So very glad that love triangle ended amicably. Now our family concentrates on a bit of a happier times; it’s Halloween! We all have our costumes ready to go. All of the photos of absolutely everything are below. So as you know Halloween is a special time in our family because it not only makes for a fun day and night dressed up and looking strange, but it’s also Rogue’s birthday. Alice really wanted to plan and have a party but Rogue wanted things her way. So with Alice’s help, she turned her and Alexander’s home into a haunted house/haunted Halloween gathering.

          On top of that, there was a Halloween party at the hospital so we decided to split the evening half and half. First go to the party at the hospital, then skip out early and celebrate Rogue’s birthday at her place. Most of our costumes were based on fairy tales. The only ones that were not were Rogue and Alexander’s (not surprisingly), Kim and Michelle, and Edward and Bella. John and Maria weren’t in town but sent their well wishes from Europe. Neither were fond of Halloween so they took their leave beforehand.

          I will tell you what our costumes are before Alice kills me. Esme and I are going as Aladdin and Jasmin. Yes, I wear a turban and my wife is showing her belly. Bet you didn’t think she would ever go that risqué but after her soul searching journey she decided to have some fun. Alice and Jasper were dressed like Snow White and the Prince while Emmett and Rose were Tarzan and Jane. His physique helped fill out that costume nicely. The only thing he grumbled against was the wig, but Tarzan has long hair and Emmett….well…..doesn’t; so really a no brainer there.

          Next were Edward and Bella who went as Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre. They really went all out to find the right period pieces. Nessie and Jacob were Belle and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast; fits perfectly, considering he’s a wolf. Corin and Seth were Arial and Prince Eric (The Little Mermaid), Leah and Keith went as Pocahontas and John Smith because Leah really wanted to showcase her Native American heritage. Finally that left Kim and Michelle who dressed up as pirates, Amy and Peter who went as Cinderella and her prince, and last but not least Rogue and Alexander who went as Trinity and Neo from the Matrix. No way in hell was Rogue getting dressed up as some fairy tale especially on her birthday. It just wasn’t her; she wasn’t anyone’s pretty pretty princess. I think she actually hates the color pink.

          But I digress. As you know also, Halloween is the day Carrie is to be executed and that execution was carried out without incident. But I will talk about that toward the end. Ironically, Rogue was forbidden to be there by none other than her friend and former FBI partner Scott Kramer. He told her that she wasn’t allowed into the building. He did that because he didn’t want her to spend her birthday watching Carrie’s execution. He said he’ll take care of it and since her execution was to be carried out in the early evening anyways, he had plenty of time to be there. To make things more interesting, he actually dressed up as the grim reaper so the last thing Carrie would see as the needle was plunged into her arm was that. If that isn’t metaphorically perfect, I don’t know what is.

          Moving onto more pleasant things, our family got dressed up and came downstairs for the drive to the hospital. We were all going in cars so we would be more human-like as opposed to phasing, flying, or running and then wearing our costumes and possibly losing pieces of them somewhere along the way. The hospital party was set for 6pm. Everyone was coming with their families. For once, all of the people I worked with directly weren’t working on shift so could enjoy the party completely. That meant that Betsy and her husband Bob, Charlotte, Ben plus baby Hope, and Bill Connolly with his wife Theresa would all be there.

          Once we were all ready, we got into 5 cars and rode to the hospital. Everyone was laughing at themselves and at each other. We were also curious what my colleagues looked like. Once we arrived at the hospital, we parked and got out. We hadn’t seen the Watchers’ costumes up until that point as we went from our respective houses and were pleasantly surprised how different and yet still cohesive we all looked. We walked into the hospital through one of the side doors and followed the signs to the main pavilion where the party was held.

          Considering this was hospital the decorations were impressive. It looked like an abandoned insane asylum with cobwebs and spiders, bugs and blood everywhere. At first I didn’t recognize anyone because as far as costumes go, people had gone all out. There were the usual vampire and werewolf section along with grim reapers, monsters of all kinds and bloody zombie like characters. Then Bill Connolly popped up behind me as usual scaring the living daylights out of me.

“Hey Carlisle! Glad you folks could make it. Pretty cool don’t you think?” He said with a laugh. He gestured around the room. He himself and his wife Theresa were dressed like a king and queen from the renaissance era.

