I Followed Her, and She Led Me to You

Chapter 10

A.N.: This chapter talks about same sex relationships, more specifically a character is revealed to be bisexual. If you don't believe in that, I don't think this story is for you really, it becomes an important theme, but please continue to read if you are not a narrow-minded idiot. Another note at the end.

Bella's POV

I was looking forward to having a week with Alice, Emmett, and Jasper. Especially Jasper. Fuck he was hot! I couldn't even bring myself to feel guilty for ogling my best friend's ex-husband. I should have felt like a horrible person but I couldn't, and it wasn't like we were in a normal situation anyway. Right? And he would never look twice at me, I was a plain little human, the little sister of the family.

But no, he looked at me differently. While Emmett definitely saw me as the little sister, and was constantly trying to reinforce that relationship with our movie and video game days, and he had a similar relationship with Alice, Jasper was different. Jasper would act like a gentleman around me, and although it wasn't the same as with Edward, it was definitely the same sort of thing; not so intense though with not letting me do anything. He would help me into Emmett's Jeep, hold doors open for me, and little things like kiss my hand. Maybe he was starting to see me differently. But I knew it wouldn't last long, his mate was nearby and there was no way I could compete with that.

I could tell that Jasper was nearby, so I carefully ran down the stairs, hearing the Jeep pull into the drive as I did and opened the front door just as Jasper was about to knock. Jasper helped me to carry my duffle bag to the car, and Emmett took the bag from the kitchen with the ingredients to make choc chip cookies, I wanted to teach them how to cook and cookies would be a good simple place to start.

Emmett drove us back in his monster truck, at almost twice the speed limit, which still terrified me but Jasper's presence beside me managed to calm me enough to enjoy the ride. Driving at their speed was almost as good as running with them, not that I had really done that for a while. Maybe I would have to suggest to someone that they should take me for a run this week. I'd ask later as Alice already had a day planned of 'Bella Barbie', great. At least now she wouldn't be getting me ready for some surprise, expensive date as I was single. I would love to not be single, if the other half of that was Jasper.

Wow! Where the fuck did that thought come from? I mean he was hot, and friendly, and smart, and I had a great time with him and he was basically amazing. And wow, I had feelings for a man that was a part of my adopted family and should have been a brother to me but I didn't even want to think about that. So I wouldn't. I would just focus on having a great week with my new family, and forget about what had been going on at school. Because that was what this week was about, making me feel like I really was a part of this family.

They hadn't specifically told me that was the purpose of this week with them, and I don't know if it was the original purpose, but I was pretty smart and I managed to work it out. Then I had asked Edward a couple of days ago when he was driving me home after spending the day at their house. I knew they all cared for me, even Rosalie did and she had warmed up to me a little since I had broken up with Edward, but I was still sure she didn't want me to become a vampire. I think she was missing all the possibilities she could have had as a human. I wasn't completely sure of the circumstances of her change, but I knew it wasn't what she wanted and she hadn't been happy for the first few years of her second life, only finding happiness after finding Emmett. I was just happy that they all seemed to accept me to some degree. I was happy with them, they made it easy to forget about the horrible things happening; I had found that I hadn't even worried about Victoria, and where she might be or what she was planning, because I was sure she would do something after the family killed her mate. I knew vampires were particularly protective of their mates.

Thinking about mates just made me think of Jasper again for some reason. And then it hit me. I was thinking about him and mates because I wished it was me. I wanted him to fall for me. It would be so easy, we could talk about anything, we were always comfortable around each other with no awkward times, and he was the most perfect person I could think of. I wanted him, and it hurt to know that I would never have him because he belonged to another girl somewhere and she was about to make herself known. I felt a pang of sadness, it would be difficult to see him with someone else.

"You alright?" He spoke softly, his accent turning my legs to jelly, good thing I was sitting in the car still after having just arrived.

"Fine, why?"

"You can't lie to an empath, darlin'" He replied as he helped me step down from the ridiculously huge car. "You were feeling sad, and like you lost hope on something. Never give up hope, it can be a great emotion to help you through tough times. Never give up hope, on anything, you might be surprised at what could happen." And he gently placed his right hand on my cheek and using his thumb swept away a stray tear that I hadn't noticed.

"Alright, I won't give up hope." But he didn't know what it was for, he probably thought it was to do with the comments people were making at school. If he knew I had given up the hope, which had formed without my permission, that he would ever want me, I was sure he would awkward and embarrassed around me forever. Yeah let's not do that. At least this way he would still be my friend.

