"She's trying to kill me."
Alice laughed happily, leaning back in the chair as she pulled her feet up on the desk. "And hello to you, too. What happened to your 'polite' greetings?"
"Sorry. I've forgotten absolutely everything that isn't Daisy and her nephew's possible affair. Including manners and niceties."
"Ooh, an affair? Very juicy."
"Has Josie always been this big of a gossip?"
"There was nothing else to do down in Biloxi," Alice joked, closing her eyes and smiling to herself. If she focused on the sound of Jasper's voice hard enough, she could pretend that she were with him, instead of nearly six states away. "Her soaps were only on during the day. She had to find a way to create more drama to keep her entertained through the nights."
"Three hours, Alice. I had to sit in that restaurant for three hours while those two talked at length about absolutely nothing."
Alice whistled. "That is a long time. How many times did they try to get your input?"
"What do you mean 'how many times'? It was constant."
"I think she's just messing with you," Alice laughed. "She knows you can't stand it when she gets gossipy. And you know that she knows that you hate it. So of course she's going to bug you about it."
Jasper made a noise indicating he agreed with that sentiment. "I think she's punishing me for all the marriage comments."
"Oh, one hundred percent."
"I didn't even say anything bad."
"Pointing out to an eighty year old woman that she's never been married, either? Admit it. It was a bad call." Alice paused for a moment, deciding to word her next sentence carefully. "I have to tell you that I learned what weddings look like today."
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds. "Okay, help me understand. You know what a wedding is. I know that for a fact."
"I mean, duh. But apparently what I've been envisioning for all these years are awful, miserable soap opera weddings. Which is not the way things go, as far as I'm learning now. I thought that it was a regular occurrence for them to be interrupted. Or for someone to get in a fight or take the opportunity to make a confession or, I don't know…" she trailed off. Really, she could go on for several minutes about the types of scenarios she'd watched along with Josie.
Now that she really thought, she didn't think she'd ever seen any of those shows portray a calm, happy wedding ceremony.
And after she'd finished drawing some sketches of Cynthia she'd finally reached for her laptop and opened up YouTube. Wedding videos galore…
Jasper laughed then, a loud, genuine laugh. "I should've known." The words were spoken out loud, but she had a feeling he was talking to himself. "How did you figure that out?"
"Edward nearly crashed the car laughing when he saw what my impressions of weddings are apparently. And then he proceeded to try to tempt me into wanting one—I think he and Josie are conspiring if I'm being completely honest."
"Well, do you?"
Alice opened her eyes. "Do I what?"
"Want one. A wedding, I mean."
The question caught her so off guard that she didn't realize she hadn't replied until Jasper spoke up again. "I take it that's a no?"
She pulled her feet off of the desk and sat up straighter. "I'm just thinking! I wasn't expecting that."
"What were you thinking?"
"About how you said weddings were a waste of money. And how they were trivial. And how marriage is just a piece of paper, and when you said—"
"I get it, I get it." He cut her off. Then, he huffed, "I still mean it, but," she could hear him shift the phone from one hand to the other, "if you wanted one I'd tolerate it."
That was certainly a development. "Jazz, do you want one?"
"I'm asking you here," he deflected.
"I don't know!" She confessed, feeling very weird, and slightly embarrassed now. "Maybe? They do look like fun." Her voice was quiet, almost a squeak as she confessed her new discovery. "I do admit that Josie was right in saying designing one would be a dream."
"So, you'd want to get married?"
"Yeah, but Jazz, it doesn't matter," she adjusted herself so she was sitting on her feet. "I'm not going to make you do something you hate just because I think it might be fun. And besides. People—humans, especially—take things like marriage very seriously. Imagine if I let it slip that I only wanted to get married because 'weddings look like fun.' They'd lose it."
"You're smart enough not to say something like that to the press. Give yourself some credit here."
"Do you want to get married? You're the one pushing the topic suddenly."
"I want to make you happy," he said simply. "If a wedding would make you happy, then fine."
Alice smiled at that, holding the phone firmly and wishing once more that she were actually with him. "Let's talk about this more when I get home. We can sort out some specifics and see if we could make it work."
Jasper snorted. "Whatever you want." There was a smile in his voice. Alice could tell he meant it. "How did today go?"
"Good, I think. No, who am I kidding—it went very, very well."
"Tell me all about it."
"Edward and I were only there for barely twenty minutes. I told her I don't remember my human life. She cried a little bit. I almost cried. It was," inhaling deeply she let out a slow, shuddering breath, "it was a lot."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm excited. I'm going back in the morning and she's going to show me some old pictures. I told her I wanted her to show me everything. She seemed just as eager and excited as me, so I'm thinking tomorrow I'm going to learn a lot."
