Alice stood at the edge of the room, watching carefully as Carlisle walked around the gurney, checking vital signs and occasionally scribbling another note on the clipboard cradled in his arm.
The sound of the heart rate monitor was eerie in the relative silence of the room. No other machines were hooked up to Cassie any longer. Carlisle had explained that Cassie would eventually stop breathing minutes before her heart would stop beating. When he'd begun to go through which of her organs would shut down first, Alice had shaken her head, not wanting to hear any more.
It didn't quite matter though. Because Alice still saw, in her mind, the full extent of what Carlisle was about to explain to her.
Cassie had been unmoving for a couple of hours now, something that Esme had assured her was perfectly normal. They'd been able to sedate her in time for her arrival into the facility, and now that she was safely in Birmingham's Newborn Center, they were going to ease up on the sedation.
Alice asked why, when the process was explained to her, and Esme informed her, with a frown, that the sedation didn't provide any tangible relief to the person undergoing change. All it did was quiet them. Underneath the silence, Cassie was still experiencing agonizing, excruciating pain.
"Is it really as bad as everyone says it is?" Alice asked Esme just before she'd entered the room. The guilt was still so strong that Alice wanted to see for herself what was happening to Cassie. Sure, Alice had seen the videos that they showed applicants going through the interview process. But this was different. This was a member of her family. And it was her fault the poor girl was in there in the first place. "Is it that unbearable?"
"For most people," Esme chose her words with care, "it's their most vivid memory of their human life. The pain of transformation is the most agonizing thing we know. It measures off the charts of any human pain scale." Esme paused momentarily, before continuing. "It's one of my most vivid human memories."
It was Skye's voice that had reverberated through her mind next:
"Be glad… be thankful you don't remember."
With her sister admitted to the hospital with a bullet wound, her niece undergoing the excruciating change process, the people responsible for her very existense dead, and the old leaders of their past world all-too-aware of what she was capable of, Alice couldn't help but despise that sentiment now.
A vision flickered through her and she sighed, silently excusing herself from the room in the next moment.
Esme was talking to a few members of the Newborn Center's crew, but upon Alice's emergence, she abruptly ended their conversation. "Alice?" She approached swiftly, a hand finding Alice's elbow. "How is everything?"
Alice nodded, "It's fine." Her words were quiet as she waited for the containers behind Esme to stop staring and go busy themselves elsewhere. It took several seconds before they departed but when they did, Alice let out a slow, shuddering breath. "He's almost here."
"I told Emmett to meet him outside," Esme frowned. There was a moment where it looked like she didn't know what to say, before settling on, "He's just happy you're alright."
Alice nodded, the motion feeling robotic. When Esme wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into another tight hug, Alice didn't even have the energy to reciprocate.
She felt empty.
"Come on," Esme started walking, and Alice could see that she was leading them some place where she knew there would be privacy.
In most Centers, the Newborn Center's buildings were already one of the larger ones on the entire campus. But in Birmingham's Center, it was by far the biggest. Even larger than the main offices were.
And when Esme led Alice into what she could only describe as some sort of chapel, Alice turned her head and stared at the religious artifacts displayed in the corners with confusion.
"Our oldest Centers were built with prayer rooms on campus," Esme explained without needing to be prompted, her arm still around Alice as she led her further into the room. "Most of them are defunct in this day and age, but," Esme lifted her head and smiled toward the various religious iconography, "some around the country are pretty well-maintained. Others have been transformed into meditation rooms. Places to give family members and loved ones a place to decompress when they're allowed to start distanced visitations."
"Two years?"
Esme blinked down at Alice's out-of-context question. Then, Alice shook her head. "Sorry. What I meant to say is: that's how long they have to wait before visitations can start, right?"
Esme's confusion morphed into a kind smile. "Yes. And video-visitations can start as soon as six months."
Alice's visions didn't show her anything good with her current train of thought. But that's because right now Cynthia was moving through her day with the thought in her head that her youngest child was dead and gone forever. So, in her mind, Alice didn't see any visitation from Cynthia. Nor from Tim or her oldest son, Zach.
But a handful of shimmering visions of Sammy, smiling over a video call with what could only be Cassie crying on the other end, made Alice's chest throb with a painful ache.
She hated what had happened because of her.
That, in trying to add herself back into her long-lost family, she'd torn them apart instead.
Esme finally led Alice to a far-off loveseat, sitting the both of them down and tucking Alice underneath her arm once they were comfortably settled.
"I don't know what you've been through in the past couple of days," Esme admitted softly, her hand lifting to brush her fingers through her hair comfortingly, "but I do know that, no matter what happens, things will be alright."
"How can you say that?" Alice's voice felt unfamiliar, even to her own ears. There was no… no emotion connected to it now. She couldn't even muster the energy up to sound exasperated or sad. Alice simply felt… empty.
Hopeless.
"Because, you're still here. And no matter what it feels like, every day that comes and goes is another day that gets you, and Jasper," she added with a knowing look and an accompanying shoulder squeeze, "safer."
Alice didn't want to disagree with Esme's declaration, so she opted to remain quiet. But as her mind wandered and her visions showed her that she only had a few minutes left of this quiet comfort, she forced herself to speak up.
"Have you ever seen something—or, known something, I guess—" she struggled to pick her words adequately, "that wasn't good?" Alice shifted closer, pressing her face against Esme's side. She wasn't as soft or as warm as Josie was—and god, she was both so excited yet fiercely dreading her inevitable reunion with her adoptive mother—but Esme's comfort was still something that Alice desperately craved.
"I do all the time," Esme spoke without hesitation. "Not to the extent that you do. And while my gift isn't subjective the way yours is, I quite often know when human decisions will go awry. When elections will lead to suffering, and when the choices of powerful people will end in some measure of catastrophe. It's why I insist on spending so much time with our leadership in the Capitol. I want to try and lessen the pain that people cause one another.
"I also see bad things unrelated to the human world. Things that I try to keep to myself. Things that even Edward sees very little of."
The admission shocked Alice. And when she lifted her head to look toward Esme, she was already staring back down at Alice with her loving, understanding eyes.
"I know what it's like to keep secrets, Alice." And suddenly, if felt like Esme was seeing right through her. "I'm not here to lecture you. I keep them, too. Sometimes, it's necessary. But other times," both of their heads lifted at the sound of a few pairs of feet exiting the elevator and walking out into the hallway outside the door. "It only makes things worse."
Alice lowered her head back down at the sound of the incoming company, nuzzling close against Esme's side again and closing her eyes. She didn't want to face him yet. She wasn't ready.
