I know, I know…this has been a loooong time coming. *headdesk* I've had a ton going on, and I've also got so much that I'm writing so that's why it's been forever. And I thought that once finals and all that were over I'd have more time…yeah, no. The thing is, I write when I'm supposed to be studying/doing homework(lol), so, when I'm off, I'm away from the computer more doing other things so I actually have much less time to write…which sucks. *sigh* plus, I went back to work, and we needed the help so they've been working me to death…yeah, not conducive for writing.

Anyway, finally, chapter 10. And this is for Nikki especially, who has been very patient and not murdered me yet. ^^

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Alice

"Come on, they're gonna love you. Don't worry about it."

I sighed, fidgeted with the edge of my shirt again. I still wasn't sure about it. I might should have gone with the black blouse, instead of the white… But Jasper was waiting for me, extremely impatiently.

I heard him sigh, and I felt his cool hand wrap around my wrist. "Alice, come on. It's alright."

I bit my lip, nodding as I let him pull me out the door and down the stairs. "I just…I want to make a good impression on your parents, and I haven't seen anything and…"

"And you don't like that." His voice was amused, and if it had been anyone else but Jasper I would have been annoyed. But it was Jasper, and whether he was amused or not his beautiful voice was far too entrancing.

"No. I don't."

"Well…" He slid onto his motorcycle, wrapped my arms more securely around his waist when I climbed up behind him. "Most of us go into things blind all the time. And besides I promise you, they're going to love you." He brought my palm to his lips, kissed it softly. I could feel the warmth and ease spread through me, calming me. I could never stay upset around Jasper. "Ok?"

I nodded, but said nothing, feeling a little dizzy. I buried my head against his shoulder and breathed him in, and though it did nothing to help the dizziness I still felt better. There was no where I would have rather been than with him. "Yeah. Let's go."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The Cullen's house was like nothing I had ever seen in Forks. It reminded me of some of the old houses I had seen back in Mississippi, or the kinds of things you saw on TV. Grand, powerful, so far out of the ordinary that for a moment it awed you. It was white, three stories, clearly old but well kept and extremely beautiful. It was like visiting a work of art. Very fitting, to be his home. He was a work of art in his own right, like nothing else in all the world.

He lifted me off of the motorcycle before I could even begin to get down on my own, and when I gasped in shock he grinned widely.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist."

His grin, his happiness, all of it was incredibly catching and I smiled back, leaned up as far as I could to brush a soft kiss against his lips. He froze, his hand slowly sliding to down to take mine before he pulled away. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Good. Come on." We came in through the garage door, stepping into a clean, sparkling kitchen. I could smell bread baking in the oven. Cinnamon of some kind… I took a deep breath, inhaling it. Mom hadn't baked in years. "Carlisle, Esme, we're here!" He called out into the silence, then soften his voice almost to a whisper for me. "Come on, the family 's probably in the living room."

I let him pull me through into a huge living room, a raised platform just to our right that held a gorgeous grand piano. In front of us the two that I knew must be Carlisle and Esme stood behind one of two white leather couches, smiling in such a warm way that I couldn't believe I had ever worried about meeting them. Going into this blind meant nothing, and besides that, I hadn't really been blind. The vision I had had of Edward had already told me that I would be practically part of the family…worrying had been silly.

Jasper squeezed my hand gently, took another step forward to bring us closer to his parents. "Carlisle, Esme, this is Alice." No one could have mistaken the pride in his voice, the way his chin titled up ever so slightly, just enough to give him the air of someone who knows they have something of great importance. I wasn't sure I could ever get used to that, meaning this much to him. It was everything I had ever wanted, no, more than that.

Carlisle held out his hand to me and I took it, a little surprised to find it as cold as Jasper's. "Alice. It's wonderful to meet you."

"Yes, Jasper's told us so much about you!" Esme's voice was nothing short of pure happiness, and she reached out to squeeze my shoulder gently, her hand lingering as if she already wanted to pull me into a hug.

