This was an entry for The Canon Tour - New Moon round, and is a semi-collaboration with Bells Just Bells on her story, Indomitable. Please go check it out! :)
Also, huge thanks to my beautious beta, Katmom! And a huge thanks to all who read and reviewed in the contest!
"Take that, soldier!" Emmett laughed aloud, smugness oozing from his pores as he stunned me with a sharp right hook just before knocking me to my knees with an uppercut-roundhouse combo move. "You're goin' down."
He hunched forward in his seat and nearly cracked the controller in his hand. His intensity and passion were consistent in all aspects of his life, whether we were protecting the welfare of our family or having an epic battle on the PS3. It was refreshing.
I couldn't let him win without a real fight, though, and his anticipation told me he knew what was coming. His irritation told me he wished he could fight it better.
I let a small surge of uncertainty flow his direction, followed by a good dose of guilt. His grip on the controller eased a bit as he began to back his character away. His face fell, and his tone was remorseful even if his words weren't. "Man, knock it off. Fight fair for once, you cheating empath."
A familiar spike of alarm came at me from the left and I shut down everything I was emitting, focusing solely on absorbing anything Alice felt into myself. It had taken decades of practice and failure, may times sending the entire family into whatever frenzy Alice was in when she got a vision, but now it seemed like second nature. I was thankful for that a moment later.
The anguish was like a sharp blow to my chest and just kept growing as Alice stood completely frozen in the middle of the room, even after the vision had surely subsided. Fear joined it, then, layered over with panic. Uncertainty. Pain.
"Bella's dead."
I steeled myself as the words came out, but nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught. As if my own dire despair weren't enough, I had everyone's.
Alice's torture only increased once the words were spoken, her shoulders and torso slumping forward in a move that, for a human, would be equivalent to fainting. Emmett's despair hit hardest, though the underlying anger and remorse weren't far behind. He was reeling.
Even swirling in the pit of Hell I felt I was in, I knew there was a lack of emotion there. I was missing something. Someone.
On instinct I looked up, meeting Rosalie's stare from her position on the stairs. Her eyes were blank for a moment, and I felt silence from her. But only for that moment, and when the feeling came, it was strong. Uncomplicated, intense, full-bodied relief. And that hurt more than the other two combined.
"How?" Emmett asked, his voice strained.
"She's going to jump off a cliff." Despair shone in Alice's eyes and from her heart.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Emmett nearly shouted. His determination was a welcome break, though short lived. "Let's go!"
"Em, it's too late." Alice's mouth hung open for a moment, but nothing more came out. She met my stare and I could see her heart breaking in the black depths of her eyes. Pain, despair, loss, sorrow, and guilt. Most of all, guilt.
Emmett stood then, his focus jumping from Alice to myself and back, but I didn't drop my mate's gaze. I blocked everything else out, focusing solely on pulling the pain out of my lover's heart. I couldn't, though, and we both knew that.
"She's killed herself? Well," Rosalie stated in a maddeningly calm and decided tone, "we need to get a hold of Edward. He'll probably want to go back to Forks. I hope we can start to put all of this behind us at least."
I considered striking her, then, but only momentarily. I'd been raised as a human with the most gentlemanly values, and as they intensified with my change it was more than ingrained in me to never lay a hurtful hand on a lady. The term ladywas arguable in this instance, but my composition held. I didn't flinch.
"Rose..." Emmett was angry, but it didn't compare to the betrayal Alice felt. She fell back a step, looking like a child who'd just been beaten, her jaw still hanging open.
Rosalie spoke again, but I only halfway listened. "I just... I just mean we should go meet up with Edward. Get the family back together."
Pain swirled around me like I was the heart of a monsoon. Pain and anguish. Anger, resentment and despair. Guilt and uncertainty. Judgment. Liberation. Determination. Misery.
The walls of my emotional hold wavered, and I groaned at the effort it took to keep them up.
"Sorry, man."
Regret.
The ride back to Forks was... atrocious. Alice had left immediately, of course, and was running there by herself, an idea of which I was not very fond, but was too smart to argue. Emmett and Rosalie had stayed behind and would drive the Jeep back the following day. Carlisle, Esme and I drove in utter silence.
