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Chapter Text

She’d always been beautiful, from the first time he’d held her in his arms. This is my baby girl. Charlie Swan knew he had a hard time with words or emotions, but when Isabella Swan had been born, he’d cried.

Watching his baby girl grow into a young man was a matter of perspective. Snippets told in summers.

.oOo.

“Dad, I’m gay.”

The words almost missed him entirely as he watched her. She could clean a fish like noone else. “Isn’t that when boys like other boys?”

“Yeah, dad. I’m a boy.”

His world shifted, but nothing changed. Charlie watched his son recast his line and nodded. “Do I still call you Izzy?”

The smile was made of freckles and missing teeth. Charlie thought it the most beautiful thing since the first time tiny fingers had wrapped around his own.

.oOo.

“Mum’s dating again,” Izzy had said, but Charlie wasn’t expecting the way the words would cut a hole into his heart. “I think she’s catching feelings.”

He stared at the basketball game. The thrumming in his ears was okay. He was okay. She’d left, Renée had taken his baby and fallen for someone else and it was okay—

“I love you, dad.”

Charlie was going to be just fine.

.oOo.

“Arizona’s too hot,” Izzy was saying.

The words sat heavy in Charlie’s chest. It’s plenty rainy in Forks. There’s a place for you here. Renée wouldn’t stand for it, she was always telling him to stop waiting for her, that he should move his life on now. “Your mum’s done good for you there. Shame you don’t tan, kid.”

“I’m lucky we have summers together. I miss you, dad.”

“I miss you too.”

The next time he was offered a promotion, Charlie took it.

.oOo.

“I wish you’d visit,” Izzy said once. “I know you don’t have much time off, but I could show you around. My dojo, my school, my friends. My home.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Charlie said. He counted out his sick days, his paid leave, his overtime. There was no deputy, not in Forks, but the town would manage a week.

When Renée talked about their daughter to him, he blinked back at her dumbly. He’d forgotten somehow, along the way.

“I wish it wasn’t just visits,” Izzy mumbled into Charlies shirt buttons when they hugged goodbye.

The whole way back home, plane or no, Charlie was flying.

.oOo.

Izzy’s voice on the other end of the phone was quiet, the smile in it bittersweet. “Renée’s met someone. He makes her feel young.”

“Your mum loves you most of all,” Charlie said, hoping it was true.

The next words were a whisper. “D’you think, next time I come over for summer, maybe I could stay?”

Charlie could feel a gymnast dancing in his chest. “I can talk to Renée for you?”

“I’d like that,” Izzy replied. This time, the smile in his voice was real.

.oOo.

It cut his heart to ribbons, how much Renée fought to keep Izzy, and how few of her arguments involved wanting what was best for their son.

Phil served as the voice of reason in the end, and Charlie wanted to hate him, wanted to kiss him.

His son looked so small stepping off the plane, wrapped in the same yellow raincoat Renée had worn when she’d left Forks. The car trunk closing over Izzy’s bag sounded like applause.

Hand in hand with his boy, he lead the way into the same drab kitchen with its yellow cabinets and mismatched handles, wishing he had something better to say than ‘there’s fish in the freezer.’

Izzy just smiled. “It’s good to be home.”

Charlie knew he was a simple man who had a hard time with words and emotions, but in that moment he could have cried.

Chapter Text

Trigger Warnings: mentions suicide, mentions stalking, brief mention of miscarriage (Renée) and homophobia (by Billy), a few instances of misgendering (by Edward). Overall this is an achingly wholesome story.

As a reminder: Book One in canon follows the all-consuming love that grows between Edward (100-year-old virgin) and his obsession Bella (the new girl, whose mind he cannot read). Edward saves Bella’s life when a van almost crashes into her, exposing himself as a supernatural being. There’s a lot of angst.

𝕬𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗—

𝖔𝖍, 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗

Betad by Mildrice — Podfic read by RuneLore

September

“Hello, Doctor Cullen,” the girl said. Although her voice was timid, her body language projected that she felt every right to be here. Her sweat smelled a little anxious, nonetheless.

“Miss Isabella Swan,” he greeted her, setting aside the journal he’d been reading. It wasn’t like he needed a lunch break.

She grimaced. “I hate that name. Call me Izzy.”

“Izzy, then. What can I do for you?”

“Well, you seem like the only doctor around here who got a medical degree in the past twenty years, and I was hoping you could help me. I’m kind of in need of a shrink?”

The last was said entirely as a question. Ah, that explained the nerves, then. Carlisle did his best to appear all the more welcoming. “Though that isn’t my speciality, I’d be happy to help. Take a seat.”

“Right,” Izzy said. She swallowed, smoothing her hands against her jeans. “Right.”

“Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself, Izzy?”

And oddly enough, at the sound of her name, some of the tension seemed to bleed from her shoulders. “Well, I just moved here from Arizona. My mom’s boyfriend, Phil, he got a job that’ll have them travelling a lot, and I figured it was as good a time as any to come over here. Take care of Charlie. My dad, Charlie—oh, but you know all about him already. Small town.”

She sighed, shoulders slumping again.

“You can tell me whatever you want to tell me. Of course, we’ll need a diagnosis for your insurance. That really won’t be a problem, though, on the grounds of you being a teenager who just moved to a new town, though.”

“Right—yes. Teenager. Lots of… angst.”

Carlisle understood that his job was not to talk, it was to listen. He waited.

“This is a small town,” she said. “People notice things. It feels like everyone’s watching me, and I stick out like a sore thumb.”

Carlisle looked at her. Black jeans, checkered shirt, hiking boots—haircut perhaps a bit short. She looked like a normal tomboy.

Carlisle knew a lot about standing out, and very little about being a teenager. “I’m sure it will calm down as people get used to you.”

Izzy laughed, a sad, hollow sound. Those eyes would not have looked out of place on a century-old vampire.

There was some more smoothing of palms over jeans, and then the girl hopped up rather suddenly. “Right. Thanks, Doctor Cullen. I should go. First day of school tomorrow. I—can I come back sometime? Please?”

“I’m sure we can work out a regular appointment for you, once you have your timetable. For now, why not just come by in a week?”

Izzy nodded, wiped her hand again, and gave a surprisingly firm handshake. “In a week. Yeah, I can do that. Bye, Doc.”

Slightly bemused, Carlisle returned to the journal he’d been reading. He had another ten minutes left of his break.

… xxx …

“The new kid was at school today. Isabella Swan,” Emmet announced. “She’s feisty.”

“Izzy,” Edward corrected. “She prefers Izzy.”

Alice grinned. “I like her.”

“Me too.” They all turned to look at Rosalie, wearing different expressions of surprise. “What?” she asked. “Anyone who punches Mike Newton in the face is automatically likeable.”

Carlisle never ceased to be amazed by how childish his family could be, considering their ages. Alas, he couldn’t help thinking that he perhaps turned them too young. Jasper was older, aloof. Esme was far calmer, too. The rest, though? Teenagers, the lot of them. “Edward,” he interrupted their banter, “What can you tell us about her thoughts?”

“I don’t know. I can’t read her.”

Jasper straightened impossibly further. “Perhaps we should leave. She could be a threat.”

“It’s a seventeen-year-old girl, how threatening can she be?” Rosalie retorted, scowling.

Edward shrugged, though it was evident he was frustrated. Carlisle couldn’t help feel a little smug, it was about time someone stymied his son’s supernatural senses. Edward had been getting complacent.

… xxx …

“You have a lot of kids, Doctor Cullen,” Izzy began their next meeting.

“And you, do you have any siblings?”

Izzy frowned, and for a second so much grief flashed across her face. “No, it’s just me.”

“But?” he prompted.

“Well—”

The girl swallowed. Carlisle was beginning to think wiping her hands on her jeans was a nervous tic, a way of self-soothing. “My mum was pregnant, a few years back. I’d like to think he’d have been my little brother. In my head I named him Theodore.”

“Is that an old family name?” It was unusual for their day and age.

Izzy laughed again, a little hysterical. “You’re one to talk. Carlisle, when’s that from, Elizabethan times? And your kids, Rosalie, Edward, Jasper? Did you pick ’em up last century or something?”

Carlisle very carefully schooled his face. “Let’s focus on you, Izzy.”

“Yeah, alright.”

Carlisle watched her, as those green eyes darted around the room examining his bookshelf, the trees outside, even, occasionally, his face.

“I’d have called him Teddy,” she said quietly, wistfully. “Theodore was just so he’d have a proper name for job applications and stuff. I’d have loved him to pieces. Hated him, too. But… yeah.”

“Why would you hate your little brother?”

“Well, he’d have had everything, wouldn’t he?” she said, flipping over to bitter, then back again to grief. “I’d have given him the world.”

Carlisle jotted something down so it would look like he was taking notes. The girl wouldn’t know about his perfect memory, after all.

“Do you miss Arizona?”

“Not really. It was always too hot. Sticky. I could never wear enough clothes, and—I never really fit in there. Though I do miss the wide open spaces, and the big city, and the way nobody looked at me twice.”

Carlisle regarded her carefully. Indeed, she was wearing an absurd number of layers considering the heat of the room. He put it down to a quirk of personality. “There’s Seattle, three hour’s drive east. Perhaps you could take a weekend trip.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that. Thanks, Doctor Cullen.”

… xxx …

“Carlisle,” Edward said, pulling him aside the moment he got home from work. “Can we talk?”

“Of course,” he replied, leading the way to his study. He shut the door behind them for the illusion of privacy.

“It’s about Izzy Swan. The new girl. She’s—different.”

Something had Edward very worried, Carlisle could tell. He thought of the girl when he’d met her, sitting in his office with sweaty palms and fierce determination. She’d seemed melancholy, and perhaps a little lost. Not dangerous, though. Nothing to warrant Edward’s extreme nervousness.

“I didn’t realise you’d met,” his son said, accusation twisting his pitch somewhat.

“Doctor-patient confidentiality, Edward,” Carlisle chided. It wasn’t right, the way Edward could pry into everything.

Well, he could see everything, except—

“Have you managed to get anything from her yet?”

Edward shook his head minutely. “Nothing. It’s like there’s a wall keeping me out. But, today, in Biology, she sat next to me. It was strange. She asked me if I have a twin called Cedric.”

Carlisle laughed, picturing it easily. The expression on Edward’s face must have been a sight to behold. “And?”

“I told her I don’t have a twin called Cedric,” he said, with that condescending overtone that Edward sometimes had trouble keeping out of his voice. “She said ‘alright’ and returned to the assignment.”

“And this has you worried? About what? Surely you’re not concerned about possible doppelgangers of yours walking around Arizona.”

“No, it’s not that. Just, she smells weird. Like a lightning storm. And when she looks at me I swear it’s like she’s judging my soul or something.”

Carlisle couldn’t help the intense fondness that shot through him, but he stamped down on the thought before Edward could pick it from his mind. “How unusual. Keep observing, son. For the moment, she does not seem to be a threat. Now, I was going to go catch a deer tonight, if you’ll excuse me?”

Once he was out of earshot, Carlisle laughed aloud, long and hard. Oh, Edward. He followed the trail of a buck, still letting loose the occasional chuckle. Trust Edward to become fascinated with the one person he couldn’t read.

Maybe it’d be good for the boy. A bit of a challenge.

And as for the girl, well… it wasn’t like she was going to be getting hurt.

… xxx …

Coming up: October, where Izzy laments being complicated, Edward and Izzy stare at each other, and Alice decides Edward’s in loooove.

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Chapter Text

The next time Izzy walked into his office, Carlisle took a deep, analysing breath. She smelled of old wood, fresh moss and perhaps, he had to admit, static electricity. She didn’t smell of food, of course, but human blood had stopped tempting him centuries ago. Although, she did smell less enticing than the average human would.

Good. Edward wouldn’t have to struggle so much in her proximity.

“Hello, Miss Izzy Swan,” he greeted.

She scowled. “Don’t call me that.”

“I thought you prefered Izzy?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“Yeah. Izzy. Not the whole ‘Miss Swan’ bit, though. I’m not a Miss.”

“I’m sorry.” And an inkling bloomed, in the back of his mind, why this seventeen-year-old girl had autonomously sought psychiatric counsel during her first week in Forks.

“Your son’s weird. Edward. He keeps glaring at me, like he wants to eat me or something.”

Carlisle did not mention that Edward had said something very similar about her. “I will talk to him about appropriate food groups, if you like.”

For the first time since they’d met, Izzy gave a real laugh. It was far lighter than her otherwise deep voice, and Carlisle thought it rather pretty. Izzy seemed to disagree though, catching herself with a scowl.

They talked about her school, then, and how she was settling in. It filled their allocated time, but Carlisle could tell it was just empty prattle. She likely need more time to warm up to him before they could get to the actual point.

… xxx …

“Perhaps you shouldn’t glower at Izzy quite so much,” Carlisle told Edward that night. “You’re not making a very friendly impression.”

Then he carefully thought about the latest journal he’d been reading. It wouldn’t do to breach confidentiality any more than he already had.

“I went to her house. She was doing pull-ups on a tree outside. In the rain. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“If I tell you to respect her privacy, would you listen?” he asked, but they both knew the answer was no.

Edward had become too accustomed to knowing everything.

… xxx …

“Why don’t we talk about your parents today, Izzy?”

The girl smiled. “Mum’s great. Hare-brained, but great. She really loves Phil, he makes her feel young.” It wasn’t the usual way for a teen to regard her mother, but the love there was genuine. Wholesome. “And Charlie, well—he’s Charlie. He loves me, I know he does. It’s just hard to talk to him sometimes. There are things he doesn’t understand, even if he wants to. I think I confuse him a lot.”

“What do you think could make things better between yourself and Charlie?”

“We could bond more. Over fishing, and basketball.” Izzy grimaced. “I don’t know. He’s not a complicated man.”

“But you are?”

“What?”

“You are complicated?” Carlisle clarified.

“Well, yeah. It’s the twenty-first century. Everything’s complicated… except Charlie, stuck in the same dead little town since the 80s.” She sighed heavily. “The house is exactly like it was when mum left him. It’s—sad. I wish he’d move on. Live a little.”

“Have you considered that just because you think it’s sad, doesn’t mean he does?”

She paused for a while, indeterminate thought running across her face. “I guess? I just want him to be happy. I think me being there helps. Maybe he needs a cat. Something to come home to.”

Carlisle wasn’t sure how psychoanalysing what would make Charlie happy was helpful, but understood that these things needed time.

… xxx …

“Edward’s in loooove,” Alice sang, prancing through the house. “Edward’s in loooo—”

“I am not!” Edward yelled, finally catching up to her. “Stop that. Shut up.”

But Alice just twisted out of his arms and continued singing.

Edward flopped onto an armchair with all the drama befitting of a seventeen-year-old centenarian. “I resent that, Carlisle,” the boy huffed, though Carlisle could hardly help the tone of his thoughts.

“What happened?” Esme asked, stopping to stroke Edward’s hair with a beaming smile.

If it had been anyone else, Edward would have batted the hand aside, but this was Esme.

Carlisle felt his heart swell with the overwhelming intensity of his love for his wife.

Edward’s annoyed look was negated by the way Jasper stopped nearby and sighed, shoulders relaxing for once.

“Edward sat with Izzy during lunch today,” Rosalie finally answered Esme’s question, rolling her eyes reflexively. “They engaged in small talk and mostly just had an intense staring competition. I’m sure neither of them is stupid enough to fall in love.”

Alice popped in then, throwing herself onto Jasper’s lap. “Oh, but I can see it.”

Rosalie and Edward both left, then, in respective huffs.

Teenagers, Carlisle groaned. He wrapped his wife in a hug.

… xxx …

Coming up: November, where Charlie gets a cat, while Edward and Izzy need a hobby.

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Chapter Text

“I convinced Charlie to get a cat,” Izzy said. “He thinks he’s doing it for me, but it’ll secretly be his cat.”

Carlisle nodded with the serious intensity the situation required. “I see.”

“I’ll just have to see if I can find a cat that doesn’t mind the rain so much,” she continued.

“And what about you, Izzy?”

“What about me?” The girl asked, as if she weren’t the one who had sought help.

“What about your happiness?”

A shrug. “I’m more of a dog person.”

“Would a dog make you happier?”

“I… no. I don’t think so. I’d probably end up feeling guilty for not walking it enough, or something.”

“Do you feel guilty often?”

Another shrug. “I probably shouldn’t have punched Mike Newton?”

They both knew that that wasn’t what he’d meant, but Carlisle let it be for now.

… xxx …

“Izzy’s going to Seattle tomorrow,” Edward announced. “Not that I care,” he hastily protested Alice’s smirk.

None of them were surprised when Edward hopped into his Volvo the next morning.

He returned that night, seething. “My car reeks of cat. Reeks! The smell is never going to come out.”

“Right,” Rosalie announced. “We’re taking my car to school tomorrow.”

“—And she has no sense of self preservation. I dropped her off and spent the day in the car, and by the time the sun was down she’d gotten lost by the docks. I just managed to stop her from getting in a brawl with four drunken sailors. And the cat, God save me! It hissed the entire car ride back to Forks.”

“Perhaps you should consider leaving her alone,” Rosalie offered.

“Oh, man, you really do stink of cat,” Emmet said. “Tell me it’s cute, at least?”

“Hideous,” Edward said morosely. “A ginger monstrosity she’s named Crookshanks. I’m going to take a shower.”

… xxx …

“Crookshanks is perfect. I caught him and Charlie curled up watching a game together, like grouchy old men,” Izzy said, bubbling.

Carlisle could tell what she meant, about how she enjoyed taking care of others. But it wasn’t enough, she was barely seventeen, there needed to be more to living for her. “What about you, Izzy? What do you like doing? To relax, or just for fun?”

“I like going fast,” she replied promptly. “Cars, bikes, running too. Though, I’m a terrible swimmer. There was this dojo I trained at in Arizona, that was fun. Mum always wanted me to do ballet, but I put my foot down… I like reading, and working out.”

Carlisle nodded and waited solemnly as she shared her thoughts like a dripping tap.

“I guess I enjoy taking care of people? It makes me happy when the people I care about are happy. Charlie’s crap at cooking, and mum would lose her head if it weren’t attached. I worry about her, sometimes, but Phil’s looking after her now. He’s alright.”

She was an odd teenager, Carlisle couldn’t help but think. “Anything else?”

The silence stretched between them.

“I think… I never really got around to figuring that out,” she admitted quietly.

