Notes: Alice and Jasper are headed to Biloxi for a few days. Emmett minds the store while Esme and Hannah plan maternity clothes shopping. Nothing turns out like they expect.


"Alice, you and Jasper have a wonderful time and don't worry about a thing. Maddie isn't leaving for home till the 23rd" -- so their rotations at the shelter won't begin until that day -- "and I don't mind keeping the store." Esme hugs her and kisses her cheek.

"You've got the lists -- "

"I've got the lists!" Esme says, laughing and pushing Alice towards Jasper, who appears amused. Esme doesn't need physical lists, but it eases Alice's mind to make them. "Everything will be ready when you get back, and we'll still have a whole week before the wedding."

"Okay, okay . . . " A frown cuts Alice's forehead as she watches cars and vans come and go in the Departures drop-off at the airport. "But maybe I should have postponed this trip until January."

"You planned it before Edward dropped his bombshell," Jasper reminds her.

"He proposed before he was supposed to," Alice says; the frown hasn't gone away. "But I'm glad he did." She smiles abruptly. "It's fine. It doesn't have to be a big wedding."

Esme nods. "That's right. Edward wants something private, and you know Bella doesn't like grand-standing. Now go and meet your grand-niece and her kids, and have a wonderful time."

"I will." Alice hugs Esme again, followed by Jasper before they collect their luggage and head into the terminal. Just before they enter the sliding doors, Alice turns abruptly. The frown is back on her face. "Esme, don't forget what I saw."

Abruptly Esme feels a chill that has nothing to do with the weather she no longer notices anyway. Despite the car running and the trunk yawning open, she hurries to Alice. "Did you see -- ?"

"No," Alice shakes her head. "Nothing new. I just . . . I feel like it's coming but I can't see when." She meets Esme's eyes. "Edward still doesn't know and I'm afraid to say anything to him until I can give him something concrete. He overreacts."

"I won't be telling him. You'll call if you see anything else?"

"Yes, of course." Alice nods. "Keep an eye on Bella." Then she turns and hurries into the airport, followed by a troubled-looking Jasper.

Esme is no less disquieted as she returns to her waiting car and heads home. She's not really sure it makes a great deal of difference whether Alice is in Helen or Biloxi as long as she has her cell phone. She'll see something as soon as a final decision has been made. That's her theory at the moment, in fact -- only half the decision has been made, so she can see only that there's a threat, not exactly what form it'll take.

Esme is glad that Edward's been so preoccupied with Bella. It's made things easier keeping Alice's vision from him over the past several days, and now, he's in Atlanta until Friday. But Esme doesn't like Alice's sense of impending doom, even if she wasn't about to ask Alice to stay. It took Alice a long time to summon the nerve to contact her surviving family. She and Emmett are the only ones who've kept an eye on their descendants -- Emmett because he remembers his, and Alice because she's recently found them. She's been pretending to be a distant cousin doing family-tree research, and asked if she could come to Biloxi to share what she's found and hear any stories they might have. She honestly does have a chart and information to offer, but her real reason for going is in the hope the family there might have stories or even old photographs. It's far enough in the past, and the world is sufficiently different, that perhaps any shame associated with an ancestor "in the mad house" will have faded. Of course, the family thinks Mary Alice died, not that she was committed, but even so, there might be something. If all she gets out of this are scans of a few grainy old family pictures, Esme thinks it will be worth it for her.

Esme pulls Emmett's big jeep out into interstate traffic. She feels a bit ridiculous, driving this jacked-up off-road vehicle with its fog lights, monster wheels, and gun rack. The boys take it hunting, but with three people plus luggage, it was easier to drive the jeep than her truck, and Carlisle is headed to a local medical licensing service today to apply for a Georgia license, so he'd needed Alice's car. "I don't think showing up in a tricked-out jeep would be a good idea," he'd said with amusement.

Driving this is fun though, Esme must admit. She's raised above most other vehicles and the rumble of the big engine imbues a feeling of power. No wonder Emmett likes this car.

