I ran my finger delicately down his arm, staring into his beautiful face and he struggled to respond.

“I- But- You- I don't understand,” he finally admitted, cocking his head to one side. “You don't know her.”

“I don't need to,” I retorted. “I don't need a reason to dislike a human.” His eyes scrunched, his eyebrows furrowed.

“What's this about Rose? You can tell me.” I silently disagreed. Everything I would say would be mistook, misunderstood. I didn't even understand my own reasoning. There would be arguments over my selfishness, and I didn't want that.

…

It had all started with Edward. These things always did.

“I'm in love with Bella,” he had said. I think I laughed. I wasn't being vicious. I was scornful, bitter even, but not vicious.

“Must you always be such a witch, Rosalie?” Someone had asked. I don't know who. I was thinking of other things. I was worlds away.

I'd always had my vanity. Before Emmett, before eternity, vanity was the only constant in a world where life was a competition. Vanity was not a gift, it was a comfort-zone. I was only ever myself when I was being complimented, admired, adored even. I couldn't survive without my looks, or without the sense that they were all I needed.

Then my humanity was stripped away, and soon after, my comfort-zone followed.

Edward Cullen did not adore me. True, I'd never craved his affections, but the knowledge that was a was, in fact, resistible, shot through me like ice.

By the time I found Emmett, I had begun to resent eternity. My life, or lack of it, had been decided by a stranger, and that hardly seemed fair. Humans were there to reproduce, to carry on their heritage. Vampirism didn't appear to have a purpose.

But then he came into my existence, and gave me new meaning. Emmett McCartney was the reason I had become a vampire, I soon decided. He was the reason I was, and always would be, forever eighteen. Finally, there was a point to it all.

…

I told myself that I had tried to see it from Bella's point of view numerous times, but I hadn't. Instead, I put myself in Bella's shoes. I imagined every decision she could make, every possible outcome, as though it was me making them.

In Alice-esque fashion, I saw the horrific pain, followed by an eternity. My life as it is now. But then I could see myself, surrounded by children, clutching the hand of a nameless, faceless, human man. I was blissful; I didn't need eternity. And because of it, I couldn't comprehend Bella's decision. Even with Emmett in the mix, I still saw humanity as the only choice.

…

“Why don't you think of someone other than yourself for once?!” Edward yelled angrily, years later. I had many cutting, witty responses to that, but I bit them all back. I thought back to when Bella was human, to when I'd imagined 'her' options. And instead of responding, I took Edward's advice.

I took myself from the equation I'd thought about so many times, and instead I placed Bella there, as I should have done so long ago. The 'vision' as I'd seen it changed immediately. I could see Bella, gazing out of a window longingly. A child appeared, and took her hand silently. Bella smiled, but in her eyes I could see despair. I knew it well; it was the look I had had permanently before Emmett appeared.

And suddenly, I could see everything clearly.

Unlike me, Bella didn't want children. She didn't need them to be happy, as I had thought I did. But we didn't. Bella, Alice, Esme and I had it all, and we had forever to enjoy it.

Eternity doesn't seem so bad when you think of it like that.