"I'm happy you're there. I couldn't keep my promise but I'm glad you found your family."
"Jazz…" Alice frowned. "Don't."
She could almost visualize his shrug. "I'm happy you're still getting what you deserve."
"I wish you wouldn't do that."
"What?"
"Undercut yourself. You made a promise that you were going to keep. I know that. You can't help that something prevented that." Alice spoke up again, cutting him off before her could be any more self-deprecating. "Don't you start about 'breaking promises'. Here's a promise: I'm going to come home and kiss you senseless and then when you get off probation we're going to go somewhere very nice and very far away and," she paused, "and it will be perfect."
"Alice," he laughed.
"No. Be nice to yourself or I'm going to text Josie and tell her you need cheering up."
"That's the opposite of what I want."
"Exactly. I'm threatening you. So quit it." There was a lull in conversation as his laughter died down. Alice relished in the sound of it. "That's better."
"I told her what happened. During the war."
Alice sat up abruptly. "You did?" She hadn't seen that at all. In fact, she hadn't even known about their three hour stint at Josie's favorite diner until he'd filled her in on his day. She'd been so caught up with watching Cynthia's future and everything tied to that situation that she'd neglected everyone else. "Why?"
Alice never talked about the war with her adoptive mother, and Josie had never asked before. She figured it was better that way; she couldn't protect her mother from the pain and suffering caused by the war itself, but Alice could prevent her from worrying any further about her.
It was bad enough that Josie knew the story that had been crafted. To know the truth would mean that she would know the full extent of what Jasper had been through. And she'd know all the ways in which he'd hurt people.
Alice included.
"I wasn't planning on it," he spoke quietly. "You know how observant she is. First we were talking about all the traveling we did last spring and summer, and then she was interrogating me on why I didn't 'date you properly' before the war started, and then the next thing you know," he sighs, "she's demanding to know the truth about what I did, and about why we were in Winnipeg for so long."
"What did she say?" Alice was almost afraid to find out. She had never outright lied to her mother about anything going on, but leaving out details and key points had always felt damning to her.
"She took it all in stride," he sounded even more surprised than she felt. "I mean, scarily well."
"So she knows what exactly?"
"Nothing too specific, trust me. But she knows the real reason I went with Maria. She knows the general idea of how Maria operated; with her underlings and their talents and how she managed to get me to do all of the things I did." Alice had to refrain from letting the mention of Maria's name upset her. "She knows that it was never a willing mission. That nothing that happened was planned. That I didn't sign up to kill people; again. She knows I hurt people. That I hurt you. And she's aware of the fact that not everything is as it seems."
"And she took all of that well?"
"Frighteningly so. But she's worried about us."
"She always is," Alice sighed, trying to decide whether or not this turn of events was something she liked. She had always assumed that Josie would never know the nitty gritty. And, according to Jasper, she didn't; technically. Only the general events. The vague details.
But Alice also assumed that if they were to tell Josie about what had happened, they would have done it together. Especially knowing how often Jasper put the blame and responsibility on his own shoulders.
Alice would have to check in with her when she got home. Find out the full scope of what Josie knew, and make sure that her mother was aware of the fact that Jasper had only ever done everything he had done because of the fact that he loved her.
It was a beautiful thing, but it sometimes left her with guilt sitting heavy in her chest.
"Talk to me," Jasper pleaded, after another long silence. "Tell me that you're thinking."
"And you're sure she didn't freak out over anything? And that you made the right call?"
"Emmett already gave me a heads up a couple weeks ago. He told me she'd been grilling him for details for a while now, and that it was only a matter of time before she cornered me. I've been anticipating it."
"You never mentioned that," she frowned, slowly sinking back into the chair she'd been comfortably been lounging in since the beginning of their conversation.
"We didn't get very much time to catch up this weekend."
He was right, of course. And Alice felt another pang of guilt. She'd been so excited to spend time with him, and then when she'd arrived home to a letter of her long-lost sister, her focus had redirected itself onto all things Cynthia.
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," she could hear his smile. "I know you're stressing out right now. I can nearly feel it through the phone. Please, try and relax. Josie is okay. I'm okay. I'm happy you're there with your sister. When I get home from resetting tomorrow I expect to turn my phone back on to have forty pictures of you and your family from when you were younger."
"Forty?" Alice scoffed. "That's if there's only forty photos. I'm sending you a copy of everything I see."
