AN: Still don't own anything!

Beware of super long chapter O.o

Don't you just love me for updating so quickly? : D I deserve a review from each of you


Age 18 - Bella POV

I woke up to Alice humming and banging around in the kitchen, and I almost felt like crying. Yesterday, the rednecks woke us up because I borrowed some gas from them, and now, I'm up at freaking seven because Alice is making pancakes. I didn't mind the pancake part, just the I'm up at seven in the morning and Alice is fucking humming, part.

"Alice, what the hell are you doing up now, its seven!" I moaned, claming a hand over my eyes in annoyance. She laughed lightly and put something on the table before continuing on her pancake job.

"I'm making us breakfast Bella. No fan of the morning, are you?" She chirped happily, making me groan and turn away from her and stuffing my face under a pillow.

"No, I like to sleep as much as possible. How the hell can you be happy this early in the morning. It should be illegal." I snapped, pushing the pillow down further around my head.

"Well good thing you don't care about the law then, isn't it Bella? I think you must have rubbed of on me slightly, because I'm illegally happy this morning!" She said with a laugh, and I could hear Roxanne running around in the camper, making small ferret sounds as she played with dust bunny's or whatever the hell she was doing at this unholy hour.

"Are we staying here today or moving on towards Florida?" She asked, flipping a pancake like an expert. I sat up slightly and looked around, scratching the back of my head. Even the sun was awake.

"I don't know, I kinda like Vegas, so I thought we could stay, maybe go to a bar or something, or leave for Florida today. I, gah, its too early to think…" I moaned and fell back on the bed, throwing an arm over my eyes sleepily. I hated being up this early with a passion, and I don't think I could handle Alice waking me up this early every morning.

"Come on, breakfast is ready! Roxanne is already eating her pancakes!" Alice said, ripping the sheets off my body. I tried to protest, and almost whimpered when the cold air hit my body like a bucket of cold water. Almost, but I was use to this treatment from Renee every morning since I could walk, so I gritted my teeth and got up, grumbling angrily all the while.

"You do know that there's just two of us, right?" I asked her, staring at the mountain of pancake stacks in front of us. Alice's spiky head bobbed up and down while she chewed her own food.

"I know, but we can just put them in the fridge and eat them cold or heat them up again if we get hungry later on today." She said with a shrug. I sighed and bit into my own breakfast, which was even better then the food she'd made yesterday. If I'd known food could be this good, I would have taught myself how to cook ages ago.

"Does your cousin know that I'm coming with you?" Alice asked hesitantly when she was done eating. I was still stuffing my face slowly, too tired to do anything quickly.

"Nah, but I do know that he wont mind. He's a cool guy." I told her, chugging down some Orange juice. Alice had a steaming cup of black coffee in front of her. No wonder she was so alert, she'd probably been drinking coffee ever since she got up this morning.

"Hey did you go shopping for food? I'm pretty sure I didn't have orange juice or strawberry's. And I know I didn't have coffee around here, cause I hate it." I said, popping a strawberry into my mouth. She blushed slightly and started cleaning her plate and putting stuff away.

"Well, yes, I saw a store last night and wanted to surprise you. Now that I have my own money and you've been so kind to me, I figured I'd make you some breakfast. It's not much…" She said nervously. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"So basically you got up really early and went to the store to buy food so I wouldn't go to the store and steal food?" I asked her, making her shuffle her feet slightly.

"I guess that's one way of putting it." She said hesitantly, staring back at me through her lashes to see if I was mad.

"You don't need to sneak behind my back or anything, just go shopping whenever you feel like it, I don't care. I don't own you, and you don't owe me anything. Do whatever the hell you want, this is your home now too. Just please, for the love of candy, don't ever wake me up this early again." I said with a shudder, and picked Roxanne up and put her in my lap. She rolled around and bit my t-shirt and scratching at my stomach with her tiny paws.

"Thanks Bella." Alice said quietly, and I nodded my head, looking down at my little girl.

"And how are you this morning," I asked her, scratching her belly. She started biting my finger, playing with me. I threw her up in the air and caught her again before putting her back in my lap and playing some more.

"Hey!" Alice yelled suddenly, bending down and picking up something pink off the floor.

"Really, Roxanne?" She huffed, holding a chewed up pair of panties. I started laughing at her and she huffed, throwing them into the trashcan angrily.

"I guess she got bored." I said with a shrug. Alice sighed and glared at Roxanne before going back to cleaning.

"Then we need to buy her some toys so she can chew on something else." Alice said with a huff, making me laugh.

I ate the rest of my food happily, trying to wake up some more. I usually didn't get up this early unless I went to school, and I usually skipped most of my morning classes.

Alice was already dressed for the day, her hair spiked to perfection and her face full of make up, which covered up her almost healed bruises. She'd even done her nails before I'd gotten up, and I started wondering just how early she'd gotten up to get me to stop stealing.

