Bella stood in the doorway of her bedroom, with the plate of tater tots she'd arranged to feed everyone for brunch, simple, easy to hide finger food. It wasn't like the others would complain it wasn't a real meal. She could have cooked something more complicated, but she didn't want it too hard for Rose and Emmett to hide. It was her fault that she didn't wake up early enough to eat before they came over.

She stopped in the doorway, because Rosalie had moved, and Bella just blinked in shock to see the blonde vampire laying on her bed, propped up, reading one of her books. She'd left Rosalie safely in the rocking chair, while her and Emmett played, and now there was a vampire on her bed.

Emmett, thankfully, was so focused on his game he didn't notice that Bella had froze for a moment, but she forced her body back into movement. She had little choice in her room, she pulled the rocking chair closer to the bed and set the plate down on the night table, a hideous thing that was on the list of things to replace. "I'm going to miss Spring Break." Bella mentioned quietly before taking some tater tots and popping them in her mouth.

"This is hardly a decent spring break." Rosalie told her and Bella did her best not to blush while she watched the vampire sit up effortlessly and set the book down so that she could sit cross legged on Bella's bed, facing her. "Last Spring break Alice and I took off for New York and did some shopping."

"So she can get someone to go with her once in a while?" Bella asked, imagining that trip was something that should have been recorded, Alice probably over did everything.

"Once in a while. I enjoy some shopping, but I'm also just as happy to be working on the cars." Rosalie shrugged a little and Bella felt comfortable for a moment with her. Emmett was happily shooting the enemy and Rosalie seemed oddly approachable for a moment, still a goddess, but Bella found herself relaxing a little. "Maybe if we do a trip this summer you can come. You could see New York, or we might go somewhere else, but Alice always plans it to be somewhere special."

"Maybe." Bella gave Rosalie a small hint of a smile. Normally she'd be focused on having to work, or that she couldn't afford it, but by the summer she might have enough money to feed herself on the trip at least and other than airfare she wouldn't be making it more expensive. She didn't need to really buy anything, she could just see the sights and tell the others what she thought looked good on them. Hell, she might even save them money if she could reign Alice in long enough for Bella to have meals at least. It would be hard to shop like that, but if she could just disconnect, not think about the money, it was unlikely she could, but it would be fun to spend that kind of time somewhere different, new, instead of here.

The good news about it, was that Rosalie was making future plans, so apparently her mental shield worked, because there was no way she wouldn't be hearing about a future move if Edward had heard her think about his telepathy. She didn't even want to imagine a conversation about her thoughts about Esme that night.

Rose picked up some tater tots slowly and Bella glanced over at Emmett for her, pretending to watch him play the game a bit more. "Have you thought about any places you'd like to see?" Rose asked after a moment and Bella looked back to see the tater tots were missing.

Bella had created a bucket list of things she wanted to do at one time, years ago, but saving made travel hard. Then at this moment she didn't want to list a bunch of places that Rosalie could never go to because of the sun. "I don't really know." She spoke softly, and Rosalie's expression softened a bit more.

"There is so much to see Bella." Rosalie told her softly. "You should really think about what you want to do with your life, what you want to see." It almost felt like the next part, that wasn't being said was 'so we can do it.' It was just a little shocking, actually, to realize that Rosalie was that invested in making sure Bella lived her life. Bella smiled and nodded and tried not to tear up, her eyes moved to Emmett to see him with the game on pause, just grinning at Bella.

"Tater tots?" She asked Emmett, as if he stopped playing to eat, but the way he looked at her she was tempted to stare at him long enough to force him to put the tater tots in his mouth. He seemed just a little too amused to her.

In just a few minutes Bella found herself sitting on the bed, with Rosalie behind her, braiding her hair. Bella kept feeding herself, but Rosalie's ploy made it easy for the vampires in her room to claim to eat, because Bella was staring at the tv and the mindless 1980's comedy that was on it in the middle of the day, holding her head still for a braid that apparently would look good once they left the house. Rosalie had reached her limit on sitting around while the other two played games.

The phone in the kitchen rang, and Bella tensed for just a moment, before relaxing again. Rose had stopped braiding though. "Aren't you going to get it?"

"It isn't for me." Bella told them. "Emmett's already here."

"No one calls you but Emmett?" Rosalie asked slowly and Bella almost nodded, but the grip Rosalie had on her hair made that impossible.

"Not really, I mean Alice has called, but I think she'd just call your cell phone today if she wanted to reach us." Bella thought she might have heard a hiss.

"You've been here two weeks, starting tomorrow. Your mother hasn't called?" Rosalie asked and Bella thought she could see a frown on Emmett's face.

