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Forks, Washington
Charlie Swan was lonely. Bella was long gone, and he hadn’t realised how accustomed he had become to her presence. To having someone else in the house. Someone to eat with, to talk to, to share the chores with. Sure, he and Bella hadn’t had the best relationship, but they’d certainly gotten closer.
He was preparing for another night alone with a beer and a ball game when the doorbell rang. He glanced at his answering machine to check for missed calls. Nothing. Charlie didn’t get a lot of visitors, not when Billy was busy. It was probably someone asking for direction. Doorknockers didn’t work at night. At least, they didn’t in Forks.
When Charlie opened the door, his heart stopped. Bella was in trouble. She had to be. Dr. Carlisle Cullen didn’t make social calls. The other men’s blonde hair was dampening in the rain and his molten-gold eyes looked even more sunken than usual.
“Can I come in?” He asked, in an unusual accent that mixed the London of the 1600s with contemporary American, and the barest hint of continental Europe. It was an accent that sounded like everywhere and nowhere. Charlie remained frozen. Bella was dead. Or Renesmee was dead. Why else would he need to come inside?
Faintly, Charlie thought he could hear his heart break.
“Charlie?” Carlisle’s voice brought him back into the room, and under the porch-light Charlie noticed that the other man was holding a bottle. Red wine, it looked new. And it had been opened.
“What’s happened to Bella?” Charlie asked, the catch in his voice surprising even him. Carlisle looked unfazed.
“Last I heard, she’d lasted through a particularly eventful round of bed sports with Edward but aside from that, nothing of interest.”
Charlie did his best to hold back the roil of discomfort and something like anger in his stomach. Bella was married. She was a mother. There was nothing he could do now.
“Then why are you here?”
“What, a man can’t visit another man simply because he wants to?” Carlisle’s words caused something in Charlie to twist uncomfortably. He stepped aside and invited Carlisle in, obeying vampire law. Once inside, the vampire looked around the house. Strangely, it looked he appreciated Charlie’s specific brand of rustic, male interior decoration. He moved to the couch, and glanced at Charlie for permission before sitting down. He opened the bottle of wine and took a swig. It was surreal, the polished vampire doctor drinking straight from the bottle on Charlie’s worn out couch. Tentatively, Charlie moved into the room and closed the front door.
“You know, I love my family.” Carlisle said. For a moment, Charlie wasn’t even sure who he was talking to. “But the thing with teenagers is they never stop being teenagers. Hundreds of years on and their still bickering and bitching and just being so...loud. Sometimes I just want to run. Leave Washington. Stow myself on a boat and go back to Europe. Buy a cottage in the South of France and be alone again.”
Charlie moved into the armchair to the side of the couch, sensing that Carlisle wasn’t going to stop talking any time soon.
“I know it’s awful. But when I changed them, I thought they’d grow up, you know? But Emmett never puts his shoes away and Alice is always getting make up on the countertops and I just…” He trailed off. Charlie opened his beer. “I just needed to get out of the house tonight. You’re the only person I really know in town, the only one I can be honest with.” Now he looked at Charlie, who suddenly felt like a deer in the headlights. He swallowed.
“Do you want to watch the game?” Carlisle nodded, a soft, sad smile playing at the edges of his mouth. So Charlie turned on the TV.
“I love baseball.” Carlisle said, his voice ringing clear over the sound of the TV. Half an hour had passed, with the men sitting in silence. “Of course, I can only play during thunderstorms. One of the worst side effects of vampirism, in my opinion. Being so strong…makes us stand out.” He seemed like he was about to slip into another monologue, so Charlie quickly interjected.
“I used to play. Was almost good at it for a while.”
“Why’d you stop?” Carlisle asked, his gaze making Charlie blush with its intensity.
“I got old. The team broke up, people moving away, having kids, getting injured…”
“You should play with us sometime. We’ll pick you up next time there’s a storm.”
They lapsed back into silence, a strange tension stretched between them as the game finished. When Charlie turned off the TV, Carlisle stood to leave, and as he stepped out the door he turned and said thank you with a genuine sincerity Charlie hadn’t realised vampires could feel. When he closed and locked the door behind the other man, he was once again aware of the empty house. For a moment, he thought he was disappointed to see Carlisle leave, but he dismissed that thought as soon as he noticed it.
***
Almost without realising it, the two men fell into a pattern. A couple of nights a week, Charlie would sit down to watch a game or a movie and Carlisle would knock on his door. He always had a bottle of wine. Sometimes they’d talk: about what they were watching, about their kids, about their work. Sometimes, Carlisle would monologue like he had on the first night, Charlie got used to it. He actively looked forward to the vampire’s visits. He even started buying bottles of wine, just to have them around in case Carlisle ever forgot or ran out. He told himself he just liked the company.
Then one night, Carlisle’s eyes were even more sunken than usual. And he finished his bottle of wine in record time. When Charlie saw him looking confusedly at the empty bottle, he wordlessly moved to the kitchen to get one from his stockpile, and passed it to the other man. Carlisle looked at him in confusion.
“Thank you.” he said.
“I thought your kind didn’t drink? I mean… aside from…” Charlie said, sinking back into his armchair.
“We usually don’t. But I’m old enough now to enjoy it. It actually has a little bit more effect on us, with no blood to balance the alcohol out.”
Charlie nodded, that made sense. “You’re one bottle in and seem fine.“
Carlisle laughed, a surprised, hard sound. “I’ve built up a high tolerance.”
“What’s going on Carlisle?” Charlie asked, shocked by the way the other man’s name felt in his mouth. He realised he’d never said it before. It felt thick and rich, but sounded hauntingly soft: a great name for a vampire.
“Just sick of the crowded house really. Too many teenagers. I just needed more adult men in my life, you know?”
“Everything okay with Esme?” Charlie asked, trying not to wonder why his breath caught while he was waiting for the answer.
“Oh, Esme and I haven’t been really been together for decades. We’re more parents and friends than lovers now. And when you spend as long as I have with same six people you get a little lonely.” There was no sadness or regret in Carlisle’s voice. Charlie pretended he wasn’t feeling relief or something like… excitement? Unsure of how to respond to this new information, he just nodded.
“But of course, you’d understand that. You and Renee have been separated for years and it’s not like you’ve got Bella around anymore. Don’t you ever get lonely Charlie?” Charlie felt a blush rising in his neck. Could Edward’s father read minds too?
“I get by.” He said simply. Carlisle smiled, and they went back to concentrating on the movie.
***
The movie wound down, and Charlie did not look forward to having to break the companionable silence that had built up between him and the other man. It almost felt like some of the tension had left the air, that they had a better understanding of where they stood.
Carlisle rose from his seat on the couch. And immediately fell back into it. The look of shock on the usually composed vampire’s face was suddenly the funniest thing Charlie had ever seen, and he started to laugh. Really laugh. Maybe he’d had a little too much to drink too, but soon there were tears rolling down his face. Carlisle shot Charlie an embarrassed smile and tried to stand again, swaying a little before steadying, then abruptly smashing into the wall when he tried to walk to the door. Charlie didn’t know it was possible for him to laugh harder than he was already. Balancing one arm on the side of the couch, Carlisle turned to scowl at him. But his usually perfect blonde hair was mussed up for the first time since Charlie had met him and Charlie guffawed, choking out “your hair.”
