Chapter One

***

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away."

— Johnny Cash

"Mommy?" There was the soft patter of small feet against the hardwood before a petite child rounded the corner. Her curly ebony hair frizzed from a night of fitful sleep. Small bags were forming under her hazel eyes as she shuffled her way over to me. I opened my arms and she climbed into them, nestling against me. "I had another nightmare," she whispered.

"Was it the same one?" I felt her nod against me.

"I called the fire back this time, but I was so scared." She was shaking as she spoke, and I pulled her closer to me, stroking her back and telling her that it would be okay — that it was all okay. Just like I did every night that she came down. Every night I was the one to comfort her.

"Do you want me to call Daddy?" She nodded again, and I called out to my husband in whisper, knowing that he would have heard me despite being at the opposite end of the house. He was beside us in a second, a sad smile playing across his lips as he bent down and scooped our daughter out of my arms. Her own arms wrapped around his neck, and he spoke gently to her, telling her all the words he knew she needed to hear.

"It's going to be okay, sunshine." A gulf of fire overtook my vision.

"Alice? Alice!" Jasper shook my shoulder and I looked over at him in a daze. "Are you okay?"

"It was the vision. I had it again." He tensed up beside me, but managed to send a wave of calm in my direction. It was a feeling that I appreciated more than I could ever vocalize. "She seems so real," I whispered. The hint of yearning was deep enough that I could not deny it myself.

"Darling . . . you know — "

"I know we can't have children. I know that, Jasper. I also know that she has your eyes, your human eyes. I can feel your presence radiating off of her in every vision." Jasper ran a wary hand through his hair, contemplating what I was telling him. It had been the fifth time I'd had the vision in two weeks, and the more I saw her, the more I grew connected to her. I knew she wasn't physically mine. I was a vampire. There was no possible way for me to be impregnated but she was a part of me and she was definitely a part of Jasper.

"You never see how we find her?" I shook my head. "Ally, honey, have you ever thought that maybe you're finally craving the same thing that Rosalie has spent her entire existence yearning for?"

"I don't want children! I just want her! We are suppose to have her; I just don't know where or when yet. But we will." His eyes told me exactly how much he wanted to please me, but he didn't want to give me false hope. The battle continued within him for a few more moments before I felt his hands in mine.

"Tell me about her," he asked, and I smiled.

"She has the most beautiful smile," I began, as a brief image of her flashed through my mind and warmth filled me. "All I know of her is what I see. I've seen how well we all fit together as a family. Somehow she adds something to us that we've never known we needed. I know Rosalie has always wanted children, but that's not it. She's more than just a child to me. She's hope, she's love, and she's us."

"How do I . . ." He didn't continue, and he didn't need to. I already knew what it was he was going to ask. How was he going to deal with having a human as a daughter? I didn't have an answer to that question, but I knew that he seemed to manage fine in all the visions. Since his accident with Bella, he had been making an added effort to manage his thirst, and he was doing very well. His expression could often even drift away from his usual constant tension when he was around humans.

"I never see you hurting her," I responded truthfully.

"But that doesn't mean that I won't. Alice, you obviously love this little girl already; don't you think that you should think about her safety before you get lost in the thought of having her? I would never deliberately . . . but sometimes I'm not strong enough."

It was the first time that anything of the sort had come to my attention. She was human. My husband had fed on her kind for nearly two centuries, and my entire family lusted after the blood that ran through her veins. But we'd handled Bella, had we not? Yes, she did have that accident, but it was an accident based on clumsiness, and I doubt that another human being could achieve that level of clumsiness unless they purposefully tried. Jasper would also just have to feed more often, and we could . . . I was making excuses.

Some part of me realized that Jasper was right, but the other part of my mind refused to believe it. It was my job as his wife to believe in him and I did. It was my job as a clairvoyant to embrace my visions. It was my job to get my family together, and the moment I had that vision, she had become my family. I straddled Jasper's lap and stared into his eyes.

The valiant effort he put into achieving the same willpower he thought we all had still amazed me. None of us had spent so long feeding on human blood; none of us had nearly as chaotic a background as Jasper. Yet he curbed his appetite so well over the years, and he made me so extremely proud.

