Moonlight Melody

Chapter 1: Biloxi Regional Hospital

It was another rainy night in Forks. Rain cascaded down the translucent walls of the Cullen household casting a soft glow upon it occupants. One of which was a thoroughly frustrated, and at the same time, love-struck Bella Swan. The man, or vampire, she was both frustrated and love-struck with rolled his beautiful golden eyes and turned up the volume to the television set. On the screen a man in a puffy pink chef's outfit was busy opening a bag of flour.

"Edward, do we really have to watch some man making pancakes? His outfit is cheesy!" Bella frowned at the television set.

Edward roared with laughter at the pun.

They had watched the FoodNetwork yesterday and she had decided that now would be the perfect time to put her foot down. Normally she didn't mind watching Edward Cullen struggle to comprehend the unknown realms of culinary world (something extremely rare for a knock-dead vampire who was good at pretty much anything and not used to struggling to comprehend something). It gave her a chance to admire the way his bronze colored hair fell into his golden eyes. The way his skin was flawless, the color of a marble any woman would envy. However someone could only take so much of the FoodNetwork.

"There really isn't anything else to watch on television," he pointed out.

"You didn't even look! And the weather channel hardly counts!" Bella retorted.

Edward sighed and changed the channel a few times before he reported, "You see? Nothing."

Bella scowled and made a jump for the remote, only to land squarely in his lap. Edward chuckled and held the remote out of her grasp. Then he lifted her up and cradled her in his muscular arms as if she were a child.

She squeaked when Edward pulled her into his lap with a little growl.

"You're not going anywhere."

She heartily agreed. No. Probably not.

"Does the man in the puffy white outfit scare you, Bella?" he chuckled. Bella flushed pink, only serving to heighten his amusement.

"No," she whispered. "I don't like chefs and pancakes," she muttered sounding like a petulant child. Edward beamed in pleasure as pink spread over her cheeks.

"You're so beautiful when you blush," he said softly and traced a few fingers across her cheeks. Bella gasped and froze, feeling a line of fire where his fingers had touched.

"I-I…I still don't want to…"

Edward leaned to brush his lips in butterfly kisses across her temple, "Hm?" Her heart rate began to accelerate. She felt a trill of embarrassment. There was no way he could not hear that.

"I HATE THE COOKING CHANNEL!" she burst out before her brain shorted out.

Edward raised an elegant eyebrow, "Does it bother you so much that I want to learn to cook for you, despite how impossible it is for one of us to taste?" One of us, meaning vampires.

Bella gaped, "Don't turn it around on me!"

The sound of muffled laughter sounded throughout the room and Bella twisted around in Edward's arms to see Alice watching them, with her arm stuffed in her mouth. Bella blushed deeper and tried to wiggle out of Edward's lap. He only tightened his grip on her and grinned gaily.

"Hey Alice," he said cheerfully.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" she asked.

Bella tried to right herself out of Edward's lap. But releasing herself from his iron hold was nearly impossible. Edward didn't look up. He continued to breathe in her scent.

"Not at all. Care to join us?" Edward asked, still not looking at her.

Alice finally started laughing, "Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer to cuddle with Jasper, actually."

Edward rolled his eyes, "I meant watching television," he said sarcastically. Alice beamed and didn't reply. He made room for her on the couch nonetheless.

Bella took that particular moment to snatch the remote from his hands with a triumphant cry. Edward didn't react even as she changed the channel. He seemed to be mentally speaking to Alice with a look of amusement plastered on his face. Bella flicked through the channels and turned to the Disney channel where Bambi was prancing across the screen. The two vampires' eyes flickered to the television.

"Yum," Alice said appreciatively and licked her lips. Edward stared at the screen for a moment then said.

"Change the channel! You're making me hungry!" he grumbled.

Bella twisted in his lap to retort and then upon catching the look in Alice's eyes, stopped.

"Alice?"

The pixie-like girl smiled, "You know, sometimes you remind me of when Jasper and I first met."

