A/N: Hmm…I don't think I have anything to say this time…Enjoy!
Esme POV: "Emmett, is she asleep?" I asked when I heard her heartbeat and breathing become steady.
"Yeah," he said under his breath, not wanting to wake her.
I looked in the rearview mirror at the same time that Carlisle turned around to look at them. "Aww!" I exclaimed. It was incredibly cute. Rose was lying down on the seat with her head in Emmett's lap and her feet on the other side of the car. She had fallen asleep while playing with Emmett's hands, so they were still holding hands. Carlisle and I shared a smile. It was hard to not think about how they would end up together. I could already imagine it. Rosalie liked Emmett right already, and I guess it wasn't just because he was there when she got hurt. And now we finally knew why Emmett wanted to protect Rose so badly. He was already in love with her, but she was too young, and he didn't understand what was going on.
"Mom, can't you drive a bit faster?" Emmett whined just as quietly as he was talking before.
"Emmett, there are speed limits for a reason, and there is a human child in the car."
"Okay," he sighed. I knew that there was no way of us crashing, and he knew that too, but it's against the law to drive above the speed limits, and being vampires doesn't give us the right to break the laws.
I pulled into the driveway slowly, not wanting to wake Rose, and then got out of the car. "Carlisle," I asked once he had gotten out too, "do you want to bring her in and up to her bedroom?"
"Yeah," he smiled, "I'd like that."
He opened Emmett's door for him—he could've held Rosalie with one hand, but he had to support her broken leg— and then held her just as Emmett had, with one hand and the other hand under her leg. I could already tell by the way that he was holding her that he was going to be a great father.
Carlisle's POV: "You can just put her in the guest room. I didn't get her room set up yet because she's still hoping they'll find her parents." Alice said when I walked in though the front door of our house. I nodded my head and slowly walked up the stairs, not wanting to wake her. Emmett almost looked like he wanted to follow me, but he didn't.
"I'm not as creepy as Edward," he whispered, and Edward and Bella both glared at him.
"You didn't think I was creepy for watching you sleep, right?" Edward asked.
"I got used to it," she replied.
I smiled at them and opened the door to Rosalie's room, which was conveniently right next to Emmett's. Well, for now it was convenient, but we'd have to move one of them to the other side of the hallway when they got older.
She stirred in her sleep and looked like she was going to wake up when I lay her down on the bed, and I panicked. "Shh…go to sleep" I whispered, but it was no use. She was about to wake up. "Go to sleep, my love, go to sleep. When you wake, you'll see me." I heard snickering from downstairs as I sung Rosalie the song that Bella's mom had sung at her wedding. What else was I supposed to do? It was the only lullaby that I could remember, and I didn't want her to wake up and start crying. Even if they weren't going to ever let me forget about this, at least she hadn't woken up. "Sleep tight," I whispered and kissed her forehead. I tip-toed out of the room and walked down the stairs. We were going to have to get used to using human speed with Rosalie here.
"Are we going to tell her that we're vampires?" I asked when I realized that we hadn't really thought about that.
"Don't worry, Alice already said that everything was going to be okay." Esme replied.
"About that…" Alice's voice trailed off, and we all looked at her, "Okay, I wasn't lying when I said that everything would work out. But before it works out…"
"Spit it out, Alice," commanded a very on-edge Emmett.
"She's going to want to leave." This couldn't be true. What about Emmett falling in love with her? What about Esme and I finally having a child?
Bella's POV: "What?" Emmett blurted out. The rest of us were still in shock.
"No, but she's going to come back." Alice said when she realized that she had left that out of the story.
"Alice, what do you mean?" Carlisle asked. We were all confused except for Alice and Edward.
"When we tell Rose that we're vampires, she's going to get scared and want to leave. She's going to go to a foster family—but don't worry, they're nice," she added when she saw our horrified faces, "and, of course, we're gonna keep an eye on her. It'll only be a few days until she realizes that she misses us, and Emmett will be there for her when she does. And after that there's gonna be a lot more paperwork and lies."
"She's going to lie for us?" Esme was shocked.
"Mom, none of us want her to lie, but lying is a part of this family." Edward said.
"She can handle it," Alice insisted.
"If she doesn't stay with us, then she'll never know what happened to her parents." Emmett added. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know that everyone except him were thinking about other things that would never happen if we put her into foster care. Like her growing up and falling in love with a certain vampire….
"We can't tell her right away. We need to wait until she knows us well enough to trust us, and she's old enough to understand that if one vampire is bad, then the rest aren't."