“Holy……! Bill can you stop scaring the life out of me?” I said with a small jump. Bill laughed.
“Well at least if you have a heart attack….you’ve come to the right place!” He said with a wink as I sighed.
“Wonderful. Where’s Betsy?” I said looking round the room but trying to find my head nurse in that gaggle of costumes was impossible. Just then I saw a very blue person waving at me. It was Betsy. She was laughing as she and her husband Bob walked over.
“Betsy? Is that you under there?” I asked quizzically.
“Yep. Bob and I are the Ice King and Queen. What do you think?” She said with a giggle.
“Wow. Very impressive. But I think you guys stayed at the North Pole for a little too long…..that’s very blue. I hope it comes off.” I said with a smile as Esme and the others laughed.
“It better, this thing is very itchy.” Bob grumbled trying to scratch his own nose which was covered by a very long pointed nose which was getting in the way.
“Oh quit grumbling and enjoy!” Betsy scolded her husband while everyone continued to laugh.

          At this point as Betsy and I stood talking along with Esme, Bob, Bill, and Theresa, the others drifted away and were mingling amongst the hospital staff and picking at the snacks on the long tables at the far corner of the room. People were taking photos with each other and there had even been a photo booth set up so people could really get cool photos if they wanted to. My family enjoyed that booth very much. They actually at one point tried to fit everyone in at the same time and nearly caused the booth to topple over; as Jacob and Emmett literally rolled out….everyone else was laughing so hard tears were coming out…and someone snorted which caused more laughter. We had taken a family photo before we left outside of our house. We were going to take another one before Rogue’s party outside of her house with the Watchers included.

          As all of these shenanigans were going on, in walked Charlotte, holding baby Hope and Ben. You could tell who they were because they didn’t have any fancy makeup on. Charlotte and Hope were both angels with wings and halos while Ben was Zeus. They walked right over to us and we hugged as Esme and the other women cooed over baby Hope who was quite content in her little outfit. Ben had a little stroller with him that he parked in the corner for when Charlotte wanted a rest or they wanted to dance or eat. They weren’t staying long either.

“Howdy Dr. Cullen. Wow you make a great Aladdin! And Esme you look like a great Jasmine!” Charlotte exclaimed.
“Thanks honey. I knew I wanted to be Jasmine for a while. And sticking the turban on Carlisle was fun too.” Esme said with a giggle as Charlotte laughed.
“Maybe you should wear that turban to the hospital more often, Dr. Cullen.” Charlotte said with a wink as I rolled my eyes.
“Do I look like a snake charmer to you?” I said sarcastically as the women continued to laugh at me. Then Rogue walked by with a wave and a smile, Charlotte looked at her with awe.
“Wow! Rogue really makes Trinity looks fierce. I loved The Matrix movies. Ben and I have them on a DVD box set at home. And isn’t her birthday today too?”
“Yes it is her birthday today, that’s why we aren’t staying that late either; we’re having a family dinner back at her and Alexander’s place, Halloween style.” I said with a smile.

          I glanced at my watch and it said 7:15pm, it was then that I noticed Rogue looking at her phone and closing her eyes and opening them again. She looked at her phone again and texted something and then took a deep breath. All of her Watchers and the rest of us were focused on her without being obvious about it. She looked at me and nodded. Just then I heard her voice in my head as well as the heads of everyone involved:

“It is over. Carrie was executed at 7:13pm. Scott said all went off without a hitch.”

          It was over wasn’t it? No more Carrie. I knew Charlotte remembered today as well so when Rogue was looking at her phone, Charlotte knew what it meant and looked at Rogue who nodded and smiled at her. Charlotte knew what that meant too and let out a huge breath of air. She then went to the open bar that we had set up and got a glass of wine. We all followed suit without saying a word. Then our family along with Charlotte, Ben and Bill, Betsy and their spouses who were also told the news, just clinked our glasses in a silent toast and prayer. Words were just not needed in this case.