I smiled at them both, squeezed Jasper's hand. "It's wonderful to meet you! Thank you so much for inviting me."

"That's nothing; we'll be seeing a lot of you!" My head jerked around in the direction of Emmett's voice, and I wasn't the only one. Jasper shot him a look I couldn't recognize, and for a moment I could have sworn I saw Emmett's lips moving but I heard nothing, and I knew I must have imagined it. He stopped close to us, leaning on both hands against the back of the couch. "Hey, Alice. So, did you actually get him to have fun last night?"

I looked up at Jasper, my heart warming at the slight smile that tugged at his lips. "Yeah. Yeah we had fun."

Emmett made a show of staggering sideways, his hand over his heart. "Jasper? Enjoying himself? I don't believe it."

"Emmett." Carlisle's voice was warm but somehow still a little stern, and Emmett chuckled a little before clapping a hand on Jasper's shoulder and turning quickly to fall gracefully onto the couch beside Rose, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

Rose nodded at me but said nothing, and it was only then I noticed the absence of Edward and Bella. I looked up at Jasper, questioning him with my eyes. "Are-"

"Edward and Bella will be here shortly, they-" Mid-sentence he turned, just as the front door opened. "Edward."

They came in together, Edward pulling Bella behind him. "Jasper. Alice." His voice seemed to soften on my name, folding around it with more warmth than I could ever remember anyone saying it, except for Jasper. It was wonderful.

"Hey, guys."

Edward smiled, his own genuine crooked smile, the one I had already begun to notice he so rarely used at school, and only then around Bella. I could see the difference in him, here. He was far more relaxed away from the school, far more himself. "You must forgive our late arrival; I took Bella out for lunch."

On the couch Emmett sniggered, and Jasper's head whipped around in his direction. I heard a dull thud from the same direction, but before I could turn Jasper pulled me closer to him, one hand reaching up to trace through my hair. "Would you like me to show you around?"

"Yeah. I'd like that." Esme seemed to be unable to resist squeezing my shoulder one last time, beaming from ear to ear as she looked at me. Jasper really had been right, and it reminded me of what Edward had said before, about the family being happy that Jasper and I had found each other. It seemed there had been even more truth to that than I had realized, and I knew for certain that no matter what I had seen with my own eyes, and I had not really glimpsed the depths of whatever it was that troubled Jasper. Clearly, they had, and I had somehow made it better…and if it was up to me, I would happily spend the rest of my life doing more of the same.

"Dining room." He gestured off to the side of the gigantic staircase into a room with an elegant polished wood table surrounded by chairs. It was beautiful, but before I could get a good look he was tugging me up the stairs. "Carlisle and Esme's room is down there, and Edward and Bella's is on the end…I think they have the best view, but that's probably just me." He smiled, the one that made my heart jump the most.

I felt it skip, waited for it to calm before I spoke. "And yours?"

"This way." It wasn't far. He pushed the door open slowly, and I stepped into a room with two desks, an old couch, and a couple of tall bookshelves. One desk held a computer, the other miscellaneous books and paper, and over it there was a medium sized flat screen TV hanging on the wall opposite the couch. As with every other back wall I had seen in the house, the back wall was all glass. I hadn't seen Edward and Bella's view, but I would have been willing to bet it couldn't have been much better than his.

I stepped up to the window slowly, pressed my palm against the cool pane and looked out over the flat expanse between the house and the river. Through the trees I could just see it, a sparkling, weaving sliver. "it's great."

"Glad you like it."

I could feel that he had stepped up behind me, and I turned to face him, my hands taking both of his. "I…" I was only realizing now, looking at the room from this angle. It wasn't that big, but there were some empty spaces…and there really shouldn't have been. "Do you sleep on the couch?"

His eyes flickered between me and the windows and the couch, and for a moment I couldn't read them. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, I got used to it a long time ago, haven't felt like getting a bed yet. Soon, maybe."

"You should, you'd sleep better."

