A/N: I haven't written a word in a month and then I slapped down a straight 1.5k on this! If you thought the end of the last chapter was good, check this shit out.

Waking was, at first, a slow, gentle process as the world beckoned to Rosalie, and then her heart pounded in her throat at the sudden beat of a fist on her door. She was upright before she even sucked in a breath, blue eyes darting to the lock on her door to assure herself it was secure. "Yes?"

She couldn't look at Bella by her desk. She couldn't bear to see Bella's reaction to the quake in her voice. Hell, she couldn't bear to acknowledge it herself.

"I'm going to meet with Jerry and to take care of some errands. I want the living room cleaned today."

The breath she took was a long one, and she let it go slowly, hating how shaky it was. "Okay."

"And?"

And what the fuck else? But no, she couldn't say that out loud, so she just struggled against a sigh. "And?"

There was a huff on the other side of the door. "And I don't want you taking that girl's car anywhere."

"It's not yours to decide on." Clearly she wasn't awake since that slipped out her mouth.

"No but you're mine to decide on." Her father slapped a hand to the door before his heavy footsteps started down the hall. "Be good."

Rosalie moved to get up, but stopped. Stared down at her hands fisted in the blanket. A sigh left her as she let go and flexed her fingers, letting the blood flow in them regularly again.

"Are you safe?"

There was hardly a time Bella sounded serious. Her voice was a little deeper than most girls and she almost always sounded sarcastic or detached, but hardly ever serious. And so in the face of it, Rosalie found herself actually considering the answer. She'd never truly thought about her own safety or if it would be challenged. Her life was just...a struggle. As the weight of possibility sank in her stomach, she committed to a course, just as she usually did. Her feet touched the hardwood and she stretched. "Does it matter to you?"

"Yes."

She looked over at Bella, who was just as she had been last night. A statue. "Then yes, I think so."

Bella swung her feet off the desk and pushed herself up in a way far too fluid for someone who routinely bumped into door frames. Not to mention she should've lost feeling in something because of being in that position for so long. But none of that mattered as dark eyes burned into hers. The tightness of her jaw and the depth of her gaze gave Rosalie the impression Bella would kill for her without a thought.

And Rosalie believed it.

But she couldn't figure out why. Both why she believed it and why Bella would feel that way with their month of friendship.

Rosalie idly scratched her temple before closing her eyes for a moment and releasing a small sigh. "Wanna go get some food?"

It was almost as if Bella reset herself. A dumb grin came to her face that she tried to wipe away with her hand and her eyes moved around like there was some joke. "We can go but I won't eat. My stomach doesn't do well with food so soon after I wake up."

Rosalie shrugged on her way to the restroom. "Whatever, you hoodlum."

"Bully."

Shutting the door, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She was smiling.

"I thought you were spending the day with her." He gave a little sniff, still not turning his head to watch her make her way through the auditorium.

Bella adjusted the cuffs of her sleeves for the hundredth time while biting her tongue to keep from sighing or huffing. "Excuse me," she muttered at one guy who saw her coming down the aisle of seats and still didn't move his damn legs.

It was possible that she kicked his foot on purpose.

At last, she dropped into the seat beside Edward and pulled at her collar.

Edward sniffed again just as she had opened her mouth.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed. Conversation fell to a murmur as the gentle sounds of people filing onto the stage came from behind the large, red curtain and some stragglers still made their way in.

A soft sigh came from Bella's left the moment she extended her shield to Edward and she watched his shoulders droop just a bit. She couldn't imagine trying to enjoy something with the thoughts of hundreds of people slamming around her brain.

"I didn't think you would come," he admitted, eyes down at his hands in his lap.

Biting her lip was the only thing keeping Bella from going off into a speech about his worth again. So, she just reached over to squeeze his wrist and leave her hand there. "Edward, I wouldn't forget about you. Do I remember which symphony this is? No. But I remembered the time and place and will pay attention to things to talk to you about on the drive home."

He smiled at her as the lights cut off and the curtain began to part.

And they did discuss the performance on the way home. Sometimes it turned into five or ten minutes straight of Edward talking about a particular person's ability or how the symphony compared to others, but it was easy. In fact, it was so easy that Bella was nodding to Edward's rant about someone entirely missing their cue in 1978—or maybe 1987?— as they got out the car at home.

