empathy

TWENTY-NINE

Standing in front of the hidden, modern jewel of a house, massive glass fronts mirroring the view of the woods and showing the motion inside, Anastasia's eyes are solely on her little sister. 

Antonina, god how much she missed her. She's sitting on Emmett's lap, both holding a controller as they play Mario Kart, her seemingly losing. 

"Emmett's too proud to let her win. Says it'll only strengthen her character to lose now and then," Jasper explains, leaning against the hood of his car as he waits for her to be ready to step inside. Simply humming in return, Anastasia turns to him and for barely a moment their eyes meet before she tears hers away again. 

Instead, she watches her sister indeed lose and climb off Emmett's lap, rather sneaking over to Rosalie, who's sitting with Alice, the two of them going through some magazines. 

"Let's just go," she pushes herself off his car to make her way over to the house, Jasper speeding in front of her to hold the door open and lead her to the living room. His family of course knew of their arrival long before he parked the car, leaving Antonina the only one in the unknown. 

"Jazzy," Antonina grins, her eyes falling upon him but not yet seeing her sister. Truth is, she hasn't seen Jasper more than two, maybe three times during her stay here and yet she has grown attached to the man, an unusual bond between them forming almost immediately. 

"Emmy's being mean." She's also started to call them nicknames, sounding very similar. She isn't yet able to pronounce every one of their names and found it unfair to the others to call one a formal and one a personal name. "Is he?" Jasper smiles down at her, Anastasia watching their interaction.

And all too familiar make-up of indifference is placed carefully on her face, stuffing every pore and hiding every pimple. 

Antonina nods widely before her eyes finally fall onto her sister. An excited screech like tone leaves her lips as she jumps from the couch and runs over to her. Anastasia uses the time to crouch down herself, catching her sister and hugging her tightly. 

"Ana," Antonina whispers happily, her own arms as tight around her as they can be. "Nina," Anastasia replies, hugging her for just a moment longer before pulling back, her hands sliding to rest gently on her sister's shoulder. 

Anastasia's eyes fly to the faded away bruises on her neck, the healed stitches on her cheek before her lips curl into a smile. An unconvincing one but one convincingly enough to have Antonina believe it.   

"Must show you my room... can I show her my room?" Antonina rambles excitedly, her words blurred and spoken adorably as she stumbles over some vocals. "Of course," Rosalie nods with a smile on her own.

If she were to be honest with herself, she'd say she totally hates that Anastasia has shown back up. She and Emmett have built a relationship and routine with Antonina that made her believe for a second, she could finally have her dreams come true. Rosalie never considered it might come to an end.

Antonina leads her sister up the stairs to what used to be Rosalie's and Emmett's room, all the while rambling about every little detail of her stay. Not wanting to leave and somehow believing Anastasia will now be staying here as well. 

But none of this is the older's intention, she doesn't want to take Nina home, from what she can tell, Antonina is home where she is. But she also won't stay here. 

Because no matter what, Antonina does deserve so much more than her and the Cullens seem to be the ones able to give it. No matter what they are, they are good for her.

--- - ---

"She killed him," Edward is the first to speak up, his voice on edge and a little sceptical as he glances towards the stairs the sister just disappeared up to. 

All heads turn to him, Jasper the only one not looking surprised. It's not that he knew, it was more of a conclusion he didn't want to draw. 

Anastasia didn't deserve a conclusion, she deserves his trust. She deserves the benefit of the doubt, especially from him.

"She thought about it for just a moment. She was apologizing to Antonina for taking her father," Edward elaborates. "I say he deserved it," Emmett states flatly, the others shooting him a look. 

"As though we're not all thinking that. You see what he did to Antonina when she came here. You think that was the first time?" he raises a brow at them, his arms wrapping around Rosalie's waist to comfort both her and himself. 

Much like her he's grown attached to the girl, in a way that made him more mature around him. In a way, he has never known before but in a way that made him love her deeply. 

"Why don't we ask her about it once Antonina is asleep?" Carlisle offers, not wanting them to assume and judge before knowing the story. For all he knows, they've all killed at one point in their lives and neither of them had an explanation other than 'they're vampires, it's what they do'. So, as far as he's concerned. They're just as much of a monster than she is, probably even more so. 

"I'll get some Lasagne ready," Esme agrees while changing the subject. 

She has found to enjoy cooking nearly as much as interior design ever since the girl has started to stay here. She has found fascination in the changes food has made over the decades and in the wide variety, it offers. 

"I'll go hunt," Jasper chirms in, he hasn't been in quite some time, too wary about leaving Anastasia on her own. But he trusts his family, he trusts both Carlisle and Emmett to take care of her. "I'll come," Aurelia tells him.