* All Twilight references and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, all other characters, plot changes, etc. are just fun things that I like to play with.
* This story is rated M for some future mature scenes.
When I finally snapped out of my vision I pushed myself to run faster, harder, Jasper keeping pace with me as I ran out my frustrations. I was thankful to Rosalie for standing up for me, for us, but even still I couldn't go back there after everything that had happened. I couldn't face them, knowing that the only one who even cared about me leaving was Rosalie. While I was surprised at her outburst, at her defense of our relationship, I also wasn't. Rose could be as hard as ice on the outside, but she was still my sister and her loyalty was fierce and ran deep.
"Stop Alice." Jasper commanded just over two hours later. He had changed course midway through our run, leading me in another direction, eventually following two weak but distinct scents as we crossed the border into Oregon.
Run. I didn't know what else to do, but to follow my instincts and run. I couldn't think in the house with everyone watching me... watching us. I only knew that I had to leave for a little while, leave Edward's angry eyes, Emmett's protective watch, Bella's silent tears, and Esme and Carlisle's worried looks. It wasn't fair to Jasper and it wasn't fair to me.
Jasper had been urging me to stop for several minutes now, but I didn't want to stop, I had to keep moving. So instead of coming to a complete halt, I had slowed down to a slower, slightly closer to human pace, still following the scents that Jasper had pushed me towards, following the path that Peter and Charlotte had taken only three short weeks earlier.
"I don't blame them you know." It had been silent for most of the journey so far, aside from Jasper asking me to stop, so his statement took me for surprise and I finally paused mid step as he spoke the words, whipping around to face him. I was ready to defend him and curse and rip apart my so-called family's behavior, "What do you..." but he put his hand up in the air, silently telling me to stop, that he wanted to explain his words.
"I have spent over a century being one of the most feared soldiers in the vampire world Alice. I have both a reputation and the hundreds of battle scars as evidence. I have faced opposition, other highly trained soldiers, who have surrendered to me at the sight of how I appear, at the sound of my name. I know that you are angry at your family Alice, but you know that they love you and they just want to protect you." he paused and I knew the truth to his words, but it still didn't quench the anger at how they had treated Jasper, how they had treated my mate.
"We're instinctual creatures darlin', their instincts tell them that I'm dangerous and I think it will just take time for me to prove to them that I won't hurt you or them – and especially Bella." he continued to explain and I couldn't control the burst of love that I felt rise up in my chest. Jasper may be one of the most feared vampires in history, scarred and battle worn on the outside, but if anyone could see the real him, they would see the soft side, the part of him that was searching for understanding and acceptance, for a life of peace and quiet.
"So where is this cabin of yours?" I asked feeling slightly better, a bubble of hope swelling in my chest. Maybe all we needed was a few days away from the family, a few days to really get to know each other, for the family to accept that we were now a packaged deal.
"We're only about thirty miles away now, are you sure you want to keep going? You're sure that you don't want to return to Forks instead?" he asked as we picked up the pace, both of us settling into a light jog.
"I'm positive; I think I just… I think I need some time away from them... are you okay with that?" I asked him cautiously, not wanting him to feel forced away when he was just beginning to feel the effects of his new diet.
"Wherever you go, I go." he smiled over at me and I couldn't help feeling just a touch lighter, a touch happier.
The closer we got to Jasper's cabin, the stronger the scents got, permeating the entire area, and soon I saw the small building coming into my view. I smiled when I saw it and grasped Jasper's hand as he focused and appeared to be concentrating on something.
"They aren't here." he murmured and I let out a light sigh of relief. I still wasn't overly fond of the idea of getting to know Jasper's friends and I was also glad that at least we wouldn't be interrupting anything when we arrived.
"Where do you think they are?" I asked as we made our way up the steps of the porch and around the small house to the front door where Jasper let himself in, flicking on the light even though we could see perfectly well in the afternoon light that was still streaming in through the windows.
"We'll be back by morning, thought we'd give you and your mate some time alone tonight." Jasper read quietly from a piece of paper resting on the small kitchen table and I looked at him questioningly as he smirked, crumpling up the paper and tossing it to the side of the table.
"Did you let them know we were on our way back?" I asked him curiously and he shook his head just slightly, still smirking at me.
"No, Peter would argue if I said that he was talented like yourself… but he does have a sixth sense of sorts – the way that he puts it is that he just knows shit occasionally." I couldn't help it as his words slipped out and I felt myself begin to laugh.
"Alright then," I tried to straighten out my expression but Jasper was also still smirking as he watched me and it only helped my smile to remain. "So this is your home?" I asked to change the topic.
"Well, it's no Chateau Cullen, but we've found it comfortable enough as a place to stay dry from the rain." Jasper chuckled again and I looked around the slightly barren room. He was right; it wasn't the Cullen house, the rooms barely containing any furniture, the walls still covered in ugly green wallpaper that made me cringe inside. But aside from being sparse and outdated, it was cozy and homey and I found I didn't care. I just wanted to be with Jasper and this felt right. Felt like the exact place I was supposed to be at this moment in time.
