With You
Summary: Rosalie thinks that Bella is pulling away from her. Bella has other plans.
One Shot
Rosalie Hale was not a patient woman by any stretch of the imagination. Her family liked to tell her how much she had improved since she started dating Bella. She would deny it to them but she knew that it was the truth. There were a lot of ways that she was better because of Bella, the girl made her want to be better.
However Bella was not with her right now. In fact, Bella hadn't been anywhere near the Cullen house in the last nine days (she was definitely not counting). Bella had also chosen today of all days to skip school with only a 'playing hooky with Jake, see you tomorrow' text sent her way.
These were interesting choices and Rosalie had also decided to skip school for the day to think them over.
"I know your mate bond is still so new to you Rosalie and it makes everything feel worse but a couple can't spend all of their time together." Esme said as she sat down next to her daughter on the sofa.
Esme was always so eager to fix what was broken, to soothe all of them the second something went wrong but despite all of her Bella based improvements, Rosalie still liked to wallow in her feelings sometimes.
Rosalie said nothing and did not acknowledge her mother in any way so Esme tried again.
"You know that Bella loves you." It was true, they both knew that. Bella was not afraid to say it in any situation and in front of anyone. Rosalie admired the kind of bravery that took. It was a bravery she was still working towards.
After a few quiet moments, Rosalie finally said, "She's pulling away."
She turned her head to look at Esme to see how the words fell. Esme's face was an open book, especially to her family and so Rosalie could see what she really thought before Esme even opened her mouth to reply.
Rosalie stood gracefully, hit hard by the unintentional agreement from her mother and desperate to be alone.
"Rose please." Esme begged. Rosalie wasn't sure for what and didn't stay to find out.
She ran into the forest with no particular destination in mind but eventually found herself pacing the length of the border.
When it started to turn dark she was interrupted.
"Rosalie, what are you doing?" It was a boy, one of the mutts. Rosalie couldn't remember his name but he looked young, far too young and far too stupid to be afraid of her. She wanted to bite his head off, snap and take her frustration with her girlfriend out on this boy but she found that she couldn't.
Bella had made a positive impact on Rosalie and the thought of Bella caused a plan of action to form in her mind.
"Is Bella in La Push?" Rosalie asked.
The boy nodded eagerly. "Yeah, she's been with Jake all day I think."
Rosalie paused. She was glad that Bella wasn't lying to her but something still didn't feel right. She wanted to be more casual with her questioning but her worry ended up making her as subtle as a sledgehammer as she asked, "What have they been doing all day?"
The boy froze all of a sudden, no longer the playful puppy that he had seemed before. "I don't know, shouldn't you ask Bella?"
He was nervous, very nervous and he was taking slow steps away from the boundary line.
"Any way, you shouldn't be this close to the line, Sam wouldn't like it." The boy had stopped making eye contact and was taking larger steps away.
That was unacceptable to Rosalie. The beast inside her was demanding answers. It was screaming at her to race across the line and grab her mate, treaty be damned. Instead, she used every ounce of self-control she had learned in her long life and asked, "What's your name?"
She layered on all the vampiric charm that she had at her disposal and to her delight the boy stopped backing away.
"Collin." He said unsurely as if he wasn't sure why she wanted to know but couldn't think of any harm that could come from him telling her.
"Collin, sweetie. I'm sorry if I made you nervous." Rosalie said smoothly, pushing herself as close to Collin as the boundary would allow.
He frowned, "That's okay I guess."
"I just wanted to make sure that Bella is safe because she isn't answering her phone." Rosalie gave a wide smile. "Would you mind going to Jacob's house and see if she's okay?"
"I can ask…" Collin started but Rosalie swiftly cut him off.
"No, you can't ask anyone. Bella would be upset if she thought I was checking up on her but I'm just so worried. All you have to do is just go peek in Jacob's windows, see that she's alright and come back and tell me." Rosalie explained.
Collin looked thoughtful and it took a few minutes for him to decide.
"Okay, I'll be back." He ran off into the woods as a boy and left Rosalie alone again.
She wanted to feel bad about this, she really did, but she needed answers.
Finally, Collin came back, walking slowly.
"She's safe, they were just talking." Collin said but Rosalie could instantly tell there was more to the story.