Emmett vaulted over the second story balcony with a grin and a baseball that he was bouncing in his hands until he saw how widely Edward was gesturing. When Bella mouthed "later" at him, he pouted and bounced the ball in the air one more time.

She shook her head and mumbled to Edward, "The audacity."

"I know! You're in charge of setting up the climax of a song, you're responsible for that moment where people gasp and feel something, and you just forget?"

As they passed him, Emmett tossed his head back with a groan and shuffled off around the house.

With the backs of her hands against the floor, Bella hung off the edge of Edward's couch on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. Maybe Friday?

She used to be watching Jasper and Edward's chess matches. Used to. Now they just happened to be sitting on the floor with a chessboard in her vision. The only sign she was there at all was the fact she was still shielding Edward from the thoughts in the house.

She blinked for the first time in a while. At least six songs had played in Alice's neighboring room. Well, six that Bella had been aware of.

Edward's clock was ticking.

A band of clouds moved in the way of the moon, making the room just a bit darker.

Ticking, ticking, ticking.

Knocking.

None of them looked up or said anything, but the door cracked open enough for Alice to stick her head in. "Bella, can I borrow you?"

She took her first breath in however long and slid off the couch and onto the floor before pushing herself to her feet. As she went around the pair on the floor, she ran her fingers through Edward's hair.

Alice passed her room and opened the sliding door at the end of the hall to the small platform. It was an easy, graceful thing as she hopped onto the large tree branch there and walked up it. Bella's landing was careless, a simple means to an end that shook the branch.

On and on, she walked and jumped after Alice until she heard her stop. Bella looked up from the dark underbrush of the forest to find golden eyes already on her.

She looked sad.

She looked like she knew Bella's heart.

It made Bella's gaze fall away as she held a hand over her own chest before pressing it there like she could find a pulse if she tried hard enough. It would never be found, though. She exhaled decay.

"I don't know what to do for you."

"I don't know what to do for myself." She shoved her hands into her pockets before shrugging and looking back at the smaller vampire. Bella watched her bite her lip. "Still, you always do more than enough for me. And...I don't thank you enough."

As if pulled, Alice took half a step closer. But that was all. She wrapped her arms around herself like it was all that she could do to keep from reaching out to Bella. Golden eyes squeezed shut before opening again. She gave a short, unhappy laugh. "I'm still not used to this. It's been how many years?"

"Pfft. I don't know." A goofy grin revealed the first emotion Bella had felt in hours. "I'm the worst person to ask about time."

"You are!"

Bella shrugged again, but this time it was unapologetic and carefree. Then the grin slid off her face, gaze drifting around the trees and their slightly swaying branches. "I'm tired."

"I know."

"You're restless."

Alice appeared to think it over before giving a single nod. "Very."

"What do you want to do?"

"I'll figure something out. Now, that's not the only reason I grabbed you." She finally decreased the space between them to fix the upturned part of Bella's collar.

"The malls are closed, Alice."

"I resent that you even felt the need to say that." Alice sniffed. Sighing, she reached for Bella's hands and held them. "So don't twitch, but I've been actively checking out Rosalie's future from time to time since you told me about her father—" She huffed when Bella's full body twitched and cut her off, "Didn't I say not to do that? Didn't I? Yes, I know you'd kill him. So would I. Nothing will happen to her but she's going to an old road by a cliff and I don't like her being there alone."

Bella was nodding. "I'll go. Vault road, right? With that little turn-off point?"

"Wow, you actually remember the name of something."

Although she scowled, Bella stepped in to hug Alice.

Sometimes, during spring or more often during the summer, kids drove up here to make out in their cars. At least, Bella thought it might be the same spot. She'd ask Edward later.

For now, she was mentally yelling at herself to breathe. To slow down. To blink. To act in some way human after running through trees and double checking for traffic before crossing streets for perhaps half an hour. She'd come to a stop so suddenly her boots had dug into the ground.

Very not human.

Just like the intensity with which she was holding her hands in fists.

She could make this work. She could do this. So what it should've been anyone else, anyone with a modicum of an ability to make people feel better?

Bella shoved her fists into her pockets and her boots crunched the gravel at a regular pace. She saw Rosalie's shoulders twitch, but the girl didn't turn or get off the hood of the car.

Her heart was so wild, so alive, so desperate. It screamed pain and Bella spat venom.

