(retroactive)

[her_imperial_radiance]

It is after the very first Bellparty.

"Dad never comes to these," Elspeth tells her grandma. "Too many strange Bells. If there were strange Edwards, Mama might have trouble with them too, but there aren't so far. But I can reintroduce you now, if you'd like."

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"I have been wondering if I should introduce you to Esme. And reintroduce you to Carlisle. Or if that would be uncomfortable."

[prima_sequentem]

"I don't think it would be uncomfortable."

It has the potential to be, but it's not what she'd expect, going on secondhand information about Esme and Carlisle. She's not competitive. Edward can have as many mothers as he wants. He can start a collection. Just as long as he doesn't start keeping them all in glass cases in his basement, because that would be inconvenient and sort of creepy.

[alicornucopia]

That surprises a laugh out of Edward. "I don't know if 'mother' would be the best way to describe the relationship, anyway, except for convenience's sake, inadequate words for the odd configurations that crop up in covens - we often presented that way, but just as often I posed as her brother. Once as her nephew. Carlisle I do have more of a filial feeling for, and she's his wife, in addition to being a generally motherly person."

[prima_sequentem]

She grins.

"I am perfectly happy to share being your parent with Carlisle."

(She probably would be even if Edward's original father had been remotely adequate, but since he wasn't, there's no feasible competition for the title.)

[alicornucopia]

Edward laughs. "I'm glad. Particularly considering you picked him out for me."

[prima_sequentem]

"Well, there wasn't exactly a vast selection on offer at the time. But if there had, I'm pretty sure I still would've gone with him."

[alicornucopia]

"Very lucky," Edward agrees. "The Denali coven were the only other vegetarians active at the time, and I don't think I'd have fit in as well with them as creators instead of cousins."

[prima_sequentem]

"I take full credit for this near-total accident."

[alicornucopia]

"What would you have done, if it hadn't been Carlisle? I'm not sure why anyone else would have been here, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Alice came from a hospital that had a vampire working at it, albeit not one dedicated to treating the flu."

[prima_sequentem]

"Not an easy question to answer, without knowing who the other vampire is and what might motivate them."

Because motivating them to save Edward's life would definitely have been on the agenda.

[alicornucopia]

"Alas, I have no examples ready to hand. The one in Alice's hospital was studying her witchcraft, which does not apply."

[prima_sequentem]

She shrugs. "I would've found out how to get them to, anyway. Carlisle was easy; if you poked him with something sharp, altruism would pour out. Metaphorically speaking. I understand you folks are pretty much impervious to sharp objects and there's not much pouring going on when you aren't."

[alicornucopia]

"Quite impervious, not particularly liquid," agrees Edward. "He did require prompting, though. I was the first person he turned, and he'd had prior chances. He wasn't sure it was right to do that to someone. I wasn't either, for a long time. Bella, of course, could convince me that the sun was blue and the sky yellow."

[prima_sequentem]

"But he didn't exactly take much of a push once I put the idea in his head. Convenient, that."

[alicornucopia]

"He'd recently met Esme. And managed to leave her where she was. He was intensely lonely," says Edward softly.

[prima_sequentem]

"Lucky for him he managed to scoop her up again later."

[alicornucopia]

"Very. Occasionally I wonder if he would have eventually broken and gone looking and I'm not sure. I tried to go away from Bella, once, when I was afraid I'd snap and drink her blood; I lasted less than a week. Carlisle didn't have that concern to hold him back and he managed, for years, until a sheer coincidence put her in his path."

[prima_sequentem]

"I say again: if you poked him with a sharp object..."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not going to disagree with you," laughs Edward. "I admire him intensely."

[prima_sequentem]

"I can tell."

[alicornucopia]

There's a silence.

"I think I will ask Bella for that wish," he says. "I don't believe I'll get everything all at once the way she did, though. A little slower."

[prima_sequentem]

"Okay."

Lizzie is pleased.

[alicornucopia]

Edward smiles.

"Carlisle's just left off work for the day. Now would be a fine time to catch him if you'd like to speak to him sooner rather than later."

[prima_sequentem]

"I think that's a great idea."

[alicornucopia]

Edward nods, and tilts his head by way of signaling that he's "on the phone".

Presently there is a polite knock at the door.