He chuckled softly, ruffled my hair with one hand before pulling me in against his chest, his lips resting just against the top of my head. "I'm sure you're right."

It was so peaceful here, so silent. Best of all, this place had a feel of 'home' that my own house had long since ceased to have, and I hadn't realized until I had come here how much I had missed it. There was no sense of family at home anymore, no sense of connection. Here, it was obvious. I could have been jealous, and I guess that would have made sense, but what I felt wasn't really jealousy. That term tended to apply more to what you knew you couldn't have, but here… It was more of a sense of belonging. As if this was my place as well. Already I never wanted to leave it.

His hold on me tightened slightly, his arm sliding more securely around my waist. "What are you thinking, Alice?"

I tapped my fingers slowly against his chest before tightening them in his shirt. "That I love it here, with your family. I love them. And that…" My heart jolted, my stomach sinking as I contemplated speaking the whole truth. "I've missed…this. Family. A real home. But it's like that here, and I love it." I felt him suck in a sharp breath, and I knew he was worrying about me again. He did enough of that already. "Don't worry about it; I'm fine. Just...thank you, for bringing me here."

Before I knew it, he had scooped me up in his arms and we were sitting on the couch, me resting comfortably in his lap. I couldn't help but smile, let my head rest against his shoulder. Apparently, he liked picking me up. Not that I minded. Not at all.

"You're not fine." His voice was tense, hard, and for a moment I wished I would have never told him. Still, I knew that he was it…absolutely everything for me, now. Really, he should know it all. There should be nothing I couldn't tell him. "Alice…" he sounded hesitant, afraid, and I shifted enough to face him better, my left hand curving against his cheek to draw his eyes to mine. Yes, the worry was in them, too. "If I…told you I…." My heart beat faster as hung on his words, even more curious because he seemed so reluctant to say them. Suddenly, he shook his head, looking away. "Nevermind."

For a moment, I had been sure he was going to tell me something important. There had been an intensity to the fear in his eyes that I had never seen before, and I wanted desperately to hear what it was that frightened him, to be able to fix it. I pressed gently against his cheek, tried to make him face me again. No such luck. "Jasper…" His eyes fluttered closed, and I couldn't help but smile as he turned his head to press a kiss to my palm. "Jasper, you know you can tell me anything. Whatever it is."

"Can I?" He whispered the question aloud, but it was clear it was more for himself than it was for me. I wanted desperately to beg him to tell me, to plead in a way that made my request impossible to refuse. But I couldn't bear the tortured conflict in his eyes, and I didn't want to be the reason for it.

I pulled myself up to kiss his cheek, nuzzled against him. "Only if you want to. I trust you. Whatever it is, you can tell me when you're ready to."

He pulled me fiercely close, an intensity to his movements that I had never felt before. My breath caught in my chest as I felt his lips against my neck, roving from my jaw to my shoulder and back again before he stopped, his breath coming short against my skin. "I love you, Alice. More than I would have ever believed possible. And you know I….I would never hurt you."

The fear was still there, in his voice, but if anything I was more confused than ever. "Of course…Jasper, of course I know that."

He took a deep breath, and for a moment seemed on the verge of saying something else. Just then, however, the sounds of beautiful piano music began to drift up the stairs. He tensed, left one last kiss against my jaw before easing the tight grip he had had on me, pulling his head up from where it was buried against my neck. "Edward's playing. You should go listen; he's wonderful."

Yes, the music did sound magnificent, but if I had had the choice I would have rather finished our conversation. Still, I knew that now, that wasn't an option. I ran my fingers through his hair, linked my arms around his neck to show him he didn't have to put me down, not if he didn't want to. "Alright. Let's go listen."

He smiled, though it was still more subdued than he had seemed before. Whatever it was that he had been on the verge of telling me was clearly going to be staying on his mind for awhile. He stood, holding me easily in his arms as we went down the stairs and into the entrance hall. He sat me down behind the piano, and though I loved standing there next to him, the feeling of ease that I had had from the moment I met Edward and saw my first glimpse of our future took over and I slid onto the seat next to him, eyes on his hands. "You're incredible."

