02 | earth, rosalie hale

14.

BELLA had ended up being sick Friday night and pretty much all of Saturday, according to Melody. Whereas Elexia and Melody, thankfully, hadn't gotten sick at all. Jacob seemed to be the worst of them, as Bella could not get in touch with him, and he was also not at his house.

Seeing as Bella was very anxious, she'd made her father call Harry Clearwater, who told him that Billy and Jacob were just having problems with their phone line and that Jacob had mono, and couldn't have visitors.

Unfortunately, though Jacob's diagnosis wasn't serious, Harry Clearwater was having issues with his heart. Austin had told Elexia that, and she felt horrible. Harry was a great man.

The last few days were stressful – Elexia wasn't used to stress like that, she hadn't been for a while. So, Rosalie took it upon herself to try and help with that stress.

Once again, Elexia found herself in a car with Rosalie, not knowing where they were going, only that it was over three hours of a ride. Gaia was spending the day with Aunt Ame and Uncle Em.

"Last time I was in a car with you and didn't know where we were going, you revealed to me that you had a secret sister. So, just know, I am expecting another sibling, Rose." Elexia pointed out, only half-joking.

Rosalie rolled her amber eyes, though it was affectionate. "I promise you, there are no more siblings that you have not already met, love."

"Okay, thanks." Elexia sighed, making a show out of it. "I don't know how many more Cullens I can take."

Rosalie chuckled quietly. "You know, it would be nice for you to meet the Denalis, our 'cousins' – Tanya, Kate, Irina, Carmen, and Eleazar. They would love Gaia."

"I would love to." Elexia's smile was warm as she turned to look at Rosalie. There was a smile on Rosalie's face as she glanced at her girlfriend.

"I have to see when they'd be able to come here." Rosalie mumbled, mostly talking to herself, but Elexia heard it, too.

"So, I can't have any hints as to where we're going?" Elexia asked, fluttering her lashes at Rosalie.

"No." Rosalie's tone was blunt, which made Elexia chuckle.

"We have to go visit your family soon. I've been missing them. And Esme has been hinting at us coming to see them." Elexia informed Rosalie. She'd spoken to Esme last night. She'd asked Elexia offhandedly– as if she was hiding how desperate she was to see them– when she had a break from school. It was the second time in two weeks Esme had asked her that. Elexia felt terrible.

Five months had gone by. Five months. Five months of Gaia's life, of Gaia growing. Gaia was three-months-old when the Cullens left Forks. She was over eight-months now; she had her first tooth, stood up on her own, said mama and mommy, crawled like a boss, and was pretty damn close to taking her first steps. She was a fearless baby, so very determined. Her personality was bigger than ever. It broke Elexia's heart that they were missing that, and she knew it broke the Cullens' hearts, too. Especially that of Alice and Esme.

Not much had changed for Elexia and Rosalie in five months, but for a baby? That was an insane amount of time. Gaia was a completely different human being than they remembered. She looked drastically different. She had a lot more hair now than she did then– though still not much. She was quite a chunky baby, which Rosalie thought was the cutest thing ever. Her smile could light up the house. Her big blue eyes were comparable to tropical beach water, slightly a different  blue than Elexia's, which were still bright blue, but lighter than her daughter's.

Elexia sent the Cullens as many pictures as she could, but they truly didn't do her daughter any justice as seeing her in person would. She talked to Jasper the least out of Alice, Carlisle, Esme, and him. She could see it pained him to hear her voice and see photos of Gaia. He still blamed himself over why they had to move; why they couldn't be with Gaia. Elexia never blamed him once. She knew Gaia wouldn't either. It was a true accident. She loved Jasper.