I Followed Her, and She Lead Me to You

Chapter 5

So now, it was six in the morning and we were approaching Phoenix, another half hour or so and we would be there. Normally this drive should have taken a couple of days, but where's the fun in following road laws? It's not like I would get a ticket because Alice would see if I was coming up to a police car. I felt terrible that this poor young girl had to go through all of this due to my stupid brother's reactions. If he had reacted less possessively there was a huge chance that the conflict with James could have been altogether avoided, or much smaller, and then if the conflict hadn't been avoidable Bella wouldn't be so distressed because of his stupid comments.

But no, Edward had managed to say and do all the wrong things resulting in one terrified and upset human crying for ten hours straight. She hadn't cried straight away after her fight with Edward, it was after, in the car when Alice pulled her into a hug that Bella had lost control. I could feel her emotions and they were confusing. She was angry at Edward for how he treated her, and she felt guilty because she hadn't said a word to him when he tried to say goodbye before he left to lay a false trail for the tracker. She just stood there looking at Alice and myself while Edward tried to reassure her that he would fix everything. She was stubborn. And then she was worried that this plan wouldn't work and the tracker would find her and she had put myself and Alice in danger. Little did she know that Alice and I were probably the best ones to look after her, what with my experience in the newborn armies, and Alice's gift and fighting skills?

I felt that I needed to tell Bella about my past, like I owed her that. She had chosen Alice and me to be her guardians for an unknown amount of time while facing an unknown foe, and yet she had only met us mere hours earlier. She deserved to know that one of her self-appointed protectors was actually a mass murderer, and that I had the weakest control in the whole family. I supposed we were going to spend a lot of time together holed up in a hotel room, so I would be able to find the best time to bring it up. I just hoped that it didn't scare her too much and make her regret blindly putting her faith into Alice and myself.

We arrived in Phoenix and quickly found a hotel. It wasn't too flashy, just a modest building with enough people that no one would notice us, without having too many witnesses to our arrival should James come looking. I quickly made the arrangements for a two bedroom suite with kitchen facilities should Bella feel like cooking her own food rather than constantly ordering it. I knew humans ate very frequently and I guessed that the food she could order in this hotel would probably be limited and she would quickly bore of it. And from what I could tell from what Edward had said about Bella, she liked cooking and found it relaxing. And again, as we were here indefinitely she needed something to keep her mind off of the current situation in Forks.

Rosalie and Esme had helped to lay a false trail for the tracker before returning to Forks to be seen in town to reduce suspicions and watch over Chief Swan, while Emmett, Carlisle and Edward tried to track the tracker and lure him into a trap. It was a good plan, but if I were Carlisle I would have swapped placed with Rose as he was more often seen in town, and Rose was by far the better tracker and fighter. Both Alice and Rosalie were surprisingly good fighters when needed, Alice used her visions and un-proportionate strength, but Rosalie was fearless in a fight and manipulated the situation to give herself the upper hand. When Rose went for the kill, her prey never escaped. I had seen her in a proper fight with a vampire in a life or death situation only once, about thirty years ago when a couple of rogue nomads tried to claim some of our territory in New York. Rose and I were hunting by ourselves and they ambushed us, trying to take us off guard and kill us off one by one. They had no idea that they went for two of the strongest fighters first. My fight was over fairly quickly, and as I was dismembering my opponents I watched Rose. She knew she was facing a tough opponent and tried to think of any way to sway the odds in her favour. I tried to intervene but she made it clear she wanted to do it herself. In the end she ripped of her own shirt and distracted the stupid male vampire with the sight of her naked chest. The fight only lasted another two seconds before he decapitated him. I was quick to offer her my shirt after we were done to give the illusion of protecting her modesty, but in a family like ours, everyone had seen everyone else naked on several occasions and it no longer had any effect on us. And I would freely admit that Rose was extremely beautiful and not at all bad to look at, but she was my adopted sister and I treated her with the respect all women deserve.