"Whose guitar is that?" I asked as I continued to take in the room, surprised at the shiny black instrument I spotted resting in the corner, it seemed so out of place in the vintage cabin.
"That's mine. After... when Peter came back for me... it was one of the first things that I picked up. I vaguely remembered that I used to play when I was a human and I've been working at relearning it off and on during the past several months, whenever we're in this area." he said with a small smile and I turned into his arms, leaning up and meeting his lips in a sweet kiss. I was torn for a moment between asking him to play a song for me and remaining locked in his arms like this.
"I love you Jasper." I murmured against his lips as he lifted me gently, my legs wrapping automatically around his waist and my decision was made for me. I was going to stay in Jasper's arms – he could play me a song later on. As he kissed me again, I knew it was the right decision. It was a warm and sensual kiss, my lips and body molding against his and I felt a shiver travel down my spine.
It didn't take long before his lips were on my neck, kissing, licking and tasting. The more he explored, the more shivers continued to run down my spine and I pressed my body even closer to his, not paying attention to the fact that we were moving backwards until we fell back against a bed.
His hands roamed my entire body and my skin felt like it was on fire under his touch. Slowly my hands began to reciprocate, feeling the warmth of his skin, the electricity that passed from me to him at the mere touch and I wanted more, I needed to feel all of him and to claim him as mine. I was ready for him and by the way his body was still pressed against mine, I knew that he was more than ready for me.
"Are you alright Darlin'?" he asked as we lay tangled together in the bed, both of us enjoying just being together in each other's company. Our love making had been sensual and deep, our first time sealing the bond of our mating completely and already I felt closer emotionally, knowing that there was no way that I could ever let him go now – not that I had been willing to before, but now it was different. We were completely fused together, more of a single being than two separate ones. It would literally tear me apart to be without him now.
"I feel better." I couldn't control the giggle that snuck out and when he heard it, his hands found my sides, tickling me gently, causing me to giggle further.
"I love you Jasper." I sighed into his arms and felt him smile against me once he had finished tickling me and we had settled down, the quiet encompassing us as I thought about how lucky I was to have finally found him, to have found someone who suited me so perfectly.
The quiet didn't last long though as I shifted, wiggling up against him, my thirst for his body becoming insatiable as the night wore on and we continued to thoroughly get to know each other and enjoy each other.
The next morning came far too quickly and I knew that our time alone was coming to an end as I stood up and began to get dressed, pulling on my clothes from the day before, my face twisted in disgust as I did so. Wearing the same outfit twice in a row was not something that I was used to doing – but I didn't have much of a choice, I hadn't exactly packed a bag during my hasty departure, so unless I wanted Jasper's friends to see me nude it would have to do.
"Please don't be nervous Ali," Jasper came over to me as I attempted to fix my hair for the third time, fidgeting nervously even as he pulled me back into his arms again.
"I'm not nervous." I lied, spinning around and kissing him on the nose before dancing out of his arms and moving to tidy the room, not able to sit still in the house while we waited for the others to arrive back at the cabin.
"Liar." he smirked at me, but I ignored him, continuing to tidy up the small space.
"Hey, will you play..." I was about to ask Jasper if he would play his guitar for me but before I could finish my sentence I felt my body stiffen, my eyes begin to glaze over as the vision of Bella hit me suddenly.
"Where's my phone?" I asked as I pulled out of the sight. Jasper was now standing in front of me, waiting for me to tell him what I had seen. I reached around him to the small table that I had dropped it on the night before and flipped it open, dialing Rosalie's number quickly.
"Alice?" she asked a second later,
"Rose... what happened to Bella? Why isn't Edward with her?" I asked, quickly getting to the point.
"She's pissed off at him so she locked her window or something last night and he's sulking upstairs... why?" she asked, her tone bored with the direction of our conversation.
"Because she's at her house alone and she's having a panic attack... but it isn't like the normal ones she has... this one's worse and she's going to seriously hurt herself if someone doesn't get there to help her out of it." I shrieked into the phone worriedly and heard movement in the background before I heard a door slamming shut.
"Edward's got it." Rose replied and I tried to calm myself back down before focusing back on what she had said a minute ago.
"Why is Bella angry at Edward?" I asked her quietly, trying to understand what could have happened in the short time that I was gone.
"She's pissed at him for treating you like dirt. She freaked out last night about him chasing away her best friend." I slapped my face with my hand as I realized that Bella would react like that - knowing her, she was probably blaming herself for the current discord in our family.
"I'll be back in a few days Rosalie... I just needed some time alone with Jasper. Can you make sure that Bella knows that?" I asked and could practically see Rosalie rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone before I heard Esme assure me that they would tell her from somewhere in the background.
As soon as I put the phone down after my call I was curled up in Jasper's arms as he guided us towards the small couch, sitting down with me in his lap. His ability alerting him to my heightened emotions and his connection to me telling him exactly what I needed him to do to comfort me.