“What about school, what subjects do you like?”

“Ugh,” she said, collapsing back in her seat with drama that would have done Edward proud. “Don’t get me started about school. I’m close to tearing my hair out.”

“How come?”

“How come?” she parroted, “It’s so boring! There are only so many times you can go over the same material before you know it inside out. At least my school in Arizona had a gifted program.”

Carlisle privately wondered why Izzy and Edward spent so much time glaring at each other, when they evidently had so much in common.

“And after you finish school? Do you know what you want to do?”

She shrugged, running a hand through her hair. “I dunno. Maybe I’ll head over to Europe. Haven’t been there much. I’ve always liked the look of the Netherlands.”

Carlisle couldn’t help the way his brow rose. “So first you’ll travel, then pursue higher education? Is that what you want?”

Another shrug.

“Maybe I could learn about engines.” There was a smile there, shy but growing. “Billy Black’s kid down at La Push was telling me all about his truck last week. I wonder… he might even teach me how to take apart a motorbike.”

“That’s good. That’s really good,” Carlisle praised.

… xxx …

“She’s started hanging out at La Push,” Edward whined. “I can’t follow her there. It’s terribly dull.”

“Maybe you need another hobby?” Esme suggested kindly.

“Maybe you need to get a life,” Rosalie sneered.

“Maybe you should admit you’re in loooove,” Alice sang.

Privately, Carlisle thought Alice wasn’t helping. And oh, for crying out loud, it seemed Edward had caught that thought—his son was smirking now.

… xxx …

Coming up: December, where Izzy comes out as trans, and Edward realises he was born a century ago.

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Chapter Text

“Remember how I came here saying I needed a shrink?” Izzy began, and Carlisle understood they were finally getting to the point.

“I recall a disparaging comment about my colleagues might have fallen, too,” he said, but smiled to put her at ease. He could hear her heart racing.

All the same, Izzy’s voice remained steady. “Right, well, what do you know about trans people?”

“Trains?” Carlisle asked, and cringed at the way her face fell.

“Trans. Like Transsexual.”

“Are you trans, Izzy?”

“I—yeah. F to M. It wasn’t so bad when I was a kid, but puberty’s been terrible. Worse than the usual kind.”

Carlisle looked at her, no, at him. Really looked, with the eye of someone who had seen a lot of seventeen-year-olds in his life. “Are you already taking any medication? Or, were you?”

Izzy shrugged. “Yeah? Kind of? I mean, not by prescription, but yes. All my connections are in Arizona, though, and so…”

“So you’re here, asking me for more—” he racked his brain, knowing he’d read something, somewhere, “—blockers, like Leuprorelin?”

“I’d prefer T, if you can swing it?”

Carlisle looked again at her—him. “And if I can’t, will you be taking another trip to Arizona’s underbelly?”

The teen shrugged unapologetically. “Yeah, probably. But I’d like to get the ball rolling the legal way. I’m seventeen now. With my parents’ consent….”

“Okay, Izzy. I’ll help you.” And he would, if only to stop the boy from self-medicating with potentially dangerous drugs. “I’d like to do some bloodwork first, to see what your levels are currently at. Alright?”

The teen laughed at that. “Sure, sure. I was wondering when you’d ask me for my blood. Ha!” Izzy kept laughing.

Carlisle figured it was a laugh-or-cry thing, and smiled indulgently. They’d get through this.

Oh dear, Edward was going to be—

Carlisle had no clue, actually, but it would surely be spectacular.

… xxx …

“I don’t understand it. Izzy shouldn’t be better than me at anything, but she got a better grade than me in Computer class. She can program. I can’t believe she knows Visual Basic.”

Carlisle looked at Edward shrewdly. Did he not realise how obsessed he was? “Izzy identifies as a ‘he’.”

“If she hasn’t told me, then there’s no reason for me to know,” Edward protested, which—Carlisle conceded the point. Though he suspected, somehow, that his son’s very traditional Victorian values were also getting in the way.

“Anyway, how can she be so good with computers? It’s not fair.”

Alice’s voice echoed in the back of Carlisle’s mind, singing ‘Edward is in loooove!’ What did it matter if someone was better at something than his family? They couldn’t have learned everything, after all.

With rather ruffled feathers, Edward left.

… xxx …

“Are you doing anything for Christmas, Izzy?”

He lit up with a lovely smile. “I love Christmas. Mum and Phil will be in California, so it’ll just be a phone call for them. But me, Charlie and Crookshanks are going to have a great time at home. I’m making a full turkey. The Blacks are coming over too. I’ve finally fixed up the porch with a ramp for Billy.”

Carlisle couldn’t help but smile at the joy Izzy was projecting.

And then the boy started talking about trees, and lights, and marshmallows.

Carlisle sat and listened.

… xxx …

The Cullens celebrated Christmas with a family trip to Alaska.

When Alice protested Irena’s attempts to seduce Edward with an ‘Oh no, you can’t do that. He’s in loooove,’ Edward left, likely to run all the way back to Forks.

To stalk Izzy, whom he was not interested in. Just—curious about.

… xxx …

Coming up: January, where a van skids across the ice, and things unfold.

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Chapter Text

Carlisle hadn’t been expecting his son to storm into the hospital staff locker room on a workday.

“Dad, dad, I messed up,” Edward babbled.

Carlisle could count on one hand the number of times Edward had called him that. “Hush,” he said, gently pulling Edward into an empty exam room. “Tell me what happened.”

“There was a car, skidding on the ice, and it was going to hit Izzy so I—”

It didn’t take much to picture it. The boy, crushed. Blood, seeping. And five vampires standing witness.

“You saved a life, Edward. Well done. I’m proud of you.” Perhaps even multiple lives, if Jasper had lost control and gone on a killing spree.

Edward blinked. “Yes, but now she—oh, whatever—now Izzy knows! Rosalie is going to hate me. I—I… I’m so sorry, dad, I just—”

“Is he here now?” Carlisle asked. If Izzy was, Carlisle really needed to finish changing and get to work.

“The ambulance is on its way. I ran ahead. When she saw me push away the car—I wanted to blame it on a head injury or something—but Izzy just stayed perfectly calm and raised an eyebrow and I panicked. I can’t believe I panicked. Oh, no, no, what have I done?”

“Let me get dressed, then I’ll make sure Izzy’s alright and we’ll see from there. Perhaps you could talk to him. He’s very reasonable, in my experience.”

… xxx …

“So Edward was really freaking out. Is he okay?” was the first thing Izzy asked, regardless of the blood seeping from the gash on his forehead.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s just worried about you,” Carlisle soothed, probing the wound carefully. “If you can promise not to move too much, I’ll tape this instead of stitches.”

Izzy nodded his agreement, so Carlisle numbed, cleaned and closed the wound.

“Are you feeling dizzy, light headed, anything? Strange inexplicable memories, perhaps?”

Izzy’s nose scrunched with his incredulity. “You mean the whole superhuman-strength thing? Doc, I’ve known for ages. I’m not telling. Patient-doctor confidentiality and all that.”

This was the strangest conversation Carlisle had ever had while closing a head wound.

“Can I see it? Is there a mirror here somewhere?” Izzy asked suddenly.

Carlisle got out his phone and turned on the front facing camera. Izzy examined the jagged gash on his face and began to laugh.

And laugh.

And laugh.

Carlisle chalked it up to the adrenaline wearing off.

… xxx …

Charlie Swan had to be placated, meanwhile half of Forks’ high school population was loitering in the ER. It took half the day to get everyone calmed down and have things running normally again.

In this time, Izzy had taken a nap and Edward had renewed his vigil. Carlisle wished his son wouldn’t stalk quite so obviously, actually.

Heading for Izzy’s room to check on him, Carlisle stopped outside the door. He could hear voices from inside.

“Edward,” Izzy was sayin, “I’m not an idiot, and you’re not as subtle as you think you are. You can stop freaking out.”

“You hit your head, remember?” Edward said, his voice bordering on a whine. It seemed he was going to insist on making the conversation fit some script he’d come up with.

“Edward, please. You’re embarrassing yourself. And if you could stop trying to read my mind quite so hard? It’s terribly rude.”

What? Carlisle’s thoughts sputtered. How much did Izzy know?

“I—huh?”

Carlisle had never experienced his son so speechless.

… xxx …

This wasn’t going anything like he’d expected it to go, Edward was forced to admit. For one, he hadn’t thought there’d be quite so much eye-rolling involved. Also, wasn’t he supposed to be the one doing the comforting?

“How old are you, anyway?” Izzy was asking, looking so small and fragile and lost in the hospital bed.

“Seventeen.” The lie came automatically.

Izzy just snorted in response. “Right, let’s try again—what year were you turned?”

If Edward had still owned a heart, it would have been a trapped bird fluttering in his ribcage. As it was, a small piece of his mind heard Carlisle from just outside the room, calling his name. ‘Calm down, Edward, Izzy’s alright.’

Actually, nothing was alright, Edward privately thought.

“Right, a secret for a secret, then. As long as you promise not to tell Carlisle?”

Edward nodded. He wouldn’t have to tell, after all, if the man was eavesdropping already.

“If you must know, I’m a wizard,” Izzy said, hand making an aborted movement to her forehead. “Well, I was a wizard. Then I died, and lived another life, and died, and lived another life, and died and well—now I’m here. As Izzy Swan.”

Suddenly Edward understood the girl’s need for psychiatric help.

“Oh stop that. You know, for a vampire your thoughts really are all over your face.”

Any remaining doubt that she knew evaporated with the V-word. For the thousandth time, Edward wished he could just know what she was thinking. “You believe you’re some immortal wizard in a rebirth cycle,” he said, tasting the words. Ah yes, that sounded just as stupid aloud.

“I don’t think it, I know it. Believe me, nobody’s creative enough to come up with the absurd crap I’ve lived through.”

“What are you doing here then, instead of with the other wizards?” Judging by his father’s chiding thoughts from the hallway, Edward’s words might have come out a bit snippy. How had Carlisle missed this? Izzy belonged in a psych ward.

“There are no wizards here. Nor in my other two lives.” Her voice had turned sad, wistful even. Edward suddenly felt terrible for making her so melancholy. “The way I figure,” Izzy continued regardless, “it’s different universes altogether. In my universe, you were a wizard named Cedric Diggory. I watched you die in ’95.”

Edward did not know what to say—thankfully, Carlisle decided to finally come in.

“Edward,” his father admonished him, “Be nice.”

Izzy was scrutinising them both. “You were eavesdropping,” she accused. “And you don’t believe me. Figures.” Then she turned away and ignored them.

… xxx …

The car ride back home was quiet. Carlisle thought of Esme, wondering what she’d make of it all.

“She’s entirely insane,” Edward announced once they arrived.

Carlisle wasn’t so sure. “If that’s the case, he is very high-functioning in his insanity.”

“Izzy thinks she’s a wizard. How is that reasonable?”

“Jesus thought he was the son of a God, and people are still worshipping him two thousand years later.”

“Edward’s in loooove,” Alice added helpfully.

Carlisle found himself wishing that his family were sometimes a little more deferential.

… xxx …

Coming up: A short Interlude from the perspective of Izzy, who knows things but lives and lets them be.

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Chapter Text

Izzy had known, right from the start, that Edward was a bit of a stalker.

He didn’t have his magic, not anymore, but Izzy could tell by the prickling hairs on the back of his neck. He knew from the way the shadows moved, and the rustling of the chestnut outside his window at night.

It was creepy, but Izzy could understand his motives—he knew the feeling of wanting desperately to figure something out. He’d stalked Snape for a good while, and Malfoy in sixth year. Being on the other end of things was a lot more annoying, and honestly rather intimidating.

But Edward did try not to be seen, and his attempts at Legilimency were feeble to begin with. So Izzy lived his life, and let it be.

… xxx …

The first time he’d shaken Doctor Cullen’s hands, Izzy had suspected something wasn’t quite right. Then he’d seen the preternaturally beautiful ‘children’ who never ate. He’d seen the way their eye colours varied and the way they mysteriously disappeared on sunny days.

It hadn’t taken a week for Izzy to know the Cullen family’s greatest secret.

But they weren’t hurting anyone, and having something to blackmail Carlisle with could be helpful. So Izzy lived his life, and let it be.

… xxx …

When Izzy had been building the porch ramp, struggling to dig the foundation in the waterlogged autumn soil, he’d been very, very tempted to call Edward out from the treeline to help. He’d pictured the vampire in his neat sweater with his khakis covered in mud, and had laughed.

To spite Edward, he’d called Jacob over to help him instead. Izzy had noticed Edward avoided following him to the Blacks’, and often left when they were around. He wasn’t sure why the vampires stayed off the reservation, but Izzy was well on his way to buttering Jacob up. He’d figure it out soon enough.

Izzy learnt the truth over Christmas, when Billy’d gotten too deep into his cups and had started harping on about the old days, and traditions, and unnaturalness.

Werewolves, they called themselves, though it seemed more like anger-management wolf animagi. Izzy hunted down Sam Uley, the only wolf on the reservation, and had a good long chat with his wife.

They reassured him that Sam had his shifting under control now, and was getting guidance from the village council. So Izzy lived his life, and let it be.

… xxx …

Coming up: February including Valentine’s day, a kiss, and Izzy’s first visit to the Cullen home (though not in that order).

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Chapter Text

Somehow, none of them were surprised at all when Edward invited Izzy over.

Esme got very excited, and went into a cooking frenzy.

Alice danced around the house all day humming to herself.

Rosalie pretended to be very upset, but also made sure to be sitting in the living room when they heard the Volvo arriving.

Emmett was playing on the Nintendo.

Jasper had found a dark corner to loom in, entirely unconcerned that this might appear threatening.

Meanwhile Carlisle was sitting in his office, reading. He didn’t want Edward bringing a friend home to be tainted by the fact that he was said friend’s psychiatric council. When the front door opened, though, Carlisle couldn’t help move to the top of the stairs to watch and listen.

“Izzy, this is my family,” Edward introduced formally.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve met all of them already, except Esme—really, Edward’s words haven’t done your loveliness justice.” Then Izzy went and kissed the back of her hand like he was from a different century.

Perhaps, Carlisle admitted, he was proving a point.

“Are you hungry, love?” Esme asked. If her body were capable of it, she’d have been blushing.

“Not at the moment, thank you. But I’d love to come back to that offer later if I may, thank you.”

Charmer.

Jasper approached next, stalking over like the predator he was. Izzy managed to look down at him despite his five and a half feet (1.7 meters), and refused to flinch.

“Would you mind if I scented you, Izzy Swan?”

It was becoming evident to Carlisle that he had raised a bunch of heathens.

“Go ahead Jasper, take a sniff. Let me know what you find out.”

“Jasper!” Edward hissed, but before anyone could move Jasper had his nose at Izzy’s throat, inhaling audibly.

“Hmm.” After another deep breath, Jasper straightened. “He’s right. You smell like electricity, and not like food at all. I can hear your heart, and feel your wariness, but I have no desire to bite you whatsoever, darling.”

That was interesting. They collectively leaned forwards—

Izzy seemed entirely unperturbed. “Ah, I was expecting something like that. But it’s good to know, thanks.”

“Yet you’re afraid,” Jasper confirmed for them all.

“Well, a bit. It’s not nice to have supernatural things going on that you don’t understand. It’s not you I’m afraid of, though.”

“Maybe you should be.” Jasper warned, a bit of fang in his smile.

Carlisle privately agreed that it would have been nice for the human to be showing some normal self-preservation.

Edward was hissing another reproach, but Izzy ignored it. “I’m sure you’re very dangerous, vampire—those scars tell quite the tale. But I believe that, in this context, you’re not going to hurt me, so I’m not worried.”

Jasper retreated then, apparently satisfied. Rosalie pretended to be engrossed by Emmett’s game. Alice was… Alice.

“I’m so glad he’s finally invited you over! We’re going to be best friends,” she announced, taking Izzy’s hand and dragging him towards the stairs. “Edward says you like computers, is that true?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Carlisle listened to Izzy’s answer while hastily retreating to his office. “I’m good with them, but that’s due to circumstances. The ones at school have frustratingly low RAM, though.”

Carlisle did not know very much about computers at all, but apparently Alice did, and there was no reason for Carlisle to follow their conversation.

From downstairs, he could hear Edward playing a rather frustrated-sounding tune on his piano.

… xxx …

“It was meant to be my friend coming over to spend time with me,” Edward huffed once Izzy was happily jogging back home.

“Well, he’s my friend too now. Besides, you’re the one who’s in looove. Maybe if you told him that instead of insisting on the awkward staring thing, you’d be making more progress.”

Edward managed to slam the door rather spectacularly on the way out.

… xxx …

“Edward’s a bit thick sometimes, isn’t he?” Izzy opened their next session.

Carlisle hadn’t realised they were there to talk about Edward. “Why do you say that?” he said, a little wearily. At home, everything was about Izzy this, Izzy that, and Edward’s little temper tantrums. And at work, twice a month, another round of—

Oh, whatever.

“He struggles to keep up with my pronouns, and he’s very confused about what he wants from me. His social skills are a bit lacking, and this is coming from someone who was raised in a cupboard.”

“You grew up in a cupboard?” Carlisle asked, desperate for a change in topic.

“Yeah, in my first life—the wizard one. In the next I had a lovely pair of doting parents, who pinned their entire hopes on me becoming a lawyer. My third life I was—let’s not talk about that one, actually.”

“You honestly believe that you’re travelling through universes?” The delusion, if it was one, seemed very much complete. Of course, having experienced his fair share of the supernatural, Carlisle was more likely to accept the explanation than most.

“Does it really matter? Point is, I’m apparently one step above you apex predators, and I can’t be mind-read. I’m not a risk to society nor, currently, to myself.”

Really, that was what it boiled down to. Even if Carlisle didn’t believe Izzy, there was little reason for him to do anything about it. Nicely played. “But you have been suicidal, in the past?”

Izzy just shrugged.

Carlisle was a doctor to the core. He shuddered. “I honestly cannot leave that be. I trust you when you say it isn’t a risk right now—you seem like a very careful, self-reflected person. But at some point, we’re going to have to talk about it.”

“I promise to let you know if I start considering it, alright? But I have Charlie to worry about, and your son’s kind of cute.”

Carlisle took this at face value, because he didn’t really have a choice.

… xxx …

“…” Carlisle said, handing Edward his latest bank statement. There weren’t really words for this.