An hour after arriving in the hotel Edward rang. He wanted to speak to Bella, to apologise for his actions, but she was still sleeping after being awake crying most of the night. When we arrived at the hotel she had barely stirred and I had to carry her to the room. She was only small, I hadn't realised when I met her. Of course I could see that she was short, only about five foot four, but holding her I could tell that she was thin, fragile. This concerned me that such a thin, fragile, and very young human had managed to get so involved with supernatural beings that wanted her dead for one reason or another, and it just fuelled my anger towards my brother.

"You really fucked up Edward. She hasn't said a word since we left her house, apart from a few mumbles in her sleep." Why was I so angry at the hurt he had caused someone I didn't know?

"I know, and it will always haunt me. I was too selfish to see that my involvement with her would cause her danger from vampires other than myself. Maybe once she is safe I need to end this before she develops deeper feelings for me, it would be safer." Was he really that stupid?

"Before she develops deeper feelings? Do you realise how stupid you sound? She may not understand the depth of her feelings yet but she loves you, I can feel it. All she has mumbled in her sleep is she is sorry and she loves you, you idiot." I hung up on him, I was getting irrationally angry at him, and talking about how much Bella loved Edward was causing me further anger for some reason.

"Alice, what's going on?" she always had a good answer when I didn't.

"It's all going to be good soon, we just need to get through this first, then everything will work out by the end of the summer." She moved from her spot at the small kitchen table towards me.

"Well aren't you just a little know-it-all!" I cheekily replied and stuck my tongue out at her which she quickly ducked in and nipped at. As she tried to pull away I gently grabbed her small hips and pulled her down to straddle my lap. Apart from hunting yesterday morning we hadn't had much time alone together recently, and although we weren't completely alone, it was nice to know there weren't five other people listening in.

It was about half an hour later when we were taken by surprise by the sound of Bella clearing her throat in an effort to announce her presence subtly. I quickly ended my kiss with Alice and looked at Bella, if I could have blushed I would have. Alice just giggled and swung her leg around gracefully to sit across my lap rather than straddling me. I was just grateful she stayed on my lap as I was sure Bella would see my excitement if Alice moved.

"We weren't sure when you would be awake and want food, so I ordered some fruit and cereal for you, it's in the fridge." Alice smoothly lied, of course she knew when Bella would be awake, but she just didn't want Bella to know that Alice knew pretty much everything.

"Thank you, but I find it hard to believe that you didn't know when I would be awake." So Bella knew more about us than I thought.

Alice simply giggled and smiled shamefully at being caught lying.

"No, really thank you. And you don't have to play human just because I'm here, be yourselves and I'll get used to it, or let you know if you freak me out." She was a very considerate human.

I turned the television on to the news then to give us something to so while Bella ate. I may not know a lot about interacting with humans, but I did know that she probably didn't want us to watch her eat. I could feel her relief when we left her alone to eat. Alice moved off of my lap once everything had calmed down and back to her spot at the table where she had left a small pile of paper and pens.

"What's that Alice?" Bella asked as she saw Alice start to sketch again.

"Bits and pieces of visions, I can't tell what they are yet because the person making the decisions hasn't started on this path fully yet, they only have a bit of an idea of what they want to do. I draw my visions when they are vague pieces so I can put them together later and to keep track of it all. I feel like these might be important, maybe to do with James."

"Ok, do you have a lot of visions all the time, or are they just random? Sorry, you don't need to answer if I'm being nosy." I liked Bella's curiosity, it showed me shad had a thirst for knowledge which is something I felt more humans needed.

"Not all the time, but I am looking constantly at the moment to see if we need to move. Usually they are random throughout the day, especially if I am bored and not concentrating on not seeing anything."

