I wanna hold you when I'm not supposed to
When I'm lying close to someone else
You're stuck in my head and

I can't get you out of it
If I could do it all again
I know I'd go back to you

The car ride to the school is a little tenser than Rosalie was expecting but she assumes it's mostly because of her rather than the situation. Which is… nice. At least it's her own fuckups that are ruining the evening and not the concept of spending time together or (more prominently in her mind) attending date-esque events together.

Bella traces raindrops and their paths on the window, oblivious to how hard Rosalie has to clench her jaw so she doesn't yell about streaks. She glances over now and then, as Forks whizzes by around them, dark eyes tracing the vampire's face. "Are you mad at me?"

"Should I be?" is Rosalie's automatic reply. She blinks at Bella's anxious face and feels her lips twitch up in a smile. "What?" she asks at Bella's stunned face.

The wolf shakes her head lightly, as if breaking from thought or a spell. "Your smile… wow. I've never seen it in such a pure form."

There are questions Rosalie wants to ask, and one in particular that she's been desperately trying not to obsess over for a long time now. Sometimes, times like these -in a quiet so soft it feels like a blanket, the darkness her protective cover interrupted only by flashes of streetlights that fall over Bella and illuminate her gentle eyes- she thinks she might know the answer. She thinks that these thoughts she's been having aren't so ridiculous. That, yes, Bella is very sarcastic and very playful, but this is not a game. That she's being genuine and they both feel the same way.

But Bella breaks - she grins and looks down at her lap, their moment ended before Rosalie can… do anything, really. "About my shirt, I guess. Are you… tch, embarrassed to roll in with me? Uh, you know, covered in tattoos, wearing a dumb shirt, being… a girl… why are you looking at me like that?"

"I asked you, did I not?"

"Well, yeah."

"I know you, do I not?"

"I mean, the important parts, I think. Yeah."

Rosalie tucks the answer away in the back of her head, glancing at Bella from the corner of her eye. "Then assume I am a grown woman who can make her own decisions. I don't care what they think, they will stare no matter what."

"Do you resent how beautiful you are?" Bella asks quickly. "Sorry. That was kind of rude."

Golden eyes stare out at the road, past the wipers battling against the rain. "It takes from me, more than it gives. I've bled for it, so I make sure others bleed for it too. But… Esme has taught me that resenting things about yourself is a dangerous way to live. I simply don't look anymore. There are a number of reasons why one might stare."

"Like that intense scowl? Holy shit, okay, your rage is breathtaking," Bella gushes as she bounces in her seat. "I mean, you? So beautiful, tell me you're Aphrodite and I won't fight it. But your eyes, dear god. They're something else. That's why I stare."

Rosalie looks at her with a small amount of alarm but mostly heaps of surprise at the outburst.

And it all catches up with Bella whose eyebrows jump. "Not that I… I glance in passing, sometimes. Or, like, maybe get lost - in, fuck, in thought. Lost in thought. Oh my god, I really do suck at speaking. Can you take classes for that? I feel like you can take classes for it."

There's a thoughtful lull after that, where Bella stares off into space, and Rosalie simply waits. The energy is… off, not the wolf's usual casual air. It's electrified, giddy… manic. "Are you alright, really?" Rosalie questions.

"Yup," Bella agrees quickly and wipes at her eyes. "Fuck. I am, okay, this isn't me. Sam is… testing my control, and I. I hate him so much, I could just-" The growl that emits from her chest vibrates through the car until Rosalie raises an eyebrow. "Sorry. He made everyone shift and it's like, it's like people prodding my head, trying to get in, while someone else pulls at a thread and slowly unravels me. Does that make sense?"

"More than I can express, yes," Rosalie agrees honestly. Edward likes to poke around in her head, and she's almost thankful she can relate to Bella. She also imagines the second half being similar to if Jasper were an asshole and wanted to mess with you.

Bella nods and wipes her eyes again, clearing her throat as they pull into the parking lot. "I really am fine, Hale. Thank you for inviting me."

"Thank you for saying yes," she whispers to an empty car once Bella is outside. She glances in the rearview mirror, meets her own eyes, and fights the scowl before getting out.

Emmett drums on the top of the Volvo excitedly. "Took you hosers long enough!"

"You're a hoser," Bella instinctively shoots back and Rosalie watches them fondly. Watches Bella get Alice's door for her, leaning down to flash a grin and offer her hand. "Hale is too good to let me get her door."

Golden eyes twinkle, Alice meeting her sister's eye while Rosalie's mind reels. "Her loss."

Did Bella want to get her door? Would they have held hands? Does she want to hold Bella's hand? Does Bella want to hold her hand?

Her stomach sinks when the two lace their fingers, Jasper chuckling as he locks the door behind them. "Excuse me for evolving with the times," Rosalie mutters.

"Bella!"

They all turn towards Jessica's voice from the entrance to the gym. Her group of human friends are huddled off to the side, waving her over.

Bella waves them back this way.

Jessica waves harder on her end.

Bella sighs, shoulders slumping. "Sometimes I wonder if you guys will ever get along."

"We're never around long enough to find out," Rosalie says dismissively. Alice and Bella look up at her sharply, and she's very suddenly hit with the realization that she will either have to stay, or Bella will have to come with her, if things… work out how she hopes.

