They had been away for a short time, taking a small vacation in a house in New Mexico that Carlisle had arranged for them. The sun was just starting to think about rising when it happened.

Her eyes went blank and he reflexively took her hand. "What is it Alice?"

She took a sharp breath and he felt her emotions turn to fear.

"Alice. What do you see?" he repeated more urgently.

Her golden eyes locked on his own. "Jazz…" her brow furrowed in confusion, "Maria is going to visit us."

"Could you tell when?"

"It was a rash decision. She came across your scent in the park from last night. She wasn't going to come, but then she found it again this morning. She's coming now."

He thought for a minute. He hadn't spoken with her in almost seventy years. Would she still be angry at him for leaving?

"Can you see what her intentions are?" he asked smoothly.

Alice looked again. "I can't see what happens when she gets here. I only see her coming to the door. She'll be here in about six minutes."

He nodded, and she noticed he looked too tense. She put her hands on either side of his face and looked into his eyes, letting her love spread over him. "If she's coming to hurt you she'll never stand a chance."

"I'm more afraid that she'll try to hurt you," he admitted.

"She can't hurt me."

He closed his eyes, starting to remember some of the horrid things that he and Maria had done together. How many lives had been taken…how often she had rewarded him for killing…how she had punished him when he didn't follow her orders…

"Jasper." Alice's soft soprano voice interrupted his thoughts. "Don't get lost now. You've already told me about your time with her. Please don't go away right now."

There had been a few rare moments in their time together where Jasper would get caught up in the memories of his past. He'd sit by the fire in his study and just stare at the flames, reminiscing. A few times his emotions were too strong, and he let them slip out, inflicting them on her. The mix of despair and anger was overwhelming to her for the brief second she endured it. To imagine that he felt that for hours broke her. She always sat next to him, sometimes in a chair, sometimes on the floor, and watched the fire with him. She would try to stay calm, thinking of how much she loved him, needed him, wanted him. Wanting him to feel that. And it helped some, eventually saving him from drowning in wisps of his past depression.

"I'm okay, Alice. I'm here," he assured her, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

She took his hand and looked up at him, "Let's entertain your visitor."

He tasted her emotions, feeling her love, her optimism, and her underlying apprehension. He knew that she wouldn't want him changing her feelings, so he just briefly let her feel his love, admiration, appreciation for her. She smiled up at him as she went to open the door just as Maria politely but unnecessarily knocked.

The door opened silently, revealing the breathtakingly beautiful woman standing in the doorway. She was just an inch or two taller than Alice. Her dark hair hung in waves down her back and seemed to accent her glowing pale skin. Her eyes are what stood out the most. They were like rubies, too red to be seen by humans. She smiled, her whole face lighting up.

"Jasper Whitlock, my old southern companion. It really has been too long. Won't you invite me in?" Her soprano voice was innocent and attractive. Automatically, anyone who didn't know her would be drawn to her.

Jasper hadn't moved since she had arrived in their doorway. He searched her emotions thoroughly, digging for some hint of malice, anything that could be taken as a threat. He didn't care about what she thought toward him anymore, but he wanted to make sure he protected Alice. He sensed that she was calm, confident, possibly nostalgic, and slightly annoyed. But there was no hint of malice and only a slight feeling of fear.

Alice answered before he could say anything. "Come in, Maria. Do make yourself comfortable." Pure confidence in her voice. Jasper felt her nervousness, but it had to be oblivious to Maria, who entered and closed the door behind her.

Her eyes looked Jasper up and down quickly, and he felt her pure lust for him. The lust that he had mistook for some form of love so many years ago. He couldn't believe that he had ever wanted her companionship, needed her around, looked up to her. He felt nothing but distaste for her now, but he acted politely, not wanting any harm to come to Alice from Maria. "Hello Maria. It's been a long time."

"It certainly has," her voice was as radiant as she was, with underlying tones of seductiveness. She stared at him a moment too long, and then turned her crimson eyes to Alice. "I take it you recognize me, since you greeted me by name, but I don't ever recall knowing you before. Jasper, is this one of the newborns that you let live after I asked you to destroy?"

Alice could feel the tension radiating from Jasper, but he wasn't sending it out to be felt. It was just what she picked up on from being so attuned to him. She answered clearly, her voice ringing like bells, before he could say anything.

"No, I'm Alice. Jasper met me many years after he left Texas." Left Texas. Not "left you," which is what he would have said. He realized that Alice had probably seen a bad outcome from that response.

Maria nodded in acknowledgement. "I see. You have traveled together a long time, then." Statement of fact.

"Yes." Alice agreed.

Jasper took Alice's hand and squeezed it tightly. Almost too tight, even for a vampire. Maria watched him, her eyebrows raised, slightly amused.

"We should go into the living room, it might look strange if a human were to walk by and glance in at us standing in the foyer for too long." Alice suggested.

She led the way, never letting go of Jasper's hand. They sat on the L-shaped maroon couch in the living room. Jasper was surprised when he and Alice sat down on the couch and Maria sat on the extended part that made it an "L," right on the other side of him. This put him between his past and his future.

