"Do not even think it," punctuated by a tightening of his grip on Edward's jaw before Carlisle's thoughts accelerate and nearly take flight.
"I haven't heard of you in months. All the time you were gone -- " Carlisle snaps his hand back raggedly from Edward, jittery and far too off-balance for such a graceful creature as Carlisle has always been.
Before he can question himself, Carlisle reaches for Edward's left wrist with his right hand. It gives Carlisle enough leverage to launch him from the wall into his arms and oh my sweet Christ I missed you my Edward don't leave again it has been so long I could only hope that you would be safe oh my Edward
Of what he's supposed to say. Of what he might have once upon a time. Of the fact he's so used to silence, they blur into the realm of unending thoughts that overwhelm his own. That he pushes through after enough seconds that he feels Esme wonder if everything is okay.
"Two in the office and one in the living room," Esme said, easily. She'd gone through different versions of them, working through rooms and what worked and hadn't. More numberwise, but only three ever installed.
Edward had stiffened. A flutter of images, scent and taste surging through his mind and senses, as though it could have been happening again right then. Turning his stomach, blackening his thoughts. Not at Carlisle for asking, but at himself, for all the things he'd done.
He could have asked worse. He could have asked worse out loud. He would at some point wouldn't he? Yet the still, logical.
His voice was an irritable, striving quiet. "I can manage until whenever--"
"We've been on the verge of needing to move for some time," Carlisle explains. A smile returning to his face, "Now that you're here, we can look into that sooner rather than later."
Listening to them is like listening to a different language. He understands the words, the clips that slip in and out, sounds and letters and ideas, sliding and colliding, but he can't hold what it means.
Having gone mad still makes more sense.
Oh. Right. He was supposed to say something. "Where?"
"I haven't heard of you in months. All the time you were gone -- " Carlisle snaps his hand back raggedly from Edward, jittery and far too off-balance for such a graceful creature as Carlisle has always been.
Before he can question himself, Carlisle reaches for Edward's left wrist with his right hand. It gives Carlisle enough leverage to launch him from the wall into his arms and oh my sweet Christ I missed you my Edward don't leave again it has been so long I could only hope that you would be safe oh my Edward
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Of what he's supposed to say. Of what he might have once upon a time. Of the fact he's so used to silence, they blur into the realm of unending thoughts that overwhelm his own. That he pushes through after enough seconds that he feels Esme wonder if everything is okay.
Before,
"How many new shelves?"
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He hasn't been paying attention enough to know.
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Which meant he'd read far less in that time, too.
Edward nodded. "I saw the one in the living room."
At least he recalled it remotely.
He hadn't been looking at the living room.
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No. Not yet, anyway.
"How long has it been?"
Since you hunted? Anyonething? I need to know for a timetable.
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She couldn't be sure, but...
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He could have asked worse. He could have asked worse out loud. He would at some point wouldn't he? Yet the still, logical.
His voice was an irritable, striving quiet. "I can manage until whenever--"
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I am not judging you just tell me. Trust me with that at the very least.
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At the very least. (Trust me.)
I'm not judging you. (Trust me.)
Edward didn't cringe. He didn't really move.
He doesn't need to take a breath.
"Yesterday."
He doesn't say
it was a mistake
it was an accident
He doesn't deserve their leniency, or understanding.
Even insanely given, it can't take back the evil he'd wrought.
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"We've been on the verge of needing to move for some time," Carlisle explains. A smile returning to his face, "Now that you're here, we can look into that sooner rather than later."
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"Somewhere different and new."
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Having gone mad still makes more sense.
Oh. Right. He was supposed to say something. "Where?"
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