Intervention
Chapter 1
Making Your Own Choices
"There are two kinds of sparks, the one that goes off with a hitch like a match, but it burns quickly. The other is the kind that needs time, but when the flame strikes... it's eternal, don't forget that."
When Bella woke up, she immediately reached to the right side of the bed, and her heart skipped when she found it empty. Thankfully, within no more than ten seconds, Rosalie entered the room with a steaming cup of coffee. The brunette let out a sigh of relief.
"Sorry if I scared you! I was just going downstairs to get this for you. When I got back upstairs I was planning on waking you up, but it looks like you beat me to it," Rosalie explained.
"I was beginning to think that last night was a dream."
"Well, it wasn't."
Rose handed the mug to her and sat down beside her. She sipped on it for a moment before looking up at her vampire caretaker. The blonde smiled at Bella and stood up. Her golden locks were quite tangled from the events of the previous night, so she grabbed a brush off of her dresser and began to fix it. The brunette simply sat and watched her, sipping on the hot drink. After spending quite a bit of time with the Cullens, Bella had noticed how much effort Rosalie put into her appearance. The only reason that it stood out in Bella's mind was simply because the blonde didn't need to do anything. If Rose simply got up in the morning, brushed her hair, and threw on some average clothes, she would still look absolutely stunning. Despite all this, the vampire still went to extreme lengths to keep up her already sky-high appearance. Even after all this time, it baffled Bella to no end.
"So, what do you want to do today?"
The sudden question snapped Bella out of her contemplative trance. The words themselves brought her back to reality, but the proposition itself was foreign to her.
"What do I want to do?" she repeated.
"Yes, you," Rosalie responded.
The human girl seemed to sit there, thinking deeply over the answer. This confused Rosalie until Bella finally responded.
"I'm not really used to making that kind of decision. Edward usually had it all planned out for us."
Was he so controlling that he never let her make any decisions? Rose wondered.
"Bella, we are going to fix you," she said, determined. "What do you want to do today? And I will be honest with you: I do not care. We will do whatever you want to do. I don't care if you want to go to Kroger and stand in the dairy section for two hours looking at milk."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"I don't know!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "Look, you have the freedom to drag me wherever you fancy today; just pick something already!"
She dramatically threw her hands up in the air and fell backwards on the bed. Bella laughed a little and sat her coffee down on the nightstand. She thought about what she would like to do. Nothing immediately occurred to her. She did remember that she had been wanting to take a trip to the mall without Alice shoving her into every clothing store along the way.
"How about the mall? I've been trying to go without Alice for a while now."
Down the hall, a pained wail was emitted from the world's largest walk-in closet.
"Sounds like a plan. Better get some breakfast in you first, though."
Rosalie stood up and motioned for Bella to follow her downstairs. The brunette fumbled out of the sheets and grabbed her coffee mug before exiting the room.
The Cullen house was a great achievement in architecture; it was home to a garage, a basement, four floors, and a small tower that had a beautiful view of the surrounding area. The first floor was a small, homey area with a den and a kitchen, while the second was home to the main kitchen and living room. It was more modern in design, and the walls were mostly glass. The third floor was a small hallway that led off into all of the siblings' rooms. Bella could remember spending many a night in the hallway, with all of Edward's siblings sitting the doorways of their rooms. Edward's was the first on the left, just off of the stairs. The next on the left was Alice and Jasper's room, a large, bright space that was dedicated to military antiques and clothing. The first room on the right was between Edward and Alice's doors, and it was Emmett and Rosalie's room. The last room, also on the right, was a modest guest room that was often unused. At the end of the hallway, a set of stairs led up to a trapdoor to Carlisle and Esme's room. This fourth floor was also home to Carlisle's office and library. In the library, a spiral staircase led up to the tower. The tower was based around a circular design. In the center, the large cylindrical base held a set of bunk beds, extra storage, and a large LCD flat screen TV. The interior wrapped around it, holding a small living area and a bar. There were no walls; windows were on every side, with doors leading out onto the 360 degree balcony.
