Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Rated: T.

Author: xPaige Turnerx

Summary: It's your classic girl finds love in a coffee shop... if you replace girl with tired old immortal and coffee shop with comic shop and love with aggravated endearment that eventually leads to soul-bound devotion. AU. Rosalie/Bella.

'Happiness hit her like a train on a track

Coming towards her stuck still no turning back.'

The next day was a sunny one and Bella was all too eager to head over to the Cullens. Numerous times was she threatened to be kicked out of Angela's car, but the human never made good on it. Unable to bring herself to pop Bella's bubble, she was forced to endure the excited bouncing all the way out to the Cullen driveway.

Bella skidded up the steps of the porch, barely sparing enough time to wave goodbye to her friend. She tapped her knuckles against the wood of the door three times and bounced once more in place, a big grin on her face. Charlie wagged his tail harder when she looked down at him and she scratched behind his ear quickly.

"Good morning, B-oh!" Edward gasped as he was lifted and spun around the doorway. "Bella, put me - no!" Much too tall, he toppled backwards over her shoulder, his face down at her calves. "Bella!" he reprimanded. "Put me down!"

"Sorry, Double Dee." Bella hoisted him sideways until he was across her shoulders, his back behind her head and - somehow it was worse. "Somehow this is worse," she echoed his thoughts and if he had the mobility, he would have facepalmed.

He sighed deeply, arm hooked with hers. "Just drop me. Please, end this."

He landed with a thud.

"Bella!" Alice sang and shot down the stairs as little more than a blur. She threw herself into the taller girl's arms and, much like Edward, was spun around the doorway. "Tell me about the date. Rosalie has been tight-lipped all night, she hasn't even left her room! Did it go badly?"

"It-"

"Did it go well? Was it romantic? Were you romantic?"

"I think-"

Alice locked her fingers behind Bella's neck, her legs around the girl's waist as she lost herself in all her questions and speculations. "Was she romantic? She can be so very sweet sometimes, Bella. Did you dance? We heard music in the woods. Not that we were listening, well, I was trying to listen, but Jasper made it very difficult."

"The music-"

"There are trees in the backyard now, Bella. Esme is thrilled, she actually hasn't left the yard since returning last night. She has so many questions, I have so many questions, but they all mean nothing compared to my next one. Did you two kiss?"

"Can I say one th-"

"You did, didn't you? I knew it. Why else would she hide away in her room? If went badly, you would have called me. You should have called me anyway. Bella, why didn't you call me?"

The onslaught of questions finally ceased, but Bella waited all the same. She watched her friend closely, with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing the little minx. "I..." she tested the word out, waiting to be cut off yet again, and raised an eyebrow when Alice merely waited patiently. "Holy smokes, I can talk? Okay, last night-"

"Boo! How'd it go last night?"

"Oh, forget it." Bella let Alice drop to the floor with a softer thud than Edward's, and headed for the kitchen. Her eyes landed on the bowl of fruit in the middle of the kitchen island, and she quickly hopped up onto one of the stools. Alice took a spot across from her, Edward and Emmett on their sides. "Where's your sister, Best Friend?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. "In her room. She won't let anyone inside." A lightbulb flashed over the pixie's head and her lips quirked up in a smirk. "Maybe you should try?"

"You are a dangerous influence," Bella murmured to her quietly. To which Alice merely blew a kiss in response. "We're going for a picnic today, we should be gone for a while. I assume she hasn't told you."

"Of course not," Edward agreed with a scoff. "I'm not sure a picnic is very wise today, Bella. The sun is out and shining brightly. Once she steps out of the car..."

Bella hooked her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the sliding glass door leading to the back yard. "We're going to the woods, not the park. Nobody will be around when she gets out of the jeep." She leaned forward to place her hand over Emmett's mouth just as he started waggling his eyebrows, grinning up at the pouting behemoth. "What are you guys up to today?"

"Mass Effect Marathon," Emmett's muffled reply came eagerly.

And he was charmed, not for the first time, when he saw Bella perk up and deflate all at once. Like, perhaps, she might rather stay here with him and play. He watched her wiggle in her seat, a thoughtful look on her face, and snap her fingers wistfully. "Have fun," she muttered down into the bowl of fruit.

There was a flurry of motion, a flash of red and gold. Smouldering eyes shifting to a topaz, darkness swirling in from the edges like drops of ink. A billowing curtain of rich blonde hair, and chilly fingers at Bella's chin, her jaw.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized she was falling out of her chair. Slowly, possibly the slowest she's ever moved before, but falling all the same.

