Disclaimer: None of the characters or Twilight ideas are mine. Alice sniff and her wonderful family of Twilight characters belong to the incredible Stephenie Meyer. Many thanks to her for letting me use them.
A/N: Ok..this is the finished product. It's much smoother thanks to Mad Beta Skilz Tnuccio now to be known as MbsT. She is just so tolerant of my random emails, missing attachments, and lost files! Hooray for her!
Presents and More Presence
True to my word, I didn't tell a soul about Edward's little chat with 'Bella'. I came to the conclusion that I was tired of everyone fighting about what was best for us and what was best for Edward. If this girl died, Edward would carry that on his conscience forever. My anger and frustration with him would just be an extra burden and I couldn't watch him suffer for decades, constantly wondering what if..? He didn't deserve the discontentment and solitude with which he surrounded himself now. I cannot imagine what he would be like after this girl dies.
Esme and Carlisle had gone on a day hunting trip so the big house stood empty when Edward's car rolled past. Esme knew we had planned for snow wars all night, so she left a list of things to do before the snowfall began. Edward was deep in thought all evening, participating in the mundane tasks that were waiting for us when we got home from school. After a few half-hearted laps with the drymop, he retreated upstairs to brood.
Carlisle was going to work the graveyard shift tonight because of the anticipated inclement weather. The people in Forks rarely saw more than a foot of snowfall per year, not nearly enough to become accomplished drivers in icy weather. This provided the ER at the hospital with an over-abundance of work when the weather turned nasty. The accidents were usually minor: some whiplash, stitches, concussions, and bruising from the minor fender benders and sliding off the road into random stationary objects. Carlisle liked to make sure no one was overwhelmed, and since lack of sleep didn't affect him he would often stay much later than the required 7 am. The hospital didn't know how lucky they were to have him.
"Alice!" Rosalie's shout broke into my thoughts as I absentmindedly swiped a dust cloth along the keys of Edward's piano. Of course there wasn't any dust because Esme was a compulsive cleaner, but she'd put "dust" by my name on the list, so dust I did.
"Alice, get up here! We need to discuss strategy!"
I could tell from her steely tone that she was getting impatient. After swiping the cloth one final time across the smooth white surface, I dropped it in the tote that held Esme's cleaning stuff and skipped upstairs. Edward and Rosalie were in her and Emmett's room. Edward was perched on their gorgeous rosewood dresser as Rosalie lounged on the matching four-poster surrounded by lilac pillows. She lazily twirled a lock of honey-gold hair around her finger as she gazed into the lavender canopy, deep in thought. Edward was sitting in Rodin's Thinker pose, except his thumb rested on his angular cheekbone, four fingers pressed lightly to his forehead. His eyes were closed as he listened to Rosalie's silent ideas. Are we conducting this meeting in silence? Since when do Rosalie and I read minds? Edward stayed still, only opening his eyes to catch my own.
"Rose?" I asked, giving Edward a small nod, "Whatcha want? Esme left me a list of things to dust, but according to the visions I'm getting, she's going to look at totally different stuff, which is pretty unfair if you ask me."
"How about you use your amazing powers for good, Alice, instead of for cleaning?" Rosalie responded snarkily not even bothering to move her eyes from the fluttering purple silk, "Just tell us what they are going to do so we can plan from that."
"Tsk tsk Rose, that's cheating. Plus, you didn't say the magic word." Rose pulled her golden eyes from her fluttering canopy to raise a delicate eyebrow at me. "How about I go back and dust the stuff that Esme is going to check, and you two dry mop all the hardwood like you're supposed to be doing?" Edward stifled a snort.
"Oh come on Alice…please." Rosalie whined, flipping gracefully onto her stomach and resting her pouting face on her palms. "I can't lose to Emmett; we have a bet and there's no way that I want to pay up!"
"Oh I have a score of my own to settle with Emmett, darling sister. I have no intention of us losing. I'm just not going to play stool pigeon so we can trounce them. I like to keep things close." I winked conspiratorially at Edward. I actually want to beat the pants off of them, but I can't be sure Rose isn't a mole.
"Oh you two…Emmett's right. You're thick as thieves." Grumbled a disgruntled Rosalie, catching my wink. "Just make sure we win Alice. I don't care by how much."
