Disclaimer: I don't own 'Twilight'
Just for future reference, I picture Charlotte Whitlock to look like Emilie de Ravin and Peter Whitlock looks like Jackson Rathbone with short, little bit wavy brown hair and short side burns.
Thanks to Gotta Dance 88 for being my beta.
Chapter 14 – Carlisle Takes Charge
The whole house was silent, listening to Johnna's easy breathing. Jasper knew better than anyone in the house that they would lose part of Carlisle, if Johnna died in her sleep. The tiny little French girl sleeping upstairs was such a huge part of Carlisle's life; it was like she really was his daughter. They had been through so much together, which obviously accounted for their immense bond and connection to each other. Just like with him and Alice, Carlisle and Johnna could read each other's faces and body language.
Suddenly there was a change in Johnna's breathing; it was no longer soft and easy, but labored. "Non, pas lui. N'importe qui mais lui." (No, not him. Anyone but him.) The whole house tensed at the sound. "Il est sûr. Ils ne peuvent pas lui faire de mal aujourd'hui." They all heard Carlisle say. (He is safe. They cannot harm him now.)
"You are so strong, ma petit chérie. You can fight this." Carlisle said softly. He moved her body so that she was laying on him and started brushing her long hair with his fingers. It had always calmed her down when she was human, and had the same lingering effect now that she wasn't. "You have so much ahead of you. Things you want to find out and people to see." Carlisle bent his head over Johnna's face and kissed her forehead. "You can't leave, I just got you back."
A few hours later, it was time for him to leave for work and the 'kids' to go to school. Esme came up and replaced Carlisle, telling him that she would call him if anything changed. Carlisle kissed Johnna's forehead once again. "Sweet dreams, ma petit chérie and then come back to us."
Johnna slept all the way through two whole days.
Alice and Jasper worried about Johnna all morning on the third day since Johnna first fell asleep. Finally during lunch, when Alice could no longer stand all the rumors about Johnna, Rosalie reluctantly agreed to return home with her and Jasper.
Johnna's soft breathing greeted them as they reached the house. Alice burst into the house and headed straight for the couch where Johnna and Esme were situated. Johnna was lying on the couch with her head in Esme's lap, covered from the waist down in a soft pink blanket. Esme was brushing Johnna's hair with her fingers. Alice sat by Johnna's bundled up feet, while Rosalie left for the garage. This left Jasper standing awkwardly by the door.
"Come 'ere Jasper. Zere's no need to be standing alone." Johnna said quietly as she opened her eyes. Jasper came and sat on the armrest next to Alice. He then noticed two prominent scars; one on Johnna's neck, where her jugular vein used to be, and the second one was a millimeter from her right earlobe. He wondered why he hadn't seen them before. All of her other scars were visible, as she was wearing her usual lace trimmed nightgown.
"What was it like the second time? Did it last as long as the first time?" Jasper asked curiously. Johnna lifted her head slightly to see him properly.
"Ze first time when Vincent bit me took a week to change, because 'e bit me just below my right earlobe and another reason which I am not going to disclose to you. Ze second time took only a day and an 'alf. Eet was painful, but not as much as ze first time."
Alice then proceeded to ask Johnna about the early days of her and Carlisle's friendship.
Later that night Carlisle returned from the hospital and was surprised to see Johnna lying on the couch, with her head in Esme's lap and Alice by her feet. Jasper, who still sat on the armrest near Alice, was the only one who noticed him. "She's been like that since we returned at lunch, and probably longer."
Johnna opened her eyes, sat up quickly and started talking excitedly in her native tongue. "Carlisle votre maison! Il est parti. Viens, viens. Touchez-moi." (Carlisle, your home. It's gone. Come, come. Touch me.) She held out her tiny hand. Carlisle smiled at her and took her hand. It was slightly warm, but wasn't shaking as it had been. His surprised glance met her excited smiling face.
"This could possibly be because your body is still recovering." He said softly. Johnna just smiled a sly mischievous smile. "I shall 'umor you mon ami and present an experiment, no?" Johnna stood up, and shushed all complaints about moving around too soon. She had Alice lay on the couch and wrapped her in the blanket from the waist down. "Don't move from 'ere till later en ze morning tomorrow. She then spun around in an arabesque. Carlisle caught her extended foot and it too was slightly warm.
Johnna walked with Carlisle up to his office, where she detailed what was to be explained by her experiment. "Zees es ze third time zat zees 'as 'appened mon ami." She told him.
The next morning, Carlisle went through the procedure laid out by Johnna. He felt Alice's shoulder, which hadn't been under the blanket, and her feet, which had. There was no change from the previous day. He then did the same with Johnna. Her body was still slightly warm. Johnna smiled smugly at him. "You may be a doctor and know 'ow ze 'uman body works and 'ow vampires' bodies work, but you don't know how a fairy's body works. I 'appen to be a 'ybrid, a vampire/fairy mix." Her face then turned serious. "I was taught about 'ow fairies' and vampires' bodies worked from ze moment my mamá knew I 'ad ze gene. She was already a very old fairy when she met my papá and 'ad first 'and knowledge of vampires. My mama 'ad been en fights with zem." Johnna's voice cracked as she finished. She turned on her heels and dashed up the stairs to her bedroom.
