Hello readers! I could list off my excuses for the month off, but I won't do that to you. I will only tell you that I wasn't taking a nice relaxing break or anything like that, if I was, I probably would have been able to get chapters out to you.

Anyway, this chapter is not the most exciting, but it's important because you have to know what's up next :) Thank you to my wonderful Beta Angels of the Night Watchers who constantly fixes up all my messes!

Hope you enjoy!

He led me to Carlisle's office, I somehow was able to remember which door it was just by the brief walk through. He paused outside the door for an instant.

"Come in," Carlisle's voice invited.

Edward opened the door to a room with high ceilings and tall, west facing windows. The walls were paneled again, in a darker wood - where they were visible. Most of the room was taken up by towering bookshelves, books so old that I could smell them from over here. I love the smell of books. Internet was nothing in comparison to the texture of each page and the scent of wisdom. I couldn't help my mouth from dropping, earning a chuckle from Edward.

"One day, I'm sure he will let you look through them." Edward smiled. I nodded, dumbly, not sure what to say back.

Carlisle sat behind a huge mahogany desk in a leather chair. He was just placing a bookmark in the pages of a thick volume he held, a volume that I could not identify and wanted to read more than anything in the world because I had no idea what it held in it. Memoirs? History? The key to the Universe? Nothing would have surprised me.

"What can I do for you?" he asked us pleasantly, rising from his seat. I wanted to ask him to give me a book, but Edward had other plans.

"I wanted to show Liv some of our history," I looked at him, startled. He was not one to be open about this, nor so casual. "Well, your history, actually."

"We didn't mean to disturb you." I apologized.

"Not at all." He looked to Edward with a pleasant curiosity. "Where are you going to start?"

"The Waggoner," Edward replied, placing one hand lightly on my shoulder and spinning me around toward the door we had come through. My heart had an audible reaction to his touch and I looked to Carlisle to see him looking at me with an amused grin, ah. He heard it, too. It was much more embarrassing, now.

The wall we faced now was different than the others. Instead of bookshelves, this wall was crowded with framed pictures of all sizes, some with vibrant colours, some in dull monochromes. I searched for some pattern or logic to the pictures but found nothing. I was reminded of Dumbledore's office in Harry Potter - this disorganized grace was what I would have expected from him.

Edward pulled me toward the far left, standing me in front of a square oil painting in a plain wooden frame. This one did not stand out among the bigger and brighter pieces; painted in varying tones of sepia, it depicted a miniature city full of steeply slanted roofs, with thin spires atop a few scattered towers. A wide river filled the foreground, crossed by a bridge covered with structures that looked like tiny cathedrals. I looked at it closely.

"Is-is that London England?"

"London in the sixteen-fifties," Edward said with a smile, he looked at me curiously.

"I've been, remember? I went on the London Eye - that giant ferris wheel. It looked just like this picture just...redone with paint and skyscrapers."

"This is the London of my youth," Carlisle added, from a few feet behind us. Edward squeezed my hand.

"Will you tell the story?" I twisted a little to see Carlisle's reaction. He met my glance and smiled at me apologetically.

"I would, but I'm actually running a bit late. The hospital called this morning - Dr. Snow is sick today. Besides, you know the stories as well as I do," he added, grinning at Edward.

It was a strange combination - the everyday concerns of a small town doctor in the middle of his early years in the seventeenth century. It was also strange to know he only spoke out loud for my benefit, but I appreciated it all the same. With another warm smile toward me and a nod to Edward, he left the room.

I looked back at the picture, trying to memorize it. What happened then?" I asked, staring up at Edward, who was watching me. "When he realized what happened?"

He glanced back to the paintings and I looked to see which image caught his attention now. It was a larger landscape in dull colours - an empty, shadowed meadow in a forest, with a craggy peak in the distance.

"When he knew what he had become, he rebelled against it." Edward's voice was quiet, but strong. Something told me that he had also fought against it in his past. "He tried to destroy himself. But that's not easily done."

"Why? How?"

"He jumped from great heights, he tried to drown himself in the ocean...but he was young to the new life, and very strong. It was amazing that he was able to resist...feeding...while he was still so new. The instinct is more powerful then, it takes over everything. But he was so repelled by himself that he had the strength to try to kill himself with starvation."