"So she'll be lying for us, and we'll be lying to her," Esme pointed out in a soft voice."
"That's the way our family works." Carlisle told her. None of us liked it, but that was how it was.
We were all silent for a few minutes. We were going to have to tell Rosalie soon, and she was going to have to lie. There was nothing we could do about that without changing her future with Emmett. But I knew she was going to be fine. I loved my new life with the Cullens, and Rose is going to love them too.
"We need to hunt." Carlisle said right away when he realized that most of us hadn't hunted in a while.
"Bella went hunting just a few days ago," Jasper pointed out. If I could've blushed, I would've. Alice and I had gotten into a fight about what I was going to wear, and Edward had taken her side. I was so mad at him that I had to leave the house, so I went hunting. Of course we made up after, but it was still embarrassing.
"Rose hasn't met Bella yet. I don't want her to wake up in a house she's never seen before with a stranger."
"She'll wake up in a few minutes. When she does you can introduce them and tell her you're going to be back soon." Alice told him.
"Let's go," Emmett said to me, and we both stood up.
"Wait! Don't go inside her room until she's been awake for a minute or else you'll scare her." We nodded at Alice and made our way to the stairs.
"I wonder if she's as clumsy as you were." Emmett said, and I smacked his arm.
"Mommy?" I heard a soft voice ask. Emmett was in Rosalie's room in an instant, and I followed closely behind.
"Don't worry, baby, you're okay," he said and wrapped his arms around her.
"I had a bad dream," she whispered with her face buried into his chest.
"You wanna tell me about it?" he asked and rubbed her back.
"Who's she?" Rosalie asked when she noticed I was in the room.
"This is Bella. Remember, Alice was telling you about our family in the hospital?"
She nodded her head, "Hi! I'm Rose."
"Nice to meet you." I replied.
"Rose, my family and I need to go out for a while. Bella's going to stay with you, and we'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay," she whispered.
"You're gonna have tons of fun with Bella. I have to go now. See you tomorrow." He kissed her forehead and left. They weren't in love yet, but I could already tell that it hurt Emmett to leave her.
"I'll take care of her, Emmett. I promise," I whispered, but I knew he would still worry.
"Thank you," he replied, and left with the rest of the family.
"You wanna go brush your teeth?"
"Okay!" She held her arms out for me to pick her up, and I brought her to the bathroom where Alice had left a new toothbrush for her.
"I like you," she whispered when I put her down on the counter so she could brush her teeth.
I didn't have much experience with children, so I was surprised for a moment because of how she wasn't afraid to say that. "I like you too," I said to her with a smile.
"Really?" I had no idea that me saying that would make her that happy.
"Really," I told her and uncapped the toothpaste for her.
Emmett's POV: I can't take it anymore. It's been three hours since I've seen Rosalie. What if something happened? I know Bella is responsible, but how could I not worry about Rose? She was so sweet and little. I could hear her heartbeat and feel the warmth of her blood when I was near her. She was fragile, especially now that she has no idea where her parents are. What if she had gotten hurt? Maybe I should call Bella…
"Emmett," Alice ran to me without finishing her elk, "she's fine. Do you really think that if something happened I wouldn't tell you right away?"
"She's so little. I know Bella can handle her and you're checking on them, but I'm still worried."
She took a few steps closer and wrapped her tiny arms around me. "You and Rose are going to be really close. I've seen it. I get that you're worried about her, but you don't need to be. She told Bella about the dream she had, then had breakfast, and now they're playing cards. You need to hunt, or else we will have something to worry about. Go find yourself a bear. We'll be home right before she goes to bed.
"Thank you, Alice," I whispered, and gave her another hug. We were silent for a moment. "Alice? I don't worry as much as Edward, do I?"
She laughed, "You're close, but he's still worse than you."
"Good," I never wanted to worry as much as Edward, but I guess I get why he used to be worried all the time when Bella was human. Well, I don't get it because I don't get why I'm worried either, but now I know what it feels like.
Rosalie's POV: "All done!" I announced once I thought I had been brushing my teeth for long enough. "My teeth sparkle now," I told Bella.
"That's great," she laughed, and I stuck my arms out so that she could carry me again. She was kind of like a big sister, even though I've never had one of those. "Do you want to eat lunch?" she asked as she brought me down.
"Okay!" I hadn't realized how hungry I was until now.
