A/N: I do not own Twilight.

Thanks again to my wonderful beta, Savannah-Vee!

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I walked into the small café at exactly 5:30 p.m. The place couldn't have been much larger than an office, so it wasn't hard to scan the few customers who were already there. My heart dropped for a split second when I didn't see Alice, so I nervously sat down at a table and waited. That same familiar feeling of disappointment started to creep into my system and I unconsciously began to bite my nails.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

While doing my homework one evening, I heard Charlie talking frantically on the phone. This startled me because out of the six months that I had been living with the Swans, he was always so laid back. I walked down the steps just as he hung up the phone and my stomach flipped when I saw the blank, distant look on his face.

"Jasper," he said with a shaky voice.

"What's wrong, Charlie?"

"We need to go to the hospital."

My breathing and heart rate increased. "Why?"

"It's Renee. She's been in an accident."

"Oh my God."

The two of us quickly jumped into Charlie's truck and sped over the hospital. When we arrived, Charlie spoke to someone at the front desk and identified himself. The nurse told him to go to the emergency room where another nurse would give him more details. Charlie held out his arm, silently leading me to where we needed to be...with Renee.

When we arrived at the emergency room, the nurse informed us that two visitors were allowed with the patient and asked for our names so she could enter them into the computer. I looked around anxiously because I didn't have a good feeling about the whole situation.

"I'm Charlie Swan, Renee's husband, and this is Jasper, our son."

I thought I misunderstood him for a second. He actually called me his son. My eyes started to tear up, but I didn't have time to relish the moment because were we being rushed back to see Renee. When we entered the small room, my breathing nearly came to a halt when I saw Renee lying in the bed with what seemed like hundreds of tubes coming out of her.

I slowly walked closer and gently touched her hand.

"What happened, Charlie?"

I looked at him as he stood next to me. He looked devastated.

His voice trembled as he explained, "The police said that she swerved on the road, possibly trying to avoid hitting an animal, and lost control of the car."

I stared down at her.

"How could this happen?" I whispered.

Charlie wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed. "I don't know. She's in a coma right now, but I guess we'll have to wait for the doctor to let us know what's really going on."

My mind raced a thousand miles per minute. This could not be happening. I was just getting used to living with Charlie and Renee and now she was lying here in a coma?

Just then, the doctor walked in and held out his hand. "Mr. Swan, I'm Dr. Michael Newton. I've been taking care of your wife."

Charlie took the doctor's hand and shook it. "Please, call me, Charlie. This is our son, Jasper."

The doctor smiled a half smile and then his face went serious.

This can't be good.

"Mr. Sw – I mean, Charlie. Your wife hit a tree earlier this evening. Unfortunately, the blow to her head caused severe trauma and I'm afraid there's brain damage."

Charlie's eyes widened. "What does that mean?" he asked.

The doctor swallowed. "It means the damage is so severe your wife would have to stay on life support to keep her alive."

Charlie took a few steps back as if he had been hit with a ton of bricks. I watched in stunned silence as the only man I could ever really call a father, fell apart. He dropped his head into his hands and began to sob. The doctor immediately walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. Charlie kept shaking his head back and forth, as he cried, "This can't be right. Not my Renee!"

I walked over to Charlie and stood next to him. I was at a loss because I had no idea what to do. I wanted to take away his grief, but I didn't know how. The doctor stepped out of the room, saying that he would give us some privacy as Charlie continued to sob. The tears that had welled in my eyes earlier from the immense happiness I felt now trickled down my cheeks from grief.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I looked at my watched and noticed that fifteen minutes had passed without me even noticing. I pulled out my phone to see if Alice had texted me while I was lost in my thoughts, but there was nothing. My annoyance surged. Another five minutes went by and I quickly stood up, nearly knocking over my chair and gaining a few odd glances as I walked out of the coffee shop. I hadn't even gotten to the end of the block when I heard someone behind me, yelling my name.

"Jasper! Wait!"

Part of me wanted to just keep walking, but I stopped and turned around. The sight in front of me nearly made me laugh out loud. Alice was running towards me with a bunch of papers in one hand and her blackberry in the other. She accidentally ran into another person and I watched as all of her papers flew into the air and slowly glided back down to the earth.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

I walked over to her and leaned down to help her pick up her stuff.

