Disclaimer, I don't own Twilight. This chapter is just a fun little family meeting between the Cullen's. It's meant to be lighthearted, because while they have their issues the Cullen's are a family, and I refuse to believe that they're all doom and gloom all of the time. Also I really wanted to show a… if not sisterly, then at least friendly, dynamic between Rosalie and Alice. This takes place several months before the Cullen's move to Forks.
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Family Meeting
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"Family meeting!" Alice chirps with excitement, practically dancing into the living room and sitting down next to Rosalie. Rosalie always assumed that she must have done some kind of ballet or something when she was a human because even for a vampire Alice was incredibly graceful.
As everyone files in Rosalie sets aside her book and gives Alice a little nudge. "Alright what's this about?"
"We're moving soon and we need to set up our new cover I.D's." Alice whispers back.
"Oh god…" Rosalie groans. This. This right here, establishing a cover was always the worst part of moving. It was a horrible juggling act of what would work versus what would make them not want to kill themselves for being so incredibly awful versus what would allow them to stay in one place for the longest time.
Alice giggles. "Sorry Rosie, you're not going to like this one, but it's the best shot we have at staying for a long time." Alice says, knowing that longevity was the key to appeasing Rosalie who hated to move.
It takes Rosalie a second to figure out what Alice is implying and when she does she can't stop the groan that escapes. She was fairly indifferent to the majority of their cover stories, but there was one that she vigorously hated. "Really Alice, again? No, come on there has to be a better option."
"What did you have in mind Alice?" Esme asks as she and Carlisle step into the room, followed closely by Emmett who immediately takes the other seat next to Rosalie, kissing her on the cheek as he does so and wrapping an arm around her.
"Oh God, really Alice?" Edward groans as he steps into the living room, folding his arms and scowling.
"Yes really." She chirps happily in that way that always annoyed Rosalie because Alice knew that she was right and was going to get her way.
"What's got you all grumpy?" Jasper asks her as he steps enters the living room, the last one to join them.
"Shut up, you're not going to be any happier than I am about this." Rosalie grumbles.
"Happier with what?" He asks confused.
"Nah, he'll be fine." Alice says with complete confidence.
"Thanks darlin'… fine with what?" He asks her suspiciously. He didn't need his powers to feel the excitement and the joy that was currently radiating off of Alice, which made him all the more suspicious. He loved his wife dearly but that didn't change the fact that of all of them she was the sneakiest.
Edward chuckles at that thought and gives him a nod of agreement.
"Apparently we're deciding our cover story for when we move to Forks in a couple of weeks." Emmett says.
Carlisle's lips quirk into an amused smile and even Esme seems slightly amused. "Do we have to be here for this, because we already know our cover?" Carlisle asks. If the others couldn't come to an agreement then he would step in and help smooth things out, but for the most part he left their cover stories to them. It was their lives and they had to live with them. As for him and Esme, young Doctor and his absolutely gorgeous architect or interior designer wife, depending on Esme's mood, worked for them just fine.
"Yes you have to be here, dad." Alice says with an eye roll and a very sarcastic emphasis on the word "dad."
The look of horror on Jaspers face as well as the almost identical looks of distain on Edward's and Rosalie's faces causes Esme to turn her face into Carlisle's shoulder to try and hide her laughter.
"Oh darlin' no, please, c'mon, you can't be serious?" He asks his wife, there was only one reason why Alice would call Carlisle dad.
"See! Can you talk some sense into her?" Rosalie huffs.
"She's not changing her mind, she's seen it." Edward growls.
"Oh come on, it'll be great." Alice says, beaming.
"Well then you do it, why subject the rest of us to it?" Rosalie asks.
"Wait, I'm lost, what are we doing?" Emmett asks.
"High school, and you all have to do it too because it doesn't work unless it's all of us. I have foreseen it." Alice says imperiously, a smug look on her face.
"High school, sweet!" Emmett laughs, reaching over and high-fiving Alice. He was the only other one who enjoyed using the high school student cover other than Alice, mostly because it allowed him to mess with the students and teachers a bit.
"See Emmett's excited." Alice says.
"Well then you two be high school students, Jasper and I can be… I don't know, Carlisle younger twin siblings or something and get a job or go to college. I mean come on, if we're going to be forced to go to school yet again then at least let us do college."
"And what about me?" Edward asks, "I don't particularly feel like going through high school again either."
"You could always stay here, Mrs. Bushwick seems awfully fond of you." Rosalie offers up innocently. Mrs. Bushwick was their 92 year old neighbor.
"You're funny, really, I'm laughing." Edward says dryly.
"Just a thought." Rosalie smirks.
