A/N: Heeeere's Alice!

I can imagine your thoughts right now - "Alice POV Chapter 3 to Alice POV chapter 5?! WHAT?!"
Don't worry, I haven't deprived you of a chapters worth of Alice, I'm just trying to keep it tied to Bella's POV chapters. Basically Chap 3 of Alice ends where Chap 4 of Bella ends. So, I matched this up with Bella chap 5.

I hope I haven't just confused you to high heavens...

_

It had been half an hour since Alice had dropped Bella off at home. It had been 45 minutes since things screwed up.
She groaned.

"What up little sis?"

"Emmett, stop lurking!"

"I just got in Tiny!"

She groaned again. Today had not gone how she had wanted.
"Sorry. It's just been a bit of an awful afternoon."

"I guessed. Human problems?"

"It's harder than I thought it would be."

"I wouldn't beat yourself up about it too much I mean, it has been a while since you went hunting so--"

"Of course! I need to hunt. How could I forget?"

"Uhh, because your little human is terribly distracting?" He flopped down onto the couch, landing on Alice's legs, looking up at her through fluttering eyelashes. He enjoyed teasing her about her predicament.

"Get off lump! And my 'little human' has a name actually..."

"I know." His tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth like a dog as he ruffled her hair. He had a habit of doing that.

"I still don't think I can face her again though..."

"It won't be so hard once you've hunted."

"I don't mean that side of things. It's hard enough dealing with the fact its possible I might just kill someone one day. Its impossibly difficult to deal with that whilst at the same time wanting to get ridiculously close to someone."

"Gotta love relationships." Emmett grinned from ear to ear.

"The thought of going back to school next week is not appealing."

"Relax, what's going to go wrong? She's mad about, you're mad about her, she's your average teenage girl, you can pass as an almost average teenage girl, she's an inch away from being a snack..." He trailed off.

"Emmett!"

"Love ya." He pounced off the sofa throwing her his widest grin.

"Brothers." She muttered to herself.

It was settled.
Go hunting for the weekend, consume as much blood as possible then a bit of light eavesdropping to find out how she's feeling.

"I'm pretty sure what you have in mind is called spying, not eavesdropping."

"Are you ever going to leave my thoughts to be mine?" She didn't even bother looking toward him.

"You should know the answer to that." Edward strolled toward the piano smugly.

Should I tell Esme and Carlisle before I go?

"Unless you want Esme's wrath when you get back, then I suggest yes."

She sighed.
He was right, Esme got rather offended if any of her children left for any length of time without explaining why. If she was leaving tonight she would need tell her now.

She knocked lightly.

"Come in."
Esme was sitting on the floor beside the window, staring out at the forest. As soon as she saw Alice her face radiated affection. She was born to be a mother.

"Why on earth are you sitting on the floor?" Alice laughed quietly.

"I like to try human things, understand why they do them..."

"I think it's because their muscles can actually get tired."

"Aside from that." She smiled, standing up with almost as much grace as Alice would. "What did you come to say?"

"Nothing gets passed you Esme. I wanted to let you know I'm leaving for a few days. Hunting in Canada. I'll leave tonight although I haven't decided when I'll be back."

"Is this because of Bella?"

"I guess she brought it forward but I was due another hunting trip soon anyway. It's going be sunny over the weekend so it seemed appropriate timing."

"Come back."

Alice just nodded as she walked out the door. Esme understood when they had to leave but she couldn't bear the idea of them leaving forever.
She glided down the hall to Carlisle's office.

"Come in." He didn't even wait for her to knock.

"I'm going hunting for a few days but so you know, it's going to be sunny over the weekend - don't scare your patients on your way to work."

"I'll try not to. Enjoy yourself."

"Thanks."

She was half way to her room when he spoke again.
"I had an idea about your... situation. You could test your control whilst you're hunting with the animals. I know the blood isn't as strong but it's a good place to start without any unnecessary casualties."