Bella stepped out into the tight hallway, bracing herself on the doorframe. When she was confident in her balance, she followed Rosalie down the hall and the stairs. The staircase was very tight as well, which Bella often considered a blessing because it was harder to fall down. She steadied herself on the railing as she made her way down. The kitchen was on her immediate right, and she could smell cinnamon. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Esme cooking.
"Good morning, Bella!"
She was glad that Esme was in… better shape this morning. The human girl didn't think she could take seeing her mother figure disheveled like that in a sober state. The caramel-haired vampire sat a plate of delicious, gooey cinnamon rolls down on the kitchen counter. Bella nodded thanks and dug in. Rosalie absentmindedly watched her eat and sat down on the barstool next to her, swinging her legs back and forth. When she was done, Bella thanked Esme again.
"Rose, can we stop by my house before we leave? I kind of want my own clothes."
"No problem. Let me go get dressed really quick."
The vampiress disappeared in a flash and was back quicker than she left, dressed in short denim shorts and a plaid shirt that was tied above her midriff. It was probably the most casual outfit that Bella had ever seen her wear, but it still looked stunning on her. Such were the gifts of being a vampire. Rosalie was also wearing some modest earrings and a pair of flip flops.
"I can see that you've noticed that I'm trying to not be ridiculously showy."
The brunette nodded. "Let's get going. I kind of want to get dressed too."
Bella slipped on the pair of Converse that she'd had on the night before. Rosalie had been kind enough to bring down her clothes from last night. Even her shirt had been recovered. She pulled it on over her wife beater and headed out.
It had been a long time since Bella's rear end had graced the leather seats of Rosalie's BMW M3. The last time was a rush trip to McDonald's during one of Alice's shopping sprees. Alice had stopped to raid a Macy's and Bella was absolutely dying of hunger. Since the smaller sister was indisposed, Rosalie had to run the human to the nearest fast food joint in the other car, which just happened to be her BMW. The blonde vampire stormed into the McDonald's, shoved her way to the front of the line and demanded cheeseburgers for poor little Bella, who was about to pass out. She consumed two McDoubles, a 10 piece box of McNuggets, and a large Oreo McFlurry. Rose bought her a large mocha frappe as well, ensuring that the girl would stay awake until the sisters got her back home. They ended up riding home with a human jacked up on caffeine that was never satisfied with what was playing on the radio. Bella had apologized profusely to Rosalie afterwards for all the trouble.
Now, she sat in the passenger's seat again, but this time she wasn't starving. The trip to her house was silent, and Bella was left to contemplate her current situation. It was true; Edward was very controlling and a general asshole sometimes. She had been so obsessed that she was unable to see it before. He had his flaws, but he was also capable of being a good person at times. Rosalie, on the other hand, had treated her like dirt ever since she met her, but Bella understood why now. She had a great bit of sympathy for the immortal goddess beside her. The human took this time to examine her.
Whereas Edward would have been flying down the road at unacceptable speeds, Rose was driving just a tad bit above the speed limit, which didn't bother Bella one bit. So far, she had treated her fifty times better than her fiancé ever had, and she'd only been awake for half an hour. She'd even let her decide what they were going to do today. It left her feeling like she had control over the situation.
They reached the quaint Swan residence quickly, but not so quick that is was ridiculous. Rosalie opened the car door for her like a gentlewoman.
"Charlie!" called Bella as she entered the house. "I'm home!"
The scruffy police chief shuffled out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his right hand. "Hey, Bella. Where's Edward?"
"You won't be seeing him around for at least a week, Chief Swan," said Rose, who had walked in behind Bella.
"Good," he grumbled.
"Dad, Rose and I are going up to the mall today. I'll be home sometime this evening, okay?"
"Alright, you two have fun."
Rosalie waited patiently in the foyer while Bella ran upstairs to change.