Bella shrugs her shoulders simply. "Lucky. Some of us are stuck here. They're good kids, though, no reason you can't hang out in the meantime."

They all stand in a silence that gets more and more awkward as the seconds tick by. Rosalie gives in first, deciding that even the horrors of a high school dance have to be better than this, and starts off to the gym.

She makes it a few feet before Bella's warm presence hovers at her side. "Hey, um, so weird request. But would you mind if I held your hand going in there? Really hit the nail on the head that I'm not alone, so Mike doesn't get any ideas."

Rosalie says nothing but takes her hand, praying to a god she doesn't believe in that Edward didn't hear her think about how their hands fit like goddamn puzzle pieces. His snort behind them is all the answer she needs and she instinctively tries to tug away from any and all contact, her vulnerability a sensitive nerve.

But Bella doesn't let go, and is instead tugged into Rosalie's side until they naturally meld together and fall into step. Close. Intimate. And somehow less awkward than holding hands two feet apart. "Woah, you smell good," Bella murmurs, the yellow flecks in her eyes catching light and looking a little more feral than usual.

Rosalie consciously stops herself from shattering all the bones in Bella's hand in surprise when the wolf leans down to ghost her nose across a marble shoulder, sniffing the vampire.

She pops back up while Emmett guffaws to himself. "How do you always smell like sunshine?"

"Don't… sniff me," Rosalie says slowly, trying to comprehend the words coming out of her mouth. And it's just- weird, because, okay. Look. She's not asking Bella to sniff her, but she also doesn't want Bella to not sniff her. There's really no good way to react to that and she kind of wishes she just hadn't said anything, and Edward is cackling behind her, and-

"Don't smell so good then. Damn."

There's an affectionate squeeze to her hand as they cross the threshold of the gym, and she turns to look at Bella even as the room turns to look at her.

(Her, them, who cares. She can feel eyes.)

She watches Bella marvel at the room, glancing up at the lights strung from the ceiling. All the different colours catching multiple disco balls and Rosalie fights off a deeply buried memory of Emmett's sad 'fro in the seventies. The kids look… young, jumping and swaying and bopping to music, shuffling off at the sides of the dance floor, or mingling around tables. Bella's excited, her manic energy spiking again, pupils as big as her grin, and starts dragging Rosalie to her group of friends.

Much to her horror, her family wanders off to find a table.

Jealousy is something Rosalie is very familiar with, on each end of the spectrum. She's not unaware of her envy, how easy her family finds life, how complete and full they feel. She's also seen jealousy poison the souls of men and women alike, simply by entering the room.

While mild, Jessica doesn't hide hers very well. Rosalie can see the strain in her clenched jaw when they stop by the table, notices her pupils dilate when she looks at Bella, hears the upbeat in her heart.

If she were a kinder soul, like that of Alice or Jasper, she might pity the girl. Instead, she leans on her hip, brushing closer to Bella who naturally gravitates to her.

She must feel this too, she must, her mind whispers while Bella goes through needless introductions and Rosalie tries not to smirk at Jessica.

"I, uh," Mike scratches the top of his head, a weak laugh playing at his lips, "When I told you to chill your girlfriend out, I didn't know you were actually dating."

Their eyes meet at the same time, and Rosalie swears her own question is reflected back at her. Bella's smile creeps onto her face, gaze lingering on the vampire's features. "I don't know who, but one of us is out of the other's league."

"Agreed," Jessica mutters and turns a very bright pink when Rosalie aims daggers her way. "Sorry. I just meant that you're very pretty."

Bella clutches her heart playfully just as Angela reaches out to grab her hand. "So are you, Bella! Jess! Come on."

"Not that you aren't, Bella. Oh my god," she groans and covers her face. "Don't put me in this situation, you brought her over here. How am I supposed to be a person while standing next to that?"

"Angela somehow finds a way."

The rest of the group doesn't even have to look at each other. "Angela is a saint," they tell Tyler.

The girl blushes and shuffles back closer to Ben. "Or you're all a bunch of dicks."

"Probable," Bella laughs. "Okay, I'm done sharing Hale with you ingrates, we're off to find her family."

They're chased off by a series of "Later, Cullen."

Students don't exactly part like the Red Sea for them as they cut through the middle of the gym, but nobody gets close enough to touch, never mind bump. Still, it feels… closed off, with all the noise. Like they're in their own little bubble, hands still laced together. Rosalie wonders if Bella even realizes, and knows she won't let go until the wolf does.

It's not a position she ever thought she would find herself in, even as she wondered about her mate through the years. She figured it would be a man (despite being attracted to women as well, if only for the fact that another woman wouldn't put up with her bullshit) and quite similar to Emmett. Which, she supposes, Bella is. In fact, she thinks that Bella and her brother would quite get along.

Never in (almost) a hundred years would she have guessed Shifter finishing high school. And as such, never considered the possibility of ending up here.

With a girl. Uncertain if her affection even can be reciprocated. Standing in the middle of the gym. During an insignificant high school dance.

And yet, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. To look over and have Bella just there. By her side. With her. Almost to the point where Rosalie swears she's been there all along, all these years.

