A/N #1:
Looks like y'all REALLY don't like Rosalie right now. I'm not going to lie, she wasn't doing too great. These law two chapters in her POV were a pivot for her in terms of her perspective on the entire situation. Hopefully that comes through and y'all don't hate her for too long. She's one of my favorite characters to write (even when she makes me want to bash my head against a freaking wall because she's so stubborn).
Additionally, I'm glad y'all love Bella so much! She's what I imagine a Bella with a backbone to be. For all my peeps that see themselves reflected in her I 3 you
CHAPTER 25 – Back from the Dead – Rosalie's POV
5 days. 2 hours. 56 minutes.
Rosalie hadn't moved from her spot in the greenhouse for 442560 seconds. She'd cycled through denial, anger, detachment, and bargaining with herself only to return to the top and fall again. Her chest was left a gaping hollow in the wake of the brunette's departure. A cavernous expanse of emptiness she deserved to feel the deep ache of. Every step the brunette girl had taken out of the door was another nail on the coffin Rosalie had built. She was out of excuses.
5 days. 2 hours. 57 minutes.
'You've lost everything, and you have no one to blame but yourself.'
After Bella's departure, her family had taken to oscillating around the periphery of the greenhouse, never quite risking coming inside to disturb her sanctuary. Rosalie wasn't ready to engage with them, yet. Even the thought of going to school and being so close and yet so far to her mate, left her feeling raw.
Now, on the fifth day, Rosalie's throat had become so enflamed she could hold out no longer. It had been too long since she'd last fed, any longer was reckless. She couldn't find the will to care. She kept seeing Bella's face shatter with distrust and pain.
5 days. 2 hours. 58 minutes.
'She's never going to speak to me again.'
A voice that sounded like Bella echoed in her head, 'Can you blame her?'
Violently shaking her head, Rosalie's bones creaked as she came out of her statuesque coma. Upon hearing a particularly dangerous crack, Rosalie realized she had stood so still and foregone feeding for so long that her body had begun to calcify.
5 days. 2 hours. 59 minutes.
Looking around the greenhouse, the first thing Rosalie's eyes landed on was the small flower bud still encased in glass. She approached the container, and, with great care, lovingly stroked the glass.
'You don't just get to make decisions about me and my life without my input.' Bella's voice intoned in Rosalie's head.
The glass around the flower bud shattered under her diamond palm.
5 days. 3 hours.
The morning gloom cast a grey shroud over the students filing in for another monotonous day of high school. Yet, Rosalie empty chest couldn't help but to rejoice at the chance to see her mate.
After a full week spent brooding and all pretenses of excuses for staying home used up, Alice had barged into Rosalie's room that morning and demanded her sister take her to school. Rosalie hadn't had it in her to argue with her determined sister. In the back of her brain, Rosalie knew she would have to face Bella again eventually.
After having foregone feeding so long, Rosalie was grateful Jasper had volunteered to go with her. He told her it was because he felt like they weren't getting enough 'Twin Time' these days, but she knew he had heard the shatter of glass in the greenhouse.
Hunting with Jasper brought a special joy to her undead soul. He never crowded her, and he never pushed her into any direction. Much like the way he approached other's emotions. That was exactly the sort of nature she needed around her right now. A calm rudder to direct her through the eye of the storm.
Rosalie's mental musings were interrupted when the murmuring of her siblings alongside her subsided. Ears perking, she knew without looking that Bella's obnoxiously loud truck was approaching the school. She sighed audibly, as she mentally re-catalogued the work she wished to do on Bella's truck.
Four pairs of golden eyes glanced her way, but she continued to scroll through her phone. Secretly, the monster inside of her roared at her mate's nearness. After a week separation, her emotional cues were completely haywire. Carlisle warned her that her emotions would be scattered and volatile until the mate bond was validated. He explained that vampires and humans each reacted differently to the bond. Though there was a lack of long-term research on human/vampire mated pairs, over the centuries, Carlisle's anecdotal research pointed to the notion that the vampire takes the brunt of the emotional toll. With hyper- enhanced emotions and senses thanks to the venom coursing through her, she could already feel the toll the past week had taken.
'Which just means I'm causing her pain near or far.' Rosalie internally ruminated.
Edward sidled up to lean on the trunk of his Volvo, next her. Ever since Bella left the greenhouse, Rosalie had made a concentrated effort to avoid Edward as much as possible. She knew her thoughts would be too disjointed, and she didn't want to subject him to a front row show of her internally falling apart. She couldn't bear to see the look of resigned understanding on his marble face. She loathed herself enough, she didn't need it reflected in the eyes of another.