“Well, she needed—”

“He, Edward. Even if you don’t understand it, it’s only polite. I’m sure we raised you to be polite.” There was a note of threat in Carlisle’s voice.

Edward heard it loud and clear. “He needed a better computer. With more RAM.”

Carlisle checked the bank statement. “On Valentines day, for five thousand dollars? I really don’t understand what you need all this technology for. Not you, not your siblings, and certainly not Izzy Swan.”

“I wanted to do a nice thing, and she needed a better computer. We can afford it. I really don’t see the problem,” Edward argued.

People don’t randomly gift other people five thousand dollar computers, Carlisle wanted to retort. What will Charlie say? But it didn’t matter now, the deed was done. “Have you considered asking him out on a date? To dinner, perhaps?” Like a normal human would?

“I’m not in love with h—him!”

Curse Alice and her meddling. “You don’t have to be, to go on a date, and have conversations. Anything other than stalking, really. Stalking is not an acceptable way to express interest in another person.”

Edward examined his shoes. “Whenever I try to talk to him he says something that doesn’t make sense, and then we end up staring at each other.”

Carlisle was beginning to suspect he had accidentally done the vampire equivalent of raising his son in a barn. Which, as Izzy had rightfully pointed out, was only one step up from a cupboard.

… xxx …

“Edward tried to kiss me the other day,” Izzy said.

Carlisle started. How had he not known about this yet? His body shifted forwards of its own volition. “And?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, he’s had a hundred years in which he likely spent a great deal of time imagining what kissing someone should be like, instead of the hundred years I spent getting actual practice.” Izzy’s lips quirked, then. “All things considered, it wasn’t half bad.”

… xxx …

“Did Izzy say anything today?” Edward asked as soon as he got home.

Carlisle took his time hanging up his coat, thinking determinedly about the slick snowmelt on the roads.

“Well? Carlisle?”

“He said that you kissed him,” Carlisle admitted. Bad doctor. Bad, bad doctor. But Edward would have picked it from his mind anyway.

“Edward is in loooove!” Alice’s voice chimed from above.

“And? Is that all he said?” Edward asked, a hint desperately.

“Edward,” Carlisle sighed, “Maybe you should try asking him that yourself?”

… xxx …

Coming up: March, where some Nomads overhear a baseball game, and things snowball from there.

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Chapter Text

Izzy seemed to come by their house a lot, now. Everyone, except for Rosalie, was thrilled.

“She’s human,” Rosalie would say. “Humans don’t belong here.”

“He’s a wizard,” Alice would reply. “A wizard belongs exactly where he means to.”

Izzy and Edward would spend a great deal of time sitting in Edward’s room with the door closed, listening their way through the ’90s.

Esme would cook two-course meals and give Izzy the leftovers to take home.

Charlie was growing ever fatter.

And then Alice predicted a nice thunderstorm, so they all went to play baseball.

… xxx …

“Is that a human?” James asked, and already Edward was baring his teeth.

“No, I’m a bit more than that. You’re a vampire though, right?” Izzy stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

James closed the distance between them in the time it took for Izzy’s heart to beat once. “You smell like lightning,” he said, leering.

If Carlisle had raised his children in a barn, James had apparently not been raised at all. That smile was practically feral.

Izzy’s pulse never wavered. He jabbed at his own forehead where the lightning bolt scar stood out silver on suntanned skin. “I hear that a lot—I even got a tattoo to match. White ink is all the rage right now… or at least it will be in a decade.”

“Your human’s a bit odd, isn’t it?” Victoria hedged. “Is she the reason your eyes are all golden? Will our eyes turn gold too, if we drink from her?”

Of course, Edward took her general curiosity as a genuine threat, breaking into a grumbling snarl. “Don’t even think about it.”

Carlisle wanted, very much, to hold a lecture now about reverse psychology, and the danger of making someone desire something just because it was forbidden. Literally chapter one of the most printed book: Genesis, people want what they can’t have. Carlisle knew Edward had read the Christian bible many times. Edward, I love you, but you’re an idiot, Carlisle thought in his son’s general direction.

“Do I have a choice in this at all?” Izzy protested lightly, even as Edward picked him up and began to jog to their cars.

James, Victoria and Laurent watched Carlisle and his coven leave, completely ignoring the pounding rain.

And the pervasive smell of lightning.

… xxx …

“No, this is ridiculous, why should we run? They’re not a danger, just a bit curious,” Izzy was still protesting when they returned to the house.

“Are you so stupid, to want to die?” Rosalie snarled. “You missed the part where the ugly one asked what you’d taste like?”

“I’m not suicidal.” Izzy frowned, crossing his arms. “Neither am I in danger. Wizard, remember? I’m pretty sure he can’t kill me.”

“How sure is pretty sure, if you had to turn that into a percentage?” Edward said, voice rising into uncharacteristic hysterics. “I really don’t want to lose you, Izzy.”

Izzy beamed at him, as if this were an appropriate time for the two of them to be having a moment. “Thank you Edward. That’s really sweet of you to say.

“I’m at least eighty percent sure.” Izzy continued, “I’ve never been eaten by a vampire before, and the rules in this universe are different to my old ones. But like I said I’m pretty sure James won’t be able to kill me.”

“Can you fight?” Jasper cut in. “Do you have any way to fend off an attack?”

“Superhuman strength and all? No.” Izzy shrugged, then grinned. “Most I can fend off is Mike Newton.”

“In that case, you are going on a spontaneous holiday to Alaska,” Edward decided.

“I’m right here, I can make my own decisions. But sure, if we need to wait for James to pass through the area, I could visit my mum in Arizona.” Izzy ran a hand through his hair then and scowled. “I want to pack a bag, though. You lot will be staying here, I hope, to make sure Forks is still unravaged when I come back?”

“I can pack for us!” Alice chirped, “I know what we’ll need, anyway.”

“I’m coming to Arizona with you,” Edward said immediately.

“That’s strategically dumb, you’re the radar-style Legilimancer,” Izzy countered, his determination iron-clad. “Carlisle has to work. People need to remain unsuspicious. Alice is right, the two of us’ll go to Arizona and once you’re sure James is out of state we’ll come right back.”

“What’s a Legilimancer?” Emmett asked.

“Wizard term for a mind-reader,” Edward replied. He was still scowling at Izzy, hard.

Izzy just smiled disarmingly back.

“Fine,” Edward spat, “but I don’t like it.”

“The world doesn’t revolve around Edward Cullen liking it,” Rosalie said, and Carlisle couldn’t help but agree she made a very good point.

“Alright, Alice,” Izzy said, beginning to pace, “I’ll want my laptop, clothes for a few days—we might as well go shopping…”

But their resident seer was already gone.

“O-kay. Carlisle, I know you keep books around here somewhere…?”

… xxx …

Thus, they were subjected to a week of Edward participating in nervous pacing, anxious phone calls, and morose piano compositions.

Laurent went to visit the Denalis, Victoria made herself scarce, and James—

James turned up in a dojo in Arizona to shoot the strangest home video ever.

… xxx …

“You do realise that camera’s at least ten years out of date, right?” Izzy was saying, cool as a cucumber despite sitting on the floor, his arms tied behind him. James had evidently just turned on the device.

“I can smell your fear from here.” James stepped into the frame, Carlisle could see the vampire’s sneer.

“Well, I’m worried Edward’s going to do something really, really stupid. Or Alice will do it on his behalf, even though it’s another eight hours to sundown. Then I’ll have to threaten the Volturi? I haven’t thought that far ahead, really.”

James’ expression flashed between apoplectic rage and constipation. Despite knowing that Izzy had returned to Forks just fine, Carlisle winced as James stomped on the teen’s knee.

Izzy’s face flashed with pain, but it wasn’t enough to stop him talking. “You’re quite the sadist, huh? I bet Vicky loves that. All rough. Like animals.”

There was a stifled moan as the other knee was kicked.

“I’ll send your precious Edward this video,” James crooned down at Izzy, “and he’ll get to watch your last moments on this Earth. Maybe, if you’re nice and beg for it, I’ll let you die a quick death.”

Izzy laughed, though it sounded not-quite-right. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Didn’t you want to try eating me? Maybe I taste like lightning too.”

James lunged, yanking Izzy up and shoving him against the wall by his throat. “Like this?” The microphone just barely picked up the words James mumbled against Izzy’s neck.

“Yes, sure,” the teen wheezed. “A quick death would be preferable, thanks.” Finally, finally some self-preservation. Carlisle would be having a very long talk with him about identifying as not suicidal.

“You’d like that, yes. But I think,” James said, dropping Izzy unceremoniously, “I think this will be even better.” And then, breaking the zip tie binding the teen’s wrists, James pulled forward Izzy’s arm and angled them both just-so for the camera’s benefit. Horror pooled in Carlisle’s gut as he watched James’ fangs sliced into Izzy’s arm.

Carlisle was a doctor—witnessing this torture felt like dying.

James didn’t have a functioning heart, but that lack didn’t prevent him from having what appeared to be a heart attack. Sputtering, he dropped Izzy’s arm and retched pitifully.

Carlisle watched Izzy kick out his leg, knocking James to the floor. “Argh!” Izzy cursed, rubbing his knee with the non-bitten arm. “You filthy—coward!”

But the vampire had stopped convulsing, stopped breathing—

He appeared to be… dead? Carlisle had never seen anything like it.

Izzy turned away from the camera then, though Carlisle could hear him spitting.

The film stopped.

… xxx …

Coming up, the final chapter: April, where Izzy explains some things, and Carlisle gives Edward The Talk.

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Chapter Text

“How are your knees?” Carlisle asked, watching as Izzy gingerly sat in his usual chair.

“Still bruised, but nothing time won’t heal,” Izzy reassured, and Carlisle was struck by the odd reversal of their positions. Wasn’t he supposed to be reassuring? After all it had been his species and his family that had put Izzy in danger.

“I’m sorry,” Carlisle said, meaning it with all his soul.

Izzy waved it away. “It’s alright, Doctor Cullen. I have a tendency to attract trouble. I’m sure your absence wouldn’t have decreased my risk-taking. I’d probably have taken up cliff jumping, or motorcycle racing.”

“Do you honestly not consider yourself to be suicidal?” Carlisle still felt rather concerned for the teen. Izzy had said he was old, but he was also in a young body newly going through male puberty. Teenage bodies were not known for their excellent decision-making skills.

“I have been before. My last three lives ended that way, and I—”

Carlisle sat quietly, waiting.

“I think, I think it’s the only way I can die. Willingly, greeting Death as a friend. There were some odd circumstances in my first life that ended up with me cursed with this—existence.”

“You committed suicide three times. Successfully.” Carlisle wanted to write a paper on it. The boy who lived, he’d call it. Subtitled ‘Suicide risks in quasi-immortals’.

The possibilities for research were endless. Evidently surface wounds, bruises, cuts and scars were all possible. The rate of healing was increased. There was a steady lub-dubbing heart. “Do you age?”

“Ah, that’s the crux of things, isn’t it?” Izzy wiped his hands on his jeans again. “No, Carlisle. At some point I’ll stop ageing. It’s a bit of an inconvenience in a world where everyone else does, though I’m sure you know all about that.”

Yes, Carlisle really did understand that issue.

At least Rosie no longer had a reason to protest Edward and Izzy’s relationship.

… xxx …

“He doesn’t age? He never told me that,” Edward protested. Carlisle winced at this hundredth breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

“Edward’s in loooove!” Alice jumped in.

“Is he now?” Izzy said, letting himself in through the front door. “That’s good to know.”

“Alice,” Edward hissed, bending into a crouch, “I’m going to kill you.”

Carlisle stood next to Izzy and watched Alice and Edward begin to wrestle in the middle of the living room.

“Children, not in the house!” Esme said, joining their vigil.

Two vampires tumbled outside, continuing their fight in the pounding rain.

“Huh,” Rosalie said, taking place with them by the window. “I didn’t know Alice could brawl.”

“Alice is what?” Jasper said, appearing from who-knows-where and racing out the door. “Stop!” they heard him yell.

“Is this a free-for-all?” Emmett asked, joining the fray before they could so much as answer.

Izzy laughed. “My money’s on Alice.”

“I’ll take that bet,” Rosalie said.

And just like that, Carlisle realised, Izzy had become a member of the family. It was chaotic, supernatural, messy—but family all the same.

… xxx …

“Has Edward always had such a stick up his rear?”

Carlisle really, really, really did not want to be having this discussion. “Izzy,” he said, a hint of pleading in his voice, “he’s my son.”

“Right, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

… xxx …

“Carlisle…?” Edward asked, “Could we talk? Privately?”

“Of course.”

And then, despite having been sitting in the car together for half an hour, nothing was forthcoming.

“I don’t know how to start,” Edward explained.

“Anywhere is fine. Try the middle?” Carlisle looked over at his son briefly, but the man’s expression gave nothing away.

“I guess, it’s a matter of… anatomy? I mean, Izzy and I have kissed, a lot, and it’s nice—very nice, actually, but I think I’d like to try… more?”

Carlisle honestly tried not to, but it was pointless—the grin stretched across his face of its own volition. He pretended to be very occupied with the road. “Edward, are you asking me how to have sex?”

“I—” Edward swallowed. “Maybe? It’s just, Izzy’s about the same age as I am, but he has so much more experience, and I don’t want to come across as dumb or naive or incompetent and—”

“Edward,” Carlisle said firmly, “Sex is supposed to be fun, and to feel good. As long as you do things that you both enjoy, there’s no right and wrong to it.” Mentally, he was taking great care not to think of sex, while talking about sex. But Edward did not need images, or details. Just the bare bones of it. Vanilla vanilla vanilla vanilla vanilla, he chanted.

“But what if I say something stupid? How are we supposed to just talk about… it…?” Edward sounded forlorn. Lost.

“If you’re not mature enough to talk about sex with your partner, then you’re not mature enough to be having sex,” Carlisle said decisively. Then he turned the car around, and started driving them back home.

“What if I’m terrible at it, and do it all wrong, and he hates me?”

Carlisle was overwhelmed by intense fondness. “Edward,” he said, “Izzy’s put up with your stalking, and your Byronic stares, and your inability to hold a conversation with him. Not to mention your sheer stubbornness shaping the world around you to your Victorian values. I’m fairly certain sex will improve your relationship, not worsen it.”

“But, he has woman parts. And he’s a man identity. How are we even supposed to…?”

“Do I look like your boyfriend, Edward?”

Edward shook his head no, eyes wide.

“In that case, perhaps you should consult your boyfriend about his preferences. Just like everyone else does with their partners. Now, do you need the safer-sex talk or will you manage?”

“I’ll manage,” Edward squeaked. Carlisle hadn’t known his voice could reach that octave. “Could you let me out here, please?”

Carlisle watched his son loping off in the direction of Izzy’s house with so much affection in his heart. And really, Edward had been a late bloomer, but at least he’d gotten to this point eventually.

“Edward is in loooove,” Alice greeted when Carlisle had parked the car. “Do you think we should throw him a party?”

“Alice,” Carlisle said, cringing internally at the image—balloons, and ‘You Got Laid’ lettered on a cake that Charlie would likely end up eating in their stead. “I absolutely forbid it.”

Edward did not return home that night, and spent the rest of the week grinning.

… xxx …

Coming up, May, where there are wolves, and Edward wonders if Izzy’s breaking up with him.

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Chapter Text

“I mean this in the nicest way possible,” Izzy announced to the assembled coven, “but I think you need to leave.”

Carlisle gave in to the desire to bury his face in his hands. When Izzy had asked for a family meeting, he had been expecting something along the lines of ‘Edward and I are eloping,’ or perhaps even ‘I’m pregnant.’

But not this. Never this.

Edward looked like he’d just been stabbed in the stomach with a rusty fork. “Why?” he whispered.

They all sat back to watch the drama unfold.

“It’s the wolves, down at La Push. Having so many vampires here is triggering them to change, and that’s not fair on them. They’re just kids.”

“I had no idea,” Carlisle said, his voice coming out rather weak. “How many have turned so far?”

“Three at the moment, and two others are close. But it’ll be every youngster on the reservation soon.”

“Those poor children,” Esme said, shuddering.

“We need to leave,” Carlisle confirmed. “Alice, any ideas where we should go?”

The brunette shook her head, spun, and raced up the stairs.

“But…” Edward said, sounding small and rather lost. “What about us, Izzy?”

Jasper took a few steps back even as Carlisle winced. Izzy just walked up to Edward and clasped their hands together. “You can still visit, and we’ll call. It won’t be too long, just until I’m done with high school. That’s a blink of the eye for us.”

They watched some of the tension bleed back out of Edward’s shoulders. “You’re not breaking up with me?” he clarified, voice still sounding rather small.

“Of course not. I happen to be rather fond of you. But we have all the time in the world to be together.”

Carlisle felt very strongly that this was not a conversation they should be eavesdropping on. Together with the rest of his family, he retreated upstairs.

His face twisted into a grimace—he really didn’t want to listen to his son and Izzy kissing. There was a reason they had an extra cottage a few miles out of earshot.

“So, Alice, any ideas?” Carlisle asked.

“Well, I guess there’s always Canada, but… how will Edward and Izzy handle this?” Her voice quieted to a near whisper. “I thought they were in love?”

“I’m sure they’ll manage,” Jasper reassured.

“I don’t understand why you’re all making such a big deal of this. Moving to a city will be great.” Rosalie brightened. “Can we move to Vancouver?”

Thus, Carlisle’s coven began the process of moving to Surrey, Vancouver—though it remained a mystery why Izzy thought their new address to be so funny.

… xxx …

Thank you to RuneLore for putting your love and attention to detail into recording this story as a podfic. It’s been my pleasure working with you.

Chapter Text

“Dad, this is Edward.”

Charlie stared. The kid was stupidly pretty. “Edward Cullen?”

“Yes, sir.”

They shook hands. He looked a bit pale, but not in a sick way. It was good that the boy was nervous. Charlie knew Forks was lucky to have Doctor Cullen, and he’d obviously been raising his kids right. “Your father is a good man.”

“I’ll tell him you said that, Chief Swan.”

“Hmph,” Charlie said, and went to figure out dinner. Izzy had been trying to make them eat a Vegetarian Diet for a month. Sometimes it was good, mostly it was confusing.

He listened to the sound of giggles and footsteps clattering up the stairs. “No kissing under my roof!” he yelled.

There was something colourful on the stove. Charlie recognized only the rice and the tomatoes, but it tasted alright.