Bella's dark eyes roam over the room, her thumb brushing against the back of Rosalie's hand, and the vampire is comfortable. She doesn't feel like the lone puzzle piece, solitary in the middle of the table, all eyes on her, unable to fit in anywhere. She's part of the sea of dancing kids, tucked against Bella's side.

And it feels good.

She ghosts her fingers over the bold lines of Bella's sleeve of ink, revelling in the heat coming from her. She glances up to see Bella's eyebrows hike up, and stops. "Did you want to dance?" the wolf asks.

But Rosalie shakes her head. "I don't do this kind of dancing. Too much jumping. Ask Emmett or Alice."

"Do you slow dance?"

The question is genuine, no smirk or laugh. An honest wonder in her eyes. Rosalie can't decide if she's asking her to slow dance or if she's just curious.

"Depends," she replies and watches the lights flit across Bella's face. "Do you dance?"

"I… flail?"

And she can't help but laugh, the very thought of Bella on the dance floor, all limbs and left feet. "Alice can teach you, if you'd like."

Bella grins down at her feet as Rosalie watches a blush swirl into her cheeks. Dark eyes look up at her. "Can you?"

"Is that what you want?"

The playful edges smooth into something else, something a little more serious. Something that has never been aimed at Rosalie before. She finds herself leaning in, absently, drawn towards it. Towards Bella. The wolf licks her lips. "I want-"

Bella catches an elbow in her side, hard enough to feel. Her reaction is immediate, instinctive, with her fingers bruising the delicate skin of the human. "Ow, fuck! Bella, let go, I didn't mean to!"

Rosalie blinks. Feels the humming vibrations coming from Bella's chest. Smells the hint of fear starting to saturate the air around them. Her eyes lift, automatically looking for Jasper.

"Bella, you're hurting me!"

Marble fingers slip around her taught wrist, down into her palm. They gently pry her hand open, Rosalie sliding between the human and the wolf. The yellow flecks in Bella's eyes have formed a thin ring around the pupils - large, dilated pupils. "Bella," she calls quietly.

Those eyes shift up to Rosalie's in a fraction of a second, snapping to attention. The wolf shines through, clawing its way to the surface. Bella pushes forward, her hand in Rosalie's.

But Rosalie does nothing that she doesn't want to, moving included. She allows one step away from the human and stops, Bella pushing against her. "Stop this. It's not you."

"Yes, it is," Bella growls.

"So you hurt that kid?"

She flinches back. "No!"

"Don't let him do this to you," Rosalie murmurs quietly. She blinks, hesitating before stepping closer. "Don't let him take your choice, Bella."

Her pocket vibrates and they both look down. Bella fishes out her phone with jittery fingers, and the screen lights up with the fourteenth message from Paul.

You don't get to turn your back on the ones who took you in. Play make-believe with the Pale Faces all you want, you belong to us.

The screen cracks around her fingers, her wrist yanked out of Rosalie's hand. She's gone before the vampire can do anything, shouldering through the crowd of students towards the locker rooms.

At once, Alice and Jasper are at her sides. "What was that about?" he asks urgently, his posture stiff as he scans the crowds.

But Alice is much angrier - perhaps angrier than Rosalie, or just more comfortable showing it. "She doesn't belong to them! How can they talk to her like that?"

"Is that why she's so upset tonight?" he wonders aloud. "Her emotions are all over the place."

Rosalie blinks as the door of the girls' locker room slams shut. "Can you feel them?"

"... No, still I cannot. I'm sorry, I would ease her pain if I could." He hangs his head until Alice squeezes his hand. "I can… sense them? I'm familiar enough with the subtleties that I can notice them, and she's been shuffling through extremes all night."

Rosalie nods. "It's Sam, he's doing something to provoke the wolf. Trying to ruin her night or, worst case scenario, get her in trouble with the Council, perhaps."

"If she Shifts in public, in front of all these kids…" Alice shakes her head. "What would they do to her?"

"I'm not sure," Rosalie replies absently. The door still hasn't opened again, and thoughts churn like a dizzying swirl in her mind. Bad idea. Very bad idea. "I imagine Sam believes it's not something she would risk, and will go home before then."

"But she won't leave you," Alice huffs out in frustration. Her eyebrows shoot up and she looks up to Rosalie whose eyes fade numerous shades. "I mean, I assume. Maybe. I don't know for sure, she hasn't mentioned anything to me. Someone should go make sure she doesn't Shift."

Jasper eyes his sister warily. "And how does one stop a Shifter from Shifting?"

Black eyes slide over to him, a golden brow raised in challenge. "The same way we stop each other from snapping."

"Rosa-"

She's gone, slipping through the crowd of dancing kids. Her eyes lock onto the door, siblings' voices fading away. "Give her something else to focus on," she mutters to herself and pushes into the locker room.

The room is dark, except for the light from a group of girls, their phones lit up as they fix their makeup in one of the mirrors. "Leave," she commands. Her voice is sharp and cold, harder than her skin, and leaves no room for argument. They stumble over their purses to get out of the room, and Rosalie looks for the wolf.

Bella sits on the bench by the showers, hugging her knees to her chest, fingers digging in. The rings in her eyes glow when she looks up at Rosalie in alarm, whimpering and squeezing her knees even harder. "Get out!" she snarls.

