Title: The Power of Suggestion
Author: wrldpossibility
Fandom: Twilight
Genre: I guess you could call it missing scene fic, one-shot
Warning: Spoilers through first half of BD.
Characters: Edward, Bella, Alice
Word Count: 700
Summary: Sometimes, Alice 'sees' a little more than she bargains for.
Author's Note: Just a one-shot of an insignificant little something I was thinking about (from Alice's POV). Set just before the wedding, early BD. Many thanks to the Twi friends who nominated me in the Silent Tears Awards! (here: .)
The Power of Suggestion
Sometimes, Alice 'sees' a little more than she bargains for. On those days, she feels less like a clairvoyant and more like a voyeur.
Today, she blames Edward. He's sitting at their dining room table, waiting perfectly still, hands folded on the smooth oak surface, which, incidentally, is seeing a lot more use these days; Bella sits down beside him with a pop tart she's slid onto one of the plates they keep in the cupboard for show. Alice tries not to wrinkle her nose at the sweet smell.
"You need to look past the wedding, Alice," Edward insists. And she can't argue with his logic: if the Volturi are planning to arrive, it will be afterward…when there aren't a dozen wolves and a crowd of sympathetic vampires to contend with.
"Same goes for Victoria."
"I know, I know." She closes her eyes, frowning in concentration. She knows Bella is trying to be quiet, but the sound of her breaking the steaming pop tart into pieces is loud in her ears. She pushes her mind past these last few weeks of frantic wedding planning, past the day itself--oh, the dress!--past the departure of the guests and the clean-up of the house--ugh--to…
"You need to be looking where we'll be, Alice," Edward interrupts. "Not where you'll be. It's Bella they want."
She nods, eyes still closed. She sees the flight, the arrival in Rio, the sailboat cutting a path across dark waters under a starry sky. She sees a beach, a midnight sw--
"Oh!" She inhales sharply. The action is not necessary, of course, but old habits die hard when she's been caught unaware. She switches gears as fast as she can, furling her brow into a grimace: z, y, x, w, v, u--
"Too late," Edward tells her, and she know it's true because of the odd catch in his voice. He's clearly drawn his own startled breath and held it. She looks up to see an expression of mingled terror and keen interest on his face.
It takes Bella an additional half second to notice the sudden tension in the room, but once she's caught up, she swallows a mouthful of pop tart and looks from Alice to Edward in concern. "What?"
Edward doesn't answer--he's still sitting completely still--so Alice does. "I don't…" She shakes her head as though to clear it. "Yeah, I don't think I should be doing this."
"Why not? What do you see? Victoria?
"No, not Victoria." She hesitates. Edward has now shifted his scrutiny to Bella. His face is still tight with stress, but unbelievably, a smile is twitching the corner of his mouth. His expression is leaning so close to...is that relief? Mirth?...that Alice is momentarily distracted.
"Um…let's leave it at that?" she tells Bella. She smiles herself--just the tiniest bit…she can't help it--and it's this, combined with Edward's reaction to the vision, that tips Bella off.
"Oh. Oh God." Her blush runs scarlet.
"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to see--"
But Bella's face has found a home buried under her arms on the table top. Alice reaches out a hand to comfort her. "It's not bad," she insists. "It's actually--"
She tries to detour her thoughts again, but not in time: Edward lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and an moan. "Alice!"
Bella's head snaps back up. "Stop! Stop it!" Her face whips from Alice to Edward and back again, and if she didn't look so panicked at the thought of what they were both seeing that she was not, Alice would laugh.
It's bad enough that she's still smiling. So, unbelievably, is Edward, a fact that finally seems to register in Bella's brain. "It's ok then?" Suddenly, she looks almost…smug? "Everything's fine, isn't it?"
She's addressing Edward, but Alice answers. "There was one thing I found…disturbing."
She instantly has both their undivided attention. "Bella?"
Bella swallows, and the remainder of the pop tart lies forgotten on the plate. All snugness has disappeared from her voice when she answers weakly, "What is it?"
"You and I are in serious need of a shopping trip."