Rosalie still didn't acknowledge her when Bella stopped beside her. She just kept sitting there, hood up and hands in fists against her cheeks as she stared off past the cliff. Off past the cliff and out at the endless trees and the one, sad winding road through them as the moon sat fat in the sky. A cloud began moving in front of it.

She stared at the dark fabric of Rosalie's hood like it would fall back at any moment and reveal the platinum hue of her hair caused by the moonlight.

Bella's gaze dropped from her to the ground. "It's cold out here."

A puff of breath formed in front of Rosalie as if to accent her point. "Do I have all of your jackets?" Her voice was so hoarse, so rough like the gravel under Bella's boots, so unsteady like she might blow away in the wind.

But Bella just swallowed back venom and her lips twitched for a second. Because of course Rosalie was wearing her hoodie and of course Bella forgot to bring...anything. She was really out here in the cold in jeans and a short sleeved button up. "No but I'm glad you have so many because what if you didn't have one now? I forgot one so I'd have to run back and grab one and that's an inconvenience at best."

"I agree. Buy some band hoodies."

"Who says I don't have any?"

"Me, because otherwise my heart is broken over this betrayal." She sniffed, whether from the cold, crying, or from being indignant, Bella didn't know.

"Can't I just buy you some?"

"No. It's not the same."

As her fingers unfurled, finally free from the tight fists they'd been in, Bella felt something she'd forgotten about. She pulled it from her pocket and stepped closer to hold it in Rosalie's vision. "Lollipop?"

A laugh gave way to a sob.

And Bella's legs tensed to run away. But she didn't. She stayed put and managed not to crush the stick of the candy before Rosalie took it. She swallowed venom. Watched Rosalie drag her sleeve across her face and spin the lollipop under the moon. While Rosalie only glanced at her for a second, for barely the blink of an eye, Bella's heart felt heavier in her chest.

Rosalie's eyes were so, so swollen and red. Her nose and cheeks raw and irritated from the cold and wind attacking her skin, especially along the tracks of her tears.

Fists back in her pockets, Bella cleared her throat. "It's late, huh? You should get some sleep."

There was a small sniff from Rosalie before she started picking at the wrapper. A harsh wind made her lean to the side a bit. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Should I?" She'd stepped closer with the question, bumping her knee against the car in the process. Dark eyes moved from Rosalie to a truck travelling down that one lonely road below them and back. The only things in her pockets were her fists now, so she couldn't check her phone for the day.

Rosalie made a noise in the back of her throat that reminded Bella of when they first met. "Did I say you should?" And before Bella could apologize for nothing, before Bella could offer something to placate her, before Bella could finish taking a step back, Rosalie popped the lollipop into her mouth with a sigh that dragged down her shoulders. "I'm sorry. Being around me must be tiring and the exact opposite of what you're used to and yet you still keep coming back."

Eyebrows drawing together, she stared at the side of Rosalie's hood like that alone could make the young woman look at her. "'Exact opposite?'"

"Alice," Rosalie said plainly. A shrug that was interrupted by her shivering. "You don't deserve my behavior."

The line between Bella's eyebrows deepened as her gaze fell to the gravel. Squeezing her eyes shut for a few seconds instead of a regular blink proved that no, there was not blood on her boots. And while she couldn't stop smelling smoke, she could stop breathing. "You don't know what I deserve."

Bella jumped from the beginning of a touch on her arm. Somehow, Rosalie didn't react to that. Maybe she expected it, maybe she was just too tired. Still, even for her own issues, her eyes were kind, thoughtful. The corner of her mouth where the stick of her candy was pulled down. Her brow furrowed. And, slower now, she continued what she had set out to do. Her palm settled on Bella's forearm before her fingers splayed across her skin, not so warm as they should've been.

It occurred to Bella then that, maybe, they were equally terrible at comforting others.

So it wasn't exactly a smile that she offered, but her lips twitched into some positive shape even though she could feel the weight of over a century behind her eyelids.

"You are," Rosalie let out a laugh that wasn't so watery or bitter, "really fucking cold."

And Bella's gaze moved anywhere else as she broke off their contact by tucking her arms tighter to her sides. "Yeah it's pretty cold out here."

"Bella?"

She couldn't look at blue eyes. Her teeth were clenched so tight she felt like her jaw might crack. She managed to hum but it was pitched a bit too high.

"Can we stop lying to each other?"