.oOo.

“We’re just friends, dad. But if we were more, would you rather we go and kiss outside?”

Charlie blinked, turning down the volume on the tv. “What did I tell you about rules, son?”

“I have the right to remain silent. Look both ways before jaywalking. If I need help, ask for it.”

Smiling, he ruffled Izzy’s hair. It was floppy, still wet from the rain. “That’s right. There’s the rules, and then there’s the spirit of the rules.”

“What if there are two rules, and they’re opposite? Like, I should tell the truth, but telling a lie is safer?” Izzy was biting his own lip, and Charlie knew this wasn’t a hypothetical question.

“It depends, doesn’t it? On the depth of the danger, the weight of the lie, and the strength of the people carrying on with their lives.”

He watched the way his words made Izzy scowl, then think. Charlie took Izzy’s hands in his own before the kid started chewing his nails again.

“I trust you, son. You’ll do the right thing.”

The way Izzy smiled made him want to hold the boy until he was all freckles and gaping teeth again.

.oOo.

Charlie didn’t want the cat, but once Crookshanks was there it was hard not to care for it. He made sure there was always enough in the bowl. The cat even got real food, not the strange combination of carrots, beans, and tofu that filled the Swan family refrigerator.

They soon had a system, sitting in front of the TV enjoying their weekly treat of self-caught salmon. Crookshanks would purr and clean his fingers with her sandpaper tongue. Charlie would stroke her fur and wonder what the Seahawks’ coach was doing, becuase the man sure as hell wasn’t thinking.

But Charlie didn’t mind too much, not with a full belly and a soft friend.

.oOo.

Crookshanks hadn’t wanted a family, but when the one who smelled of death had brought her to the one who smelled of smoke and rain, she was too comfortable to leave.

Fish day was a good day to be a cat.

.oOo.

Charlie figured it was a blessing that Tyler was in a hospital full of witnesses after the kid crashed his van into Izzy. When Charlie crushed the paper cup in his hands, it spattered coffee dregs. His son was released with a clean bill of health, and Tyler got to keep his driver’s licence.

Edward Cullen spent far too much time fussing over Izzy the next week, while Charlie sat in front of the TV and Izzy insisted he didn’t have a concussion.

The three of them had an understanding that Edward was pretending not to be head over heels. Charlie just drank beer and watched.

.oOo.

On Valentine’s day, Edward carried a box into Izzy’s room that was too big to be chocolates. “It’s a new laptop,” Izzy exclaimed the next morning, cutting banana slices into his cereal. “Edward is brilliant.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and went back to the paper.

.oOo.

Then Izzy went to a baseball game, and returned to pack for a week-long trip to Arizona. Charlie wasn’t a particularly clever man, but he knew when a story was fishy.

“This is one of those things I can’t tell you about,” Izzy said when he came back, hobbling up the porch ramp. “I swear it’s true I went to Arizona, and that there was an accident, and that everything’s okay now.”

If it were okay, his son wouldn’t be limping on his way to the couch. “Edward didn’t hurt you?” Charlie knew the two of them got up to strange things, kissing and giggling and mixtapes. He wasn’t blind or deaf. “Nobody ever needs to find his body.”

“Dad!”

“I’m just joking,” Charlie said, though they both knew he wasn’t. “He looks at you sometimes like you’re something to eat. It’s not right.”

“Do you really want to know about how we–”

“No. It’s fine.” There was a Women’s NBA game playing. “Should I give you the talk? Buy you condoms or something?”

“Dad. Edward isn’t like that.”

“Just checking, kid. So long as you’re safe, I guess.”

.oOo.

At the station, Alex went on paternity leave and Ronny finished vocational training. At home, Charlie bought himself ear plugs for his own peace of mind, and fixed up Izzy’s bed so it didn’t squeak. Izzy finished his junior year of high school.

Charlie had never expected Doctor Cullen to visit him at work. The man looked like he’d stepped out of a washing detergent ad, scent of flowers included. Charlie had to wipe powdered sugar off his fingers before shaking the doctor’s hand.

“I wanted to tell you before the gossip started, Chief Swan. My family and I are moving to Canada; I’ve been given an offer by a teaching hospital in Vancouver.” The man’s soft golden eyes seemed like they were melting. “I love teaching almost as much as I love practising medicine.”

“What about Izzy?” Charlie’s heart hurt when he pictured how his son would stop giggling.

“We’ve made arrangements for his treatment to continue, you mustn’t worry about that,” Carlisle said.

“I was more worried about Edward leaving.”

The doctor sighed, running a hand through his hair the same way Edward often did. “I try not to involve myself in their relationship, Chief Swan. However, from what I understand, they intend to stay in contact until they finish school.”

Charlie supressed his snort. He’d seen Izzy’s report card, there was no real reason why the kid hadn’t graduated yet. “I’m usually against it, but we could let the kids do sleepovers on weekends.”

Those eyes looked like puddles in a jeweler’s crucible. It was creepy, how perfect these people were.

“Thank you, Chief Swan.”

This time Charlie did snort, and picked up another donut.

Chapter Text

The Saga continues.

.oOo.

“Izzy!” Charlie yelled.

“Coming!” His son came clattering down the steps with his jacket halfway off. “I was just going to shower.”

There was mud tracked all over the hall. Charlie jutted his head, crossed his arms, and waited.

Izzy untangled himself from his sleeves and looked. “Oh. Right. Sorry dad. Jacob showed me how to ride his mud bike.”

“Jacob did what?”

“Well, I saw them on the side of the road, see, and we used the parts from one to fix the other, it’s been fun! I know how to do all kinds of stuff now.” There was grease on the boy’s fingers, and his jeans.

Charlie sighed. “Clean the floor first, kid, and remember the rules about not getting caught.” The reservation lived by different laws, he knew that, but he’d be talking to Billy all the same.

.oOo.

“My boy didn’t used to be a delinquent,” Charlie huffed, recasting his line.

Billy tossed back the fry he’d just caught and rebaited his hook. “Didn’t used to be a boy neither.”

“Not this again, Billy, or I’ll pull your brakes and we can test the slant of this dock.”

“Alright, alright. Jus’ saying, though. People change. ’Specially kids. Don’t worry so much.”

Charlie wasn’t worried. “It’s called parenting. You know, that thing where you stop your underage son from going motorbiking through the mud?”

“Doin’ a fine job of that then, ain’t you.”

Izzy was old enough he’d earned a licence, but that was all semantics. “Billy, you straighten out your boy before he’s a bad influence.”

“Uhuh. And Izzy’s straight as a nail, sure, sure.”

Charlie scowled, but Billy was busy looking off at the floating weeds.

“Alright,” Billy sighed. “I’ll talk to Jake. But he’s a good kid. You worry about other things, back in Forks, but don’t mind our business ’round here.”

.oOo.

“Izzy, you’re everything to me.”

Charlie spun about and went right back into the living room. Some things, a father did not want to know.

“Edward, you’re being obtuse. Life is about more than dating, you did plenty of things before I came around.”

Charlie turned on the tv and dialled up the volume. He’d seen ‘Men in Black’ before, but it was better than dying of second hand embarrassment. He really needed to get one of those landline phones that worked wirelessly.

And maybe some soundproofing for his bedroom door. He wasn’t willing to have Edward and Izzy stay in the Cullens’ empty house, but neither did he really want to be supervising.

.oOo.

“You told me to get my kid in line, and now I’m telling you the same!”

Charlie stared at Billy blankly. The man had wheeled himself to the top of the porch by himself. Jacob was sitting at the wheel of the car halfway up the drive, trembling.

This wasn’t the time to talk about underage driving.

“Izzy!” Charlie called.

Best to get both sides of the story before this got out of control.

“It’s unnatural!” Billy was fuming.

Charlie turned to Izzy. It had been a long while since he’d looked at his shoes that hard. “What happened, son?”

“We were just fooling around, I swear,” Izzy said, almost a whisper. “It was nothing.”

Charlie looked between his boy’s red face and his friend’s boiling temper. “Unnatural,” he echoed, mind grinding to a halt. “Billy, you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Either your Isabella’s a girl proper or he’s keeping his hands off my son!” Billy spat.

When Charlie got his captain’s training, they’d taught him he should never lose his temper. Count your breath, they’d said. Pretend you’re floating very high above and none of it can touch you.

“Billy Black,” Charlie heard his voice say, from very far away so that his emotions couldn’t touch it, “you get the hell off my porch, and you don’t come back.”

“Dad?” Izzy said once they’d watched the car reverse onto the road, “I think Jake might be in trouble.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, and sighed. He hung his gun back on the wall, he couldn’t even remember grabbing it. “You tell him he can have our couch if he fits on it.”

Two days later, Charlie came home to find a boy sitting on his porch, barefoot and with twigs in his hair. “Hey,” Jacob said, “I know Izzy’s in Seattle today but—”

Charlie’s first act of fatherhood towards that boy was pushing him into the shower.

.oOo.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, Izzy, you’re supposed to be better than this.”

Charlie looked up from his paper and blinked through the steam rising off his coffee. Izzy had switched them to decaf, it was supposed to be better for his heart.

“Hi, Alice,” Izzy said, coming down the stairs. “Stop by at a normal time, why don’t you.”

“You agreed to leave at six thirty. Did Jacob want to come along?”

Charlie dumped his mug in the sink and pulled on his belt while Alice stepped into their living room.

“Eww. I thought you would be my gay best friend, but you need to work on upholding the stereotype. Have you cleaned at all since Jake moved in?”

Something crashed to the floor. Jacob yelped. “Watch out for Crookshanks. No, that’s my arm Alice!”

“We should air the place out first. I never thought I’d say this, but shopping can wait. Izzy! Go fetch some bin bags.”

“Bye kids!” Dodging Jacob’s puppy-dog look, Charlie grabbed his keys and ducked out the door.

If she knocked the house into shape every time she came over, then Alice could visit more often.

Unlike Edward. The boy was unnaturally pretty, plus Charlie still thought he looked at Izzy like he was something to eat. Edward could only have his supervised sleepovers, but little Alice should get a standing invitation.

.oOo.

“Esme is chaperoning us,” Edward promised. He’d done himself up in a blue suit, and he was watching Izzy come down the stairs with stars in his eyes.

Charlie’d looked at Renée like that once. She’d worn pretty dresses, been the most beautiful woman in the world.

Izzy clomped down same as always, all jeans, leather, smiles.

“Don’t stay out too late. There are been people going missing all over Washington.” Charlie brushed the hair out of Izzy’s face. “Promise you’ll be careful, okay?”

“I’m always careful, dad. But anyway, Esme will protect us.” They were out the door, “Love you dad!” coming in muffled through the rain.

A ball of purring ginger rubbed against Charlie’s legs.

“Looks like it’s just you and me,” Charlie said. He went to the refrigerator for the small trout from yesterday’s fishing trip.

.oOo.

They’d been sat there for too long, but whenever Crookshanks claimed Jacob’s lap the boy refused to move.

“I think it’s time I went back home,” Jacob said, his voice shaking just a little.

Charlie reached out and held the boy’s trembling hands. “I didn’t want to push, but Billy was telling me he missed you. Not that he’s sorry, though. Billy hasn’t been sorry a day of his life.”

They both laughed, tension bleeding out across the kitchen table. The cat started purring again. “Dad always did say guests are like fish, they start to stink after a few days.”

“Boy, judging by the stink there’s ten teenagers living in this house, and the freezer’s brimming with bycatch.”

When Charlie let go of them, Jacob’s hands were still. “You be yourself, son. Kiss whomever you like. If you need to come back, so be it.” He gave Jacob’s arm a squeeze. “I’m proud of you either way.”

“I—I dunno. Like, it was nice, but it wasn’t worth this… I’m all dad’s got, you know?”

“Billy loves you something fierce, son. It’s rough, but he’ll come ’round.” Charlie wished he had the right words to say. Izzy would know, the kid had made parenting him effortless.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jacob said to his hands, and then once again to Charlie’s face. “I’m going to be okay.”

“That’s the spirit.” Charlie clapped him on the shoulder and scooped up a hissing Crookshanks. “Want me to give you a ride?”

.oOo.

Charlie was still regretting not getting them a wireless phone. He’d moved to the porch to give the kid privacy, but the kitchen window was open and the rain was too quiet.

“School is so boring,” Izzy was saying. “You’ll never guess what happened today. I had to punch Tyler, he’s trying to take me to prom again.”

The rocking chair creaked under Charlie’s white knuckles. Counting as he breathed in the wet air, he forced himself to relax back into the wicker.

“…and then he jumped over me and tore his head off, it was disgusting. No blood of course, but wow, and the smoke afterwards smelled like my old divination classroom.” Izzy giggled, and Charlie wished briefly that his son were normal. “Honestly, we could have made a prophecy, The one with the power to vanquish the dark man has awakened. Born on the land that has thrice defined him.”

The pictures in Charlie’s mind whirled, each stranger than the next. No blood? Divination? But he loved his boy’s laugh, even if the rest of it didn’t make sense.

Charlie listened to the rain, letting the sound of Izzy’s murmuring calm down his thoughts. He trusted his boy. If someone needed help hiding bodies or heads, Izzy would ask, right?

Chapter Text

I’ve renamed Meyer’s Riley ‘Reeve’ because it’s prettier.

The first days had been pain. He couldn’t remember much else. There was Before, then there was fire, and now it was After.

She said her name was Victoria, and that his name was Reeve, but he wasn’t sure he believed her about either. He was one of the first she’d turned, she said it was because he was special.

Reeve didn’t feel special. Mostly he felt a hunger that nothing could sate.

“We’re going to do something wonderful,” Victoria said, “I can’t make the decisions because someone is watching me. They killed my previous mate, and they’re going to kill me, you, all of our kind. Their eyes are gold because they feed on vampires.”

It was hard for Reeve to wrap his head around being a blood-drinker now, an entire level up the food chain. Achievement unlocked, the Before voice told him. Still there was an apex predator above him, and Reeve was tired of being scared of things he didn’t understand.

“You are going to build an army,” Victoria said. “Only make one decision at a time. I chose you for your abilities as a teacher. It will help you control them.”

He couldn’t remember being a teacher. When Reeve found a Missing poster bearing his own face outside a school, he stopped to marvel at the sea of children playing on the grounds.

Anna wanted to be a doctor. Vishen was going to be an astronaut. Stella would be a cook, and Darcy was convinced they could grow up to be a dinosaur.

Reeve drank in the sight of them, the familiarity that he couldn’t piece together. There was a feeling in his chest that wasn’t hunger.

The first person he turned was a homeless girl called Anna. She’d left her small town in hopes of finding something beautiful, and all Reeve had to give her was three days of burning and a lifetime of never-ending thirst.

While she writhed and screamed and her heart beat its last, Reeve stroked the hairs from her face and promised her a family.

.oOo.

I’ll be posting a chapter a day of various Harry Potter fics throughout December 2021, subscribe to get notifications. Currently I’ve caught the Twilight bug, including this lovely new story where Harry Potter is Charlie Swan’s boyfriend and a Rosalie Hale was Fem!Harry one shot. See you in the comments (or in my statistics, dearest lurkers). 

Chapter Text

Thank you ex-livreira for organization, research, and alpha-reading.

.oOo.

Crookshanks flicked her ears. Charlie looked up, checking the time. It was almost midnight, and he could hear socked feet creaking down the stairs. Turning off the TV, he waited.

“Dad, I want to tell you what’s been going on. It’s dangerous, but I think you’ll be safe.”

Izzy looked so small in his baggy sleepwear. Charlie wished the boy were just big enough to curl up on his lap. He patted the seat beside him, held Izzy’s hand, and listened.

“You’re a wizard,” he summarised afterwards. “The Cullens are vampires, there are Quileute wolves running about, and all of this under my nose?” Charlie massaged his temples, swallowing his tiredness. “Did nobody think that as police chief, I should know?”

“There are secrecy laws,” Izzy said. “They’re bound by them, but I’m not.”

“Because you’re a wizard. From a different universe.” It sounded mad, but it made its own kind of sense.

“I love you, dad.” Izzy smiled up at him. “You’re the best dad I’ve ever had.”

Charlie sighed and rubbed his face. “Alright, kid. Thanks for telling me. Do you need me to do anything for you?”

“Everything’s fine. I just didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”

With a nod and a yawn, they made their ways to bed.

.oOo.

“This is a bit strange,” Izzy said, his voice crackling through Carlisle’s laptop speakers.

“We will adapt, as we have to all other technologies so far,” Carlisle said. He forced his eyes away from the small image of himself on screen to scrutinize Izzy instead. “Are you well? Is anything different? Your bloodwork is normal, if slightly low on iron.”

“I’m fine. Things are fine. I’ll eat more spinach, doc, thanks.”

Carlisle nodded and waited.

“Edward’s being a bit obsessive. Maybe you should talk to him about being a well-rounded person?”

Someone knocked on Carlisle’s office door, then came in. He’d have to teach these students to respect his space better, Rosalie always said he was a little too nice, and Edward set a terrible example by barging in any time he liked.

“Jasmina, I’m on a call with a client, would you please?”

“Jasmina, huh?” Izzy crowed, “does Esme know she has competition?”

Carlisle sighed and waited, wearing the indulgent smile he practised whenever Emmett confessed to breaking another window.

“I told Charlie about me. He took it well. He’s the best.”

Things were difficult without Izzy’s audible pulse, nor the smell of his sweat. This was probably the closest Carlisle had ever gotten to the human doctor experience. A teaching doctor with his own son as an intern, holding video conferences where his senses were unfortunately dulled. “And how does that make you feel?”

Izzy rolled his eyes before his expression turned thoughtful. “Grateful. Blessed. I feel lucky.”

“I’m glad, Izzy. Truly.”

They smiled at each other for a moment. Someone knocked at Carlisle’s door again. He loved teaching, really, but these students could be incredibly needy.

“I’m alright, doc. Don’t worry about me. I miss you a lot, but I have a good life here. School has started again, I’m taking art classes. I haven’t been this okay in so long, it’s like learning to breathe again.”

The knock sounded again. Carlisle’s smile was making his cheeks hurt. He wished he could reach out and hug Izzy through the screen. Instead he closed the laptop. “Come in!”

Alice and Jasper were holding hands. They moved too quickly, then sat like statues in front of Carlisle’s desk.

“We need to be careful,” Alice said. “Victoria is building an army.”

.oOo.