Bella raised herself up and plopped onto the couch besides Edward. She could feel a story about to be told. For the moment Edward was a bit preoccupied. His eyes were riveted to the television. Bambi shook his tail tauntingly.

Alice was staring up at them moon pensively tracing intricate patterns on the arm of the couch. Her mind was obviously lingering somewhere in the past.

"The night I met Jasper was a night kind of like this. It was raining hard, but it was funny because the moon was still out," Alice smiled softly to herself.

"I'm sure Edward told you Jasper and I found each other in 1948," she went on. "We had actually gotten married in '48. I had already known him about 28 years before that. At the time I had been in the hospital." Bella opened her mouth to ask the question and Alice said, "I had a weak heart. So the hospital was my second home away from home. Even if I didn't like it."

Taking advantage of the story about to be told, Edward had reached over to Bella and plucked the remote from her fingers. She ignored it and he happily set the station back to the FoodNetwork to watch Chef Dillion make gourmet omelets.

"It was 1920 and I wasn't exactly the most compliant patient in the hospital. But you couldn't really blame me…"

1920

I was a growing teenager with a weak heart, a crazed sense of humor, locked away in a hospital like a princess locked away in a tower. I would go home to my parents every now and then, but it was only a matter of time before my heart would act up again and then I'd be whisked off to the hospital. I could only watch helplessly from my hospital window as life went on below me. So of course Mary Alice Brandon, as I was known then, was extremely notorious for her attempts at freedom.

Like now, for example.

I quietly eased myself out of the hospital kitchen, the precious sandwich of good ol' PBJ that I'd snitched from the cook on duty clenched between my teeth. It was careful not to spill one drop on my white hospital uniform.

There was NOTHING in this hospital that wasn't white, anyhow. The walls, the linoleum floors, the ceilings, the blankets, the tables, the desks. It smelled annoyingly clean and everyone was disgustingly cheerful. It was enough to drive a person crazy (though I might have accomplished that already with the number of years I'd been here). It had been a while since I last had a chance to have something other than the healthy junk they served me.

Giddy with delight, I munched on the sandwich relishing the taste of the grape jelly as I danced my way down the hall. "Jelly jelly…peanut butter…and JELLY!" I sang softly to myself. It wasn't anywhere near to lunch so I wasn't really worried about the hospital staff roaming the hall. No one came to the kitchen around this time.

As I neared the end of the hall where the nurse's desk should have been I grew quiet and got down on my hands and knees. The desk was tall enough to give me cover and as soon as I was far away from the kitchen I was home free, technically. Halfway there I heard some of the nurses on duty start a conversation.

"Who?"

"That poor dear in 123, Lucille!" when I heard this my ears perked up. That was my room! "She's always crying in her sleep, they say," a young woman was saying. My jaw dropped in horror. I am?

"Oh! You mean Miss. Brandon. She's a feisty one, that girl. The other night when offered to do her hair for her, she threw a hairbrush at me."

I beamed with pride. Feisty, yes that was me. It was so annoying when the nurses tried to treat me like glass. Heaven help me if I broke while trying to braid my own hair!

"Maybe she's just a little lost. She's not strong enough to be outside the hospital no matter how many times her parents take her home. The girl always comes back."

Lucille chuckled, "You would never think that the way that she sneaks around this hospital during the day! You know, I've caught her quite a few times sneaking food from the kitchen? She always asks for peanut butter."

"Miss. Brandon?" a male voice called out at that moment. "Is that you down there again?" I flinched but definitely didn't wait for my annoyingly steadfast admirer, Christian Petty, to start the usual pursuit. I scrambled to my feet and launched myself down the hall faster than a bottle rocket. I had no doubt Mr. Petty was following me, neither. We did this at least once a month.

"She's sneaking off more junk food! Why even bother locking the door?" I heard them say.

I grinned and began to nimbly weave my way through various hospital staff and patients. Mr. Petty was managing to keep up; I could clearly hear his footsteps thundering behind me.

"Still hangin' in there, Mr. Petty?" I called out to him, teasing.