"Surely his body wouldn't let that happen," I stated in shock, but it came out more like a question. "I mean, it's not possible, right?"

"No, there are very few ways we can be killed." I thought of asking, but he continued. "So he grew very hungry, and eventually weak. He strayed as far as he could from the human populace, recognizing that his willpower was weakening, too. For months he wandered by night, seeking the loneliest places, loathing himself.

"One night, a herd of deer passed his hiding place. He was so wild with thirst that he attacked without a thought. His strength returned and he realized there was an alternative to being the vile monster he feared. Had he not eaten venison in his former life? Over the next months his new philosophy was born. He could exist without being a demon. He found himself again.

"He began to make better use of his time. He had always been intelligent, eager to learn. Now he had unlimited time before him. He studied by night, planned by day. He swam to France and -"

"He swam to France?" I asked with wide eyes.

"People swim the Channel all the time, Vivienne," he reminded me patiently. I sighed.

"I guess...it just sounded funny when you...yeah, just ignore me."

"Swimming is easy for us-"

"Everything is easy for you." I muttered. He waited, his expression amused. I widened my eyes, realizing my word vomit was currently going full blast.

"Sorry. I won't interrupt anymore. Promise."

He chuckled darkly, then finished his sentence. "Because, technically, we don't need to breathe."

"You d-"

"No, no, you promised." He laughed, putting his cold finger to my lips. "Do you want to hear the story, or not?"

"You can't say something like that and expect me to keep quiet." He lifted his hand so I wouldn't mumble against his finger and moved it to rest against my neck. I'm sure he felt my pulse kick it up a notch or five. "You don't have to breathe?"

"No, it's not necessary. Just a habit." He shrugged. Oh, it's really not important, is it little human? He must be thinking. Who cares about oxygen? "Evidently it makes swimming easier."

I shook my head, unimpressed.

"Hey, remember when I told you I would tell you if I remembered something you didn't know?"

"Yes." He answered quickly, completely interested in what I had to say.

"Did I tell you that I can't swim at all?"

"At all?" He asked, a little shocked. "No, you didn't say that."

"Oh. Well, I can't swim."

"You can't, or you're afraid to?" He asked, his thumb rubbing my neck. I shrugged, I didn't think it was that abnormal not to be able to swim, was it? A lot of people were afraid of water, or just had never taken the time to learn. I was one.

"The latter led to the first." I paused. "So, how long can you go without breathing?"

"Indefinitely, I suppose; I don't know. It gets a bit uncomfortable - being without a sense of smell."

"Uncomfortable." I echoed in disbelief. I must not have been paying attention to my facial expressions because he quickly grew somber. His hand dropped to his side and he stood very still, eyes intently surveying my face.

"...What'd I say?" I asked. He stayed frozen and I touched his face. "Edward?"

His face softened, and he sighed. "I keep waiting for it to happen."

"For what to happen?"

"I know that at some point, something I tell you or something you see is going to be too much. And then you'll run away from me, screaming as you go." He smiled a half smile, but it was very clear that his words were deadly serious. "I won't stop you. I want this to happen, because I want you to be safe. And yet, I want to be with you. The two desires are impossible to reconcile..." He trailed off, waiting.

"Well, I hope you enjoy disappointment." He winced, I was impressed he remembered my reference to his words from the day Tyler's van almost killed me.

"We will see." He smiled, sadly.

"Alright, keep going. Carlisle swam to France because he just didn't need to breathe and to you that isn't a big deal...then..." He smiled, getting back into his story by his eyes flickering to another picture - the most colourful of all. This was the most ornately framed, and the largest. It was twice as wide as the door it hung beside, there were bright figures in swirling robes, writing around long pillars and off marbled balconies. I couldn't tell if it represented Greek mythology, or if the characters floating in the clouds above were meant to be biblical.