Victoria said he had a gift, but Reeve didn’t feel gifted. He loved each of the vampires he turned, first Anna, then Marius, Xavier and Nadezhda. He showed them how to hunt without getting blood on their clothes, how to move around without attracting attention.

They were vicious, scared, and hurting, but Reeve could only hold their hands as they transformed into something that used to be human.

Of all the things Victoria told him, Reeve most doubted her when she said she cared for him. There was only bitterness inside her; bitterness and despair. Even if she’d lost her mate to the Cullens, that didn’t have to mean the end to her. Being so obsessed with your partner that your very life revolved around them, even after they were gone—it was unhealthy.

Reeve let Victoria believe she’d fooled him, and he let her think he was fighting for her cause. She’d chosen him for his ability to work with children, but instead he could see to the root of people.

Fred loathed himself. Nadezhda wanted revenge. Marius yearned for somewhere to belong.

Reeve wished he knew how to keep them all safe, wished their days weren’t spent hiding from the sun and their nights weren’t spent learning to tear each other apart.

But reality did as reality was. He loved them all, just as they were, and gave every day his best.

.oOo.

“Hey, Billy,” Charlie said, tackle box in hand and a smile tacked to his face. “Kids are back at school, d’you have time for some fishing?”

Billy thought hard for a minute before nodding. “I’ll be out in five.”

While he fetched his hat, Charlie packed their gear onto Billy’s push cart, same as always. They went down to the beach side by side, the silence between them heavy. Jake might as well have been there, looming between them like a red elephant.

Billy cast his line without really caring. Today, his heart wasn’t in it.

“Jacob ate his way through my entire pantry,” Charlie said, huffing a laugh. “There was even a bag of chips that Renée had bought, he said they tasted funny.”

“He’s a funny kid.” The words came out easy. Billy Black was proud of his son, so long as Jake wasn’t kissing boys in his garage.

There were some things that didn’t properly belong to La Push. Billy could wrap his mind around two-spirits and people like Izzy, those born into a body that didn’t fit right.

Hell, Billy’s body didn’t fit right either. He’d felt it the first time when he’d been twenty-four, like a belt squeezing his chest. His hands and feet had trembled, he’d thought any moment he’d burst into a wolf. Like the legends his father had told him about, like that memory he had of three old men transforming for one last run through the woods.

He remembered how worried he’d been about hurting his babies. He’d slept on the porch, shaking, burning, but it had been all falling apart without the part where his bones and muscles fell into place again.

‘Nerve damage,’ the doctors said when Sarah finally made him go. ‘Nothing we can do. Very rare in indigenous people.’

Billy Black had not felt lucky. He’d made it work for as long as he could, after Sarah died and his girls left, until it was just him and his boy and then his legs stopped working, and his eye stopped working, leaving him with the multiple sclerosis and his grief.

He’d wanted to be a wolf to give back to his people, but he’d wanted it for selfish reasons too. If he’d shifted, it might have made him whole again. Billy’s body had never felt right, but though he’d wished the wolf for himself, all he’d wished for his son was normalcy.

“I can pay you for the food,” Billy said then. He was tired, felt crushed from his skin to his bones.

Charlie sighed, put his arm warm and solid around Billy’s shoulders. “You know I don’t want that. You treat your boy right, is all. He loves you.”

There was a lump in Billy’s throat. He didn’t have those words, couldn’t remember ever having said them. The waves lapped against the stones, wearing them down into nothing one day at a time.

“There’s nothing wrong with boys kissing boys, Billy.”

The arm was still there. Billy wished Charlie’d let it drop. He wished a fish would bite so he could stop cradling his warm beer while listening to his friend’s accusations.

Billy’s reply came out as a whisper. “I just want him to have a normal life, you know?”

Charlie caught a fish then, a big rainbow trout that fought all the way until Charlie bashed it on the head.

“You can’t wish things for your kids, Billy. You just give them your heart and let go.”

Billy didn’t like that, but he pondered it for Charlie’s sake.

“I’ll try,” he decided, reeling in his line. “But for now, I’m going home.”

That night, when Jake came in, once they’d gotten Billy ready for bed, he reached out and squeezed his son’s leg. Jake sat on his bed gingerly, limbs long and strong.

“I—” Billy swallowed, then tried again. “I love you.”

“Are you okay?”

The crushing in Billy’s chest got a hundred times worse. How had he reached this point where his son couldn’t believe him?

“I don’t mind if you want to kiss boys,” he said.

“Okay, dad. But you could have talked to me about it. Izzy and me were just playing around is all. I don’t even know if I like boys.”

“But if you do, I still love you. You have to know that, son.”

A frown crinkled across Jacob’s face. “Do you need more pain meds, dad? I could even get you some weed if you want. Are you—are you dying?”

Billy sighed, his breath leaving him. “Good night, Jake. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Alright, dad.” Jacob stood and moved to the door. “I love you too.”

.oOo.

Chapter Text

They had set up a rotation of at least a weekly visit to Forks, just to leave their scents around the area fresh. Alice and Edward often fought for the honour, so when Carlisle took her call he was already sighing.

“I’m teaching, Alice. If you can’t settle this between yourselves, ask Esme to step in.”

“I’ve seen something,” Alice’s voice chimed through the phone. “One of us needs to go check if Izzy’s okay.”

He didn’t have a heartbeat, but if he did it’d be racing. Carlisle withdrew from his group of residents and strode outside. “What precisely did you see?”

“Izzy was on a motorbike, and then he took off his gear and jumped off a cliff. After that, he disappeared.”

I’ll let you know if I ever become suicidal, Izzy had promised. Carlisle had believed him, shouldn’t have been so eager to trust the boy. He’d never misjudged someone so badly.

A deep breath helped. “This can’t be what it looks like,” he decided. “Alice, take Esme and Jasper to visit. I have my students, and Edward isn’t the best choice if this is a false alarm.”

They let it hang between them, the If-Izzy-had-killed-himself eventuality.

The other end of the line was quiet so long that Carlisle thought the connection dead. Then Alice groaned. “Was Edward eavesdropping? He’s just decided to visit Forks.”

“Go now, Alice. Keep him from doing something stupid.”

Carlisle hung up and practised breathing all the way back to his office. This would all turn out to be something banal, he reassured himself. Alice and Esme would handle it. He trusted them. Edward wasn’t as stupid as he sometimes pretended to be.

Surely, Izzy was still alive.

.oOo.

Charlie stood by Sue during the funeral, tears running freely down his cheeks. He’d loved Harry like a brother, he’d thought it’d be the three of them for the rest of their lives.

Now it was just him and Billy, Billy who was scowling in the front row with his daughters on either side.

Jacob and Izzy should have been there with them, black suits and solid comfort. But Izzy had caught a bad cold cliff-jumping, and though he’d made it to Billy’s house they’d agreed his hacking cough wasn’t respectful. After shaking Sue’s hand and speaking his regret, Jacob had run right back home. The kid was used to playing nurse.

One day Billy would die and it’d be just Charlie. Three boys he’d be raising then. Or two pups and one wizard, it was all the same to him. Beside him he was startled by how calm Sue’s tears were, like she’d been expecting this.

Charlie should have been expecting this, with the obesity and the liquor, but he’d been wrapped up in yesterdays when they’d all sat on Billy’s boat betting on who’d get the biggest catch.

Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled. Charlie wished he could knock his head back and howl right along with it.

.oOo.

“There’s been a misunderstanding,” Alice said. She was talking very quickly, pacing around the room in a frenzy of tidying. “Izzy, you need to come to Italy with me. I’ve booked us a flight from Seattle.”

Charlie hoped his frown looked as severe as Izzy’s. If the situation weren’t so serious it would’ve been funny, father and son with matching red noses. “We just came from Harry’s funeral and Izzy’s sick. He doesn’t have to go anywhere.”

Charlie had the kid’s passport in his safe. The picture in it was of a little boy called ‘Isabella’, who wouldn’t be making it through border control without a real stink.

“Edward might have learned that you went cliff diving?”

Jasper stepped up to loom behind Alice, putting his hands on her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, darlin’.”

“None of this makes sense,” Charlie protested. “You told Edward that Izzy got a cold from swimming? Now he’s going to Italy?”

He saw Izzy shrinking into himself until Jasper put a hand on the boy’s shoulder too. “No, Dad, look at the bigger picture: Edward knows I jumped off a cliff, then saw you crying at a funeral.”

Charlie’s heart lurched. It was achingly simple, what Edward’s melodrama would have him do next. “Why Italy?” Renée had always wanted to go, but that was for the food and the buildings.

“The vampire police live there. Well, they’re more like vampire royalty.”

“Suicide by cop.” It was the kind of thing cowards did, putting their death on someone else’s shoulders. “Go to Italy, Izzy, but when you get home Eddie’d better be grounded.”

He handed over the passport and a bit of spending money, then wrapped his son in a hug. “Don’t do anything stupid,” Charlie said, just on principle.

“I’ll try,” Izzy said, and then he was gone.

.oOo.

When a human landed before his throne to the sound of a car backfiring, it was the most interesting thing that had happened to Marcus in the past century.

They stood around, waiting for the human to finish vomiting into the grate in the middle of the room. Humans had such strange excretory functions.

Alec was holding Edward in place; the Cullen child had lunged at the human. Carlisle was mad for letting his coven mingle with humans, had he not taught his son control? The lot of them likely suffered from malnutrition.

Marcus watched the delight and interest warring across Aro’s face. “Here he is,” Aro beamed, “Alive and well. Miracles never cease. Izzy Swan, such an honour to meet you. You truly have a flair for ostentatious arrivals.”

The room stopped breathing as their hands met. They could all hear Izzy’s heart fluttering like a trapped sparrow. When had there last been a human here, besides their meals? But Izzy smelled of thunderstorms, and it was making Marcus’ hair stand on end.

“Fascinating. Izzy Swan, you will be truly wonderful when you become one of us,” Aro said. Marcus tuned him out, looking at the spiderweb of bonds that connected the human to the world. Family, friends, love like only humans were capable of.

Marcus used to loathe humans almost as much as Aro delighted in them. Nowadays, he didn’t have the energy.

“What’s his gift?” he asked once their visitors had been led back out into the world beyond Volterra.

“Izzy Swan is a wizard,” Aro almost purred. “I could only see what he wanted me to. There is no-one like him. Perhaps, the venom will affect him much differently from how it changes the rest of us. Truly, he is marvellous.”

Caius said something about eliminating unknown threats, about the security risks of teleportation. Jane complained about the smell and wanted to torture someone. Demetri said he could not track the Swan beyond the scent of ozone.

Marcus sighed and leaned back in his chair, waiting for the next interesting thing to happen. It might take another century, but sitting was no hardship meanwhile. For lunch, he chose a tourist with a flashing camera. The last photo was of Marcus, looking bored.

.oOo.

I'm posting on average 2100 words every day this December. Some chapters are going up on ffnet first so you may want to bookmark the story there too.

Chapter Text

Thank you to ex-livreira for helping me with this month of chaos.

“Dad,” Izzy said.

Charlie looked at the boy with his brown eyes. He folded away the Sunday paper and poured them both more decaf.

“Dad, I’m scared.”

They blinked at each other. Charlie wanted to wrap his son in his arms and never let go. “Me too, kiddo.”

Izzy snorted, then scooped Crookshanks up onto his lap. The cat looked grumpy, like always.

“Is this about the surgery or something else?”

The quiet between them stretched. Charlie missed when he could kiss his son’s tears away, stick on a bandaid to make it all better.

“I did something when we went to Italy, something magical that I didn’t realise I could do anymore. It might’ve really hurt me, and I did it by accident.”

Charlie’s heart beat like it was the last seconds of a game, with one chance to make the winning shot. He’d never felt time like this, running away from him. “Are you alright, Izzy?”

“I dunno, dad.” Izzy’s voice sounded so small. “I feel like I’ve lost control. All the strings that were holding me have snapped so I’m just floating now, off into the distance.”

This, this was the one thing Charlie knew about. He took Izzy’s hand and squeezed it. “Son, sometimes you do everything right. You finish school, find a job, marry your girl and get a mortgage. Your kid is born, everything is perfect. Then life pulls the rug out from under you.

“I can promise you this, Izzy Swan: you’re never in control. Life is going to shit on you, and it’s going to give you something beautiful, this perfect—” he swallowed, he could still feel the first time he’d cradled his baby in his arms, “—sometimes, you gotta do your best and have faith that you’re gonna be okay, son. We’re going to make it be okay. Promise.”

Charlie watched Crookshanks scowling. There were tears falling splat-splat-splat onto her fur. The cat escaped Izzy’s hold, and Charlie opened his arms.

He didn’t know how long they sat there. Charlie just kissed his son’s hair, pressed Izzy’s face into his damp shoulder, and wished he could make it all better.

.oOo.

TW: non-con (Reeve/Victoria), not explicit

Reeve was worried about Victoria. She had been coming on to him the past week, lingering touches and meaningful looks. It made him feel sick to the stomach.

He’d gotten better at feeling things that weren’t burning hunger, but he wasn’t up for that. Especially not with Victoria, who was beautiful the way a tiger was beautiful, the way a fire was beautiful. Reeve didn’t want to get burned.

Whenever he could, he dodged her to train with his Newborns, teaching them to be more than their instincts. He told them to hold onto their dreams, lied to them about there being more to this life than dying for someone else’s cause.

He could feel Victoria’s eyes on him always, but she never acted on whatever she was thinking. It was Reeve’s army, these were Reeve’s children that he tried to nurture like a brooding hen.

The next time he felt her touch linger for too long, he followed her, allowed those hands to burn trails across his body. He felt her rage, but he knew it had nothing to do with him. He returned to find two of his children at each other’s throats, and wished he could go back to feeling only thirst and bloodlust instead of all this regret.

.oOo.

“So, I’m, like, a werewolf,” Jacob said.

Charlie stared at him. He had not been expecting this when the teen had led him into the forest before Thanksgiving dinner at the Blacks’. He definitely hadn’t expected Jacob to start stripping.

“Stop that!” Charlie hissed. He looked around, it was a small town, Billy always said Mrs Vane from next door had eyes like a hawk and that she’d jump to all the wrong conclusions. “I’m a cop, Jacob.”

Even while staring determinedly away, Charlie saw Jacob’s body start to ripple. It was almost like the air shimmering above the roads in Arizona. Then Jacob shifted into a wolf the size of a grizzly.

“Woah.”

Wolf-Jacob whined. Charlie hadn’t even noticed his hands going for the gun that wasn’t on his belt. He could hear his pulse throbbing in his ears.

“Sorry,” he said, holding his hands out palms up. Jacob butted into them. Charlie scratched behind the wolf’s ears, counting his breaths until he felt his pulse steady.

The shift happened just as suddenly in reverse. One moment he was amazed by how Jacob was shedding worse than even Crookshanks did. The next, he was touching a naked teenager’s neck.

Charlie jumped back and looked around, wiping his hands.

“So…” said Jacob.

Charlie turned back. Jeans and a T-shirt, thank Jesus. He wished he didn’t know that the kid went commando. “Yes?”

“You’re not surprised.”

“No, Jacob.” Charlie sighed and started walking them back to his house. Rachel was making a real turkey, it was going to be amazing. “Izzy already told me. Well, he didn’t mention just how massive you are.”

“Oh.” The smell of pumpkin and roast hit them as soon as they opened the door. They could hear Rebecca and Billy chatting in the kitchen. Jacob still looked nervous, though. “And you’re okay with all this… stuff?”

“Sure, kid.” Charlie grinned, ruffling his choppy hair. “I mean, it’s a different kind of transition than I’m used to, but we don’t judge in this house.”*

Jacob laughed, then knelt to pet Crookshanks before she tripped him up.

.oOo.

Izzy came home from the hospital in Vancouver as a new man. Charlie was so proud of him. He was scared to hug his son because of the bandages, but it made him happy to see the massive relief Izzy felt with his breasts gone.

"I bet that's a weight off your chest," Charlie had said, and they'd both laughed.

“I’m not allowed to move or lift things,” Izzy explained. “Otherwise, it’ll scar.”

Edward had been keeping Izzy company all week in Vancouver. Ever since coming back from Italy he reminded Charlie of one of those service dogs. Billy had gotten one once, it had been so annoying, always jumping up to be helpful. Billy had sent it back to the agency after his trial period with a ‘Fuck no, thanks.’

Charlie wasn’t sure when he’d agreed to have Edward moved in. Sure, the kid left at night because he didn’t need to sleep, but he was there all day, every day. He fetched things for Izzy, fixed the wonky door, got the cereal down from the cabinet. Edward had even started doing their laundry.

Charlie didn’t want to do his own laundry, but it was uncomfortable to know his son’s boyfriend was folding his underwear and cleaning his sheets. It was even worse knowing the kid had a supernatural sense of smell. There was no way Charlie was going to start that conversation, though, so he let Edward take care of Izzy and counted the days until Alice would come by instead.

There were many things Charlie could turn a blind eye to, but he wasn’t having Edward help his boy shower.

“Something’s going on in Seattle,” Alice said when she got there. For a girl that didn’t sweat, she’d sure brought a lot of clothes. “I’ve told Carlisle we need to move back to Forks.”

“You haven’t seen anything for certain,” Edward said. He was scowling at his sister, arms crossed.

Charlie decided Alice had the right idea with ignoring him. “How bad are things?” It was really hard, knowing the city had a vampire problem and not being able to tell anyone about it. Still, he could respect the chain of command. Charlie had not been raised to disobey vampire royalty. “We’ve gotten a total of twenty missing persons state-wide over the past month. And I’m only telling you this because you don’t gossip: there have been more than twice that of unsolved murders.”

“Jasper thinks Victoria is making an army,” Edward said. “He spent his formative years in the South, everything looks like war to a veteran.” Then he jumped up to help a protesting Izzy down the stairs. “I don’t think we should be worried,” Edward said.

“What’s she hoping to accomplish by coming here with an army, though?” Izzy said. “Avenging James is stupidly petty.”

“I don’t have the answers,” Alice said, grimacing. “I just know something’s going on in Seattle, so we’re moving back to Forks.”

“Coming home for Christmas,” Charlie said, and sighed. He could already hear Mrs Vane spreading more gossip. Still, Forks would be safer with the vampires around.

And Edward would finally have his own place to go home to.

.oOo.

*thehawkeye suggested the line ‘a different kind of transition,’ thank you! 