"You'll have more fun with me, I promise." The words were a smooth purr, spun like silk for Bella's ears alone.

Rosalie was close. So close. The closest she'd been since that night in her bedroom, since the previous night in the backyard. It was new, different from her usual cold distance. Not just willing to be close to someone, but seeking it out on her own.

Emmett wasn't certain how he felt about it. The equal sting from the realization that all these years, he had to approach her, usually cautiously, in fear that he was breaching her sanctuary of personal space. The comfort of seeing her let someone else in more easily, instinctively. Of his prickly rose growing, evolving.

Bella's lips puckered up because, well, come on. What was she supposed to do with Rosalie so close she could taste her on the air she breathed in. With Rosalie being so open, so sultry and welcoming in this rare moment. Mortal or immortal, you don't not accept what Rosalie Hale offers.

She could almost feel those cool lips, smooth marble that somehow retained its softness even through the change. Reminiscent of the previous night. Felt the magic against her skin, little sparks of Fate tingling in her nerves.

And then she reached the end of the stool.

Limbs flailed and Bella had maybe a heartbeat to windmill her arms before she dropped like a sack of rocks to the floor. By the time she opened her eyes again, Rosalie was gone, and the other Cullens were all snickering down at her.

"Ya najah bahra."

"Guys," Jasper chastised and shouldered through his siblings. He crouched down to give Bella a hand and half-smile. "Hey, Bella, are you okay?"

Warm hands trapped his strong face between them and his brows furrowed. Bella stared at him seriously, but with her usual open kindness. "That is a very complicated question, Jasper, you should not throw it around so casually."

"I..." He blew out a puff of confused, mildly frustrated air. "Is your physical wellbeing uncompromised in this moment?"

A grin twice as bright as the sun was flashed his way and Bella hopped up to her feet. "Yes, thank you. Your sister is wiley, but I'm onto her now. We'll see who wins the next round."

Alice bounced in place excitedly, her hand shooting out like lightning to thwack Edward in the gut. "They're playing, Edward! Rosalie is playing."

"Yes," he rasped, keeled over and sucking in the air that was knocked out of him. "I can see that." He slowly straightened back up, one hand raised in cautious anticipation of Alice's excitement again, while he eyed her warily. "She's waiting for you in the jeep, Bella."

"Excellent!" Bella scooped the bowl of fruit into her bag, hooked it across her chest, and made for the door with a finger waggle to the others. "Ta-ta, for now. Charlie!"

The backdoor of the jeep was open and waiting for them when they raced down the porch, the interior of the vehicle dark with shadows. Bella helped her cuddly behemoth into the back seat before climbing up after him. "Huh. That's pretty cool."

Inside the jeep was more spacious than she would have thought, and with the door closed, also much brighter. What surprised her the most, however, was that her glittering goddess was... well, not glittering. Rosalie barely spared her a glance before peeling out of the driveway, her eyes trained on the road. There was, however, a gentle upturn of her lips in the very corner, that Bella noticed. "Custom windows. They let in light, but not uv rays. Thus, I do not sparkle."

"Boo," Bella huffed as she attempted to slide between the seats to the passenger one. "You don't have to hide from -oops, sorry- from me, you know. I've -can you just push my knee to the side there?- seen other vampires sparkle before."

She collapsed into the seat sideways and in a puff of breath, cheek smooshed against the dashboard. Rosalie watched her with a raised eyebrow, disbelief in her eyes, if not a little mirth. "As unbelievable as it may seem, not everything I do revolves around you. We've always had these windows." Golden eyes drifted back down to Bella and Rosalie sighed. "Just sit properly."

"I'm trying!" Bella grumbled into the floor mat. "Where's my left foot?"

"Tangled in the seatbelt - for the love of god, Bella." Rosalie reached across to yank Bella's boot free from the belt and guide her to a proper position. "And you're a god?" she muttered with a shake of her head.

Catching her breath, Bella straightened her clothes and settled back into the seat. "Whew. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." With the road stretched out before them and not a soul in sight, Rosalie felt herself relaxing. The vibrations in the steering wheel did wonders at easing her nerves. "I suppose I'm just curious. About you. Still."

"That's fair." Bella tapped her chin thoughtfully as she gazed at the vampire. "I'm curious about you, too. I propose a game of twenty questions."

"Mature."

"Uh, duh. How else do people get to know each other?"

