Your fantastic reviews and a fanfiction brainstorm with a friend of mine have persuaded me to continue with Alice's torture. Let the jealousy commence...

Alice had spent weeks avoiding Bella and Edward. It was hard and it hurt, but she had to do it. For all their sakes. After leaving the human's house she'd returned to Jasper and kissed him fiercely, pulling at his shirt. Despite her best efforts he'd known that something was wrong and pushed her away. Alice had never loved her husband more than in that moment but she'd been so angry. Angry at Edward for proposing to Bella. Angry at Bella for saying yes. Angry at Jasper for not knowing. And most of all, angry at herself for being angry. So she'd avoided the happy couple, her best friends and she was spending less and less time with Jasper too. If her family had noticed something wrong none of them had mentioned it.

She had taken to sitting outside on the very edge of the ditch near their house. It was quiet there and she found it was easy to lose herself in her thoughts.

Once she had wished she had an addiction to lose herself in, alcohol would have been perfect, had she been human or cigarettes, the boys at Forks High had told her many a time they were good for relieving stress. But Alice would reap none of the benefits of those either. She'd even found herself wishing she believed in God, that it was His will Bella and Edward were to be married. But she'd given up on God long ago when her heart had still beat and she had still been crazy little Mary Alice. Most of all though, she wished she could cry. Wash away the near crippling pain in her chest and move on with her life.

She had tried music in an attempt to pour her pain into art but found that all she could play was a piece by Edward; 'Bella's Lullaby'. Her sketches had ended in much the same way; she loved to draw with her eyes closed but every time she opened them to see what her wandering mind had drawn she always saw Bella Swan's face.

However she was glad she could not sleep; she knew that any dreams she could have had would have been plagued by Bella's presence. Her nightmares would have been too. So she was glad. Her visions on the other hand were now a cruel and unusual form of torture. Every vision was filled with choices for the wedding and served as a painful reminder of what she had lost.

Alice shook her head violently, shaking herself away from thoughts of the human girl who was marrying her brother and a sigh fell from her lips. She swung her legs in a childish motion dangling them over the edge of the ditch. She hummed a senseless song to herself and focused on not thinking at all. "Alice?" A deep voice sounded from behind her. She started knowing that if her heart still beat it would have skipped at least once in sheer surprise. "I didn't mean to scare you." Alice forced a smile as Jacob Black took a seat on the grass beside her.

"You're back." She stated the obvious, needing to break the silence that had become uncomfortable where it had once been the exact opposite.

"Yeah." He trailed off with a slight exhale, dark eyes focusing on something in the forest opposite them. "Bell…the others, are worried." Alice felt a flash of anger and giggled softly, finding it only slightly funny she had changed so much in so little time.

"And you drew the short straw and actually had to talk to me huh?" He gave an almost guilty smile, which sent her into another set of soft giggles. Jacob joined in, his rumbling chuckle mingling with her tinkling laugh.

"I love her too you know." The werewolf sobered slightly and his words stopped Alice's laughter entirely. She looked away from him.

"It hurts." She murmured, glad to have someone to talk to about the pain in her chest. The dead heart that still felt pain.

"I know. But you're braver than me to stick around." She gave a hollow laugh.

"I don't think it had anything to do with bravery Jake. I just can't stand being too far away you know?" Jacob nodded understanding shining in his eyes. "How was your trip?" Alice's lips quirked into a small smile when her companion lay back on the grass with his hands behind his head.

"Quiet. It was nice." The wind ruffled the spikes in their hair as Alice lay back.

"Why did you come back?"

"It's the engagement party today. Bella wanted me to be there. You too." They fell silent for a second.

"I hate loving someone I know I shouldn't. I want to stop, to stay with Jasper but I can't." Alice sat up and tossed a small stone into the ditch. "I'll go but…" Jacob sat up, pulling her into a half-embrace.

"I feel the same Alice. You're not alone in this." They shared a smile and he helped her to her feet. "Ready to face the world?"
"If you'll face them with me, sure."
"Of course. We got to stick together, you and me." Jacob slung an arm around her shoulders as they began to walk. "Even if you are a leech."