Chapter Text

This story has gotten darker. I vow to be respectful and do right by the sometimes difficult themes. Trigger warnings listed at the start of each scene.

.oOo.

TW: vomit (Charlie)

“Tell me about the south,” Izzy said.

Charlie sighed. When they’d been invited to the Cullens for dinner, he’d hoped they’d make it past dessert without talking about the vampire problem.

Jasper told a long, ugly story about people who were greedy and couldn’t understand the value of human life. It made Charlie feel sick to the stomach. For most vampires, he knew he was nothing more than a salmon in the West Dickey River.

Izzy spent the whole time nodding along. Then, he told a long ugly story about a boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs and grew up to kill wizard Hitler.

Charlie had to excuse himself. He managed to walk out where he hoped the Cullens wouldn’t hear him before he threw up. His son, the one he’d sworn to do right by. That same baby boy who used to giggle while he changed his diapers. Izzy Swan, who could gut a fish like noone else—

“Charlie.”

He turned. Carlisle’s hair was messy and his shirt was wrinkled.

“Izzy’s alright, you know,” Carlisle said. “You raised him well. We can’t change the past, I’ve learned to stop preoccupying myself with eventualities as much.”

“My kid is a war veteran. Shit, he’s older than I am.” Charlie scratched his stubble. “I mean, yeah, he told me before, but it didn’t really sink in.” He stooped to wash his hands and face in the creek. The cold made his skin numb.

“You’re still his father.” Carlisle’s smile made him look tired. “Trust me, fatherhood is a designation more than a matter of logistics.”

Charlie forgot sometimes that the vampire had been around for centuries, and that his kids had been too. They looked so normal, like all good families were. A bit messy, but in the way you knew they were doing okay.

“I don’t know what to do,” Charlie whispered. He wanted to tell Izzy things were going to be fine, but there was an army of vampires in Seattle and here he was freaking out instead of sitting at a war council. Charlie was a good cop, he made a great Chief of Police in a town the size of Forks, but he didn’t know jack about war.

“Sometimes, we don’t have to do anything. Our job as fathers is to let them find their own way, with our unconditional support and acceptance. It’s not always easy, I’ll grant you.”

Charlie straightened. He shrugged back his shoulders and lifted his head. “You’re wrong,” he said, and started to march back towards the house where his son was waiting. “Being there for him is the easiest thing in the world.”

That night Izzy and Jasper talked over plans and tactics for hours, going way over Charlie’s head. Edward and Alice added their ideas, Emmett scrunched up paper wads and flicked them at his siblings. Rosalie pretended she wasn’t listening.

Meanwhile Charlie sat by his son’s side and let him know that he had his back, no matter what. On the other side of the table, Carlisle did the same.

.oOo.

TW: vague suicidal thoughts (Reeve)

When Fred went missing, Reeve assumed he’d run away. When Nadezhda didn’t come back after daybreak he reasoned she’d forgotten the time. When Anna left, he knew it was serious.

“We’re losing newborns,” he told Victoria after a hunt. Her eyes were as red as her hair.

She raised a brow. “Not that I’d fathom to tell you what to do, or how to plan, but why not just make new ones?

“…What?” Reeve had hand-picked them. People who’d have powers, people who’d be good followers, people who wouldn’t be noticed. Even with all that, there were so many listed missing persons that they had to cross state lines just to get dinner.

“You mustn’t be so sentimental.” Victoria laughed like a songbird; it was a hideous sound. “Reeve, darling, I love you, but they don’t matter.”

He knew he was supposed to play his role and say it back, but in that moment it took everything to not tear off her head. His newborns would play a game of basketball with it. Maybe cut the hair off first so it didn’t get caught on the hoops.

“You’re right, of course,” he said, just one more lie in a long, long line of lies. Reeve forced his lips into the smile he’d practised long ago.

‘Yes, your child is a genius. Of course it must be the syllabus. It’s my teaching that’s the problem. We’ll all try harder. No, I did not mean to imply that your child is an entitled, over-coddled snowflake.’

“I love you too. I’ll make more. It’s only natural to lose one or two, but would you look into it?”

“I will visit Alaska, I need to research what befell Laurent. Expect me in the new year, if not sooner.”

She pulled him into a deep kiss. Reeve let her and wondered when the line of lies would be long enough to hang himself with.

.oOo.

TW: throwaway line about self-harm/gun violence (Charlie).

“I think you should leave,” Charlie said, when he’d meant to say, ‘What’s for lunch?’

Izzy blinked. “I was making vegetable curry?”

“It smells good.”

They stood there in the kitchen looking for the right words. Renée had always said he wasn’t so good at that.

“The thing with more wolves turning, and the vampire army, I know you’re making good on your plans with Jasper, I just… maybe it would be safer if you… left.”

There were tears in Izzy’s eyes. Charlie wanted to shoot himself just to make the pain stop. “You want me to go back to mom?”

“Jesus, no.” He rubbed his hair. “This is coming out all wrong. I just—you could graduate early. Travel the world—not Italy—maybe go somewhere nice and warm where there are lots of cloudy days.”

“You want me to go to Europe with Edward?”

The smoke alarm went off. Charlie got it with the end of the broom and waited for Izzy to save dinner. “You could go with Alice, Jasper and Edward.” The three of them could keep even trouble-magnet Izzy safe.

“I mean, I do have enough credits to graduate, and I did want to see Amsterdam. Or maybe Denmark?” In that moment Charlie could see the wizard in Izzy, the way he stood there stirring the bubbling pot with his eyes twinkling. “I bet Alice would love Denmark. Lots of Scandinavian design.”

The phone rang. Charlie sighed and went to answer it. “I’d love to!” Alice’s voice squealed down the line. Charlie sighed again and hung up.

“Dinner’s ready.”

“Coming,” he called, and went to set the table.

.oOo.

The Blacks came over for Christmas dinner. They’d refused to visit the Cullens’, so there were four Blacks, two Swans, and seven Cullens squashed into Charlie’s living room. When Izzy served the tofurkey, only Alice and Edward stayed to watch them eat.

The house had not been made to hold so many people. The noise of talking and laughter sounded weird to Charlie. He wished he could join Crookshanks, who was hiding on the sofa. There was probably a game on.

Charlie caught Billy’s eye. They moved away from the table without anyone stopping their conversations.

“How did we have such extroverted kids?” Billy asked.

“Hmm.” Charlie flicked through the channels. “We could always blame our wives?”

The sound of laughter drowned out the commentator for the Caps game.

“I wish it were warm enough to go fishing.”

Chapter Text

TW: violence (Victoria & Reeve). There’s a scene marked out with extra trigger warnings that can be skipped, but you should probably start reading from the top for context. Thank you ex-livreira for beta-reading.

.oOo.

Reeve was losing more newborns every day. When he told them to move in groups they only started going missing faster.

Victoria would be back from her trip soon and he knew she was going to be furious with him. He’d had one job: to prepare an army.

Reeve hated his own failure. They were down to six barely trained vampires, plus the two still turning in the basement with Bree watching over them. It was breaking him, seeing these children he had created and loved fall to whatever monster was out there.

“Reeve!”

He turned. Her eyes were almost black; her hair made it look like she was on fire. Victoria did not sound happy.

“Where are they?”

“Feeding, training,” Reeve lied. “Some have gone missing, I told you.”

She had him by his throat. It was an empty threat when he didn’t need breath to sustain him. He waited. Even if she tore his head off, she’d put him back together again afterward. Victoria needed him, and they both knew it.

The ground under his feet felt like salvation. Reeve didn’t step away from the wall. He wasn’t sure if he could stand by himself just yet.

Victoria kissed him. Reeve twisted his face into a smile.

She needed him, and they both knew it.

But suddenly there was a thought pushing to the forefront of his mind…did he really need her?

.oOo.

When Izzy had said he was accompanying them to Seattle, Charlie had insisted on joining them. It was a logical request, but Carlisle had vetoed it. Things were difficult enough with one vulnerable human on a battlefield, they didn’t need two.

After they’d seen Victoria heading east, there had been a fierce round of negotiations. In the end Charlie had agreed to stay and guard Forks with the Quileute pack, while Carlisle supervised Jasper’s final hunting party.

It reminded him of all those times they had lied about taking the family out into the wilderness. ‘Oh yes, we love being in nature,’ he’d told his fellow doctors and nurses. ‘No, the children all get along great. Having a common purpose will do that.’

Emmett was sulking. Edward was scowling. Rosalie was doing her nails.

“Do you have to do that in the car, dear? It’s a very strong smell.”

Carlisle wished he hadn’t brought Esme along. There wasn’t a violent bone in her body and here he was, taking her to what Jasper had promised would be their last drive to Seattle.

‘We finally outnumber them, it wouldn’t be sensible to leave anyone out of the fight,’ Jasper had said. Then he’d packed Izzy and Alice into his car, leaving the rest of them to the seven-seater.

Carlisle stepped on the gas. He’d rather pay the speeding tickets than feel their combined anxiousness constricting his throat. The numbers were on their side and Jasper had been training them, but this was going to be a real battle.

There was a chance one of them would get seriously hurt. No matter how small, it was possible that they would be returning home one Cullen short.

Carlisle gripped the steering wheel and drove like his life depended on it.

.oOo.

TW: this scene is violent and mentions non-con and attempted suicide. You can skip it, context is provided in the scene after (crtl F for ‘.oOo.’)

When they found him he was naked.

Reeve blinked at them. He couldn’t find the energy to get up. Hell, he couldn’t even find trousers. Between his feet, Victoria’s head was lolling to one side. Her eyes were still moving. Her mouth was moving too, but without lungs she wasn’t really saying anything.

One moment they’d been in bed together, coupled. Reeve had been letting her have her way, just like he always did. He’d been glad they were indoors instead of out in some forest or alleyway. He’d learned it was easier to go along with what Victoria wanted, because she’d take it either way.

But the thought had just kept looping in his head: She’d created him, but he didn’t need her. He didn’t owe her anything. She’d said that when she died he’d die to, that was how it worked between a sire and childe.

He’d laid there and realised that she’d taken everything that made him—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take it back.

So Reeve had reached up. He’d caressed her face between his palms. She’d smiled her last smile, and he’d twisted.

It had been easy. Just like he’d taught his newborns. ‘Don’t think of them as a person. Your opponent is the enemy, you must dismantle them before they dismantle you.’

Her body had started flailing immediately. He’d tossed her head and torn off her arms. It had been the most horrible sound, like a mountain that was screaming, breaking. He’d separated her into six pieces and he’d meant to do the final deed but—

—Reeve hadn’t been able to find the energy to get up. He’d stayed sitting with her head between his feet, hoping there would be a ‘right’ moment.

Because killing her would kill him. His death would mean the death of all his children.

He’d been thinking that he should probably say goodbye. In a minute. Just one more minute with the lighter in his hands. With her head at his feet.

Then they’d found him. One was covered in scars. The other was a human.

“Hi,” said the human. His heart rate was fast, like he’d been running. “I’m Izzy. Did you do that?”

Reeve looked over at Victoria’s dismembered body. “I think so.”

He still wasn’t sure why he’d done it. He could still undo it, but she’d kill him then. It would be better to kill all of them in one go, one flick of the lighter. That would be neater.

A wave of calm washed over him. Reeve blinked, then realised he didn’t have the energy to reopen his eyes. Victoria’s head was taken from him, familiar hair dragging across his feet. It felt like he was burning, but he didn’t mind. Death would be better than this.

The smell punched the air from his lungs. Like human sweat mixed with a hideous incense; Reeve stopped breathing. Nadezhda had worked at a body soap shop, her clothes had smelled approximately like that before he’d turned her.

Someone draped a sheet over Reeve’s shoulders. He held it in place. Probably, he should get dressed. He still wanted to say goodbye to his children before the end.

The calm he was floating on lessened. Reeve opened his eyes.

Victoria was burning.

He watched the flames uncreate her, waiting for his own death. When she was ash and he was still breathing, Reeve was almost disappointed.

“Jasper has two friends you might like to meet,” said another vampire. She was short, with spikey hair. Her smile was kind; it made him want to trust her, but at the same time Reeve didn’t want to trust anyone. “If you head towards Oregon now, you’ll find them. Peter and Charlotte can help you.”

Reeve blinked. The blanket of calm was gone, but he still wasn’t feeling anything. These were the Cullens, that much was obvious. They had come here to kill him, was it a trap?

Reeve wasn’t dead. “Victoria lied.”

“I’m sorry,” said the human. “One of your newborns surrendered. Maybe you could go to Oregon together?”

The female vampire smiled as if she was truly happy. “That would be perfect. Yes. I can see it all now. It’s going to work out just right.”

Holding his sheet around him, Reeve got to his feet. He walked past what had been Victoria. Downstairs he found Bree sobbing in the arms of a blonde vampire with perfect nails. “Come, Bree. We’re going east.”

He could do it for her. He’d brought her into this life, he was going to take care of her if it was the last good thing he ever did.

Outside, it was raining. Reeve held Bree’s hand tightly and stepped out into the first day as free vampires.

“Victoria lied to us, but she’s gone now,” he told Bree. “I promise, we’re going to be just fine.”

.oOo.

Billy sat with Charlie all night, and the sun sure did stay away for a damn long time. They didn’t bother pretending to watch the TV, even though the Sonics were playing. They just sat in Billy’s kitchen listening to the rain trying to beat down the front door. The roof was still on the house, but barely.

Every hour the phone would ring. Charlie would jump out of his own skin. Billy answered it knowing the words Sam would tell him by heart, “No fresh scents. The red-haired bitch really went to Seattle.”

But Charlie would look at him with so much hope. “No news,” Billy would pass along.

“No news is good news,” Charlie’d reply.

Billy wasn’t sure if it was the wind howling, or his son. He was sick of waiting. He was sick of sitting. He wanted to get up and do something, but Billy couldn’t even pace. So they sat in the kitchen with steaming mugs full of coffee and helplessness.

“What?” Billy answered the phone, blinking. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since the last check in.

“Good morning, Billy Black.” Carlisle Cullen said.

Carlisle’s voice had him wide awake. It was soft, like the bruised skin of a rotting pear. Billy punched Charlie’s arm and put the phone on speaker. “What’s happening?”

“It’s over,” Cullen said. “We’re all fine. Two are still alive, but Edward and Alice say they won’t cause any problems for us. Victoria is dead, and her army is no more.”

Charlie was flailing his arms. “Ask him to put Izzy on,” he said, almost pushing the phone out of Billy’s hand.

“Dad? Dad?” said the familiar voice.

“Izzy,” Charlie breathed. “Son, you’re alright.”

“Yeah, dad. We did it. I’m coming home. How are you and Billy and the rest holding up?”

Billy watched his friend’s grin and smiled, too.

“Better now. You take care, kid. See you soon.”

Billy hung up the phone and wheeled himself to his room, calling, “You just going to drink my coffee, Swan, or are you gonna help me get into bed?”

“If you want me in your bed, all you gotta do is ask,” Charlie said. There was a grin in his voice.

Billy scowled. “I’m not into that shit,” he said.

His friend tucked him in. Billy leaned over to turn on his nightlight.

“And even if I were, Charlie Swan, you’re really not my type.”

He could hear Charlie chuckling as he gathered his stuff and let himself out. “You’re a good man, Black,” he called, “but I have a family to go home to.” The front door clicked shut.

.oOo.

Chapter Text

Thank you ex-livreira for all the help getting these updates ready. 

“I’m going to Europe,” said Izzy.

Carlisle’s heart stopped. “Not Italy, surely.”

“Amsterdam,” Alice said. She was skipping. Carlisle had told her ‘No skipping in the house’ so many times.

“Alice, dear, no skipping in the house,” Esme said.

Carlisle smiled at her. He loved that about her, the endless patience and the way she never, ever gave up.

He turned back to Izzy. “Charlie doesn’t object to this?” They all knew that Izzy was technically an adult. However, he was also a teenager going through puberty, and hormones made people stupid.

Carlisle eagerly anticipated the day where Izzy decided to become one of them so that they could stop worrying about the boy so much.

“No,” Edward said, following Rosalie up from her garage. “No, we’re not turning Izzy.” He faced his boyfriend, grinning. “Your truck, it’s finally finished.”

Rosalie kicked him without looking. “I did all the work, you can shut your mouth.” She passed Izzy a key tied with a red ribbon. “But if you’re leaving, it’s probably just best to sell it.”

“I could never!” Izzy said, taking the key with a little bow. “Lead me to my chariot, m’lady?”

Carlisle walked over to Esme and took her hand, pressing a kiss against her cheek.

“I taught them manners,” Esme said quietly.

“And yet.” Carlisle gestured to where Edward and Alice were staring at each other, holding a mental conversation emphasised with eye-rolls and head-shakes. Downstairs, they could hear Rosalie talking to Izzy about his truck’s engine and her favourite sights in the Netherlands.

“No!”

“Edward, honey, inside voices please.”

Carlisle squeezed Esme’s hand and said to his children, “What are you arguing about again? Let’s talk through this like civilised people, alright?”

“We’re not people,” Edward huffed. He sat down at the kitchen table, resting his head on his hands. “I refuse to sentence Izzy to this existence.” Edward smiled despite himself. “He has the most beautiful soul.”

‘Not this again,’ Carlisle thought. In the garage, the truck doors slammed shut. He could hear Rosalie telling Izzy about her time in New York, with all its ugly trappings.

“It’s really not your decision to make for anyone else,” Esme was saying. “You can have your opinions, and we can have ours. In the end, it’s Izzy’s body and it’ll always be his choice.”

“I know,” Edward moaned, prostrating himself across the table. “He’s forbidden me from talking about it. This is torture.”

It must have been a very long time since Edward had felt any kind of pain, for him to forget the meaning of torture. Carlisle took a long, calming breath.

“Izzy says my feelings are legit and I’m allowed to feel what I feel without self-judgement.”

Carlisle took another long, calming breath. Having his own words paraphrased back at him by his son, who was dating the boy whom Carlisle was counselling—

“I want to go to Amsterdam with you, and I am going to make our trip be perfect,” Alice said. “And I absolutely refuse for you and your melodrama to ruin it. Izzy doesn’t even want to be a vampire right now, he’s busy thinking about other, more important things.”

Downstairs, Carlisle heard Rosalie start sobbing. They all winced. Izzy’s soft voice said, “There, there.” Carlisle hoped it would help, or that Emmett and Jasper would return from their hunt soon.

