Isabella Swan
[Author's Note: So my goal is to update daily. I might be able to get a couple chapters out here and there, but I work full time and do all the other boring human stuff so I've gotta make time. I'll post extra chapters on my days off though to make up for it. Hope you all are well and having a good April. It's still unusually cold where I live but a bunny has a nest of babies in my backyard so life is good! Thank you for the reviews. Back to Bella..]
Bella was still half asleep when she heard the cabin door open and close quietly. Sleep had been fitful and hard coming and the brunette felt almost hungover as she opened her eyes. She should have been anxious- she had never in her months of rangering had a visitor during daylight. But her semi-fight with Rosalie had her eager and since the sun hadn't even begun to come up, she was foolishly hopeful.
But it wasn't Rosalie standing by her bed. Bella pushed herself up on her arms and gaped openly at the woman standing in front of her. She was short, sporting a fashionable pixie-cut of choppy dark hair, smiling brightly, and holding out a large to-go cup of coffee. Most importantly, her eyes were almost exactly the same honey shade as Rosalie's.
"Hello Bella!" The stranger sang in greeting. "Good morning! I brought you a coffee because Rosalie told me you love coffee. This is some kind of Italian frappy-cinno thing with lots of cinnamon and caramel. Two of your favorite flavors." She drifted the rest of the way to the bed, her ballerina frame making all her movements seem planned out and elegant.
Bella rubbed her eyes with one hand and took the coffee with the other, sort of dumbfounded. The warm paper cup and sleeve was a welcome warmth in her palm. "Thank you," she said. "Did you say Rosalie told you I love coffee?" For a moment her mind flashed back to the evening before and she bitterly recalled the blonde vampire's reaction to her statement about a certain vampire deserving her. Clearly there were other vampires and some of them were bad. What if this vampire was one of the bad ones? She took a deep breath and then asked, tentatively, "Who.. who are you?"
"Oh!" the fairy-like creature replied as she sat down daintily on the end of Bella's bed. "I apologize immensely for my manners. I'm Alice Cullen- Rosalie's sister. And yes! She told me all about you! And she was right- you are beautiful. I'm sure that drives my sister crazy knowing how utterly vain she is." She laughed then and her laughter was musical and tinkling in an absolutely delightful way.
Bella took a sip of her coffee then and groaned happily as the hot liquid slid down her throat and warmed her insides. "Ugh," she heard herself say, "I miss real coffee." Then, savoring the bitter sweet flavor of the latte, she asked Alice, "She, um, said I was beautiful too?"
"She did a few times actually," Alice lilted. "Though she won't be happy with me when she finds out I told you that." Her eyes twinkled brightly and she reached out and put her small hand on the park ranger's wrist. "Bella, I am just so glad to finally meet you. I haven't necessarily seen it, but I just know we're going to be the best of friends."
"Are we?" The brunette mumbled, her eyes now intently on Alice's hand. "God, your skin is so cool."
"Yes it is," the vampire chuckled. "I am a vampire after all." A curious look crept into her face. "Bella, has Rosalie never.. touched you?"
More memories came flooding back and Bella fought the urge to whimper when she remembered the way Rosalie had held her jacket open and- "Not directly," she replied, forcing herself to stop daydreaming. Then she frowned. "Where is Rosalie?"
"Oh," Alice shrugged. "She's in California."
"California!?"
"Yes. Specifically LA."
Knowing that, Bella felt a very heavy sadness fall over her. "Well, why is she in LA?" She asked, disheartened.
"Business, I suppose," Alice replied casually. "But also because she's," she appeared to search for the right word and then ended up settling with, "emotional." She didn't wait for the other woman to ask for clarification and went in unprompted. "You see, my dear sister has a lot of trauma from her human life that sort of spilled over into her eternal one. I can't remember being a moral at all and I'm so thankful for that sometimes. Poor Rosalie remembers it all too well and that, unfortunately makes her sort of.. hot and cold."
"Oh," the park ranger drank more of her coffee and then nodded. "I can see that. She's sort of hot and cold with me too."
Alice, who hadn't removed her hand from Bella's wrist, squeezed it very gently. "She doesn't mean to be, I promise you. And it's actually good for her to step away sometimes and.. recalibrate herself. She has certain triggers and whatever happened last night really set her off."
