A/N: Thank you so much for joining me once again in this AU. Liam was a bit of a surprise for you, but most of you seem optimistic. So far. lol

Thanks to everyone adding this story to their lists and special thanks to those who review. You wow'd me out of the park again! Wheee!

Oh. A note. Liam is from Breaking Dawn. He is the male in the Irish coven. There, he's mated to Siobhan, but this story is clearly not BD compliant... So Siobhan and Maggie are mated to one another.


Chapter Two: This Was My Life

"I really think that this could work, if we can get in to talk to an official," Alice was saying. "If the sun would just let up a little..."

The sky was on the indigo side of night-to-morning, with stars above and a moving satellite still visible. No clouds meant dry weather. Alice sighed at the necessity of hanging their clothes to dry after a washing. She often preferred her clothing new or nearly so. Not washed over and over with biodegradable soap and rainwater. A fairly sturdy wind helped dry their laundry while they leaned back on a shared blanket and watched the skies. They couldn't really focus on much of anything since Kate and Alistair had called them earlier.

When Alice sat up abruptly, Bella at first paid her little heed. After forty years, she knew better than to get tense with every vision Alice had. So she rolled herself half on top of Jasper, her fingers tracing abstract designs on his scarred skin, and waited for the Dynamo to snap out of it.

"Oh. Oh. Oh."

Alice's wounded-sounding chant had Jasper and Bella both surrounding their beloved seer, touching her gently. "Alice? Mary Alice?" Foreboding fell like an icy cloak over Bella's back.

Face contorted in sorrow, Alice shook herself and leaned into Bella's arms. "Oh, oh. Bella. Bella."

Bella caught Jasper's eyes, her own wide and worried. She felt his worry arcing out to encompass them. Love and compassion and a slight edge of fear which scratched roughly at Bella's comprehension of his gift.

"Hon, what is it?" Jasper asked, his voice both careful and commanding. "Come on, sugar. We can't help you if you don't let us know."

A strange, gargled sound came from Alice's throat. "I saw him, Jasper. Bella, Bella." Alice took a deep breath and moved slightly away from Bella's arms. "I saw him, Bella. I saw your mate."

Jasper swore. "Did Alistair find him?"

"I don't know." Apology shone in her grief-darkened eyes. "I haven't looked in a while, Bella. I just couldn't, you know?" Forgiveness was communicated through Bella's touch and Jasper only emphasized it with his gift. "Thank you. But when Alistair mentioned it, I –"

"You had to. I get it, Alice. I totally do," Bella said, her voice soft, but flat, as if no single emotion could dominate her statement entirely. "Okay."

Jasper gathered both his ladies up against himself, maneuvering so that each of them got a thigh. The tangle of limbs was customary, and he wondered how many more times he'd see this unique, loving puzzle that he traced with his gaze at that moment. Forty years, they had been together. Forty years of loving, of adjusting, of sharing, of supporting. Forty years of relocations, explorations, innovations.

Forty years of living almost as if they were a mated triad instead of a pair and a greatly-loved woman with the capacity to love beyond boundaries. He felt a huge wave of loss crash in his heart. The feeling reverberated, emotionally drenching Alice and Bella until they each keened under their breath.


It was by mutual agreement that the three of them put the rest of their project on hold and returned to their current residence in New Mexico. Though it was prohibitively sunny, there was a great deal of open space with which to distance themselves from others. Deer, elk, antelope, cougar and even bear were among the available game in the state and they had, with judicious planning, been able to hunt quite satisfactorily.

While washing the high windows of their large, adobe dwelling, Jasper decided to skip the pleasantries.

"Ladies," he called, knowing they'd hear him while they sprayed and wiped, "we've talked about this."

"That was before," Alice snapped. He could hear the force with which she wiped at a window. Squeaking in protest, the glass was, but it didn't break. "Bella –"

Bella had wrapped herself in her shield, frustrating Jasper considerably. Her voice was cool as ice cream. "I'm trying to figure out what I feel."

"Well," Jasper retorted, "if you'd let me in, I could maybe help with that."

As if that was their communal cue, they all three leapt from their respective perches to the ground. Sunlight sent minute rainbows to seemingly spin behind them and, for a moment, Jasper had to see the humor of that. They looked like a bad acid trip.

