Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters. I do own all OCs.
Spoilers: The Pink TuTu Universe
Rating: T for attempted kidnapping, use of threats and a weapon.
Notes: And here it is! An alternate, what if they heard Rosie's screams in the bathroom prompt. This story is similar to Rosie's point of view from How Do You Measure a Year? except it does end differently, and that will be marked.
Enjoy! :)
June 27th, 2016
25 minutes before disappearance
*Rosie's point of view*
Today has been so much fun.
I am 5 years old now, a whole hand worth of fingers!
That means I get to go to Kindergarten now. I will learn how to read and how to write, and get to go to Special Class, like Art and PE. It is going to be so cool, and I can't wait!
Since today is my birthday, I got to choose, all by myself, what we do. I picked going to the Zoo.
There are so many animals here, I bet there are thousands of them. There are tigers and lions, and panda bears, and penguins, and giraffes, and llamas, and cheetahs…
We saw Simba in the Lion's Den. He was so cute!
We play some games while we walk around. Like Red Light, Green Light.
"Red light!" Mamma yells, and everyone has to stop and be super still. "Green light!"
We walk as fast as we can over to her, but no running!
Then she says, "Red light!" again, and we have to be still.
After we walk around the Zoo for a while, it is lunchtime. We go to the Lioness Playarea.
"Okay, what does everyone want to eat?" Mommy asks.
Auntie Hanna says she is going to the tables with Scottie — that's my brother — and Mason. He is my cousin! And he is going to be a big brother soon. Auntie Hanna has a baby in her tummy, well, actually, it is not her tummy, cause that would mean she ate a baby!
How silly is that?
No, the baby is in her womb. That is where the baby will grow until it's ready to be borned!
We have to wait 9 months, which is, like, a bajillion and 3 days. But we have to wait that long so the baby is healthy.
And it is going to be a girl! I can't wait to have another cousin to play with.
I am going to love her so much! I will teach her how to read, how to write, how to ride a bike, how to walk, how to draw pictures…
"Rosepetal," Mommy says. "Would you like to eat like Mama or like me today?"
Mommy says that cause Mamma is something called "vegan". That means she does not eat meats or foods and stuff that comes from animals, not even milk! Cause milk comes a cow, y'know!
But today, I would like… Hmm…
Oh! Chicken strips! Those sound super yummy right now!
"I wanna eat like you, Mommy, please!" Mommy nods and asks what I want. "Um… Chicken stwips with wanch dwessing, please!"
"Oh!" Auntie Hanna says. "You know what? That actually sounds wonderful. Spence, order me some, too, please."
"Yeah, me toos!"
That is my cousin, Mason. I love him a bunch.
"You want chicken strips, too, Bud?" Mason nods really fast. He looks so silly! And it makes laugh. Auntie Hanna says to Mommy to order 1… 2… 3… Chicken strips with ranch dressing.
My other cousins, Taylor, and Natalie, who were adopted by my Auntie Ali and Auntie Em, order food like Mamma does.
And everyone else eats "like mommy".
*17 minutes until disappearance*
While we wait for our food, I ask Auntie Hanna if we can look at baby names to think of for my new cousin.
"Sure, Ro. Come on over here and we can look on my phone."
Auntie Hanna has this super fancy app called Nametrix. It gives you all kinds of ideas for names! It even has names that are given to people as siblings.
Like Mason, for example.
"Can I put Masey's name in, Auntie Hanna? Pleeaase!"
"Of course. Do you remember how to spell it?"
Pfft! Who does she think she is talking to?! Of course, I remember!
I am my mommy's child, after all.
"Duh, Auntie Hanna!" I say and she tickles my sides. It makes me laugh, but we don't have time for that! We have to look up names; it is very important, y'know!
My cousin can't be borned without a name! That would be so silly. What would we call her – baby? That's a crazy name!
"Focus, Auntie Hanna!"
"Oh, ok. I am sorry, Dear Rose. Let's get to it."
