The Precipice

AN: Bella's a bit conflicted, and maybe just a tad desperate. Rose has all the answers, if only Bella would ask. Sorry that it's so late, I'm doing my best. Hope anyone still reading enjoys it. LMK if you want.

"You're staring again."

Bella blinked herself back to coherence as she sat at her shared work station in biology. She had no idea what the teacher was talking about, because yes, she had been staring at Rosalie to the point of tuning everything out, and this wasn't even the first time it had happened this week. In fact, it was almost too common of an occurrence and was now bordering on stalking.

"Was not."

Bella quickly, and frequently, denied as she softly took her eyes off her lab partner and turned back to the teacher in order to somewhat hide the small smile that threatened to take over her face. Rosalie huffed next to her before Bella felt Rosalie shift her body closer and then the familiar contact of Rosalie bumping her shoulder. Bella blushed as Rosalie kept their shoulders pressed together, the coldness that always radiated from her friend seeped in causing a shiver to run up her spine.

They still haven't talked, and Bella knew it needed to happen, but she was still reeling from the fact that Rosalie was becoming someone very important to her. There hadn't been intent to befriend her blonde lab partner, Rosalie had always been a beautiful daydream and Bella had been happy just to exist within her orbit. Now as they stood on the precipice of something more, Bella was all too aware of Rosalie's pursuit. It scared her to think that Rosalie seriously wanted more from her.

Still, Bella was trying hard to keep to her word that nothing would change between them when in reality everything had changed in some way. It had been a week of shared classes and secret looks. They had unspoken conversations with their eyes, their actual conversations had an electrifying undertone to them. All Bella had to do was ask and the live wire would burn them both. Bella was afraid of the after part, because it felt important and she wasn't convinced that she could handle it.

Then, all it would take was another look from Rose and Bella knew that she wanted to know. This whole new world was opening itself up to Bella and it invigorated her thirst for knowledge; and God did she want to be a part of Rosalie's world.

"Bella?"

Chills erupted over Bella's body as she felt Rosalie's whispered breath against her ear. "Hmm?" Bella offered, holding her inner panic off by the skin of her teeth.

Rosalie chuckled under her breath, still very much attached to Bella's side, and Bella cursed internally and crossed her legs in what she hoped was a casual way, trying to unstick the side of her thigh from Rosalie's.

"Let me drive you home."

Before Bella could respond the bell was ringing and Rosalie was standing next to her, Bella's backpack in her hand. Sometime during the week Bella had stopped protesting about the new habits and started just accepting Rosalie's borderline chivalrous behavior, borderline because Rosalie was still Rosalie and did what she wanted with or without protest from Bella. It was almost as if they both knew that Bella actually liked being semi doted on by Rosalie.

Bella nodded as she caught Rosalie's eye and they exited with the rest of the class. "So, am I finally meeting your siblings or are we running really fast to your car and peeling out of the parking lot?" Bella joked though she had begun to wonder when it would happen.

Rosalie sniffed and flicked her golden curls over her shoulder, making Bella sigh at the sight. If only Rose wasn't so pretty. "Well I promised to go into Port Angeles with Alice and Edythe after school to do a bit of shopping…I was going to cancel to spend time with you but I suppose I can share you for a few hours."

Bella balked, "Hours? Shopping with you and your sisters? Trying on clothes?" The thought alone was enough for Bella to come to a stop at the top of the stairs outside the school entrance.

Rosalie laughed. "Hmm, you look like you'd rather do anything else." Bella gave her best pleading eyes, but it was a mistake as Rosalie's smile widened into a smirk. "Too late now," Rosalie pointed toward where the Cullens parked and Bella could see her siblings clearly waiting for them. Alice was literally bouncing on her toes and clapping, "I mean you could make a run for it."

Bella weighed her options then sighed heavily as Alice stopped bouncing and placed her hands on her hips as though she were offended that Rosalie had even given Bella the option. "I don't think I'd get very far."

Rosalie grinned and looped her arm over Bella's shoulders, pulling Bella tight to her as she started to lead the human toward her siblings. "Smart girl, as if you actually have a chance of getting away from me now."

Bella rolled her eyes and tried to bump her hip into Rosalie's as they walked, but it only made Rose pull Bella in tighter. Bella smiled as she wrapped her arm around Rosalie's waist. "Way to make me sound like a hostage, Rose." Rosalie giggled quietly but said nothing else, they both knew Bella was all too willing to be here with Rosalie.

The walk over was enough for Bella to start feeling insecure, not because the family were mysterious immortal beings but because they were Rosalie's family and she wanted them to like her. Thankfully, she was saved from any potentially awkward introductions as Alice literally jumped at Bella the moment Rosalie had pulled them to a stop in front of the outrageously good looking group.

Though Alice was tiny, the momentum of her jump had caused Bella to detach from Rosalie's side as she was forced to catch the girl or end up flat on her ass in a pile on the pavement. Giggles reverberated throughout the tiny body as she clung to Bella, and though Bella could hear Rosalie protesting, and someone with a thick southern accent apologizing, she couldn't stop her own giggles from surfacing. So there Bella stood, arms tightly wrapped around Alice as she clung to Bella like a deranged koala bear, both of them now giggling like mental patients.

