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The family went to meet them at an airport in Seattle and Jamie stayed in Ithaca like a ghost.
As quickly as they had settled into the house had they left and Jamie wandered the rooms with a great, suffocating sadness.
Carlisle tried only once to convince Jamie back to Forks sooner than he was prepared and Jamie refused. Now, he packed away the pictures he had hung on the walls and knew that if he still lived as human and felt as pathetic as he did, he would lay weeping somewhere in a dark corner of the house.
But, he was human no more and could only wrap the photo frames in tissue paper and box them up for travel. His and Carlisle's room soon stood bare of all familiarities that once made it theirs and Jamie sat within the four empty walls. He touched the sheet-bare bed and mourned for his first, true sanctuary.
Rosalie was the first to come back. Thoroughly scathed by Edward and feeling adequately blamed for the mess, she slunk into the house and silently packed away her and Emmett's room until it too felt vacant and deserted.
In the evening they sat together on the balcony and watched the sun dip behind the trees. They smoked a little and silently grieved the simple existence that they knew in the small, undisturbed corner of the world.
When Emmett came to pick them up they went without fuss and only a brief look back at the house. All the boxes were stacked and ready for the moving company and all personal effects stuffed into the boot of Emmett's jeep.
The long drive back was loud with the jeep's speakers and only when they crossed the Washington state line did Jamie sink into his seat, wishing to disappear from eyes that could easily recognise him.
Carlisle stood waiting outside the house in Forks. The woodland swallowed the driveway and as overgrown as it was in their absence, easily could it be missed if you were not looking hard enough.
Jamie went to Carlisle as soon as he slipped from the vehicle, softening in the familiar arms and pressing his cheek to Carlisle's own. They stayed there for a long while; Jamie miserable and Carlisle desperately apologetic until they pried themselves away and Carlisle guided him into the house.
He and Alice had explained the development of his power, the command he had exercised over her. They were told practice and control would come with time and the offer of Denali and Eleazar always stood welcome. Jamie chose to stay with his family and no promise of power could sway him.
He took to the new room as easily as he could and soon the space smelt of Carlisle and his own mingled scent. One night they lay coiled amidst the bedsheets and with Carlisle's reassuring weight atop him, Jamie knew that there was little point in sulking about what was lost when all that was needed already lay in his arms.
