~~Chapter 1~~

One foot in front of the other.

I kept repeating the phrase to myself so I wouldn't go nuts. Jasper would probably say more nuts was the correct sentiment, but that was a little harsh. I was not insane.

Seeing the future and drinking blood did not qualify a person as insane. Now, feeling the emotions of others and using them against them, that was certifiable. It was bad enough that he had felt my every embarrassment and butterfly, but he had to be able to influence them? It was worth it, of course. He was indescribably perfect, it was me with the problems.

But, back to my original thoughts.

After many weeks of waiting and watching, traveling only by night, we had arrived at our destination: Adak, Alaska.

We were in route to the Cullen house, and we were ALMOST THERE! Is it possible to spontaneously combust? I was pretty sure I was about to.

Suddenly, I felt calm. Urgency didn't seem so neccessary. Maybe I could walk a little slower, wait another day...

Hey!

"Really Jazzy, really? I am perfectly fine."

"Perfectly fine for your normal self at least." He retorted.

I did not have time for this.

I needed to be completely put together for the Cullens, our future family.

I could now see through the trees, and a baby blue wall. White lattice work curled along it, and around the side I could glimpse a sprawling widow's walk of pure, unstained white. It was snowing, but through it I could see the front porch painted the same as the rest of the house. Chairs and tables were scattered strategically on it, though the house's occupants were not as numerous as the places for them to sit.

This house was the only one for miles, so I could run without fear. When I broke into a sprint, Jasper was forced to follow me. The closer we got, the more my excitement

"Are you sure you want to do this? We could leave now. We don't have to do this," As we came ever closer to the house, he stopped me. I knew he was only concerned for our safety, but I was past patience.

"Can it soldier boy." I said, trying to summon up anger but being filled, inevitably, with love for him. If he wasn't here, I would probably burn down the whole world trying to find the Cullens. I knew he felt it when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I stood still for a moment, trying to savor the moment, the calm before the upcoming storm.

"Well, come on. Let's go meet our family," Jasper encouraged, running ahead of me.

"HEY! No fair!" I laughed at him, and was on his back in a moment. The impact did not wind him at all, so we charged straight into our destiny.

When we reached the house, I was tempted to climb in a window and take up residence. It seemed like I should be able to simply walk into their house and they would know me. That they did not know who I was seemed impossible; surely they knew Alice, their erratic Alice. And scarred Jasper, their son, who was so hesitant, so terrified that he would not find a place in the family. Surely he must know from hearing of my visions that he loved them. It was so difficult to reconcile visions - impending realities- with the present. So, though it seemed like the more natural option, I knew that I could not waltz into their lives.

The front door was large, and shaded by the widow's walk and the trees on either side of it. No one had bothered to install a door knocker, considering the secluded location of the home, so I was forced to pound my hand on the hard oak. The more I knocked the harder I pounded, and by the fifth knock I realized I had made an indention.

Carlisle opened the door with kind eyes, but his stance was defensive. They could smell the venom running through our veins easily, and though we did not appear to be a threat (what with our golden eyes) our torn clothes and remote location, not to mention Jasper's easily visible scars, could easily make us feral. Waves of resistance came from Jasper, and I knew before I saw that he had lowered himself into a crouch.

"Jasper!" I hissed at him as quietly as I could while still smiling at Dr. Cullen. He would no doubt hear us, and I needed to speak to him myself and explain our situation. If Jasper was being hostile, though I had known he would be, I could not do this as well as I should. It always went better in situations where I convinced him to be cordial.

He looked at me and shook his head, setting his jaw and removing his eyes from me to glare at Carlisle. So I was alone on this. Thank you, Jasper. I opened my mouth to speak, knowing already what his response would be.

"Hello, I'm Alice; this is my mate, Jasper," I introduced both myself and Jasper, seeing as he was preoccupied with alienating his new father.

"Nice to meet you, Alice, I am Carlisle Cullen," he relaxed his posture, and Jasper reluctantly followed suit, still doubtless prepared to spring, "I don't mean to be rude, but I can see that you drink the blood of animals, is that correct?"

"Yes, we have been practicing this diet for almost a year now. We had heard of your family, and wished to live in the same way that you do," I edited the statement, so as to seem only politely curious, instead of like I planned to permanently encroach on their hospitality.

"Well, you are welcome to stay with us as long as you would like," Carlisle said, graciously smiling at me and then turning to Jasper, hoping to put him at ease. It would not work, I knew, he was rarely at ease. In a house full of vampires, all but one younger than him, I would be surprised if he was not thinking seriously about snatching me up and leaving at every moment for at least a year.

"Thank you very much," I replied, smiling as he began to move to allow us inside. Finally, we would be inside. I needed to discuss the decoration of my new room with Esme as soon as possible. Perhaps I could convince Jasper of the merits of floral wallpaper if I pouted...

"Um... excuse me, but I believe that there are some special circumstances which we ought to discuss before you agree to take us in for any period of time," Jasper finally decided to speak up, apparently seeing fit to warn Carlisle in hopes that he would not take us in. He knew that I wanted it, and he was trying to be supportive, but when it came to my safety or my desires he chose my safety. It would be sweet if it wasn't keeping me from the Cullens.

"Well, do come inside first," Carlisle insisted. I shot a prideful look at Jasper over my shoulder, not bothering to watch the eye-roll. I was genuinely surprised that his eyes had not gotten accidentally stuck inside of his skull for all the rolling of them he did. If only he would loosen up. I had told him we were safe countless times!

"Thank you," I said to Carlisle, because I needed to turn on the charm if Jasper was working against me.

We walked inside of the house, and I glanced around at the familiar room contentedly. I had to admit, there was something strange about seeing something in a vision and then seeing it in real life. It was like deja vu that you knew the source of, like seeing a celebrity on television and then meeting them. It was both home and a strange land.