Back in Helen, she drops by the shelter on the way to Alice's. Hannah wanted to shop for maternity clothes while the volunteer who watches the shelter kids is there, and Esme offered her a ride. Now, she calls ahead and Hannah is waiting for her on the porch. As she approaches, Esme notes that she's starting to show, demonstrating that loose-hipped walk of pregnancy before the waddle takes over. "What the hell?" she asks as she opens the door and climbs into the cab with Esme. "Who's is this?"

"Emmett's -- Rose's husband. You've met him."

"Oh, yeah -- the big dude. He's nice."

"He is."

"Where's your truck?"

"At Alice's shop. It wouldn't fit all three of us plus the luggage, so Emmett and I traded for the morning. He's watching the store."

She laughs. "The idea of that guy in a shop for women's accessories is pretty funny." Then she opens her purse to pull out her cigarettes.

"Ah, ah!" Esme says.

Hannah huffs and rolls her eyes . . . but puts the pack away. "God. You're as bad as your brother."

"He's right, you know. Your baby doesn't need tar and nicotine."

Esme puts the jeep in reverse, but Bella rolls out onto the porch and waves. "Hey!" she calls.

Esme rolls down her window. "Yes?"

"Can I hitch a ride? Rose was supposed to drop off the shelter books from Alice's, but she got a call from the courthouse and has to go straight down there. Emmett can bring me back later."

Esme almost suggests that she'll have Emmett deliver the books instead but knows Bella prefers doing things herself, not having them done for her because it's more convenient. Nonetheless, "Emmett probably won't be coming right back. We plan to shop and he has to mind the store."

"That's okay." Bella waves a folder full of papers. "I can work on balancing them there, and I need the mid-month figures before I send Maddie grocery shopping. She gets out of class at 2:50 so I'm pressed for time."

Esme stops the jeep and helps Bella into the backseat, then stores the chair while Hannah updates Bella on her last visit to the obstetrician. The drive to the shop doesn't take long, and Esme parks in the rear lot beside her own truck. She and Hannah help Bella out, but with Bella in the chair, they have to go all the way around to the front, as the rear entry has stairs. They may be just a few steps, but stairs are stairs. "Hey ladies!" Emmett calls, then asks his customer, "If you'll excuse me a moment?" She just nods, seemingly amused to be waited on by somebody who looks more suited to Sport's Authority than Wool & Rhinestones.

Weaving through the tables Emmett joins Esme, Hannah and Bella. "Glad you're here. Alice didn't tell me the Christmas season would be this busy." He looks slightly terrified, and Esme suppresses a grin. She can't resist having some fun with this.

"Actually, Em, I was going to take Hannah shopping for clothes so it'll be another hour or two before we're back." His eyes get wider. "Or you could go with Hannah for maternity clothes and I'll mind the store."

"Ah, um, well . . ." -- he glances at Hannah, then Bella, who Esme notes is struggling not to crack up -- "I think you'd be, um, better at that. I mean you were pregnant too and all. I've never been pregnant."

"If you were pregnant, Rose might be a tad surprised," Esme tells him, then dissolves in giggles.

"I'll be here, too, Em," Bella tells him, biting her lips. "I'll save you from the evil handmade jewelry and big bad balls of yarn."

"It's not the yarn that worries me," Emmett mutters looking annoyed, although given how often he teases everybody else, he can't complain too much about being teased in turn. He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword, Esme thinks. "Rose couldn't get by with the books," Bella is explaining, "so I came downtown to get them. When Hanna and Esme are finished, you can drop Hannah and I back at the shelter."

"All right," he grumbles. "Just let me go down to Jasper's dungeon and get a book or something. I didn't think to before they left this morning."

"Certainly," Esme says. "In the meantime, I'll go and wait on the lady."

He disappears into the back and she can hear his heavy tread on the stairs as she crosses the little shop to talk to the well-dressed retiree. Hannah seats herself on a stool behind the counter, content to wait. She plays with the little 8-Ball that Alice keeps there. It was a gag gift from Edward years ago. Bella has rolled into Alice's office behind the counter, digging through piles of paper, looking for the shelter books.

Esme hears the buzz of her phone alerting her to a text message, but it's in her purse at the back and a human shouldn't be able to hear it where she stands near the store front. She hopes it's nothing urgent. She continues talking to the customer until Hannah says, "Esme! Your purse keeps humming!"

