Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight

Emmett sighed and adjusted his position on the bed. He wasn't uncomfortable of course-it was impossible for a vampire to feel physically uncomfortable-but he had been sitting like this with Bella for over an hour. Every time he shifted to leave, she subconsciously gripped his hand tighter in her own, unwilling to part with whatever comfort she was receiving from his touch.

He looked up towards the door just as Rosalie silently walked through it. When she reached his side, she gently kissed his temple before whispering softly in his ear, "Thank you."

Earlier that day:

"What is that awful smell?"

Alice crinkled her nose and looked to Jasper, who was unfortunately as clueless as she.

"I don't know darling," Jasper replied. His eyes watered a little from the pungent smell. "But if this is the reason you dragged me over here I might just have to serve you with divorce papers."

She rolled her eyes. The two of them were lounged on top of Charlie's house. They were drenched from the torrential downpour that had started and stopped a few minutes earlier, and to make things worse, they weren't even here to hang out with Bella.

"Why can't you influence your visions?" Jasper grumbled light-heartedly. "Make them take place at night? Preferably in a dry location..."

"Hush! It's starting!"

It was Jasper's turn to roll his eyes, but he had to admit he was pretty curious. The vision Alice had seen earlier today had made her giddy with hope and excitement. She wouldn't tell him what she saw but knowing it had something to do with Bella was enough to make him happy too. Bella's emotions have been all over the place the last couple of weeks...she could use something uplifting.

Down below, they watched Charlie walk up to Bella's door. Jasper observed him carefully, looking for signs of the hatred he had seen in the past. Charlie's emotions, like Bella's, were all over the map right now. He was apprehensive and excited. He appeared to both dread and look forward to whatever was about to happen. Did he still hate his daughter? Jasper believed he no longer harbored such acrimonious feelings for Bella...but the man did not love her, yet. And he most certainly did not forgive her. That was, unfortunately, easy to ascertain. Jasper occasionally still checked on Charlie on his own, and though he had not needed to use his gift for some time, Jasper knew it would be a long time before Charlie could look at Bella without flinching. He may never get there, he thought sadly.

"Good morning, Charlie," they heard Bella greet him.

"Morning," Charlie answered awkwardly. "Uh, you got a second? I want you to take a look at something."

She was still on her guard. Good girl, he thought, though he knew she had nothing to fear from Charlie today.

Fidgeting in place, she finally nodded after giving Charlie a long, searching look.

The two of them walked to the front of the house. Jasper noted how tense Bella was.

"Are you still having trouble seeing her?" He asked Alice.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "It's been a lot harder the last couple of weeks actually. It only seems to work when she's completely calm and unguarded. Which means..."

"Which means something is really bothering her," he finished. He wished Bella would give them a clue. He was starting to think Carlisle and Esme's approach was not proper here-they too had noticed Bella's odd behavior, but they were treating her like they treated each of them...like the adult vampires they were. But Bella was neither vampire nor adult. Jasper had no idea if talking about her problems would help but it had to be better than the turmoil staying silent was causing her.

Below, Charlie led Bella to the driveway where an ancient, hideous, red truck stood parked by his police cruiser.

"Um," Charlie shuffled his feet. Good grief, that man was awkward as they come. "This is for you."

Bella stared at the truck in confusion. "You're giving me a car?" She sounded pretty shocked.

"Well, you're old enough." Charlie said quietly. "Weather can get real rough here in the winter. It's not safe for you to be biking around when the snow hits. This used to belong to a friend of mine in La Push. His boy's your age-well, maybe a little younger, but he's a wiz with cars and he fixed this up real nicely for you." Charlie was rambling now. "I know it looks ancient but the engine's what matters and it's good as new."

Bella continued to stare. Despite his revulsion with the truck, Jasper smiled when Bella's emotions reached him. She was stunned, hopeful, relieved and so, so happy. His vampire eyes could see that she was struggling not to cry, but a tear slipped down her face anyway. Charlie looked like he wanted to hide behind a tree but Jasper still saw a hint of a smile on his face. And he felt it-a small, very, very small twinge of affection in his heart.

"Merry Christmas, Bella."

"Thank you," she whispered.

Charlie handed her the keys. "When you get back from your trip, I'll get you a permit and start teaching you how to drive. Unless...of course if you'd rather ask Carlisle..."

"No!" Bella said quickly. "No, you can do it."

He nodded. "Well, I'll be off. Bye, Bella."

"Bye." She was still staring at her truck when he left. Slowly she walked around, inspecting it before she opened the creaky door and went inside.

"No wonder it stinks," Alice whispered. "It's from La Push."

"You think that boy is one of them?" Jasper asked. This was a surprising development. He and Alice had never encountered the wolves here but the others had. He knew La Push was their territory. Now that he had more information, it was clear whatt the stench emanating from the truck was.

"It's a possibility." Then Alice grinned. "Which do you think will infuriate Rosalie more? The smell or the truck itself?"

Jasper chuckled. "Don't spoil it for me," he replied.

"Bella!"

Bella was still sitting inside the truck-her truck-when Rosalie and Emmett appeared through the windshield. She looked up just in time to see Rosalie's face change from panic to confusion to revulsion.

