A/N: This chapter is from Alice's point of view. I don't love stories that jump between POV's of too many character's so I'm hoping Alice's is the only other POV in this story (other than Bella & Edward). Mostly I'm using her to provide an outsiders point of view to what's going on between Edward and Bella, and in particular with what happened with Edward after the party.. But we'll also see a bit of what's going on in her head about Jasper.

The italics and in flashback....back to August

CHAPTER 4

APOV

"Alice!! Alllllllliice!!!"

Fuck, who was that? It's got to be too fucking early in the morning doesn't it? I heard someone stomping heavily up the stairs and then they were banging on my bedroom door. "Alice get the fuck out of bed I need help!"

Edward.

"Just come in for fuck sake and stop banging you're making my head hurt." Ever since we were about twelve Edward had been instructed NOT to barge into my room. I'm pretty sure that had we been related by blood it wouldn't have been a problem. But Mom and Carlisle must have thought that Edward should at least give me the privacy a developing teenage girl craved. And god love him, normally he gave it, but the banging on the door this morning was doing my head in.

The door flew open and in raced Edward, fully dressed and showered and looking far too bright and chirpy for someone who co hosted the party of the Summer last night.

"What time did you get to bed last night? What the fuck are you doing up so early? And why the fuck don't you look more hung over?" Oh god, it even hurt to talk! I flopped back onto my bed, throw cushions bouncing off everywhere and onto the floor. Head still pounding from the obscene amount of vodka consumed last night.

"Ali I need you to tell me who she is?"

"Who who is?" What the hell was he talking about?

"Bella. The girl from last night. Who did she come with?"

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to comprehend what he could possibly be on about. "I don't know who you're talking about. Just slow down. Go down stairs, get both of us some coffee and some greasy eggs and bacon. I might be able to help you when my brain is functioning," although with the way it felt that probably wouldn't be until I went to College.

"No Alice, I can't waste any time she's leaving today I have to go and find her before she leaves. I can't let her leave without talking to her," he was pleading with me.

Now this was starting to sound interesting. Confusing, but very interesting.

I slowly propped myself up on my elbows and looked at him properly for the first time. I raised an eyebrow questioningly at him. Last night was slowly starting to come back to me. Let me see......Jasper, gorgeous, heartbreaking. Lots of music, lots of drinking, lots of dancing.....always with the wrong guy. Jessica hauled up in the bathroom downstairs meaning everyone had to go upstairs to use the toilet. Mike passed out under the dining room table, must remember to check if he's still there this morning. Jasper grinding with Sally Bennett, egh. Emmett with his pants around his ankles for most of the night.......but no Edward. Where was Edward in my memories from last night. That's right, he wasn't there! Hence the Jessica fiasco.

"Where the fuck were you last night? And who the fuck is Bella?" Hmmm, I only ever swear this much when I'm drunk. I must still be pissed.

"Bella is a girl I met last night Alice."

"....And....." This didn't make sense. He stepped closer to my bed and grabbed my hand.

"And I have to find her. She's leaving to go back home and I have to go and find her before she fucking leaves."

"Who did she come with?"

"That's the problem I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. She was being all mysterious and shit." His whiney voice was starting to really grate on my headache.

"Well, how do you know she's even interested in you?" He just raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. "Edward Anthony Cullen, did you get lucky last night?"

He hesitated just long enough for me to take that as a yes. "Maybe." He ran his hand through his hair, classic Edward Cullen sign of nervousness! I'd say definitely got lucky.

"What the fuck Edward? Who is she, what does she look like? Tell me everything." Holy shit this was big. Edward was never interested in anyone. Girls threw themselves at him all the time, he was gorgeous, and I had no hesitation in admitting there was a time I thought I might be developing a crush on my step brother, but luckily I diverted my attention elsewhere and avoided the awkwardness that would have caused if it hadn't worked out....or if it had......whatever.

"That's the problem Alice I was hoping you could help me. She came with one of your friends. I just don't know which one."

"Describe her to me. What was she wearing?"

