Authors note: So no prizes for guessing the setting for this chapter! Sadly, this does ushers in the start of the end of Nephrology…but we're not there quite yet! Once again your reviews are very very much appreciated so please let me know what you think of this one! Happy reading my lovely readers…

Chapter 28 – Wedding Bells

Why was my head so sore? Why were the lights so bright? What had happened to me? Was I in another dimension? Who was talking? Why was my bed so soft? Why were the noises so loud?

I think I'm gonna be sick.

No wait…it passed.

I opened my eyes slowly to reveal the modern décor of the hotel room I had spent the night in. I appeared to be in nothing but my underwear and my clothes were strewn across the light grey floor.

I sighed and buried my head deeper into the soft pillow. It had been Rosalie's hen night last night and I have a feeling I may have had one too many tequila shots…and the fact that I can't remember if I actually did or not…probably means I did.

I also don't remember getting back to the hotel. Nice one Alice.

"Alice come one, hair and make-up people are here." My eyes shot open and it felt like an electric charge passed through my body as I sat up right.

"Last night was the hen night," I stammered. Bella was standing at the end of my bed looking half amused and half annoyed.

"Which would make today the wedding," Bella supplied. "Wonderful deduction skills Dr Cullen."

Rosalie would be going nuts, that's probably the voices I heard earlier…Rosalie announcing her plans to put me in the stalks if I didn't get up.

I jumped out of bed momentarily forgetting that my body was getting its revenge on me for poisoning it last night. I could hear Bella snigger as I stumbled around trying to find something to cover myself before going to face Rosalie.

"Here," Bella said holding out a robe for me. "And here." She threw over a bottle of water and a pack of aspirin.

"Bella, I have never loved you so much as I do in this moment." I gushed as I covered myself in the soft fabric and guzzled down some pain killers.

"What can I say, becoming a mom has made me a new woman! I'm one of those people you always hate but are secretly jealous of who has everything you could possibly ever need in their purse. But don't worry…I'm probably still going to trip on my way down the aisle." She smiled.

She really had changed since Renesmee was born. I guess having kids made you grow up fast.

I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and groaned. I hadn't taken off any make up last night and it was currently in black trails all over my face…had I been crying last night? Never mind. I kicked my clothes into the side of the room to at least make a clothes free path to walk through as I made my way to the bathroom to wash it all off.

"We're through in the next room when you're ready." Bella said quietly as she ducked out.

I scrubbed my face so forcefully it was probably bright red, but I'm sure who ever Rosalie had hired to do our make-up could fix that. I couldn't believe the wedding was today! I stared at my reflection in the mirror and blinked…and blinked again. This was really happening. My big brother was getting hitched today and I would be the only sibling left without a ring on a special finger. The shock dissipated and I watched as a smile spread across my face.

I can't wait to see Emmett standing at the end of that aisle.

I could hear the wedding bells already…or maybe it was just a phone going off.

The wedding was happening in this hotel downstairs in the function suit. I hadn't been down yet to look at the decorations (obviously) but I had every intension of making sure everything was better than it possibly could be. They deserved to have a beautiful wedding.

Rosalie's room was just next door to mine. I slipped out of my room and into hers without anyone seeing me…thankfully. As I entered I immediately noticed that the light in here was actually turned on, unlike in my room, and it was very very bright. I scrunched up my eyes at the assault to my sensitive senses.

I looked up to see Rosalie standing threading the white ribbon through the loops in the back of her wedding dress. I thought she would be furious at me for sleeping in and getting so out of hand last night but instead she just smirked. "Feeling good?" She teased me.

"I'll be fine," I moaned. "So…eh…what did I…I mean…"

"You drank a lot of vodka…then a lot of tequila…then we had a pretty good night which included you crying about how pretty me and Emmett's babies would be and insisting you were going to buy matching sailor outfits for them if we ever had twins."