"And in a few months, we can visit together, and your sister can show me herself."
There was no vision confirming such a trip, but Alice could almost picture it now. She even found herself daydreaming about what it would be like to throw Josie in the mix, too. All of her family, all in one place.
It felt too good to be true.
"I'm just hoping I can find out some answers tomorrow."
"But if you can't, just enjoy the time you spend with her, okay?"
Alice nodded, inhaling deeply. It was a reasonable, simple request. But Alice was itching for answers. Of course Jasper knew that and was warning her about managing her expectations. "Yeah. Okay, I will."
"Good," he paused, and Alice heard what sounded like someone speaking. Carlisle, most likely. "Alright, I have to go now. I'll call you when I get home tomorrow."
"Promise?" She asked in a small voice. Jasper didn't usually call her; it was typically the other way around.
"I'll call you the second I get in the car. I promise. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
And then she was alone again.
It was almost embarrassing how long she held the phone up to her ear after that. She hadn't been there a full day yet and was already so homesick it was ridiculous. Eventually she lowered the device and found herself opening Instagram.
She still didn't understand the true purpose of the social media website, but she knew it was a fantastic way to kill time. She scrolled for a few hours. Liking posts, replying to nice comments, and deleting mean ones (she'd learned her lesson in replying to those). If there was one thing Rosalie had taught her about using it was that the block button was your best friend.
She didn't do it too often; only when she received a threat or something explicit. But she did it often enough.
When she'd asked Jasper why on Earth random men—human and vampire alike—thought she would ever want to see a photo of their penis, he'd nearly deleted the app off of her phone himself, grumbling about 'creeps' and 'fucking perverts' while he tried to explain that no, that indeed wasn't normal, and her repulsed reaction was fully appropriate.
After scrolling through her direct messages, she was satisfied to only have to block ninety people that day.
Sunrise was there quicker than she anticipated. She wrapped up a couple of sketches, responded to a few emails, and sent a few text messages. By the time she was ready to leave, she still had an hour to kill. But instead of spending anymore time in the office, she figured she could better use her time elsewhere.
Alice found herself nervously maneuvering the giant SUV out of the parking lot and toward Northport. The only cars she'd ever felt comfortable driving were smaller ones. Operating anything larger than a full-sized sedan left her nervous. She knew she wouldn't hit anything, but still, the size of the vehicle wasn't preferable.
She'd contemplated getting her own rental but decided against it quickly. The second she walked into a rental car place the information that she was in town would be all over the place.
Center-owned cars were far nicer, and the tinted windows offered her privacy she couldn't afford to give up.
The media was already speculating that there was potential trouble at Tuscaloosa's Center, but Alice figured they could guess all they wanted to. As long as they were under the impression that Alice was there for business, and that she would be confined to the center, she felt confident to drive around freely.
She drove for almost the full hour even though though it was only a fifteen minute drive from the Center to Cynthia's house.
Not able to help herself, Alice pulled into the driveway a few minutes early. Cynthia emerged onto her porch less than a minute later, and when Alice exited the car and embraced her sister for the third time, it finally felt right.
"I'm finally prepared for you today," Cynthia joked as she led Alice toward the kitchen. In the center of the kitchen table was a stack of photo albums nearly a foot high. "This isn't all of them. But they're all the ones in the house that I could find or dig out of storage."
"You mean there's more?!" Alice was elated, flickering toward the table so abruptly that Cynthia jumped, gasping. "Oh," Alice blinked over at where she'd left her sister standing across the room. "Sorry."
Alice knew she had to humanize herself while with her sister. It was obvious, even without Edward confirming it, that the woman had never been properly exposed to vampires. She could only imagine how jarring it was to experience, firsthand.
She also found it so, so strange that any human nowadays would be as caught off guard by simple vampire traits as she was. But then she recalled all of the humans in her old neighborhood in Biloxi that had constantly given her a wide berth.
Fighting back a grimace at the memory—and the subsequent reminder of people's fear and hatred of vampires—Alice sat herself down in the chair at human speed, waiting anxiously for her sister to join her.
"I'm going to put a pot of coffee on," she turned on her heel and strode across the room. "I organized them so that the oldest ones are on the top. If you want to start chronologically, go right on ahead."
Alice moved extra slowly, nerves outweighing excitement as she delicately picked up the album on the top. It was a deep teal color and small; likely only fitting one or two photos per page on the inside.
The cover was old and worn, but written in delicate gold lettering across the from of it was her name; Mary-Alice.
