Dancing Around Truth
AN: Thanks so much for your comments! They're a blessing, truly. I know it's been awhile and I hope there are still readers out there enjoying this story. More is on its way, it just takes me a while to put it all together lol. Anyways, this chapter is full of ooey-gooey mush and fluff. Don't worry, Bella won't be completely clueless for long but that doesn't mean she's just gonna give into Rosalie's charms right away lol.
Anyways long AN for a short chapter. Next one will be up soon!
Bella had been moved, quite quickly, up to a regular room on the second floor and just as fast she fell asleep, exhausted by the day's events. When she did wake up, the room had grown darker and she could see that all the blinds had been closed, most of the lights were off save for the bathroom, but the door was partially closed so the light barely illuminated the room. Bella uncurled from laying on her side, her hand shooting out to grab her phone on the bedside table to check the time, but stopped and glared at the cast on her left arm. With a sigh she shimmies herself further up the bed until she's sitting upright and grabs the phone with her right hand. 4:18pm glares back at her.
Bella drops the phone into her lap, her hand coming up to rub at tired eyes. She'd slept for most of the day and yet, she could still feel the tiredness lingering at the edges, trying to seep back in and carry her off back to dreamland. The clearing of a throat softly breaks the silence, and Bella stills, her eyes shifting to the chair to the right of her bed and she finds it occupied by her lab partner. Huh, guess Dr. Cullen was right, Bella thinks to herself as her lips lift in a little smile as their eyes finally connect.
The smile drops when Rosalie doesn't return the gesture, Bella breaks off the eye contact for a few moments as she takes in the girl's appearance. Ever the supermodel, at first Bella can't see anything different, until her eyes drift back to Rosalie's face. Rosalie's eyes, dark from the lighting in the room, are tired, exhausted. The look in Rosalie's eyes seems to represent perfectly how Bella feels inside. Bella watches her in the calm silence that fills the room, and ever so slowly some sort of tension seems to be released from Rosalie's body. Rosalie bends down and retrieves a medium sized bag from where it sat next to her chair.
Wordlessly, Rosalie pulls the food tray so that it hovers above Bella's crossed legs and begins to unpack the bag. Bella waits with a patience that, in the past, usually seemed to escape her. The first thing she pulls out is a medium sized bowl, then a larger plate and finally two plastic bottles, one filled with water and the other looked to be apple juice. Rosalie still doesn't speak, instead she unfurls the plastic wrap, revealing a dressed green salad in the bowl and a steak and garlic bread on the plate. Bella's mouth salivates as the smell hits her nose.
When Rosalie pulls a rolled napkin from the bag and then goes to put the bag back on the floor, Bella reaches out to the slice of bread only to have her hand gently moved away. Bella frowns at Rosalie, mouth opening up to protest but Rosalie simply, gently, shakes her head and Bella waits again. Rosalie unrolls the napkin, the fork and knife clinking together gently, and what she does next confuses the hell out of Bella. She frowns, trying to stop the rush of emotions inside her from spilling out into the space between her and Rosalie. It was such a simple thing, Rosalie cutting up the steak into bite sized pieces, but so unexpected.
Of course Bella would have had trouble doing so herself, but she was almost positive that she could have managed on her own...but Rosalie was saving her the trouble. It's like she cares that it would have been difficult for Bella, like she didn't want Bella to have been inconvenienced. Bella's breath stuttered in her chest. She cares, Bella realizes as she releases the breath stuck between her lungs and throat. Rosalie doesn't look at her or say anything until the whole steak is neatly cut. When she's finally done, she sets the knife on the table, and Bella's patience runs thin.
"I hope you don't plan on feeding me." Bella chuckles under her breath. "I do have one good hand." She says, holding said hand up and wiggles her fingers in Rosalie's direction.
Rosalie gives a soft smirk, but Bella can see how the mirth doesn't quite erase the darkness in her eyes. "You should consider yourself lucky, most mere mortals would trip over themselves to receive such a blessing." Bella's eyebrows shoot up, her mouth gapes comically until she hears a little laugh tumble from Rosalie's lips.