"Nope, she still doesn't need anything. I'm hoping that Phil will deal with her when it comes time to pay the bills, because I'm not talking her through it." Bella grimaced but the grip on her hair stopped and Rosalie shifted to be in sight. Bella turned a little toward her.

"That woman hasn't talked to you once since she dropped you off at the airport." Rosalie's eyes looked a little darker. Her head shook. "I'm sorry, but she's a lousy excuse of a mother."

"Don't need to apologize. I had that figure out before the doctors handed me off to her to take home." Bella shook her own head. "I'm kind of glad she's stopped trying. I don't like drama queens, and I'm just done with her. Once she calls, it'll be more drama, and she'll want something out of me, and I don't want to deal with it."

"Thank god for Chief Swan." Rosalie muttered and Bella grinned just a little. She actually didn't know if there was a god, but she'd thanked him anyhow a time or two for Charlie. A gentle hand rubbed her shoulder just a time or two and then Rosalie was working on her hair again.

"Well, I'm glad you moved here too Bella Bear." Emmett told her. "You are way too fun to be stuck in Phoenix."

"I couldn't even go outside there." She told Emmett. "I burn in the sun, and looking at my skin, well, I don't think I ever went outside much." She held an arm out as if for evidence. "I'm almost as pale as you, and you're from Alaska." Emmett chuckled. Bella did as well, but it was because she knew very well she was comparing herself to a vampire. He thought she didn't know.

Once her hair was done, Bella looked at it in the mirror. It wasn't a tight braid, thankfully; part of her worried that Rosalie might accidently rip her hair out by the roots, without meaning too, but Rosalie had been very gentle. "Looks good." She told the blonde, and got another soft smile.

Before they left to do something, likely a movie, Bella did bother to check the machine and she groaned when she heard Charlie's voice. "Hey Bells, we've been invited to Billy's house for dinner."

"Oh god, I have to call him back." Bella turned to the vampires in her house. "You were planning to keep me until after dinner right?" She asked, her eyes pleading just a little.

"We could, but why don't you want to go?" Rosalie asked.

"I don't really like going to La Push." Bella grimaced, but she did notice Rosalie tense just a little at her words. "Billy Black's son is not too subtle about the crush he has on me and his sisters aren't home anymore so I imagine Charlie will expect me to 'go play' with the kid."

"Oh, we have plans that might well have you missing curfew." Rosalie told her firmly. "In fact, call and tell your dad you've been invited on a trip to Seattle for the day. It's time you saw it. We'll check out the Seattle Center, and hit some other sites."

"Hell yeah." Emmett grinned. Bella grinned back at him. That was a much better offer.

Bella took up the phone as her vampire friends moved to the living room to pretend to give her privacy. The phone only rang once before the receptionist answered it. "Can I talk with Charlie?" Was all she said and she waited for a little while before he came on the line.

"What's up Bells?"

"I got your message." Bella sighed. "I can't go, I told you I had plans with Emmett and Rosalie today."

"Yeah, but this is later." He sounded just a little puzzled.

"Well, that's the thing." She hated to have to word this as a question. "Rosalie wants us to go to Seattle, I've never been there and she thought it would be fun to check out the Seattle Center and maybe the Piers. I was just about to call you to ask, when I found your message."

"Oh, Seattle. Well, I'm sure that would be more fun." He muttered. "You might want to bring an umbrella though, it's not that great outside. I have one in the coat closet."

"It's so far away, I might need to be a little late with my curfew." Bella blushed, knowing she was being overheard, but she spoke more quietly as if that would help. "I was hoping you'd be a little flexible with it tonight. It's kind of hard to judge the drive and she's never invited me to anything before. I don't want to tell them we have to leave if we're having fun."

"Sure, I get it kiddo. Before you go, take the money out of the food money jar. I'll replace it when I get home." Charlie offered and Bella let out a breath of relief. One more week avoiding La Push and a trip on top of it, that was pretty good.

"Thanks." She smiled as she hung up. It was a little awkward, emptying the jar, but she understood he wanted to feel like the dad and it made sense to her now.

When she went into the living room, Emmett and Rosalie were sitting rather still, waiting. It was just a little wrong, a little too still, but Bella ignored it. "We're set. I got permission to go to Seattle." As if they didn't know. "Thank you so much." She told Rosalie. Bella was pretty sure that the plans with these two were supposed to end before dinner time, so that they wouldn't have to have two pretend meals with her.

"Not a problem Bella Bear." Emmett stood up quickly. "This is gonna be great. You've never been to Seattle, right?" Did he just ask to prove he hadn't heard her say that?

"Nope, never." And that was true in both lives.