"Okay." I tap on the app. It opens and then I type in M-a-s-o-n.
Two lists of names comes up. These are the names that people usually give to Mason as sisters or brothers.
Since my new cousin is going to be a girl, we have to look at the girls' list.
"This says Riley, Auntie Hanna!"
"Yes, it does. Good job reading it!"
I love when people say that. It makes me feel so smart. And like they don't think I am a dumb ole baby just 'cause I am only 5 years old.
I look at the list some more. There are the names Madelyn, Lily, and Amara.
Some of the names are hard to say, though, so I ask for help.
"This one says, Savanna, and this one is Chloe, and Lila, and Olivia." Auntie Hanna says.
I like that name but there's too many of them! I know three girls named Olivia. They were in my preschool class.
"Don't do that one, Auntie Hanna," I tell her. "There's already too many Olivias!"
Auntie Hanna says she agrees with me, so we look at some of the other names.
"I really like Lila,"
Uncle Caleb says he likes that, too. It is so pretty. Mason and Lila Rivers.
"Me, too! And I like this one." I point to Madelyn. "And this one, what does it say?" Auntie Hanna reads Mackenzie. "Oh, how pretty! Mason and Mackenzie Rivers."
"Here is Savannah."
"No," I wrinkle up my nose. "That sounds like your name!"
"Yeah, babe. Savannah is a little too similar to Hanna for my liking."
Auntie Hanna asks Uncle Caleb to pick out three names that he likes. He looks at the list. Then says, "Lila, Amara, and Annalise."
Auntie Hanna nods, "And I like Lila, Mackenzie, and Haley."
"I like Lila, Madelyn, and Mackenzie!" I say next.
"Oh, those are pretty!" Auntie Em comes over to our table. "Let me see the list." When she gets the phone, she looks at all of the names. And takes a bazillion years to choose some.
"I like Elizabeth, Annalise, and Madelyn."
"Elizabeth is such a pretty name," This time, Mommy comes to our table! "Timeless, never gets old! What else do you have?"
"Madelyn and Lila and Mackenzie, Mommy!"
"Caleb and I like Lila, Amara, Haley, and Annalise."
"Those are gorgeous names, Han. And I agree that Lila is beautiful. So is Annalise. And Amara. Never heard that one before."
"So, we have Lila, Amara, Annalise, Elizabeth, Haley, Mackenzie, and Madelyn."
"Those are all wonderful names, Han." Mommy says. "If those are all the ones you like, you should sit down and write out possible middle names, and see how well the first-middle name combo goes with Rivers. Then, you will officially have your name!"
And Auntie Hanna does a shocked face.
"Did we seriously just narrow down names options that fast?"
"Seems like it, babe."
"Then I guess when we get home, we can think of middle names!"
That sounds like fun! I hope I can help. I decide to ask, "Can I help, Auntie Han, pleease!"
"Well, of course, you can! Your my favorite 5-year-old niece, after all."
Oh, Auntie Hanna is so silly!
"I'm your only 5-year-old niece, Auntie Hanna!" And she tickles my sides again, making me laugh.
*** Trigger Warning begins here as a precaution ***
*5 minutes until disappearance*
After we get our food and eat, the grownups say we can play on the playground.
We play all kinds of games, – tag, hide-'n-seek, and others.
"Come on, let's race!" I say to my cousin, Natalie, and little boy whose name is Noah.
He is 10 years old today, but he is super small, almost as small as I am. Isn't that crazy?
"First one to the slides wins!" Noah shouts.
We all run, go up the steps, and down the slides. Noah wins first, then me, and then Natalie. I give her a hug, so she won't feel sad about being in last place.
After the slides, I decide to do something that, usually, I am afraid to do. I am going to do the monkey bars.
"Nattie, will you hold me legs, so I don't fall, please?"
I climb up, hang on to the bar, and Nattie holds my legs. I do one bar at a time. 1… 2… 3…
I count to six and then…
"I did it!"