Bella would occasionally give him hell for being "nosey" about when she shielded herself. Every so often, he'd be able to tell that she had been practicing with the uses to which she could put her shield. She would expand it to tease him. When he protested – because he felt blind without being able to feel her and Alice – she'd sometimes square off and let him have it.

Window cleaner still in hand, Bella appeared to brace herself. "Well? You want it?"

Wary, he nodded. "Hit me, sugar."

Alice was practically vibrating at the pinnacle of their communication triangle as Bella sighed and then –

Anxiety, curiosity, agape, eros, phileo, worry, fear of abandonment (a texture of fear that he had been bombarded with early in his association with one Isabella Swan Cullen Whitlock), fear of failure, confusion, anticipation – a veritable maelstrom of emotions blew and swirled violently around him, making him gasp. "Bella..."

Alice flashed to his side, embracing him with everything she had. "Jas, you okay?" She shot a somewhat accusing glance at Bella. "What did you do?"

Bella bit her lip and came to join them, kneeling on the sandstone that made up the paving stones. "You asked," was all she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. He felt each press of her skin to his, as he felt Alice's abiding love for them both. "I'm just so conflicted."

"Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry," Alice whispered. "I'd be all confused, too." She pressed herself tightly against Jasper until he gathered both of the women against himself. They nuzzled one another, caressed with passion-free fingertips, and generally reassured each other that they were loved.

All three of them.

"I'm scared," Bella murmured, her eyes closed as she clung to her most dearly beloved. "I remember how it was with Edward, when he met Bronwyn. He – he said he didn't love me as he had before." Her eyes opened and met the sad golden ones of her coven's leader. "I don't want not to love you, Jas. Alice. I don't want that for me or for you. It was the worst."

"Part of what hurt you was the betrayal," Alice reminded her. "Because it was something you hadn't ever expected and it felt so wrong." Jasper nodded in support of his mate. "But sweetie? We would never feel betrayed by this."

"It'll hurt, when you meet him," Jasper allowed, inhaling and saying another in a series of private farewells that he had begun in Africa. "It'll hurt us. All of us. But, sugar, you'll want to be mated." He wiggled one hand free to cup her cheek. Alice made finger-furrows in Bella's richly tinted hair. "We'll want that for you. We will not ever feel bad about you, Isabella. Ever. You will always be welcome to be with us." Alice nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't have to meet him," Bella ventured, eyes darting back and forth between the other two. "I can just stay here and work on our series. You never said where you saw – saw him, Alice..."

Jasper started, aware that this was indeed the case. "Hon? She's right. You never said."

Guilt washed to him as Alice paused, her body stiff in his embrace. Her voice was wispy when she answered. "Here. I saw him here."

Years ago, Jasper reflected, Bella would have leapt to her feet and run away. Now, more balanced and having had decades of experience in a stable, loving relationship, she just gasped as incredulity frothed forth from her body, becoming the dominant emotion he could feel.

"Here?"


Liam had never been one to amass a quantity of money. Alone for quite some time before meeting Siobhan and creating a sequence of "homes" for themselves that spanned the British Isles from Plymouth to Orkney and from Norwich in England to Cleggan on Ireland's west coast, he was content in his unencumbered life.

Darkness blanketed the land on a fine night for Dublin. He wasn't hunting; Liam was just enjoying being out from under the burden of keeping himself hidden from his sire. That damned bastard had overshadowed Liam's own existence for far too long. The music from the pubs cheered him; he hadn't allowed himself much in the way of such amusements. Siobhan – a fine woman – was more of a bookish sort and didn't have a musical ability. Liam himself had used to play a guitar, long decades past.

It was standing in front of Goodwins Music Shop that he came to the realization that he wanted to play again. An acoustic guitar was on display, but the doors were locked. Considering how to acquire the instrument, he was only vaguely aware of the presence of another vampire until he caught a whiff of the distinctive scent that all vampires carried: the sharp venomous fragrance that would linger after a kill. Humans, oddly enough, didn't have the capacity to recognize it, but a vampire could always pull the scent out of the air.

He turned at human speed to see a disgruntled, out-of-sorts fellow approach. He was perhaps a few centimeters under Liam's own one meter, eighty-three centimeters. Lank, black hair fell into eyes that looked ill-fed. Liam steadied himself, just in case there would be an altercation. The other vampire stopped about ten feet away and stared, his face jutted slightly forward before walking out into the road with one hand angled away from his body.