"Hey Ma," Alice heard Emmett's voice call from across the room as he made his way across the threshold, "receptionist has messages for you apparently." Despite her closed eyes, Alice could still picture it in her mind: Emmett's nonchalant thumb thrown over his shoulders. Edward standing in the doorway, and Jasper standing motionless at his side.
Alice didn't make a sound when she felt Esme press a kiss to the top of her head before beginning the process of disentangling herself from Alice's grip. "I'll come find you when I'm finished," she whispered.
When Esme stood up, Alice finally opened her eyes, watching as Esme walked toward the three men standing at the opposite end of the long room.
"I'll be right down," she heard Edward mutter to Esme as she trailed out after Emmett. Esme simply smiled up at him and squeezed his arm on the way out.
Jasper was staring at her with a hesitant expression across his face. That, by itself, made Alice want to curl up into a small, pitiful ball. Anything to avoid his calculating stare and his festering reaction.
For a fleeting moment she wanted to cry. The scene was far too familiar to her.
At the forefront of her mind was the day Jasper had kept her at arms length after she insisted on making decisions that would put her in Maria's path. Decisions that had led to violent visions. He'd been furious as she put herself in one dangerous hypothetical situation after another. And when it came down to comfort, it had been up to Esme.
Esme, who was getting further and further from this room with every step she took.
"Where's Aro?" Alice was the first to speak, even as Edward and Jasper remained at the opposite end of the room. She knew Aro was close by, and that she should probably keep her voice down, but she wanted to know just how close.
"Main offices," Edward spoke, finally taking a few steps into the room, glancing around until his eyes found the crucifix on the far wall. "He's… charming the Lieutenants and Captains right now."
"I'm sure he is." She didn't mean for her voice to sound so dull and lifeless, but it was how she felt.
Does he know? Alice asked the pointed question as Edward stared at all the religious and spiritual artifacts peppering the room. Does Jasper know that Aro saw my mind?
Edward reached up to adjust the zipper to his jacket, and in doing so held his thumb and forefinger close together just in front of his chest. Jasper couldn't see the swift motion, but Alice knew what it meant.
So, what? Almost? He knows a little bit?
"He'll be leaving soon," Edward met her eyes, pretending not to hear her last mental question, begging for clarification. "To no ones surprise."
"What he came here for is done," Alice spoke bluntly. "They're dead. Whatever secrets they had are safe, I suppose."
Jasper's jaw twitched as he, too, moved from his spot in the doorway.
"What do we do now?" Alice asked, shoulders hunched as she stared intently at Jasper's cautious steps, not daring to lift her eyes and meet his just yet.
"Wait for them to leave," Edward half-shrugged. "What's done is done."
"Where's—" and Alice couldn't say his name for some reason. In her head his leering gaze haunted her, and she couldn't help it when a full-body shiver seized her.
It took witnessing that for Jasper to finally rush toward her.
Edward's jaw snapped shut audibly when he saw who she was trying to name. "He's also in the main offices."
"What did he do?" Jasper directed the cold words to Edward as he finally reached where Alice was sitting on the couch. When he swept down beside her, pulling her against him closely, Alice let out another shaking breath as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Edward," he snapped, when Edward remained silent for a handful of seconds.
"Nothing," Edward's words were just as clipped. "He just tracked her."
"He needs to stay the fuck away from her," but before Jasper could snap those words, he held them in at the last possible moment. Instead, he inhaled slowly before letting out a long exhale. "You're okay," his words were quiet, finally spoken to Alice, now.
Despite his tight grip on her, Alice couldn't find comfort in his words.
"All we can do now," Edward reiterated, "is wait for them to leave." He eyed Alice before locking his eyes onto Jasper. "Then, we'll regroup from there."
Alice knew immediately what Edward's plan was, even before witnessing it. The vision was blurry and she couldn't place the timing, but she knew that at some point, after Aro and his cronies finally left the country again, there would be a conversation.
The only thing she couldn't see, was whether or not Jasper would be a part of it.
No other words were spoken between the three. Edward turned and made his departure, off to join Esme and Emmett. Alice could see that despite what Aro had already seen, and the information he had already gathered, Edward still didn't want Aro sneaking any more touches during his stay.
When Edward was finally out of sight and earshot, Jasper deflated at her side, pulling her even tighter against him. The proximity only made it apparent to Alice that Jasper was utterly exhausted. His fatigue and relief settled into her bones as if the emotions were her own, but even under it all, Alice could sense his frustration, and his sadness.
She'd lied to him, and he knew it.
She'd hurt him, and now she could feel the way that felt.
"Jazz…"
"Hold on," he whispered, pressing his nose against the top of her head and inhaling deeply. "Just," he swallowed again, "give me a minute."
Closing her eyes tightly together she finally reached out and returned the embrace, trying to will some of her own genuine emotion to come to the surface. She wanted to force out tears or embarrassment or guilt or something. Something more to let Jasper know that she was there, and she was sorry, and she felt horrible.
But right now, she felt nothing.
"What happened?" Jasper's voice was pained when he spoke up again. "You're…" He pulled back and looked down at her, concern evident in his expression. Lifting a hand he pushed her hair backward, away from her face as he studied her expression. "You're scaring me, Alice."
It was his heartbroken expression that made something react inside of her. "I don't know what to say." And it was the truth. She didn't know what to tell him, because she didn't know what she should tell him.
Esme herself said that some secrets were worth keeping. But Alice didn't know which ones.
"Tell me what happened," he pleaded with her, his voice taking on an edge of desperation that sounded so foreign coming from his lips, "you don't even need to tell me why. Just tell me what. What happened to you?"
And for the first time, Alice wished Jasper had Edward's ability. Because she didn't want to give Jasper a play-by-play. If anything, she wished she could just project the memory straight into his mind. Like Renesmee could. Anything to prevent Alice from having to verbalize her betrayal, as if it were just another tale of what she'd done during her day.
"You were right," Alice spoke, her words barely a whisper. "They were running from Aro. They knew he was coming. They knew I had made contact with James."
The growl that was building in Jasper's chest just made Alice feel nervous. But at least she was feeling something. "Stop," she asked quickly. "I don't—they might—"
Jasper sighed deeply, pressing a firm kiss against her forehead. "They won't hear anything that we have to say." But before Alice could say anything further, his words were soft against the side of her head, "these rooms are the only place in the entire Center, besides the bathrooms and locker rooms, that don't have some measure of surveillance."
