Disclaimer: this is fanfiction, which means it is written by a fan of the Twilight series, not by anyone connected with the publishers or with the original author.
Alice was right, of course.
Jasper, Alice and Edward were bouncing off one another like a frenzied pinball machine. Edward was pacing up and down the centre of the floor, occasionally turning to reply to one of his family's thoughts. He didn't have many encouraging things to say, though, it was mainly some variation on 'that wouldn't work' or 'can you please think about the problem at hand?'
Alice and Jasper were sat back to back on the floor, leaning against one another. They both had their eyes closed. They looked like they were engaged in some kind of yoga meditation. I guessed that Alice was searching the future. I knew that Jasper was trying to project some calm into the room because I could feel it like a wave washing over me every now and again, then fading as he struggled to get a handle on all the volatile emotions in the room.
"Please, Alice, it's like strobe lighting in your head."
"Well, if someone would just stop changing their eternally damned mind all the time, maybe I would be able to see something. And what are you trying to do to us all, anyway, Jasper? Are you trying to cause a nervous breakdown?"
"No. I am trying to calm things down, and it isn't easier to do when you yell at me." He kept his eyes closed and spoke in a yoga-teacher's voice, with just a touch of irritation.
They resorted to silence for a little while longer. Jasper taking long, deep breaths, and gradually dialling up the calm feelings that he was projecting. Alice sitting absolutely still, with her eyes tightly closed. Edward pacing and occasionally pinching the bridge of his nose.
"There is absolutely no reason for you to throw all that anger around." Jasper said, glaring at the pacing Edward. "Nobody in this room is to blame for what's going on."
"Maybe this is your anger. Your not exactly making use of your little 'gift' right now."
"I am not angry." Jasper said, then he repeated it, making it almost a chant, shutting his eyes "I am not angry. I am not angry. I am calm."
"If you're so calm, why does Alice see you pushing me through the window?"
Jasper opened his eyes again. "Maybe because you're really, really annoying!"
"Edward, I don't see anything of the sort. Don't you dare play around like that, trying to use me in some petty fight with Jasper; maybe the next vision you see will be me pushing you through a window!"
"All of you settle down," Esme said, and I couldn't believe how calmly she was still speaking. "Whatever we're going to do about this little change of plans, we're not going to be able to make any decisions before Carlisle returns. This is only meant to be a brainstorming session."
"Well, storm is about right," Rosalie muttered, "all three of you are losing control."
"I am in PERFECT CONTROL OF MYSELF!" Edward yelled at his sister, causing everyone else to turn to stare at him.
Emmett sat up straight, probably preparing to step in between his brother and his wife if necessary. But Rosalie just raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow and said "are you, indeed?"
Edward deflated suddenly, probably seeing his tantrum replayed by his family, and realising quite how he looked.
"I'm sorry, Rose, that was inexcusable."
Esme sighed. "Edward, do sit down. All this pacing is not calming you down. We will approach this rationally, and discuss it calmly without any more yelling."
Edward came and sat on the sofa next to me. I wriggled a bit and pulled his head down onto my lap so that I could stroke his hair, he'd found that soothing before.
"All right, then," Esme continued, still using her pacifically calm voice, she would have made a wonderful teacher. "Jasper, can you give us a sit rep?"
Jasper nodded once. "We had all agreed on principle – though with the understanding that Bella could change her mind at any point – on changing Bella at some point in the future. We had planned on doing this after graduation, so that her family would think that she was leaving for college and there would be as few unanswered questions as possible. However, Jane's presence changes this. She has stated that she intends to remain until Bella's change."
"Thank you, Jasper. So, what options do we have? Any ideas?"
"We could take Bella and run," Emmett said.
"Leaving Carlisle alone with Jane?" asked Rosalie.
"Even if we could all get away," said Jasper, "which is unlikely, Jane would just get a tracker, like Demetri, over here to find us. We wouldn't be missing for long, and we'd be in trouble once we were found."
"It's only Jane here right now," Rose said, "can we try to persuade or bribe her?"
"If you can think of anything we have that she wants, then I'm all ears," Jasper sighed, "the Volturii have more money and influence than we do. I don't think she would be impressed with a yacht and a box of diamonds."
