(CW: Some violence, Intense/Graphic Scenes (medical/complications))
43. THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR THIS.
(Jules' POV)
Everything was happening in slow motion.
"Beau?" I whispered, kneeling beside him. His eyes were closed, and he was still. So, so still. His face under the bloodstains was white. "Beau, you have to wake up! Do you hear me? Wake up!" I almost didn't recognize my voice the way it was coming out of me. Too broken.
Edythe dove, kicking up a flurry of white and red beneath her. She pulled Beau's mangled body into her lap, touching his dead cheeks and his dead lips with her undead hands. "No, no, no, you stay with me now, Beau! It's okay, you're going to be okay. Just stay with me, Beau. Please!" she begged and pleaded with everything in her, her voice erupting into sobs. She looked at her shaking hand, stained red with his blood. How fitting, I'd thought for one split second in that darkness - it was on her, anyways. "I'm so sorry, Beau. It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault…!" she cried out, her voice rising a desperate, terrified octave every word she said. But in that moment, I couldn't think much of it. Hot tears rushed into my eyes and anger blinded me to her suffering; boiled red-hot in my veins and carried me further and further away from it all. His life on her hands. Deep down, I knew it was wrong of me to think and a part of me hated myself for blaming her like that, but it was all I could do. To hurt her, because inadvertently, she had hurt me, too. If he were with me, if she wasn't in his life, then surely this never would have happened. Never, never. I pitted all my shattered dreams, those beautiful, aching days and nights by Beau's side, everything I ever felt for him, all that we had ever been through together, and that overwhelming darkness of his death that was killing me too right on her because it was the easiest thing to do when your world ended.
"You know what? It is all your freaking fault!" I screamed, fighting the urge to shove her away from him. She didn't deserve to touch him, I forced myself to think. "If you hadn't - and he hadn't - and- and-" My grief knocked me off my feet and I fell down into the snow, my hands twisting into the black ice as I broke down in tears – my shoulders couldn't stop moving, my whole body shook. I forced myself to look at him and his shattered, bleeding body, eyes shut, still, white, and cold. My heart ached inside me, bursting with sorrow and that gravity of Loss which pulled me down. Because it was over. He was gone.
But then, a slow, defiant thrumming pierced right through the darkness I'd been drowning in.
Could it be?
The sound, very weak, rhythmic in its own strumming, irregular way, was just barely audible to me in my human form, and I didn't know if I was dreaming and just so desperately wishing for it to be that I was hearing things now.
Edythe's wide eyes flitted to mine. Maybe I wasn't so crazy after all. She lifted Beau's limp body up towards her to confirm if what we were hearing was really what we thought it was. I hoped with everything in me that it was.
A breath of overwhelming relief shuddered out of her and she kissed his forehead for a long minute, breaking into silent, tearless sobs. I let out the breath I'd been holding and fell back in the snow, quivering with my own intense relief. We were similar in that way, me and her, in the love we shared for that kind, fragile, singular human boy. He was like no other.
But then her gaze broke from him. She made a crying-out sound like something hurt and fell forward, catching herself on one hand which gripped hard at the icy ground below. Beau jostled in her other arm from the force and I dove for him.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked half-angry and half-concerned, cradling my best friend's body in my arms and keeping him still as best I could, because she was failing miserably at that.
But then I realized – it wasn't her fault.
"Oh!" Her hands went to her stomach and her body crumpled into the snow. Then her fists twisted in the powder and she blew out two stuttered breaths, doubling over. "No," she noised, her voice coming out a strangled whisper, "No, no, no, no, no!"
And then I heard the sound of water rushing, and I was certain it was from no stream. I've seen too much TV and learned too much in school to not know what was happening. "It's too early, it's-" Edythe cried out in quick bursts and then her breath caught in her throat as another wave of pain hit, her jaw set like stone trying to fight against it.
You can't be serious. What the hell? What's up with this kid's timing?
Somewhere in the distance I heard the guards coming again, another round of bloodsuckers ready to attack, the battle inching closer and closer with each passing second. My eyes locked on the doctor's, desperation clear on every plane of my face. "Can't you make it stop? She cannot have this baby now, no way, no how. We're all going to die if she does!" I practically shouted it. And then what of Beau's child? I counted on my fingers how long it's been since the wedding. It was way too early – human babies born when they're only this far along didn't have the greatest chance of survival without a NICU around, so what were his? And we needed time to run; to escape. With Beau, unconscious, barely breathing, broken up from the inside out. We absolutely did not need a pregnant vampire going into freaking labor right this very minute as the cherry on top, too.
"If she were human, I would have administered some tocolytics to delay the progression of labor. But nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to work like that on a body like ours." Carine informed in a hard voice.
"We can't move her, she has to have this baby now. For both their sakes." Archie commanded, his hand on his temple. Then his eyes shot up and he jumped, his body slamming hard into another guard in the sky with the sound of a lightning strike.
"No, I can't, I can't…" Edythe sobbed, looking at Beau then down at her stomach and up again at the attack Archie was fending off.
But then another roll of pain struck her down, the agony hitting her double-time. But this one was different, and it caught her by surprise.
Edythe's breath came out in shallow, painful-sounding bursts, her fingers frantically clawing at her throat. "I can't… breathe. I can't breathe." But then she stopped, and terror took over her face. "No… he can't breathe." It hit her, and the rest of us, like a freight train. But it was her next words that really buried us six feet under.
"He's suffocating! He's suffocating!" Edythe screamed out with a shriek that clawed at my eardrums. I remembered that evil blond kid's attack on Edythe; how Beau threw his shield out to protect them both even when by then the damage had already been done. No, it probably didn't help for the baby to feel… all that… earlier, even for such a brief moment in time. Cause and Effect in all its perfect horror. My eyes widened in terror, my grip tightening on Beau's near-lifeless body and all I could think was, "No, not his child, too."
"The placenta must have detached." Carine whispered in a voice that sounded like the inside of a grave. She had Edythe sit down in the snow and pulled her dress up over her leggings. Putting on a stethoscope, she used it to listen in on the baby. "His heart rate is through the roof." Panic flooded Carine's usually-calm tone. "We need to get him out now."
"Yeah, I said that!" Archie yelled from across the field, fending off another demonic bloodsucker. More were coming and my pulse spiked as I held Beau tight to me. Him, Edythe, the baby - how were we going to protect them all? Was it even possible? Or were we all going to die here, a million miles from home, for a crime none of us committed?