"Yay, go Rosie!" Noah shouts.
"Nattie, did you see that?! I went across the whole way!"
Nattie smiles really big and nods her head. Then she says, "Good job!" in sign language.
*** Trigger Warning from here to the end ***
*3 minutes before disappearance*
I go on the monkey bars again. I do it three times before Noah says to me,
"Rosie, will you show me where the bathrooms are?"
"Sure! But I hafta tell my mommy and mamma first. So they know where I am."
I try to walk over to the tables, but Noah stops me.
"No, don't do that. I uh…" He looks to the side. Then he leans in closer to me. "I really have to go. I might have an accident if you tell your moms first."
Oh!
That isn't good.
I had an accident once. The other kids laughed at me and called me a baby.
I don't want the kids to laugh at Noah. So I'll just show him where the bathroom is, then I will tell mommy and mamma where I was.
"Ok, come on! There over here!"
I hold Noah's hand and walk to the edge of the playground. You have go on a teensy-tiny little path. We go down it, allll the way to the bathrooms. But right as we get to them, a man suddenly appears!
I jump. He sure did scare me!
"Oh, man! You scared me, sir."
"Get in here!"
Huh?
"Get in… where, Mister?"
"Get in here!" He grabs my arm! It hurts a lot. The man pulls me into the bathroom.
"Mister, this is the boys bafroom! I'm a girl, I'm not supposta be in here!"
"Take off your clothes!"
He says in a mean voice. And suddenly, I feel like I have a bad tummy. My belly hurts.
I try to run out of the bathroom, but he grabs me! And I try to scream for mommy and mamma, but he puts his big, stinky hand over my mouth!
"Zack, show her."
Huh? That boy's name is Noah, not Zack! Noah takes something out of his pocket. He does something to it, and…
It's a knife!
He comes closer to me with it, and now, I am really scared. I try to run and scream, and I try to get out of this man's arms, and I try my very hardest to get away, but it just isn't good enough!
"If you don't listen to me, Zack, here, will kill you, and then, maybe, he will kill your precious little brother. Do you want that to happen?"
Not my brother! I don't want this man to hurt Scottie!
"Please don't hurt my bwother!"
"Then you will do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"
All of a sudden, there is a voice in my head. It says listen to him, Rosie.
So I do.
I take off my pink tutu that Auntie Hanna got me for my birthday.
I take off my shirt.
I take off my shoes and my shorts and then…
I put on jean shorts, but they don't fit good. I try to tell the man that they don't fit, but he makes "Zack" come closer with the knife, so I don't say anything.
I have to put on a green shirt. I don't like it one bit! Then, he puts an ugly hat on me!
Right as he is putting the hat on, I hear,
"Rosie!" – "Rosalie Faye!"
That sounds like mommy and mamma! Maybe if I'm quick, I can yell for help!
"Mom–" SMACK!
"Shut up, you little bitch!"
I start crying.
That really hurt!
Mommy and Mamma have never hit me like that.
"Shut up!" The man grabs my arms. "Shut up, do you hear?!"
"Mommy!"
I ignore that voice in my head.
I ignore it and I yell, "Mamma! Mommy!"
And then…
The man does something no one has ever done to me, not even to Mason or Scottie!
He hits my bottom. Hard.
It makes me cry even more.
"Mamma!"
Suddenly…
I feel something against my throat…
I get a prickly feeling all over my body. It scares me. I have never felt that way before. It makes me shut my mouth right away.
"You do that again, and you won't live to ever speak again. Do you understand me?"
I try to nod, but the knife is on my throat. He makes me say, "Yes, sir."
*Meanwhile, with Aria, Spencer, and the others – Normal point of view*
Spencer receives her cup and heads back over to Aria.
No Rosie.
Her heart begins to race, but she does not go into panic mode just yet.
Her daughter could be in the bathroom with Hanna.
"Hey, babe," She says instead. "Is Rosie with Han in the restroom?"
Alarmed by the question, Aria glances up from attending to their son.
