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Chapter 20

"Mr. Cullen." I ground out as I approached my vehicle. I watched as Carlisle stood up, shoving his phone in his pocket as he inched closer to me.

"Jasper." He said, before clearing his throat. "I was wondering if you had a moment."

I shook my head, maneuvering around him as I unlocked my car. "I'm sorry, I really don't. I have to pick up my daughter."

"Five minutes, that's all I ask." He pleaded and I sighed, abandoning my efforts to unlock my door and turning to face him. "Jasper, I have not been fair to you, not from the beginning. For that, I am truly sorry. I hope, one day, when your little girl shows up with a boy…man, that you will understand. I only want what's best for Alice and I fear that in my quest to make sure she had that, I may have become overzealous in my efforts."

"Is this why you waited here? For my forgiveness?" I scoffed, "Or is it because your wife is making you?"

Carlisle laughed then, his features softening. "Ah, so you saw Esme earlier. I'm not going to lie to you, apologizing here, tonight, is partly due to her insistence but it's also because I do owe you an apology Jasper. I have been, for lack of a better term, an ass, and for that I know I can't expect you to forgive me right away, but I do hope that you can believe I am sincere. Writing that check… it was my lowest moment both as a father and as a human being. Your daughter is worth more than that, as is my own.

"Is…" I stopped, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Is Alice okay?"

Carlisle searched my face intently before finally, he nodded. "She's been better. No thanks to me, but she is alright."

"Good." I said, relief washing through me as my phone started chirping. "I'm sorry, that's my sister, they watch my daughter and their boys are in the hospital…" I didn't wait for much response as I turned to finish unlocking my car and tossed my stuff in to the backseat.

"Jasper…" Carlisle said again. "I am sorry."

I nodded at him, paused in my doorway. "I know."

And before he could say anything else I got in my car and shut the door, rushing to get to my family and ignoring the longing I felt to pick up my phone and call Alice.

Time seemed to pass even more slowly after my run in with Carlisle. I spent my days, and my nights for that matter, working. It became a routine for me and as much as I hated to say it, Lou began to grow accustomed to her diminished time with me.

Mike, my manager, seemed to finally comprehend that I wasn't there to steal his job; I just wanted to do my job, make money, and go home to my kid. Before too long, I was the one they called when someone called in sick or when they were short staffed.

That was how I found myself working on a Wednesday, a day I usually spent in the studio, in the middle of January.

I had just seated my last table when the maître d alerted me to yet another table in my area filling up.

I was so rushed I didn't even bother to look as I slid the menus on the table and put my best, 'I hate this job but I'm happy about it' smile.

"Jasper?" Her voice was small and quiet and instantly, I lost the ability to breathe, or blink, or form a coherent thought.

"Jasper, it's so wonderful to see you." Esme crooned as she put her hand around Alice's stunned shoulders.

Carlisle sat opposite them, menu in hand, reading glasses perched on his nose as he perused the wine selection and though I knew Alice couldn't see it, I could plainly see the smug smile etched across his lips.

I finally found my ability to speak again and I rambled off the spiel I had to memorize daily and took their drink orders as Alice stared at me open mouthed.

I did the best I could, ignoring the feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach as I waited on the Cullen's and did my best to make polite conversation as Esme asked about Lou and life in general and Alice sat stoically with her parents.

Her silence was deafening.

The night continued on and I was proud of myself for the way I had handled the situation. Finally, they had paid – leaving me a more than generous tip—and I was able to breathe again. I finished up my tables and headed out for the night, careful to avoid Mike who was begging anyone that would listen to pull a double.

I hadn't even made it a foot outside of the door when I heard her.

"My parents are ridiculous." Alice said from where she sat on the park bench against the building. "I didn't know they had planned that. I'm sorry."

I laughed uncomfortably as I shifted on my feet, pulling my messenger bag tighter against me as I fought against the chill in the air. "It's alright."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's not."

We both laughed, tension filling the air around us as the silence settled in before finally we both opened our mouths to talk at once.

"Go ahead." I said.

Alice breathed and stood up, her stature making it near comical as she set her shoulders straight to reach her full height.

"I'm an idiot." She finally said. "I thought I was protecting you… protecting Lou. I wanted to help you and I did what I've always done. I ran to my dad and I let him talk me in to letting you go because… I don't even know why. I just…I thought it was best. I thought James was right and I thought you would be better off without me but if I could give you that one little thing then I was willing to try."

She stopped then, looking up at me with pleading eyes and I couldn't help myself as I reached out and pulled her in to me.

"If you're an idiot then I'm one too." I said as she leaned in to me. "I shouldn't have let you go. I should have demanded to see you when I dropped off that check…"

"You dropped off the check?" Alice cut me off, leaning back to look up in to my face.

"Yeah… why do you think I'm working here?"

Alice pursed her lips, pulling away from me even more. "Dad didn't say that. He just said you didn't cash it."

"Does it matter?"

Alice sighed then and shook her head, relaxing in my arms once more. "I'm sorry we're both idiots."

I laughed then and hugged her to me again just as Esme and Carlisle appeared hand in hand. Esme beamed while Carlisle cleared his throat, effectively breaking us apart as he came to clamp his hand on my shoulder. "Now that that's worked out, let's talk about this court case."

A/N: Sorry for the delay! Thank you to WeasleyWeakness for being my sounding board/motivation/near constant reminder. If you have a second and you're liking the story (or even if you're not, that's cool too.) let me know! I love feedback!