Isabella Swan
[Author's Note: Originally I had planned to go back and forth between Bella and Rosalie every chapter, but now I think that sometimes it makes sense for a double Bella chapter or a double Rose chapter. Plus I really love developing Bella and Alice's friendship. I just love writing these characters so much. I'm honestly really looking forward to writing Charlie haha. Anyways! I hope you guys are enjoying it! Thank you so much for the reviews. And be patient. Rose will be back soon! ;) haha]
It was still early when Bella had gotten dressed. She was sitting by the desk in the chair, thinking about Rosalie, feeling a now familiar feeling of longing. A sudden small knock at the door startled her and she sat up quickly and banged her knees on the underside of the desk.
"Shit," Bella swore, rubbing her leg where it had collided with the thick pressed wood. She got up, opened the door and let Alice and an accompanying auburn haired boy come inside. He was carrying all of Bella's supplies in the crate that they were delivered in.
"Ohmygod," Bella gushed, "You didn't have to bring the crate."
Alice's companion smiled slyly at her and then offered in explanation, "It was, uh, easier, this way."
Perhaps sensing Bella's curiosity, Alice said with pride, "Bella, this is the love of my existence, Edward Cullen."
He nodded in greeting. "Hello. It's nice to meet you. I've, uh, heard a lot about you from Rosalie."
Bella's eyebrows lifted. "She's talked about me to you?"
Edward chuckled. "Uh," he looked to Alice and then back to the small brunette. "Not exactly."
Alice laughed her twinkling laugh and then said, "You're all Rosalie ever thinks about, Bella."
A bright blush spread across Bella's cheeks. "Really?" she pressed, "How do you know that?"
The park ranger was still standing awkwardly by the door. The vampires were super friendly but she still felt sort of out of sorts around them. Perhaps if she were home and had access to make up and nice clothes, she wouldn't feel so utterly underdressed all the time. Alice was gorgeous, Edward was incredibly handsome and Rosalie.. She nearly whimpered just thinking about Rosalie.
"Sit down Bella," Alice prompted. "Is it okay if Edward unpacks your supplies?"
The brunette took a seat on the end of her bed and immediately pulled her knees up to her chest. "He doesn't have to," she said. "He can just leave them there."
"I have plenty of time, Bella," Edward countered, giving her a dazzling smile. "I insist." He turned then and to Bella's wide-eyed shock, pried the lid off the crate with his fingers.
"Wow," she heard herself say in response, "you guys are so strong."
Alice nodded. "We are," she agreed. "Yes. But we have other gifts too." She glanced at Edward who nodded and then she went on, as though she weren't about to say something entirely mindblowing. "I have visions of the future," she revealed, "and Edward can read minds."
Bella's immediate response was to gasp and release her usual string of, "Ohmygod." But then the reality of the statement started sinking in. Had Edward heard all her musings about his sister? Had he shared them with Alice? Her stomach churned as she asked Edward, "Have you read my mind?"
Alice answered for him. "No. Edward can't actually read your mind at all Bella. And I can't see any visions with you in them. It's like you have this invisible shield around you and we can't.. Infiltrate it." She paused, her eyes narrowing slightly as she peered at the human girl and waited for her response. "Does that make sense?"
"Kind of," Bella told him. "Rosalie said that.. that her gift didn't work on me either?"
"Her charm," Alice provided, nodding. "Yes. A large aspect of it is passive so many people just adore her without realizing it. But the other part, the part that Rosalie hardly uses- the mind control.. Well you are quite possibly the only human- maybe even the only being altogether- that can resist it."
Bella was thoughtful for a moment as she truly considered what Alice had said. She thought about the first time she'd seen Rosalie and all the times following and she recalled, very viscerally, the way Rosalie made her feel. "I don't know if that's really true," she admitted. "When I'm around her I.." Her words trailed off as she tried very hard not to shudder in remembering the way Rosalie touched her stomach.
"But, you see," Alice countered, "that's the beauty of it, Bella. What you feel for Rosalie is absolutely genuine. She's powerless against you." The dainty vampire smiled happily and then perched on the edge of Bella's desk.
The brunette park ranger fell into silence then as she considered Alice's comment and watched Edward work. He moved around the cabin quickly, almost too quickly to see, and found homes for the canned foods and well packaged dry goods. She felt a deep yearning to see Rosalie again, but found the presence of the blonde's family members to at least stave off a sliver of her incredible anticipation.
After a few minutes, Alice said to her, her tone amused, "Well go on then. I know you want to ask us questions. I'll endure the wrath of Rosalie just this once." She winked and laughed gleefully.
It took several beats as Bella considered all the things she had wondered while Rosalie was playing a one sided game of 20 questions with her. And then she came up with something she urgently wanted to know.
"How many of you.. are there?"
"Of us?" Alice returned, wanting clarification. "Like specifically our family or.. our race?"