"Can we get in the car?"

Wordless, Rosalie pushed herself off the hood and Bella found that it did not take long at all to get into a vehicle and turn it on. Also, getting into a confined space with someone was probably the worst thing to do when you wanted to avoid a conversation with them.

Absolutely the worst thing.

Bella held her hands over the vents for the heater to try making a difference in her temperature, all while doing a magnificent job of pretending Rosalie wasn't staring at her. She paused in her endeavor to adjust her seat.

Sniffing, Rosalie rubbed her sleeve against her cheek and scrolled through her spotify to pick a song. After she was done, she finally pushed back her hood but didn't look over at Bella, who was busy being interested in a piece of lint by the door handle.

.

Just as Bella considered talking before thinking might be a better tactic, laughter made her jolt against her door. Quick eyes checked for damage and found none and she managed to breathe again before discovering that Rosalie was waiting for eye contact. There was also a small, honest smile waiting for her.

"You're a fucking mess, you know that?"

Half of a smile played about her lips before she wiped her hand across her mouth and brought her gaze back to blue eyes. "Yeah I've been working on it for ages."

"You're hopeless."

"Entirely." Bella swallowed. "Can we just say 'lie' instead?"

Rosalie's hair slid across her face as her head tilted and she offered a hum in the lull between two songs playing. Then she cocked an eyebrow at Bella. "Lie."

"Oh. Well, now that's just bullshit."

Laughing, Rosalie finally broached the space between them and pushed on Bella's shoulder. She did that more often now, although her laugh wasn't as common as her chuckle and her smiles tended to be masked by eye rolls. And contact? Rosalie was the cause each time. Bella had originally been afraid to burst her personal space bubble and...she never really felt the need to touch someone. Most of her physical contact with Edward was for his benefit since she only had rough words for him at first. It'd taken her somewhere between a year and five to reach for Alice in a way that wasn't sexual. She'd decided to hug Esme on her own a handful of times.

"—and monkeys colonize the moon."

Bella's attention snapped to Rosalie all at once. She blinked at Rosalie's almost bored expression and furrowed her eyebrows, knuckles coming up to run along her jawline. "I'm sorry, what?"

Blue eyes rolled so Bella's eyes dropped to check, and, yes, her lips were twitching with the urge to smile. "I was thinking the other night. I decided to start saying random things whenever you space out until you tune back in."

"Oh. That's. I'm sorry. You don't bore me."

"I know. So we agree—"

"You do?"

Rosalie tilted her head to mirror Bella. Her gaze dragged to the dash and back to Bella, around the car and back to Bella. "You're in a metal box with me on a cliff at one in the morning on a Friday."

"I knew it was Friday," Bella muttered to herself before looking back at Rosalie. If she wasn't a vampire, she might not have noticed Rosalie wiping the smirk off her face. "But. Well. I suppose you have a point."

"Do you do things like this with other people?"

"No, Edward isn't a person."

Rosalie snorted. "Don't talk about your brother like that. Or maybe do. Why does he always look like I kicked his puppy?"

Golden eyes jumped to different parts of the car in an attempt not to look at Rosalie. "Edward? He's, uh, frequently constipated and—" A balled up napkin hit her in the eye.

"Lie?"

Bella's shoulders heaved with the large breath she took. "Oh, yes. Lie. Absolutely. I already adore this system."

"The only exception is wild stories because I kind of wish I'd let you continue in whatever direction you were going but I'm also a little glad I didn't."

"I don't know. Words were just coming out my mouth."

A hum. "You do talk before thinking. Often."

Bella jerked back, a hand on her chest. "Excuse me? I think before every word."

"Yikes."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you too."

"Whatever. I'm going home where I can be bothered in comfort."

Face twisted like Bella had said she would moonwalk up a tree, Rosalie looked out the windshield and back. "No you won't. I refuse to take you home right now."

"I have legs!"

"Yeah. Yeah you do, don't you?"

She'd sounded patronizing, but Bella picked up on the tiny shift in her tone. The way her eyes were too serious and her smile seemed frozen.

Well, you couldn't fix past mistakes, you could only work on not repeating them. So Bella held out her hand, pinky extended. Rosalie looked at her like her like she was a complete idiot and she huffed in response. "It's called a pinky promise. Come on, even I know that. For the lying thing."

"I know what a pinky promise is."