Down in the large living room, Carlisle grimaced as Johnna started murmuring in French. Carlisle excused himself and headed towards Johnna's room. She was curled up in a small ball on her bed. Her tiny body shook with unshed tears. He walked over and picked her up. Once on his lap, she straightened and threw her arms around his neck and sobbed.
"Everything doesn't revolve around her. Carlisle's been spending so much time with her, like she's the most important person in his life." Rosalie groaned as she settled next to Emmett on the couch near the huge Plasma TV.
"She is an important part of his life and she's physically fourteen, Rose. Johnna comes from a completely different time period. Girls' were often married off in their late teens and often to men who could be their fathers. She's really messed up mentally and emotionally. " Jasper told her.
He turned to look at her. She huffed and turned away. "Put yourself in her shoes. You wake up one day and find out that your betrothed left and no one, not even his own parents know where he went. You break down. Your parents arrange a marriage to try to get you out of your depression. Life is great for a while, and then things go sour. Your parents don't believe you, when you try to tell them what Grégoire was really like. The only person who listens to you and believes you is Carlisle. So you go over regularly to see him and to forget about your husband for a while. Finally it gets so bad that you just can't take it anymore, so you run away. You get turned into a vampire and find out that the vampire who sired you drained your brother. You also find out that you cannot see any of your family again. You'd probably be a mess too Rose. She may be older than all of us, but at heart, she's just an emotionally scared and physically scarred fourteen year old girl."
"Wow Jasper, you got all that from her history and emotions?" Emmett exclaimed, turning from the video game. Jasper nodded. "Her and Carlisle's emotions."
"I killed 'er!" Johnna sobbed loudly from upstairs. All conversation stopped. "Ef I 'adn't run away. She would probably still be alive.
"We don't know that for sure, ma petite chérie. Vincent might have changed you at a different time and place."
"But eet's my fault zat Mathieu came after me and got murdered. Poor Elise and my nieces and nephew."
"It's not your fault, ma petit chérie. If it is anyone's fault, it is Vincent's." Carlisle said firmly in a voice that left no room for arguing.
Johnna just nodded. She stretched out her legs, laid her head down on her pillow and closed her eyes. Carlisle smiled gently, kissed her forehead, and then left to find Esme.
(Somewhere Out There from "An American Tail")
"Somewhere out there,
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight
Somewhere out there,
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another, in that big somewhere out there
And even though, I know how very far, apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath that same big sky
Somewhere out there
If love can see us though
Then we'll be together,
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true…"
"Do you think he's still out there?"
Johnna turned away from her window to see Jasper leaning against the door post.
"Je ne sais pas. I don't know. I want 'eem to be alive somehow, but you know zat ache you get when you're away from Alice? Well, I first felt eet two days before my fourteenth birthday and eet 'as not gone away since."
Jasper walked over and sat by Johnna on the window seat. " How long were you and Jacque together, if I may ask?"
Johnna smiled at him." I met Jacque ze day after my eleventh birthday and we were together for three and a quarter years. 'e left before my fourteenth birthday and was never 'eard from again." Johnna turned her gaze back to the dark lawn outside her window. A look of desperate longing spread across her face.
"Well I know that we can't make the pain go away, but I think I know something that will at least make you feel better."
Johnna quirked an eyebrow at him. Jasper smiled. "Peter and Charlotte are coming. Alice thinks that they will arrive tomorrow morning." He was rewarded with a slight smile from Johnna. At that moment, Jasper knew that Peter and Charlotte had warmed their way into Johnna's heart as well.
Peter and Charlotte arrived at the Cullens' house at noon. Jasper opened the door for them and gave each of them a huge hug. Jasper and Peter could easily pass as brothers, and the only differences between them were that Peter had brown hair, was a little shorter than Jasper and had red eyes. His mate, Charlotte was a petite woman with long blonde hair that went down to her back and red eyes.
"Glad you guys stopped by." Jasper said as he let them in.
"You know we'd never pass up an opportunity to visit ya'll." Charlotte said lightly as she returned Alice's hug.
"'Ey Peter!" Johnna exclaimed as she appeared on Peter's back. Peter chuckled. "Hey fairy girl, I got ya something."
Johnna looked over at Charlotte. She laughed. "It's okay, Johnna. It's real nice."
Johnna smiled at her and flipped off Peter's back. She immediately started bouncing in front of him.
"See Rose, she's just a fourteen year old girl inside." Jasper whispered to Rosalie. Rosalie nodded, not looking away from Johnna and Peter.