"No, I thought she was on the playground?"
Before Spencer can speak, she sees something that makes her blood run cold. Hanna and Caleb coming back from the bathrooms, Mason on Caleb's shoulder, no Rosie in sight.
She spins around. Rosie isn't on the playground, in line, or at any of the tables.
"Rosie!" Spencer suddenly shouts and that is when it dawns on Aria what is happening.
"Rosalie Faye!"
Aria's hands begin to shake, her heart racing. "Rosie!" She shouts also, and the girls and Caleb realize what is happening, as well.
"Rosalie! – Rosie! – Rosalie Faye Hastings!"
No response.
"What the hell is going on?!" Hanna demands after she had been yelling her niece's name.
"We can't find Rosie," Aria answers desperately. "Have you seen her? Was she in the bathroom with you?"
"No! I thought she was on the playground!"
Alison turns from where she is comforting Natalie while Emily and Taylor look around the playground equipment.
"Could she be there now? Maybe she went and we just didn't see her. Someone should go look; Spence, Ar, do you want me to go?"
"No," The artist's voice shakes as she answers. "Stay here with Scottie, please." The toddler is screaming his head off, unsettled by the tension he is feeling around him. "Spence and I will go look."
*** alternate ending begins here
They head down the pathway towards the restrooms. Trees obstruct their view of the restaurant, and they can hear the others calling Rosie's name.
"Rosie!" Spencer shouts. "Rosalie, honey, are you back here?"
"Mommy!"
Spencer chokes up on the next word. She turns to Aria to see her still calling their daughter's name.
"Rosalie Faye!"
"Mamma!"
That time, Aria hears it. It is faint but they are sure that was Rosie's voice.
"Mommy!"
Now that they most definitely heard. In fact, they were not the only ones. A few of those who were also calling Rosie's name gather around them.
"You heard that, right?"
"That definitely sounded like mommy."
"I think it came from over here!"
A gentleman points towards the restrooms, and they all take off. A woman and her older, teenage son get there first, the boy calling out, "I found someone! Over here!"
There is a rush of people running to the men restroom before a scream, some shuffling and shouting, and a muffled, "Help, please! I don't know him!" can be heard.
"Hey, let them through!" Someone shouts when they see Aria and Spencer being held back by the crowd. Two men are holding another man to the wall, one has a little boy, about Rosie's size, in their arms, and then…
"Mamma! Mommy!"
That sweet, tiny, wonderful voice they thought they would never hear again.
"Oh, Rosie! Come here, baby." Spencer scoops her up, and Aria is immediately looking her over, her face, neck, cheeks. She sees the redness on both of her cheeks, from where the man had smacked her.
"You're ok, now, sweetheart. Mommy and Mamma are here, you're all right." Aria whispers while Spencer rubs soothing circles across the five-year-old's back.
"I'm s-sorry, Mamma." Rosie sniffles. "I-I shouldn't have lefted without telling you."
Aria sighs as she glances to the side, where that man is, that fucking bastard who tried to take their little girl.
Seeing that her wife is preoccupied — and she does not blame her, there are a few specific things she would like to do to that man — Spencer gently maneuvers Rosie to where she is resting on her hip, and tilts her cheek so she is look into those beautiful, bright blue eyes.
"Sweetheart, this is not you fault. Do you hear me? That man, that very bad, very mean man, it is his fault. Not yours."
Rosie's bottom lips trembles, and suddenly, she looks to be three years younger. A little toddler who is scared of the imaginary bad things that lurk in their closet; who has no idea of the bad things that are out in the real world.
"I-I was just tryin' to-to show Noah the bafrooms, cause he said–… he-he said, he-"
"Shhh. Baby, I know. I know, and Mama knows, too. It's ok. You are safe now, and he can never hurt you, ever. You're ok now, Sweet Girl. You're all right now…"
"Ma'ams?"
A woman comes over to them, and who they assume is her husband beside her.
