CHAPTER FOUR: FINALLY
They went out of the diner peacefully while the clouds signaled a storm coming. The ominous gray clouds were incontrovertible and one really didn't need to be psychic to see a thunder storm coming.
But Alice didn't care. She didn't care about anything anymore except for the man who was holding her hand beside her. She looked up to catch a glimpse of his face and he looked confused, as though he didn't know what he was doing or who he was with. Then again, he didn't know who she was or what he was doing in the first place. As they were walking, she held his hand in hers and he held her hand in his. Somehow, Jasper didn't want to let go; so many emotions that were emanating from her, emotions that he never felt before for the longest time. And there was also only emotion that was coursing deep inside of him, an emotion he had never felt before.
"Miss?" he choked out finally, holding her to a stop seeing that she took the lead. "Where are we going?" Alice laughed.
"I don't know." She said happily, practically skipping. It was then when something snapped back to him that he had apparently neglected. Jasper stopped her again and she was confused, but a short vision in her head made her smile again. It seemed as though her Southern gentleman momentarily forgot his manners.
He lifted her hand to his lips and he kissed the top of her hand. Alice giggled and bit her lip, but the smile still pushed through. He almost did as well. Almost. Strange.
"Forgive me; I've forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Jasper--"
"Whitlock. I know." Alice cut him off and continued, still grinning. His eyes widened in confusion and curiosity. He had never met anyone quite like her, or someone anywhere near as close. "My name is Alice." She continued.
"Does that come with a last name?" he asked.
"No. I'll explain everything later, I promise." She said sincerely. Her eyes had such innocence, such truth, that he could feel as if his soul was melting, he had no other option but to believe her and obey. He couldn't deny her in anything. He didn't want to.
They walked in silence, their hands still intertwined. The storm was going to hit over the town momentarily and it was already beginning to darken. The sun was setting and the pale moon was shown through the mess of rain clouds. Alice could see that it was going to be quite a storm, but she didn't care. A little water never hurt anyone. Jasper didn't speak, nor did he look at anything else but her. Her dainty little steps were so graceful, and she never stopped smiling. He had never been around anyone so happy before, she was even happier than Peter or Charlotte… or the two of them combined. He couldn't explain how or why it was happening, but suddenly felt lighter. From the first moment that he saw her from that diner. He felt… happy. For the first time, in almost a century, he felt hope.
He kept his eyes on her; he wasn't even paying attention to where he was going. All he could look at was her face. Alice tried hard not to look back at him; she needed a quiet place so they could talk sensibly for the first time. A quiet little place where she thought the both of them could think properly. She thought of nothing else but the beach. The small, rocky little spot that she always went to when nightfall hit. It was already dark and the rain clouds had nothing to do with it. The sun has gone off and the only light was the moon, its ray beaming through the rain clouds. It was already drizzling.
Alice dragged Jasper off to the beach, he obliged of course. They were out in the open and it was raining. He pulled her to a stop and she looked at him in confusion.
"Something wrong?" she asked him innocently. The edge of his lips twitched to the side as he took off his jacket and used it as some kind of umbrella to hover over her. The confusion in her expression suddenly turned to the smile she wore.
"I don't want you to get wet." He said serenely. His arms held up the jacket like some sort of roof above her head.
"It's okay; it's going to be dry for a while where we're going." She said, standing just a little closer because she wasn't holding on to him anymore.
She walked slowly and he followed pace. He wasn't impatient nor did he ask questions. She promised that she would explain and he trusted her already. There was no doubting that angelic face. The drizzle was slowly descending into rain, so she walked faster and he matched his speed with hers. Soon enough, she was running. And she was thrilled that he was running alongside her. They managed to reach the rocky spot soon enough, and just like she had predicted, it was dry. Well… as dry as any part of a sandy beach was.
"It will be dry for a few minutes, half an hour at the most." She said as she walked to the biggest rock.
Jasper lowered his arms and put the jacket on top of her shoulders. He knew she was immortal too, but he couldn't be impolite to a female. Alice beamed up at him again, breathing in the scent of the jacket. It smelled heavenly, just like him. She sat down on the sand and rested her back against the rock. Jasper followed suit. The waves were gently crashing against the sand and the tide almost reached them. A few minutes more and it would have caught up to them. The sky was clear above them but the rain clouds from the town weren't that far away. From the looks of things, Alice was going to be right.
