A/N: This is a one-shot that popped into my head yesterday. Thought I'd get it out before it drove me crazy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but an unhealthy obsession with the Cullen men...and JboneAction's tongue ring. yeah.
.:Emmett Cullen:.
I yelled at the television screen with my father-in-law, flinging curses left and right as the quarterback threw a pass out of bounds.
"Emmett!" My wife yelled from the kitchen in warning.
"Sorry Babe." I apologized as my brother laughed from where he was sitting on the couch reading.
He made a whipping sound and ignored my glare of death from across the room as the other men around me laughed.
"Sweetie…" My mom said from the doorway and automatically every head in the room turned to look at Esme.
"We're out of milk." She smiled sweetly before turning on her heel and heading back into the kitchen.
It was almost synchronized as my father, my brother, and my father-in-law all turned back their attention back to what they were doing five seconds before. None of them budging an inch.
My father-in-law chuckled and took a long swig of his tallboy, leaning back in the recliner and smirking; though his eyes never moved from the screen. "That means you son."
"It's Christmas, nothing's going to be open." I muttered as I heaved myself up from the seat, knowing I was fighting a lost cause.
"Good luck man. You're going to need it." Jasper laughed and made another whipping sound before I quickly snagged a pillow from the couch and let it loose at his head.
He dodged it neatly and returned to his book just as his fiancé came around the corner, a look of shock on her tiny features.
"Scary in there Al?" I laughed as I yanked on my sneakers.
"Terrifying." She shuddered. "Did you know they actually pull stuff out of the turkey?"
"Better get used to it sweetie." I said grimly, pulling my coat out of the hall closet and slipping it on before grabbing the keys off of the hook on the wall. "You're marrying into a family of wannabe chefs."
"Yeah." Jasper added as he appeared from the living room and wrapped Alice up in his arms. "This is just Christmas; you should see Thanksgiving."
A look of pure horror came over her face and Jasper laughed as he apologized and wrapped his arms around her waist in a comforting hug. I chuckled to myself and opened the door, preparing to face whatever I would have to do to find some damn milk.
"Have fun." Jasper said with a smug smile. "See you next Christmas."
I laughed to myself, shutting the door just as I heard the smack of Alice's hand across the back of his head. The snow was falling gently as I jumped into my pickup and pulled out of our driveway.
The streets were empty and desolate as I drove mindlessly through them. Though seeing as this was Forks, Washington I knew I couldn't say I was surprised. After three more fruitless runs up and down Forks Avenue, I gave up and turned onto the 101, heading east towards Port Angeles. I knew at least one of the convenience stores would be open there and hopefully they sold gallons of milk, and maybe some hard liquor. I had a feeling I might need it to get through this holiday season.
Luck must have been on my side however, as I pulled into the outer limits of town and thanked God for the open market that stood on the right hand side of the street. It's 'open' sign like a beacon of hope amongst the dark storefronts of its neighbors.
I quickly turned into the almost empty parking lot and parked, not bothering to lock the doors behind me, before walking briskly through the automatic doors.
The lone cashier, a bored teenager with her long hair in dreads piled high upon her head; looked up at my arrival. She smiled at me quickly and blushed before looking back down to her feet. I chuckled quietly at how still, after all these years, women couldn't get enough of me.
I started to make my way to the back of the store where I could see the endless rows of milk but stopped in my tracks as I passed the produce.
Standing there, in the fruit section, her hair falling in loose tendrils around her shoulders was the one person I never thought I'd ever see again. I watched as she picked up a bunch of bananas and tossed them into the basket hanging from her arm before walking away.
My mind was reeling, trying to decide if I should follow her or make a run for it; apparently, my feet had other plans.
Before I could stop myself I was standing behind her as she looked at the frozen dinners, her head cocked to the side.
Tentatively, I reached out grasping onto her sleeve gently with my large fingers.
She gasped quietly, turning to look at me, her brow furrowed as she looked down to where my fingers still touched her arm and back up to my face.
"Um…Hi." I said and then kicked myself. I haven't seen the girl in almost eight years and my brilliant opening line is 'Um…Hi'.
"Sorry?" She asked and pulled her arm away from me.
I could tell by the perplexed look upon her face that she didn't recognize my face, but it was after all high school graduation when I last saw her.
"You probably don't remember me but…"
I was cut off as her eyes opened wide, her mouth opening in a perfect little 'o' shape as her hands came up to cover it.
"Emmett?" She asked and I nodded my head, my grin growing wider as she flew at me, wrapping her tiny arms as far as they would go around my waist. "Oh my god! How are you? What have you been doing? Do you live here now or are you just visiting?"
