The Cullen's waited anxiously for their guest to make her appearance, two of whom had never seen her before. Esme was almost bouncing on her toes with anticipation, happy that Jasper finally had a glint in his eyes resembling happiness. Contentment. While she loved all her children as her own equally, that particular child deserved happiness perhaps the most. Raised in blood and war was never the best start, and though she never experienced that extent of misery, she imagined that she could never wish to imagine it.

Edward broke the silence building up gradually, as talks turned into whispers, whispered turning into looks. "She's anxious, and wishes to make a good first impression," he observed, amusement in his eyes as he recalled the first time his wife had met his family. Bella was concerned about similar things.

While he stayed tuned into her mind for more information, he retained an image that confused him somewhat. While he had never seen a picture of his brother in his early days as a first born, he recognized him in this thought.

Jasper, during his days in the Cavalry. Before he was turned. Even the eyes were the shade of green Jasper had described. He had known this man for more than 50 years, and this newcomer hadn't even known he was a vampire until tonight. And yet she somehow knew he was of the military.

Or did she know?

"I'm sure you heard, she wishes to come back tonight to meet you," Jasper's voice informed, but Edward hadn't even realized he had appeared. He was at the middle step, looking at them each individually. "Is that ok?"

"Oh of course dear, inform the human she is welcome any time," Esme gushed gracefully, her face innocent as she referred to Alenia as 'human'. But when Esme used that term, it was in admiration or respect, with only a small hint of envy.

"Jasper?"

Jasper turned to Edward's voice, and was greeted by the man face to face. "Yes?"

"I wish to talk to you when she is gone," he requested, and his eyes seemed distant. He was forcing his emotions away, or at least concealing them the best he could.

"Don't ask why yet, just...i'll be outside her house," he told him, and left Jasper to disappear back upstairs.

...

"They say youre welcome anytime," Jasper informed the girl, who was searching through his masses of novels. Now that she was more awake, her self consciousness was poking it's unkindly head, and while she didn't exactly mind Jasper seeing her like this, she wished to make the best impression she could.

"Have you read all of these?"

She heard his light chuckle from the other side of the room, and felt his breath on her hair the next instant. "Some more than once," he said from behind, and she jolted slightly at his voice. "You really constrained yourself didn't you, before?"

She was answered by a small, loud silence, and she turned to face him. His eyes were bowed away from hers, but switched to hers again. "I tried to, sort of, gradually ease you into the idea, so it wouldn't seem like a shock. You would barely notice," he explained, but she knew from his eyes that he had known it hadn't worked. "I always felt your surprise and confusion." He breathed a short laugh.

"You...felt it?"

"Yeah, ...I'm an empath," he said, choosing his words carefully.

"You sense emotions?"

He nodded. He looked down to her arms suddenly, wrapped around her small waist. "I'm sorry its so cold, we have no need for heating."

"It's ok, I'm always cold," she reasoned, knowing that he sensed her truth. He smiled, his usual half smile she had missed.

"I should get you back, you want to be fully alert in a house full of blood suckers," he joked, earning a glare from her. "Don't push it, or i'll take all your books and rearrange them. By color," she threatened darkly, having established a strict organisational system among the shelves. Jasper glowered at her. "Too cruel," he murmured, but she saw an evil, mischevious grin spread slowly on his lips as his arms grabbed her too his chest at lightening speed.

...

"I'll pick you up at 6, then?"

Alenia nodded, alert as the run breathed new life into her, and she was still seeping with exhilaration. "Until then," she bid, and his body fell from the window frame and he landed with feline grace, disappearing from sight.

...

So?

Edward was concealed in the trees a small way from the mansion, just away enough to remain unheard. He wasn't a mind reader like his sibling, but Jasper could sense his thoughtfulness, his unease. The way he stood, slightly turned to an angle, eyes searching.

"Two things actually," he said, reluctantly. Jasper waited.

"Something's up with Alenia...I think she had some sort of...gift."

He took Jasper's silence as a sign to elaborate, but he maintained his guard over his mind. His eyes were distant, but he was forever listening.

"I read her mind, and there was an... lets say an image," he explained. Jasper turned his head up slightly, but his eyes didn't find Edward's matching golden ones. "When?"

"You were both in the room, not long before you came down stairs."

Edward thought his question was strange. He expected denial from Jasper, or dismissal. But asking when, it was like he was taking his belief seriously.

"The image, it was you...You've never told her...about your past, have you?" The question was rhetorical. Only a couple of hours previous he was discussing the possibility of revealing his nature to her, so there was no possible way for her to find out. He confirmed this with a shake of the head, curt and puzzled.

"It was you, as a human. During your days as a Major. From the uniform down to the color of your eyes-"

"She may have made the image up with my accent and..the way I stand, you always say you can tell my past from my..." he trailed off. "Eyes?"

"Vivid green. The exact color you described."

The man looked lost. And he was. He knew he was grasping for an explanation, but he saw the look in her eyes at that moment, who it reminded him of. Finally he began to entertain the notion.

"She reminded me of Alice for a second," he recalled, noticing the small wince Edward gave at her name. No one had said it for a long time. "The way she looked during her visions."

"Maybe its possible...but shes human?"

"You couldn't read Bella's mind before, and that bled into her gift."

Edward thought it over for a short while. "Perhaps."

Suddenly he began to shift, and Jasper noticed a new discomfort that had settled since he mentioned that name.

"There were two things," Jasper reminded him. He watched his brother, uncomfortably flitting his eyes over a small area, his lips upturned slightly in something akin to disgust. It reminded him of the weeks after the incident with her. Whenever her name was mentioned, he grimaced. Edward, as her closest and eldest sibling, was more disappointed in her than anyone else. The hurt, evidently, still remained.

"Its...her," he forced. "Since she did what she did, she's been blocking me. But I've always sensed her in the house. Until last night, I didn't notice until about 3 am, but the low buzzing I always got from her was gone."

What are you insinuating?

Edward shook his head in thought, confusion. "I don't know, but Carlisle's been blocking me more than usual since Wednesday. And his...countenance. It seems strained. He's the only one who sees her, And I didn't see Carlisle go to see her once tonight" he reasoned, and Jasper still had no idea what he was going on about. "Ed, just say what you have to say."

"Jasper, I can't sense her in the house. "

"And I haven't sensed emotion from her for months, people just turn off eventually. And I didn't see Carlisle go to see her once tonight."

Edward huffed derisively. "We need to talk to Carlisle."