A/N: We're just about there.

It's not mine.

I have no beta.

BPOV

I was not too happy with Aro's need to be lenient with the Cullens. His lack of desire to punish them for breaking vampire laws has me seriously concerned. Caius is insistent that their laws are upheld no matter what.

To be fair, it was Carlisle that Aro was refusing to punish. Even though he is the leader of the coven, for God's sake it bears his name, Aro is choosing to be difficult. Both Caius and Marcus are unhappy with this turn of events.

His absolute stubborn refusal to uphold vampire law regarding Carlisle's actions has me wondering. Could there be an even greater reason for Aro to refuse to dole out the punishment? That's when the idea hit me.

I threw open the door to my very beautiful room and asked Felix who was standing guard, to bring me to my grandpa. "I know you don't want to have to walk at a human's pace, Felix. Just pick me up and make a run for it," I said.

The burly guy bent down and picked me up bridal style. He took off at a ridiculous speed. I loved it. We made it to Caius's office a moment later where Felix put me back down on my feet.

"Felix, that was great. You are pretty speedy even for a vampire which is crazy. You're freaking huge," I said with a huge smile. I really do enjoy the speed.

I turned when the office door opened and Caius was standing there grinning at me. "Hello, little one, do you like your room?" he asked as he gestured for me to enter his office.

"I absolutely love my room, and don't let me get started on the bed and the shower," I smiled. The room was unreal. "I didn't come about my room though. I came because I have been pacing and cussing over the way Aro is acting regarding Carlisle's much-earned punishment."

Caius shut the door and walked me over to one of the armchairs which were placed in from of a rather large fireplace. He sat down on the one opposite from mine and sighed. "I know you're angry. I don't want you to worry about this, but since you're a lot like me, you're going to be pissed until the situation is handled."

"That's putting it mildly. And if you think I'm angry, you should go talk to dad. He's threatening to forgo the trial and light the bastards up anyway. Those were his words not mine," I clarified. My dad was livid and did not have anything nice to say about Aro being an emotional wuss.

Caius laughed, "I love the way his mind works. The two of you seem to have my personality exactly. Although, I'm not sure which one of you is the more ruthless one."

"I would say that it depends on the situation. We both desire justice. Since this mess is very personal to me, I am the more ruthless one in this situation. However, since those morons messed with his daughter, dad is feeling the need to spill copious amounts of venom," I explained as I pulled my legs up under me to sit in my customary lotus position.

"As I said, you both have inherited most of my character traits," he said. "Now, what has brought you here? You wanted to talk about Aro?"

"Yup, so I was raging in my room when a thought came to me out of nowhere. Could it be possible that Carlisle is Aro's mate? I'm asking because Aro is crazy protective of Carlisle and refuses to entertain the thought of punishing him," I finished.

Caius stared at me for a few minutes as he thought over what I just asked. He jumped up unexpectedly and placed a kiss on my forehead. "You are a treasure, little one," he said as he ran out of the room.

I sat there wondering what the hell happened. I knew Caius would come back so I just got up and wandered over to his massive bookcase which took up the entire length of one wall. I looked over the titles of several books and was impressed. He had some very impressive first editions of classic literature.

"Bella" Caius called out. I turned around to see him and Marcus walk in. Caius closed the door and gestured for me to reclaim my seat.

"Hi, Marcus," I greeted him with a hug and then sat down.

The stoic man smiled a bit. "Hello again, Bella," he said in greeting. "May I ask what is going on?"

"My genius grand-baby had an idea. Is Carlisle Aro's mate?" he asked. I noticed that he called me his grandbaby. He and I will be chatting about that.

"I have never checked. As you know, I greatly dislike Aro reading my thoughts, so I make certain that he cannot touch me. Likewise, I have never bothered to check his lines. I never really had a reason to before," Marcus explained.

"I just noticed that he is protecting Carlisle to such a degree that there has to be something deeper going here than just Aro having a crush," I said looking expectantly at him. I was almost certain I was right.

