So, it's me again. Jamie Stevens, the man who was once love's martyr and who, when we last left off, was struggling with the idea that he, I, might be something else someday.
If you've forgotten, I'll remind you that when my story paused last, I was kneeling in a church and grappling with concept that I had a second Match.
If Nimble and Izzy-bell did the job right, they'd have told you that when someone's Match dies it's like ripping apart two sheets of paper that have been glued together, or cutting away part of a puzzle piece. The half of the soul that still lives on earth is altered so dramatically by loss that someone else might fit in the space left behind.
It was a possibility that I'd known of, but not one that I'd ever entertained for myself.
Now that it was happening, it changed everything.
If I'd been a smarter individual back then, I'd have called Izzy up on the way back to my dorms and asked her to keep a look out and tell me if she saw the identity of my new Match. I might have reported the development to my parents, too. I might even have gone back to meditating regularly, or tried to communicate across the beginnings of our bond and then called around to see if someone had heard anything.
That would have been too sensible.
What I did was go about my life making a mental list of all of the people that I'd come into contact with in the weeks before my new Match power had revealed itself, and wonder every time I saw someone if they were it.
On Friday, The Girl from Geometry Class, who had previously been sitting across the room from me and shooting weird glances my way since she'd accidentally walked up during Leah's fight with the newborn, sat next to me again.
"Long time no see," I commented to her.
"Yeah, I know, I just… I had this psycho dream and you were there and a wolf…" she trailed of, looking equal parts confused and embarrassed.
"Was I the grandmother or the hunter?" I asked, grinning, in an effort to underscore the absurdity of what she thought she'd seen.
"I guess it is silly, isn't it. Still it seemed so real," she sighed.
"Some of the best dreams do," I replied, then the professor entered and class started.
After class I went back to my room to grab my stuff and say a quick goodbye to my roommate, Andy, before he barricaded himself into the practice rooms to compose.
He wasn't there but he'd left a note ordering me to play nice with my brother and not to spend the entire weekend brooding.
I left him one in return telling him to take breaks and eat, because he was too young and too new to die and be remembered as a genius martyr for his art.
The drive to Forks was relatively uneventful, and within hours I found myself sitting in my room and eating a late dinner while Jack worried needlessly over Izzy's need for space.
"I just wanted to relax with her now that some of the stress is off. She's been so tense with the threat of Victoria over her head…"
"Hate to break it to you bro, but you gave up your relaxing time when you went for a walk to let Izzy and I bond. Now she just wants an afternoon. You're her boyfriend, not her husband. It shouldn't bother you that she doesn't come home to you every night," I replied with as much patience as I could have while wishing that I had his problems.
"But Jamie, she-"
"Needs room to breathe, and to live the life that she had in place before she made room in it for you. Leave the clingy, possessive bit to the Cullen boy, and let's play some video games," I suggested, before turning to my game station and ignoring him until he joined in. Izzy wasn't the only one that needed a little time, Jack likely did too, but years of exposure to our parents (who had perfected the art of balancing "me" and "us" time before we'd been born) had given him no frame of reference for learning a person's limits.
We played for an hour before he put down his controller and looked at me.
"So, Brother Mine, how was your week? You didn't call."
He looked into my eyes, and before I could answer, he responded to something he saw there.
"What's wrong?" he asked looking a little worried now. I could see it register on his face as he saw it in mine.
"Stop doing that," I scolded, "do I even need to tell you, now?"
He lifted his gaze, picking a point above my head to focus on while he spoke
"Why haven't you? How long have you known that you have a second Match? Jamie, we can't start doing this…This secret keeping stuff. That's the problem we have with the Watchers now and it's dangerous."
He was angry, but he kept his voice down to a cold hiss.
"I know! I just… Can you blame me for being a little freaked out? I love Alexandra. I loved the completeness of us and, damn it, her empty place at my side is all I have left of her. Now some strange person that I might have met like once, is supposed to take her place? It shouldn't be possible." I shouted in response.
He looked at me for a moment, directly into my eyes, before walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder. He seemed completely bewildered, and was still a little irritated.
"You people are crazy; you and Izzy. I will never understand your fear of this," he said, exasperated.
"Well you wouldn't, would you? You, oh lucky son of a… goddess, picked right the first time, and you get to keep her, if you don't screw it up by being clingy," I pointed out. "You've never had to deal with the consequences when things go wrong. And speaking of the esteemed lady Isabella, I'd rather tell her about this myself. You know she thinks of Alex as a sister."
"Fine, she should be stopping by tomorrow. I'm going to bed," he said, removing his hand from my shoulder, and walking out of the room.
