Alright so first my HUGE apology for not updating sooner. Hubs has been running me rampant. Seriously. He's decided as a family we need to do a new diet which requires us to eat 6 times a day which means when i get off work and normally have WRITING time i've had COOKING time instead. Anyway now i'm here relaxing with my cup of mangosteen tea (seriously have some with me its so calming) and writing for you all. No Bella just yet in this chapter.

Also in case you guys didn't notice I do not have a beta. In all honesty I don't generally have the patience to wait that long to post something after I write it, so please forgive my errors. I cringe when I reread them and may possibly fix them...but I'd rather spend time writing future chapters :D

SM owns everything. I just own a cup of mangosteen tea and peach mango koolaid.


Each person reacts differently when I tell them the news. Emmet shakes his head in disdain and wonders aloud if it's because the other guy is bad in bed. Rose smacks him hard and looks at me for any signs of a breakdown, but I am too busy riding cloud nine.

Jasper smiles at me, and tells me that they will support me no matter what. I know that he is alluding to the idea that even after counseling Bella and I may not come out of this situation with our marriage intact.

It is Alice's outburst that surprises me the most.

"You are such a fucking idiot, Edward!" She screams. We all turn to stare at her. Alice's cheeks are bright red and her breathing is labored. "Do you ever stop to think maybe she doesn't deserve your forgiveness? Maybe she doesn't deserve your second chance?"

Before I can respond she is storming out of the room. Jasper casts me an apologetic shrug before chasing after her.

Rose asks Emmett to take the rest of the bags to the car. He is clearly not happy as he stomps his foot and mutters something I cannot hear under his breath. I watch as Rose cups the side of his face in her hand and whispers something to him. He looks down blushing slightly to kiss her. I feel like I am invading a personal moment, but before I can look away he has already grabbed the remainder of the bags.

Dropping my head into my hands I feel lost. Why does it have to feel like everything in my life is falling apart? Why do I constantly feel like I'm having to grasp at straws to find happiness with those I love.

"Don't let her get to you." Rose says, her hand resting on my shoulder.

"I just don't understand." I admit, shaking my head.

"It's not about you, Edward. It's about Bella. And it's even more about Alice." She admits. I watch her as she stares out the back window looking out at the sea.

"Bella and I going to counseling has to do with Alice?" I am beyond confused now.

"No. That is not what I meant. Sorry to be so vague." She sighs but sits down next to me on the couch. "When Alice left Jasper she spent most of her time with me. She kind of went crazy."

Nothing that Rose was telling me was new so far.

"I don't think you realize just how crazy. She would go to parties just to find one night stands. I picked her up from strangers houses more times than I care to remember. But she was convinced she was happy. She cut her hair short, dyed it crazy colors, and just became a party animal. Even though she was with me constantly I never felt like she was there. More times than not I felt more like I had no clue where she was."

"She was getting really bad and every time Jasper would send her a text she would roll her eyes and throw the phone at me. She laughed at how pathetic he was being. Part of me hated her. When I would talk to Emmett he would tell me small details of how Jasper was. I hated to think how much he was suffering while she was being such a bitch."

She was silent for a moment and I thought back to Jasper and Alice's breakup myself. Jasper was beside himself. He had no shame in openly sobbing in a supermarket because Alice used to buy him organic apples and the store didn't carry them. He was literally a broken man, and there were countless times I had to carry him out of somewhere to get him home. They were apart for almost a year, and it took nearly nine months before Jasper was okay enough to choose a brand of toilet paper by himself.

"Anyway, you must have told Bella how bad Jasper really was or something." She eyed me suspiciously, and I could only nod before she continued. "She came over to my house one day looking for Alice. Bella said she had been trying to reach her all day. Bella was livid. Seriously, I have never seen her so angry! Her nostrils were flaring and I thought she may've been able to kill someone with the looks she was giving everyone."

"She and Alice went into the spare room to talk. I couldn't hear most of it, but heard her yelling at Alice. I'm not entirely sure what was said, and neither talked about it again after that, but I'm pretty sure Bella was letting Alice know just how horrible she was being."

There was silence again while I processed this new information. I hadn't known Bella had gone to talk to Alice, but I knew exactly what event must have caused her blow up.

Jasper was finally starting to do well. He had begun to do things on his own again, and occasionally he even smiled. One day while waiting in line in a coffee shop Jasper just happened to glance out the window. There he saw Alice, fervently making out with a man he had never seen, before she shoved him into a cab.

Somehow he had managed to get himself to my house, looking for me. I had been out getting some takeout food for Bella and I. It was going to be our first true night alone since Alice and Jasper had split up. Bella took care of him until I got home. She had left shortly after, I had assumed to give Jasper and I some privacy while he broke down. Now all these years later I found out that she went to yell at Alice. I had to admit I felt slightly proud of that.

"I didn't know that." I finally said, but Rose just nodded her head.

"A couple of weeks after that Alice started talking to Jasper again. She admitted everything to him. He was so forgiving. You could tell he just wanted her back in his life. They saw someone, for a long time. But I don't have to tell you that, you already know."

Again I nodded. They had gone to months and months and months of therapy. Jasper had never been deterred by any of it though and was constantly just positive about the fact that he was going to have Alice back.

"Edward," Rose began again pulling me back from my thoughts, "Jasper may have forgiven Alice, but that doesn't mean Alice has forgiven herself. I think she sees a lot of Bella in herself, and now that Bella is the one inflicting all of the pain...well Alice is just having a hard time understanding how you guys can be so forgiving of us."

Rose smiled weakly and I swallowed the lump in my throat. It was strange but somehow I could understand what Alice felt. Bella had come to attack her, set her straight with whatever she said, and now Bella was doing nearly exactly the same thing.

Bella was being a hypocrite.


So what do you all think about what happened with Alice and Jasper? Would you be able to forgive yourself? Do you think Alice deserved the forgiveness Jasper had for her?