"Oh my god," I said slouching onto one of the many chairs in Rosalie's beautiful wedding suit and dropped my head into my hands.

"Don't worry about it," Bella said. I hadn't even noticed her sitting curled up across the room. "Rosalie swore she was going to take all our kids to Disney world and insisted you have a chocolate fountain at your wedding because the only regret she has about today is she didn't organise one."

"I said that?" Rosalie gasped. Her chin dropped to the floor and a laugh escaped my mouth before I process what was happening.

"Sounds like an all round good night to me," I said.

"Hope the boys had as much fun," Rosalie said, coming over to sit with us in out little circle of sofas. "Anyone heard from them? Emmett and I decided no contact until after the ceremony."

"Edward texted me when they got back to the hotel," She pulled her phone out of her pocket and smiled as she started reading aloud. "Gr7 nigt. Hotel no slepp, drink! See tomato, lobe u xx"

Easy laughter filled the room as we marvelled at the blessing that was drunk texting.

"Well it sounds like a good night all round. Anything from Jas?" Rosalie turned to me.

"I don't know, I don't know where my phone is actually." I frowned.

Bella coughed lightly and grinned. "It's in your bra," She said pointing at my chest. "You said it's the only place it would be safe."

I reached in and, as Bella suspected, pulled out my cell phone. I unlocked it sheepishly. "Apparently I called him at 2am and we talked for 3 minutes 24 seconds. I was probably telling him to order a chocolate fountain." I laughed, nudging Rosalie in the ribs who groaned with embarrassment and sunk deeper into the sofa.

"I thought the hair and make up people were here?" I asked, finally noticing that we were the only three in the room and there were meant to be a hair and make-up artist.

"Oh," Bella said sheepishly. "Actually they're not coming for another hour…I was just trying to get you out of bed."

I gasped in outrage snatching the cushion I was sitting on and softly threw it across the room at her. It hit her square in the face with a soft thud. She laughed and hurled it back in my direction. I caught it before it hit and stuck my tongue out at her.

"I don't mind actually," I said replacing the cushion. "I want to go down and check everything is perfect for the ceremony."

"Alice you don't need to it's…" Rosalie started to say.

I put a hand up to stop her, "Really, I insist. Trust me, I'm good with things like this."

"She is," Bella agreed nodding enthusiastically. "She should have gone into party planning instead of medicine, the girl has a gift. She can make a barn look like a ball room."

I puffed my chest proudly. "Doctor by day, miracle worker by night." I announced. "Unless I'm on night shit and then I guess I'm a miracle worker by day? Never mind, the point is, I'm going to put on socially acceptable clothing and go down there to make your wedding day perfect…and probably get a lifetime ban from the hotel for driving the staff insane…but it'll be worth it." I almost sang my last words as I hopped off the sofa. The aspirin was kicking in…or maybe it was adrenalin. I could feel my heart start to beat a little faster at the thought of decorating for a wedding…definitely the adrenalin kicking in. It was nice to have something to focus on other than medicine.

Decided I should probably also go for a shower and get clean as I became aware of the general stickiness of my body. The warm water was nice on my skin; I hadn't brought any hair care products with me so I was just using the hotels stuff…it smells of lavender which was nice. It made me smile that Jasper would probably notice that lavender smell.

Thinking about Jasper gave me sudden need to call him, to hear his voice. I finished up quickly in the shower and grabbed my phone. The beeping started in my ear as I dried myself with the fluffiest white towel I'd ever experienced. His phone rang and rang with no answer. Eventually an automated robot spoke to me, "The person you have called is not available, please leave a message after the tone." BEEP.

I hung up and finished drying myself off. I'd try him again later, he was probably getting ready or, more likely, still sleeping. I pulled on a pair of blue jeans and and black t-shirt I'd been wearing yesterday, so they were actually folded on the sideboard and not in a crumpled heap on the floor. I even remembered to put on shoes which I was rather impressed with given I I'd forgotten a bra…didn't realised that little mistake until I was already in the function suit down stairs.