"Death Cab For Cutie T-shirt.....it was pink. Short denim skirt, flat shoes." Band t-shirt - sounded like the type of girl I thought he could go for.

"What does she look like?"

"Luscious brown hair, long and a bit curly. The most amazing big brown eyes I've ever seen. Really pretty. 'Bout 5 foot 4." He was pleading with me to remember.

"I think I remember her vaguely. She was with one of the girls....."

"That's right, that's what she said."

"I just don't remember which one."

"That's why I need you. Get dressed now, we're going to visit your friends this morning to go and find her."

"That's crazy."

"No, I have to find her before she flies home."

"Where the fuck is she from?"

"Phoenix."

I groaned and collapsed back onto my pillows again. He's on drugs.

"What's the point Edward. She's from so far away."

"You don't understand Alice, we had this.....this....connection that I've never experienced with anyone. Fuck i,t I just want to see her one more time, convince her to stay in touch." He sounded pathetic, and he looked like he knew he sounded pathetic too. He was grabbing my hand and dragging me out of bed.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming. But get your ass down stairs and get me some breakfast and a coffee while I shower. I'm not going anywhere without it."

"Sunglasses. I need sunglasses, the bigger the better." I was sitting in the front seat of Edward's car as he drove like a bat out of hell down our front drive way, my body swinging from side to side as we screamed around the corners.

"Jesus Edward, you're going to make me vomit if you keep this up."

"Suck it up Alice, I'm on a mission. Where should we start?" The whiney voice had been replaced by a determined one. Probably better, if she was anything like me she'd prefer strong and assured to pathetic grovelling.

"I don't know, how about Jane's place. Did she say she was related or a friend or what?"

"Friend, I don't think they're related."

"Good, because Jane is blonde, they're probably not related...........Why the hell don't we just call them?"

"OK, that's a good idea. You call, I'll drive through the main streets looking out for her." This could be a long morning. He was going to have to pay for this.

I got on the phone and made half a dozen phone calls. No one seemed to remember who she came with, but most of them remembered the mysterious girl with the long brown hair.

We drove around town while I tried to keep an eye out for any one matching Bella's description. It was a lost cause, I knew that. But if Edward had found the girl of his dreams who was I to stop him holding onto her. It was kind of sweet. I had been a bit worried that everything that went on with his parents had left him an emotional cripple. Now I was starting to think he'd just never found the right girl.

"Drive through.....I need more coffee. Take it NOW!" Edward just scowled at me as I made him pull into the driveway.

"Alice, you're wasting my time here," he snapped at me impatiently not even bothering to look in my direction as he continued to scour the street for his mystery girl.

"I've just saved you a bucket load of time by making those phone calls, stop being so ungrateful....... Fuck, are you sure you're sober?" We'd just pulled up behind Chief Swan's car in the drive through.

"Yes, I stopped drinking at about 10.30, I'm fine. I'd be more worried if I were you. He doesn't look too kindly on underage drinkers and I can smell the alcohol leaching out of your pours."

We waited while the attendant handed the Chief his two coffees, watching as his arm grabbed the little cardboard container cradling what I so desperately wanted. He slowly pulled away and I breathed a sigh of relief, not that he would realistically have turned around and breathalyzed a passenger in someone's car at 8.30 in the morning. But, you know, authority and all that shit.

"Edward, you know this is hopeless don't you." He turned to me with the saddest look in his eyes. Like someone had just run over his puppy.

"I know Alice. I just really like her and I don't know how to get in contact with her. I don't think there will even be a photo of her."

"She didn't even leave you an email address?"

"No, she said it would be better if we didn't contact each other, said it would be easier on both of us because of the distance. Why prolong the inevitable?"

"She has a point. It is a bit geographically impossible." The attendant handed us our coffees. We did one last lap of the main street. Edward didn't say another word, he just looked blankly out the window as he guided the car in the direction of home.

As I sat in the car with Edward on the way home from school remembering that day I wondered whether I should remind him that we'd probably been sitting right behind Bella at the drive thru. It probably wouldn't help get them together. I'd never seen Edward like that with any girl, and I hadn't seen him like that since. Not even with Jessica. Which just made me more angry about the fact that he was with her in the first place. She didn't deserve him.