"So… If you don't mind me asking, what happened with her and Edward?" asked Charlie.
"They got into a bit of an argument at the party last night. They decided to take a weeklong break." She left out the part about her and Bella.
"If you ask me, they needed one."
"I fully agree, Chief Swan."
"Please, call me Charlie."
Rosalie smiled as he wandered into the living room and flopped down on the couch.
"I'm ready!"
It was probably a bad idea for Bella to come bounding down the stairs, but she did anyways. As she reached the last step, she, of course, tripped, and she seemed to fall in slow motion, her face lighting up red like a Christmas tree. Rosalie was prepared for this, and she stepped forward, catching the girl in her arms. Bella's face landed in the blonde's cleavage, and her face turned even redder. Rosalie righted the flustered girl and smirked at her.
"Let's roll, Bella."
Still red in the face, Bella followed the vampire outside, stopping for a brief moment to tell her father goodbye. She was now properly dressed in a pair of jeans that were ripped at the knees, a pair of Vans, a light grey Joan Jett t-shirt, a leather half-jacket, and a backwards military cap. The brunette hopped into the car and they were off.
They listened to the radio for half of the trip. Rosalie was quiet. She needed to tell Bella something important, and she was planning her words carefully. The vampiress watched the girl, tapping her feet absentmindedly and staring out the window. The wet, green Washington scenery was flying by them as they sped down the curvy back roads. She seemed to be totally absorbed in it; then again, listening to Florence + The Machine and driving through Washington had the capability to make you feel like you were in some strange, fantasy world. As Bella had once described it before, Forks was like an alien planet. The scenery was lush and vibrant, full of life and mystery. It was because of this mystical feeling that Rosalie liked the Olympic Peninsula so much.
"Bella?"
"Hm?" The brunette turned her attention away from the window and towards her escort.
"I've been thinking about how to tell you this for a while, but… Edward… He's not…" She shook her head. "He's not your true mate. See, when a vampire meets their true mate, they are completely unable to be away from them for an extended amount of time without suffering painfully. When Edward left you, not only was he able to lie to you, he was barely affected by the separation at all. In fact, I'd say that the rest of us were more upset about it than he was."
Bella looked down at her lap. "I'm not trying to argue with you over this, but didn't he try to kill himself when he thought I was dead?"
Rosalie bit her lip. "Bella…" She trailed off. She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to ruin the girl's perception of him, even if he was a jerk. "He did that because he knew you'd come running back to him. He was toying with you."
Bella's face paled as she clenched her fists. Rosalie could hear the girl's teeth grinding together. Since she didn't know what to say in this situation, she just kept her eyes on the road and mumbled "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Bella hissed. "The things I'll do to him… Does he know what kind of torture he put me through? Does he know how horrible it was for me? I was lucky that Jacob snapped me out of it. I took out my frustration on the Y's punching bags. Even so, I'm starting to see him for what he is now. How do you know all of this?"
"He used to laugh to himself about it when he thought no one was around. I happened to overhear him a few times. It sickened me."
"I bet." Bella tugged the back of her cap down from where the headrest had pushed it up. "Okay, now that's all said and done, let's enjoy a little shopping trip, alright?"
"Alright," Rose responded, grinning. She turned into the mall parking lot and scoured the area for an empty space. After she had parked as close as she could, the two entered the mall.
Rosalie wasn't surprised when their first stop was the bookstore. She knew that Bella was a bit of a bookworm. She watched Bella thumb through the titles carefully. Every now and then she'd pull one out, read the dust jacket, and then slide it back into its place. Although Rosalie wasn't much of a reader, she did pick up a book every now and then. In an attempt to stop creeping on Bella, she tried to look through the "Paranormal Romance" section, but ended up laughing her ass off at all the ridiculous vampire love stories. If only they knew… she thought. She was about to read the back of a thick black book labeled "Twilight" when Bella tapped on her shoulder.