"What were they talking about?" Rosalie ground out slowly. She was trying to keep her anger in check but this boy was really testing her patience.
"I didn't stay long, Jake would have realized I was there. I just heard Bella say that she loved him." Collin explained, glancing between Rosalie and the route of the patrol that she had interrupted. He was eager to be done with whatever this encounter was.
For her part, Rosalie had stilled, the kind of stillness that only a vampire can seem to achieve as she rolled that sentence around in her head.
Bella loves Jacob. That wasn't unexpected, she supposed. They were best friends, they had known each other since they were infants and when Bella wasn't with Rosalie, she was most likely to be found with Jacob. But she had never heard them say that they loved each other before. Rosalie was not ready to let this go.
She stormed back to her house and Collin sighed in relief as he carried on running around the border.
XXXXX
Alice was confused.
"So you want me to try to get a vision of Bella right now?" Alice asked again. Rosalie grunted in frustration. How many times would she have to explain this?
"Yes, dearest sister, if you could." Rosalie replied with venom dripping from her words.
"And you are saying that right now, Bella is with Jake?"
"Correct."
This was the part that was tripping Alice up.
"You know I don't get visions of the wolves." Alice stated.
"Just try." Rosalie growled.
"I can't." Alice insisted again.
Rosalie got to her feet and Jasper raised as well, finally interjecting to diffuse some of the tension in the room.
"What is really the problem Rosalie? Do you not think Bella is really with Jake right now?" Jasper guessed.
Rosalie couldn't let him know that she already knew for a fact that Bella was in La Push because of her little covert conspiracy with Collin so she just agreed.
"I'm not sure, that's why I want you to look for Bella." Rosalie lied. Jasper could tell that she was lying but wasn't sure why. However, he could feel her pain and tried to ease it with his powers.
"Don't." Rosalie warned him, not taking her eyes off Alice who had slipped into a meditative trance she used to force visions.
He inclined his head in apology and forced his power to retreat.
"I can't see her at all, Rose. She must be in La Push." Alice finally huffed after a few long moments.
"What about her future?" Rosalie pressed.
A few more minutes passed and Alice opened her eyes. "She's still going to be a vampire, she's still going to be running through a field with you at some point. Everything is fine, Rose I promise."
The words should have soothed her. She had never had a reason to doubt Alice's visions before but she could still feel a ball in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right.
"Bella hasn't been by the house in a little while and she skips more school than she attends recently." Jasper pointed out, hoping it might lead Rosalie to divulge what she was worried about.
Her first instinct was to lie. Edward wasn't home so she could have gotten away with it but she did want to talk to someone and Jasper was the one who usually annoyed her the least.
Alice skipped out of the room, seeing what Rosalie wanted before she had a chance to voice it.
"We've barely spent any time together lately, she barely replies to my texts. Something is wrong." Rosalie stated, once they had some semblance of privacy.
"Have you talked to her about it? Told her that you would like to spend more time together?" Jasper asked kindly.
"No." Rosalie said simply.
"Why not?" Jasper prodded a little more. There was a fine line to walk with Rosalie between pushing her helpfully towards an answer and pushing her off a cliff. Jasper was probably the most experienced of all the family at knowing where that line was and he knew he was getting close.
"Because!" Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. "Because." It was a little softer this time and Rosalie stared out of the window as if she could see all the way down to La Push through it.
"Because I'm scared of what the answer might be." Rosalie admitted so quietly that if he hadn't have been a vampire, Jasper would not have been able to hear it.
"Bella loves you." Jasper said, unknowingly echoing Esme's words from earlier in the day. But from him they meant a little more. "Every time the two of you are together, I feel it. The love of a mate bond and I know that she feels it too. Whatever this is Rosalie, you can get through this together. You just need to talk this out."
There was a reason he was her favorite brother.
XXXXX
Rosalie knocked on Bella's front door and Charlie answered, looking scruffy and bleary eyed.
"Everything okay Rosalie?" Charlie asked, slipping into Police Chief mode.
It was then that Rosalie realized that it was past midnight and the house had been dark when she arrived.
"I'm so sorry Charlie, I just really need to see Bella." Rosalie replied honestly.