"Do you know why Bella is here?" Shocked that he was even bringing Bella up voluntarily I turned to look at Edward. His question sounded like he knew the answer.

"Yeah." Not knowing how much he knew I didn't offer any more info, not that I had that much either.

"What happened?"

"It was a car accident. Bella and her Mom were coming home....."

"Bella was in the car?" He looked across at me with a concerned look.

"Yeah, she was pretty injured from what Angela tells me, spent a bit of time in hospital."

"How long ago was it?"

"About three months ago I think, I'm not sure, Angela doesn't have too many details. Bella won't talk about it. I guess Charlie probably knows but...." I looked sideways at Edward, wondering what was going through his head. The similarities were uncanny.

"I see."

"How do you know about it?" I asked.

"She just fucking told me." Edward nervously ran his hand through his hair as he guided his car down the road. The heavy fog that had descended on the town seemed to be evident in the car as well as I noticed the look of anguish on my brother's face.

"What do you mean? What did she say?" I asked.

"Not much. I asked her why she came back here, and she told me it was because her mom died." That was odd. That wasn't what I'd heard her say to other people, she had been pretty vague when anyone else asked her, including me before Angela had explained it to me. But she was telling Edward.

"What did you say?"

".....nothing. I couldn't come up with anything." He cringed. But I couldn't help it I had to react.

"What do you mean you said nothing. You of all people?"

"I know, I know I just fucking.....froze."

"Edward, she hasn't said anything to anyone since she's arrived and she tells you and you say nothing. You're probably the best person for her to speak to ..."

"What the fuck Ali? Just because I spent one night with her over five months ago doesn't mean I'm the best person for her to speak to."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. I just meant that you had a really hard time of it when your Mom died and wouldn't talk about it, and she's obviously going through the same thing. You can show her how important it is to open up."

"Alice I was seven when it happened. And it's completely different."

I let the subject drop. I knew if I pushed him too far he'd close up completely. But I could see that he was thinking about it. Hopefully thinking about how he could help her.

I'd known Edward most of my life, since before our parents got together. When his Mom died he was hit pretty hard, and for many years he was very closed off about it. Jasper and Emmett always did their best as kids to keep him entertained, but for a long time Edward was the moody one in the trio. But god love the guys they stuck it out and Edward eventually came through, but only after my Mom Esme intervened and got him some help. Since then he'd been really great, dealing with everything as a normal teenager would, albeit a little emo from time to time.

The only other time I'd seen him close up again was after Bella. In the few weeks after it happened he spent a lot of time locked up in his room. I knew he'd been looking through the photos that were taken at the party that night, desperately trying to see her in the background. But she wasn't in any of them. Not full frontal anyway. There was one photo of Jasper, Emmett and Edward. Jasper and Emmett were facing the camera making ridiculous goofy faces, in the background you could see she was walking out the front door, Edward was turned in her direction watching her, a crooked smile on his lips. But no face. Just the long brown hair.

I think he spent a lot of time on people's Facebook pages, looking through my friends. Desperately looking for her. But he never found her, he would have told me if he had.

A little while after that he came back out of his shell again. But he wasn't the same, he started hooking up with girls more often, which wasn't like him. He started giving in to the girls that had been after him for years. Suddenly Edward Cullen, who had always been popular, smart, exceptionally good looking if not a little moody, but always completely inaccessible, was making himself very accessible and the girls were loving it.

Jessica hung back a little at first, and watched him play around. She seemed to work her angle to give maximum impact, making sure when she got her claws into him he would be over playing around and she'd be able to keep him. She was actually incredibly smart about it. She let him have his flings and one night stands with the other girls. Then she made her move. But she had no clue about the cause of his little change, and she sure as hell wouldn't have counted on her coming back to town. And she sure as shit had no idea that the reason Edward finally gave into her was because she reminded him so much of the one thing he was so desperate to hold on to. I smiled smugly at that thought.

A/N: Pleeeease let me know what you think!! I love reviews as much as the next author!!