Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.

Another chapter! I am on a roll!

And...thanks to the reviewers and Miss. quail1982 for being my beta reader and putting up with me.

The movie wasn't special. By the next day, I couldn't even remember what we saw. I do know I went, because I could still remember Lauren trying to get under my skin with quick jabs at Jasper. I could only imagine what happened when she wanted to get close to him. Or it could have been Edward. That would have been better. I was relieved when Bella and I ran into an old friend, Jacob. He seemed to be the only saving grace of the evening. Plus, it kept Bella busy while I imagined how the night could have gone with Jasper. How we wouldn't have been near them, not in the car or the theater, and how I would have counted it as our first date.

When Monday rolled around, the last thing on my mind was the movie. Snow was starting to fall. It was the wet stuff, the stuff that stayed stuck in a ball when you tried lobbing it at your favorite southerner. And I did between math and history when he was walking the opposite direction with Rosalie. It took him by surprise, but, before I knew it, he smiled and threw a weak one at me.

"See ya later," I laughed, brushing the snow off the front of my red knee length trench coat. He gave me a small nod and continued on his way.

I looked at Jasper when entering the cafeteria per my usual lunchtime routine. Instead of seeing a trio, I saw a quartet. Edward was back. I wondered how my sister was going to react. After getting my lunch, a spinach salad, I sat down next to Bella and leaned over so I could whisper, "Edward's back."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that was the first time she noticed. So I changed the subject. "I actually hit Jasper in the chest with a snowball. He just smiled at me before he lobbed a rather weak one back."

"That's nice," she halfheartedly answered. I sighed but didn't push her for the rest of lunch because I didn't need to. It was easy to notice how nervous she was to just see him. Next period she had to talk to him. Looking out of the corner of my eyes at her, I knew she wasn't going to do anything about how he treated her before he left. I would have to.

"Are you going to be okay in biology?" I finally asked. When she didn't answer me, I waved a hand in front of her face and asked again.

"Yeah, he's the one with the problem."

I pursed my lips, and looked back toward Jasper to let him know I wasn't going to walk with him today. My sister needed me.

I tried to get her to talk about something: what we were going to do this weekend; how she liked the movie last Friday; Jacob; anything. Nothing seemed to work. It was as if Edward put her under a spell. I only hoped he wasn't the only one who could break it.

It wasn't until she was driving home she actually spoke to me. I wanted to hear how she told him off, but I didn't get it. I got a story about how Edward subdued her, how he let her forget about their heated meeting in the office by turning the conversation to Jasper and me. And I had to admit, it worked for me too.

"Do you think Jasper's broken hearts before?"

"I don't know," she answered. "But I'm thinking that you should just be friends with him until you really know him in case he does have a shady past."

"Sure," I said, my tone disappointed and a little angry. Her advice was going to be taken seriously, but she also had to know I wasn't going to stay away. She was practical; if something needed to be stayed away from, she was going to stay away. I was emotional; if someone told me not to do it, that was the first thing I was going to do.

And I didn't want to be just friends.

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"That's it," I said after watching Bella fall twice on the ice as she walked to the truck. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No way I'm letting you drive." She smirked and held the keys above her head knowing I wasn't going to go for them in case I fell and ruined my clothes. "You drive too fast for even perfect conditions. Besides, I thought you didn't want to get caught driving Tank around anyway."

I crossed my arms and tapped my toes on the rocky driveway. "Well, maybe I'm afraid that with how slow you drive normally, you'll be driving extra slow today."

"You're right. We are going to be driving slower because I don't want to end up in the morgue," she said, jumping into the truck.

"Fine," I groaned to no one and walked to the other side to get in.

It actually wasn't a bad drive and we ended up arriving earlier than planned. I was expecting some sliding, the back end weaving around turns, but there was nothing. Then I realized something. "Maybe Charlie put snow chains on the tires." I jumped out and, sure enough, I was right. "Bella! Look! Isn't that wonderful of him?" He probably did it just before going to work. I smiled and made a mental note to thank him later with a gift from me and a great dinner from Bella.

Bella…

My eyes were still looking at the chains on the tires, but my mind was on Bella and it wasn't about her cooking. I could feel my face dropping as the dread filled my body. Something was wrong, something terrible. My head shot up and I was immediately staring at Bella.

Everything around me vanished. I wasn't in a school parking lot. I was in a blackened room with two spotlights hanging above my sister and me. "Bella, something really bad is going to happen!"

