A/N: Before anything else:

OMFG! I just got back from the New Moon midnight showing about an hour ago. No spoilers, I promise. But I am SO excited. My dad handed me the tickets at about seven PM and I somehow survived waiting the last five hours. Now I'm home and it's 3:20AM and I can't sleep because I'm so excited. I am absolutely in love with Jasper, like always. Lol. He was SO HOT! I hope you all get to see it! It's amazing, even though there are quite a few things that bothered me.

Onto other business:

Thank you so much for your reviews! They're extremely encouraging and they are the greatest honor any writer can receive. I love you all. You guys are amazing. Thank you.

Chapter Twenty-One: Presence

JPOV

She was the only person I had to go to.

My family objected, of course.

None of them saw how they forced it to be that way with their continuous argument.

Carlisle said he wouldn't allow the matter to divide the family.

It wasn't divided.

There was me and there was them.

Their refusal to even consider Alice's offer proved I wasn't part of their tightly knit family.

Rosalie had gone too far!

Alice had invited them all to go on the shopping trip she'd planned for the past week. She called to deliver the invitation personally instead of sending it through me as most would have.

Rose hung up on her.

The battle began.

Emmett jumped to defend her when he believed I was out of line. He claimed it was too much of a risk.

Things continued to escalate from there.

Me against them. All of them.

Carlisle announced he thought it was a bad idea to spend so much of my time with my Alice so soon. That bothered me because it was him who pulled me into all of this. It was his insistent argument that caused me to break and agree to live this life.

Edward was the one to break me though.

"You're using her to spite us," he commented.

Seconds later, Emmett had his arm around my waist, restraining me. Carlisle stood between myself and Edward, hands raised up to stop us. MaRai, Esme, and Rosalie stood feet away in their various states of horror. Edward was hunched over, massaging his jaw where my blow had landed.

I took a deep breath, straightening myself up while Emmett loosened his grip on me.

"Easy," Emmett said. "Easy. He didn't mean it."

I shook Emmett's hold of me. My fury was under control. I glowered at Edward anyway. I hated it! Edward had practically spat in my face and he was the one being defended. I was angry with Emmett for defending him.

Edward straightened up, glaring back at me.

"If you don't know me better than that, you don't know me at all," I told Edward as calmly as I could.

"Work it out as brothers without violence," Esme told us firmly from her position in the doorway.

"Some brother," I mumbled, turning.

I heard Edward sigh. He rolled his jaw around in the joint to test it. I didn't even realize I'd hit him that hard until then. He cleared his throat. "Jasper, I'm sorry. I was just angry," he said from behind me.

I nodded. "Let me alone," I told him.

"Jasper, wait," Carlisle called after me before I'd made it three steps. I stopped without turning. "You're both mature adults. Work it out. We need to solve this now."

I scoffed. "Single me out then. I'm wrong, I started it, whatever."

"You're overreacting," Edward said.

"You would do the same in my position."

"I didn't decide to spend my time with a human, then tell her everything and put us all in danger."

"I haven't told her anything that puts you in danger," I replied softly, my voice deadly. "If MaRai was human, you would do the exact same thing!" I shouted. "All of you would do what I'm doing and probably more. Why do I have to prove myself to you?"

Edward sent a look towards MaRai. He knew it was true. He knew he couldn't help what he felt for her. It just happened. And he never would have denied that.

I shook my head in frustration. "If I thought I could change it, don't you think I would? I wish that it was easy; it's not. I've waited this long to find a reason to live. I've dealt with not knowing what to do. I never had someone to watch my back, never! Now one person comes and she can look at me and I feel something for once."

I took another few steps towards the door, as furious as before. "I never asked any of you for anything. I moved when the rest of you needed to move or found it necessary. I stayed, even if I hated it. I'm not asking you to like it or to be best friends with her, and I shouldn't have to ask you to just be decent to someone who hasn't done anything to any of you," I spat out in disgust.

No replies, and I was free to go.

Carlisle didn't even try to stop me, so I ran out to my car and jumped in. I slammed the door while turning the key in the ignition. With the engine quietly purring, I floored the gas pedal and sped off to meet Alice in the parking lot of her apartment building.

All the details had been worked out by my Alice. She knew that only seven people were coming this time. Shelton, Amber, Ryan, a boy named Jesse, Brittany, Alice, and I. We would take Alice's truck, but I got to drive it because of her cast. Jesse would drive his Mercedes too.

Alice had worked so hard! She'd arranged a time to meet in the parking lot, car pooling, shopping, times to meet for meals and also the locations in case we decided to split up.

I hated that my so-called family had gone on to destroy as much of that as they could.