He smirked, chuckled softly. "Thank you." The notes trilled out a new melody, this one less decisive. The other had been slow, beautifully breathtaking. This was different, uncertain, notes barely joined together as if they were ready to head off in their own directions. "What would you like to hear?"

"Hmm….Billy Joel?"

"Excellent choice." Even as he murmured the words, he was already starting into the opening bars of Piano Man. It was flawless, incredible. Hearing it, I would have never believed that it wasn't the background recording for the original song.

"Wow, that…that really is amazing, Edward. I've never seen anyone play so fast." At my words his hands slowed, barely.

"Lots of practice."

"I'd say. Have you ever played in competitions, that sort of thing?"

He shook his head. "No, not my cup of tea. I play only for myself, and my family." He nodded his head in their direction, his fingers still fluid on the keys, never skipping a note. "And you, do you play?"

I laughed softly, shook my head. "Nope. My mother tried to get me to, when I was really little, but I could never focus on it, I wasn't interested. So, I took dance instead but even that didn't last long. Then soccer…that didn't either."

His laugh was warm and genuine, his eyes leaving the keys to lock with mine. They sparkled, a warm butterscotch. "Short attention span?"

"Only for some things."

My heart skipped as familiar cool, sure hands slipped over my shoulders, rubbing gently. "I'd like to steal you back now."

I leaned back, my heart kicking into overdrive again as my head came to rest against his chest. "I'm not sure if you can."

"Oh, I can." Before I knew it, his lips were at my ear. "Should I carry you, or will you walk?"

I stood quickly, smiling as I took his hand. "Walk, this time." Before I could even think twice about the action my hand was out, gripping Edward's shoulder. "Thanks for the music, Edward."

"Anytime."

Jasper was tugging me insistently away and I let him, followed him into the now empty living room to curl up on one of the couches. He pulled me gently against his chest, almost instantly pulling a blanket down from the back and draping it over us. "Is there anything in particular you would like to watch? Well, anything that's come on lately that might be on the hard drive….we have a huge selection of movies, but we'll have to get up to look at those."

Getting up was definitely the number one thing I didn't want to do at the moment, and at even the thought my arms tightened around his chest. Uh-uh. He was staying right here. We could watch Orange County Choppers for all I cared so long as I got to stay like this with him. Curled up so close, his body against mine….it was perfection. "I don't know. Pick something. Anything."

"You know, you made them so happy, coming over on Saturday. They'll want to see you more often."

That was definitely a good thing, being loved by his parents. If I was ever going to be part of the family, that was the first step. Eventually, I had every intention of being part of the family. I knew from the vision I had seen, from what I felt when we were together…there was no other man for me but Jasper. He was my soul mate, beyond all doubt. "Well, I loved meeting them. They're wonderful people."

Behind us, there was a thud, a yell, and then…

I had never seen him like this, could have never imagined it. I was right to see him as otherworldly, however…as his beauty always defied description, so the terror he could have inspired did now. His eyes were black, every muscle in his body flexed.

I could feel my breath quickening, my own eyes wide as I tore my eyes away from his dark eyes to the boy who had fallen backwards off the stone table, the way his head was bleeding onto the sidewalk.

"Go, Alice." The low growl in his voice was enough to make my heart stutter to a stop, my breath catching in my chest. His hands were shaking, and one of the bricks on the ledge beside him came away from the mortar under his crushing grip. "Go."

"Jasper…"

He snarled, and I could see a hundred different emotions in his eyes. "Go."

I wasn't the only one watching him, now. Others were staring, inching back from his clearly dangerous anger. Where he came from I couldn't see but Edward barreled into him from behind, locking his arms behind his back. I was close enough to catch only the words "breathe" "Jasper" and "blood", and I wasn't at all sure those were in sequence.

