5

Rosalie felt aggravated. She was tired and had a headache. She had spent all day in the administration building registering for her final semester at UW, not that she knew what she wanted to really do with her life. Her degree was in accounting, always having had a flair for numbers, but it was boring. Still, she knew it was the stable option, the smarter option.

Unlocking the front door to the apartment she shared with the love of her life, she tossed her keys onto the table next to the door and made sure to turn the deadbolt. It was a compulsion she had had for the last eight years. She shook her head, trying hard not think about that night. The night when her world was shattered and she lost everyone she ever loved.

"Em, babe, you here?" she called out, dropping her bag next to the door and walking into the living room, finding him standing with his phone pressed against his ear and a frown on his face. "Oh, sorry."

He waved her off as he said, "Yeah, okay . . . Yeah, we'll be there Alice. . . Hmm, can't say I blame him. . . . Okay, we'll be like ten minutes behind you. . . . Okay, bye." Emmett closed his eyes and threw his phone on the cough before opening his eyes and looking at Rosalie. "We need to meet everyone at the hospital."

"Why?" she asked in a panic. "Is it Beth?"

"No, oh God, no," Emmett was quick to assure her that their three month old niece was fine. Even though she and Emmett weren't married, or hadn't even been together for a year, his family had never had an issue with her claiming the little girl as her niece. "It's, um, that girl. The one Carlisle hit with his car."

"Almost hit with his car," Rose snickered.

"Right. Almost hit with his car," Emmett scoffed, placing his hands on his hips. "Anyway, Jasper found her and took her to the hospital. He asked Alice to bring her some clothes. Said it was bad. Worse than Carlisle said."

"So we're all going to do what?" Rosalie asked. "Stand vigil for some girl we don't know?" When Emmett sighed, she put her hand up. "Look, not trying to be a bitch. Honestly, I'm not. It's . . . Em, babe, I've had a long ass day. I'm tired. I just want to eat, take a bath, and go to bed."

Emmett walked over to her, placing his hands on her arms, sliding them up to her shoulders. "I know my family is a lot for you to handle sometimes, but they need us to support them. Jasper and Carlisle wouldn't be acting like a couple of obsessive assholes if there wasn't something special about her. They need us to be there."

Rosalie sighed, knowing he was right, and said, "Okay. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Emmett pressed his lips against hers. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

And she did. Emmett came into her life when she needed him the most, loving her, taking care of her, giving her a family again. Family had just been a hard limit with her. Having her family torn away from her, leaving just her and her uncle alone had turned her into a bitch. She knew that, but when your entire family had been destroyed in a heartbeat, you tend to turn into a bitch, right?

—SfH—

Half an hour later, Rosalie and Emmett parked in the visitor's lot outside of the emergency room, and headed inside, where they found Alice and Esme waiting for them. Of course Edward hadn't come. She didn't blame him. Like her, he lived with the trauma when your world shatters around you.

"So, what do we know?" Emmett asked, placing his hand on the small of Rosalie's back, nudging her toward his sisters-in-laws.

"Nothing, really," Alice murmured, gesturing down the hallway to where a group of police officers and nurses were gathered. "I got a peek at her, though. It was . . . worse than I expected. That poor girl."

"And they don't know who she is?" Esme asked as the four of them looked back down the hallway. The door to the room opened and they watched Carlisle and Jasper stepped into the hallway, gesturing down the hallway from them. Rosalie brought her hand up to her mouth, trying to keep the bile from spilling out of her mouth. Though she couldn't see the girls face, she could tell that she was tiny, smaller than Alice. She had long dark hair that needed a good scrubbing and moved like someone watching, waiting for something to happen. There was a darkness around her, an aura that Rosalie trembling.

"Oh, my God," Esme cried, and when Rosalie looked back at her, she saw the same disgusted, fearful look on her face that she was sure was on hers as well. "How do you get like that? She couldn't be very old, can she?"

"Sixteen, maybe seventeen," Alice said, frowning. "Something tells me she needs all of our help."

Rosalie turned and laid her head on Emmett's chest, watching as the poor girl gestured toward the shower, clearly telling them she wanted to be alone. Alice was right, of course. Even from behind, Rosalie could tell the girl wasn't much older than seventeen, though she seemed small, fragile, even. Tears burned her eyes as she thought of what that girl had to gone through to make her so . . . hard on the outside.

As the girl hurried into the shower, Rosalie looked up at Emmett, finding tears in his eyes, as well. One of the reasons she fell in love with Emmett was how vulnerable he left himself. The death of his parents had crushed him, something they had in common. Of course, his parents died in a car accident, while Rosalie's were murdered in cold blood.

Her phone chimed with a text, so she dug it out of the back pocket of her jeans, finding a message from her Uncle James. After her parents' murder, James took her in, raised her like she had been his. She hadn't made it easy, either. Not only had he lost his only brother, but she was an angry, bitter pre-teen, whose world had been torn apart. He loved her through it, though. Always there when she needed him, even when she didn't think she did.

Rosalie looked up at Emmett. "I'd better call him real quick. You know how impatient he gets."

"Okay," he murmured, kissing her quickly.

She walked a few feet away and pressed the button to call him. The phone rang twice before he answered with a quick, "Rosie, where the hell are you?"

"I'm at the hospital with Emmett," she said. "Why?"

"Oh, I stopped by with that book I was telling you about," he said. "Everything okay with Emmett?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. It's kind of a long story, but we're here to support his family, James."

