Disclaimer: Alice and most of her background belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No money is being made from this work and no copyright infringement is intended.

Memories

I leaned forward and quickly touched my lips to Jasper's and away. We looked at each other for a short moment, and then Jasper leaned down and pressed his lips gently to mine.

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After our first what I later learned was a kiss, Jasper and I were even more comfortable with each other than we had been. Our pasts, whatever they were, were officially behind us now, and we were perfectly content to stay where we were: together.

Week by week I watched, euphoric, as Jasper's eyes slowly changed from dark red to gold after each hunt.

I wasn't completely oblivious to the rest of the world, though. A small voice in the back of my mind kept telling me that the journey wasn't over—I had yet to find the family. I will, I would tell myself, I will, and I pushed it to the back of my mind.

I was going to find them. I had seen it, and that was good enough for me.

"May I have this dance, Miss Alice?"

Jasper was standing over me, one hand behind his back, the other outstretched to me, and a small, amused smile on his face.

Jasper had continued to teach me everything he knew, everything he remembered from being human, and formal dances were one of those things.

I smiled. "You certainly may, Mr. Whitlock," I said as I took his hand, playing along.

He led me by the hand to a small patch of sunlight where our skin sent small rainbows of light on to the ground and nearby rocks and trees.

"I must warn you, sir," I said as Jasper placed my hands in the correct positions. "That I am a horrendous dancer." While Jasper had taught me about dancing, he hadn't taught me how.

"Nonsense," he said with a small smile as he placed a hand on my waist. "All you have to do is move your feet with mine."

I quickly looked down at our feet and heard Jasper chuckle.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded, watching his feet.

He moved one foot towards me, so I moved mine back. He moved his foot forward and to the side, and I moved mine back and to the side.

It was actually fairly easy to dance. I could tell where Jasper was going to move right as he started, and all I had to do was follow. After a while I began to notice the steps repeating, so I looked up at Jasper, remembering perfectly well where to place which foot and when.

"Now what's this I hear about horrendous dancing?" Jasper asked as he spun me. I chuckled as my skirt fluttered around me. I came back around and placed my free hand back on Jasper's shoulder.

I suddenly remembered something he had initially told me about the few dances he had attended as a human. "Why did you say you didn't like dances? You seem to be having fun now," I asked.

Jasper smiled. "It depends on who you're with."

Before I had time to comment on that, Jasper spun me one last time and ended the dance.

"Now," he said. "I bow," he placed one arm across his stomach and bowed, "and you curtsy."

"Is that a fancy word for 'bow'?"

"Well, I suppose it's like a ladies' version of bowing, but a little different."

I cocked my head to one side. "Why can't I just bow?"

"Well, I suppose it's to make the lady look more delicate than the man."

I scrunched my eyebrows in slight disbelief. "People like that?"

"Some people do."

"I see." I looked straight at Jasper and tried to keep my face merely curious. "And how does one curtsy?"

The edges of Jasper's mouth twitched in a slight smile and his eyes were apprehensively amused. "Well," he started. "You cross one foot in front of the other and bend your knees while holding out your skirt."

I cocked my head in mock confusion. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand."

I tried to keep my amusement at bay since I knew fully well that Jasper would feel it and know what I was trying to do.

"You don't?"

"I don't think so…is it like this?" I crossed one leg over the other so that it was hard to bend my knees and bunched up my skirt in my hands, holding it out.

"Not quite," he said, still smiling. I straightened up.

"Can you show me?" I asked innocently. I knew he could tell what I was doing, but I wanted to finish it.

Jasper's smile grew and he locked his eyes with mine. His face was somewhat incredulous, but his eyes were amused.

"It's like this." I had to bite my lip in attempt not to laugh as Jasper demonstrated how to curtsy.

"Ah, I see now." It was very hard not to laugh, and I could tell that Jasper was waiting for me to start. I curtsied back and said "thank you, Miss Whitlock."

I couldn't help it anymore—I burst out laughing, and Jasper joined me.