          We stayed at the hospital for another 2 hours, dancing and enjoying life. Then after saying goodnight to everyone, we piled back into our respective cars and home we went for part 2 of that nights celebration; Rogue’s birthday. When we go to her and Alexander’s house, Rose set up the camera and Rogue turned on the fog machine so it looked like we were taking a family picture in front of a house that was located in a swamp. They really know how to decorate these Watchers of ours. Their homes all looked like ancient burial grounds. 3,000+ years will perfect any method of decoration I suppose.

          Then we went inside which was super spooky and after all 350 candles were lit in the dining room and living room areas, sat down at the table to have dinner. Everything was catered and had arrived there just as we arrived so all we had to do was serve which we decided would be easier to do in a buffet style way. So near a just pile of bones you had pasta with sauce and mozzarella cheese looking like a bunch of eyeballs, meat that looked like it had maggots coming out of it, salad with “bugs”, the cake was red and black with skulls on it. There were even Halloween martinis that Alexander made.

          Soon enough, Scott joined us and we had a marvelous time eating, drinking and chatting. When it was time to eat desert, Alexander put 1 candle in it because he said he would burn the whole town down if he put the correct amount of candles in. And that the state of NH didn’t even have that many candles available. Everyone laughed. Scott knowing the history of the Watchers’ from previous encounters that Rogue told you about a few months back, was brought in on the secret of whom the Cullen clan was. He was a bit surprised by the knowledge of wolves and hybrids but other than that he was surprisingly calm about it. I was very surprised. I expected him to really flip out but he said after being around Rogue or Rose as he called her for so many years, nothing surprised him. I can’t say I blame the guy.

          So we ate, drank, and were merry as they say. After dinner and desert, we turned on some music and danced. It was all Rogue wanted. She didn’t want some over the top birthday party put together by Alice. She was very low key. Besides, when you’ve been alive for over 3,000 years…..you don’t need crazy wild bashes and giant celebrations. Just a quiet nice “glad you’re still on this planet” and that’s good enough for her. Bella really admired her for that much to Alice’s dismay. No matter what, Bella would never become the party animal Alice wanted her to be; and that was just fine with Bella, Leah, and Rogue. They didn’t like shopping, clothes, or planning parties and that made them get along very well.

          After the party dispersed and it was well after midnight, Scott stuck around to tell Rogue about Carrie’s execution. We were all gone by then. Her last meal was pizza. And when she was brought into the execution chamber and strapped to the gurney, she was looking sullen. Then she gasped as the curtain was drawn and she saw Scott in the grim reaper outfit. He said the look on her face gave him an immense amount of pleasure.

Her last words were “this isn’t the last you’ve heard of me.”

          Rogue frowned at that. Scott wasn’t worried, he said that everything went off well and her heart stopped and they pronounced her at 7:13pm. Something though wasn’t right. Rogue couldn’t put her finger on it but Scott told her that she was just being superstitious. Scott promised that he would be there when they dropped her in the ground too. Rogue thanked Scott for everything. And as he left her house to go home being the last one to leave, Alexander had already finished cleaning up. He looked at her and said:

“It is over……isn’t it?”

“I don’t know.” She said.

Something was off.

~Carlisle Cullen

          I’ve been hiding out in the hospital to avoid the unfolding soap opera in my house. Last I wrote, Nessie and Nahuel had gotten particularly……erm……close. When they got back from there walk, both were blushing. It was obvious something had happened between the two and Nessie was wearing a new bracelet she didn’t have before. We wanted to keep as much of it a secret as possible but somehow through our immortal grapevine, Seth found out and called Jacob. That was a scream heard around the world!

          Jacob couldn’t leave his father right away as his plane ticket was purchased for the following day, but he was deciding to just ditch the ticket, phase, and run cross country. Which he ended up doing. His father had sent him on his way as he had gotten better and he had Sue and Charlie to take care of him. I don’t think Jacob had ever run faster in his life. I felt bad for him but knew this love triangle was to be figured out between him, Nessie, and Nahuel. The only thing we had to stop from happening was any outright fighting.

          Bella and Edward had sat Nessie down after that to talk to her. They wanted to know what her thought process was. No one wanted to blame her because after all, even though she loved Jacob and was his imprint, she was allowed to find other men attractive and even kiss them. Edward wasn’t a huge fan of the kissing part but there was not much he could do. As previously explained, Jacob didn’t own Nessie. She could still choose to be with someone else. She didn’t want to hurt Jacob but she wanted to be able to choose the right way not because she was pressured to do so. Both Bella and Edward weren’t having it any other way. This was going to be Nessie’s choice and hers alone.