Oh.
Alice wondered if that was why Esme lead her in there.
But that particular idea didn't make any sense. Esme was one of the few people who thought that Aro and his comrades were on their side; Edward had even confirmed that much to Jasper. Alice's brain settled on the idea that Esme likely wanted the two of them to have as much privacy as they could, considering the circumstances of that morning.
And with the reminder of how close Aro and Demetri and everyone else was, Alice felt a spark of panic ignite inside of her.
"I'm not leaving this room until they're gone," when the desperation sank into her tone, Alice couldn't shake the feeling. And suddenly, that's all she could feel. A desperate need to get far, far away from Aro and his old guard and anyone else that had any type of 'European Protector' affiliation. "I don't want to see them."
"Emmett brought me up here through the back entrance to keep me away from them," Jasper informed her as she shuddered against him. Alice could just barely feel the rage that Jasper was working hard to keep under control. "I don't know what I'll do if I hear Aro or Demetri make any smartass comments today."
"Stay with me," Alice pleaded, her fingers digging hard into his forearm, "please."
He swept down and captured her lips in a kiss then. And when Alice threw her arms around his shoulders, kissing him back with a fervor, her chest began to finally ache.
When she pulled away, she was barely able to hold a sob in. "I'm sorry."
"Alice—"
"I lied," she forced the words out, her slight panic beginning to morph into horror at what she'd done, and at all the madness she'd caused. Scooting away from him she shook her head desperately. "I lied! I lied to you and—"
"Alice! That doesn't matter," he insisted, allowing her to pull away so that he could reach out and grab her wrists in his hands, "Alice," his voice was firm as he squeezed her arms, imploring her to look at him. When she looked up, the pain in his eyes made her guilt find her way back into her bones. "The only thing I give a damn about right now is you, and making sure you're okay."
"I'm not," she choked the words out, the honesty causing her to begin to shake again. "I'm not okay, Jazz."
"I know you're not," he pulled her back into his arms, holding her tighter than he'd been before. "I can feel it. You feel… off."
"I—I—" and so badly she wanted to tell him. Wanted to tell him about how Aro had done it. Done exactly what they'd feared he would do. He had seen inside of her mind, and he'd done it before Edward could stop him. Alice still didn't know how. She didn't know if Edward had only known because he'd seen it in Aro's mind, or if he'd seen it happen with his own two eyes.
Edward, at this point, likely had more secrets than all of them.
But Alice forced her mouth to close. All because of the vision she got then.
"He saw," Alice choked the words out, barely able to stop herself from spilling the confession forward. "Aro grabbed my hand when they came to rescue me. I—I don't know how since I was… I wasn't exactly conscious. I don't know. I don't know how, but—"
"I'll kill him," And when Jasper stood up, Alice knew, with a certain level of fear, that there was nothing she could do right now to stop Jasper from going after Aro, and Demetri, and all of the European Protectors that were currently idling around in the main offices.
And another vision.
There was screaming, and it took Alice a few seconds to realize that a lot of it was her own.
If there was ever a place or time to tell Jasper about what had happened that morning. It was not here, and it was not now.
The future conversation that she knew she and Edward would be having at some point flickered through her mind again, versions of it with and without Jasper flashing before her eyes. But somehow, she knew, as she watched the vision morph, that she had to tell Jasper.
With everything that had happened, excluding him from the conversation would only be a disservice to all of them. Because now, Alice didn't know what would happen, but she knew that without Jasper's help, it would be horrifying.
"Please," Alice whispered, watching the vision solidify itself more firmly in her mind—Edward stood in one of the offices in the library back at home, while Jasper stood behind a desk, Alice gripping his hands with all her might, as if trying to keep him rooted in place. Confessions spilled forth from her lips and Edward nodded in confirmation with each passing revelation; the room slowly filled with a type of heat they could only associate with Jasper's fury, expelled forth— "please, don't make me have to talk about it right now." Another pulse of something like hopelessness overcame her, and Jasper's hands tightened around her wrists. "I—I promise I'll tell you about it. I promise I'll talk to you about everything but I… I can't—"
Jasper shushed her, his hands releasing their grip before they reached out and pulled her close. One arm wrapped around her waist while his other hand traveled upward to wrap around the back of her neck, pulling her flush against his chest. "I won't," his words were as quiet as they were pained. "Just tell me if you're okay."
"I can't because I'm not." The words came to her much easier than she thought, and Alice could feel another crying spell begin to make it's way toward the surface when Jasper made a pained noise.
He spoke again after a few more tense seconds. "Are you hurt?"
Alice felt silly for forgetting about her injury, so when she nodded against him and pulled back slightly, Jasper was quick to release her when he realized that she was about to show him.
"Just a bite, on my hip." Her hand reached toward where the edge of her shirt just barely covered up the tear in her pants. "But it's nearly healed over now, so," she shrugged slightly, and pulled the hem of her shirt down further, as if to hide the bite from even herself. "It's fine. I can show you later."
"I'm sorry," with much more care, Jasper pulled her back into his embrace, his left arm being careful not to stray too far downward. Then, pressing a firm kiss against the side of her head, he shuddered out a breath. "I should have been there."
"And you weren't. Because of me."
"Alice—"
"I'm sorry. Jasper, you have nothing to apologize for."
"I had a hunch, you know."
Alice glanced up at him, knowing that the surprise she felt was displayed clearly for him to see. But he didn't look at her expression, instead his eyes were focused on the way her left arm was stretched to bridge any space between them, clinging to a fistful of his own shirt, the skin across her knuckles pulled tight.
Not realizing that she was so tense, Alice loosened her grip. But before she could pull away, Jasper lifted his hand and took hers in his grip. Then, he opened it, pressing a kiss against a scar.
The scar he'd given her the night he'd nearly killed her.
"I landed in Portland to a bunch of worried texts from Esme. They were pretty vague but I think she knew that we'd split up somehow. I thought I was being paranoid but then I thought back to her advice." He leaned his head to the side and inhaled slowly through his teeth, "Peter had this look on his face when I told him where you were." His eyes flickered down toward her again, and he finally released her hand. Alice simply wrapped it around his chest, shrinking under his gaze despite the loving, worried expression on his face. "I could feel his doubt when I told him where you said you'd gone, and somehow I just… I can't say I knew, but I had a feeling something wasn't right."
Suddenly, the timeline of Jasper's arrival made so much more sense.
"You were already at the airport when you heard the news, weren't you?"