"Hi, my name is Anna, and this is my husband, James. We called the police, they are on their way." She smiles gently at the couple (who she thinks is adorable with their daughter but knows it is inappropriate to say so).
"Why don't you take your daughter on out of here?" The man, James, speaks up. "She may be more comfortable away from this room. Don't worry – we are not letting this asshole go anywhere."
They agree, and the crowd parts to let them through. Less than 30 seconds later, they are back in the playground and restaurant area. Taylor is the first to notice them.
"Mom! Mama! They found her!"
They rush over, everyone does, from their friends and family, to the strangers around them to the workers of the restaurant.
One person closest to them gives up their seat, and a worker brings them a child-sized cup of ice water and a wet rag.
Still yet, people are helping them out, as a couple help comfort Taylor, Natalie, Scottie, and Mason, while the grownups are tending to Rosie, Spencer, and Aria.
"Where was she?"
Spencer faintly registers the voice to be Hanna. She does not respond, however, as she is still murmuring reassuring words to Rosie who has yet to unbury her face from her mommy's neck.
"She-She was–" Aria chokes up on the sentence, like an invisible hand tightening its grip on her throat, refusing to let air or words past the barrier.
Caleb instantly pulls her into him, rubbing her back, shushing her, until eventually, she gets out,
"She was with a man." and his blood runs cold. "She- She was dressed – like that!" Aria motions to the green shirt and jean shorts her baby girl is still wearing, feeling sickened that Rosie is still in those clothes.
"I–… I need to," Aria pulls away. "I need to get her out of those, she shouldn't be wearing those, why is she still wearing those clothes? She has to be so uncomfortable, Caleb, Spencer, we need to get her out them, right now! Rosie, come here, come take those-those, take those off, honey. Come to mama, I–"
"Woah, woah, Aria, look at me."
Emily steps closer, puts her hands on Aria's shoulder.
"Honey, take a deep breath… there you go. Ok, it's alright. We'll get her out of those, ok."
She glances around, trying to think. Obviously, they did not bring a change of clothes; Rosie is so good at not making a mess that they usually do not need an extra outfit for her.
Too bad an attempted kidnapping never crossed their minds as a reason to bring another shirt and pair of shorts for her.
Alison speaks up for the first time. She mentions Rosie's others shirt and her tutu. However, as soon as the words are out of her mouth, Rosalie freaks out.
"No! I don't want that! Please don't make me wear it! Please! I don't want it anymore! Please, Aunt Ali, please, don't make me! Please–"
She only quietens when both her mothers gently shush her, and Alison nods in understanding.
Of course she does not want to go back to wearing the t-shirt and pink tutu; why would she, when the last person to touch them was her attempted kidnapper?
They are looking around desperately now.
Caleb is mentally asking Hanna if he should give Rosie his own shirt — it will be gigantic but still — while the parents around them are rushing to check backpacks and diaper bags for that one convenient t-shirt that would fit this traumatized five-year-old little girl.
Before Caleb can actually mention it aloud, however, Natalie is whipping her shirt off. She shoves it at her own mama, and Emily, instead of saying something about her nine-year-old daughter being shirtless in public, nods in understanding, and immediately gives it to Aria.
"Look, baby," She is saying. "Look at Mama. Let me have that."
She expertly whips the disgusting green t-shirt off her baby girl, tosses it aside, and replaces it with Natalie's purple Big Cousin #2 of the Birthday Girl shirt.
(Taylor gives Natalie his t-shirt. It is more ok for a boy to be shirtless than a little girl, and he would have gladly given Rosie it, if he had reacted quicker than Natalie did.)
By this time, the police have arrived. And Rosie has also changed out of those jean shorts into a borrowed pair of pink athletic shorts.
Three police officers come to take their, and everyone else's, statements while another two go to the restroom where the men from earlier are still holding that bastard in their grips.
His face is now bloody, and he is fighting hard, and one officer cuffs him, while the other takes the little boy outside with him.