Bella was genuinely curious and wanted to get to know Alice. That was good because even if Bella and Edward didn't get over their differences I could see the two of them being friends, I was glad because then I would also be able to get to know Bella and become friends with her. I wanted to know about her life before Forks, and what she wanted to do. Now that she knew our secret I could be open with her, and I knew that she would always be a part of our life because of her knowing.

Alice's face went blank in a vision as I was stuck in my own internal monologue and a smile quickly spread across her face, reassuring me that she wasn't seeing something horrible go wrong with our current plans.

"What is it Ali? You haven't been this happy with a vision in a long time." I was curious. Last time she had a vision with such a reaction she had announced that our mates were only a few years away and we were on the right path, and would meet them only a year apart.

"Your mate. I can fully see her and your life together and I'm so happy for you! And by some decision that just occurred, your mate leads me to meeting mine!" Alice flung herself at me and I span her around, her emotions overtaking my own.

"Really? How soon? Are they great? Does everything work out?" Shit I was caught up in these emotions and babbling like a school girl.

"Everything will be amazing and you know her and she isn't aware yet but she will be and you will love her but you aren't aware of it yet, it will grow soon and the whole family will love her and she will be a great part of the family!" Alice babbled at me in a high pitched voice.

"I'm really happy that you are both so happy, but I'm really confused as to why?" Bella questions quietly, not wanting to break up our moment.

I placed Alice back on her feet and sat at the table across from Bella.

"How much did Edward tell you about vampires? And did he tell you anything about mates?" I honestly didn't know what Edward had told her.

"Not a lot, just that you were human, and were changed, and all about the superhuman speed and strength and gifts and stuff. He deliberately wouldn't talk about how you become a vampire or anyone in particulars past, except a bit about his and Carlisle's. He seemed hesitant to tell me."

"Well," Edward sure hadn't made it easy for us, because each one little thing we told her was going to something else she would need explained. "He probably left out some things not to overload you with too much information, or he thought it would scare you, and he also doesn't like telling other people's stories because he hears so much more than people intend."

"Well then, tell me everything you feel comfortable sharing, and don't worry about overloading, I'd rather be prepared than have no idea of what to do should something happen."

"Good, then we will all be on the same page." And so I told her everything, with the help of Alice. I told her a very brief description of everyone's pasts, only enough that Bella had some idea, not enough that we were intruding on anything private. Like I told her Rose was attacked and left for dead, but nothing else. We told her about how over the top a vampire's arsenal of weapons was, and how vampires were changed. We didn't go into any particular details of the change though because we didn't want to scare her because I could guess that she had already begun to contemplate asking to be changed.

We stopped with the day's education around lunch time for Bella to eat and use the bathroom. It was interesting how often humans needed to do things like eat and use the bathroom, when you didn't need to do it, it was easy to forget.

Bella had taken everything rather well, and absorbed all of the information we sort of threw at her as if she was a sponge. She truly had a great thirst for knowledge. She didn't even seem appalled like I thought she would be when I told her marts of my past, of course I left out many of the worse parts, but she would have been able to tell I was censoring my tale. She was also very shocked when she learnt that Alice seemed to have no past, as she had no memories from before waking from the change. Bella truly mourned for the loss of lives when she learnt exactly what everyone was forced to give up after the change. She was very kind hearted, in a way like Esme, but I could still tell there was a fierce resilience in there like Rose and Alice possessed. If Bella were to become a vampire she would truly be a force to be reckoned with- tough and able to stand her own, but with enough compassion that she would likely seek justice if anyone she knew was wronged. I didn't know where that thought came from, Bella had only learned the mechanics of the change hours ago, and only of the existence of vampire's mere days ago. I should remember not to jump to conclusions.

The day returned to the dull tone of the early morning soon after our conversation with Bella finished. She occasionally asked a question, or myself or Alice would ask her a question about her life before Forks, but we didn't find the rhythm of a good conversation again. We tried to distract ourselves with movies, television shows, more news, and reading. But when we weren't sure what was happening back home it was difficult to do anything but worry. What if they had been ambushed? What of it came to a fight but our family weren't good enough? What if someone had been killed? Rationally and logically I knew that everything would be fine, but with the current emotional climate being one of fear, it was difficult to be logical.