"I trust you. I know you. You will be strong enough, and until then, we have nothing but time."

***

"Are you ready for bed?" Momma asked as she plopped down next to me and stared up at the ceiling. She had painted a mural of the sky there for me; the clouds looked fluffy enough to touch, and the sun shone as if it were an actual ball of fire. It was our nightly ritual to spend the last few minutes before bed staring at it, both of us lost in our own worlds.

"Why don't I have a Daddy?"

She took a deep breath and let the words linger in the air for a bit before answering. "You do have a Daddy."

"How come I never see him?" I turned to face her and noticed that her eyes were closed as she spoke.

"Do you want to see him?"

"Yes."

She got up off the bed and left the room. I could hear her walking into her bedroom, which was next door to mine, and then silence. A few minutes later she came back with a small box in her hand. I watched as she took her place on my bed again but sat up this time.

"Before your Daddy left he gave me this. He told me . . . he wanted . . ." Tears filled her eyes, and she wiped at them furiously, trying to compose herself in the process. "Open it."

I took the package out of my mother's hands and opened it slowly, carefully pulling the tape and wrapping paper away until I was left with only a small black box. My fingers trembled as I opened it and saw the silver locket lying delicately within it. A single pearl decorated the front of it, with a decorative patterned engraved along the pearl's edge. The metal was cool and smooth against my fingertips. It was easily the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.

I opened the locket tentatively, waiting for whatever secrets it was sure to unfold. His eyes were the first thing that I noticed. A clear hazel green, glimmering with glee as he held onto a younger woman I recognized as my mother. They were grinning in the picture, and I absently realized I had never seen my mother smile like that before.

"Where did he go?"

"There's a war going on, and he's fighting in it." That was all she could say before her lips began to tremble and she cleared her throat. A look of pure determination came over her face as she took my face between her hands. "He went away, but he never left us. He lives in here." Her hand pressed above my heart, and she took my hand and placed it above her own. "When you love someone, that is where they live, no matter how far away they actually are." I nodded my head, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I now knew at least something about my father.

She didn't say anything else, and I didn't ask for more. She slipped the locket around my neck, and I curled against her, falling asleep in my mother's arms while my mind wandered off to faraway places, imagining the father I hoped one day I would meet.

***

"Nahla, baby, you've got to get up." My mother shook me awake, already pulling me out of the bed before my eyes could fully focus. My protest was stopped by the terrified expression on her face as she pulled me into the closet. "Stay here," she ordered, kissing me briskly on the forehead before closing the door and enclosing me in darkness. Everything was silent as I waited quietly, obeying my mother.

"You." My mother's voice was thick with loathing as she spat out the word. The other person chuckled harshly in response.

"I think I've been very understanding of your situation for quite some time, and this is how you greet me?" I heard nothing until the sound of a body falling to the ground filled my ears and I creaked open the door to see what was happening. The image of my mother lying on the ground pushed me into action, and I ran towards her. I was not sure what I had to do to help but her eyes fluttered open and she shook her head.

"Oh you must be the daughter!" The other woman in the room exclaimed, her startling red eyes full of glee. I'd never seen a person with her features before. She was deviously beautiful, and although I knew she had just hurt my mother and would most likely kill us both, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by her allure. Her eyes were fixated on me, and I fidgeted under her gaze. "Did you tell her to hide from me, Ave?" My mother's eyes brimmed with tears, but her mouth turned into a sneer as she pulled herself up with added effort and walked towards me, her hand extended. I took it, partially hiding myself behind her.

"You will leave us alone."

"And just how exactly will you make me do that?"

"Does he know you're here?" the woman sneered, taking an angry step towards us. "No matter how loyal he may be to you, he will never allow you to do this."

"Why don't we test that theory?" The signal. My mother had given me the signal and the reaction to it was involuntary; I felt the power surge through me before finally expelling itself and consuming the bedroom. The following seconds were a blur as the woman leapt towards my mother, wrenching her hand out of mine and sinking her teeth into her flesh. My mother's scream filled the room and fueled me even more as I ran towards her trying my best to pull the other woman away.

