Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Rated: T.
Author: xPaige Turnerx
Summary: It's your classic girl finds love in a coffee shop... if you replace girl with tired old immortal and coffee shop with comic shop and love with aggravated endearment that eventually leads to soul-bound devotion and affection. AU. Rosalie/Bella.
'Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back.'
Rosalie looked particularly smug that day.
It was a look not a lot of people could pull off without appearing, well, douchy. Obnoxious. Like they were begging to be taken down a notch. Their confidence was misplaced, their motivations sour and not strong enough to hold up the weight of their arrogance.
Rosalie did not have this problem. The vampire was very sure of everything she did, which... okay, that wasn't quite accurate. She was almost always uncertain but even her level of uncertainty was more certain than most people would ever reach. Nothing she did was taken lightly, was not examined in every different aspect she could think of.
She didn't react, she calculated.
Except, perhaps, when it came to a certain brunette who proved to be exceptionally difficult to calculate.
Still. On that fateful Friday, Rosalie had arrived at the school with a curl to her lips that invited intrigue and wonder from the rest of the student body. It was the happiest and least severe anyone had ever seen the blonde before; sitting atop the trunk of Edward's Volvo, one leg crossed over the other as she bopped her foot along to an unheard beat. Her golden eyes sparkled when they landed on Angela's old beat up car, perfectly manicured nails tapping eagerly against the metal of the trunk as she waited for the occupants to leave the car.
Excited as she was, she wasn't about to hop around like a little puppy while she waited to greet Bella.
(even if she felt it, deep in her chest)
She watched her mate slip out of the car and breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of skates. Bella was quirky and adorable and Rosalie... cared a great deal for all of that about her, but sometimes it made the girl... unreachable. Rosalie understood exactly what Sarah had meant that day in the comic shop. There were parts of Bella, even to Rosalie herself, that remained untouched. Hidden away behind colourful clothing and beaming grins, behind odd words and weird antics.
Bella hopped to a stop just before the trunk, her warm hands coming up to rest atop Rosalie's thigh. The vampire felt her chest tremble with a purr that she swallowed down. Bella was always... delightfully warm. She raised a golden brow, tilting her head down to meet a pair of dark eyes that peered up at her as if she put the sun and moon in the sky. "Can I help you?"
"If you can't, nobody can."
Golden eyes rolled to the sky as Rosalie tucked the answer away in the back of her mind, registered that the playful tone didn't meet the shadow lurking behind those eyes. "Needy," she scoffed.
Bella guffawed and those warm palms slid up to grab the blonde's hips, dragging her down to the edge of the trunk until a stone knee was on either side of her. "Someone likes to be chased."
"I think someone likes chasing," Rosalie replied airily until she finally looked back down at Bella. Bella, whose smile was so big it crinkled her eyes. Rosalie's fingers brushed against her heart at the phantom heartbeat. "The things you do to me."
"I haven't even begun," Bella promised.
Dark amber swirled into the golden, the two staring back at one another with a silent dare in their eyes-
"Rosalie!" Edward hissed in mortification. He straightened his collar and looked around the parking lot anxiously. "You cannot do that here and certainly not on my car."
Bella's eyebrows hooked up and her mouth was already curving up into a smirk. "Oh, oh! What? What's this? Double Dee, what was she-"
"You will never see this car again if you breathe a word of it," Rosalie warned the boy with a sharp look. "Not even the air freshener."
He deflated enough that the others snickered and began breaking off to go to class. He offered a pouty apology to Bella before dragging his feet after Alice, while Bella stepped back to let Rosalie hop down off the trunk. "You're a dirty vampire!" she laughed.
"Hush, you've no idea what he was talking about," Rosalie murmured as her lips ticked up. Her cool fingers laced together with Bella's without a thought, the two walking towards the tall building. "I would like to take you on a date tonight."
Bella hummed and chewed on her lip thoughtfully. She glanced sideways at the blonde and how much focus Rosalie was putting into walking to class. "Another one?"
"A proper one."
"What does that mean?" she wondered aloud.
