Disclaimer: I still don't own the Twilight characters, but I'd like to.
Jasper's POV
I was a little shocked to hear my love say that she was planning on defying Carlisle. Even if I couldn't feel the panic coming off of her in waves, that the statement of her defiance said so much to me. Never, in all the years that we had been part of this family had Alice ever questioned Carlisle's authority and yet for her to be so adamant I knew this was serious. I listened with dread as Alice began to explain what she had seen.
"Carlisle" she began, "Since we left Forks I stopped deliberately looking for Bella. You know that right?" Carlisle nodded. "Sometimes though, flashes of her future would come to me and I would do my best to switch them off. I saw her curled up in a ball on the forest floor sobbing as she screamed for Edward to come back, I saw here cry herself into exhaustion over us leaving and I did nothing. I know it's been difficult for her and I know that even a couple of months after we left she hadn't improved. He broke her heart when he left and I don't think she will ever heal from that. For the last 20 months I haven't seen anything at all until now. Something is wrong Carlisle! Something is seriously wrong!"
I pulled her closer to me; I could feel her terror and her sadness hit me. If Alice could cry a flood of tears would be rolling off her beautiful face. Instead I could hear the dry sobs and with each noise she made my own anguish grew. I hated not knowing what was causing so much pain in Alice. How could I fix what was wrong if I didn't know what the problem was? I pulled her even closer and planted soft kisses on her head at the same time I growled softly to her in the way I knew she liked. I sent out waves of calm to her time after time. It seemed like hours before Alice spoke again.
"Bella is sick. Really sick. She is locked in a room. I think it's a room in a hospital. I'm not sure what's happening though as sometimes the vision goes away. Even though I try to look for her, I can't see her all the time, it's like there is something blocking me. And I've tried to look for Charlie and I can't see into his future either and it scared me Carlisle. I just don't understand it. Bella isn't moving, she just lies there, curled into the fetal position and staring into space. It's not like her Carlisle, something is seriously wrong with her. And I get the sense of danger when I look at her and yet I don't know why but I can't just ignore it. I need to go to her. Can you please understand? Don't be too angry with me. Please? She is my sister. I love her. No matter what Edward does this isn't about him. It's about Bella. I need to find out what's happened."
I could feel Alice collapse into my arms, I felt the sigh before I heard it. Still trembling Alice looked at Carlisle, waiting for his reaction and yet not sure what that reaction would be.
"Can you try now Alice? Look for Bella and tell me if you can see anything" Carlisle said, his hands clasped on his desk.
"I'll try" she replied.
I felt Alice tense up and could feel the determination coming from her. I could almost see how her eyes would be glazed over as she tried to focus. She was still for such a long time. Scared to distract her I stopped breathing, even though it was uncomfortable. Both Carlisle and I focused on Alice, neither saying a word, neither moving. Just waiting.
I felt Alice shudder and I knew that either the vision was complete, or she had given up trying.
"Bella hasn't moved, a Doctor was there, I saw him inject her with something and Bella didn't even flinch! Another person entered the room, perhaps a nurse? And then… everything became fuzzy and I couldn't get the picture back. It's like there is something there stopping me." Alice moved further into me, removing all space between us. My arms wrapped around her and I squeezed her closer trying to expel every molecule that was separating us.
Carlisle tapped his pen on his desk. "Alice? I understand how you feel and I promise I won't try to stop you leaving. In fact you have my blessing but I need to ask something of you before you go."
"Ok" she hesitantly replied.
"Let me make some phone calls to my colleagues in Forks and see if I can find out any information first. I think…" Carlisle began
"No matter what you find out, it's not stopping me! I'm still going back!" Alice shouted, interrupting Carlisle.
"I understand. I just want to make sure we know all the facts first. Perhaps there is something we can do from here as you are traveling." Carlisle picked up the phone and dialed a number. We waited. "May I speak to Dr. Gerandy, please?" he paused. "Dr Carlisle Cullen" and then silence again. Each second seemed to last forever and I couldn't help but notice the way the dust motes flew across the windows gently in a breeze not even I could feel.
"Dr. Gerandy! Dr. Cullen here, how are you? Good glad to hear that. I'm sorry to call you while you are on duty, but I have been trying, without success to get a hold of Chief Swan, do you happen to know if he has gone out of town?"
Carlisle's stance didn't change in any way, his facial expressions remained the same and yet he couldn't hide the change of emotion from me. He was devastated! As he listened on his emotions would flicker from grief, disbelief, pain anger and back to grief. Alice and I could only hear one side of the conversation and we knew it wasn't good but had to wait until he had hung up before we would find out the whole story. When he finished by saying someone would be there by tomorrow morning I knew that Alice had just received his blessing to leave.
Surprising me, Carlisle ran past as and shouted as he was descending the stairs for us to follow him. He had to talk to everyone. We all met in the family room.
"Turn off the game Emmett. I need everyone to focus right now" Carlisle began. "There has been a terrible tragedy in Forks. There was some sort of attack in the forest on the outskirts of town. A few people were killed and Bella seems to be the only survivor of the attack but she is catatonic and is being held in the hospital under observation."
"What about Charlie?" Alice cried, her body trembling with apprehension; needing to know the answer, and yet at the same time not sure if she wanted to hear the reply.
"No-one knows. He is considered MIA and the forks police as well as the men of La Push are all looking for him." Carlisle reached out to Alice and patted her hand gently. At the same time Esme and I tried to embrace her, as if to shield her from the news. We all knew that Alice had bonded with Charlie and he was another member of her family, another person she had loved and had been forced to leave behind.
"Here is what I need from you." Carlisle continued. "Jasper? I need you to go to Seattle and meet with Mr. Jenks. As you heard, I told Dr. Gerandy that we have the legal documents to prove that Charlie made me executor of his estate and legal guardian for Bella should something happen to her. Even though Bella is now of age, her mental capacity at this time has forced the hospital to admit her under observation. This is the only way we can be there for her and be her family again." I nodded, I was glad to be doing something useful and Seattle wasn't far from Forks for me.
"Emmett? Rosalie? I need you to go to Brazil and track down Edward. Don't tell him anything over the phone, talk to him in person, make him listen to you and then meet us all in Forks"
"Got it! It's about time you gave me permission to slap his head and drag him back to Bella. Thanks! I won't let you down!" Emmett replied and then clicking his heels he saluted our father. Trust him to try and lighten the mood. Rosalie just nodded.
"Esme, Alice and I will be going straight to Forks to find out exactly what happened, what is going on with Bella and why Alice is having trouble seeing Bella on command." As he said that everyone looked to Alice with shock on their faces. She just shrugged and said "Let's go! I'll book the flights, everyone get packed we will be leaving here in 15 minutes tops! I meant it! Let's go!"
And with that we all ran to our rooms to pack the essentials we would need for our travels.
Authors Note: please review!
