AN: Hello everyone! All right, so this takes place about an hour after the incident and we're back in Forks. Happy reading!

Chapter 2: Arrival in Forks

It took a long time for Alice to wake up from her little episode. Since she wasn't used to events like this, the trauma kept her asleep for a longer period of time than the head injury did. When she finally did start to rouse herself, she immediately tensed up. She could hear voices above her, but she couldn't make out whose they were or what they were saying. She tried hard to open her eyes, but they felt like they were being weighed down by chunks of metal. Her head was aching like crazy, particularly in the spot where she'd hit the ground. She tried to turn her head, but a pain shot through her skull, making her give a small cry and fall back onto the pillow. It was a feeble cry, but it was a cry all the same.

"Alice," said a soft voice.

"Mmhmm," she mumbled softly. She felt a hand lightly touch the side of her face, but she gave a small gasp and turned away from it. As she began to become more aware of her surroundings, she realized that she was lying on something soft, her head was propped up on a pillow and she could feel air coming from an air conditioner close by.

"Alice, please wake up," said the voice, now pleading with her.

"It's all right, just open your eyes," said a second, entirely different voice.

Alice gave a small groan and began trying to force her eyes open. She felt the hand touch her face again, but when she tried to turn away from it, it wouldn't let her go. Finally, her eyes cracked open just a little, but what she saw made her start to panic. Two men were standing over her, looking down at her with concern. But the concern didn't register in her mind. Her thoughts immediately went to the two villains who'd attacked her just a little earlier. She gave a small cry of fear and tried to back away from them, but she had nowhere to run. She was trapped.

"Alice," soothed a voice to her left. "Alice, calm down. It's all right. Nobody's going to hurt you. You're safe." She looked at the person speaking to her and felt her heart skip a beat. It was Jasper. She began to relax a bit and smiled at him and he breathed a sigh of relief. She then turned her attention to the second man, standing to her right.

"Are you all right, young lady?" he asked. She nodded.

"Alice, this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen," said Jasper. "I had Rosalie call him the instant we got here and he came to take a look at you."

"Where are we?" asked Alice.

"We're in my home in Forks," replied Jasper. "Rosalie and I brought you straight here."

"You're very lucky Alice," said Carlisle, taking a small light out of his bag. "If they hadn't found you when they did, who knows where you'd be right now. Look here." He held up one finger and shone the light into her eyes. She squinted her eyes a little bit, she didn't like bright lights shining in them, but she cooperated. Carlisle continued, "I took a look at your head, you hit it pretty hard, not to mention the fact that someone hit you right there. You might experience some post-traumatic stress, you might feel light-headed and dizzy. But as far as I can see, no damage was done. Try and take it easy for a couple days, but other than that, you should be just fine."

"Okay, thank you," said Alice, nodding slightly.

"Carlisle, Jasper," said a feminine voice from the door. "I made a really late lunch if you want to come down…" She stopped talking abruptly when she saw that Alice was awake, making Alice groan silently. It was the girl from the airport that had made her self-esteem take a nosedive.

"Oh, you're awake," said the girl. She walked further into the room and went to stand next to Jasper. She held out her hand and said, "hi, I'm Rosalie."

Alice shook her hand and introduced herself, but she stuttered it a bit.

"Are you hungry?" asked Rosalie.

Alice only then realized how hungry she really was. She remembered going to a restaurant at O'Hare International Airport, but she'd barely even picked at her food because she was so nervous about leaving Chicago. She just nodded, not really able to speak. She saw Jasper throw her a worried look, but she chose to ignore it.

"What did you make Rose?" asked Jasper.

"Just some soup," replied Rosalie. "Carlisle, are you going to stay and eat with us?"

"I can't, I have a little bit of work to do," replied Carlisle.

"Carlisle, it's Sunday, you were going to take today off," said Jasper exasperatedly.

"That was before I realized what an enormous stack of paperwork I had in my study," replied Carlisle, with a face that said he'd rather be anywhere else. "I'll see the two of you tonight." He walked to the door, but stopped, turned back around and whispered something in Jasper's ear. Jasper gave him a look that clearly said, "really?" and Carlisle nodded before saying goodbye and leaving.

