Between Love and Survival

by Am-I-A-Writer

Rosalie Hale has survived without love for nearly a century. Of course she had her adopted family, but that's not the kind of love she was yearning for. The kind of love you find in a mate. That is until Amber Blacole quite literally crashed into her life. Can this Air Force Survival Expert teach Rosalie that life is more than just mere survival and that love is worth the risk?

6. Chapter 6 - Walk Me Home In The Dead Of

Chapter 6 – Walk Me Home In The Dead Of Night

-Edward POV-

The family has kept Bella and me abreast to all of the unfolding events concerning Rosalie and her mate. After the latest development concerning Rosalie's crippling depression Bella and I made the decision to go home early so that we could not only be there for Rosalie, but to help out in anyway that we could.

Thankfully by the time that we get back home, Rosalie seems to be relatively normal, thanks to Emmett's head on approach.

For the last 5 or so hours the rest of the family has filled Bella and I on everything Amber and Rosalie related.

With my mind reading ability I was able to gather some oddities that I doubt everyone else even picked up on. The fact that Amber was so in tune with not just the members of my family but with everyone in general was an interesting quality. I can only think to describe it as an extension of Jaspers empathic abilities. Not to mention that Alice has been at a hit and miss with her visions pertaining Rosalie's mate. The only time that her visions were this affected was with the wolves down at the reservation. With Amber's appetite I would imagine that it was a high possibility, but as soon as I brought that suggestion up it was shot down almost immediately. Apparently our family has already ruled out any super natural creatures that Amber could be, and have found her to be completely human; though a very strange and curious human at that.

Bella and I decided to lend ourselves to Rosalie's next idea for getting closer to her mate. It was actually Bella's idea, and it was a brilliant one if I may say so. Bella picked up on a few personality traits through all of the stories and she decided to play on Amber's high protective instincts.

Sadly when Bella relayed the plan to Rosalie, I had to deal with my sister's thoughts about how overprotective Amber would be pleasing in some indecent ways.

Bella's plan was simple enough but logistically it took a lot of patience and calculating luck.

Thanks to Alice we knew that Amber would be downtown browsing through some shops. The used record shop just so happened to be the store that we decided was the perfect atmosphere to initiate our plan.

Once I walk into the store I'm able to locate Rosalie's mate almost immediately. I take my time as I work my way around the store and wind up on the opposite side of the vinyl bin as Amber. After a few minutes I notice that she has a "Sleep On It" vinyl in her hands, seeing the perfect opportunity to start a conversation I point to the vinyl and say "Sleep On It is a great band." She looks up and stares at me for about 4 seconds before she can respond. I've been a vampire long enough to expect this. What I didn't expect was what I was able to read from her mind. It wasn't a blank void like Bella's, but it wasn't a buzz of thoughts the way that everyone else's mind seemed to be. I managed to get the word Cullen and then some lyrics and musical beats. They sounded like they belonged to the song "Boom" by the band Simple Plan. Oddly enough I was also hearing the song. It was then that I realized that the sound was coming from Amber. She had one ear bud in and was listening to music.

That's when she held up the album and said "Oh yeah, definitely. If you like Sleep On It then you should check out Story Untold. Their first album is amazing." "I have actually and I agree. Is the pop punk genre your favorite?" Amber smiles and says "It's one of my favorites. I actually listen to pretty much everything." I realize that she's telling the truth, because I can hear an old polka song come through her ear buds. I smile and hold out my hand as I introduce myself. "Hello, I'm Edward" I realize after she grabs my hand that she does have an elevated temperature. For all of our sakes I hope that she's not sick, because Rosalie will not be pleased. Whatever Amber was about to say is interrupted by my sweet wife's voice "Oh Edward there you are. We were wondering where you wondered off to." Bella kisses my cheek and I can't help but feel all my worries and stress melt away. I also can see Amber smiling at our display of affection as she thinks about how love is an amazing and powerful thing. I can hear Rosalie's thoughts asking me what her mate is thinking about to cause her to smile like that, so I fill her in on her mate's thoughts using vampire speed. Rosalie's thoughts are about her and her mate's future vowing to make sure that their future is always filled with love and affection. Just as I think that Rosalie's thoughts will stay in a safe zone they take a turn when she starts thinking of all of the ways she can and will show her mate physical affection. Thankfully Bella saves me, as usual, when she wraps her arms around my waist and turns to Amber and says "Hi, I'm Bella, I see that you've met my husband Edward." Amber sticks out her hand and says "it's nice to meet you Bella. I'm Amber. Edward and I have been discussing our love of music." That's when she notices Rosalie, who she gives a nod to. Rosalie is quick to jump into the conversation, having learned from her previous tries she knows she needs to keep her mate in conversation. "Amber it's great to see you again. How've you been?" Amber smiled at Rosalie, which seemed to short circuit Rosalie's brain, and said "I've been good. I've been feeling restless the last few days so I decided to walk around town and see what I could get into." "Well isn't that lucky for us" Rosalie replied with a smile of her own. We noticed that Amber's heart rate sped up at the sight of Rosalie's smile. This made Rosalie unbelievably happy being able to have any kind of proof that Amber was attracted to her, since her mate seems to be oblivious most of the time.