What can we do to change things?
Looking at Edythe now, I lunged for the scalpel in the medical bag, my mind instinctively going to it. But then Carine touched my wrist, stopping me.
"Remember, Jules. Vampire skin is impenetrable to human tools and weapons. It can only be destroyed by another vampire." It'd escaped my mind. Lots of things did when life was going to hell.
"Then bite the kid out, for Pete's sake! He could die in there; he could die!" I shouted again and again, feeling fresh tears well up in my eyes. My jaw clenched and I forced down the choking lump in my throat.
Carine shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't do that, either. If I accidentally bit the baby; tasted his blood and drained him-" she shuddered, "then he can very well die. I don't know what our venom can do to him either, and it takes just one bite. I cannot risk any of that, Julie. I have said this before." she answered, loudly this time.
"Then what the hell are you going to do?" I cried out, my eyes falling first on Beau then Edythe, crumpled in a heap of pain on the floor.
I gasped.
There were these strange, angry black lines that kept appearing and disappearing on the surface of her stomach which looked bigger every time they came back, sealing tight then breaking open again and again under her grasping fingers.
"What are those? Does that mean something's wrong?" I frantically pointed; eyes wide. I'm sure they couldn't be good.
"They're simply cracks in her skin - I liken them to stretchmarks. As the child grows, moves, changes, her body is constantly being forced to compensate by trying to make an inflexible surface - vampire skin - flexible. It's what causes those marks." she muttered, still digging through the medical bag. But then she stopped, and her head snapped up. "They're cracks in her skin." She repeated the words in a drifting voice and her eyes locked on mine. "I have an idea."
"Scalpel, please." she indicated, and I handed it to her. Carine had Edythe lay down and moved her hands away from the cracks. Watching, Carine brought the tip of the blade to the space between one of the biggest cracks that formed on her stomach front and center, going about a centimeter into it to hold it open; keep it from closing up. With one hand on either side of the gash, Carine apologized to Edythe three times and started to pull the cut apart. An agonized scream pierced my ears and I shuddered away from the horrific scene involuntarily, feeling like maybe I was going to puke. I didn't have long to collect myself, though. "Jules, I need your help." Carine whipped out in a voice so desperate I could only obey. I laid Beau down as gently as I could and covered him with my jacket. A moment later, I was by Carine's side again. "C-section?" I warbled out, hoping the green on my face wouldn't betray me.
"Something like it." Carine answered. There was no blood at all whatsoever, just some kind of clear, wet substance that stung when it got into the cuts on my hands - venom, I'm sure it was - and I hissed, reaching for a pair of gloves from the first-aid kit before coming back to Carine. There was this high-pitched squeal like glass breaking as Carine widened the gash on Edythe's torso, revealing another layer of skin or muscle or whatever the hell it was under it. I couldn't tell, it all looked much too pale and white to be any healthy human tissue to me. A little blood never put me off, and I found this strange bloodless experience a million times more hurl-inducing than any normal human birth could have ever made me. Black lines continued appearing on those strange layers but it was all for nothing because the cuts, they kept on closing right up before Carine could get any further, warping and scarring the flesh on Edythe's torso - and inside it - as the gashes closed and tried their best to heal themselves up again and again, disappearing much too quickly for Carine to get very far even with my help.
"We need more hands," Carine murmured, shaking her head.
"A little busy here!" Archie shouted from across the field, holding a guard back by the neck. "And please, for goodness' sake, look out behind you!" he yelled out just in time for me to phase and knock another bloodsucker clear from view. We sailed into the air together and I dove for his neck, biting the skin right off. His body parts fell into two different piles on the floor below me and I made a mental note to burn them into ash later on with the lighter in Edythe's pocket.
"Any luck?" I asked when I was back at Carine's side.
"No, I don't think it's possible. The rest of the family is coming as fast as they can, they were by the airport earlier but by the time they find us again it'll be too late. We're going to have to find some other way." Carine fruitlessly pulled the cut open again in one last ditch effort to get the baby out. Edythe let out a piercing wail that made me shudder and the gash closed up on us quicker than I'd ever seen it go before. Unfortunately, her body was a little too good at adapting to the whole pregnancy thing. Oh, Beau. I looked to my best friend and stroked his cold-growing face, a lump forming in my throat at the sight. But under his scarred, broken skin I could still discern the faintest flutter of a heartbeat – barely audible, but still there. He was still here. It hadn't hit me fully yet that that could all change in an instant. What would he have done, I wonder? Hold Edythe, tell her everything's okay? Give her his hand, gently urging her on? What would I do? What could I do?
"I still say we should try and bite the kid out. I mean, that's how Adelaide was born, right?" I pointed out. Edythe nodded at that; she'd seen it in Silas' head before. "Right. So, if they were able to do it just fine, then I'm sure you could too, Carine." I insisted in my desperation. If we couldn't save Beau, then the least we could do was to give his child the chance to live instead. Otherwise, his sacrifice would have been for nothing. And I was determined not to let that happen.
"Please, Carine – just try. Do anything you can to save him." Edythe sobbed, her exclamation choked off by another mounting scream.
"Alright." Carine swallowed hard, looking down. "I'll do it, then. But please, just let me try one last thing." She leaned Edythe up against the boulder again and threw off her green jacket, putting it under her. Edythe slid out of her own peacoat and wore it like a blanket, trying to help keep the baby as warm as possible I'm guessing when they did whatever it was she and Carine were going to do. Then Carine slid Edythe's leggings off and I felt myself blush thinking maybe I should look away, because I'm pretty sure I knew what it was she was checking up on now. But could the whole "giving birth" thing really work that way for a body like hers? I had my doubts, but then again, what did I know? I wasn't a doctor, and I sure as hell was no pregnant vampire. Besides, the whole situation was already an impossibility – and yet, here we were. Life's weird like that sometimes.
"I don't believe it – somehow, she's dilating." Carine's voice was incredulous.
"How much?" I asked, folding my knees under me as I sat down beside her.
"Not very much, three centimeters give or take – but it's more than I could have ever imagined happening for a body like ours." She leaned forward, looking to Edythe. "Edythe? Are you able to push at all, honey?"