“Do you think I can ask him to marry me?” Edward said.

Alice sighed. “You’re not proposing during my Europe trip. I forbid it.”

“Maybe you should go play outside?” Esme said. “I want to go check on Rose.”

Carlisle watched his children traipse out into the rain and wondered what he’d done to deserve them. He loved them, of course he loved them with all his unbeating heart, but sometimes—

—oh, whatever.

.oOo.

Izzy called every other night. Charlie didn’t really know what to say. He’d sit there and listen to Izzy talk about the day’s plans. They were nine hours apart, so they got thirty minutes before Charlie had to go to bed.

It was the postcards that really helped. Charlie started working longer shifts again, but once a week he’d have a new picture to tape to the wall behind his computer. The Netherlands looked real pretty. Forks looked real pretty on postcards too, though. And Arizona.

But Izzy seemed really happy, so Charlie tried not to miss him too much.

He kept forgetting why he’d sent his son to Europe. ‘Because you want him to be safe,’ said the voice in Charlie’s head. ‘Because you’re afraid if he stays, he’ll realize he wants to leave just like his mother did,’ it whispered at night. ‘You want him to leave so he can come home to you.’

“I’m hearing voices,” he told Billy that weekend, sitting on a boat wrapped in jackets and blankets with enough beer to make the rain feel warm.

“I think it’s okay if it’s your own voice,” Billy said. “Or are you hearing someone else’s?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me I’m going crazy.”

Billy shrugged. “You’ve not gotten crazier than usual. I can call the madhouse if you want. I’ll tell them you think your son’s dating a vampire.”

Charlie laughed. “Don’t forget about the local vampire doctor. God, they’d love that.”

Billy didn’t stop chuckling for a minute. They each opened another can of beer.

“How’s Izzy doing? Jacob misses him. Says dirt bikes aren’t fun without the company.”

“Tell him to get his licence already.” Charlie sighed, rubbing his face. “Izzy’s doing fine. He’s been looking at colleges there. Says they’re real cheap.”

“Cheap is good.”

“Amsterdam is far away.”

“No wonder you got all A’s in geography, Charlie.”

“Shut up, Black. You’re scaring the fish.”

.oOo.

“Charlie’s all alone now,” Esme was saying.

Carlisle walked over and kissed her hello.

“He’s a grown man, mom. He’ll be fine.” Emmett was playing on his Nintendo. Carlisle didn’t mind his kids not going to college, but it would be nice if Emmett could strive for more intellectual pursuits. At least Rosalie had her cars.

“The way his house stinks of dog, he’s got plenty of company,” Rosalie said. She was staring a hole in the back of Emmett’s head. If she had powers, she’d be setting him or the xbox on fire.

“Rosie, why are you sniffing out the Swans’ house?” Emmett turned to look at her.

She shrugged, but she was smiling. “Izzy asked me to look out for Charlie. All Izzy’s ever wanted is for his family to be taken care of.”

“That’s really nice of you, dear.” Esme was beaming. Carlisle looked at her. She was so beautiful like this.

“Yeah,” said Emmett. “You’re amazing, Rosie. Have I told you that today?”

Carlisle turned away when they started canoodling on the couch. Esme would have to replace it soon. Perhaps the new one could be blue.

He took his wife’s hand and led her outside. They’d been renovating the cottage for Edward and Izzy, but in that moment it would be nice to get some privacy, just the two of them.

“I could send food, or invite him over for dinner,” Esme murmured, following him along the trail.

“Should I be worried you’re so concerned about making another man happy?” Carlisle said, grinning.

Esme interlaced their fingers and took the lead. “Is my dear husband feeling neglected?” she said, pulling them into a run. “Oh, whatever shall I do? I could send you care packages, maybe you’d like dinner?”

Carlisle ran alongside her, laughing.

.oOo.

“I miss you,” Izzy said.

“Yeah.” Charlie turned off the TV. He balanced the fiddly little cell phone against his shoulder and coaxed Crookshanks onto his lap.

“Are you eating enough? I know you can’t cook.”

“Son, you don’t have to worry about me. I did just fine before you moved in.”

“You lived off Sue’s fish fry, microwave meals, and diner cheeseburgers. We’ve finally gotten your cholesterol down. You were doing better than ‘just fine’ before I left.”

Charlie put one of Esme’s homemade cookies back down. “I’m not eating rabbit food if I don’t have to,” he said, because he could. Izzy used to stock the fridge with carrot sticks and hummus, and Charlie kind of missed it.

“I’ll ask Rose to bring you something,” Izzy announced.

Charlie sighed. “Whatever you say, kid.”

They sat and listened to each other’s breathing for a bit. Charlie could hear the sound of a pen scratching. Izzy had sent a few sketches with his postcards, drawings of the buildings around the city, or drawings of bicycles. Currently it was a toss-up between architecture and mechanical engineering. Secretly, Charlie hoped he’d decide to apprentice at the local car shop instead of going to college.

“Alice says Rose agrees to bring you better food,” Izzy said.

Charlie wondered if his son thought he was an idiot. He took the cookie and let Crookshanks have a little piece, feeling the purr in his own chest. “Did you also ask her to do my laundry? Because that’s really weird, and I’m not, like, disabled.”

Even Billy did his own laundry. It took a bit longer for him to do the hanging-up, but he got by.

“Do you want to start washing your clothes again, dad?”

He thought about it for a moment. “…no.”

There was a sense of victory in Izzy’s voice, but he didn’t say, ‘I told you so.’

“I love you, dad,” he said instead. “I want you to know I’ve got your back. Just like I know you’ve always got mine.”

Charlie wasn’t good with words like Renée was, like Izzy was. He felt his chest bursting with emotion. “Thanks, son,” he said, instead of all the things he didn’t know how to say.

“You’re welcome,” Izzy said, and he knew it was enough.

.oOo.

Chapter Text

TW: suicidal thoughts (canonical) and attempted abortion. Mpreg! If you're trans and pregnancy triggers you, stop reading the story here in the understanding it has a happy ending. I've toned it down by a lot, but this isn't one of those super annoying condescending 'happy mpreg' fics by authors who wouldn't know body dysphoria if it slapped them in the face. 

.oOo.

Izzy had given a lot of thought to how he would die. Dying in the place of people he loved seemed like a good way to go, and he hadn't regretted that yet.

Waking up again afterwards was always terrible, growing harder and harder with each iteration. Life stopped holding much value. Death didn't mean the end anymore, and sometimes it was tempting, so tempting, to just...start again. To become someone new.

Still, Izzy never regretted coming face to face with Death, because he knew that someone had to master the Hallows. Harry'd been a better candidate than most.

But when he'd come here, into this world with its different kind of magic, he'd started to grow attached. He'd loved the sun and the desert, but he'd loved the ferns and the rain even more. And by Merlin, he'd fallen arse over teakettle for the stupidest, most selfless, most loving vampire of them all.

They'd reached the point where Izzy was picturing them growing old together. Without the ageing, of course. It would be such a lovely, normal life—all he'd ever wanted was to fit in.

Aunt Petunia had always insisted there was no greater sin than letting the neighbours see her laundry. Izzy had secretly been picturing a little cottage with a messy garden and clothes drying on the washing line out back. The way Alice kept grinning, it probably wasn't as secret as he hoped. 

That morning, he'd told the vampires he was out enjoying the sun, when he'd actually gotten on the next plane to Seattle.

The day before, he'd sat in an ob/gyn waiting room listening to the hushed whispers telling him he didn't belong. Izzy didn't have enough energy to care if he'd hurt the doctor with his panicked Obliviate .

There were three things Izzy was absolutely certain of: first, he was pregnant. Second, the thing was growing supernaturally fast. And third, he was terrified .

.oOo.

Carlisle spent the drive to Seattle trying to find a reason why Izzy would come back from the Netherlands alone. Alice had called saying that Izzy's future had gone missing, as if he'd planned to visit La Push. Next time Carlisle wanted to buy her a surprise present, he decided to give it to the Blacks for safe-keeping.

"Hi," Izzy said. He didn't have any bags. He was hunched over on himself, wearing one of Edward's hoodies with the sleeves rolled up. There was panic in his green eyes.

Carlisle's smile wasn't reassuring anyone. They walked to the car in silence.

"I need you to help me abort a baby," Izzy said the second the car doors closed.

Carlisle was very glad he wasn't driving yet. He turned and stared. "You're s—" 

He clicked his mouth shut. Izzy had likely never been so sure in his life. 

"In Forks, or in Seattle?"

There was a hint of a sad smile. "As soon as possible, with as few people knowing as possible."

Carlisle nodded and started the car.

The motel receptionist didn't seem to care about who was staying in a room together. The supplies Carlisle stole from a hospital pharmacy didn't make things any better. Izzy spent the night vomiting and crying while Carlisle wished he could offer more than poison pills and emotional support.

"Edward can never find out about this," Izzy said once the drugs had run their course and Izzy had finished sobbing his heart out in the shower. 

Carlisle gestured to the still very present, albeit small, bump. "There's another way we can attempt. It's more invasive, but…"

"It's not going to work. I didn't think this would work, either, but I had to try. Had to know."

They sat beside each other on the bed. "I'm sorry," Carlisle said. It didn't feel like enough. "Do you want to talk about it? Or about how this happened?"

Izzy's laugh sounded choked, though he didn't devolve into more tears. "Well, when a man stops taking his testosterone for a while, when a daddy and a daddy love each other very much, then—"

He waved vaguely at himself. Carlisle hadn't known hybrid vampire babies were possible. He wondered if they could only be destroyed by tearing them apart and setting them on fire. Thankfully, Edward wasn't there to overhear that thought.

"Okay," Izzy said, standing up. He was wearing the hoodie again, though his face was flushed. "Okay, time to face the music." The young man took a deep breath, then released it. "Rosalie's going to love this, at least."

.oOo.

TW: it's Edward's perspective. Expect melodrama.

Edward was very, very much in love . He didn't even mind that Alice still mentally sing-songed the words. Alice couldn't help the thoughts in her head any more than Edward could help the feelings in his chest.

And God above, Edward loved Izzy Swan utterly, irrevocably, with all of his unbeating heart. 

His head had always been so loud, filled with a thousand radios all tuned into different channels. It was worst at school; their voices came at him from all sides, like the walls were closing in. Edward hated school, but he loved his family. They'd done so much for him, he didn't want them to think him ungrateful. They didn't have it easy either. 

There was a protestant aspect to it, to suffer in the hope of redemption. Edward had studied the Bible as the lifeline it was, a tether for the potential existence of his own pitiful soul.

And then there had been Izzy Swan, bright and calm. He was confusing and bizarre and asked questions about Cedric Diggory…but for the first time in Edward's life he'd experienced quiet. It had been more addictive, more satisfying than even human blood.

Rosalie had jokingly referred to Izzy as Edward's personal cocaine—he'd laughed as if it were funny instead of true. Whatever Izzy wanted, Edward would give. Wherever Izzy went, Edward would follow. Sometimes he felt like a pathetic dog salivating for the smallest morsel of attention, but he'd give up all his wealth and his dignity if he had to.

If Izzy would let him, Edward would give up his own name.

That Saturday, Edward should have understood that something was wrong when Izzy changed their plans. He wished he could say he knew because he had an intuitive understanding of his partner's moods, but actually he had to see it in Alice's mind. 

One moment they were planning on visiting a fish market. It was going to be cloudy. Alice saw four different places where Edward would think about proposing. Each time, she quickly changed her plans to involve stepping on his foot and hissing, ' No!' before Edward could see if Izzy would accept the ring that had been burning a hole in his pocket.

Alice was imagining, in great detail, the part where she'd elbow him in the side—

—their future vanished. No fish market. No marriage proposal. No Izzy haggling over the price of herring.

Jasper was there with them instantly. "What happened?"

Alice cycled through other futures. She planned a trip to the tulip fields, a windmill, a train to France, the ferry to England, even a plane to Italy. 

"Izzy is gone."

Jasper's fear pulsed across them before it was replaced by forced, rational calm. "Like he's dead?" 

If Edward could have moved, he would've punched Jasper for even thinking that.

"No," Alice said. Edward felt the terror release its grip just a little. "Like he's gone to visit Jacob."

"Maybe," Jasper said, brushing lint off his jeans, "maybe Izzy has gone to visit Jacob. Edward, you call him and find out how he's doing. Alice, find the next flight home. I'll pack."

Izzy didn't answer his phone, but he did text an 'I'm sorry, family emergency. See you soon.'

They got on a flight to Vancouver with a stopover in JFK, and Edward couldn't breathe the entire time.

What if one of the wolves had been hurt? What if Charlie'd had a heart attack? What if Izzy was leaving him? Had he found out about the ring? Was he going to fall in love with Jacob now? Did Izzy decide he wanted to keep his human-wizard soul after all?

When their rental car pulled onto the familiar gravel drive, Jasper was all that was keeping Edward from setting himself on fire. He could hear his brother's exasperated thoughts,

' Oh Jesus, spare us the melodrama, what did I do to deserve this? '

Edward flung his door open and rushed up to the house, entirely surrendering all self-respect. He could smell that Izzy was there. Edward found his partner standing on the front step in the rain, arms hugging himself like he was just as close to falling apart as Edward was himself.

"Hi," Izzy said.

Edward froze, not daring to close the space between them. "Hello," he said. Izzy's familiar smell of ozone, of lightning—it felt like coming home. He knew his lips were quirking into the smile Rosalie always teased him over. ' The sap is in looooove ,' she was always singing. Edward didn't check, his entire world had shrunk down to those bright green eyes that were smiling, brimming with tears.

"You're going to be a dad," Izzy said, then stepped forward and hugged him.

.oOo.

They'd called Billy as a witness. He hadn't even known the Cullens had made their house accessible to him, and he was too proud to ask when they'd done it. Mrs Cullen was so happy to show him the bathroom that he couldn't tell her about his catheter.

Izzy lay on the couch drinking blood through one of those stupid crazy straw things. The kid was swaddled in enough blankets so that he couldn't see the growing baby, but they all knew it was there.

Billy wished Charlie had taken time off work so it wouldn't just be him sitting in vampire central. Outside, Jacob and his pack were running the property line.

Sure, Billy was damn proud his son was an alpha now, but he hadn't wanted things to go down like this.

"We could watch a game? I'm sure the Cullens have ESPN," Izzy said, putting down the cup. He was wearing a small smile, but Billy could tell the boy was miserable.

"You don't have to try make me feel better, son."

They sat in silence for a while. Izzy winced.

"Is it moving?" Billy asked.

The boy shrugged. "Doesn't know its own strength. Carlisle thinks it's going to be more like Edward than me. Rosalie is sure it's going to be a girl."

"What do you think?" Billy hoped he wouldn't answer. He didn't really want to know.

They were quiet for a long time. The rain was whipping against the windows. Mrs Cullen hadn't planned the house with her heating bill in mind. Rich people could afford not to worry about things like putting stolen blood on the table or keeping the electricity on in winter.

"I just want it gone," Izzy whispered. "I never asked for this. We didn't know it was possible, I wish—we should've been careful." There were tears in the kid's eyes. "It was killing me, before I realized it needed blood. I don't want to die, Billy," he said.

Billy didn't know what to say. He wheeled over and took Izzy's hand, accidentally knocking over the cup.

They watched the blood spread across the white carpet. It smelled like metal and sweat. In all his life, Billy had never felt so helpless. "You're not going to die, Izzy Swan," he said. Then he said it again, for Q'waeti and all the gods who were listening. "You're not going to die."

Izzy smiled. "You're a good father, Billy Black."

Some days, Billy wasn't so sure about that. He knew he had his flaws and his prejudices. He was selfish sometimes, hell, he'd spent two days talking the council out of killing his best friend's son. It was the right choice for Billy, but the council was also right to be worried. They had no idea what Izzy's baby was going to be capable of.

Billy spent a lot of his life thinking about what Charlie would do, the man's head was screwed on right. Looking at it like that, Billy knew exactly what to say.

"You're going to be a good dad too, Izzy."

.oOo.

Chapter Text

TW: it's Edward's perspective. Expect melodrama. Features less gore than the canon version. 

.oOo.

Edward had never been so scared in his life. His baby came out of Izzy's womb fighting and screaming, clawing its way into the world. Rosalie had taken the baby immediately, crooning. Edward could hear Rosalie's thoughts, and he could hear his baby's thoughts, but he didn't care. Izzy was there, right in front of him, dying. Edward watched Carlisle inject venom and morphine into the limp, lifeless body.

'Edward, kindly get your shit together and perform CPR,' Carlisle said.

Edward moved before he could finish thinking. He'd been to medical school often enough. He had saved lives before, but none of them had ever been as important.

He could hear the blood moving through Izzy's body. Edward tried not to think about Izzy's soul hopping into the next rebirth cycle. He tried not to think about raising their daughter alone.

It had never been his intention to turn Izzy, but having him die instead was absolutely unacceptable. Edward tried to stop thinking. 'We all live in a yellow submarine,' he sang, counting out the compressions.

Izzy's heart did not start again. After a few hundred verses, Carlisle squeezed Edward's shoulder and left. Edward kept moving the blood and venom through Izzy's body one beat at a time. 

Outside, the wolves began to howl.

.oOo.

Inaccuracies in the representation of abortion are not meant as a glossing over/whitewashing. This was a lot more realistic before, but I toned it down to better honour the light-hearted nature of this story. If you want to share your perspective I'm very open to talking in the comments or you can join my Discord.

Chapter Text

Charlie stood in the doorway, watching. 

Carlisle said it was a miracle, Billy said it had been Q'waeti's blessing. 

Charlie knew it had been down to sheer stubbornness. "Thank you," he said, coming in to sit next to Edward.

The vampire smiled, but he looked horrible. Edward was usually so neat, like his father. There was dried blood under his nails now. Someone had cleaned Izzy up, at least.

The monitor showed his heart rate at just over two hundred. 

"It's normal in the last stage of the change," Edward said.

Carlisle had said that for the past three days, Izzy's heart hadn't beat by itself at all.

He'd also told Charlie that his son would be dangerous when he woke up. Alice said she didn't know if it would be safe. Rosalie and Jacob had cradled his grandchild and scowled.

Stubbornness ran in the Swan family and Charlie wasn't going to miss this. Izzy was his son. If he wanted to eat Charlie, so be it.

The heart rate showed two-forty. "This is normal," Edward squeaked.

Then it stopped.