Alice stared at it for several minutes, no sense of time passing until Cynthia sat beside her.
"It's okay," the woman smiled, reaching forward and slowly opening the album that Alice was still holding so careful in her hands. "Go ahead."
The first photo sent her into a fit of laughter.
It was her, as a baby. Barely a year old and sitting up in the grass. There was a stunned expression across her little round face, the black and white photo showcasing how light her eyes were, even with the lack of color.
"That's me?" And the emotion that came over her nearly sent her into tears. "I…"
"That's you. Summer of 53'. Mama was very much ahead of the times. Or at least as far as I know. I have plenty of friends who don't have albums like these."
Two photographs on the next page left her stunned.
"That's you on the first snow that year," Cynthia pointed out expertly, knowing the story behind every picture. "And that's you with Mama and Dad."
Alice looked significantly bigger in this picture, a toddler by the time her first proper family photograph was taken. She sat in the lap of a man who didn't smile, but who stared. At whoever was taking the photo, if she had to guess. At his side, a woman grinned, her eyes turned toward him, perhaps the only person who knew what was causing his supposed sour mood.
Alice stared at the woman's profile, committing every detail to memory instantly. Her soft, round face, her dark, short-cut hair.
"That's her," Alice whispered, lifting a shaking hand to rest against the picture. "That's them."
"You alright?" She hesitated at first but decided quickly, and when Cynthia rested her hand on Alice's back she had to wrestle back a sob.
Instead she swallowed her emotions and nodded. "I'm happy," she whispered, still nodding. "I'm so very, very happy." Chancing a look, she found Cynthia's eyes full of tears.
"Me too," she confessed, her lip trembling.
Alice laughed then. "We're only three pictures in and we're already crying."
"You mean I'm crying," she laughed then, wiping tears from the edge of her eyes with a napkin. "That's okay. I figured I might do a bit of that today."
"Won't you get a headache?"
"I preemptively took some Aleve. I think we should be okay."
Flickering through a few visions, Alice took a chance and extended her hand, reaching toward her sister. There was a mental back-and-forth for all of two seconds (Alice had the visions to prove it) before Cynthia reached out, grabbing Alice's hand within her own.
If she was bothered by the difference in temperature between the two, she didn't let on, and Alice found herself grateful by the lack of a comment.
The entire morning unfolded perfectly. They made their way through every album on the table. At one point Alice pulled her phone out and spent time taking the best picture she could of every photograph there.
Cynthia laughed at the action even when Alice insisted on taking them. "My oldest son, Zachary, scanned all of these for me a few years back. I can email you the high-quality ones. Or, well, he can. It would take me days to figure it out. Or to find them on the computer probably."
"Oh, that would be great. Thank you." Snapping a few more photos, she pocketed her phone. "How old is he?"
"Thirty-seven," Cynthia stood up and walked across the kitchen. Beside the refrigerator was a few shelves. Pulling her own photo album out of the cubby, she flipped it open as she returned to the table. "I was only good at taking pictures when they were all little." She opened it to a picture of three children; two boys exponentially older than the little girl.
"Zach's high school graduation. Sammy was almost fourteen here, and Cassie was barely six months old." She smiled down at the photo before sliding the album toward Alice. "This one isn't organized like Mama's albums are, but it has my babies."
"Sammy looks a lot like you," Alice commented, smiling as she flipped through the pictures. The boy had the same brown hair as Cynthia, and the same hazel eyes. Zachary's hair was the same shade, too, his eyes a dark brown. But little Cassie had the same jet-black hair that Alice did.
Seeing the similarities between herself and these children she'd never seen before planted an unknown emotion in her chest. "They're beautiful," she sighed, feeling so full of love for these people she'd never met; it was overwhelming.
"Thank you." As Alice flipped through the photos, Cynthia pointed to a tall man in a baseball cap, watching something in the distance. "That's my husband, Tim."
"How'd you two meet?"Alice grinned, resting her chin in her hands as she awaited her sister's reply.
"We we neighbors for years actually," she smiled in reply, reaching out and flipping to another page. This one displayed a family photo of all of them. "Of course I didn't even speak to him until high school. After graduation, we both commuted to UA. He offered to give me rides and not long after that we were dating." Cynthia flipped a few pages, landing on a photo of herself, holding a baby in her arms. "I had Zach just before my nineteenth birthday."
It was bizarre to see. Especially when Alice couldn't help but compare herself to Cynthia in every tiny way.
When Cynthia was nineteen she'd attended college, fallen in love, and had a child.