The funny thing was, she looked like someone I would have ether ignored completely or made fun off if we went to school together. Alice was my complete opposite. She was nice, sweet, thought about others before herself and wouldn't hurt a fly for all the money in the world. And she loved girly stuff. Like make up, shoes, clothes, make up, purses, make up, sun glasses, and did I mention make up? All of the things I didn't really care that much about.

Me on the other hand? Rude, loud, obnoxious, mean and selfish. Of course, I had my good qualities too, you just kinda had to look around for them a bit. I did care about clothes though, just not on the same level as Alice did. And my makeup was simple, because I followed the 'less is more' thing, which Alice didn't really seem to care that much about. But then again, comfort always won over style on my part, so who was I to talk?

"Your not goanna put on any more make up?" Alice asked me, biting her lip when I was done applying my layer of eyeliner and mascara. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"No?" I said with a shrug, picking Roxanne up and putting her on my shoulder. She started biting and sniffing my hair, playing around with it while I put on my red converse.

"Are you goanna wear heels today? Alice, we'll be walking around a lot, that's goanna hurt like a bitch." I told her, happy about my own choice. Huge black pants and a black and white T shirt with a bumblebee that was smoking pot covering the whole front. It was one of my favorite shirts. It even had bumblebee wings on the back of it.

"I know, but I look taller in these shoes, and my legs look great…" She mumbled to herself, making me roll my eyes. I would never torture my body like that. But like I always thought when something bad happened, or in this case, was happening, to someone else; Better them then me.

It was starting to get kinda boring, the gambling. At least it was for me. Alice, on the other hand, was having a lot of fun winning game after game. Roxanne was eating peanuts on my shoulder while I was watching Alice win her second game of Black Jack in a row.

"Alice, I think I'm goanna go to the bar and have a drink." I told her, and she nodded, distracted by the game. Although I could tell that she looked over at me every now and then, just to make sure I was there. It was like she thought I was going to run away from her, even though she must have seen in a vision or something that I never would.

A girl with auburn hair, the same color Edwards hair is, and pretty big brown eyes was behind the bar, cleaning a glass. She smiled at me and walked over to where I sat down, putting the glass and rug away too. I was the only one in the bar at the moment, and it looked like she was bored out of her mind.

"What can I get you, miss…?" She asked. I gave her a small smile and pulled Roxanne off my shoulder, putting her down in front of me on the counter top. The girl seemed slightly shocked, but didn't say anything about it.

"A small tray with water for my friend, and an Apple martini for me please. Its Bella," I said shaking her outstretched hand with a tight grip. She smiled at me brightly in return.

"Nessie," She answered and turned around, fixing a small bowl of water for Roxanne before she started fixing my drink.

"So, where are you from, Bella?" Nessie asked, giving me my drink. I took a small sip from it before putting my glass down, watching the small bubbles form around in the green liquid.

"Washington state. You?" I answered simply, not really interested in giving her details. She seemed to except that, and she didn't pry.

"Born and raised here in Vegas. Just opened this casino here with my husband, Jacob Black. We also own a small wedding chapel down the street. He's Elvis." She said with a laugh, taking a glass of water for herself. I laughed with her, picturing some fat guy in an Elvis costume, marrying people off.

"If you guys own the place, why are you working in the bar?" I asked curiously, grabbing Roxanne as she almost tumbled off the bar. She licked my finger in thanks before continuing with the sniffing.

"Oh I love being a bartender, I wouldn't give it up for the world. And Jacob loves his job too, so he decided to stay with that. It doesn't earn much, but it makes him happy." She said with a shrug, and started wiping new glasses. I nodded my head in agreement. No point in doing something your not happy with.

"So what do you do for a living Bella?" Nessie asked with a bright smile. I smiled back at her and took another sip of my drink.

"I'm a tattoo artist. I'm traveling at the moment though, so business has been slow." I said with a shrug. Nessie seemed impressed, and nodded her approval.

"Seams like a pretty cool job. You know, my husband was talking about getting a tattoo not too long ago. He actually picked one out and everything, but then he chickened out. He's scared of needles." She whispered the last part with a giggle, making me laugh. I loved it when I got scared people. It was a lot of fun to mess with their heads.

"Well, I could do it of course, but I'm not selling cheap." I warned her, and she rolled her eyes at me.

"I think we'll manage." She said, staring pointedly at the casino behind me.

"What's it's name by the way?" She asked, gesturing towards Roxanne, who was currently licking herself in a very inappropriate way.

"This is Roxanne, I got her from this old dude I knew when I was a kid." I said, trying to make her stop. It was useless of course. She was a very determent young lady.