Seeing the other man bent over the waist, shaking with laughter, cut through Carlisle’s embarrassment at getting so drunk a mortal would see through his vampire grace. Especially this mortal. He started laughing too, and god…it felt good. Really good. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed like this, like he wouldn’t be able to stop, like he couldn’t get a sentence out even if he wanted to. Slowly, Charlie’s laughter died down, then he looked at Carlisle and it started again, which set the vampire off. The laughter seemed to last years, but it was probably only a couple of minutes before Charlie saw Carlisle run a hand through his hair and abruptly forgot to breathe.
He cleared his throat, “Well, it’s been fun,” he said, standing and brushing his hands down the front of his jeans.
Carlisle looked up at him, smiling, and nodded. “Thank you Charlie, I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.”
He stood to leave, as Charlie had prompted, but as he swayed towards the door Charlie’s police instincts took over.
“Um…Carlisle? I can’t let you drive.”
“Charlie. I’m a vampire. I run home.”
“Carlisle. You’re drunk. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Charlie. I’m an immortal apex predator. I’ll be fine.”
“Carlisle. You’re an immortal apex predator who’s had three bottles of wine. You’ll sleep here.”
The silence stretched between them.
“I don’t….sleep.” Of course. Charlie was an idiot. He was a vampire.
“Fine. So you’ll watch TV or there are books in Bella’s room. The WiFi code is on the fridge. If you aren’t here tomorrow morning I’m arresting you for driving under the influence. Running under the influence. Whatever you want to call it. You’re not going anywhere.”
Carlisle smiled, sizing up the other man the way one father eyed up another before leaving his child behind for a playdate. Or a date. He judged the other man responsible and settled back into the couch, reaching for the abandoned remote.
“I’ve never liked prison.” He said, turning on the television.
Charlie chose not to unpack that statement.
“Goodnight Carlisle,” Charlie said, “I’d say sleep well but…”
Carlisle looked up at him. “I appreciate it. Sweet dreams Charlie. “
***
Charlie woke to grey dawn light streaming through the window. And he wasn’t alone. Carlisle was standing in the corner of the room. The goofy drunkenness of the night before was gone, replaced with the vampire’s usual masculine grace. But he looked less tired.
“I never really understood why Edward was so obsessed with seeing Bella sleep. But he was right. You are kind of fascinating.” He said, his voice soft and decadent, almost like the voice of someone waking up.
“He watched her sleep?” Charlie asked, shaking his head to get the sleep out of his brain.
Carlisle shrugged, a feline gesture, and stood slightly away from the wall, “Calm down Superdad, its ancient history.”
Charlie really had to get better at knowing what was going on under his roof.
“Did you sleep well?” Carlisle asked.
“Like a log,” Charlie swung his legs off the side of the bed, forgetting that he should care that he was wearing old boxer shorts and a sports t-shirt. “Did you go okay last night? Call Esme?”
“Why would I? I’m a grown man.” Carlisle moved slowly towards the bed, Charlie’s pulse mounted. Carlisle’s mouth quirked at the corner. Charlie knew enough about vampires to know the quirk meant he could hear Charlie’s heartbeat. He wondered what that meant.
“Well I guess you’re right. I pronounce you sober and free to go.” He laughed, awkwardly.
“I did a lot of thinking last night Charlie.” Carlisle said, seemingly not having heard the other man, and Charlie felt a cold hand brush against his wrist. “And I like spending time with you. I think you like spending time with me too. And I know I affect you. I can hear it in your blood.”
Charlie forgot how to speak. He had barely admitted to himself how Carlisle made him feel. The fact that the other man knew felt almost…invasive. But it was also a relief. Like hearing the words in Carlisle’s strange everywhere-and-nowhere accent made it easier for Charlie to admit them to himself. The vampire smiled, and his hand brushed along Charlie’s forearm.
“Can I kiss you?”
“I have morning breath.” Charlie said. But it wasn’t a no. And he knew that Carlisle knew it wasn’t a no. Because Charlie’s blood was racing and when Carlisle finally, finally kissed him Charlie kissed him back.
Carlisle’s lips were soft. And cold. But the chill was pleasant. Like kissing Carlisle was a refreshment, like rain on a hot day or a cold glass of water after a run. It had been a while since Charlie had kissed anyone, and he’d never kissed a man. He’d never realised he wanted to. Or at least, he’d never admitted it to himself. But kissing Carlisle…it was like nothing else and when Charlie, obeying instinct, placed his hand on the other man’s marble-like torso and slid his tongue against the delicious seam of Carlisle’s lips he was rewarded with an almost-predatory deepening of the kiss as he was pushed backwards onto the bed, the vampire straddling his waist.
Charlie felt himself become almost painfully hard below the waist, and nearly came apart when Carlisle moaned above him as he noticed the new pressure. Drowning in sensation, Charlie let himself bury a hand in Carlisle’s hair. It was perfect, just like he’d known it would be, like the fur of a prize-winning cat, like silk thread, like soft summer grass.
A cold hand slid under his sleep shirt, heavenly on hot skin that felt too-tight and hypersensitive. For the first time in a long time Charlie became aware of extra weight, body hair. But Carlisle sighed against his mouth in palpable relief at the feel of skin on skin and Charlie’s worries were quickly forgotten as he pressed upward, supporting himself on one elbow to equal the playing field. Carlisle seemed to like that, rubbing himself against Charlie in yet another feline gesture that made Charlie realise how filthy Carlisle’s every liquid movement truly was. Every sinuous shrug, the smooth way he leaned in doorways, the liquid shape of him when he relaxed into the couch, it was all an unspoken promise. That this man could make you feel things near-forbidden, and that it would be all too easy to become addicted There was power in the body. There was the violent power of the vampire, sure, but Charlie was positive the sensual power had been there all along, back when Carlisle was at hot-blooded and flawed and mortal as Charlie himself. However, if the steel length pressed between Charlie’s hips was anything to go by, Carlisle could be plenty hot-blooded when he wanted to be.
Just as Charlie pressed himself harder against Carlisle’s hips, seeking whatever relief he could, Carlisle showed the true danger of his body. He stopped. He brought himself under control and he lifted his mouth from Charlie’s. Charlie felt the absence like a wound.
“Someones’s here.” he said, and Charlie groaned in frustration.
“It’s Mark. My car’s in the shop. He’s picking me up for work.”
“Right. You should get ready then,” Carlisle stood, allowing Charlie to sit up and try and regain his composure. Or what was left of it.
“Yeah. I should. Look, Carlisle…” He didn’t get the rest of his sentence out, because Carlisle was kissing him again, making it even harder to come back to himself.