"Jasper, I'm so sorry. My crazy boss made me sit in on a meeting and it ran over. What's worse is that I didn't even need to be there! It was a complete waste of my time. I tried to send you a text, but my boss kept sending me messages and calling even after I left the office. Please don't hate me."

I looked at her, all flustered and worried, and my annoyance seemed to melt away. Once we had successfully collected all of her papers, I held out my hand and helped her to her feet again.

"Do you want to go back to the coffee shop?" she asked.

"Sure. They'll probably think I'm a freak though, seeing as I'd been waiting in there for twenty minutes already." I laid it on extra thick.

Alice's shoulders slumped and her face fell as she exhaled. I thought she was going to push out her bottom lip for a second.

"I'm so sorry, Jasper."

I chuckled and said, "It's no big deal. I guess the important thing is that you showed up."

I held the door open for her and watched as she took a seat at the same table I had been seated. I sat across from her as she looked at the menu.

"Are you going to eat something or just have coffee?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I might have a sandwich."

"Well, I'm definitely getting something to eat. I'm starving!"

The waiter arrived and took our orders. I ordered a turkey sandwich with water and Alice ordered some sort of chicken wrap with an organic chai latte.

What the hell is chai?

The waiter quickly returned with our drinks and I watched as Alice took a sip of her chai, closed her eyes and sighed. "Mmmmm. That's just what I needed."

Yeah, what I need you to do is strip and spread yourself on this table.

My eyes widened a little at the random, inappropriate thought.

"What?" she asked. There was no doubt that she noticed me staring at her.

"What the fuck is chai?" I blurted out, attempting to distract her.

It worked.

Pushing the cup towards me, she said, "Oh, it's really good. It kind of reminds me of hot chocolate, but not really."

I looked at the cup cautiously.

"It's okay, Jasper. It won't hurt you. It's warm and creamy and kind of spicy. You'll like it."

Hesitantly, I picked up the cup from her hands and took the smallest sip I could manage. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

"That's pretty good. I thought it was going to be a cup full of tiny twigs floating in muddy water."

Alice giggled as I handed the cup back to her and we fell in an awkward silence.

"So… What did you do all day?" she asked.

"Um, nothing much. I just hung around my apartment for most of the day."

"Wow! It must be nice."

I cut my eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I wish I could just lounge around the house all day."

"So what, are you calling me lazy?" I asked defensively.

Alice rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not calling you lazy, you dork. I'm just saying that it would be nice to have a day where I didn't have to think about doing anything."

I looked down at the table. "Oh."

Thankfully, the waiter arrived with our food and I immediately dove into my sandwich. Alice picked up half of her wrap and took a huge bite out of it. Mayonnaise dripped out of the corner of her mouth and she stuck her tongue out to get it. I tried to will my mind to stop thinking about other white substances I'd love to see drip out of Alice's mouth. It was nice being around a woman who didn't feel the need to eat like a dainty bird in front of a guy.

After she had chewed her first bite and swallowed, Alice looked at me once more. This time her brows knitted together. I couldn't tell if she was upset or deep in thought. Whatever it was, it was fuckin' cute as hell.

"You know," she started, "I'm not going to hurt you."

I almost choked as I drank my water.

"What?" I croaked.

"I'm just saying that you don't have to have your guard up with me. I'm not going to hurt you."

I took a few moments to let the words settle and then smirked.

"Darlin', that's what they all say. People always say those things and before you know it, you're sitting somewhere wallowing because they fucked you over...once again."

"Like I said before, darlin', I'm not like other people." She giggled as I playfully cut my eyes at her for using my own term of endearment against me.

"We'll see," I replied.

As we finished our meals, we talked about work and other mundane things. I offered to take care of the check and Alice hesitantly agreed. While she was finishing up her chai, I looked out to the street and thought I saw Edward walking by. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but as I looked closer, I noticed that he was holding someone's hand. Alice turned and followed my line of vision.

"Is that Edward?"

"Yeah," I said, continuing to stare.

"Who's that girl he's with?"

My lips curled into an evil grin. "I don't know, but we're going to find out."

I grabbed Alice's hand and walked out of the café. Edward and his mystery lady were in their own little world. She was pressed up against him and he was whispering something into her ear. She giggled and melted into him as he kissed her.

