A/N: Because I love you all so much (and you all reviewed like crazy), and because my vacation is boring, I decided to post. For the record, this isn't the best or most exciting chapter, but it is important.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Chapter 14

Rosalie POV

"Rosie..." I heard a faint whisper by my head and I swatted around, trying to get whoever it was away and leave me be. "Ow. God Rose. Get up."

My hand had connected with something hard and my eyes flew open quickly as I looked into Emmett's deep brown eyes. Then they closed again.

"Ugh." I groaned as I scrunched my eyes tightly shut and pulled the pillow over my head, trying to block out the light from overhead, and the noise and the headache.

"Rose come on. I want to show you something."

"No." I snapped childishly as I pulled the blankets up over the pillow, trying to get back to sleep.

"Please?" He asked softly and I rolled over a fraction of an inch to peer out of the crack between the pillow and the mattress.

"Leave me alone to die." I begged in monotone, not able to muster up the courage to say it enthusiastically like I wanted to.

I felt the bed move and the weight that had been beside me left, I closed my eyes and tried to drift off back to the peaceful oblivion where I didn't want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon and rinse them in ice water.

Suddenly, the thick comforter that had been helping my plight of darkness was pulled from my grasp and I gasped as the pillow soon joined it. Emmett chuckled as I turned to scowl at him, but that only hurt my head more.

"Sorry, but we don't have much time and I want you to see this." I let my eyes roam him as he stood in front of the closet in nothing more than a pair of black and red boxer shorts, and I completely forgot about my hangover as I watched him rummage for something. "So hurry up."

I sighed and threw my arm over my eyes and I heard him chuckle as the closet doors shut and his heavy footsteps left the room.

"Come on Rosie." He boomed from wherever the hell he was and I made myself sit up and dragged my feet off of the bed.

It was only then that I realized I was wearing one of Emmett's shirts...and only one of his shirts. I looked over my shoulder and saw that both sides of the bed were mussed up, the sheets that were still on it, crumpled into disarray on both the left and the right. I sat in blank shock as I tried to recall the events of last night. I had never really been drunk before. Sure a drink or two when I went out with people from the office, or when I went to my friend Jay's coming out party, but all in all that was it. I laid my head in my hands as I slowly tried to catch my brain up to my body.

Emmett and me playing tag with the kids at the barbecue, kissing underneath the fireworks, wearing Emmett's jacket as we entered Dub's, letting Alice teach me how to play bullshit and... and losing terribly. Oh God.

"You coming or not?" I jerked my head to see Emmett standing in the doorway, his painter's jeans slung low on his hips, his shirt in his hands as he stretched out the head hole to put it on, his feet bare against the wood floor. "What's wrong?" He asked quickly as he walked closer to me. What was I supposed to say to that?

"I don't remember anything that happened last night because I was so drunk. So I don't know if we had sex or not. And if we did it's a shame because I won't even remember it."

Yeah because that would be the best conversation to have with him. I shook my head and let my eyes slowly meet his, knowing it would be harder to lie with him looking at me the way he did, but knowing he would never buy it if I didn't.

"Hangover." I finally croaked, shrugging it off as though it were nothing.

"Oh. Sorry, forgot about that." He smiled as he finally pulled his t-shirt on. "I'll get you some Tylenol while you get ready."

I nodded and watched as he left to get me my relief and I stood up quickly, grimacing as my stomach churned with the movement, and quickly groped around for the bag Alice had left. I found a pair of Bermuda shorts and pulled them on underneath the large shirt of Emmett's. I found one of my shoes by the doorway and I was on my knees looking under the bed when I heard Emmett coughing loudly from behind me.

"What are you doing?" He choked and I held up one of my shoes behind me as I continued to search under the bed. "Here it is."

I turned to see him smirking as he held the other converse out to me. Glaring, I slowly pushed myself up from my knees and grabbed the shoe, slipping it on as I walked out to the front room. Emmett chuckled quietly as he walked behind me, grabbing the jacket I had worn last night and slipping it over my shoulders. My heart jumped and my brain tried to work to remember what had happened last night as I inhaled the musky, woodsy, sweet smell of Emmett. He pulled a sweatshirt from the back of the couch and quickly slipped it on over his head, running a hand through his curls once he had it in place.

"Let's go." He said as he stalked past me and opened the front door, holding it open for me with a serious expression.

