01. Rosalie and Emmett liked to touch


It was one of the first things I'd noticed that day in the cafeteria. The Cullen's were seated alone at their table and my world had stopped. Jessica was answering my question in a low, excited tone. I was doing my best listening but my attention was occupied by Rosalie and Emmett.

They sat next to each other, close, but not touching. Rosalie's eyes drifted over the cafeteria as if she was our ruler and us her subjects. Emmett didn't look around. Even I could tell that he only had eyes for the jaw-droppingly beautiful blonde next to him.

Jessica said that they were together. As in together, together. It wasn't blatantly obvious until I saw it. Under the table and out of sight, Emmett and Rosalie's hands were entwined. I watched as their fingers moved, skin over skin, in small patterns. It was an intimate gesture and I couldn't help but feel like I was intruding on something that wasn't meant for anyone to see. But I couldn't stop myself from staring at them from the corner of my eye.

The corners of Rosalie's lips were lifted almost imperceptibly in what I thought was a smile. On her, it was hard to tell. From the hard look in her eyes, I had guessed that she didn't smile very often. Well, that was compared to the dainty spiky-haired girl seated next to Emmett. Alice, Jessica said her name was. Her lips were turned up in what seemed like a perpetual smile.

The dainty one left, moving like a dancer across the cafeteria to dump her untouched food into the trash can. I hadn't been unable to understand how anyone could move like that.

Emmett leant in close, his lips at Rosalie's ear. He murmured something to her. She gave him a withering look. Emmett grinned a big, almost goofy, yet somehow still beautiful, smile. He pulled away a little. Their hands were still linked together under the table.

With that, the rest of the Cullen's stood to follow Alice out.

It was strange, watching how they all moved together. All graceful, all mesmerising. Even Emmett moved with a certain elegance, despite his brawny bulk. They dumped their uneaten food into the rubbish and walked out of the cafeteria.

But that wasn't the strangest thing. The strangest thing was the way the whole time, Rosalie's hand never left his. It was almost like they didn't know how to let go of one another.


I had been thinking about them for a few weeks now. For a long time, I had been more interested in the other Cullen couples. I guess that was because it was much easier to see and understand how they felt about each other.

Alice and Jasper I understood. They were in love- wholly and completely. It was easy to see whenever they looked at each other with those tender, golden eyes. Or when Jasper twirled Alice around as they walked. He embraced her weird little quirks and she embraced his somewhat unsavoury past with open arms.

Carlisle and Esme were just as easy to understand, if not more. He'd saved her when all she had wanted was to die. He'd given her a reason to live. She'd given him hope that he didn't have to continue living his life in solitude or in guilt for making companions to share in his loneliness. They were sweet and gentle with one another. Soulmates.

But Rosalie and Emmett, they were much more difficult for me to understand. They were so different. Emmett was warm and open and loud. Rosalie was quiet, bitter, and cold. That's how I saw them. That was until I remembered about the hands under the table that very first day. The way they'd twisted together. It was something else, something I didn't associate much with their relationship.

I thought about asking Edward about it, but he had always been so private about his family. He never told their stories, not without their permission anyway. He had always been very careful to not mention their thoughts or feelings because he considered it an invasion of their privacy. So I changed my mind. I wouldn't have got a straight answer out of my bronze-haired husband anyway.

I considered asking Esme or Carlisle but again, it felt like an intrusion to ask them about Emmett and Rosalie. They were like children to them and it was kind of uncomfortable to think about asking sweet, mothering Esme about their private life anyway.

There was no way I was going to ask Rosalie about it, even though our relationship had improved recently. I wouldn't dare to ask Emmett either. He'd probably make a joke. Or five. Asking Jasper didn't like much of a safe option either. That left Alice.


My opportunity came a few weeks later. Alice had kidnapped me for yet another sleepover. Esme and Rosalie were supposed to stay behind as well. In the end, though, they'd decided to go hunting with the others. Apparently, there was a deer overpopulation issue a few miles west.

"It's safer this way, my dear," Esme had said, glancing in the direction of where Renesmee and Jacob sat. Jacob was taking Renesmee out to the reservation to listen to the Quileute legends for the first time. Her dark eyes had sparkled at me as she leant forward to place a kiss on the top of my head. From the colour of her eyes, I knew Esme was right.

Rosalie's eyes weren't the same as her adoptive mothers. They were golden. She wasn't thirsty. At first, I thought she wasn't staying because of me. But then, when Emmett had realised she'd decided to go hunting with them after all, his face had lit up. Emmett had enveloped her in a bear hug and spun her around. By the second spin, Rosalie looked tired of his exuberance. She brought her fist down on his back. He let her go, booming his trademark laugh.