Charlie nodded a few times, mumbled, 'Kids' under his breath and then opened the door wider to let Rosalie in.
"Not too long, okay?" Charlie hit her with the Dad voice and she agreed easily. She liked Charlie.
Rosalie eased herself up the stairs at a human pace as Charlie watched, making sure to make a creak on a step as she went. She could already hear Bella snoring and the noise relaxed her immediately. When she was out of Charlie's sight she went a little faster.
Bella was sprawled out on her bed, face half buried in the pillow and hands reaching out to the empty side. When she told Bella about that habit the brunette swore up and down that even in her sleep she knew when Rosalie wasn't there and was reaching for her. It was cute and every time Bella gave the explanation Rosalie would place a sweet lingering kiss on her lips but she expected the answer was more likely that Bella liked to spread out when there wasn't a concrete wall of a person in her bed.
Rosalie sat on the bed and Bella's hands immediately wrapped around her leg.
"Maybe there is something to that explanation." Rosalie mused quietly to Bella's sleeping form.
She hated to wake the sleeping girl but Rosalie could hear that Charlie was still awake and probably waiting downstairs to see her out and so she had to do this now.
"Bella, baby wake up." Rosalie gently shook her girlfriend.
"What time is it?" Bella asked groggily without opening her eyes.
"It's late but I needed to see you." Rosalie explained.
Bella's brown eyes snapped open at the words and vulnerable softness of Rosalie's tone.
"Are you okay?" Bella tried to sit up but Rosalie gently pushed her back down and led beside her.
"You've been avoiding me Bella." Rosalie had hoped that she could be a little more casual with the topic but the desperation in her voice was clear to them both.
"No, it's not…I didn't mean to…" Bella took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and rested her hand on Rosalie's cold cheek. She stroked the smooth skin with her thumb and stared into her favorite set of golden eyes.
"I could never avoid you Rosalie. Everything in me is drawn to you." Bella said earnestly.
Rosalie smiled, as her static heart leapt. "That doesn't answer my question Bella. 9 days and no sight of you at the house, 10 days now." Rosalie said, remembering that it was in fact past midnight.
"No points for how smooth that was despite the fact I only woke up like a second ago?" Bella teased.
"Bella." Rosalie pleaded.
"I've been busy, working on something with Jake." Bella explained. The vague explanation was nowhere near enough for Rosalie.
"What have you been working on?" Rosalie asked, trying to hold herself together. Bella seemed to notice what she needed and moved closer until their bodies were pressed together and Bella's head slotted underneath her chin.
Rosalie relaxed at the contact despite herself. Even the growling, animalistic part of her mind settled down into a quiet purr as she finally wrapped her arms around her mate.
"I can't tell you yet." Rosalie moved to pull away but Bella's arms tightened on her. Those arms couldn't stop her but the intention was there that Bella wanted to hold on to her and that was enough to cause her to stay where she was.
"Rose, I'm sorry, I didn't realize how much time this would take and that it would hurt so much to be apart but I need this to go well, I need this to be perfect." Bella explained.
Rosalie wanted to ask again what this project was but that would have sounded like begging so she thought of a better question.
"When can you tell me?" Her tone was stiff, demanding that Bella's time frame be as quick as possible.
She could practically hear Bella's brain working in the silence. "Tomorrow evening. If I can talk to your family first without you there?"
That stung and Rosalie wasn't sure why. Her imagination started running wild with thoughts of what Bella might want and the negative voice in her head started getting louder again.
"Rose, please stop worrying. It's nothing bad." She tried to let Bella's words calm her but she couldn't because her mind was spiraling. She found herself subconsciously holding on to Bella even tighter.
It had only been just over a year since their first date and already Rosalie knew that she couldn't live without Bella. Just being near her made every pain lessen and made her life brighter.
Bella pulled back to look in her eyes, seeing everything that Rosalie wasn't saying. "Okay, I guess we're doing this now." Bella said and pulled Rosalie into a slow kiss. The blonde tried her best not to let the contract distract her from her concerns but failed for a few blissful moments. When they pulled apart, Bella got out of bed and Rosalie sat up to watch her.
"Where are you going?" Rosalie asked quietly.
