~~Rosalie~~
"Rose, have you-" My adoptive father entered the garage. "Oh, never mind, you're working on it now. Carry on."
"It'll be ready by tonight," I assured him. "Can't believe that I found the right parts in time. Do you think she'll like it?"
"Of course!" He exclaimed. "She says she's been lusting after this car since she was eight. Apparently her previous father had one."
"Just making sure."
Even though I hadn't talked to Rebekah enough to know much about her, I did manage to figure out that she liked a lot of things that Esme also liked, but she had another love; vintage cars. Her favorite one in particular was the 1957 Lincoln Premiere Convertible in red. I liked this model, but it really wasn't my personal favorite.
"Eight-years-old and she already knows what car she wants when she can drive…" I shook my head. "How well does this girl have her life together?" We shared a laugh together before he cleared his throat.
"Rose, I need your opinion on something."
"Yeah, what?" I began to apply wax to the car.
"Your mother and I were planning on giving her…"
Please don't say what I think you're going to say, I thought. He handed me a rag so I could wipe my hands clean from the wax, polish, and grease before pulling out a small black velvet box out of the pocket of his pressed white coat. I opened it, and immediately shut it again. The sight of the gold choker bearing our family crest burned in my mind. I blinked, trying to get the memory to go away, but I knew that it would stay with me forever.
"It's too soon." I gritted my teeth.
It had only been a month-and-a-half since Rebekah had been transformed. Normally, we would receive our crest a year after the transformation. Carlisle noticed my muscles tense, and he soothingly began to rub my arm. It didn't help.
"Rebekah is fit for her crest now, Rose. I came to ask for your opinion; do you think she will like it? Don't even think about hiding your feelings, I want your honest opinion."
"Are you-"
"Yes."
"Well I think that it is too soon for her to gain a crest! All of us, with the exception of Ness, have known her for as long as she's been a vampire! How can you see her as a member of the family when she literally doesn't talk to anyone?" My tone became higher and more agitated as I went on.
My dad sighed and ran his fingers through his perfectly-groomed sunbeam-hued hair. I didn't know if he was seeing my point, or if he was silently judging me.
"I… I… I see your point, Rose. Rebekah is rather distant from the rest of us. But I do think that if we work with her longer, we will reach her. She has walls, just like you did."
Just like you did… His words echoed in my ears. I now began to see his side of our argument as well, but it wasn't enough for me to like the idea of them giving her a crest. She was just too new to the family...
"She'll like it." I finally admitted and smiled a tiny grin. "Even though she rarely wears jewelry, outside of that golden key Nessie found at that thrift store a few weeks ago and the occasional diamond or pearl earrings."
"Thank you, that's all I needed." Carlisle sprinted back to the house in order to have Esme wrap it before the party. I didn't even notice Emmett step out from the shadows until he grabbed my waist.
"Oh, hello!" I smiled at him, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Why'd you snap at our father like that?" He asked playfully while kissing and nipping softly at my neck.
"Oh, that…" I sighed. "Well…"
"You know you can tell me anything and I won't judge you."
"Mom and Dad are giving Rebekah a crest for her birthday, specifically a golden one with green accents. Sure, she's Ness' best friend and I'm starting to see her as my newest sister, but…"
"But what?"
"It's the Cullen family tradition to receive your crest jewelry on the one-year anniversary of your transformation."
"So? Mom and Dad are breaking the rules, they don't do that enough." We chuckled together.
"They also broke tradition with Alice and Jasper, since they were already transformed and received their crests one year after joining us. Eddie gave Bella hers shortly after her transformation, and Nessie received hers on her fifth birthday."
"I know they've exempted from tradition a couple times, but with this certain case… I don't know. Something just bugs me, it's like they value her more than us, and we've been Esme's children for longer." I turned to my husband, who just smiled like a childish idiot.
"Rosalie Lillian Hale, are you saying that you're jealous?" He asked, amazed, as if we hadn't had a million different versions of this conversation.
"No!" I denied. He saw right through me. "I… guess."
"Why?"
"I don't know to be honest. I said to him: 'How can you see her as a member of the family when she literally doesn't talk to anyone?' and that was my main reasoning for him and Esme to not give Rebekah her crest."
"She really doesn't talk to many people does she? Just Nessie, Esme, and Carlisle."
"Yep. She's warming up to Alice, Edward, and Jasper though."
"That's a good sign, but why does she not like us?" We laughed.
"I honestly have no idea, because who wouldn't like this face?" I took his face into my hands and began planting it with kisses on every square-inch.
"Rose!" He groaned as I stopped. Emmett could be such a child at times.
"I have to get back to work on her car, a much more reasonable gift for a seventeen-year-old in my opinion."
"And you know best! Now, can I help?"
"Of course, now start waxing! We've only got a couple hours before the party tonight."
