COLOURS || Seth Clearwater

FORTY TWO

"Auntie LouLou," Renesmee called sweetly from down the hall, the soft padding of her feet audible throughout the echoey home. "Can you help me?"

Smiling happily at the affectionate nickname she'd been given, Lucinda turned around to face her open bedroom door where her neice stood, a navy blue dress that Rosalie had bought her paired with black tights and brown booties in her small hands. "What do you need my help with, Little Love?" She asked with a sweet smile, bending down to her height.

Rather than speaking, Renesmee simply placed a hand on her auntie's cheek, showing her that she wanted to get dressed and surprise Rosalie with the dress, and her mother with how grown up she was. Her heart ached at the thought of Renesmee growning, knowing full well no on knew how much time they would have with her, but Lucinda smiled and agreed to help.

She helped her wiggle into the tights first, then patiently straightened the dress once Renesmee had gotten it on. Then she helped her figure out which shoe belonged on which foot, before skillfully pulling her hair back into two boxer braids to keep it out of her face when she inevitably went to play outside in the snow.

She received a pat of thanks, then watched with a longing smile as she casually walked out of the room in her sassy walk, before bounding down the stairs and earning various compliments from Rosalie about how cute she looked. She'd known from the moment Renesmee was born she'd wind up wanting another baby, but put it on the back burner because one, Seth was much too young for that, and two, there was no time.

He'd slept at his own house that night, now that there wasn't really a need to protect the Cullen residence, and everything had gone relatively back to normal. Leah had gotten used to the smell the more she showed up, but everyone knew she was still uncomfortable around the Cullen family themselves and respected it. It wasn't exactly her fault, and they understood.

But more often than not, even with Seth back at his own house, Lucinda didn't wake up alone. Whether it be Renesmee wanting to sleep over like the night before, or the twins getting bored and wanting company, or Virginia wanting to annoy the twins, there was always more bodies in her bed when she woke up compared to when she went to sleep.

After dressing herself in a pair of black skinny jeans that fit perfectly thanks to Esme's sewing skills and a soft blue shirt covered in penguins that doubled as a sweater, she sauntered down the stairs and into the kitchen to make herself breakfast.

"Are you going to be out in the snow with us today?" Rosalie asked, curiously eyeing her shirt. She was helping Renesmee into her coat

Lucinda laughed. "Maybe, I'm not sure," she shrugged. "I'm feeling...different...today. So I suppose anything could happen."

Rosalie hummed in response, then continued on with making sure Renesmee had everything she brought with her.

She watched the pair walk out the front door with a fond smile, but the moment it shut she felt the expression drift off her face as she was pulled into the fragmented wisps of an old memory.

"Do you enjoy tormenting me, woman, is that what this is?" Kane asked seriously, though she could see the twitch of a smile threatening to break his composure.

Grinning, Lucinda waltzed gracefully up to him, her chest brushing across his as she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, then all but danced her way out the back door into the dry summer grass, twirling her hands above her head and allowing her skirt to billow around her. "Only when I know it'll work," was her called out cheeky response.

Kane stood in the threshold of the back door, watching her move with an expression on his face that could only be described as fond.

He was growing sicker, and it was tearing her apart inside to know what there wasn't much she could do for him yet, but knowing that she made him happy was enough.

It had to be.

"Lucy?"

She was pulled out of the memory storage within her mind by Seth's voice, and only after blinking did she realize she was crying.

"Hmm?" She murmured, wiping the tears from her eyes with her fingertips. "Sorry, Love, I didn't hear you come in."

Seth smiled softly at the pet name as he made his way into the kitchen, and Lucinda was rather surprised to see War's willowy frame following close behind him. "He came and got me?" Seth explained when he noticed her slightly confused expression. "Was very adamant that I follow him."

"He can be like that sometimes," Lucinda hummed, forcing a smile for his sake.

But he seemed to be able to see right through that, and simply held his arms open for her to talk into. Immediately, her bottom lip began to tremble and no matter how hard she tried to keep it steady, she just couldn't seem to hold it back. So, with her shoulders pulled up so they were nearly touching her ears, she folded her arms over her chest and allowed herself to walk into his arms.

His warmth was comforting, which only made her start crying.

"I'm sorry," She choked out into his shoulder as he slowly swayed side to side, like one would when rocking a baby. "I'm a mess, I've got makeup all over you're shirt, I'm—"

"No, I get it," he hummed quietly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Sometimes you hardly notice it, and sometimes it feels like it's drowning you."

"Yeah," she whispered. She wiped her eyes as she pulled away from him "You've lost someone?"

"My Dad," Seth answered through a tight-lipped smile. "A heart attack, about a year and a half ago, actually."

"Right around when you first phased?" She asked curiously, still sniffling.

"Yeah, we think Leah phasing is what caused it, we think...the shock of it, and stuff," he nodded hesitantly. "It all kind of sucked for a while, and the pain doesn't really go away, it just...after a while, it just isn't as heavy or hard to deal with. And you have to remember that you literally took this feeling out of you for seven hundred years; that's a lot of pent up grief."

"Well," she murmured while lightly kissing the crook of his neck. " For what it's worth, I'm sorry you have to feel this."

"Me too."

The door creaked open, and Lucinda immediately perked up at the sight of Renesmee coming in with Bella. But she was frowning about something, so she pulled herself out of Seth's grasp and lifted Renesmee onto her hip. "What's wrong?"

"We saw Irina," Bella continued frowning, her head cocked to the side as she thought. "She just took one look at Renesmee and left, I don't know...why."

"Maybe she's still upset about what happened with Laurant," Lucinda suggested, beginning to frown as well.

Bella nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe."