A/N: Hello, duckies. Sorry about the wait. For those of you who didn't read my A/N in one of my other fics, I bit off more than I could chew, fic-wise. I'm trying to set a schedule for myself that lets me keep my fics updating and still leaves me time to work on my ofic. :) Thank you for your continued patience!

"Oh my god."

Edward tilted his head, studying Rosalie up close in her human body for the first time. As he looked at her, she looked back at him. When they reached each other's eyes, he spoke. "It seems ironic."

She blinked. "What?"

"For an angel to exclaim that. 'Oh my god' seems ironic. If only because of how humans perceive god."

Rosalie's lips twitched up into a smile. "Not as ironic as atheists using the phrase. That always amuses me." She grabbed his hand and hauled him inside her apartment. "Now tell me what you're doing here." She studied him again. "You're not fallen. I can see your glow."

"You can still see that?"

"Residual angel dust." She laughed. "Sometimes I see things. Sometimes I hear things. It's like an echo." She sat on the arm of her couch. "Now answer the question."

Edward explained the situation. "Would you believe Carlisle gave me the idea?"

"I would say I'm surprised, but somehow, I'm not. I wonder about that being at times." She looked him up and down. "That's Edward Cullen's body."

Edward looked down at his body-still so awkward to him-and nodded. "It's a vessel."

"I know that, jackass." She waved her hands up and down her own body. "You know who this was?"

"The original Rosalie Hale."

Rosalie nodded. "To fashion a body that has life in it? That's something beyond our powers, but you know that. This vessel had more life to give, so I lit the spark. You, however, are still an angel. An angel can't be contained for long in a human vessel."

"That was the catch. Carlisle warned me I wouldn't have forever to accomplish my goal."

"Then we need a plan."

~0~

They tried out the backstory they crafted on Emmett when he came over that evening.

The young man's eyes twinkled when he came into Rosalie's apartment and saw Edward there. "Rosie, you know I'm a jealous man," he said, clearly joking. "If you invite pretty boys over while I'm not here, I might jump to the wrong conclusions."

"Says the man who flirts with everything that moves. Anyway, don't worry about him. Emmett, this is Edward Cullen. Remember I told you I grew up in the foster care system? He was one of my foster brothers. Edward, this is Emmett. He's a friend."

"With benefits," Edward said, shaking Emmett's hand as he'd often seen humans do.

"Edward."

Edward looked at Rosalie, perplexed as to why she suddenly seemed upset. "What? That was what you told me earlier, right?"

Rosalie smacked her forehead and Emmett seemed to think the whole exchange was funny. He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Nice to meet you, man." He looked to Rosalie. "I thought you said you really didn't keep in touch with anyone from your past."

"I don't." Rosalie herded them toward the living room. "I'm not sure how to explain it. We've been through a lot together. It's a bond that doesn't get broken easily, even though it's been years since I've heard from Edward."

Edward smiled at her. This, at least, was the truth. As odd as it was to see her so human, the bond they shared as angels would never be shaken.

Emmett nodded as he sat. "So how long are you in town for."

"Indefinitely." Edward cleared his throat, preparing to recite the background he and Rosalie had crafted. "I was living in Chicago. There was a fire. Faulty wiring. No one's fault. I lost almost everything, so I figured it was a sign. I wasn't happy with my work or my life, so I decided I needed a change of scenery. Rosalie was gracious enough to take me in until the insurance money comes through."

"Wow. That's pretty intense," Emmett said

Edward smiled. "You have no idea."

~0~

It's time for you to take a hike.

Edward was in Rosalie's guest room-his room-trying to figure out how to work the laptop she'd shoved at him some hours before when her voice echoed loudly in his head. Though containing his angelic form in a human vessel did limit his powers, he was not without them entirely. He could still read minds, and Rosalie knew that.

I'm not kidding. Get out. I'll make sure you regret it if you don't.

He listened harder and realized Rosalie was still with Emmett. They were in her room. They were kissing. Emmett was touching her.

Edward, I swear if you're still here-

Edward spread his wings and slipped out of the physical realm, disappearing from the house at the speed of thought. He flew up, glad for the excuse to drop the human facade. Safely hidden from human eyes, he flew without forethought and landed on top of a water tower. He could have gone anywhere on the planet-a significant downsizing considering he was used to being able to travel the lengths of the universe-but there was nothing in particular he wished to see just then. So he settled on top of the tower to think.

