Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Twilight universe. Please Review!
Sorry it took so long to update. Life is a bitch. It will likely be a long time before I manage to update again, but I felt bad holding on to this until I had more chapters under my belt. I hope you like it.
Rain poured from the sky in steady, unending sheets, the fierce wind throwing the drops against the house in such a way as to sound like ocean waves. Alice sat at her desk, one foot propped up on the corner, and stared through the sheet of glass separating her from the elements. Her hair was pulled off her face in myriad messy twists and her favorite drawing pencil appeared as little more than a blur as she twirled it absently.
The house around her was silent but for the muted sounds of the storm. Edward and Bella had taken an impromptu romantic trip for the weekend, leaving Alice behind with considerable trepidation. It had taken every ounce of her acting ability to get them out the door and on the road, away. More than a month had passed, two weeks since she had driven Jasper away, and they still treated her as though she would slice her wrists or hang herself if left alone for a moment.
Alice growled and slammed the pencil down on her desk. She was so tired of the soft quality to their voices when they spoke to her and their careful not-speaking about anything remotely related to clubs, dancing or alcohol, not to mention men. Their sidelong glances and deliberate maneuvering to keep sharp objects out of her sight frustrated her to no end.
She shook her head and glanced at the pile half-finished sketches scattered across the frosted glass tabletop. Another wave of frustration crashed through her, digging deep and testing the formidable temper that lurked beneath her deceptively dainty exterior.
A particularly violent gust of wind slammed into the window with a soft boom. She slid from the chair and onto her stomach on the plush carpet. She rested her chin in her hands and stared outside, fascinated by the elements and unwilling to think about anything else. Maybe Edward and Bella would get stranded somewhere and she wouldn't have to deal with them for weeks. Of course, there had to be a cozy, storm-proof bed and breakfast nearby so that they could pass the time in relative comfort, Alice mused. It wouldn't do to have them miserable the entire time.
As she watched the raindrops meet their inevitable end upon the concrete of the balcony, a pleasant numbness spread through her. She smiled lazily. She loved everything about the rain. She loved the hazy view of the city under the clouds, the steady hum of the rain striking earth, the clear scent of a world washed clean.
Rolling to her back, Alice stretched her arms overhead and pressed her palms to the cold glass. Tipping her head back to stare out the window again, the memory of Jasper's lips on hers rose to the front of her mind and filled her with a terrifying mix of fear and longing that drove the breath from her body. Gasping, she forced herself upright and stumbled into her bathroom.
The bottle was there, sitting on her counter, waiting for her. She tried not to think of what she was doing as she poured two white tablets into her hand for the fifteenth time in as many days. With a groan, she closed them in her fist and leaned against the cool tile, but she could not find the strength she needed to put them back in the bottle. She turned her back on the mirror again and downed the pills.
She moved back into her office, dropping to the floor in front of the window for a second time. Pushing all thoughts from her mind, she focused on the storm, filling her senses with the sights and sounds of the storm. Her eyelids grew heavier as she lay there soothed by the storm and soon she drifted off to sleep feeling more at peace than she had in a long time.
Damn storm, Jasper thought as he shook out his now useless umbrella under the cover of an awning. With a grimace, he tossed it into the trash can next to the door of the diner and went inside. Heat and light swirled around him in a pleasant rush as the door shut behind him, effectively blocking the foul weather. He raked back his hair and greeted the hostess.
She smiled a little too wide, as always, and took him to his usual seat. He thanked her politely and turned his attention to the menu, wondering when she would realize that her flirtatious efforts were wasted. There was only one woman in whom he was interested and it wasn't the hostess.
He didn't bother to watch her disappointed little flounce back to the hostess stand and fought the urge to roll his eyes as she corralled a waitress into another disappointing conversation about how he didn't know what he was missing. He had heard it enough times. She wasn't exactly quiet about it.
A wave of relief calmed him as Missy, the oldest and kindest of the waitresses, strolled up to his table. She was probably in her late fifties and the only one of the women in the joint who seemed to take a genuine interest in him, beyond the condition of his body.
"Heya, honey. How ya doing today?" she greeted him with a smile. Her grey curls were pulled back into a tight bun and she only had a shadow of lipstick still clinging to the outline of her lips.
"I'm good. A little waterlogged, but I'll survive. How about you? Shift almost over?" he said. She had taken a liking to him and always made a point to stop by if she was working. The perks of regular status.
"Yep. Just a few more minutes. I'm putting your order in and then I'm leaving you to the young." She laughed at the lightly panicked expression that crossed his face. "Just kidding. I've got about an hour left. That's plenty of time to take care of you and keep them off your back. What'll it be?"