"You cannot Shift here," Rosalie tells her calmly, slowing her approach but never stopping.

Bella nods jerkily, resting her forehead on a knee. "Yeah, no shit," she snaps sourly. An erratic heartbeat passes. "Sorry. Please leave. Now. Please."

"You're not going to hurt my feelings, like I'm some kind of child or Edward," she scoffs. The heat coming from Bella is like a furnace, and Rosalie feels warm for the first time since she can remember. "Bella, look at me."

"I can't."

"Please," Rosalie requests, standing directly in front of the wolf. Hunger and rage stare up at her helplessly, Bella's jaw clenched around another snarl. "You have to breathe."

"You have to leave!" The warning is punctuated with Bella slamming her elbow back against the wall, a tile crumbling to the bench. She buries her face in her knees again, fingers digging into the back of her neck. "Please. I don't want to hurt you."

"It's me or them," Rosalie says with a sigh. "I will heal, they won't."

"No!"

"Then control it."

"No!"

"Yes! Breathe, Bella. Control it. It's your body, it belongs to you, not him."

She's on her feet in the blink of an eye, palms against Rosalie's bare shoulders. Fire and ice. Her back connects with the wall, more tiles cracked. "Don't tell me what to do," Bella warns in a voice rough with… something. The wolf, maybe.

They stare at each other, Bella panting and glaring. Her face red, flushed, eyes wild. Rosalie calm and collected, a tranquil sounding board for Bella to leech off of. It's the closest they've been since their tussle in Rosalie's room, face to face like this, and neither wants a repeat. With such a loose grasp on her control, Bella is unpredictable and dangerous.

And yet, she seems to be calming down. Her eyes are still hard, burning with raw emotion as they scorch a path along Rosalie's skin, tracing her features. Her breathing is still shallow, but not as violent, and she's leaning on the vampire more than grabbing her.

Rosalie doesn't look away, doesn't blink. She holds Bella's gaze like a lifeline, holds onto the little bits of Bella hidden in the wolf. Her fingers pinch the fabric of Bella's shirt, holding here there because… she wants to. She wants Bella close, and it's hardly noticeable, with everything happening it's not like-

The door swings open with a bang, blaring music pouring in like a rush of acid in Bella's veins. The oblivious girls make their way to the sinks while Bella snaps her head to the side to glare at them. Her fingers dig into Rosalie's shoulders again, chest rumbling, and she turns towards them.

Rosalie's actions are immediate, and for someone who has felt how slowly time drags itself on, this happens before she can truly consider it.

A pale hand snatches the front of Bella's shirt and yanks her back to face Rosalie. Chilly fingers ghost along a heated jaw, guiding their lips together. Like a thief in the dark, armed only with a kiss, Rosalie steals Bella's attention (and heart).

And it's kind of like watching an elastic band snap. The yellow ring in Bella's eyes die out, endless brown staring at her in shock, the snarl in her chest whooshing out with a surprised gasp. The volatile energy that seeped from Bella before evaporates and her Bella is back. Light and carefree, awkward in an endearing sort of way, and always so receptive to her.

Rosalie pulls back just enough to gauge a reaction, just enough to collect her thoughts, just enough to ask herself if she truly did that… and if Bella's lips are seriously that soft, dear god.

"H-Hale!" Bella squeaks and the girls at the mirror look up.

The vampire turns just enough to bare her fangs in a sneer. "Get out!" she barks at them.

They disappear in a fit of whispers and giggles.

Bella's eyes follow them, narrowing ever so slightly as the wolf tries to creep back in.

Rosalie slides her hand from Bella's jaw, up into her hair to bring her back. "Stay with me," she tries to say in anything other than a purr because this is a distraction, that's all. She's trying to help Bella, not lose herself.

It doesn't help when Bella hums and sinks back into Rosalie, noses bumping clumsily. A smile she can feel on her lips, a kiss less controlled and more playful. "Rose…" she whispers, resting her forehead against the vampire's. Her hands are braced on the wall, fingers digging into the tiles.

Suddenly it's not just Bella's control being tested. The gold of Rosalie's eyes swirls together with black, the primal beast of her nature awaking with Bella's breathless calling of her name.

Her actual name.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella asks in a voice dragged through gravel. She nips at Rosalie's sharp jaw, listening to the rumbling in her chest.

But someone has to be responsible. Someone has to keep them out of trouble and god knows it can't be Bella, Rosalie knows it can't be Bella. Not when she walks in the shadow of trouble or whatever nonsense she spewed last time. Not when she actively chooses trouble.

"You need fresh air," Rosalie tells her and has to grab those hips to keep them from touching.

Hell. She needs fresh air.

She's never faced such tenacious temptation. Bella is an ocean of desire Rosalie could happily drown in.

The dark abyss stares back at Rosalie, something between Bella and the wolf reflected in her eyes. "I need you."

"No," the vampire squeezes her eyes shut, "back away."

"I can't."

"Bella!-"

"I can't!" she repeats a little more desperately. "Why did you kiss me?!"

"To save those moronic children!" Rosalie snaps back. Her hands brace against Bella, unable to push her away, though there's apparent restraint as the wolf also holds herself back. "Breathe."