I laughed and pulled her out at arm's length and shook my head, chuckling. "You never change do you Rosalie Hale?"
She laughed then, biting on her bottom lip as her eyes began to water. "It's been forever."
"I know." I said softly, pulling her close again and wrapping my arms tightly around her.
It felt like only yesterday that I had held her like this, promising her we would never part. That we would jump over whatever obstacles might come our way, it seemed odd now that I hadn't seen her in eight years and that I hadn't even thought about her until today.
"Well, come on you have to tell me about what's been happening since we last saw each other."
I nodded my head and she took a couple of steps away from me, the smile still on her face as she opened up the frozen dinner door and pulled a couple of them out.
"So what are you doing here?" She started as we started walking back towards the front.
"Oh." I said, stopping. "I have to get milk."
She laughed and followed me as I headed towards the case of milk and pulled out a gallon of two percent.
"So do you live here or…"
"Forks actually." I said as we walked back to the cashier and got in line together.
"Wow, the Emmett Cullen living in Forks. I never thought I'd see the day."
I didn't respond as she put her groceries on the conveyor belt and the Rasta, who was still checking me out, rang her up.
We stood there awkwardly as I paid for my milk and the conversation dragged, until finally Rose broke it.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." She sighed.
"No, it's okay." I shrugged. "True too."
She laughed dryly and picked up her bags of groceries and I followed her out of the doors, back into the snow.
"Look…um, do you want to go get a drink or two?" She asked me as we stood beside her car.
"I'd like that."
She smiled and nodded her head, unlocking her doors. "We can take my car or…"
I looked back to my truck and knew that with the car seats in there it wouldn't exactly be the most comfortable ride. "Yeah, that's fine."
She smiled and hopped in, throwing a bag from the passenger seat into the back and letting me slide in beside her.
The radio was playing Christmas songs quietly in the background as we drove around Port Angeles, looking for a place to stop.
"I don't think anything's open." Rosalie finally sighed as we passed the last bar in town and saw that it too was closed for the day.
Turning around in the parking lot she didn't say anything else as she headed back to the other side of town. She stopped halfway there however as she pulled into the tiny parking lot in front of the 'spirit of '76' liquor store and hopped out; throwing a quick "I'll be right back" over her shoulder before disappearing through the doors.
She returned shortly, a smile on her face and a brown paper bag in her arms. She slid effortlessly into the driver's seat and thrust the bag into my lap with a smirk.
"For old times' sake." She explained and I opened the bag to find a six-pack of Hamm's at the bottom.
"You remembered?" I laughed in awe as she pulled into a parking spot next to the park.
"Of course I did, I used to be so terrified that you'd get caught sneaking those out of your dad's fridge and then we'd get in trouble."
"And I always told you that you worried too much."
"It didn't stop me from worrying though."
I couldn't stop laughing as I remembered back to those days, when I was still a prepubescent nerd and Rosalie was the girl with horn rimmed glasses and an interest in cats that bordered on obsession.
We were two peas in a pod back then, best friends and confidantes. I had never really forgotten Rosalie. I knew I never would.
"So, mind if I ask what you're doing in Port Angeles?" I asked once I stopped laughing enough that I could draw a breath large enough to resume normal conversation.
"Visiting, my mom and dad moved here when I graduated. It was easier on my mom, you know, with cancer treatments and all."
I nodded my head, remembering all too well the day Rosalie's mom, Linda, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. And how much it had broken Rose.
"I heard she went into remission though. That's good right?"
"Yeah." She smiled with a relieved sigh. "But by then I was already at UW so they didn't see a reason to move back."
We sat in silence for a few moments, nursing our ales as we watched the snow continue to fall on the park in front of us.
"Why are you here Emmett?" She asked and I turned my head quickly to see tears brimming her eyes.
It broke my heart to see her cry. It always had, it always would.
"Rosie…" I breathed and then I reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled away.
"You said you hated Forks. You swore that you would never come back. And now you live there? And I can see the ring on your finger, what happened to you living your life and not being hampered Em?"
I took a deep breath and ran my hand over my face, trying to rid my mind of the images I still had of that last fight. The last time I had seen Rosalie and the things we had said to each other. I had managed to bury them so deep within myself. Managed to make myself forget them, but now that she was beside me, tears clouding her violet-blue eyes, it felt like it had then. And that was painful.
"I tried to find you." I finally said. "After my accident… Rosalie, you have to know that I came back to Forks and I called your parents and I tried everything to find you but it was like you didn't want to be found."
"Your accident?" She whispered, cutting me off.
