The first term ended without me getting to see Debbie's notes. I thought she would need to have her case study finished before finals. I asked her about it on our way out of the Ethics final exam.

"How did that paper on Jasper go?" I asked directly. I had finished writing the exam an hour ago, but stayed in my seat, waiting to see Debbie rise.

"Oh, I'm not finished with it yet. I wrote what I had and asked the Professor for an extension to the end of next term. She thought what I'd found so far was very interesting but gave me a hard time for not getting an interview with him yet. I still got a B on the paper I had. She looks forward to end result." Debbie flushed a little and I turned my head for a fresh breath.

"Well, I guess you'll have to work up your courage then," I told her. "And I'd love to read your paper. Do you have it with you?" I could read it with Jasper and Edward then.

"No," she said sadly. "I didn't bring it today. I'm in Social and Political Philosophies next term, Thursday nights. Can I bring it to you there?" she asked, seeming regretful.

Well, she'd already handed it in, and gotten a B. There couldn't be anything too outrageous in it. "Yeah. I'll see you there. Have a great Christmas, Debbie." I patted her shoulder before running, well loping, toward the quad where Jasper would be waiting.

"Difficult test?" he asked, kissing me.

"Not really. I just wanted to wait for Debbie so I could ask her for her notes again."

"She still evading you?" he asked and shifted his eyes very slightly to the right where I could just spy Debbie reading over her notes for another final.

"Yes," I sighed. "She has written what she has to finish her class this term, but isn't finished studying you." It took effort not to glare in Debbie's direction. I knew she was only interested in Jasper in a professional sense, but I still didn't appreciate her intrusion into our lives. "She said she'll give me the paper after the holiday. Let's go," I said, lifting him to his feet. "Is Edward already gone?"

"Yeah, he finished a while ago and headed for the flat. We're all set to head back to Carlisle and Esme."

"And Rose and Emmett," I said happily. "It will be nice to be home for a while."

We shared all of our concerns with the rest of the family over the Christmas break.

"Jasper has an admirer?" Rosalie asked with a stupid grin. I frowned at her.

"Not an admirer," Edward clarified, "an observer. Probably worse. An admirer would ignore anything they didn't want to see. Debbie will miss nothing. Where are those notes Alice? You told me you'd share them."

"I don't have them," I admitted. I'd been trying not to think about the notes so Edward wouldn't know that.

"What? She's keeping them to herself now?"

"No, no." I laid the situation out for him quickly and then spoke for the others. "She wrote up what she had and didn't have the paper on her when I saw her last. She told me I could have that at the start of next term. I believe her."

"I don't believe you," Rosalie said angrily. "You're risking us? Why would you do that?"

"Because I think she might be able to help Jasper. She hadn't been avoiding any of us, so she can't know, can she?"

I saw many shaking heads

"Surely Jasper could just stay here," Esme suggested. "She wouldn't follow Edward. Alice? You could come back, too."

"Our circles only cross through Alice, Esme. She would never see me otherwise," Edward assured her.

I frowned, considering the possibility. Certainly, for our kind, passing a few years before starting again somewhere else was not a terrible sacrifice. I just didn't want to. Not when there wasn't a problem. In fact there was a potential gain.

"You don't seriously believe that!" Edward accused.

"Actually, I do!" I replied in an even higher tone than normal. "If Debbie can help us understand Jasper's control issues, maybe it can help him deal with them."

Jasper flinched and I went to his side. "Wasn't that why you went to the library in the first place?" I asked him.

He nodded sullenly. "Should I feel good that I have a problem?" he asked.

"Of course not, but you should be glad someone wants to help you. Someone who had never met you, I might add. Someone who isn't your mate, or family, or has any reason to give you the time of day. The opposite, in fact. She has every reason to run away from us, but she wants to talk to you, understand you, help you." I squeezed his hand. "Her objective is purely to improve your existence. How wonderful is that?" I asked the room now. "Why should we be running from this? Isn't she a godsend? Provided we let her draw only from her observations, why should she presume Jasper is anything other than a troubled man?"

"How helpful can her analysis be if she doesn't know what his control problem is?" Edward argued.

"Let's find out. Maybe it will be futile. Maybe her analysis will provide us with nothing. I still believe it is worth trying, if only for the chance."

Edward shook his head, but I looked to Carlisle now. "What do you think?" I asked him.

"I just don't know, Alice. Is this going to be a problem? You know better than any of us."

"The only problem I see is the one falling on Debbie, and that is not from any of us. She is going to be attacked by some human I can't follow. After that moment I see all sorts of possibilities. Some are not good, but none are devastating. None bring the Volturi to punish us, for instance."

"Well, that's a relief," Edward said snidey.

I scowled at him before turning to Jasper. "I think the choice is ultimately yours. She needs time with you, preferably without me. If you don't think you can do that, then we might as well stay here. But I know you can do it, I've seen it. And I believe this will help you. Are you willing to try?"

I felt the wash of hope he had given me when we'd met. It felt like a doubling of what I was already feeling. He was reflecting my emotions though the room. "How can I argue with something like that?" he asked.

"Easily!" Edward argued again. "Use your head!"

"Enough, Edward," Esme pleaded. "You've made your point. I agree with Alice; this should be Jasper's decision."

"Fine, but make it a rational one."

