AN: Sorry Sorry :-( Life has been throwing snowballs at me and I have been having difficulty dodging them, that and writers block decided to visit for a bit… and then left suddenly at 3:00 in the morning…yup! I wrote all of this last night/this morning… and looked it over this afternoon. So sorry this is late. I think giving myself deadlines is almost pointless sometimes… anywho, hope y'all enjoy! Lots of Alice/Bella bonding before brooding Edward comes back (say that ten times fast)

Disclaimer 1: I (DOS-L) do not own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does…

Disclaimer 2: I (Alice Cullen) do not own Edwards explanation of Vampires to Bella, but because Edward is currently gone, and I'm taking the time to befriend Bella and help her slowly into the Vampire world before she becomes one fully, I am using some of them, though presenting the few that I'm using in my own format… please, please forgive me *gives puppy dog look* Don't worry, Edward will still have his fair share of explaining to do ;-)

Pity the Human

BPOV

The rest of the week went rather smoothly. Alice backed off, maybe she knew I needed time to process everything… maybe she "saw" that I needed time to process everything. She would still smile at me every chance she got. The magnetic pull inside of my head was often if not always, to varying degrees, directed her way. It made me wonder how many different things a vampire could think about at the same time.

Edward was gone for the rest of the week of course, and the glares of anger, that came from the Cullen table on Wednesday, became looks of pity on Thursday, and finally grimaces of understanding on Friday. Perhaps Alice broke down and told them that I was different, or maybe they noticed differences themselves after all of that glaring. I didn't know. I could only assume that the vampire doctor knew at this point as well, if they did.

In school, Jessica's incessant chatter became a buzz in the background only requiring head nods and mumbles of agreement to placate her. The three boys that seemed to follow me wherever I went, almost always had my internal compass pointing at them when they were around me, it was nothing if not, unnerving.

I had never had problems with boys before. Back in Arizona, to be around me, was social suicide, as all newcomers learned. And social suicide wasn't worth it if I didn't pay any attention to you anyways. They'd look, they'd listen, then they would understand that I was different, and its only human to avoid what you don't understand. Along with the attention I seemed to garner from the boys, Lauren's looks of jealousy became looks of disdain and disgust, and hatred even. If only the shiny new toy syndrome would wear off. But there was one girl who didn't seem to judge me, or even the Cullens really.

Angela seemed like one of the last good people in existence. She made up for the ridiculousness of the rest… made humanity seem like it still had compassion… that not everything was about popularity and backstabbing bitches or getting laid. Angela was nice… as was the boy that was constantly staring at her from a few tables down, always looking down at his trig book when she looked his way.

Perhaps, not all was lost in today's world.

Charlie and I still managed a quite coexistence as we had every summer. At dinner, Charlie would always ask me how may day had gone, and I in turn asked how his went. Our conversations were short, the appreciation of our similar personalities, was always there, and had it not been for the existence of vampire's, we'd likely live this way for the next year and a half, or whenever Renee and Phil settled down

But inevitably, and all to quickly, the simplicity of my life came to an end when Alice informed me after school on Friday, that she would pick me up ten minutes after I got home. Just enough time to get ready. I had just finished putting some leftovers in the fridge with directions, a microwave time, when she knocked… she actually knocked this time. I smiled at that, for some reason. I put on my jacket and grabbed my hardly used purse and opened the door to a smiling Alice, again, it was the calming smile, the friendly one.

"Hi Bella!" I looked at the car and raised an eyebrow. "The BMW we've been driving to school is Rosalie's, and she dropped me off at the hospital to get Carlisle's car to come pick you up. She'll pick him up later." Her grin was practically contagious. She turned and motioned me forward and hopped in the drivers side as I got in the passengers side and buckled my seatbelt.

She was still smiling… and I noticed, her calming smile, it was the same one that had made me nervous earlier. The smile hadn't changed, that was just Alice, but how I saw it had changed… the voice in the back of my head that had told me to run had not resurfaced. My arm was supposed to hurt more when something dangerous was around, yet it almost seemed to hurt less in her presence… perhaps my sense of Self Preservation had truly died. Though I didn't think it was something I should mourn.

