Yet another rainy day...

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie sat perched in one of the ornately carved wooden high-backed chairs in the Cullen residence's extravagant dining room, painting her nails a daring blood red. Much like the rest of the house, said room was done up in pale colors, with dark wooden accents in the chairs and on the table. This room, as expected, was beautiful- naturally, it would be, under Esme's careful guidance.

'It *is* kind of ridiculous' she thought with an ironc smile. After all, the entirety of Rosalie's adopted family didn't even use the *kitchen*- much less the dining room. Well, except on those rare occasions when there was a "family meeting", as Carlisle liked to call them.

In fact, the only person who even ate at all that frequented this house was Bella.

A frown marrowed Rosalie's otherwise flawless face. Admittedly, she still felt guilty over the whole fiasco with the Vulturi...a name which, hatedly, made her shudder. So, she'd been doing her best to remain civil toward Edward's human. Still, she felt both incredibly awkward and seethingly jealous over the girl- loathe as she was to admit it, even to herself.

Bella was human. And yet she wanted to be a vampire, to spend eternity hunting animals and feasting on their blood. To never go out in public in the day time. To never feel her own heart beating inside her chest again.

Rosalie's frown deepened, and she pushed the bottle of nail polish haphazardly to the side. She wouldn't think about this anymore today. It was all this rain. It was getting to her, making her depressed.

She growled softly and escaped up the stairs to the sanctuary of her and Emmett's room.

After all, it was just another rainy day in Forks.

[Edward Cullen]

Edward strolled casually along, not quite sure where his feet were taking him. Bella was somewhere, probably at home doing homework. He would have stayed with her, but Charlie had set down new rules after that scum Jacob got her grounded. Now he was only allowed around Bella when Charlie wasn't home, and even though it was more than easy for Edward to sneak around that... he didn't want to disobey Charlie. Bella had protested when Edward left, but he did so anyway. He had things he had to think about, and Bella's presence would only distract him.

"Oh, hello Rosalie." He said, passing by her. He read her thoughts, but ignored them. "And how are you this afternoon?" He knew exactly how she was.

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie glanced up at hearing the familiar lilting voice of her little brother. Well, ok, technically speaking, he was her older brother. In vampire and human years at least. But he'd been seventeen, and she eighteen, at the times of their respective changes by Carlisle. So, in her eyes, he *was*, in fact, her little brother.

She scowled. It was highly unusual for *anyone*, let alone a member of her family, to sneak up on her. She mentally berated herself for not paying better attention.

'How are you this afternoon?' she repeated in her head, knowing that he could hear her. As if he even needed to ask!

"I'm sure you're well aware of how I am, Edward," she replied dryly, kicking off her patent leather Christian Louboutin heals. She stretched out on her and Emmett's shared king-size pink canopy bed. Emmett hated it. The thought made her grin.

"So, brother dear," she began again. "Why aren't you with your huma- ah, Bella, this afternoon?" She had caught herself just in the knick of time. Though, she knew Edward had heard her every thought regarding his paramour. Sometimes it really sucked- no pun intended, how tacky- to have a member of your family able to read your mind.

[Edward Cullen]

Edward leaned up against the door frame, crossing his arms. He narrowed his eyes at his sister, he was still sore from what had happened with the Volturri. Although Bella should have never jumped off the cliff in the first place, Rosalie shouldn't have gotten ahead of herself like that. "Bella's at home right now, grounded, as you probably would like to know. An... old friend of hers got her in trouble. So now she's at home doing homework." He looked around the room, a little apalled by all the... pink. He knew how much Emmett hated how everything looked, but didn't protest out of love for his dear Rosalie. "Been having a fun day?"

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie's scowl deepened at seeing the look on his face. True, she wasn't the mindreader in the family, but she didn't need Edward's particular gift to understand what he was thinking. He'd always griped about her specific forrays into interior decorating. But she happened to *like* pink. And Emmett really didn't mind...much.

