petrichor [rosalie hale]

xlix. charlie and paul

"Wow. Done already?" 

Kiara turned her head away from the window to look at Emmett, the vampire smirking and folding up his newspaper as Edward and Bella entered the room. She tried to hide her smirk behind her hand, but the short look that Edward sent in her direction told her that the vampire was very aware of the amusement Emmett's words had given her.

"Where's Renesmee?" Bella asked, ignoring Emmett's quip as her eyes flickered across the room to see the little baby nowhere in sight. She looked over at Jacob and Kiara, knowing that wherever they were, Renesmee and Rosalie usually were near.

"Blondie stole her," Jake replied, his eyes not leaving the girl outside as Rosalie lifted her up in the air. Kiara smiled a little as Renesmee giggled, her gaze fixated on the loving look on her own imprint's face. Bella, too, couldn't resist a small smile as she looked at the admiration on the faces of the two wolves, momentarily forgetting the weight of their circumstances.

Emmett looked over at Kiara with a grin, the girl flickering her gaze to him in time to know that he was about to try and embarrass the vampire couple in the same way he had tried with Kiara and Rosalie before. Beverly looked up from the computer in the corner of the room, her eyes narrowing at her husband as she almost sensed his mood change.

"Break a lot of stuff?"

Even Carlisle had to stifle a smile at the suggestion, a sly smirk on Edward's face as he knew that a human Bella would have turned bright red at the suggestion. Instead, his wife stood with a smug look on her face as she shot him down - even Jacob smiling at the exchange that would have once boiled his blood.

"Emmett. No."

"I swear Em, if you keep asking people..." Beverly was cut off by the shrill of the phone in the middle of the table ringing. A hush fell over the room, all laughter ceasing immediately as reality came back to them with a harsh slap. Kiara shifted from side to side anxiously as the call continued on, knowing exactly who was at the other end of the line.

"Is that Charlie?"

"He's been calling twice a day," Edward told Bella gently, not sure how to break the news to her that she'd seen her father for the last time. Bella hadn't really realised it either until that moment - until she saw the looks on the twins' faces as they stared at the phone on the table.

"He's in pretty rough shape."

Kiara approached Bella cautiously, aware of the pain etched on her face. She placed a comforting hand on Bella's shoulder, offering silent support. For a moment, they stood there together, finding solace in each other's presence.

"Eventually, we'll have to tell him you didn't make it," Carlisle said, finally speaking up as he looked around at his family. He knew that the vampires all were expecting what came next, but he wasn't sure how much Rosalie and Kiara had discussed the move that would occur, and he knew that there was no way anyone would have had time to even talk to Jacob about it.

"He needs to mourn, Bella," Edward mumbled, giving her a gentle squeeze.

Bella felt her heart drop at Edward's words. Memories of her father flooded her mind, and she couldn't bear the thought of him having to mourn an empty casket after everything she had already put him through since she arrived in Forks. She glanced at Kiara and Jacob, who each wore a pained expression at the same thought, mirroring Bella's own emotions.

"Okay," Bella breathed, clearly unsure how to move on with this. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"I'll break the news, if that makes it easier," Kiara said softly, placing a comforting hand on Bella's shoulder once more. . "Charlie is family... I think he deserves to hear it from a friend."

"Thank you," Bella nodded, gratitude shining in her eyes as she looked at Kiara.

As the room fell into a heavy silence, Kiara felt the weight of her responsibility settle on her shoulders. She had always been the one to support Bella, to be there for her in times of need. And now, she had to be the bearer of devastating news. It wasn't fair, but life rarely is. Jacob had once said to her that life sucked, and then you died. She wasn't sure she really believed it, but she knew that was exactly how Charlie was going to feel after she gave him the next round of awful news in his life.

"I'm gonna miss this place," Emmett said, standing to his feet and ignoring how the twins' heads turned to look at him in confusion. Kiara could sense her brother tensing from across the room, his eyes narrowing as he looked between the vampires in confusion as they seemed to start preparing for something at his words.

"We'll come back. We always do."

"Wait," Jacob snapped, Beverly raising an eyebrow at his sudden change of voice. It wasn't a secret that she didn't like Jacob, and she certainly didn't like the way he was looking at her husband right now. "Nobody said anything about leaving."

"Once people believe Bella's dead, we can't risk anyone seeing her," Carlisle explained, his eyes flickering to where Jacob had turned to look at Kiara, checking to see if his sister and alpha had know about this and not told him. Once he was satisfied that she too looked taken back by how quickly this was happening, he turned his steely gaze over to Edward and Bella.

"So you just disappear?"