"Okay so what's your problem?"

"One, they don't mean anything. Two, why are you suggesting one?"

"They mean what you make them, Jesus, stop being so uptight!" Great. She'd quoted Alice verbatim. Now she owed her flowers or something. With a sigh, she shook her hand a little. "Come on, I won't bite."

"Under one condition. Tell me something." Rosalie squinted at her. "Did you get that from Alice?"

"I entirely hate the both of you."

To keep Bella from exiting the car, Rosalie grabbed a fistful of her shirt and pulled. She ignored the scowl aimed at her and picked up Bella's hand herself, linking their pinkies. "Do we have to say something?"

"I solemnly swear I'm up to—"

"If you think you're the Harry Potter of this group, we're fighting."

"We don't have a third person!"

"That's it. I'm taking you home. I'm sick of you."

Although Bella didn't argue, she did huff as she pulled on her seatbelt. "Will you be able to sleep?"

"Yes." After backing out onto the road, Rosalie offered a sigh. "Lie."

Maybe Bella's feelings on this system wouldn't be as positive as she thought. On the way to a main street, her eyes had darted toward the driver so many times she had lost count. The seatbelt was bunched up in her hand. "Do you...want a repeat?"

Rosalie didn't say anything. Her jaw tightened as much as her grip on the steering wheel and she never looked Bella's way.

And Bella understood being alone with pain, so she just watched the trees of Forks roll on by.

Being alone with pain was understandable. Something Bella did often, on purpose. But being alone with pain with someone on the outskirts—there just enough to let you know you can have a hand out that pit at any time—was something Bella also understood.

So, yes, coming out of her thoughts to realize they were parked in Rosalie's driveway surprised her, but she didn't call attention to it. And as she heard Rosalie curse under her breath, she also didn't call attention to the light on downstairs.

"He's still awake," Rosalie said.

And that was all. Her knuckles were white over the steering wheel.

Swallowing the question of if Rosalie wanted her to beat the shit out of her father, Bella shrugged and unbuckled her seatbelt before sinking down out of eyesight. "Just open your window."

"Wh—"

Rosalie's father interrupted her as he opened the front door.

In the dark, Bella hummed a song Edward had been working on yesterday while staring at a loose thread in the driver's seat.

Control was always either her greatest success or her greatest failure.

Success. This time. Aided by the fact Rosalie mostly disregarded her father and made her way up to her room.

Bella wondered if she worried about her getting cold.

Once the light flicked off downstairs, Bella exited the car, making sure to manually lock it back behind herself. Her hands were relaxed in her pockets as she strolled around the building, but she spat venom on the lawn.

Rosalie's window was open, and Bella stared at it.

This girl trusted her. Truly. Rosalie never expressed doubt. She only considered things, which was wise.

But you should doubt killers.

Rosalie nearly jumped out of her skin when Bella suddenly appeared on her windowsill, crouched and still.

"Christ, Bella," she breathed, hand over her raging heart, just a foot away. "I was about to peek out and text you if I didn't see you, but you're apparently an athlete."

"Emmett liked parkour first." Her voice was too quiet.

There it was. That consideration. The careful pinch of pale eyebrows. The way Rosalie searched her face for a tell.

As if that sentence held more to it than Bella materializing perfectly in a window twenty or so feet in the air.

Bella's lips curved into a smile that was just barely there. She swallowed back venom.

Ten minutes later, Bella had gotten a glimpse of her own black eyes before settling in the chair at Rosalie's desk. It had definitely happened too many times now. Either Rosalie had decided not to ask or was deciding when to ask. "Ready?" She tried to smile as Rosalie turned off the bathroom light, kicking her feet up on the desk.

"Almost."

"Well, good night then." She thought about faking a yawn even as she closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders at her own indecision.

There was some rustling in the closet and a curse or two from Rosalie. "Do you want to skip school tomorrow or do you actually want to go?"

"Oh that sounds good," Bella murmured as she wiggled to find that exact comfort level where she could zone out and pretend to sleep.

"It was a this or that question, you damn hoodlum."

Taking in a breath to say something rude, Bella stopped short and opened her black eyes to stare at the wall. She listened to Rosalie's footsteps travel to the bed before raising her fingers to brush against the blanket that had been tossed over her. Her thanks got caught in her throat, however, because one of Rosalie's many pillows hit the side of her head.