“Let’s do this again sometime.” The vampire said, the corner of his mouth quirking into a rare smile right before he jumped out the window and disappeared. Charlie lay back onto his bed and sighed, wondering how long he had before Mark broke the door down. The tent-pole in his boxers was begging for attention, and he was forced to choose between being a few minutes late and having blue balls for the rest of the day.
The choice was easy, and he came with a barely muffled shout, imagining the erotic chill of Carlisle’s skin against his own, and sifting through the possibilities of “let’s do this again sometime.”
When he reached Mark’s car, the other man was playing a game on his phone.
“Sleep in, chief?” he asked, barely looking up.
“Barely, just had trouble getting up.” Mark looked over at him.
“What are you, a teenager.”
“You have no idea.”
***
Carlisle didn’t come over that night. Or the next. Or the next. Charlie tried to ignore the building anxiety inside him. He fell back into his routine. He contemplated calling Bella and seeing if she wanted to get coffee, but then he remembered her vampire senses and thought better of it.
Four days after he’d woken up to find Carlisle in his room, Charlie stopped at the liquor store on his way home and bought three bottles of red wine. Just in case. When he pulled up outside his house, Carlisle was sitting on his doorstep, looking impossibly tempting in tight black jeans and smooth white shirt. Charlie wondered how long he’d be able to wait for the vampire to make his move before he threw caution to the wind and kissed him, before he silently begged for more.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Carlisle asked as Charlie got out of the car. His rare smile made something inside Charlie’s chest sit up and take notice.
“That depends. What would I get out of it?” he handed the wine to Carlisle and unlocked the door.
“Nothing I wouldn’t give you sober.” There was a seriousness behind the teasing rhythm of Carlisle’s voice, and Charlie could feel the vampire’s eyes raking over him. When the other man smiled, Charlie knew it was because he’d noticed the jump in Charlie’s pulse. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“In that case, the wine is purely a bonus.”
Carlisle opened a bottle and drank.
“Don’t you ever use a glass?”
“I don’t like being slowed down.” Another jump in his bloodstream, another quirked smile.
“So…how’s the family?”
Carlisle’s sigh was drawn out and addictive, “The usual. Noisy. Angsty. Emmett and Rosalie are in a feud, Jasper’s still working on his control, Alice is stressed about homework. You think after graduating as many times as she has she’d stop worrying she’s going to fail. Esme’s out of town visiting an old flame, so I don’t even have another adult around.” He took another swig of wine. “But it could be worse.”
“I thought vampires mated for life?” Charlie asked, hanging his coat on the hook and putting the heater on to stop the damp evening chill from bothering him. “Y’know, soul mates and all that. Isn’t that why Bella had to be turned?”
“Some do. Edward in particular. He went fully apocalyptic over it. But not all of us. Humans were never supposed to love one person for hundreds of years. It’s like mortals. Some people marry their high school sweetheart and love them until they’re both buried in adjoining plots. Some are serial daters, following one monogamous relationship with another. And still others aren’t made to settle down. I’ll always love Esme, but if I had to love only her for the rest of my eternity…I’d set myself on fire.” Charlie nodded. The explanation made sense, and he had to admit he was pleased with it. Even if his daughter had managed to fall in love with one of the few who would go full soul mate and turn her into a vampire. “But I’m not here to talk about vampire lore.”
With a surge of speed, Carlisle was against Charlie, the bottle of wine half empty and discarded on the bench.
“Fine by me.” Charlie said, suddenly conscious that the vampire wasn’t the only one who could hear his heartbeat.
He hadn’t realised that memory had dulled the kiss to a shadow of its true self, well-worn and exhausted. Carlisle’s mouth was even colder and more insistent than he’d thought it was, his body harder and stronger, the smell of him—peppermint and wine—more decadent. The shirt he was wearing felt expensive under Charlie hands, as he’d known it would, and when Carlisle shifted to press an open-mouthed kiss to the side of Charlie’s neck he took the opportunity to slip his hands underneath it, running them along the torso that would’ve made Michelangelo give up sculpture. He ran his nails along the small of Carlisle’s back and felt the vampire shudder against him, his mouth falling away from Charlie’s neck as a moan tore itself out of him.
“How far?” He asked, voice husky with need. Charlie’s eyes darted towards the stairs that led to his bedroom.
“Some of us don’t live forever.”
***
They fell onto Charlie’s bed a tangled mess of vampire and human, hot and cold, smooth and rough. Carlisle’s shirt, unbuttoned as they stumbled up the stairs, was abandoned by the doorway and Charlie’s own had barely made it out of the kitchen. They kissed and touched and explored like teenagers in the backseat of a second-hand car, learning every sensation and trick and reaction.
“We should talk about this.” Carlisle said, in one of the brief moments when his mouth wasn’t otherwise occupied. “It’s your first time and—“
“I’m a grown man Carlisle,” Charlie said, hands moving to unbutton the other man’s jeans. “I’m not exactly a virgin.”
“So you want me to…” Carlisle started. Charlie cut him off, an image of the other man’s smooth white back spread out before him thrusting into his minds eye. He became obsessed with shoulders and spine and the nape of Carlisle’s neck.
“Lie down,” he said, surrendering to instinct and impulse. “On your stomach.”
Carlisle’s eyes grew wide and dilated with realisation. And slowly, torturously, he did as he was told. Charlie let out a sign as his vision became reality, before bending over and trailing soft, open-mouthed kisses along the other mans shoulder blades. Carlisle moaned, and Charlie though he heard his name somewhere in the sound. Once he was happy with his exploration, he straightened back into a sitting position, and reached for the lotion he knew was in his top drawer. He wasn’t entirely sure when Carlisle’s pants had come off, but he wasn’t going to waste time wondering. Appropriately prepared – he hoped – he leant forward and, with one hand on Carlisle’s shoulder and the other on the mattress, he pushed his length into exactly where it needed to be and goddamn it felt good. Beneath him, Carlisle moaned and stiffened in a way that made Charlie gasp. He began to move, finding the tempo that made Carlisle react the most and shamelessly indulged in how perfect the other man felt around him. He leant forward, until his mouth met the vampire’s neck, brain too overtaken by lust to notice the irony in the contact, and reached his still lotioned-up hand between the bed and their bodies to try and give Carlisle a percentage of the sensation Carlisle was giving him. It seemed to work, as Carlisle bucked against his hand and gasped.
“I thought,” he bit out between breaths, “This was your…First…Time.”
The praise seemed to press an acceleration pedal somewhere inside Charlie, as he sped up both the motion of his hips and his hand, finding Carlisle’s mouth as it turned towards him, and sliding his tongue inside to taste the remnants of the wine on the other man’s tongue. He thought he felt a fang.
“Charlie I think I’m going to…” Carlisle said breathlessly against his mouth, unable to get the last word out as his whole body stiffened and shook. With the other man clenched around his own nerve centre, Charlie’s orgasm crashed into him like a tidal wave and he bit into Carlisle’s perfect shoulder as it took him under.