"I'm getting dressed. We have a lot to do tonight." Bella said as she went to her closet.
"What are we doing?" Rosalie asked, walking over to Bella to steady her as she began to topple over while putting on some jeans.
Bella smiled her thanks, a quick grin that warmed Rosalie to her core.
"You wanted to know what I've been working on so I'm going to show you. But there is a certain way this has to go. Are you ready for that?" She stopped getting dressed to wait for Rosalie's answer.
Rosalie wasn't sure what that meant but she trusted Bella and she desperately wanted to know what was going on. "I'm ready." She replied.
"Okay, well first thing is that you have to do this on your own." Bella explained with sorrowful eyes. "Sorry, that part wasn't supposed to be so sad, but when I planned this we hadn't been apart for so long."
Finally dressed, Bella moved over to her desk and picked up a piece of paper folded in half which she handed to Rosalie.
"Do me a favor and help me sneak out before you read that?" Bella asked and of course Rosalie agreed. She slipped the paper into her pocket with only slight difficulty and headed downstairs to say goodbye to Charlie. She then climbed the tree outside Bella's window and caught her girlfriend as she literally slipped out of the window.
"Good catch." Bella laughed as Rosalie lowered them both to solid ground.
She didn't let Bella out of her arms and Bella reached up to lower Rosalie's eyes to hers.
"Rosalie Hale, I love you with all of my heart, more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. Please have a little faith in me baby." Bella pleaded.
"I love you too." Was all Rosalie could whisper back.
"See you on the other side." Bella said and then she was gone. Rosalie watched her until she was out of sight and then read the note Bella had given her.
Go to the place where I first saw you.
Rosalie's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to decipher the note. Not the location. That was obvious. Bella had first seen her in the cafeteria at lunch time on her first day. It was phrased that way because Rosalie had actually seen Bella first. She had spotted her in the parking lot before school and had spent the next three lessons freaking out about the new bond she was feeling.
It wasn't the location that was confusing but rather why Bella wanted her to go there?
Bella's plea for her to have a little faith in what she was trying to do came back to her and so she put the note in her pocket and started her run to the school.
It was deserted as anyone might expect at this time of night but there was a single light flickering through the cafeteria windows and Alice's scent was stronger here than it should have been.
The door to the cafeteria was unlocked and on the table where her family usually sat was a single lit candle. Rosalie moved closer and saw that there was a small black recording device and a box next to the candle. There was a sticky note on the recorder that said, 'play me'.
"Rosalie, I know this is a little strange but it'll all be worth it I promise." Belle's voice emitted from the small device and filled the empty room.
"It was in this room that I saw you for the first time. You took my breath away. You walked into the room, so beautiful, I just couldn't look away. I needed to know you. I wanted to find out what your name was, your favorite song, the place you most want to visit. Everything that makes you…you. It's been over a year but I still want that more than anything. To constantly discover you and experience life with you."
Rosalie took a deep uneven breath that she did not need as she listened to Bella's words and felt them patching the cracks in her heart that the last few days had caused.
"This school, this room, will always hold a special place in my heart because this is the place where my life truly started." Bella's voice stopped for a few moments to let her words sink in.
"Open the box Rose." Then the recording cut out.
Inside the box was a drawing and a note.
The drawing was incredible and Rosalie immediately recognised Bella's style. It showed Rosalie, dressed as she was on Bella's first day of school, the light behind her from the door casting a warm white glow that made her look ethereal. It was beautiful.
The note was just a few words in Bella's handwriting and similar to the first.
Go to the place where we had our first date.
Rosalie was starting to get an idea of what was going on. Bella had been trying to do something sweet and romantic for her as a surprise and she had panicked. She just couldn't figure out what exactly the occasion was and given that she had a perfect memory, it must mean that there was no occasion. Bella was just doing this to be sweet? It seemed like a lot of effort to go to for no real reason but Rosalie was a lot happier to go with the flow now that she vaguely knew what was happening.
The place they had their first date was a slightly trickier one given that they had gone to a couple of places on their first date. Bella had planned it because Bella had been the one to ask Rosalie out.
She could tell that everyone in the cafeteria had expected her to say 'No' when the bumbling girl came up to her, just like she had to so many other people. If she had been able to look away from Bella's big brown eyes she would have seen the looks of pity on multiple faces for the rejection Bella was about to face.
