Rosalie takes a sip of her Americano, the warm liquid only reminding her of how dry and scratchy her throat is after crying all night.
Room service is one of the few good things about the morning. She doesn't have to go far for breakfast. Outside the large windows of her room, the city is being pelted with rain. She doesn't doubt that it'll be similar in Washington once she gets back.
She's finished caking her face with enough makeup to distract from how ugly she's become overnight. She went heavier on eyeshadow and mascara than usual and carefully concealed around her eyes and nose to hide any redness.
It's becoming her regular everyday look lately, but she doesn't want to acknowledge that. Before fleeing for the West Coast, she only ever used cosmetics to highlight her already stunning features, not disguise them.
Her phone starts to ring, and immediately a shock of anxiety stabs through her chest. She checks the caller ID and sees that it's her lawyer.
She's going to lose her shit if this is another problem she has to deal with.
"Hello?" she answers.
"Good Morning, am I speaking with Miss Rosalie Hale?"
"This is she."
"I hope you're doing well, Miss Hale. I'm calling because you've received a proposal for a case settlement."
She expected this. She was told that it was coming, but she still feels sick to her stomach hearing it.
"Mr. King is offering five-hundred-thousand dollars if you withdraw your charges."
Five hundred thousand. She's all too aware that the sum is nothing for him. His everyday "casual" car costs twice that. She could do a lot with that kind of money, though, especially after draining her trust fund from paying off her tuition fees, legal bills, rent, car payments, and financing the move across the country.
Her pride and rage won't let her accept it.
"I don't want his stupid money. Tell him he can shove it up his—"
"I understand. You don't have to decide right away. You can think about it if you'd like. It's a difficult decision when you're given the opportunity to settle."
"The only thing I'll settle for is him being stranded on a remote island without electricity or running water."
"You should keep in mind that a case like yours could be drawn out over several years. Defendants like the ones we're facing can make it very difficult to provide irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing, not to mention it can be very exhausting."
She hates going back and forth over stupid technicalities. It's bad enough having to stand in front of strangers and ex-friends while revealing her biggest mistakes and flaws. She doesn't want to be asked repeatedly how and why and when so they can turn around and say that she doesn't sound genuine or concise enough.
"I don't care. Reject it. I have to get to the airport or I'll miss my flight," Rosalie snaps. "Bye."
"I'll wait until the end of the week to confirm just in case you change your—"
She hangs up before he can finish speaking and lets out a loud growl of a sigh. Her nerves have been on edge all weekend, and the only thing keeping her going is the cup of coffee in her hands and the thought of getting back into her regular, never-ending work cycle.
And also Emmett. She hasn't seen him in a week, which isn't out of the ordinary, but it seems like longer. She feels overly clingy, and she doesn't like it.
She's torn whether she should ask him to stay over to try to quell the neediness. A date might be enough.
When he stays over, he usually spends most of the day there unless one of them has other plans, so she'll have to consider that. School isn't back in session for another week, and after her shift tonight, she isn't working again until Friday.
Does she want him over for three days? The idea is both enticing and stressful.
Contemplating this along with her building list of worries, she gathers her bags together and orders a ride for John F. Kennedy.
...
"Do you have any twos?" Emmett asks, looking down at his hand of playing cards.
"Go fish," Jasper says with a yawn. "You just asked for twos."
"Because I need a two, and you said you didn't have threes last time."
The airport waiting area is predictably boring and lacking in good food options. They'd bought a pack of cards for entertainment after seeing Edward and Alice's flight was delayed.
"Do you have any threes?" Jasper asks.
"Dammit!" Emmett hands him his three, giving Jasper his final pair needed to win. "How do you keep winning? Let's play crazy eights next."
Jasper checks the flight schedule on his phone again and glances at the arrivals exit. "It says it's two hours now."
"You think she's actually on the plane?" Emmett teases. The look on Jasper's face says he's not in a joking mood. "I'm just kidding. Edward will make sure she comes back."
