London, England 1654

Listening to his father drone about the book of Common Prayer, a fourteen-year old Carlisle Cullen pinched his arm to keep himself awake. Thomas Cullen, his father and an Anglican pastor, would whack the back of his head if he failed to pay attention. It was one of the many days where he was forced to sit and listen to his father's teachings. Whilst his friends played outside, Carlisle was in his father's study learning about wicked witches and vampires.

Eventually he was allowed to go when the sun was finally down and all his friends exhausted themselves from playing. Carlisle often found himself under the tree near their home where he would lay down to watch the clouds move and skies darken to twilight.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself a bit of reprieve. When he opened them, he felt as though his soul left his body as he stared at a pair of crimson eyes staring at him. He made a frightened noise that sounded funny (even to him) that made the owner of the eyes laugh.

"Hello there."

Carlisle sat up and huddled himself close to the trunk of the tree. He looked at the woman before him, his heart pounding rapidly. Her eyes were scarlet, skin so porcelain they seemed like snow. Her hair was the color of rich mahogany and there was a curious smile in her lips.

She was easily the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"W-who art thou?"

"Isabella." She smiled gently. Carlisle knew he should be afraid. Every nerve in body screamed to run away. He remembered his father telling him about vampires. They had distinct red eyes with a complexion as though they were rid of blood. She looked thoughtful for a moment before she cleared her throat and said, "Forgive me, I seemed to have lost my husband."

She bent down to his eye level. "I just woke up from my ... sleep, you see. Have you seen a man, with golden hair and golden eyes walking around here?"

Carlisle shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"How is it that this curse is always a damned inconvenience?" The lady looked decidedly irate. "It's a good thing this is passed onto the female line or else Charles would lose his mind. I think I have." Her odd way of speaking greatly caught him off guard. Not to mention, her manner of clothing was peculiar. Why, the woman's dress clung to her, his father would be shouting profanities about whores and baggages.

"Erm-" Carlisle frowned as he caught sight of a familiar heirloom around the woman's finger. It was his late mother's ring. Feeling emboldened, he stood up and pointed accusingly, "that is my mother's!"

The crimson-eyed woman looked at him in surprise, her brows raised. She looked at her ring for a second. "No," she rebuked gently. "This is mine. My husband gave it to me."

"But that is the Cullen's crest." Carlisle snapped. "Unless thou art a Cullen, then it is not thine."

"I am Isabella Cullen." The woman replied archly, a hand on her hip. He reddened.

"My father has no siblings nor uncles. What is thy husband's name?"

"His name is Ca—"

"Carlisle!" The voice of his father called from afar. Carlisle winced and turned to see his father looking at him sternly. When he turned to the woman, she was already gone.

Volterra, Italy 1712

Carlisle grimaced at the smell of blood thst lingered the halls of the castle. He swallowed the venom that pooled in his mouth and ignored the humanly screams coming from the great hall where the three kings of Volterra sat. Loosening his cravat, he made his way to his chambers.

Aro insisted on making him abandon his diet. He was a curiosity to the Volterra king but Carlisle always politely declined to dine with them. He often went on a hunt as the Volturi coven were fond of human servants in the castle. Servers who were eventually turned to meals. Though he never feasted on a human, they remained a temptation to him. Thus, he made certain he was always fed before being near with them.

He immediately locked the door of his room and was greeted by the sight of a sleeping woman on his bed. Though he knew better. His weight sank into the mattress as he gazed upon her beautiful face.

"Hello, my love." Golden eyes fluttered open to meet his. Carlisle found himself smiling.

He always relished her visits, sporadic as they were.

"Have you been here long, sweetheart?" He whispered softly. Isabella rose from her position and joined him sitting.

"Long enough to hear you curse Aro." She teased.

His lips twitched.

"He has been wanting me to drink from a human. Recently, he's offered me his assistant. The poor woman was frightened to bits."

Isabella chortled. "You poor thing. How have you been?"

"Well enough." He replied fondly. "And you? How is your family? The Coven?"