The game we played in the snow had evolved over the decades into a complicated war game. Our first action when we moved to a new location, aside from unpacking and scoping out the high-end retailers of course, was to establish where "the game" would be played. Boundary lines were mentally drawn; forts and bunker locations were established so that when it actually did snow, we could get right to pummeling each other. The game was incredibly physical, with hand-to-hand fighting as well as launching snowballs and wrestling in the snow. Points were given for direct hits with snow missiles, physical takedowns, and takeover of enemy bunkers or headquarters. Score was kept by shouting points taken, the running total to be kept in our heads. We played until we had to stop; there were no rules for ending the game except by forfeit to the other team, or school. I'm figuring it will be school that forces the end tomorrow morning. I can't imagine Emmett conceding any type of competition, and I'd seen Rosalie celebrating in several different visions.
"I'm off to finish dusting, and then to do a bit of drawing. You going to get started on my bed Rose?"
"You're going to draw? You're starting another design house aren't you?!" Rosalie bounced to her knees on the bed, all thoughts of tonight's fight gone. She bit her perfect full lip, eyes excited, waiting for my response.
"I'm thinking about it." I admitted hesitantly, "There really hasn't been much around here to do lately. I'm getting bored. I 'm thinking maybe something along the lines of winter wear? How about you and I talk about it later on?"
"I'll get started on your bed now Alice, if you're going to let me look at your drawings when you're finished. Oh I'm so excited! Finally something going on in this dreary little town."
Rose practically skipped out of the room, her light footfalls rapid as she descended the stairs at a breakneck pace. Edward chuckled softly, and shook his head. He slipped casually from the dresser and walked slowly to the door, pausing in the doorframe to smile at me.
"You just made her night, you know. She'll have that bed done by Wednesday just to get a look at those pictures. Are you going to let her model for you again?" he asked curiously.
I shrugged. I imagine so…you both sell collections faster than Bundchen does, and I'd have to pay her. I hesitated, holding my thoughts on the supermodel to keep him from leaving before I had my say. So…I'm still having visions about the Swan girl, Edward. She's still dead. I crossed my arms in front of me and watched as his face fell. He shook his head and walked from the doorway, unwilling to talk about it. Don't make me shout to you Edward; they'll all hear me then. I said I would help, but it's going to be on my terms.
God it was just like him to avoid this. I wanted to stomp up the stairs after his egocentric self. My brother had serious control issues that needed dealing with, now. EDWARD I swear… Startled, I stopped mid-thought as he leaned halfway into the room and grabbed my arm, yanking me out into the hallway.
"Fine Alice," he growled, "Lets chat upstairs, if you don't mind." His grip on my arm didn't loosen as he practically dragged me down the hall to the stairs. A memory flashed into my mind: a toddler at the mall I had recently seen in the same situation. His mother tightly held his arm in irritation, the child tripped crazily along on his tiptoes, trying to keep up with her strides. The only thing missing in my scenario was the unhappy whining, and I was not about to oblige.
Angrily I jerked my arm from Edward's grasp, unfortunately at the same moment he chose to loosen it. I staggered backwards, graceless, and my hands shot out and grabbed Edward's outstretched arm. Dammit, if I was going down, he was going with me, so I yanked hard and let my downward momentum add force. He caught my vengeful thought a half second too late, and his eyes met mine in shock. If there were something us vampires rarely did, it was fall, and the two of us dropped like rocks. The following crash brought Jasper from his study and Emmett from the yard.
"Didn't see that coming, did you little sis?" Edward chuckled as he disentangled himself from the snarl of arms and legs. I heard Jasper and Emmett trying to stifle their laughter as they returned to their previous activities. I groaned when I realized my elbows had left two deep parallel dents in the hickory hardwood floor. Esme was going to kill me. Edward met my eyes with a mischievous crooked smile upon hearing my dismayed thought.
"Would you like me to carry you Alice, since you're having trouble walking and seeing this evening?" The devil was in his eyes as he held out his hand to help me up. "Lets adjourn to my room. We can pull a couple of planks from my closet floor and do some minor floor repair."
"Go to hell Edward!" His barb about my talent piqued my pride. I scrambled up almost as ungracefully as I fell. What is wrong with me? I leaned against the wall, closed my eyes, and attempted to center myself before turning on my heel and stomping down the stairs.
"Oh no you don't…we're going to go talk wee one." Edward took my hand and pulled me gently back up the few stairs I managed to put between us. He leaned forward and whispered, "There's nothing wrong with you either; it's entirely my fault again. I'm leaning on you too much. Lets go upstairs, I have something for you that I hope makes up for the fact that I've been less than a perfect brother."