"We were toying between whether to continue on to California or to fly back to Pennsylvania when Rosalie called me. We were on a flight out here within fifteen minutes of that conversation."
Alice could feel the bob of Jasper's throat as he swallowed, and watching him toy around with how to word his next question made her own throat seize up with emotion. But instead of vocalizing his question, he kept it to himself. Then, a different vision came over her.
Edward and Jasper stood somewhere Alice didn't recognize. A center, it looked like. When Alice recognized their clothes as what they were currently wearing, she knew this was a vision that would come to happen at some point today.
The hallway held only the two of them, both wearing matching scowls. Edward's hands were jammed into his pockets as he leaned back against the wall and Jasper's hands were in loose fists as his side as he stared toward Edward.
"You don't have to tell me what happened today. Not yet, at least. But just…" he stopped speaking as he swallowed again. "How close did… how close were we—" Jasper shook his head and looked away. Whatever he was trying to ask, he didn't finish verbalizing it out loud. Edward's frown morphed more into a pained grimace and he looked away, too.
"Very close," Edward admitted. "If Demetri hadn't located them, she'd be dead right now."
Alice knew it had been a close call, but even she hadn't been aware of that. Jasper sensed her sudden unease and pressed another kiss to the side of her head.
But Alice turned her head up toward him, and when she was able to press her lips against his, she let out a shaking breath. Quickly, her arms were wrapped around the back of his neck and she was suddenly on her knees on the couch, pressing against him as close as she could. Jasper kissed her back firmly, but when Alice tried to deepen the kiss, Jasper pulled back. "I love you," he whispered, pressing more kisses against her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, before tucking her head back beneath his chin. "I love you, Alice."
Alice wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I want to go home," she spoke in a shaky voice, finally verbalizing what she'd desired ever since exiting the warehouse early that day.
"We will," he pulled back to press another firm kiss against her lips. Then, when he straightened up he stood. "Once we wrap things up here."
Alice allowed him to pull her to her feet, clinging to his hand tightly once she was standing at his side. A small few visions flickered through her brain. "Where's Peter?"
"He's at Tuscaloosa's Center."
That surprised her. "Why not at this one?"
Jasper swallowed. "I don't want Aro or Demetri anywhere near him," he ground the words out through gritted teeth.
Alice wanted to ask whether Demetri ever came across Peter back in Mexico, but that was a dangerous question to ask currently. And if the answer was 'yes', then Jasper wouldn't be so careful at keeping his friend away from this place. Either way, it was a stupid question, so Alice refrained.
"Can we stay here?" Alice asked quickly before Jasper could start moving forward, making to leave the room. "I just—I don't want to risk—"
"We won't run into them," Jasper assured her. "I already don't want to see any of them again as long as they're on this damn continent."
His words provided her only minor relief. Being able to see Aro and Demetri and their company in her mind was still causing her immense amounts of anxiety. Even when they made their way back to Italy, Alice was sure this foreboding feeling wasn't going to disappear.
As long as the Volturi knew what they did, she was in danger.
And so was Jasper.
And all of her friends and family.
"Just promise me one thing," Alice spoke quickly as Jasper finally began to move, his feet traveling slowly enough that Alice had no trouble keeping up, even as she dragged her heels a bit. "And I know that it's silly and stupid and… and fucking unfair of me to ask anything of you right now with the way the past day has gone but," and when Jasper looked down at her, eyes pained at her rambling words, Alice felt the rest of them die on her tongue. All of them, except for one request.
"Please, please don't leave me alone."
Alice watched as his sad expression morphed to one of hard resolve. He readjusted his grip on her hand, allowing her to cling to his fingers tighter than she'd been before, and leaned down, pressing a quick, but rather intense, kiss against her lips.
For a moment, Alice ignored everything. She ignored the guilt that was still slowly eating away at her, and the empty feeling in her chest that made her feel detached from her own reality. She ignored the flashes of every little vision that scurried across her awareness and ignored the way the stench of death was still clinging to her pores. She ignored the fact that there was a world outside of this room, and there were very real repercussions that she was going to face for her actions.
Alice ignored everything except for the way Jasper's love lit her up from the inside out, it's warmth eating it's way through her fears and anxieties and emptiness, instead filling her with the comfort that she couldn't seem to bring to herself. She focused on his hand, and the way he cupped her cheek, and the softness of his lips as well as the intoxicating taste of him. For just a few seconds, Alice only existed in a world where the only thing that mattered was the fact that Jasper was there, and he loved her, and he would do absolutely anything for her.
That, she would never, ever doubt.
"I promise," Jasper vowed against her lips.
When he turned back toward the door and began to walk, Alice kept up with his pace, step for step.
It was okay. Things were going to be okay.
(And even if they weren't, she told herself as she focused on nothing but the comfort Jasper's presence was bringing her, at least lying to herself was better than lying to him.)
Two minutes, thirty three seconds…
The front door opened silently but the sound of the friendly conversation that it exposed to the outside air was a loud enough announcement of their forthcoming departure.
Emmett's booming laugh reached her ears, and Alice stepped closer to the window, pressing her forehead against it. She watched as slowly almost a dozen people walked down the front steps and toward the waiting cars parked outside.
A sandy brown head of hair was the first that she recognized, and Alice forced herself not to flinch back when he turned back toward the house. Demetri's attention was on the rest of his crew but his eyes did flicker up momentarily to meet hers, before he lowered his eyes back to the people around him, smiling to himself.
As if to let her know that yes, he was watching. And he would always know exactly where she was.
Alice hated it.
From the couch behind her, Jasper heaved a loud sigh, and Alice could hear the furniture creak as he stood up and made his way toward her.
Two minutes, nineteen seconds.
"Alice."
From up in her window, Alice got another good look at Renata as Aro emerged, Carlisle at his side. She stayed quite close to Aro as they moved, so in sync that each step looked like it was choreographed, rehearsed a thousand times before.
Alice regarded the woman as strange—she was the only one of the ex-Volturi members who kept their cloak on and hood up the entire time. But with the nature of her gift, perhaps people simply didn't always notice the strangeness. Alice was sure that it was likely only distance that made it so that she was able to study Renata this thoroughly.
She looked like Bella a little bit. Just with a deeper skin tone, eyes a bit closer together, and a sharper, more angular nose.
"Alice."
Close to Aro's other side was the young member of their guard. Alec. She'd heard Emmett remark to Edward earlier that week they it was a relief to see the boy instead of his sister, and Alice was reminded of the twin Alec supposedly possessed. A girl gifted with the ability to inflict indescribable pain, whereas Alec was able to do quite literally the opposite, numbing all senses to external stimuli.
