Chapter 1.36 The Bird Born For Joy

Even though it was her birthday, Rosie wasn't the first one up.

Alyssa was up early the next morning, checking out her new telescope. Sure, most girls would like dolls or toys, but she would much more prefer something of practicality, of actual use rather than to just sit there and look pretty. That being said, she still did like dolls all the same. She looked through it and always mapped out where the stars were.

Luckily, she had quite a lot of books about stars, and she was trying to find the north star (Or Polaris as it is otherwise known.) She glanced down at the book to check the coordinates. She set it up to the right position, mumbling idly as she did so "Right Ascension at 02 Hours 42.8 Minutes? But why isn't it... Oh, not 42.8, 48.2." She adjusted the telescope, grinning when she saw it. Once she got the hang of it, telescopes weren't all too difficult.

Luckily, Alyssa didn't hear the dogs getting 'friendly' with each other. She was focused on her stargazing, and physics in general. She didn't have time for trivial things like watching the dogs all too much.

When Rosie woke up, Liam was on the edge of her bed. It wasn't too much of a surprise though, he wanted to be the first one to wish her a happy birthday.
"Hey birthday girl." He grinned, it was his birthday the day before, not like Rosie remembered, especially not so early.
"You're already an adult?" She murmured, lounging on the bed. She wasn't ready to sit up just yet.
"I told you the other day, remember?" He raised an eyebrow, and she just grinned.
"Its too early to remember things." She flopped backwards on the bed.

"Besides, its my birthday. You should be waiting on me hand and foot." She murmured, resting her head off of the bed.
"I will when we have our own place." He laid down next to her, and she hesitated before murmuring.
"Yeah, once I tell my dad and Connor we can." She said that quietly and quickly.
He sighed, "You can't keep me a secret forever Ro. I get that your dad came back only a little while ago, but what about Connor?" He mumbled.
"I'll tell them both after I age up, I promise." She half smiled at him. "I think I'll age up before school, so I don't have to go there today." She grinned.

Rosie blew out the candles when everyone was awake. She didn't want to go to school that day, she wanted a full day of being an adult before graduation, if she even wanted to go. Besides, why go to school if you could possibly spend the whole day doing whatever you wanted to, as your own person?

When the candles went out, that was when it started to dawn on her. She would no longer be a child, she would no longer need someone to look after her. She was going to be independent, and it honestly scared her. It was the good kind of scary though.

Soon after the cake was ate, Connor and Alyssa had to go off to school. Erin went out to play for tips, which is something she hasn't done for a long time.

So, it was just Thomas and Rosie still left in the house. It was weird for them both being able to look at each other straight on. They were both used to Rosie being smaller than him, and now they were about the same size.
She hugged him tightly, knowing that today was probably her last day in the house. "Is being an adult scary?" She asked quietly.
He couldn't help but laugh a little, "No, its not. Especially not when you have a family behind you." He smiled at her, but couldn't ignore the fact that he could feel something weird on her hand. "What's that on your hand?" He asked.

"And just what is that?" He growled, not even wanting to look at the ring on her finger. Right now, he was just hoping that she had got her lefts and rights mixed up again.
"Its a ring." She answered simply, trying to put off as long as possible before admitting what it actually was.
"I can see that, but what type of ring is it?" He tried again, obviously angry.
"A claddagh ring." She answered, still staling. She wanted to put off the yelling as long as possible.
"Rosie..." He warned, and she sighed.
"An engagement, claddagh ring." She murmured. "I'm engaged."

"You're what?! Rosie, how could you be-" He started to yell, but then was interrupted.
"Before-" She yelled louder, getting his attention and making him listen to her, "You get angry, at least let me explain myself." She spoke normally again, sighing.
"Go on." He narrowed his eyes.

"First of all, my mom technically had me when you both were younger than I am now." She pointed out, not caring if it was a low blow. It was the truth, and whether he knew about her or not, it still counted.
"We've been over this Rosie, I didn't even know about you until you were a toddler." He frowned,
"Maybe not, but it doesn't change the fact that you still did a lot more than what me and my fiance have done. We've not gone all the way, obviously you and my mom did and you were younger." He stayed silent, his eyes narrowed. She tilted her head slightly.

Rosie then sighed, "That, and I love him." She mumbled, "When you were gone, Erin pretty much broke down and Connor was off doing his own thing and I felt alone/" She frowned. "He was there for me when no one else was. I know that it was a bad time, but my point still stands. He was there for me, and he always wants to make sure that I'm okay. I want to be with him, and honestly? You can't stop me. I'm an adult now." She folded her arms.
Thomas stayed quiet for a long time, he then sighed "Fine, but I want to meet him." He tried to reason.

"You... Wanna meet him?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. She managed to hide how much she was really freaking out about this.
"I don't see what the problem is if I did." He pointed out.
"Sure, I'll go call him now." She put on a smile, and went upstairs.

"You're as beautiful as ever." Liam grinned when Rosie walked back into the room, yet when he saw her scared expression, he asked "What's wrong?" He frowned, worried.
"My dad wants to meet you." She murmured, her eyes still wide. "He's fine with us being together, but he wants to know you."