Leaving the house in Denali wasn't bad. It was actually a relief, knowing we were going back to the place we had become so accustomed to. And thatwas something I never thought I'd think, back in my nomadic days. Traveling, moving, fighting was all I knew and all I ever wanted to know. The fact that a spontaneous relocation would be such a jarring shift in my reality was disturbing. Had I really become that soft?
The reason for our family's move being, well, me,didn't help much, either. I knew on much deeper levels, those I could feel floating out from Edward on occasion, that the change wasn't entirely my fault-it would have happened one way or another-but my psyche never really let me see that all the way. There was always the flashing neon sign just out in front of me, like a mirage that reminded me of what I had done. How I had failed everyone. My family... and Bella. What hurt the most, though, was that I failed my wife. She never saw it that way, of course, but I knew better.
It wasn't until I felt a buzz in my pocket that I actually focused on my surroundings. With blinding speed I had my phone to my ear.
"Alice?"
There was a deep sigh on the other line. "Jas."
"How are you?"
"Actually, you won't believe this." Just then I heard a muffled groan in the background, the name "Edward" being mumbled from a groggy-sounding Bella. Bella?"She's alive, Jas."
I sagged with relief in the backseat of the BMW, Esme's anxious eyes darting back to top off the curiosity swirling around the both of them.
Alice spoke a little louder for the benefit of our figurative parents, the speed of her words quickening ever so slightly as she became enthralled in the story. "She wasn't committing suicide, she was cliff diving! Like, for fun, or something like that. I know, the fact that we ever thought she could survive without us is laughable. It's like she's actually seeking danger out, now. She's delusional, too, but that's almost understandable. Anyway, I couldn't see her anymore because of the nextproblem."
The shift in her mood was tangible as she began the tale of Bella's relationship with a Quileute wolf. Esme's motherly instincts were screaming concern, but we all stayed silent as Alice recounted their story about the recent nomadic activity in the area. Victoria was back, and she was testing their system. She wanted Bella.
"I have to go. She's going to wake up soon."
I glanced at the digital display on the dash. 6:34.
"Be safe, love. We'll be there tomorrow. And please don't go near those wolves, treaty or no treaty."
"I love you, Jasper." And just like that, she was gone. I controlled my roiling emotions, taking a deep breath before dialing Emmett's number.
"I'll let the others know the good news," I mumbled, my tone betraying my true mood.
The call went directly into voicemail and I yanked the phone away from my ear just as the new-age hard rock song began screaming out of my earpiece. Carlisle chuckled from the front seat, the mood in the car considerably lightened as I huffed out my irritation about Emmett's taste in music before leaving a detailed message with the new information we had been given. At my mention of Victoria, the car sped up; Carlisle's typically uncertain foot taking a more Cullen-esque approach. It was about time.
I tried not to count the hours that passed, but my focus always managed to land on the glowing digital display that told me exactly how long we'd been on the road. I wanted to feel the relief I knew I should, but all I cared about was getting to Alice.
I absently noticed Esme pulling her phone from her pocket to read a text message she'd received. I felt a petty stab of jealousy at that, knowing the only person in our family inclined to begin a text conversation was my wife. Why was she sending texts to Esme instead of me?
I tried to push that thought away as I recounted the hours we had been travelling again, confirming for the forty-second time in sixty minutes that I would see Alice in approximately seventeen hours.
I glanced up to see Carlisle reading a message on Esme's phone. Only then did I notice the spike of anxiety coming from Esme, Carlisle's joining shortly after.
"What is it?"
Esme looked back at me with a look that I could feelwas tinged with guilt, fear and apology. She said nothing, though, and just as I was about to address Carlisle, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
"Alice, what's going on?" I wished with everything I had that I could feel my wife's emotions at that moment, because her practiced-calm tone gave away only that she didn't want me to know how she was reallyfeeling. I hated that.
"Nothing, I'm just taking Bella shopping in Seattle today. Her dad is busy with funeral arrangements and she needed a day away." My silence indicated my skepticism of her response. "You hear me, so you know I'm all right, right?"
I waited to hear any indication of the secret phrase she and I had discussed many years before, one to indicate danger, but nothing else came.
"Right," I finally conceded.
"Good. Everything is great here, don't worry. I have to go, but I love you and I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Okay, I love you."
Alice's well-practiced script might have had me convinced if it weren't for the two board-stiff beings in the front seat, both emitting various levels of anxiety, guilt and calm.
"What's really going on?"
No response came, but Esme's guilt rose tremendously. I had my in.
