IV. December 2005

Edward-

You've always had a flair for the dramatic, haven't you? Alice told me you've been waiting for just the right moment to decide to up and leave—and you chose to make me the scapegoat. You're such a gentleman.

I know you're hurting, but you must understand how much you've hurting us by leaving Ithaca. I'm not sure you realize just how much you hold the family together. And exactly how were we supposed to explain away a missing 16-year-old boy?

It's pointless to attempt persuasion, but we miss you. You know I didn't really mean all of those things I said about your prudish behavior. And while I do disagree with the decisions you made concerning Bella and your relationship, you also know I don't feel that way about Bella. She is a lovely girl, and quite honestly, a disgustingly perfect match for you. Come to your senses soon, before some dog of a man snatches her up.

Alice refuses to write (she's furious at you) but wants me to tell you that Bella keeps popping up in her visions and she's in pretty bad shape. Also, she's been getting some interesting visions involving James's mate, Victoria, and Forks. Nothing to worry about (before you put yourself in a panic) but it's possible she may have a vendetta against us. When we were still in Forks, you mentioned her. Perhaps you should look a little further into that; she could make Forks a dangerous place for anybody—including Bella.

Christmas is coming soon, and I can't play the carols with your extravagant, over-the-top flourishes. Arguing with Emmett and Jasper isn't the same as our banter either. Your Christmas gift from Emmett and me is in the mail; you should receive it soon. Say you'll be home for the holidays, and I'll owe you for the next fifty Christmases.

-Rosalie


Rosalie signed the final perfect flourish in her name with a sigh. All she really wanted for Christmas was her family reunited, and Edward was thoroughly screwing that up.

She knew this was selfish and she knew she was vain. Rosalie's vanity was perhaps the one negative aspect about this life she had come to terms with. Yes, she was self-absorbed but she was also beautiful and intelligent. Her conceit wasn't unfounded, and she didn't care if people believed she was shallow. The only people who mattered in this world were her family, who knew her vanity extended to include them. And whether she liked it or not, Edward was part of her family.

Rosalie actually missed Edward. Nobody except the two fully realized the strange bond they had, especially considering how much she had resented him in the early years of her life—for rejecting her, for invading her shallow mind in its most vulnerable state, for leaving her.

The world was a different place back then, and even though they weren't romantically involved, he begrudgingly volunteered to be her escort, if only for good appearances. Even when it came to hunting, Rosalie and Edward had remained together. Despite getting along like oil and water, they were still companions.

The afternoon Rosalie found Emmett, they had argued for over a half an hour in the woods, and Edward had left her behind. When she stubbornly decided to seek out a bear by herself, she wasn't expecting to find a helpless human barely hanging onto life after being mercilessly mauled by the same bear Rosalie had wanted for her own meal.

She saw red—not because of the human blood freely flowing on the ground before her, but because Edward had left her, and in that moment, she needed his advice more than she wanted to admit.

It had been the most difficult thing in her second life—worse than leaving those bodies on the streets of Rochester undrained, still affecting her even after their death. It had also been her most selfless act as she gathered up strength only Edward knew she had and scooped up the nearly lifeless man in her arms. His blood had been so tempting, but she ignored the pull long enough to find Edward and then Carlisle. Convincing Carlisle had been simple enough, especially when he saw the inexplicable affect the man's boyish personality had on Rosalie. She was… strangely attached to this human. It wasn't difficult now for Rosalie to compare her attraction to Emmett with Edward's relationship with Bella.

In retrospect, Rosalie's respect for Edward was born during the following three days, while Emmett screamed. Edward knew she was angry, and he felt enormously guilty for abandoning her. He sat with her while each agonizing minute passed, comforting her and convincing her that she had done what was right, that she wasn't damning him.

Edward and Rosalie were more alike than they cared to admit. She wished they weren't both such damn hypocrites. While their situations were nearly opposite (Bella had her while life ahead of her, while Emmett was laid out on his deathbed), hadn't Rosalie done to Emmett what Bella had requested of Edward? She had begged Carlisle to change Emmett, to give them a chance for a life together before she even properly knew him. And yet, when Alice had off-handedly mentioned Bella's request to be changed, Rosalie had flown off the handle. In fact, it was what sparked the unforgettable fight the night Edward left.

She was ashamed, knowing that she could advocate Emmett's change while being vehemently against Bella's. It was perhaps her own vanity and selfishness which held her back; she had been robbed of a future that included babies and growing old, but Bella still had the opportunity and she wanted to throw it away.

If it was vanity that made her a hypocrite, Rosalie speculated that pride was Edward's flaw. She couldn't imagine it had never crossed Edward's mind how he had soothed Rosalie's conscience, convincing her that eternal life with Emmett wasn't damning him because they were meant to be together. Would he be so proud as to deny himself true love to maintain Bella's integrity? Rosalie had no doubts there. But had he lied to Rosalie seventy years ago, or was he lying to himself now? She couldn't know for certain.

She could hear Emmett walking up the hallway to their room, but she remained deep in thought, contemplating Edward's month-long absence and how she could possibly change it. She knew Edward's mind and logic was somewhere else, perhaps in a different dimension entirely, but the fickle side of her was getting tired of his childish antics. He needed to man up and realize that his head and his heart were saying the same things—the truth didn't change just because he didn't want to hear it.

Emmett came up behind her and kissed her blonde crown before wrapping his arms around her torso, reading over her shoulder.

"Trying to knock some sense into fickle Romeo?"

He looked at her inquisitively, and she sighed again, frustrated.

"Someone has to do the dirty jobs," she replied. "I only hope he comes to his senses and makes a decision. He can't just wait around for her to fall into death's path, can he?"

It was a question neither of them wanted answered.

Rosalie wondered if it was a sin to wish Bella were placed in the same situation Emmett had been in seventy years ago. It would make life, and, morbidly enough, death, so much simpler. If it ever came to that, Rosalie knew she would be there for Edward in a heartbeat, the way he had been there for her.

She smiled at Emmett. "Let's just hope he comes home soon."