With that, Rosalie pushed herself off the trunk and squared her shoulders. She fought to keep her emotions in check and her thoughts clear of any concrete decisions as she walked over to where Bella had parked her metallic mess.
Taking advantage of Bella's lack of awareness at her presence, Rosalie took a moment to admire the brunette. Unfortunately, her mate looked like she'd seen better days. Bella's normally beautiful brunette curls were hidden under a ratty beany that looked like it hadn't been washed since the Great Depression. The brunette's body seemed to be fighting a losing battle with a lingering cold as she moved sluggishly.
'I did this. I've been so selfish and irresponsible.'
Rosalie's chest ached seeing the red rims around usually luminous eyes. Bella was too engrossed in making sure she had everything to notice the blonde's silent approach.
"Hello, Isabella."
Startled, Bella head snaped up, realizing too late who was standing in front of her. The brunette's deer in headlights look drove a knife straight into Rosalie's crumbling chest. Rosalie felt the anger and disgust at herself well.
'She fears you. You caused your mate to fear you. You are despicable.'
Bella hadn't yet spoken or acknowledged her presence, but Rosalie saw the girl's eyes narrow in suspicion at the blonde's appearance. "What do you want, Hale?" Bella bit out. "In case you weren't listening last week, I'm not interested in Round 300 or whatever this is."
Frustratingly, Rosalie hackles rose in response to Bella's legitimate ire. 'You have no right to be angry with her. If she wants nothing to do with you, then she wants nothing to do with you.'
Ignoring her inner monologue, Rosalie shrugged her shoulders and took on a pseudo nonchalant stance of inspecting her already immaculate nails. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bella's eyes narrow further.
"Nothing to say? You expect me to believe that the great Rosalie Hale deigned to come all the way over to poor little Isabella Swan, just to say hello?" Bella mocked. The knife in her chest twisted viciously, but her pride wouldn't let her back down. The wind blew stiffly, bringing scents of bonfires and spruce to Rosalie's nose. 'She won't talk to you, but she will talk to that overgrown furball. Looks like you're not so hard to replace.'
"Actually, I came for a reason that I see now is completely irrelevant." She knew she was being ridiculous, but she could feel the venom boil in her body like battery acid. Her eyes were steel, "I've heard there will be graupel later. I sincerely hope nothing happens to your engine on your way home later. Last I checked; you were all out of mechanic guardian angels."
The brunette's eyes flashed at Rosalie's jab.
"Threat or promise, Hale?" The brunette challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. Rosalie knew from experience that Bella could be impossibly stubborn when she got like this.
"I don't make threats." The blonde sniffed, matching her mate's pose. She turned to walk towards school.
"You don't keep promises, either." Bella intoned.
Rosalie flinched. She whirled back towards the girl, intent on telling her just how good she was at keeping her promises. Her laced barb died in her throat when she saw Bella's eyes. The beautiful chocolate pools were rapidly filling with tears. Tears that Rosalie caused.
'Tears that you will always cause.'
In a blink, Rosalie was gone.
Rosalie spent the lunch period hunting outside of a southern suburb of Vancouver. She knew she shouldn't have disappeared like that. Not just because of the risk it could cause, but because Bella deserved better. 'She will always deserve better.' Rosalie knew she was overacting, and she knew that Bella was right. Bella didn't owe her anything and she didn't have to talk to her.
'I miss her. But, I don't deserve to miss her.' Venom-pooled in her eyes, never to fall.
The sadness cycled to anger at herself for letting it get this far. How could she have been so stupid and short-sighted. She should've told Bella everything from the beginning and been honest with her. Bella had always been transparent with her and had given Rosalie no reason to doubt that her trust would be misused.
'Maybe I should take her advice and just stay away. There's nothing stopping me from enrolling in college early or taking an extended gap-year abroad.' She knew her family would ultimately understand. However, Carlisle had cautioned her against something so severe as that. Whether they liked it or not, the bond between them was very real and could cause horrific side-effects if they continued down the path they were on.
The unacknowledged bond wouldn't allow Rosalie to leave Bella. Physically, an unacknowledged bond acted as an anchor system. There would be a constant, emotional push and pull for them as the bond fought to be recognized. She knew that she should share this with Bella, so that the girl could be looped into the fact that she was going to have an Ice Queen statue nearby for the rest of the brunette's life. Even if Bella moved away to college, Rosalie's vampiric existence would be tied to Bella. Otherwise…the venom would corrode Rosalie from the inside out. Slowly completing the process that should've happened on that dark night in Rochester all those years ago.
She felt the prickle of eyes on her.
