All Things Twilight belong to the Fantastic Stephenie Meyer - 69 Day's till Breaking Dawn!!

Songs For Thought:

Citizen Erased - Muse, Feeling Good - Muse, Stare - Marjorie Fair.

Chapter Twelve - The Beauty of Silence.

The ride home was quiet but comfortably so. Rosalie was happy, she'd had fun and we were feeling more like a family than any of us had since leaving Forks. We'd made it back to Biloxi before the sun had begun to rear it's head.

We were trapped in the Casino for another week and a half before we were graced with bad weather again. Rosalie and I had gone to my grave after I had shown her the pictures and explained about Angel. She was amazed to see the similarities between the two of us. She knew she still had some living relatives because of her brothers but she had never investigated it further because it was too painful for her. They had what she'd always wanted, a family. As much as she loved Emmett her yearning for a child sometimes put her in a baleful mood and she would disappear for days on end. Emmett would be the only one who could talk to her.

Rose and I had played down in the Casino's some more, she liked me to play roulette and she often played with me. We could get an entire Casino involved in the game, once the winning streak would start, the bets would all be on the same as I had picked. If it got to be too much I would sometimes lose and give the Casino a nice little pay off.

The four of us would play on the beach in the early evening when a small amount of light played on the horizon. Rosalie hated getting her hair wet in salt water but Emmett took great delight in throwing her as far as he could into the water. She would feign anger and the plot Emmett's demise. We had, on occasion, successfully executed her plans, he would never see it coming.

I was biding my time until I could get to the library, I was sure whatever was in there wouldn't really change all that much, but I knew that it would complete the story and fill in more of the holes. I called Angel a couple of times and she walked me through some of the things she'd found out through her research.

My death seemed to be a mystery, no one was sure what had happened and the staff had been despondent about the facts surround the fire and my death. Angel had told me that it was my sister Cynthia that had changed the date on my tombstone to the one of my admission date to the hospital, it was because she blamed them for my death. She hated the fact that our parents had put me in there in the first place, she had visited me a couple of times whilst had been in there and she had noticed that I had become almost catatonic. This was apparently difficult for her because our relationship had been so full and playful. We were sisters in the truest sense. She had looked up to me. This was hard for me to hear because while she was suffering, I went on with life as a vampire and found a family that I truly loved and respected, and a man I providentially shared my soul with.

Jasper, who had been seated by my side during the entire conversation would rub my back in a gentle and supportive manner. He had been my strength through the entire experience and I wouldn't have known what to do without him. He was so perfect in so many ways I was glad I waited for him as long as I did, because I appreciated him so much more for it.

Rosalie was almost as happy as I was when we were graced with the rainstorm, it was going to be a full day of clouded cover and heavy rain. She wasn't so keen on the rain but she would be out in the day lit hours so she would take it gracefully and go sightseeing. Being a socialite in New York during her human life and living in more overcast areas as a vampire hadn't afforded her a chance to travel to the south. I don't think she'd ever really considered it before. She seemed to be enjoying it.

I was headed to the library, I wanted to find the microfiche's that Angel had told me about, I was hoping to fill in some of the holes that were in my history. We arrived in a break in the storm, the smell of wet soil greeted us, the library was an older building that had lost some of it's magnificence due to hurricanes and time, but it was still a welcome site. Jasper and I headed towards the department we needed, Angel had given me the dates and the file numbers I needed so a large amount of searching wouldn't be required, although I was hoping to do some scanning to see if anyone had noticed that a member of the hospital staff had been missing.

Jasper and I worked as a team, he would find what I needed and I looked through them. I found my parents engagement, my birth, my death, Cynthia's birth and death and Cynthia's engagement.

It was obvious without looking too deeply that my parents hadn't been a part of the social circles in Biloxi. Any social or charity events held no mention of their name. It was strange to know that they were just normal people living a normal life, when all I could remember of mine had been so different.

All of the information I found around my death was vague. No one could be sure what happened. It reported that there had been a small contained fire in the solitary ward, three cells had been burned and the occupants had not escaped. No bodies were found due to the intensity of the fire. It seemed that the hospital had rebuilt this within a year of the occurrence. There had been a little investigation about how a fire could break out in an area of the hospital where the patients had no personal items and had only a bed in the cells, they eventually put it down to an electrical fault.