Rosalie shook her head, eyes falling to their boots. Hers, a nice sleek pair, Bella's large and clunky and the toes covered in paint. Her smile softened and she swiped her thumb across the back of Bella's hand, hoping her actions conveyed a message she couldn't bring herself to speak aloud yet. "You'll see. Wear something nice."
"Where are we going?"
"What part of 'surprise' do you not understand?"
"All of it," Bella pouted seriously. "English is hard."
This time it was Rosalie looking at Bella thoughtfully as they stopped outside of Bella's first class. She let go of the girl's hand to cross her arms over her chest, leaning sideways against the doorframe. "How many languages do you know?"
"That's complicated," Bella replied ambiguously, as always.
Something Rosalie was both growing accustom to but tired of. She sighed roughly, the smile on her face fading. "Do you not trust me?"
"You know I do."
"I know no such thing."
Bella sighed this time. Her hands fell down to slide into her pockets. Her shoulders drooped, the smile wiped off her face for a wistful look. Gone was the seemingly young girl Rosalie had first met in the comic shop, replaced by the old, tired soul she caught glimpses of now and then. Eyes that aged older than Rosalie had ever come across in all her years. "I've forgotten more than I know these days." She shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck as she avoided Rosalie's curious gaze. "I don't... I don't like talking about it."
"I have a right to know you," Rosalie found herself saying. It wasn't what she thought she was going to say, what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell Bella to take as long as she needed, that she knew how hard it was to dig up a painful past you'd rather stay buried. That she just wanted Bella to know that anything the girl said was safe with Rosalie, that there would never be judgement.
But, of course, that's not what came out.
Good intentions were carved down into words sharp as blades in Rosalie's mouth.
Bella sighed again and the mask was back. A charming, goofy grin on her face. "Probably," she replied with a nod. Her fingers brushed against Rosalie's arm, feather light and softer than air. "Be careful what you wish for, Aphrodite," she warned quietly before ducking into the room.
.
.
.
Three lunch trays all dropped around the Cullens' picnic table, three warm bodies dropping down onto the benches moments later. Eric grinned up at Emmett who hesitated before awkwardly patting the top of the boy's head and Rosalie tried not to shift away from Angela.
She glared daggers at Alice who slipped onto Bella's lap to make more room on her, Jasper, and Edward's side. She watched how easily the two existed around each other, how neither gave a single thought to Bella wrapping her arms around Alice to reach her lunch, or how Alice melted back into Bella.
Not the conscious thought that Rosalie had to put in, the effort she summoned up just to sit close enough to Bella that their legs brushed.
Rosalie wondered if it was because they were just friends. If the lack pressure of... whatever she and Bella had, helped with the simplicity of their closeness. Her golden eyes wandered to the girl's side, mere inches away from Jasper. Jasper, who was in agony being in the same room as most people. Sitting there without a care in the world, looking as tranquil as ever.
Was it Bella, then? Did everyone gravitate towards her presence, like flowers stretching up to the sun? Was she the only person on the planet who struggled to simply be near her? Was something wrong with her? Has she become so cold and closed off, that not even a soul as genuine, as soft, as warm as Bella, could be enough to relax around?
"We consider the things that are important to us," Edward muttered into his tray without looking up.
Angela and Eric looked confused, exchanging glances with each other before looking back to the boy. Jasper leaned closer to Edward to meet their eyes. "He's a telepath, so if it doesn't make sense, he's not talking to you."
"So cool."
"Creepy."
The humans looked at each other again in exasperation while Bella's lips curved up in a grin. She met Rosalie's eye across the table and was surprised to see the dark look in them.
Edward chuckled. "Not always. I was particularly talented at reading people when I was human. Vampirism just... enhanced that, to telepathy apparently."
Eric's eyes widened. "Holy cow. Angela! How are you not floored right now?!"
"Careful, Edward," Rosalie warned. Her eyes remained locked with Bella's. Intensity met confusion. "We wouldn't want to share too much, would we? Lest we know each other more than just passing strangers."
The confusion melted into a pout, Bella hugging Alice tighter to her. "That's not fair."
"Rose..." Alice sighed softly. "Now's not the time."
The blonde scoffed. She leaned back from the table, lifting a hand to motion around them. "What do the others care if my friend and I squabble."
"We're not just friends-"
"In fact, we're hardly that," Rosalie countered.