As he fought his way out of the fog of orgasm, Charlie noticed something missing. Looking at his hadn, the only thing on it was lotion.
“But…I felt you…” he started. Carlisle laughed.
“I’m dead Charlie. There’s no mess with me. It’s just a sensation. I feel it, but it doesn’t produce anything.” Charlie nodded,
“Convenient. But you did…I made you…”
Carlisle turned, as much as he could with Charlie still inside him.
“Yeah. You did. You really, really did.” Charlie kissed him again. A new kind of kiss. Without the reckless urgency of the others. “Although, it is ironic that you’re the one who gave me a lovebite.” Charlie laughed. And after he’d pulled himself out and cleaned himself up, he kissed him again and he thought to himself, I could get used to this.
***
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Wow Bella,” Charlie said, hoping she didn’t mean what she think she meant, “Would it kill you to say hi?”
The look she gave him was pure vampire. And not the kind he liked.
“We were wondering why Carlisle was avoiding us. But now we know. He was just trying to stop Edward reading his mind. I mean, really?”
Ah. So she did mean what he though she meant.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? I mean, not only is he an apex predator but trust me, it’s gonna suck when you get emotionally attached. They’re like drugs dad, I mean…look at me! Not to mention how much he can hurt you if you ever…”
“Bella.” Charlie said, pulling out the dad voice he knew still worked on his teenage-daughter-turned-supernatural-killing-machine. “I’m the parent, remember? And I can do what I want with who I want.”
“No! You don’t get it! We’re stronger than you and control isn’t always our strong suit--”
“Do you see any marks on me?”
“No, but…Oh. My. God. I’m too late. You’ve done it. Haven’t you? How are you not…”
“Because I’m an adult Bella. And so is Carlisle.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, “I know Edward is three-hundred years old or whatever but we both know he’s still got the hormones and maturity of a teenage boy.”
“Fine, whatever. You two can control yourselves, great. But I’m serious – it’s emotionally messy getting involved with one of us. Seriously. He’s not going to age, dad.”
“Jesus Christ Bella. Once again, I’m a grown man. You were sixteen when you met Edward, you were going to fall into that Romeo and Juliet all-consuming love hole even if he wasn’t a vampire.”
“That’s not fair.” He levelled his gaze at her, giving her his patented Dad Stare. “At least, not anymore.”
“You’re right. You and Edward are the real deal now. That’s great. But I’m not you. And Carlisle isn’t Edward. We aren’t the lion and the lamb we’re…two emotionally mature, physically controlled lions. And you don’t need to worry about me.”
The silence stretched between them as Bella fished for a response, clearly processing. Charlie decided to throw her a bone.
“Thanks for checking in though.”
She nodded, accepting his invitation back to the world of normal. “Anytime. You got time for a coffee?”
***
Charlie returned from work to find Carlisle in his bed. Well, on his bed. Charlie had worked a late shift, and the vampire had clearly let himself in. His doctor’s uniform was draped over the chair Charlie kept in his room but never used, and he was lying on his stomach over the bed, a book open in his hands, dressed in a thin white t-shirt and worn blue jeans.
Fuck.
Carlisle rolled over, and seemed about to smile until his eyes locked on Charlie.
“You do realise, you might just kill me a second time.” He said, his eyes glued to the other man’s body.
“What?” Charlie said, wondering if he’d spilt something down his shirt.
Carlisle arranged himself so he was lying on his back, propped up on his elbows. He was beautiful.
“The uniform, officer."
“Officer? Carlisle, I’m the chief of poli…oh.” It dawned on him, decades of jokes and clichés catching up to him in that moment, “Oh.”
His mind started to race. Carlisle was lying in front of him, looking like a fifties Americana dream, and obviously getting turned on by Charlie’s uniform. There was an opportunity here, and he wasn’t letting it go to waste. His hands drifted to his pocket, where he knew he had a pair of handcuffs.
“Sir,” He said, drawing the cuffs out of his pocket. He knew the moment the vampire saw them, because his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, “Is this your house your property?”
“N—No, it’s not.” Carlisle stammered out, his voice rough, like his mouth had gone dry. He was losing composure. Charlie loved when that happened.
“No, it’s not what?” Charlie said, taking a step towards the bed.
“No, it’s not my property.” Carlisle hesitated for a moment, eyes glinted, before he added “Officer.”
“Well, in that case, I am going to have to place you under arrest.” He transferred the handcuffs to his other hand, and watched as Carlisle’s eyes followed them and he licked his lip. Charlie felt himself grow hard. “Breaking and entering is a crime you know.”
“Oh I am well aware.” Carlisle said, his mouth curving into a smirk. “That’s the fun of it.”
Charlie took another step towards the bed, leaning over Carlisle. They’d struck a rhythm now, and it was exhilarating.
“You have the right to remain silent.” He said as he clasped one of the cuffs onto Carlisle’s alabaster-wrist. “Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law.” He cuffed the other wrist, looping the cuffs around a bedpost.
“Is that all that will be held against me?” Carlisle quipped, looking up at Charlie with a challenge in his eyes. Charlie heard a growl of pure lust rumble in his own throat, and decided he couldn’t take it anymore. He closed the distance between them with a kiss and gasped as Carlisle responded by rubbing against him.
“Officer, I don’t think this is standard protocol.” The vampire murmured, smiling against Carlisle’s mouth.
“Fuck standard protocol.” Charlie unzipped Carlisle’s jeans, wrapping a hand around his length. The other man’s head dropped back as he gasped, and Charlie nipped at his jaw. Distantly, he heard the handcuffs rattle.
“I want to…” Carlisle breathed, helplessly. Charlie ignored him, and began to move his hand, before he shifted his position to take Carlisle in his mouth. It was new for him, but there was something about having Carlisle helplessly chained to his bed, useless, that made Charlie want to completely undo him. And, if personal experience was anything to go by, a good blowjob was a very powerful thing.
He worked on pure instinct, sucking and licking and moving. Above him, he could feel Carlisle squirming and bucking. He hoped that was a good sign, and kept going. He felt good. Powerful, sexy. If he wasn’t already hard, the knowledge of what he was doing to Carlisle would take him there.
“CHARLIE.” Carlisle cried in a strangled voice and, well, Charlie knew what that meant. He pulled away, smiling with satisfaction.
“Uncuff me.” Carlisle’s eyes were dark, and his voice was low. It went straight to Charlie’s cock, which twitched in appreciation. Charlie did as he was told. Before he’d even put them away, he was flat on his back, with the vampire straddling him. Carlisle kissed him – hard, hungry – and ripped open his shirt with pure vampire strength. He kissed his way down Charlie’s chest in a way that was almost reverential before he got there.
With Carlisle’s mouth around him, Charlie felt like he entered another plane of existence. Wind roared in his ears, and light flashed in front of his eyes. He buried one hand into the vampire’s soft hair and came with a shout. He’s never appreciated his uniform more.
***
“So. The kids know.” Carlisle said, staring up at Charlie’s ceiling on the bed beside him.
