Disclaimer : Characters don't belong to me, although I wish Alice did. Y'all can have moody old Edward! Hooray for the awesomeness that is Stephenie Meyer!

Decisions

I turned to Jasper and tip toed to brush his lips with a kiss. "I'll be waiting, wee one" he winked at me as Edward winced again in my peripheral vision..

"Stop it Jasper, I swear. It makes me as uncomfortable as it makes him!" I hissed.

Jasper just smirked and sauntered upstairs. By this time everyone had quietly returned to whatever they had been doing before Edward had arrived. I could hear Rosalie pounding on something out in the garage. I'm sure whatever it was didn't need to be treated in that manner. Emmett was there with her, trying to explain why he needed her to overhaul the exhaust system on his Jeep. Esme hummed contentedly in the kitchen, flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Carlisle poked around his office preparing for the double shift he was about to start.

"It's now or never Alice, before he decides to give me another shot of your distraction." Edward could barely spit the words out. I chuckled in spite of myself. "He's still angry that I left you the way I did."

"I'm sorry Edward. He has a hard time dealing with me when I'm like that. He needs to take it out on someone, and you're the easiest target, I just wish he would do something a bit less embarrassing. Let me tell you, I don't like it any more than you do. I'll talk with him later about his methods." I paused a moment, thinking of how I would broach the subject with Jasper, "Anyways, let's go before the moon gets any further across the sky. I just had a vision of it dancing across the river while we talk. It was so beautiful"

Edward slung his arm around my shoulders again and drew me in for a sideways hug. I smiled up at him as we walked towards our favorite talking spot near the bank of the Du Loc River. I silently pondered our relationship. I don't think I could live without Edward anymore than I could live without Jasper. No one understood me like Edward did. Like Jasper, he picked up on every mood I may be in; unlike Jazz, he could see why I would feel the way I did, and could empathize without being forced to feel my emotions. Edward wasn't always trying to fix every problem I had either. He would offer help, or give it when asked, but he would let me handle things on my own. He was exactly what a big brother should be. As I contemplated the differences between my two favorite family members a brillant white scene crashed my thoughts.

"Oh Edward! It's going to snow on Monday! Finally something to do during these endless nights." I hesitated a second, looking ahead for more. "Tuesday is going to be even better!" I almost skipped in excited anticipation. "I can't wait to tell Emmett. He promised me a good snowball fight."

Edward grinned at my exuberant yet unneeded narration and leaned against a moss-covered boulder near the river. I climbed up to perch on the rock above him and settled in for the talk. He was quiet for awhile; I knew he wanted something, but he kept changing his mind as to what. I couldn't get a clear vision with all the indecision. I cleared my throat hoping to hurry him up.

He grinned again, "Impatient are we? I'm a bit tongue-tied Alice, I just don't know what to ask you to see for me. I have so many questions. I don't think you could possibly understand how that girl's blood calls to me. It's like nothing I've ever experienced."

"Start with that maybe. I'm going back to school on Monday, I've decided. Is it futile of me to try?"

I close my eyes and see the wet snow clinging to everyone's hair as we walk to the school building in the morning. I see the cafeteria abuzz with excitement due to the unexpected snowfall. The mahogany-haired Swan girl is glancing at Edward in apprehension. The bell rings at the end of the day. The scene fades. When I opened my eyes, Edward regarded me steadily. He nodded, pleased to see that control was possible. Don't forget this isn't written in stone Edward! If you can't handle yourself in class, her school day won't end with a bell.

"I know Alice. I'm going to hunt right before school on Monday, I think it will give me the strength I need to be in her presence. I wanted to know something else though..." His voice tapered off, almost as if he were afraid to continue the thought. I raised an eyebrow at him, a silent question.

"I 'm wondering, Alice, while you were there at the Swan residence, did you notice anything odd about the girl? I can't put it into words..."

I wasn't used to seeing usually eloquent Edward stumble during a conversation. It was…amusing. I enjoyed his flustered face for a brief moment before answering.

"She is totally devoid of grace and coordination, I think that was the first thing I noticed. She's pretty. I'm surprised she comes from the sunny desert with a complexion like hers; she's as pale as we are. I definitely didn't have an uncontrollable urge to drink from her, and either did Jasper, so you're on your own with that one…"I completed my observations in my head. I couldn't phrase it right aloud. I hoped he could glean my meaning from my thoughts. But something about her cries for protection. When I saw she had been crying I wanted to comfort her. It was unsettling to feel that way about a human. I then thought about how she glanced at us at lunch every day this week, her head lowered, face shielded by that curtain of sable hair. The emotion I had seen flashing in those chocolate eyes was difficult to decipher. It seemed almost a combination of apprehension and disappointment. Disahension?

Edward's golden eyes looked at me quizzically. He shook his head imperceptibly, like a parent does with a young child who isn't catching on. "Try again Alice, that's not it."

"What do you mean that's not it?! You don't even know what you are looking for! I could see ahead for her…that's odd. I wanted to –console- the child…that's odd. What other type of odd do you want? Disahension, remember? How can those two emotions even exist at the same time?" I was going to continue the diatribe but he cut me off with a frown.

"I just don't know Alice. Something is different about her. I can't see in her head! It makes me uneasy. What if she suspects something?" Shaking my head, I slid down from my perch on the rock, and laid my hand on his arm. I could feel his agitation like an electric current. "How do you know Alice? How do you know she isn't aware? We've counted on my ability to see suspicion for so long I don't know how to handle this girl."

I stared past Edward's slightly panicked face to the quicksilver shine of the moon rippling on the river's surface. I had to stop him before he began to truly believe that the clumsy little human could actually put us into danger. Edward's tendency to overreact could be quite annoying. I moved both hands so they were gripping his upper arms.

"I swear Edward, stop with the melodrama. I said I can see for her. If she suspected something and decided to tell someone, I would have seen it. She's just a lonely, homesick little girl who is now probably terrified by her looney lab partner. All I'm concerned about now is whether or not you can hold it together enough on Monday to avoid a bloodbath." I raised an expectant eyebrow. "Well?"

"I can hold it together Alice." He sighed, pulling himself from the emotional pool he had filled. "Please watch for me though. I need to know anything she decides that may put us at risk."

I nodded unnecessarily, and gazed back out over the undulating water. The pearlescent shimmer of the moon was captivating. Edward caught my fascination, and turned to look at it himself. I have seen the muted sparkle of the moon on water thousands of times and it has never ceased to hold me in awe. The scene pulled a favorite quote from my memory. Si je dors, qui me donnera la lune? Edward turned back to me with a crooked smile on his face.

"Is that what you truly want then, the moon? I do have to say that it will be considerably harder than Gauthier, but for you Miss Alice, anything." He winked at me then, but his eyes were still troubled. "You don't actually feel that way though, do you Alice? I know that line well, and how it could easily be you saying it."

Smiling, I shook my head and took his hand, pulling him back towards the house. "No you goof, that's not how I feel. I just think it's a beautiful sentiment when taken out of it's horrific context. I will happily settle for Gauthier. Save the moon for your true love someday." He snorted at my request but humored me by allowing himself to be led. "I need to get back to the house if we're finished here. I have a distraction waiting for me." He grumbled at the reminder. Knowing he himself was distracted trying to obliterate whatever image Jasper had flashed him earlier, I reached up, beeped his nose, and sprinted for the house. With his guard down he didn't have a chance to get ahold of me before I was through the door and in Jasper's waiting arms.