          By the time Jacob arrived in our backyard, Nahuel and Nessie were talking and sitting very close together. When they saw Jacob, they both jumped up. Nahuel looked uncomfortable but composed, while Nessie was nervous. Jacob though, was livid. He growled menacingly and took a few steps toward Nahuel, who—I had to hand it to him—stood his ground and didn’t back away. The rest of us were by then outside and were ready to intervene if Jacob did anything stupid. It was Nessie though who got between the two of them with her arms outstretched.

“Ok, now stop it you two!” She said sternly. Jacob growled again. Nahuel didn’t say a word but looked pretty fierce himself.
“Jake why don’t you go and phase back so we can actually talk! Not all of us speak wolf.” Nessie said looking pointedly at Jake who after a split hesitation flew into the woods only to immerge a few moments later:

“What the hell do you think you’re doing??? I leave for one week and someone comes and tries to steal my imprint from me??” Jacob yelled at Nahuel; they were only inches apart as Nessie fought to get between them.
“I’m not trying to steal anyone from you, Jacob. I have feelings for Nessie and clearly she has feelings for me too.” Nahuel said calmly.
“She’s MINE! Do you even understand what imprinting means? Do you give a shit? And what the hell is that on her wrist??” Jacob screeched.
“Whoa, Jake…..back up. You don’t own me. No one does. I make my own decisions. And that includes who I want to date, kiss, etc. And that’s a bracelet Nahuel made for me.” Nessie said crossing her arms over her chest; Jacob’s eyes meanwhile were all but bugging out of his head.
“Y-You mean…….you are actually…….con-considering being with this….this….hybrid?????” Jacob was so stunned and livid that he started to stutter.
“Hey, I’m a hybrid too remember?” Nessie said.
“Yeah, and there’s nothing wrong with being a hybrid.” Nahuel added.
“SHUT UP!! NO ONE WAS TALKING TO YOU!!!”

          As Jacob yelled and started shaking, both Nessie and Nahuel took a step back knowing full well that he didn’t have any control of himself and could phase without warning. Everyone remembered what happened to Emily when Sam had done the same and no one needed Nessie or Nahuel that badly injured. Edward stood in front of Nessie to shield her while Seth took a position in front of Jacob. Both Seth and Edward looked at each other shaking their heads. ‘One Life to Live’ paled in comparison to our own soap opera in the backyard. Finally, when Jacob was stable enough in the head to stop shaking both Seth and Edward stepped away in order for the three to face off again.

“I’m no longer good enough, is that it?” Jacob said with a cringe.
“Don’t you dare start with that. I need some time to think and you need to calm down.” Nessie said her eyebrows coming together.
“CALM DOWN??? CALM DOWN??? HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN??? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?” Jacob screamed again.
“I….I…..need to leave.” Nessie said her voice cracking.
“Leave? To where Nessie?” Bella asked her daughter worriedly. They knew it was going to be bad but not this bad. Jacob had gone off the deep end.
“No Nessie, please don’t go. I’ll leave. I don’t belong here anyways. This isn’t my home.” Nahuel said sadly as Nessie shook her head.
“Yeah! Go home! And never come back!” Jacob said vehemently.
“No, no. You stay with Zafrina and the others. It’s my choice and so help me God I will make up my mind without any influences. But I need to think.”

Nessie looked around as if looking for something or someone. On cue as always, Rogue appeared beside Nessie and smiled as she surveyed the scene. She wasn’t surprised and that’s when I remembered the day she and Alice were talking telepathically with each other and then Rogue’s cryptic talk regarding not interfering with something someone had to work through. This is what she meant. That is why it was all done telepathically because had anyone known this was going to go down, Jacob wouldn’t have left and lord knows what would have happened. But that was life; you had to go through challenges and grow from them once you figured out what you wanted. Which is exactly what Nessie had to do now.