"Just where exactly are we going?" I asked quietly, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice. Maybe something had happened last night and he had decided he needed more limbs in his freezer.

"Don't look at me like that." He sighed as he reached forward and pulled me gently by the elbow. "I promise you'll love it."

He crossed his heart with his fingers and then gestured out the door again. I sighed and walked slowly out of it.

"This way." He smiled and my heart beat erratically as he pulled my hand into his own and interlaced our fingers, leading me around the house and toward the thick trees that lined the edge of his backyard.

I didn't question him again as he pulled me full speed ahead, walking straight into the thick forest and up the side of the mountain. He only stopped to help me over the fallen trees or hold back branches as we walked past them. I was getting a little frustrated as he kept leading me higher and higher up, but before I could say anything, he stopped.

He turned slightly and pulled me closer to him as we walked out onto a small ledge nestled into the side of the hill.

"Any minute now." He breathed as he looked down at his watch. I shivered, whether from the cold or the way his arm wrapped tighter around me when he peeked at the time, I don't know. I wasn't complaining though as he side stepped around me and wrapped his long arms around my shoulders. "Better?" He whispered close to my ear and I nodded, scared that if I tried to use my voice the only thing that would accomplish would be making me look stupid.

I leaned back into his chest as we stood on the cliff, his arms securely around my middle, holding me to him. I was just about to break the peaceful silence, as much as I hated to, to ask him why exactly we were there, when it happened. The sky lit up a brilliant orange and pink and red as the sun slid into the sky. It looked like fire and my eyes were watering as I stared at it, but it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"It's gorgeous." I sighed and I heard him whisper something into my hair before I felt his lips touch my head gently. Then it was too much. I had to know, I couldn't just pretend that it didn't happen because obviously it did. "Um, Emmett?"

"Yes?"

"What..er.. What exactly... happened last night?" I asked as I squinted my eyes closed and prayed that I hadn't done anything, well, stupid.

"You threw yourself at me, tried to feel me up and then ended up making me sleep with you." He laughed from behind me and I pulled away from him quickly, wide eyed.

I must have overstepped because suddenly my arms were flailing as I tried to right myself before I could jump off the side of the cliff. I might have been upset but I wasn't that upset. Yet.

Emmett's large hands reached out and pulled me into him, his eyes were wide too but I could feel him laughing against my chest. So I did what any self respecting woman would do, I poked my tongue at him and stomped on his toe. Which only made him laugh harder.

"I'm kidding." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Kind of. You did throw yourself at me, and you definitely tried to feel me up. Not that I wasn't willing, but..."

"Oh God." I cried as I hid my face in my hands quickly. "What did I do? I had sex with a hot stranger and I can't even remember it because I was so sloshed!"

I pulled myself out of his arms and started walking back toward the trees. His hand grabbed for me but I shook him off as I pushed my way back into the forest and tried to remember the exact way we had gotten here.

"Rose! Rosie..." Emmett called and I started walking faster, picking up the pace and trying not to trip over any hidden tree roots. "Rosalie!"

I ignored him as I continued my way down, ducking under the branches I could and letting those that I couldn't, scratch at me. I made it all the way down quickly, I could hear Emmett scrambling behind me but I kept walking, disregarding his heavy footfalls and frantic shouts. I was angry. At Alice for making me play that game, at Emmett for letting me get shit-faced and then 'throw myself at him' and I was mad at myself. I couldn't understand why I was mad at myself, I just was and that only helped to make me even more angry as I stormed into Emmett's living room and headed down the hall into his bedroom.

"Rosalie!" I heard as I reached his bedroom door and I took a deep breath as I stopped with my hand on the doorknob.

"What?" I hissed back.

"Nothing happened last night. I didn't take advantage of you. I wouldn't do that and I hope that you can trust me enough to believe that because I... I wouldn't do that." He said urgently as he walked closer to me. I blinked back my surprise at his words.

He thought that I thought that he had taken advantage of me? Of course those thoughts hadn't even run through my head when I made my hasty getaway, and even thinking them back sounded ludicrous.

"I never... I didn't think that." I finally said as I turned slowly to look at him.

"You didn't?"

"No, it's just... nothing happened?"

"No." He laughed quietly but I saw him look down to his feet, and I couldn't help but notice the little tinge of red that flooded to his ears and neck.

