DISCLAIMER: So yeah, I now own a copy of the GA Board of Educ. pre-k curriculum, which, should all go as planned, I will be teaching in 2 weeks. However, last time I checked the only thing I owned on FF-net was my account. I unfortunately cannot lay claim to anything Stephanie Meyer owns... sad, I know.

Yay to Megsly for being the best beta ever! Everyone should be jealous - she's going to TwiCon this weekend! I wish I was! :)

Chapter 4 – Internal Battle

JPOV

Really?

Yes, really. She would never lie to you.

Probably not.

No, not at all.

But, what if.

It wouldn't be the first time.

She's hidden things before.

My mind was waging a war against itself, and while I know that as a vampire headaches are one of the many things I don't have to worry about, lately I've been getting pretty close to having one.

Ever since Alice opened up to me about her visions, or lack thereof, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe she'd been hiding something from me.

The war raging in my mind was split into to factions – one wanted to believe desperately that Alice was being honest with me; the other side argues that she was keeping something from me, as well as the rest of the family. That was Alice for you, always wanting to protect us from whatever bad thing she saw coming. It was quite frustrating at times, really.

Even with the super-memory that comes with our kind, I can't even begin to count how many times Alice had taken it upon herself to change our futures.

But that wasn't the frustrating part: it was her never telling us about any of the visions until after she felt she had secured the future that was frustrating. While none of us, with the exception of Edward, could share the visions, we could be there for her to vent to or to offer ideas: but she seldom let this happen.

I rolled my head around to relieve the tension I imagine would be in my neck and shoulders if I were human. Sometimes I missed those little things like achey shoulders that made a human... well, human.

While my family needed to do things like blink, cross arms, and shake out "sleepy" hands to look normal to the humans in our lives, I sometimes did these things to feel more normal. More human. I couldn't understand how Alice seemed so okay with what we were. But then again, she couldn't remember her life before, so this is all she knows.

I definitely don't harbor the same feelings Edward used to about being a vampire, with his whole "I'm a monster" mantra, but sometimes I wish that I could experience things uniquely human.

Things like go out in the sun without the worry of being seen. Hell, I wanted to live somewhere where it wasn't rainy or overcast 90% of the year.

As weird as it sounds, I also kind of wanted to grow old knowing that the time I had was it: sometimes I feel like I put things off because I always have more time. And I know that I don't appreciate things as much as I should because I know there will always be a newer model or better version.

Then there was the one thing that I never knew I wanted until it was right in front of me – children. Where Renesmee somewhat filled that desire for Rose, she left me with a longing for something I never knew I wanted. But it was impossible, so I didn't dwell on it. If anything, I was practical.

Ultimately, it was the practical side of my brain that won my mental argument about Alice. If there was something she was keeping from me or the family it was probably for a good reason. She would never let anything bad happen to us without doing everything she could to remedy it. I had enough faith in her to know that if she couldn't fix something, she would come to one of us.

~*~

After what seemed like hours of trying to figure Alice out, I decided I needed a distraction and was lounged out on the couch playing a video game when I heard Alice approaching the house.

"Bye Edward! Tell Bella that I expect to see you both later for that movie she promised me!" I heard Alice yell to Edward as he presumably turned to head to the cabin.

That's odd, I thought, when I spoke to Edward earlier he told me they were heading back to Alaska tomorrow. I wonder what changed?

Alice flitted through the glass doors – a vision of an angel. The sunlight illuminated her form from behind, her skin sparkling like a thousand faceted diamonds. Seeing her like this took my breath away every time.

I threw the controller down on the table a little harder than necessary in my haste to wrap her up in my arms, causing a crack to appear which spiderwebbed across the glass almost immediately.

I stood from the couch and looked back and forth between the table and Alice. "Oops," I was going to have to replace that before Esme and Carlisle came home.

"Don't worry about it love," Alice said, dancing her way towards me. She lithely jumped over the back of the couch, landing cross legged where I had been sitting a few seconds before. I plopped back down next to her.

"Esme is going to kill me. This is the third time this table's been broken by a video game controller." I still didn't understand why Esme insisted on having a glass topped table where we played video games at, it seemed like she was asking for disaster.

"Seriously Jazz, don't worry about it. She's been wanting to get rid of it for a while. Now that they don't make it anymore, Carlisle can't call the company and simply get a new one. She'll thank you for this, I've seen it." She touched her finger to her head as she said this.

I threw myself at her, wrapping her in my arms. I heard a distinct crack as our bodies threw back into the couch. I winced.

"She doesn't like the couch either," Alice whispered in my ear.