"My husband is well, if that is what you are asking." Isabella grinned. "He was recently promoted as Chief Medical Officer. The coven is adjusting. They missed Forks, especially the weather."

"... and Charles?"

"Our Charles just turned five last week." Isabella kissed his shoulder. "How long has it been for you?" She asked with a twinkle in her golden eyes. His heart swelled at the knowledge she took his diet too.

"Fifty-three years." He breathed. "Fifty-three years since I last touched you." Had he been human, his cheeks would have pinked at reliving the memory of Isabella under him as they made love.

"That would not do." She tutted as she straddled him.

Carlisle laughed breathlessly as Isabella kissed him in wild abandon.

Later that day, when she left and all what was left of her presence was her taste in his tongue, Carlisle found a piece of portrait amidst the rumpled sheets. A picture of Isabella and a dark- haired boy with the blue eyes he possessed as a human.

Forks, Washington, 2005

BEDEEP BEDEEP BEDEEP.

The hum of the contraptions around him made him blink rapidly in awareness. Carlisle shook his head as he kept the pretense of a tired doctor. The circles under his eyes certainly helped the facade.

He let out a sigh as the pager called him to the ER. Fixing his lab coat, he headed briskly to the ER as a nurse sidded up beside him to give a brief report.

"Chief Swan and his daughter are here. There was some sort of car accident. The driver's being treated now." Swan. The familiarity of the name was not lost on him.

"Thank you, Molly." Carlisle inclined his head and the nurse flushed. He pushed the door to the emergency room open, a gentle smile on his face. "I heard the chief's daughter was here. I've got this one, Jackie."

Taking the clipboard from the woman's hand, Carlisle's gaze finally landed on the chief's daughter. His vampirism allowed him to register his shock in a blink of an eye. "Isabella."

"Bella." The girl corrected.

"Of course." He smiled. He looked at her patient profile again. "Well, Bella, looks like you took quite a spill. How do you feel?"

"Good." She replied, chocolate eyes gazing at him with curiosity.

Carlisle took his penlight and hovered it over her eyes. "Look here." She seemed a little flush as she did so. "You might experience some post-traumatic stress or disorientation but your vitals look good. No signs of head trauma." He smiled at her. "I think you'll be just fine."

She bit her lip, eyes flickering to him anxiously. "It would've been a whole lot worse if Edward wasn't there. He knocked me out of the way."

The chief's eyebrow rose and turned to him. "Edward? Your boy?"

"Yeah, it was amazing. I mean, he got to me so fast. He was nowhere near me."

Carlisle tried his best to piece his thoughts coherently. He lifted his head to briefly smile at her. "Sounds like you were very lucky."

He left as soon as he could, excusing himself. He found Rosalie and Edward in the hall, his firstborn daughter with an irate expression on her face.

"Edward did the stupidest thing." Rosalie snarled.

"Lower your voice, Rose." Carlisle said sternly, leading his children to a corner in the hospital.

"What was I supposed to do, then?

Let her die?" Edward snapped.

"This isn't just about you. It's about all of us."

Carlisle looked up to see Isabella peering at them surreptitiously. He let out a shaky breath.

"I think we should take this in my office."

The current Isabella didn't know him. As far as he knew, she only started visiting him when she fell in love with him. He shouldn't be surprised that she didn't recognize him. Yet, it still ached.

Carlisle locked himself in his office as the night darkened, perusing countless journals and hospital paperwork. The coven went hunting and he was left alone. His mind wandered off to the young woman in the emergency room. She was ... different from the various versions of Isabella Swan that visited him throughout the centuries. Though, he could remember her earliest visit — her first visit as a human — where she was twenty and he, nineteen.

He'd known her enough to be fond of her. And to even entertain the idea of making love to her to create a child before he was turned.

His Isabella gave him a son in 2009 from their tryst in 1659.

"So," he looked up to see a vampire Isabella perched on his desk. She looked down at him. Even with his vampiric senses, he could never sense her sudden visits. "How was meeting me?"

"The various contusions on your head," Carlisle said seriously. "what happened?"

Isabella snorted. "Probably from all the times Renée dropped me as a baby." She joked.