Then I looked at the Speedometer. I hadn't even realized she had pulled out of the driveway.

"Holy Crow, Slow Down!" Alice looked at me,

"What?"

"Too Fast!" She mumbled something, then more clearly,

"Don't worry, Vampires have excellent eye sight and extraordinary reflexes, 100 mph is not fast for us… I can run faster than this." My mouth was open as I gaped at her. She sighed, and the needle moved to Eighty… I could deal with Eighty, even though that was still well over the speed limit, it was a compromise… one that likely would have occurred verbally with anyone else… any other vampire that is.

"Thank you."

"Esme and sometimes Carlisle, are the only one's who find driving at this speed still practical, but Carlisle works at the hospital, and Esme helps out some in the community, and of course she has to go grocery shopping every once and a while, to keep up appearances, though with you hanging around… if you want, Esme would love to cook for you, I'm sure." She had said it all without taking a breath, and the resounding silence was deafening. I wasn't quite ready for hanging out with Vampire mom just yet.

"So, um… what do you do with it all?"

"We donate it to different charity organizations," I nodded my head in approval, at least they didn't let things go to waste, and it was incredibly good natured of them, "Because of my slight shopping addiction, we hardly wear anything more than once or twice, so all of the clothes go to places like goodwill or the salvation army." I began wondering just how "loaded" the Cullen's were.

"How…" I wasn't going to use that exact phrasing but Alice already saw that one coming, I guess.

"The stock market is an excellent investment when you can see where things are going to end up before they do." And considering Carlisle was a doctor… very "loaded".

"Don't worry Bella, we don't hoard. We live forever you know, there's no reason to be greedy… although we are extraordinarily well off as is. I could show you our portfolios, but the numbers would probably scare you."

"Yeah, I think I'll pass." We both chuckled, though hers was a bell like laugh. It was quiet for a bit, which surprised me some… until she burst out giggling, like a symphony of bells. Her phone was at her ear in an instant.

"Esme, he's coming home, I'll be there about ten minutes before he gets back." There was some mumbling on the other side to which I couldn't make out. "Alright." And then the phone was gone.

"Just to let you know, Edward will be back on Monday."

"Okay… is he…" I had managed to keep thinking about him to a minimum. But whenever I did, it almost seemed like my thoughts jumped ship, got into another lane, got into another car altogether. It was unnerving.

"He'll be okay, like I said, he just had to sort a few things out… speaking of which, what happened in Biology If I may ask?" I'm not sure if I would have answered her anyway, because I didn't know, I thought she would have… but as I looked out the window, only one thing came to mind.

"Why are we not stopping…?" I looked at the clock, "And how did we get here so fast?" She grimaced slightly.

"Oh, um… I may have slightly lied to your father, but I told you we were going to Seattle, for a late night shop, and as for how we got to Port Angeles so quickly… I'm going much faster than Eighty when your not paying attention." I wasn't amused, but I was thankful for her honesty… so I just decided to quell my instinctual fear of speed and decided to just not pay attention.

"Excellent! We will get there much sooner that way." That was the idea. It was quiet once again, and I almost asked if we could turn the radio on, but Alice spoke up.

"I'm sorry I seemed so… hyper, at first." I smiled, and attempted not to laugh. Hyper was a huge understatement. "It's just… you know how when you've read a good book and you hear that it has a sequels coming out?" I nodded my head, one could tend to be impatient waiting for sequels. "You're impatient for it to come out, so that you can read more about the characters and what they're going to do next, and when you get it, you start reading really fast from excitement, but then you realize, you can only read it the first time once, so you slow down and enjoy it, and pray to god it doesn't disappoint… it's kind of like that."

It made sense it a strange kind of way, and it was even more strange that Alice had found an analogy that would make sense to me… but again, this was Alice,

"So what… this is a Sequel then?" I asked her. She smiled and contemplated it,

"I guess… something like that anyway." She turned on the radio, but it was on softly.