I reached down and tucked a small piece of her silky black hair behind her ear. "So are you seeing things again?"

She smiled up at me, reciprocating my gesture from earlier and tucking my hair behind my ears. It immediately fell back into my face. I simply shrugged my shoulders at her. "So..."

"I've seen a few things today, not really anything to worry about... yet."

I almost didn't hear that last part, she whispered it so low. In fact, I wouldn't have thought anything about it if I hadn't felt a tiny bit of dread fill her when she said it.

I sat us both up on the couch, pulling her into my lap. "Alice, what aren't you telling me?"

She jumped off my lap and next thing I knew she was halfway across the room standing beside Edward's piano. "What is with you and Edward thinking I'm keeping something from you!?" She screamed loud enough that I'm sure Bella and Edward could hear her.

The anger coursing through her was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. In the long years we had been together, she had never directed her anger at me, this was something new. While it didn't last but for a fraction of a second, I knew I never wanted to be on the receiving end of that again, so I let her comment slide.

"Alice, honey, I'm not accusing you of keeping anything from me."

The voice in my head returned, Actually Jasper, that's exactly what you are doing.

I shook my head slightly and walked slowly towards Alice, reaching out to her with my arms. She melted into them as soon as I was close enough.

Having her like this, her head against my chest, relaxation flowing from her, reassured me that I was making the right decision in letting this go. I knew that if it was serious enough, she'd let someone know.

You idiot! She's been with Edward, he's probably seen what she's hiding. Go ask him!

No, I can't do that to my wife. I can't go behind her back like that.

While my mind continued its internal debate, I just held Alice close; hoping that her nearness would cause all voices in my head to stop.

After what seemed like ages of standing there, Alice pulled back slightly and looked up at me. "Are you really going to let this go?" she asked.

I nodded, thinking that my practical side had finally won the battle. "Yes darling, now what's this about watching a movie with Edward and Bella later, I thought they were going back to Alaska?"

Alice's eyes widened before narrowing again. "That little liar! I knew she came here to tell me something, but no!" She stomped off towards the staircase, and before I even got to the first step, she was already at the top.

"I'm guessing that you didn't know they were going back?" I zipped up the stairs and was quickly at her side. We walked hand in hand towards our room.

"No, I didn't. I wonder why they decided to stay?"

I opened the door to our room, Alice stepped inside, I stayed out in the hall. "You mean you didn't see them going back to Alaska?" I asked.

She looked at me questioningly, "Aren't you coming in?" blatantly ignoring my question.

"I haven't seen Edward in a while and need to hunt. I'm gonna see if he wants to head out for a bit before this movie. Maybe you can find out from Bella why they're staying?"

Before I knew it, Alice had pulled me in the room and slammed the door behind me.

"Like hell I'm going to spend another minute without you. I don't intend to ever leave your side again." There was that anger again, laced with sadness this time.

Alice's mood swings were getting to be as bad as Bella's when she was human.

I wonder if it's possible for a vampire to be bi-polar?

Hello? Do you not pay attention to me ever!? She's hiding something.

"You've never had a problem with me hunting with the guys before, what's changed Alice?" Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, her emotions went right back to being calm.

She grabbed my shirt by the collar and drug me towards the bed, "Nothing Jasper, can't I just want to spend as much time as possible with my husband?"

I knew pushing the issue wouldn't get me any further, so I gave in once again. Pussy. "No darlin', there is most certainly nothing wrong with that."

Next thing I knew, she had the rest of my clothes off, as well as hers, and all rational thought left my mind.

~*~

Hours later, I lay basking in the glory of having Alice's small body wrapped around mine. She was radiating more peace than she ever had before. She was normally so high-strung that true peace, the kind that came from having nothing to worry about and being perfectly content, came very rarely to her.

In fact, as much as I loved that she was totally at peace in my arms, it worried me slightly. We were capable of feeling and thinking so much at once that it was rare for one emotion to be so much in the forefront. There was always some other emotion in the background.

I hated to disturb her, but I could hear Edward and Bella making their way across the river. "Alice? Sweetheart?"

She didn't budge. If I hadn't known better I'd have sworn she was asleep. I gently shook her shoulders. "Darlin', we have to get up. Bella and Edward are here to watch the movie."

She rolled over onto her back and moaned loudly, "I don't wanna get up!" She threw her arm over her eyes as if to block out the sunlight, even though it was dark out. I laughed at her antics.

"Have a good nap?", I chuckled at my own little joke.

Alice raised her arm off her eyes just enough to glare at at me. "Actually, yes. I've thoroughly enjoyed my rest. It's been too long since I just.... relaxed." She let her arm fall back across her face.