For a while after he left, I sat contemplating his side of things. Jack was un-jaded about all of this. He still had every ounce of faith that the system would lead us all to happiness. He'd learned to respect Izzy's fears about being a watcher, but he couldn't conceive of anyone not wanting to be Matched.
He was a sweet, if sometimes stuffy and overbearing, young man, and though part of me hopped that he never understood mine and Izzy's reservations, another more selfish part was extremely thankful that Izzy did. It was just another way in which she completed him.
The next morning was deceptively calm.
As always, I rose early and looked in on my brother, before checking the rest of the house and going out for my run.
When I got back, I took a shower before heading to the kitchen for breakfast and my Mother fed me the best meal that I'd had since I'd left the week before. Since Jack had plans to meet Izzy that afternoon, I made my way towards the beach, hoping to sort my thoughts about my situation before the time came to tell Izzy and my parents.
As I drove, I found myself thinking about Shakespeare. Though I suppose it's easy enough to forget sometimes, Jack and I were raised with the same passion for pretty words and clever phrasing, the same literature class hidden in bedtime stories. We'd responded differently to them, Jack had been led to his books and I'd fled from them because Shakespeare never quite sounded as good to me alone as it did in my mother's voice, but the fact remained that I did know the stories too.
I wondered about Romeo and Rosaline, wondered if he'd have ever noticed Juliet if Rosaline had loved him and died, instead of just rejecting him.
I wondered why I assumed that a second match meant a new love. Not all matches fall in love, though most do.
I thought about Jack and Izzy and the way that they'd seemed to be a unit, a whole, even before they'd known about the system, much as Alex and I had been, and I wondered what it would be like if this new Match of mine and I fell short of that ideal.
When I arrived at the beach I got out of my jeep and walked down towards the ocean. I saw her.
Leah was sitting just out of reach of the water and she turned when she heard me approaching her.
"You're staring again," I said, finding it funny that our conversations were settling into a pattern.
"And you're still looking back at me," she replied with only a hint of the defiance that had filled the statement when she'd made it the week before.
I won't put you through a detailed rehashing of the conversation. That would be boring and repetitive. I will say that she wasn't the only one who was surprised to note that our time together "didn't suck". I will also say that there was something heartbreaking in the way that she admitted that she couldn't keep secrets, something kind too.
I felt better after talking to her. I liked that we could still take shots at each other.
As you know, Jack called to summon me home, and when I arrived, parking behind Izzy's motorcycle, the deceptive calm of the morning came to a swift and abrupt end.
Izzy was sitting on the front porch with her head in her hands, while Jack sat next to her rubbing her back.
"What's happened?" I asked, rushing over and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Too much to go into twice," she murmured in reply. "Come with me, both of you. The Watchers will have to be alerted, and that means that your parents need to know about this now."
She led us down the main hallway back to my Father's study where he and my mother were waiting. My mother sat on the desk while my father sat in the chair behind it. the three of us, Jack, Izzy and I were piled onto the sofa in front of it with Izzy in the middle.
"So what's this about?" my mother asked anxious.
Izzy took a deep breath before answering.
"The Volturi, specifically Aro called me on the house phone at Charlie's this morning. They want to meet with the heads of the Watchers to discuss the potential for an alliance. Aro claims no specific threat that we might aid them with and seeks only our friendship and the foundations of trust between our organizations. He also requested mine and Jack's presence when they meet with the heads, as it was us who made first contact. He will allow us two weeks to discuss and coordinate then he will call again for the date of our meeting or an explanation as to why said meeting will not occur," she said, the words spilling out of her like a tipped glass, " The Watchers must be told, and whatever needs to be done about the Volturi knowing my phone number needs doing as well, because I'm just a little freaked out by that."
Immediately my father stood and walked over to the phone, where a nearby contact sheet listed the numbers of and languages spoken by the heads and the roll callers in each continent.
"Is there anything else that they should all know?" my mother asked, looking straight at me.
I'd wanted to take Izzy aside and explain on my own terms, because out of my control or not, the situation felt like I was betraying Alex. I'd lost the chance to do it right when I'd spent the week dazed and horrified by the prospect.
"I have, it seems, found a second Match. I don't know who he or she is but I can feel the beginnings of the bond when I meditate and…I think that I may have started a small earthquake last week," I said. It felt strange to admit it out loud. Wrong, I thought at the time.
I heard my Mother gasp slightly at that, and my Father looked up from the contact sheet. Izzy's face was nearly unreadable but she didn't seem upset. She just glanced up into Jack's eyes for a moment, before looking down at her hands where they rested on her lap.
Jack spoke for them, saying, " Can we leave you two to make the calls? Izzy has something else to share but is hesitant to do so with the group because of recent issues. Besides, I think a little Match and big brother time would do her some good."
"Alright," my mother started letting my father finish with, "take care of her, you two."
We walked to Jack's room and closed the door.
