Hey there forgot a disclaimer last time: I own nothing! Whatsoever.

I had this idea of how Alice and Jasper met, that I just wanted to get on paper. It's a long time since I've written it. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 1

Gentleman

The night was dark and silent. I sat in the edge of a very small forest and looked at the sleeping suburb. Only a single light was still on in one of the houses, but there weren't any chance that they would be able to see me. Even though the moonlight shone on me and lightened op my pale skin, it wouldn't be possible for human eyes to separate me from the trees from this distance. I sighed and looked up at the sky; it was clear and cloudless, but that was going to change soon. I had seen a storm coming up; maybe today, maybe tomorrow, I wasn't sure.

Frankly, I shouldn't be here. The point where I sat was about hours away from Philadelphia, the city that I knew he was heading towards. I just didn't have much clue of when, but I had a feeling that it might be soon. Just for that reason I should stay in town, so I had a better chance of finding him, but at the moment I really appreciated the silence out here. The main reason though, was that I had been in a serious need for hunting. When I was among people I had to keep my thirst effectively away, otherwise the presence of humans happened to be very painful.

It wouldn't take me long to get there anyway, which was good since I didn't like being far away, when I was so sure that he was coming. And I was. Hadn't I seen him in my head so many times? Watching him every time he changed his mind? I had stopped counting the visions many years ago, but I never stopped thinking about him. Neither did I stop enjoying the sight of him, as he walked by in my head.

This was nearly the only thing I thought about these days, and the only thing that kept me from insanity. I couldn't precisely remember when I saw him the first time, because I was so used to seeing him now, though it never failed to excite me. But one thing was for sure: If I hadn't seen him back then, I probably would be all out of control now, and not knowing what to do with myself. The thought that I might run into him sooner or later kept me thinking straight.

Unfortunately it had been quite a while now, but I had to patient... I didn't like the sound of that word at the moment.

Patience was a common thing for vampires, though. When you have forever to think, you quickly learn to think more thoroughly, weighting every detail and consider every possibility there might be, just because you have the time. I didn't have any human memories to compare with, since I couldn't remember any of it, but I had watched a lot of humans. Their behavior evidently showed me that they were sort of running on a slower frequency than vampires. They didn't seem to think as much about everything as we did.

But right now just thinking and waiting was very hard, just because I was so obsessed with the thought that he was coming soon. It was unbearable to wait for him when I knew he was so close. I was dying to see him in real life, not just through my mind. I was going crazy after all. I had to think of something to make the waiting time acceptable. Hunting didn't kill many hours.

The other thing that took up a lot of space in my mind was this Cullen family, who I had seen in my visions a lot too. They sort of helped me keeping in control of myself too, or more likely the sight of them did. They were different from all the other vampires I'd heard of; they weren't exactly a coven – which also was unusual – but a family, and this father figure, Carlisle Cullen, had a whole new perspective on our kind's survival that I had ever seen anyone having before. He called him and his family vegetarians, because they only drink animal blood. I had seen him explain this to the newborn Emmet in a vision long time ago. He had said something like: "This way we get to be a part of the human world without denying what we are to ourselves. When you only hunt animals, you don't have to be a monster." That was exactly what I wanted: not to be a human-hunting monster. I had thought a lot about his words at that time and I still did. Soon I would join his family. That idea made me smile too once in a while. I was really looking forward to take part in that life, but right now my first priority was something else. I haven't been wandering around here for days just to change my mind now.

It was raining. He followed the river, carefully out of sight of any human as he ran. The scene blurred and he was suddenly inside town, looking around. Buildings where lined up on each side and the rain was still falling from the sky. He ducked into a small diner to avoid the storm.

A huge smile spread across my face. I knew it. This vision had just proved to me, that I was right that he would enter the city some time, and now I knew it possibly would be soon, because of the clarity. It was around noon, and the rain had already started falling lightly from the grayish sky. I had decided last night, to stay around the forest, because it wouldn't make any difference in this at this short distance, but now I had to get to the town quickly. Philadelphia was a very large city and I didn't have much time to find the small diner I had seen in the vision. This was going to be difficult, and I regretted the decision that had made me stay here. I sighed and tried not to think about anything unpleasant about my plan.

Instead I got on my feet and started running towards the city.

In a car at medium speed, this would take approximately an hour, but at this uneven surface I would be much faster than that. I just had to slow when I got closer, though, so that no one would see me. Moving that fast wasn't really human, and I had to act like them whenever they were present. Acting human had become easier over time, but it was still a bit of a challenge sometimes. I sure was outstanding no matter what I did, because of the attraction and beauty that humans always reacted to. I had experienced that before.

It was a shame that I couldn't remember anything of my own human life. Some memories of how to act would have been helpful, but it was as if I had never been human. My previous life was just like this big black hole, swallowing everything even the beginning of my immortal life. My newborn years were all gone. I didn't even know who changed me and why they did it. This could maybe have been good memories – some of them, I had heard from others that the changing part was not a pleasant experience – and I often wondered why I couldn't remember. I was hoping that maybe Carlisle would have a theory. He seemed to have an explanation or at least a guess to everything. Maybe that was why he was such a natural father figure.

He had also been the one to change them all. Even when the girl, Rosalie, brought a dying man to Carlisle, she had told him, that she wouldn't do it herself, because she was afraid to do something wrong. I had been very impressed when I saw that. After that first time I hadn't seen much of this new Emmet. I was more attuned to the others, especially Carlisle. I was very much hoping to meet him personally soon.