"Well, let's get you inside, Alice has the day planned for you, and Emmett and I are going hunting." He said as he grabbed my bag out of the car and took my hand, leading my to the house I considered my second home.

"You don't look all that thirsty." I casually commented as I looked at his still golden eyes.

"I'm not really, Em is a bit, but we wanted to give you two some privacy. Or Alice told us we needed to actually." He laughed, it was a great sound. A little bit throaty, deep, and comforting, different to Edward's musical laugh, and very different to the bass booming that was Emmett's.

"Well, have fun, hunting sounds much better than 'Bella Barbie'!" We walked the rest of the way to Alice's room in a comfortable silence. We both enjoyed the quiet, although I'm sure the quiet was much louder to Jasper than it was to me.

…

I had a good day with Alice, it wasn't what I had expected it to be. When Jasper dropped me off at his old room to leave my bag for me, Alice was sitting in the middle of her very large bed in a purple silk robe that fell halfway down her thighs, playing with something on her computer.

"Bella! You're here!" And she jumped to her feet and danced to me, pulling me into her arms for a hug, her usual greeting.

"I'm here, what have you got planned?" I replied as she let go, pulling me to her bed and shutting the door on Jasper, clearly telling him it was girls only now, no boys allowed.

"A bit of fun, that's all. Firstly, any preferences for music?"

"Not really, I'm not fussy, just no country." I needed to add that, there was no telling what sort of music any of the Cullen's were into, and I really hated country.

Alice laughed her tinkling laugh, "No problems there, I don't particularly like country anyway, only Edward and Emmett like it. Old men!" She laughed, even if she was actually technically older than the both of them. Well the same as Edward in actual age but older physically and older in actual age than Emmett. "Ed Sheeran good then?" She asked me.

"No idea who he is, but sure."

"Well, Ed it is, you will love him, trust me." Of course I would trust her, you were stupid not to, she knew everything.

After the music choice was settled, she pressed a couple of buttons on her computer and the music began to play throughout the room, obviously she had some sort of hidden speaker system. I found that I did like the music, it was relaxing, and the lyrics interesting, leading me to think about life and love and all sorts of things.

Alice quickly ushered me into the bathroom where I was instructed to change into a fluffy purple robe she left for me, it looked much warmer and cosier than hers and fell just under my knees, and we began our day. I thought Alice would dress me in several outfits before choosing one, then spend hours doing my hair and makeup before wanting photos. But today we sat and talked on her bed as she painted my nails, and I painted her toe nails, and we did fun little things. We both had ridiculous looking face masks for a while, and she used all sorts of creams on my face that I was sure cost more than my truck. Alice gave me a haircut, which I needed after not having one for almost a year, and styled it a little differently. I was going to start wearing my hair with a slight side part and shorter layers in the front and it wasn't all one length as the back was longer. It was more sophisticated and grown up than my boring straight cut with a middle part that I had since I was about fourteen.

When we talked, we talked about everything and it was great. I wasn't used to having a girl I could chat with about everything, although I figured I should get used to it as Alice and the rest of the Cullen's were always going to be there. As long as they would change me eventually, I hoped they would. But maybe that had changed since I was no longer with Edward. Maybe I should just leave that train of thought for another time.

"So, any boys caught your eye lately?" Alice asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Uh…" I hesitated, I wanted to talk to Alice my best friend about the tall handsome man who caught my eye, but I didn't want to talk to Alice my crushes ex-wife about him, so I settled for "No. Not really."

"Liar!" She playfully accused, "You can't lie to me, I know everything." She said in a humorous tone.

"Well yes, but he wouldn't ever go for me." I replied honestly.

"I wouldn't be so sure, you never know who some people are into." She replied cryptically.

"Sure, but what about you? Your mate close yet?" I was trying to steer the conversation to somewhere a little less awkward.

"Mhmm," She hummed, "If we continue on our current paths it's about eleven months, but that could change."

"Wow, quite close then, I suppose that's hardly anything for you. What's he like?" I wanted all the gossip about this mysterious mate of Alice's.

"Um, yeah… pretty close." She was hesitant, as if she was worried about my reaction.

"What is it? You can tell me anything you know, your secret is safer with me than anyone else!" I tried to joke with her, but the look on her face told me she was still concerned.