I didn't have to fake the nerves etched into every word. "Please. I need to know what's wrong. Esme, she's my mate. Please."
"Rosalie called Edward today," she began, getting a stern but empathetic look from Carlisle as she told me what had happened. "She told him Bella was dead. He's completely devastated. He wants to die, Jasper." She nearly whimpered. "He's going to try to kill himself."
No!I wasn't sure if I'd screamed the word out loud or just in my mind, but at that moment it no longer mattered. All that mattered was getting to my Alice before she did something catastrophic.
I was out the door and deep into the snow-laden forest in the time it would take a human to blink. Unfortunately, it wasn't humans I had to get away from, and Carlisle was tight on my trail.
"Jasper, stop. Please." His tone indicated casual conversation, but his concern was ever present as we ran. It grew with each mile we traveled until he reached some type of boundary and decided to make his move.
He anticipated that I would predict his movements, but he wasn't quick enough. His hand grazed my wrist as I maneuvered out of his grip, continuing my direct path to Seattle. He didn't miss a step.
"Jasper, slow down. Please, just listen to me! You can't go to them, she warned us about it. If you go you'll all die. Everyone, Jasper."
I slowed my pace, turning to face him as I came to a hesitant stop. "What exactly did she see?"
"She saw you doing what you're attempting to do now." His hand reached out to tentatively rest on my shoulder. "You try to protect her; to protect them, but it's taken as a threat, Jasper. The Volturi don't do well with threats."
I wished I could vomit at that moment. The urge was there, foreign as it was, but the ability wasn't. Carlisle's mention of the Volturi made the entire situation so real. The only thing keeping me still was the knowledge of Alice's vision. I couldn't put them in more danger because of my own selfish needs. I wouldn't.
Coming to that conclusion was easy. Remaining there wasn't. The process of locating Esme and getting me back into the car was quite the chore for Carlisle, I imagine. I had no control of my emotional state, and the waves of angst I was throwing off surely had the ability to bring a vampire to his knees. He persevered, though, as always, and had us back in the car all too soon. I sat in the back seat, stone-stiff, drowning in my own dreadful ocean of distress.
"Jasper?" Esme's soft voice was strained, her face contorted in pain. "We need to get moving again. Please, try." It was then that I noticed the car hadn't moved, but instead both Carlisle and Esme sat rigid in their seats, straining against what I was emitting.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, forcing myself to gain even an ounce of control over my gift, as it was called. It took too long, maybe an hour, but we were finally able to begin the trek back to Forks again.
I had never been able to predict the future, but Alice was always there to reassure me that things would turn out for the best. No matter what happened, we would be okay.
I can still see it, baby, she would say. Us, together, running along the coast under the cover of night. I can't tell what we're doing, but it doesn't matter. We're together.
Whenever there was a question about our future, anything that made us uneasy, she would find the vision. When it hit she would grab my hand and squeeze - one for same, two for different. I never felt a second squeeze in all the years we had been doing it, and she always came out of the vision a moment later to share the same story.
I would refer to myself as Lennie, sometimes; the times when the nerves in the house were threatening to overtake me. I'd tell her to tell me about the rabbits. We would both laugh, but she knew of the fine line between humor and insanity. I was always walking it in those moments, and she held me steady. She couldn't now, though.
"We're home," Esme announced. It was more routine than anything, but the words startled me still. Homejust didn't sound right, then. Nowhere was home without Alice.
That became all the more clear when I stepped out of the car only to be blindsided by her stale scent.
"Alice!" I tried to follow it, but it led nowhere. I knew she was gone, but my thoughts were almost rabid. I had to know why she had come here. Where is she? What have they done with her?
"Jasper, she's not here." I turned to face Carlisle, trying to focus. "She came to get the Mercedes, remember?"
The Mercedes. I sighed in defeat, slowly coming back into my own mind. She hadcome here first. She wasn't here anymore.
The door into the house seemed almost sacred - like a passageway into normalcy. Crossing it would mean I accepted that normalcy. I couldn't cross that line. Not without my wife.
Esme seemed to notice my inner war and spoke up. "Why don't we go for a hunt? We all need it." They both jogged out of the garage, neither waiting to pressure me one way or another. It was strange not to have someone there that tried to force their will onto me... foreign, almost. The unspoken understanding and support seeped into me, and slowly but surely I began making my way toward the forest, following a good distance behind as we began our much-needed feeding.