"She's very cute. Jake's always wanted a dog, but we're too busy. It's a shame though." She said with a sad sigh, petting Roxanne on the head before filling up my drink.

"You know, if you were serious about Jacob getting a tattoo, I'd be more then happy to do it. I haven't been able to tattoo anyone for a week. I kinda miss it." I told her, realizing that I hadn't picked up a pencil in ages. Well, a week to be more specific, but that was a long time for me.

"Great. I just have to trick him into coming. He's okay with showing his weak side to me, but he's too damn proud to back out if I actually got him to sit down with you." She rolled her eyes, muttering about men.

"Cool. Tonight maybe? My friend and I aren't staying here for much longer," I told her. Although, when she said that he was scared of needles, I wouldn't expect him to pick a big one. So I'd probably finish in one night.

"Oh, where are you heading?" She asked, interested.

"Down south, visiting some relatives." I answered vaguely, and she understood that it wasn't okay to pry. She was a bartender, so I assume she's pretty good at reading people by now.

"Well, how about we stop by your hotel room?" She asked, pulling out a pen and paper.

"We're actually traveling in an RV," I said, and told her which neighborhood we'd parked in. She shook her head at me.

"That's not a safe place to stay. You need to come park in our casino parking lot. it's a lot safer. We lock up the parking lot so the junkies wont come in here in the middle of the night to sleep in the bushes." She said with determination. Her brown eyes seemed even darker and more intense against her pale skin, now that the lights weren't shining in from the windows anymore.

"Doesn't it cost money?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at her. I looked back at Alice, who was standing at a slot machine, loosing a few quarters. She saw me looking and glanced up with a smile on her face.

"Oh don't be silly, I'm not going to make you pay. I'll talk to Toby and tell him to let you guys in and park wherever you feel like parking." She beamed. I smiled at her and nodded, making her squeal.

Alice would like Nessie, because their personalities were very much alike. And I started wondering why I only attracted good people all of a sudden. I usually didn't hang with the nice and the honest. It just wasn't me. But here I was, making friends with a woman who owned a business the legal way, with a husband and everything.

"Great. Go get your Camper, and I'll call Jacob. He's not working tonight." She told me with a smile, and yelled at someone to come and cover for her in the bar. I put some money on the counter and picked Roxanne up.

"Hey Alice, we're moving into this new fancy parking lot, And, I just got myself another project." I told her happily. Her face lit up and she grabbed Roxanne from me, kissing the top of her head.

"That's great, lets go now. The security people are goanna come over here soon and ask why I'm winning so much." She whispered, and we walked out of there quickly.

It was starting to get late, and it hadn't really been an exiting day, but at least I would earn some money, and that was always a good thing. And I couldn't wait to pick up the pencil again. A week was just way too long for me. Drawing was like my own, personal addiction.

We were a few blocks away from the RV when my cell started ringing.

"Hello," I answered, and Alice grabbed my arm, stopping me. She pointed at a pet store and ran inside with Roxanne in her hands. I didn't follow her in though.

"Hey Bella," My cousins happy voice sounded through the phone, making me smile. I leaned against the wall to the pet store, kicking a small pebble out of the way.

"So, just wondering how your doing on your little trip. Is everything okay?" He asked me playfully, but I could tell that he was being serious.

"Everything is just fine and dandy. I met a girl on the road, her name is Alice. She's a runaway too, just two years younger then me. She's coming with me, if that's okay with you?" I asked, glaring at an old creepy man who stared at me. I flipped him the bird, and he stopped staring with a huff.

"Bella…do you even know this girl?" Emmett asked me hesitantly. Emmett didn't mind getting to know new people, but he'd always had a healthy dose of skepticism to strangers. He'd seen the worst in people in his lifetime, and didn't underestimate anyone. For someone who'd had such a horrible childhood, long into his teenage years, he was the happiest person I knew.

"I know her well enough to know that she hates it when I steal stuff, she doesn't like it when I'm rude to people, and she's nice to Roxanne." I said, listing off a few things that I knew would win him over.

"And just who might this Roxanne be?" Emmett asked, amused.

"Well if you simply must know, it's my baby ferret. I didn't have her the last time I talked to you. Mr. Clawington gave her to me when I met him in Oregon."

"Isn't he that old creepy dude that lives on the outside of Forks?" He asked, puzzled. Emmett had seen Mr. Clawington once, when I was nine and he was fourteen. I was showing him how to piss off old people, not that he didn't know how to do that already, mind, but I was nine and thought I could do everything better then everybody else.

We'd used a fire extinguisher inside his house, after we'd snuck in in the middle of the night to steal all his candy. It was one big reason why Renee didn't like Emmett. I always got caught doing stuff when he was around. He loved making trouble, he just wasn't very good at it.