A smile finally broke free from Rosalie's lips. She shook her head again before resting her elbow against where the door and window met, holding her chin in her hand. "Fine. If I must resort to playschool tactics just to get to know my own... well, then I must. Who goes first?"

"You," Bella declared playfully. "I am nothing, if not chivalrous. There, one more thing you know about me now."

"Right, right. Okay." Golden eyes narrowed slightly, glancing sideways at Bella. Hundreds of questions came pouring to the surface; about her tattoos, about her bag (and subsequently, her past), why she owned a comic store, how she owned it. Why was she going to school? Did she always go to school? But specifics could wait, because it was a path one easily got lost on. Rosalie would start with the basics, it seemed the easiest. "How old are you?"

"Very," Bella replied without missing a beat.

And Rosalie had to swallow her growl of annoyance. "That's not an answer."

Surprisingly, Bella remained passive and open. It wasn't a deflection this time. "I couldn't give you an accurate one, even if it mattered."

"And it doesn't?"

Bella considered this, her head tilting to the side. Dark eyes peered over at Rosalie from behind her glasses, speculative. "I'd still be me, wouldn't I? What does a number mean? How does it define me?"

"Fair," the blonde agreed reluctantly. "Your turn."

Bouncing in the seat, Bella hummed happily. "Hmm, okay. Umm..." she drummed her fingers on the dashboard, "how old are-"

"You little shit."

Bella tossed her head back to bark out a laugh, watching Rosalie try to tame the grin on her own face. "Oooooh, you cursed!" Golden eyes rolled to the ceiling. "Okay, for real. You can collect seashells or rocks, which do you choose?"

"What?" Again, Rosalie had to tear her eyes from the road to give Bella a look. "What kind of question is that?"

"It says more about your personality than your favourite colour does. You'd pick rocks, right?"

"Yes, but I don't know why. I don't even like rocks."

"Who doesn't like rocks?!"

Rosalie shook her head lightly. "Well, I don't dislike them. You'd pick rocks as well?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

Bella reached up to the front of her shirt, tilting her chin up proudly. "Much like bowties, rocks are cool as heck."

"You don't curse," Rosalie observed thoughtfully with the barest hint of interest. Despite her claims of needing to know more, to know Bella, and how much she fought herself to remain civil about it, the vampire didn't let it on. If she hadn't point blank told Bella, Bella would have thought Rosalie couldn't care less one way or another.

Alas, the thought that Rosalie did crave to know Bella, tickled the girl pink. Bella's smile scrunched her eyes at the corners, it was so big and happy. "No, I can't. I'm a perfect ray of sunshine."

"Kill me."

She gasped dramatically, reaching across to loops her fingers loosely around Rosalie's wrist. "But who would ask the next question?!"

Another roll of the eyes, and Rosalie turned down a gravel road. She checked the rearview mirror, watching Charlie re-adjust to rest his large head on his paws, her heart warm and full. Her gaze drifted down to the warm fingers still splayed on her forearm, thumb tracing circles absently.

Touching her wasn't even a conscious thought to Bella, that's how comfortable she felt. Just a base desire, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she wanted to be close, to connect.

And once again, Rosalie wondered if it was her. If Bella wanted her specifically, or if she just craved connection in general. A being as old as she, cut off from others of her kind, watching the humans she loves die around her over and over again.

It was something everyone in the family had thought about at one time or another. Rosalie suspected it was part of the reason why they were all so withdrawn from the actual people of society, even as they tried to engross themselves back in it. Form a connection, a real, true connection. Love someone. Form a bond, form memories, build a life with them... just to watch them turn to dust.

The thought was daunting at best, and haunted her in the darkest moments. The mere thought of being forced to watch as time stole one of her family members. She had her own issues with vampirism to battle, but she was, at least, thankful of it in that regard.

That she would never have to watch Jasper or Esme wither away. That the only threats to her family, were ones she could fight. Ones she could protect them from, because time?

Rosalie glanced up at Bella, the cheerful girl with a dark, endless shadow stretched out behind her.

Not even a god could fight time.

.

.

.

"I think the universe is trying to spite me," Bella grumbled up at the sky with her arms across her chest.

A large cloud had rolled up just as they parked the jeep to begin their trek to their picnic destination. Fifteen minutes later, they were at their tree, and the field remained cloudy. Not that Rosalie minded much. In fact, the more emphasis Bella put on wanting to see her sparkle, the more nervous she became about it.