"It's not really much of a secret, Jasper already knows part of it. And I suppose Edward does too. It's just that- I…" She paused, taking an unnecessary breath before continuing. "You see, the thing about my mate… Well, she's going to be great." She spoke quietly, as if worried I would judge her.

"I'm happy for you Alice, I couldn't care less if your mate was male or female, or anything really. I love you Alice, and I want you to be happy. Sorry I assumed your mate was male….it's just that you were married to Jasper and yeah." I finished lamely. I was truly happy for her, and I couldn't have cared less, and I was sorry for assuming before, and slightly hurt she had worried about my reaction.

Alice just pulled me into a hug and held me there for a couple of minutes.

"Thank you!" She whispered as she held me. "Thank you for accepting it, I know everyone will react fine, but telling everyone in your family, who you have known for half a century, including your ex-husband, that you are going to fall madly in love with another woman is a little daunting." She sounded so small, younger than she normally did.

All I could do was hug her back, and gently rub my hand up and down her back, letting her know how much I loved her, and without words trying to tell her that everyone would be fine and accept her and her mate for who they were. That was the thing about the Cullen's, there was nothing any of them could do that would change how everyone else felt about them. The bonds they shared were unbreakable and unconditional. They had all told me stories of how they had slipped, or wrecked a car, or nearly exposed them, or broken a house irreparably, yet the love between them was never effected.

"Am I the first person you've told?" I asked her gently after a while.

"Yeah, Jasper knows that I am attracted to men and women though, he can feel everything I feel after all." She smiled wryly. "And Edward, I'm sure, has caught a glimpse of my thoughts occasionally, but he never questioned me. He is good like that, he waits for people to acknowledge things before he voices anything he overhears."

"Well I am honoured. Now, are you going to give me all the gossip?" I wanted to get back to the easy chatter we had only a few minutes before.

"Well, her name is Bree, and I don't know the exact circumstances of how we meet yet, just that she is young, and not a vampire yet, but will be before I meet her. I think physically she would only be fifteen or sixteen though." And Alice lost herself in a vision, but the happy smile on her face told me it was a good one, probably of Bree.

We spent another hour just chatting and I actually let Alice do my makeup before I decided to ask a little more about vampire mates.

"So how do you know if someone is your mate?"

"It's a little different for every couple, but everyone I've spoken to has said they have this 'pulling' feeling in their chests when their mate isn't nearby, and I don't really know. You just know. You want to be with them with every fibre of your body, and nothing could ever come between you." Alice was unsure as I was, having never been through it.

"What is the 'pulling' thing?" That surly wasn't just a mate thing was it, I felt this strange tugging in my chest fairly often, in fact I was currently feeling a pulling feeling, trying to get me to go somewhere.

"It is this thing that lets you know where your mate is or something. It's to pull you together and allow you to always know where one another is. Rose said it's handy in a fight, she can't always tell where Em is instinctively; she doesn't need to search for him to know he is ok."

"So would it be like a slight pulling in the direction of your mate?" I tried to act casually as I asked this, not getting my hopes up.

"Yep, but because I haven't met my mate yet mine isn't really obvious, it just tells me she is somewhere east. Jasper however, has met his mate and knows who she is, so his is much stronger. He would be able to tell exactly where she is." Why was Alice telling me about Jasper? And what was with the small smile she had right now, it was as if she was encouraging me to ask.

"Alice," I began, not knowing if I should continue. "Don't judge me if I'm wrong, but could Ja-..I mean am I-…" How could I say this? Be brave Bella, just say it really quickly and get it done with. "Is it me? Am I his mate? Jasper I mean…" I trailed off, instantly regretting saying it.

….

A.N.: Sorry for the slight cliffy, it was getting too long, but seeing as we all know where this story is going I didn't think you would mind too much.

Sorry it has been a while since I updated, I continued to have a bad week after my last post, and then had writers block. I hope you didn't mind the switch in POV, I think it will go back to Jasper next chapter.

I hope no one hates me for making Alice bi, I just feel like there needs to be more accurate depictions of bisexual characters in stories like this. I myself am bi, and I know I found it hard to identify with any particular group in the past due to not even knowing what bisexuality was. I saw myself as being too gay to call myself straight and but too straight to call myself gay. And I don't think I could be the only one in this situation. This is actually the first time I have told anyone, so yeah. Don't actually know where I am going with this.

Please review, I love receiving them. It's currently Friday night and I won't have another chance to post until at least Tuesday, depending on if I finish my assignment, so sorry for the wait.

Enjoy

xx