"Carlisle swam to France and continued on through Europe, to the universities there. By night he studied music, science, medicine - and found his calling, his penance in that, in saving human lives." His expression was awed and I saw the respect he held for his father yet again. "I can't adequately describe the struggle; it took Carlisle two centuries of torturous effort to perfect his self control. Now he is all but immune to the scent of human blood, and he is able to do the work he loves without agony. He finds a great deal of peace there, at the hospital..." He stared off in space for a long moment. When he came to, he tapped the large painting in front of us. It was so well done, the brush strokes confident and barely identifiable.

"He was studying in Italy when he discovered others there. They were much more civilized and educated than the wraiths of the London sewers. He touched the quartet of figures on the highest balcony, watching they mayhem that unfolded underneath their feet. I examined the painting like I was answering my work sheets from my old school - thoroughly. Looking for a clue to the story it told. Then, with a startled laugh, I realized Carlisle was in it, on the far right.

"Solimena was greatly inspired by Carlisle's friends. He often painted them as gods," Edward chuckled. "Aro, Marcus, Caius," he indicated the other three, two black haired, one snowy white.

"Nighttime patrons of the arts."

"What happened to them?" I wondered aloud.

"They're still there." He shrugged. "As they have been for who knows how many millenia. Carlisle stayed with them only for a short time, just a few decades. he greatly admired their civility, their refinement, but they persisted in trying to cure his aversion to 'his natural food source,' as they called it. They tried to persuade him, and he tried to persuade them, to no avail. At that point, Carlisle decided to try the New World. He dreamed of finding others like himself. He was very lonely, you see.

"He didn't find anyone for a very long time. But, as monsters became the stuff of fairy tales, he found he could interact with unsuspecting humans as if he were one of them. He began practicing medicine. But the companionship he craved evaded him; he couldn't risk familiarity.

"When the influenza epidemic hit, he was working nights in a hospital in Chicago. He'd been turning over an idea in his mind or several years, and he had almost decided to act - since he couldn't find a companion, he would create one. He wasn't absolutely sure how his own transformation had occurred, so he was hesitant. And he was loath to steal someone life the way his had been stolen. It was in that frame of mind that he found me. There was no hope for me; I was in the ward with the dying. He had nursed my parents, and knew I was alone. He decided to try..."

He was whispering now and he trailed off near the end. Were I a crier, which I was not, I would have teared up. The thought of Edward dying...it was heartbreaking. As if I would have died myself. He stared unseeingly through the west windows. I wondered what he was thinking about - who's memories he was seeing. I waited silently.

When he remembered where he was, he turned back to me, a gentle smile lit his expression.

"And so we've come full circle." He concluded.

"So you have always stayed with Carlisle?" I asked.

"Almost always," he put his hand lightly on my waist and pulled me, red faced, as he walked through the door.. I stared at the wall of pictures, wondering if I would ever hear the other stories that went along with all the others that had been put up there.

"Almost?" I asked, not letting him get out of it. He was in story mode, I hoped that meant I would get an answer.

He sighed, reluctant to answer. "Well, I had a typical bout of rebellious adolescence - about ten years after I was...born...created, whatever you want to call it. I wasn't sold on his life of abstinence, and I resented him for curbing my appetite. So I went on my own for a time."

"You did?" I was interested. So, Edward wasn't a god-like creature? He was somewhat mortal? Rebellious? Human? Bitter? My interest coated my voice and he could tell immediately. I was not paying attention to where we were going - up another flight of stairs - before he stopped to look at me in shock.

"That doesn't repulse you?"

"No." I replied simply. He looked like he was trying to restrain questioning my intelligence - again - when he glared at me.

"Why not?"

"I guess it just makes sense. It's very human - to want to go on your own. Figure things out yourself, even if you know you'll regret it. Just so you have the experience. I did it a few times. My mom knew I would be trouble the first time I ran away from home to the playground when I was four." He barked a laugh. We were at the top of the stairs now, in another paneled hallway.

"From the time of my new birth," he murmured, "I had the advantage of knowing what everyone around me was thinking, both human and non-human alike. That's why it took me ten years to defy Carlisle - I could read his perfect sincerity, understand exactly why he lived the way he did.

