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If she were being honest, Bella would have you believe that-- no, she doesn't have a hopeless crush on Rosalie Hale, and how dare you for even bringing up that fruitless complicated bundle of emotions back up? This protest, is of course, ultimately disbelieved by most of the people in her life that bring up her not-so-subtle love interest. One example of said people, an example actually a little surprising, happens to be her father.
Of all her friends and family, why did it have to be Charlie Swan who decided to talk to her about it? She thinks that if Rosalie herself came and confronted her about it, she'd actually survive the embarrassment better than her father awkwardly twitching as he lectures her about girls of all things.
Charlie, thankfully, doesn't know much about how women are... intimate, but does his absolute best, which Bella is simultaneously grateful and flustered for.
"So--" His splotchy blush starts to fade and instead a slightly mischievous grin forms on his face, "--that Cullen girl, huh?"
He laughs at Bella's spluttered protests.
---
Bella Swan is not very athletically inclined. Anyone within a ten foot radius in gym, her pee wee soccer games, her failed ballet class, and that one Subway in Port Angeles (long story involving Jacob Black and a deck of cards) can attest to this fundamental fact. So, understand, when her adopted family of vegetarian vampires ask her if she wants to play baseball of all things she loses her shit.
The entire Cullen family watch her with round interested eyes.
It's about ten seconds of watching her laugh, followed by awkward silence, followed by even more laughter, before she can finally pull herself together. "Oh." She said simply, "You weren't joking?"
"No." It's Rosalie that answers, looking distraught and confused and super adorable--
Bella forces herself to remember that they are friends now.
"Want to play baseball?" Edward asks again, rolling his eyes goodnaturedly, "Maybe you can answer now that you've stopped, eh-hem, chortling."
She places a hand over her heart, "Chortling? I do not chortle--"
"Silence human!" Alice says, "I have seen you... doing... the baseball--!" Another uncomfortable silence follows as she raises her hand dramatically and closes her eyes. A beat passes before she opens a single golden eye, "Jasper sweetie that's your cue."
The blonde man blinks for a moment. "Sorry, darlin' Esme took the phone."
A loud slew of dramatic music suddenly comes from the smart phone in Esme Cullen's hand. Her caramel hair bounces upward as the woman jumps up in surprise, Alice resumes her intricate hand movements cackling, "I set up a back up alarm just in case!"
That is, before a loud crunch stops the sounds. "Oh dear--" Esme winces, "--Sorry Alice."
Alice, suddenly forlorn looking, whispers, "My data."
"A worthy sacrifice," Bella interjects, looking solemn, "your lack of chill will forever be imprinted into my mind because of this moment, know that."
"My data." She whispers again, this time moving forward to cradle the smashed bits of phone on the floor.
Bella, reluctant, moves forward and kneels next to Alice as she curls in the fetal position. "Need... um, something?"
When the smaller girl gestures to Jasper and Bella, both parties exchanged panicked looks.
"Need hugs from my main squeeze and side boo." Alice mumbles.
"I don't think I should ask which ones which." Bella hears Emmett mumble to Rosalie as she and Jasper move to lay next to Alice, squishing her in a Bell-Jazz sandwich.
---
Bella Swan actually knows a fair bit about baseball, as her mother went through a phase of interest when she met Phil and like most phases (fondue making, fingerprint planting, lock picking, wine tasting, random intricate baking, etc.) Bella was left with another nearly useless skill.
Except for lock picking, that one came in handy a lot when she lived with her mother. (She tended to forget her keys.)
Anyway, Bella decides to pretend to know nearly nothing about baseball, because surely if she doesn't know anything about it Alice won't make her participate?
In retrospect, it does sound a little naive, now that Bella thinks about it. One brightside to her suffering, the tiny vampire somehow convinced Rosalie to show her the basics. If she weren't so enamoured by the blonde she would find a way to make Alice pay-- But for now, she had Rosalie-bonding-time to enjoy.