"I want to do that; but there's no relief in it, I can't… I can't do it." Edythe writhed, panted, then let out a scream, twisting herself into the boulder and clinging to it like her life depended on it. I didn't know what to do. What could I, anyways? I bit my lip, anxious, unqualified… I wasn't supposed to be here.
"How long do you think it's going to take?" My eyes kept darting from Edythe to the darkening sky and back again, my ears tuned into the forest. I could hear more of them coming, their deadly, sinuous bodies rustling in the tall trees.
"Full labor and dilation can take hours or even days." Carine shook her head. That was time we didn't have.
Archie crashed down beside us, a flurry of snow exploding from under him. "You've got a few options here, Carine. You can try delivering him the way Adelaide was delivered, it's successful in most of my visions-"
"Most?" Carine and I said at the exact same time, mouths falling open. Guess we couldn't do that now.
"Look, nothing's ever 100%, alright? I've seen just one version of it ending badly in probably a hundred flashes or so and that's only because-" Then he jumped up, sending another maniac in black flying before landing beside us again. "Because something like that happened." He took a breath, "He landed on Carine and it threw off the angle of one single bite - a nick, really - but the baby couldn't handle it, not when he was so little. I couldn't tell what was happening to him exactly, but it wasn't good. It didn't end well for the rest of us, either." His voice was bleak. I looked at him, horrified.
"What's my other option then, Arch?" Carine squeezed his hand. "Please, I need to know."
"I can't tell you the odds of that one very well." His voice was regretful. "I haven't seen enough of it yet. But you've already discovered that she's dilating and since then, it's started getting a little clearer. So far, it works, too."
"What does?"
"In all my visions so far, she's only ever going to get to those three centimeters, I don't think her body is capable of doing any more than that. But you sort of… help her with it." Archie moved his head a little from left to right, teeth grit.
"In what way?" Carine asked.
Archie winced. "Well…" He leaned in, whispering it to her. But I heard him, too, and I shuddered. That did not sound any better. Like, at all. But if it works…
"What are the odds of success for that option?" I quickly asked, turning in his direction.
"Like I said - I haven't seen enough of it yet to give you a very good estimate."
"But you saw something, right?" I pushed.
He nodded. "Yes. So far, it's worked every time 100%, but I only have maybe ten visions or so to base those odds on. Afterwards, things get blurry because every second I'm having them counts and throws it off."
"Then we'll do it." Carine declared. She looked to Edythe's trembling figure. "Honey, we're going to have you try delivering naturally - or, at least, as naturally as possible. And I will be the one to help see to that." Good Lord. I knew what that meant; what Carine had to do to her own daughter.
"Do whatever you can, Carine. I don't care. I don't care. Just save him." Edythe pleaded.
"But wait! Can the baby handle it?" I asked. "You said he couldn't breathe, and his heart rate -"
"His heart rate is still very fast, even for a fetus." Carine added, shaking her head.
"But maybe that's just because he's half human and half… what it is that I am." Edythe winced out. "Adelaide's was faster than any human I'd ever come across." She coughed, touched her throat. "As for his breathing… I'm not sure what's happening, it's still difficult for him, but not impossible. Like his body is adapting somehow, perhaps because of the distress he'd experienced." Her face fell, like she thought it was all her fault somehow that he had to go through that. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel at least a little bad for her. "But how-" Then her voice cut off, hands gripping tight to her stomach again. Two breaths in, two breaths out. Maybe it helped.
"I think he's ready. Are you, honey?" Carine asked. Edythe inhaled a shaky breath, nodding. Carine slid on another pair of gloves, moving her hands down between Edythe's legs.
And then they were literally prying Edythe open like the freaking Jaws of Life.
A grinding crunch like shattering ice, then a bloodcurdling scream. Oh, I get it now. Breaking. Breaking her apart from the inside out. Like glass. And she had to stay broken. That was the hard part. I grit my teeth, wincing on her behalf.
"So, we're doing this?" My head felt light. This wasn't going to be pretty.
And so, it began.
It wasn't like any birth I'd ever seen before. There was no blood at all, but Carine's gloves were glistening so you could tell they were wet. I guess all that… water… was just venom. Edythe screamed, writhing in pain like she was possessed or something. But could I blame her? Shattering, cracking, breaking. Skin, bone - it was hard to tell with a body like hers.
I looked on, helpless. Heard her screams, and her crying. She looked to Beau, still unconscious, the strength of her sobs increasing every time and I couldn't tell if it was from the physical pain of giving birth or that suffocating sadness which I saw in her eyes; the one I felt, too, because I loved Beau the same as her. And he was slipping away. Faster, quicker, with every second.
Stop it! I yelled inside my head. We couldn't lose hope. Not yet.
For now, she needed something else to hold onto. And then all I could do was offer my hand up to her.
She squeezed it. Hard. "Stop pushing, honey." Carine instructed. She pressed a hand down on the top of Edythe's stomach right under her chest and sort of massaged it, I guess trying to help squeeze the kid out like a freaking Go-gurt or something. She had me do it too, but I couldn't see how that could possibly help. But, no matter - as long as that baby came out one way or another, as long as he'd live.
More shattering of dead flesh. Edythe panted, squeezing my hand and covering her face with it to muffle a cry of anguish. I heard that same shattering again, and her face broke from the intensity of her next contraction - well, the closest thing to it, at least. Whatever it was that hit her. And if I weren't turned off from the idea of having children before…
"One more time, Edythe." Carine's hands were still holding her daughter open, trying their best to delay the vampire regeneration thing. Edythe pulled her legs tighter to her chest, one hand gripping the back of her knee, the other pretty much squeezing the life out of all my fingers. It hurt. A lot. Carine guided her through another round of breaking and she writhed; let out a shout. Ouch.
"You're doing great, sis." Archie came back, tucking a messy curl in behind Edythe's ear. He turned to Carine. "Okay, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that El, Jess, Roy, and Earnest are almost here. The bad news is that Sulpicia's sending even more guards after us. We're going to need all the manpower we can get."
"And you'll get it." I quickly added. "I don't think you saw, but Lee and Sarah are in Croatia, too. We'd planned it weeks ago."
"That's great news, Jules." He gave my shoulder a shake then ran off again, chasing away another one of those evil bloodsuckers. Another was coming in hot and I threw myself into the air, phased, and tackled him to the ground. Once I'd finished him off, I was back at Edythe's side to play Nurse and Bodyguard.
"I need you to push again. Follow that sensation to the end, Edythe." Carine encouraged.
