The brunet let out a low growl as he pulled away from the boy’s touch. He heard the boy let out a sigh of frustration, his irritation starting to show through his usually joyful personality as Michael once again rejected his help. Getting fed up with his attitude, Seth shoved Michael to sit down on the couch. The taller male let out a noise of surprise at the sudden movement, letting out a huff while looking away from the irritated boy. Eventually, he gave Seth a little bit of a win as he remained sitting down. He knew he was being difficult, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that at the moment.

Seth’s posture relaxed a tenth of a degree when Michael finally let him help. He unwrapped the bandages around Michael’s chest. Carlisle had asked the boy to check the wounds every couple of hours to make sure they were healing properly, even with the quicker healing ability that Michael seemed to possess. Michael made a small grimace as the smaller male poked and prodded around the claw marks that covered his torso, checking for inflammation like Carlisle had told him to. After noting that the swelling had gone down as the marks healed, the boy wrapped his chest back up before moving to the other wound.

With a gentle tap under Michael’s chin as a silent command, Michael lifted his head up a bit and leaned his head to the side. Seth’s touch was gentler now, no longer poking or prodding after he took the bandage off of Michael’s face. Paul had caught him with his claws pretty good, but it wasn’t to the extent of what happened to Emily as his faster healing allowed it to heal better and to be less noticeable. He let out a small wince as Seth tried his best to be gentle, but the area around the marks was still extremely tender.

The claw marks on his chest were almost healed completely, but the wounds on his face were healing at a slower pace. Leaving the bandages off of Michael’s face as Carlisle had told him to, Seth picked up the rest of the trash and the unused bandages and left to put everything where it needed to be. The second Seth left the room, Renesmee came in. She climbed into Michael’s lap, practically bouncing in his lap out of excitement as she held her hand against his unmarked cheek. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face as the girl showed him what she was so excited about.

He got up and pulled his shirt back on. Keeping the girl on his hip, he carried her to the open room on the other side of the house where the rest of the family resided as he spoke to her softly. “Could you show me?” Nessie nodded her head as she let out an excited little giggle, her eyes bright and full of innocence as Michael looked down at her. He set her down, watching her run over to her dad before he sat down between Isabella and Seth. Isabella laced her hand with Mykie’s left hand as Renesmee sat down next to her dad on the piano bench.

The little girl rested her hands over the keys, but she seemed to hesitate as there were now so many people in the room. Michael caught the girl’s eyes over the top of the piano and he gave her a reassuring smile. She took a deep breath while glancing back down at the keys and began to play the song she just learned. The enchanting tune that Michael began to recognize as Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy filled the room. Michael felt Bella relax at the familiar tune, knowing that it was one of her favorite classics.

Most of the vampires were in the room, either sitting or standing. Michael wasn’t fond of most of them, but some of them were alright. He liked Benjamin, as well as Stefan and Vladimir. Most of the vampires didn’t like the two Romanians, but Michael liked their nature better than the others there. They were just trying to get revenge from when their coven was unfairly slaughtered, but Michael liked the stories they had to share. Michael had always wanted to travel to Romania at one point, and they might just give him a reason to in the future. He didn’t, however, like Peter and Charlotte very much. Their southern accents reminded him of his life before immortality. The drawl in Peter’s voice reminded him too much of his Texan friend with golden blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. Of the man who he had wanted to be his as they grew up together, but the man he knew he could never have.

He stayed in the room for a while longer as they continued to listen to Edward and Renesmee play songs together. After a while, Michael felt a sudden weight on his right shoulder. He looked down at the cause and smiled when he saw that the boy with copper skin had fallen asleep, his head against his shoulder. He briefly squeezed Isabella’s hand before getting up, picking the sixteen-year-old boy up as carefully as he could to prevent him from waking up. The boy wrapped himself around the brunet as he carried him up to his current bedroom. He shut the door behind him with his foot before gently laying the boy down on the bed.

Michael pulled his phone out of his pocket, sending a quick text to 'Mama Sue', stating that Seth fell asleep and was staying the night. He went to pull away to go join the others back downstairs, but he stopped himself when he felt a warm hand grab his forearm.

He looked down in surprise to see Seth sleepily looking up at him. Michael let out a silent sigh, knowing what the boy wanted just from the look on his face. Michael ran his hand through his hair, briefly glancing back at the door. He weighed out his options before he gave in. Kicking off his shoes, he turned off the light and got into bed next to the boy after telling him to scoot over. The boy was asleep within seconds, but Michael remained awake for a while after that. He laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling that was covered in glow-in-the-dark stars as he willed his mind to go blank.

As he finally fell asleep, his dreams were filled with a familiar southern drawl. Memories of when they said goodbye flashed through his mind. His breath momentarily hitched, and then the world went dark.