I knocked on the door of Alice and Jasper's house, where all of us girls would be getting ready and where the party was to take place. "
"Rose! Perfect timing, we're just starting! Come upstairs, we're all waiting for you."
"Thanks for waiting."
I stepped into the door and my nose was instantly flooded with the sweet smell of champagne and roses and looked around at the party decor, which Alice managed to find in her basement. The color scheme was black, white, and gold. The whole thing together looked like it belonged on Pinterest.
"Alice, you did a fantastic job as usual." I exclaimed while making my way to Alice's parlor.
"Thank you, Rose!" She replied while opening the door.
We walked in on Rebekah trying to select a dress for the party. Her hair was pinned into sections in order for it to be styled and her makeup was not yet done.
"Perfect timing…" Bella whispered to me. "Rebekah's been trying to pick out a dress for the past hour-and-a-half, according to Alice, and she can't decide which is which." Bella rolled her eyes. Even though she had been in the family for roughly sixteen years, she still didn't give a damn about fashion.
"Well, let me see what I can do here…"
"I've told her to go with the pink one, but she doesn't listen." Esme offered me a small smile. "She listens to me like a deaf rabbit."
Rebekah was running around like a mad-woman. I didn't even need Jasper or Edward to tell me that she was stressed out, it was clear in her face. I gently touched her shoulder to get her attention, but got quite a surprise. Rebekah whirled around like she was going to attack whoever touched her, but instantly calmed once she saw that it was me.
"Rose!" She exclaimed. "Sorry that I almost pummeled you…" She bit her lip and tucked a tiny loose hair behind her ear.
"Can I help with the dress situation?"
"Please." She rolled her eyes. "These are the two final contenders."
When I laid my eyes on the first dress, which was cocktail-length and not the one she was going to be wearing. It wasn't even on her body, and I could tell that it was extremely form-fitting and only come down to her mid-thigh. Plus, it had a plunging neckline- so definitely too sexy for a birthday party. Who even let her buy that? If Ness wore something like that…
The second dress was so beautiful I didn't even know why she was questioning me to help her pick out a dress! The color of it was a beautiful pale dusty pink that would look beautiful with the tiny hints of golden undertones she still had in her skin. The neckline was much more modest off-shoulder and the bodice had criss-cross detailing. The dress had an a-line skirt that cascaded down to the floor and the skirt was made out of chiffon. It generally looked more classy and less figure-hugging than the other one.
"This one." I brushed my hand over it. "You would look stunning!" I held it to her slender figure.
"Really?"
"Of course!" I looked over my shoulder to Alice, who gave a subtle thumbs-up.
Rebekah took the dress from me carefully and swiftly changed into it. Once she walked out, I knew that this was the one.
"Zip me up?"
"Of course." I swiftly moved the zipper up to the top of her back.
I turned to Alice again, and knew that we were both excited to see what she would do when it came to styling the dress. How she styled her hair and makeup, what shoes she would wear; how everything flowed harmoniously. Rebekah plugged in her curling iron and started to work on her hair.
"What look are you going for?" I asked, sitting next to her being wary of her need for focus.
"Like the old Hollywood screen siren curls. You know what I'm saying?"
"I lived and was changed during that period, so I vaguely know what you're talking about." Rebekah laughed and kept taking pins out of her hair and curling it.
"Need help?"
"Nope." She set the iron down on the vanity and picked up a comb to lightly brush out the curls. Rebekah flexed her arms in order to reach one un-curled section in the back.
I knew that I needed to stop watching her in order to have time to get my own hair, makeup, and nails done, and to have time to change into my dress, but I couldn't stop staring. I turned to Alice, who also looked mesmerized.
"How does she contort like that?" My sister asked.
"I have no idea, but she was flexible before the transformation." Ness joined in the conversation. "She would often sit in strange positions as a human, so this is really nothing new to me."
"Rose, can you help with my hair?" Bella asked, sitting next to me. I rolled my eyes.
"Sure, now sit still."
Curling Bella's hair brought me straight back to her wedding all those years ago when we were still somewhat feuding. Before our niece/daughter/granddaughter was born…
"It's crazy, right?" Bella asked, turning to her daughter. "She's now old enough to pose as Edward's little sister. What happened to the good old days?"
"I have no idea…" I sighed as my attention turned to my niece who was sitting next to Rebekah and they were quietly chatting up a storm and wondered if Rebekah had discovered Ness' special abilities
"Rose, can you zip me up?" Esme asked and turned around.
My slender fingers slipped around the tiny zipper of her black dress and zipped it up. Alice was next in line and I zipped up her dress. Bella was patiently waiting for me to finish her hair and I knew that my niece wanted me to help her with her makeup. Why did everyone need me at once? I thought.
