(The Trees in the Moonshine are a Dark Lattice)

Emmett

Some things you just can't see coming. Like having your angel pull you into your old swimming grounds.

It was fast. I careened into Rosalie's lukewarm, soft chest, felt an iron grip on my left arm, then the sharp splash into water.

I was swimming then, but I could have just sunk to the bottom if I wanted to. That was an assuring feeling, you know?

Unsurprisingly, Rosalie was slicing towards the top of the water, miffed at me pulling her in. She shot me a glare that was easy to pick up in the clear blue water.

She mouthed, "Emmett!" with some sort of frown.

Hmm, like it was MY fault? She should'nt've been standing so close to waters edge.

"Rosalie!" I tried, but that came out as a bubbled response. She clawed out of the water, and I saw her dainty looking boot slip off of her foot on the way out.

Yes! I shall use that boot in aid for my redemption. I swam, fast as usual, and picked the boot up. Then I jumped out of the water and fell next to Rosalie who seemed to be seething.

"Hey, babe. Dropped a boot." The words came out too quick to stop. Did I seriously say, 'babe?'

Rosalie turned her seething dripping body towards me. I swallowed venom as I noticed that in these circumstances, it wasn't a good idea for Rosalie to wear that thin sundress. But, it was kind of awesome for me. Her slender, goddess-like frame shook in anger. She hissed like some kind of wildcat, and leaped on me.

"What is wrong with you? You got dirt in my nails and now I'm wet. I don't know what I'm going to do to you, but I'm going to make sure it is a permanent haunting memory that will assuredly scar you for life!" She screeched.

Before I tried to put on a fight, I noticed how beautiful Rosalie looked when she was dripping wet. I always thought that no one looked good coming out of a pool of anything. Once again, Rosalie broke that idea. Her hair darkened a few shades and on one side of her, hanging in front of my face, dripping sweet smelling residue of whatever shampoo she used.

Her eyes were a little too angry to be gratuitously described at the moment. Oh, yeah, the anger.

"Rosalie!"

This was almost degrading. Rosalie was on top of me, banging on my chest, cursing a lot, slapping me and shaking my shoulders. I knew I could just lift her off, and set her down, but she would almost undeniably get angrier.

If I learned anything about Rosalie Hale is that she was 'get angry now, stay angry later, then think about it.'

"Ah!"

I decided to try to escape, but she had this grasp on me, pinning me. Ooh, sexy.

I wish.

"Rosalie, get off of me!" I demanded.

"Make me! I want to see you squirm, kid!"

"Can't we just talk about the whole water thing?"

"NO!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"Argh!"

Rosalie growled.

I had an idea. I grabbed her arms, which were glued to my shoulders, and flipped her back into the water. But her hands managed to grab my right foot, which was bare.

"Oh, come on!" Her brute strength and my surprise pulled me under.

I came to open my eyes under the water, and met Rosalie's livid ones. She began speaking underwater; I could understand some of her lips' movements.

"I think...total…" She kept going. "You are so going…"

Rosalie

"…To pay for this. We are NOT finishing that puzzle, so you can shove it up…"

I paused at this moment. He looked so wonderful, right now in my anger.

Emmett was being very cute, again. The way his hair just floated above his face, and his confused look, and his overall shirtless-ness…it was great. He cocked his head again.

Hey, why aren't you angry, Rosalie? I was waiting for you to smash him! Bad Rosalie whined.

Shut up, you idiot! Good Rosalie cut off. We are on a roll. Don't mess anything up, Bad.

Bad Rosalie probably just knocked something expensive over.

I probably would have inhaled deeply right now, but I didn't want any water in my system.

Bad Rosalie will get her dues tonight, yes she will. Emmett will not get out of this, not with his cuteness (Bad Rosalie: Blasphemy! Hold your tongue!), or with magic, or with anything. Now, notice how he's just cute. Teddy bears, kittens, Emmett, clouds, those things were all cute. Emmett wasn't beautiful, or gorgeous, like me. No. Never.

Yes. Keep telling yourself that. Good Rosalie frowned in my head.

Never mind you. I'm wet. In my favorite dress. I'm dirty, too. Maybe I can get Esme to help me with my nails later…but anyway! No one messes with me and gets away with it.

You tell him, sweetie! Bad Rosalie added.

Maybe I was glaring as I thought or something, but Emmett must have seen it, because he was hightailing it out of the water.

I followed him, and he was backing up to the trees. "Come now, Rosalie! Friends don't violently charge after other friends, do they? 'Cause…" Emmett babbled nervously.

"If it's like that then, we aren't friends. I'm going to kill you."

I blinked and Emmett was gone. I heard his footfalls on the brush, but I didn't see him.

"Ooh…" I said to myself. I wrung the bottom corner of my sundress, and what seemed like a gallon of water decanted out of the fibers.

Don't worry, he won't get away. Trust me. Vampire Rosalie assured.

"Didn't need you to tell me that." I said. I sprinted as fast as I could and then some, into the forest.