"How about I make you a sandwich?" she asked as she set me down at the dining table. I nodded my head. Bella pulled another chair closer to me so that I could put my leg on it, and started making the sandwich. I didn't know why, but I loved the way that the sun shined off of her. Even though it wasn't that sunny, it seemed like her skin was sparkling a little bit.
She gave me the sandwich with a glass of milk, and I finished it in just a few minutes. "Bella," I asked in my sweetest voice, "can I have a cookie please?"
"Just one," she replied with a smile and started to look for cookies in the pantry closet. When she found it and gave it to me, I ate it with what I had left of my milk.
"All done?" Bella asked when I had drunk the last of my milk. I nodded, and she took my plate and cup to the sink. She did the dishes faster than I had ever seen our maids do them and then came back. "What do you wanna do now?" she asked.
"Can I tell you about my dream?" I asked in a soft voice. It still kind of scared me to think about it.
"Of course," she picked me up and brought me to the living room.
"Can I sit on your lap?" I asked her. Mommy always lets me sit in her lap when I tell her about my dreams.
"Of course," she said again. She sat down on the couch and held me so that I was sideways on her lap with my legs stretched out on the couch. She grabbed a pillow from next to her and lifted up my leg.
"Ow!" I felt the tears rush to my eyes. It really hurt.
"No, don't cry. Shh," it had only hurt for a second when she had lifted up my leg, so I tried to stop crying. A few tears slipped out, but I quickly wiped them away. I didn't want Bella to panic, but I guess it was too late for that. "Does it still hurt?" she asked with a worried expression on her face. I shook my head from left to right, not trusting myself to speak. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I was just trying to keep your leg elevated."
"It's okay. I'm fine now." I whispered after taking a few deep breaths. She soothingly rubbed my back to help me calm down. I wrapped my arms around her waist and she held me tight.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked when I eased my grip.
"It doesn't hurt anymore." I reassured her. I really was just surprised when I felt the bolt of pain shoot up my leg, but it quickly went away after that.
"I really didn't mean to hurt you," she apologized again, "I promise I won't move your leg anymore."
"Okay," I gave her another hug, and she smiled.
We sat together for a few minutes in silence. "Do you still want to tell me about your dream?" she asked, and I nodded my head. She waited patiently while I struggled to explain what had happened.
"I was at the mall with my parents," I started, and Bella didn't look surprised, "and then Emmett showed up."
"Was it just Emmett?" Bella asked.
"Yeah. I don't know why, but…he just seems different." I couldn't explain it, but I was attached to him. Even when Bella was with me, I wanted him to come home most of all. He seemed protective of me when he was around me, and I think he felt attached to me too. He really didn't look like he wanted to leave me when I woke up today.
"Different how?" she asked.
"I don't know. I guess I just really like him. I know I just met him, but I kind of want to be with him all the time." I probably sounded crazy.
Bella just laughed. "So he's like your best friend?" she asked, and I nodded. That seemed like a good way to describe it. "What happened after Emmett showed up?" she asked.
"He looked like he was in a rush to leave. He said that I had to pick to leave my parents and be with his family, or stay with my parents and never see him again. He said I had to pick quickly before we ran out of time. He looked really worried and panicked.
"I turned around to look and see what my parents thought I should do. I didn't want to leave them, but I didn't want to never see Emmett again.
"When I was going to ask them what to do, they were already gone. I tried to find them, but Emmett told me that it was too late.
"I was upset that I was going to have to live without my parents, but I knew that at least I had Emmett. I thought I was going to be okay, but then he turned around and left without me. I tried to follow him, but when I opened the mall doors he wasn't there anymore. I kept looking for somebody, but I was all alone."
"Is that it?" she asked when I didn't say anything after. I nodded, not wanting to say anything.
"Rose, you do realize it's just a dream, right?" I nodded, knowing that dreams could be crazy sometimes. "Just because something happened in a dream, it doesn't mean that something like that would happen in real life. If your parents are found, you'll never have to pick between them and us. It would make sense for you to live with them, but you can always come and visit us."
What she was saying did make sense. I liked Emmett, Bella, and their family, but I would want to live with my parents if I could. I was happy to hear that Bella would want me to visit her family.
"And no matter what happens, Emmett will never leave you like that. He was so upset that he had to leave you today, and he was so worried too."
"I guess my dreams can be crazy sometimes."
"Everyone's dreams are," she told me with a smile.