The rain was gaining strength as I reached the city. I decided to follow the river a bit, then maybe I would be able to recognize something from the vision. Besides I could run at my speed without being seen. There weren't really many people at the time; they were probably all hiding from the storm. The wind speed was increasing too.

I stopped and smiled smugly to myself; I had just recognized the street. I started walking towards it and followed it until a small diner appeared on the corner of the next street. I hurried over there, now careful not the run too fast, and entered it. It was dark in there and almost half-emptied. Some of them turned their head to look as I walked through the door and stared for a long moment, before they turned their back on me again. A single one kept starring, and I send him a quick, faint smile, before I looked away. He could still feel his eyes on my back, and tried not to pay attention.

It ached a little in my throat, but to my luck I couldn't smell them as much as I had feared. The smell of cooking and some alcohol blocked the scents of the humans.

I placed myself in a stool at the counter, and sighed silently. Left was only waiting.

"Hello beautiful, can I get you anything?" the bartender asked, looking at me with a friendly smile and his green eyes full of curiosity and adoration. He was a middle-aged man, a bit overweighting and bald from shaving.

"Just a glass of water, please", I said to be polite and responded his smile. He eyes lingered at my face a few seconds, he then blinked, shook his head slightly and turned to find me a glass. In the corner of the diner I could hear two young men discussing me eagerly. I was usually hard to irritate, but having to listen to them talk about me that way – of course they didn't know that I could hear them from this distance – put together with all the impatience made me feel a little annoyed. Though I hid it well.

"Here you are, miss", said the bartender, handing me the glass. I told him thanks and took it, careful not to touch him. The coldness of my skin might make him too curious.

Minutes ticked by, the bartender went to take some orders, but threw some quick glances at me once in a while. Every time I saw him watching me he just smiled and looked away again. I pretended to drink the water. After a while he turned to me hesitantly.

"Can I ask you something, miss?" He asked, and I nodded friendly, "What brings you here, to my diner at this time? Shouldn't you be home, with this horrible weather going on?" I knew why he asked; I didn't really match the types of people sitting here.

"I'm hoping to meet someone soon", I told him. He nodded and kept smiling kindly at me. He didn't seem to have anything against my presence at all, I thought to myself, amused.

Hours ticked by while I sat waiting. Only one time did I leave my seat to visit the bathroom. A human thing. When I came back the bartender stood at the counter at exactly the same spot where the high stool I had been sitting on was placed, as if he was keeping it for me. I chuckled once, amused by his overwhelming kindness and jumped up. Once in a while he asked me some casual questions about the storm, still racing outside then spoke to another customer, still gazing in my direction when he thought I wasn't looking.

Then the door opened. I smiled with a mixed feeling of relief, happiness and excitement.

He entered the diner, still standing in the doorway, and looked directly at me. I could see him so clearly even through the half-dark diner, and it was nothing like my visions at all. It was him, but ten times as real. He kept looking at my face without moving, as I studied him, watching every feature. Scars were very dominant on his jaw and neck. Battle scars from his numberless fights against newborn armies. Scars from the venomous teeth of a wide number of fierce, dangerous, newborn vampires. All of them so visible, but he was still beautiful; the pale white skin, his muscled, steady posture, his deep, amber eyes, his short, curly, bronze hair… I couldn't help smiling even more.

I jumped down from my seat, and started walking towards him. He stiffened a little, like he was about to sink into a crouch, unsure what else to do, but my expression must have told him that it wasn't necessary. He must have sensed that my emotions didn't invite him to a fight.

"You've kept me waiting a long time", I said.

He seemed to not really know how to react. He just bowed his head like the gentleman he was and said: "I'm sorry, ma'am." His deep, steady voice wasn't either anything like it sounded in my head through the visions. The smile just got wider as I reached my hand out for him. He took it without hesitation. He was still looking like he wasn't sure what to do, but seemed a little more comfortable, his eyes locked on my face. I stepped a little closer. I didn't care about people staring at us from all sides, which I was sure they did, especially the kind bartender, who I had guessed thought really bad about my visitor for keeping me waiting so long.

"I'm Alice", I told him. Just because I knew all about him, didn't mean it was the same the other way around.

"And I am Jasper Whitlock", he introduced. His voice was calm, and sounded so peaceful, so mesmerizing to me.

"I know", I smiled and then added, "I know very much about you, Jasper. But there is plenty of time for explanations."

That seemed to make sense to him, because he immediately shut his mouth again. Instead he just nodded once, his eyes carefully studying every detail in my face, but I didn't follow his gaze. I just watched his part frightening, part dazzling face, as he scanned me, his expression changing from wariness to delight. His hand was still around mine and I could feel the softness of his palm. With one fingertip I stroked his skin. The skin became a little rough where another scar was placed I noticed without really caring for that detail.

His eyes moved back to mine and we met each others gaze. I was sure a lot of people cringed away from him, when they saw his ravaged face from a close distance, but I was able to see behind that. To look right into his eyes and find the Jasper I had been waiting for so long.

With his free hand he reached for my face, letting the fingertips run down my cheek. I heard my own breathing get a little uneven as I felt his touch and I almost lost track of where I was. I was only able to, only wanted to focus on him.

My smile had moved to my eyes, I didn't dare to make any movement in my face. I could see the smile in his eyes too, and I was sure that our emotions matched in this moment. This wasn't like anything I had felt before. I was sure it had been love at first vision, now proved. For Jasper's course he would have to deal with first sight.