I decided to keep the conversation going and I couldn't help but tease Rosalie by saying "Oh, so you're the Amber that I've heard so much about." As I glance between Rosalie and Amber. This made Bella giggle, so it was a win all around.

Amber chuckles and gives a half smile while saying "They told you all about me huh? Well I hope that we can be friends anyway." We all laugh at that. The family is right; Amber really is a one of a kind.

The four of us spent the next 40 or so minutes going around the store discussing music. To Rosalie's delight Amber shared a lot of the same musical tastes as she does. On more than few occasions they had broken off on animated discussions about a song or different bands. Right in the middle of our fun my cell phone rings. Which is part two of Bella's plan. "Hello, this is Edward Cullen…Yes…..Today? I was told that it was going to be ready to be picked up on Tuesday… Well.. Yes, I understand. We'll be by shortly." As I hung up I let out a sigh. I turned to Rosalie and Bella and explained that the piano needed to be picked up on Tuesday, is ready now. They said that it will need to be picked up today or I will have to pay a hefty late fee. Everyone agrees that that is pretty shitty. That's when Rosalie brings up the next step in the plan "That means that we'll miss the appointment with the jeweler." Bella jumps into the conversation by saying "I guess we'll just have to reschedule" Rosalie shakes her head and sighs "We can't we need the jeweler to fix Dad's watch in time for his birthday. If we wait any later than today, then they won't be able to get it fixed in time. I'll just go by myself. It's not that far. I can walk there and then walk to my apartment." Amber perks up at hearing that Rosalie will be walking around town alone, and grew concerned with how late it already was. Edward noticed that even though Amber thought Rosalie disliked her she was very adamant that she would go with Rosalie to make sure that she was safe. Bella seemed to be right about Amber's high protective instincts.

Amber turns to Rosalie and asks her if she would like some company. Rosalie absolutely beams as a response, but keeps her composure and says "I wouldn't want to keep you from your plans for today" Amber shakes her head and replies "Not at all, I wouldn't feel right about letting you walk around town at night alone. Please allow me to escort you." Rosalie's thoughts almost immediately venture to thoughts of her bedroom where she wanted Amber to escort her to.

After it was decided that Amber would go with Rosalie to the jeweler, Edward and Amber carried all of Rosalie and Bella's bags back to Edward's Volvo. Edward admired Amber's chivalry towards his wife and sister. Edward took most of the bags, because he was raised to be a gentleman, but he also understood Amber's desire to not make him carry everything, even though with his vampire strength the bags weighed nothing to him.

Edward and Amber followed Rosalie and Bella to where they parked their car. Edward had hardly ever felt this relaxed with another person outside of his family especially this fast. Not to mention that Amber was a human, it was truly miraculous. He still had a hard time understanding why Amber's thoughts were so different for him to pick out. He would worry about that later, because right now he wanted to help push this almost relationship between his sister and her mate farther along.

Edward leaned into Amber a little and said "I want to thank you for taking Rosalie. I didn't feel comfortable with her going alone either." Amber smiled and said "It's not a problem." That's when Edward decided to bring up the uncomfortable part of the conversation. "Emmett told Jasper and me about how you think Rosalie hates you, and for you to want to escort her anyway? That says a lot about you. I can understand what my family meant about you." Amber was confused. She didn't care that Emmett had told his brothers. It wasn't meant to be a secret. But she did feel a little bashful being told that the family thinks very highly of her. Edward could read from her thoughts that she was very proud of her reputation. He could also tell that she had very old school manners and mannerism. Where a handshake and your word was bond. And you stuck to your values and how you acted mattered. He realized that Amber seemed destined to fit in with old world vampires. Amber wanted to clarify though so she told Edward "it's not that I think she hates me. I just know that she doesn't like me. Or at least I thought she doesn't." At Edward's confusion she continued "Well she runs so hot and cold. She acts like it's a chore to even talk to me, but then there are times like today where she seems like she wants to get to know me. She's just so confusing." Edward couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh she likes you; I think you just throw her off balance." This time it was Amber's turn to look confused, so Edward continued his explanation. "Rosalie is very guarded and has trouble connecting with people, but like the rest of the family you're very disarming. All of us find you intriguing and we want to get to know you, but Rosalie just has a harder time bringing someone new into her life. Don't give up on her. I think you're good for her and something tells me that she'll be good for you as well." Amber has a consecrated look on her face and waits a few moments just absorbing everything that Edward has just told her. She then looks ahead of them to where Rosalie and Bella are walking. And softly says "I think you're right, I just don't like it when she pushes me away." Edward nudges her with his shoulder and smiles. "She's working on it, just give her a chance." Amber takes a deep breath and sighs while saying "I will."