"Yeah he is. Apparently, he's goanna kick the bucket soon so he gave me Roxanne since he couldn't take care of her anymore." I said, shrugging to myself.

"So this Alice girl. Is she goanna live with us too, or is she just hiking out of town with you?" Emmett asked, ignoring my remark about Mr. Clawington. He didn't like talking about death after what happened to his mother.

"She's going to stay with me in the RV. I'm just goanna take your backyard Emmett, its not like I'm really moving in. Besides, she doesn't have anywhere to go. They were really mean to her Emmett. I don't know what happened, but some crazy assholes did some horrible stuff to her. Besides, she's really nice, and I think you two will get along great." I told him enthusiastically. I heard him chuckle on the other side of the line.

"I believe you, but just remember, I don't have a lot of cash. Just my dashing good looks…" He trailed off, trying to talk about something else. He wasn't really good with the whole serious thing anyway. But that's just the way he is, so I didn't let it bother me.

"Yeah, yeah. You are the hottest thing since sliced bread, okay? as for the trouble part. Not too much, no. Ran into a little, um, misunderstanding with a few rednecks, but Alice got us out of there before anything happened." I said proudly. It was kinda cool knowing a psychic. I wasn't sure if it was okay with her if I told Emmett, so I kept my mouth shut about it for now. I knew though, that he would except her, and her gift without a question.

"What happened?" He asked, slightly disapproving and slightly amused.

"Well, I was just borrowing some gas which I didn't have any plans of ever returning, and they somehow found out and we almost got busted. But we didn't so there really isn't a big deal." I said, editing on just how close we'd been to actually being caught. Emmett chuckled, and I could almost see him rolling his eyes with his dimpled smile in place.

"Well, moving on. I think this might be one of our last nights in Vegas. I'm tattooing some dude tonight, and I was thinking we could keep going again tomorrow or the day after that. We won't be too long, I promise." I said, smiling at Alice as she came out of the store with a big bag and a huge grin on her face. We started walking again, while Alice played with Roxanne in her arms, ignoring all the people that were giving us strange looks for dragging a ferret around the city.

"Really? Sounds exiting. I can't wait to see you again, its been way too long. Stay out of trouble missy, and I'll see you soon. Love you," He added, trying to end the conversation quickly all of a sudden, and I could hear the TV going on in the background, and a woman's voice. He was probably having one of his many lady friends over.

"Emmett McCarthy, do you have a girl, all alone in your house? Why, you should be ashamed of yourself mister!" I teased him, trying to sound appalled. Emmett snorted loudly.

"Like your one to talk, miss. I sneak guys into my room more often then I change my own socks." He teased right back at me.

"Touché, my friend, Touché. Although, that was only four different guys at four different times." I said with a laugh, handing Alice the keys so she could open the RV for us. I hurried inside and sat down at the kitchen table and took a pancake from the plate Alice handed me.

"Excuses, excuses. I need to go Bella, again, I love you," He said, chuckling.

"Love you too Emmett, bye." I told him, and hung up before him. Like I said, I had a thing about having the last word.

"Was that Emmett?" Alice asked, empting the bag full of Ferret toys and other unnecessary crap that Roxanne probably would never need. I picked up a white bottle with the words 'Ferret scrub' on it. I nodded before razing an eyebrow at her.

"What? She needs to stay clean." She said defensively, grabbing the bottle from my hand and putting it into the bathroom.

"Whatever, and yes that was Emmett. He's got himself a lady friend, so he couldn't talk, but he said it was okay for you to come live with him too. And just so you know, Ferrets start to smell if you wash them with soap. So please, don't give her a bath or anything." I told her with a smile, grabbing another pancake off the plate. Alice smiled back at me brightly and yawned.

"If you say so." She said with a shrug, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Why don't you try to catch some sleep while I drive us there?" I suggested, sitting down in the driver seat and starting up the big camper. I'd only had one martini, and knew that I would be able to drive it over there just fine.

"I wont get much sleep if your planning on tattooing people in here, and its only a couple of blocks anyway…" She said with a frown. I rolled my eyes and backed out onto the street, stopping a buss from driving in front of us.

"You look tired Alice, and a nap wouldn't hurt you. Besides, Roxanne is sleepy too, and you know how she loves to lay under the blankets all snuggled up and nice and cozy." I reminded her, smiling sweetly at the bus driver that was showing me the finger.

She nodded, too tired to really argue. She was still mentally exhausted from whatever fucked up shit happened to her in that house. Her bruises were mostly faded, but you could still see them, if you looked closely and knew where they were.

She climbed up the latter with Roxanne around her shoulders. She mumbled a quiet 'night' before falling asleep.

It didn't take me long to get to the Casino, and I drove up quickly to the guy, who I assumed was Toby. He was a tall gangly boy with a huge acne problem going on in his face. He was around my age, probably a year or two older then me though.

