Disclaimer: I do not own the characters nor am I making any money from this story.
"Oh, no you don't. Lou, come back here!" Begging her to understand me although I know she can't, I chase my aging cat Louise out of the backyard from which she has escaped.
"Louise, please!" Heedless of my pleads, she darts across the road. I follow and nearly collide with a banged-up vehicle. The driver skids to a stop whilst shouting profanities that I do my best to ignore. I shoot a "sorry!" over my shoulder and continue the chase.
At a height of 4'10, my legs can't be expected to be that long, and Louise has the distinct advantage of having four of them. She uses her speed and agility to disappear into the one of nearby forests of Forks. Knowing my search just became a thousand times more difficult, I groan. I take a deep breath, jog a few more paces into the forest, and look around. Growing up hunting and fishing with my family has taught me a few things about tracking, and it's this knowledge (coupled with the quite obvious pawprints in the mud) that leads me on a journey through the woods.
I follow the trail at a gym-teacher's pace, doing my best to pay attention to my surroundings. After about 20 minutes, the trail goes cold. Frustrated, I lean up against a tree and think about what I'll have to tell my little brother. In my head I see his tears that he tries hard to hide. He'll be so sad.
"Mew."
My head snaps up.
"Meow."
There it is again! I step away from the tree and spin in circles. Finally, I spot her, high in a lush tree. Crap.
I pace as my mind works out the problem I'm facing. On one hand, poor Edward will be devastated when he finds out Louise is gone; on the other, I don't very much like heights. It's the image of Edward's tear-stained face that motivates me to throw off my cardigan and jump for the lowest branch. Four tries later, I've jumped and pulled my way onto the lowest branch, about five and a half feet off the ground.
"Okay, good," I sigh to myself. Gulping, I reach for the next branch and pull myself up. Then the next. And the next. The next. I keep going until I'm a good thirty feet off the ground and Louise is just out of arm's reach to my right. "Louise," I huff. In order to reach her, I'm going to have to stretch. I secure my hand as best as I can around the sturdiest branch closest to me and slowly walk along it to place me closer to Louise. I reach my arm out and continue stretching as far as I can. Almost there…
Crack!
"Aaahh!" I scream as I fall through the branches. Sticks and leaves scrape my body as I tumble downwards. A cluster of branches halts my descent about ten feet down from my previous location. The noise evidently scared Louise, who has now jumped like a squirrel from this tree to the one next to it. "Ow," I pout, looking over my now slightly-bleeding skin. "Gross." There goes my Ralph Lauren blouse. Just as I'm wondering how the heck I'm going to safely untangle myself from this mess, I hear footsteps approaching quickly. Great. Someone to see me not at my best.
"Is someone up there?" A deep voice with southern drawl travels up to where I am caught in the tree.
I briefly consider not answering so I can save my pride, but I reason that I would most likely seriously injure myself if I tried extract myself and capture Louise. "Yes, hello!" I try to sound as though I'm not in pain, but the stinging is becoming quite noticeable.
"Are you hurt?" He's noticed, then.
"Not badly. Just some scratches, is all."
"Can you get yourself down, or do you need help?"
"Um," I once again consider lying, but decide that is not in my best interest in the long-run. "I might need some help."
"Comin' up."
There's some rustling, and I gasp and grab the branches around me tighter as they begin to shake in response to the second presence.
"Well, look at you all tangled up. Might I ask what happened?"
I look up to answer and am met with the alluring combination of honey blond hair and brown eyes. I smile. "Hello."
He gives a crooked smile in return and I swallow. "Hello." There's a pause as I take in the sight in front of me. I should be wary-he's a stranger, after all, but I feel strangely at peace. Safe, even. I remember his question. "Oh, I was trying to catch my cat, Louise. She escaped from my house and made a run for freedom."
He chuckles, and it's a lovely sound, like a bubbling spring. "If she's still around, I can probably catch her after we get you safe on the ground."
I nod and follow his instructions on how to untangle myself. The branches are unsteady and shake, which is frightening, but he keeps his hands on my forearms the whole time and I know he won't let me fall. In just a few minutes I'm standing on the branch beside him, which bows a little under our combined weight. We make our way down the tree slowly, him descending a branch or two and then reaching his arms up to guide me down to meet him. Finally, we're on the ground.
"Where's the cat?"
I point to the tree next to us. He nods and scales it at three times the rate we descended the tree. There's a yowl, a grunt, and man and cat drop down to the ground beside me.
"Louise, you silly cat!" I chastise her when I see the shining scratch across the man's cheek.
He smiles easily. "Don't worry about it. It's part of the job."
"So you frequently rescue cats from trees, then?"
"I'm training to be a firefighter so, yes, I'm guessing it will take up a significant portion of my time. Meeting beautiful women thirty feet up, however, that might just be a one-time thing."
I smile up at him even as a blush takes over my cheeks. "I'm Alice Brandon."
"Jasper Whitlock, ma'am." His southern drawl is once again evident, and my smile grows.
"What brought you to this neck of the woods today? If I may, that's not quite a firefighter's uniform." I chuckle as I take in his outfit: Denim jeans, hiking boots, and a dark gray long-sleeved tee.
He snorts. "I was attempting to meditate. The high pitched scream kind of ruined it for me, but I'm pleased with the exchange."
A comfortable silence passes as we stare at each other and smile. A disgruntled hiss from Louise interrupts us.
"My dad's a doctor and should be home any minute if you want to get those scratches cleaned up. House is about a mile and a half that way." He points west.
I know I shouldn't follow a stranger to his home, but I feel perfectly comfortable
with Jasper and I somehow know he isn't a danger to me.
"Sure! What will we do with Louise?"
He scrunches his eyebrows in an adorable display of confusion. "She can have
the run of the laundry room? I have a dog who's never met a cat, but I'll be sure Louise is safe."
"Wonderful."
On a whim, I slip my hands through his and we begin the walk to his home.
A/n Thanks for reading! Just a little drabble I wrote in an effort to cure some light writer's block. I'm considering turning it into a two or three-shot and bumping the rating to T, but that all depends on if writer's block strikes again and/or if there's demand. For now, however, let's call it complete! Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! I didn't proofread (surprise, surprise), so sorry for any mistakes! Let me know if anything is just glaring. Also, if you're a Twilight fan, check out this JakeXNessie, SethXOC fic I'm writing: s/12070129/1/Fixer-Upper