With those two simple words Rosalie swears that she can feel her heart skip a beat. Her mate doesn't truly hate her and does want to get to know her. Rosalie feels like she's walking on cloud nine.

Finally they make it to Edward's Volvo, where Amber jokes around with Edward that he should get a better vehicle. After some playful banter back and forth they part ways after Rosalie grabs the watch.

Rosalie can't help but feel love for her father who sacrificed one of his favorite pocket watches for this plan to work. He cracked the glass and wore out a few of the gears on purpose just so that Rosalie could be standing here with her mate. Rosalie knew that her family was special and it was times like these that she grateful for whatever she may have done to deserve them in her life.

After Rosalie puts the watch in her purse she turns to her mate and smiled. She swooned when her mate offered her an arm, while saying that she didn't want Rosalie tripping in her heels.

Rosalie couldn't help but shiver in pleasure when she wrapped her hands around her mate's bicep. Amber thinking that Rosalie was cold due to the late hour and the temperature dropping, quickly offered Rosalie her button up shirt. After a few seconds of silence Amber assumed that Rosalie didn't want to wear it because it really didn't go with the dress that she had on. Rosalie squeezed her mates bicep to get Amber's attention and told her that that would be nice, but only if Amber wouldn't be cold. Rosalie didn't want her mate to get sick, because she was only in a t-shirt. Amber was quick to reassure Rosalie that she would be fine and quickly took off her long sleeve shirt and helped Rosalie into it. Rosalie felt a rush of warmth a safety that had nothing to do with the shirt and everything to do with her mate and being surrounded by her mate's scent. Rosalie couldn't help but bring the collar up to her nose and inhaling the wonderful scent. Thankfully Amber didn't notice or Rosalie would have a lot of explaining to do.

Rosalie grabbed her mates arm again as they began their journey to the jeweler. They made small talk as they began their short walk. They finally made it to their destination after about 15 minutes. Amber held the door open for Rosalie and for a couple exiting the shop as they were about to go inside. Once inside Rosalie walked up to the counter and said "Hello, I'm here for my appointment with Mr. Plack. My name is Rosalie Hale." The clerk behind the desk said "Yes of course Miss Hale. One moment." Then scurried off towards the back of the shop. Amber couldn't help but ask "Hale? Trying to make sure that your dad doesn't know by changing your name?" Rosalie chuckles and turns sideways to look at Amber properly. "Actually that is my last name. When I was adopted I wanted to keep my last name. Jasper and Emmett kept their last names as well." Amber nodded and said "I get that." At Rosalie's intrigued look she continued "I was adopted too, so I get it." Just as Rosalie was going to ask more about Amber's past, because she didn't like the dark look at took over her mate's eyes. Mr. Plack appeared. Rosalie was really starting to hate these interruptions every time she started to get closer to her mate.

Rosalie took the watch out of her purse and explained that she needed it fixed for her father's birthday. After about 20 minutes of Mr. Plack asking questions and examining the watch. He said that he could have the watch done in a little over 2 weeks 3 at the most. Rosalie shook his hand and they were off to walk back to where Amber had parked. Rosalie once again laced her hands around her mates arm and Rosalie couldn't remember the last time that she was this happy or content.

When they had finally made it to Amber's truck and Amber had opened the passenger seat for Rosalie, Amber asked Rosalie of she was hungry. Rosalie not wanting her leave her mate just yet quickly agreed that they should go grab a bite to eat. They decide to grab some sandwiches and a couple of slices of lemon pie for desert to go from Rocket Bakery.

Rosalie thought it was the perfect plan, all the way up to the point when they ordered and the lady behind the counter seemed to be paying too much attention to her mate. She made sure to stand very close to Amber and softly stroke her as much as possible.

Rosalie knew that the girl, who's name was Katie according to her name tag, noticed her wearing Amber's button up shirt. It was obviously 2 or so sizes too big and didn't go with her outfit. Add Rosalie's close proximity and almost constant contact with Amber made it quite clear that she was staking an obvious claim, but the hussy Katie just kept up with her flirting and inappropriate behavior. The only thing that kept Rosalie's temper in check was the fact that Amber hardly noticed Katie's obnoxious attempt at gaining her attention. Rosalie wasn't sure if Amber failed to notice what was going on because she wasn't interested or if she honestly was just that clueless, but truthfully she figured that it was most likely due to both. Frankly Rosalie didn't care what the reason was as long as Amber didn't show any interest in anyone besides her. Thankfully they were in and out of the bakery fairly quickly.

