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[16th June, 2006]

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"SHE'S A UNIQUE ONE, Carlisle. One meant for you."

Alice's eyes sparkled with the undercurrents of playful mischief, a wide grin on her pretty face. Even after all the trials they've been through, Carlisle admired the fact that the girl he considered a daughter, and her mate, adapted so well to all the changes they've undergone.

As vampires welcoming a human into their lives.

As people who can love without fear of harm towards others or discovery of their true natures.

The choices made over the last few months had been dangerous, risky, but the dividends it paid off far outweighed the troubles they caused.

Edward no longer had to bear his existence in solitude and Isabella made a perfect mate with whom he can spend that time.

To Carlisle, fighting to protect family has always been worth the effort.

Now, however, as they stood in the backyard preparing for Edward and Bella's wedding, Alice had delivered another shocking vision.

For a fleeting moment, her words seemed to have made his dead heart vigorously thump back to life and the apprehension, the piercing sorrow, as to who his companion would be consumed him.

He didn't miss the furtive glance she threw Jasper's way. He must have given an affirmative answer for her smile brightened to a powerful degree.

"Would you like to know more about your mate? Who she is, what she-?"

The words were too quick, too gruff. "No." He set a tree-trunk bench on one side of the intended aisle, the agony of his response broiling within his chest - making him feel things that he shouldn't ever feel. Not because he didn't want to but because the peculiarity of it bewildered him. It veered off the beaten path he'd always chosen for himself.

He felt his sister's hand on his shoulder, Esme's onyx gaze filled with patience and happiness - being without a mate herself. "It's alright, Carlisle. Alice can always tell us later but it's time we take a break to hunt."

The implication was clear in her tone. She wanted no one else to accompany them, especially if she felt that Carlisle would pour his heart out as he tried to process these negative feelings towards the very things he'd always wanted out of life.

They took off, racing faster than the speed of light, the wind whipping at their hair and clothing, the smell of rain and churned earth providing an ephemeral distraction. And when they finally descended upon a herd of elk, the invasive thoughts threatened to overtake him.

Family came first, always. While Carlisle would battle against a ten-thousand-strong army of newborn vampires for his family's sake, he can never see himself - or his intended mate, for that matter - being the reason that they should ever go to war again.

The time had now come for his children to settle down, to exist in peace and harmony with the world around them and with someone at their side to love and guide them.

If anything, bringing a new human into their world was out of the question.

Funny, the one who always craved companionship over the centuries was now letting the twenty-three year old in him decide on a matter his vampiric side was well-experienced in.

It was ludicrous, jumping down the rabbit hole without knowing the full details. Alice hadn't confirmed what exactly his mate was. It could be another vampire, for all he knew. Still, his instincts always led to correct conclusions and somehow, he knew this would be no different.

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HAVING DONE HIS PART in the wedding preparations for today, Carlisle retired to his study.

Instead of using the hunt to bog down Esme with his problems, he relished the time with his sibling - much preferring she tell him about her woes of singleness and her hopes of finding her mate soon. It was her indirect way of empathizing with him, allowing him to understand her yearning for what he was about to gain. That he shouldn't be too irrational in letting this slip through his fingers.

Pages upon pages of medical research were scattered across his desk - atypical for refined creatures like them but he enjoyed the humanity of the display. The excitement of discovering a new medical angle; the agonizing over every crucial detail from ancient medicinal procedures to modern medicine; the frustrated anger at an elusive breakthrough.

Much like hunting, he enjoyed the chase towards the ultimate goal.

Were he bodacious enough, he might've said that the many features of his life were fashioned to reflect and retain as much of his humanity as possible. From his careful saunter, to standing under a hot shower as the water streamed down his body, to the thrill of speeding down the highway whenever he visited Seattle. Desire for the mundane, human pleasures of life wasn't lost when he gained immortality. Instead, this perpetual purgatory had offered him more chances to observe and witness the changing times where people's needs, wants and carnal urges only proliferated as the world advanced.

And his needs, wants and urges?

They were buried beneath the iron-clad armor of his self-control, a hard-earned gift from immortality when fighting his lust for human blood in his fledgling years.

Did he want to meet his mate, to see her? Most certainly.

Did he need to?

Alice burst through the door, expression impassive as she took a seat behind the desk. "That's it. Edward told me what's going on and frankly, whether or not you want to hear it, you are going to listen to everything I have to say about your mate."

He opened his mouth to protest but she plowed on. "You are not going to sacrifice your existence and your happiness because of us. We will never expect or demand something like that from you...or Esme. Would you kick Esme out of the coven if her mate was human, just to protect us?"

"Never." Guilt flooded him and the storm in his mind calmed enough to truly listen. "We've been through a lot, Alice. I'm sure your visions predict more trouble in the future for us, should I bring another human here."

"And we'll see about that if it ever happens, Carlisle. Like we always do. Because that's what family is for." In a blink, Alice was wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a comforting hug. "You're our patriarch. You'll always want the best for us. But not by sacrificing your own happiness. We won't allow it."

"Is she really a human?"

"Yes."

Resting a hand on her arm, he squeezed in gratitude but otherwise remained silent. Torn. Aching for that happiness more than anything in this world, in his entire existence.

The temptation lurked beneath yet dangling before him, the resistance to it was futile. Detaching from the idea of having a mate hurt more than the ripping inferno of the vampiric transformation he underwent. If his existence had been bearable until now, then he knew without a doubt he'd rue the day he decided to continue on without her.

Still, as Edward's mate, Bella would be expected to transition from human to vampire one day. Did he really want the same for his own mate? Could he muster the amount of selfishness required to turn his mate into a monster like himself?

"And she's so beautiful too, Carlisle. You'll never believe you can love someone the way you love her." Alice bumped her head on his with a chuckle. "Come on, you old fossil. Please, let me tell you about her."

There was a slight pause. Then he took the plunge.

"Very well. Tell me all you can about her."

• • •

Well, that wraps up the first chapter.

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