They were small enough for my lack of bra not to matter too much.

I stopped my brisk walk as I reached the door of the function suit and almost fell over at my sudden loss of velocity, but it was just so beautiful. It was grand and beautiful but still simple. There was a wooden wedding arch painted silver with all different kinds of white flowers winding round the ornately carved woodwork. Silver drapes hung loosely over the windows on the right side of the room, shimmering in the soft daylight that flooded the room. The chairs were light wood with silver and off white sashes draped over the backs, a small bunch of big daises were tied onto the backs of each chair with silver twine. A strip of cream carpet highlighted the aisle, it glowed in the morning light.

I could cry it was so lovely. That carpet could use some glitter though. It needed to sparkle like the rest of the room. Minor detail. I could fix that. That's what I was here for, I mentally drummed my fingers together like some evil mastermind…didn't want to seem weird.

"Hey, could we possibly get some glitter on this carpet?" I asked a passing hotel worker.

And so it began.

I spent the next hour tweaking little things to make it perfect. The room for the ceremony didn't need much work but the dining room was definitely looking for some love. I changed the centrepieces round a little and altered some seating positions because…it wasn't a big wedding but there was always going to be people who just shouldn't sit together. The table decorations were okay but in all the wrong places and some of the name cards were spelled wrong but there wasn't much I could do about that. I tried, and probably failed if I'm being honest, to not be too mean to the hotel staff. But they were really very lovely and probably quite used to dealing with bridezillas…though maybe not bridesmaidzillas.

I'd been so busy I'd forgotten to call Jasper back. I pulled my phone out (from my pocket this time). And frowned when I noticed that he hadn't called or texted me. Which was strange for him because he would unusually call me back if he saw a missed call from me.

I looked back over my handiwork in the dining room for one final mental stamp of approval. It was pretty darn near perfect I think.

I made my way back up stairs but my footsteps were heavy and I couldn't shake this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that maybe something was wrong. But the feeling was short lived as my phone started buzzing and a picture of Bella smiling in the garden appeared.

"Alice you need to get back here, hair and make-up have arrived and there's a rip in Rosalie's dress and we need you to fix it because I'm hopeless and Rosalie is…well she's being Rosalie." Bella's voiced poured into my ear.

"Okay okay calm down, I'm there in T minus 30 seconds." I said quickly, hanging up and putting my phone away.

I felt like some sort of wedding gene. Or maybe fairy god mother? Either way I was needed for wedding stuff.

It was amazing.

"So what's the emergency?" I asked loudly, announcing my presence in the room as I over dramatically threw open the door.

When I'd left an hour ago Rosalie was calm and happy and laughing and everything was going great. That had changed. Rosalie was standing over the poor make-up girl practically lecturing her about why the foundation she wanted to use was all wrong. The poor girl looked about 18 and ready to burst into tears. The make-up brush in her hand was shaking and lip was quivering.

Bella was frantically rummaging threw her suitcase, most of the contents of which were strewn around her in a circle of chaos. Her hands were moving so quickly threw the mess that they were almost a blur.

There was another three woman standing perfectly still by the window, more people for hair and make-up? They were stuck to the spot and looked too frightened to move in case Rosalie turned on them instead of their college.

"Wow wow wow people, calm down." I said. But no one took notice of me. I took a deep breath ready to make them take notice. "WOW!" I shouted

The room would have been silent if it weren't for the panicked hyperventilating of the young make-up artist.

"Okay, that's better." I said in a quieter voice. "What's going on?"

"She doesn't know how to match skin tone."

"I packed a sewing kit."

"I'm going to look orange."

"I can't find it but I swear it's here."

"She doesn't get that I don't want to look tan."

"There's a hole in the dress and we can't fix it…"

"I'm naturally pale, it's not that hard to understand…"

"because I can't find the sewing kit."