They were still and quiet for a moment. Alice was staring out into the distance, watching the waves from afar. But Jasper couldn't help but look at everything else. The sky was black velvet and it was painted with stars. The moonlight that shone above them had its beauty and splendor. But the sparkle of all these things couldn't compare to the small girl who was where she was. In the moonlight, Jasper thought that Alice's hair shone like the stars above but it was so much more than beautiful and her eyes twinkled like a million diamonds, only diamonds could have been an insult for her eyes… there weren't words to describe her eyes. They were different. Like liquid gold. Jasper couldn't resist her beauty; it was intoxicating.
Alice, however, had never felt so complete. So safe, protected and wanted. When she first saw him, she had an irrevocable fear that he would want to push her away. But he didn't, he stayed. He was there, right next to her. She tilted her head to look at him, only to see his eyes staring right back into her own. Black velvet, just like the sky above their heads, but his irises had some tint of red. Like dripping rubies. And his hair was as gold as the rising sun, only much more glorious. Her visions had not done him justice. He was too perfect for words.
They stared at each other for the longest time, both of them speechless, taking in each others' inert perfection. Alice was the first to break the silence.
"Hi." was all she could say. She was in too much awe to make out a decent sentence. This was why she couldn't look away for so long. She needed to keep her focus so she could marvel in his presence when they were both alone.
"Hello." He replied. That was awkward. "Is it later yet?"
"Oh. Right." It was silent for a while longer. It was then that she spoke again.
"I woke up, to this life, a few years ago." She started, trying hard not to get distracted again. He looked at her wordlessly, giving her the chance to continue. "I was alone in a dusty old cabin in the woods. And the moment I woke up, I saw you; in my head, at least. It was so clear. Even from that moment, some part of me just knew that I had to find you." There was a pause.
"How? How did you see me?" he asked.
"I didn't know, before. But now it seems clear. I can see things that haven't happened yet. The future. But… sometimes things change. I can't explain it correctly. But things like the weather are easy." She replied.
"And then?" he asked, letting her continue with her explanation.
"Well… There was this fire in my throat I couldn't explain. It was unbearable. And the next thing I know, I was running. Running towards some scent that appealed my senses. It was impossible to stop. But then I got sidetracked by a vision in my head… I saw a family of people like us. Except I saw what they were doing and they weren't going after the same thing that I was going for. It was so strong and so solid, almost as strong as my vision of you, so I knew I had to find them too. But part of me needed to find you first. So I stopped running after... whatever I was running toward and went for something that the family was going after. They're called the Cullens. There are five of them. Carlisle, the leader with his mate, Esmé. Then there's Rosalie and Emmett. Lastly, there's Edward." Another pause.
"What were they going after, exactly?" Jasper asked, intrigued.
"Animals. Deer, elk… The one named Emmett seems to really like bears." Jasper's eyes widened. Could such an existence… exist? Was there a way to live without killing humans? It had to be true. He couldn't question her if she was telling the truth or not. Because he knew she was good and he could feel her sincerity. Alice took hold of his silence and went on with her story.
"So I set off, following my visions. Where I saw you, I would try to look around where you were and I would run off after it. I've been looking for years. You have no idea how relieved I was when you walked into that diner. I thought you were never going to show up." She chuckled. It was true, in some ways, but she was much, so much more than relieved.
"How long?" he asked, feeling ashamed of himself. Despite the fact that he met her only moments ago, he felt as though he let her down. How could he let something as pure, good, sweet and innocent as her waiting for so long? And he thought he was a gentleman.
"A few years." She admitted sheepishly. "I don't mind the waiting, really. I would have waited an eternity." Jasper felt himself smile at her words. It was just a small smile, more like a line with a little curve. But it was the closest thing that he had to a smile in almost a century.
"I'm sorry." He said, apologizing for making her wait.
"It's alright. You can make up for it by talking. I only know the future, not the past. Tell me something about yourself." She encouraged him.