They'd left shortly after, leaving me alone with Alice to be pampered and played with like her own Barbie doll. After letting Alice paint my nails, play with my hair and dress me up in expensive pyjamas, I finally made the decision to ask her.

We were sitting in on the couch in the living room. She'd put some random movie on. From what I could tell, it was very chick-flicky. But I wasn't paying attention to the movie. I was trying to, but the way Emmett had looked at Rosalie before they'd left was playing on a loop in my mind.

"Alright," Alice said, "spit it out, Bella."

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"You've been wanting to ask me something all night and you keep changing your mind," she said, sounding annoyed. "It's playing havoc with my visions so let's skip another hour of indecision and get straight into the asking the question part." Alice looked at me expectantly.

"Sorry," I muttered. I knew Alice hated it when people changed their minds again and again. It was confusing for her.

"It's okay, Bella, ask your question."

"It was about Emmett and Rosalie," I began, uncertain. I still didn't know if it was okay for me to ask about them. "I wondered about their relationship. I always thought they had more of a physical one."

"That's not a question," Alice said, but she nodded all the same. "They are rather physical, compared to you and Edward. And Carlisle and Esme. And Jasper and I, I guess."

I waited as she pondered their relationship. It was obvious that Alice knew a lot more about Rosalie and Emmett than I did. I was pretty sure that she wasn't trying to work out what to say but rather what not to say. There must've been a lot of things she felt she couldn't say to me without betraying their trust because it took ten minutes of silent deliberation before she spoke.

"Emmett and Rosalie are different to the rest of us," Alice began. "They found each other in a different way- out of need and desperation. With them, it was a lot more life and death. Originally, Carlisle and Esme had hoped that Rosalie and Edward would develop feelings for each other. It only took a couple of months for them to realise that was never going to happen."

I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous at the idea of Rosalie and Edward together. It was hard not to. Despite my enhanced appearance after my transition, Rosalie was still the most gorgeous person I'd ever laid eyes on. As a vampire, I could see much better than I could as a human. Rosalie's beauty had seemed to increase a thousand times after I changed. It didn't matter that Edward and Rosalie only considered themselves to be siblings. Jealousy was irrational like that.

"After Rosalie saved Emmett from the bear attack, she was a little… distant. I think it was in part because she felt guilty about sentencing him to the same life as the rest of us. Emmett didn't see it like that of course. He took to life as a vampire much quicker and better than the rest of us. He followed her around like a lost puppy. Rose… Well, she was Rose. Back then she was a bit different. From what I understand of those days, Rosalie was harsh and cruel and unapologetically bitter. She was colder, more withdrawn."

A frown settled on my forehead. I couldn't imagine a colder, more inhospitable Rosalie. In my mind, I guess I'd always thought about Rose as how I'd seen her in those earlier years. The years in which she detested me and fought against me, stubbornly so.

"It took a while. I think that Emmett must have almost given up on her when it happened. He said something that had made Rosalie laugh. Not a sarcastic laugh or a mocking one, but a real, true laugh. Esme said she hadn't heard Rose truly laugh in the two years since she'd become a vampire."

Even I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard Rosalie laugh freely.

"They saved each other in different ways but they can't bear to be apart," Alice continued. "Touching- it's their thing. Like how Jasper and I look at each other. Or Carlisle and Esme whisper to each other so that not even we can hear it when we're standing in the same room. Edward once said it was because they were each other's gravity. Emmett helped Rosalie hold onto reality and she helped him hold onto his humanity."

I paused at that. Emmett had always seemed very human-like to me, especially in the way he expressed his emotions. And the fact that he could never sit still for long. Or how he always told jokes and wanted to make everyone else laugh, even in the bad times. "Rose helps him hold onto his humanity?" I couldn't help but question that conclusion. It didn't make sense to me.

Alice laughed. "I think that Edward once mentioned to you that Emmett had fallen off the proverbial wagon a few times?"

"Yeah?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew where this was going.

"Rosalie hasn't ever tasted human blood. An impressive feat, even in this family," she said. "But Emmett, well. He's tasted enough blood for the two of them."

I frowned at that, turning back to the film. She'd given me plenty to think about. There was a lot I still didn't know about my new family and apparently, Edward had been holding out on me. And I wasn't just talking about sex.


A/N: Okay so that was the first number on the list. I don't really know how to feel about it since it's not my favourite one, but I guess it's alright. I've written the first ten chapters already. This will be updated weekly as so far, 25 chapters have been planned. If I get some more inspiration, I might add more. Anyway, let me know what you think if you actually click on this and read it. Thanks so much!