"I'm confused and emotional and a Shifter, I can't breathe," Bella growls. She squeezes her hand into a fist, tile cracking around her knuckles. "It was for them?"

"It… Bella. Can we talk about this later? We need to get you outside."

She squeezes her eyes shut as the warmth that rolls off her turns into a heat that's stifling, that's overbearing. "Why would you kiss me?"

"Bella, please-"

"It was for you." They stare at each other, the yellow slowly overtaking the brown in Bella's eyes, right there in front of Rosalie. "Mine was for you."

Rosalie cradles Bella's face with one hand, the other going to her thigh and the strap underneath her dress. "Foolish girl." There's a pinch in Bella's neck that has her gasping and stepping back, rubbing the sore spot. "There is only heartbreak for you here."

Bella shakes the fog from her head, movements sluggish… like she's underwater. The fire in her heart simmers, and she stumbles back another step as something clicks. "Oh, clever vampire…"

Rosalie sets the needle down on the bench, hand outstretched for Bella. The wolf rolls her shoulders. "There's enough in that shot-"

"To drop a rhino?" Bella scoffs. The shadows of the room close in fast, and she sways on her feet.

*thunk*

"...a herd of rhinos, actually."

.

.

.

"How long have you been carrying a tranq?!"

"Just help me get her to the car without drawing attention, Emmett!"

"And on your thigh?! Who are you? Jane Bond? That's so badass."

"Emmett! Car!"

.

.

.

It's really much more sedative than she needs, Rosalie realizes halfway to the car in the parking lot. Bella is out, down for the count, stone cold under, without even a flutter of eyelashes. She is entirely dead weight, and so solid, long limbs making it difficult for anyone other than Rosalie and Emmett to carry her.

She curses her dwarven siblings as they walk helplessly behind, trying to block visual from the gym entrance where kids hang out in the night air.

"She didn't even last an hour!" a random student calls after them, laughter follows shortly after.

Inebriation is as good an excuse as any.

.

.

.

"Her face is in my lap and it's making me uncomfortable," Edward tells the rest of the car. He glares up at Rosalie in the rearview mirror she glances back in. "Why do you need to drive every vehicle you enter?"

"You don't do it right."

"I do too!"

Alice cradles Bella's head against her chest, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Jasper's better at sharing than Emmett is," she whispers to the unconscious wolf.

A warning rumble comes from the front seat. "You could sit up here."

Alice gasps theatrically, hand over her mouth. "And let poor Bella bash her head during your maniacal driving? I should think not!"

Edward frowns. "I can protect-"

"Shush, brother," the pixie swats at his chest until he huffs and looks out the window. "You should be thanking me, Rosalie."

"Thank you."

It's as sarcastic as she's ever heard but Alice doesn't even blink. "Imagine being stuck back here with Bella on your lap and Edward in your head."

"How horribly would it hurt if I just opened the door and fell out now?" Edward wonders aloud, face against the window. "You are my two least favourite people to be stuck with together, I hope you know."

"I'm your best friend, Edward, that's just not true," Alice tells him. She watches a smile tug his mouth up and grins, turning back to Rosalie. "I'm only teasing, Rose. I just don't want you to spiral."

"Too late," the blonde mutters, scowling at the road. She breathes in deeply, careful not to crush the steering wheel in her hands, and looks back at the headlights of the Rolls. "She likes me."

"Duh."

This time Edward knocks his knee into Bella's to make her other one knock Alice. "Patience."

Alice blinks at him and looks at her sister. "I mean, yes. We all suspected as much. Isn't that a good thing?"

"It's too easy to be selfish now," Rosalie says. To the others, to herself, to an unconscious Bella. "She will have to give up much to be with me, and I want to ask her to. I want her to leave her friends, her family, her father, to be with me. And I think she will," she scoffs and shakes her head. "I think she will with a smile on her face and a wound in her heart."

"Rosalie-"

"And I couldn't even say yes! I couldn't tell her that my kiss was for her. I don't care about those idiotic children. I have been consumed with the wonder of how it would feel to have her lips against mine, and that the last shred of my willpower to not know had torn. That I was kissing her because I wanted to, because I want to."

Bella's hand flops down onto Rosalie's shoulder, surprising the vampire who perks up only to roll her eyes and flip her siblings off. Alice lifts Bella's arm again to make the wolf touch Rosalie's cheek. "Hale," the pixie mimics Bella's voice fairly well. "Don't you think I already know that? A blind man in Alaska can see how much you adore me."

Edward snickers from his side of the backseat. "But Bella," his imitation of Rosalie's voice is a little deep, but otherwise spot on, "how do I know if you feel the same way about me?"

"Well you hit me with your car and I still wag my tail whenever I see you," Alice replies. "But I have to be honest with myself. I'm in love with your sister. She's so beautiful and spunky, the moon shines for her-"

"Okay!" Rosalie growls and looks over her shoulder to swat at Alice's hand. "Stop… playing with my mate."

Edward's giggles turn into a howl of laughter that Alice dissolves into, much to Rosalie's annoyance.

.

.

.

The moment the car stops in front of the house, Rosalie is out and darting up the porch. The driver side door doesn't even have time to close, and she passes a concerned Esme. "I cannot tolerate your imbecilic children a moment longer," she snarls and the bedroom door shuts seconds later.