But her curiosty was piqued at the revelation that the human- Bella- 'Must remember to refer to her by her given name. Although Isabella really is prettier than simply Bella. Such a shame the girl would rather be called by the latter'- was, in fact, "grounded" by her father. She wasn't completely sure who this "friend" was, but she had an inkling it was that dog boy, Jack or Jake or whatever his name was. Emmett had informed her of Bella's friendship with the canine.

'Hmm. Wonder how he got her in trouble?' she wondered in her head, forgetting, momentarily, that her brother could hear her.

Out loud, she replied to his query. "Oh, I'm having a wonderfully pleasant day," she replied with a false saccharine note in her voice. "It's raining- again-, Emmett's out hunting at Mount Rainier and God knows when he'll be back- you know how he gets when he's tracking grizzlies. I have no idea where Alice is. I'm bored out of my mind, and I ruined my Michael Kors stillettos when I went out earlier."

[Edward Cullen]

Edward couldn't help but be amused by his sister's concern over shoes. They were just that-shoes. He had never quite understood Alice and Rosalie's interest in clothing. It was just something that covered the body... and shoes kept your feet from being eaten up. Not that it really mattered now, though. "I haven't seen Alice since this morning... and to answer your question, yes it was the dog boy. Jacob is his name." He scowled at the thought. He had tried to be nice to the dog, but the stupid werewolf was too ignorant to be peaceful.

[Rosalie Hale]

A frown marred Rosalie's face. So it *was* true, then. Bella had been hanging around with *werewolves* in their absence. She shuddered at the thought. Whatever her feelings toward Bella were, she didn't like the idea of a defenseless human going around with ill-trained, newly-turned, adolescent werewolves. They were unpredictable, wild creatures, who could lose control at a second's notice.

Then again, Bella's boyfriend- 'What an immature word'- was, indeed, a vampire. So, who knew what was going on in that girl's head?

'Not Edward, that's for sure,' she thought with a snicker. She rather found it hilarious, that Bella's was the only head her dear brother couldn't get into. It must've drove him absolutely insane.

But still. Werewolves. At least they- Rosalie and her family- were, more or less, well-equipped to being around humans. And could control themselves if the need arose. Well, with the occasional exception of Jasper, like at Bella's birthday party.

And besides, werewolves smelled putrid. Like wet dog. Who would want to be in their vicinity anyway?

Rosalie's butterscotch eyes narrowed. "She *is* aware, isn't she, that her little wolf friend is a direct enemy of ours?"

[Edward Cullen]

Edward entered the room and sat down on a chair nearest a window. "Yes, she's quite aware of it now. The werewolf made it crystal clear that we can't stand each other, and gave her a choice. It was either him," Edward sneered, "or me. Bella, of course, chose me." Edward let out an uncharacteristically mean laugh, "Broke the wolf's heart. He was in love with her. Easy to see how he would fall for her though, I mean I'm guilty of the same crime. If a crime is what you would call it." He shrugged. "I think this whole fued is really... stupid. But I can't help but hate them as much as anyone else."

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie regarded her brother as he sat, still as stone, in her frilly vanity chair by the window. It was still so strange, so new, in her eyes, that her dear baby brother could care so much for someone...in the way in which she cared for Emmett. Or Alice for Jasper. And a *human*.

When she'd been speaking calmly over the phone to Edward just before his departure to Italy- a memory at which she shuddered both mentally and physically- she had argued with herself- that Edward could not possibly love this girl as much as she loved Emmett. But then she thought, what if it were her own mate who she thought dead? Gone from this plane? She wouldn't be able to handle it.

Suddenly, she felt ill. How ludicrous, really. Vampires don't get ill. Once one has become a member of their kind, the body ceases to work. But, there it was, all the same- a nagging feeling, much like nausea, in her gut. The images she'd conjured up in her mind were taking a toll on her physically.