Bella's lips stretch wide and she laughs as she remembers just how she'd teased Rosalie about this before things got weird, and a warm, content sort of feeling settles in her fingers and toes, slowly growing to encase the rest of her, as she thought about Rosalie too remembering their conversation. For some unknown reason, it made Bella happy to think that Rosalie remembered.
"Oh my Lady Rosalie, how I worship thee." Bella draws sarcastically, teasingly.
Dark golden eyes seem to light up within the dim room, and when Rosalie lifts her chin in a cocky manner, Bella waits for whatever ridiculous thing Rosalie is about to throw her way. Rosalie doesn't disappoint. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you fell in love with me."
Bella guffaws loudly, her head bobbing down toward her chest as she tries, and fails, to reign it in. "Oh my god, Rosalie Hale!" Bella laughs even more as Rosalie grins down at her. "You're just so…" Bella drags it out, unsure how to express just how 'so' Rosalie is.
"I know...I am just so..." Rosalie concludes, her grin morphing into something so soft as her gaze seems to soak up the image of Bella laughing. "...but not as much as you."
She releases the fork to Bella's waiting hand, making Bella's heart skip a beat as their fingers brushed, and Rosalie's smile ticks just a bit wider as Bella blushes. Bella takes her time enjoying her meal, content to do so in the comforting silence that settled around the two girls. Rosalie sat in her chair, a magazine in her lap and Bella ate, both content with the small glances shared between them, and if the warm, gentle smiles never left their faces as they shared each other's company, well neither girl seemed to mind.
It was fifteen minutes till the end of visiting hours and the scene currently on display in room 221 was enough for Dr. Cullen to rethink entering the room. A chorus of laughter spilled out from the room and into the hall where Carlisle stood, the joyous sound warming his cold heart as he listened to his daughter being open and full of life like he'd never heard or seen before, and all it took was the attention of the human inside the room. A smile breaks across his face as he listens in to the conversation once the laughter dies down. Sure he feels a little like an intrusive parent sneakily going through his daughter's diary, but the warmth radiating from the two unaware girls was something he couldn't bear interrupting, not just yet.
'Oh my god, Rosalie!' Bella gasped out, laughter still clearly in her voice, but more contained than it had been. 'Poor Jason, it's not like he meant to run me down.'
'That's besides the point, Bella. He and his buffoons deserved everything they got.' Rosalie was deathly serious, but that only caused Bella to chuckle slowly at her.
'It wasn't enough to just pop their football with your ridiculously expensive heels, but you really felt the need to verbally assault them until Jason pissed himself?' Bella challenged, and for a moment the room was silent save for the heart monitor.
'The big oaf got off lucky…he's almost as big as Emmett! He could have seriously hurt you.' Rosalie continued to protest.
Bella laughed, Rosalie scoffed, and Carlisle could imagine the standoff happening within the room's walls. 'It's not like he ran me over with a car, he just ran into me…honestly, if it wasn't for my supreme clumsiness I probably wouldn't have even been hurt.' Bella tries to reason.
Rosalie huffs, 'Still not the point. You were hurt because of his carelessness therefore he deserved his consequences, end of story.' There's a pause, then, 'Now everyone will know what happens to them when they mess with my…friend.'
'How honored am I to be deemed worthy enough to hold the attention of the Goddess incarnate, Rosalie Hale.' Though the comment could be taken as sarcastic, and funny, Bella's tone was soft, and she sounded just a little bit in awe.
Carlisle hears the hum and for a second it seems Rosalie is willing to let the comment drop, but then she responds in her usually cocky way, though the bite usually present is absent as she talks to Bella. 'Careful Bella, it almost sounds like you've finally fallen for my charms.'
Bella lets loose a howl of laughter and Carlisle takes the lull in conversation as his que to enter the room. He smiles brightly as he finds Rosalie comfortably perched on the bed by Bella's knees, the rolling food tray between them loaded with school books and papers. "How's the homework going, girls?" He smirks as Bella blushes, obviously embarrassed at being caught not doing her work. Rosalie just rolls her eyes, flicks a strand of blonde hair over her shoulder while she starts loading the books back into her book bag.
Carlisle bites back a laugh as Bella frowns at Rosalie's movements, before giving a soft sigh and peers back up at Carlisle. "Visiting hours over?" Bella guesses, giving a little smile while her fingers start their nervous pattern of picking at the bed sheets.