I sat down on the couch and the two of them settled on his bed, sitting next to each other with Izzy's head on Jack's shoulder as he held her loosely.
"What have you seen?" I asked, warily. She looked guilty.
"The girl surrounded by flames was Alex, and I wasn't seeing her the way that I thought I'd been. Her vision was playing in one of the mirrors in a dance studio that mom used to take me to in Phoenix. The last time I had a vision set there it led me to the article about the accident," she answered. She stopped to take a deep breath before continuing, "There were other visions in other archways in the mirrors; a street with cars on it and an eerie dark one that I haven't looked into. I also had this weird vision about a door that was opened just a crack. The rest of the room was dark but I heard whispering. It might be nothing, but it bears mentioning."
Part of me wanted to be angry with her, but I couldn't bring myself to yell at her. Izzy had been genuinely freaked out by the Volturi calling her at home, and she looked almost small as she sat there holding herself together. There were good reasons for holding onto the information and she'd come clean about it without needing to be coerced.
There was a long silence before Jack spoke.
"We cannot keep doing this. Hiding things and lying were never meant to be standard policies for the Watchers," he said tiredly. He wasn't mad, just overwhelmed.
"I know," Izzy replied, " I just, didn't want to hurt anyone by interpreting it wrong."
"I know but, let's promise now. No more deception, not even by omission. The future of the Watchers could depend on it."
A round of "I promise"s later had us sitting quietly wondering what to do. I made a suggestion.
"So what do we think is up with your visions, Izzy?" I asked.
"I think that I might be seeing the past. There's no telling with the street or the dark space or the whispers, but Alex is definitely in the past," she replied, " The fact that the vision of her, the street, and the darkness, are all stemming from the same vision could mean that they all are, or if they aren't all in the past, I think it means that they're related."
"You know what this means right?" Jack asked her with a small smile.
"That my power is less straight forward than I thought, because clearly I don't just see the future anymore. And that Jamie's new match had better be precognitive, because if I sleep any more than I do now, Charlie is going to think that I'm depressed again and come to kill you?" she replied in a tone so dry that the Sahara was moved to envy.
"She's not the only one whose power will be put into overdrive. I'm willing to bet that the Watchers are going to start making their way here in preparation for the meeting with the Volturi. If you ask the right questions, we could crack the lid off of this mystery," I pointed out to Jack.
"We should see if there are any other Watchers that we can trust, too, anyone with similar doubts as to the motivations of the main group for moving against the Volturi. If we can get them here sooner, we'll have more eyes and more powers to use for information gathering," Izzy added.
"So, that's it for now as far as Watchers go, right? Let all those who approve of our decided goals proclaim 'aye' three times," Jack moved.
We all did. Then I joined them on Jack's bed and the three of us let the contact, physical and mental, help to relax us.
Eventually our parents knocked on the door, and the three of us called them in.
My mother took pictures until we threatened to kick her out, but eventually she and my father told us that the Watchers would meet via conference call that night to discuss the next move and to decide which Watchers would be sent to provide extra security and to start preparation and planning in the event that they decided to meet with Volturi.
Izzy and my mother made dinner together, after giving all the men in the house a lecture on the fact that they were doing so out of a fondness for the culinary arts and not because we, as men, inherently deserved to be served.
Because of the urgency of the topics to be discussed, the Conference call started shortly after dinner.
We sat in our usual position in my father's office with the phone on speaker.
As per usual, The conference call started with a roll call, done as usual by Andrew Phillips.
"Izzy?"
She answered, "Here."
"And Jack?"
"At her side," he intoned.
"Jamie?"
"Here and with my family," I answered.
"Colby?"
A male voice with a southern accent answered, "here."
"And Haydn?"
A different male voice startled me slightly as it answered, "at his side."
There were fewer same sex Matches, but they did happen, and the Watchers were egalitarian enough that they were treated no differently from all others.
"Mac?" Andrew asked.
"Present."
And the roll continued, with Wes, my parents and a few other pairs being called before the meeting was official started, this time by my Mother.
The situation was explained, in the most clear of terms to all Watchers everywhere. It was agreed that the heads would need to take time to think and to talk amongst themselves about the specifics but that the meeting would take place, and likely somewhere near Forks, because of its small population and because of the number of available of available allies in the event that a fight broke out.
It was also agreed that more Watchers would be sent to the area for protection and so that more practical and area specific kinds of planning could start.
The discussion turned towards who would be sent.
A woman with a French accent volunteered, but she was struck down in favor of someone closer.
"Let's think practically," Andrew started before his wife and Match, Rebecca, continued, " Forks is a small town, and it might be easier to sent a younger Matched pair because they'd be easier to house, and they won't be forced away from jobs. Not only that the person will have to be there for an extended stay, less culture shock would make for an easier transition."
