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I know you so you know me
But us remains impossible
-Matthew Good "Us Remains Impossible"
2012
Emmett doesn't mean to fall in love again, but like everything else in his life, it sort of just happens.
Alice flits past him in a flurry of emotions. "I saw this, you know."
He only smiles back at his sister. "You're annoying, you know."
Alice frowns, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "I see…never mind."
She only smiles some more, but this time it doesn't quite reach her bright gold eyes.
Edward enters the room, somber as ever. "What are you hiding, Alice?"
She raises her brows, perfectly arched against the light coming through the kitchen window. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Edward."
He frowns at her, the only face he's made in three years. "You're reciting the Russian national anthem."
Alice shrugs, her face full of nonchalance. "Did you know I saw Mikhail Baryshnikov's very first ballet?"
She leaves the room before Edward can answer, but Emmett knows the implications. They are all hiding something and it would come out before they realized.
These things always did.
2009
The Volturi come like the Nazis. They are fast, swifter than the wind. When they come, they take no prisoners.
They give no reasons when they destroy three Cullens and leave the rest. Carlisle and Esme watch on in horror as Edward, Emmett, and Alice are left alone without their mates.
It's the least fair to Edward, who only just found Bella, but all five suffer the loss of their family.
Emmett doesn't know how to exist without his wife's vapid narcissism. It was Carlisle that bit him, but she brought him into this life. He doesn't remember another way. Sometimes, he doesn't want to.
He misses his newest sister when he hunts for grizzlies. He'd been looking forward to taking her to dinner when Edward growls at his thoughts.
What, he thinks, I loved her too.
Edward stops growling, but he doesn't stop glowering as he slowly picks apart his custom made Kuhn-Bösendorfer key by key.
Emmett's thoughts drift to Jasper, his favorite wrestling partner. There would be no replacing him. There would be no replacing any of them.
2011
She's a freshman at Brown, but she looks slightly older.
Emmett remembers not because his vampire memory, but because she's almost everything Rosalie was and perhaps a little bit of something different.
Her blonde hair curls midway down her back as she confusedly looks at her schedule in an effort to understand it. It's not his first time at this university, so he easily points her in the right direction.
"Thank you." She smiles, offering a hand. "I'm Serena."
He smiles, too, the first in a very long time. "Emmett Cullen, pleased to meet you."
"Well, Emmett, I guess I'll see you around." She waves before running the other direction. "Don't want to be late on my first day, you know."
When Emmett accidentally transfers into Serena's classes, he's glad Alice and Edward chose to attend school in Manhattan.
He misses his siblings, but he doesn't miss their extra gifts that let out all his secrets.
Alice calls anyway. "I see…"
He interrupts her. "Don't say it, Ali."
She huffs. "I was going to say that you miss me."
When he chuckles, it resonates through the phone. It's been a while since his last laugh. "That could be true."
Alice makes an annoyed sound, but relents. "Seriously Emmett, you could be happy again."
He frowns, knowing she can't see it through the phone. "What if I don't want to be happy? She was my whole world for the better half of a century. I don't want to forget her."
"You won't forget her." Alice quietly answers. "You won't ever forget her."
"What about you?" Emmett counters. "What about your happiness?"
Alice answers truthfully. "It's not my future I saw, Em."
He's blunt. "So look."
When she laughs, the sound of bells trickles to his ears. "It doesn't work that way."
They end the conversation on a better note than they start it on, but not before Emmett asks about Edward, Carlisle, and Esme. As he predicted, Edward is Edward, sullen and gloomy. His music has never been better, because he is writing masterpieces faster than he can publish them.
Carlisle and Esme live slightly further away from them, in a large house in Westchester County. Emmett asks Alice to free up a weekend so the children can visit their parents.
Hastings-on-Hudson is a quaint suburb north of Yonkers. As usual, Esme has outdone herself with the house. It's beautiful, but simple, just like her. It's perfect.
The parents ask how the children are doing. The children are strangely silent, until Emmett starts talking about Brown, archeology, and how much he actually likes Providence.
Soon, Alice follows suit, gushing about FIT, the city, and the endless shopping she has done. Edward only pipes up to complain she has taken over his closet on West 58th.
Alice shrugs, but smiles that Edward has finally spoken up. In turn, Esme looks proudly at her children. She cries tearlessly as she hugs them with glee.
There she is, Serena, seemingly lonely on the steps of the library.
Without thinking, he heads toward her. "Hey, I haven't seen you around lately."
"Hey!" She greets him enthusiastically, like they are old friends. He would be lying if he said he minded the way her scent rolled around him like the most exotic perfume ever bottled. "I was just trying to think of something to do. Were you going to go in?"
He was, but now he isn't. Of course, he doesn't say any of this out loud. "No, you just looked lonely. Mind if I keep you company?"
When she smiles, he nearly forgets to breathe. You're probably older than her grandfather, he tells himself, so stop it. He can't, anyway, when he sees the smile that graces her face.
"Of course not, now we just need something to do. Do you have anything in mind?"
She's pretty when deep in thought, as if thinking is a slight nuisance for her. Emmett takes the initiative and offers. "I don't want to be presumptuous, but are you hungry?"
Serena nods, all golden hair and smiles. "I could eat."
So could I, he thinks, shaking his head to himself. She smells wonderful, but it's not just her blood that calls to him.
It's when he feels a little too much like Edward with Bella that he steps away from her just a little bit. Not too much, especially when Harry from history tries to step in and speak to her.