"I'm ready."
In her arms, Bella had several thick novels, including but not limited to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, a few collections of H.P. Lovecraft's work, and the last book of the Inheritance Cycle.
"That's a lot of fantasy," observed the vampire.
"I've decided to take a break from my old romance novels. One can only read 'Wuthering Heights' so many times. I never really read much fantasy, but after watching your brothers play Skyrim so much, I've wanted a taste of it. Of course, in literature format."
While checking out, the clerk expressed an interest in fantasy novels as well and recommended a few others to her. She said that she would look into them the next time she came back.
"Where to next?" asked Rosalie. The stunning blonde was been turned down when she offered to pay for the books, so she ended up carrying them for Bella instead. Now, they were standing in the middle of the mall, contemplating their next stop.
"I'd like to stop by the music store-"
Bella's thought was interrupted by an obnoxious wolf whistle from across the mall. Rosalie recognized the source of it as a group of boys that had been at the party last night. She scowled in their general direction.
"Men," she huffed.
Bella giggled a little, eliciting a confused reaction from Rose, which only prompted the clumsy human to laugh more. The blonde shook her head. "Alright, let's get you to the record store."
"They don't sell records anymore," Bella teased.
Rosalie would have blushed if she could, but she kept a stern face and dragged her companion over to the escalator.
The music store did, in fact, have a few records, so Rosalie triumphed when she found them and waved one at Bella. "Well, it's not called a record store anymore," Bella defended. Intrigued, the teen began to look through them. She jumped with joy when she discovered what she considered to be a hidden gem: an old Runaways record. Rosalie plucked it out of the girl's fingers and looked at the price sticker.
"I am definitely paying for this."
"What if I don't want it?"
Rosalie shot her a knowing glance. "You do. I'm getting it for you. And those other ones that you have your eyes on." She motioned to a few Rolling Stones and Blackhearts records that Bella was eyeing.
The human huffed in frustration. "Fine."
Bella realized that she would have never given in that easily if it was Edward trying to buy her something. Of course, the things he tried to buy her were things she didn't want and had no use for. They were usually ridiculously expensive and unnecessary. Was he trying to buy my love?
Rosalie put the records on one of her many credit cards. After the purchase was made, Bella's stomach growled loudly.
"How about I treat you to a romantic lunch?"
xXx
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind."
Rosalie was sitting across from Bella, who was gorging herself on food from several different fast food joints in the food court.
"You asked me what I wanted," said Bella through a mouthful of meatball sub.
After Edward left, Jacob found Bella weak and underweight. He quickly put her on a carb-heavy diet and made her hit the gym. Bella found it to be stress relieving and kept a steady workout regimen at the local YMCA. However, the strenuous exercise left her as a very hungry girl. She'd gone from barely touching her food to eating everything in sight and more. It didn't disrupt her figure, though, much to Rosalie's delight. Bella had turned into a muscular and curvaceous teen. It was a thing to be admired.
During their lunch break, they were pestered by several other guys from the party who had all witnessed the hot and heavy make-out session. All of them obviously assumed that the two were on some kind of date, which was half true. Rosalie considered it to be one; she wasn't sure about what Bella thought.
The hungry human finished up the meal with a large Reese's Blizzard from Dairy Queen. She started off eating it rather fast and ended up with a bad brain freeze more than once.
"Eat slower," scolded the blonde.
"But it's so good!"
"Fine. Make yourself suffer."