He knew what Rosalie and Emmett were about to do, and couldn't say he understood Rosalie's objection to his overhearing. It was nothing he hadn't seen millions of times throughout all the years of watching over humanity. Even when he had been a warrior, he hadn't been unaware of humans.

It was somewhat strange to think of Rosalie consorting with a human like that, but she was a human. She had been for three years now. It hadn't occurred to Edward to wonder about her human life-could an angel really live life as they did?-but now he found his mind full of questions.

Since he would get no answers then, Edward let his thoughts drift to his mission. In the space of another thought, he found himself beside Bella in her car. She couldn't see him, of course. Edward settled back, listening to her hum along to the radio, and watching the traffic. He tilted his head and found himself confused.

Earlier that day, when he'd gone to visit Bella at her work, he'd been fresh in his body. He'd been disconcerted with being contained to a small vessel and further perplexed by the complexities of walking and, well, simply experiencing existence in this new form. He had briefly tried to open his mind to receive Bella's thoughts and none had come. Then, he'd been too distracted to dwell. Now, though, especially hidden as he was from human sight, he was able to concentrate on one task.

Try though he might, he couldn't hear Bella's thoughts.

Interesting. Irritating. Perhaps this was one of the limitations Carlisle had mentioned, but then, why had he heard Rosalie's thoughts?

Perhaps this particular ability only worked if someone was thinking at him. After all, Rosalie had been trying to communicate with him.

He made a mental note to test the extents of this power later. Right then, he contented himself with doing what he was used to-watching Bella.

The ride was almost uneventful. Bella had just turned off the freeway and was moving into an intersection when another car ran a red light. Bella yelped, her car jerking as she reflexively veered, missing the other car by inches. She pulled over, shaken but fine.

Edward was not faring as well. It had taken all his considerable willpower to stop himself from manifesting. He could think quite a bit quicker than humans, and had seen the car a fraction of a second before Bella had reacted, saving her car-and possibly herself-from harm. In that tiny space of time, he could have ruined his own plan.

That was the rub, though. Carlisle had given him the choice. Coming down to earth, taking on a human vessel, he had cut himself off from the celestial plane. All of Bella's life, he had influenced beings in ways humans couldn't perceive. Carlisle had warned him that if he chose the path he was now on, he would only be able to influence events physically. Yes, he could watch all he wanted from a space humans couldn't perceive, but he could no longer reach out from that space. Had Bella not acted quickly enough, he would have had to pop into existence beside her.

Not for the first time, Edward second-guessed his choices. Still, the minor mishaps a human could get into that could potentially result in their deaths could also just as likely not. Had that car hit Bella, it may have only totalled her vehicle, and she had every chance to walk away unscathed. There was no real way of knowing, just as there had been no way of knowing how it would have turned out if Edward hadn't been there to "save" Bella every time she wandered haphazardly into danger. After all, both Rosalie and Emmett lived without a watcher or a guardian to their existence, and they were no worse for the wear.

No, he had made the right choice Edward decided as Bella pulled back out on the road.

Still, he felt better staying with Bella for a few hours more as she went home and went about her business. Watching her, he considered the plan he and Rosalie had settled on, and wondered if it would work.

It had all seemed so simple when Carlisle gave him the choice. He would be in a human guise with superhuman powers. How difficult would it be to get a tiny, young human woman back on the right side of the street?

Rosalie had made it clear he didn't know humans as well as he wanted to believe.

Some hours later, Bella was long asleep and Edward was back on top of Rosalie's little house. He preferred it outside. He found inside too confining.

"Edward?"

Edward reappeared in Rosalie's living room on her couch.

"Gah!" Rosalie laughed, putting her hand to her chest. "You have to not do that," she whispered.

"I won't do it in front of humans."

"Shhh. I am human."

"Humans who don't know." He looked at her. "Don't you need sleep?"

"Yes, but I wanted to check on you."

"What is it like?"

"What? Sleeping?" Rosalie smirked. "Annoying sometimes. When there are too many things I want to do, it's very annoying. Sleeping in on the other hand…" She stretched languorously. "That's fabulous. Especially when there's someone to wake up with."

Edward looked at her, taking in the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips, the way her skin and eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. "You are in love with that man. Your charge."

She sighed and sat beside him on the couch. "I would lie to you, but you'd know I was lying. Yes, I'm in love with him." She pulled her legs up on the couch and laid her head on them, grinning to herself and swaying. "It's a perk of humanity. Love, I mean. There are a lot of perks."

