Chapter Seven: Surprises

Rosalie stared at her phone, it had been well past a few hurts since she had sent Emmett a text asking where they were since they were supposed to be taking Royce's car she had assumed he would be driving leaving him unavailable to text back. However, she heard nothing back. She had even texted Royce and heard nothing. Things weren't adding up to her and she was starting to grow weary of her relationship with Royce.

She tried to put her mind at ease by busying herself throughout the day. She folded and put away some new baby clothes that her step-mom and step-sister had picked up already. She made her bed, cleaned her bathroom, did all of her chores, did her own laundry, and even got a jump start on her homework. But her mind just kept wandering back to her cell phone and to Royce and Emmett. She had worked herself up and decided she needed to spend some time with her friends so she grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door.

Rosalie picked up her friends Laura and Kelly and they headed over to their friend Allison's house, where she was always welcome. Allison's mom always made sure to have snacks that she craved on a regular there for her, and greeted her with a warm hug. She constantly told her how pretty Rosalie was and that she was glad she was Allison's friend.

They grabbed the rice krispie treats and made their way up to Allison's room, which just happened to be on the third story of Allison's house. Once there they all plopped down on Allison's bed and turned on the television to movies and dug in to the snack that they had brought up. Rosalie sat quietly munching on her food when the girls decided they were bored with the television and turned it off, only to turn on music and start dancing wildly around and singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Rosalie giggled watching them and their antics, they knew she was feeling down today and she appreciated their efforts to cheer her up. Rosalie's cell phone rang and she picked it up without looking at the caller id-she should have looked.

"Hello?"

"You are so dumb if you think I'm ever going to get back together with you," Daniel's voice sneered at her from the other end.

"What?" Rosalie sat there confused as to what brought this on after she hadn't spoken to Daniel since the last time when they fought about him becoming more involved with the pregnancy. She was trying to get him to be more involved and he was fighting not to, claiming his new relationship was what he needed to concentrate on.

"Just to let you know bitch, I'm pregnant and we're getting married. And when we do we're going to get a lawyer and prove you're an unfit mother and take Megan and raise her ourselves. She will never know you."

Rosalie recognized this voice, it was Daniel's girlfriend. The one he had left her for and cheated on her with. Rosalie was confused, she had no idea why they were doing this and what brought this on suddenly. Her voice started to raise octaves, "Now listen here, I haven't done anything wrong-"

"You're a crazy psycho bitch who doesn't deserve to be a mother! We're going to make sure of it!"

Rosalie didn't realize she had left the bed and was now standing at the other end of the room, her knees felt weak and her heart was raising. Tears were threatening to fall down her face.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Rosalie yelled into the phone collapsing on the floor in a heap, her tears taking over. She didn't notice that the music had stopped or that her friends were on the floor with her holding her as her sobs wracked her body. Rosalie heard rustling on the other end of the phone before the line went dead.

She threw her phone across the room and cried her heart out as she felt it shatter. Her friends continued to hug her there in a dog pile on the floor, each one trying to find something comforting to say while asking what had happened. When she finally was able to form the words and replay the conversation to her friends, they all agreed to talk to their parents to try to get her a lawyer for family court if it came down to it and reassured her she was going to be the best of moms. All Rosalie wanted to do was to call Royce and tell him what had happened, so she asked her friends to grab her phone for her while she went to the bathroom to compose herself.

Laura followed her and brushed her hair out of her face while handing her tissues. Allison stood in the bathroom door while a worried expression and Kelly soon joined her with Bethany's phone in her hand.

"I just don't get it, I haven't spoken to him in two weeks! And now that bitch is pregnant and she's not even done with high school!" Rosalie spat out.

"It's cause his penis is small and he doesn't know what to do with it!" Kelly retorted earning a laugh from the rest of the girls. Her comment even caused Rosalie to giggle a little. Allison cringed at the word "penis" simply for the fact that she was a lesbian and didn't like boys at all.

Allison covered her ears dramatically and begged them not to make any more conversation directed towards or about male genitalia. This cause another round of laughter from the girls.

"Are you going to be okay?" Allison asked hugging Rosalie.

"Yeah, I just want to call Royce."

They had been driving most of the day and for Emmett what seemed like half the day, Royce was asleep for most of it. He was wide awake now as Emmett shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat trying to somehow stretch out his long legs when Royce's phone rang. Royce took out his cell phone and stared at the screen.

"Who is it?"

"It's Rosalie, she normally doesn't call this late," Royce replied frowning at his cell phone before answering it. "What's up babe?"

Emmett could hear her crying from his side of the car and wondered what could be going on, his hands instantly turning clammy and his stomach churned. He should have texted her back early this morning when she had texted him. He shook his head trying to rid himself of these thoughts as Royce continued to listen to Rosalie.

"He said what? And she did what?"

Emmett's interest was fully peaked at this point and he tried his hardest not to let on to Royce that he was really starting to worry about what was going on.

"Babe they can't take Megan from you, she's not even an adult yet herself how is she going to raise two kids when she's still a kid herself and still in high school?"

Emmett listened intently and turned down the music in an attempt to hear her side of the conversation, but it was still too loud in the car.

"I'll kill him," Royce said growing angry. "I don't care if he is her dad, he's the scum of the earth for calling you up like that and talking to you like that! Who does he think he is?"

There was another pause in the conversation and Emmett shot Royce a questioning glance, to which he responded by mouthing to him one word, "Later."

"Uh huh, yeah, I know babe. Listen you're a good mom, and he's a dip shit. Don't let him get to you," Royce said pinching the bridge of his nose and kicking the floor. Something was definitely going down.