"It's my fault," Bella admitted glumly. "She said that no human could ever deserve me and I.. I said that maybe not but maybe a vampire did. And I meant her. But she didn't take it well. And then after that I suggested she meet some of my friends and.." She sighed. "I just want her to be in my life.. but I guess that was a stupid thing to say."
"Oh Bella," Alice said, her eyes full of remorse. "It wasn't stupid at all. But that does explain why she was so.. angsty." The petite vampire was thoughtful for a moment. "Rosalie is just.. different. At least in how she handles things."
"Different how?"
"Well.." Alice's eyes narrowed as she considered her words. "In many ways Rosalie abominates what she is. Her word, not mine. So saying that she deserves you is like saying you deserve to die. She probably got offended just by the implication. And offering to have her meet your friends is.. Well it's a very big step for Rosalie. If she meets your friends, that means she wants to be in your life on another level and if she wants to be in your life, she has to accept what she is and how that will affect you."
Bella swallowed all that information and replied, her tone sort of surly, "Oh, okay."
Alice stood, inhaled and exhaled with exuberance, obviously just for show, and then offered the human woman a reassuring smile. "Lovely Bella, I really wouldn't worry. Regardless of her tendency to withhold or her personal issues.. She simply cannot stay away from you for long. Actually," she paused and looked far away for a moment, her eyes temporarily out of focus. Then, the moment passed and she looked happier than ever. "She'll be back tomorrow night. She misses you."
Bella felt her stomach do a tiny flip. "She.. she misses me?"
Alice nodded. "Yes. Very much. I've known Rosalie for an extremely long time and I've actually never seen her this focused on.. well anything. Nothing really interests her for long. And it's not even necessarily that she has a small attention span.. it's just nothing has ever seemed worthy of maintaining her focus. Until.. you, Bella."
Bella Swan took a very deep breath and then exhaled slowly, trying to keep her heart from pounding at the very comment. "I wish she would tell me things like that," she told Alice, a bit stunned.
"Good luck," the vampire quipped, "Getting information out of Rosalie is like pulling teeth. And when it's related to her emotions.." She scoffed at the very mention of it. Then, as though she only just took a moment to notice her surroundings, she spun extravagantly on her heels and exclaimed, "There's such an extraordinary view here!"
The park ranger's eyebrows lifted. "But it's dark. How can you see..?"
"There will be an extraordinary view," Alice corrected. "I've seen it." And then she clapped her hands together and said, "Now where is the journal I'm delivering and where exactly is the "supply drop location"?
"No," the brunette shook her head in disbelief. "She didn't. She didn't send you to do my hike for me!" She balked at the idea. "That's hardly fair. You're much less intimidating than me!"
Alice laughed at that. "I just knew you'd say that. At least in a manner of speaking. I'm a vampire, Bella. I can run more than a hundred miles an hour. I'll be there and back in basically no time."
"With the supplies?" Bella countered. "Because they weigh like, a lot."
"Super human strength," was the response. "And I won't be carrying those anyway. My Edward will. And he's even faster than I am."
"Edward?" Bella's big brown eyes were curious.
Alice tutted. "Has Rosalie told you nothing about her family?"
"No," Bella frowned. "She mentioned she had one but.. Nothing about them. About you guys, I mean."
"Then I'll make you a deal," the vampire suggested. "Let me make the hike for you and when I return, I'll tell you all about us."
The opportunity was tempting but Bella had always been raised with manners and it was her job. "But.."
"No buts," Alice replied. "Plus, I already know you're going to say yes because I've already seen myself doing it. You might as well save yourself the time of arguing."
There was nothing left to do but sigh. "Fine," the brunette stated, surrendering. "It's on the desk. It's the yellow pad with this week's date on it." She nodded when the vampire retrieved it and held it up. "Yes. That one."
"Good." Alice smiled brightly. "Thank you, Bella. How long will it take for you to feel put together?"
"I don't know? An hour?"
"Then we will be back in an hour," she announced, the notebook clasped in her dainty hands, her eyes sparkling. "See you then!" And with that, she waved and disappeared out of the door faster than Bella could even blink or say goodbye.
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