On the opposite side of the large, echoey room, Emmett spots Rosalie walking out, her long, blond waves contrasting against her black parka. She looks down at her phone, pulling her carry-on luggage with her.
"Rose!" he calls out, holding his arm up to get her attention. "Rosalie!"
Her head turns, looking at him, and she walks determinedly toward where he and Jasper have been sitting.
She's not bawling like she was on the phone the other night, but she looks unhappy.
She throws her arms around his neck. He kisses her a few times to make up for the week they'd been apart.
"I love you," he says, swaying this way and that as he hugs her tight.
"I love you too."
"I love you more."
Jasper clears his throat.
Rosalie pulls away from Emmett, glancing around at the empty rows of seats. "Where are the others? I thought they were on an earlier plane than me," she asks.
"Winter weather delay. They missed their connecting flight," Jasper explains.
"So we have to wait for them?" Rosalie's posture slumps.
Emmett's quick to defend, not wanting to wait to see his friend again. "I haven't seen Edward in months, Babe!"
"I know. I'll wait around, even though I'm pretty sure all three of them hate me."
"Nah, I think Edward's the only one who hates you."
Rosalie rolls her eyes.
"He hates me too, so I wouldn't worry about it," Jasper says.
"He enjoys being disagreeable," Emmett explains. "And I don't know about Bella, but it's pretty difficult to get on Alice's bad side. She only listens if it's something she wants to hear, and she hates apologizing, so it's not like she sets the bar high."
"Whatever. I hope they get here soon. I'm supposed to work at six."
"Tonight?" Jasper asks.
"Yeah, one of the other nurses has a birthday thing, so she wanted to trade." Rosalie sits in the seat next to Jasper.
There's an airport announcement about unattended baggage that plays overhead, and a group of loud teenagers walks past.
Emmett sits on the other side of her. "Did everything go okay?"
"I don't want to talk about it right now," she answers, digging through her handbag and retrieving a tube of lipgloss. She reapplies the shiny clear coat to her lips. "Is there coffee around here?"
"On this side of security, I think the only option is that bakery place," Jasper replies.
Rosalie tousles her hair and rubs at her temple with irritated impatience.
"The little marketplace has Peets," Emmett says. "I can go grab you something. Jazz, you want anything?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Okay, be right back."
Emmett walks down to the market kiosk where a variety of sandwiches, snacks, magazines, and bottled beverages are sold. He gets in line and browses through the menu board, wondering which drink Rosalie would like best and if there's much difference from one airport drip coffee to the next.
"Can I get a medium whatever-coffee-is-best?" Emmett requests, getting his card out from his wallet.
"Hey, Em," a voice says off to his left.
He turns and sees a curvy brunette wearing a Seahawks cap and a puffer vest over a hoodie and leggings. She's pushing a stroller and has a carry-on duffle stacked up over the handles.
He knows her. She used to live in one of the sororities he used to frequent. They hooked up and went to parties before she graduated two years ago.
She's almost unrecognizable without the heavy coating of mascara and spray tan.
"Uhh, hey, Maddi."
"Oh, I go by Madison now. What are you doing here?" she asks. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Getting coffee for my girlfriend. She just got in from New York."
"Oh, wow, girlfriend. New York. That's nice. I'm on my way to see the in-laws out in Georgia. My husband Matt's over there," she points to a man in a Northface jacket browsing through the refrigerator cases. He looks very corporate and suburban. "And this is Mack! Say 'hi,' Mack!"
The baby in the stroller gurgles and spits up on himself.
"'Sup, Mack," Emmett says. "Is that short for Macklemore?"
"Malcolm. Well, it was good seeing you," Madison-not-Maddi says, wheeling the baby off toward the Matt who Emmett doesn't recognize and never heard of before this moment.
"Yeah, bye."
Weird. The last time he saw her she was high on molly and running through the practice fields topless with her best friend Addi–short for Addison–who he also occasionally hooked up with. Her favorite story to tell at parties was about how she blew some D-list drummer at Coachella for VIP weekend passes.
Evidently, a lot has changed since then.