Narrowed eyebrows, a dark glare threatened to crack across her face, Bella rested her chin on Alice's shoulder. Rosalie could almost feel her defensive instinct to lash out melt away at to surprise. She wasn't totally sure Bella was capable of being anything other than a ray of sunshine.
Bella breathed in slowly, releasing a shaky breath. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"
No.
"Yes."
Alice blinked wide eyes. "Bella, don't," she warned under her breath. "Rose, stop."
"What do you know, Alice? You can't see her, but we still don't know why. Edward can't read her, but we still don't know why. Jasper can't feel her, but we still. Don't. Know. Why." Rosalie shook her head, the scowl on her face fierce and pained. "We don't know anything about her. So what could you possibly be stopping her from? What is she going to do?"
The table remained silent, each pair of eyes on her. Except, she noticed, the humans. The humans, who were watching Bella anxiously. Angela was tensed, ready to react at the drop of a hat. Eric looked pale, like he was going to be sick. They both knew something, knew something that the others didn't.
Something Rosalie didn't.
Slowly, she turned to Angela who winced but kept her eyes on Bella. On Bella's still form, her dark and stormy gaze peering over Alice's shoulder, unmoving, unblinking, regarding Rosalie intently. The blonde rested her elbow on the table to lean into Angela's view. "You know what she'll do, don't you?"
"You should probably walk away," Angela muttered under her breath.
"No need," Bella replied from her side of the table. She slid out from under Alice, her movements slow and measured but still made Angela and Eric jump. Dark eyes regarded Rosalie blankly. "I'll go."
The others watched her leave in a heavy silence.
The rest of lunch was spent in that same awkward silence as everyone picked at their food, even the humans. Eager to be rid of the tension, most of them broke off to head to their next class early. Emmett with a pat on Rosalie's shoulder, Edward with an understanding look, Alice with an indignant huff. Rosalie waited for them all to leave, and was surprised at the heartbeat that remained.
She blinked down at Angela lazily, chin in her palm. "What?" she finally said when it was clear the human was waiting for her.
Angela slowly got to her feet. She fiddled with her bag, green eyes sweeping across the campus, before landing back on Rosalie. "Just..." she sighed and shook her head. "Take care, okay? I may not be your biggest fan – to say nothing of the fact I'm not totally sure if I'm on board with the vampire thing or not, but... I'm not aching to see you get hurt."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She shrugged her shoulders, glancing back out towards the school. "She hides it well enough that it's easy to forget, but you and I know different." Angela met Rosalie's curious gaze again. "Deep down in your gut, in that sharp part of you that refuses to soften, even around her, you know what she is."
Rosalie scoffed dismissively and looked away. "I, clearly, know nothing of my supposed mate. Not like you. Not like the human friend she's known, what, maybe a handful of years? So you tell me, enlighten me, as to what she is, if I already know?"
"Dangerous," Angela said seriously. The catty response died on Rosalie's tongue at the look in the human's eye. "The kind of dangerous that wakes me up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night."
Intrigued lingered around the edges of Rosalie's voice, her face more open than Angela had ever seen in person. The human shuffled back a step as Rosalie eased forward. "I thought you were chums? You sound... scared of her."
"We are chums," Angela laughed mirthlessly. She shook her head. "Good friends, actually. I"m just not blind, I'm aware of what she is, and I know what it can mean. What is has meant. I love Bella, I do. I adore her as much as another person can platonically adore someone. So believe me when I say the only life on this planet truly safe from Bella Swan is her dumb plants. If I caught her on a bad day, in one of her worse moods, I have no doubt in my mind that she would slit my throat to keep me from stepping on one of her precious flowers."
More information locked away, even as Rosalie rejected it. Impossible. Bella would never. Never. She had seen the girl herd a bee out the window just to keep the professor from killing it as it bumbled around the classroom. Bella was incapable of hurting someone. "I'll keep that in mind," Rosalie replied dully.
No. Angela was wrong. She was wrong. Bella was good and pure and precious. She was everything Rosalie wasn't. That's how this worked. She wasn't dark and broken, no.
No!
Because that would mean that something, someone broke her. And that? That was just unacceptable. Rosalie would die before she let someone hurt Bella.