"Hi," she greeted them. She was still up in the clouds somewhere because of Charlie's gift. This is big, she thought. He wouldn't do this if he didn't care about her. Right? "Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?"

Rosalie was indeed staring at her, but more so at the truck with the strangest expression on her face.

"Bella," Rosalie came to her senses and spoke slowly. "What the hell is that thing?"

"It's from Charlie," Bella grinned. "It's for me!"

The blonde closed her mouth.

Emmett stepped forward, eyeing the truck. "Crap Bells, how can you stand the smell?"

"What smell?" Bella was confused now, and a tad irritated. "Hey don't mock it just because it's old. It's perfect."

Rosalie opened her mouth. Then she closed it again.

"Do you mind if we take the Jeep?" She finally said. "It's already packed."

"Ok," Bella smiled and got out of the truck, carefully closing and locking the doors.

Emmett chuckled. "Looks like Bella Bear's found the second love of her life."

Bella only grinned back, though she thought she spied Rosalie rolling her eyes and glaring at her truck from the corner of her eyes.

"Let's go," Rosalie grumbled, much to Emmett's amusement.

The beach at Shipwreck Point was a beautiful place. The whole area was wild and feral, but the beach especially had a fierceness about it that made it all the more beautiful. Just like Rosalie, Bella thought and she smiled as she pictured the blonde walking on that beach. Beautiful.

It wasn't a private beach but it may as well be; nobody but them was crazy enough to vacation out here this time of year. There were a few stragglers here and there when they arrived though so they would all have to be mindful. Bella was knocked out of her thoughts when Emmett suddenly hoisted her off her feet and up from the path to their cabin.

"Emmett!"

"You're going too slowly, Bella Bear!" He laughed. "I wanna start this vacation already."

She glared but let him manhandle her inside. Behind them, Rosalie smiled softly and brought in their bags.

Inside, this cabin looked to be the same size as the one she and Rosalie had shared in the Yukon, but whereas that one had a breezy open layout, this place was warm and cozy and sectioned off. Almost as soon as they stepped inside though, Bella thought of something.

"Um," she started weakly. "How is this going to work?"

She was, of course, referring to the lone bedroom.

"Well, since you're the only one of us who sleeps, you get the bed," Rosalie stated calmly.

"Unless you find yourself emotionally attached to the roof of course," Emmett grinned. "We won't stop you."

Bella knew he was joking, but the idea warmed her up anyway. It would be wonderful to sleep outside in a place like this with the sounds of the waves crashing in the background.

Rosalie gave her a look. "Good grief, Bells. You are not sleeping outside."

Bella stuck out her tongue and took her small bag into the bedroom.

"Swimming in 10 minutes!" Emmett shouted through the walls. "Clothing is optiona-ow!"

She grinned as she closed the door behind her. As soon as the door shut and separated her from Rosalie and Emmett, the smile left her face.

There was fire everywhere. Every object in her sights was a potential fire starter. Every vista her eyes could see held blaze after blaze of red and orange. And worst of all, every person, every breathing moving thing was both alive and dead. She would be speaking to Charlie or Esme or one of her teachers and suddenly all she would see was charred flesh. No one was immune from her sadistic imagination. Not even Rosalie.

Bella felt lost. She didn't know what to do. Whenever those images invaded her mind during the last few weeks she'd silently scream for them to stop, and they would. But they came back again and again. She knew how to fight. If there was something evil there she could hold it off...she knew she could. But there was nobody there this time. There was no monster. There was no evil for her to overcome. There was only her. Bella was completely alone.

Directly in front of her, flames licked up the wall. Bella whimpered. In seconds the blaze rose up to the ceiling and spread to the other walls.

Stop. Stop! STOP!

It stopped.

Knock, knock.

"Bella," Rosalie called to her softly behind the door. "You ok?"

The walls around her were still the pristine white they had always been. In her mind, her own walls immediately came up.

"Yeah!" She said in a light-hearted tone. "Just having a panic attack looking at this bathing suit you got me."

"You'll be beautiful in it," Rosalie replied with a smile. "I promise. Alice already saw it."

Rosalie watched Emmett and Bella play fighting in the water. She sat in her chair, wanting to soak up as much of the sun's rays, weak as they were, before she joined her lovers. At the moment Bella was standing on top of one of his outstretched arm trying to keep her balance...rather hard to do when Emmett kept waving his arms up and down. Rosalie smiled when Bella, having fallen headfirst into the water, sputtered and tried to tackle Emmett.

The two of them were so oddly in sync with each other. Rosalie knew that it was this more than anything else that would give their relationship its fighting chance. Mates or not, a relationship can flourish or disintegrate just as easily as with humans. Emmett chose to believe that all mates were successful because there was no other way. Rosalie wasn't so sure. Before having both Bella and Emmett in her life, Rosalie was sure she'd happily trade her existence for humanity...even if it meant never finding true love. Her hatred for herself, her love for humanity at times felt stronger than her love for her mate. Bella's appearance in her life, for whatever reason, forced her to rethink her outlook and it has indeed changed considerably. But there were still moments...There were still moments when the ache to hold her own child and to grow old with someone overwhelmed even the overwhelming feelings she had for Bella and Emmett.