He grabs Rosalie's coffee off the counter and heads back toward where she and Jasper are waiting.
...
Except for the week when she first traveled from Biloxi to Seattle, Alice can't remember a time when she wore the same thing for longer than a few hours, let alone three days. She had no other choice but to buy a new outfit at the airport before their flight back home.
She looks down at her brand new floral midi dress from Etro. It goes well with her equally new Salvatore Ferragamo black patent leather Vara pumps. Lucky for her, the Florence airport has a decent selection of clothing, makeup, and skincare for purchase.
Despite leaving without any luggage, she's leaving with a healthy amount. She bought a new suitcase—extra large—from the duty-free store to keep the assortment of things she found in the three hours of wait time they had before their flight.
She didn't just find things for herself, however, she also managed to pick up a new scarf for Esme, a hoodie for Emmett, a bottle of wine for Rosalie, a pen for Carlisle, and a silk tie for Jasper.
Bella, refusing to participate in any shopping or new clothing options, changed into a pair of Edward's old joggers and a t-shirt since they couldn't very well leave her in the soaked clothing that she had on.
Alice hadn't expected her to try to swim to Edward, but if that's what it took to make it in time, she supposes it was a good call.
"Are you disappointed we aren't staying longer?" Edward asks as they board their connecting flight.
"Yes. I wanted to shop more," she laments.
"That would have meant staying another day," he reminds her. "Overnight flights are more efficient."
"It would have been worth it."
She sits in the aisle seat across from Edward and Bella's row. Her seatmate appears to be another college student like them, but the girl's already fully asleep with large over-the-ear headphones and a hoodie pulled down past her eyes.
Alice slept most of the long flight from Italy back to the states, and she doesn't want to ruin her schedule too much, so she opts for staying awake on their domestic flights.
Her stocks are down slightly, but she still has the top score out of all of her friends on the Vampires vs. Werewolves leaderboard. Emmett's making a noteworthy attempt at pushing her out of first place, but he's shy of a few hundred points still.
Alice goes through her socials, checking her Instagram first. It looks like she got a good chunk more followers since she was last online.
Out of habit, she taps over to her notifications to see if any of them are people she knows.
She freezes when she sees the list of account names. PalazzoVolturi, Master_Aro, Marcus19, TheCaius, Its_Athenodora_Darling, SculptureDiSulpicia, PhotographybyFelix, .tri, NoPainNoJane, AAAALEC...
The entire Volturi is following her.
She follows them back.
It can't hurt to stay in the loop with what they're doing. She might be able to see if they're planning anything strange ahead of time if she stays in touch.
She looks over at the couple on the other side of the aisle. Bella and Edward appear to be soundly asleep, leaning against each other sweetly.
Alice is glad they're finally back together. It's how things should be. Edward and Bella. Bella and Edward. They're a good match.
Pulling her legs up into the seat and curling against the armrest, she dials Jasper's number.
It rings once before she hears the line connect.
She doesn't wait for him to greet her, going straight into updating him. "We're on our way back now. I'll see you in a little over an hour."
"Hey," Jasper replies. "You're alright? You're with Bella and Edward?"
She hears Emmett's laughter loud in the background as he says something about parachuting and taking a detour through LA for a smoothie bowl.
"Hang on," he says. She hears Emmett's voice get quieter as Jasper moves away from him. "Okay, sorry."
"Yes, they're with me. Are you at the airport already?" she asks.
"Yeah, Rose's flight got in not too long ago. We've been playing Texas Holdem."
The Volturi might become an issue later, but she doesn't want to worry Jasper about it when the potential issue is still unclear.
She told him she would tell him if something like this came up, though.
"Are you still there?" Jasper asks.
"Hi. Yes, I'm here," she replies. "Can we stay at your place tonight? Things are pretty tense still, and I want to hold off on whatever Edward has to say until after he's had some time to get some sleep and recover. He hasn't been himself lately."
She already told Jasper about the rumors regarding Aro and the others, so that should be enough for now. It isn't as if she saw them doing anything bad like kidnapping or stabbing anyone. It isn't like what happened with James.
