Too Close | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 25

Lex nervously shifted her weight as she watched the inhabitants of her childhood home. The sun had gone down, and she could see a man—her father—at the sink washing the dishes. Even from this distance, she could see how his hair had become more gray than brown, but he didn't look as tired as the last time she had seen him—it had been on that television all those months ago in Seattle. Things had changed so much since then.

A woman joined the man at the sink, and they exchanged a few words. Lex's mother looked exactly the same as she remembered—not that she remembered a whole lot about her human life. Of course, Lex remembered more than the others in her coven, but a lot of her memories had become foggy and distant. It was as if the venom that lived in her body was eating away at the only parts of her that were still human—her memories of being alive. Eventually, it would all be gone.

Her parents finished cleaning up the kitchen, and left the room, leaving Lex alone to stare at the empty window where they had been mere moments before.

"This is creepy," Lex muttered to herself. "Stop being creepy. They're my parents—they'll be happy to see me. What's the worst that could happen?"

She groaned as she hid her face behind her hands. "The worst that could happen is that I could lose control and eat them."

She took a deep breath. "Okay. It's okay— I got this. I fed, I was around Bella and I never tried to kill her, I can do this. Besides, Carlisle said I was ready, and he's never wrong, so it's gotta be true."

Lex hopped up and down and shook out her hands as if she were warming up for a marathon. "I can do this... Just walk up and knock on the door. It's easy."

It was not easy. She knew that there was a low chance of her going all apex-predator on them—that wasn't really what she was afraid of.

Lex was ashamed to even think it, but she had barely missed her parents during her year away from them. At first, it had been tough, but she had gotten over it within a few months. She had been completely fine without her parents. In fact, she rarely thought about them anymore. Especially when Rosalie was around. It was hard to think about anything other than Rosalie when she was around.

What was she supposed to do? Just walk in and pretend that she missed them as much as they obviously missed her? Pretend that she wasn't doing this as some sort of formality for moving on from her human life?

The problem was that Lex wasn't sure which was more cruel: leaving them to wonder what had happened to her, or telling them that she was happy without them.

She sighed. They deserved to know the truth—well, maybe not the whole truth. She couldn't tell them about vampires or the shifters or anything like that. If she did, the Volturi would surely find out and kill her. But, they deserved to know some version of the truth that would keep them all safe, and then she was going to make them move on.

Quickly, she popped the green contacts into her eyes—Carlisle had given them to her for the occasion—and made her way to the door. She didn't have much time before the venom ate away at the contacts, so she would have to make this quick.

The sound of her fist wrapping at the door broke her away from her thoughts. There was some shuffling from the other side of the door, and then it opened.

Lex's eyes met her mother's, and the older woman froze. Lex knew that she looked a lot different than she had a year ago—vampirism had made her features sharper and flawless. For a second, she worried that her mother wouldn't recognize her, and that this whole closure thing was a waste of time.

"Alexandrine?" her mother whispered.

"Ew," Lex shuddered. "Why would you say that to me?"

"It really is you," her mother gasped as she threw her arms around her daughter. "Oh, mija, you're so cold. Come inside."

Being inside of the house felt like she had entered someone else's memory. Seeing all of the photos of her past self made her realize just how much she had changed. The thing was, this house no longer felt like her home. Her home was with her coven—with Rosalie.

"Dan! Dan!" her mother called out frantically. "Come in here."

"What's wrong?" her father burst into the room. The panic left his face as his eyes landed on her. "Lex? Is that you?"

"Hey, Dad," she smiled sheepishly. He rushed forward to embrace her, and she did her best not to appear like the lifeless vampire she was.

"I can't believe this," he said whilst they hugged. "Where have you been? What happened? We need to call the police and tell them that you're here."

"No!" Lex pulled away from him. "No police, please, Dad."

"Why not?" he asked. "You've been missing for a year. We need to tell the police where you've been and what happened."

"No," Lex replied. She was starting to think that she shouldn't have come here. "If you call the police, then I'm leaving."

"Dan," her mother scolded him. "Just let it go. We can deal with that later."

Reluctantly, he dropped the subject. "Could you at least tell us where you've been?"

"Uh," Lex replied hesitantly. "Seattle for a while, and then I was just... around. Look, I just wanted you guys to know that I'm alright, and that you don't have to worry about me anymore."

"Why does this sound like a goodbye?" her mother asked quietly.

"Because it is," Lex replied. "I wanted you to know that I'm alright—I have a place to live, and I have people who care about me, but I can't visit you again."

"Why not?" her mother asked. "You're here right now. Why can't you come back?"

"It wouldn't be safe for you," Lex said, feeling a twinge of guilt. "It's better for everyone if you just let me go, and move on."

"Move on?" her father asked incredulously. "You're our daughter. How are we supposed to move on? You've obviously gotten yourself into some sort of trouble—just let us help you."

Lex shook her head. "I need you to move on."

Their pupils dilated and she could feel her own mind influencing theirs. "You can still love me, but you aren't going to look for me anymore. You aren't going to let my absence mess up your lives. Move on."

She didn't look back as she exited from the house and sped home. She blinked a few times to get the feeling of the now dissolved contacts out of her eyes, and walked into the house.

"Look, Nessie! Auntie Lex is home."

Lex felt a smile engulf her face as her girlfriend approached, holding their niece in her arms. She pecked Rosalie on the lips, and placed a delicate kiss on the baby's head.

"It is so good to see you guys," she grinned. "I've missed you."

"You were only gone for an hour," Rosalie laughed.

"It was a rough hour," Lex replied as she glanced around the empty living room. "Where is everyone?"

"Alice and Jasper are... out" Rosalie glanced at the baby. "Emmett's hunting with Carlisle and Esme, and Edward is waiting for Bella to wake up."

"And the wolf?"

"No idea," Rosalie said flatly. "Probably out peeing on a fire hydrant somewhere."

Lex snorted.

As she and Rosalie sat on the floor and played with Nessie, she knew that this was exactly where she was meant to be. It felt so good to be home.

A/N:

Hey everyone! Sorry that I didn't update last week. I had finals, and I totally forgot to give y'all a heads up, but I didn't think it was important enough to add like an independent A/N chapter. Anyway, I just found out that they're taking Breaking Dawn Part 2 off of Amazon Prime on January 1st, so I'm going to have to finish this earlier than I anticipated (also, yes I know that I could watch it on a sketchy website, but all of the computer viruses I've ever gotten were from those websites, so I just can't bring myself to do it lol).  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much for reading!!!!