/

Alice wandered down the stairs of the Cullen house to where the others were waiting for her. She couldn't miss Edward in his suit or Bella in a pale blue dress that Alice herself had bought her. The tiny vampire suppressed a cringe when Bella caught her wandering eyes and immediately began to search for Jacob. She sighed in relief when she spotted him by the door, deep in conversation with Leah and Seth, the only wolves who'd split from Sam's pack with him. She flitted over to them, her red dress flowing behind her. "Hey." A grin spread across Jacob's face, his teeth bright against his russet skin. Even Leah and Seth smiled a greeting.

"Hi." Alice smiled back, feeling safe from Bella's allure for the first time in a long time. If Jacob could resist then so could she. She banished the lust pulling at her brain and heart, resolving to have fun, even if it meant ignoring the reason for the party.

"How're you holding up?" Seth and Leah drifted away towards the food table that had been laid out by Esme and Rosalie purely for their benefit, seemingly knowing that a private conversation was in the wings.

"Good. Better, thanks to you." Jacob shrugged his shoulders, shifting his entire frame.

"You look good." A blush rose on his face when he realised he'd spoken aloud and Alice gave her tinkling laugh.

"Thanks. You too." He wore a dark suit with a deep green shirt and she wasn't lying.
"Al. Jacob." Jasper appeared beside Alice and she froze. Jasper frowned at the hint of fear that sparked from his wife. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing Jazz." She looked up at him with a wide smile and he blinked golden eyes with a soft smile of his own.

"I suppose I owe you thanks for Alice being happier." He looked towards Jacob a hand sneaking around Alice's waist. Guilt flooded her heart and she desperately wanted to turn around to seek the reassuring glance that Bella would be sure to give her. She swallowed, trying to regain the calm Jacob had instilled in her.

"I suppose." Jacob's voice dropped into the frosty tone that he used when speaking to vampires other than Alice, Emmett or Carlisle.

"Thank you." The genuine grateful tone in Jasper's voice made Alice shudder. She didn't deserve to be held in his arms when she'd betrayed him. When her heart was still betraying him. She caught Jacob's eye and saw a note of reassurance in his dark eyes but it didn't relieve her of the guilt she felt. She knew that only Bella's eyes could. "Let's go congratulate Bella and Edward shall we?" Jacob's eyes now held a touch of pity as her husband led her towards her ex-lover.

"Alice." Bella's voice was full of joy when she caught sight of the pixie-like vampire and soon Alice was enveloped in a tight hug and surrounded by the mouth-watering scent that was Bella Swan. Alice tensed until the human let go with a slight frown. "You haven't been answering my calls." Alice winced inwardly; in truth she'd simply blocked the girl's number to head off the temptation before it began.

"Had nothing to say." She shrugged, managing to escape Jasper's arm as it began to pull her close again. "Sorry."
"I have." Bella shot a furtive glance towards Edward and pulled Alice to the side. The vampire's eyes shot wide when she realised she was alone with the girl and the sick feeling made itself known again, swiftly joined by the lust in her head and heart. "You never let me explain."
"I never needed you to." Alice blinked rapidly trying to rid herself of the image of Bella's lips on hers.

"You wouldn't have left if you didn't." Bella took a step nearer and Alice took one back, she could already feel the phantom sensation of Bella's hands in her hair and didn't know if she could stand passively if the brunette were any closer. "Alice, please." The plea echoed around her head immediately fuelling her imagination, which played the words back in a very different tone. She resisted the urge to clap her hands over her ears and forced herself to open her eyes. Bella gasped and suddenly Alice knew that her eyes must have been bordering on black, even though she'd hunted only the day before.

"I'm sorry I can't do this." Alice began to back away and was only feet from freedom when Bella whirled around to face her again, anger flashing in her dark eyes.

"Then go find Jacob. I'm sure you could manage it with him!"

So what do you say? Any good and still worth continuing?