“All of them? I’d assumed it was just Edward and Bella.”
“Nope. All of them. I’m sorry Charlie, I’ve been avoiding him and trying to think of other things but I wasn’t expecting him to be around and he was…a bit shocked.” Charlie rolled onto his side. Carlisle’s expression was pained. He was truly apologetic, even worried.
“You have nothing to apologise for. If anything, it’s a compliment that you couldn’t stop thinking about me.” A laugh rippled through Carlisle’s body in a way that made Charlie’s chest become tight with something he wasn’t ready to name. Carlisle rolled onto his side to face Charlie.
“Charlie, when Edward saw what I was thinking he…” Carlisle hesitated, running a hand through the perfect hair Charlie had already made a mess of, “He was so shocked he…ah…announced it to the room.”
“Oh.” Charlie said, processing. “What, exactly, were you thinking?”
Carlisle refused to meet his eyes,
“Let’s just say I was thinking about a certain part of your anatomy and Edward blurted out Carlisle, WHY are you thinking about Charlie’s dick, and my thoughts answered him before I could, and he kind of…freaked out and left the room but everyone had heard him and have had a lot of questions and judgements and I know Bella came over here…”
“Carlisle. Stop. I have a question” Charlie said. An evil glint entering his eye. He closed the distance between them. Carlisle looked vaguely panicked. “Why were you thinking about my dick?”
Now, Carlisle met Charlie’s eyes and his inner vampire was starting to take over. Charlie heard the most delicious growl rumble low in Carlisle’s throat and then he was flat on his back, the other man above him and things looked like they were about to get very interesting.
***
Lying in the post-orgasm glow, with Carlisle collapsed on top of him, Charlie ran a hand over the vampire’s marble-sculpture shoulder and sighed.
“You know, I hate that you don’t bruise.”
Carlisle braced an arm either side of Charlie and pushed himself up to look the other man in the eyes. “Charlie, you’d have to bite me every ten seconds if a hickey was going to stay on me.”
Charlie met his gaze. “Don’t tempt me.”
Carlisle shivered ever so slightly. “You’re impossible.”
“You seem to be doing a pretty good job of handling me so far.” Charlie shot back, glorying in this new reality between them. The sexual tension was broken, the secrets were out and they were flirting. He was flirting with Carlisle Cullen. And it was exhilarating.
“Trust me, it’s a superhuman effort.”
“Good to know those vampire skills come in handy.”
“Particularly my ability to hear your blood. That one’s lots of fun.”
That reminded Charlie of something, something he really didn’t want to talk about. But he had to, and so he rolled Carlisle off him so they wouldn’t end up fucking for the third time that night and sat up.
“What do we do about Edward?”
Carlisle sighed. “There’s nothing we can do. Not really. He knows, everyone else knows. I’ll try and keep my mind under control but god Charlie…when it comes to you my subconscious is alarmingly persistent.”
For the sake of the conversation, Charlie decided not to unpack that. But he knew Carlisle could hear his pulse speed up.
“We need to see them. Make it less awkward. Take control of the narrative. Bring everyone over this weekend. We’ll have a barbecue. Well, I’ll have a barbecue. You guys can hang out. Just like, with me.”
Carlisle didn’t answer immediately, and Charlie wondered if he was an idiot.
“Charlie,” there was a tenderness, almost a shyness in the vampire’s voice, “You know what that will mean, don’t you?”
“What, am I accidentally entering some vampire ritual I don’t know about?”
Carlisle laughed, “Not exactly, but if we take this public there’s not really any going back. If we bring our families into it then we’re not exactly two guys getting it on a couple of times a week. It becomes more official than that. We become two guys who are boyfriends, or lovers, or partners or whatever you want to call it. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Charlie turned to look at the other man. Carlisle was sitting up too. His blonde hair messy, and his golden eyes searching Charlie’s face for an answer. Lips that Charlie knew were an intoxicating mix of soft and demanding were pressed together in nervousness. Looking at Carlisle the way he knew him – not as a doctor, not as his daughter’s supernatural father-in-law, but as the lonely man who had showed up on Charlie’s doorstep with a bottle of wine and a desperate need for silence and male company, and had somehow integrated himself into his life, lounge room, mind, and bed – Charlie’s heart tightened and for the first time he listened to it. He knew exactly what he wanted.
He closed the distance between them and kissed Carlisle, a soft, endless kiss that made him ache. When Carlisle’s hands came hesitantly to his side they were soft, and both men knew this kiss wasn’t simply foreplay. It was bigger than that. When they separated, Charlie didn’t pull away. “I want that.” He whispered against Carlisle’s mouth, and he felt the vampire smile.
***
Charlie did up the shirt Bella had bought him two Christmases ago. It was dark blue, with a fine red pattern throughout. It was a really nice shirt. He’d never worn it. He checked his outfit in the mirror one more time: the freshly washed and pressed pants, his best pair of boots, and the new shirt. Then he closed his eyes, remembered the look on Carlisle’s face when Charlie had kissed him back the first time, and tried to tell himself clothes didn’t matter.
He wasn’t able to finish his irrational teenage boy freak out. For a species that moved silently, the Cullens sure made a lot of noise getting out of the car.
Alice was the first at the door, and she smiled wide and pulled Charlie into a hug, whispering “I’ve always liked you.” before bouncing into the living room and towards the back door. Jasper followed, like he always did, and nodded politely at Charlie as he moved past him. Emmett clapped him on the back in a gesture so manly it was almost parody and congratulated him on being the most surprising mortal in Forks. Rosalie just smiled. Esme was still visiting her ‘old flame’ in New Orleans, which Charlie was almost grateful for. The children were overwhelming enough. He was starting to regret his offer to host them when Carlisle walked in the door. He was wearing a pale blue shirt with a thick grey cardigan and the best pair of blue jeans Charlie had ever seen. He looked like a knitting book model, like a Christmas movie heartthrob. Charlie was obsessed. And then, god have mercy, he smiled, and every shred of hesitation fell away.
“You dressed up for us.”
Charlie shrugged, “Oh this? It was just something I had lying around.”
Carlisle’s smile deepened. “Well that may be so, but I think it’s cute you put in an effort.”
Cute? Cute? Charlie was a forty-four year old man for Christ’s sake. His cute days were long gone. But...then why did the compliment feel so good?
“Jesus. Here we go.” Edward was right behind Carlisle. And he didn’t look happy. Standing beside him, Bella smiled apologetically. “Can you kids keep your minds under control? Some of us would like to retain a shred of innocence.”
Carlisle scoffed, “Come on Edward, we all know you’re no monk.”
Edward just glared, and followed his siblings into the backyard. Bella hugged her dad. “Jacob is bring Renesmee by later. I thought maybe it would be best to not have to worry about her too much today. And he’s kind of obsessed with babysitting.”
Fantastic. Jacob was going to find out today too. Which meant Billy would find out. Well, two birds, one stone and all that.
“Thanks Bella. You’re good with this, right?”
