Benevolence

Bella
Alice was scary.

She was ferocious, vicious and intimidating.

Quite honestly, I had never been more terrified of her.

Jasper seemed to take it all in his stride. I guess he'd already survived through several decades of Christmas's with Alice, but I was quite sure that if I lived for another century, I would not get used to the wrath of Alice the Christmas Nazi.

Around the apartment she was an unstoppable cleaning and decorating machine... around the shops, she was a ferocious force to be reckoned with, battling her way through the crowds as if she were 8 foot tall. Of course I would be the only human present at our little gathering, but she insisted on making enough food to feed an Army of twenty grown men. She planned to let me take my pick, and then donate the rest to the homeless shelter in the City.

Classes were finished for the year, most of our fellow students had gone home for the holidays, but we had decided to stay here, instead of deserting the city for the beauty of Denali, and had invited the rest of the Cullen's here to Juneau to join us.

It was Christmas Eve. The Cullen's were due to start arriving this afternoon, while the Denali Clan would be arriving tomorrow, and with Alice in 'Commando mode,' Jasper, probably sensing my fear of his wife, had spirited me from the apartment for some last minute gift shopping.

After spending hours strolling around the Mall in what Alice would have referred to as a sinful waste of good shopping time, all I had found was a thin, delicate gold bracelet for Esme and was dangerously close to choosing some socks or a fun tie for Carlisle. I was trying to have fun; be in a light hearted mood and enjoy the festive season, but my mind kept wandering.

With my Mom and Phil on an extended vacation in Europe, and Charlie having promised to spend Christmas day fishing with Billy Black, I would be spending Christmas with the Cullen's. I embraced the tradition with an atypical enthusiasm this year in a bid to try to forget that this time last year I was in so much agony that I couldn't even recall how I spent Christmas Day.

But as hard as I tried, I couldn't keep my head from filling with visions of Edward. I would be sitting in a warm apartment, surrounded by his family, fun and laughter, but where would he be? Ostracised and alone. The thought upset me deeply.

"What's wrong Bells?" Jasper's arm immediately tightened around me in response to my mood, and as I looked up at him, trying to deceive him with a false smile I was betrayed by a single tear that had managed to escape my tight control. Ahh, what was the point in lying to Jasper about my feelings?

"I'm just thinking about Edward." I spoke slowly, letting my thoughts wash over me as I spoke them aloud. "Maybe we should invite him to join us for Christmas Day?"

We had finally exited the Mall and were now walking down a fairly busy little side street that led towards the waterfront, where I knew we would find a quaint little second hand book shop that was often packed with rare books and first editions, but just as I spoke the words we rounded a corner, and much to my surprise, came face to face with Edward.

I stopped short. Jasper immediately pulled me back towards him, shielding me slightly from Edward with his body, but from the look on Edward's face, Jasper needn't have bothered. His rough, dirty face shone like the sun as he looked at me... and if not for Jasper's restraining arms I probably would have wrapped my arms around him, just to feel him against me again.

He smiled my favourite crooked smile as he caressed me with his eyes. "Thank you, Love, but I don't think I would be very welcome with the rest of the family."

Jasper eyed him darkly. "That's nonsense Edward, and you know it. Emmett and Rose are coming, and Carlisle would love to see you. So would Mom."

Edward visibly flinched as Jasper spoke of Esme.

I couldn't prevent my eyes from running over my former husband's body... and I couldn't help the tug of pain that I felt as I took in his dirty, torn clothing, his jagged fingernails and messy hair and bare feet. He had become a wild, red eyed nomad, like Laurent. Like James. A hunter.

Jasper felt my small shudder of revulsion and pulled me closer to his side... a move which sparked a small growl from Edward. I eyed them both cautiously, but the moment of jealousy passed quickly. Jasper's voice when he spoke was quiet and calm.

"Alice has a gift for you Bro. I'm sure she would love for you to drop by the apartment..."

Edward cut him off quickly. "Alice knows I have no use for gifts."

Jasper nodded in defeat. Edward quickly turned his attention back to me.

"You seem well, my love? How are you coping with your course load?"

'School? You want to talk about School?'

"School is fine. Alice helps me when I need it."

He nodded. "And other than school... how are you?"

It pained me that this is what we had been reduced to. I gave him a sad smile.

"I have my good days..."

He smiled back. God this was awkward and horrible.

Edward's head snapped around and his eyes narrowed as he glared back up the street that Jasper and I had just walked down, back towards the Mall.

"I have to go. Jasper, please tell the family I wish them all a Merry Christmas." Before we could even respond, he was gone.

Edward
I'd been following one of Joey's goons for the past several hours. The guy's name was Ricky, and he had one of the most unoriginal minds I'd ever had the tedium of invading. Joey had sent him this morning to collect the baby girl that had been born a few days ago, so that they could get photos of her to blackmail her father, the Senator, with, but the Mother wasn't making things easy.

I'd found her two days ago. Her name was Hannah. She hadn't been hard to find...

I just followed her fear.

She was terrified of Joey, and of what his greed would do to her newborn daughter. She didn't want to risk the father finding out about the child for fear that he would try to claim her. She didn't care about his money; she just wanted to keep her baby.

