Emmett's Point of View
"Please return your seat backs and tray tables to their upright positions, as we are now descending into Irkutsk" a heavily accented voice filled the cabin. I pushed the button on the side of my seat to release it from its reclined position, and Rose picked up her sketch pad, then raised the tray table she'd been using to draw on. I reached over and squeezed Rose's hand, "we're finally here!" She smiled at me and patted my hand. I'm sure I was annoying the crap out of her, but being basically trapped in a small area for a long period of time was making me crazy. The flights were long and boring, and the layovers were even worse. Sure I could walk around and stretch my legs, but I was longing for some fresh air. None of the humans on the plane were overly tempting to me, but I might eat one out of boredom. In the last 30 or so hours, I'd watched all three Godfather movies, Good Fellas, Casino, The Untouchables, and a good portion of season one of Bones. That Bones chick was pretty hot, she had nothing on my Rosie, but for human she wasn't hard on the eyes. I briefly pondered a career in acting; I'd make a way better FBI badass than that wannabe vampire pansy.
Rosalie's Point of View
The plane touched down in Irkutsk, and I reached down to grab my carry on bag. Emmett was still in his seat, with a large smile on his face, he must be lost in thought about one of his dumb gangster movies. I would be so glad to get off of this airplane. I love my husband, but he needs some entertainment, because when he gets bored he tends to forget himself.
Flashback – a few hours ago in the midst of one of the flights
It was the middle of the night, at least Seattle time, so the majority of the plane was asleep. I was watching old episodes of America's Top Model, I would be the perfect super model, and watching these ordinary humans try to obtain perfection was nothing short of hilarious to me. I heard a loud laugh beside me. The entire first class cabin was now awake as Emmett had a laughing fit. "Honey, what on earth are you watching that's so funny?" I asked, and then whispered "keep it down dumbass, people should be SLEEPING." Emmett noticed his surroundings and immediately stopped laughing. He hit pause on his iPod and handed me one of the earbuds, "You have to watch this Rosie! I totally want to play baseball with this guy." I put the earbud in my ear and leaned over to see the small screen with Emmett. It's a man (A/N Robert DeNiro) dressed in a tuxedo, walking around a conference table filled with other well dressed men, with a baseball bat in his hand, giving a lecture on loyalty, who suddenly stops behind one of the men and smashes his head in with the baseball bat. I shuddered with disgust and handed Emmett his second earbud. "I will never understand your fascination with gangs and the mob." I told him in a scolding tone. Emmett chuckled and put his other earbud back in and returned his focus to the movie.
Flash forward – present
I stood up with Emmett, and we walked forward to disembark the plane. "Enjoy your stay in Siberia" the flight attendant said as we walked off the plane. I acknowledged her with a nod and headed into the airport.
Emmett's Point of View
Rose and I followed the signs towards baggage claim. Thankfully most of the signs were in both English and Russian, because even though I'd been to high school more times than I could count, and college a number of times too, I didn't speak Russian. I spoke fluent French, Spanish and German, and passable Japanese, but no Russian at all. Rose could speak Chinese, as well as Italian and some Arabic that she picked up when Benjamin and Tia were visiting us in Forks. I put my arm around Rose's shoulder and pulled her close to me, "remind me during our next stint in college to take Russian." She laughed, "I was just thinking the same thing. Right now it would be helpful to have Carlisle or Edward here to translate."
We found the baggage carousel and sat down to wait for luggage to begin pouring out. I grabbed the map out of my carry on bag, and spread it over the floor, figuring we might as well plan while we waited. I pointed out Irkutsk, on the map, then spoke "I think we should basically follow the TransSiberia Railroad tracks toward the Amur River Valley. That's where all of the good hunting is supposed to be." Rose nodded in agreement. A loud clang in the background announced that bags were now being delivered to the carousel. I saw my bag come down the ramp and went to grab it. Rose's bag was right behind mine. With both bags in hand I returned to where Rose and the map were. I clipped my carry on to my rucksack, and slung it onto my back. Rose did the same and we headed toward the exit.
The fresh air was crisp and exhilarating. I couldn't wait to be out and exploring in it. Other people exited the airport and went to join the taxi queue. They were bundled up and shivering. This was always the hardest part of any trip for me. Leaving the airport. Not because I didn't want to, but more, how to do it without raising suspicions. If we just walked off down the street people would find that odd, but it seemed wasteful to take a taxi to a hotel that we wouldn't be staying at. While I was figuring out what to do next I heard Rose call my name. "Emmett honey, how many times do I have to remind you? Zip up your coat. And have you seen my gloves?" Rose's tone was sarcastic and patronizing at the same time. Ahh yes, the familiar way to explain the lack of reaction to something, pretend I was an idiot. I ducked my head, "sorry babe, I think your gloves are in the side pocket of your bag, let me grab them for you." I responded hoping I sounded appropriately contrite. I stood in front of Rose so that I could find her gloves while she zipped my jacket. She pulled the zipper on my jacket all the way to the top and kissed my chin, "I can't wait til we're out of here so we can give up these useless charades for a while," she whispered. I smiled in response and handed her a pair of black gloves with fir around the cuff. I looked up and saw my answer on a sign behind Rose's head 'Shuttle to TransSiberian Railroad' perfect. Rose and I joined the line for the shuttle to the train station. From what I read, the train station should be surrounded by shops and restaurants, making it easy to just wander off.