"Alice and I are going down to see if the final surprise is attended to." The car… I smiled.
"Okay, we will be down in half-an-hour."
"You look beautiful." Emmett took my hands in his and kissed my hair.
"You're looking quite handsome yourself, my little Monkey-Man." My fingers fiddled with the top button of his shirt.
"Come on!" We heard Nessie from upstairs. "They're not going to bite!"
"Tell that to Carlisle!" We all laughed.
"Come on before the night gets old!" I hollered. "Nessie, bring her down!" I got a dirty look from Bella for using the nickname.
"Coming!" She called.
My niece skipped down the stairs, donning a tea-length lavender dress with a high, halter neckline and flared skirt. Her hair was styled into a loose updo with foliage woven into it and her makeup was light. As soon as her feet hit the bottom of the steps, Rebekah stepped out from behind a wall and began to descend the stairs.
"Woah…" I heard the door open, and in walked Seth, Jacob, and Leah. The three of them cleaned up nicely, as much as I would hate to admit it.
"I know…" Ness whispered excitedly.
The final look that Rebekah had managed to pull together was a mixture of woodland fairy and movie star. She had pulled her dark hair all to one side, amping up the Hollywood glamour a little more. She kept her makeup natural like Nessie did, although her lips were a medium-deep rose-red. The dress was left the same, but she had added one of Alice's jeweled belts around her waist and her shoes were thin gladiator sandals.
"You look…" Seth managed to speak, his eyes fixated on her.
"Now stop… you really didn't need to do all this." She exclaimed. "The place looks so beautiful and the amount of money…"
"No complaining about our finances tonight!" Alice pushed her to the living room. "Now who's up for charades?"
After an hour-and-a-half of charades and various other party games, we decided that it was finally time to open gifts. Emmett had managed to sneak back to our house in order to get the car from our garage, in order to present it to her first. When we were still talking about what to get Rebekah, we'd also decided the order in which our gifts would be presented. We'd decided that Emmett and I would present ours first and then work our way up to the largest gift; the crest.
"Bekah…" Alice nudged her. "It's time for gifts."
"You didn't have to give me anything, you've given me enough." We all rolled our eyes. She was so much like Bella.
"No," I stated. "I think you'll like this one. Close your eyes."
"This better be good." She closed her eyes and that's when I noticed how long and thick her eyelashes were.
"It will be." Alice placed her hands at Rebekah's waist and began to guide her towards the front door. I quickly glanced outside the kitchen window, and saw Emmett wave at me, the car next to him.
We steadily and slowly began guiding Rebekah towards the door. Not like we had to worry about her tripping or anything, actually now that I say it, we did! 'Cause if we made one misstep, she would dent the floor.
"Are we there yet?"
"Almost there… step!" Esme called.
"This can't be bigger than the-" I tapped her index finger, signalling for her to open her eyes. Her jaw was on the ground.
"You can't be serious! How'd you find one of these?" She turned to me. "Which one of you gave me this."
"It was us." Emmett tossed her a baseball. " Although Rose did most of the restoring, it was in pretty bad shape when it got here. That's not the point, happy birthday, Bek Bek. "
"What the?"
"Don't ask." We all replied in unison. "Emmett just radiates crackhead energy, we still don't know if that's a good or bad thing."
"In this case, I think it's bad." Rebekah turned to me and threw her skinny arms around me, mildly cutting off my air supply. "Thank you so, so, so much!" She whispered in my ear.
I was cut off guard for a moment, but quickly regained composure. "You're welcome!"
"Hey, what about my hug?" Emmett asked as the entire family burst into giggles.
"Hmm… let me think about it." Rebekah tossed the baseball in her hand. "Fine." She wrapped her arms around his muscular frame and squeezed as hard as she could.
"Thanks for the car bro."
"No problem."
"Now, would be a good time for our gift." Alice spoke up. "But it's inside, so hold on. Should I bring all the gifts out here?"
"No, we can go back inside." We headed back in and sat on the leather couches in the living room.
"Rebekah," Alice said. "We actually have two gifts for you, one from me and one from Jasper." She explained.
"Okay."
"My part of the gift is something that hasn't exactly arrived yet, but it will, I promise!" She sighed. "Rebekah, I would like for you to go to the next Fashion Week with me."
Both of them began squealing like little girls, and I knew Rebekah's emotions were probably on a roller coaster right now. Poor Jasper... He's going to have a headache tonmorrow. I turned to him, and the look on his face said it all.
"Of course I will!" Rebekah exclaimed. "Which one?"
"I was thinking about all four; New York, London, Milan, and Paris! Sure, we'll have to a lot of cramming to see all the shows we want to-"
"But it's going to be so worth it! Thank you Alice!"
"Of course."
