She sleeps in, pulling a teenager moment for once, letting herself be irresponsible before she decides that she really must get up and get some work done. There was a pile of paperwork sitting in her bag that needed to get done so they could finally be filed.

If she wanted to go with them when they left, wherever they went to, she wanted to have all of her things nicely tidied and wrapped up for them.

The forest was her brainchild for years and it was time to give it up for good, but she wasn't going to leave it a mess. She wanted things to be squared off quite nicely, if she said so herself.

And they would be. When she was done with everything it would be in the best condition that it had been in for years.

There were clothes laid across the end of the bed. Placed nicely with a pair of shoes that weren't hers, she dressed in the checkered skirt and light flowy white blouse quickly -- muttering a quiet thank you to whoever picked them out for her. It was dressy for the things she would normally wear, a theme apparently for all the clothes the Cullens gave her, but she couldn't help loving them (even the nude boots that made her feel like she walked funny).

Bouncing down the stairs, she swung herself onto the wooden floors, nearly toppling over as she bumped into Alice.

"Roman! You're up!" she chirps, steadying her easily. "I need your help with something."

She blinks. "My help?"

"He's not going to be happy about this, but I figure it won't hurt to give it a try," the girl says, leading her to the front room by the window.

Rosalie was standing there, looking out into the day with a thoughtful expression. Esme and Carlisle were stood together at the other end of the room. She waves a small hello.

"What do you need help with?" she asks, frowning. "Where are Bella and Edward?"

"I dropped Bella off this morning. Edward's with her. They're on their way back now," she says quickly, opening a map of the greater area of Forks, one that came from the police station. There were three spots circled. She recognized them immediately.

Roman traced the small circle around her own home, frown pulling deeper, before she switches her focus to the other two: the Swan and Cullen residences. "What's this?"

"Someone broke into Bella's room and took some of her things. One of our kind, a stranger. Emmett and Jasper have gone to search for any trace of him but Alice sees the trail disappearing," Carlisle tells her gently, calmly, and she can only nod at the hard facts. "Edward is returning to discuss possibilities with Alice, but you are a wonderful tracker without any enhanced senses."

"You want me to see if I can find him by looking at a map?" she questions uncertainly.

"He wouldn't let us bring you there if we tried. Not yet, anyway."

Nodding, she looks down at the map, focusing on the paper. Roman has always been able to find everything she was looking for, there was always a path that you would be able to follow, a trail that connected one thing to another, something that someone left behind no matter how hard they tried not to, and she had always been able to lock onto that. She had always been capable of finding things, of locking her mind onto it, but this, this she didn't know how to start.

She didn't even know what she was looking for other than a few vague words to turn her onto the idea. She traced the circle, widening it with each stroke of her finger, expanding the radius of the house.

Someone was in her bedroom. Her Bella's bedroom. Angry bubbled through her, a cold fury at the thought of someone trying to go after her. There was no way a vampire just stopped in because they were curious.

And they took her things, stole pieces that carried her scent, pieces of her, as if they planned to come back.

Her finger stills, stopping in the forest around the Swan house.

Okay, she tells herself, time to look at this rationally.

They would climb in through the window, leave through the window. The woods would be the main, most obvious, means of escape, but it didn't work as simply as it did for animals. People were smarter and vampires had the sense to know that others would come searching -- they would smell Edward and Alice all over the house, the room.

Roman's scent would be there too.

Gasping, she turns back to the blue ink that marked her own house, eyes closed as she considered it.

"What happened?" Edward's voice cut through her thoughts, jumbling them before she could grasp what her mind was trying to whisper to her.

Alice moved, standing so that she was in front of her with her arms crossed tight over her chest. "I have no idea. I didn't see anything."

"How is that possible?" he hissed.

"It's not an exact science," Carlisle said reproachfully.

"He was in her bedroom, Alice, he could have still been there -- waiting."

Bella shifts. "Edward," she whispers.

"How sure are you that they're male?" she pipes, stuck on that one detail.