(No, that doesn't sound pathetic at all. Shut up.)
Rosalie was actually a pretty good teacher, if Bella didn't already know how to play the game she'd have learned a lot really quickly. Certainly quicker than the way she did learn how to play baseball, another long story featuring her mother and when she'd drag Bella to her now-husband's baseball games. (Wait that wasn't a long story, maybe it just felt that way at the time, anyway--)
The blonde vampire was teaching her about baseball.
Bella liked her so much.
(It actually kind of hurt.)
Times like this, when Rosalie would enthusiastically tell her something (rare as they were) always seemed a little bittersweet. It was like watching someone who was made for you--
Bella was quick to cut off that type of thinking.
Rosalie was her own person.
Bella Swan could wait.
(She would wait.)
"I have a feeling you already knew most of this." Rosalie says, interrupting her train of thought with a single raised eyebrow.
She's so pretty. "Well, if I'm being quite honest--" Bella dramatically flicks her hair out of her eyes, looking up at the blonde with a cheesy grin, "--I only said I didn't know much about baseball because I thought it might get me out of attending, although, I'm certainly not complaining about the refresher course."
Rosalie placed a hand over her mouth, hiding her smile.
Bella didn't bother hiding her own.
---
"Theoretically," Bella says to Esme as they compare baking recipes, "if I where to-- gee I dunno, have a crush on your blonde vampire daughter, how would you take it?"
Esme blinks momentarily, making Bella feel briefly triumphant in her success in hiding her feelings, when the caramel haired woman says, "Oh you've finally admitted it outloud!"
She gapes, because that was totally not the point she was trying to get across. Unfortunately for her, Bella's lame stuttering did not stop Esme from wrapping her in a ginormous hug and saying things like, 'welcome to the family' and 'I finally have a daughter that enjoys architecture and cooking, how lucky!'
Bella, stays stone still, unsure how to process the apparent maternal affection and the unwavering (if slightly concerning) support she is getting from this woman.
She feels weightless and weepy as Esme lifts her and spins her around as if she were a newborn baby, meeting a family member for the first time. Briefly, she wondered if Esme did this to all her children when they did something profound, and finds herself laughing along to her giggles at the image of Emmet being lifted from his armpits by a proud mama vampire.
---
"Bella!" Alice exclaimed excitedly, "I'm here to take you to the game!"
She makes eye contact with her father, silently pleading with him to intervene. He smiles from the door way, and shoots her a thumbs up when he notices Rosalie sitting in the passenger seat.
"Alright kiddo--" Her dad starts, "--got your pepper spray? Pack of matches? A flash light?"
"You do know I'm going to play baseball right?"
"Bells."
"Yes dad, I have all these useless items--" she lifts the pack of matches in her hand, squinting at the doodle of a bear on the carboard, "--and probably this fire hazard."
"Score one for me--" she catches his eye, he sighed, correcting himself. "Try not to trip."
---
"I'm having so much fun--" Bella drawled, "--watching everyone play a game that would probably kill me."
Esme smiles, that sweet mom smile that always makes Bella's stomach flip, and pats her on the back. "I think you're doing great dear."
Edward, who had been laying facedown on the grass ever since Bella had declared him out, groaned outloud.
She kneeled down, awkwardly patting his back. "Don't worry champ, mo-- your mom is taking us for ice cream later." Edward only groaned louder.
"None of us can eat icecream though." Emmett pointed out sagely from the home plate, prepping to take a swing.
Bella scoffed, "Not with that attitude."
Alice giggled from her position as pitcher, dramatically preparing herself in some complex twist of her body to throw the ball super fast at him.
Emmett swung faster then she could see, a loud crack making Bella wince slightly.
Edward groaned, speeding towards the ball that had landed somewhere in the trees and threw it back to Jasper who through it to Carlisle. Rosalie, who had been on second base, bolted towards home, crashing into the bag and Carlisle's stretched glove.
Esme grinned. "I couldn't tell, what about you Bella?"