The walls were white, with crown molding along the ceiling and pink drapes covering the numerous windows. A tea table sat against the wall, under one of the windows, with a set of china as white as the snow that had a curling golden pattern on it. It was very old, one day Esme would tell her that it had been her mother's and Carlisle had bought it for her when her old husband auctioned all of the things she could not carry with her. There were pieces of art everywhere, a sculpture here, three or four paintings there, a small framed photograph in the corner- and she knew all of their names and creators. Standing on the white carpeted floor were Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle. Esme and Carlisle were smiling at us, no evidence of their having noticed Jasper's body.

The thing about Jasper was that he had scars all over them. I loved them, they made him perfect in my eyes, better than those unblemished vampires who appeared unreal. His scars showed that he was a real person who had lived and fought for his life. However, to other vampires they were warning signs, signals that he was dangerous. They were not wrong to be afraid of him. As far as I knew, the Cullens were in no danger from him. But were he to attack them they would be in trouble. It was clear from their faces that Rosalie and Emmett knew this. While Emmett seemed to take them as an interesting challenge, Rosalie saw the genuine threat Jasper posed to her family.

"This is my wife Esme, and our daughter and son Rosalie and Emmett. We have another son, Edward, who is on a hunting trip at the moment and should be returned home soon," Carlisle gestured to all of his family in turn, though it was unnecessary. I knew them all by name. Before Jasper or I could respond, Rosalie aired the elephant in the room.

"Who's the mangled mercenary?"

I braced myself for the understanding to dawn on Carlisle, and for the first time I was afraid that the Cullens would not accept us into their family. My mind tried to grasp at a vision, but I could not concentrate enough to summon one. Gradually, I began to calm down. This time, I did not care that the feeling was not my own. I welcomed Jasper's help, let his calm wrap around me like I wished his cool arm would. For a moment the world was right.

"What do you mean mercenary?" Carlisle still did not understand, and the comfort I had felt a moment ago vanished. He would know soon, and if he was this unwilling to realize the truth, he may have more of a problem with Jasper's past than he let on. Suddenly, I felt a rush of anger. Who were they to judge Jasper? If they would really not going to accept him just because he had a past, then I did not want them as a family.

I wrapped my arm around Jasper's waist, the highest part of him I could reach, and laid my head on his chest. I had been selfish to not care that he did not want to come here. I had assumed that my visions were absolute, so when my mind had found a picture of happy Jasper, it had assumed that the Cullens would inspire that sort of reaction in him as soon as he was willing to accept them. I had never imagined that they would be the ones who would turn us away. I decided to explain the situation before Rosalie could make some crass remark.

"Jasper was involved in the Vampire Wars in the south. He was changed into them, and he rose to power," I smiled up to him. When I stopped, he picked up from my dialogue seamlessly. We communicated through our emotions, he sent me reassurance and I sent him hope- something I knew he needed all he could get of.

"However, I got tired of all of the violence. I ran away. Later, I heard that the Volturi had shut down my coven soon after I left. I do not believe that I have any enemies searching for me, but I understand completely if you do not wish for me to stay with you," Jasper said, looking straight in the eyes of each of the Cullens.

"Nonsense!" Esme rushed forward and hugged Jasper. My eyes went wide with fear. Jasper did not allow vampires to get their arms around him. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the sound of Esme hitting a wall, or perhaps a shriek as one of her limbs was torn from her body. Instead, I heard nothing. I realized in only a minute that I was waiting for nothing, and that the entire room was staring at me. I tried to play it off as nothing and, graciously, Esme moved on to hug me in a moment.

"Were you in the wars too?" Emmett's face was in front of me as soon as Esme had released me. In real life, he was truly frightening. It was something like if a bear were to get in your face, and just before you were going to scream, it grinned at you and shook your hand. I smiled at the animal in front of me, knowing that we would come to be very close.

"No, I was changed much after that. We found each other by chance," I responded with casual warmth, hoping that he might come to consider me his sister someday soon. He might as well get used to speaking casually with me.

Jasper snorted, "I'd hardly call it chance."

"What do you mean?" Emmett scratched his head in an immediately endearing gesture.

"Alice can see the future. She saw me coming long before I met her," Jasper kissed the top of my head, and Rosalie took it upon herself to speak her views.

"How old are you?" She seemed disgusted at me, and I rolled my own eyes when I realized what she meant.

"I actually don't know. I don't remember anything before I was a vampire, and I was alone when I woke up." Nice going. Alice Cullen, Amnesiac; so much for not sharing all the gory details in the very beginning. This was not going exactly the way I thought it would.

Carlisle, despite my fears, seemed fascinated, "How is that possible? And why would a vampire leave after changing someone? With how difficult it is..."

"Well, I'm sure they'd like to get cleaned up. There will be plenty of time for questions later." Esme stepped in to stop Carlisle from rambling, and the maternal authority was clear in her voice.

"Oh, yes, of course. I'm very sorry. Esme will show you to the bathrooms," Carlisle ducked his head penitently, smiling indulgently at Esme as though she had just done something very humorous to him.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Carlisle." This time it was Jasper who spoke. Catching my surprised expression, he mouthed 'miracles do happen' and smiled broadly at Carlisle.

"You're very welcome," Carlisle smiled warmly, and I realized I had been right to bring us here. Jasper would be happy here. We would both be happy here.

I sighed in satisfaction as Esme led us into the back of the house.

"I told you so," I whispered to Jasper.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Either way please review. I have developed a slight obsession with Alice and Jasper based on the stories I read about them (check them out on my profile under faves. They're really good) and had to write a story about their relationship as I see it. Hope you like it! Please review!

~Ms. Graceless Volturi~