There were still no definitive answers, which I had expected, but I was still a little disappointed. The only thing that really caught my attention was the fact that there was a third room in the hospital that had been destroyed by the fire. It didn't say whether or not it had been inhabited.

New thought patterns began running through my mind, the what ifs were too numerous to count but I couldn't help the most predominant of these surfacing, I used Jasper as a sounding board.

He'd been searching for something regarding my parents, but that was no longer my main concern.

"Jasper, do you see this?" I asked. I had pulled up the fire article once again and I had zoomed into the paragraph containing the three rooms.

"The fire?"

I was beginning to think I was looking too much into it, but I had to say what was on my mind. "No, the three cells, only three room were decimated in that fire, but why only three rooms? It says here that there were ten rooms in the solitary wing."

"Hmm. Does it say whether or not anyone was in there?"

"Nope."

"What time was the fire started?"

"Well, it say in the reports that the first sign of smoke was at, three am. Which means, I'm sure, that it was between rounds and there was no one about."

"So you're think that maybe, the third cell was the vampire that saved you?"

"It's an option."

"But why would he be in there?"

"I thought about that and the only conclusion I could come to is that maybe he was like Carlisle. Maybe he didn't want to drink human blood, but he couldn't fight the temptation. So he commits himself into an asylum where he's locked in a room." I said thinking of the chances this could in fact be right. If it was, in fact, what happened, it would mean my creator would be traceable.

"Wouldn't it be harder around so many humans?" he paused seeing the disappointment on my face. "Alice, I understand that you want to find out who helped you all those years ago but I honestly can't say that I would think being locked away would help someone abstain from feeding from humans, especially without access to a food source."

I thought about it and realized he was right. The thirst would drive any vampire insane. I nodded and stared at my hands, I had, for a second, had hope. Jasper kneeled before me and lifted my chin gently with his fingers so he could look into my eyes. As much as I wanted it to be true I knew that I'd told Jasper this because of his impeccable honesty. I knew that he would be honest and tell me if I was reaching too far. but I had held onto that hope with such ferocity that it hurt a little bit when I agreed his conclusion.

"Alice, I know this is something you need to know, but I think you'd be disappointed if it was any easier." he laughed and kissed the tip of my nose. "What kind of vampire would he be if he left a trail?"

I laughed and leaned forward resting my head on his shoulder. He ran his fingers through my hair and kissed the top of my head. He knew that this whole day in the library had been difficult for me. I knew he could feel it. I knew he was right. James had said that the vampire had been older. He would know the rules and abide by them and would never leave a trace of himself for humans or vampires to follow. I just had to accept I would never be able to find him, I would never know the name of my savior.

Jasper and I cleaned up the files we had taken out and made copies of anything we thought would be of interest to Esme or Carlisle. Esme enjoyed keeping this kind of information. She'd once told me it was like a baby book for her grown children. She had some of everyone's history. Except mine and Jasper's. Jasper's went back a little farther than most and he knew where to find the information, he just felt no need for it. He didn't want any reminders of his human life. He'd once told me that his true life had began when he met me. That had taken my breath away, he always knew the right things to say.

There really wasn't anymore information I could get to here in Biloxi, so after the trip to the library I had decided it was time to go home. We'd been gone for a long time and I knew that Esme would be getting anxious. Her voice would pick up every time I would call, I had kept to my word and called her every night and I knew she appreciated it even without her telling me.

Before we left I had a meeting with Angel, I had promised to keep in touch with her, and she'd brought me some copies of pictures she had of me that had been passed down to her from her Great Grandmother, Cynthia. She remarked more than once, my similarity to Mary Alice. I had shrugged it off. In the pictures, I'd had long flowing hair. Cynthia had told me that they'd removed most of it when I'd been admitted to the hospital. That would explain the short spiked cut I had, it had obviously been growing out when I'd been changed.

It was easier than I'd thought it would be to say goodbye to my old life, Biloxi held my past and I wanted my future. The trip had filled in empty holes but it had never made me regret any of my life. Jasper was my life, the reason for my existence. How could I regret that, I couldn't and I never would.

We'd promised Emmett another stop in Gatlinburg on the way home. His history had never really interested him, but the pull of the bears was too much, he wanted to hunt and the large area of wilderness that surrounded Gatlinburg was too tempting to turn down.

Taking the same route that we did on the way to Biloxi, we stopped in Gatlinburg again. Rosalie was amazed at the beauty and she was lost for words. Emmett was ready to hunt. He'd lived here for most of his human life and had grown acquired to the beauty. His only comment had been on how much more developed the town had become as we passed through it.