"Is it one of your premonitions?" she asked and I nodded. "Maybe it's because Jasper's coming this way and Edward's chasing him down." She pointed behind me and I started turning my head around. Nothing was fast enough. Everything turned into some kind of slow motion scene from a poorly acted action movie. I barely turned my face an inch when something hard slammed into me, pushing me away from the back of the truck toward the front.

I felt the air push out of my lungs as if my back was slammed into a brick wall. The sound of it was louder than I expected. I gasped in a short breath as I was turned around a little too quickly for my eyes to adjust. I listened to the sound of my rapidly beating heart as they adjusted. The darkness was still around me, but Bella was nowhere to be seen. It was only Jasper.

I started to mouth my sister's name, but Jasper smiled. It flashed so quickly over his features I wasn't sure I saw it, but I wouldn't allow the denial. My hands slowly grabbed onto the fabric of his sweater lying on his chest and formed fists. They tried to dig into his skin, but they weren't allowed to move any farther than that. I touched enough people to know their skin was supposed to have some give, but Jasper's didn't. It was hard. And cold. I could feel his lack of warmth even through the thick sweater.

My mouth formed a 'what', and the voice failed to follow. I could feel both of us leaning closer to each other until hearing metal crunching into metal jarred me from the reverie. My fists flattened but left visible crumples in Jasper's shirt as we both pushed away from each other. The darkness around us started fading. The loud beating of my heart started fading. My feet touched the ground. And Jasper disappeared.

"Bella," I said, but it barely came out as a whisper. I swallowed and tried again as I looked for my sister. "Bella, are you okay? Are you hurt?" This time my voice came out strong and panicked as I finally found her on the ground with Edward above her. I fell on my hands and knees as he pulled away and kept my focus on Bella to make sure there was no blood which would signal a more serious injury.

Someone called an ambulance – which I was grateful for – and as the ambulance came in, I made sure Bella stayed lying down as I tried figuring out what was going on with Jasper and Edward. There was no way they could have made it to us in time. The last time I looked, they were at the other end of the parking lot. And, when it came to Jasper, I knew what I saw. With the practiced hands of the paramedics, Bella was soon on a gurney and in the ambulance. I wanted to stay behind to talk to Jasper, but I knew I needed to be with my sister. So I stepped into the vehicle with ease. It was then I found him. I looked into his strange but inviting eyes and hoped he could see the want and the need in mine.

The ambulance ride was short, and I kept my mind off the situation with mindless chatter. Charlie was already there, already worrying about us. I tried to make him calm down, but, after being told Bella needed an x-ray, I knew it was a lost cause.

"Tell me what happened," he said, still looking at the double doors Bella went through.

"Well, I think someone hit a patch of ice and lost control of the vehicle causing it to slide into the truck," I said, giving him the facts.

"I know what happened. Tell me what happened," he said, his voice rough.

"Bella and I were looking at the chains. Then she told me they, Jasper and Edward, were coming toward us. I guess they noticed the van, so they came to get us out of the way. Jasper pushed me toward the front of the truck and Edward pushed her to the ground." I paused to look up at a growling Charlie and put my hand on his arm to calm him down. "He didn't mean it. He was just trying to get her out of the way. Maybe Bella didn't move right and tripped them both. You know how klutzy she is."

"Yeah." I wrapped my arm around his and leaned into him. He put his free hand on my back and patted it awkwardly. I smiled, knowing this was as good as it was going to get from Charlie. "I'm glad you're okay, Alice."

"Bella will be fine too."

"Yeah."

Ten minutes and a phone call to Renee later, Bella was wheeled back. Charlie was about to follow but was stopped by a pale blond man in a white coat with his name embroidered above a pocket on the left side of his chest. I stayed back to let them talk in peace. Doing so, I watched Edward slip in behind them. I took a step forward, fully intent in following him, but was stopped by the sound of my name spoken softly with a southern twang. I shrugged. Bella knew how to take care of herself.

"Thank you," I spoke as I turned around to greet the amber eyes I left standing in the school parking lot.

He smiled and turned his head, bashful. "You're welcome, ma'am."

"What'd I say about ma'am?" I asked, placing my hands on my hip in a show of fake anger.

"That it makes you sound like you're eighty years old."

"Yes, so stop."

"If you insist." He looked back at me, the smile still on his lips.