"Do that," Angela said softly. "For your sake and your family's, because I think Bella's gotten so good at hiding it, she even fools herself these days."
And once again, Rosalie watched the last occupant of the table leave her, in true and utter silence. Her mind churned over the girl's words, her warnings, and the implications of it all. Of what she knew, what she suspected, and what she feared.
As always, when it came to Bella, Rosalie wasn't sure how she felt. She only knew she was drawn back to the brunette, knew that she had to fix what she was, potentially, in the middle of ruining. More than that, though, she knew she needed answers.
Perhaps her motivations weren't the best, were on the selfish side, but her questions were just. She had a right to know Bella, especially with her family in such close proximity.
.
.
.
Alice was waiting on the porch when Angela dropped Bella off. She sat on the railing, her feet swinging side to side, hands braced on either side of her, while her golden eyes almost glowed in the dark. Her smile was wide and friendly, but there was something tense about it.
Bella awkwardly shuffled closer, in time to watch Alice lean back towards the closed door and angle her face back. "A polka-dot bow tie and suspenders. Do the third one I showed you!" she called back.
Bella hooked her thumbs around the straps of her suspenders with a small pout on her face. "Does she really not approve of my clothes?"
"It's cute, don't worry." Alice waved off her concerns, head tilting to the side. "Not that she'd ever say it aloud, but she thinks you're adorable. Most of us do, in fact."
"I'll keep that in mind," Bella replied with a cheeky grin. She grabbed the railing, hoisting herself up to sit beside the pixie, arms wobbling out until she caught her balance. "Whatcha doing out here, Tiny Wall?"
"Contemplating."
"An excellent habit. Anything in particular?"
Golden eyes shifted, caught Bella's look. "You."
"A less excellent habit." Bella popped her lips together a few times and finally sighed, shoulders slumping, and stared down at her boots. "What do you want to know?"
"Would you tell me?"
"Depends." Bella shrugged. "I'd be more inclined if you were, say, about a foot taller, had golden waves cascading around your shoulders, eyes cold as ice and hard as diamond, and spat acid in the form of words."
Alice let out a surprised laugh, her face lighting up. "And you're drawn to that?"
Bella also laughed, nodding her head for good measure. "I'm gonna marry that woman."
Laughing so hard she fell backwards, Alice landed gracefully on her feet and held her stomach. "Even Emmett wasn't brave enough to seek that out. He usually hid until she was in a better mood."
"Yeah, well, he wasn't her soulmate, was he?"
"I thought I was your soulmate?" Alice pouted playfully.
"You know you're my number one space-dust girl."
Alice clicked her tongue, hesitating just outside the door. "You lothario," she teased. A moment passed, the playful mood falling to a more serious one. Alice lowered her voice, her hand on the doorknob. "When are you going to tell Rose that you love her?"
Eyes drifted to the door, warm fingers brushing against the wood. Bella hummed softly under her breath, a thoughtful look of sorrow on her face. "When it won't hurt her."
"When did you know?" the pixie asked curiously.
A warm smile curled Bella's lips as her thoughts drifted back to that first day. Images of an angel bathed in the light spilling in front her shop's door, the bewildered look on Rosalie's face and the explosion of intensity when their eyes met. "When she told me to visit another human petting zoo."
"What?"
Bella laughed, loud and full and warm. "She kept trying to brush me off, like I was just some... girl in a comic shop selling comics to her. But she remembered. When she said that, I knew she was thinking about me, and it was just... cute that she was pretending she didn't care."
"Did you know you were her mate?"
Oddly enough, a light blush dusted across the top of Bella's cheeks and the tips of her ears. Alice marvelled at it, at such a human reaction, and the fact that she knew Bella's heart... well, that she didn't have a heartbeat. Bella scuffed her shoe against the porch and looked down at her feet. "I was pretty sure, yes. It was the only thing that made sense, her reaction to me, a complete stranger."
"I think that is just so..." Alice hesitated, her head tilting to the side. She pressed her lips together, eyes sparkling with mischief as she stared up at Bella. "You can't hide from a psychic, Rose. She's waiting out back for you now, Bella."
