Fire and Ice {Rosalie Hale}

•Epilogue•

Asher's POV
Year: 2003

My family and I had just moved to the always cloudy town of Forks, Washington from Alaska, after living in Denali with our cousins for a short time.

Forks was a small town in the Olympic Peninsula that didn't really show up on any maps. It was much like Oakridge, not many people came to this town and not many people leave. We'll have to though in about 5 to 6 years.

These last 43 years were hard for me. I was still working on my control. Spending time in school, with these sweet smelling humans didn't help with it either. I had two slip-ups since I've turned and luckily, Rosalie was always there to bring me back and help me get on track.

I loved my second family more than anything. And I loved Rosalie Hale even more. She was my life. My forever. My eternity. She was everything I never knew I needed and I was everything she never knew she wanted. We were mates, meant to be together.

She was there after every mistake I've made. A month into my transformation, I went to visit with Eric's uncle to inform him that I was indeed still alive and apologize for the death of his nephew. Eric's uncle cut his hand while chopping steak, I attacked him and drained him dry. I felt awful as I sat there, covered in his blood. I dry sobbed for half an hour before Rosalie finally got to me.

Emmett and Edward cleaned up the body and Rosalie ran me home. She helped me into the shower and we spent the rest of the night just cuddling in her bed. She stroked my hair and whispered words of encouragement to me, telling me it wasn't my fault.

That was the most meaningful time in my short lived life as a vampire. Because I knew in that moment, no matter how many times I screwed up, Rosalie Hale would always be by my side.

If possible, my relationship with the other Cullens strengthened even more after my transformation as well. Emmett and I liked to arm wrestle and fight to see which one of us were stronger. And even though I had lost my newborn strength, sometimes my strength rivaled Emmett's.

Jasper and I connected over the fact that we were both new to the blood-thirst control thing. More times than I could count, Rosalie has had to stop me from tearing some poor human's throat out. Jasper was getting better at control than I was though. He was older and had been practicing our lifestyle longer than I. He was a big help in helping me maintain control.

Alice was still like a little sister to me. She filled my closet with designer clothes, throwing out all of my old clothes, only leaving me my leather jacket. She dragged me shopping with her and Serena on more than one occasion. And even though I complained the entire time I would do anything to keep a smile on that face so I was always willing to comply.

Serena was like a sister to me as well but she was more like an annoying little pest I couldn't seem to get rid of. She made me laugh but more often than not we argued like nobody's business.

Then there was Edward. He was annoying as well. He was constantly reading my mind and worrying over the smallest things, but we connected over our love on music and more often than not you could find us in the study. He would be playing piano and I would play the guitar. We wrote quite a few songs together.

Esme was truly like my mother. She treated me like her son and she loved me as such and the same as Carlisle. Whenever I needed advice or someone to talk to other than my mate or my siblings, I would go to Carlisle.

My brother, Gary, died 9 years before we made the move to Forks. I attended his funeral because Carlisle said I needed closure. I was still hanging onto my hatred for him and it had made me into a pretty easily angered person. When Rosalie and I attended his funeral, I didn't expect to feel anything. But as I stood in the far back with my mate, away from the eyes of his friends and family, I couldn't help but to feel sad.

My brother and I never had a good relationship. We were always at odds, but my undead heart couldn't help but to break as I watched them lower my brother's casket in it's grave. My last words were words full of hate. And I would never be able to apologize to him for them. So I did the next best thing and when everyone dispersed, I apologized to his tombstone. I apologized for being a pain in his ass, for using such hurtful words the last time I talked to him and I promised him that I would do better.

After finally getting that closure that Carlisle talked about, Rosalie and I got married. I decided to drop my last name of Bates, it bringing back too many painful memories and I changed it to Cullen. Rosalie always kept her maiden name, Hale, but I didn't mind. Just knowing she wore a ring on her finger and she was mine in every way, I was satisfied with that.

When entering Forks, like entering any other town, I had to pretend Rosalie was just my girlfriend. It was hard to sit by and watch teenage boys ogle my mate and plan ways to ask her out, even though they see she's with me. On more than one occasion, I've scared the crap out of boys with just one glare.

Rosalie thought my possessiveness was sexy and funny. Just how I thought her jealousy was cute. It worked and we worked well together. She's the ice to my fire. I'd die for her and she'd melt for me. We were our own little thing and she meant the world to me.