His eyes widened when he saw the RV, and then he looked up at me with even wider, dreamy eyes. It was starting to creep me out a little, so I cleared my throat to get him to snap out of it.

"Are you, um, Bella?" He asked, staring at me with what he must have thought was a flirty smile. I smiled back at him, but I was clutching Edward's ring in my hand tighter then ever.

"I sure am," I said with a small laugh, making him blush. He straightened up slightly and was about to push a button before he stopped and turned to look at me again.

"You didn't happen to be the girl who flashed her bottom to a school buss this morning?" He asked hesitantly, almost as if he was embarrassed to even be asking.

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. Now please, Nessie is expecting me, so if you wouldn't mind opening the gate…?" I said pointedly. He turned around quickly and fumbled with pushing in the key and the right combination. I waved at him before driving into the parking lot. I double parked my RV, just to make sure nobody would come too close to it.

I could understand why he was so surprised when he saw my RV. The rest of the parking lot was filled up with the most expensive sports cars I'd seen in one place. They were all sleek, shiny and gorgeous. I wouldn't mind driving around in one of those, that's for damn sure.

Nessie came out of the building and into the parking lot, her pale skin almost glowing in the dark. She was dragging a dark skinned man behind her, but when he came closer I could tell he was a native American. He was very tall, and you could tell that he had a lot of muscle. He looked a little confused, but otherwise he seemed happy about meeting me.

I opened the door for them and told them to sit down on the couch while I found my beloved Stud Muffin, as I had lovingly dubbed my Tattoo machine. I know it was a bad name, just as I knew Dorky McShorty was a bad name, but giving things, or people names, just wasn't my thing. Which used to annoyed me to no end. I couldn't care less now, but back in the day when I was still the school bully, it had been a pain in the ass.

"So, why are we here? I thought you said we had dinner reservations tonight?" Jake asked, looking down at Nessie curiously. She beamed back up at him.

"I lied. Jake, you said you wanted a tattoo, and Bella here so happens to be a tattoo artist. Isn't it great?!" She asked excitedly from her seat beside him.

I glanced up at Alice. She was still sleeping, as was Roxanne, which was good. The last thing I needed right now was a hyper baby ferret running around my feet while I tried to work.

I could tell by Jake's face that everything certainly wasn't great. His hand balled into a fist, and he swallowed loudly.

"Um, I, uh, aren't you a little young to be a tattoo artist?" He asked me hesitantly. I hated that question. People assumed that just because I was young, I was bad at my job.

"Aren't you a little old to dress up as Elvis everyday?" I asked in return, and handed them my portfolio with Tattoo's I'd done in the past. I'd started when I was 15, and I started earning some serious money at the age of 16. It seamed like people didn't really care how old I was anymore when they saw my creations, or some of my earlier works.

I only showed them the portfolio with tattoo's in, not the once with my drawings. That was more personal, and not something I liked to show people. The fact that I'd given Edward the few drawings that I had had even amazed me.

I'd always had a hard time expressing how I feel with words. I didn't like to talk about my feelings, and I hated crying. Even when I wasn't the one doing it.

So at a very early age, I'd started drawing. On whatever I could find, wherever and whenever I had the chance. It was the only way I knew how to express myself. And it still is. You'd think that a person at the age of eighteen would be able to tell someone if they were sad, or angry or miserable.

It was pathetic.

Jacob chuckled as he flipped through it, and Nessie hung over his shoulder, pointing at the pictures with awe. I smiled as I found my pencils and the rest of the stuff that I needed to draw it up first. I didn't want to brag, but I knew that my pictures were good.

"So, do you know what you want?" I asked him, not really paying attention to what they were looking at.

"You really did all this?" Jake asked in an awed voice, staring at an old Native American tattoo I'd done for this old man named Billy. I nodded my head absently.

"Yeah, I have. So if you tell me what you want, I'll draw it up and we can get started." He nodded his head and smiled down at his wife.

"You know, last time, I really wanted a wolf paw on my chest, but now… Do you think you could draw a cartoon character of Nessie the lock ness monster?" Jake asked, grinning. I laughed too and looked at Nessie, who hit him on the chest playfully.

"Jake! Come on, you can't have a cartoon character as your first tattoo!" She protested, but I could tell that she liked the idea anyway.

"Where do you want it?" I asked Jake, ignoring her. It was his choice after all. And besides, he didn't really want to do this in the first place, she was forcing him, so it was only fair that he could decide what to have.

"On the top of my arm, right here?" He said hesitantly, pointing at his huge arm.

"How about we do a wrap around? Its slightly bigger, and will take about half an hour more with all the scales, but I think I can do it." I told him, ideas of how to draw up the tattoo already zooming through my head. He gulped slightly, and nodded, not saying anything.

