A/N - Sorry I have taken so long! Computer crash....I swear it! But anyway, this note is to warn you of possible future delays...I'm marrying in three moths (yipes) so if my updates aren't the best...I'm working my rear end off to have enough money (which is about 6 days a week at the moment) and besides that I am sitting in a corner, my arms wrapped around myself, rocking back and forward and humming tunelessly. But I will do my best! I am part way through the next chap, and I have a new poll on my profile...thanks for your patience and enjoy (please?).

Jasper rested his head in his hands and sighed wearily, the mountain of paperwork before him teetering precariously. He thought of Alice and sighed again. Things just weren't going quite the way he had hoped. With a sudden burst of anger he glared a the papers in front of him and with one quick movement swept them all to the ground with his hand, wishing, at the same time, he could sweep away everything he had done for the past several years, return to his adolescence and start all over.

____

"You saw Laurent?" Alice asked, the horrified look easing into something akin to concern.

"Yeah. I guess he was visiting somewhere around here; I didn't actually get a chance to ask."

"Huh. Odd coincidence, don't you think?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Starting to imagine bad guys around every corner, Alice?"

"No…" Alice shook her head testily. "He just…it seems strange."

"You know what's really strange?" Bella snickered, covering her mouth with her hand and trying to keep her face straight.

"What?" Alice asked, her own mouth turning up at the corners.

"The fact that you guys are still here and not only are you completely sober but there's no movie playing, no music…nothing. Almost like you were all just waiting for me to get back."

Emmett laughed and pressed his hand against his heart. "Rose, my love, we've been caught!" He shot forward in his chair staring intensely at Bella. "Still, I won't go down without a fight!" He fell to his belly on the floor and began commando crawling towards a giggling Rose, who was pretending to faint with fear.

The room erupted in peals of laughter and Laurent was completely forgotten. Luned used the distraction to slip from the house into the yard and towards the dark rustling trees of the woods.

The wind whistled through the trees in an oddly relaxing way, whispering of the day's events; rain, the flicker of sunshine. Luned sighed happily, touching the moss covered, rough bark of the trees as she followed the well worn track in the darkness. Her vision was exceptional, her senses even more so, the product of her young years wandering the trees and mountains of her homeland, and she had no doubts of finding her way back to Bella's home, only a faint sense of freedom that she had been desperately longing for since her arrival in this time. Her determination to fit into this era was at times more trying than she had expected. The modern habit of hiding in homes with creature comforts covering every inch of bare space was a way of living completely unknown in medieval England and even more so in her Cymru where the people tended towards nomadic lifestyles with little more than the clothes they wore and the precious family instrument as the outward tokens of their lives. Their priorities were family, herding cattle, and for the men, the love of fighting, and for all, the need for some form of artistic expression. Even her move as little more than a child to the Cullen family castle had been a deep seated shock, a drastic change, one she often resented. She had never quite found a way to be completely comfortable living in the one spot, the sigh of the wind and the power of the elements kept at bay by sheer force of human will.

And now, in Bella's time! Not only did people endeavor to keep nature out, but the rest of the world also! Strangers always looked at as a threat until proven completely innocent--Wales was a place of welcome where the offer of eating with one's family was an expected right, not a generous gift. Luned was unendingly thankful that Bella had brought her to her true home where out of her door was life at its truest as opposed to her tiny apartment, crowded in by grey, concrete, and noise.

Winding her way through the undergrowth, never missing a step or losing her footing, Luned found her way to a tiny alcove, sheltered from the elements, overhung by the dark shiny leaves of the tall trees overhead and sat herself down, resting her back against a large stone. She couldn't see the stars through the dense coverage overhead, but that didn't worry her at all, it reminded her of her nights at home, sneaking away from her family and dreaming of the man she would marry one day, later, once her sister had left, holding Tangwystl's letters close and trying to imagine what her sister was doing at that precise moment.

This time she closed her eyes and thought again of her time with the Jacob of her past, of their one and only time lying together. She cried for him, something she had sworn to herself she would not do after the first night, but for this she found it acceptable. She knew to hold onto her images of a different Jacob wouldn't be giving this new one the respect he deserved as an individual, let alone seeing him truly as someone she could love for himself, and not the ghost that remained of past love.

She remained there for hours, until her tears had run as dry as they ever would, until she was sure her memories would bring her nothing but fondness, and until she heard Bella's hoarse voice calling her name.