Instead she said 'Yes,' and you could hear a pin drop. Even Bella herself had looked surprised at the answer but that quickly turned into a grin.
"You better wow me Swan." Rosalie had commanded and Bella had. Not because of what they did, Bella stuck with dinner and a movie not yet knowing that Rosalie couldn't eat human food, but because of Bella. She was so kind and gentle, she made Rosalie laugh more in that evening than she had in all of her vampire years combined. Rosalie had felt her frozen heart start to warm.
Considering the fact that both places were in Port Angeles she figured she could check them both, starting with the restaurant.
It didn't take her long to run to Port Angeles but longer than it should have given that Rosalie didn't want to look like she had run through a forest when she got there and so she took her time.
Given the late hour, the restaurant was closed but again Rosalie could see a single candle flame lighting up the interior. The front door was unlocked and Rosalie made sure that nobody was looking her way as she slipped inside. She was alone so she allowed herself to murmur out loud, "If I have to bail you out of jail for breaking and entering tonight Bella, I swear to God…".
On the same table where they had sat on their first date was another recording device and another box. Rosalie pressed play first.
"When I asked you out that day in the cafeteria, I really didn't expect you to say yes." Bella started and Rosalie smiled despite herself. She couldn't have imagined saying no.
"I started to panic because you are everything Rose and you deserve the very best date that I could manage. Dinner and a movie was a bit of a cliche but I figure it's a cliche for a reason right? It's what every teenage girl wants, in movies at least."
"I was frantically trying to get every little detail right; the perfect flowers, the perfect restaurant, the perfect movie all to match the perfect girl." Rosalie's heart swelled not just at the words but at the utter sincerity in Bella's voice. Rosalie didn't know how she got lucky enough to have Bella feel this way about her.
"Then everything went a bit wrong, the crushed flowers, the wrong movie but the whole time you kept looking at me with this look on your face, I can't describe it. I just knew that I could get through anything if you just kept looking at me like that."
The silence was profound as Bella's voice faded off into the near darkness. Rosalie opened the box to find another drawing and another note.
This drawing was a close-up of Rosalie's face with a faint smile and the softest look in her eyes that she had ever seen. She wasn't sure she was capable of such softest especially at the beginning of their relationship but this was clearly the look Bella had been describing. She carefully folded the drawing back up and opened the note.
Go to the place where we had our first kiss.
Rosalie's eyes drifted shut as she remembered their first kiss. They had been stood by Bella's truck at the end of the date. Bella had been apologetic, sure that she had ruined their date with all of the things that had gone wrong. Bella was rambling and Rosalie leaned down and kissed her softly. Bella fell still and Rosalie felt the tension in her shoulders disappear under the kiss. It had felt like coming home. Relief.
So, she had to go to a parking lot? Not terribly romantic but the overall idea was there.
There was nobody in the parking lot but there were a few stray, empty cars parked overnight and Rosalie quickly glanced around them until she found what she was looking for.
There was a difference to this one because it was lightly raining and they were outside. Instead of a candle, there was an umbrella tied to a tree with the now familiar device taped to the handle. Rosalie didn't hesitate to press play.
"Kissing you is one of my favorite things to do. First time I tried it when we were standing in this very parking lot, I knew I would get addicted. It's so easy to want you. This was the first time but certainly not the last and I treasure every single kiss, every moment I get with you because you mean the world to me Rosalie."
Another box with similar contents. This time the drawing was of both of them although Rosalie's face was the only one that was visible. Her eyes were closed and she was leaning into Bella. It was the split second before their first kiss.
"Meet me at Forks park, near the river."
That was a strange one. Rosalie could only recall one time where she had been to that park with Bella and it was recently. Nothing spectacular had happened. They had just gone for a walk to get away from everyone else and they talked about nothing and everything. Nothing special had happened there. Just as Rosalie thought she had Bella figured out the brunette surprised her. That was probably why she loved her so much.
She went to meet her girlfriend.
XXXXX
Rosalie had to fight the urge to run to Bella the second she saw the girl. She'd had enough of them being apart. Of course, she loved the effort Bella had put into this surprise and she was completely reassured from her previous doubts but she was also 100% ready to put an end to this, take Bella home and show the brunette how much she appreciated everything.