Rosalie reminded her to get a coat even as she was moving to do it, and Bella remembered the umbrella, but hoped she wasn't going to need it. If she wanted to do fun things with vampires though, she'd have to get used to doing things in the rain.

Once she was outside she saw that Rosalie had the BMW, and that would make the drive a bit nicer. Emmett took the backseat without giving Bella a chance to take is, so she was in the front passenger side as they took off for Seattle. Bella wasn't even sure how long that drive should take.

…

Emmett Pov

Emmett sat in the backseat of Rosalie's car and just watched the action in the front seat. It was a struggle at times not to chuckle at poor Bella Bear. She was doing what she could to stare out the windshield, but her eyes were pulled to the side to look at Rosalie every once in a while. It was clear a battle was going on in her head and it was amusing to see every slip up and the way Bella forced herself to focus on a road she wasn't driving on after every little smile Rosalie gave her while talking about school, or Bella's need for a car, or what they might do in Seattle.

It was also nice to see the conversation getting easier between his wife and his BFF. He'd chosen his BFF on a whim, but he was very proud of the good choice he made. He appreciated how Bella tried to treat Rosalie, to not make her an object to stare at and lust over, and he understood it was hard for her. It was hard for every human with the least little interest in women and clearly his BFF had something in common with Emmett. Rose's beauty was on a level all its own and he'd seen a lot of people just stare or almost drool, if she weren't scowling at the time. He'd once seen a car salesman just stand there staring as Rose tried to ask about a car she wanted to buy, and he didn't even acknowledge Rose was talking. But while he appreciated the effort Bella was making, it was still fun to see her struggle with it.

Something about the small smile Rosalie got whenever Bella looked away made him think his wife appreciated the effort as well.

It was a long drive for a human and things had gotten a little quiet for a while, as Bella stared out the window. It was kind of neat how Bella didn't feel the need to talk and say everything all at once, like he'd heard some humans did.

"Oh, this next exit has a gaming store across from the gas station. How about you fill up there and I'll see if I can find a new game that Bella might like." He spoke very quietly, and Bella didn't even move, so it was out of her range. "I'm going to leave the PS2 at her house over the weekend, since we're going to be out hunting anyhow."

…..

Bella glanced over at Rosalie when she noticed they were taking the exit off the freeway.

"Gas." Rosalie told her and Bella was a little grateful for that. She could use a bathroom break and she hadn't wanted to say that.

As soon as the car stopped at the pump, Emmett was out of the door as if he was going to race to the bathroom as well. "I'll be right back." He told her and then pointed to the gaming store across the street. "I just want to check something."

Bella finished getting out of the car herself, and noticed Rosalie give her a questioning look. "I'm going to see if they have a bathroom." She admitted quietly. She felt a little bad, because that left Rosalie alone pumping the gas while everyone else was rushing off, but it wasn't something she had control over.

She did find a bathroom in the store, and was relieved to have that over with when she stepped out of the store. She paused as she took in the scene in front of her. Rosalie was pumping gas, with a bit of a scowl on her face, and two men who must have the SUV that had pulled up behind them were both out of the car and looking at Rosalie. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, it was quiet, but she would bet money that it wasn't polite and Rosalie didn't look pleased at all. It wasn't right that the vampire had to endure people talking about her like she was a sex toy. The looks, the grins, all made it clear that was what was happening next to the SUV.

Bella continued to move forward, but her back was straighter and her jaw clenched just a little. She wanted to do something, but she had no idea what she could do. When she finally got near the car, she moved to stand next to Rosalie, leaning on the BMW and directly in the way of the two men looking at the blonde vampire. She was a poor shield, but she positioned herself as best she could.

Rosalie's eyes were just a hint darker, when the blonde looked up from the pump to stare at her. Bella noticed a little surprise in those eyes, but didn't say or acknowledge it at all. Rosalie's scowl disappeared for just a moment, and her soft smile was all for Bella. Apparently Bella wasn't as smooth as to hide why she wasn't getting back into the car.

The pump stopped and Rosalie put it back and closed up the gas tank. "Let's just drive over and pick up Emmett." The blonde said and Bella nodded. Waiting here was asking for a problem.

Emmett came out of the store just as Rosalie parked in front of it, with some bag in hand, but his smile faded just a little after a moment and he glanced across the street to look at the SUV. Bella wondered at that moment exactly how fast a vampire could tell an entire story, because she'd only be able to say 'we need to leave' in that time and he already knew why.

When Emmett got into the backseat, Bella was a little surprised when he rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment and gave her a little bit too strong of an affectionate squeeze. "Well, let's get going." He said even as Rosalie was pulling out of the parking spot.