By the time Alice was nineteen she'd been committed to a mental hospital.
No matter how happy she was to see that her sister had lived a normal, happy life, there was an ache in the back of her chest. She was almost afraid to hear about what Cynthia had thought of her, or what memories her sister may have of her…
"I withdrew from school, of course, and by the time Sammy was born Tim had graduated and accepted a job with the company he works for now."
"Where is he, by the way?" Alice asked, glancing toward their future and not seeing the man's presence at all.
She knew there was no big secret and that his presence as someone who lived in the house wasn't questionable; after all, pieces of Cynthia's husband were still around. A pair of shiny work shoes in the foyer. A couple of old baseball hats on the coat rack (that smelled like they needed a good washing). Alice had also caught sight of a laundry basket pushed to the side at the top of the stairs; men's ties hanging out of it.
"He's in New Jersey for the next week or so. He travels a lot for work so I'm always holding down the fort down here. I'm usually out and around town but," she smiled at her, "this is definitely better than errands and lunch dates."
Alice smiled back, still so happy at the way this week had turned out.
And to think one week ago she was attempting to navigate harsh political waters and getting scolded by her co-Protectors.
This felt like the vacation that Carlisle had joked she didn't need.
Cynthia told her more about her family than. That Zach had studied business and also worked for the company Tim worked for. That Sammy studied architecture and made a living doing freelance design work. Cassie was finishing up her first year at Stillman, but was still undecided on a major.
"Would you be interested in meeting them?"
Alice's jaw dropped. "Really? I would love to!"
Cynthia sighed in relief, and then laughed. "Okay, good. Because I went ahead and invited them to dinner tonight. Well, it'll be a late lunch, because Cassie has a night class on Wednesdays."
"Oh wow, I can't wait to meet them!" Alice grinned. This day couldn't get any better. "I…" she paused, her smile softening. "I have to be honest. I didn't know what to expect when I received your letter. I knew that I had a dad, and that I'd had a mom who has passed away, but that was it." She shrugged. "I've never been good at research, so I had know idea I had a sister, or nephews and a niece."
"Not even with all," Cynthia waved a hand, looking for the right wording, "all those resources you've got?"
Alice smiled sheepishly. "I'm not very tech savvy. If google can't tell me, I won't know."
Cynthia chuckled. "I can relate to that." Then, her expression sobered. "You were looking?"
For a moment she deliberated between the casual, vague truth and the full, uncensored truth. Either answer started with a 'yes', but Alice was nervous about sharing anything. Especially with the way the importance of secrecy had been drilled into over the past year.
But this didn't have anything to do with her job. This only had to do with her. It was her business, which meant she could share it with her sister if she wanted.
Alice nodded. "Started looking casually last spring after I learned my full name."
Cynthia was taken aback. "Your full name?" But realization was quick to hit her. "That's why you only go by Alice."
Alice nodded, her mind drifting toward her old medical bracelet that she had resting in her jewelry box at home. It was funny to think that if Mary had been the only part of her first name that was legible, she'd be going by something entirely different now.
"Carlisle—well, Jasper, mainly—tracked down all of my info after I joined. Not all of it, I guess. But the basics. My date of birth, the date of my 'death'. So I looked casually with google, but when things started getting bad, I was forced to put it on hold." Alice was sure she didn't need to explain the why.
"Death date? How did you find that?" Cynthia was taken aback.
"It was on my death certificate."
"But I," and then the vision hit her. Cynthia didn't know that Alice's death had ever been officially confirmed. "Wouldn't they need a body for that?"
Alice frowned. "You'd think…" She let her eyes drift back toward the open photo album in front of her. "There's a lot that doesn't make sense," she mumbled, almost to herself.
Cynthia nodded, her expression just as morose as Alice's. "I'm just happy to know you're still around." She reached forward and grabbed Alice's hand again. This time with less hesitation.
"Likewise," Alice exhaled slowly. "Thank you, again. For showing me all of these."
"You have just as much of a right to them as I do. Probably more, since you're the oldest and all." Cynthia paused, thinking for a moment. "Technically, at least."
"Am I how you remember me?"
"Almost. Your hair was always long when we were younger. I have a vivid memory of you letting me braid your hair once. I was probably five or six; I tangled your hair up so badly Mama had to sit you in the tub and lard your head up to untangle it."
"Oh no," Alice laughed, "I hope we didn't get in trouble for that."
"You didn't care one bit, and Mama found it amusing. Dad was not thrilled."
Alice grinned, holding her sister's hand and enjoying the memory that she wished she could visualize. "Tell me about them."