"Edythe?"
It was the voice of a ghost.
"Beau?" Edythe and I said his name at once and my heart stuttered in my chest.
He turned towards Edythe, concern taking root in the scared, worried blue of his ocean eyes as they found hers.
"What's… happening? Are you alright?" He tried reaching for her hand but couldn't make it far, wincing in pain when his broken bones wouldn't work the way he wanted them to.
"What do you think is happening, dummy?" I chuckled through my tears. I thought it was all pretty self-explanatory. "She's having your kid. I guess you're in luck because you've woken up just in time to see it happen."
"Jules, you're here." He smiled at me then grimaced again, his breath coming out a pained burst of a gasp. "But wait… isn't it too early?"
"Complications." I informed, my voice soft. "A lot happened."
"Are they alright?" Panic was sharp in his labored tone.
"They're fine. For the most part, at least." No need to go into specifics, it would only have made him worry more.
"Jules, can you-" He hissed, holding his side. I couldn't tell if the red on the tattered remains of his shirt was there earlier or not and I dove forward. I sighed in deep relief when I saw the gauze over his skin under the shreds – it was an old stain. Even then though he shouldn't be straining himself, he'd already gone through hell and back and I didn't know when it'd take him away from us again.
"Be careful, Beau." I begged, trying to hold him still.
"I'm… fine." He lied obviously, but I knew he only did it to not worry us. That's so Beau. "Jules, can you… help me… to sit up? I want… to be there… for her."
"Beau, I don't think that's a good idea-"
"Please?" His hoarse voice came out the loudest I'd ever heard it since he rolled down that damned cliff with that damned evil blond bloodsucker. All I could do was grant his desperate wish.
"Here." I hooked my arm under both of his and pulled him up as gently as I could, holding my hand between his head and the boulder as I slowly rolled him off me, propping him up against the rock with Edythe.
"Thank you." Mr. Back from the Dead weakly replied, trying to show me a smile.
"You're incredible." I choked out, another lump forming in my throat as I touched his cold, shaking hand.
"Beau," Edythe's voice broke. She leaned over and pressed her forehead to his, her hands stroking either side of his face. "Oh, Beau." she sobbed out. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." She just apologized over and over again, kissing him on his forehead, his cheeks, his lips.
"Beau!" Carine exclaimed in deep relief and smiled at him. She couldn't for long, though.
"Ah!" Edythe flinched, eyes wincing shut.
"Take a deep breath, Edythe." Carine coaxed, and then she was…opening her up again, hands caught in that same center pulling not out, but apart. I cringed further back into the snow. Like that wasn't enough, Edythe let out this raw, terrible sound from the back of her throat to really drive that point home for me and squeezed my hand so hard I heard - then felt - the shattering of all my fingers. I dropped her hand with a cry, mine was on fire as I waited for it to heal. I imagined, though, that it was a million times worse for her. To say it sounded painful was a huge understatement.
"One more time, Edythe. He's so close, but I can't get to him without you." Carine urged, moving a little closer.
"I can't… I can't do this." Edythe whimpered out in two trembling breaths.
"Yes, you can do this, Edythe. You're so strong, he's almost here." Beau rasped in his fading voice, wanting to be as present as possible for what should have been the most amazing moment of their lives. My heart clenched up in my chest, wanting to hold on to him; wanting him to hold on and to survive but I only felt him slipping further and further through my fingers with his pale, shivering body, his uneven breathing, the blood pooling under him. He really was incredible. I took that oxygen bag again, giving him a few more pumps of air. "Thank-" He started but I shushed him right up. "Save your breath. Literally." I shook my head, chuckling through the fresh tears I could feel coming on. He closed his eyes and for a moment I feared he was slipping again, but continually fought the urge to either wake him up or let him rest and constantly debated how much time should pass between each different attempt. Only when I could be assured of his status – from a low, shallow breath here to a twitch of his finger there – could I put my focus entirely on helping Carine with Edythe. Oh, Beau. Just saying his name in my head made everything in me hurt. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He and Edythe were supposed to be back home, at Forks Community Hospital, surrounded by family. Beau was supposed to fill out papers in the lobby with a shaky hand and make the acquaintance of another guy in the waiting room just like him, a first-time dad. He was supposed to be in a nice, warm room with doctors and nurses on standby; supposed to go in there and hold his wife's hand the whole time, her screaming at him that it's all his fault and then he just cheers her on with a big smile on his face just for her. Cry tears of joy when their child took their first breath; cut the cord, kiss his wife's forehead and tell her she did it, that she was the strongest person he knew. He wasn't supposed to be on the verge of blacking out every five seconds, too weak to even touch her hand. He wasn't supposed to be struggling for breath, with punctured lungs and broken bones all over nor have blood pooling under him from all his injuries; his open wounds seeped red through and through. No. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. There are no words for this.
"They're here." I heard Archie's voice in the distance, then a thundering of feet moving closer now – but, after spending so much time at the Cullens' big white house they were all familiar sounds to me. Help had finally arrived.
"We're here!" Eleanor was the first to find us. She gasped when she saw Beau, her moves blurring as she retouched and tightened all his bandages. He flinched a little, but his eyes were still closed.
"What… happened?" Eleanor's jaw dropped as she tied another layer of gauze over his cut arm, which was bleeding again.
"Long story," I muttered, bringing Beau up when he started sliding off the rock, unconscious of it. The beating of his heart grew quieter still and I thought we were losing him again, panic gripping me in my stead and filling every cell in my body to capacity. "Come on, Beau, stay with us, stay with us…" I begged, patting his face twice to try and keep him awake. I gave him some more air; kept track of his breathing. He stirred again, the murmurs of his heart getting just a little stronger. Jessamine came up to us next but stopped a few feet short of the boulder, her wide eyes moving all over Beau's blood. "I'm so sorry." Her voice broke and she backed away, just, ducked and ran, putting all her energy towards attacking another advancing Volturi guard whose wild brown hair flew out behind him as he pounded towards her. She whirled him round, locking his arms tight behind his back and threw him down, sinking her knee into his spine and beheading him with ease. She got three more after him in a matter of seconds and I could feel my jaw drop. Eleanor, Royal, and Earnest went to join her, leaving me to tend to my near-unconscious best friend and his laboring wife.