I glared down at my brother using all my new logic classes. If she didn't have any questions regarding our nature it followed that we were succeeding in our facade. Given that, if she still saw Jasper's troubles and well enough to even embark on this study, it also followed that she must have some theories on how to help him. Given that she had theories and wanted or needed an interview to verify and refine them, it followed that the resulting analysis would be more pertinent and therefore more helpful. And where, in my logic, dear Edward, was there emotion and intuition?

He sighed loudly. "Fine! Stop shouting."

"Yay!" I said with a smile, clapping my hands.

Everyone was looking at Edward now. "I won't say she's convinced me it's a good idea, but she has thought it through. I'll leave it to Jasper then." He smirked now, and I knew why. He didn't think Jasper would be willing to be alone with Debbie. He wouldn't trust himself. Edward nodded at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.

Jasper didn't watch our latest exchange. He was still focused internally. "Let's go back. Give me a few weeks around her again. I'm still not sure."

I smiled at him. "That's a good idea. Desensitize yourself to her specifically. You haven't tried that. Maybe you'll have better luck."

"Or maybe you'll just gain an appetite," Emmett mocked. He hadn't been involved in the conversation until now. Suddenly I wished he'd gone off to play with Rosalie instead.

Jasper nodded. "Maybe, but at least I'll know. I can always leave later too." He sounded desolate. I jumped into his lap and hugged him, filling myself with all the hope he'd shared a minute ago. I knew he could do it and even Edward couldn't dispute that now that Jasper had decided to go back. He would meet with Debbie, and she would leave that meeting healthy. More than healthy, she would be excited. That made me even more hopeful and not a little excited myself.

Rosalie watched Jasper all holiday. I thought I knew what she was looking for. "We're allowed to be ourselves here," I reminded her. "He's a perfect human when we're on campus."

"Hmm," she murmured, still watching. Finally she sighed when Emmett took a swing at Jasper in the yard and the two went at it among the trees. "Not like mine behaves when he's at home," she complained. I giggled. "You two going to have your wedding soon?" she asked.

I averted my eyes. Edward answered on my behalf. "Soon after she tells him that's what she wants." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Why haven't you?" he asked, trying to prompt my brain to answer him. I started rereading my metaphysics text in my head instead. "Fine," he sighed.

"Why?" Rosalie asked as well. "You know he'd love to marry you, right? That much is obvious."

"Yeah, it's like the opposite of when we met. He didn't want to be too presumptuous of me. Now I don't want to push him into anything either."

"He's a man, Alice. He's not going to think of a wedding on his own. You know that right?" she asked me.

"What's this I hear about a wedding?" Esme asked, joining us.

I shook my head at the inanity of it all. "We're talking about the wedding Jasper and I haven't had. What a ridiculous topic."

"Oooh, are you going to have one?" Esme asked now, looking excited. "I'd be happy to help make arrangements."

"There's no plan for one, Esme," but even as I said it I saw myself walking toward Jasper on Carlisle's arm. I smiled happily at that image. "But there will be," I said now. "I still don't know when, so we can't make any real plans." I couldn't quite keep the glee out of my voice. Rosalie wrapped and arm around my shoulders and gave me a little squeeze.

"Hmm," Edward mused. He walked past us into the fray that was Jasper and Emmett. Emmett was left on his butt while Jasper and Edward proceeded into the trees. Edward was up to something. I looked ahead but didn't see much with him and Jasper, nothing unusual on or off campus.

Debbie sat next to Lisa in our Philosophy class. She passed a report to Lisa who passed it to me. "Thank you," I called over to her.

"I'm just sorry I didn't get it to you sooner."

We didn't get to talk more as class started. I handed the paper to Edward before even I had read it. "Here. Give it to Jasper when you're done. I'll read it last."

"You didn't read it yet?" he asked.

She had just given it to me. I wasn't about to try reading it in class. Edward was already three pages in. "Well, you were right, she doesn't suspect anything."

I rolled my eyes. I went to find Jasper. "He's out hunting," Edward informed me, not looking up. "He headed out instead of coming back here."

I went into our room anyway. I pulled out my sketch book. I hadn't done any designing in a while. A blouse with flared sleeves, and laced in front rather than buttoned. That looked comfortable and very spring-like.

"Here," Edward said tossing the report to me. "Not much to take from that, but she's onto something."

I arched an eyebrow as I caught it and started reading for myself. Debbie found that Jasper was only really himself in a family setting. That wasn't surprising. She thought that his uneasiness around aliens, as she referred to those not familial, stemmed from his inability to predict them. Not knowing their actions made it difficult or impossible for him to control his reactions. This would explain why his first response was often to extricate himself. She was observant. Edward was right, though, not knowing why he couldn't control his reaction would really limit her advice.

"I'm not saying 'I told you so,'" I heard from the other room. I blew a loud raspberry. You are SO annoying, Edward.

I had a sudden vision of Edward in a jewelery store. He wasn't browsing though, just leaning to one side. That was odd. I went back to the paper. Her only recommendation here was more interaction with aliens. Preferably the same ones repeatedly. Try to bridge the gap between family and others. Well, that was worth a try. Jasper could get to know neighbors and work from there. Of course, our time limit on any one residence made this difficult. We could start with Debbie and Lisa. He seemed to be getting accustomed to them. Perhaps it was as I'd suggested during the holiday. Maybe if he could build a tolerance to one human at a time, he could eventually tolerate more, faster. I left the paper on the bed and went back to my sketch. I liked this blouse. I was going to make one for myself even if no one bought my design.