Thanks for the ride. It's been fun. Happy reading.

-Mandi


It would take a while for things to return to normal. A long while. It would be a year before Esme and Alice could grow from their newborn stage, though Carlisle had the hope that, since this was their second time around, they might recover faster. Bella wasn't quite so sure; she could see the hunger in their eyes, remembered that same parched feeling in her own throat not quite ten years ago. It was a feeling she would never forget and one she doubted her mother and sister would not overcome easily or quickly.

But for now, the household was settling into a sort of everyday movement, like the orderly workings of a well-made clock. Carlisle returned to his book-writing, Rosalie and Edward to their studies, and the rest had their own events to take up their endless days and nights. Esme was slow to start, but she soon continued her refurbishing of the house, going out very little and always being accompanied with someone during the hunts, as did Alice. Alice's second fashion line had fallen through, much to her visible upset, and the stress of that combined with her sudden unsatiable thirst meant everyone was making their best attempt to cheer her.

For the moment, Bella was doing what she could by playing a sort of live Barbie doll for the girl, letting her do what she did best (and what Bella sort of hated) so Alice would be both distracted and pleased. Rosalie was in the dressing room too, lounging on Alice's chaise and flipping through a magazine.

"Stay still," Alice murmured as she held Bella's face in her hands. She was peering intently into her eyes, and Bella found the reddened stare just a trifle unnerving, but kept her mouth shut. After Alice's eyes glazed over and returned, she nodded to herself. "Hmmm, yes. That will do."

"What will?" Bella asked. Whenever she let Alice have free reign over her appearances, she always ended up looking fabulous, but only after about a few hours' worth of hard work on the tiny dynamo's part and sitting insanely still on her own.

"You'll see," Alice retorted, cracking a smile. That smile made Bella sigh; Alice's true happiness didn't come as often as it once had. She was still mostly the sunshiny girl she had been, but there were definitely more bouts of quiet and more times she shut herself up in her room since the change. Jasper was the only one who could truly cheer her, and he made every effort to do so, as did they all. But she still smiled, and Bella and Rosalie's eyes met over the top of the blonde's magazine, recognizing the small step forward.

Bella tilted her face up as Alice smoothed a layer of foundation over her skin, then dipped a black brush into a pot of nearly-white loose powder, tapping the handle on the lid to remove the excess and brushing it over her face.

"Your complexion's so nice now, you barely need this," Rosalie mused, licking her finger to flip a page.

"Now?" Bella asked, looking back and forth between her two sisters.

Alice bit her lip and smiled embarrassedly. "I think she means that you had nice skin as a human, but now…"

Bella had to laugh. "No, it's true. I get it." Her skin had been milky pale before her change. Now, it was clear, luminescent, perfect. Just like Alice's and Rosalie's.

"It's a compliment," Rosalie said in her lofty way, but her smile was sincere (even if the compliment was slightly backhanded).

Alice turned away, fussing with a pot of blush. "Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you…" She paused, not looking up from the vanity.

"Do I…what?"

"Do you…miss it?"

Rosalie froze on the bed, suddenly listening very, very intently. Bella knew exactly what her sister was speaking of, knew just why Rose was so eager to hear her response, but wasn't sure what to say. Of course there were days she missed being human. She missed being able to go into town unnoticed and without danger of killing anyone. She missed peanut butter milkshakes. She missed Charlie and Renée and everyone else she had left behind.

But she had Edward. She had her child. She would have them, and the rest of their family, for all of eternity. That made it worthwhile. And to speak of something Alice had no knowledge of and Rosalie ached for so badly just seemed cruel.

"Only sometimes," she admitted truthfully.

"Sometimes?" Rosalie repeated, trying to lead her into an explanation.

But Bella wasn't going to be fooled into saying something hurtful. "Yeah. Sometimes."

"Oh." Alice angled Bella's head to the light, smearing blush onto Bella's cheekbones. "This is more useful than the base, I guess."

"Why?"

"Well, we can't really have a natural blush so –"

"No, no," Bella cut her off. "Why do you ask that, I mean."

Alice paused, her brush in midair, little particles of makeup dancing in the light like dust. Rosalie was staring at her nails but was so likewise frozen it was obvious her vanity was just an attempt at distraction. The entire room was silent for nearly a minute, each waiting for the explanation they all knew was coming.

