A/N: You are wonderful. I am still in a state of "Wow." Thank you for the amazing reviews. :) Thanks, too, for sticking with me.

"What, Alice?" Bella asked with a tired sigh. She held up her "little black dress" on its upholstered hanger and remembered wearing it to go dancing at a club in London. With Edward. Always, with Edward.

Alice wrapped slender arms about her and squeezed tightly. "I have had a vision."

Bella couldn't stop the helpless chuckle. "Oh, really?" They were still in Montana as Jasper made arrangements for them to move. The family's stint in Cornell several years ago had been brief and Bella hadn't been there, so it was to that vicinity that they would relocate. "Let me guess. I'm getting a new car?"

"No, a motorcycle actually, but that's neither here nor there." Alice came around to pluck the dress from Bella's fingers and hold her gaze. "I saw a vision of you being happy, Bella."

"Do you remember how you found me, when Edward left and you thought I'd suicided?" The darkest memories of Bella's life had surfaced while she internalized her impending divorce. The paperwork was already being processed. The Cullens never waited to get what they wanted, not if they could help it. And heaven knew Edward wanted to be with his mate, not the inconvenient wife he used to love.

A cavernous emptiness roared within her and Bella closed her eyes and gave herself up to it. Happy? Did Alice really think that could ever be the case?

"I remember," her sister answered quietly, taking her hand and tugging until both of them were seated on the bed that Edward and Bella never quite shared. "But one of the components of your depression, you told me, was that we all left you. Your family." She sighed and played with Bella's passive fingers. "We haven't, this time. We're here and we love you and we won't let you," she continued, wiggling Bella's hand until Bella met her eyes, "be alone this time. We're going to New York and we're going to have fun. You and me and Jasper."

"Maybe what you saw was just me having fun, Al," Bella rasped, closing her eyes. "Not really happy, but having fun, you know?"

"Possible, Bell. But having fun beats jumping off a cliff."

Despite herself, Bella smiled a little and opened her eyes. "Actually, with the new and improved body? Cliff diving might be fun."

Encouraged by the smile, Alice egged her best friend along, suggesting wild and outlandish activities that might be fun to do. In her mind, she saw flashes of Bella cliff diving, of Jasper skydiving, of all of them trying white-water rafting in a remote place she did not recognize. Still, they were laughing. Together.

Caught up in these visions of possible futures, she didn't notice when Bella rolled off the bed and to her feet to continue packing. "Before we go anywhere, I have to go back to Forks. I have to say goodbye."

During the last two years of her humanity, Bella had done her level best to nurture her relationships with her parents. She had seen Charlie fall in love and remarry. She had watched Renée and Phil settle in as team-parents for a Florida high school where Phil got a job as a coach. Edward restyled his hair and adopted a pair of glasses, aging himself somewhat as "they" reached "their" twenties. Visits had been returned, and Bella felt satisfied that she had done her best to leave both her parents in good places, for when it was time for her to disappear from their lives.

It hurt, but she was relieved to have had the opportunity. Sometimes, she had shuddered to think what an immature girl she had been, to beg to leave them when she was only seventeen years of age. Twenty-one was not that old, she had reflected, but she had matured more than the average young woman in the intervening years.

So, when the time came and she and Edward were "killed" by a drunk driver, Bella knew her parents would mourn, yes, but she knew they were in healthy relationships that would nurture them through the dark time they would have to go through.

She never counted on Charlie being killed on duty. It had happened shortly after her change, while she was still adjusting to humans. She had not been able to see his memorial service, even from a distance. None of the Cullens had been able to attend, due to the fact that they should have been aging, and yet they hadn't been.

"We'll go," Alice murmured as Jasper projected a wave of reassurance in Bella's general direction.

Carlisle's phone rang then, and the house hushed as the ringtone was recognized to be Edward's. Alice's eyes flashed to Bella just in time to see her sister run from the room. There was a soft sound as Bella effortlessly leapt over the banister to the hardwood floor, followed by the quiet turn and subsequent latching of the front door.

Jasper met Alice on the landing, his hand extended. "Do we follow?"

"No, let her be. She's not running from us, but from him."