It had been a deeply unsettling experience. The memory of that all-encompassing numbness still haunted her.
She'd asked Jasper later whether any of them had ever experienced the girl's—Jane's—gift, to which he replied with a terse "yes." He hadn't gone into specifics, and Alice elected not to ask any further.
(Yet, at least.)
As they slowly shuffled into the three large SUVs, Alice glared at the top of Felix's head as he and Emmett embraced once more. The only thing that brought her gaze away from that friendly exchange was when Carlisle and Esme took turns embracing Aro.
He kissed each of them on their cheeks, and while Alice couldn't make out the sound of his words, she could hear the cadence of his tone all the way up in the house. It appeared no soundproofing was a match for Aro's particular exuberance.
"Alice."
In that moment, with his hand resting on the side of the opened car door, Aro lifted his eyes up, finding Alice's staring back at him. His laughter carried though the front yard as he lifted an arm and waved animatedly.
It drew everyone's attention to her.
When she quickly stepped backward, the laughter continued and Alice felt the swift flood of embarrassment before she felt Jasper's hand on her back.
"Earth to Alice," he hummed in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Alice sighed as she stepped backward once more, completely out of everyone's sight and firmly pressed against Jasper's chest. "Is anybody home?"
"Too many bodies, if you ask me," she grumbled as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. She inhaled and exhaled slowly. One minute, and eight seconds left.
"They're leaving now," Jasper reminded her softly, as if she didn't already know. As if she wasn't currently counting down the seconds before the last car would pull away. "We'll be able to breathe soon."
"Will we?"
Jasper didn't reply to that, but he did bodily turn her in his arms. When she was facing his chest he reached forward and lifted her chin with a finger. "Yes, we will."
Staring up into the eyes of this man that she adored so deeply was almost enough to distract her from the sound of the first few car doors slamming shut…
Almost.
Alice barely noticed as Jasper rolled his eyes, but when her attention wavered and she made to step back toward the window, he sucked his teeth and let her.
By the time she peeked out of the window, Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme were nowhere to be seen. Shockingly, Alice hadn't spotted Edward even once, although she knew he wasn't far. He'd probably been watching their 'farewells' from the porch.
With the cars starting and the red of the break lights illuminating, Alice stared hard at the tinted windows of the truck she knew Aro was in. It wasn't until a few seconds later when she remembered that there was a chance that although she couldn't see him, he could be looking right at her.
She stepped back slightly as the cars began to pull away.
"We just have to be careful."
Alice turned her head, forcing her eyes off of the sleek black SUVs that were carrying their company further and further from their home.
Jasper's words were spoken so softly that if they'd been any quieter, Alice may have missed them. But the sad look in his eyes as she met his gaze was unmistakable.
Breaking eye contact, Alice turned back toward the window and bit back a sigh. "I know."
His words were spoken with such a bone-deep weariness that for a moment it made her wonder if he did somehow know? But she knew it wasn't the case. If he had found out about Aro grabbing her hand Alice had a plethora of awful visions showing her what Jasper would have done while the Volturi king was still within a thousand miles of either of them.
Now, Alice was unsettled with not knowing what to tell Jasper in the meantime.
Did he need to know about Cassie? About the strange fear that seized Alice that her niece would develop some type of foresight desirable enough to land herself on Aro's radar?
That final thought made an entirely new train of thought erupt inside of Alice. Even back in Birmingham earlier that week, Alice hadn't thought to mention it to Carlisle. And she'd been so distracted that she was sure she hadn't recalled that encounter in the alley even once while around Edward.
Would Cassie's gift be safe with Alice?
No, she remembered with vivid clarity, how she'd clutched at her own hand as she lay in Edward's arms back in the warehouse, horrified knowing that Aro now knew everything. Her every thought and every memory and every vision she'd ever seen, now in his possession.
Fuck.
It was just another thing that Aro had against her.
It was this thought that made Alice feel like the circumstances of the last week were about to erupt from her, the urge to tell Jasper everything bubbling inside of her stomach, making her chest feel tight and her limbs tingle.
Maybe this was one 'something' that she could let Jasper in on…
"Cassie might have a gift," she blurted the secret out. At first, the guilt that pulsed through her almost silenced her entirely—this was not her secret to tell—but then before she could think twice, the words came pouring out.
"I found her on the way to the warehouse—miles and miles from her school, Jazz, and it wasn't like she should have known where Cynthia was or how to get there or—or that she would have been able to realistically hail a cab or drive across town in time or—"
"Alice," Jasper called her name firmly, "breathe for a second." Then he paused, studying her expression. "I was told Cassie was given the same address you were." But Alice could see the conviction in his statement fading as he spoke. Alice and Jasper had watched the videos of Cassie's entry interview together. When she was asked during her intake, two days prior, how she knew where to go, she'd shaken her head, claiming to not have remembered.
And while there was a chance that was entirely true, Alice didn't buy it.
"There was a moment in the alley where I think she realized she'd slipped up and said something she shouldn't have. Besides. If that were the case and she was texted the same address then in no way would she have ever beaten me there."
"A gift? What, like yours?" Jasper's eyes widened considerably at the very idea. "That's… a big claim."
"It's a problem is what it is!" Alice felt herself begin to grow hysterical. "Cassie doesn't need to be on Aro's radar! I don't want to spend the rest of eternity worrying about how to keep her away from him and—yes, sure, I can see his decisions now, and I'll be able to watch Aro and Demetri and several of them pretty closely—"
"Alice," and now, Jasper's tone silenced her. And when she focused back on the way he was staring down at her, she realized she'd slipped up. Alice stood frozen as Jasper forced a handful of slow, careful words out. "How would Aro know about this specific conversation you had with your niece?"
Alice opened her mouth, and then closed it. Her chest seizing up with realization of what she'd said. Her voice caught in her throat.
When Alice turned her head slightly, ready to look away, Jasper's hand reached out again, holding her chin firm. "I thought he only grabbed James' and Victoria's hands? Before they were executed?" He paused, and when he did, Alice watched as his jaw twitched. "Did he grab Cassie's hand?"
The only word she could utter was a shaky, "No."
She couldn't lie. But that didn't mean she had to say anything. And truly, what could she say in that moment that wouldn't be a lie? What could she say that wouldn't reveal the horror of the reality that Alice had been living with in the past several days?
