Title: Fulfilling Dreams
Chapter: Mourning (1/?)
Author: Sasusc
Fandom: Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer)
Characters: Rosalie, Emmett
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse (Nothing major, only information about Rosalie and/or Emmett)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Word Count: 1171
Summary: Rosalie can never forget the one thing that was taken from her--her chance to be a mother.
Her arms were wrapped around her protectively as if to shield her from her pains. Rosalie Hale knew the gesture was meaningless. Nothing could stop her pain, nothing at all. She was a vampire now and will always be for the rest of her immortal life. She would forever be a young and beautiful eighteen year old. A young adult, a student in this decade. Nothing more. Never nothing more then unchanged vampire. She hated it. She hated everything that was taken from her--things she was denied. To save her life, they killed her dream. They killed the only thing she ever truly wanted.
She wanted to be a mother.
In her human life, her friend Vera had a beautiful and loving son named Henry. She envied her friend. She saw how happy Vera was in her state of motherhood. She wanted to feel that love--that happiness. And it pained her everyday that she would never feel that, to understand how powerful the love for a child could be.
"Are you alright?"
Rosalie glanced up. A woman stood near her, a baby carriage in her hands. A quick glance confirmed the child was sleeping peacefully in her clothed haven. The mother looked slightly hesitate to approach her, but it seemed her motherly natured outweighed her human instinct to ran from the unnatural.
Rosalie tried to offer the woman a smile, but somehow her lips refused to obey her commands. Instead they began quivering. The woman's eyes widen in concerned. She quickly sat down on the bench next to her and took Rosalie's hand.
"What's wrong?"
She was never going to see this woman again, and her longing was strangling her more then any of her family knew. This wasn't a new pain for her and they had already been through this with her several times. She wasn't going pull them into her depression every time her longing overpowered her. Emmett would see soon enough and would try to comfort her the best way he knew.
"Do you love being a mother?"
The woman wasn't expecting that question. It took her off guard. "Yes, I love my children very much. I don't know what I'll do without them. They're my whole life now. I didn't know that would be possible seven years ago when I first got pregnant."
The woman's answer confirmed everything Rosalie knew she would have felt if she could have children. She curled her arms tighter around her as her emotions threaten to overcome her. If vampires could cry, Rosalie would have drowned herself in the ocean she would have created. Instead, she choked on her dry tears.
"Honey, tell me what's wrong."
"The one thing I want the most I can never have. I can never bear children. I will never see a little girl with ribbons in her hair nor a little boy playing in the dirt. It's all so unfair."
The woman wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh, honey," she said at last. "I'm so sorry. Are you sure you can't…? Did you get several doctors' opinion on the matter? Sometimes doctors can be wrong. It happens."
Rosalie shook her blond head. "They're not wrong. I will never be a mother. Never," she whispered. She glanced up to stare at the playground in front of her. "I can't help it--coming here. I watch the children play and imagine that one of them is mine. I would just sit here and watch them all play. Eventually, one by one their parents would take them back into their arms and go away. No child left in the swings or on the slides. Not one would be coming home with me. It fills me with this dreadful, unbearable pain that makes me wish I could die. Yet, still I come here knowing the pain it'll bring me. I try to stay away as long as I can, but I'm always pulled back to come and watch the children play."
"Rosalie," a voice whispered with pain.
She whipped her head around. She hadn't heard him approach. "Emmett."
Emmett crouched down in front of her and gathered her hands into his. He brought her hands up to his mouth for a kiss. "I knew I would find you here."
"Alice?" she asked stiffly.
He shook his head. "You always come here when you get like this. And the thing with Bella? I know you're resentful of her and hate how easily she wants to throw away the life you want. It isn't too hard to imagine that children would be heavily on your mind. You can't hide that from me. Edward maybe, but not me."
Rosalie leaned forward to lay her head on his shoulder and to wrap her arms around him. "Emmett."
She felt him shift as he turned to the woman sitting silently next to her.
"Do you think you could leave us?"
The woman glanced worryingly at Rosalie. "Will she…?"
"Eventually. I'm just going to sit with her."
The woman patted Rosalie's head before she left.
Emmett immediately took her seat on the bench and pulled his wife into his arms. He rocked her gently as he patted her. He allowed her to mourn for her loss, and he mourned with her. It was as if they had lost a child. They could never forget, and he doubted Rosalie had the ability to put it behind her.
It pained him but it was beyond his ability to give her what she wanted. The first time she had gotten like this, he promised her it would be okay. He was going to look for a human child to convert and bring into their family. He wanted to give her a child. Rosalie screamed and threw anything and everything she could reach. She promised to hate him forever if he did that. She wasn't going to be responsible for taking a child's life away. She didn't want to take the child's future and it's eventually path of growing old--something she still desired for herself. Emmett gave up the idea quickly. And it wasn't only her reasons that put a stop to the idea. Carlisle didn't know if it was possible to turn a child so young. He wasn't sure if anyone had the restraint it took not to drain the tiny body of all its blood. And who wanted to put a child through the pain of turning? Emmett remembered the pain, and he didn't know if a child could survive that.
And so, it was every decade or two when he would find Rosalie watching the human children play and mourning her lost. There was nothing he could do but hold her and offer her what comfort his arms could hold.
The couple stayed like that long after the sun dropped and the children all went home. Not one word was spoken in all the time they held on to each other. Their love was all they needed to hear. The words were meaningless to them at the moment.