Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns it all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chpt 45 Heartbreak

BPOV

Selfishly I let The Major carry me away from the scene of the battle. My strength is coming back but after the last couple of days I feel entitled to snuggle against his chest an' refuse to be moved. There is still a lot to do an' I want to make the most of the chance to be close to him before we have to deal with the unpleasant aftermath of this latest debacle.

I can't believe how much that final effort to trap my family drained me. I didn't feel tired exactly, vampires don't get tired, but I just couldn't hold myself up any longer. It was the weirdest sensation, being conscious of my supernatural strength an' stamina but being temporarily unable to tap into it. I shudder at the memory an' The Major clutches me tighter. Ouch.

As we walk at a human pace I take the opportunity to gaze up at him without interruption, fascinated by the gold seeping back into his eyes an' the animation which is slowly returning to his face. He's getting better at this an' before long Jasper is back, dropping the occasional gentle kiss onto my face as he fills Simon an' the others in on everything that's happened.

The sun is up an' we pause to check the coast is clear before darting across the highway an' melting back into Forks' plentiful supply of moss covered trees. I'd forgotten how wet it is here.

After a while Jasper sets me down on a rock an' I bathe in a rare patch of sunlight as he flits off to catch me some dinner.

"Are you alright Mistress?" Simon asks, settling at my feet as the others withdraw to keep guard.

"Yes." I answer simply. "Surprisingly, yes."

"I am sorry." He says, looking up at me. "I had no idea the wolves could be so dangerous. Demetri was furious when he found out I had let you and the Master come here alone."

"Oh Simon." I sigh. "It wasn't your fault, none of us knew. We all assumed they were just a pack of overgrown puppies. Carlisle took advantage of our ignorance. Besides, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

"We are quoting homilies from fortune cookies now are we?" He drawls sarcastically.

"Yes we are." I chuckle, leaning back an' closing my eyes.

Muttering about amateur philosophers he gets up an' moves away.

Peaceful, it's so peaceful here, the only unnatural sounds the occasional car passing on the highway several miles away.

After a while I sit up again as Jasper returns looking a little flushed from his hunting expedition an' carrying two does for me.

Greedily I suck them down, relaxing back again when he leaves to bury the bodies.

After a few minutes he snuggles up beside me on the rock, taking off my hat an' resting his head on my shoulder. Idly I run my fingers through his silky hair earning myself a good purr.

"They're givin' us some privacy." I murmur eventually.

"On pain of death." He chuckles. "It works better on them than it does on Pete."

I laugh, Pete is not a respecter of our privacy by any stretch of the imagination, pushing his luck with Jasper being one of his favourite occupations.

We lapse back into comfortable silence.

"We could just stay here." He mutters after a while.

"We could." I nod. "But I'm not sure I can face the subsequent lecture on abdication of responsibility from Simon."

"No." He growls. "Sometimes I'm not sure if he's my subordinate or my fuckin' father."

"You leave my boy alone." I warn him.

"Boy?" Jasper laughs. "He's about six hundred years old. He's practically a fossil record in his own right."

"I heard that!" A disembodied voice floats in through the trees.

Snickering like school children we snuggle closer together.

"I'm not lookin' forward to the rest of today." I admit quietly when I've sobered up.

"Me neither." He sighs.

"Esme's not gonna like it." I observe, thinking of all the potential consequences an' wishing there was a way of making them go away.

"No she ain't." He agrees. "An' if you'll excuse me I'm gonna wimp out an' let The Major deal with it."

I don't blame him. I can't conceive a way out of this for Carlisle an' she's gonna lose her mate, her husband. Even thinking about it makes my heart clench, despite the rest of me wondering if I'll get a chance to beat the crap out him myself. Schizophrenic much?

"Oh my god!" I shriek, bolting upright an' dislodging Jasper who lands in a heap on the grass.

"What the fuck?" He demands, springing to his feet an' dropping into a defensive crouch as the others come running.

"We forgot." I wail. "We forgot the reason we got embroiled in this mess in the first place. We never even sent anyone to look for her. What if she's not with Carlisle? Pete never smelt her when he crossed his scent."

"Demetri an' Pete are gonna send someone to find her once they've got him." Jasper reassures me, attempting to put his arms round.

"What? When?" I dodge back to look into this eyes. "I never realised, I didn't hear you say anythin' about it . . . ."

"Calm down." He says, raising his hands. "You were out of it at the time. It'll be okay, if she's alive they'll find her."

I slump down an' let him gather me in his arms, revelling in the feel of his breath in my hair an' his scent in my nostrils. I ruined her life, I was supposed to look after her an' then I just forgot all about her, like some random groceries I meant to pick up on my way home.

Jeez, what a day.

"Does this mean you're in a suitably miserable frame of mind to deal with the clusterfuck that is Carlisle Cullen?" Jasper asks quietly.

Mutely I nod.

"Come on then." He lifts me to my feet. "Do you need me to carry you?"

I lift my eyes, looking over his shoulder to where Simon is rolling his theatrically.

"No." I huff. "I can run."

It doesn't take long to get to the Cullen's place, bounding up the steps Jasper unceremoniously kicks in the door an' ripping the dust covers off the furniture we settle down to wait. It dawns on me that Ksenyia is with us, I'd almost forgotten about her since the battle.

"It was very kind of you to come back and help us when you have issues of your own at home." I tell her, still wanting to form a stronger relationship with the powerful coven leader.

