I'm so sorry! We've been in the middle of a house renovation and I lost track of all time. I'm still committed to this story, don't even worry about it!

I was left, standing alone in Edward's room. The wall of windows I had so admired before, had essentially vanished with the light in the room. It looked like I was in a room twice the size, an exact mirror copied onto the glass. If I flicked off the light I would be undoubtedly left in darkness, but able to perhaps see into the forest outside. I would come back to that later. I retreated from the room, unable to shake the eerie feeling of being watched. With great care, I swept downstairs, searching for the source of the flickering light I could see in the hallway. As I turned the corner into the living room I found their massive television playing a chick-flick I had seen before. The three women, who were snuggled up on couches, looking unfairly like they were 'posing casually' for a photoshoot, turned towards me. Alice patted the seat beside her, a separate couch from Rosalie and Esme. I walked in, using the light from the movie as my guide. I wondered if the vampires remembered just how dark it was in here for me.

Alice patted my shoulder as I sat, and I looked over at her face.

"Feel better?" She signed and said.

"Much. I don't stink of hospital anymore."

I caught a wave out of the side of my eye, and looked quickly over to Esme.

"Carlisle always smells like hospital. He showers every day when he arrives home. I promise that you did not smell anything like him."

"Well thank you. I feel less gross, regardless." I said, thoughtful. That was a good point. Carlisle was often covered in blood at work. How strange must it be to the Cullen household for him to come home smelling of slightly old dinner? It would probably be analogous to a chef coming home smelling of chicken, or bacon, or garlic. "Does it make you hungry – or thirsty – whatever, when Carlisle gets home?"

I felt Alice shake with laughter beside me. Rosalie's head turned and she said:

"Not as much as you." She was smiling, and I assumed the comment wasn't meant to be hurtful. "Seriously though – not really. By the time Carlisle gets home he smells more of disinfectant than anything. You get the occasional whiffs, but since its old, it smells kind of…"

"Off-putting." Alice said delicately in my ear. I jumped a little, I hadn't realised she had leaned in so close. She ducked her head in apology and I turned so that I could see all three women at once. No more scares for me if I could help it.

"Is there anything else, about regular 'human' life that's hard for you?"

"Plenty." Alice supplied. Esme has to be careful with groceries, because she can't lift too much at once. She often takes Emmett, so they can carry all the bags at once without stares."

"Gym class is awful." Rosalie started. I blinked in surprise.

"Because you have to be careful?" I asked.

"We have to be very attentive. Make sure we don't crash into anyone, throw anything too hard…"

"Changing rooms are awkward. People can't help but stare. I often slip into the bathroom before class to change." Alice supplied.

"I don't bother with that." Rosalie rolled her eyes. Something told me that adoring and jealous attention would never be adverse to her liking.

"I paint regularly, but have to space out releases of my work. It isn't possible for someone to produce as much as I do in the time that I do it in." Esme threw in thoughtful.

"Basically – just little adjustments." Alice summed up. "But you're used to that. Even the way you just positioned yourself, so you can see us all, to be sure of who's talking, or that you don't miss much."

"Yeah I suppose I do." I smiled. Perhaps we had more in common than I thought. All trying to blunder through, pretending we were normal.

"What do you do with the groceries?" I asked Esme. She smiled.

"I cook them, and donate them to shelters."

"But this week we saved some." Alice said. I looked at her in surprise. "Well we hoped you'd be coming to our house a little, and wanted to make sure you had food on hand."

"You hoped? Didn't you know?" I asked.

"I can't see everything. The further away, or the more abstract the plan, the less I see. Immediate plans, or courses of action I can unravel really well."

I sat thinking for a few moments.

"James had said something about that, or you. I think. Something confusing. I was trying to piece it all together in the hospital, but I missed too much. I think Edward knew more, but I didn't feel like reminding him of why I was there."

Alice straightened up, and looked serious.

"A lot came of that unfortunate encounter with James. I promise you, although I got some answers that I would have never have –"

"I know, Alice."

She faltered, and bit her lip. Then restarted.

"When I woke up… I remembered nothing of my human life. I awoke alone, in a forest, filled with confusing visions. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on. I spent months perfecting my diet, perfecting my visions, not letting them overrun the present, while using them to view the future. I found only one consistency… Carlisle and Edward."

I focused very hard on her, determined to understand her beginnings… her origin story – if you would. She began to spin a very lonely tale, but as lonely as it was, it was filled with hope, filled with love. She had searched far and wide, knowing that she couldn't find her family until she found Jasper. Knowing that she had so far to go, and it all hinged on him walking into a restaurant on a rainy day. An undetermined time. Months of waiting, of hoping. Her knowledge and confidence in the future, and yet the mystery of the past. A mystery which had been slightly cracked open, by my ungainly capture.

"Edward said James had remarkably simple thoughts. They were like Emmett's in their directness, their lack of complexity and arrangement. He was solely focused on learning, not revealing. Although Edward managed to get a lot from them, James hadn't even bothered to think about me. Just a recognition. It wasn't until after he was in the 'game' as he called it, that he began to get excited enough to let his thoughts wander back. I was one of his other 'games' his other conquests. He had killed my creator, with just enough gloating to let him see that I'd been changed. He had found us in an asylum. No doubt my visions were the sort to lock me away back then."

Alice's usually poignant and clear paths of thought seemed to be crisscrossing. It was as if she were still processing the information herself. She kept jumping forward, and backward in her story, reminding herself of little details that she had forgot to mention. In the weak light from the television, she looked more human than ever. Vulnerable.

She seemed to fade away for a moment, then come back, smiling.

"But as you know, I found Jasper, I found my family. And now – I found me too."

I smiled at her, wondering what I could possibly say next.

"How much has Edward told you? About any of us?" Esme asked suddenly, saving me the worry of how to proceed.

"Bits and pieces. He's really into privacy, although I did know a lot about Alice, Emmett and Carlisle." Edward had previously explained – it was the half of his family who wouldn't mind if I knew every little detail about their lives. He hadn't gone that far, of course, except into Carlisle's history – who's 400 years would take me a while to get through.

"Always the gentleman. I should have told him I wouldn't mind you knowing my story." Esme shook her head. "Of course he'd wait until I permitted him."

"Would you expect any less of him?" I chuckled. As annoyingly forward as he could be – the word chivalrous came to mind instantly. Edward would always act honorably.