'You followed me to Canada…bold. So, this isn't as random as a nomadic vampire just passing through the Pacific Northwest.' Rosalie hadn't felt this since that night she'd chased it down after they discovered the hiker's body. 'What do you want?'
An image of Bella's smiling face flashed in front of her eyes. 'I can't and I won't leave her like this. If I was off galivanting about, trying to sort out my feelings, and something were to happen to her...'
There was no way she would leave her already vulnerable mate behind even on better terms, but especially not when there were three blood-drinking nomads with questionable pasts darting about. She saw something flit at the corner of her vision, just fast enough to trick her vampire vision. "I have to get back. I've already been gone for too long.'
Once she got to the edges of campus, Rosalie slowed to a human pace. The dismissal bell must've gone off a while ago because students were already filing off towards the parking lot. By the time she made it to the lot many students had departed. In fact, there were only two cars left: her BMW and Bella's truck.
Said human was resting casually on the hood of Rosalie's car.
"Hello, Rosalie." Bella said, tilting her head to the side, as the blonde came closer. "You done throwing your childish temper tantrum?" Her eyes had a glint of challenge in them.
"I'm not a child," the blonde seethed. Her earlier anger at herself surging back at the brunette. "Now, get off my car." Rosalie hissed, glaring daggers at her mate.
"Right, sorry. Are you done throwing your very adult and dramatic tantrum?" Bella smirked, not sounding apologetic at all. Instead, the girl continued to tap her nails on the hood, clearly making no move to get up.
Rosalie felt one of her familiar headaches begin.
"When you weren't at lunch after your very adult and dramatic disappearance this morning, my body started feeling weird. My anxiety skyrocketed when you weren't in class. I left and made it to the restroom in time before my chest got extremely tight, and I couldn't breathe." Bella's voice losing its amusement. Her chocolate pools piercing Rosalie's gold. "Somehow, I knew you were in danger. Then, about fifteen minutes ago, the tightening in my chest relaxed, but the anxiety didn't. Now, here I am, to make sure you're not dead."
Rosalie noticed Bella still made no move to get up.
"Isabella, I'm an immortal vampire. I've been dead since 1918."
Bella let out an unladylike snort that seemed to catch her off-guard. "God you're old."
The pressure localized at Rosalie's temples as she grabbed the bridge of her nose to center herself. "It seems your purpose for interrupting my journey home has been completed. Do you not have somewhere else that you need to be?"
"Wasn't it you that wanted to talk to me this morning?"
Standing up straight, Rosalie cleared her throat before taking a step toward the reclined girl. "Yes, and as per this morning, you made it clear that you would not like to discuss anything with me further. Therefore, what I had to say this morning is completely irrelevant."
Bella stared into golden eyes. "My category three panic attack would say otherwise. Indulge me." Rosalie could see the cloud of worry in the brunette's eyes.
"I wasn't in class."
"Yes, we established that." Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes as she stood up. "My question was why." Rosalie ground her teeth so hard she swore she heard it crack. 'You deserve much worse. She has every right to eviscerate you, and, yet here she stands trying and all you're capable of is derision.' She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I was upset this morning after our…conversation, so I took care of it. That's why I missed class." Rosalie mumbled. In a much quieter voice, she continued, "I'm sorry I worried you."
Bella stood frozen in her tracks as she stared blankly at the blonde. Rosalie could see the girl's mind double time. Slowly, Bella blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just blacked out for a moment." Bella admitted, eyes fixed on Rosalie. "Did you just apologize for worrying me?" Not waiting for Rosalie to respond, Bella scoffed, "Wow, so you are capable for taking responsibility for your actions. Weird, I thought vampires didn't come in that setting."
Rosalie definitely heard her jaw crack under the pressure this time. "I answered your question, now, answer mine. Why are you here?"
"Besides the obvious?" Bella crossed her arms, the leather jacket not doing much against the early evening chill setting in. "There's been an update to our Speech & Debate assignment. Mx. Davis wants to add an accompanying brief expanding on our oral arguments. They said they want it submitted first, highlighting the points we intend to use in our class speech." Bella took a deep breathe, "Which means, we have to meet several times a week from now until the deadline to get the assignment in on time."
'She's never looked more resigned to spend her time with someone.' Rosalie swallowed the ball of venom in her throat. She wouldn't meet Bella's eyes when she answered. "Ah."
"Yeah, 'ah.'" Bella sighed, crossing her arms. "So, I'm here to make a game plan for this to be as painless as possible for the both of us. It's clear that you don't want to spend time with me, and I don't want to spend time with you. Between the two of us, I'm sure we can think of something that will still net us a decent grade."
Rosalie winced.
