AN: Oh man oh man did your reviews make me smile! I am so glad you guys are enjoying this story, it has been a lot of fun to write so far. The song I listened to most while writing this one was Eleanor Rigby by Cody Fry. Alright, onwards!
We didn't waste any time leaving the castle. Carlisle asked if I'd like to return to my room to gather anything but I assured him there was nothing of importance. I just wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. He appeared to feel the same.
When at last we emerged into the courtyard from which I had entered several days before, the sky was still dark. Stars blinked down at us from the gaps in between the clouds.
Carlisle paused and looked at me, concern evident in his softened expression. "How are you feeling? Is your arm causing you a lot of pain? And am I mistaken or have you injured your ribs as well?" Nothing escaped his notice.
Without pause I insisted, "I'm fine."
He raised his eyebrows, not believing my indifference for a second. But instead of pushing the matter he changed topics, whispering conspiratorially, "Bella, how opposed are you to grand theft auto?"
Shock flickered across my face before I recovered it into a small smile, "I'd say under these circumstances, pick the fastest one you can find." He laughed in response and the sound did more to calm my nerves than any words could have done at that moment. We were going to be okay.
Carlisle took off down a narrow alley, occasionally turning to glance behind us. Slowing his pace to allow me to keep up more easily, he gestured towards the arm cradled against my chest, "Are you willing to tell me what happened? Was Aro being truthful when he said they found you that way?"
We had arrived in front of a sleek-looking black car. Knowing nothing about luxury vehicles and unable to see much in the dark shadows of the alley, I was not even sure what kind of car it was. But I trusted his judgment in picking whichever car would get us as far away as quickly as possible. I waited next to the passenger side door while he stood on the other side, moving at vampire speed to break into the locked driver side door. A sudden click made him exhale in relief and he flashed to my side, opening the door for me.
I still had not answered his questions. But with a patient smile he beckoned towards my arm, "May I?" It was the same arm that he had stitched with care after my disastrous birthday party. While only a few months had passed since that moment, it often felt like another life entirely. There had been times when a particularly cynical part of my mind wondered if I hadn't just imagined it all. My time with Edward had always felt too good to be true. Now that Carlisle was once agin tending to my ill-fated injuries, that part of my brain was still trying to accept his sudden reappearance in my life.
Gingerly lifting my arm away from my body, I winced as his cool hands felt for the break. "I was riding a motorcycle-" Carlisle's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, um, and it was raining and the bike slipped and I crashed into the ditch along the highway."
He sighed, "How long ago?"
"I guess it's been three days? Four?" Carlisle glanced behind me into the back seat of the car. I heard the door open and he reappeared in front of me before I had time to register his movement. Having found some kind of scarf he used it to brace my arm in a makeshift sling against my body.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid there is not much more I can do right now." He seemed genuinely ashamed to not be able to heal me then and there. "But I think it is important we leave immediately, once we have gained some distance from Volterra we will stop and I will try and find something to make you more comfortable."
"It's alright, Carlisle, I understand." He made sure I got settled into my seat before returning to the driver's side and slipping in behind the wheel. I watched him reach underneath it and fiddle with the wires. A second later the car came to life and he pulled out of the deserted street, leaving the headlights off. Within a few minutes we had left the town behind and were racing down the twisting roads of the Italian countryside. Settled into the cool leather seat, I allowed myself a glance in Carlisle's direction. He was focused on the road before him but seemed relaxed. The quiet hum of the car and the darkness blanketing our surroundings lulled me into a peacefulness I had not felt in months. So many questions remained unanswered, the future was frighteningly unknown, but at that moment I felt safe. Taken care of. It wasn't that I hadn't felt cared for with Charlie, but I could never have shared with him the details of what had happened between Edward and I. Despite his earnest attempts to help me, I had been forced to carry the burden alone. Until now.
My realisation caused something inside of me to give away and silent tears began to slide down my cheeks at an alarming rate. I could not seem to make them stop. After months of operating in a more or less catatonic state to avoid exactly this kind of reaction, I had reached my breaking point. Embarrassed, I turned my head towards the window. Carlisle cast a quick glance in my direction and seemed to understand without me having to say a word. His hand reached over and squeezed mine briefly before returning to its spot on the steering wheel.
Of course I did not really know what would happen once I had been changed. When Edward left me he had said it was because the family needed to start over, that people were becoming suspicious of their unchanging, unaging faces. He had said he didn't want me to go with them. Had that really been true for the rest of the family? Once the Volturi guard visits and sees that I am no longer human would the Cullens leave me behind once more? After four months of repeating his hurtful words in my head I could almost convince myself that that would be the case. But there was still an instinctual impulse to bat those thoughts away, a nagging insistence that it did not make sense. I was sure they had loved me.
Carlisle's quiet voice broke the silence and brought my increasingly distressed thoughts to a standstill, "I'm going to call Esme and let her know we are on our way. We were both wary as to why Aro summoned me so I am sure she is anxious to know I am okay." His words made me sad, had they somehow anticipated his near demise? I thought of Esme waiting for her husband. Preparing herself for the possibility of bad news, bad news that would have been all my fault. "They have been waiting for me back at one of our homes in the north of France."