"Close your fairy eyes and hold out your hand, lil' miss fairy girl." Peter said in his southern drawl. Johnna did so and Peter put a black box in her outstretched hand. Johnna opened her eyes and opened the box. She squealed happily and jumped on him again, hugging him tightly. She soon got off him and had him put the necklace on her. It was a silver chain with a small charm. The charm was a silver ballerina with a full skirt made out of tiny sapphires.
Peter sat down with Jasper and Carlisle, while Johnna took Charlotte up to see her new room.
"He did a really good job picking out my gift." Johnna said as she and Charlotte sat on her window seat. Alice came in and sat on the bed. "Why does he bring you gifts? What else has he gotten you?"
Charlotte and Johnna laughed. "'e brings me gifts, because 'e wants me en a good mood for the duration of my visit. He's gotten me a pink plaid headband, a really pretty gold bracelet with a pink rose on top, and I 'm not going to tell you what his first gift was."
Charlotte laughed again. "That first gift was a welcome to our home gift, since she's a really powerful hybrid and all, and it made her mad. So I make sure to go with he goes to pick out her gifts. I didn't go this time, as I was hunting, but he did a good job."
"So are you guys staying for a while?" Alice asked. Charlotte shook her.
"Nope, we're on our way to Canada, but decided to stop by here. By the way Alice I love what you and Esme did to the guest room. It looks fabulous!"
Alice smiled brightly at Charlotte.
Knock, knock,
"Can I please talk to you, fairy girl?" Peter asked poking his head inside Johnna's room. Johnna nodded. They walked together not talking until they got outside.
"You have got to fill them in, Johnna. I know Carlisle knows all, and is covering for you, but things are going to get real messy if you…" Peter halt in his tracks, as Johnna stared him down.
"Do you not know me at all, Peter? Zeengs are going to get messy? My 'ole life es one gigantic mess! Carlisle es ze only ozer person, beside Marcus, 'o I completely trust and can talk about everyzeeng with. Carlisle was zere when my life took a turn for ze worse and zen became a hopeless mess. You may 'ave suffered zrough ze Newborn Wars and survived but you 'ave no idea what's going on enside my brain! You found your mate and are able to keep 'er forever. I found my mate and only 'ad 'eem for zree years. I loved 'eem! I went so far as telling 'eem what I was. I practically became a zombie. I got married and months later I lost two other precious people zat I loved. I lost zree of most important people to me en ze same year, two in the same month Peter! Zree people I loved and 'o were my entire world. Do you 'ave any idea, what zat's like?" Johnna's voice started to crack as she lost control of her emotions.
Carlisle had come out unnoticed as Johnna's emotions got away from her. Finally after Johnna broke down, he up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Johnna threw her arms around his neck as she had done the evening before and started to dry sob.
"Let it out ma petit chérie. It's better to let your emotions out, then bottling them up inside you."
After Johnna released all of her pent up frustration, the three of them walked inside. Alice and Charlotte had joined Rosalie on the couch.
Charlotte got up as they entered. "Sorry to cut our visit short, but we better leave before Peter opens his mouth again and Johnna decides to kill him. You don't want to mess with an angry fairy."
"No you don't. She'll make you figuratively pee your pants." Emmett boomed as he and Edward came downstairs. Peter chuckled. "She'll do more than that if you get her mad enough. She looks cute, sweet, and like she wouldn't hurt a fly. In reality, fairy girl can do so much more than hurt you." He shuddered at the thought of what she could do. With that he and Charlotte left.
"Johnna disappeared." Edward said as he leaned against the wall near the TV. Carlisle looked around." No she didn't. She is merely too tiny to see." He went and sat down by Esme.
"Voulez-vous s'il vous plaît réapparaissent Johnna." (Would you please reappear Johnna.)
Johnna reappeared on the arm of the couch near Carlisle. "Je ne suis pas heureux, mon ami. Eet es like 'e doesn't know me at all!" Carlisle placed his hand on her dress covered leg. (I am not happy, my friend.)
"I think Peter merely forgot or perhaps he was purposefully getting a reaction out of you."
Jasper shook his head. "He's a vampire, he can't forget."
Johnna snarled. "Je vais le tuer. 'E knows better zan to play with fire."
Carlisle winced slightly at some distant memory, and then looked sternly at her. "You may deal him, after you have dealt with the problem here and now."
"Thank you." Rosalie sneered. "So what have the two of you been hiding?"
Johnna turned on Rosalie. "Do you like talking about your past, mainly why you were changed?" A smug smile appeared on her face as Rosalie winced as Carlisle had. "Exactly. You don't talk about et to protect yourself from future pain."
"Now though, it is time to forgo future pain." Carlisle said firmly looking at Rosalie, Edward and Jasper in turn. "You three are to each spend a whole day with Johnna, by yourself. The only company you keep that day is Johnna."
"No, Johnna, you may not harm them, not even if they are annoying you to death." Carlisle said a minute later, as if anticipating Johnna's question.
"Stupid, party spoiling Britisher."