"What do you want to know?" he asked. It was quite a broad selection.
"Anything." Everything. Absolutely everything about him.
"Well that's not fair," he said, his small smile turning into a smirk. Smirking, he's done a lot of. "You seem to know a lot about me, yet I know very little about you."
Alice laughed, her voice sounded like bells. But to Jasper, it sounded like an angel's choir, her high soprano was the tone of one who could make an angel, every angel in heaven, green with envy.
"There's not much to tell, really." She admitted. "I don't remember anything before I woke up to this."
"Nothing?" he asked again. She shook her head.
"Nothing."
How anyone could leave Alice, Jasper couldn't figure out. He could barely find it in himself to look away from the girl, let alone leave her. The emotions that coursed through him were indescribable. He felt as though he was changing. The hate and anger that he grown accustomed to, even during the wars when he was human seemed to fade away. He learned from his solitude, it gave him time to reflect on everything that was and how far from life he had come. He knew he was close to giving up on his existence. The existence was torture, something to weigh on him for eternity. But then again, he saw it as punishment for the violent life that he chose to live when he was both human and immortal. He killed, and with each person that he killed, he lost his humanity. He felt as though he had become a monster of the grizzliest kind. But all of it was changing the moment he met her.
When she reached out to him, all he could feel was the tangible hope that she brought with her. Like she had been the balm on the wounds that inflicted him over the past century. Her emotions brought such relief from the depression that he felt. All he could do was stare at her. From what she told him, she was abandoned but there was no trace of sadness in her tone or in her persona at all. It was as though she were the quintessence of happiness.
"Aren't you sad? At all?" he voiced out loud.
"Why should I be? If my past is a problem, my future can always solve it. I can't remember anything, so there's nothing to miss. The only thing I remember is my vision of you." She replied brightly. "So tell me about yourself. I told you everything there is to know about me."
"Where do I start?"
"The beginning is always a good place to start." Jasper chucked lightly.
And so he went on about his past. His childhood that only involved war and superiority. He told her everything, only he edited so that he wouldn't sound so monstrous to her. What if he scared her? He wanted to tell her everything, absolutely everything but there was a fear inside of him. If she knew the life he had been living for the past century; the lives lost, the families he had destroyed, the meaningless killing and sex that was his existence back in the south. Then the story about Maria.
"Was she beautiful?" That was the only time Alice interrupted him.
"Yes, in a way." He replied kindly. There was no way that Maria could ever compare to Alice, though. Alice didn't interrupt again; she just remained quiet, just as taken by his story as he was.
"I couldn't do it anymore. It was just too much. All those people I've killed. The husbands who would never see their wives again. The children who would never know their fathers. All because of me." He admitted while his cool tone broke. Alice's face was kind and understanding.
"Well you can change all of that. Starting now. You're going to come with me to go to the Cullens. You'll have a fresh start." She said, trying to cheer him up. She made him optimistic.
"I don't think I can." He said, a little reluctant.
"Yes, you can. I can see it." There was no putting Alice's hopes down.
And at that moment, it started to rain.
Both of them tilted their heads up at the sky and let the small raindrops touch their faces. The tide was getting higher and the winds sent them crashing all over. But the clouds didn't cover all of the sky. There were still some spots where the moonlight shone over them. The both of them were starting to get wet. Alice laughed and raised both her palms so that some raindrops would fall on them. She then looked at Jasper, beaming at him.
"Starting now." Alice stood up immediately and pulled him up so that he would stand too. He didn't look like he knew what he was doing. Alice ran a safe distance away from him, kicking the water upward and twirling around in the rain. Jasper just stood there awkwardly and watched her. Alice shook her head, giggled and then dragged him over for him to join her. She held his hand and ran off to the shallow water where she kicked and laughed and twirled and laughed some more. Jasper didn't look like he knew what he was doing. He looked like a grown man who had seen all the troubles of the world and there he was playing with the most innocent of children, a girl who had no problems and it was as though all the hope in the world had been contained in a single being… in her.
She was having fun, playing around without a care in the world and he just stood there, being dragged around by the happy little pixie. He looked as though he had forgotten how to have fun. She found his awkwardness endearing. He looked adorable; it was as though he was a very serious man who was playing with an energetic little girl.
