FORKS - carlisle cullen

T W E L V E

Carlisle Cullen's POV

Eleanor and I had to leave the house that night, her emotional pain taking too much of a toll on Jasper. We go to her house and she unlocks the door, walking inside with slumped shoulders despite the fact that she is now possessing the perfect posture of a vampire.

She eases herself onto the couch, and I sit next to her, tugging her into my lap and holding her in my arms. We sit there well into the morning, almost to the afternoon, before her cellphone begins to ring from the coffee table. She sighs, grabbing it and answering, trying to sound like she doesn't know what has happened.

It is her aunt, who delivers the news through her tears. Eleanor begins to dry sob yet again even though vampires can't physically produce tears. Her aunt tells her that she doesn't have to worry about the funeral planning and that she and her husband would take care of everything. She thanks her and hangs up, making preparations to arrive in Tucson for the funeral, which will be in three days.

She hangs up the phone and covers her face with her hands and I say nothing, my heart aching for her. I just squeeze her a little tighter so she knows that I am there.

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Eleanor Martin's POV

After returning to Carlisle's house to get some clothes for the funeral and some brown colored contacts for me, we put everything into Carlisle's Mercedes. He goes around to the driver's side and gets in, driving down the long, winding driveway. He is going with me to the funeral because I am still a "newborn" vampire as he called me and therefore more unpredictable than a matured one.

The last thing I need is to go at the preacher's throat during the service, so it's a good thing that I'll have Carlisle by my side the whole time. He grabs onto my hand and raises it to his lips, kissing it gently before letting both of our arms fall to his thigh, where they rest comfortably.

The trip goes by surprisingly quickly, as if time had completely disappeared. The two of us arrive in Tucson, immediately being bombarded by my family. They all comment on how Washington has made me "lose my tan" and gawk at how handsome Carlisle is and I just go along with it, finally disappearing into the madness that is my family.