I took a deep breath, stretching my hand. Now the ache from punching Edward had come to the surface. I was wrong. I would have to apologize for it sometime when I could hold myself calmly, no matter how he replied or what the others said.

Alice was outside when I arrived and I was an hour early. She was dressed in a knee length gray dress with a trench coat, black tights, and a single knee high boot on her good leg.

She stepped out of the way so I could park beside her truck.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile.

I stepped out of my car smoothly and she immediately saw the look on my face. She knew there was another fight. "What was it this time?" she asked, a hand on my arm.

"It was my fault this time," I told her.

"What happened?"

I shook my head, leaning against the hood of my car. "I overreacted." I sighed heavily, rolling my eyes. It all sounded foolish now. "I've never attacked someone before. I don't know why it made me so angry."

Alice put her other hand on my back, sitting next to me. "Tell me," she whispered. She knew that I needed to tell someone.

"It's stupid. I slugged Edward because he said something. I didn't approve of what he said. He said it with the purpose of taunting me in his own anger and it worked." I ran my hands over my face. "And now I feel guilty."

"You were angry. He provoked you."

"Not to violence."

She put her arms around me then. She was the only one who would comfort me. She didn't flinch away when I put my freezing arms around her waist. "Siblings quarrel," she told me.

I nodded, remembering all the times I'd fought with my brothers growing up. It was different with Edward and Emmett though. "I'm not saying we haven't fought before. I just... I've never hit them for any reason and it was stupid because I know he was trying to provoke me."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

I looked down at her. She made me think more rationally. She was good for me...

I smiled distantly. "I'll handle it later," I promised her. "And I'm sorry about what Rosalie did."

Alice squeezed my waist. "Don't be," she said.

I stroked her hair gently, wondering how to reply. I felt bad about what had happened, even if it wasn't completely my fault, even if I wasn't responsible for the situation with Rose. I scoffed thoughtfully, my eyes on her face. "What were you doing out here in the cold anyway?" I asked firmly.

Alice rolled her eyes at my worrying. "I was looking for my camera," she answered. "It's in my truck."

"Let's get inside." I held her hand the entire way. Our silence wasn't a problem.

I opened the door for her. She took off her coat, but I took it, throwing it towards the couch along with mine. "So you're okay?" she asked me quietly, her eyes full of concern.

I touched her cheek so lightly. "I'm fine, my Alice," I promised her with a smile. "It was just a stupid fight that should have never gone so far. I know it sounds more serious, but it's nothing. Just dumb."

She studied me for any signs that I wasn't telling the full truth. She nodded then. "It won't come back later today?" she continued.

I smiled. "No. I won't let that happen."

"Why's that?" she questioned. I realized then she never asked what Edward said. Perhaps it was just that obvious it was about my relationship with her.

I put a hand on either side of her face and touched my forehead to hers. "Because you worry too much," I answered with another, shorter smile. "I can't let it happen again. It'll be fine."

She nodded. "Okay. You want anything?"

"No, thanks. Sit down." But I lifted her up, hands on her waist, and set her on the counter with ease. "You need to relax more, my Alice." She began to object, but she cosed her mouth at my firm look. "You hungry?"

Alice glared at me, but she nodded then. "Sure, but you're a guest."

I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh. "Not a good enough excuse, love," I replied. I opened her fridge and poured her a cup of orange juice.

We talked about our plans for the day. Alice explained why she chose that day. I knew she would be the first one to notice anything, any hit. She said I never stepped into the sun and she was right. The sky was cloudy, but it wouldn't rain by the color of the clouds. Perhaps a bit of snow, but no more.

The others arrived and we left within minutes, headed towards New York City. It was a two hour drive and I had Alice there the whole time. She held my hand while I kept the other on the steering wheel.

I wasn't used to the size. It wasn't like my Jaguar.

Alice made everything easy for me though.

Even this, and my family didn't understand that. It just caused fights.

Jesse, Shelton, and Amber were behind us.

Alice turned on a CD quickly. Music was one of her obsessions. She never went a day without a new band being played.

"You can come to my house on the 12th," I told Alice softly. I would tell my family later. They could deal with it. Despite what had happened, they were my family. Alice would win them over if she tried hard enough or if she didn't try at all. I wasn't sure, whichever she had done to me, she would succeed somehow.

I took a deep breath. My Alice, perfect. I wanted it to work! I wanted to be able to get along with my family while still loving the most beautiful girl alive! Why couldn't I have both? It was no choice though.

If the time came, I would choose Alice over them if they forced me to.

It didn't have to be that way.

Alice could see I was thinking hard. She would squeeze my hand whenever it became obvious I was frustrated with my own thoughts.

She was there, present in my life.

She was mine.

There was nothing more I could ask for than her presence.

I hoped you liked it! Please review! Love you guys!