She looked at him with a vampire canniness that he didn’t recognize, “Are you happy?”
He looked at Carlisle, who was doing a very bad job at acting like he wasn’t listening to their conversation, and nodded.
“Then I’m good. Just…go easy on Edward?”
Carlisle was bending over to retrieve Charlie’s stash of wine glasses. His jeans were very tight.
“No promises.” Charlie said.
Bella looked between the two of them. “This is going to be hilarious.”
***
While most of the younger Cullens settled into the new reality easily, treating the momentous occasion like any other pleasant family gathering complete with roughhousing, jokes, and a cacophony of overlapping voices, Edward did…not. Emmett made predictably inappropriate jokes about the more intimate side of Charlie and Carlisle’s relationship. Alice chattered endlessly, asking Charlie about the house and garden. Jasper was his awkward self, jumpy and watching Alice like a hawk. Rosalie and Bella sat silently on the sidelines, watching the new couple with mistrust and indulgence respectively. Edward stomped and brooded and generally looked like he would have a heart attack. Charlie didn’t think his thoughts were particularly dirty, and Carlisle’s eyes didn’t have the extra gleam Charlie had grown to recognize as the vampiric equivalent to ‘bedroom eyes’ but as the first hour passed and Edward mumbled something about needing “fresh air” the other Cullens exchanged a loaded look before Alice asked, reverently, “What are you guys thinking?”
Carlisle’s expression – all darting eyes and compressed lips – was as close as he would come to blushing. Charlie’s heart squeezed. In the distance, Edward yelled in frustration.
“Who cares what they’re thinking?” Emmett said, so loudly that Charlie was sure Edward was supposed to hear. “Edward needs to grow up. God knows the rest of us aren’t always PG when it comes to our thoughts. I’m certainly not, and I suspect you and Jasper have more than your fair share of fantasy and obsession. Bit of kink, right?” Alice and Jasper shared a look, “And well, if Rosalie’s not thinking about some of my more private qualities then I’m doing something wrong.” The blonde girl gave a single nod. Charlie thought he saw her smile.
“You don’t think—“ Alice didn’t have time to finish her question.
“That it’s because Charlie and Carlisle are both men? How could I not? It’s ridiculous. He’s a hundred years old for Christ’s sake, someone needs to tell him its not 1900 anymore.”
“Emmett…” Carlisle’s voice was careful, almost exhausted. Charlie realised he’d already thought of this. He hated that Carlisle’s son could be so prejudiced against a man like Carlisle. Perfect, caring, endlessly tolerant of Edward’s angst. Not for the first time, Charlie thought about how good it would feel to wring the younger vampire’s neck.
“He’s not a homophobe Emmett.” Bella said.
“You would say that Bella. You think he’s god’s gift to earth.” Emmett retorted. Bella rolled her eyes. Charlie got the sense this was an old argument of Emmett’s.
“He’s not coping because he was used to Carlisle and Esme, and because he is understandably uncomfortable about having to witness certain…acts…between his father and father-in-law. He couldn’t give a fuck that the both men.”
“Bella. We’re right here.” Charlie said, starting to feel like the debate was bypassing those concerned.
“I noticed. And I’m sorry, for Edward’s behaviour and for this. But I promise you it isn’t homophobia he’s just—“
“A prude.” Emmett cut her off. “A prude who doesn’t like change.”
Bella was noticeably silent. Edward re-entered the yard.
***
With Edward back, the group scattered. He still looked slightly constipated, but his shoulders had relaxed slightly. Charlie decided that was a good sign. Bella was talking to her mate softly when Charlie saw Carlisle go into the house. Having seen the worry in his eyes and heard the tiredness in his voice during Emmett’s speech, Charlie followed him, hoping that any alone time could be alone-together time.
He found Carlisle leaning over the kitchen bench him arms rigid as he held himself up, his hand hanging down. Regardless of the stress of the day, Charlie couldn’t help but notice how good the other man looked. Something about his posture – full of tension and strained muscles and barely restrained emotion – made it hard for Charlie to breathe.
“I’m sorry Charlie.” Carlisle words were heavy, and laden with meaning. Charlie hated them.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He closed the distance between them, planted a small kiss on Carlisle shoulder before resting his chin on it. He felt the vampire relax. “Except maybe for being so damn beautiful that you send my mind straight to the gutter.” Carlisle laughed.
“I do have to be sorry. Edward is my responsibility. I should have spoken to him. Made sure he would be normal.”
“Carlisle,” Charlie said, kissing the other man’s neck, “That boy has been a thorn in my side since Bella walked into her first biology class. If I can get used to him dating, marrying, and impregnating my daughter, he can get used to us. Think of it as payback.” Carlisle laughed again, and turned – a sinuous movement that brought the two men face to face.
“So that’s all I am to you, payback?” His smile showed that the vampire was joking.
“Payback with benefits.” Charlie said, and then Carlisle leant in and showed him exactly what those benefits were.
They were still kissing when Charlie heard the door open.
“Get away from him.” Jacob Black growled. Carlisle groaned against Charlie’s mouth – and not in a good way. First Edward, now this? The two men separated – barely – and Charlie turned to look at the werewolf in his doorway. Jacob’s shoulders were tense, his body predator-still. He looked moments from transformation. Charlie cursed the creators of both masculinity and the supernatural.
“Down, boy.” Jacob’s jaw tensed, “I can take care of myself.”
Behind him, Charlie felt Carlisle tense. Cold fingers ran up his side and a soft voice murmured “Well, sometimes you need a little help.”
Charlie hoped werewolves didn’t have supernatural hearing, but Jacob’s snarl told him otherwise.
“Seriously Jake. Carlisle is no threat.”
“His smell is all over you.” Charlie hated how much the idea of smelling like Carlisle, of other creatures knowing they were together through some primal marker turned him on.
“Consensually. Carlisle and I are...” Charlie said, stepping forward.
Jacob’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”
“Au contraire.” Carlisle had moved away from the bench to Charlie’s side, resting a hand on the other man’s shoulder.
Jacob looked between them. Charlie could hear the wheels turning in the boy’s thick head.
“What is it with you Swans? Are you genetically attracted to the cold?” He shook his head. “I am never going to understand. But, I guess, congratulations?” Charlie breathed a sigh of relief, until Jacob’s eyes met Carlisle’s, “You hurt him Cullen, you can forget about the treaty.”
Carlisle nodded. Charlie rolled his eyes.
***
It was evening when the Cullens piled back into the car. Well, most of them. Carlisle and Charlie had silently agreed that the former would be staying the night, if only so they could de-stress mutually. Edward also hung back, looking confused and angsty and even a little bit, guilty?
“Um…” He said, walking over to his father and father-in-law, “Bella told me…that you guys um…” He looked around, as if wondering where to run to, “That you thought I was being…homophobic. Earlier.” He stared straight at them. Charlie stayed silent. Carlisle simply sighed.