He freezes, eyes snapping to her and the map in her lap and it's like he finally notices her. She hadn't thought it possible for him to be so deathly still. "What is she doing?"

"She's just looking. It won't hurt," Alice defends, moving again to block her view.

"Won't hurt? She'll be hurt if you're wrong!" he bellows, and she jumps, paper crinkling.

"I'm not wrong!"

Rosalie moves, unfreezing with an audible sigh as she turns to the kitchen expectantly. Emmett burst through the kitchen door, Jasper right behind him.

"Long gone, hours ago," Emmett announced, disappointed. "The trail went East, then South, anddisappeared on a side road. Had a car waiting."

"That's bad luck," Edward muttered. "If he'd gone west... well, it would be nice for those dogs to make themselves useful."

Roman winces as she turns back to the map, tracing out a vague path that they could have moved in.

East into town, South toward the National Park to a side road that would make them harder to track...

The sofa dips, soft warmth pressing into her side, a hand settling on her knee. Bella gave her silent comfort as they argued, listening for both of them, as she zoned in, focusing.

He moved away from the wolves and the way to Port Angeles like they knew, and she retraced the same vague path over and over, willing herself to find it.

"Can I see that, please?" Alice says, voice loud enough to break through to her. She doesn't look up.

"Alice, no," Edward snaps.

"Let her try," Bella demands, hand squeezing her knee harder. "Here, Roman. Take this."

Blinking, she looks over, eyeing the broken fern frond curiously. She holds it carefully, able to easily picture the type of plant in her mind. She twirled it between her fingers, closing her eyes as she thought.

A map flashed in her thoughts, one of compiled pieces that she would know anywhere. Her precious collections of untouched prints and hand-drawn editions creating a beautiful landscape that she dropped mental flags along, pulling up his path with a struggle.

Most of it was guesswork, multiple options that came up that she either accepted or dismissed.

In the end, only one made sense. "They went to Seattle."

"What?" Bella whispered.

"If they're Volturi, then the closest airport would be Seattle, and if they wanted to avoid that, then they would still have to move away from the Reservation so they would have to go in that direction," she explains, tracing the leaves with her finger. "And if it wasn't..."

"Then it would explain all the deaths in Seattle," Edward finished. "But that doesn't explain why they left Charlie alive."

Bella shakes next to her and she places a comforting hand on her shoulder, setting aside the map.

"Maybe he wasn't home and they were just curious about why your scent was all over the house. You can check Marnie's place to see if he's been there too."

Edward tenses, jaw clenched. "Was any of Roman's stuff missing, Bella?"

The room seemed to freeze again, focusing on the two humans.

"I-I'm not sure."

She swallows. "What was gone?"

"One of my pillows, the grey sweatshirt from the bedpost, the red blouse, socks from behind the rocking chair, the..." Bella stills, turning to face her with wide eyes. She whispers, "What bra are you wearing?"

"What bra?"

"The purple one wasn't there..."

Roman bit her lip. "The lacy one from the other day?" she whispers, face burning.

Bella nods.

"Well--" she clears her throat-- "They stole my bra."

A growl rips through the already tense room.

She felt that. Stealing was one thing, but her undergarments were just too creepy, too intimate. To think that someone had her things like that, had taking something that she only ever wanted two people to see -- she shivered.

"Maybe they were just curious," Rosalie offers, breaking the silence.

"Why wouldn't he just come here then? If he was curious?" Emmett demanded.

"You would," Esme said with a sudden, fond smile. "The rest of us aren't always so direct. Our family isvery large — he or she might be frightened. But Charlie wasn't harmed. This doesn't have to be an enemy."

Alice pursed her lips. "I don't think so. The timing of it was too perfect. . . . This visitor was so careful tomake no contact. Almost like he or she knew that I would see. . . ."

"He could have other reasons for not making contact," Esme reminded her.

"Does it matter? Just the thought that someone was looking for us..." Bella shook her head. "Isn't it reason enough? Why wait until graduation?"

Paling, she goes still, Seth flashing clear in her mind. She wasn't ready to leave him yet. She had told him graduation. There was already such little time.