"Indeed it is, sorry to be the bearer of bad news." He winks down at her, and Bella bites back a grin as she looks at Rosalie.
"Guess I'll see you Monday then?" Bella asks nervously.
Rosalie scoffs and Bella's head bobs up at the sudden harsh sound. "Please, I'll be here tomorrow…we still have work to do." Rosalie grins conspiring at the end, like they will be doing many things, but working was probably not one of them.
Bella's answering smile is blinding, making Carlisle laugh at the momentarily stunned Rosalie, and though it was too low for Bella to hear, it snaps Rosalie from her stupor and she growls at Carlisle, making his smile widen in glee.
Bella, of course, is oblivious to the interaction and continues on as though nothing has happened. "Such a good friend."
Rosalie stands from the bed and the mood takes on a bittersweet note of saying goodbye when it's the last thing they wanted to do. "I will be here tomorrow, and you better be in no worse condition than you are now, is that understood?" She levels Bella with a pointed stare, one that left other mortals, and a few nonmortals, in a state of surrender, but Bella only grinned.
"What? Am I gonna fall out of bed in the middle of the night, hit my head and slip into a coma?" Bella sasses back. Rosalie freezes and Carlisle can smell the fear slowly growing within her at the thought of Bella somehow hurting herself while Rosalie wasn't here to protect her.
"She'll be just fine, Rosalie. Alice has seen it." Carlisle says softly, trying to soothe his daughter's worry. Rosalie tilts her head in his direction signaling that she's heard his words and Carlisle can sense the fear fading.
"In no worse condition, is that clear, Bella?" Rosalie questions firmly as she stares down the girl in the hospital bed.
Bella watches Rosalie for a moment, her eyes growing soft as she drinks in the sight of a slightly worried Rosalie. "I promise, Rose." The nickname falls easily from Bella's lips and lands hard within Rosalie's dead chest.
"Good." Rosalie delivers a blinding, full smile onto Bella, both vampires intently aware of the rapid beating of Bella's heart at the action. Carlisle would laugh at the dazed and dazzled girl if it weren't for him being in much of the same state. He'd never seen Rosalie smile like that, so full and wide with unabashed joy…he was as stunned as any vampire could be. "See you tomorrow, Bella." Rosalie smiles as she struts from the room, still holding Carlisle and Bella enraptured by her presence.
Carlisle recovers first as he turns his attention to Bella. The girl still stares at the door where Rosalie had disappeared from, an adoring smile on her lips and she whispered, "See you."
Carlisle chuckled as Rosalie let loose another laugh as she continued down to the elevators, obviously having heard Bella perfectly clear from down the hall with her vampiric hearing. He looks back to Bella, and when Bella finally breaks her daze to look up at him, he raises an amused eyebrow.
Bella shrugs, unperturbed at the doctor's amusement. "That's one hell of a daughter you got there, Dr. Cullen." She mumbles in offering.
Carlisle chuckles as he checks her blood pressure, finding mirth in the way Bella's heart seems to fluctuate under her thoughts. "That she is, Bella, that she is, and please, it's Carlisle. You are Rosalie's friend after all."
Bella smiles to herself, peering once again at the doorway as if she could still see Rosalie there. "Rosalie's friend." She utters quietly, too quietly for human ears, but Carlisle hears her loud and clear. He bids her a goodnight and leaves with a quiet click of the door behind him. He makes his other rounds to check on patients before settling in his office, content to stay the night and take watch over Bella. He hums happily, taking out his phone to inform his wife, his mate, that he wouldn't be home. It chimes in his hand with a text from Alice saying that they know and wishes him a good night, a second chime sounds, this time a message from Rosalie with a simple 'thank you.'
Carlisle grins, presses the call button and awaits for the other person to pick up. When Esme answers Carlisle goes about explaining everything he'd witnessed as Esme ooh'd and awe'd over their daughter's unwitting undoing. "She's everything we could have hoped for, Esme, everything that our Rosalie needs."
They continue long into the night, only pausing when Carlisle has to do rounds and checks on Bella, both parents overjoyed at the fact that finally, finally their family might be complete, whole.