Hi everyone! It's been quite some time, so I want to thank everyone who has kept up and is still reading. Over the past two years I went to college, got married, and moved. It's been a bit crazy! But things are starting to settle down and I want to get back to my stories. Readers, new and old, welcome. I don't own anything.

CHAPTER SEVEN

ROSALIE'S POINT OF VIEW

I scanned the room full of my vampiric family as we waited for Bella to come downstairs. Of course, she had already met everyone but Edward and Alice. Carlisle and Edward were talking about her keen intellect, and I could tell Edward was interested in the story Carlisle gave him from his brief lunch with her. Though they hadn't met, Alice told me that Edward had become thoroughly intrigued by my hopefully soon to be daughter in the short time she'd be in our home. Apparently he had been trying to read her thoughts to relate to her more and perhaps provide insight, but had been unable. We all thought it was amusing, and he was trying miserably to hide his frustration with it. Edward had never met a mind he couldn't read. I was thankful, though. Bella has been through so much, and she should at least be allowed the privacy of her thoughts.

Esme was relaying to Alice her worries that Bella was comfortable enough in her room, while Alice tried to reassure her that her efforts were not in vain. I was sure that Esme was just being Esme. She was perfect to all of us, but never doing enough in her own eyes.

Emmett wrapped his arms around me as he saw me surveying the family. "She's going to fit right in, baby." I felt him smile against me and continued to wait for her.

We could all perfectly hear Bella's sweet conversation with Jasper from where we waited downstairs, but that didn't stop me from wishing I was in the room with them. It made me melt to know how far Jasper was going to help Bella feel at ease, even without the use of his gift. That's the kind of man he was- he always had time to help someone. It was a side of him that few people knew about, as he was known to the rest of the vampiric world as the God of War. We were all aware of what he was capable of, but his close friends got to see this Jasper. The man who would sit down and talk to a six year old girl about her family. I smiled as I recalled a time he had helped me sort out my feelings as well.

"Knock knock." Jasper smiled, and leaned up against the doorframe. "Don't mean to pry, but are you okay? I could feel you."

I had been standing at my window in the bedroom I shared with Emmett. My mate had tried to get me to go with him hunting, but I just wasn't in the mood. I had kissed him goodbye and told him to go have fun, opting to stay inside and wallow in my feelings. I smiled up at Jasper, but I didn't need a mirror to know it didn't reach my eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."

I could see the concern on his face. "You know that's a dangerous pastime, sister. What's got you thinking?" He asked as he walked gently into the room to stand beside me at the window.

"The trees look so nice, don't they?" He opened his mouth to answer me, probably to tell me he didn't come in here to talk about Washington's vegetation. I kept on. "Everything out there is so real. Those trees have been around as long as we have, and they're alive. It doesn't seem fair."

Jasper looked over at me with an almost smile. "Are you telling me you'd like to be a tree Rosalie? We can get you some leaves or something, but I personally think you look better like this."

I laughed at his pitiful joke before revealing my insecurities. "Do you think I was changed because the universe knew I couldn't..." I trailed off, my voice broken. "Do you think I'd be a good mom?" I looked down, not willing to make eye contact in this rare moment of vulnerability. In this house, there were very little secrets. Between the mind reader, fortune teller, and empath not to mention our superhuman hearing abilities, everything was usually out for all to see. Each Cullen knew my desire to be a mother, but that didn't mean I voiced it often. Certainly not in a way that reflected insecurity on my part. I was strong, or at least that's what I showed.

I felt his hand on my shoulder. I looked up into his eyes and could easily see why he was so successful in the military. His face held a command that even I wouldn't argue with. "Rosalie Hale. I want you to listen to the words I say." I nodded, and he continued. "I don't know why we all ended up here. I don't know why the trees outside continue to grow while we are frozen. I don't know why Royce hurt you that night, and why Carlisle found you. I'm grateful that he did, but I do know one thing. Your humanity was not the only thing lost that night. Somewhere in the timeline of the universe, a baby lost the chance to have the most tenacious, strong willed and fiercely loving mother it could hope for. I'm sorry you didn't get the chance Rose, but I assure you that it is a wasted one."