Esme looks back at the car where Edward and Alice still sit, laughing and grinning to themselves. It's difficult to be mad, seeing such joy, but she knows it's at her most sensitive daughter's expense. So she allows herself this brief moment to capture in her mind forever more, Edward resting his forehead on the back of the driver's headrest as he struggles for air he doesn't need, Alice covering her eyes as her chest heaves with each breath of laughter.

She gives them until Emmett and Jasper pull up in the Rolls Royce, and then sets her face into a disapproving frown. "Edward Anthony and Alice… Alice, get out of the car this moment."

Two pairs of big golden eyes peek at her from the car. "Is she mad?"

"She might be mad. She's counting in her head."

"Counting to keep you out or counting how long she's going to ground us if we don't get out."

"To keep me out - oh, both now. Thanks, Alice."

"Hey, we are made of time. I'm calling her bluff."

"Are you going to live here forever?"

They continue to watch her and she slowly raises her eyebrow, hands on her hips. "I won't ask again."

Off to the side, Emmett elbows Jasper and points. "Dude, what did they do?"

"Shhh!" Jasper perks up when Esme looks at them and they both blur over. "Miss Esme, we were just bringing the car back. Whatever they did, we had no part in."

"I'm your wife, traitor!"

Emmett's at the car in an instance, reaching in the window to unroll it all the way and pull Edward out. "You and I got a date this weekend, you can't be grounded!"

"Unhand me, you brute!" Edward huffs with his shoulders up around his ears, suit rolling up. Emmett shrugs and lets 's go but not before Edward clutches to him, arching his back so nothing touches the ground and gets dirty. "Hand me! This is a brand new suit, Emmett!"

The behemoth sighs and scoops his boyfriend up over his shoulder. "Well make up your mind. Damn."

"You look ridiculous, Edward," Alice tells him as she walks over with Bella hooked around her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Which is quite the feat, considering their drastic height differences.

Esme sucks in her laugh, turning her head to control her face and not let the frown slip. "Alice, what in the good graces have you done?"

"You think I did this to Bella?!" the pixie echoes with wide eyes. "I am her knight in shining armour, I'll have you know. I rescued her after Rosalie drugged her!"

This time Esme's eyes widen and she turns to look back into the house. "Rosalie drugged Bella?"

"In her defence - Emmett, please set me down." Edward straightens his clothes. "In her defence, she never wanted to be forced to fight Bella, should Bella have lost control. She's been carrying a tranq with her since her conversation with Carlisle."

"Carlisle told her to drug Bella?!"

Emmett snorts and Jasper coughs, both of them grinning at each other. Edward frowns. "No, not… not really, no. She came to that solution after he warned her to de-escalate the situation as quickly as possible."

What a mess.

Esme pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a moment. How their lives manage to complicate themselves after so long, is just beyond her, but alright. Stuff happens. Just roll with the punches. "Okay. Alice, take Bella up to mine and Carlisle's room and leave, you're not to bother her or Rosalie." At a look, Alice decides it's best not to argue and blurs inside with the wolf. "Edward, please go collect Carlisle from the hospital so he can make sure the dosage Rosalie used isn't harmful."

He nods and disappears back into his Volvo, peeling out shortly after.

"Jasper, please go park the Royce. And Emmett." The stare at each other, Emmett rolling back and forth on his heels. She tilts her head. "How are you not in trouble?"

His grin is mischievous and boyish. "Weird, right? Want me to, I dunno, break a window?"

"Get inside, you giant goof," she laughs and leads him into the house. "You've been gone… not even two hours. What happened?"

He scratches the back of his head and follows her to the stairs. "I don't even know this time, ma. One minute Ed and I are dancing on the dance floor, and the next Bella comes shouldering through, rushing to the locker room. Rosie goes in after her, some girls run out, but Alice said it was fine! I figured they were boning, I didn't know Double Oh Sexy was tranqing her girlfriend."

Alice hovers in her bedroom doorway, at the opposite end of the hall from Esme's room. She lifts onto her toes to peek down. "Bella was going to Shift!"

"At the dance?" Esme asks in surprise. "Whatever for? What happened?"

The pixie shakes her head with a pout. "Not on purpose, Sam was bothering her. There's something wrong there. I don't like the wolves as much as the next person, but this is… weird."

"Bella Boo down there is a wolf and she's not weird," Emmett muses with a thoughtful look. He flashes a grin when Alice's lips twitch. "Well, she is, but in a good way. Shouldn't they be as cool?"

"Bella might be the exception, not the example."

Right. That makes… a modicum of sense, from what little Esme knows at this point. Far too many secrets being kept from her these days, particularly from her youngest daughter. Speaking of which… "Why is Rosalie so upset?"

Emmett shrugs unhelpfully while Alice sags against her doorframe. She motions to the floor above theirs with a roll of her eyes. "Bella likes her."

"I… you're all making me go grey, I swear to god. Is that not a good thing?" Esme sighs.

Again, Alice scoffs. "Yeah, welcome to the club. We don't know why it's upsetting her, other than she feels guilty about it."

With Jasper comes a serenity that nurtures patience, his presence is ever-calming and warm, compassionate and inviting. The hallway relaxes when he steps into it. "That is entirely her business, but if it makes you all feel better, I can attempt to assist her."