"I do." I smiled and dropped my hands as I walked closer. I saw him take a deep breath, but I didn't stop until I was inches away. No one else in the waiting room needed to hear what we were going to talk about. I lifted my right hand and daringly placed it on his bicep. He didn't flinch. "That was some save."

His arm tensed and I could see his smile begin to falter. "I was close."

I wanted to call his bluff, but, instead, I dragged my hand down his arm to latch my hand onto his. "So cold," I barely whispered as the shock of his skin rumbled through my body. Whatever smile I had plastered on my face faded away as I stared into his eyes. His gold tinted ones didn't leave mine as we both stopped in time. Both of us knew there was something going on, and neither of us knew how to talk about it.

Being timid this time, I bit my lip and lifted my other hand to touch his cheek. He allowed it. My touch was light, and my fingers only hesitated for a moment before falling down to his jaw line and tracing it to his chin. It wasn't just his hands. His colorless face was just as cold, maybe even colder. Like a replay of earlier, my mouth opened to say something, but nothing would slip out; my voice had been stolen. He just exhaled with a heartbreaking look on his features, "Alice."

I was barely aware that anything had changed, but Jasper did. Before I could blink, my hands were pulled away from him and the space had widened several feet. My eyebrows furrowed with a question I soon didn't need to have answered. Edward. His voice burst out into the room. I didn't have to see him to know he was making a b-line toward the two of us. And when I saw him, I hardened my features. Something was going to happen and it wasn't going to turn out well.

Once arriving to his destination next to Jasper, he leaned over and whispered something. They weren't that close and I wasn't that far away, but I still couldn't hear a sound. I watched as Jasper nodded followed by the doctor I saw earlier, Dr. Cullen, who wasn't even near his two adopted sons.

"Come to my office when you're finished," was all he said as he continued down the hallway. Jasper nodded again and waited until Edward leaned away and followed his father.

"I'm sorry. I was forbidden to talk to you," he said, his head moving to the side; this time he was lying, not being bashful, "because of something that happened in my past." I locked my jaw as my body started shaking with anger. "I have to go." He spun around followed the same trail as the two other Cullens.

"You're lying," I said to his back as I tried to keep anger as my prime emotion; I didn't want to cry in front of strangers.

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"Hey, is there something wrong?"

Bella and I were getting ready for bed when she finally said something. Ever since we left the hospital I could tell she wanted to say something, but I was glad she had a distraction like Renee. During that time, I tried keeping my mind off of it, but I knew I wasn't doing a good job. My heart was always on my sleeve, so even someone as clueless as Bella could see when it had been ripped apart.

"What's Edward's problem?" I asked, allowing myself to throw my pillow onto the bed.

"Huh?

"About a couple of minutes before you and Charlie came out to the waiting room, I was talking to Jasper and thanking him for rescuing me," I started, leaving out the details on purpose. "Then Edward comes out along with their guardian, whose name, I think, is Carlisle. Anyway, Edward says something to Jasper very quietly. Carlisle must have really good hearing because I saw him nod in agreement, but I couldn't hear a word they were saying and I was standing closer. Then Carlisle told Jasper to come to his office when he was finished talking to me, and he and Edward walked off. Jasper then apologized to me and said that his family had forbidden him from talking to me because of something that happened in the past."

"Did he tell you what exactly happened?"

I sat down on the bed and allowed my fingers to trace the blanket as they had done earlier with Jasper. "No, but I guess that's what Edward had been alluding to when he talked to you yesterday. But I can't imagine that Jasper's a bad person. He's always been really nice to me, and he saved my life today." I raised my voice. "How can he be a jerk?"

My sister walked around the bed to sit next to me. She gave me a hug, surprising me enough to let myself go for the first time today. Tears rolled down my cheeks and onto her shirt, "Why can't we just be friends? It's not like I'm asking to marry him or anything."

"They must have their reasons," she said, trying to comfort me the best way she knew how. "Maybe it's a good thing that you're staying away from Jasper if he's not willing to tell you his reasons."

"He can't tell me because they won't allow him to," I yelled angrily back at her and pushed her away. "Stupid Cullens." I started pulling back the blankets on the bed, letting Bella know I was ready for her to get back to her side of the room. The tears were still coming, and, at that moment, I knew how ridiculous I looked. This wasn't how someone who wanted to be just friends with him acted.

You're lying, I said to myself as I wrapped the covers around me and continued to cry, the moment we had at the hospital playing over and over again until everything faded to black.