Jasper grinned and handed her the menu. "I'll have a cup of soup followed by the super burger and a Coke. Coffee in the meantime. Thanks, Missy."
She winked and left to input his order.
He stretched a little and leaned forward on the tabletop, letting his eyes drift closed and his mind wander. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost remember the way she had smelled the first time they met, that unique combination of citrus and woman that flipped all the right switches in him. Alice. He opened his eyes and traced his hands along the tabletop. This was the booth in which she had been sitting when he had first seen her, her laptop open and her face a mask of quiet anguish muted by the curiosity as their eyes met across the room. He had come every day since the night of their dinner, hoping that she might return and he would get another chance. No luck so far.
He knew that he could make some excuse to stop by the club or even their penthouse, but he hadn't found the courage yet. He wondered if she would even want to see him, if she even remembered him in any favorable light after his stupid behavior the last time they had met. It had only been a two weeks, but it seemed so much longer as he spent each day in the diner hoping for fate to favor him. Edward was considerably unwilling to discuss her with him, so he was out of luck until he either grew the balls necessary to call her up or they met again purely by accident. He was still hoping for "by accident."
Missy swung by to drop off his coffee. Her mouth turned up in a sympathetic smile. "Maybe today?"
He nodded. She was well aware of his sad little mission. "Maybe."
She patted him on the shoulder and bustled off to take care of her other tables.
Jasper sighed. Encircling the steaming cup of coffee with his hands, he turned his gaze out the window to watch the fury of the storm. The streets were almost empty and the few pedestrians all looked completely miserable as they bent nearly in half to minimize striking surface for the horizontal sheets of rain now traveling swiftly through the air.
He took a sip of coffee, appreciating the warmth as it slid down his throat and into his chest. Now that he was out of the storm, he could enjoy it much more. He quite liked the power of nature so evidently on display during a thunderstorm, but he much preferred to appreciate it inside where he couldn't get soaked to the bone or struck by lightning. His friends had always laughed at him for that fear.
A particularly violent gust of wind crashed against the building, rattling the windows and causing the lights to flicker. One waitress shrieked a little and the others laughed even as they eyed the windows warily. Jasper took a longer drink of his beverage. It was going to suck walking home in that.
As he squinted into the storm pondering his course of action, the little bells attached to the door jingled as it opened and the full volume of the weather swept through the establishment, startling everyone. He glanced up out of habit and froze. It was as though his body had gone into one giant, painless muscle spasm as his eyes locked on the thin, petite form of the woman he loved.
She looked absolutely terrible, he noted as he tried to process her presence. She was saturated from head to toe, her only protection from the elements being the thin sweater and jeans she wore. Her hair hung in bedraggled tangles around her face, which was deathly pale and pinched. Dark circles ringed her eyes and her mouth was pressed into a tight bluish line. She leaned against the wall right next to the door for a few seconds as if she could barely stand. Even from where he sat, he could see the relentless tremors shaking her small frame and again his protective instinct snapped him into motion.
Jasper practically leapt from the booth and crossed to her side in seconds, arriving just as she turned around. "Alice."
Alice took a deep breath and straightened from the wall's support. Her body surely hated her for subjecting it to the mercy of the storm for she didn't know how long. An hour, at least, maybe more. The dull roaring in her ears faded a little as she regained some equilibrium, but she barely heard Jasper calling her name. She did however see him directly in front of her, but not in time to halt her movement causing her to lose her balance.
"Whoa, there," he said, steadying her with his hands, stepping close to her so that she could use him to maintain her balance. Her onyx eyes stared at him, the wheels in her head barely turning at half speed.
"J-J-Jasper," she managed, her slow cognition further short circuited by his proximity. The heat of his body blazed through the few inches of space and layers of clothing that separated their skin. It was almost painful to her extremely cold skin, but she was grateful for the warmth. It meant she still had working nerve endings.
"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin to tilt her head up so he could look at her face. Anguish roared through him as he saw the weak sputtering of her consciousness behind her eyes. He had no doubt that she was going to lose consciousness soon and he wanted to get her warm and dry before that happened. He gave her another head to toe look, making note of the light purpling of her left cheek and the tears in her sleeves.
"It's been kind of a bad day," she muttered, the trembling taking much of the irritability out of her voice. "You're so warm." Alice leaned forward and rested her cheek against his chest.
Warning bells went off in his head as she leaned more and more heavily against him until he was supporting most of her slight weight. He fished in his back pocket and pulled out a fifty dollar bill. He handed it to Missy, who stood behind him watching them with concern. "Here. I've got to go. I'll see you later."