I smiled at him reassuringly.

"Don't worry, the first half hour is the worse, after that your arm will be so numb that you wont feel a thing." I told him with a warm smile. My reassurance only seemed to make him pale.

I started drawing up a few sketches, and he actually liked all of them, but decided on the one with big girly cartoon like eyes, and the curvy writing under it saying 'Nessie'. It wrapped around his arm and turned out to almost be half a sleeve, something he seemed pretty nervous about, but the tattoo itself was so cool that he was willing to go through with it.

"I can't believe your tattooing a cartoon of me, Jake! And its so big, what if you regret it?" She asked him hesitantly, but I could tell that she liked it too. I was going to do it in Black and gray, and it had some threads around its body which made it look pretty, and funny because of the eyes. The scales, however, were like hell. I hated doing scales. They took forever.

"I could never regret anything that has to do with you." He told her sweetly, and I could feel my lunch coming up slightly. I'd never liked all that mushy stuff, but it seemed to work for Nessie, because she practically melted on the spot.

I put the outline on his arm and found all my ink while the outline was drying. I usually just drew it on with a pen if it was a simple piece, but that made it almost impossible with all the scales.

"How long will this take?" Jake asked hesitantly, trying to break the silence that had fallen over us all. I shrugged and put on new gloves and checked all my needles. I made sure I had everything and that everything was ready before I switched the machine on.

"It depends on you really. If you faint, it'll take longer because I can't tattoo you while your unconscious. I'll go slow on you first, and then we'll pick up the pace once you don't have so much feeling in your arm anymore. And by the way, if you have to go to the bathroom or anything like that, do it now, because I don't take breaks." I told him, and picked up the machine.

Nessie was clutching his hand on the other side and looking up at him with worried eyes.

"You don't do breaks?" Nessie asked, and I shook my head as I started tattooing. Jake tensed up and his huge muscles bulged out, but I didn't stop and I didn't make a mistake. I was used to people freaking out by now.

"But some of those tattoos were huge, you must have been sitting for hours!" She said, amazed. I smiled as the needle glided through his skin and he clenched his teeth together, refusing to make even the smallest sound.

"The biggest one was done in sessions, but that was also the most detailed one. But the biggest one that I did at once was on the back of this biker dude. Took me 13 hours to finish." I said, remembering the big, fat guy named Dave. He had the most disgusting skin ever, and I really had to work to get the ink into his skin. I'd even have to skip school because of that tattoo. Not that I was complaining about that part, of course.

"Wow," She breathed. We talked more about my tattooing and some of the people I'd done and met because of it. I actually found myself having fun talking to Nessie, which was weird.

Getting so many new friends at once was strange. I didn't really like people that much, so finding so many in one week was new to me.

Jake didn't say anything unless he was asked something. It took me three hours to finish everything, including the shadowing, and I was pretty proud when I was done with it too. It was gorgeous.

I wiped it off with this stinging substance, making Jake frown.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" I said, taking off the glows and reaching for the camera. I always took a picture of my tattoo's, so I could do a better job on the next one, or maybe get tips while doing a new peace.

"Wow, its stunning…Thank you, Bella. This is really amazing. And so worth the pain." Jake said, looking at it in the mirror. I smiled at his compliment. While the tattoo was a cartoon, it was also artfully done. It was funny and pretty at the same time.

Jake laughed slightly and used his other arm to wipe sweat of his forehead. "Look at the eyes Nessie, they look like yours, it actually kinda look like you…" Jake continued, earning himself another smack on the arm from a laughing Nessie.

"Your not suppose to say that I look like a monster, Jake!" She said, giggling. I shook my head while I started to bandage it up, and I explained how he could take care of the tattoo and what to do if it got infected, which I knew it wouldn't if he did as I said.

"So, how much?" Nessie asked me after I was done bandaging up her husband. I scratched the back of my neck, bringing my hand down to finger the ring that was hanging from my neck absentmindedly.

"Hmm, Like I said, I'm pricy, and I'd normally charge you a lot for such a detailed peace, and its custom made, which means that this tattoo's only yours, and I'll never do it on anyone else. So unless someone takes a picture and does it, you'll be the only one with that Tattoo. But, since I like you guys we'll say 500 Dollars, okay?" I asked them. Jake's eyes widened, but Nessie smiled at me widely and took out her wallet.

"That's really nice of you Bella. Next time your in town, you can stay at our place. Or, better yet, I'll fix you guys a room at my family's hotel." She said excitedly as she handed me the money. I put them in my pocked and smiled back at her.

"You mean there's more then just you here?" Jake asked, looking around. I pointed up to Alice's sleeping form, amazed that she hadn't woken up yet.

"Just Alice, and I'm sure she'd be happy to come back here, and we'd love to stay with you guys. That would be awesome. But, we need to finish up with school first, you know how it is." I said with a small laugh. Nessie and Jake looked at each other and back at me.