Which, logically, she knew was ridiculous. She wasn't blind, she knew how she looked, how her appearance affected others. But still... Bella had a way of making her feel like a stereotypical teenage girl; a bundle of nerves and hormones out of her own control.

Ridiculous.

"I would," Rosalie replied offhandedly. She felt Bella snort more than she heard her, back against the enormous tree, with the girl's head on her lap. Now and then, her fingers twitched with the urge to play with the silky, dark locks within her reach. "So, how many others have you brought out here?"

"Jealous?"

It was a quip but Rosalie found honesty a frightening kind of easy. "Yes."

Dark eyes blinked and Bella tilted her head back a little more, distracted from the flower crown in her fingers, to catch Rosalie's eye. "Less than you'd think."

"Were they men? Women? Both?" The usual bite was absent this time, Rosalie was pleased to find. Perhaps she was getting better at controlling her temper, or maybe she just didn't feel the need to defend herself around Bella as much. Maybe it was the tranquil setting; the gentle breeze carrying through the field, making the branches and leaves above them dance. Bella's warmth radiating off her, spreading from Rosalie's thighs, settling deep in her bones. Watching Charlie run around in the distance, chasing butterflies.

Bella hummed and went back to her flower crown. "Only women. I'm, haha," she shook her head fondly, "I'm the gayest god."

"Were you the only one?"

She hadn't actually ever considered gods having such humanizing qualities.

Bella scoffed. "Oh, no. No, no. Sexuality is just as fluid as gender, for us. And now that I think of it, Nova was probably the gayest."

"Nova?" Rosalie perked up at information offered so freely. "Who was that?"

A wistful grin tugged at Bella's lips. "God of the Constellations. Always giving Orion a hard time."

"Orion?"

"Goddess of the Stars."

"Are they any of the buried?"

"No."

A solemn silence fell over them just as quick as the clouds that had rolled in earlier and now bathed the field in shadow. Rosalie wondered if maybe those shadows followed Bella. She gave into her urge this time, sliding her fingers through loose curls of dark hair.

She felt Bella relax almost instantly and sigh softly. "They're among the Banished Gods."

"Banished?" Rosalie echoed in astonishment.

Bella shrugged, staring hard at the flower crown. "Our... disagreement was tearing everything apart. Ruining everything. Destroying everything. To lessen the devastation, an opportunity was seized. A number of the Gods were Banished," Bella gestured towards the sky vaguely, even as she refused to look up, "out there."

"How..." Rosalie shook her head and stared up at the sky as she tried to wrap her head around the idea. "How did you banish them?"

"Me?!" Bella echoed with wide, bulging eyes. Rosalie looked down at her earnestly. "I-what? I can't banish them. I can't even imagine the kind of power that would take."

"Well. You're the last one standing, I thought you were the strongest. Who banished them?"

"Our father," Bella replied meekly.

"You have a father?!" Rosalie asked incredulously.

"Don't you?"

And, again, it was such simple logic. Such a simple answer, that Rosalie felt foolish for asking it in the first place. But also not, because, wow. Who would assume a god has a father? It's not that ridiculous to question it.

But it's definitely a path she could see Bella taking her down just to tease her and there were more pressing questions that needed answers, so she ignored the little smirk on Bella's face. "So you're all siblings? You had to fight your brothers and sisters?"

The thought made her heart ache for Bella.

"More like cousins?" Bella said, but it came out more like a question as her eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "But still not - we don't... it's not how you know it. We don't share genetics. Gods aren't born. We... Become."

"Bragger," Rosalie scoffed under her breath with a ghost of a smile that eased some of the tension from Bella's face. "But you die?"

"All that live must die."

"Sometimes I think you do and say these things just to be extra dramatic," Rosalie told her and watched as Bella smiled slightly. "You don't have siblings, but you said you have brothers?"

"Yes."

Her tone and eyes were dull when she replied and Rosalie felt her gut drop. "You don't want to talk about that."

"No. Please."

"I'm sorry," she whispered and hooked her hand around Bella's arm. "I just have so many questions, and I don't always stop to think how they will affect others. If I know everything, I can protect everyone. Or that's how I feel, anyway."

Bella stared up into her face with dark eyes that held broken cracks of anguish. "You can't protect me from the past."

Of course she wanted to ask more questions, the very important ones. The ones that would tear Bella's old wounds open, would rip out the secrest Rosalie could see hiding behind those dark eyes. The answers, however, were not worth the pain she knew they'd bring, and so she forced herself to let them go.

