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Chapter Ten

Some Things Are Meant To Be

I heard the door start to creak open and I couldn't help but shift so I was standing in front of Alice. I knew there was no actual need to protect her, but I could never quite help myself in that respect.

A split second later the door opened fully and behind it stood two vampires, a tall blond man and a sweet looking woman with a heart shaped face. I could feel curiosity coming in waves from the man and nothing but kindness coming from the woman. She didn't know us, but she seemed like she wanted nothing more in the world than to invite us in and offer us whatever we might need.

Before I had the chance to say anything Alice stepped, or more like bounced, forward and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Alice and this is Jasper. I'm so excited to meet you both! I can't believe we're finally here!" Without waiting to be invited, without stopping to ask, either, she bounded forwards, past the two vampires and into the house.

"Alice..." I called out her name tentatively. I looked over at the other two and wanted to explain, but I wasn't exactly sure how.

Then the woman did something unexpected - she smiled. She then turned to the man beside her. "Friends of yours, Carlisle?"

The man, Carlisle, shook his head. "No."

At the back of the very large living room - what she was doing there I don't know, Alice dipped her head momentarily."Sorry! I got so excited, I forgot!" She bounced back over to me and dragged me inside. She sat down on the couch in the middle of the very large room and tried to make me sit next to her, but I remained standing. I was not yet nearly as comfortable here as she so obviously was. That and with the emotions coming from Carlisle and the woman, I wasn't sure, regardless of what Alice had seen, how long we would be staying.

The other two stared at Alice for a moment before the woman smiled again and quietly closed the front door. She gently took Carlisle's hand in her own and immediately I could tell how much calmer he felt. It would have been fairly obvious even without my gift. Then I understood, the two of them were mates. And if he was Carlisle, then from what Alice had told me, that meant she must have been Esme.

They walked over to us and there was a brief awkward pause before Alice spoke up again."Carlisle, Esme." The second she spoke their names, I could tell this wouldn't go well. Carlisle didn't show any outward signs, but he was starting to feel very wary of a girl he'd never met before knowing his name. Esme still radiated nothing but kindness, but it was a little more guarded now.

I put a hand on Alice's shoulder and sent out a wave of calm. It worked fairly well on the other two, but Alice was still as excited - and nervous - as ever. "Maybe I can explain things a little here. You see, Alice has a gift. She can see the future and she's seen us join your coven."

Before anyone else could say anything, another vampire, this one about seventeen, walked down the stairs from the second floor. "He's telling the truth," was all he said.

Alice got a strange look on her face then and spun to face the other boy. "Hi, Edward."

Edward nodded. "Alice."

He walked the rest of the way down the stairs and over to us."You two have been looking for us a very long time." Now it was my turn to be confused. He spoke like he already knew us.

"Are you..." I started to ask if he was like Alice, if maybe he'd seen us coming, though if he had, it made me wonder why Carlisle and Esme seemed so confused by our arrival. Maybe he'd seen it, but had kept the information to himself?

Alice laughed then, bringing me out of my thoughts."He's not like me. But he is gifted. He can read minds."

I looked to Edward and he nodded.

All I could think to say was, "Oh." I wasn't entirely sure I liked the emotions I was getting from Edward. From what Alice had told me, he was the only one of the coven without a mate and he had a similar gift to hers...

I took a step closer to Alice and stared pointedly at Edward. I flexed my hands, cracking my knuckles.

Edward rolled his eyes and suddenly I could hear his voice in my head. Relax. I'm no threat to you. I looked him up and down and supposed he wasn't. I put my hands back down at my sides.

"Next time, just speak out loud please." I did not like that he had such easy access to my mind. It was unnerving to say the least.

Carlisle smiled and when he spoke it was quiet."You get used to that."

Then another voice spoke up."No, you really don't." There was a lightly teasing tone to his words. And I could tell from the sort of easy going, care free feeling he was emitting that he was a very good natured sort of person. Without looking, I knew it must have been Emmett. I turned around to see a tall, well muscled vampire come sauntering into the living room. He looked like I would have expected him to, tall, well muscled and typically attractive. He sat down on the edge of the couch Alice was sitting on and smiled easily at both me and at Alice.

"Hey. Nice to meet you both. I'm Emmett." Then he turned to face Carlisle. "Why did no one tell me we were having company?" He spun again to face Alice."No one ever tells me anything around here."

Edward rolled his eyes again, something he seemed to do a lot, and said, "No one told you because no one knew they were coming." He then paused and looked towards the stairs for a moment before adding, "And Rose would like you to know that even if we had known and had told you, you probably wouldn't have remembered anyway, so it isn't like it really matters."

Emmett laughed and hollered,"What? You couldn't say that to my face?"

A split second later a rather beautiful, tall blond vampire, Rosalie no doubt - not that it was hard to guess, what with her being the only one left to make an appearance, was standing at Emmet's side. "Wasn't me." She looked over at Edward. "He made it up."

"Did not." Edward countered. Somehow, even while teasing, Edward still managed to look sulky and brooding.

Emmett shrugged."So...who are you exactly?"

Rosalie punched Emmett in the arm."What kind of a question is that?" There was a bluntness, a sharpness to Rosalie that I couldn't help but respect. However, at the same time, I couldn't help but wonder how she was mated with someone like Emmett, they were such opposites. She was tightly wound, all edges, and he was very calm, almost, soft in a sense.

Again, I could hear Edward's voice in my head. I know, I don't get it either.

I turned and glared at him. He just shrugged and grinned, like he hadn't done anything.

Alice grinned and giggled. I don't think I'd ever felt so much happiness coming from her. And suddenly I understood. She'd seen this, exactly this. She knew how well, and how quickly, we'd fit in here. I wanted to show her how pleased I was, how happy I was that this was all working out like she'd hoped, but I wasn't sure how to do it in front of the others.

"Well, I would suggest that we put it to a vote, but..." Carlisle shrugged. "I doubt we need to. You can stay here, become a part of our family if you wish to."

Alice's face lit up like a little kid at Christmas. "Really? You mean it?" She looked around at all the others. They all nodded.

Alice got to her feet and charged over to Carlisle. She leapt at him and caught him up in a big bear hug, almost knocking him off his feet, something that considering her all of four foot eleven stature, was quite funny to see. And I wasn't the only one laughing.

Alice jumped down and turned on me. She walked over slowly, at an almost human speed and said "What?" She tried to look imposing, but it didn't quite work. Not that she wasn't capable of looking imposing, but at the moment she wasn't having much luck reigning in her smile. So the fierce look didn't quite work as she intended.

"You always knew this was what would happen, huh? Even when things were dark... even when I left..."

"I hoped so, yes," she said softly.

"Will someone please explain what exactly is going on?" Emmett said, though it sounded more like a whine.

Alice turned to face him and said, "Sure, I'll tell you the story, if you would like to hear it."

"I think we would all like that very much Alice," said Esme. She had this way of smiling so softly it almost made anyone on the receiving end of the smile melt just a little on the inside.

Alice and I walked back over to the couch and sat down. The others gathered around, sitting or standing nearby. I held her hands in mine and gave them a small squeeze as she started telling the story of how we'd met about two years ago and everything that had happened since that day.