"Again, honey. Come on, I need you to push right now. I feel it - I feel the head; I have it." Carine started pulling again, not out but apart, her arms straining with effort. I chanced a glance at the action, but wished I hadn't. I mean, I'm sure it was probably supposed to be beautiful or something, but it only made me sort of want to hurl and I hissed feeling the heat of that fire on Edythe's behalf. On the one hand, I admired her in a strange way, but, looking at her now, I'd also made up my mind that the whole "giving birth" thing was definitely on my list of top ten things I never wanted to do in life. But I also knew that this was The Miracle and deep inside, I really was glad to be a part of it; to be there for my best friend and the family he'd made. That was how I should've been from the start – happy. Happy for him. Edythe, too.
A growl ripped through the air, derailing my thoughts. I turned just in time to see a raging bloodsucker setting his sights on an unprotected Earnest's back, who was fighting off another one in front of him. Jumping up, I acted immediately. Phasing in midair, I slammed into the guard, my jaw wide open and caught his shoulder in my teeth, throwing us both into the ground. His ferocious red eyes burned into me as we tumbled in the snow, him constantly trying to get his arms around me but I dodged them every time, pushing him away.
Hold on, Jules! Sarah's voice broke through my consciousness, broadcasting loud and clear in my head with Lee's following soon after. They came right on time. Over here! I shouted back without the words and they emerged from the forest, breezing to either of my flanks with their long, quick strides, circling the guard and I in a matter of seconds. He threw himself away from me and bent his knees, snarling, his hands shaped like claws as he eyed the three of us encroaching in on him. Our lips pulled back over our teeth as we growled, revealing the fantastic glint of our fangs in the afternoon sun. Realizing that he couldn't win against us all together, he turned and ran. We pounded after him. I glided in the air and swooped down in front of him, blocking his path. Lee came at him from the left, Sarah his right and they held him tight with their jaws. I lunged for his glass neck, taking a huge chunk out of it and making it that much easier to knock his head clean off. Launching the two pieces into opposite sides of the field, I made a mental note to burn the remains later if I had to so he couldn't regenerate again. Two more were at our backs, but it was easy when Royal jumped down from the trees and dragged one of them through the snow.
"Ah!" It was Edythe from across the field. More breaking; another squeal of shattering glass.
"Jules!" Carine called me over and I dove, phasing back to my human form as I slid in the snow towards where they were. Immediately, she had me press down on the top of Edythe's stomach to help both her and the baby out.
"He's almost here, you're doing so well, honey." Carine said, pulling both apart then out this time. Edythe only responded with these strange little sounds, not screams or yells exactly but quiet, whimpering breaths. Her hands were over her head now, squeezing at the boulder and trying to redirect that pain elsewhere. It hit me then how close we were getting.
I looked over to Beau, fearing he'd miss it. He was out again, and I tried to suppress the flood of panic clawing away inside me. "Beau?" I called out. His heart continued thrumming weakly in his chest and his finger twitched in my direction. I fell back and covered my eyes, trying to hold back my tears. He was going to make it. Him and his child, they were going to be just fine. I had to believe that; had to. "Again." Carine whispered. She counted down from ten and I took Edythe's hand. "One more time, honey. He's so close, he's right there." Carine's voice was thick and happy - so happy. I guess delivering your grandchild – the closest thing to it, at least – can make someone pretty emotional. Edythe screamed the loudest I'd heard just then, struggling through a pain I never wanted to feel, her fingers tight around my own.
And then I found myself cheering her on like a soccer team's number one fan at a home game. "Come on Edythe, you can do it, you can do it…!" I felt my voice ripple with enthusiasm. Suddenly, it didn't matter if she was crushing all my fingers or that my body was aching from waging war against the Volturi's evil bloodsuckers and taking a beating all the while, all that mattered right now was that baby and helping Edythe get him here. Almost, almost…
One last round of shattering. A final scream. A final tug.
And then, there was a cry.
Reaching down, Carine pulled a shivering wet thing out from under Edythe's skirt and at last presented it to its mother.
"It's a boy." Carine laughed in a whisper. Edythe took the little bundle from her with a gasp of wonder, wrapping him up in Beau's gray wool sweater – my favorite on him since he wore it to First Beach what seemed a lifetime ago – and took him into her arms. Beau, barely conscious, turned his head, his body twitching in his wife and newborn son's direction as if the sound had awakened him.
"Beautiful." The tears came and filled his eyes when he saw that baby. "You did it, Edythe. You did it. God, I'm so proud of you… so proud. You're absolutely amazing, Edythe." he croaked out weakly, voice breaking. With the very last bit of his strength, he reached out to stroke at the tiny thing's cheek and ran his fingers along Edythe's knuckle like he was trying to hold her hand, but didn't have enough strength to do it. Edythe seemed to sense that about him, and she covered his hand with hers.
"I did, didn't I?" It sounded like she was crying happy tears even when I knew that was impossible for someone - something - like her. "My baby, my baby, my baby…" she crooned in tiny little sobs, bringing him to her chest and kissing him all over. Her eyes were so shiny as she looked down at that tiny being in her arms with something I don't think I'll ever understand, gripping his fist and bouncing it in the air, her fingers wrapped tight around it as she kissed the knuckles. "I'm your mommy, sweetheart. I'm your mommy." All I could see was pure Love in her eyes. She kissed his wrinkled forehead again and again, his whimpering cries stirring up something even in me. His little feet kicked under the sweater, his hands up by either side of his chubby, perfect face framed by matted-down wisps of dark hair that looked like Beau's in the shade but Edythe's in the sun. This tiny, wriggling thing, reaching up towards the light of the cold blue sky, a new life amidst all this death and destruction. But while he was tiny, he wasn't tiny-tiny, like him being half-vampire filled him out even if he was born nearly two months early. It was like his body and Edythe's body sensed it somehow, and his vampire genes worked double-time to fill the rest of him out in those last few moments right before he entered the world.
And then I got closer. A breath caught in my throat, and all I could do was stare.
Two impossibly tiny fists grabbed at the air, his feet brushing against each other with every soft, hiccupping cry he made like he couldn't recognize the sound of his own voice and it startled him. And he was so beautiful. His big blue eyes fluttered open, two marvelous oceans gazing out at this strange world before him in wonder.
Then those eyes found mine. And that was when everything changed.
See, I knew he was beautiful before, but this was a different kind of beauty; transcendent. It was a beauty that transformed me. And then there was no one else in the world but him.