She approached at a human pace to give Bella some warning that she was coming and it gave her eyes time to wander away from her girlfriend to where Bella was standing.
It was one of the covered pavilions that were dotted around the park that could be used for music and events but were more often used as a place for teenagers to get drunk. This one did not look like the rest however as it was completely covered with string lights, thousands of them and some soft instrumental music was playing. The floor was covered with pink and red flower petals and stood in the middle of it all was Bella, hands in her pockets looking nervously at Rosalie as she approached.
"Hi." Rosalie said softly as she climbed the few steps up into the pavilion.
"Hi." Bella replied back just as simply and Rosalie frowned as she saw how nervous the brunette was.
"What's wrong?" Rosalie asked, walking over and taking Bella's hands in her own.
"Nothing's wrong. Nothing could ever be wrong with you here." Bella said, visibly relaxing as Rosalie touched her.
"Such a sweet talker." Rosalie murmured across the decreasing space between them.
"Oh, just wait, there's more." Bella said and then straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. Rosalie looked on, amused.
"So, you may have been wondering why I chose this place for the last stop because nothing really happened here, right?" Bella stopped, looking expectantly at Rosalie.
"Right, we had a date here but it was one of many, you could have chosen any location." Rosalie replied. Bella nodded, looking pleased with the response.
"Except, this isn't a random place. When we came here a few weeks ago, there was a moment where you looked over at me, with that look I told you about, that look in the picture and you were holding my hand as we walked and I just wanted so much in that moment. I wanted you to look at me like that forever, I wanted to be the one holding your hand forever, I wanted to be walking back to our home together forever."
Rosalie opened her mouth to protest. They would have forever, they had agreed on a date to turn Bella a few months after she turned 19.
Bella interrupted, "And I know that we will have forever, when you turn me but I wanted something now, something more permanent to show you that you are it for me and how deeply I love you."
Bella's hands went into her pocket and she got down onto one knee, holding out a small black box with a diamond ring inside it.
"Rosalie Lillian Hale, will you marry me?"
It took Rosalie only a second to reply and only that long because she wanted to burn this memory into her mind.
"Yes, always yes."
"Oh thank God." Bella murmured as Rosalie pulled her to her feet and kissed her, squashing the box and Bella's arm between them in her haste.
After a few minutes they finally pulled apart but Rosalie didn't let Bella go far.
"Bella."
"Yeah?"
"Why are Alice and Emmett standing over there?"
Bella blushed as she said, "Well, I needed some help to set all of this up and I knew that I couldn't keep this from Alice."
"And why's Emmett here?"
"Well if someone hadn't freaked out and made me move my plans up, one vampire in the prep team would have been fine. I had to choose Emmett because everyone else was out hunting." Bella explained and Rosalie heard a faint 'Hey!' from Emmett that Bella couldn't hear and smiled.
"Do you want to talk about it? The freaking out bit I mean." Bella asked gently.
Rosalie hesitated, mostly because she just wasn't worried about it anymore so it seemed unimportant now. But she wanted to be honest with Bella. "I was kind of worried that you were pulling away." Rosalie admitted running her thumb along Bella's cheekbone.
"I'm sorry Rose, I didn't mean to worry you but I wanted this to be special and I wanted it to be a surprise. Maybe I shouldn't have let it take up so much of my time but I was so anxious to get to the part where I can call you my fiance." Bella's grin was huge around that word and Rosalie had to admit that she liked the way it sounded when Bella said it. Still, she would prefer it more when the title was switched out for wife.
"I'm glad this is what you were hiding." Rosalie admitted, looking down at the ring still in Bella's hand.
"Yeah?" Bella said, letting a little of her self esteem issues come to the forefront.
"Yes." Rosalie replied firmly, hoping the sureness in her tone could drive the point home.
"Can I do the honors?" Bella asked, lifting the ring between them and taking it out of the box. Rosalie just lifted her hand as an offering.
"I love you Rosalie Hale." The way Bella said it made it sound like a promise as she slid the ring onto Rosalie's finger
"I love you too Bella Swan."