The Crash: Book Two - Heart on Fire

Chapter Eleven: It's All Fun and Games...

Angela

"Take me out to the ball game, take me out the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, I don't care if I never get back."

- Take Me Out to the Ball Game (Albert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth)

Friday, September 16, 2005

"It's midnight and we still haven't gotten anywhere!" Emmett yelled in an uncharacteristic show of frustration and aggression. His entire body was tense, coiled and quivering slightly with fury. He was ready to blow up and I wasn't sure anyone should be around when he did.

"There is too much on the table to solve in an evening. The vision..." Carlisle started, hoping to calm Emmett down a little.

"Which you two aren't sharing." Bella said pointedly.

Alice lowered her head, replying in almost a whisper. "For a reason, I don't know what will happen if you know all the details." Bella then glanced towards Edward who shrugged.

"This is Alice's ball game, I'm just an observer." Edward's reaction made Emmett puff up and cross his arms.

"That's a childish evasion." Emmett said with no humor in his voice.

"Emmett!" Esme scolded.

"Just call 'em like I see 'em." Emmett said, shaking his head in frustration.

"Just because you're hurting doesn't give you the right to be like this." Esme admonished his attitude which had been negative all evening.

"Hurting, what if Carlisle told you suddenly that your entire relationship was a lie? Tell me you would feel all hunky dory and ready to accept a stranger who might have been the reason all this happened in the first place?" He started to shout, realizing at the last minute that he was going too far and his shoulders slumped.

"Emmett, I don't think Mason did anything to Rose, and I'm so sorry about how things went between the two of you. But, this anger isn't good. I trust you implicitly, but I'm a little afraid of you right now." I said feeling a bit out of place, but Emmett immediately flinched, and opened his mouth a few times before responding.

"God Angel, I'm sorry. I'm just..." Emmett sighed heavily and shook his head a few times. "Bella, I don't blame you. I don't blame Rose. Hell I don't even blame Mason. I just don't know what to do. She was everything to me, now who am I without her?"

"You're our Emmett." Esme said easily, pulling him into a motherly hug.

"Thanks mom." It was such a small moment, but it unnerved me. Looking around at these people, my closest friends and possible future family. They would be my companions far beyond any imaginable timeframe. With them at my side, I would watch the world change as humanity reached out to the stars or fell into oblivion. All I had to do was say the word, and I could be immortal. Eternally beautiful, youthful and powerful. How could I say no, and how could I say yes? I felt like I was being torn apart, and Bella's hand gripped in mine brought that conflict home. Her icy skin burning me with the truth of her new reality.

"It seems to me that Rose started this life with unbelievable trauma. Then she found you and needed to love you. I could easily see how she never had a chance to explore herself, especially with how much she has hated this life." Carlisle said after a few seconds of silence.

"That makes rational sense, and follows what Rosalie tried to explain. I'm just not sure what to think. Rose kind of betrayed me..." Emmett started, clearly starting to work back up into some kind of fit of anger.