Numerous deer, the count of which I had lost long ago, and an elk or two later, I finally felt sated, but not satisfied. I couldn't be satisfied, not now. I longed for the connection I was missing and cried out, trying to release myself from the fear that held me captive.
Alice, myAlice, was heading into a snake pit, and there was nothing I could do to help. She had always been the first to go to extreme measures when they were necessary to protect the family, but never had she endangered her own life in such a direct way. If I had the energy, I would admire her, but I couldn't get past the fear. It was all-consuming.
Jerking myself from my own reverie, I turned in the direction of the house. I had drawn out my hunt several hours longer than normal, planning to give what I expected would be plenty time to Carlisle and Esme before going out in search of them, so I was taken aback when I found them awaiting me a few hundred yards away. Surely they hadn't had enough of each other yet.
I allowed my confusion to float outward in silent question, which they both answered in kind. But this time with loyalty. Dedication. Love.
I remained motionless for a long while, just considering the magnitude of such a gesture. I couldn't think of a single time that Alice and I had gone hunting together and it had not ended in a display of affection to one another, usually love-making, which lasted hours on end. The beasts within us were passionate creatures, and when they were released near their mate, it was nearly impossible to ignore the urge. The restraint they must have practiced was admirable, to say the least.
Though I had appreciated the role that Carlisle and Esme played as leaders of our family, I had never really felt the same connection to them that everyone else seemed to have. Even as an empath, I was always viewing the relationships from the periphery. Carlisle was my alpha, Esme his mate. I followed the laws of that configuration without question. But in that instant my understanding of the depth of our family's connection to each other seemed to deepen. For the first time in this life, I understood what it meant to need a parental figure, and what it meant to have twothere. I was in awe.
Wanting them to know just how I felt, I pushed my admiration and gratitude their way, both of them smiling and nodding in response. Esme reached her hand forward, holding it open as an invitation to join them. I crossed the distance, clasping her hand in mine and the three of us began a casual run back toward the house. I allowed myself to sink into the love and peacefulness I felt then, knowing exactly what wasn'twaiting for me when I got back home.
It was a few miles into the run when we ran across the scent. It was appalling to my overly-keen sense of smell, and my instinct was to get as far away from the stench as possible. Carlisle, however, stopped dead in his tracks.
"Carlisle?"
"We need to get home." He took off at a full sprint, both Esme and myself following close on his heels.
"What's going on? What wasthat?"
Just as he turned to answer I heard a howl in the distance. The timbre of the wolf's call had something I wasn't accustomed to hearing. A quality to it that seemed different. Angry.
"The Quileute pack has started phasing again. It's just four now, but it sounds like they're growing. Bella's friend, Jacob Black, is one of them, and he doesn't seem to care about the treaty Carlisle created with their leaders. They're new, and they're dangerous."
"When she called, Alice said... " Carlisle nodded in answer to my unspoken question just as we heard the pounding steps behind us. I looked over my shoulder to meet the gaze of the largest wolf I'd ever seen gaining on us quickly, another following right on his flank.
"This way!" Carlisle turned to the east, running us on a roundabout route around the town and its outlying areas. We were running faster, now, but still not outrunning our aggressors. Fleeing was not something I did willingly, but being prepared for an attack from behind helped our chances to catch themby surprise, instead. I eyed the surrounding trees as we approached them, staking out a new path of attack every few feet.
The wolves seemed to slow when we reached a certain point, either unsure, or unable to continue, giving us a small window to plan our attack. I tried to signal for Carlisle to slow, but he was solely focused on putting distance between us.
My opportunity was thwarted when two morewolves came barreling out from behind the others, this time showing no hesitation as they followed us toward the south end of town. We were outnumbered.
Thankfully we reached the house only a minute later, the three of us coming to a stop on the porch as the wolves slowed their pace, teeth bared and snarling as they inched toward us. Dramatic teen-aged boys had to drag out the suspense, I guessed. I wished they'd just lunge so the fight could begin and I would see exactly how dangerous they really were.
The largest wolf, an ugly rusty-brown thing, seemed to set his sights on me. He angled his body my direction, lifting his paw off the ground as though he was about to reach out and tear my head off with it, but he hesitated. It was in that moment that I felt something else join in the myriad of tension swirling around us. Someone. And the purity of their rage was so clear and strong it could have bowled me over.