"Please," Esme waves him towards the stairs at the opposite end of the hallway. "And you, missy, are still in trouble. You get back in that room and write an apology to your sister."

"You don't even know for sure that I did anything!"

"I know you."

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.

.

She's scared.

It's something Jasper is familiar with, her distinct brand of fear, and something he's never come across in all of his years.

(To be fair, he mostly avoids people, so this may actually be all too common. But it's unique in the family, and very… Rosalie.)

Rosalie wields her fear like a weapon, she wears it like armour, and forces it to serve her, instead of debilitating her like it would most people. Her fear is something to fear because it's sharp and jagged, a knife in the gut if you're not careful enough. Rosalie's fear is a strength that has kept this family safe for a very, very long time, and so Jasper is hesitant to ever touch it.

He's hesitant to ever touch any of Rosalie's emotions, lest she retaliate or that it leech into him and therefore the rest of the room. Truly, sometimes being an empath is a nightmare; a hostage amongst your family, a threat to their mental health.

The flowers nailed to her door are still as pristine as ever and it somehow fits that they're fake. He can't see Bella tearing up a living plant, nor can he see her ever letting a joke like this die.

The door opens a crack before his knuckles make contact with the wood. Rosalie's black eyes glare at him from inside. "Don't bother."

"You are worthy of love, Rosalie."

Her palm smashes against his chest, shoving him into the bathroom across the hall and slamming the door behind them. The shower turns on in the same second, his knees hitting the edge of the tub and sending him backwards into it.

The water soaks his curls until they hang in his eyes, suit ruined, boots thankfully dry as his long legs hook awkwardly over the side of the tub. He stares up at his sister patiently. "Does that make you feel better?"

Under the spray, with the sound bouncing around the room, they cannot be heard by prying ears. "What gives you the right to force a conversation with me? If I wanted to talk, I would have invited you in."

"You would never invite me into your room," he points out helpfully.

She stares harder.

It's no secret that she is as stubborn as he is patient and their stalemates last days at a time until Esme begs one of them to give in. This time, however, they don't have the luxury of time. Bella is out cold but for how long? The issue needs to be resolved by then. "Why are you afraid of her loving you?"

Rosalie steps forward, hand in the air squeezing into a fist. "I'm warning you, Jasper. Stay out of my head."

"I'm not Edward."

"Close enough," she mutters darkly.

"I love you, Rosalie," he says simply.

And she flinches. "Stop that!"

"Why? Please, just tell me why you reject love so severely? I have wondered for so long, I have waited for an explanation, a hint, something. Anything. I thought it was sexual desire that offended you but it's more than that," he explains in that gentle but firm voice he uses.

When things are important.

When he can't let them go.

(He can't let her go.)

"Please, stop," Rosalie requests softly. Her eyes are dark, refusing to meet his. Fingers digging into her elbows. "Just leave me be, all of you, please, leave me alone. I don't want her. I made a mistake."

"What if she loves you?" He watches her shake her head, back away. Shut down and shut off, like always. Giving up and running away. "Don't you want to know if she loves you?"

The bathroom counter cracks around her fist, pieces falling off. "Damn it, Jasper! No! Love will kill you, don't you get that? Love will tear you apart, down to your bones, leaving you broken and bare in the middle of the street, bleeding in the night. Love makes you soft, makes you weak and vulnerable. Love will ruin you."

It's… not something she talks about, her change. How she joined the family. As far as he's aware, only Edward and Carlisle know the true details, while the others have agonizing suspicions. Jasper can feel it though, the emotional scar of an old, old wound. How it always itches, and burns around the edges. He can feel it throb now and then; a particularly lecherous man on the street, an ignorant human too oblivious to notice her discomfort.

And it makes it all the more important that he's seen Bella reach for Rosalie's arm, only to pause and tap her shoulder instead. He's seen her sit between Rosalie and a stranger if only so she can relax even a little. He's seen Bella look at her so gently, so tenderly that he truly believes she would die before she let another soul hurt his sister.

(Bella is strong enough to be with Rosalie but, more importantly, she's gentle enough to be with her too.)

"That was not love," he says quietly. She glances towards the space next to his head, not quite able to meet his eye. The wound aches through her entire being, and he hurts. It carves itself deeper into them both. "You were… killed by a lie. Not love."

Another thing the two share, with Carlisle. The only ones of the family who didn't simply die for this life, but were killed. It marks you. A shard of loss lodged deep inside, a piece of you not just missing, but stolen. To end and to be ended are very different things, and he's never been able to express it quite right to Alice, but Rosalie?

They need no words. There's an understanding there, one that's always been there between them. A look in her eye, a nod from him. The only difference between them is that Alice fills the holes that death carved in his life, and Rosalie's gape freely. Their emptiness echoes through the rest of her life, only ever silenced when Bella steps into the room.

Which is why he can't drop it, why he wipes the water from his brow and leans up to reach for her. "You deserve this, Rosalie, and I ask only for the chance to prove it."

The chance for Bella to prove it.

His sister glares at him with stormy eyes, her rage lying just beneath a calm surface. That pain and fear ready to be unleashed in waves of torment at a moment's notice, drowning any who dare get too close.

