Dancing Fever

Carlisle Cullen smiled, enjoying the crisp chill of the winter air.  Things had been going well recently; he was getting better and better at controlling his bloodlust, and as a result, he felt so much less...monstrous.  The change in how he viewed himself had made everything around him brighter, more vibrant.  Life seemed to be more like life again and less like pergatory!  Carlisle took a deep breath, savoring the sharp spike of winter air in his lungs.

The one thing that he did still feel was lonely.  He hated the long nights, the indistinguisible days, and the years which sliped by as fast as sand through an hourglass, yet dragged as slowly as silk over sandpaper.  He wished to find someone to pass the time with...yet he was not yet quite comfortable with his control.  While he felt comfortable enough to smile at the hospital now, there was still a noticible relaxation in his demeanor when he walked into his apartment.  That being the case...the doctor sighed quietly, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

I will never find a companion.

As he wound his way through the streets, he tried desperately to cheer himself up.  I'm going to a preformance, after all...I ought to at least be excited.  And he was, a little.  It was his first show since he'd been turned into a vampire.  He was a bit nervous about being in the middle of a theatre, surrounded by people, closed in by the smell-amplifying heat that so many bodies would create.  He was confident in his abilities, though; those of his to either last it all out, or to leave if he decided he needed to.  I can handle the operating table, he thought firmly, and I will handle this, too.  ...Besides, he added, Doctor Murray invited me to see his daughter's recital, and even if I am not allowed human friendships, there is no longer any call to be...unfriendly.

Smiling a little now--he truly was excited to see what the recital was all about--he began to hurry down the street.  He certainly didn't want to be late.

Slipping into the auditorium where the recital was being held, Carlisle smiled upon seeing Jim Murray, who spotted him and waved.  Carlisle looked around curiously as he made his way down to where the doctor--and what appeared to be many extended relations--was sitting.  The hall itself was beautiful.  Carvings covered the walls and deep red curtains graced the stage.  It was an entirely new kind of place, and Carlisle drank it in eagerly.

After being introduced to everyone, Carlisle sat with the Murray family, listened to them chat about the star in question--little Janett Murray--and made small talk about his work, the weather, and so on.  Nothing too heavy, as it was all really just leading up to the main event, the enterance, the--

"It's starting!" Mrs. Murray announced happily as the lights dimmed, beaming at her husband and squeezing his arm.  Carlisle smiled a little watching them, quietly pleased to see two people so obviously in love.  Then his attention was drawn by the hissed shushing in the crowd and the curtains opening to reveal a group of very young ballerinas.

Carlisle smiled as he watched the young ladies twirl around onstage.  They were very, very young, and so obviously just learning how to dance, but they were absolutely charming.  He began to relax as he watched them, his tensions seeming to melt and slip away.

When the children had finished, Carlisle clapped with the rest of the crowd, even laughing when little Janett spotted her large family and waved, a wide, happy smile breaking out on her face.  Within moments, the girls were ushered off the stage, and Janett was running up the isle towards them.  Carlisle stood to allow her to pass him, and she threw herself into her father's lap, hugging him around the neck and giggling as her family showered her with praise.  Jim produced a single red rose from somewhere and bestowed it upon her, and she squealed and sniffed it deeply.  Carlisle chuckled, adding his congratulations to the rest; she accepted them with an excited solemnity, even reaching out her little hand to shake his as a "thank-you."

Soon, though, other groups were coming on the stage, and the family was forced to quiet down to the best of their abilities.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Carlisle checked the program he'd gotten when he came in the door; there was only one group left.  Stretching his legs--a human habit he'd kept quite by design--he snuck a glance at Janett Murray, chuckling when she caught his eye and giggled.  This was something of a routine by now; look over, catch her looking or let her catch him looking, look away while both laughed.  This time, though, she broke the pattern, leaning over and tentatively touching his sleeve.

"What is it?" he whispered, leaning down to speak more directly to her.

"Tap-dancers," she whispered solemnly back.  "It's New Dance.  Miss Malin says they are really good."

Carlisle nodded, contemplating the information.  "Have you seen them?" he breathed to the little one.  She nodded, wrinkling her nose for a moment.  Carlisle chuckled.  "What is it?"

"It's hard," she confessed.  "To not make a wrong noise."