She called back, sighing, and rose to her feet, surprised by a sound off to her left. She knew it wasn't an animal, was certain an animal wouldn't be trying to muffle the sound of its own movements. With a frown she turned towards the sound, determined to find out what or who was hiding in the darkest part of the trees when Bella called out again, this time accompanied by the booming sound of Emmett, and crashing footsteps. With a huff she bean back the way she had come, frowning slightly.

_____

Bella stood beside Alice, tapping her foot insistently against the path snaking through the trees, her arms crossed over her chest. "What on earth would make her decide to some wandering out here in the dead of night? I couldn't live with myself if some animal had gotten her, and there we were, oblivious."

"I think you underestimate Luned," Alice said calmly.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Well, don't you think nature would be a little less terrifying for someone who was raised in the dark ages?"

"I wouldn't say it was exactly that horrific." Bella's eyebrows lifted slightly, her memories clouded by that rosy glow of happiness.

"No, not at all. Except for when your lover and hers were brutally murdered."

Bella cringed.

Alice's voice softened, and her large eyes turned pleadingly towards her friend. "Sorry, I didn't mean it quite like that. What I meant was, she lived in a time where that was not completely unusual, where violence was an everyday occurrence, where nature was something that was completely a part of life, not something to be fearful or wary of. Animals are predictable, you know? They hunt, they eat. It's people you need to be wary of, their purposes for things are much murkier sometimes."

Bella nodded in understanding, then smiled softly to herself. "Are you trying to say she was worried one of us might get her, so she figured she'd be better off with the wolves?"

"Oh, ha ha." Alice rolled her eyes. "Anyway, here they come now."

The thunderous sounds of Emmett's enormous and none-too-delicate feet floated out to the two girls who were standing at the tree line, peering intently through the darkness, followed closely by Luned's voice, scolding him.

"I am quite capable of using my own feet, thank you very much. It really is completely unnecessary to carry me out like a lost child."

Rose came up behind the other two girls and huffed. "Have you found her, then? I've had the popcorn ready for ages; it'll be cold by now."

_____

Bella lay in her bed, staring at the roof and wondered what Edward was doing, what his room was like, whether he was lying in his own bed thinking of her, or whether he was fast asleep dreaming of zombies. She smiled to herself in the darkness. The popcorn had been completely cold by the time they had returned to the house, and Rose, miffed by her ruined plans for the remainder of the night, had asked Emmett to take her and Alice home immediately. Bella thought nothing of it, knew that Rose tended towards tantrums when her plans went awry, knew as well that tomorrow she would be fine.

Tonight was for dreaming of sparkling green eyes and shiny bronze hair, though in her dreams her two Edwards mingled and she was no longer sure which was the one she truly wanted.

_____

Alice pressed the button for the speakerphone and lay back onto her bed, the same bed she had used since childhood, the wrought iron four poster hung with pale pink fabric, the dim light of early morning giving it a pearly sheen and touching the bright white walls with its warmth.

"Jasper Whitlock."

Alice frowned. His voice sounded even more tired than usual, as though he had barely slept.

"Jazz! I've missed you; so has everyone else here in good old Forks." She scowled, surprised at the distant quality to her words.

"Al." She heard him sigh away from the phone, and her scowl deepened. "What are you doing awake so early? Holidays are meant for sleep ins."

"It's not a proper holiday without you, Jazz."

"Don't be silly, Ally." He sounded irritated. "You must be having tons of fun with Emmett and Rose. Have you seen any of our old school friends?"

"Bella went on a date with Edward Cullen last night."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it seemed to go well." Alice's voice trailed away, and she bit her lip. "When are you coming, Jazz?" She asked, knowing before he answered that she wouldn't like what she heard.

"I don't know, Al. I'm totally swamped here. I might not make it back at all."

"Oh, ok."

"Well, I've got a ton of things to do, so tell everyone I said hello, and that I want them to keep a close eye on you for me. I don't want anyone running off with my girl." Alice shuddered at his words, sensing something unsettling in the words.

"I'll be fine," she said automatically.

"Even so, stay safe, ok? I'm sure I'll see you soon." And before she had a chance to tell him she loved him, the phone at the other end clicked off, and he was gone. With a chill so deep in her spirit it was unreachable, she clicked off her own phone and stared out of her bedroom window at the rising sun, wishing it would bring with it all the warmth she was lacking.