"I've never seen a coven – a family – of vampires, or even one single vampire, so attached to a human before." he said as he lifted my chin up so that he was looking into my eyes.
"Bella sees us for who we are... not what we are. She changed our family; she brought Edward out of his permanent self-loathing condition and changed him into someone that is happy, that is just so different than the Edward that I've known since we were changed. She puts up with Rosalie's bitchiness and Emmett's goofing around... she lets Esme mother her and Carlisle heal her... and she's my best friend... the friend that I always wanted." I explained to him and saw him smile at me, the sight of it making my dead heart flutter.
"I know. I haven't had much time to get to know her myself but her emotions alone are amazing. Any human that I have ever met has been terrified of me, even without being able to see the scars the way that we can. But Bella... well Bella seems to accept me the same as she accepts all of you." There was a hint of sadness mixed beneath the wonder of his words and I smiled, already missing my best friend. "Bella is definitely a unique human and if she isn't meant for this world… well then, none of us are." He mused and I smiled, wishing that Edward saw her as we did. But he was so busy trying to control her and protect her from every little thing, he couldn't see how comfortable, how natural it was for her to be with us.
"So… will you play for me?" I asked him a few minutes later, nodding towards the corner where his guitar sat alone, just waiting to be picked up and played.
"That's Peter and Charlotte." A little while later Jasper had paused the song he was playing for me and I listened to the sound of the two vampires running through the forest, moving towards the cabin where we were waiting.
It was less than two minutes later that the pair made their way inside, Jasper moving to my side and wrapping his arms around my shoulder while Peter and Charlotte leaned against the wall.
"Peter, Char... you remember Alice." Jasper broke the tense silence and Peter's face changed into a strange smirk while Charlotte looked me up and down, her face neither smiling nor frowning and I began to feel edgy as I realized that I couldn't read exactly read or predict what she might be thinking.
The next few days were awkward. Charlotte didn't exactly warm up to me, often sneaking in snarky remarks about myself and my family, my (and now Jasper's) choice of diet, things that I was positive were meant to anger me, and often times did. She seemed to enjoy playing with me, clinging to Jasper as though to test my jealousy, to see how long it would take before I lost control and attacked. Peter on the other hand was easy going and actually reminded me a little bit of Emmett with the way that he played around with Jasper, the dynamics between them, reminding me more of brothers than just friends. Peter also seemed to accept me as a part of Jasper, someone that he knew instantly wasn't going anywhere, someone that made Jasper happy. As happy as I felt at his acceptance, it only annoyed me further that my family hadn't been just as accepting of Jasper.
After the third day of sharing the space with Peter and Charlotte, they left again. They claimed that it was because of their nomadic tendencies, the idea that it was just too crowded at the tiny cabin. And while I got the feeling that it was true, I also got the feeling from Peter that perhaps some of it was just to give Jasper and I a bit more time alone. As much as I enjoyed his laid-back attitude and his light sense of humor, I was also relieved when they announced their departure, glad to have more time in private with my mate.
For the most part we also stuck around the cabin, Jasper and I getting to know each other, both physically and emotionally. We learned more about each other's' pasts – or in my case, my lack of a past – hunted together and laid together, oftentimes just feeling our bond, our connection, as it continued to only grow stronger. But as the days passed, I could sense a change in Jasper's attitude, an uneasy sense passing through my body, almost warning me that something was about to happen that would either make or break our relationship. Of course I continued to try and look to the future, to see anything that might involve Jasper and I, but nothing came, just a solid, frustrating wall of black, blocking me, preventing me from being able to know what to say, where to go, and what was coming.
"What are you thinking about Alice?" I had just finished hunting and was busy attempting to clean myself up by the small stream. I had forgotten how difficult it was to live more or less as a nomad and I was unsure about how much longer I wanted to, knowing that I would do it if it was Jasper wanted but hoping that he would return home with me soon.
"I was just trying to look into our future again." I sighed and he lifted me up into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist automatically as he looked into my eyes.
"Some things aren't meant to be seen Alice." he spoke softly and I pulled myself into his neck, my frustrations about my lack of sight and the strange urge to return home making me more emotional than usual and I felt myself clinging to him tightly.
"Hey, It's alright Al," I didn't realize that I had started to sob lightly until he began to stroke my back, calming me almost instantly, not with his gift, but with his presence; with his patience and his understanding.
"I know you miss them sweetheart." I pulled back and looked at his face, his eyes that were searching into my own and I knew then. I knew that he would follow me anywhere, would do anything for me.
"Can we go back?" I asked him and he nodded his head. I moved my head in closer to his again and he met me halfway, our mouths colliding, our tongues dancing as I clung to him. "Tomorrow?" I asked and realized that I needed one more night with him before our return to Forks, before our return to our home.
"Tomorrow." He agreed eagerly, before we were both lost into the night, our bodies entwining under the stars, becoming one again.