Bella continued. "I was thinking, we each do our own part separately and then we both can use the free period before lunch once a week to put it together. That way we don't have to waste each other's actual free time on this. What do you think?"
"'waste each other's…free time'?" Rosalie repeated. "You think of spending time with your friends as 'wasting it'?"
Bella let out a full belly laugh that could be heard clear across the parking lot. She laughed for so long that there were tears streaming down her face. She was out of breath by the time she was able to calm herself down. Rosalie's face was a mask of rage.
"Stop laughing at me!" The blonde hissed.
"That was just rich! I really needed that so thanks." She said wiping away a stray tear. "If that's all, I really gotta go. I dohave somewhere I have to be, and that place is not here."
Rosalie stepped into Bella's way as she tried to leave. "That's it? You laugh in my face and leave? Explain yourself."
Bella reeled back almost bouncing off Rosalie.
"What? You don't like that? Maybe, you should try using your compulsion on me again." Bella snarled. "You think you get to just act like nothing happened? You think after everything you put me through, we're still friends? You're lucky all I did was laugh in your face."
"Bella, I-"
"We're not doing this right now, Rosalie. You really hurt me. After you had absolutely no reason to and after you told me there would be no more secrets between us, you lied to me." Bella's voice sounded hollow, even to her own ears.
Rosalie's fierce stance crumbled. "Bella, I know and if you would only let me –"
"Don't." Bella's dark eyes filled with a fire that pushed Rosalie to fall victim to the flame.
"That's not how this is going to work, Rosalie. You don't get to just walk all over me as if I'm no more than a measly human doormat, then say you're sorry and suddenly we're back to where we were. No, we were…whatever we were and now, we're not. Now? Now, we're classmates."
She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Right now, I don't want to see you anymore than I have to. I realize that we go to a school with less than 300 people. And I understand that we share a class together where we're expected to be partners. But, outside of that, we're nothing."
"Bella, may I say just one thing?" Rosalie pled as Bella began to walk away.
Bella stopped walking but didn't turn around. Rosalie couldn't help seeing the parallels from a week ago. Why were they always destined to be pushing each other away while the other pulled?
"Any time spent with you feels like the sands of time aren't frozen."
Rosalie heard Bella's heart skip a beat. 'That heart might not beat for me, but I will make sure it's alive to beat at all.'She took a step into Bella's space, but not enough to crowd her. "You don't have to believe me, but I need you to know that I'm ready to use whatever nanosecond of time you're willing to share with me to prove to you just how important you are to me, Isabella."
When it was clear Rosalie was finished, Bella swallowed thickly and resumed her short trek to her truck. Her back to the truck, Rosalie stood motionless, but with a renewed understanding of what she needed to do. Turning the key in the ignition, Bella whispered Rosalie words from last week to herself. "…No part of you is in my future..."
'I will make it my life's work to make sure there's a future for you to have.' With that, Bella got the car in gear and disappeared out of the parking lot. She didn't look back to see Rosalie turn to watch her fade into the horizon.
"We missed you at the gathering last night." Emmett said, leaning on the greenhouse doorjamb. "I've lost count of how many you've missed since all of this started."
"Wasn't feeling very social." Rosalie said off-handedly, as she swept the greenhouse floor of glass. She hadn't been back in a few days, and it was about time she cleaned up her mess.
"You haven't been 'feeling social' for a while now, Rose."
"I have no idea why that could be." Rosalie deadpanned, putting the broom away. She took a seat in front of her newly installed terrarium she'd specially designed it to house the fragile plant.
"It's been weeks, Rosie. Not since we found the body on the trail. You didn't come back when Edward and Jacob did that night either. It took you forever and when you did come back, you seemed different."
"Can't recall." Rosalie ground out, not looking up from her work.
"Then, this whole thing with Bella." He aimlessly continued, kicking at a loose pebble. "Are we ever going to talk about where you ran off to that night?"
"Emmett?" Rosalie asked, completely ignoring his previous statement. He hummed in response.
"Was that door shut?"
"Yes?" Emmett answered.
"And a shut doors signifies?"
"Don't enter?"
"And what did you do?"
"Enter?"
Rosalie swiveled on the seat to look at him. "Do you understand why I wouldn't be in the most talkative mood?"
"To be fair, it's a greenhouse. Closed doors aren't really a thing. I was just making sure someone hadn't accidently broken in." Emmett smiled, the dimples on his cheeks even more pronounced. "I was only thinking of the plants."
"I'm sure they'll thank you some day for their long and fruitful life." Rosalie snarked, turning back to her work.
"Rosie, did you just make a flower joke?" Emmett laughed, his face in mock awe as he looked at her. "To be honest, I forgot that you could."