Charlie watched his son's chest move as he breathed. His eyes opened, bright red.

"Hey, you," Charlie said. 

Izzy was sitting, from one moment to the next. Charlie could hear his own pulse so loud that he couldn't hear anything else.

Then Izzy was wrapped around him, head tucked against Charlie's shoulder. He was sobbing.

Charlie kissed the top of his head and hummed. 

Downstairs, the unnerving baby was waiting for Izzy to give her a name. The Cullens were waiting to meet their latest family member. Across the river, a pack of wolves was circling.

But in that moment they were just Charlie and Izzy. Father and son.

Somehow, things were going to be just fine.

.oOo.

Trigger warning TW: mentions depression (Izzy)

Edward paced through the room. 

"Honey, walk on the carpet please, we can replace that easier when you wear it down."

He changed his route without looking up. Edward knew his mom worried, but he didn't know how to make it better. Loving people was so hard .

All he wanted was for his parents to be happy, for his siblings to be happy. For Izzy to be happy. At least his daughter was safe; she was the happiest baby he'd ever seen. Rosalie worried that she wouldn't have a gift, but that didn't matter.

Edward was struck by the uncomfortable truth that he couldn't make other people feel things. Their happiness wasn't up to him. If Izzy wanted to go hunting with Alice and Jasper, that was his prerogative. It didn't mean he didn't love Edward, just that he didn't want to kill deer together.

That was alright, Edward had never wanted to kill deer with Izzy before either. 

"Edward, dear, maybe you should play your piano instead?"

He let his fingers coax discord and angst out of the keys. Edward's calm—his peace—had gone hunting without him. 

Izzy might get mauled by a bear coming out of hibernation. Izzy loved bears. He probably wouldn't even fight back, citing 'moral reasons' and 'endangered species lists.'

Edward should have insisted that Emmett go with.

Once Izzy finally retuned, he sat down at the piano beside Edward, their legs touching. His skin was hard as marble, but it was still soft. The only scar he had left was a crescent on his arm from James' bite. Izzy stared blankly at the keys, saying nothing. Edward wasn't sure he remembered the sound of Izzy's voice. 

Upstairs, the baby started to cry. Edward heard Rosalie and Emmett contending for the right to feed her. He started to play Izzy's lullaby to drown out the sound.

Izzy didn't move. All Edward wanted was for him to be happy, and he couldn't do a thing.

.oOo.

It was a diagnosis he had given thousands of times. Carlisle knew what his books said postpartum depression was. He knew what the mothers he'd counselled looked like. He knew it was normal, that there was nothing he could do. The mother and child needed time to bond. 

Sometimes, it took a bit longer. There was nothing wrong with that.

In all his years as a doctor, in all the diagnoses he'd given, Carlisle had never wanted so badly to wave a magic wand and heal them.

Every week, he sat down with Izzy for an hour and waited for him to talk about his feelings.

"I'm tired," Izzy said sometimes. 

Or, he would say, "I'm scared."

"Are you sure it's my baby? It just—she feels…off."

"You need to give her a name," Carlisle would reply, like a broken record, as if they didn't all have eidetic memories. "You told me your family had a tradition of flower names?"

Then Izzy'd shake his head and say nothing, letting the clock count down the rest of their session.

In those moments, when they were alone in the house and Edward was very far away, Carlisle indulged in his memories of watching his son force life into Izzy's stubborn, stubborn body, and wondered if that had been the right choice.

The baby was growing a bit slower now, but she was already morphologically three. She could walk, talk, she'd even put her shoes on the wrong way all by herself. Though only Jasper knew it, Carlisle was scared.

He watched Rosalie bloom, watched Edward wilt, and waited for Izzy to come back to life.

.oOo.

Trigger Warning TW: Body dysphoria, Postpartum depression (Izzy)

He could feel the magic prickling along his arms most days. It burned and throbbed like a bee sting.

It made Izzy want to scratch his own skin off. 

The venom had transformed him into one of them, but he wasn't like them, not really. He had always been different. The boy in the cupboard under the stairs. The orphan, the outcast. Wizard-born but muggle-raised. Famous before he could talk for something he wished he couldn't remember.

Take Harry and run—

Wasn't that what fatherhood was? To stand unarmed between a monster and your child, ready to make the greatest sacrifice of them all?

Izzy had died many times for many reasons. He had thought he would die for his baby, but for once he hadn't wanted to. There was so much life to be had. A cottage with a messy garden and the laundry hanging out back. From the first moment, he had hated the baby. It had taken over his body and taken away his life.

It had reminded him of everything that was wrong with this life, reminded him of the way Renée used to hold him, calling him Isabella . Being a soul in a rebirth cycle—being Master of Death—had taught him he was just a magical soul having a human experience, but that didn't make the body he'd been born into feel any less wrong .

Izzy watched his baby grow into a toddler with abject indifference.

He wanted to love her. He wanted to give her everything he hadn't had growing up under Petunia's roof. Boy , they'd called him. Freak .

His daughter was called Love , Darling , Beautiful , Precious . Izzy wanted to give his daughter everything he'd never had, and he couldn't even give her a name.

When she started talking, he knew it was time. She was growing so fast. Like a weed in Aunt Petunia's garden.

She was an alien. She didn't belong in this world, didn't fit properly just like he'd never fit properly. Half-breed . Maybe when she turned eleven her very own Hagrid would come knocking on their front door.

Izzy ate when they took him hunting, he sat where they set him down, he talked when they asked him direct questions. It was exhausting. He could see more colours than ever before, but everything had condensed into monochrome. Shades of grey.

Carlisle explained the words to him like a good doctor. He listed diagnoses and said that it was all a matter of faulty neurotransmitters. This wasn't Izzy's fault, this was nobody's fault. Things would get better. He shouldn't trust his own brain to make good decisions right now.

Then Carlisle would ask Izzy to decide on what to name his daughter.

.oOo.

Izzy liked sitting in the living room. It was nice, having everything move and play out in front of him. He could watch Esme cooking for Charlie and the Blacks. He could listen to Edward on his piano. He could feel Emmett's frustration as he lost his computer game. Alice would dance by in a whirlwind of energy. 

Izzy would sit in the middle of it all, waiting for his brain to stop lying to him like Carlisle had promised it eventually would.

Sometimes his daughter would sit in the armchair and look back, eyes just as green as Izzy's had become again.

"Dadda," she said.

"I think so," Izzy replied. The girl nodded and returned to her Legos.

Izzy didn't feel much, but he liked sitting in the living room, and he liked watching his child.

The others got used to him being this way. Alice kept up a schedule of twice-weekly hunting trips. Carlisle set their appointments for every Thursday. Charlie and Billy came over to watch the game on Sundays. Jasper sat by Izzy for an hour every night projecting peace. 

And on Wednesdays, while Esme went shopping, Izzy would watch Jacob and Edward play with their daughter.

Nobody else was home. Carlisle said this was a great family bonding activity. Izzy wondered how much vampire baby spit was needed to dissolve a plushie.

"Ow!" Jacob said.

Izzy blinked. Edward rushed Jacob upstairs, dripping hot, doggy blood.

The girl toddled two steps towards the stairs, stumbled, and started to cry.

"Hey," Izzy said. He didn't have to think about moving, he was just there, kneeling in front of his daughter. They stared at each other. Big, fat tears dripped onto the girl's little sweater. Alice would have to buy her new clothes. "You probably shouldn't have bitten him," Izzy said. He wished Charlie were here, dad always knew the right thing to say.

The girl reached out her arms. Izzy looked over his shoulder, but nobody was there. Slowly, carefully, he picked up his daughter and held her for the first time.

He tried to bounce, the way he'd seen Charlie do. It felt strange, so he tried rocking back and forth instead. In his arms, she stopped crying.

Izzy hadn't felt much in the past months, but in that moment it was like he was bathing in awe.

"There, there," Izzy murmured, smelling the girl's hair. He could feel the magic tingling under his skin, and for once it was warm and welcome.

The bottom step creaked. Izzy looked up to see Edward looking at him with such hope. Edward came over and wrapped them both in a hug. If he could, Izzy knew he'd be crying.

When Edward let go, Izzy shifted their daughter into his arms. It had been nice to hold her for a moment, but passing her back was a relief.

"Willow," Izzy decided, ignoring Edward's confusion. 

It was a family tradition, after all. And Izzy wanted her to be named after something that grew, something that would bend in the wind without breaking.

"Willow Elizabeth Swan."

.oOo.

Inaccuracies in the representation of PPD and Dysphoria are not meant as a glossing over/whitewashing. This was a lot more realistic before, but I toned it down to better honour the fluffy nature of this story. If you want to share your perspective I'm very open to talking in the comments—or in my Discord server.

Chapter Text

Willow grew fast and strong. She laughed more than Izzy had ever known children could laugh. She liked to jump into the air and catch butterflies, just to let them fly away again.

Rosalie worried sometimes that she wasn't gifted, and Carlisle worried that she was growing too quickly, but Izzy could feel his magic returning to him and knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. 

Maybe his daughter could be Just Willow the way he'd wanted to be Just Harry. But she was unique, a hybrid, a freak of nature. As much as he wished she could have a normal life, Izzy knew he needed to prepare for the worst.

There was a yew tree growing on the edge of their meadow, where Edward still walked with him sometimes. Izzy had always thought the place was magical, so he took a stone knife and started whittling.

The others thought he'd taken up a weird hobby. Esme was very patient with him, but she eventually gave up and left the hoover right next beside Izzy's favourite armchair. 

He tried carving the branches hollow, but that never worked. A steel drill would kill any magic in the wood, so he tried halving his wand-blanks and putting them back together. They apparently didn't like being forced to pretend they were whole, though. In the end he settled on a groove spiralling around the outside, stuffed with a braided strand of Willow's beautiful hair.

The wand was unyielding and when he held it for the first time it was just as stubborn as Izzy himself. 'We're going to do great things,' he told it, and it responded with a shower of green sparks.

.oOo.

The Cullens didn't question that he'd moved on from whittling. Izzy took Willow on long walks at night instead, telling her all he knew about the stars. They would lie in the meadow, with blankets to guard against the cold. And while his daughter slept, Izzy practised the same spell over and over again, guiding his magic through the wand that was a hybrid just like he was. Protego, Protego, Protego.

Until one day, when his daughter looked like she was eight, Izzy decided he was ready. He told Alice, who'd made all the arrangements for them already, even though he'd never asked. The three of them boarded the next plane to Italy.

Izzy remembered Demetri from his first time visiting Volterra. Picking them up from the airport, he told Izzy, "You look good as a vamp." Demetri ushered Izzy, Alice, and Willow toward the limousine he'd left on a handicapped parking spot. "Wasn't expecting the eyes. Or the spawn. You sure you want to parade the little one around like this?"

Alice hadn't been able to see what would happen when they met with the three kings, but Charlie had raised Izzy to be a law-abiding citizen. So long as this was hanging over their heads, they would never be safe. Taking the initiative would butter Aro up, Izzy could feel it in his magic, in his bones.

"I'm sure," Izzy said. "Willow, this is Demetri. He's part of the guard. Demetri, this is my daughter Willow. I gave birth to her in March."

"Dude," Demetri said, taking a long, deep sniff. "That's impossible."

"Actually, we've found evidence of other hybrids in Brazil," Alice said. "Aro might have heard of them, he knows everyone ." 

"No," Demetri said. "I mean, I thought you were a dude."

"Papa says daddy could have a baby because he's special," Willow said. Then she glued herself back to the window.

They drove the rest of the way to Volterra in silence.

.oOo.

"Izzy!" Aro cried, holding his arms open like he was embracing the room. "And Alice, what a delight!" He didn't say anything about the child plastered against Izzy's side. 

Izzy held his yew wand aloft and thought Protego.

"Marvellous," Aro said when two of his guards bounced off the shield. Alec's numbing mist didn't touch them. "Perhaps we should talk about this like civilised vampires, hmm?"

The smile Izzy answered with was all bared teeth and no humour. He'd learnt the spell because he'd been expecting them to attack first and ask questions later, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Alice stepped forward and clasped hands with Aro. The room full of vampires watched micro expressions flick across their king's face. Nobody was breathing.

"Deu meu," he said, opening his eyes. "I had heard the rumours, of course, from South America…"

"Of course," Izzy echoed. He tried to stop channelling his inner Snape, Aro probably wouldn't like that. "We came to let you know. Full disclosure, so to speak."

"Ah, but the image wouldn't be complete without another perspective," Aro said.

Izzy waited until Alice was by Willow before he moved to shake the king's hand. The disappointment on Aro's face was obvious, though Izzy couldn't help but feel a little smug that his Occlumency had only strengthened since getting back his magic. 

He'd chosen to come with Alice because she avoided the wolves like the headache they were. Coupled with Aro's fascination with her gift, Izzy had hoped the only secret they'd be revealing would be Willow's existence.

"There's one more perspective available," Caius said, gesturing.

Izzy's Protego went up again, so strong that it was a visible shimmer in the air. Someone was growling, deep and menacing.

When Izzy realised the sound was coming from his own throat, he shut himself up.

Aro touched the hands of his fellow kings. They conferred silently for a few minutes. Then Marcus stepped forward.

"A vampire child is in violation of our laws, a human-vampire hybrid however is not." He sounded bored. 

Aro let the whispers in the courtroom grow for a moment. He silenced them just by taking a breath. "I have seen that your daughter is maturing quickly. To praise your foresight in bringing her to Volterra and presenting her for our approval, we will allow her continued existence."

Caius was grinning, showing more teeth than necessary. "If you had waited for us to find out by other means, things would not have been so easy for you mea columba." He tilted his head toward the door. "Perhaps you will stay for dinner?"

"We should get back home," Alice said, smiling as if she meant it. "We were hoping you'd understand that we wanted to come as soon as possible, but there are things waiting for us back in Washington."

Aro nodded slowly. "You will send letters periodically, I hope? With pictures, of course."

It was an order. "Of course," Izzy echoed. "It was a pleasure seeing you now that I'm less human."

"It suits you marvellously," Aro said. "The eyes, especially. Perhaps we'll visit you in a year's time. It's been so long since we saw Carlisle and the rest of your family."

"I'll tell him to send you a postcard?" Izzy offered, then tried not to laugh at the look on Aro's face. 

"That's much more convenient," Marcus said. "Give him our best."

They could hear humans approaching, like a herd of zebras thundering across a plain. Izzy bowed to the kings and led Alice and Willow out just as the group of tourists went to take their last photos.

.oOo.

Edward trusted Izzy to do the right thing, always. He was proud to have such a capable partner. They agreed to get married on a weekend trip to Vegas; it might have been the happiest day in Edward's life.

The three Swans moved into the little cottage that the family had gifted them. Alice and Jasper decided to explore Brazil, Carlisle and Esme returned to Vancouver. Meanwhile, Rosalie took over the main house like a queen in her castle, while Emmett and Jacob turned the living room into an indulgent home theatre. 

Charlie came by often, bringing Billy along whenever he could. Izzy made sure his father's fridge was stocked with home-cooked meals pre-portioned in Tupperware, and Edward ran delivery errands. It wasn't a family like Edward used to think family should look like—it was better. 

Edward was proud of what he and Izzy had built together. He was proud of their life, and he was proud of their wonderful daughter. If someone had told him two years back that he could ever be so happy, he'd have laughed. And yet, the only thing that wasn't perfect was the amount of dog hair on the couch.

.oOo.

After a year, Willow's growth slowed. Carlisle and Esme went to visit Volterra. Alice and Jasper called from Argentina often, trying to reassure Izzy that his baby was going to be fine.

Izzy would listen to them, smiling. They still hadn't understood. If he had just ten years with Willow, or a hundred, or a thousand, it didn't matter. He wasn't living for the future. It was the present moment that counted, the never-ending chain of sunrise and sunset. There was magic singing in Izzy's veins. It rocked him like he rocked his daughter when she couldn't fall asleep. 

Magic held him in her arms and promised forever.

When they went out on the boat with Charlie, Izzy made sure his daughter knew how to clean a fish like nobody else. When Willow asked her endless questions about why and how come , Izzy answered the best he could, knowing that he was learning from her as much as she was learning from him. 

Izzy knew who he was now, after a hundred years of searching, a hundred years of wanting to be Just Harry, of waiting for someone to come open his cupboard and save him.

He was a father. He didn't need to be anyone's hero, or prove anything to the people with their judgemental looks who were always watching. Izzy's life was simple now, like it had never been before. He had his dad, his husband, and his daughter. And so long as they were doing alright, Izzy was happy, too.

His relationship with Edward had calmed since they'd married. Edward still liked to go overboard, but he'd found his own balance in life. Izzy loved Edward, but Willow? She was the most beautiful person in the world.

Izzy watched her grow, never losing the deep sense of awe that this was his baby girl, who he had created with his own body, out of love.

And when Willow smiled, all freckles and missing teeth, Izzy felt whole.

The end.

.oOo.

I know the 'sequel' beginning with Charlie's perspective was a massive shift in tone, and I thank you all for sticking with me through to the end. I wrote the original 'Oh Whatever' in a few days of summer 2019 with as much flippant irreverence as the title implies.

Then you all loved it and encouraged me to write more. I've grown as a writer since, and I wasn't interested in more crack. When I sat down to write, Charlie's voice came tumbling out. I realized that this could be a story about fathers. This (and The Boyfriend) could not have happened without your support. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. This was always your story too. 

If you want to join the Fish and Fics Discord server I'd love to have you around to talk and to brainstorm new fic ideas. We're mostly adults on the LGBTQIA spectrum but heteronormative folks are welcome too!

.oOo.

If you're looking for something to read next:

Currently updating on alternating weekends: A Public-Private Partnership, my Mycroft/Harry aromantic romance/adventure novel.

Other complete Twilight fics:
The Boyfriend: a wholesome Harry Potter/Charlie Swan.
If I Should Have a Daughter: Rosalie Hale used to be Fem!Harry Potter, an almost canon-compatible retelling.

Complete HP fics:
More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: Humorous Severitus time travel fix it, with a twist.
Harry Potter and the Semantics of Divinity: Harry raised by Death decides to save the world and tries to visit his parents in heaven.
Beware the Jabberwock: Harry, as a dragon rider, realizes he's fighting for the wrong side.
Three Hallows, a Rat, and Redemption: Peter raises ASD!Harry/becomes Neurodivergent!Harry and tries to turn himself into a better person.
Various one-shots: when you're looking for something quick.