A/N Thank you EsmeAliceRose, Pandamelon, and darkinque for your amazing reviews and thank you for staying with my story even thought I have no schedule for updating regularly! ^_^' I hope I answered any questions that you had!

So now we find out the aftermath of the fight (Who else was happy to see Royce get clobbered?) and delve into the dreams of a 22 year old girl! The / marks -are the beginnings of the dream, so hopefully no one got confused the last time I used them, at least no one told me otherwise!

I hope you enjoy, and on with the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I own the story line and nothing more! :)

Chapter 11

This could not be happening…

I had thought about all that had transpired that evening in the back seat of Daddy's Ford Escape. There were a few images that stood out; Royce's bloody face, his cronies staring in shock as Royce was being pummeled, Daddy's anger as he showed up a few minutes later to pick me up, but the one that was permanently etched into my mind was the murderous intent that seemed to be embedded in Emmett's eyes as he punched Royce, not only was there anger there, but excitement, and…. happiness?

Yes, Emmett seemed to enjoy hitting Royce, liked hearing the sound of bones breaking under his inhuman strength. It was like he had transformed into this coldhearted monster, not the kind and gentle Emmett that I had come to know. The look in his eyes terrified me. It made me wonder what kind of live he used to live before he came to live with Esme and Carlisle.

"Rosalie Lillian Hale." Daddy addressed me sternly. "Would you mind explaining to me why I got a call from Deputy Sheriff Marks tonight saying that you were involved in a fight?"

"It's nothing Daddy…." I trailed off, not meeting his gaze in the rear view mirror.

"Rose, when two men get carried off, one to the emergency room, and the other to jail, it's a little more than 'nothing'."

I sighed. "Emmett and I had gone to work on the car before I took him home. We are almost finished with her. I thought we could enter her in next week's car show. And before we could get anything done, Royce came up and accused Emmett of stealing me away from him, which is absolutely ridiculous. Then Emmett told me to get inside, so I wouldn't get hurt, and then Royce punched Emmett as he turned back around. After that, Emmett tackled Royce and started punching him. Then deputy Marks showed up and it was all over." I just gave him the short version, no need to include the underlying issues.

"Well did Emmett steal you away?" Daddy asked, trying to piece it together himself.

"No, I…" I sighed again, I couldn't figure out how to word it correctly. "I just don't love Royce anymore. He's not the same person I thought he was." I looked at my reflection in the glass. It had started raining since we left the shop. The sky was shedding the tears that I couldn't. Everything had just gone terribly wrong. I wish none of this had happened! I wish I had never fallen in love with Royce, I wish I had never come to work at the shop, I wish the sheriff hadn't given Daddy any money, and I wish that stupid drunk driver had never killed my mom! A single tear escaped from my eye, Daddy couldn't see it.

"So do you like Emmett now?" Daddy asked.

I didn't answer at first. I did love the more dominant side of Emmett, the happy go lucky unselfish big brother who loved his sister and brother more than anyone else in the world. But this new side, how could I be sure that he wouldn't do that to me one day? I mean, I didn't think Royce was capable of doing what he did, who's to say Emmett wouldn't do the same thing?

"I don't really know right now." I answered truthfully. "Everything is just so confusing. I'll feel better about it when I see him again."

"That won't be possible Rosalie." Daddy didn't look at me in the rear view mirror anymore. His focus was solely on the road. "I don't want you spending time with him anymore."

"What?!" I was outraged and in disbelief at the same time.

"That boy is a bad influence on you. He has caused nothing but trouble since I hired him."

"Emmett is NOT a bad influence on me." My disbelief faded away and was replaced by anger. "He has been nothing but nice to me since he came here. He showed me kindness that Royce never did. His family has been extremely generous to us and has taken us in like we were a part of their family."

"That's true. The rest of that family has treated us well, but Emmett isn't all you think he is."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"I didn't want to tell you because I never thought you two would hit it off as well as you did. The only reason I hired Emmett was because his aunt asked me too."

I sat in shocked silence, waiting for him to continue.

"Esme came into the shop a few months ago on one of your days off. She needed her car inspected. We got to talking and she had mentioned that she was going down to Tennessee to go visit some family, and she told me about her sister and that she had passed away. Her husband was going down with her to work out the adoption papers for her niece and youngest nephew. But her oldest, Emmett, had already aged out of the adoption maximum age requirement. He wanted to stay with his brother and sister, so she arranged for him to come and live with them. However it wasn't for free, they had worked it out that Emmett would pay them rent every month for his room and board. The only problem was that he had no money saved up and he had no job."