"No, it's not that bad. If either of you were really in trouble, we'd know."

"Think of Charlie! He'd be devastated," Roman adds hastily.

"I am thinking of Charlie! If someone was here looking for me then he's just going to be in more danger. The best way to protect him is by leaving," Bella snaps, determined.

"Nothing is going to happen to Charlie," Esme says reassuringly, patting her shoulder. "We're just going to have to be more careful."

It's enough to soothe her worries, for now, sharing a look with Edward showed he felt the same. Vampirism was something she was fine with, something she wanted, but she still needed more time. This was a big change, something she needed more time to prepare for, and if Bella had no more human moments that she wanted to experience, then good for her. Roman wasn't sure how to convince her to take a little bit more time with it, but she would buy herself a few more weeks.

Charlie was in a great mood when the three trudged in, no doubt happy to see the tension between Edward and Bella. If there was one thing she hated about the man it was that. He had followed the girls into the kitchen, watching as they fell into easy companionship as they put food together.

"Jacob called again," he said as soon as Edward was back in the room, the boy had left to do what he claimed to be surveillance. It was spiteful, petty, and Roman had to bite her tongue to keep from saying as much.

She didn't quite understand why he was rooting for Jacob so hard. He really wasn't that great a guy.

"Is that a fact?" Charlie frowned.

"Don't be petty, Bella. He sounded really low."

"Is Jacob paying you for all the P.R., or are you a volunteer?"

Charlie grumbled incoherently until the food cut off his garbled complaint.

She wasn't sure what had happened yesterday that made Bella so aggressive when it came to the mention of the boy, but it was highly amusing. It always was for the short period that she was mad at him until she inevitably forgave him.

Not that she enjoyed the thought of him being miserable, but Bella was never angry with anyone that didn't deserve it. She was always very just like that, very easy going with the way she let things build -- forgiving in nature.

Roman was sure she would forgive him eventually, they were the same in that sense.

It wasn't until later when they were both getting ready for bed, Edward having left for a few minutes for surveillance, that she had the thought to ask what had happened.

Fury bubbled through her, hatred toward the boy rising clear in her mind, and Roman took her in close, wrapping her tight in her arms. The feel of her there, very much alive, was enough to keep her from cursing the boy aloud.

"I'm going to forgive him."

She grinds her teeth. "I know."

"He didn't mean it."

"He did. He meant it at the moment, but he regrets it now," she mutters, biting her lip viciously. "But you're allowed to forgive him. I'm not going to stop you if that's what you want."

Bella nods, not knowing what to say, and she sighs.

"I'm sorry. I know he's your friend and that he means a lot to you. I just--" she breathes deeply-- "I hate when anyone is terrible to you, and for him to say you were better off dead. Ugh, I could get Sam and Seth to kick his ass if you want? It'll be easy to convince them and fun to watch."

The smaller girl giggles, standing on her toes to place a kiss to her cheek. "You're ridiculous."

"You love it."

"I do," she hums, inching higher so she could kiss her fully. "I love everything about you."

Laughing, she pushes her back to the bed, watching as she bounced on the mattress.

"We should get to bed," Roman says, biting back a playful smile. "Wouldn't want Edward to get jealous."

"Maybe I want him to be jealous."

"I think you're insatiable."

"I think you're the same way," Bella shoots back, scooching back to rest on her pillows. She was painfully aware that one was missing. "You're not going to make me ask, are you?"

She grins, tongue between her teeth. "Maybe I should make you ask."

"Roman," she groans, tossing her head back.

It was enticing, the temptation making her head dizzy. She glanced at the window, wondering who was stood out in the rain, watching and listening. It wouldn't be right to make them part of it, but as Bella took her by the hank, yanking her onto the bed, Roman could only hope it wasn't Emmett.

He would never let them hear the end of it.

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uwu i really hope the end of this chappie doesn't feel too odd/awkward/forced. and yeah rolla (bella and roman ship name until someone can come up with something better) have sex or whatever you wanna think of it.

unedited

2019-11-24