With a nod, Bella stuffed her hands into her pockets and headed back down the porch to make for the backyard. She paused in the driveway, looking back up at Alice who waited at the door. "Did she hear any of that?"
"Nope!" Alice made a criss-cross over her heart. "She was in her room and Esme has gone to great lengths to create private, solitary spaces for us. Your adorable secret is safe with me. Buuuut she can hear us now that she's outside."
"Will you hear-"
"Yes," the pixie nodded again but this time with a pout on her face, "so that's why we're going out. The others should be along any moment. You'll have your privacy."
"Well don't look too torn up about it," Bella laughed.
She watched Alice stick her tongue out at her and shook her head with a fond smile, circling around the large house. It was a beautiful, mostly clear night with only a few large clouds threatening to blot out the moon. The air had a chilly bite to it, unsurprising for mid-October. Bella felt it against her skin, knew it was cold, but her bones remained warm. Always toasty, with freshly sun-kissed skin.
Her footing faltered when she stepped around the corner of the house and into the backyard. "You... did this for me?" Bella murmured as she stepped into the backyard. Posts were strategically placed to string little white lights around the yard, lighting up the makeshift garden Rosalie had assembled. Potted plants dragged to the back and formed an intricate swirl around the flat stone path. Flowers had been planted anywhere there wasn't stone or wooden platform deck.
This is where Rosalie had disappeared to after lunch.
"Esme helped," the blonde muttered uncomfortably.
Finally, Bella eyes landed on her, on the beautiful, thoughtful, angry looking vampire standing in the middle of the flat stones and Bella knew without any shred of uncertainty or doubt, they were dancing there tonight. She'd make sure of it. They were dancing. "Five," she blurted and reached up to cover her grin and laugh. "Four. Three."
"What is that?"
Rosalie had her arms crossed over her chest, and even that couldn't stop her rich, red dress from hanging beautifully and perfectly off her body. Dark amber eyes regarded her curiously, guarded, but bright enough against the dark that Bella could see the rings of honey-gold in them. She shuffled closer towards her vampire, watched Rosalie watch her, watched the blonde's grip on her arms tighten the closer Bella got. Was it restraint? Was it fear? "I have seen the rise and fall of empires," Bella told her quietly. "The birth and death of stars. Chaos so beautiful it would steal the very breath from your lungs." She stopped just in front of the vampire, tilting her head up to meet that powerful gaze. "I would trade it all in a heartbeat just to have one more second with you tonight."
"Bella, I'm not. It's not. Angela's scared of you-" Rosalie started rushing out.
Bella flinched back slightly. "I know, I'm-"
"No, she's." Rosalie shook her head, huffed out the breath she had in frustration. "It's not about what you are, it's not even about you. It's about me. I'm not like the others."
Dark eyes danced. "Not even a little bit."
"You-. Stop being charming, I'm trying to tell you something," Rosalie warned with an accusatory finger. Even still, she could not smother the delighted sparkle in her gaze. "I'm not like the others. Like Angela, or Alice, or the others before me. I know I'm not your mate, but you're mine. I'm a vampire and you're my mate and that changes things, even for you."
"I know."
"No, you-"
Warm fingers brushed against Rosalie's arm again and, god, she was going to have to learn how to be more touchy because she was starting to understand that Bella was a very tactile person. "Rose. I know. You're not like the others. You're not like anyone else."
An awkward silence threatened to steal the night, Rosalie working her jaw silently. She shook her head again and stared over Bella's shoulder. "I see how you're with the others, how you're with even Angela and Eric. I don't know about your past lovers – god, I can barely even say that. I don't know about them, but I'm different. I don't know if you waited to tell them or if you spilled it as fast as you did for the humans."
Not what she meant to say.
Especially when Bella actually stepped backwards. Away from her. She was ruining it. She was ruining it like she knew she would. She should have never stepped into that comic store.
"I lost my brother because of what I am," Bella whispered softly. Her hand reached out to touch the post closest to her, fingers dancing around the warm, little light shining so softly. "Both of them, actually. I lost everyone and everything because of what I am. So I push it away, pretend I'm just... weird. Different. Hide it, hide from it. I don't want to lose any more. I don't want to lose you and – and the humans. I have to tell them, if they get close."