"You mean College, right?" Jake asked hesitantly, and he suddenly seemed a lot taller and a lot more grown up.

"No, I'm a senior in High School, and I'm not really sure what Alice is yet. I guess she's a freshman but she might be a sophomore…" I trailed off, unsure. I didn't know the last time she'd been to school, so it was hard to say.

"But you said you were a tattoo artist, and I served you alcohol! I assumed you'd just turned 21…" Nessie trailed off, and she looked at me with this worried look, like I was some kind of…well, I don't know what to call it. The look was strange and I didn't like it. I hardened my eyes and fixed them both with a stare I knew nobody liked to be at the other end of.

"I am a tattoo artist. After school. I've tattooed people since I was 15, I even have a license to do it, so don't give me that look." I told them sternly, choosing to ignore the alcohol part. No need to remind her about that. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, no need to get worked up.

"We didn't mean to offend you, but, shouldn't you be in school right now? Vegas isn't a place for teens if you don't live here." Jake said, winching slightly as he moved his arm. I wanted to tell them that they could go screw themselves, that this was my business and my life and they had no right to come and talk to me like that. But the truth was, I didn't want to offend them. I had had a great time with them now, and I wanted to come back without any hard feelings between us.

"I'm having a minor vacation, but I'm going back too school, don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Trust me." I said, trying to make my glare go away. I didn't like it when people tried to meddle in my business.

"Okay, well, its getting late, so we should probably go inside. It was nice meeting you, and we'll probably see you tomorrow morning, and hopefully meet this Alice character too. Where is she by the way?" Nessie asked, looking around. Jake was already standing and putting on his shoes again.

"She's sleeping. We've been on the road for a while now, you know how it gets." I lied, because we'd only been on the road for a few days. They didn't seem to notice, and I wasn't about to tell them ether.

"I can come pick you guys up tomorrow morning and bring you back to our place so you could take a shower before you leave, if you want?" Nessie offered sweetly, handing me their phone numbers and the number to the bar and the chapel.

"That would be awesome." I said, because I was sick of having greasy hair and a dirty body. You just couldn't really get clean when you were on the road.

"Okay, I'll come tomorrow morning then. Good night!" Nessie said, stepping outside. It would have been dark hadn't it been for all the lights from the city.

"Thanks again for the tattoo Bella! Hope I see you tomorrow!" Jake called as he put his good arm around Nessie as they walked back into the casino.

"Night!" I called after them, and locked the door after me.

"Finally." Alice said, jumping down from the bed with a very sleepy Roxanne in her arms. I stared at her, surprised.

"You don't like them?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I like them, I just didn't want them to see me right now, my hair is a mess." She said, looking at herself in the mirror. I rolled my eyes at her and started to clean my needles and put everything back in its place.

"So we're leaving tomorrow then, after our shower?" Alice asked, pulling on her pajamas, which was pink silk. I could tell that she was still tired, although I really didn't know how long she'd been sleeping with me and Nessie talking like two old hags downstairs.

"Yep, I want to surprise Emmett and come a little early. I miss the big guy. And I want to follow your gut feeling and leave a bit sooner." I said, thinking of Emmett's surprised face when he saw us early then he expected. Emmett absolutely loved and adored surprises.

"No stops on the way then?" Alice asked me, and she stopped frowning at her face long enough to turn around and stare at me.

"Well, whatever comes our way will come our way, you just don't get a say in that. But I'm not planning on stopping anywhere, if that's what your asking. Why, you have a place you want to stop by or something?" I asked her, putting away my now fit for a Queen Tattoo Machine, also known as Stud Muffin.

"No, not really. I just like staying at one place. I'm not really into the whole traveling thing. I like to know what to expect in life." She said with a shrug, taking the milk out of the fridge.

Her hand froze around it and I jumped up and out of my seat to take the milk out of her hand before she'd crush it and spill milk all over the place. She snapped out of it after a few minutes, snatching the milk up off the counter and staring at the seven year old missing boy in the picture.

"Little Ronald. Been gone for two weeks now…" She muttered to herself. I furrowed my brows and grabbed the milk carton out of her hands to read for myself.

"Did you have a vision about him?" I asked her, looking back up at her face. She stared of into space and nodded her head absently.

"Yeah, he's dead, I mean, he is going to die. Their not goanna make it Bella. He'll be dead ten minuets before they get there." She said, her eyes going blank staring off into space as if we were discussing something that held very little interest for her.

"Can't you call the police? Tell them Alice, before its too late!" I yelled, flinging my phone at her. She shook her head and looked another way, not meeting my gaze.