I think I knew deep down what was happening to me, but it was entirely different from what I'd expected; something beyond my wildest dreams because those were make-believe. This was real, and this was raw. It's everything. I felt my eyes widen as if I were receiving the light of the sun for the very first time after emerging from the darkest cave. It's like… gravity. Your whole center shifts. Suddenly it's not the earth holding you here. You would do anything; be anything he needs. That was Beau's son. Yet, there was something else, too - An awe-inspired rush, lights dancing across the sky in shimmering bursts of color. It was Love – the purest, most immaculate kind anyone could ever feel. From the moment I laid my eyes on that squirming little being I was struck down by Love. I could see nothing; hear nothing else, only this pulsing, unequivocal need to be near him - he was so utterly perfect. It almost felt like I was the one who gave birth to him when I saw him like that and tears filled my eyes. I didn't know something this strong, this powerful, existed. That it could exist for me. He was someone to cherish. Someone to protect. Someone to love. Love, Love, Love. That's all I had in my heart for him. He inhaled his very first long, sharp breath then let out an echoing cry, and I swear even the skies bowed down to him. My quivering hands came up to cover my lips, and it was in that moment I knew that I no longer belonged to myself.
"He's so warm." I heard the ache and the pain and the Love all at once in Edythe's voice. She held him tight to her chest; that cold, dead body of hers and I wondered how she did that - how could she, the living dead, have given life to this perfect and beautiful child? This warm child? This child whose blood rushes through his veins; whose heart beat as one with mine? She gave him life. I guess that meant she gave it to me, too. And I cried and cried and cried.
"Congratulations." Carine kissed Edythe's forehead then the baby's, hugging me close right after – like I was a part of her family, too. "Now we just have one more thing to do." She looked to her daughter again, holding up a finger. I think Edythe felt it before Carine could say it, though. She gasped then winced, curling her toes in the snow to counter the next wave of pain. Still, I knew it wouldn't be anything compared to what she'd already gone through.
I leaned in, trying to pivot her attention away from the discomfort. "So… are we still sticking with CJ?" I asked the parents. Beau was back again, barely, but he was still with us. He was still holding on.
"No Chearnest?" Beau chuckled, his voice just loud enough to reach me.
"No Chearnest." Edythe insisted with a laugh, stroking Beau's face. Then her eyes were back on the little guy in her arms. "Welcome to the world, Charlie-Earnest Jacob Swan." Edythe kissed him again. I bit my lip, feeling the twitch of my smile ready to break out clear across my face.
"It's a mouthful," I teased, remembering my words from earlier.
"But we'll just call him CJ for short." Edythe finished for me.
"CJ." I tried the name out, the name I'd come up with. It made me ridiculously happy and I just smiled and smiled like a big dumb idiot. "You officially have the coolest name on the block, kid. You're welcome." I leaned down, kissing CJ's chubby pancake cheek. He cooed in agreement, shoving his teeny fist into his mouth and pressing the other half of his face tighter to Edythe's chest.
"You're going to feel a little bit of pressure here, honey." Carine informed. Sure enough, there was another little peal of breaking glass and Edythe grunted, teeth grit.
"Are you okay?" I asked, touching her shoulder. She nodded.
"I'd say this is a walk in the park compared to what I'd felt before." She chuckled, burying her face in CJ's – aka, the best distraction in the universe. I knew I could look at his adorableness forever. "You see what I go through for you, my love?" She cooed down at him, stroking the side of his head and cheek with the back of her hand. "You're so very soft."
"I just need a small push from you here, Edythe." Carine was still working on her. Taking a breath, she did as Carine asked and then relief flickered onto her face. Instinctively, my eyes went to Carine; she was looking down. I followed her gaze.
Right. The placenta. I was kind of proud I remembered that one from Health class last year. Of course, it didn't look like any normal human one I'd ever seen, it was all different shades of white and gray instead. I figured as much. After what I'd witnessed today, though, I think it's safe to say that nothing could surprise me anymore. I traced the white-gray cord attached to it all the way to CJ and watched as Carine tried to cut through it – she'd used the medical scissors first, but the blades didn't even make a dent. It was as strong as playground balancing rope I'd wager, and she ended up having to just bite through it instead. But you know what? I'm just going to roll with it.
"Lighter, please." Carine held out her hand. I took it from Edythe's coat pocket and handed it to her, watching as she turned the cord and the placenta into ash. That was wise, I guess - it was safer this way; to leave no trace. Instinctively, Edythe pressed herself further up against the rock with CJ in her arms, only relaxing when we'd snuffed out the flames with some snow.
I practically leapt towards them then; followed them blind to that rock. It was an automatic thing. Where he went… I went. "Would you like to hold him, Jules?" I guess noticing that, or maybe having just read my thoughts, Edythe held him out to me. Like I could say anything but 'yes' to that offer. I could only manage an eager nod.
"Hey there, little guy. I'm your auntie Jules." He was perfection from the top of his baby curls to the tips of his baby toes, his satin cheeks flushed pink from the exhaustion of being born.
He cried again. "Shh. Shh." I pulled him tight to me; nearest to my heart. His warmth made me feel like I was glowing. He nestled deeper into my chest, hiding his face in it. Safe in my arms, and he knew it through and through. Maybe I wasn't the one who gave birth to him, but he felt like mine all the same. And that kind of bond? It was enough for forever. Unchanging. This is how it will always be; I will always, always love him like this. In that sense, I guess I sort of became a mom today, too. Who knew, right?
He fussed a little then, his clutching fingers brushing soft against my skin.
"He's hungry," Edythe whispered, stroking his cheek. "What are we going to do?"
I thought about that – what was he going to eat? What could he eat right now? Did he want… blood? I was willing to be his donor, if that were the case.
"I don't want that." Edythe interjected. "I don't want him to rely solely on blood." She must've read my thoughts.
"It's not like you've got anything to give him, Edythe." I know that might've sounded mean, but I didn't say it to hurt her feelings or anything. I was better than that – now, at least. "Sorry, I'm just… not sure if your body could do that sort of thing, Edythe." I explained.
"I actually have another theory on that." Carine held up a finger. "During pregnancy and right after birth, the human body makes something called colostrum – it's the first form of breast milk produced and is rich in nutrients and antibodies that help build a newborn infant's immune system. Perhaps the venom in your body worked to produce a substance with similar properties. I say give it a try, and if it does not work, then…" Carine sighed, worry once again consuming her features.