That was why Rosalie refused to take her relationship with Bella for granted. She knew, perhaps more than anyone in her family, that there were forces in this world stronger even than the bond between mates. That was why she despised Edward's attitude so much-the bond between herself and Bella, but more importantly between all three of them would always require hard work. It would always be subject to scorn and derision by people like him who have never asked themselves to look at the world with new eyes.

It hurt that Bella wouldn't talk to her. But she understood and tried not to dwell on it. Rosalie couldn't be everything to Bella-just as Emmett couldn't be everything to Rosalie. Come to think of it, there were things that Bella and Emmett shared that she herself did not understand. She had been patient and followed Carlisle and Esme's advice to let Bella speak up when she felt ready. But enough was enough. Bella was suffering. She hid it so well that Rosalie was embarrassed and angry with herself for not seeing it sooner, but between Jasper's gift, Alice's inability to see her except for the rarest of times, and her and Emmett's observations, she knew without a doubt that something was causing Bella distress. Rosalie had made several subtle inquiries over the last few weeks but Bella wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Rose!" Bella shouted happily from the water. She was levitating an ecstatic Emmett from deep below the water in order for him to perform some rather dolphinesque moves before splashing down.

Rosalie smiled and shook her head. Bella wasn't faking her joy right now. Good job, Emmett.

"Oh, Bells," Emmett laughed. "You know there's plenty of chairs inside."

Bella smiled and scooted over as Emmett made to join her. She didn't know what it was about heights that comforted her so much...maybe because she's fallen so many times and gotten back up when others would've stayed down. This wasn't even that high a perch...She was only one story above ground, but the sight of the waves crashing on the beach from up here brought her a sense of peace few things could imitate. Watching Rosalie in the sunlight was the only other thing that came close.

Emmett seemed to acknowledge her need for quiet. The two of them sat together without speaking for several minutes. Bella heard the shower start below them. The sun and long showers, she thought with a smile...two of the many puzzle pieces needed to appreciate their Rosalie.

"You know," Emmett cleared his throat. "Rosalie's not the only one who loves you."

Bella turned to him, confusion written on her face. "Huh?"

"All of us care about you, Bells," he continued. "Especially me. You're part of our family. And you're my best friend."

"I know, Em...where are you going with this?"

He sighed and drew closer. "Something is bothering you," he said quietly. Bella started to feel panicky. "There...just now your heartbeat sped up, so don't bother denying it. We've all noticed it."

Bella looked away and tried to slow her racing heart. "It's nothing, Emmett..."

"It's not nothing!" He said indignantly. "Bella, please talk to me. Of all people, don't you think I'd understand? We share so much...You know you don't have to hide anything with me."

How could she explain? How could she explain that the Emmett speaking to her was turning to ashes right before her eyes? How could she explain that despite the beauty of their serene surroundings, part of her wanted to envelop it all in soothing flames?

"Em...," she whispered.

"No," he said firmly. "You need to talk to someone and I'm here. I'm willing to hear and I want to help. Start talking."

Bella closed her eyes. What would happen when she revealed everything? Would they fear her? Decide she was too unstable to be around humans? Around them? Even as she ran through scenario after unthinkable scenario in her mind, she felt Emmett's hand come down gently on hers. She squeezed, hard, and started to speak.

Emmett sighed and adjusted himself on the bed. He wasn't uncomfortable of course-it was impossible for a vampire to feel physically uncomfortable-but he had been sitting like this with Bella for over an hour. Every time he shifted to leave, she subconsciously gripped his hand tighter in her own, unwilling to part with whatever comfort she was receiving from his touch.

He looked up towards the door just as Rosalie silently walked through it. When she reached his side, she gently kissed his temple before whispering softly in his ear, "Thank you."

He held out his free arm. Rosalie slid into his embrace with a practiced and natural ease.

"What are we going to do?" He whispered quietly.

"You mean after I kill Carlisle?" She growled. Their father meant well but that would not be enough to stem the talking-to she planned to give him.

Emmett smiled sadly, and Rosalie refrained from saying more for a little while. She breathed in his scent which, when mingled with Bella's was even more enticing, and watched him gently caress Bella's hand.

"I can't believe she thought we'd think she was too dangerous for us."

Rosalie was silent. She was thinking back to her encounter with Edward and all the times since during which they both wanted to kill each other.

"Edward knew," she hissed. "I don't know how but he's known all this time. I'm gonna fucking kill him."

"We need to help Bella, love," he turned to her. "That comes first."

"I know," she sighed. "We'll figure something out." Silence for minute, then, "You think you can let go now?"

Carefully, Emmett untangled his hand from Bella's and moved away. She didn't move.

"You were amazing today," Rosalie whispered and leaned in to kiss him deeply. "You deserve a reward." She kissed him again. "Follow me."

Emmett grinned and did just that.

Author's note: I wish I could live inside these stories. Any story. Real life is utterly exhausting while writing this is magnificently exhilarating. Please review if you get a chance.