"It won't work in Forks unless we all go to school, it's too small. People will talk even more if two different families who look so much alike move into different places. Nice call on the twin thing though, you should totally go with that." Alice says, looking at her husband and Rosalie appraisingly.
"Yes, but high school?" Jasper asks, "That's putting me in some pretty tight quarters with a lot of potential victims.
"You've done it before Jazz."
"Right, and it was hell on earth though and I almost slipped up. We had to move remember."
"So you moved a little fast, no one saw anything concrete."
"I don't know about this darlin'-"
"No we have to, trust me it'll be fantastic. Besides, I don't have any human memories and-"
"No, no way, you've already used that as an excuse get your way this year, you don't get to use it twice." Rosalie says firmly.
"Really? For what, I could have sworn I was saving it for this." Alice says with a pout.
"When we went to Paris for the fashion show instead of Tokyo for the technology exhibit." Rosalie says with an eye roll. "You've already used not having human memories as an excuse this year and as per our agreement you don't get to use it again until next year."
Alice snaps her fingers, "Darn… oh well, I've still seen it and it's still our best option."
"I don't even understand why we're moving to Forks anyway, the Quileute's made it pretty clear we aren't welcome there." Rosalie says, switching tactics. Maybe a moving to a different location would mean a different cover story.
"Ah they're not so tough." Emmett says with a grin.
"We're going because I liked the little town and it's my turn to pick our move." Esme says with a teasing grin.
"Yes, but what if instead of Forks we did Seattle instead." Rosalie offers. "We get all of the benefits of the cloud cover, no mangy werewolves, and most importantly we don't have to do the high school thing. Those who want to do school can, and those of us who don't can find something else."
"Did you have anything particular in mind?" Carlisle asks, noting that a blush would not have looked out of place on Rosalie's face.
"Well… I was thinking that maybe I would get a job this time around, I was going to put in some applications at a couple of the women's centers in Seattle… but whatever it's no big deal."
"It is a big deal, working is a quite bit different than going to school, there are other trials you have to face in order to do it and in some ways I think it's much harder for our kind to hold a job than go to school, but if you feel you're up for it then I think it's a fantastic idea." Carlisle says with a smile. He was always so proud of Rosalie and the control that she maintained, if she felt she was ready to work and hold a job then that was a huge step forward for her.
"But you could do that next time we move right?" Alice says. "Please, it has to be this set up, it just has to be, please come do high school with us."
"Why, what's going on Alice? Is there something you're not sharing?" Esme asks.
"She's seen something." Edward says, a slight accusation in his voice.
"Darlin' care to share with the rest of us?"
"Alright, it's nothing concrete, but something big is going to happen to us when we move to Forks. I don't know what, things are still in motion, but it'll be huge."
Rosalie glares at Alice. "Is it good or bad?"
"Of course it's good, do you think I wouldn't warn you if it wasn't?"
"Considering that you weren't going to tell us at all, I'd say you don't know if it is good or bad."
Alice gives her a hurt look. "Do you honestly think I would keep something bad that was going to happen to myself?"
Rosalie lets out a sigh. "No, of course not." Rosalie says apologetically.
"I know you were excited about finally working, you've worked hard for your control and this was kind of a light at the end of the tunnel for you, but it's really important that you be there at the school with us. I don't know why, like I said everything is still in motion. I just know a huge change is going to happen with this move. I don't think it will be bad, but I can't get this vision out of my head of the five of us at school. So please Rosalie, please will you do this? For me."
Rosalie groans, knowing she's about to give in and hating herself for it. It was hard to deny Alice anything and this was obviously important to her.
"You can have my turn when it's time for us to pick where we move again." Alice throws in, wanting to sweeten the deal for her sister. She knew this was disappointing for Rosalie. Up until Esme had decided on Forks Alice had been getting a stream of visions of Rosalie working and actually thriving. Alice had been really excited for her. It was only once Forks was chosen that the visions changed, Alice wasn't sure what was going to happens she just knew that things needed to be done a certain way.
"Alright fine." Rosalie agrees. "Damn pixie." She mutters under breath as she nudges Alice affectionately to show there's no real hard feelings.
Alice beams at her sister, "Perfect, now that that's settled-"
"Wait a minute." Edward growls. "What about the rest of us, just because Rosalie agreed to this doesn't mean-"
"Oh give it up Edward." Alice laughs. "Carlisle and Esme aren't really affected by this so they don't really care. Emmett's as excited as I am, Jasper will do it because he loves me and I really, really, really want him to."
Here Jasper shrugs his shoulders because, hey, she wasn't wrong.
"And as for you, you'll put up a fuss but ultimately you're a big pushover and you're going to agree to do it in the end anyways, the only one I really needed to convince was Rosalie and now that it's all settled we're good. Our cover is established and the family meeting is adjourned."