Alice couldn't speak, and quickly she felt her panic rise as she searched for words to say. Words to placate, words to soothe, words to assure Jasper that in no way was it as bad as it seemed.
But words like that would be a lie.
"I'll kill him."
Gasping, Alice was able to cry out a ragged "no" as she lunged forward and gripped his hands tightly in her own. "Jazz, Jazz please, it's not—"
"Tell me he didn't… that he didn't see—" Jasper's throat bobbed as he swallowed thickly, and Alice could feel the heat of his fury begin to warm the room. Suddenly, Alice wished that the three SUVs that she knew were only barely turning out of the driveway miles away, were much, much further away.
Because right now there was a big chance that Jasper was going to do something very, very stupid.
"Jazz, I—"
"Tell me," he snapped, "and don't you dare lie to me."
"Jasper," she cried his name out and clung tighter to his hands when he turned his attention toward the window, and toward the direction that the Volturi had departed, barely minutes ago. "Don't, please, please don't—NO—"
It was always so easy to forget how much stronger Jasper was than her. After all, he handled her like she was some delicate, breakable figurine most days. But when he firmly pulled his hands out of Alice's vice-like grip, and began stalking toward the window, barely taking note of her grasping, yanking hands as they pulled desperately against the inside of his elbow, it was so easy to remember that Jasper was physically one of the strongest people she knew.
She couldn't even verbalize her terrified, desperate words. Instead, she was making horrified, panicked, crying noises, mentally screaming out for Edward, wherever he had run off to.
Help me, she cried mentally, stop him.
Because Alice knew that if Jasper ran after Aro now, blinded by rage and his desire to protect her, he would not win this fight.
And he would not be shown mercy.
With a desperate scream, the room reset itself.
Alice blinked herself back into the present, only to meet Jasper's patient, worried gaze. Golden, loving eyes already staring back at her, waiting. She blinked in time with her breaths as she tempered her reaction, moving slowly as she took in one, two, and then a third steady breath.
The sound of three SUVs driving away was slowly reminding her that she'd been swept up in a vision, and that no time had passed since her mental countdown had reached zero.
Everything was alright. Jasper was still in front of her. Their mistrust in Aro and his crew was still just that: mistrust. There were no decisions made. No death looming. Just her hands, resting in Jasper's, with his love—not his fury—still permeating the air.
Jasper held her stare firmly. It wasn't until the third breath that Alice realized he was breathing in sync with her.
"It's alright," he soothed, and when he smiled softly at her, she focused on that. On his beautiful face in front of her. All at once, the panic encasing her chest shattered and released it's firm grip on her as she shook herself free from her terrifying vision.
She cracked a fraction of a smile back at him, suddenly overcome with love at his unspoken support, and found herself fighting back tears for an entirely new reason.
It was okay, she reminded herself once more, because it was a vision. It was okay, because Alice knew that she could wait a few hours or days or weeks to have that conversation with Jasper. It was okay because they were together, and she loved him, and he loved her, and she knew that she had something priceless in her possession.
Jasper's trust wasn't something Alice would ever take for granted. It was a miraculous, resilient thing. A trust that Alice still felt herself undeserving of, after everything she'd done. But as Esme told her before: everyone had secrets. Alice still wasn't sure if she would ever give Jasper every single detail of the day she faced off with James and Victoria. Maybe in a few months. Maybe never.
Maybe when she would tell him, she'd keep things vague. Not skipping out on any vital details of course, but really, what good would it do to tell Jasper about how every haggard breath she could hear coming from Cynthia's unconscious form felt like a miracle? What could possibly benefit her in telling him that she almost didn't pester James and Victoria for any information at all, nearly laying her head on the tracks wordlessly in a plea for her sister's life?
Maybe she would, in a few years or decades. Maybe she never would, and those moments would remain hers and hers alone to agonize and mull over. (After all, there were millions of details from a thousand different days in Jasper's past that Alice was certain she would never hear.)
Maybe details would reveal themselves naturally, as time progressed, when she felt them appropriate. For now, no visions assured her, leaving her without answers. But still. Jasper trusted her, and she trusted him.
She just had to do a better job of showing him.
It was bad enough he barely thought their fellow Protectors trusted him. Knowing that her name was tacked onto the end of that list, made her stomach do nauseating flips.
So Alice held her tongue, resolved to wait before she invited Edward into conversation with the pair, and then they would let Jasper know that yes, Aro had seen her mind, and yes, now the Volturi knew absolutely everything.
(These visions still showed Jasper full of rage and fury, spitting threats and accusations, but these visions kept him out of harm's way. So, this inevitable encounter, she could live with.)
But in that moment, Alice didn't have to face his anger. For now, she only saw what was in front of her, and that was a man that loved her, despite everything she'd done.
Instead, she talked to him about the one thing she could talk to him about right now.
"I ruined everything."
Before Jasper could even quirk his brow, Alice was shaking her head.
"That family," her words were quiet, and she knew her guilt was beginning to permeate the air. "I ruined that family."
His face fell. "You did not ruin anything, Alice."
"She invited me into her home, Jazz. Now her daughter is a vampire, her husband is considering divorce, his extended family is planning a memorial service, and they have the national spotlight on them. All because of who I am.
"I should have never responded to that letter. Maybe you have a point in not involving yourself in your human family's lives," she amended, recalling his own hesitance to return contact from a pair of over-excited descendants of his.
To her surprise, Jasper only stared back at her for a few seconds, thinking very, very hard as he studied her face. Alice knew he was prodding at her emotional state; he quirked his brows in a very particular way when he was trying to get a deeper read on someone, and when he turned his head to the side slightly, she knew he was getting a full read on her.
His attention unnerved her for some reason.
"You know, I'll never be able to convince you it's not your fault."
Alice chewed on the inside of her cheek at that. She'd seen the words he'd chosen, but that didn't mean they made much sense to her. Especially since they were deliberately chosen, and they were not comforting.
"I'm not telling you to."
"No, I know. But for you to realize that it's not your fault—and for the record, no matter what you feel about it, it's not—is going to take plenty of time. And nothing I say to you is going to change your mind about it." He bent down and kissed her forehead before returning to his full height. "You're stubborn. You'll keep yourself convinced that its your fault because that's easier than admitting that sometimes the choices people make have nothing to do with you. And that's hard for you since you can see their choices. But you can't always control them."
A swell of irritation pulsed through her. "Are you calling me self-centered?"
"More like a control-freak."
Alice felt her eye twitch. "You're not helping."
"But am I wrong?"
"Shut up."