"It took me only a few years to return to Carlisle and recommit to his vision. I thought I would be exempt from the...depression...that accompanies a conscience. Because I knew the thoughts of my prey, I could pass over the innocent and pursue only the evil If I followed a murderer down a dark alley where he stalked a young girl - if I saved her, then sure I wasn't so terrible."

"The everyday battle of a Superhero." I tried not to imagine it. Him as a dark angel stalking and brutally attacking a man in the alley way behind me, then looking to see the blood stained face of my saviour before he stole into the night. Would a girl have been more afraid than before?

"But as time went on, I began to see the monster in my eyes. I couldn't escape the debt of so much human life taken, no matter how justified. And I went back to Carlisle and Esme. They welcomed me back like the prodigal. It was more than I deserved."

We had come to stop at the last door in the hall. "My room," he informed me, opening it and pulling me through.

His room faced south, with a wall sized window like the great room below. The whole back side of the house must have been glass, I realized with a surprised blink. His view looked down on the winding Sol Duc River, across the untouched forest of the Olympic Mountain range. The mountains were much closer than I would have believed, before now.

The west wall was completely covered with shelf after shelf of CDs. His room was better stocked than any music store I had entered. In the corner was an impressive sound system, the kind I refused to touch because technology seemed in very bad terms with my fingers. It usually broke in them, in fact. I could not count the amount of cell phones I had mourned over.

There was no bed, only a wide and inviting black leather sofa. The floor was covered with a thick golden arpet and the walls were hung with a heavy fabric in a similar shade. On the wall in the corner, right by the couch, were wrinkled pieces of papers posted up on the wall. I tore my eyes from them.

My doodles.

I remembered him saying it was 'quite good' and urging me to keep it, but I had fired it into the garbage before leaving. Of course he had gotten it. But he had posted it up by where he must stay so often? He even had one from...how long ago was that?

I nearly winced. It was when I thought he hated me.

"I couldn't let you throw them away," he informed me lightly.

"One day I'll draw you something worth keeping, how about that?" He smiled.

"That sounds wonderful."

I looked back at the sound system of my dreams, fiddling with the controls. "Good acoustics?" I guessed. He chuckled and nodded.

He picked up the remote and turned the stereo on. It was quiet, but the soft jazz number sounded like the band was in the room with us. I went to look at his mind-boggling music collection.

"How do you have these organized?" He may as well have added the dewey decimal system with the amount he had, but I could not find a pattern. He wasn't paying attention.

"Ummm, by year, and then by personal preference within that frame," he said absently. He was looking at me with a strange expression in his eyes.

"What'd I say now?"

"I was prepared to feel...relieved, having you know about everything, not needing to keep secrets from you. But I didn't expect to feel more than that. I like it. It makes me...happy." He shrugged, smiling slightly. I smiled back.

"I'm glad," I said with a large smile. It was nice that the feelings of regret were yet to be there. It was nice to know that it wasn't the case. Then, as his eyes dissected my expression, his smile faded and his forehead creased.

"You're still waiting for me to run screaming and grab a pitchfork, aren't you?"

A faint smile touched his lips, he nodded.

"Well, you're going to be disappointed, mon cher, because you are ridiculously unintimidating. Much like a teddy bear." He raised his eyebrows in disbelief and suddenly, as he cracked a wide and wicked smile, I was scared.

"You really shouldn't have said that," he chuckled.

He growled, a low sound at the back of his throat; his lips curled over his perfect teeth and his body shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tensed like a lion about to pounce...huh. Lion. They were right, he was like a lion. I backed away from him shaking my head.

"Don't you dare..."

He moved so quickly that I didn't even see him leap at me. I only found that I had been airborne when I landed on his couch and heard it smack into he wall behind us. All the while, his arms formed an iron cage of protection around me and I was barely jostled. I smirked as he looked down at me.

"See?"

He wasn't having that. He curled me int a ball against his chest, holding me more securely than iron chains and by being on his chest I was reminded of how big he actually was. He always looked small in comparison to Emmett, but Edward was quite tall. And quite muscular in a more subtle not-so-Arnold-Schwartzenager way. I raised my eyebrows, making sure his eyes were only glimmering with humour and his jaw was relaxed before I had the nerve to roll my eyes. He tickled me.