Jasper bowed his head to Alice's, his honey-hued waves of hair accenting her inky black ones. "Carlisle's been feeling guilty about this. He hopes Edward isn't dismayed by Bella's decision."

Alice bristled. "Bella's decision? She's just doing the best thing she can! She's going to be happy! So is Edward," she added. "Eventually."

"Hopeful wishes or true vision, Sprite?"

"Both," she mumbled into his chest as he pulled her into an embrace. "But we'll be good for her, Jas. We will."

Carlisle emerged, an apology poised on his lips, after his call with Edward. "He's connected with Alistair and Bronwyn again. He'll be staying with them for the time being. Alistair is punishing himself, apparently, for creating a newborn by making sure he oversees her training." Carlisle smiled a little, thinking of his old friend in such a role. "Edward also wanted to know how Bella is." Alice and Jasper had purposefully not listened in on the phone conversation, so they waited for Carlisle to continue. Standing outside his office door, he had a line-of-sight connection with the Whitlocks, so he leaned back against the wall and crossed his ankles before continuing. "He was relieved to know she was still here, surrounded by family." Alice and Jasper nodded in tandem and Carlisle went on. "He was worried she'd withdraw into herself again."

Jasper snorted softly. She had done exactly that for a period of several hours. Even now, he felt a dark miasma pulse out from her chest on occasion. She reeled it back in, somehow enfolding it to contain the emotion within herself. She was extraordinarily self-controlled these days. "Alice says she'll be happy, Bella will. Edward can enjoy his mate." Resentment etched tiny lines in Jasper's emotional sail, though. He wondered where his brother got off worrying about his wife when he was the one who put her in that place. Sure, it wasn't really his fault, but —

Had anyone really tried to resist a mate bond before? How could they be manipulated? He put the questions away for another time and, after a period of silence, took his own mate by the hand and led her to their room.

"Alice..." he whispered, lifting his petite ballerina of a wife up to nuzzle her throat, "I need you." Jasper felt a nearly instinctive desire to reaffirm their bond, to be reminded of how wonderful it felt to be mated, to love and be loved, to immerse himself in the emotive outpourings of his wife. "Right now," he added, his voice low and growly.

He felt the way Alice put her worries aside and brought her love for him to the forefront of her awareness. Her eyes darkened as she slid her legs around his waist. "You have me. Right now."

Pressing herself to her man, Alice felt his need meet her own and their purrs echoed even in the corridor outside their suite. She knew when Bella would be returning, but her first priority was her mate. Bella had lived with vampires having wild sex before and she would again. So when their sister returned from her impromptu hunt, Alice set her mind against responding to anything that wasn't in the room with her and Jasper.

For his part, Jasper felt the brief spike of pain and regret and winced internally, but Alice's scent beckoned and he could only follow the pleasure given and received until they reached their own private heaven.

Bella was sifting through the mail on the small dining table. It was a constant in Cullen life, she imagined: having a dining table. Even though they never used it for dining. There was paperwork for Jasper as he undertook life as a lowly associate professor at Cornell in their U.S. History Department. A series of civic documents and utility notices for Alice as she set up her Pixie Party Planners business. And a class schedule for one Isabella Brandon as she entered the Master of Arts - Teaching program at Cornell.

Her mind rebelled at the alias. Part of her still answered to Isabella Swan. Bella Cullen was her heart's identity. Marie Masen had been a necessary subterfuge — melancholy but also pleasant as with it, she had accomplished her goal. But not Isabella Brandon.

"What's wrong there, Bella?" Jasper felt the roiling tension, resentment and subdued despair as he had approached the house. Sitting on ten acres of land in Trumansburg, New York, the house was less than half an hour from Cornell University and quite isolated, making it ideal. Stunning price, too, at less than a quarter-million dollars. "Bad news from the graduate program?" he teased. Her paperwork was all in order and she hadn't required financial aid, so the university loved her. Going in as a grad student insured that she would not have to do any fancy footwork to get out of living on campus for a year. Graduate students were expected to be older and independent.

She lifted her gaze to him briefly, her fingers scattering the mail on the dark, round table. "This just isn't what I had imagined, you know?"