"Thanks!"

"Yep, but you never did answer the question." I sighed,

"Didn't Edward tell you?" I was instantly confused by my own statement, or rather my increased heart rate. Alice laughed, whether at my reaction or at my assumption, I couldn't be sure.

"No, he took of pretty quick, not a word, and not a decision, other than to come back, either." She sounded disgruntled, I laughed at it… then she laughed at it too.

"I don't honestly know. What I do know is that my scar started… pulsing, to the point of pain, and when Edward touched me, it seemed to dissipate and left a… pleasant thrum in its place while we were still touching."

"Then why were both of your arms locked in place in front of your chest… it didn't look like pain at first." So she had seen it… I dropped my head into my hands in embarrassment. I decided to tell her, hoping that maybe, I wouldn't have to say it out loud. I waited a moment before I heard the muffled ringing that was her laugh.

"Out loud Bella, it will be good to get it off of your chest."

"Itwassoididn'ttouchhim."

"I take it you were resisting an all powerful need then?" She asked, a smile clearly in her voice.

"Yes, and I didn't fail, he did… enough about me, tell me more about you then." I asked her hoping desperately to get the topic off of me. I really didn't want to talk about me anymore. She sighed… giving in, thankfully.

"What do you want to know?" I wanted to know a lot of things, but the first thing that came to mind was why the Cullen's looked at me with pity,

"Did you tell everyone?"

"Just Carlisle at first, he wanted to know why I was so insistent that my best friend was a human, the others wanted to know, so I told my siblings to look at you, pay attention to you… they noticed. And I told them a few things, they figured out some on their own after that. We'll try to block him, but it's inevitable that Edward will know."

"Block him?" She turned to face me fully, her grin like that of the Cheshire cat.

"That is for him to tell you, not me… though I will give you the hint."

"Okay."

"I'm not the only Vampire that has a special ability. Jasper, my husband…"

"Wait, husband?"

"Yes, Rose and Emmett are married as well."

"Huh… I knew Vampires had mates, but I never thought about…" I trailed off,

"A lot don't. Most don't, but because of how we live, Esme and Carlisle did, so have the rest of us… except Edward of course." Just that little fact, the fact that the mated couples had married, made them seem just a little more human. The next question was based off an errant thought that I managed to grab and mangle before it made it's way out of my lips. I was not going to ask that! Alice was smirking which made me wonder if she had already seen the question, and then me deciding not to say it… Alice was making me question a lot of things. I almost wished I could read her mind, just to know what I was dealing with. But somehow, I knew that would not be a pleasant experience.

"So you were in the middle of giving me a hint?"

"Yes but you made a hint of your own, of a different sort back on Tuesday, I had almost forgotten." What a pain it must be to live forever and forget so much, unless they didn't and Alice was pulling my leg. She turned the music up higher for a while, as I tried to think about what I had said on Tuesday… for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. What hint?

"We're here!" I looked up, I hadn't felt the car stop. It was so odd how time flew when you were thinking, then I looked at the clock and decided that we must have almost, flown ourselves. It had taken less than half the time to get here than it should have.

Shopping with Alice had been far less stressful than clothes shopping with my mother. I saw the signs for the places we went into, and they weren't places I would normally go, but Alice threw stuff at me to try on, and said she'd decided what to get and told me I could look at the selection tomorrow morning. I gritted my teeth in frustration, I was going to see what I was getting before I paid for it.

Over all it was a slightly dizzying process, quick and precise, though it occurred multiple times in multiple stores. I didn't even think about checking the price tags, a lot of the stuff I would never wear, and the stuff I would was probably way too expensive. I don't know what Alice was up to, but surely she knew that I didn't need all of this… a simple trip to Wall-mart or K-mart would have sufficed, maybe even JC Penney's, or Kohl's during clearance, at the most… but not all this brand name stuff. Every time I changed back into my clothes, she already had stuff in bags. I would repay her later. When she took me to the food court, she whipped out her credit card and told me,

"Get over it Bella, I told you I was paying for this." I muttered a few choice explicative's, in my head only, as I'm sure my current demeanor said enough. She, frustratingly although not surprisingly, pretended I was actually happy she was paying for this. HAH! Yeah right. At least she kept the torture down to a minimum.