"What was that about?" asked Rosalie.

"I'll tell you later," said Jasper. "Why don't you bring lunch up here?" She nodded and headed back for the kitchen. As she was leaving, she turned to her brother and winked at him. Alice looked curiously between the two of them, trying hard to figure out what was happening, but she wasn't very good at interpreting what people were trying to say without words. She just laid back on the bed and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her head.

"Here," said Jasper, reaching for an icepack on the bedside table. "Hold this to your head. It's pretty swollen from where you fell."

"Thanks," said Alice. She was about to say something, but her cut her off.

"Alice, why did you run away from me?" he asked her. "I turned around to introduce you to Rosalie and you weren't there. You just disappeared and by so doing, scared the hell out of me. What were you thinking?"

"Jasper, have you taken a look at your sister lately?" asked Alice. Jasper looked puzzled. Alice continued, "okay, it may've escaped your notice that she's drop-dead gorgeous, whereas I am probably the plainest girl there is. And with the way my life's gone these last few months, I had no reason to be standing there talking with a girl that probably has the best life she could get."

She fell silent when she saw Jasper raise his hand at her to stop. "First of all," he said. "Rosalie is good-looking, that's true. God, Emmett practically drools over her. But she's very nice once you get to know her. Second, don't ever say that you're not beautiful yourself." Alice snorted with disbelief, but Jasper continued, "it's true. Don't let people tell you otherwise, because you are one of the most gorgeous people I've ever met. Third, what do you mean the way your life's gone lately? Something tells me that's the reason you left Chicago. You're running away from something Alice. What is it?"

"Please Jasper," said Alice, shaking her head despite the throbbing pain. "I don't want to talk about it."

He sighed and said, "okay," but she knew he wasn't going to let it drop.

Just then, Rosalie entered the room with lunch on a tray. "I hope you like baked potato soup," she said to Alice. "It isn't much but it's hot. I meant to make a grocery store run yesterday, but I had a ton to do."

"Mm hmm," murmured Jasper, clearly saying that he didn't believe her. She just gave him a look.

"Thanks," said Alice. They ate in silence for a few minutes, Alice devouring her food. Unfortunately for her, Rosalie noticed.

"When's the last time you got a decent meal?" she asked. "You're eating like you haven't even seen food in awhile. Now that I think about it, you look like you're just skin and bones."

"Uh," said Alice, not quite sure how to respond. She didn't want them to know she hadn't eaten properly in months. Two pieces of toast for breakfast, a microwave dinner every night and no lunch had been enough to get her by, but somehow she got the feeling that Rosalie and Jasper wouldn't approve if they knew.

"Yesterday," she lied. "I had a large dinner. I just didn't eat much breakfast, that's all."

"Uh huh," said Rosalie. Neither of the Hale siblings believed her, and she realized as much.

"I can't stay here," she thought to herself. "Jasper means well, I know he does, but I don't want them to find out the real reason I left home."

Deciding they needed a change of subject, she asked them, "so how did you guys find me? The last thing I remember is that guy holding me around the waist and then dropping me. I'm guessing it was you two showing up that caused him to do that."

"Yeah," said Rosalie, wincing a bit. "Sorry about that, I guess it must've hurt."

"It did, but how did you manage to get to me in time?"

"After I saw you on that bus, I asked around to see where it was going," began Jasper. "Luckily, Port Angeles is right on the way to Forks, so we followed you there. But by the time, we found that particular bus again, you'd already left. We asked the bus driver where you were headed, but he didn't know. He just pointed us in the general direction you'd gone in. We drove around for awhile, then we saw those two thugs run into an alley. I could see the smiles on their faces even from where I was standing. We followed them, but lost them. We were about to turn back to the main road, but then we heard you screaming. Rosalie went to see if you were all right while I took care of them. They won't ever bother you again, don't worry."

"Thank you, both of you," said Alice gratefully. The Hale siblings just nodded, each with a smile on their face.

"You should get some more rest," said Rosalie. "What with the jetlag and your little… episode in Port Angeles, you must be exhausted." Alice nodded. "Besides, you need to rest up if you're going out with us tonight."

"Whoa, what did you say?" asked Alice, obviously surprised.