For now.

Instead she hummed a tune from a long forgotten dream. Dragged her fingers through Bella's hair, made little braids here and there. Watched the rise and fall of her mate's chest, listened to her breathe in and out. Mourned the lack of a heartbeat, even as she basked in the warmth that radiated from Bella. Her own personal sun.

There was a gentle safety that wrapped around the field, protected the three of them. Rosalie had never felt so calm, so free. The worries and anxieties of everyday life waited for her back at the jeep, but they didn't dare encroach on this moment.

She felt safe enough to drag a cool finger down Bella's cheek, feel the warmth pool to the surface with a blush that no heart provided. How?

Despite being a 'mythical creature' herself, Rosalie knew there was science behind being a vampire. Biology. She knew exactly how, exactly why. And maybe there was science behind being a god, or whatever Bella was precisely.

But there also had to be magic, even just a little. There had to be, because you simply cannot blush without a heart.

"How do you blush with a dead heart?" Rosalie whispered, unable to hold the words in any longer.

Bella blinked a few times. Brought back to the moment, no longer drifting into a peaceful rest. "I don't think I said it was dead."

"It doesn't beat," Rosalie pointed out. She would hear it, if it did.

"Yes, it does."

Or maybe not.

Still, she leaned down closer towards Bella's chest, tilting her head. "I can't hear it."

And Bella laughed. She reached up to cup a chilly cheek, smiling so softly at the vampire that Rosalie's mind lagged a moment, drew a blank on what they were talking about, before kicking into overdrive. "Of course you can't, I don't have it here."

"... you're definitely doing this on purpose." Rosalie sighed heavily and thumped back against the tree, staring up at the sky while she gathered every ounce of her patience. "When you said you ripped it from your chest, you were being literal?"

"Yes."

"How is that even possible?"

Another pout slid across Bella's face and she sighed petulantly, glancing sideways at Rosalie. "That's a little complicated. So, basically, the only way a god dies is from a broken heart." Rosalie stared down at her dully until Bella cracked and smiled. "Kidding. Seemed hella poetic, I couldn't resist. And not entirely inaccurate. Destroy the heart, kill a god. Pretty straightforward."

That was... disappointing, and no small amount of frightening. "That's it?"

"Yup. Fragile thing, a god's heart. I imagine a simple butterknife would do the trick." And if that thought wasn't horrifying enough for Rosalie, Bella proceeded to make little stabbing motions to her own chest.

Rosalie's hand shot out to grab Bella's, black eyes scowling off to the side. "No wonder your kind was wiped out. It's too easy to kill you, Bella."

"Hey!" Bella harrumphed and tugged her hand free, squirming to catch Rosalie's eye. "I said straightforward, not easy. They were still gods, you had to get to the point of a butterknife stabbing. Some could literally teleport you away with a thought."

"How did they all die then?"

"A lot of effort," Bella grumbled. "Deception, brute force, tactics like you wouldn't believe. Takes a god to kill a god, so no, not that easy."

Rosalie hummed low in her chest while her mind reeled over all of this new information. If Bella was the last, that meant nobody could hurt her, nobody could take her away from Rosalie.

But Bella wasn't really the last, was she? There were two others.

"I..." Rosalie licked her lips, took a deep breath, and settled back against the tree. "I see. You're still here, so I trust you're more clever than the average god."

And that damn smirk was back. She was loathe to admit it, but Bella wore arrogance well. "Uh, heck yeah. Took that fragile little sucker out and hid it in a tree."

Rosalie's face fell into her palm as her patience waned, whined, threatened to snap. "You hid your incredibly fragile heart in a tree?"

"A tree no one but me could ever find, yes."

"Don't you need it? Does it not affect you, not having it?"

"No... well. Not. Um." Bella blew out a frustrated, hesitant breath of air. Her dark eyes lingered on the crown between her fingers, all but disengaged with the course this conversation had taken. "Potentially, yes, there may be a small chance that, perhaps, my... my emotions could be severely dampened and dulled," she rushed out quietly.

Rosalie blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Finally, Bella sat up to wrap her arms around her knees and stare out into the field. "I don't know, man. I can't prove it, it's just something I've noticed, I've suspected for a while."

"Which is why you still don't have it, even with the others buried," Rosalie finished as the thought came to her.

Bella clicked her tongue, turning to look at her over her shoulder. "You're a clever girl, you know that?"

"And you're very good at deflecting."