"Are you alone? No? You're at your friend's house? Okay are you staying the night there? I think you should," another pause. "Okay, I love you too babe. Have a good night."

Royce snapped his cell phone shut cursing under his breath.

"If I knew who this asshole was, I'd kick his ass while we're in Washington."

"What happened?"

Royce gave him the shorter version of Rosalie and her sperm donor's conversation and as he retold the story, Emmett's hands clenched the steering wheel and he felt his face grow hot with anger.

"Who does he think he is?" Emmett snarled.

"He's an asshole, I don't put much thought into him," Royce replied shrugging. "It's just annoying when I have to pick up the phone and calm her down after he does decide to call her."

Emmett looked at Royce incredulously, "You mean he's done this more than once?"

"Yeah," Royce replied staring at his screen, quickly typing out a text message then closing it. "A couple of weeks ago, she called him telling him she wanted him to be more involved in the pregnancy. Rosalie believes that even though they aren't together, it shouldn't mean that Megan should miss out on having both parents around. She's trying her best to get past the cheating and concentrate on what's best for her kid."

"That's admirable."

"Not really, I think it's stupid. Anyways, he got all pissy with her and told her he doesn't think that's a very good idea either, and then asked her why should he be involved if he's not going to be around anyway? She started arguing back and then he told her to forget it and not call him anymore, he doesn't want anything to do with either one of them."

"You're kidding!"

"Wish I was, he's a real piece of work," Royce adjusted his seat so he was laying back. "Wake me up when we hit Colorado."

Emmett rolled his eyes and turned the music back up to help keep him awake. He shook his head playing Royce's words over in his mind. How easily it was for him to judge someone for playing games with Rosalie, when he was doing the same himself. Granted he wasn't as direct as Rosalie's daughter's father was, but the direction was still the same. The soft music filled the car and he felt the words tug at his heart. He couldn't deny anymore that he had feelings for Rosalie and that he felt the overwhelming urge to protect her and comfort her. He knew he couldn't though, it wasn't his responsibility.

Emmett felt the tug of war going on between his brain and his heart, it was tearing him into pieces. The war raging within him between doing what was right and the loyalty that was deep seeded into him since he joined the army was about to boil over. He glanced over at Royce and upon noticing his friend was indeed asleep, he pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled through his contacts before landing on the number he was looking for and called it.

"Hey, it's me."

Rosalie awoke in the middle of the night, not able to sleep at all. She was confused at first as to where she was, but once her eyes had focused her mind had adjusted as well. She was in the middle of Allison's bed with Allison and Kelly on one side of her and Laura on the other. They had all fallen asleep together and the television was still playing softly in the dark. Rosalie reached over to the nightstand, careful as to not wake up Laura, and grabbed the remote turning it off. Her cell phone quietly buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out flipping it open to find a text message from Royce. He had texted her that he loved her and not to worry about Daniel. She smiled sadly at his sentiment before closing her phone and shoving it back in her pocket. Rosalie looked around at her friends and almost started crying again as she realized how special she was to know this kind of love. She snuggled back down under the covers with her friends and easily fell back asleep.

"Royce," Emmett nudged his friend to wake him up as they crossed the Colorado state border. "Royce wake up!'

Royce opened his eyes groggily and sat up looking around to gain his bearings, "Where are we?"

"You told me to wake you up when we got to Colorado."

"Oh yeah," Royce pulled out his phone and called Alice. "Hey Alice, we just crossed into Colorado, we should be at your place in a couple of hours. Okay see you then beautiful."

Royce snapped the phone shut then reached for the map of Colorado, directing Emmett where to go. Once they reached a certain town that Emmett couldn't remember, Royce pulled out a print out that had directions on it to Alice's house. Soon they were pulling up in her driveway, and Royce was making his way up to her front door with Emmett in tow.

When the front door opened, a short, curvy, beautiful young woman opened the door.

"Hey you two!"

"Hey Alice!" Royce grabbed her in a huge hug and then proceeded to what seemed very close to make out with her right there in the doorway. Emmett looked away, trying not to let it bother him, but not before he heard Royce whisper to her, "There's more where that came from later."

Alice looked at him oddly before turning her attention to Emmett as Royce walked past her into her house, "You must be Emmett."

She smiled warmly at him, taking him in for a hug as he laughed. Emmett had talked to her several times before on the phone while Royce had been busy, but hadn't wanted to hang up with her.

"I am, it's nice to finally meet you."

This energetic little laugh came from the living room behind Alice and she ushered him in to the house and to come sit down. He discovered that the little laugh he heard was from a toddler, a little boy to be exact. He had cute blonde curly hair that held tight to his head and big blue eyes and was grinning from ear to ear as Royce chased him around the living room.

"Sorry to disappoint you beautiful but we're only staying for a little bit, we're trying to make Idaho by tonight," Royce said picking up the little boy and tossing him in the air.

"That's fine because I have nowhere for you to stay," she replied throwing her head back laughing. Emmett found himself laughing too as Alice was easy to be around. She had a comforting presence, much like that of a sibling. They spent the next hour playing with Alice's son and laughing and telling jokes, while Royce kept trying to hit on Alice and she kept brushing him off, which made Emmett laugh even harder. Soon it was time for them to leave, and hugs went all around. When Emmett finally went to hug Alice goodbye, he wrapped her up in a bear hug and kissed her cheek.

"You take care of yourself and that little boy of yours," he said giving her one last squeeze and letting her go.

She smiled up at him warmly, "I will."

Royce honked the horn from behind them and urged Emmett to hurry up and get in the car. Emmett threw Alice one last smile and waved to her as he climbed in.