The Turning of Cecily Stewart

The New Normal

Cecily hummed to herself as she moved a load of clothing from the washer to the dryer. Back at home she had always washed dishes to clear her head, finding something comforting in the mundane task. But now that she no longer needed to eat or drink - and lived in a house full of vampires - there was never a need to do dishes. So instead she gladly insisted on taking over some of the daily chores they did have, laundry being one of them.

It was a good chance for her to be alone with her thoughts.

They began to wander as she worked, thinking over everything that had happened in the last month. After the argument and then reconciliation with Edward, life at the Cullens had settled down. She spent most of her time working on her article with Rosalie and Alice, finding a new vigor setting in. Even though she couldn't go out to populated areas or do interviews yet, there was still a rush. She felt more like her old self.

No, that wasn't completely true. She still felt different, but she was starting to like this new person. As though she was finally settling into her new skin.

There was still a long way to go before they could go public with anything, but the three had been slowly making progress. They were picking up the ends of the trail that Cecily had been on and were getting closer to finding something substantial that she could send to her editor.

She stopped, her thoughts going to Gabe. She hoped he was taking care of himself. Eating less red meat and more vegetables. He'd give himself a heart attack one of these days.

Sighing, she tossed in a dryer sheet and started the appliance before reaching for a basket full of clothes to be folded. Moving out of the laundry room, she walked to the large table towards the back of the house. She liked folding there during the day when the light would stream in. Well, what light they did have. Even on a good day, it was cloudy in Forks, something that she hadn't got used to. She missed sunny days.

Starting to hum again, she began methodically folding the clothes and dividing them into piles for each person, making quick work of it. She couldn't help but wish she had this speed when she was human. Certainly would have made cleaning day go by much faster. Hell, her apartment would have been spotless.

But of course, her thoughts wouldn't stay on the task at hand, now turning towards Demetri. She wondered what he was doing. If he was out tracking someone. Or made up his mind about coming. She then shook her head.

Cecily was not thinking about him. Again.

"Cecily," Carlisle said, walking into the kitchen. "Thought you were out hunting."

She looked up at him, smiling.

"I'm fine," she said. "I went yesterday with Rosalie. She and Alice are out picking some stuff up for me."

He nodded slowly, his expression curious.

"Something for the story?" he asked.

Cecily nodded, thinking about the room they had taken over upstairs and were slowly covering with documents and theories.

"Yea, they're tracking down a lead," she replied.

Cecily quickly started putting the folded clothes back into the basket. She glanced over at him as he stood looking out the window. It was a rare chance the two were alone and Cecily wasn't sure what to say to him, though her curiosity about his previous life with the Volturi had only grown since they had returned.

"Alice said that you spent some time with the Volturi," she started, deciding not to let the opportunity go to waste. Carlisle looked over at her.

"I did. For a time," he said. "But I didn't really care for their lifestyle."