Bella looked back up at her and Rosalie's internal alarms blared at her as she gazed at dark, watery eyes. She instinctively stepped forward, reaching for Bella but falling short as the girl shrank in on herself. "I try so hard to keep them away, but I... I can't. I can't do it. So I have to tell them. It's the only way to keep them safe." Regret and anger swirled together in a dizzying mix.
"They have to know what to look for. They need to know when to run. Because I..." Bella laughed but the sound was hollow and made Rosalie's stomach flip. The girl shook her head. "Damn it. I heard Angela warning you, and it makes me sick. Like thick, oily goo in my stomach. What she said about flowers and h-hurting her. I wish I could say she's wrong, that it's not true. God, I wish I could." Rosalie's eyebrows shot up. "But on a bad day, during one of my worse moods... Rosalie, I'm capable of truly horrible things. In fact, the only thing I'm not capable of is stopping myself."
Rosalie stepped into Bella's personal space, dropped her chin to her chest to try and meet the girl's eye. Reluctance hung around her like a shroud, one that Rosalie had to reach through. She brushed her thumb against Bella's chin, lifting it and tilting that beautiful face up to her. "Bella..."
"Anything I say, anything I tell you about myself." Bella blinked and tears escaped, streaking under her glasses and down her cheeks. "I'm not sharing, Aphrodite. I'm warning you."
"I'm not going anywhere," Rosalie promised vehemently. Her brows furrowed and her free hand slid into Bella's, holding tight until Bella squeezed her hand back. "I'm not some flimsy little human, Bella. I'm a vampire and I can take care of myself."
"I know." Bella nodded and sniffled. Her smile was watery. "I think that's why I'm so hesitant. Part of me hopes you'll just... run. It'd be safer that way."
"Your melodrama doesn't scare me."
A scoff but that look in her eyes, that haunted, frightened, self-loathing look remained. "It scares me. I don't want to hurt you."
"I can take it." Rosalie's shoulder lifted and fell simply.
"I don't want to do it! I don't want to hurt anyone!" Bella cried out in frustration.
"Then you won't."
"It's not that easy," she huffed.
"Then I won't let you."
Desperation threatened to drown her and she shook her head. Rosalie wasn't getting it. She wasn't getting it. "It's not that easy."
"Clearly you've never sparred with me," the blonde replied airily in a dismissal. She inspected her nails without a care. "I'm reigning champion in the Cullen House."
And finally Bella caught on. The smile was a little more natural, a little easier to bring up. She chuckled, wiping at her cheeks. "Aphrodite... did you just make a joke?"
"Yes, I'm actually quite hilarious," Rosalie told her seriously.
"I can't tell if that's another joke or not!"
Finally, Rosalie let a soft smile crack across her face. She turned to walk back over to the middle of the flat stones, lifting a hand to motion towards her handy-work. "I realize I'm not... the best at sharing, myself. Opening up. I've been demanding to know you when I've made no effort to give you anything in return. It wasn't fair and I'm sorry. I have no rights over you."
"It's okay-"
"No." Rosalie turned back to her with a sharp look. "I had a very easy human life. Wealthy parents, I never wanted for anything, and my beauty was... the human version of this."
"So breathtaking."
A broken smile. "Yes. It was easy but it was also horrible. I hated it. But it was mine, I made it mine, and I was trying to make it into something better, something good." Rosalie took a breath, black eyes meeting Bella's. "And then I was killed. I'm not sure if that's had something to do with who I am now. Why I'm always so... so angry and scared. But I do know I forget, when you're around. I forget I'm sad and angry and scared. I forget that I was killed. That I ever existed in such a cold, dark place, when you burn so bright and warm like the sun."
"Rosalie..."
"I was," she continued with a shake of her head. "I was in that place and I was killed and I am angry, and I'm not good at this. As much as I'm better with you, it's still a process. I'm still learning. So I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to do things and say things like I did at lunch today."
Bella nodded. "I know." She grinned suddenly, a chuckle shaking her shoulders. "We're a hot mess of chaos on our own, aren't we."
"I don't understand how we're functioning people," Rosalie agreed. "But if you still want to be around me, knowing it gets worse... then I'm here. I'm trying."