Bella tried to stop, god help her she did, but the pure innocent joy that seeped from Alice was like a soothing wave crashing over Bella's turbulent nerves. It was so different from Rosalie's electrifying touch that the pure shock had knocked Bella completely off kilter. Bella closed her eyes as their laughter started to die down and she could feel another forgotten piece of her shift and connect, like she had been an incomplete puzzle before and every one of the Cullens held a different missing piece. The feeling was as humbling as it was scary.

When Alice finally pulled back enough to meet Bella's eyes, well she must have seen the conflict behind those brown eyes, because she smiled brightly and patted Bella on the cheek gently, seemingly completely confident that Bella could hold her up, which she did.

"Don't worry Bella, we've only missed about a century together and we've got plenty of time to make up for it!"

Bella blinked, a century? She looked at Rosalie finally, curiosity burning in her eyes as Rosalie smirked at her, though the blonde still looked slightly frustrated at Alice's continued attachment to Bella's body. Bella smiles softly at Rose and the blonde relaxes slightly even though she crosses her arms and gives an irritated huff. Bella turns back to Alice. "The wait must have killed you." Bella's smile turned to a conspiring smirk as she gave her smart remark, or at least she thought it was clever seeing as they were immortal.

Once Alice detached herself from Bella's body Rosalie was quick to retake her place with Bella tucked snuggly under her arm. That's when the introductions started.

"Everyone, this is Bella. Bella, you know Alice, next to her is her mate, Jasper." The tall blonde said a polite hello in a thick southern accent while Alice hung contently off his arm. Rosalie continued to her other sister. "Edythe, you've already met as well, and the big lug next to her is my best friend, and her mate, Emmett."

Emmett immediately started to complain about not being invited, but Bella was still wondering about Rosalie's use of the word mate. Sure Bella knew that the two pairs were together, everyone in town probably knew, but mates implied something a whole lot more permanent.

"I still don't get why I can't come on your girls trip."

Bella watched Rosalie's face as her lips morphed into a wicked smile. Edythe stopped what was sure to be a sarcastic retort by holding up a hand and used the other to pinch the bridge of her nose with an irritated sigh. "For the love of-Of course we're sure he's a male! And no we don't need to check!"

Rosalie smiled innocently, batting her eyes as they got comically wide. "Oh Edie, I would never suggest something so crass."

Bella nudged Rosalie's side, and though it did nothing to the blonde, it did gain her attention. "You're such a liar, besides I am a girl, Emmett, and I would do just about anything not to go shopping."

The siblings seemed to all smirk at her in unison and they fell deathly quiet. Bella glanced quickly up to Rose, trying to dissuade if she had unintentionally crossed some sort of taboo or offended someone, however Rosalie seemed far more intent on smothering Bella from behind.

Her arm around Bella's shoulders slowly slid down and across Bella's clavicle, carefully avoiding Bella's chest, as she wrapped the arm around Bella's neck. Her other hand, seemingly backpack free now, wrapped itself around Bella's waist and pulled Bella the step back so that Rosalie's front pressed firmly to Bella's back. Finally, Rose rested her chin on Bella's shoulder and leaned in as if to tell a secret.

"Sweet, sweet Bella," Rosalie purred, "I'm not above being bribed." Bella's heart was off to the races once again thanks to the living goddess that is Rosalie Hale, but Rose wasn't quite satisfied with just that. "I'm sure that anything you have to offer in exchange would be just devine."

The amount of blood that rushed to Bella's face was nothing compared to the butterflies in her stomach and the combination made her fear that she'd drop dead right then and there from a heart attack and for that reason, and that reason only and without her permission, one of Bella's arms shot up and grasped the arm around her middle, thus unintentionally keeping them locked in the embrace. For a few precious nanoseconds Bella was able to savor the feeling of having Rose so intimately pressed against her, but then the sound of a car horn made reality set in and her body went stiff with embarrassment.

Bella's eyes slammed shut as wave after wave of panic hit her, this was not the type of shit she was supposed to be thinking, or doing in front of everyone in the whole school, it could get back to Charlie. She could feel Rosalie's body tense around her like a steel vice. Rosalie's vampire instincts were reacting to the stressed pheromones that Bella was unknowingly pumping into the air. Slowly, as though Bella were this fragile thing, Rosalie started to rub her thumb across Bella's collarbone and then the strangest thing happened. It starts as a soft rumble against Bella's back until it develops to a full on purr that she could feel vibrating throughout her entire body, and like it was novacane it flooded her nervous system until her heart slowed and she was able to come back into her own mind. Bella finally opened her eyes to see that the Cullen siblings were nowhere to be found and she sighed out the last of her worry as her body melted back into Rosalie's hold. Amusement flooded Bella as she realized just what was going on.

"So do all immortals purr or is that just a super secret Rosalie power?" Bella joked, though it seemed Rosalie was above pretending to be embarrassed as the purr seemed to intensify.

"My kind all have the ability, mainly to soothe our âme soeur." Bella didn't know which was sexier, the fact that Rose could speak French or the way the blonde was currently ghosting her nose from the back of Bella's ear down to her pulse point where she hovered and breathed deeply before letting out a moan so soft and delicate that Bella could instantly feel herself getting wet. All the warring emotions are starting to make Bella feel as though she was on the world's best and worst roller coaster.

Feeling tired, and emotionally vulnerable, Bella did the unthinkable, right there in the middle of a now semi deserted high school parking lot. She turned around in Rosalie's arms until they were face to face, looked Rose deep in her now dark umber eyes and did the one thing that they both had been desperately waiting for.

"Rose, I'm ready."