She had been doing that recently, Bella noticed, discreetly putting the two in the odd situation or two. It was kind of funny, and all though she appreciated the gesture she didn't want help when it came to her crush by said crush's mom.
She smiled warmly down at Rosalie, extending a hand. "I think she's out."
The blonde glared upwards, huffing and taking her hand to stand up, when Alice froze, dropping the ball that Carlisle had throne back to her.
Edward was back in a flash, in front of Bella and gazing determinedly at something across the field. "Alice, how much time-?"
The little vampire zoomed towards him, pure horror etched into her face. "Something changed... I didn't see--" Alice spun towards her, "--I'm so sorry I didn't see-!"
Edward moved to grip her shoulders, a growl from Jasper startling him enough to let go. "--what changed, Alice what changed?-"
"We don't have any time--" she ignored Edward, pulling off her scarf and wrapping it tight around Bella, ignoring her spluttering. Alice shot Esme a desperate look, the Cullen matriarch wordlessly taking off her cardigan and placing it over Bella's shoulders. "Bella hold onto Edward--" Rosalie made a sound of protest, only for Alice to snap, "--he's the fastest-!"
"Alice?" Bella asked as Edward wrapped his arms around her stomach, lifting her slightly. "Alice-?"
"Answer her." Rosalie snarled as Edward asked, "What's changed?"
"They heard us playing."
---
Red eyes. Bella would have to remember that small feature, it might just save her life if she encountered a vampire who thought she smelled a little too nice. Of course that little detail wouldn't help her now, but it was always nice to know.
Bella could only stare, watching as the beautiful dark man talked to Carlisle in a pleasant tone. No matter what happened, she thought as Alice gripped her hand just a little bit tighter, she was already dead-- surely they could hear her heartbeat?
The panicked eyes of the redheaded vampire's eyes met her own, right as the blonde man snapped his head in Bella's direction.
"James don't--"
"Well what do we have here?" His tongue curled around thw words like he dominated them, like he beat them until they submitted. Bella wondered if he wasn't as much of an asshole as he sounded. "A snack?" She was wrong.
The redhead gripped the blonde man, James, by the arm. "Don't you dare-!"
"We don't want any trouble." Carlisle murmured to the vampire who had introduced himself as Laurent.
He ran a hand through his perfect dreadlocks, glancing warily at James through the corner of his eyes. "We will not give you any."
James growled, moving forward, inadvertently dragging the redhead with him. She gripped him by his neck suddenly, clutching him so hard cracks began to appear in his perfect skin. "We aren't here to start a war--"
He grunted loudly, throwing her off of him. "Are you joking, Victoria? A whole coven gaurding one human--" his eyes were downright wrong, "--can you imagine the challenge?"
She shoved him backward, and Bella could see her eyes go black in anger. "We came to play baseball! Not whatever it is you're thinking of doing!"
James scoffed. In a flash, he was gone.
Bella's heart stuttered. The only word she could think of that described this situation was, "Well shit."
Every vampire snapped their head towards her.
"Sorry." She winced. "It isn't everyday a homicidal maniac looks like he wants to eat you, and probably actually plans to."
Victoria doesn't even look at her. "Can one of you idiots shut your human up?"
Wordlessly, Emmett places a large hand over her mouth. She'd lick it, but she knows where his hands have been.
---
"You all suck." Bella says, "Your plans, wack. Your arguments, wack. The way you don't even consider the puny human's feelings, wack. Me? I'm tight as fuck--"
"Okay--" Rosalie glares at her. "We get it!"
Bella glared right back. "No, you don't." She rolled her eyes, ignoring the pleading look on Rosalie and Edward's faces. "There's a remarkably simple solution to all of this."
"Bella let us handle this--" Edward pleads while Rosalie drives far too fast to be legal.
"Take me home." She fumed.