"Carlisle's invited you to dinner," said Rosalie. "He told me on the way out that you're welcome to come with us."

"Thanks Rose," said Jasper exasperatedly. She just shrugged before leaving the room. He sighed and said, "leave it to Rose to spoil a surprise. Carlisle told me if I wanted to that I could bring you along for dinner tonight, we're eating at his place. I was going to officially ask you to come, but my sister as you noticed is kind of a blabbermouth."

"That's fine," said Alice. "I'm not sure I want to come anyway."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"This is like your welcome home dinner. I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be intruding, believe me. Esme, Carlisle's wife, is always glad to have all of us around. And she's been trying to set me up with every girl in town in the hope I'll find someone I want to be with. Hasn't worked so far. But I guarantee you, after Carlisle gets home and tells her about you, she's going to want to meet you."

Alice groaned. She really didn't want more attention drawn to herself. She was shocked really at just how much she'd changed since her dad left. Before, she'd loved being the center of attention, now she wanted to avoid it completely. Before, she'd been able to do anything she wanted, now she couldn't afford all the luxuries she'd had when she was a child. She hoped more than anything that she could just get her life back, then maybe she could be happy again.

"Something on your mind?" asked Jasper worriedly.

"No," lied Alice. She could tell he didn't believe her. Thankfully, she was starting to get a little sleepy anyway. Her eyelids began to droop and within minutes, she was sound asleep.

Jasper sat with her for awhile, lost in his thoughts, his eyes never once leaving Alice's petite form. He very carefully removed the ice pack from the sore spot on her head and laid her back down onto the pillow. When he saw her shivering a bit, he grabbed a blanket from the edge of the bed and spread it over her, all the while making sure not to wake her up.

"She looks so peaceful when she's asleep," he thought to himself. "But when she's awake, she's constantly running from something. She doesn't want me to know why she left Chicago and she doesn't seem to want to let me in. I have to find some way to get her to open to me. I just know she's something special, she just doesn't see it."

His mind drifted back to earlier that afternoon. Carlisle was right, if they hadn't found her when they did, who knew what could've happened. No, he knew what would've happened, and the thought scared him more than anything else. The thought that those two lowlifes had even touched her angered him as well. He only found comfort in the fact that she was safe now with him. He tried not to think about the whole chain of events, but before he knew it, he found himself immersed in the memories.

When he saw his sister waiting for him at the bottom of the escalator, he smiled and walked over to greet her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, not noticing Alice slip away.

"How was your trip? How's Peter doing?" asked Rosalie, referring to a friend Jasper had gone to visit.

"He's fine, he and Charlotte are doing well," replied Jasper. "How's the home front?"

"Quiet as usual," said Rosalie. "Who was that girl you were with?"

"What do you mean 'I was with'? She's right here," said Jasper, turning to look for Alice. But she wasn't there. He looked around, but didn't see her. Worry immediately clouded over his features, while Rosalie looked on in confusion.

"Alice!" he called, moving over towards the conveyor belt. He didn't see her there either. He grabbed his suitcase, then began looking around for her again. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a flash of purple the same shade as the sweater Alice was wearing, and he turned just in time to see her duck out the exit.

"Come on, this way," said Jasper.

"You look for her, I'll get the car," said Rose, taking his luggage and heading towards the parking garage.

They left the building together and Jasper shouted again, "Alice!" But she'd already moved out of his site. He was getting scared now, very scared. He had to find her before she did something that could get her into trouble later. If she didn't watch herself, something terrible could happen. Just then, he caught site of her on a bus nearby.

"Alice!" he shouted, seeing the bus pull away from the curb. He dashed after it, but he knew he wouldn't be able to catch up with it. He managed to catch a glimpse of her face and saw regret there, but she'd made her decision and that was to get away from him. He was angry with her, but more than that, he was hurt. He couldn't understand why she was running from him, what did he do to deserve that? But one thing was for sure, he couldn't let her go. She had no idea where she was going, she could get hurt or worse.

"Excuse me sir," he said, stopping a guard nearby. "That bus, where's it going?"

"That one's headed for Port Angeles," said the guard shortly.

"Thank God," whispered Jasper. He heard the sound of a car horn and turned to see Rosalie's red convertible pull up next to him.