She had been hiding out at a friend's apartment, but this morning Ricky had found her, so she had run again. It had been an unseasonably sunny morning, so I hadn't been able to follow her... which was why I was now following Ricky, hoping he would lead me back to her. I could smell her scent, it was everywhere in this area, she walked these streets daily... so that was useless; I just had to wait until I was close enough to hear her mind.

I'd been concentrating so hard on hearing that one mind; that I hadn't even realized until she was only feet away from me that I could hear my beloved's voice. With more of a warning I would have saved her the hurt of having to see me, but as it was, she was already talking of me anyway, so hopefully our brief encounter wasn't too painful for her. She had seemed well, and happy. I didn't deserve the comfort that knowledge afforded me, but I couldn't deny it was good to see her up close again.

I departed the awkward confrontation with my beloved in time to see Ricky duck through a doorway into a bar, the agreed upon rendezvous point with his partner. Hoping he would gain some information that would be useful to me I swiftly followed him through the doorway and took a seat in a low booth in the back.

Well, what a waste of three hours that had been. Neither Ricky nor his partner in crime Tony had any new information, and had spent the past few hours watching a football match on ESPN. I was sorely disappointed. I would have done better to try tracking her on my own.

As they left the bar and headed West down towards the waterfront, I decided to cut my losses and try again to follow her trail from the friend's house that she had fled from this morning. I found the apartment block easily and then just followed my nose as it led me, seemingly in circles, around the darkened, snow covered streets. It was hopeless.

I heard the woman's piercing scream at the same moment that I heard Ricky's foul mind, and I followed both, arriving in the sheltered doorway just in time to see Hannah fall to the ground, the ragged handle of a hunting knife protruding from her left breast. In less than a second I reached them, twisted the two men's heads cleanly off their bodies without giving it a thought then rushed to her side, catching her head in my hands before it hit the concrete sidewalk. Her pierced heart was stuttering, blood seeped between my fingers as I tried to staunch her bleeding, but I knew I was too late to save her.

She met my eyes for a fraction of a moment... her irises a stunning green in the dim lamplight... so much like my mother's eyes had been. Her mouth opened, and one, whispered word escaped her lips as her heart gave its last, fractured beat, and then stopped completely.

'... daughter...'

I am not sure how long it took exactly... it could have been hours, but I was prepared to search every single building in every single street of this city until I found the helpless baby girl. I would not give up. I would not let her die too.

I listened for cries, and compared the babies who owned them to Hannah's smell... then when that didn't work I began searching for the quick, jackrabbit heartbeats of newborns and foetus'. I cursed myself when I found her, wrapped in a coat in the basement of Hannah's friend's apartment building.

She was cold, and her pulse was weak. She needed medical attention immediately, or she could die. A newborn, in these temperatures, and heaven only knew how long she had been left alone. She could have hypothermia, Dehydration, or any of a hundred other things that could kill a young baby with ease.

My medical training was amateurish at best, and I could hardly go running into the nearest Emergency room with the baby of a murdered prostitute without raising suspicions, so that left me with only one option.

Carlisle.

Bella
I had to hand it to Alice. The girl knew how to throw a party.

Music was pumping from the stereo system, tinsel was hung from every available beam and post, and the gorgeous, unmistakable smell of the magnificently decorated fir tree filled the house with an odour so pretty it was almost making me nauseous. Alice had made a delicious eggnog... and Emmett kept handing me refills; I couldn't decide if it was my imagination or not that the brandy taste kept getting stronger and stronger with each cupful.

Carlisle and Esme sat together on the loveseat, brilliant smiles on both their faces as they watched their children; Alice and Rosalie were dancing like pop stars to some hip hop song that they both seemed to know all the words too, but I'd never heard before... while Emmett and Jasper chased each other around the house with cans of silly string.

I was happy... surrounded by people I loved, having fun at Christmas time. But I couldn't help but feel that this could have been so much more complete. This should have been Renesmee's first Christmas. She would have been almost four months old. By rights, her father and I should have been sitting beside her, next to the tree, taking too many photographs and laughing as she chewed on the wrapping paper.

I glanced up at Esme, and in that moment our minds connected, and I could tell she was thinking the exact same thing.

Suddenly Alice stopped, and all eyes in the room flew to her. Her eyes widened with alarm as they flew to Carlisle.

"Quick. It's Edward. He needs you."

The rest happened too fast for me to really understand what order it went in. Rosalie turned off the music as Carlisle and Alice left the apartment together, only for Carlisle to return moments later with a shirtless Edward, who was holding a bundle of coats in his arms... which I noticed immediately were covered in blood, as were his shoulder and torso. Alice returned in a blur and disappeared into the kitchen, then appeared moments later holding a baby's bottle.

That's when I noticed the bundle of coats move.

Alice took it from Edward's arms and retreated to the nearest armchair, settling herself deep, back into the chair so that she could comfortably cradle the tiny baby in her arms.

I looked back up at Edward, his eyes burning red as he intently watched Alice with the baby. He heard my gasp of shock and turned to face me, his expression full of shame and guilt.

"Oh my... Edward. What have you done?"