I tried to think over his words, back to what he had said I had actually done and what he was joking about. And then something clicked.

"You said you were willing."

"What?" His head snapped up and I giggled as I realized how much he reminding me of a deer stuck in a headlights.

"You, said you were willing." I said quietly and once again, his cheeks flamed with color. I had never seen him blush before, and the fact that I could do that to him sent trills up my spine for no apparent reason.

"Well..I...uh... what I meant was..."

"Good morning my lovely cousin and new best friend!" The door slammed open against the frame as Alice walked in, bright eyed and bushy tailed, Eli following close behind her, rubbing his eyes wearily as she carried in a still sleeping Tatum.

"Go away Alice." Emmett growled before Elijah came stomping in his direction and threw himself into Emmett's arms.

"Aww, is Emmykins mad because I interrupted something special?" Alice chirped in a mock baby voice as she set Tate down on the couch and pulled the blanket off from the back, covering her in it .

"What do you want?" He snapped.

"A babysitter. Angela's kids are sick and she needs someone to cover the swim class so I said I'd do it."

"They're all sick?"

"Yeah, Kale and Kade got it at the same time and then they gave it to Kolby and Kenzington still has her ear infection. And to top that all off Angela thinks she's coming down with something." Alice said simply as she headed back out the door.

"Alice... I would love to watch Tate, you know that but I've got to work." Emmett sighed and I saw him cast a sidelong glance in my direction.

"Well," Alice bit her lip and rolled her eyes up to look at the ceiling. "Rose can do it. But I really gotta go."

She didn't wait to hear my protests as she tugged on Eli's hand and made a mad dash for her car.

"Shit." I mumbled under my breath as I walked closer to peer over the back of the couch to look at Tatum's face.

"You think you'll be okay with her?" Emmett asked quietly from behind me and I stared down into the little girl's peaceful face and nodded my head.

After all, how hard could one child be right?

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As it turns out, it can be very hard. In fact, it could be hell on earth. I quickly realized why so many mothers opted to have cable when Tate woke up no sooner than Emmett had pulled out of the driveway, leaving me with nothing but words of encouragement and a quick 'good luck' kiss, and instantly started screaming for her mommy. It didn't help that she hadn't brought her dolly and I couldn't find anything for her to snuggle with in Emmett's house. Finally, I did the only thing I could think of to calm her down. I offered her cookies.

It didn't take long for me to realize that might have been a bad idea. Never before in my whole life had I ever seen anyone move that fast or giggle that loudly. I was chasing after her and grabbing the things out of her hands almost as soon as she picked them up, but by the time I heard a car in the driveway, I was exhausted.

"Hey...what happened here?" Alice asked as she walked in the front door.

"Tatum." I replied as I bent down to scoop up the contents of the cheerio box into the dust pan.

Alice laughed as she danced to pick her daughter up from where I had finally managed to appease her with some crayons from a drawer in the kitchen and some old computer paper.

"You do know there's kids movies in the bottom cabinet of the entertainment center right?" Alice asked and I felt my jaw drop open. "Guess not. Well thank you so much, I owe you."

"I'll remember that." I muttered under my breath as she danced out of the front door, Tatum in her arms blowing kisses back in my direction.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the house and hoping Emmett wouldn't be too mad about the destruction she had caused. The wind was blowing fiercely by the time lunch arrived and the sky was almost black from the ominous clouds that rested there. It was going to storm. I turned on the old radio in the living room and settled down on the couch, pulling the blanket over me as I listened to the weather report and slowly drifted off to sleep. The sound of the door opening and closed me jarred me awake and I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and stretching my arms above my head. I could hear the steady pounding of rain as it beat the roof of the house and splattered the windows.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Emmett said softly as he shrugged out of his wet jacket and hung it on the peg by the door.

"S'okay." I said groggily as I pushed the blanket off of me. "I wanted to make dinner anyway."

"I'll help." He said as he kicked off his shoes and took his holster off hanging it by his jacket. "Just let me change really quick."

I nodded and went into the kitchen, examining the contents of the fridge and cupboard as I tried to remember some of the recipes my mom had tried to teach me when I was younger. When she was still alive.

"So what are we making?" Emmett asked as he walked into the kitchen, clad in black sweat pants and a white t-shirt.

"Um...some chicken?" I pulled the package of chicken breasts out of the fridge and grabbed the ketchup and mustard out of the door before it closed. "I think I remember how to make it."