She didn't bother with an answer – he didn't expect one.

For once she wasn't looking forward to hunting. Whenever it was going to be sunny she would hunt with Emmett and as much as she scolded him at the time, she was always amused when he would angle himself in such a way the sun would bounce off him and into the eyes of a passer-by. He was quick enough to never get caught but Alice was waiting for the day something went wrong.
It wasn't going to be the same hunting without him but she needed to time alone to think.
And to practise...

Canada was just as sunny as Forks.
Alice sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, her knees drawn up to her body, her body vibrating with the constant low rumbling coming from her chest.
An elk lay several feet in front of her, headless and bleeding. To the side lay the broken corpses from her other attempts to abstain.
She physically held herself together, balled up in a grip of steel. Her limbs twitched and the growling became louder and deeper.
She wasn't just trying to cope with fresh blood surrounding her, she was trying to stop herself from pouncing on it. She needed to learn how to leave if it got too much.

Within a flash her face was buried in the exposed arteries.
Dammit!
She was uncomfortably full of blood. For hours she had been repeating the process, hoping it would get easier. The only progress she had made was to withstand the blood lust longer but she could never abandon it altogether.

She had no intention of going home days early but she couldn't bring herself to watch another bleeding, mangled corpse just to end up sucking it dry. She started running and found herself going in the direction of Forks. She had reached the house before it dawned on her where she was headed.

She could hear the TV showing a sport of some kind. She could hear Charlie in the living room yelling advice at some of the greatest athletes in world. She couldn't hear Bella.
No one in the kitchen, no one in the bathroom, no one in Bella's room.
Alice didn't expect her to be out on a Friday night. She had observed through the years that Friday nights were full of teenage rebellion and pranks. She hadn't imagined her as the Friday-night type. In fact, on the occasional Friday Alice found herself in this very spot in the past, Bella had been in the house.

At the back of her mind, Alice knew she wasn't actually upset that Bella had a social life. She was just upset it meant she didn't get to see her. Fed up, she trudged toward the beach, as far as the treaty line would let her go.
The treaty annoyed her on nights like these.
Beaches were incredible places at night, so peaceful, and the werewolves refused to share.
Sitting crossed legged on the grass she scanned the sea. It was calm tonight. The beach was amazingly quiet too. No campfires or tents in view, no night-time dog walkers, just a young couple sitting together.

She smiled. It always warmed her un-beating heart to see a young couple that seemed genuinely happy.
She watched them. Neither were talking but it didn't seem to bother them. Every so often the girl would cross or uncross her legs. The boy would squeeze her shoulder every time she sighed. He was quite tall, at least a head taller than the girl and his spiked hair added another couple of inches. She was quite slim with long hair falling down her back and over the shoulder of the boy she was leaning against. It was a warm brown – like Bella's. The boy scanned the horizon, Alice catching a glimpse of his face as he looked in her direction. She recognised him. It was the boy from school. The one who followed Bella around a lot.
She stiffened.

"We should probably head back." The girl stood up, wrapping her arms around herself.

Alice gasped.
Bella?

She had been gone a day and Bella had fallen into the arms of him?!

Unable to watch any further she ran back to Canada. Pounding through the forests and over hills, as fast as she could push herself. She came to a halt in the Canadian woods. There was mud up the back of her jeans and around the hem. She shoes were soaked right through to her granite skin, caked in dirt. Totally unconcerned, she sank to the ground.

Is there even a point in trying now?
She dropped her head into her hands.
It's for the best, she's safe with him.
She knew if she could, she would be crying right now.
Then why don't I feel relieved?
She sat like that for a while, completely motionless.
The sky had turned to jet black, the way it does in the dead of the night when there are no street lights to obscure it. It was silent except for the occasional rustle of the trees.
Because this isn't what's best for her. Or me. I could keep her safer than he could. I could make her happier than he could.
She lifted her head and stared up into the sky.
She should be mine.