and he nodded.

"I'm not human anymore."

"No."

With the blow of a sledge hammer, realisation finally hit. I was a vampire. I'd known it all along, but my addled brain had needed time to function in my new state of being. There was no onslaught of despair or panic with the enlightenment, however and I found myself calmly and carefully lowering to sit cross legged on the floor. I didn't really know what else to say, but, when Carlisle moved to sit beside me, I reached out for his hand and slid my fingers between his. I still couldn't quite reconcile with the fact that cold now felt warm and his skin was truly the most divine thing I had ever been blessed enough to caress.

A stretch of silence passed, which was broken by Carlisle and a voice by which I would forever be captivated.

"I promised to explain everything," he began. "Are you ready for me to do so?"

I considered his question for a moment. Was I? Would I ever be? There was only one way to find out.

"Yes," I replied.

"Before I start, do you remember anything before waking here?"

I thought hard, trying to push away all other thoughts and memories, to go back to before...to when I…when I was…human. That, in itself, was distracting enough, thinking that I could no longer consider myself a member of the species I had belonged to for twenty three years. I ended up quitting before I had even begun, knowing I was far too unfocused to think clearly.

"It's all a mess," I said.

His fingers gently squeezed mine in reassurance and I felt myself leaning closer to him. "I'll start on the night it all happened and give a brief overview of events. Details can wait until you are more settled."

True to his word, he then proceeded to give a brief, but clear account of how I had ended up in the position I was currently in. When Edward's name had been mentioned, an unintentional snarl erupted from my throat, which caused me to mumble an apology, before biting my bottom lip in an attempt to inhibit the escape of any more feral sounds. When he finished, I was grateful for the answers he had provided, but his recollection had also prompted further questions.

"How did you know he had taken me?" I asked.

"Alice had a vision," Carlisle explained.

That small titbit of information managed to jog enough memory for me to remember every little thing about the diminutive creature that had quickly become one of my best friends.

"Unfortunately, it arrived too late for us to stop him," he continued. "But, the moment we discovered what had happened, we began searching the whole of Forks for you. We eventually found you in that house…"

He trailed off and the grief that suddenly flooded his expression near enough punched a hole in my chest and my grasp on his hand tightened.

"Carlisle?" I said and his eyes met mine, glistening with surprise. It was the first time I had said his name since the change. His free hand rose and fingertips swept across me cheek, to tuck tendrils of hair behind my right ear. His eyes were searching my face and I saw a range of emotions battle with those golden meres.

"Isabella," he murmured, his tone becoming more reverential, as he spoke my name. "If only I had reached you sooner. All this…I could have saved you from…"

He appeared to be at a loss for words and, although the facts of my human existence were still rather hazy, I was sure this was a rare occurrence for him. His fingers slid into my hair and started massaging the nape of my neck.

"I could have stopped him, should have stopped him. You would never have had to go through all that. All the pain-" his voice cracked a little with emotion. "What he did to you…"

He shook his head, before it bowed in defeat. I didn't like this, didn't like to see my angel so beaten. It was wrong. A creature like him should be happy, deserved to be happy and anyone who tried to stand in the way of that happiness was my mortal enemy. I released his hand and cupped his face with both of mine, levering it up to meet my gaze.

"I am so sorry, Bella," he whispered and his eyes shone with tears I had recently discovered could not be shed. "So sorry…for everything. It is my fault this happened. It's because of me that he did this to you, because of me-"

I shook my head in negation to his claims and leaned forward to capture his lips with mine. He spoke of my pain, but I didn't feel it even compared to the agony he had felt and was obviously still feeling. I wanted to kiss his pain away, make him forget his sorrows and it was all I could do to silence the despair pouring from him. I threw every ounce of my feelings for him into the kiss and with each connection of our lips, a new memory of us returned. With each new memory, my passion and love increased and I was soon lost in the moment, enveloped by the adoration and desire he aroused in me. He returned my gesture with equal fervour and, although I had instigated the action, he soon dominated it. The fear, joy, relief and desperation he'd experienced was transferred in his reciprocation and his fist tangled in the hair at the back of my head, whilst his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling us even closer, until I was straddling his lap.

He kissed me like never before, as though he wanted to remove all doubt of the place I held in his heart. If only he had known how unnecessary that was. The moment I had heard his voice, back in the woods, I had already known exactly how deep our connection ran. I belonged to him and only him and there wasn't a thing on this Earth that could change that. Not even Edward Masen. The flare of anger I felt was projected into the embrace, but it only served to increase our passion. This moment was a giant fuck you to that malevolent piece of shit and I revelled in the knowledge that he hadn't broken us. We were together and stronger than ever.

Eventually, we broke apart, but only to allow an inch of distance between our lips. He rested his forehead against mine and his hands moved to hold my cheeks. We sat there together, both our eyes closed and I inhaled his deliciously sweet breath, as it blew softly against my face. We were the same now and a thrill of excitement ran through me at the thought. I could have sat in that position forever, nestled on his lap, content in his arms, but something made my eyes fly open and my body suddenly straighten.

Sounds came from downstairs and the faint tingle of two completely new scents wafted up towards me. Carlisle followed my gaze and I felt the deep rumble of his chest against mine, as he spoke.

"I do believe," he commented, his voice laced with the passionate remnants of our kiss. "The last two members of the Cullen coven have arrived."

My head span to face him again, the question gleaming in my eyes.

His thumbs ran across my cheeks, as he clarified. "Rosalie Hale and Emmett McCarty."

A/N: Whilst writing this story, I've been compiling a plan of how it's all going to pan out, but this part seems to have a mind of its own. However, I think I prefer it this way. My original ideas were far more angsty and I don't really think Carlisle is a majorly angsty kinda person. I see him as a more logical and practical soul, with the occasional moment of angst thrown in. I also wanted to show that Bella was gradually coming out of her disorientation and, rather than have a massive "I remember everything!" moment, she's slowly remembering everything that's happened in a more gradual and piecey way. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll have the next up quick sharpish! :)