"I told you already," Bella shuffled closer slowly, circling the edges of the stones towards the grass and flowers. "I want all of you. Good and bad."
"Fine," Rosalie huffed. Her lips twitched up at the corners, even as she rolled her eyes. "Remember that the next time I throw a fit and demand to know what you are."
"A god."
"Yeah," she scoffed playfully. "That's just what this relationship needs. More ego."
Bella laughed as her chest buzzed with a warmth she'd never felt before. "That's what they called us," she said with a shrug. Rosalie glanced back at her with soft confusion on her face. "Or angels. We took to Gods more though, our pride demanded it. Personally, I was happy to sidestep the religious aspect of it all, and somehow angels seemed more religious. That's not to say we weren't worshipped. I wasn't." Bella waved her hands as if to physically dispel that thought. "Or, well, I tried really hard not to be. I told them not to, but you can't stop people from believing what they want. I took down all the temples they tried to build, though, I feel like that counts towards my humility."
"Excuse me?" Rosalie's head tilted to the side, brows furrowed. "Are you trying to tell me you're some kind of god?"
Bella smiled sheepishly. "That depends on your understanding of the word. I associate it with what I know I am. You, however, may associate it with something completely different. Or something frustratingly similar. Go back a few hundred years and I'm sure you could find some misinformed human who would call you a god."
"So you're not a god?"
"No," Bella shook her head, "well. Not... really but... kinda." A pout jutted out her bottom lip. "I am a... being of certain ability... that people often refer to as a god. So yes. Technically. But also no. Mostly no."
Rosalie ran a hand through her hair. "Great. That's perfectly clear. Okay, so I'm mated to a god. Gods walk amongst men. Edward's going to shit a brick. There are gods just waltzing around."
"No, that's not true. I'm the only one you'll ever find," Bella murmured quietly, idly, as she watched the blonde try to absorb what she was saying.
Amber eyes regarded her. "You're the last one."
"Oh, no. Not... not the last. Almost."
"Where are the others?"
Bella rubbed her palms on her thighs. "Buried." She caught Rosalie's eye and a smirk tugged the corner of her lips up. "Not dead-buried. Just buried. I, uh... okay. I know you guys get a kick out of my little flower tricks."
"Little flower tricks?" Rosalie repeated. As far as she knew, the closest anyone else had ever come to something like that was Benjamin, and even then he mostly just made the ground tremble. He relied heavily on the other elements.
"Yeah..." Bella raised her hands up beside her in a sort of sheepish shrug. She watched Rosalie's eyes widen, felt the ground shift and move beneath her feet. Knew that small trees sprouted up and wound around the posts Rosalie had placed, lifting the lights higher up above them. The freshly planted flowers in the ground spilled out, overlapping the flat stones and seeping into the yard. New ones popped up amongst them, vibrant green vines lacing against the wire of the lights Rosalie had hung, falling down, back and forth in between the post-tree hybrids to create a more secluded area around the flat stones.
Rosalie stepped forward, ducking under the thick branch of a close tree. She pushed the string of vines and light out of her way, turning around and around to marvel at it all. "Those are trees."
"Hah. Yup."
"Actual trees."
"Yeah."
"Grown trees. Trees that look like they've been here for years."
"Mhmm."
"It's been seconds."
"You understand humanity's confusion, then."
"You're a god?" Rosalie whirled around on her mate with wide eyes.
Dark eyes crinkled happily. "I'm Bella." She waved a hand at the wall of trees off to the side. "And I buried the other three remaining."
"Why?" Rosalie asked softly, quietly. Careful not to startle the calm mood that had settled over the area, that Bella felt safe enough in to open up and share.
Shadows danced in eyes that were already as dark as the night. "There were only four of us left and I had to stop them before there were none."
"What happened to the others?"
A deep sigh heaved Bella's shoulders. She popped her lips together a few times and held up a finger. She was gone before Rosalie could blink, and back before she could suck in a surprised breath. "More of a party trick," Bella explained it quickly, as she tucked a speaker up in one of the tree's branches. Soft music spilled from it, filling the little area around them, and Bella turned back to Rosalie, offering her hand. "Some things I just... I can't talk about. Not yet. But - I will answer as many questions as I can, if I may have this dance."