"Now Rebekah," Jasper started. "My gift isn't as 'high fashion' as Alice's is, but I think you'll like it anyway." Jasper pulled out a long box from behind the couch. I already knew what it was.
She pulled off the ribbon of the simple black box and opened it, revealing a brand-new AK-47. Of course the military brother had to get her a gun… I shook my head. "Now this is the best gift I've ever received." Rebekah pulled it out of the box and pretended to fire it at the wall. "Thanks Jasp."
"No problem, just don't shoot it in the house."
"I solemnly swear that I may or may not do that in the future, no promises." Esme sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Now for ours." Edward started while pulling Bella closer to him.
"I already know it's the golden flute."
"Really?"
"Come on, I mentioned it a little while ago, you and Ness go and research what the hell it was, and you're a musician. It's basically the law to get your fellow musician music-related stuff."
"She's not wrong…" He sighed.
"You are literally the biggest spoil-sport in the history of the world." Edward handed her a black case and she opened it, revealing the golden instrument.
"It's beautiful…" Esme sighed.
"I know!" Rebekah closed the case. "Duet sometime?" She asked Edward.
"Of course, anytime you want."
"Here's my gift!" Nessie shoved into the conversation. "It's not much, but I think you'll like it."
Rebekah unwrapped the simple Tiffany-blue wrapping paper and opened the box and showed it to us. Nessie had given her delicate flower stud earrings that were detailed with various precious gemstones. Nessie handed her another box in the same wrapping paper and inside was a Cartier bracelet.
"Ren, they're beautiful! I love them!" Rebekah threw her arms around her best friend.
"I'm so glad!" She exclaimed. "I literally had no idea what to get you, and Alice suggested jewelry. I didn't know what you liked, so I just stuck to the classics."
"I really love the bracelet! Always wanted one." Rebekah exclaimed, and managed to finagle her wrist into the twenty-four karat gold.
"You know what this is?" I asked, bewilderedly. After remembering that she was the daughter of a wealthy government man, I shrunk away, slightly embarrassed.
Rebekah smiled and showed off her wrist. "My adoptive mother before Esme had three of these. My father always surprised her with one when he was in a really good mood.I always loved how they looked and wanted one for myself, but they wouldn't give a six-year-old something a bracelet that was worth multiple thousands of dollars."
"And the earrings?" Esme asked, touching them. I made a face to Carlisle that screamed 'Buy her a pair' and he nodded.
"They're beautiful, but not my type personally. I prefer hoops and dangles to studs."
"Well it's good I bought back-ups." Ness chuckled. "Grandma, I told you she wouldn't like them, you can take them." Ness pulled out a third wrapped box and slid the other earrings to Esme. Rebekah quickly opened the third box, inside was a pair of diamond-encrusted rose-gold hoops.
"Now these, I love!" She exclaimed. "Thank you, Nessie!"
"Of course!" I then turned to Esme and Carlisle, who looked at each other with both fear and excitement in their eyes.
"Wait, we have a gift for you." Seth exclaimed. Esme shrunk back into Carlisle in a relieved manner; I'm guessing that she was afraid of what would happen when they presented the crest to her.
Seth handed her a small bag, which she quickly opened. "What… what is it?"
"An Amazon gift card and the bracelet is the Quileute symbol of friendship and our alliance." I noticed that her bracelet was made out of a thin strip of deep-brown leather, and that the symbol of the tribe was gold instead of the silver ones that we had.
Rebekah managed to fasten the bracelet around her right wrist. "This is cool! I wish I had something to give back to all of you... as you haven't told your leader about my existence yet. It's really unique, I've never received anything like this before, thank you!" Jacob and Seth enthusiastically nodded while Leah just stood there sulking. I turned to Esme and Carlisle once again. It's now or never, guys. Carlisle nodded.
"Rebekah," He stood up, and she whirled her head around to face him. "We have a gift for you too."
"Oh… y'all didn't have to get me anything, really. I've used up five-millon dollars of your family fortune, so you didn't to waste even more money on me. Besides, you've given me the life I've always wanted, although I didn't expect it to be immortal."
"And you us." Esme took Rebekah's hand in hers. "But we need to make it official."
"What do you mean?" She asked fearfully, as if she knew what was going to happen.
"We, Rebekah, we."
"Carlisle-"
He pulled out the black velvet box out of his pocket and whirled her around to face him. Esme put her hand on top of his hand and pulled back the lid gently, the necklace staring right back at us. The gold glittered under the lights of the chandelier. I turned and surveyed the room; looks of shock on everyone's faces, especially Edward and Leah's.
"Rebekah Natasha, will you take upon the honor we are asking and become the newest Cullen?"
A/N: So… stayed tuned to see whether or not Rebekah will accept Carlisle's "proposal". Some parts were mildly inspired by Bella's birthday party in New Moon, but of course there was no papercut and ravenous Jasper.