Presents! I didn't need to look ahead to know he'd stashed my Gaultier in his room and probably had been holding it for such a moment. His teasing remark was forgiven, and his broken promise concerning the Swan girl was pushed aside in my hurry to drag him up to his third floor sanctuary. Busting through his door, I happily threw myself down amongst the boxes and opened them as fast as I could.
"They got here today?! How did you manage to get them up here without me knowing? Is this the entire spring collection? How could you get it all here that quickly, the show was only Wednesday and I didn't put my request in until Friday..." I bounced in my excitement, my mouth moved as fast as my hands plowed through tissue to unearth the gorgeous clothing.
"Oh my god Edward, it's all already tailored! How did you do this?" It was a good thing I didn't need to breathe because the shock from everything already cut down to my size was breathtaking.
"Anything for you Alice, I told you that." He was so delighted with my excitement that his eyes were alight. "You deserve it, I just had to make a few calls. So you like them then?" His voice was only a little unsure.
"Oh I love everything! Thank you thank you thank you!" I stood and danced over to give him a hug and kiss. "I'm going to take everything downstairs and rotate my closet. Why don't you go out and get some hand warmers for snowballs tonight?" I closed my eyes for a moment to see how many we would need.
"Two dozen should be plenty. Don't tell Jasper or Emmett where you're going. They've forgotten to buy any!"
He chuckled and gathered several boxes to help me downstairs. I had something to keep me occupied now until the snow started. Reoccurring flashes of a dead human girl just didn't make for a pleasant past time. This girl was all consuming, she had practically monopolized my visions. I shoved her out of my mind when I caught Edward's sigh. I'm sorry. He just shook his head and pushed the door open to my room. He carefully set down the boxes in the open space where the bed had been, turned and gave me a quick kiss on his way out the door. I wasn't going to push him any further tonight. We could talk tomorrow, and I needed to get away from the topic myself for my own mental health. Nothing could pull me out of the doldrums like a good closet rotation though, thank goodness for Gauthier and big brothers!
The house was peaceful, only an occasional bellow from Emmett breaking the pleasant silence. My room was filled with piles of clothing, beautiful new clothing, beautiful new high-end clothing. I lay back against a folded stack of last season's sweaters, closed my eyes and allowed myself to swim in the bliss that is high fashion. I felt a vision tug at the corner of my mind, and I let it in, the scene swirled in like the snowflakes that would soon be blanketing the ground. Edward this time, and I couldn't help but smile at the look of utter contentment and happiness on his face. He was holding a small velvet box and on the satin lining laid a gorgeous diamond heart. His tawny eyes were so soft, uncharacteristically looking for approval, from whom, though? I struggled to see as the vision vanished like blowing snow. Was he buying me another gift for something he hadn't done yet? I focused again, hoping I could pull another version of the scene from my mind but I was rewarded with the haunting vision of Bella Swan, her pale face peaceful in death.
"What are you thinking about, Lis?" Jasper leaned in the doorway, a pained expression on his face. "So much sadness for someone with such beautiful new things."
"I was just remembering how it feels when we're all not together." I mumbled, pain tugging at my heart for lying to him, "I don't want to remember anymore, Jazz, come help me forget."
I reached for him, eager to push the memory of the girl from my mind. He crossed the room in three strides, knelt beside me and pulled me into his arms. All my worries melted like a spring snow; here was my sanctuary. I reached up and brushed his golden hair from his eyes so I could lose myself in them. Everything was all worth this, all the apprehension and worry, all the anger and sadness was worth this moment and every moment we shared. I softly traced his lips with my finger, contentment flooding me when the corners tugged up into a smile and his eyes crinkled. I lay surrounded by a placebo, but with a panacea in my arms.
"I think we have unfinished business to attend to, darlin'."I shivered as he gently caught my finger between his teeth.
"You're consorting with the enemy you know…Emmett would have you court martialed.-" My words caught as his tongue swirled lazily around my finger and his eyes smoldered.
He released my finger and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "How do you know this isn't General's orders?" I closed my eyes as he kissed the sensitive skin under my ear.
"You… won't get… anything out of… me, Major." I murmured letting myself succumb to the sensations spiraling from his kisses. His tongue traced my trembling lips; my breath came in hitches and gasps.
"Is that a challenge soldier?" His throaty whisper sent tingles down my spine, and as his lips claimed mine I knew I had lost.