After eating my Pizza, she dragged me, yes, dragged me, into Victoria's Secret. I did not dare under any circumstances look into the mirror, I could not stand seeing my scar, nor could I stand to see myself exposed in my underwear. As always Alice was quick about it, leaving little time for my blush to blossom under her scrutiny, except for once,

"Definitely likes that color Blue on you." My blush was immediate, under her smirk and appreciative gaze. "Don't worry Bella, you won't be using this for a while, but I want you to have it for when you do." I didn't want to ask how she knew that… nor who she was talking about… even though a new subconscious voice was ramming the name in my face… I ignored it.

"Oh… Okay." I swallowed. That was the only lacy bra she got me. The rest were normal… who knew Victoria's Secret had normal bra's? After our trip through VS, Alice was merciful and before I could begin to whine about my feet hurting and being tired she told me to grab a few bags, and she grabbed the rest, it was quite a lot… more than I needed, and more than I could ever pay for, not that I could ever tell how much it was. She had ripped all the price tags off… Little Pixie!

Why did I agree to this?

Oh, right, so that I could find out more about vampires… though I really hadn't found out that much, I hadn't really found that much about Alice either, yet.

We were back in the car, and Alice turned the radio down again, I didn't have to ask. She gave in and told me that Jasper was an empath, that he could feel others emotions, and influence them as well. She told me that when he was human, before he had been changed, he had been a charismatic soldier who had quickly made it to the rank of Major.

"Carlisle has a theory about it, that maybe we bring our strongest human traits into this life, and they expand even further, like everything else does… our speed, our strength, our emotions, Jazz has told us many times that Human feelings are much weaker than Vampire feelings. Humans are easier to manipulate… every so often he and the boys get a good laugh or two from it, and always get whacked in the head by the women of the house thereafter." I chuckled at that, it just seemed so… Alice. Though I still didn't understand how Telling me about Jasper was a hint about "blocking Edward," though I knew I would get no more out of her. So instead I asked her, what she had been as a human…

"I don't know." She remembered nothing of her human life, It was just a blank slate.

We had both slipped into our own thoughts. She had managed to tell me a lot about while skirting some of the more Vampiric issues, I didn't press it, not yet anyway… Alice had said we would be great friends; to be honest, I didn't doubt that anymore. That just meant there would be more time to find things out, and I was almost positive, that I would find them out... eventually. I was pulled into darkness unknowingly and was awoken while dreaming of an Alice coo coo clock, saying "Shopping, Shopping". I've always had strange dreams.

"What?" I mumbled.

"I called Charlie earlier, it's 11:30, he waited up for you, I'll go in with you and bring up a few bags, I'll bring in the rest through your window. I didn't think about how Charlie would react to all of this, but apparently he would freak, he doesn't know me well enough yet, so we're keeping most of this under the radar."

"My window Squeaks."

"I know, it'll be taken care of." She pulled me up, I was dead on my feet. Shopping had worn me out. Alice came in and out saying good night to Charlie as I took a few minutes to be Human. I opened the door after my nightly ritual minus the shower was completed, I would take one in the morning.

"Did you have fun?" My dad asked. I thought about it…

"Surprisingly yes, though not the shopping part, just the hanging out part." He laughed tiredly.

"Sleep in kid."

"Thanks dad." I went into my room closing the door behind me, changed, and climbed into bed. I felt short cool breeze on my face as I close my eye's, then a cold kiss on my forehead.

"Good night Bella."

"Night Alice."

And I fell into sweet oblivion.

AN: Whoo… that was a wee bit longer than I was expecting. Edward returns home next chapter YAY! Going to be Edward POV… Possibly some Esme Point of view to start us off… we'll see... R and R!