"Um, both I guess."
"There's an uncountable number of vampires on this earth," was Alice's initial answer. "It's honestly impossible for us to know how many. Perhaps the Volturi know but I would never want to speak to them again to ask them." She shrugged. "There are five members of our family- me, my Edward," she gazed at him lovingly, "our mother Esme, our father Carlisle and, of course, your Rosalie."
Bella's stomach flipped when she heard Alice refer to Rosalie as hers. "And Rosalie," she started, suddenly desperate to know, "she doesn't have a.. A.."
"A mate?" Alice offered, her eyes twinkling in the overcast light. "A partner? An-" she glanced again at her husband, who having finished unloading the crate, came over and slid his hand into hers. "An Edward?"
"No," Edward presented, following up on Alice's comment. "Rosalie has never in the entirety of her second life.. taken an actual interest in anyone but herself."
"Until last week," Alice amended.
"You know," Bella stated, feeling very light, almost as though she were floating on a cloud, "the things you're saying to me should be really crazy and they should be blowing my mind but I.. I understand everything and I just.." She was surprised to find herself laughing in spite of herself. "I just really want to see her again."
"You will," the female vampire assured her.
Edward stepped in front of Alice and leaned back against her so that she could put her chin on his shoulder. "And now that you've mentioned it," he said, "we are all quite curious how you're handling it so well. I've meticulously scanned this park for thoughts of vampires and I did several drives through Forks and," he chuckled, looking a bit amazed, "it's as though you haven't told anyone."
"I haven't told anyone," Bella announced, "I swear. I wouldn't either. I swear to you both that I would never tell anyone your secret."
"We believe you, Bella," Alice said, now wrapping her arms around her partner's chest. "We're just wondering how you're so calm about this. You've inadvertently stepped into a new world and somehow, you're still walking around, doing your job.. sleeping at night."
"I didn't sleep well last night," Bella grumbled.
"Because you were worried about Rose as a person, not because you were afraid of the supernatural unknown." She quickly kissed Edward's temple and then slid out from behind him, hopped off the desk and then went to the window. "It's going to storm in about thirty minutes," she announced matter-of-fact. "And it's going to continue to storm the rest of the day. It's so fortunate you decided not to go on your hike today."
"I guess you're right," was all the brunette could say in response.
Edward was smiling. There was something very pleasant about him. Bella was honestly very fond of both of them. They were immediately so warm to her, at least in personality, and she was beginning to think they were fond of her too.
"You'll learn in time Bella," the male vampire told her. "That Alice always gets her way." He picked up Bella's pen from the desk and began to spin it in his nimble fingers. "Do you want me to take the crate back to the drop off sight so that they don't ask any questions?"
"You don't have to.."
"Will they ask questions?" This question was directed at Alice.
She looked distant again for a few seconds and then she nodded. "Yes. They will worry that bears got the crate."
He nodded, retrieved the crate from where it sat on the floor and then said, "I'll be right back." He dashed out of the kitchen and over the balcony at lightning speed.
Bella balked. "Do vampires just refuse to use stairs or?"
"Pretty much," Alice replied, coming to sit beside Bella on the bed. "It's just a waste of time, really." She folded her legs in what Bella always referred to as criss-cross-applesauce. It made her seem so much more approachable. It was funny to Bella how absolutely normal Alive seemed in some moments. Bella was always, always, always, on edge around Rosalie but Alice was just so.. Soothing. It was so strange to the brunette, but she already felt like Alice was family somehow.
"So go ahead," Alice prompted. "You've got about twenty minutes. Ask me all the things you're afraid to ask Rosalie and that you don't necessarily want Edward hearing."
"Is Rosalie into me?" The words came tumbling from Bella's lips before she'd even been aware she was going to say them. "I want to ask Rosalie herself but she makes me so nervous."
Alice didn't immediately respond. Instead, she turned so that she was directly facing Bella and she fixed the human in a serious gaze. "First tell me," she said. "What do you think Bella? Do you think Rosalie is into you?"
The park ranger spent some time considering, once again thinking about the previous evening and the ones before that. "When we're alone.." She stopped herself, shaking her head, overwhelmed just by the idea. She took a deep breath. "Alice, am I a fool to think that anything could ever happen?
Gently, the petite vampire took Bella's hand and patted it softly with her own.
"If you're a fool," she finally said, "we are all fools."
The two of them sat and talked a while longer. Then, when Edward returned, he and his bride excused themselves so that Alice could hunt and he could accompany her. The female vampire promised to stop back by before midnight. Once Bella was alone again, she found herself pacing, waiting for one storm to end so that she could hurry out and do her rounds.
Late that afternoon as the cloud-covered Washington sun sat low in the sky, Leah walkied Bella. "You on your way back Bells?"
Bella, who was doing nothing more than sitting on her bed with a book and swinging her legs back and forth said, "Uh, yes."