"It was stupid." I chuckled darkly. "Some of the guys on the team decided they wanted to try and climb up wildcat watch after one of our parties and I went with 'em. It was icy and I was drunk and the next thing I know I'm waking up in the hospital three weeks later with a fractured vertebrae and my scholarship is gone."
I heard her sharp intake of breath and I looked down to my hands to see that I was absentmindedly fiddling with the golden wedding band on my finger.
"So my parents moved me home and I finished school online." I ended abruptly, leaving out the rest of the story, though knowing she'd want to hear it. "I really did try to find you Rosalie. But after a year I just assumed you didn't want to be found…"
"No one said…" She cleared her throat.
"What about you though…where did you go after UW?" Why couldn't I find you? I added silently.
"I…well I," She stopped and looked at me, her blue eyes pleading and though I probably could be considered a masochist, I actually wanted to know. I nodded slightly and she took that as my answer. "I met someone in Seattle and he got accepted into medical school in Chicago…so I went with him."
She looked down and I followed her eyes to her hands that were holding the can of beer tightly. It was the first time I had noticed the shiny-not to mention huge- diamond on her finger.
"Tell me about him." I asked quietly, knowing full well that I wouldn't like what I would hear.
"His name's Edward." She almost whispered. "He's a pediatric cardiologist at Children's memorial hospital…"
"Do you love him?" I cut her off and asked a little too sharply for comfort.
"I..of course." She stammered, though the look in her eyes told me otherwise. "I…I love him. He keeps me safe…warm and dry. He keeps a roof over my head and food on the table…. I love him." The last it seemed was more for herself than for me.
"I'm glad."
"What about you?" She rebutted, and I saw her eyes dance to my ring finger again.
I didn't want to answer. Honestly, I wanted to forget that I had even asked about her husband. I didn't want to cut her like that; I couldn't cut her like that.
"I saw the car seats Emmett." She sighed when I didn't answer.
The tone of her voice was enough to make my heart ache. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to reassure her that if I could have found her. If I could have gotten to her in time, then it would have been her in my wife's spot. I wouldn't have fallen in love again, I wouldn't have given my promises to someone else. But I couldn't.
"I'm sorry Rosie." I breathed. I hope she knew I meant it.
"It's okay Emmett. You moved on with your life, just like I did." She turned her head to smile at me but it didn't reach her eyes like I knew it should have. "Tell me…please."
It was almost unfair of her. She knew that I had never been able to resist her, especially when she looked up at me like that, her fair lashes surrounding her ethereal eyes and making them glow.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything. Who is the lucky lady? How many kids do you have, what are their names?"
I chuckled and ran one of my palms down one my scruffy cheeks, deciding to stick with the safest answers first.
"We have three, one on the way." I saw Rosalie's eyes pop for a second before she composed herself.
"I thought you said you didn't want any kids." She asked quietly and I nodded my head. I had told her that; the last time I had spoken to her.
"I didn't. Ephraim just happened."
"An accident?" Rosalie chuckled and I shook my head.
"No. A surprise."
"What's the difference?"
"Accidents are something you would change if you could. I wouldn't trade him for the world."
Oh shit, I thought as I saw Rosalie blink rapidly and turn her head to look out of her window, away from me. I couldn't believe I had been talking to her for less than an hour and already managed to make her cry.
"What are the other's names?" She asked after a few seconds of silence, her head still turned away.
"Charlotte, we call her Charlie though. And Olivia."
"Beautiful, how old are they?" She asked quickly and I saw her hand raise up to her face, trying to inconspicuously wipe the tears away as my heart broke just a little more.
"Five, three and one." I rattled off quickly. "Do you have any?"
She didn't answer at first but then she turned her head to look at me, her eyes rimmed with tears again as she slowly shook her head 'no'.
"Rosie baby…" I cooed and she leaned into my open arms, letting me stroke her hair. "I'm sorry."
And I was sorry. I was sorry that I had hurt her. I was sorry that I had let her go. That I had given my wife everything that Rosalie had wanted and then told her all about it. It didn't seem fair to me that what Rosalie wanted, I now had. But then again, is life ever fair?
I held her for a little while longer before she pulled away and wiped at her eyes.
"I should probably head back. My dad and Edward are probably convinced I'm lying in a ditch somewhere."
"Yeah, I need to get this milk home." I admitted quietly, still watching her face.
We didn't say anything else as she started her car and pulled out of the parking lot, turning on her windshield wipers to clear off the snow that had settled there.
We pulled back into the market's parking lot and she parked next to my truck, her hand stayed on the gearshift and she bit her bottom lip again, closing her eyes.
"I'm…I'm glad I ran into you Rosie." I admitted, my hand poised on the door handle.
"I am too." She said, her voice cracking. "I'm glad you're happy Emmett. It's all I ever wanted."