They. Would he be there? "When you say they…"
A pained look flashed across Carlisle's face before he carefully composed himself, "I flew over from New York with Esme, Alice, and Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie met us there."
I nodded. I was unsure how I felt about Edward's unspoken absence from the rest of his family. Though a part of me was reassured. He had always been so vehement about his opposition to me becoming one of them that I was afraid of what he would say if Carlisle suddenly arrived with me in tow with orders to change me. I watched as Carlisle pulled a small cell phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear, his other hand easily navigating the car along the dark country roads. He spoke too quickly for my human ears to follow, his hushed tone melodic. The sound of it had a soothing effect on me and at last I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up the sky was still black but I could see the dark outline of mountains looming in the distance.
Carlisle turned his head and caught my eye, smiling, "Did you have a restful nap?" I nodded before he went on to calmly explain, "If it's alright with you I would like to stop soon. We need to abandon the car somewhere, the owner will have alerted the local authorities to its disappearance. Now that daylight is approaching we will be able to rent one in the city. Seeing as we have an international border to cross I'm not willing to take any extra risks, such as driving a stolen car through a checkpoint."
Hearing him mention border crossings reminded me of one important detail that had been overlooked, I gasped, "Carlisle! I have nothing with me, no identification. No passport." In my half-asleep state I was picturing myself standing before a border patrol officer empty-handed, trapped in Italy.
"Shh, it's alright Bella. We will not need anything right now. For the most part we can circulate between European countries without needing to present a passport. Though that is why I avoided simply hopping on a plane. You would have needed identification. In any case, I was thinking it might be most prudent to leave the car in a secluded place before running across the border into France. That is, if you give me your consent to carry you."
"Oh. Uh, yeah, that's fine I guess. Whatever you think is best."
We drove for a few more minutes until Carlisle slowed down and stopped at what appeared to be a simple highway pull-off. I glanced out the window, jumping when he suddenly opened my door and offered his hand, helping me to clamber out. We were in some kind of valley with mountains grazing the sky in every direction. A faint glow on the eastern horizon was visible even to my eyes. He seemed to watch the sky, a fleeting look of concern on his face. Though I had had the foresight to put my shoes on when we had gone back to my room in Volterra to talk, I was regretting leaving my jacket behind. The ground was covered in snow and a light wind blew a dusting of snowflakes my way. Before I could so much as shiver, Carlisle had removed his own coat and held it out to me.
"We don't have too far to run. The topography of the area demands that I take a more circuitous route than if it were flat, but it should still only take me a few minutes to get there. Let me help you," he held the coat up while I slipped my good arm in. Instead of maneuvering my broken arm into the other sleeve he simply wrapped the coat around me. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
He placed one arm gingerly behind my back and used the other to scoop me up behind the knees. I blushed at the close contact and the awkwardness of being cradled like a child. He had no doubt sensed my embarrassment.
"I'll do my best to prevent the run from causing you further pain. Are you comfortable? You must tell me if I cause your injuries to hurt more than they already do."
"No, I'm fine." He looked unconvinced, so as I pulled the hood up over my head I added, "I promise."
"Alright, it's about to get a little windy."
Just as I felt the first woosh of air that indicated the blinding speed at which he ran, I tucked my head against his cotton shirt. My eyes squeezed shut. I focused on taking steady breaths, flinching slightly when an attempt at a deep breath brought on a fresh ache in my ribs. It felt as though he slowed slightly so I tried to reassure him, knowing the words I mumbled against his shirt would not be missed by his vampire-hearing, "it's ok, I'm fine, keep going."
The icy wind whistled around me as he raced through the mountain valley. It was impossible to get a sense of the time or distance that had passed so I was surprised when I suddenly felt him slow to a stop. My eyes snapped open as he lowered me to my feet, keeping one hand at my elbow to make sure I was steady enough. We appeared to be in the center of town, though hidden on a small side street.
"It looks as though it is going to be a sunny day, so I am going to go ahead and get us a car as quickly as I can. Then we can get you some food and anything else you might need. Does that sound okay?" He gave me a cautious smile.
My eyes narrowed as I took in my surroundings, "Okay. Where are we exactly?"
We walked towards the main road, "Briançon, France. It's in the southeastern part of the country, in the Hautes-Alpes." He spoke the name of the town in flawless French. "The others are waiting for us at our home in Lonlay-l'Abbaye, in the Normandy region. So I am afraid that we still have a ways to go."
As promised, he soon had us settled into a car that closely resembled the one he had driven in Forks. On the way out of town he stopped at a café so I could freshen up while he stocked up on French pastries from the bakery next door. Luckily, he also had time to slip into the pharmacy and pick up some supplies, taking the time to put my arm in a more stable brace and give me some pain medication before getting back on the road. By the time we left the city limits behind us, the sun had risen fully above the horizon, confining Carlisle to the car for the foreseeable future.