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Fred POV

Could this trip get any worse? Not only have I ended up with a stomach full of sour bear blood, but I'm now stuck in a clearing with the annoying Rosalie Hale. The last person on earth I would choose to spend any time with.

Rosalie is a stunning vision; no one can deny that. But her attachment to Bree, combined with her determined efforts to keep us separated, is grating. I couldn't figure it out at first. The Cullens are very accommodating and friendly, considering we had been created to destroy them. Rosalie seemed to latch on to Bree more than the others, and I could tell that Bree's attachment to me irritated her. It took me a few weeks of observing the family for the penny to drop. They have created the family charade in order to interact with humans. But for some reason they carry on with the farce in the privacy of their own home. The non-mated members act like siblings, and Carlisle and Esme continue their role as parents. That's the key to my theory about Rosalie's preoccupation with Bree. She's trying to assume Esme's role in Bree's life. What I don't know is why.

When Bree agreed to join Emmett and Rosalie on their trip, I don’t know who was more surprised, Emmett or me. Emmett was too ecstatic to notice the shock on my features or the minute wince I tried to contain at the thought of feeding from an animal. My initial instinct was to retract immediately and say we had changed our minds, but Bree overrode my instincts with her desire to go camping. I could see she was excited about it. Her poor excuse of a father had used her as a housekeeper and punch-bag and never bothered to take her on any excursions. Not even a day trip to the zoo. I didn't have the heart to cancel and disappoint her.

I'm now standing, starring at the gap in the trees that Emmett and Bree have disappeared into, listening to Bree's protests fading away as Emmett leads her further away from camp. To say Rosalie is a prickly individual would be an understatement. The only good thing about this situation is that she seems to be as uncomfortable and irritated as I am. She appears to be contemplating something as she watches me, and for a moment I wonder if she's considering throwing me onto the fire. I surreptitiously shift away from the flames.

“What are you so nervous about? Anyone would think I was about to hurl you into an inferno,” she snaps at me, breaking the silence. Well that's freaky.

I don't answer her. Letting out a long slow breath, I decide that as we're stuck with each other, we may as well get on with the hunt. “Shall we?” I say half heartedly, and wave my arm in the direction of the trees.

“I'm not that thirsty,” she shrugs. “But if you need to hunt again, I guess we should head out.”

I really don't fancy draining another creature. “I'm not that bothered really,” I reply. “I can give skip it and hunt again with Bree in a few days.”

“You may have to go sooner,” she admits reluctantly. “The animal blood won't keep her thirst at bay as long at first. But as she gets used to it...”

“You seem very sure she wants to get used to it.”

“Life will be so much better for her if she does,” she states confidently.

“Better for you too,” I retort, and she merely shrugs again in response.

“I'm surprised you waited so long.” My statement is met by a questioning look. “To ask her to move with you,” I clarify. “I was sure you would have mentioned your plans when you took her hunting without me last time. A good tactic by the way - divide and conquer. Jasper must be proud of you.”

She quirks a small smile and I know that there's no point dancing around the subject.

“You seem very keen for Bree to move with you.” It's not a question, but I know she will respond to it anyway.

“She's too young to be wandering around on her own.” Her response is nonsense.

“Who said she would be on her own?” I challenge

“You're a lot older than her, in human and vampire terms.”

What does my age have to do with it? Does she think I have romantic feelings for Bree?

“I don't have any romantic feelings for her, if that's what you’re worried about. I'm well aware how young she is. I'm not going to take advantage of her.”

“That wasn't what I meant,” she responds. “Jasper and Edward have already confirmed your intentions, or lack of them, so to speak.”

I'd rather she was convinced of my good character, than relying on the gifts of her brothers, but at least I don't have to work to reassure her of my platonic feelings towards Bree.

“It’s more about awareness and control,” she starts her explanation. “Em said you had expressed an interest in doing some travelling. It's still too difficult for Bree to do that right now. She needs structure in her life to help her adjust. Going back to her studies will give her that.”

“I think I've been helping her to adjust quite well,” I say in my defense. “At least I'm not watching her all the time. You all do it, you know. Your eyes follow her every time she moves, or gets up, or walks down the stairs. She hasn't mentioned it, but I'm sure she notices.” I know why they do it. Bree can be un-predictable, as she's still finding it hard to control her mood swings. Jasper's always alert, waiting for a change in mood that could signal a violent rage. Emmett's always ready to restrain her. Esme's concerned that her outbursts mean she's not happy, and goes out of her way to spend time with her afterwards. Rosalie's worried that Jasper will hurt her in some way, and Alice is worried that Bree will hurt Jasper.

I'm less worried. Bree isn't naturally violent; she's just trying to deal with the intensity of the emotions that come with being a vampire. I've found that the calmer the people around her are, the quicker she calms down. Of course Jasper insists on interfering with her feelings, and I'm not very happy about it. How can Bree ever learn to control her emotions if she's never allowed to experience them? Jasper has assured me that while he understands my concerns, he is in fact lowering the amount of calm he floods her with each time. He can't forgo it altogether though, for the sake of Esme's house. They may all live there, but it is definitely Esme's house.