But she didn't admit any of this out loud. Rosalie Hale just...did not *do* emotional conversations- in spite of the fact that, in the back of her mind, she knew that Edward had heard every thought.

"We are vampires, Edward," she said now, her eyes boring into his back. "Werewolves are our natural enemy. 'Stupid' or not, it is in our nature to hate them. They are one of the only things in this world that can kill us. Still, it says a lot about your Bella that she'd choose you- all of us, really- over them. I'm...glad she did." This last part had slipped out, grudglingly. And now, Rosalie felt unnaturally exposed and bare at that thought now hanging between them.

[Alice Cullen]

"But cannot werewolves be considered the same as us?" She stopped in the doorway. Alice grinned. "I was looking for you Edward." She spoke softly. "They are basically the same are they not? I don't approve of them... but... you know we did make a pact with them... and we have kept that pact so I agree with Edward... why can we not live in peace with said werewolves?" She cocked her head to the side curiously.

"And you Rosalie should learn to warm up to Bella, she's a nice girl." She walked into the room, her pare feet padding on the floor.

[Edward Cullen]

Edward smiled warmly as his other sister entered the room. "It's nice to see somebody around here agrees with me." He laughed, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head. "Although, I don't see how we're like them at all. But we should live in peace, don't you think, Rosalie?" He looked over at his stunninly beautiful sister, the one that was meant for him. But he couldn't, and would never, see her as anything more than a sisterly figure. The thought of loving her as Emmett did was kind of revolting, now that he thought about it. He loved Bella, would always love Bella, and nothing was going to change that.

He knew if he were human, thinking of his love the way he was then, would make his heart beat faster. His palms would swet, and he would blush. But he wasn't human, so none of those things happened. He kind of wished they would.

[Alice Cullen]

She sighed. "Just in the way they think... and they way that they are... maybe they're not as good at control as we are... maybe they're not as developed... but they're... thoughtful..." She blinked. Thinking about them that was was strange for her... maybe she didn't hate them but she had "grown-up", using the term loosely, disliking them... but she still agreed with Edward, maybe... they should give the werewolves another chance... "I still think that this is ridiculous... this fighting... when we're really... not truely different... its like vampires and humans, we can get along... but we're completely different..."

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie glanced up, watching her sister dance across her plush pink carpet. She had to smile, just a bit. Alice was the most graceful out of all of them, which was saying something, considering the "them" in question was a coven-full of vampires. Grace was a natural inheretent in their structure. But Alice, little Alice, had the walk of a ballet dancer. And the look of a beautiful elfin creature.

Of course, she was a completely different beautiful than Rosalie herself. But, she had to admit, beautiful all the same.

Her eyes narrowed once again into slits. "It is not in our *nature* to simply 'get along' with those insufferable dogs, Alice. It would be like...a mouse trying to bond with a feline. It just doesn't work that way.

"As to Bella," she continued, "I apologized, didn't I? And I said that I have no aversion to her as a sister, which is the truth. What else would you like me to do? Throw a 'We Love Bella' tickertate parade? And, where have you *been* exactly? Edward says he hasn't seen you since this morning."

[Edward Cullen]

Edward grinned, enjoying the little argument between them. "I guess it just depends on how you look at it," he said, "in some ways I guess we kind of are like them, but at the same time it's in our nature to dislike them. It's been that way since before Carlisle's time, and we all know how old he is." He laughed, poking fun at Carlisle's age. "But I can't see this ending any time soon, this fight between vampires and werewolves. We are what we are, and there's no changing that. And Alice," he said, "it's not that we get along with humans. It's just us... there are some who simply eat them. Can't really call that 'getting along' now can we?"

He looked at Rosalie. "No, we don't need to throw a parade. I know your distaste for her, but it matters not to me. Bella is Bella, and I don't need my sister's approval."