"Anyone specific in mind?" a woman with a Russian accent asked.
"Yes," Andrew replied, " My brother Jonathan's son and his Match, Mac and Wes, fit the bill admirably. They've been Watchers since they were fourteen, and they both have powers that could be used offensively. Wes is telekinetic, she can manipulate matter with her mind. Mac uses a special brand of empathy, he amplifies the affect music on the body, emotional, physical, all of it. Not to mention that my family has been tied to the Stevens family through bonds of friendship for longer than it bears discussing."
"We would, of course be willing to do whatever is necessary to maintain the balance and to protect our friends," Mac added, somehow managing to make his offer sound like a mandate.
"Then we have a motion. Let us join together and proclaim 'aye' three times if the will is to send Elizabeth Wesley Alders and Michael Phillips to aid in protection and planning efforts."
Three 'ayes' were intoned by the group.
"Any objections?" Wes's voice sounded almost threatening, and I feared for the life of anyone who dared object.
Happily, no one did.
"Then all are agreed. Can we also agree that the Watchers will remain in Forks for the duration of the school year, regardless of when the meeting takes place? If that is the case then the two of them could transfer and graduate from high school on time. Both of them have received acceptances to college already, and we would frown on endangering their futures," Rebecca said.
Another round of 'aye's followed.
It was agreed that transfer and travel arrangements would be made during the week, with plans for the Matched pair to arrive on the approaching Saturday.
Then the meeting was adjourned, by one of the Antarctic Watchers who was stationed in Asia, with the same warning as the meetings before.
"Uphold the balance at all costs, and keep our secrets for in them lie our safety."
One round of farewells later, we hung up the phone.
Izzy left soon after, with promises to ask Charlie about letting Wes stay with them for a while, so that Mac could use the guest room at our house. My parents had guessed that they'd send that particular Match, and our 'Match and big brother time' earlier had given them time to plan.
After Izzy left, Jack and I fell into our respective beds, exhausted.
The next morning, my parents and I decided that I should go back to school to arrange to have my homework and the powerpoints from my teacher's lectures e-mailed to me so that I could work from home.
I wasn't at full capacity, not without a fully formed bond with my new (and still unidentified) Match, but the idea that I could be needed soon made it nearly impossible for me to consider staying away.
I won't say much about my conversation with Leah that Sunday afternoon, because I've gone on for quite a bit as is, but I will say that after the hard discussions of the evening and the morning before we spoke, our easy exchange of opinions was needed, more than I can say.
It helped me, and I left her my number because I hoped that, on some level, it'd helped her too.
I'd put the few things that I was taking back with me into my jeep that morning, so when I left the beach, I turned towards the highway. As I drove back towards Seattle, I thought more seriously about my second Match and who it might be. I thought of people that I had not only met, but met and spent time with since the school year started; new people in my life with whom I'd felt comfortable. I added people to whom I'd been reintroduced, because if I'd met my second match while still matched to Alex, there would have been no reaction (because my soul was complete). It was a relatively short list, because between homework and the "family business" I didn't have much meet and greet time.
Suddenly, as I drove, it hit me.
I knew who my match was!
The girl from Geometry Class!
The ring of my cell phone interrupted my revelation. It was my mother.
"No Jamie," she said, somewhat apologetically, "it's not her. And you really should get better with remembering names. Gotta go, Dear, I'm burning dinner, bye!"
I pulled my Jeep over to side of the road before letting my head fall heavily against the steering wheel, frustrated.
It would be days of paperwork, begging teachers, explaining to roommates, and randomly asking people to meditate with me before I realized that I'd left someone off of the list
So there you go. It's Leah's turn again, and since she has just as much right to bring in a new teller as I have, I don't know for sure that I'll return after her part. Nonetheless I leave you to her tender mercies, and I look forward to telling you more when it's time.
Hey guys! I've had a lot of encouragement while working on this chapter so I'll start the author's note by thanking my readers and reviewers and reminding you all that I'm still planning to do an outtakes chapter for this fic and that the top three reviewers will get give me a prompt stating what scene that was not included in the fic that they'd like for me to write (or what p.o.v, or what scene from eclipse or breaking dawn they'd like to see remodeled to fit this au.)
To clear up confusion on where we are in the timeline, I will say that now all characters are on the same page 1 week after the action in Seattle, and Leah will likely pick up and continue from early in the week following this one. I'll work on specifying what month we're in and get back to you next authors note.
See you as soon as I can write the next chapter (give me at least a week) and I look forward to your thoughts on this chapter. as usual forgive any typos, I'm posting before running off to class.
**there was an edit on Wes's power at 1:13 pm, 1/19/10 US eastern time, if you read this before then please note the change.