"Handling the storms okay? Any grizzly sightings?"
"Yes about the storms," Bella told her, watching it rain through the window. "And no bears yet."
"Good deal." Ranger Clearwater was quiet for a moment then- "Walkie me when you're back safe?"
"I will," the brunette promised. But of course Bella was already considerably safe; Rosalie had taken care of that. Alice and Edward were somewhere out in the forest. They were hunting, sure, but Bella knew that at the first sign of trouble, both would be at her side. And tomorrow night.. She'd have Rosalie. It was so utterly unbelievable in many ways, because just a few days ago, Bella had been in more danger than she'd ever been in before.. And now.. Now she felt almost untouchable.
Bella did the math, factoring in extra time to cope with the everlasting storm, and then she eventually walkied Leah back at a quarter to ten. Once her best friend had been convinced that Bella was safe, she got ready for bed. She did her best to get through a chapter of Tolstoy but every single romantic moment in the book made her yearn for interactions of her own. She became so lost in daydreaming that when Alice returned at eleven, the knock of her tiny knuckles on the door startled her significantly. Anna Karenina hit the floor and Bella had only barely been able to pick it up before the door opened and the ballerina-esque vampire came dancing in with a basket of baked goods.
"Compliments from some committee Esme is on," she chimed happily, sitting it on the counter.
"That's really nice of her to send it my way," Bella said, eyeing the muffins and bread on top and immediately making alternate breakfast plans.
"Well you know we won't be eating it," she replied, floating down in Bella's chair. "Will it bother you if I sit here while you sleep or would you rather me go outside?"
"While I sleep?" The park ranger couldn't help but respond a little surprised. "You're.. you're staying over?"
"Rose asked me to watch over you," Alice revealed, though it was already a pretty well known fact. "I am, of course, more than happy to do it."
The information immediately went to Bella's head. "She asked you?" She wanted to know. "She's back?"
"No," Alice shook her head. "Not yet. She called me." She laughed then at Bella's inquisitive face. "Vampires can use phones, Bella."
The brunette's face fell. "Oh." Momentarily she hated her job and her inability to receive any sorts of phone calls or texts this deep in the forest. "I wish mine worked out here," she told Alice solemnly, "because I would one hundred percent have already given her my number."
"Well," Alice quipped, tilting her head in thought, "You do have a walkie."
"I do, yeah," Bella agreed, "But.."
"We all have other talents as well," Alice explained. "And mine happens to be technology. When it started coming out, I found it fascinating. I guess you could say I have a certain knack for electronics." She shrugged nonchalantly. "And if you wanted to," she went on casually, "I could switch the secondary line to a cellular channel so that you could contact Rosalie directly."
Immediately, the human woman's heart began to race. "You'd do that for me?"
"Absolutely I would," Alice nodded. "Right after you get a restful night's sleep."
"And then I can.. Call her?"
"Once I get my hands of her phone, yes."
Having thought it would connect them right away, Bella sighed. "Oh."
"But once she's back," Alice presented, sensing the human's disappointment. "I'll set it up and she'll practically be at your beck and call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Not that she wouldn't be anyway." She chuckled at herself and then fixed Bella in a serious gaze. "But now I have to insist you get some sleep. It's recommended that human adults get at least seven hours to be at their most productive the following day."
Bella was more than eager to get the night over with and the next day too, so it didn't take any more convincing to have her lie down. But before she did, she asked Alice, "If you stay, where will you sleep?"
"Sleep?" the vampire chided, "I keep forgetting how entirely human you are." She shook her head amused. "We don't sleep," she said. "And if it's alright with you, I'd like to read some of your books." She motioned to a stack of classics positioned haphazardly on one corner of the desk.
For some reason, that simple fact really threw Bella for a loop. She understood the blood drinking, superhuman strength, special powers thing.. But not sleeping. She hadn't expected it. "Read anything you want," she replied, still thinking about it. She wondered how it was that a race of being so beautiful could look that good and never sleep. "You'll be here when I wake up?"
"Yes," was the vampire's answer. "Goodnight Bella. Rosalie will be back tomorrow."
When the brunette closed her eyes, she heard the quiet ruffle of Alice getting a book and the constant hush of rain all around her. In time, she allowed the purr of the storm to lull her to sleep. There had been so much on her mind, but her eagerness to pass the time allowed her to push almost all of it aside and slip eagerly into unconsciousness.
That night she had a familiar dream and found herself racing to the clearing once again. It was only when she stumbled through the trees and saw Rosalie in her entirety that Bella realized it to be different. She approached the vampire and immediately an intense heat began to burn within her. The closer she got, the hotter it became until it threatened to consume her. The only relief came when she reached out a hand and let her fingertips brush the vampire's perfect jaw. The flames subsided and Rosalie smiled that pure, unfiltered smile that left Bella absolutely weak at the knees, nearing collapse. And then the dream began again.
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