"Oh! That's my phone." Esme pretends surprise. If you'll excuse me," and she hurries to where she left it behind the counter a moment ago. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see three men crossing the street, headed for the shop door, or maybe just for the sidewalk. Dressed in ball caps and heavy winter flannel, they don't look the sort to patronize Alice's place, but perhaps they're after presents for wives or girlfriends. Fishing her phone from her purse, she glances down at it. Alice. Esme's breath stops.

The message is terse. It has to be because Alice is on a plane headed for Mississippi. She must not have wanted to risk a phone call in case a flight attendant caught her.

Run. Gun in jeep.

That's all. Alice is relying on Esme to recall the details of Alice's vision: Esme with a shotgun, frightened but determined.

She's out the back door even as she hears the tinkle of bells as the front opens. She doesn't have time to worry that Hannah or the customer might have seen her essentially disappear.

In seconds, she's at the jeep and has the door wrenched open, not even bothering to unlock it. Emmett's shotgun is in her hand a second later, and the box filled with shot and gunpowder.

Esme grew up a country girl. Even as a human, she could load, aim and shoot in under a minute. She'd brought down more than a few geese for the stewpot, and her father had teasingly called her his little Annie Oakley. It takes her three seconds as a vampire to load the gun. Shot and powder in one hand, barrel in the other, she's back inside in time to hear the screaming start, and the shouting.

"Get down and shut up, you ugly old biddy!" And there's a wet smack like a fist hitting flesh.

Another voice says, "Get your fat ass out here! How dare you try to hide my baby from me!"

"Put down the gun, please. Put down the gun." Bella's voice. Calm but shaking. "Nobody here is fighting you. Nobody needs to get hurt."

Esme bursts through the back door, shotgun leveled already, taking aim from just the sound of the male voices. She can hear Emmett thundering up the steps behind her.

"DROP IT!" she says.

Instead, the man in the middle, the one waiving a pistol, laughs. "Look at that! Feisty MILF with a boot-blaster. Watch how you hold that thing, darlin', or the kick might knock you on your pretty little ass."

"First, this is a single-barrel 12-gauge New England Pardner, you idiot, not a boot-blaster. Second, I can drop a buck at 120 feet with one shot to the heart. Now, do you want to see what I could do to you at twelve?"

The expressions on the men's faces change profoundly. The skinny one holding a white-faced Hannah looks more nervous than cocky, and the other raises both hands. "Hows about we just, uh, walk back out the door we came in by? Come on Brady. This isn't what I signed on for."

"Shut up, you pansy-ass." Brady -- the one with the pistol -- is red-faced at being stood up to, both by Esme and then his friends. Esme doesn't think he's drunk, although she suspects he's been drinking even though it's only noon.

She's conscious of Emmett at her back -- solid and bigger than any of the three men, growling almost too low to be heard. The terrified customer is lying on her face by the door, hands over her head and whimpering. Bella remains quiet and still behind Esme, but Hannah is starting to twist in the skinny man's grip. "You're not allowed near me, you piss-ass bastard!" she says to Brady. "I have a restraining order out on you!"

The fight in her sets off Brady. "What do I care about a piece of fucking paper?"

"The cops'll make you care!" Hannah shrieks.

"Hannah -- " Bella says, trying to sooth her.

Hannah's not listening; neither is Brady. "You're pregnant and you didn't even fucking tell me!' he yells. "You got no right hiding that baby! It's my baby!"

"How do you know it's yours?" she spits back.

"You manipulaitve whore!" Face red, he swings the pistol from Esme to her. "I am so fucking tired of you and your shit!" With vampire sight, Esme can see the infinitesimal twitch of his forefinger on the trigger. Fortunately he opted for a big gun -- the classic Colt 45 -- that takes effort to pull. (Big gun, small penis, she thinks.) And in that moment, he becomes Charles. He becomes Royce. He becomes every man who's ever raised his hand in anger and violence against somebody smaller than him. But this time, she's armed. This time, she's powerful. This time she's got the gun, and it's more solid than her fears, or her past.

She pulls the trigger.