There was a laugh, "What do YOU think, Miss Brandon?" I grinned and ducked behind an elderly woman's wheelchair, correctly predicting that she would put up a good fight. I knew Christian would not like me aggravating the patients. I loved nothing more than to push that man's buttons!

"Did you like him?" Bella asked Alice. It did sort of seem that way.

Alice grimaced, "No! Though I know for certain that Christian did like me. It was more of a game that went on between us. He was the kind of person who loved a good challenge."

"You better watch out, Miss Brandon. Imma catch you soon enough!" Christian yelled from behind me, confidence rang in every word.

I smirked that. I knew that was not going to happen. I started to tip things over, wrecking havoc as I made my way along. A tray of pills here, an IV stand there. He would definitely trip over one of them. That would give me a chance to make it to the hall where there would be plenty of doors to hide behind. Behind me, there was a curse as he tripped over something. The IV stand's wire, I realized with glee.

Suddenly I collided with someone and was thrown backwards onto my rear. I didn't have to see the man who had so effortlessly thrown me off balance to know who he was. I groaned. Game over.

"Mary Alice Brandon," the warm male voice of Dr. Carlisle Cullen sounded amused. "This is a surprise to catch you on your usual trip to the kitchen."

No shit. I grit my teeth and took the hand he was offering. Though I knew he wasn't surprise. He usually caught me anyway and I'd learned the hard way that Dr. Carlisle, as I'd come to know him, was much stronger, faster, cleverer (and quite a sight too!) than all the men I'd ever known (haha, not many).

I didn't put up a fight when Dr. Carlisle led me to my room.

"I don't know why you bother," I sighed. I broke away from his hold and began to twirl around like a ballerina.

"Eventually I'll make it outta this here hospital!" I said smugly and swayed my hips to a silent beat.

"I certainly hope you would stop trying to do just that. I would be disappointed to not see you every morning."

"I wouldn't," I sang and pranced into my room. Dr. Carlisle watched me, a look of amusement written on his face.

"Just….be safe. Be good and stop trying to prove to everyone that you're strong. We know."

"They don't. They treat me like I'm going to croak at any minute. Ding dong the witch is dead, right?" I muttered glumly.

"That's not true, Mary Alice. They only care for you," he replied. And I knew that he cared for me too, just as much as I cared for him. He was one of the few people in this prison who actually understood me. Dr. Carlisle was like family to me…he was like a father to me.

"I wish they wouldn't! It's making me sick!" I cried angrily and slammed the door shut. He wasn't surprised.

I threw myself onto my bed. I was not fragile. There was no way I was going to let anyone underestimate me! There was no way I could break, I thought and lay my head on my pillow. Tears of frustration trailed down my cheeks and pooled onto the pillow. Here I was, crying again.

I hated having a weak heart.

Slowly I drifted off to sleep, thoughts of freedom dancing in my head. But it wasn't freedom that I dreamed of. Instead of dreamed of…him. Again, like pretty much every night, it was about him.

It was a dark and cold night in the forest. Not even the sun, which hovered in the sky like a yellow beach ball, shed any light on the darkness that surrounded him.

He was very tall and muscular, but not very bulky. His hair was the color of blonde and fell into pools of black. Alice sighed and emotions rushed through her.

He was so sad. So confused and lost. So alone. Trapped in darkness forever, endlessly searching for something. For someone.

And then the dream changed.

She was no longer in the forest watching the young man. Instead she felt as though she were floating on air. Her arms were crossed over her chest like some kind of vampire, her long dark hair fanned out over her head, her eyes closed. She was slowly gently drifting over water in a boat, like a sleeping princess.

Then she heard someone singing a beautiful melody in a soft whispery masculine voice. The voice was so close, as if the person were whispering a secret in her ear. Alice's lip trembled. The song made her feel a great sorrow and longing so powerful that it overwhelmed her and rushed over her in waves, threatening to drown her. She reached up trembling fingers, longing to reach out to the person. To touch him and wallow in the great sorrow he felt.

