AN – Excuse my lack of prescence once again. I got thrust into a manager's position at work and have been flat out and when I am free I'm doing my partners washing, or the dishes, or cooking, or sleeping. But I hope this is enough to keep you satisfied for a bit. The fic is nearing its end. I just have to decide what the ending is going to be like.

Jasper's POV

"Oh, holy shit!" I flopped onto the bed as my mind ran through what I had just seen. I didn't know if I was hallucinating or not. I'd seen her a few times since she left. Or at least I thought I had. Every time I thought I'd seen her when I looked again she wasn't there. The space was always either empty, or it was just someone who looked a little bit like her. With my head in my hands I focused on breathing.

Alice…

I so hoped it was real, but I didn't want to go out again and check. I didn't know if she'd even want to see me. I don't know if I even wanted to see her. I still don't know what happened between us. If anything would happen. Was now even the right time for something to happen? So much had happened since Alice left.

A knock on the door made me jump slightly. I pushed my hair out of my face.

Note to self, get a haircut when I get out of here.

"Yeah?" I tried to sound casual as I stood up from the bed, ready to greet whoever opened the door.

"Jasper?" a voice came from the other side of the door.

Oh…

Disappointed cursed through me as I went to the door to answer it myself.

"Chantelle." I forced myself to smile. A stupid part of me had thought that it was Alice, coming to tell me she was back.

"Jasper, how are you today?" Chantelle stepped into the room and glanced around.

"Yeah, okay I suppose." I stood there awkwardly for a moment. "Did you want something?" I didn't mean for it to come out as rude as it did.

"There's a session on in a couple of minutes and…"

I tuned out at that point. I looked past Chantelle, out the doorway, and there she was. She looked… absolutely fucking amazing. I didn't know what it was, but she looked different. She almost looked happy. At the angle I was at I could see that she was talking to someone, but I couldn't tell who. I felt like something was tied to my centre, and I was being pulled toward her. It took all the effort I could muster not to run over to her, to pull to toward me. I wanted nothing more than to hold her.

"Jasper?" Chantelle's voice pulled me out of it. She glanced behind her, following my gaze and turned back, smiling. "Yeah, Alice came back this morning. I know you'll get a chance to go and say hi soon, but for now, Doctor Cullen would really like you to go to the session they're about to start."

I nodded. I had no desire to go, but I knew that I really didn't have a choice. Chantelle was putting it gently that he'd like me to go. In reality, if I didn't go to these sessions I wouldn't be able to stay here in Greenside. "Sure, let me just…" I stopped. I had absolutely nothing I needed to do or get. Sighing, I stepped out of the room and forced myself to walk past Alice.

I took my seat in the therapy room, close to the window. I took a piece of paper and I pen from the table in the centre, and being idly drawing in the corner of the page as I waited for the door to shut, and the session to begin. During the past week, a few more people had been admitted to Greenside, making it more crowded than it had been since I was admitted. Just as a nurse began to shut the door, Alice's small frame pushed her way through the remaining gap. She looked at the nurse apologetically and proceeded to make her way toward the window. My breathing quickened, there was a seat free next to me, and a part of me hoped desperately she would take it. Instead she took the seat one down from there, a small side table separating us. It wasn't much, but it felt like miles. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. She hadn't made any form of eye contact or any gesture to acknowledge me.

Maybe she's realised it's better for her to not be with you.

I sighed, and leant my head back against the window.

"Good afternoon all, let us begin."

The sessions are usually long, but somehow having Alice close to me made the clock stop completely. After what felt like years, and two speakers later, we were mercifully let go. I stood up, about to tap Alice on the shoulder but as I reached out, she slipped out of my reach and was out of the door within seconds.

My shoulders slumped and I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. Sighing, I left the room last, hoping to get out into the fresh air…to ruin my lungs.

Ironic

I turned the corner into the corridor, only to be stopped.

"Jasper, there you are."

"Doctor Cullen, do we have an appointment? I must've forgotten, sorry." I tried to be polite while my mind cursed the fact that now I'd be stuck inside for at least another half an hour, probably more, considering the fact Alice was back, and no doubt he wanted to set down some rules, tell me to stay away, don't interfere with her recovery, yada yada.

"Oh, no we don't." He held his hand toward the door leading outside.

"Thanks." I pulled a cigarette and lighter out of my hand, and within seconds of stepping outside, lit up. "So, if we don't have an appointment, what's up?"

Doctor Cullen stood awkwardly. "Chantelle mentioned that you saw Alice earlier. I wanted to tell you she was coming back, but unfortunately I couldn't, for a multitude of different reasons." He coughed. "But that's not what I'm here about. I have some news."

I tilted my head slightly, "go on?"

"I know someone who owns a cinema, two blocks from here. One of their usher's recently left, leaving an opening. It's only one day of work a week so far. I thought you might be interested in applying for it.

"So far it's only one day of work a week, but I thought it would give you good opportunity to start somewhere before we toss you out into the real world again."

My mind felt like it was going to explode. "Wait a second… are you telling me I can have a job there if I want it?"

Doctor Cullen said nothing, merely tilting his head forward slightly.

"Do you think it would be good for me?"

"I think that any rehabilitation outside of hospital a patient can get before they are released is always good for them, even if it turns out to be damn hard on them."

"Okay…"

Doctor Cullen looked at me intently. "So, you'd like to give it a go then?"

I shrugged. "I suppose, yes. I would." I couldn't hold in a tiny smile that tugged against my lips.

Change is good.

Small, large.

Save up the small,

Buy yourself a large change.

-Anon