New POV for you all! I had a sick day today, so I figured I'd lay in bed and keep writing Ha! :D Hope you enjoy.
I played with Alice's hair as I closed my eyes and felt. The environment was so charged with positivity that I was determined to lay there and enjoy it. The past few weeks had been very negative, cautious, angry, explosive even and if it was possible for a vampire to earn a headache I undoubtedly would have had one. The family was loaded with strife, and I had been doing my best to ooze cool, calm, supportive emotions to all of them. There wasn't much I could do about Rosalie, except take the edge off of her more vicious emotions. If I interfered too much she'd be angrier, and we'd be back to square one.
The only two people who were safe to spend my time with were Esme and Alice. Alice, with her unique insight into the future, into happy moments Edward and the human Bella were undoubtedly going to have, was glowing with the prospect of seeing her older brother happy and mated finally. Esme was entranced at the thought that Edward, who had for so long assumed he would be alone, had finally found someone to share his thoughts with, to spend time with, to compose music about. They both emitted an unknowing and intrinsically deep joy that warmed my soul. I had only once before been bombarded with such happiness… And that was the day I had met Alice.
I twisted her short spiky hair into little knots, as we sat, listening. Edward knew we were all listening, and trying not to. The palpable excitement in the house was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I had already begun to murmur at Alice with some whispers of what I was feeling from Bella.
"There's no fear in her. The only negative emotions I perceive are inadequacy and sometimes confusion. I'm unsure if that's to do with how much she hears, or whether she's processing information being thrown at her. She's cautious, but more optimistic than Edward. She's brave. I also get a strong sense of tenacity, the same kind from Rose. A stubbornness to not let anything get to her." I paused, tasting the air again. "Contentment. Curiosity. Admiration. Love."
"She's very deep isn't she?" Alice asked, watching me muddle through what I was feeling from her.
"Yes. Not half as complicated as us obviously, but she's certainly got the most interesting mix of reactive emotions when presented with unusual scenarios. She's legitimately not scared of our kind. The only fear I received from her was a sense of wanting to prove herself. That we would find her wanting."
"That we wouldn't like her?" the love of my life tilted her head to stare into my eyes at a better angle. I nodded. "Well what do you think of her?"
I smiled. "Besides the fact that I'm enjoying the emotional atmosphere she creates for our family…"
Give or take a car mechanic. Alice signed, interrupting me.
"I am enthralled with her emotional climate. There's no hostility, deception, selfishness. The only negative emotions I feel from her are directed inwards. It's as if she feels like she's a misfit in the entire world. I can't explain it correctly." I closed my eyes and felt further. "Just that she's a good person, with a skewed perception of herself."
I felt as though I'd ended lamely, but Alice seemed content with my explanation. I lay back, watching the tiniest of spiders crawl across the ceiling. It darted this way and that, making its way towards the window from what I could see. Alice saw what I was looking at, and jumped up, delicately knocking it into her hand. She let it gently run along her stony fingers and escorted it to the window.
"Handle with care." She chimed, motioning the spider out.
The Spider, Edward, or Bella? I signed back.
"Why not all?" she smiled, dancing around in a circle and coming to lay on the bed beside me.
I thought about the kiss they'd just shared upstairs and shuddered. Being that close to your food. To something with that strong a scent, that strong a heartbeat. I wouldn't have been able to cope. Edward even, had experienced a flickering moment of indecision. Alice had tensed with fear. Edward had tensed with control and restraint. I had fought my own thirst to drive his down in that moment, overlaying a sense of the joy I had felt when he and Esme had met. The moment had passed. Bella had been blissfully unaware, still dazzled and happy at Edward's light show. And then he had finalized the decision to kiss, rather than kill. I wasn't sure if it was because Edward was so long alone, because she was human, or because everyone's relationships had different tenors, but it was an intense one. It had an almost orgasmic feel to it. I'd relayed the feeling to Alice just so that I wouldn't have to bear the power of it alone. It truly felt like they had created a mini-supernova of emotion that had exploded through me. It felt like two pieces clicking into place, and that finally something had settled. They felt – to me – as though they were made for each other.
Alice had then settled down contentedly, hugging my body.
"There's going to be a storm later." She said. "We can have a little baseball fun."
"What about the coven you discussed with Carlisle and Edward earlier today?" I remembered Edward's fierce protectiveness, Bella's amused irritation at Edward being called away so soon into her introduction to the house, and then Esme's avid determination to make her feel as comfortable as possible. What a wonderfully diverse time this was going to be. If Bella truly did begin frequenting our house, I would be subjected to quite the intense array of emotions that she seemed to elicit in my family.
"They're heading East again. Shouldn't be an issue." She said. In my opinion, she didn't sound as sure of this as her vision of the weather, but who was I to argue with the little pixie queen?
"Should we invite Bella?" I asked. Alice suddenly brimmed with tears of happiness. I was very glad I had the added advantage of my gift. The confusion I felt at why she was happily crying would have been doubled if I was trying to figure out what kind of tears they were in the first place. I did not envy Emmett or Carlisle in those respects. Deciphering the female mind was something we'd all discussed with Edward in much detail – with limited degrees of success.
"What?" I asked, hoping the happy tears were related to me.
"You're already accepting her as family Jazz! Even though you struggle, you're already more welcoming than Rose!"
"Well that's a very low standard to compare to." I chimed. She hit me playfully.
"You know what I mean. I'm so proud of you. I thought you'd be one of the ones to fight this. Esme and Carlisle are automatically welcoming, Rose is automatically anti-Bella. Emmett is objectively neutral for his own safety…"
I laughed as she continued. "And Edward and I are accepting of course. But I wasn't sure which side you'd be on."
"Alice, my love, how could you doubt I'd be anything except on your side?" I hugged her firmly, as she pulled me to my feet. We were going to ask everyone, officially, about the baseball game.