"And tell them what? That I can see the future and that the kids going to be dead before they even get there? You don't think that would look just a little suspicious on my part?" She said angrily, wiping her eyes roughly and flinching slightly as she pressed her bruise too hard. I hadn't realized that she'd started to cry.

"You know Alice, some things are bigger then you. You need to tell the police Alice, that little boy has a family that's probably worried sick about him! Do you really want to have his death on your conscience?" I asked her angrily, picking my phone up and fixing it so the cops would only get up a hidden ID. I didn't know if they had some kind of super machine to tell who's number it was, but right now that little boy was slightly more important then my cell phone.

"There, now you can call in anonymously." I said, holding the phone out, the number on the milk carton already dialed. All she had to do was press the call button.

"Stop being selfish Alice and call the fucking cops!" I yelled, shaking the phone slightly. She snatched it out of my hand and pressed the button, biting her thumb nail as she waited for the cops to pick up. She gave them all the information on where Ronald was without actually saying who she was or where her call was coming from.

"Was that so damn hard?" I asked her harshly, picking the phone up off the table and throwing it on my bed. I started to change into my big T-shirt and boy shorts for the night angrily. Maybe I was wrong about Alice after all. Maybe she wasn't such a good person, as I'd originally thought.

"No, it wasn't." She said quietly, picking up Roxanne and putting her on my bed. I sighed loudly and closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you, but I can't believe you would just let that little boy die because you don't want anyone to figure out about your gift." I said sharply, because I was pretty damn sure this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"I know its selfish, and trust me Bella, you have no idea of how many times I've wanted to pick up the phone and help, you have to believe me, I've wanted to help so bad. Sometimes, the cases solve themselves, but other times…they don't." She said, and I was starting to wonder just how much Alice really saw in her visions.

"That's why they gave me away, you know, my biological parents." She was looking anywhere but at me as I stared at her, wanting an explanation.

"I was eight when they put me up for adoption. Both of them thought I was possessed by Satan, just like the last people I were with believed. And all because I tried to help kids like him.

"I told my parents about abducted children, because I would sometimes get visions about kids my age once I saw their missing pictures on the milk or in the supermarket. And when I told them that the kids were dead before the police knew about it, it scared them, Bella. But I knew that I still had to help those kids, so I didn't stop telling my parents, even though they told me to stop, because I was hoping that they would call the police and that maybe some of those kids might survive, you know?" She was crying now, but I still couldn't understand her.

"That doesn't justify the fact that you were willing to let Ronald die right now Alice. You know that I wouldn't ditch you, I've told you that over and over again. I'm not like your parents." I said, staring at her with hard eyes.

"I know you wont Bella. But…Ronald is gone. There is nothing the police can do, and there is nothing we can do. I didn't want to call now and tell them that he was still alive, because it was too late anyway. And the last thing I need right now is attention from the cops. They would just put me back into the system, and ship me off to another horrible foster home. I know that's cold, and heartless, but it's the truth.

"If I could tell the police that I knew where all those kids where when they were still alive, I wouldn't have minded at all helping. But I'm always too late Bella, sometimes a few hours, sometimes minutes. Once it was seconds… but still too late. I can never save them, but I always have to witness their last minutes on earth, no matter how horrible they are." She said, wiping the tears off her face. I didn't really know what to say, because I'd never been faced with the problem of having to watch children being killed every time I closed my eyes.

"How can you sleep, if seeing kids being killed or raped is all you can see?" I asked her in a whisper. She smiled a sad smile and stared up at me with red rimmed eyes.

"I don't always see children, sometimes I see grownups too. Not that I'm any help to them. But I don't always just see horrible things Bella, but it's the pictures. They help me see other people, their last minutes on earth… Its not pleasant, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it, but I manage. My visions can also be helpful, like I can see what will happen the next day, what kind of decisions I should take. Their not all bad. But I don't want you to think that I'd just let some poor little boy die without even trying to stop it. It's just…he's dying right now, so their really isn't anything we can do about it, so I'd rather not think about it." She told me, standing up and walking over to her latter where she climbed up and pulled the sheets over herself.

"I guess I can understand that…" I said slowly, trying to see things from her point of view. I suppose I did understand what she was talking about, and to be fair, I'd probably be doing the same thing if I were in her shoes. She was right too though, the last thing she needed was the police's attention.

I picked Roxanne up and snuggled her close to my chest, using my other hand to clutch Edward's ring, trying not to think about Little Ronald that was dying this very minute.


AN: So now you know a little bit more about Alice's past, and I know, sad chapter, although you did get to meet Jacob and Nessie. And Team Jacob, don't worry, this isn't a story where he is an asshole. He actually won't be in the story all that much...

Anyway, I hope you liked it! Unfortunetly, this was the last chapter that I'd already written, so now it's back to writing for me. (Not that I'm complaining ;D)

Review = Faster updates ;)