Part 7: Rose and Nessie

With Carlisle and Esme, Alice and Jasper took the road toward Deep Bay.  While in the car, Carlisle recounted what happened at the house while they were gone.  Sam and his pack were sweating bullets after Leah arrived to tell them all that she and Embry had lost Rosalie’s scent.  The Quileutes didn’t hide their disappointment, but they seemed to be resolved to tear Rosalie apart, one day or another.  For the first time, Esme was not sad to see them leave.  She seemed to be calmer right now, but one could tell she was impatient to find her daughter and grand-daughter.

“Let’s hope we do before Edward does,” Jasper added from the front seat.

Behind him, Alice took stock of last night’s events, from her first vision to their meeting with Emmett in the forest.

“You shouldn’t be angry at him,” Carlisle advised, “It’s hard for him, and it’s clear that Rosalie did not want him to get involved in this business.”

“I’m not mad at him,” Alice assured,” he can be as angry at me as he wants, but I’m not afraid of that big oaf.  He’s still my big brother.”

Jasper held his tongue.  He couldn’t say as much- after all, he and Emmett had fought only a few hours before and were serious enough to cut all familial ties.

Close to six hours had passed on the road, the motor purring like a kitten.  Another twenty minutes and they arrived at Deep Bay.

Coming into the small, quiet town on a particularly windy Sunday, the Cullens easily picked up Rosalie’s tracks.  Her scent seemed to be emanating from every part of the town, from every street corner and from the edge of the beaches.  Rosalie was indeed in Deep Bay, sitting on a bench on the port with Renesmée on her lap, their golden and amber hair whipping about in the wind.

“Let me go by myself,” Alice begged them as they got out of the car, mostly to Jasper, “I don’t want Rosalie to feel like she’s being cornered.”

“We’ll wait for you here,” Carlisle acquiesced.  But seeing Alice walk away was not pleasing to Jasper.  If Bella, Edward or Emmett were to arrive on the scene, he couldn’t handle the idea of maybe losing her: her sweet scent, her fingers enlaced in his and her soft kiss on his mouth.  To reassure him, his wife came to him and stood on her tip-toes to murmur in his ear:

“Keep it together, Jazz.”

She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and smiled.

Jasper had no other choice but to let her leave toward the pier, feeling their invisible but indestructible connection grow stronger as she walked away.  He stayed close to the Mercedes with his parents.

Alice walked slowly toward Rosalie, who was murmuring and laughing into her niece’s ear.  It was the picture perfect image of a mother and child, and Rosalie and Renesmée were playing their parts expertly: smiling, clapping their hands together, tapping their feet in rhythm.  If only Rosalie’s skin hadn’t been so pale, no one would have though anything strange about these two.

“Oh, look who’s here, Nessie!” the vampire said cheerfully to the child, turning her eyes toward Alice.  “Say hello to your aunt!”

“Hello!” Renesmée greeted Alice, laying her head back on Rosalie’s shoulder.

Carefully, Alice decided to sit next to her sister on the bench.  After a few minutes of watching the waves of the ocean crashing against shore, Alice asked:

“Why don’t we go home?”

“I knew that you were coming, I was hoping that it would be you that would find me first,” Rosalie said, playing with her niece’s caramel colored ringlets, “You know everything before everyone else does.”

“But you somehow kept this all from Edward,” Alice remarked, “that’s no small feat.”

“I just didn’t think about it when he was around.”

“Think about what?”

“All this,” Rosalie answered cryptically, shaking her head to move her hair from her eyes.  Not the least bit tense, Rosalie took a sweeping glance over the town.  She stopped briefly when her eyes found her family still at a distance and she smiled nostalgically.

“I’ll miss them.”

“Rose, what does all this mean?”  Alice asked, finding herself hoping for a new vision.

“I don’t have the time to explain to you, I have to go.”

“What?”

Placing Renesmée on the ground and standing up herself, Rosalie placed a small hand into Alice’s.

“Nessie knows everything,” Rosalie added in a detached tone, already taking a step back, “She’ll show you everything and you will understand.”

“But…”

Without a second to lose, Rosalie turned from Alice, her face more peaceful than ever.  Her sister didn’t try to hold her back.  She followed her with her eyes, watching her run the length of the port, her steps becoming more and more rapid.  She felt a hand tugging on her jacket sleeve: Nessie.  Her little angel’s face wanted, no doubt, to show her what she knew.

Alice knelt in front of her (becoming even smaller than her less than one-year-old niece) and offered her cheek.  A soft touch sent a torrent of images, voices and memories into Alice’s head:

Rosalie breaking a tree in half in a fit of rage… Nessie coming to comfort her… Rosalie asking Nessie to keep a secret…

“Soon, I’m going to leave this place,” Rosalie say, “I’m not happy here.  Time may help but… I’ve never found what I was looking for.”

“Is it my fault?” the little one ask.

“No, you are wonderful.  You just know how to make people happy.  Don’t ever forget that.”

Then Rosalie letting Emmett bent over his bleeding prey… Rosalie coming into La Push, to Jacob’s house…

“You’re crazy coming here, Blondie,” Jacob growl, hugging Nessie to his chest.

“I need your help, Jacob,” Rosalie confess, “I’m leaving Forks… alone.”

“Then get the hell out, it’s as easy as that.”

“I don’t want to leave like that.  I don’t want anyone to suffer or be sad because of me.  What I want is for my family to say, ‘Good riddance!’  And you are going to help me.”

“You’ve lost it, Blondie!  Go find some deer to suck on or do some yoga.  It’d be good for your nerves.”

But Rosalie, not listening, add:

“I want my family to believe that I came here to kidnap Nessie.  Edward will be crazy with rage, but this won’t work without your help.”

“You’re serious when you say you want to leave?  I mean, you want to leave forever?  You’re not going on some sweet vacation or something?”

Rosalie asking Nessie to close her eyes before she punches Jacob only once in the jaw… Rosalie setting fire to the garage that Jacob had emptied out after being let in on the “plan”… Nessie climbing onto Rosalie’s back to run toward the north, stopping periodically so that Nessie could eat.

Alice saw no more.  Her niece broke the contact and whispered as if she was telling the most important secret in the history of the world—

“I told Daddy and Mommy that we were in this town.  Jacob told them horrible things about Aunt Rose.  You have to tell the truth.”