Alice hung her head almost guiltily and murmured, "I'm not sure. I…I guess…I had the chance, you know? I had to chance to see what it was like. I don't remember any of that life and…I could have had a chance."

A chance. Something Bella had wanted when Edward refused to change her. Something Rosalie wished for a second time around. And something Alice had been denied by both her first and second change.

Bella brought her sister's stalled hand down, squeezing her palm around hers. "I know. Do you regret that Jasper –"

"No." The word was so adamant that Bella was at once reassured. "He did what he had to do. He could barely help it. And…well, it brought me back to him. Who knows if I would have remembered him if I stayed like that? I have a feeling I wouldn't have."

Bella wrinkled her eyebrows, confused. "What do you mean?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "When Esme came to, she was just like she had been when she died. Me…I wasn't dying. I was just like I had been in my human life. No pain, no illness, just…me. I was exactly like I was before I died. Would I retain my memory then? Or would I have had the same one I had when I was in the asylum?"

Bella had no response. The mere idea of never remembering the one she loved was too frightening.

"Do you really think that would have happened?" Rosalie asked in a hushed whisper, only glancing up at the small girl through her thick lashes. "Do you really think you wouldn't remember Jasper or us or anything?"

Again, she shrugged. "Well, I haven't told Jasper, but…before my mind stopped…I had the strangest vision. Like…I was more scared by it than anything I've ever seen before."

"Strange?" Bella repeated. "How?"

Alice paused and took a deep breath. "I…I had kids. I was older and I had kids. Two little redheaded sons."

The implication of her words sunk in immediately. Had Jasper let her stay in that human form, her memory could have been so erased that the love they shared would no longer touch her and somehow, in some awful parallel universe none of them could understand, she would love another, marry and have children and grow old with someone else.

"I'm not saying it would happen," Alice interjected. "You know my visions can change. They're never set in stone. But…it could have been that way. Had he not changed me. And so, for that…for that, I am grateful I was denied that chance."

"Are you really?" Rosalie asked, her voice hoarse and haunted. The other girls knew exactly why the emotion was affecting her so and just what she wanted, what she was trying to get at through her questioning. "Even with the pain and being a newborn and Jasper going through what he did? Even with that one last chance you could have had?"

Alice bit her lip then looked Rosalie square in the eye and nodded. "I know it's hard. For me and Esme to start over, for Carlisle and Jasper to do what they did. For everyone else too. But I'd rather have this life than any other anyone could dream of. Even if I wasn't gifted or if we lived in a shack or anything…if I have Jasper and my family, it's worth it."

Rosalie looked away for a moment, her mind processing what she had been told. Bella felt her breath still in her lungs; Edward had told her just how much Rose had been obsessing over a potential change the last few days, how her thoughts had constantly been on the brink of asking to try it and fearing what it would mean if she did. But Rosalie sighed a little sigh, a sound of surrender, and looked up with clear, steadfast eyes, and nodded.

"Thanks, Alice," she said with a smile, stooping to kiss the top of her sister's head before leaving the room.

"Do you think she…?" Bella trailed off, still a little frightened that Rosalie would want to try it, even after all of Alice's explanations.

Alice paused, her mind flickering forward to the future…then shook her head. "No. She'll stay. Happily."

Bella nodded. Things would be alright. She could feel it, even without a gift like Alice's. With Rosalie finally deciding to stay as one of them and with them, Esme and Alice getting better in time, and everyone settling their differences and struggles within, they could be a family again.

"Now," Alice went on, breaking into her thoughts, "close your eyes and sit still. I can't foil the lids right if you're twitching."

Bella's mouth perked up a bit, and even though she had no desire to have her eyelids foiled (whatever that meant), she became a statue, obediently acquiescing. And even though she wasn't sure what it included, the foiling made her eyes look glammed-up and even more alluring than before. The magic Alice worked was quick and steady and gave Bella a face to rival Rosalie's.

"Well?" Alice asked when she was done, standing back and looking pleased.