I decide to bite the bullet. “Why Bree?” I ask Rosalie directly as I sit down next to her on the log. “I'm sure you don't take in every vampire that crosses your territory.”

“She hasn't been dealt the best hand in either of her lives,” she replies, bristling slightly. My coming so close seems to have unnerved her. “She's quite headstrong, and without the proper guidance and structure in her life, she could become quite feral. I don't want that for her.”

“You think we're feral? Why, because we hunt humans?”

“It has nothing to do with your diet,” she responds, adopting a patient tone as if explaining herself to a child. “It's more of a mind set. That's what I was referring to when I mentioned your age. Your early experiences in this life were similar, and yet you have emerged from it fairly civilized.”

Fairly civilized. I'm not sure if she means it as a compliment.

“That was probably due to your upbringing and the fact that your personality was set because you were an adult. Bree is at the age where a lot of humans go off the rails. Teenagers from loving homes lose their way, drop out of school, and make bad choices all the time. The statistics are higher for kids with unhappy home lives. She was already a runaway...”

“That's not Bree,” I insist, cutting her off. She didn't see the kind, frightened girl that resided in Riley's basements. “You have no idea what it was like for us after our change.”

“Bree has told me.”

“And you believe that someone who lived like that, and still kept their kind thoughtful nature, could turn feral?” I questioned in disbelief.

“As I said, she's so young,” she persisted, still using her patient tone. “She's not adjusting well, and she's still prone to violent rages.”

“You've been known to throw the odd hissy fit yourself. What's your excuse?” That woman is full of it.

Her eyes narrow at me, and for a moment I think one of the aforementioned hissy fits is on the way.

“She deserves better. After the life she's had, she deserves better. I can give her that,” she states simply. It's the first thing she's said that rings true.

“Do you think you're the only one who can give her that?” I ask.

“I believe I'm the only one that can give her what she needs in her life right now.” She sounds so sure of herself. She may be right, but that still doesn't explain the maternal feelings that are so central to her desire to have Bree stay with her.

“Is that how Carlisle dealt with his newborns? Did you spend your first years of this life draining deer and hiding your head in text books?” My tone is mocking, perhaps un-necessarily so.

She doesn’t rise to the bait. “Draining deer, yes. But it was about ten years before I went to college for the first time.” I'm surprised when she offers more information. “I developed my interest in cars during those early years. Initially it was just something to do, but I found out I was quite good at it. The fact that I could get a better performance out of an engine than Edward was a bonus,” she adds with a self satisfied smile. I’d noticed that she and Edward seemed to have a love-hate relationship. I thought about asking her about it, but it was her relationship with Bree that concerned me right now. Perhaps the answer lies in those early years.

“Were you never tempted by human blood?”

“What a ridiculous question,” she exclaims. “Of course I was tempted; I'm still tempted every day. But I resisted then and I resist it now; I don't want to be more of a monster than I already am.”

“You really think you're a monster?” I ask, though the words 'meddlesome witch' keep floating through my head.

“I'm a blood sucking vampire,” she says with a wry smile. “That pretty much counts as a monster in anyone's book.”

“That may be how humans see us, but why do you see yourself like that?”

“Because I know what's inside here,” she replies, placing a hand on her chest. “I know what I’m capable of.”

She doesn’t elaborate and my mind goes into overdrive. What has she done? I know she's never gone on a newborn rampage; she’s never tasted human blood. Perhaps it was something she had done in her human life. Was she one of those girls that made other girls lives miserable? Did she leave a trail of broken hearts behind her? She certainly has the looks to have had men falling at her feet. She'd never talked about her human life or her change. I know that she was near death, as Carlisle would never have considered changing her otherwise. Perhaps she was murdered by a jealous lover who couldn’t take her rejection. I don’t expect her to open up to me; whatever it was, it's obviously something she's not very proud of. The journey into Rosalie’s psyche has taken me off track, and I'm still not any closer to finding out what is driving Miss Rosie, in relation to Bree.

The non-question approach had produced a good response before, so I decide to employ that tactic again. “So, you want to give Bree a taste of your fairy tale life.”

“This life is no fairy tale, believe me.”

I'm taken aback by her response. “Oh. What’s wrong with your life?”

“I didn't want this. I would have chosen death over this half life.” Her answer stumps me momentarily. I wouldn’t have chosen to be a vampire, but it’s what I am. I can’t say that I would have preferred death. Even when I believed Riley’s lies about burning in the sun, I never considered death as an option.

“Immortality sounds wonderful until you are faced with the reality of it. Carlisle gave me a new life, but he stole all of my dreams, and I hated him for it.” I notice she's used the past tense, and I wonder what could have changed her mind. “We had it all: the best clothes, the finest jewellery, the newest cars, and the most up-to-date electronics of the time. If I’d still been human, I’d have been in seventh heaven. But I wasn’t human, and the things were just that: things.” She's staring into the flames as she speaks and I stay silent, not wanting to draw her out of the trance like state she's in. She's the most open I’ve ever seen her. “The sense of despair almost overwhelmed me at times,” she continues. “I don’t know how I existed day after day like that. Then I found Emmett.”

