"What were you thinking, Nessie?? Why did you tell him that? What happened?" Alice asked with worry, grabbing my hand and putting it to her cheek. I analyzed her face as she watched my point of view in her head. Her expression went from loving to happy to surprised to sad. Then she removed my hand. She smiled. "You know, I always knew he had a thing for you. But imprinting. Wow, that's huge."

"Yeah, I know. Alice, I don't think I'm ready for that kind of a relationship. With Jake, I mean. Like he said, it wouldn't work. The age thing would really get in the way in a few years."

"Yes, but wouldn't it be worth it for those few years? And then maybe it wouldn't matter anymore." She took my hand and fluttered over to the couch, sitting me down beside her. "Renesmee, I know you. I know you love him. And in a different way than you told him."

"Alice...I do. I love him more than anything. And I don't know why. I've always wondered why I've been closer to him than anyone in the whole family. A werewolf and a vampire can't have that kind of relationship. It would be too dangerous for the both of us."

"Half-vampire," she corrected.

"Whatever," I replied. I was sick of her always making me feel guilty about everything. Just because she can see into the future, she thinks she knows what everyone needs to do with their life. The future can change, you know. Suddenly, a thought hit me. "Alice, if I'm in a relationship with Jake, do you think we'll get into fights?"

"Most couples do, honey. But I'm not really sure. The imprinting thing might have something to do with it, you know. You may be so in love with him and he may be so in love with you, which obviously he is, that you may never want to fight with each other. Of course, no couple wants to fight, but in your case, he may know exactly what you want. Why?"

"Well, I'm a vam, uh, half-vampire. He's a werewolf. We're a pretty even match. But what if we get into a really big fight and I try to hurt him. Alice, what if I kill Jake? I don't think I could ever live with myself if I hurt him."

Alice smiled and put her arm around me. I leaned my head on her shoulder as she pulled up her sleeve to reveal a very distinct scar. "You see this, honey?" I nodded. "Jasper and I got into a fight a few years ago and it got way out of hand. It was about something stupid, but we got really angry with each other. He threw me against a tree, and I got this. It would've been a lot worse if Jasper hadn't loved me so much. You see?" she pulled her sleeve back down. "Two vampires are a pretty fair match for each other, fight-wise, I mean. You've seen that. But if you love each other enough, nothing too bad will happen. He'll realize that he loves you too much to hurt you, even if he is mad at you. And you'll do the same."

I sighed. "But what if you're wrong, Alice? What if he didn't imprint on me, like he said he did. I mean, he was in love with Mom for years. She's told me that. But that didn't work out. They never got together. Was that because he knew Dad would beat the crap out of him if he ever made a move on her?" I laughed. It was a funny sight to see. Something that would never happed: Dad throwing Jake against a tree, Jake running towards him, changing into a werewolf, and Dad jumping in the air, mouth open, ready to strike. I shuddered at the thought.

"I'm surprised they haven't told you this story," Alice said. "Of course, they probably don't want to bring it up. It was a bad time for all of us."

"What happened?" I said excitedly. I sat up straighter and scooted closer to Alice. Was this a scandalous story that no one was supposed to hear about? Of course I wanted to hear it!

"Well, after we killed James, his 'mate', Victoria, was still after your mom, and it killed your father inside. He couldn't stand putting her in that kind of danger. Out of love, he left her. We left her, thinking that we were putting her life in too much danger. See, Victoria wanted revenge on your father, so he figured that by killing her mother, it would be a 'mate-for-mate' thing. So your father was going to go and offer himself up to Victoria."

"Suicide," I said, awestruck. Could love really do that to you?

"Exactly. Your mother was devastated, and she found a shelter in Jake. But, just like with you, Jake wanted to be more than friends. And you mother was confused about what she wanted from Jake. The guy that she loved with her heart was gone, and according to him, wasn't coming back.

So she turned to Jake, and he responded. Then, your mom decided to go cliff diving and she almost died. Luckily, Jake saved her, but I didn't see that part, since I can't see werewolves, you know."

"So what happened?" I was dying to know.

"Well, I thought she had committed suicide. I told Rosalie, and she swore not to tell, but apparently she told Edward because he decided that he wasn't going to live without her."

"Did he go find Victoria?"

"No. Worse. He went to the Volturi," Alice said, shuddering at the memory. "He was going to walk out into the sunlight in the middle of the crowd. If he had done it, they would have ripped him to shreds."

The blood drained out of my face as I thought of the Aro and Caius and all the rest of those monsters tearing apart my father. My hands clenched into fists. I wanted to kill them. Then I calmed down as a thought came upon me. My father wasn't dead. Had he defeated the Volturi? Had he changed his mind? "Why didn't they?" I asked.

Alice smiled. "Well, you know my yellow Porsche that I have? Well, this is the backstory to that. I came back here once I realized that your mother wasn't dead, and recruited her to come with me to Italy, to save your father. Naturally she agreed once I told her he was going to kill himself, and we hopped on the nearest plane to Italy. Once we got there, we needed a way to get to the town square, so I had to borrow a car from someone." I could tell by the way she said "borrow", she meant "steal".

"So you stole the Porsche?"

"Nessie, it was my only option. Of course, I don't regret it. I mean, I wouldn't have gotten one otherwise. But anyway, back to the story.

You mother got to the very spot just as your father was about to step out, and convinced him that she was alive and wanted him to stay alive, too. So after a confrontation with the Volturi, we came back here, just like before."

"Wow," I said. "That was the best story I've ever heard!"

"Just remember, you promised not to tell anyone," Alice said, hugging me.

"I won't, I swear," I said, hugging her back. "Thanks for telling me." Alice saw me out the door as I started to run home. I thought about what happened with Mom and Dad. Could that ever happen with me and Jake? Could we live happily ever after, too?