"My memories of you and Mama are pretty fuzzy. I have a lot of good ones, but I was so young when she died, and then you disappeared not long after." Cynthia swallowed, and Alice could see the hurt still prevalent all these years later. She squeezed her hand gently. "We were a little trio. I remember that much. I was always getting into trouble, and you were always there to watch out for me. And Mama was so lovely. I don't have a lot of memories, but I do know that they were all really nice ones. But again, I was about seven when she died, so Anna-Marie filled the role of 'mom' more for me."
Alice blinked down at the photo album in front of her, flipping a few pages. She didn't recognize that name.
"Anna-Maria and Dad got married just before you disappeared," Cynthia explained. "She wasn't very maternal, but after Mama died she was all I had until I was about fifteen." She shrugged.
"Fifteen?"
"She died around then."
"I'm so sorry," Alice watched her sister with sad eyes as she released her hand and reached for her coffee mug. "That must've been hard."
"Everyone dies eventually," she explained easily. But then her expression shifted, "Oh, well. Sorry. For most of us I guess."
Alice didn't blame her for fumbling over her words. "Immortal doesn't mean indestructible."
"The news loves reminding us of that."
Alice nodded silently, agreeing. She couldn't exactly say anything though. Not when the news showcased a lot of the madness that Alice was dealing with on the job. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Alice to figure out who she was outside of her job as a Protector. And while Cynthia quietly sipped her coffee, Alice was left trying to determine whether it was a good time to push the subject on her father.
The woman reached out for one of the larger albums and began flipping through pages, smiling as she did.
"You said there were more?" Alice asked, knowing that the question would bring them to the subject.
"There are more at my—I mean, at Dad's house." She flipped through the pages, absentmindedly sipping her coffee. "I'll have to get them before he does something to them," she mumbled, more to herself than to Alice.
"Does he live close?"
Cynthia hummed in confirmation. But when she didn't speak any further, Alice grew concerned. In her mind, she sorted through different things to say, then decided upon a different course.
"What happened to Anna-Marie, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Hiking accident," Cynthia grimaced, placing her coffee down and folding her arms over her chest. "It was awful. Her and Dad went on a weekend getaway up north to Lookout. She fell off an incline and plummeted one hundred feet to her death."
Alice gasped softly, feeling like a jackass for even asking in the first place. "Cynthia, I'm so sorry."
"It was a freak accident. She wasn't very outdoorsy. The whole trip changed Dad. I think he felt guilty; as if it were his fault. I know that if he hadn't pushed the vacation, they never would've gone, and she'd still be around."
Alice stared at her sister as she studied the photographs on the table in silence. Her little sister had been through so much by such a young age. First their mother's death, then Alice's disappearance, and then years later, her step-mother's death.
She was so grateful to Cynthia's family; to her husband and to everything good that had happened after all of that loss. Her sister deserved good things. And knowing that she'd eventually got them, made her feel a little bit lighter.
"Here," Cynthia pushed one of the albums that they hadn't opened yet toward Alice and stood up from the table, "if you don't mind, I'm going to get started on dinner. If you see someone new, just describe them and I'll try and see if I can't tell you who they are from memory."
Alice nodded, enjoying a brief tinge of amusement at Cynthia's idea of a game and went back to silently flipping through pages and pages of pictures.
A part of her waited with bated breath as she studied each and every face in every single photo. Maybe one of them would trigger a memory, or would have an air of familiarity to them. Alice hoped desperately that there would be a twinge of something in one of their faces. But as she discovered new people in the photos, describing them to her sister as she flitted around the kitchen, filling pans and pots and turning dials and buttons on the stovetop and oven, she eventually realized that there was going to be no miracle there.
Nothing was going to magically cause a memory to materialize in her head. She didn't realize how potent her disappointment was until Cynthia called her over, asking her if she wanted to help.
And as someone who had never cooked—not even once for Josie—and who wanted a different, proper distraction from the sadness blooming within her chest, Alice jumped on the opportunity.
Nearly three hours later, the two sisters were in absolute hysterics laughing. Cynthia was near-tears, leaning back against her kitchen island while Alice stood there, gravy spilled down the front of her, wishing she hadn't worn a white shirt that day.
When the timer for the oven had gone off, indicating that the pot-roast was finished cooking, Alice had excitedly opened the over and grabbed the pan.
Which had caused Cynthia to scream.
Which had caused Alice to jump.
Which had caused gravy and potatoes to go flying.
