Author's Note: Alright guys, Chapter 3 is finally here! Now, before any of you freak out, this is going to be a slow burn story. I want to make all development realistic. I good news though! I finally got the vision for my villain! I didn't just want to use Victoria, but she is going to be incorporated too. Bwahaha. Also, thank you all so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Seriously, I really appreciate it, and they make me smile.

Jay aka Jordan: I might be messaging you to plot this sometime soon! :D

Chapter 3

There were many scenarios that had passed through Bella's mind when she decided to visit the Cullens, but the one she was currently placed in was definitely not one of them. After Rosalie's last words, the living room was dead quiet. No one knew what to say as they just waited for the human to react to the information she was just given. Alice was desperately trying to see what the brunette's reaction would be to give her sister some piece of mind, but Bella wasn't making any concrete decisions.

Realizing that this was a conversation that needed to happen in private, the rest of the family began making their way out of the living space. Privacy was not something they could actually provide due to their exceptional hearing, but they could at least not stand there and stare. When Emmett moved to go into the backyard, he placed a hand on Rosalie's shoulder. Words were not his strong suit, so he settled for providing his sister with silent comfort instead of somehow putting his foot in his mouth. The blonde smiled at his effort and nodded her head to show her best friend that is was alright for him to leave her. This conversation was one that she couldn't afford to keep running away from, and while she wasn't sure just how much she would wind up telling her mate, she knew that the girl deserved some answers.

Bella for her part didn't know what to think. There were so many questions flashing in her mind that she was having a hard time differentiating them. Her brows furrowed and she bit her lip as she tried to make sense of the curve ball she had just received. As sad as it was, accepting that Rosalie took away her family out of hatred was easier than the truth she was now presented with. The writer was so obsorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the very girl who was causing her a migraine had moved to stand in front of her. It wasn't until a cold hand touched her forearm, that Bella flinched, stepped back, and focused once again on the situation at hand. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't notice that you were so, um, close."

While it was difficult, Rosalie managed to keep the hurt from Bella's reaction from showing on her features. It was if her body was split in half. The rational part of her knew that the reaction was to be expected and even deserved, but the irrational part of her only saw rejection. The beast within her knew that Bella was her mate and keeping herself from treating the girl as such was hard enough without the desire to prove that love. "You have questions." It was a statement rather than a question, but Bella still nodded her head anyway. All of her bravado and anger was now clouded by confusion which brought her typical awkward disposition back in full force. Before she thought she knew what to expect which is what made her speech and confidence so easy, but now everything felt uncertain. "I know this is hard to believe, but you can ask anything you'd like. I cannot promise that I will answer all of your questions now, but I can promise that I will not bite your head off or any other unpleasant analogy you may have pictured in your mind." The side of Rosalie that Bella was now witnessing, was the one that her family has always known. While she had the capabilities of being quite harsh and vain, those were small parts of her in comparison to her love and protective nature that she held for those she cared for. Her rather icey disposition was more of a way to keep others at a distance due to her own hatred for what she was forced to become. She viewed herself as a monster which therfore led her to beleive that love and kindness was not something she deserved.

"How do you expect me to believe that you love me? Rosalie, you could hardly stand to be around me." Bella's eyes were downcast as she focused on her worn out chucks. She couldn't bring herself to look keep eye contact with the beauty before her. While it had been a long time since they were last in the same space, the brunette was still just as intimidated by the blonde as she was all those years ago.