I smiled as I was drawn from my flashback by the sound of Bella's footsteps gently coming down the stairs. I wondered why she hadn't come to get me, but then realized Jasper was still right next to her. He had comforted her just as he had comforted me. He may have been right, I might end up to be a good mom. But he just might have been a good dad too. Who knew the God of War, Major Jasper Whitlock would have a soft spot for kids?

Bella's face appeared and I walked over to her eagerly before kneeling down to her eye level. "Hi Bella. Did you help Jasper down the stairs?" She giggled at me, and I could see how comfortable she was becoming here. "You've met most of my family, but there are two more people here I would like you to meet." I pointed at Edward and Alice, who were now squatted down to Bella's position as well. Alice had a wide smile on her face, and Edward looked equally as kind but not as enthusiastically hyped as his wife. "That's my brother, Edward. And that fairy over there is Alice."

That was all the introduction Alice felt necessary, and immediately glided over to Bella. "Hi Bella! We are so excited Rose brought you home to us. I think you and I are going to be good friends. Maybe even best friends." She added with a smile. "I throw pretty good sleepovers. I have a collection of vampire movies I heard you might like."

At this, Bella's shyness immediately faded and she perked right up. Alice knew the key to her interest. "I've never gotten to see a vampire movie before. They didn't show us at the orphanage, but I've always wanted to see if they were like my books."

While I felt everyone in the room chuckling at the obvious irony of the situation, which Jasper was projecting his amusement at onto all of us, my heart softened. This little girl had been denied even a movie. Why didn't I think of that? I made a mental note to supply her everything she could ever want to be entertained with. She will never go without again.

While Alice and Bella busied themselves in a conversation about movies, Edward carefully joined them and introduced himself to Bella. He told her he played piano, and Bella revealed that her daddy used to play piano. I had never heard her talk much about him. She always seemed to shy away from the topic, and I could tell how emotional it must make her. But there she was, talking about him to Edward. He listened attentively while she told him all about how she used to sit next to him on the piano bench, and he would teach her how to play duets with him. The only one she could remember was Mary Had a Little Lamb, and she blushed furiously when Edward said he would like to hear her play it sometime.

Emmett must have seen the wonder on my face as I watched them, because he leaned over and looked at me with a matching expression. "Who knew, huh?"

I felt Jasper saunter over to us. I looked at him gratefully.

"Thank you for talking to her. I think she feels more comfortable now with the idea of having two families."

Jasper beamed at me. "She's a remarkable little girl. Did you hear what she told me before we came downstairs?"

Emmett and I shook our heads. We must have been too preoccupied in our own thoughts. "What did she say?"

"I think that's for her to tell you then." He smiled and walked over to join Alice and Edward in their Bella time. I bit back a growl, and my bother just turned around and stuck his tongue out at me in response to the frustration I was giving off. Loser.

"I hope she feels open to talk to us about her birth parents."

I loved that he was already making the distinction of "her birth parents." I could tell he felt the same way that I did- we would both be crushed if she decided to seek out another family. We both already were engaging ourselves in the dangerous hope that we would be her parents. "I'm sure she will, honey."

"She really seems to have a strong relationship with her dad she's holding onto." He didn't have to voice the other half of the statement for me to reassure him.

"Baby, what Jasper told her is true. We will never replace her parents and that is okay. But that doesn't mean our relationship with her will be any less valid, strong, or important." I took his hand and squeezed it.

He smiled that dimple filled grin that make me so girlish. "You're right."

Just then our conversation was interrupted by a pull on my shirt. I looked down into the eyes of my little angel. "Yes, Bella?"

"Mrs. Rose... I was wondering if I could talk to you and Emmett for a second." She sounded serious. Emmett squeezed my hand just as I had done for him just a minute ago.

I saw Alice wink at me and just knew this was it. This would be her answer.