Understanding, compassion, and a certain amount of determination came through Jasper's voice as he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. She was taller than Alice, making that slightly less awkward. "I know. When I found Alice, I thought we were going to have an entirely different life, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He stared out the French doors that led to an expansive lawn — still green, though the trees beyond it were changing colors with the cooler autumn weather. "We, er, got acquainted in Philadelphia and then we had to leave right quick," he told her, his accent becoming more comprehensive as he spoke of his past.

"How did you know?" she asked, motionless.

"Know what?"

"Know that Alice was your mate? Edward said you said we weren't —"

Jasper knew that, forgiving as Bella was, she might be harboring some deep pain over what could be perceived as a betrayal of sorts. "No, you weren't. And I am sorry. I knew it but didn't say anything because, sugar, you two were a balm to my spirit, you know? Like, like a comfortable pair of warm jeans on a cold day. Bein' around you was soothing. Because you loved one another." He felt her shoulders shake and she tried to move away, but he held on to her, pushing off small, drifting waves of calming comfort. It was his fault, to a degree, that she was experiencing this now, so he did what he could to ease her while they talked. From upstairs, he could feel Alice's encouragement as she purposefully made small noises that sounded like she was setting up an in-home office. "Love is a gift."

"You're not distracting me," Isabella insisted, her own flare of determination nearly tangible. "What is a mate bond? How do you recognize it?"

"Me? I can feel it."

"How did — How did he know?"

Jasper sighed as Bella moved out of his light embrace to confront him. Touch made it easier to share his gift. It was more subtle that way. Still, he focused on the soothing tranquility as he explained. "A mate is a rare bond. It's unmistakable, however, and only requires one touch of skin. It's a permanent thing, for a vampire," he went on, his voice still low, purposefully endeavoring to keep this a calm discussion. Beneath Bella's current cool exterior, that resentment and anger still thrashed.

It made perfect sense, but Jasper wasn't at all sure he wanted to be on the receiving end of her fury. He had seen the mess she'd made of a copse of trees not too long ago. "Skin on skin?" she asked.

"I am not sure why we have a tangible thing, as vampires. Maybe it's because we have to live with our mates for an eternity and that kind of security is a good thing to have."

"Hey!" Alice protested above.

Exchanging a look with Bella, Jasper chuckled. "See? But it's a feeling. Kind of a warm buzzing. When I met Alice that first time, all the jagged edges inside of me felt as if they settled into their proper places. For Edward, from what I gathered, it was a burst of warmth. For Alice, it was a sense of safety. It's different, but the same."

"But it's not love."

Not being human, Jasper's limbs didn't need to fidget, but he felt he had to, anyway. He pulled out one of the chairs from the table and sat gingerly upon it, leaning his elbows on his knees. "No. It's not. But it gets that way pretty damned fast."

Bella's face tightened, her fists clenched as she threw her head back. Jasper braced himself, not knowing what might happen. He had gleaned from Carlisle, before they left Montana, that Bella had inadvertently found a way to push out her personal shield, so that Edward had been able to hear her thoughts.

But no, nothing different hit Jasper and he relaxed.

"All right."

"Bella." Jasper opened his mouth, closed it. Tried again. "Isabella, it's not fair. I know that. I know you're hurting. I know you will be for a while. And that's all right, okay?" An arc of sheer, slicing mourning reached him and he winced visibly. "Yeah. You're not alone, okay?" A breath of wind seemed to move through their two-story colonial and Alice was at Bella's side. "See? We love you."

"I know."

Jasper met Alice's pained eyes. They both hurt for their little sister, but there wasn't a thing they could really do, gifted as they were. Time was the only thing that would help. Time and occupation. Alice held out her hand to him and he joined them.

"Do you want me to make it feel better for a bit, Little Sister?"

Bella paused, her head touching Alice's as they all stood with their arms about one another. "No. No, I need to get through this. I'll let you know, okay?"

"All right."

Having no other obligations that evening, the three vampires stood motionless as the sun set. Bella being comforted and Alice and Jasper taking some satisfaction at being able to be there for her the second time Edward broke her heart.

A/N: I have heard, here and there, that not everyone enjoys teasers, so I am not sending them unless you ask. Just let me know in a PM or review! This only works if your PMs aren't disabled, remember. ;-)

See you Tuesday! ~ LJ