I notice the smile on her lips as she speaks her husband's name. Now there is a relationship that mystifies me. I understand the concept of mates and the strength of the bond, but I didn't get how it could work when the vampires involved were polar opposites. How did an easy going, straightforward, all around good guy like Emmett end up with a high maintenance, shallow, pain like Rosalie? Conversely, what did the stuck up princess see in the down to earth, likeable guy that was Emmett?

“He gave this life meaning,” she says as she appears to come out of her self-imposed trance.

“So why are you still unhappy?”

“I'm not unhappy. It's more that I have so much, but not what I really want.” Okay, maybe she's not so shallow.

“What do you want Rosalie?”

“What every girl of my generation wanted. To meet the man of her dreams, settle down, raise a family, and grow old with the one she loves. To spend our twilight years sitting gray haired on our porch, reminiscing about our lives with our faded memories.” She turns her head to look at me, and her gaze is so intense. With her trance broken, I expect her to clam up, but she continues. “None of that is possible for us. We can never settle in one place for too long, we can't have children, and we'll never struggle to recall our youth. This is not how life should be.”

Is that what this attachment is all about? Rosalie wants a child. But Bree's not a child.

“Bree's not a child.” I voice my thoughts. “You can't just use her to fill in a missing part of your life.”

She gives me her best bitch glare. “You really don't think very much of me, do you?”

There's no safe answer to that question, so I bite my tongue.

“I'm well aware that she's not a child. You may not choose to believe this, but I don't just want this for me.”

Her admission surprises me. At least she acknowledged that it was partly about her desires.

“I think Bree will adjust and gain control quicker if she lives with Emmett and me.” She turns to face the fire again. “It's natural for newborns to be unnerved by having too many people around, and I know she still finds Alice a bit too much at times.”

At times? Alice had to be the oddest creature I'd ever met. If I were Jasper, I'd have to zap her with a permanent dose of lethargy just to get through the day.

“Can you honestly say it wouldn't be a good thing for Bree?”

“I can't say hand on heart that it would be a bad thing for her,” I consent.

“But you still want to drag her around the country with you.” She makes the idea sound ridiculous.

“I do want to take her travelling with me, yes,” I reply evenly. I don’t want this to descend into an argument, but she is beginning to irritate me again.

“Do you not like travelling on your own?” She queries sweetly, too sweetly.

"I'm fine with my own company, thank you."  Having a companion would be nice, but I'm used to spending time on my own.  I've never felt the need to be around people just for the sake of having company.

"Then why?"  She's persistent.

"Because it's what we both want."  I hope she stops this line of questioning.  I don't like feeling that I have to justify myself or my motives to her.

"She may not want that now that she has another option."

I know that might be the case. Despite all of the trouble they seem to attract, the Cullens have a lot to offer her, materially and emotionally. I have nothing to my name, apart from the things they have given me, and I'm not entirely convinced that I can offer her the emotional support she needs to get through her first year. But I will offer her my friendship, protection, and loyalty for as long as she wants them.

"Bree is free to make her own choices," I tell her. "If she wants to go to Wyoming with you, she can."

"She may not come with us out of loyalty to you." She finally voices her real fear.

"Maybe." Bree is loyal, and after the chat we'd just had, I knew she felt as connected to me as I did to her.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"You can ask," I reply sceptically.

She takes a deep breath, and I can tell that she really doesn't want to make the request. "If Bree asks for your thoughts on the move, could you be honest with her and admit it would be a good choice for her?"

Oh I see; that must have been difficult for her.  I have no intention of pushing Bree onto the Cullens.  If she asks my opinion, I'll give it to her, even if it means she stays with them.

My answer is simple.  "I'm always honest with her." 

She turns her head so that she's looking directly at me again, and holds my gaze for a few uncomfortable seconds before she smiles. "Thank you," she says quietly.

"And will you tell her she will be just as happy travelling with me?" I ask.

"Not a chance," she snaps back.

I stare at her, briefly stunned. And then she laughs. It's not a polite, social laugh, but an unguarded blast, followed by a series of smaller giggles, and in those few seconds I see a glimpse of a Rosalie I might want to know better.

"Your face," she says through her giggles. I never pegged Rosalie as a giggler. "I know you're not the bad guy here, and Bree would be safe with you."

Her admission makes me relax a little, so I'm thrown by her next statement.

"I was tempted you know," she says with a smirk.

"Tempted by what?"

"To throw you into the fire," she confesses with a wink.

"Even with all those years of self denial, it must have been hard for you to resist," I quip, not wanting to lose the amiable feeling that has come to settle between us.

"Not really," she answers, and I raise my eyebrows in disbelief. "It would have defeated the object. I could hardly say you tripped and fell, and Bree would never have forgiven me."

Her reasoning brings forth a chuckle from me, and we fall into relaxed conversation until we hear Emmett crashing his way through the trees.

"Told you," he crows. Now what's that about?