Then, the sisters had stared at each other—Cynthia in horror and Alice in confusion—before Alice blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "It doesn't hurt?"
And when Cynthia started laughing, hand on her head and another over her heart, Alice couldn't tell if it was because of the way she'd phrased the words or because she looked positively ridiculous in that moment.
And when Alice heard a car driving down the street pull into the driveway, her head shot toward the front of the house, and her laughter died down.
Cynthia's expression changed into one of confusion before she realized what Alice was staring at. "They're here already?"
Alice only nodded, suddenly forgetting that she was holding the dinner for all of these humans. Or, what was left of it.
"Here," Cynthia reached out for the food with oven mit clad hands. "The powder room is down the hall to the left. I'll go grab a shirt for you and then run some interference."
Five minutes later, wearing a borrowed shirt that was definitely too big, Alice emerged from the bathroom, nervous about what she knew she'd see.
Her nerves were entirely misplaced, of course. She had already seen that the dinner would go well. And that Zach couldn't make it. And that Sammy was very excited to meet her. And that Cassie would convince Cynthia that skipping class was healthy sometimes, and she'd stay until late that night.
But watching her meet her niece and nephew in her mind was far different than actually doing it.
And when Alice stood in the kitchen, staring at two of Cynthia's children, she felt herself thrown back into the present.
Cynthia was lit so brightly; so much more animated and happier than Alice had seen her yet. These kids mean the world to her, Alice knew it in her bones. This is her world.
Talking about the past hadn't made Cynthia do anything other then shrug and frown and dance around topics. Watching her as she fussed over her two grown children made Alice feel like she was finally seeing her sister. Or at least, the woman she had grown into. Kind, and happy and full of love.
It almost made Alice wish this meeting had taken place the day before.
Of course, in the middle of their introductions her phone had rang. She'd nearly forgotten about Jasper's promise to call her when he got out of resetting that day. She'd excused herself for a moment, answering quickly and then apologized to him profusely when she explained that she was meeting Cynthia's children and was going to trade his conversation for their company.
Jasper had laughed in reply before telling her to enjoy herself. And after thanking him for keeping his promise, and exchanging quiet 'I love you's, she was back in the kitchen, a little embarrassed at the interruption, but excited to meet more of her family.
The rest of the day passed by so quickly that the only explanation for it was the age old saying, 'time flies when you're having fun.'
Sammy was extremely friendly and engaging, answering all of Alice's questions and even asking her some as well. He was the only person to bring up Jasper, politely asking how he was, and even embarrassing her over asking whether they had any concrete plans to get married.
She'd answered vaguely enough—remarking how that was all anyone, press or not, wanted to know nowadays—but her non-answer hadn't deterred him in the slightest, and Sammy had spent a solid ten minutes telling her about a venue upstate that was 'absolutely worth checking out'.
Alice agreed to look into it, mentally making a note to tell Jasper that they had better hurry up and just get married already. If it would please all these people, family or otherwise, then maybe it would give the press something better to talk about other than their handlings of the war's aftermath.
And no matter how much she loved Jasper, the marriage comments were beginning to get a little bit grating on her nerves.
Cassie had chimed in a few times, certainly the quieter of the two children present, but just as excited as her brother. She'd commented on Alice's social media presence, asking if it was really her posting to the accounts or whether she had some sort of publicist or team running them.
Alice had laughed at that, not even knowing that was a thing. That had spurned a conversation about 'influencer and celebrity culture' that had Alice sitting beside Cassie at the table, watching in awe as her niece pulled up articles and explained the business side of social media.
At one point Alice compared Cassie to Rosalie, and she swore she'd never seen a human so unwilling to accept a comparison. "Just take the compliment," Sammy had laughed after Cassie had taken a full minute to explain how no one was as smart or gorgeous as Rosalie.
Alice swore the girl was going to have a heart attack when she promised to get her a 'follow back' from Rosalie's accounts.
All too quickly, Cynthia was yawning and Alice took a look at the time, realizing that it was close to eleven o'clock. She'd definitely overstayed her welcome.
"I think I should get going," she chimed in during their next lull in conversation.
"It is getting late," Sammy remarked, checking his watch and pressing a few things on the screen. "Alright Cass, let's let Mom get to sleep."
Cynthia stood up from he couch and outstretched her arms toward her second son. "I'm happy you two could make it," she embraced the boy, kissing his cheek as he bent down to hug her back.
"How long are you going to be here?" Cassie asked Alice, turning to frown at her brother as he stepped up to her, nudging her foot with his own.
Alice shrugged. "A few days, maybe? I don't have a flight booked home yet."