We arrived at the train station, and sure enough, it was surrounded by shops. Rose wandered into a few of them, looking for a good souvenir for our trip. With a perfect memory photographs weren't necessary, but it was nice to have something to remind us of the trip. Rose was petting a large stuffed Siberian tiger when I came up behind her. "I was thinking that Nessie would like this," she explained. I smiled and heard my niece in my head "a zebra a zebra," "Well, it's no zebra…" I started, "but might as well get her one from everywhere." Rose smiled and took the tiger to the counter. I wandered around the store, thinking about the fact that I never took photos. Maybe photos would educational for Nessie since she's never been here, I thought. With my mind made up, I went and picked out a digital camera with several memory cards. After our purchases were made we found our way to the Russian equivalent of a post office. There was no way I was hauling a stuffed tiger around the world.
I took out my pocket translator and typed "Do you speak English" into it, then hit translate, the machine then spoke the phrase in awkward mechanical Russian. The woman behind the counter looked up, a little startled and gave a hearty laugh. "I speak English," she said slowly with a heavy accent. "Perfect," I answered, "I need to ship this," I gestured to the tiger "to the United States." The woman nodded in understanding, and handed me a very large box, and shipping labels. Rose set to work filling out the labels and customs forms while I packed the tiger into a box, which would go into another box for shipping. With a large black marker I wrote in bold letters on the outside of the box "Do Not Open Until Emmett and Rosalie Return – Or ELSE!" Then I proceeded to use an entire roll of packing tape on the box. Rose looked over and saw my writing on the box and laughed, "I was thinking the same thing, which is why I'm shipping the package to Carlisle's office. He won't be curious enough to tear into it before we get home." I grinned back at her. "I love that you know me so well Rosie."
By the time we were done at the post office, it was getting dark out, and most of the people had just caught the last train out for the night. Rose and I wandered hand in hand down the street, feigning interest in random things and watching other people. When we reached the last of the shops, I looked around. With the exception of the shopkeeper in the last store, there wasn't another heartbeat around. I gave Rose the look, and both of us took off at vampire speed into the woods.
After running for about 5 minutes, I stopped. The forest was dense with trees, and there was snow in places that weren't fully protected by tree cover. I took a deep breath and smiled. "I love the smell of clean air, I can smell all sorts of new animal smells, but nothing human." Rose inhaled deeply too. "I think I smell something from the cat family that way," she said as she pointed to the west. "Well then, let's go… Last one there is a rotten egg!" I taunted her and took off at a run.
After running for a couple of miles I sniffed the air again and came to a dead halt. Rose slammed into my back. She started to scold me, but I put my hand over her mouth.
*****
Alice's Point of View
I was puttering around the living room, hanging 'new' (well different) paintings, as Jasper told Nessie stories about the Civil War. The American Civil War that is, not the vampire uprisings of South. I loved listening to him tell stories like this, his Southern drawl became more pronounced when he was talking about his memories from that time. Nessie was giggling about something that stemmed from "stupid Yankees." I was just about to hang an undiscovered Van Gogh above the fireplace when everything went black. I froze in place holding the painting in mid air. Jasper came running over to me, "Alice, sweetheart, what is it?" He took the painting from my hand and set it on the ground. I tried to speak, but it came out in stutters "I, I… don't… NO!!!!" I shrieked. Jasper put his arms around me, "Ali, talk to me…" Edward and Bella dashed into the room. "Daddy, what's wrong with Auntie Alice" I barely heard Nessie ask. "I don't know, Ness." Bella answered for Edward. Edward came up over to where I was, "It might not be what you think Alice..." his voice trailed off as he tried to reassure me…
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Author's Notes and Disclaimers:
All credit for Twilight, Bones, America's Top Model, The Untouchables and everything else goes to the proper creators.
The movie that Emmett has Rose watch a scene from is The Untouchables. I love that movie and couldn't resist the baseball tie in.
As for Bones, I absolutely love that show, and David Boreanaz is pretty much number one on my celeb list at the moment. So no offense meant by the "wannabe vampire pansy" comment.
Oh and for chapter six, I meant to explain the "quiet finger" which is when a person holds up their first finger in a 'hold on a moment' sort of gesture.
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