Bella angled her face this way and that in front of the mirror, staring at how Alice had highlighted her already-exquisite features, done magic to her eyes, and even put a bit of blush on her cheeks, bringing back a human flush to her face. Bella reached up to touch the rosiness, but stopped just over her skin, not wanting to smudge it.

"I thought you might like it, since you haven't been able to blush yourself lately," Alice said jokily. "I thought Edward might like it too."

Her reddened eyes flickered over to the left. Edward stood in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest, the corner of his mouth lifted up in a smile.

"I do," he replied as he stepped into the room. "Very much. Bella…would you, er, mind coming with me?"

Bella looked over to her sister. Her goal in coming here had been to cheer her sister, not turn on her husband, and it felt almost like abandonment to go to him then.

"Go on," Alice said, such a smile in her eyes that Bella knew she wasn't just saying it but truly meant it. "I'll see you later."

Bella stopped to squeeze Alice's forearm before walking to her husband and putting her hand in his.

Edward led her into the hall with a smile, bringing her towards the stairs that rose to the third floor and their rooms. "You look…"

Had she blood in her veins, she would have blushed. "It was Alice's idea."

"Yes, remind me to thank her later." He pulled her to the top of the stairs and bent to kiss her neck.

"Edward…" The word came out breathily, and she sagged against his body, letting him hold her.

Edward smiled down at her, smoothing a strand of hair from her face. "You look like you did when I first met you."

"Nervous and clumsy?"

He laughed. "No. Crimson." He brushed his lips against her painted-pink cheek, his breath warm against her skin, making her shiver. She moved her mouth to meet his, to kiss him deeply, passionately, to let him know in that single motion just how much he meant to her. When his hand came up to caress that streak of blush against her face, she chuckled against his lips.

He pulled back, giving her a puzzled look. "What is it?"

"Nothing," she replied. It had been a silly thought.

"No, you laughed," he pointed out. "What were you thinking of?"

"Well…I look like I did when we met," she explained. "And so do you. And…we always will. Forever."

He grinned widely, his smile as dazzling as the first time she had seen it. "And I can think of nothing better than that."


After a ten minute search that evening, Carlisle found Esme at the foot of the stairs, sitting on the second-to-last step and holding onto the rungs of the railing. She looked almost child-like in her positioning there, watching through the railing with such wonderment in her eyes. Carlisle peered around to see what was in her view. Just in her line of sight was the doorway to the family room, and the vision within was captivating her.

It was a simple scene. Alice and Edward had pulled out one of the older chess sets and were playing against each other, Alice on the sofa and Edward seated cross-legged on the ground with the chessboard on the coffee table between them. Jasper lay on the sofa with his head in Alice's lap, and she reached down to stroke his hair absent-mindedly every so often. Bella was just behind Edward, her arms around his neck as she watched the game over his shoulder, occasionally using her gift to shield his upcoming moves from Alice's mind, something she protested as "cheating of the worst kind." Rosalie, over in the corner on the loveseat, laughed at Bella's protestations before returning to her studies and the textbook in her lap, occasionally pushing Emmett's hand away from her thighs (though her palm slid up his muscled bicep just as often as his did her leg). There was nothing too exciting going on. No extensive conversations were being had, no brilliant theories were exchanged, and there was certainly no exciting drama to behold. Just a family. Together. Happy.

Esme looked up at him with tears in her eyes as she smiled brilliantly, and Carlisle slid down to sit beside her, tugging her towards him until her body was flush against his. She tilted her head down, resting it upon his shoulder; he buried his nose in her hair in response.

"My darling?" he murmured against her brow.

She sighed, a heavy yet content sound. "I love them so."

He sighed too, but his was a shuddery rush of air, a frightened sound, as if he could barely stand to remember what they had been through and what almost had been. "I know."

Her voice was choked with emotion as she went on. "I am…I am so thankful for them. I thank God every day for bringing me them. And you." Esme raised her head, her warm gaze upon his. "I thank you, my love, for giving me my family."

Carlisle pressed his forehead against hers. "No. It would not have been a family without you."

Esme laughed slightly and turned her face again, facing the group happily interacting before them. "No. It wouldn't have been a family without a single one of us. We're together again. Whole."

And as he wrapped his arms around her, Carlisle was sure that would be the way things would stay for as long as they all lived, forever, for eternity.

~Fin~