"So you'll be here tomorrow?"
"Aren't you helping your friend Liz move into her apartment?" Sammy asked, shrugging a coat onto his shoulders as he dug around his pocket for his keys.
"Shit, you're right."
"Language," Cynthia scolded as Cassie stood up and walked into her mother's outstretched arms. "If you can't come tomorrow, you can just come on Friday. Your father should be home by then."
Alice perked up at that. She was excited to meet Cynthia's husband.
Both her niece and nephew gave her tight hugs before departing, and Alice promised to see them again before flying back home to Pennsylvania. It was as Sammy's car was pulling out of the driveway, departing to drive back to town, where Cynthia spoke again.
"We watched the announcement together, Sammy, Cassie and I." Alice turned toward her sister as she spoke. They both stood on the porch, and the night air was warm, and thick with humidity. The bugs outside were deafening, and Alice found the strange sound comforting. Paired with the light lavender scent coming off of the shirt she was wearing—the scent of the laundry detergent, most likely—Alice realized she was going to be relating these things to her family from now on. Cicadas and lavender.
Despite not having the memories from before, it didn't mean she couldn't start forming them now. New ones; ones that had meaning.
Cynthia continued talking. "When they showed you on the television that night, before they'd even spoken your name I knew. I just knew. Even with the golden eyes, and the short hair, and the refined features. I knew it was you." She then nodded her head toward where the car had driven off. "Cassie. She's your spitting image."
It was true. When Alice had laid her eyes upon her niece, she couldn't fight the feeling that she was staring into a mirror. A strange, odd mirror, giving her more proper insight as to what Alice had looked like around the time of her change.
Cassie was a little bit taller, of course. Not by much, but by a couple of inches. Her hair was longer, too, nearly halfway down her back, but just as pin-straight as Alice's. She was thin, but a healthy thin. Nowhere near as sickly-skinny as Alice. But they were built so similarly that it was clear to see her niece had taken after Alice more than she had her mother.
"I wonder what happened to my hair," Alice mused. And it was the only thing she could think to say. Cynthia didn't reply, and Alice didn't expect her to. They stood on the porch for a few more minutes before Alice embraced her, departing with a promise to see her the following day.
With the flickers she got then, she knew that they'd be going on a little bit of an adventure.
Whether that was a good thing, or not, her visions couldn't quite show.
A/N: We'll get to the real meat of the plot eventually. Not that this is unimportant stuff, but still. I'm used to writing action and adventure. I'm itching to share the craziness with you guys. But still. I need to be patient, and that means so do you guys. Sorry.
Anyways, happy Aquarius season! I'm rested up, mostly-recovered from COVID, and back at work already. As I get back into the swing of things I'm working on establishing more of a writing schedule, that way I can finally finish this story, my other Twilight WIP, and then start working on my other WIPs, too. Lots of stories and other things coming out this year that I'm very excited for.
In related news, I have recently written a song that was originally intended for a Twilight charity zine, created to help raise funds for the Quileute tribe's Move to Higher Ground initiative. If you have the time to do so, I would love it if anyone reading this could look up the project at . This life-and-culture-saving initiative is so important to the indigenous Quileute people, and they haven't received a penny from Stephenie Meyer or Summit Entertainment toward it.
The song I wrote is a lullaby written about Alice Cullen, and for anyone willing to donate even a dollar toward the cause will receive a link to stream and download the song. All you have to do is DM me on Instagram (shutupmaybe) or Tumblr (flowerslut/hotmail) proof of your donation and the song is yours. You can check it out now on my Tumblr, but with just a dollar toward the cause, a download is all yours.
Thanks again for your love and support. I'll see you in Pisces season.
REVIEW REPLIES:
ZileRacer: I love me some Edward/Rosalie pettiness. And kind of! A lot of their backstories are different, especially since Carlisle didn't change any of them (Esme, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie) into vampires the way he did in the saga. A few of them have very interesting backstories, which you'll find out in due time. But Carlisle's and Jasper's are exactly the same.
I hope you enjoyed this last chapter! Especially with how you said you want Alice to deal more with human stuff. It's important to remember that even though vampires live in society like this, doesn't mean that humans are completely comfortable or used to 'vampire quirks' and the sort. Like always, you're asking all the right questions... and I promise they'll all be answered eventually LOL (thanks for catching the typos!)
Guest: Alice would have so much fun planning a wedding. Jasper better watch out. If Alice spends too much time on YouTube getting ideas he'll have wished he'd proposed that they elope instead...