"You just have to use a lighter foundation."

The disorganised choir of voices eventually stopped when I started waving my hands in the air. It's like dealing with children. And there was a reason I didn't go into paeds.

"Okay, one problem at a time. Rosalie, I'm sure…"I frantically searched for the girls name badge. "Jane here understands to use a paler foundation and if you have any problems I'm sure she's happy to oblige if you explain to her calmly. Is that right Jane?" The girl nodded frantically and looked more relived than a woman on the pill who's pregnancy test came back negative. "Okay, so you guys," I gestured to the team of professionals Rosalie had managed to turn into a quivering wreck. "Get yourself set up and Bell and I will be with you soon. Bella, this is a nice Hotel so there's probably a sewing kit in the bathroom. You just clean this up so you don't brake your neck tripping over it later on and go get yourself pretty. I'll deal with the dress. I'm good at sewing and my hair and make up take long because there's not much you can do with this mop." I ruffled my short hair around and Bella smiled. I could see her body physically relax that things had calmed down and a bit of order had been restored.

I was a fricken wedding gene.

I had to get Bella to show exactly where this 'rip' in Rosalie dress was and it was about as big as the end of my pinkie nail….not very big at all. And no one would have noticed it because it was right next to hem and no one was going to be looking at her hem when she had this stunning white creation on her body. But I sewed it up anyway to keep her happy.

When I finally sat down to get my make-up done I was almost too excited to sit still. I kept glancing over at my dress hanging on the wardrobe door. It was floor length and pale blue with only one strap over the left shoulder. The fabric was gathered in the top half but loose and smooth from the waist down. I almost leapt out my seat when my make up was done so I could feel the silky fabric tight against my skin.

Bella was smiling over at me as she zipped herself in. "If feels like was just yesterday I was dressed up for your wedding." I said.

She laughed. "I can't believe Emmett's getting married, and I'm a mom. When did we all grow up?"

"Speak for yourself," I said sticking my tongue out at her.

We starting laughing but it was quickly interrupted by Bella's phone going off and Rosalie shouting for us to come help her.

"I'll be through in a sec," Bella said as she answered her phone and said hello to Edward, well I presumed it was him because I'm not sure there's anyone else Bella calls baby.

I slipped into Rosalie's bedroom to find all the hair and make-up people had left and she was alone trying to do up the ribbon at her back by herself. "Can you help?" She asked helplessly, her voice shaking slightly.

I rushed over and immediately started to pull tightly at the loops of ribbon. Her dress was out of this world amazing. Tight fitting bodice that flared out gently at her hip with a long trail. The bodice was lace with full length sleeves of see through lace, but the lace seemed to slowly fade the further down the dress you got until the trail of just plain white fabric. Her hair was pinned in big loose pleats with some strands breaking free and framing her pale face which seemed to glow with the light streaming in the window.

"You look so beautiful Rose," I said softly as I worked.

"Really?" She asked.

"Of course! You're stunning. I can't wait to see the look on my brothers face when he sees you in this. He's going to love it!"

She looked down and started to smooth down the front of her dress nervously. I looked up at the mirror in front of us and her face reflected back at me, she looked scared. "But what if he…I don't know…realises this is a mistake…that I'm a mistake."

"Oh Rosalie no, I promise you that will not happen. Look at me." She turned slowly, still keeping her eyes low. "It's completely natural to get nervous on your wedding day, but my brother loves you more than anything else in the world. You are going to make him the happiest man he could be and don't ever think differently."

She looked up and me and started to slowly smile. "Okay." She nodded and turned back around. "Now keep doing up my dress or I'm going to be late to my own wedding and that is unforgivable." I stood still for a moment, a bit stunned by her sudden change in disposition. Though at this point I don't know why I was surprised with anything Rosalie did. "Come on, chop chop." She hurried me along.

I'd just started lacing her up again when Bella popped her head through the door. "Alice you got a sec?"