Jasper leaned down again, swiftly planting a firm kiss against her lips. "You're brilliant Alice. And annoying and clever and somehow always five steps ahead of me." He kissed her again, and this time she returned it with a fervor. Before she could take it too far, he pulled back again. "But you sell yourself short constantly. And when you're not, you spend so much time agonizing over making the 'wrong choice' that you don't stop to realize that there is no one, singular 'right choice' to be made. And I know you know that."
Jasper kissed her a third time, this one softer. And when he lifted his hands to softly cradle her face, Alice felt herself melt against him. "I want you to be confident in your decisions, even when things don't unfold perfectly. Because they're never going to. We're never going to exist in that world. In a place where everyone gets along and people accept and understand one another and there's no bigotry or prejudice. That's not going to happen."
"That's pretty negative."
"Says the woman blaming herself for circumstances beyond her control."
Alice couldn't help her sigh at that remark. But instead of continuing, Jasper remained silent. It wasn't until several seconds passed that Alice realized he wasn't going to speak again until she replied to him. And despite knowing that he was waiting for her to engage properly in this conversation, didn't make her do so any faster.
"I—" and it was a conversation worth having in this moment, which was the only reason she forced the words out of herself, "For so long I wanted that so badly. A family." Even saying the word was hard for her. "And yes, yes before you say anything, I had—have—" she corrected with a wince, knowing that she still owed Josie several phone calls and a house visit "Josie. And I don't know who I would be or where I would have ended up without her."
A shudder shook her in that moment. Now that she knew more about her origins, the possibilities for that outcome were far more frightening…
"But you know. You know about how, when I first got to this house, I didn't have anything except for an awful vision, forty years of fear and isolation, and only Josie's love and care. That was it. And then the idea that I could have more of that—that! That love and care! A family of all things! With people who knew me when I was a child. People who knew my favorite foods and little quirks! My eyes were blue Jasper—" she choked on this fact—"and I wouldn't even know that if it weren't for those albums.
"I wouldn't know so many things about myself that I do now if Cynthia hadn't found me. But instead of doing what I should have and keeping my distance and doing my damn job, I ran off to Alabama and got them tangled in this giant mess!"
"Alice," Jasper's words were notably softer now, "Do you really think that some journalist or investigator wouldn't have tracked then down eventually?" He fixed her with a serious look. "I mean it when I say I'm shocked the tabloids didn't find them before that letter made it's way to Josie's mailbox.
"At least you were able to control the way you met her. You did it on your own accord, and not because of some mindless media frenzy."
"I should have known that, because of who I am," Alice gestured to herself pitifully, "having them be involved in my life was going to be… difficult."
"I should have stopped you," Jasper half-shrugged. "I knew the chances, too. But I wanted you to have that."
"And I wanted it so badly," she felt the words get stuck in her throat but forced them out anyways.
And that was the whole crux of the matter.
The instant the opportunity to seize the idea of having a human family of her own—blood relatives, tied to her by nothing more than chance and genetics—became an idea in her head, it had become her primary focus above all else.
All because of the hope born from one stupid, unsuspecting letter.
"Alice," he smiled again, and the sight did strange things to her stomach, "I hope one day you see yourself the way everyone else sees you. I can guarantee you, you will never be without people who love you." Then, he looked ready to laugh. "Do you really think that Bella, or Esme, or god, Emmett for that matter, would ever stand to see you wallow in your guilt like this?"
"Don't you dare involve Emmett," she grumbled, trying not to cry at the idea of this house full of people that cared so deeply about her. "Besides, he'll just accuse you of not doing a good enough job at cheering me up."
Jasper laughed outright at that, and even though Alice felt like crying, she allowed herself a smile.
"You have a family. And not just a human one that is going through some hard times right now," he grabbed her hands within his and squeezed firmly. "You have a mother, you have this house full of people who love you like you're their sister." His smile twitched again, "You have Peter and Charlotte demanding we take time off to spend with them, and you have Skye asking about you every day." At her responding look of confusion, his grin widened. "She has been adamant that she gets to speak to you soon, and she and Rosalie have been butting heads all week."
A weird mix of anxiety and dread pulsed through her. "Oh, no…"
Jasper just laughed again. "No, Rose loves it; even if she is being given a run for her money. Skye is testing the limits of 'how much can I get away with saying without punishment', and Rose is in awe of her creativity."
"Wait, every day? When have you spoken to her?" Guilt was the next emotion to seize Alice. She'd barely spared Skye a thought in the flurry of the last several days. A part of her mind justified it since she knew that Skye was safe in Winnipeg under Rosalie's careful supervision. But Alice had spoken to Rosalie just that morning and completely forgotten to mention Skye.
Not that they had much of a conversation, really. It was more Rosalie giving them an update on the public's approval of what Aro had done.
Because Aro's last gift to them wasn't just a peaceful departure.
No, it had been standing at Carlisle and Esme's side as they held a press conference, and delightfully informing the world that Jasper had been the one to kill both Victoria and James.
Alice hadn't seen the footage from that stream yet, but she had been told that while Esme had been able to school her expression, Carlisle had let the shock flicker across his face for barely a split second before he'd reigned it in and allowed Aro to take control of the subsequent few questions.
And with that, blatantly incorrect information out there, the public's response so far was… startlingly promising.
Which just made Alice more frustrated with Aro. He had no right to lie to their people. And knowing that his lie was something that would potentially benefit them—and not just them, she forced her mind to think, Jasper—in the long run, just made her more upset. (Mainly, because it didn't make any sense.)
"How is she?" Alice forced the words out, trying to steer her mind back to the topic. "How's Skye?"
"Good," Jasper nodded quickly, "she's mad that we lied about where we were going, but she doesn't seem too hung up on it," Jasper sounded suspicious at that detail, and Alice couldn't help but nod along. "She's glad that you're alive, obviously."
"She's still planning on…" Alice didn't know how else to word it, "on still… staying alive, right?"
Jasper's eyes softened along with his smile. "Yeah," he nodded, and Alice could feel the relief radiating off of him. "She'll continue self-control training there in Winnipeg next week."
Alice frowned at that. "We don't want to move her somewhere else? Somewhere that, oh, I don't know, she hasn't been tormented by Victoria?" Or where just a couple weeks ago, a handful of people had been murdered.
"Rose and I already asked her that." He shrugged. "She's just relieved Victoria is gone. Rose thinks Skye might be interested in one of the other newborns in the Winnipeg NC, but I don't know…"
"Oh," Alice blinked, shocked at that revelation. "That would be uh, something."
