"And if all the flowers faded away, and if all the storm clouds decided to stay, then you would find me each hour the same. She is tomorrow and I am today. If right is leaving, I'd rather be wrong. She is the sunlight when the sun is gone. If loving her is heartache for me, and if holding her means that I have to bleed, then I am the martyr and love is to blame. She is the healing and I am the pain." – 'She is the sunlight' – Trading Yesterday.

JPOV

One month. 4 weeks. 28 days. That was all the time it'd taken for her to enlighten me, heal me, complete me, consume me and let me do, for her, the same.

From an outside perspective one little month was probably not an acceptable amount of time to have known each other to be at the stage we were at. But, it didn't matter much what anybody else had to say, because what I'd gone through since meeting Alice had made me see the world with a whole new clarity. I was a different person than who I was when I'd found her. We'd met at our worst and we'd both been in ruins. But from the ashes of the person I'd been had risen a whole new Jasper.

I had more confidence in myself; I had learnt from my mistakes and had learnt that sometimes you simply have to let some things, some people, go. I had more pride in my own life; I valued everything I had so much higher than before. I'd grown up.

If I was being honest with myself, my reasoning for taking Alice in was a little bit tainted. I'd been down-right depressed, scuffing my feet with my head down. My thoughts were in chaos; Maria had screamed at me, she screamed at me a lot, but that night when she screamed at me I swear her words were laced with hatred. I couldn't deal with that. The woman I'd spent 6 years completely in love with had screeched in my face. Even after our relationship had fallen apart I'd continued to aid her in her struggle to stay sober. I hoped, somewhat naively, that when she stopped drinking we could become again what we once were.

"You can't 'fix' me Jasper! I'm sorry if I'm not what you want but it's not my problem! I don't need you! I don't want your help!"

Her words cut me again and again, I usually managed to keep my composure with a mantra of 'it's only the drink talking. It's only the drink talking.' But no matter what Maria had said during her alcoholism, no matter how bad it got, she'd never said anything deliberately to hurt me. She hardly ever attacked me, verbally or otherwise. And when she did, it would take only seconds for her to fall to the floor and start sobbing all over me and begging for forgiveness, which I would give her. But that night after she'd raged at me and told me my comfort was unappreciated, I'd waited for her grovelling apology and tried to ignore the immense pain brought on by the hatred in her words but she just continued to stare me down, a fire in her eyes that could flay any man alive.

It had hurt. It had burned. It had ached.

If I wasn't with Maria, where was I supposed to be? If I couldn't look after her, what was I good for? I'd had fights with my family because of her. I'd do anything for her.

So, I walked home, dejected. Every step I took was taking me further away from her. But against my better judgement, I didn't turn back. And when I turned into that alleyway and saw Alice curled up, shaking in terror and hiding from the world, I'd felt a flicker in my chest. My heart went out to the girl I didn't yet know because I pitied her. That was my initial reaction, I pitied that she was alone in the dark, shaking. I wanted to help her somehow. When she looked up at me I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Her eyes were wide and filled with pain. I could see all over her face that she was in so much pain, and her agony could be broken down into millions of little things that had hurt her. She was desolate. But the part that affected me the most, she was scared.

She feared me. I had never been feared by a woman in my life. I would never hurt a lady. And the fact that she'd automatically been terrified by me made me realise just how little she trusted. Then I had another flicker in my chest, this one radiated warmth for the girl on the ground. I knew that I had to help her; she gave me hope that I could be good for something, that maybe somebody would appreciate my aid after all.

I glanced over at Alice whose eyes were trained on the TV, a small smile graced her lips and I couldn't resist the urge to touch her. I placed my hand on her thigh softly and she turned to smile at me before returning her attention to the TV.

In one month I'd been heartbroken, empty, worthless, hopeful, useful, apprehensive, nervous, and in love. I was in love again. It took one moth for my heart to be shattered and built up again, bursting with a love anew. I still knew next to nothing about her, but I loved her all the same. I knew enough, and that was enough for me. And the miracle was, she loved me too. She appreciated each and every little thing I did for her. She was overwhelmed by the lengths I'd gone to, to make her happy. But, it made me feel better; it made me feel like I had a purpose. Every single time she thanked me I wanted to tell her that she was the one to thank, because I didn't know what would've happened to me if I hadn't found her that night. I was in such a dark place. I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't want anybody's pity. But, as if by an act of God, I found an angel in an alleyway. And what was the first thing I did? Pity her.

She didn't know me. She couldn't judge me. She needed me. And I pitied her when that was the one thing I didn't want for myself. So, maybe my original reasoning for taking Alice in wasn't as selfless as I'd like to recall, but it worked out for the best.

I wanted to explain it all to Alice, but I didn't want her to know that I'd pitied her. Alice didn't trust easily and still didn't trust me completely and I was terrified that if I admitted why I'd originally helped her then she'd think that I didn't love her, that it'd all been for my own gain.

But, when I'd brought her home and she'd smiled at me. God, the first time she smiled at me. I wanted her to smile all the time. And then was the first time I realised that I wanted her to be happy. And it built on from there until I had nothing but her best intentions at heart. I'd been so filled with despair the night I'd found her that I never contemplated finding love again. But there she was, just when I needed her. Alice would have anyone believe that I'm some sort of martyr. I'm far from it, she's saved me so much without even realising.

