Being the new people in town was never easy, especially in a small town like Forks, a fact that Eleanor Beckett was well aware of. So when her son came home from school one day boasting about making friends with one of the new kids, Eleanor did her...
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"And the wall of graduation caps? That was so fucking cool," Cal gushed as the two walked back into their home. "You'll never have to pay for another tutor again, I can just go over there!"
"Just don't treat them like Google, alright? There are people behind those highly educated minds," Eleanor laughed, ruffling her son's hair before nudging him toward his room. "Go get ready for bed, we have some unpacking left to do. And you have homework you need to get down before school Monday."
"Fine," he groaned, rolling his eyes at his mother who just stuck her tongue out at him before retreating into her own room.
Eleanor had just finished changing when her phone lit up with an oncoming call. She scoffed, smiling to herself as she answered.
"I thought you were 'giving me time,' it's been twenty minutes," she spoke, drawing a laugh from the other line.
"What can I say? I missed your voice," Carlisle replied, Eleanor chuckling as she laid down across the foot of her bed. "But in all seriousness, did you and Callahan get home alright? Nothing out of the ordinary?"
"No," the woman answered, brows furrowing together as she propped herself up on her elbow. "Why?"
"Alice had a vision. Well, not so much as vision than a feeling," the doctor explained, Eleanor listening intently as he did. "She said she felt something ominous yet... nostalgic? I think that was the word she used. It wasn't necessarily about you, it just got me worried."
"I'm alright, just settling in for the night," she told him, relaxing back against her bed. "Cal is sneaking into the kitchen like I can't hear him. I swear that kid has an endless appetite."
Carlisle's laughter brought a smile to the woman's face, at least until she caught herself smiling and mentally kicked herself. All those defenses she'd built up over the years and there they were, crumbling to the ground because of a man.
"What are you going to do for the night?" the doctor asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over them.
"Reading," Eleanor answered, eyeing the book laid on her nightstand in anticipation. "What about you? Midnight family game night? Or are the kids too busy doing their homework?"
"First of all, none of them told me they had homework so apparently I need to make sure they do that," Carlisle started listing with a sigh. "Second of all, I am going to go over some of my notes. I have a surgery tomorrow and I want to make sure everything's in order."
"Very responsible," she teased, glancing toward the door when she saw it open. "Yeah, honey?"
"I'm heading to bed now," Cal announced, padding over and collapsing onto the bed next to her.
"Not in here, you're not," the mother laughed, poking her son's forehead as he rested it on her shoulder.
"No duh, I'm just saying goodnight," the boy huffed, eyes narrowing when he noticed the phone in her hand. "You talk to people? Since when?"
"Oh, get out," she playfully shoved him off the bed, but not before he snatched the device out of her grip.
"Hey, Carlisle," Cal greeted, somehow already knowing without checking the caller ID.
"Hello, Callahan," the man responded, laughter clear in his tone.
"So, why are you talking to my mom at 11:30 PM?"
"Cal. I thought you were coming in to say goodnight?" Eleanor interrupted her son's interrogation, taking the phone back and laying it down on the bed.
"Goodnight, Mom," Cal said, getting the hint that it was time for him to actually go to bed now. "I love you."
"I love you too, honey," she muttered, wrapping him in a hug and placing a kiss onto the top of his head. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Carlisle!"
The boy called out one last time before shutting the door behind himself, leaving his mother to talk with the doctor on the phone.
"Sorry about that," Eleanor chuckled, picking the phone back up and sitting down.
Although she could hear his voice from any part of the room, the normalcy of holding the phone to her ear was a sense of comfort to her. That and drinking coffee. There was just something about the feeling of the hot beverage sliding through her cold body that made her feel, even for a split second, close to human again. And the flavor hadn't changed much, in her opinion.
"There is absolutely nothing to be sorry about," Carlisle calmly reassured her. "I feel honored to have heard the exchange."
"God, everything you say sound so fancy," Eleanor laughed, biting her lip slightly as she listened to his voice.
"I'm not sure wether or not that's a compliment."
"Definitely a-" Eleanor cut herself off as an unknown number flashed across her screen. "Sorry, I'm getting another call apparently. I'll call you back, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that, Eleanor."
The woman hung up with a smile, answering the other call without a thought.
"Hello?" she greeted after a moment of silence, her smile fading. "Can I help you?"
Nothing. Just a faint breathing and maybe the sound of trees on the other line, the hairs on the back of her head beginning to stand up. She remembered what Carlisle told her about Alice's vision, the ominous feeling the girl had. She suddenly regretting answering the phone at all and hung up quickly.
"Weird," she muttered to herself while calling the Cullen back, who answered on the first ring.
"That was fast," he commented as soon as the call connected.
"It was so weird, just someone breathing."
Carlisle hummed in response, rustling from his end indicating he'd sat down. The two continued to chat for hours, and even when they weren't talking the sat on the call together. Carlisle looking over his notes and Eleanor reading her book, both of them content in each other's presence.
:::
"Hello? Can I help you?"
Her voice made the man clench his teeth, his grip tightening on the small device in his hand. The call quickly ended and he looked up from the screen. Eleanor Beckett was sitting on the edge of her bed, her illuminated room visible from just behind the tree line where he was standing.