"Listen to us-- for once in your life just listen!" Rosalie snaps. "We need to get you out of here--"
Her words strike a chord somewhere deep inside of her. "Take me home." Her words are knife like, cutting the tension in the car easily and stopping Rosalie and Edward from speaking. "Take me home."
---
"Dad--" she's sobbing, "--dad!" It's easy to fake tears when you aren't pretending.
"Bells?" His voice gruff where hers is raspy, complementary.
"She hates me--" she gripped onto his shoulders, "--I lost them--"
Charlie Swan is there, wrapping his arms around her in movements so fluid she almost forgets he doesnt have much experience holding crying teenagers. Acting like this, like the Cullens hate her, keep her around for novelty and amusement is worryingly easy.
Maybe it's because deep down, they think they know better.
This is for the best. "What do you need?" He asks.
She tells him.
---
Bella exists her home, gripping her go away bag. Her father had been completely understanding, she thinks that makes it worse somehow. She'd said she wanted to visit her mother, said she needed a week of icecream and maternal affection, said he'd neve be able to understand-- and he'd agreed with her.
"Bella--" it's Alice and Jasper driving her to the airport, James wouldn't expect Rosalie and Edward to not be with her.
"Drive." She states. They do.
---
Alice told her that Rosalie had strong armed everyone into listening to her. Bella feels something right then, feels the soft ball of emotion that fills her so immensely she might never feel anything else.
In the moment before her phone rings, she allows herself to hope.
---
The call makes her teeth ache. It had been a week of lounging and longing and just waiting for something to happen-- then stupid James has to go and kidnap her mother. It's a terrible conundrum, horrible problem, a downright fishy situation. Bella knows it's a trap, knows that she probably won't make it out of that stupid ballet studio alive-- but she can't chance it.
He has her mother.
That's all she needed to know to march to her death.
Bella hears her mom's voice, desperate and erratic-- on repeat. Then she notices the fuzzy television screen, the sight of tiny her in a frilly pink tutu.
"I really drank thag dumb bitch juice, huh?" She says to James when he appears, camera in hand. "Although not as much as you have apparently."
He grins at her his teeth pointing out behind his thin lipped smile. "Are they going to come after me when I'm done?"
Bella tilts her head, considering, before turning back to the television. She watches seven year old Bella start to cry, and watches as her mother huffed forward, quietly chastising her as she lifted her daughter to her feet.
"Nah." Bella says, after she opens her eyes and just looks straight back at him. "They won't."
He sniffed at air, freezing suddenly. "What did you do?"
Bella smiles. "Smell something Jamie?" She gets his name wrong on purpose (she's petty like that). "I sure do."
He moves forward, glaring and brandishing the camera like a sword, zooming in on her smile and the back of her hands. James wants an answer, that much is true as he grips her by her neck, lifting her with lazy grace that offsets the absolute loathing that frames his perfect face.
"What have you done?"
Bella smiles roughly. She lights a match, the rest of them in her back pocket encased in a cardboard box with the doodle of a bear.
"Do you think vampires are flammable?" She chokes out.
Bella droped the lit match before James could respond.
She thinks she's lucky when his hair catches flame. She thinks she's lucky when he throws her into the mirror. She doesn't think she's so lucky when he bites her wrist. She doesn't think she's so lucky when she hears a woman start to scream.
Rosalie-- her thoughts are filled with the blonde vampire, inadvertently bringing a smile to her lips. Rosalie--
---
When she wakes up, her leg is in a cast. She stares dumbly at it for a minute. This isn't the first time she's woken up with a body part in bandages, but something feels off this time.
Someone cold grips her hand.
"Are you," she coughs a little, "holding my hand?"
Gold eyes widen ever so slightly, "Alice asked me to keep it cold for her."
"And you listened to her?" Bella asks her.
"She was in great distress, I thought I should bend, just this once." The vampire answered thoughtfully.
Bella flushes from head to toe. "Rosalie Hale doesn't bend unless she wants to."