“Ready whenever you are, Nessie.” She said to everyone’s surprise. Nessie nodded just as Rogue wrapped her arms around her and flew into the air. They were gone before anyone could say another word.
“Now what?” Seth mumbled.
“Now the two fellows on the grass have to calm down because we will not be having any fighting. Do what you need to do but you are not coming into this house pissed off.” I said sternly looking at Jacob primarily. Nahuel was very quiet the whole time.

          Jacob glared at Nahuel one last time and ran back towards the woods to phase; we knew he had to run all of his energy out. Leah and Seth went after him with Leah promising Bella she’d talk some sense into him so he would quit acting like a “jealous idiot” (Leah’s words) before he lost the most important person in his life.

          Meanwhile, on a mountain top not too far away; Nessie was pacing back and forth just trying to weigh the pros and cons of her decision as Rogue listened to her patiently. Finally when Nessie started talking in circles, Rogue cut her off and asked:

“Nessie, who can’t you live without?”

There was a slight pause.

“Jake…….I can’t live without Jake. I’ve known him all my life. And I do really love him. I think with Nahuel it’s more of an attraction. But I don’t love him.” Nessie said thoughtfully as Rogue smiled.
“Precisely. Whether that will change in the future remains to be seen.”
“Why must growing up be so hard?” Nessie asked.
“I don’t have the answer to that one kiddo. I think it’s because we’re supposed to grow from our decisions into better people. But that’s just my personal view on the matter.” Rogue answered.
“And I’ve only started. I hope this hybrid thing helps me skip through some of the tough stuff.”
“We’ll see. Are you to get back and let the boys know your decision?”
“Yes, I think I am. I don’t want them to hate each other forever. I want them to be friends.”
“I agree.” Rogue said and with that she wrapped her arms around Nessie and home they flew.

          I had just gotten home myself from the hospital as they were gone for a few hours and I had a short shift to work. I frankly didn’t want to be home for all of the theatrics. It was way too much for me to handle. I was officially allergic to drama after the whole Carrie thing; speaking of which she was being executed next week. The execution is set for Halloween which is also Rogue’s birthday and we have all been invited to a Halloween party at the hospital. It’s a pretty big deal every year and so people have been running around trying to figure out what they want to be.

          But I digress. So Rogue and Nessie touched down just as I pulled in. Great. Had I known they weren’t home yet, I would have stayed a bit longer at the hospital. Rogue read my thoughts and winked at me as I shook my head. Time to sort this mess out once and for all. All interested parties gathered once again on the lawn. Jacob had been waiting for Nessie looking very sheepish. I think his sense of self and morals came back. No matter what Nessie decided, he wanted her to be happy. That was his first and foremost concern. How he would live with it, if she chose another, remained to be seen. Nessie took a deep breath and said:

“I’m not going to go in circles but get straight to the point. I choose Jake and I’ll tell you why; not just because I’m his imprint but because he’s been my best friend since the very first thought I had. I think I even remember him when I was in mommy’s stomach. Nahuel, you’re awesome and I will admit there’s an attraction but it’s not the same. I would really love for us to remain friends. And I want you and Jacob to be friends too.” Nessie finished.

“Of course, Nessie. I understand. I have nothing against Jacob.” Nahuel said sadly.

I knew I wasn’t the only who felt bad for him but Nessie made her choice and in my eyes she made the right one. Jacob looked like he was about to jump out of his skin from happiness. Finally when she turned to him, he grabbed her around the waist and spun her around in circles. After that was over, he squared his shoulders, walked up to Nahuel and extended his hand which Nahuel shook without hesitation. We were all very proud of Jacob. He really had gotten a lot more mature as the time progressed. Throwing temper tantrums and hissy fits would only get you so far and he knew this was not the time or the place for one as the consequences for him would have been dire. I don’t know many wolves that could live without their imprints.

Jacob kissed Nessie and she looked very happy. I for one was glad this soap opera had a happy ending. Nahuel and Zafrina were ready leave us. Rogue and Zafrina had agreed that they would give a warning to the misbehaving hybrids and if they failed to comply, then Zafrina had the go ahead to take them out. They were still not going to tell Nahuel until the coast was clear and everyone was living in harmony.

I, meanwhile, just wanted some peace and quiet and after saying farewell to Zafrina and Nahuel, walked into the house, grabbed a glass of wine and my beautiful wife and walked to our master suite where our lavender bubbles were waiting. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend without any drama.