"Home?" she asked.

"No, not yet," said Jasper. "See that bus up there at the red light?" She followed to where his finger was pointing and saw a large bus very far ahead of them that was preparing to turn left as soon as the light changed. She nodded and he continued, "it's headed for Port Angeles. Alice is on it. Come on, we have to catch her."

"Why?" asked Rosalie. "What's so important about this girl?"

"She's important to me, Rose," replied Jasper. "I felt something when I was sitting with her on the plane, something special. She has a quality I can't help but admire, I'm still not sure what it is. I felt like I could tell her anything, she probably knows more about me right now than you do."

"You were actually speaking to someone openly about yourself?" asked Rosalie, pulling into traffic. Jasper nodded. She gawked at him. "You're the reserved one in our group. When we go over to Carlisle and Esme's place to eat, you barely speak and even then, it's only when you're spoken to."

"Something about her just made me want to talk to her," said Jasper. "She's special. Can you please hurry?"

Rosalie made it to the traffic light the bus had been at and made the left hand turn just before it turned red. She saw the bus up ahead and moved over into the lane it was in. She knew Jasper wanted them to get closer, but with so many cars on that street, she knew it wouldn't be an easy task.

"You're lucky Port Angeles is right on the way home," she said. "If it weren't for the fact that you've been alone too long, I wouldn't bother with this at all."

"I know," said Jasper shortly, his eyes fixed on the bus. They followed it in silence for the entire two hour drive, always making sure they had it in their sight. As they reached the outskirts of Port Angeles, they had to stop at a red light, which in turn meant that the bus gained a fair bit of distance over them. By the time the light turned again, they had already lost the vehicle.

"It has to be around here somewhere," said Jasper. "I saw it turn down that road." He pointed with his finger and Rosalie turned the car down the narrow street. They saw the bus further down the road and saw that people were already filing off of it. Rosalie parked at the curb a few yards behind the bus and shut off the engine. Jasper had already reached the bus, but didn't see any sign of Alice.

"Excuse me sir," he said to the bus driver. "There was a girl on here, dark hair, wearing a purple sweater, probably about five feet tall, did you know where she went?"

"Of course not," said the driver exasperatedly. "Why would I know that?"

"Which way did she go then?" asked Jasper, getting desperate.

"That way," said the driver, pointing down the road. Jasper didn't even pause to thank him. He jumped off the bus and began running down the road in the direction the man had pointed. He saw that Rosalie had gotten back in her car and was driving down the road to catch up with him. She slowed down enough for him to jump back in the passenger's seat and they drove along the streets looking for any sign, any clue that might lead them to Alice.

"Jasper, I don't think we're going to find her, let's just go home," said Rosalie defeat clear in her voice.

"No! We can't just leave her Rose, we have to keep looking," said Jasper, in such a forceful tone that she kept driving. He kept his eyes peeled and finally, he saw it, a flash of purple going down an alley.

"Stop the car!" he said suddenly. "I thought I saw her." But then he saw something that made his blood run cold. Two men were running down the alley after her, men that looked as though they had what one would call a fun night on their minds. Anger like he had never felt before ran through Jasper's mind and he jumped out of the car even before Rosalie had put it in park. He ran towards the alley they'd gone down and looked everywhere for them. But there were many side passages, they could be anywhere.

"All right, where do we go from here?" asked Rosalie, appearing at his side.

"I don't…" he began but was cut off by the sound of a girl screaming. Fear coursed through his veins. It was Alice. "Come on!" he shouted, running in the direction the scream had come from. He heard another scream, much closer this time and he prayed he'd get there in time. He rounded a corner and saw to his horror that one of the men had grabbed Alice from behind around the waist and was preparing to drag her away, kicking and screaming. One had just hit her in the side of the head, subduing her screams.

"No!" yelled Jasper. "Let her go!" He saw the men turn around to look at him, dropping Alice as they did. She fell to the ground hard and didn't get back up. Rage, fear and adrenaline overtook him as he ran forward, delivering a punch to one of the men. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rosalie kneel down next to Alice, but before he checked on her condition, he had to get rid of these thugs.

"That was a dangerous move, my friend," said the one that had hit Alice.