"Miss Whitlock, eh?" he teased as he grabbed me around the waist and swung me around, still laughing.

But my laughter was cut short when my vision went blank and quickly changed to another scene in a different forest. I could see the front of a grand house that had a large, ornate, wooden door and a deep porch with a wooden swing. The family I had seen in so many visions was assembled on the porch, each with an anxious expression. They were all looking apprehensively at the young man with bronze-colored hair who seemed to be concentrating hard on something.

I could vaguely hear Jasper worriedly calling my name, but I couldn't focus on it.

"There're two of them," the bronze-haired boy said. His voice seemed to fade in and out as he spoke, and the movements he and the others made were not very smooth. "I think they know us…at least, they keep referring to the 'golden-eyed family,' and I think it's safe to assume that that is us."

"Do they mean any harm?" the blond man asked.

"No…" the boy trailed off in thought, his brow creasing in confusion. Then he looked up, back at the rest of the family. "They want to join us."

"Alice!"

The vision quickly vanished, and Jasper had his hands on either side of my face and was staring intently, worried, into my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Did you have a vision?" he asked, releasing me.

I nodded.

"It wasn't anything bad, was it?" Jasper's forehead creased in worry.

"No, nothing bad," I started.

Maybe this vision was my subconscious trying to tell me that it was time to start looking for the family; it was time to stop telling myself "I will" and start saying "I am."

I decided to listen to my subconscious.

"Remember the family I told you about? The ones I have visions of a lot?"

"This one was of them?"

I nodded. "But I think they knew we were coming—but we didn't know they knew…" I shook my head, trying to sort out what I had seen in an intelligible way. "They were all gathered in front of their house, and they knew we were coming. They seemed wary of us, but then one of them said that we wanted to join them."

I looked at Jasper quizzically. "But how would he know what we wanted?" I asked.

"He must have some sort of gift," Jasper replied. "But unless he can see the future, I don't know how he would be able to know why we were there. Or why we're going to be there," he corrected himself.

He looked at me for a long moment. "So we're going to look for them?"

I nodded. "I think we should."

I could tell he was reluctant, but I knew it was best. I had seen him perfectly happy—possibly as happy as he had just been—in that first vision.

"I'll still be with you," I assured him as I walked closer and took his hand.

Jasper gave me a small smile and kissed the top of my head. Then he put his arm around my waist and turned to look into the forest.

"Do you have any idea where to look first, then?"

That caught me off guard. I had never seemed to think about how to do anything, so I had no answer. When I had set off to look for Jasper, I'd just followed the river and then wandered.

"I'm not sure," I answered. "I only picked a direction and stuck to it when I was searching for you."

"We could do that," Jasper said, "but there's no guarantee on how long that will take. Then again, if you keep seeing us with them while we're wandering, it's bound to work."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. Jasper had given me an idea. "We can choose a direction, but before we start in that direction, I can see if it will lead us to them—if it's the right way. If not, we'll choose a different direction. We can do that until we find the right way. And I can keep checking to make sure we're on the right track."

Jasper smiled. "Like a compass," he said.

I looked up at him quizzically.

"A compass is something that tells you which way is north, so that you always know where you're going."

"I guess I am like a compass," I said, musing for a second before taking one step forward, toward the forest. I closed my eyes, and tried to see Jasper and me finding the family. I saw the family, but we weren't a part of it. So I turned in a new direction, and tried again.

I continued like that for a few tries, Jasper watching, amused, as I spun around every few seconds.

But finally, I saw it. I saw the same large house and the family was arranged in the same way on their porch, but this time Jasper and I were approaching them.

"This way!" I shouted.

"Really?" Jasper asked, slightly surprised.

"C'mon," I said as I ran back to him, grabbed his hand, and led him into the forest to begin our search for the golden-eyed family.

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A/N: Since I've got a lot of free time on my hands this week, I'm going to try to update more than once this week. And now since I've told you that, I'm really going to have to. The Cullens are coming up, and I've got a fun conversation planned about cars…. Well, I hope you liked this installment—I really did.