I got up off the bed and redressed quickly. "I'm..."

"Going to head downstairs and pick out a movie; I know." Alice finished my statement as a small smirk crossed her face. "I'll be down in just a few. I want to rest a bit longer."

She was in such a peaceful state that I couldn't argue this; so, smiling to myself, I shut the door behind me and headed downstairs.

As I rounded the corner of the living room, both Bella and Edward were standing there, staring between me and the broken coffee table and couch.

"I know, I know. But Alice has reassured me that Esme doesn't care for either of those pieces of furniture; so I look at this as a homecoming gift of sorts."

Bella seemed to ponder this for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and plopping down right in the middle of the broken couch. As soon as her body's weight was fully on the couch, it crashed to the ground. The three of us just looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.

"Wow, Bella, leave it to you to forget that the couch was broken and throw all your weight onto it." Alice's voice carried into the living room from upstairs. A few moments later she walked into the room carrying the sofa from our bedroom.

Edward and myself simply stared at her while Bella attempted to gather all the pieces of the broken couch.

"What?" Alice asked, setting the couch down on the ground as gracefully as she could, "It's not like this super-strength is anything new. We can all lift things much heavier than this."

"I know Alice it's just... you're not much of one for super-human shows of strength," Edward chuckled, "that's more Emmett's thing."

Bella moved to stand beside Alice, having pushed all the remnants of the old sofa out of the way. "Oh, come on now guys, just cause we're dainty little women doesn't mean we can't show you up in strength."

I raised my eyebrow at her. Edward, I'm thinking a challenge is in order. The rocks down by the river to need to be rearranged.

From the corner of my eye I saw him nod his head minutely.

We both began sauntering towards our respective wives, who were eyeing us warily. Bella looked up at Edward through her eye lashes, 'What are you too up to?" she asked, just as Alice yelled "RUN!!!"

Before Edward and I had time to cross the several feet that separated us from them, Alice and Bella were out the back door bolting towards the river.

"Well Jasper, are we going to stand here all night looking like a bunch of losers, or are we going to chase after them?" Edward said before running full speed after the girls, me right behind him.

We immediately saw them on the opposite bank of the river, standing deadly still. I could feel the mischief and playfulness rolling off the both of them.

Edward and I came to a stop on the edge of the river, not jumping over it quite yet. Bella leaned over and whispered something to Alice so low that I could barely make out a few words. Alice nodded and they both turned back to face us.

"So, are you up for a little game of hide and seek?" Alice inquired, looking every bit the mischievous little pixie I knew her to be.

"Darlin', it's not going to be very hard for me to find you." I teased her.

She shook her head, which quite honestly confused me. "Oh, no. You have to find Bella, Edward's coming after me. Then each pair will try and find the other, while trying to remain hidden."

I have to admit, sometimes Alice came up with the weirdest ideas; I'd learned over time not to question them.

"Okay, we're game," Edward said from beside me. I looked at him questioningly. "I have no idea what she's up to, she's blocking me."

I shrugged, turning to look back at the girls. Only, they were not on the other side of the river now, they had disappeared into the forest.

"Those sneaky little devils. Let's get 'em!" I yelled, as I leapt over the river.

Edward took off to the right, presumably catching Alice's scent. I took a minute to take in my surroundings. Inhaling deeply I caught Bella's unique scent, which was very similar to how her blood smelled as a human. Honestly, it was quite tantalizing.

I took off, sprinting into the forest after her. I could hear her a mile or so in front of me, trying her best to leave her scent on everything she came across so to confuse me. Unfortunately for Bella, as I gained on her the emotions radiating from her became stronger. It was almost like a tracking device – the signal getting stronger as I got closer.

After a few minutes of running I came to a small creek where deer often came to drink. Their scent was fresh in the air, probably having scattered when Bella came through.

I stopped to try and sniff her out again, but it was the weirdest thing, it was like her scent was all around me – no one place stronger than the last. There were no trails leading out of the area except the one I came in by, so she had to be around her somewhere.

I could feel her anxiety laced with anticipation... anticipation of what?

Next thing I knew I was face first on the ground with Bella standing on top of me.

"Gotcha!" She said coyly as she hopped off and pulled me up off the ground by the back of my shirt. I brushed off the leaves and twigs that had stuck to my front-side and reached out my hand to her.

"Good job Bella, you definitely out smarted me for once, but don't expect it to happen again!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go find Edward and Alice." She grabbed my hand and darted into the woods.

~*~

A few short minutes later we caught their tracks, which oddly enough led in a straight line right where I knew the baseball field to be.

