Author's note: this is how tamara distracted herself (and the rest of us) on our way to the ice rink today. we were in new shoes which gave us many, many blisters (Only three.) that's still a lot. anyway, they were painful, and she started making this up as a way to distract us from the pain. considering what happened last time we were late to skating, this was much, much better. (Yes, I agree. Policing fights between the two of you is no fun at all.)
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is writing another book (or she'd better be!) she doesn't have time to write silly fanfic stories like this one.
--kyra
Worth it
"You want us to get a kitten?"
Alice looked up at him, her eyes wide in her angel-like face. She nodded.
"Are you crazy?"
She grinned brightly. "Nope!"
"Then what happened to your common sense?"
"What common sense?"
Jasper grimaced. She was right about that, at least.
"Come on Jazzy! Just look at it! We don't have to keep it, I promise."
Jasper sighed, wondering why she wasn't understanding his problem with her scheme. "Look, Alice. I love you dearly, but sometimes you need to think. We're vampires, right?" She nodded. "And we're vampires who don't eat humans, yes?" She nodded again. "So you want to bring a warm blooded mammal who is not human into a house which considers it and animals like it their primary food source. You can understand why I might have a problem with that, don't you?"
Her grin widened. "But Fang's special."
"You already have one, don't you?" he demanded, his heart sinking slightly.
"Yup!"
"And are we going to keep it?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"Then why even bother asking?"
"Because if I didn't ask, then you wouldn't say yes!"
Jasper groaned. Alice making sense wasn't something he was accustomed to, and it was far more frightening than Alice hyper. That was a daily occurrence. She saved her moments of logic for special occasions. Changing tactics, he demanded, "You named it Fang?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"That's a name for a dog, not a kitten."
She laughed, a bell-like, magical sound. "But he's a special kitten."
"You said that already."
"It's still true! Come on!" She bounced to her feet, beckoning for him to follow.
"Where are you going?"
"To introduce you, of course!"
"Do I get any say in this at all?"
"Of course not, silly."
"I didn't think so. Where is he?"
"In the garage. Come on!"
Jasper followed her at a slower pace. Well, slower for vampires. Most humans would have been breathing hard just to keep up with him. She darted out of the house and towards the garage, her black hair bouncing as she ran. He watched her, wondering how one person could look so appealing. There had to be some kind of law against that. How did people stop themselves from assaulting her every time she walked down a street. He had a hard time refraining, and he was married to her!
"Are you coming?"
He increased his pace to a jog, catching up to her with ease. He stepped into the garage, thankful that he'd fed recently. He could probably manage not to kill the thing at first sight. He frowned, not picking anything up. All mammals smelled like blood. Kittens were mammals, therefore kittens should smell like blood. But nothing smelled like blood in the garage.
"Where is it?"
"Right here." Alice gently drew a wicker basket out from under her Porsche, presenting it proudly to Jasper.
"Whatever's in there, it isn't a cat," he said, still not smelling anything.
"Yes it is!" she argued, her eyes filling with hurt that he didn't believe her. "Look!" She pulled back the blanket to reveal what was indeed a kitten. It was tiny, with a white face and paws. The rest of it was a soft, charcoal gray. Jasper took it in within seconds, focusing almost instantly on the thing's eyes.
"Alice," he asked dangerously. "What did you do?"
"Me?! I didn't do anything! I found him, poor thing, trying to take down a deer. What could I do but help him out? And then he followed me home. He can sleep in my room."
"If you didn't change him… who did?"
Alice frowned slightly. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't see the past. Maybe Edward can read his mind and see!"
"Edward can only read human minds."
"And vampires. He can read ours, can't he?"
"We were once human. It's not the same."
She sighed. "If there were others, we would have sensed them," she pointed out. "Don't worry, Jasper. That's your problem: you worry too much. You and Edward…" She rolled her beautiful golden eyes at him.
"I need to think," he argued, determined not to give in just because she was perfect. "You don't do it enough. I have to think for the two of us."
"Can't you stop for once? Don't think, just accept. Don't you think he's cute?"
"That has nothing to do with anything!"
She sighed. "Please? For me?" That was cheating. She knew it as much as he did, knew that he couldn't resist her puppy-like expression. He grimaced. "Come on Jasper. It's almost my birthday, you know!"
No, not her birthday. Alice didn't know her birthday. But it was almost the anniversary of the day she'd first woken up as a vampire. How could he refuse? "Fine. But you are taking care of him!"
Her grin lit up the entire room. "I will! Thank you Jasper!" She hugged him, completely mindless of the kitten between them, and, as she kissed him in thanks, he realized that it was worth it after all.