I smiled just as Emmett came flying out from the tree line, slamming into the first wolf he could find and taking him to the ground. Rose came out from the trees a moment later, coming to stand in an attack stance next to Esme as they watched Emmett and the wolf face off in front of them. With the wolf in front of me distracted by the others, I moved to stand between the women and the fight, taking a protective stance as Carlisle addressed Emmett. He spoke of the treaty as though it weren't several decades old, and I could feel Emmett's internal struggle as he tried to follow the orders he was being given by our leader.
I watched the wolves adjust their positions as Carlisle moved toward Emmett, always at the best angle for attack. The one Emmett had attacked let out a fierce growl when Carlisle asked for their Chief, only letting up when I sent a wave of calm his way. I needed a few moments longer to figure out the best strategy, and how to relay that to the rest of my family.
The odor hit me again, much stronger this time, just as I saw a black wolf, the largest yet, emerge into the clearing.
He was huge, and needed to be taken out first. If I could send a message to the others to distract him, I'd be able to snap his neck in less time than it would take his heart to skip a beat. But Carlisle remained focused and steadfast, speaking to the wolf in his reassuring manner, and convincing him to return to his human skin so they would be able to talk.
As another wolf made his way over to who we assumed was their Chief, I angled myself toward the hole he'd left open, calculating the time it would take me to get around to the larger of the two that were now separated from the pack. Esme put a hand on my arm and shook her head when I glanced back. Damn.
I watched their leader closely as he introduced himself. Extremely vulnerable in his human form, as I'd expected. If I could get to him first, we would sever the pack. The rest would flee, surely, once he was gone.
It wasn't until I heard mention of the "small one returning"that I actually listened to what was being said. My rage at them mentioning my wife came out in the form of a growl, and Esme's hand reached out to lightly rest on my arm once again.
I wasn't the only one with a protective tendency, though. At the mention of Bella, the ugly-brown wolf let out his own growl, his lips pulling back to show his massive canines.
"Jacob told us Bella left with the small one to stop him from killing himself. You're sure they will return?" The growling wolf seemed to react to this sentence, his rage tempering with a surge of longing. He must be Jacob.
The next word came from my own mouth, the growl in my voice still present. "Yes."
There was a short pause, their leader surely considering his options, and then he spoke again.
"As long as Bella returns, unharmed, the treaty stands. We will be keeping a close eye." He took Carlisle's outstretched hand hesitantly before signaling to the pack and disappearing into the trees.
Emmett broke the silence, giving Carlisle a playful punch in the shoulder. "Not what I'd prefer for a welcome party, but it's good to be home."
The confrontation's aftermath left us all in an odd emotional state. Some were relieved and thankful, some disappointed, and one in particular seemed overly irritated. Irrational. Weak. Angry. Thirsty.
"Rosalie, I feel like we're in shark week, here."
"Isn't she always?" Emmett muttered from behind her, gaining him a swift kick in the knees that nearly dropped him to the ground.
After straightening up and smoothing her hair a few times, Rosalie announced, "I think I'm going to go hunt. I'll see you guys later." And, thankfully, she was gone. Meanwhile Emmett stood in the same position rubbing his knees with both hands.
"She's mean when she's hungry."
"Dude, you should have been with us on the run here."
I shook my head in amusement and joined him as he made his way up the steps and into the house, only instead of going in I stayed outside of the door.
"You coming?"
I stood for a moment, staring past him and into the house. Esme was everywhere at once, a misty cloud of furniture spray and other aromatic cleaning products appearing everywhere she went. I tried to see myself walking through the door, to visualize sitting on the couch with Emmett or heading up to our -
"No, I don't think so."
I turned around and found a seat on the top step, resting my elbows on my knees and my face in my palms in a very human show of defeat. It felt dramatic, but appropriate to the moment. And oddly comforting. I didn't move the remainder of the night.
Jasper, I don't understand this vision I'm seeing. I've seen it three times now, but I don't know what we're doing. We're running along the coast, but not the one here. We're alone, but I don't know why. I'm scared, Jas.
. . .
I've seen it again; the vision. It's tropical where we are, beautiful, but we're not enjoying it. We're just running. Always running, I just can't see why.
. . .
You know that vision I get, Jas? The one of us running? I still have it. Still running, but not away. I can see now that we're running toward something.