Rosalie was still carrying the bags from the bookstore, but Bella had the bag with the records. Rosalie had been concocting a plan during Bella's food inhalation. When Bella stood up, she would immediately go to the side of her opposite from the hand carrying the bag. Then, Rosalie would switch her bags over to the hand opposite Bella and sneak in a little hand holding. The ploy worked, but Rose was unsure if she should fully go through with it. After all, they were walking along in public, and this would only further the already bad rumors that were spreading. In the end, love triumphed over worry. The vampire slipped her cold hand into Bella's warm one, causing the human to emit a small squeak of surprise. She didn't fight it, though, and instead intertwined her fingers with Rose's. Though the two did not look at each other, they were both smiling like idiots.
xXx
When all was said and done, Rosalie had managed to drag Bella into a few clothing stores, but she never forced her to try on anything she wouldn't like or to spend too much time in them. Bella had a masculine air about her; the vampire found it quite attractive at times. She tried to compliment that by buying her clothes that weren't too girly. Everything was approved by Bella (who still protested vehemently when it came to letting Rosalie pay) before it was bought.
Now, they were riding home listening to the radio as they had on the way there. Bella was once again entranced with the scenery. This time, however, Rosalie was not stressing out over talking to the girl. She simply kept her eyes on the road and glanced at the human beauty every few minutes.
At the Swan house, Rosalie helped the brunette carry her bags up to her room. Charlie asked her about college (which was where the populace of Forks thought she, Jasper, and Emmett had been for the past few months when in reality they had never left) so she was forced to make up some vague responses to his generic questions. She was asked to stay for dinner, but turned down the invite, saying that Esme was preparing a large dinner for them at home. Bella followed her outside to her car.
"Thank you for taking me out today, Rose."
"It was my pleasure," the blonde vampire responded.
Bella's face began to turn a pale shade of red, which confused Rosalie until the brunette gave her a quick kiss on the lips and bounded up into the house, slamming the door shut after yelling "Have a good night!" Rosalie smiled and got into her car. Bella had all the charm of a lovesick boy, and it was adorable.
As Rosalie drove home, Bella sat cross-legged on her bed, hyperventilating and only able to think one thing: I just kissed Rosalie Hale.
xXx
As soon as Rosalie stepped inside, she was face to face with her fiery redheaded brother.
"She kissed you," hissed Edward.
"Of her own volition, yes."
"No, no. You did something to her."
"Edward, you read minds. You know I didn't do anything."
He shook his head. "You had to have done something. She kissed you. That's just sick."
Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him.
"What about Emmett?" he asked.
"Why are you asking me questions that you already know the answer to? Are you in denial? You of all people should know that we have an understanding," she said. "What are you going to do if this turns out in my favor?"
"Let's just say that I'd rather her be with Jacob Black than you," he growled.
"You knew this was going to happen!" she accused. "You knew she was my true mate! From the first moment we saw her you knew! So you seduced her! You started to play your sick game with her!"
"She's mine!" he yelled.
"ENOUGH!" The two quarreling siblings looked up at the top of the staircase to see Carlisle descending. "This is foolish."
Carlisle did not speak in a fatherly tone. He was using something akin to Sam Uley's "Alpha Voice". At the end of the day, this was a coven of vampires and he was the leader.
"You two should know better than this. Rosalie's proposition stands. Edward, you will not interfere."
"She fell in love with me first!" he whined.
"But you didn't fall in love with her!" boomed Carlisle.
Edward hissed and flitted out the sliding glass door and into the woods. The two followed him, but stopped on the patio. Carlisle sighed and shook his head. Rosalie watched her brother disappear until she could no longer see him.
"I'm sorry, Rose. If I had known what he was doing sooner, I would have stopped him."
"Don't be. You couldn't have known. Besides, he needs to learn that he can't have everything he wants. He's got to grow up sooner or later; why not now?"
The blond patriarch looked down. "Somehow, this all leads back to me. I remember changing you because I intended for you and him to be mates." He laughed darkly. "Oh, how ironic that is now. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you, Rosalie."
Rosalie wrapped her arms around him. "I forgive you."
When the embrace was done, he stepped back and looked up to the stars.
"Win her over, Rose. She belongs with us, and with you, but not him."
"I will…" She paused and looked to the sky as well. "… dad."
With a gust of wind she was gone, and Carlisle Cullen was left standing alone, smiling to himself.