"What's up?" I asked, not even bothering to glance back to her.

"Eh, it's a decoration...emergency. Can you come out here?" She was lying. She wasn't even very subtle about it and certainly not convincing. That didn't really strike me as odd, it was probably just something going wrong that she didn't want to get Rosalie worked up about.

Rosalie obviously felt the same as she smirked and shrugged telling me to hurry back or there would be a naked bride on the loose.

"Have you seen Jasper today?" Bella asked as soon as the door was closed and Rosalie was out of ear shot. "Talked to him or anything?"

I felt a sudden tightness in the chest. It's amazing how quickly your heart can speed up, I could feel it thumping against my rib cage. "No," I said tightly. "Why?"

I tried to push past the nervous lurch in my stomach and calm down.

"The boys haven't seen him all day, he was meant to come back to the hotel last night but he came back early because he was tired or wasn't feeling well or something and they haven't seen him all morning. They assumed he was with you and Edward just phoned me to tell him to go get ready but…"

"But he's not here." I whispered. My hands were shaking now and clenched my fists trying to held it together. He probably just slept in…on the day of his sisters wedding…no. He wouldn't do that.

Something was wrong.

"Okay, I'll go to the apartment and kick him out of bed." I said trying to keep my voice light. "Don't tell Rosalie, there's no point worrying her on her wedding day. Tell her…I don't know… just tell her something believable."

Bella have me a quick hug and told me she was sure everything was fine before she went back in to help Rose. I grabbed a coat which probably wasn't even mine, pulled on my trainers and walked fast. I had to go back for my keys and my phone and my purse which my trembling fingers found trouble finding. I got some funny stares on my way out the hotel but I didn't take much notice of them, I was just trying to focus and stay calm. It was probably nothing. I kept telling myself that over and over. No point getting all worked up over nothing.

I didn't have my car with me because we'd all driven here together so I jumped in the first taxi I saw and gave them my address.

"Forget something for the big day?" the cab driver laughed as he eyed my outfit in the rear view mirror.

"Something like that," I said. "Can you hurry?"

"Sure thing, don't want you to have an upset bride to deal with."

"No," I said quietly, more to myself than the cab driver. "We don't want that."

I tried phoning Jasper again and again but he wasn't picking up.

The drive seemed so long considering our apartment was only a 10-minute drive from the hotel. The whole time I kept trying not to think about what could have happened.

He forgot to set on alarm. Slept in.

He got tied up sorting things out for the wedding.

He decided to get Rose a last minute surprise.

He spilled food on his tux and had get a new one last minute.

There were so many things that could have happened to make him not be at the hotel this morning. I was trying to tell this to my heart that wouldn't stop beating and my lungs the wouldn't stop breathing and my fingers that wouldn't stop shaking but they weren't listening to me.

We got caught at a red light and the traffic wasn't moving. I looked out the window and we were just round the block from my apartment.

"Here," I said throwing some money into the front seat, and I jumped out the cab nearly catching my dress in the door as I slammed it shut behind me.

I tried to stay calm and walk at a reasonable pace but I kind of ended up doing a weird half walking half running skipping type movement which got faster and more awkward as I got closer to the apparently. I had the end of my beautiful pale dress bundled up in one hand and my cell phone tightly gripped in the other just in case he called.

I took the stairs two at a time and by the time I was trying to fit a shaking key into a stationary lock sweat had roughened my make-up and I could barely catch my breath.

As soon as I got the door open I called out to Jasper, but he didn't need to answer.

Some sound that I couldn't even describe left my lips, part scream part wail part cry, as my eyes took in what they saw. Everything that had been sitting my sideboard was knocked onto the floor and Jasper was lying face down on the ground.

I called 911 as I fell down beside him.

"JASPER," I shouted in his face trying to rouse him.

"JASPER!"

But he didn't answer me. He didn't even move.