“I want you to know that it doesn’t bother me. That you’re both men. I’m just…not perfect. And sex…” He said the word like it was a curse, “Not really my area of comfort. I just need time. I’ll get used to it. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like it was a homophobia thing. It’s just, having everyone else’s fantasies in my head all the time, it gets exhausting. Especially when they’re new. Bella says I shock easily and…”
“It’s fine, Edward.” Carlisle said. “You can go home now.”
Edward looked between them nervously.
“Are you sure?” Charlie looked at Carlisle, who nodded. So Charlie did too. Honestly, he just kind of wanted Edward to go away. Which was par for the course with him.
Edward looked between them again, nodded, and smiled before getting into the car.
***
“He’s a good kid, you know.” Carlisle said later, after the two men had made love slowly and carefully, letting the ups and downs of the day fall away.
“Can we please keep Edward out of the bedroom?” Charlie said, rolling his eyes. Carlisle laughed.
“Believe me. I want to. But I just want you to know that he is good.”
“Carlisle. If you trust him, I trust him. I mean, he turned my daughter into a vampire and made a fool of himself today but, if you say he’s good, then I’ll be good with him.”
Carlisle’s hand grasped Charlie’s, cold on hot, smooth on rough. Charlie was really obsessed with the contrast between them.
“Thank you.”
Charlie fell asleep with the vampire’s lips on his cheek.
***
Over the next month, Carlisle basically moved into Charlie’s house, and even deeper into his heart. Charlie had a long conversation with Billy that was even worse than all the drama with Edward and Jacob – the protectiveness of werewolves was truly exhausting – but it ended well, and Charlie had preserved his friendship. Not that he didn’t feel the frost in the air when Billy dropped by when Carlisle was home.
They fell into a pattern. Of long kisses and intense nights and deep conversation and companionable silence and blazing flirtation. Charlie tried not to think about age, or immortality, or vampirism. He tried to live in the present. But then he’d see Carlisle smiling at something on the TV, or looking at Charlie with soft eyes, or bending over in tight jeans, and the sense of his own mortality would hit him like a freight train.
Everything changed on a rainy Thursday evening, when Charlie went to pick Carlisle up from work and, sick of waiting in the car, walked into the hospital of the waiting room. There’d been a car crash. Charlie wasn’t the supervising officer, but he watched as Carlisle tended to the wounded, as he kept the hospital organized, as his vampire grace and his easy smile and his preternatural control and the sheer beauty of him saved lives, stopped bleeding, and kept people calm. Something warm blossomed in Charlie’s chest, and for once, he wasn’t too scared to put a name on it.
Carlisle looked tired when he got into the car, resting his head against the headrest and smiling at Charlie, who couldn’t stop fidgeting.
“How was your day?” Carlisle asked.
“I love you.” Charlie replied.
The silence that followed was heavy. Carlisle’s mouth dropped open slightly, and Charlie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. The vampire looked him over like he was a puzzle he needed to solve.
“Are you sure?” He said finally, “Once you say that it can’t be taken back, you know that right? With my kind…its complicated.”
Charlie put the car into drive and moved off. “I’m sure. I love you.”
Carlisle nodded, staring straight ahead. “Good. Because I love you too.”
Charlie let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding, and took a hand off the steering wheel to lay it on Carlisle’s thigh. Carlisle laid his own marble-cold hand over the top of the human’s, and the world seemed to rearrange itself around them.
Charlie pulled up outside his rundown house, and they both stepped out of the car. The silent felt strange, as though in the wake fo their confessions neither man knew how to carry, how to confront what came next. Perhaps if they’d both been mortal they’d know what to say. But as much as they tried to ignore it, Charlie’s mortality loomed up before them. Until now, they’d been lovers, sure. Even boyfriends. They’d been fucking and kissing and touching and talking but now…they were something more. And they weren’t sure what that meant.
Inside, Carlisle slipped out of his coat, and Charlie felt frozen in the hallway. He considered turning the TV on, he considered heading to the kitchen to prepare his dinner, but he felt suspended. Then Carlisle looked at him with his liquid gold eyes, and seemed to sense the tornado whirling inside the other man, and he croseed the hallway, took Charlie’s imperfect, mortal, warm face and kissed him. They must have kissed a thousand times, but now the weight of love was behind them, and it was the best kiss so far.
They didn’t speak as they moved to the bedroom, they didn’t speak as they undressed, as they trailed hands over each others bodies, as they fell into bed. They didn’t speak as Charlie entered Carlisle, when Carlisle’s head tipped back in pleasure, his eyes rolling back in his head. They didn’t speak until Charlie started to move inside him, and then all they said was “I love you.” They said it over and over, as if they weren’t sure they would be believed, as if this was their last chance. They shattered in each other’s arms, crying out in unison. Then, as Charlie’s heartbeat started to return to normal, Carlisle finally found himself able to say something new.
“Charlie. Love. Do you want to be a vampire?”
The question took Charlie by surprise. But he knew his answer. He was a simple man. He didn’t like overthinking, he didn’t like complication.
“No. I don’t.”
Beside him, Carlisle nodded.
“I’m sorry. Immortality doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve lived a life, and I hate that it will end one day but I’ve always known that. To be immortal…it would go against everything I am.”
“I know.” Carlisle said, he rolled onto his side to face Charlie, “I think its why I love you. You’re so real. You’re warm and human and you eat and drink and age and scar and it’s so fucking beautiful. I’ve never had that. I’ve never been with anyone who’s had that. And immortality has its perks but I look at you and…you’re not a doll or a marble statue or a weapon. And part of me wants that. Part of me is jealous. But the rest of me just wants you. I love that you blush and sweat and bruise” He placed extra weight on the last word, running his finger over a fresh love-bite on the other man’s collarbone, “And I wouldn’t have you lose all that for the world. But I needed to check. I needed to give you the option. And I will gorge myself on you for the rest of your life. Because as much as I love your mortality, I hate that it will take you away from me.”
Charlie wasn’t good with words. But Carlisle’s words made his chest feel tight, and he felt the pressure of tears behind his eyes. but he didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to think about the limited time he had left. So he did what he always did when he didn’t know what to say. He kissed Carlisle, and let the addictive feel of the vampire’s mouth settle his mind and soul and heart. Once Carlisle had worked his magic, Charlie leant away from his mouth.
“Move in with me.” He said, simply. “We’ll have more time together that way. And I’ll get lonely otherwise. And you’re always say living with the teenagers is getting to you…”
Carlisle cut him off. “Yes.”
***
When Carlisle went home to collect his things, there was a vial sitting on his bedside table. It was an old vial, the glass thick and warped. But the pale yellow liquid inside it was as clear as ever. Carlisle had forgotten about this vial. Had forgotten about the potion and the witch who’d given it to him.
He walked over to the table, and saw a slip of paper with Alice’s handwriting on it.
‘He’s a good man, Carlisle. You both deserve more than what you have. The potion still works.’
He slipped the vial into his pocket, and tried to remember when his children had found about it.
***
Across town, Charlie sat down for a coffee with his daughter.
