A/N: I love that this story requires little explanation! I do want to say THANK YOU! to the lovely people who review! This is slightly shorter...but it was a good place to end.

Disclaimer: If wishes were copyrights...

(APOV)

I lay there on my side in the leaves, and I swear I could hear my heart pounding. Impossible, and yet… I watched as Jasper stared at me, stricken, and then sank to his knees in front of me. As I watched him, I could tell he didn't know what to do. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, then removed them and stood up, resolved. All of the sudden I could see, not his future, but the affect it would have on Carlisle and Esme. They were running through the forest, worried and afraid, toward my prone body lying on the ground. I opened my eyes to the sight of him rising back to his feet and turning away from me. He was going to tell them, damn him. I felt a glimmer of anger trying to break its way to the surface. I latched onto it and fed it, appalled at having to explain the argument that had precipitated my collapse. It wasn't much but it was enough for me to whisper, "No!" Just that effort was enough to pull me back into the hazy calm. It was a faint sound, drowned quickly in the rustle of leaves. Faint, but enough. Jasper stopped and stiffened. He turned back to me, his eyes full of sadness and regret.

"Alice?" he whispered back, just as softly. And then before I could blink he was there on the ground next to me, lifting my head and placing it in his lap. He was stroking my face, my hair, my back and rocking back and forth. "I'm so sorry" he sobbed tearlessly. "I didn't know...I never meant…I'm sorry," he choked to a stop.

I was feeling sorry as well, although I didn't know why. But it was a feeling! And that excited me. I was so grateful to feel anything but this suffocating calmness. I drew the feelings together inside of me, using them to finally break free. I was still lethargic, but I knew I could talk again. I waited, though, choosing my words carefully. I wanted to be absolutely sure that, this time, the conversation would not devolve. I was confused about a lot of things right now, but my desire to never experience that heavy weight of calm again was not one of them.
I pushed myself up into a sitting position, breaking Jasper's hold on me.

"Can you tell me what that was?" I asked him, hoping it wouldn't make him angry.
Jasper turned his face toward mine, sadness swimming in his eyes.

"I don't know," he whispered brokenly, "I mean, I'm not sure how to explain."

"Maybe start from the beginning, I'm not going anywhere for a while anyway," I joked quietly, hoping to lighten the mood. My attempt failed miserably.

"The most important detail is that I can sense and control emotions." Jasper started. I gaped at him. Carlisle and the rest of the family had never come across a vampire with that gift before.

"That's why I have a hard time just sitting and chatting with you," he added, "because I can feel how unhappy you are. It's uncomfortable."

"So what, you just decided to manipulate me?" I asked him, careful to keep my voice steady, even knowing that he could feel my anger.

"I just wanted to ease your pain," he mumbled.

"But it's MY pain Jasper, you had no right," I told him.

"I know, I'm sorry," he said once again.

"So explain why I'm here on the forest floor," I prodded him.

"I was trying to calm you and me down and I guess I went overboard," he admitted softly.

I was angry. And hurt. And sad. And tired…god I was tired.

"I think we should put an end to our lunches." I told him, my heart throbbing with pain. Was it his pain? Was my own? Now I would never know…and I can't accept that.

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(JPOV)

What had I done? Is she going to be okay? I sank to my knees…wanting to go to her, but afraid. What if I did more damage? Alice still hadn't moved and I covered my eyes to keep from looking at her. What should I do? Get Peter? No, get Carlisle. I would tell him everything I'd kept secret if only he would tell me Alice would be okay. I stood up, now determined to find Carlisle as quickly as possible.

I had barely moved forward when a soft "No!" stopped me in my tracks. That one word held a wealth of information. What I should have figured out from the beginning suddenly became clear. Alice craved her secrets just as much as I did. And then...relief. She'd spoken!

"Alice?" I breathed, and in that moment the need to touch her, to know she was okay, was overpowering. I flew to her side, kneeling next to her and taking her head in my lap. I had to touch her, and it was so frightening. All of that emotion I had so resented and found disturbing was missing, and it was not normal.

"I'm so sorry" I cried invisible tears. For her. "I didn't know...I never meant…I'm sorry," I couldn't finish, for once overwhelmed by nothing more than my own emotion. Alice sat up and pushed herself away from me. I could feel little slices of her emotions rising to the surface. Breaking through the calm like sunlight through a cloud.

"Can you tell me what that was?" she asked me, and I could feel her hope. Hope that I hadn't just done that. That maybe I was just as clueless as she.

I didn't want to meet her eyes, but I made myself.

"I don't know," I said, barely choking the words out, "I mean, I'm not sure how to explain."

"Maybe start from the beginning, I'm not going anywhere for a while anyway," Alice reverted back to her normal tendency to gloss over her real feelings.

"The most important detail is that I can sense and control emotions." I said, cringing inside. I hated the inevitable shock that came with this pronouncement. I rushed onward before she could interrupt, "That's why I have a hard time just sitting and chatting with you, because I can feel how unhappy you are. It's uncomfortable." I knew I was just making excuses.

"So what, you just decided to manipulate me?" she was angry, but this time around she kept her voice level. Her accusation cut like a knife. Slicing the air between us.

"I just wanted to ease your pain," I pleaded with her to understand.

"But it's MY pain Jasper, you had no right," she cried out.

"I know, I'm sorry," What can I say? I knew, deep down, that I was wrong from the start.

"So explain why I'm here on the forest floor," she urged me to continue when I remained silent,

"I was trying to calm you and me down and I guess I went overboard," I said out loud, ashamed. Really? That's putting it a bit too lightly, isn't Jasper? the little voice in my head whispered to me.

"I think we should put an end to our lunches." She said softly, but with resolve. I felt my heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. Not from lost love, but from the loss of something much more precious. I had lost my self-respect. I knew she could feel my pain, and I could feel hers. It was like being inside a bubble and I could not stop the strange sharing of emotion. Pain was swirling around us and in that moment, I knew…I would never be the same.