A sigh escaped Rosalie's lips as she inwardly cursed herself for the way she had treated Bella back then. While she did have her reasons, she knew that she only acted the way she did out of fear. She will never forget the complete and utter terror she had felt when her eyes first landed on Bella. The feeling that came over her was overwhelming and stronger than anything she had ever felt in all of her years. It felt wonderful for a split second before she remembered what it truly meant. Loving someone meant becoming vulnerable once again. It meant opening herself up to the potential of heart shattering pain. She had believed that she was in love once before, and that had cost Rosalie her life. Jumping back into a game with such high risks was not something that she was not yet ready to do again. Add to that the fact that Bella was a human who not only endangered her family but also herself, and it was enough of a logical reason to convince herself to stay away. Now though she realized that none of those explanations were good enough. None of them could justify the amount of pain she had caused the girl she claimed to love. All she could do was hope that she was given a chance to make things right. "What reason do I have to lie to you? I do not expect you to forgive me easily, but I am telling you the truth. My family was very reluctant to leave you. They only did so after hours of me pleading my case to them. Everyone wanted to say goodbye to you, Bella, but everyone knew that if they did, they would not have the will power to go through with leaving." Rosalie's mind flashed back to the night she had visited the brunette in the hospital after everything with James. Her parents were both asleep as she quietly made her entrance and attempted to hold back the dry heaving sobs that her body wanted to release. She remembered whispering and apology before she made her way back out into the night with the intentions to never see Bella Swan again. The first year away had oddly been the easiest due to her belieft that she had done what was best, but as time continued to pass, her heart ached. Her logic was becoming less and less sound as thoughts of Bella growing old and finding another to love taunted her. With each day she became more miserable, and her family had no idea how they could help for they knew the pain of losing one's mate was like no other.

"If you do love me, then why did you want to leave? I'm so upset at all of you, but I've still always loved you all. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself hate you guys. You might be vampires and see yourselves as monsters or whatever, but you all were my family." A tear made itself down Bella's cheek, and she quickly moved to wipe it away with the sleeve of her flannel shirt. She was so tired of crying over all of this. How she still had tears to shed over it all was beyond her. It was frustrating, but not more frustrating than the small part of her that wanted to just throw herself into the arms of the people she had missed so much. There was a desire to forgive them which her mind quickly dismissed.

Tired of the girl refusing to make eye contact, Rosalie hestitantly reached out and gently guided her face up with her hand. Once brown eyes met hers, she smiled and reluctantly pulled her hand back to her side. "That's better," she said with a small amount of playfullness to her voice. While there was no doubt that the conversation they were having was serious, the blonde still had missed Bella. Any small and somewhat reasonable excuse she could find to reach out, she would take advantage of. "My reason is the same excuse you have grown tired of hearing. You do not agree with my reasoning, Bella, but you must understand that I would give anything to be human again. When I was turned, I was not grateful to still be alive. I was repulsed by what I was forced to become. I wanted to protect you from all of the dangers that come along with this life, but I can admit there were some flaws to my thinking. You, Bella, are not unintelligent and are more than capable of making your own choices. While I may not agree with them, I nor anyone else has the right to take away your right to make those decisions. If you choose to allow my family and I back into your life, I will not fight you on said decision. I will defend you with my life and more than likely be far more protective than you will believe necessary, but we would stay if you'd have us." If the organ was capable of it, Rosalie was positive that her heart would be beating erratically. There she was a seventy three year old vampire acting as if she was a mere school girl again. The feeling was one that had not been felt in awhile, and although her overall feeling was nervous of the brunette's response, she couldn't help but smile. Only Bella Swan could bring back some old human emotions to a vampire.

Bella for her part was shocked. There was no reason for her to be skepitcal of anything Rosalie was saying since everything about her words appeared genuine. It was almost hard for the writer to believe that the woman before her really was the same vampire she remembered. The sarcasm and coldness was gone and instead replaced with remorse and care. Not only had she admitted that she was wrong for her actions and apologized, but she also was asking for permission for the Cullens to be allowed back into her life. When she was with Edward, he would often tell her things. He believed he knew what was best and rarely would actually ask her about important matters. Yet, here was Rosalie allowing her to make her own decision on the matter even though she knew there was a large chance she would not agree with it. "I can't just accept you all back into my life as if you didn't abandon me, but we can try to move past that. I don't know what will happen by the end of the summer, but it's only May. We'll focus on that when we get there I guess."