The double report of two guns going off is deafening in the little shop. Then comes the screech of agony from the man suddenly writhing on the floor, hand pressed to the mess of bone, cartilage, muscle and blood that used to be his right shoulder.

Lots and lots of blood. "Stop breathing!" Bella hisses to Esme as Brady's helpers panic and bolt. The customer is screaming again. Emmett has thrown himself at Hanna, knocking her out of the way of Brady's bullet, so she's unharmed.

"Go!" Bella says, "Wait out back!" Esme hurries to obey, Emmett following. In truth, he's a bit better than her at resisting blood, but that much blood would be overwhelming to anybody but Carlisle, Rosalie and Edward.

In the back parking lot, Esme can breathe again. Emmett is right behind her, holding Hannah in his arms. Hannah appears shell-shocked and seems content to be held, not registering how easily he's doing it despite her pregnant weight. Esme's shaking, and still holding the shot gun. Part of her feels powerful at having successfully protected somebody else. Part of her just feels terrified and a little sick at what she's done.

"How in hell did they find her?" Emmett snarls.

"I don't know," Esme replies. "But the shop is the public face of the shelter. It's location isn't a secret."

"How could they have known she'd be at the shop today, though? And why the hell didn't Alice see this?"

"I don't know," Esme says again, giving him a warning glance for the slip about Alice. Fortunately, Hannah is too far in shock to make note of it -- or care.

As for the 'how,' Esme resists the obvious answer -- that somebody at the shelter let something slip. After all, they screen staff and volunteers carefully, requiring them to undergo training, sign confidentiality agreements, and never, ever share shelter resident names or their comings and goings outside the shelter, lest it fall on the wrong ears. Did something fall on the wrong ears today? Or was this pure chance?

They stay outside for three minutes before they can hear the blare of sirens -- police and ambulance both. Emmett tries to set Hannah on her feet, but she just clings to him. He finally settles for sitting sideways in the open jeep door. He must at least give the appearance of human weaknesses such as fatigue. "Sorry about the door," Esme tells him.

"Rose can fix it," he replies.

They don't talk about what just happened -- what it might mean to their future here in Helen.

Vampires aren't supposed to draw undue attention to themselves and Esme isn't sure what the Volturi would have to say if they hear about this, especially if it lands on a newsfeed besides the local. In this day of the internet, oddball local stories can get picked up and blown into national proportion when all-day news shows like CNN are looking for padding on a slow-news day. That's the last thing they need. They're getting away with running the shelter in the first place because it flies under the radar enough that nobody is paying them any attention. The whole idea walks at very edge of what the Volturi consider allowable -- but Esme doesn't regret having opened it, even now with a man she wounded thrashing on the floor of a Alice's shop.

At least she'd wounded him with a perfectly human weapon. It's even registered. She's never been so glad they all play by the rules as much as they can, most of the time.

Bella appears in the back door. "The cops are here," she calls, then adds in a whisper she knows only Emmett and Esme can hear, "I told them that Hannah was in no condition to come back inside and that Esme is very sensitive to the smell of blood -- so they're coming out here to interview you."

Esme nods her thanks and Bella disappears back in as two uniformed police officers exit past her to take their statements. Three minutes later, Carlisle arrives. He appears terrified and hugs Esme tightly. She doesn't think it's entirely an act for the sake of the police. "Are you all right?" he whispers in her ear.

She knows he means psychologically, not physically, and nods, clinging to him. He's her rock and she lets herself release the fear she's been holding in. "I'm sorry," she whispers back. "I think I blew it."

"It'll be all right," he replies. "We'll get through this. And the boy's not dead."

"Of course he's not dead. I hit what I was aiming at," Esme says, piqued despite her fear.

Carlisle chuckles.

The police ask them to come down to the station. The ambulance has already left for the hospital with the wounded Brady. Esme isn't under arrest, the police assure them after Emmett has produced his papers for the gun, which he keeps in his glove compartment. He looks every inch the classic hunter and his paperwork is all in order, so the police aren't suspicious. Carlisle doesn't let go of Esme the whole time. Thank god this day has been typically December overcast.