It occurred to me that he was heading in the opposite direction from where we came. I figured that once I got him, I'd drag him back to the house anyway. The thought of superiority pleased me. I happily loped through the wood, thinking of the great ideas I could just bother Emmett with. This side of the forest was thicker and bigger. It took me a good five minutes to hear Emmett.

"Rosalie? Is that you?" Emmett called from ahead. I stopped. He was wheezing, like when I…first found him.

"Er, Emmett?"

"Help me."

"What are you talk-" I began, but Emmett entered my field of vision.

Emmett had finally snapped the delicate wall that blocked the urge to ignore human blood. He lay curled on the ground, bloody, shaking, and sparkling gently in the moonlight. It was disgustingly beautiful.

"What've I done?" He said. I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or me. "How could I have done that?"

"Emmett, tell me what happened, okay?" I said. I sat next to him, ignoring the leaves and mud that would be stuck on my dress.

"I was running from you. I was running from you, and I caught the smell of them…I just couldn't stop myself!"

I nodded. "Have you done anything with the bodies?"

"…Yes."

"Where are they?"

Emmett gulped, then wheezed. "They're in a cave. A dark deep cave. I covered them with rocks." Well, he was quick about it.

"Okay. It's fine, babe."

"What? It's not fine, Rosalie! I killed them, the two of them, so fast! But…"

"It was wonderful, right, Emmett?" I whispered.

He whimpered, and then nodded. "It's perfectly natural, babe." I pulled him towards me. Emmett's arms whipped from his chest to around my waist.

The Insanities in my head were dead silent, leaving me to do this by myself.

I sighed, and patted the mess of curly hair on top of his head. It was quiet, but so noisy. The background noise of the trees, and the animals, and the waters around were suddenly deafening. Emmett became completely still, just holding onto me.

"Emmett?"

He didn't reply. "Emmett?" I repeated, touching his shoulder.

"So," It seemed that his voice lost its glimmer, now hard and slow. "If it's just a mess up, how come you don't?" He said, speaking into my belly.

I laughed, but cut it short. "Because, I'm good at this vampire thing by now."

"Did you ever mess up?"

"…In this context, uh, not very…often." I said, and the vagueness of the sentence caught Emmett's curiosity again. He unclasped his firm grasp, and sat across from me.

You see, I've never messed up. I know that it'd crush his butterfly wing of a (not)soul if I said that to him. "What does that mean?" Emmett said, sitting cross-legged. He smiled weakly.

"Eh, it was a few people…because we all have those instincts, you know! Let's talk about something else, kid." I crushed that subject.

"Like what?"

"I don't know…" I trailed. Emmett shrugged, and looked up at something. I wasn't sure if it was the moon, just rising, or the trees, or nothing at all.

"The sparkle is different here." He finally said.

"What?"

"It's different at night than it is in the daytime. The daytime sparkle is there, you know? This one is subtler. Like moonlight compared to diamonds glittering."

"That makes sense."

The moon managed to rise, shoving its way past all of the thin night clouds. It let its light pour down on Emmett and I. Emmett glimmered in the shaft of moon glow, like stars, or a reflection on clear water.

I could see the shimmer of my arms in my peripheral vision. I knew I looked great. Emmett didn't know he looked great.

I could see the strong lines in his outstretched arms, holding him up, denoting his defined muscles. I could see every muscle on his upper body, to the tops of his, (what were they called? Oh, yeah.), sartorius'. Those disappeared into his striped trousers. I could just feel the kind of strength he possessed.

My words were spilling out of my mouth before I stopped them. "Emmett, you're really beautiful."

His face dropped any expression for about a second. Then the blood flushed his cheeks and he tried to murder his grin. "Uh, thanks Rosalie!"

Way. To. Go. Bad Rosalie returned.

Way to go! So did Good Rosalie.

You know you got to keep your lips tighter than that, girl. Work on that. Vampire Rosalie said, shaking her proverbial head.

I think I had this confused look. "Let's go home, kid. You need a shower."

He was shaking with happiness. "I guess I do, Rosalie." Emmett got up, and held a hand out. I gave him a 'I can get up myself' look. He shrugged and shoved his hand in his pocket.

We headed home, slow.

Emmett

We got back to the gigantic Cullen Mansion or whatever it was. I'm still giddy as we go into the house, but Rosalie is acting like she told me the weather back there.

"Oh my gosh! Emmett, what happened?" Esme leaped from her place near the radio to my side.

"Um," I felt a subtle slap to my arm. I tried, so hard, I tried to rip the grin off and replace it with a terrified grimace. Rosalie didn't meet my eyes as she retracted her arm.

I must have looked bad. No shirt, Rosalie and I are both wet, I'm covered in blood, and Rosalie is covered in pondweeds and leaves.

I had gotten over the initial shock of killing a human after Rosalie talked me down.

"Uh, it got messy, and um, wet. It was…a…" I couldn't come up with anything honest with Esme's completely honest eyes staring at me.

"Emmett had an accident." Rosalie said, looking horribly worried.