"If he loves you, why does he sleep with other women."

She smirked again. "Does he sleep with other women?"

"He speaks as though he does."

"Emmett talks a big game, but I don't think he's sleeping with anyone else. I don't think he's been with anyone else in a long time." She gave a little squeak of pleasure. "He's almost mine."

Edward stared. "You're doing to him what you want me to do to Bella. You've used what you know of him, of his life, to make him fall in love with you."

Her smile fell. "You can't make someone fall in love with you."

"Then why would you believe I can make Bella fall in love with me?"

"Human emotional spectrum is complex, Edward. As an angel, you know only pure emotion. Pure devotion. Pure faith. Pure trust. Human emotion is much more complex. You remember we used to joke about songs, poems, fiction? Why are there a million ways to describe it, to experience it? The answer is simple. It's because there are a million ways to be in love, and all of it is true love. Different in depth and faceted, but all true.

"Some love is simpler than others. It's not so much that you can make someone fall in love with you. It's that some love is inevitable. Predictable." Her eyes raked over his form. "Let me clue you in, my innocent angel. Your vessel is ridiculously attractive. It wouldn't be difficult to make her lust after you. You mix lust with like, and a human will inevitably fall in love. Not a lasting love. Not love like I love Emmett, but love takes on many forms.

"It's the same plan. Either way, you'll use your dishonest and unfair advantage to gain her trust. You'll use her likes and dislikes. The difference is simply how effective you can be in what limited time you have. It would take years to cultivate a friendship so deep, she would willingly follow you away from her other friends. They're the only constant she's ever known, Edward. The only thing she knows of love. But you don't have years. I'm simply saying there is little that strengthens a bond as quickly as love.

"As for Emmett and me, I didn't set out to make him fall in love with me. I sought him out because he was the only human thing I really knew, and I needed that familiarity after I fell." She looked at Edward. "I was an angel. That's a fact that can't be erased. I can't unknow the things I know, and that includes how to read people, how to see their depth, to know their soul by looking in their eyes. I see more than other humans, even without the Host, I see more. Does that mean I can't have what others have? I don't deserve his love simply because I know how to read him?"

She shrugged. "You'll see. You hang around with humanity long enough, you'll begin to understand. My love for Emmett is honest. I fell for myself before I fell for him." She laughed. "It's only that I've realized that he loves me before he has admitted it to himself. Such is life. It's a powerful thing, Edward. You're trying to save Bella's life. You need what power you can get."

He turned away from her. "I'm not so oblivious to the power of love. If I let her fall in love with me, it will break her heart when I leave."

"That's part of a normal human life. Humans get their hearts broken all the time." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Trust me on that one."

"Yes, I know what heartbreak looks like. Specifically, I know what heartbreak looks like on Bella. I'm not here to be the one who hurts her. I want to protect her, not put that look on her face."

Rosalie held her hands up. "I heard you the first time."

They were quiet for another moment before Edward spoke again. "I have a question."

"I expect you'll have many."

"How did you do this? Fall, I mean? How were you able to arrange all this without them knowing."

Them. The high angels. They knew so much. They knew all thought from humans to angels to all the beings in the known universe. How had they missed this? How had they missed that one of their own, their direct underlings, had begun to question to this extent? Rosalie had been an angel for eons and had given it up. He didn't understand why, and he didn't understand how the high angels had let it happen.

She ruffled his hair, her smile sad. "You'd be surprised how often they aren't listening. Even to us." She yawned. "Now, unfortunately, I really do need to sleep. Can you keep yourself out of trouble for a while?"

He looked at her, bemused. "I'm an angel. I can look after myself."

"That's not what I asked."

"I have an intellect far beyond what any human is capable of." He tilted his head down. "And that includes you. But to assuage your fears, I do know to keep out of sight." He touched his finger to her forehead, curing several minor aches, sore muscles, and the beginnings of a sinus infection. "Sleep well."

She huffed. "Thank you," she said, and she took his hands, squeezing. "I do miss it, sometimes. I miss you." She squeezed his hands again and then went to bed, leaving him to sit and think.

A/N: Yay. So there's that. Many thanks to my lovely Capricorn75, songster, and barburella for all their help.

Personal note-My newest book, Finding Purgatory, will be coming out soon. If you're interested, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my website. I hope to have news up soon. :) All my links are in my profile.

Much love to you all!