The man is refusing to give his name, and is shouting for "Zackery" to keep your fucking mouth shut!
:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/
"That is enough!" Spencer snaps after ten minutes of an officer trying to get Rosie to cooperate and tell what happened.
"She is a five-year-old baby, and you are not helping! Can't you see she is traumatized, and terrified? We are done here!"
Officer Dallas understands completely.
Anyone can look at Rosie — face buried in Spencer neck, sobbing and screaming when a male officer came close — and see that she is scared, traumatized, and in no shape to be answering questions.
"Of course, ma'am." She states, stepping away. "Here is my card, if Rosalie is up to talking tomorrow, or any time in the next few days, please do not hesitate to call."
Everyone goes to Spencer and Aria's house then.
Spencer sits in the backseat with Rosie, and ignores the voice in her head that says it is dangerous to hold Rosie in her lap for the 30-minute drive home.
Her baby girl is petrified and refuses to let go of her, and there is no way she is confining her to her carseat for 30 excruciatingly long minutes.
By the time they arrive, Hanna and Caleb are already there, and Alison and Emily are pulling in behind them.
They go inside and put Mason and Scottie in Scottie's crib; the two toddlers cried themselves to sleep, and are, thankfully, unaware of how absolutely terrified everyone else is.
:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/
"I don't wanna go home." Taylor stutters out two hours later when he sees Emily suddenly gathering her shoes and car keys.
Natalie is curled up, half-asleep, in Alison's lap in the armchair, while Spencer has Aria and Rosie in her arms on one end of one the couches.
And Hanna has buried her face against Caleb's neck, his arms wrapped tightly around her, on the other end.
Emily comes over to her son, where he is on the other couch, underneath blankets and pillows and his Nintendo that he is not actually paying attention to, and bends down in front of him.
"Sweetie, no one is going home right now," She whispers. "I'm just going to move my car so Granny Veronica and Grandpa Pete can have room to park. And I am going to grab us some clothes from home."
Taylor asks for his giant stuffed dog, the one that is as big as he is tall, because he knows that Rosie likes to lay with it during sleepovers. And says, maybe it would make her feel better right now.
Emily does not have the heart to tell him that Rosie is most likely not going to be moving from either is her moms' arms, and agrees to bring it anyway.
:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/
Two more hour pass, and Veronica and Peter have arrived. Byron and Ella are on their way, and Mike and his wife are coming in tomorrow.
Toby is here also. He fell to his knees the second his laid upon Rosie, sobbing in the relief of his baby girl being ok.
Surprisingly, Taylor now has not only Natalie, but Rosie, as well, in his arms, in the second arm chair.
They are wrapped up in a giant blanket, plus Rosie's baby blanket, and Natalie's favorite blanket, and have many stuffed animals, including the giant dog, piled on top of them.
And that is exactly how the families fall into an uncomfortable night of sleep.
They take turns to tend to Scottie and Mason, help Rosie and Natalie through their nightmares, and hold Taylor as he finally breaks down in the early morning hours.
That night, and the next day, the adults are reminded of the very thing that they almost lost.
And they can't help but wonder…
How different would this moment be if Aria and Spencer, nor anyone else, had heard Rosie's screams in that bathroom?
And there it is.
Rosie's body was not found, nor was she rescued alive after three years. Instead, Rosie was heard while screaming for help, and she was rescued in the bathroom before that man could leave the Zoo with her.
There will be another story which will have moments Spencer and Aria would have missed had Rosie not been rescued. This includes, her first day of Kindergarten, and other mundane moments, and then, that will officially be the end of The Pink Tutu Universe.
I still have couple parts to finish, including Joan and Laura Taylor reuniting with their daughter, Margaret, who had been missing for 23 years.
I started this out with one little prompt from a word list on Pinterest. One word which led to 12 wonderful stories, and so many memories that have been made with this Universe.
Thank you to each and every one of you for reading, favoriting, following, and/or reviewing. I could not have continued this without you.
Please review and let me know what you thought! :)