He pushes himself up to his feet, water oozing from his clothes. "Please take a chance one last time."

"I can't." It's the quietest, weakest, most broken he has ever heard her voice and his chest clenches tightly.

But if life has taught him anything, it's that the good outshines the bad. It does. Alice is worth enduring Maria a thousand times, and he would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant reaching this. "You can, Rosalie. You're the strongest person I've ever known."

Down below they can hear the front door, Edward and Carlisle's return.

Jasper reaches for the door handle, Rosalie watching him intently. "You don't have to do anything, Rose. Just don't shut down, please. Just be open to her and let her make her choice."

Black eyes flutter and she finally looks away.

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.

.

Esme makes a horrified noise in the back of her throat when they go to check on Bella. Bella, who is face down in the middle of the mattress, missing a shoe, with her arm at a weird angle. Esme quickly flips her over, tucking a pillow under her head, and turns to the open door. "Alice Cullen, that is two more weeks without your computer."

"She's heavy!"

"I've seen you lift trees, you small maniac!"

Carlisle bounces on the balls of his feet when Esme turns back to them, thoroughly delighted by every aspect of the exchange. Esme rolls her eyes and he swoops forward to peck her cheek, before going back to Bella.

Rosalie leans against the windowsill across the room, staring at the corner of the bed. "She's fine, I just wanted to make sure she was out."

"She looks dead," Emmett hums on the other side of the bed, eyes just peeking over. He snakes his arm up to grab her hand, lifting it and letting it fall with a thud. "She feels dead."

"Oh my actual god, I went to medical school," Rosalie snaps with a scowl. "She's fine."

"But she's the size of a horse!"

"She's shorter than me, Emmett."

"By half an inch, Amazon. And she's a wolf!"

She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs deeply. "Carlisle, please tell them she's fine so I can leave."

He sits back on the bed after shining his penlight in her eyes to check her pupils, all while timing the beat of her heart. "Healthy as the horse you claim her size to be, Emmett. However," he holds up his hand just before Rosalie can make it to the door, "he's not wrong about her being a wolf, and we don't know for sure how she will react to it. I have every confidence she will be fine, but she should not be left alone until she wakes up."

Rosalie shrugs. "Then send Alice up here."

"Alice did not drug her," Esme says with a click of her tongue. "You did, and you will stay with her to make sure she is fine, Miss Medical School Graduate."

The room watches silently as Rosalie and Esme stare at each other. Esme just smiles while her daughter struggles not to glare, and instead slowly sinks back to sit on the bed. "You're not grounding me, I'm not some child."

"No, you're a very responsible adult who takes care of the messes she makes and the people she involves them in," Esme replies. She holds out the book that's been tucked under her arm. "I brought your book so you don't get bored."

It's snatched up quickly, the cover pressed against her chest as Emmett tries to peek. She growls at him and hugs it closer. "Fine. I'll watch the mutt, but not with you all watching me. Leave or I will."

Jasper all but drags Emmett to the door, asking him about a rematch on their game. Esme and Carlisle linger only to give one last look at the sleeping wolf and their daughter, before departing with a happy hum.

Rosalie sighs and rolls her eyes once the door closes. "It's stupid, how much they care," she tells her unconscious mate. Bella does nothing but breathe. Breathe and exude her warmth, a beacon of comfort beckoning the vampire in. She reaches out to brush the hair back from Bella's face, her eyes soft as they trace strong features. "They don't understand that I have nothing to offer in return, Bella. When you realize that… one can only break so much before there's nothing left."

.

.

.

It was definitely more sedative than she needed, Rosalie realizes the next morning when Bella is still out. Her father calls twice, and Rosalie is forced to send him a text that says I'm crashing at Hale's, be back tomorrow and is both relieved and alarmed when he buys it.

Bella moves only once and that is to curl around Rosalie and rest her head on her thigh, while Rosalie sits and reads her book. If her hand drifts and fingers start running through Bella's mane… well, she hardly notices and can't be held responsible for it.

It's a very serene Saturday morning and Rosalie is horrified that she's imagining every weekend like this. Relaxed in a nest of pillows and blankets, with her own personal heater curled around her body, sound asleep, as she reads poetry. It's a dream that she's had for as long as she can remember and... damn it, Bella fits into it perfectly.

What a dangerous game to play.

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.

.

The night is calm and soft, a heavy but gentle rain falling consistently against the side of the house and the windows across the room. Outside is dark, with the wind whistling a lullaby, while inside glows warmly from a lamp beside the bed.

Bella's head rests against Rosalie's chest, her arm tucked around a stone waist. She breathes deeply, in almost a snore, no longer zonked out, but sleeping peacefully.

Rosalie drags her fingers up and down Bella's strong back, her eyes trained steadily on the words in her book, and she has never been farther from the world than she is now.

"Look down and see those shapeless forms,
Which ever keep their dreamless sleep
Far down within the gloomy deep,
And only stir themselves in storms,
Rising like islands from beneath,
And snorting through the angry spray,
As the frail vessel perisheth
In the whirls of their unwieldy play."(2)

And for the first time in nearly a century, Rosalie knows peace.

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2 - The Sirens, James Russell Lowell