"Alice?" Esme asked.
"I think that Jane expects us to change Bella soon, within a day or so. If we don't . . . I see flashes of her doing it herself . . ." she winced, "not always entirely successfully."
Edward tensed on my lap and I bent down to kiss him.
"Will it be so terrible, baby? I was going to become a vampire sooner or later. Why not sooner?"
"She wants to be here while Bella is changed because she wants to take news back to Aro," Edward said stiffly, "he believes that Bella will turn out to be gifted. He wants her."
"He can't have her," Emmett said.
"Jane is a high-ranking member of the Guard," Jasper added, "it would be unorthodox for her to kidnap a newborn vampire from its maker."
"You're talking as though we have no choice but to change Bella straight away," Rose said irritably. "I thought we all agreed after graduation. And I thought that nobody wanted to rush her into this. What happens if we don't change Bella?"
Alice closed her eyes, "it's fuzzy," she said, "I can't see futures that aren't going to happen. We all need to decide not to change Bella, then I might get a vision."
Nobody spoke.
"Jasper!" Edward hissed, "in all Alice's visions, you're changing Bella. Just stop it. Stop killing Bella!"
Jasper growled low, "I'm trying. But, I'm finding it difficult to decide to make a stupid move. I don't want to antagonise Jane. It wouldn't be wise."
There was silence for a bit longer. Then Alice hissed and Edward whistled through his teeth.
"Um . . ." Alice muttered quietly, as if she'd actually caused the vision rather than merely seen it. "It ended in a battle. It wasn't pretty."
Jasper turned around to face Alice. They sat on the floor face to face. Alice's eyes were glazed, but Jasper was staring intently at Alice's face. Then I felt all the false calm drop away from me as he focused his gift exclusively on his wife.
"It didn't happen," he said softly, holding her hands in his and looking into her eyes, trying to bring her back again, "and it won't happen. Whatever you saw, Alice, I won't let it happen, not really." I wondered what Alice had seen that had shocked her so much.
Remembering that Edward must have seen the same thing, I kissed him again. I bent down to kiss his forehead, but he arched his back and sucked me down into a hungry kiss on his lips.
"Might it be different if we just delayed, rather than challenging Jane?" Esme asked. "She hasn't set a deadline yet, she's only said that she'll stay until we change Bella."
I watched as all the Cullens concentrated, trying to force the right vision into Alice's head.
"She stays," Alice said baldly, "she stays here."
"Here?" Rose asked.
Alice nodded, "in Bella's house."
"No" Edward said, rather predictably.
"She doesn't kill her," Alice clarified.
"You can't factor in accidents," Edward said, "a fall in the shower, a slip of a vegetable knife, for God's sake, even a paper cut . . ."
There was a collective intake of breath and Edward hastily back-pedalled, "or a paper cut to which I over-react causing Bella to crash into a pile of plates . . . I wasn't actually thinking of that. I was just thinking of minor accidents that might easily occur. This isn't about us staying in control – and we all know that isn't always perfect – this is about Jane who has no real desire to remain in control."
"How would I explain her sudden appearance to Charlie?" I tried to imagine introducing my father to the tiny girl with the terrifying eyes. Maybe she would want to experiment with her gift on him as well. Maybe she would . . . I couldn't even bear to think of it. Charlie mustn't know about the vampires. I wanted his life to remain untouched. For a second, I could understand Edward's desire to protect me from this world. Then the second passed. I couldn't get out of it and I wouldn't want to. This was Edward's world and Edward was my world. I belonged with the vampires now.
"Charlie wouldn't ever have to see her," Rose said calmly, "avoiding human notice is easy. Charlie is the least of our worries."
"I don't think that's quite true," Jasper said. "We ought to have a plan, just in case we do need to change Bella in a hurry. We need to avoid suspicion, especially from Charlie. He already hates Edward."
"We're not going to discuss this with Bella right here" said Edward, snapping at his brother again, probably annoyed at being reminded of his failure to win Charlie over since the Italy disaster.
"Do be nice, baby. He's being practical. We need to plan my death, don't mind me."