"Take care of her," Missy warned.
Jasper nodded as he pulled Alice tight against him and out into the storm. "We're just going to walk a little way to my apartment, okay? We'll get you some dry clothes and some hot soup to warm you up. Can you make it?"
She yawned wide and shook her head against his chest. "I don't know if I can walk much farther. It's getting hard to stay awake." She pressed a hand to her forehead. "I took something...I can't remember."
"Okay, then," he said and lifted her into his arms. She let her head rest in the crook of his neck and one small palm pressed against his sternum, her fingers curling lightly into his shirt. He made the trip between the diner and his apartment in less than ten minutes, something of a record, and ignored Eddie's raised eyebrows as he slipped through the lobby of his building, all his attention focused upon the young, cold woman in his arms.
The elevator seemed to take forever, his anxiety only encouraging time to move slower and he cursed as he felt her shivering lessen in intensity. He was no doctor, but that couldn't be good when she was still so cold.
The doors finally chimed open and he rushed in, shifting her slight weight to pound the button for his floor numerous times. Thankfully, no one needed to go up and so the ride was uninterrupted.
He shook her a little as he unlocked his door, relieved when her eyes opened and dismayed when he saw them hazy and unfocused. "Alice? You still with me?"
Alice crinkled her forehead. "I'm so cold."
"Hold on just a few more seconds," Jasper told her as he slammed the door shut and headed for the bathroom.
She barely got a glance of his apartment as he whisked her through it so fast it made her head spin. She could feel herself losing the battle against unconsciousness, a fight not helped by the comfort and safety she felt in his arms or the sleeping pills she had taken just a little while before.
He set her down gently, guiding her to lean against the counter as he grabbed a bunch of towels. He dropped them beside her on the counter and pulled off his shirt and slacks, mindful only of the danger in which she was with the combination of near hypothermia and some unknown medication.
The darkness was momentarily forestalled by the sudden display of a perfect male specimen before Alice's tired eyes. A small coil of heat curled low in her abdomen and brought some color to her face as her eyes took in the smooth expanse of rippling muscle that was his back. Then he turned around and she had to look away or risk looking like a complete fool by drooling all over his floor. The sight made her dizzy and the brief adrenaline rush faded.
"We need to get you out of those clothes, okay, Alice?" he told her, worry for her spiking as her eyes shut. He grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head. He made equally quick work of her jeans and tried very hard not to look as he stripped off her sodden undergarments as well. He fumbled a little as he wrapped a towel around her, chafing her arms to restore blood flow. She was like a posable doll, moving only when he moved her but managing to stand on her own.
He helped her from the cold bathroom to the warmer bedroom, keeping her steady with one hand while he pulled the covers down with the other. He let her fall onto the sheets and climbed in next to her, pulling her tightly against him to give her the benefit of his warmth though her skin practically burned with cold. She hissed as he came in contact with her, but she did not move. He threaded his legs through hers and tried to cover as much of her front with his arms as he could, willing the heat of his body to her.
"Alice," he called softly, shaking her gently. "Can you hear me?"
She made some soft sound that he couldn't distinguish, but he wasn't sure if he should keep her awake or let her sleep through the worst of it. As the space around them heated and her shivering calmed, Jasper found himself growing increasingly aware of their proximity and state of undress. He hadn't realized how worried for her he had been until the adrenaline in his system started to fade, leaving him feeling weak and shaky almost as if he had been sick for a few days. He gathered her closer to him, relief flooding through him as he felt the minute expansions of her ribs against his forearms.
Cautiously, he removed his hand from around her waist and placed it on her shoulder, sliding his palm up and down her arm, deeply appreciating the softness of her skin. She seemed so much more than any other woman with whom he had made an acquaintance. Even Maria. The thought catching him by surprise, he rolled onto his back, startled when she moved with him.
She draped one cool-skinned arm over his chest and settled her cheek on his shoulder. His eyes widened as they flicked to her face, only to narrow in disappointment at the soft, slack quality of her features. She was asleep. Pulling the covers up to keep her wrapped warmly, he quashed the ridiculous feeling and took the moment to study her without the watchful eyes of close family members or the monitoring of hospital equipment. Without the choking fear that he hadn't reached her in time.
She looked peaceful. Almost without his consent, his fingertips drifted up to trace the curve of her cheekbones and the line of her jaw. Her nose wrinkled slightly and he let his hand drop to cover hers on his chest. He hoped she couldn't sense his elevated heart rate in her sleep.