The woman recoiled from my searing touch, leaping to the other side of the room and staring frighteningly at me. Flames were quickly consuming everything in sight, and with a fleeting sneer at my mother and me she jumped from the window. I fell to my knees beside my mother, who had not stopped screaming, holding her head in my lap and caressing her face the same way that she had done for me.

Her eyes rolled backwards and another voice began to shriek as I clutched her to me.

He came out of nowhere, crumbling to the ground beside her and taking her hand in his. His face was contorted with anguish, but that was not what kept my attention, it was the crimson eyes that were now staring at me. I screamed with renewed fervor but couldn't move. If I ran, it meant leaving my mother unprotected, and no matter how much danger I was in, it was us against the world and I had to save her. He reached out to me and I cowered away. His hand stilled before returning to his side. He pulled my mother towards him and into his arms.

"No! Don't touch her! Don't hurt her!" I screamed, grabbing at my mother, but he was much larger and stronger than I. One moment I felt his fingertips against the side of my face, and the next they were gone. My mother was gone.

***

I lay mesmerized by the sky above me. I'd seen it countless times before, but never before made the effort to stay and stare at the endlessness before me. Wishing I knew where the universe ended, and if that were where the little girl from my dreams were being kept from me. I felt his presence seconds before he lay beside me, following my gaze toward the sky.

"Her name is Nahla Ghislaine Daniels." I sighed as I said it. I'd had close to a dozen visions of her, and just recently had I learned her name. It was beautiful and unique, just as she was, and I found it fitting. Even trying it with Cullen tacked onto the end. Edward would roll his eyes if he caught my musings, but he was thankfully away with Bella, and it was just me and Jasper, who was reveling in my enthusiasm over the situation.

"Well, that's a mouthful." Jasper commented lightly, in response to his comment my lips curved slightly. It was moments like this that I was beyond grateful for the first vision that brought us together. Even though at times I cursed my foresight for letting me see things that seemed to be forever out of reach.

"I kind of like it. It's different," he chuckled.

"You would like different." I playfully nudged him with my elbow, which he caught and pulled me towards him so that I was laying against his chest.

"I think we should speak to Carlisle about this." He must have felt my objection to the idea and quickly finished up his train of thought. "To see all the possibilities."

"Jasper, you're speaking to a psychic. I've seen all the possibilities. We just need to be patient . . . These visions are coming for a reason." The words came out with more confidence than I truly had within me, and although I had probably not fooled Jasper, a small part of me clung to that possibility. She was practically mine already, so close that I would, at times, sit in the kitchen in the dead of night and replay the vision of her running into my arms over and over again. I could smell the jasmine in her hair and her small voice lingering in the air. I had to be confident . . . I had to be, or else I feared my world would come crashing down.

"Mommy." The voice called to me, and I was alert instantly searching for the source of it. Jasper sensed my panic and was on his feet at once, probing the area for the source of my distress. The voice had sounded like Nahla's . . . she was calling to me, but from where? "Mommy, wake up!" The flames licked at her marble skin, but did not burn her. Taking uncertain steps, she maneuvered her way through the debris, barely noticing the destruction as she followed the pull up the stairs. "Please, Mommy, please!" her voice sounded again.

"Nahla, I'm here! Where are you?" She couldn't pick up a scent with the flames surrounding her, and there was no heartbeat that she could hear. Each door in the hall was partially charred except for the center one, which stood ablaze and shut off. I pulled the door open and gasped at what she saw.

"Alice!" Jasper's firm grip on my shoulders was the first thing that I noticed after the fog, which settled prior to and during my visions, cleared up and I was once again aware of my surroundings. This time, however, Jasper was not alone: Carlisle and Esme were hovering close beside me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered what had caused them to come. Had I screamed in my vision? Had Jasper been so panicked that he called for them himself?

"There is going to be a fire." My voice sounded pathetically heartbroken to my own ears, and the look on my parents' and husband's faces told me the expression on my face mirrored my voice. "What was the point of me ever seeing her if she's . . . if . . ." My husband's arms were wrapped securely around me as I broke into tearless sobs. Was fate so cruel as to show me the daughter I had never known I'd craved for, only to snatch her away before I had a chance to claim her?