Marcus just stood there closing his eyes. He was silent for a bit and then abruptly opened his eyes with a look of shock in his eyes. "You are correct. Carlisle is Aro's mate."

"I knew it!" I yelled as I jumped up and down and clapped my hands. "So if Carlisle is Aro's mate that would mean that Esme is not Carlisle's mate. Oh, this is so twisted. He told Esme that she was his mate. He freaking lied to her," I said getting worked up. "That rat bastard has been using Esme as his beard this whole time because his religious beliefs would make it a sin for him to be mated to a male," I said balling my right fist up and punching my left hand. Carlisle is a fucking asshole.

"What do you mean by saying Carlisle was using Esme as his beard? I am unfamiliar with that term." Marcus asked.

"A beard is a person that is used by someone to be either their boyfriend or girlfriend in order to conceal sexual orientation. If a gay person is not out of the closet or not ready to let others know, they use a beard," I explained.

"That would explain Carlisle's actions. Aro has always been very flamboyant. In Ancient Greece, same-sex couples were not a rarity. In fact, it was pretty much normal back then," Marcus replied. "I just cannot believe that I have never checked before."

"You do realize that this complicates things, don't you?" Caius asked Marcus who only winced in response.

"I don't give a flying frick who Carlisle is mated to. He deserves to be punished. If I can't see him get torched, then I better see him pay dearly. You need to hit him where it hurts. I say remove him permanently from the human population. Take away his rights to intermingle with humans and make him give up his medical license. That should do the trick. Make him stay here so Aro can keep an eye on him," I said taking a deep breath. I always run out of breath when I get on a roll like that.

"The guard was right about you, little one. You are very perceptive. Also, your punishment sounds about right," Caius said giving me a one-armed hug.

"Yes, Aro would get to keep his mate nearby, and Carlisle would get a just punishment," Marcus said before turning to me. "Bella, would you be so kind as to give me and Caius some privacy? I need to have a discussion with him," he politely asked.

"Of course," I said standing on my tip-toe to place a kiss on Caius's cheek. "I'll see you later, gramps," I giggled and walked out the door before Caius could say anything.

Felix was nowhere to be found, so I ended up just meandering around the castle. I walked down one corridor, up a flight of steps, and down another corridor. As I walked, I paid close attention to where I was. I did not want to ever get lost in this castle.

I heard raucous laughter coming from down an adjacent corridor. I definitely heard Emmett's booming voice and decided to make my way in that direction. A door opened down the hall, and I saw Jane stick her head out. "Bella, what are you roaming around for? Come on in."

I skipped over and stepped inside. I never expected to see a massive game room in a vampire castle. There was a pool table, Foosball, several desktop computers, a massive big screen tv with several gaming systems on a shelf underneath it, and a massive sectional couch in the center.

"Bellsy, what the hell are you up to at this time of night?" Emmett asked without taking his eyes off of the game he was playing with Felix.

"I was talking to Caius and Marcus. You are not going to believe what we figured out," I told them. The game was paused, and I had the attention of everyone in the room.

"What did you figure out?" Alec asked.

"Did you know that Marcus has never read Aro's lines until this evening?" I asked.

"That's not too surprising. Master Marcus hates to be read. He feels it's a huge invasion of privacy even if it's not intentional," Jane explained.

"Well, he read Aro tonight, and let me tell you, I must be a genius," I said proudly.

"What do you mean you must be a genius? What the hell have I missed?" Felix asked.

"I was in my room pacing and talking to myself. I was pissed at Aro. His stubborn refusal to hand Carlisle his ass even though it's abundantly clear that Carlisle broke the law, really pissed me off. You can tell he already decided to give the not-so-good doctor a pass before even having the trial," I ranted.

"Yea, it's true. I was afraid that was going to happen. This isn't the first time Cullen has gotten into trouble," Jane told me.

"When I'm done telling you what happened, you're going to have to give me the skinny on what Carlisle did. There's a juicy story there. I can tell, I told Jane. "So Marcus read his lines, and my suspicions were correct. Carlisle is Aro's mate," I finished and watched as several jaws dropped.

