Twilight Fanfic Tear-Jerker. It's been about fifty years since the Cullen's separated and left Forks. Now they are returning to their old home to live as a family again. But something has changed. A mystery seems to unravel before their own eyes. Th...
Synopsis: Rachel returns to Carlisle with a bargain. She will let Carlisle keep Christopher as long as he agrees to all her demands.
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CHRISTOPHER'S RETURN
One day Edward and Bella came rushing into the house from their meadow. Once Edward located Carlisle inside the house, he began speaking frantically.
"Carlisle!" Edward spoke forth with excitement, "You need to come to the meadow immediately, you won't believe what Bella and I just saw and experienced."
Trusting the look on both Bella and Edward's faces, Carlisle rushed after them to their meadow.
As Carlisle neared the meadow, he recognized the smell at once...for it was the smell of Minstrels nearby.
Carlisle gazed unbelievingly into the meadow...on the far side was a woman. She was dressed in modern jeans, shirt, backpack and hiking boots. Carlisle recognized the green-eyed face at once... for it was the face of Rachel Lapp.
Edward whispered to Carlisle, "Whoever she is, she wouldn't allow Bella or myself to come near her. But she called to us in a soft voice saying she wanted to speak to you."
"I know and recognize her," Carlisle told Edward and Bella. "Stay here and don't move too close to her," he further told them.
All three of the vampires stood up and took a step into the clearing of the meadow.
Rachel raised her hand as if in warning and said softly, "Only Carlisle."
Carlisle walked slowly forward towards Rachel. As he came closer he recognized another scent. A very familiar scent....a scent that brought with it a memory of warmth and love.
"What do you want Rachel?" Carlisle asked the woman in an unsteady voice.
Rachel's green eyes twinkled as she pointed into the forest...leading Carlisle's gaze to fall upon a man he knew. The man was also a Minstrel and dressed similarly to Rachel in modern clothes and gear.
Carlisle remembered this particular Minstrel because he had only shown kindness towards Carlisle and his family. This Minstrel's name was Bynjin.
In front of Bynjin stood a boy of about twelve-years-old. The boy's eyes grew wide in recognition of Carlisle...for this boy had dark blue midnight eyes and was his son, Christopher.
Carlisle could tell that Christopher wanted to come to him, however, Bynjin held the boy firmly, not allowing him to advance forward toward Carlisle.
Carlisle wanted to approach the boy and hold him...like he had done centuries before. But he knew that the Minstrels had powers, so Carlisle held his ground.
Carlisle swallowed hard and asked Rachel, "What is this about? Is it some trick?"
"No," replied Rachel seriously, "We're offering to give Christopher back to you permanently if you will take him."
"Why?" Carlisle asked Rachel, amazed and still thinking it was all a deception.
Rachel's green eyes gazed into Carlisle's golden eyes with a hint of mischief.
Then abruptly Rachel disappeared. She had vanished into thin air.
A few seconds later, Rachel reappeared from thin air with a smile upon her face.
"Do you know how we do that?" Rachel asked Carlisle.
"I think I have an idea," Carlisle confessed, "Another of your kind tried to explain it several hundred years ago."
Rachel looked at Carlisle patiently and said, "Our kind can manipulate time. No we can't go back in time, or to the future...but we can slow it down or speed it up within ourselves. Think of it as going in either slow motion or fast-forward."
Rachel further explained, "That's why it looks to you like I disappeared...when I actually just went into fast-forward. It's so fast that even vampires can't detect it. It looks like I disappear and then reappear...when actually I only walked away and came back."
"Not all Minstrels are gifted with this power." Rachel added.
"What's all this got to do with Christopher or why you're returning him?" Carlisle demanded.
"Christopher's mother didn't have this power," Rachel said.
Then Rachel took a deep breath and said, "Christopher did inherit the power...however it's flawed," Rachel finished with pain in her voice.
"How so?" Carlisle asked.
"We've never seen anything like this before. Christopher could shift into fast-forward and slow motion. But the power has done something that we've never experienced before," Rachel confessed.
Carlisle gave Rachel a wary look.
Rachel further explained, "The power causes Christopher to age erratically. You knew this when you found him in the stable all those years ago. You were expecting a young man....but what you found was a little boy with an adult's mind."
"Christopher came to our colony many years ago, an old man and aging rapidly," Rachel said.
Rachel continued, "Christopher explained his problem...he was quite aware of it. However another Minstrel in our colony who had exceptional powers recognized him and tried to cure him."
Rachel kept explaining, "However something else extraordinary happened. Christopher began having seizures and began aging backwards and forwards in spurts of time with these episodes. Sometimes he'd be an older man...then he'd have a seizure and become a young child again."
Rachel looked meaningful at Carlisle and spoke, "Another symptom was that when he phased into a child he would loose his memory...only remembering what he recalled at that particular age. If Christopher phased into a five-year old...then his memory was from when he was an actual five-year-old. Occasionally he would retain all his memories... but as time went on, he often didn't know who we were...or even who he was himself."