Jasper snorted. "Like I said, I kind of doubt it. She's just stubborn. Like her good friend Alice," Jasper pressed a smiling kiss to her lips before pulling her into a soothing embrace.
"Such a great role model I am," Alice's voice was deadpan as she let her eyes flicker closed, pressing her cheek against Jasper's chest.
"Lets hope she does make a friend or two in that Center then," Jasper hummed. "Someone nice and normal, maybe."
Alice poked him in the ribs. "I'm plenty nice."
"And very normal," Jasper agreed with a grin, pulling her closer so she couldn't poke at him so easily.
"Jerk," she grumbled, but the insult held no ire. Instead, Alice wrapped her arms around Jasper's midsection and let his presence soothe her into an almost-dreamlike state.
No matter how right she knew Jasper was, instead of relenting to the damn-good points he made, Alice let his words sink into her brain and settle there. He was right, after all. There really was nothing he could say or do to make her doubt herself less, or let her guilt haunt her any severely. That was all up to her.
The idea that she had work to do on the way she perceived herself made her feel viscerally uncomfortable, but it was true, and instead of refusing the very idea now it just made her a little irritable.
She still had all of her Protector duties to attend to, and they expected her to find the time to hyper-analyze her own desires and motives and issues? What a joke.
If they wanted her to find time to psychoanalyze herself, then they'd better give her the adequate time to do it before they force her to start driving around to Centers again.
Suddenly, Alice was struck with an idea.
"You know," she hummed, her eyes still closed and her cheek still pressed against him, "last time I almost died Carlisle let me take time off of my duties."
Jasper snorted. "Is this your way of saying you deserve a vacation?"
Alice grinned against him, "Well, now that you mention it…"
He laughed again. "Fat chance we're getting to go on any type of trip until Rosalie gets that anniversary trip she and Emmett are owed."
Damn. He had a point there.
"Hm, well then after that, I say we go somewhere."
Jasper chuckled again, softer this time. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"You know that most of the traveling I've ever done has been with you."
"We can go anywhere, really." There was a pause as he considered his own words. "Except maybe Europe."
Alice snorted in spite of herself. "You did tell me you'd take me to Mexico one day." She pulled back far enough to open her eyes and look up at him. "If that's okay, of course?"
"Of course it is," he seemed touched at the slight concern Alice was displaying, "I wouldn't have offered to take you if I had any hangups about the country itself. Like I said before, it's a beautiful place. Once you go south enough it's quite tropical."
As he spoke, Alice could tell that he was already mentally planning what he wanted to show her and where they'd go. And the promise of their trip—coming to her in small flickers and flashes of beaches and jungles and mountains and cities—made a comfortable warmth settle deep in the pit of her chest.
This is where she felt at home. Right here, in Jasper's arms. Safe from all the other threats in this world, real or perceived. Comforted by the words and presence and power of the man who she loved more than she thought possible.
Alice wasn't quite okay yet, but with Jasper at her side, she knew she would be.
Minutes later, the calming peace and quiet in Alice's bedroom was ended by Emmett Cullen's enthusiasm.
"Hey! Anti-social gang! 'Operation: Go Get Josie' is underway!" He bellowed from what sounded like the end of the hallway by the stairs, "You two have five minutes before this mission starts! And if I pull up to her place without y'all she's going to be pissed!"
Jasper groaned, and Alice laughed. "Maybe we can just go on our trip now." He grumbled, leaning forward and pressing his nose against her neck. "We can sneak out through the window and you can book our flight on the way to the airport."
Alice turned her head, capturing his lips in a fiercely happy kiss. "Come on," she laughed as she pulled back, reaching for his hands and beginning to back up, pulling the both of them closer to the door. "Our family is waiting," she smiled at him brightly.
Jasper met her gaze with an unyielding expression of his own before shaking his head, a laugh breaking through as he fought his smile. "Alright," and there was suddenly an unfamiliar fierceness to the affectionate look he fixed her with as he followed her, "let's go."
Alice filed that look away to decipher later, still so full of love and warmth that all she could do as she lead them out of her room and down the hallway was cling tightly to his hand, ready to forget all about her troubles and anxieties as she prepared to surround herself with more people who loved her.
With her newfound family around as a constant source of support, Alice knew that no matter what happened in the future, she would have them by her side.
And now, whatever was destined to happen, was firmly out of Alice's control.
It wasn't worth thinking about yet.
For now, love would have to be enough.
A/N: Just wanted to put out a huge general thanks, before I get into any other little notes or comments or mindless rambling in here. This story, and this entire series that I've created as a whole, has given me a lot to fixate on during a handful of years that has been challenging both personally and just, y'know, as a world. *gestures to the state of everything*
I love that this has turned into such a passion project of mine. It's shown me that I am both capable of having a big idea, executing that idea, and sticking with it even when inspiration or motivation has waned. Thanks to you guys and your love and support, I'm excited to be finishing my first sequel to any big project I've ever undertaken, ever. I'm nervous to continue it, as there will be two more installments before I feel content to declare this series as done, but thanks to y'alls support, I'm sure I can do it.
Super-special shoutout to my friends on discord. I joined a small Jalice discord server the week after I posted the first chapter of Walk in the Dark only to find people who had both read and enthusiastically enjoyed Call of the Night, and I've made some incredible friends on there. Ultra-mega big shoutout to my bestie G aka volturialice. You beautiful bitch, only you could get away with publicly re-writing my own CotN canon on Tumblr and have the people love it more than what I've written. Be careful or I'll inflict this beast on you if I ever tragically bite the dust.
Thanks to everyone who has favorited, subscribed, written a review, recommended this story, and special thanks to everyone who has told me they read both stories over the course of two or three days. Sorry for ruining your sleep schedule, but also, lmfao that's so fun and incredibly funny to hear.
Like always, find me on Tumblr at flowerslut to talk more about this series, see bonus content, or even just to discuss Twilight in general (well, mainly Jalice, if we're being real here) and if you want to see the hot mess behind these stories you can always join me on instagram at shutupmaybe. Yeah, I don't care if you know who I am. I've never been the best at maintaining the "online vs real life" persona thing. I am more than my interests but also like, I love my interests. Let's talk about them any and every where, fuck it.
There also may or may not be a Twilight podcast coming out from yours truly and tumblr's favorite Jalice stan (it's G, if you need more of a hint) sometime this summer... so stay tuned on Tumblr for more information about that...
Until next time, thank you, I love you, and I hope you enjoyed.
-Shannon