Carlisle frowned a little and was about to ask what she meant, when the tap-dancing group was announced.  He flicked his eyes to the stage and barely surpressed a gasp.

There were five dancers, most of them trending towards young ladies, and the girl who stood in the middle was quite obviously the oldest.  She was also absolutely stunning.  Light brown hair, pulled back and out of the way and pale skin that almost matched Carlisle's own for paleness of color...

Carlisle was busily trying to surpress these thoughts when they began to dance.  The doctor leaned forward, enraptured, watching the girl's every move.  She was incredible!  Some special fixtures on the shoes made sharp noises against the stage, and Carlisle instantly knew what Janett had been trying to say; any wrong step was betrayed by the noise made by the shoes.  But Carlisle, watching the lead dancer, swore on his very being that she never made a misstep, or at least not that he could tell.

He sat there, totally absorbed, and would have been happy to watch until the Second Coming.

*~*~*~*~*~*

When the performance had ended, Carlisle joined the crowd in giving all dancers of the evening a standing ovation.  Then, filing out of the theatre with the Murray family, he caught sight of the tap-dancing girl.

She seemed to see him too, and she smiled, and if his heart had been beating it just might have stopped.  Noticing that the Murray family was gathering to depart, he warmly thanked Jim for inviting him along, and knelt to solemnly congratulate Janett on a job very well done.  She giggled at him and hugged him tightly; he, surprised, held his breath but hugged her back.  Soon enough, he stood and watched them depart.

That's when he whirled around and began looking despirately for the girl.

She was just there...

He hurried through the crowd, perhaps looking a bit too fast, perhaps going a little too swift, but he didn't care.  He just wanted to meet this girl, perhaps to talk to her, and--

There.

Hurrying forward, he stopped at about fifteen feet away from her and forced himself to be calm.  Slowly, slowly walking up to her, he bowed his head and murmured, "A beautiful performance, miss."

She nodded with a smile, thanking him kindly.

"Doctor Cullen," he added hastily, lest the beauty in front of him decide to leave too soon.

"Isabel, Doctor Cullen," she said with another smile.

"Please, call me--" he choked a little on his words, because there was a scent in the air, such a scent...It was the scent that belonged to vampires, and vampires alone.  "...Call me Carlisle..."

"All right, Carlisle," Isabel murmured, flashing her eyes up to look into his.  Carlisle blinked at her, shocked.

Her eyes were the same shade as his.

Quickly checking as to whether or not she had friends or family expecting her--she didn't--Carlisle invited her for a walk.

She accepted.

*~*~*~*~*~*

On their walk, Carlisle learned much.  His companion spoke freely, unafraid, as if she'd known him for a while.  In a way, he supposed, she had...

Isabel had been born and then turned in Europe, some time after his own turning.  She, too, had run into the Volturi, where they told her stories of a curious golden-eyed vampire, who lived off beasts and not off of humanity...This had pleased her greatly, and she, as Carlisle before her, vowed to stick to this new, animal-only diet, leaving the Volturi and traveling to America a while later.  Becoming more and more successful at restraint, she had gradually let herself be absorbed back into the human way of life, taking up many activities that she had always wanted to be able to do as a human...she filled her immortality with drawing and painting, as well as dance.

Carlisle listened in quiet admiration.

When she was finished, he told her what bits of his own story that the Volturi had not been party to.  She was an excellent listener, and he ended up going much, much farther than he had intended, even beginning to speak about his current lifestyle, and how lonely he was...She quietly agreed that it was a very lonely life.

Perhaps it doesn't have to be, Carlisle thought, looking at the young lady beside him.  She was very, very beautiful, as all vampire-kind were; she was, however, also exceedingly lovely in heart and beautiful in spirit, which was rare enough in humans, let alone in vampires.

"Isabel," he began cautiously.  "...Perhaps..."  She looked at him, questioning.

"What is it, Carlisle?"

Carlisle's heart fluttered a little--The stirrings of some deeper emotion? the doctor wondered.  ...Only time will tell...

"Perhaps we might be a...coven...of our own," the doctor said quietly, wincing a little at how forward he sounded.  He began to apologize, but was silenced by a look from Isabel.  They walked in silence for a moment, and his heart sank with every step.

"...What would such a thing entail?" came the quiet question from beside him.  Carlisle felt a smile spread across his face.

They slowly began to outline their new life together.