Then I realised that it wasn't even my own fear I was feeling, nor was it Alice's. It was Bella's, and I was picking it up so strongly that I didn't even feel my own emotions anymore, or my wife's, and I had always felt Alice's emotions easily because we were so attuned. Maybe it was because I was spending so much time in close company with a human that I was unable to feel any emotions other than her own. Maybe I should leave for a little while, go for a quick hunt.

"Good idea Jazz, you go first and I'll follow later. There are a few animals around the Phoenix area, mostly coyote's, but they'll be alright." Alice told me as I Decided to hunt. "I'll call you if I hear anything, keep your phone on you."

I quietly left the hotel on foot, it was about eight pm, and it was dark enough that I was inconspicuous, but it was still very warm outside and humans would probably question me as to why I was out walking around by myself. If it was a little cooler I could pretend to be a runner training, but no humans were out running, it had been an unseasonably warm few days. I tried to look like I was going somewhere, rather than just heading out of the main part of the city, and eventually found a few quitter areas where I could start to run.

It took almost an hour before I found some animals I could hunt, and was in a suitable area. I had run north east out of Phoenix in the hope of finding some larger game in the Tonto National park, and I was not disappointed. I could easily smell there were several coyotes and bobcats around, but they were small and I would need to hunt a few, but then I could faintly smell a black bear and knew that's what I was after. It only took a couple of minutes to find him, a large, old male, and only a few seconds for me to snap his neck and drain him. It was exactly what I needed.

The run back to the hotel was easier than leaving as it was darker and there were less people around. I didn't even have to consciously remember where to go, I felt some force pulling me towards the hotel. I hoped it was just a pull towards Alice, and not an instinctual reaction to danger she may have been in. But she hadn't called me so I assumed everything was fine. As I walked through the hotel lobby to the stairwell Alice anced down the stairs and towards me, where I pulled her into my arms.

"Where did you find the bear?" She questioned as I held her, her head buried in my chest, our little moment alone in the chaos.

"Tonto, there was the scent of a few more around. Just run north east and you'll find it. There were a few deer around as well if there aren't any decent bears." I wanted to take her there myself, show her where to go and spend the night out there with her. Hunting and watching the sky and being us, just the two of us, because as happy as we were about finding our mates soon, it would mean it wouldn't be the two of us anymore. I would miss her. Alice was my everything and I didn't know how I would live without her being the centre of my world.

"You should head back up to the room, Bella will probably wake up soon, her sleeping schedule is all out of whack and it would be cruel for her to wake alone. I'll be back in a few hours, I need to head to the shop on my way back and get Bella some more food."

"Ok love, have fun and call me if you need anything." And with a quick, sweet kiss on her lips she danced back out of the hotel and into the night.

I quickly made my way to the room where we had been stuck since yesterday morning, unwilling to leave Bella in there alone now that Alice and her gift were some distance away. It was quiet in the room except for Bella's soft breathing and occasional whispered word. She mostly mumbled nonsense, but twice said Edward's name and once followed it by the phrase 'not sorry'.

At about two am her breathing quickened and I quickly turned the television on to the news channel to make it seem like I had been watching, rather than imitating a statue as I was inclined to do when there was nothing else. Bella left her bedroom and came into the small living room soon after she woke and was shocked to see only me, not Alice. I answered her unspoken question quietly, so not to shock her further.

"She went for a quick hunt and then she's going grocery shopping."

"Thanks, how did you know I was going to ask that?"

"I felt the shock of seeing only me, and the slight worry, and guessed it was because you were worried that Alice wasn't here."

"Good guess, I suppose you got good at that. Using your gift to help guess what people are doing or asking, I mean?"