The noise he made was far closer to an animal than a man, then-

My hand shot up to press against my temple, fighting the sudden onslaught of what felt like a migraine. The vision had blurred, as if it were a Polaroid being pulled in two directions; water being dripped down the middle of the surface before the picture had developed. For the moment before it passed the headache was all I could think about, and so it was a moment before I realized the two most important things.

First, Jasper was panicking. "Alice? Honey? Alice!"

Still a little woozy, I held up a hand to stop his questions. His grip on me didn't loosen, but the terror in his eyes seemed to diminish marginally. "I'm fine, Jasper. Just a vision. And a headache. That's never happened before…"

His cool hand swept against my forehead, pressing against the skin, his brow furrowing in concentration. "I think you should lie down. I can ask Carlisle-"

"No!" I took a deep breath, forced down the instinctive terror that came with the thought of anyone knowing anything remotely connected to my visions. They couldn't know, otherwise I would become the 'crazy' that was dating their son…and I would much rather them keep on thinking I was good for him. "No, I'm fine. Maybe I could just lay down for a minute…" No sooner said than done. I was stretched out full length on the couch and he knelt on the floor, his hand still against my forehead.

"Are you sure I can't-"

"It's fine, really." Even with my mind swirling with the images from the vision, my need for him had not in the slightest diminished. "You could come back up here and hold me…" I left the question open, hoping he would take it.

He did, and I sighed with relief to feel his body molding against mine from behind, pulling me close. "Are you sure you're-"

"Jasper." My voice was only slightly exasperated, but I could feel his surrender. I was grateful, because I desperately needed him to stop talking. Because second to him panicking, there was the other extremely important thing I had realized.

If I didn't stop him, tomorrow Jasper was going to show a whole crowd of people that he wasn't human.

He wasn't human. Jasper wasn't human. It had been obvious, from what I saw, but somehow that news hadn't really shocked me. It wasn't as if he was normal, really. If he had been, then I would have been surprised. As it was… Well, it wasn't really startling. Not that part, at least.

But the rest…

Now that my head was a little clear, the headache fading, it snapped together easily. Far, far too easily. He never ate. His skin was ice cold. He had super strength. It was the fall that had set off the change in him, and Edward had said something about blood…

"Alice? What did you see?"

I jerked in his arms at the words, startled by the sound. I had been so lost in my own revelations, I had all but forgotten he was there. "I…" You're a vampire. He's a vampire. Jasper… I should tell him, really I should. Whatever I said or didn't say, I certainly couldn't let him be outside at that time tomorrow. But no matter how much I told myself I should just spit it out, my throat seemed sealed shut. I had only just figured it out for myself, my head was still spinning with it. I wasn't ready to share this information, not yet. Especially not when I knew he would probably flip out.

I could almost feel another lightbulb going off over my head at that thought, and I wondered how many revelations I could have in the span of ten minutes before my head exploded. This had to be what he had been on the verge of telling me, the secret that had him worried. Well, it made sense. For most people. Me, I had already seen at least a little farther into the future, and I knew what I had felt. I belonged with him, whatever he was. Was I nervous, startled, shocked, afraid for him? Yes, to all of the above. But not for myself, and I wouldn't have him thinking I was. I'd have to find a way to tell him I knew, but it wasn't going to be right now.

"It's…nothing important." I hated lying to him. I hadn't done it before, and now that I was I felt sick. I turned in his arms, buried my face against his chest. "Can we just rest for a bit?"

I could feel his hesitation, and I was I knew that he was aware I was hiding something. Still, he didn't push it. His hands smoothed gently down my back, his lips brushing against my forehead. "Of course. Just rest, sweetheart. Sleep."

Now tha t he mentioned it, I was actually really sleepy. I nuzzled even closer to him, let my head rest in the hollow of his throat. The last conscious thought I had before I fell asleep was that though the shoulder I rested my head on was rock hard, I had never been more comfortable in all my life.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Wow, this chapter took unbelievable long to write.

Blame the clinic I work at…they're killing me. X.X