"Holy Shit!" Emmett yelled while accidentally crushing the game controller he was using. "Uh, whoops. Sorry," he apologized.

"How the hell did we not figure this out beforehand?" Demetri asked looking to his fellow guard members.

"I feel stupid," Alec mumbled.

"How is it that this human figured it out in less than twenty-four hours, and I was serving on the guard when Carlisle arrived and I never noticed it?" Jane said.

"Don't feel so bad. We were all serving on the guard when he arrived. None of us saw it which is odd. Aro has a certain ostentatious air about him. I just never even thought to consider he would have a male mate," Demetri said trying to console Jane.

"So now that you have all been sufficiently shocked, will one of you please tell me what Carlisle did?" I asked looking at each one of them.

"I can't help you with that. Whatever it was happened before my time," Jasper said looking over at Jane.

Jane held a silent discussion with the other guard members. "Okay, I'll tell you. As you may already know, Carlisle stayed here for fifty years. At that time, Aro got really attached to him. It was his attachment that had us believing he was crushing on Cullen."

"It was pathetic. Imagine Aro using the puppy dog eyes," Alec added. Both Felix and Demetri nodded in agreement.

"The incident, as we call it, happened within a month of Carlisle leaving. Carlisle exposed himself…"

"In more ways than one," Felix interrupted with a laugh which had Alec and Demetri joining in.

"Would you stop interrupting," Jane said giving the guys a dirty look? "As I was saying, somehow Carlisle managed to find himself in a brothel in the Coventry Gardens which was known as the 'Great square of Venus' in England back in the sixteen to eighteen hundreds. That place was notorious for prostitution and brothels."

"I'm sorry," I giggle." I didn't even know that Carlisle knew about brothels."

"You would naturally think that a priest's kid would know not to go near one of those, but Carlisle was rebelling. He not only paid to be serviced but was caught in the act. The brothel was raided and Carlisle along with several prostitutes and their patrons were all arrested. When they were all being loaded in the cart to be taken to prison, Carlisle made a run for it," Jane said.

I could feel my eyes bug out of my head. It's one thing to learn that Carlisle hired a hooker. It's another thing to learn that he ran from the law. "So what happened?"

"The police posted pictures of Carlisle everywhere which brought too much-unwanted attention. Wind of it reached Aro, and he was pissed. He sent the four of us to apprehend him and bring him in," Jane finished.

"Yea, and when he walked into the throne room, he got yelled at. Caius and Marcus wanted him to be punished but Aro said no.

"Come to think of it, all the signs were there. We just weren't paying too much attention," Alec said.

"I can sort of understand Aro not wanting to punish him, but by not doing so, Carlisle doesn't learn," I said.

"Wait a second. I just realized something," Emmett said looking shocked. "This means that Esme isn't his mate. He lied to her."

"Yes, and has been lying to her for nearly a century," Jasper pointed out.

"That fucking bastard," Emmett growled.

"Do you realize that this explains why he never listened to Esme? How he always put Edward first? Carlisle has no ties to Esme. I hope she beats the shit out of him when she finds out," I said.

"That's almost a guarantee. The feelings she's been having the past few years have gotten very ugly toward Carlisle and his little boy," Jasper told us.

"That's it. I'm starting a betting pool. I say that not only does Esme kick his ass, but I think she's going to rip his dick off. She wasted a lot of time on that jackass." I started taking everyone's bets and wrote it all down with the pen and paper Alec scrounged up for me.

Bets on Esme

Bets- $50

Bella- Esme kicks Carlisle's ass and rips his dick off

Jasper- Esme relieves Carlisle of his head

Emmett- Esme only beats Carlisle's ass

Jane- Esme beats Carlisle's ass and tears his arms off

Felix- Esme yells at him but does not lay a finger on him

Alec- Esme dismembers Carlisle entirely

Demetri- Esme tears Carlisle's arms off and buries them

"Okay, people, that's it for now. I'm going to ask Caius and my dad later if they wants in," I said showing them the paper. It seems like things have just gotten even more interesting.