The only sound that could be heard was the crashing of waves as it stumbled on the rocks, the soft roar of the wind and of course, her laughter. It was music to his ears. She reached up and put her hand on his shoulder and took his hand with her other hand. She led him to dance, a dance that no one else has seen before. She was so graceful, even though she was just playing around. He moved with her and within a few moments, he was the one leading the dance. It was like a combination of a waltz and a tango. And of course spinning. Lots and lots of spinning.
He kept her eyes locked on her eyes, and she was smiling. The serious line that formed on his lips slowly twitched into a small smile. He danced with her in the pouring rain and the waves touching their feet. And in the moonlight, she sparkled. The light from the moon made the dewdrops caught in her hair shimmered. She took his breath away, not that he needed it.
Alice was still smiling, she felt very safe in his arms. It felt right for her to be held by him like this. One of his hands at the small of her back and his other hand still intertwined in her other hand. She rested her head against his chest and took in his scent. It made her head spin. He felt so warm in her hands, warmer than she had ever felt before. If her heart could beat, it would have been beating so mercurially that it would go to the point that it was embarrassing. But she was too caught up in the dance to really care about anything at all.
He shuffled his feet with hers and marveled at her warmth. There was a light buzzing inside of him, something that made everything feel right. Like nothing could go wrong. Something he thought he felt before but now he knew he was mistaken. There was no denying what he felt now. There was no mistaking the feelings he had for the girl in his arms. It seemed so long ago but he knew that right then and there, it was more real than that other love.
Love.
He was in love with this girl in his arms, the girl who made him see the light for the first time in a century. He was intertwined with her in a way which was indescribable. She lifted her head from his chest, to look into his eyes. Both felt the same way. It was so cold without the other. How could they have survived without the other, they would never know. All she knew was that she was too caught up now. She was far too in love with him to ever let him go. They stared at each other's eyes for what felt like the longest of moments, cherishing it.
Slowly, not really knowing what he was doing, the ex-Confederate leaned forward and ever so gently brushed his lips against hers. Alice was surprised, which was not an easy thing to do, but she didn't want to pull away. Instead, her eyes fluttered to a close and she kissed him back. Somehow, she wrapped both her tiny arms around his neck, pulling him closer. The feeling of her responding to him was too much to bear. One of his hands was at the base of her jaw and the other was at the small of her back. She smiled into the kiss and so did he. It felt right, like it was meant to happen. He became more enthusiastic and lifted her off her feet. She giggled into the kiss and he chuckled at the sound of her laughter.
But it all ended when neither of them wanted it to be. Alice's arms unlocked around his neck and slowly, she pulled away from the kiss. Jasper set her down unwillingly, hoping that he didn't do anything wrong. There was nothing wrong with that kiss. Everything was completely right. It was perfect.
He looked at her and she was still smiling up at him. She took one of his hands and made him run across the waves again. She giggled and he was laughing, now. He was laughing for the first time in a long time. Like the human in him was somehow resurfacing. She let go of his hand and ran, gesturing for him to chase her, which he did.
They ran along the sea, laughing as they did. He captured her from behind and wrapped both of his arms around her waist and hoisted her up. She screamed, kicked and giggled as he spun both of them around and around and around, the water splashing everywhere. It was the most fun either of them have ever had. He set her down and waited for her to sober up. She looked up at him and smiled.
He leaned forward and rested his forehead on hers, his fingers knotting in her hair. He rubbed his nose against hers and she laughed, wrapping her arms around him again, still smiling.
"I love you, Alice." He whispered, wrapping her name in his tone like some kind of caress. She looked at him with gleeful eyes, the eyes that had captured his soul forever.
"I love you too." She whispered back as her eyes fluttered to a close.
He pulled her face toward him again in that moment. Everything was perfect. The rain and water was forgotten. There was only the two of them in their own little world. Everything was there in that perfect moment. And in the perfect moment, they shared the perfect kiss. Everything was right.
AN: Thank you, Jazzy and Rae, for helping me write this and giving me the muse for it. No one can play "Jasper" like you two can.