"Fuck. Me." I exclaimed.

"Looks like they're getting pretty friendly," Alice said.

I walked even closer to Edward and the mystery woman, pulling Alice along with me. We stood in front of them for a good 30 seconds while they continued to assault each other's mouths. I couldn't take any more of their PDA, so I loudly cleared my throat. Edward, still in his lust-induced haze, slowly turned his head and looked at me. I think it took a few seconds for him to register that it was me because I watched – in amusement – as all of the color drained from his face.

"Jasper! What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, buddy."

I smiled at Edward's friend and she smiled nervously, looking from me to Alice and then back to Edward.

"So," I finally said, "are you going to introduce us?"

Edward shifted a little and looked more nervous than ever. I looked over at his lady friend. She had long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and wore wire-rimmed glasses. She smiled shyly and turned to Edward. I watched as she slowly ran her arm up and down his arm to comfort him. To be honest, the sight was kind of sweet, but I would never let jerk off know that.

Edward took a deep breath and looked back and forth between me and Alice. I smirked as he finally spoke.

"Jasper. Alice. This is my girlfriend, Angela."

I looked at Angela, who seemed to be beaming and swooning at the same time.

Holding out my hand, I smiled and said, "Angela, it's nice to finally meet you. Edward has spoken highly of you."

Her smile somehow managed to grow tenfold.

"Nice to meet you too," she exclaimed.

Alice stepped forward and shook Angela's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Angela!"

"You too," she replied. "Are you and Jasper together?"

I choked and tried to cover up the sound with a pitiful cough. Alice laughed and said, "No, we're just friends."

"Maybe the four of us could double date sometime," Angela suggested.

Edward and I looked at each other and tried to keep our cool. I certainly was not up for a double date and I'm sure Edward was more than freaked the fuck out because he had been caught.

"Yeah, that would be fun," Alice said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, we'd better get going," Edward said. "We have plans. I'll see you later, Jasper. It was nice seeing you again, Alice."

I nodded my head as Alice replied, "It was nice seeing you too, Edward. And it was nice meeting you, Angela!"

Angela smiled and waved at us as she and Edward began to walk away. As they walked further down the block, I watched Edward grab Angela's hand, bring it up to his lips and kiss it. She leaned in closer and laid her head on his shoulder. I couldn't help but smile a little bit. Despite all of his douche bag qualities, Edward really did find a seemingly nice girl and was completely taken with her.

I felt Alice shift next to me and I turned to her. With that gorgeous smile on her face, she said, "Wow. That was unexpected."

I laughed, which always seemed so much easier with Alice around, and agreed. "Never in a million years would I have thought that Edward Masen would act like a lovesick puppy."

"Maybe he just found the right woman?"

"Yeah, probably," I said with a sigh.

"Well, do you want to do something else or do you need to get home and get ready for work?"

I looked down at Alice and felt something stir within me.

"Yes, there is one other thing," I whispered.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes full of curiosity.

I gently placed one hand on either side of her face and leaned down to kiss her soft lips. My body instantly warmed and I tried to absorb all her kindness, sweetness, and caring nature. I knew it was ridiculous to think that, but with Alice I felt like anything was possible. I felt her hands snake into my hair and rub my scalp. I slowly pulled away from her delectable lips and nuzzled her neck, placing soft kisses on her bare skin. She smelled so good and I could have stayed like that for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, some asshole burst my bubble when he yelled out, "Get a room!"

Alice and I reluctantly pulled away from each other. I looked in her eyes and wanted to say so much.

What is this between us?

Why do I feel so comfortable around you?

You make me believe there are good people out there.

But I said nothing. We just smiled at each other and began walking down the street.

"I'll walk you home," I said.

"No, it's too far to walk," she responded, "but you can walk me to the subway station."

"Okay."

I followed Edward's lead and pulled Alice close as we walked to the subway station. She snuggled even closer and wrapped her arm around my waist. For the first time in a very long time I felt completely content and at ease. It was a nice feeling, but I knew one thing for sure, I was fuckin' scared out of my mind.

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Aww! Looks like Jasper is softening up a little bit! :)

If you want to check out the café Jasper and Alice visited, go to this website.

http:/www . cafepraguenyc .