"No!" I gasped. "What are...you? Five?" I giggled, trying to move his hands away from my stomach but he was relentless.

"You were saying?" he growled playfully when he had finished. I was breathless and panting.

"You're definitely a monster." I muttered, he brought his hands towards me and I cried out in protest. "Terrifying!" I confirmed.

"Much better," he laughed.

"You're almost too human," I muttered. "And here I thought the old age would make you a Gentleman." He just laughed, not phased by the insult.

"Can we come in?" a soft voice sounded from the hall. I struggled to free myself from the compromising position, but Edward readjusted so that we could see who was at the door and I was on his lap. I could see it was Alice and Jasper in the doorway. My cheeks burned.

"Go ahead." Edward was still chuckling quietly.

Alice didn't seem disturbed by our embrace as she walked, nearly danced with how graceful her movements were, to the center of the room. She folded herself onto the floor, looking at us with a smile. Jasper stayed at the door, his expression slightly surprised and I wondered if he was tasting the atmosphere with his unusual sensitivity - and what he was feeling from us to look so shocked.

"It sounded like you were having Liv for lunch, we came to see if you would share," Alice announced. I smiled automatically as I looked to Edward, knowing it was a joke. It was my kind of humour so I could detect it instantly. He was clearly glad that I had caught on immediately and without worry.

"Sorry, I don't believe I have enough to spare," his arms circled more tightly around me and I bit my lip.

"Actually," Jasper took over, "Alice says there's going to be a real storm tonight, and Emmett wants to play ball. Are you game?" The words were common enough but I didn't know what they meant. I was thrown off by Jasper's smile - he was actually quite beautiful as well, now that you could see what he was like when humans weren't constantly around. It made me warm up to him.

I looked to him as his eyes brightened, but he hesitated with a glance towards me.

"Of course you should bring Liv," Alice chirped. I thought I saw Jasper throw a quick glance at her. I hoped I wouldn't be ruining his night.

"Would you want to go?" Edward asked me, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Sure..." It was a hesitant answer. "Where, exactly?"

"We have to wait for thunder to play ball - you'll see why." He promised with a grin.

"The storm will hit over town, it should be dry enough in the clearing." Alice was positive, despite the word 'should', you could see it in her proud smile.

"Good, then." Jasper, whether meaning to or not, got me excited merely by the enthusiasm in his own voice. Even though I hated any outdoor activities which would evidently cause me to embarrass myself. Like this one.

"Let's go see if Carlisle will come." Alice bounced up to the door in a pirouette that broke my heart from all my hours slaving over trying to do ballet like the best dancers in the class.

"Like you don't know," Jasper teased before they were out the door, closing it behind them.

"What are we playing?" I asked, thinking it was probably one of the sports I do worst in - just because of how my luck always worked.

"You will be watching," Edward clarified. "We will be playing baseball."

I rolled my eyes but was secretly quite grateful. "So, do vampires play worthy of the minor or major leagues?" I joked.

"It's the all-American pastime," he said with mock solemnity and a grin that could, and would, convince me to do anything.

Even baseball.

So, what did you think? Thank you to those who have let me know whether or not they would like to see New Moon redone. Ayone else have any preferences? Special thanks go out to my wonderful reviewers:

.alwaysxlove.: I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about the idea of a New Moon remake, I'm still unsure about it because this story hasn't gotten the best reviews. Thank you for liking it so much and reviewing, I'm glad you like my writing. I'll try not to disappoint!

Geriana: I wish I could make her a werewolf, but the idea is overkill considering other writing that's out there and even the other writing I've done. From what I've thought out, even though I'm not sure I'll write it, Vivienne's version of New Moon would be COMPLETELY different - but hopefully that should be obvious by her different personality. Thank you for reviewing, I love getting feedback!

Juliedoo: I completely agree with Bella being a mope, when I think about what would happen all I can think is "oh...Vivienne would be furious" so I wouldn't write her just moping around. It would definitely change the story up. Thank you for reviewing, I hope you liked this chapter as well :)

Thank you, guys you're absolutely amazing. I hope you liked this chapter!

- Egypt