"Me too." I admitted.
Because it was the truth. I had never wanted to hurt her. I wanted her to move with me to Kansas and attend college with me. I had wanted to call her mine forever and have that be true. I had wanted to make a life for us and be something that would make her proud. But I knew even then, that I couldn't give her what she wanted.
Rosalie put the car in park then and unbuckled her seat belt, turning her watery smile on me as she leaned over the middle console and wrapped me up in her arms again.
So I did what I could, and I held her. I memorized the way she smelled-still the same honey and lilac scent even after all these years- and I made sure my body remembered the way she felt in my arms. How she fit just like she always had. I rubbed soothing circles on her back as her body shook with sobs and I kissed the top of her blonde hair as I whispered words to her that I had never whispered to anyone else.
And when she pulled away finally, her mascara bleeding down her cheeks and her nose running, I realized she was every bit as beautiful as she had been when I loved her. She was still the Rosalie I had lost my virginity to, and experienced every other first in my life with. She was still my Rosie, and she probably always would be.
"I love you." I finally said and she smiled a smile so bright I thought the whole of Washington would be able to see it.
"You know, I think I love you too." She laughed and then she bent towards me and let her lips brush against mine.
Tease.
I smiled as I captured her lips with mine and tasted her strawberry lip gloss. I felt her smile against my lips as he hands ran up and down the scruffy sides of my face. The way she always had.
When we pulled away, we were both breathless. But we were both satisfied and I knew that as I bent down and kissed her forehead and whispered one final goodbye before stepping out into the snow, that we both had finally had our closure.
I stood there in the empty parking lot as Rosalie waved one final time and moved her car away; her tires threw up little sprays of slush and I took a step back out of range of fire until she was far enough away. Just for a moment, however fleeting, I wasn't standing in the middle of a derelict parking lot. Instead, I was back in high school, watching the love of my life peal out of my life and I felt that old familiar pain. And just as I turned around to head back home, the snow turned into rain.
XxxxxX
All of the lights on the inside of the house were on, as well as the Christmas lights I had meticulously strung on the outside of the house. It was like they were calling me home; their twinkling serving as a reminder of what was waiting for me inside.
I took a deep breath and gathered my wits as I wrapped the handle of the plastic grocery sack around my fist and hopped down into the sludge that was slowly forming from the snow and rain mixture.
The front door was open, the glass storm door the only thing keeping the warmth in. And judging by the handprints that smattered the glass, I was guessing that all three of my kids were waiting close by for me to get back.
I smiled to myself and opened the door, slipping my shoes off on the mat right inside the door and slipping my coat off, throwing it over the arm of the bench that sat in the entryway.
"Daddy!" I smiled and set the milk down on the floor by my feet, bending down just in time to catch the little blur of brown as she threw herself at me.
"Hey pumpkin." I laughed, picking her up to kiss the top of her messy brown curls.
"Dad! What took you so long? We couldn't open presents until you got back!" I laughed as my son attached himself to my leg and I apologized profusely for not thinking more clearly.
"Hey sweetie, get the milk?" I looked up from Ephraim's chocolate brown eyes to the matching ones of his mother.
"Of course I did Bells, would I ever let you down?" She smiled up at me and came over as I set Charlie down at my feet and watched her toddle off after her big brother. "Merry Christmas."
Bella laughed as she pulled herself closer to me, her protruding stomach hindering our proximity but not deterring her tight hold on me.
And as I bent down to press my lips to hers, I knew that while I would never forget Rosalie and what we might have had together; I would never regret what I did have.
Met my old lover in a grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
Stole behind her in the frozen foods
and I touched her on the sleeve
She didn't recognize the face at first
but then her eyes flew open wide
Tried to hug me and she spilled her purse
and we laughed until we cried
Took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
stood there lost in our embarrassment
as the conversation dragged
Went to have ourselves a drink or two
but couldn't find an open bar
Bought a six-pack at the liquor store
and we drank it in the car
We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
Tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how
She said she'd married her an architect
Kept her warm and safe and dry
She said she'd like to say she loved the man
but she didn't want to lie
I said the years had been a friend to her
and that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw doubt or gratitude
She said she saw me in the record store
and that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
but the traveling was hell
We drank a toast to innocence we drank a toast to time
We're living in our eloquence, another old lang syne
The beers were empty and our tongues grew tired
and running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
and I watched her drive away
Just for a moment I was back in school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
the snow turned into rain.
A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Please excuse any errors this might have had as my lovely beta is on a much needed vacation. Thanks as always to the lovely Emily who read over this for me and told me how horrible it was. (kidding....kind of.)
Happy New Year Everyone!
Besos.