"Hmm, that's odd. It's like they forgot we were playing." Bella's words matched my sentiments: I couldn't imagine either of them leaving so blatant of a trail. It was as if they had given up on the game.

As we neared the field, I was hit with a tidal wave of emotions – anger, shock, astonishment, pain, but above all fear, and lots of it. I pushed myself harder, as did Bella who must have picked up on the change in my demeanor.

We shot into the clearing, stopping just feet from where Alice and Edward stood still as death. Alice was quite obviously having a vision, one that Edward was sharing with her. Everything in my being screamed at me to grab Alice and shake her until she came out of it, but I knew that it would be impossible.

Bella moved to run towards Edward. I grabbed her by the hips as she passed by me, pulling her back into my body. I wrapped my arms around her as she struggled to free herself.

"What is she doing to him!" she screamed, fighting with everything she had to get loose. For a moment I almost lost her, as the feelings of fear rolling off Edward and Alice grew to almost unparalleled heights. But, I tightened my grip on her to the point where I was almost afraid I'd hurt her.

"Dammit Jasper! Let me go to him!" she screamed at me.

"I can't do that Bella; she has to have her vision and he needs to see what she sees. We need to know what is going to happen."

It felt like eternity that we stood there, my arms making a steel cage around Bella, Edward and Alice in agony experiencing God knows what kind of a vision.

Eventually Bella gave up the fight and fell limp in my arms, tearless sobs coming from her. I knew how she felt, it was unbearable to watch your mate going through so much and not being able to do a thing about it. Welcome to my world Bella, I though wryly. I immediately regretted it as Edward growled, "Let her go" to me.

I immediately dropped my arms from around Bella, who fell forward. Edward dashed forwards to to keep her from hitting the ground.

I can't imagine what Edward must have thought as he came out of Alice's vision to find me with a death grip on Bella thinking what I had. But, I didn't have time to worry about them, my wife needed me.

Alice had turned and her back was now to me. I softly walked towards her, all the while testing her emotional state. Pain. Fear. Love. Regret. Pain... it seemed the pain was overtaking her entire being.

"Ali, what did you see?" I placed my hand gently on her shoulder, turning her to face me. She kept her head dipped down and buried herself into my side.

"You have to tell me, you cannot play this off as nothing." I tilted her chin up to mine.

"No Jasper, I can't. You wouldn't understand, it's going to happen... but... I can't." I'd never heard Alice stutter through a sentence the way she did through that one.

I told you she was keeping something from you...

Shut up.

Why? So she can keep you in the dark until whatever she saw comes to pass and then you're left picking up the pieces? I told you so...

With that final thought, all common sense left my mind. I let out a growl filled with so much anger that for a moment I felt like I was back in Maria's army.

"Alice!" I roared with such ferocity it sent a wave of shock throughout everyone. "I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know NOW!!!"

Alice pulled herself away from me and before I could even register her movements, she was flying out of the clearing heading back towards the house.

I was about to chase after her when, to my utter surprise, Edward stepped in front of me. "Get out of my way," I growled at him.

"Like hell I will. Do you honestly think I'm going to let you go after her when your like this?" he snarled.

"She's keeping things from me, now get out of my way!" I shoved him, but before I could get past, he had me pinned to the ground.

"You have NO idea what she's seen and what decisions she's going to have to make."

"I would if she wasn't hiding things from me!"

"Ah, and he finally admits it. For weeks now I've heard your mind fighting itself. Finding every reason it can to doubt your wife."

I fought against his hold, but it was no use. I could have easily fought against him, but I knew he was right. I'd be of no use to Alice in the state I was in right now.

Sensing my acceptance of his words, Edward let me go. He quickly kissed Bella before jetting off in the direction Alice had gone in, leaving both Bella and I stunned.

"What the hell was that?" Bella asked, dropping to the ground beside me.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out."

A/N: So, I did say I would give a shout out the most creative guess as to the vision. Since I only had two people guess, and both were good guesses, you both get a shout out!

elvishdreams - It is not the duo who the story is about, but it does have to do with them. And it is not their mates approaching them, though that would make for some interesting drama... :)

nluvwithemmettcullen - Sam's Pack... now that's an idea! But, nope, it's not them either. Once again, though, that would be an interesting twist.

A/N #2: As of right now, I have up to chapter 5 written. So, I will be posting that next Monday night. After that, I'm basically going to be posting as I write the chapters, so there may be a bit more space between posting. I start teaching pre-k full time in two weeks and I'm going to try and get as much written before then as I can so that I can give you updates more often, but we'll see. :)