I do not own the Twilight Saga, or any of the characters depicted. I am writing purely for my own enjoyment, and the enjoyment of others.

This is going to be a series of one-shots, none of which will be related to each other, and not necessarily in chronological order.

First up: Alice.

Esme stood in the doorway of the family room, which had not been used nearly as often as the family room in Forks had been. She was careful to make no noise; she felt as though she had been stabbed in the heart, and now, the knife was being twisted.

Alice sat in front of the coffee table, an array of papers and photographs in front of her. In her hands was a picture Esme had seen just the day before – one of a human Alice, which had been stuck in the file the Asylum had kept on her. In the picture, her hair was much longer than it now was – subconsciously, Alice was running her fingers through her hair, curling the ends around her tiny finger-tips.

"It isn't fair," Alice said to Esme, not taking her eyes off of the picture.

At a human pace, Esme crossed to the middle of the room, and sat on the ground next to Alice. Still, she did not break her stare – it was as if she was asking this past version of herself a novel-worth of questions.

"I know it isn't," Esme agreed, putting a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder.

Alice didn't answer, and spent several more seconds staring into the human girl's eyes. With a sigh, she dropped it, and put her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands.

"I wish I could remember something about it – I feel like I'm learning all these things about someone else."

Esme pulled the picture closer to her, although she remembered it perfectly from the day before – the girl looked to be around eleven or twelve, and had a zoned-off look in her eyes; it was a look Esme knew well – this was taken while Alice was having a vision.

"In a way, she is someone else."

Again, Alice sighed, "but she isn't someone else. She's me – and I want to know exactly what happened."

Esme hesitated before saying, "maybe it's best you don't remember anything – it will be easier for you to move on this way."

"I don't want to move on!" Alice answered. "I wish that I never even learned about this!"

It was very rare for Esme to see Alice mad or upset – she was such a gentle, happy spirit, that getting on her edgy side was quite the task. Here she was, though, looking as though she wanted to cry.

Worse, she had no idea what to say to make her feel better.

"But you did," Esme said, "and now, you can put this mystery behind you."

It didn't look as though this had calmed her any, but Alice did not immediately answer.

"What kind of parent could do this to their own child?" She asked.

Again, Esme was left to think this over – would Esme have been able to lock her son away, if she had felt that there was no other option?

"I don't know, Alice."

Alice shook her head, "I thought learning about my past would answer all my questions. Instead, it just brought up a hundred new ones."

"You can't let thoughts like that consume you – and if you keep thinking about them, that's exactly what they'll do."

"No matter how hard I try... I keep thinking about it. I can't get all these questions out of my mind... and I'll never have an answer for any of them."

Esme answered, "think about how you have an eternity to be happy. Think about how you have Jasper, and you have us – and that we all love you so much."

Without Alice, Esme wasn't sure that the family would have made it these last few months. After Edward left, and Bella became a stranger to them, Alice had been the only one to keep her spirits high, to remind everyone that, somehow, everything would be okay in the end. Esme was amazed by her ability to do this – and was extremely grateful to her for it.

For the first time during this conversation, Alice smiled. "I am really lucky to have you guys."

"And we're lucky to have you."

It struck Esme just how little she thought of life before Alice and Jasper found them – now that she knew better, they were days she preferred not to think about. She couldn't believe that there had been a time when she thought her family was complete, and that Emmett was the last member needed to make the Cullen family whole.

Without Alice and Jasper, their family was incomplete.

"Thanks, mom – for being here."

With this statement, Esme's thoughts were reassured.

Beaming at her, Esme wrapped Alice in a hug, enjoying the small moment of motherhood she had been given.

Without a doubt, the Cullen family was a family with their difficulties and struggles, and the last year had not been kind to them. There were also moment – just like this – of happiness, and Esme did not intend on letting them pass her by.

Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed it.

I have decided not to include a chapter with Bella, because I can't see her ever picturing Esme as her mother - meaning this story will be five chapters long.

Again, thank you for reading - I really appreciate it!