“Why did you decide to be a vampire?” he asked her. She looked up from the sugar packet she was fiddling with, still awkward about being in cafes and not being able to eat or drink anything.
“Edward. I knew I’d never be happy with anyone else. And he…didn’t want to touch me…in that way…while I was still mortal.”
“It can’t have just been that though? You don’t just give up your life and your body for…for sex.”
She shrugged. “But I wasn’t giving up my life or my body. I was making them better. Stronger. I love what I am. I love my strength and my speed and my immunity. I love knowing there are infinite possibilities for me because I won’t age or die or get sick. When I met Edward, when I met the Cullens…I was so jealous of them. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with my mortality. Even if it weren’t for Edward, I’d still want more.” She looked him in the eyes then, her vampire eyes sharpening with realisation. “Why do you ask? Did Carlisle offer?”
“He did. But I said no. I don’t want that.”
She nodded. “I knew you would. And don’t worry about aging too quickly, or dying. Alice had a vision last night. She won’t tell me what it was. But she says you’ll have more time than you think.”
Her phone buzzed then, and she looked down at the screen.
“It’s Jacob. He’s got work. I need to go pick up Renesmee. I’m sorry. Call me if you need anything.”
She stood, gathering her coat and bag.
“Oh, and dad?” She asked, turning back to him once she’d walked a metre from the table. “I’m glad you said no. You don’t need to change. And you’d hate it.”
***
Carlisle got to Charlie’s late that night. Charlie was on his second beer, with sports playing in front of him.
Carlisle ran a hand over his hair as he walked into the lounge room.
“I missed you.” Charlie said.
“I missed you too. I wanted to be home earlier,” Home. The word sent a thrill through Charlie’s oh-so-human heart. “but I needed to do some thinking. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Charlie tried not to think about the negative implications of that as he reached for the remote to turn the TV off. Carlisle took a seat on the solid coffee table in front of Charlie, even though there was a whole couch beside him. That was not a good sign. Fuck.
“I know you don’t want immortality Charlie. I’m glad you don’t. But, if I’m honest, I won’t be ready to lose you for at least a hundred years. I could try. I could let myself suffer. But there might be a loophole. When I was a new vampire, I helped a witch who was under siege from a group of other vampires. Really bad ones. To repay me, she gave me a potion. It extends the human lifespan, triples it. The drinker will stay mortal, but they’ll age slowly. They’ll have more time. I forgot about it, originally. But Alice must have known about it, because she left it out for me to find when I went home. I want you to have it. If you want. I know you don’t want to live forever. But I can give you a century.”
Charlie thought about this. He glossed over the backstory, not ready to confront the fact that witches were real. He thought about the man sitting opposite him, about what they’d found, about how new it was. He thought about his daughter, who’d chosen immortality. He thought about his granddaughter, who was born immortal. If he didn’t take the potion, he’d leave them all in forty years. Perhaps earlier. In twenty years, he’d start to age seriously. He’d become elderly, slow.
If he took the potion, he’d have more time with the people he loved. With the world he loved. He could keep working, keep loving. He could stay strong. But living so long…
“What if I don’t want a century?”
“Charlie…” Carlisle said, he voice almost breaking, “I promise to you. If you take this potion. I will do everything in my power to make it the best century you can imagine. But if it’s not enough, you can choose to end it. Witches love a way out.”
Charlie nodded, thinking. A century. What would he do with a century?
But then he looked again at Carlisle. Really looked at him. He was so beautiful. And Charlie loved him. He hadn’t realised he could find men beautiful. Hadn’t realised he could love men.
What else didn’t he know about himself?
Charlie Swan was a divorced small-town cop who had a strained relationship with daughter. He’d thought that was all. But now…
Now Charlie Swan was still a divorced small-town cop. But he had a better relationship with his daughter. He had a grand-daughter. He was in love with a vampire, who loved him back. A male vampire. His daughter was a vampire. His son-in-law was a vampire. His best friend was a werewolf.
He almost didn’t recognise his life. But he loved it. And now he was being offered extra time to keep learning, exploring, discovering. Maybe he’d travel. Take up more hobbies. Go back to school. Or maybe he’d just throw himself into what he loved, who he loved. And if he could change his mind at any time…what did he have to lose?
Not to mention that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to leave Bella behind with that Edward kid. At least not anytime soon. What dad would willingly give up on more time with his kid? Not for his benefit, but for hers. As her world and her friends crumbled around her, the Cullens wouldn’t be enough. She’d need him. When she lost her mum, her step-dad, her friends…He wouldn’t let her lose him too. Not if he could help it.
“You don’t have to decide now.” Carlisle said, tilting his head to the side as if trying to read Charlie’s mind.”
“No. I’ll do it. There’s nothing to lose.”
Carlisle sighed then, a beautiful sound. “I am going to give you a perfect life.” He kissed him quickly, then drew a vial out of his pocket. “It needs a drop of vampire blood to activate it. It means you’ll be linked to the vampire, but that’s all.” Carlisle went to bite his wrist, urgent now that Charlie had decided, but Charlie stopped him.
“No. Not from you.” Carlisle looked like Charlie had slapped him. “Bella. I need it to be Bella. I love you but…” Carlisle smiled.
“You’re right.”
***
They made a ceremony of it. The Cullens dressed up, sipped animal blood crystal goblets in a darkened room. Alice cried. Esme, back from New Orleans, hugged Charlie close and whispered that she was happy for him, and that they had to have a drink sometime and swap stories. Charlie wasn’t sure hed ever be able to ‘swap stories’ with Carlisle’s ex, but he appreciated the gesture. Carlisle never stopped touching him, never stopped looking at him with so much love Charlie thought he might drown. Even Edward kept quiet.
Billy and Jacob were there too. Billy stern in his wheelchair, drinking a beer and muttering about how he was only here to make sure the bloody Cullens behaved themselves. Jacob held Renesmee in his arms as she watched her grandfather with eyes that saw everything.
Bella didn’t cry. She was sombre, serious. Almost saintly. Like some sort of ancient priestess. She poured the potion into a crystal goblet, exactly like the ones the Cullens were using, and then she took a beautiful gold knife that Rosalie told Charlie was from the seventeenth century, and cut her palm, letting just one drop of her black vampire blood fall into the goblet. When it hit the surface, the liquid thickened and shimmered. She passed the goblet to her father with a small smile and, looking around him, he reassured himself this was the right thing. He needed more time with the people in this room. his gaze finally settled on Carlisle, who smiled at him, his marble skin and golden hair shining in the candlelight and in that moment he was sure.
He lifted the goblet and drank deep. The liquid tasted like honey. Like summer days and Ancient Ruins. Like golden sunrays across Carlisle’s back. Like sunset and dawn. Like whispered promises and possibility.
He drank every drop. He placed the cup down, and he slipped his hand into Carlisle’s – cold against warm, smooth against rough, ageless against aged.
It was perfect, and so was the century that opened up before them.
Charlie looked at the creatures around him, looked at his daughter and her family, at the man he loved. He wasn’t lonely anymore.