Back at the station, Rose meets them and sits in on their questioning. Esme wishes for Edward, Alice, or Jasper -- any of their gifted family members -- but they'll have to do this without aid beyond normal vampire senses. Esme pays close attention to the heartbeat rates of the police. They don't seem elevated at all while they question her, Emmett and Bella, nor do they smell anxious. In fact, the questions are fairly perfunctory. Brady's been arrested before, has a restraining order on him and is known to be impulsive, whereas Esme's record is spotless, as is Emmett's. Brady's accomplices were picked up earlier; in fact, one of them turned himself in, figuring he'd get a lighter sentence by cooperating. He hadn't anticipated Brady had a gun. In fact, the entire thing seems to have been spur of the moment. They learn these things because their hearing allows them to listen in on hallway conversations.

According to the cooperative accomplice, Brady had taken to drinking more with the holidays coming and his wife and kids gone, so two of his childhood friends had staged an intervention -- only for Brady to spot Hannah on the street as they were leaving the diner and flip out. He hadn't known she was pregnant. According to the friend, they'd followed, intended to keep him calm. Things had escalated when he'd pulled a pistol. It's clear the police are dubious about that "keep him calm" claim, but the rest seems straightforward enough. The testimony of the customer also makes it clear that the three men had entered the store spouting threatening abuse, and the pistol was pulled almost immediately so Esme had reacted in self-defense.

Edward arrives shortly after sunset. Given the situation -- that his "sister" had just shot a man -- the hospital had been willing to let him halve his Tuesday shift. Hannah is allowed to go back to the shelter to be with her children, driven there by a police woman after Carlisle performs a quick exam to be certain her unborn child is all right. But the rest of them are still needed to sign statements. Edward hugs Esme first, then Bella, then even Emmett. "You're okay?" he asks Esme aloud as he grips her hands. He can read her mind of course, but it's important to keep up appearances for the watching cops.

She nods and says, "Yes." At the moment, they're occupying hard chairs in a room used for questioning, but the door is open and they've been supplied with coffee (only Bella is drinking). It's clear they're not being held for anything, a fact Edward confirms shortly in a low, fast voice.

"They're just finishing paperwork for you to sign, then they'll release you. They don't see any more in this than exactly what it appears to be -- crazy, jealous, intoxicated husband assaults estranged, pregnant wife despite a restraining order, and gets shot for his trouble. He's going to jail, you're going free."

Esme nods and actually feels her knees buckle in relief as Carlisle catches her. She's never been in trouble with the law, and justified or not, hasn't been handling this well. "The Volturi . . . ?" she asks.

"I don't know," Edward replies. "I did speak to Alice, but she doesn't see anything especially negative happening to the family after this. What I want to know, though, why she didn't see it all to begin with?"

"Split second decision on the part of Brady, it sounds like," Carlisle offers, but something alerts Edward, and Esme watches his face harden as he lifts something out of someone's mind.

"She did see it," he hisses. "She saw it and she didn't tell me? You didn't tell me!" He stares, wide-eyed, at Esme. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"Shhhh," Carlisle warns him. Emmett and Rose look alarmed, and even Bella appears suddenly worried. She might not be able to hear clearly what he's saying, but she can read his face and body language.

She rolls closer. "Edward?"

He ignores her and Esme can almost feel him forcefully ransack her mind for the conversation with Alice last Thursday in the woods. "How dare you not tell me."

"Tell you what?" Bella asks.

Edward is too angry to reply. He's fisting and un-fisting his hands. "It's over," Esme tells him, trying to calm him down. "It's over, and nothing happened. Bella's fine. She was never in any danger, in fact."

"In danger?" Bella just appears confused.

"I need air," Edward says, turning on his heel and storming out, leaving all of them staring after him.

"What just happened?" Bella asked, voice suspicious.

Esme sighs. "I'll explain in the car," she says, the feeling of impending doom back. But it won't be the police -- or Brady -- she has to worry about, it seems.


A/N: The next part will be up later this week. I wouldn't leave you hanging! (Well, not much ... ha.)

Special Note: Tonight, voting begins for this summer's Bellie Awards [thecatt(dot)net], and "In the Blink" is up in the category of "AU You Imagine As Canon." I would love it if you vote for "In the Blink," but there are several other really good stories in the same category, including some I'm a fan of myself!