2012
Serena is so wonderfully human that Emmett almost thinks he is, too.
She convinces him to come to her friend's New Year's party in the city. He agrees without thought, until he realizes this might be a bad idea.
Of course, Alice calls. "Can I come?"
Emmett doesn't bother to ask where. "I'm not even sure I'm going."
"You're going." Alice giggles. "I've got the perfect tux for you."
He balks. "Who wears black tie on New Year's?"
He can almost see Alice shrug through the phone as she lets out another small laugh. "These kids do."
He asks. "Any chance Edward will go?"
Alice pauses, thinking. "You know, he might. It all depends."
They talk a little more about the family, but all Alice really asks about his Serena. She wants to know how blonde her hair is, how blue her eyes are, and if her tan is really as dark as it is in her visions.
It's at that last thought that Emmett finally decides to hang up the phone, but not before Alice is cryptic. "It all depends on you."
He has to wonder. "What?"
Alice replies honestly. "Edward's happiness."
Emmett couldn't miss Serena if he tried.
She stands in the middle of the dance floor, all 5'10" and cheerful as she dances with a tiny brunette that looks uncomfortable with the attention.
The brunette notices his staring and gently nudges her friend. Serena hops over to him, gently kissing his cheek. "Hey, you. I'm glad you made it!"
He snakes an arm around her and brushes his lips against her hair. God, she smells wonderful. "I wouldn't miss it. Serena, these are my siblings Edward and Alice."
Alice pipes up first. "Hi! Emmett's told me so much about you. I feel like I know you already!"
Emmett rolls his eyes while Edward explains. "I'm very sorry about that, Serena. Alice's mannerisms are very lacking."
Serena only giggles. "I'm not offended. Come dance! Do you guys want anything to drink?"
The three shake their heads in response, but Emmett lets Serena lead him to the dance floor. They dance until the countdown, when she stops him in the middle of the floor.
10, 9, 8…
"You want to kiss me, right?"
He smiles. "Why wouldn't I want to kiss you?"
5, 4, 3…
Serena shrugs. "Just because you haven't done it yet."
He growls. "I'm doing it now."
…1
Her lips taste like champagne against his, her warm and supple skin pliant beneath his tongue. She opens her eyes to gaze at him, but he only pulls her tighter against him as he delves his tongue further into her waiting mouth.
She tastes like life, sin, and something else entirely, but it doesn't matter as she halts their union to grasp his hand and pull him toward a room.
With Serena's naked form curled up against him, Emmett feels the most wonderful he has in years. She begins to stir, but he soothes her to sleep with fingers against her back.
The time she sleeps gives him time to think. He pauses to consider what he wants, what he needs, what he deserves.
Rosalie was selfish, but she was selfless with him. In loving him, she was a better person toward others. He knows wherever she is, she would want him to be happy.
"She's not a replacement." Emmett whispers to the night air. "She never could be."
The next time Emmett returns to the city, he comes with Serena as her boyfriend.
Lily and Rufus adore him, for he both appreciates art and slightly bad eighties rock. Dan is slightly indifferent to him, but Eric and Jenny seem to like him enough.
Serena grins at him as they make their way downstairs. "You can't please everyone."
Emmett shrugs. "It's not my fault Dan doesn't see my inherent likability."
She giggles against him, the sound radiating against his chest.
The little brunette's name is Blair and she's celebrating her twenty first birthday at Hotel Gansevoort.
Bottle service abounds and she dances with a smile as she finally introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Blair. I'm sorry we didn't get to meet on New Year's."
"The pleasure is all mine, Blair." He smiles. "How's your birthday so far?"
She shrugs. "Better now that S is here. Do you want something to drink?"
He shakes his head. "You're the birthday girl. I'll take care of that."
He orders a double Tanqueray martini at Serena's suggestion and watches her sip it as she dances slowly against the light of the room. Edward and Alice come in soon after, Alice gushing about Blair's dress.
Edward compliments Blair, wishing her a happy birthday and kissing her lightly on the cheek. When she blushes, Emmett thinks, I wonder what's going on there.
Edward frowns at him, but it's nothing like the glowering from a couple years ago. At this, it begins to look like the glowering aforementioned.
2017
It's about that time when the charade falls apart, the time when people realize they aren't aging.
Carlisle tells them they must choose. They can be selfish and choose immortality, or they can love their counterparts enough to let them go.
Edward sacrifices his happiness again to let Blair continue her life as it was intended. She doesn't understand when he tells her, but he doesn't tell her completely. Emmett watches as her face goes from anger to disappointment to absolute despair as she tries to cling onto Edward even as he slowly shrinks away.
Emmett doesn't need Jasper's ability to tell that his brother is in pain right now. He knows he's about to feel the same anguish as he makes his way to Serena's.
2023
They're living in Quebec when they hear the news.
Emmett and Edward make it six years before they go to check on their girls. They're no longer their girls, but it will always feel that way.
Emmett reads the wedding announcement before vowing never to read the New York Times again. Alice tells him this will be untrue, but lets the boys go anyway.
Edward's pain is worse when he sees Blair's glowing form walking down Fifth Avenue, daughter in tow.
2042
Emmett doesn't mean to fall in love again, but like everything else in his life, it sort of just happens.
Alice flits past him in a flurry of emotions. "I saw this, you know."
He only smiles back at his sister. "You're annoying, you know."
Alice frowns, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "I see…never mind."
Emmett does his best to smile. "We've done this before, haven't we?"
She tries her best to smile back. "And we always will."