His brows furrowed in concern. "It's a wonder you survived to adulthood."

"But mostly because I'm also very clumsy." She shrugged as she rounded his table to sit in front of him, setting aside his books. "I sense your reluctance. What is it?"

Carlisle looked down. "You are very young."

"I — she is seventeen." His Isabella cupped his face to make him look at her. "I wasn't always young."

"How old were you when I turned you?"

"Twenty-one." She supplied. "We wanted to wait until I was twenty-three but then I sort of," she paused. "died."

Carlisle took her hands in his. "Died?"

"Worry not. As you can see, I'm well." She smiled teasingly. Her smile vanished at the serious look on his face. "Don't. Don't even think about trying to prevent it. The reason behind my death, I treasure it. Let fate run its course."

"Yes, but-"

"Please." She pleaded with him.

Carlisle looked into her eyes, shoulders slumping as he relented. She caressed his cheeks, the pad of her thumb tracing over the circles under his eyes.

"You haven't fed."

He said hoarsely, "I hadn't the time."

Isabella pulled him up. "You should have joined the rest when you could."

He pulled her closer to him, leaning in to capture her mouth. "I was expecting you tonight."

She giggled as she deepened the kiss. "It's a good thing we have the house to ourselves then, Dr. Cullen."

France, 1671

Art and music were something he often thought about. As a human, he couldn't afford to pursue such subjects. His father disliked them, finding it frivolous and a waste of time. But Carlisle, with his newfound immortality, found he had all the time in the world. He went ... swam to France to start his travels around Europe. Paris, he couldn't say he had a fondness for the city. It was like London, though far more insalubrious.

The city was cramped and smelled foul. Very communal. His vampiric senses were always overstimulated.

Carlisle would often choose to stop breathing. Uncomfortable as it was, he'd rather not be enslaved by his own advantages.

He placed down his brush to take a break. "You should paint more often." He turned to see his Isabella leaning over his canvas with a thoughtful look on her face.

He did not waste a single second. Carlisle blurred into her and buried his nose in her hair, deeply inhaling her scent. Isabella smiled in his embrace then burst into laughter as he smothered kisses on her face and neck.

"Carlisle!" She squealed.

"I miss thee dearly, my love." Carlisle nuzzled her neck.

"Ah, I wish to say the same but I'm afraid I've just seen you ten minutes ago." She brushed his blond hair, held back by a tiny ribbon.

"Why do you still visit me even though you already have him?"

"Because I wish to know about your life and your travels." She said with honesty. "Granted, I can rarely control when I'm pulled through time but I always make sure it's you I'm visiting. My husband knows where I am."

"I always do appreciate your visits." He smiled.

Washington, Forks 2006

He knew not to interfere with how things went. But that didn't mean he was glad about it. He hid his thoughts well from Edward, shoving every thoughts of Isabella in the back of his mind. He hadn't thought it would turn on him and now his son was in love with his wife. His control was thinning. He watched her be introduced to his family in Edward's arms.

Carlisle was patient. He had been for the last three hundred years. But he was no saint, he was bound to snap.

At the night of Bella's eighteenth birthday, Carlisle treated her arm in his desk, plucking shards of glass from the bloodied skin. He could feel her eyes on him watching his work intently.

"Damned? Like hell? You could never be Damned."

"Thank you, Bella." He murmured. "You have always been gracious to us." To me. It was an odd feeling to be close to this Isabella who knew nothing about him.

Carlisle couldn't help it anymore. His self-control wavered. To be near to her and not touch her was torturous. He leaned down to bring his lips to hers. A delicious gasp escaped Bella though she made no move to push him away.

She parted his mouth easily for him, even hungrily chasing his lips as he thought of her need for air.

Though as quick as it began, she seemed to snap out of it. Her eyes widened in horror and she fled.

Carlisle fought a scream in his throat.

When his Isabella made a visit last night, he exploded, "You should have told me about this."

"About what?" She crossed her arms. "About Edward? I didn't fall in love with you right away."

"You could have warned me." He sighed, suddenly ashamed. "I kissed her tonight. I snapped, Isabella. Though nothing could have prepared me for the look of horror in her face when she fled."