"Rose," Bella started tentatively, "I don't want you to lose hope. Hope is always good. But, it's important for you to realize that sometimes things happen that are unfair. There's a chance that you staying with us might become more permanent." She said the last sentence slowly, not wanting to scare me.
I had been afraid of this since I woke up in the hospital, but I had sort of pushed it out of my mind. I didn't want to have to think about that, but Bella saying it made it seem more real.
"They might not come back," I whispered.
"I didn't want to upset you, but you need to get used to the idea of things not working out how you want them to."
I knew what she was saying. She wasn't trying to bring my spirits down. She was just being honest.
"I get it," I told her, "but can we not talk about this anymore?" I know it's not good to push away problems, but still. It was hard to think about my parents being gone, especially when I had seen them just today.
"Okay. What do you want to do now?" she asked. "I don't really want you doing anything that could hurt your leg anymore." I could tell that she was still scared about me getting hurt again.
"Can we play Go Fish?" I asked. I loved playing Go Fish with our maids.
"Let me go get some cards," she said and slowly slipped out from beneath me without moving my leg at all.
She left the room and was back with cards in just a few seconds.
"You're very fast!" I exclaimed. I had no idea where they kept their cards, but still.
Bella chuckled, "Alice left the cards out knowing that we would need something to do."
"Whoa, is she, like, a psychic or something?" I asked. Daddy and I had once watched a movie about a boy who thought he could see the future, but nobody believed him at first.
Bella looked taken aback for a minute, but then she laughed with me. "She is very good at predicting things. Come on, let's play," she quickly changed the subject, not that I minded at all.
"Okay!" She gave me seven cards and took seven for herself.
"I have to warn you, though, it's been a really long time since I've played Go Fish," she added as she organized her cards and took out the doubles that she already had.
"It's okay, I'm not that good either," I admitted. Whenever I played with the maids, they were always able to remember which cards I had.
"Well, then I guess it's good that we're playing together," she said with a laugh, and I laughed with her.
Bella's POV: I never thought I would like Rose this much. I mean, I never disliked her, but I didn't think I would be able to have fun with a human, especially of her age. Ever since I was turned to a vampire after Edward and I got married, I hadn't been around humans that much. I had to stop talking to all my friends from Forks High, but they probably had forgotten about me pretty quickly.
I did go to school with the rest of the Cullens, but we mostly avoided everyone, just as I knew I would have to. I didn't really have much of a problem with bloodlust, but it was important for us to not get too close to anyone.
I had never had a younger sibling, so I didn't really have much experience with kids. Emmett knew that, so I was surprised that he trusted me. I mean, there wasn't much of a reason not to trust me, but still. I could tell that it put him in physical pain to leave her, and even Jasper wasn't able to help him much.
Rosalie was different than I thought most kids her age would be like. She was definitely more mature than other five-year-olds, although she was still playful. I never thought I wouldn't like kids, I just didn't realize that they could still be fun. Even though I have to be careful with her and watch her, playing with her was fun.
I never really thought I would understand Edward's concern for me as a human. He loosened up a bit after my change, probably because I became stronger than he was for the first year. When Rose started crying because her leg hurt, I finally understood how fragile she was, and how fragile I had seemed to Edward back then. But, of course, I would never admit that to him. I could still remember how annoyed I used to get with him back when I was a human.
"Bella! Bella! Do you have any sixes?" I suddenly heard Rosalie trying to get my attention.
"Sorry, I was just thinking. Here you go," I gave her my six of diamonds.
"Yay! I won!" she had a huge grin on her face.
"I told you I was bad at this," I said. I had let her win a few times, but this time it was all her.
"No, you're not," she said with a giggle. "Can we play something else now?" Even I was getting bored.
"What do you wanna play?" I asked. I knew Alice would've already bought everything that she needed.
She thought for a second. "Do you have Hungry, Hungry Hippos?" she asked.
"Let me go see." In all honesty, I had never heard of it. I left the room in human speed, and, of course, sped up once I was out of sight. Come on, it has to be somewhere. I rummaged through all the shopping bags until my phone rang.
"It's on the coffee table." I heard Alice's high chirp before I had the chance to say anything.
"Alice, you are a lifesaver." How could I not have seen it there?
"You do realize that she wouldn't have minded if we didn't have it?" she asked.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just not that good with kids…" I trailed off, knowing that she would know what I meant. Neither of us hated kids or anything, we just didn't have that much experience with them.
"She adores you," Alice informed me. I grinned at that.
"Not as much as Emmett," I joked, and we laughed. "Alice, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."
