CHAPTER 16

Our days passed in contentment. I stayed close to Edward, feeling lost when he was not there. The only time he ever left me was to hunt. Though I missed him when he was gone; I knew he had to.

"If I did not hunt, I would be a danger to every human in this place, especially you," he said to me once, his gaze so intense that I knew what he said was true. After that I never argued again, or tried to delay him. One week, he and Emmett had been gone for several days and the evenings seemed to grow longer with every passing day. Rosalie seemed to be doing the later shifts and I was alone more than I wanted to be; when I was alone the nightmares came. It was almost as if James knew when I had no one with me; as if he could get into my head. Some of the dreams were so vivid I would wake with my throat in an agony of fire, knowing I had been screaming ad weeping in my sleep. On the fourth night Edward was away, I approached Alice.

"Alice, can I do the long shift tonight?" I asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Sure, Bella. Edward is still hunting?"

"Yes," I said, glancing away. Alice touched my cheek gently and Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Great, nice lonely evening for me then," she grumbled.

"You are working too, Rosalie," Alice reminded her, glancing down at the schedule.

"I finish at ten and you two won't be done until twelve," she whined.

"Tell you what, Bella will have her break at ten and I will have mine at eleven for half an hour so that you aren't alone for too much of the evening. Where is Emmett?"

"Edward asked him to meet with him tonight. He came back last night, but then boss man has to drag him away again. Sorry, Bella." I just grinned at her.

"Ah, now we see why she is suddenly so keen for girl company," I said, giggling when Rosalie threw one of Alice's pink cushions across the office at me. Alice deftly stuck out her arm and caught it, while never looking up from the schedule she was typing out.

"Children, please," she admonished. "Some of us work all day, not just a few hours in the evening."

"Yeah, some of us don't get tired or need to sleep," grumbled Rosalie. Alice quirked her eyebrow, but I saw a slight smile on her lips.

"Do not worry, Rosalie, it will not be a permanent state. Your humanity will be over within the year. Jasper has it in hand."

"Jasper would leave me human forever if he could," she replied, grumpily. My ears perked up and I looked at them both.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm only half-vampire," said Rosalie, eventually.

"How does that even work?" I asked.

"That night I was... attacked? I lost a lot of blood. Jazz had to give me some of his blood, but Edward stopped him before he could completely change me. So though I'm not aging at all, I can still be killed."

I looked at her curiously.

"Rosalie, how old are you?"

"Twenty two," she said, automatically.

"No, really. How old are you?"

"One hundred and twenty six," she replied, eventually. My mouth must have dropped.

"But you said you went off the rails after high school..." Rosalie shrugged.

"Well, I just meant after high school age. Jeez Bella, I could hardly tell you the truth, could I? How freaked out would you have been?"

"I guess," I replied. But my mind was working overtime, wondering about what she had said. Could I become a vampire and be with Edward forever? Never aging, as beautiful as Rosalie... and strong enough to protect myself from James. The idea of never having to look over my shoulder was very appealing. Alice glanced at me, knowingly.

"Edward has considered it, but don't push him, Bella. If you push him, he will not do it. Trust me on this."

I nodded, but my mind was in overdrive.

"Oh come on Bella, just one. You finish in an hour anyway!" said Rosalie. Alice had swapped breaks with me and it was eleven o'clock. Rosalie had pulled out a bottle of bubbly and was sitting in the back with two glasses and a big smile. I rolled my eyes.

"Edward would kill me," I said.

"Edward and Emmett are having macho men time. They won't even be thinking about us," she grumbled. My heart clenched when I thought of Edward and the bubbly seemed like a good way to take my mind off of him. Besides, Rosalie was right; in an hour's time I was all done and there would only be thirty minutes to get through after my break.

"Ok, just one," I said. "And don't fill my glass up. If I go back out there drunk, I'll get in trouble."

"Yeah, like anyone's going to touch you when you're with the boss," she said.

"Edward is very professional," I countered.

"Yes, a professional irritant," replied Rosalie, pouring me a half glass. I took a sip and nearly choked on the bubbles.

"God, Rose, where did you get this from?" I asked, inspecting the bottle. She giggled.

"Jasper's secret stock," she replied. "I was in his office earlier and spotted it. Sorry, it's pretty strong."

"Now you tell me!" I said, but the bubbly sensation wasn't unpleasant and when my glass magically seemed to refill, I didn't think twice about drinking it. By the end of my half hour break, both of us were giggling at nothing. I staggered back out to the bar area and tried very hard to focus on what I was doing, but everything seemed to be moving. Luckily, the tables I had been serving had left while I was on my break, so all I was doing was cleaning up, rather than having actual contact with clientele. As the last of the customers disappeared, one of the girls turned the jukebox on and Lady Gaga came on making me squeal. I sang along at the top of my lungs, earning me a few giggles and stares from the other girls, some of whom joined in. Rosalie was standing on the bar at one point, having found the microphone the jazz singer had been using earlier that night and she was singing along, slightly off-key due to the alcohol.

"Oh shit," she suddenly said, with perfect lucidity into the microphone. There was a sudden flutter of movement and I became aware that the other girls were clearing out of the bar area. A large figure was standing at the bar, holding a hand up to Rosalie.

Someone approached me and I squinted, wondering why they were walking sideways. I turned my head, but that didn't seem to help, so I turned it the other way, giggling to myself.

"Isabella Swann, come with me, now!" The sharp rebuke made me start and briefly I forced myself to focus and saw Edward standing in front of me, with Emmett just behind him.

Oops. Not sure how Edward will feel about inebriated Bella... trust me, the next chapter was a lot of fun to write and hopefully will be equally fun to read...