"Then I can help out." I raised my hand. "I've donated to those blood drives that came to school before, and I'll be in my human form, too. Doctors don't seem to notice anything…wolfy, I guess?…about my blood, so it should be okay, I think."
"Thank you, Jules." Carine took my hand, grateful, then turned to her daughter. "Try nursing him first, Edythe."
And so, I handed CJ off to his vampire mother.
Edythe rocked him once, then a flash of her pale skin shimmered as she pulled the long elastic sleeve down over her shoulder. The soft swell of her left breast peeked out over the layers she had on underneath and gently, gently she guided CJ to it. He latched on immediately, his tiny fingers curling against her skin.
"I feel something." Edythe gasped, bringing CJ even closer to her chest. Tiny squeaks and content baby sighs came from him as he drank, his teeny feet fluttering against Edythe's torso.
"It worked." I whispered, shocked. That was pretty darn amazing.
"It seems so." Carine agreed. "But whatever it is you have in there, I don't know if it will sustain him long. He's still part human, after all." she added, concerned.
Archie jumped down beside us then, sending a flurry of white into the air and gasped when he saw CJ for the very first time. "Oh, my God. Congratulations, Edy." he whispered, so full of awe, and stroked CJ's head before kissing hers.
Just then, a snarling growl ripped through the air.
Archie jerked a head over his shoulder. "Uh-oh. We need to leave. Right now." He went to help Edythe up but staggered forward in the snow, catching himself on the rock with a gasp like a jolt of electricity had snagged through his veins. "Oh no." His eyes squeezed shut and his fingers were on his temples. Then his eyes flew open, burning with the shock of fear.
"What is it, Arch?" Carine asked.
"A vision, it's…it's Beau." My best friend's name was a terrified whisper on his tongue. I froze.
"What?" Edythe and I sobbed out once we realized what he was saying.
I looked to my best friend. Just a minute ago he was smiling, laughing. Calling his newborn son Beautiful.
But now everything had changed.
There he was, slumped over to one side, white and red as a bloodstained sheet. His eyes were closed. I shook his shoulder.
And then I realized – I could no longer hear his heart beating.
"Beau…?" Edythe, still holding their son, said Beau's name, fear catching in her voice and making it a choked sound. She dove for him. I did the same.
No. My own heart felt like it'd stopped in my chest. It dawned on me now, slow, aching, and drowned me, taking me under. "Beau…" I grabbed his hand; shook it. "Beau? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Answer me, Beau! Please, wake up! Please!" I was down on my knees, begging, hoping, praying.
And then I was flying backwards, ripped instantaneously from my grief.
I struggled to my feet. My attacker's glaring gaze was barbed wire on me, his murderous eyes aflame as he charged and yanked me up, getting his arms around me and twisting my own behind my back. At the very sight of him I felt the hotness of my anger, and infinite sadness, steadily building up and up, boiling away inside me and moving around all over. It burned in me, festered, spread. To my arms and to my legs, to my toes and to my head, concentrating all at once in my shattered, broken heart. Every part of me, coiling, swirling, exploding. It catapulted through my veins; blinded me to every suffering but my own. Then I phased in his grip, bursting right out of it. Landing in the snow, I looked up and all I could see was red. You. You, you, you. Every last one of you. The Volturi, and their role in what happened here today. To my best friend.
They killed my best friend.
And I charged.
One by one I made him into more; Everyone, and Everything. My paws pounded against the drowning sea of white and it springboarded me to him, hacksawing the space between us into smithereens. Running, running, running, I blasted towards him and ripped into his neck, snarling, aching, the glint of my fangs reflected back at me in those evil, terrified red eyes of his. He'd summoned his own Inferno. He shrieked out a cry and held me back, trying to get a grip around me but I jammed my claws into his shoulders and threw him to the ground, landing on top of him. I sank my teeth into an arm here and a leg there, taking chunks out of him with each bite – one and then the other; this one and that one. Then I slammed his skull into the snow with one paw, the squeal of breaking glass the only thing I could hear in my blind rage as I pushed it down and down, my movements sure and slow, waiting for everything to implode in on him bit by bit; to crush him from the inside out like he'd crushed me. I wanted to make it hurt. I wanted him to die.
Stop it, Jules! This isn't like you.
Their voices again. Lee, and Sarah.
Just let us help you.
I stopped. They came.
I let up the pressure of my paw; took a step back. With one quick, final peal of glass my friends had taken care of him. I grabbed the lighter from Edythe's coat pocket and lit him up in my human form, falling down beside the pile of ash he'd become. Dead, and gone. An eye for an eye; one kind of shattering for another. My eyes welled with the tears I've been holding back and thinking of Beau, I felt my face crumple in on itself as I screamed and screamed up at the cold blue sky.
Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did you have to die?
No. He was going to be just fine. I had to believe that, had to.
My denial made me strong in a way.
I started towards them again, my feet feeling so heavy with each slogging step I took it was like I was wearing boots made of lead. Because in the back of my mind, I knew. I knew it was over.
Archie was still there with Edythe and Carine. And what was left of my best friend. The cold wind knocked me off my feet and I fell on my knees, my burning eyes finding Edythe. She clutched Beau's mangled body to hers, her hands skimming down his bloodstained face; his pale white and red arms and legs and she shook with a raging devastation, and horror, as if she were so dirty, so marked, that he'd disintegrate in her hands. So broken that it made my own heart ache tenfold for them both. "No, no, no, you stay with me now, Beau! It's okay, you're going to be okay. Just stay with me now, Beau. Come on, come on… wake up, Beau! Please, wake up!" Her echoing sobs carried further and further away into the mountains and all I could do was cry with her. For him.
So this was how it was going to end, the darkest voice in my head started up. It threw me; pushed me down the stairs in my mind. Painstakingly, I pulled myself back up again inch by aching inch just to continue reaching for the Light; for that last sunshine ray of Hope. Hidden between the peaks and valleys of the darkness inside me, with no guarantee of discovery. But I continued on; I continued to try.
Maybe…I can still change things.
No, scratch that - I will change things.
I'll… bring him back. I did it once before, I will do it again.
I took Beau from Edythe and laid him down. Bending over his head, I took a deep breath. His mouth looked clear, so I pressed mine to his and blew a lungful of air into it. I felt his limp body expand, so there was nothing blocking his throat.