The other teenager seems stuck suddenly, frozen and moving slowly. This might be the first time that Bella has seen her embarrassed. A self satisfied smile breaks away onto her face, this is the first time Rosalie Hale has ever held her hand.
When the blonde moves to let go, Bella finds herself gripping tighter.
"You could have died." Rosalie says quietly. "Why did you go if you could have died?"
"I thought he had my mom." Bella feels very silly suddenly.
"And did he?" Rosalie's words aren't purposely meant to hurt, but cut into her something awful.
"No." Bella considered her next words, "but he did have very flammable hair."
They stare at each other, before Rosalie pulls away with a start, "Your mother is coming." Bella wonders why she would pull away at that, only to find out later that for some reason or another, the Cullen family cannot stand Renee. But for now, Bella can only find herself watching Rosalie Hale pretend to sleep.
---
"That girl--" her mother gestured with her chin towards where Rosalie sat, pretending to be asleep, "--really loves you."
Bella blinks. Before beginning to laugh, "You're funny mom."
Renee raised a brow, "You really love her."
"Let's not talk about this." Bella says back.
Her mother watches her for a second, before shrugging, and launching into some adventure she had with Phil.
Bella nodded along, answering at the right parts. She had almost forgotten that she had been talking to her mother, and not any of her other family members.
(The others being the Cullens.)
---
Jessica and Angela had disappointed frowns on their faces. "What do you mean you aren't going?"
Bella, doesn't bother to look at them, instead watching TV from Charlie's living room couch. "I wasn't asked."
"Lots of people asked you to the dance Bella, you told them all no." Angela stated.
"Rosalie didn't ask, Bella's too whipped to go with anyone else." Jessica supplied helpfully, and then winked, "not that that's a bad thing of course, Bella darling."
Bella rolled her eyes and gestured to the cast on her leg, "I'm kind of incapable of dancing at the moment guys. And all have you know I'm not--" she's cut off by unimpressed looks by the other two girls. "Whatever." She pouted.
---
"You." Bella says breathlessly, an accusation when Rosalie shows up in pajama bottoms and a large sleep shirt with little sushis on it.
"Me." She replies nonchalantly, swinging her legs back and forth from the tree she sits in. "Are you going to let me in or what?"
She finds herself grinning, limping out of the way for Rosalie. The blonde huffs impatiently, and Bella purposely makes herself move slower. With small jump, the vampire lands in her room relatively easy.
Bella blinks, staring at what Rosalie wears on her feet. "Are those unicorn slippers?"
The blonde snarls, crossing her arms and straightening out her posture threateningly. "One word--"
"--I was going to say they were cool--"
"--and I will actually skin you alive." Rosalie finished, glaring.
Bella smiles, wiggling her eyebrows, "Is that a promise, Miss Hale?"
Rosalie smiles for a second, trying to control her laughter and very obviously failing. "You." She whispers like an accusation, moving closer and gripping Bella's palms in her own.
"Me." She responds, her words not quite a question, "What are you--"
"Would it trouble you terribly?" Rosalie asks, "If I did something rashly in this moment?"
Bella feels her breath catch. "I don't--" she coughs, "I don't think I would mind."
"Wonderful." Rosalie leans forward and pecks her cheek.
Bella actually wants to start crying.
The vampire's smile is teasing, all too knowing. "I was only teasing." Then then Rosalie presses her lipstick covered mouth against hers.
Kissing Rosalie Hale is like a dream, a figment of wonderment and excitement you can only find when a five year old goes to Disneyland. Her lips are petal soft and cold, and even though Bella can't feel it she just knows that she's messing up her painted red mouth.
Rosalie very gently moves a hand up to her cheek, the other deciding to make a home on the back of her neck.
Bella sighs into her mouth, struck dumb and heart beting a mile a minute-- This was certainly not what she had expected this evening.
But, as Rosalie pulls her in for lazy kiss to lazy kiss-- Bella could only find herself believing that the blonde vampire was certainly worth the unpredictability of things.