He found himself wanting to sit, if possible, closer to Alice. Her emotions reassured him. She wasn't sad or jealous or angry…at least not yet. She was worried, nervous, but confident, and he assumed that she was confident in what his actions would be. Her certainty helped him to relax ever so slightly and speak.

"So how have you been, Maria?" he asked.

"I've been the same, Jasper. Enjoying my winnings, fighting again for what I lose."

Jasper felt a pang of uneasiness come over Alice at Maria's words. He squeezed her hand tighter in reassurance.

"That sounds like you."

She laughed, "And how about you? Please tell me how you have been, it seems as if you are not quite the same," she paused, looking at him, and added, "at least not mentally."

A spark of defensive anger from Alice. She knew Maria was taunting him. He wouldn't bite.

"No, I'm not the same, Maria. I'm finally happy. I have a family. A worthwhile purpose. I have Alice."

"And I thought you had lost the ability to speak," she smiled, "I'm glad you have found something to pull you out of that boring depression you developed when you were with me. But tell me, if you don't mind me asking, what is wrong with your eyes?"

Her emotions gave her away. She was curious about his eyes, but she wasn't glad for him. He felt something that may have been jealousy from Maria. He was glad that he was between her and Alice.

"There's nothing wrong with them." Alice answered, her voice still confident, but more sharp now.

"Of course not. Forgive me." She wasn't sorry. "But how are they so light? Both of you…your eyes are the color of gold."

"We don't feed on humans," she told her.

This genuinely surprised her. "Excuse me? You both don't? How do you survive?"

"We both don't. We drink the blood of animals." Jasper answered. He felt pride from Alice, disgust from Maria.

"Very interesting," was all she said.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Maria still looking at him. Nostalgia. He thought she might be remembering their time together. Then she leaned closer to him and he tensed. Her fingers extended towards his wrist to trace a particularly gruesome scar.

"So many memories..."

He felt cold as her fingers brushed over it. He moved his wrist away from her fingers.

"Yes, you were highly upset with me for letting Peter run off with a newborn."

She grinned, "That was quite a fight. You came close to winning it," she admitted.

He just looked at the scar on his wrist.

"You picked the right place to bite me. It caught me by surprise. Good."

She said this like she would before rewarding her soldiers for doing something impressive as she pulled her already low cut shirt down slightly to reveal a scar on her chest.

He felt that Alice was angry, hurt. It pained him greatly to know that he was the cause of it. He maintained composure to keep her safe.

"Surprise is the key factor," he said.

"Yes…it absolutely is." He felt her jealousy turn to anger as she looked at his hand clutching Alice's as if his life depended on it. Which wasn't far from the truth. His life depended on her.

Maria and Jasper stared at each other, tension becoming higher. Jasper silently dared her to act upon her anger. He suddenly wanted to hurt her. Alice would have never had to feel anything other than her usual optimism if Maria had stayed away from them.

"I think I must be going now." Maria said suddenly, instead of attacking. Jasper felt Alice's worry start to ease into relief. He borrowed some of her relief to calm himself and nodded.

She stood up and Jasper stood with her, walking with her to the door.

"It was nice to see you again, Jasper. And to meet your Alice."

His Alice. How right she was.

"I wish you well, Maria," he replied simply. She smiled, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, and then was gone quickly. Her lips on his face left him feeling cold again.

He waited, staring at the door until she was too far for him to feel her emotions anymore. Then he turned around and went back into the living room where Alice was sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

He sat next to her, testing out her emotions. He could still feel anger, pain, but also love. That same unwavering, overpowering love that she had had for him ever since he had first found her.

"Alice, I--" he started, but he didn't know what to say. How do you apologize for a part of who you were?

Before he could figure it out, she put her finger over his lips. "She's gone now."

He nodded, "I'm sorry, Alice."

Confusion and worry dominated her emotions. "What is it, Jazz?"

"You were angry and hurt when she showed the scar I left on her. But you need to know… that time, I bit her in self-defense. She fought with me after I left Peter run off with Charlotte, and so I fought back. But I would never hurt you, Alice." His eyes bore into hers with intensity.

She took an unnecessary breath. "Jasper, I wasn't angry at you. Or at the fact that you bit her."

Now it was his turn to be confused, "I don't…understand."

Her small sad smile would have made his heart jump. "I was angry at Maria."

He crinkled his brow and looked into her eyes, searching for an answer.

Alice responded to the question in his face by grabbing his wrist, running her fingers over the deep scar there, as Maria had done. Instead of feeling cold, though, he felt a sudden warmth rush through his body.

Then he understood. Alice didn't want anyone hurting him anymore. Didn't want Maria bringing up difficult memories of his past. He smiled at her and her eyes lightened. She slowly brought his wrist to her lips and pecked the deep crescent scar, much different from the way that Maria had taken his wrist to her lips so many years ago.

Her happiness matched his as they looked at each other, two halves of one whole. They stayed like that for the rest of the day. Still. Together. Not a care in the world but each other in that moment.