Unexpectedly she throws back her head an' laughs.

"I am sorry Mistress, Master." She says with amusement. "While I am and always will be more than willing to help I was not given much choice in the matter. I am under arrest, isn't that correct Simon?"

He smirks an' nods enjoying my confusion.

"What did you do?" Jasper asks attempting to look stern.

"I told Cullen I was returning home with Demetri and half the Guard." She looks at me as she speaks. "He's been in fairly constant contact since you assumed control, with the others too I would image although I haven't bothered to ask them, always wanting to tell me about what you are doing and get my reaction. Odious little man. I had no idea he was planning anything so I didn't think to hide our actions. I would never betray you Mistress, as soon as I understood what was occurring here I informed Demetri of my conversation with Cullen. He placed me under arrest until he could ascertain my involvement."

"Sorry." I mutter, understanding Demetri's motivations and yet still feeling slightly embarrassed about her treatment.

"It is quite alright." She laughs. "I have never been arrested and allowed to fight werewolves before, I rather enjoyed myself and I will be most interested to see what you do with him when he is apprehended."

"So will I." I grouse. "I'm worried about the affect all this will have on his mate."

"Ah yes." She says sympathetically. "The bonds of mating and covens can cause a small problem to escalate rapidly into a larger one. I have known Vladimir and Aro eliminate dozens of vampires to remove any chance of retribution for one single execution. We are an unpredictable species and very difficult to govern without a firm hand."

Jasper an' I share a glance.

"It is a sad fact that most of our kind only behave for fear of the consequences if they don't." She concludes.

"I don't want to be harsher than I need." Jasper sighs. I settle down on the floor between his legs an' he runs his hand idly through my hair. "But this cannot go unpunished an' if others can't deal with that punishment then ultimately they will have to be dealt with too. At least she isn't here to see it."

I shudder, the idea of Esme on a violent rampage or plotting revenge seems absurd but once upon a time I would have thought the same about Carlisle. But while I can't imagine that I can all too clearly imagine the pain what is going to happen next will cause her. As Jasper says, thank god she isn't here an' doesn't have to witness it.

We lapse into silence, Simon an' Ksenyia considerately leaving us to our maudlin thoughts, the Cullens might not mean anything to them but this is quite close to home for us. Jasper has his own issues but even though I always blamed Carlisle for letting Edward an' his family abandon me I would never in a million years imagined this. We did kill Edward, we had our reasons, might there have been a way to save him an' everyone else? I don't know. But I still struggle to believe that benevolent Dr Carlisle Cullen abducted an innocent human an' endangered the wolves and his entire family just to get revenge. Because I have no doubt if it were Demetri, Ksenyia or Simon in charge Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett an' Alice would all be being executed this day. I know Jasper won't do that an' I wouldn't want him to. Does that make us fools? If it does, so be it.

I feel like a little black cloud is hovering over me.

An' then, predictably, it starts to rain.

As in the pitter patter of Guard feet entering the house to inform us that Esme, Rosalie an' Em are outside. With a body.

I charge out of the house with the others hot on my heels.

In the driveway the Cullens are gathered, Esme absolutely filthy an' dishevelled clutching the body of Lisa Caerphilly tightly in her arms.

A changing body.

"Fuck." Jasper growls.

"Please." Esme begs. "I need to get her cleaned up an' into a bed. She's changing but he didn't give her enough venom. I bit her again but I don't know if I was too late."

Wordlessly we step back letting her enter the house.

"Jasper." She says as she passes him. "You have more experience with this than I do, can you help me?"

He nods tightly an' follows her upstairs.

"We crossed Carlisle's scent." Em explains, flopping into a chair an' pulling Rosalie onto his lap. She buries her face in his neck. "As soon as we realised the fight was over we went back to look for him, for the girl. He was criss-crossing all over the place and then we crossed Esme's scent which was much fresher so we decided to follow that.

She'd been backtracking him looking for the girl.

He'd bitten her. I don't know if he was going to drain her and changed his mind or if he wanted to turn her. Esme says he hadn't given her much venom, the change had barely started. She was buried, in our old camping ground at Goats Rock. Esme dug her up. We arrived just as she was setting off to bring her here and so we came back with her.

I don't fucking know where Carlisle is and I'm not sure I want to.

She's . . . . Esme . . . . I'm not sure what she's feeling at the moment."

He falls silent an' rubs his hand over his face.

Rosalie clutches him tighter an' he wraps his massive arms around her an' begins murmuring unintelligibly into her hair.

After an hour Jasper traipses downstairs looking pinched an' drawn, we all look up expectantly like he's suddenly become the doctor. With a weary sigh he drops to the floor at my feet an' it's my turn to play with his hair again.

"Esme managed to get some more venom into her so the change is already startin' to speed up." He says heavily, hugging my leg an' resting his head on my thigh. "I don't know if she'll make it, she's in a lot pain an' absolutely terrified, although she's too weak to cry out. Esme's freakin' out."

I lean down an' kiss the top of his head knowin' how difficult it can be for him when there are strong emotions in the air an' trying real hard to clamp down on my own.

Another weighty silence descends eventually broken by a commotion in the meadow to the front of the house. Once again we rise to our feet an' troop outside.

Pete, Char, Demetri an' their group have arrived dragging a wildly struggling, completely naked, Carlisle Cullen.

Now we just need the wolves an' this unavoidably heart-breaking tableau will be complete.