"Oh, okay," James said, sounding relieved. "Anyway, I left the book behind your fern outside your door."

"Thanks." Rosalie bit her lip and looked back down the hallway. "I'd better go. It's a little intense here."

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know how hard these family things are for me," she grumbled.

"It's good for you, to be around his family. You spend too much time alone, Rosie."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll give you a call tomorrow, all right?"

"Let me know if you need anything. Promise?"

Rosalie smiled. "I promise, James. Goodbye."

"Bye, sweetheart."

Rose shoved her phone back into her pocket before walking back over to Emmett, placing her hand in the middle of his chest. The door to the shower opened and drew their attention down the hallway as the girl walked out of the shower. Rosalie gasped and her knees weakened, causing Emmett to wrap his arms around her. The girl . . . she . . . it couldn't be, could it? But her eyes, those eyes that haunted her dreams, sometimes her nightmares, those were the eyes of her little sister.

"Oh, my God," Rosalie exclaimed, pulling away from Emmett, and hurrying down the hallway, throwing herself around the girl before anyone could stop her. "Oh, my God," she cried.

The girl screamed and pushed Rosalie off her, flinging her body against the wall as everyone stared at her.

"Rosalie, stop," Jasper snarled, throwing his arm out to stop her from going near the girl again.

"You don't understand," Rosalie cried. "That's my sister!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no," the girl stammered, falling to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her knees, her fingers tangling on her wet hair as it draped in front of her face.

"Hey, it's okay," Carlisle murmured, kneeling next to her.

The girl — her little sister — screamed and tried to scramble to her feet, but two police officers, grabbed her arms, yanking her against the wall. The sudden movement had her screaming once again. She pulled against their hold on her, her legs kicking, striking one of them in the knee.

"Fucking bitch," he hissed, tightening his grip on her.

"Don't hurt her!" Rosalie snarled, pushing Jasper away from her and hurrying over to her, placing her hands on the side of the girls face. "Bella, honey, it's me. It's Rosie."

Almost as sudden as she started her attack, the girl stopped. Her eyes were wide, her mouth opened once, twice, and a third time before she said, "Who is Bella?"

Rosalie fell backward against the wall across from her. "You are. You're Bella."

"No, I'm nobody. I'm nothing," she muttered, her eyes flickering between them. "I'm . . . I'm . . ." Once again, she tried to free herself from the police officers who were holding onto her arms. "I'm nobody! I'm nothing!"

As the girl crumbled to the ground, she pulled her knees up to her chest again, her fingers once again nestled in her hair as she mumbled, over and over and over, "Nothing. Nobody. Nothing. Nobody. Nothing. Nobody."

Rosalie slid to the floor, tears sliding down her face as she walked her little sister crumbling before her.

Carlisle and Jasper shared a look before Carlisle walked over to the girl. Not the girl. To Bella, and knelt in front of her. He reached out slowly, placing his hands on top of hers, causing her to look up at him.

"Let's, um, go back inside that room, okay? I can get you something else to eat. Would . . . would you like that?"

"Pancakes?" she whispered, her dark eyes widening and her tongue swiping against her bottom lip. "More pancakes?"

"As many pancakes as you want," he promise. "You go on in, and I'll be right back with them, all right? Is that a deal?"

Bella shifted her eyes to Rosalie before she nodded, and let Carlisle help her to her feet, cross the hallway, and back into room eight. The irony of her being in room eight wasn't lost on Rosalie, either. Eight years old, eight years ago. Eight was a number she detested.

Carlisle pulled the door closed behind the girl and looked back at Rosalie. "What the fuck is going on? You think she's your sister?"

Rosalie nodded and slid up the wall. "Her name is Isabella, but we called her Bella. She was kidnapped from our home in Forks eight years ago, the night my . . . our parents were murdered. She was never seen again."

"How can you be sure that girl is Isabella?" Jasper asked. "Eight years is a long time, Rosalie."

"I know, but I'd know her anywhere, Jay. That girl is my sister."

"Jesus fuck," he murmured, grabbing the back of his neck. "When she went missing, did the police department have her prints? Her DNA?"

"Both," Rosalie said, pulling out her phone. "My Uncle James made sure they had it, I think. He stays in contact with the detectives who handled her case. I can call him. He can give you their names."

"Yeah, okay," Jasper murmured, looking back at Carlisle. "You'd better get that girl more pancakes, man."

"Oh, shit, yeah."

As Carlisle hurried down the hallway to Esme, Rosalie pulled out her phone and called James, who answered after the second ring with a jolly, "Two times in one night, Rosie. Don't I feel special?"

"James," Rosalie cried. "I found her."

"Who?" he asked.

"Bella," Rosalie whispered, her tears once again falling down her face. She felt a hand on her back and looked to find Emmett standing behind her. She leaned against him. "Look, I'm going to give the phone to Emmett's brother Jasper, okay? He's a police officer, he can explain. I just . . . I found her, James."

"Okay, sweetheart, calm down. Let me talk to Jasper. Everything is going to be okay."

Rosalie handed Jasper the phone, who turned and started firing question after question after question to James about Bella's disappearance. Rosalie turned and wrapped her arms around Emmett, holding on to him as tightly as she could. After eight years, she had finally found her sister, and she had no idea who she even was. What in the Hell had she been through?

Thank you for all the amazing reviews.