"I'm not your friend," said Jasper, punching him in the face. The other one came up behind him, but he ducked, spun around and grabbed hold of the man's arm, twisting it painfully in front of him. The man fell to his knees out of pain and to make sure he stayed down, Jasper kicked his legs out from under him, leaving him sprawled on the ground. The first one rounded on him, but by grabbing his arm and kicking at his legs, he sent the other one sprawled onto the ground as well. He glared down at the two of them, rage burning in his eyes. They managed to get to their feet and ran as quickly as they could back down the alley and out of sight.

Jasper took several deep breaths, trying to calm down enough so that he could help Alice. He ran back over to where she was lying, still and cold. Rosalie was looking at up like she'd never seen him before.

"I've never seen you that angry before," she said, almost fearfully.

"How's she doing?" he asked, ignoring her comment and turning his attention to Alice.

"Just as I reached her, she muttered your name and fell unconscious. I can't get her to wake up."

"Oh my god," whispered Jasper as he looked at her head. There was a lump beginning to swell from where she'd hit it. He brought one hand to lightly caress the side of her face and said, "Alice, can you hear me?" She didn't answer. He carefully scooped her up in his arms and started back down the alleyway, saying all the while, "we have to get her home."

"Shouldn't we take her to a hospital?" asked Rosalie.

"I'm not letting anyone see her but Carlisle," said Jasper. "I wouldn't trust anyone else with her."

"But he's not on duty today," said Rosalie.

Jasper looked confusedly at her and said, "what do you mean? He's at the hospital every day."

"He's been working overtime all week so he could take today off and spend it with Esme and the guys," replied Rosalie, just as they reached her car.

"When we get back to Forks, tell him to come over and take a look at Alice," said Jasper.

Rosalie just nodded and climbed in the driver's seat. She started the engine, put the roof up as it was starting to rain, and drove as fast as she could while still staying within the speed limit. Jasper sat in the backseat, Alice's head in his lap.

"Alice," he whispered. "Wake up please. Give me some sign you're all right."

She groaned a few times and turned her head, but she didn't open her eyes. Every time she did, his chest swelled with hope, only to let out a sigh of disappointment. He just held her hand and murmured quiet words to her the entire ride home. When they were about twenty minutes from home, Rosalie got Carlisle on her cell phone and told him to meet them at their house and he got there just after they did.

Now, sitting in his guest room, he couldn't describe how much relief he felt when he heard Carlisle say that Alice was going to be all right. He didn't know how he knew, but Alice belonged there with him.

A soft knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he saw Rosalie come back into the room.

"How's she doing?" she asked, coming to sit by him.

"She's resting," he replied. "I think she'll be okay by tomorrow."

"Good," said Rose, looking down at Alice. "What do you know about her Jasper?"

"Not much. All I know is she's from Chicago and she's never left it before today. She told me some things about her childhood, but she avoided saying anything about the last few months."

"When you first saw her, what kind of impression did you have of her?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It strikes me that she's afraid of something," replied Rosalie. "She was lying when she said that she ate a good dinner last night. Look at her. She's just skin and bones, she hasn't eaten properly in weeks, possibly months."

"A few nights of Esme's home cooking will change that," said Jasper with a smile. But then more seriously, he said, "you're right. She's afraid of something and she's hiding from something. She wouldn't tell me why she was leaving Chicago and I didn't pry for an answer. But the way she acted when she first got on the plane, she almost had a panic attack. She almost regretted leaving, like she was doing it because she had to, not because she wanted to."

"Do you think we'll ever get her to tell us?"

"I hope so. I want her to feel welcome here with us."

"So do I, so do I," said Rosalie. And with another smile and a wink, she was gone.

Jasper smiled and shook his head. He knew too well what that smile meant. She had always been able to see right through him. She could tell how he felt about Alice just by looking at him. He looked down at Alice's sleeping form, glad to see that she was smiling slightly. He may not have known that much about her or why she left Chicago, but looking at her, he realized with a jolt that he was hopelessly in love with her.

AN: All right, that's chapter 2. I was going to put, "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with her" at the end but I decided that it was too wordy so I changed it to hopelessly, which I think sounds better. I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I'm done with it. Stay tuned!