"May I kiss you?"

"Very good," Rosalie grumbled. Her narrowed eyes scrutinized Bella closely, suspicion and caution both abundant in her gaze. "Why?"

"Why?" Bella echoed with a laugh, her posture relaxing again to lay back in Rosalie's lap once more. "Why do you always ask me why I ask you questions when the answer is obvious?"

"It's not always obvious."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Stubborn."

"The pot said to the kettle."

"Fine." Bella reached up to poke the frustrated crinkle in Rosalie's brow, watching it smooth out into perfectly smooth skin. She traced her fingertip across a blonde brow, down the side of her cheek, up to her chin, before booping her nose. "I really, really like you. That's why."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rosalie said dismissively.

"Why not?" Bella asked and tried to keep the pout out of her voice as she sat up again.

Gold faded to amber and for only the second time since meeting her, did Bella spot hunger lingering in Rosalie's eyes. "Because," the blonde purred. In a slow, calculated motion, she surged forwards until Bella fell backwards into the grass. The vampire held herself above Bella, staring down into an open face and eyes filled with a dare. "We're alone and my control has never been tested before."

"I'm a big scary god," Bella told her, breath catching in her throat when Rosalie lowered herself until she pinned Bella beneath her. "I can take care of myself."

"Having seen you rollerblade into a glass pane window, I find that very difficult to believe."

Bella scoffed, a grumble under her breath while she rolled her eyes again. "Mood killer."

"Bella?"

"Hm."

"Yes."

Dark eyes reluctantly dragged back over to Rosalie. "Yes, what?"

"You may."

Warm fingers slid around the back of Rosalie's neck, a gentle tug guiding her lips to their smiling destination. The delighted hum she received from Bella when they finally connected was enough to inflate Rosalie's heart, or maybe break it.

A lot of cliches came to mind as the kissed, much like last time. Cliches that Rosalie had to conscious bat away because she was not giving into that, she refused to let Alice be right about her. About that vexing, secret hopeless romantic side of her. The side that kept her in the room while The Notebook played on the television, the side that melted every time Carlisle surprised Esme with flowers and a dancing date.

The only piece of her human self that had somehow managed to burrow in and remain all these years; the side the had quickly and irrevocably fallen in love with love.

Not that Bella made it easy. Lips softer than a dream but somehow strong, her presence passive but all-consuming. Her taste something between berries and lavender, much like her scent, but even more potent and, god, how many years had it been since Rosalie craved anything other than blood?

"Mmmf!"

Rosalie felt Bella's lips curl up into a smile in the middle of their kiss and was determined to ignore it. Was determined to kiss this woman until she was delirious and forgot about the noise Rosalie just made.

But then Bella's chest began to shake and she wasn't kissing Rosalie back so much as she was trying to stifle her giggles.

Which was just... it was very hard to keep kissing through.

With no small amount of regret, Rosalie pulled away just enough to stare down at her mate. "If you say one word about it, I'm-"

"You moaned, Aphrodite," Bella laughed softly and quickly pressed another kiss to the vampire's lips. "I'm going to treasure that noise for the rest of my life."

"I will literally end you."

"God, I adore you."

Rosalie shifted her weight to one hand while the other plucked a flower from the colourful barrage that surrounded Bella in the grass. A bed of flowers that had most definitely not been there before the kiss, and... "Bella."

"Hm?" the dreamy reply came, hooded eyes gazing at her like she was the single most interesting thing in the universe.

Something Rosalie might have taken a moment to bask in, if not for the fact that those hooded eyes were not the familiar shade of brown she had come to love. Instead, a pair of shimmering green eyes stared back at her. Shimmering.

.

.

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This chapter took forever but that's mostly because I had to go back and fix this because of my deep-seated love of Alice. Which I totally did, and totally didn't cry while doing it. Specifically, the scene in the comic shop on the couch, and the scene in the previous chapter before Bella finds Rosalie.

Anyway, I'm trying to find my groove back in this story. I've been writing a lot of different things lately, so sticking to one style is... a conscious effort? On that note, not sure how many of you follow me on tumblr (thirteenohtoo dot tumblr dot com), but I'm doing a prompt extravaganza.

I've got a list of prompts on my page that I'm going to be working through, and I've left the pairings and fandom choices for most of them up to you! So, if you want, go ahead and vote on your choice there, and keep an eye on my page here. I'll gather all the stories and post them under a Paige's Prompts document here.

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and what giant nerds these two are.

peace

paige.