Amber had a suggestion for a place to eat, but refused to tell Rosalie where. All she asked was if Rosalie trusted her. Of course Rosalie would follow Amber anywhere, so she quickly agreed and allowed her mate to escort her to the mystery location. All Amber would tell Rosalie was that it was about a five minute walk from the bakery and that she would love it.

The secret destination turned out to be the Liberty building. Rosalie was thoroughly confused, but continued to follow her mate none the less. Amber took them past all of the business and all the way to the roof top.

Amber explained that she knew the book store owner and how they let her up here whenever she felt the urge. When Rosalie asked Amber how she had managed that kind of deal, she seemed to struggle with how to explain. Finally she said let's eat while I tell you the story.

It turns out that the couple that owned the bookstore has a 16 year old daughter, named Nancy. What Amber told her next had her seeing red as her mate explained how she had come across Nancy last year while running in the park and heard her cries for help. Nancy's boyfriend Earl didn't know how to take no as an answer. When Amber came across the couple Earl had a knife to Nancy's throat as he held her against a tree. Amber fought Earl off and incapacitated him, but was cut up, because she was trying to protect Amber from his knife yielding. Amber showed her the scar she has on her stomach for her troubles. Rosalie couldn't help but ghost her fingers over the scar.

Rosalie couldn't believe how wonderful her mate was. She was so many things. Kind and generous, as well as brave and chivalrous, so wonderfully strong but so amazingly soft and caring. She was everything she had ever wanted in a mate. Which made sense because Amber was her soul mate and other half.

Amber seemed to tremble underneath Rosalie's soft caresses, they seemed to be frozen in time as they stared into each other's eyes. They seemed to move slowly together but not moving all at the same time. They were broken out of their dazed like state by a car horn blaring as they passed below them on the street.

Amber shook her head to regain her senses and pulled her shirt back down and coughed awkwardly into her wrist.

Amber checked her watch and realized that it had gotten pretty late and decided that it was time for both of them to start heading back.

They walked to Amber's truck in companionable silence, just enjoying each other's company. Amber again opened Rosalie's door and helped her into the truck. Rosalie told Amber that her apartment was near Mystery Loft, so the drive was a very short one only being a few miles down the road.

Amber parked where Rosalie instructed. "So which one is your building?" Amber asked looking around at the different buildings. Rosalie smiled and pointed towards the rear window and said "It's the fifth building on the left."

Amber didn't like the fact that Rosalie had to walk a ways to get to her apartment building. "Would you like me to walk you to your building's door?" Rosalie couldn't help but counter with "How about you walk me to my door?" Amber cleared her throat and said "Yes, of course." Rosalie is pretty sure that her flirtations went right over her mate's head. "If that would make you feel the safest, then I would be happy to." And with that reply Rosalie knew that her mate was truly clueless, but adorably so.

Rosalie took the initiative and grabbed her mate's arm as they made their way to her apartment building. She couldn't help but notice that her mate made sure that she walked so that she was between the traffic on the street. Rosalie swooned for what felt like the millionth time. Her mate really did know how to treat a woman.

After a few minutes they were walking into the lobby of her building and heading to the elevators. They passed by the night security desk and they exchanged their pleasantries. After they set foot into the elevator Rosalie noticed the grimace on her mate's face. Not knowing what could possibly be the cause she decided to be direct. "What's with the face?" Amber hummed and turned to Rosalie "Oh, uh…well I don't think your night guard likes me." Rosalie smiles and squeezes her mates arm and said "Well I don't care if they do or not, because I like you, and that's all that matters." Rosalie couldn't help but love the tender look that Amber shot her way or the bashfulness that seemed to take over her mate's demeanor.

All too soon they were at Rosalie's door. Rosalie wished that this was considered a date so that she could get a proper goodnight kiss or several kisses as they tumbled into her apartment. She settled for giving her mate a lingering kiss to her cheek. To Rosalie's delight Amber gave a full face blush before Rosalie softly said goodnight and closed her door.

Through the peephole Rosalie watched her mate stay in the trance like state that she left her in for a few moments longer. Amber finally shook her head, smiled and sauntered down the hall towards the elevators.

Rosalie couldn't wait to see her mate again. She decided to daydream for a few hours before she went back to the family at the main house. She wrapped herself in her mate's shirt inhaling its magnificent scent and fantasized about how wonderful her future with her mate would be. Then she will fantasize about all the naughty but heavenly things they would get up to.