"Wait! When you bring her the game, don't let her try to get off the couch. Just push the coffee table towards her, and sit on the other side of it. You can carry her when she needs to eat, use the bathroom, and whatnot, but don't let her try to move by herself. And next time you try to put a pillow under her leg, just do it more slowly," she said quickly, knowing that I had to get back to Rosalie.
"Thanks, Alice," I said as I started walking back towards the living room.
"Bye," she replied and we both hung up.
"Yay!" I heard Rosalie's excited squeal. I was by her side in an instant to stop her from trying to get up.
"Stay on the couch, sweetie. I don't want you getting hurt again," I quickly explained.
"Okay," I could tell she wasn't happy about that, but keeping her from getting hurt any more is more important than anything else is right now.
I pushed the coffee table closer to her so that she could play while sitting.
"Who were you on the phone with?" she asked as she opened the box.
"Alice. You met her in the hospital, right?" I asked, even though I already knew. I didn't want her to know that the whole family had heard of every thing that had happened to her starting from where Emmett had found her. It wasn't like we were trying to be creepy, but everyone was worried about how she would react to her parents being "missing".
"Yeah! She came with Esme and they brought Olive…" she looked like she had just realized something terrible.
"What's wrong?" I asked quickly. I had no idea who Olive was, and Rose was about to burst into tears.
"Where's my toy piggy?" she sobbed.
"Well, where did you last see it?" I asked and rubbed her back. I tried to seem as calm as possible, but inside I was freaking out. I had no idea how I was supposed to handle this.
"We went to the car with Emmett and Alice, and I had her with me. I fell asleep in the car, and then woke up upstairs. I don't know where she is." She reached towards me for a hug, and I gladly gave her one.
"It's probably still in the car then. I'll call Alice again and check. Don't worry, honey, we'll find her."
She nodded and held my hand while I called Alice.
"Bella, I am so sorry. I've been checking the future for a million other things, especially because Emmett is really worried."
"Alice, slow down, it's okay. Is it in the car?"
"Yeah, don't worry. We'll remember to bring it in tonight," she reassured me.
"Okay," I was a bit calmer now.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."
"Bye," I said, and we both hung up.
"Did she find it?" Rosalie asked the second I hung up. She seemed calmer too, but she was obviously still upset.
"It's in the car. Everyone is going to be home tomorrow, so they'll remember to bring her in."
She looked relieved. "My Mommy bought her for me," she whispered.
My still heart broke at the thought of what she must be going through. "Don't worry, you'll have Olive by tomorrow. Alice will take good care of her." I figured that she still didn't want to talk about her parents.
"Okay." She seemed a bit happier knowing that her toy was okay. "She's not going to be alone, is she?" Rose asked.
It took a second for me to figure out that she was still talking about the pig. "No, of course not. Alice and Emmett will be with her," I assured her. I guess it wasn't a big deal to lie to Rose, as long as it was for the right reasons. What was I supposed to say? Alice and Emmett are going to go kill some animals and then drink their blood, and leave your favorite toy all alone in a car? A small lie was definitely better than that.
"Can we play now?" she asked, and I left her side to sit on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.
"Can I be the pink hippo?" she asked.
"Okay, I'll be the blue one," I said and put the marbles in.
Hungry, Hungry Hippos was an easy game. Basically, you just push on a button that's attached to the head of a hippo to make the hippo look like it's taking a bite of something. All you really have to do is keep pushing the button quickly and at the right time, and if you're lucky, you'll get more marbles than the other person will.
It really helped that the game was based on luck, so we both won about the same number of times. I mean, if it wasn't based on luck I would've let her win most of the time, but I'm a terrible actress. I only had to let her win twice in Go Fish, yet she was already starting to look suspicious. I guess Edward was right when he said I'm easy to read.
"What are you thinking about now?" she asked. I probably had a distant look on my face.
"I'm just really glad that I get to spend the day with you." It wasn't really a lie. It just didn't answer her question. I guess lying is just a part of being around children.
"I am too," she said with a grin, and then started to count how many marbles her hippo had eaten this round.
A/N: I know this took forever. I just thought that I needed to make this chapter longer than the other ones because they seemed really short. I'll probably be updating more over the summer, but don't be surprised if I don't update until then.
Nobody voted on my poll about which character's POV they wanted to see more, so I decided to go with Bella for this chapter.
I just realized that when I put my penname at the end of every chapter it only shows up as "999" so if anyone was wondering about that, it wasn't on purpose.