I did love her. Wholly and completely, I loved her. I didn't ever want to give her any reason to doubt that. I loved her strength. I loved her knack for self-preservation. I loved her untameable hair and quirky smile. I loved her bright blush and twinkling eyes. I loved her sense of humour. I loved how easily embarrassed she was. I loved how completely comfortable I felt with her. I loved how all my friends and family loved her. I just loved her. It was crazy to be that in love with someone. I knew she'd never intentionally hurt me. And I was terrified about losing her. She'd healed me and built me up again. She'd soothed me with her presence and made me whole again, her hopes, dreams and talents were all ingrained within me as I wished relentlessly that she get everything she'd ever wanted. She was a part of me. And if I were to be heartbroken again, I would be irreparable, because there'd be a piece missing.

"What you thinkin' about?" she asked softly as she smiled at me.

I pulled her into my lap until she straddled me. Her fingers quickly wove into my hair and my hands found purchase on her hips.

"You." I mumbled a little shyly.

She bit her lip to try and hide the massive grin on her beautiful face. Her cheeks flushed scarlet as she gazed at me.

"Really?" she murmured timidly.

I placed my lips to hers softly and hummed in the affirmative against them. Her hold on my hair got a little tighter as I tugged her closer to me. Her lips parted for me as I deepened our kiss and Alice was just as enthusiastic. A loud knocking on the door forced us apart. I pecked her lips again softly as she pouted at me. She climbed off my lap so I could answer the door.

The second I unlocked it the door came crashing open. Charlotte came storming in with an apologetic looking Peter trailing behind. Charlotte speeded into the living room and crushed Alice in a tight hug as she rambled again and again about how worried she was. Charlotte was nearly in tears as she gushed to Alice about how happy she was to see her.

"I'm sorry to worry you. I shouldn't have run off like that." Alice mumbled to the floor, I could practically feel the guilt emanating from her.

No matter how much I love Charlotte I wanted her to shut up and shut up fast. I didn't want Alice feeling guilty over something that wasn't her fault. I'd caused her pain and so she'd run away because she hadn't wanted to deal with it, I could understand that.

Alice met my eye hesitantly and I tried to express to her that she shouldn't feel bad. She tried to smile at me but it faltered. This entire interaction was done over Charlotte's shoulder as she still had tight hold of Alice. When Charlotte finally pulled from the hug she held Alice at arm's length, examining her. I raised an eyebrow and heard Peter chuckle.

"You're lucky I managed to hold her this long. She wanted to rush over here the second you found Alice." Peter explained causing me to groan.

Like I said, I loved Charlotte but she could be so frustrating sometimes. I knew that she loved Alice, too. But it should have been obvious that Alice and I needed time to talk things through before we could face anyone else.

"You seem different." Charlotte said to Alice, catching my attention.

Alice tilted her head to once side in confusion, a silent request for explanation. Charlotte tugged on my arm to get me to stand beside Alice. The entire one side of my body tingled and my fingers twitched with the desire to touch her. I wondered if Alice felt the same pull with our close proximity. Charlotte studied us for a moment as Peter leant against the back wall with a slightly amused smirk on his face. I think Charlotte could tell that something had changed between Alice and me. I would have blurted it out to both her and Peter the second I could but I just wanted to see if they'd guess. I was in no way ashamed of the developments in our relationship. I wanted everyone to know that I loved Alice. But, it was a little amusing to watch Charlotte as she observed us. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she continued her scrutiny, she looked at us like we were the few empty squares left on her crossword puzzle and the answer continued to elude her.

My body hummed with its proximity to Alice. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to tell her that I loved her. Without seeming to think about it I reached for her hand. Our fingers linked and a stupidly goofy grin crossed my face. I looked over to see Alice smiling shyly, her blush prominent.

Charlotte's eyes dropped to our clasped hands before she gave a high-pitched, gleeful screech. Alice, Peter and I all winced at the sound before Charlotte threw herself back into my girlfriend's arms.

My girlfriend…I smiled to myself.

Peter walked over to me as Charlotte babbled on about how great it was and how she'd known it would happen. Peter chuckled as we watched them. Alice was patting Charlotte's back a little awkwardly as Charlotte squeezed her so tight I'm surprised she could breathe. Peter hadn't really voiced his opinions on Alice to me, but to be fair I'd never really asked.

"Are you happy?" he asked me quietly.

"Very." I answered immediately.

"Good. She's good for you, Jay. And I like her, she's a survivor." He added. I smirked at him.

"Jay!" Charlotte screeched as she launched herself at me. It took me a minute to steady myself from her attack and I returned her embrace. I glanced at Alice over the top of Charlotte's head; she was stood smiling softly at us.

'I love you.' I mouthed to her, causing her to blush furiously.

Gran Canaria. Saturday 31st December 2011. The view of an artist from an open-top bus –

It is a concrete jungle of crumbling ruin, splashed with a paint of every colour so it appears a little more alive. Graffiti takes up full walls and sides of houses, vibrant colours and swirling designs decorating decaying bricks. Withered vegetation peeps from every crevice as structures old and new occupy the same space to create the one whole – its timeless culture at odds with its modern littering. Untameable. Beautiful.