"She's already jumped off a cliff once," Rose said, "what's to stop her doing it again? No body to recover then."
"Too painful for her family," Edward said, "that sounds like suicide."
"Car crash?" said Emmett, "followed by fire?"
Jasper nodded, "it ought to work, we could take a little blood and hair to provide DNA for identification purposes."
"But, we'd raise suspicions if we all vanished directly after Bella's death," said Rose, "we'd have to stay for months."
"Not all of us," Emmett said, "just enough of us to make it look right. Edward, of course, would have to attend memorial services, and Alice, and Rose. But, Jasper and I could go away somewhere, a quick road trip up to Alaska."
"Fine," Edward said acidly, "very nice back-up plan. Shall we get back to the real plan now?"
Esme turned to Alice, "how long have we got?"
Alice grimaced, "not a vision I wanted to see. Jane is – will be in five minutes – fully sated and they'll head back. It ought to be about twenty minutes. Um . . . I should warn you that Carlisle has a little bit of . . . um . . . a sort of stain on his shirt . . . but, it's all . . . well, he hasn't done anything that he wouldn't want to do . . . or anything . . . it just, sort of, happened."
Edward frowned at Alice, as if he thought that she ought to be sharing more details, but he didn't say anything, merely settled back down on my lap and nudged me with his head, just like a cat. He wanted me to get back to stroking him.
It was nice, sitting like this, with Edward's head in my lap, and his family sat around. I felt safe and – though I know it was a ridiculous feeling in the circumstances – safe. Victoria had been dealt with, there was no upcoming fight. All of the Cullens were safe. It felt like a pleasant time. The only one that could still get hurt was me, and being scared for yourself is not even half as horrible as being scared for someone you love.
I wondered how long they would be able to stay, how long I would have my Edward here with me, before Charlie came back and he had to leave.
Then my heart sank and my stomach tensed and I felt horribly sick.
I wasn't the only person who might be in danger from Jane's visit. What would happen if she ran into Charlie?
"I hate to add extra complications," I said quietly, "but I have a problem with Jane being around Charlie."
"Oh, Bella!" Esme gasped in real shock, "of course you do, dear. You're quite right. We should never have been so cavalier. He's your father and we must ensure his safety, of course."
They all looked unnecessarily apologetic. After all, he isn't their father.
Suddenly a grin crossed Alice's face, "go, on, Rose," she said, "say it."
Rosalie laughed, "well, thank you for not taking the words out of my mouth, Alice; it's nice for a girl to speak for herself. I have an idea, which might help in the short term. How about a school trip?"
Edward frowned, "why?"
"I'm not sure that we're looking for ways to entertain ourselves right now, babe" said Emmett gently.
"Idiots! We arrange a school trip, getting Alice, Edward and Bella a nice long way away from Forks for a while. Jane will go where we go, giving us space to work out what we're going to do with her. Maybe something better will occur to us later."
Esme smiled, "good idea, Rose."
Edward nodded, "alright, it buys us time."
I frowned, "how exactly do you 'arrange' a school trip?"
"Easy," said Jasper, "it's nearly time for exams, so we'd better make it a study retreat for promising students . . . I could even make it a university sponsored event – how about Dartmouth? Wasn't that on your list, Edward?"
"What list?"
Jasper sighed, "human memories, they're not what they used to be. Edward applied for places for you two at Dartmouth and I think – well, obviously, I know – that it's his preferred choice."
"And why would they arrange a 'study retreat'?"
Jasper gave me a very strange look. "Do you imagine that everything works out by sheer chance? Passing as humans for so many years, despite never ageing at all, is not the sort of thing that you just hope will work out. We are – at least we usually are, everything involving you seems to throw us into complete disarray – fairly well organised. If we couldn't arrange something as minor as a convenient school trip, I don't think that we'd have lasted this long without getting caught."
"So, what are you going to do? Is it going to be legal?" I said, remembering Alice's theft in Italy.
Jasper stood up, following my gaze to his wife and frowning slightly at her, as if he was trying to work out what she'd done to convince me that the Cullens were a family of outlaws. "Generally we break as few laws as possible. It's a point of personal pride. I'm not going to do anything much; I'll just make some phone calls."
