I woke up and stared at the clock for a few minutes, confused as to why it read four o'clock, when I had gone to sleep at three fifty. Had it only been ten minutes? And why was Alice in her jamas curled up in my arms? She normally does not join me for my nap, or change into jamas just for a nap.

Then I realized that it was really dark in the room and that the clock said four a.m., not p.m. I must have slept through dinner. Sure enough, when I sat up I saw a sandwich and a note besides the bed. "Jasper- I did not want to wake you, but you missed dinner. Esme asked that you eat this when you wake up –Love Alice."

I was hungry, and the sandwich looked good, so I ate it. Then I ran to the bathroom to hurl. After the sandwich came up, my lunch from the day before, and a great deal of stomach acid followed. The worse part about throwing up is the feel of the stomach acid burning my esophagus.

Even after my stomach was empty, I continued to heave so hard and uncontrollably that I could not get up to grab the packet of crackers in the medicine cabinet. After about five minutes of this I decided to give up and wake Alice to come help me. I pulled out my cell and sent a text. Good thing I keep it in my jama pocket.

Alice came in rather sleepily, noticed me on the floor besides the toilet, and grabbed the crackers. After she shoved them down my throat, and the heaving stopped, I thanked her and brushed my teeth. Then we went back to bed and fooled around again, before going back to sleep.

When I woke up again, I found to my pleasant surprise that I for once did not have to puke. So, Alice and I took the extra time to make out and explore each other's bodies. It seems I can never get enough of the feel of Alice's hands on my skin.

My weigh-in that day was another disappointment: I lost another half a pound. But, after that, my weight held fairly steady for all of the next week. I think this was mostly due to Thanksgiving. Esme was preparing for the feast, so the house was unusually full of treats, which Alice and I were allowed to test.

Typically my cousin Peter and his family come over for Thanksgiving. And Carlisle's cousins, Tanya, Kate, Irina, Carmen, and Eleazar, come down from Alaska, as well. Or, we go up there, as they are our only living family. Last year a few of our friends came by as well.

This year, however, not only were we short Edward, but no one was allowed over. It was our year to go to Alaska, but Carlisle called and said we could not travel due to Alice's pregnancy. They readily offered to come here, but Carlisle declined, saying we had too much going on with Edward to plan an event.

So it would be a small gathering this year, with just Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and myself. And Esme did have a lot on her plate, but she was not one to skimp on her favorite holiday just because Edward was in the hospital. So, she made a big dinner with all the trimmings and lots of desserts. Rosalie and Alice helped, as Rosalie and Emmett had the week off from school.

I normally do not like turkey, but it was rather tasty this year. But, I hate all of the trimmings, except for mashed potatoes, rolls, and cranberry sauce. So, my plate was mostly filled with desserts. I had pumpkin pie, apple pie, blueberry pie, and ice cream. By the time I was done I was stuffed, because I really took advantage of the desserts as they were becoming a rarity in this house.

The next day I had even gained a pound. Carlisle had been threatening all week that if I lost another ounce, he would hospitalize me. So, I was pretty happy with myself when I managed to gain that one pound back. Unfortunately, the desserts were consumed by Thursday evening, so a repeat performance was not possible.

To make matters worse, Esme was so behind on work and Christmas shopping that she did not have time to cook the rest of the long weekend. Every time I asked, she said to eat leftovers. There was plenty of left over turkey and cranberry sauce, but the mashed potatoes and rolls ran out by Friday morning.

When I complained to Carlisle Friday afternoon, he was too busy to notice, as he was focused on Edward's up coming psyche evaluation. He simply said to ask Emmett to make spaghetti if I did not want leftovers. There was still plenty of stuffing, salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, and chicken tortellini to last everyone else.

I ended up making myself a turkey sandwich instead. But, dinner was another issue. Everyone else liked the leftovers, so it was only me complaining. Alice felt sorry for me though, and cooked me some macaroni and cheese, as this is the only thing she knows how…

Wait! I did not say she is good at making it. She managed to turn the noodles to a starchy mush. Saying that she was not a good cook was an understatement. The only worse cook in the family was myself. Last time I tried to cook macaroni and cheese, I burned it.

So, I ate a piece of bread and went to bed without a real dinner. I was sort of dreading what would happen the next day with my weigh-in, but as it was the holidays, Carlisle forgot, and I was not one to remind him.

Saturday and Sunday passed as more of the same: I burned macaroni, Alice tortured a lump of noodles she claimed where originally spaghetti, and I gave up and had toast with butter and jam for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and more toast for dinner. At least I could make toast and sandwiches, otherwise I would probably starve.

Aurthor's Note:

Reviewers for last chapter: VoldieBeth, Just A reader90, Megan Geyer, Master of the Boot, and aurike! Thanks!

Review counts for this week (counting from Saturday morning):

Megan Geyer- 4; Master of the Boot- 2; Hi- ; VoldieBeth- 2; ShadowCub- 1; Just A reader90- 1; aurike- 1

3 rollover reviews from last week. Plus 11 reviews this week, for a total of 14 reviews already! With reviews like this, you might just be getting a Tuesday chapter :)