"Oh, Emmett! It's okay, it's perfectly natural!" Esme wrapped her arm around me, despite the dirt and blood now smeared to her shirt. "Go take a bath, honey."

Only at this point does Edward bound into the large room. For a second he looked very confused, but my wandering thoughts must have gotten to him like brushfire.

He breathes this long heavy breath, not a sigh; it was all coming out of his nose.

"Hmm, I was going to take a bath." He said.

"Go ahead." Rosalie said.

"But I wanted the good bathroom…"

"Oh, hell no, this is not some idiotic plan to steal MY bathroom!"

"Well, you stole it, it's obviously MINE!"

Rosalie drew a ragged angry breath. "…Emmett needs it."

"It's not about Emmett! It's about you, me, and a bathroom!"

"You can go take a bath in the Atlantic, for all I care. All I'm saying is…"

Esme pursed her lips, and gave me a 'just go' nod.

I climbed up the stairs, and opened every door, trying to find Rosalie's bathroom. I found one, painted peachy-plum and it had various bottles saying French terms I barely understood, and a big mirror. It was obviously either Esme's or Rosalie's, and I think I found Esme's already. (Painted a pretty eggshell blue, with some shampoo on the counter, if you wanted to know.)

I walked in, shutting the door behind me. It smelled wonderful. I picked up an expensive looking glass bottle that said 'Fleur du Soleil'.

I opened the bottle and sniffed it. "Ooh, lilac, jasmine, and rose." I closed it, done with tampering with Rosalie's things. I looked at myself in the mirror in the soft white light of the room.

So, what was SO great about this room, that Edward wanted it back from Rosalie?

I turned on the water, and waited for the bathtub to fill.

I saw a coat hook of coat hooks, holding several articles of clothing. A robe, a shirt, another robe, and a smooth, soft, short silky thing…I didn't want to touch the smooth soft short silky thing, because I knew Edward or Rosalie would burst in as soon as my fingers touched it.

The tub was at the necessary height, and I cut the water. I pulled off my remaining clothes and just sat in the water for a while. Most of the visible dirt and grime fell off of my body from the water, anyway. I was too tall for the tub, my knees having to bend, and tower out of the water.

I found a washcloth and a large, French looking bar of soap on the tray. As I was washing my arm, someone knocked on the door.

"Emmett?" A female voice asked. The door hid the name.

"Uh, yes?"

"It's Rosalie. Esme and Carlisle went clothes shopping earlier. They got you some clothes, so I'm here to give them to you."

As much as I wanted Rosalie to see me half-naked, that part of me died. "Why aren't Edward or Carlisle doing your job?"

"Carlisle is in his study, Il etudie. Edward said that it wasn't his bathroom so he didn't have to do it. Jackass. Besides, toughen up." Rosalie opened the door without hesitation and had no expression.

She placed a neatly folded stack of clothing on the floor next to me, nodded sharply, and left.

Then I realized. Rosalie bathes here! Oh my God. Oh my God!

My body did that giddy shaking thing that I couldn't control.

I bathed happily the rest of the time.

Once I finished my long bath, I pulled on the clothes that fit perfectly for once.

Hmm, I guess it was extreme vampire-y estimating skills.

I made sure nothing was broken, or spilled, or wet, because I knew that Rosalie would keelhaul me if I messed anything up in her sanctuary, (or whatever Rosalie thought it was in the bathroom).

I still had trouble with the whole, not sleeping deal. I just kind of fell across my bed, staring up at the ceiling. What was there to do? Naturally, I could bother Rosalie.

I found her in the living room, looking good and dry again. She switched her dress to a soft-looking blue dress and it seemed the most comfortable to wear of all of her dresses. She was collapsed on the couch, leaving no room. The anger was just radiating off in waves. It seemed that Edward and her had just finished quarrelling.

"Hi Rosalie."

Rosalie didn't remove her hand from her eyes, or move at all. "Hello, Emmett." She said, sweet and soft as usual.

"What're you doing?"

"Nothing, what do you want, kid?"

"Ah, nothing, Rosalie. Can I sit?"

Rosalie smiled softly. "No." She didn't make an effort to move. I grabbed her legs and placed them on my lap as I sat. "Hey!"

"You were in the way. I fixed the problem." I smiled.

Whatever blood Rosalie got during our hunt flushed to her face. "Fine. I'm not moving." She said defiantly.

"We can stay like this all night, I'm not going anywhere girl."

Rosalie scowled, but didn't move. "Don't try anything funny, kid." She said. The rule was upheld, as we listened to Esme's radio program and anything they played after that.

To be continued…

Well! Thanks for the faves, alerts, and two singular reviews! They are all appreciated…well not as much as the reviews, but I'm not going to be picky.

I hope no one thinks that Emmett and Rosalie are even close to being together. They still got a ways to go. We'll just say Rosalie's a confused little person right now.

Yeah, this one must have been LONG for you to read. I couldn't find a good place I wanted it to end. Honestly. But I'm having so much fun with this, so there'll be an update ASAP. My school's play Guys and Dolls (now being referred to as GND), has kept me at school late all week. So…Knowhumsaying?