[Alice Cullen]

Alice grinned slightly. "I haven't been anywhere..." She hummed and looked up and to the side innocently. "Here's a curiosity for you." She reached into her pocket and pulled something out, it was a golden chain and attached to it was a small round diamond. Now of course, everyone in the family knew she liked shiny things, it didn't matter how childish it seemed, she just liked anything with a little glitter. But where she had picked up this little trinket was a mystery. She grinned, brandishing her prize.

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie scowled, yet again, at her brother. It flashed briefly in her mind that it was a good thing that she was a vampire. All this scowling could lead to serious wrinkles in a normal person.

But she couldn't help it. Edward was always so infuriatingly defensive of his little human girl. It was one of the reasons why she'd hated her on principle when her brother had first indulged in his infatuation with her. It simply annoyed her when someone- especially someone in her family- paid more attention to someone else other than her.

"Don't have a metaphorical stroke, Edward," she chided drolly, rolling her butterscotch eyes heavenward. "I was not insulting the girl. I was just stating plainly that I did my part. I extended the olive branch, didn't I? And I still feel absolutely dreadful about the whole thing so if you don't mind- and excuse the pedestrian phrase- put a sock in it."

Now she looked at her sister, her eye catching the shiny gold object. She, much like Alice, appreciated fine things- and that included expensive jewelry. Her thirteen engagement rings from Emmett were testement enough to this fact. "And what is that, exactly?"

[Alice Cullen]

"I have no idea." She said proudly. "It's... something like... uhmm..." She blinked. "I just found it in the forest today while I was out there..." She looked at it... "I was trying to find the owner today but it ended up being just lost." She shrugged. "I rather like it." She put it on around her neck. "I think I'm going to keep it."

[Rosalie Hale]

She eyed the piece of gold jewelry with a trained eye. It was pretty, if flawed slightly in th diamond. As if that mattered. Alice would enjoy anything that twinkled. And, it was in nice contrast to Alice's alabaster skintone, as it lay against her chest.

Rosalie scoffed as an idea came to her. "Probably belonged to some idiot teenage girl wandering through the back woods, and she tripped and lost it. Hiking," she spat, examining her blood red nails. With a critical eye, she thought, 'I'll need to put on a second coat'. "If *I* were human, you know well I wouldn't waste my short lifespan hacking through overgrowth and weeds. There are far more interesting and worthwhile things to do. Like shopping at the Chanel boutique in Paris. Or shopping at the BCBG boutique on Rodeo Drive. Or shopping in Barney's on Madison Avenue."

She exchanged a glance with her sister, fighting a smile. The thought of shopping always got her in a giddy mood. Especially if it was for a wedding dress. Now that she thought about it, she and Emmett were due for another one. Hm. Maybe this year, she'd go for the strapless Vera Wang...

"We absolutely must go back to Paris soon, Alice. And...you can bring your human friend, if you wish. I know how you love playing Barbie with her."

[Alice Cullen]

Alice blinked for a second, thinking about this. "Maybe I will bring Bella but only with Edward's approval." She blinked. For some reason... she almost... disliked the idea. She thought about this for a moment. "I'll be leaving now." She turned and walked out.

[Rosalie Hale]

Rosalie watched her sister leave with a calculating eye. 'Well, that was odd' she thought to herself, her brow furrowing. As mentioned, Rosalie wasn't the mindreader in the family- that honor belonged solely to Edward- nor was she able to sense and/or manipulate the emotions of those around her (really, wasn't it enough that she could fix all of their cars in half hour, and that she was breathtakingly beautiful?), but she could sense a feeling of...unease washing over her sister.

Had she had a vision?

'No,' she thought, immediately shaking that notion off. Alice definitely would've told them if she'd seen anything of importance.

Maybe Alice and Bella had gotten into an argument over some silly little thing en route to Volterra. But that didn't make sense either.

Rosalie pondered the meaning of her sister's expression, than realized that it had absolutely nothing to do with her, so why should it matter anyway, and she stood up gracefully on her long, pale legs and announced that she was going out to the garage to work on her beloved M3. Maybe install a nice V-8. That'd be nice...

And she left to do just that.