His lips tasted like blood.
I counted in my head, trying to keep the rhythm steady. One. Two. Three. Four. Breaking away for a second, I blew another lungful of air into him. Nothing. Hope was failing me. I couldn't see anymore; my eyes were wet and blurry. But I was hyperaware of the sounds in these dark mountains: the demonic bloodsuckers coming at us from every corner of the forest sent here with just one purpose in mind – to kill us all. Jessamine, Earnest and Eleanor still fighting as much of them off as they can, their love for their family flowing strong in their veins. My best friends Lee and Sarah, fighting beside me; for me because it was the right thing to do. The pounding of my own heart, and another that meant so much more to me now - a fluttering beat, very fast and very light. My CJ. He was crying – maybe he knew what was happening, that his father was gone. Royal had him, I saw the flash of blond bent over him somewhere to my left as I forced more air down Beau's throat. "What are you waiting for, Beau? You promised us, you promised me." I choked out breathlessly, pumping his heart again. One. Two. Three. Four.
I kept pumping, kept counting, while Edythe, Carine, and Archie worked manically over Beau, trying to put him back together.
But there was nothing there. Just us, down on our knees in the snow.
Working over a corpse.
Because that's all that was left of the boy we loved. This bled-out, mangled corpse. We couldn't put Beau together again. I knew it was too late. I knew he was dead.
"No." Edythe trembled out. "He's not. He's not dead." She leaned over his broken body and took his bloodstained hands in hers. "You stay with me now, Beau! It's okay, you're going to be okay. Don't you leave me, Beau! Don't you dare, don't you dare…!" she sobbed and sobbed, her body rocking with sorrow. It broke me beyond repair – her crying-out grief, melded with my own, waxed and waned; turned into a living, breathing thing that devoured us whole, chewed us up and spit us out. Choking us. Drowning us. We couldn't overcome the Monster. And I knew we never would.
Archie cut in, "Edythe, I've seen it! I don't – I don't see any other outcome but that. He's gone. It's over. I tried to see something else, I-"
"Then try harder!" I screamed through my tears.
I did compressions again and again, hoping for that different outcome each time. One, two, three, four.
"Come on," I grit my teeth, "Come on!"
It wasn't working.
"There's nothing more we can do." Carine whispered as it hit her. Her hand drifted over her lips, her voice coming out thick from between her fingers. Because it wasn't just a patient she lost today – it was family.
It must've killed her, too.
"No," I whimpered out, "Beau… Beau…" I laid down beside him and curled my fingers against his still chest like I could grab his heart straight through all the broken skin and shattered bones to make it beat again; as if somehow, I had that kind of mystic, wondrous power. Sobs wracked my body. Edythe's too. Just us, and all that was left of Him. To see him there, so still, so cold, so white and red, it was like the world had burst into flames. It was the sun falling out of orbit, the planets once aligned now crashing down all around me into the blackest, darkest void of infinity, falling and falling forever and ever with no end in sight. And that kind of grief; that cruel, pitiless Monster, was enough for two people or ten. For a thousand times infinity. And I saw it, felt it, the same as her; felt it so deeply it cut us straight to the bone, right through her and then me, in one quick, sweeping stab. All I could do was take her hand as Loss knocked us down and left us reeling in silence.
But in that very silence, one solitary trickle of a ga-lump pierced through the cold air.
That sound, barely there, struggling to be heard, so low and so sparse you'd miss it completely if you even so much as looked away.
Archie gasped. So did Edythe. And all I could do was weep.
Because I knew what that meant.
I knew what we had to do.
"Save him," I whispered, squeezing Edythe's cold hand. "Save him!"
Change him.
She heard my plea.
Trembling, Edythe leaned down and covered Beau's body with hers.
"Forgive me." she whispered in his ear, voice breaking. Then her face was at his throat, and I could hear the quiet sound of her teeth cutting through his skin.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone!
Whew, I know this one was a lot, lol. I apologize once again for the late update, the holidays were quite busy and this chapter, in addition to being such a huge one plot-wise, was another super challenging one for me to write - everyone was just dealing with one catastrophe after another, but also transforming in some way at the same time - Beau and Edythe into parents, Carine into a "grandparent", the beginning of Jules' relationship to CJ and becoming this sort of maternal figure to him too, etc. in addition to the danger the family was already in with the Volturi guards at their backs. It was difficult to sort of keep it going and to keep that balance between pacing, action, details, dialogue, etc. all the while making sure to delve deep enough into those inner transformations/challenges in their lives as well, like grief and the potentiality of loss constantly looming over everyone's heads, especially Edythe and Jules. Though for all that, I think the toughest bit by far for me was figuring out how exactly Edythe was going to give birth (not to mention how I was going to portray it without pushing the rating into "MA" territory!) because, well, she's a vampire lol. Her skin cannot stretch at all, and her body is pretty much incapable of most of the changes that come with the natural progression of human labor and delivery so I had to work and rework that part so much, which sorta made me want to tear my hair out more than a couple of times haha. It was worth it in the end, though! Ah, the joys of writing :)
I also just wanted to talk a little bit about Imprinting and how it works differently in my story. You know, when I first saw Breaking Dawn as a young kid, I actually really liked Jacob imprinting on Renesmee and thought it was a super clever way for Stephenie Meyer to cap off the "Love Triangle" in the saga (I was also Team Jacob for the longest time, which may or may not have factored into this perception lol) but as I got older, Jacob's imprinting on a literal newborn infant and what that could potentially mean for that child growing up and what their relationship could possibly develop into just raised more and more red flags for me and while I understand it wasn't Stephenie Meyer's intention for it to be taken that way, I ended up really, really hating it! So, I decided to change that up a little for my own version of the story - here, "Imprinting" is just a deep, profound connection established between two individuals, but even Jules and her pack members didn't know that fully yet. Sometimes the relationship develops into something romantic like what Sam and Elliot have but others will develop in another direction instead, like Jules and CJ. In this chapter, Jules mentions that "It felt like I was the one who gave birth to him" and she will only ever feel this way about him - that is, she feels like a mother to him, imprinting on him as someone to love and protect her whole life - no romantic undertones whatsoever. On the other hand, romantic imprinting in this universe would always happen when the two individuals involved are of age.
As always, thank you for reading and for all your support! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season surrounded by loved ones and wishing you all a safe, happy new year! :)