The freedom of the wilderness kept us hunting for hours, Emmett like playing with his food so his boisterous laughter could be heard throughout the day. We were far enough from the trails that no one would hear but it didn't stop Rosalie from reprimanding him. I continued with my favorite food source. Deer had always been my preference, it was unusual because the larger game was closer to the source our bodies naturally craved, but Carlisle had always put it down to my size. I was small so the smaller animals seemed to be more appetizing to me.

I also enjoyed the running that came along with the deer, bears were cumbersome compared to the grace and elegance of the deer. It was an easy kill but more often than not I would run with the deer until my instincts took over.

Jasper took to hunting with Emmett this time. The bears had satiated his thirst the last time we had been through here, it was the same this time, he filled himself to the brink and sat under a tree relaxing as he waited for the rest of us to fulfill our thirsts. I was the first to join him. I laid next to him and snuggled into his side. It was so peaceful and serene. No human would dare to wander this far off the path so we had the place to ourselves.

I felt satisfied, I finally knew who I was and where I came from. I was also content with the life I had now. I had a good family and I had the love of my eternity by my side. The only thing that still bothered me was Edward's suffering. I checked on him often since the time I called him. I was worried that his agony would cause him to neglect himself, he still hadn't realized that Bella was his life force, his reason for living, but I had promised Carlisle that I wouldn't push him, that I would let him find his own way and make his own decisions.

I had once asked Jasper about the emotions he had picked up from Edward when he arrived in Ithaca, but he refused to talk about it, he'd told me that it was one of the most painful emotions he'd ever experienced. I knew that it was hard for him to even think about it, the pain etched around his eyes at the mention of it. This made me all the more concerned for Edward. I knew how stubborn he was.

Edward was still tracking Victoria, he wasn't great at it but he was still hot on her trail. She was heading north now, back into the States, she would cross over in Texas. I knew that visiting him whilst he was so close was not an option. Jasper refused to go anywhere near Texas, and I couldn't blame him. His past hadn't been happy there, it was where he was changed and where he'd spent his human life in the military, I couldn't and wouldn't expect him to go to ease my worry about Edward.

The rest of my vision was filled with the overjoy of Esme at our homecoming. She knew we were on the way and was trying her hardest not to make a decision on how to celebrate. She knew I would see anything she had planned. I wouldn't have spoiled her fun though, I would keep my mouth shut and be just as surprised as the others. She had such a big heart, even though it no longer beat in her chest. Her love for us, her children, and Carlisle, was her driving force. It's what she did best. She was exceptionally good at it.

Rosalie joined us next, she was full from her hunt and looked content. She actually dropped down onto the ground next to us and laid her head on my stomach. She was never really one for affection but it seemed she was trying her hardest so I smiled and let it go, she was trying to be a friend to me and I appreciated her efforts.

Being the biggest in our group Emmett hunted for another two hours. Rosalie was becoming impatient and threatening to leave without him when he finally appeared.

"What the hell took you so long, Emmett?" Rosalie asked in a bored tone.

"Miss me?" Emmett asked smiling happily. Rosalie couldn't resist smiling at that. As combative as she could be, she could never resist a smile from her husband. It was cute and pathetic all at the same time. Unfortunately, he had the resolve of a mouse against her so she would win any disagreement they had. This did nothing for her tenacity.

We stayed a little longer, we wanted to soak up as much of the natural beauty as we could. I lay in Jasper's arms not having to say a word, he knew me better than I knew myself at times, and laying in silence in his embrace was how I wanted to spend eternity. He was my sun, my moon and my stars. I would never need anything as long as I had him. I knew he felt the same way, we had a connection between us, we could talk without saying a thing. We knew each other so well, and we had an eternity together to learn anything more.

As the sky lightened and the animals around us began their chattering we knew we had to leave. It had been a wonderful experience and I hoped that each of us would carry it with us. I hoped to return to this place when we could be together as a true family. I knew it would happen eventually, I just didn't know when. I would hold that in my heart and draw strength from it until we were complete. We had to get back to reality. Time waited for no man, and Esme was becoming impatient.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this Chapter. It seemed to come a little easier than the rest. Alice seems to come into her own. Rosalie's kinda nice too! I know it's different :)

Big hugs to my awesome fantastical Reviewers. . . YOU ROCK more than you know :)

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