Golden eyes regarded her closely, Rosalie watching her intently like she was the answer to everything in life. She hummed thoughtfully and lifted her chin. "No, sorry, we don't negotiate with terrorists."
"Pace yourself, women, that's three jokes in one evening! You're going to run out of steam," Bella teased and her eyes danced. "Or material."
"Cheeky," Rosalie hissed quietly with a wicked smile. She slid her hand into Bella's, felt the girl's warmth encompass her. Felt safe and happy. "You said your family is ruled by emotions," Rosalie began thoughtfully as they swayed to the soft beat. Bella hummed in response, pulling Rosalie tighter against her. "Angela and Eric are frightened when you get upset, of your worse moods. They flinch even at something that may upset you." Bella said nothing but still nodded. "And you told me that your pride demanded you claim the name god. You could never actually bring yourself to cause someone harm... not unless you were angry."
"Pity the soul that suffers the wrath of a god," Bella muttered darkly.
Rosalie nodded towards the speaker, pulling back enough to look down at meet Bella's eye. Intensity, anxiety, desperation, and hope reflected back at her. "The music isn't just frivolous, is it? It's a tool you use to help balance your emotions."
"Two."
Her head tilted to the side.
Bella tried to tame the smile on her face, chewed at her lip, but couldn't stop it growing. "You're obsessed with me," she teased with a playful squeeze of Rosalie's hips.
"Please," the blonde scoffed. "You're mildly interesting, at best."
"That's your secret, isn't it!" Bella laughed. Her entire face lit up and that was the only thing keeping Rosalie from pulling away completely. "Aphrodite, you're the thoughtful, sensitive Cullen. You notice people, you remember things about them, you care enough to hold onto that kind of information, even about strangers."
Well, it was enough, until she kept going. Rosalie dropped her hands from Bella's waist and turned away. "Whatever. You were a mystery to solve, obviously I'm going to pay attention to puzzle pieces."
"And you keep denying it, you keep pretending you don't care. My god, it's adorable."
"Kiss my ass, Swan."
"That's not my target." Bella grabbed Rosalie's wrist, the first time she'd ever actually grabbed her. So used to such feather light touches, Rosalie let herself be spun around, with wide, surprised eyes. "One."
The earth stopped spinning and night crashed into day, the sun collided with the moon, and - Rosalie Lillian Hale felt like a donkey just kicked her in the heart. Warmth engulfed her face, her cheeks felt like they were on fire for the first time in just under a century. Lava surged through her veins, burning white hot, her lungs filled with the crispest, freshest breath of air she'd ever taste. She felt alive, well and truly alive, and dizzy and... and...
Reality washed in like a rushing tide sweeping away the dream when Bella finally pulled back. Rosalie blinked twice, staring up at the stars behind Bella's head. She pitied the moon that could never hope to shine as bright as the smile Bella was aiming at her. Rosalie tapped the flat stones beneath her fingertips, realized Bella was leaning over her, dark hair spilling in waves around them.
I'm... on the ground?
Bella's smile, if possible, grew when she saw realization creep into Rosalie's stunned gaze. "I still got it!" she sang happily.
.
.
.
EDIT: I'm just gonna not acknowledge the fact that we all know I'm re-uploading this because I don't have the emotional patience to discuss it. Just know that I do take constructive criticism and the nicer, polite ones who expressed their feelings on the Bella/Alice issue were taken and appreciated. I love Alice maybe a little too much, and that started bleeding into this, which warped what I was going for.
But still fuck you to the one obnoxious anon who doesn't like "lest". It's a very useful word and helps a sentence flow. Pry it from my cold dead fingers, because I use it daily.
Also, y'all were losing your minds about the counting thing. It was Ten Times Bella Wanted To Kiss Rosalie But Didn't Because They're Supposed To Start As Friends. Or TTBWTKRBDBTSTSAF, for your convenience.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't give Rose too hard of a time. Or maybe you're with her and are like "what the fuck, Bella, just open up already". Who knows. People are complicated. Either way, be patient with these stubborn ladies.
Peace
paige