I stayed in his arms, wallowing in my grief for a long while before Esme asked for some time alone. Jasper was reluctant to let go, wanting to be there for me at what felt like one of the lowest points of my life. We had been through so much in our existence together, but never had we dealt with loss. It was our most profound loss, for I loved this little girl from the first vision I had of her, and somewhere along the way Jasper began to realize that he loved the idea of the girl as well.

I gently unraveled myself from his arms and gave him a small nod. Carefully, Jasper stepped away and left my mother and me alone in the room. Esme sat beside me and laid her hand against mine.

"I lost my baby boy without knowing it would happen. Waited so long for him, loved him before I ever held him, just to have him ripped out of my grasp by death's cold, uncaring hands, and it broke me, Alice." A tearless sob escaped my lips as I realized how similar my mother's story was to my own. Which I knew was Esme's point, but she did not mean to sadden me; she was telling me this for a different reason. She lifted my face gently and gave me a sad smile. "You've been given a chance."

"She's gone." My voice cracked as I forced the words from my mouth. She was gone, the little girl from my visions, the girl that I wanted to badly to call my own — who was supposed to become my own — was gone.

"Have you given thought to the idea that you may have been given the vision to save that little girl from her fate? Maybe it is you who will get to her in time."

"I saw . . ."

"You have a chance, Alice."

"I don't know where she is!" I cried frantically, my mind spinning with the impossible request my mother was making of me and my innate desire to save my daughter. I wanted to, but I did not know where she was or how to get there or if I would make it there in time.

"You found Nahuel without knowing where he was. Look for her by checking the places that she isn't." She didn't understand. She couldn't; she never had the gift that I have. Things were not that easy; I'd tried, and reached dead ends each time that I did. There were no starting points, no ending points. I was given visions of her with us, and this afternoon's vision was the first of her in a different setting. Esme pulled me into a hug, and although she said no more, I knew she was offering me her support.

The following week was what I imagined Hell to be like. There were no more visions of her; there was nothing. All I had were the visions I continually played back in my head, seeing if maybe I missed something, maybe I had gotten a chance but hadn't known when it had come . . . except every time I looked back, I found no resolution to my problem. Jasper grew more anxious with each passing day, and although it pained me to see him suffer, the pain I felt over losing the only link I had to the girl who would become my daughter was greater.

He sat beside me, lovingly stroking my hair or sending me waves of calm as I grew more and more restless.

Edward came in on occasion to try and get me to talk or reveal something in my mind that they could use to help me, but I wouldn't allow him. There was nothing he could do. Bella was restless when she stopped by, unnerved at seeing me in a state so contrary to my typical 'pixie' nature. She could only last a few moments before she had to leave, and each time she left, Rosalie came in.

She and Esme were perhaps the only ones who understood what I felt — Rose because she had always yearned for a child just as I had yearned for Nahla, and Esme because she had lost her child just as I had lost mine. They each came at different times, and when they did, it calmed and relaxed me a bit. Neither talked, and yet their silence spoke louder than their words could have ever done.

Carlisle and Jasper were the ones to finally force me to go hunting. Jasper carried me and all but poured the buck's blood into my mouth to make me drink. I had not even registered the thirst until the first drops hit my tongue.

"Thank you." I managed to speak for the first time in a long time, and he smiled sadly at me, nodding his head in response. As he made to carry me again, it hit me.

Her small frame curled up into the fetal position as she slept in the middle of a large room. She was surrounded by darkness, and although I tried to find her location, the vision was stuck. All I could see was her small form, seemingly broken, and I hoped and prayed beyond all measure that fate would not be so cruel as to show me her dead body. Did my suffering not suffice? The more I pulled away from the vision, the closer it brought me to her, allowing me to see her still face.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, and I saw it. I was being dragged out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. I saw the house address, and finally, I knew where she was.

"What was it?" Jasper asked as I came back from the vision, and as much as I wanted to tell him, I could waste no time at the moment. I knew where she was, I knew she was alive . . . and I had to get to her.

AN: Thank you for reading! Next chapter will be up in a few.