"I felt sorry for them." Daddy sighed. "Hearing that their mother passed away made me think of you kids, and it got me to thinking that I should give this kid a break. I would want someone to give you, Bella, and Jasper a chance like that. So, I told her that Emmett could come work for me as a janitor, I couldn't afford to pay him much, but it would be enough to pay for his expenses."

Some things started to come into place, it seemed odd to me that Daddy would have hired Emmett in the first place, before he hired him he was worrying about how everyone was going to get their checks that month. But now that I knew, it made more sense.

"So naturally, I had to ask Sheriff King to pull up his record from Tennessee. It took a while for it to come in, by the time it did, you had already met him and you two were getting along so well, I hated to tell you…." Daddy trailed off.

I didn't want to know what was in Emmett's record, I was afraid of what it might say.

We sat in silence the rest of the way home. We were both contemplating what was said.

As soon as Daddy pulled into the drive way I unlocked the door and walked to the front door. I walked up to my room with a short hello to Jasper and Bella and a thank you to Mrs. Jenkins who came over to babysit on short notice.

Once I was in my room, I broke down into tears and strangled sobs. I ran to the bed and fell face first onto it. I couldn't get myself to calm down long enough to get the tears to stop, but eventually the hysterics changed into quiet sobs and then into short gasps for breath and finally no tears at all.

I was numb. I stared at the wall, seeing nothing. Bella must have come in sometime later, but I didn't notice her. A few times I would just start crying for no reason and then the tears would stop almost as quickly as they started. After what seemed like a long time, I drifted into an uneasy sleep.

/

I was in one of those dreams where you start running and it seems like no matter how far you run, or how fast, that you never seem to get anywhere. I was running towards the outline of a person but I couldn't make out what it was. I continued to run even though it was probably useless.

After what seemed like forever, I got closer to the outline to make out the familiar broad shoulders and characteristically curly hair. I called out to him and he slowly turned to face me. Everything looked the same; the same hair, the same clothes and the same face.

But he wasn't my Emmett. The closer I got to him the more subtle differences became apparent. He had cuts and bruises all over the visible parts of his body. He also seemed to act differently. He seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders and his expression went from a scowl to a very unpleasant grin when he saw me. The same look that Royce had on his face the day he attacked me.

I tried to run away but I seemed to find myself backed into a corner. The familiar sights of the shop filled my vision as Emmett moved closer. I fell on the ground and covered my head, for lack of anything else to do. I closed my eyes, waiting for the beating to begin.

But it never came.

I opened my eyes to see two of Emmett. Wondering if I had finally lost it, I stood to get a better look at both of them. There was a distinct difference between the two of them. One was the same one that I ran away from, but the other Emmett had the same fierce look in his face but he words he said made me know for sure which one he is.

"Stay away from her!" He growled at himself. "You don't belong here anymore, get out of my head!"

Their battle continued to rage on. I noticed that their fighting styles were changing. The bad Emmett was starting to fight more like Royce, and my Emmett was starting to turn more into the darker version of himself. They were reenacting the fight from earlier.

There was no one there to stop me this time, I ran for Emmett, tears in my eyes.

"Emmett please stop!" I cried as I caught his arm in mid swing.

He stopped, released his other self, and turned to face me.

"Please stop!" I whimpered as I threw my hands around his middle. "Please!"

Slowly, I could feel his body calm down and he eventually wrapped his own arms around me.

"Thank you Rose." He whispered. "Thank you for saving me from the darkness." He kissed the top of my head, and then everything went black.

/

I woke up to a tear soaked pillow and a bright day outside.

I had made up my mind, no more tears, no more regrets, and one last lie.

"Daddy, I'm going to Vera's." I said as I grabbed my car keys and ran out the door.

Another Cliffhanger I know, I know! With the drama like it is, the cliffhangers really add to the effectiveness of the chapter!

Anyway, make sure you tell me what you think about this chapter in the reviews! I love hearing from you all and hearing what you think I could improve on! I take every one of your comments into consideration moving ahead with my stories!

~STP