The answer brought a huge smile onto Rosalie's face, but before she was able to even say anything back, Emmett sped past her and wrapped Bella up into a bear hug. The brunette squealed, but resisted from hitting the vampire on the back to put her down. While she had forgotten just how fast they all were, she did remember that doing that would hurt her far more than it would them. After a moment, the big goof put her back down while wearing a big smile on his face. "Thanks for this, Bella. Maybe now Rose won't be mopping around the house like someone broke all of her mirrors." That just earned him a smack on the back of the head which barely even effected him anymore. After so many years, he had to just be used to it.

Next in was Alice who wasted no time in opening her arms up for Bella. With a roll of her eyes, the brunette walked forward and allowed herself to be embraced by her old best friend. An apology was whispered into her ear which she nodded in response to. There was nothing else she could really say to them as each member of the family relayed the same two words. The most common response to apologies was saying that it was okay, but in her heart that couldn't be further from the truth. So instead, she simply accepted their words and kept saying that they would work on it. Esme and Carlisle immediately offered to whip her up something to eat which this time she agreed to. "Just keep Rosalie away from the salad," she joked which heard her an eyeroll from the blonde.

The atmosphere was slightly more relaxed now that things were out in the open. As they all sat down on the couches, Bella noticed that one person was missing. "Where did Edward go?" While she wasn't in love with him anymore, she would be lying if she said that there were no feelings there at all. They were no longer romantic, but he was the first person who she ever loved which ensured him a spot in her heart.

"He went out to hunt and do some thinking. He has always been one who digests information best on his own. I am sure he will want to speak with you when he is ready," Carlisle explained. Truthfully, the man was worried about his son. When they had been away, Edward had accepted the fact that Rosalie was Bella's true mate in stride, but things were almost much more difficult to take in when they were right in front of you. Seeing that he no longer had the effect on Bella as he once did on top of the thoughts Carlisle was sure his eldest son could hear from his sister most likely affected the vampire more than he anticipated. "Anyway Bella, inform us on what you have been up to since we left. You mentioned college, yes?"

The subject change to much lighter topics was appreciated by everyone as Bella got more comfortable on the couch. A smile appeared on her face as she thought about college and her experiences over the last four years. "I did. I wound up attending Brown University with Angela. We were roommates all four years, and I'm sure she will be dying to tell you all embarassing stories about me the moment she has the chance." Just thinking about the drunken nights and very few hook ups gone wrong that her best friend found hilarious caused Bella to roll her eyes. Although the brunette was far from a party animal in college, she did have her moments of fun. College was the time to find oneself after all, and one could only do that through experiences. Everyone chuckled slightly at the idea of the stories they would hear since most of them had gone to college a few times in their lives. "I wound up majoring in English, traveled abroad, and the job I got in Boston is as an editor."

Most people would be very proud and bragging about their accomplishments, but Bella was just as modest and shy as ever. When everyone seemed impressed, she merely blushed and looked down at her lap for a moment before facing everyone again. "Please do not tell me that you actually contributed to the ridiculous vampire craze that has hit nearly every fiction book in the country," Rosalie said with a groan. That got everyone including Bella to laugh loudly. Just the thought of writing something about vampires seemed ridiculous to the brunette. Firstly, she would have to at least vaguely follow the "traditional," rules of vampires created by previous writers which were mostly fiction. Since she had actual knowledge of vampires' lifestyles, that alone would be something very hard to do.

"Don't worry," Bella said once she got her laughing under control. "I haven't added to the belief that you can be killed with a stake to the heart or that you have a serious aversion to garlic." The group sighed in mock relief before chuckling once more. Soon after Esme entered the room with a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for Bella which she was very grateful for. Due to her nerves about showing up unannounced, she had barely eaten all day which was apparently catching up to her.

Rosalie smiled as she listened to her family catch up with Bella. After she vaguely explained everything, things were not at all back to normal, but they at least were on the road to getting there. The road ahead was still a difficult one for her, however. Since Bella for some reason couldn't seem to fathom the blonde loving her in a way that was not sisterly, Rose was going to have to confess her true feelings. A part of her was dying to do so right then, but she knew that too much information being thrown at the brunette was not the course to take. First, she needed to gain her friendship and show her kindness, and then she can attempt to win her heart. It would take much more patience, but she was a vampire. One thing she had was an abundance of was time.