"He what?" He asked, starting to freak out too "I'm not good with dads, Rosie. He'll end up hating me." He sighed.
"We'll be fine, okay? I doubt he'll want to have a full five hour discussion with you. He'll just want to make sure you're safe and you're not likely to harm me or anything." She half smiled, trying to reassure both herself and Liam.
"Seriously, can't I put it off?" He practically pleaded.
"You're the one who wanted me to tell my dad and Connor." She pointed out, folding her arms. There was the sound of someone coming upstairs, and Rosie figured that Thomas must have heard them, "And no, I'm taking you can't put it off." She bit her lower lip. "You'll be fine." She assured him.

Rosie was stood fairly far away when Thomas walked in, and seeing his already angry expression made her want to leave. As mean as it was, she didn't especially want to hear this conversation. Luckily, she didn't have to be the one to excuse herself because her dad said.
"Rosie? A little privacy?" He asked, and she left. She didn't object, but she did pause ever so slightly to try and seem as if she did want to stay. She left the room though.

There was a short silence, before Liam braved enough to speak up, "I'm uh..." He started, only to be interrupted.
"I know perfectly well who you are." He growled, causing Liam to step back a little in defence. "I'm not even going to ask why you're in my daughter's room, or about how you even know her. All I'm concerned about is her. You dare hurt her, or do anything to her..." He trailed off, glaring.

"I'm not going to hurt her." Liam quickly snapped on defence, before realizing what he actually did. Thomas just raised an eyebrow at him, letting him continue. "I don't plan on ever hurting her, and I hate that you think I would." He frowned, angry. "I plan on being the best I can be for her, and to be honest, there aren't a lot of nice guys out there. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not the worst." He spoke honestly, hardly even sure of where the confidence to say that came from. But oh well, he did it.

Much to his surprise, Thomas seemed to be alright with it. "Its nice to see you actually have a backbone." He mumbled, looking Liam up and down. "You'll need one with Rosie, she can be a little headstrong sometimes." He smiled ever so slightly.
Lian nodded briefly, "I kinda noticed."
"But if you do ever hurt her, just remember that I've been in war, and I know perfectly well how to handle a gun." He was back to being angry again, but not as much as before. When he walked out, Liam sighed, relieved it went alright-ish.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie." She mumbled as she walked back in.She hugged him tightly, honestly feeling bad. "Did it go alright?" She asked.
"I'm not dead, so yeah, it went alright." He half smiled, and pulled away enough to see her smirk.
"Aren't vampires already dead?" She asked, whereas Liam just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, all that matters is that me and you can be together." He grinned.
She hesitated, "I just have to tell Connor. He won't come in here and yell at you though." She half smiled.

Just before she was supposed to leave, she went to Connor's room. "Knock, knock." Rosie half smiled, walking into his room. "I'm not interrupting, am I?" She asked, not that her homework ever mattered all too much to her.
"No, I need a study break." Connor turned to face her, looking up at his now adult sister. "Is this your goodbye or something?" He asked, honestly upset. He didn't want to be the eldest child in the house, it just felt as if everything was moving really quickly. Fairly soon it was Alyssa's birthday, then his was the day after.

"Kind of, there's something else I wanted to tell you." She started.
"You're engaged? I've noticed the ring, Rosie. I'm not blind." He mumbled, looking up at her.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, "I hate how you're smarter than me." She grumbled.
There was a short silence before Connor asked, "Do you know what you're going to do?" He looked up at her, honestly unsure himself.
She shrugged, sighing a little. "Adventure around, explore. See what's what. I doubt I'm just going to stay here though, there's too much outside of this little town to see."

"Aren't you scared though? I know you have your fiance but still." He murmured, trying to hide that he himself was scared of growing up.
"I am." She admitted, "But, I saw this quote somewhere, that summed it up perfectly. It went something like 'How can a bird born for joy, sit in a cage and sing?'." She half smiled. "If you're meant for better things, reach out and grab any opportunity with both hands." She explained, and there was the sound of a taxi horn outside.

He stood up and hugged her. "I'm really going to miss you Rosie." He mumbled.
Rosie hesitated a little before saying "Its going to get a little lonely on my own, would you mind if I took one of the puppies?" She asked, knowing how Connor was probably the main one to ask about the dogs.
He paused before mumbling "Seeing as though you named her, you can take Piper."
She grinned, "You're the best." Before pulling away and smiling at him. "Good luck as the oldest kid here."

So Rosie (with Piper in tow) left the house, for the last time. It was a scary feeling, knowing she was now an adult. But she was excited. She was her own person, and could do whatever she wanted to do. It was an end, sure, but it was the end of the beginning, however the beginning of her new life. A new, independent life...

Chapter 1.35 Lost in the Hurt                                                     Chapter 1.37 What am I Going to Do?

______________________________

AN: I hate this, I'm letting go of Rosie. *Sighs* ah well. She'll forever be in the neighbourhood, and I'm going to save her to the bin and probably put her up for download when I have others too.
The quote, if anyone was wondering, is by William Blake. I remember I heard it about two years ago, and I only just remembered it. I thought it was fairly suiting for this chapter...