I know they know about me now, but they won't take me. At least not soon. I don't see us in Italy, I just see us on that beach. Together, and alone. They can't take me from you.
. . .
I get new pieces, sometimes, from the vision of us. We haven't left the family, but we're far away from them. Somewhere in South America, I think. We look determined and anxious. I can't see what we're looking for, but I hope we find it.
. . .
I can feel your tension, try to relax. Do you want me to tell you about the vision again?
I can still see it, baby. Us, together, running along the coast under the cover of night. I can't tell what we're doing, but it doesn't matter. We're together. I'll find this vision over and over for us, whenever we need it. It's our safety line, to know we're going to be okay. I'll always come back for it, and it will be there.
"Jasper?" I lifted my face from my hands to see Carlisle kneeling in front of me, holding out a phone. I yanked it greedily from his hand, giving him a burst of thanks and apology as I brought it to my ear.
"Jasper?"
"Alice? Where are you?"
"At the airport. We're coming home. All of us."
My chest and abdomen tightened as I leaned inward on myself, my face scrunching in what I assumed would portray like agony to an onlooker. I didn't understand what my body was experiencing until I felt Esme's tender hand begin rubbing small circles on my back, a wave of comfort and love reaching me from everyone in the house.
I wanted to cry. Damn being a function-free vampire.
"Alice," I whispered into the receiver, my voice catching before I could continue.
"I love you, Jasper. I'm coming home to you, and I'll never leave you again. We'll be there tomorrow, okay?"
"Please don't go. Just for a little while, stay with me. Please." I hoped Edward was able to tend to Bella's needs, because I needed my wife to tend to mine.
I lost track of how long we had been talking. Maybe an hour, maybe four. She told me everything that she had experienced from arriving in Forks to their meeting with the Volturi, not missing a single detail. I heard about everything from the disgusting smell that permeated Bella's house, to the rims on the Porsche she stole, to the way Jane's shoes sounded as they tapped along the floor. She made sure to keep her voice low so a human passerby wouldn't realize she was even speaking, and as she went into the details of her vision of Bella as a vampire, I wondered just how close Edward was sitting. Alice couldn't see how it happened, but she made it clear that someonewould have to do it, and it would have to be soon.
"What about you and Edward? Did they -" I gulped. "Did they try to keep you there?"
"Edward said Aro wanted to, but wouldn't push it. He wants to wait for us to come willingly, and he's sure that will happen, one way or the other."
I sat in stony silence, not even breathing for a long while. It wasn't until she started a new story that I took air in again, this time involuntarily.
The urge to cry came back when she told me of her vision. Ourvision. It hadn't changed. We were still together.
"My love? The plane is boarding, I have to go. I love you, Jasper. I'll see you tomorrow." And again, just like that, she was gone.
I felt the elation long before I saw her small frame ducking through the people as she bounded down the crowded escalator that opened up to Baggage Claim. I held my breath as she flew off the bottom step and directly into my arms.
Holding my Alice was like nothing I had ever felt before. Her body fit mine perfectly, our curves melding together as though we were one being. I wrapped us both in the emotions I was feeling, allowing the love and devotion to permeate every ounce of our being. My whole world was wrapped up in this tiny, beautiful creature, and she had finally returned.
"You have to stop or I'm going to take you for myself right here in Baggage Claim," she whispered into my chest.
"I'm sorry, I've just missed you so much. You have no idea."
"Oh, I think I do." She pulled away long enough to give me a meaningful look before burying her face in my shirt again.
Right, she saw everything. Of course.
"Alice?"
"Yes?"
I took a deep breath. "Don't ever do that to me again."
"Baby, I had to-"
"No. I know you had to save Edward, but you didn't have to lieto me."
"I'm sorry," she nearly whimpered.
"I love you. Next time just find a way. Do what needs to be done so you can be honest with me."
"Okay. I promise." She reached her hands up then, placing one on either side of my face, and she kissed me. I let myself fall into the kiss, deepening our connection and solidifying our love for each other. Kissing Alice was like finding my way home after being away in battle for centuries. She held all that was sacred to me, and if she hadn't broken the melding of our lips and tongues I would have stayed like that forever.
Once she had given us a moment to recover, she straightened up, linking her fingers with my own and brightening my life with the smile I hadn't seen in far too long.
"Baby, take me home."