He raised his eyebrows a smile pulling at the corners of his lips as I rummaged in the cabinets until I found some brown sugar.

"You know, you're house is awfully well stocked for a bachelor." I teased as I tried to figure out how to start preheating the oven.

"Yeah, well when you have a sister like Bella and a cousin like Alice it's inevitable. What temperature?" He pushed my hand away from the stove and turned the knobs expertly until he was sure it was heating up and then he turned to help me.

It didn't take us long to mix together the mustard and ketchup and brown sugar and then pour it over the chicken before shoving it in the oven. I set the timer for an hour and set the rice on the counter, not wanting to make it until it was closer to eating. Emmett had disappeared from the kitchen after he was sure I wasn't going to make the stove explode, so I followed after him, finding him lighting a fire in the fireplace that stood in the living room. I watched with rapt interest as he piled the logs in the middle of the hearth. When the fire had been lit, he rocked back on his heels and turned to find me watching him.

"It gets kind of drafty in here when it storms." He explained as he moved around me to turn the couch the other way.

He sat down on the sofa once he had positioned it where he wanted it and patted the spot next to him. I smiled and slid beside him, letting him put his arm around me as we watched the fire crackle. An hour later we ate our food in front of the fire, laughing and talking about random things. Like how when I was seven I decided I wanted to learn how to fly and jumped off our garage roof, breaking my arm in three places and almost giving my dad a heart attack. He told me about the time Alice's family went on vacation and left Emmett and Bella to house sit. Alice's cat, Trixie, had gotten loose and played in the mud so they had decided to give her a bath...in the toilet. We were both laughing hard as the rain continued to hammer the cabin. The weatherman on the radio had said everyone should stay inside due to flood warnings and torrential downpour, Emmett didn't seem worried as he got up and made two steaming mugs of hot chocolate before rejoining me on the couch.

"So can I see some of your pictures?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of my black bag.

"Um, yeah." I said as I stood up slowly and went to pull my thick black portfolio out of my bag. "Most of these are fashion shots, but I have some of my earlier ones in here too. To show my progress."

He nodded and let me adjust myself back into his side, resting the book on his knee and mine as I opened it up to the first page, which held a picture of a lone little girl jumping into a pile of leaves at the base of a dead tree. I let him examine each picture before I turned the page, sometimes he would have a look of concentration on his face as he would look at them, pictures of models in high fashion poses or kids in commercial shoots, all smiles and dimples. And other times, when I would turn the page to one of my pictures, the ones that I had taken not because I had to, but because I wanted to, I would see his lips twitch and his dimples would show. That was when I would feel the proudest and I couldn't wait until the next one, the one that would make him smile and effectively make my heart pound in my chest.

I turned the page again and crinkled my nose in disgust. "I hated this shoot. The models were bitches and the director was terrible. He wanted it to be Cirque de Soleil-esque and nothing was good enough."

"Douche bag." Emmett laughed as he reached over me to turn the page.

It was one of my worst pictures to date. The model was bending through a hoop, her yellow jeans and tight blue shirt stood out horribly against the pale of her skin and the black of the background. One of her legs was up in the air and the other was bent backwards as she stared into the camera, her dark blonde hair fixed into intricate braids on her head. I felt Emmett stiffen beside me and I turned to look at his face. Instead of the smile or the look of concentration, I found his jaw clenched tight and his eyes hard.

"Em?" I asked quietly as I reached my hand around to touch his arm. He jerked away from my touch and stood up, the book falling to the floor at our feet.

He didn't say a word as he slipped a pair of tennis shoes on his feet and grabbed his keys off of the kitchen counter.

"Emmett? What are you doing?" I called as I jumped up and followed him. He shook his head as he threw open the door and walked outside, slamming it closed behind him. I opened it and followed him outside, watching as he slid into the drivers seat of his jeep and started it up, pulling out of the driveway and flying down the road. I swallowed back against the tears that were threatening to flow down my cheeks as I crossed my arms around my waist and waited in the pouring rain for him to come back.

A/N: My vacation is so boring, I wrote ahead. I got 32 reviews last chapter! If you guys can beat that in a day, I'll post the next one despite that today and tomorrow is a family reunion. (because we all know you guys are more important.) If not, I might just have to send out sneak peeks because we're coming home soon and thus I won't be able to update.

Besos.