Was there such a thing as an insane vampire? Likely...

Used to the company of others, Liam almost spoke. Something in the man's demeanor, though, kept him silent and watchful. By all the saints, what is he doing? For the hungry-eyed fellow turned and made a direct-line approach.

"I am Alistair of York." Abrupt, the introduction told Liam precisely nothing except that Alistair of York had never managed to lose a Midlands accent. "Who are you?"

"Liam of Nowhere in Particular." Then, as the Midlands man continued to study him in silence while Dubliners ambled by in various stages of inebriation, Liam sighed hugely. "If you're lookin' for a fight, man, I can give you one, but we'd best be off the road."

Alistair of York grimaced as if he smelled something distasteful, like human food. "I am not here to fight, Irish. I – I was asked to find you." With an abrupt, almost dismissive jerk of his head, the Englishman indicated they should be moving into a less visible place, like the alley. Liam agreed and they walked at a pace he set, because Alistair didn't seem to worry about how he appeared, among their prey.

Liam, though, took more care. "Fine, so you're not up to a fight. You were looking for me?" A subtle, rasping edge of fear sneaked into his brain. "Wait. For who? Who're you workin' for?" There were two combative ruling bodies in their world, as well as who knew what other amadán* might want to try to collect vampires in an alliance. "The Italians? The Romanians?" Liam's flawless memory could remember a brief meeting with the diminutive, ancient Romanians. Vladimir and Stefan had found him while he, Liam, had been trying to escape from his sire who was trying to collect a small group of immortals for his own purpose.

Alistair, a seemingly permanent look of disgust on his angular features, shook his head. "I'm not here for the Italians or Romanians. It's a debt of honor, if you will. I was asked to find you."

The fear grew, slapping Liam in the chest. Hard. He dropped into a defensive crouch instinctively, his muscles tense, his breathing harsh. "Well, you're na' goin' back ta tell anyone –" His accent got more broad under stress. It wasn't something he gave a damn about, though he noted it as he noted everything. If Alistair of York made one move –

"Relax, Irish," the man ground out. Liam didn't, but neither did he feel prepared to strike, exactly, either. "All I was asked to do was find you, not take you anywhere. Have you heard of the coven of Carlisle Cullen?"

"Cullen?" With a nod, Liam allowed himself to relax. "Are you here on behalf of Carlisle? We've met, he and I. He knows the others of my coven, as well."

"Aye. His first-created is mated to my first-created," the dark-haired man went on, sounding as if each word was pulled from his throat by force. "I am here at his request, on behalf of his first-created."

The humor of the thrice-used "first-created" struck a chord in Liam's psyche and he smiled. "Well, I've no first-created to bring to the gathering, so..."

"I'll be brief. Edward asked me to find you."

"Why?"

"Well, it would appear you're the mate of Edward's former spouse. Whom he left when he met Bronwyn, my first-created. I've been searching for you for seventeen days."

Liam laughed out loud, leaning against the wall of the building. "Right."

"Tell me your name and I'll be on my way."

"I'm Liam Maguire. If you talk to Carlisle, tell him I think his first-created is full of shite."

With only a nod, Alistair of York, apparent vampire mate-finder, turned and walked away. Liam was left staring into the misty air.

Someone's mate? Him? "Not bloody well likely." Even so, with all his disbelief, Liam rubbed at his ever-stubbled jawline and forced himself to stay where he was. The urge to run off after Alistair and find out who his mate was pushed at his limbs with a sudden force.


*amadán - idiot(male) - Irish Dictionary Online


A/N: So…still optimistic? ;-)

- - Note: I am fully aware that a denizen of York in the U.K. would not have a Midlands accent. That Alistair does is one of those "unchanging vampire" things - like Canon Carlisle still having a slight British accent though he has lived in the USA for two hundred years. :)

- - Housekeeping: As in OUNtY, this story will post on Tuesdays and Fridays. With only ten chapters, we'll be buzzing through it fairly quickly.

- - I do have a teaser prepared for chapter three. Let me know if you want it, because I won't send it unless you ask. I don't want to force the future on anyone. ;-) LJ