"Yeah, I've had a bit of practice with it." I wryly answered, Bella still had no idea of my real age, she hadn't asked, although she would probably be able to guess with the information I had given her about myself.

"Well, I have a guess about some things about you. I am guessing that you are about a hundred and sixty, give or take a few years? And I guess that you served in the Civil War?" She was good.

"Pretty accurate. What gave it away?" I was exceptionally curious about her though process.

"Well, you said you were older than Edward, and fought in a war, and you specified that you stayed in your home state when you were fighting. That leaves either the revolutionary war, or the civil war, and I guessed civil war because I know a few key events of it happened in Texas, and you still have a fairly strong accent."

"Smart, you got it all right. How about I guess about you? Not stuff like age, things you haven't even told Eddie yet?" At two in the morning there wasn't a whole lot else to do when we were stuck in a little hotel room.

We played this guessing game for a good hour, in which I correctly guessed she had been in all AP classes in school, was a terrible dancer, and that she was always used to taking care of other people. However I incorrectly guessed that she had a large group of friends, and had a boyfriend before she moved to Forks.

"Really?" How could no one like Bella?

"Nope. I was the weird girl with no friends, my Mom was my best friend, and even then I didn't really connect with her all the time. I always worried that my brain was on a different frequency to other humans."

"Well then, obviously your brain is on the same frequency as some vampires, because you seem to get along fine with everyone in the family." Except Rosalie, but she would get there.

"Yeah, except Rosalie. I don't think she likes me very much." There was sadness in her emotions, I could tell she wanted Rose to like her, she wanted to be fully accepted by the family.

"She will, Rose just takes some time to war-," I was cut off then my cell phone ringing.

"Alice?" I answered, hoping there was no bad news.

"I had a vision of Bella being attacked by James! Do not let her out of your sight, he somehow gets her today. I rang Carlisle, and he, Edward and Emmett are getting on a plane in a couple of hours and taking Bella somewhere. Keep her safe for me, I'll be back in half an hour, start getting ready to leave." And she cut the call off, clearly feeling she was about to have another vision and needed her full attention.

"Jasper," the concern poured off of her, and a little fear. "Is everything ok?"

"It will be," I tried to reassure her, "Alice had a vision of you, and because of it Edward, Emmett and Carlisle are coming here, they'll be here in a few hours, and you're going with them somewhere safe. Is that okay?" I wanted to make sure she knew what was happening and was comfortable with the arrangements, I knew she hadn't fully forgiven Edward, but still missed him.

"I'll be fine, do we need to pack everything?"

I nodded and we moved into the room Bella had been using since we arrived. Everything was a mess and the scent of her was thick in the air, but fully manageable I found. I had the least amount of bloodlust I had felt since I was turned, and yet everyone else was constantly saying that her blood was more potent than usual. I lost myself in my thoughts as I started to pack some of her belongings and set about airing out the room so her scent would diffuse, should James come looking here. I was pulled out of my thoughts again by the shrill ringing of the phone, I picked it up and saw the number was the same one Bella had called earlier yesterday to tell her mother to ring her. Obviously her mother had checked the message late and rung straight away. It was a little odd though that her mother would ring in the early hours of the morning.

"Your mother." I said quietly as I handed Bella the phone, before I left the small bedroom and returned to watching the television to give Bella some privacy. I adjusted the volume so muffle the sound of the phone and Bella, but of course I could still hear her, I just didn't pay any attention. I felt Bella become more distressed as the phone call continued, and I guessed Renee wanted to return home but Bella convinced her to stay away. She returned after a couple of minutes and handed me the phone, saying she was headed for the shower. I guessed she missed her mother and was worried.

...

A.N.: This one is a little long compared to the others, but I felt like I should just put all of the time they spent in the hotel room all together, not stretch it out too long and make it drag on, and it is mostly filler and explanations so it all just fit together.

Thanks for reading.

xx