"I was in love with Edward. But he isn't you." She sighed. "I know you envisioned something different for us but our relationship wasn't always perfect. There was a time you considered me a daughter."

Carlisle let out a choked sound.

"Though now, I suppose you won't." She let out a wry smile. "I've already meddled enough."

London England, 1659

Carlisle stared at the young woman in his room disconcertedly. Though this time she was clearly different. Human, a marked change from the creature he begun to consider as a friend (he blushed at the though that this girl would someday be his wife). She was far too lovely for him.

"Please sit." He gestured to the wooden stool.

Isabella took a step towards him, hand reaching up to touch his face. Carlisle closed his eyes at her touch and fought a shiver. She was warm and she'd always been cold to him. It was a welcoming change.

"Your eyes are blue." She whispered. "You're beautiful, Carlisle."

"Thy beauty outshines me, Isabella." He said adoringly. "I assure thee."

"You're human." She leaned into him. Carlisle's instinct was to step back to maintain an appropriate distance but she held the fabric of his coat tightly.

"You're human." Carlisle whispered back, breath fanning her lips. He looked down at her, his heart swelling from her sheer loveliness.

"You know," she leaned closer, their chests pressed against each other. "We may never get this chance again."

He whispered huskily, "what art thou implying?"

"Vampire can't procreate." His Isabella played with the strands of his. "We're both human now and we can try."

Was ... was she implying that he impregnate her? Carlisle felt his blood run hot.

"We are not man and wife. I must marry thee first." He breathed shakily.

"Carlisle that hardly matters when I'll be gone soon. We should make the most of it." She took his hands and placed it on her hips.

He backed away.

Isabella looked amused at his inner conflict. "I promise I will not think you dishonourable if you got me pregnant."

"Isabella!" He chided.

"Carlisle, please." She looked at him imploringly. "I want to give you this. We may never meet like this again."

"... out of wedlock? That is a sin, Isabella." He hissed, face hot. He knew his resolve was already melting away. His Isabella was human now, as warm as he was. Beautiful and flawed. He might never get a visit from her in this form again and she was offering her womb to him.

He groaned. "Thou undo me."

Carlisle brought his lips onto hers. Isabella responded enthusiastically, her soft form molding into his.

We'll be together anyway.

Pennsylvania, 1923

Esme smiled at him, bright and hopeful thet he wished he could return it. Turning her had been merely a whim as he couldn't bear the thought that a soul so pure would be doomed to a miserable death. Perhaps, had he felt loneliness and craved more companionship, Carlisle would've entertained the thought of falling in love with her.

"I should never have visited you." Isabella covered her face with her hands. "I've changed so many things already. I've robbed you of your happiness."

Carlisle was confused but then he understood.

Esme ... lovely Esme was his wife in a different reality where Isabella had never fallen in love with him. Where she, instead, had fallen in-love with Edward and it was he who she visited.

It was jarring to realize Carlisle didn't wish for it.

"Bella ... Isabella, you've robbed nothing."

"I made those visits, I exposed myself too much to you. You should've married her."

"I didn't." Carlisle pried her hands from her face. "I didn't. I would have betrayed you. What I feel for Esme is different from what I feel for you."

"That's now how it was supposed to be." Venom filled her eyes. "You could've married her still and we still would've met."

He cupped her chin. "And we would've hurt her if we did."

"It was how things went." She insisted. "God, perhaps I should stop making visits."

"It would kill me." Carlisle whispered, kissing her hand. "I can wait for you for another hundred years but I would be merely existing. Please don't."

"Carlisle," she said softly. "if I change more things, maybe we wouldn't happen."

"I'll marry Esme." He breathed, desperation lacing in his voice. "I shall be happy for you. I'll wait. You know I will wait."

"Carlisle," she laughed through the tightness of her throat. "I only want you to be happy while I'm gone. I won't be born for another 60 years."

"I waited for you since 1654. Do you think me impatient?"

Isabella gazed at him fondly. "I think you to be the most patient man to ever exist." She kissed him.

All paths lead to them anyway.