If Carlisle was able to consider them friends in the past, they can't be that bad.
...
The second he sees Edward walk through the arrival gate, Emmett runs over and tackles him, picking him up off the ground.
"Emmett, what the hell?"
He drops Edward to the ground. "Man, I missed you and your stupid face."
Edward pulls away with a grimace, his complexion pallid. If Emmett didn't know better, he'd guess he's even more hungover than himself.
"Food in Italy not as amazing as everyone says it is?" Emmett ribs.
When he gets no answer, he makes a face at Edward. He walks with him and Bella back toward the others.
"I'm sorry I caused so much trouble with that phone call," Rosalie says to Alice, her voice low.
"I'm sorry, too," Alice replies, already sitting down beside her and hugging her. The tiny brunette shoots Emmett a pointed look that says she somehow knew he was making fun of her earlier. He feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the thought of her paranormal knowledge.
Rosalie glances at Bella and Edward standing nearby, her nose scrunching along with her brows in an indiscernible expression. "Sorry, Bella," she says, her tone dripping in reluctance and uncertainty. "And Edward. I shouldn't have said anything."
An apology for everyone. It's unexpected but heartwarming.
"It's okay," Bella says, despite the circumstances of the past weekend definitely not being okay. She looks equally as exhausted as Edward.
"I think that's your luggage, Edward!" Alice points to his fancy black Montblanc suitcase rolling past on the conveyor belt not far away.
Emmett hurries over and grabs it for him since he's closer, faster, and feels like he hasn't lifted nearly enough heavy things in the day.
He claps Edward on the back roughly. "Sweet. Now that that's settled, let's go!"
Edward steps away stiffly, and it's evident he still hasn't developed a sense of humor in the past few months.
"Who's getting a ride with me? Did you leave your car here, Eddie?" Emmett asks.
"Wait, I have to get my stuff," Alice whines, standing up and walking toward the baggage claim.
Jasper follows her. "You didn't take luggage."
"True..." she says, giving him a mischievous grin and little dance that says she's going to need to clear a lot more closet space.
"Told you!" Emmett booms. "You owe me twenty, Jazz."
Alice laughs. "Oops, sorry."
Jasper rolls his eyes and grabs a bill from his wallet, shoving it in Emmett's outstretched hand.
He pockets the cash with a grin. "Pleasure doing business with you."
Rosalie sighs impatiently, flipping her hair over with her hands and shaking out the curls.
"Actually, I can drive Jasper and myself back in Esme's car," Alice announces in a distracted tone. "Go on ahead without us."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Emmett replies, carrying Edward's luggage in one hand and Rosalie's in the other, making a display of his hard-earned strength training.
They've spent enough time sitting around the airport today.
"I need a nap before I head back into the hospital," Rosalie says, glancing behind her.
Edward and Bella are whispering about something, trailing behind them.
"Yeah, are you hungry? We can pick something up on the way, or I can drop you off first if you're too tired. I'll go get whatever you want."
Rosalie glances back again. "It's not like I want to be here. I was in New York for some appointments and just so happened to be getting back the same day as you," she snaps at the two following them.
Emmett puts his arm around her, steering her back around in the direction they're walking. "Don't worry about them. They're jet lagged."
"No, I apologized. Why is he still talking shit?"
"I don't think he was talking shit." He turns and looks at his friend. "Right, Edward?"
"Of course not," Edward says blandly, continuing to give him absolutely nothing.
Bella looks terrified of Rosalie.
"He's broken or something," Emmett says to Rosalie. "So food? What do you want?"
"I'll eat cereal or something at home. I don't have much of an appetite."
He's going to eventually have to figure out a way for her and Edward to get along. It's way too stressful being caught in the middle of their weird spats.
Or he can take the easy way out and wait for Esme or Carlisle to figure it out.
As friends of both Rosalie and Edward, they should be equally as invested in their friends getting along. It isn't like Edward listens to what he has to say most of the time, anyway.