"She's rubbed off on me." Rosalie said, a small smile forming on her lips at the thought of her mate. Her undead heart throbbed in her chest, remembering the heartbroken look on the brunette's face when Rosalie had approached her that morning. She redoubled her focus on the plants. 'You can still protect her this way. If all we have is distance, then I can be ok as long as she's alive.'
"Wanky." Emmett teased, bringing her back down to Earth. He crossed his arms against his chest. He knew her well enough to know that taking the final step of crossing the threshold sans permission would be a death wish. "Don't think I didn't notice that you didn't actually answer my question."
Rosalie sighed again, this time because she knew he wouldn't let her get away with not talking about it. "Again. Not really in the mood for conversation."
"Something about this whole Red-Eyes Three Stooges situation doesn't sit right with me." He tightened his arms in a protective gesture. "Rosie, please. You can't keep shutting yourself away like this."
Rosalie felt the frustration mount as she clipped the leaves in front of her. 'How are you going to protect her from a ghost, Lillian?' Her internal voice mocked. The voice sounded too much like Jacob and a reminder of one hundred messages he'd left her since last week.
"Rosalie, talk to me."
Her patience had reached its zinth and she snapped. "Maybe, I'm tired of talking about it!" She snarled. "Maybe, I just want to be left the fuck alone! I'm tired of everyone trying to talk to me, when the only person that I actually want to talk to me refuses to even look at me for more than a few minutes!"
Her eyes were wild as they took Emmett in.
"You want me to talk? FINE!" She screamed. "Let's talk about it. Let's talk about how I 've single-handedly destroyed one of the most important relationships I will ever have in my infinity. All because there is a very real threat to her that I might not be able to protect her from."
"The fami-"
"The family is not omniscient! Alice is fallible. Edward is fallible. Last time I took stock, vampires can't beat ghosts. I can't invite her into my future if I can't protect her in the present. Not when it was a member of the family that createdone of those vile things!"
"You know who it is."
"I do."
"Tell me." His eyes beseeching as they gazed at her.
"You do too."
"What?"
"You know who it is." She reiterated.
"I do?"
"You sired her."
"I what? Her?" Rosalie could see the massive cogs turning in his head as he dialed back decades in the hopes of uncovering the identity. She knew the moment he realized it because she'd never seen Emmett look so unsettled.
"No…it can't be."
"Yes."
"That's impossible." He denied, vigorously shaking his head.
"So was the existence of vampires, and yet here we are." She beckoned him to the stool next to her. "Now, do you understand my fear? There's no way this is a coincidence. She found us. We're the last two faces she saw. We're captured in her memory, forever."
When Emmett didn't respond, Rosalie continued. "You, especially. She was bound to you the moment she opened her pitch-black eyes. She must be fixated on me because I'm the one who 'buried' her. I never thought I would say this in my eternal life, but I agree with Edward. Right now, more so than ever, having a human around is too much of a liability."
"But, she's not just any human, Rose. She's your mate."
"She is. Which means her safety comes above even my own. And this isn't just any nomadic vampire, Em. This is your Singer." Rosalie stressed. "She could come after Bella. Our family's scent is all over her, even a casually passing vampire would see that she's been marked with our and the wolves' protection.
"Wouldn't she be safer surrounded by all of us, instead of at arm's length?"
"Don't you understand? She's getting closer, she's getting bolder, Emmett! We might not be able protect her. I might not be able to protect her." Rosalie yelled, frantic. "She could do it out of some sick, twisted revenge against us. She could torture Bella to use our family's powers. If she had my powers under her control, I shudder to think what could happen. I can't put Bella's life at risk like. Not if there's other options."
Emmett shook his head at Rosalie. "You're looking at this in such a narrow-minded way! We don't even know what they're doing in our area?"
"Are you so naïve as to think that a trio of nomadic blood drinking vampires that repeatedly crisscross between the borders of shapeshifting wolves and an established coven of vampires, can have plans that are anything other than nefarious?"
"I'm just trying to-" Emmett tried.
"Help?" Rosalie cut him off. "You could've helped by not contributing to the problem in the first place. We're in this mess because of you." Her smirk dangerous as her eyes flashed. "It's a shame that Edward is about to see what happens when you lose control with your Singer."
Rosalie didn't stay around to watch Emmett's reaction.
A/N #2:
Happy Belated Birthday to I.O! Turned one year on Halloween and I can't believe it's already been a whole year!
I've gotten a few requests/prompts/expanded scenes to write and I've found their extremely helpful when I'm stuck, so if yall have any that you'd like to share please do!