Suddenly there was a gasp and the dream threw me out. I bolted up out of bed, failing to notice too late that there had been someone leaning over me. A loud crack echoed in the room as our heads collided.

"Ow," I groaned and fell back into my pillows. Pain flared across my head. When it had faded somewhat, I looked down to see who I had bumped heads with.

My heart stopped and I felt shock squeeze at my heart. Could this be happening?

A young man with honey blonde hair was bent double over my bed, gripping his head. When he straightened up, I saw that he was very tall. At least 6 feet! He was wearing the immaculately white hospital uniform that the volunteers usually wore. But his eyes were what caught my attention the most. His eyes…his eyes met mine squarely, the color of darkness.

I recognized him immediately. It was the boy who had I had been dreaming about endlessly for years. The young man I had been dreaming about since I was six. But this time, the honey blonde hair and black eyes were very real. I could have reached out and touched him. It wasn't a dream.

"Jasper," Bella breathed.

Alice nodded furiously. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

I didn't know his name, so it was a long time before I finally mustered up the courage to actually say a sensible word or two, "Hi."

And probably totally made a total idiot out of myself in the process. Way to start a conversation, I chided myself.

The boy's face formed into a scowl and he turned to walk away. No!

Before I could stop myself, I reached out and seized the back of his shirt, "Don't go, please! Were you the one who was singing?"

The boy growled in his throat and jerked his shirt out of my grasp easily. "I was only moving your bed towards the window for some fresh air," he said in a low and icy voice. "Thought you might appreciate the view out your window. Don't misunderstand."

Instead his cold words warmed my resolve.

"Oh. So that was you singing, then!" I said brightly. He stared at me in surprise, as if contemplating something. At his side his fists were clenched tightly. I took it to mean he was in pain.

"My name is Mary Alice," I introduced myself and held out my hand to shake.

The boy glowered down at my out-stretched hand. Suddenly self-conscious, I took it back.

Okay. No physical contact. Got it. I was pretty sure he would do something drastic if I were to touch him.

"Aren't you going to tell me yours?" I asked him.

"No. Go to back to sleep," he said gruffly and proceeded to stare deeply into my eyes.

I felt an odd sensation spread throughout my body and trembled. What was happening to me? Then I shook it off and frowned.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise.

"What happened?" I glared at him. Somehow he was to blame! I realized.

He didn't answer. Instead, he only whipped around too quickly for me to see and before I knew it, he had slammed my door behind him. Gone.

I took a look at the clock besides my bed. 12:32 A.M.

I blinked and thought. Slowly a radiant smile spread itself across my face. He was very interesting. The boy was rude and didn't seem like a very nice person. He intrigued me.

I loved it.

I longed to know more about him and would spend as long as it took to find him and do whatever I could to learn more about him. So just so that I could meet the Prince of Darkness again.

Hey everyone thanks for taking the time to read my chapter!

neway apparently, Alice is from Mississippi so I tried to add a little Southern icons here and there, just to hint that.

You can also see that Alice is a little…er..upbeat I guess. Upbeat, giddy, "feisty" and tends to dance and prance a lot. Kinna got that from the way the author is always comparing her to a graceful dancer. Alice always was the cheerful one. Plus she's good at predicting things. How she knew Jasper didn't want to be touched, that the lady in the wheelchair would swing at her, and that Mr. Petty (I guess everyone called each other formally in those days so that's why he's a Mr. and she's a Miss.) wouldn't catch her because he'd trip over the IV. I tried to get as close to a human Alice as I could by looking at her vampire side. Psychic, cheerful, and graceful. Human Alice likes to dance around, is very upbeat and childlike, and is very sensitive to those around her. She's good at predicting things.

Plus, sorry for the little boy/man confusion here and there. Alice tends to call Jasper a young man cuz he can pull off the teenager thing (and im a teen-romance sap lol) but Mrs. Meyer sez that he was already a man when he was changed. So…yeah. lol

Well, thanks again and keep reading! Review to tell me what you think:D