"Alice, how lovely to hear from you. How is life in Forks treating you" Carlisle asked while moving the phone up to his ear, talking to his adopted daughter who was spending the summer with their other adopted youngster Jasper. Alice and Jasper were close, he knew that from the first day when they arrived hand in hand, Alice announcing that they would be joining the family, acting like she owned everything, but in a respectful way. Carlisle and his wife Esme had taken a great liking to the two young vampires immediately. An answer came from the other end of the phone, and Carlisle dropped his smile realising the stressed sound of Alice's voice in the phone and speed talk.
"Carlisle, thank God you picked up, seems we have gotten ourselves mixed into some trouble, hit-a-bump-on-the-road-spiraling-out-of-control kind of trouble. We were out in the woods hunting, when we stumbled over a young girl, a child actually..." Alice was interrupted by a vision quickly returning to the call and Carlisle, answering the question she had just seen that Carlisle was about to interrupt her to ask.
"No, no, God no, nothing like that… It's just that… well Jasper seems to… Oh how do I explain this, please let me finish before interrupting with any question, not that I won't foresee them of course, but still please don't interrupt '' Alice begged, before continuing here explanation.
"She was laying on the ground, all alone in the forest, lost. Jasper picked her up, carrying her protectively in his arms while we ran back to the house. God she can't be more than 3 years old, and nobody was out there looking for her, so we brought her back to the house to warm her up, for a human she is very cold and she still hasn't woken up. While we ran back I had a vision, or rather I had several visions, of people gathering to search, but I can't see much almost like they haven't figured out a strategy or a search area yet. We also have a second problem. Jasper seems to feel very protective of her, I don't know what will happen if we are to leave the girl somewhere for the searchers to find her, and I don't think he will be able to hand her over to anyone. I'm trying to grab a hold of my emotions while near Jasper, so that I don't alarm him in any way or make him think I don't trust him with her, he is actually showing great self control whenever near her, and for now he doesn't seem to have noticed that I'm worried about this and what it could end up with, he is to focused on the child to fully notice my emotions. Carlisle I think you, and possibly Esme as well if possible should come help sort this out, I'm gonna try and talk to him, but if he gets offended… I don't know if I can do that alone" Alice now trailing off, seeing when Carlisle decides.
"Oh thank you Carlisle, we'll see you tomorrow morning" Alice breaths out relieved and hangs up the phone.
It wasn't rare for his conversations with Alice to turn into a one way communication by Alice, her being able to foresee the future and all. He let out a small laugh while turning around to look at the remaining Cullen family.
"Well Esme it seems you and I are going to Forks to visit our children" Carlisle said smiling at his wife, not succeeding in hiding anything, not with Edward in the room.
"Do you want us to come along if it turns into trouble?" Edward asked, looking concerned at Carlisle, before turning to face the others.
"Alice and Jasper seem to have run into trouble while hunting, more precisely a human child form of trouble, that's why him and Esme need to leave for Forks immediately, only him and and Esme" Edward explained, emphasising on the word only so to clarify, that none of the rest of them were to follow.
"Well we better get a move on it then" Esme declared, sharing a worried look with Carlisle, but not wasting any time already setting into motion, and Carlisle quickly followed.
It was a little past 5 in the morning when Esme and Carlisle arrived at the large house out in the woods close to the town of Forks, but far enough away that people never visited. Alice was already standing on the large wooden porch in front of the house, holding her arms awaiting their arrival, grabbing a hold of her adopted parents and giving them a big hug.
"The child is still asleep, she hasn't woken up a single time doing the many hours spent here, I'm really starting to get worried, and not just for the Child, for Jasper too, Carlisle he hasn't moved from her side at all, not even reacting when I talk" Alice quickly explained, feeling the sadness start to overwhelm her, oh how she needed Jasper more than ever. Esme noticed Alice's sadness and brought an arm around her, holding her tight into a motherly hug.
"Don't worry sweetheart, we're gonna figure this out together, I promise" Esme smiled at her daughter, the only one who came without a story, barely having a name, and the only one of them besides from Carlisle, who hadn't killed any humans doing her time as a vampire.
"Where is Jasper and the girl?" Carlisle asked, letting Alice lead them inside and into the large living room, and the sofa on which a small body laid, though you wouldn't notice straight away for all the pillows and blankets that surrounded and covered the child, and Carlisle smiled at this. He moved over to the sofa and the large pile of pillows and blankets underneath which he knew the child was laying. He looked down at his son with sympati, but Jasper didn't look up at him, just continued staring at the girl who was just visible under everything, holding her one hand in his. Carlisle sat down next to Jasper and put a hand on his shoulder, to try and force his focus to shift, and it did in a way, but the reaction from Jasper showed that right now he perceived them as a threat to the safety of the girl, disturbing him from helping her. Jasper never moved his hand from the girls, which meant that his shift in mood was affecting the girl as well because of his powers, and he immediately turned his focus back to her calming himself, and in return her, down. Carlisle moved away, gesturing for Alice and Esme to follow him out into the great entrance hall, to talk away from Jasper. Once they came out into the hall Carlisle didn't hesitate before starting to speak.
"It was a good thing you called Alice, I don't think this is anything you could have dealt with alone, neither do I think it's something you should have tried and dealt with alone, even with Jasper's love for you, there is something about all of this that has me worried, and I can't really explain it. Have you had any more visions regarding the search or the child, Alice?" Carlisle asked, knowing that if anything important had come up, Alice would have said.
"No, not really" Alice hesitated a little before continuing. "They search for a short while last night, finally decided on a search area, not even going far enough in that they would have found her where she was laying when we came across her", Alice looked up at Carlisle with sadness in her eyes before asking: "What about Jasper, I've never seen him like this, I won't even try and imaging if the girl doesn't make it, afterall she haven't awoken yet".
"I'll try and give the girl a lookover, see if anything physical is the cause of her not waking up, but I highly doubt it, actually I think Jasper is the one keeping her asleep for this long" Carlisle said with a sympathetic grin, looking at Alice whos eyes grew wide at hearing this.
"You… you think Jasper… that he is the one causing her deep sleep?" Alice said in horror.
"Why would he do that?" Esme added, horror and shock in her voice like Alice.
"I don't think he is aware that he is doing it. I noticed him holding her hand, very focused on her, his emotions affecting the girl because of his abilities. I also noticed a strong calm surrounding him, making it hard to feel anything else, until I tried to get his attention and he switched to fear, seeing me as a potential threat, but as soon as the girl reacted his focus was back on her, trying to ease her worry by returning that overwhelming calm. I think the calm is what is keeping her asleep" Carlisle said, answering both Alice and Esme. They looked at each other thoughtful for a moment, trying to think. Esme was the one to break the silence.
"So what do we do now?" she asked looking a little worried at her husband; "You also said you were worried about Jasper, why?" she added
